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Episode 076-November 1, 2018
Patriots Ancestors
In this episode, Jolene Mullen, national vice-chair of the DAR’s cold cases project, shares her knowledge of the process involved in determining whether or not your French-Canadian ancestor can get you into the DAR.
Jolene and I discussed the following:
The relationship between the French and the Americans before and during the Revolutionary War
French-Canadians’ attitudes toward their British conquerors
The numbers of French-Canadian Patriots
The two types of service that allow a French-Canadian descendant to join the DAR: military and patriotic
- Military service was performed by soldiers
- Patriotic service was provided by someone who supplied the soldiers, gave verbal support or solace, or lent animals or wagons or food
Source for lists of soldiers who gave military service:
- Fold3- Soldiers who aided the American cause were given bounty land in the upper middle part of New York state. The Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Index is available free at Fold3.
- Another excellent source is The Balloting Book, and other documents relating to military bounty lands, in the State of New York. You can download this book in three parts at the Tompkins County Public Library website. The list of Canadian and Nova-Scotia Refugees begins on p. 185, although there are a few French names found scattered among the other Anglo lists. An index begins on p. 191.
Sources for lists of those who offered patriotic service:
- Journal de MM. Baby, Taschereau et Williams, 1776 (The Journal of François Baby, Gabriel Taschereau, and Jenkin Williams)- consists of original French records. Go to image 523.
- Quebec during the American Invasion, 1775-1776- the English translation of the Baby Journal.
Jolene is creating an index to the Baby Journal. Contact her for more information until the index is publicly available.
Steps
Steps to determine if you have a patriot ancestor:
Follow your line back generation to generation. Document the father and mother of each child.
Look for French-Canadian ancestors residing after the Revolution in the mid-northern parts of New York state or in the Fishkill area of Dutchess County, NY. That is where much of the bounty land was located. If not, prove his residence.
Check for your ancestor’s name in the Baby Journal, the Balloting Book, the Canadian regiments, and the DAR database.
Check the DAR Patriot Index to see if your ancestor is already established. Search by name. If there are various ways to spell a surname, try a truncated search. Type in only the first few letters. If no luck, try the dit name. Type Canada for the place he served from.
How to Join the DAR
- Establish the lineage from you back to the patriot with documentation of the service.
- Fill out form and submit documentation. For first three generations (you, your parents, and your grandparents), you must document births and deaths. Marriage records are only needed to document a woman’s change of name. For generations four and back, you need to document the complete date and place for either the birth or the death. Approximate dates are allowed.
- Find a DAR chapter near you. Google “DAR” and a state name to find the chapters in that state.
DAR representatives will work with you.
Contact Jolene Mullen
Jolene’s email address is Jolenem [at] aol [dot] com.
Another resource
Go online to Debbie Duay’s website, Index to French Canadian Revolutionary War Patriots, to see if you have an ancestor listed there. If you do, you will find his name, birth date and location, residence during the Revolutionary War, wife with maiden name, the source for his service, a link to the patriot’s profile on Ancestry, and perhaps a comment.
Announcements
New podcasts to try
Research Like a Pro with professional genealogist Diana Elder and her daughter Nicole Dyer of the Family Locket blog. Whether you are a complete newbie or you’ve been doing genealogy for a while, this podcast has something for everyone, no matter your level of expertise. They’ve also produced a book by the same title which will help you to use the methods that professional genealogists use to help them focus in on a particular genealogical problem.
Generations Café with Amy Johnson Crow. She covers such topics as citing sources without stressing out, finding all of the daughters in the family tree, and why your DNA matches aren’t responding.
Cutoff Genes with Julie Dixon Jackson and Renée Colvert. These two gals play off each other. They’re always laughing, but they also present good content.
Google+
Rumor has it that Google + will be shutting down soon. Those of you on the Google + Maple Stars and Stripes page might want to join us in our private Facebook group or sign up on the home page for the blog to receive notice of each new episode.
Review
A big thanks to 2clippedwings for taking the time to post a review: “I have learned so much from Sandra and her guests about French Canadian genealogy. Her show notes online are comprehensive. As a relative beginner genealogist, a tool like this podcast is valuable.” Do you know a beginner who could use help? We depend on you to spread the word. Thanks!
Appearances
Hello to the Central Massachusetts Genealogical Society. I gave a talk there a couple of weeks ago and will be back in September of 2019. I will also be giving a talk for the Frankin, Massachusetts, Library Genealogy Club in April. I’ll give more details when we’re closer to the events.
NEW!! Journal Rundown
I’d like to begin a new segment of the podcast where I periodically present articles 
published in French-Canadian genealogical society journals. These would be articles of interest to the larger French-Canadian population rather than being regionally specific. If you see an article you’d like, you can either join the society, contact the society about sending you a copy of the article, or check a nearby library for the journal. Please let me know if you like this feature, or you’d rather I skip it.
This month I highlight articles from the French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan’s journal Michigan’s Habitant Heritage, vol 39, issues #1-4:
An article on Confirmations at Québec. Gail Moreau DesHarnais has scoured the records looking for lists of people who made their confirmation. They are recorded by date, and she has also included anecdotal material for many of the confirmands (serial).
Diane Sheppard and Gail Moreau DesHarnais have written an article called Supplement to Louise de Xaintes: a Question of Justice. Part 2 which is in issue #1. So you have to move back to volume 38 to get the first part; and it continues on into issue 4. This series of articles follows the case of a murdered infant (serial).
Diane Sheppard also has two ongoing articles, 18th Century Engagé Contracts to the Great Lakes and Beyond (excluding Detroit), beginning in issue #1 with part 9; and Engagé Contracts to Detroit, beginning with part 22. These lists include the names of the engagés, who hired them, and where they went to trade (serial).
In issue #1, Gail Moreau DesHarnais has written parts 1 and 2 of Anne Trolleau and Vivien Jean dit Vien. It begins with the signing of the marriage contract near La Rochelle and extends down through the children.
If you are descended from Antoine Roy who married as his first wife, Catherine Byot, then you might be interested in an article by Pierre Le Clercq entitled Two Important Documents about Antoine Roy’s Family in France.
In Suzanne Boivin Sommervilles article What’s in a Label? Catherine Bissaillon, wife of Ange Cusson, and Their Descendants, she shares her observations of references to Natives found, or not found, in the records.
If you have Phaneuf ancestry, then you will very much want to read Kathryn Conway’s article, Matthias Farnsworth III, a.k.a. Claude Mathias Fanef, an English Captive Carried to New France, and the Progenitor of All Phaneufs: Part 1. The article covers his life in Groton, Massachusetts, his capture, and his journey to Canada.
Judy Nimer Muhn’s article Are You Métis or métis or First Nation or French Canadian or??? is self-explanatory.
Episodes 47 and 48 of Maple Stars and Stripes covered French-Canadian genetic diseases. If you were interested in those episodes, you might enjoy Susan M. Colby’s Update: Founder Effect in Quebec – Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy in issue #2.
Let me know if you’d like to see this segment continue. I have access to Michigan’s Habitant Heritage and Je Me Souviens from the AFGS. If you are a member of any other societies that produce a journal, feel free to submit to me the name of an article, the author, the name of the journal, the volume and issue number, and a short three a four sentence summary of the article. I’d be happy to announce it. Or if the societies would like to send me digital copies of their journal, I would be more than happy to go through them myself and look for articles of interest.
French-Canadian News
The French Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan
November 9, 11 AM, at the Mount Clemens Public Library: John Dulong will speak about the Use of Heraldry in Genealogical Research.
The Quebec Family History Society
November 24, 1 to 4 PM, at the QFHS Heritage Centre in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec: Practical Tips on How to Interpret Your DNA Results from Ancestry
Classes are held at the QFHS Heritage CAentre and Library in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
The Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society
November 10: Five Important Books for French-Canadian Research
November 17: Using Google Search to Find Missing Ancestors
Classes run from 10:30 AM until noon and are held at the Vermont Genealogy Library in Colchester, Vermont.
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Very interesting information and well presented, thanks. Also, thanks for including the Index to French Canadian Revolutionary War Patriots to search.
Just to let you and your listeners know that Fold3 is one of the premium databases available for free at all the LDS Family History Centers and the Family History Library.
Thanks, Margie. I knew that Fold3 is available at the regional National Archives centers, but I didn’t realize you could access it at the FHCs.
Another source for a list is
Canadian Participants in the American Revolution – An Index, by Virginia Easley DeMarce, 1980.
At the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society’s Vermont Genealogy Library in Colchester, VT excerpts from 17 issues of “Lost in Canada – Canadian American Query Exchange” from 1980-1984 have been compiled into a single notebook. “Lost in Canada” was a quarterly journal edited and published by Joy Reisinger of Sparta, WI from 1976-1993. The 17 articles include an orientation providing the historical context for Quebec at the time of the American Revolution; an alphabetical list of Canadian participants in the American Revolution, their role when known plus other info like the spouse’s name, death date and location; notes on the author’s resources used in the creation of the article; and a whole article that analyzes sources for identifying Canadians who participated in the American Revolution.
Thanks! I’m sure this will help several people.
Listened to Ms Mullen and you discuss this aspect of US history, I became interested in Moses Hazen and had to know more. Wouldn’t you know it, Hazen is believed to have done some brutal things to Acadians during his military service time. So many historical figures are neither all goodness nor all evil. He was born in Haverhill Massachusetts colony and died/buried in Troy NY (my old stomping ground) and in between he maneuvered throughout Quebec, Nova Scotia, New England, New York and Philadelphia. I downloaded The Bolloting Book in 3 parts. The final part listed the Canadian regiment starting around page 44 (of 73). Great episode! thank you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Hazen
BTW
Ms Mullen will be the quest speaker at the Westchester Genealogical Society monthly meeting on
Apr 13, 2019 – French Canadian Research Jolene Mullen
Meeting Place: Aldersgate Memorial United Methodist Church
600 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, New York (Across from Mercy College on route 9)
Guests are always welcome. Coffee and conversation precede the meeting at 9:30 a.m.
One of the hardest things to do in genealogy is to not judge our ancestors by today’s standards, especially when brutality is involved. But it’s difficult, as Josh Duhamel found in in this week’s Who Do You Think You Are?
Excellent podcast. Thank you, Sandra, for covering this topic. I missed this podcast, but heard reference to it by Patrick LaCroix in the latest podcast and had to go back and listen. I am curious about a comment Jolene made about French Canadians that served in the military during the revolution not being able to return home. Did she provide any additional info as to why they were not allowed to return home? I ask, because my ancestor served in the military, and did eventually make it home, albeit 14 years later.
Michael, I’ll pass this on to Jolene and see if she has an explanation.