I am using this post as a guest book. I would love to hear from you. Leave your general comments here.
(Please ignore the date as this is the only way to keep this post at the top)
Check out my other blog at http://www.familytreesmaycontainnuts.com

BLOGGER'S BEST FRIEND AWARD

 Hummer @ Branching Out Through the Years has given me this award. What an honour. Really. What I like most about blogging is the sense of community. The fact that she felt I had been a good friend to her is so nice. 

 ADDENDUM: JAN. 27, 2010

Sandra @ I Never Knew My Father has also passed this award on to me. You ladies are so kind. Thank you Sandra. I am really glad I have made a bit of a difference in blogland. 

So meet 'Bandit' "A Blogger's Best Friend Award". Give this award to your most loyal blog readers. Thus, the award should be given to a follower of yours who takes the time to comment regularly on many of your posts. In addition his or her blog should be creative, funny and always entertaining. Upon receiving this award, pass it along to two fellow bloggers who fit this criteria. Wow. Like I said an honour.

Well I don't post a lot on here so there isn't much for my followers to leave comments on.

I will start with Josette @ My Grama's Soul and then Lucie @ Lucie's Legacy. I hope you ladies accept blog awards because you certainly do deserve them.

HAPPY 101 AWARD

Either everyone has run out of blog friends to give these to or I am a very lucky blogger. I was given this award by three different people yesterday.

Bill West @ West in New England , Frances @ Branching Out Through The Years and Becky @ Grace and Glory . No technically Bill and Frances gave me the award on my other site Family Trees May Contain Nuts but I will be lazy and write one post to put on both my sites.

As it usually goes with these awards we are required to tell something of ourselves and to pass them on to others. This list is 10 things that make me happy. I will skip over the obvious ones of  family and friends and try to come up with some different ones.

1. I am happy when the dog does not pee on the floor in front of company.
2. I am happy when I am not stopped by a train while on my way to coffee group. This is a bone of contention in our community. I mean I am talking my first cup of coffee for the day here. Move it.
   
3. I am happy when my husband remembers to call after a day of snowmobiling in the mountains to tell me they made it back to the cabin safely. Maybe I should be more worried about getting a phone call in the morning after all these guys have been back at the cabin for the night to make sure they survive the evening festivities. 
4. I am happy that my sisters can sing just as well as I do. Read this any way you like.
5. I am happy when I hear a basketball bouncing either on pavement or in a gym. I don't get that nearly enough anymore.
6. I am happy it doesn't snow often here in the Vancouver area. We are not supposed to get much snow here but last year was a doozy, snowing every day for over a month. So far this year we are good. Abnormally high temperatures here yesterday.
7. I am happy that I have tall people in my house to reach things for me. Second shelf is too high for me. Of course if these tall people would put things where I can reach them I wouldn't need their help. Hey...it occurs to me that all the alcohol is in the cupboard above the fridge. What's up with that?
   
8. I am happy that I am such a good driver because everyone else out there drives like an idiot. 
9. I am happy that I have so many unfinished projects in my life because I will have to live forever to get them done. 
10. I am happy that my family and friends actually know how crazy weird I am and they still love me. I know this because they all emailed me a warning when the government announced they were going to lock up all the crazy weird people in the city. "Run little buddy, run" was what they all said.

Now I am supposed to pass this on to 10 people. Yikes. So many of you don't post awards. Let me think. I try not to tag the same people over and over again. I will have to stop my list at 8 today. If you prefer not to join in just know that you were thought of.

• Sandy @ 521 Lake Street 
• Gail @ At The Farm 
• Joanne @ Cornish Beach Brummie 
• Ali @ Fifty & Fabulous 
• Lucy @ My Secrets for Happiness 
• Roly @ Wheelboy
• Gardening in a Sandbox  
• Foley @ Foley's Follies
  

Hey don't go yet...did you leave me a note?

RESEARCHING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX

Percy English

1897-1959

Some time ago while researching my husband's side of the family I had pretty much exhausted all the avenues to find more family members. Most of his ancestors did not have surviving children. He did have some half siblings though significantly older than him, from his father Percy. I was in contact with one of their sons in particular who told me of the many family items he had and was going to share with us.

MANITOBA RECORDS

I came across this site last night and it just goes to show you that you need to revisit your research over and over again. You never know what will show up. (http://www.shsb.mb.ca/paysriel/outils/frs-outlnk-voyageurs.html)

The site is in French but I read enough French to know that I have to get written permission to use the pictures on my site. You can copy them for personal use without permission however. 
I saved about a dozen photos of my ancestors starting with my grandfather Ziphirin Champagne. This is a different photo that I already had.

There were other photos of my great grand aunts and uncles. Many slightly distant cousins a few times removed. And also a group photo with the Metis Council. There were 4 or 5 of my family in that picture but the quality of the complete picture is very poor so I really can't see their faces. 
If you have family from Manitoba you should have a look on this site to see what they have in their archives. The following is the translation from that site:

This project was carried out thanks to l' financial aid of the government of Canada, by l' intermediary of the Public records of Canada and the Canadian Council of the files and l' Association manitobaine of the files like l' financial aid of Culture, Inheritance and Manitoba Tourism

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN

This is my first foray into Saturday Night Genealogy Fun hosted by Randy Seaver @ Genea-Musings .
I often see the topics and don't have anything to add to them but this Saturday night is different. Here is the topic for this week. 

What is the Nicest Thing another genealogist did for you, or to you, in the last week or so? (If you have no examples for this past week, go back in time - surely someone has done a nice thing for you in recent years!).

I don't have anything recent but several years ago I was contacted by my second cousin, Maureen. I didn't even know she existed as I was very early into my research. We agreed that the connection was there in the family tree and exchanged notes and details. I thought I had won the lottery because she had so much more information than I did. 

Then it came. It came in the mail. A large manila envelope heavy with family photographs. Photographs of people who I had never seen before. My family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, great grandparents. Oh my, the photos it contained. 

You can get information and details, dates and places and names but when you see a photo of your blood family from a time long before you were even born it changes you. It connects you to a whole world of people. It grounds you and it is the nicest thing anyone has done for me in the genealogy world. 

Thank you Maureen. 

I was so lucky to meet Maureen in person for a lovely lunch. She lives about 5 hours away from me. When I look at her I see my mother and my aunts faces too.  

MARIN BOUCHER- 8TH GREAT GRANDFATHER

Genealogy is synonymous with sharing I think. How lucky for me to find the site of a generous  researcher, Michel Robert. 
Michel has done a great deal of research that includes one set of my 8th. great grandparents. He was even in France and has photographed the original home of theirs from the 1500's. 
His web site is full of interesting genealogy research, photos and facts. I really had little on my relative other then an approximate birth date in France and the names of both his wives and 8 of his children. He generously allowed me to use his photographs in this post.

La Barre home of Julienne Baril and Marin Boucher. Handed down in her family.
 

Marin Boucher was born around 1589 in Mortagne, France. He married his first wife Julienne Baril in February of 1611. Their son Francois married Florence Gareman in 1641 making them 7th great grandparents. I don't have the names yet of any more of their children but Michel says there were

After the death of Julienne in 1627 Marin still lived in the house in France that had been handed down through the Baril family. I don't  have any records of the other children from his first marriage but Michel states there were 7 in all baptized in St. Langis all said to be from La Barre which is how the family house was referred to noting the great grandfather of Julienne whose surname was Barr.

Being left with young children it was imperative Marin marry again and he chose Perrine Malet. With her he had 7 children one of which became one of my 7th great grandmothers, Madeleine Boucher.

St. Langis, church where Marin Boucher's children were baptized. 

I have had this happen several times in my tree where I am connected not only through a married couple but also through more than one of their children who end up connected to me down the line. Inbreeding at it's best. 
There is much more I could add but I don't want to simply post a copy of Michel's own research. He has worked very hard on gathering so much personal information. You should have a look at his site, Genealogy of New France in North America. It is bursting with information, maps, passenger lists.