Michele’s Musings

I can’t remember how I came across this site connected to my maiden name http://www.ubgga.com/  but some time back in December I did and I registered for a log in.  In all the hub bub of the holiday’s I totally forgot about it and today while home I came across the email I received confirming my registration.  I tried to log in to the member area but my login didn’t work so I replied to the email.  While doing so I also answered the guy’s question as to my father and grandfather’s names.  So he replied today and it turns out he has written my grandfather’s nephew Raymond Graveline in regards to connecting certain family members together, but Raymond hasn’t replied to him yet.  Anyway…. It turns out I am a descendant of Urbain Baudreau dit Graveline who was one of the original settlers of Montreal, arriving in the mid 1600’s.  He was also an elected trustee of the colony and owned parcels of land on the St Lawrence River.  Kinda neat!  I had no idea when my family came to Canada, now I know at least one branch has been here almost 400 years!  I also learned what dit means.  It’s an old term used in Scotland, France and New France as an alias.  The alias describes something about the person such as military service, a branch of a family or a location.  I think our “dit Graveline” is for location, as there is a town on the north coast of France named Graveline.  So the descendants of this Urbain Baudreau dit Graveline have surnames of Baudreau, Boudreau, Graveline, Gravlin etc. some ended up picking one name or the other as the “dit” part became in some places illegal (as it was an “alias”) or unused, such as when they did a census, people had to pick one surname.  And the different spellings were because most people were illiterate and went by the phonetic spelling which could vary… Anyway something neat to share with the rest of the family and he kids   Too bad I don’t speak French! 

It’s still bitterly cold in Edmonton but the windchill warning has been lifted thank gawd!  And the foreacst looks promising for next week  Not feeling really motivated to do much this week with the weather.  No cleaning…. no laundry…. just cooked comfort foods and baked…. my dk’s school has an Italian Culture program so they are having a Carnivale today, so I made stuff for the bake sale. 

Hanging out a bit more on Facebook this week, have gotten in touch with some high school friends and it’s been fun chatting with them, finding out what they have been doing the last 20 years… hard to believe it’s been that long since I was in HS!  Hoping to meet up with some for coffee when we go back home this summer for vacation.  Stumbled across my brother on Facebook, found him on one of our cousin’s friend lists….. So I added him, hope he accepts my friend request!  He has no other family on his list, just lots of women   Hmm maybe it’s not really my brother????  but it’s not a common name, but I guess we’ll see.

This is the first week my branch has extended hours, till 7 Thurs and Fri and now open Sat’s.  We have hired a couple new people but they aren’t ready yet, so I got to work 12:30-7:30 yesterday and today to help out.  I actually enjoyed it yesterday, spent the morning hanging out with Stacey, we had coffee, then went shopping at Michael’s and Home Outfitter’s, then back home for more coffee!