Canadian Boys' Clothes: Family Image (1926)


Figure 1.--This French Canadaian family had 13 children. We note quite a variety of clothes. The girls all wear dresses. The boys wear a toddler suit, knee pants and knickers. Most of the children wear long stockings. A few wear knee socks. Click on the image to see the rest of the family.

We note a photograph of a large French Canadian family taken at Ile d'Orléans in 1926. The Ile d'Orléans is quite well known in Canada. French Canadian families were often quite large. This French Canadaian family had 13 children. We note a wide a variety of clothes. The girls all wear very plain dresses and strap shoes. Several girls wear hairbows. The boys wear a toddler suit, kneepants and knickers. Knee pants went out of style in the early 1920s, but were still occassionaly seen. Presumably with so many children many of them wore hand me downs that might be several years old. Most of the children wear long stockings in different colors. A few of the children wear knee socks.

The Family

We note a photograph of a large French Canadian family taken at Ile d'Orléans. The parents here are Adjutor DeMontigny and Eva tailleur. They lived in St-Pierre.. They were married in 1912 and several of the children became priests or missionaries. They were considered a gift from God and their service in the Church was expected. French Canadian families were often quite large. This French Canadaian family had 13 children. A Canadian reader writes, "And it was just a beginning because some families were 18. I knew one."

Chronolgy

The photograph is dated and was takenn in 1926.

Ile d'Orléans

The Ile d'Orléans is quite well known in Canada. Isle d'Orleans is near Québec and was a long time a farming land, the first to be settled by French in 1608, which is 20 years before the Pilgrims at Plymouth. For two centuries, ile d'Orléans farmers were great wheat producers. A crop desease around 1828 was catrastrophic. Lands were not in "jachère", 1-3 years without production. Now, the shore is more resort but the main land is still farms, biological farms! There are laws to protect the environment and you cannot build any style of houses. The only style accepted is traditional French regime. A Canadian reader writes, "The 7 million Frenchs in Québec according to one studu primarily (80 percent) came from this island. With 18 children, we were the most prolific in the world." When the author of David Copperfield came here in 1828, he was asthounished in seeing villages so similar to Normandie. Québec is like St-Malo or LaRochelle. Our reader writes, "We are not so far here from Puritan families. We were Jansenists from Jansenius, a kind of Catholic Calvinist! The father's hands are gigantic. He no doubt was a hard working man. I know a lot of people in Beauce like this man. You see. I admire those people who established here. They worked extremely hard in such a nature."

Clothing

We note a wide a variety of clothes. The girls all wear very plain dresses and strap shoes. Several girls wear hairbows. The boys wear a toddler suit, kneepants and knickers. Keepants went out of style in the raly 1920s, but were still occassionaly seen. Presumably with so many children many of them wore hand me downs that might be several years old. Most of the children wear long stockings in different colors. A few of the children wear kneesocks.

Sources

Michel Lessard. L'ile d'orléans: Aux sources du peuple québécois et de l'Amérique française (Montréal: Les Editions de l'Homme, 1998).








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Created: July 24, 2003
Last updated: July 26, 2003