She was born in Marieville, Quebec, on 4 February 1865. She and her twin brother Roch were among the nine children of Alexis Tétreault, a farmer, and his wife, Céline Ponton. She had a weak constitution and was usually sick but it was Roch who died seven months later. Two years after that loss, her mother died. Her father then decided to emigrate to the United States to find a living and she was taken in by her aunt, Julie Ponton, and her husband, Jean Alix.