A Field Guide to French Peoples

In the seventeenth century
In Picardie, France,
Lived a man named Eduoard Mereau.
His son was named Pierre.

His grandson was named
Mathurin Mereau Laplume;
The additional surname
Indicates that at this point
It was adopted
Either to indicate
Mathurin’s occupation
Or residence.

At any rate,
Mathurin
Is additionally interesting,
As he marries
Marie-Thérèse Harnois,
Who is born
Not in France
But Quebec, Canada.

The second Mathurin,
Eduoard’s great-grandson,
Living into the nineteenth century,
Is likewise 
Born in Quebec,
Indicating
Quite plainly
That it was the first Mathurin
Who not only obtained
The present surname
But journeyed
To Canada.

Three generations later,
Wilfred Laplume
Gives birth to Ovila,
Who is born 
In Woonsocket, Rhode Island,
But marries Germaine L’Hereux,
Born in Quebec,
The last direct connection there.

Wilfred ends his years
Estranged from Ovila’s children,
Including my father,
The last generation 
To speak French.

Of the grandchildren 
To emerge from this branch
So far,
There are two Lamson-LaPlumes,
A Webb, and two Willsons.

(A small disclaimer:
The work on evidence here
Is provisional 
And incomplete,
But exhibits 
A fascinating past,
Previously shrouded
In unfortunate mystery.)

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