Métis Marriages: Beausoleil & Dusome

Olive Beausoleil and Isidore “McKoy” Dusome were married on May 23, 1875 in Penetanguishene, deepening the Georgian Bay Métis Community’s already well established family and kinship networks.

Olive Beausoleil was born in Penetanguishene around 1854, the daughter of 1840 Penetanguishene Halfbreed Petition signatory, Alexis Beausoleil, and Olive Giroux. Raised on the shores of Georgian Bay, Olive grew up in her Métis community.

Isidore Dusome was born in Penetanguishene around 1848 and, like his wife, maintained deep and lasting ties to the Métis community in Georgian Bay throughout his life. In 1873, he served as a witness to the Métis marriage of Narcisse Chevalier and Louise Longlade. In 1883, he became godfather to Philomène Secord, daughter of Benjamin Secord and Sophie Beausoleil, and later became the godfather to Henriette Giroux Beausoleil in 1902.

Olive and Isidore’s 1875 marriage was witnessed by fellow Métis, Francois Longlade and Jane Boucher.

Following her marriage to Isidore, Olive further strengthened the bonds between the Beausoleil and Dusome families by serving as a witness to the marriages of Frederick and Marie Dusome in 1875.

By the time of the 1891 census, Olive and Isidore were living briefly in Parry Sound, where they recorded the adoption of Olive’s niece, Henriette Beausoleil Dusome. By 1901, they had returned to their home at Penetanguishene, where Isidore continued his work as a fisherman. Their commitment to family and community remained evident, becoming godparents to Francois Longlade in 1908.

More than a union of two individuals, Olive and Isidore’s marriage reinforced longstanding Métis family and relational ties that have continued to strengthen the distinct Georgian Bay Métis Community for generations to follow.

See Our Sources

• Beausoleil-Giroux VMFL

• Dusome-Clermont VMFL

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