Lanoix, Joseph Paul

Private Joseph Paul Lanoix (Lanoie) was the son of Adrien Lanoix and Alma Comeau of La Salle, Manitoba. Adrien was born in Quebec and moved to Manitoba with his family in 1891, when he was about twenty years old. His wife Alma was also born in Quebec. They were married in 1896 in the RM of Macdonald in Manitoba. Along with Adrien’s parents and siblings they settled in the town of Keewatin in northwestern Ontario, where they took up farming. Joseph Paul was born there on 5 August 1897 and he was followed by sons Raphael in 1901 and Fortunat in 1903. Not long after that the Lanoix families returned to Manitoba and they lived in the La Salle area where they continued to farm. Adrien and Alma had five more children: Charles, Eva, Eugene Joseph, Hyacinthe and Emilia.

Conscription was introduced in Canada in the summer of 1917, as the war entered its fourth year, and Joseph had his army medical that fall, on 27 October. He was found fit for service and he was called up on 2 May 1918 in Winnipeg. He was 20 years old, his address was La Salle and his occupation was farmer. He was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment and his unit trained in Winnipeg and at Camp Hughes near Brandon. Joseph had harvest leave for several weeks in the fall. The Armistice was signed in November and he was discharged on demobilization on 27 December 1918 in Winnipeg.

When the 1921 census was taken Joseph was living in La Salle with his parents and all seven of his brothers and sisters. Their surname was listed as Lanoix for the census but many of the family members, including Joseph, spelled it as Lanoie. Joseph was married in Winnipeg on 31 October 1921. His wife, Olive Hill (née Elvins), was the daughter of William Elvins and Maria Harwood. William and Maria were married in Birmingham, England in 1890 and Olive was born in Birmingham on 29 July 1891. Another daughter followed in 1893 and a son Herbert in 1896. Sadly, Olive’s mother died in 1896 and baby Herbert a few months later. William was married again in 1897 to Annie Elizabeth Smart (née Burton). Annie had three children from her first marriage and she had three more with William: Lillian, Daisy (died as an infant) and Joseph William.

Olive was married in Birmingham on 11 July 1915 to Thomas William Hill. Thomas was a soldier and he was killed in action in France on 22 March 1918, while serving with the 3rd Battalion, Rifle Brigade (service number S/4790). He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France. After the war Olive and her parents and brother Joseph immigrated to Canada, arriving in May 1920 on the Empress of France. Olive was on her way to Winnipeg but William and Annie settled in the Toronto area. At the time of the 1921 census Olive was lodging in Winnipeg with Edgar and Mary Bullen and working as a bookkeeper. After getting married Joseph and Olive lived in La Salle or Winnipeg and their only child, son Eddy, was born in 1924.

In the winter of 1929-30 Joseph, Olive and Eddy moved to Bear Island on Lake Temagami in northeastern Ontario. Olive’s stepsister, Elizabeth Hutchings (née Smart), had also immigrated to Canada and she was living on Bear Island with her husband George, who operated a store. Not long after arriving Joseph, known as Joe Lanoie, found work constructing buildings and docks at Camp Wigwasati. Sadly, six-year-old Eddy drowned at Wigwasati in the summer of 1930. Joe was employed at the Hudson’s Bay post on Bear Island from 1932 until 1965 and he and his wife lived in a cabin nearby. In his position as dockhand he maintained the company’s fleet of 50 canoes. He also worked as caretaker and guide and he is remembered as being very outgoing, friendly and witty. Olive ran an English tearoom in the summer and she was very active in her church, St. George’s Anglican. In 1961, during the church’s 50th anniversary celebrations, she was presented with a plaque in appreciation of her dedicated leadership.

Olive died in 1967 and several years later Joe moved to North Bay, Ontario. He passed away at his home in North Bay on 25 June 1979, at age 81. He was survived by two sisters, Eva (Mrs. Jules Bonneau) and Emilia (Mrs. Elie Trudeau), and two brothers, Fortunat and Eugene. Joseph is buried at St. Hyacinthe Roman Catholic Cemetery in La Salle, Manitoba along with his parents, his brothers Raphael and Hyacinthe and other family members.

By Becky Johnson

Photo of Joe: by John Hyde from the book Temagami Lakes Association: The Life and Times of a Cottage Community, by Pamela Sinclair (2011). Pamela also provided information on Joe and Olive’s life on Lake Temagami.

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