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.)