Record of paternity: at the time of our great families
An Olympic Paternity Record
Text of the Press, Perspectives, the 25 September 1976by Jean Hêtu
At the time of our big families
In Quebec, our parents knew what houses full of children were. Some 5413 families had thus deserved free land towards the end of the last century, by virtue of a law of 1890 that the Mercier government had passed and which was entitled: "Act bearing privilege to fathers and mothers of families with twelve children alive ".
The world record of paternity, even if it is not entered in the Guinness Book of Records, belongs to Jean-Baptiste Lepage, better known as Pierre Lepage, plumber, roofer and farmer in Saint-Colomban, Irish colony
In 1940, a diary wrote following an interview with the happy 68-year-old dad that he was the 43rd child in 51 years of marriage. the parish priest of Saint-Colomban, Father Jean Jenson, also said he had heard the figure - almost Olympic - of 43.
Having checked the registers and if we add the premature and non-viable births which were reported to us by Ms. Monique Lepage-Bernier, daughter of Mr. Lepage, we obtain the grand total of 42 births.
First wife, Rose-de-Lima Campeau and her children: Rose-de-Lima, Laurenza, Pierre-Jean, Edouard, Ulric and Louis
Second wife, Parmélia Brière and her children: Olivine, Lucienne, Lucien, Cordélia, Jeanne, Blanche, Lorette, Eglantine, Albert, Patrick and Henri
Third wife, Rose-de-Lima Francoeur and her children: Roger, Louis, Laurentine, Arthur, Colette, Fernande, Léopold, Jeannine, Raymond, Jacques, Fernand, Maurice, Denis, Denise, Monique, André, Bernard and Thérèse.
Of the 25 children still alive in 1940, 17 remained in 1976. Mr. Lepage died in 1948 at age 76 and his wife in 1949 at age 50. Mr. Lepage did not deserve free land. He received only a few family allowance checks, a federal program in effect in 1945. Benefits ranged from $ 5 to $ 8 per month. The allowance was reduced by $ 1 from the 5th child, $ 2 for a 6th and a 7th, $ 3 for the 8th and subsequent. This restriction was likely to affect French-speaking families in Quebec. The name of Pierre Lepage deserves to be known. He's a national hero. Everything suggests that Pierre Lepage's feat is not about to be repeated. It is a tall order.
NB see pages 719 and 720 of the Lepage Genealogical Dictionary (2e 2004 edition)