My maternal grandfather, Roger Gionet came from Caraquet, New Brunswick. He was the product of an Irish mother and French Canadian father, one of eight children. He’s the reason I was never interested in genealogy for most of my life. The main reason is that I grew up with stories about his physical abuse, when drunk, of my grandmother and most likely all his eight children. I never saw a picture of him without a bottle of beer in his hand and a sneer on his face. There were many stories about his quitting lawful work as soon as his sons were old enough to make a living. After that he ran numbers and somehow evaded the legal consequences of that.
My mother and especially her three sisters were tight-lipped about their upbringing but it was understood that he beat my grandmother regularly. The most frightening story was that her beat her after she came back from a cancer operation and almost killed her. After that, she finally left him, a brave move for a devout Catholic of that era. She was moved from house to house for a while and finally wound up in my Aunt Rita’s house. The story was he threatened to kill everyone in the household with a gun, but I never heard that he followed through. My grandmother died there of her cancer not long afterwards. He came to the funeral and no one spoke to him. I never saw him again.
Years later when he was in his 90s and living in main at a Catholic nursing home, my eldest aunt, Bertha received a letter from the nuns asking if any of his children were willing to take on his care. My aunt wrote a letter which I never saw, detailing his treatment of his family and flatly refusing to have anything to do with him.
I saw the emotional legacy he gave his children, my mother and her sisters especially. For many years, I had little interest in tracing the family history, anticipating more unsavory forebears. But, I overcame my reluctance and discovered that my great grandfather was a teacher, and not a ne’er do well. I’m related to a family that were among the original founders of Caraquet, now the hub of the French Canadians in New Brunswick. At one point they were granted a 400 acre land grant. Through participation in multiple DNA databases, I’ve discovered a rich ancestry and links to many families who peopled the province.
I’ll always remember him as an abusive forebear, not one I’m proud of.I am sure all the stories about him are true and I never heard many details.
— Oxnard15
My mother and especially her three sisters were tight-lipped about their upbringing but it was understood that he beat my grandmother regularly. The most frightening story was that her beat her after she came back from a cancer operation and almost killed her. After that, she finally left him, a brave move for a devout Catholic of that era. She was moved from house to house for a while and finally wound up in my Aunt Rita’s house. The story was he threatened to kill everyone in the household with a gun, but I never heard that he followed through. My grandmother died there of her cancer not long afterwards. He came to the funeral and no one spoke to him. I never saw him again.
Years later when he was in his 90s and living in main at a Catholic nursing home, my eldest aunt, Bertha received a letter from the nuns asking if any of his children were willing to take on his care. My aunt wrote a letter which I never saw, detailing his treatment of his family and flatly refusing to have anything to do with him.
I saw the emotional legacy he gave his children, my mother and her sisters especially. For many years, I had little interest in tracing the family history, anticipating more unsavory forebears. But, I overcame my reluctance and discovered that my great grandfather was a teacher, and not a ne’er do well. I’m related to a family that were among the original founders of Caraquet, now the hub of the French Canadians in New Brunswick. At one point they were granted a 400 acre land grant. Through participation in multiple DNA databases, I’ve discovered a rich ancestry and links to many families who peopled the province.
I’ll always remember him as an abusive forebear, not one I’m proud of.I am sure all the stories about him are true and I never heard many details.
— Oxnard15
This so moving. I feel your anguish. What courage to seek beyond that one heart sickening ancestor to find a richness of ancestors connected to history and to you.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty rich history. I'm so sorry that your ancestor was a drunken abuser. What must have been going on in his soul? Yikes! It's fascinating, though, and it's wonderful that you are finding out about the rest of it. (Macoff)
ReplyDelete