Blais family reunion brings five generations to Berlin

Sep 15, 2017
Sep 15, 2017 Updated Jun 22, 2020
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By Barbara Tetreault

BERLIN — Earlier this month, 170 descendants of Richard and Belzemire Blais gathered in Berlin to celebrate their family’s history and the French Canadian immigration that brought the family to this city on the Androscoggin River.
Lucien Blais, one of the organizers of the reunion, said his great grandparents were born and raised in Sainte-Marguerite, Quebec, and had 14 children. seven of whom survived to adulthood.
Four sons, Joseph, Wilfrid, Arthur, and Albert, immigrated to Berlin — part of the wave of French Canadians who migrated to this country between 1840 and 1930, driven by a lack of economic opportunities in Canada and the need for workers in New England’s paper and textile mills. Two daughters, Yvonne and Simone, and a son, Reginald, remained behind in Quebec.
The four sons who settled in Berlin between 1900 and 1918 would become grocery store owners, a barber, postmaster, and one operated a wholesale grocery business.
Three years ago, a group of Blais cousins attended the “Association des Blais d’Amerique” in Ste. Marguerite, Quebec. Among those attending were Lucien Blais, his bother Dan, his sister Elise Johnson and their spouses. Johnston takes credit for proposing that they do a reunion in Berlin.
“We need to bring our family to Berlin,” she recalled telling her brothers. “I planted the seed,” she said.
In late 2015, a Berlin reunion committee was formed with representatives of all four brothers on board. Lucien and his brother Dan co-chaired the committee.
Lucien Blais said at the first meeting the members had to introduce themselves.
“That told us we really need a reunion,” he said.
Two years of hard work followed, resulting in the reunion this month that drew five generations of Blais from both sides of the border and across the country. One cousin traveled from Japan to make the reunion.
The reunion started Saturday, Sept 2, with about 90 family members meeting at the Town and Country Inn and Resort in Shelburne. That afternoon two buses took the family members to view the neighborhoods where the four brothers had settled and the cemeteries where family members are buried. There were also visits to Nansen Ski Jump and the Bisson Sugar House on Cates Hill that Lucien Blais runs with his wife Muriel. One tour was conducted in both English and French for the relatives that did not speak English. Dinner followed at the Town and Country.
The main celebration was Sunday when family members first gathered for mass as St. Anne Church. The mass was concelebrated by Revs. Marc and Paul Montminy, grandsons of Wilfrid Blais. During the presentation of gifts, a representative of each offspring offered an artifact indicative of that family member.
Then about 170 descendants gathered at the Service Credit Union Heritage Park for a daylong celebration.
The theme of the celebration was “We Have a Story to Tell” and an entire room at the park was dedicated to photographs and timelines for each of the seven offspring.
Lucien Blais said the committee decided it wanted to do a family tree to show how much the family has grown in five generations. But with an estimated 650 descendants, he said the task was daunting.
“We pretty much gave up it,” he said.
The committee learned, however, that Brian Tauscher, the husband of one of the cousins, was already working on a Blais family tree. They contacted him and he committed to finishing the family tree in time for the reunion. Roland and Terry Montminy were gathering pictures and eventually the pictures and family history were published in a 95-page book along with biographies of the original seven offspring. The book is written in both French and English.
“It’s a fantastic legacy for the future,” said Blais.
Among those attending the reunion were Richard and Helene Blais of Nashua. Richard is the son of Albert Blais. He and his wife were both born and raised in Berlin but left the city in 1963. Richard had been laid off from the Cascade mill two years earlier and moved to Nashua to find full-time work as a carpenter. Richard Blais said over the years he tried to keep up with his generation and would visit relatives in Canada. He said he enjoyed the reunion as an opportunity to “at least touch base” with the younger generation. Their grandson, Stephen Burton of Hudson, said he never realized he had so many relatives.
Attending from Canada was Pauline Blais Lagrange, the oldest child of Reginald Blais, the only son who remained in Canada, where he took over and expanded the family farm. Lagrange is one of 17 children and she lives in Ste Marie, just next to Sainte-Marguerite. She said she was very happy to be at the reunion in Berlin. She said over the years she would come to this area to visit family members. She and her late husband would stay at Roger’s Campground in Lancaster.
The Blais family history book notes that the immigration of Joseph, Wilfrid, Arthur, and Albert Blais to Berlin was part of a major immigration movement that saw over 900,000 French Canadians come to the United States in search of a better way of life. While Quebec was a rural agrarian society with many families living on subsistence farms, this country was in the mist of an industrial revolution that needed workers. Unlike other immigrants, the French Canadians were able to maintain contact with their families back in Canada because of New England’s close proximity to Quebec.
The Blais family history states the oldest child, Joseph, left home on foot at age 16, “carrying a bag of personal belongings and a gun, making his way to Berlin and arriving in 1900.” While he started working in the woods and was a barber by trade, Joseph Blais moved into the wholesale liquor business and eventually was the owner of Joseph G. Blais & Company wholesale grocery and grain business. He was also in the real estate business and was a major player in development of the east side. Joseph Blais also active in local government and promoted the city’s industrial expansion.
Wilfrid Blais opened a store in Berlin, working long hours. The store operated six days a week and stayed open until 11 p.m. to accommodate evening shift at the mills.
Arthur Blais worked as a barber with shops on Main Street and eventually at his Granite Street house. He was known for his beautiful singing voice and chokecherry, according to the family history.
Albert Blais came to the United States around 1918 at the age of 17. After working for his brother Wilfrid, he opened his own store in Cascade and also served a stint as postmaster. After closing the store, he went to work for Hodgdon Company, repairing and installing heating systems. He later worked for St. Anne Parish, eventually operating the three-pin bowling alley in the hall basement. One year, he tapped maple trees and built a makeshift evaporator — his grandson Lucien and wife Muriel now run a sugar house that has been in Muriel Blais’ family since 1921.