Augers of Lewiston-Auburn Part 1

I’ve long been fascinated by the origin of the Auger name particularly in the Lewiston-Auburn area.  It appears that most, although certainly not all, of the current Augers in the area descend from Mathias Auger and his wife Marine Desmarais who immigrated to Biddeford, Maine in 1861 with their six children and then moved to Lewiston-Auburn by 1865. 

I’ve told part of their story previously in a post (http://michaelsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-auger-line-from-canada-to-us.html) but today I’d like to start a series touching upon Mathias and Marine’s three sons Pierre,  Alphonse and Louis (from whom I descend) who lived and raised families in the area.   Before I do so, I want to acknowledge the work Alphonse W. Auger did when he wrote a wonderful story that described his grandparents Mathias and Marine and their journey to Maine.  Without that effort written over 50 years ago, we wouldn’t know nearly as much as we do know about our family today.   Also, Alfred, Arthur, Laurette and Madelyn Provancher as well as my brother Donald Auger all contributed greatly to knowledge about the Augers through years of dedicated research.  

Pierre Jean Baptiste Auger (also known as “John” or “JP”) was the oldest of the three sons, born in 1845 in Canada.  Once in Mane he went into the grocery and real estate businesses with his brother Alphonse and became very successful and wealthy.   

Pierre Jean Baptiste Auger

He married Lumina Joncas, who was also a Canadian immigrant, in Lewiston in 1870 and they had nine children who lived to adulthood:

·         Alice (1888 – 1957) – married Lorenzo Drouin

·         Bernadette (1887 – 1978) - married Charles E. Kimball

·         Eva (1880 – 1958) – married Edouard Hemond

·         Francis (1891 – 1959) – married Aileen Dever

·         Gabriel (1893 – 1955)- married Rose Anna Therriault

·         Joseph Philias (known as “Jimmy”) (1894-1935) – married Eva Goulet

·         Josephine (1873 – 1946) – married Narcisse J Fournier

·         Louis Edmond (1884-1904) - unmarried

·         William (1881 - ) – married Anna Genest

Pierre and Lumina also had several children who did not live past childhood:

·         Antoine ( -1898)

·         Antoinette Alice (1885 – 1886)

·         Lumina ( - 1872)

·         Pierre ( - 1875)

·         Pierre Mathias (1876 – 1878)

Pierre died suddenly in March of 1904 at the age of 58.  Louis Edmond died a month after at the young ago of 19 and Lumina died the following year in 1905. 

Pierre and Lumina as well as Louis Edmond, Francis and the several children who died as infants are all buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery near the current administrative office building.  Pierre’s parents Mathias and Marine are also buried in this lot.

Part 2 will include info about Alphonse T. Auger