Sunday, January 19, 2014

52 Ancestors: #3 Frederick James Dargavel (1901-1987)


Frederick James Dargavel, the husband of my 1st cousin 2x removed, Eva Isabella Bustin, was actually born James Frederick Dargavel, on this date, in 1901, in the small community of Molus River, Kent County, New Brunswick. He was the fourth of nine children, and third son, of James Clarke Dargavel and Mina Isabell Olsen.

1911 Census of Canada, Weldford Parish, New Brunswick

According to an email from a great niece, Bonnie Dargavel, who contacted me through WikiTree, Fred left home at an early age. His two older brothers, Lyle Christian and William Thomas, had been war heroes in World War I. Lyle was wounded in 1915, and William was killed near the end of the war, at age 22, and is buried in Wanquetin Communal Cemetery Ext., Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.

For whatever reasons, one of which may have been living in the shadow of his older brothers, Fred left Molus River and came to the States in 1923, listing his occupatiion as "Woodsman" as he crossed the border. The 1930 U.S. Census finds him, along with two other young men in the 20's, boarding with the Hemphill family in Mechanic Falls, Maine. All three are listed as laborers in the lumber industry.

Fred's Border Crossing in 1923


Fred is not listed on the 1940 U.S. Census, but he enlisted in the U.S. Army on November 18, 1942, in Portland, Maine. His civil occupation is categorized as "unskilled lumberman, raftsman, and woodchopper." It is while he is stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, that he becomes a naturalized citizen, listing his address as 832 Stevens Avenue, Portland, Maine, the home of my great uncle and aunt, Tom and Cassie Bustin. He is single, with a grammar school education. Aunt Cassie was known to take young working men of Morrill's Corner into her home to give them a hot cooked meal.

Fred's Petition for Naturalization


Fred was undoubtedly one of the favorites in the Bustin home, as a romance bloomed when Fred returned from his stint in the Army. He and Eva, Tom and Cassie Bustin's oldest daughter, were married on December 19th in 1945. Eva was a young single mother, and Fred was a father to her son from the start.

From  Nana's Scrapbook

Fred and Eva's Marriage Record


Fred lost Eva in 1980, and although he intended to be buried by her side in Pine Grove Cemetery, in Falmouth, Maine, when he died seven years later, there was no longer any room on the plot, so it was decided that he be buried in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta.

Eva's Grave


Fred's Grave


Sources:


1911 Census of Canada, Weldford Parish, New Brunswick, Canada. http://automatedgenealogy.com/census11/SurnameSearch.jsp?surname=dargavel&districtId=28&description=Surname+search+in+1911+Census+of+Canada+in+Kent+district%2C+New+Brunswick

1930 U.S. Census;  Census Place: Mechanic Falls, Androscoggin, Maine; Roll: 828; Page: 19A;Image: 293.0.

Ancestry.com. Maine, Marriages, 1892-1996 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2003.

Ancestry.com. Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1954 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Ancestry.com. South Carolina, Naturalization Records, 1862-1991 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission database. http://www.cvgc.org/

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 18 January 2014), memorial page for Frederick J. Dargavel (1901–1987), Find A Grave Memorial no. 63273870, citing Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Augusta, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 18 January 2014), memorial page for Eva Isabella Bustin Dargavel (1912–1980), Find A Grave Memorial no. 75660564, citing Pine Grove Cemetery, Falmouth, Maine. 

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 18 January 2014), memorial page for Pvt W T Dargavel (1896–1918), Find A Grave Memorial no. 56794225, citing Wanquetin Communal Cemetery Extension , Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. 


"Public Member Trees," database, Ancestry.com, "Murphy Family Tree," for Lyle Christian Dargavel (b. 19 Aug 1894), with linked images.


This is the third in a series, "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks," coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.

You might also like:

52 Ancestors #1: William Brackley, Jr. (1788-1873)
52 Ancestors #2: Stephen Morse (1803-1886)





Molus River, NB

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