TOPONIMIC LIST
part II
Following the publication of our article on the toponymy of the CLOUTIERs, several people
communicated with us to inform us of a street, a river or a lake in their beautiful area
of the country bearing the name CLOUTIER. We appreciate this information but we also need
to know the reason why the name CLOUTIER was given to that particular street, river or
lake.
It is important for us to know this information, because if a municipality has taken the
time to chose and approve the name, it is because that person has done something for his
community and the descendants of that CLOUTIER must be very proud.
We will continue with another toponymy, which arrived shortly after the request that I
made of you.
Miss Germaine Cloutier of
Mont-St-Pierre generously sent these texts to us.
Our sincere thanks for the research and for the work accomplished.
Rue
Prudent-Cloutier
(main street highway 132 crossing the municipality of Mont-St-Pierre in Gaspé)
was named in honour of our ancestor Prudent Cloutier.
Prudent Cloutier was born in 1838 at St-Thomas de Montmagny,
of the marriage of Antoine-Gaspard Cloutier and Rogiée Fournier.
In 1865, he descended the St-Lawrence River to St-Maxime-du-Mont-Louis and found an
acquaintance, Louis Bernatchez, who had been living in the municipality of
Rivière-à-la-Pierre in Gaspé for the past seven years, with his wife Marcelline
Gendreau and his seven children. It should be noted that the name of Rivière-à-la-Pierre
in Gaspé was changed
in 1904 to Mont-St-Pierre because there already was a municipality called in Portneuf
county.
In December 1865, he purchased lot number 17 from Donald Fraser for the sum of $80.00 with
a
down payment of $10.00 in cash. On the remaining $70.00, he paid 7% in interest.
On January 15, 1866, Prudent Cloutier married Joséphine Bernatchez, daughter of Louis
Bernatchez and
Marcelline Gendreau, originally from Rocher Noir in Montmagny. Josephine was 16 years old
and Prudent was 28.
The marriage took place in the chapel of Mont-Louis before a missionary priest, who
recorded the marriage
as taking place at Ste-Anne-des-Monts. (The fact was transmitted by word of mouth
because the church registers were located at Ste-Anne-des-Monts and the missionary served
the population of Mont-St-Pierre only on demand using a minuscule chapel erected at
Mont-Louis.
This chapel later burned and was rebuilt as a church.)
In 1889, Prudent purchased a series of lots (lots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
and 11) alongside the cove of the village of Mont-St-Pierre. The owner at the time was
Jean-Baptiste Bernatchez.
The union of Prudent and Joséphine saw the birth of 18 children of which 6 died at an
early age.
However, on the birth of his 12 living child (Alphonse), Prudent Cloutier obtained free
land in
the township of Christie, by virtue of the " Law of 12 children " of the
Government of Quebec.
In 1925, Prudent and Joséphine celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
The event was celebrated with much ceremony. For this memorable occasion, the family of
Prudent
came from Montmagny to Gaspé for the first (and the last) time, to visit the celebrants.
On July 29, 1926, Prudent died at the respectable age of 88. Ten years later, on January
26, 1936,
his wife Josephine Bernatchez died and joined he who was the ancestor the many Cloutiers
living in Mont-St-Pierre and the neighbouring villages.
In 1979, Jacques and Alain Mercier, great-grandsons of Prudent proposed to the
municipality of
Mont-St-Pierre that the name of Prudent Cloutier be given to the central and main street
of the village.
The municipality accepted and on June 24 (Quebec’s national holiday, St-Jean-Baptiste
Day) 1979,
the village priest inaugurated PRUDENT-CLOUTIER street as the official name
of the main street of the municipality.
A funny fact, one of Prudent’s ancestors had a small thumb on the right hand.
The Cloutiers who are descended from Prudent Cloutier
always bear the nickname of " Poucet "… (meaning small thumb).
In the same municipality of Mont-St-Pierre, another street bears the Cloutier name.
It is Georges-Émilie-Cloutier
street, located on lot number 1, which now has the number 39-1, purchased in
1874. This street was named in honour of Georges Cloutier and his wife Émilie.
--- We should inform you that in the magnificent parish of Mont-St-Pierre, everyone knows
each other and most are related. Either on the Cloutier side or the Bernatchez side.
Mrs. Andrée Lancup of Le
Gardeur sent this information to us
Please accept our sincere thanks.
Rue Cloutier, in Ville de Le Gardeur.
The information received indicates that the name was inspired by the
name of a writer born in Sherbrooke. His first name was Eugène, he lived between 1921 and
1975 and he was the recipient of many literary prizes. This Quebec dramatist and producer
died on October 1, 1975 after being struck down by cerebral thrombosis. His wife Isabelle,
his only child Anne-Marie as well as his many friends in the colony of artists keep a fond
memory of this perfectionist who left numerous works in the world of literature and the
theatre.
You can see how interesting it is to learn a bit of history about
our ancestors. Due to the lack of space, we must stop here.
We will continue in the next issue of your newsletter La Clouterie ". There
are surprises awaiting you…
