From a distance, a horseman with trumpet in hand appeared. As he pulled his mount to a stop, he raised his horn to his lips and played his call for attention.
For the estimated crowd of 6,000 on this Labor Day afternoon, Sept. 5, 1932, this was the signal — let the celebration proceed.
For such a tiny community as Rosiere, a hamlet east of Cape Vincent, this was one huge undertaking.
And it came off in grand and reverent style, an event never before or since equaled in size or design for this region rich in French and German tradition.
The weather was most accommodating, although the heat got to a few people in the crowd.
Hundreds of cars lined the roads throughout the area, while others were parked eight to 10 rows deep in fields surrounding the site. Many people went up in airplanes from the Watertown airport throughout the afternoon to take in the spectacle.
They had come to participate in a threefold celebration — the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington, a commemoration of the LeRay family who had given so much to this region and, most important to the planners, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the community's Roman Catholic house of worship, St. Vincent de Paul's Church.
The magnitude of the affair was so great that the 52-year-old parish priest, the Rev. Matthew J. Sweeney, had put together a planning committee encompassing a who's who of dignitaries and church people from around the north country.
He tapped state Sen. Perley A. Pitcher of Watertown to be chairman of a group including Watertown Mayor John B. Harris, prominent church designer and Knights of Columbus Grand Knight David D. Kieff, Watertown Daily Times Editor and Publisher Harold B. Johnson, pastors of two other Catholic churches, the chairman of the state's Washington bicentennial commission, and the regent of LeRay de Chaumont Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
The grand high priest of the state's Royal Arch Masons was also involved.
And to bring everything together, the committee had reached out to a woman in Albany to be pageant master. Mary C. Gleason was a teacher of voice and dramatics who had a strong résumé for writing and directing pageants. Walter Guest Kellogg, an attorney and author from Ogdensburg, lent his expertise to provide correct historical material.
It is doubtful that anybody had any regrets. The spectators, participants and clergy who gathered in a field in front of a monument at the site of a church built in summer 1832 were witnesses to "the most colorful commemorative celebration of its kind ever staged in this diocese," the Times reported the next day.
This was a full-day event. First came the religious services in the morning.
Ogdensburg Bishop Joseph H. Conroy was there to confirm 200 children — boys wearing blue suits with white ribbons attached to their arms, and girls in white dresses and veils — from parishes in Clayton, Cape Vincent, Chaumont, Sackets Harbor and Rosiere.
To authenticate the recognition of George Washington, the main celebrant of the open-air Mass was the Rev. Richard Blackburn Washington, who had journeyed from Hot Springs, Va. He was a descendant of President Washington's brother, Lawrence.
The festivities began at 10 a.m. with the unveiling of a memorial tablet honoring the parish founder, James D. LeRay de Chaumont.
The 5th Field Artillery band from Madison Barracks, Sackets Harbor, led a procession of about 25 priests, with Knights of Columbus from Watertown escorting the ailing 73-year-old bishop. They gathered near a new outdoor altar trimmed with yellow, white and purple bunting and flanked by the American and Catholic church flags.
Seated near the altar, erected close to where the original St. Vincent de Paul's Church once stood, were Rosiere's two oldest residents, Harriet Aubertine and Francis Wiley.
After a message from Pope Pius XI was read over a public address system provided by Barber Electric, Watertown, Sen. Pitcher stepped to the microphone.
"Rosiere was fortunate in its founders," he said, according to the Times article. "The turmoil and the revolution in France around the beginning of the 19th century drove many of its best people to America and here in this garden spot of the north country, a community of French people settled. They and their descendants have remained and prospered."
The Rev. Michael E. Fogerty, pastor of St. Patrick's Church, Watertown, reminded his listeners that Mr. LeRay had also given churches to Quakers in Philadelphia, Presbyterians in LeRay, Baptists in Evans Mills and Catholics in Carthage.
As a cafeteria lunch awaited the crowd in a large tent and Mrs. N.M. Simpson of Cape Vincent displayed relics of Colonial days in her kiosk, Bishop Conroy set the historical tone.
"There has never been anything like this in the diocese since Bishop DuBois's visit and there may never be anything like it again," Bishop Conroy said. "LeRay said that no colony can live without religion. This church has seen 100 years of life, and we today are preaching the same religion and the same gospel as they did 100 years ago."
Bishop Conroy predicted that as Bishop John DuBois was there 100 years ago and that as he was present that day, so 100 years hence another bishop would come to the spot.
Ancestors of the people of Rosiere had gathered a hundred years earlier at this same location, which would become known as Dezengremel Road. It had been a smaller but colorful celebration for the laying of the cornerstone for their new church, St. Vincent's.
At the time, the region was under the umbrella of the Diocese of New York, and the bishop, John DuBois, had made the long journey from New York City to visit the Catholic population of the north country. Since he was in the area, he was asked to deliver his blessings on the new parish.
Many of the French settlers here had been soldiers under Napoleon I, and they wanted to make sure the clergyman, himself a native of France, was greeted in the traditions of their homeland. The veterans, donning their uniforms from the days of old, formed a line and presented arms as the bishop and his escort arrived.
The escort was James LeRay de Chaumont. Without him and his family, this observance would not have occurred.
James LeRay's father, Jacques, was a friend of and host to Benjamin Franklin in France. Having learned about the new nation and its English language from his father's influential friend, James LeRay traveled to American and purchased vast tracts of land in Northern New York. He eventually encouraged the supporters of Napoleon, banished like their leader from France, to settle in this new frontier. He also extended the invitation to people of German descent.
Mr. LeRay arranged for a priest to make visits from Kingston, Ontario, to attend to the spiritual needs of his settlers. And then he devised a financial plan to supplement his donations for the erection of a local church.
A document written by the settlers in February 1832 outlined the arrangements, as well as the movement toward forming their little hamlet of Rosiere:
"We are, however, already busy with the construction of a church. We contribute to its erection by direct assessment, two mills (about two cents) to the dollar, which will be placed to our credit in the pew-rent account. Newcomers will be assessed in the same manner. To hasten a work whose completion is so much desired, the proprietary (Mr. LeRay) besides bearing gratuitously one quarter of the expense, will advance what we are bound, but are as yet unable to pay. This he does that the church may be ready next year, and may be built of a size convenient not alone for the present population, but for the future increase we hope for. Its situation is well chosen. It is central for the present settlers, close to those farms which the next emigrants must select, and three-quarters of a mile from the sawmill and gristmill. There we shall found a village for trades people and laborers, and, as the first settlers and the majority of us came from Rosiere, this shall be its name."
Mr. LeRay, who lived at LeRaysville, opened a land office in Rosiere, about 2 miles northeast of the church. He returned to France in 1833.
A new church, which stands today in Rosiere, was built in 1879.
About 400 people from around the north country made up the cast of the Labor Day 1932 pageant, playing roles to help depict nine episodes in history. The stage for each performance was set by "Father Time," a man in costume who tore off pages of a big calendar until the time was back to 1760.
The pomp and luxury in the court of King Louis XVI was the initial presentation, followed by "the spirit of liberty" witnessing the frenzy in France and the inspiration in the patriots of the American colonies.
Benjamin Franklin and John Paul Jones were portrayed in a third episode, showing them in Paris trying to get money for the revolution. Exerting his influence for their cause was Jacques Donatien LeRay, father of James.
The fourth scene re-enacted the struggles of George Washington and his army at Valley Forge.
The next two performances depicted James D. LeRay visiting and settling the north country, and then drawing the path for religious services.
Several couples, portrayed as converging from miles away, appeared in the seventh setting, to be married by a priest who had journeyed from Utica.
The dedication in 1832 by Bishop DuBois was the subject of scene eight, and parish life during the Civil War era was the concluding portrayal.
A large parade, depicting the arrival of early settlers with ox carts, wrapped up the pageant. The closing assembly was a flag formation by schoolchildren.
St. Vincent de Paul Church, which during summer usually has a packed house for its 4 p.m. Saturday Masses, serves about 75 families on a year-round basis. Parish leaders estimate that 65 percent of those families are descendants of the early settlers.
Signers of the 1832 document, some listing their hometowns in France, were Huger Aubertin of Blonde Fontaine, Jean Billery of Aubercy, Pierre Brunot of St. Marcel, Claude Barbien of Oignet, Marcel Aubrey of Sembry, Toussaint Laurent, Simon and Nicolas Cornair, Pierre Barthelemy, Nicolas Cocaigne, Jean Branche, Nicolas Jacquet, Francois Chapron and Jacques Mentry.
Mr. LeRay also used his influence to introduce such other French families as the Gosiers, Dezengremels, Grandjeans, Mussots, Chavousties, Dunlays, Peaus, Colons, Grappottes and Favreys to the region.
Many of those names are seen on monuments in the parish's original cemetery on Dezengremel Road, but ironically not among them is the name Dezengremel. When there was no priest, Mr. Dezengremel — he may have been Louis or Frank, but that can't be verified — assembled the people together on Sundays for hymns and prayers and he taught catechism to the children. He was in charge until a priest came.
After losing his leadership role, he became resentful and organized his friends and relatives into a splinter group.
Another name of prominence is Claude Petit. He and wife, Ann, were donors of one of the original windows of the 1879 church, still in position in the bell tower. Stained glass windows replaced most of the building's originals in 1929.
It has not been 100 years since Bishop Conroy's prediction, but 75 years later, another bishop will visit Rosiere. To help the parish celebrate its 175th anniversary, Ogdensburg Bishop Robert J. Cunningham will preside at a special 11 a.m. Mass next Sunday. Following the service, Assemblyman Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, a descendant of the early settlers, will read a proclamation.
A barbecue chicken lunch, for ticket holders only, will begin at 12:30 p.m. Tickets, which are $10, must be purchased by Tuesday by calling Cheryl Gauthier, 654-2867, or Betsy Mason, 654-4493. A time capsule is scheduled to be buried at 2:30 p.m.
Repairs have been made in the old cemetery to make it presentable for the festivities, with parish member Mickey Orvis leading the effort.
The Rev. Pierre Aubin, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, is pastor on the church, a part of the Catholic Community of Cape Vincent, Rosiere and Chaumont. He is assisted by Deacon Robert Ruddy.
Town of Cape Vincent historian Peter Margrey and Gerald Aubertine, who are cousins and sixth-generation descendants of Rosiere settlers, along with Cheryl Gauthier, assisted with information for this story. Two books, "Cape Vincent and Its History," compiled by Nelie Horton Casler, 1906, and "A History of Catholicism In the North Country" by Sister Mary Christine Taylor, S.S.J., 1972, were used as references.
