Acadian Ancestral Home

The Consentinos - A Musical Family

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:40:00 +0000

Coming soon...
The history of the Consentino Musical Family
Part I

Veterans Day - November 11, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:01:00 +0000

My father served proudly in World War I. He was a wagoner in the 26th Yankee Division - 102nd Supply Company.

On April 13, 2002 I went to Hartford, Connecticut with our daughter Sarah who was attending a workshop. While she went to the workshop, I went to the Hartford Public Library. I found an old book entitled: "Service Records Connecticut Men and Women in the Armed Forces of the United States during World War 1917 - 1920" published by the Office of the Adjutant General, State Armory, Hartford, Connecticut. What a find!

This book contains the names of all who served in the military from the various Connecticut cities and towns. In the Hartford portion on page 1204, my father is listed as follows:

"WHITE, GEORGE C. 66,586, White - Hartford, Conn. - Enlisted NG Hartford, Conn, June 7, 1917. Br (born) New Bedford, Mass, 21 yrs. Sup Co 1 Inf CNG (Sup Co 102nd) to disch (discharge). Wag (wagoner) June 8, 1917. AEF (American Expeditionary Forces) Nov 13, 1917 to Apr 7, 1919. Hon disch (Honorable discharge) Apr 29, 1919." (My father had changed his LeBlanc name to White until he asked my mother to marry him.)

The 26th Yankee Division returned from France in April 1919 and was demobilized in May 1919 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts. Thanks to the Zazzle Company I have a photo of the demobilization.

The 26th INFANTRY DIVISION -- The YANKEE Division in WWI and WWII. Formed by the assimilation of dozens of militia units from throughout New England, the 26th was first assembled as the 26th Infantry Division in August 1917 and was thus called the Yankee Division. The heroic 26th achieved fame at Belleau, St. Miihiel, Verdun and the Marne.

During WWI Wagoners were like truck drivers. The name Wagoner is a hold over from the old horse days. Wagoners drove trucks that supplied the battery with ammunition, powder and other supplies that the battery needed.

World War I Draftees were registered on 5 June 1917, on 5 Jun 1918 and on 12 September 1918. This draft included males 21 to 30 who were not already serving in the military, regardless of their declared nationality. Men older than 30 and younger than 21 sometimes registered for the draft, but their registration was not required.

On my father's tombstone at Veterans' Lot at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Lawrence, Massachusetts we read the following:

George C. LeBlanc - Massachusetts - Wagoner 102 INF 26 DIVISION - World War I - September 30, 1896 - September 6, 1956. Though the tombstone says "Massachusetts" he was living in Hartford when he enlisted and was living there when discharged.

Thanks to my mother, today I am proud to have my father's Victory Medal with four clasps. The clasps represent the Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector offensives.

I was able to find an image of the WWI Victory Medal online and post here so you can see what it looked like. This one has only two claps versus the four my father's medal has.

My father never talked about his experiences in the war and it seems like none of the servicemen from that era did. It was indeed one of the worse wars.

As I child I remember playing with his helmet he had kept. I've often wondered whatever became of that. Of course, I am also very fortunate to have my father's World War I enlistment and discharge papers. These papers tell their own story as to my father's service. I never realized just how fortunate I was to have these papers until I wrote to the Military asking for a new copies since these are beginning to fade. The response was that my father's military records had burned in a fire some years ago when many military records were also destroyed. What a loss!

To all of our Veterans, whatever war they fought in or whether they served during peace time, we are forever grateful. They have been and are our watchful Warriors who fight for the freedoms we continue to enjoy. It is just sad that all peoples around the world do not treasure freedom as we do - it is so precious!

If you know or meet a Vet, thank him or her for their service.
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Please remember the thirteen who died in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood. Some had just returned from tours of duty in Iraq while others were about to be deployed - our prayers are with them and their families.

Their names were released this afternoon:

Michael Grant Cahill, 62, of Cameron, Texas
Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, of Plymouth, Indiana
Reservist John Gaffaney, 56, of Serra Messa, California
Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Tipton, Oklahoma
Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wisconsin
Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah
Pfc. Michael Pearson, 21, of Bolingbrook, Illinois
Russell Seager, 51, of Racine, Wisconsin
Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago, Illinois
Military physician assistant Juanita Warman, 55, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Spc. Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minnesota

What is the mtDNA or Mitochondrial Test?

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:25:00 +0000

What is an mtDNA test? What will it tell me?
An mtDNA test looks at your female-inherited mitochondrial DNA. Because mtDNA is passed from a mother to her children with no input from any spouses along the way, this test will look at your direct maternal line only. You can view an illustration here: http://www.familytreedna.com/inheritance-chart.aspx. The mtDNA tests provide information regarding the single origin of your direct maternal line.
Should I order the mtDNA HVR2 refinement test?
The mtDNA Refine test allows us to look for high resolution matches with other individuals, who would be the people in the database who are most likely to share a common ancestor with you in a genealogical time frame. It will usually also reduce the least likely matches that you have in the database. If you have many HVR1 matches usually the upgrade is a good idea.
What will the mtDNA Full Sequence test tell me?
There are several reasons that a person might wish to test the full mitochondrial DNA sequence. - to determine the most extended haplogroup assignment according to currently published research, including the ability to refine the haplogroup assignment further as more research is published without the need for further testing. - to identify whether a relationship is likely to be close or distant. - to have the full sequence available to compare with research, to include in research, and to eliminate the need to perform additional mtDNA testing on the sample. Not everyone needs the full sequence in order to find out the information they are looking for. However, it has already become the standard test used by researchers studying the mtDNA, and it is only a matter of time before it becomes the standard test for individuals wanting to use their mtDNA results for genealogical purposes.

For more information please visit: Family Tree DNA website.

If you descend from one of the founding Mothers of Acadia, please consider joining the Mothers of Acadia mtDNA Project.

Family Tree mtDNA Special Offer

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:59:00 +0000

Family Tree DNA is offering special discounts for DNA testing. The Y-DNA test if for the male line - men only can take this test. The mtDNA is for the direct maternal line and both male and female can take this one.

A direct maternal line goes from you to your mother, to your mother's mother and so on as far back as you can go.

Our Holiday Season promotion will bring back the discount that we offered this summer for the Y-DNA37, since this has been requested by many of our project administrators.

	Y-DNA37 – promotional price $119 (reg. price $149)
	Y-DNA67 – promotional price $209 (reg. price $239)
	mtDNAPlus – promotional price $139 (reg. price $149)
	SuperDNA – promotional price $488 (reg. price $665)

Orders for the above tests need to be placed and paid for by December 31, 2009 to receive the sale price.

IMPORTANT: since this promotion will run through the months of November and December, we encourage you to spread the word starting now, as the natural tendency is for people to order at the last minute, and we will not extend it beyond 12/31/2009. You may use our bulk email feature to notify existing project members about this holiday sale.

In addition here are the newly released permanent prices for the Full Mitochondria Sequence:

	New kit (mtDNA Full Sequence) … $279
	Upgrade from HVR1 … $229
	Upgrade from HVR2 … $209
	mtDNA Full Sequence after testing Y-DNA … $249

Thank you for your continued support. We appreciate your contribution to the sustained growth of the Family Tree DNA matching database, the best genealogical matching tool of its kind.

Bennett Greenspan
President
Family Tree DNA

Halloween has come and gone..

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:12:00 +0000

Dear Cousins,

Halloween has come and gone but some memories linger on - this was our little Theo's first Halloween where Dad took him out to "Trick or Treat". Lots of fun having a toddler in the family. I thought I'd share this photo with all of you - I call it "Theo the Pumpkin".

You can tell from the photo that the weather was mild this Halloween - in fact it was a balmy 72 degrees. A very nice day for trick or treating in our part of Massachusetts.

I have been so very busy that I've not had time to blog recently but I hope to be caught up soon. We have been busy raking leaves... raking leaves... and raking leaves!! I also "grandmother" Theo three days a week so I'm pretty busy in addition to answering research queries, etc. So busy in fact that there were two festivals in which I had wanted to participate and I just did not have enough time. One was the Festival of Postcards hosted by Evelyn Thériault at A Canadian Family and the other was Play me your favorite instrument hosted by Janet the Researcher.

Though I was unable to meet the deadline for the postcard festival and for the COG sponsored by Janet, I will nonetheless be posting about these right here. Our family is a musical family so I've lots to share.

Thanks for the visit! Ya'll come back now ;o)

Your cousin,

Profile Interview: Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:19:00 +0000

PROFILE INTERVIEW: LUCIE LEBLANC CONSENTINO
A New England Acadian Leader
by
Caroline A. LeBlanc, MS, RN

Today, I think it is unfortunate that many in the U.S. do not realize they are Acadians. I often meet people and when I hear their surname I ask if they realize that is an Acadian name and most often they do not. Lucie LeBlanc Consentino

CONGRÈS MONDIAL ACADIEN (CMA) 2009, TRACADIE-SHEILA, NEW BRUNSWICK: no one had organized a LeBlanc Reunion, presumably because no LeBlancs live on the Acadian Peninsula. In New Brunswick, family names are concentrated in distinct Acadian regions throughout the province. LeBlancs live in the Moncton-Bouctouche area, about three hours south of the peninsula. There are also many LeBlancs (Leblanc, White, and Blanc) in Massachusetts and Louisiana. Weeks before the Congrès, Acadians from Louisiana decided this was unacceptable and pulled a program together.

August 22, 2009: I attended my first LeBlanc reunion--smaller and less structured than previous reunions from what I was told. Speakers and participants spoke French--Cajun accents, Maritime accents. I live in New York State and am descended from Acadians in Bouctouche and Massachusetts, but I could understand almost nothing since I know very little French.

The last speaker of the morning was a woman, Lucie LeBlanc Consentino. She is from Methuen, Massachusetts, a town in the old mill region where Acadians and Franco-Americans went to find for work in the late 19th, early 20th century. Lucie's profile can be seen at the sidebar to the right of this blog. Lucie and I--like all LeBlancs of Acadian descent--share the same original ancestors, Daniel LeBlanc and Francoise Gaudet, who came from France in the 1650s and settled in Port Royal, now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

Lucie spoke, in English and with passion, about the Acadian Mother's mtDNA project she started in 2007 (more on that later). It was the only talk I understood and it was enough. It gave me the chance to meet Lucie--a vibrant, friendly and down-to-earth woman of Franco-American descent: Acadian (LeBlanc) and French Canadian (Levesque--through which she is related to Charlemagne and Jack Kerouac). In 1999, Lucie's website, Acadian Ancestral Home, was awarded the American Local History Network's (ALHN) Award for Excellence. A panel of five judges chose the site, in the category of culture. Criteria included content, navigation, links, and appearance. Lucie’s web site provides in depth information on Acadians and Acadian history. Lucie also graciously responded to my additional questions in our email interviews. Not surprisingly, her life story informs her work.

ACADIANS IN NEW ENGLAND: A point Lucie made, during her talk at
CMA 2009, and in our interviews, is that New England Acadians are the "forgotten Acadians." As Lucie notes, at the first formal gathering of Acadians in 1881 "all the attendee’s names were recorded except those representing New England.” In 2000, early in her work on behalf of her Acadian heritage, Lucie met with the members of the CMA 2004 committee to assure New England Acadians would be represented in that Congrès. They were and it was a first. Lucie notes that Acadians in Louisiana and the Canadian Maritimes have established sister cities and "paired historic sites." Part of the reason similar relationships have not developed with New England Acadians, she conjectures, is that "Acadians in New England were assimilated into the French-Canadian communities for many years."

Reverend Clarence J. d’Entremont discusses this in his paper, “Acadian Survival in New England,” reproduced with permission on the Acadian-Home Website. He posits a number of reasons Acadians were absorbed into Quebecois traditions: the greater number of French from Quebec, their “generally …more developed culture,” and Quebecois/Acadian intermarriage. According to d’Entremont, there was a significant increase in Acadian cultural consciousness at the cusp of the 20th century with the emergence of La Societé Mutuelle l’Assomption and later, La Societé Historique Acadienne in 1960. The latter only existed twelve years and no prominent New England Acadian organization took its place. Vatican II and the closing of French churches and schools further diluted both Acadian and French-Canadian identity, in Lucie’s opinion.

Lucie grew up knowing she was French and speaking French at home and school. She spoke English with the children of other immigrant groups, her playmates. But she did not know she was Acadian and does not think her father was aware of his Acadian ancestry. His parents died when he was young and he was absorbed into the generic Franco-American identity. Older siblings raised him and Lucie grew up "believing that he too was French-Canadian until I began researching his side of the family.” In Tracadie-Sheila, Lucie told me, "My grandfather had changed the family name to White. My mother, God Bless her, said to my father, ‘I won't marry you unless you change your name back to LeBlanc because I will not marry someone with an English sounding name.’ " Thus, Lucie was born a LeBlanc.

Many Acadians anglicized their names or English authorities did it for them. English census takers in the Maritimes changed LeBlanc to White. Every descendent of immigrants knows how immigration officials assigned English names they thought better or easier than the ethnic name the “foreigners” brought from the old country. In some cases, this was a blessing. The family name of one of my friends of German descent was “Fart.” Customs officials changed it to “Parker,” thus sparing the family many cruel jokes. Reverend Clarence .J d’Entremont notes:
Away from home, on the streets or in the factories, Acadians had to act like Americans. They could not do otherwise in an era when President Theodore Roosevelt was writing: We must be Americans and nothing else…. This was an era when Acadians could see signs displayed in store windows, or on the walls of factories, which read: Help wanted. Catholics or aliens need not apply. It is during this period that the Aucoin name became Wedge, Chiasson became Chisholm, Doiron became Durant,…Leblanc became White….Acadians at home, but on the street or at work, Americans only (3).

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino was born into the French parish of Ste Anne’s in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her great-grandparents on her mother’s side (French-Canadian: Levesque and Dumais) had helped found the parish. Both her Acadian father, George Charles LeBlanc (born in New Bedford), and French-Canadian mother, Rosanna Levesque, (born in Lawrence), were first generation Franco-Americans.

Her Acadian grandfather, farmer turned lumberman in New Brunswick, and his second wife migrated to New Bedford, MA where they had four children, including Lucie’s father, George. This LeBlanc grandfather had seventeen children. Some from his first marriage died in New Brunswick. George’s mother died at the age of 42. The family was too poor to return to New Brunswick, even for a visit. Later, the family moved from New Bedford to Lawrence. Lucie’s maternal great grandparents migrated from Quebec to Lawrence. Her Dumais grandmother and her Lévesque grandfather were each in their late teens when they moved to Lawrence with their families.

Every Acadian I have met wants to know and talk about what happened to her/his ancestors in Le Grand Derangement of 1755. In response to my question about her ancestors, Lucie writes: What happened to my ancestors…is not entirely clear—we keep digging. Nonetheless, the years of deportation, exile, and/or imprisonment left a terrible trauma on all families because no matter who they were, they lost loved ones who had been placed on the deportation ships whether or not they made it into exile…. My family descends from Firmin LeBlanc, the eldest known son of Joseph-Andre and his [first] wife, Marguerite Hebert. Joseph-Andre’s parents originally lived in Grand-Pre. They went to Port Toulouse (St Peter) on Cape Breton then returned to Grand-Pre where [Jos-Andre’s] mother Madeleine Boudrot died in 1747. His father Claude-Andre Leblanc moved on to Beaubassin and then to Ile St-Jean/ Prince Edward Island from where he was deported in 1758. Claude-Andre landed in Boulogne, France where he died in 1765.

The following is Lucie’s record of what Stephen White told her about Jos-Andre. I include it in the original in order to demonstrate the complexity of data and its interpretation when researching Acadian genealogy (perhaps all genealogy).

"Unfortunately, I know nothing about Joseph’s whereabouts prior to his appearance with his second wife, Marie Doiron, on the list of prisoners at Fort Beauséjour in August 1763. I do not know where he and his first wife, Marguerite Hebert resided after their marriage about 1745, nor where any of their children were born. Placide Gaudet thought that Joseph had lived at Memramcook, but I believe he thought that because he presumed your ancestor was the Joseph LeBlanc who is shown at Memramcook in Pichon’s census in the winter of 1754-1755. But he was mistaken, because that Joseph was the husband of Cecile Benoit. So your Joseph’s movements between 1745 and 1763 are something of a mystery."

Lucie adds: We have no idea where Marguerite Hebert died. Perhaps in exile. What we do know…can prove… is that at some point Jos-Andre became a prisoner at Fort Cumberland with his second wife Marie dite (said, called) Bidaque Doiron along with three of his children from his first marriage. Three more children would be born to him with his second wife while [they were] prisoners.

All were ancestors of present day LeBlancs in the New Brunswick / Moncton / Shediac / St-Anselme area. Before and after their imprisonment at the time of the deportation, Lucie’s ancestors, like most Acadians, were farmers. The present day village of St Anselme, just outside Moncton, was originally Village des LeBlanc, founded by Lucie’s ancestor, Joseph-André LeBlanc.

Lucie continues: After the treaty of Paris in 1763, the Acadians who remained in Nova Scotia and/or New Brunswick were tenant farmers. After a while, they decided to be their own landowners and petitioned the government for land grants. [I have a copy of] the Memorial sent to His Excellency Thomas Carleton, Esquire, Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Province of New Brunswick asking that land be granted... Joseph Leblanc headed the petitioners. Each of them petitioned to be granted 200 acres of land except Firmin who stated [an additional] 150 would be [needed] for cutting a road. The memorial is dated 24 July 1786. Heading: Joseph LeBlanc & 10 Others / Memorial for Land in Westmorland County/Wright’s Track. The only signature on the memorial is that of A. Botsford who wrote it on behalf of “Joseph Leblanc and Others.” The Memorial goes on to say that they were settlers on that land “formerly granted Richard Wright to whom they were under no contract, and having resided on said Tract for several years and have made large Improvements which tract is escheated. They therefore humbly pray that your Excellency would be favorably pleased to grant them a Warrant… In 1815, Firmin petitioned for more land.

Such petitions are on microfilm (which can be photocopied) at genealogical and governmental record sites. Lucie found this document at the Universite de Moncton, CEA. The petition named four LeBlancs: Fearman (Firmin), Paul, Francis and Andrew. There were also four Boudreaus, one Doiron(Gould) and one Bourgeois (Bussoir). If you have ever viewed or touched an ancient document, seen the name of a direct ancestor, or just your family name, on one, then you know the thrill of such a discovery—especially if you descend from a n exiled people.

I asked Lucie what motivated her dedicated and ambitious work on behalf of the Acadian people—past and present—when so many people are content to limit their efforts to discovering personal family information. She replied: When I realized what my Acadian ancestors had survived and how difficult Acadian research is because of the Diaspora, I was totally amazed and committed myself to making known the travails of our ancestors…. [Then] when I realized how difficult it was to find “correct” and “true” Acadian history; when I realized how difficult it was to do one’s Acadian genealogy…my quest began.

Lucie decided that it was “a must” for her to go to Moncton, to meet Stephen White. Since her first trip to Acadie in 1998 she has gone annually. You can read about that and subsequent “journeys home” on the Acadian Home web page link to My Odyssey: On the Journey Home.”

Recalling her own childhood, Lucie notes: When I was a child, the whole extended family lived in pretty much the same neighborhood. I could see the tenements where my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins lived from our back door. None of the French lived far from the parish church and we had our own schools so that in some ways our ethnic upbringing was contained whereas in others it was not. For instance, we lived in one of four large tenement buildings. There was a mix of Franco-Americans and Irish living in the four tenements. We lived in the building “in the back”—the front tenements were inhabited by the Irish who had more income than the Franco-Americans who worked in the mills. We all got along very well and it was fun to have so many other children to play with…though I spent a great deal of time playing with my cousins.

I spoke French before I spoke English. My grandparents only spoke French and expected us to speak to them in French though they could speak English by the time many of their grandchildren were born. My mother spoke French in the house pretty much all the time too. Most of my English was when I played outside and when I went to school. However, at our parish school, half the day was in English and half the day in French.

Both her parents left grammar school to help support the family--her mother in the mills, her father as a “moving company mover, a laundryman and a watchman." Regarding her own and siblings’ education, Lucie says: In our family, I was the first to graduate from high school. After high school, I went to the convent and classes were taught to prepare us for teaching. Classes were in English and in French. After I left the convent I went to college evenings while I worked full time days receiving tuition reimbursements for good grades….

Our parents like those of most immigrants encouraged their children to get an education. They had gone to work in the mills at a young age and did not want that for us. My sister left high school in her first year and went to work in the mills until she married at age 18. She later became a nursing assistant in nursing homes for a while but most of the time she was home after she married. My brother left school in the 8th grade to work in the mills and later became a truck driver. My other three siblings died as toddlers.

When Lucie started researching her Acadian ancestors, she had two daughters in college. Both are appreciative, supportive, and proud of Lucie’s work to learn about their family and assist others in their genealogical searches. Prior to her first visit to Moncton, Lucie had communicated with Stephen White, who has become a personal and professional friend, by postal mail. During her annual visits to Acadia, she does research at the University of Moncton’s Centre d’études acadiennes where White is the resident genealogist. She has also met many other researchers and Acadian authors: Paul Delaney, Regis Brun, Ken Breau, Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc, to name a few.

Regarding my question about the future of the Acadian people, Lucie responds: Acadians of the Maritimes have a bright future ahead of them because they are now well recognized and are leaders in many areas…. The CMAs/World Congresses of Acadians have helped many people get in touch with their heritage. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline” helped to make known the plight the Acadians had suffered—though the poem is actually fictitious in nature, it exposed a grave wrong perpetuated in 1755. It also gave the Acadians a sort of a ‘lift’ and helped them to be less afraid to be known for who they are. Today the battles waged for their rights in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Louisiana, especially their right for French schools have moved forward. In New England, because we had so many French parishes and schools, many of us were taught French early on.

As for the Acadians of New England: all we can hope is that we are helping to make more and more Acadian descendants aware of their heritage—that our ancestors were proud, brave, family and God loving—to them family was everything and their ‘joie de vivre’ put zing into their lives.

Researching whatever I could find with regard to my Acadian heritage became a passion that I wanted to share with other Acadian researchers. My French-Canadian heritage is equally important to me but those ancestors did not suffer the same lot as my Acadian ancestors and there has never been any difficulty in researching one’s Quebec genealogy and history.

Lucie’s solution: start the Acadian Home webpage website. It is one of the most comprehensive web pages on Acadians, and certainly the best site for information on Acadians in New England. Out of this work evolved The Mother of Acadia mtDNA Project and the Cemetery Indexing Project, The Acadian Ancestral Home blog spot and a Roots Web mailing list. In total, Lucie is administrator for five websites:

Acadian & French-Canadian Ancestral Home
Mothers of Acadia mtDNA Project
Acadian & French-Canadian Ancestral Home Blogspot
Acadian GenWeb, part of Canada GenWeb
Acadian-French-Canadian-L-request@rootsweb.com : RootsWeb Mailing List

In addition, Lucie is webmaster for her Daughter’s of the American Revolution (DAR) chapter.

How, you may wonder, did an Acadian become a DAR? Well, Acadians actually fought in the American Revolution. You can read about this under the LeBlanc link on the side bar at the Acadian Home Website. Here is the history that gained Lucie admission to the DAR.

My ancestor Sylvain LeBlanc dit Sailor married Ursule Bourque—her parents: Michel Bourque/Bourq and Ursule Forest. As a result, I am the great-great-great granddaughter of Michel Bourque/Bourq [who] fought in the American Revolution under Colonel Jonathan Eddy. They tried to retake Fort Cumberland/Beausejour from the British. As of October 2007, I was approved as a Daughter of the American Revolution, “DAR.” I am very proud of that. The majority of DARs or SARs are descendants of the [English] founders of this country [the USA].

ACADIAN-HOME-WEBSITE: Begun in 1998, in its first seven years, over one million people visited the Acadian-home.org web site. So far this year (October 2009), there have been 260,000 hits with an average of 25,000-30,000 in any given month. The website is comprehensive in content and links. It is very easy to navigate. Lucie is passionate about copyright protection of her own and other material posted on her website, always with the author’s permission. She has installed guards that prevent downloads of some materials without her express permission, which can be obtained by contacting her with a request. Lucie notes: “Many people write to tell me they return [to the site]—first time around some write to tell me it has taken more than a few weeks to read/access everything.” Lucie also has a blog-- “that many people visit and come back [to] on a regular basis” but she has no numbers.

Many people contact Lucie to help them “get past their brick wall and they are willing to pay so [they ask] what do I charge.” Well, Lucie does not charge for her labor of love. (Read Lucie’s blog entry above for her takes on the matter of charging people). “I simply ask what they are looking for and if need be enlist the help of Stephen White and send them the information they’ve been stuck on for some time. I love helping people.” She has never gotten what she considers a strange request, “just different as when a person has been adopted and seems to think I can easily find their birth parents, etc. There are many adoptees searching and my heart goes out to them.”

For several years, Lucie has worked with a woman who has given permission to share her story here. As a baby, the woman was sold on the black market in Montreal. An aunt told her that her adoptive Jewish parents paid $10,000.00 to adopt her, thinking she was a Jewish baby. But she has no Jewish mtDNA. “Her results are similar to some Acadian and French-Canadian results….At this point she does not believe she will ever find [her birth family].”

Lucie also describes a success story: Two sisters in Quebec who had been put up for adoption by their mother before she married –at the time of their birth she was in the military. They knew her name but could find nothing. I suggested they check all the newspapers and never give up. One day the sister who had been communicating with me wrote to thank me for my encouragement because they had just seen their mother’s obituary in the newspaper and now did not know if they should go to the funeral. I encouraged them to go and to see where it would lead. Before the funeral, they went to meet the priest who would be officiating and told him their story. He told them that he would tell the family after the funeral and he did. They did not realize they had so many siblings as a result of their mother’s marriage and so many relatives. Though they never got to meet their mother, they found a whole family.

So genealogy is not only about digging through files, records, registers and archives—I believe it is being there and being attentive in a different way to people who want to be connected to their families.

Nonetheless, the Acadian Home Website provides easy access to many “records, registers and archives” including such things as the 1708 Acadian census, pictures of art works and literature about Acadians originally published elsewhere but no longer easily accessible. Such information is on either the site itself or the relevant documents, such as the list of the deportations ships and their passengers, can be accessed through one of the many links listed on Lucie’s site. What you do not find on or through the website, you are likely to find on Lucie’s blog.

In 2007, Lucie set up the Acadian & French-Canadian RootsWeb Mailing List. You can go to Acadian-French-Canadian-L-request@rootsweb.com to sign up. According to the inaugural announcement of the mailing list, “Rootsweb has approved this list for ‘northerners’ which means we now have a list that addresses the difficulties of researchers of Acadian & French Canadian descent from the New England states, the Canadian Maritimes, i.e. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and hopefully France, Newfoundland and the Magdalene Islands.”

MOTHERS OF ACADIA MTDNA PROJECT (2007). . Lucie administers this program with the assistance of Doug Miller He is the administrator of the French Heritage DNA & mtDNA Project begun in 2005. The Family Tree DNA site , provides a home for both these projects. She also adds both mtDNA results and lineages on her web site at the mtDNA Proven Origins page.

Modern genetics allows us to discover the history written in the genes of our cells. The science may be complicated but getting your mtDNA tested is simple: log onto the Mothers of Acadia Family Tree DNA site and follow the instructions to order a kit, painlessly collect a DNA swab, and mail in the swab for testing. Go to Mother of Acadia testimonials.

Explaining the science and project, Lucie writes: Mitochondrial DNA, referred to as mtDNA, is transmitted from a mother to all of her children. The daughters of a mother transmits the very same mtDNA to her children and so it goes forever more as mtDNA mutates very slowly. Hundreds of generations later, the mtDNA transmitted from the very first mother has hardly changed, if at all. The sons of the mother cannot pass on mtDNA to their children. Sons pass on the Y-DNA transmitted to them by their fathers.

Both men and women can be mtDNA tested. For each the direct maternal line goes from either the son or daughter to the mother - the line then goes to their maternal grandmother; to their maternal great grandmother and so on until that direct maternal line has been taken as far back as is possible. For an Acadian descendant, that would take the direct maternal line to about the 1600s.

Because many records were lost and/or destroyed at the time of the 1755 deportation of the Acadians, mtDNA is helping to resolve the long debated question of whether the founding Mothers of Acadia were of European or of Native origins. So far, all results confirm that those who were believed to have come from Europe did and those believed to be Native were.

As of October 18, 2009, 98 participants were tested. Of the 91 results received for the founding Mothers of Acadia, only 3 are Native American and those two descend from the same ancestor. All of the others tell us that thus far 31 Acadian Founding Mothers were of European origins. Results are needed for another 30 founding Mothers. Stephen White estimates there were at least 78 founding Mothers. He says, "This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but has only been compiled to give a general idea of how small a number of women became forebears of the Acadian people, while at the same time showing for which of these women mtDNA test results either have been obtained to date, or may be hoped to be obtained in the future. Unfortunately, a dozen women on this list are believed to have no female-line posterity so no such results may be expected for them."

CEMETERY INDEXING PROJECT (2006): Over 60,000 photos of head stones are indexed and available through the Acadian Cemeteries link on Lucie's website. This is a great example of a grass roots effort that thrives with a competent co-coordinator and group effort. Lucie writes, "Some of my cousins and friends in Moncton began photographing headstones… [to] help them in establishing death dates and/or burial dates of people in their own databases." (Authors note: in the frozen north, those who die in the winter are often not buried until the ground thaws in the spring so death and burial dates may differ). During one of her visits to Moncton, "Francis LeBlanc handed me a CD with the photos he had taken." Lucie put it "on the back burner" since she did not know what to do with the information. Then two of Francis's friends, Hector Boudreau and Juanita née (born) LeBlanc (Hector’s wife) also took photos and before she knew it, Lucie had thousands of headstone pictures on CD. Lucie recalls: Then, having thought long and hard on this I knew that I could not index all of those photos myself. I began searching for a free site where I could load each cemetery - I am the administrator of the Acadian French-Canadian Canadian Roots Web mailing list (Acadian-French-Canadian-L-request@rootsweb.com ) so I decided to ask members of the list if they would be interested in indexing [the] photographs. To my amazement and great pleasure, quite a few people volunteered and within a couple of months we had over 60,000 photos indexed and up and running on my web site. I was given more photos in my 2009 pilgrimage to Moncton and volunteers are lined up to index them as soon as I can put that together. I don't believe that any one person should try to do everything alone. People love to be asked and I think it is just marvelous to make all of this available to people who have relatives and ancestors … [whose graves] they will never be able to visit because they live too far away. I say [“far away”] but yesterday I received an email from a lady who lives in Moncton and is so grateful that she can access and download photos of her family's graves.

ACADIAN WOMEN IN NEW ENGLAND: When asked what role she thought Acadian women played historically and in modern times, Lucie replied:
I believe that within certain circles Franco-American women are more visible than in others. For instance there is a strong Franco presence in Manchester, New Hampshire so I’ve seen many women step up and take on leadership roles in the groups they join in order to foster Franco-American ideals and presence. In Massachusetts, with the closing of our French parishes, I believe we have become scattered as everyone has sought to join “some” parish community. But all that is left for the most part are the diocesan churches so that means the church has become a cross section of all ethnic groups. Overall, I think Franco-American women are more invisible than visible which is unfortunate.

Acadian women were the backbone of their families—I believe that of pioneer mothers and I believe that to be true today. I say, “It’s in the genes.” During deportation, many families were separated from their husbands and fathers. Acadian mothers kept their families together. Many children died on the ships deporting them while others died in exile. Some babies born at sea could not survive. It takes strong women to survive all that. After deportation, I believe Acadian women were once more the backbone of their families as their husbands sought land to work so as to feed their families. Once the deportation began, it was a matter of survival for a very long time. Acadian men were also very dedicated to their families and they worked hard to support them. Their families were everything to them.

The migrations that took place in the 19th century were mostly toward the end, say the 1880s. A few may have migrated earlier….Those who migrated, say to the United States, did so in search of work. Many found work in the mills of New Hampshire and Massachusetts….On the whole, no matter the ethnicity; I believe that women have always been the backbone of their families and society.

I often think of what [our lives would be] had there never been the “Woman Suffrage” movement …. Without the suffragettes who fought valiantly for our rights as women in America, we probably would still not enjoy many of the freedoms and rights we have today as women. I believe that any women’s movement gives encouragement and support to other women’s groups. When the Bread and Roses strike took place in Lawrence, MA it was mostly women from a variety of ethnic groups who encouraged other women to walk in the strike and at great peril. My mother was 12 at the time of the strike and had already been working in the mill for a couple of years. She often spoke of the strike so it is quite possible she participated with her mother, father and siblings, but she never said for certain. I have blogged about it on http://acadian-ancestral-home.blogspot.com/2009/07/bread-and-roses-strike-of-1912-labor.html. So every time a woman has stepped out on the scene, be it political or ethnic, it has been a blow to push forward all women.

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino is a woman who has stepped out and significantly pushed forward the cause of Acadians, Acadian women and all women. She is wife, mother, advocate, guide, web-master, genealogist, researcher, and spokes-woman. Before turning her considerable talents to promoting Acadian consciousness, she had been teacher, a Human Resources Manager, and a parish chaplain/pastoral care minister visiting the sick and shut-ins.

In part, Lucie’s publicity bio reads: Lucie LeBlanc Consentino has served as Vice President, Director and Conference Chair of the American-Canadian Genealogical Society, Manchester, New Hampshire. She is a past member of the Acadian Cultural Society and the Lawrence Heritage Group.

Lucie often speaks at conferences and genealogy workshops and was a scheduled speaker at the CMA2004 and CMA2009 (World Congress of Acadians). She was the keynote speaker at the program commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Deportation of the Acadians held on Boston City Hall Plaza, on July 28, 2005.

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, the American-Canadian Genealogist, the Michigan Habitant and and the Halifax Chronicle Herald have all published Lucie’s work. The Prince Edward Island French Newspaper as well as Radio-Canada have also interviewed her. In 2000, Radio-Canada CBC Moncton did an interview and in 2004 Canadian television interviewed her at Grand-Pré. In May, 2009 Radio-Canada CBC Television Acadie/Moncton traveled to Methuen to do an interview which included her family. The interview can be seen at
Radio-Canada CBC. It was originally broadcast in the Canadian Maritimes and Montreal. Also in the CBC interview were Stephen White, Genealogist Centre d'études acadiennes, Moncton, New Brunswick, Dr. Barbara LeBlanc of Cape Breton, and Lorette Leafe of Manchester, New Hampshire. Barbara and Lorette were early participants in the mtDNA Mothers of Acadia Project where they discovered that they shared the same Founding Mother of Acadia.

In 2000, Michel Belliveau, from Baie Ste Marie, Novelle Ecosse, nominated Lucie for the 2000 Women’s Day recognition award. I asked Lucie where I could find more information on the award and her response was characteristic: “When I met Mr. Belliveau in 2000 and 2004 I never thought to ask him about it. It is nice to be recognized but honors are not what I am about. My goal and commitment has always been to help people know who they are as Acadians and to connect to their heritage…to their ancestors.”

On the Acadian Ancestral Home, toward the bottom of the sidebar is a link “CMA Past & Present.” I invite you to click that link, and then in the drop down box that appears click on “CMA 2004 Remembered.” There you will find Lucie’s thanks to various people and if you scroll down a bit you will see a picture of Lucie pouring water from a small vessel into a larger vessel. As the New England representative, Lucie was one of the participants who brought water from her home region. Lucie’s water, from the Atlantic coast off Massachusetts, mingled with water brought by representatives from the Mi’kmaq Nation, France, Belgium, Louisiana, and the Canadian Maritimes. The priest then blessed the mingled Acadian Waters and sprinkled Them in blessing upon the approximately 8,000 people at the closing mass. The Acadian Waters continue to bless us, just as Lucie continues to offer the blessing of her labor on behalf of Acadians from New England and other Northern states.

My sincerest thanks to Caroline
for choosing to write the above profile.

I am most grateful and honored!

Paying for web space, AAH Policy, Zazzle

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Dear Cousins,

The October 11th blog brought some very interesting comments. Some were sent to me on Facebook, some in my personal email and others as comments to this blog. A couple of people took it very personally though it was not so intended. I know several people who use the server I do so how can anyone take what I posted personally if I have not named them, named their blog, named their web site or whatever it is they have online.

Anyhow, many sites sell their services and more than one of them uses the same server. Voilà!

Now some of the comments sent were attacks on me personally and the policy of this blogger is that nothing negative, no attacks, no abusive words will be published if those are the commentaries left to be moderated. I do not attack others and I will not allow others to go on the attack. This means that such negative commentaries will not be published.

On another note, I would like to mention purchases I have made from Zazzle in the past. Several years ago I was looking for information of the 102nd Supply Company of the Yankee Division. My father was part of the 102nd - one day while searching on Ebay, lo and behold there was this company named Zazzle that had the last review of the 26th Yankee Division at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

My father was certainly somewhere in that photo. His discharge papers state he was at Fort Devens when his service ended. I ordered that photo - their price was terrific compared to if I ordered from the National Archives.

However, I wondered now if there was a photo of the Yankee Division's 102nd Supply Company on the National Archives site. Wouldn't you know that I found it. I phoned the National Archives and they wanted $400 to make me a copy - these are huge and very long photos.

So I contacted Zazzle and asked if there was any way they would ever have that photo. They told me they would order it and in a few weeks I could order the size I wanted. I was indeed able to order the photo and we can see my father sitting right in the middle and in the front row. All this photo cost me from Zazzle was $35!!! The one of the last review at Fort Devens was only $25. They are framed together.

So as you see my experience with Zazzle was really great. We never know what we will find on Ebay or elsewhere for that matter. You might wonder why I am talking about Zazzle? Well someone did mention it today so these wonderful photos provided by Zazzle immediately came to my mind.

Last week it was very cold here in Eastern Massachusetts. It looked like we were in for a *very* long and *very* cold winter - well we probably are anyhow but this week the temperatures rose to what we are accustomed to in October so it has been a pleasant week. to everyone's dismay, we had snow on two different days last week. Totally unbelievable. The maple trees are gorgeous but we've sure been picked up an awful lot of leaves my husband and me. I love fall except for all of this work. Before long it will be a memory and we will be preparing for the holidays.

Theo a year later.

I have been spending quite a bit of time with our little Theo. I just love that boy! He doesn't miss a thing for a one year old. This Christmas will be a whole lot of fun with him. Last Christmas he was only three months old.

Two weeks ago I took him to his pediatrician appointment. I appreciate meeting his doctors since I spend so much time "grandmothering" him.

My thanks to Evelyn for coining that word. It is a wonderful word and much more meaningful than saying I "baby sit" Theo. Isn't it great? ! After all, what does "baby sit" really mean for a grandmother? "Grandmothering" just says it all.

By the way, Evelyn Thériault is very creative and she has a great blog called
A Canadian Family. Why don't you drop by for a visit?

Something to look forward to: Caroline LeBlanc of New York has written an article about me. Once published it will be posted on my web site and on this blog. This certainly has been a busy year. Radio-Canada CBC television came to our home from Moncton to interview me - the interview included my family. They also interviewed Lorette Leafe of Manchester, New Hampshire who is a good friend and had been mtDNA tested. A portion of the interview also included Stephen White, Genealogist and Dr. Barbara LeBlanc of Cape Breton. Barbara and Lorette descend from the same Founding Mother of Acadia.

Then when we went to Moncton CBS interviewed us again at Fort Beauséjour. This time it was to capture the Barbara and Lorette's first meeting and that I had been the intermediary. Lots of fun!

So please stay tuned! There is always something new and exciting on the horizon.

If you enjoy reading history books, I've been reading "Lincoln's Men". It provides interesting insight on who Abraham Lincoln was. I highly recommend this book. the author quotes one of Lincoln's saying that I just love "Everything that I am, I owe to my mother." Stephen White paid homage "to our mothers" when the Dictionnaire généalogique des familles acadiennes was published - he quoted Lincoln in French: "Tout ce que je suis, je le dois à ma mère." - A Lincoln

I guess that catches s up for now. Thanks for your visit.

Your cousin,

Should others pay for someone's web space?

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:09:00 +0000

Dear Cousins,

More often than not more and more I see people charging fees for all kinds of things - now perhaps some fees are legitimate but I think that when someone is asking for donations of any kind, it should be clearly stated how those funds will be distributed and what costs are we talking about as well as how much? I for one am not interested in donating my money when I have no idea where the funds will be spent.

To be honest, I'm quite disappointed when I see other genealogists asking for donations especially to pay the yearly fee for their web sites, the research books they purchase and so on. If they cannot afford their web site then there are plenty of free hosting sites on the Internet.

Most genealogists I have known over the years have always given freely of their time. Now as in all things there certainly are exceptions. For instance, people who have spent a good deal of money publishing a genealogy or historical work certainly are entitled to remuneration when people purchase their books. That is a given. What really surprises me is when someone is asking for donations to pay for their own personal web site.

The way I look at it, no one asked us to have a web site. If we choose to have one with our own domain name; if we choose to post whatever we would prefer to have on our site; in other words if the web site belongs to the individual... then how does it become "our site" that someone would expect others to pitch in to pay for?

I love the server I am on - for only $72 a year, I have an unbelievable amount of web space, a domain name, free set up and 24/7 support from ICDSoft! I have been with ICDSoft going on eight years and I cannot imagine nesting the Acadian & French-Canadian Ancestral Home on any other server. (Please note: If you decide to have a site with them please tell them I sent you and I'll get a discount when I pay for another year.

If you do the math, $72 a year is only $6 a month so I keep wondering why anyone would ask people for donations to maintain a personal web site. Of course I also notice that these people do not say what it costs for their site ... they simply ask for "donations". I still cannot believe it.

Of course, everyone's time is valuable but I have often asked myself whether I enjoy digging into records, sharing the information freely with others or not. Isn't this what genealogists do? We also need to be honest and admit that genealogists, even certified genealogists, do not usually make much money doing research.

The Acadian & French-Canadian Ancestral Home could have been a pay site long ago. In August of 2007, when they were just starting up, WorldVitalRecords contacted me wanting to post all of my information on their web site and my site would become a for pay site. I supposed this could have been a lucrative agreement for me but in my heart of hearts, I could not bring myself to such an agreement - in fact, my refusal was instantaneous. So for more than ten years now the Acadian & French-Canadian Ancestral Home has remained free for all researchers who come to find information. I have met many wonderful people through AAH

Yes, I have incurred many fees over the years. I have purchased an abundance of research books. I have had subscriptions to NEHGS and Ancestry.com. I have traveled years to Moncton sometimes with the express purpose of finding information for others as so many people email me asking for help.

Well this is what I've been thinking about when I recently realized that some people want others to pay for everything - in my view, it is *not* fair. If having to pay for a web site is a burden then those people might want to stick to blogging to share their information and let go of their web site and as I've said, use a free hosting site.

It certainly blows me away when I know that it costs only the equivalent of $6 a month for web space on ICDSoft - so go figure!

Have a nice Sunday and to all our Canadian cousins, Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Family Tree mtDNA Full Sequence Special

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:03:00 +0000

For all who have been HVR1 and/or HVR2 mtDNA tested, you should have received a message from FTDNA regarding their special price for the Full Sequence test. Please consider having this test done?

FTDNA has also been refining the haplogroups and you'll be seeing that in your personal FTDNA accounts.

If you have not been tested for the Mothers of Acadia mtDNA Project, please consider having the mtDNAPlus test done - it concludes the HVR1 and HVR2 tests.

If your *direct* maternal line takes you to one of the Founding Mothers of Acadia, please seriously consider being tested. A direct maternal line goes from you to your mother to your mother's mother and so on as far as you can go.

Here is the link to the names of the Founding Mothers of Acadia. The goal is to build as large a database as we possibly can.

Founding Mothers of Acadia

If you do not have an Acadian maternal line, please consider making a contribution to the Mothers of Acadia mtDNA Project so that others might be tested.

Thank you for your consideration.

--------------

The following is the message I received from Family Tree DNA since I am the Mothers of Acadia mtDNA Administrator:

We are pleased to make a very special announcement about our Full Mitochondria Sequence test.

As you know, this test has continually dropped in price from its initial introduction at $895 in 2005. These price decreases were related to volume and workflow, translating productivity into economies of scale that allowed us to reduce prices to those customers interested in testing their full mitochondrial sequence.

Now Family Tree DNA is doing it again, but this time we are going to take advantage of new technology that will allow us to run more samples in less time, and the savings are substantial.

We will jumpstart this new era of complete mtDNA testing with a very aggressive price in order to build the comparative database to the levels that genetic genealogists will be able to use to answer precise ancestral and geographic questions.

So now to the news that you are waiting for: before a new price for the full mtDNA test is introduced in November, we will be offering our current customers a promotion at the following prices, valid until October 31st, 2009:

	$179 for those who have already tested HVR1 and HVR2
	$199 for those who have already tested HVR1

Orders need to placed and paid for by the end of the day, October 31st, 2009.

Sincere thanks to other pet owners for their support.

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:08:00 +0000

My sincere thanks to all who sent messages of support following my blog about Whisper. Your thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated. Too, I agree with those who said that a pet is like a family member - how true! I never thought I would miss my little Whisper as much as I do but these are the cycles of life.

On Saturday Whisper was buried with five feathery family members. Kiwi and Sweet Pea had been companions to Whisper for a while. They were pet shop bought (and I don't encourage anyone to purchase a bird from a pet store). Kiwi was not well when I got him and died a few months later. Sweet Pea had some kind of nervous/twitching of his head. the pet store replaced Kiwi with Sweet Pea when I complained that I'd had him such a short while. I kept both of them because I knew I could give them good care while they were with us.

Cadie came to live with us a few years ago. Our daughter and son-in-law had two Cockatiels and the female had a large clutch. Too many for Cadie to live with and she looked terrible with all those larger birds around her so our daughter asked if I would take her since Cadie and Whisper always got a long so well. These days Cadie keeps calling out and looking for Whisper...

Tommy is another Cocaktiel that belonged to our daughter and Tweety is a Canary. They are also buried with all of the Parakeets so Whisper has lots of company ;o)

In our thirty-five years of marriage we have had three dogs: Princess (a mix Border Collie and Shelty), Benji (a Poodle - rescued from the dog pound) and Punky (a Shitzu-Poodle mix). Punky live 15 years.

Of course that is in addition to the two dogs and two Parakeets my family had when I was growing up. My mother loved animals so she instilled that love in me as I was growing up.... PLUS Gold Fish!

So again, thank you for your support. Each and every pet holds a special place in our heart and our hearts are made greater for having cared for them.

----------------------------------------

Today's blog was nothing like what I intended it to be until I checked on my parakeet Whisper who had been ailing for a while. Whisper is the keet on the left of the photo above. Cadie is the other wonderful bird.

Our daughters and son-in-law gave Whisper to me for my birthday about ten years ago. He looked like a baby eagle the way his head was shaped at six weeks of age. I didn't know what to name him but he was always so very quiet that I dubbed him "Whisper". He has always been true to the name to the very end.

I felt from the beginning that there was a special relationship between Whisper and me. He used to just love to sit on my shoulder and when there he would chirp sweetly in my ear. I taught him "hide and seek" and he was so good at playing that.

You can tell that I loved this little blue Whisper - he was a pet in the truest sense of that word.

Well my little Whisper passed away around 9:48 this morning - he was a real fighter until he could not longer fight. I miss him already and I really did not mind getting up 3 or 4 times during the night to check on him so as to keep him as comfortable as possible. Since last week, he could no longer stand on his perch. When that happened a week ago, he would let me wrap him in soft towels to keep him warm ever so content to lay on my lap and sleep. That is how we spent all of last Sunday. I even brought him along with me to sit Theo on Monday so I could monitor him. He seemed to be doing better until this morning when he was now so weak he could barely move.

He is now in a nice little box and he will be buried in our yard under the Rose of Sharon.

To some, he may have just been a bird - to me he was "my Whisper" - a true pet. Though I will miss him I know he now has no discomfort and I like to think he is in "birdie heaven".

Rest well my little Whisper - you've been the very best!

Love... "Mama"

A few thoughts about my pet Whisper..... thank you!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:32:00 +0000

Sincere thanks to all who sent messages of support following my blog about Whisper. Your thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated. Too, I agree with those who said that a pet is like a family member - how true! I never thought I would miss my little Whisper as much as I do but these are the cycles of life.

On Saturday Whisper was buried with five feathery family members. Kiwi and Sweet Pea had been companions to Whisper for a while. They were pet shop bought (and I don't encourage anyone to purchase a bird from a pet store). Kiwi was not well when I got him and died a few months later. Sweet Pea had some kind of nervous/twitching of his head. the pet store replaced Kiwi with Sweet Pea when I complained that I'd had him such a short while. I kept both of them because I knew I could give them good care while they were with us.

Cadie came to live with us a few years ago. Our daughter and son-in-law had two Cockatiels and the female had a large clutch. Too many for Cadie to live with and she looked terrible with all those larger birds around her so our daughter asked if I would take her since Cadie and Whisper always got a long so well. These days Cadie keeps calling out and looking for Whisper...

Tommy is another Cocaktiel that belonged to our daughter and Tweety is a Canary. They are also buried with all of the Parakeets so Whisper has lots of company ;o)

In our thirty-five years of marriage we have had three dogs: Princess (a mix Border Collie and Shelty), Benji (a Poodle - rescued from the dog pound) and Punky (a Shitzu-Poodle mix). Punky live 15 years.

Of course that is in addition to the two dogs and two Parakeets my family had when I was growing up. My mother loved animals so she instilled that love in me as I was growing up.... PLUS Gold Fish!

So again, thank you for your support. Each and every pet holds a special place in our heart and our hearts are made greater for having cared for them.

----------------------------------------

Happy Anniversary Rebecca and Tyler

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:53:00 +0000

Rebecca & Tyler's wedding photo from September 2000

Rebecca and Tyler celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary this week. It doesn't seem possible that nine years have passed since that wonderful day. This evening I will sit Theo so they can go out to dinner and spend some time together. They don't have an opportunity to do that too often as all parents know once a baby comes along.

We are very happy for them and we wish them many more years of married bliss as they are such a great couple together.

So Theo and Mémère will have some special time together while his Mom & Dad are out. What a gift grandchildren are - and I can attest to the oft spoken comment that a grandchild changes your life, just as having your own children born to you does, just in a different way.

Theo's parents spend a great deal of quality time with him. He is inquisitive, doesn't miss a thing and dares to try something even at his age of one (as of September 20th). The pediatrician says he is advanced in his vocalizations and he is now walking too. What a boy! Even at his age he plays little games. The other day he wanted to touch my earrings.. "no Theo" said I - so Theo shakes his head "no" but proceeds to want to touch. lol He knows it is a no-no but he will still test me. It is amazing to watch a child grow. As parents we are often too busy to see some of the smaller details but as grandparents our whole focus is the grandchild when we are together.

I've been singing a particular song in French to him since he was born - when I start humming that tune, he knows it is nap time - of course he doesn't necessarily agree but who do you think wins? ;o)

For now his favorite words are Mama, Daddy and quack quack - the other day he said "hi there" to the bird and waves to the squirrels. I "think" he is trying to say Mémère but the jury is out that thus far.

So you can be sure that Rebecca and Tyler are very proud of their first vorn. He's a keeper lol.

Rebecca and Tyler, happy anniversary! Thank you for a wonderful grandson that we treasure with all our hearts.

Love,

Mom & Dad
xoxoox

A bit of everything as I get caught up...

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:12:00 +0000

Dear Cousins,

I apologize for the lack of blogs the past couple of weeks. I came down with what I call a "bear of a cold" and recovered just on time to prepare for the American-Canadian Genealogical Society's Fall Conference this past Saturday (September 26th). It was a great conference and my presentation went well.

(Photo is of Theo and me at a wedding we attended this past Saturday.)

Other than that, as the Fall college semester resumed so did my "grandmothering" also known as "baby sitting" of my grandson Theo who turned one on Sunday, September 20th. I am with Theo three days a week so I've had to readjust my schedule. At Theo's age, he is very active so I have not been taking along my laptop as I did last semester when he was an infant. That means much less time online as you may well imagine. This is a special time for me to be with Theo and I wouldn't pass it up for anything. The Internet and all of my projects will still be here long after this special time with him has passed.

Having said that though, be it known that I never pass up an opportunity to speak at conferences, genealogy groups etc. All I need is an invitation then we can work out the details.

Yesterday I received an interesting email regarding Ancestry.com - Anne who is on my mailing list sent me a message to say she called Ancestry and they have a special price for their World Deluxe subscription just now. They usually charge $299 per year. She still had a bit of a subcription left so they refunded what that amount reflected and charged her the $229 they are presently charging - it cost her about $200 for *13* months. They have even thrown in an extra month.

So if anyone is intersted, NOW is the time to subscribe. I've not seen it advertised anywhere so you might want to phone 1-800-262-3787 (10am to 6pm EST Monday through Friday) if you are interested in a World Deluxe subscription. It really is a good deal and you can access records from around the world that are on Ancestry's web site.

Fall has arrived in Massachusetts. My husband and I started to pick up leaves yesterday - we'll be at it well into Thanksgiving.

Have a great day!

Your cousin

More New Brunswick Cemetery Headstones

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:48:00 +0000

More New Brunswick cemeteries will soon be indexed by volunteers of the AFC RootsWeb mailing list.

Volunteers from the AFC ( Acadian-French-Canadian) list indexed more than 60,000 photos of cemetery headstones a couple of years ago. Hector Boudreau and his wife Jeanita née LeBlanc went out and photographed more headstones. Those to be indexed: Bass River, Chapel Point, South Branch, Riverside Albert, Hardwicke, Alderwood, Minto: Holy Rosary and St. Bridget as well as Dorchester.

People do write to say how helpful it is for them to have access to all of the information that has been made available to them through the project located at the Acadian Ancestral Home cemetery pages - http://www.acadian-cemeteries.acadian-home.org/frames.html

Stay tuned - when they are online it will be announced on this blog! There are already seven volunteers on-board. They were also part of the group that indexed those more than 60,000 photos. My thanks to them for helping to make this project possible.

With love from your cousin,

ACGS Fall Conference September 26th

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Fall Conference and Annual Meeting - Saturday, September 26, 2009

Two one-hour lectures in the morning:

Jane Doe 1971, Still Unknown After All These Years: A New Hampshire Example Of Forensic Genealogy

Melinde Lutz Sanborn - A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Melinde holds degrees and certificates in anthropology, library science, and archival management. She did serials acquisitions for the Tozzer Anthropological Library at Harvard University and has been a self-employed genealogist since 1976. Melinde currently edits the New Hampshire Genealogical Record and co-edits the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. She has published extensively and in 1993 was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. As Boston University Program Director of the Genealogical Research Certificate Program, she designed and staffed the five modules for the Center for Professional Education.

Les Filles à Marier

Peter J. Gagné was born and raised in Connecticut. He graduated magna cum laude from Boston College with a BA in French language and literature, studied at the Sorbonne and Institute of European Studies in Paris and received an MA in French from Boston University. Peter also earned an MA in history and a certificate in archival studies from Université Laval in Quebec City. He is the author of Links to Your Canadian Past, French-Canadians of the West, King's Daughters and Founding Mothers and Before the King's Daughters, all published by Quintin Publications. Peter also regularly contributes to the Connecticut Maple Leaf (French-Canadian Genealogical Society of Connecticut) and Sent by the King (Société des Filles du Roi et Soldats de Carignan). He resides in Quebec with his wife and has worked as an archivist for the Centre de Référence de l'Amérique Française in Quebec City.

One one-hour lecture in the afternoon

Who Were The Acadians? Where Did They Resettle Post Exile? Does DNA or mtDNA Help To Prove Their Origins?

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino - Born and raised in Massachusetts, Lucie is the daughter of an Acadian LeBlanc descendant and a French Canadian Lévesque descendant. Lucie is the author of several articles for the American-Canadian Genealogist; has had articles written about her work; and has been interviewed by the Prince Edward Island French Newspaper as well as Radio-Canada Television – Acadie/Moncton in May 2009 and the Halifax Chronicle Herald. Lucie shares her passion for Acadian history, genealogy and research in lectures for genealogical societies, library groups and schools. She was one of the featured speakers at the Bourg/LeBlanc/MelansonFamily Reunion at CMA 2009 in Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick. She was also a featured speaker at CMA 2004 at the LeBlanc Family Reunion and gave a presentation on New England Acadians at Grand-Pré.

http://www.acadian-home.org/frames.html
http://acadian-ancestral-home.blogspot.com/

Registration begins at 8am on the 26th. The conference starts at 9am.

The library will be open on Friday, September 25th, 9am to 9pm with extra librarians on duty to assist anyone wishing to do research on the day before the conference.

Sunday, September 27 – research by special arrangements for our out-of-town guests if required

For a complete schedule of events as well as registration information, please download our Conference Schedule.

Everyone is welcome!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Library open regular hours – 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. – Extra librarians on duty. If you think you’ll need extra time on the computers with the Drouin Digital Images, book early. Maximum 2-hour sessions unless there is no one signed up for the next session on the computer you are on. Call the library @ 603-622-1554 Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday.

ACGS now has WiFi Internet access for laptop users.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Program

8:00 A.M. Registration – Coffee & pastries; Book Sales; Mix & Mingle

9:00 A.M. Welcome – President, Gerry Savard

9:15 A.M. Melinde Lutz Sanborn, F.A.S.G, accomplished author - Merrimack, NH

10:15 A.M. Stretch Break

10:45 A.M. Peter J. Gagné, Author of ‘King’s Daughters’ and several more – Quebec City

11:45 A.M. Lunch – On your own

1:30 P.M. Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, Acadian Research Specialist, Methuen, Mass.

2:30 P.M. Stretch Break 3:00 P.M. Annual Meeting and Election of Officers and Directors for the 200-2009/10 year.

Sunday, September 27, 2009 – research by special arrangements for our out-of-town guests if required.

Conference Early Registration: $30.00 per person

Registration the day of the conference: $35.00 per person

We will have a 50/50 raffle on the day of the conference. The winner will receive half of what is collected for the raffle.

You may register with a credit card by calling the American-Canadian Genealogical Society, Manchester, New Hampshire at:

(603) 622-1554

Look forward to seeing and meeting you there!

September 11, 2001

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:13:00 +0000

September 11th, 2001 will long be remember as one of the most horrific days in the history of the United States.

I've no doubt that everyone remembers where they were when news hit the air waves that a plane had crashed into one of the towers in New York City.

I was at the American-Canadian Genealogical Society for a meeting with the Fall Conference Committee. One member walked in and said a plane had hit one of the towers. Not believing for one moment there was anything sinister involved, I remember telling her that some ridiculous person must have tried a stunt of some kind. We went about our business, but as other members arrived, it was clear that the United States of America had been attacked and a second plane had crashed into the second tower. Then there was the plane brought down in Pennsylvania.

We quickly ended our meeting and headed home. I still remember how desolate the highway was coming home to Methuen from Manchester, New Hampshire. Though not all that long a drive, this highway is usually teaming with some kind of traffic all day long. It was obvious everyone who could was off the highways and in a "safe" place.

When I arrived home our daughter who is a college professor in Boston was there and told me she had called the college and they were allowing their staff to remain at home. Nobody else knew if more attacks would take place and those two airline jets had flown out of Boston.

All afternoon we watched television and saw the devastation played over and over again - we saw people searching all over NYC in search of loved ones who worked in the towers and financial district. Mid afternoon as the list of names that had been passengers on both airlines were listed on the television screen, we could not believe that some people from our town were among them and even worse, one of our neighbors Doug Gowell

was on the United flight 175 . I think just about everyone somewhere was affected by the loss of a family member, neighbor or acquaintance that day as so many lives were lost.

I still get pretty emotional when I remember how for so many nights Doug's wife Barbara would put a candle out on the front porch as though waiting for Doug to come home from his business trip . It was heart wrenching. Just the night before flew out of Boston, I saw him working in front of their home; I also remember the limo driving in front of our house the morning of that fateful flight - Doug was on his way to Logan Airport in Boston.

Robert George LeBlanc of Lee, New Hamsphire was on the same flight as Doug. Robert is well known to us in the Acadian community. A Geography Professor at New Hampshire College, Robert was the creator of the map Acadian Odyssey.

The memories of that day are imbedded in our minds, hearts and souls forever.

So today, we pause to remember all who died that fateful September 11th. Below is a list of those who were on the American and United airlines flights... May they rest in peace. We stand with their families and the efforts they have made these past eight years to keep the memory of their loved one alive.

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT #11

from Boston, Massachusetts on way to Los Angeles, California - crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center with 92 people on board.

CREW

Barbara Arestegui, 38, Marstons Mills, Massachusetts
Karen A. Martin, 40, Danvers, Mass.
First Officer Thomas McGuinness, 42, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Kathleen Nicosia, 54, Winthrop, Mass.
John Ogonowski, 52, Dracut, Massachusetts
Betty Ong, 45, Andover, Massachusetts
Jean Roger, 24, Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Dianne Snyder, 42, Westport, Massachusetts
Madeline Sweeney, 35, Acton, Massachusetts

PASSENGERS

Anna Williams Allison, 48, Stoneham, Massachusetts
Myra Aronson, 52, Charlestown, Massachusetts
Christine Barbuto, 32, Brookline, Massachusetts
Kelly Ann Booms, 24, Brookline, Mass.
Carol Bouchard, 43, Warwick, Rhode Island
Neilie Anne Heffernan Casey, 32, Wellesley, Massachusetts
Jeffrey Coombs, 42, Abington, Massachusetts
Tara Creamer, 30, Worcester, Massachusetts
Thelma Cuccinello, 71, Wilmot, New Hampshire
Patrick Currivan, 52, Winchester, Mass.
David DiMeglio, 22, Wakefield, Mass.
Donald Americo DiTullio, 49, Peabody, Mass.
Paige Farley-Hackel, 46, Newton, Mass.
Alex Filipov, 70, Concord, Massachusetts
Carol Flyzik, 40, Plaistow, N.H.
Paul Friedman, 45, Belmont, Massachusetts
Karleton D.B. Fyfe, 31, Brookline, Massachusetts
Peter Gay, 54, Tewksbury, Massachusetts
Linda George, 27, Westboro, Massachusetts
Lisa Fenn Gordenstein, 41, Needham, Massachusetts
Peter Hashem, 40, Tewksbury, Massachusetts
Robert Hayes, 37, from Amesbury, Massachusetts
Edward (Ted) R. Hennessy, 35, Belmont, Mass.
Cora Hidalgo Holland, 52, of Sudbury, Massachusetts
Nicholas Humber, 60, of Newton, Massachusetts
John Charles Jenkins, 45, Cambridge, Mass.
Charles Edward Jones, 48, Bedford, Mass.
Robin Kaplan, 33, Westboro, Massachusetts
David P. Kovalcin, 42, Hudson, New Hampshire
Judy Larocque, 50, Framingham, Mass.
Natalie Janis Lasden, 46, Peabody, Mass.
Daniel C. Lewin, 31, Charlestown, Mass.
Susan A. MacKay, 44, Westford, Massachusetts
Christopher D. Mello, 25, Boston, Mass.
Antonio Jesus Montoya Valdes, 46, East Boston, Mass.
Carlos Alberto Montoya, 36, Bellmont, Mass.
Laura Lee Morabito, 34, Framingham, Massachusetts
Mildred Rose Naiman, 81, Andover, Mass.
Renee Newell, 37, of Cranston, Rhode Island
Jacqueline J. Norton, 61, Lubec, Maine
Robert Grant Norton, 85, Lubec, Maine
Jane M. Orth, 49, Haverhill, Mass.
Sonia Morales Puopolo, 58, of Dover, Massachusetts
David E. Retik, 33, Needham, Mass.
Philip M. Rosenzweig, 47, Acton, Mass.
Richard Ross, 58, Newton, Massachusetts
Jessica Sachs, 22, Billerica, Massachusetts
Rahma Salie, 28, Boston, Mass.
Heather Lee Smith, 30, Boston, Mass.
Douglas J. Stone, 54, Dover, N.H
Michael Theodoridis, 32, Boston, Mass.
James Trentini, 65, Everett, Massachusetts
Mary Trentini, 67, Everett, Massachusetts
Kenneth Waldie, 46, Methuen, Massachusetts
Candace Lee Williams, 20, Danbury, Conn.
Christopher Zarba, 47, Hopkinton, Massachusetts

UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT #175

from Boston, Massachusetts on way to Los Angeles, California - second plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Two pilots, seven flight attendants and 56 passengers were on board.

CREW

Amy N. Jarret, 28, North Smithfield, R.I.
Amy R. King, 29, Stafford Springs, Conn.
Kathryn L. LaBorie, 44, Providence, R.I.
Michael C. Tarrou, 38, Stafford Springs, Conn.

PASSENGERS

Garnet Edward (Ace) Bailey, 54, Lynnfield, Mass.
Mark Bavis, 31, West Newton, Mass.
Graham Andrew Berkeley, 37, Boston, Mass.
John Brett Cahill, 56, Wellesley, Mass.
Christoffer Carstanjen, 33, Turner Falls, Mass.
John (Jay) J. Corcoran, 43, Norwell, Mass
Lynn Catherine Goodchild, 25, Attleboro, Mass.
Peter Morgan Goodrich, 33, Sudbury, Mass.
Douglas A. Gowell, 52, Methuen, Mass.
The Rev. Francis E. Grogan, 76, of Easton, Mass.
Carl Max Hammond, 37, Derry, N.H.
Peter Hanson, 32, Groton, Mass.
Sue Kim Hanson, 35, Groton, Mass.
Christine Lee Hanson, 2, Groton, Mass.
Eric Samadikan Hartono, 20, Boston, Mass.
James E. Hayden, 47, Westford, Mass.
Herbert W. Homer, 48, Milford, Mass.
Robert Adrien Jalbert, 61, Swampscott, Mass.
Ralph Francis Kershaw, 52, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.
Brian Kinney, 29, Lowell, Mass.
Robert George LeBlanc, 70, Lee, N.H.
Maclovio Lopez, Jr., 41, Norwalk, Calif.
Marianne MacFarlane, 34, Revere, Mass.
Louis Neil Mariani, 59, Derry, N.H.
Juliana Valentine McCourt, 4, New London, Conn.
Ruth Magdaline McCourt, 45, New London, Conn.
Shawn M. Nassaney, 25, Pawtucket, R.I.
Patrick Quigley, 40, of Wellesley, Mass.
Frederick Charles Rimmele, 32, Marblehead, Mass.
James M. Roux, 43, Portland, Maine
Jesus Sanchez, 45, Hudson, Mass.
Mary Kathleen Shearer, 61, Dover, N.H.
Robert Michael Shearer, 63, Dover, N.H.
Jane Louise Simpkin, 36, Wayland, Mass.
Brian D. Sweeney, 38, Barnstable, Mass.
William M. Weems, 46, Marblehead, Mass.

UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 93

from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, crashed in rural southwest Pennsylvania, with 45 people on board.

All victims of a senseless attack, they and all who died that day were American martyrs! We shall never forget!

Peace and love to all of their families. God bless them and God bless America!

Family reunions: you meet the nicest people

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:10:00 +0000

One of the best things that happens at a CMA/World Congress of Acadians, is that you meet the nicest people who are, of course, your cousins to one degree or another.

At CMA 2004 I met wonderful cousins like Don Arseneaux, Brenda Comeaux Trahan and her husband Ray Trahan, Linda Louviere and her mother, LeBlanc cousins from Nova Scotia, Australia, Quebec, the United States and many other locales. Meeting Sally Ross, Donna Doucet, Darlene Mius, Roseline Godin-Cochrane, Roger Sévigny, Susan Surette Draper at Grand-Pré was a real treat. Some of us remain connected since then.

To see some of them again at CMA 2009 was such a blessing. It did not seem possible that 5 years had passed and it was a coming home of sorts once again.

This time around it was a treat to meet Marcelle Comeau (from Nova Scotia who is on the AFC mailing list and who I met briefly in 2004). I also met the following: Gord Deagle (he is a Daigle descendant from Ontario), Caroline Leblanc (studying for her PhD at University of Maine) and Roger Romero. Roger has been known to many of us online for many years as Romm. Roger gave me a beautiful pin from the Acadian Memorial of St. Martinsville, Louisiana to add to my collection that I wear to each CMA and some conferences. Roger is president of the Lafayette Genealogical Society. I was both surprised and so pleased when he came up to me to introduce himself at the Bourg/LeBlanc/Melanson reunion! Don Arseneaux was speaking with me at the time and he went to his camper and brought me a pin from CMA 1999 held in Louisiana. So I have a pretty nice collection of pins from CMAs and various family reunions I attended.

That is the thing about the really nice cousins you meet online - when you finally meet them at one of these reunions, it is like you've always known them so it is always a treat.

I've no doubt that I probably missed the names of some of the wonderful people I met this year, if I did please post a message. I really look forward to hearing from you and to keeping in touch.

Have a great day wherever you live and be happy.

With love from your cousin.

Ode To Our Mothers

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:53:00 +0000

Author Unknown

Your mother is always with you...
She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street.
She's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks.
She's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.
Your mother lives inside your laughter.
She's crystallized in every tear drop.
She's the place you came from, your first home.
She's the map you follow with every step you take.
She's your first love and your first heart break...
And nothing on earth can separate you.
Not time... Not space... Not even death...
Will ever separate you from your mother...
You carry her inside of you.

To Mom and Dad - September 1st, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:23:00 +0000

from Sarah & Corey
Rebecca & Tyler & Theodore
for our Thirty-Fifth Wedding Anniversary

The story of our family

is made up of many things -

from silly jokes

to good-night kisses,

from nicknames

to summer vacations,

from hard good-byes

to the most joyous homecomings,

The story of our family

is made up of love

and time

and memory...

all the things
that really matter.

A review of CMA 2009: the good/not so good

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:14:00 +0000

Dear Cousins,

When I headed to CMA 2009, I left home with the same gusto and anticipation I'd had in 2004 when I headed to Nova Scotia. Sadly, I admit that this time I was disappointed. Not with the family reunion organizers but rather with the CMA 2009 committees narrow view of what CMA is all about.

So I share with you the not so good first (just like bad news good news). I have reflected on my experience for a week since I returned from New Brunswick but I feel the same as I did while attending CMA.

I had a sense that much of their effort had been put into building a tourist trade during the few weeks CMA ran rather than putting their effort into working at making all of the Acadian descendants who would attend feel warmly welcomed. Anyone who wishes may disagree with me but that is how I see it. The other thing is that I did not feel it was all inclusive at CMA 2004 had been.

It is admittedly unfortunate that a comparison to 2004 must be made but it must. Wherever you went in 2004 there was a true spirit of welcome and warmth. It did not feel that way this time.

Now it is difficult enough to get to northern New Brunswick but what I found problematic in addition to all the travel getting there was the lack of good eateries. Some reunions did not provide lunch so we were on our own and all that seemed available were fast food eateries. One day we traveled a bit to go to a restaurant everyone said was really good. In my estimation, it was just "okay".

People who booked rooms said it was difficult - I was not among them as I traveled back and forth from Moncton.

I see all of those as a lack of inter-community workings of the CMA committee and the local communities.

The good news is that the family reunions were well organized and fun. The family association or committees formed to plan the individual reunions had obviously worked hard to make their reunions a reality.

The first reunion attended was the Bourg/LeBlanc/Melanson reunion. At CMA 2004, five thousand LeBlanc descendants attended the reunion. This time there were approximately 400 at the joint reunion of three families. Let me tell you though that it was thanks to the Louisiane Acadie, Inc. that this reunion took place and they started planning only two months prior to the opening of CMA. Why did our Cajun cousins feel they should organize this reunion? Because the CMA 2009 committee refused to allow the LeBlanc Family Association based in Moncton to organize a reunion in Memramcook. Gee, I certainly remember people traveling the length and breadth of Nova Scotia in 2004 and nobody complained. It was the same in 1999 in Louisiana and nobody complained.

I was amazed that they organized a lunch for all who attended and believe me when I say it was delicious. It was unbelievable that in the short time they had to organize this reunion that they were able to provide a warm lunch for those in attendance.

It was also wonderful to see Brenda Comeaux Trahan and her husband Ray Trahan whom I'd met at Donna Doucet's home in 2004. At the time Donna was the director of the Grand-Pré historic site and we would see a great deal of one another during my week at Grand-Pré. Brenda is the director of the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinsville, Louisiana . Since 2004, Ray founded the Louisiane Acadie, Inc. and I understand it to be a non-profit. Rachelle Dugas worked hard to get CMA 2014 back to Louisiana. She is the one who invited me to speak.

Of course, it was great to see my friend Michael Melanson at the reunion selling his wonderful genealogy book on the Melanson family. I also met Marguerite Melanson who authored "The Melanson Family - Acadian Family - Acadian Times". She too was selling her book that was published in 2004. It was also a treat to meet artist Daniel LeBlanc who created a wonderfully historic painting of our first LeBlanc ancestor, Daniel and his family. Prints are available of this wonderful painting and Daniel can be contacted through my web site. Of course, I also met other wonderful cousins from Seattle, California and Canada. It is always a treat to meet cousins at these reunions and hopefully we will all meet again at CMA 2014!

So all in all, we owe our Cajun cousins a debt of gratitude that the Bourg/LeBlanc/Melanson reunion took place and I am grateful to have been invited to speak on the Mothers of Acadia mtDNA Project. Thank you Louisiana!

The next day we attended the Doucet Family Reunion in the morning. Stephen White was the speaker and as always his presentation was of great interest to everyone in attendance. The talk was in French and in English. It was my understanding that about 400 attended this reunion. I'm not certain who all of the organizers were but perhaps someone will tell me once they read this blog. I do know that Jeannine Doucet Caissie of Massachusetts was involved. Jeanine and her husband Paul were the founders of the Acadian Cultural Society in Fitchburg, Ma.

That evening, we attended the Belliveau/Gaudet dinner organized by Paul Belliveau of Scoudouc. It was quite evident that Paul worked diligently at organizing this reunion and dinner. We were warmly received as we had been at the Doucet reunion. Stephen White was the speaker at the dinner and we heard another excellent talk.

The attendees at the Belliveau and Gaudet dinner was under 400 but I believe the number was a bit great for the reunion itself earlier in the day.

Truth be told, the numbers of attendees were small at many of the family reunions. I understand the Savoie reunion was large but by far and large I do not believe the numbers at most reunions were as great as in Nova Scotia in 2004.

Long before 2004 we saw television ads here in Massachusetts. We saw nothing this time. Some of the CMA 2004 committee took the CAT from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Boston to promote CMA 2004. Nothing this CMA.

During the early stages of planning for CMA 2004 I contacted the general manager and told her how New England Acadians had long been overlooked. Immediately, New England Acadians were posted to that CMA web site and included in the theme song. I was also invited to particpate at the CMA 2004 closing Mass at Grand-Pré as a representative of New England Acadians.

Though I contacted the CMA 2009 committee asking that they continue with this, nothing was forthcoming for or about New England Acadians. They sent me a message requesting suggestions and I responded. They never acknowledged my message. Well we have to be at least one million Acadian descendants in New England - we count for something. An opportunity lost for CMA 2009? I certainly wonder.

Anyhow, that is how I experienced CMA 2009 and it isn't to say that we didn't travel about. On Friday, August 21st we left the Bourg/LeBlanc/Melanson reunion and toured the Acadian peninsula. We visited the exhibits/tents set up at Pokemouche. We went to Caraquet and we visited the Acadian Village. We stopped in towns/villages where I took photos of the parish churches because they have always been the landmark of Acadian communities.

On Saturday, August 22nd when we attended the Doucet, Belliveau/Gaudet reunions I really was delighted to finally see Baie des Chaleurs/Chaleurs Bay that we have read so much about in our Acadian history. We can see Quebec from one side of the bay.

Some may not be pleased with my review of CMA 2009 - all I know is that it lacked "something" of what we had experienced in 2004. Some may say we should not compare but if so, I beg to differ.

So my congratulations to those family associations who worked so hard to make their reunions a success. They deserve our sincere thanks for a job well done! Their reunions were a success.

In closing, it is hoped that the CMA 2014 committee will follow the rules concerning the closing of CMA. The rule has been that CMA closes on August 15th which is the Acadian National Holiday. This committee chose to close on August 23rd. Another faux pas because many people accustomed to the August 15th closing had made reservations up to that date and left on the 15th. This CMA committee thought it was more important to hold their Tintamarre on August 15th (business as usual) rather than follow the rules. One of the questions when choosing a location for CMA is where that particular group will follow the rules and not make them to suit their wants.

Hopefully, the CMA 2014 committee will be more concerned with Acadian families than with tourism!

Your cousin,

Lucie

A review of CMA 2009 - Coming tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy - R.I.P.

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:44:00 +0000

Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy

February 22, 1932-August 25, 2009

May he rest in peace

"For all those whose cares have been our concern,
the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives
and the dream shall never die."

The thing about the Kennedy family of Massachusetts is that people either liked them or they did not. I happen to like them.. a lot! They were a wealthy family that could well have ignored the needs of those around them but they did not. Early in life, they learned to reach out to others. Whether or not some believe it, this family has done a whole lot to relieve the hurts and ills of the world.

If people cannot respect the sacrifices of life the members of this family have given to this country, it is sad. I do and I always will.

As Ted Kennedy is laid to rest today, it would be nice to remember to say a prayer for him and for his family ... whether or not you liked him ... whether or not you agreed with the policies he worked on as a United States Senator and whether or not you supported him as a Democrat. It just seems to me to be the Christian thing to do.

Teddy, as a citizen of the great states of Massachusetts, I have always respected you as a native son and I am forever grateful for the sacrifices your brothers Joseph, John and Robert as well as the military service your family, as well as yourself, gave to our country. We shall always remember "Camelot" and we will never forget your spirit of kindness, warmth and love for your fellow citizens around the world.

The following is a link to an article entitled "Prominent Canadians Praise Ted Kennedy: The Star.com

Rest in peace Teddy!

Happy Acadia Day - National Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Happy Acadia Day!

August 15th is the the national holiday of Acadians all over the world. I hope you've had a good day. I leave for CMA 2009 in a few days. I will likely not have time to blog again until my return home on August 26th. Until then, I will think of all of you at the World Congress!

Love,

Your cousin,

Looking forward to CMA 2009 - Bourq/LeBlanc/Melason Reunion

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:23:00 +0000

CMA 2009

Six days from today we will be in Moncton. We leave early on Wednesday morning August 19th. When we arrive in Moncton, we will go directly to the Centre d'études acadiennes located at Université de Moncton, to meet up with Stephen White. I'm hoping there will be some Acadian cousins doing research at the center whom I've not yet met... and perhaps some I met last CMA.

Originally there was no LeBlanc reunion planned for this CMA. I could not believe it given that there were 5,000 cousins who attended the LeBlanc reunion that was held in Nova Scotia during CMA 2004!

About two months ago, Rachelle Dugas who has been working in Louisiana in the hopes of bringing CMA 2014 to Louisiana, decided to organize a Bourq(Bourque)/LeBlanc/Melanson reunion that is scheduled for Friday, August 21st. Up until Rachelle decided to do this, many of us were disconcerted that our families would not be represented at the CMA 2009 and we lived too far away to do anything about it.

Did you know that the LeBlanc family was the largest family in Acadia and to come out of Acadia? - I kept asking myself how this could be happening and who had missed the boat?!? Well now it will happen and I am so looking forward to participating as a LeBlanc representing New England Acadians. At least, that is how I look at it.

Now some may question the validity of what I say that the LeBlanc was the largest family in Acadia and so on. Well consider this: Daniel LeBlanc and Françoise Gaudet had seven children. Six sons and one daughter. Five sons married and among them had 37 sons. Realistically, how could we miss? *smile*

I will never forget the first time I went to Moncton and looked in the phone book to see how many LeBlancs were listed - oh my gosh! I'd never seen so many LeBlanc names in my entire life. Pages and pages of LeBlanc in that phone book. I just could not believe it and when to the motel manager's office to ask if I could keep take the phone book home! She said yes and I was thrilled.

It did not take long to understand that in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the surname LeBlanc is like Smith in the U.S. When we would visit an historic site and I was asked what my family name was and I would say "je suis une LeBlanc"/I am a LeBlanc, the reaction was always the same - that we were a very large family and I would find LeBlanc cousins everywhere.

Because of the late planning for this CMA's Bourq/LeBlanc/Melanson reunion, I'm sure nobody has any idea as to how many people will attend but I want to encourage anyone who has not yet made plans to attend to do so - plenty of rooms are still available. Quite a few people will head home after August 15th, when in the past, CMA has ended but that is not the case this year. However, given that many people did plan around August 15th as an end date, even more rooms will be available in the local motels.

The Bourq/LeBlanc/Melason reunion will take place at Tracadie-Sheila in northern New Brunswick. It would seem to be ideal for Acadian cousins from Quebec to the north as well as New England or Nova Scotia cousins to the south, to attend! So let's really make a good effort to participate in our family reunions.

My family also descends from the Bourque and Melanson families so this should really be a whole lot of fun to celebrate together as one big Acadian family.

If would want to join us and need to find a place to stay, just type Motels Tracadie-Sheila into GOOGLE and a list of motels will come up on your computer. I really hope to see many of you there! Anything you find in Néguac, Caraquet, Pokemouche and the like is not far at all from Tracadie-Sheila.

I've just received a message from a cousin in Nova Scotia that all they could find this week was a room in Bathurst - so you might try there first but you can still try areas around as well.

Of course I am prepared mentally and emotionally to go to CMA 2009 but I have to prepare my presentation and start to decide on what I'm packing. Pack for a week or pack for a month sometimes there isn't a whole lot of difference ;o)

What makes this trip to CMA all the more interesting is that we will also get a bit of time at CEA, we will visit with Stephen White, we have a follow-up interview with Radio-Canada Television, we will visit some historic sites and tour many of the villages of northern New Brunswick. The latter is something I've not yet done so I am really looking forward to doing that - and as stated in a previous blog, I have my new Jazz camcorder. I want to video some of the villages and will upload to YouTube for everyone to enjoy.

Then there is the talk I will be giving: mtDNA of the Founding Mothers of Acadia

So come an join us! If you do, you will meet many cousins, eat lots of Acadian and Cajun food and dance/or listen to the music of Acadian and Cajun bands!

I really hope to see you there!

Love,

Your cousin,

save

Speaking at CMA 2009 - LeBlanc Reunion

noreply@blogger.com (Lucie LeBlanc Consentino) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:21:00 +0000

On Friday, August 21st, 11:00 a.m., I will be speaking at the Bourg/LeBlanc/Melanson Family Reunion. Place: Tracadie-Sheila in northern New Brunswick. If you have not yet made plans to attend, it is not too late. If you will be there please do not hesitate to come up to say hello. I look forward to meeting many Acadian cousins as I did at CMA 2004 in Nova Scotia.

This is truly a time to celebrate who we are as Acadians!

Topic of my talk: mtDNA of the Founding Mothers of Acadia. My talk will be given as part of the opening ceremonies of the reunion.

From there we plan to go to Caraquet, Pokemouche and Néguac to other reunions taking place. We will take our time to stop at Acadian villages along the way and as mentioned in an earlier blog, I am taking along this neat little Jazz camcorder with which to capture video along the way.

The following is our schedule:

August 19^{th -} Wednesday– leave for Moncton – if we arrive mid-afternoon, we’ll go directly to the Centre d'études acadiennes at Université de Moncton to meet up with Stephen White.

August 20^th - Thursday – free day - we will go to CEA and whatever else we decide to do.

August 21^st - Friday – Travel to Tracadie-Sheila: Bourg/LeBlanc/Melanson Reunion;

We then go to Caraquet’s Acadian Historic Village – stop at Pokemouche to meet up with some cousins; go to Néguac for the Breau Family Reunion and wherever else we would like to stop/see/tour along the way on our return to Moncton.

August 22^nd - Saturday – Travel to Grande-Anse for the Doucet Family Reunion – later on to the Belliveau-Gaudet Reunion. Stephen White is speaking at both events. That evening we go to the banquet at the B-G reunion. We return to Moncton that evening.

August 23^rd – Sunday – we go to Le Pays de La Sagouine for brunch and to spend the day. This is in Bouctouche which is a very large Acadian town.

August 24^th – Monday – go to CEA – we will be meeting Eileen Avery this day - looking forward to that.

August 25^th – Tuesday – go to Ft Beauséjour for the Canadian television interview with Barbara LeBlanc and Lorette Leafe and then go over to Beaubassin to see if anyone can direct us to where the digs have been taking place. We will perhaps stop at Memramcook. the plan is to spend some time with Barbara whom I've not seen since CMA 2004.

August 26^th – Wednesday – head home.

Vive l'Acadie!!!

Love,

Your cousin