WE HAVE MOVED TO A NEW ADDRESS....

We apologize for the inconvenience but we have moved to a new address. You will now find us at:

LESJASEUXENGLISH.WORDPRESS.COM

Hope to see you there!

I received the nicest Christmas gift ever from a cousin in Louisiana. His name is Roland Theriot.

It is a video of a performance by the southwest Louisiana singing group, "Les Amies Louisianaises". singing 'La Grâce du Ciel' (Amazing Grace)   Give the file a minute to download and set your video player to FULL SCREEN for best viewing.

I told Roland that his timing could not have been better... for me anyways. It's a beautiful rendition of the song. Sit back at a quiet time and give it a listen. You will be glad you did... especially in this season.

Merry Christmas all!

ALINE THERIOT MEAUX, founding delegate, deceased at home in Abbeville, LA

Aline Elizabeth Theriot Meaux on her 90th birthday in June...

Just received the very sad news that we have lost a very dedicated and devoted founding member of the Terriot Acadian Family Society this morning. Aline Elizabeth Theriot Meaux died peacefully in her sleep this morning. She was with her loving family. Aline was born to Alexandre Telesphore Theriot II and Aline Marie Parks on 22 May 1922 in Mulvey Community in Vermillion parish, Louisiana. Aline was our delegate for the "Telesphore A. et Marie E. Fanguy Theriot" Great-Branch. Her Associate delegate has been her daughter, Louise Meaux Duhon. 

Please join me in extending to Louise and her family our most sincere condolences.

To us, she was our connection with our Louisiana family. She worked long and hard starting in 1999 to pull our organization together. We came to call her MizMo on the Internet and we learned very quickly that she had a great talent for words. Very soon, she was writing short stories, actually oral histories of her childhood and growing years in Louisiana. We devoted a section of our family website to her and her short stories. It is titled "On the Bayou" 

We are very grateful for her contributions to our family work. She has been a great team-player which we will sorely miss. I would like to share with you a message which she composed perhaps for this occasion. She titled the piece "On a More Personal Note"...

"My parents were not very demonstrative people.  They had not been brought up to be so.  I don't remember ever being hugged or kissed by them or my brothers and sisters when I was a child.  But I knew they loved me because they protected and took care of me and treated me with dignity, while allowing me to grow and become myself.
 
I had a happy carefree childhood and there were times I felt as though I was in love with the whole world.  So many things brought joy to my heart.  Lying on my back in soft green grass, looking at the blue sky and finding pictures in the clouds was one of my favorite pastimes.  Watching my little brother sit backwards in the old blue rocking chair that he called his horse, and rocking himself to sleep, made me smile.  Helping Grandpa in his garden made me feel important, as did picking figs and muscadines and berries in the summer, and pecans and hickory nuts in the Fall.  I felt I was contributing to the welfare of the family.  And books!  I have had a lifelong love affair with books. 
 
Because I was blind in one eye, my mother tried to discourage me from reading too much, saying she didn't want me to strain my eye, so I used to hide under her bed where it was cool, and read by the light coming in the window, or sometimes I climbed the hickory tree and hid there to read my brother's Wild West magazines.  No one ever knew that I once found a copy of a WhizBang.  I started to read it, but what little I understood was so disgusting that I threw it in the bayou and watched it float away.
 
Mom often remarked that I had a mind like a sponge, because I absorbed and remembered everything I read and learned in school.  Today, I remember only the things that were important to me, and are important to me now.  Why crowd my brain with stuff I don't intend to use? 
 
I knew many people, and considered most of them friends, although I cannot honestly say I had a "best friend" until I grew up and married Joseph.  He was brought up in the same way I was.   Besides being shy and reserved he was not very talkative.  He used to say that I talked enough for both of us.  I guess it is natural that we raised our children the way we were raised, although I played more with my children.  I liked going with them to look for fossils when the Parish truck dumped a fresh load of gravel on our road.  I enjoyed taking them to the library.  I loved sewing clothes for them.  I still remember the pinafore I made for Cissi one Easter.  It was dark green with tiny white polka dots, and I crocheted a white lace edging onto the ruffles over the shoulder.  I designed the "bubble" playsuit and my girls and some of their cousins were wearing them two years before that little garment hit the market.
 
I will always remember the time our children and I were sitting in the waiting room in the hospital while Joseph was undergoing angioplasty.  The nurse came out several times to give us a progress report.  The last time she came out, as she was leaving, she turned back and said, "And, Mrs. Meaux, your husband asked me to tell you that he loves you."  I turned to the children and said, "Oh, I know he is scared!"
 
My childhood, the Springtime of my life was a happy time for me, and my Summertime has been happy, too.  As I face my Autumn, I have finally come to understand how important it is to tell people you love them, and I never miss a chance to do so.  I love the way my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren greet me with hugs and kisses when they come to see me.  I am a very rich and happy woman, still in love with the whole world. I don't worry about the Winter that is approaching.  I know we need this season to sleep and rest and prepare for our next Spring."
 

THE TERRIO'S FROM CALIFORNIA

Just a short note to introduce Cleo and Jennifer Terrio to the rest of the family. They are members of the "Lewis and Emma C. Terriot" Great-Branch from Lebanon, Waupaca, Wisconsin. They live in southern California. Jennifer contacted us a few days ago to tell us that they were in Nova Scotia, had met Gérard and Gert in Baie Sainte Marie and were pressing on to other destinations. They are in their third month of their road trip and are now making their plans for their westward trek home which will probably take a few more months.

They had already planned to spend a few days to tour Boston and the local area and so, we were able to take some time with them for lunch in the North End of Boston at our favoriate Italian restaurant. It was a beautiful day... a little blustery for the ladies but altogether the weather was pretty much perfect.

We wish them a 'bon voyage' for their westward ride and we will keep them in our thoughts until they return to the home and five children 3,000 miles away.

Jennifer has agreed to join the Terriot Acadian Family as an Associate Delegate. Currently, we have lost contact with Laura Fougere, the current Delegate for the Great-Branch. Hopefully, we will be able to re-establish contact with Laura but if not, Jennifer will step up as the Delegate for the branch. Welcome Cleo and Jennifer!

GREAT-BRANCH PHOTO HISTORIES...

We recently have re-doubled our efforts a few weeks ago to focus on the histories of our Great-Branches. In my opinion, much of the fun of being involved in genealogy is that it allows us to understand the history of our ancestors. Aside from knowing who they were, it's also alot of fun perhaps more, to learn what they did and when. But it's a thousand-fold better for most of us if we can find some photos of our ancestors. That really puts a face on those 15,000 names that we currently have in our JEHAN TERRIOT ARCHIVE.

So, we have redesigned our BILINGUAL  'Great-Branch Photo Histories' section of our Terriot website so that each branch has a full page of 'real-estate' to present its story and its photographs. We have complete faith in our delegates and their ability to do a little digging and a little research on their respective branches. Many have been very enterprising in contacting other members of their branch to identify family stories, photographs and other documents that shed some light on the history of their branch.

To help the delegates, we have written up a short history of the migration of each branch which is interesting in itself. So, now, we are asking our delegates to 'fill in the blanks' in that history and to at least document what we collectively know about our individual branch histories. I promise you that if and when you succeed in doing so, you will appreciate your Great-Branch so much more but more important, you children, grand-children and great-grand-children will be forever be grateful to you for having taken the time to bring that history to life.

In my opinion, those of you who succeed in documenting your branch history to whatever extent that you can, will have succeeded in bringing that history back to life. Because in many cases, if you had not done so, it probably would not have ever been done and would have thus been lost forever. So, by documenting our Great-Branch histories, we are leaving a legacy for your children that they will forever appreciate over the generations.

So, take a look at our new 'PHOTO HISTORIES' section, I hope that you will like what you see. We make it very easy to switch from the English side (ENGLISH VERSION) of the website to the French side (VERSION FRANÇAISE) throughout the section.

If you are a Great-Branch delegate, let us know if you need help or have any questions. If you are not a delegate, contact your branch delegate and offer your help or better yet, if you have any photo that you think has some historical value, offer to send it to your delegate. From our viewpoint, any material, photo or information about our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents would be most welcome and would historically be very valuable.

NOVASCOTIAN: 'Acadian Diaspora' lacks argument...

Just received a note from Gérard Theriault, our delegate of the "Léo F. & Marguerite R.Theriault" Great-Branch from Petit Ruisseau, NS about an op-ed piece that he read in his local Chronicle Herald. The information was very timely, Gérard, because while I did get a copy of Christopher Dodson's book titled "The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth Century History", it has been on my book shelf in my pile of reading.

I  will let you read the article and you can make your own decision about the book. I will eventually read it and perhaps later, we can compare notes. By the way, thanks Gérard for thoughtfully sending a scan of the article. I trust that the Chronicle Herald won't mind too much if we make it available here.( We're also giving them some good advertising.)

TERRIOT WEBSITE GETS A FACELIFT...

It's hard to believe but we are approaching our 12th year with our Terriot family website. Over the years, we have gradually worked on improving the 'touch and feel' of the site to try to keep the site interesting, up-to-date and useful. So, we've recently made one or two changes, come by for a visit and let us know what you think.

ACADIA LOST: A Novel

Just received word about a new book titled "Acadia Lost", a novel. The author Anita Flanagan, aka A.M. Hodge had just visited our family website and wanted to tell us about her book that was recently published by Grand Oak Books. She explained in her e-mail that she had come to know some Theriault's in Plymouth, Massachusetts some years ago.

The book tells a story that is often repeated as many of us would vouch. A family, whose present generation member is set on a course to find more about her Acadian ancestors, and to tell the story of their lives in 18^th century Acadia."...the novel is intended to add texture to the historical facts by fleshing out the kinds of things that the people of 18^th century Nova Scotia experienced."

I will certainly give the book a read. I thought you might be interested in doing the same. . There’s an excerpt from the book and a word from the author, on its website, www.acadialost.com.

Publishing New Version of Jehan & Perrine Archive

Just a note to tell you that we have just rolled out a new version of our Jehan & Perrine Terriot Archive. It includes 14,506 individuals, 6020 families, 2058 different family names and 676 source references. In this revision, we increased our number of Great-Branches to 93 and we are currently working on 11-12 more.

Adding More Great-Branches and More Delegates!

Our family website has been updated with the new Archive as well as the new associated documents regarding the Listings of Delegates (104), Great-Branches (93), the List of Migrations and of Lineages.

With this revision, we have had to go to a two volume Descendants’ Report; Volume I is 6.6Mbytes in size while Volume II is 5.6Mbytes large. Each volume includes a few more than 1000 pages. Volume I covers Generations 1 through 9 while Volume II covers generations 10 through 15. Since Volume II mostly covers the members of our family who are still living, the volume will be kept confidential. To prevent those who are not authorized from receiving these documents, both volumes are locked with passwords. Volume I can be printed but Volume II cannot. Changes cannot be made to either volume.

IT WAS A GRAND PARTY FOR THE THERIOTs OF ABBEVILLE...

To follow up on our earlier posting on "MizMo"s 90th birthday, we heard all the way in New England that it was a grand party for the Theriot's of Abbeville. The entire family gathered at Louise's home in Erath, Louisiana to honor their matron; mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. We just received a photo of Aline and her children with promises of more later. Here it is.

Aline Elizabeth Theriot Meaux and children. Erath, LA. May 26, 2012.
Front row - Mary M. Delcambre, Aline 'MizMo', David Meaux, Louise M. Duhon
Back row - Danny Meaux, Rosalyce "Cissi" M. Bares, Anna M. Racca,
Joseph "Butch" Meaux, Jr., Laurie M. Domingue and Robbie Meaux.
All members of the 'Telesphore and Marie Theriot' Great-Branch
and descendants of Jehan and Perrine Terriot.

It is commendable and telling of her character that "MizMo" to this day stays in touch with the Terriot Acadian Family and tends to her responsibility as genealogist and delegate of the 'Telesphore and Marie Theriot' Great-Branch. She has asked her daughter Louise to serve as her Associate Delegate to help out. Nice going, Fair Lady!

A new Terriot is born!

Auriane Grace SimoneThériault

Just received word from Matthieu, our delegate for the Julien and Angelique Thériault Great-Branch from Havre aux Maison, Îles de la Madeleine, that a new Thériault was born a few days ago on 7 May.  It is a little girl whom they have named Auriane Grace Simon, and Matthieu very thoughtfully sent along a photo. 

She is just in time for our new update of our Jehan Terriot Archive which will bring the number of Great-Branches very close to 100, if not 100. 

On reading about MizMo's birthday party on Saturday, Matthieu explained that he would not be able to attend because he's "...Kinda busy right now and a little tired..."  While I understand how Matthieu might be busy, I cannot understand why he might be tired."  But thanks for the thought Matthieu. I know that you don't usually miss a party. :)  Congratulations Matthieu and Manda!

Let the Good Times Roll!

I thought I would let everyone know about a very significant event in Erath, Louisiana this week. Our dear friend Aline Theriot Meaux who we know as "MizMo" and delegate of our Télesphore and Maria Theriot Great Branch will be celebrating the 90th anniversary of her birth in a few days on Saturday, May 26, 2012! Happy Days!

There will be a hot time in town I will tell you. She will be totally surrounded by her family... all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be there to celebrate at her daughter, Louise's home in Erath.

Mizmo is a founding member of the Terriot Acadian Family and has made major contributions to our effort at integrating our genealogy and pulling our family together. During our effort to integrate MizMo's Great-Branch in 2000, she worked with Karen Reader and I to untangle the Josephs involved in their two branches:   Joseph dit Le Bonhomme Thériot (1728-1759) and a second Joseph (1732 - before 1796), husband of Madeleine BOURGEOIS.  Joseph THÉRIOT and Madeleine BOURGEOIS is one of the key families in the Terriot Acadian genealogy of Louisiana.  (See Theriot's of Louisiana)

As the author of very significant collection of short histories for "On the Bayou', a section of our family website, she has left us a wonderful legacy that paints a beautiful picture of Acadian life in Louisiana.

Please join with me to wish her a most joyous 90th birthday and to thank her for her dedication and generosity. Post your message to her right here. She will certainly receive it and will respond soon.

Happy Birthday, MizMo! Bonne Fête, chère Aline!

THE TRACKS OF ACADIA IN AMERICA

Just received a note from Guy Thériault of the Association des familles Thériault informing us of a film by André Gladu titled "La piste Acadie en Amérique", or "The Tracks of Acadia in America". The film briefly overviews the history of Acadia but focuses on the aftermath of the 'Great Eviction' in 1755 particularly from  the viewpoint of the Acadians in America today and their contemporary efforts to focus on the acadian culture. The question of whether to liberate the acadian culture or to allow its assimilation to continue is at the forefront of the film. The film is 79 minutes in length which allows significant insight into the thinking and feelings of the acadians on both sides of this question.

ANNOUNCING OUR NEW 'TERRIOT WHO'S WHO'...

The most enjoyable aspect of genealogy is getting to know those in our family who distinguished themselves by doing something special or by being someone special. If you are a member of the Terriot family, here's an invitation:  send us your candidate in your part of the family who you think did something special or was someone special. We are in the process of organizing a Who's Who working group who will review your nominations and will select each to be added to our "Terriot Family Who's Who" list. Send your requests to who@terriau.org

NOTE TO OUR GREAT-BRANCH DELEGATES...

As part of the current round of documenting and publishing the genealogy of several new Great-Branches, I worked with Richard H. Theriault, who brought the J.Arthur & Caroline Plante Theriault Great-Branch to us from Holyoke, Massachusetts. I first want to commend Richard on his stellar work of gathering as many primary source records as he could from the local towns, parishes and other vital records repositories. The work requires deligence and Richard has plenty of it. His genealogy is well documented as you will see.

JOSEPH EDMUND THERIAULT, MERCHANT MARINE AND OLD PORT BUSKER

I have been working to roll out the next release of our Jehan Terriot Archive. We have several new Great-Branches coming in which is very happy news. In our process for preparing this new release, I go through our database of delegates to make sure that that we have all the addressing information. And typically, I always find a few missing addresses. Happily, I was able to reconnect with many who became disconnected and it's always a great occasion to talk to them and catch up with their news. This is truly a network of very nice people that we have.

GREAT BRANCHES KEEP COMING IN...

Have you ever approached a very large and very old tree?  ...even one which stands all by itself in the middle of a large meadow.  All you see is the tree. You can't really separate one branch from the other, even if it's the most beautiful branch in the tree. The tree overwhelms everything in sight.

We encountered the same problem when we took on the challenge of integrating and consolidating the Terriot family tree in 1999. How should we approach this overwhelming task?  Do we proceed by area? by lineage? by family? Much of our genealogy exists in the form that is specific to a particular family or a particular area. A best example is Monsieur Fidèle Thériault's genealogies in his "Les Familles de Caraquet" published in 1985 and "Les Descendants de Joseph Thériault and Marie-Joseph Girouard" in 2009. It makes sense to  limit the scope of a work when we organize to research and publish genealogy.

But given the charter of the Terriot Acadian Family organization, there is no such limit. We are in the process of integrating and consolidating the genealogy of all descendants of Jehan and Perrine Terriot, bar none.  So, how do we do this?  Our choice was to approach it one branch at a time. But what is a branch? Is it a lineage that extends to someone living today? If so, we would have hundreds of thousands of branches to list, document and manage. Ultimately, we chose to define a branch  from the viewpoint of our 9th generation. To most of us today, our 9th generation ancestor is our great-grandfather. So, we decided to call our special branch, a Great-Branch.  I remember some things about my great-grandfather Joseph and especially my great-grandmother, Théogenie. I had the great fortune of visiting her in Edmundston, NB a few times. And while I never met my great-grandfather Joseph and neither did my father, a few stories were passed down by my grandfather about Joseph. The stories were mostly about his mill, but stories nevertheless.

So, we can still think and talk about the 9th generation with great interest but as we go beyond to the 8th, the 7th, etc., we begin to 'lose sight of the branch, because of the tree'. Sure, there are many cases of interesting personalities in our family, especially the Terriot family with all of the talent and the characters. And we talk about them as well. But selecting the 9th generation as a basis for organizing our family seemed to be a good way to break-down our family and organize the consolidation and integration of its genealogy.

DEPORTATION OF ACADIANS FROM PEI: a new presentation

Just received a note from my friend Ghislain Savoie this morning who was passing the word about a new presentation produced by historian Georges Arsenault on the deportation of the Acadians in Prince Edward Island (Ile St-Jean). The presentation currently is available in French only. It is superbly done and most interesting. I encourage you to go over for a visit at the Acadian Museum of Prince Edward Island and look for the Video Deportation Exhibit under ONLINE RESOURCES.

By the way, the best way to make sure that you stay current with La Jaseuse is to sign up as a 'FOLLOWER'. Scroll down a little and you will see the 'FOLLOWER' section in the left side-bar. Whenever we publish a new posting, you will receive a short e-mail.

GRAND REVEIL ACADIEN... GREAT ACADIAN AWAKENING!



(Courtesy of GRA 2011 website)

Just to give everyone a 'HEADS UP!' about a fun event that is 'revving up' to start on 7 October.  All of southeast Louisiana is preparing to receive everyone, Acadians or not, to this 2 week cultural festival.
"Hosted by Louisianians, the entire region of South Louisiana is opening their doors to welcome family and friends who want to celebrate and help maintain the culture, customs, traditions and history of the Acadians. This celebration will be held October 7th through 16th, 2011 in four Acadian regions. New Orleans, Houma, Lake Charles, and Lafayette will host events and celebrations closing with a huge renewal of pride on the last day at Festivals Acadiens et Créoles at Girard Park in Lafayette."

Visit their website to get the details and let's go join our Cajun cousins!

"GANG MILL" AT CONCESSIONS, NS

We would like to bring your attention to a new posting in our Oral Histories section for Nova Scotia. This was written by Gérard Thériault, our delegate from Nova Scotia and is on the subject of mills, in this case a saw mill at the village of Concessions (44° 16' 51.51"N 66° 4' 22.93" W). Gérard shares with us a most beautiful painting of the mill by Don Dunlop, a Canadian artist from Ottawa.

Please drop in on the "Shores of Nova Scotia" for an interesting visit.