Welcome to FrancoAmericanGravy. This is a family history and genealogy site with stories of people and places connected to me. Some of these people and places I knew well; other peoples and places I only know through reading and researching. With a few exceptions, the families in these stories emigrated from Old Regime France to Quebec and Acadia in the 17th and 18th centuries. Later, their descendants migrated to upstate New York and Vermont. Some of their stories were passed to me; others were rediscovered by me. Contrary to the hopes and dreams of family members, there are no royal bloodlines. However, if you account for overcoming hardships, there are certainly many noble women and men. The people in these stories were from the third estate – commoners. In the 17th century, they were the pioneers of New France: tradesmen and traders, ‘filles du roi’ who married soldiers who became farmers, voyageurs, mariners, weavers and laborers. In the 18th century, many were deported from Acadia (present day Nova Scotia) to live as exiles shipped to New England colonies.
During the 19th century they followed the French speaking diaspora from Quebec to New York and New England, leaving farms to become dayworkers, Champlain canalers, miners, masons, iron workers, and factory textile laborers in the new industrialized state.
Currently, the only the Wills Family has been published in this site. The Wills family is here.
Some stories on this site originated on my blog.
Thank you for reading.