Anthime Stephen Croteau
This biography was told his son Marcel with additional material from Marcel's wife, Clara Croteau nee Zunti, of Debden, SK. Where possible I have added information from my research to help fill in the holes.
Anthime Croteau and his twin brother Emile, were born on Christmas day 1876 to Flavien Croteau and his wife Zelia (nee Filteau). The next day they were baptized in St. Peter’s Church, Mendota, Minnesota, the local parish church.
The 1880 Census for Mendota, MN lists entry number 156 for “John Croto”, age 35, and his wife Zelia Filteau, along with their children: "Josephine age 6, Lucy age 5, twins Stephen and Emmil aged 3, Joseph age 2." The census also notes that Adele Croteau, Flavien’s sister was living with them aiding in housework.
Later around the early 1880’s Flavien and Zelia decided to move to the Dakota Territory where he applied for a homestead. Flavien was employed by the railway and had worked many years in the newly opened farm land of the Dakota’s. He left his home in Minnesota and settled on his homestead with his wife and nine children. While there several more children were born into the family.
Both Anthime and Emile served as altar boys as youngsters. As a young lad Anthime worked for sometime in the F. Martineau Store in St. John. While Anthime worked hard he made time to travel to Tarsus to visit Irena Mousette, informally known as "Irene." Her family was among the first of two to settle in this small area of the Lordsburg Township near Bottineau after leaving the small village of St. John in 1885 or 1884. Irena’s father, Ambrose Mousette, moved to the Wayne Township of Western Bottineau County in Section 21, directly North of where Joseph Croteau, Anthime’s brother wanted to homestead. Anthime traveled over 40 miles by horse and buggy when they were courting, a trip taking days to complete. Anthime knew Irena from Mendota where their parents were friends in the French community. In 1898 the two were wed in the Church of St. Paul in Tarsus. This log church and its thatched straw roof were later burnt to the ground in a lightning storm. The church records of their marriage also went, leaving only a Marriage License in the Bottineau Courthouse as proof of the event.
Anthime and his wife moved onto their own land near St. John in Section 34. He tried his own business venture and opened a small store. They began their family with the birth of their first son in 1899. In 1913 glowing reports were circulating about homesteads available in Saskatchewan for the sum of ten dollars for a quarter section of land. Later in 1915 they chose to move north, following Anthime’s brother Emile. Anthime considered applying for land near Swift Current, Saskatchewan near Albert Croteau but withdrew the claim. He and Irena finally decided to homestead in the growing community of Debden, Saskatchewan. With the Canadian Pacific Railway going through Debden and a group of French Canadians from Quebec already taking homesteads it was not too long before Anthime followed. The family packed all of their possessions into a rail car and moved north.
When Anthime left the States he rode in the box car, taking with him a horse and a cow, a small plow and a few items of furniture. The other members of the family rode in the passenger section of the train. When they arrived at their destination Anthime had the glorious sum of $6.50 in his pocket to start a new life.
The stipulation for obtaining title to the homestead required that:
- the person had to reside on the property for so many months
- to put up a suitable building
- to dig a well
- to break at least ten acres of land
- to pay the sum of ten dollars
After their arrival in Canada they lived in a tent until a small log shack with a sod roof could be built. Irene wanted land near a lake so the north east quarter of section seven, Township 52, west of the 3rd meridian was chosen. Perran Lake was on the south west quarter and their land had much small timber and a few sloughs. Perran Lake was very shallow and in recent years it has dried up or only manages to retain only a small amount of water.
To earn money for the basic necessities Anthime and the older boys cut down trees with an axe, then cut the wood into lengths with a buck saw, selling the cordwood for $1.35 a cord. Later Anthime and his oldest son René got jobs in the lumber mill in big River. They traveled to work by train, working for a few days and then returning home again later in the week by train.
The mill work proved valuable as soon a bigger house of squared logs had been built which had a roof with shingles. What an improvement over the sod roof! Anthime and Irena’s neighbors helped to build the new home. Friends brought a portable sawmill and with the Prairie Spirit and hard work to complete the construction.
In the fall of 1918 René came down with the Spanish Flu. As this was highly contagious soon the other members of the family were also sick. Before it was over, René, Leo, and Alice had passed away. Marie was also very sick, there was little hope for her, however, she recovered. Three coffins were in the house at the same time. Those three were the first persons to be buried at the Debden Cemetery.
The family was growing up and it was time to move on. Alphie started working for a farmer in southern Saskatchewan then got a job working for the C.P.R. building bridges in northern Alberta. Also worked on the big hotel at Lake Louise. In the 1940 he married Jean and when he was living in Rycroft, Alberta they had one daughter Lynda. He retired in Edmonton where he passed away in 1983.
Earlier the children went to school in Debden, walking through the bush and around the sloughs as there were still no roads, only trails. The two youngest ones got to go to school in Winslow Lake near Mattes which was not as far, even though Marcel had started school in Debden.
During the summer months Anthime and the family made a lot of slough hay. They could rent the hay on the vacant land for a small amount of money. The grass was cut with a small horse drawn mower, then had to be raked, put into coils, loaded onto a hay rack with a pitchfork then unloaded and made into a stack. They also milked a cows and took the milk to the cheese factory, first in Debden then in Mattes.
In the winter the hay that was not required for their own livestock was bailed with a stationary baler. The power to press the hay into bales was supplied by a team of horses going around in circles all day long. One person had to put the hay into the machine, one had to tie the bales by hand, while another had to take the bales away from the machine and pile them up. When it was time to load the bales into the boxcar they were allotted only 48 hours to fill the carload, otherwise there was a severe penalty to pay. One winter they sold twenty seven carloads of hay to various places in Canada, as well as some to the United States. The freighters in northern Saskatchewan needed hay for their teams of horses, the livestock yards bought some as well as other places where feed was needed.
In the winter time there was plenty of commercial fishing done in the lakes of northern Saskatchewan. For some time Michael worked as a freighter, hauling fish from the north to Big River so they could be shipped out on the train.
Romeo was still at home and he started trapping muskrats on the numerous sloughs in the vicinity. He would make a hole in the muskrats dens, set his traps, then close the hole again so the cold would not freeze the water in the nest. He had to check his traps several times a day, otherwise the caught muskrat would chew off their legs where they were caught and escape again. He carried a packsack to take the muskrats home where they were skinned, the pelts stretched and dried and finally sold. The price of a prime pelt varied from $1.25 to $3.00 depending on the size and condition. Romeo also trapped and sold weasel skins. The doors and windows as well as the interior of the house were paid for with pelts from the trapped animals.
Eventually both Michael and Romeo took up homesteads in Big River. Michael got married to Patricia Beliveau and Romeo married Lauretta St. Pierre. Life on the homesteads was not too profitable so the men decided to work elsewhere. Michael first worked in La Pas, Manitoba, then in Sudbury, eventually moving to Toronto with his family. Romeo worked in a creosoting plant in Prince Albert for a while then moved to Rossland, BC with his family where he got a job working in the Cominco smelter in Trail until his passing away in 1958.
In 1929 Anthime bought a car with which he went to North Dakota in 1935 to visit his ninety year old mother. Unfortunately his father had already passed away so only his sons Marcel and Lionel went with him.
Marie had entered the convent first to finish her schooling then became a nun, taking the name Sister St. Alban with the Presentation of Marie. She taught for many years at various places, some being the residential school in Duck Lake, the school in Debden. In later years the Sisters went back to their baptismal names and became known as Sister Marie Croteau.
Lionel worked for a farmer in the Debden neighborhood for sometime then he got married to Lena Van de Vorde of Polworth. During the war [WW2] he was in the army serving overseas. When he returned from the army he thought of settling on a farm but decided to move to B.C. where he worked in the Cominco smelter in Trail with his brother Romeo. Later on when his health failed and he could no longer work, having to use oxygen to breath, he passed away in 1990.
Cecile had gone to visit one of her childhood friends in Thunderbay, ON and while there she got a job, met her husband [Wilfrid Arbour] and settled down in Port Arthur which was incorporated into Thunderbay.
In 1946 the youngest son Marcel got married to Clara Zunti and then Anthime and Irene sold the farm to the young couple and retired in the village of Debden. One summer they took a trip by train to Thunderbay to see Cecile and her family but Irene’s health was not too good. One winter she had pneumonia later on suffering a mild stroke from which she recovered quite well, except her speech remained slightly affected. In May of 1951 she was again hospitalized where she passed away.
Anthime was now alone after having been married for over fifty years. This was a lonely time for him, so he decided to take a train trip to Thunderbay and Toronto. One year Marcel and Clara motored to Thunderbay, taking Anthime along and on the way home they stopped in Rolla, North Dakota where Anthime could visit his sisters Anna, Delia, Evelyn, Leonie, as well as his brother Henri who was living in Belcourt. One fall Marcel and Clara were planning to go to B.C. to visit Romeo and Lionel, Anthime came along. It was a beautiful fall day in the beginning of October. However by the time they got to Calgary there was a skiff of snow on the ground, the farther they went, the deeper the snow. When they came to the Rocky Mountains Anthime decided he was not going any farther. He told his son Marcel, if he did not turn the car around immediately, Anthime would arrange to take the train back. Needless to say everyone came back home!
When he came back he did not feel like taking any more trips alone so he stayed in his own home for some time. One winter Marcel went to town to pick up the mail and groceries and, as was his custom, he went to check on his dad. Anthime was sick in bed, hardly any firewood in the house and low on groceries so Marcel decided this was no place for his elderly father to be all alone. Anthime moved back onto the farm where he was well looked after and could enjoy the company of his grandchildren.
As Anthime aged his health became poorer, finally passing away of a heart attack in August 1966.