THOMAS BRUNEAU AND ADELAIDE LANDRY

My second great grandparents, Thomas Stanislaus Bruneau and Adelaide Landry were married in 1857. In 1860 the St. Boniface church which held so many records for the area, burned to the ground and pretty much all was lost.
Some 27 years later Thomas Bruneau swore out a statement declaring their marriage information likely to establish claim for Scrip payment for Metis of the area.

 http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/e/e001/e000011114.jpg

"I Thomas Bruneau of the Parish of St. Peter, Rat River in the county of Provencher, and Province of Manitoba; farmer; make oath and say, that on or about the twenty fifth day of January A.D. 1867, I was joined in the Holy Hands Bonds (thanks TK) of matrimony with Adelaide Landry; at the Parish of St. Boniface; Red River Settlement, by the Reverend father Beremont; who was then acting as Parish Priest. That subsequently through fire; the records of the said Parish of St. Boniface were destroyed, and no records now to be found to establish my said marriage."

               his

 Thomas X Bruneau

            mark

Sworn before me at                                                                      
Winnipeg in the county Selkirk this 17 day                       
of September a.d.1880                                                                
S. Macdonald

PHOTOS FROM LONG AGO

I thought you might enjoy these old photos. We family historians are all about the old stuff aren't we? You can click on the arrows at the bottom of the slide show to advance the pictures. There are a lot of them.
You can see them full screen by clicking that option at the top of the slide show. 
TIME GONE BY

By the way...I have been on those roads shown....The Fraser Canyon and the Bella Coola road. The Fraser Canyon has improved a lot since that photo was taken but the Bella Coola road...no so much. Shriek!!!

SHARE A SLICE OF YOUR LIFE - FIRSTS

Share A Slice of Your Life has asked us to write about a first in our lives or the lives of our ancestors. This is a new site and you should head over for a peek and maybe join in. 

I know many of  you have seen this story before but I couldn't think of a bigger first than this one. 

I am re-posting this story of my 11th great grandfather who was the first apothecary in New France. His family was the first family to come intact from France to live in the new country. 

 The other first for this meme is is the fact that it is my blogoversary here. 1 year anniversary. You know what? I didn't even remember. Teena in Toronto noticed and sent me good wishes. Thanks Teena. 

Louis Hebert was a very important man in the early history of New France (Quebec). He was my 11th. Great Grandfather and here is what I know about him.
Louis was born about 1575 in St. Germain, d'Auxerre, France apparently living in a house near the Louvre. He was also married in France but came to New France without his family.
Louis Hebert was an apothecary. This would be like a herbalist/pharmacist at the time.
In 1606 Louis Hebert sailed with Samuel Champlain to Port Royal, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. There is a river and an island named for Hebert. In the summer of that same year they sailed to the southwest looking for suitable sites for settlement. The area they were attracted to is now Gloucester, Massachusetts. Louis was known for cultivating land and they planted a clearing there to test the soil fertility. He planned to bring his family there.
At one point in this expedition Louis, Samuel Champlain and others leaped from their ship in the middle of the night to aid some of the men from the ship who against orders did not stay on board and were now being attacked by the inhabitants of the area. They returned to France in 1607. I will continue this story with the return of Louis to New France in 1610 in another post.

addendum: this post has been previously published on my other site Family Trees May Contain Nuts

PROCLAIMATION - GENERAL AMNESTY

I am Metis. My mother's family were from Manitoba and several of them fought with Louis Riel in the Rebellion in the North West Territories.
Some of these brave men were granted amnesty as they were said to have been "misguided" while others had to serve out their sentences.
You can click on the pictures to make them big enough to read.

ANCESTOR APPROVED AWARD

I received this award from A Rootdigger and I really hope my ancestors would approve of my research into their lives. A Rootdigger has a few sites and is very interested in German ancestry.

Now I need to tell you about things about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled or enlightened me. Oh my what to choose? Here we go.

1. I was surprised to find out that my 11th Great Grandparents were the first official family to settle in New France. (Quebec) Louis Hebert and Marie Rollet both have statues erected in their honour in Quebec. 
2. I was really surprised when one of my sisters was sent a photo randomly from her sister in law of a trip she was on back in the 60's. There is my sister on her way to Nova Scotia and she is sitting on the edge of Louis Hebert's statue. This was 40 years before I did our family history and we had no idea we were related to him. 
3. I am humbled by the sacrifice of all my ancestors but most of all by my Metis ancestors who fought so bravely to try and save their land and their homes during the Louis Riel Rebellion.
4. I was humbled by my Grandmother who had given birth a minimum of 12 times. How did you survive something like that? How do you care for  them all? Feed them? Oh and the many that didn't survive. How do you bury so many like some of my ancestors had to do. 
5. I have been enlightened by all my ancestors. I had no interest in history before I started researching but now find many things to interest me about the past. A storm or drought from the past now has real meaning to me. 

I will have to end at 5 due to time constraints or I will never get this posted. I will pass this on to the following bloggers with no pressure to take part at all. I know how busy you all are.

• Lucie at Acadian Ancestral Home
• Tina at Campo Santo-holy ground
• Elizabeth at Little Bytes of Life

Now I know I am supposed to give this to more than 3 but honestly it looks to me as if all of you already have this award. As I have mentioned to these bloggers I know all of our ancestors would approve heartily of our research into their lives. 

A NEW CONUNDRUM FOR RESEARCHERS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/265900118/

Genealogists have always come up against brick walls. They hammer away brick by brick to find their elusive ancestors. To find that piece of information that will get them to that next step, next generation. 

So here is the conundrum for future researchers. You are looking at a family and there are two children in the family. They are 2 months apart in age. You start to question this because one surely must be adopted. You hunt and hunt for an explanation but sure enough the records show they are that close in age. You look for a sibling of the parents who may have died leaving their baby with their brother or sister. Nope. No luck. 

I  was just watching the news and they showed a family who had twin boys. One of these babies was born prematurely, the other was carried for 2 more months and was delivered then. They were born 63 days apart. 

Oh how we are going to pull our hair out over these puzzles. 

MOURNING JEWELRY

I was contacted by the wife of a distant cousin (Hi Chris) about a piece of  jewelry she received that had been in her mother's possession. It was called a mourning ring. There was a name inscribed inside of it with the deceased's death date and age. 

She looked all over her family tree and can find no connection to the name and we have both done research to try and find out who this woman was but we have found nothing. Zero. 

The custom was to bequeath these rings to your friends and loved ones after your death. They were often made with black stones and had the deceased's woven hair under a piece of crystal. Sometimes pearls were added to symbolize tears. 

They also put hair into brooches and necklaces and some created pieces that were all woven hair. Women sometimes had little containers on their dressing tables to hold the hair that they removed from their hair brushes. I think Cass at This Old House has one or told me about them?? I can't remember for sure.

All of these photos are from the Colonial Williamsburg site. They have an amazing site filled with history and genealogy info. I envy those of you who may have visited there.

 

This ring with the two colors of hair are engraved "George and Martha Washington" and are believed to hold their hair.

 

Sometimes engraved in these rings were the Latin intials  AET that refers age at death or OBT which refers to the date of death.

 

Do you have any of these heirlooms in your home? Can you share any information or history about them?


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