Re: Looking for possible MicMac ancestry
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In reply to:
Looking for possible MicMac ancestry
Fran Greenier 8/28/07
The 1851 census is available free online at:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/1851/index-e.htmlhttp://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/1851/index-e.html
enter St. Basile in the basic search (you must use the period after St) and when it comes up (the one for Victoria County) click on associated images.Your family is on page 9.There are other Lavoies and Rivers in town which may be relatives if you want to look at all the pages of the town.
They all say French for race that year-no mention of Indian.I have never met a French Canadian descendant who didn't say they were part Indian.It could be true, but you will have to do more digging.In the earliest years of "New France" many of the men did marry Indian women because there just weren't any French women to marry.
I saw some of your other posts questioning the names.French names can be hard to follow.Most people were baptized with two or three first names and might use any of them on later documents.It was common for most males to be baptized Joseph and most females to be bapt. Mary or Marie.After that there would be another first name and a middle name.I was told once that most french canadians went by the last of their first names where in the states we usually go by the first.So, if your ancestor was baptized something like "Joseph Jean-Laurent Rivers" he might most likely use Laurent, but could use any of his first names on any record.The same goes for Marie Charlotte Lavoie.She might use Marie and she might use Charlotte on any record.
Spelling is also an adventure on french names so don't get stuck on any one spelling.I usually just "sound out" whatever is written.Edith would probably be pronounced different in french than it is in english which is why you see it spelled Idite on the 1851 census.
I would bet Edith was born right in St. Basile since a rootsweb post puts this couple's marriage there in 1839 and they are still living there in 1851.