Heritage Languages Diluted by English

Clark est Americain.

Pennsylvaanisch iss net Neederlandisch; es iss Deitsch...aus Deitschland (odder "Deutschland"). Un ya, dis fenomiena schtartz in Deitschland weil alle die deitshce un Neederlandische Dialekte dis duh.

Oui, je suis américain. And I just found out that my Canadian ancestors were only in Canada for two generations. Before that, they were American colonists. What I think happened is that they left for Nova Scotia because they were Loyalists to the Crown. And all of their ancestors, literally all of them, came from England.

J'aime Canada et Québec, Montréal et Nouvelle-Ecosse.

This is a site about the Franco-Americans in Civil War time.

http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/frncdns/studies/dcb/1.htm

There is a book called "The French Enigma: Survival and Development in Canada's Francophone Societies". I think it is very helpful.

That is interesting. I read the whole thing, and I have some of my own commentary from my family's history.

I have an ancestors named "Andrew Ravy Jr." His father and mother were both from Paris, and they came to the US in 1852. Andrew Ravy Sr. served 7 years in the French military before coming to the States.

Also, I have ancestors who were all descned from English/Puritans in Mass. and Conn., who moved to Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia right before the Revolutionary War. Also, they came down to the US after the Civil War. It seems interesting to me that these Americans left before a major war, and came back after a war; both wars being in the US.

While researching this side of my family tree, I kept hoping I would start to see some French names, but alas, they all originated in England. It was not until the granddaughter of Andrew Ravy married the grandson of a half-Canadian that French ancestry came into the picture (and now I realise that only I, or someone who knows my family tree will ever understand that last sentence ;-)

This is very interesting! I didn’t think of people that move to other places because of wars and the influence might happen to their language, too.

Speaking about genealogy, I always wondered about my mother’s roots. The names I know of her ancestors, the majority of them are French. But her family name is “McAnthony” so I am confused about that. Do you know any good genealogy websites?

Yes, www,familysearch.org This one is an "ancestor search engine." YOu have to know the names of ancestors, and sometimes you will not get very good results. But I found a lot of my Canadian ancestors here (the ones that I have mentioned in previous posts).

If you want to pay, which I have never done, try www.ancestry.com and www.rootsweb.com

Thank you for the websites, Clark. They were very helpful to me.
I found out that one of my ancestors was Irish, and came to the United States before Civil War. But I don’t know how she ended in Canada or why the names turned French. But I guess I just wanted to know her roots and I got that.

Did you use the www.familysearch.org ?

Yes, I used it.

Le cool ! Je l'aime bien.

I think the French would say :
C'es *cool ! je l'aime bien.
*as you know 'cool' is English and the French borrowed it (1952). It's a familial saying used for someone who is nervous : 'cool Raoul, Relax Max'. The adjectives rhyme with the names.
Relax(e), is also borrowed from English (1955). They also use 'relaxation'.

sorry ! typo !
"c'est cool"

Thanks. The only time I have ever heard it in usage is by a Belgian woman, and she said "le cool." I forgot the context she used it in, so I thought I would play it safe and say it like a native French-speaker said it.