Arcand Albert (Bert)

Annie (Baillargeon) Arcand was great-grandma Jennie (Baillargeon) Vadnais’ younger sister and Celanaise (Baillargeon) Asselin was their oldest sister.  Celanaise married Beloni Asselin in 1872.¹⁹  On November 6, 1896, their oldest child,18 year old Mary Asselin, married 21 year old Alfred Arcand, Annie’s husband Bert’s next younger brother.²⁰  Hedwidge Adeline Asselin was Celanaise and Beloni’s second born.  I’ve not found a birth record for her, but the 1900 U.S. census states that she was born March 1884 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.²¹

I imagine that after Hellene’s birth, Annie and Bert would have needed help with the 3 older children and baby Hellene since both Hellene and Annie were sick with tuberculosis.  People lived in fear of contracting tuberculosis so I doubt if anyone except for family would have come to their aid.  I wonder if Hedwidge Asselin, Annie’s niece, was the one that helped the family during their time of need.  In a way it makes sense, she was unmarried, young and healthy.  However it occurred, Hedwidge Asselin would soon play a huge role in her Aunt Annie’s family.

After Annie passed, it was a little over a year later on Sunday, November 24, 1901, that Bert Arcand married Hedwidge Asselin, the niece of his deceased wife.^{22, 23}  Albert was 28 years old and Hedwidge was 17 years old.  Hedwidge instantly became a step-mother to 10 year old Willie, 9 year old Eddie and 7 year old Hedwidge.

On January 11, 1905 Hedwidge gave birth to a son, Clarence Arcand, my second cousin once removed.²⁴  According to his birth record, he was the second child born to Bert and Hedwidge.  I’ve search birth and baptism records and so far I have been unable to find any documentation of a first child.

Bert, Hedwidge and Clarence are enumerated in the 1905 Minnesota state census.²⁵  In it, Hedwidge is listed as a male and Alvert [Albert] is listed as a female.  This will be the only census record to show their son Clarence.  Bert’s other 3 children: 14 year old Willie, 13 year old Eddie and 11 year old Hedwidge are not shown on the census with them.

Clarence passed away on June 24, 1905, having lived for only 5 months and 13 days.²⁶  He died from convulsions with the contributing cause being pertussis (whooping cough).  Pertussis in infants is a life threatening bacterial infection. Today we can be vaccinated against it.

Although I was unable to locate the other 3 children in the 1905 Minnesota state census, the 2 boys are enumerated with Bert and Hedwidge on the 1910 U.S. census.²⁷  Bert’s daughter Hedwidge, 16 years old, is not shown.

Bert, like many others in his extended family, owned and farmed land to the north and west of Pine Tree Lake in Grant Township.  He also was a successful entrepreneur in White Bear.

Starting sometime before 1915, Bert owned Bert Arcand and Company Feed Store located in the Haussner Building on the west side of Banning Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets in White Bear.  He sold the business in 1916 to E. P. Steigleder.²⁹

Sometime between 1910 and 1920, Bert and Hedwidge moved to White Bear.  The 1920 U.S. census shows them as owners of a house, across the street from the feed store, at then 310 Banning Avenue (now 4744 Banning Avenue).³⁰  The house would have been located just to the south of the current Sew What! store.

By 1916 Bert had moved to Beckstead’s White Bear Auto Livery, where he sold Chalmers and Ford automobiles.  The business was located on the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Banning Avenue.  Bert was in partnership with John E. Collins until 1919, when the partnership was dissolved and Collins opened his own garage and filling station.³¹

With WWI on the horizon, although he was a proprietor of a business, Bert registered for the draft.³²  He was 45 years old at the time.  He didn’t put it on the registration card, but he would have been physically disqualified from service because of his asthma.

In 1920, the White Bear Press reported, “The completion of Bert Arcand’s new garage gives White Bear the finest appearing building of its kind in this section.  The considerable frontage is largely of glass with copper casings, the entire floor space is of cement and the side and rear walls are of pressed stone.  The garage and work shop is equipped with every modern device necessary, giving us a Ford agency such as most towns do not possess.  The brick work in the front is of art brick.”³³

In 1923 Bert sold the Ford dealership to A. C. Podvin and F. A. Biernes.  They kept the location and continued to sell Ford vehicles renaming the business to White Bear Motor Sales.³⁴ It appears that Bert retired after he sold the Ford dealership; he was 50 years old and Hedwidge was 39 years old. 

The 1924 West Palm Beach, Florida city directory lists Hedwidge and Bert as residents and they are also enumerated in the 1930 U.S. census as residents of Palm Beach County.^{35, 36}  More specifically they lived in the Lake Worth area of Palm Beach County.

Other Arcand family members were in the Lake Worth area at the same time as Bert and Hedwidge.  Since 1928 Bert’s parents, Dolphis and Alvina, had been living with their daughter Louise in Lake Worth.³⁷  Both Dolphis and Alvina passed away in 1930, one in June and the other in July.^{38, 39}

For some reason, by 1931, Bert was back in business in the Haussner Building.  He had returned to selling farm implements and running a feed store, only this time it was with his son, probably Willie.  The business was sold around 1935 to Hubert Bring.⁴⁰

Bert was in retirement for the final time.  He and Hedwedge headed for Canada by automobile in May 1936.  According to their border crossing form, they left on their trip in May 1936, crossing into Canada from North Dakota and then they crossed back into the United States at Sweet Grass, Montana on October 28, 1936.  In the remarks section of the form is typed, “In Canada this summer because of asthma.”⁴¹  From what I’ve gathered, Bert battled asthma his entire life.  Physicians of the time often prescribed going to a different climate.  It’s likely he was following doctor’s orders.

I’ve been unable to find Bert and Hedwidge anywhere in the 1940 U.S. census.  Maybe they were on a road trip.

Bert passed away on May 12, 1943 at his son Willie’s home, where Bert and Hedwidge were also living, located at 414 (now 4772) Wood Avenue in White Bear Lake.  At the time of his death, Bert was 69 years 7 months and 20 days old.  It is hard to read, but it appears that the immediate cause of death was myocardial insufficiency (heart failure) due to (some classification of) bronchial asthma.⁴²

Bert was laid to rest on May 14, 1943 in St. Mary’s Cemetery.⁴³

Hedwidge was in White Bear Lake when she passed away on October 16, 1948 at 68 years old.⁴⁴  I don’t know the cause of her death.  She was laid to rest next to Bert in St. Mary’s Cemetery.⁴⁵

Annie (Baillargeon) Arcand (the aunt), Hedwidge (Asselin) Arcand (the niece) and their husband, Albert Arcand were together at rest.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cynthia

© 2025 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved

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Footnotes for An Aunt and Her Niece (Part 2 of 2) post