Person:Suzanne Bastien (1)

Oral family history has it that her name was Suzanne Marie Bastien, born in Nancy to a French Canadian fur-trapper and a French woman. Her father then took her with him back to Canada where he put her in a convent. That's where her future husband found her and then married her.

There was a Catholic girls school in Viking and it does appear that she married immediately after reaching the age of 18, but no immigration record to Canada or the US has been found thus far. Additionally, birth records in Nancy, France have been searched extensively, both by the last name of Bastien / Bastian / Bastiers as well as by the first name of Suzanne. None could be located that matched her. If she was born out of wedlock, her original birth certificate would have been recorded under her mother's maiden name and later amended to her father's last name. This may be cause for the lack of records prior to her marriage.

According to family history, her father found her around 1925 and took her away again. She came back several years later to visit her children. However, Edward Klontz listed himself as married in 1937 with his wife residing in Viking when he crossed into the US. In 1947, however, he listed himself as being separated. He never remarried and his death certificate lists him as widowed.

Suzanne's granddaughter remembers taking a trip from Washington to British Columbia for her funeral as a child and that Suzanne was living in Westminster, British Columbia around 1955 or 1956.

Unfortunately, after the 1921 Canadian census, there is no record of her anywhere - no city directories, marriage records, border crossings, nothing. More clues will likely be found in the 1931 Canadian census when it's released.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Lake View, Alberta, in Canada. 1921 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada).

   Edward Klontz, Susan Klontz, Henry Klontz, Andrew Klontz

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Naissances, 1901/4, in Jeandelaincourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle). Officier de l'état civil. Registres de l'état civil, 1792-1872. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmés par la Genealogical Society of Utah, 1974).

   Suzanne Marie Julienne, fille légitime d'Émile Bastien, tuilier, et Léontine Jardin, née le 3 mars 1901 à Jeandelaincourt

3. ↑ Recensement de Maxéville, in 1906 : Recensement de la population.

   Emile Bastien, Léontine Jardin, Suzanne Bastien, Adrienne Bastien, Emilienne Bastien

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Oral history of Marie D. MacGregor, passed on from Edward Klontz