The French-Canadian Way

I recently applied to the Franco-American Scholarship Education Foundation Memorial Scholarship. It is a scholarship for Franco-Americans that live in Lewiston, Auburn, or surrounding towns. By doing this scholarship I found out a lot about my family history. I also knew that we had a little French-Canadian heritage because my moms first language was french and my great grandfather was part Native American. But I did a little research and found out a lot.

My Franco-American heritage originates from Canada. Three of my great-grandfathers were part of the logging industry. This successful line of business started in the deep woods of Canada, and slowly worked its way down to central Maine. The wood that was transported south from Canada and northern Maine by my great-grandfathers and other lumberjacks, was the same wood that was used to build the buildings in the suburban area of Lewiston/Auburn. Once this growing area was fully developed, many businesses and mills were running strong. Three of my great-grandmothers were part of the textile industry movement whose labor force was primarily French-Canadian. Ironically, all three of them worked for the Bates Mill. Two of my grandparents followed their parents’ footsteps and also worked in the mill industry. My grandparents also became active members of the Catholic community. This was due to the bringing of the Catholic beliefs and establishing of Catholic churches to Maine by their parents. Overall, the destiny of my heritage has been determined by job opportunity, and my relatives’ hardworking perseverance and religious aspirations.

What this tells me is my family made it in this world through hard work and self-determination. My grandfather on my moms side was a very hard worker. He worked in the shoe shops while holding two to three jobs at once for years until an injury caused him to retire at 45 years old. My other grandfather was interested in the business side of the world and tried to open a couple businesses. First he had a hot dog stand then a pop shop diner and then open up Uncle Moe’s Diner. Which to this day is still open with my dad as the owner. That business would have never been a part of my family if my grandfather just gave up the first time his business failed.

I plan to keep that family tradition and use hard work and self-determination in my career after my college years. I am planning on getting a Master Degree in Business and hope to use those skills later on in the business field to help me succeed.

My experience learning about my family history is a lot different then Vargas. Vargas was kind of a negative but surprising ending where mine is different. I knew that I had some French and Canadian in me and I did a little research and found out a lot. Nothing really surprised me or effected me it was just nice to know how my family got to where we are at to this day.

Family history is a bigger deal then what many people think. It is what built you as a person it is the reason your in the United States instead of Africa or in Africa instead of the United States. Also the jobs you work in and the skills and attributes you receive from genes is passed down through generations. That is why careers are usually pretty similar. Like my ancestors worked hard in shoe shops and lumber yards to support their families. Now my parents own a business and work very hard every week to support our family. Why do you think there is the famous saying of “Like father, like son.”

In conclusion I am very glad that I research my family history. It made me realize a lot of things and aspects that go along with my family. With my ancestors hard work they basically built some major buildings in Lewiston and Auburn which is now a very busy couple of cities. Many people don’ t believe me when I say my ancestors pretty much built Lewiston- Auburn with their bare hands. I am also very glad my grandparents joined the Roman Catholic community and Religion. It allowed me to have the right of religion and learn at a very young age about the great religion of Christianity. I completed my first communion as well as got baptised at a very young age. I went to mass every Sunday with them to practice religion and follow in their footsteps.

Photo by Andreas Komodromos on Foter.com / CC BY-NC