All families have histories, but not all have their stories written down.
Although I haven't added much to this site, I have been hard at work completing the second part of my family history series. Book 1 covers my Roy ancestry, while book 2 covers the Guay/Castonguay ancestry. Thanks to many other family researchers, I have been able to uncover quite a lot about this family. So … Continue reading Guay / Castonguay discoveries
I am quite proud that I have “completed” Part 1 or Book 1 of my Family History book. It's complete in the sense that I feel happy with the information I have included, but I know I'll likely need to make some changes and edits. Part 1 of my book covers just the Roy side … Continue reading Part 1 of my book is complete
My book (really a series of books) is coming together. On the suggestion of a friend of mine, I began to lay out the book in a word processing program. This step has put extra wind in my sails to get these books published. I certainly gave myself a large assignment when I started writing. … Continue reading The first 2 chapters of my book
How did a Scottish Highlander come to live in Quebec and marry into my French-Canadian family? When Thomas Cameron was born in the highlands of Scotland around 1740 the clans were still strong. Thomas was a child during the 1745 Uprising that culminated in the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. The Cameron clan supported … Continue reading Thomas Cameron
I love to read books and so when I learned that a distant relative of mine, Gabrielle Roy, was a novelist (a dream I've had since I was a child is to become a novelist myself), I had to read her most well-known book. "The Tin Flute," was written by Gabrielle Roy in 1947 in … Continue reading Life through novels
I don't know about you, but before I began researching my family's history in Canada, I knew practically nothing about Canada's history or what compelled French immigrants to move there. It's very difficult to write a family history without knowing the historical circumstances that shaped their lives. For example, knowing that the private fur trade … Continue reading History books to read
This week I had a particular goal: to learn more about the children of my 7th great-grandfather, Nicolas Roy. Nicolas was married to Marie-Madeleine Leblond and they had 10 children together. He married a second time after the death of his wife and had one more daughter with Marie-Renée DesRivières. My book delves more specifically … Continue reading Finding out more about an individual
In some countries, surnames weren’t established until the 17th century or later. In England, under king Henry VIII, children from marriages were to bear the surname of the father, and women had long changed their last name to that of their husband upon marriage. Family names for nobility had long been established to indicate which … Continue reading Surnames
I began my research on my grandfather's side of the family. My father's name was Tony Roy (Louis Antonio Henri Roy). He was the son of J. O. Henri Roy and Eva Castonguay and was born on 20 August 1910. I am truly amazed by how much I have been able to discover about the … Continue reading The Roys of Québec
Thanks for joining me! Good company on a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton Appropriately said: the journey begins. Writing history is like going on a journey. A journey into the past, a journey into another place and culture, and when you go even more granular, a journey into someone else's life … Continue reading The Journey Begins
Family History Stories 