James Bechervaise
Born: September 29, 1849Died: July 24, 1924
My father, George Bechervaise, told me this story many times and I will relate it to you :
My grandfather, William,( James’ brother ) died before my father was two years old and before his brother William was born. It happened that my grandmother, Charlotte Pye, was pregnant for her sixth child when, in the fall of the year 1903, William (Sr.) while out hunting wounded a deer. He tracked it for most of a day, got soaking wet, caught pneumonia and died. As my grandmother was alone with the six young children and “Uncle James” had never married, he looked after the family from then on.
He would go to
the Cascapedia in
the summer and return home in the fall. There are
stories of him putting a piano on a horse
sleigh and
traveling the roads at Christmas. One
last anecdote is that when he died on the Cascapedia ( at New Dereen, I believe) the
club put on a special train to return his body to Gaspe .
The house he
built in Wakeham is
still being used and is the home of
my father’s grand neice
Sharon Bechervaise and
her husband Roy Jean. A date, March 23 1891,
is carved
on the
basement steps .
Lynden Bechervaise
New Carlisle. PQ
December, 2004