Biographie Pombrio Joseph-P.

Joseph P. Pontbriand (Pombrio) (farmer) eldest son of Joseph-Eustache Pontbriand and Angeline Lepine was born on the 24th of February 1853 at Coopersville, New York and baptized at St. Joseph's de Corbeau Coopersville. His godparents were Joseph Lepine and Leonora St. Germain. Six years later his family settled in Sciota, New York where he remained until his death in 1940. It is there that he met his future wife, his next door neighbor Matilde Bruso (Brousseau) (20). 

Joseph attended school house #9 a mere two mile walk. The family may have also walked to church, though the church building was still to be constructed, but services were often held in local homes. In 1899 he donated money towards the construction of St. Louis de France Church in Sciota, where one of the windows is dedicated to "M. et Mde. Joseph Pontbriand."

A neighbor of his future in-laws, he was listed as a day laborer in the 1870 U. S. census. Could he have worked for Louis Brousseau? Or the OK Wood Company whose property adjourned his parents? The area where they settled was described in the 1869 Beer's Atlas as rolling upland, with a slight incline to the north-east and the Great Chazy River as it's principle stream. The soil is light and sandy, with a large share unfit for cultivation. 

Joseph and Matilde were married on the 14th of May 1872 at St. Joseph's de Corbeau. She was born during the summer of 1853 on August 26th at Sciota to Louis Brousseau and Rosella Jeannotte (21). Her baptism took place on the 15th of September 1853 at St. Joseph's de Corbeau in Coopersville. Her godparents were Oliver Brousseau and Meli Yacon.

Soon after this union their home began to fill with children. David was born in January 1873, Edouard in September 1875, George in July 1878, Elsie in December 1880, Henri in April 1883, Hartford in April 1885, Joseph-Henri July 1887, Aurelie in March 1889, and Anna Marie in January 1891. Though this family may seem large enough, according to the 1910 census Matilde was the mother of twelve children with eight still living. My dad tells me there was a Leeward but I can't seem to find him listed anywhere. I wonder if he might be thinking of Leeward (22) son of François Pontbriand and Alberta (Bertha) Dame? I also found an Alice listed as being born in 1880 on the census records, but I'm not sure if this is Elsie or not. 

On the 9th of March 1897 Joseph purchased the land next to his mother's property for $250.00, from Luther and Alice Hager of Plattsburgh. The lot was twenty-one and one quarter acres of land more or less in the south-west one quarter of lot #151 of the Dueville Patent bounded north by land owned by James Blair; east by the highway, south by land of John Liberty and J. Brombia (Joseph Pontbriand) and west by land of the OK Wood Company, on by the lot line, the said lot owned by Silas Sheldon on the assessment roll, and recorded on the 31st of March 1897.

In 1898 he purchased the family farm from his mother for $1.00 on March 26th, she had bought it from the heirs for one dollar (Clinton County Deeds Vol. 95, p975). The north half of the southeast quarter of lot #151 of the Deuville Patent, contains thirty-one and one fourth acres of land. As his holdings began to grow it probably seemed like nothing could go wrong, but it did. In the fall of 1900 a tragic farm incident left Joseph-Henri dead from a ruptured spleen. He could not have been the first child to die, I am still looking for mention of the remaining children. 

According to the "Sullivan Papers" in the Chazy Historians office, Joseph Pontbriand (Pombrio) after settling on the French Settlement Road (17) later moved to the Altona-Sciota Road (9), on the so called Murkin's Farm where he died. I have not yet found when he sold his properties and moved, but it is believed that he moved sometime between 1915-1918 since he was still living on the Vassar Road (Old French Settlement Road) during the 1910 and 1915 censuses. 

In 1918 following the deaths of their son David, their daughter-in-law Addie and two of their grandchildren, the family took in the surviving children. This however turned out to be too much for a couple in their mid-sixties to handle. The children would end up being split up among their aunts and uncles. My grandfather Oral ended up living with his aunt Mamie for a time. 

Sometime between 1937 and 1939 author Celeste Pember Hazen paid a visit to Joseph Pombrio at his home in Sciota. I would caution the reader to be careful with the conclusions that she came too. She does however, leave us a quote from Joseph, which was mentioned in a previous article and repeated here. "You'll notice that we spell our name Pombrio. The name has changed several times, because the older people could neither read nor write. They had no school privileges in Canada. When we went to school the teacher would ask us our name and we would have to let her spell it the best she could from the pronunciation. So it has been written: Pontbriand, DesPonbriand, Pombrah, Pombria, Bombrah etc" (Hazen 133-134). According to his granddaughter Ruth Corbeil he signed his name with an X. The census records also indicate that he could not read or write, yet the letters home were all in English. Could someone have read the letters to him? He must have been able to understand and speak the language. 

Matilde died on the 9th of March 1937 just two months shy of their 65th wedding anniversary. At the time of her death she had witnessed the birth of twenty-three great grandchildren. 

Joseph died on the 3rd of May 1940 in Plattsburgh, and the burial service took place at St. Louis de France at Sciota at 9:00 AM, with the Mass celebrated by the Rev. Fr. Lawrence E. Mallette. Those who attended the funeral from out of town were, Mr./Mrs. Antoine Pombrio (23), Mrs. Juliane Lamonday (24), Mr./Mrs. Lawrence Pombrio (25), Mr./Mrs. Floyd Pombrio (26), Jeanette Pombrio (27), and Mr./Mrs. Maxwell Pombrio (28). The pall bearers were Wilmer (29), Willard (30), and Maxwell (28) Pombrio, Hersey (31) and Russell (32) Trombly and Henry Neverette (33). 

By the time of his death he had seen the birth of forty-five grandchildren and thirty great grandchildren. One of the great grandchildren to have known him was my father David. Though only six years old at the time he can still remember the visits to the farm and how much fun he had when he went to visit.