Nana's Stories
My grandmother, Elizabeth Jeffrey DeGagne Cariveau, agreed to tell me her life's story on cassette tapes in the early 1990s. She recorded over a dozen one-hour tapes that are a treasure! When she gave them to me, she made me promise to turn them into a book for the family so everyone would know her story. I'm working (with the help of my mom and cousins) on creating a multi-media presentation of those stories using photos, maps and genealogy research. I think she would love this!
The video above is the first of six that I made after doing a presentation in person in Grand Forks, ND in the summer of 2022.
Finding a new uncle..
While visiting the Grand Forks area in the early 1990s, I visited the Cariveau farmstead where my grandfather was raised and met Vern and Turene Malafa. They showed me family photos and told stories and I learned that I had an uncle I didn’t know about. My grandfather had a son whose mother was not my grandma. My father wasn’t aware of him either. So, I was able to connect my dad with his half-brother so they could get to know one another due to family history research. They became great friends and we all added wonderful people to the family!
Ties to Michigan
While in Huron County, Ontario, I learned about Huron County, Michigan and that some French-Canadian families had migrated there in the 1800s. So, we drove down to the US border and up into the thumb of Michigan to the county seat of Bad Axe. At the county seat, I asked for permission to check their oldest land records and found the homestead documents for Alexander and Regis Cariveau! This was an important link in the story because no one in our family remembered a Michigan connection.
They also told me about the Great Fire that happened in the 1870s in that area that burned almost the entire thumb of Michigan. This explained why the Cariveaus moved after being there only a few years and came to Minnesota.
Boucher Family in Ontario
Several of the families lived in the area of Zurich and Goderich, Ontario, most notably Maxime/Michael Boucher and his wife Josephine. They were married at the Catholic church, St. Peters near St. Joseph. There is a great genealogical society in Goderich with very helpful volunteers.
Standing on the shore of Lake Huron, even on a nice day, a person can imagine how harsh and windy it would have been in the winter with huge blocks of ice creaking and cracking all along the shore. One story I learned there told of a group of families that had come to that area to settle, but they arrived too late in the season to properly gather food and build shelters. The next group of families found the remains of their settlement and had to start their new lives on that very sad note.
Bouchers and Corriveaus in Québec City, Québec
I visited Québec City and Montreal, Québec in 2010. We drove from Minnesota and explored the area, stopping often at cemeteries and historical sites. Along the St. Lawrence River, we saw the homestead of Marin Boucher, one of our ancestors and early pioneers of Canada. We visited the monument to Etienne Corriveau, another prominent ancestor and tasted the currants grown there and saw farm fields on the Ile d'Orleans in the middle of the river looking much like they would have back in the pioneer days.
We visited the southern shore of the river and in the St. Michel Bellechasse area, we found LOTS of Corriveaus – along with an orchard, museum, bike trail, and streets named Corriveau or Corriveaux. We learned of La Corriveaux, an alleged murderess that was hung in an iron maiden by the British court for killing multiple husbands. The entire area is lovely and we certainly could see why our ancestors stopped and made their first homes there.
My grandmother, Elizabeth Jeffrey DeGagne Cariveau, agreed to tell me her life's story on cassette tapes in the early 1990s. She recorded over a dozen one-hour tapes that are a treasure! When she gave them to me, she made me promise to turn them into a book for the family so everyone would know her story. I'm working (with the help of my mom and cousins) on creating a multi-media presentation of those stories using photos, maps and genealogy research. I think she would love this!
The video above is the first of six that I made after doing a presentation in person in Grand Forks, ND in the summer of 2022.
Finding a new uncle..
While visiting the Grand Forks area in the early 1990s, I visited the Cariveau farmstead where my grandfather was raised and met Vern and Turene Malafa. They showed me family photos and told stories and I learned that I had an uncle I didn’t know about. My grandfather had a son whose mother was not my grandma. My father wasn’t aware of him either. So, I was able to connect my dad with his half-brother so they could get to know one another due to family history research. They became great friends and we all added wonderful people to the family!
Ties to Michigan
While in Huron County, Ontario, I learned about Huron County, Michigan and that some French-Canadian families had migrated there in the 1800s. So, we drove down to the US border and up into the thumb of Michigan to the county seat of Bad Axe. At the county seat, I asked for permission to check their oldest land records and found the homestead documents for Alexander and Regis Cariveau! This was an important link in the story because no one in our family remembered a Michigan connection.
They also told me about the Great Fire that happened in the 1870s in that area that burned almost the entire thumb of Michigan. This explained why the Cariveaus moved after being there only a few years and came to Minnesota.
Boucher Family in Ontario
Several of the families lived in the area of Zurich and Goderich, Ontario, most notably Maxime/Michael Boucher and his wife Josephine. They were married at the Catholic church, St. Peters near St. Joseph. There is a great genealogical society in Goderich with very helpful volunteers.
Standing on the shore of Lake Huron, even on a nice day, a person can imagine how harsh and windy it would have been in the winter with huge blocks of ice creaking and cracking all along the shore. One story I learned there told of a group of families that had come to that area to settle, but they arrived too late in the season to properly gather food and build shelters. The next group of families found the remains of their settlement and had to start their new lives on that very sad note.
Bouchers and Corriveaus in Québec City, Québec
I visited Québec City and Montreal, Québec in 2010. We drove from Minnesota and explored the area, stopping often at cemeteries and historical sites. Along the St. Lawrence River, we saw the homestead of Marin Boucher, one of our ancestors and early pioneers of Canada. We visited the monument to Etienne Corriveau, another prominent ancestor and tasted the currants grown there and saw farm fields on the Ile d'Orleans in the middle of the river looking much like they would have back in the pioneer days.
We visited the southern shore of the river and in the St. Michel Bellechasse area, we found LOTS of Corriveaus – along with an orchard, museum, bike trail, and streets named Corriveau or Corriveaux. We learned of La Corriveaux, an alleged murderess that was hung in an iron maiden by the British court for killing multiple husbands. The entire area is lovely and we certainly could see why our ancestors stopped and made their first homes there.
Geoffrois/Jeffreys in Langres, France
While visiting Langres, France in 2006, we walked all around the ancient city – huge stone walls surround this city on a hill overlooking vast plains. It looks like no army could ever take it over. In the center is a beautiful Romanesque church, Langres Cathedral. It very dark and gothic looking with stone pews and a very high nave. It was the church my ancestor, Nicholas Geoffroi would have attended and since he was a mason, he likely worked to help build it.
While visiting Langres, France in 2006, we walked all around the ancient city – huge stone walls surround this city on a hill overlooking vast plains. It looks like no army could ever take it over. In the center is a beautiful Romanesque church, Langres Cathedral. It very dark and gothic looking with stone pews and a very high nave. It was the church my ancestor, Nicholas Geoffroi would have attended and since he was a mason, he likely worked to help build it.
When a Fellow Worker Becomes a Friend
What is this magic
That we mix and blend
That changes a worker
Into a friend.
Is it the greeting
At the start of the day,
The smile, the hello
That seems to say
I’m glad to see you
It’s not just the pay.
Is it when the things you know
Are passed on freely to help the flow
To make it easier for us to do
The things we must to make it thru.
Friendship grows as time goes on
When we don’t use it as a pawn
Maybe it’s when we’ve given all we could
That it takes a bit extra to shoulder the shoulds.
Maybe it’s when – and I suspect
It’s with this last ingredient – we gain respect
It’s when we get that feeling
That we can depend
Is when a worker becomes a friend.
by Wayne Cariveau (uncle of Yvonne)
What is this magic
That we mix and blend
That changes a worker
Into a friend.
Is it the greeting
At the start of the day,
The smile, the hello
That seems to say
I’m glad to see you
It’s not just the pay.
Is it when the things you know
Are passed on freely to help the flow
To make it easier for us to do
The things we must to make it thru.
Friendship grows as time goes on
When we don’t use it as a pawn
Maybe it’s when we’ve given all we could
That it takes a bit extra to shoulder the shoulds.
Maybe it’s when – and I suspect
It’s with this last ingredient – we gain respect
It’s when we get that feeling
That we can depend
Is when a worker becomes a friend.
by Wayne Cariveau (uncle of Yvonne)