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Thursday, December 8, 2011

~Family Fishnet; getting your lines crossed~

So, part of today has been spent doing search upon search for a record of Marriage; a Transcription, that I had found last year for my Great Grandfather William Saulnier to my Great Grandmother Francoise Comeau online. It was a site with many old marriage records from Churchpoint, NS. The information in the page was very informative and gave me many a lead in my research into those lines. Could I find it again? NO. >,< Ofcourse not!
Now I have heard the saying; "take everything you read with a grain of salt..." that is Especially True of Genealogy research and information found on a website. (Sources, Sources Sources!!) I usually try to note down where the info came from and usually 'favorite' the page for easy return and reference, but alas I must have forgotten that day. If I find a site that may have interesting or related info to what I am researching or who I am researching but has no sources I will usually chat up another Genealogist or someone I may know who has access to 1st or second hand sources to double check any info I find.
    For any of you who may be reading this, if you are Acadian or have French Acadian lines, if you don't know it already; let me clue you into a Fact: almost all big Acadian names (ei: families) are related to eachother in 'everywhichwaydirection 3 and 5 ways to the 16th power divided .5 ways to Sunday' as it were. ;) Basicly; from what have found in my own research and others of Acadian Lines; we don't have Family Trees; We have family Fishnets, or Chickenwire (think of the interlinking neverending shapes). That is a fact. Now I am not saying that there aren't any out there that are not majorly interconnected within their trees, but you'd be hard pressed to find one I think.
To try to help explain for any of you saying to yourselves while reading this: "OMG you mean your indbred??!!?!" Please read the following:
I know I am in dire need of major brushing up on my Acadian history; especially pertaining to the Deportation years, or "Grand Deraigement" in the 1750's, as it is called, but basicly after Britian won the war with France (and even before) they began to round up all Acadians they could find and track down and the British began a Campaigne of Genocide (which, thankfully for me and thousands others, did not succeed in wiping out the Acadian population), in which they:
Imprisioned them; whole families even
Split families up; sent a brother overseas while the rest were sent to New England or Maryland etc, regardless of age
Shipped them off to America. Spain. France. And other countries.
Some fled to the hills and hid out.
Some fled to Quebec.
Several of my own Ancestors were sent to Maryland, some after then ended up in Louisianna; I have at least 4 ancestors (that I can recall right now) that were actually born in LA and then moved back up to NS.
One of my ancestors and his whole family of 4 were imprisioned at Fort Edward and spent 10 years doing manual labor for the fort. (Keep in mind men and women were made to sleep in seperate areas)


(Above: Fort Edward Blockhouse; built in 1750. It is all that remains of the Fort. Photo NOT by me; from this website: http://ns1763.ca/hantsco/fortedward.html )


("Fort Edward, as it appeared in the early 1900s.
The building with the red roof, in the center of this photograph,
was the Officers' Quarters. It burned down on 16 June 1922.
This Valentine & Sons postcard was postmarked in Windsor in June 1908." image & caption found at this website: http://ns1763.ca/hantsco/fortedward.html )
I can only imagine what they went through.
(for any who are curious; google Rene Saulnier & Fort Edward to learn more or click here to learn more about the Expulsion and Acadian History & Genealogy)
Many Acadians died while in transit overseas in shipwrecks.
One of my lines; Jacques Amirault and his parents were sent to Chelsea, MA; I did some reading; many Acadians who ended up in MA had rules; they were not allowed to go beyond 10 miles from their 'abode' (shanties). If they did they faced punishment. They had to get permission from the Govenor to leave or have other 'amenities' of life. They had to 'Request' aid (many died from lack of medical aid, disease and starvation). The tradgedies go on and on....

    When Britian won the war there were (and I think I may have the exact number wrong) about 15,000-20,000 Acadians in NB and NS. Ten years later, after America had won it's revolution and Loyalists had excaped to Canada and claimed many an acadian's farm, the Acadian's were released from prisons, etc and allowed to 'go home'. By that Point there were about 300 Acadian Families left.

Back then; if you were an Acadian you likely married another Acadian; and Voila! There you have a good portion of the reason why most Acadians are related to another; in a vague nutshell.
(I will work on getting more precise information to update this with)
 How does this tie into my search for that Marriage Transcription of William Saulnier & Francoise Comeau?
Well, when I had first found it, it had the names of bride and groom, their parents, witnesses etc.
William's Parents are down as: Oliver Saulnier & Anne Walsh
Francoise's Parents are down as: Mathurin Comeau & Honorine Saulnier.
When I saw that I had a slightly creepy sensation of a chill run up my spine; I already knew Olivier had a sister named Honorine; I though....Nahhhhh
I did some more poking about on this site and found both Olivier Saulnier's marriage record and Honorine Saulnier's record...
Olivier's Parents are down as: Marc Casimir Saulnier & Marguerite Charlotte Deveau
Anne's Parents were not listed.
----
Mathurin's Parents are down as Urbain Fulgence Comeau & Catherine Saulnier.
Honorine's Parents are down as: Marc Casimir Saulnier & Marguerite Charlotte Deveau
(Insert a MAJOR Face palm and pitiful groan here >,<)

This meant my Great Grandparents were 1st cousins...(<wince>OUCH.)
I sat there for over 10 minutes just saying "OMG are you (insert your own choice of multiple explitives Here) kidding me??"

I have also found numerous connections between them through other family lines, though not as close, and connections between my own Grandparents (4th 5th etc cousins).
I come from Michel Boudrot  ("Father" of all the Boudreau's/Boudreaux's/Boudreault's etc in the USA & Canada) 21 DIFFERENT WAYS (thus far and counting) for example.
One of the upsides to all this?
I HAVE BLOOD FAMILY EVERYWHERE! 

*"Muahahahah!" * ;)
LOL
And numerous other distant, not so distant, really distant cousins all over; I even have a 6th cousin who lives in France; his 5th great grandfather and mine were brothers; his was sent to France, mine to Maryland. I am sometimes invited to go to really neat places to drop in and say hi. lol I even found out a friend of mine who I have known for years is my 6th and 8th cousin; knowing we are blood family has strengthened our friendship. I have a standing invitation to visit a cousin in Florida, France, Boston, Canada and so on :)
I REALLY resemble one side of my family more so than others.
My mother's response to this and to all the other 'interconnections' I have found through the years.
"Well, guess it means ya got strong genes!!" lol
I try to take all these things with humor otherwise my brain would explode just trying to figure out just 'how much' I am related to my own 1st cousins when you add in all the other crossed lines. lol.

So this is why I have been trying to find this site again; so I can contact the site owner and double check this info to REALLY make sure that it is correct. Because if they weren't 1st cousins I want to know, and if they really were 1st cousins I really want to make sure it wasn't a clerical error on the record.

2 comments:

  1. G'day Renee,
    What an interesting read! Sadly I have no Acadian blood in my family tree yet but I do have cousins marrying cousins.

    Good luck with your research.

    tasteach from Looking4Kin

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  2. Well after some more digging have figured out that William Saulnier was NOT a Close cousin to his wife, Francoise Comeau....thank god lol

    ReplyDelete