Elisabeth Comeau

Known locally as “Zabeth à Pézo,” she was born August 22, 1845, the daughter of Cyrile Thibodeau and Marie Maillet of St. Martin (Meteghan Station), Nova Scotia. On November 11, 1862, she married Dédier Comeau and settled near Saint Alphonse. They had thirteen children together. They took Jerome into their care in 1870, when there were already five children in the house. Zabeth continued to take care of the unfortunate man after Dédier’s death in 1902, at which time she asked her son William and his family to return from Massachusetts where they resided, to join her in their family home. Zabeth was reported as a devote Catholic, generous, patient and self-effacing and is still quoted as an example to emulate in the community. The various censuses of Nova Scotia for Chéticamp show that she made her own butter and spun her own wool and linen.