Wordless Wednesday - American Revolution Descendant

Do you descend from someone who fought in the American Revolution or helped in any way?  If so, you may be eligible for memberhip in the Daughters of the American Revolution or the Sons of the American Revolution.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Cemeteries

For anyone whose ancestors are buried in New Brunswick, Canada and Amerst, Nova Scotia, there are over 60,000 photos of headstones located at New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Cemeteries that have all been indexed.  If you find  a photo of your ancestor's headstone, feel free to download it to you computer.

Sincere gratitude to cousins Hector Boudreau, his wife Jeanita (LeBlanc) and Francis LeBlanc, from Moncton, for the many hours they have spent photographing the headstones of mostly Acadian New Brunswick and Nova Scotia cemeteries. Thank you my good friends and cousins Hector and Jeanita & Francis for your  valuable contribution to all who are searching for the final resting place of their Ancestors.

Heartfelt thanks to Wendy Maddix who volunteered to coordinate all of the volunteers and kept track of the many cemetery pages being indexed. It was a huge undertaking. A special thank you to Patricia Burke-Hanenburg who created a Master Index for all of the individually indexed cemeteries.

Sincere thanks to the following volunteers for their commitment and hours spent indexing or proofreading the cemetery pages:

Nova Burke
Vincent Caissie
Marcelle Comeau
Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
Anita Curtis
Joan Davy
Linda LeBlanc-Feehery
Patricia Burke-Hanenburg
Joan Williams-Harman
Sharon Lavash-Hawkins
Karen Hebert
Neal Hebert
Elaine LeBlanc
Jan Lyman
Wendy Maddix
Frederick (Rick) Perry-Parent
George Richard
Andrea Rouillard
Marcia Stockstad
Evelyn Theriault
Proofreaders:
Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
Elaine LeBlanc
Patricia Burke-Hanenburg
Irene Savory
Kathleen I. Turner

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Lucie's Legacy

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

Tombstoneless Tuesday - Napoleon LeBlanc - Died at age 9

Once again, I have to entitle today's blog as "Tombstoneless Tuesday" because a tombstone does not exist for my uncle who died by accidental drowning in the Merrimack River, Lawrence, Massachusetts.  Napoleon would have been ten years old on July 17th - he died on July 12th.  The family was very poor and he was buried in the children's section of Sacred Heart Cemetery in Lawrence where so many children were buried with tombstones.  Recently, I obtained his certificate of death so that will have to do.

Unfortunately, my grandmother's name was incorrectly recorded.  Her name was not Odellie Derouin.  It was Odille Doiron.  This death certificate is an excellent reason that I often tell new researchers that these certificates may not be the most reliable source for information.

Ten months later, my grandmother Odille passed away at the age of 44.

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Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

What is happening in America?

 

America - Land of the Free and the Brave

What is happening in this wonderful country I have always loved and respected?  Why cannot factions agree to disagree without violence and without threats of such?

It has taken me a long time to decide to blog about what is happening in this great country of ours - I have tried to remain neutral while debates have gone on with both sides of political issues.  After seeing on television the vile actions of some Tea Party members toward United States Congressmen who were supporting Health Care Insurance Reform, I could stay silent no longer.  I realized I had become part of what we know as the "silent majority".  I posted a few messages on Facebook but then decided to remove those as I don't believe it should be the venue for these discussions though I see someone like Sarah Palin with a map that includes cross hairs from a rifle over those areas of the map where her party wants to defeat incumbant Democrats.  I ask you, should we as Americans tolerate this kind of behavior no matter which side of an issue we are involved?

Now that Health Care Insurance Reform has become law, quite a few Congressmen and Congresswomen have been receiving threats on their lives and the lives of their loved ones.  I ask you, is this our America?

Yesterday I came across a blog entitled "Proud to be American".  I thought "this must be a really good blog so I clicked on the link and it contained nothing but vile comments about the African-Americans blaming them alone that Health Care Reform passed.  I ask you, have we gone back to the 1960s?

The Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights have allowed Americans all kinds of privileges including the right of free speech - it says nothing about killing someone with whom we disagree; nothing about abusing these privileges.  I ask you, have you read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights lately?  

Yesterday it was announced that the Rifle Association will have as its speaker an individual (who I will not dignify by posting his name) who is claiming that he incited those who are throwing bricks through windows of local offices of Congressmen and Congresswomen.  He is telling everyone to clean their rifles and to get ready to kill if necessary.  He will be the main speaker on April 19th which in this country reminds us of the day Americans were called to arms at Lexington.  This individual derides everything and is totally anti-government *yet* he seems quite happy to receive Social Security benefits that comes out of taxpayer monies.  I ask you, should he continue to be allowed to receive those benefits?

There is so much negativity going on that if both sides of the government to not speak out against it I am afraid something catastrophic will occur similar to what we saw during the civil rights marches of the 1960s.  I ask you, as Americans should we allow this to happen?

Whatever one's party affiliation, we should never allow violence to dominate the political landscape of our country.  It is defnitely not what the Founding Fathers of our country wanted for us as a nation.  Some of them lost everything because they dared to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776.  I ask you, are we as Americans going to allow that to happen again to any political party for voting what they thought was best for Americans across the country?

I hope not!  I for one have decided to speak out and to stand up as an American who loves this country and is proud to have always enjoyed the privileges this country affords us in so many ways.  I ask you, will you too stand up to end the potential violence?  Will you contact your Congress and your Senate asking that they, together, speak out against what is presently happening?  Please do - it is the right and the privilege of all Americans to do so.

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Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

N.B.  Please do not respond to my blog on Facebook. It is preferable that any responses be posted on my blog.  Thank you!

Click here for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

Happy Birthday Sarah

This week two very important events took place in the United States of America.  The first closest to me and my husband was the birthday of our daughter,  Sarah Marie Consentino Jackson, who was born on March 22nd.  We will be gathering to celebrate her birthday this Friday evening but she and her husband Corey celebrated with friends on Friday evening of last week.  

It is difficult to believe how quickly time passes!  Thirty-one years ago at 8a.m. on a Thursday morning March 22nd, I was waiting to go into the operating room to deliver our beautiful Sarah by C-section.  It was wonderful to see her as soon as she was born with her blond hair and beautiful blue eyes that have since turned light brown and hazel, respectively.  Having great concern in the last trimester of my pregnancy because she had breached, it was a relief to see this beautiful little girl that the O.R. nurse quickly brought  me as soon as she was born.

Since her birth, Sarah was brought us nothing but joy and happiness.  We have been very proud of all her accomplishments but especially proud of who she is as a person!  Couple that with her wonderful husband of ten months, Corey Jackson, what more could parents hope for?

So yes, we are very blessed.  We have two wonderful daughters to be proud of and two great sons-in-laws who are like sons to us forget the in-law business ;o)

We love you Sarah and we are looking forward to celebrating with you on Friday evening!  

Mom & Dad xoxoxoxo

__________________________________________

Congratulations to all Americans!

I did begin by saying two very important events took place in this country this week.   The other event, monumental as far as I am concerned, was the signing into law the Health Care Insurance Reform Bill long denied citizens of this country.  Having such a health care program for Americans is truly a right and not a privilege.  It is time for the negative rhetoric to die out like ashes of a burning log.  It has gone on too long and has been more hurtful to who we are as Americans than I can recall in my lifetime.  Might the problem be ethnic rather that substantive issues?  I believe that it is.

More to come on this!

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Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

Tombstoneless Tuesday - March 16th, 2010

The photocopied page below is one of many listing the names of the Acadians who died in 1757 in Quebec.  These Acadians had managed to escape the deportation in 1755 when the British set out to exile all of the Acadians from their lands.  Some of those Acadians who died in 1757 were among those who were about to be deported on the ship Pembroke when it was overtaken by the Acadians.  They then set sail for the St John River/Rivière St-Jean where they remained until they heard the British were coming to capture them.  They set fire to the Pembroke and headed up to Miramichi.  Food was scarce at Miramichi and some were dying of starvation so many of those Pembroke Acadians decided to continue on to Quebec only to be decimated during the epidemic that ensued.  They had been through so much and in the end when their freedom was assured so many of them died.

Here are few:

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred and fifty-seven was buried Rosalie Girouer (Girouard), Acadian, who died the previous day, having received the sacraments, approximately fifteen years of age, daughter of Germain Girouer and Marie Arseneau, his spouse; present Jean Vallée, Guihaume Taphorin and many others.

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred fifty-seven was buried Suzanne Bussièere, Acadian, widow of Pierre Comeau, who died theprevious day, having received the sacrements, eighty years of age.

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred fifty-seven was buried Jean Baptiste Forais (Forest), acadian, who died theprevious day at the age of six years, son of Jean Forais and deceased Marie Josephte Pitre, his spouse.

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred fifty-seven was buried Pierre Cormier, Acadian, deceased the previous night sixteen years of age, having received the sacrements, son of deceased Pierre Cormier and Marguerite Cyre, his spouse.

This information comes from  "Recherche Historiques" published by Pierre-Georges Roy, Volume Thirty-Six published in 1930.

These Acadians remnants of an unjust war have no tombstones but the lack of such should not allow us to remember them any less even though they lay in unmarked graves.

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Lucie's Legacy

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

Did you have an ancestor naturalized in Police Court?

Recently, I received 2 documents in the mail from one of my husband's cousins.  Though I'd been told that my husband's two Consentino grandfathers were never naturalized, these documents are #1. a petition to become a citizen signed by him and #2. the oath etc. that gave him U.S. citizenshi in 1905.

What baffled me was the margin that states these records came from "Police Court Lawrence, MAss Vol. 1903-1906".

I phoned the Lawrence History Center and they had no idea what Police Court might have been.  I called the city clerk's office and the response was the same.  I called Lawrence Heritage State Park director who I know and he didn't know.  I finally decided to call the National Archives in Waltham, Ma
- bingo!  Police Court is what we know today as District Court.  from 1901 to 1906 Naturalizations were held at "Police Court" in some New England States and other parts of the country.  I asked where these volumes are now housed - Massachusetts State Archives but Waltham has copies of all of them (they did not in the past).  Too, you cannot just walk in off the street at the Mass Archives and expect to be taken care of.  You must call ahead to ask what about the protocal.

So I thought I would share this with you.  If you can't find the naturalization records for some of your ancestors at the National Archives offices, check to see if there was a Police Court at the time you believe your ancestors might have been naturalized.  I've always believed that my grandmother (my mother's mother) was naturalized.  I could find nothing in Waltham now I will look into the Police Court naturalizations.  What a great find!

These documents are a real gift that fell into our hands!

Your Cousin,




Lucie

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Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

Who Do You Think You Are?

According to Dick Eastman's newsletter, ""Who Do You Think You Are"  had the second highest viewing audience when it premiered Friday evening.  Some 6.9 million people watched the program.  The highest watched program of the evening was Dateline which was televised following "Who Do You Think You Are".

 

So it looks like Ancestry, NEHGS and others really did a good job of getting the word out about this new t.v. program.  It is certainly hoped that it will encourage many people to begin their family histories by going to genealogy societies, libraries, archives and what  have you.

 

There has been some discussion as to what viewers thought of the program.  Some long time researchers were very critical.  I tried viewing as from the perspective of someone who might never have done their family genealogy but was interested.  I think the excitement at each document shown would have encouraged me to give it a go.

 

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Lucie's Legacy

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

Treasure Thursday - Mémère's Victrola

Victor Victrola

When I was a little girl, I stayed with my grandparents off and on when my mother was still working in the mills.  My mother, father, sister and brother all worked being much younger then all of them, I had quite a way to go before I would join any workforce.  I love my Mémère Lévesque!  

Once when I was staying at the home of my grandparents, my grandfather bought a Victor Victrola pretty much as you see above and it was made of oak.  Of course, as a kid I guess what I loved most was having to crank it up for it to play. 

 

I also loved looking at the image of the dog "Nipper" on the inside of the cover.  The above graphic was the trade mark for Victor Victrola.

There was nothing automatic about the Victrola either.  You had to change the needle pretty regularly.  Once you had cranked it up, there was a switch that would start the turn table then you had to lift the arm manually and place the needle at the beginning of the record you wanted to play.  The records were made of vinyl and carried labels by Victor, Decca, Columbia and other companies but Decca was pretty big.  It was very popular and big business.

I often wish somone in the family had kept that old victrola.  I've no idea whatever became of it.  The sound wasn't terrific but we enjoyed listening the french quadrilles on it.  Of course, the records were all 78's.  Those were the days when I stayed with Mémère* and Pépère*!

*Mémère = Grandmother; Pépère = Grandfather.

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Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

Wordless Wednesday - Birth of my grandson

Theodore Edward Consentino Hains

21 September 2008

A happy day in our lives was the day our first grandchild was born.  After his birth, he was not breathing and a code pink was called on him.  He was born at the birthing center on the  hospital grounds and as they were transporting him across the parking lot in the cool morning air, he started to cry.  What a gift Theo is to all of us.  I just love that boy so very much!

Tombstone-less Tuesday

My oldest brother Emile Joseph LeBlanc was born 23 April 1921.  He died 2 January 1925.

My oldest sister Rita Marie Alexina LeBlanc was born 2 May 1922 and died 11 February 1925.

Another brother,  Alphee Joseph Georges LeBlanc, was born 16 February 1931 who died on a date I have not yet found.

At the time my older siblings died my parents could not afford a tombstone so they were all buried in a chldren's portion of Sacred Heart Cemetery, Lawrence, MA along with other children who died and whose parents were too poor to purchase tombstones. In a way,  I guess one could call it a children's "paupers" cemetery.

I have often visited where they are buried and wish I could have known them.  There were six children born to my parents George LeBlanc and Rosanna Levesque LeBlanc.  I often think of how difficult it must have been especially when the first two children died one month apart at such young ages.

When Tombstone Tuesday comes along each week I often think of them being "tombstone-less" so today I decided to blog in their memory.

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Lucie's Legacy

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

It's Monday Madness because something always happens

Yes, something always happens.  This past week while I was busy preparing two abstracts as well as my resume that I just submitted for the 11th New England Regional Genealogical Conference scheduled for April 6-10, 2011,  we had a huge storm during the  night Thursday.  Two large pine trees were uprooted in our back yard and debris was scattered throughout our property and deck.  It was quite a mess.  I've been busy cleaning up, calling tree companies for estimates etc.   I must admit I was overwrought for a bit especially when one tree company I've hired a few times to work here attempted to gouge me to the tune of $2,000 to remove the trees.  I could not believe it would cost that much.  My neighbors could not believe that this fellow of all I could call would do that to me.  I decided to call other companies.  The one I chose is charging $800 and consequently I will have him take down some other trees.  So it is win-win for him and win-win for me.

All that to say that I was in such shock that I couldn't get back to the two abstracts I was preparing.  This morning I finally was able to do that.

I want to thank our two daughters Rebecca and Sarah for the encouragement they gave me to complete the task as well as the insight Rebecca gave me in preparing the abstracts.  Rebecca and Sarah were the light at what seemed like a very dark tunnel Friday night after receiving that first estimate.  Anyhow, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and got going to clean up some of the mess.  Today is the deadline to submit the abstracts to NERGC and I was able to get that done a few minutes ago.  Woohoo!!!

So once again, I have been reminded that 1.  God was good to us when those trees fell as they just missed our home; 2.  we must live one day at a time and at times it is just one moment at a time; 3.  life goes on whether we get onboard or not and 4. sooner or later the sun does shine.

There has been a great deal of damage in all of our area.  Some tens of thousands are still without power but fortunately we never lost ours.  So good spared us in many ways.

The wind during the storm was near hurricane force and kept me awake all night.  It sounded like a train that couldn't stop - that is the only way I can describe it.  When our two big trees went down, one of my neighbors said it sounded like a huge pop so loud that she thought a tree had hit her house - it wasn't until daylight that she saw it was our trees.  I looked out at 1:30 and was very concerned with how the trees were swaying back and forth.  I looked out again at 2:30 and the trees were down.  Until daylight I didn't know if it was one or two trees and it turned out to be two.  A most frightening experience let me assure you!

If anyone reading this survived this unbelievable storm take heart - we made it!  After this winter we need a break.  Last winter we all suffered damage from an ice storm and that was a costly cleanup too.. spare us oh Lord! ;o)

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Lucie's Legacy

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino