This is post 1255.
I started writing this post last December realizing that searching for someone’s roots can be quite confusing at time as well as reading my blog.
A case in point…
Take given names for instance.
Stanislas Lagacé was born in 1816. His son Stanislas, born in 1842, changed his given name to Dennis when he emigrated to the U.S. His son Dennis, born in 1864, had a son named Levi Napoleon who named his son Lionel who named his son Dennis.
So you have Stanislas I, Stanislas (Dennis) II, Dennis III, and great-grandson Dennis IV.
Surnames?
The spelling of Lagacé is almost endless!
Minier dit L’Agacé
Mignier dit L’Agacé
Lagacé dit Mignier
Lagacé dit Meunier
Meunier dit Lagacé
Meunier
Miller (English for meunier)
Lagassé
Lagassée
Lagasse
Lagassey
Lagassee
Legace
Lagassie
LaGassé
LeGassy…
So what’s all this got to do with looking for lost ancestors? You have brick walls, dead ends like this headstone of a Joseph M. Lagasse and an Edwina M. Newcity…
I found this headstone on the Internet while searching for Joseph, one of my great-grandfather Stanislas II (Dennis) Lagacé’s siblings.
This file is Joseph’s father’s file.
You see Joseph Lagasse 1848 – on the right with all his siblings.
Stanislas Lagacé was born 16 February, 1816. He married Onésime Cadieux in 1840. His brother was Pierre Lagacé born in 1825. Both have lots of descendants who have not the faintest idea of their French-Canadian roots except my distant cousin Alyce.
In 2007, I knew nothing about those people who had Stanislas as a given name. I was working instead on the presumption that I was somehow related to that Pierre Lagacé born in 1825. So I started looking for his descendants in the hope of linking my grandfather Léo Lagacé Senior to him.
What I got in 2010 was a message from Alyce .
Confused?
This thread will be continued when I get my 23andMe reports…
Next time…
Revisiting St. Thomas cemetery in Bristol, Connecticut.
Oops. You forgot my spelling..
LaGassé. 🙂
Wasn’t there and etc…?
There was a…
I have edited the post.
And LaGasa and Lagasa. Part of the challenge . . .
Pierre Lagace and Sherlock Holmes. Two of the worlds great detectives.
Thanks Watson…
Pierre “Sherlock” Lagace, my hero! I was told very little about any of this history growing up. After living on my own I felt alone but also was completely free. Years went by, I moved from apartment to apartment and never felt at home anywhere. In 2 of the factories I worked in some of the old french men ( I was 25 years old, they were 65 years old.) would look at me and whisper or speak French to each other but I didn’t know why. I thought I was half Italian, that’s a whole other story, are these French guys looking for trouble? One of the guys was a Dube, he passed away before we really talked. Looking back, after seeing these old pictures and how close our families were at one time, I don’t know why they didn’t welcome me as one of their own? Probably the difference in our ages at the time? If they had talked would I have listened? The internet, and Pierre “Sherlock” Lagace changed all that!
Dubés and Lagasses were so much related. That person had no idea you were probably related to him.
People don’t have that much interest in genealogy and history. They are missing so much like who you really are in this world. You are not on top, just a little branch on a family tree… but an important one when you preserve the part for future generations.
This is what you did and still do now by scanning all those worn negatives.
Remember Dennis there is always Doctor Watson helping Sherlock Holmes. I would not have been able to do all this without your help.
Last names spelled differently between even brothers and sisters. My own paternal grandmother’s given name was different depending on what document you were looking at. These are the names I found for her: Marie or Agnes or Louise or Albertine. Confusing indeed, but the fun to destroy those brick walls.
And the fun never stops…
Dennis…great well-deserved compliments to Pierre. Thanks to him I actually know that I even have relatives (somewhere out there). He is a super sleuth …. imagine what his genealogy files must look like:). I get confused with my little family tree, never mind everyone else’s! Great job Pierre…you are a hero to many.
Merci beaucoup for all your compliments.
More than 50,000 files and close to 12,000 documents and pictures.
Well I won’t argue this… I am honoured to have you as a loyal reader. How can you keep up with all this?