Really great piece of writing, Ann. We know all too well the story of indigenous genocide, but we still tend to think of North America for white people as the 'New World" without all the scars of the old. of course North American history is long, and filled with land grabs and ethnic cleansings done by people of European heritage to other Europeans, too. I have often thought how the victims of the deportation had no vocabulary for what was happening to them. And life was hard in the 18th century, in France and the Americas so there wasn't enough empathy to go around for survivors.
" I have often thought how the victims of the deportation had no vocabulary for what was happening to them" --- profound insight!
The cohort of our ancestors in 1755 would have had a good number who'd grown up in a period of relative peace and prosperity, I think.
If you were a child -- as is the ancestor Marie Vigneault with whom I am obsessed -- in 1750 when the French and Mi'kmaq burned Beaubassin villages, and then a young teen when the British and the colonials came in and did it again, how WOUILD you have a vocabulary for that? Thank you for that question. It opens another door for me.
This is really heart wrenching Ann. Thank you for doing all the research on it and for sharing this with us. It hits a modern chord in me with all that is going on in the world right now. Tragic. Man's inhumanity to man.
Right on, Ann. ethnic cleansing leaves its mark. Scientists have been learning about epigenetics whereby such traumas are passed on to future generations. May such traumas be witnessed and healed! XOXO
Oh I love your newsletter. I live in northern Vermont now and have friends in Montreal. I have learned so much about the history of the French Canadians since I’ve moved here. My ancestors are Jewish on my mom’s side. So much awful history.
Uh, oh...where in Northern Vermont? My first cousins and cousins once removed are in the St. Johnsbury area...are our families circling each other in time and space?
Yes to the awful stuff in our histories...which needs to be spoken...and then comes the imaginary conversations with the now-invisible crones of those generations: how did you do it? How did you stay the course?
Barton, about 30 min north of St J. Yes. I am looking to my ancestors for advice nowadays. I will be speaking to their ghosts in Croneville Carnival and I am working on a deep dive into the women in my ancestral line—known and imagined further back. Don’t know what that will turn into but right now I’m making a visual journal of notes and drawings for each one.
Really great piece of writing, Ann. We know all too well the story of indigenous genocide, but we still tend to think of North America for white people as the 'New World" without all the scars of the old. of course North American history is long, and filled with land grabs and ethnic cleansings done by people of European heritage to other Europeans, too. I have often thought how the victims of the deportation had no vocabulary for what was happening to them. And life was hard in the 18th century, in France and the Americas so there wasn't enough empathy to go around for survivors.
" I have often thought how the victims of the deportation had no vocabulary for what was happening to them" --- profound insight!
The cohort of our ancestors in 1755 would have had a good number who'd grown up in a period of relative peace and prosperity, I think.
If you were a child -- as is the ancestor Marie Vigneault with whom I am obsessed -- in 1750 when the French and Mi'kmaq burned Beaubassin villages, and then a young teen when the British and the colonials came in and did it again, how WOUILD you have a vocabulary for that? Thank you for that question. It opens another door for me.
This is really heart wrenching Ann. Thank you for doing all the research on it and for sharing this with us. It hits a modern chord in me with all that is going on in the world right now. Tragic. Man's inhumanity to man.
I know, huh? I wonder how much collective sorrow we carry around with us.
Yes I do wonder about that too.
Right on, Ann. ethnic cleansing leaves its mark. Scientists have been learning about epigenetics whereby such traumas are passed on to future generations. May such traumas be witnessed and healed! XOXO
Thanks, Nancy. I had to break this up because the post mushroomed. Have a few more things to say on the subject.
I'll be waiting! Xoxo My Scottish ancestors were booted out of Scotland when landowners no longer needed them to sharecrop.
Oh I love your newsletter. I live in northern Vermont now and have friends in Montreal. I have learned so much about the history of the French Canadians since I’ve moved here. My ancestors are Jewish on my mom’s side. So much awful history.
Uh, oh...where in Northern Vermont? My first cousins and cousins once removed are in the St. Johnsbury area...are our families circling each other in time and space?
Yes to the awful stuff in our histories...which needs to be spoken...and then comes the imaginary conversations with the now-invisible crones of those generations: how did you do it? How did you stay the course?
Barton, about 30 min north of St J. Yes. I am looking to my ancestors for advice nowadays. I will be speaking to their ghosts in Croneville Carnival and I am working on a deep dive into the women in my ancestral line—known and imagined further back. Don’t know what that will turn into but right now I’m making a visual journal of notes and drawings for each one.
Looking forward to going on this journey with you.
Just subbed to your newsletter.