New Old Photos of Joseph A. Bray and Rebecca Brunelle and their Children

Last month I received in the mail two packets of very old photos, from Kathleen Bray Cray, daughter of Maurice Bray, 1896 - 1969.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to view and share these old photos.  I've scanned them, and am posting a few here to make them more available.  If you're related let me know and I can get you higher resolution images.

This is Joseph Avonsurelle Bray.  He's the son of Moise Bray and Leocadie Chatel.  Joe's dates are October 18, 1867 to December 6, 1912.  He was born in Les Cedres, QC and came to Red Lake Falls with his parents in the late 1880's.  Joe died of an accident, far away from his Blackduck, MN home in Calgary, AB.  His middle name is alternately spelled Evanturel, Evanturelle, etc., but he signed his postcards JAB so I'm going with A. from here forward.  His tombstone at St Joseph's in Red Lake Falls says Joseph E. Bray.  You can read a lot more about Joe and his life in the saloon business at my post Revelations from a Postcard.  

Until now our family had no photos of Joe.  Thanks to Kathleen Cray, our family can now see what this ancestor looked like.  

This is Joe as a young man, I would guess about 1885 at age 18, what do you think?

Here's Joseph a few years later, with his bride Rebecca Brunelle on their wedding day in 1892.  Rebecca was born on November 10, 1873, Near Penetanguishene, Ontario and baptized there at St. Croix.  She came with her parents Georges Brunelle and Eugenie Marchand to the Red Lake Falls area as a small child.  Rebecca Brunelle and Joseph A. Bray were married on September 5, 1892 in what was then Polk County, Minnesota, at St. Joseph's of Red Lake Falls.  Rebecca is such a beautiful bride! It looks like Rebecca captioned this photo herself.

Joseph and Rebecca had nine children.  There are a couple other photos of the seven oldest children taken a couple years before this new photo that have been in our family for years.  This photo was taken a little later, about 1906, and shows the eight oldest children.

The children of Joseph A. Bray and Rebecca Brunnelle are:

• Madeline Evonne Bray, 2 Jul 1893 - 1942 Detroit MI
• Gilbert George Bray, 7 Jun 1894 - 11 Apr 1956 Fresno CA
• Maurice Joseph Bray, 12 Jan 1896 - 28 Feb 1969 Los Angeles, CA
• Annetta Irene Bray, 25 Mar 1897 - UPDATE d. 16 Apr 1965, bur. Muskegon, MI
• Rebecca Helen Bray, 18 Aug 1898 - UPDATE d. 7 Mar 1910, bur. Blackduck MN
• Alfred Napoleon "Fritz" Bray, 10 Apr 1900 - 12 Nov 1950 Minneapolis MN
• Cecille Marie Antoinette Bray, 5 May 1902 - 16 Feb 1997 Orange County CA
• Marie Louise Polla Bray, 24 Feb 1905 - 25 Jan 1999 Seattle WA
• Dorolese Margaret Bray, 07 Mar 1909 (not pictured) - 12 Sep 2001 Vernon MO

The kids appear to be standing in order from youngest to oldest so that would be Marie on the left and Madeline on the right.

All the children were born in Red Lake Falls except Marie and Dorolese who were born in Blackduck, Beltrami County, Minnesota.

For one year, the entire family was alive and intact. Then in March of 1910 young Rebecca, aged 11-1/2, died of diphtheria.  Then just two years later, on December 6, 1912, Joe met his untimely death. 

After Joe died Rebecca married Ovilla Robillard in 1915; this marriage was childless.  Rebecca Brunelle Bray Robillard died on December 8, 1927 in Terrebonne, Red Lake County, MN.  She is buried next to Ovilla in St. Anthony's cemetery in Terrebonne.

Update - New Section - The surviving children married as follows. Madeline and Annetta died childless. All three boys and the youngest three daughters all had children.

• Madeline married Henry Bray, son of Damase Bray and Adeline Cerre. Henry was Madeline's first cousin once removed, both being descendants of Simon Bray and Elisabeth Sedilot. They married on Feb 11, 1918 at Ste. Anne de Detroit, in Detroit, where Madeline died in 1942. Henry later moved to Seattle.
• Gilbert married Ellyn G. Bystrom on Sept 23, 1923. They lived in the Tower, MN area until the early 1930's when they moved to Los Angeles.
• Maurice married Mary K. Donovan. The couple settled Los Angeles.
• Annetta married Clair Wright Williams on Oct. 30, 1920 in Moorhead, MN. By 1927 the couple was Detroit. Records are found in Detroit and Muskegon.
• Alfred married Mabel Bernadette Dupont, in Terrebonne, MN on Nov. 26, 1928. The couple raised their family in Minneapolis and lived for a few years in Navarre, MN.
• Cecille married Thomas A. Fitzgerald on April 23, 1923. They lived in Detroit through 1950 and then moved to Laguna Hills, CA.
• Marie married Thomas J. Ducharme in Red Lake Falls, MN on Nov 15, 2927. The family remained in Red Lake Falls through 1940 before moving to the Seattle, WA area.
• Dorolese marred Richard Lyle Piper on Nov. 5, 1938 in Metz, IN. They lived Michigan in the late 1940's (Muskegon and later Ann Arbor). Richard died in 1965 in Toledo. Dorolese was in California in 1970 and lastly made her home in Vernon MO.

Are you related to this family?  I'd love to hear from you, post a comment so we can get in touch.  Let's get connected and see what we can share!