Fall River Massachusetts is a city in Bristol County USA. It is situated southwest of Boston, southeast of Providence Rhode Island and west of New Bedford. Between 1840 and 1930 around 900,000 French Canadians left Canada to settle in the USA. Fall River was probably a good place to go to, because it was the leading textile manyfaturing in the USA. The first French Canadian family to settle there back in 1859 was Louis Noreaux who left Montreal Quebec to go teach French in Massachusetts. But the immigration really began after the Civil War. Some Acadians from Northern New Brunswick Canada also headed for Massachussetts including Fall River and Chicopee . Fall River was also well known for Lizzie Borden being accused and acquited of the axe murder in her home in Fall River in 1892. Why am I talking about Fall River? Well I have added the cemeteries of Fall River (Notre Dame Cemetery) and of Chicopee (St.Rose de Lima cemetery) with permission from Kelly Townsend ( who transcribed them ),on my website at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ . There will find many French Canadian surnames and also some Acadian names such as Arsenault, Breau,Boudreau,Hebert,Landry,LeBlanc etc. I do hope that by adding these two cemeteries someone will find their ancestors. Some of the dates were very hard to read and some dates were covered with grass and could not be added.
I would like to finish today's blog by wishing all you readers who stop by to see my blogs and to everyone who visits my website, to my members of my genealogy group at acadianrootsclub and petite acadienne, to my members of Chat n Brag, to all my cousins and friends a very happy and prosporous New Year.
See you in 2009.
Have a great day ,stay safe, and please drive carefully over the next few days.
Aline

This is what Christmas is all about. The photo on the right is the Moncton City Hospital, I have been a patient there many times, that is where I had my son. Anyway this was taken today, George and I went to the Christmas Party held for the sick children and where members of my genealogy group and some friends donated some toys to. It was snowing, and the party was at 1.30pm. Arriving there, the parking lot was full, so we waited for a space and then we parked the car. George carried the last toys while I snapped some photos. The party was held in the playroom of the pediatric ward. When we got there, some of the children were playing. There was a lunch set up, and the room was decorated. I noticed a stuffed dog we had named George and a ride on pony sitting on the shelf. There was a little blonde girl all dressed in red, she was eighteen months old, there was a little boy named Tristan, another one named Brady and a few more arrived after. So they were all waiting for Santa to arrive. I peaked at the door and saw something red moving, and yes it was Santa. Santa came in with his usual HO HO HO and talked briefly to the children , then he sat down. He had the children sit on his lap and talked to them. Well the little girl in the red dress, didn't think it was a good idea , she began to cry. So Santa said it's ok, you can get down. But first here is a present for you. Tristan got on his lap and he told Santa he had a lot of things he wanted. Then this little blond girl ,dressed in yellow really touched my heart, she was standing up waiting to go see Santa, she was wearing a mask and carrying an oxygen tank. She was the sweetest little thing I have ever seen. Finally Santa called her name, and she sat on his knee. She smiled at him, he asked her what she wanted and she told him. He said well here is a present for you for today and you will have one at Christmas. The gifts were all wrapped, and I watched her open hers. The box was fairly big, I was hoping it was something we had bought her that I would remember. All of a sudden she yelled "It's a BARBIE". She was so excited and yes I remember buying it, it was a Barbie in a blue car. I had the nicest feeling and thought to myself, I sure wish the rest who donated could be here to see this.

After the children got their presents ,Santa continued down the hall from room to room , giving gifts to the children who were not as fortunate on attending the party. I was not allowed to take photos there, but the photos I took was fine with me. And I do know the ones who donated will be pleased with them. As Santa left the room, he thanked us for the donations, and the one who organized the party also thanked us. That was good enough for me.

And when we got home tonight, a bit later, the doorbell rang and standing at the door were two cute little girls. They said, hello, we are giving candy canes to everyone in the building, I said well thank you very very much......

So I think this is really Christmas, opening our hearts and giving to others if we can. But remember if you cannot give, phone someone, or visit someone. There are many ways of giving of yourselves.

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you.

Hugs

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Gifts from the heart are something so very special. As you know my genealogy group, my friends and I did a Christmas Toy Drive and it was a success. I received gift cards and money from various parts of USA,Canada, and England.

Now I have been in the process of moving and one gentleman wanted to participate in our toy drive so he went out and bought the two toys you see here, but I have been in and out of my old place, moving things to my new one and running errands. This gentleman came to my old place and had no luck finding me home. Today the movers came and moved me to my new place.

Around 6pm or so my doorbell rang. Who could be at my door? We just moved. I opened the door and there was this gentleman with his two toys for our christmas toy drive. Now if that is not a very special deed on his part ,I don't know what else it could be. Now on Wednesday the 17th, there will be two more children with a happy smile on their faces. As the saying goes, it is not the presents we get that matters it is the ones others get from us that do.

In case I do not have time to blog until after the holidays (but I just might blog if I have time). I would like to wish all you fateful readers a very Merry Christmas from my home to yours.

To all my members of my acadianrootsclub genealogy group, Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you and thank you for all your participations, your faith in me, and for making our group a very very nice group. To the members of our Chat n Brag room, Happy Holidays from my home to yours, and thank you for being one big family in there. To my friends,family and cousins if you read this, Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.

Stay Safe, Drive safely, Be very very careful over the holidays.

Hugs to everyone

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Christmas will soon be here, so I imagine you are all very busy at this time . As you know we had a Toy Drive this year, and I am so very pleased at the results. I received a gift card a few days ago and I believe it is the final one, and this year the toys are going to the hospital for the sick children. I phoned the lady in charge of the christmas party to ask her if there is something that they would need for the party and she said well some Christmas music would be nice and some candy canes. So with the twenty five dollars I bought two CDs and some candy canes. The lady who donated the last gift card said she was pleased with what I had done. The music will last for years. On December the 17th will be the party so George and I shall be attending for a while. I am hoping to be able to take a few photos, of course I can take Santa, and I am hoping to take a few of some of the children, we shall see. The parents have to give their ok on this.
Speaking of Christmas, now is the time for you to ask for something regarding genealogy for yourself. Some family tree software? Some census records? Some books on your surnames? If you ask me what I want, I will say " I want it all" grin.
And at christmas time it is a great time to tell your children or grandchildren of your christmases when you were young.
I remember when I was young, we always had a real tree, my Dad used to go cut one and bring it home, it usually was a real big one, and I remember Mom hanging bulbs on it , she had large balls and large bells and she had white icicles . I have one of her icicles as a souvenir . And Mom always made a large pan of donuts, they were so very good. We had a big family so the turkey was a big one or she would cook two of them. The night before christmas we would hang our stockings, and I remember mine was a long brown one. When we awoke we headed for our stocking first, inside we found apples, oranges, nuts , barley toys and ribbon candy, then we opened our gift, we always opened them on Christmas morning, and we did not have a lot of gifts but we loved what we got. My late grandmother always had a gift for us, stockings, mittens, or even hankies and that gift was always something we looked forward to. It doesnt matter what we pay for the gift , it is the thought that matters. So remember, if you cannot afford a big gift, get what you can afford , and know that it comes from your heart, I am sure your love ones will cherish whatever they get.
Have a great day , thanks for stopping by
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Family trees or genealogy is an important project that we should all have. It is something we pass down to our descendants, to our grandchildren and theirs.
What do you remember about your childhood? Did something very special happen to you? Did you receive any awards or did you do a good deed? Were you in articles in the newspapers? What kinds of things do you like? What kind of christmas do you remember growing up? What do you remember about your parents? Do you remember your grandmothers and grandfathers? These are what we call our memories, and when we are gone, so are they. Would you have liked to know about your great great grandparents? How did they live? What did they do for entertainment? Could they sing? Could they play instruments? Were they story tellers? Ah yes, you need to write down notes, on what you can remember. I have a book, well I have divided my book into three parts as of now. grin. In my Cormier book, I have written down the names of the ancestors, these ancestors were part of my Cormier line and part of my late husbands.
In the book , before my husband passed away and when I first began my genealogy in 1976, my husband would share some stories of when he was young, for instance when he was around seventeen, his father bought him his first car, it was a 1936 Ford with a running board on the side. Well my husband was very proud of his new car, and he drove it, but my father in law would be looking out the window to wait for him to return home. One day he said to my husband" Hey Gerry, how come you don't drive into the driveway and always park in the road? " Gerry didn't want to tell him, he had never driven it in the yard yet he always parked on the street. My father in law continued " Well if you do not park that car in our driveway you lose it." Well , my Gerry said to me" You can be sure I parked it in the driveway from then on."
I continued writing in my book, kinds of cars he had, what kind of jobs he worked at and so on. Next came my son, I wrote about when he was born, and cute things he did while growing up. One day when he was around three, we lived on a busy street and I had put him outdoors in our back yard, well the back yard wasn't good enough for him, he decided he needed to sweep the busy road, well I ran and got him off the road and then I bought him a little harness. No more sweeping the road for him. And then he was into Karate, and one day he came home and he had his baseball cap over his eyes and he was sneaking up the stairs I said" Come here! He came over and I pulled the cap off his eyes , yep he had this one huge black eye. Now when he reads the book he will laugh at it.
Do you understand what I mean? I wrote about my grandchildren and when they would visit, I would put the date and the cute things they did.
In my maiden name book, I have all about my parents and what I remember about my grandparents and stories Mom told me. They are all in my books.
Old photos with descriptions about who they were and dates are so very important too. I came across many old photos when my inlaws passed away, with no names .Who were they???? Very very important to write who they were.
Now changing a subject a bit, a few days ago a friend and I went to the Acadian Library and I was in heaven. Grin. Anyway I found a book on D'Abbadie de Saint Castin, it is in french but I am so pleased with it, and it speaks of Madockawando who is the Native American Chief who is among many ancestors of some Acadians. If your line branches into Anastasie D'Abbadie de Saint Castin for instance then she was his grandaughter. I began reading the book and I am enjoying it.
And also while researching your ancestors you might come across some royal blood, the D'Abbadie ancestors were nobles and judges and lawyers, now we are talking about the years in the 1600s, so that is going back quite far. And again you might come across some scoundrels , pirates, crooks, no matter what you turn up, you cannot change what happened, it is all history. Jean Serreau dit St Aubin who is in my line, caught his wife fooling around with the neighbor ,who I believe was a swede and he hit him and killed him. Again this was back in the 1600s or so. This must have been quite a scandal back then, if we compare it to today. Today it would still be a scandal. But it happened and is part of history. Do not hide what happened, our grandparents and theirs probably hid lots of stuff, we need to tell the truth and as it is. If our ancestors commited a crime, they did it, it happened not to be hidden. What they did is not our fault but we need to remember without them no matter who they were, we would not be here today.And there is nobody perfect in this world, we all make mistakes and we all have to live with it. So get out your pen and paper or computer and start writing down things and be part of history, share with the future generations that will follow us.
Thanks for the lovely visit, and do come again.
Have a great day
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Genealogy has good moments along with some frustrating ones. For instance the toys you see here on the left would not be going to a Christmas Party at the hospital for sick children, had it not been for some members of my genealogy group and some of my friends. Yesterday I gathered them up and loaded two plastic totes and a large blue bag (full of the stuffed toys). And George and I took them to the hospital ,to the pediatric ward for the staff to wrap them in time for their Christmas party. Mrs LeBlanc who accepted them, was very pleased with them. Now Santa will be giving the toys at their party. It does make a person feel good to do good deeds if and when they can do so.

Changing the subject, I want to share a bit of my genealogy with you. For years I have been trying to find my Abraham Chase married to Marie Rose Girouard's parents in England,Abraham Chase and Nanette Rose. Well one day i was looking at land grants and lo and behold there was my Abraham Chase who bought some land around Cap Lumiere.But he was listed as Abraham CHATE not Chase. So I began looking for Abraham Chate son of Abraham and Nanette and found him born 1797 in Deptford England son of Abraham and Ann. Nanette could be a nickname for Ann. So last week a lady contacted me, she lives in Sussex England and she branches into the line way back. Yesterday she said me a copy of a will of a John Cheate who is the first ancestor they traced born in the late 1500s . And another man from Australia I believe sent me his gedcom of the Chates and apparently they have been looking to see what happened to the Abraham line. So as you can see this is exciting. I have a Martha Jackson, an Agnes Boniface, a Mary Ellyott among my english ancestors. The lady in Sussex is going to look some more for me to see if she can find more on Abraham and Ann. Abraham was born in Cuckfield Sussex England in 1768. Am eagerly waiting for more news. Oh yes the internet sure can come in handy .

Today we are in the middle of a big storm, we are expection 30 cm of the white stuff. I took Thunder outdoors and had to walk to snow up to my knees already. Let me tell you, I don't want to go out too often today. grin. My car is snowed in, so I will have to wait until the plow clears the driveway and the roads get better before venturing out in the car.

I hope everyone will stay safe in this stormy weather. Please drive safely if you venture on the highways, spots can be slippery and you need to watch the rest of the traffic too.

Have a great day, thanks for the visit.

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Did you ever hear of Painsec, or Malikoff in New Brunswick? And did you know that Dorchester Crossing was once known as Village des Legers? It was changed when they built the railroad. Last night I took my new book Scoudouc by Paul Belliveau to the bingo with me, to read during the break. One of the sellers of the bingo cards, noticed the book, he said my father came from Scoudouc do you have his name there? Well, it is really hard to go through so many pages. grin. But I looked anyway. Did not have time to finish because the caller started calling the numbers, he had called three numbers before I noticed , I was too interested in the book. I noticed in the book some names of some centenarians, which I am going to see if I can find their obits to add to my website at acadian-roots.com .
Translation of the book cover is Scoudouc 100 and 200th anniversaries. There are over 700 marriages at the back of the book.
Getting back to Painsec and Malikoff, if you had ancestors in these areas, check out the Scoudouc registers, and as I said the marriages in the back of this book , the first one listed is in 1852, the last one is 2007. If you are interested in the book, check out my previous blog and contact Paul Belliveau.
I am not trying to push the book, but I have it, and I recommend it.
Changing the subject, time is getting closer to the CMA2009. Now it is getting exciting, the plans will be made, the reunions picked, and the meeting one another next year. And our Bergeron dit Damboise reunion in Fredericton next July should be exciting too. Lots of excitement coming in 2009.
That's it for today, gotta go run errands.
Have a great day and thanks for the visit.
Aline

Scoudouc book for sale, I received the book today and here is what the author says.

I have just published a book on the history of Scoudouc. It starts with thefounding of the village in 1804 up to the 1960's.Scoudouc is celebrating the 200th year of the first settlers and the 100thyear of the construction of the church in 2009.I have the 1915 census of the parish and also 751 marriages with parents forthe couples and 99% are all acadians. There are 125old photos and it is in french only. The book sells for $25.00 each and isonly available from me. If you could post it in yourgroup forum, I would appreciate it. People wishing to buy can contact me at384-0714 or e-mail pastly@nb.sympatico.ca. Président de l'association des familles Belliveau du N.-B. Inc.Paul Belliveau134 Dawn CrescentMoncton, N.B.E1G 1K3506-384-0714.

Even if you cannot read French, there are lots of places on line that will translate, the photos and the families at the end of the book are worth buying the book. He only has 200 copies left so get them while you can. I have posted it in my genealogy group already.

Have a great day

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There is a saying that money is the root of all evils. Well that is not true all the time because many of my members of my acadianrootsclub genealogy group have opened their hearts and have donated for our Christmas Toy Drive. It was my first try and doing this and it is amazing how many responded. This year we have all agreed to donate the toys to our hospitals. Next year if we do this again, we shall choose another location to donate to in another part of the countries.
I was going to gift wrap the toys but there are so many toys that I won't be able to do so alone, and the hospital have volunteered to do so. We are giving our toys anonymously, except they will know what locations they come from. I will present them on behalf of our genealogy group. They told me , maybe I will be able to take a few photos of Santa giving some of the toys, so I can share with our group and possibly with you. They are to let me know when their Christmas Party will be held.
On another note, a few days ago, we went to Prince Edward Island, while we were there, we went to the Miscouche Genealogy Center, it was my first time there . Before we left I asked my group if anyone wanted a lookup while I was there, and one gentleman asked me to verify what he had . Arriving there ,the lady was very nice, she welcomed us and took me to the genealogy center. There was a man sitting there doing research and she introduced us , his name was Earl and he helped me verify my info. A very interesting gentleman and very helpful. Arriving at a place for the first time can be somewhat confusing since we do not have a clue where to look . I bought a CD of the musical group Barachois and a map of Acadie ,all in all I was very pleased of what we found and what I bought.
But so far the best research to be found in my opinion is at the centre d'etude acadienne in Moncton, don't get me wrong, Miscouche has lots of information, and I want to return again. The centre d'etude covers more territories, they have records from PEI, Nova Scotia,Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario,and much more ,they have various newspapers,etc. I go there and there is always something that I did not know was there appears. I went to the Centre D'etude yesterday, and in about one half hour , I found an obit, a birth record, and a marriage I was looking for ,to help someone with their research. The staff there are so very helpful as was Earl from Miscouche.
The weather is calling for rain tomorrow, that is when we go pick up Thunder from the dog sitter and take him for his grooming before he comes to his new home. He is going to find his new home very small, compared to where he is not and where he was before. I bought him a new pet bed, some treats to go with it.
I also want to let you know, that P'tit Francois may be earlier than before, I believe I read in the paper that they would be delivering the paper on Thursdays instead of Saturday. So am going to check today, if so, I will be adding P'tit Francois on my webpage at www.acadian-roots.com earlier.
Thank you for the lovely visit, do come again.
Have a great day
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LEST WE FORGET

Soon it will be November the eleventh. This is the day we honor all the men and women who served in the wars. There were many wars, World Wars,Korean War,Viet Nam war,going back even to the War of 1812. Many of our Acadian Ancestors fought in these wars, and many non Acadians did also.

The gentleman in the photo is Amedee a Fulgence Breau, he fought in both World War one and World War two. His grandfather was the brother of my great great grandmother. My friend Yollanda sent me the photo. Most of these men were very young when they went to war, I have a page on my acadian-roots.com website with a list of Acadians who went to war, some as young as eighteen years. Can you imagine? Eighteen, nineteen and twenty years old, going to war and never returning? It must have been so terrible, the families at home praying for their safe returns?

The following article was in a book called the Forgotten Soldiers by Ronald Cormier . He interviewed some acadian soldiers, and this paticular one was a Pius Girouard from Bouctouche. Here is an exhert from his story while he was in Italy.

One day leaving with a reconnaissance patrol; " There were six of us that the captain sent towards a wood next to a small river where the Germans were suppose to be. We started out and after a short while we could hear rifle fire from one direction, then a short one from another. We stopped. There was a corporal or sergeant with us. We sat down around 3 am. We could see that the situation was dangerous. The Sergeant said " If you don't tell anyone, we are going to turn around. Or else we will all be killed." We could hear the Germans talking.

Another part he says, It was impossible for soldiers fighting in a foreign country not to come in contact with some local people who acclaimed them as liberators. Pius Girouard had memories of some of these Italian people who were living in poverty. In Italy , he said, they did not have any soap, they would wash their clothes in small steams. we on the other hand had soap we hardly used at all, so we would trade our soap for a dish of spaghetti.

Further along in his story, Pius talks about moving towards a village, and arriving at a stream , they heard some voices coming from the other side, they crossed to see, and they met men, women and children, with mules. They told Pius and his group that the Germans had set fire to their homes and machine gunned them. Pius's troop carried the children in their arms and put the women on the mules and helped them across the stream. The women and children were barefeet. They were happy we had saved their lives, they shook our hands ,embraced us and cried.

There are many more stories of events such as these out there, many who went in the wars, are trying to forget what happened out there and some remember the touching stories.

Yesterday George and I went to see the movie Passchendaele ,it was a story about World War One and it was a movie that was very well done ,and it sort of showed us some of the things that they did, the marching in mud, and water and the trenches filled with water, it looked so real.

So many men lost their lives out there, the movie was in memory of a Michael Dunn.

So let us all remember these soldiers, men ,and women who served their country on November the eleventh.

God bless each and every one of them, those who lost their lives and those who returned..

Aline

Am adding the following information I got from my friend, I know she will approve of this. Enjoy.

About Uncle Amedee.This uncle was wounded in the Battle of Ypres which I understand was no picnic He was also Gased by the Germans as were many others.. and they were all so young. My other uncle Hermas Son of Fulgence was only 17 years old when he joined up, he was in the same Regiment as was Cyriac Daigle of St. Louis de Kent, the Regiment was the 165th an Acadian Regiment.But this uncle had lied about his age and when they found out they sent him back to England to work from there.mom also had a couple of Cousins Rosaire Bourque and Albert sons of Caesar and Scolastique Breau daughter of Charles and Marguerite Bourque..So Marie Blanche your Grandmother would be Scholastique's great aunt.Albert was killed overseas.I am not sure if I told you that Frank was Oversea's during the 2nd world war he also had quite a career over there, He was in the Navy and the Ship he was on H.M.C.S. Stormont was later purchased by Aristotle Onassis 2nd husband of Jackie Kennedy..Frank joined at 18 years of age HugsYollanda

Hello everyone. Well it has been a while since I last blogged, but as you know I have been moving, so I have a good excuse huh? Last Sunday after moving about a million plastic totes, boxes ,and anything else we could carry, we went on Kijji which is a classified place and we saw this add Cube Van, will move anything, well we decided to phone them, did they have any openings available that day? Yes the man replied, we can be there for six pm. Great ,I said, we will be waiting. So George and I moved all my furniture in the front room, they phoned ,they were going to be an hour late,so I said " Do we have time to go for a hamburger?' Yes he replied, so we went to a restaurant, then went back and waited for them. I thought to myself, gee they are going to charge me a lot to move, he said 60 dollars an hour, oh boy, it's gonna be expensive. Anyway I was so very wrong. These two young men came over, and they did not waste any time at all, in one and a half hour , they had moved all my furniture to my new place. He said that will be 90 dollars. I was some pleased and said I was going to say a good word for them, but I am going to say two good words, They were very very good. grin. If you are in or near Moncton and need a mover, they even will take stuff to the dump, just look on Kijji for a Cube Van article.
Once in my new apartment, the problem wasn't over. Too much furniture for so little a place. I stored a few things in a cubby hole and began organizing ,where should this go, do I have room for this? Ok this tote is empty, I don't want to throw it away, grin. Oh there is a place in the hall that is ideal. Great.
Now I have one more tote to unpack, it contains my bell collection, so once they are unpacked, there will be more room. I hung my pictures on the wall, and my special painting from my friend from Scotland who recently passed away is on the wall over my sofa. I am trying to find a place for a painting from my cousin, and I have hung my hummingbird chimes near my backdoor. I have most of my kitchen cows in place.
I am now waiting to have my internet connections done, I am in a hot spot zone at the moment with my notebook, I am anxious to add my p"tit francois on my webpage, I will have two to do, since saturday is just a few days away.
I would like to add, speaking of P'tit Francois, that he has a little contest going ,the Etoile paper where his weekly stories come out is having a little contest, they are giving a few gift certificates worth around 40 dollars each from Irvings, so if you want to enter, send your name and address to ptitfrancois@yahoo.com , you can say you read about it on my acadian-roots blog. The contest closes November 12.
Good luck. Thank you for stopping by, and remember to read his little stories on my website at http://www.acadian-roots.com/
Have a great day
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Hello everyone, so nice of you to stop by. I wanted to let you kn0w, that the reason I have not blogged lately is because I am in the process of moving.( you must know all about moving). Pack this, put that there. Remember this. Carry this tote over, forget where you put the tape and the string. grin.
Today, I bought a new computer chair for myself, and I sat on the floor a good hour or more trying to put it together. The diagam had pictures with screws ,their sizes, and that was it. I had to figure which way to get it together. BUT , yes finally Ihave it all done. Not sure how tight I put the screws, so if I come on and say I cannot sit still for long, you will know my chair let go. haha.
I think we will be moving all my big furniture next week, maybe on Tuesday. We have a sitter for the dog ,so we can set all our place up, then take him for his grooming and take him home.
I come and check my genealogy group every day to make sure everything is ok. I also bought two more christmas toys today for our Christmas Toy drive. I got a set of hot wheels for a boy. And a Ken doll for a girl.
Also next week my Mom will make our christmas gift exchange draw, so we can begin buying and posting.
Anyway, please don't think I am not blogging, I will get back to normal soon. (I hope).
Stay safe and have a great day
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Our trip to Prince Edward Island last saturday was a great experience for us. We were invited to go to a concert which was really a Pumpkin Festival held in a french school in Summerside. Arriving there, we sat in the front row. The first band to appear was the Chaissons from near Souris PEI, they were very entertaining, and kept the entire room clapping . Then the next band were called Siroit, they were part of the band or some who once were with the band, you can see the video above, and remember I am not a good video taker but this gives you an idea what it was like. The people danced to the music, and even did the congo around the room. We all enjoyed this so very much. The bands played Acadian music and Irish music, and could they ever play their fiddles. One part two from the Siroit band played the fiddles, and if you remember the song ,the devil went down to Georgia, then you remember the fiddle playing, well it was like that. They received a standing ovation from the crowd. And JayJay from the Chaisson band really played his fiddle some good.

We also went for a drive on the Island, and I took a few more photos . We came home today to nice sunny weather. Tonight it is raining . It is a night to just sit and relax and have a nice hot cuppa coffee. This blog is not very long, but I do hope you enjoy reading it anyway.

Until next time, thanks for the visit and please stop by again. You never never know what I will come up with next. grin.

Have a great day

Aline

P'tit Francois des Bois did not dissappear, he went away on vacation so do not worry he told me he will be returning possibly sometimes in November. Maybe it was because he had such a hard time with Rose Smallwood and went in hiding.grin.
P'tit Francois des bois est en vacance, it va revenir aussitot qu'il peut. Pour moi, il s'est cacher de Rose Smallwood pour une elan. Il m'a envoyer un email a cachette.
so worry pas!. Don't worry. I will let you know when he comes back online.
Something sad has happened in Bouctouche, a restaurant at Pays de la Sagouine burned last night, no injuries but their costumes were lost.
The weather is getting cooler now,especially at night time. So time to take out our winter clothes, and winterize our cars. Soon the white stuff will come so it is best to be prepared for it. Do you realize we are two months away from Christmas? Boy time goes by fast. I sure hope the year 2009 brings much happiness all over the world.
Thanks for the visit, this blog was really to let you know that P'tit Francois did not abandon us, he just needed a rest.
Have a great day
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Genealogy is about finding where you come from, who you are, who your ancestors were. Genealogists work very hard at finding their roots, they usually do not give up. If they hit a cement block they try and go around it. When they find a clue to their research, it is like hitting a jackpot. So what does the photo have to do with genealogy? Well these toys are for our Christmas Toy Drive and all of the gift certificates and donations are from someone interested in genealogy and their family tree so far. The gift cards and donations are still coming in and I have more toys to buy.

Now back to genealogy and christmas. Are you having a hard time deciding what to buy your siblings, or parents or friends for Christmas? Why don't you make them a little family tree book. Just do their main surnames and add photos if you have some and little stories about them if you have any. Last Christmas I made one for my ex sister in law, it was her mother's line. Her mother had just passed away, I added some photos of her Mom and siblings in the book. She cried when she seen the family tree book and she was so very happy. What about cousins ? Would they treasure a little family tree book from you? Do you have friends into genealogy? Again genealogy books would be a great gift. You can give them a book on census, or even a genealogy software, I use Legacy and I am very happy with it. You can access Legacy on my website www.acadian-roots.com it is located towards the bottom of my sidebar. I have just received a gedcom file from someone in Australia who connects into my line and I have inserted in into my legacy. I am talking about Christmas today because you still have time to create a little book, or even a photo album from the time they were little to today.

I love the Christmas Season and this year I am going to enjoy it because I and many others will know that because of us, some needy or sick little boys and girls will be happy even if it is just for a little while.

Still speaking of genealogy, yesterday we went and met a lady and her husband, she is into genealogy so we had lots in common. The men were chatting in another room. This lady showed me her books, she has a large variety of them, we share some same ancestors and we discussed where they lived in Cocagne. I really enjoyed our day. And we will be going there again. She loaned me an acadian CD, I will bring it back to her. She showed me her photo albums, well some of them, she has more, and I was so interested in looking at them, she has sent me some to add to my photo gallery also. And more to come.

For you P'tit Francois readers, the last two weeks the article didnt appear in the newspaper, hopefully next saturday there will be one.

Thank you for listening, and thanks for the visit.

Have a great day

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Brick Walls are sometimes built very sturdy, and sometimes they just won't fall down. Well I have had a few brick walls and a few days ago, one of them received a big crack in it I have been looking for my Chase line since 1976. One day I stumbled upon a land grant belonging to my Abraham Chase. Abraham Chase came over to Canada from England in he early 1800s, in the census it said he was born in England, and on his marriage record his surname was listed as Kess, Quessy,Chess, and he was listed as a stranger. So the priest probably could not understand his surname. So Abraham had children born under Quessy, Chase, and I even found some of them married under Chess. But no luck finding him in England, I wrote to many people there, this was before I had computer even. Anyway one day I was looking in land grants, and lo and behold, there was a land grant for one Abraham CHATE not Chase but CHATE in Richiboucto. So I searched for an Abraham Chate son of Abraham and Nannette Rose. One day on LDS site I found Abraham born 1797 in Deptford England son of Abraham and Ann. Then I found a brother and a sister of his. I could not find anymore on them in Deptford, I searched and searched, then I received some information that in the Poor Law were a John Chate, wife Martha and sons Abraham,Charles, and John I think in 1770 in Cuckfield Sussex England. I thought that this might be my ancestors but that is not the best of it. I had posted a querry on Genes Reunited mentioning my Abraham and his brother Charles. Last week I got a reply that there was a possible match for me. But I could not contact him via Genes Reunited because I was not a paying member, so I posted on a UK site asking if anyone was a member there , and could they contact this person for me. I got a reply, and they contacted this gentleman who lives in Australia, and he contacted me , and sent me a gedcom of the Chates, but he has little on my Abraham line but has where we connect and the date of birth of Abraham husband of Ann ( Nannette). His uncle traced the Chates to the late 1500s. Isn't that wonderful? Now I can focus my Chate line in the Sussex England area, to see if I can find a death for Abraham and Ann or information on Charles their son born 1795. The internet sure is a blessing at times.
The leaves are really falling from the trees, they are all orange and red and yellow.
Soon they will all dissappear until next spring.
I received more donations for our Christmas Toy Drive, I have two gifts cards to shop with at the moment. I am very pleased with the good response . Pretty soon I shall need an extra room for the toys. grin. I bought some barbie dolls, some little tractors, some books, something for infants, some teddy bears , two stuffed dogs, a little stuffed pony that they can sit on, and much more. Some little boy or girl are going to be so excited come christmas time.
Have a great day, thank you for the visit.
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Losing a friend is something that is so very hard. Today my blog is about that.

Nine years ago, I met a gentleman, in a genealogy chat room. I later met his family. These folks came from Scotland,a nd for nine years they were my friends. Yesterday I received a call from the lady ,who said that my good friend had passed away on Sunday of a massive heart attack. They were on a trip in Texas visiting relatives when he took the heart attack. Before he left for their trip he told me they were going away to Texas for around a month, and were going to see Niagara Falls. He would let me know when they returned. I wished him a good trip, and waited to hear from him. Usually he would send me offlines to say he was ok. I kept sending offlines to him , I figured when he got to the computer he would have lots to read. I sent my last message to him on Wednesday always no reply at his end. My friend(his wife) telephoned me from Scotland to give me the news. I felt so very bad, but there is something that she said that made me feel so very good. She said at least you have one of his paintings and he never gave many away. He gave one to her, one to his mother and one to me. On mine he wrote my name on one of the boats and my maiden name on another one, and my late husbands name and my son. So I will treasure this painting you see above. My heart goes out to his family, I do know they will miss him so very much as many of his online friends will do.

Harry, rest in peace , I am going to miss you so very much. Jean and girls my sincere sympathy to you, he loved you.

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Fall has arrived and yesterday we went for a drive, I wanted to go to Albert County in New Brunswick to see the colors. The weather was beautiful . Driving along the highway it was something so very nice to see. But that was not what I wanted to see, I wanted to go to a place called cooked creek lookout. I had gone there before my husband passed away. Anyway we turned up this road from Riverside Albert and the road was uphill and on each side of the road were these various colors of oranges, yellows and greens. Arriving at the top of the road, it comes to a dead end with hiking trails and paths , we saw many cars and motorcycles already there. There was a platform for the scenic lookup. If you watch the video, you will see how beautiful it is. We also walked along a path, I took a few still photos and with the weather so lovely , the walk was very relaxing. So then we began to get hungry and we decided to go to Alma in Albert County. We stopped at this nice little takeout near the water. The tide was low and there were two fishing boats on the shore. I should have take a photo but I was too hungry to think of photos . grin. So we each bought a hotdog, and they were some good. Then we decided to return home. Anyway I wanted to share this little video with you, I am not a professional photographer as you can see. grin.

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, the weather is lovely, but the weatherman is calling for overcast and possible showers, I do hope he is wrong. grin.

Well guess I have talked your ears off , so I will say thank you for the lovely visit, do drop by anytime.

Have a great day

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Bouctouche New Brunswick is a very old parish. Many Acadians came from Memramcook to settle there. Among the first families were some ,Cormiers,LeBlancs, Allains,Collets,Girouards. Today if someone mentions Bouctouche, many think of La Sagouine . Many folks have never been to Bouctouche but have ancestors who did come from there. If you go to my website www.acadian-roots.com and click on Acadian Marriages, you will see I have added some marriages from Bouctouche in New Brunswick Canada. When you get there, you will see a photo at the top of the page. That used to be the old catholic church back in the late 1800s. That land once belonged to Jacques Cormier husband of Osite Pothier, and that area was also known as Pointe A Jacquot. The building on the left used to be a convent for young girls, today it has been converted to a museum. And if you follow that road today you will arrive at La Dune, and au Fond de la Baie.
My mother in law used to tell me that she used to go to Fond de la Baie and go to the DUNE by rowboat to get shellfish, barclams probably or quahawgs.
Before the Dune was made famous I remember going there with my late husband, there used to be a take out on the main road, we would get some fried clams and french fries and park our car near the water, watching the waves roll in and the seagulls over head, and people walking on the beautiful sand. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. In Bouctouche today there is a beautiful park built by Irvine I believe, right next to an old cemetery also on the same road. If you ever go to Bouctouche be sure to check out the park, the Dune, La Sagouine Show,and try out some good tasty Acadian meals. If you read my P'tit Francois stories you will notice he talks a lot about his home Au fond de la Baie. grin.
And be sure to check out my Bouctouche Marriages on my website, I have not added all the marriages but I have added quite a few of them.
Changing the subject, our toy drive is doing pretty well, a few days ago, I bought two white teddy bears, spiderman cars, a little tractor, another little doll, and an alphabet puzzle board with a gift card I received.
So now I will close by saying thank you for the lovely visit, and a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING to the ones who are celebrating.
Have a great day
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Fall has arrived, with the fall comes the cooler nights but for a short while we can enjoy nature in its full fall colors splenders. yesterday we went for a drive in the country, we went to find someone's home. Well we did find the house and it was hidden from view and a long way from the main road. Many of us say to ourselves IF we were rich we would go to other countries, but if we look very close at our own surroundings, there are beautiful places we have not stumbled upon. I remember one year, a friend and I went to check out an estate sale. We had never gone that way before. Well when we arrived the estate was again far from the main road, and from the road we could not see it. I was amazed at the beauty of the place. They had a fish pond and a little canoe , they had a brook like the one above situated on their property just down the hill. The house was gorgeous inside. I could not believe the beauty of it, and not knowing it was so close to home. So when you go for a Sunday Drive, sometime take a back road that you have never gone on. Make sure your gas tank is full tho, you would not want to run out of gas and have to walk. Now would be a perfect time or maybe next week to take that Sunday Drive through the old back roads to see the beautiful fall colors.

I love the photo above that I took yesterday, I love scenery with water and little brooks and streams. But if you have a dream about going on a vacation elsewhere , do so. I would love to see Crail Scotland one day, it is a beautiful little village near Dunfermline in Scotland. A friend of mine made a painting for me of Crail and sent it to me from Scotland. The painting shows three fishing boats and my friend put my maiden surname on one of the boats. Go to google, type in Crail Scotland and see how beautiful Crail Scotland is.

On another note and speaking of the United Kingdom, I belong to Genes Reunited, I am not a paid member BUT today I received a message that there is a MARTIN DAVEY who has registered, he may not be a paid member either, BUT he has a name that could possibly connect to my CHATE line. He has a Charles Chate born 1795 in Deptford England, I have a brother to my Abraham named Charles also born 1795 in Deptford England. Boy I wish I could contact him to see if he has anything that would help me with my CHATE line. So if any of you are a member of GENES REUNITED, maybe you could contact this Martin Davey, that is all I know of him.

Last night I began wrapping the toys for our Christmas Toy Drive. What I did, is once they were wrapped I added a tag, on the tag I wrote Boy age 4 plus or Girl age 3 plus from Texas USA, or Darthmouth NS and so on. We have a name the Toy Dogs contest going in our Chat n Brag, our members are giving a name for two dogs one brown and one black n white, once the names are all in , we are going to vote on the best two names, then I will put the names on the toy dogs ,probably on a tag around their neck, and say something like " Hello my name is Spot".

We are having fun at the same time, we are doing a good thing for the needy or sick children.

We have a deadline for the gift certificates , which will be on November 15th in order for me to buy the toys , get them wrapped and prepare for my holidays . But if someone prefers to send the toys then that deadline can be up to the third week before Christmas so that we can deliver them in time.

Our christmas gift exchange between the members of our genealogy group is October 31 so that we can pick the names, my Mom who is 90 years of age, will be doing the name drawing, it will be something new for her .

Well I think I have talked your ears off today, grin, thank you so much for the lovely visit, do stop by again.

Have a great day

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Christmas Toys. Why did I add this photo of toys on my blog you ask? Well I shall tell you why.

IN our genealogy group, this will be our second year we exchange christmas presents among the ones who want to join.

Last year it went very well and this year we are more of us who have joined the exchange.

During the Christmas Season I always feel so bad for the ones who will not be having a good Christmas. Even tho that there are organizations helping out there, there are always some children who do not have the opportunity to get a toy. And some get used toys , that have been fixed. So I did not really think many would agree on having a Toy Drive, but I decided to try anyway. One or Two Toys are better than none at all. One toy makes a child happy for a little while at least. Two Toys is better than one, because now there are two happy children. But I am pleased with the result I have gotten, many are sending me gift cards .

Today I had two cards to buy toys with,so off to Walmart I went. I did not have a clue what I would come home with, but I saw this big dog looking at me. He was probably saying "Buy me, buy me". So I bought him and I saw this black and white dog, he looked like a lazy hazy days of summer dog. Yep I bought him too. Then I saw some story books, the lion king, beauty and the beast and cars all stories that the children will enjoy , a CD comes with the book. So as you can see by the photo, there will be some happy children this Christmas . I know also that the ones who have joined in our Toy Drive are already feeling good, they see the toys that a child or two will be getting from them. If any of you are reading this and asking how do you join? Where do you send the toy? Well on the right side of my blog you will see Christmas Toy Drive or you can go to my website http://www.acadian-roots.com/ click on the Christmas Url and contact me there.

So far the plan is to take the toys to the hospitals , we have two hospitals and if there are toys left over they will go to the second hospital and if there are still toys left over there are other organizations I can give them to. But things could change , if we find another place that is more in need of the toys we can change our minds. Right now, the goal is to collect the toys first.

Now changing the subject and getting back to genealogy. I am wondering if any of you readers are interested in joining our acadianroots genealogy group and willing to help others. I would love to see some folks with access to Quebec records, to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland,PEI,Maine, Massachussettes, or anywhere that the Acadians settled or French Canadians or Cajuns, as you know, the more united we are the more chances we have of finding our lost ancestors, or finding cousins, or sharing family photos and stories. If a new member joins our group and is looking for someone in Maine USA for instance, if we had someone (can be more than one person) from that area , they might be able to help out,

We have members from parts of Louisiana, from England, and the more researchers we have to help out the better. So if you want to help or if you need help and want to join, you can either contact me by writing Invite in subject line, or by joining my back door group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/petiteacadienne/

Once you are in petiteacadienne, I will contact you there and invite you. That group is only used to invite you to acadianroots since I made acadianroots genealogy group by invite only.

Well that is it for today, thanks for the visit. Do come again.

Have a great day

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ED BARRIEAU, on a Sad Note, yesterday after returning from the funeral parlor to pay my respects to my brother's mother in law , I logged on my computer to check my emails messages going to our acadianrootsclub genealogy group, and I was saddened to receive and post a message regarding one of our members . His name was Ed Barrieau, I am sure many of you have met or talked to him on the phone, he was a genealogist and a very nice gentleman. He lived in New Mexico. If anyone would happen to carry a conversation with him, he would say, "Call Me".
If he saw something that was wrong on our message boards , right away he would reply and correct us. On the message written to us by his daughter in law, she states that he really enjoyed our genealogy group, that made me feel good. He had not posted on our board in a while and not long ago, I asked about him.
I know our group will miss Ed and I know Paul LeBlanc's group will also miss him.
So if you knew Ed Barrieau or even if you didn't , just mention him in passing when you say your prayers.
On a lighter note, and still speaking of funerals, this morning George and I went to the funeral of my brother's mother in law. The church was very small, but nice. I had done that cemetery a while back, it was mostly an irish cemetery but lots of acadians buried there. Anyway I was sitting in the pew, and the priest began to speak, I looked at him, and I said to myself, I knew him. But as we get older we change a bit, and he was older , white hair, but listening to his speech, I said yes that is him. So after the service we went below the church for a lunch, and he came down. George said go talk to him, I was a bit hesitant at first but I got brave and up I walked to the priest. I said are you Father????, he replied yes I am. I said I know you don't remember me, but we were in the same school class for eight years. He said what is your last name, I said my first one is Aline, he was still trying to remember, when I said my surname, Yes he remembered and I said my brother John is over there, Oh he said I must go talk with him. So off he went to chat with my brother, he was telling the family John used to beat him up in School, but I am sure he was teasing. I asked him about his sister who also was in my class. He told me she married a guy from Newfoundland. It would be nice to see her sometimes. But it sure is a small world. This priest has been in the priesthood for 40 years.
Then another lady I knew from long ago, said hello to me, she was one of the kitchen volunteers and I knew her back in the 1960s hadn't seen her for ages.
Funerals are sad, but funerals also brings old friends and family that have not seen one another for a long time together and that is a good thing.
Thanks for the lovely visit, stop by anytime.
Have a great day.
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Bloomers!!! What would you think Bloomers were? No the ones I am talking about were not flowers, but they could have been made from Flour Bags. Would any of you remember the heavy white flour bags? Well my Mom told me that her mother used to wash the white flour bags and make clothing with them. And Mom said , my grandmother made BLOOMERS for the girls. Have you guessed yet? Mom said sometimes hers would have printed words or the name of the flour company but you would not see the writing unless she would lean over. grin. Now you guessed it, Bloomers were underpants. I am sure Mom must have made me wear them at one time or another because I remember wearing some underclothes with lastic around the legs. I don't think my grandaughter would be caught wearing Bloomers today. But at that time it was the way of living, and staying warm I guess.
The other day in our Chat n Brag room we were discussing those long brown stockings I think I already talked about that, but yesterday Mom and I were talking about the things she saved. When I got married, she gave me my little baby sweater set, it was sort of a peach color, maybe it was because it was old, but it was sweater, a bonnet and stockings. The stockings were knitted right to above the knees and the set was knitted with wool. So it must have kept me very warm. So I in turn gave my sweater set to my grandaughter, and at the moment my daughter in law has a Jessica Doll wearing my sweater set. Mom also had a baby christening set that she wore on my oldest sister born in 1935 and the set was worn by all of us kids and most of Mom's grandchildren. Now she has given the set to my oldest sister which is very appropriate, since she was the first one christened in it.
And yesterday, my Mom gave my son, something she had for a long time, it was an empty shell from the second world war. My son's eyes lit up when he saw it, he said Yep I'm keeping this. So as you can see, my Mom saved things, she saved a lot of my old valentines, she saved my first birthday card in 1943 at age one. I have it now, she saved our school report cards, I have mine. And I have saved things, I saved some of my grandchildren's favorite toys, I had saved my son's report cards and gave them to him. I have much more saved, but it has been in my trunk since I got married and that was many years ago. I have some odd cups and saucers that I received on my wedding day , oh and I also have something my Mom gave me long ago, it is two granite pie plates that she had when she was newly married.
So I guess I take after my Mom, now I am hunting for Old photos to save and share of my ancestors or the places they lived .
Now I hope I did not bore you today, seems as if there was a lot of "I' "me".Grin.
I have received another gift certificat for our Toy Drive today so it will be off to Walmart to shop for more Christmas Toys.
Thank you for the lovely visit, hope to see you again
Have a great day
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Can you believe that in a few hours it will be the first of October already? Well today we went to Grand Digue and I noticed the trees have really changed their colors already. I had forgotten to take my camera so I could not take any pictures. The leaves have begun falling already. But the colors of orange, greens, reds and yellow is so very beautiful to see. At the moment they look like sceneries you would see in jigsaw puzzles.
I remember doing those jigsaw puzzles, it sure was a great pastime. I would do all the outside of the puzzle first , that was pretty easy but when the colors of different areas was nearly the same color ,boy they were hard to piece together. grin. Did you ever start making a puzzle and have a big part of it done and you noticed that some of the pieces were missing? haha. that was maddening huh?
My aunt used to go to yard sales and come home with lots of them, and she would give them to us, sometimes she never bothered making them and when we got them, yep pieces were not there, missing, gone. grin.
Well I have added a few more photos on my photo gallery, well three more to be exact. And today I met a lady who told me she has some relatives that may branch into one of my lines, the first thing I asked her was "Do you have any photos?" No reply as yet.
Our Toy Drive is doing very well I am impressed, more gift certificates on the way and another lady went on my site and contacted me, she said she would be sending a toy. So that is wonderful news. I know I am talking about this early, but as you know Christmas is just around the corner. So now is the time to begin the Toy Drive. I have contacted various organizations and people to find the best place to deliver the toys to. No matter where we decide, the main thing is on christmas morning , maybe in some home where the dad is out of work? Or maybe the fireman may deliver the toys to someone who recently went through a fire? Or maybe to some kind of shelter? Some little boys and girls , will wake up and go under the tree and see this parcel from far away especially for them. And somewhere far away, a certain person will be thinking to themselves, somewhere in New Brunswick Canada, a little boy and or a little girl is smiling and I helped to make it happen. If any of you readers want to send a toy, there is an url on the side of this blog, or you can contact me through my acadien-roots.com website.
Remember I cannot do this Toy Drive alone , I am so very grateful to many of the members from my genealogy room and my chat n brag room for their participations.
To end this blog, I heard that there is another hurricane , this time heading for Scotland, I have friends in Scotland and I do hope that they will be ok, and not in the direct path of the hurricane.
Thanks for the lovely visit, oh and be sure to check out my P'tit Francois des Bois page on my website, it is written in French and translated into English so you can have an idea what the stories are about.
Have a great day
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It is raining cat's n dogs is a saying I remember so well. Well we are waiting for a hurricane that has just been downgraded to a tropical storm, but we are expecting lots of wind and rain. It is a good thing that we are not getting what was called for at first.
Now speaking of cats and dogs, did you ever think about adding them in your genealogy stories? How would you like to come across a story about your great grandfather saying he had a favorite pet? And reading a story about funny things or heroic things his pet did? Well I know I would love to read such a thing. My mother once told me my grandfather had a dog that he trained, and I came across a photo of him and that dog. Now I had two pets which I have written about in my genealogy book and I also wrote about my son's family dog.
My dog was named Chrissie, she was black ,with a white paw, and I remember spending hours in my back yard teaching her to sit, to sing, to sing softly, to roll over, to speak, I taught her which toy was which and every time I asked her to go fetch her toy by name she would go, she had about 18 toys in her toybox and no matter what I asked her to get, she came back to me with it. She knew where her cookies where, she would go to the cupboard touch the door with her nose, I would open the door and she would nudge the cookie box. I took videos of her.
So it is for sure her stories will be read my my great grandchildren if I am lucky enough to have any.
And I also had this little blue budgie, his name was Joey, I got him from a pet store and at first he did not do a thing, when I finished training him, he could talk, he would look at himself in his mirror and say "Bad ,bad joey" he would say 'T'es bain beau, beau tee bird, back off Joey. meaning you are beautiful, beautiful bird grin. And he would have this little toy dinky car , I put a read thread on it and he would land on my paper covered television, take the car by the read thread, run to the side of the television, make it fall and say bad bad joey, I would pick up the car and set it back on the paper, he would do the same thing over and over again.
And yes I have these stories in my family tree book, and my son's family dog Fluffy passed away and I wrote stories about her and gave them to my grandson. So if you have a special pet, do not forget to share their stories with your decendants.
On another note, as you know many of our acadian ancestors left home to go elsewhere to find work, many of them moved to the USA but many others decided to go out west. Some went to Quebec, to Ontario, to Calgary, or BC so I decided to see if I could find some of them who went to Ontario. And yes I found some of our ancestors who left New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI for Ontario and I have added some of their marriages and some deaths on my website at www.acadian-roots.com scroll towards the bottom of the left side and you will see Ontario, click there and see if you find any of your ancestors. I do hope this helps some of you in your reseach. Enjoy.
Our Christmas toy drive is off to a good start, we now have nine toys ready to give to some needy boy or girl for Christmas. I am very pleased, even if that would be all the toys we would have, well that is nine children that we have brought a happy smile to their faces. But we will be having more toys on the way.
So to end my blog today, I just want to say, thank you for the lovely visit, do drop by again. Have a great day
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Hello everyone, well I am reading a book called Acadian Awakenings by William D Gerrior. It is a great book to read about our acadian ancestors. For instance did you know where some of our ancestors originated from in France? Mister Gerrior states that from the Loudon region of France came the following people to Acadie;
From Aulnay came the Babins, Dupuis,Girouards,Dousset and Poiriers. From La Chaussee came the Belliveaus,Bourgs,Brault,Landry and Robichauds. From Martaize came the Blanchards, Gaudets,Gautreaus,LeBlanc,Savoie and Theriaults. Did you notice how Doucet, and Breau were spelled?
What I would like to know is where the Cormiers were from, I know they were in La Rochelle, but did they arrive at La Rochelle from elsewhere? There have been priests and genealogists looking for the origin of Robert and his family for years. But now with the internet maybe it will be possible to find his birth or Thomas birth around 1636 somewhere in France. I am still looking for a marriage for a Rene Bergeron and Anne Dagault whom I and many others believe are the true parents of Barthelemy Bergeron dit Damboise who was born in Amboise France.
For years we believed him to be the son of and Antoine Bergeron and Catherine Scarron but there has never been any proof of this, but there has been a baptism found for one Barthelemy Bergeron in Amboise France the son of Rene and Anne Dagault and the birth date is the same as was mentioned for Barthelemy but the year is different by two years I believe. How much of a coincidence that if there were two Barthelemy Bergeron born in Amboise France that they would be born exactly two years apart to the day? I don't think so. His father Rene was baptized in the same church as Barthelemy, but no marriage has been found as yet. I am hoping by posting this in my blog that maybe someone somewhere may read this and say OH I found the marriage.. "It is possible you know".
Now on a happy note, I would like to share a story I read in the Reader's Digest yesterday, it was really touching. And it goes to show how strong ties online friends are created The story is not word for word but I will tell you the main part of it.
There was this man who went online quite often and he checked out certain forum , just like we do. Anyway he met this young girl in one of the forums and they struck up a conversation and did so for a while. One day he got probably a chat message from her saying she had just put the charcoal on, and she was getting warm, well apparently she was inside and he knew she was in danger. She did not want to give him her location, she was trying to commit suicide, he asked her where are you? She said she was in an apartment, he was getting very worried, Can you tell me what number? she did not answer. He said at least what floor are you on? Well she said I can tell you I am on the 8th floor and she hung up. Now all he knew she was somewhere in Taipan, so he put an alert on line, and the news started to circulate, someone was in trouble, who was she really? Did anyone know her? Finally someone said yes I know her and that she went to a certain school, she was still a student there. Good , thats good, the hotel must be nearby. What hotels have at least 8 floors? So they hurried and the young man himself looked for a hotel close to the school she went to. He called the desk clerk asked if the girl was there. Yes she is, replied the manager. The man said , hurry, hurry get up there she is in trouble. So the desk clerk went up, she had bolted the door, but they knocked it down and were there just in time to save her. They took her to the hospital and a few months later, she went to where the young man lived and thanked him for saving her life. So the reason I am telling you this story is to let you know, there are so many friends to be made online, you are never alone. Never feel lonely, just go online ,join a group ,they become just like your family.
We have our chat n brag room, we are not a lot in there at the moment and it is unbelievable how close we are to one another. Can you believe we are talking about when us girls were young and wore those long brown stockings. grin. There are also men in our group, the latest said " I wouldn't look good in a dress". grin. See this is what we do.
I do hope you have enjoyed today's blog. I am glad to see that you do come in to read them. A reminder if you want to donate a toy or gift certificat for a needy boy or girl please let me know? I have added the url on the side where you can contact me. I received my first gift certificat so off to WalMart I will go to buy a toy or two.
Have a great day
Aline

Fall has arrived, so yesterday we went for our usual Tim Horton coffee, and I said let's go to the Park to see if the leaves are beginning to change. Since yesterday was the first day of Fall we did so. As you can see some of the leaves are changing already. The weather was cool, and it felt like fall. They were having some kind of kid's picnic further down the road. We did not want to interfere so we turned around and left. I am sure there are going to be lots of pretty fall colors and scenery. If I can I shall post some photos later on. My friend sent me an email today and she was talking about our ancestors in the winter time how hard it must have been with all the snow falling. Snowbanks so very very high, how did they manage? They managed somehow, because if they did not survive there would be fewer folks like you and I around.

But getting back to Fall, this must have been their harvesting time, and preparing for the winter ahead. So the men must have been hunting to get their meat for the winter, and the woman must have been home salting the vegetables and fish .Probably the children were helping with storing the turnips, cabbages, potatoes in cold cellars so they would keep for the winter. I wonder if the ladies made preserves back then? If so, I am sure they would have made jams and jellies from the wild berries and pumpkin preserves with the pumkins from their gardens. The men and boys probably had to make sure they had lots of hay for their animals to last the winter too.

Now what about their heat? The men would have to cut wood to burn and store it , I remember going to an acadian village and being told that some of our ancestors stored their wood right inside the house, they had a back room for their wood. That would make a lot of sense, it would prevent them from having to go out in the freezing cold to get wood that would be buried under all the snow. brrrrr.

The women would also have to knit woolen clothing for their families,mittens,stockings,probably some kind of sweater, do you think they attempted to knit "underwear or longjohns?" If so, I bet you that they were awful itchy. grin. I remember my Dad wore them, his were grey flannel. I never looked to see if there was a flap at the back tho. grin.

Can you imagine having no electricity? Today if we lose power it is a big thing, of course back then , they didn't have freezers where the food would go bad if there was no power, but they had lamps and candles, that must have been dangerous for fires but that was all that they had so they had to settle for that kind of thing.

Outhouses that I spoke about in my earlier blog, well I am sure in the winter time, they did not venture out unless they had to, so I would say they had a bucket or pail they called it a Slop Pail, and they must have used that during the night. And I know they did not have Lysol Spray back then. grin. Oh Times must have been so hard for our ancestors, we are so very lucky to be living in this generation instead of way back then. And again, since this was the only life they knew, how do we know that they were not content, they must have had many happy times too, maybe they sang, and danced and had fun, their own kind of entertainment. One thing that hasnt changed is that they lived, and they loved and they cried,and they hurt,just like we do today.

They must have loved the beauty of nature also, the trees in the fall so pretty, all the different colors of greens,yellows,reds, and oranges. I know I love taking a drive in the fall of the year, just to enjoy the beauty of the fall colors.

I do hope you enjoyed today's blog ,thank you for the lovely visit. If you decide you want to give a toy for some needy child I have set up the link to my website on the right side of the blog.

Have a great day

Aline

Did you know that you could be descendent of an Indian Chief called Madockawando? Well three of his daughters (indian princess) were the wives of Jean Vincent D'Abbadie de St Castin. Mister Castin only married one of the wives in the catholic faith. If you have some LeBorgne , some Robichauds, some Breaus, Or Roy, somewhere along your lines, follow their lines and you just might come to Jean Vincent D'Abbadie and one of his wives. The reason I started my blog this way, is because I am reading a book called A Land of Discord Always,given to me by my friend Maria. Here is an exhert about Jean Vincent D'Abbadie de St Castin. The book talks about the missionaries and then it contiues to say "but the best known ,the most storied was not a priest. He was a soldier Jean Vincent D'Abbadie de St.Castin. Second son of a nobleman of the old province of Bern on the slopes of the Pyrenees,he had come to America as a teenager to seek a fortune blocked at home by the iron law of primogeniture. Serving at Fort Pentagouet in 1674,he was the officer who carried the news of Chambly's defeat,and Frontenac had sent him back to Penobscot with orders to stay and win the Indians to France's side.In the same year that his brother died childless and he became after all the third baron de St Caston,young Jean Vincent began a new life as leader and counsellor of the Abenaquis.The rivers and forests of Maine it seemed had more allure than a chateau and estate in Bearn. Too there was a woman, she was the daughter of an important sagamore named Madockawando and his marriage may have earned St Castin Sagamore Status He did in any event aquire an influence far beyond what might have been expected of the ex officer ostensibly just a fur buyer who in 1677 built a post near the ruins of Fort Pentagoet .The town that now occupies the site of the old french fort has his name anglicized to Castine.
The following is a poem by Longfellow of St Castin;
Full of a young man's joy to be
Abroard in the world ,alone and free
Full of adventures and wonderful scenes
Of hunting the deer through forests vast
In the royal grant of Peter du Gast
Of nights in the tents of the Tarrantides
Of Madockawando the indian chief,
And his daughters glorious as queens
And beautiful beyond belief
And soft are the tones of their native tongue
The words are not spoken, they are sung.

And the book goes on about St Castin. There are also lots of stories on line worth reading, about him and about Madockawando. It is amazing what one will find while tracing their families, and just to say, we are who we are no matter what and we should be proud of ourselves and of all our ancestors because without them, we would not be on this earth today. There are many skeletons in some of our closets, many were buried and may never be found, nevertheless, be proud of who you are and make your children and grandchildren proud of you.
Thank you for stopping by, it is always a pleasure seeing you. Also to remind you about our Christmas Toy Drive, if you can knit why don't you knit some mittens or socks for our Christmas Toy Drive, I am sure mittens would be appreciated on a cold winter night to some little boy or girl. If you want to send a toy, or gift certificat for the toy drive, go to www.acadian-roots.com click on Christmas Toys and follow instructions.
Thank you and Have a great day
Aline

Outhouses were very popular way back. How many of you remember walking down a snow beaten path to the little building with one window and two seats inside? Well I remember it. grin. And let me tell you that during the winter , we did not dawdle in that little house. It was in and out as fast as we could. Now if it was at night time, my big sister or brother would walk with me and stand outside the outhouse to wait. Now we did not have the luxury of Royale or Contonelle, nope it usually was Eaton's or Sears Catalogues or True Romance Magazines. Since we are on the subject of outhouses, I must tell you a story my Mom told me about my Dad. When I was very young maybe around 3 or 4, we lived in the country and my Dad wasn't too keen on going out to cut wood for the fire, so what he would do, is tear down the outhouse and burn the wood during the winter, then when spring came, he would build the outhouse all over again. And I would believe my Dad would have done something like that. grin. The reason I am discussing outhouses is because the other day, I went to a second hand shop and I always look at the books and I found this book called Outhouses of the East by Sherman Hines and I picked it up for twenty five cents. Couldn't miss this great buy. And it has all different outhouses. Some have round window, some square and even diamond shape, some have glass in the windows others don't. I would prefer the glass to stop the draft . haha.

Well on another note, I would like to share something with you. As you know Christmas will soon be here and when the holidays get closer lots of things run through my head. This year my genealogy group and I are doing our gift exchange again this year, we did it last year and it was fun. But this year we are going one step further and we have decided to do a Toy Drive. I don't know how it is going to turn out, but so far we have some who have joined in it. This is totally for the needy children. Many who have joined have decided to send gift certificates to me, from either Walmart, Zellers,Toys R Us or Sears. Others will send toys. And we are not sure what organization will get the toys but we are going to give them to a worthy one.I will buy the toys here along with the gift wrap in order to save the cost of mailing a parcel. If this works out , next year we will change the locations of the gifts and maybe instead of the children we will do the homeless or the nursing home. So if any of you who are reading this, want to donate gift certificates or toys go to www.acadian-roots.com click on Christmas Toys, you will see a place to contact me, I have created an email account especially for the toys. We won't be giving our names out on the gifts we will just put Boy or Girl on the gift with the name of where we live, for example To a Girl from Houston Texas or to a Boy from Sudbury Ontario. I am going to set up a box in my living room to put the toys into.

Oh and I am going to present the gifts on behalf of Acadian-Roots which will include our genealogy group, our Chat n Brag group and my Blog readers.

I am not expection tons of toys but one toy is way better than none at all, and that one child will have a happy smile come christmas morning.

Thank you for stopping by and just to say, if you are one of the readers saying to yourself, I cannot afford it!!!! Well that is ok, there is nothing wrong with that and I do know if you could afford it, you would. It is the thought that counts.

Have a great day.

Aline