Returning home from Seattle with precious memories of the lovely wedding of my niece and her long-time beau and of the delightful family reunion that the wedding occasioned, I barely had time to get over jet lag when I experienced another moment of gratitude. [⇒]
Now available: Jeanne’s Gift: Finding Home
Dear Subscriber.
I am overjoyed to announce that the sequel to my book on Jeanne Chevalier, my eighth great-grandmother is now available in both English and French! What started out as an attempt to describe the numerous adventures I’ve had during my research journey and the marvelous encounters with the extraordinary people who helped me in so many ways, has turned — after several rewrites, redirections, and edits — 
into something more. [⇒]
Now available: Jeanne’s Gift: Finding Home
Thanks to a great deal of inspiration from my ancestor Jeanne Chevalier and to the wonderful support of so many friends, I am happy to announce that the “sequel” to Jeanne’s history is now available at amazon.com, amazon.ca, and amazon.fr, in English only, at the moment.
Jeanne’s Gift: Finding Home not only describes [⇒]
Coming Soon! Jeanne’s Gift: Finding Home
Dear Subscriber.
The past two years have been most challenging – physically and mentally — for all of us. Hopefully spring brings a renewal of hope and promise for better things to come (and for lasting peace in Ukraine as well) !
Despite the perturbations brought by the pandemic and by life in general, I have been able to continue working on the sequel to my book on my ancestor Jeanne Chevalier. I was certainly helped along the way with thoughts of how Jeanne and the other Filles du Roi and their families had to endure an even harder, more challenging life in 17th century Quebec!
And now, I am happy to announce that the book is just about ready to be published. What started out as an attempt to [⇒]
What did you learn from your family history research?
In an interview not long ago, I was asked several thought-provoking questions:
- “What is the value of knowing our family history?”
- “What is there to gain from understanding our past?” “
- “What did you learn about yourself by learning about your ancestry?”
- “Did knowing about your 8th great grandmother’s life change anything in your life?”
My Experiences in the Archives
I am continuing to write the sequel to my book on Jeanne – this one to include the stories of the remarkable people I met and extraordinary experiences I had during my search for Jeanne’s story. It is taking a lot longer to write for several reasons, not the least of which are [⇒]
My research on Jeanne Chevalier continues
At the end of the book about the life of Jeanne that I published in November, 2016, I made two promises. The first was to continue my research on her life and that of her three husbands in order to fill in the holes of information and to resolve the remaining mysteries. The second, to tell the stories of the numerous extraordinary adventures [⇒]
Research on Jeanne Chevalier, Fille du Roi, continues….
In 2002, 5 years before the release of the movie “The Bucket List,” I composed a list of things I wanted to do before leaving this world. Near the top of the list were: Write a book about my ancestor Jeanne Chevalier, Fille du Roi; learn French; and live for at least six months in France. Well, 15 years later, [⇒]
Mild Interest Becomes Obsession
My interest in my ancestor Jeanne Chevalier and her story began over a decade ago, but it didn’t grow into an obsession and start taking over my life until relatively recently. At first, I had a mild curiosity around sorting out some conflicting information that I had found in one book and on the Internet about where she had been born. In early 2011, while visiting my niece who was working in Paris, I travelled to Coutances at the lower end of the Cotentin Peninsula in western Normandy, one of the possible sites for her birth. The archivist, with whom I had been in contact via email, had found a baptismal record for “Jeanne Chevalier” and had been able to decipher the almost illegible handwritten one-line entry. It was waiting for me when I arrived at the Coutances Visitors’ Center. The record indicated she had been baptized in St. Nicolas Church on June 8, 1643. When I asked if I could visit the church, the receptionist handed me the key and took my driver’s license in exchange. The key was bulky in my hand. I wondered if it could be the original. [⇒]
Why I must write this story
The question came up again over beers at the Tête des Allumettes brasserie and brewery, on the St. Lawrence River, just north of Kamouraska in eastern Quebec. I got into a conversation with my neighbors at the table next to me on the patio overlooking the river, and they asked, “Why are you doing this?” [⇒]