The movement of families from France to Quebec.......from Quebec to New England is a fascinating journey. Where they lived....how they got there......why the stayed or moved on is a journey worth following.

Make the trip here with us or make the trip as a vacation during this year of Quebec celebration. Either way make the trip....for yourself....your children and your grand children. It is fun, informative and addictive. A detective story and a history lesson all in one.

Cat de Hollande

Often the name of a ship and passenger lists are available for review as historical documentation of immigration. My ancestors left LaRochelle on the Cat de Hollande in the mid-1600's. Searching on that ship name landed me at: http://racinesrochelaises.free.fr/cat.html ......a wonderful Canadian site about the ship and its passengers. Some pictures of the Cat or a similar vessel and even the offices of the notary who supported the out-migration documentation.

Passenger lists are available at: http://www.migrations.fr/departure_of_la_rochelle.htm We will follow this journey and the journey of the families involved as well as the journeys of Samuel de Champlain as part of this blogging effort.

LaRochelle France

In this year of celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Quebec it is interesting to follow the travels of the founders as well as our ancestors.

LaRochelle, France is of particular interest to a great many Franco-Canadians and Franco-Americans because about 40% of the immigration from France to the New World originated at the Port of LaRochelle. Wikipedia has a good entry for LaRochelle and it is a great starting place for a family journey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rochelle

LaRochelle celebrated the Quebec journeys this year with parades and the launching of a fleet to re-enact the voyage of Champlain.: http://limousin-poitou-charentes.france3.fr/emissions/quebec/42199914-fr.php#para42901474 LaRochelle is of particular interest to my search for family routes since my family originated in Ile de Re an island just of the coast of LaRochelle.....now connected to the mainland by a magnificent bridge. See the Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_de_R%C3%A9

FranceGuide resources

Search you ancestry in France via the tourist bureau of France.....FranceGuide at:

http://us.franceguide.com/home.html?NodeID=1649 Search by family name and get a list of possible relatives...as well as a pdf file sent to you by email.


One last note. The University of Maine Franco-American Center is not open during the summer months as we had thought/hoped in a previous post. Funding does not allow for extended no school times for the Center. But you can always endow!!!

Finding family in Maine

Go to Quebec this summer through Maine and do some local research for your family roots. These resources are on the way and offer valuable help for genealogists.

Maine Franco-American Genealogical Society

Auburn, Maine http://www.avcnet.org/begin

University of Maine at Fort Kent
Fort Kent, Maine http://www.umfk.maine.edu/infoserv/archives

Franco American Center / Centre Franco-Américain, et Le FORUM University of Maine
Orono, ME http://www.francomaine.org/index.htm

Quebec Genealogical Research Tour

The New England Historic Genealogical Society www.NewEnglandAncestors.org

In celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Quebec NEHG is offering a research tour that will allow participants to take advantage of two premier Canadian genealogy repositories at the Societe Canadienne-Francaise (SGCF) and the Bibliotheque et Archives national du Quebec (BAnQ). The tour will incorporate field trips to 18th century sites and the assistance of NEHGS staff in discovering les traces des ancetres.

The program will run from June 15 to June 22. You will be responsible for your own travel but NEHG has arranged lodging and tour facilities. Tour costs include accomodations, three group meals, admission costs to official sites, and coach bus transport to the Village Quebecois d'Antan. Single registration is $1,550....commuter registration with $775.

Sounds like an interesting an fun time. You can also check in with the Anniversary celebrations in QC. Take a look at: http://monquebec2008.sympatico.msn.ca/MonQuebec2008/?module=home&id=1

Maine travel resources

The Travel resources at http://www.visitmaine.com/ In addition we will posting some itineraries for Ancestral travelers here with links to the Maine pages of interest.

Pages in French with a couple of very useful brochures are found on the Maine pages in French
at: http://www.visitmaine.com/brochure/french.php

If you want to use your French take a look at: http://www.office-tourisme-usa.com/tourisme-maine2.php?PHPSESSID=a3cf1c

It will be intresting during this year of the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Quebec City to follow the trails that migrants from Quebec took in their move to New England. We will have more on that in coming posts.