Antoine Lariviere Sr

Antoine was born in 1847.  Antoine's father was Louis Lariviere and his mother was Marie Lambert.  He was an only child.  He died at the age of 62 on January 10th, 1909 in Olga, North Dakota.  He was buried in Olga, North Dakota.

• General Notes
  • Born to a french father and Metisse woman who was one-half Salteaux Indian giving Antoine 1/4 indian
    
    Antoine(Sr) Lariviere was born in 1847 in the parish of St. Francis-Xavier in what is now the west side of Winnipeg, Man. Canada to Louis Lariviere and Marie Lambert. Louis Lariviere was a french(no known indian blood) voyageur for the Hudson's Bay company from Jesus Island in Montreal, Canada. Marie was part indian ( one-half) and French. Antoine married Therese LaLiberte on Jan 10, 1871 at St Francis-Xavier parish. She was "not of age" according to the records at St Francis church. She was born in 1853, but must not have had her 18th birthday yet. The marriage ceremony was performed by Father F.X. Kavanagh and witnessed by Louis Lariviere and Francois Morin. "All were from the parish".
    The mission at Baie St. Paul was serviced by St Francis-Xavier until 1873. The mission became an establised parish on its own in 1874 and was later named St. Eustache. The church was then located on the north side of the Assiniboine River. In 1881 the river flooded and destroyed the church. The priest, Father St. Pierre, left with many members of his church and moved to south into what is now North Dakota at Olga. The Larivere families also moved including Louis and sons Antoine and Francois and their families. Louis's wife died in 1900, so he came and lived with Antoine Sr. until he died in 1910 or 1912 in Olga. The St Eustache parish was rebuilt on the south of the Assiniboine in 1882. Francois Lariviere (Brother of Antoine) came back to St Eustache a few years later and used Desriviere version of our name. It means the same as Lariviere, "The River".
    The first two children of Antoine and Therese, Elise and Melanie, were born and baptized in St. Francis Xavier parish. The next five children were born in the parish of St Eustache; Antoine, Alex, Marie, Apoline and Sara. Melanie died at the age of 7 on Jan 10, 1881(must be buried in the St. Eustache cemetery).
    Antoine Sr. was trained in a vetenarian trade school (according to my grandmother) in Montreal for about two years. He practised this trade in the Olga area from 1882 until his death in 1910. The trade was quite properous since every farmer used horses for plowing, haying, harvesting and transportation. Cattle also required veternarian attention also. Maybe that is why he was able to afford so many children--19.
    Antoine Sr was a good friend of Hyacinthe Villeneuve. They did have a family connection. Antoine's wife was the daughter of Marie Robillard and Alex LaLiberte. Hyacinthe's brother, Francois Villeneuve, was married to Marie's sister Justine Robillard.
    The following incidents personally told to me by Alex Lariviere, the second oldest son of Antoine Sr. on July 18, 1970 when I visited him at his home in GlassGlow, Montana. My wife, Peggy and my four kids were with me at the time.
    He lived at 841 3rd ave in Glassglow then.
    "My father(Antoine Sr) died from an accident that occurred while drinking in an extended New Years celebration. It was customary then to celebrate the New Year for a whole week with neighbors and friends by eating, drinking and visiting. The new year of 1910 was being celebrated at Antoines by some of the older men including Hyacinthe Villeneuve. On january 2nd or the 3rd, the men started drinking again after having celebrated all day Jan 1 and of course New Years eve. The men had started dancing together and singing. Antoine's wife had went the cellar to get more food to do some cooking and left the cellar door open. The men hadn't noticed and kept dancing. Antoine Sr. fell in and apparently broke his leg. The men, being too old and a little tipsy, couldn't get him out. They went and got help from sons Antoine and Alex and few neighbors. They got him out and put him on the bed and tried to get fix his leg but the leg swelled up to a tremendous size because of internal bleeding. Apparently the broken bone had pierced an artery and caused internal bleeding. The doctor, if there was one, or anyone else  wasn't able to do anything to stop the bleeding, only to apply tourniquets. His condition worsened as blood poisoning began to set in and the loss of blood continued. After about a week, he died. Before that he had been in good health. At the end he turned almost green, probably from blood poisoning. " On the day my father died, my brother, Antoine, came over to my house and said "if you want to see your father before he dies, you better come now". My brother was very matter of fact about it".
    "My father and Antoine Jr. liked to drink, especially in later years. I use to accompany him on his rounds to the farms for his work. I took care of the teams of horses when on these trips. I would harness, unharness, feed them and get them ready when we left for the next farm.  After finishing the work at the farm, the farmer would offer drinks and food and, if the work lasted more than one day, which it usually did, he would provide a place to sleep. On many occassions when we were ready to leave, they would send me to harness the horses as they started to drink. I didn't drink, so I was assigned this duty. My brother, Antoine did drink, so he would drink with my father. After drinking for a while they would tell me to unharness the horses and they would party throughout the nite. Sometimes this would go on for as long as a week. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and didn't  go with them anymore". As Alex told this about his past times with his father he had tears in his eyes.
    Antoine was a tall man, "over 6'5", very tall for those days. Several of his brothers were also tall. His younger Paul was also about 6'5".
    
    In the N. Dak census of 1900, the kids from Zephrin on down were at home. The census was recorded in the Walhalla township census and not in the of Olga or Beaulieu townships, I assume that the Walhalla township is next to Beaulieau township. The census lists David Lariviere as born in 1889, Joe in 1894, John in 1895 and Clara in 1896.
    Many of the family members left after Antoine and later Louis died (1911) and went to SASK to homestead. Antoine and his brother Frank, Edward, and Joe stayed around Olga for several years. Antoine Sr's brother Paul also stayed around Olga. Later probably about 1916-17 Frank and Ed went to work in the Iron Mines in Hibbing Minn. where they lived and raised their families there.

Details of Antoine's family with Theresa LaLiberte