Maximilien Pepin    -	Josephte Brand    -	Jean-Baptiste Guillmette    -	Amable Rivard    -
Maximilien Pepin    1812 - 1861		Euphrosine Guillmette    -
Paternal Ancestry		Maternal Ancestry

Moses was born in Yamachiche, P. Q., August 14, 1842. When he was about twenty years old, his work as a lumberjack brought him to upper New York state. He worked in lumber camps on the shores of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. In his old age he often told stories about his life in the wilderness -- how he would leave his wife and children in the fall and return in the spring. He told about working from sunup to sundown through the winter. The camp cook fed the men staples such as meat (mostly salt pork), potatoes and beans. The dessert was invariably corn bread which was generously covered with molasses or maple syrup. If they were lucky enough to have fresh meat, it was venison. He related stories about floating logs down river in the spring and of the great danger to the lumberjacks when logs jammed and they had to get them moving again. He recalled that the long winter evenings were spent by the men playing their favorite card game "pitch". Sometimes the players would get into arguements and a fight would follow. It must have been in this environment that grandpa became so proficient in the use of cuss words. I remember when I was a little boy I greatly admired his proficiency.

On one side of Lake Champlain was New York and on the other shore was the state of Vermont. It was in a small town in Vermont that he courted a young lady named Agnes Chaput and married her on March 31, 1870. He was then 29 years old. They made their home at Fort Edward where all his family were born. I recall his telling me that in the winter the lumbermen left their wives home alone for long periods of time while they were at camp. The women were often bothered by Indians who snuck into their homes in search of whiskey. The usual weapon used to shoo them out was the broomstick. The Indians would not fight back because they knew that if they harmed the wives in any way, their punishment upon the return of the lumberjacks would be drastic and severe.

Using Fort Edward as his home base, Grandpa Moses worked at many places in upper New York state. In his old age he told many tales of his adventures in such places as Crown Point, Fort Henry, Schroon Lake, Lake George, Hudson Falls and Glenn Falls. In 1888, Moses and his family moved to Connecticut to settle on a little farm in Jewett City located in the town of Griswold.

After Grandma died in 1919, Grandpa came to live with us until the time of his death in 1935. He was in his late seventies when he moved in with our family. Except for poor eyesight and bad hearing, he was in good physical condition. He took over the job of supplying wood for the two huge stoves used to heat the farmhouse. My brothers and I were glad to let him have the job. Even with his very poor eyesight, we were aware of his skill with an axe. He still had all ten fingers when he died.

In looking back over the years, there are a few memories of Grandpa that stand out. He had a very poor sense of humor. He did not laugh or smile much. Things were either black or white. There was no gray area. He smoked a lot on an evil smelling corn cob pipe. My mother deserves much credit for taking good care of him for the last fifteen years of his life.

The following text is from a typed page and was probably a draft obituary notice. Arthur Pepin had mailed it to Rosalie Pepin in Kansas: