The Early Years

When my grandfather Adlore was born on September 19, 1889 his father William was 25 years old and his mother Eugenia “Jennie” (Baillargeon) was 23 years old.  Adlore would have been born at home (the northeast corner of 3^rd Street and Murray Avenue) in White Bear Lake.  At that time, his 4 older brothers: Joseph (Joe) at 6 years old, William at 3 years old, Edmund at 2 years old and 13 month old Harvey had maybe hoped that Mom would have a girl, but I’m sure they were elated to have another brother.  After Adlore, 2 more children would be added to the family: Amis Henry born September 26, 1890 and Alma Mary born on February 15, 1892.

Transcription:

The title reads:Register of baptisms in the church of St. Mary of White Bear Lake, Diocese of St. Paul

Surname: Vadnais

Baptized: 1889 on the 29th of September

I, the undersigned, baptized Adelard born on September 19, 1889

from William Vadnais and Joanna Bargeron.

Sponsors were Adelard Duprey and Mary Demers.

                                                         Signed: C. Robert (the pastor at St. Mary’s)

End of transcription.

Adlore’s godfather Adelard Duprey [Adlore Dupre] was his uncle; he was married to William’s youngest sister, Tille.  I am not sure about his godmother Mary Demers.

As you can see, both records show September 19, 1889 as Adlore’s birth date.  I don’t think anyone questions the year or the month, but some of you may think that there is an error with the day Adlore was born, but I believe the 19^th is correct even though he celebrated it on the 20^th.  The baptismal record was created within days of his birth and the information on the Minnesota Delayed Registration of Birth was certified by Adlore and his mother Jennie.  Other documents created at other times, e. g. his death certificate, can easily be incorrect. 

The 1895 Minnesota census for White Bear Lake enumerates William and Jennie along with their 7 children: 6 boys and 1 girl.  William is working in a saw mill, the children range in age from 3 to 11 with Adlore (Edlore) being listed as 5 years old and it shows that William and Jennie have lived in White Bear Lake for 9 years (since 1886).⁴   It would be the only census to include the entire family.

Seeing the range of ages of Adlore’s siblings it’s easy to imagine that he had quite a few playmates to choose from in just his immediate family.  I am sure that the surrounding neighborhood was also filled with children.

When Adlore entered school in about 1896, he would have attended the newly built Washington School on 4^th Street, just one block from his home.  There are no school records to look through to accurately know when he started or stopped.  I don’t believe that he ever graduated; given the dynamics of his family, his life was already headed down a different path.

I’ve studied and mulled over the class picture shown above.  Initially I had been told that #29 was Adlore’s son Richard (Dick).  If it were Dick, the picture would date to around 1927 to 1929 when Dick was around 8 to 10 years old.  By then, the dresses worn by the girls and the teacher would have looked more “flapper” style with dropped waists.  The teacher in her cinched waist long flowing skirt along with the style of the girls’ dresses and the lace up tall shoes/boots they are wearing are more indicative of the late 1800s, early 1900s.

In a newspaper interview done in 1971 Adlore said that: “He started [working] at the age of 7 when he held the horse for the man who delivered vegetables around White Bear.”⁵  Adlore was only in 1^st or 2^nd grade at the time he took on his first job.

Nine year old Adlore’s childhood ended quickly when his father abandoned the family.  Jennie had William arrested and they went to court on January 21, 1899 where William pled guilty and was sent to the St. Paul City Work House for 30 days.⁶  What did the children think?  How long had this been going on and how were they dealing with it?

It appears that Adlore’s father came home after he served his sentence since he is counted with the family in the 1900 U. S. census.⁷

As you can see, 10 year old Adlore is shown listed with 4 of his siblings: William F. age 15 (working as a farm laborer), Edmund age 13, Harvey T. age 11 and Alma V. age 8.  Not shown are Adlore’s oldest brother Joe, almost 17 years old, who had probably struck out on his own and Adlore’s younger brother Amis Henry who had passed away from tubercular meningitis on February 2, 1900 at 9 years, 4 months and 6 days old.  The 4 youngest children shown, including Adlore, are all recorded as attending school.

The 1900 U. S. census record also shows Adlore’s father William working as a day laborer.  I wonder how the 1893 financial crisis and the subsequent years had impacted the family.  The crisis lasted for years, and at its peak over 20% of the working population in the United States was unemployed.  Was Adlore’s father a victim of circumstances and hence the previous abandonment of his family and his only being able to get work as a day laborer?  Could it be why Adlore in later years worked so hard to not be dependent on someone else for his livelihood?  Again, how were these young children dealing with all of it?  It seems to me that they had a lot of trauma in their lives at a very young age.

William would abandon the family for good sometime before 1905.  In the meantime, the children rallied around their mother Jennie.  They must have loved her very much. 

In an interview done over 50 years ago Adlore shared details of another of his early jobs.  The interviewer wrote that in about 1903, when Adlore was 14 years old, he worked for the contractor building the grade for the street car line between White Bear and Wildwood.  His job was driving a team of horses on a dump-wagon and wheel-scraper hauling dirt and rocks to fill the east side of Goose Lake between what is now Lion’s Park and South Shore Boulevard.  He spoke of how the horses would sometimes stumble on a large rock or chunk of dirt and fall into the lake.  When that happened he would have to jump into the water and hold the horse’s head up to keep it from drowning until the team was unhitched and the horse back on its feet.  I think it was a very dangerous job.  He further told of the construction office and camp being located under one big tent in the woods where the crew ate and slept, and the horses were kept.  The camp was located in the area where the Community of Grace Lutheran Church is currently located (right across Highway 61 from the Dairy Queen).  On Thanksgiving day in 1904 the first street car made its way into White Bear.⁸  I’m sure he was filled with pride.

Adlore’s Northern Pacific Railroad (NPRR) personnel records provided some insight into other jobs he held.  It was between May 1905 and June 1907 that he was a laborer delivering feed for C. H. Wiegand at the White Bear Elevator and from July 1907 to June 1909 when he worked at Inter-State Lumber Company in White Bear Lake delivering coal and lumber.⁹

Adlore’s NPRR personnel file also shows that he worked for Charles E. Davis (a prominent contractor and builder in White Bear Lake) as a laborer during the same time he worked for Inter-State Lumber (1907-1909).  One of the building projects completed during that time was the Y.M.C.A. building (started in 1907 and dedicated in 1908).  It is currently a part of Kellerman’s Event Center.  It is likely that Adlore was involved in the construction of that building.

The 1905 Minnesota census shows Jennie’s surviving 5 sons all living at home, supporting the household: Joe at 22 years old is a plasterer, William at 20 years old is a farm laborer, Edmund at 18 years old is a teamster (a person who drove a team, usually of oxen, horses, or mules, pulling a wagon), Harvey at 16 years old is a railroad wiper (the bottom rung of his long railroad career) and Adlore at 15 years old is a day laborer.  Their only sister Alma at 13 years old is listed as a student.¹⁰  Adlore and his siblings all must have been driven and focused, with a strong work ethic.  I believe their mother and the family itself survived, in part, because of the devotion and ambition of her children.

On December 23, 1909 Adlore began working for the Northern Pacific Railway as a warehouse man at the White Bear Lake station.¹¹

Here are the only other pictures I have of Adlore as a young man.

I don’t know when or how Adlore met his future wife Ellen (Peltier).  She lived in White Bear Township near Lake Vadnais about 5 miles from Adlore’s home.  Maybe Adlore delivered coal or wood to Ellen’s family and they met, or maybe they met on the train, at a dance or through some mutual friends.  Do any of you know?

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cindy

© 2023 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved

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Footnotes for Adlore Joseph Vadnais – The Early Years