Gene-O-Rama

The local genealogy conference sponsored by the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society was held this weekend. It was, as usual, a great conference with the Houston Lecture being given by Fawne Stratford-Devai - a marvelous choice and an excellent talk. I enjoy Fawne's talks mostly because they set my mind thinking about circuitous ways of looking at my ancestors. Not just looking right at them but noticing what is around them in terms of structure and in terms of other people not just relatives. I have found it handy in my research over the past eight years and it still amazes me that I have managed to acquire so much information in that time. But I entered genealogy with the computer age which makes a big difference.

I had a table for the Guild of One Name Studies which was well attended - 50 pamphlets about the Guild were picked up by attendees. Most people were not aware of the group beyond my mention of them in talks that I had given in the past at local conferences. I took a slide show by Peter Walker that was online and modified it to fit my family and had that running on the table. It was an interesting addition as I had brought my desktop with its slightly larger screen as well as my small laptop which I had set to either the Guild website or the Blake Heritage website. I also had two years worth of journals. I finally settled on that amount of information so as not to be too cluttered. I answered a fair number of queries during the day.

The best buy though was a set of books on the "Filles du Roi" which I purchased. Written by Peter J. Gagné and titled "King's Daughters and Founding Mothers" The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673 in two volumes. ISBN 1-58211-905-3 and published 2001 by Quintin Publications Orange Park Florida. They are into their tenth printing (May 2008). An excellent set of books that I will find handy. I already determined that about 150 of them are ancestors of our son in law. These young women came principally from the farming areas of France and were volunteers bringing with them in many cases a dowry of their own plus the King's dowry. They were able to say no if they did not wish to marry a particular person  and so had a good deal of control over their life which was very unusual for the times. From this group are descended millions and their strength was the framework for New France in her early years. It is good to see such a well written work on these young women.

I also bought a book on the Carignan-Salière Regiment  which was sent to Canada in 1665 by King Louis XIV. Many of these soldiers remained in New France and married the young women above. The Good Regiment: The Carignan-Salières Regiment in Canada 1663-1668 by Jack Verney and published by McGill-Queen's University Press 1991 ISBN 978-0-7735-1818-6. They will be a helpful addition to the family tree.

Working on the Quebec registers has made me a much pickier person with regard to my own genealogy with my reworking some of the material that I had collected earlier requiring more evidence for each level back. Although it didn't actually change anything I am happier with the result. We want to spend some time at the Montreal repositories in the future acquiring more information.

Today, I wish to return to the Abbotts Ann Parish Registers although this is a difficult time of year with the bright sun streaming in most of the morning although I have a door blocking it somewhat it still seems bright to me. I generally do not accomplish much in transcription this time of year. The winter is the best time for all of that.

I also need to work on the new information for the Blake family in Pennsylvania and Virginia. We wish to publish an addendum to the earlier article in Anglo Celtic Roots. That is really the exciting part about yDNA surname studies. Books that were published linking families prior to yDNA are now being scrutinized as the descendants of these linked lines prove to have different ancestry than that published.