Emilia

By Guy Lajoie

This is the story of the Roy family of Cap Chat, a small village on the shores of the St. Laurence River in rural Quebec. The story starts with the arrival of a French soldier in 1662 then proceeds through the generations. In 1832 Louis Roy organizes the rescue of over 300 British soldiers from a ship wreck. He is rewarded by Queen Victoria herself but later his son is cursed from the pulpit by the parish priest. A series of tragic stories seems to follow the family. What can we learn from these stories?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Guy Lajoie
• Release date: Jun 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781927766545

Guy Lajoie

Guy Lajoie, president of Emmaus Publications, 48 Partridge Dr.. Kanata, ON, K2M 2P5 Canada

Book preview

Emilia

By Guy Lajoie

Published at Smashwords by Emmaus Publications,

Copyright © 2016, Merraba & Emmaus Publications,

207 Bank Street, Suite 330

Ottawa, ON, K2P 2N2

347-960-4474

Dedication

To my brother Christian Lajoie and to my wonderful mother Emilia-Eugenie Roy Lajoie. Chris dedicated his retirement years to collecting and preserving the history of our family. He died before he ever could put all of it together. I have tried to do some it for him. I hope I have done it justice.

The stories in this volume are as accurate as I could make them but I have to admit that I did take some liberties with some details. I subscribe to Farley Mowatt's theory that a writer should never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

I want to thank my wife Mary and my children Jeannette, Patrick and Chantelle for proofreading this book for me. I also need to thank my friend Mel MacIsaac who edited the book for me and my friend the Emeritus Archbishop of Ottawa Marcel Gervais, not only for reading the book but for some very helpful comments.

Guy Lajoie (January 2016)

Emilia at 18

Contents

Introduction

The Peg-leg

The Death of Caroline

The Beginning (1664)

Lake Lajoie(1929

To CapChat(1697-1726)

Jannette

Augustin goes to War (1776)

Le Premier (1832)

The Curse

The Co-Operator

The Bishop’s visit

The Fire

Father Joe

A Revelation

Another visit from Father Joe

Epilogue

The Family Tree

Bibliography

About The Author

Introduction

My name is Emilia Lajoie. Before I married, my name was Emilia Roy. To be accurate it was Emilia Eugenie Roy (dit Desjardins). I am old now. Inside I still feel young but I have to face it at 85 I am old. I am the proud mother of eleven wonderful human beings, the grandmother of 58 grandchildren and a score of great grandchildren.

When I was younger, I used to love to write but it has been years since I wrote anything. I once had a wonderful collection of books and I loved to read. Over the years, we moved several times and each time, some of my books were lost. Eventually they all disappeared.

As the children grew, I became too busy to write. Now I feel that the time has come. I can only hope that I still have the time and the energy to put down some of the stories that have been passed on to me and those that have been part of my personal struggles. Many of these I have already shared with my family but there are some I have never shared but I feel the time has come to put them down. They may help my family understand why certain tragedies have been part of our life.

I am a devout Catholic yet I have struggled throughout my life with God's role in our lives. When I was very young, I was told that a priest had cursed my grandfather from the pulpit. Many tragedies ensued in the Roy family. Would God really allow such an evil to follow a family simply because a priest desired it...? The whole idea is repugnant. It simply does not fit with my understanding of a good and loving God. But enough for now. I will tell you my stories and you can judge for yourself.

The Peg-leg

When I first met the Lajoie family, I was only 10 years old and I spent my school years in a convent in Quebec where my mother had sent me after my father was placed in a mental institution. She needed to make her living and to support the family so she had arranged for my brothers to go to boarding schools and my older sister Caroline and I were sent to a convent school, run by the Urselines, which also served as an orphanage. When she returned to teaching my mother eventually took a job teaching in a small village about 60 miles north of Ottawa called Notre Dame du Laus.

She taught here for a number of years and then my sister Caroline took over as teacher. When my sister took over, she ended up teaching my future husband Ernest Lajoie. During the summer vacations, I always came to join my family in that small village. My older sister Caroline fell in love with Alcidas Lajoie and they were married. Together they had five children. It was at the birth of the last child, Giselle, that tragedy struck the family.

I will continue with this story later but first I need to tell you about the elder Mr. Olivier Lajoie. He was a gentle man with