So I Stumbled Across Some Geneology….
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!
