Julie Rascoe (1886-?) was the youngest of
11 children to Joseph and Amelia (Smart) Rascoe. She lived
in the Redford, New York area.
In April 1902, Julie married Felix Gonyea, a gentleman
older then herself by 11 years. Felix worked numerous jobs,
one being a miner for
Chateaugay Iron & Ore in Lyon Mountain, N.Y.
During the next decade, Felix and Julie had 5 children.
Periodically, the family would uproot themselves and move to
a new location.
On April 21, 1910, their last documented location as a
unified family is found in Nashua, Hillsborough County, NH
were they resided on Ledge Street. Felix was occupied as a
plumber in a cotton mill. Their youngest child
Ottoroy was born later in the year.
Felix, Julie and children arrived back in Clinton County
about 1912. Shortly after this, the Gonyea's world began to
unravel. Felix who was reputed to have a violent
temper, was the instrumental cause of Julie leaving him. With Julie escaping to
Tupper Lake in Franklin County with their youngest child,
Felix was forced to raise 3 children with the support of his
family. Apparently, one of the children had died in infancy.
Sometime after 1913, Felix institutionalized the three
children that had been left in his care. He was in charge of
paying the institution for the welfare of the children, as
agreed upon.
During the spring and summer seasons of 1916, Felix left
Plattsburgh, without informing the institution of his
intent. He was
reported to have gone to East Rochester, but his location
went unknown from that point. Meantime, the bill for the
welfare of his children went unpaid. The monies accumulated
to the extent, that the institution was forced to have local
officials prepare a
warrant. The warrant issued against Felix was for Dereliction of his Children.
Upon finding out there was a warrant issued against him,
Felix traveled to Tupper Lake and caused Julie to be
arrested on an unknown charge. This was with the intent
that Julie would drop the charge of abandonment against him.
Upon the recommendation by law officers that Julie obtain an
attorney, she was released that same day, and the charges
were dropped.
On June 30, 1916 a scathing article appeared in the "Plattsburgh
Sentinel" about Felix and his dereliction to his
children. Julie, upon learning that the three remaining
children were about to be sent to the Ogdensburg Orphanage
to live permanently, begged the officials not to send her
children to the orphanage, where she would be unable to
regain custody. She agreed to move back to Plattsburgh and
obtain a job in order to support herself and the children.
Meantime, Felix was located and brought back to
Plattsburgh by Sheriff Nash, to face charges of the
dereliction. He appeared in the local court July 10, 1916
where he was ordered to pay $200 in bond and an additional
$8.00 a week child support or be sent to the county jail for
6 months.
Julie disappeared a short time later, and was never heard
from again. Conjecture is that Julie met her demise in the
Chazy River. No records were located for Julia over the next two
decades.
After the disappearance of Julia, the children were adopted out to separate homes
in the Clinton County area. Joseph Leon aka Leroy was raised
by his grandparents, Paul and Josephine Gonyea in Saranac,
as shown in the 1920 census. Ottoroy was raised by one of
the local Perry families, until he was old enough to support
himself. He does appear in the 1930 census working for
Emmitt Ryan in Saranac, N.Y.
Felix appears in the 1930 census for the city of
Plattsburgh as a boarder. His marital status was listed as
"widowed". His death records have not been
located.
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