George (Georges) R. Pariseau was a premier dance fiddler in the thumb of Michigan and Detroit area for many years. He was born in LaChute Quebec on November 29, 1868 (at least one source says 1871). He moved to Port Huron with his family at the age of five. His father worked at least for a time as a lumberjack. At least one uncle, Augustin Pariseau, was a fiddler. George married Christina Marcella (Teenie) Peters in Port Huron in 1888 when he was 16 and lived in Port Huron until the age of 19. He lived in Alpena for 7 years and then moved to Bad Axe where he remained throughout the majority of his life. Gifford indicates on his website that Pariseau spent time as a lumberjack. He was a noted and popular fiddler who played for Henry Ford and on the radio. His dance band, the George R. Pariseau Orchestra, was comprised largely of his own children.
Many digitized recordings of George Pariseau can be found at his collection at the University of Michigan-Flint library thanks to the hard work of Paul Gifford: https://digitalarchives.umflint.edu/digital/collection/p16210coll7
Below are a few recordings that Pariseau made in 1929 and 1930 on 78 rpm records through Gennett. There are additional digitized 78 recordings available at the Pariseau Collection link here and above.
An obituary is also available at the bottom of the page.
In addition to George Pariseau, the following recordings contain Durward “Dewey” Pariseau, Mina Pariseau Herdell, and Ford Pariseau on tenor banjo, piano, and sousaphone. At the time period, it was not unusual to mix brass instruments in with an old time string band, or drums, and it was also not yet vogue in the country to dress up in “rube” or “country bumpkin” costumes, hence the photographs of the Pariseau Orchestra show formal attire (meta data on recordings thanks to Paul Gifford’s arcival work with the Pariseau Collection at UM-Flint).
Obituary believed to be from The Times Herald of Port Huron, Thursday March 17, 1949.
George R Pariseau (Bad Axe, May 17, 1949)–
George R Pariseau, known to thousands of persons in the Thumb and elsewhere as an “old time fiddler” and leader of his own dance orchestra, died today in Hubbard Memorial Hospital after an illness of 6 weeks. He was 80 years old. His death ends a musical career of about 63 years, during which he played for countless dances, filled radio engagements and made recordings. His orchestra for many years was composed principally of his sons and daughters, who inherited musical talent from their father. He was a close personal friend of the late Henry Ford and frequently played for old time dances for Mr. Ford and his friends in the late twenties. It was during that time that his orchestra was featured weekly on a Detroit radio station. Mr. Pariseau knew by memory thousands of songs, old and new, and he was proud of his ability to play any request number for square dance, polka, waltz, jig and modern dance. He used the same violin for more than 46 years that he purchased from a Huron County farmer for $65. Mr. Ford had the violin reconditioned in 1926 at his own expense. Mr. Pariseau began his musical career when he was 17 years old. His last public appearance was in January when he played at the golden wedding anniversary celebration in Argyle of relatives, Mr. & Mrs. Peter McCarthy.
Mr Pariseau was born Nov 29, 1868, in Lachute, Quebec, Canada. With his parents, he moved to Port Huron when he was 5 years old and lived there until he was 19. He and Miss Christina Peters were married in Port Huron. They lived 7 years in Alpena before moving 53 years ago to Bad Axe. Mrs. Pariseau died in 1930. Mr. Pariseau is survived by 6 sons, Ford Pariseau, Bad Axe; Vincent Pariseau, Owosso; Cecil, Harold and Durward Pariseau, all of Detroit, and Carl Pariseau, Sebewaing; 3 daughters, Mrs. George Taack, Imlay City; Mrs. Benjamin Hescott, Fostoria, MI and Mrs. Allen Dunn, San Bernardino, CA; 33 grandchildren, several great grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. Adlor Prevost, Alpena, and Mrs. Julia Burgoyne, Montreal Que; and a brother James Pariseau, Alpena. The remains are in the Alden MacAlpine funeral home. Funeral services have not been arranged.
