Well today I was reading an article forwarded to my group about the Deportation. In the article, it talks about a diary of a English soldier who was sent to Grand Pre in 1755 to oversee the deportation of the Acadians. This journal recently came to light. Apparently his diary has lots of little things jotted down . The soldier was thirty years old and his name was Jeremiah Bancroft.
He wrote the following note the eve of the Deportation.He wrote about unknown prisoners escaping from the palisade at Grand pre, he wrote about soldiers fighting among each other, he wrote about a court martial of a soldier who had assaulted an Acadian woman and the lashings that were given. there are desertions,there are thefts not only from the Acadians but from other soldiers. It was chaotic. There were fatigue and fears and concerns (against the natives).
But on September 5 he wrote something that gives us a powerful image of happenings that fateful day. He wrote"In it, he struggles to describe the reaction of the 418 Acadian men and boys who had been called to their church, arrested without warning, and told of their fate — that their lands and cattle were being seized by the British Crown, and they and their families would be sent away on ships.
"Seeing themselves so Decoyed, the shame and confusion of face together with Anger so altered their countenense that it cant be expressed," the soldier wrote." ( this is a copy from the article in the Chronical Herald )
On Thursday, Saint Mary’s University archeology professor Jonathan Fowler and research partner Earle Lockerby unveiled the recently published 10-page transcript of the journal of a Massachusetts soldier stationed at Grand Pre in 1755 as part of the army charged with expelling the Acadians and destroying their homes.
I would love to be able to read the entire ten pages of the journal. That soldier was there, he lived the part. We need to try and look at the big picture, our Acadian Ancestors went through a devastating time, they were kicked out of their homes. The were separated never to see each other again (some were). Many lost their lives.
We've not heard about how the english soldiers felt, how they reacted.What was going through their minds. They were given orders and they were to obey. As you read above some of them deserted. Why? Probably because it was too much for them to handle. They had to have had a heart and they must have gone home and cried maybe? We should not blame the soldiers totally. It was the higher powers, the ones who gave the orders that should be blamed.
This Mister Bancroft wrote a diary. He wrote about a soldier assaulting an Acadian women so he was punished with lashes. So there had to be some good soldiers who only followed their orders.And probably some bad ones too.
I grieve for all our Acadian Ancestors during the Deportations and the many years after. They should never ever have had to go through what they did. .
And I must add here that I also grieve for all the Native Americans who lost their lands and were put on Reservations. It also must have been terrible for those people. Yes they were people just like you and me. I have not delved into the Native American history, but I am sure there are many stories to be told about them too.
Because of all these people, I am here, I have Acadian blood,I have English blood and I have Native American blood flowing through my veins so without these people many of us would not be given the opportunity to live and share these stories with our descendants.
To end today's blog I would like to say, "Let us hope and pray with all our mights that a tragedy like the Great Deportation never ever happens again to anyone else ."
Have a great day
Aline
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Remarkable ladies
As you all must know, there have been very remarkable ladies who have made impressions on the world. Earlier I was reading a french book called Acadian Silhouettes and I found a story about this remarkable lady that I would like to share with you.
Who was she? Well her name was Venerante Doiron . She was born in 1867 daughter of Pierre Doiron and Marie Michon of Lower Caraquet. She was one of ten children. And oddly enough ,she married and had ten children of her own. She went to school until she was twelve years of age and left because she had to work. She worked as a maid for a lady named Emelie and her husband Narcisse. In 1889 Emilie began having labor pains and knowing that the midwife Phebee was not available she sent Venerente for the passing missionary. He taught Venerante to become a midwife. It is said that after the birth of the triplets,the missionary made Venerante kneel and made he see her marvellous work and assured her that everything would be all right. He blessed her and thus she became a midwife in the Acadian Peninsula. One half century later she had assisted close to 800 births,and she cured many patients with her ointments and her medecin made with herbs.
She travelled by sleigh,by dog sled, by ox cart or by horse. She travelled as far as St Simon,Pokemouche,Inkerman and Miscou to offer her serviced. She also acted as a vetenarian.
This was not all she did, she had a family of ten children,she weaved,she sewed,she knitted,made blankets,worked in the field, split wood. She even took in orphans under her roof. She died of pneumonia at the age of 74. What a remarkable lady.
Now another remarkable lady I would just like to say a few words about. This lady was and still is someone to be proud of. She lived with her family in the country. At the age of 12 she could hunt,she could fish, she helped her Mom carry water, she helped take care of her siblings.
When she was nearly 14 she got married. Before she married ,she did not want for anything, in other words she had it pretty good, but when she got married the hard times began. They built a log cabin her and her husband and their two dogs. Her husband would go to the woods, cut down the trees and have the dogs pull the logs home one by one, she would remove the logs and send the dogs back for more. She did not have wallpaper, so she took some old Eatons Magazines or any magazines she could find, she made a paste with flour and pasted the paper on the wall. Her floors were did not have linoleum, they were wood so she would scrub that floor on her hands and knees with Gillis Lye to make them white. She had eight children,lost her first one. That must have been heartbreaking for her. They moved to town and she was very young and she began helping others deliver babies when the doctor could not make it. She assisted quite a few births so she also was a midwife.She told me once, that some of the deliveries were awful hard.
Now besides raising her children,cooking,sewing,knitting,being a midwife.She also took in foster children. I also remember seeing her out in the cold weather, with an ax chopping wood. Making some kidlings to start a fire. Oh yes she too is a remarkable woman. Who is she?
She is my wonderful Mom,and a truly remarkable lady.
Thanks for the visit do stop by when you have time.
Have a great day
Aline
Who was she? Well her name was Venerante Doiron . She was born in 1867 daughter of Pierre Doiron and Marie Michon of Lower Caraquet. She was one of ten children. And oddly enough ,she married and had ten children of her own. She went to school until she was twelve years of age and left because she had to work. She worked as a maid for a lady named Emelie and her husband Narcisse. In 1889 Emilie began having labor pains and knowing that the midwife Phebee was not available she sent Venerente for the passing missionary. He taught Venerante to become a midwife. It is said that after the birth of the triplets,the missionary made Venerante kneel and made he see her marvellous work and assured her that everything would be all right. He blessed her and thus she became a midwife in the Acadian Peninsula. One half century later she had assisted close to 800 births,and she cured many patients with her ointments and her medecin made with herbs.
She travelled by sleigh,by dog sled, by ox cart or by horse. She travelled as far as St Simon,Pokemouche,Inkerman and Miscou to offer her serviced. She also acted as a vetenarian.
This was not all she did, she had a family of ten children,she weaved,she sewed,she knitted,made blankets,worked in the field, split wood. She even took in orphans under her roof. She died of pneumonia at the age of 74. What a remarkable lady.
Now another remarkable lady I would just like to say a few words about. This lady was and still is someone to be proud of. She lived with her family in the country. At the age of 12 she could hunt,she could fish, she helped her Mom carry water, she helped take care of her siblings.
When she was nearly 14 she got married. Before she married ,she did not want for anything, in other words she had it pretty good, but when she got married the hard times began. They built a log cabin her and her husband and their two dogs. Her husband would go to the woods, cut down the trees and have the dogs pull the logs home one by one, she would remove the logs and send the dogs back for more. She did not have wallpaper, so she took some old Eatons Magazines or any magazines she could find, she made a paste with flour and pasted the paper on the wall. Her floors were did not have linoleum, they were wood so she would scrub that floor on her hands and knees with Gillis Lye to make them white. She had eight children,lost her first one. That must have been heartbreaking for her. They moved to town and she was very young and she began helping others deliver babies when the doctor could not make it. She assisted quite a few births so she also was a midwife.She told me once, that some of the deliveries were awful hard.
Now besides raising her children,cooking,sewing,knitting,being a midwife.She also took in foster children. I also remember seeing her out in the cold weather, with an ax chopping wood. Making some kidlings to start a fire. Oh yes she too is a remarkable woman. Who is she?
She is my wonderful Mom,and a truly remarkable lady.
Thanks for the visit do stop by when you have time.
Have a great day
Aline
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
THANKSGIVING
Tomorrow many of you will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day, so I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving Day. I know that in the USA, it is a very big celebration.
Once the Thanksgiving day is over, next comes the Christmas Holidays.
I have my tree standing patiently in the corner of my living room waiting to be decorated. My brother came over with a huge box of bulbs and said to me" here you have enough for your tree". Well I think there is enough to decorate two trees. grin. I have done my christmas cards, they are all in the mail. I also have prepared my Ecards for my online friends, they are all sent out to be delivered on a certain date.
I have been working on my store, and created some Christmas Cards and a christmas kitten mug (my latest additions). My sister sent me a nice photo of her tree so I made it into a christmas card. I am having fun with my store. I never thought I could do something like that.
I have a lot to learn but slowly I shall get there.
I don't want to push my store on you but I would like to say that is you are into genealogy or know someone into genealogy and you are looking for something for them. I have created some Surname Mugs, with some names of the first Acadian settlers in case you are interested. They would be in my Surname folder, and I also have some Acadian and Cajun products. The url is
http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* When I get an idea , I rush over to create something. grin.
Ideas don't come too often tho. smile.
On another note: Our Williams dit Bristol group on Facebook is growing. But I know there are many out there who do not know they do have Mathurin Williams dit Bristol somewhere in their lines, and they would qualify to join the group. For example, Hubert Lirette married Mathurin's daughter Agnes, so there would be many Lirettes who descend from this couple.
Mathurin and his wife Angelique Gauthier had many grandaughters , who did they marry? Well their descendants also branch into the Williams dit Bristol lines. So while doing your Acadian side of the family, if you run into Mathurin and Angelique then come join our group on facebook.
The group is called Williams dit Bristol.
Our acadianrootsclub room is growing also, I feel bad that I went and changed it to private invites because now it cannot be undone, but have no fear, if you join petiteacadienne group on yahoo, I then stop by and ask if you want an invite , if so, then I invite you in.
I haven't added much on my Acadian-Roots website lately, except updating P'tit Francois and translating it. P'tit Francois has a contest going for the month of November, then for the month of December, check out my P'tit Francois for more information at http://www.acadian-roots.com
After the holidays I will try and do more work on my website. But there is plenty on it at the moment that you will not get bored . Have you read about our seniors? Some lived to be as old as 113. Can you imagine? Well now it is Coffee Time. So take care, thanks for the lovely visit and
please stop by again, because you never never know what I will blog about next.
Have a great day
Aline
Once the Thanksgiving day is over, next comes the Christmas Holidays.
I have my tree standing patiently in the corner of my living room waiting to be decorated. My brother came over with a huge box of bulbs and said to me" here you have enough for your tree". Well I think there is enough to decorate two trees. grin. I have done my christmas cards, they are all in the mail. I also have prepared my Ecards for my online friends, they are all sent out to be delivered on a certain date.
I have been working on my store, and created some Christmas Cards and a christmas kitten mug (my latest additions). My sister sent me a nice photo of her tree so I made it into a christmas card. I am having fun with my store. I never thought I could do something like that.
I have a lot to learn but slowly I shall get there.
I don't want to push my store on you but I would like to say that is you are into genealogy or know someone into genealogy and you are looking for something for them. I have created some Surname Mugs, with some names of the first Acadian settlers in case you are interested. They would be in my Surname folder, and I also have some Acadian and Cajun products. The url is
http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* When I get an idea , I rush over to create something. grin.
Ideas don't come too often tho. smile.
On another note: Our Williams dit Bristol group on Facebook is growing. But I know there are many out there who do not know they do have Mathurin Williams dit Bristol somewhere in their lines, and they would qualify to join the group. For example, Hubert Lirette married Mathurin's daughter Agnes, so there would be many Lirettes who descend from this couple.
Mathurin and his wife Angelique Gauthier had many grandaughters , who did they marry? Well their descendants also branch into the Williams dit Bristol lines. So while doing your Acadian side of the family, if you run into Mathurin and Angelique then come join our group on facebook.
The group is called Williams dit Bristol.
Our acadianrootsclub room is growing also, I feel bad that I went and changed it to private invites because now it cannot be undone, but have no fear, if you join petiteacadienne group on yahoo, I then stop by and ask if you want an invite , if so, then I invite you in.
I haven't added much on my Acadian-Roots website lately, except updating P'tit Francois and translating it. P'tit Francois has a contest going for the month of November, then for the month of December, check out my P'tit Francois for more information at http://www.acadian-roots.com
After the holidays I will try and do more work on my website. But there is plenty on it at the moment that you will not get bored . Have you read about our seniors? Some lived to be as old as 113. Can you imagine? Well now it is Coffee Time. So take care, thanks for the lovely visit and
please stop by again, because you never never know what I will blog about next.
Have a great day
Aline
Monday, November 23, 2009
Acadians to Cajuns
Have you even wondered how the Acadians managed when they were exiled to other lands?
They had to have been terrified. They would encounter snakes for instance and not little garter snakes but poisonous ones. (Brr I shiver to think of it ) I am terrified of them.
Anyway we know that there were no Acadians deported or exiled to Louisiana, the Acadians choose to go, either to meet up with some relatives or to try and find a better life.
Now if you don't live in Louisiana, you must have seen lots of images or stories about the swamps and bayous. What were the Acadians thinking when they spotted these? It sure must have looked some different from the forest and rivers and streams of Acadie. Acadie had bears, deers,moose. They did not have possums and many little animals that Louisiana had.
There were also many different birds not like the ones they had left behind. Of course we know that they had to survive so they had to get used to all these strange kinds of foods.
But what was their reactions to what was lurking in the swamps, the snakes? Is that what I meant? No, I meant something much bigger and even more dangerous that lurked just beneath the water. Sometimes you would think it was a log floating on the water. I am sure many of the Acadians lost their lives to these reptiles. Yes reptiles and meaning the Alligators.
Now they have Alligator farming, but back then it was quite different. The Acadians probably learned a lot from the people that were there before them. Just like the Acadians had learned from the Native Americans that were there before them. These were all forms of survival, meaning that they had to learn many new things in order to survive.
Now I have added some Alligator products with some funny sayings on them in my store.
I have one in my Acadian/Cajun folder of Thibodeaux and Boudreaux. And in my Animal folder there is another folder called reptiles, there you will see my latest products.
I also want to add that I had made some Acadian and some Cajun calendars, they are on sale until December 5 at 10 % off each. These calendars have names of our first Acadian Ancestors for each month. You can check them out at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* Enjoy.
Thanks for stopping by , I do hope you will do so again.
Have a great day
Aline
They had to have been terrified. They would encounter snakes for instance and not little garter snakes but poisonous ones. (Brr I shiver to think of it ) I am terrified of them.
Anyway we know that there were no Acadians deported or exiled to Louisiana, the Acadians choose to go, either to meet up with some relatives or to try and find a better life.
Now if you don't live in Louisiana, you must have seen lots of images or stories about the swamps and bayous. What were the Acadians thinking when they spotted these? It sure must have looked some different from the forest and rivers and streams of Acadie. Acadie had bears, deers,moose. They did not have possums and many little animals that Louisiana had.
There were also many different birds not like the ones they had left behind. Of course we know that they had to survive so they had to get used to all these strange kinds of foods.
But what was their reactions to what was lurking in the swamps, the snakes? Is that what I meant? No, I meant something much bigger and even more dangerous that lurked just beneath the water. Sometimes you would think it was a log floating on the water. I am sure many of the Acadians lost their lives to these reptiles. Yes reptiles and meaning the Alligators.
Now they have Alligator farming, but back then it was quite different. The Acadians probably learned a lot from the people that were there before them. Just like the Acadians had learned from the Native Americans that were there before them. These were all forms of survival, meaning that they had to learn many new things in order to survive.
Now I have added some Alligator products with some funny sayings on them in my store.
I have one in my Acadian/Cajun folder of Thibodeaux and Boudreaux. And in my Animal folder there is another folder called reptiles, there you will see my latest products.
I also want to add that I had made some Acadian and some Cajun calendars, they are on sale until December 5 at 10 % off each. These calendars have names of our first Acadian Ancestors for each month. You can check them out at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* Enjoy.
Thanks for stopping by , I do hope you will do so again.
Have a great day
Aline
Saturday, November 21, 2009
ADDICTED TO WHAT?
Hello and welcome to my blog, today I would like to talk about an addiction. Addict means to apply habitually. It is something that you have a hard time to shake, you need it , you crave it. It keeps you from sleeping, it controls your mind. It sometimes makes a wreck out of you. It interfers with your housework. It is so habit forming. There are so many addictions out there, but I have the worst one, there is no known cure for mine. So I have decided to accept my addiction. Because of my addiction one day while my addiction was overpowering me, I had put in a couple of eggs to boil and would you believe the water had to evaporate and so this had to take me away from my addiction because I heard a loud explosion, yep my eggs had busted what a mess. They say that you cannot burn anything if you boil it. Not so! I know I've been there done that , and done it again and again. Then we have to go to restaurants and I don't like that because it keeps me from my addiction. OH I just realized because of one addiction I have developed another one. OH NO! I hope it doesn't lead to a third addiction, two addictions are all that I can handle..Have you guessed my addictions yet? Why are you smiling? Oh you guessed it? Well I can tell you first of all I AM ADDICTED TO GENEALOGY sob sob, no known cure, and because of my first addiction I AM NOW ADDICTED TO INTERNET....Please keep me in your thoughts and hope I can survive my addictions. grin....I am so happy I could bring a smile to your faces........
On another note, I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Next comes Christmas, some of my members have joined in a gift exchange this year again,which is nice. I have my tree standing in the living room not decorated yet, I shall do that next week. I have done some shopping because this year is very special for me, we are having my son and his family join us for dinner.
My acadianrootsclub genealogy group is growing all the time, I am pleased that I created petiteacadienne in order for people to join so that I can invite them to my main group which is set to private and I cannot reverse it. Our chat n brag room is also doing great , there we are like one big family sharing with each others either stories or photos or idle chit chat.
My zazzle store is growing , this week I have added stuff with antique cars on them, mugs with antique cars, shirts ,postcards and more, I also added a lot of baby outfits with baby first names, If you happen to go , the cars are in my Transportation folders, and check out my other folders, acadian,cajun, babies, animals, surnames, there are many items to look through. If you need stocking stuffers there are different keychains there. You can view them at the bottom of this page if you want to or go to www.zazzle.com/allicor*
I am having lots of fun with that.
Until next time, take care and thanks for the lovely visit
Have a great day
Aline
On another note, I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Next comes Christmas, some of my members have joined in a gift exchange this year again,which is nice. I have my tree standing in the living room not decorated yet, I shall do that next week. I have done some shopping because this year is very special for me, we are having my son and his family join us for dinner.
My acadianrootsclub genealogy group is growing all the time, I am pleased that I created petiteacadienne in order for people to join so that I can invite them to my main group which is set to private and I cannot reverse it. Our chat n brag room is also doing great , there we are like one big family sharing with each others either stories or photos or idle chit chat.
My zazzle store is growing , this week I have added stuff with antique cars on them, mugs with antique cars, shirts ,postcards and more, I also added a lot of baby outfits with baby first names, If you happen to go , the cars are in my Transportation folders, and check out my other folders, acadian,cajun, babies, animals, surnames, there are many items to look through. If you need stocking stuffers there are different keychains there. You can view them at the bottom of this page if you want to or go to www.zazzle.com/allicor*
I am having lots of fun with that.
Until next time, take care and thanks for the lovely visit
Have a great day
Aline
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Just Imagine if
Imagine if there was such a thing as a time machine and we could go back in time, to the times of our ancestors and be able to watch how they lived?
What would we see? We probably would see the women hard at work either at home making meals and weaving and knitting and sewing or out in the fields helping their husbands.
The men would either be preparing their hay for the harsh cold winters by putting the hay in their barns ,or they would be out hunting for wild game to feed their families, or fishing for food. But after the work was finished what would they be doing? After a hard days work, maybe they sang songs? Or maybe they told stories? It would be so good to be able to know how they lived so we could return from our time machine and write all these things down.
What about the children? They surely must have had time to play. What did they do to play? What kind of toys would the parents have made them? Maybe they went out and played with the animals or perhaps played some sort of games together. Maybe they did some exploring and let their imaginations run wild.
When night time arrived, they would probably have gone to bed early, or listened to their parents tell stories by the fireplace or by the candle lights.
There must have been a lot of laughter at times in their homes, and other times a lot of heartbreaks. Oh yes, if only we could go back in time for just a little while, what a lot of things we would be able to see.
Did our ancestors dance? Did they play music,or travel to their neighbors house sometimes far away to listen to the music and maybe sing or dance?
Can you imagine our ancestors dancing something like a square dance ,while laughing and being happy for a little while? And what about when their daughters got married? Did they party? Did they make a Chavary back then? Imagine if only we could travel back in time. Would the children be peaking around the corner watching the dancing and listening to the music all interested? Or would they be in their beds in a sound sleep. All these things run through my mind, and I often think what a wonderful thing it would have been if some of our ancestors would have left us a diary of some sort, so that we would have known them so much better. Imagine too, the hardships that they had, they were living in the woods, well cleared but still surrounded by the forest, can you imagine the mosquitos, black flies, horse flies, sometimes they must have been bitten some bad, and I imagine that is why we read that they had their faces covered with ashes to prevent the mosquito bikes. Imagine if they could talk to us, what a story they could tell.
On another note next week is Thankgiving for some of you readers,I would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving day, and also to my cousin Eve and her family.
Now I want to add that I have been adding stuff to my Zazzle Store, and the latest ones are in my First Name Folder and my Birthday folder, so check it out, I also noted my prices were awful high so I have fixed that too. I shall be adding more as i go along. You can just go window shop if you want to at www.zazzle.com/allicor* or check at the bottom of this page and enjoy
have a great day
Aline
What would we see? We probably would see the women hard at work either at home making meals and weaving and knitting and sewing or out in the fields helping their husbands.
The men would either be preparing their hay for the harsh cold winters by putting the hay in their barns ,or they would be out hunting for wild game to feed their families, or fishing for food. But after the work was finished what would they be doing? After a hard days work, maybe they sang songs? Or maybe they told stories? It would be so good to be able to know how they lived so we could return from our time machine and write all these things down.
What about the children? They surely must have had time to play. What did they do to play? What kind of toys would the parents have made them? Maybe they went out and played with the animals or perhaps played some sort of games together. Maybe they did some exploring and let their imaginations run wild.
When night time arrived, they would probably have gone to bed early, or listened to their parents tell stories by the fireplace or by the candle lights.
There must have been a lot of laughter at times in their homes, and other times a lot of heartbreaks. Oh yes, if only we could go back in time for just a little while, what a lot of things we would be able to see.
Did our ancestors dance? Did they play music,or travel to their neighbors house sometimes far away to listen to the music and maybe sing or dance?
Can you imagine our ancestors dancing something like a square dance ,while laughing and being happy for a little while? And what about when their daughters got married? Did they party? Did they make a Chavary back then? Imagine if only we could travel back in time. Would the children be peaking around the corner watching the dancing and listening to the music all interested? Or would they be in their beds in a sound sleep. All these things run through my mind, and I often think what a wonderful thing it would have been if some of our ancestors would have left us a diary of some sort, so that we would have known them so much better. Imagine too, the hardships that they had, they were living in the woods, well cleared but still surrounded by the forest, can you imagine the mosquitos, black flies, horse flies, sometimes they must have been bitten some bad, and I imagine that is why we read that they had their faces covered with ashes to prevent the mosquito bikes. Imagine if they could talk to us, what a story they could tell.
On another note next week is Thankgiving for some of you readers,I would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving day, and also to my cousin Eve and her family.
Now I want to add that I have been adding stuff to my Zazzle Store, and the latest ones are in my First Name Folder and my Birthday folder, so check it out, I also noted my prices were awful high so I have fixed that too. I shall be adding more as i go along. You can just go window shop if you want to at www.zazzle.com/allicor* or check at the bottom of this page and enjoy
have a great day
Aline
Friday, November 13, 2009
Acadian Life
I would like to share some parts of a book called A Land Discord Always by Charles D Mahaffie JR. I have only begun reading it and so far I find it to be quite interesting.Here is a part I like:
To the people ,the long lasting Mathieu de Goutin was probably more important that the governors.Resolution of disputes is a governmental function that few societies can do without, and for twenty two years Goutin was their chief clerk and judge. His decisions could be overruled in Quebec but Quebec was far away, and de Goutin's judgement was usually final. Too,he married Jeanne Thibodeau daughter of an unusually prolific Acadian family, and in one way or another, he was probably related to a significant number of the litigants who appeared before him. Who ,after all would quarrel with Uncle Mathieu? There were less formal systems of justice as well. During Villebon's time, the Minas and Chignecto settlers elected panels to settle aruguments over farm boundaries, stray cows etc. And parish priests served as arbiters,often with the last word on any subject. Indeed they could if they wanted to brandish the ultimate sanction. It was a brave man would chance having the sanctions withheld.
Acadians lived simply but for that time they lived well. Pork was a favorite usually cooked with turnips and cabbage to make soups or stews. There was plenty of grain for making bread, fruit, vegetables, and milk were abundant. Maple sugar was a luxury, and another was beer brewed from firs and spruce branches boiled with molasses. They sewed,knitted,weaved,tanned.
According to Diereville he would bring a nice Bordeaux wine during his stays and found the food not unpleasant. Diereville said the following .
"There's nothing which they cannot do;
And by a hundred different needs inspired,
They make the things they lack; their wool
Is fashioned into Clothing,Caps and Socks,
They are no way distinguished by new styles,
And still wear hooded Capes; their Shoes
Of Elk and Seal skin are flat-soled
And made for comfort. From their flax
Linen is also woven, and thus by
Their industry, their nakedness is veiled."
There were things the Acadians wanted and could not produce themselves, such as guns, fancy textiles,modern tools or even something to make their homebrew more potent . They were suppose to get this stuff from France, but instead they got it from New England.
The book goes on , and is very interesting. So if you are interesed in reading the book , check online to see if there are some available , or check your library to see if they have them there.
Now changing the subject, I am getting ready for the coming holiday season, I got a little tree, since I am having company over this Christmas and I am very excited. I need to take out my decorations to see what I have and what I will need. Then comes the shopping.
Our genealogy group is doing very well, we help others if and when we can, everyone pitches in who can help. I am very proud of all my members, and our Chat n brag room is doing fine, it is a private group by invite only and it is something like Facebook but private. I am still on Facebook, and started my Williams dit Bristol group, our members have now reached 32, that is not bad for just a few days .Now there are Lirettes who branch into the Williams, there are Cormier, there Dambroise, there are Gautreaus,Myers, and many others. The hard thing is trying to find out which one descends from Mathurin. If you read this blog and you descend from Mathurin Williams dit Bristol anywhere in your line, I hope you will come to facebook and look for Williams dit Bristol group and join us.
So thanks for the lovely visit, I do hope you will stop by again, you never know what my next blog will be about.
Have a great day
Aline
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Williams Dit Bristol
Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol. Who was he? Where did he come from?
Well according to legend, he was suppose to have been a young boy ,perhaps a cabin boy and he jumped ship when it docked at Cocagne New Brunswick. He was said to have hid in a hayloft and was found by one of the founders of Cocagne Joseph Gueguen, who asked him what his name was. This young boy could not speak any french but Joseph Gueguen was well educated and could speak english.
The young lad said his name was William and he came from Bristol. So Joseph Gueguen adopted the young lad and gave him the name Mathurin named after a missionary, and then Guillaume french for William and Bristol because he came from Bristol England. Hence the name Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol.
Now Mathurin married Angelique Gauthier around 1790 and had five children:
Agnes who married Hubert Lirette, Jean Baptiste married Madeleine Helene Bellefontaine, Elie married twice first to Adelaide Lirette then to Henriette Fournier, Thomas married Marie Surette,Joseph married Madeleine Boucher.
Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol died in Memramcook in 1829. Some of his descendants took the surname Bristol and others took the name of Williams.
What happened to all the descendants? I know there were some who went to the USA, there were some in Maine and Massachussetts,some were in Connecticut and I am sure other states, some probably went to other parts of Canada and some stayed in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I often wondered what I could do to try and bring this family together.And yesterday an idea came to me, why not start a group and call it Williams dit Bristol, and then let the news out for anyone who connects to Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol and Angelique Saindon, and when we are enough to share photos and stories with one another. So I have created a group on Facebook called Williams dit Bristol. If any of you readers have a connection to this couple, I do hope you will consider joining our group.At the moment we are 19 members ,not bad for one day.
On another note, tomorrow is Remembrance Day, I do hope you will take a moment to remember our fallen soldiers and all the ones who came back and say a little prayer for them. Lest we forget.
Thank you for the lovely visit, do stop by again and if you know of any descendants of Mathurin please let them know about the new group on facebook. You can access Facebook by going to www.facebook.com sign up , its free and find my group.
Have a great day
Aline
Well according to legend, he was suppose to have been a young boy ,perhaps a cabin boy and he jumped ship when it docked at Cocagne New Brunswick. He was said to have hid in a hayloft and was found by one of the founders of Cocagne Joseph Gueguen, who asked him what his name was. This young boy could not speak any french but Joseph Gueguen was well educated and could speak english.
The young lad said his name was William and he came from Bristol. So Joseph Gueguen adopted the young lad and gave him the name Mathurin named after a missionary, and then Guillaume french for William and Bristol because he came from Bristol England. Hence the name Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol.
Now Mathurin married Angelique Gauthier around 1790 and had five children:
Agnes who married Hubert Lirette, Jean Baptiste married Madeleine Helene Bellefontaine, Elie married twice first to Adelaide Lirette then to Henriette Fournier, Thomas married Marie Surette,Joseph married Madeleine Boucher.
Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol died in Memramcook in 1829. Some of his descendants took the surname Bristol and others took the name of Williams.
What happened to all the descendants? I know there were some who went to the USA, there were some in Maine and Massachussetts,some were in Connecticut and I am sure other states, some probably went to other parts of Canada and some stayed in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I often wondered what I could do to try and bring this family together.And yesterday an idea came to me, why not start a group and call it Williams dit Bristol, and then let the news out for anyone who connects to Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol and Angelique Saindon, and when we are enough to share photos and stories with one another. So I have created a group on Facebook called Williams dit Bristol. If any of you readers have a connection to this couple, I do hope you will consider joining our group.At the moment we are 19 members ,not bad for one day.
On another note, tomorrow is Remembrance Day, I do hope you will take a moment to remember our fallen soldiers and all the ones who came back and say a little prayer for them. Lest we forget.
Thank you for the lovely visit, do stop by again and if you know of any descendants of Mathurin please let them know about the new group on facebook. You can access Facebook by going to www.facebook.com sign up , its free and find my group.
Have a great day
Aline
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Acadians in Rumford Maine
In the 19th and 20th century people from New Brunswick ,Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia left their homes in search of better jobs.
And Rumford Maine was the target of many of these folks.
Rumford is situated in western Maine. The Adroscoggin River runs about 11 miles from west to east through the town.
Rumford is situated in western Maine. The Adroscoggin River runs about 11 miles from west to east through the town.
In 1886 according to BB Russell, Rumford had three saw mills, a shovel handle factory ,a grist mill, a cheese and starch factory. It was also the home of the Oxford Paper Mill later changed to Mead Westvaco. Now this was a place to go to find work for the Acadians and French Canadians. In the 1910 census I did a fast search and I noticed some of the following surnames and I did not do the entire census. I saw some Blanchard, Boudreau, Trembley, Boulanger, Gallant, Perry,Poirier,Cormier,Legere,Deveau,LeBlanc,Myers,Mallet,Gagnon,Bourgeois,Boucher,
Richard,LeBel,Bergeron,
Richard,LeBel,Bergeron,
Soucy,Surette,Casey,Martin,Babineau,Landry,Desroches,Daigle, and there were plenty more surnames. The people in the photo above are left to right Dorothy Martin Bernard,Lorraine Robichaud Legere,Hazel LeBlanc Hodgkins and Robert Daigle and they have done something so very nice and special. They had been working on their project for a whole year. They raised money through fundraisers and decided to put the money to good use. They wanted the Acadians who went to their River valley to be remembered. Since many Acadians did settle there and many worked for the Oxford Paper Mill in Rumford so they decided to have a placque made in their honor.The placque is now mounted on a rock near the Rumford Public Library. The ceremony was held Oct 31 2009. The Rumford town Manager Carlos Pouiia gave a speech. His mother was an Arsenault. The president of the Mexico Historical Society Bob Daigle gave a short speech on the Acadians. Terry Richard who's mother was a Richard and her husband was Dr Ed Martin the founder of the Acadian Heritage Society in the Rumford-Mexico area said that it was important to remember the Acadian families that populated their valley in its early days and that the dedication of the placque in their honor was a great thing.Lorraine Legere read a poem she wrote called A Tribute to the Acadians in the River Valley. Refreshments were served in the library and an old video of an old Acadian Heritage meeting which featured remembering Christmas in PEI in 1890.
So to Dorothy, Lorraine,Hazel and Robert I say to you, congratulation on a project so well done. That placque will be seen over and over again and parents can tell their children about their Acadian Ancestors.
Thank you all four for allowing me to post this on my blog and to share with all my readers.
Thank you all four for allowing me to post this on my blog and to share with all my readers.
Have a great day
Thanks for the visit
Aline
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Like Mother like Daughter
When I sit and talk with Mom, I never know what I will learn. This morning I went for my daily visit and we were talking about all sorts of things. I began by talking about the chances we took when I was young and I did not know the danger. We used to go to the National Park and to get there we would go over and under some boxcars. There were many of them all side by side. Now we did not know that they used to shunt those boxcars ,we could have been seriously hurt. Mom jumped in the conversation and said yes when I was newly married I went with my brothers in law and they climbed the boxcar and Mom said so did I. I was a tomboy she continued. Then I began laughing because I too was a tomboy when I was young and I was very hard on my clothes, a tear here and a hole there, dirt here .I said to Mom. "Mom were you hard on your clothes too?" Mom replied " I was always dressed nice, and yes I would rip my clothes. " I replied "AHA, now I know who I take after. grin. We both laughed.
Now Mom also shared with me things that just might interest some of you. She said when she was young, a couple could not live together unless they were married. And if a girl got pregnant Oh that was something terrible, the neighbors could not know that the daughter got pregnant. So Mom said the Mother would start wearing loose dresses, and pretend she was pregnant and the daughter was never to be seen during all that time. Then all of a sudden the mother had a new baby boy or baby girl. How exciting. Now I imagine some of you have come across that the daughter is really the grandaughter, because if you check the ages sometimes the mother is pretty old to have a baby. Mom also mentioned that if a woman had a mental child or handicap child, that child was always out of sight.
Mom said everything was always a secret , or hush hush. Shhhh don't tell anyone!
On another note, I have been busy creating mugs in my store , I have added a lot of our first ancestors and some of the wives . I even made a mug for the Steeves who were Stiefs . I have mostly our Acadian Ancestors at the moment ,but my mind is always thinking of something. You can go to my store and click on Surnames folder or url it will take you to the mugs and surnames by going to www.zazzle.com/allicor* or at the bottom of this blog you will see a slide show you can also go to the store that way. You don't have to buy, just have a look , I am sort of proud of my idea. You can also leave me a comment if you go there to let me know if you like my idea or not?
So until next time have a great day, thanks for the lovely visit.
Aline
Now Mom also shared with me things that just might interest some of you. She said when she was young, a couple could not live together unless they were married. And if a girl got pregnant Oh that was something terrible, the neighbors could not know that the daughter got pregnant. So Mom said the Mother would start wearing loose dresses, and pretend she was pregnant and the daughter was never to be seen during all that time. Then all of a sudden the mother had a new baby boy or baby girl. How exciting. Now I imagine some of you have come across that the daughter is really the grandaughter, because if you check the ages sometimes the mother is pretty old to have a baby. Mom also mentioned that if a woman had a mental child or handicap child, that child was always out of sight.
Mom said everything was always a secret , or hush hush. Shhhh don't tell anyone!
On another note, I have been busy creating mugs in my store , I have added a lot of our first ancestors and some of the wives . I even made a mug for the Steeves who were Stiefs . I have mostly our Acadian Ancestors at the moment ,but my mind is always thinking of something. You can go to my store and click on Surnames folder or url it will take you to the mugs and surnames by going to www.zazzle.com/allicor* or at the bottom of this blog you will see a slide show you can also go to the store that way. You don't have to buy, just have a look , I am sort of proud of my idea. You can also leave me a comment if you go there to let me know if you like my idea or not?
So until next time have a great day, thanks for the lovely visit.
Aline
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Got a taste who what our Ancestors went through
Well it is true I got a taste of what some of our ancestors went through. It began last night around ten pm. I was minding my own business, really involved in adding some cemetery transcriptions on my website ,when poof, off goes my computer, and I was in the middle of putting all the names on my page. Oh no! I lost everything? Sob sob. (so I thought). Wonder what happened? Oh well, the power must have gone off, but we still had lights. Then no computer but the television was still on. So onto the sofa we went. Oh a good story. All of a sudden POOF , no television ,no lights and it was pitch black, and I mean pitch black. Where are my flashlights? Oh I have a spotlight, here it is. Where is the on button? I cannot find it. Oh never mind I will go get the other flashlight. So here I am in pitch black darkness, feeling where I am going, in front of the sofa, now to find the wall in the hallway, oh there it is, now there is an open door I have to pass, there it is. Now where is the closet door knob? I felt and found it.
So no lights at all. I opened the door to the hallway outside, pitch black. Now I felt as if I was back in the sixteen hundreds, with no lights, only darkness. I am only glad we did not have an outhouse. Clumsy as I am I dread thinking what would have happened had I had to go out to it. grin. The power was off until around noon today, I believe lightning may have hit a transformer, because last night it was very very windy. And we heard thunder. Another thing we had those portable phones, and they are plugged into the wall socket so no phone. Guess where we went today? To walmart and we got a corded phone, now if the power goes off again we will at least have a phone working.
I hope you had a much better day than we did. grin.
Thanks for the visit, do stop by again.
Have a great day
Aline
So no lights at all. I opened the door to the hallway outside, pitch black. Now I felt as if I was back in the sixteen hundreds, with no lights, only darkness. I am only glad we did not have an outhouse. Clumsy as I am I dread thinking what would have happened had I had to go out to it. grin. The power was off until around noon today, I believe lightning may have hit a transformer, because last night it was very very windy. And we heard thunder. Another thing we had those portable phones, and they are plugged into the wall socket so no phone. Guess where we went today? To walmart and we got a corded phone, now if the power goes off again we will at least have a phone working.
I hope you had a much better day than we did. grin.
Thanks for the visit, do stop by again.
Have a great day
Aline
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)