Looking through a book on Bouctouche I had loaned from the library, I came across the photo on the left of this little gothic church. For the ones of you who know Bouctouche, you should recognize the area, it is towards the Bouctouche Bay or Fond De La Baie in french, on the left you can see the old Bouctouche Convent which today is converted into a museum. Notice the road wasnt paved.

Now the church you see in the photo, was built around the late 1890s, notice the gothic design, I find it was very pretty. It was situated on the former property of Jacques Cormier who married Osite Pothier in 1770. They called this area Pointe a Jacquot (Jacquot Point).I don't know who Jacques passed the land to before the building of the church, I have not searched for that info yet. The church burned in 1921.So they decided to build a new church in the village of Bouctouche, the foundation for the new church was built in 1926. So for the ones who have ancestors born, married or died before 1921 this would be the church where their services were held.

I have a few ancestors who were in the Bouctouche area, so this gives me a sense of knowing a bit more of the past.My late husband's Cormier line came from Bouctouche, his line descends from Jacques Cormier and Osite Pothier.My grandmother's line descends from Amand Cormier brother of Jacques.

Hope you enjoyed today's blog. Have a great day

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First of all I want to share this joke I received with you.
Birth control thru the eyes of a child A six-year-old boy told his father he wanted to marry the little girl across the street. The father, being modern and well-schooled in handling children, hid his smile behind his hand. "That's a serious step," he said. "Have you thought it out completely?" "Yes," his young son answered. "We can spend one week in my room and the next in hers. It's right across the street, so I can run home if I get scared of the dark." "How about transportation?", the father asked. "I have my wagon, and we both have our tricycles," the little boy answered. The boy had an answer to every question the father raised. Finally, in exasperation, his dad asked, "What about babies? When you're married, you're liable to have babies, you know." "We've thought about that, too," the little boy replied. &nb sp; "We're not going to have babies. Every time she lays an egg, I'm going to step on it!"

smile.
Well I am still working on my Grand Digue Cemetery in my website, I am nearly all finished adding the names that were in the cemetery. I am hoping that through all my work that it will benefit someone. Yesterday I met someone I went to school with during my first 8th grades, and we were saying , it is good to share memories, and preserve them, he is collection old photos and going to donate them to the genealogy center, I think that is a great idea. Years from now, someone will know what our times were like , what their ancestors looked like. He created a book, with lots of photos of his family and stories and he gave them to all his siblings. I thought that was so nice and to some I am certain the book is very precious.
Last month I went to my grandson's birthday party and I created a storybook for him on his dog Fluffy because Fluffy is old and they nearly lost her, so I created the story as if I were Fluffy tell ing the story. And I had already given my grandaughter a book I made about my mother's adventures when she was little. My mother told me another little story so I made the page up and brought it along to the party. I gave it to my grandaughter and there were lots of her friends there, but she took the page, and ran upstairs with it to put it in her book. That made me feel so good. My daughter in law told me that she is really taking care of the book that her memere made for her.
Have a great day
Aline

Hello, today I would like to share an old story with you that I found in the Moniteur Acadian, which is an old french newspaper. First of all I found a little tidbit about my ancestor Narcisse Chase, and it mentioned that the article was in the moniteur, it gave the page and the year.
So while I was at the Centre D'etude meeting Lucie, I browzed through the microfilm, to the date that I had. Well I found it, it was all in french so I am going to translate it for you the best that I can. The date was August 8 1879. (That was a long long time ago). Headline read
Terrible Tornado (Cyclone in french) in Bouctouche. (New Brunswick Canada).
Wednesday around 6 o'clock at night a thick cloud appeared in the south and headed towards the north. A storm was announced but the clouds continued their way and it seemed to pass us except for a rain that lasted only a few hours.Yesterday morning a dispatcher from Bouctouche put all our town in awe.The announcement was that the storm that passed here at six pm had struck there as a tornado.It struck the church, rectory and 80 homes, sweeping the normal harvest at sea, destroying part of the large bridge and killed four people. It was a disaster like nothing we have ever had on our shores. Our correspondents headed for the disaster area and returned with his report.
At Rivere des Hache Joseph LeBlanc =barn destroyed.Aime F Robichaud =barn destroyed.
Ls B Allain= Barn and House lifted and damaged. Anselme Leblanc =barn destroyed, David PH Cormier=house and barn completely destroyed and an abandoned house lifted.
Ls Denis Cormier =barn destroyed and one side of roof destroyed (this abandoned house belonged to MM Bourque. The 7 or 8 buildings of McAuley destroyed.Powell's tannery =crushed.
The new Bouctouche school built last year with desks costing more the $1200. destroyed.
Trees were uprooted. Roofs of the mill blown away.A brand new barn being built, destroyed.
Alexis Roy,his house, two barns and other buildings destroyed along with his equipment.
Jean-Baptiste Marin Girouard=house demolished. Narcisse Chase house totally swept away, All around him is a scene of debris some wood as deep as six feet in the earth.
Ls Meunier =barn destroyed. Simeon Allain =barn lifted and put back , kitchen swept away, house nearly crumbled.Anselme Allain =nice house newly finished last year, his old one and 2 barns completely destroyed.His trees uprooted. Philip Cormier=new house garage and barn destroyed. Meleme Cormier=barn destroyed ,kitchen damaged and part of his house destroyed.
Clement Cormier =barn destroyed. Francois Bastarache-barn and house levelled.
David Hubert Cormier= house and 2 barns completely destroyed.Olivier LeBlanc =barn destroyed.The ones who perished were the wife of Etienne Duplessis who was bedridden was found dead in the rubbles of her home, An indian lady Jeanne wife of Thadee Nicolas crushed by the chimeny Bricks, A child of Alexis Roy age 2 died. The injured were Alexis Roy in grave condition, Mrs Jean Baptiste M Girouard fractured skull, Narcisse Chase carried with the debris of his house received serious concussions along with his wife and two of his daughters.
Anselme Allain sick in bed was rescued from his home with cuts and bruises.A grandaughter of Philippe Cormier burned her foot on the stove.Two daughters of Thomas Ward broken legs.An indian widow of Marin Nicelas fractured skull,broked wrist, several fingers in serious condition,two young indians fractured arms,a child of Nita Girouard died.

Wasn't that terrible? So years ago there were tornadoes, hurricanes and bad storms. For the ones of you who's families mentioned above are your ancestors, save this article. Mention who your ancestors were, I have Narcisse Chase in my line he was my fathers great grandfather, he was married to Marie Martin.....
Have a great day.
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Well yesterday I went to the centre d'etude Acadienne to say goodbye to Lucie LeBlanc Consentino. When I arrived ,there were quite a few doing research. Lucie was looking at some records. We chatted a bit and decided to go to Fort Beausejour and to the Beaubassin site. Lucie told me each time she comes to New Brunswick she does her Fort Beausejour pilgrimage.

Arriving at Fort Beausejour, we looked over towards the water, the water was a rusty brown. It was very windy. Looking down from the Fort I thought to myself ,this is what the acadians at the fort probably saw as they looked out from the fort. Just to walk where our ancestors walked so many years ago is something I think very special.

Later we left Fort Beausejour and made our way to Fort Lawrence, formerly the village of Beaubassin. As you know Beaubassin was the first major settlement outside of Port Royal. That is where one of my ancestors Thomas a Robert Cormier settled, he became one of the most prosperous men in Beaubassin.

There is a monument erected in memory of the acadians who lived in Beaubassin, but the names are of the last acadians who were there, Thomas Cormier was not listed on the monument so he must not have been there at the time.

Beaubassin would be an ideal place to create a sort of replica of Beaubassin, something like the village acadien . People in old acadian costumes, some houses, church ,etc. It could be possible in the near future, as I am sure many of you would agree.

I hope you enjoyed today's blog.

Have a great day.

Last night we went to dinner at a lovely restarant called the CREEK, it was the first time I had gone. My friend and I arrived around 5.30 pm, the dinner was at 6 pm. We sat in the front near the bar, and waited for our party to arrive. The first ones to arrive were Francis LeBlanc and his wife Norma, so we chatted a bit, it was the first time I had met Norma, but I had met Francis at the CEA. I remember the first time I met him, he was working furiously on his laptop, and some researchers were asking him questions on the LeBlancs, so I at the time could not find what I was looking for, and I asked his help, he is a very nice person and a nice sense of humor. Norma also was very nice to chat with.
Next to arrive were Lucie LeBlanc Consentino and a friend of hers who came down with her named Marcel, now Marcel is a very nice man also, he was interesting to listen to, he also came down to do genealogy. And as for Lucie I don't have to tell any of you how nice she is, because you all know it. She was fun to be with. But that was not the only people at our dinner, because Lucie invited Stephen White and he accepted, and it was very nice having him with us.
Of course you must all know that the biggest part of our conversation was in some form of genealogy (smile). My friend asked each one of them how they got started in genealogy, and everyone had their own story it was very interesting to listen to.
As I listened to each of them tell their story, I could see the love for genealogy each one of them had. They are all totally addicted to it.
I even told them the story about the old film I saw at the CEA and about seeing a cow at a window of this old tar papered house, which turned out to me my parents house and their cow.
And how Ronnie Gilles made me a copy ,which in turn I copied and gave to all my siblings for a christmas present.
This was a very very nice night, I hope you like the photos above, of Lucie and I , and Stephen White and I.
Have a great day.
Aline.

Have you ever seen the TV sitcom the Beverly Hillbillies? Or have
you ever heard the song "come along and listen bout a man name Jed ? Have you seen Granny Clamplett?
Well it is said that we all have a lookalike somewhere. And I believe Granny Clampett has a
lookalike. The lady in the photo above is my great great grandmother Domthilde Williams dit Bristol.I find she does look a lot like Granny Clampett, what do you think? She was born around 1849 (according to the census) daughter of Lucien Bristol and Anne Landry, She married Ferdinand Bergeron D'Ambroise in Cap Pele on February 14 1871
(valentine day). They lived in different places , in Marshalltown NS, in Mattawonkey Maine, and finally settled near Saint Paul NB.
My mother told me that Domithilde lived next door to my mother, and she had lots of flowers around her house, plus her apple orchard, yes she is the one who planted the apple orchard that I told you about earlier. Mom told me that she used to have gooseberries near her farmhouse.
And every time she made preserves she would give some to my grandmother. There was a certain kind of berry that used to only make a small batch of jelly, and she would give a bottle to my grandmother to use as a treat when someone was sick in the family. It was her special remedy. I have in my possession some of Domithilde's old china, they are not in perfect condition, there are cracks here and there but to me they are worth a lot, since the china was used by her way back in the early 1900s. She died in 1929.
I had been trying to find Ferdinand's death, for a long time, would you believe since 1976? Well not too long ago, I finally found it, through the NB Provincial Archives, he died in 1933, my mother told me that after Domithilde died, he had dementia and used to travel among the neighbors with all his possessions, dishes etc. He died in the Shediac Hospice, but I do not know where he is buried, wish I did. Before he died they amputated both legs, wonder if he had diebetes? Hope you liked today's blog. Now I need to concentrate on tonight's dinner with Lucie and others.
Have a great day. Keep the comments coming, it gives me incentive to keep on going .
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I have been a busy lady lately, but that doesn't mean I have forgotten you reader. I have finally met Lucie LeBlanc Consentino.
Yesterday I awoke early and wondered what should I wear? Should I dress up? Or just be me, so I just went as my old self, jeans and a t shirt. Arriving at the center, I saw Mister White talking to a lady (I knew it was Lucie although I had never met her before).
So I went over and Mr White told her who I was. Then others were talking with her and I waited a while before we chatted. What a nice lady she is. I returned to the center today and Lucie arrived shortly after I did. She even took the time from her busy schedule to help me with my website. I had not added certain codes, and she found them.
So tomorrow we are all having dinner together at a restaurant, I told Lucie, I am getting my hair done and intend on taking photos . She said "sure".
While we were at the genealogy center (CEA) another lady was sitting there doing research, I had seen this lady there before , but took no notice of who she was. I found out yesterday that she was Zella Robichaud who has a website online, and I had received permission from her to add one of her census to my website. She too is a nice lady.
I spoke to Mister White, and gave him all the hello's I was asked to pass along to him. I always enjoy talking to Steve, yesterday we talked about when I first began my research, he remembered that it was my son who got me started and he told me I had come a long way, which is true, from 1976 when I first began to now, I sure learned a lot, and found a lot . I said to Steve (Mister White). I love what I do, I love genealogy and never get tired of it. There are always other avenues to look into with genealogy.......
Remember I told you I had transcribed the Grand Digue Cemetery? It is quite a large cemetery, well yesterday I was told that the old cemetery is being transcribed all the ones before 1900. I spoke to a Mister Leger who is in the project, he told me they would be putting the list on a CD. I sure hope I can get a copy of it when they are finished.
I have been given permission to add the Cocagne Cemetery on my website today, so that may be in the near future, if I do, I shall let you know.
A little footnote: I would love to hear from you to let me know if my blogs are interesting enough , if you like them, or if you have something to add on the subjects. Click reply or comments and let's chat.
Have a great day.

I was going to blog yesterday, but instead I decided to take a trip to Cap Pele. I wanted to find certain tombstones in the cemetery. Arriving at the church, the cemetery was not there, so I looked across the street and there it was. What a huge cemetery. I began walking through it, and there were lots of old stones. I found two Williams stones, one was Isaie and one was Madeleine. There were lots of Leger's, LeBlanc,Landrys. I looked for Bristol, never found one.
So then I decided to go to Barachois, found the cemetery, and I walked through it. Looking for Dupuis, never found one .
Next I decided to go back towards Cap Pele and try and find an old church and cemetery in Saint Andre, but I guess there was none.
I did find lots of mosquitos tho, here we are at the end of September and boy talk about mosquitos.
Now I want to try and get back up that way and check out the Shemogue Cemetery. Not sure when I will do that.
So as you can see I am keeping busy with my cemeteries, my website at
www.acadian-roots.com , my blog, my research.

Lucie arrives tonight, will be meeting her tomorrow.
Have a great day.

What could I talk about today? I was going to add my great grandmother's photo today, but I have decided to do it another time , so instead I picked up a book I have here on Saint Marie de Kent in New Brunswick written by Emery LeBlanc. I find it very interesting and I really wanted to see what it would say about a LeBlanc family ,since I am looking for an elusive lady.
Inside the book I came to a story I want to share with you, it is a humorous story.I shall translate it for you since it is all written in french.
Felix LeBlanc father of Jacques Leblanc always worked barefeet when he was out clearing his land. Boots were quite expensive during those days so he would use them as little as possible to make them last as long as he could. So when the weather was nice , he would go barefeet.So each day Felix would go work on his land barefoot. His wife would go with him.One day Felix twisted his foot, the pain was unbearable , he had a hard time to walk. His wife told him, Felix if you are not better tomorrow go to see the doctor in Bouctouche.Next day Felix could hardly walk, so he washed his sore foot as best he could ,he could not rub it since he was in so much pain nor could he scrub it.
Arriving in Bouctouche he showed his foot to Doctor Landry;
I think your problem is your foot is too dirty, said the doctor, I have never seen a foot so dirty.
Listen Doctor replied Felix, I work out clearing my land, and for your information my foot isn't that dirty, I have seen dirtier feet than that and the people walk just the same.
Doctor Landry continued, I am sure there is not another foot as dirty as this foot of yours.
Felix replied Do you want to bet five dollars?
Sure I will bet you five dollars said Doctor Landry.
Felix shows him his other unwashed foot and takes the five dollars .

have a great day.

Well today I woke up to a cool morning, and I decided to go to Grand Digue and do more on the cemetery. I left here around 7.45 am. I took the scenic route ,through Cocagne , then to Grand Digue. I drove in the cemetery road, it is just a dirt road, and I stopped my car near the row of stones I had to begin at. The row was from the monument to the back that you see on my webapge at http://www.acadian-roots.com in the cemetery Grand Digue on the sidebar .
I thought that I would have to return quite a few times to finish the cemetery. Well it was cool at when I first started, but the sun came out and it became quite warm. I worked steadily at copying the names on the stones, there were some made out of wood , and the writing was all eroded away. Working my way from one side to the other then from the other side on the next row to where I began, it was going very well. Later on I looked towards the back and I noticed I had but five more rows to do, So I decided that I would finish the cemetery. Arriving at the last stone, I thought to myself, I am finally finished. But looking at the cemetery I noticed that there are about 25 or so stones on a little hill nearby, but I think they are the latest ones that died .
So I shall return at a later time and complete that section, but the biggest part of the cemetery is finished. I shall add it to my webpage in hopes that it may help someone in their research.
Have a great day.

The nights are getting cooler , this morning we had a white frost. So many things I want to do before the snow flies. One project I want to finish is the Grand Digue Cemetery transcriptions. I live about a half hour drive away from the cemetery, and I have gone twice already. I now have 10 rows done. I am not half done yet.
Walking along the rows of tombstones, I see some sad things, one of the tombstones really touched me, all it said was the family of so and so died in a fire and the year. Another one there were two girls possibly best friends died in an accident. I wonder how some of our ancestors died? Did they die tragically?
A couple that I know very well, had three sons, one went to school with my son.
The one that went to school with my son,got married had a baby girl, and they lived in a trailer, it caught fire due to hot grease on the stove, they all perished, then one year later another one of their sons went to this swimming hole, and one of his friends got in trouble in the currents, he dove in to try and save his friend and he drowned. That family was devastated. I felt so bad for them, although when God calls us , we have to go.They were so young.
A song I hear a lot on the radio is very touching the name of it is If Tomorrow Never Comes.... Listen to the words to it, sure makes a lot of sense. We should maybe treat each day as it were our last and tell our love ones we love them .
Now on a happier note, soon I will be meeting Lucie, I am anxious to meet her, at first we will meet at the Centre d'Etude Acadienne, that is the ideal place to do so , since we both love genealogy. Then we have other plans, and I am hoping we take lots of photos. I shall be seeing Stephen White, I see him most of the times I go do research, he is a very interesting person. He takes time to talk with me or whoever approaches him, he has a tremendous memory. He is working on his second set of Dictionaire Genealogique des Familles Acadiennes , I would encourage all you genealogist and researchers out there to order your set as soon as the order forms are available, I know I plan on getting the set. I have his first 2 volumes and I won't be without them.
Have a great day.

Today I would like to chat about old photos that your parents may have. By looking at photos they can tell you stories about your relatives.

The lady on the left is my great grandmother's sister her name is Marie Williams dit Bristol.She was the daughter of Lucien Bristol and Anne Landry.

Notice her clothes, the long dress, or skirt and blouse, that was the acadian way of dressing back then. I find it very interesting .Now notice the tree, it looks like an apple tree to me. I wonder if this could be a tree planted by my great grandmother Domithilde? Perhaps it was.

My mother told me that her grandmother Domithilde Williams lived next door to Mom's family and she planted an apple orchard all by herself near Saint Paul. But Domithilde never lived to see the orchard bear fruit, she died in 1929.

I decided to go for a drive one day , my mother had told me where they once lived, and would you believe the apple orchard is still there? It is an abandoned apple orchard. But I have seen the orchard that was planted by my great grandmother .What a sight to see.

Do you have old photos? See if there are stories behind that photo, where was it taken? How old were they? Make some kind of scrapbook with the stories to go with the photos.... Another great project for you to do.

Have a great day.

What a lovely day, the sun is shining after a night of rain. It is a sight to behold, since we have had a lot of rain lately and cool nights. Looking out my window I notice the trees changing colors already, the maples are turning red and some other trees are a yellow and orange.
I love to go driving when the fall colors are here. Especially on an old dirt road that all you see along the side of the road are trees of different colors.That is when my digital camera comes in handy. My late husband and I once took a trip on the train from Moncton to Halifax in the fall and the scenery was breathtaking.
If we could look through our ancestors eyes, and see what they saw, I wonder what we would see? Would we see their children playing ? Would we see their garden growing? I am sure we would see a lot of tragedies during their times. My mother told me that when she was young , the neighbors helped each other, they helped build homes, barns, dig wells and much more. It would be nice if that were happening in our generation, but since times have changed that is not always possible is it?
Sometimes I look in old newspapers for articles written about my ancestors, little tidbits, and when I do find something it is very exciting. It gives me more information about them than I already had. I went to a funeral parlor one day and inquired about an obit of my grandfather, they found it, and I copied it, it said he died of Lupus, I did not know that , my mother told me he died of kidney disease, but when I looked up Lupus it is a disease of your organs. Now my nephew has the disease. So it is possible that he has it because of my grandfather having it.
Now I would just like to add a little more to this blog, I would be interested in your comments by answering here instead of sending me your comments by email. Someone else may enjoy your comments also. So please click the comment at the bottom of this page and let me know you are reading these and let me know if you like my blogs or have a comment to add..
Have a great day.

Today I went for a long drive with some friends. We decided to take some back roads, not knowing exactly where we would end . We saw cows grazing in the fields, saw some Jersey cows and some Holsteins.
I noticed old abandoned farms, and I wondered who would have lived there long ago. If those houses could talk , what a tale they would have to tell. Some of the houses in those back roads were large. So I figured they must have had big families back then.
And churches, we saw beautiful churches, one was a baptist church and it had four steeple on it. What a beautiful building.
Finally we came to this lovely brook that you see in the picture above. I took a few photos of the brook and my friend took the one of me at the brook. From the other angle I saw a little rapid running down. It was so peaceful, you could only hear the sound of the water gently flowing and the little birds chirping in the trees above. What a lovely day it was.
Now a little bit about genealogy and what would be a great idea for some of you. If you are just beginning your genealogy, and you have love ones in nursing homes, and who can remember a little about their youths, two good things could come from a visit from you to an aunt or uncle, or cousin, or grandmother etc one you could make them very happy to have a visit from you , and two you could bring a little notebook with you, start having them tell you stories about their past, ask them " Aunt Jane what was Grampy like? Was he tall? Did he smoke a pipe? Did Grandma tell you stories about when she was little? Can you tell me about them? Were any of your family born in the USA or CANADA? Questions like these can bring you much infomation to pass down to your children, through a book , a diary, CD or however you want to.
I remember when I worked in a nursing home, and there was this little old lady , who seemed so sad, and I noticed she had no visitors at all, and I mean none, so on my break I would drop in to see her, her name was Mrs Osanski and I would just go sit and talk with her, one day I asked her to sing me a song, she sang me a song of her motherland, and from then on I would just enter her room and she would smile and begin singing her same little song....Now had she been my aunt or relation, I would have jotted that song in a book and saved it and tell my children this was a song she always sang for me. I remember one song my grandmother used to sing. One day I went to her home, as I was climbing the stairs, I could smell brownies cooking and I could hear her sing the song "why do treat me as if I were only a friend" So each time I hear that song, I remember my grandmother.
Have a great day.

Thank you for the approval of my poem , this means that you are reading my blogs, and that encourages me to keep on blogging.
So today I shall talk about old acadian words, that I remember saying and I still do at times. Now Chiac is a form of acadian slang, it is very unique ,it is not perfect french, some of the language is part french , part english. Perhaps it was that way because in New Brunswick, the french and english got along very well, and in order for the french to talk with the english they had to learn a few words.
For example, " J'ai prit le canal et mon car a un flat tyre.J'assaie de haussez le car pour arranger mon tyre.. ( translation) I took the ditch, and my car has a flat tire, I am trying to raise the car to fix my tire.
"Mon pere va m'le bailler quand j'mon va. "My father is gonna give it to me when I get home." Some words we used to say were, Chicanner (scold), mon jeu " my god" guenille "rags" assayer "tried". These sound better when they are being said. It is a shame that lots of these words and saying are being cast aside for the modern french. I speak to some well educated people, who has the paris french for instance and my chiac stands out. To others I may seem odd, but to me that was the way I was brought up.
Where I live we have a golden age club, and every saturday they have a dance and a band, well when I began going there I was hipnotized to the music, it was mostly all acadian music, and there is one paticular song, I forget the name but some of the words were j'ai passer le speed limit , je connait pas ca la metric. " and the entire song was all Chiac.
To end this I want to share with you , since we are talking about language that
when my grandaughter was barely talking, maybe 2 or three? I took her to the pharmacy behind our home, It was a cold day, and I had her bundled up very nice and toasty warm. Walking through the snow towards the pharmacy, I began singing to her :Baby it's cold outside" Then she took over and started
"Baby brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr side......... haha........have a great day.

IF I COULD TALK
If I could talk , would you listen
If I could talk would you care
If I could tell you about my past
Could you imagine being there.
What if I told you I helped your kin
What if I told you his name was Tim
He had a brother who lived not far
In those days there were no cars.
I was on the wagon that special day
We left his home to make his hay
On our way we met his brother
He said come Tim it is our Mother
She is not well, she will not heal
And right now we need a Wheel
We only need it for a bit
Doctor Melanson is in the ditch.
Tim said no problem we are on our way
You can use my wheel anyday
The doctor made it there in time
Because of me Tim's mother's fine.
When you see a wheel like me
Ask yourself what did it see
Did it help my uncle Dan
Did it get stuck in the sand
If it could talk would you listen
If it could talk would you care.

composed by Aline Cormier

five minutes ago. (smile)

Memories, what are they? Well to me, they are things that are very important. They are what stories are made of. Long ago , when there were no radios nor televisions nor computers did our ancestors tell stories to their kids?
Well my mother told me that her aunt was a great storyteller, where did she get those stories? Maybe she added some of her memories into her stories. Whatever it was, my mother told me that my father used to go there along with others to listen to my great aunt. This leads me to memories again, my mother told me about her aunt.So these were my mother's memories.
My mother told me how she met my father, and how she was very young, and my father was nine years older. She told me that when they decided to marry, the priest would not marry her because of her age, she was barely 14. Can you imagine? So Mom told me how she would meet my father on a bridge nearby and make plans. They would take a train to Moncton and get married by a justice of the peace, so that day arrived and they did take a trip to Moncton and got married in a baptist church. They were married no matter what. But their marriage lasted a few days only when there was a knock on the door. It was the parish priest, he told my mother to go home, and told my father to go home too.
But my parents were determined to remain married, so the priest wrote to the Bishop asking permission to marry them Catholic, and the Bishop agreed and they were married in the Catholic Church. Mom says she has Two marriage certificat, and Dad would say, she is the only woman I married twice.
Now once my mother is gone, these memories had she not shared with me would be gone with her. My dad has passed away, he could not tell me..
Wouldn't it be nice if we had memories like these passed down by our ancestors? There is nothing I would like better to be able to travel back in time, and see how they lived, see their happy times, I am certain they must have had some good times.I wonder what their favorite foods were? Did they like music?
So to me I honestly believe that sharing your memories with someone is the way to go. If you have no one to share them with, make some kind of diary or book.One day someone will enjoy reading about us.And we will not just be a name and a date, we will have had been living persons who loved, cried, were hurt, laughed and had dreams...... Share your memories you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain in the end.
Have a great day.

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.