Thursday, December 6, 2007

Starting out with a blog

I've decided to blog based on my interest in my family heritage and travel related to discovering that heritage. I hope you will join me in the quest with stories of your own.

I had been an off and on genealogy taster for some years but never serious enough to do anything beyond a trip to the surname dictionary and the Reistrap Armorial for some sign of a family crest. My interest started in earnest on a small beach at Ile-de-Re, France.

This island off the French coast at La Rochelle is one of the most beautiful spots in France. Traveling on business with a friend we went to the island on a whim and to the beach because it was off-season and most of the restaurants were closed. When I stepped onto the beach I experienced a strange chill and felt the hair on my neck stand up (the true test of a great poem as someone has said). I stuffed this away in the back of my mind and we continued on our trip to Bordeaux.

Perhaps a year later I decided to use the web as an access point to genealogy material. With the first two pages of hits on the family name search I came upon a great page in Quebec.....family name traced to a forebear who migrated to Quebec from LaRochelle, France in 1647......but most incredibly.... he was a resident in the Parish on Ile-de-Re where I had had my hair raising experience.

Over the coming months I'd like to share more travel and genealogy experience in France and Quebec. This a good time to start a discussion with you all because the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City will be celebrated in 2008.