UMaine Franco-American publication a valuable tool

The December-January issue of Le Forum, the publication of the Franco-American Center of the University of Maine, is brimming with articles of interest to genealogists.

We have the final installment on Francois Bellanger I, by Jim Belanger of Hollis, N.H.

The author explains that Bellanger died between 1687 and 1691, and that likely he is buried at Cap St. Ignace in Quebec. His wife, Marie Guyon, was buried there in 1696. The article also gives information on each of the Bellanger children. In addition, the newspaper offers another “The French Connection” column by Robert Chenard of Waterville.

Chenard has been writing this column for nine years, and this time focuses on descendants of Damien Berube and his wife, Jeanne Savonnet Berube. Le Forum also publishes some letters from people doing Franco-American genealogy.

You can e-mail Robert Chenard at frenchcx@mint.net or visit http:members.mint.net/frenchcx.

By the way, books he has compiled include “Marriages of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Old Town, Maine 1860-1890,” and “St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, Waterville, Maine,” the latter with three volumes of church records.

Other features of this issue of Le Forum are editor Lisa Michaud’s list of Franco-American terms, from Acadian to Grand Derangement, and an update on news of Maine Acadian heritage.

I also enjoyed Cassandra Dwyer’s essay about her “memere” – grandmother – Theresa Bouchard of Berlin and Nashua, N.H.

For a class on Franco-American women’s voices, Dwyer interviewed her grandmother, and Dwyer’s mother also was on hand.

Of course the three had a grand time, and Dwyer learned a lot about her family. What’s more, since the interview, she has found that her grandmother now talks more about her family. Many of us have had that experience as well. Talking about old times often loosens up the brain cells, I think, and allows other memories to percolate to the top.

Other information in Le Forum includes a notice of a seminar sponsored by the French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan: “Three Centuries, Two Nations, One French-Canadian Heritage.”

The seminar will be held 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at St. Simon and St. Jude Church Hall, Belle River, Ontario. Belle River is not far from Detroit.

We have concentrated on telling you about some of Le Forum’s English articles, but there also are several in French.

Subscriptions to Le Forum are $15 a year within the United States, $20 outside the country, and $35 for libraries. Write to 164 College Ave., Orono, Maine 04473.

If you have roots in the Hancock County town of Orland, you may be interested in a book the Orland Historical Society published in conjunction with the town last year to commemorate a special anniversary.

The title is “Best Remembered: Orland, Maine 1800-2000: History and Recollected Stories to Celebrate our Bicentennial.”

Topics include early history, early settlers, Orland’s oldest houses, North Orland and Happytown, legends of Lonnie Harper, memories of East Orland and Gilpin, military history and industry.

There are other subjects as well, not to mention many old photographs, according to David L. Davis of the historical society. He calls the 200-page volume “a wonderful collection of Orland’s lore.”

To purchase a book, send $10 plus $4 postage and handling to Orland Town Office, School Street, Orland, ME 04472. Attention: Town Clerk.

3068. WOOD-TOWNSEND. Seeking parents, siblings, ancestors of Minerva Wood, b. June 10, 1873, England; d. Aug. 4, 1914, as Minerva Townsend, at Pine Point in Maine. She left Liverpool about 1891. Wrote to a brother in Dewsbury, England. She married before 1898, my grandfather, William Francis Townsend. He was b. Dec. 16, 1867; d. Feb. 24, 1941, Boothbay. They lived in Newark, N.J.; New Haven, Conn.; Westfield, Mass.; and Muscongus and Pine Point in Maine. Esther Hardwick, P.O. Box 224, Limestone, ME 04750.

3069. WITHEE-BROWN. Seeking information and living descendants of Joseph Herbert Withee, b. July 19, 1858; md. April 7, 1877, in Brewer or Orrington, Emma L. Brown, age 20, daughter of Moody Brown of Brewer. Dedham’s 1880 census lists Herbert J., 21; Emma L., 23; Arthur H., 2; Charles F., 8 months. I believe Herbert was living in Mississippi in 1915. Dottie Lapaire, 18 Holt Drive, Ellsworth, ME 04605; telephone 667-1014.

3070. CATES-BOLTON. Seek parents and birth date for Sewell Cates, believed to have been born about 1806, Monroe. Marriage intentions for Sewell Cates and Rebecca Bolton were listed in Monroe Dec. 22, 1827. They had at least two children: Solomon, b. May 11, 1828; and John Bolton Cates, April/May 1830. Valdine C. Atwood, 2 Free St., Machias, ME 04654.

Send queries with Maine connections to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail familyti@bangordailynews.net.