Blog Archives

Antonine Maillet, famed author of "La Sagouine," has passed away at age 95 (February 17, 2025)

2/19/2025

A New Brunswick news release by the Canadian Press, dated February 17, 2025, carried the sad news: "Antonine Maillet, author and proud raconteur of the Acadian people, dead at 95."

Reading further, I came across the following statement about the author, and one of her most famous works: "Her play “La Sagouine,” first performed in 1971 with Viola Leger in the title role, was a massive success, helping to instil pride in Acadians and contribute to a cultural revival."

A quote from the author, dating back to 2010, revealed much about her tenacity as a writer and her commitment to authenticity: "... Maillet spoke about overcoming a “triple handicap” in literature: being a woman, Acadian, and of short stature. “Being short, that amuses me! But if I have one claim to fame, it’s that I took the Acadian language from oral tradition to the written word.”

A comment: The chapter, "On the Census," from La Sagouine is a must-read for anyone with Acadian lines or an interest in how Acadians came to be in North America. I read "On the Census" when I was coming to terms with my own family roots as a family researcher and found the author's humorous, if not sardonic, treatment of the often delicate topic of Acadian "nationality," as portrayed by census takers of the time, a healing balm of a sort.
Maillet truly "hit the mark" when she observed:

"Couldn't have been easy, being deported like that and not to think you lost something important along the way. Takes a lot out of you, a trip like that..."
-- Antonine Mailette, (English translation).

Try the Wikitree "My Cousins" link - it's FANTASTIC!

2/19/2025

Perplexed about that same "cast of characters" that keeps showing up in your Family Finder / My Heritage / Ancestry / Gedmatch autosomal DNA match lists? I got 'em. Do you? I see many of the same DNA matches in every single system where I have my autosomal DNA enrolled. Some of my closest DNA matches I know personally (as they are extended family) -- some of my distant matches I've corresponded with and we've managed to nail down how we relate to each other; but there are still other DNA matches I scratch my head about when I look at them, but like you, I keep digging into the family trees to find our common ancestors.

Here again is a plug for Wikitree: I subscribe to Wikitree and today I found a wonderful little gem that points me to "living cousins" and shows exactly from which ancestor we descend (based on trees). If I dig into the profiles a little more I can find the kit numbers posted by relatives of my match. It also shows cousins who descend from the same "far off" ancestors I do - so I see French Quebec lines, Acadian - Amerindian lines, my Cajun lines that trace through the heart of Louisiana, and a couple of English lines that I know about from researching my tree. I recommend anyone who is serious about genetic genealogy (and I know there are more than a few of you here on this site) to sign up to Wikitree (for FREE!) and start contributing your family tree information.

Anyway, there's this little link called "my cousins" that I recommend you try once you've entered your profiles for your ancestors -- or linked to them if they are already in the system: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:MyCousins

Already a Wikitree subscriber and looking to find your living cousins? Try this link. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:MyCousins and have FUN finding these same "living cousins" who may also show up as matches in your Family Finder / Ancestry / My Heritage / Gedmatch results! Do it NOW!

Antonine Maillet, famed author of "La Sagouine," has passed away at age 95 (February 17, 2025)

Try the Wikitree "My Cousins" link - it's FANTASTIC!

Archives

Categories