Potpourri ADDED ATTRACTIONS… Return to Table of Contents
As the
name suggests, this page includes a variety of material most, but not
necessarily all of it Acadian related. An Index of sorts is presented below in
red but they are not links. The titles shown are repeated along the left
border; scroll to find the one of your choice. I have no preconceived notions
about what will eventually be found on this page but the left column INDEX below will reflect any new additions. Last up-date: SEP 2003
·
FLYING * QUOTES * WRITE AND PUBLISH * ACADIAN SURNAMES * MATRILINEAL CONNECTIONS * CLICK
HERE FOR A BIBLIOGRAPHY
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FLYING…My
wife Gwen and I challenging a few clouds. See our wooden
wonder.
Oh, I have slipped the
surly bonds of earth
And danced the sky on
laughter silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and
joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds -
- and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - -
wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit
silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting winds along, and
flung
My eager craft through footless halls of
air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights
with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew
And while with silent, lifting mind
I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand…and touched the face of
God.
MAGEE
QUINTESSENTIAL QUOTES…
▪ When all the world is
water, who can tell when goldfish cry? UNKNOWN
▪ The
old people have gone and taken a lot of the truth out of the world with
them. RONALD BLYTHE
▪ The man who feels
no sentiment for the memory of his forefathers is himself unworthy of kindred
regard or remembrance. DANIEL WEBSTER, New
Hampshire Statesman
▪ The soldier, above
all people, prays for peace. GENERAL OF THE ARMY DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
▪ In war, there is no
substitute for victory. GENERAL OF THE ARMY DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
In a just war it is immoral to seek
less than victory. JOHN BROOKS DEVOE
▪ Only the dead have
seen the end of war. PLATO
▪
WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR FAMILY HISTORY…
It is my intent here to describe my experience in
having published a 170-odd page family history in 2000. I will include: Who is
your publisher, nature and scope of your work, guidance for creating a market,
gathering of materials, the mechanics of preparation, graphics recommended,
suggested format, working with a printer and binder, dollars and cents and
sense.
WHO IS YOUR PUBLISHER?
Most of us will not “have our work published” but
rather “have our work printed” we ourselves being in fact the publisher.
“Having” the work published suggests another party is paying the bill, but in
most cases the small family history, printed in limited number, will not enjoy
that benefit. Publishers expect to make a profit; if you publish do not expect
to do so. The best for which one can hope is to cover costs. If you have the
talent, an organization might well hire you to oversee the production of an
Acadian genealogical dictionary; it has happened and a university covered the
costs. If you have the time and expertise to record the genealogical data of an
entire island complex such as the Magdeleine Islands you can be proud; it has
happened and a publisher found. If a member of a large family organization
which entrusts you with the compiling of a record of that family, they will
finance the project. Short of those possibilities you can say “I published” and
work out the financing as best you can. While at first glance the words appear
to constitute an oxymoron, the term “privately published” is used to describe
your end product.
NATURE AND SCOPE OF YOUR WORK
There are three possible approaches to writing a
family history or genealogy and the format of the text should be one that suits
the selected approach: (1) Beginning with your immediate family, trace and list
all ancestors that can be found; (2) select an ancestor and cover all
descendants that can be found of that person; (3) Select an ancestor and make
the decision to follow only a given branch of that family limiting your
listings to only the children of those who bear the selected surname name at
birth.
I chose approach (3) and refer to it as a Family
History. Concentration on a given branch permits greater attention to the
history that must be included if one is to put flesh on the bones of those who caused us to be. Friend and
advisor, the late Father Clarence d’Entremont, approved of that approach when I
advised him of my intentions saying, “John, if each branch of each Acadian
family had a person willing and able to do that, we would have the history of
the Acadians.” Some object, indicating that such concentration on the paternal
line is not appropriate, but given the nature of the western practice with
respect to family identification it is valid. A section of such a history can
deal quite well with many of the matrilineal connections in the form of
appendices to the work. Not only might a greater audience be attracted to such
work (for good or ill, the family name with which we associate ourselves is the
name of our father), but it affords a greater opportunity to incorporate the
all important history associated with a given surname. Interested in the
history of your mother’s family? If the advice of the good Father Clarence were
followed it would be available.
CREATING A MARKET
Assuming that your first excursion into genealogy
involved talking to family members, keep their interest alive by keeping them
posted on your progress, asking for and recording data on their families (documented
or other). Consider producing a yearly newsletter to convey your findings and
plans for your publication. I would add a caveat here: Tell what you know, but
if you have done research from original or other very reliable sources do not reveal those sources or, if my experience is
typical, a “new” genealogist will blossom in the family using your data. Expect
whatever you send out to get distribution beyond that initiated by you (try to
get their identity…they could become buyers). I have had the experience of
having my material sent off to LDS repositories without my knowledge or consent
and often discoveries I have made have come back to me as “newly discovered” by
a distant cousin. I actually formed the “Devoe Acadian Society”, membership costing
a one time $5 fee which insured members receiving at least two “papers” per
year on the progress of my research. Most of these dealt with the history of
the Acadians and often I would include questionnaires intended to clarify data
I had on the family. The Society membership eventually numbered but 50-60
individuals but the membership fee helped with me with costs, the primary one
being postage. Next, the single most significant factor in keeping the price of
the final product as low as possible relates to the number you order printed;
price drops dramatically with greater numbers. I began collecting names some
forty years ago and published only recently. Time has taken its toll on the
uncles, aunts, cousins, who had expressed an interest and my queries just
before publication produced but 100 who agreed to purchase. I did not request
deposits (in the event the printing never took place) and yet 99% of those who
expressed a willingness to buy did so. I personally financed the project,
adding 100 to the number when I went to the printer. Once the book was in the
hands of relatives other orders came in, and an excellent review posted on the
web led to other sales. I have but a dozen left of the 200 copies I had
printed. I have made gifts of a few to genealogical organizations/libraries.
GATHERING MATERIALS
Here we are not dealing with research or how to
go about it, but the end product of that effort (presumably completed). You are
ready to write. In a very general way, the breakdown would be lineages, family
traditions and stories, history. The first order of business is to gather your
thoughts and provide a number of introductory remarks (Acknowledgements,
Preface, Introduction, etc.). Have at hand any “papers” you have prepared in
the past for distribution to your potential buyers, lineage charts, significant
letters of whatever nature, a selection of history books relating to your areas
of interest. Be prepared to interrupt your work for further communication with
relatives where you find data needs clarification. If you organize your work in
a manner which permits you to move from lineages to supporting data (of the
type that would find its way into your Appendices) you can work on the latter
while waiting for replies. This approach also relieves the boredom of working
with the lineages and a well done family history should include considerable in
the way of supporting data. My book includes some six appendices, among them
Ethics, Notes and Asides, Matrilineal Connections, Bibliography. As you gather,
keep in mind that proper segregation of the material will allow you to deal
with pagination of the whole project. It is common practice to number all
introductory material using Roman numerals, then commence with 1,2,3, etc.
through the end of the book. How then can one work on the supporting data and
include a page number not knowing how many pages will be used for the corpus of
your work? From the start apply a temporary number to the appendices. I used
1a, 1b, 1c, etc. for appendix I, 2a, etc. for II and so on. Once the body of
the work was completed these temporary numbers received permanent
identifications following in sequence the last page number used. This approach
leaves the appendices as “separate projects” that can be worked on, added to,
revised, at any time while remaining independent of the larger body of text.
The same advantage can be applied to your introductory remarks given their
designated pagination. Do not assume from the above that I recommend isolating
the lineages from the history and family lore. I do not, in my case always
including in the listing of an individual what information I have on him/her.
Following the lineage of a “primary” progenitor (separated by chapter in my
book) will be some historical background of the times in which he lived.
THE MECHANICS OF PREPARATION
This discussion very much depends on the tools
available. At the time I was ready to prepare my material for the printer
(1998) we had nothing more than a rather sophisticated electric typewriter but
I recognized that there were machines out there than were far more ubiquitous
and capable. The computer came to mind, but after some thought I recognized
that the learning curve there (for producing the end product) was likely to be
a slow one…my mind concentrating on the intricacies of the “Confuser” rather
than on the task at hand. Since the shadows are lengthening for me, I did not
wish to spend what I had left in the bank learning to control a machine. I
elected to purchase a Canon Word Processor instead. It had no limitations with
respect to text, quite capable of giving me a variety of type-faces (now
incorrectly referred to as “fonts”) and the learning curve but a slight slope.
I mastered it quite easily and conquered its one limitation, the ability to
incorporate the few photographs and black and white graphics I was to use, by
purchasing a quality color copier. The many black and white graphics used were
prepared using the copier as well, and these pages were numbered and
incorporated into the text material I provided the printer. I prepared those
pages with photographs for later manual insertion into the printed pages
delivered to me by the printer. I would guess that if one would begin the task
after having first mastered the intricacies of a personal computer it could be
done with greater efficiency. By the way, I have mastered the computer we now
own (IBM Aptiva purchased in May 2000) to the extent that I wish and have been
successful in producing a web page without the slightest familiarity with HTML,
relying on the Microsoft Word program to “translate” what I write into that
archaic HTML “language” I detest. For those who go to the website I understand
it works quite well unless one is encumbered by the ownership of a MAC P.C. (as
well, Netscape appears less able to handle the website than does Internet
Explorer; if you have the choice choose the latter) which apparently cannot
handle the photograph graphics well. Returning to the matter of the material
presented to the printer, I add the following: While I prepared the copy on the
8.5x11 inch standard size sheet, I then reduced all pages 10% (on the copier)
before presenting them to the printer. I wished to avoid the “college term
paper” size that would have resulted without the reduction; the final size of
the book is 7x9.5 inches. Since copying something copied can reduce quality, I
experimented with various papers and copier settings then brought samples to
the printer and evaluated the results we got from his equipment before I
prepared the final manuscript. Neither the reduction in size nor the re-copying
has compromised the end result; it is very readable. I expect a computer could
handle the reduction during the writing process and I recommend that approach.
While we all rely on spell checkers on these machines they are not a substitute
for proofreading, nor are you the writer a good final proofreader. Get a
reliable one. What you hand the printer is each page on a separate sheet.
Remember that the odd numbered sheets should have a wider right margin, the even
numbered sheets a wider left margin; the printer’s equipment is capable of
putting your pages back-to-back for the final product. Having said all this, I
remind you that most printers will take a simple manuscript and prepare it for
printing, organizing pages, providing pagination, proof reading, etc. Be aware
it is a very expensive proposition.
GRAPHICS RECOMMENDED
Photographs, old letters and post cards,
significant documents, maps, all have a place in the family history whether
included in the body of the text or in the appendices. Of these none is of more
value than maps. If possible include a map covering the entire area of your
concern with every placename that appears in the text identified. It is
suggested that it be used as an “end paper” both in the front and back of your
book. A loose, separate copy of this map might well be included with the book
making it possible for the reader to refer to it without the flipping of pages;
print this map on a color unlike that of the pages. If you can find maps that
copy well, use them. If none can be found that suits your purpose get out an
atlas and trace the outline (use tracing tissue and a pencil, finish by going
over it with black India ink and pen) of the area and then use the white label
material to print the names and add them to your outline. If carefully done no
outline of the label will show…place a “*” before or after the name so that you
can designate the exact location when the label is applied. Larger labels can
be used to give the map a title (you can add your name here as the
cartographer!). If your map represents an earlier time, be certain to include a
date in the title block. Keep all such pasted names parallel with the
top/bottom of the page, avoid slanted placement. This approach has some
advantages over the prepared map in that by adding only those places
significant to the text you have a map of greater clarity, places quickly
found. Use graphics sparingly on a given page to avoid a cluttered look. Your
printer may not be able to accommodate your use of color except at greatly
increased cost. Consider using a color copier and manual placement of these
after the material is returned to you. The printer may request you insert a
numbered (but blank) page in your manuscript representing such pages.
SUGGESTED FORMAT
I suggest one that meets with your approval and
deals well with your intent. When you go to genealogical libraries spend some
time with family histories and genealogies on the shelves. Most, in my
experience, leave much to be desired with respect to any history which deals
very closely with the individuals listed; I have found exceptions. I will not
attempt to describe a format, but much of what I have said thus far (above)
suggests a broad approach.
WORKING WITH A PRINTER AND BINDER
Some printers have a binding capability, others
can arrange for binding by another firm. If your printer does not do binding I
would recommend you select and work with one of your choosing; it will give you
more control. I brought my printed material to a binder, thus I will describe
my experience with each separately.
There are four distinct printing methods extant
today: (1) handset type; (2) letter press via Linotype; (3) offset printing; (4)
photoprocess printing. The first is rare and extremely expensive; it is an art
form, an aesthetic pleasure to see. The second produces a better image by far
(the paper somewhat impressed by the type) than (3) or (4) but is costly and
often no longer available in certain areas. Offset printing (3) is broadly used
today for newspapers, magazines and books. It requires that a photographic-like
plate be made which is placed on a drum, then inked, transferring the image to
paper; less expensive than (2) but more expensive than (4) which requires no
plate nor a like inking process. If numbers of copies reach the 1,000 mark the
slightly better quality of (3) might be had at little or no extra cost. The
limited number I had printed could not justify the use of (3) for it would have
doubled the cost of the end product, thus I elected to use Micropress, a method
(4) process. The results are pleasing. In addition to the manuscript, you must
present the printer with art work for the cover (my formal education is in the
field of art and design thus this presented no problem). If you have no
overlapping colors, one black and white image is all you need, the printer can
mask out portions while making the plates (this must be done via offset) for
each color. I limited my cover to two visible colors on white stock; a third
“color” was a clear varnish added for protection of the paperback cover. You
present the art work on one sheet more than twice as wide as the final book
size because it must cover front, spine, and back. Make use of the back cover,
it costs no more to have it printed, and have book title and your name on the
spine for easy reading on a bookshelf. The greatest single cost of printing is
the materials used, and given the nature of what you are doing this suggests
the use of high quality products. All materials should be of an acid-free
nature; eschew the use of re-cycled paper (all virgin paper is made from
renewable resources, treat yourself and readers to the best [If you wish to
save the world, do it another day and in another way!]). Weight of paper and
cover stock, while increasing the cost, will
give your book a deserved look and feel of quality. For the cover of my
book I used 80# white card stock, for
the pages an off-white 80# vellum stock. Don’t let the weights scare you,
printers use a different measure for weight than do the office supply
providers; 80# = 30-35#, a bit heavier than you will find in the average book.
My 170-odd pages measure 5/8” thick. I left the printer with 180 soft covers,
20 book jackets (more later), and about a half dozen boxes filled with the
collated text (with a slip of blue paper between each “book.” The size of the
sheets are still 8.5 x 11 with the text thus off to one side given the
reduction (the binder trims to size). These found their way to our 4’ x 7’
dining room table for the insertion of the pages with the photographs which I
had prepared on the color copier. This would have been the time (and take the
time!) to check all the pages for good image quality of the text. I found,
after binding, about a dozen had a flawed page or two. I also discovered the
printer had prepared about 220 copies at no extra charge (cya?).
The binding I used is called “Perfect Binding” a
process in much use today. It uses a white glue under heat and pressure to
produce a satisfactory bind. If done by a qualified binder it is perfectly
adequate for the kind of use the book is likely to receive. I note that many of
National Geographic’s quite expensive tomes are so bound. The alternative uses
what is called “signatures” (four pages to a sheet) and a number of these sewn
together before being bound. It is expensive, but essential in say, a reference
book such as Steve White’s DGFA (genealogical dictionary). In the Perfect
Binding, the covers and text pages are put in a machine and bound, then trimmed
to final size. I had 20 copies case-bound (hard cover) using a dark blue
buckram cloth over the board and silver stamping on the spine identifying the
book by title and author (nice look). These were provided with paper book
jackets which were printed from the same plates (art work) as were the
softbound covers. Add $20 U.S. to the cost for each book so bound (gifts for
the wife and kids…I don’t have twenty of either, sold or presented to genealogical
societies the balance). It was great to get all the books back on the dining
room table and start numbering them. The scene impressed Gwen; she photographed
it.. Here I truly wished I had checked the pages earlier…a couple of the
case-bound volumes had flawed pages.
DOLLARS AND CENTS AND SENSE
Now to the nitty gritty. I will give a general
picture of costs incurred by category. Under “overhead” ($1,000) I include the
following: cost of the machines purchased which were required to produce the
book; cost of (some dozen or more) books donated to genealogical
societies/libraries (the family history thus publicized); office supplies
directly related to the preparation of the manuscript (including maps);
protective “bubble” envelopes for mailing. Other principal costs: Printing of
pages and color covers/jackets $2800; Binding $1100; Color ink cartridges for
copier $700. I set a price of $28. All costs in U.S. dollars, work done in the
State of New Hampshire, January 2000. I used personal funds to finance the
project. In dealing with buyers it makes sense to require payment by way of
Money Order, International M. O. if from another country since it best deals
with the flexible exchange rates. I have sold books to folks in Canada and the
U. K. as well as the U.S. I made it clear to all buyers that I would not accept
personal checks, making exceptions only for close relatives. I have but a dozen
of my 200 books left (as of 24 OCT 2001). If I sell these I will be grateful to
have broken even on the venture. Perhaps I will.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It was worth the effort, I trust you will benefit
from my experience. I grant permission to print this data for your personal use
only. Since the material enjoys a copyright, please contact me for any other
use of the text; I will grant it if certain conditions are met. I would
appreciate any comments or suggestions.
ACADIAN SURNAMES I plan to write brief comments on a number of
my matrilineal connections in this section. (MAY 2002) When all names are
listed they will be done so alphabetically…….
LANDRY: Our ancestor Colombe Landry, wife of
Pierre DeVaux (b.1798) was the daughter of Abraham-Joseph and Ursule Forest.
Abraham’s lineage is as follows:
I René le
jeune, b. ca 1634, m. Marie Bernard, b. ca 1645, dau. of ______? and Andrée
Guyon. René had arrived in Acadia ca 1659 and lived at Port Royal.
II Jean, b. ca 1666, m. Cécile Melanson, b. ca
1668dau. of Pierre and Marguerite Mius
d’Entremont. They lived at Mines.
III
MARTIN: While Martin is indeed an Acadian surname,
our ancestor Marie-Magdeleine Martin was not born of Acadian Martin parents.
She was rather the daughter of Pierre and Joachine LaFleur who married 11 FEB
1664 at Sillery, Quebec and had the following children: Francoise-Marie;
Magdeleine (b. 29 JUN 1666); Marie-Catherine; Geneviève; Pierre; and
Anne-Gabriel. Anne was born at St-Augustin, all the others at Sillery. Pierre
was born ca 1643, son of Louis and Sébastienne Coutande of Ste-Verge, Poitiers,
Poitou, France. He died 9 OCT 1713 at St-Auggustin. Joachine was born ca1642,
daughter of Chgarles and Jeanne Gachet of La Châtaigneraie, Luçon, Poitou,
France and came to New France as a Filles du Roi. She died 10 FEB1698 at
St-Augustin. Marie-Magdeleine “became” an Acadian by virtue of her first marriage
to the widowed Guyon Chiasson whom she married 7 OCT 1683 in Quebec at age 17.
Guyon had lived at Beaubassin and the couple returned there shortly after their
marriage; they had four children. Guyon had had eight children by his first
wife Jeanne Bernard and one of them, Marie, was a 7th
great-grandmother of my wife, Gwendolen Young Devoe. Guyon died at Beaubassin
in 1692 and Marie-Magdeleine married Michel DeVaux the following year likely
before the birth of the last child of Marie and Guyon, Anne.
MIUS d’ENTREMONT: Our ancestor, Jean Landry (see
above) married Cecile Melanson, born ca 1668, daughter of Pierre and Marguerite
d’Entremont. Cecile’s mother was the daughter of Phillippe and Madeleine Hélie.
Phillippe was born in Normandy, France, and departed there aboard a vessel
leaving the port of La Rochelle for Acadia in 1651. Sans title at that time he
became “sieur d’Entremont; baron de Pobomcoup; procureur du roi;
lieutenant-major et commandant des troupes” as a direct result of his
friendship with Charles de Saint-Êtienne de la Tour, Governor of Acadia, with
whom he had come to New France, the title bestowed “by authorization of his
majesty Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre” on 17 JUL 1653. Two of
Phillippe’s sons married daughters of la Tour whereupon they blithely bestowed
upon themselves a cotte d’arms which bore no resemblance to the art of
heraldry and was never officially recognized or recorded by any legitimate
authority. Nothing much is known regarding the origin of either Phillippe or his
wife and a relationship to a Mius family in France has never been established
according to historian Father Clarence d’Entremont. Phillippe died in 1700 at
Grand-Pré
MELANSON: Ancestor Cecile Melanson is related to descendants of Old Pierre
by way of his wife Colombe Landry in that Cecile, dau. of Pierre and Landry and
Marguerite Mius d’Entremont, was her g-g-g-grandmother WAIT, WE ARE TWICE
RELATED…MUST DO RESEARCH.
RICHARD: Click Here For NOTES ON THE
RICHARDS OF LITTLE BRAS d’OR
Questions?
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