Acadian Pierre

I want to share this little poem I came across in a book I found at a used store. The book is New Brunswick Stories ,it used to be a school book I believe. Hope you enjoy this little poem.

Pierre was a young Acadian lad,

He was ot very good ,and not very bad.

A little like you; but he was alive

In sixteen hundred and nine-five,

Poor Pierre

Perhaps his home was in Miramichi,

Nepisiguit,or Shepody;

I'm not quite sure, but this is true;

He hadn't a home like you-- or you,

Poor Pierre

There was never ice-cream on his plate,

He hadn't a ski or a roller skate:

He didn't drop in at a movie show---

there was no such place in the world to go

Poor Pierre

But Piere had an old, old Indian friend,

Who showed him the kind of wood to bend

And bind, and lace with deer-hide strips:

So he made snowshoes for wintry trips.

Clever Pierre

And Pierre could paddle a bark canoe,

All alone, like the Indians do;

And he knew the birds and trees by name,

And animal tracks, and stalking game

Wise Pierre

And Pierre was as happy as any lad,

With all the wonderful things he had.

In sixteen hundred and ninety five

He was one of the happiest boy alive.

Lucky Pierre

I couldn't let this little poem slip by without sharing it with all of you. Now this would be nice to read to your children or grandchildren, maybe as a bedtime story? There is no author to this poem but whoever he was, I am very impressed, and the book mentions Jessie I Lawson and Jean MacCallum Sweet and the book was for use in schools.So possibly they were the authors of the books, I wonder if they were the authors of the little poems too?

Now changing the subject, I am working at adding more names to a cemetery on my acadian-roots.com website. A friend has sent me a DVD with lots of tombstones, so since I am doing this by myself it takes me a while to copy the names on all the stones with the dates and then alphabetilize them on my website.

I will keep you posted when I am finished. I still have more names to add to my Chartersville Cemetery, again another project to do and these take time to do.

My genealogy group is going very well, we have folks from all over as members, some from Louisiana, USA,Canada,England, so if any of you would like to join us you can come to petiteacadienne URL on the sidebar and I shall invite you to our main group from there. We are a friendly group which I intend on keeping it so, and they are all ready and willing to help others if and when they can.

Thank you for the lovely visit

Have a great day

Aline

Acadian Transportation

Have you ever wondered how our ancestors travelled from Acadie to Lower Canada? Lower Canada being Quebec. Well again I am reading a book called the Road to Canada, and it is quite interesting. During the French period, the main route ran between Riviere du Loup Quebec and Fort Beausejour. The secondary routes led towards Old Mission Point,on the Bay of Chaleur,the forts at the mouth of the St John River,Prince Edward Island,Cape Breton, and Port Royal.
When the first people arrived in what is called New Brunswick today between 6000 and 10000 years ago they found a system of interlocking rivers that was well suited for transportation. The central feature was the St John River. Rising in the northern part of Maine, the St John River flowed around 725 kilometres to the Fundy Bay with very little obstacles. The first obstacle was the Reversing falls at the mouth of the river ,which could be used at high tide or bypassed using a portage.There were rapids at Meductic, so the only other obstacle was at Grand Falls where the St John River plunged 22 metres and rushed through a two kilometres gorge, they also used a portage there. Then once the rapids at the mouth of the Madawaska River at Edmundston were passed the way was clear up the Madawaska to Lake Temiscouata. Then two series of rivers and lakes led to Trois Pistole on the St Lawrence River.Later a portage road was cut from Cabano to give a direct route to St Andre and Riviere du Loup. All total the route from Riviere du Loup to St John was approximately 515 kilometres where 435 kilometres was by water.
The natives of the region built birch bark canoes and were ideally suited for the travelling.
When the french explored arrived in the 17th century four main groups of Native people lived along this system. Archaeological evidence show that this route was used for trading,hunting,fishing and war. At that time probably the french traders, missionaries or travellers used that route.
Joseph Robineau de Villebon commander of Acadie kept a daily journal . He arrived in Acadie in 1690 to find that Port Royal was captured by an expedition led by sir William Phipps. Villebon went to Fort Jemseg and explained the situation to the natives and acadian settlers there.
He then went to Quebec on this same route (called the Communication Route) then on to France. That is the first mention of the Acadians using that route, not necessary that it was the first time, but Villebon's journal mentions the route in his journals. Phipps had also captured supply ships in Port Royal and some of those supplies were meant for the native american, so Villebon arranged for more supplies to be sent to the natives from Quebec. This was the first recorded mention of supplies being moved on this route from Quebec to Acadie.
Now all the while that I am typing this, I am also imagining it being so. I can see the natives going up and down the rivers, and the trappers, and hunters, and Acadians.
Later on the Loyalists made use of this same route and how many others did too?
Now changing the subject, did you notice at the bottom of this page I have a store I created? I made two different Acadian Calendars, and one Cajun Calendar. The cajun calendar is green with an alligator on the front, the Acadians ones are red and blue. Now that Christmas is just around the corner, I hurried and made different things that may be nice to give your friends or family.
If you cannot see the store at the bottom, go to www.zazzle.com/allicor .
As soon as I have more ideas, I will add more stuff.
So thank you for the lovely visit, do stop by again.
have a great day
Aline
I hope you enjoyed todays blog. I have been wanting to do this one for a while now.

On a Mission

Well this morning we awoke around eight oclock, we had something so very important to.
What does the weather say? Overcast, oh no! We don't want rain today.
The plan was to go to Mom's and leave from there for our Mission. I live a few doors over so it didn't take us long to go. We were to meet around ten o'clock. Oh here comes one of my sisters, and a brother. My youngest sister phoned, she will meet us there. That is good. Now two more brothers to go. Oh another one is meeting us there also. One more brother to go and we can go on our Mission. We phoned and he is going to pick up one of my brothers, Mom is driving with us. We are all set to leave. We put Mom's walker in my brother's truck and Mom in my car.
So off we went. The leaves on the trees were beautiful colors as we drove . Some orange, yellow mixed with the greens. Lovely scenery. And so far, still no rain. That is fine. I hope my brother remembered to take the shovel and a measuring tape. Oh Mom said he had them in his truck. Whew. Arriving at our destination, I noticed my youngest sister already there, and there is another brother. That is great. So we all arrived a few minutes behind each other.
So now Mom decided she wanted to walk without her walker, so I walked beside her so she would not lose her balance . The grass was nice and green, and walking along a path, on each side of the path were tombstones, some white crosses, some black tombstones, even saw some crosses my grandfather made so very long ago. Finally we all arrived at our destination.
My brother began digging a hole , we needed it a little over four inches deep, and then he laid some gravel on the bottom . Our mission was nearly done. We laid a lovely placque down in the hole, took many photos ,cleaned the stone off. We laid a stone down for my Dad and seeing he is buried with his grandparents who both had no stones, we had their names added on the stone.
After we were done and took our photos, all my siblings, Mom and myself, it began to sprinkle a little bit and we said. There Dad is cleaning off his stone. A very nice feeling for all of us.
Dad waited five years for this. Mission Accomplished.
Have a great day
Aline

Acadian Roots

Have you ever stopped and thought about, back in the times of our ancestors how did they do this and why did they do that? Since I have been reading about my ancestors and everyone else's I have come across some interesting stuff.
How did they light up their homes back then? They did not have electricity, nor lamps for a long while. It sure must have been some dark during the night times. Picture yourself, in the woods, surrounded by trees with no lights on around ten o'clock in the evening. It sure would have been scary to me. Imagine, just pitch black and you hear the sounds of animals out there. A coyote, wolves. BRRR. So what did some of our ancestors do? Well many of them had fireplaces in the middle of a room, that would heat up their homes which usually were one room houses with everyone sleeping in one corner of the room, the kitchen also in the same room. So the fireplaces would heat up the house and plus, it would give them some lighting. So they would probably read if they read by the fireplace, or knit and sew by the fireplace.
Now in Sainte Anne de Kent, they would put Codfish oil in a saucer they they would soak a rag or a piece of wool into it and they would light the end of the rag or yarn which would give them a little bit of light. Many times instead of using a saucer they would use half of a turnip with the inside all cleaned out, and they would sometimes use a piece of lard and light it and this would be a better light than the one I mentioned before. Sometimes they would take the turnip and make two holes ,one big enough to scoop out the turnip and another small one, then they poured the fish oil inside with a wick and light the wick and voila, there was light. We have to aknowledge that our ancestors were survivors, they made something out of nothing.
Now totally changing the subject but yet still regarding our ancestors. I have created a 2010 calendar called Acadian Roots Calendar 2010. On the page of each month I have added one of our acadian ancestors, and just a little bit about them. I have added the following names for this first calendar and I am preparing another calendar with different names.The following are in this calendar: Pierre Arsenault, Michel Boudreau, Robert Cormier, Jean Doiron, Francois Gautreau, Michel Hache dit Gallant,Michel Forest,Daniel LeBlanc, Barnabe Martin,Etienne Robichaud and Pierre Surette. You can find the calendar at www.zazzle.com/allicor , or you can go to the bottom of this page and you will see my store and the calendar and I created the cover in a pretty blue.
Thank you for stopping by
Have a great day
Aline.

What was something nice that happened?

Well I will repeat the same story as I posted a long while ago. I was doing research at the genealogy center one day a long while ago. I was sifting through land records and deeds, and Regis Brun who is a historian and a very nice man, asked me what I was looking for. I told him "My parents lived in Gallagher Ridge they told me, and in order for them to keep the land ,they had to clear so many acres, and my Dad and Mom did so. So I wanted some written proof of all this. Regis Brun looked at me and said, "what year would that have been?" I replied, I would say in the late 1930s. He replied , well we have an old movie taken around that time, and we cannot identify the people in it. Would you look at it? I said "sure but I doubt if I will recognize anyone. So Regis Brun and Ronnie Gilles LeBlanc took me in the back room and Ronnie set up the movie for me to watch. Well when I saw these faces, some of them looked so familiar to me. And there was this young woman, I thought was beautiful. Anyway I said , I don't recognize anyone but my Mom might. And while we looked at the movie, there was this cow at the window of a log cabin. We all laughed at seeing it. Before I continue, when I told Mom about the movie and the location, I had not mentioned the cow, she said to me, we were the only ones there with a cow, and that cow would come to our bedroom window and mooo, and Dad would say 'she's calling me, gotta get up.". Anyway Ronnie Gilles LeBlanc came with me and we picked up Mom and my brother, and back to the genealogy center we went. Well ! My Mom has a very good memory , at the time she was around 85 and she started naming some of the people, the old lady was my father's grandmother, and the beautiful lady that I first notice was my Mom, around the age of 17 , can you imagine the feeling I got when I seen her walking in the movie? And then there was this man, that we saw briefly, it was my Dad he was around 21 years old.

The best thing that happened was that Ronnie Gilles LeBlanc and Regis Brun had the movie transferred to a DVD and they gave it to me, who in turned had a copy done for all my brothers and sisters. So I will always remember Regis Brun and Ronnie Gilles for giving me such a treasure. My parents in a movie long before I was born.

Have a great day everyone

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Aline

Acadian Ancestors and This and That

Transportation in Sainte Anne Kent County was probably like many other new villages in the times of our ancestors. They had no roads so they travelled through path's in the woods or by boat up and down the rivers by canoes or Dores. The folks from Sainte Anne would travel via the rivers to attend Mass in Bouctouche or Richibouto Village. And when they travelled through the small beaten paths in the woods, they would do so by horse and wagon and in the spring they would get stuck in the mud and mire and can you imagine the times that they had? Some of the men laid down logs or pressed them into the mud in order not to sink any deeper. According to one of the elders , the men would travel though the woods or by water as far as Memramcook to meet the ladies. To them it was an everyday way of living. . In the winter times they would use snow shoes made of animal hides on the snow so that they would be able to stay on top of the snow and not sink in. The other day I was visiting Mom and they showed this native american making snowshoes and Mom said to me "My Dad used to make those, and he would make a small pair for my mother because her feet were so small. "She continued saying he would lace them up with the rawhide and then wet the rawhide and it would shrink and make the snowshoe stronger. It is so interesting to me, just listening to stories about long ago or reading about it.
Because our ancestors did a lot of those things that is talked about.
Now on another note, I have added more names from the 1940 Obituaries in the Evangeline French Paper which I translated to English on my website at www.acadian-roots.com Click on Evangeline obituaries. I have also added a new page on Genealogy Resources, if you are looking for a webhost, or for anti virus software or genealogy software of any kind or genealogy links check out my Genealogy Resources while you are at acadian-roots. Some of the links are subcriptions and some are free.
Well a few days ago I bought an exterior hard drive and I decided to save some of my information so that I don't lose them. Anyway I am not too smart on this part so I wanted to save my files on Acadian-Roots, so I downloaded a program called Zilla and I fiddled around until I found a way to download my files from Acadian-Roots, if you have ever been there you will see I have a huge photo gallery along with my site. Anyway my tranfers started, and it kept going and going and going , I saw these files being transferred, 1000, 2000 ,3000, Wow 'What is being downloaded anyway?" Well would you believe it also downloaded every photo that is on my photo gallery? I have over 6000 files transferred or saved. WOW. That is a lot of files. So now if ever my computer crashes I have all that stuff on an exterior hard drive.
I would suggest if you have a lot of things on your PC that you do not want to lose, to buy an exterior hard drive, you can get different amount of Gigabytes, mine has 320 GB. Should last me a while huh?
I would also like to mention that this week Petit Francois will announce the winners of the contest he is running, and if you want to enter for the month of October, send him an email with your name address email and mention Acadian-Roots or acadianroots in your email to
ptitfrancois@yahoo.com

Thanks for the visit do stop by again.
Have a great day
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Sainte Anne Kent County New Brunswick

Do you have ancestors who lived in Sainte Anne de Kent at one time or another? A few days ago, I went to a second hand store looking for books for my friend who was in the hospital. While browsing through the books , I decided to go look at the french books, and to my surprise, I saw a book on Sainte Anne de Kent by Anselme Chiasson and Arthur Poirier. Of course I picked it up right away to add to my book collection.
The pioneers of Sainte Anne came from Memramcook New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Minoudie, and elsewhere. They settled on vacant lands that later on the acquired. It is hard to pinpoint an exact time when they began settling there but there were some settlers before 1800. Some names of the first settlers according to land grants. Before 1900 Sainte Anne village included Caissie Village, St Martin,St Gregoire, St Francois and St Gabriel. Usually the families would live on the land for a long time before applying for land grants. And many times a group would apply for land grants and divide the land between them.
In 1805 in Caissie Village we find Jean Pitre, Simon and Laurent Richard,Sylvain and Laurent Babineau. In 1815 in Caissie Village we find Antonin Boucher,Josue, Olivier and Pierre Caissie, Dominique and Placide Richard and Charles Maillet. Fidele and Raphael Caissie got their lands in 1821. Other names who settle in and near Sainte Anne including Choqpish were Simon B Richard, Simon and Celestin Maillet,Laurent and Belonie Leblanc they were in Chocpish. In Saint Edouard we find Felix Leblanc and Moise Bastarache.
There were also english settlers such as Michael Harris the first english settler in Sainte Anne. He arrived in Richiboucto from Ireland. Later a young man from Escuminac named Martin Nowlan came to work for Mister Harris. Martin Nowlan married Polonie Robichaud of Bouctouche and had three sons. In nearby St Pierre we find Ken ,Neil, Norman Bowman and Archie McIntosh,Jim and Isaac Carter,Roberts, Johnsons, John Butler, Elliot McDonald and John McDonald. Maxime, Lucas and Charles Daigle later arrived in St Pierre. And then five brothers Maxime, Andre,Thomas,Jude et Dominique Boudreau arrived from Beaumont New Brunswick.
The first pioneer of St Gregoire was Gregoire Richard ,the one from St Francois. Lamand Maillet came from Memramcook. Honore Caissie was the first one of Belair later St Raphael ,Honore came from Richiboucto Village. Later followed by brothers Calixte and Amable LeBlanc.
Saint Maurice was named after Maurice Arsenault who came from the Cap Pele area and was from Prince Edward Island. Pierre, Louis and Olivier Savoie later settled in Saint Maurice. St Oliver was founded by Maillets and Allains from St Norbert. Au fond de la Baie was founded by Edward Jaillet who left his name is St Edouard. The Jaillets were Swiss Huguenots. Arriving in Memramcook with a friend Armand Surette he converted to the Catholic Faith. Perry Road had Pierre Perry from PEI as the first settler. In 1900 Sainte Anne and St Pierre amalgamated bringing the population up from 70 families to 90. In 1985 Sainte Anne's numbers rose to 400 families with a population of 1500 people.
The pioneers of Sainte Anne did not bring a fortune with them only courage and hope of a better future. First of all the men came mostly through the paths in the woods and on foot.They came from as far as Minoudie,Prince Edward Island , Memramcook and surrounding villages. On their way they would stop and rest at the homes of Acadians in Bouctouche and Cocagne. All they took for belongings were a pouch of flour, probably rope, a musket and an ax. The first arrivers would take land near the water and brooks in order to be near water for drinking and bathing and also for fishing.
They chopped down trees ,pulled out the tree stumps and cleared their land. Then they built their home , they built log cabins and insulated them with Moss. Then the men went and got their families. Can you imagine the courage of these women, leaving their homes to go to live in the wilderness. But they were going to land that would belong to them, they would not have to work for Desbarres of Minoudin and Memramcook. They wanted their own homes and land. In the beginning they had no matches so the native americans taught them how to make a fire by rubbing stones together or two sticks together.
In the book I am reading it says that they would take a turnip and take all the inside of it out, then add some cod fish oil inside and a wick and light it and have lights so they could see. Then they learned to make candles. Imagine being there and having to really work hard and to do without lots of things that we have today. But these pioneers were determined to make a better life for themselves and their families. They cleared their land and built homes. They hunted and fished for food, and gardened and picked berries and so on. They had to endure our harsh winters. We are so so very lucky, don't you agree?
Have a great day
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What is Genealogy?

Definition of Genealogy is "descent traced continuously from ancestor,study of pedigree. To me it is so much more. It is a hobby, it is a challenge, it is keeping a part of our history from being lost. It is about knowing who we are and where we come from. It is exciting at times, especially if we find out some of our ancestors were important or even if they were scoundrels. No matter what we find we should always remember, we are here because of them. A very important thing to remember , because of them, we continue to live and have children who have children and so on. Today I went to the genealogy center as I quite often have done since the bug hit me in 1976. When I go , I feel right at home and I can relax among the old records and microfilms and censuses. The time goes by so very fast that I am always dissappointed that I have to stop what I am doing and leave. Today I looked for some obits and information that was asked of me to find, no luck today, but tomorrow is another day. I also worked on obituaries to add on my website, I have copied the obits for January, Feb, March ,April and May , so when I return I shall do the month of June. It takes a lot of time to do the obits, since many obits are hard to read so I can only add what I can read. But even if I add just one or two names, those names may be very important to someone else who is doing genealogy. A sister, a brother, a location, a date , one of these has to help someone out there. So I keep on doing them hoping that my efforts are worthwhile. And when I go to the genealogy center, I know a lot of people there, some who have worked there for a long time, some who are doing genealogy just like I am. And it is alway nice to hear Hello Aline how are you? Or like today someone said "What are you working on now?" Obituaries I replied. grin. So when you hear the word genealogy remember what I have written in today's blog. It is more than tracing our ancestors it can be very frustrating , or dissappointing or exciting and for me it is just plain FUN. Thanks for the visit, do stop by again.
Have a great day
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Peddlers, how many of you remember?

Peddlers were people who would pass the houses to sell their wares. Most of the times they were strangers. A lot of the times the people would be glad to see them, it would save them a trip to town or to the store. In the book of Saint Mary is a sentence regarding peddlers "It would be easier for them to find a job than sell from door to door. "In the book it also mentions in 1905 or around 1905 some villagers remembered a man going from door to door with a bear all dressed up and he would perform and they would donate money. Also some peddlers sold hooked rugs from door to door, another sold pots n pans, another sold clothes, and some native americans would go door to door to sell their beautiful baskets.

A certain Michel Caissie would travel door to door on his bicycle to sell lottery tickets, combs,and whatever he could sell. This Michel weighed around 200 pounds and he would stay over whenever the villagers invited him in.

Some sold religious things such as statues, crucifix,image and so on.

The peddlers that I remember were the ones who came by my home and sold all sorts of fish and shellfish, (boy their trucks sure stunk)grin. I also remember someone coming by selling pots and pans and silverware. Mom bought some of those. I remember Watkins dealers coming to our home, Mom used to buy their medicated ointment and their fruit drinks and spices. My mother in law once told me that during the Depression she would go pick oysters, shuck them ,put them in bottles and go sell them door to door. I myself remember picking blueberries and going door to door selling them for ten cents a quart. I worked hard for those ten cents. grin. And I remember selling door to door for Regal's. Especially during the Christmas Season. My sister sold for Avon. Do you remember the milkman came to the door,or the ice man used to bring big blocks of ice for our ice box?

We sure have come a long way since then, now we have internet, and deliveries, so we pick up the phone order our Pizza and poof it has arrived. But again maybe they too are peddlers, did they not come to my door with the Pizza? grin.

Then we had the photographer with the pony coming by to take photos of the kids. I think everyone or nearly everyone has a photo of someone on a pony.

These are all part of our past, if you enjoy reading today's blog,think about your great grandchildren reading about peddlers of our times. I think later on down the road all these little stories we share will be appreciated and enjoyed by someone. I personally feel that memories are to be shared ,photos are to be shared, our history is to be shared and most of all our life should be shared while we are still able to think ,to write,to talk, now is that time to do it. For our descendants some of whom we will never know, but they will have a piece of us to remember.

Thanks for the visit, do stop by again .

Have a great day

Aline

FUNERALS in 1933

Have you ever wondered about how funerals were held way back in the early 1900s? Well the photo on the left is of a funeral back in 1933. This was taken on Albert Street in Moncton. Where is the casket? Well if you look at the back of the buggy, you will notice a blanket draped over the casket. The casket held the body of my baby sister Loretta. My Mom is driving in the front next to the driver.This was in the month of December and they brought my little sister to the cemetery and they buried her then and there. There was no waiting for spring to arrive. My Mom and Dad tried in vain later to know where she was buried, they know approximately but never knew for sure, there were two babies buried on the same day. It is sad not knowing where our love ones are buried. Again, tombstones, crosses, plaques, markers are a must when our love ones die or perhaps years from now they will be forgotten.

Now why did I talk about Funerals? Well today I created a Children's Memorial Garden among my Memorial Garden on my website at www.acadian-roots.com ,

and the first little baby I have added is my sister Loretta. So stop by and say hello or even a little prayer . I do hope you like my memorial garden, I hope to add more names as I go along.

Thanks for the visit, do stop by again one day soon.

Have a great day

Aline

SOLDIER'S COVE Cape Breton photo

These two young girls age around 13 or 14 lived in Soldiers Cove in Cape Breton NS. This photo was taken around 1928.
If you know them, please comment below this blog. They could possible be McLeods according to Mom. These two sisters were very close .
The reason we have this photo, is because my grandparents were in Soldier's Cove for a while . My grandfather worked there for a short while. My grandmother is the other one that you cannot see in the photo, she was pregnant for my aunt at the time.
On another note, I am not sure if I told you this before, but being on the Internet is sure great sometimes. I once told you I met a cousin a few years ago and we shared photos and stories and have been friends and in contact every since. Now a few days ago another distant cousin approached me. They are related through the sister of my great great grandmother. The sister moved to the USA ,married there and had eleven children. I am hoping that they can find some old photos to share with me and perhaps my great great grandparents may be among them.
Speaking of Old Photos, if you are on Facebook, check out Old Photos of New Brunswick, where I and others have posted a lot of photos. If you have old Photos of New Brunswick,such as Kent County,Westmorland County, of sceneries, of people, please come share them with us. By doing so, it might give others a chance to be able to see their ancestors. Remember , that the more we share our photos, the better chance of them surviving through the years. Some of us may lose our precious photos for numerous reasons, if we share, we have a chance of getting them back.
Thanks for the visit, do stop by again.
Have a great day
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Petit Francois Contest and our Drive

First of all I will talk about our Saturday Drive. We decided to ask my Mom and brother if they would like to go for a drive somewhere, and yes they replied. So we left and headed for Bouctouche to get an ice cream. (Mom loves ice cream). We also stopped and bought some poutine rappee and some Rappure to bring home.
Then we decided to take Mom to see all the flowers and trees at the Irving park.
The weather was beautiful so we drove slowly through the park. We saw all these different kinds of trees, firs,spruce,weeping willows, maples, and then we saw a sign Elizabeth's Garden, so we went through the gate and we were among the flowers. Flowers of reds, yellows, whites. There were roses, carnations, black eyed susans, there were rock gardens and we can to the one in the photo above with the waterfalls. So very beautiful to see. We really enjoyed our day. Now what does Bouctouche have to do with Petit Francois? Well first of all P'tit Francois des Bois is a weekly article in the french paper L'Etoile. It is written by Everard Maillet and he has done a great job at writing little stories in French Chiac , and the story centers around Petit Francois who lives Au Fond de La Baie in Bouctouche and there is such a place as Au Fond de La Baie and the photo was taken at the park on the same road.I have added the articles on my website at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ and I have translated the stories to English, it may not be word for word but the story is the same. I had stopped for the summer months but had saved the articles and I have finished adding nine stories on my website. Also P'tit Francois has a contest going, it began the first of August and every month he will have a draw . The winner will receive a basket of soap from Oliver's Soap Ltd valued around fifty dollars and there will also be gift certificates valued at twenty five dollars. It doesn't matter where you live, they will mail the prize to you. The contest will run every month until Christmas, so if you don't win the month of September, enter again for October and so on.
Send an email to P'tit Francois with Contest in the subject line,
your name, mailing address, email and please mention acadianroots blog in your message to let him know you were here? His email is ptitfrancois@yahoo.com
Good luck everyone.

Obituaries from the French Evangeline Paper.

Why did I title this blog Obituaries from the French Evangeline Newspaper? Well as you know I do my genealogy research at the Centre D'Etude Acadienne at the University of Moncton. This genealogy center has a wealth of information. I have been going there since 1976 and I still don't know a quarter of what is there. When I was doing my own genealogy, I began looking through the French Evangeline Newspaper dating back to the late 1800s for anything I could find on my ancestors. Then I looked for obituaries for other folks that they had reqested.
When my late husband Gerry came down with Alzheimers and my time was limited , I could not leave him, I began cutting out all the acadian or french obituaries from the Moncton Times and Transcript. I would cut them out and paste them in a scrapbook.Why did I do that? I don't really know, all I know it kept me busy at home. I believe I did some from 1992 to 1995. I donated them to the Genealogy Center.
A few years ago, I decided to transcribe some obituaries from the Evangeline Newspaper, and since the genealogy center had up to 1931 indexed, I decided to do from 1935 on. I Did 1935,1936,1937,1938 and 1939. I had added them on a DVD, but decided on adding them on my site at www.acadian-roots.com also. I finished adding them last night. Now some of the obituaries are from so many different places, New Brunswick,Nova Scotia,Prince Edward Island, Maine, Massachussetts, Connecticut,Rhode Island ,New Hampshire,Quebec, Ontario,British Columbia, Alberta and more.There are around 1683 obituaries in all. I am hoping that by posting these obituaries I will be helping people from all over in finding their elusive ancestors.
Next I want to mention something else, on my webpages you will see a support my website and it will be posted on various pages, first of all, it was suggested to me that I add a support link on my website to help with the upkeep of my website and the travelling and the researching. It is not mandatory to do this. Even if no one does support my site, I will still keep on adding things to help others. Now I have added the url on various pages because sometimes people do not come into my website from the main page, some come in from doing a search in a search engine, so they come to the page they are looking for. So please do not worry if you see the little piggy or url on various pages ok?
Again getting back to my website, I want to also let you know very soon Petit Francois will be returning to my website. I have collected some of the articles which I shall soon be adding and translating into English.I will add an icon next to Petit Francois in the sidebar to let you know I have begun adding the articles again.
I have received good responses about my translations, so watch for the return of P'tit Francois.
Thank you for the lovely visit, do stop by again, and be sure to check out the new Obituaries on my website. You never know who you will find.
Have a great day
Aline

Graves without Tombstones

Why am I going to talk about graves with no stones? Well because I am feeling pretty good about a good deed done by myself and my family.
Three weeks ago I went to the Mall and on my way out there was this office set up to sell monuments. So I went inside and inquired on prices .Well to my surprise they had a sale on a flat Placque, the size was 20 by something. So I hurried home and told Mom and my brother about the sale. And we decided then and there to have one done for my Dad who died five years ago. His not having a marker really bothered me. And the best of it, is that he is buried with his grandparents who also had no Marker on the gravesite. One of them died in 1941 and the other in 1951. All these years I am sure there must have been someone searching for their grave. So we have ordered the stone with both their names and we added Grandson and my Dad's name and dates of birth and deaths. What a nice feeling to be able to do this.
I am sure many years ago , folks were poor and could not afford tombstones, it is a shame because sometimes records get lost , records burn and so does the location of their burial. So now is the time to put stones or even a small plaque on some graves of our ancestors so that others will not have a problem finding their ancestors. I have a grandfather and a baby sister that are buried in a cemetery and we do not know where. Blueprints have burned so all we know is that they are somewhere in that cemetery. If you cannot afford a stone, ask the cousins and aunts and uncles to help out. Make it a family project. Have some kind of fundraiser to buy a stone. Where there is a Will there is a Way as the saying goes.
That''sssssss allll ffffolks. grin.
Thanks for the visit, do stop by again
Have a great day
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ARSENAULT'S OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

IF you have Arsenaults in your family line who were on Prince Edward Island at one time or another, Jean Bernard has published the first Arsenault's of Prince Edward Island. The book has 750 pages and is well researched and documented. So if you want to follow your grandfather or greatgrandfather to Pierre Arsenault the first one to arrive then I would suggest you buy the book. It sells for $47.50 each. Mr Bernard is also preparing four more volumes of the Acadians on PEI, Volume two will be Albert to Francis,Volume three will be Gallant, Volume four will be Gaudet to Overback and Volume five will be Paquet to Witzell.
Contact Mister Bernard at jeanbernard61@hotmail.com .
On another note, I am always working on my website at www.acadian-roots.com , and I was wondering if there is anything that you my readers would like to see added on my website? I am working on a project now to be added early in the fall. I am open to suggestions, I want to add something that will benefit all you genealogy researchers.
You can answer by leaving a comment or contacting me through my acadian-roots.com website.
Well last week my brother went to see a cousin of ours and while he was there he came across a photo of my parents taken when they were newly married. What a treasure to find such a photo, my brother had one made for me. I am sharing the photo with you. A treasure to behold and another photo to share with my son and his family.
Thanks for the visit do stop by again, you never know what I will be blogging about.
Have a great day.
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LA SAGOUINE AND VIOLA LEGER

Have you ever wondered about La Sagouine? What is she all about? Well La Sagouine is a novel written by Antonine Maillet a great writer. The novel was inspired by a real person named Sarah Cormier. In the book, La Sagouine was born in Kent County New Brunswick and a daughter of Pit who was a son of Boy who was a son of Thomas Picote. She was a poor uneducated woman struggling to raise a large family during the Depression.She was a beautiful woman in her younger days and times were hard she became a prostitute. Later she married her cousin Gapi. She married him twice, once protestant and then again Catholic (hey Mom and Dad did that too grin). La Sagouine and Gapi had twelve children and nine of them died during the Depression. For the rest of her life La Sagouine became a scrubwoman. The book itself is a collection of monologues. Here are a few of them.

"Us,we aint educated, "n we don't talk fancy... The priest him, when he preaches, he talks like the doctor's missus throwing out sum big words dat he can turn into a mean sentence. They call that Litterature? Us we aint never seen a speech of litterature in all our lives. We talk with the words we have in our mouths enn we don't go too far to find them. We got em from our fathers that got em from der forefathers. From mouth to ear you could say.(by Hans Runte).

Next about the Depression; " Why yes during the depression times had gotten so bad dat a person could not sink no lower. But when time gets dat low they decide to do something not to let us die. During the Depression for example they invented Soup. From dat time on,things started to get better for us. Every month we had our sack of flour,jug of molasses n sometimes even buckwheat to make pancakes. The Depression saved us from downright poverty.

Who is the actress who plays La Sagouine? Well her name is Viola Leger.She was born in Fitchburg in 1929.She was teacher and later she met Antonine Maillet and became friends. Viola Leger went to Boston to learn to teach theater, then a year later she moved to Paris to study to become an actress at the Jacques LeCoq school. While she was in Paris she received a call from her friend Antonine the author of La Sagouine asking her if she would consider playing the leading role in the play, so Viola returned home. She played La Sagouine over and over again all over the country, by the year 2003 she had played over 2000 times in French and in English. Viola Leger also acted in other plays such as The Smugglers,The Bourgeois Gentleman,Evangeline Deusee, The Racket,Harold and Maude and many more. In 1978 she was given the honor of Chevalier de L'Ordre de la Pleiade, in 1989 she was awarded the Officer of the Order of Canada for her servide to Canadian French Drama and in 2001 she was appointed Canadian Senate by Jean Chretien and she served until 2005. She is a great lady of the performing arts in Canada. And when we attened the Leger/Trahan reunion at the CMA2009, she was there and I had the honor of having my photo taken with her.
I hope you have enjoyed today's blog and if you are ever in Bouctouche New Brunswick be sure to check out Le Pays de La Sagouine and maybe, just maybe you will see a great lady on stage. Thanks for the visit ,do stop by again.
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Come to the Acadian CMA2009

And why should you come to the CMA2009? Well first of all, you will meet old friends and make new friends along the way. You will be able to chat about genealogy, and family, and different cultures. You will meet Cajuns and if you are Cajun you will meet Acadians . There will be people from all over the world. All gathering in Northern New Brunswick for weeks of fun and laughter.
You will be able to listen to talented singers and muscians, you will hear cajun music, acadian music. Singers like Zacharie Richard and Edith Butler and others will perform on stage.
There will be tours, there will be booths with people selling souvenirs and different foods.
And on August 15th is going to be a great day, first of all around 11 am, if you are in the area come meet us near the Carrefour de Mer in Caraquet. We will be wearing yellow, get a yellow hat and come meet us. And also on Acadian Day Aug.15 there will be a tintamarre (parade) in Caraquet and I can imagine the people who will be marching in it with all their Acadian and Cajun colors, a sight to behold. Then a big stage show in Caraquet where I am hoping to be sitting close by to see Zacharie Richard and Edith Butler perform. The excitement is mounting, and the day will soon be here for us to leave to go.
I have already met a couple from Louisiana who are on their way to the CMA today , what a lovely couple and we are meeting them again in Pokemouche. They are coming to meet us at the Carrefour if possible. So I really hope to meet a lot of online friends. See you there.
On another note and still talking about reunions, our Bergeron-Damboise Reunion in Fredericton was a success. On our last day, we had a tree planting ceremony on the grounds of the home of the Lieutenant_Governor of New Brunswick who also had a reception at his house for us. What an honor for all who participated. So is that all there is for the Bergeron-Damboise reunion? I doubt it because some are already asking when is the next Bergeron-Damboise reunion? And some think that Louisiana would be a great place to have it. I would also like to see it being held in Quebec, if not for the next reunion ,then the next one after that should be in Quebec. And wouldn't it be fitting to have it in Montreal where Barthelemy had his bakery? Hmmm. Something to think about.
We have had a few days of nice weather, sure hope it stays that way for the CMA.
Thanks for stopping by and for listening.
Have a great day
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Another reason why

In today's newspaper there is an article, about a man who lives in England, and while he was going through his father's stuff ,he came across a photo album he had never seen before. It was his father's album of when he was in the air force and at one time he was stationed in Moncton.
His son seen all these photos and names and he decided to contact the Library who told him to contact the newspaper. This album had pictures taken during World War 11 and the son who has never been to Moncton is coming down with his album to share with people from down here, probably some relatives of some who were on the photos. And it will be the first time the son ever comes to Moncton.This was a very interesting story because a person never knows what stories can be found in photos. And when we find photos among the belongings of our ancestors and there are notes or names, and they are not related to us but probably friends of our ancestors, it would be so nice if we could get these photos to the descendants of the people in the photos.Even if there are no names on these photos, donate them to archives or museums. One hundred years from now, someone may say " My look at the way they dressed!". Or "the same style is coming back." Look at the way she had her hair, look at the kinds of shoes they had on.
If you find old photos among your grandparents or even if you come across Old Photos at yard sale, pick them up and if you don't want them ,donate them. This is so very important.
I keep looking for old photos just in case there were some of my great grandparents or great great grandparent. What a find that would be for me. On my father's side "Williams" they did not take too many photos, so there may be someone out there with photos of Jake Williams and his kids, pictures that I would love to have copies of. Jake Williams lived in Moncton and in Notre Dame. Also Amand a Denis Cormier from Sainte Marie in New Brunswick, got married three times, and it would be nice to have photos of his kids. My grandmother was from the last wife. Maybe one day some photos will turn up. That is sort of why I first started Old Photos of New Brunswick on Facebook hoping someone would post a photo that I want, but now I have this group to share any old photos of New Brunswick with others.
Changing the subject, I am on my last page telling you about our Bergeron-Damboise Reunion we had a couple of weeks ago. I have also added some folks who came in my photo gallery on Acadian-Roots.com there will be more photos added.
So now it is time for me to go (you know where!). Yes the big TH (Tim Hortons).
Until next time , thanks for the lovely visit and do stop by again.
Have a great day
Aline

Mom's stories

Well today we went over to Mom's with a cup of coffee for her, of course it was Tim Horton's coffee. While we have drinking our coffee, we began talking about old photos and the past.
The conversation came to hospitals and when we were born. And Mom began talking about my siblings and I and our births. She said Old Doctor Baxter delivered all of us except my youngest sister, he had gone on vacation and appointed another doctor who also became unavailable.
Anyway the questions began. I said Mom you were a midwife back then were you not? Oh yes she said. She continued " There was an old lady in the village (Parkton) at the time and when she could not go, they would ask me to go.
She said " We were like a nurse, and usually the doctor would be there. She said we had to put the patient asleep sometimes, because some of the cases were hard ones. I said how did you put them to sleep? She replied" well the doctor would give us a gauze to put over their face or nose and a little bottle of eather and he would tell us how many drops to pour. " She said "Mrs LeBlanc nearly died when she had her first baby, so she had to be put under longer than the others. Then she said" I was there for Mrs Hache, "for her third baby" ,and for Mrs Williams for her first one. This made me proud of my Mom, she helped with the births of other babies.
Then we started on when I was growing up. First of all you have to know that my oldest sister was what I call "dainty". Mom said she had made this little pink dress for my sister, and when she outgrew it, Mom put it away for her next daughter, but another son came along, then another son. Finally she had a little daughter named Aline. She said " you were a cute baby". So she passed me down the cute little pink silk dress that she had made with love and was once my sisters.
Mom said at the time I had two little front teeth and one day she said I lifted my dress and bit on it and ripped it to pieces. tst tst. grin. Then she said " Aline had to wear glasses and she always came home either with them broken or lost. I look at all my photos growing up and would you believe there is something wrong on most of them? Either my socks are rolled down, my straps of my skirt crooked, my sweater buttoned wrong, my hair not parted straight. I said to Mom " where did I come from? " grin. But no matter what, she still loved me for who I was.
It is always so nice listening to Mom talk about when we were young or when she was young. Now speaking of what I looked like growing up, I haven't changed because at our reunion last weekend, someone took a photo of me and I was wearing a headband with a crest in the middle. Guess what? The crest was on the side instead of the middle. See I haven't changed. grin.
Thanks for listening do stop by again.
have a great day
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In Memory of Gerry

The wonderful man in this photo is Gerry, and this was taken after we announced we were getting married. I remember he was dressed in a white sport coat and a pair of black pants. And I remember Mom was hanging clothes out back on the clothes line and he said to Mom "We're getting married". That is all he said.

He was a confirmed bachelor at the time, I bet many girls tried to win his heart, but guess what? I did. We got married and were blessed with a beautiful baby boy, and I remember how proud he was of our son . From the time our son was a baby until the time he was a man. Gerry was so very proud of him. I remember him playing with our son for hours, on the floor with a train set or a truck. He loved our son and I know he loved me.

Gerry was a hard working man, he took his electrical trade before he met me and he worked for Acadia Electric, then he worked for CNR railway. He worked there for 28 years then he took an early retirement, but that didn't stop him from working. He worked on so many stoves, dryers, and anything that would require an electrician. He was known to be a very good electrician.

Our son who was like his dad a confirmed bachelor took the plunge and married. They blessed Gerry and I with a beautiful grandaughter ,Gerry loved her so very much. I remember he used to tease her and call her "Bad Cat". She would look at him, smile and call him a "Big Indian".

Then we were blessed with a grandson , well I can still see the glow on Gerry's face when first of all our son called us" we were taking care of our grandaughter" and he said "it's a boy".

Gerry was as proud as could be. For a little over four years ,Gerry enjoyed the grandchildren and loved seeing our son and daughter in law arrive with them. The reason I am saying the four years, is because in 1995 Gerry was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease. He got worse and worse as the years went by. ( for all of you out there who have love ones with this awful disease, I know what you are going through). So on July 27 1999 ten years ago, God came and took Gerry home.

Today is the anniversary of his death, the weather is calling for rain, I am going to try and get to the cemetery. Gerry; If you can see me, or hear me, rest in peace.

Love always

Aline, John,Joanne,Tina,David and a new addition Buddy.xxx

Bergeron-Damboise reunion

Well our Bergeron-Damboise Reunion has come and gone. After all our plans and preparations we had the reunion. We had people from Louisiana, Maine,New Hampshire, Maryland,Virginia,New Hampshire, North Carolina,Tennesee,Las Vegas, Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. What a great reunion.

We had rain on Saturday which sort of was a let down but it cleared and from the Park and Motel we went to the old Acadian Cemetery. I will post a photo of our group at the cemetery. Now the cemetery has no tombstones or markers at all, there is one monument depicting an Indian Princess or woman. Because the native americans say that that cemetery is an Indian Cemetery, yet there were acadians found in a mass grave in that same cemetery and the bones were tested with DNA , one of the skeletons was Anastasie Godin .

It is possible that some Native Americans shared the same cemetery, because back then the Acadians and Native Americans lived side by side.

It would be so nice if the government would declare the cemetery and the former grounds of the Sainte Anne de Pays Bas Church a historical site. It would be a place for Acadians to return to visit.

We marched from the Lieutenant Governor's house to the cemetery, the ones who could not walk it, drove. Arriving there, Jan Bergeron said a prayer and then some walked around the cemetery. Then we formed a group and took the photo above. We took more photos there but I will share this one. I want to create a page that is more detailed on my acadian-roots website. But I am waiting to receive more photos so that I can choose the ones that will go with the story.

After our day at the cemetery, we finished at the Legion Hall listening to music.

The manager of the Legion announced our group, we were around 38 who went.

The next day we went to a Mass said especially for our group by Father Savoie and then we went to our Hall for a lunch and lots more.(which I will tell you on my website later). We ended our reunion with a tree planting ceremony on the grounds of the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick ,Honorable Chiasson who also allowed us to visit the house and enjoy a nice reception given by him.

This was thanks to Mister Bernard Theriot who made it possible for us.

Everyone is talking about the reunion and saying "when and where will our next reunion be?" Some were saying "What about Louisiana?" "Or Quebec?".

Time will tell. So now you know a little bit more about the reunion. Stay tuned for more stories and photos.

Thanks for the visit and have a great day.

Aline

Children May Want To Know

Are there any of you out there who are looking for a lost love one or parents? If not, I do know that there must be lots of children looking for their parents. They want to know who they are and where they come from. They want to know if they have brothers or sisters somewhere.
Many children have been adopted out, regardless of the reason, they were given up for adoption.
I know of some women who have been reunited with their son or their daughter. And it has been a happy reunion. Children need to know, that sometimes there are reasons why they have been given up . Maybe because the mother wanted a good home for them and could not afford it?
Or maybe the mother wasn't married and afraid of what others would say.
I myself have a half sister whom I haven't found yet, I have it narrowed to two woman, it is one of the two but which one? I have them in my mind, I would love so much to find out the truth and my half sister. Perhaps some day I will find out for certain.
Now another thing, during the world wars, men went overseas, and some had children born there, and they returned to America without their child. Those children must be wondering which one of the soldiers is my father? And while the men were gone ,sometimes their wives had children that they had to give up for adoption.
We hear stories of parents and children finding each other, some may be dissappointed at what they discover but regardless, we are who we are. If you are a child looking for your parents, you need to remember ,no matter how your parents turned out, without them, there would be no you. And maybe all these years your mother has had a very heavy heart having to give you up.
I would love to see all the mothers who gave up their child find that child one day, and all the children out there who are looking and wanting to find out who they are, I wish with all my heart that you would all find that parent. One thing I would like to add, is "To all of you who are searching ,even if you have been looking for a long long time, Never ever ever give up looking and searching. Post on message boards, go to Adoption Boards, look for clues.
I wish you all lots and lots of luck.
Now it is time for me to prepare for our Bergeron-Damboise Reunion this weekend, tomorrow we load three cars with lots of goodies. So I will say goodnight and thanks for the visit.
Do stop by again.
Have a great day tomorrow
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Soldier's Cove, photo, and rowboat

Hello everyone, well first of all I would like to mention that I found the family name of the photo from Soldier's Cove since I posted it. They were a McDonald or MacDonald family from Soldier's Cove. I hope by sharing this , that someone out there may recognized them.
I think I have already told you the story passed down to me from my Mom about Soldier's Cove, but I have new followers so I shall tell the story again.
When Mom was around 10 years old maybe 11, her father moved the family to Soldier's Cove where he had found work as a saw filer . Mom remembers a mill and behind the mill was a river.
And Mom and two of her brothers one nickamed Ti-Ti and the other Dee_Dee. Dee-Dee was the youngest and he was alway getting into some mischief or trouble, and because he had a crippled arm he usually always got away with it. Anyway Mom said this time, the three of them were by the river and Dee-Dee got on this log ,(probably imagining it was a boat) and all of a sudden he began drifting towards the channel,(the deepest part of the river) when Mom and Ti-Ti noticed him, he had drifted quite a ways out, so Mom said there was this old rowboat on the side of the river so they both jumped in and they noticed it was leaking , so Ti_Ti rowed the boat and Mom bailed the water out with a can she said. Can you imagine seeing this in your mind?
They reached Dee-Dee and got him back into the boat and back to shore.
I have written this story down and put it in a book I made for my grandaughter along with other stories of when Mom was a little girl. Do you have any little stories about your parents or grandparents such as this one? Why don't you take time and write it down, try to name where it happened, and when it did, who were the people and so on. If you want to, make it similar to a diary, everyday if you remember something write it down. One day maybe not today or tomorrow but one day someone somewhere will enjoy finding and reading this diary or notebook of yours.
On another note, I just colored my hair , suppose to be medium brown, sob sob it looks black. Tomorrow I go get some streaks put in, I just might look something like a skunk. grin.
Have a great day and thanks for the visit.
Aline

Chezzetcook and Soldier's Cove

Hello everyone, first of all why did I mention Soldier's cove? Well my mother told me she remembers being there when she was little because her father had gotten a job there probably in a camp. Anyway Mom came across this photo among her photos ,this was a family from Soldier's Cove , she did not know anything about them so I posted it here hoping that some of you readers might just recognize the people. This would have been taken in the early 1900s.

Now let's change the subject, I was reading a book called The Acadians of Nova Scotia and inside I found the following about Chezzetcook Nova Scotia:"Several hundred Acadians were brought to Halifax as prisoners between 1758 and 1762. Some were deported and some were permitted to settle in various parts of the province. A certain number of these prisoners made their way across Halifax Harbor to Chezzetcook, maybe because of the Marshlands, but most likely because of the MicMac settlement known to French Missionaries for many years. Family names still common today in West Chezzetcook and Grand Desert which can be traced to those former prisoners are Boudreau,Bellefontaine,LaPierre and Wolfe. Despite of the appearance of the surname Wolfe ,it is a french name.Augustin wolfe was born in Alsace France in 1721 and appears in 1751 in Halifax as a colonist.Besides the prisoners there was another group of Acadians all whom had been living in Cape Breton and were giving permission to settle in Chezzetcook, they included names like Petipas,Bonin,Roma,Manet and Mayet. And Chezzetcook also became the home of Breaus and Bonnevies from Miquelon and also for Simon Julien a deserter from the Napleonic wars. In the first part of 1770 there were around 12 Acadian families in chezzetcook and when the Bishop of Quebec made his visit to Nova Scotia in 1815 there were 47 families.Thought you would enjoy reading this little tidbit on Chezzetcook. I believe one of my Bellefontaine ancestors was there for a while.Thanks for the visit, I need a break, a coffee break , a Tim Horton's break. grin.Do stop by againHave a great day

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Genealogy of the Acadians of PEI Book

I would just like to know if any of you readers would be interested in ordering books on the Genealogy of the Acadians of Prince Edward Island. The author Mister Bernard has done some very intense research and is creating five volumes with around 700 pages each. These Volumes will be sold at 47.50 each volume
Volume one is ARSENAULTS
Volume two is ALBERT to FRANCIS
Volume three is GALLANTS
Volume four is GAUDET to OVERBACK
Volume five is PAQUET to WITZELL.

I have told him I would see how many orders I could get for him, so if you are interested, I have created a email address just for this. Email me with the volumes you are interested in , your names and emails and I will forward them to him and he will contact you.
My email for this is mrsaline@live.com


Have a great day
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Old Photos Important Advice

Well today I would like to talk about different things, well a few anyway. I recently discovered another distant relative, and through a friend I am receiving some old photos of other distant cousins, but that person has thrown out some photos he did not recognize. That is sad .
I say to all of you NEVER , NEVER throw out old photos,even if you do not know them, someone out there just might. If you have old photos and do not want them, send them to me, all I need to know is where this photo came from ,in whose possession was it in.
As you know many of our relatives moved from place to place in search of work, some went to the USA, others went out west and their pictures went with them.
When I did a Leger family a few years ago, I tracked some of the relatives to Saskatoon , and they sent me photos ,old photos at that, and can you imagine how excited the Legers were when they got them? I received an old photo from Australia a while back it was of a cousin of my ggrandmother. So again I stress this because it is important .
On another note , as you know I have a genealogy group called acadianrootsclub , it is by invite only , I changed it that way and now it cannot be undone, so in order to have members join I created another group called petiteacadienne and when someone goes there who want to join my main group I send them an invite, but I need to know who they are looking for , or a bit about themselves if possible. Anyway getting back to my story, yesterday I reached the 500 mark for members in my acadianrootsclub group . I am happy about that, I do not know if all 500 members are still there, but their names are.
And I would like to add this, if you are readers of P'tit Francois on my website at www.acadian-roots.com , I am going to stop the stories until after the summer,unless I have time to do some.
With all the reunions and CMA2009 plans, I am finding it a little hard to keep up with everything, I hope this doesn't dissappoint any of you, but I will resume the articles later on ok?
I need to translate yesterday's that I added and then I will stop until further notice.
Thank you for the visit, do stop by again.
Have a great day
Aline

Congres Mondial ,CMA2009

As you know the CMA2009 is getting nearer. Now the excitement is growing. We opened our new tent a few days ago, since we bought it second hand and there were no instructions with it. But we succeeded at setting it up. Now we have to start a list of what to take with us for tenting and for ourselves. If you are in Caraquet ,we will be at the Colibri Campground. On August 15 (Acadian Day) at 11 am whoever wants to come meet us , we will be meeting at the Carrefour de Mer near the Wharf, we will be wearing yellow. So wear yellow so we will know you want to meet us ok?

Now the good part for Acadian Day, the celebrations are going to be held in Caraquet and from 830 pm on, they are going to have lots of music and singing. Some of the guests are going to be some of my favorites, Edith Butler and Zacharie Richard, I can't wait to see their performances, and the singers of the Acadian CMA Theme Song will also be there to sing. So Acadian Day at the CMA is something you don't want to miss.

We have registered for the Leger reunion already, and we are planning on going to the Cormier and Boudreau dances in the evenings. We will also attend something the Breau reunion is having, not sure what yet. Don't forget your sunscreen, your umbrellas, your hats, your cameras and bring plenty of batteries. Oh and if you have chairs bring those too.

Hope to see you at the CMA2009.

Have a great day

Aline

People Search

Have you ever wondered where certain persons went ,or how you could find them?
Well I have had the opportunity to locate a nephew ,and I have narrowed down to ladies one of whom is my half sister. But not knowing which one it is , is knawing at me . There is a part of me wanting to know her, and share with her. I have not given up. So that is what everyone of you should do, never give up.
Now I am trying to track down some children who's parents have separated. These children will never be able to trace their family lines unless we connect because their father changed his name and the children are all under his new surname. These children all have the same father but different mothers.
They could be in Ontario or out in Western Canada.
The first children were born to a Cathy Spencer: I believe it is Spencer,
their names would be Bradford and Robert Law, they are twins born 1977, Natasha and Sabrina Lynn Law.
Next Mother is Bev last name unknow, children are Amanda born 1982, Nathan -Christopher and Jessica Law.
So if anyone knows these children or come across them somewhere please let me know. As I said their surname Law stops there and I feel it is important for them to be able to know who they are.
If any of you readers are looking for someone and if you would like me to post it in my blog contact me ,you can do by adding a comment on the bottom of this blog and we will go from there ok?
Since I haven't mentioned this in a while, if any of you are interested in joining my acadianrootsclub genealogy group,you can do so by contacting me or going in through my petiteacadienne group on the right sidebar here. We are a fine group who are more than willing to do their best to help you and if you just want to join to help others that is fine too.
And be sure to check out my website http://www.acadian-roots.com/ , I haven't added much new stuff on it lately but as soon as I am not busy I will try and add more.
Depending on some of my members , maybe in the fall we will have something new and interesting for some of you.
Thanks for the visit do stop by again
Have a great day
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Postcards are important

Why are postcards important? Well did you ever wonder for instance about the handwriting on the postcards? Have you ever looked at a postcard and notice the date?
Well this week I received a photo of two Postcards from Richiboucto Village sent to Gardner Massachusstts. there was no date on the postcards but it was written by a first cousin of my grandfather which now gives me another line to trace and inquire about.
And did you know at one time our ancestors had photos taken and it was on a postcard? Well I was looking in my old photos last week for some new found cousins and I found this gentleman who was the brother of my great grandfather and I turned the photo around and it was a postcard but the best of it, was that on the back was some writing. And guess what? It was written by my grandfather, who was probably writing to his mother or brother and on that postcard it said that his uncle was a very nice man and that he had offered to let my grandfather stay there until he got a job. What a nice thing to have as a souvenir. My grandfather's handwriting. I have never met my grandfather, he died way before I was born.
So before you throw away old postcards, see if you can find out anything about the photos and the people who wrote on the back. You never know what you will find.
Genealogy is finding the history of our ancestors as well as their names ,dates of births, marriages and death. Their lives were more than that, they had families, they had problems, they worked hard, some had jobs, some were talented, some were not, some were muscians , others good at something else, but it is a great feeling to put as much as we can about them along with our genealogy. I found out my grandfather died of Lupus , I have a nephew who has lupus, does it follow down the lines? My grandmother had crippling or rhematoid Arthritis, so has Mom. If you do not know about your grandparents but if you know things about your parents, mark those down in your family tree , so that it will help future generations to find the information and it will save them a lot of time, such as we are doing now trying to find out about our grandparents. I found out my grandmother used to follow my grandfather into Lumber camps at one time or another and she used to cut the lumbermen's hair for 25cents a cut and she used to cook for them too. Again things to pass down to my grandchildren and great grandchildren if I am lucky enough to have some.
On another note, I have added a few more names in my Chartersville Road (Our lady of Calvary) Cemetery page at www.acadian-roots.com I have lots more to add.
Our Bergeron-Damboise reunion is getting nearer and things are falling into place, it should be a very nice and fun time.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Have a great day
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The Good Old Days

Looking through my books, I came across the following tidbits in Brin d'Histoire from the Societe Historique de Grande Digue, which I shall translate to english. The title of the article is "Growing up in Grandigue by Camille Theriault.
David and Zelma Theriault arrived in Grande Digue in 1917 with one daughter Marguerite.David had left his work on the advice of his doctor. A property at the corner of the road to Caissie Cape caught his eye. Besides the house was a a barn, a garage and a grocery store. Here was clean fresh air that David needed to take care of his lungs.
This young couple went to work. In the summer of 1918 David Theriault began selling his products around the cape with a horse and wagon ,twice a day, while Zelma took care of her house and other work. To make work easier the house was connected to the store through the kitchen. This was done by Baptiste Despres and a few neighbors.
In October of the same year a son was born (Camille ) and nearly every two years from then on were born eight more children.
Camille Theriault who was 76 when he told these stories lived in Ontario at the time. He said he spent 14 years growing up in Grande Digue. Here is more of his stories.
In the spring of 1924 a company (probably Whiterose) set up gas tanks in front of the store and it was operated by David and Zelma.
It is safe to say that on the side of the store was the place that gathered the most snow drifts in all of Grande Digue, sometimes up to 14 feet high. David and Zelma had to answer to the folks as if it were their fault.
Probably many folks of Grande Digue won't remember Michel a Romain Caissie. I can see him coming home and listening to his stories. He was a shoemaker, he could fix nearly any tools even cut hair. He was an interesting man who always travelled by bicycle with a bag attached to the back seat. He travelled all over the villages and was known as far as Saint Antoine.
About my mother:
I am amazed how mother would be so calm doing a crisis and I give her credit she well deserves. With six children near her, her baby Aurele fell and hit his forehead on his bottle and the blood started running. The children were ready to panick but Mother said " Don't get nervous, it's nothing". With that attitude she gave everyone something to do. "you will pump the water in the basin while I hold a cold torniquet, the blood will stop you will see". Then she decided to get help from her capable neighbor " Marguerite ,get dressed warm and go over to Baptiste Despres, tell him exactly where the cut is. He will stop the blood in a hurry you will see". And the blood stopped with the help of the neighbor.
It is true, mothers are unbelievable sometimes. I remember when I was around ten years old and my cousin and I were on Dad's truck (where we were not suppose to be) and it had rained and the front of the truck was slippery and we would slide off the truck, at that time (long ago grin) the license plates had no frame around them and they were sharp, and I slid down and didn't I slip on the edge of the license plate and split the front of my leg near my ankle. The wound was open so wide you could see the cord inside the wound that moves the leg. But believe it or not it was not bleeding, so I hopped over to the house, Mom was scrubbing her floors, she saw me, she didn't panic one bit, made me stand on a chair and she took a clean white cloth and wrapped it around the wound and Dad and her took me to the doctors office. He had to put in eight clamps and a bunch of stitches and she stayed by my side.
I also remember an episode with my son, he was getting all upset and I was very stern and guided him through his dilemma. I remember thinking " I gotta be strong for him" and I think I was.
Well I do hope you enjoyed today's blog and will stop by again soon.
Have a great day.
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ARSENAULT Meeting

A public meeting will be held on June 28 on the University of Moncton in the Taillon Building local 136 to continue with the formation of the Arsenault/Arseneau,Arceneaux, Arsoneau association. It will be held at 2 pm . There will also be a wine and cheese lunch.
Everyone one who are interested are invited.
As you also know the CMA is fast approaching, if you do not have accomodations yet, hurry before they are all taken. We have sent in our registration for the Leger families, still undecided which others we are attending.
If you are planning on being in Caraquet Aug.15, and would like to come introduce yourselves we will be at the Carrefour de Mer, on the grounds wearing yellow around 11 AM before the Acadian Day celebrations hope to see you there.
Our Bergeron-Damboise reunion is really coming along good. Things are falling into place, we are all getting excited as it nears. The Bergeron-Damboise Association has a website at http://www.bergeron-damboise.com .

I have added a few more names on my Chartersville Road Cemetery in Dieppe in case you want to check it out at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ I have lots more to add.
Just came back from PEI, had a nice time, the weather was great. Now it is coffee time.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day
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What would our Ancestors think?

Have you ever wondered about the difference in the world around us today ,and what our ancestors would think if they too could see?
First of all, we have electricity, they had lanterns and lamps. I bet they would really appreciate turning on a switch instead of lighting a lamp or even a candle.
We have cars, they had horse and wagons,we have skidoos, they had horse and sleighs. How they would marvel at all the new inventions.
Our ancestors washed in the rivers and streams, and hung their clothes on trees and branches, we have automatic washers and dryers. Can you imagine our great great great grandmothers opening their eyes today and after all the hard work that they did, see a washer and dryer?
The men used axes and saws, to cut down their trees, it must have taken them a long time to cut one tree, today we have power saws, one zip and the tree is down.
Building a house back then took time, and a lot of hard work with their limited tools. Today in no time a house is all built because of all the new tools we have.
Back they had to plow their fields with a horse and them walking behind, it took them a long long time to get their soil ready for planting. Now today we have tractors and tillers, in no time we have our garden all sowed.
We can take a nice hot shower whenever we want to, our ancestors had no showers ,I bet you lots of time they bathe in the brooks, brrrr sure must have been cold sometimes.
These are things to think about and realize how lucky we are. And yes if our Ancestors could be here today they would marvel at all the new inventions.
Thanks for the visit, do stop by again.
Have a great day
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Family Reunions what are they?

What are family reunions? Well family reunion are a gathering of family members together . There are various reasons for reunions. Some are to celebrate a special milestone, for example Grandma and Grampa were married sixty years ago, and it is a good time to have all their descendants under one roof to celebrate. Mother is 100 years old, what a nice time to have a family reunion, think about all her descendants that she will see.
The CMA is holding an Acadian World Gathering in Northern New Brunswick Canada in August. That reunion will be a very big event, with all different family surnames holding their reunions at different times and places but all coinciding with the CMA. This is a must if you can make it .The different reunions will host different schedules of events. Some will have dances, others just music, or discussing genealogy ,and having a great time, meeting new friends.
So if you are in the neighborhood, stop by the CMA and join in on all the fun.
The Bergeron-Damboise Association is holding a reunion in Fredericton New Brunswick July 18 and 19th. I am the spokeman for them in New Brunswick.
We are going to try and make this reunion a great one with lots of good memories for the guests to take back home. But also along with our reunion we are going to do a good deed. All the food we have left from our lunch will be donated to the Fredericton Soup Kitchen, as a treat perhaps for the hungry.
So if there are any of you reading this blog and you want to donate any food for the soup kitchen, drop off your donation to the Sainte Anne Community Hall on Priestman Rd in Fredericton on July 19th after 930am and say it is for the Soup Kitchen.
We have received some donations for our reunion from some very nice folks, which I shall add on my website after our reunion is over. They will also be added on the Bergeron-Damboise website at http://www.bergeron-damboise.org/
Myself ,personally, I am very excited about our reunion in Fredericton since I will be meeting many distant cousins from places such as Louisiana, Chicago,Vermont,Minnesota,New Hampshire,Massachussetts,Maine,Ontario,and Quebec and possibly more.
It should be a fun time. And I am also looking forward to the CMA, since we are going there for two weeks, we will be tenting, (I still haven't tried to set up my tent yet, I had better do so before we go grin) It is a new tent.
So we will be attending different reunions, the Legers, maybe Cormier and Boudreau, and taking in all the festivities. Also some of my online friends will be meeting us at the Carrefour de Mer on Acadian Day august 15. I am looking forward to that meeting. So this year, reunions are very important to me.
I only hope that the weather will remain very nice during our reunions.
Oh and before I forget, on July 19 at 11 am at the Sainte Anne de Pays Bas church on Priestman Rd in Fredericton there is going to be a mass said for the Bergeron-Damboise group but also it will be for descendants of the pioneers of Sainte Anne de Pays Bas, surnames such as Godin,Bellefontaine,Bellefeuille,Beausejour,Roy,Saindon,Landry,Dugas,Pare
so if you have ancestors that were in Sainte Anne de Pays Bas, come join us for the mass.
Thanks for the visit do stop by again
Have a nice day
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