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Portrait of Rachel Arsenault
Information about the object
Historical period
c. 1900
Dimensions
Height: 62.7 cm. Width: 47 cm. Depth: 3.5 cm.
Classification
Fine arts -- Photography
Accession number
2020.3.1
Division
Iconography -- Means of expression -- Photography
Collection
Denis Forest
Donor
Denis Forest
Category/theme
Description of the object
Photograph in an oval wooden frame, decorated with gilded plaster. Transliteration: "6307 / Placide Bourdage / Bonaventure / Rachel Arsenault, born February 10, 1881, married Ernest Babin on February 10, 1902, died May 24, 1977 / First marriage, mother of Lévis, Irène, and Bertha."
Value of the item
The portrait depicts an Acadian woman from Bonaventure. Rachel Arsenault (1881-1977) was the daughter of Joseph Arsenault and Denise Forest. She married Lévi-Ernest Babin on February 10, 1902, who died on April 28, 1907, at the age of 31. He was a farmer on the family farm located "chez les Noirs" in the eastern part of Bonaventure on the way to New Carlisle.
She had three children from this first marriage: Lévis, born February 28, 1903, and died June 26, 1997; Irène - born November 6, 1904; Bertha - born October 29, 1906 and died August 18, 2001.
When her husband died, she was forced to leave his farm and another brother took over. She sent Bertha (6 months old) to live with her maternal grandparents, Irène to live with her uncle and godfather Louis Bourdages in Ste-Hélène de la Croix, and Lévis stayed at home. Rachel left for the village and found a job at R.N. Leblanc's store.
She became a milliner, opened her own store in a rented house facing the sea (in the village of Bonaventure, a few steps west of the cemetery), and then built her own house (in the village, the second house of the former convent that was next to the presbytery). At that time, she took Bertha (aged 6) back. A few years later, Lévis was sent to Montreal to a specialized school for the blind (Les Buissonnets, on the current site of Place des Arts).
She remarried on August 30, 1915, to François-Placide Bourdages.
Rachel was a strong-willed woman. In addition to the store, she became the owner of several houses in the village. She was a businesswoman. She had the faults of her qualities: tough, demanding, but intelligent and wise. Upon her death in May 1977, Father Desrosiers said of her: she would have made a good prime minister.
She had three children from this first marriage: Lévis, born February 28, 1903, and died June 26, 1997; Irène - born November 6, 1904; Bertha - born October 29, 1906 and died August 18, 2001.
When her husband died, she was forced to leave his farm and another brother took over. She sent Bertha (6 months old) to live with her maternal grandparents, Irène to live with her uncle and godfather Louis Bourdages in Ste-Hélène de la Croix, and Lévis stayed at home. Rachel left for the village and found a job at R.N. Leblanc's store.
She became a milliner, opened her own store in a rented house facing the sea (in the village of Bonaventure, a few steps west of the cemetery), and then built her own house (in the village, the second house of the former convent that was next to the presbytery). At that time, she took Bertha (aged 6) back. A few years later, Lévis was sent to Montreal to a specialized school for the blind (Les Buissonnets, on the current site of Place des Arts).
She remarried on August 30, 1915, to François-Placide Bourdages.
Rachel was a strong-willed woman. In addition to the store, she became the owner of several houses in the village. She was a businesswoman. She had the faults of her qualities: tough, demanding, but intelligent and wise. Upon her death in May 1977, Father Desrosiers said of her: she would have made a good prime minister.
Learn more
For more information about this family: https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/GenealogieQuebec.aspx?genealogie=Arsenault_Rachel&pid=468887