John Alfred Beaule

July 5, 1902 - July 17, 1990 In this year 2002, the 100th anniversary of his birth and the 12th anniversary of his death, we dedicate this site to the memory of our father. Andre and Clara.

A few notes on the life of our father.

We look at old photos and notes that our father wrote and we remember:

1-Alfred? Jean? John?

2-His childhood in Marbleton.

3-The one room schoolhouse.

4-From his native land---to the US.

5-His second family.

6-The motorcycle.

7-His occupation.

8-His education continues.

9-He meets Yvonne Laquerre.

10-His car.

11-The first years of their marriage.

12-His bicycle.

13-May 20, 1984.

14-1987 to 1990.

15-Our father.

1-Alfred? Jean? John? In the parish records of St Adolphe for July 6, 1902, we find his given name as: Jean Alfred. At home as a youth he is called simply Alfred. Later in the US he will be known as: J. Alfred, Jean A. John A. etc. It's not only the name Bolley that changed to Beaulé!

2-His childhood in Marbleton. Jean Alfred was born in Marbleton on July 5, 1902. He is the ninth child and fourth son of Honoré Beaulé and Euphémie Pâtry. He is an adventurous youth who likes to climb everywhere. His mother would later tell his spouse: "If you have to chase after the son as much as I had to chase after the father, you have a long way to go." This desire to climb to high places will be with him all his life. About the age three, while playing with his sisters, a tumbrel (a kind of two wheeled cart) slips from the side of the barn and falls on him. He is found unconscious. His mother will say that it was his big head that saved him.

3-The one room schoolhouse. It's at the one room schoolhouse at the end of row # 4, that he will learn to read and write through the fifth grade. For a couple of years his teacher was Marie Boulet. She would become his sister-in-law, when she married his oldest brother Joseph. Alfred would recall later that it was in school where he learned of the sinking of the Titanic. It was Marie Boulet who read the newspaper article to her class.

4-From his native land---to the US. Alfred works here and there around Marbleton. One of his first jobs was numbering telephone poles, but there was not much work to be found in Canada. He has a cousin Emilien Fisette in Manchester, NH (a nephew of his mother). Here is the text from a diary written by our father on January 24, 1927. It is entitled: "Remarkable Event." "I arrived in Manchester in the morning by the Boston & Maine train at 6:30. It was November 22, 1922. I started working on the 29th of the same month in the afternoon. It was at the cotton mill. It was a Wednesday. I had room & board with my cousin Emilien Fisette at Mr. Pelletier's home."