Author Archives: Diane
#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #18 Octave Tourville (1826-1902)
Spending so many years investigating about Mathieu Hubou’s descendents, I certainly came across some people who clearly stand out from the others. Octave Tourville is one of them. Continue reading
From the Archives: Tourvilles as Middlemen Voyageurs
The very preliminary steps of the first acknowledged trip in which Toussaint Tourville and his older brother Pierre were involved as voyageurs started on April 3, 1790 at the office of Notary Public Louis Chaboillez (in office 1787-1813), where they each sign a one-year contract with the merchant company Todd McGill & Co. The destination was unknown as they were accepting to travel wherever they were required to (North excluded). Even if the agreement entered into was for a one-year term only, they were contracted as “hyvernants” which meant they would spend the winter and make the return trip the next year. Continue reading
#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #17 Jean-Baptiste Hubou dit Deslongchamps (1654-1697)
Ever since I have started working on my Hubou-Tourville family tree, I have always read that Jean-Baptiste Hubou dit Deslongchamps, son of Mathieu Hubou, died on a military expedition between 1696 and 1699. You may have guessed how frustrating this was for me. Continue reading
#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #16 Tourville Dance Pavilion (1929-?)
There are still some loose ends regarding the life of Peter Tourville (1809-1891) that I will look more closely at while at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City later this fall. But let’s put aside the man for now and rather write about the tract of land that he owned in Jersey County, Illinois. Continue reading
From the Archives: Petit Manuel des associés de l’Union de prières et de La Bonne Mort (1873)
Was one of your ancestors a member of the Union de prières et de La Bonne Mort [Union of prayers and of the “good death”]?
Founded in 1851 in Montreal, this association’s objective was to prepare their members for the after-life and help them save their soul. In 1873, it has no less than 50,000 members. Continue reading
My American Cousins: #52Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #15 Delima Lanoville Betournay (1877-1956)
As far as I can remember, while looking at our family’s old photo albums with my mother, I remember asking:
“Who are these people?”
“My American cousins, from Cohoes, New York”, would reply my mother. “During the summer, we would travel down there by car to pay them a visit. In the early days, my grandparents would come along as well.” Continue reading
#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #14 Anonymous Tourville (1822-1822)
Since Thomas MacEntee announced his Genealogy Do-Over earlier this year, I’ve been glancing through his articles and told myself it could indeed be a good idea to start all over again. Continue reading
#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #13 Restaurant Tourville (1955-1960)
After being kept away for months from this challenge, it is now time to get back on track and to write about, not an ancestor this time, but about a restaurant instead once owned by Eugène and Stéphanie Tourville’s family. Continue reading
#ChallengeAZ 2015: Z for Zola
How can I forget the first time I went to the library with my mother at age 8? I read the five books in one day. Thanks to her, my sister and I just love to read. How many times have we discussed about a book that the three of us had read? She loved to read interlinked novels like the ones of Zola, Balzac, Quebec author Michel Tremblay and Manitoba’s Gabrielle Roy and so many more. Mom, you would be proud to know that your little boy reads too since you are gone. Thanks to you, I am sure!
The 2015 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French-community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres