Oconto County WIGenWeb Project
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OCONTO COUNTY
Wisconsin
FAMILIES and BIOGRAPHIES

FORTIER

Submitted by Ruth M. Mathieu

      Of the 13 children born to Rene Fortier and 1st wife, Marie Louise Mercier, of Quebec,Canada, 3 were known to migrate to
  the midwestern United States.

      Magloire, born July 22,1814, married Marguerite Allie on November 29,1840, in Green Bay,Wi. They had 11 children,
  all born in or around Brown County. One of the sons was Narcis Fortier, born May 13, 1859.  He
  married Marie Louise LaPlant in 1877 in Mishicot, Wi. and died in 1905 in Coleman, Wi. He and his descendents owned a
  tavern in Coleman, named Furkey's, which is a Belgian pronounciation of Fortier.  The tavern exists today, across from the
  St. John's Cemetery.  However, Narcis was buried in St. Charles Cemetery, between Lena and Oconto.  Narcis and Marie had 2
  children, Oscar and Eugene. Also, at that burial site is a crudely made gravestone, with the initials M.F. carved in
  amateruishly,could possible be his wife, Marie. Oscar married Marie Deplessis in 1901, in Marinette County, and he died in
  1908, leaving behind the young widow, with 3 small children.  She is buried in St. John's Cemetery in Coleman, along with
  her 3 children. The last  of these children to die was Aurora Fortier, who never married, in June, 2003, at age 100.

      Sons, Ignace-Felecien, who changed his name to Enos, and Narcisse probably migrated together to Woods County, Wi.
  Apparantly Enos never married.

     Somehow or somewhere Narcisse met and married young Martha Thompson, an orphan, from Bergen, Norway, who came
  to this country at age 17, with an aunt.  Narcisse and Martha had 13 children, the majority of them stayed in Manitowoc
  County, where the family moved in about 1860, but Charles Nelson, born February 04, 1859 eventually moved to
  Oconto as a young man.  His first wife was Marie Adeline Craite, who died in 1886, at the age of 25 years. She is buried
  in St. Joseph's and St. Peter's Cemetery in Oconto. On her tombstone is written"As a wife, devoted, as a mother,
  affectionate, as a friend, ever kind and true". They had 2 children; Elmer, born and died in 1883, who, for some reason, is
  buried at St. Charles Cemetery, at his uncle Narcis Fortier's gravesite.

       Charles Nelson then married Elizabeth Craite, the sister of his dead wife.  Together they raised 6 children, including the
  child, Gertrude, from the 1st marriage.  A first born child of that 2nd marriage, Irene Beatrice, was born in 1889 and died
  in 1893, of diphtheria.  She is buried at St. Joseph and St. Peter's Cemetery, also.  On her tombstone is etched "No
  pains, no grief, no anxious fear to reach our loved one sleeping here."

       The family lived on Congress St.and Charles Nelson was a butcher in Oconto. He was not the shop owner, but an employee.
  When he died in 1914, and was buried on the family plot in Oconto, the rest of the family moved to Green Bay.
  Elizabeth Craite Fortier died May 6th, 1948, and was returned to Oconto for burial. Finally, 2 of her children, Aaron and
  Beatrice, who never married, were buried in the family plot at the Oconto Cemetery.

   CHARLES NELSON FORTIER
(1859-1914)

Charles Nelson Fortier was a resident of Oconto for approximately 30 years.

Born in Mishicot, Wisconsin, he moved to Oconto after the marriage to Vitaline Craite, also of Mishicot. They had 2 children, Elmer and Gertrude, and shortly after the birth of Gertrude the young Mrs. Fortier passed away.

Mr. Fortier then married Elizabeth Craite, a younger sister of the first Mrs. Fortier, and brought her to live in Oconto. The family consisted of Gertrude, (Elmer having died in infancy) and six children of their own. Mr. Fortier worked as a butcher for a meat market in Oconto.

He passed away February 7, 1914, in Oconto, and the remainder of the family moved to Green Bay. Mr. Fortier is buried at St. Joseph and St. Peter Catholic Cemetery, along with both wives, and three of his children from the second marriage, two of whom reached well into adulthood.

Submitted by Ruth M. Mathieu
Granddaughter of Charles Nelson and Elizabeth Craite Fortier



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