Laperles and Beauregards

Well, Renee suggested that I actually contribute to our mother/daughter blog (otherwise, I suppose it would be just a daughter blog, or a daughter who is also a mother blog), but honestly, the pressure of writing something that will be on the same blog as my very talented writer-daughter is immense. The problem is, I am not a writer. I mean, I CAN write, and I DO write, but usually cards, or an occasional letter, but nothing like a blog!

Now that I have lowered any expectations about this entry... Our venture into the past has not (as of yet) uncovered any fantastic criminals, actors, or spies (although, if Ancestry.com knew that someone was a spy, I suppose they would have not been a very good spy), but we have been able to follow the Plouffe family back to Isidore and Philomene Laperle, who lived in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec in the mid to late 1800s. They would have been the grandparents of my grandfather, Joseph, and were married in St. Jude, Quebec according to a written narrative called the Vital and Church Records. The document is still in the process of being translated from Canadian French to English, so most of the information is still unclear. Let me tell you, if you think you know a little bit of a language, and think you can perhaps determine the general meaning of something written in that language, finding a copy of a handwritten record from 1871, will dispel that belief. Despite our inability to determine the meaning of the text, on the side of the writing appeared the names of Isidore and Philomene, showing Philomene's maiden name – I am assuming that the narrative will reveal that this is some sort of marriage record. It appears that Philomene's maiden name was Beauregard. At this point, the name Laperle has shown up on both sides of my family tree, and the name Beauregard has appeared on both sides of the tree that ends with my kids. Are they just common names without any relation, or do they lead to some of the same ancestors? Hopefully, those answers can be found somewhere on our online voyage – along with some criminals, actors, and spies (a girl can hope!).

Cardinal Villeneuve

I know what you're thinking. Who is that good-lookin' guy? Well calm down, ladies, because this is Cardinal Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, and he's taken. By the Catholic Church. And also, he's been deceased since 1947. 

And here's a gorgeous church: Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Quebec. That's where Cardinal Villeneuve is buried. My Memere, M. Lucille Plouffe, was pretty psyched that this guy is in our ancestry. There is quite a bit of information about him online (his Wikipedia page tells us that he viewed wearing shorts as an offense to Christian decency, which is a huge coincidence, as I view wearing shorts as an offense to my sense of not having the energy to shave above my knees.) He's the only famous ancestor that I'm aware of, but if that murderer-on-the-run thing pans out, then I bet he has competition, at least internationally. 

When I was pregnant with Maddie, I found a group of Villeneuves and Villeneuve descendants who were looking to connect with the rest of their distant family. I got in touch with a lovely woman named Pat. Cardinal Villeneuve was her great uncle, and she writes:

"He was one of three children as you know, himself and two sisters. One of the sisters was my maternal Grandma, the other sister was a Grey Nun in Calgary, Alberta. I guess that my Grandma was the wild one of the family as she left home at sixteen, went to Calgary, got married, had two children, divorced and had seven more children. Her name was Marguerite Ernestine, my mother was from the first marriage and she actually met her Uncle at the train station in Calgary, during the 1920's. We belive that he came through Calgary to see his sisters. I know that my mother was in awe of him, I guess he was a very impressive man."

I'll reach out to Pat again, and see if we can find more information about the Villeneuves that way. I'm also curious about the wild grandma. (Wild grandmas are the best.) 

If any of you Plouffes, Mongeaus, Ostiguys, etc, have any stories, photos, or information that might help us out with patching things together and discovering where we come from, we would love the help!

-Renee

The Project

What we're doing:

We've got an ancestry.com account, and we're not afraid to use it. My grandmother, Marie Lucille Plouffe, once told some pretty fabulous stories about where we came from. Canada. And France before that, and Ireland in the middle, where there was a possible murderer-on-the-run scenario. Kind of exciting, right? That's why we're doing it. Because of the potential excitement, and because of the joy of discovering new things about our family, and because we live 3,000 miles apart and would like a shared project.

Who we are:

Renee is a writer in Issaquah, Washington, where she lives with her husband (Zach), children (Madeline and Simon), and cats (Beezus and Ramona). She has an MFA in creative writing, and a dream of starting an all-mom a cappella group called Momcappella. Someday, world. Someday.

Lisa is Renee's mom. She is a retired teacher in Litchfield, New Hampshire, where she lives with her Alan. ("Boyfriend" sounds too casual, or something. And also kind of strange, as Alan is 89 years old. Wait, nope, I am being corrected, here. Mom tells me that Alan isn't even 60 yet. Still, "boyfriend" sounds weird.) Lisa has two children (Renee and Michael) and four beloved grandchildren.

We're excited to get started, and we hope you'll join us. Remember, there's a possible murderer-on-the-run in our ancestry. A murderer-on-the-run. How could you possibly say no to that?

-Renee