Tuesday, September 30, 2008

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
Aline

Sunday, September 28, 2008

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
Aline

Thursday, September 25, 2008

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

Monday, September 22, 2008



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

Saturday, September 20, 2008

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

Thursday, September 18, 2008


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

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

J.E.Arsenault has been found. Do you remember a few blogs back,I was asking if anyone would know who this gentleman that I had found in an old cookbook and was a justice of the peace and station master in Wellington PEI? Well I had put my detectives (from my acadianroots group) hard at work, and it paid off. Frank contacted Miscouche received some info and also some info from the notes from Heros of Island Sport. My thanks to Frank, to Miscouche and to anyone who helped Frank. Here is the following info. Read on, he was a very interestion man:
Here is some information on Joseph E. Arsenault taken from the book By the Old Mill Stream, History of Wellington, published in 1983.

Joseph E. "Joe Carise" Arsenault was the son of Euchariste Arsenault and Margaret Gallant of Egmont Bay and was born January 23, 1840. Joe Carise married Mary Gaudet of St. Nicholas on January 7, 1862 and they had nine children.
Mary, Joe Carise's first wife, died in 1913. On September 30, 1918, Joe Carise married the widow of the late Captain Perry of Alberton. After Joe Carise's death in 1934, she returned to Alberton.
Great Sport Stories - Joseph E. Arsenault "Joe Carise"Inducted Date:May 29, 1983Inducted By: Joseph Gaudet
Everyone has heard the story of the thirty-year old Canadian being humbled by thatspry and apparently ageless sixty-year old Swede. And yet Wellington, P.E.I.'s JosephArsenault would be recognized in 1932 as the skating champion of the world for his ageclass, all at the age of 93 years. It seems like a story for Ripley and indeed it was tobe, for the story of the legendary Acadian Skater was carried in that famous syndicatedcolumn, Ripley's "Believe It or Not," throughout North America in the 1930's.
Born January 23, 1840, at Egmont Bay, Joseph Arsenault, or as he was commonlyknown, "Joe Carise" grew up on the pre-Confederation Prince Edward Island that wasin most respects a pioneer society whose pleasures were of the simple variety. YoungJoe's passion was with skating, and he cherished his pair of "Woodstock" skates, theoriginal form of the skates with the blade curled at the front. Strapping these to hisboots, Joseph would step onto the frozen Ellis River below his home to skate the threemiles to Sunday Mass at the Grand River Church.
In these times before paved roads, Joe would walk through trails in the forest to schoolmiles away at St. Eleanors. By age 16, and having achieved his teacher's certificate,he would surprise his students by skating several miles to classes at the CascumpecSchool. This very early belief in physical exercise in the great outdoors, so Joe wouldlater claim, was responsible for hardening up his system and give him the powerfully-muscled limbs so vital to his later skating exploits.
Joseph Arsenault left his teaching post in 1873 for the position of station agent atWellington on the old P.E.I. Railway line, a job he would fill until 1915, 38 years later. He would also serve locally as Justice of the Peace.
An active sportsman, Joe trained his own stable of horses which he drove at theWellington Lakeside track and throughout the Island.
Upon the opening of the Wellington Rink in 1930-31, Joseph Arsenault once againstrapped on his ancient "stock" skates and adopted a daily routine of one hour'sskating, soon discovering that he was able to cover the ice with most of his old-timeform.
Skating exhibitions at home, and on the mainland, followed for Joe Carise, and thecrowds delighted to watch his graceful stride between periods of hockey atSummerside's Crystal Rink or at local meets.
His challenge to all comers over 85 years of age to beat him in a three-mile race wasfirst issued in 1930-31, and although no challenger ever stepped forward JosephArsenault would be officially acknowledged in March 1932 as the "World ChampionAged Skater" by the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.Arsenault died in 1934 aged 94 years old.
Joseph E. Arsenault's remarkable example is now part of the Prince Edward IslandSports Hall of Fame's Great Stories of Island Sports."Updated: March 2006File Contains: Notebook with stories and clippings; "Heroes of Island Sport" article by Wayne Wright; no artifacts Joe Carise's first wife, died in 1913. On September 30, 1918, Joe Carise married the widow of the late Captain Perry of Alberton. After Joe Carise's death in 1934, she returned to Alberton.
Joseph E. Arsenault was the first station master in Wellington, a Justice of the Peace and a well-known skater who continued to skate until he was 93 years of age (see separate articles on station agents, J.P.'s and Aged Skater). He had a farm of 183 acres in Wellington Station where he kept purebred Yorkshire hogs and Plymouth Rock hens, farm horses and race horses. The most famous horse he raised was Beauprince. His son Emile looked after the farm and the race horses. Jos Carise was also an agent for trees and shrubs and sold wood furnaces in his spare time.

So this hunt for J.E.ARSENAULT was very well searching for don't you think?
Have a great day
Aline

Monday, September 15, 2008

Leprosy in New Brunswick? Did you know that in Tracadie New Brunswick ,there used to be a place called Lazaret? Many of you probably heard of this disease in poor countries, but Tracadie would be remembered because of this awful disease. What could be the origin of this disease that struck the acadian peninsula? One story is that around 1812 a ship from the Mediteranean sea entered the port of Caraquet and some sailors were carriers of the disease and fraternized with the villagers. Among these Ursule Landry became the first victim to have Leprosy. She died in Tracadie in 817. She probably caught it by washing the sailors clothing and getting infected.
Another story told was that the disease was brought over by two Norwegian deserters of the Norway Leprosy Colony.And it would have been Alexis Landry of Caraquet who would have taken them aboard his vessel in Quebec and dropped them off at Maisonette and they worked their way up the Miramichi. Along their journey they would have stopped in Tracadie for a short while where in one way or another they would have contaminated some of the settlers.
Others believe that leprosy first appeared in northeastern New Brunswick where
a French Ship called Indian de Morlaix was docked in Miramichi in 1758. The Acadians who came in contact with them would have caught the disease. In 1842 Robert Cooney could still notice some parts of the ship in Baie du Vin.
Thus Leprosy became very active ,especially in Tracadie. Poor diet, and unsanitary conditions were a strong contribution to micro organisms of Leprosy.
For about twenty years the people ignored this disease and considered it as a rampant sickness. The lepers continued living among the villagers without receiving the adequate care they needed. It was the responsibility of the Commisioner of the Poor to feed and supply them with wood for heat.
In 1844 the provincial government voted on an act to prevent the spread of a disorder now existing in certain parts of the counties of Gloucester and Northumberland. They decided to build a Lazaret on Sheldake Island at the mouth of the Miramichi. So many of the ones with Leprosy were forced to leave their homes and family and go live at the Lazaret. It was hard on them living on that island ,isolated from their families and in 1849 thanks to Abbe LaFrance the lazaret was moved to Tracadie. James Young of Tracadie received the contract to build the Lazaret,Philias Losier and his wife became the gardians of the building for a salary of 60 pounds a year. They were in charge of the meals for the lepers, mostly bread and potatoes. And they were in charge of the visitors that would be allowed to visit. In 1852 the Lazaret caught fire and burned so they had to build another one. "The new lazeretto with its collection of low white washed cabins,a story and a half high made a melancholy picture. They hired a doctor LaBillois to take care of the sick and it soon became clear that Dr LaBillois had commited several children and adults who had no symptoms of leprosy merely for the purpose of making it appear as if he had succeeded in finding a cure. He had to quit his post. Another doctor from Bathurst took over the job, but he only came about six times a year, and the lepers were abandoned and locked up like caged animals. People were not going to Tracadie very much, they shunned it because of leprosy. Later on the nuns came and took over with taking care of them.
Very sad story. It must have been devastating for the ones with the disease and also for their love ones. I found this information in the book Tracadie
Well I do hope you enjoyed reading today's blog, sometimes we learn things that we did not know. I for one did not know much about the Tracadie Lazaret, I knew that there had been one, but knew little else about it.
Well thank you very much for the lovely visit, do come again.
Have a great day
Aline

Thursday, September 11, 2008

TRACADIE New Brunswick, I went to the library today, and of course I headed for Acadian related books and I came across a book on Tracadie D.Kerry,Roy Bourgeois and Maurice Basques. So I thought I would borrow it . Inside the book I found the following exherts. Among the first families to settle there were:

Arsenault; The first Arsenaults to settle in Tracadie were brothers Jean and Joseph sons of Vincent Arsenault and Marguerite Poirier. They were originally from Beaubassin . Jean married Perpetue Savoie and Joseph married Isabelle Poirier.

Bastarache . Michel born around 1730 in Port Royal may be known as one of the founders of Tracadie.

Benoit; Antoine Benoit son of Claude and Jeanne Hebert of Grand Pre seems to be the source of the Benoits in Tracadie.

Breau ; Magloire son of Victor and Marie Arsenault married Madeleine Bastarache daughter of Michel and Marguerite Gaudet.

Brideau: Louis born in L'Isle Verte Quebec immigrated to Bonaventure ,husband of Marie Hebert they left Gaspe with a certain Olivier Leger for Caraquet ,in 1793 he headed for Tracadie.

Caissie:Jean Baptiste, Noel and Hypolite sons of Etienne. We find Etienne on the banks of the St John River in 1783 with his wife and two kids; After the arrival of the Loyalists we find Etienne and his family at Baie des Vins around 1788 from there some of his sons settled in Tracadie.

Comeau; Alexis without a doubt is the first to settle in Tracadie from this family. Son of Etienne and Marie Josephe Landry he married Anne Pothier.

Doiron; Louis his son Olivier and their family arrived in Tracadie. Louis married Marie Bonnevie and his son Olivier married Marguerite Comeau and Euphemie Cormier.

Dyrsdale (Drisdelle) William was the source of this family in Tracadie his son David married Victoire Brideau. William was originally from England.

Ferguson; William was the first loyalist to settle in Tracadie. Born in Belfast Ireland . He married Margaret McComb in Quebec. They came to Tracadie, he became a widower and married Esther Richard widow of Pierre Dugalet in 1801.

Gautreau; Mathurin son of Francois and Marie Vincent came to Tracadie in 1789 ,Before that he was in Ile Orleans,Bellechasse,St John River, Memramcook. He married Rosalie Daigle in 1755 and settled in Tracadie.

LeBreton. Francois Robert dit LeBreton married Therese Boiselle. In 1777 he is in Perce with his five children. Fleeing the military he settled in Tracadie.

Loisier; Prosper Desjardins dit Losier born in Sainte Anne de la Pocatiere son of Augustin and Marie Angelique Lizot ,he married Charlotte LeBreton settled in Tracadie.

Mazerolle; They came from Baie du Vin to settle in Tracadie. Pierre born 1750 son of Joseph and Anne Daigle married Bridget Trahan in Quebec 1772,and married Felicite Bastarache , settled in Tracadie.

McGrath: Michel probably born in Ireland ,came to Tracadie at the turn of the nineteenth century. He married Bridget LeBreton daughter of Francois.

McLaughlin: Charles Blackwatch Veteran ,first of this family to settle in Tracadie in 1786. He married Anne LeBreton daughter of Francois.

Richard: They introduced themselves to Tracadie with the arrival of Pierre around 1808. Born in 1772 possibly in St Servan France, probably returned with his father on the Robin Vessels he married Marie Josephe Dion in Quebec in 1805.

Robichaud . In 1807 we fine one Robichaud in Tracadie. Jean son of Francois and Marie LeBorgne dit Belleisle. Born around 1756 around St John River he married Marie Levron around 1772.

Robinson; The Robinson families of Tracadie descend from Robert born in England in 1793.In 1824 from the Miramichi he came to Tracadie ,in 1828 he married Charlotte McLaughlin daughter of Charles and Anne.

Savoie: The first Savoie to settle in Tracadie would be Pierre son of Jean and Marie Dupuis he married Anne Marie Bujold.

Thibodeau. Alexis born 1742 son of Rene and Anne Boudrot ,deported to Mass. married Marguerite Dupuis. Was in Baie des Vins and Tracadie.

Young: The first Youngs of Tracadie were Robert and James. Originally from Dunfries Scotland. They arrived in 1825.James married Anne Ferguson.

There following were other families which were excluded as the founders:
Thomas Archer born in Ireland married Marguerite Comeau.
Pierre Dugalet born in Jersey Island married Esther Richard.
McMahon . The first one came around 1825 from Langford Ireland. name not mentioned.
Richardsons arrived around 1820 from Liverpool England.
Didier Roussel born around 1746 in France he married Madeleine Gallant daughter of Jean and Anne Doiron. In 1788 he followed his father in law to Prince Edward Island then in 1805 he is in Tracadie.
Thomas family arrived in 1825 from PEI.
Jean Vienneau born around 1760 son of Michel originally from Montbeliard, in 1789 he is in Tracadie.
John Walsh born in Ireland son of Mathew and Mary Ann Furlong married Emilie LaFrance in Tracadie in 1846.

Now this was found in the book I mentioned, it is alway better to verify the dates before accepting them as true dates. Hope this helps some of you with your research
To end today's blog I would like to tell everyone in the path of Hurricane Ike , Stay safe everyone.
Thank you for stopping by, have a great day
Aline

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Moncton City Directory is a good place to check to see if your ancestors were living there, in case you are unsure of their whereabouts. I have added the 1918 Moncton Directory on my website. I think I have two pages missing. But the majority of the pages are on my website at www.acadian-roots.com . It is interesting to read about what grocery stores, or churches, or newspapers were there in 1918. That is the year my Mom was born. So reading the directory brings me to her birth timeframe. There are many Acadian names and many English names on the lists. I do hope it bring bring back memories to someone or help in their search for their elusive ancestors. I have also added a drop down menu so you can navigate to my other Moncton pages. Many streets were not built in 1918 ,but there are some that have and are still there.
On another note, if you are on FACEBOOK ,I have a group I started there for the ones who are not on yahoo ,msn, or only on facebook, the name is Old Photos of New Brunswick and that is exactly what it is about. Posting old photos from Moncton,Parkton,Georgetown,Saint Paul de Kent, Sainte Marie de Kent, Adamsville, Sunny Brae, Cap Pele,Barachois,Cocagne,Grand Digue, Bouctouche, Bonsecour,Saint Andre. By sharing photos it gives us a chance to perhaps have photos of our ancestors or the places where they lived. So if you are on Facebook ,why don't you come and share your photos ?
I still have my photo gallery on my website www.acadian-roots.com ,that won't change, but I am trying to broaden my area regarding photos. And if there are some that I think others not on facebook would like to see of your photos, I shall ask permission to add them. I do know many people are only on facebook and do not go anywhere else. But everyone is welcome to come share their photos .
While on my acadian-roots.com website ,be sure to check out the weekly adventures of P'tit Francois des bois, he sure is having his share of problems with the widow Smallwood. The article are written in French and I have translated them to english just to give you a rough idea about the storyline. But if you are french and you know Chiac then you will get a good laugh .
So now that you have heard me go on and on, I will say, thank you so much for the lovely visit, I do hope you will stop by again.
Have a great day
Aline

Tuesday, September 09, 2008



DWho is this gentleman? I was going through some old cookbooks Mom had given me, and came across this article, his name was J.E.Arsenault and he was the justice of the peace for PEI, and the station master at Wellington PEI for the PEI
Railway. At the bottom of one of the two pictures, is his sworn statement that he used that ointment, and it is dated January 12, 1912 in Prince County PEI. Now wouldn't it be nice if this was a great grandfather to someone out there, and they had not seen this article? Please leave a comment if you know who he was and who his parents were ?
On another note, I went to the genealogy center today and I always like looking for little tidbits. Here is something I found:
Rogerville dated 1915.. translated is A great capture.
M.A.Midget of Rogersvile was cutting down trees to make shingles ,he found three bears one large and two small one in a pine hollow. With the help of Ambroise Gallant and Alphee Goguen the three bears were captured. They said the bears were for sale. I did not have time to look for too long but will return and do more digging.
I also found two old recipes in the 1914s. It reminds me of when Mom told me how to make bread. You take a dipper of this, a handful of that, throw it together and voila. grin. This is what the two recipes I copied are like.
Well thank you for the visit, and if you know who our Mister J.E.Arsenault is, please let us know.
Have a great day
Aline

Thursday, September 04, 2008





At one time our acadian ancestors would wash their clothes on the banks of the rivers and streams. And they would sometime used a baille (barrel) made of wood ,usually a flour barrel or other barrel that were cut down to the height they wanted with usually two hole punched through to use as handles. They would send someone to get some well water to fill up the baille with and heat the water. They would first soak the clothes , remove the stains by rubbing real hard against a wash board. Then they had to change the water to rinse the clothes and then wring the clothes out by hand. And finally to hang the clothes on some kind of line to dry them. The more water they wrung out of the clothes the faster they would dry on the line. I was reading in the book Life in our Ancestors in Acadie and it continued to say that it would make the women feel great to be able to hang her clothes on the line before her neighbor did. After a good half day of sun, she could take her clothes off the line and iron them. On the top right is the kind of iron that they may have used. They would heat the iron over some hot fire or stove and then iron their clothes. Are we not lucky? We have automatic washers, automatic dryers, iron free clothing. Can you imagine how excited our great great grandmothers would be if only they could open their eyes today to see the many changes that has occured? I remember my mother had a wringer washing machine and she had a metal tub that she would fill with water and rinse her clothes in the tub and hang the clothes on her clothesline, I used to love the smell of the clothes after being in the nice fresh air for part of the day.

I do hope you have enjoyed todays blog, and I hope you will stop by again for a visit. I always enjoy sharing my stories with you. Have a great day

Aline


Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Well it is a relief to know that Gustav was not as bad as Katrina, and not many lives were lost. I do know many are without electricity and will be for a little while longer. Some friends have reported that they are safe, I am still waiting to hear from the rest.
I have been reading a book called scattered to the wind by Carl A Brasseaux, and the book talks about all the Acadians affected by the Deportation in 1755, there are stories that are so very touching such as the acadians living in poverty in parts of France. And even closer to home, in the book the following article is written;
Under the leadership of Abbe Le Guerne , most of the refugees along the upper coast made their way to the Miramichi area. Having fled their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs, these refugees, many of whom were women whoes husbands had already been sent into exile from Beaubassin, lacked adequate shelter, food and clothing. Pierre de Rigaud the marquis de Vaudreille governor of Canada described their plight;
"Acadian mothers see their babies die at the breast not having wherewith to nourish them. The majority of the people cannot appear abroad for want of clothes to cover their nakedness. Many have died. The number of the sick is considerable, and those convelescent cannot regain their strength on account of the wretched quality of their food, being often under the necessity of eating horse meat extremely lean sea cow and skins of oxen. Such of the state of the Acadians".
Starvation, exposure and disease claimed hundreds of Miramichi Acadians during their first winter in exile. Many of the survivors fled to Quebec the following spring.
The book talks about the Acadians in Saint Domingue, and St Pierre de Miquelon, Louisiana and more. Very interesting reading.
Well I enjoyed your visit, do drop in again, you never know what my blog will be about next time.smile.
Have a great day.
Aline