Came to Minnesota from Mount Holyoke, MA; Ludger Doucette m. Emiline Boisjoli m abt 1850-1854, probably in Mount Holyoke. Came to Minnesota by covered wagon abt1860. Daughter Emiline b. abt 1855 m. Antoine Bellefeuille (Rivard) in 1878 in Belle Prairie. Trying to connect back to Abraham Dugas and Marguerite Doucet, first ancestors in Acadia. Thanks Jackie

Bonjour, cousine, First, a bit of Western Massachusetts local lore: Mount Holyoke is the name of a mountain peak overlooking the towns of Hadley and South Hadley, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It is also the name of a college for women in South Hadley. There is a city named Holyoke on the opposite bank of the Connecticut River, in Hampden County. My great-grandfather and great-grandmother trekked to Holyoke from Crookston, Minnesota in the 1890s. They had gone to Minnesota from Laprairie County, Quebec some years earlier, when the US Government was offering land grants to settlers in the western Great Lakes region. I mention all these facts of my family history because, when I looked up the name Ludger Dugas in Ancestry World Tree Projects, I found a story much like that of my own family -- with a few interesting twists and turns! ======================================================= The following is by Eugene Dugas, grandson of Ludger Dugas and Emelie Boisjoli: Ludger Dugas and wife, Emelie Griveau Boisjoli and Eurgille Boisjoli, (Emelie's Brother) and his wife Marcelline Bonneau lived at St. Jacques l'Achigan, a small town about 25 to 30 miles north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Both were farmers. In the winter time they worked in the woods. They would go where they received the most pay. They worked in Ontario as far as Lake Superior. It is there that they learned that the United States had added a new state to the union, Minnesota, and that any one who wanted to go live there would be given 160 acres homestead and would also get help to obtain seed and tools. Ludger Dugas went back to St. Jacques, sold his farm and in 1858 moved to Little Falls, MN. He bought a farm one mile north of Little Falls near the bluff. Eurgille Boisjoli did not sell his farm. He moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts, where his children worked in the cotton mills. They kept corresponding with Ludger Dugas at Little Falls. After a few years Eurgille Buosjoli moved to Little Falls, but they stayed only a few years, then moved back to their farm at St. Jacques. While in Little Falls Eurgille's daughter, Lumina Boisjoli married Eugene Dugas, Oct. 28, 1884 at Belle Prairie, MN (son of Ludger Dugas and Emelie Griveau Boisjoli). Eugene Dugas died at the age of 32 and was buried at Belle Prairie. Then Lumina Dugas took her family and returned to St. Jacques and made her home with her mother. Her father Eurgille had died Sep. 2, 1878 at St. Jacques. Her mother also died there Dec. 2, 1898. One of her sons died in 1913 at the age of 22 years. Lumina Boisjoli Dugas and the rest of her family moved to Springfield, Mass. Lumina died there in 1931. ==================================== PEDIGREE OF LUDGER DUGAS : /Abraham DUGAS b: 1616 d: WFT Est. 1659-1708 /Martin DUGAS b: 1656 d: 1679 | \Marguerite Louise DOUCET b: WFT Est. 1610-1634 d: WFT Est. 1659-1722 => /Abraham DUGAS b: 1677 d: 3 MAY 1720 | \Marguerite PETITPAS b: WFT Est. 1636-1662 d: WFT Est. 1681-1751 /Joseph DUGAS b: 1705 d: 5 APR 1788 | | /Claude LANDRY b: WFT Est. 1621-1660 d: WFT Est. 1663-1741 | \Marie Madeleine LANDRY b: WFT Est. 1663-1686 d: WFT Est. 1708-1774 | \Marguerite TERRIOT b: WFT Est. 1629-1662 d: WFT Est. 1663-1747 /Alexandre DUGAS b: 1732 d: 14 SEP 1789 | \Marguerite ROBICHAUD b: WFT Est. 1690-1713 d: WFT Est. 1735-1802 /Issac DUGAS b: 1769 d: 18 FEB 1865 | | /Jean Baptiste BROSSARD b: WFT Est. 1680-1720 d: WFT Est. 1723-1800 | \Marie Josette BROSSARD b: WFT Est. 1723-1746 d: 19 AUG 1784 | \Cecil BABIN b: WFT Est. 1688-1722 d: WFT Est. 1723-1806 Ludger DUGAS b: 12 MAY 1826 d: 4 MAR 1906 | /Joseph THIBIDEAU b: WFT Est. 1733-1762 d: WFT Est. 1787-1847 \Marie THIBIDEAU b: 14 OCT 1784 d: 1870 \Isabelle LABLANCE b: WFT Est. 1742-1765 d: WFT Est. 1787-1853 PEDIGREE OF EMILIE BOISJOLI: /Antoine Griveau BOISJOLI b: WFT Est. 1776-1805 d: WFT Est. 1830-1890 Emelie Griveau BOISJOLI b: 10 OCT 1827 d: 31 MAY 1883 \Julie BOUQUET b: WFT Est. 1785-1808 d: WFT Est. 1830-1896 -----Original Message----- From: Jacqueline Doty <jadot@brainerd.net> To: QUEBEC-RESEARCH@rootsweb.com; acadian-cajun@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 10:21 am Subject: [Q-R] LUDGER DUGAS m. EMILINE BOISJOLI Came to Minnesota from Mount Holyoke, MA; Ludger Doucette m. Emiline Boisjoli m abt 1850-1854, probably in Mount Holyoke. Came to Minnesota by covered wagon abt1860. Daughter Emiline b. abt 1855 m. Antoine Bellefeuille (Rivard) in 1878 in Belle Prairie. Trying to connect back to Abraham Dugas and Marguerite Doucet, first ancestors in Acadia. Thanks Jackie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For the list web page, goto: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~unclefred/main.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to QUEBEC-RESEARCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com