Joseph Adelard Cote

(1864.06.05 - 1937.09.24)
SLS, DLS
Commission #018
(1910.06.05)

Cote was born on June 5, 1864 in Montmagny, Quebec to Jean Baptiste Cote and Marie Virginie Bernier. He received his DLS Commission on May 14, 1884.

“In July of 1886, in company with Mr. Joseph Cote, D.L.S., now of Prince Albert, and another man whose name I have forgotten, we started out from Medicine Hat to float down the South Saskatchewan river. Our objective was to meet a party who had travelled over land from Swift Current to the forks of the Red Deer river. We were carrying supplies from Medicine Hat for this survey party. The boat we came down the river in was a very crude affair, being a flat-bottom skiff of about one thousand pounds carrying capacity. We had attached to this skiff four air-tight coaloil barrels attached to the bow and stern of the craft, and on this we had some two or three tons of supplies.

We met with some interesting experiences on our way down, but probably we could not enjoy them as thoroughly as we otherwise might have, had we been able to understand each other. At that time Mr. Cote, who had just arrived from Quebec, could speak no English, nor could I speak any French, and the same applied to the third member of our party who was also a Frenchman. We had some swift water to negotiate and not having had any previous experience of the river, we were often in a huge state of confusion, owing to our not being able to understand one another. We, however, reached our destination and joined up with a party which had travelled overland. They also had their experiences while travelling, having encountered some bears, and two Indians of the party were badly torn up by a bear while trying to rescue a colt which the bears had attacked.”

This story was told by Philip Drayton Walker (trapper/Prince Albert pioneer) and printed in the Prince Albert Daily Herald on November 17, 1923.

Cote performed Township surveys in Saskatchewan in 1902, 1903 and 1904 (mostly in the Lanigan area). It was noted that his son (Alphonse) acted as a witness on some of his plans.  Most of his subdivision work was done in Prince Albert with 94 plans in total which meant he must have been quite busy.

His Commission as a Saskatchewan Land Surveyor was cancelled by the Board of Examiners in 1913. This was resultant of problems with a subdivision plan in Prince Albert.

Cote remained active in the community (Prince Albert). In 1916, along with W.A.A. McMaster, SLS, he  testified as an expert witness in an accident case; in 1918 he was a Deputy Registrar in the National Registration Program of 1918; and in 1919 provided a sketch plan and expert testimony in a murder trial. Cote and his wife were quite active socially until their departure from the city.

Cote married Marie Catherine Fortin on September 20, 1888. Together they had six sons and a daughter.

“Joseph Cote Passes Away In Chicago

Word has been received in the city of the sudden death of Joseph A. Cote, Chicago, 80 years of age, father of John Cote of this city. The deceased was well known in this district as a Dominion Land Surveyor, and resided here for 26 years prior to leaving for Chicago in 1924. Besides his widow, he is survived by six sons, Paul, Alphonse, Henry and Frank residing in Chicago; Edward, a bishop of the Jesuit Order in China, and John who has resided in Prince Albert since 1906, and on daughter, Marguerite, living in Chicago. Mr John Cote left for Chicago on receipt of word of his father’s death.”

Copied from the Prince Albert Daily Herald (Saturday, September 25, 1937)

Cote died in Chicago on September 24, 1937.

Many efforts were made to find a picture of Cote to no avail.

Note: I tried to research Cote’s children but there is some conflicting information. We know that H. enry and Paul both served in WW1. There is a Thomas F. Cote who was an inventor and had companies Cote Bros. Manufacturing Corporation and Modern Fuse Plug Co. In some articles it appears as if Thomas is a son. Frank, on the US Census, is listed as a photographer but in some articles is attached to the same companies as Thomas.

Updated by M.L.Waschuk, SLS (2026)
Information was obtained and copied from Ancestry; Newspapers.com; the Prince Albert Daily Herald; & Alan Jensen, SLS