The French-Canadians: Thoughts Before Québec

Origins

When I was growing up, my dad always said we were German. As it turns out, that's not true. While I do have a healthy dose of German ancestry, I am also (in no particular order) English, Scottish, Fresian, Irish, Native American, and French. My roots in the US run deep in almost all of my family lines. The most recent arrivals were the Adens. They came in 1870 from Germany, but were ethnic Fresians. 

My earliest immigrant ancestors, though, were the French. I believe Louis Hébert  to be the first of those. One of my ancestors, he and his wife are mentioned in the Canadian Encyclopedia: "Louis Hébert visited Canada three times between 1604 and 1613 with the expeditions of Pierre Degua de Monts, Samuel de Champlain, and Jean de Beincourt de Pourtrincourt. In 1617 he decided to settle in Québec City with his wife and three children. He was ceded 10 arpents of land near the site of the present cathedral of Québec, and his family is renowned for having been the first to cultivate land in Canada.His wife, Marie Rollet, was the first Frenchwoman to scratch the soil of New France. It is said that, thanks to his medical knowledge among other reasons, Hébert was on good terms with the native people."

Next Saturday, I'm headed to Québec to do some research with my daughter Jennifer. We're hoping to find more information about our French-Canadian ancestors. I want to see the Louis Hébert monument. (Do we look alike?)

These brave French men and women were travelers. They were explorers. They were adventurers. That means records of their lives can pop up almost anywhere. Not only did they leave the security of a place like France, they continued to move to even more remote locations once in Nouvelle-France (New France), eventually arriving in "Illinois Country" or, as they called it, "Pays des Illinois" which was part of "Louisiane".

Primarily, we will be researching in Montréal and Québec City. But as I said, our ancestors were mobile. They lived in little villages all along the St. Lawrence River. Places like Batiscan, Cap-Santé, Lotbinière, Trois-Rivières, and Verchères to name a few. We hope to drive through these towns, get out and have a look around, and imagine what life was like 350-400 years ago. 

I want to see what my ancestors saw. I know things have changed, but I'm really hoping we can get a feel for the place. We can't travel back in time, but as my daughter Jennifer and I agreed, it will be fun just to go somewhere and hear people speaking French, the language of our people, or at least some of them.

Our Link to Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill

From Buffalo Bill Center of the West (public domain)

I always thought it would be fun to have famous or royal roots. Don't we all! I haven't found any well-known direct ancestors (yet), but I have come across some other interesting  connections. For example, a few weeks ago I discovered some documents written for or about my illiterate ancestors (Elmore and Estep lines) by Abraham Lincoln. Yes. That one. That's pretty amazing! I need to pull together some more pieces, which requires some Black Hawk War research at the National Archives in Washington. Luckily, I'll be going there for work in a week or so. I'm taking a super early flight the day before the conference so I'll have some research time there. Wish me luck!

Since I'm currently at a brick wall on that line, I decided to explore another rumored connection - to William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody.

It's true!

(It's not a close connection, but I really enjoyed adding him to my tree.)

My Flint family, originally from Manchester, England, didn't have it easy. It was one of those families that seemed to have tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. My second great grandmother, Emma Flint (married John Dunsford), died at age 35.

Emma's brother, Agrippa Flint (who died before age 30), married a woman named Elizabeth Frederici. His brother-in-law was none other than Buffalo Bill, who was married to Elizabeth's sister Margaret "Louisa" Frederici.

Of course, when Agrippa knew him, he was still just William F. Cody, American Civil War veteran (Union). Researching this connection, though, may give more insight into my Flint family. I had previously wondered how Elizabeth and her four very young children survived after the premature death of her husband. I would imagine that Louisa wrote letters to Elizabeth. I don't know if they exist, but I sure hope I can find something about Elizabeth's  life after Agrippa died. Now I have another place to look. Could she have received financial support from Buffalo Bill? Maybe so!

Researching those more distant family branches, friends, and neighbors can be helpful. You often find new paths to explore, and sometimes those paths lead to famous or influential people who make you feel more American than ever.

Especially when it's Buffalo Bill!

Genealogy Mindfulness

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a pretty important concept in the world of mental health. It's all about being fully aware of things that are going on in the present - how your food tastes, your breathing, the way the sun feels on your skin. Mindfulness exercises can be pretty relaxing, and they do help you to realize that you may be missing some important or memorable details of your life when you rush through your day-to-day routine.

I make a lot of mistakes when it comes to mindfulness. For example, a couple of years ago I spent two weeks in Scotland. We rushed through our days, trying to cram in as much as we could. After the trip, I realized that although I had seen a lot, I never really took the time to experience Scotland - the people, the culture, the feel of the wind and mist on my face.

This realization changed the way I plan to travel in the future. I want to leave plenty of time to get a feel for a place. I hope I can resist the urge to be a super-touri

I was reminded of genealogical mindfulness today when this little cutie referred to a suction-cup arrow as a "toilet horn." I can only assume she meant a plunger, and I hope she doesn't ever try to touch one to see if it honks!

I couldn't stop laughing, and I realized that I should be writing these things down. She won't be three forever, and Grannys have much more time to record cute little stories than Moms.

I have some pretty vague memories of much of my childhood. It would have been such a treasure for me if someone had written down a few things. Just a few short stories about what I said and did. Maybe I should have asked my parents more about my own childhood too when I asked them about theirs, but I was thinking about the past.

Sadly, it's too late for stories about me, but I can record fun little tidbits about my descendants. Those cute stories I still share with friends from time to time would be perfect! Like when a group of my friends were at my house scrapbooking, and my youngest daughter, who was about 4, went around the table telling everyone they were doing a good job. Or when my second daughter was 3 and made us all call her Jasmine (from Aladdin) for weeks on end. And when my oldest was 3 and told me my stretch marks were beautiful because they were pink and purple.  I love these stories, but I've never written them down for them.

So, going forward, I will be adding this to my Genealogy Do-Over. I will, in addition to searching in records from the past, include some "personal knowledge" stories for my family to enjoy in the future, properly cited, of course.  I will try to remember the recent past, be mindful of the present, and get those stories documented!