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
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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
Aline
Sunday, December 14, 2008
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
Aline
Saturday, December 06, 2008
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
Aline
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
Aline
Monday, December 01, 2008
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
Aline
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
Aline
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