|
a.
|
Note: Emilie Marie Lefebvre was born October 11, 1875 in Lewiston, Maine. She was the second child and daughter of Leon Lefebvre dit Boulanger and his wife Obeline Blouin. She was baptized at the Church of Ste. Pierre, the French Catholic church in Lewiston on November 11, 1875. The family lived in Lewiston until the summer of 1882 when they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Emilie's father, Leon, was a carpenter by trade and had traveled to Chicago to look for work. While he was there, he heard that there was work to be had in Minneapolis and upon coming to Minneapolis and finding work in a lumber milling company, he sent for the family to join him. When the family came to Minnesota, they dropped the last part of the family name (i.e. Boulanger) and were known as Lefebvre. They lived in a French Canadian community in northeast Minneapolis at 1313 Northeast 5th Street.
Emilie's education consisted of schooling at the French School at Our Lady of Lourdes. She did not attend high school. When Emilie was about sixteen years old, she developed an infection in her leg. Eventually it became in infection of the bone in her leg and because there were no medications to treat such virulent infections as osteomycelitis at that time, the family physician advised them that Emilie's leg must be amputated in order that her life might be spared. The operation was performed at her home in the kitchen. Her recovery was slow, but because of her age she was able to have an artificial leg fitted and she learned to walk with it.
The children in the family were expected to help with the family finances at that time so Emily found work in the garment industry in Minneapolis. She worked at the Fritz Schreyer Company. The girls in the family learned dressmaking from their mother, Obeline who had worked in the garment industry before coming to Minneapolis. Women working in the dressmaking factories at that time were paid by the amount of work they could produce. This was called piecework wages. In order to produce more income for the family, Emilie would bring home projects and she and here mother and sisters would work on them in the evening.
Several of the family relatives came to Minnesota about the same time as Leon had come. One of Leon's cousins, Pierre Lefebvre and his wife Archange moved from Maine to Minnesota. There were many other French Canadians in the area, not only in Minneapolis but also Saint Paul and many of the small towns surrounding the Minneapolis and Saint Paul area.
One of these small villages containing mostly French Canadians was Hamel, Minnesota. It was a little village of only a few families whose livelihood was mainly farming. Hamel was about 20 miles west of Minneapolis in Medina Township, Hennepin County. It was a tight knit community of mostly Catholic French Canadians. The Lefebvres knew a family, the Roi or King family, who lived at Hamel. In the late summer of 1896, Emily took the train to Hamel from Minneapolis for a visit with the Roi family at Hamel. While in Hamel, she attended a baseball game and there she met her future husband, Freddie Hamel. They were both only about 19 and 20 years old and became mutually enamored.
Freddie courted Emilie during the late summer of 1896. In the winter of 1897 Freddie asked Emilie's father for her hand in marriage and the couple was wed on May 31, 1897 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Minneapolis. After their marriage, they lived with Freddie's family in Hamel, Minnesota. The house was large, but there were many people living in the farmhouse and conflicts arose. Fred and Emilie moved to their own farm in Kimball, Minnesota. The farm was purchased by William Hamel, Fred's father. The arraignment did not work out because Fred and Emilie had to sell the farm after a short time and they returned to farm at Hamel.
Emilie had a strong faith in God. When Pearl was about 2 years old, Pearl contracted diphtheria. Pearl was near death when a traveling salesman came to the farmhouse door one day. The man told Emilie that the only way to cure diphtheria was to administer kerosene to Pearl. Fred and Emilie were desperate and gave the prescribed dose to Pearl. Pearl made a miraculous recovery. After her recovery, Emilie often spoke of the man who came to their door at their time of need and said that he was an Angel from God.
Farm life was difficult for Emilie because of her artificial leg. She was unable to perform many of the tasks that were required of a farm wife. The couple eventually had five children Archie, Lillian, Dora, Pearl and Clarence. The farm in Hamel was sold in 1913 and they moved to Washington State where Fred had relatives in the lumber and wood shingle business.
They lived in Washington for a while and moved to Oakland, California. They were in Oakland for only a short time when they again removed to Washington where they purchased a farm at Yelm, Washington. Finally in 1915, they were unable to make a mortgage payment on the farm in Yelm and they were foreclosed. They left Washington for Minnesota, their tickets provided gratis by the Great Northern Railway.
Upon returning to Minnesota, life was very difficult for the family. All the older children were required to work to help supplement the family's income. Pearl was sickly and was unable to attend school on a regular basis and was held back for a year. When Pearl was in high school, Emilie counseled her to quit school when she was 16 or 17 years old because "women did not need an education to do housework".
After the death of her father in 1918 and her mother in 1926, the real property of her parents was divided among her sisters and brother. There was a butcher shop run by a Mrs. Schuster about a block or two from the family home at 445 15th Avenue Northeast. Mrs. Schuster and Emilie became good friends and on occasion Mrs. Schuster counseled Emilie about the advantages of owning real estate. Emilie was able to borrow the funds to purchase the two houses at 1309 and 1315 5th Street Northeast that had belonged to her parents and buy out her sisters' and brother's interest. Eventually she purchased another building at 1510 5th Street Northeast, adjacent to the family home.
After the purchase of the several duplexes, the finances of the family finally recovered. Fred worked on the maintenance of the houses and Emilie was the businesswoman. The houses were the source of income for several of the Hamel children's family as well during the Great Depression. Archie and Mel Soderlund and George Rooney all spent time working on the houses during those lean years and were able to earn income doing so.
Emilie spent many hours in her leather-covered rocking chair by a window in her dining room. The radio was close to her and she also liked to read. Her window seat made it convenient for acquaintances walking past her house to stop by and visit and pass the time and share the news. The upstairs at the house at 445 15th Avenue had been converted to an apartment for Clarence and his wife Sally. Pearl and Mel lived across the back yard at 1510 5th Street and Dora and George lived at 1309 5th Street Northeast.
Fred and Emilie each managed their own assets. Emilie was responsible for her buildings and Fred worked at General Mills until he retired and then worked at Goodwill Industries for several more years. They often kept their own money hidden from the other.
After Dora and George Rooney moved to California in 1936, Fred and Emilie spent most winters in California. It was their custom to leave in the late fall and travel by rail to Pasadena, where Dora and George lived. They usually returned after Easter in the spring of the year.
Emilie had many difficult times in her life. She had a strong belief in the sanctity of marriage and went so far as to discourage the marriage of Lillian with a man whose sister had been divorced. It came as a great disappointment to her when her own son Archie divorced Alice, his wife. Emilie had often said that there would be no divorce in her family. Archie remarried in 1939 to Stella Reents .
During the 1930's Clarence, who worked as a truck driver for Red Owl Foods, became involved with the Teamster's Union Local 544. Clarence was a large man and he had a very winning way with people. The Union eventually asked him to become an organizer. During the 1930's the Communist Party was very busy in organizing unions and the Teamsters were one of their targets. Eventually Clarence became a card carrying Communist.
In the early 1940's there was a power play between the Communists and another faction that was backed by organized crime. The crime faction headed be Dave Beck finally won the union leadership and lead a fight to have the Communists sent to jail for un-American activities. Clarence and several of his fellow union leaders were finally sent to Sandstone prison on January 1, 1944. This was a very difficult time for Emilie.
Emilie's health was not good and she suffered several heart attacks after Dora moved. She also had asthma, which contributed to her heart problems. She had gained considerable weight over the years and she had diabetes.
In November 1947, her old friend Charley Heidenway suddenly passed away. He had been her friend and confidant since he had arrived at the family farm in Hamel in about 1903 looking for work. He was only 16 years old at the time and had left his home in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. He had lost his mother and his father remarried. He and his stepmother did not get along so he left home aboard a freight train. Emilie took the place of his mother and the two had a fast friendship over the years.
Shortly after Charlie's death, Emilie suffered her final heart attack. She lingered for several days before finally succumbing at home on November 29, 1947. She was laid to rest at St. Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis on December 4, 1947. All her children attended her final rites except Dora, who was unable to attend.
Obituary:
HAMEL--Mrs. Emily, age 72, 445 15th Ave. NE. Survived by her husband, Fred, 2 sons Archie J., Calif and Clarence A., Mpls., 3 daughters Mrs. Roy LaBelle, Mrs. George Rooney and Mrs. Melvin Soderlund; a sister Mrs. Frank Cunningham, brother Lohman LeFebvre, Washington. funeral Thurs, 8:30 from Kapala Funeral Home, 13th av NE and 3rd st. Requiem Mass in Our Lady of Loudes church at 8 o'clock. Burial St. Mary's (Minneapolis Star, December 3, 1947)
|
