Family Reunion 2010

Hi everyone ,

We had ours family reunion on Sunday July 18 , we had 75 people there and they all had a great tme . I got some more family history that I didn't have and some more updates . The kids played games and did some face painting and won some door prizes . We had a lot of food and sweets for everyone and alot left over . Everyone took lots of pictures and we had a slideshow agian this year . We also had a birthday for Mum and her sister , Mum will be turning 90 years old and her sister will be turning 92 years old this , so we thought it would be a good time to have it , when they were both together . Now I have to rest up before I go back to work after my 2 weeks vacation . Then it back to work for a week , then it off to take part in Bueabassin dig on the 1st of August .

Well I guess that all for now , more later and yes it will be sooner ..

Rick

Old Photos

Hi all ,

Today I thought we would talk about old photos , I just got some old family photos from a cousin , First was of my greatgrandfather , Placide Arsenault , It was so great to get it , I added it to my website under family photos , then I got some more .. One of my great aunt Minnie Arsenault , daughter of Placide Arsenault and Jane Noiles . Also in the same photo , her husband George Gouchie , these photos tells a story in their own . Old family photos are a great way to your family history alive . when you are looking at old family photos , don't just look at the people or person in the photo , but look at what in the photos , by looking at what in the background , you can see what their life was like in a way . So here one of these photos that I just got , look at what in the background .. and you will see what I mean . Like the old ringer washer machine , and only one tap for water , which was alway cold water .. no hot water heater back then .

Thanks for visiting .

Rick .

Happy New Year

Well here we are in a new year , So I just want to take this time to wish you all a Really Happy New Year and all the best in everything for 2010 ..and hope you all stay safe and happy ..

Rick ..

Hi all ,

First I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas , and hope you all stay safe and warm for the holidays . Christmas will be here in a few hours in this part of the world and other parts it is already christmas . I just thought it would be a great thing to think about when you set down to eat your christmas dinner , to think about what it was like for our ancestors on christmas Day . How did they celebrate their christmas day and what did they had for a christmas meal ? What did the children get for gifts ? And did they put up a christmas tree and what did they use for decorations ?

Well I guess that it for now , got a few more things to do before Santa gets here . So once again Happy Holidays and stay safe .

Rick

Great News ..

Hi all ,

Thought I would post this here , It would be great to be-able to read this diary..

Forgotten diary sheds new light on Acadian deportation of 1755

Transcripts from a diary kept by a young American soldier fighting for the British is giving historians a new twist on the deportation of Acadians from the Maritimes in the 18th century.
In 1755, 30-year-old Jeremiah Bancroft signed up for one year as a militiaman with the British military.
He kept an almost-daily diary of his service, which took him from Boston to Beausejour, N.B., and later to Grand Pre, N.S., where he participated in the deportation of Acadians.
A transcript of the diary was found by historical archeologist Jonathan Fowler and was publicly displayed Thursday at Saint Mary’s University by Fowler and Earle Lockerby, an expert on the deportation.
The deportation forced the French Acadian population from Nova Scotia after they refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the British.
Bancroft was a junior officer to Lt.-Col. John Winslow, whose own diary provides much of what is known about the deportation, which displaced about 7,000 Acadians in 1755 to Britain, Louisiana and France.
The diary also fills in historical gaps at Grand Pre from mid-November to the end of December, when Winslow left Grand Pre for Halifax.
Neil LeBlanc, Canadian consul general to New England and former Nova Scotia cabinet minister responsible for Acadian affairs, described Bancroft as a level-headed man who believed in God and the betterment of man.
“At the same time he was not a regular militiaman so he looked at things perhaps differently,” said LeBlanc, who is also a prominent Acadian.
Bancroft’s account of the time differs from the diary kept by Winslow. Bancroft was lower down the chain of command and had no reputation at stake, said Fowler, who teaches at Saint Mary’s.
“By and large, the kind of humanity that emerges with respect to the New England or Anglo-American experience is one of organized chaos,” said Fowler.
He called the British soldiers in Bancroft’s account “weekend warriors” who were not good at following orders. Fowler bases his description on passages depicting violence, desertions, thefts and insubordination in the unit.
Fowler first discovered the typed transcripts, transcribed in 1925, at the Nova Scotia Archives in the mid-1990s. Bancroft’s original diary hasn’t been found.
In the transcript, which Fowler and his students have studied for 10 years, Bancroft expresses fear, fatigue, pride, happiness and inner conflict.
Fowler said Bancroft’s writing helps to humanize the events of the deportation.
Within the Acadian and British camps, he said, the transcript allows its readers to “detect the individual and often varying motives and interests ... that we’ve regarded as more or less uniform.”
In one passage, Bancroft describes the reactions by Acadian men who learn that they’re losing land and cattle, and the guilt he feels in his role as enforcer.
His writing is often ungrammatical and plagued with spelling mistakes, but the feelings he conveys are clear, such as a passage dated Sept. 5, 1755, when Bancroft writes, “Seing themselves so Decoyed the shame and confusion of face together with Anger so altered their countenense that it cant be expressd.”
The transcript increases our understanding by reporting Acadian reaction to the deportation, said Lockerby, who became aware of the diary in 2007 after visiting a former colleague who was an ancestor of Bancroft’s.
Images that are portrayed in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline” of Acadians going to ships in unison and following orders are debunked in Bancroft’s diary, he said.
Bancroft’s witness account tells of a shooting and of escapes by Acadians, including one by two men fleeing a church, which was not previously known.
The widely adopted and idyllic images of the poem are misleading, said Lockerby, adding that it was written almost 100 years after the deportation by a poet who is not believed to have visited the province.
Lockerby said Acadia was a real place with real people, who had an opportunity to fight back, and they did.

Beaubassin Public Archaeology Dig 2009

Hi all ,

Hope you are all doing great on this very warm weekend , Just want to say I will be taking part in the dig at Beaubassin again this year . Here is a little about it ..


Beaubassin and Fort Lawrence National Historic Sites of Canada
Public Archaeology Experience 2009


The ultimate interactive experience is coming to the Chignecto Region! For the third year, the exciting "Beaubassin and Fort Lawrence Public Archaeology Experience" will be available to the public in July and August 2009! Visitors will take part in a unique archaeological excavation, discover real artifacts from the historic Acadian village of Beaubassin and Fort Lawrence and understand how archaeologists recreate the past!


Beaubassin and Fort Lawrence

Located on Fort Lawrence Road near the Nova Scotia Visitor Information Centre at 5 minutes from Fort Beauséjour – Fort Cumberland, and 45 minutes from Moncton.

Beaubassin, a newly acquired site by Parks Canada, will unearth through the "Public Archaeology Experience" artifacts attesting to the Acadian way of life before the Deportation. The Experience will also include Fort Lawrence, a British fort constructed within the former Acadian village of Beaubassin, which commemorates the struggle between the French and the British Empires.


Schedule for the day:

9:00 a.m. Welcome and orientation at Fort Beauséjour - Fort Cumberland NHS.

9:10 - 10:10 a.m. Introduction to archaeology and historical overview.

10:30 - 12:00 p.m. Participation in excavation activity at Beaubassin and Fort Lawrence.

12:00 - 12:45 p.m. Lunch (on your own).

12:45 - 3:00 p.m. Excavation and archaeological work continues for all participants.

3:00 - 3:30 p.m. Wrap up and finale


Beaubassin and Fort Lawrence National Historic Sites of Canada
Public Archaeology Experience 2009

Registration requirements:

Registrants should be in good physical condition to participate in the excavation. Activities will proceed at a comfortable pace, though some physical exertion will be required. The on-site field lab will provide the opportunity to participate in less strenuous archaeological activities.
It is not required to have prior archaeological experience.
Registrants must be at least 17 years of age in order to participate.


Dates :

July 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 30 , 31 .

August 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 ,9 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16

The dig is only being done on , Thursday , Friday , Saturday and Sunday .

We are going for the 9 of August ..

Thanks

Rick

Just a short note

Hi ,

Well first I just want to say that I am sorry for not posting here lately . Been a little busy with work and working on Dad's house and putting in the garden . I have also been working on getting everythings ready for ours family reunion , which will be on the 19 of July at the Amherst Lions Den . I send out 88 letters and I and hoping everyone will be able to make it . I will be having all of my Arsenault family history (2496 pages) there this year so I should have some family history that might help some one . Still working on the door prizes and items for the silence auction . Plus we will once again we will be having a potluck supper , so everyone are being ask to bring their favorite dish . Well I guess that all for now .. will post more again soon , got a wedding to go to this Saturday in Oxford and an auction to work this Sunday in Moncton on Melanson Rd .

Take care .
Rick