NAPOLEON JOYCE (1850 - 1907)

PEN THOUGHTS

A LIEVRE FOREMAN

From an article published early in 1920 by the late

editor of the Buckingham Post, Mr. A.H. Parker, republished in

1965

Subject: Napoleon Joyce (1850 - 1907).

One of the sawyers in this shanty vas Napoleon Joyce,

the father of John Joyce of Montreal and Napoleon Joyce of the

town. He came to Buckingham to work in the mills when it was the

custom to bring men from the City of Quebec and below it to make

Up the periodical shortage of labour in the village. Many of these

men came for the season only, and left after the mills closed.

Some, however, stayed for good, and Napoleon Joyce was one.

But before deciding to cast in his lot permanently among

Buckingham friends he vent to Quebec for a trip of some weeks.

After he came home the writer, then a gaffer, saw him debark from

the stage and placing his trunk on the veranda of the house which

was later to become his home, and squatting on it detailed to the

folks an account of his journey to and from the Ancient Capital.

The scene is as vivid now as when it happened early in the seven-

ties, and when Macpherson LeMoyne was still the "Lord Master~of

Carrabas" on the eastside. Then Napoleon Joyce married Marceline

Page. The couple had quite a family, and intenseiy loyal to his

firm, Joyce vas equaliy so to wife and children, Johnny the eldest

son being the apple of his eye.

Af ter awhile, Napoleon Joyce turned to cooking, and for

a couple of years looked after the culinary department of a farm

on the Rouge River belonging to the Ross firrn. After the firm tool

over the farm there vas a great shortage of hay on the Lievre, and

eyes were turned to the Rouge farm which had by a strange break of

fortune harvested bumper crops for two seasons. It vas decided to

tap the Rouge farm supply to ease the hay situation and Isaac N.

Kendall, the Ross Mjllvright, was sent up with a gan of men to cut

a road between the Lievre and the Rouge to transport the hay across

country.

Under present conditions, wages and incidentals taken

into consideration, the thing would have been impossible; then the

wages of the laboring men were at their lowest ebb. Deficits were

piling up yearly in an alarrning manner, and there seemed no prospect

of a change for the better. A consultation with one of the east-

side principals and the manager resulted in a paring of salaries

for the yearly employees; but it was decided that the laborers, pay

would be untouched; men had to have enough to keep body and soul

together.

Napoleon Joyce vas contented on the Rouge farm, but would

have been so happy if Mrs. Joyce and Johnny could have been permitted

to join him, but that was out of the question. The Rouge farm

was disposed of and Napoleon Joyce rejoined his family. His taste

of cooking on the farm gave Joyce the ambition to be a shanty cook

and this vocation he followed, it is thought, until his death which

came prematurely. A hand on the Rouge farm while Joyce was cook

was lame Samuel Hewson. Samuel quit the Ross employ and went to

one of the Dakotas, where it was rumored he had been scalped by

Indians. It proved to be a canard. Samuel may have had a brush

with Indians but came out of the melee with both life and hair.

So his friends here heard afterwards.

______________________________________________________________________

THE BUCKINGHAM POST

And Labelle County Echo

Buckingham, Que., Friday, February 15, 1907.

Mr. Napoleon Joyce Dead

Mr. Napoleon Joyce is dead. He took sick at one of the

East Templeton Lumber Co.'s shanties above the Desert and was on

his way home when he died. What disease caused his death the fam-

ily, at time of writing, are unaware of. Deceased vas born at

Quebec, of English parentage, and came to Buckingham in the six-

ties. At the time of his coming laborers were scarce in town, and

to run the sawmills in full force it vas necessary to import men.

Malbaie and other points below Quebec city supplied the bulk of

thein. Mr. Joyce vas one of the many who were brought to town from

below. Unlike the very great majority of those who came to town

for the saving season, Joyce grew to like the people of Buckingham,

and stayed the second season and a third, and on his marriage to

Miss Marcelline Page, on June 9th, 1873, he cast in his lot de-

finitely with the place of his adoption, bought property and built

thereon, and at the time of his death owned outright a large lot

and a comfortable home in the South ward. Mr. Joyce vas one of

the many others who, laborers though they were, took a great

rest in their work, serving their employers faithfully, rendering

unto Caesar the things which appertained to him. These men were

not only faithful, but scrupulously honest; wether the boss vas

in sight or out of it, the work vent on the same. As the managers

were honest and industrious, 80 were the subordinates in like mea-

sure to be depended upon on ah occasions, the firm's interest being

before every thing else. Manager trusted his inferior in the employ

and vas trusted and respected in return. Alas that such men and

such days should pass away.

Deceased was a shanty cook and learned the business with

our old friend, Mr. James Ryan. He vas vith Mr. John W. Cameron

(now of Cushing, Que.) when be was foreman on Whitefish Lake,

bordering the Ox Bow farm in 1878, being one of the gang of choppers

and sawyers that year with Martin Doherty and James McGuire, the

4th, Neil Stout, making Up the quartette of log-makers. Joyce's

first cooking experience vas on the Rouge farm, on the River Rouge.

Prom a farm cook he got charge of a shanty cookery, sticking to

the cooking business with Ross Bros., then The James MacLaren Co.,

and latterly the East Templeton Lumber Co., in the service of which

company he baked his last batch of bread and cooked his last pot

of beans. Mr. Joyce leaves a widow, five sons, John, Napoleon,

Willie, Thomas and Walter, and three daughters, Annie, Agnes and

Maggie, to mourn a good husband and an affectionate father.

The remains arrived by train Monday evening and were taken to

the home, from where they were taken Thursday morning to St.

Gregory'. church, thence to the R.C. cemetery, a large number of

citizens attending the funeral. Mr. Joyce vas in his 56th year.

The post extends sympathy to the bereaved family.

____________________________________________________________________________

NAPOLEON JOYCE (1882 - 1955)

Napoleon Joyce, was born in Buckingham on the 29 of March 1882, son of Napoleon

Joyce and Marceline Page, he married Emelda Gravel daughter of Vincent Gravel and

Alphonsine Charron on the 19th of July 1904 in Buckingham, they had 7 children,

Ivanhoe, Lionel, Lucien, Beatrice, Yvon, Stella, Guy. He worked 56 years for Maclaren

industries(Previously known as The James Maclaren Company). He started at the age of 12

as kitchen helper to his father, in a timber camp.

Later, he worked in the batten mill, the shingle plant, the sawmill, the mechanical pulp

mill and finally at the newsprint mill in Masson as a millwright. He retired in 1950, at

the age of 68.He died at the Ottawa General Hospital on the 20 20th of April 1955.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

LIONEL JOYCE (1907-1975)

Lionel was born in Buckingham, Quebec, on November 23, 1907. He

attended St. Michael's High School and graduated at the age of 16.

He taught school in Catineau Mills and Buckingham for three years

and vas awarded a Provincial Government grant for proficiency during

his last year of teaching. Lionel left the teaching profession to

start his own trucking business which he operated until joining the

Canadian Flint and Spar Company in 1936. He worked with our company

as a laborer for three years before being promoted to maintenance___

crew. From the maintenance department he vas promoted to Mill Fore-

man in 1941, and held this position until 1959 when he was made plant

superintendent.

Lionel married Ethel Belter in 1935. They have six children, three

girls - Carol, Marion and Helen, and three boys - Jocelyn, Marc and

Andre. The children are ail married except the youngest, Andre

who lives at home with Lionel, as do Marc and his wife.

Lionel is an ardent fisherman and hunter and is a member of the Dick___

Newton Fish & Came Club and the Buckingham Angler's Association. He

is a member cf St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church. He is most in-.

terested in Canadian and French history and his knowledge of this

subject is outstanding.

Lionel is a very conscientious and valued worker and his unfailing

loyalty to the company during the past years is gratefully acknowledged.

Lionel worked 37 years for International Mineral's and Chemicals

previously known as Canadian Flint and Spar.
 
 

Note: Ethel, Marion, Helen and Andre all suffer from Multiple Sclerosis.

______________________________________________________________________________________

ANDRE P. JOYCE
 
 

Born in Buckingham on the 2nd of September 1953,son of Lionel Joyce

and Ethel Belter, attended St-Micheal's College 1959 - 1969,

Polyvalente de Buckingham 1969 - 1972.

Employee of the James Maclaren Industries Inc.

Married Nancy Kane on the 5th of October 1974.

Divorced fron Nancy Kane June 1990.

As one child: Sean Joyce born tthe 3rd of June 1980.

Living with Helen Seguin born in Ottawa, the 28 of March 1959,

daughter of Aurore Cere and Paul Seguin, mother of Nancy Paul,

Marie-Andree Paul,and Lee-Anne Paul
 
 
 
 
 
 

Author of: Buckingham son histoire ,Son patrimoine (1983)

Recensement de Buckingham 1825, 1861,1871, 1881, 1891 (1992)

Recensement de Buckingham 1901 (1993)

Book intitled ''Joyce'', copies are available

at the Archives National du Quebec in Hull, Quebec

and Archives Nationales du Quebec, in Quebec City,Quebec

Member: Societe d'histoire de Buckingham

Societe d'histoire de l'Outaouais

Personal research documents and historical pictures of Buckingham

are under the name Fonds Andre P. Joyce 07-HP57

Archives Nationales du Quebec

170, rue Hotel-de Ville

Hull (Quebec)