Agatha Landry

Agatha Landry was born in Lugorsville near Robertville, New Brunswick. The second eldest of 14 children, she was the daughter of Jean Landry II & Marie-Anne Pitre . At the age of 11, her sister Adèle, who was a year younger than her, died due to appendicitis.

Raised on a farm, she had to do many hard chores. There were 7 daughters born in her family, before the first son came into the world. As a young teenager, when she finished her chores on the family farm, Agathe would go to her uncle's farm and help him there as his children were too young to work on his farm. Agatha did well in school and her father wanted her to continue her education to become a teacher. However, Agatha felt that she couldn't let her sisters do all the work so she stayed home to help her parents. She left school in grade eight.

Future genealogist at 22 months old,
sitting on Grandmother Agathe Landry's knees

In 1923, when she was 18, she went away to work as a housekeeper in West Bathurst, N.B. There she met a quiet, shy and hard-working young man of twenty years named Adolphe Pitre

Four years later at the age of 22, Agatha went to Jonquière in a region of Quebec called Lac St-Jean to work as a housekeeper for a family there. The following year on July 11th, 1928, she married Adolphe Pitre in Jonquière. They soon started their family and settled in Dolbeau, Quebec where nine of their twelve children were born.

The family's robust growth rate kept her challenged managing their limited resources. Her talent in sewing not only earned some additional income in those days (right up to age 81), it also assured the kids were always warmly dressed, even though winter clothes were sometimes made from old men's overcoats and blankets. As well, her knitting (which she learned to do as a child using a pair of large nails) always provided cozy mittens and sweaters. Dolbeau in the Lac St-Jean area of Quebec is blessed with a long cold winters and short hot summers, this made a vegetable garden possible and obviously a necessity, as well, extra monies were earned by the young family picking the plentiful wild blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.

Agatha was kept quite busy in Dolbeau where they first settled their family. Later, when they returned to New Brunswick, she says she never quite got used to Beresford even though they lived there five years but she felt at home right away when they moved to Chatham. Chatham has a New England charm with its clapboard houses and a park complete with gazebo and canons. There was also a ferry that took you across the Miramichi River.

At 75, a widow for five years, she married the widower Henry Babin. Unfortunately, he suffered from Alzheimer and only lived until 1983.

Today at 96, she is still as independant as ever even while visually and hearing impaired. She has survived two husbands and three sons.

Agatha and the girls - July 1999
Standing: Rose, Hélène, Pauline, Léona, Sylvianne
Sitting: Bernice & Agatha