Hector Louis Paquin is the father of Thomas Hector Welch. Hector Paquin was born in 1884 in Fall River, MA, and by the time of the 1900 census, he was living in Yankton, SD. In 1910, he married Ida Rose Scharpen in Elk Point, SD. The marriage record says they were both divorced, but I have not yet found the prior marriage for either of them. The photo shows Hector Louis Paquin on the left, with his mother Elzire Jolin Paquin, and probably his sister Alma or Georgia, taken about 1905-1910 in Sioux City, IA.

I have found many of Hector Paquin’s ancestors, because they came to North America centuries ago and lived in areas where records were kept and the records still exist, a lucky break for genealogists. On this page, though, we will talk about Paquins.

The Paquin ancestor who immigrated to North America was Nicolas Paquin, born in April 1648 in Rouen, Normandy, France. I do not know when he left France, but he married Marie Francoise Plante on 18 Nov 1676 in Quebec, Canada, and lived in Quebec until he died 17 Dec 1708. Nicolas Paquin is the 6th great-grandfather of Thomas Hector Welch, meaning Thomas’ great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. This is the lineage:

• Nicolas and Marie had a son named Nicolas, born in 1677.
• Nicolas (the son) married Marie Ann Perrot/Perauts in 1707, and had a son Jean Baptiste Paquin, who was born in 1716.
• Jean Baptiste Paquin married Marie Elisabeth Doucet in 1752, and they had a son named Joseph Paquin, born in 1762.
• Joseph Paquin married Marie Josephe Gladû in 1787, and they had a son named Augustin Joseph Paquin, born in 1794.
• Augustin Joseph Paquin married Marie Genevieve Cloutier in 1821, and they had a son named Joseph Julius Paquin, born in 1835.
• Joseph Julius Paquin married Julie Lemaire in 1856, and they had a son named Nestor Joseph Paquin, born in 1858.
• Nestor Joseph Paquin immigrated from Quebec to MA about 1875, and in 1880 he married Elzire Stéphanie Jolin, who had also been born in Quebec and immigrated about 1873. Nestor and Elzire had a son named Hector Louis Paquin, born in 1884 in Fall River, MA, as noted above.
• Hector Louis Paquin married Ida Rose Scharpen in 1910, however, they did not have any children together. Hector Paquin and Julia Mabel Holder had a son named Thomas Hector Welch, born 11 Nov 1932 in Chicago, IL.

Nestor and Elzire had 8 children, and sometime after the birth of son Eli Frank Paquin on 30 Apr 1886 in Uxbridge, MA, they moved to SD where daughter Cora Cecelia Paquin was born in Yankton on 23 Dec 1887.

Nestor and Elzire’s last child, Edward J. Paquin, was born 08 Jul 1901 in Yankton. In the 1905 IA state census, the family is living in Sioux City, where they lived until Nestor died in 1923. Elzire lived in Sioux City for most of the rest of her life, and was there on the 1930 census on 04 Apr 1930. However, she died 01 Oct 1930 in Chicago, IL, at the home of her son Hector Louis Paquin there, and was buried in Sioux City.

The birth certificate of Thomas Hector Welch says that his father is Chas. (Charles) Allen Welch, of Kansas City, MO. However, Thomas Welch states that his father is Hector Paquin, which is why he was given the middle name of Hector. I cannot find any record of a man named Charles Allen Welch of that age in Kansas City, and can find no one who ever heard of or met him, so I’m not sure he ever even existed; Julia Holder may have made up the name.

Hector Louis Paquin held many different types of jobs throughout his lifetime. One of his first jobs was a blacksmith. The photo is his blacksmith shop, and Hector is second from the right. According to Thomas Welch, Hector’s main customer was Bekins Van & Storage when trucks were horsedrawn, so it was probably one of the first jobs he had. The 1915 IA state census lists his occupation as blacksmith. By September of 1918 when he filled out his WWI draft registration card, he was a fireman at the Great Northern Railway Company. His Great Northern pass of 1926 says he was an engineer for Good Stations Willmar Division. The 1930 census says he was a switchman at the railroad, by which time he had moved to Chicago.

By the 1940 census Hector had switched careers again, and is listed as a night patrolman. The photo at right is stamped July 1943 and shows him in his police uniform. He was a law enforcement officer at least through 1949, as shown by his Illinois Police Association card. He was also a member of the General Service Employees Union, A. F. of L. through 1949. Near the end of 1949 he turned 65, so probably retired at that time.