In 1916, not long after Joseph's birth, Marie-Anne Caron was hospitalized for tuberculosis. Marie-Anne Houde, the widow of a cousin of Télesphore, soon moved into the Gagnon home. She claimed that she wanted to "take care of the house and children." She was a 30-something-year-old-mother of two sons, Gerard and Henri-Georges. She was born in Sainte-Sophie-de-Lévrard, a nearby municipality of Fortierville, Quebec. On 6 November 1917, 2-year-old Joseph was found dead in his bed. A coroner's inquest showed that it had been a natural death. Some villagers thought that Marie-Anne Houde had something to do with the death. 