11. August 2008 by Tim.

Another bit of information that came from Aunty Mary - Thomas Currier married Laura Gagnon.  Laura was born in Maine in 1865 - this part I knew from my own research.  I could never find a document that showed me her last name.  If Aunty Mary is correct, then this should open up a whole new branch of research for me and a whole new set of potential sources.

Right now I have so much info that has yet to be entered, I think I may have to hold back on new data until my Family Tree is caught up.

Posted in Progress, Lamont Side | 1 Comment »

11. August 2008 by Tim.

I received an Express Mail package from my Aunt Mary (my father’s sister) a couple of days ago.  She is 80 and the oldest surviving member of my paternal side.  I had written to her a few weeks ago outlining what I had found so far and asking if she knew the answers to any of the “mysteries” still outstanding.  She had replied right away with a short note saying she’d write back when she had more to give me.  I didnt hold out too much hope.

Shame on me!  The package she sent contained 6 pages of handwritten, hand drawn family tree data including Frank Orcutt’s mother’s maiden name!  This bit of knowledge, along with a heaping dose of matches on Ancestry.com let me trace the Orcutt line back to Revolutionary times!  Apparently, the Orcutts are a very old family in Massachusetts in the towns of Weymouth and Abington.

I havent finished transcribing all the information she gave me but when I do I’ll print it out and send her a Family Tree so she can see the fruits of her hard work.  Thank you Aunty Mary!!

Posted in Progress, Lamont Side | 1 Comment »

1. August 2008 by Tim.

I figured out how to export the family tree data from MyHeritage into what is known as a GEDCOM file.  Then I uploaded that file into Ancestry.com.  They have a similar function to the MyHeritage “SmartMatch.”  Using it, I found someone who seems to be decnded from Louis Pichette - Amable’s brother.  This Louis would have been a cousin to Godfrey Pichette.  So far, this is the closest relative I’ve found!

More updates to follow as I answer her response and we trade info.

Posted in Pichette, Crowley Side, Progress | 1 Comment »

31. July 2008 by Tim.

The smart match contacts I have made have been incredibly helpful.  It is funny - in an odd sort of way - communicating with someone I have never met, never heard of, never would have met or heard of, if it were not for the fact that we share an ancestor.  In other words, we are related.  A woman named Marie Louise Simon, who was born in 1701, married a man named Augustin Belanger in 1727.  It is arguable that if that event had not taken place, I would not be writing this now.  Their children had children had children, etc and one of them was me.  Marie Louis is my great-great-great-great-great-great-great- grandmother.  Oddly enough, she is also the 7th great grandmother of one of the people I met through MyHeritage.com.

To me, that is a mind boggling concept.

Anyway, I have not had a lot of time lately to delve deeper into the various documents sent to me, nor to investigate thoroughly the web site Mr St Gelais sent to me.  However, as I do, I will post here more frequently.

I’ve found my 7x-great grandmother and a 9th generation cousin…amazing.

Posted in Progress | 1 Comment »

22. July 2008 by Tim.

As I go through the files sent to me detailing the Pichette and Corneau ancestry, I post more and more people to the web site at http://www.myheritage.com/site-27501792/lamont-web-site.  The site generated a number of “matches” between my people and those on other family trees.  Well, I wrote to several people and got my first response!

Robert St-Gelais wrote back offering to add some names to my tree!

As soon as I reply to him and have some results, I will post again.

To be honest, I am surprised at how helpful the genealogical world is.  Now that I have done some work and am getting into it a bit more, I feel like I’m part of a group, part of a special set of people.  Not exactly like co-workers, more of a sense of belonging.  Like being a Freemason, or joining the Irish-American Club in a town gives one a sense of auto-acceptance, so does finding someone who is interested in genealogy.  Interesting.  And unexpected.

Posted in Progress | 1 Comment »

20. July 2008 by Tim.

I had been going through the file given to me regarding Godfrey Pichette’s forebears and entering the first few into the family tree web site (http://www.myheritage.com/site-27501792/lamont-web-site).  I had just entered Rose Godin and Louis Pichette (Godfrey’s grandparents) when the site notified me that names I had entered matched names in someone else’s tree!  WooHoo!  The first potential chance to link my work to that of someone else.

Some were obviously not the same person - though named the same, the dates were off by 150 years or so.  But in three cases, it is possible that “my” Rose Godin and Louis Pichette are the same as theirs.

I’ve written to all three offering to share what I have about Rose and Louis’s history and will be anxiously awaiting their replies.  I should note, though, that a couple of them dont have any recorded activity on the site in some months.  I do not know how long it will take to get a response.

Posted in Progress | 1 Comment »

28. June 2008 by Tim.

OK, I found out who and what “Pichette” was - the maiden name of my great grandmother.  And, I found her parents - my great, great grandparents.  So now I am trying to find the parents of my great grandfather, Frank Saucier.  Typically, finding the parents of a male ancestor is easier because his name was the same before he was married as after.  There is no need to find some sort of reference that shows what he was called prior to the marriage like there is when trying to trace a female ancestor.

Not always.

I found Frank Saucier’s draft cards for both WW1 and WW2.  On both, he listed August 17, 1891 as his birthday.  On both, he listed Fall River, MA as his place of birth.  On both, he lists his occupation as “carpenter.”  So far, so good.  Information directly from the person is usually considered pretty reliable.

Knowing that Frank Saucier married Rosanna Pichette in 1912, I checked the 1910 Census for Frank Saucier figuring that was the last time he would have been living at home.  Maybe I could get his parents names.  In 1910 there was a Frank Saucier living with his parents and his brothers, John, Docithio, Henri, Alexander, and Philip.  Frank was the right age and listed his occupation as carpenter!  Yah! It worked! 

Except for one thing.  His father is listed as Isaac.

Isaac?

Isaac?

He is a carpenter too, and he is married to Matilda (which matches other birth records of Joseph and Henri Saucier) but those birth records show the father as Elzear(d) Saucier, not Isaac.

Keeping in mind that these records were taken by hand and in person (which means the accents of the speakers made a difference), I kept looking.

I found what I think is the same family in the 1900 census too.  Same kids, same ages, father listed as a “carpenter.”  And, again, the father named Isaac.  But THIS time, the mother was listed as “Julia.”  Well, not really.  That is what the person who typed it into the database typed.  The original seems to have an extra letter, but isnt clearly legible.  In any event, it clearly is NOT “Matilda.”

I am not going to be able to wade through this without a visit to the Massachusetts State Archives.  More on that after my visit.

Posted in Saucier, Crowley Side, Progress | 1 Comment »

25. June 2008 by Tim.

I know I’m jumping in late in the process, but bear with me.  There was this odd story in my family - I suppose most families have at least one.  This one is mine.

Once there was a man named Napoleon.  No, not the Napoleon who conquered half of Europe.  This Napoloen was of more modest achievements.  This Napoleon was Napoleon Lamothe and he worked on the New York-New Haven-Hartford railroad.  One day he met a woman named named Mary Anna Grenier, known as Annie.  They fell in love and married.    They had children and those children had children and so on until I was born.  You see, Napoleon and Annie were my great grand parents.

So far so normal.  However, this is where the ”odd” part of the story starts.

Because his job on the railroad kept him shuttling between two cities, he was able to pull off something usually only accomplished in the movies - he had a wife in each city.   In order to pull this off, he had to marry the second wife, Annie, under a different name.  So, he used the name “Lamont.” 

According to the story, neither wife knew about the other until Napoloen died.  When that happened, both wives tried to file with the Railroad for his death benefits.  That is when, why, and how they learned of each other.

OK, that story, with one or two very minor variations, has been told in my family since before I was born.  It turns out to be only partially true.  And, in fact, this story - and the help and trouble it has caused in my research - is the main reason I call it Genealogical Trekkings.

Posted in Progress, Beginnings, Lamont Side | 1 Comment »