The Dumais/Goodrich Story Is Growing

Raquel (Rachel) Del Castillo Dumais

If you follow this blog, you will recall that on January 10, 2010 I blogged about Raquel/Rachel Del Castillo who was my great aunt. I think she was also one of my mother's favorite aunts through marriage.  From the time I was quite young I remember my mother talking about "ma tante Rachel" (aunt Rachel). 

My mother spoke often of her and she thought she was one of the most stylish women she had ever known and she loved her for the wonderful person she was.  

The difficulty I encountered in doing our family genealogy and history was that I never knew how she fit into the family until I had a get-together with some of my mother's first cousins (my first cousins once removed).  Their mother was my grandmother's sister thus Dumais sisters so I figured they might be able to tell me something about the Dumais side of the family that I did not yet know.

While sharing and chatting, my cousin Rita asked if I had ever found information about Napoleon Dumais and his wife Raquel Del Castillo! Though only 5 years old when they returned to Lawrence from Cuba, now in her 90's, Rita remembered them and over the years wondered what had become of them. Wow!  I finally had a connection that I could dig into!

In my blog of January 10th I asked that if anyone knew anything about Rachel/Raquel Del Castillo to please contact me.  Lo and behold toward the end of June while I was painting our bathroom, I received a phone call from Florida.  Thinking it might be a telemarketer I almost did not pick up.  Then I decided I should so that this "person" would not keep calling.  I was floored when I heard the caller say "Hi, I believe we are related - Raquel Del Castillo was my great grandmother" - stunned, I asked her to repeat what she had just said... I was totally elated to have finally found this lost part of our family and our history.

This second cousin was none other than Adrianna Goodrich Blanco. She was excited.. I was excited.. and we had a difficult time putting our words together!  She told me that her uncle Bill Goodrich would call me later as he had been doing the family history.

As I've written about the connection that has been made with my Goodrich/Dumais cousin I must tell you that cousin Bill and I have been exchanging a great deal of information.  My family's connection with the Goodrich cousins does not end with Bill Goodrich and Adrianna Goodrich Blanco.  Recently I was contacted by another descendant of my great uncle Napoleon Dumais and great aunt Raquel Del Castillo.  She is another great granddaughter of this couple.  Then just last week, I received another message from yet another Goodrich great grandchild who happened upon my updated blog.  His name is also William Goodrich.  What is most interesting is that all three descend from three different children of Napoleon and Raquel.  Who knew we had so many more Dumais/Goodrich cousins?  It has been a marvelously enriching experience for all of us.

Stay tuned.. I have a feeling that I've not yet met the last Goodrich cousin.

If you have not read the whole story, the following link will give you an update on what has happened since I posted my first query regarding Raquel Del Castillo.

A Tale of Two Families - Dumais and Goodrich - The Whole Story

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Lucie's Legacy

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

2011 - Present