How can you find out if a relative is dead or alive if you've never met him/her?

The quest for my family history...


For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in my family tree. A few months ago, I finally broke down and purchased the Family Tree Maker program and although the price was scary at first, ($91.18 CAN) I decided it was worth the price because it gave me a 9 month subscription to www.ancestry.ca . After activating my subscription, I searched day and night for records pertaining to my family's history.





My story really begins back in the 1940's, although I was born in the 60's. It seems my grandmother, Ella Rogg had an affair which resulted in the birth of a child. My grandfather, it seems, couldn't face the embarrassment of raising a child that wasn't his, so he decided to disappear, never to return to his wife and two children that he did father...one of them being my father.





All my life, I wondered who this mysterious man was. I knew his name...Joseph Pierre Jean Poirier....Peter to his friends and family, and through various questions posed to my grandmother, I found out that he had a sister named Jacqueline. I also learned that his parents names were Blanche Goulet and Lucien Poirier. I was told by my grandmother that my grandfather was 11 years older than she was, which would have put his birthday around 1910.





On Feb 6, my birthday, I discovered where Lucien and Blanche (my great grandparents), Jacqueline and Denise (my aunt's) were buried (Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montèal), but still Pierre Poirier eluded me.





Weeks passed, and gradually I found out more and more information, (I traced my french ancestors all the way to France and King Louis VII) but my grandfather's generation was still a mystery. I was starting to believe that my grandmother lied to us all about my grandfather and who he was.


Imagine my surprise upon finding out that his parents were married in 1919! Instantly, I started looking into baptismal records around 1920 and lo and behold, on March 24, I found it! His name was Joseph David Jean Pierre Poirier, born Nov 26, 1920! I was so excited to finally know his complete name, and his birthday! but at the same time, very disappointed that my grandmother had lied to us about his date of birth...I guess it was a smoke screen so we would never find him. I guess she was also ashamed of what she had done and didn't want us to know about it.





One purpose of this blog is to find out information about my grandfather, Pierre Poirier. I also wish to find out about my other ancestors. Their names and some of their pictures can be found at:





http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/use...





If anyone has any information or pictures concerning the following people from these places, I would be happy to hear from you:





McSorley, McManus from Penniac NB, Fredericton NB, Poirier from Sainte Cunégonde or Montréal, Lalonde, Goulet, Hodson, I would be very happy to hear from you. My email address is lynnsamms@yahoo.ca





Hoping to hear from lots of people!

How can you find out if a relative is dead or alive if you've never met him/her?
I suggest if you can at a library read old newspapers from around the time and place you were told that papa Poirier took off and see if any news articles about him come up.





I'm not saying it's the case but if she were that evasive about his age which seems peculiar, perhaps something bad like suicide or a prison sentence happened, or something imaginatively flambouyant like French Foreign Legion, who knows. Or maybe she'd gotten old and plain forgot details?!





I know you asked about not knowing if he were dead or alive. I still have questions - have you found their marriage records? Did Ella remarry? About what year did Peter run off? Have you tracked down any even cousins of his who may have heard family tales about what became of him?
Reply:I often use the family files at www.rootsweb.com. No, they are NOT always correct, but it is a start. There are many entries for Poirer (not Lucien), but what I use is the advanced search, and enter Quebec for either birth or death place. What you then have is the connection to someone searching the same name (sometimes the name is a random one, and not the main line).


The 2nd option is that you have a church record in a certain locality. It is hoped that they remained there, possibly died there. Also at rootsweb, under mailing lists, are groups for almost every place in the world, including Quebec. That is the best direction to network with persons whose interest is the same area, and finding available resources.


Presumably, he would still be living when the parents died. Can you locate a marriage of the sister? and work to see if you can find her descendents?


I'd particularly question where there might be civil records, relating to any property that his parents might have owned. Here, that would be a probate file, and it normally will show living relatives and locations.


Good luck!