Barthelette and Glynn family history from 1850 to 1950

Barthelette and Glynn family history from 1850 to 1950

Eustache Berthelet and Delia Stephens married in 1871 in Vermont as recent immigrants from Quebec.  They would be migrant farm workers for many decades between Quebec, Massachusetts, and Vermont.  They had 17 children but only 9 lived to adulthood.  If the child was born in Quebec, then they would give the baby a name of Berthelet, but if it was born in the USA, then they named it Barthelette or Bartlett.  After another generation all would use Barthelette.

They ended up permanently in Holyoke by 1886.  The father was able to find a job in the Parsons Paper Mill.  They settled down by moving onto a farm in northern Holyoke.  One of their sons Arthur Bartlett married a first generation Quebec immigrant Alexina Loiselle.  They are buried in the Barthelette family plot in Notre Dame Cemetery in South Hadley.  About 30 Barthelette members are buried together – quite a surprise to me since I was just cutting through the cemetery on my bike.  One of their sons Armand married Helen Donoghue whose grandparents came from County Kerry of Ireland in the 1870s.  The draw for all was their need for a stable job in the mills to escape the starvation of Quebec and Ireland in the 1870s.  Helen’s grandparents Hugh Donoghue and Catherine Looney had 10 children in Holyoke.  It is difficult to keep in mind that most of the Irish immigrants to Holyoke did not speak English but rather Irish or Gaelic.

Helen’s father Joseph Donoghue married Maude Sears of northern Vermont.  Maude had ancestry from the original settlers of Vermont.  Many Irish immigrants did not mind marrying Americans but usually they married farmers as their parents had been.  Most Quebec immigrants did not marry outside their ethnic group for three generations.  Only the fourth generation did in significant numbers.

The Glynn side of their family has an interesting story. Walter Glynn was born Walter Richard Boardway on November 19, 1893 in Holyoke Massachusetts.  His birth parents were William Boardway and Mary Wood.  Three years after his birth his parents divorced and his mother cared for him. Five years after his birth his mother remarried to an Alfred Glynn in Holyoke.  His mother selected to rename her son after her new married name.  Thus Walter Boardway became Walter Glynn on March 29 1899 – same boy but new name.  He used that name formally and informally throughout his life.  This includes naming his sons Richard Glynn and Donald Glynn when they were born.  He had married Estella Anson of New York state as his ancestry was.

Mary Graham married Donald Glynn and lived in South Hadley for many decades.  Graham is a Scottish name but her maternal ancestors are Irish.  Her maternal grandfather was John Somers of Holyoke.  He worked at the Holyoke City Hospital for many years in the 1910s.  This side of the family is hard to get facts and stories on but I still try.  Interesting case is that of Estella Anson.  Was a music teacher in Holyoke for her whole life.  Also was in various musical clubs of the city.  She gave private lessons in her home on Maple Street.  Her ads in the Holyoke directory are informative.  Quite different from the typical person in a mill city.