Churchill Jonathan Lary

Churchill Jonathan Lary, my great grandfather, lived far enough back in my ancestry to have had enough children and grandchildren whose lives left interesting legacies. He’s a good place to examine the English side of my family.

This week, I found another of Churchill’s descendants whom I believe is my 2nd cousin, once removed. She lives in Boston, and her family tree shows that her family traces their connection to Churchill from his son George (1880). Mine traces from George’s older brother Albert (1871). Their middle sister, Harriett (1875), completes the siblings of Churchill’s second family. Their mother, Lucy Ellen Watson, married Churchill in 1868, after the death of his first wife, Louise Anne Peabody. Louise and Churchill were married in July of 1850, and had three children: Frank (1852), Emily (1860), and Louisa (1863). Lucy lived on her own after Churchill died, in a house that she owned free of mortgage from 1896 until she moved in with her younger sister, Elizabeth Holden, on a farm in 1915. At 82, she moved in with the family of her son George until her death in Gorham, New Hampshire after 1930.

Churchill lived his entire life (1821 to 1896) on his father’s farm in Shelburne, New Hampshire. The son of a timber harvester, he made sure that his children all went through high school, and pursued occupations which provided well for their own families in the later part of the 19th century. My great grandfather, Albert, loved travel in his younger years.  His training at Worcester Polytechnical School in mechanical engineering led him into automobiles.  While starting a family, he used his knowledge to open an automobile garage, and to obtain a position as chauffeur for wealthy new England families, including one which employed him to ship and drive them in their car throughout Europe.  Later, he was hired as the Maintenance Manager for the Brown Corporation's Paper Mill in La Tuque, Canada, until his death in 1943.  Albert, and his wife Ida Marr, had two sons. His oldest son, Churchill, died as a young man. His younger brother, Everett, was the first of the Lary lineage to attend college. His love of science, encouraged by his brother, led to a degree in chemistry, to a specialization in chemical warfare in the military in World War II, and to a career in oil exploration and production. His daughter, Louisa, became a teacher. His oldest son, Frank, worked for the railroad all his life.

Churchill’s ancestors lived since the mid 1600’s in Rowley and Bradford, Massachusetts and in Sanbornton and Wolfesborough, New Hampshire.

France Roots Trip Successful

Greetings!

I just realized that I forgot to post the results of our trip to France last fall. We had a wonderful time visiting 6,000 kilometers of France. Beginning with my ancestral home town of Mortagne au Perche, I found even more than I thought possible. The town's church (where my ggggggrandparents were married) has a stain-glass window depicting their landing in Quebec, and a wall placque with their names on it. There is also a museum in the area with an exhibit dedicated to the journey they took (with 98 others) to Quebec in the 1630's.

Here's a link to some posts I made to our travel blog: Mortagne au Perche

Our trip to France continued on to Normandie, Bretagne, and 12 other provinces before spending the last week in Paris. It was an adventure which strengthened my own sense of French history and my French heritage. History is always much more interesting when your own ancestors lived through it. To learn more about the adventure, visit our blog for each day after the link above.

And have fun exploring your heritage.

Gregory

France Roots Trip Successful

Greetings!

Finding my Ancestors in France

Greetings!

Zacharie Cloutier and Xainte Du Pont were married in Mortagne au Perche, where we're going to spend our first night on our trip to France in a couple of weeks. I'm going to see if I can geotag this post to the church location.

GF-PK Traveling to France

Greetings!

The non-stop flight is paid for, the 2009 Peugeot Trendy is leased, the Villa Beaumarchais in Paris is leased. We're reading seven books on France, and the route is beginning to take shape. Our trip to France begins on September 17th at 7:35am at the San Francisco Airport, and ends at the same place forty-one days and one minute less than twelve hours later on October 28th at 7:34pm.

But it actually all began in 1544 in the town of St. Jean, Mortagne, Perche, France. That's the town we're headed to once we land in Paris.

Nicholas Cloutier was born there, and was his son (Denis) and grandson (Zacharie). They were carpenters who struggled to keep their families alive in the late 1500's and early 1600's. On January 15, 1634, Surgeon Robert Giffard, a notable proponent of a Canadian community, was soliciting potential emigrants when he received notice that he had been awarded the Seigneurie of Beauport from the One Hundred Associates. Giffard had been in New France before, from 1621 to 1626 and again in 1628. In 1634, he successfully recruited several citizens of Perche as prospective residents for his newly acquired realm, one of which was Zacharie Cloutier. The work he signed on to was to expand the colony of New France by settling the Beauport area near Quebec City.

There's a nice family history website at Zacharie Cloutier
which gives you a short history. A look into his wife, Xaintes Du Pont, is at: Xaintes Du Pont> and their family is chronicled at: Cloutier

We'll be spending the first week of our trip visiting the home towns of my french ancestors in and around the Perche area, sixty miles west of Paris.

Gregory

Family's French Roots to be explored this year

Greetings!

This fall, we'll be traveling to Mortagne au Perche, in northwestern France, to learn more about my french ancestors.

Here is a YouTube video of the Paris celebration last year of the 400th anniversary of Zachary Cloutier and his colleagues founding the city of Quebec.



Gregory

My Norwegian Settler Family Movie

Greetings!

Yesterday, I posted a video on YouTube which contains a short look at the Soine family, and my journey to research my family history. Hope you enjoy it.



Gregory