Confirmation in 1910

[Phemie]

Thought this might be interesting, a transcript of my baptismal parish’s 1910 Confirmation record. Published in English and French several years ago, I’m not sure if the original was in French and this is an awkward translation or if it was in awkward English and was perfectly translated into French. It doesn’t mention “The Pledge”, something the kids were asked to take at most Confirmation until at least the middle of the 60s. Records from previous years show that it was administered only to the boys but by the time I was confirmed in 1960 all confirmands were expected to take The Pledge not to consume alcohol until age 21.

We never had to look for individual sponsors, 1 man and 1 woman were sponsors for all the children. The woman in 1910 was also the girls’ sponsor in 1904 & 1907.

On the 15th day of October, 1910, after having previously examined the candidates and having found the children satisfactorily prepared, in the church of St. François Xavier of Charlo, administered the sacrament of confirmation to 57 persons, of whom 25 were males and 32 females. Sponsors were John Poirier and Mrs. John Poirier (née Marguerite McIntyre). Present the curé Rev. Father Patenaude, Rev. A. A. Melanson and Rev. L.G. LeBlanc. Rev. H. O’Leary preached the confirmation sermon. We admonished the children to be faithful to the graces received, to be perfect Christians and avoid sin. We then called the little children who have not yet been admitted to first communion and who have more than 6 years of age. We told them of the message of our Holy Father desiring that they be admitted immediately to Holy Communion and admonished them of the necessity of making their Easter duty as well as grown people.

We then addressed the parishioners telling them how happy we are to give them a new curé, one whom we knew to be good and would be devoted to them. We asked them to aid him in his undertakings and also recommended ourselves to their prayers.
Thomas F. Barry
Bp. of Chatham

Henry J. O’Leary
Secretary

 

[Pup7]

I think stuff like this is interesting. Thanks for sharing!

(A lot of language back then was very ‘flowery’ compared to now, especially for formal documents.)

You have the original? What a treasure if you do!

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s interesting that they examined the candidates somehow to make sure they were prepared.

I remember absolutely nothing of the sort happening before my Confirmation.

 

[OldCAFMember]

It’s interesting that they examined the candidates somehow to make sure they were prepared.

I remember absolutely nothing of the sort happening before my Confirmation.

The Archbishop of Atlanta always ask questions today of the confirmands. He may ask about holy days of obligation, sacraments, saints, or the confirmand’s patron saint, but he always asks at least one question of each confirmand, no matter how many there are.

 

[OldCAFMember]

Is it me, or does this entry not name the bishop who confirmed the children?

 

[Dovekin]

It is signed by Thomas Barry, bp of Chatham.
I assume he did not mention himself?

 

[Phemie]

The records from 1853 to 1920 were published in the 1990s as part of a Federal Government “Job Creation Project” with the collaboration of the local genealogical society. Everything was done on a typewriter.

I was told last summer that they are redoing this as part of the 100th anniversary of our church, they will correct some of the transcription errors and add a few years of records.

As I understand it they can bring it up to the 1940s nothing that’s not public (birth & baptismal records, for example) can be published for 70+ years but things like marriages and deaths could be published after 50 years. Our province’s vital statistic archives, which we can access online free of charge, lists births up to 1922 and deaths and marriages until up 1966.

 

[Phemie]

Usually those entries start with "I, the undersigned, did this day"but in this case it appears he just signed it after having written what he did. I really wish I could get my hands on those records to see for myself. Microfiches of the register up to 1900 are available through Ancestry.ca but I would like to see the records.

The confirmations in the 1890s were only recorded as “On Month and day, The bishop of Chatham confirmed” and lists the children. Today the registers of confirmation ask for baptismal information, parents name, etc. Back then they just listed the kids and since it wasn’t unusual to have several kids with the same name (even in the same family, my grandparents named two Gilbert) there was no sure way to know who exactly was whom.

 

[Pup7]

Oh, okay. Still cool to read that in print and know it’s your ancestors.

I feel the same way looking at the old census ledgers on ancestry.com and knowing I know the people mentioned (my great-aunts and uncles, and even my mom and dad due to their age), or that I’m their direct descendant.

 

[Phemie]

I can spend hours in Ancestry.ca looking up stuff. My dad’s mom died when he was 18 months old and he was fostered. He didn’t have much contact that I can see with his mother’s siblings. Since she died so young, most of her siblings didn’t have kids at the time so many, if not all, of her nieces and nephews knew nothing about her, including the fact of her existence.

At Dad’s funeral reception in 2004 a girl I knew as my second cousin came to me and said,
“I know we’re related but I have absolutely no idea how.”
“Your grandfather and my grandmother were brother and sister.”
“Who was your grandmother??”
“Ida.”

She’d never heard that at one time there had been a great-aunt Ida. Her father wasn’t born until 11 years after Ida died so there would have been no reason for him to have heard of her, considering how many living aunts and uncles he had.

I was lucky that Dad’s oldest sister made sure that I met many of these great-aunts and great-uncles. The one I knew best had kids, my first cousins once-removed, who had regular contact with my dad. Other cousins didn’t even acknowledge we were related and I’m not sure they were aware of it. Some of those great uncles I only met when they came back to the village for a visit from their homes in the US to where they had emigrated.

I love genealogy. I recently discovered that a guy from Maine, whom I’ve seen at work-related conferences every year for the last 5 years, is related to me through Ida. Little did I realize that when we were at the conferences. I just happened to see on Face Book that there is a McIntyre gathering in my village in August and there he was posting about his great grandfather and how he’d left our village in 1918.