RED RIVER SETTLEMENT MAP

 click on map to enlarge

This map of the Red River Settlement in Manitoba is from the Metis Resource Centre http://www.metisresourcecentre.mb.ca/ Most of my mother's family lived in the St. Boniface sections with some also in St. Norbert and St. Vital.

AFRO=LOUISIANA SLAVE INFORMATION

Although this site doesn't pertain to my family tree I thought I would mention it here in case anyone else might be able to use it.
I have been indexing some estate records for Low Country Africana from Footnote on South Carolina but today heard of another database that may be of use to people researching their families.
AFRO-LOUISIANA HISTORY AND GENEALOGY 1719-1820 is available.
In an email notice from World Vital Records it says:

Distinguished New Orleans writer and historian, Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, has dedicated her time and expertise to discover and reveal the background of 100,000 slaves who were brought to Louisiana in the 18th and 19th centuries. Documents and archives collected from France, Spain, Texas and Louisiana uncover African slave names, genders, ages, occupations, illnesses, family relationships, ethnicity, places of origin, prices paid by slave owners, and slaves' testimony and emancipations.
Because the French and Spanish proprietors of Louisiana kept far more detailed records than their British counterparts at slave ports on the Atlantic coast, the records show precious historical data as well as valuable genealogy data. The Afro-Louisiana dataset given by Dr. Hall is a priceless treasure that genealogists and historians alike will treasure for centuries to come.


If you are interested in these records you can access them at this link:
http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/indexinfo.aspx?ix=laslave

WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH

OUT OF THE CLOSET

I just heard about the museum in San Antonio, Texas that took down a wall and found a bunch of historical items in the closed closet. 
There were roughly 200 items in there. 

 Not the actual photos.

There was a bible printed in the 1600s. 
There are various items relating to the civil war era including a letter written by Joseph Wood to his sister in 1861 about the Confederate troops taking over San Antonio. 

U. S. Grant

 Not the actual photo

Also in the closet were World War II posters, including some from Canada and the Philippines, and a rare group of Japanese posters, a Union officer's photo album with family papers and images of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Photos of the Alamo, local missions and street scenes of San Antonio from the 1920s also were found.
They don't know why the closet was closed off but they are going through the library meeting minutes to see if they can find out whose brilliant idea it was to hide this stuff away.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debcll/4102584182/

Not my closet. No really it isn't.

One day someone will have to sort through all my special stuff in my closets...and drawers...and shelves...and counters. I wonder if they will view it with the awe and delight that I am sure the workers in San Antonio did when they found their treasure.

This post will also be on my other blog.

GUILTY OR INNOCENT - EMMANUEL BEAUGRAND DIT CHAMPAGNE

I have posted here before about Emmanuel Beaugrand dit Champagne. Luckily for me I was contacted by a distant relative (hey there Susan) who also has him in her tree. She gave me some information about him and I was able to find a copy of the text she quoted.
These are Sessional papers from the Government of Canada regarding his character after the Northwest Resistance/Rebellion.
Emmanuel was taken in leg irons and handcuffs as seen here after the battles. What to do when you may be executed for taking part in a fight to protect your land and families. Were they coerced into participation by threats? Damned if you do and damned if you don't I guess.
What I do know by reading this is that regardless of his position during the fighting he tried to be a decent human being.

 NAMES OF OTHERS IN THIS DOCUMENT: Joseph Arcand, Pierre Henri, Ignace Poitras (the elder), Ignace Poitras (the younger), Pierre Parenteau, Moise Parenteau, Jospeh Albert Monkman, Maxime Dubois, Alex. P. Fisher, Patrice Tourond and Francis Tourand.

DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE LOVED?

I have a brother. I have a brother that I don't know if he is dead or alive. We didn't have a fight or anything like that. In fact the last time I saw him was for a huge family celebration that he had come back into our lives. Alas he is gone again and none of us know where he is.
I miss my brother. I love my brother. There is a big hole in my heart where he should be.
My brother is a brilliant guy as it runs in the family. He created a great business for himself throughout the years and was quite successful. I was always so proud of him.
He played hockey as a youngster. He was a goalie and he was good. At one point he was on an NHL hockey team's farm team. He lived and breathed hockey his whole life. He played for 3 universities. He also played in the Western Hockey League for the Brandon Wheat Kings. 
He has published a few books on goaltending. Goaltenders Are Not Targets was his first. Off The Post was another.

My brother used to make hockey masks back in the day when they were not very fancy. He would make them in his basement and many a young goalie had one made. This is pretty old school but at the time they were impressive.

He was a hockey coach and ran his own goalie schools all over the world. He has even taught hockey in Japan. He had run local schools here and schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He coached in Florida too I think but by this time he was no longer in contact with us.
So what happens when someone in your family chooses to no longer be a part of your life?
What happens when we search for our ancestors and we have that one elusive person who we can't account for? Why did they remove themselves from the family? Were they asked to leave? Were they as missed as my brother is by all his siblings?  

YOU HAVE TO GET SNOOPY

I recently found this photo of my grandparents, Rosana Pinard (1877-1946) and Joseph Omer Lemire (1867-1950). They lived in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. I never knew them as they died before I was born.
The photo was found while I was snooping through my sister's big box of photos. She had a bunch of interesting ones in there and I think we were both surprised that this one was in there.
My point is that if you don't get snoopy you may miss out on some great finds. Ask your relatives if you can see their photos. They may not know what they have or they may not even care.
I borrowed several to copy and I made sure I gave them back to her the very next time I saw her...today. You may even have to use a camera to photograph the pictures instead of taking them out of someones home. Not many people would let you I am sure.