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Marvin Gregoire in the CCC

A recruiting poster for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Marvin Gregoire (photo left) grew into manhood during the worst economic downturn of the industrialized world, The Great Depression, which began in 1929, when he was 14, and lasted into the late 1930s. As the younger son of a Marshall, Minnesota farmer, Marvin was not likely to have the opportunity to take over his father Joseph’s business, so he left home at the age of 18 to follow a different path...

Joseph and Agnes (Lebeau) Gregoire family circa 1911

Back row: Victor?, Robert, Herman, George, Harry?, Harvey?. Front Row: Father Joseph, Gertrude, Raymond, Mother Agnes (I am unsure about the identification of the boys with ? behind their names) Joseph gregoire family Joseph Gregoire was born in 1862 in St. George, Illinois. He was the oldest son of Julien and Aurelie (Boudreau) Gregoire and the first generation of our Gregoire family to be born in the US. His father, Julien, emigrated from Quebec in the 1850’s. Joseph married Agnes Francis...

Honoring Our Family Veterans Part 2: Marvin Leo Gregoire

Marvin Gregoire in his Army Air Force uniform. early years Marvin “Marv” Leo Gregoire was born in Marshall, Minnesota to Robert and Lillian (Grandpre) Gregoire, both of French Canadian descent. For more stories about this French Canadian family click here. Growing up on the Gregoire farm taught Marvin hard work and at the age of 17, he left school for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This New Deal program established by President Roosevelt offered employment to young men who struggled...

School Days: The Ove Sisters

The How do-you-do-bunch Today I stumbled across the Pennington County Historical Society Website and was excited to find some great photos of the Ove sisters while attending high school in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Ida (Ove) Conlin (front row, center) and her sister Nettie Ove (middle row, right) are both part of the “How do-you-do-Bunch”. You may also recognize Nell (Nellie Berg) from my previous Nettie Ove: Milliners Daughter post. I have no idea what the “How do-you-do-Bunch” did, but it sounds...

Nettie Ove: Milliner’s Daughter

Photo of Olga Hulltin, Nellie (Berg) Pellymounter, Nettie Ove and Florence “Flora” (Berg) Glanville of Thief River Falls, Minnesota (taken abt. 1912). millinery and the ove family Beginning in the 1500’s, Italian merchants from Milan, known as “Millaners”, would travel throughout northern Europe selling fine women’s fashions and ornaments. Eventually, the term, milliner, came to be used for the artisans who created women’s bonnets and hats. During the 19th and early 20th century, hats were a staple of every fashionable woman’s...

Finding Jacob Ove: Researching Norwegian Ancestors

Jacob Ove (left) with an unidentified person (right) My memories of visiting Great-grandma and Grandpa Conlin while growing up are primarily connected to sweets — namely butterscotch candies and fig newtons. Grandma needed those candies to keep Grandpa sweet…or so she said. When I grew older and began genealogy research there were plenty of stories and information passed down about Grandpa Conlin’s Irish Family and Grandma Conlin’s mother’s Norwegian family, but when it came to her father, I only knew two things:...

Mathew Conlan: Death by Gravel?

La Grande Famine, Illustrated in London News by Smyth, 1847. May they feel the warmth of a tear! May they hear the piper’s lament, May they know we, the survivors, keep vigil. irish tenant farmers Mathew Conlan was born in 1795 in the North Connaught region of Ireland to John and Anna Conlan, poor farmers near the town of Sligo. Similar to the Husmann in Norway, Irish tenant farmers rented land from wealthy landowners, primarily English and Scottish supporters of Elizabeth...