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Gustave Girod: Fun with Dynamite

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Gustave Girod & Sophie Balmer Girod

Some things our ancestors did seem heroic, strong, and selfless, while others seem crazy; what were they thinking? One event in the life of my great-great-grandfather Gustave Girod falls into the second category. A newspaper article with the headline “Giant Powder Explosion” certainly caught my attention!

Gustave Adolphe Girod (1830-1916) and his wife Sophie Alexandrine Balmer (1854-1909) were born in Switzerland. They had sixteen children. As with many families of the time, not all the children survived to adulthood. Two, Cecile and Bertha, died as infants. Sophie Emma, their firstborn, died in childbirth in 1879. After three more little girls, Bertha, Alice and Eliza, died, the family decided to leave death behind and, in 1882, sailed for a new life in America. Unfortunately, there was more tragedy on the voyage as seven-year-old Louis died and was buried at sea.

Some of their children were already living in the United States, including their only surviving daughter, my great-grandmother Ida, teaching at a girls’ school in Baltimore, Maryland.

They arrived in Wayne County, Ohio, in the Sonneberg area with Jules, Leon, Henry and Arthur. Although Gustave had taught in schools and universities in Switzerland for 30 years, he changed course and began farming in the United States. The children attended school in Orreville.

A few years later, Gustave and Sophie moved to Illinois, where they found a community of French Protestants in Kanakee. The minister was one, Ismael Bruneau, a French Presbyterian from Quebec. Ida visited, caught the minister’s eye and they soon married.

In 1890, Gustave and Sophie continued west and settled near Salem, Oregon in the Lake Labish area, where Gustave had purchased 180 acres for $4200. He was going to continue farming.

The land needed clearing, and stumps needed to be removed. Alfred Nobel had invented dynamite in 1867 by adding diatomaceous earth to liquid nitroglycerin. This solid explosive was a little safer to handle. The Giant Powder Company was the first company in the United States to produce it under an exclusive license from Nobel. So when dynamite became available, farmers found it useful for blowing up stumps.Any one could purchase it without a course on the safe handling of dynamite. Gustave purchased a box containing 50 pounds of the explosive.

“Monday morning the box was placed beneath the stove that the powder might thaw preparatory to using it in removing some large stumps. The heat from the fire was greater than Mr. Girod thought and while placing some wood in the stove a quantity of the powder exploded. Mr. Girod has a distinct recollection of the stove rising before him but when he gained consciousness he found himself about 100 feet from the house which had been blown to pieces. Mr. Girod sustained no serious injury from the explosion with the exception of a few bruises, a fact that seems remarkable to say the least.”

Luckily, Sophie, his wife, was not at home on this fateful day.

Not everyone learned from Gustave”s mishap as a few years later, in 1897,  a fellow with a similar name, also living near Salem, Oregon, almost blew himself up. “Arthur Girard narrowly escaped a sad accident: Monday, while preparing some giant powder for blasting. Twenty-two pounds exploded, breaking windows and doors and otherwise wrecking his house but, fortunately, Mr. Girard escaped unhurt which was a miracle.“

Gustave Girod in Oregon

I don’t know what Gustave’s sons thought about his mental health at the time of the explosion, but 25 years later he was declared incompetent with his sons, Arthur and Paul appointed his guardians. “A guardian was appointed because he was feeble in body and mind, had personal property and money of $ 5,000 and was incapable of handling his affairs.”

Still his obituary didn’t mention the dynamite incident, but rather he was remembered as a gentleman of broad education and “His thrift and industry caused him to accumulate considerable property.”

Notes:

The children of Gustave and Sophie Girod:

Sophie Emma Girod 1855-1879

Cecile Girod 1857-1857

Alfred Girod 1858-1903

Adolphe Girod 1859-1909

Paul Girod 1861-1825

Ida Girod 1862-1927

Ernest Girod 1863-1937

Jules Girod 1865-1823

Leon Paul Girod 1867-1913

Bertha Girod 1968-1868

Henry Girod 1869-1904

Arthur Girod 1871-1946

Bertha Girod 1872-1880

Louis Girod 1874-1882

Alice Girod 1878-1879

Eliza Girod 1878-1881

Salem Capital Journal, February 17, 1890, “Giant Powder Explosion”.

The Giant Powder Company was the first company in the United States to produce dynamite under an exclusive license from Alfred Nobel. The factory moved around the San Francisco Bay area from 1897 to the early 1900s as the buildings kept blowing up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Powder_Company

Statesman Journal, Thursday Dec 25, 1890, page 3 Real Estate -J.G. Dorrance to Gustave Girod, 180 Acres in Marion County $4200.

The Capital Journal, Wed June 19, 1915 – Gustave was declared an incompetent by his sons Arthur and Paul Girod and a guardian was appointed because he was feeble in body and mind, had personal property and money of $ 5,000 and was incapable of handling his affairs.

Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon.) Thursday, November 25, 1897, page 3. Arthur Girard narrowly escapes. I initially thought this was Gustave’s son Arthur Girod, who hadn’t learned anything from his father but later realized the last name wasn’t a typo but another man.

The Capital Journal, Saturday June 10, 1916 page 13. Gustave Girod’s obituary.





genealogy, Quebec, United States

Ida Girod Bruneau

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Ismael Bruneau wanted a biblical family, one child for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. His wife Ida didn’t share that ambition, but still, they had 10. When one of her daughters was getting married she asked her mother what she could do to prevent the arrival of so many children and Ida answered, “If I knew, do you think I would have had all of you?” 

Ida herself came from a very large family. She was born in 1862 in Les Convers, Switzerland, to Gustave Girod and Sophie Balmer, the sixth of 16 children. Her favourite aunt, Celine Balmer was teaching at a private girl’s school in Baltimore, Maryland and arranged a job for Ida at the same school. In 1882 Ida sailed to the United States for the teaching position.

After a particularly bad year, with many deaths in the family, her parents decided to emigrate to America. Another son tragically died on the voyage and was buried at sea. The Girods were farmers and settled in the French community of Kankakee, Illinois. When Ida went to visit, she met the Minister, Ismael Bruneau. He was taken with her and they were soon married.

Ismael and Ida then lived in Green Bay Wisconsin where their first three children, Edgar, Beatrice and Hermonie were born. A French Protestant minister moved frequently and the next charge was in Holyoke Massachusetts, where Helvetia was born. Next was a move back to Canada. Sydney, Fernand, and Edmee were born in Quebec City and Renee, Herbert and Gerald in Montreal. All the children survived except Fernand. My Grandmother Beatrice said it was his name that killed him but we didn’t understand why as we thought the other siblings had stranger names. They played funeral with him and pulled him around in a wagon covered with flowers.

Beatrice and Ida
Beatrice Bruneau and mother Ida 1900

 

Although a minister’s salary was meagre the family survived and flourished. The first two sons went to McGill. One became a doctor and the other a lawyer. All the girls finished high school, went to Normal school and became teachers except Renee who attended Business school. The two youngest boys were still at home when their father died. There wasn’t the money to send them to university but they both became successful businessmen.

Ismael’s death was a shock to Ida. He had preached at an earlier service in Portneuf and ran uphill from the station in Quebec City, as the train was 50 minutes late. He arrived at the end of the service and died of a heart attack. Her heart was broken, “ I must realize that my dear husband of nearly 32 years has left me forever.” She moved to her daughter Helvetia’s home in Lachute, a town Ismael had felt would be a good place to retire. She went back to Switzerland because her aunt Celine had returned, but Celine was suffering from dementia and with all other friends and family gone Ida decided her life was in Canada.

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Ida Girod Bruneau Frechette 1925

 

One of her husband’s brothers-in-law, Emilien Frechette, whose wife Emilina Marie Bruneau had died, proposed that as they were both alone they get married. He had built himself a large house in Iberville south of Montreal and wanted company. My Aunt Aline remembered hating her mother’s visits to Iberville because she would come back with large baskets of gooseberries, red and black currents, which had to be cleaned for jam and pies. Aline’s other memory of her grandmother Ida was teaching her to play rummy and seven up. Aline said, “ She liked the little games they played and thought the ‘Devil’s plaything’ was a misnomer.” It was fine to play cards, just not on Sunday.

Ida developed cancer and spent her last days in the Montreal General Hospital. She was buried in Mount Royal Cemetery in the Frechette plot with Emilien’s first wife Marie. After Ida’s death in 1927, he married Emilie Beauchamp Bruneau, the widow of Napoleon Bruneau, Ismael’s brother. Emilien certainly looked after the women in the Bruneau family. My mother remembered him as a nice old man. She didn’t remember her grandmother who died when she was five but she did remember visiting Monsieur Frechette in Iberville, going to the toilet and thinking, “My grandmother sat here!”

Endnotes:

Bruneau, Ida. A Short History of the Bruneau – Girod Families. 1993.

Bruneau, Ida. letter to Mes Frere et Soeur. February 5, 1918. Quebec City, Quebec. A copy in the author’s possession.

Aline Raguin Allchurch. Letter to Mary Sutherland. 2002. Author’s possession.

Dorothy Raguin Sutherland’s Stories. Personal interview. 1998.

Ancestry.com. Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2008. Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin.

Here is a link to Ismael Bruneau, Ida’s husband.

https://wordpress.com/post/genealogyensemble.com/1237