19092009
The Bauche Family
From a stone house at Lesse Redu in the Belgian province of Luxembourg to the villages of Manitoba and Saskatchewan: the story of Emile Joseph Bauche, Marie Felicie Copet, their seven children and the generations that followed.
Where the story begins
Emile Joseph Bauche was born on 9 July 1854 at Lesse Redu, Belgium, the son of Amand Joseph Bauche and Marie Jeanne Clarinval. [S2][S3]
On 1 June 1888 he married Marie Felicie Copet, also born at Lesse Redu (1863), daughter of Victor Joseph Copet and Eugenie Josephine Perpete. Their seven children — René, Louis, Emile, Henri, Paul, Julia and Seraphine — were all born there. [S2]
Three crossings to Canada
A century later, in August 2009, their descendants gathered at Kenosee Lake, Saskatchewan, to celebrate 100 years in Canada. [S1] Read about the migration
How the family connects to the first settlers
The Bauche family did not found the colony; they followed people from their own village. Families from Redu were among the very first settlers of Grande Clairière in 1889 and took the first homesteads at Bellegarde, Saskatchewan, in 1891. The Bauche sons later married Mahin women from another Redu family at Bellegarde, and Emile Joseph’s wife was a Copet, the name of one of those first settlers. [S8][S12][S9]
No document we have found says in so many words how Marie Felicie Copet was related to Alphonse Copet. We show what is verified, what is probable and what is only a lead. Read the evidence
A century in brief
- 1 June 1888 — Emile Joseph Bauche marries Marie Felicie Copet
- April 1889 — The first families from Redu reach Grande Clairière
- 1905 — René Bauche is the first of the family to cross to Canada
- June 1909 — The rest of the family comes to Canada
- 12 October 1942 — Emile Joseph Bauche dies
- 6–9 August 2009 — 100 Years in Canada: the 2009 reunion
Explore
Family tree
Seven branches descending from Emile Joseph and Marie Felicie.
The first settlers
The families from Redu who came before, and how the Bauche family connects to them.
Migration map
From Lesse Redu to the Prairies, and the June 1909 sailing.
People & profiles
Searchable list of everyone documented, with dates and places.
Photos & documents
Portraits, the ancestral home, the Lesse river, and what we still hope to find.
Help complete the story
Share photographs, letters and memories — see how to contribute.
How to read this site. Statements about the family come from family sources (web pages and a database compiled by relatives between 2009 and 2013) and are numbered to them. None of these has yet been checked against a birth, marriage or death record. Gold-edged notes are research findings from published records, each labelled verified, probable or speculative. Blue-tinted notes are historical background from outside sources. They are kept apart so they are never mistaken for family sources.