SECOND GENERATION

Version française

2. Jean-Baptiste LÉVEILLÉE was born on 23 and baptized 24 June 1905 in St-Aimé de Massueville, comté de Richelieu, Québec, Canada.(1) He immigrated 22 March 1909 to Harris Village, Coventry, Kent County, Rhode island, through the port of St. Albans, Vermont. He married Jeannette BÉLANGER on 5 Sept 1932 in Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in West Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island. He was naturalized an American Citizen on 31 January 1940 in Superior Court, Kent County, Rhode Island. For 51 years, he worked for Interlaken Mills, as a yardman and truck driver in the Harris Cotton Mills, then in the Arkwright Division as a Boiler Tender. He worked on a part-time basis for Arkwright Poultry Farm for 20 years. He served as Scoutmaster for Troop 2 Phenix for 20 years. He died on 13 Jul 1965 in Kent County Hospital, Warwick, Rhode Island. He is buried in Notre-Dame Cemetery, West Warwick, Rhode Island. Inscribed on his tombstone are the words "Paix en Dieu" - Peace with God.
Please note: St-Aimé is now known as Massueville, in Richelieu County, Québec.

Brothers: Antoine, Joseph, Aimé, Homérild and Arthur.
Sisters:Cécilia, Anné, Juliette, Bernadette and Ida

Jean-Baptiste was the 7th child.

3. Jeannette BÉLANGER was born on 1 March 1911 in Coventry, Kent County, Rhode Island and baptized 5 Mar 1911 in Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, West Warwick, Rhode Island. She died 4 Nov 2000, at the age of 89 years and 8 months, in Coventry, RI. (2) (4)
Letter read at her funeral.         Mon premier Noël au ciel-My First Christmas in Heaven.

François et Nicolas BÉLANGER, ancêtres des Bélanger d'Amérique

Brothers: Arthur, Joseph, Stanislaus, Edouard, Williem and Leo
Sisters: Aurore, Marie-Yvonne, Clarinda and Lawrencia

Jeannette was the 7th child

    Children:

child1 i. Normand Arthur LÉVEILLÉE married Annette S. LAVALLÉE. They have two children: Monique and Peter. Monique has two children: Alexia and Phillip.

child1 i. Rita Jeanne LÉVEILLÉE married Richard P. SLOAN. They have two children: Donna and Jeffrey. Donna married Brian MANCHESTER and they have two children: Brittany and Nicole. Jeffrey married Linda Rekas.

      Index LÉVEILLÉE       Index BÉLANGER       Table of Contents      

  Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines     

(1) Extrait du Régistre des Actes des Baptêmes, Mariages et Sépultures de la paroisse de St-Aimé, Book 46, Copy dated 15 April 1924.

(2) This author, her son, was present at the time of her death, in the Woodpecker Hill Nursing home, Coventry, RI at 11h00AM, 4 November 2000.

Des "dit" surnoms de famille à St-Aimé:

Léveillé = Fourquin, Thibault
Lambert = Lalue, Lamontagne
Brouillard = Fortier
Théroux = Féron, Ferron, Lacroix, Plessis, Tardif, Tardy
Brouillard = Fortier

(3) List of LÉVEILLÉE & dit names in Fichier Origine

(4) Bélanger website: www.belangers.us



Gédéon Bélanger         Joseph Léveillée
Jeannette Bélanger     Jean-Baptiste Léveillée
were married 5 September 1932
in Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil Church, West Warwick, Rhode Island




Recollections of my parents - Des souvenirs de mes parents

Various documents relating to Jean-Baptiste and Jeannette

Jean-Baptiste Léveillée
My father

My father was the kindest and most generous man I've ever met in my life. He helped many of his neighbors by giving them vegetables from a garden that he and his older brother Joseph cultivated on several acres in Hope, Rhode Island. He was born in St-Aimé, Québec, Canada in 1905 and in 1910 immigrated to Harris Village, Coventry, Rhode Island with his parents and eight brothers and sisters. At 14, he worked for his father in the yard of Harris Mill, eventually becoming a truck driver for the mill. After we moved from 74 Mill Street to 54 Harris Street, in the same village, he became a boiler operator for Interlaken Mills, Arkwright division. I remember spending evenings and many all-nighters with him at the mill. I used to do the rounds with Mr. Galucci, the night watchman. He also worked for Arkwright Poultry Farm, owned and operated by Richard Gee. He was able to donate chickens from this farm to needy families in our parish.
My father was a baseball coach for the Notre-Dame parish church; this league was a precursor to today's Little League. He was very active in the Boy Scouts, serving as a Scoutmaster for 20 years, until his death in 1965.
My father would always take me to see the Boston Braves and Boston Red Sox baseball teams with my grandfather Joseph and my uncle Adelard (my aunt Juliette's husband). My grandfather was an avid Braves fans; the rest of us were Red Sox fans. My father took me to see the first game in which my idol Ted Williams made his debut.
At an early age, my father got me a job at the Arkwright Poutry Farm. He is responsible for getting me interested in raising bantam chickens, which provided daily fresh eggs. As a teenager, I worked on this chicken farm; this work helped to pay for my high school education.

Jeannette Bélanger
My mother

For the first five years of my life 1938-1942, I lived at 74 Mill Street, in Harris Village, Coventry, Rhode Island, the same French-Canadian village in which my mother was born. My mother worked in Harris Mill, in the stitching room right behind our house. I could look out our parlour window and see my mother and her sisters working at the looms. My mother was a great cook of French-Canadian dishes; there was always plenty of delicious food, especially pork, since my father raised a pig every year at the poultry farm, chicken and all sorts of vegetables from our own garden.

I related these stories on this web page for the benefit of my two grandchildren Alexia and Phillip . They love to hear about my past. Also, I am leaving this legacy to our two children: Monique and Peter.

Since the research was largely conducted by my sister, I am also leaving it to her two children: Donna and Jeffrey, and her two granddaughters: Brittany and Nicole. May all of these children and grand-children be as proud of our heritage as we are.