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Gamelain De La
Fontaine, Michel
Surgeon, colonizer, business man; born in
1640 at Blois, France. And
son of Michel Gamelin, a wine merchant, and Francoise Bellanger. The first
mention made of him goes back to 1661, the year of his marriage to Marguerite
Crevier. Gamelin lived at Trois
Rivieres, Canada
and later at Cap-de-la-Madeleine, where he received a grant of land in 1662.
He must have practised his profession there, since we find him involved in a
court case with Louis Pinard, another surgeon who feared competition from
Gamelin. Thus, when Pinard, complained of the slenderness of his earnings as
surgeon to the garrison at Trois
Rivieres, the Conseil Souverain replied to him that,
if he was not satisfied, he would be replaced by Gamelin.
Then later Gamelin preferred to devote himself to the fur trade. In order to
do so, he made use of his pharmaceutical knowledge, manufactured beer from
wheat,and exchanged it for furs. He had two lodges,
where frequently the setting for most disgraceful scenes in which Indians
& Squaws indulged too freely in beer, while Gamelin wheedled their furs
out of them, all the more easily because he spoke
the language of the natives of the region fluently. Although he was found guilty by the Conseil Souverain on June 20,
1667 of being a "trafficker in liquor," he nevertheless carried on
this trade until the end of his days. Gamelin's daughter Mary (Francoise)
married Claude Pinard, son of the surgeon. Gamelin died in 1676; his wife
remarried, becoming the wife of Francois Renou dit La Chapelle.
Gamelin, Camille
Camille 32, & Anastasia 27, moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin
area in late 1861 with three or four of the eight children. Soon after they
arrived, Louis Moses was born in Pensaukee. Then they had eventually settled
in Marinette, Wisconsin. Camille lived 25 years in Wisconsin, Anastasia
29. Camille died three days before the marriage of his oldest son, Albert in
September 1886. Leaving two children, Eva & Joseph, still at home with
their mother. In 1890 Anastasia died at Northern Hospital in Winnebago. Both Camille
& Anastasia are buried in a family plot in the southern section
(originally a Catholic burial ground) of Wood lawn
Cemetery in Marinette.
There is also a possibility that additional children where born - one source
adds an Aldrich.
Gamelin, Louis Moses
Louis Moses Gamelin married Anna Sophia Wink (daughter of Theodor Henry Wink
& Anna Mary Kaiser) in 1885 Marinette,
Wisconsin. After marriage,
Louis & Anna lived with her parents while he worked as a stevedore
(Marinette City Directory, 1887). Their first child, Anna
Rose, probably was born in the Wink home & remembered Grandma Wink
warmly. Then trouble dogged the family, an eighth
child died in infancy, Anna Sophia's health failed, Louis' behavior
deteriorated, perhaps because of the lessening job opportunities (Lucille
remembers hiding under a porch across the street to see what mood he came
home in) his wife ejected him until he signed promises of reform, and then,
in July 1908, the family was broken up by Anna Sophia's death. At this
crucial time, the oldest daughter, Anna, was almost earning her way teaching
in Michigan.
The oldest son, 19-year old Louis Godfrey, may have had a job or he may have
been ailing, since he died the following year. Fred, 17, and Francis 15, had
left school at the end of eighth grade to help support the family. Now their
greatest concern must have been for Margaret, 13, and the two little ones,
Joseph, 7, and Lucille, 5. Apparently the older
children were alienated by their father's abusive behavior. Upon Anna
Sophia's death, therefore, Anna Rose took immediate charge of Lucille &
started her in school. Eventually she reared Lucille through high school.
Joseph apparently stayed with his father & other relatives, but he was abused. Lucille remembered seeing him kicked across
the room and bloodied. Eventually, Anna was able to take responsibility for
him too, with financial help from Francis and possibly, Fred, who left home
to make his way in the Washington
lumber industry. When Anna taught in Iron River,
Wisconsin, she placed Joseph nearby in an Ashland orphanage, the
Sacred Heart Convent, with a promise to take him into her home after
marriage. On May 13, 1911, he wrote a postcard to her saying," I am back
at the Convent and feeling fine. When are you coming to get me? With love from
Joseph." Promptly after her June 08, marriage to Mervin Liebman, Anna
brought Joseph into her new home. At some point, Louis took a Fortune-teller
& herbalist to be his second wife, but the children detested her.
Margaret refers to her coldly as "Mrs. Gamelin" in a 1915 letter to
Anna. Lucille remembers her as ugly, with a misshapen eye, a deformity, which
led relatives & others in Marinette to call her "one-eyed
Molly." Lucille remembers staying their only once with her father after
his remarriage. Anna had instructed her to climb "a long stairs" to
a certain lawyer's office if she was mistreated. She was - or felt she was -
& fled to the attorney's office, where Anna & Mervin retrieved her.
Keller, William Sr.
Not only
fires made the news, but in 1912, Prentice was faced
with a mystery. William Keller Sr. (grandfather of Bill Keller) former owner
of a button factory in Heidelsheim, Germany, came to the United States
at the age of 45 years, settling in Prentice. On October 13, 1912, he went to
pick evergreens four miles south of the old Clemens farm south of Pennington.
He never returned. About 200 men aided in the search but no trace of him
could be found... not even the sacks that he used for this greenery could be
located. A reward of $100 was offered for any
knowledge concerning his whereabouts. He was an alert and spry man of 70
years. Could he have become lost and perished from
exhaustion? Could he have become a victim of amnesia and simply
wandered away? The mystery of his disappearance was never
solved.
Lebich, Martin
Traffic Death Case Continues
The 15,400 damage suit brought by Michael Lebich of
Porterfield, administrator of the estate of his son, Martin Lebich, against
Raymond Roehl of Menominee, driver of a car which was involved in a crash
with Lebich's motorcycle, an accident which resulted in Lebich's death, went
into it's second day of trail here in Marinette Co. Court today with judge
William F. Haase presiding. In addition to the 15,400 damages asked
for medical and hospitalalization expenses and losses of companionship and
society, the plaintiff requests $150.00 damages for the motorcycle.
Stipulations were effected on the amount of damage
to the vehicle, medical and hospital expenses, and as to pain &
suffering. Litigants agreed that the youth died without regaining
consciousness and that no damages for the pain and suffering are involved.
Pleadings assert the accident occurred between 10:30 and 11:00 o'clock on the
evening of Saturday, June 6, 1942, when Roehl's car and Lebich's motorcycle
collided on highway US-41 three miles south of the Marinette City limits near
the entrance to the Pete MacDonald tavern. With Roehl at the time was Edward
Cook of Peshtigo. Riding on the tandem seat of Lebich's motorcycle was Miss
Joyce Gamlin, 16, of 224
Bayshore Street who sustained minor injuries.
The accident occurred when Roehl was leaving the MacDonald tavern and was crossing highway US-41 to go north from the north end of the
tavern's horseshoe shaped private driveway. Lebich was driving his
motorcycle south on US-41 enroute to the Morning Star tavern when the two
vehicles collided as Roehl was cutting across 41 in a northeasterly
direction. Cramer told leaving Menominee with Lebich, and George Huebner of
the town of Peshtigo,
each driving a motorcycle with girls, bound for the Morning Star tavern and
dance hall, near Peshtigo. Cramer said he was about a half mile north of
Lebich at the time of the crash, but did not see the accident. Huebner was
following Cramer, Cramer testified. "I got a flash of a motorcycle
skidding toward our car at terrific speed," Edward Cook testified today
in stating that he was the first to reach Lebich following the crash. His
testimony largely corroborated that given by Roehl yesterday. Others who took
the stand were Joyce Gamlin, Margaret Lebich, Michael Lebich, and Clarence
Rowe, Porterfield town chairman who was employed as
a character witness, all for the plaintiff; and Sheriff Kohlman, Evelyn
Sharon, Violet Conrad, and Edward Cook.
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