Georges and George A. Michaud
Life On the Military Road
Georges Michaud was born in 1864, probably on the family farm in Wallagrass Plantation. At the age of 23, he was ready to settle down, buy a farm, and get married, in that order. The September 1, 1887, deed to his farm indicates that Georges purchased Lot #58, containing 68 & 4/10 acres in the town of Eagle Lake, from Eaton, Higgins and Hill for $94.00. Four days later, he married 17-year-old Malvena Simard, in Ft. Kent.
Their son, George A. Michaud, was born in Eagle Lake two years later. He inherited the family farm and also ran a maple sugar camp outside of town. He married Ida Daigle (born in Ft. Kent) on April 23, 1913. George A. (everyone called him George-A, like it was one word, "jorj-ae'") was 24 years old at the time, and Ida was 18. Ida's parents were Joseph Daigle and Marcelline Lachance, both of Ft. Kent.
This was the main camp where they slept while they were sugaring. There were several other buildings where the actual making of the maple sugar, syrup and candy took place. In the background of the photo above, you can see Mike, the famous farm horse. The gentleman with the pipe is George A., standing in the doorway is his brother Adrian and the person on the left is Ned Thibodeau, the husband of George's sister Julie. The sugar camp was located about eight miles up the Convent Road west of Eagle Lake. As my cousin Bob Michaud (Adrian's son) reports "As kids, we would go up to the camp during Easter break and "run" the trees for [George A]. Those were great times. At the end of our break, he would send us back home in his horse sled. Mike, the horse, knew the way and would takes us eight miles thru the woods, no one touched the reins...."According to family history (confirmed by a small booklet called "Looking to the Future: St. Mary's Parish, Eagle Lake 1972"), "From 1840 To 1900 missionary priests began to visit homes in various settlements. At first their host was Xavier Albert. Mass was later said at the home of George Michaud, the present site of the sisters' residence at Northern Maine Security Home (1972)." In spring of 1905 Father Marcoux, pastor of Wallagrass but also in charge of Eagle Lake and other districts, began the construction of a hospital. With the permission of Bishop Louis Walsh he began to erect a 40-by-50 foot building on land donated by George Michaud. Members of the Michaud family have said that in exchange they were to get medical treatment free of charge. The building was 50 feet high and was to contain three stories plus a basement... We also know that George A. was an accomplished woodsman, guide, and lumberman. The Rev. Alphie Marquis, in his memoirs "Among My Souvenirs" writes, "When I was a young man, Cash Austin was game warden in the Fort Kent district... I have a good report about him from [someone] who turned out to be a first class guide and sportsman: Georgie Michaud of Eagle Lake...." George A.'s son, Reginald Michaud, Sr., was 22 years old when he married Eddie Daigle, who was 25, on April 5, 1937. Eddie's parents were Rene "Remmie" Daigle, a farmer from Ft. Kent then living in Eagle Lake, and Adelia Depres, also from Ft. Kent. In 1944, while working for the Coast Guard off the coast of Maine, Reginald was washed from a navigation light and drowned. Eddie remarried (to a Moody) and passed away in 1969. Their son, Reginald Girard Michaud, Jr., married Carol Ann McLaughlin on November 24, 1962.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm still researching the
Michaud line from here. Information from Maine State Archives and family records,
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