By 1830 Canada was under British rule. Working class French Canadians were the majority in Lower Canada but had little real political influence. Power was in the hands of the governor and the English-speaking elite. Working-class people did not own land and had no voice in the government. Ordinary farmers, artisans, teachers, and community leaders … Continue reading Friday Finds – French Canadian Rebels
Tag: Rochon
Friday Finds – The Cook County Poor Farm
Louis Rock Rochon, my great-grandfather, was a rolling stone.(Pun intended.)Â He was born in 1848 in Quebec. When he was 17, his father died; then Louis immigrated to Illinois in 1867. He was still single and living in as a boarder in Chicago in 1880, but moved back to Canada the next year to live … Continue reading Friday Finds – The Cook County Poor Farm
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Tuesday – Time Travel
Imagine a time when food was scarce. We could learn from our ancestors. If you were a hungry peasant trudging through the marshes of northwest France in 1650, you might look at cattails as dinner. The shaggy green spears of cattails could be dinner, dessert, mattress stuffing, and roofing shingles—all in one plant. Cattails (Typha … Continue reading Tuesday – Time Travel
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Mystery Monday
Why can't we build structures that last for centuries? My genealogical records show our Rochon family tree goes back to at least 1639 to Saint-Cosme-de-Vair in the Perth region southwest of Paris. That inspired me to start my historical fiction novel there on a poor peasant farm. The parish church is central to the story. … Continue reading Mystery Monday
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Mystery Monday – The Chicago Coal Famine
My mother’s ancestry was a mystery to me and to her. She knew her father, of course, but they never talked about her grandfather nor anyone else further back. I was able to fill in a few blanks for her by researching on Ancestry. Later, I found documents tracing our heritage all the way back … Continue reading Mystery Monday – The Chicago Coal Famine
Jeanne Meeks ~ Fiction Author 