He was a very prominent man

After finding out my paternal 2nd great-grandfather, Jerome Robillard, died in Lowell during 1884 a few weeks back, I ran straight out the door down to the library that same day to search some microfilm in hope of finding a death notice published in any of the local newspapers. Unfortunately, L'Etoile was not yet being published at the time (because you know I would have found one there if it had been), so I seearched the Courier and the Lowell Weekly Sun and this is what I found:

Jerome Robillard, who died in "Little
Canada, " Sunday morning, was to have
been taken to Montreal on the express
train Monday evening; but an unforeseen
incident delayed the departure of the re-
mains until Tuesday morning.  Mr. Robil-
lard died of dropsy, his weight from that
cause reaching an enormous figure of 328
pounds.  The box which contained the
coffin was in consequence of unusual di-
mensions and when it was attempted to
put the box into the baggage car of the ex-
press train, Monday evening, it was found
to be over two inches wider than the door.
The door of the baggage care on Tuesday's
morning's train was wide enough to admit
the box, and it was taken on it northern
journey.  The deceased measured over 30
inches about the shoulders, the box con-
taining his remains being three feet wide,
two feet deep and seven feet long.

Published on pg. 8 in the Saturday Evening Lowell Weekly Sun, Lowell, MA, on 22 Nov., 1884

The Northern Canal: Sitting on the Tiger Frechette Bridge in October

Sentimental Sunday: The Franco American "Little Canada" Memorial - Aiken St., Lowell, Mass

Demolished in the 1960's to make way for Urban Renewal, Little Canada is where my ancestors once lived, loved, worked, worshiped, and played. I wish I could have had a chance to walk it's streets and listen to it's voices before they were erased.

 

"EN SOUVENIER DES CANADIENS DE LANGUE

FRANCAISE ET DE LEURS DESCENDANTS,

LES FRANCO-AMERICAINS, QUI ONT VECU

ICI, NOS COEURS N'OUBLIERONT JAMAIS

LEUR COURAGE, LEURS SACRIFICES, LEUR

FOI, LEUR FIERTE

1875 - 1964

ON THIS SITE GREW THE HEART OF THE

FRANCO-AMERICAN COMMUNITY. HARD

WORKING FRENCH CANADIANS CAME TO

FILL THE MILLS OF LOWELL AND BUILD

A TRADITION OF FAITH, GENEROSITY,

AND PRIDE.

LE PEITE CANADA - LITTLE CANADA

AIKEN - CABOT - CHEEVER - COOLIDGE - HALL - MELVIN- MONTCALM - PAWTUCKET - PERKINS - SUFFOLK - TUCKER - WARD

JE ME SOUVIENS - LEST WE FORGET"

"1977

ERECTED BY 

THE FRANCO-AMERICAN PEOPLE

AND

THE OBLATE FATHERS OF

ST. JEAN BAPTISTE PARISH

THIS STONE COMES FROM ONE OF THE

LAST BLOCKS OR LARGE WOODEN

APARTMENT HOUSES TO BE TORN DOWN"