Life From The Roots: May 19, 2011

The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Genealogy Research Trip Thanks to Flowers

Would I survive a four-day get-a-way with a non-genealogy friend? The answer was yes, because I found every way possible to look for family clues on our 400 mile round-trip to Canada to attend the Ottawa/Canadian Tulip Festival (the largest tulip festival in the world, my photos). My childhood friend really wanted to go, and I let her plan it! (I always do the planning when my husband and I go anywhere.) I soon discovered I was able to trace the paths of several ancestors, it couldn't be better than that.

Through New Hampshire and north into Vermont, I followed my ancestors trails by passing through the towns where:

Daniel Lay, born in Connecticut, lived in Georgia, Vermont (died at sea).
Jonathan Knap and wife both of Connecticut went to Canada.
Moses Westover from Massachusetts probably traveled the same way.
My Jaquays family came from Rhode Island or Connecticut, and family members were buried in Ferrisburg, VT (near where we were).

It has been a very long time since I crossed the Canadian border at Saint-Armand / Philipsburg, and was delighted that I could take a photo of the sign. I have mentioned the town many times in my posts, and have a number of ancestors who settled there, while others migrated further east in this Quebec area. There was no time to sightsee again, but it was nice to be in the town where several lived.

As we traveled north then west, the farm land was very flat, and most plots were ready for planting, once the soil dried. Near Montreal, I thought of another ancestor, James Pell, who lived there, and had a son born in Montreal.

After our sightseeing and fun in Ottawa, we returned through Cornwell, Ontario and followed the most northern route in New York. Passing through Chazy and Champlain, New York and Alburg, Vermont, I saw the towns where other direct line ancestors lived at one time, (Currie and Westover). More than likely, my Hauver, Ten Eyck, Rosenberger and allied lines traveled this way from the Albany area, either by land or via Lake Champlain.

Currently, Lake Champlain is having it's worst flooding in over 100 years, it was a very scary ride, although the roads were passable. Huge rocks had been placed on both sides of the roads, so we had to be careful. Then, I saw the neatest sign and asked my friend to pull over. I ran over to the sign to take the below photo.

A google search on my blog for Missisquoi (as in county) shows 32 hits. But I had no idea what the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Vermont was all about. A Wikipedia article and some photos provide information.

Although I didn't look for cemeteries or search for vital records, I got the feel of the land in this northern area of the United States, and southern Canada. A good trip with two great purposes.