Je Me Souviens 50 Spring 2003 Je Me Souviens A Publication of the American-French Genealogical Society Our 25th Year Volume 26 Number 1 Spring 2003 Jean-Baptiste RAYMOND and Marie-Anne MATANE Married at St. Anne Church, Fall River MA, 27 February 1911 AMERICAN-FRENCH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY Post Office Box 830 Woonsocket, Rhode Island 02895-0870 CORRESPONDENCE Written correspondence should be addressed only to our post office box. The library telephone number for voice and fax is (401) 765-6141. An answering machine will take messages when the library is not open. The Society can be reached by E-mail at AFGS @ afgs.org. E-mail to the Editor of JMS should be addressed to pdelisle1 @ juno.com. MEMBERSHIP Individual: $32.00 ($40.00 Canada); family: $32.00 ($40.00 Canada) + $10.00 ea. addl. member; institutions: $27.00 ($30.00 Canada), life: $384.00 ($480.00 Canada) Make checks payable to the A.F.G.S. in U.S. funds. Non-U.S. residents must use postal money orders or credit cards. LIBRARY Our library is located in the basement of the First Universalist Church at 78 Earle Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It is open for research on Mondays from 12 PM to 5 PM, Tuesdays from 1 PM to 9 PM, and every Saturday of each month from 10 AM to 4 PM. The library is closed on all holidays; there are no Saturday sessions in June, July and August. RESEARCH The Society does undertake research for a fee. Please see our research policy elsewhere in this issue. ARTICLES Original manuscripts are welcomed. Please see our authors' guide elsewhere in this issue. ADVERTISING Rates for camera-ready copy are $50 for a full page, $25.00 for a half -page and $12.50 for a quarter-page. The Society assumes no responsibility for the quality of products or performance of services advertised in Je Me Souviens. The Soci- ety reserves the right to reject advertisements which it deems inappropriate. COPYRIGHT Je Me Souviens is © 2003 by the American-French Genealogical Society. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without written permission of the A.F.G.S. I.S.S.N.: 0195-7384 TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 2, Number 1 — Spring 2003 AFGS Mission Statement ..............................................2 President’s Message ......................................................3 The Martin Family in Acadia ........................................5 Do You Have a French Surname? Meet Your Great- Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother .15 Pensees d’Une Canadienne…Loin De Ses Foyers… 21 Bye Bye Bachelorhood ................................................23 Member’s Corner ........................................................26 The Latour Dit Forgit Family in New England .........27 Le Perche......................................................................34 Discovery and Connections on Québec Tour ............46 The Godefroy Family -A Continuing Story ...............66 AFGS Presents the 25th Silver Anniversary Member Pedigree Book .........................................................78 Genealogical Materials & Publications For Sale.......80 New Books on the Library Shelves.............................90 Member’s Corner ........................................................94 100 Years Ago .............................................................100 Authors’ Guidelines ...................................................102 AFGS Research Policy ..............................................106 Index To This Issue ....................................................107 Parting Shots .............................................................. 112 1 AFGS Mission Statement The mission of the American-French Genealogical Society is: — To collect, preserve and publish genealogical, historical and bio- graphical matter relating to Americans of French and French-Cana- dian descent. — To play an active part in the preservation of French-Canadian heritage and culture in the United States. — To establish and maintain a reference library and research center for the benefit of its members. — To hold meetings for the instruction of its members. — To disseminate information of value to its members by way of a regularly published journal and other appropriate means. — To disseminate genealogical and historical information to the gen- eral public, using appropriate means. 2 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Roger Bartholomy, President I don’t know what the golden on the library computers. years will bring, but I do know that the silver years have brought growth, sta- I have recently completed the bility and recognition that, I can well scanning of all the Canadian repertoires imagine, goes beyond the dreams of our at the library creating a digitized backup founding members. I will not review the of these resources in the event that history of our great Society for that was something terrible might happen to one eloquently done by our former presi- of them, or heaven forbid, all of them. dents in the Spring 1998 issue of the Volunteers are needed to bookmark (in- JMS on the occasion of our Twentieth dex) them on Adobe Acrobat and then Anniversary. Their reminiscences bear they, too, can be added to our library witness to the AFGS’ birth, early steps computers. and then striding gait in its second de- cade. The last five years have seen us We have a Lending Library man- taking giant steps as we continue to aged by Gene Arsenault. This service grow. allows our members who cannot visit the library to conduct their own re- Let me list some of our notable search by borrowing fiche. The Lend- accomplishments. After purchasing the ing Library catalog contains listings of copyrights to all the Drouin Dictionar- over 7,000 fiche, and it continues to ies, we set ourselves the task of scan- grow. ning these extensive resources in or- der to preserve them and make them We have a presence on the Inter- accessible in a more modern format. net through our award-winning Website All three versions The Blue (Male) and produced and continuously maintained the Orange (Female) and the Red by Bill Pommenville. Members may (1760-1608) may now be accessed on now submit research requests, renew the computers at the library. In addition, membership, purchase products, read the Red Drouin may be purchased as a our newsletter and access links on line. CD so that you may research on your home computer. Our Cultural Committee chaired by Norm Deragon has been busy plan- All of the repertoires published ning our 25th Anniversary Gala and is by the AFGS have also been scanned and seeking members who are interested in indexed and are available for research working to expand our cultural offer- 3 ings. In the future we would like to ini- to add to our resources, both through tiate teleconferencing with genealogi- purchasing and publishing of reper- cal societies in Canada, organize film toires. She and her library committee festivals and speaking programs, and have reorganized the library making forge ties with other French-Canadian optimum use of our space. groups. We have forged an alliance with We have established a Capital La Société Généalogique de Québec Funds Campaign to purchase a perma- at Laval University in Ste. Foy, QC; and nent home for the AFGS. Co-chaired by last September we organized our first George and Theresa Perron, to-date the historical tour to Québec City. Be sure campaign has reached one–third of its to read about our tour in an article in goal of $300,000. this issue written by member Al Poulin. We continue to gather birth, mar- Words cannot express our grati- riage and death records from all the tude to those early visionaries who pre- communities in the Blackstone River served our French-Canadian history and Valley National Heritage Corridor. Bill culture through the founding of our Beaudoin has made it his mission to Society. We have achieved international visit every library and town hall in these acclaim because of our dedicated vol- Corridor communities explaining this unteers who over the years have de- worthwhile project and encouraging voted their time, talents, and energy to participation in reaching our goal. the AFGS. May our Society continue to be blessed with leaders and mem- Under the leadership of Roger bers who will keep us moving forward Beaudry and Paul Delisle we continue to even greater accomplishments. to be involved in the Rhode Island Cem- etery Transcription Project. Bonne vingt-cinquième anni- versaire, mes amis! Librarian Jan Burkhart continues Things My Mother Taught Me My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION... “Just wait untin your father gets home!” My mother taught me about RECEIVING... “You are going to get it when we get home!” And my all time favorite thing - JUSTICE... “One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU...then you’ll see what it’s like!” 4 The Martin Family in Acadia by: George L. Findlen Editor’s Note: In his cover let- and (3) that Barnabé MARTIN [est le] ter accompanying this article, the au- fils de Robert MARTIN et de Marguer- thor cites an error in the Dictionnaire ite LANDRY.”1 These statements (a) National des Canadiens-Français that make Pierre and Robert brothers and has led to many similar errors in fam- (b) make Barnabé the son of Robert and ily genealogies. Mr. Findlen discov- nephew of Pierre. Only LANCTÔT’s ered this error in the identity of the first claim, that Pierre is the son of Martin family in Acadie, and pub- René and Étienne, is substantiated by a lished an article in Les Cahiers du marriage entry in the register of Saint- Société Historique Acadienne in June Germain-de-Bourgueil. (Bourgueil is a 2001 under the title A Note on the Fa- village in the current Département de ther of Acadian Barnabé Martin, Ances- L’Indre et Loire between Tours and tor of New Brunswick Martins. Our Saumur in France. In the early seven- thanks go to the author for his kind teenth century, the village was a part of permission to reprint his article. Anjou.) Individuals interested in the Established and respected dictio- Acadian Martins have long wondered if naries also publish the error and thus Pierre MARTIN and Barnabé MARTIN, extend it.