The year 2024 was sad in that we said goodbye to members of the Mollot family. John & Cecile Mestan of Orlando, Florida passed away in January, Rene Mollot of Starbuck, Manitoba in February and Deanne Morse also of Starbuck, Manitoba in March 2024. We feel gratitude for their past accomplishments. Our thoughts and prayers go to their respective immediate family members.
This past year, two more Fortuné Mollot paintings were found in Switzerland! It is a fascinating story how the owners found us thanks to our Mollot.ca web site. Just prior to Covid 19 in December of 2019, we received an e-mail from a lady from Lausanne, Switzerland. She suspected that she had two paintings by our great grandfather Fortuné Mollot on which she had found the name ‘Mollot’. From this clue, she proceeded to our Mollot.ca website. We were amazed of this discovery and responded with enthusiasm. Through the photos she sent us, we were able to confirm the signature of Fortuné which is very visible on both paintings. Also, the artistic style was familiar to us. The paintings are of a Swiss mountain landscape. One features a majestic bull at rest in the foreground.
The second painting features two sheep in the foreground. The paintings were done on ceramic plates of approximately 20 inches in diameter and each weighing about 8 lbs. We estimate that they are over 150 years old. The painting of the sheep was cracked and in need of repair.
We asked if we see could them the next time we were in Europe and also if they were possibly for sale. The owner welcomed us to view the paintings which were at their cottage in the mountains near Gruyère and suggested that we could stay at the cottage for the week as they were still working. We were delighted with that possibility.
Covid 19 struck in March of 2020 and our travelling to Europe was on hold. But the story doesn’t end here!
With them, we discussed how these two paintings could have ended up with the Pellet family. They explained that that her great uncle loved to visit auctions and/or garage sales ‘vide-greniers’. It is thought the great uncle had thus made the purchase. Subsequently, the paintings adorned the walls of their family cottage for years and years.
This is the second time that our Mollot Family website has helped us discover paintings of Fortuné Mollot in Europe. In 2012 in Marseilles, France, we were proud to discover then obtain another Fortuné Mollot painting which had been previously unknown to us.
After our time in Switzerland, we did make our way to Blandin and celebrated Arlette’s 80th birthday. It was an incredible 3 day extravaganza with some 140 guests which included helicopter rides for everyone, ice sculpturing, etc. It was an event that we will never forget.
We are grateful that our son in law Ralf Klenke has created this web-site a number of years ago. The web-site has become an active key in maintaining family history and connections.
The Story of Fannystelle & The Mollot Family
In 2022, a new book was published: The Story of Fannystelle and the Mollot family.
This book is a history of the town of Fannystelle from its origin to the present. It has numerous photos of various pioneer families and the town. The story of the Mollot families is also told and illustrated
The Story of Fennystelle & The Mollot FamilySouth Central Regional Archives Inc. St. Claude, Manitoba.
In recent years, municipalities in Manitoba such as Grey in which Fannystelle is located, Portage La Prairie, Dufferin and the like are combining their efforts to establish a South Central Archival Center in order to preserve artifacts from their small towns and outlying areas. This combined effort has come about in part to address the declining population of town sites. As an example, the town of Fannystelle, Manitoba where our Canadian history begins has decreased in population from some 450 people in the 1940’s to less than 100 today. This Archival Centre will likely be located in the town of St. Claude which is located at the western end of the Municipality of Grey.
Interested in knowing more about family history?
In addition to our Mollot web-site, there many other places to do family research such as Archives Manitoba, the Manitoba Genealogical Society, la Société Franco Manitobaine, South Central Regional Archives Inc. and the Winnipeg Historical Society. For your information, we have donated books, photos, and various artifacts to some of these organizations. Should readers have any old photos or documents related to the Mollot family, these could be donated to one of the above listed agencies. The agencies would be delighted to accept them.
Contacts
Vic Mollot
28-55 Bairdmore St.
Winnipeg,Manitoba
R3T 5Y9
CANADA
Phone: 1-204-837-6177
vic@mollot.ca
Events
Tour De France 2008
Tour De France 2014
Reunion 2015