Saturday, January 31, 2009

Noel Doiron was born around 1684 son of Jean Doiron and Marie Anne Canol, he married Marie Henry daughter of Robert and Marie Madeleine Godin in Boston around 1705 and his marriage was rehabiltated in Port Royal Sept 24 1706. They had the following children: Louis Mathieu married to Madeleine Pitre,Marie Madeleine married to Michel Pitre, Marguerite married to Claude Pitre, Paul married to Marguerite Benoit and then to Francoise Bourg, Pierre married to Emilienne Thibodeau, Francois married to Madeleine Tillard, Joseph married to Marguerite Tillard and Marguerite married to Amedee Blanchard. Everyone but the two Marguerites and Pierre died in the sinking of the Duke William in 1758. Think about it, all of these couples and their children . There were only four survivors I believe or should I say only four Acadian survivors plus the Captain and his crew and the priest Father Giroir. Alexis Doiron was on the lifeboat and survived. Stephen White has this note in his DGFA; We count Noel Doiron his wife, five of their children, more that thirty of their grandchildren and many great grandchildren among the Acadian families of Prince Edward Island who dissappeared without a trace after 1758. After a long study on the subject, we are led to believe that Noel Doiron was the old leader of the Acadians of Pointe Prime mentioned in the Journal of Captain Nicholls concerning the sinking of the Duke William. So many Acadians were lost at sea during the Deportation of the Acadians, if not by drowning then by sickness.
I have added another article that you can access through the Duke William page on my website at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ regarding Noel Doiron, where he was before he was on PEI, it is a very interesting article and it was what the documentary on CBC radio was based on. Hope you will enjoy reading it.
Changing the subject, isn't the internet a great thing sometimes? I just received an email from a distant cousin who is living in Stockholm on my Williams dit Bristol line, we are not directly related until we reach Elie Bristol, but it is amazing how many I have met since I came online .
On Facebook I have started a group called Old Photos of New Brunswick, where my hopes are to have many photos posted there again in hope one day some of my relatives may be in the photos. You never know. See there is a method to my madness as the saying goes and also by having that group ,pictures posted may also be photos of their ancestors, so it is good for everyone.
Have I told you that I added more books in my book corner? In my English Books I have added the Cajun Odyssey 11, and Escape from the Guillotine. One is about the Landry family's Journey to Louisiana. I added the book Deportation of the PEI Acadians by Earle Lockerby , and also a nice story for a young girl called Lightning and Blackberries in my Children Book page.
Our Bergeron-Damboise Reunion being held in Fredericton is coming along very well, we have a hall for one of the two days, having a Mass said for all the group, having some VIPs attending, so all in all, I am pleased. We have someone attending to the luncheon and we have someone decorating the hall. So if any of you readers have Barthelemy Bergeron dit Damboise somewhere in your direct line ,such as the Godins,Bellefontaine,Bellefeuille, Roy,Pare,Saindon, Beausejour, and if you want to join us, let us know. We have a Bergeron group
Bergeron-Damboise@googlegroups.com . Speaking of reunions , as you know the CMA2009, Congres Mondial or Acadian World Gathering held in northern New Brunswick around the Caraquet area will soon be here. Now is the time to reserve your accomodations. We have reserved ours, from Aug.11 to the 24th. If you wait too long you might not be able to get a place. We will be in a tenting area, oh my, two whole weeks in a tent. groan. grin. So mayby after the CMA is over I may show you photos of my mosquito bites. haha.
Thanks for the visit. Do stop by again.
have a great day
Aline

Thursday, January 29, 2009



Duke William was one of the many ships that were used during the Deportation of the Acadians. In 1758 the Duke William and the Violet both left around the same time with their ships filled with Acadians for destinations elsewhere. The two ships lost touch for a while and then met up again. The captain of the Violet contacted the captain of the Duke William and discussed the bad weather and the condition of his ship. On December 12 the Violet sank into the ocean. The Duke William was also trying to save their ship. Even the Acadian passengers pitched it and worked feverously to try and pump the water from the boat, but it was no use. On December 13 the day after the Violet sank, the Duke William sank into the cold waters of the Ocean. Many Acadians were lost at sea during the Deportation, and we will never know what their last moments were like, BUT we can read what happened to the Duke William. The Captain and his crew escaped in a lifeboat, and the captain "Captain Nicholl wrote a jounal about that fateful day and the loss of the Acadians. I have been given permission to add the Jounal on my website, and I have done so. My special thanks go to Ken and Shawn Scott. As one of them said to me "The more people that reads this Jounal, the more that will know what happened that fateful day in December on the Duke William.

So now I have added it to my website at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ ,click on the url next to the lighthouse. I do hope you will read it and learn about the tragedy of all those who lost their lives.

Now I want to change the subject,and share with you what Mom shared with me today. I always love talking with Mom, because when she tells me about long ago, she makes it so interesting.

Today we talked about my grandfather, Mom told me that my grandfather was a very strict man at times and other times he was fun to be with. He was a teacher part time, and he believed strongly in his children being educated. Mom said night after night, he would have the children sit on the steps or around him, and he would read to them. And then he would make them read what he had just done. I said to Mom were they school books? Mom replied "Dad had all kinds of books, but he loved Robbie Burns and he would read poetry to us by keresene lights." Mom said because of my grandfather reading to them, at school their marks were very good.

Then Mom continued talking about him, she said she remembers when he worked in the woods, he also was a saw filer, and Mom said that she remembers him coming home ,night after night carrying two logs one on each shoulder for firewood. And she said, that she saw him being so tired that he could not take his moccasins off, he would ask Mom to do it. Mom said , she would unlace the Moccasins and pull them off. Then she said to me, Granny too worked hard, when Grandfather was away working , she had to tend the animals, and do the rest of the chores but Mom said we all helped her with the chores. See what I mean about memories, and sharing them and writing them down ? I intend on writing what she told me today in my book.Well thanks for stopping by, please be sure to go read Capt. Nicholls Journal, and remember he wrote this in the late 1700s. Have a great day.

Aline

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Marriages of long ago, were not like those of today. Today we get married any time of the month or anytime of the year. But long ago in many communities you could not get married when you wanted to. In the summer months more important things than marriage took place, the planting and harvestion of the crops. Then the church had regulations, cannot marry during Lent or Advent,Christmas ,Good Friday and Easter.So they had to plan their marriages before or after these restrictions. And even then it was sometimes not easy to do, especially if they did not have a priest at their disposal all the time. A priest would come into the villages and perform a lot of marriages the same day.One Father Girouard went to Cheticamp and on the 9th of January 1872 he married twenty couples. And the priests also had to make sure the couples were not closely related (consanguinity).
I have mentioned this before, possibly in other blogs of mine, but when my parents got married, my mother was barely 14 and my father was 9 years older than her. My grandfather was very strict,( but can you imagine what he would he thought of this) but he was away working, Mom knew he would not let her marry my father, so my parents to be used to meet on a little wooden bridge in the middle of nowhere and make their plans, when the time was right, they took the train ,went into town and went to a baptist church and got married. So they thought they had it made ,grin. When the parish priest found out they were not married catholic, that was not accepted so he went to where they were staying, told Mom to go home, and told Dad to do the same until he got permission from the bishop of St John to marry them catholic. The priest received permission and married them. When my granfather returned and found them married , he was not a happy man.
So my parents had two marriage certificates to show of their marriage.
Now the beginning of my blog was partly taken from the genalogy book of Cheticamp ,the Poirier family.
Well I hope you enjoyed reading today's blog, and stop by again, you never know what I will blog about next.
Have a great day.
Aline

Monday, January 26, 2009

Hello and nice to see you again. Well I do know some of you reading my blogs are not in my genealogy group nor in my Chat n Brag group. Some of you are possibly on Facebook tho. So I want to share what I already shared in my group.
Sunday morning with the suggestion of one of my members I turned my radio on to CBC at 8 30 am. The topic was Noel Doiron and the sinking of the Violet and Duke William with all the acadians on board.
Ken Scott and his brother from Nova Scotia did a lot of research on the subject, They did a wonderful job,and Stephen White and George Arsenault also spoke.Sometimes hearing the words is much better than reading. And did you know that when the Duke William sank there were 300 or more Acadians on board? I believe only four survived. When the boat started taking water, the acadians and the crew both pitched in to try and pump the water out, but the water was coming in too fast. They did not have many lifeboats back then ,and the oldest Acadian on the boat was Noel Doiron . The captain later wrote a journal about the event and he said there were tears shed by both the Acadians and his crew. And I believe there were children on the boat and as Stephen White said, a whole generation of acadians were wiped out.
Noel Doiron son of Jean and Marie Anne Canol his wife Marie Henri daughter of Robert and Marie Madeleine Godin, their children Louis -Mathieu,Marie -Madeleine,Paul,Francois,Joseph, wives ,children, all died in the tragedy. Stephen White in his book DGFA says there were more than 30 grandchildren. One of the four survivors was Alexis Doiron a descendant of Noel. But it is sad to hear of so many losing their lives, and another boat full of Acadians The Violet also sank .Both boats were in the Atlantic at the same time and they even communicated with one another.If all those Acadians would not have perished think about how much bigger the Acadian population would be today.
So on August 15 2009 there will be many many Acadians in Caraquet and also many for the Congres Mondial. So if you are Acadian, and Cajun,even English,if you have even one spark of Acadian Blood, come celebrate Acadian Day and the World Gathering. I also must add that Louisiana is vying for the 2014 CMA to be held there, that would be great seeing that many Acadians settled there and known today as Cajuns. I am anxious to meet some of the Cajuns in Caraquet or Tracadie.
For any of you wanting to join our genealogy group, go to the right side you will see a link , the name of the group you first join is petiteacadienne in yahoo groups , from there I will send you an invite to our main group.
Well I hope you found this blog interesting.Until next time.
Have a great day
Aline

Saturday, January 24, 2009



Can you imagine your son or daughter wearing clothes similar to the clothes in my photo? This couple are my great grandparents, and everytime I look at it, it reminds me of granny Clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies. grin. She ( my great grandmother) died in 1929 and he died in 1933 so this photo had to have been taken in the early 1900. I wanted to show you a photo with the clothing our ancestors wore in those days. Imagine working with these clothes? His clothes looks like he is dressed for Sunday Mass, perhaps hers was too.

Nevertheless, her dress must have been warm, this looks like the early part of the summer. Can you imagine working in the garden with a long dress? Or going picking berries, seems to me, the thorns and bushes would catch in the material. And notice the apron, it is quite long ,it covers nearly all of her dress. That was the style back then. I remember one of their sons, he used to wear woollen pants held up with suspenders and I was reading an article about Acadian clothing and it mentioned suspenders ,some were colored and some showed lines in them, to make them strong they were made wide and back then they were fastened with buttons. They were never out of style, the stores still sell them today. She must have been wearing a petitcoat under her dress to make it stick out like that. Anyway I can tell you, there wasn't much showing, long sleeves, high neck, no legs showing. I bet you the flies and mosquitos got discouraged trying to bite her. grin. Some of my members and I have been discussing the CMA2009, and if any of you do go, I would recommend to go to the Acadian Village in Tracadie, I went and it takes you right back to the days of our ancestors, well to a period back then anyway. The staff are all dressed in costumes with the long dresses for the ladies, and the men also dressed in Acadian costumes too.For more photos of what our ancestors might have worn ,look at old photos of your ancestors and notice their clothing, look at some of them in my photo gallery and again you will see their styles.Well thank you for the lovely visit, and do stop by again. Have a great day Aline.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

CONGRES MONDIAL or CMA2009, some of you may not know what this is. I am sure you have heard that there was a Congres Mondial being held in Northern New Brunswick Canada in 2009. Congres Mondial is a World Gathering of all the Acadians that can attend. If you have ancestors who were Acadians, this is the place to go. And the countdown is on. According to the CMA 2009 website we are down to 197 days. The excitement is starting to build. Plans are being made. I went on their website a short while ago. The CMA is from August 7 to August 23.
There will be parades, there will be guided tours, there will be Acadian food served, there will be arts and crafts for sale or on display, music,bingos, bird watching tours, boat tours,bright colours everywhere. Houses will be decorated for this big festival with vibrant colors. There will probably be something for the children also. Can you imagine all the people that will be attending? The family reunions are planned at different intervals , for example the Leger/Legere & Trahan reunion is being held August 11 and 12, the Cormier reunion will be Aug 20. I would like to attend both but we are not sure if we can do so since they are far apart.
Now is the time for you to reserve your motel, hotel, campground, it is not too early. I made my reservations for the Leger/Legere/Trahan reunion Aug.11 and 12 th. We are tenting and will be at Colibri Campground and Motel in Bertrand ,close to Village Acadienne. The price isn't too bad for tenting. Twenty five dollars a night with two services water and electricity. If you reserve now ,well where we are going you need to put a down payment. We had to pay 25 dollars. This is because the World Congres is going to bring so many visitors in that they do not want to take reservation and the person doesnt show up and their rooms are vacant at the last minute.
My greatgrandmother was a Leger from Cocagne, on my father's side. As for my mother's side I could have attended the Cormiers,Boudreau,Vienneau, but have decided it would be Leger and my friend is a Leger. We are also attending the Bergeron reunion in Fredericton in July.
I am looking forward on meeting some cajun cousins, and many of you while we are there.
When the CMA was held in Louisiana, I really wanted to go, but could not make it. So this year God Willing we will be in Caraquet and Tracadie. Also the Cormier reunion isn't totally ruled out for me, we may still be able to make it. For more information and schedules for the CMA go to http://www.cma2009.ca/
Thank you for the lovely visit,
Have a great day
Aline

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

For the children; Once upon a time, in a little village called Beaubassin,lived a little boy named Pierre Cormier. His father's name was Thomas and his mother's name was Marie-Madeleine. Pierre was not the oldest in the family ,he had three brothers and two sisters older than he was ,and he was not the youngest because he had younger sisters too.
Pierre loved hearing stories, he always asked questions.One day, he asked his father about his grandfather. "What did granpa do .Papa? Grandpa was a carpenter, replied Thomas. But I thought you were a carpenter Papa? I am one also Pierre ,said Papa Thomas. Let me tell you a little story ,continued Thomas.
Grandpa Robert lived in a country way across the water called France with Grandmere Marie, me, and my little brother Jean. When I was around eight years old, Grandpa got a job as a carpenter and to get to his new job we had to cross a big ocean to a place called Cape Breton, and he worked at Fort Saint-Pierre.
It took us a long time ,and I remember looking at the ocean when we were crossing. I saw some big fish, they were really big, today I know they were whales but back then I did not know what they were. Then I saw lots of birds that I had never seen before. Sometimes the waves were really big and the boat would move a lot, and some days it rained and was windy and it was scary at times.
Living in Cape Breton was very different than living in France, and there were not as many people as back home.
Did you play,Papa in Cape Breton? Yes, I played, and sometimes I would play with the little native americans there. What are native americans Papa?
Native Americans ,replied Thomas were people that lived there before any white man did, and they helped us .When we were sick, they showed us what plants to use to get well, when it started getting cold, they showed us what to wear, they were really good friends. And we would play together sometimes.
Pierre was starting to yawn and Thomas saw that he was getting sleepy. Ok Pierre, go to bed now, we will save some stories for another day. Goodnight Papa! Goodnight Pierre!
I am not sure if you liked this little story since I just made it out of my head just now, grin but imagine your children, or grandchildren listening to your father or mother tell them stories about their youth? I once mentioned in one of my blogs about me writing my mother's adventures when she was young and giving it to my grandaughter. And one about my late husband for my grandson. A part of Mom will remain and a part of my husband. "Their Memories".
Now why did I start with a children story? Well I have added a Children Book page on my website at www.acadian-roots.com in Aline's Book Corner page, go to the drop down menu. The books I am adding there, are the ones that I would choose for my children and grandchildren. I shall be adding more of them, and I have added a few more in my English books with more to come.
Thank you for the lovely visit, please stop by again If you want to follow my blogs ,click on Follow my Blog on the right side in blue. Register with your email and password and click follow in orange.
Have a great day
Aline

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Acadian Books, Cajun Books there are so many out there, but once in a while you get one that really makes you want to read more. Today I opened one called Lost and Found in Acadie by Clive Doucet, I want to read it to you , well this part anyway. It is about when he was young and going to church on Sunday, I found it to be comical in this chapter. Here goes.
"I'm about 12 years old and I'm standing in front of the station of the cross in the old church at Grand Etang. The priest has given me 10 Hail Marys and two Our Fathers for my penance.( He repeats the Hail Mary) I am saying them as fast as I can, he continues which is very fast having invented a technique for speed reading. I start off with Hail Mary full of grace so that God can easily disern my good intentions before segueing at light speed to blessedisthefruitoftywomb,Jesus and then the rest. Cheating on my penance is a low thing to do but I want to go out and play. What were my sins? I can't remember.Old standbys like being disobedient to my parents weren't available,because my parents weren't there. Taking the Lords name in vain was handy for a good basic sin but outside of the school yard was not frequent. Had I wilfully entertained pure thoughts? was difficult for a backward 12 year old with only vague notions of what impure thoughts might be. Yet I must have had some sins because I was standing in front of Jesus carrying his cross. I wouldn't understand until later that I was in training for sins to come. Another part he is at the Mass , he writes" I was not distinguised by my piety but I knew the various stages of the mass so well that I could follow them in perfect harmony without ever paying the slightest attention. I mostly looked around as if at the theatre with the lights on checking to see who was there and what was going on. Gerard a Levis's sisters were awful pretty and I found it very easy to look at them over the top of my missal. And his story goes on. I have added this book in my Book Corner on my website www.acadian-roots.com . I would recommend it.
Did this bring back memories ? I remember going to church and we had to wear something on our head, if we did not have anything the nuns would make up put a kleenex or a hanky on our heads. I remember going to confession, it was a big thing to me. I remember I felt I really needed to confess , I was not very old at the time, so it was not time for the confessions, and we were told by the priest if we had done something bad, it was ok to go get him at the rectory. Well lo and behold , here I was at the rectory. "Knock ,Knock, " The priest answers the door, many of you may know him, "Father Pellerin". Yes? I need to go to confession I said. Ok he said let's go to the church. I confessed, and I think the sin was disobeying my mother. grin. So he had to leave the rectory ,go to the church to hear that. I did feel good after tho. grin.
Again, see how interesting that was? Wouldn't you like to pass some little stories like that for future generations? I remember how quiet it was in church, you could hear a pin drop, and someone would sneeze. Then everyone would burst out laughing. I am sure something similar must have happened to some of you.
Anyway I am glad I posted this today, because as I was typing I was laughing.
So again, thanks for the visit, do come again.
Have a great day.
Aline

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Cemeteries can be a very good source for researchers? Did you know that? Tombstones sometimes are very interesting also. Some tombstones tells us stories about the person. Does the tomstone have a guitar on the face of it? Hmm, possibly that person loved or played the guitar. Does the tombstone have a man fishing? His passion may very have been that he enjoyed fishing. I have seen one paticular one, with a truck and the name of the company he worked for. So the tombstone can hold clues .The dates of birth and date of death, when you find the date of birth, or the year , you can look up his baptism or birth, date of death? There you can go in your local newspaper and look up his or her obituary. And then you are on your way . Obituaries can tell you a lot also, they tell you where they were born, who their parents were, their ages, their spouses and children, and where their children lived? Sometimes you don't get all the information but even the slightest clue is a bonus. I remember when I transcribed my first cemetery it was the old Shediac Rd cemetery in Moncton, and would you believe I was in the cemetery at 730 am? Yes, I was, and I remember someone later on asking me what in the blazes was I doing in the cemetery that early? Well it was a fairly big cemetery to do. I did not finish it alone, my brother came later and helped. This too is a good idea, transcribing the stones I mean, because some of the older stones are really deteriating and getting so very hard to read, soon the writings will be all gone, so now is the time to preserve the names on the stones while we can.
Why am I talking about cemeteries? Well as you know I have lots of cemeteries on my website at www.acadian-roots.com , now the Chartersville Road Cemetery or the Notre Dame du Calvaire in Dieppe is a huge cemetery, I do not have all the names but I have a lot of them and when I have time I add a few more on my Chartersville Cemetery page, last night I had a little bit of free time so I added names from four more pages , I still have lots to go but slowly I am getting there.
And as I write the names down, many of them were people that I knew or knew their children. Some are sad stories, some bring back good memories of them.
I have also added a few more books to my Book Corner.
So now you have heard an entire blog on Cemeteries. grin. But my point is to say, cemeteries are an important resource for researchers and genealogists.
Hope I did not bore you today, thank you for the visit. And please stop by again.
Have a Great Day.
Aline

Friday, January 16, 2009

Follow this blog at the upper right hand side is confusing some of you. I checked on it, since it is a new thing recently out and new to me also. Anyway what you have to do is when you click on Follow this blog, you might have to register with google, it might ask you to create a blog you don't have to do that if you don't want to.But register with them. I clicked on Follow this blog and it opened a window with options to either follow anonymous or publicly.Then you click the orange button that says Follow. You don't have to do anything else. And if ever you come across another Blog you want to follow, you click on their Follow this blog url and so on. Sounds confusing but it isn't.
Yesterday I talked a lot about genealogy, I also wanted to mention something that may be important some day for our descendants. One day I went to a funeral parlor for something and while I was there, I was allowed to look at old records and I was really looking for my great grandfather but did not find him, but I found the death of my baby sister and of my grandfather. On the death of my grandfather the cause of death was mentioned, I wrote down the name and came home and looked it up and found it to be Lupus. Now my nephew has Lupus, so I believe it could be heriditary. So I made a note of the cause of death of my grandfather in my book. Also if someone in your family has diebetes or MS or Parkinson, or any other illness, it might be a good idea to jot that down and add it into your genealogy. It could be important to someone one day.
I am still adding books to Aline's Book Corner on my website, and have more to add.
There are so many interesting books out there, some are full of history, some are great fiction books, and some have lots of genealogy in them. At home I have a bookcase full of books, my friend Maria sent me a big box of them, some of them are shown in my Book Corner, I received a good one from Paul also another friend ,I picked some up at yard sales, and second hand stores. You never know what you will come across at these places. Am anxious for the yard sales to begin again. grin.
Today it is bitterly cold, the schools are all cancelled, the temperature with the wind chill is minus 43 celsius. and I don't think I will even attempt to go to Tim Hortons. grin. Wherever you are , whatever you do, if it is cold, dress warm, and do not take any chances. Stay safe.
Have a great day.
Aline

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Genealogy in case some of you readers do not know what the word means,the dictionary says genealogy means "descent traced continuously from ancestors; pedigree,or study of pedigree. The words "family tree" is the same principle. We trace our parents, our grandparents, great great grandparents,until we can no longer find anyone else. But the fun of it ,is not only getting the names of them, the best part is knowing little tidbits about them, were they heros? ,if not, it doesn't matter, the hero that they should be to us, is because of them we are here. I know we must have some unsung heros among our ancestors, something that wasn't written in a book, this is why I believe now is the time for us to jot down about an uncle who saved a little cat from a fire, a father who is a fireman, a brother who is in the police force, these folks must have little stories, something good that they did. Did your grandmother win a pie contest? Do you have her recipe? Write it down. Did anyone win any contests, beauty contest, lumberman contest, did anyone meet someone important or present a gift to a VIP? I just came across some photos of my late husband taken with Henri Richard and Yvon Lambert the hockey players for the Montreal Canadians,way back in the 1960s or so, and my son did not know I had them, he is a fan of the Montreal Canadians and so is my grandson, can you imagine how they felt knowing they have a photo of their dad and grandfather with these stars? I have a photo of my grandmother sitting at a spinning wheel and yes she knew how to use it. Ah all of these things are so important , we must write down all these things, we must share our parents and aunts and uncles, and grandparent's memories for future generations. I believe we all have a purpose in life, in my heart I know that this is MY purpose, to search, to find, and to preserve for my descendants and kin down the road.
Another thing I want to mentions also, we cannot make our genealogy all nice and rosey, there are skeletons in our closets, that is still history that is still the truth, we cannot deny it. Should our grandfather have done a crime, no matter how big or how small, it is the truth, we cannot hide it, we should not hide it because it happened, it happens today, I am not saying to be proud of it, I am saying it happened and we cannot paint a beautiful picture , mistakes were made in the past as well as in the present. No matter who or what ,the most important thing to remember is because of them, we are here and our lines continue .
I have a book in front of me called Searching through the old records of New France a translation of Father Cyprien Tanguay's A travers les registres and he has little stories this is why I did today's blog this way. here are a few things mentioned in a book to give you an idea why I believe our descendants would enjoy what we pass on to them.
"Jan.1705;The burial of Mathieu Bosselet dit Jolicoeur age 40, soldier in M. de Beaucours' company who was found dead on the ice."
"Jan.1707;The baptism of Joseph Stover, the son of Jean and Abigail from Cape Vadick, between York Maine and Wells Maine. Born in 1690 and kidnapped by the Abenaquis in 1706 he was later ransomed by Francoise Domitilde, an Abenaquise woman who lived among the french and sent him to Montreal.
April 1758; Hilarion Landry the husband of Marie Taphorin was attacked and killed by the Indians while returning by boat from the Riviere aux Boeuf to Fort Duquesne. He was about about 1152 feet away from the Fort. Widowed with 3 very young children Marie married Louis Charlan. (Quebec Registers).
I hope you understand why it is so important for us to keep records ,write down stories, and write down what we find about our ancestors so our followers won't have to search as hard as we are doing. And if something regarding your families comes out on the newspapers save the articles.
I hope you have enjoyed today's blog,and will return again. Now I am still looking for more followers to let me know they are reading these blogs. Please click on the blue "follow this blog" upper right. If you do not want to give your name, sign as Anonymous. I would like to reach at least 25 followers can you help?
Have a great day.
Aline

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Saint Louis de Kent ,is a nice little village in Kent County New Brunswick ,Canada. Now I know there are many of you who have ancestors who came from this little village. I had a brother in law who was born there, and through him and my sister in law I became familiar with Saint Louis. My sister in law and her husband married around here and relocated in Ontario. My brother in law worked in the mines up there. And as everyone usually do, they want to return home. So first of all they bought a take out restaurant in Richibouto Village, and I worked there taking orders, I loved it, and my late husband was the go fer, meaning go fer this, and go fer that. grin. After a while they decided to sell the take out and build a camp in Saint Louis, so we all pitched in to build the camp. I was even on the roof nailing it down, I would ask of course, where do I put the nails? grin. The camp was a one room camp, with four bunk beds ,one each for them and one each for my husband and me. We had so much fun at that camp, so many memories.
So that is when I got to see how beautiful the village was, we would go to the wharf and go for a boat ride in my brother in law's sport boat. We would go to a sand bar way out in the water and wade in the water picking up Bar Clams.
The people in Saint Louis were so very friendly, I met Cyriac Brideau who was related to my brother in law, and he was a comedian, a master of ceremony and he had a love for genealogy and the history of Saint Louis. Around this time, I was beginning to get into genealogy, and Mister Brideau's brother in law gave my mother in law the book Histoire de Saint Louis by Cyriaque Daigle who was the uncle of Cyriac Brideau. Well I read the book, it was very interesting, it is in French and I have added it in Aline's Book Corner at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ , but that is not all, today a friend named Lorraine alerted me that the book can be read online. She gave me the url and so I have posted it in my book corner, if you can read French, read the book, it talks about the colonization , the Native Americans,the arrival of the Irish, the Acadians, the ones who left there to create Acadieville, interesting little tidbits,photos,and even a genealogy section at the back of the book.
Well so far we did not get the snow that was predicted, so that is a good sign.
I do hope you all enjoy my book corner, and the rest of my website. There are so many little tidbits hiding in acadian-roots to read.
I see I have six followers (not bad for the second day). If you don't know how to be a follower, just click on Follow this Blog, on the top upper right in blue.
Have a great day
Thank you for the visit.
Aline

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Snow is on its way tonight, for the ones who do not have such a thing, well it is something white like feathers floating down from the sky, it can float down lightly or come down like falling flour. It is cold to the touch, in the beginning when it falls like flakes, you can stick out your tongue and let the flakes touch your tongue. Some people love the snow, they can go out and build snow forts, or have snowball fights, and make snow angels. ( I did all of these grin). By this time the snow has fallen on the ground and the ground looks like a big white blanket.
Oh but then sometimes more snow is predicted, what is going to happen to the snow on the ground already? Here comes the snow and oh we have some wind with that too. It is blowing, we cannot see ahead of us. If you are driving ,pull over until the visibily is clear. Oh time to do shovel our driveway, I do not have what they call a snowblower, all I have is a shovel. Puff,Huff, gee this is hard work. What is that coming up the road? Oh no, it is a snowplow, oh please ,please don't put the snow in my driveway? I just finished shovelling? Splat, yep he covered all my driveway again. Boy a Tim Horton coffee sure would go good right now. I will take a break and rest before I shovel some more.
I remember when I was little, that we had snowstorms on top of snowstorms and at that time we had no school buses ,we walked, and the schools were not cancelled back then, I even remember the nuns in their long black dresses trudging through the snow in the school yard. I remember walking to see a movie with my brother and we walked on the main road on top of snowbanks that I honestly think we could have touched the wires (do not even think of doing this).
Have you ever wondered what our ancestors did way back when it snowed? They must have had terrible weather back then. I remember reading but I don't recall in which book I read, that some of our ancestors used to tie a rope from their house to the barn, in order to get back and forth to do their errands, when the visibily was very bad, they would hold on to the rope and follow it to get their eggs, or feed their livestock, or go to the well if they had one. It must have been hard for them if they had no well and had to go get water in a stream, the stream would have probably been frozen, they would have had to walk in deep snow and punch a hole in the ice to get to the water. BRRR.
Now how bad is our weather tonight suppose to be? Well so far we are expecting ten to fifteen centimeters of snow. And seriously to all of you out there, who have snow and storms please be careful, dress warm, never ever go out not dressed, I heard on the news recently this young man decided to walk home in cold weather from a dance not dressed for the cold,and he never made it home. Please do not take any chances,do not let your children play near the road , nor slide on hills near the road, be cautious during snowstorms .
Well I did not expect to write a novel haha... I sort of really got into this snow thing. grin.
Well to end today's blog, I wanted to mention about something new on this page, to the right of this blog at the top, you will see Followers, I would really like to see more of my you who read my blog to let me know that you are stopping by and reading them. I have a quota that I set to begin, I would like to see at least 25 followers, so let's see if I can achieve that number? Are you ready? Get Set! GO.
Have a great day ,thanks for the visit.
Aline

Monday, January 12, 2009

Books,books and more books. Why are they so important? Well to begin with, some are very educational, some are funny, some are sad. Without books, we may never know about history, and geography, we would not know how to read. And we would not know about little things about our ancestors, our cities and towns.Let me give you an example. The following is from the book of Cheticamp by Anselme Chiasson about the weather. Quote" I t can be readily understood that in a place like Cheticamp where work parties are most often held outdoors and where the men made their living on the sea, forecasting the temperature assumed great importance for the people. Thus Cheticantins in general, and fishermen in particular have a well developped flair for forecasting the weather. For these latter especially, the sky is an open book that they can read and predict the temperature and winds of the next day.Without recording all the good and bad signs of weather, we do however give a partial list below.
In the evening :When the sky is clear in the west but to the north of the sun=beautiful weather.
When the sky reddens in the west and to the north of the sun=beautiful weather.
When the sky reddens to the southwest of the sun =wind and rain.
Ring around the moon=bad weather. It is from the same side that the rings begin to break up that the bad weather comes. When there is a bull's eye on each side of the sun=bad weather. The wind will come from the side where the bull's eye lasts the longest.
In the morning; When the southeast sky reddens=wind and rain are forecast.
At any time::: When the sky looks like a mackerel skin=rain. When horses yawn=bad weather. When spiders are active and agitated=bad weather. When hens remain outside in the rain=the rain will continue to fall. When cats are playful=it will be windy. A rainbow in the morning =sign of good weather on the way. A rainbow at noon=brings on rainy weather. A rainbow in the evening =brings on nasty weather. Now did you know all this? I didn't. Now you must know what I mean about the importance of books and reading. Now getting to the reason why Books are the subject of todays Blog is because I have created ALINE'S BOOK CORNER on my website at www.acadian-roots.com , I have listed some books in my possession at the moment and will be adding more, I have some English books on History, Genealogy,Poetry,I have some French Books also, so far they are ones that I have at home, and I have described briefly in English a bit of what the books contain and where if possible they can be bought or borrowed. I do hope you like my Book Corner and return often to see if I have added more books.
Velda, this is one of the two things I had mentioned. grin. I would also like to say at this moment a thank you and come again to all of my faithful readers, and to all you newcomers just accidently stopping by.
Did you know you can subcribe to my blog? I am not sure how you do it, but Velda is one of my followers maybe she can post a comment on how to do it. And anyone can leave a comment at the bottom of each blog. Just wanted to let you all know.
Have a great day everyone.
Aline

Wednesday, January 07, 2009



Crepe Rappee or Potato Pancakes are a delicacy among many of the Acadians .

So this morning I decided to make some for breakfast , as you can see they turned out great. I took seven potatoes, peeled them, washed them, diced them and put them through my food processor ,first I clicked the chop dial then the grate dial. Once I had them all grated, I added some flour, a little salt, and just a tad of onion powder. I did not add too much salt, since salt is not very good for you. Then I poured some oil in my electric frying pan and poured my batter the size that you see in the plate . Browned one side, flipped them over and browned the other side. I love mine with sugar. George likes his his with butter, others like salt on them. No matter what your preferences are, they are delicious. Why don't you try some? If you notice the date on the photo, pay no mind because I need to set the date on my camera.

I have added another page on my website at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ it regards our Bergeron-Damboise Reunion in Fredericton, so I do hope you will check it out.There is a lot to do when planning a reunion, there are halls to rent, halls to decorate, audio to set up, speeches to prepare. Our Bergeron-DAmboise association has decided to ask the ones attending if they can to send twenty dollars each adult to help pay for whatever will come up . We will be keeping receipts of what we buy, or pay for. So far everyone agrees that it is a good idea.

We have begun making our hotel reservations also ,mine is done. I am really hoping for the reunion to be a big success ,since this is our first one. In case you do not know, the Bergeron-dAmboise families settled mostly in parts of Quebec, Louisiana and parts of the USA, there were some in Digby Nova Scotia, some in parts of Maine and MA, New Hampshire,Vermount, some in Ontario, so it is going to be nice to meet all of these folks who descend from Barthelemy Bergeron-DAmboise at the place where Barthelemy spent his final years (Ste Anne de Pays Bas) Fredericton New Brunswick Canada. All the ones connected to this family such as the Godin,Bellefontaines,Bellefeuille,Valcour,Roys,Pare,Saindon,etc are all welcome, and the Societe Historique de Riviere St Jean is also having a comemoration of the massacre at the same time, I know I have mentioned this before and I shall probably mention it again, in the future months. So if you have ancestors who were in Sainte Anne de Pays Bas today Fredericton, come to Fredericton July 18 and 19th 2009.

Have a great day

Aline

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Hello everyone. To begin, I would like to say thank you for stopping by, in the last few days again, I received emails saying that so and so enjoyed reading Aline's Blogs , that is a good feeling ,knowing that my blogs are being read.
I do things on impulse, I have always been that way, so one day I may write about a certain subject, another day I will change the topic alltogether.
Well yesterday I went to the genealogy center, an outing I really enjoy, while there I had a little chat with Stephen White, he always ends up making me laugh.
For instance I asked him about Havre Boucher Nova Scotia, meaning where are the registers, he grinned and said Havre Boucher? That is about a three hour drive , grin. George and I laughed. I enjoy chatting with him, be it for genealogy or other subjects.
While I was at the genealogy center, I got the list of prisoners who were held in Fort Beausejour (Fort Cumberland ,they are one and the same place) in 1763.
I have added them on my website at www.acadian-roots.com , so if you want to know if your ancestors were prisoners there, check it out.
I also did some lookups and verifications for some of my genealogy group at acadianrootsclub. If you are interested in joining our group, we are over 450 members and growing, you can do so by joining petiteacadienne and I will invite you from there. But if you join, please let me know a little about you, not personal stuff but things such as what names you are doing and if we can help you with anything or if you just want to help others. I would love more members from various areas who can help others , such as northern New Brunswick ,Nova Scotia, PEI, Any part of the USA where the Acadians and French Canadians went, Quebec, Ontario, BC etc so if you live in any areas where the Acadians and French Canadians settled, and want to help, let me know. And if you are new at doing your family tree, we are more than willing to give you a hand , to maybe guide you how to do it. Again to join go to petite acadienne group in Yahoo. There is a url to get there on the side of my blog.
I also have a group on Facebook called Old Photos of New Brunswick, that group is for sharing photos of Moncton,Parkton,Georgetown, Kent County New Brunswick, Westmorland County in New Brunswick,so you are welcome to come share your photos there too.
Well time for coffee, hmmm Tim Hortons? grin. So thanks for the visit, drop in again when you can.
Have a great day.
Aline

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Scattered to the Wind is a book I recently received and I have been reading it. It is about the Dispersal and Wanderings of the Acadians 1755-1809.
If you haven't read it, I would recommend it. I am going to post a few exherts from it to give you an idea of some of the information in the book.
"Some St John Acadians (New Brunswick) evaded a second British attempt to capture prisoners in Nov.1756 but many of these fugitives were forced to migrate to Quebec when the British troops destroyed their homes and crops. Only the most stubborn and determined Acadians remained along the St John River, reoccupying their devastated farmsteads. On the night of January 28 or 29 1759, a band of British Rangers attacked Sainte-Anne, the largest remaining Acadian settlement along the St John River, and set ablaze all of their homes there. More than 25 prisoners were taken, and those prisoners who refused to assist the attackers in burning Acadian homes were put to death, including women and children. The survivors either went up to Canada or sought refuge in the woods."
Another section reads;
" Under the leadership of Abbe Le Guerne,most of the refugees along the upper coast (some estimates place the figure at about 4.000) made their way to the Miramichi area. Having fled their homes with little more than the clothes they carried on their backs, these refugees, many of whom were women who's husbands had already been sent into exile from Beaubassin, lacke adequate shelter,food and clothing. Pierre de Rigaud, the marquis of Vaudreuil, governor of Canada described their plight." (Acadian mothers see their babes die at the breast not having enough 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 convalescent cannot regain their strenth 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.)
The book goes on about when the exiled Acadians arrived at the port where they were shipped to, and how no one wanted them. How some became slaves, how they caught smallpox and other diseases. Just imagine what they must have gone through ,our Acadian Ancestors.
In one of the exherts I mentioned about the British Rangers attacking the village of Sainte-Anne (Pays Bas) well there were Bergeron-Damboise, Godins,Pare, Bellefontaines,Roys,etc many of who are some of our ancestors, in July 2009 La Societe Historique Riviere St Jean is having a comemoration in Fredericton New Brunswick (formerly Sainte Anne des Pays Bas) ,and we are also holding a Bergeron-Damboise Reunion at the same time to honor Barthelemy Bergeron dit Damboise and Genevieve Serreau, we are inviting anyone that descends from Barthelemy , or from Gabriel Godin dit Bellefontaine, or the Roys, Pare, Saindons ,to come join us July 18 and 19th. For more information , go to bergeron-damboise@googlegroups.com Hope to see you there. I do hope you enjoyed today's blog.
Thanks for the lovely visit, do drop by again soon.
Have a great day
Aline