Acadian Ancestral Home

Dear Cousins,

Without a doubt everyone is busy preparing for Christmas but I thought it was time to write another blog before the rush of final details for Christmas.

Hopefully you have all been tuned in to the mtDNA results we have been receiving. So far I have eighteen (18) results posted to my web site Acadian Ancestral Home on the mtDNA Proven Origins page. It can be accessed from the top of the sidebar.

Of great interest is that now we have results from different people, thus different maternal lines, to the same first Mothers of Acadia. At the same time, I have been connecting with people who descend from other first Mothers. So results can be seen for matrilineal lineages going back to Radegonde Lambert, Catherine and Edmee Lejune, Barbe Bajolet, Unknown first spouse of Germain Doucet, Michelle Aucoin, Anne Marie---, Unknown spouse of Jean Gaudet, Andre Guyon, Genevieve Lefranc and I am waiting to hear from others who have been tested to these ancestors as well as others. It is an exciting time to finally put to rest a good deal of discussion by some that would have us believe all of these women without birth records had to be Metisse though there was no proof of that either. Much of that has been the creation of some who have caused this controversy to exist for many years. Some of them have passed away and it is too bad they will not be around to see these results that would of course curtail the sale of their books.

That is where one must give a good deal of credit to Stephen A. White, Genealogist at the Center for Acadian Studies at Moncton University. Though he has always had reason to believe that these some of these women were of European descent he would not publish that information without adequate proof to back it up.

Others have believed that "thinking outside of the box" was everything. Well truth be told, in genealogy how can one "think outside of the box" unless able to prove one's theories?

So in summary, those who we thought would be of Native descent have come back as such like Anne-Marie who married Francois Rimbault. Some we thought could go either way but mtDNA results show that they were indeed of European origin.

Though some of the Metis/Metisse I know were eager for these tests to take place because they believed that ancestors like the Lejeune sisters and Radegonde Lambert would most definitely come back as Amerindian, some of them now say they will stick with oral history rather than accept mtDNA results. Does this make sense? I think not. How can one dispute the results of more than one lineage back to the same ancestor? It does boggle the mind does it not?!?!

In the end I guess some people who pronounced themselves when there was no evidence will be eating crow even if it isn't part of their regular diet...

Please understand that this is not against any Native/Metis groups at all. I descend from one Mi'kmaq grandmother, Marie Christine Aubois who married Jean Roy dit Laliberte in 1686. I am proud of that link but it by no means grants me any entitlements.

However to be fair, I must say that the Native Americans have long been dealt a bad hand and we should be respectful of the true Native Americans who have lost so much and who had so very much taken away from them! Some are justly and dutifully due entitlements. We do respect this in all ways but it just seems to me that many want to jump on that band wagon who have no entitlements whatsoever.

So we are hopeful that our Native American cousins will duly receive what they should have had right along but being mtDNA tested is not about any of that. It is really about knowing once about the origins of our first Acadian Mothers. When the dust settles, when all is said and done, must we not accept these mtDNA results just as, up to now, we have accepted those results that have come back as being Amerindian. I know a person who so far is the only one descended from that Amerindian line in Acadia. The only test done but we accepted the results though only one person was tested. I now believe that some would not accept the results even if a thousand tests were done. Is this not a bit unrealistic?

If everyone would work together for the truth much more would be accomplished.



During this Christmas Season, I pray that the Child of Bethlehem will bless everyone with His peace and that we might come together as one.

Merry Christmas from my family to your family!

Your cousin Lucie