The village were my grandmother Cordelia Rheaume was born is called Saint-Bernard de Dorchester. It is at the local village church that she married Arthur Drouin, my grandfather. Saint-Bernard is a small village situated within the Beauce area where many of the early settlers migrated to from around Beaupre/Ile d'Orleans and Quebec City.
The particular line of my grandmother's ancestors, the Rheaume, were descendants of one Rene Rheaume from the parish of N.D. de Cogne, LaRochelle. He was born in 1643, and was approximately 20 years old when he left for Canada. His father was Jean Rheaume and his mother Marie Chevalier. From information taken in the booklet "Nos Ancetres" by Gerard Lebel, C.Ss.R. Rene married Marie Chevreau of the parish of St Valerien in Chateaudun (Beauce area of France), at Sillery, Quebec, on 29 Oct 1665. Marie was what we called a "fille du Roi". Rene was a carpenter and had a house in Quebec, between the Jesuit and "les Dames Ursulines". He practiced his trade in the Quebec area for over 30 years. He served many of the early Governors, Church and civic leaders in the construction of their home and necessary fences. It is said that he also bought and sold many properties in the area of Quebec. It is also said that he had many encounters with the law, either because of non-compliance with some of his contracts, or through fights with his neighbors.
Rene and Marie lived for approximately 15 years at "la petite riviere", by the St Charles River. During the census of 1681 he had 8 children, 10 "arpents" of land, one cow and one gun. In 1683 the couple moved to St Bernard, Charlesbourg. He died on 30 Oct 1722. He was buried at the cemetery in Charlesbourg.
Amongst of the descendants of Rene and Marie was Louis Rheaume, O.M.I. director of the Ottawa University in 1916 who became bishop of Haileybury in 1923.
Cordelia Rheaume's line
| Rene | (m) Marie Chevreau at Sillery on 29 Oct 1665 |
| Rene | (b) 14 Oct 1673 (m) Marie Guyon at Chateau Richer on 22 Nov 1694 |
| Simon | (b) 7 Aug 1697 (m) Marie-Madelaine Julian at Charlesbourg on 2 Sep 1724 |
| Jacques-Frs | (b) 1731 (m) Marguerite Allard at Charlesbourg on 24 May 1751 |
| Simon | (m) Marie Gravel at Chateau-Richer on 2 Feb 1785 |
| Ignace | (m) Adelaide Pare at St Marie (Beauce) on 8 Jan 1828 |
| Marcel | (m) Genevieve Drouin on 9 Oct 1855 and Marie Morin on 3 Sep 1856 at St Marie |
| Auguste | (b) 1864 (m) Marie-Dina Foucher on 21 Feb 1887 |
| Cordelia | (b) 1888 (m) Arthur Drouin at Saint-Bernard on 9 Apr 1907 |
There is a Rheaume Forum provided by GenForum where information is exhanged on this Family.