GENES

I just found out that I’m a direct descendant, through my paternal grandmother, of a guy named Daniel LeBlanc. That name isn’t one that you’d recognize from your history books but his boss is fairly recognizable. His boss came to North America in the 1600’s and has had some places named after him. Some of the places I think he named after himself, Samuel Champlain. So I’m a descendant of a man who walked and canoed around the area known as Acadia with the great explorer credited with “discovering”, for France, a whole section of the continent.

Last year I did a brief family history but my genealogical search wasn’t terribly thorough and I only looked back about five generations. Now I have some information that goes back eleven generations, almost four hundred years. That puts us with all those folks who find it so prestigious to be Mayflower descendants. Apparently there are societies and clubs of people who positively relish the idea of having ancestors who were early settlers on this continent. And it is kind of cool. My ancestor was helping old Champlain check out the land, trade with the Native Americans (and maybe doing a little subjugating too) and studying the feasibility of a colony for dear old France. They probably didn’t call it a feasibility study in those days. That ancestor, old Danny LeBlanc, decided he needed a wife here if he was going to hang around so he married a lovely young girl named Francoise Gaudet in 1650 in Acadia. Then there followed the usual course of events with names like Hebert, Boudrot, Dugas, Galarneau, Leduc and eventually Bourey thrown in the mix making babies and progressing down the halls of time.

I have no idea what kind of job that distant ancestor had when he was working for Monsieur Champlain. We’ve had some carpenters in our past, and loggers. There have been postmen, miners and factory workers too. Many of my forbearers were skilled in hunting and fishing so maybe old Dan was a trapper or food supply specialist for the expedition and the colonies that followed. I don’t think occupations are genetically inherited but a predilection to some kind of work might be hidden in there somewhere. I think they call that genetic memory, or something. One thing is apparent. Daniel LeBlanc must have been an adventurer and a rugged sort of man. Living and working in the New World was no easy task all those years ago. Food and shelter were a real and not always assured concern. Disease could wipe out a colony in a matter of months. Conflicts between the natives and the settlers and then between the French and the English were a constant threat to a person’s survival. It was a tough life, even for those in higher positions in their society. I wonder how far our family members have drifted from the rugged independence of our ancestors.

So I thank Ms. Julie Dowd of Clinton County, NY who provided today’s revelation. She gave me some interesting things to think about and some inspiration to do a little more research into the old family tree. Now I think I’m going to grab my fishing pole and see if I can catch some subsistence for our dinner table, in the manner of my ancestor Daniel LeBlanc.
Have a fine day.