Marriage Index Find

On a whim, I started to search for Philias and Elzyre on the internet. Who knows? Maybe I'd luck out and find them in cemetery or church index.

I put in the search boisvert + duclos + lowell. BINGO!!! I came up with a marriage index page that looked promising. It was the Lowell Area Marriage Intensions for 1902. The entry read as follows:
Boisvert, Philas 28
Duclos, Aldea, 18
Date 25 Oct 1902

This was very curious! Philas was 10 years old than Elzire (aka Aldea). Was their a reason for the date discrepancy?

Striking Out with the Census

[Research Journal #7, Entry #5]

I went back to the 1920 census. This time I searched through Massachusetts which may have been a worse idea than working in New York. Boisvert's were as plentiful as Smiths!

I searched for Alphonse since he was 17 or 18 at the time. Perhaps he'd be living on his own or married to Katherine. I searched for Philias but could not come up with anyone married to an Elzyre.

Did Alphonse's parents died before the 1920 census, were they even in Massachusetts in 1920?

I decided to do some searching in the 1910 census. Alphonse would have been about 7 years old so they should have been living together. But, there was nothing on the family.

Something was beginning to stink about the Boisvert family story. If they were in the United States from about 1903 onward, then why weren't they in any of the census records?

Going Forward with the 1930 Census

[Research Journal #7, Entry #4]

Since I was fairly sure that my brother-in-law's mother was raised in the United States, I thought I'd take my chances trying to find her with her parents. I had some of the same difficulties that I had with the 1920 Census. Too many Alphonses! And, don't even ask about Katherine's.

I kept look in Schenectady, but didn't find the family. I eventually found them in another part of New York: Clifton Park, Saratoga County. (Interesting note: Though my brother-in-law's mother was alive at time, she had no recollection of living in Clifton Park)

The 1930 Census provided one very important clue. Alphonse was not born in New York like the family believed, he reported being born in Massachusetts. Katherine and the children were born in New York, so this meant that Alphonse's parents would be found elsewhere.