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How to Read The Memoir Writer’s Blog Twice a week, I post anew on the Memoir Writer’s Blog. I write about a variety of topics and most of them are not in sequence with what I have written just days before—or even the previous week. I write in the Memoir Writer’s Blog as fancy takes me. Most readers do not prefer to learn in a structured manner.  What I write today may very well be the very topic s/he needs to keep going even if the memoir writer had not known that before reading the post on The Memoir Writer’s (more…)
During these years, Aunt Blanche Lessard lived with us. When she was in her early twenties, while we were still on Shawmut Street, she had come down as a Canadian immigrant, looking for employment and had moved with us to Jefferson Street. In Lewiston, she apprenticed as a hairdresser with a Canadian woman and eventually was able to earn her living as a hairdresser. When she was not working, she helped my mother with household tasks. But, what I remember most about my aunt was that she gave me a lot of attention. I didn’t get the attention I needed (more…)

The Life of a Fille du Roi after she marries

This is the story of the life of a fille du roi, of one of my first female ancestors in Canada. For more stories about Marthe Quittel, click on the tag words Marthe Quittel and Franco-American women.

French sail ships generally used the north channel of the Saint Lawrence there where the Ile d’Orléans splits the river. Newly-married and living in Chateau Richer, Marthe had a good view of the river and had perhaps seen the St-Jean-Baptiste sailing up the Saint Lawrence towards Québec on the second of October bearing 82 more women to be married and 130 engagés.[1] Some of these people would become her neighbors and friends in Chateau Richer. (more…)

A Fille du Roi Marries in Chateau Richer This story is taken from Here to Stay, a history  of my 17th century ancestors. A fille du roi was a ward of the state sent to New France to marry. September 22 fell on a Tuesday, a good as any day for a wedding. Father Thomas Morel, the missionary who was assigned to the Cote de Beaupré, completed the union of Marthe Quittel and Barthélémy Verreault at the chapel of Chateau Richer[1]. One wonders what feelings Marthe, whose abjuration of Calvinism was only two months old, brought to this ceremony. Did (more…)
The marriage of a fille du roi It is unlikely that either Barthélémy Verreault or Marthe Quittel, my maternal ancestors, came to their marriage with an expectation of romance. Marriage was a state of life, a way of surviving, of producing children who could take care of you in your old age. So much the better if the proposed partner was attractive to you, but even better if he or she was strong and demonstrated abilities to survive under the most adverse of conditions. The fille du roi visits her future home. Did Marthe insist on visiting Barthélémy’s landholding in (more…)
Jerry Waxler is clearly a man who knows his way around memoir writing. Those of us who have been following his blog, post after post, at Memory Writers Network and have immensely enjoyed his thoughtful commentary on memoir writing, his in-depth profiles of leading memoirist and memoir professionals, and his penetrating reviews of hot-off the press memoirs are pleased to have his blog posts gathered in this 200-page book he has so aptly named Memoir Revolution. Memoir Revolution is a book you will want to have on your memoir bookshelf. When I started memoir work in 1988, people would say (more…)
The “daughters of the king” were introduced to prospective husbands at the Ursuline convent in the Upper Town of Québec. Before the appointed calling hours, men, shy and not so shy, began to gather outside the convent, thinking perhaps of one particular woman or other who had caught their eye at Mass. These pioneers were looking for strong women who would be helpmates rather than for beauty. Soon the convent door opened and the men were ushered into a large parloir that had been set aside. In the room, sitting where they could see everything, were likely to be both (more…)

So you’ve decided to self-publish the book you have worked so hard to write. Congratulations! You have taken an important step, But, have you decided to self-publish with a book packager?

You are joining the ranks of some of the most well-known authors, including Deepak Chopra, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Anais Nin. In fact, you probably have several self-published titles in your own library. What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles and Irma Rombauer’s The Joy of Cooking are two examples. (more…)

a monument to our ancestors, the filles du roi This excerpt is drawn from Here to Stay, a book-length account of Denis’ seventeenth-century ancestors. In the summer of 1663, ships, plying down the Saint Lawrence to dock at Québec, brought letters to the governor from King Louis about change that was to come to Canada. Hearing the news, many settlers were hopeful that, at last, Canada might receive the support it desperately required. Among the first changes were incentives to increase the population which, in 1663, numbered only 3,035. Given the small number of people, every death—whether due to natural (more…)
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How to Read the Memoir Writer’s Blog

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How to Read the Memoir Writer’s Blog To Your Benefit Every day or so, I create a new memoir writer’s blog post. I write about a variety of topics to motivate and educate the writer. (more…)

Jefferson Street, Lewiston, Maine

My Aunt Blanche, My Favorite Canadian Immigrant

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During these years, Aunt Blanche Lessard lived with us. When she was in her early twenties, while we were still on Shawmut Street, she had come down as a Canadian immigrant, looking for employment and had moved with us to Jefferson Street. In Lewiston, she apprenticed as a hairdresser with a Canadian woman and eventually […]

220px-Arrival_of_the_Brides_-_Eleanor_Fortescue-Brickdale-1

The Life of a Fille du Roi After She Settles into New France

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This is the story of the life of a fille du roi, of one of my first female ancestors in Canada. For more stories about Marthe Quittel, click on the tag words Marthe Quittel and Franco-American women. French sail ships generally used the north channel of the Saint Lawrence there where the Ile d’Orléans splits […]

A Fille du Roi Marries

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This story is taken from Here to Stay, a history of my 17th century ancestors. A fille du roi was a ward of the state sent to New France to marry. September 22 fell on a Tuesday, a good as any day for a wedding. (more…)

Memoir telling stories

A “Fille du Roi” Enters into a Marriage Contract

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It is unlikely that either Barthélémy Verreault or Marthe Quittel, my maternal ancestors, came to their marriage with an expectation of romance. Marriage was a state of life, a way of surviving, of producing children who could take care of you in your old age. So much the better if the proposed partner was attractive […]

Memoir-Writing Support

How to Self-Publish with a Book Packager

By

You are joining the ranks of some of the most well-known authors, including Deepak Chopra, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Anais Nin. In fact, you probably have several self-published titles in your own library. What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles and Irma Rombauer’s The Joy of Cooking are two examples. (more…)