BAPTISMAL OUTFIT FOR NAPOLÉON BUREAU’S CHILDS

This baptismal outfit was purchased in Paris in 1876 by Napoléon-Édouard Lajoie (ca. 1845-1900), a merchant from Trois-Rivières, who was travelling there. The christening dress is made of silk; the bonnet and the collar of the cape are embellished with topstitching forming diamonds.

Napoléon-Édouard Lajoie, the son of Marie-Louise Byrne and Jean-Baptiste Lajoie, who was the mayor of Trois-Rivières, was the husband of Sophie Bureau since September 2, 1873; their wedding took place in the Immaculate Conception parish of Trois-Rivières.

This chic baptismal outfit was worn for the first time by Marie Sophie Éva Lajoie, born on January 27, 1877, during her baptism held the next day. We can picture the baby carefully wrapped in a very warm blanket for the trip to the church.

Éva Lajoie married Dr. Clément Édouard Darche on September 24, 1900, in Trois-Rivières. She signed “Héva” in the parish register at her wedding.

Among the other children of the couple formed by Napoléon-Édouard Lajoie and Sophie Bureau (1854-1933), the daughter of Joseph-Napoléon Bureau and Sophie Gingras, Éva’s grandmother and godmother, there are: Marie Louise Jeanne Sophie Églantine (1875), François (1884-1959) and Laurent-Alfred (1884-1884), twins, Marie-Rose Raphaëlle Ida (1897), and Léon Lajoie (1891-1972), who would become a lawyer like his brother François, then appointed as a judge.

Donation from Madeleine Darche-Parent

Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection

1998 121 C.3-1