I’d Like to Meet

 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks (Week 1)

I’d Like to Meet…

This is a tricky prompt! There are so many people that make up my family tree that I would love to meet. I have so many questions! The list is so long! How many of us would love to know why any of our ancestors left their home country to start life anew in a foreign land; most likely without many (or any?) people that they knew.
Should I choose a famous cousin? Clara Barton? Juliette Gordon Low? Abraham Lincoln? Lucille Ball?
I guess there is no doubt that meeting a famous cousin would be fun, however, I think I would choose a direct ancestor instead.
If restricted to one ancestor, I would like to meet my 3x’s Great Grandmother Theotiste DuPlessis dit Laferte.
Theotiste was baptized at St-Michel-d'Yamaska, Yamaska, Quebec on 01 Nov 1810. She married Hermes Emond on 25 Oct 1831 when she was 20 years old.
Theotiste and Hermes went on to have 11 known children. Four known children were born in Yamaska, Quebec, and the last known 7 children were born in New York after she and Hermes immigrated to the United States prior to 1840.
In 1870, Theotiste, who went by the name Mary Army or sometimes Theresa Army in the United States, purchased a house in Millbury for $950.
My ancestor! A woman purchased a house in Millbury, Massachusetts in 1870! WHAT?
That is why I would like to meet her. It seems I come from a long line of independent women.
In 2007, I found her headstone in St. Brigid's Cemetery in Millbury, MA. The stone is eloquently engraved in French which confirmed my hypothesis that Mary/Theresa Army was Theotiste. In 2017, I visited the church she was baptized and married in during a road trip to Quebec.



Who would you like to meet? A direct ancestor? A cousin?

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