Ernest & Deveta Fiset's Early Married Years, 1926-28
- Karen Inkster Vance
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
My great-grandparents, Ernest Fiset and Deveta Collins, were married in a tiny Catholic Church called Ste. Theresa’s, at Plessis, Saskatchewan. The wooden building was built on donated farmland and on Sundays the priest travelled from Lafleche to hold services for the French-Canadian families living in the surrounding farms.[1] Attending church was an opportunity to not only participate in mass, but a time to gather and visit. After church, friends would join the Fisets for a meal at their home just up the hill, one of the daughters having to hurry home to get the food prepared.[2]
Though it was once a bustling congregation, over time the original families died or moved away, so Ste. Theresa’s was moved to Wood Mountain, where it later burned down. When we visited the area in April 2019, we had a hard time finding it. It’s not on a road, but rather a bumpy track between farms, hidden by grassy hills. Cousin Rick had to stop and ask for instructions from a farmer, and even then, the pitted track only allowed us to drive part way. We walked up to wander the remains: a few foundation stones and, across the track, a fenced in prairie cemetery. An out-of-the-way, almost forgotten site.
But it was here, ninety-nine years ago, on February 15, 1926, that 30-year-old Ernest and 18-year-old Deveta were married by Father Dufresne, the parish priest.[3] Though it took place in the cold of winter, I imagine that the church was nonetheless filled with well-wishers – family and friends – ready to celebrate before Ernest brought his new bride home.
The wedding was covered in the French-speaking Saskatchewan newspaper, Le Patriote de l’Oest, though the correspondent joked more about the traditional expectations of a woman’s role rather than on the ceremony itself. At first, I was disappointed with the lack of detail contained in the article, and, with my modern feminist sensibilities, not a little offended. But upon consideration, coming face to face with the restrictions women like Deveta faced has in some ways helped me better understand her later choices. And, though Ernest was enamoured of his pretty young bride, their language, cultural, temperament, and age differences were bound to eventually cause problems. This newspaper article, therefore, was perhaps a foreshadowing of the fractures to come:
Weddings are coming thick and fast; last week, Monsieur Ernest Fisette and Mademoiselle Davila (sic) Collins, said their solemn “I do’s” in front of many relatives and friends. Baptist, who was numbered among the invited guests, didn’t fail to amuse us with his stories. Here is the one that struck me the most:
A young girl, having passed her exams, said to her mother: “Maman, since I made great progress in my studies, I would like to carry on and learn physiology, philology, psychology, and, above all, paleontology.”
“One minute, my daughter, I need to teach you “soup-ology,” “fry-ology,” “tourtiere-ology,” “apple pie-ology,” “repair-ology,” and “domestic-ology.” And, to start with the repair-ology, mend this here.”
“Oh Maman, that’s too difficult for me, I haven’t learned that!”
She had all of her diplomas in everything except that which was practical. Naturally, the bride was not depicted in this story.[4]
***
Hanging on the wall of my mom’s bedroom hangs an oval wedding photo of her grandparents, Ernest and Deveta. Based on an original black and white photo, and likely taken soon after their marriage, it has been enlarged and colourized, its concave glass frame slightly distorting the image.
Newly turned 18-year-old Deveta holds a bouquet of white roses, wears a loose, blue-shaded flapper dress, and gazes at the camera with a doll-like gaze. She is young and stylish, with a short, curled bob, a flower perched above her left ear, and fluffy feathers around the neckline, sleeves, and skirt. She looks young and uncertain, her head tilted inquisitively to the side.
Deveta stands next to her husband, her hand placed on his chair back. Seated, Ernest wears a matching boutonniere in his dark suit lapel, his hair is curled and pomaded, and he gazes from the frame, his chiselled jaw hinting at his determination.
***
After the marriage, the couple settled into Ernest’s wood-framed home outside of Wood Mountain. Baby Floyd was born in September, just over six months later. It may be that Deveta was expecting when they married, but I suspect that Floyd was born early, a condition that would plague several of Deveta’s pregnancies.
Baby Floyd was just nine months old when Deveta was expecting again. On a cold December day in 1927, Ernest and Deveta lost their second baby – a tiny son they named Roland. Called out to their homestead after the birth, Doctor Harvie from Lafleche visited again the following day, but there was little he could do. Baby Roland was born too early – at three months premature, he was small and weak. He lingered with the family just seven days, then slipped away at 5 p.m. on December 14. Ernest’s brother-in-law, Frank Wirth, took the tiny body, and two days later he was buried on land the Fiset family had donated for a small cemetery across from the Ste. Theresa churchyard at Plessis.[5] Many years later, Ernest would recall: “Well, I buried one… and the ground was froze. I work a half a day to dig that.”[6]
And so, eight months later, in August 1928, when Deveta again went into premature labour, Ernest drove her carefully to the nurse at the recently built Wood Mountain Red Cross Hospital, hoping that something could be done. This time, the loss came even faster. A baby girl, Alice, was born on August 7, lived just one day, then was buried the following day next to her brother.[7]
In 1920s rural Saskatchewan, women like Deveta faced childbirth with little medical support, and the causes of premature birth—whether infection, physiological issues, or simply the exhaustion of closely spaced pregnancies—were not well understood.
It’s hard to imagine the impact these losses would have on the couple, but especially on Deveta, who, married for just two and a half years, had already given birth three times, losing her last two babies within eight months of each other.
***
I walk up to the small plot of ground designated as the cemetery, originally Fiset land that was donated to the church. Wooden posts and barbed wire protect the spot from livestock, keeping the interior slightly greener than the surrounding area where the brown grass barely emerges from winter, though a chirping bird hints at nearby spring. A few cattle graze, and the wind blows, no trees or hills to impede its whistling passage.
If tombstones had previously been erected to mark the resting place of those past, they are no longer to be seen. To preserve the site, a local historical group has erected a large metal cross and engraved plaque with a list of twelve names. I step closer. There! – “Fiset, Boy, 1925-1925” and “Fiset, Girl, 1928-1928.” First names unknown, and a date not quite right, but nonetheless, Roland and Alice are there, memorialized on a sturdy plaque in the middle of the prairie. The simple words hit me – a hint not just of short lives lived, but the pain of parental loss, remembered nearly a century later.
***
Sources:
[1] Assiniboia and District Historical Museum, “Churches of South Central Saskatchewan: Chapter 6 – Catholics.” https://www.communitystories.ca/v1/pm_v2.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=570&sl=4546&pos=1&pf=1
[2] Violet (Fiset) Kasper interview with Karen Inkster Vance, 15 April 2019, Saskatoon, SK.
[3] Saskatchewan Marriage Registration, 1926, No. 1448, registered April 8, 1926.
[4] Le Patriote de l’Oest, 24 February 1926, page 7, “LaFleche, Sask.” https://archive.org/details/PDW_1926022401/page/4/mode/2up
[5] Saskatchewan death registration #5828, 1927. Roland Fiset, born 7 December 1927, died 14 December 1927, buried 16 December 1927 at St. Theresa Cemetery.
[6] Ernest Fiset interview with Beverly (Honeyman) Inkster, 5 August 1982, Lumby, BC. In the interview, he said it was “a little girl”, however Roland was born in December while Alice was born premature in August, so it seems that he mixed up his memories.
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