Késsinnimek - Roots - RacinesWho are these Franco-Americans and Acadians? by Juliana L'Heureux
Introduction to the Speech
Given to the Franco-American Genealogy Society in Auburn, Maine
Speech given on October 18, 2003
By Juliana L'Heureux
You are all researchers of genealogy.
It's quite likely that what started out as a search for your family's roots turned into a much bigger project. The more you delved into the past, the more you found out about your ancestors.
Almost all of your ancestors were poor tenant farmers or 'habitants" as they were called in New France. But, they all had stories, and they should be told. There were those who came over as soldiers to fight the Indians, claim territory for France and then decided to stay. There was the indentured servant, who would marry a great granddaughter of Louis Hébert, the first permanent European settler of the French Colony in Québec. (Louis Hebert was with the first expedition to North America of Samuel de Champlain in 1604.)
There were those who came for the adventure of life in a new land. Some came as young men who spent their lives clearing a small patch of ground to grow crops and raise farm animals. There is the story of the Filles du Roi, (Daughters of the King) who obtained some impressive dowries from the King of France if they came to Canada to find and marry a husband (and thereby populate the new French colony, of course).
The story of the Franco-Americans and the Acadians is not one of great or important names involved in the development of New France and Canada. Rather, it's the story of common people; people who risked their lives to come to a new land to start a new life. It's the story of their struggle, often against great odds, to develop the land; to maintain their Roman Catholic religion; their French language and their way of life.
It's the story of the "habitants" from whom most French-Canadians are descended. It's the story of life in the new colony for the first 150 years under French rule. It's the story of the struggle with the British that went on for almost the entire existence of New France. It's the story of the various wars pitting the French and Canadian colonist against the English and the American colonist to the south.
The story of the Franco-Americans and the Acadians continues to this day. It continued after the British conquest. Finally, the Franco-American story traces the migrations in the later half of the 19th century of French-Canadians to New England. It is a story of struggles, again, in another new land working in low paying jobs in the mills and factories of the early Industrial Revolution. Their desire to maintain their French culture and Catholic religion leads to the clustering of the group around churches that was developed for their spiritual and social needs.
Finally, they broke away from their very strong desire to remain French and started to marry the Irish who had arrived to the United States before them. At first, the Irish were considered adversaries fighting for the same jobs. Eventually, the French-Canadians started to be better educated, to learn English, to rise to better jobs, and to start to melt into the cultural pot that is the United States.
While the Franco-American and Acadian stories are partly stories of hardship, of courage, of sickness and death, they're also stories about happiness, love, marriage and children.
In other words, it's the story of the making of a new way of life in a new land..twice. Once from France to New France and another life from New France, (i.e., Canada), to the United States......
Roots - Racines - Késsinnimek
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Created 1 Feb 2003