Famous people on Our Ancestors

There are thousands of famous people on Our Ancestors.

This is the latest one. His name is Royal Bourelle a steam roller operator. Royal Bourelle is famous because, like all the famous people on Our Ancestors, he worked hard all his life and left many descendants some of which will eventually stumble upon Our Ancestors.

This obituary tells all we need to know about him.

Most of his descendants don’t have the faintess idea who Royal Bourelle was. This is why I am writing about him with Luanne’s permission. Luanne is my new found third cousin once removed. She sent me Royal Bourelle’s obituary. Luanne is the one who commented on her grandmother Agnes Molloy who I first thought was Bertha Molloy.

Honest mistake…

It’s easy to get confused when you work on your great-grandfather’s siblings like I did with Joseph Miller Lagasse’s descendants.

Joseph was Philomène Lagasse’s brother. Philomène was Luanne’s great-great-grandmother which makes us third cousins once removed. Philomène is seen here in the centre with her six daughters.

One is Luanne’s great-grandmother.

I think she is at 2 o’clock. In fact I pretty sure.

I have been looking for all of my great-grandfather’s siblings’ descendants because I know how exciting it is to see old photographs of our ancestors. If you don’t know how I am related to Robin who had shared so many old photographs with me, you should use the search button at the bottom and type her name.

The search feature is a great tool to find lost ancestors. Another tool is the comment section you can use to contact me. This is how Luanne found a third cousin who knows so much about her ancestors it’s well…

Overwhelming

Addicted to genealogy since 2007, and blogging about it since 2009 in English*, I am still in perfect control of my obsession with your ancestors when I feel someone is interested.

I don’t monetise my blog. I could, but money is the root of all evil. Instead I have found something more precious…

Pépère Bourelle’s photo.

* I also have a French version…

Lost Ancestors

That could have been the title of this blog I created back in September 2009.

There are so many lost ancestors out there to be reunited with.

I have got little clues about this young man who might be related to Phoebe Alexandre.

Could he be her husband Charles Lestage?

Phoebe was a lost ancestor back in 2010 on a picture of sisters taken in the late 1890s in Bristol, Connecticut.

Little by little lost ancestors came to life on Our Ancestors.

First with Myra Alexandre.

Myra married William Archambault.

Myra’s and William’s descendants connected and shared a lot since they had a lot to share.

My new found third cousin has very little to share about what she knows on her great-grandmother Phoebe Alexandre seen here from Joe’s collection.

But that’s okay. People can’t share what they don’t have.

Maybe in five years from now someone related to Phoebe’s daughter Lucille will find my blog and start sharing…

Sweet Sixteen Lucille Lestage

Lost Ancestors and New Found Third Cousins…

This is part of my third cousin Joe’s collection of old pictures.

The woman in the middle is Philomène Lagacé, my great-grandfather Stanislas Lagacé’s sister.

Stanislas Lagacé (DennisLagasse)

Joe also had these pictures in his collection of old pictures.

I knew who she was.

He also had this one…

Ditto… Myra Alexandre.

This old picture comes from Robin who isn’t even related, but shared more than 100 old pictures.

This is how I found out who Phoebe was when I compared a picture sent in 2010 by Sandy, another third cousin…

Phoebe (Flavie) Alexandre and her sister Myra Alexandre

There is so much more to this story…

Everything is written on this blog created in September 2009 which now has 1001 posts.

I know I will reach 2000 in a few years down the road because there are so many more third cousins looking for lost ancestors out there on cyberspace.

Come Robin light my fire..

Robin wrote me this week. It  had been  a  while.

She lit my fire looking  for  Victor  Combe. I don’t  need much to fire up my passion  for that family.

About this picture

Post 781

This picture might never have seen the light of day if not for the Internet. My distant cousin Joe had it in his collection of old pictures. Joe had a lot of old pictures and most were unknown people to him like these women you see here.

That was back in 2010.

Four years later Patricia can see her great-great-grandmother Philomene Lagasse in the middle.

Post 781, that’s a lot isn’t?

I just hope you don’t think I’m a kook looking for these women’s descendants…

Patricia, I think your great-grandmother Philomene Alexandre is at 2 o’clock.

How I met Alice?

Post 780

I have a new third cousin once removed that I will write about next week. This week someone wrote me. I had been 2 years since she had written. There was a good reason for not writing.

She is related to this Alice.

I had written about this Alice on this blog. She is NOT Michael’s birthgrandmother even if I thought at first she might have been. Alice was a very common given name in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Point of fact…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If I write about Alice Lagasse this morning it’s because I got the green light to post this picture. It’s her son’s wedding picture shared in 2012 by one of my readers.

Frobe Caron was a third cousin once removed. He married Evelina Couet. They had at least these children.

Claire Caron
Rita Caron
Armand George Caron    1925 – 1997
Beatrice Phyllis Caron    1929 – 1998

If you are related, then you should write to me like Patricia did last month about the Alexandres and the Malloys.

I believe that Philomene Alexandre and Thomas Malloy are the great grandparents I have been searching for. My father was Francis J Malloy who was son of Ada Pendlebury and Thomas J Malloy. He was placed in an orphanage in 1914 so little is known about his family. Would you share any information you have.
Thank you,
Patricia

Finding Who Redux?

Once more I am posting an old post.

START

We are never sure when we look at photographs of our ancestors.

This picture was sent by Ed, a descendant of this man Jean-Baptiste Alexandre or John B. Alexander.

It was easy to find ressemblance with other pictures sent by other people.

In 2010, J. B. was known as unknown man to Sandy and I.

The information provided by Ed and the pictures we had were enough to link J. B. to this tintype photograph that belonged to Joe in Connecticut.

The three people who sent me those pictures have never met personally, but they share the same passion.

Then last year, lo and behold, another person joined in the search with this wedding picture: Alice Louise Alexandre and Albert Choinière.

Alice is J. B.’s daughter.

I could link it to this picture Robin had scanned of these two who were identified.

The caption is right. Cousin Amelia and her husband Ernest Sorell (Sorel).

And this one…?

And this one…?

Is she really Aunt Mary…?

Nope. The caption is wrong.

This is Aunt Mary Alexandre.

The caption is right on the button.Mary never married. She was Philomène Lagacé’s daughter, Agnes Alexander’s sister,

If she is, and I am sure she is, then where is Mary on this montage?

She has to be with her other sisters and her mother in the middle.

So many questions?

Now what about this couple and the bridesmaid and the best man?

The best man is Ernest Sorel and the bridesmaid is Alice Louise’s sister Amelia. They would later be married.

I know all about them thanks to Fran from Connecticut…

Now if someone who is related to these people would Google their names and find this blog, I will be more than happy to share those precious pictures.

END

I will tell you more next time.

Call Them Distant Relatives… Rita Hazel

Someone just informed me in a comment just made that Rita Hazel has passed away.

Diane wrote this…

thought I would let you know that my aunt Rita Hazel, only daughter of Leo and Ida Combe passed away about a month ago. I think she was 91 or 92. The only sibling left is Henry Combe, my wonderful father.

This is the wedding picture of Leo Combe and Ida Ashley.

Leo Combe and Ida are Rita Combe Hazel’s parents.

Sylvia Bleau Combe is besides Ida who is next to her mother Agnes Alexandre. Agnes is the daughter of my great-grandaunt Philomene Lagasse (Lagacé).

Back in 2007 when I started looking for my ancestors I did not know she had existed.

These people became a big part of my family since then. There are no more distant relatives of mine…

Rita Combe Hazel
1922-2013

Finding Who?

We are never sure when we look at photographs of our ancestors.

This picture was sent by Ed, a descendant of this man Jean-Baptiste Alexandre or John B. Alexander.

It was easy to find ressemblance with other pictures sent by other people.

In 2010, J. B. was known as unknown man to Sandy and I.

The information provided by Ed and the pictures we had were enough to link J. B. to this tintype photograph that belonged to Joe in Connecticut.

The three people who sent me those pictures have never met personally, but they share the same passion.

Then last year, lo and behold, another person joined in the search with this wedding picture: Alice Louise Alexandre and Albert Choinière.

Alice is J. B.’s daughter.

I could link it to this picture Robin had scanned of these two who were identified.

The caption is right. Cousin Amelia and her husband Ernest Sorell (Sorel).

And this one…?

And this one…?

Is she really Aunt Mary…?

Nope. The caption is wrong.

This is Aunt Mary Alexandre.

The caption is right on the button.Mary never married. She was Philomène Lagacé’s daughter, Agnes Alexander’s sister,

If she is, and I am sure she is, then where is Mary on this montage?

She has to be with her other sisters and her mother in the middle.

So many questions?

Now what about this couple and the bridesmaid and the best man?

The best man is Ernest Sorel and the bridesmaid is Alice Louise’s sister Amelia. They would later be married.

I know all about them thanks to Fran from Connecticut…

Now if someone who is related to these people would Google their names and find this blog, I will be more than happy to share those precious pictures.

Who Wrote the Captions?

When you have captions with photographs, you must never jump to conclusions…

Look at this beautiful picture taken in 1919. It’s part of the 100 or so pictures Robin had scanned in 2011. Agnes Alexandre is with her granddaughter Sylvia Marie Combe.

June 31st 1919!

It says 1914 on the second caption…

I will explain later.

What is so wonderful about this picture is that we have reunited people with Agnes Alexandre who was only a small picture in a photo montage of Philomène Lagacé and her daughters that Joe had in his collection.

If I recall correctly Joe had no idea who those people were…

The woman in the middle is Philomène Lagasse, my great-grandaunt. She is the sister of this man Stanislas Lagacé aka Dennis Lagasse. He is the brother of Pierre Lagasse who is Sandy’s great-great-grandfather.

Sandy had one of my great-grandfather’s pictures all along, but she did not know who he was until she contacted me in 2010.

Then those floodgates opened wide…

In Robin’s picture, we see grandma Agnes (Alexandre) Bleau with her granddaughter Sylvia M Combe.

But someone added a note…

1914

Agnes Bleau + daughter

When we look closer we see that the date on the picture is 1919. Louis Joseph Combe married Sylvia Bleau in 1917 so we can’t be in 1914. Furthermore June does not have 31 days. I wonder who wrote the second caption.

In genealogy you always have to check the clues just to be sure.

As a matter of fact, we are never 100% sure.

– You know Stanislas, this descendant of yours makes a lot of sense…

– Can’t argue with that Pierre…