Antoine and Magdeleine had many children, including Olivier, Charles, Henri, Joseph, Marie, Ovide-Benjamin, Zoe, Julie, Theophile, Louise, Victoire, Virginie, and Auguste.
Please note some translation of the picture's description:
Back row:
Antoine Lafreniere, the first gentleman standing in the back row, is the son of Charles Lafreniere (born on May 16, 1843 and wed to Marie-Lucie Brasseur) and grandson of Antoine Lafreniere and Magdeleine.
Emilie Lafreniere, daughter of Olivier Lafreniere and half-sister of Frederic Lafreniere.
Frederic Lafreniere, son of Olivier Lafreniere.
Rose Moreau, sister of Zoe Lafreniere and Toussant Moreau (Zoe and Toussant wed Sept. 26, 1864).
Front row: Vaudrin, Henriette Lafreniere (uncertain if related to us), Mrs. Levrault - sister of Frederic;
Lucie Brasseur, wife of Charles Lafreniere
Mrs. Olivier Lafreniere, born Olive Maurice
Zoe Lafreniere, wife of Toussant Moreau
I am uncertain why the Lafrenieres moved from Lafontaine, ON to St. Leon, a distance of more than 2,000 kilometres, but they may have heard that is a French Canadian Metis community with fertile soil and a land of opportunity especially after Frederic visited the area.
The first group of Saint-Leon settlers, including Frederic Lafreniere, who spoke Indian, also became explorers, coming to examine the Pembina Mountains twice, in 1875-76, before settling there in 1877. They were a dozen men, including a Walter Pigeon who moved to Minnesota. They made their way to La Riviere. Daniel Fraser*, who had known Frederic in the United States, came with this group in 1875, but initially Daniel left the band to stay in St. Boniface... Ms. Frederic Lafreniere often mentions Charbonneau as a member of the group (pg. H-11)
Odile Marten's book Pionniers de la Montagne Pembina: Saint-Léon Manitoba 1877-2000 describes how the Lafrenieres moved to Saint-Leon (this is a loose translation of pages F-173).
Olivier Lafreniere, son of Antoine and Magdeleine left Lafontaine, Ontario in May 1877 with his wife Ovila and decided to settle in St. Léon, Manitoba.
In 1877, the railroad, owing to trouble encountered during low water in getting over the bar at Goose Rapids, built a spur track from Crookston to Fisher’s Landing, which has since become Fisher, Minnesota, and the rails and other supplies were loaded on barges there instead of Moorhead. The new shipping point became the head of navigation for a number of years, a large volume of traffic being handled, the steamboats also taking Canadian-bound passengers from the railroad to that point. Thousands of settlers, both those who located in Northwestern Canada and those stopping in North Dakota, came in by way of Fisher’s Landing.
Lord Dufferin, popular Governor-General who had been the first vice-regal representative to visit Winnipeg, and Lady Dufferin, visited Fisher’s Landing in August 1877. They embarked on the Minnesota, and Lady Dufferin, who kept a diary, told of trying to write while proceeding on that part of the
“very narrow and extremely sinuous river. I can tell you that we go from one bank to the other, crushing and crashing against the trees, which grow down to the waterside; the branches sweep over the deck and fly in our faces, and leave pieces behind them. I had just written this when I gave a shriek as I saw my ink bottle on the point of being swept overboard by an intrusive tree; and D’s (Lord Dufferin’s) hat was knocked off his head by it.
The consequence of this curious navigation is that we never really go on for more than three minutes at a time; we run against one bank, our steam is shut off, and in some mysterious manner we swing round till our how is into the other; then we rebound, and go on a few yards, till the sharp curve brings us up against the side. Our stern wheel is very often ashore, and our captain and pilot must require the patience of saints...
This exceedingly twisty river is the ‘Red Lake River’; it is forty miles to travel though the distance is only twelve from point to point. When we reach the Red River itself, we found the stream wide enough for us to go straight down it, less sinuous. but quite as muddy and uninteresting. Trees come down to the water’s edge. and one can see nothing beyond them; behind stretches out the prairie, and every now and then we were just able to see how thin the screen of trees really is between the river and the plains.”
That evening after dark they met another steamboat, the Manitoba.
“It looked beautiful in the dark, with two great bull’s-eyes, green and red lamps and other lights on deck, creeping toward us; we stopped, and backed into the shore, that it might pass us. It came close and fired off a cannon, and we saw on the deck a large transparency with the words, ’Welcome, Lord Dufferin’ on it, and two girls dressed in white with flags in their hands; then a voice sang, ’Canada, Sweet Canada,’ and many more voices joined the chorus.”
After they had visited Pembina and Emerson, “the gentlemen bathed in the Red River,” and they arrived at Winnipeg the next morning.
On their way back in September Lady Dufferin described a cinnamon bear on board the Minnesota, a tame pig, which answered to the name of Dick, and a dog.
“The bear sometimes hugs the pig, and the dog rushes to the rescue. Someone tied a bun to the pig’s tail today, which the bear perceived, and seized; but while he was leisurely arranging himself to enjoy it, the pig seized it, and ate it up.” [18]
At the end of the voyage Captain C. B. Thimens of the steamboat Minnesota was presented by Lord and Lady Dufferin with autographed photographs and an autographed copy of His Excellency’s book, Letters from High Latitudes; a letter accompanying these presents stated they were meant as mementoes of his lordship’s very pleasant trips on Captain Thimen’s boat. [19]
At Fisher’s Landing again they saw a locomotive which Lady Dufferin records in her diary as “No. 2 of the Canada Pacific Railway. It is going to Winnipeg,” she added, “with a train of railway trucks, and it is to be called the `Lady Dufferin’.” This engine now stands in front of Winnipeg’s C.P.R. station, and is designated as “C.P.R. No. 1, Countess of Dufferin”. With the “railway trucks”, it was taken on barges to Winnipeg by the Selkirk and used to lay track between Winnipeg and Whitemouth. Later it took Sir William Van Horne. president of the line, through the West, and pulled the first train to cross the Rockies when it took Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald on his first trans-Canada journey.
The arrival of this first engine with its cars at Winnipeg, on 8 October 1877, was celebrated with great rejoicing. But it meant the beginning of the end of steamer navigation on the Red River of the North. It was, however, a few years more before the railroad got in good working order and many more steamers were built for the Red River trade. In the spring of 1879, attention of steamboat owners was turned to the navigation of the Assiniboine and the Saskatchewan rivers. [20]
An amusing news item in the Free Press of 7 May 1879, reads:
“Winnipeg’s first railroad, the Pembina branch, was past the novelty stage, and outgoing passengers, especially the oldtimers, were going back to the comfortable steamboats on the Red, with their open, airy decks and changing scenes on the river loops.”
