Family History -- Index Page and Site MapLachance / Brennan/ Ranger / Larocque / McCuaig / Kenny / Durocher / Dufresne
Families from the Ottawa River Valley, the St. Lawrence Valley, and Central New York State
-- compiled by Bob Ranger - - - Syracuse, New York, USA. Updated: May 5, 2008.
View the Site Map Press here for Jeanette's Site
Preface and Acknowledgements - http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/preface.htm
Surname List - http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/names.htm
Timeline of Important Events - http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/timeline.htm
Click on the following URL to access the Lachance page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/chance.htm
Andre Pepin (b about 1605) was a merchant. He and his wife, Jeanne Chevalier, lived in Bourville, Le Havre in the diocese of Rouen, Normandy, France.
Click on the following URL to access the Brennan page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/brennan.htm
James Brennan (about 1868-1900), Wakefield, Gracefield, Ottawa, married Julia Kenny (about 1890). Their son: Robert Alexander Brennan (1892-1975), Gracefield, Quebec, Ottawa, m Marie Angelina "Lena" Lachance in Ottawa in 1914.
Click on the following URL to access the Ranger page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/ranger.htm
Basil DAVID Ranger (1835), Elizabethtown township, Leeds county (Brockville), Ontario, Canada, Redwood, N.Y. m Margaret "Maggie" Pilon (b about 1843, m about 1859). Their son: John David Ranger (1864-1959), Brockville, Ont., Canada, Redwood, Theresa, Jefferson County, NY, Syracuse m Catherine Deruchie (about 1884).
Ranger dit Laviolette - Some Descedants of Hubert Ranger dit Laviolette and Anne Girardin http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=2-l_coderre
Click on the following URL to access the Larocque page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/roque.htm
John Larocque b 1843, Rigaud, married Margaret Picotte (c1847), Their son: George Larocque (about 1868-1948), Brockville, Ont., Canada m Matilda "Delia" Dufresne (about 1890).
Click on the following URL to access the McCuaig page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/quaig.htm
John McCuaig and Bella McKenzie married in about 1860. Their daughter: Mary McCuaig (b about 1867), Moose Creek, Ont. married Julien Lachance in 1886 in Ottawa.
Click on the following URL to access the Kenny page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/kenney.htm
Julia Kenny (about 1870-1948), Gracefield, Qc., Ottawa, married James Brennan (about 1890); Their son: Robert Alexander Brennan (1892-1975), Gracefield, Quebec, Ottawa, m Marie Angelina "Lena" Lachance in Ottawa, 1914.
Click on the following URL to access the Durocher page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/roche.htm
John Stephen Derocher (b about 1836) married Barbara Ann Kennedy (b about 1841, Belfast, Ireland). Their daughter: Catherine Deruchie (1863-c1947) Cornwall, Brockville, Ont., Canada, Theresa, Jefferson County, NY, Syracuse m John Ranger (about 1884).
Click on the following URL to access the Dufresne page:
http://web.syr.edu/~rcranger/fresne.htm
Charles Dufresne (c1844) married Margarit [Lemay, Leroy, or Letray] in about 1870. Their daughter: Matilda "Delia" Dufresne (about 1873-c1943), Lancaster and Brockville, Ontario, Canada, m George Larocque in 1891 in Brockville.
Bob's daughter (Jeanette Zoeckler) has been researching her mom's side of the family. See the Jeanette Zoeckler Family History Index Page to check out her Lewis and Frost histories.
Initially, three topics were addressed in Bob's site: Dvorak keyboard, music, and family history. The site is now limited to family history. However, two favorite pages from the former site have been rescued: one from the Dvorak and one from the music.
When typing was an art in itself, the world was astonished with Barbara Blackburn's high speed Dvorak typing, reaching speeds of 212 wpm at times. Mrs. Blackburn passed away in April, 2008. She lived in Salem, Oregon and her record is expected to hold as the fastest typist who ever lived.
Your questions and comments are welcome.
rcranger@syr.edu
To those interested in how this site came about . . .
The Dean of the Syracuse University Whitman School of Management meant business: "In order to compete successfully with other institutions, it's of utmost importance that we implement a first-class web site. I don't care how you do it . . . but learn the web!" And so to comply with the School's policy, I began to teach myself by constructing a few web pages!
Dvorak Keyboard Layout - A couple of topics came to mind to write about. One was about a new, (actually quite old) typing keyboard layout, the Dvorak. The Dvorak layout was already proven superior to the standard. I started to learn to make web pages and at the same time practice the Dvorak keyboard.
Music - I posted a couple of pages about woodwind playing; some stories my dad used to tell with his buddies (he was a musician too); plus a couple of my own experiences. But as I spent more time thrashing about trying to write music articles, I found that other writers were doing as fine a job as I ever could. Besides, I would rather *play* music than write about it.
Meanwhile, the Dvorak pages were starting to catch on. In the late '90s I had a few essays on the web, plus a manual on how to learn to type using a metronome. But just behind the horizon, another passion was beginning to loom.
My parents were from Canada, as virtually all my North American ancestors were. I grew up knowing my ethnicity was French and Irish with a bit of Scottish and Indian. In melting-pot Syracuse everyone had a "nationality" . . Italian, German, Black, Ukrainian . . virtually all ethnic groups were represented. In conversations, the subject of nationality and parentage would surface early on.
This interest stayed with me. Who were these folks who share family names and resemblances? Where did they fit into the history of their time and place? Were they affected by it? Did they have an effect? Is personality in the blood . . genes . . or is it the environment that affects who you are? For what it's worth, I lean toward environment although I think blood do lines play a role.
So I ran the names of my great grandparents through the search engines. What a surprise! Hundreds of cousins became known through the internet. Maybe thousands. Some richer, some poorer; some better looking (well, most) and some not. Some well-educated, others only smart. Distant cousins live in just about every city in North America, and are represented on every continent on the globe.
What were our folks doing at various points in history? The French Indian War, War of 1812, and the Civil War all play a part some way or another in the lives of our family. What music did they listen to or play? One of our ancestral cousins was choirmaster in a Montreal church in 1684. What must that have been like?