Introduction to The Lachance Family
aka "the lachances of my family and many others"
Lachance...the name I was born with, as was my father and his father before him. Where did we get this name, where did we come from, why are there so many ways to spell the name, where did I come from, how did I get to be who I am and how I am, and finally, where I am? Every time I find an answer, I have two more questions! Everything on this website is devoted to getting to the root of it all...even if some questions might never be answered.
FIRST, I need to set the record straight! My abilities...really a lack thereof...with the French language leave a bit to be desired! Having been born and then raised for 10 years in New Jersey couldn't possibly have anything to do with this right? My mom only spoke English and my dad, while French was his first language, pretty much ALWAYS spoke English. When my dad spoke with his mom (my grandmother) she would speak in French and his reply was always in English. I don't remember ever asking why this happened, it just did and that's the way it was!
At the end of the day...Je ne parle pas très bon français...
What little French I've learned I will credit to my cousin "Babe" (See "For The Record" on this page). I know darn good and well the French I have managed to learn is NOT the French they attempted to teach me in school! I know this because I remember thinking to myself, while in class, "this is NOT the way my grandmother speaks" and everyone else in the family that did speak French didn't sound like this either! It was only later that I figured out even the English I grew up speaking was not the same as the English in England. Vive la différence! It seems this holds true in multiple languages.
As I continue my research into our Lachance family, I am confronted with many things French including web pages, information, documents, and email among others. I won't hesitate to admit, it is sometimes difficult. But, thanks to cousin Babe's lecture, I AM able to understand much of it, and with a little help from "mon dictionnaire," put it all together in order to make sense of it all!
Our Ancestors
If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row
Would you be proud of them or not
Or don't you really know?
Some strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees
And some of them you know, do not
Particularly please.
If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them perhaps
You wouldn't care to know.
But there's another question, which
Requires a different view.
IF you could meet your ancestors
Would they be proud of YOU?
Author Unknown