{"id":4216,"date":"2019-09-11T10:05:57","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T15:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cdem.flywheelsites.com\/?post_type=publications&p=4216"},"modified":"2021-06-24T09:52:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T14:52:02","slug":"a-double-family-connection-cast-in-bronze","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/publications\/a-double-family-connection-cast-in-bronze\/","title":{"rendered":"A double family connection cast in bronze"},"content":{"rendered":"
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To mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first residents in St. Jean Baptiste, a life-size bronze statue of two village pioneers, Antoine Vandal and Raymond Rajotte, will be unveiled on September 13 on the church grounds at 151 Caron Street.\u00a0Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

The event organizing committee benefited from the help and knowledge of Paulette (Rose) Vermette, who is the great-granddaughter of Antoine Vandal and very knowledgeable about her family history. \u201cMy parents were genealogy enthusiasts,\u201d she says. \u201cThey did a great deal of research into our family history. In 1982, my brother Denis also got involved in researching the family\u2019s genealogy. I was sort of his secretary, gathering together all the documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

While historical research has been a family passion for many years, it was mostly \u201cpersonal curiosity\u201d that prompted Paulette Vermette to volunteer as a consultant for the committee in charge of the 150th celebrations. \u201cI would always hear my grandmother, Virginie Vandal, talking about her father, Antoine Vandal. I thought my historical knowledge about my ancestor might be useful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Paulette Vermette is also a cousin of Raymond Rajotte. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of interesting to think that I\u2019m related to both men in the statue! Antoine Vandal on my father\u2019s side, and Raymond Rajotte on my mother\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is 1869 considered to be the year the first inhabitants came to St. Jean Baptiste? \u201cActually, 1869 is the year Antoine Vandal arrived in the village to settle permanently. Naturally, people lived in St. Jean Baptiste before that, but the population was mostly nomadic. People would come, spend some time here and then leave again. Antoine Vandal was the first person to move here permanently.\u00a0His home was always open to missionaries and other travelers.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Antoine Vandal was one of the first people to live in St. Jean Baptiste year-round in 1869, three years after his arrival, in 1872, \u201cthe government launched a campaign to encourage French-Canadians to come to Manitoba,\u201d says Vermette. \u201cFor example, newcomers were offered 160 acres of land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years later, in 1874, a chapel built in St. Jean Baptiste was a sign that the residents were there to stay. However, the village\u2019s first church wasn\u2019t built until 1877, coinciding with the arrival of new settlers from Quebec.\u201d<\/p>\n

The descendant of the first pioneer recalls that there was a blending of two cultures in St. Jean Baptiste from the village\u2019s earliest days: \u201cThere has always been a nice mix of M\u00e9tis and eastern French-Canadian culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mix is symbolized in the 150th anniversary statue. \u201cThe photograph of Antoine Vandal and Raymond Rajotte, which was reproduced in the life-size sculpture, is a beautiful portrait of an older M\u00e9tis man, Antoine Vandal, sitting with a French-Canadian boy, Raymond Rajotte. It represents the two cultures living side by side in St. Jean Baptiste perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Jean Baptiste’s 150th anniversary celebrations are a wonderful opportunity for remembering all the cultural blends making up the village. For Paulette Vermette, who has lived all her life in St. Jean Baptiste, the unveiling of the commemorative statue will have an even greater personal connection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4215,"template":"","type-de-publication":[70,68],"class_list":["post-4216","publications","type-publications","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","type-de-publication-community-economic-development","type-de-publication-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications\/4216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publications"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"type-de-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-de-publication?post=4216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}