Heartbroken

This year, I cannot join the NEHGS Salt Lake City Tour. I am literally heartbroken. I know for almost a year that I am unable to attend because of my non-genealogy day job schedule but still… Continue reading

Travel 2017 | Day 10 | Home Sweet Home

I wanted to share my last days in England but unfortunately I lost the wifi connection where I stayed. Day 8 was spent in London at the British Museum.

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Travel 2017 | Day 7 | From Elizabeth I to Mick Jagger: A Walking Tour of Richmond

After four full days devoted to research at The National Archives in Kew, I thought I deserved a break. For the first time today, I woke up later than 5 AM (7:30 AM!), and while surfing on the Web, I read there was a walking tour of Richmond leading to 17th-century Ham House, once home to a friend of King Charles I. Deal! Continue reading

Travel 2017 | Day 4 | Finding Ol’ Blue Eyes

Hide in plain sight they say. That’s just what I have been doing. It was kind of entertaining to observe that old stubborn lady from Longueuil trying to catch me.

Well, well, well… Seems like she finally laid hands on that Description Book from the Glengarry Fencibles Regiment. Ain’t that funny! She was looking for it in the Canadian Archives, but it was here in England. Even worse, it’s available for everyone to review it on the UK’s National Archives Website. Continue reading

Travel 2017 | Day 2 | In Beautiful Kew Garden

Yes, indeed, I am in England! As of Tuesday morning, I will be at the UK National Archives in Kew to peruse various regiments’ muster rolls pertaining to soldiers stationed in William Henry (Sorel) during the first third of the 19th century. On the top of my list is, of course, the 49th Regiment of Foot, hoping to be provided with some significant events of the life of William Hogan (husband of Mary Bangle and son-in-law of John Bangle) pre- and post-Sorel.

I’m telling you, these Bangle Files are sending me on trails I never expected to set foot on! Continue reading

Travel 2017—Day 0 | The Aviator’s Daughter

My father was not an aviator but rather an air mechanic still I must confess that whenever I am on a flight and literally scared to death during take-off, I am without fail thinking of him and saying to myself: what a pity for an aviator’s daughter…

I rarely spent moments alone with my father. And to be honest, he was no chatterbox. But still, we were very much alike: both avid readers, curious about everything, loving history and travels. I believe he would have enjoyed my genealogy stories. There is one thing I will always regret though: not having made a trip with him once I became an adult.

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40 Days | Day 23 | My Waterloo

img_6307Well, it was bound to happen. I guess after that Gold Rush in St. Louis, I had to go on a dry spell at some point.

I just came back from a two-day research at the Ontario Provincial Archives and the harvest has been awfully modest, to say the least. Continue reading

40 Days | Day 14 | A Day At The Archives

fullsizerender-126Home Sweet Home! Just before leaving for St. Louis I had found in a notary’s repertoire numerous contracts concerning the Arpajou family—I’m working on the ancestors of Sophie Arpajou married to Charles Tourville. While perusing said documentation, I stumbled upon the name Bangle. Continue reading

40 Days | Day 12 | Back in St. Louis—Enjoying the City and its County Library

img_6287After having greatly enjoyed our time together, my friend Diane and I had to say goodbye last Sunday morning. She was on her way to the local airport and I had to drive back from Springfield, IL to catch my flight to Montréal at the St. Louis airport. There I was with a few more hours to seize the day.

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40 Days | Day 11 | Goodbye, Springfield, IL and 2016 FGS Conference!

IMG_6019 2Here I am at home returning from the 2016 FGS Conference which was held in Springfield, Illinois. I wish I could have published every day on this blog but that quickly proved to be an impossible task. The first session began at 8AM and the last one ended at 6PM, which was followed by evening events. Continue reading