Hello everyone, today I went to the genealogy center. First I wanted to help some of my members with their queries. Next I checked the newspapers for various obituaries, for my christmas family tree that I am preparing. I found two obits so far, and I have to return. The reason I am telling you this, is to let you know that sometimes ancestors move to various places, some go to the USA, others to various parts of Canada, or even overseas.
In the tree that I am doing, which are Legers, I found some in Saskatchewan, San Francisco, Ontario, New Bedford, Leominster, Newcastle, Charlo,Toronto, Montreal, California, Chilawack, Surrey, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and I am not finished the tree. grin. Just like the song by Hank Snow, "they've been everywhere man.
I also have been trying to match the names with photos, and lo and behold, I found a photo of one of their ancestor who was a member of parliament today.
And he looks just like his great great grandson, or his great great grandson looks like him.
So if you are doing genealogy, remember to check the obituaries if possible to know where they moved to.
On another note, I have transcribed a few marriages from the parish records of Tracadie Nova Scotia which I shall add to my website as soon as I can, so if you have ancestors who were from there, check my site a bit later to see if they are there. This would be in the early 1800s.
Have a great day, and thanks for dropping by.
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Can you imagine going back in time and seeing our acadian ancestors? How would they be dressed? Well the photo on the left is one I took at the Moncton Museum,with the permission to do so, and this was noted to be similar clothing worn by our ancestors. Now if you look back at some of my first blogs, you will see a photo of my great grandmother and she wore long dresses in the early 1900s. If you go to my photo gallery on my website at www.acadian-roots.com you will also see the outfits of different photos. I read somewhere that women used to cover their face with stove ash to prevent mosquito bites. I bet back then, many of our ancestors suffered lots of musquito and little black flies (bite em no see em). Today we have bug repellents, back then they had to try to find a solution on how to prevent them from biting. Just thinking about it, makes me glad that I am in this century. I don't know if I told you the story about my mother and her two brothers , her youngest brother was always getting into trouble, one day the three of them were walking along a wooden path, looking for berries. When Mom's youngest brother saw a bees nest , before Mom had time to say don't touch it, he took a stick and poked the nest, well you can imagine what happened next, Mom said "We ran for our lives".
Now back to the photo, notice the crucifix on the wall? Well that crucifix once was on the altar of the Memramcook church way back in the late 1790s according to the note below it. As you know Memramcook is the oldest village in New Brunswick. It was called the cradle of Acadie. Many of us have ancestors that were there at one time or another. So perhaps some of our ancestors viewed that crucifix many times when they attended church. Speaking of church, how many of you remember kneeling all together at home to say the rosary? Our ancestors did that too.
Hope you enjoyed today's blog, thank you so much for coming by. Have a great day.
Oh and in closing I want to say Hi Eve, Hi Cindy and Hi Sara, I know you are here.
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Regarding P'tit Francois, we are going to be treated with something great on my acadian-roots website. I told you that I have added the stories of P'tit Francois des bois in my website, well guess what? we are in for another great treat, P'tit Francois himself is going to do the translation to english very soon. So I will hold off on adding new stories until he does the translation for us. That way, he tells the story in his own way. I can hardly wait to read what he writes. He has offered to do this and I am very pleased. So keep checking , the next story should be translated by him. I shall add a note saying it is so on the page. Something to look forward to huh?

Now you must be wondering what that photo is, well that horseshoe with the eagle at the top and cup in the middle was made for the Moncton Hawks by my grandfather David Williams. I have one like it here. My grandfather worked in the foundry and in his spare time he made things to sell, crucifix, statues, ashtrays etc. There is also one of his ashtrays he made for the Moncton Hawks hockey team, probably the same time as he made the horseshoe. The Horseshoe above and ashtray is in the Moncton Museum. I wanted to go to see for myself, and yesterday I did. But I do not know if they know that it was my grandfather who made these articles. It was my first time in the Museum, and they had a section on Moncton's history. They have a cross that sat on the altar in the Memramcook church in the late 1790s I think and the church burnt, I did not read up on this , I just read it fast and took a photo which I will share with you another day.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember to drop in and read P'tit Francois des bois's stories, they are funny.

Have a great day

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Well I have finished my first little story, the stories are about the life of P'tit Francois des bois, they are written in Chiac (Acadian Slang), They are from the french newspaper L'Etoile with permission to do so. I am translating the stories to English along with the french story. I do hope you will keep checking as these stories come out once a week, I am trying to get some older stories to add also. These stories are really great. If your parents read french they will enjoy them immensely because some of the words used in his stories are words our grandparents spoke. Go to www.acadian-roots.com click on P'tit Francois des bois in the sidebar, and enjoy. I will add stories as I get them and when I am finished translating them.
Have a great day
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It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, it is not cold. Last night we had a lot of rain with gusting winds. I was listening to the news about all the fires in California, it is sad to see that some people had to evacuate their homes because of the danger of the fire. I live in Canada, and I am so thankful that where I live is not too bad for fires. We do have forest fires, but nothing as big as in California. I pray that everyone stays safe.
Well I have gone to the genealogy center and finally finished my project of transcribing the 1891 census for Dundas District in Kent County New Brunswick, now I need to add the final names to my website. I also have gotten a few more marriages to add to my Jacquet River page.
But I am in the process of adding something different on my website at www.acadian-roots.com ,I am not going to tell you what ,well not just yet. It may be there in a few days and I will let you know. I received permission to do this, and I am so pleased . I know some of you will also be pleased. Now I hope this has peaked your curiosity and you will come to my acadian-roots website. Be patient, and you will enjoy it.
I must share something else with you because I found this to be so cute. I contacted someone regarding an acadian song for my page and when she replied ,she said I am "example" mary a tom, a pierre, a joseph, etc , she went up to the first one in Port Royal. She made me smile when I received the email, because I have heard so many time, Joe a Meleme, Fred a Joe, Fidele a Charles and so on.
Now I had my coffee break ,it is time to get back to work, and to genealogy.
Have a great day, and do drop in again.
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Well today I would like to read to you from my new book Acadia of the Maritimes, I find it to be very interesting. The following is an article by Father Anselme Chiasson, C.Cormier,D.Deschenes, and R.LaBelle.
Weddings of our ancestors;
The marriage having been agreed to and the date set, the parents of the bride and groom went to see the priest and made arrangements for the ceremony. There were no dowries as such in Acadie, but the bride's family, depending on their means, might give her a cow, sheep, quilts,sheets,towels and a spinning wheel. Winter was the ideal time for weddings because the seasonal work was done. In Cheticamp for example marriages usually took place on the Tuesday after Epiphany.In the early 19th century the bride and groom just wore their Sunday clothes, decorated with ribbons and cockades. The carriage which brought the couple to the church was also decorated with ribbons. The fashion of having the fathers of the bride and groom be the witnesses at the church is a recent one. In the past that role belonged to the maid of honor and a best man chosen by the couple. One old custom consisted of saluting the couple returning from the church with musket fire. Another custom was "stealing the bride". This was a mock kidnapping during which the young men of the village symbolically showed their opposition to the newlywed's new status.( I remember when I got married there were friends of my husband and me who tried to find us on the train, had they done so their plan was to kidnap me, whew , they never found us, we hid very well .smile)
Quite regularly if the groom was the youngest son, he and his bride stayed with his parents and inherited his father's property. Parents were considered elderly quite early at that time,around the age of 50. They continued to help their son and daughter in law in the house, on the land,and without fighting but handed over all responsibily and quite often title to the property,in exchange for the assurance of being looked after for the remaining years of their lives.
Can you imagine our kids thinking that at 50 we are "too old to cut the mustard? grin. I remember when I was 25 or 26 thinking gee I am not anxious to reach 40 that is old, when I reached forty I remember looking at my in laws and saying they were old, guess what ? I AM old. smile.
thank you for the visit ,do come again.
Have a great day
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Ah, the beautiful fall colors. This morning my friend and I went to get some spring water, and I took my digital along. The colors are breathtaking in some places. The photo on the left was taken on the Ammon Road , if you see the intersection, on the right is where the spring is located. I wanted to share a fall photo with you, but I wanted to take a photo from a new area. I hope you enjoy it.Our Centennial Park is gorgeous too. I usually take a fall photo there.

I have been adding a few tidbits to my Did You Know page. I was going through my trunk a few days ago and I had saved a quiz from the 1993 paper. So I decided to add some to my page.If you have some tidbits you would like to share on the Acadians that you would like me to add on my Did You Know page, send me an email. You can reach me via my website. Please write Acadian Tidbits in the subject line.

Thank you for the visit , do come again.

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Did you know that in our old newspapers can be found little tidbits? I have been jotting some down when I go to the genealogy center. Here is one regarding a Mister Augustin Brideau from Saint Louis Kent County in New Brunswick. It is written in french, so I shall post the french and then translate.
Evangeline Paper, November 17 1927.
Saint Louis
M.Augustin Brideau vient d'acheter le moulin a carde, ainsi que la propriete de M.Pierre Thibodeau. Celui ci doit partir prochainment pour les Etats.Comme M.Brideau doit cette hiver haler le moulin sur sa propriete au centre du village St.Louis, la maison sera vendu .
Translation;
Mister Augustin Brideau recently bought the lumber mill plus the property of Mister Pierre Thibodeau. This man must leave shortly for the United States. So this winter Mister Brideau must haul the mill on his property in the center of the village of St.Louis, the house will be sold.
written November 7 1927.
Now to you this may not be interesting but for descendants of Mister Brideau it would be very nice to be able to read about their ancestor's daily life.
I also was digging in my papers and come across an article posted in the newspaper with several tidbits. I shall be adding them to my Did You Know page on my website at www.acadian-roots.com .
I have not finished my 1891 census for Cocagne, Notre Dame, Grand Digue yet, I haven't gone back to the genealogy center so I must get busy with that soon.
On a lighter note, I have received a second email from my grandson who is only 11 years of age. And this really makes me feel good. Today I replied asking him what he is wearing this halloween. He told me his sister doesn't plan on going out, maybe she will stay home and give the treats.
I remember when Halloween was safe. We used to dress up in old clothes, with a half mask (not a full one) and take a pillow case and by the time we got home the pillowcase was nearly full. Sometimes it was cold or raining but we didn't care , it was oh lets go here, and here is an apartment we can do lots of places inside. grin.
Those were the good old days ,were they not?
Have a great day.
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Lobsters. mmmmm. Such a delicacy. The following is an exhert from my book I received for free. This is about our acadian ancestors. The book is Acadia of the Maritmes and this chapter was researched by Ronnie Gilles LeBlanc and Bernard V LeBlanc. " The lobsters were found in abundance along coastlines inhabited by Acadians. Over the years they have been used for consumption and fertilizer. In the early years lobsters could be found at a low tide in the crevases of the rocks. or they could be caught in a dip net from a dug out canoe. This was how the fishing was conducted until the turn of the century at which time the lobster trap was introduced. From that time on ,sailboats became necessary in order to carry all their traps which were attached to ropes and were deposited 80 or 100 at a time on the bottom of the ocean, ater came the introduction of faster motorboats ,the number of traps per line was reduced.In the fall the lobster and cod fishing came to a close they then fished for smelt, eel and salmon.
My late husband once told me that long ago boats sailed up the Petitcodiac River to Moncton and he remembers going to the wharf and getting all the lobster bodies he wanted. This was at the time that everyone was having a hard time, they called it" Time of Depression". When I was first introduced to eating lobster, I watched my husband eat the bodies and the paste and I thought Yuck, I will never eat that. One day he said just try it Aline. So I did, I used to only eat the claws and tail, but found that inside the body there was lots of meat, and the paste was delicious. Am I making you hungry? smile.
So our ancestors used to dig for clams, eat lobster, scallops, quahawgs, mussels, and all kids of fish. I remember when I was growing up, Friday was fish day, we were not allowed to eat meat and that went on for many years. My favorite fish are trout, sole, smelts (in the winter),salmon. My favorite shellfish is lobster, scallop, clams, quahawgs.
Thanks for the visit, do come again.
Have a great day
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Hmm, do I look as if I am having a bad day? grin. Well this was taken when I met Michele for the first time. I was showing her where there were marriages indexed. In an earlier blog I showed you a photo of us at a different area. Well now you see another part of the C'Entre D'Etude Acadienne. I would really encourage any of you researching your acadian roots to drop in to the CEA, you will be amazed at how much stuff there is .

On another note, I am in the process of making some genealogy DVD's for some friends for Christmas. So I have been gathering photos and information to add .

I am doing the Leger family. I was going to do it in book form but decided on the DVD, I will be making 3 or 4 copies. I think that would be a lovely christmas gift.

I am also doing a book for someone and that book is nearly finished, I am proud of the book. If any of you are fresh out of ideas on what to buy for Christmas, why don't you give them a bit of history . I am certain some folks would really love that. There are folks who cannot be bothered in researching ,but that doesn't mean they would not appreciate the end results.

Speaking of Christmas, I know that the meaning of Christmas is not gift giving, but we in our genealogy group are going to exchange gifts this christmas, I think it is a great idea, not because we are getting gifts, but because we are giving gifts to others. We do not know any personal stuff about our group, some could be spending christmas alone, some may have no one. So a parcel arriving in the mail to maybe one of those people would bring a smile to their face for a little while.

So far we are 14 who have signed up, the deadline for joining is the end of October.

I remember a nurse in one of my groups telling me that every christmas eve, she goes out late at night and puts a little gift on her neighbors doorsteps, they don't have a clue who its from and she feels so good about doing this.

And every christmas when my husband was alive, we used to buy a gift for a boy and a gift for a girl and deliver it to the community for the less fortunate. I felt good about doing this, because I have two grandchildren and they always had a nice christmas so a little extra gift to the poor felt good.

Thank you for listening, thank you for stopping by, I do hope you will come see me again.

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Hello everyone, well I had composed a nice blog but it did not go through , so I will attempt another one. I received some free books at the genealogy center, and one of the books is very interesting. Inside the book it has a chapter on Culture in Acadia by Bernard V LeBlanc and Ronnie Gilles. They did a fabulous job. Anyway in the book there is a chapter that I enjoy.
In the springtime the Acadian women used to do their spring cleaning with home made soap ,white sand or ashes. They would wash down their walls, their wooden floors,and everything that had to be cleaned. They would then change the straw from their mattresses, and they would go down to the book to do their annual spring washing. They would wash their bedclothes, linen, underclothes and any dirty clothes from the previous year. They would also wash daily or weekly. This was also the opportunity to take their annual bath if they wanted to. It was not uncommon never to take a bath.
When the women did their daily washing for baby diapers and clothing , water had to be brought from a spring or well or stream. Some women had to travel quite far through the woods so they carried two pails suspened by a yoke on their shoulders.
My mother told me she remembers my grandmother taking a large branch that was quite strong and putting a pail on each end over her shoulders and go to the spring to get some water.
There is much more in this book that is interesting if you want to read it, go to your library see if they have the book Acadia of the Maritimes. I will give you another story another time.
Have a great day
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Hello everyone, well my name is Rocky, I live in Hopewell Albert County in New Brunswick Canada. I live near the Rocks. Now if you would like to see a better photo of me, and if you would like to read about Aline's visit to the Rocks and she told me she also went to Cape Enrage. Please go to her site at www.acadian-roots.com click on her Acadian Trips and scroll down to Hopewell Rocks and Cape Enrage. I am sure you will enjoy her story and see how handsome I am.
Rocky

Hello everyone, nice to see you. Well as you can see , I have returned to the Centre D'Etude Acadienne for more genealogy and more digging. And I also went to meet Michele and Lucie. I had met Lucie a few days earlier, and Friday I arrived very early . I told the lady at the desk that I was meeting Michele that morning, to let her know that I was on the microfilms. I did not have to wait long because Michele was right behind me.And Lucie not long behind us.
It is so nice meeting someone that we chat with on a daily basis in person.
You will notice all the drawers behind us in the photo. Those drawers contains cards of all kinds of interesting information, for instance one drawer has a list on what they have for parish records, censuses, and much much more. On the other wall , there are similar drawers with cards with surnames and names of various people who are listed in the parish registers.
Further along the same wall are books of censuses, parish records, Stephen White's books ,Placide Gaudet's books, Adrien Bergerons' books, Tanguay, Bona Arsenault and much more. So if you ever get down to Moncton and go there , you can go for years and years and never see all their stuff. I am still amazed at finding things I did not know existed.
I have begun another census, I thought I had it all done but come to find out, there are three other parts of that census to do yet. So I will try and go a section at a time. Why am I doing this? Well I do know many of you are unable to get down here, or maybe unable to access the censuses through your libraries so this is my way of helping you find your ancestors,which I feel is so important to know and to pass down to your descendants. Maybe this is our purpose in life?
So thank you for listening and do have a great day. And Lucie and Michele it was nice seeing you and thank you for posing with me.
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I fought the law and the law won, grin. Well as you know I have moved to another house, well I thought all was going to be fine and I was going to be at peace. So a few days ago, we tied our old dog in the back and went to the hardware store. We were gone maybe an hour or so, when we returned , the dog was not at the same place we had tied him. So we figured someone had moved him. Not so.We entered the house and about five minutes later, two police cruisers pulled into our yard. Gulp. Now what? The first officer knocked on the door and he said, do you have a dog name Shadow? Yes I replied, well he said he got loose and someone phoned to tell us they knocked on your door to which there was no reply , they were worried. Well we do not know a soul around here except our new neighbor. Anyway apparently Shadow got loose, decided to go for a walk, the neighbor caught him, and tied him up again. He barely went away when Shadow again got loose and up the road he went, A truck stopped and was ready to take him to the pound, but the neighbor stopped him. So they phoned the police, who phoned the animal hospital regarding shadow. So we told the police all was well, Shadow was safe and sound. What will happen next? Stayed tuned for the soap opera Days of Aline's life. smile.
On another note, I have added the Shediac Parish 1861 census to my website at www.acadian-roots.com , Shediac Parish Census included, Barachois, Aboujagane, Tidish, St.Andre, Shediac River all in Westmorland County New Brunswick. I hope some of you can find some of your ancestors.
Friday I am going to the genealogy center to meet another one of my group members, last week Maria came down from Connecticut, it was nice seeing her. I saw Lucie last Monday and will be seeing her along with Michele on Friday Morning, and I will probably see what else I can add to my website.
Take you for stopping by, have a great day.
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