Though her headstone shows her birth as November 25, 1836, she was actually born on November 24, 1835, according to her baptismal record at St-Jean-Baptiste-de-Rouville.
Her parents were Regis Boutillette and Catherine Couture. He was from a quiet, hard-working Quebecois family. She was descended from one of the great heroes in the history of Canada, Guillaume Couture.
The family moved around often during her childhood. The economy in Quebec was quite week, but the lumber fields of St. Albans, Vermont offered plentiful, well-paying jobs just 30 miles from where she was born. During the summers, the family would enjoy time together along the shores of Lake Champlain. During the winters, they trekked north again.
Despite all of the upheaval, Catherine was an intelligent, well-educated woman. When she was a teenager, her father was offered the opportunity to help lead the startup of new lumber fields and sawmills in a tiny settlement at the mouth of the Saginaw bay in central Michigan. Though it required quite a big move to a town that barely even had houses in it, they would take the opportunity. After a winter or so in Hamtramck, just outside of present-day Detroit, where her father would go north to what would become Bay City to build a house for his family and get the land cleared and ready for a lumber mill, the family made the final push north. They would be the very first family attracted to move en masse to Bay City. They joined just a few dozen other people when they arrived...mostly single men in search of fortune.
Her biography tells of endless trails of logs floating down the Saginaw river. As children they would use them as a bridge to hop from one to another as they crossed the river. Her father helped to attract a Quebecois priest to serve the budding community. Services were first held above the storefront on the river. Eventually, in honor of their lumbering roots, they would build St. Joseph Catholic Church, the first church in Bay City.
She was also immensely entrepreneureal and would open the first seamstress shop north of Detroit as a young woman. In a curious happenstance, she and her sisters were among the small group of unmarried adult women in town. They had their pick of suitors. The one young man who caught he eye was Amand Hugo, the local blacksmith and a native of Sommedieue, France. They married at St. Joseph Church in 1862.
The land which had been cleared of its lumber was available for $1/acre from the lumber companies. Because of her thrift with money and his ability to squirrel away money, they would be able to purchase a large block of land in far eastern Hampton township. There they raised their six children and continued purchasing more and more land. In time, she and her husband would regret that the local children had no schools near them to increase literacy. She had been on the cutting edge of girls who attended public schools in the US and received her 8th-grade diploma. That was quite an accomplishment. Her husband and son Victor would establish the Hugo School on Nebobish Rd. At least three generations of their descendants would benefit from that school and the education that it offered.
As they neared retirement, they sold their farms to their sons, Frank and Vic. They purchased a parcel inside Bay City on Second Street where built a pretty two-story Victorian house which still stands today. There they would live with their spinster daughter, Genevieve. She died quietly of old age.
Her parents were Regis Boutillette and Catherine Couture. He was from a quiet, hard-working Quebecois family. She was descended from one of the great heroes in the history of Canada, Guillaume Couture.
The family moved around often during her childhood. The economy in Quebec was quite week, but the lumber fields of St. Albans, Vermont offered plentiful, well-paying jobs just 30 miles from where she was born. During the summers, the family would enjoy time together along the shores of Lake Champlain. During the winters, they trekked north again.
Despite all of the upheaval, Catherine was an intelligent, well-educated woman. When she was a teenager, her father was offered the opportunity to help lead the startup of new lumber fields and sawmills in a tiny settlement at the mouth of the Saginaw bay in central Michigan. Though it required quite a big move to a town that barely even had houses in it, they would take the opportunity. After a winter or so in Hamtramck, just outside of present-day Detroit, where her father would go north to what would become Bay City to build a house for his family and get the land cleared and ready for a lumber mill, the family made the final push north. They would be the very first family attracted to move en masse to Bay City. They joined just a few dozen other people when they arrived...mostly single men in search of fortune.
Her biography tells of endless trails of logs floating down the Saginaw river. As children they would use them as a bridge to hop from one to another as they crossed the river. Her father helped to attract a Quebecois priest to serve the budding community. Services were first held above the storefront on the river. Eventually, in honor of their lumbering roots, they would build St. Joseph Catholic Church, the first church in Bay City.
She was also immensely entrepreneureal and would open the first seamstress shop north of Detroit as a young woman. In a curious happenstance, she and her sisters were among the small group of unmarried adult women in town. They had their pick of suitors. The one young man who caught he eye was Amand Hugo, the local blacksmith and a native of Sommedieue, France. They married at St. Joseph Church in 1862.
The land which had been cleared of its lumber was available for $1/acre from the lumber companies. Because of her thrift with money and his ability to squirrel away money, they would be able to purchase a large block of land in far eastern Hampton township. There they raised their six children and continued purchasing more and more land. In time, she and her husband would regret that the local children had no schools near them to increase literacy. She had been on the cutting edge of girls who attended public schools in the US and received her 8th-grade diploma. That was quite an accomplishment. Her husband and son Victor would establish the Hugo School on Nebobish Rd. At least three generations of their descendants would benefit from that school and the education that it offered.
As they neared retirement, they sold their farms to their sons, Frank and Vic. They purchased a parcel inside Bay City on Second Street where built a pretty two-story Victorian house which still stands today. There they would live with their spinster daughter, Genevieve. She died quietly of old age.
Though her headstone shows her birth as November 25, 1836, she was actually born on November 24, 1835, according to her baptismal record at St-Jean-Baptiste-de-Rouville.
Her parents were Regis Boutillette and Catherine Couture. He was from a quiet, hard-working Quebecois family. She was descended from one of the great heroes in the history of Canada, Guillaume Couture.
The family moved around often during her childhood. The economy in Quebec was quite week, but the lumber fields of St. Albans, Vermont offered plentiful, well-paying jobs just 30 miles from where she was born. During the summers, the family would enjoy time together along the shores of Lake Champlain. During the winters, they trekked north again.
Despite all of the upheaval, Catherine was an intelligent, well-educated woman. When she was a teenager, her father was offered the opportunity to help lead the startup of new lumber fields and sawmills in a tiny settlement at the mouth of the Saginaw bay in central Michigan. Though it required quite a big move to a town that barely even had houses in it, they would take the opportunity. After a winter or so in Hamtramck, just outside of present-day Detroit, where her father would go north to what would become Bay City to build a house for his family and get the land cleared and ready for a lumber mill, the family made the final push north. They would be the very first family attracted to move en masse to Bay City. They joined just a few dozen other people when they arrived...mostly single men in search of fortune.
Her biography tells of endless trails of logs floating down the Saginaw river. As children they would use them as a bridge to hop from one to another as they crossed the river. Her father helped to attract a Quebecois priest to serve the budding community. Services were first held above the storefront on the river. Eventually, in honor of their lumbering roots, they would build St. Joseph Catholic Church, the first church in Bay City.
She was also immensely entrepreneureal and would open the first seamstress shop north of Detroit as a young woman. In a curious happenstance, she and her sisters were among the small group of unmarried adult women in town. They had their pick of suitors. The one young man who caught he eye was Amand Hugo, the local blacksmith and a native of Sommedieue, France. They married at St. Joseph Church in 1862.
The land which had been cleared of its lumber was available for $1/acre from the lumber companies. Because of her thrift with money and his ability to squirrel away money, they would be able to purchase a large block of land in far eastern Hampton township. There they raised their six children and continued purchasing more and more land. In time, she and her husband would regret that the local children had no schools near them to increase literacy. She had been on the cutting edge of girls who attended public schools in the US and received her 8th-grade diploma. That was quite an accomplishment. Her husband and son Victor would establish the Hugo School on Nebobish Rd. At least three generations of their descendants would benefit from that school and the education that it offered.
As they neared retirement, they sold their farms to their sons, Frank and Vic. They purchased a parcel inside Bay City on Second Street where built a pretty two-story Victorian house which still stands today. There they would live with their spinster daughter, Genevieve. She died quietly of old age.
Her parents were Regis Boutillette and Catherine Couture. He was from a quiet, hard-working Quebecois family. She was descended from one of the great heroes in the history of Canada, Guillaume Couture.
The family moved around often during her childhood. The economy in Quebec was quite week, but the lumber fields of St. Albans, Vermont offered plentiful, well-paying jobs just 30 miles from where she was born. During the summers, the family would enjoy time together along the shores of Lake Champlain. During the winters, they trekked north again.
Despite all of the upheaval, Catherine was an intelligent, well-educated woman. When she was a teenager, her father was offered the opportunity to help lead the startup of new lumber fields and sawmills in a tiny settlement at the mouth of the Saginaw bay in central Michigan. Though it required quite a big move to a town that barely even had houses in it, they would take the opportunity. After a winter or so in Hamtramck, just outside of present-day Detroit, where her father would go north to what would become Bay City to build a house for his family and get the land cleared and ready for a lumber mill, the family made the final push north. They would be the very first family attracted to move en masse to Bay City. They joined just a few dozen other people when they arrived...mostly single men in search of fortune.
Her biography tells of endless trails of logs floating down the Saginaw river. As children they would use them as a bridge to hop from one to another as they crossed the river. Her father helped to attract a Quebecois priest to serve the budding community. Services were first held above the storefront on the river. Eventually, in honor of their lumbering roots, they would build St. Joseph Catholic Church, the first church in Bay City.
She was also immensely entrepreneureal and would open the first seamstress shop north of Detroit as a young woman. In a curious happenstance, she and her sisters were among the small group of unmarried adult women in town. They had their pick of suitors. The one young man who caught he eye was Amand Hugo, the local blacksmith and a native of Sommedieue, France. They married at St. Joseph Church in 1862.
The land which had been cleared of its lumber was available for $1/acre from the lumber companies. Because of her thrift with money and his ability to squirrel away money, they would be able to purchase a large block of land in far eastern Hampton township. There they raised their six children and continued purchasing more and more land. In time, she and her husband would regret that the local children had no schools near them to increase literacy. She had been on the cutting edge of girls who attended public schools in the US and received her 8th-grade diploma. That was quite an accomplishment. Her husband and son Victor would establish the Hugo School on Nebobish Rd. At least three generations of their descendants would benefit from that school and the education that it offered.
As they neared retirement, they sold their farms to their sons, Frank and Vic. They purchased a parcel inside Bay City on Second Street where built a pretty two-story Victorian house which still stands today. There they would live with their spinster daughter, Genevieve. She died quietly of old age.
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See more Hugo or Boutillette memorials in:
- Saint Patrick Cemetery Hugo or Boutillette
- Bay City Hugo or Boutillette
- Bay County Hugo or Boutillette
- Michigan Hugo or Boutillette
- USA Hugo or Boutillette
- Find a Grave Hugo or Boutillette
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