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ROOKS COUNTY, KANSAS
Submitted by Larry Desaire
Married -- Celina Lavalier, born June 5, 1851, married August 10, 1872 at Chippewa, Notre Dame Church; died July 11,1930 in Rooks County Kansas from heat prostration, chronic nephritises, and heart attack. "We miss thee from our home, dear father,
Little is known about the life of Frank Desair. Information has been scanned from many different sources including the 1995 edition of "Our French Canadian Ancestors" written by Arthur D. Baldwin of 2743 N. Peach Hollow Circle, Pearland, Texas 77584-2054 and the "100th Centennial Book of Damar, Kansas." The Mormon Church of the Latter Day Saints was very instrumental in documenting the Catholic Church records of our ancestors. Family stories told by Exavier and Leo Desaire, grandsons of Frank Desair, also are recognized for contributing memories of this gentleman. We have learned Frank Desair was a traveling man -- "Never letting any grass grow under his feet" is how his life is described by family members. He came to the United States in 1864. Francis Frank Desair was a traveling man. As a young lad of 16 years he went to the state of Missouri with the Wisconsin Militia to fight during the Civil War. When his father died in Wisconsin, his mother and her children moved to Missouri. Frank provided for his mother and sister working as a hard-driving spikeman for the Union Pacific railroad. Rumor has it he also worked a gold claim in Missouri. A story of tragedy is told of an unidentified partner in a gold mine was found shot to death at the bottom of the mine. Was this unfortunate death an argument between two partners in the gold mine, or a battle over a beautiful French woman who would later become Frank's wife and mother of his children? He married Celina Lavalliere and when times got really bad in Missouri, he moved his family back to Barron County Wisconsin. While living in Wisconsin he provided for his family by working as a log rider for the lumber industry. He would leave in the spring of the year to ride logs down swollen streams to the saw mill. This was a very dangerous job. He was an accomplished carpenter building a number of log cabins near Desair Lake that was named after the Desair family near Dobie, Wisconsin. In 1900 Francis Desair heard there was opportunity awaiting any man big enough to accept the challenge^ in the state of Kansas. For a man brave enough to ride logs down swollen rivers, there was no challenge too tough; no river too wide; no gully too deep; no mountain to tall to climb to keep this man and his family from accepting the challenge from the state of Kansas located in the ^Great American Desert^. Francis Desair sent his 16 year old son Maxim to St Joe, Cloud County, Kansas to look for an opportunity to farm rich farmland in Kansas. Maxim saddled up his paint pony and rode that tough little stud horse all the way to Kansas. After arriving in Kansas, Maxim sent a message back by wagon train to the family to come to Kansas. With that word Francis packed the family heirlooms into their small farm wagon and followed "Betsy", the family milkcow, who pulled the wagon with all their possessions to Kansas. In 1900 Frank would move his family to St. Joseph, Shirley Twp., Cloud County, Kansas and from there to his final resting space in Rooks County Kansas where he is buried. Legend has it took a very heavy tombstone to tie this wanderlust man down to the Kansas prairie. The ancestral roots of Frank Desair, his great-great- and even great-great-great-grandchildren are alive and growing today. 1870 Livingston County Missouri Mooresville Census Name Age Occupation Birthplace LaSair, Francis, White Male 24 Railroad worker
Canada Notice: This is the first time we have seen this spelling of Frank Desaire’s name. He is going by the first name of Francis and Desair has been changed to Lasair. In looking over Civil War records a Henry Desert from Brussels, Wisconsin enlisted in the 34th Infantry, Company F then transferred to Company H. Private Henry Desert deserted from his outfit on February 4, 1863. UNION WISCONSIN VOLUNTEERS Organized at Madison, Wis., December, 1862. Moved to Columbus, Ky., January 31-February 2, 1863. Attached to District of Columbus, Ky., 6th Division, 16th Army Corps, Dept. of the Tennessee, to August, 1863. (6 Companies attached to 4th Brigade, District of Memphis, Tenn., 5th Division, 16th Army Corps, May to August) SERVICE.-Garrison and fatigue duty at Fort Halleck, Columbus, Ky., till August, 1863. Company "E" detached at Paducah, Ky., March 3; Companies "I" and "G" at Cairo, Ill., April 25-June 1; Companies "B," "C," "D," "F," "H" and "K" at Memphis, Tenn., May 12. Regiment united at Cairo, Ill., August 14. Moved to Wisconsin August 16 and mustered out September 8, 1863. Regiment lost during service 1 Officer and 18 Enlisted men by disease. Total 19. I do not know if this Henry Desert, the deserter, is Frank Henry Desair, my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather, Frank Henry Desair was working on the railroad in Missouri in 1870. His name was spelled Dessert in Wisconsin census records in 1872. In 1861 Frank Henry Desair’s father Narcisse Deserre was in Quebec, Canada. In 1880 our family name was spelled Desert in Barron county Wisconsin. If our Frank Henry Desair was the deserter he would have been sixteen years old at the time of this desertion. We do not have any other information that would link the Frank Henry Desair we know to this name - Henry Desert. Hopefully they are not one and the same. In 1860, Barron County Wisconsin had a population of only 13, and in 1870, five years after the Civil War ended, the population was only 539. Obviously, the county could not have sent many men to the Civil War. In those early days most of the men working for Knapp Stout and Company lived in the country and only during the months when logging crews were working and during the spring log drives on the rivers. They left the county and lived elsewhere during the remainder of the year. No doubt many of these men enlisted and served in the Union armies at some time during that long struggle. We do know that many former Civil War soldiers moved into Barron County after the war was over. They played a very important part in laying the foundations of the county. Today, all are gone--they have answered the last roll-call. They sleep "the sleep that knows no breaking," out in many final resting places across this great country. We must never forget these young men who laid down
their lives so that we might live in peace and freedom. "They shalt not grow old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condem; As the going down of the sun, and in the early morning, We shall
remember them." Sometimes we hear that American youth have grown soft with too much ease and indulgence which
we find today in our lives. In WWII and in Korea our youth met determined and well armed fores, on land, on sea
and in the air. In Africa and Europe our armies faced the most terrific military machine which was ever loosed
upon the world. In the far flung islands of the Pacific, in sea and air battles and in steaming jungles and in
the bitter cold of the rugged land of Korea, our yound soldiers met a fanatical foe who fought with religious frenzy.
No enemy soldier who ever faced an American soldier in combat has ever questioned the valor and fighting ability
and endurance of our fighting men. Frank Desair married Celina Lavalier, a beautiful French woman before 1871. We do not have records of this marriage, but there is Catholic Church records of a marriage ceremony in Wisconsin on August 10, 1872. This Catholic Church document may be the official marriage document given for couples who originally married outside the Catholic faith by a judge or justice of the peace without the official blessing of the Catholic Church. Loiselle Marriage Index Dessert, Francis N. (NTL) Rosalia Tureau (Luneau) The Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Lourdes is the principal feature of the little hamlet called Dobie, Wisconsin located in the southwest corner of Section 36, Oak Grove Township of Barron, and County Wisconsin. The history of Our lady of Lourdes Church dates back to the year 1869, when mass was read for the first time by Father Nacli in George Roberge's log cabin. Succeeding him was the well known Father Goldsmith, who came twice and read mass in John Labrie's cabin. Father Nolan came next and read mass in Honore Demers’ home. Father Keller marked the location of the first church. A missionary from Chippewa Falls read the first mass in the new church which was a crude affair, but sufficient to meet the demands of the people. Aristide Mireau, George Roberge, Tom Kearney, and Tom Donelly assisted by several protestant families, did most of the carpenter work building the church. Rosailia DeSerre, Frank's mother, and sisters Delia and Ma-e De Serre lived with Frank and Celina L'Auverdiere in Missouri in 1870 following the death of Frank's father Narcisse DeSerre. She may have lived with Frank and Celina for ten years. In 1880 Rosailia DeSerre was found in Wisconsin caring for the many children of Nelson De Serre, who was the brother of Frank Desair. 1880 Census Barron County Stanfield TWP Wisconsin Name Age Born Children: Narcisse and Martha cannot read and write. Parents of Narcisse were born in Canada. Martha's father and mother born in North Carolina. Nelson Bradseth's father born in Norway, his mother born in Canada. Nelson Bradseth's may be the son of the unidentified DeSerre daughter. Nelson Bradseth lived with his grandfather until he died, and "Nels" Narcisse DeSerre went to Washington State. Little is known about Celina L'Auverdiere. Her father was Joseph L'Auverdiere and her mother Emerence Duchette signed her marriage certificate. Celina's L'Auverduere's brother was Exord L'Auverdiere, born December 3, 1853 at St. Bernard, Quebec. He moved to St. Joseph, Missouri at 11 years of age in 1864. Eight years later (1872) he moved back to Rice Lake, Wisconsin. He married Louise Robarge. Joseph L'Auverdiere and Emerence Duchette produced the following children: Celina (married Francis Desair), John L'Auverdiere of Spring Brook, Wisconsin, Virginia who became Mrs. Joe Campbell of Spring Brook, Wisconsin, and Celindre who married Pete Gagnie. There are several different spellings of the Gagnie name -- Gagner, Gonyer, and Gagne. Exord L'Auverdiere died March 27, 1917, at sixty-four years of age of a heart attack and is buried at St. Christopher, Canada. Times were tough in the early 1870's in Missouri. Only the Louis and Rosalie (DeSerre) Barron family remained in Missouri for the 1880 US Census. Frank Desair packed up his extended family and moved to the Rice Lake, Wisconsin area. There he provided for his family riding logs submerged in swollen rivers down to the sawmill. Many brave men died falling off slippery logs into the swirling ice-cold rivers. He would leave in the spring of the year just after snow melt and would return to the family in early winter. He was an accomplished carpenter building warm rustic log cabins for homes for relatives to live in during the severe winters in Wisconsin. One sturdy cabin near Desair Lake still stands today. Family legend has it that either the winters are too damn cold in Wisconsin for wood to rot or Polish termites won't eat wood touched by a French carpenter. Many of the relatives lived near a small lake near Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The families would walk back and forth across the frozen lake during the winter months to visit. Legend has it that in one early spring two little Desair girls fell through thin ice, drowned and froze in the lake. The lake was then named Desair Lake in their memory. Desair Lake is on the state map of Wisconsin located four miles north and three miles west of Rice Lake, Wisconsin at 18th Street and 23rd 1/2 Avenue. 1880 Wisconsin Census Stanfold, Barron County (Near Rice Lake, Wisc.) Name Age Married-Occupation Born Desert, Francis, White Male 34 Head Farm Laborer
Canada All of Frank and Celina Desair's children were baptized in Our Lady of Lourdes, a small Catholic Church at Dobie, Wisconsin. Addie Desair married a man named James Frye. We believe his full name was James Boliver Fry who was born without a father about 1800 in Allen, Ohio. His mother, Ida A Fry, born in 1862 in Allen Ohio and died April 13, 1883 when James Fry was only three years old. Ida A Fry married Elijah B Imler on April 10, 1880. After Ida died in 1883, Elija B Imler married Genetta Viola Clark. He moved to Jewell County Kansas taking his step-son James Boliver Fry with him. Elijah B. Imler died August 12, 1895 at Warwick, in Jewell County Kansas. James Frye and Addie Desair had three children. I have the names of two of their daughters - Ruby and Antoinette. They divorced and Addie took the children and moved back to Rice Lake, Wisconsin. There she married a man named Lawrence Robarge. The Robarge family name was also the family name of Louise Marie Robarge-Marence who married Joseph Caravetti-Lavalier the father and mother of Celina (Lavalier's) Desaire, the wife of Frank Desaire. Addie (Desaire-Frye) Robarge is buried at Dobie, Wisconsin. Her only living relative is a granddaughter named Clara Baumberger who was eighty-seven years of age in 1998. First Desair(e) to Settle in the state of Kansas In 1894 Joe Desaire and Georgian (Berland) Desair were living in Wielders Twp. in Graham County Kansas. They moved near St. Joseph, Shirley Twp. Cloud County, Kansas in 1900. They raised the following children: Ruby, Florida, and Geraldine. Their first born infant died before 1900. They bought several farms in Graham County Kansas - on the following dates: June 9, 1915; November 29, 1916; March 2, 1916; May 7, 1917; May 23, 1919; and August 3, 1920. 1900 Kansas Census of Cloud County, Shirley Township Name Age Born Married Born Georgianne (Berland) Desair was the sister of Pete Berland who lived across the street from the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Damar, Kansas. Joe Desair was a severe alcoholic. He and Georgianne divorced by 1920 and she and the girls moved to Ellis, Kansas. Joe followed her to Ellis, Kansas and they got remarried but the second marriage ended in divorce as well. Georgianne then married a railroad man but Joe Desair would not leave them alone. Georgianne and her new husband then moved to Sioux City, Iowa and Joe followed them to Iowa as well. Georgianne's husband then moved her to Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Joe Desair is thought to be buried in the Sioux City, Iowa area. The name Georgianen Desair has surfaced in the state of California. I do not know if Georgianne Desair moved to California directly from Kansas or maybe later from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. By 1900 all of Frank Desaire’s children except Francis and John Desair had left the Wisconsin area. 1900 Kansas Census of Cloud County Shirley Township, St. Joseph Name Age Born Married Francis "Henry" Desair and Celina have been in the United States 36 years. (1864 immigration ?) 9 children, 6 living. Henry does not read or write or speak English. Frenchmen were building a settlement in Rooks County that later would be called Damar, Kansas. One of the original settlers was John Baptiste Hubert and his wife Josephine Hubert. They sold their farm in Iroquois County, Illinois for $1,200.00 and went by wagon to Rooks County, Kansas. They lived in a sod house one half mile from where Damar, Kansas is located today. They tried to farm for seven years without raising a single crop -- drought, heat, wind, and grasshoppers devastated their crops. They held a farm sale and the only thing that sold was their yellow dog. The sale of the dog brought $7.00 just enough for a train ticket back to Illinois. On October 8, 1884, President Grover Cleveland
signed the document which entitled Francis St. Peter to own one hundred and sixty acres of land on the western
edge of Rooks County for a price of $4.00 an acre. He acquired his land from the Union Pacific Railroad company.
By 1880 most of the government ground had been taken up. Francis St. Peter had hauled ammunition during the Civil
War and like so many other veterans was lured to seek cheap land made available by the Homestead Act. The purpose
of the Homestead Act was to promote speedy settlement of the public lands as a means of producing revenue which
was needed by the Union. Senator Samuel C. Pomroy of Kansas promoted the idea that the government would not derive
a revenue from the sale of the land anymore than from the sale of air or sunshine. The original name of the Rooks County settlement was named St. Petersville. The first post office was located about two miles north east of the settlement and was called Ainsworth. When the Union Pacific railroad passed nearby, the first small frame church was moved to the present day site of the St. Joseph's Catholic church. At this time the settlement became known as Damar, Kansas. The first church services were held in the home of Exra St. Peter in 1887. Mr. St. Peter donated three acres for a cemetery and two acres for a church to the east of his home. The Joe St. Peter family was among the first seven families to arrive by covered wagon at the Damar, Kansas French settlement in 1877. They homesteaded a farm a couple miles from the settlement of Damar, Kansas. Among the first arrivals to the Rooks County settlement were Ezra and Joe St. Peter, Peter Simoneau, A.D. Manny, Dave Plante, Leon Hebert, Charles Noel (Newell), Stenis Morin, Joe Kerouac (Burton), Frank Beamu, Daniel Dussault, Adolph Sennesac, Ambrose Desbien, Archie Saindon, Mitchell Morel, and Henry Berland. The early settlers had to cross the barren prairie by team and wagon to haul grain by oxen to Ellis or Logan, Kansas Joe St. Peter and his neighbor took a wagon and team of horses to Stockton, Kansas to get supplies and mail from back East for their neighbors. They returned to the neighbor's farm at 9:00 o'clock at night and Joe St. Peter decided to walk the rest of the way across the prairie to his home. He was still some distance from his farm when he was attacked by snarling, hungry wolves. The wolves surrounded him like wild Indians and began to tighten their circle attacking from the rear as he fought off the wolves in front of him. He had no means to kill the wolves -- his only defense was swinging his overcoat above his head as he continually turned right and left to defend himself. He kept edging closer to home. His swirling overcoat was getting little or no results in scaring the wolves. He remembered his yellow dog "Puppy" at home guarding St. Peter's wife and family. He raised his voice screaming "Puppy! Puppy!" into the winter night. He had little hope his cries for help would be heard above the howling of the winter wind and snarling of the hungry wolves. By a miracle of God, Puppy heard his faint call for help, raced to his side, and landed among the wolves scattering them to the four winds. Joe St. Peter hugged Puppy and trudged home knowing by the grace of his mighty God and a brave yellow dog he survived a near death experience on the Kansas prairie. Even yellow dogs knew you had to be tough to survive in Rooks County Kansas. Frank Desair homesteaded eighty acres of ground northeast of Damar, Kansas. He ended up losing that piece of property. At sixty-three years of age, he lost all his farm ground except for ten acres of ground just east of the old Damar Baseball Park on property that is now owned by his grandson Exavier Desaire. In 1909 Frank retired from farming and built a home near the settlement of Damar. After moving into town, he made a living growing sweet melons and vegetables for sale. His talents as a carpenter were needed in the growing settlement. Three homes built by Frank Desair still stand today in the French community of Damar, Kansas. My grandparent's home on the southwest side of Damar, Kansas was used for the funeral wakes of every one of Frank Desaire’s grandchildren that died before 1970. The French community of Damar, Kansas did not have a funeral parlor so family homes were used for funeral wakes. As a youngster, I remember sleeping in the same cold bedroom where my great-grandfather, my great-grandmother, my grandfather, my father, and all my uncles and aunts had laid in coffins. Needless to say I got very little sleep on those nights. Picture a small frightened boy looking for ghosts of the past on the ceiling of that ice cold bedroom. You will never know how many Hail Marys I prayed on those cold winter nights sleeping at my grandmother's house. |
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