I have decided to do two blogs in the same day. The reason is because I wanted to tell you that Lucie LeBlanc Consentino has taken the plunge, she has begun her own blog, I have just read it and it is very interesting and I am certain she is going to keep us wanting to go back again and again. Her url is http://acadian-ancestral-home.blogspot.com So why don't you bookmark her url, and when you read mine , read hers also.
If you read Lucie's blog you must know that we will be meeting in Moncton in a few weeks. I am looking forward to our meeting, and we both will be going to the Centre D'Etude Acadienne to do research that week.
Today I finished transcribing the St.Lawrence O'Toole Cemetery in Irishtown New Brunswick, The parish was founded in 1820 and the latest church has been there since 1870. It was an Irish parish, but now it is for any Catholics, I have transcribed all the acadian names in the cemetery, and I have begun adding them to my website.

On a another note, today I phoned my grandchildren to see how they like their new teacher and how they made out the first day of school. My grandson said Memere it was ok, but my teacher taught me for two months last year, she is not new. Then my grandaughter said to me "Memere I was so nervous the night before that I had one dream and she said I am ok, and my teacher is a boy teacher.
I said I am happy you both had a good day. Then my grandaughter said something to me that really touched my heart..... "Memere I love you"......
Goodnight until next time.........

To begin today's blog I would like to make a change to my url for my acadian-roots website. Please go to www.acadian-roots.com . I hope you do enjoy my site I am trying to add new things. So please check back often.
Today we are having rain, so that will delay me from completing my cemetery transcriptions.
I have started a project in our yahoo acadian group (which you can access though the sidebar on my website if you are reading this through my website). I am asking all the ladies to do their maternal lines to see if any of us branch down to the same ladies. If we had enough with the same lady ancestor and if we had our DNA done, I wonder what the results would show?
I know of a gentleman who is gathering LeBlanc lines interested in having their DNA done through him, which would cost around $110.00, he is very interested in the descendents of Andre LeBlanc son of Daniel, but I believe if you are a descendent of another son of Daniel LeBlanc you would still qualify to have your DNA done through him.
I wonder how many of you out there would be interested in having your DNA done if you could have it done at a low cost..This would have to be an Acadian line. I was chatting with someone one day and they told me that if would be nice to be able to trace back the females. meaning maternal line.
As you know many acadian records were lost or burned along the way, so we are going via censuses a lot of the time. There are lots of possibles and probables in our researching. Now let's say that around 50 of us descend from Jeanne Aucoin as an example, and we all had our DNA done? Wonder what the results would show. I think DNA is a great tool and something we should explore .What do you think?

Well since I last posted I have been a busy lady. I now have a very gorgeous website set up in my new Domain. But I will tell you for me it wasn't an easy task,since I was not very good in html , but I am learning slow but sure.
They say we all have a gardian angel, well I think I have more than one because at the moment there is this angel named Lucie LeBlanc Consentino who must have a lot of patience. She is the one who set up my site for me, she moved my entire site over from my old site to my new home. She gave me ideas regarding my site, she guided me towards softer music, she showed me how to set up a sidebar, well she did the work , I just have to do the fill ins. So Lucie if you are reading this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart , you surely are an angel...(smile).
Now regarding genealogy, I have this cemetery transcribing bug at the moment, it really gets addictive you know. I have transcribed the Saint Paul Cemetery in Kent County New Brunswick, ( I had been wanting to do that cemetery for years but never got around to it and for awhile I lived about a ten minute drive away from the cemetery) Now I live further away and I finally decided now is the time.
I now have another little cemetery in mind to do, and today if the weather permits I am on my way. This Cemetery only began around 1938, and we cannot access the parish records for 1938 up till now, so I believe doing this project would be a great help for others looking for their ancestors.
In closing today I would like to invite you all to view my new website of which I am so proud of . The url is http://www.acadian-roots.com/index.html

enjoy and have a great day.

This morning I awoke to a chilly weather, I went to town and had my windshield wipers on, and I saw some ice . A sure sign that the cold weather and snow is not far away. I have been busy with my genealogy, and I have been transcribing the tombstones from a cemetery, there are three sections and I have done one out of three. I shall have to go earlier in the mornings to have a head start on the cemetery and be able to get home before dark. This cemetery has many of my ancestors and relatives in it. The reason I am doing this is so that we have the names of the people buried there before the stones fade away or break, there were many stones already not readable or broken. It is such a shame to see this. To many this may not seem interesting or worth doing but maybe your grandchildren or their children one day may come looking for you in some cemetery. Would you not want them to find you? I know I would want them to find me, then they would probably say oh there is my great great great grandmother,and my great great great grandfather. If my descendents or some of them carry some of my likes and dislikes they will love genealogy as I do.
Have a great day.

Egad, what a day. Although it could always be worse. But on the other had it is so nice to have friends is it not?
I have finally took the big step and acquired my own Domain, and now I am trying to master creating my website. What is FTP? Well I found out that that is File Transfer Protocol, that is great (If I ever understand it).
Next HTML? Well I had delved into it a while back, no great result so a very nice lady has been giving me advice, suggestion and she even did my index page, or began it, what a big help that was.
She also told me to practice my html, so i decided to see what I could learn. I went to a website and viewed the source, wow, it was all in html. Now for background I found this , body background=" http://www dot dot .com/carolgebg3.gif ".
I think that it will take me somewhere. I am determined to try and master my website, I would have prefered the easy way with no html, but I was told once I master it I will be happy I have done so.
I have also have some of my members from my acadianroots club offer to help me, and I do appreciate it so.
So if any of you understand what I am talking about, and if you know a bit about websites, please say a little prayer so that I can create a great website on acadian genealogy.
Have a great day.

Today I will share a bit of my memories with you, to begin with I was talking to my son this morning, and I told him I was very proud of him, which I really am. He is just like his dad was , a hard little worker. He is a very good family man, having two children who he adores. I know he would go through fire for his kids. He is so much like his father, soft , easy going, everything is ok as far as he is concerned.
So today he was telling me he had done some repairs around his home, I think he wanted my approval, which I replied, if your Dad would be here he would be so proud of you and I said because I am. Then I continued " Although we nearly traded you for a little indian when you were small but we changed our minds. He laughed and said yes Mom I remember seeing those arrows along the road and highways and Dad saying that. That is true,back then we did not have seat belts and my son was standing between me and his dad, and he just leaned over to face his dad and said nooooooooooooooooooooooo Dada. I don't want you to trade me. haha.
Thinking back, and NO Seatbelts, boy that was dangerous. I am so glad we need seatbelts now.
I have so many nice memories of when my son was small, I remember he was around three or so and we lived on a main road and there was lots of traffic, I had put him outdoors in the back yard, in a split second he was gone, I looked in the road and there was my son with his little toy broom in the middle of the road he wanted to sweep the floor. Well I brought him back home, and I went out and got a little child harness and when I was not with him, he was wearing his little harness. I remember one time, my late husband and I decided to take a trip to nowhere that is what we called our trips, so this paticular time we were going towards Montreal, arriving there I said to my son we should go see your aunt in Sudbury, so my son age around 4 started asking his dad to go to Sudbury, so we headed that way, but shortly after entering Ontario, our universal joint let go on our old station wagon, so we spent all day at a garage. So arriving in sudbury we did not want to tell them that the car broke down,we didn't have to, my son said to his aunt and uncle, Dada's car broke down we went to a garage to fix it. haha. So much for keeping a secret huh?
Have a great day.

Well I will share Acadian Day with you.
Tuesday evening around 545 pm I went to Bouctouche for Acadian day. Arriving there we had missed he tantramare, so we did not know where the music was playing. There was this lady dressed in Acadian costume sitting in her car. I said to her " Where is the band going to play?" She replied "oh they are playing at Le Pays De La Sagouine , and the bands have been playing for a while". So off we went to the Pays De La Sagouine, I had never gone there. We went through the admitting place paid our fee and entered through the door to a board walk, it was quite a walk, but as we walked we looked across the water and we saw Bouctouche, it was nice to see. Arriving at the park, there were people everywhere, so we got as far as a stage and sat on the edge until someone offered us a chair, which I gladly took. They had numerous bands, the first one we heard were so good. They played lots of acadian songs, then the next band took over , they too were good, we never stayed for the third band, but as I was sittling on the stage, I looked at the crowd and what a nice site to see. The music was playing, the people were clapping to the music and rocking to and fro. They were all happy, and it was just like one big family. I am so proud to have been able to be among them.
They had over 3000 people there. In the year 2009 will be the Congres Mondial around Caraquet and if I am able I am going to try my best to attend. There will be Acadians from all over, Louisiana, the USA , maybe even England and France.
So maybe you should think about attending the joyful occasion.
Have a Great Day.

I have been reading many things online about the acadians, and I hadn't done so before. If you are into reading about them , there are lots of great books out there. Regis Brun has a book on " The acadiens before 17 55, John Mack Faragher has a book on A great and Noble Scheme. We have some great writers of Acadian Books and Acadian Genealogy, to mention a few we have Stephen White who wrote the great genealogy book Dictionaire Genealogique des familles Acadiennes, if you are into genealogy these two volume set are a must, Paul Delaney has written about the exiled acadians who were deported to Georgia and elsewhere, he also wrote a great article on The Bergeron dit D'amboise and ancestors.If you have ancestors in the yarmouth area, Father Clarence D'entremont wrote a series of stories, there are one hundred of them online, and very interesting to read.
I am always looking for little tidbits regarding my ancestors, at the moment I am trying to look into court cases to find records of when my maternal grandfather burned my paternal grandfather's barn because he was angry that my father eloped with my mother, since she was very young, later the priest remarried my parents. But you see I have this info in my book, more stories for my grandkids and great grandkids if I am lucky enough to have any.
Many of you into genealogy may be unable to find some of your ancestors, could they have been in prison? Could they have been a patient in a hospital? Could they have been lost at sea? There is only one way to find out, dig dig dig.
Have a great day.

A walk through the past sure is an experience . I decided to take a trip to Caraquet and visit the Village Acadien. I took the scenic route to go, followed the seashore, through Neguac, Pokemouche, Tracadie-Sheila. The weather was beautiful . Arriving at the Village Acadien entrance, a young girl who worked there saw that I was trying to take a photo with my digital camera, she very nicely asked if I wanted my photo taken, I said sure and she took my photo entering the village. I thought what a nice welcome that was. Entering the admitting building, another lady told us there was a little show beginning in five minutes so we waited to see the movie, it was about the acadians, and the deportation, and what I liked about the movie it was both in french and in english, and educational. Leaving the movie we went through the gift shop, oh I love looking through gift shops, I saw lots of books on Acadian and genealogy, postcards, little trinkets, even wooden shoes.
Next we were on our way into the village, we had a map to explain each stop, there was the Robichaud house, the Martin house, the Godin house, the Leger Blacksmith and house, the Cormier woodworking shop. Inside the houses the workers dressed in costumes acted as if they were in the late 1800s, one lady showed us how they make yarn out of wool, another man told us that long ago, the parents used to make mattresses out of straw, cover it with cloth, and under the bed they would put fresh spruce boughs, I wondered why? He replied the boughs were put there to keep the straw from getting moldy and to keep the bugs away. Now I remember my mother telling me that her father used to make their mattresses out of straw, this was in the early 1900s. What a nice thing to know.
Next we walked to the one room schoolhouse, a teacher waited for us there, we sat in the old desk which were long and seated about four to a row, it had eight rows, meaning it held 32 children. The teacher went on to explain the school system back then, and that first of all they had english reader books, she had one to show us, then they translated them into french readers, and it was first reader, second reader, third reader. She had this wooden strap, and explained to us that if you were not very bad you would get the strap on the ends of your fingers, but if you were bad the teacher would hit you across the knuckles. ouch!. Having ended her story, she then asked us to join in on an old acadian song, it was fun. The song had the words ma petite Marianne in it.
Leaving the school we proceeded to more houses and through a covered bridge, we saw ducks , we saw cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys, pigs. Old tools , old furniture, it was something to behold, knowing some of our ancestors lived that way, but to our ancestors, it was a way of living and I am sure to them it was an everyday thing, they did not know that the future would get to be so much easier. So we finally ended our walk around the village , and we headed for home a bit tired but very pleased with our day. Our next stop Fort Louisboug in Cape Breton.
Have a great day

The weather is lovely, today it is suppose to be very humid. So not a good time to go out in the sun, since too much sun isn't good for you.
I received an email today from one of my members in my acadianroots group, and every once in a while I get some very nice letters either of appreciation of just a plain nice letter. Today's was about a lady who shares many similar things as I do. We are both into genealogy and we both have the same purpose, and that is to leave something important to our kids and grandkids when we leave this earth. As you all must encounter, for instance, photos , in old boxes, negatives in old boxes, no names, no dates, just a photo. Who were these people? That lady sure looked elegant, who was she? Look at the clothes they wore in those days, gee some of them look similar to some of our latest fashions. So now is the time to identify your photos, maybe making a scrapbook since today that is a hobby, or just create albums and list who these people were, and maybe even where they were living. You never know , maybe somewhere down the line someone will be looking so hard for this info. You can even put all your photos on CDs or DVDs.
They are very important. My grandmother took photos, my mother did to, and I am so thankful that they did.
A diary is also a great thing to do, I would really love to have had a diary written by my grandmother or greatgrandmother, knowing how they thought and felt, and what kind of things were important in their lives.
I cannot give lots of money and things to my grandchildren, but I sure can give them a sense of where they came from and my love.
Have a great day.

well today I went to the cemetery to visit my late husbands grave, it has been seven years today that he is gone. The weather was perfect. I brought him a little bouquet of purple flowers and laid them in front of his stone next to some I had brought to him on fathers day. Time passes by, yet it seemed as if it were yesterday that he was here with me. So many love ones in the cemetery, they were all important to others just like me. If there is an afterlife, then I believe my husband is in heaven playing checkers with my father, with my father cheating haha.
While I was there , I wanted to find another lady's grandfather's stone, so I did find it, and took a photo to send her. I know she is going to be very happy to receive it. I want to return to the cemetery, to copy all the single tombstones that I do have have the names at the moment, I have most of the double tombstones except for the last two years or so. I also want to copy all the veterans , their graves are all located together, with the same kind of stone. Another project in the future. This is one of the reasons memories are something to have and to share, I have memories of my grandchildren's papa with whom I have been sharing with them.
have a great day.

Been sitting here thinking "what would my faithful readers be interested in today?" So thinking back about my school years I remember things we did in school, one thing in paticular was giving and receiving valentines from our classmates. I remember Mom buying big books of valentines, for about one dollar, and me sitting down and addressing them to my friends. Now this was back in the early 1950s when I was around nine or ten. I was so excited when I would get some from my classmates. And my dear Mom saved some of them for me which she gave me long after I got married. I recently got in contact with someone who went to school with me, and it was so nice talking about our teachers, and what we did , where we went, then we wanted to exchange old photos, I did not have any but I found a few things with my friend's name on it and sent it. Plus I found a valentine I had received from this friend. So will share the valentine with you.
have a great day.

What a gorgeous day, but tonight it will be over, thundershowers expected. Today I went to get my hair done, and we have a long drive way to the road, and this little long eared brown baby rabbit was just sitting there. I drove towards him , do you think he would move? no way hosay, I had to open my car door , and yell "get out the road", well he made a beeline into the woods some fast. I did not want to hurt him, and was afraid he would run in front of my car.
There was a flea market nearby, so I went, well I saw some old photos in a old frame, and I began wondering " I wonder who these people were?" No names on the frames, it is such a shame that nothing is marked. I have some old photos given to me by my mother that she doesnt know who them were, they belonged to my grandmother. Again what a shame they cannot be identified. Today there are so many ways to preserve the photos, and marking who the were is a must otherwise our grandchildren one day will inherit the old photos and not have a clue as to who they were.
And if you have any aunts or uncles, who have photos in their possessions, talk to them, have some copies made off of them, ask them about the people in the photos , where did they live? Mark it down, begin a scrapbook , or a family book, you will certainly have made someone happy down the road one day.
Have a great day.

Now is the season for hurricanes and tornados, we had a tornado watch a few days ago, in all my lifetime I cannot remember having such a warning. So I guess the weather is changing , we are having hotter weather than we used to.
Speaking of hurricanes and tornados, our ancestors must have gone through such things, how did they cope? They were not equipped such as we are today.
It would be interesting knowing how they managed would it not?
If they had such tragedies, probably they helped each other rebuild etc. My mother told me in her young days, all the neighbors would help one another build their houses and barns etc, the women made meals, while the men worked. Can you imagine all the women gathered together laughing and gossiping, maybe even singing? Men working with the tools they had, nothing like today, no electric drills and electric saws, just the good old fashion tools.
It would be nice to be able to go back in time, just to take a peep and watch them working, and watch them doing what they liked to do, such as singing, or playing music. Many had no cars, just horses and wagons. When my sister died, the hearse at that time in 1933 was a sleigh and horses, she died in december, and at that time they buried them then.
I went on a sleigh ride when I was newly married and nearly froze to death haha, it was soooooooooooo cold, I think we picked the coldest day in the winter.
have a great day.

If only our ancestors could open their eyes today and tell us stories, wouldn't we be pleased? Browsing through old records , it seems as if they are trying to do just that. For instance in one census you find their families in one area , the next census they are elsewhere, meaning they had moved. Now ask yourself this question , 'why did they move?'. Could it be the head of the household found work elsewhere and moved his family there?
My grandfather was a saw filer, and he was known to be one of the best in his village. He went working in lumber camps all over, in the USA, in Quebec, in Cape Breton. Had my mother not told me this, I would still be looking for him. He also went to a school in Danforth Maine when he was seventeen, and taught school there for a short while. I recently located him through some of my group members being age 17 and a student.
I sometimes wonder if my ancestors were good musicians? Were they good singers? If so I don' t take after them ha ha. I cannot carry a tune, at least I couldnt when I was in school. My class was auditioning for a choir, and my cousin and I went to strut our stuff. I love singing but when I tried out, I think I started to sing O Canada, I hadn't finished the first bar, the nun told me Aline go home you are out of tune. But there are good singers among my cousins.
And my father played the harmonica and the jews harp.
Yes if only our ancestors could open their eyes, what a wealth of information we could have.
Have a great day.

Yesterday I went to my genealogy center again, I feel so at home there, it is quiet and there is such a gold mine to be found, now I know how a prospector must have felt in the olden days. You keep looking for the mother lode, when you hit it , wow. That is the same with genealogy . The fever gets in your blood, you thirst for more information. I have been going there for a long time now, since 1976 , that is thirty years. And I never get tired of going. Yesterday I found some information in old documents that I never knew were there.
I have an acadian genealogy group, and many new members come in seeking help, they have hit brick walls, and they do not live near the acadian center thatI go to, so I am pleased to be able to find some of their brick walls. Yesterday I found information for two of our members , they were pleased.
But I am not the only one helping in our group. This is the first group that I have ever seen help out so much, it is amazing. Yep we are one big family, I am not saying this to drum up business, I am saying this because I am so proud of our group, and I do hope others will get the news that we try very hard to help .
I have created an acadian website also, on it I try to put anything acadian related, I have added music to some of the pages, and the latest thing that I have added is a board to share stories about our acadian ancestors. Even if you have one line that is acadian, then our group is for you, if you had ancestors in Quebec, that originated in Acadie, or if you are in the UK and you had ancestors originally from Acadie, or if you are a descendent from the exiled acadians, yep our group is the place to see. Enough of my boasting, but it does fill out today's blog.
If you are interested at all in Acadian genealogy and making new friends, click on the blue book in my website it takes you to our group,in the meantime just check out our website, I am sure you will find something acadian related you like.
Have a great day. http://www.geocities.com/ize_o_blue/index.html

Well I haven't posted for a few days, so thought I would post tonight. I am sure many of you remember our rock n roll years, the petticoats, the loafers, bobby sox, and the duck tail hair the men wore? Well tonight I went to a little combination restaurant and entertainment on my way home from town, and at the restaurant there was a couple called Linda and Lenny and they played rock n roll, they played the song rocking robin, wow I was impressed so I did what any other old grandma would do , I got up and jived, boy it was fun.
And that reminds me when I was around fifteen or so, and there was this diner up the road, and I remember in the diner were booths and a large jukebox in the corner. The cook made the best hamburgers you ever tasted, and there were usually couples jiving in the middle of the floor, would you believe that there was this man who used to go there and every time he went there he would eat around 11 or 12 hamburgers? I saw him do it. Wow what an appetite he had.
I remember when I was a teenager, my mothers got me a black felt skirt with a pink poodle on the front of it. That was the style back then. Do you remember?
Have a great day.

Well Canada day is over again for another year, Fourth of July is tomorrow. I wanted to go see the fireworks, and in our park we were suppose to have a few different bands playing music, so around 9.30 pm decided to go see, but all of a sudden rain started falling, thunderstorms rolled in, and everything was cancelled, it was sort of a dissappointment.
I wonder how our ancestors celebrated occasions? I do know they had picnic gatherings, that must have been fun for them. What did they do before the radio's came out? I imagine many of them learned how to play music, and entertained their family and friends. It would be nice to go back to a hundred years ago and see how our ancestors really lived. I know the women were busy with their chores, and the men worked in the fields and did some fishing. But what about their leisure time? Some could not read nor write so it makes me wonder. The women knit and sewed , maybe that was their passtimes, the men chewed tobacco , or smoked a pipe ,that could have been their pastimes. What kind of games did their kids play? I wonder how far back the game of hopscoth and kick the can go?
My mother told me, they used to climb trees, and eat the spruce gum, she said they used to go hunting partridge and rabbit when she was young. This would be in the late 1920's.
Mom also said they would go by the river and fish. She said one time her and her brother got into an old rowboat and rowed in the middle of the water and they discovered the old row boat was leaking, so Mom said her brother rowed the boat as fast as he could and she bailed out the water as fast as she could and they made it to safety.
Have a great day.

Happy Canada Day to all you Canadians out there, hope you have a great day, and Happy fourth of July all you Americans out there. I am going to a Barbque today, sure hope the weather holds out.
I must share with you something that I wanted to mention before, I love acadian music, songs, and fiddle and accordion and guitar music, so when I moved here six months ago, I went to a senior dance. What a lovely evening I had. The band played a variety of music, rock n roll, two steps, waltzes, they even had a square dance. Then they played some acadian songs, with the acadian slang in it, for instance they sang mon car a un flat tyre..... typical Shiaque (slang), well did I ever enjoy that song and it reminded me that my late husband and a few of his friends composed a song similar to it when they were young, I still have the song and It would be so nice to be able to put it to music.
My mother once told me that when they were young married her and my dad, they would gather at some neighbors or friends houses and there were always someone either singing, playing the fiddle, or even dancing.
I remember going to a place before I was married in the country, and that is how it was then , the couple who lived there were elderly and he played the fiddle and she tap danced, and everyone would gather there. I loved it.
People seldom went to clubs or bars back then. They made their own fun their own way. Oh , memories are surely something to treasure and share.
Have a great day

Yesterday I went to the genealogy center, when I go there I feel so much at home, compared to the first day I went there. Way back in 1976 I didn't know anything about genealogy but I was very curious on finding my roots, it was thanks to my son who started it as a school project. Anyway the first time I went there, didn't have a clue where to go, because to get to the center downstairs, we have to go in through the library upstairs then go downstairs. I found my way eventually, arriving in that room, didn't have a clue on where things were, what I was allowed to look through. There were drawers and drawers of files, there were books, it was a gold mine. I began slowly, and I received lots of help from a former employer. Then I started getting to know my way around. Censuses, microfilms, newspapers, parish register, you name it I found it. I go there and I relax and I am lost to the outside world. I am at a first name basis with many of the employees, when I stay away for a while, they all say well where have you been?
Sometimes when I am researching there, some people come in to do research and I give them ideas where to look.
One time I was looking at the french evangeline paper, for a death of one of my ancestors, and lo and behold I saw my baptism listed in the newspaper, so that got me on another roll, I then found baptisms of other siblings, tidbits about my grandparents. My books are so thick right now it is unbelievable, it is not in order but it has everything I find in it. I have a book on my mothers side, one on my fathers side, and one on my late husband's side, the last one I gave to my son because his Dad passed away and I found it fitting to give it to him, he really appreciates it. I feel good about doing these books, and sharing what I find with my loved ones.
Have a great day

To begin I must share with you something I received in an email from a friend, apparently he looked out his window and saw this large crow in his back yard, and the crow had something that looked like a snake, but he looked again and no it wasnt a snake it was a fish, then the crow picked up the fish , tried to fly away with it and dropped it, my friend went out to look and guess what it was? It was a large trout, he said that even tho he never went fishing elsewhere ,he was quite a fisherman at home haha, I replied that I heard the saying of it's raining cats n dogs, but never of its raining fish .
Well I thought I had found my elusive Delhuntys, received an email saying there was a David Delhunty burried in Liverpool born 1819 , he would have had been sixteen when my David was born, so nope not him. Checked Cumberland County birth records no names even close.
Tried the McAlpine directory for Cumberland co, not there, they had to have been in Nova Scotia between 1861 and 1867 , their kids were suppose to have been born there. Nova Scotia is a big place , so they must have been there somewhere. Hope it doesnt take me as long as it did to find the year my great grandfather died , been looking since 1976, found him about six months ago. I know there are many of you out there who are also looking for them for me, one day I shall find this elusive family.
Have a Great day.

Well today I would like to mention something in case I have lots of folks reading this blog, I know all you people who are or have done genealogy, family trees, your roots know how sometimes it is very hard to trace your ancestors. Many of our ancestors left canada for the usa in search of work in the late 1800s and early 1900. I know my grandparents married in Massachussetts.
There is a bill preparing to pass in the legislation with plans on closing the vital records in Massachussetts to the public, that means that if it passes we wont be able to find our ancestors, and sometimes there are reasons we need to find them, for instance if we or our kids have some kind of heriditary disease and the doctor would want to know if our people had the same sickness or diseases.
I for one hope that the bill doesnt pass , the bill is H 3642 and H3644, so phone your member of parliament or senate or whoever and oppose the bill, the more that contacts them, the more they will see how important it is to keep the records open to the public.

On another note, next saturday is July first and I have decided to go visit my late husband's grave, it will be seven years the 27 th of July that I lost him to Alzheimers, if anyone is reading this and have loved ones with this dreaded disease, and if you are a caregiver, I have been there and all I would like to say, is no matter what your love ones says to you, or accuses you of, just remember that it is not your love one talking , it is the disease. Enjoy every moment you can with your loved one, I treasure every moment I was with my husband, I feel so good that I spent the last four years with him, day in and day out, I feel good about making him smile, giving him his favorite food as long as he could eat, he used to love his beer and at the end I gave him that non alcoholic beer he never knew the difference, and I gave him his cigarettes until he could not inhale anymore, I know the cigarette is bad for you , I don't smoke, but he was terminally ill and I feel good that I never refused him anything.
So cherish every moment you can with them, I know it is hard, at the end I was all burned out, but between you and me? I would do it all over again.
Have a nice day.

Well now that I know you are all reading these blogs I feel more like sharing with you.
Today I went to a special birthday party for a special girl who turned twelve, yep it is my granddaughter. Boy is she ever growing.
My brother made her a chocolate birthday cake filled with whipped cream and strawberries, talk about good. My daughter in law made hot dogs, with pop and chips.
My granddaughter received nice gifts, she got money and clothes, and a computer game. I gave her a birthday girl china doll with her number 12, She has had one every year since she was born from me. I bought all the dolls with brown hair.
And I gave something to her today that I treasured very much for her to keep. First of all I gave her a image I got when I was in grade seven since now she is taking grade seven, I wrote in the back saying so. Next I gave her a letter i wrote to my mother when I was ten years old and in camp. My granddaughter goes to camp with the girl guides every summer, she read my letter and laughed, I know she will treasure it , it was dated july 1952... I am so glad I could give it to her in person and explain what it was.
Now getting to genealogy, I received some info a few days ago that made a connection on one of my lines. My great great grandmother was a Martin and I found out the connection i was looking for, and for the record I was told that this lady was killed by a bear , she was walking along the road and she saw something move in the ditch, she picked up a branch and hit it thinking it was a dog, but it was a bear and I was told the bear chewed all one side of her. Wish I could find record of that in the newspaper but I looked found nothing.
Have a great day.

Well after many years of tracing my family tree, I am still getting more information. My book sure is getting to be some thick. When I began doing my family tree, I had no computer, so I did it all from checking records, writing to churches, looking at old newspapers, in other words just plain digging. Now I have a photo of my great grandfather's brother taken in the early 1900's with his wife and children. Today thanks to one of my members at my acadianroots club in yahoo, I finally received the names of all of the kids, I wont be able to match the names with the faces, but I will know that they are one on the photo. When I find or receive information on my ancestors it brightens my day. As many of you have brick walls, I have two brick walls, one I dont think I will ever solve, but I have another line, and I have them traced to Deptford England in the late 1790s, where they came from I dont know, they were Abraham Chate married to Ann
they had three children, Abraham born 1795 or 1797 , a Charles and a daughter . I wish I had access to the records at Deptford but unfortanately I don't so I have to rely on hopes that someone will find them in Deptford. Abraham the son came to Canada, used the name Abraham Chase but I found him as Abraham Chate in a land grant in Richiboucto . What a find it would be if I could trace the Chate line in England . I am still looking for a clue as to where David Delhunty and his wife Eliza Butler had their children in Nova Scotia. That is research I am doing for a sick lady that I know, I think I have posted in every county of Nova Scotia, but no results so far. The Delhunty surname has to be spelled differently, I tried so many different soundex, but to no avail so far.
Have a great day.

Well today was father's day here in Canada, and I decided to go to the cemetery to visit my father, the day was lovely, it was really hot and a little breeze so earlier there were less mosquitos. I went to a craft store and picked up a bouquet of blue daisies, they were made of plastic, so they should last quite a while. I placed the flowers in the ground and said to my father, Dad just to let you know I haven't forgotten you....
Next I went to visit my son and his family, wished my son a happy fathers day and had a conversation with my grand daughter, I asked her if I had given her a letter I had written to my mother when I was ten years old and attending camp, she said no, I replied well I have it in my trunk and it will be yours, she then asked me how long I was at the camp and what did I do when I attended . I told her we made stuff from plaster paris, I had made a little bulldog's head, painted it brown, I still have it, and I went swimming and we had sing songs. She just returned from a camping trip today and I asked her what she did , she replied well my favorite thing was making smores. I said what are smores? She replied, well you take two crackers, fill them with chocolate and marshmallows and slap them together and eat them, she said they are my favorites.
She continued to tell me she loved taking pictures, I said you must take after memere which is me, and I said take as many pictures as you can, because when you are big, you will be able to look at them and know that you took pictures of your mom and dad and brother and friends. She smiled.
have a great day.

well yesterday I did something I love doing, I went to do a little research at the centre d'etude acadienne for a few of my club members, I had posted that I would be going soon but on the spurt of the moment , I had to go to the city, so I decided to drop in and look up some information. I hadn't gone there for quite some time , and when I arrived some of the workers said hi, where have you been? It felt good. I found a few things for my acadian group. Then I had a chat with Steve White, who is a fantastic man, he has a memory that is unbelievable. I began talking about some family names who I thought were from Quebec, and then he went on to guide me . I always enjoy my chats with Steve.
Time flies by so fast when I go there. I remember after my husband passed away, I would go there at eight thirty am when it opened, stay until four thirty when it closed, and the day would go by so fast. You sort of get addicted to genealogy, once you start. But it is a good addiction , a great hobby, and it educates you sometimes on the lives of your ancestors.
I learned that my ggrandfather used to travel in search of work, he first went to Nova Scotia, to the USA and back to NB. He would travel around twenty five miles to the city to buy his groceries once a month, he paid fifteen cents for a can of lobster, can you imagine? Yes that is what I enjoy finding most of all.
Have a great day.

Today I would like to talk about something different, to begin with as you know I have been gathering stories told to me by my mother.
Well my mother has had a friend that spanned over 65 years, she met her friend alice when she was fourteen years old, they remained close friends through all their married lives, through the births of all their children, they comforted each other, when they needed to, they never forgot each others birthdays or special occasion, last year my mother's best friend passed away.
They say that sometimes we pass things to our descendents, well could it be true in this case? My grand daughter who just turned twelve has her very special best friend. They have been best friends for over four years now. My grand daughter goes to her friends place most of the time, and sleeps over, they play games, watch television. In school she is by her friends side. One day at the auditorium the principle called my grand daughter to the stage, and congratulated her for being such a loyal and thoughtful friend. My grand daughter replied I play with her because she is my best friend that is all. I am so proud of her because it so
happens that her best friend has ms, and cannot walk , nor run and play, but to my grand daugher it is no big deal, they are best friends.
have a great day.

Today I saw my first bluejay, it came to my bird feeder, but my feeder is small ,so he had a hard time to stay on the perch. The field is full of robins, I have never seen so many robins as I do now. I am going to get another bird feeder for the little finches, I love them, they are so pretty.
I added another page to my grandaughters book that I created for her on the adventures of my mother when she was little. My mom's name is Florence so I called her story book Flossie's adventures. I am so happy my mother could share her stories with me, she had a hard time , her father was away working most of the time, so my mother had to take care of her siblings while her mother worked, plus she had to go to school and do the chores, I have walked where she walked when she was a young girl, and my grandaughter is enjoying every little story I add in her book. I wish I could have written a book about my father, but his memory wasnt good, so not much I could have put about his youth. I have made a little book for my grandaughter also called memere's memories, she enjoyed it also. For my grandson I made him a book on his grandfather Papa, who passed away 7 years ago. I am so glad my husband shared his memories with me also.
When we are young we don't think of stuff like that, we are too busy having fun, but as we grow older , we want to know where we came from, what our grandparents were like and so on. I am always searching, for myself and for others, when I find something relating to my family , it is such a great feeling,
please do not lose your memories, ? share them with your loved ones.
have a great day.

Where oh where has the Delhunty's gone? Well I have been searching for over three years for an illusive family of Delhuntys. Can you believe it ? Three years.
They can not be aliens, they must have been born, but I will not give up. So if any of you out there are reading my blogs, and if any of you stumble across any birth records of the following people, please enter a comment, now I have found all these folks in New Brunswick, so don't go there, I need to find them either in Nova Scotia or PEI. Now Delhunty may have been spelled differently , but the first names will be the same. Here goes
David Delhunty born about 1834, his death records say born in Wallace NS, cannot find him there so far, his father suppose to have been born in Ireland, mother born in NS. David married Eliza Butler 1856 Bostford parish ,Westmorland Co. NB, they had five kids suppose to have been born in Nova Scotia. Maryann or Marion born abt 1859, Joseph 1861, Richard 1866, twins Nancy and Sarah born 1864. also a son John born in NB.
There has to be birth records of these kids with parents david and eliza or liza somewhere.
A lady told me she has been told that there were Penobscot blood in the Delhunty line, could the father of David have married a native american? Maybe that is why I cannot find him..
So as you can see I really am into genealogy and I never give up, somewhere out there , there is an answer, I only need the clues.
have a great day.

What a beautiful day , the sun was shining, woke up to the birds singing.
Went to the library today, I ordered a book called Notre Dame De Grace, Georgetown, Parkton, Moncton. It was a historic book on the parish, which is the parish that I grew up in. I was a bit dissappointed with some parts of it, since none of my relatives were listed in it. It listed some of the first families who settled there, and some who came later, but not my relatives who were among these people. I guess the author wasn't told that my grandfather and his two brothers settled there. The book in itself was good, it brought back memories for me, of the picnic they used to have, the book said the picnics were held to collect money to pay for the new church. Now there was a photo of a group going into the church that I got married in, and I noticed the old buildings in the back ground that are not there today, so I copied one of the photos , will add it to my personal book.I also was pleased to see a photo of one of my teachers in the book.
I enjoy reading about the past, I love looking through old newspapers , especially when I find little tidbits about my relatives or ancestors. Good or bad stuff, it is all the truth, and if any of you are doing your family tree, you have to put in the truth, if they were horse thieves , put that in, if they were doctors, or judges or whatever put that in too. I know I have.
Have a great day.

Went to a service today at a local cemetery, it was raining but the funeral parlor directors handed me an umbrella to shield me from the rain. As I walked though the cemetery to our location, I couldn't help but notice all these stones, all these names on them, I thought to myself, who were these people buried there? Did they have lots of children? What kind of work did they do? Will they all be forgotten? Someone told me a few days ago, I cannot be bothered knowing about my ancestors, I am more interested in what I am doing right now, I want to live in the future, I replied well what I am doing is trying to preserve our future so when we are gone and in the past , our children, grandchildren, or relatives will know that we lived, that we had heartaches, that we were alive once just like they are.That we are not just a name on a tombstone. And that is the reason I have a love for genealogy, I want to leave something behind of myself when I leave this earth, something that will make someone happy in the future and that I had a part in doing such. I want my grandchildren to tell their grandchildren about their memere and papa, how they loved them , and stories memere shared with them...... Think about it? Would you not love to be able to share some of your memories with your loved ones? Now is the time to sit down ,write notes, or a diary, even if you are young and just starting out your lives, five years from now you wont remember little daily things, like the day you got married, who was there? The birth of your baby , how much did it weigh? Funny things that happened in your family, all that may be interesting for others to read, some tragedy that happened, lotteries you won? Contests you entered , I could go on and on, but the end result is still the same....... Share your memories, I am so happy my husband shared a lot of his memories with me, that I have passed down to my grandson about his papa, because my husband got Alzheimers and lost all his precious memories before he passed away..... It can happen so suddenly, share your memories before it is too late.
Have a great day.

Today I went to an old Acadian place called Bouctouche in New Brunswick Canada. Many Acadians can trace one or more of their ancestors from that area. I have been going to Bouctouche since I was newly married, my father in law's people came from there. What I love about Bouctouche is its seashores, its friendly people. It is not a big place. Driving along the main street, you will see a service station, a tim horton coffee shop, a big Kent store, a shopping mall, a place to get good lobster, plus restaurants, and that is where I went today. The restaurant caters to some of my favorite food, poutine rappee, crepe rappee and rappee pie, I took the rappie pie, loaded it with white sugar and ate till my heart was contented. Rappee pie is made by grating potatoes, adding pork , to it, some use flour others use mashed cooked potatoes to their mixture and it is baked in the oven, with a golden crust. mmmmmm. I make mine a bit different but they all are very tasty. So if ever you come down to New Brunswick , be sure to try some of our acadian dishes.
If you follow the shore line and go towards Bouctouche Bay, you will come across the Dunes, now when I first used to go there , it was just a long sandbar, we used to cross over via row boat to dig bar clams, now they have converted it to a tourist attraction, made a long boardwalk, it is nice, and there is a lovely beach there also. Before that they made it into a tourist place , my late husband and I would drive there , stop at a take out and order some fried clams, park the car facing the water and watch the boats and the birds, and sometimes the swimmers, it was a relaxing and lovely way to pass the day. Ah Memories , something to cherish, and to pass along.
have a great day.

Today I would like to talk about my acadianroots club and its members. I started this group not knowing if it would work or not, but I wanted a place that would focus on acadian genealogy . Now I am part acadian, part english, there is some irish in me, and maybe even native american , but there are lots of groups for english, irish, etc , not much for acadian genealogy, oh there is some places but I wanted a place where folks would come and seek help and be willing to help also, and I now have it, my members are super , you wouldn't believe how we are all one big family, connected one way or another, the help they dish out is unbelievable, now I am not doing this to drum up business , I cannot voice this just anywhere, just yesterday a newcomer came in seeking help on Gallant's, he or she has found the answer already thanks to some of our members, I am very proud of all of them. And I created a website that connects to my group at
http://www.geocities.com/ize_o_blue/index.html

now on a humourous note, I have started a blog on my gardening, and am trying to add humor to it, you can check it out at
http://gardeningwoes.blogspot.com

have a great day.

Treasures or Thrash, well today I found treasures at the yard sales. you never know what you will find , today I went to a community yard sale. The village set up today as such, and had a list of the ones who participated, the list was free, I picked it up at a garage and this morning I was up bright and early, and on the road before eight am. I picked up a faceless doll that stands in the corner for one dollar, wow expensive huh? then I picked up a wresting belt for my grandson , fifty cents, then I picked up some books 4 for one dollar, a painting for one dollar, a lobster shaped wine bottle holder (liked the lobster), and then I found my treasure, I am into acadian genealogy , been at it since 1976 and lo and behold I saw two acadian related books, just like new, one dollar each, of course I did'nt walk by and leave it for others, grabbed it as fast as I could. You never know what you will find. I have a few items I am searching for, so before yard sale season is over, I will find them. But looking for genealogy books is my first priority.
Have a nice day.

Just looking through my photo albums, sure brings back good memories, seeing my late husband, my son when he was little, my grandchildren as they were growing , I know maybe some of you do not believe in photos, but I do, it has been handed down from my grandmother, she used to take pictures with an old box camera, she took pictures of her kids from the time they were little, I have a photo of mom taken in 1921 she was only three, I have her at 18mts of age, then my mother inherited photo taking she has photos of us kids since we were babies. I am doing the same, took pictures all my married life, and guess what? My grandaughter loves taking pictures.
The reason I was looking though my album is because my grandson would like me to make him a little book about his dog Fluffy, now Fluffy is 12 years old and she was sick a few weeks ago, and we thought we would have to have her put down but we tried everything and she got better, so I am going to make my grandson a little story of Fluffy, I found some photos of her when she was just a pup.And I am going to tell the story as if I am Fluffy. Something that he will treasure I am sure.
have a great day.

What a nice feeling when you stumble upon something important, especially in genealogy. Today I went for a drive to Saint Paul kent Co. NB. A spurt of the moment thing, I turned into the Saint Paul Church Cemetery, and I noticed a lot of old tombstones at the top of the hill, but I continued to the bottom of the hill, there were two areas with stones, the right side which were newer stones and the left side which had earlier stones. I saw a familiar name, so I got out of the car and walked around. Lo and Behold , there was the stone of my grandmother's sister. And buried all near her were her sons, and one daughter. All in the same general area. Now I am so pleased that I want to go there one day and transcribed all the names off all the stones, it will be a long process but I enjoy it. I keep thinking but doing so, I will stumble upon some information that I do not have. So far I have four transcribed cemeteries in my possession, and three of those I did myself.
If you get bored one day and need something different to do, go to your nearest cemetery with a book and pen, or a camera and take or copy all the names and dates on the stones, then if you are not interested , donate the info to your local genealogy society, you may not know it, but you will be making a lot of people very happy along the way. I do mine because I do know someone will profit with my information.
Have a nice day.

Well today I would like to talk about my grandchildren, I have two grandchildren and they are my pride and joy but that includes my son too.
My son was sort of a confirmed bachelor like his Dad was, so never did I ever think he would marry and bless us with two little angels, but he did surprise us by marrying the daughter of an old classmate of mine, not knowing that I knew her.
When my daughter in law got pregnant for her first one, my husband had just been diagnosed with the beginning of Alzheimers, so when we were told about becoming grandparents, my husband and I were estatic over the news. When the time came that my daughter in law went in for the baby, my husband, and I, my daughter in law's parents, her sister and brother in law were all waiting in the waiting room , for the good news. This nurse came out of the delivery room and had this little bundle, we asked what it was and she said your son wants to tell you the new, and she continued we have to take HER to the nursery now. So we knew it was a girl, then my son came and made the grand announcement and we all went up to the nursery (all of us). Then we saw her, she was laying on her tummy, and the sweetest little angel you have ever seen. We were so excited, from then on my husband became papa and I became memere, we enjoyed her so much, laughed at all her little actions. Two years later we were blessed with a grandson, and I was so glad because he is the only one to carry my husband's name down, my husband was so proud of him, and of my grandaughter.
My husband started getting worse with his disease and became bed ridden, I took care of him at home, had a hospital bed set up in the living room and the grandkids came to visit. One day my grandaughter was playing on the floor with her toys, we were all sitting on the sofa and chair, my husband lay in the bed facing the wall, and my grandaughter got up (she was four years old) never said a word, walked over to the other side of the bed and touched her papa's hand and said "Me Love You Papa". That was the most touching thing that i ever saw.
I am so grateful that my husband got to see both his grandchildren before he passed away, it is the greatest gift I could have.
have a nice day

Yesterday was a great day, just from sheer luck I had contact with an old school classmate, we were in the same class for four years, and he stumbled into my brother's yard to ask directions, and my brother thought he had gone to school with him, and they began chatting and my brother had old photos that he was to share with him, well when my brother mentioned his name to me, I said no he never went to school with you , he went to school with me, my brother gave him my phone number and we have been in contact, what a nice feeling to talk to some of my old classmates, he has sent me some photos I was searching for.And we are invited to his place for an acadian dish his wife is making (poutine rappees),Mmmm I love poutines they are an old acadian dish that I remember my grandmother making, they are made from grated potatoes, mixed with cooked mashed potatoes, shaped in a ball with diced pork in the middle, and boiled, they look like a snowball, but sometimes they are light grey in color, but very very good with sugar or salt. Do not be fooled by their looks They ARE good.
have a great day

Today is another day, and everyday I am anxious to see if I will have good news or find answers to my brick walls in my family tree. This morning coming down the stairs I noticed my hummingbirds were here, this is a new home , in the country, lots of fresh air and little wild animals. I was told that the hummers were back , so off to the store I went picked up two hummingbird feeders, one is a red apple, the other is the standard feeder. So yesterday I put in the feed , hung them out, and lo and behold I came downstairs and there were these little tiny hummers, flying to and from the feeder, what a lovely site. I would love to be able to take a picture of them , but the zoom on my camera is not good, I will try it and see.
Then I phoned my Mom as I do quite regular, she is 88 and has a great memory, today she told me a story which I have already typed and saved for my grand daughters book that I made her. Today Mom told me that she went to an english school when she was young because her father found it to be too far to go to the french school, which was seven miles away, and my mom, her brother and two cousins were the only french in that one room school. The school had all the grades in the same room.
My grandfather was protective of his children and if others picked on them, he would go to their fathers, he had a saying that everyone was equal, there were no one better than anyone else, if you were english, or if you were french you were both equal, if you were colored, white, native american, chinese,etc you were all equal, (I think my grandfather was a smart man).
He made sure his children were educated, after school it was homework time if they had a problem he would help solve it. So I wrote all this down for my grandaughter, and at the end I closed with the following sentence
So even a long time ago, school was very important, one day you could become
a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a teacher or whatever you wanted to be.

have a great day.

So little time and so much to do. Time goes by so fast, seems as if I just wake up and it is time to go to bed. I guess when we are young we do not notice this and it seems as if our days are endless. Ah memories, our youth. When I was young, we used to love to be outdoors, we used to go skating in the winter, no matter how cold it was. Mom would tie a scarf around my mouth and nose. We went skating different places , mostly were we could find a patch of ice. I enjoyed going to the skating rink , because there they had music to skate too, and there were lots of kids my age. Now mind you I was not a good skater, but I put one foot in front of the other and hoped I would stay upright . Also at the skating rink there were little huts where we could put on or take off our skates, and they had a round wood stove that would keep the hut warm. As soon as our hands and feet would warm up , off to the rink we would go.
Since I came from a family of seven ,times were not always easy, so for a while we had no sleds or tobaggans, we used to take a piece of Cardboard from an old cardboard box, and use it as a tobaggan, we used to walk quite far to go sliding, the coal pile was our favorite place, the hills were high, and there were always loads of people there. After a day of fun we would walk back home, tired but happy. One christmas morning a new tobaggan was waiting near the tree for us, what a happy surprise. Yes those were the days.

have a great day, and cherish your memories.

Sitting here at my computer , and thinking , what can I add to my blog today? How many are reading this? And I wonder how many know what genealogy is all about? When I first heard the word genealogy, didn't have a clue as to what it was, to me I would have said doing my family tree, or my roots. Do any of you remember the story of Roots, about the african boy who was captured and sold into slavery? And the story continues with his sons and so on? I enjoyed that movie so much not because the boy was a slave but because it was based on some truth. I had begun my genealogy way before that movie, but since that movie aired many have become curious about their own roots. And that is a good thing. I would love to one day walk on the soil of my ancestors, in England and France. When I find some little stories, or tidbits about my ancestors, it is just as if I won the lottery. Sometimes I phone my mom and say , Mom do you know what I found? Did you know your great grandfather sold his land to the church? Did you know that the bell in the steeple was named after him? Do you know he wrote a letter around 1880 and it is in the archives?
On my mother's side there are oodles of information, but on my father's side I cannot find as much (so far), that doesnt mean that I am quitting, it just means I have to dig some more.
I do know that when my dad was young he hopped a train went up to Vancouver from New Brunswick, in those times many used to hop or ride the train to get to where they wanted to go, times were hard so that is how they travelled. My father worked in Vancouver until he had enough money saved and he rode the train (by paying) to come back home.
have a nice day.

Family Reunions are a must, yesterday we made my mom a surprise birthday party, she was 88 years old, and my family and i wanted a get together with her friends and relatives while she was able to enjoy them, it was pretty well planned, I did the invites, and my brother who lived with Mom makes all occasion cakes, so the plan was that he was making a cake and decorating a hall for a wedding, and my brother doesn't drive so Mom was to drive him up with the cake,now we wanted Mom to be dressed for the occasion so my sister in law phoned mom and told her she was taking Mom out to celebrate her birthday for mom to be ready for nine pm and she would pick Mom up at her house. My grand niece phoned to ask my brother to borrow a camera, she would pick it up at 8pm, so at 730 my brother said ok Mom drive me to deliver the cake first, so Mom left a note on the door for my grand niece saying wait I will be back at 8pm. Now I needed to get the key to the hall from my brother in order to open the door, so I went to Moms, brought her her mothers day card, said I was going to the restaurant and had to hurry.
Once at the hall, I had things to set on the tables, lunch to put in the fridge, and guest to welcome , well I am sure we had around one hundred guest, mostly all relatives, cousins I hadnt seen in quite a while, what a reunion, and Mom was so happy, we took photos, my brother made a special video for all to see, which started with my grandparents, their marriage certificat, then the birth certificate of my mom and photos of her as a little girl , growing up , when she met my father , then her kids , photos of her grandkids, and great grand children, what a beautiful video, my cousins were so excited because there were some of their parents on the video also. I shall be getting a copy of the video, as will my son. It was so nice seeing my mother mingling with the friends and relatives, she may be 88 but that didnt slow her down, she was at every table, talking and laughing.We also took a photo of her and five generations. Mom, my brother, his daughter, her daughter, and her daughter . That is something I wish we had done before my father passed away, but it was too late to do so. In concluding I would just like to say, capture all the memories, photos, stories that you can, enjoy them, save them, someone in the future may enjoy that so much.
have a great day.

Well haven't had time to come and do my blog , made a hill today for my giant pumpkin, and the little black flies were awful, they seem to like the taste of me , haha. So you can be sure I made that hill some fast. But my pumpkin is growing so big in the house I am afraid that when I put it out it will be too big and may not take, so I have started another seed , just in case.
Came across this genealogy joke today, wanted to share it with you.
A gentleman pays a genealogist a lot of money to find his family roots. The researcher discovered this his great grandfather was the first person to be exucuted when the electric chair was installed in sing sing prison. Undaunted, the man had the genealogist record that his great grandfather once occupied the chair of applied electricity at a leading New York institution. haha.
But there is something that I must say , seriously, when you trace your family roots, you do not hide what happened, if some were arsonist, or murderers, or anything , it should not be covered over, because we are who or what we are. Most of us have skeltons in our closets of one sort or another, but remember, the truth is what matters , I want to know about my ancestors, I am here because of them, without them I would not be here. So I write down whatever they did, good or bad...... That is what genealogy is all about , our ancestors and the truth about them.
have a great day.

Well soon it will be time to put in our gardens, yesterday they tilled my garden, the weather was really nice, and it puts us in the mood to think about gardening does it not? My garden is not too far from the house ,so I shall be able to run a long hose to water it. Now we have a contest going on this year, my brother in law has accepted to be in the contest with us, we are going to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin, well I never grew big pumpkins ever, so I started three seeds, one did not take, one is small but one is really really big, I mean the leaves are huge, I hope I will be able to transplant it without losing it, but just in case I am going to start another seed. I am going to build a large hill, cover it with black plastic to keep the soil warm. I will not put the plant in the garden until the middle of June. I also want to plant some herbs, summer savory for one, basil, not sure what else yet.
Our ancestors did not have modern tools like we have today, no tillers, they had horses and oxens, I imagine they worked much harder than we did . And they worked from dust till dawn, which we do not, I expect on running to the garden (fast so the mosquitos don't get me heh heh) watering it, and to the house i go, and as for the weeding I really dread it haha. But what must be done must be done.
My mom told me that her parents used to put in a big garden, and my grandmother used to preserve her crop by salting them down. She would put coarse salt in a barrel, put a layer of string beans, then a layer of salt, then a layer of string beans, mom said it was all salted in a brine. And when my grandmother wanted to cook some stringbeans ,she would boil the beans in three waters or until the salt was gone. She would do the same for a lot of her meats, and fish. I tried salting the string beans a long time ago, boy they were salty haha.
have a great day.

Yesterday the weather was nice, decided on the spurt of the moment to take my camera and go to an old cemetery about two miles from my home and transcribe the stones. So off I went, parked my car in the cemetery, brought my briefcase in case I needed a pen.
The cemetery is in Saint Antoine , it is the oldest of two catholic cemeteries, so I was curious to see if I had any ancestors buried there. I took the picture of a large cross at the front of the cemetery, but when I tried to take photos of the stones, the sun was too bright and the photos were not good, and some of the stones were to hard to see the writings. So off to the car I went, got out a book and a pen and started from the front , copied all that I could from the stones. I never thought I could do the entire cemetery in one day , but I did the entire cemetery except for a few stones in the far back, of the children, but I am returning to do those too. It is a shame that so many tombstones were broken and just laying there. I wish I could have lifted some of them but they were too heavy. I don't know if the village will restore the stones but I sure hope so. There were fifteen rows in the cemetery , some rows had 12 stones some had 20, now I need to recopy them , since I was in a hurry and it was getting late, I used my own shorthand for instance, Goguen became Gog, Robichaud became Rob, LeBlanc became LeB, so as you can see I took shortcuts in order to get it done, by the time I was finished the winds had picked up and blowing my book pages. But all in all it was worth a little effort on my part and a job that needed to be done for others doing genealogy like me.
Have a great day

Have you ever stopped and listen to the sounds of nature? Last night I listened to the sound of the crickets and the frogs. In the evening is when these critters seem to come alive. Have you ever just sat outdoors and looked at the stars in the sky? Once in a while you see a plane flying by. What a nice way to relax after a stressful day. I remember when I was little sitting on a swing in the park, listening to the sound of the trees moving to and fro, and just daydreaming.
When I was a young girl the fad was singing from song books, and to tell you the truth I couldn't hold a note, but I loved to sing, so I would make sure there was no one around when I went on the swings, and I would just sing as long as I wanted to , until my heart was content.
Now days if you did that there could be someone hiding in the bushes with a tape recorder haha. But honestly I think my singing has improved (slightly ). I remember going to visit my grandmother when I was around twelve years old, and she lived iin an upstairs apartment, and I remember going up the stairs one time, she was baking brownies, and she was singing
"why do you treat me as if I were only a friend". She was a lovely lady , every christmas she bought or made something for all her kids and all their partners and all their kids. Now Granny had eight kids, plus their spouses plus their kids, so she would gather stuff all year long for the following christmas to give to all of us. And do you know that her present to me was always special, I knew Granny was giving me something, even if it was just a hanky, or a pair of mittens that she made, I looked forward to her gift to me.
have a great day.

Remember I told you about my mother's grandmother who planted an apple orchard by hand and never seen it bear fruit? Well I am going to try and add a photo of her, if I can succeed, notice the clothing they wore and notice her resemblance to granny clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies? She died in 1929 so this photo was taken in the early 1900s sometimes.Yes I succeeded, so the gentleman on the left if my great grandfather Ferdinand D'Amboise and his wife Domithilde Williams dit Bristol. She died in Saint Paul in 1929, my grandmother was pregnant for one of my aunts at the time, and Ferdinand died in 1933 when my mother was pregnant for her first child.
I had also mentioned in another blog that I have a copy of a telegram sent in 1893, well i had the original one stating that Ferdinand's father Joseph had passed away, Ferdinand was living in Marshalltown NS at the time. Hope you have enjoyed reading todays blog.
As you can see, it is nice to match a photo to a story, or a story with a photo. have a great day.

Can you imagine moving from your friends, relatives, from your native land for the unknown? I wonder how our ancestors felt about doing just that. Some of my ancestors came from France, although at the time the country wasn't very settled, but they came over some hired to come work in the New Land. Some of my ancestors came from England, one was a man by the name of Abraham Chate, he had family in England but he came over the ocean to Canada. He was a stranger in the village where he married a Girouard girl. Did he speak english and she spoke french? I wonder. I would love to go to the homeland of some of my ancestors, to Deptford England, to Amboise France, to La Rochelle etc.
And the expulsion of the Acadians, can you imagine never seeing your parents again, or brothers and sisters? The trip on those ships must have been terrifying, so crowded and going towards the unknown. Can you imagine having to learn how to survive in the strange lands? I read stories about our ancestors and their hardships, could we go through all that today? I don't think we would be strong enough, we are too spoiled I guess .
As a matter of fact, from my mother's time when she was young things have changed so much, she had to cut wood, pile it up, carry water, hunt, i cannot see me doing that now, so the same goes for our kids , when I went to school I had to walk, and there were no school cancellations either, winters were harder than they are now, we had to dress warm and brave the weather, now days if there is light snow, schools are cancelled, kids take buses to and back from school or their parents drive them. Although now it is more dangerous than it was back then, so I guess it is a good thing to know our kids will be safe. I wouldn't want to see my grandchildren have to walk to school, or brave hard weather , nor have hardships, as I imagine our ancestors would say the same thing about us.
have a great day.

Like the song says "it's great to be alive". A few days ago I went to Moncton and on my way home stopped at a park called Mapleton Park, it is a beautiful park, and it was the first time I went in it. There are lots of walking trails, with benches along the way, I crossed a bridge over a little stream, saw a duck looking for fish, it was so quiet, so peaceful, and I never realized that so many people walked that trail, many walked their dogs. I want to go there again, bring a lunch and just sit there for awhile, and I want to take my camera with me, Had I taken my camera I could have taken a picture of the duck that I saw.We have another park called Centennial Park which is a great place to go and take your children, they have a playground, swimming pool, walking trails and a lake filled with ducks, they have peddle boats if you want to go for a ride on the water. I used to go to Centennial Park when I was in my early teens, but at that time it was known as Natural Park, I used to go with some other kids my age, and we used to go there via a certain way, and today I know we were awful stupid, we crossed a place called the 31 tracks, and we would either go under the boxcars or over them, little did we realize that they used to shunt the cars (move them), we could have been seriously hurt. Then we took a path in the woods, (to me at the time it seemed like I walked miles in the woods, but it wasnt that far). Walking through the woods my imagination would go wild, thinking about a handsome prince, or seeing some wild animals that were friendly , or stumbling upon some treasure or coming across a little house in the woods. All these things are nice to remember.
So take a walk through a park, sit on a bench and write down your good things, to share with others as I am doing with you.
Have a great day.

Today I went to town, the weather was beautiful, saw a rabbit running into the woods, since I have been living here I have seem so many wild rabbits in the nearby field, It is fun watching them. I haven't seen a deer so far, last year the fields were full of them, but there are two dogs here so they could be stopping the deer from coming out of the woods.
Stopped over at my mother's house, I enjoy going there, she is so interesting to listen to, today we talked about who was buried in what cemetery, and when she moved to Moncton the old Elmwood Cemetery was there and it was there during her mother's time. Mom was telling me that it is too bad that we never had a chance to talk with her grandmother, or great aunts about their lives, but Mom told me her grandmother Domithilde planted an apple orchard near Saint Paul, Mom remembers them when the trees were a foot high but her grandmother never lived to see the trees bear fruit, and I have gone along that dirt road and the apple orchard is still there, my great grandmother died in 1929 , my mother was born in 1918 so Mom would have been 8 or 9 years old back then. I wish I had lots of stories about my father, his memory was a lot like mine haha, what I learned about my father, my mother told me. She married him when she was 13 and a half years old, and was brought up into his family of 16 kids, my dad's mother taught my mother how to make bread. My father loved to rock in his rocking chair and sing some little fast tunes, he could play the harmonica and the jews harp, he loved to play cards, and play checkers, he loved his bingo also.I have lots of photos on my mother's side of the family when she was young ,but not many of my father, I have a school picture of him age 13 in grade three taken at the saint mary school in moncton, it is not a clear photo but he was identified in it.
oh something else I want to add, as you know I am trying to talk you into preserving your memories to pass down to your descendents, I have all my report cards from grade one to grade eight and I ordered some school returns of my class years and copied all the names who were in my class those years, our age, days we attended , days we missed , another thing to pass down to others in my family, somewhere along the line there will be some of our descendents or relatives looking for info on us, so I know when I am gone, I left part of me behind.
have a great day

I am still on this memory bit, remembering the past and pleased with what I am doing, I am pleased because I have two grandchildren who are my pride and joy, of couse my son is also my pride and joy, when the grandkids were little I began creating their birthday cards, we used to have create a card, it was a machine that would let you make your greeting cards, so I tried my luck at creating them, so a few days before I would make them I began doing little poems, I will share two of them with you, I have made copies of the poems so that years from now if they tossed out the cards , they will read these and know that their memere did that for them long ago.
Another birthday for Christina Marie
Today she has reached the big age of three
She's cute as a button, and twice as sweet
From the top of her head to the tip of her feet
She's a little sweetheart to her pepere
And a cute honey bunny to her memere
So hugs and kisses we send her way
With lots of love on her special day.


There's someone special
His name is DeeDee
Today is his birthday
He is now three
A little man
He's grown to be
And loved a lot
By papa and me
We hope your party
Will be lots of fun
From the time it starts
Till the time it's done
Happy Birthday DeeDee
Love Memere and Papa.

have a great day

What a beautiful day, the sun is shining, grass is greener, and yesterday I went for an ice cream in Bouctouche NB. I enjoy stopping for ice cream once in a while , while out sunday driving. In the summer I enjoy stopping at a rest area, where there are picnic tables (especially near the water) having a lunch. I remember when I was around ten years old, my father had an old pick up truck and every weekend he would take people to the beach , (for a fee), my brothers, sisters, and I would sit in the back of the truck, I remember my mother saying ,"you kids sit near the front , and stay there". I remember passing certain buildings during our ride to the beach, and when we hit a place called Gilbert's Corner, we got a glimpse of the ocean, then we got excited. We went to a beach called Caissie Cape, and it was so nice. I remember walking along the shore picking up shells. Then my mother would spread a couple of blankets on the sand, and unpack her lunch and when we came out of the water, she would call us over. Our lunch was usually devilled ham sandwiches and root beer or orange pop. They were the best sandwiches to us at that time, even if there sometimes was sand on them. heh heh.
I used to love the water, I would try and swim under water , but couldn't hold my breath very long. My father also took up clam digging and quahawg picking, now clam digging was easy, we walked along the shore on the sand looking for holes , when we saw the holes we took the shovel and dug, sometimes the holes were not clams "they were worms , yuck I didn't like those" we would fill our pails with the clams and steam them, take some of the juice add a pat of butter and soak our clams in them, mmm very tasty, and for the quahawgs (which is also a shelled fish) we would walk in a certain area in the water about waist high, feel on the bottom of the ocean with our feet until we felt a hard shell, then we would pick them , they looked like a big bar clam . I only started eating those once I was married, my husband used to eat them all the time , one day I got brave and tried one, they are very good tasting and salty.
About two years ago I tried my luck at Dulse Picking, now that is something I don't think I want to do again at my age, what we had to do is wait for the lowest tides to happen, once the tide was low we had to walk out into the ocean on some rocks, I would say a couple of miles or so, but to me it seemed so far away, we wore boots on our feet because we had to walk on huge rocks, until we found the dulse, which is like a seaweed , but grows on rocks, it is purple in color and slimy when we pick it, then we dry it in the sun. Anyway getting back to the picking , you have about an hour or so to get out in the ocean, pick the dulse and hurry back to land before the tide comes back in, well I don't have to tell you that I was the FIRST one back on land , as soon as I saw a ripple of a hint that the tide was coming in , I started back to shore. whew I made it. But I did try something I had never done before. Aww it is so nice to sit back, think about the good times , the happy times.
So in ending today I would like to say, start some kind of diary if you are young, and if you are older write your memories in some books. Save them.
Have a great day.