Have you ever wondered?

Have you ever wondered about what kind of lives your ancestors had? Take for instance long ago, how did they get around? They had to travel from place to place. We all know that many of our ancestors came to their new countries by ships or some kind of vessel. They could not cross the oceans by cars, there were no planes back then either. Imagine that you are back in the time of your ancestors who came to the new country. You are boarding some kind of ship or boat. You have a few personnel belongings with you. You are either leaving your homeland with your parents or with some friends. What is going through your mind at this time? Could they have thought to themselves hurray I am getting out of here? Or I wonder if there are any wild beasts there? They had to have been thinking about their new homes. Remember some of our ancestors were very young when they came to this country. Arriving at their destinations, it would have been all new to them, the people, the climate, the sceneries. Were they afraid? Or were they curious? If we think about these things, we have to also appreciate their courage in leaving their homeland to make new homes in mostly uncivilized lands. Once they arrived most of their travelling would have been by water and through beaten down paths in the woods. There were no paved highways trains back then. They also would have had to rely on horses, oxen, mules to use in their travels. And can you imagine an ancestor coming over from a warmer climate into some harsh winters? Can you imagine then surviving in blizzards? Many of them did not survive but those who did, learned ways to survive. They also learned to survive by using plants, and hunting and fishing for their food and growing gardens was a must. They raised animals for both work and for food. Back then Pork was their main meal,, and fish and shellfish . Now we cannot just go to the ocean or beaches and dig for clams or oysters or quahawgs, but back them can you imagine all the shellfish they would gather for their families and I am certain there were plenty of fish and shell fish around. Now many shellfish areas are polluted or contaminated it is such a shame. I remember when I was young, my family would all go to the beach and dig for clams, and it was so much fun, we would look for a hole like a pin hole and then we would dig and be careful not to break the shell of the clam and fill our pails. Then my Mom would steam the clams, mmm they sure were good. As the population grew our ancestors were learning survival, they helped each other build houses ,barns ,fences. Togetherness was very important back then, and sometimes I imagine the neighbors were quite far from each other. I wonder what they did when they first saw a bear or a coyote ? Can you imagine them seeing a big moose for the first time? They may have said “ Boy things grow big around here!” grin. Getting back to travelling during the winter many of our ancestors travelled on the frozen rivers and when the rivers thawed they travelled by boats. The native americans (once called Indians) were there way before our ancestors and they survived very well in the winters and summers. They taught a lot of their methods to many of our ancestors who then probably passed them down. Now the summer time, think about the summer time, the heat ,the black flies ,the mosquitoes? And our ancestors were surrounded by woods and water. Can you imagine the bites? I am itchy just thinking about it. I read somewhere that they used to put cold ashes all over their faces and hands and that protected them from the flies, mosquitoes etc. Can you imagine with our ancestors met their first red man? What was going on in their minds?I wonder. And can you imagine how happy our ancestors were when they were shown the many uses for plants, and trees and easy ways to fish? If you have never wondered about these things, then think about it, I have always wondered and like the saying goes " Enquiring minds want to know". I hope you enjoyed todays blog. I would like to end this blog by changing the subject, I am not adding any photos just two urls I would like you to stop by and see, they are two stores of mine, my regular store is at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor*  and my newest store which I am working on as often as I can is called Boot _EEK, you can view it at http://www.zazzle.com/boot_eek*   Have a great day and if you are on Facebook you can join my new site Aline I Cormier. chow for now.

Who were the Acadians.

Acadians are descendants of French Colonist who settled in Acadia which at first was Nova Scotia in the seventeenth century, later they settled in parts of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. I say they were French Colonist but there were also Melanson who were English marrying into the Acadians and thus they were Acadians and an Irish man called Roger Kuessy who married an Acadian girl thus their children would become Acadians too. Later on we had the 1755 Deportation of the Acadians, (French and Indian War) . Around 11500 Acadians were deported to different parts of the world. About one third of these Acadians died from diseases ,starvation and drowning. It sure must have been some tragic during this event. We saw the movie Titanic seeing all those people panicking, jumping overboard ,the Acadians on these over crowded vessels must have been so afraid , it makes me sad just thinking about it.

Some of the Acadians were deported to Massachussetts ,Carolina, Virginia ,Hawaii, ,France etc. Later on some Acadians who were deported were offered land in Louisiana and they accepted, these Acadians were later known as Cajuns. Now think about the Acadians later known as Cajuns, they went to a place they had never been, and many of them lived in the Bayous, they had to deal with the alligators and snakes and whatever else they came across. I think it must have been scary especially their encounters with the alligators. But they had to learn to survive any way they could. Of course that can be said for the Acadians who escaped the Deportation by fleeing in the woods. Just take a walk in the woods today when the little black flies or horse flies are in full force, we can’t stand it. It sure must have been miserable for the Acadians. They were survivors or at least fought to survive as many died in the woods of starvation and cold. The cold can you imagine staying out all night in the really cold weather? Now the Acadians were not all perfect I am sure, just like any other culture, there are some bad ones and some good ones. There were some unsung heros that we never heard about, there are so many stories that we will never know about the Acadian people . We read about their hardships and tragedies, but what about their good times? Wouldn’t it be nice to hear how something made them laugh, or sad? How did the Acadians really get along with their neighbours? Were the women mad at one another? Was their husband making eyes at the neighbours wife? Did they play jokes on one another? What about the children? We have read that they helped with the chores around the house and barn but what else did they do to pass the time? I sure would love to know.

Alex Haley wrote a story about his Roots and he spanned many generations, it would be nice to write a story about the Acadian families or about a certain one. We have lots of love stories, besides Evangeline it would be nice to write a love story about an Acadian couple. I believe I told you my Mom was only fourteen when she married my Dad. And she told me that he never proposed to her but asked her aunt to ask her if she would marry him. Can you imagine? Then my father sold his bike for two dollars then went to the city to get a marriage license which he was refused because she was too young and someone had to sign for her. Her father was away at the time, (It was a good thing because when he found out he was fit to be tied) so my grandmother signed for Mom. Mom took the train , met my father in the city and went to get married in the Catholic Church, of course the priest didn’t want to marry them, Mom was too young, but that didn’t stop my father he said to my Mom, then we’ll get married at the justice of the peace but instead they went to the Baptist Church and the minister married them. Such is what we call determination. But their marriage was short lived because the parish priest went to their door told Mom to go home, and he wrote to the bishop for permission to marry them Catholic. Permission was granted and the got married. My Dad often told Mom you are lucky I married you twice. Grin. See what I mean about stories? I sure wish I could have heard stories from the time of my ancestors. I am pretty sure they had some interesting tales to tell.

Now getting back to Acadians, through the generations the Acadians married into other cultures, such as the Iriish, Scotts, English, Native Americans and perhaps many other cultures. Nevertheless , most of us have a mixture but we should always remember we are part Acadians and should never be ashamed of it.

Now changing the subject (I am known for doing so grin) Many of you know I have a store and in my store I have some Acadian and Cajun stuff and also lots of surname products plus lots more , you can check it out if you have time at

http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* Now I would like to introduce you to a few stores belonging to others that I like, check them out too just in case I don’t have what you want at the moment.

http://www.zazzle.com/family_tees?rf=238218562978565840

http://www.zazzle.com/vickiescreations?rf=238218562078565840

http://www.zazzle.com/suzyjaki?rf=238218562078565840

http://www.zazzle.com/pharrisart?rf=238218562078565840

　

Chow for now.

Stories plus Genealogy

Today I would like to talk about things I think is important for anyone who is interested in their family tree. As you know family trees is the in thing today, genealogy is the in thing today. You see advertising about it on television. Ancestry.ca is advertising it. They have a show called “Who do you think you are”. They have a similar show in Britain too. They have a movie on TV way back about Alex Haley’s “Roots”. How many of you watched it night after night? Remember there was Kinto or Kinta, and there was Chicken Little I think. Anyway it was long ago and I remember being glued to the TV enjoying it so very much.

It wasn’t just about born a certain date, married a certain date, and died a certain date. There was the in between time which was important. So this is why I believe in getting all the stories and information down about each ancestor of mine that I am able too. If I could go back in time and speak to my ancestors ,what a tale they would have to tell me. But that is impossible, all I can do is read what is written about them, and I am sure there would have been lots more stories they would have been able to share. What they did for entertainment for example or how and where they met their spouse and how they felt when their first child was born and did they come in contact with a wild animal and how did they handle the situation. I know they killed the animals but could there have been a bear for example that they came in contact with ?

We read in the newspaper about bear encounters, and crocodiles and alligators ,it is sad to read but it is the truth so how many of our ancestors had similar stories? We will never know unless we find some old newspapers well preserved hidden somewhere. So how can we make it better for the people coming after we are gone? Well gather stories for them. If your parents or grandparents are living I bet they would love to share some of their stories with you. Aunts and Uncles sometimes know more than we think. Stop by the nursing homes, or hospitals ,spend a day with your relatives, ask them questions, once they start talking you might get a lot of information about their parents or grandparents. Start looking through older newspapers in your area or where your grandparents lived, you can find these newspapers at your local library or archives. I have done this, I spent hours looking though newspapers, sometimes I found nothing, other times I hit pay dirt. I even found my birth announcement in the local paper. Sort of neat to see. So if you are thinking of doing your family tree, make it into a story, make it enjoyable for others to read, make it into a book, but most of all Just Make It.

Now changing the subject as I usually do, I have been creating new items in my store at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* such as calendars, iPhone Cases, iPod Touch Cases, Mugs, and much more I do hope you will stop by. Have a great day

Have you heard of John Gyles?

John Gyles was a little English ten year old boy captured by the Indians when they raided New England Settlements and took prisoners. He spent nine years as a prisoner of the Indians and later with a French Family. The following was taken from a book which he later wrote about his capture and deals with his life with the Indians. He goes on to write the following story about himself and his life.

“My father , Thomas Gyles, came out from England to this new land and settled on the Kennebec River (Maine) at a place called Merrymeeting Bay where he lived for some years .Then my grandparents died and Father took his family and went home to England to settle his affairs. When they were settled ,we came back to New England, but since the Indians were attacking the settlements in Maine ,Father began a settlement on Long Island. But the air did not agree with him, so as the Indians had become more peaceful, we went north to Merrymeeting Bay. When we arrived there ,we found the place deserted and that settlements were being made in Pammaquid in the province of New York (part of Maine) so we settled there and later Father became the chief justice. It was August 2 1689, my Father with some labourers, my two elder brothers and I went early in the morning to gather in the harvest from one of his farms. I was ten ,James was fourteen and Thomas was sixteen. We worked hard till noon. After dinner our people went back to work, some to the hay fields ,some to the corn fields. My Father ,James and I tarried near the farmhouse where we had dined ,until about one o’clock at which time we heard the report of several guns from the fort.

Father said he hoped it was a signal of good news; but to our great surprise, at that moment about thirty or forty Indians appeared behind a rising ground near our barn and discharged a volley of shots at us.

The yelling of the Indians, the whistling of their shot and the voice of my Father, who cried out “ What now, What now!” so terrified us that my brother and I ran, he one way and I another trying to escape. Looking back over my shoulder I saw a huge Indian chasing me with a gun in his hand. I fell, and the Indian grabbed me by the left hand. He tied my arms ,then lifted me up and went towards the field where the men were working at the hay. I saw two men shot down and two more knocked on their heads with hatchets. Then some Indians came bringing two captives, a man and my brother James. There was no sign of my brother Thomas. I learned afterwards that in some wonderful manner he managed to escape by land to a point on the west side of the river where several fishing vessels lay. He got on board one of them and sailed the night so he was safe. But where was my Father: We marched about a quarter of a mile and then stopped. Here they brought Father to us. He looked very pale and bloody. He asked to be allowed to pray with his children. This was granted to him. He recommended us to the protection and blessing of God, gave us the best advice and then said goodbye to us, hoping that we should meet in a better world. He died shortly after. I later heard he had five or six shot holes through his jacket. The Indians led us along the east side of the river towards the fort. When we came within a mile and a half of the town and could see the fort, we saw fire and smoke on all sides. We moved closer into a thick swamp. Then I saw many captives and among them were my Mother and two sisters. Mother asked about Father. When I told her he had been killed she burst into tears. There was one more member of my family, my younger brother. He was playing near the fort when the Indians came and he ran inside. When Captain Weems surrendered the fort , it was on condition that all the occupants should be allowed to leave in a fishing sloop ,lying in the river, so my little brother escaped with them to safety. A few days later we reached Fort Penobscot where I saw my Mother, sisters and brother James again. We were there about eight days. Then my Indian master carried me up the Penobscot River to a village called Madawamkee, which is at the mouth of the eastern branch of the Penobscot. The next day we went up that eastern branch many miles; we carried our canoe over land to a large pond, then went from one pond to another, until in a few days we went down a river called Meductic which empties into the St John River. We didn’t go down to the mouth of this river instead we passed over a long carrying place to Medocktack Fort. This was an Indian Fort. The Indians sat in a circle and looked at me with fierce countenances. They champed cornstalks which they threw into my hat as I held it in my hand. I smiled at them ,though my heart ached. I looked at one after another but could not see that anyone pitied me. A captive among the Indians is treated very cruelly unless his master or some of his master’s relatives lay down a ransom such as a bag of corn or blanket which saves him from their cruelty. As I stood there , a squaw and a little girl came and the squaw laid down a bag of corn in the circle. The little girl took me by the hand making signs for me to go out of the circle with them. Not knowing their customs, I thought they were going to kill me, and refused to go.Then a grave Indian came and gave me a short pipe and said to me in English “ Smoke it!” Then he took me by the hand and led me out. I thought my end had come but he took me to a French hut about a mile from the Indian Fort. The Frenchman was not at home, but his wife who was a squaw talked for a long time with my Indian friend. I could not understand a word they said. We stayed about two hours and then went back to the Indian fort where they gave me something to eat. A few weeks later we left the fort and went to a place called Meduxnakeg where there was one wigwam. When we got there an old squaw saluted me with a yell, taking me by the hair and one hand, but I was so rude as to break away from her. The Indians laughed. We stayed there for some time, living on fish, wild grapes and roots. When winter came we went up the river till the ice came down running thick in the river. Then we laid up our canoes till spring, and travelled sometimes on ice and sometimes on land, till we came to an open river, where we made a raft and crossed over bag and baggage. They treated me ok but I found it hard carrying burdens and I was hungry most of the time, for we had little food. But they would often encourage me saying in English “By and by great deal moose”. There were eight or ten of us, and we had two guns on which we depended wholly for food. Sometimes we had no food for two or three days, but after one of those fasts we killed a moose which supplied us with food for a while. Sometimes we killed a bear. The meat was preserved by taking the flesh from the bones and drying it in smoke. In this way it keeps sound for months without salt. We kept going further north all the time, but when spring came we moved back to the head of the St John River. There we made canoes of moose hides, sewing three or four together and pitching the seams with Balsam mixed with Charcoal. Then we went down the river to a place called Madawescook. There an old man lived and kept sort of a trading house. We stayed there several days then went further down the river till we came to the greatest falls in these parts ,where we carried a little way over the land, and putting off our canoes went downstream still. As we passed the mouths of any large branches we saw Indians. At last we reached the place where we had left our birch canoes in the fall, and putting our baggage into them, went down to the fort. There we planted corn. After that we went fishing and to dig roots for food. Then back to the fort to weed the corn, then fishing again and back to hill our corn. After that we went a ways up the river to take Salmon and other fish which we dried for food. We dried the corn when it was in the milk. The Indians gathered it in large kettles and boiled it on the ears till it was pretty hard .Then they shelled it from the corn with clam shells and dried it on barks in the sun .When it is dry, a kernel is no bigger than a pea and it will keep for years. When it is boiled again it swells as large as when on the ear, and taste sweeter than other corn. When we gathered and dried our corn we put some into Indian barns, that is into holes in the ground lined and covered with bark and then with dirt. The rest we carried up the river on our new winter hunting. This ended my first year of captivity. There is more on John Gyles in the book Our New Brunswick Story but this is all for this time. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and I hope you will check out my Native American products in my Native American folder at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor*

My Momma Told Me

Today I would like to share something with you about my Mom. First of all I want to talk about the photo  of her sitting with a valentine postcard. My mother who is 92 has been a collector all her life. She has saved things since she was a little girl, and has told us stories about them. Like the little basket she has which was made with porcupine quills and given to her when she was around 9 years old from a little native american friend she met in Cape Breton where her father worked for a while.  And the christening dress her mother and her made for her first baby  and then she used it for all of her children, including me, then many of her grandchildren also were baptized in that same dress.  She had a set of granite pie plates that she had when she was first married in 1932 that she has given to me, and I will treasure them for as long as I live. So now we get to the photo and her valentine. This postcard which I made for her with her original valentine is what you see in the photo above. The reason she had me make these postcards was because her valentine was given to her 86 years ago when she was six years old and it was given to her by her teacher. She treasured that valentine all these years and kept it in immaculate condition, and we are seven in my family and she could not give it to everyone so we came up with the idea of me creating a postcard with her valentine, which I did and in the back I put that it was a copy of her valentine she got in 1924 when she was six years old. I also added  from top to bottom where the line goes, "With Love from Mom.  She ordered 16 of them and they came in this week, she is so proud of those postcards, she wants to give us each one for Christmas with a note from her on the back, even it is a valentine it is very special for  my family.  And also a great souvenir.

Now something else she shared with me this week, was her wedding ring, I did not know this but she told me in 1932 ,my Dad sold his bicycle for three dollars and bought Mom a wedding ring, and he paid for the marriage license  too. Mom said she had the ring for a long time but one day someone spilled some mercury on it and it melted. But to me this story is so interesting because I can add this little tidbit in my family tree notes, and maybe one day one of my descendants might enjoy reading all about my Mom and my family.  I hope you enjoyed this little story. Now about the

T_Shirt Image above, well I was asked to have this one made, and to use my own judgement on what to add on it, he works at the Bingo and his wife is there too, so I created this shirt for him, and for others who want to buy one, I bet when he wears this at the Bingo I will have sales from it.

If you are interested you can find this tee shirt in my Hobby folder and then you click on my Bingo Folder at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor*   So that is my blog for today, please tell your friends about my blog and also about my store and  mention my genealogy website http://www.acadian-roots.com/   Thanks for the  visit ,do stop by again, and Have a Great Day. Aline

Mother Told Me

Well a few days ago , I went to visit my Mom, and when I go I  usually ask her about her past,she is now 92 and her memory is unbelievable, oh she does repeat some same stories but just the same she is one amazing lady.
Anyway this paticular visit, I went in and she was reading the newspaper which she does every morning faithfully. Then she began talking ,she said her father was a jack of all trades and he was a teacher in Maine before he met my grandmother and when they married and had their family,Mom said he used to tutor them at home when he was there,because by then he travelled a lot seeking work. He used to file saws and axes.
Mom said she remembers that he used to read to them by the candlelight from a book by Robbie Burns. Yes the poet. Now this would be back in the mid 1920s.
Mom said her father thought education was very very important and he wanted his children to be educated. Now Mom said her mother (my grandmother )went to grade three in school  and her spelling was not good ,but she wanted to write to my grandfather when he was away, so Mom told me, my grandmother would sit by the candlelight and Mom would sit next to her and  Grandmother would ask Mom how to spell a certain word and Mom  helped her or if she made a mistake in spelling Mom would be by her side correcting her. Now I found this very interesting because it made me feel like I was there, it made me feel  good knowing about my grandparents, how they lived, if you are into genealogy or family trees you probably understand what I mean. Our ancestors were much more than names and dates, they were human like you and I, they lived, they loved, they cried, they laughed. So these  are things for us to know and cherish and pass down to our children and their children. If you have some relatives who can share stories like these, visit them, ask them questions,and write down all that you can find.
Now changing the subject, I created that Bingo Shirt above, I sort of like the poem that I changed the words to what I wanted to say. You can find that shirt in my tee shirt folder at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor*   I also want to say, I bought one of my  shirts I created, it is being shipped so when I get it (I hope it fits grin) I will wear it, and show you. Oh and I also created quite a few childrent-shirts with Nursery Rhymes on the front. I will probably add more, you can see those in my children folder.  I do hope you enjoyed today's blog and will stop by another day.
Have a great day
Aline

Oh Baby it's cold outside

Today the weatherman said minus 17 with windchill factor will feel like minus 28, so as you must have guessed Aline is in the nice cozy house, and trying to find many many reasons not to go out. grin. The title of today's blog reminds me of my grandaughter. When she was around 2years old ,she came to visit and her papa (grandfather)and papa was sick so she had to come with memere(me) to get something at the pharmacy. It was cold that day and I had her all bundled up and I was carrying her and as we were walking I started singing "Baby it's cold outside". All of a sudden she started singing in her own little way "Baby brrrrrr side". Did I ever laugh. Ah memories are something to share and write down somewhere for others to see and laugh or cry one day. For the ones who has children or grandchildren you must know what I mean. Now I was reading about some children from Haiti being adopted in Canada and possible the USA and to the new parents of these children, you have a lot to write about then and now is the time to do so, write how your heart went out to them and you wanted to give them lots of love and a good life. Take a lot of photos of them, tape their voices, and write down how they adapted to their new lives. This will be so important to these children one day. If I would have been one of the people adopting a child, I would get as much information about their lives before I got them as I could, their real parents if I knew and keep a lot of records because everyone wants to know who they are ,where they are from, I have a half sister somewhere, I know it is one of two women but which one is it? This gnaws at me over and over. As the saying goes "enquiring minds want to know". Now changing the subject, last night I worked again on my store and I have added some more postcards , one of Cornwall Ontario, it is an old photo, and a couple of Sudbury Ontario, some funny tee shirts ,and some items with an old King Edward Cent on them, the cent or penny was an old big brown one dated 1910. I have it on a postcard, and magnets, and badges too. I created a hat for all the Canadian Provinces ,these can be found in my Miscellaneous folder. I added a couple of things for Maine USA , and also Acadian and Cajun posters. So if you are in the vicinity of Allicor's store at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* I do hope you will stop by even if it is only for window shopping. I think I shall add this blog on another blog of mine too. I honestly liked what I wrote. Until next time
Have a great day
Aline

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