Sunday, December 30, 2007

Hello all you faithful readers , so nice of you to drop by. Well Christmas is over, tomorrow is New Years Eve. It is hard to believe, soon we will be in the year 2008. The years are really flying by, and there is so much work to be done. We need to get busy and write down our history, our memories, because before we know it, we will be old and gray and then we will be no more.
Someone told me, that they had received new information from their relatives during the holidays that really helps them to go further in their family tree. That is great news.
Christmas Eve, we gathered at Mom's home, all my siblings were together. The only one missing was my Dad. We sat in the living room and chatted about when we were young, then we got on the subject of dogs. That is when Mom said she had a dog, that watched over my oldest sister when Mom would put her outdoors in her carriage. No one could go near that carriage. Then she continued with the story of when her and Dad built their log cabin out in the woods, they had two big dogs and Dad would tie a log (probably not a big one) to each dog and say GIT HOME and Mom would be waiting at the other end and undo the logs and they would scoot back to my father.
Then the story continued, still on animals, my brother had two skunks, one he named Oscar, Mom said to him, If those skunks spray you are in big trouble, my brother replied then I will wash in a tub of tomato juice, but their dog got close to the skunk and sure enough he got a spraying and he ran and got under the bed sheets, Mom said "What a smell". grin.
Animals lovers must run in the family because I had a great uncle, he was a hermit, and a bachelor, he raised horses and exotic animals. He had various kinds of birds, peakcocks, with beautiful feathers, he had white deer (albino) and one time, one got loose , ran into the woods, was never found but later on there were deer coming out with lots of white on them. My great uncle would send away for these exotic animals.
It was so nice just getting together and talking and laughing. And it was good for us to be there with Mom. We had a favorite Acadian Dish, poutine rappees, I ate two of them. I enjoy mine with sugar, some like them with just salt. And we had trays of cheeses, and ham, and sweets. We exchanged gifts, my sister in law had my name, she gave me a package of make up. ( I need lots of that grin). I had picked my older brother's name, so I got him a Tshirt which said" I love my phone number, can I have yours? " He laughed when he opened it.
Christmas Day , we went to my son's home for dinner, the turkey was so tender and juicy, what a wonderful meal. I had taken over some cherry cheesecake , I made a double batch. It was good. And I enjoyed being with my son and his family. I notice how my grandchildren are growing up so fast. They enjoyed the books I made for them. I made them two different books but same principle, our Cormier ancestors. One of them mentions a little girl, named Marguerite, which is really from our Cormier line, and the other book talked about each generation.
I had also made a book for my sister in law, on her maternal line, with a photo of her mother who recently passed away on the cover, she phoned me and said 'what a beautiful book,thank you". That made me feel good.
I have added my New years wish for you on my website www.acadian-roots.com
plus I am nearly finished another census, which I shall add as soon as I have permission to add a photo. It will be on my site very soon.
Thanks for stopping by , I do hope you will drop in again.
Have a great day
Aline

Monday, December 24, 2007

So we do not forget. I would like to wish all the armed forces, army,navy,airforce, to all of our men and women who are overseas, in Iraq, Afghanistan, on ships,or elsewhere a very very merry christmas.
Did you know that in one of the world wars that one year at midnight or just before midnight (I am not sure exacly), but that both the British and the German troops laid down their arms, and wished one another a merry christmas? Then they were ordered back to war. Wouldn't it be nice if we had no war, no fighting? Peace everywhere?
Anyway here it is christmas eve and I just wanted to send all the troops everywhere wishes for a very Happy Holiday. Stay safe.
Aline

Saturday, December 22, 2007

On April 5 1879 in the french paper Le Moniteur Acadien was the following article. I have translated it for you. Remember I wrote about Father Louis Ouellet ?Here is the article." The reverend L Joseph Ouellet pastor of Sainte Marie in Kent County is looking for 30 or 40 young Acadians sober and hard working to settle a new colony in the vicinity of the Coal Branch ICR Station.All the young people who want to have a lot of land in an area with great potential should send their applications to Father Ouellet.Once we have the number of applications needed we will let them know of the advantages they will receive that the government has promised them.
Two years later five families from Sainte Marie settled in Adamsville;Narcisse Chase, Cesime Chase, Raphael Henri, Francois Babineau and Louis Collet.This movement continued . And in 1910 two families from Sainte Marie ,Louis Maillet and Damien Collette founded the village of Lac Saint Edouard 13 kilometers from Adamsville. In 1883 Adamsville and Saint Norbert were incorporated with Saint Paul de Kent.
The above was translated from the book of Life in Sainte Marie. Now Narcisse Chase married Martin , and my grandmother was their grandaughter.
Hope you enjoyed the article.
Happy New Year to all of you, I will return in the New Year. Stay safe, stay well.
Aline

Friday, December 21, 2007

What are you asking for Christmas? Did you ask for any genealogy books? You could ask for a family tree sofware. I have Legacy and my brother last year bought me the family historian to go with it. That was a lovely gift, one year I received the 1881 census from the latter day saints as a gift from a friend. There are so many books out there, that may interest you. I know it is close to Christmas for mentioning this but it just came to my mind. Or even a subcription to a genealogy site would be a great gift.
Well yesterday I went to my photo gallery at my website www.acadian-roots.com and lately I had been allowing folks to register in order to share their ancestor photos with us. Well that was a bad mistake on my part, I let everyone who applied to join. And I allowed the comments to be posted, well this morning I checked my email over 150 comments were posted and all spam. So I went and deleted them and banned the members. From now on, if anyone wants to honestly post and share their ancestors photos in our gallery, they will need to let me know who they are first.In other words I will not allow them to join unless I know they are sincere. It seems there is always someone wanting to spoil something meaningful.
My purpose for the gallery on my website, is to share old photos with one another. We may have photos of our ancestors somewhere that we do not know that they exist. I would love nothing better to have some photos of my Bristol line from Saint Paul show. Or my Williams and Legers from Notre Dame. I would love to see a photo if there is one out there of my mother in law's father Maxime Cormier who came from the Cap Pele area or Barachois, he married first to a Leger then he married Obeline Cormier in 1891 in Haute Aboujagane. A photo of him would be great to give my son or grandchildren some day.
Also I have a photo of Amand Cormier a Denis and Rose Boudrot, but if another one would come my way ,that would be nice.
In ending todays blog, if you want to join our photo gallery at acadian-roots, go there and contact me and let me know you want to subscribe and add photos.
Have a great day
Happy Holidays
Aline

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Have you heard of a place called Saint Paul de Kent? It is a small village in Kent County New Brunswick. I would like to share with you an article I read in my book of Saint Paul. I am translating it to English. A young priest age 30 by the name of Father Louis Joseph Ouellet arrived in Sainte Marie de Kent September 13 1870, he knew there was a settlement 12 miles further which needed a priest. Here is what Father Ouellet writes in his journal;
"From my arrival to Notre Dame (Sainte Marie was known as Notre Dame du Mont Carmel) I was put in charge of the new colony of Saint Paul,where I built the new church in 1873 at a cost of $1,700.Only God knows the work, the sacrifices and hardship the settlers and missionaries had in founding these colonies of Saint Paul,Saint Norbert,Adamsville from down below and Upper Bouctouche River.
The poor settlers came from everywhere with their bare necessities.
From 1870 to 1889 the roads were in a very bad state.The horses as were the rest were old and in poor shape that many times we had to walk to take care of the sick.We ate what we could catch, and lodged in cabins or huts that were comfortably heated.
During my first years in Saint Paul and Adamsville I said the mass in the homes of the poor parishioners,who were so anxious to please the missionaries and so generous. I would go to Saint Paul once a month and every two months to Adamsville. In Saint Paul we would say the mass sometimes at Pierrot Leger on the south side of the river and sometimes at Joseph Damboise or Fabien LeBlanc on the north side In 1873 I began saying mass in the new little church measurement 39 x 50 feet which today forms the "sacristie" of the new church.
The cantors or songsters? were;Thaddee Belliveau, Joseph Dambroise, Joseph Bernard,Placide Bourgeois,Placide Robichaud ,and Anase Gallant.
God was helpful, not one person died without the last rites and all the parishoners prayed for them.
When the missionaries were not available, the people would all meet at the church on Sundays and sing the mass and vespers, and Joseph Bernard would read from the bible and say the rosary. All the people would go then go home full of courage for the following week.
Everyone worked, either at hauling logs , or clearing the forest in order to burn in the spring.Many only having bread and molasses and tea for food.
The ones seeing Saint Paul today (this was written in 1897) can hardly believe their eyes. Saint Paul is a flourishing and vibrant village with its own priest,one of the largest church in the county, a rectory .
Many years before I left ,I bought 100 acres of land from the government and added it to the ten acres the church already had. I built an enclosure for the church and for the first cemetery. I also had a good well dug.
Finally before the arrival of Father Hebert I had a rectory built at a cost of $1,300.Jean Bernard was the contractor .I paid the workers $400 for two days work a year for the upkeep of the priest's property.
I would like to add , that even tho I did not like to leave my dear mission,I was very happy to have in such a short time and healthwise and other sacrifices been the first parish priest of Saint Paul."
I hope you liked this little article. I translated it the best that I could.
I also want to add that next July , there is going to be an anniversary of Saint Paul, they are going to have an exhibit on old photos, and I want to be there, to see if there are any photos of some of my ancestors among them.
Have a great day, thanks for the visit.
Aline

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Remembering past Christmases . How many of you remember getting tons of christmas cards in the mail? I remember receiving close to 100 some years, and I would send as many . Back then it cost one cent to post a card, one cent can you imagine? It would be so nice if our post offices would allow us to do so again ,just for the christmas season. I was reading in the french paper l"etoile, about a lady who was over 100 years of age. She was discussing Christmas and she said they used to decorate the tree and add christmas cards all over the tree. I remember doing that when I was newly married. And then I would tape some cards all around the door frames. She continued saying they had a christmas stocking,(mine were long brown ones grin) and they were filled with fruits and candy. Mine used to have ribbon candy and a barley toy (candy),an apple, an orange, some nuts in their shells. Thinking back, my mother must have had a lot of work to do in preparing the stockings and wrapping gifts , we were seven children and Mom always had one or more living with us. But of course we never got many gifts as they do today. One from Mom and Dad, and Santa brought us each a gift.
I remember getting a pair of white figure skates on one Christmas. Boy I was excited. I went skating with them many times, of course I was a very poor skater, we had a costumed carnival one year, and I had the nicest costume, I thought for sure I would win a prize. Oh I won a prize all right. For being the worst skater. haha. I think I won a can opener that year.
I wonder how our ancestors way back celebrated the holidays, it is for sure they first went to church because they were very religious. I used to love going to the midnight mass at midnight, now they celebrate the mass earlier in the evening, I think there are some churches who do celebrate at midnight.
And some of our ancestors probably went to church in a horse and sleigh. There sure must have been rosy cheeks among them , especially in the cold weather.
I remember going on a sleigh ride one year, not for christmas but during the winter, we were around ten couples who decided to go, it turned out to be one of the coldest days of that winter, let me tell you , then when we all got at my place after the ride, we ate chicken fricot and had hot tea and coffee to warm us up.
Thank you for the lovely visit, do drop in again.
Have a great day
Aline

Monday, December 17, 2007

Hello everyone, well it is so windy today, we had snow, we had rain, we had ice pellets. I went out with my shovel earlier and shovelled around my car to get out. Whew. That is done. Then I decided to come online and check my group messages, and read my emails. I was a bit dissappointed by one of my emails, I had posted a request on a list elsewhere saying that I had cemeteries on my website at acadian-roots that I had done as a project with someone, this person took my name off of the pages we had done together, so in other words when a person went there they did not know I had the names on my site, so I wanted to tell everyone"Hey I have worked hard at transferring the names to make it easier for everyone to go from site to site to find their stones easier. So when I tried to post on the list, guess what? I was unsubscribed from the list, I emailed asking why? No reply as yet. So In my heart that is being not fair. So if any of you are being rejected for a reason you dont think is fair, come on over to our group at acadianroots .You can get there through my website. We are a great group. We all get along very well.Now I am going to post the cemeteries that are on my site right here and now. I don't have images, some of the cemeteries I walked through and copied the names myself, some I had friends and family who helped me write them down. Here goes: I have Adamsville , Barachois,Bouctouche,Cap Pele, Haute Aboujagane, Collette,Memramcook,Grand Digue,Cocagne,Sainte Anne de Kent, Sainte Marie de Kent, Saint Paul de Kent, Saint Anselme, Shediac Road, Shediac,Old Saint Antoine Cemetery,I have also gone to PEI and I have Egmont Bay,Rustico,some of Souris. I don't know if I mentioned them all. but as you can see I have lots of cemeteries . I did not do this for the praise either, I did it to help as many of you as I can with your genealogy research. I am now adding Chartersville Cemetery, I don't have the complete cemetery names but no one else has either since people are dying every day, but I have many names.
Now I feel much better having been able to share this with you.
Thank you to my faithful readers who come in regularly to read my blogs, remember that perhaps I am making you smile at times? perhaps I am making you remember long ago? But also remember you are helping me by just coming in and sharing my life.
Have a great day
Aline

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Nicknames, do you have one? Did your parents have one? Have you ever heard the nickname Popsey? Well that was the name I called my Dad for many years. I would just have to say Hi Popsey and it would bring a smile to his face. I never talk much about my Dad, that is because my father did not share too many things about his younger days with me. His memory was much like mine is. I can tell you that my Dad had a very nice personality, he was liked by many.And he was a good dancer, would you believe that the first time I danced with him was at my wedding. And later at my Mom's birthday party? I never even knew Dad could dance, I did know he played the harmonica and the jews harp. He could play the accordion too. And he would sing little tunes while rocking my baby brother.
My mom told me that when they were newly married, that there was this Mr Mills, who would have what they called a POUND party. Everyone who would go, would bring a pound of some kind of food. Then they had fiddle music, square dancing, tap dancing. And Mom said the house was usually full. It was strange when Mom spoke of this Mr Mills, because some of their children became friends of ours.
So getting back to nicknames,I am always looking for some nicknames given by the acadians/cajuns and french canadians. If you have some you would like to share with me, please let me know. I want to add them on my website so that others can see them.
Our winter storm has begun,it is snowing, and suppose to snow all through the night changing perhaps to freezing rain. I remember one storm we had ,it was an ice storm, and everywhere you looked the trees were frozen, it was pretty to see but the storm did a lot of damage,by breaking the tree branches, knocking some trees down, knocking out power for many days. So I hope we don't have another one of them. If you are in the middle of a winter storm, stay safe, stay warm.
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Aline

Friday, December 14, 2007

Visit with my Mom. Well today we went over to visit my Mom. Mom is a little 4foot10 lady,with a memory that puts mine to shame. Anyway today we talked about the olden days. What brought the subject up, was saying how Saint Paul de Kent was not growing, but Sainte Antoine was expanding. Mom took over the conversation, and it is always so nice listening to her. She was telling us that the first time she moved to Gallagher Ridge, she was only 15 with a baby, and she said before that her and Dad built their log cabin, they stayed at this sort of hunters cabin.
One day they hitched hiked to Moncton, and they took the train on their way back, the train stopped at Canaan Station ,which was a long way to walk back home. They had the baby with them, (my oldest sister). Anyway they stopped at a little store run by a Price family I think, and the lady took pity on them, and loaned them a tobaggan and a large cardboard box,(Mom said it was a RINSO box). Now I remember Rinso was laundry detergent. And she also gave Mom a blanket for the baby. Mom said ,Dad pulled the toboggan and I walked behind to make sure the box with the baby stayed on . Arriving home, Mom said, when they entered their cabin, all the inside of the walls were icy, the roof leaked so the water ran down the walls and froze. They had to put the wood stove on to melt the ice.
Can you imagine this? The cold, the walking in the deep snow,and arriving home to an icy house? They sure had courage, and will power back then. If we are cold, we complain, if our feet get cold we complain. Mom said she remembers when they lived in Parkton, and they lived at the end of Cedar Street ,which is quite a long way from Mountain Road. She said I would walk up to Mountain Road, buy some groceries and walk all the way back down Cedar Street in snow way above her knees, she said I cried, as I was walking and kept saying, "I need to bring the food to my children". As Mom was telling us this, my brother said, 'nobody realizes what she went through". Then I asked Mom, how she got along with her mother in law, my grandmother. She said your grandmother and grandfather were so good to me, she said that when she lived there my grandfather built an extra addition on his house for them. She said she remembers my grandmother would walk down to the Ice Pond which was quite a ways to walk, she would get water from the spring and walk back home , and use the water to do her laundry, and she wouls scrub the clothes on her scrub board, all the while whistling. Mom said she was a hard worker , she had a big family .Mom said,"no one had better say one bad word about my mother in law, she was a very good woman.
As Mom was telling me these stories, I could vision her in the cabin, and could picture my grandmother on the scrub board or wash board.So as you can see, I enjoyed my visit today.
Did I tell you Mom is 89? Yes and she is so good to us.
So no genealogy talk today, except, just to say, the holidays are coming, most of you will be with your loved ones, if you have aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, talk with them, question them,and you will see, that they will love to talk about their younger days.Bring a tape recorder, or just pen and paper, or your laptop if you have one. And don't forget your cameras.
Have a great day, Thanks for stopping by.
Aline

Thursday, December 13, 2007


Many of you may call this dish, cinnamon rolls, or whirls, but to many of us they are called "Pette de Soeurs". I just made these this morning, froze some for the holidays and kept some to eat now.
If you look at some acadian cookbooks, you will see a recipe for these. They are very good.I make a biscuit type dough , and roll in in a rectangluar shape, butter it, add brown sugar, cinnamon and voila
Now since it is the christmas season, and everyone has a christmas wish, mine is to find some of my ancestors, first Abraham Chate and Ann Rose from Deptford England. I would like to find more about them. Next the parents of Barthelemy Bergeron dit Damboise married to Genevieve Serreau dit St Aubin would be some nice. We know of one baptism for A Barthelemy Bergeron son of Rene Bergeron and Anne Dagault, can he be the correct one? So next who were Rene Bergeron and Anne Dagault, if Santa is out there I hope he hears my wish. grin
I have added more records of Quinan Nova Scotia on my website at www.acadian-roots.com , and I have two more things to add. One I am nearly finished, the other will take time .So be sure to keep visiting my website.
P'tit Francois hasn't had time so far to translate my pages, but he said not to give up on him, he will get at it as soon as he has some spare time.
So now I must get busy, and do a bit of housework, Thanks for the lovely visit, and come back soon.
Have a great day
Aline

Tuesday, December 11, 2007


Who is the beautiful baby ? you ask. Well this beautiful little girl is my grandaughter, taken many years ago. She is all dressed up for Santa. smile. I later was blessed with a handsome little grandson. My late husband was an only son living and we only had one son, so when my grandaughter came along, I was overjoyed, because I always wanted a daughter and a son , but we only had a son. So she was the apple of our eyes. Everything she did was a joy to see. Then we were going to have another grandchild, and we really were hoping to have a grandson to carry down my husband 's name. Sure enough God was listening and we were blessed with our grandson. We enjoyed watching them grow. We love our children so very much, but we seem to not have the time to enjoy their every little things because we are busy bringing them up, and teaching them right from wrong. But our grandchildren is different, we can spoil them, and then they go home. Each visit they do to our home is exciting. I know that if you have grandchildren you know what I mean. My son loves his family very much , he is a very good parent, I am proud of him. And if his Dad were here today , he too would be so proud.So I do hope you enjoyed hearing about my grandchildren today.
I worked on my website project, I am nearly finished one, I am debating if I should add it before christmas or after on my website. The other project is going to take a while because there is a lot of typing to do. I may just continue it after the holidays,seeing we are so close to Christmas. I also have to add more names on my Chartersville Road Cemetery page.
So now you have something to read. Thanks for the lovely visit, until next time.
Have a great day.
Aline

Monday, December 10, 2007

Hello everyone, well I have just returned from my second home, yes my second home ,which is the Acadian Genealogy Center. I sure feel at home there. Strange as it seems, when I go there, I relax and enjoy all my researching. Sometimes I get lucky and find tons of stuff, other times I go and either I cannot concentrate because I try to look for too many things at once . grin. Today I looked for a few things some of my members asked me to try and find. Did not find anything today.
But I did find what I was looking for , to add to my website.
I spoke briefly to Mister Stephen White, I always enjoy our chats, even if they are only short. He always seems to make me smile for some reason . For example I asked a certain question and he replies with something comical.Iforget to ask him a question for one of my members regarding a priest or missionary's name. I will do that next time I go.
I was on the microfilms and some of the entries were in latin, well let me tell you, it took me about ten minutes to figure that Quinto was five. Rather than guess I will word it differently on my website.
Our genealogy group is doing good, I am hoping that more will join our group, Acadians,Cajuns,French Canadians, or even if you are English with some of your ancestors being Acadian,Cajun or French Canadian, come and join us. We try to help if and when we can and even if you just want to come in and help, that is fine.
Last night we went to my son's home, and on our way home, I noticed so many homes all decorated, some really do a great job, they put lights around their house, on their stairs, on their trees. They have Mangers, Santas,Reindeers, Candles, on their front lawns, Santa and his sleigh on their rooftops. I used to go with my late husband a few days before Christmas after dark just to see the decorated homes. I think we will do it again this year. I also used to love going to the midnight mass when it was held at midnight. I would have my turkey cooking, and after the mass, we would meet many of our friends on the church steps and wish each other happy holidays, and when we would get home, the smell of the turkey was in the air. We never opened our gifts until Christmas morning. And when our son was married and had his family , we would wait for them to come over so we could all open our gifts together. My wish for this year, is for no one to go hungry, and no one to be on the streets and get cold. It would be nice to have many choices for the homeless to have places to stay warm.
Thank you for stopping by, and please visit again.
Have a nice day
Aline

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Today I would like for you to visit this site;
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://myspace-533.vo.llnwd.net/01387/33/51/1387911533_thumb1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3Dvids.individual%26VideoID%3D12646255&h=90&w=120&sz=7&hl=en&start=118&tbnid=pGQdCuGj3HmFtM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3DEdith%2BButler%26start%3D100%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
This is Edith Butler, and if you browse the net you will find lots of her nice songs. The reason I am telling you this, is because Edith has given me permission personally to add one of her songs on my website at www.acadian-roots.com which I have added today, when you go to my website the page that opens with my poem has her beautiful song on it.I am honored to be able to have her song on my site. She has other beautiful songs that I love also. She is a very talented lady who comes from Paquetville New Brunswick. She has travelled many places to sing, and she is loved by all. I felt very good when she compliment my acadian-roots website and I am greatful to her for allowing me to add her song. If you type in Edith Butler in googles you will see lots of information about her and her music.She has a website www.edithbutler.net . Merci Edith.
Now you know why I haven't written a blog, I was busy trying to find the best page for her song and I believe most of you will agree that the beginning of my site is the perfect place.
I am still working on different project and will tell you about them as they mature grin.
I went in the mall today, and the line ups at the cash is unbelievable, and it will be this way, up until the holidays are over, I am not finished my shopping yet, but have done quite a bit. I still have some baking to do, I want to make a rappure for my son (and keep some for me ).
Today I was given a suggestion by my friend to give my Mom a gift certificat, she is 89 and you can imagine that she has everything, so a gift certificat and a little something else is my goal for her gift. I do hope you are all doing ok with your christmas preparations, and I do hope you will all stay safe because after the holidays I want to see each of you here again, or in my acadianroots group, or my lists that I belong to.
Have a great day, thanks for the visit, hope you will come listen to Edith on my website.
Aline

Tuesday, December 04, 2007


Well so much for clam digging, now it is snow digging.I took this photo along with others this morning. The snow is wet and heavy and it is still coming down and very windy.It is a good think I cancelled my hair appointment, the car is buried and the driveway full. I cleared the back door and took Thunder out, well he did not mind the snow, he rolled and he ran and he rolled again, he was having a great time,while I was waiting and freezing. haha.
Last night I was watching television and I turned the station to the documentary one, and I was surprised at what was being shown, it was the expulsion of the Acadians, of course I was glued to the television, and there were two speakers that I recognized, Regis Brun and Ronnie Gilles LeBlanc, they were the ones who alerted me to the old movie that was at the genealogy center that my mother was in around 1935 or 1936.
The documentary was very well put. It spoke of when the men were told to meet in the church at a certain time along with the boys, and the ships were coming and the acadians were told they were only ships carrying provisions, and how the families were divided , sent out on different vessels , to different parts of the world, and how at some places the Acadians were not allowed to leave the ship. Many children died on the voyages, and how crowded the ships were.
And it talked about when the Acadians settled in Louisiana and they built dykes there and other Acadians later joined them .And naming it the New Acadie.
I was very impressed with the documentary. It also spoke of the Acadians who fled and hid in the woods, and how many died of starvation along the way, how some fled to Cape Breton and New Brunswick. Picture yourself back there, running with them, afraid , hungry and determined to stay alive and free.
In closing I would like to just say, tell your children about our ancestors, tell them stories, write them stories, share their songs , share their way of life, and tell them to be proud to be an Acadian even if they only have an ounce of Acadian blood.
Thanks for the visit ,do come again
Have a great day
Aline

Monday, December 03, 2007

Well I don't want to talk about snow, so I will close my eyes and imagine that I am in Caissie Cape, or Bouctouche Bay digging for clams and quahawgs.
When I was little ,I remember going clam digging with my parents, we each had a pail and a shovel and we would look for a tiny hole the size of a raindrop or smaller, and then we would dig around the hole not too close, as not the break the clam shells. What I did not like, was sometimes what we dug up was not a clam but a worm, yuck. We filled our pails, and headed home to steam our clams. Boy they were tasty we would soak them in a brine made with butter and clam juice. And I also remember walking barefoot along the water waist high, and feeling for quahawgs. They are like a big clam, but they have a hard shell and taste totally different. I had never eaten them, until my late husband got me into eating them. You can eat them raw, or cooked, I preferred them raw. Now Oysters is something again that is different, it grows on rocks, and they are very hard to open, they have a sweeter taste.I enjoy them also.
Now think back to the time of our ancestors, they came over to a new land, and they had to survive, many ate these shell fish and lobsters, back them fish and shellfish were plentiful. So they ate quite well. They fished for Cod and Trout, and Herring, and whatever fish they could get, even eels, but I do not like eel. Someone once chased me with a squirmy eel, and let me tell you I ran as fast as the wind,if not faster. smile.
Well now wasn't this story better than the cold and the wind and the snow, that is on its way towards me? Yes it is as far as I am concerned. haha.
Now the cajuns ancestors were acadians who had to leave their homes and families, they too had to learn to survive in the bayous, so they found different shellfish and fish to eat. I had never heard of crawfish, until i got interested in the cajun music and cajun folks, and I got interested because some were cousins , maybe sisters or brothers to some of my own ancestors. But many did survive, and they were determined to do so.
The photo above was from the book I recently bought Images de L'Acadie.
Now I am hungry, would sure eat a nice juicy lobster right now. smile. I hope you enjoyed digging for shellfish with me. Thanks for the visit, Do come again
Have a great day
Aline

Sunday, December 02, 2007

No photo today, all I could show you would be snow,snow and more snow, groan,smile, and tomorrow and Tuesday guess what? Yep,more snow.
Well I must share this with you, it is not genealogy related tho. Yesterday my friend and I went for a coffee at our favorite coffeee shop"Tim Horton", and I told him to order this time, I will sit down. So I wanted a cinnamon roll and a coffee. I was just sitting there ,and my mind was drifting to other things, and the coffee shop was full. All of a sudden I heard this big loud yell. "ALINEEEEEEEE".Well let me tell you I sure jumped. I said "Are you trying to make me take a heart attack?"
Well all the people in Tim Horton's burst out laughing. And I guess my friend had yelled in a lower voice before and I never heard him. The reason he yelled was to let me know they were all out of cinnamon rolls. smile.
And you know sometimes we don't always look our best, and if any of you remember the bowery boys of long ago, and Alfalfa with his hair sticking in the air? Well I looked like that, so I did not want anyone to notice. haha.
Tomorrow I am going to the genealogy center, if the weather permits, I have some lookups to do for some of my genealogy group.I do hope I can help all of them find what they want.
In closing for today, please visit my site www.acadian-roots.com click on Christmas and this comes from me to all of you.
Have a great day, thanks for dropping by.
Aline