Maurice Pilotte Family

My mother's side of the family came to the United States from Quebec, Canada. Maurice and Claudia Dionne Pilotte immigrated to the United States in 1887. They came from the Riviere Du Loup area of Quebec. It is located on the shore of the St Lawrence River due north of the northernmost tip of Maine. They were part of the French-Canadian migration of workers to the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts.

According to the 1900 census data, Maurice Pilotte was born in November 1860 in Canada. He immigrated to the United States in 1887 and was living in Lowell, Massachusetts. His occupation was listed as a cotton spinner. He was not a US citizen in 1900. Claudia Dionne Pillote was listed as his wife of 14 years. The census indicated that they had 5 children -- 3 of them living. The children listed at the address were Lumina Pilotte, daughter, born August 1887 in Canada; Marie Pilotte, daughter, born June 1889 in Massachusetts; and a son, Alphonse Pillote, born January 1897 in Massachusetts. The son would be my grandfather, Joseph Pilot. This is a photo of the Maurice Pilotte family. Grandpa Pilot is a young teen, so it would have been taken around 1910.

Claudia and Maurice were married at Richmond, Quebec in October, 1886. A Richmond Church record was of the August 12, 1887 baptism of Marie Claire Pilotte, legitimate daughter of Maurice Pilotte and Claudia Dionne Pilotte. The godparents were Charles Pilotte and Adele Boivin.

The census listed the next door resident of Maurice and Claudia Pilotte as Charles Pilotte and his wife Emma. This was Maurice's brother. Charles was born in December 1861 in Canada. He and Emma had 4 children, all living at the time of the census. The children were Charles Pilotte, 7; Emma Pilotte, 6; George Pilotte, 4; and Alphaise Pilotte, 1. Charles was a brick mason. Another resident listed next door was 70-year-old George Roleau, who was listed as a father to the head of the household. His occupation was listed as a carpenter and in 1900 he had been widowed for 40 years. Marriage records indicate that George Roleau was the father of Emma Pilotte.

In 1920 the U.S. Census shows Maurice and Dionne living at Dana St in Lowell, MA, along with their daughter Lumina Pilotte Lussier, her husband Wilfrid Lussier and their four children. Lumina and Wilfrid Lussier's eldest children were twin girls, Claire and Alida. The two girls inherited that property and owned it up until 1976, according to Massachusetts property records.

Grandpa Pilot kept in touch with his sisters. I can remember meeting them on a visit to Mansfield when I was a child. They were still alive when he passed away in 1968.