At the town clerk's office, the name Anatole Gernon did not appear in the birth, death or marriage records. I tried Gendron, a familiar French-Canadian surname, but there was no Anatole. I didn't have any luck with my Internet sources either, until I tried some creative spellings of the last name. That's when I found Anatole listed among 14 members of the Grenon family, who had entered the US from Canada in 1910. They registered in St. Albans, Vermont, and gave their official destination as Winchendon.

The Grenon family didn't stay long. In 1918, Anatole registered for the WWI draft, giving his address as Woonsocket, Rhode Island, another mill town with a large population of French-Canadian immigrants. He listed his occupation as a spinner. In the 1920 census, he is living in Woonsocket with his parents, and seven siblings.

Anatole Joseph Grenon was born in Quebec on April 20, 1899. His parents were Delphis and Louisia (Valcourt) Grenon. He married Dorilda Laquerre in 1928, and by 1930, they had moved to Troy, New York, where he was a foreman at a factory. They had two children, Hubert and Helen. Later they lived in Newport, New Hampshire, and finally made their home in Bennington, Vermont.

Comments from one of Anatole's nieces:

"My mother was one of Anatole's sisters. When Anatole's father brought his family down from Canada, there were 12 of their children living. Three others had died in Canada, all at the age of just two. He had two sisters who already lived in Winchendon. Some of his brothers lived in Woonsocket, so after a few years in Winchendon, they moved there."

"Uncle Anatole moved away from Rhode Island about the time I got married, and I only saw him a few times after that. I remember going twice to see him, once when he was living in Newport, New Hampshire, and once when he was living in Bennington, Vermont. In New Hampshire, he was living in his own house, and I remember it was on a back road not near any other houses. In Bennington, he owned a two-family house and lived on the top floor."

"He used to set up and repair textile machinery. He went to some kind of school to study about mill machinery. His wife Dorilda came from a large family, and all the girls were exceptional cooks. She was a fantastic cook."

"All of us called him Natole. We didn't pronounce the ‘A.' He had a real good sense of humor. My mother told me that he used to tease my grandmother all the time, like tying her apron strings to the back of the chair, and things like that. He and one of his sisters were the only ones in the family to have blue eyes."

"His children, Hubert and Helen, were born on the same day, February 9^th, one year apart. Hubert went into the Marines. I don't know what he did after that, but I know he was a very good semi-pro bowler. Helen was one of the first in the country to undergo open heart surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. After she came out, although she was better, she couldn't do any strenuous work. She had rheumatic fever when she was about eight years old. They were living in New Hampshire at the time of the surgery. The family has a big plot in the Precious Blood Cemetery in Woonsocket, but Hubert is buried in a veteran's cemetery in New York."