Being Part of Something Bigger Than Ourselves

There is a saying or I guess a philosophy that one should be a part of something bigger than themselves.  I have found that something and it is so exciting.   It's simple and almost anyone can do it right from there very own home.  Want to know what it is??  Drum roll please. It is:

FamilySearch Indexing

What is FamilySearch Indexing you might ask.   Well, it is a process of extracting names and other data from old valuable records. Then those records become available for others to view for FREE!!  You can find millions of records here at Record Search!  Indexing is easy to do, and you all you need is your computer.  You can spend  hours a day, or 15 minutes a week. Whatever time you have available.  Every little bit helps.   Not only are you providing names for others to find there ancestors, but you learn things about life along the way. 

The last few weeks I have been working on the Canadian Ontario Death records from 1933-1937.  I know it may sound morbid, but I find it fascinating.  Besides, the records are fairly easy to read and easy to index.  The exciting thing is that these people still live and need to be bound to families for eternity.  Every name I index could be someones brick wall, just getting ready to be knocked down.  Indexing also has helped give me an added perspective on living in this day and age where we have wonderful medical advances.  I noticed that a lot of people died of pneumonia in those days. Now we have vaccines to help prevent that from happening.  I recently indexed two different records of a little babies who died from spina bifida.  That touched my heart, and makes me grateful for forever families. But, also made me very grateful that my own Evan was born in a day and age where people with spina bifida can thrive.

Yesterday, I was working on some of my own family history.  Just trying to get some dates straightened out.  My great grandmother has a brother named Felix Constantineau who has a cousin with the exact same name.  They were even born just a few months apart in 1877.  Sometimes it can get confusing.  Recently a lot of new records from Massachusetts and other places were added to Record Search, thanks to lots of people indexing.  So, I went there, looking for information to make sure I had the right Felix Constantineau married to the right woman. Then I was surprised to find a record that my grand uncle had a little baby boy that only lived a short while. I also found another little girl who died at age 6 that belonged to another one of my families, and I never knew that before.  Now they can be sealed to their families for all eternity, and there will be much rejoicing.

Indexing has records available from around the world.  There are records that are easy to index and others that are harder, you get to choose which records you want to index!  Anyone can do it, and you never know who you might be helping out!!  So, go out and be a part of something bigger than yourself.  You will be glad you did!!

Fabulous Friday's Forever Family Featuring...

Yvonne Vigeant, my little second cousin once removed!! The story of Yvonne always brings tears to my eyes. My cousin, from Maine had been to the cemetery where many of our Constantineau ancestors are buried. She had found a grave site that had eight people buried. Several were Constantineau's and there was one little girl Yvonne Vigeant who was 6 years old when she died. I had never heard of the name before and my cousin hadn't either. But, my heart goes out to family who lose children at such a young age and I wanted to know who she belonged too!! So, I get into my family history detective mode and went off to search for the parents of this little girl!! Viola!! I found them on the the 1900 census. It turns our that Yvonne's mother was Elodie Constantineau. Little Yvonne had been buried in a gravesite with her grandparents. Mystery solved, family sealed for time and all eternity!! And I'm happy!!!

Fabulous Friday's Forever Family Featuring...

Julien Coutancineau my seventh great grandfather!! Julien is considered "THE" ancestor of the Constantineau family as he is the earliest known progenitor.
Julien was born about 1630 in France. His parents names are unknown. He married Marie Langlois in 1657 in France. Julien Coutancineau was the first member of the Constantineau family to establish himself in New-France (Canada). He left Île de Ré, La Rochelle, France, in 1669, with his wife and children, , Marie, Michel, Pierre and Jeanne, and settled in Québec city, at rivière St-Charles. There they had three other children: Louis, Anne and Romaine. That is how my French-Canadian ancestry started. The name Coutancineau, was changed to Cottencineau, then Constantineau. Some other versions in the same family are Constantine, Constantino, Constant, Constine and my favorite Constantinople!! It sounds so royal!! I try to imagine life in the 16oo's and I can't. It must have been hard, but then they didn't know anything different. I would love to know how many descendants Julien has. I'm sure it's in the hundreds!! I'm proud to be one of them!!
How far back can you go on your family tree??

Fabulous Friday's Forever Family Featuring...

Father Henry A. Constantineau. Father Constantineau is one of my most well known and interesting ancestors. Born Honore A. Constantineau in 1861 to Honore Constantineau and Emilie Roy in Lowell, Massachusetts, he is my first cousin twice removed. When you start researching your cousins you can find very interesting people!!

Father Constantineau is listed in the Handbook of Texas Online as a person who contributed to the history of Texas. How does a Priest from Quebec end up in Texas?? Well, because of ill health and need for a warmer climate. Henry worked in banking after graduation for a few years. Then he decided to become a Priest. He was ordained on May 26 1888. He served in Quebec until illness sent him to San Antonio, Texas. There he was able to make significant changes to the area. He help with finances, with irrigation concerns and easing tension among people.

I found a talk given by Father Constantineau on a historical paper website. He was denouncing the use of alcohol. He said among other things, that alcohol is degrading to the family, an evil worse that any plague and suggested that saloons be closed on Sundays!! I thought...WOW, he would make a great Latter-Day Saint.

I'm so proud of my Catholic ancestors who lived their religion with such devotion!! I hope they are proud of me for the choice in religion I have made.

Fabulous Friday's Forever Family Featuring...

My grandmother, Mary Rose! "Rose" was a Christmas baby, born on Christmas Day in 1874 in Lowell Massachusetts. She died before I was born in 1941. Rose was a remarkable women who know much heartache but stayed devout to her Catholic faith. Her father died when she was only eleven years only. She married my grandfather John Thomas and they had eleven children. Rose buried five of her children before they reached adulthood. Can you imagine? I can't. Three of them were infants when they died. One son John Francis died as an eight year old. He had been cranking one of the old fashioned cars and the crane hit him in the abdomen. Mary Gladys died from tuberculosis at the age of 18. Her babies died from things that would be treatable today, prematurity, seizures, meningitis. I have never met my Grandma. However her strength helps me to be strong in my trials. She has been sealed in the Temple, to her family that has passed on. (Click on the links to learn what LDS people believe about forever families.) I wonder... did she believe that her family would go on forever. Maybe that is what gave her strength. When I meet her I will ask! I firmly believe that I am who I am today because of the my ancestors. I am eternally grateful for the legacy I have been given. I look forward to my reunion with my Grandma Rose, I will hug her and thank her for the strength she has given me!

Fabulous Friday's Forever Family Featuring...

Mary Raymond Constantineau Finch!! Actually born Marie Clotilde Raimond to Damase Raimond/Raymond and Clotilde Plantier on the 26th of March 1846 in St Jeans, Quebec, Canada, Mary is my great grandmother. Her birth record was my great genealogical find this year! Thanks, to Rachel who found the mircofilm for the parish in Quebec where her family lived!! I can't tell you the delight I had finding this record. Such joy!!

Mary Raymond used to be a mystery to me and now I know so much about her. She married Nelson Constantineau, in Lowell Massachusetts and they had nine children. She was widowed after only 20 years of marriage when her youngest child was only 3 years old. She remarried three years later to a man named Thomas Finch. He had at least two children and she considered them her own.


A few years ago I made a query on a mailing list looking for Mary Finch's obituary. A wonderful women I have never meet before, lovingly went to the Lowell Historical Society and found her funeral notice and obituary for me. Tears of joy fell as I read about this grandma I love that I never meet. I know it might seem strange, but her death notice made her life much more real for me!

"The funeral of the late Mrs. Mary Finch took place yesterday at 8:30 o'clock from her home in Ripley street, North Chelmsford and was largely attended by sorrowing relatives and friends including a delegation from the Ladies' Auxiliary of St. John's Temperance society of which the deceased was an esteemed member. At St. John's church at 9 o'clock a funeral mass was celebrated by Rev. Edmund Schofield. The choir, under the direction of Miss Josephine McCabe sang the Gregorian mass, the solos being sustained by Miss McCabe and by Andrew McCarthy of St. Patrick's church this city. There was a profusion of beautiful floral tributes, including a large pilow and cross inscribed' Wife and Mother." the family; pillow inscribed "Farewell Grandma" the Crowley children of Abington, cross on base...."

The funeral notice went on to tell about several more flower arrangement which I thought was so touching. I could recognize names of people who are relatives. And, I totally loved the part about the Temperance Society. It sounds so much like Relief Society to me, and I picture this wonderful grandma pleased that I'm involved in such an organization. From her obituary I learned that she was an invalid for the last 12 years of her life. Oh, my what trials that woman must have gone through! I long to meet her again and can't wait for that grandmotherly hug from her!!

Fabulous Friday's Forever Family Featuring.....

my great grandfather, Nelson Constantineau!! Don't you just love that name, Constantineau!! I do!! Apparently Nelson didn't. Born in St. Jean's (St. John's) Quebec, Canada,(I believe his actual given name was Narcisse) Nelson immigrated to the United States and settled first in New Hampshire then in the Lowell, Massachusetts area. He went by several different surnames, from Constantinople, Constantino, and my favorite just plain Teno or Tino!! Makes it fun to do family history research when your ancestors can't keep their name straight.
At the young age of nineteen, Nelson served in the Civil War in the Fourteenth Regiment Maine Volunteer Infantry. On November 10, 1866 he married fellow French-Canadian Mary Raymond in Lowell, Massachusetts. There were the parents of six daughters and three sons!! Nelson died at the very early age of 39 due to consumption (tuberculosis), he contracted while serving in the military.

I never thought I would see a picture of Nelson. I received an early Christmas present in December 2004. It was a letter from a second cousin I didn't know yet, with a picture of Nelson. While cleaning out the home built by one of his sons, her grandfather Perley, she found these pictures. There was no name on the back so she wasn't sure of the identity. She went searching and found that I had done some research on this family. I had copies of Nelson's military records so I knew he served in the Civil War. So, it just had to be him!! I love the pictures, they are indeed treasures. My heart turns to this ancestor because of my gratitude for him in immigrating to the United States so I could be an American. And in serving this great country in the military. I'm proud of my Constantineau heritage and look forward to a great heavenly reunion with my ancestors.