The French-Canadian Genealogist

For my Franco-American friends (and interested Canadians), here's a free webinar you may want to attend on May 6th at 7PM ET. I highly recommend Vermette's book as well! Registration is required.

Back on this date in 1910, Wilfrid Laurier passes the Naval Service Act, which creates the Royal Canadian Navy. Pictured: Canada's First Naval Recruits, H.M.C.S. NIOBE, 1910 (credit: Library and Archives Canada).

À cette date en 1910, Wilfrid Laurier adopte la Loi sur le service naval, qui crée la Marine royale canadienne. Sur la photo : les premières recrues navales du Canada, le H.M.C.S. NIOBE, 1910 (crédit: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada).

For all the Star Wars fans out there. "The Skywalker family tree has deeper roots than this classic plot twist. Let’s look at the Star Wars family tree to see what mysteries it holds. A Long Time Ago, in a Foster Home Far, Far Away..."

La plupart des canadiens connaissent les Filles du roi , le groupe de femmes célibataires recrutées pour venir en Nouvelle-France entre 1663-1673. Beaucoup moins connues sont les Filles à marier qui les ont précédées. Contrairement aux Filles du roi, leur passage n'a pas été payé par la couronne française et elles n'ont pas reçu de dot royale à leur mariage. Elles étaient en effet des pionnières courageuses, venues dans ce nouveau monde avec une seule motivation : la possibilité d'une vie meilleure.

A really interesting article about American Thanksgiving food traditions. Chowder for Thanksgiving? Who knew!

If you have French-Canadian roots, chances are this couple is in your family tree. Abraham Martin dit l’Écossais and his wife Marguerite Langlois were some of the first French settlers to arrive in New France. Companion of Samuel de Champlain, pilot on the St-Lawrence River and resident of the plains that bear his name in Québec City, he is the ancestor of thousands of French Canadians and many Americans. His life, however, wasn’t without controversy.

The oldest store in Arichat, Cape Breton, owned by Thomas J. Boudreau, circa 1930 (Nova Scotia Archives). Le plus ancien magasin d'Arichat, au Cap-Breton, propriétaire Thomas J. Boudreau vers 1930 (Nova Scotia Archives). #canada #history #ancestors #histoire #familyhistory #ancestry #instahistory #genealogy #canadianhistory #genealogist #ancetre #genealogie #acadian #acadien #capebreton #novascotia #acadie #acadia #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography

Si vous avez des racines canadiennes-françaises, il y a de fortes chances que ce couple soit dans votre arbre généalogique. Abraham Martin dit l’Écossais et son épouse Marguerite Langlois ont été parmi les premiers colons français à arriver en Nouvelle-France. Compagnon de Samuel de Champlain et résident des plaines qui portent son nom à Québec, il est l'ancêtre de milliers de Canadiens français et de nombreux Américains. Sa vie, cependant, n’a pas été sans controverse.

I just love this photo! Cléo Laniel's barber shop in Plantagenet, Ontario in 1900 (credit: Digital Prescott Russell). La boutique de barbier de Cléo Laniel à Plantagenet (Ontario) en 1900 (crédit : Prescott Russell en numérique).... #canada #history #ancestors #histoire #familyhistory #ancestry #instahistory #genealogy #canadianhistory #genealogist #ancetre #genealogie #francoontarien #plantagenet #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #easternontario #barber

La semaine de la généalogie se tient du 21 au 28 novembre. Mais pour cause de pandémie, il n’y aura pas d’activités en présentiel cette année. Mais Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) vous donne toutes les clés pour vous aider à retrouver vos ancêtres et faire votre arbre généalogique. [...] Une activité numérique est aussi mise en ligne à destination des enfants qui s’intitule Ton enquête généalogique. "Ce webinaire en quatre parties permet aux enfants de 6-13 ans de s’initier à la généalogie et de construire leur arbre comme s’ils étaient des détectives", précise le service des archives.

Une bonne nouvelle pour les Canadiens français!

"Roberts, who has been working as an archeologist for two decades, likes that the results of her work benefit her nation directly. 'It’s something that needs to be done and it's in my own territory. And, it's the history of my people,' she said, adding she relies on traditional knowledge-keepers for insights into her work. Iain McKechnie, who heads the Historical Ecology and Coastal Archaeology Lab at the University of Victoria, said the ever-increasing number of Indigenous archeologists brings additional richness to the discipline. 'Knowing your own territory and being able to consult with your community members about that territory, and then bringing forward all of the skills that archeologists globally practise that's the strongest kind of position that you can have as an archeologist,' McKechnie said.

"On a trip from York Factory to the Red River, West began gathering First Nations children to be brought to the colony to be educated. He gathered Sakachuwescum from the area around Kinaso Sipi, also known as Norway House. He would be given the name Henry Budd and go on to become the first Indigenous ordained minister in North America."

Back on this date in 1813, a Canadian military force, along with Indigenous allies from Kanesatake and Kahnawake, repelled an American force attempting to invade Lower Canada (present-day province of Quebec) and attack Montreal. The conflict was known as the Battle of the Châteauguay. Image published in Le Journal de Dimanche on 24 Jun 1884. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Fascinant ! À l’Université de Montréal, dans une petite salle d'apparence ordinaire, reposent des centaines de boîtes de carton. À l’intérieur se trouvent des squelettes provenant d’anciens cimetières québécois, certains remontant au 18e siècle. Ce sont nos ancêtres. Ils se retrouvent ici parce la plupart entravaient le chemin de travaux routiers ou de canalisations et qu'ils ont dû être exhumés. En attendant leur réinhumation, ils sont l’objet d’étude des chercheurs. Tous ces ossements, sans exception, sont anonymes. Car, pendant des siècles au Québec, les défunts étaient enterrés sans pierre tombale, sans nom.

Quand on pourra voyager de nouveau!

Back on this date in 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed, leading to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Canadian economy suffered greatly, and the resulting crisis led to the establishment of many social welfare programs across the country. Pictured: page 1 headline of the Montreal Gazette on 25 Oct 1929.

"A sabre that saw action in the American Revolution and may have been used as a murder weapon in Nova Scotia has found its way back to the family of its original owner, thanks in part to the curiosity of a 12-year-old boy in Chile. The rusted cavalry sabre is from around 1780 and belonged to Capt. Joseph Marshall of the Carolina Rangers, a British cavalry regiment sent to help stop the Americans from gaining independence, according to Mark Haynes, vice-president of the Guysborough Historical Society."

"St. John Street, Quebec City, QC, 1865. As a result of its isolation from railways to Atlantic ports and American industrial centres, cities like Quebec City languished. The lack of horse-drawn trams, the dusty streets and the dilapidated buildings along a main commercial street bear witness to the fact that Quebec's most important politicians were from Montreal, where they concentrated commercial and industrial power." (credit: McCord Museum, http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca//collection/artifact)

On this date in 1898, this article appeared in the Klondike Nugget (Dawson City, Yukon). "Still it proved hard for some to realize that a fire was not a public spectacle, as in the cities from whence they came, but an occasion on which every citizen was entitled to do his very best for the common weal".

A great interview with Dr. Gates. "Gates can only recall one person who didn’t cry while the cameras were rolling Francis Collins, the former head of the Human Genome Project and the current director of the National Institutes of Health. And he later learned that Collins burst into tears when he got home. Not that 'Finding Your Roots' is a sad show guests (and viewers) are more often fascinated and delighted by what they learn. The program shows viewers that everyone has a story, because while the guests are all famous, their ancestors are mostly anything but."

Good tips to follow once we can all travel again!

A deeper look at how genetic genealogy helped to solve this case. "Genetic genealogy uses existing DNA data to provide a possible family tree from a human sample. Rather than one suspect, the approach digs up a broad family lineage, from parents and siblings to distant cousins. It’s then up to investigators to use classic investigative tools, such as combing through historical records, obituaries, social media or other channels to winnow their search."

Une belle explication de la généalogie au Québec. Un nouveau passionné! "Ah ben que l'diable me pète un singe!"

A street in Rockland, Ontario, lined with the cabins of the Edwards sawmill workers (undated). Credit : Digital Prescott Russell. Learn more about the history of Rockland at https://www.tfcg.ca/history-of-rockland. . . #canada #history #ancestors #histoire #familyhistory #ancestry #instahistory #genealogy #canadianhistory #genealogist #ancetre #genealogie #francoontarien #rockland #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #easternontario #mill #ontario #rocklandontario

"We look because human beings are natural born storytellers, and we want to know how our once upon a time fits into the narratives of our lives. We look because genealogy has a way of making abstract history real, and we want to know if the past has guidance for us hapless denizens of a chaotic present whose future we can’t yet see. (Ancestors’ stories of crisis can be reassuring; we already know that it’s going to work out and can learn lessons that sustain us.) We look,... too, because we want to see if there is precedent for our proclivities and talents, an explanation for this nose or that auburn hair, a story behind a family’s idiosyncrasies those unusual holiday customs, that missing grandfather, this intergenerational habit of secrecy. We look for patterns and explanations. We hope the past can elucidate the present." https://www.psychologytoday.com//why-are-americans-obsesse

"The dog tags belonged to his late father, Cpl. Ian Harris, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1951-1966. 'He's been gone a while so it's pretty nice,' said Harris, his voice catching as he looked down at the family history in his hands. '[I have] thoughts of the people who held onto them for all those years and found us and got them back to us.' It was Josie Bennett who first stumbled on the tags in a field outside of Dover, England, in 1956. 'Just playing in the field there, she found the dog tags, picked them up and kept them all these years,' Bennett's niece Ali Roberts, who lives in Wrexham, Wales, told CBC's Information Morning earlier this month."