Çi et Ça

1. A Couple of Interesting Books

   The Maine Archeological Society has a number of interesting books for sale concerning archeological investigations and excellent site histories. Several are of early Acadian sites. Two specific books are: "The French at Pentagoet 1635-1674" by Alaric Faulkner and Gretchen Faulkner ($15.00) and "Saint Croix Island Maine - History, Archaeology, and Interpretation" by Steven R. Pendery ($33.00). "The French at Pentagoet 1635-1674" was published in 1987 and is available on Amazon for $243. The Maine Archeological Society published the 1987 book and the ones for sale there are the same edition - just extra copies that never sold. See below why you may want to consider buying the Pentagoet book. The link to the bookstore of the Maine Archeological Society is: https://mainearchsociety.org/store/

   

   

2. "Port-Royal - Développement territorial et démographique 1670-1710" - Hypothesis of Claude Guédry's Arrival in Acadia

   André-Carl Vachon, an internationally-acclaimed, award-winning author of Acadian history, has just published his latest book - " Port-Royal - Développement territorial et démographique 1670-1710 ". It is available on Amazon.com for $32.95. It is in French, but there are lots of tables and much of the book is written in a genealogical dictionary style which makes it easy for an English reader to understand. What is really significant is that Mr. Vachon used numerous original records from the very early period of Acadian history and hypothesized how many of the original pioneers reached Acadia and where they spent their early years. Mr. Vachon's books, including this one, are well-researched and very well-documented in footnotes. In this book Mr. Vachon hypothesizes that Claude Guédry, the founder of the Guédry family in Acadia, arrived in Acadia in 1670 on the Le Saint Sébastien - a 250-ton vessel captained by Louis Chadeau de La Clocheterie. It departed La Rochelle, France about May 1670 with 31 soldiers and arrived at Pentagouët on 17 July 1670. Claude Guédry is hypothesized to be one of the soldiers to be stationed at Pentagouët. He would have initially settled at Pentagouët in 1670 and in 1672 would have moved to Port-Royal due to the famine at Pentagouët. We have seen many theories over the years on the origins of Claude Guédry - almost all have no basis for the claims. Mr. Vachon's hypothesis is based on using available documents of the early Acadian time period and developing a reasonable hypothesis from the known facts.

   

3. Residence Plantation (Volumnia Farm) in Houma, Louisiana

   The next time you are in south Louisiana consider a visit to Residence Plantation (Volumnia Farm) on Park Avenue in Houma, Louisiana (Terrebonne Parish). Residence Plantation is a working plantation owned by Wilson Gaidry III (yes, Gaidry is a form of Guédry). It has been in the Gaidry family since 1828 and has been in production since that time. You can tour the plantation home and the farm for $20 per person and is well worth the price. The home is filled with priceless heirlooms as well as a wealth of genealogical photographs and documents. At 85 years old, Wilson still works on the farm daily. You can learn the history of the plantation and the genealogy of the Gaidry family at this website: https://volumniafarm.com

4. New Websites for Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur

   Recently Rootsweb quit hosting websites where our Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur websites had been for over 20 years. We have migrated our websites to Hostinger and the new website addresses are:

   • https://guedryfamily.guedry.org/ (Family website)
   • https://guedry.guedry.org/ (Genealogical database)
5. Memorial Plaques

   Most folks at our Reunion in St. Alphonse, Nova Scotia on 15 August 2024 saw the Memorial Plaque to Augustin Guédry & Marie Jeanson - the founders of St. Alphonse and the founding "parents" of the Jeddry and Geddry families of the St. Mary's Bay area. It is located behind the church near the cemetery. Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur along with Albert Geddry and others installed this plaque and dedicated it in August 2007 to commemorate our 2004 Reunion in Meteghan/St. Alphonse and to memorialize Augustin Guédry & Marie Jeanson.

   During the last few years several of us in Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur have discussed installing additional memorial plaques at locations significant to the Guédry and Petitpas families. We could begin with locations where we have held reunions and in which a Guédry or Petitpas had a significant impact. Here are a few candidate sites:

   1. 2014 Reunion in Van Buren, Maine . In nearby Grand Isle, Maine (approximately 7 miles from our reunion site) Romain Guédry dit Grivois and Marie Comeau settled in the late 1820's and became the founding ancestors of the Grivois family of Grand Isle and the surrounding area.
   2. 1999 Reunion in Houma, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana . Terrebonne Parish and neighboring Lafourche and Assumption Parishes of Louisiana were settled by several Guédry couples and their children who came to Louisiana from France aboard the "Seven Ships" in 1785. The Guidry, Guedry and Gaidry surnames are numerous in today's Terrebonne Parish.
   3. 2015 Reunion in Henderson, Louisiana . Acadian deportee Pierre Guédry settled in Cecilia, Louisiana (about 9 miles from Henderson) and had 21 children with his three wives who all preceded him in death. After an early life of poverty, he eventually built up a vast vacherie (cattle ranch) and is the "father" of most of the Guidry families in the Henderson, Breaux Bridge, St. Martinville, Lafayette and Abbeville areas.
   4. Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia . About 1760 Jean-Baptiste Petitpas and Joseph Petitpas, sons of Claude Petitpas and François LaVerg, migrated from Port Toulouse to Chezzetcook, east of Halifax. The Petitpas of Chezzetcook today descend from these two brothers.
   5. Tor Bay Area, Nova Scotia (Larry's River, Port Félix, Charlos Cove) . From 1797 to 1805 several Acadian families including some Petitpas felt that too many American Loyalists were coming to Cheezetcook. These Acadian families decided to seek a new home away from the Loyalists. They moved to the Tor Bay area and today we find there the Petitpas and Penpas families.
   6. 2004 Reunion at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia . Merliguèche (now part of Lunenburg) was the home of Claude Guédry and Marguerite Petitpas. Their son Paul Guédry had a farm just up Brook Street from the fire station where our reunion was held. We certainly should have a plaque recognizing our founding ancestors.

   These are a few locations where we could install memorial plaques to recognize our Guédry and Petitpas ancestors.

   We need a couple of volunteers willing to chair a small committee to raise sufficient funds, select locations, have plaques designed and made and install/dedicate the plaques. The plaque installed at St. Alphonse cost about $1200 and took about 4 months to do.

   If you would like to help with this Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur project and expand our reach and recognition within the Acadian community, please send an email to me at: guidryRmartin@gmail.com .

   

   

6. Annual Dues

   As we enter 2025, it is time once again to ask our members' support of Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur and to renew their membership or join anew. Our dues are quite reasonable at $6 for an individual or $10 for a family. We also have several Benefactor Levels for those that wish to provide additional support (dit Jovial at $50, dit Labine at $100 and dit Grivois at $500). You can pay your membership through PayPal by clicking on the link below, choosing the membership level from $6 to $500 and then completing the short form.

   OR, if you prefer, at this same link you can mail a check by clicking the PDF or DOC highlighted area and download a Membership Application (in PDF or DOC), complete it, enclose a check and mail to the address on the Application. This second method also lets you donate any amount you wish by just making your check for that amount. You can also use the Membership Application attached at the end of this newsletter.

   Membership Application

   Your membership supports the activities of Les Guédry et Petitpas d'Asteur such as maintaining our two websites, publishing books, holding reunions, having family-oriented tours and other activities to honor our ancestors and bring our family members together. With two large Guédry et Petitpas Reunions in two years (2024 and 2025) our treasury is very tight at this time so your support is vital.

7. An Interesting Photograph

   In the 11 Jan 1995 edition of The Clare Shopper appeared this 22 May 1915 photograph of workers at the Bangor Sawmill. During our auto tour of Baie Sainte-Marie on 14 Aug 2024 we visited the site of the Bangor Sawmill, which had recently been destroyed by fire. Note in the middle row of the photograph is Isaac Geddry holding his young son Benoit Geddry (4 ^th from right side of middle row).

   Over the years several Geddry and Jeddry men worked various jobs at the Bangor Sawmill - providing the wood necessary for a growing community.