Monday, March 11, 2013

French Blue At Heart

Good morning sweet friends!
Spring is coming...at least on the calendar.
For those of you who have recently begun to follow me,
My paternal great grandparents not only came from France
but were also first cousins.
Rosemary and Matthew started their romance in France.
Now even though marrying cousins was not unheard of in Europe at the time,
her parents did not want this union for their daughter.
So they whisked her off on an ocean liner to Canada
to make a new life.
Little did they know that she told Matthew
 where they were going...
and he headed to Canada on the next boat.
The year was 1873.
Rosemary and Matthew Husson
married a year later,
moved over to Port Sanilac Michigan and raised
their nine children on a 1000 acre farm.
When their four boys were ready to move on,
they divided there farm into 250 acre parcels,
 William, Frank and Charles (my grampa)
each then started their own farms.
The original homestead of 250 acres
 was to go to the eldest boy Albert,
 however he chose not to become a farmer.
The homestead then went to their unmarried daughter Barbara.
Now the other daughters were given dowries and not land. 

That sounds like a lot of land to afford,
but back then there was no property tax.
My grampa Charlie and Aunt Barbara were the youngest of the clan.
When my Aunt passed, she willed the homestead and land to my grandpa.
When grandpa H passed, my gramma sold the old homestead.
So being part French,
I have a soft spot for French Blue enamelware,
and anything else in the french blue color.

French Blue Blessings To All!
Janice




12 comments:

  1. Janice that is an interesting story shared by you. Love the french blues too.
    My ex father in law was french (Canada) and loved to here him speak it when famil was visiting.
    Hugs
    Earlene

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  2. Morning Janice, wonderful story.....LOVE the french blues to, great collections you have, I spy a beautiful enamel pitcher, drooling, :) Francine.

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  3. Beautiful piece of Family history.
    Love conquers all. :)
    Love your post and beautiful French enamelware.
    Woolie hugs
    Trace

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  4. Janice, I LOVE to hear or read about LOVE stories. I LOVE the French enamel ware just BEAUTIFUL!

    I LOVE, LOVE the coffee tins you collect I have only one.
    I am DROOLING over them, beautiful collection.
    Great blog post as always.
    Think Spring.
    Hugs,
    Tricia

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  5. I enjoyed hearing your family story. Why do we like certain things? From love that gets passed down along with the parcels of land. The enamelware is beautiful.

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  6. Wonderful story! It's always fun to hear about where we came from...our ancestors. The blue enamelware is so pretty and it's so nice to see a collection of something different and new!
    Have a great week,
    Robyn

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  7. How romantic that your great-granddad jumped a boat to another country to find his love! My grandparents are all French Canadian too. Love the French Blue goodies Janice! ~*~Lisa

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  8. Loved the story! Wouldn't it be wonderful to still have the old homestead.

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  9. What a great story! That does explain your love for "French" blue! Have a great week, Dawn

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  10. What a wonderful story! Love all your french blues!!!
    Prim Blessings
    Robin

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  11. Hi Janice,

    What beautiful rich history you have in your family! I loved reading that story! And I love that French Blue!

    Blessings,
    Tammy

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