F is for...

Again in my Letter-every-so-often series, F is for French. I am 7/8 French, 1/16 Irish, and 1/16 Scotch. But, for the most part, I identify myself as French. (Or "those pale northern Europeans.")

I've done quite a bit of research on my family tree...or, rather, Jeremy has and reported to me... But I've done lots of research of French-American history in the Northeast. I was born in Southbridge, MA, which has some millyards, so not a huge French population. I was the only kid in my class who had a Memere and Pepere instead of a Grandmother and Grandfather. I used to even get them confused...since both sides of my family are mostly/all French, I had Memeres/Peperes all around.

Add that to the fact that we later moved to Connecticut, where there was a virtually nonexistent French community. We went from being one of many Montigny's in the phone book to being the only one. And, since people didn't automatically know someone we were related to, no one knew how the heck to pronounce our name. Argh..very frustrating.

For college, I went to a place in upstate New York that had a London center. I don't know why I make that connection, but I had a number of professors who started pronouncing my name in the original French. It sounded kind of cool! Also had a fantastically wonderful history professor who got me hooked. (My favorite class, dealing with the French Revolution...for all the twisted logic there, our professor would ask, "Why did they do that?? Because they're French!!") (Oh, don't worry, he was French as well. :)

By chance, after I graduated, we moved to Manchester, NH. If ever I was looking for a French community, I certainly found it there! We lived on the West Side, where the alternate language isn't Spanish...it's French! Manchester was a town literally created by the Amoskeag Mill Company, who found cheap and productive labor in the French communities in Canada. Amoskeag itself was in business until the nineteen-teens, and some of the mills were even in production through the 50's. And, as the company built worker housing, management housing, schools, parks, hospitals, and everything else the city could need, there are still signs of Amoskeag all over the town. It's really cool to search out.

At any rate...the more I've learned about French immigration into the Northeast, the more interested I've been in learning about my heritage. And, as Ethan is still more French than anything else, I hope to be able to teach him. And yes, he has a Memere and a Pepere.

Oh, and if you happen to be French, and came to the Americas via Nova Scotia, there's a big probability I'm related to you. 'Cause...yeah...my people seem to have single-handedly populated it.