Stories of family and ancestors who lived and worked in Cohoes (textile and garment workers, butchers and barbers), Waterford (canalers), Whitehall (farmers and canalers), Port Henry (iron miners and Civil War soldiers), Champlain (canalers and farmers) and other towns along the Champlain Canal in New York State with some diversions to the places they emigrated from....Quebec (landless farmers, shoemakers, sailors, soldiers), Acadia (more farmers), and even Cornwall, England (tin miners).
Robert Wills, Arthur Mylott and Al Rivet left the Northeast for golden California, its promises and possibilities. They had many first impressions of southern California from the perspective of upstate New Yorkers who arrived in late June 1959. They were accustomed to snow, lots of snow, in winter and moderate summers. It is no wonder Al was fascinated by the weather..by mid August Bob and Art returned to New York. One with a prison record and the other without a driver's license and so for them there was no job. Only Al remained in the sunshine state with a job at Hughes aircraft... here is one of Al's first letters to home.
It's been almost 9 years ago when I started this FrancoAmericanGravy blog. Although in the past 3 years I haven't added a lot of content, there are still many stories to tell. I am always hopeful I will be able to find and share new stories of Franco-Americans in Cohoes and upstate New York. Meanwhile others have picked up the cause. Notably is Dr. Janet Shideler, faculty at Siena College in Loudonville, NY and recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Shideler is the founder and administrator of Je Me Souviens project to digitize artifacts and memorabilia of Franco-Americans from upstate New York. She was interviewed by Mountain Lakes, a PBS affiliate.
Mountain Lakes PBS will be hosting an event with Dr. Shideler and the project. They wrote: "North Country residents who are descendants of French-Canadian immigrants are being invited to gather in Plattsburg in early June to be part of the "Je Me Souviens" project. Dr. Janet Shideler and her colleagues/students from Siena College will be here at our Mountain Lakes PBS studios on Sunday June 9th and again on Monday June 10th from 1- to - 6 pm. Artifacts such as photos, letters, naturalization papers, military medals and even toys and household items will be scanned and posted to the New York Heritage Digital Collection online."
JE ME SOUVIENS PROJECT JUNE 9th and 10th 1- 6 pm MOUNTAIN LAKE PBS STUDIOS SESAME STREET PLATTSBURGH, NY
If you cannot make the even and would like to participate in the project, you can contact Janet Shideler at Siena College
Email: jshideler@siena.edu
Phone: 518-782-6769
