What a list! First, Ardis sent us the very moving account of the biker tribute to US war dead from the St. Anne area - a meld of our interests old and new. I like to think that my St. Anne great great grandpere, Achille Chiniquy, (who fought in the Civil War but did survive it) was in some small way recognized by this event, taking place about 140 years later. Thank you, Ardis! It's also great to see so many of our listers respond to the inquiry about the early migrations of the St. Anne folk. Life in central Illinois was hard in those days and I'm sure that pitches and offers from other states had a lot of appeal. We know that some sizeable family groups went west to Nebraska, also back north to Wisconsin, also eastward to Indiana, to other states as well - they often created or settled in French enclaves which are now part of the genealogical history of the new states, so look for them there. The St. Cloud area in particular has great records, I understand. Not only was Illinois cold and the farming hard work (those swamps and tiles!) - but the polarization of the St. Anne population in the Chiniquy matter also provided reasons for people to leave and try their luck elsewhere. Seems to me, though - at least some of the travelers came back. It is an interesting time in the history of our little town - some of it referenced in the "Saga" - what time frame would we give it? 1860-1880? Or earlier? Between and among all our listers and their family interests - we have an amazing lot of knowledge about the migrations of our ancestors. We haven't talked about this in a while, so the idea may be new to some of the newer listers - as it was to me when I started (silly me - I had the impression that the group had come from Quebec and just stayed in St. Anne - totally wrong). Let's keep up this dialogue a bit, so we all get a better feel for those days when good things seemed attainable just over the horizon! Thanks to all for participating. SALUT to the best list in town! Ginny Crawford Administrator, ILSTANNE

-----Original Message----- Subject: [ILSTANNE] Migrations from St. Anne What a list! ....so many of our listers respond to the inquiry about the early migrations of the St. Anne folk. Between and among all our listers we have knowledge about the migrations of our ancestors. Let's keep up this dialogue a bit, SALUT to the best list in town! Ginny Crawford Administrator, ILSTANNE ***** I often wondered WHY my ancestors - My Great Grandmother Millodel (Boudreau or Beaudry) Gelino Francouer (Franker) and her first husband-Hubert Gelino would have gone to Kansas - until I received an e-mail from my great grandmother's great grandson from her first marriage (I'm a great granddaughter from her second marriage) -and after which I received an e-mail from one of our listers -Ms Chase-who had questions regarding 'the first family'- and I was able to answer the question she had. I want to share the original e-mails with the list now - because it is interesting and maybe it will help someone searching for 'first family ancestors' of my great grandmother - or better yet - someone on the list who might be looking for 'the second family' of my great grandmother. When ever I see the names "BOUDREAU" "BEAUDRY" "MARION" "GELINO" "FRANCOEUR" I have to wonder - are they somehow related? Mary Boudreau who in an earlier e-mail stated her family ended up in Nebraska sparked one such question now in my mind... I wonder if maybe the Boudreau in her family was somehow related to my great grandmother - and maybe that is why she; Millodel and her first husband {HUBERT GELINO} went to Kansas in the first place - from Illinois. ...but then it could be that they followed Hubert's family to Kansas too - (from what the e-mail states- Hubert had a brother that lived there also.) Maybe these e-mails will help someone in some way - without me even knowing. That is why I feel it is important to share e-mails with THE WHOLE LIST. Vickie (Franker) Buettner Anthon, Woodbury Co. Iowa ******Sharing the Following: The Marriage Certificate of HUBERT GELINO shows his bride's last name as MARION not Bodric, not Bodreau, not Brodeau, but MARION - Milodell's mother's maiden name!!! Melodie was possibly born out of wedlock. In the Birth Certificates of Hubert and Millodel's first child born in 1879 it lists her name as: MELADIE BEAUDRY age 16 - born in IL. on the birth cert. for their second child she is listed as: (NO FIRST NAME) BOUDREAU age 14 - born in Kankakee, Illinois. *** The following is an E-mail I received from Kirby Ashburn, the grandson of Eva Gelino & Edgar Morrow. Kirby's Great Grandmother and My Great Grandmother were the same person: Millodel (Boudreau or Beaudry) Gelino Francouer (Franker). Hi Vickie: I'll do my best to fill you in on what I remember my Grandmother Eva telling me about the Gelino (Gelineau) Family and what I remember from an old French Bible that she had. First off, her mother's first name was actually Milodell (Me-low-dell) and I remember how Grandma pronounced it in French and how pretty the name sounded. I thought that her maiden name was something more like Boudry. Somehow she and Hubert (oo-bare) went from Illinois with Harvey and Eva (my uncle and grandmother as babies) to Concordia, Kansas where Arthur, Emma, Adlor and Amile were born. Hubert had serious mental problems and she divorced him and came to live with all those French Families who had come from Illinois and settled west of Royal Iowa. As a young girl my Grandma (Eva) worked for Eli Franker and eventually Milodell married his brother Remy. Milodell and Remy had the second family and she died of pneumonia when she was only 36 years old in 1900. She was buried without a marker in the cemetery across from the old Gross Homestead west of Royal Iowa. I've combed every inch of that cemetery in knee high grass looking for anything leading to her, but there is nothing today except toppled stones with all those French names from that era. I'll tell you one thing, my Grandmother Eva thought her mother Millodell was a saint and she very well may have been one. Now to the part about the second family. With the exception of Oscar,(Franker-age 5 1/2) the kids were put up for adoption and scattered to the four winds. My Grandmother Eva (who would have been their half sister) hired an agency that eventually found May (Franker-age 2 when her mother died) in Waterloo, Jennie (Gelino-age 10) in Minneapolis, Harriet (Franker-age 4) in Chicago and Raymond (Franker-age 1) in Garner, Iowa. Oscar stayed on the farm for a while with my Grandma (Eva) and Grandpa (Edgar) and he remained close to her until the day she died. I saw a lot of him when I was younger and I remember that he told some tall tales. My Dad was killed in a rollercoaster accident at Lake Okoboji Iowa in 1935 when I was 11 months old. My grandparents (Eva And Edgar Morrow) raised me so I was very fortunate in that I got to meet all those old French people that came to visit. In 1952, on a trip back from my sister's wedding in California, we stopped in Concordia, Kansas so my Grandma Eva could visit with her father; Hubert's brother George Gelineau. He was very old and delighted to see her and they spoke French all the time we were there. His mailbox said "Gelineau" on it and I have learned since that is the correct spelling and the name was probably changed phonically by the banker in Royal, Iowa. I have no idea what ever happened to Remy (Remi) Franker. I'd be interested to know if you have any information on that. All my attempts on the Internet to find anything on the name of Gelino/Gelineau in Illinois have proved fruitless. Morrow/Moreau is much easier because Great-grandpa Aleck was in the Civil War and there's quite a bit on him in the Illinois State Archives. If at all possible, I'd like to have a copy of the Gelino birth certificates you have from Illinois. If I've missed anything or if I remember any other details about the family, I'll gladly pass them on to you. Best Regards, **************NOW THE OTHER E-MAIL I received from a fellow lister: ----- Original Message ----- To: <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [ILSTANNE] Papinoville? and Gelineau family > My Great Grandmother, Melodie Marion Beaudry / Boudreau married a > Hubert Gelino - I do not know Hubert Gelino's parents names. vsfb~ ....AND AN ANSWER TO MY QUESTION: ...According to the 1860 Federal Census/St. Anne, Hubert is the 8 year old son of Pierre and Adeline Gelineau who was born in Canada (see Ledoux Bk #00518). This would make him the younger brother of my great grandmother Helene Gelineau/Gelino. I think there may have been another son named George Gelino who migrated to Aurora, Kansas or did Hubert have a son by that name? Hubert's older sister Agnes went out and stayed with a George Gelino in the early 1900s before returning to Kankakee. **** FUNNY HOW I GOT MY ANSWER FROM A LISTER AND I WAS THEN ABLE TO ANSWER HER QUESTION ABOUT GEORGE GELINO BEING A BROTHER AND NOT A SON TO HUBERT FROM A DIFFERENT PERSON'S E-MAIL!!! ...and most important - Hubert Gelino turned out to be the younger brother of the lister's great grandmother Gelino! PLEASE KEEP SHARING EVERYONE! THANKS VICKIE (FRANKER) BUETTNER

Some of this information is old, but repeated for the sake of newcomers to the list. There was a small movement from St. Anne to Muskegon Michigan in the early 1870's, apparently involving 5 or 6 families including LeTarte (aka Tart and Tarte). They left to work in the lumber industry, supplying wood for the expanding population on the treeless prairies. Because of their prodigious birth rates, the St. Anne population soon faced the same problem that brought them from New France in the first place: not enough farmable land to go around for the young men. Since their skills centered on farming, not industry, for many of the less well-off young people this meant finding seasonal work helping with the harvest from Kansas, up through Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakota Territory and even into Saskatchewan. This exposed them to some of the locations where they later moved. The westward migration seems to have been largely related to the Homestead Act of 1865 and the railroads opening up new territories, providing cheap land and transportation. The period between 1865 and 1880 was not an easy time for moving west. Red Cloud was very powerful in the late 1860's in eastern Nebraska, and the Custer fiasco showed that the new country was not risk-free even in the 1870's. Lawlessness was a recurring theme in some areas, particularly when the cattle drives started coming up from Texas. I have an image of my ancestors as agrarian people with a uniquely French lifestyle, not as more-or-less Wild West pioneers. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between. One of the migrations that didn't happen, strangely enough, was a move to the South. Our ancestors had fought in the Civil War (Strom Thurmond chastened me once for using that term, preferring the phrase "War of the Northern Agression" instead) and were certainly familiar with the area. What kept them from moving south? Weather? Religion? Inability to grow familiar crops? Lack of railroad-promoted cheap land? A scholarly analysis of the migration patterns of the era necessarly focuses on economic forces and the sense of Manifest Destiny. But some of my people moved just because they had "itchy feet" and never stayed too long in any one place, no matter what the circumstances. I suspect that once they left the comfortable nest of New France and discovered that the world didn't come to an end, that many of them just kept on moving for the fun of it. Freedom can be intoxicating. Mike -----Original Message----- Subject: [ILSTANNE] Migrations from St. Anne What a list! ....so many of our listers respond to the inquiry about the early migrations of the St. Anne folk. Between and among all our listers we have knowledge about the migrations of our ancestors. Let's keep up this dialogue a bit, SALUT to the best list in town! Ginny Crawford Administrator, ILSTANNE *****