Little Halloween today!

[Andybev01]

Ooo, the pilgrimages sound like a blast.

I'd like to go on a pilgrimage up north to Montreal and visit the basilica where my family records are kept.

I realize that all of it is digitized and available online but lately there have been a rash of church arsons in Canada and I would like to see them in person, just in case, and also visit a surviving house that has been added onto over the past 300 years, but one end has been uncovered and restored.

Here's the church ( and the steeple ):

https://www.basiliquenotredame.ca/

...and here, the people:

It's the annulment record of Marie (greaaaaaaat grandma) and her first hubby, Pierre.

If you recall I had posted about Marie and her unlucky first couple of husbands, and this document shows That they were granted an annulment because of impotence brought on by evil, one of her jilted suitors ( granny got around) worked some kind of hex at their wedding causing them not to conceive.

Marie was one of many young single ladies shipped over from France in order to increase the population as it were, and I'm sure she was Indicated as the one who could not have children , given the time period.

[Murfreesboro]

That's a gorgeous church! You absolutely should go see it, and whatever family records are stored there.

Yes, I remember your story about Marie. Isn't it astonishing to think what some of our ancestors went through to get here?

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Murf! I was getting worried about you, but I'm glad that you're alright. I'm also happy to hear that you both enjoyed the trip, and I hope that your medical appointments have been going well.

I was going to wait another week and if we didn't hear from you I would have reached out to your husband. I assumed that you were fine, but maybe you had lost your phone and were locked out of the forum.

Both you and Andy have such deep family histories, and it's absolutely fascinating to me.

Murf - It sounds like you visited some great historical attractions while you were there, and the way that you write about your experiences paints a picture in our minds that makes us feel like we were there with you.

It's nice to know that everybody there was so welcoming to you both, and I'm glad to hear that your daughter had a good time. I think it's awesome that you got to show her the places where you grew up, and maybe one day she can bring her kids there to show them her roots. By the way, have you or any of your kids ever gone on a similar trip to your husband's hometown?

You mentioned running into people you knew from your earliest days in school, I know that you haven't been in constant contact with them over the years, but it's still pretty impressive that you have known them for that long. Aside from my family, I can't even imagine knowing somebody for that long, I still know a few people from high school but that's it. I have often wondered about the friends I had when I was younger, where they are, and how their lives turned out? Oh well, I'm sure that I'll run into some of them when I'm in Hell.

Andy - it's absolutely amazing that the records of your family history can be traced that far. I didn't know that you could have a marriage annulled for that reason in those days, I guess you learn something new everyday.

I agree with Murf, you should definitely make a trip up there eventually. Though I have to give you a little warning ... I haven't been to Montreal specifically, I might have passed through there but I'm not sure, but I have been to Gatineau Quebec, and I can tell you from personal experience that the locals there are all ASSH*LES towards anybody that visits and doesn't speak French. They will literally treat you like you have the plague if you don't speak their crappy language, I remember how rude they were to my mother, and they were just cold to us kids. Of course, keep in mind that the last time I was there was in 1990, and I'd like to think that they have learned some manners in the last 36 years.

[Andybev01]

I'm sure that even if they had mellowed over the past 36 years, there may be renewed political animosity.

However, in the spirit of 'what goes around comes around' actual people from France who speak true French have a low opinion of the Quebecrs' (I am quoting a Frenchman here) "terrible patois!" and that last word was pronounced with a harsh 't' , as if the word were being spit out.

Say it out loud, it's fun!

Also I like to think that a little bit of that evil has been passed down through the generations, attached to our DNA

[Murfreesboro]

I've never been to Canada. I'd love to go. I suggested to my second son that we might do that this year. He's the only one of us who's never been out of the country, and I thought going to Quebec might seem sufficiently foreign to him. But he demurred because he fears the Canadians don't like us right now.

As for my kids' knowledge of their dad's home town, lol. We are living in the house he grew up in, and we attend the church his parents helped to found. The boys were both born up in Virginia, but my daughter was born in the same hospital as her dad. I think they have a pretty good handle on his home town.

They've never been to his parents' homes, though. His mom was from Southern Illinois, and his dad from Southern Missouri. His father was born in a town where German was the spoken language back in the 1920s. He was American, but German was the only language he spoke until he was 6 yrs old.