Philorum 1868-1954

Philorum was born January 2, 1868 and baptized April 1, 1868 in the Basilique-Notre-Dame, Montreal, Quebec, Canada to Julien Oligny and Felicite Roy. He married Marie-Azilda Bessette June 7, 1887 at Basilique Notre-Dame in Montreal, Canada. Philorum died in November of 1954 in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, East Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Click here to view the family sheet. Note: requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

View the Drouin image for his birth and baptism.

View the Drouin image of Philorum’s marriage to Marie-Azilda Bessette.

View the death certificate of Philorum Oligny.

Philorum and his wife came to the United States in the year 1891 thru St. Albans, Vermont. Information is fairly scarce on Philorum. As of now, I have yet to find his name in the U.S. census of 1900, 1920 or 1930.

I finally found his family in the 1900 U.S. Census. He is absent, but his wife is listed along with their children, living in Holyoke, Massachusetts. I learned they had 7 kids by 1900, but only 5 were living. The way I found this record was by searching for Evangeline’s name – the surname is written as ‘Onley’ – no wonder I never found it before. You can view the 1900 census image here.

Upon visiting the Lowell public library, I was able to find his obituary in the microfilm of the newspaper. There was little of interest in the obituary.

The burial plot for this family is not marked by a grave. I visited the cemetery and did find the area where the grave is located. In addition to Philorum and Marie-Azilda in this plot are two of their other children: Emile and Evangeline. I have obtained a copy of Marie-Azilda’s death certificate so please check that page out as well.

I have some interesting new information to include about Evangeline. I was going thru the 1920 U.S. Census and ran across her listing. Apparently, she was an inmate at the Lancaster Industrial School for Girls in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Call it what you want, but it was a jail. Please check out the link to get some insight into my illustrious family.