From Lisa Desjardins Michaud:
“Bonjour from Lisa Desjardins Michaud at the Franco-American Centre at the University of Maine in Orono. The Franco-American Centre invites you to attend a workshop given by Roxanne Moore Saucier on the topic of “French-Canadian and Acadian Genealogical Research.
Saucier of Bangor is a retired editor and reporter for the Bangor Daily News. A 1973 graduate of the University of Maine, she continues to write the Family Ties genealogy column she founded at the BDN in 1984. Family Ties runs on the Homestead page in the BDN on Mondays, and it may be found under “Homestead” at www.bangordailynews.com.
The free program is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, in the library at the Franco-American Centre at Crossland Hall, directly across Long Road from Alfond Hockey Arena on the University of Maine campus in Orono. Parking should be plentiful this time of year.
Those attending will receive handouts on Franco-American resources. Light refreshments will be served. Help us spread the word. Bring a friend.”
For questions, call Lisa Desjardins Michaud at 581-3789 or visit:
— Le Forum: http://umaine.edu/francoamerican/le-forum/.
— Oral History: Francoamericanarchives.org.
— Library: francolib.francoamerican.org.
— Occasional Papers: http://umaine.edu/francoamerican/occasional-papers/.
— Maine’s French Communities: http://www.francomaine.org/English/Pres/Pres_intro.html.
It helps to keep in mind that, generally speaking, French-Canadians lived in the Province of Quebec, having moved down the St. Lawrence River early to cities such as Quebec and Montreal. Acadians, on the other hand, settled early in what we now think of as Nova Scotia and parts of New Brunswick, lands where they may have stayed if not for Le Grande Derangement, when they were deported by the British beginning about 1755.
Louisiana is the best-known location for Acadians who were deported, but the Acadians also were deported to other places along the Eastern Seaboard. Further, some Acadian towns were burned by the British and groups of Acadian settlers were pushed out of their homes at various times until they made a permanent settlement in the Madawaska region along the Saint John River, particularly the village known as St. David.
The most prominent historian of the Acadians is Stephen A. White, professor at Universite de Moncton. His work on the early pioneers of Acadia, often called the 37 Families, covers Allain, Arsenault, Babin, Babineau, Bastarache, Basque, Belliveau, Bordage, Boucher, Boudreau, Bourgeois, Bourque, Cassie, Collet, Cormier, Daigle, Devarennes (Gaultier de Varennes), Doiron, Gaudet, Gautreau, Girouard, Goguen (Gueguen), Gosselin, Hache dit Gallant, Landry, Leblanc, Leger, Maillet, Martin, Melanson, Petitpas, Poirier, Richard, Robichaud, Savoie, Surette, Thibodeau and Vautour.
A list of French-Canadian names from early Quebec would be quite long, but here are some that I have found to be frequent in my research: Bisson, Trud, Gareman, Bouchard, Pelletier, Langlois, Cloutier, Mignier-Lagace, Thibeau, Lefebvre, Badeau, Parent, Chevalier, Lacasse, Levasseur, Caron and Proulx.
Genealogy picnic
Penobscot County Genealogical Society will hold its annual members’ picnic at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, in the parking lot at the Family History Center, LDS Church, on the corner of Grandview Avenue and Essex Street in Bangor.
For i nformation on researching family history in Maine, see Genealogy Resources under Family Ties at bangordailynews.com/browse/family-ties. Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402, or email familyti@bangordailynews.com.