Lauren's side
      

    I am half French and half German. I do not know much about my German side as my father died when I was two months old.  But my French side  is well traced thanks to my Aunt Esther.  Aunt Esther was president of the genealogical society here in town.  She has traced the French side back to the 1600s.  The Thibaults were from Rouin, France.  They crossed the ocean and settled in the Detroit  area.  The Charbonneaus also crossed the ocean but started out in Montreal.  They eventually ended  up in  Linwood , Michigan.  My grandfather took a trip up from Detroit to Linwood and met my grandmother. He served in the Spanish-American War in the cavalry.  He was said to be an excellent horseman.  There was a story in the local paper about him jumping off of a horse and onto a runaway wagon to save a woman and  her children. They also say he could jump from horse to horse. I wonder what my grandfather would have thought of a grandaughter who hates horseback riding.   My grandmother was a housewife and had 11 children. Only 8 of them lived. One, of course, was my mother, who used to tell me wonderful stories about all of her brothers and sisters.One more thing!! One of my distant Charbonneau cousins was married to Sacajawea .  If you click on Sacajawea you will see Charbonneau was not well liked.  As I said: He is a distant relative. ( HAHA) They traveled with Lewis and Clark on their expedition. He and Sacajawea were interpreters!!!! Thibault stories at the bottom of this page.  Lauren

Tony's side
    

I am half Italian and half Polish, but I am not sure about my Polish side. My Polish family lived on the eastern side of Poland and there could be some Russian in my heritage. My Grandfather fought in the Russo-Japanese war. All four of my grandparents immigrated to this country and arrived atEllis Island . My Italian side lived on the eastern coast of Italy on the Adriatic Sea. My last name was butchered, as many probably were, at Ellis Island. When they asked my grandfather his name he replied "Ronca" but they wrote down "Rongo". I guess he figured that that is how it was spelled in English.  My Polish side first lived on East Second Street and Avenue B in Manhattan, and my Italian side first lived in (Smile when you say that) Brooklyn.
 
 

    

                My mother; grandmother; UncleAflo                                        Grandpa Thibault

   

                My Mother; Aunt Vi. Charbonneau clan; guess which one is my mother.

   

          My mother;Uncle Johnny; Jenny and Dolly           Great-Great Grandparents; The Verniers

My grandparents wedding picture- Thibault.

Funny Thibault Stories

The eight Thibault kids that lived had a lot of fun on Fitzgerald Street. Joyce and I have put our heads together and are remembering quite a few of the stories we heard. Here are a few to enjoy;

The Swinging Pail;   My mother Alice went down to get a pail of water. The kids were teasing her (she was a little plump).  She spilled the water and came back crying.  Aunt Esther said: Give me that pail. She went down to get the water and swung the pail at all the kids that tried to tease her—and hit them!

Flying Potatoes:  Aunt Esther was never a great cook, even as a child.  One night she was making gravy and the lid came off the salt shaker. She tried to get the salt out of the gravy, but could not get it all out. Uncle Johnny yelled at her about it and made her cry.  Uncle Aflo felt badly for Aunt Esther and threw a potato at Uncle Johnny’s head.  The fight started and they both ran out of the house.

Vivory Soap; Aunt Vi being the youngest was a little on the spoiled side. My mother, Alice, often had to babysit her.   Aunt Vi wanted a bath only with “vivory soap.”  Of course they were poor and only had lye soap. My mother took a piece of lye soap and a knife and carved the word “Ivory” into it.   Aunt Vi was pleased!

The Tease:  Both of our mothers; Esther and Alice told stories of their brother Vernie.  He was a big tease and especially loved to tease his sisters.   I know he used to cheat when they played animal ( a card game).

The Ill-fated Suitor:  Aunt Mary sure had her opinion on men. I must have heard it every Sunday for years.  She hated men and made no bones about it.   On and on she would go about their bad traits.  My mother told me a story about a suitor who came to their house on Fitzgerald Street. He sat on the porch rocking chair and started to play a romantic song on his uke and sing to Aunt Mary.  She came outside and pushed him right off of the porch.

The Opera Singer:  Aunt Rosie loved to sing. As a young girl she would practice her scales for hours in an operatic voice.   One day a note came under the door on Fitzgerald Street.  It said:
You think yourself an opera singer with vocal chords so sweet
But all the boys on Fitzgerald Street say: The old cats got you beat.
My mother said Aunt Rosie cried all day after reading that note.

Learning to drive:  When my mother Alice was nine years old, Johnny was teaching her to drive.  She accidentally put the Model T into reverse and almost ran over Uncle Johnny. He hit her with his hat.

The Big Feet:  My mother Alice was in line at Catholic school and her feet were sticking out. One of the nuns tripped on her foot.  She told my mother to move her big feet.  My mother said, “My feet aren’t any bigger than yours.”  The nun proceeded to hit my mother.  Aunt Esther was so mad that she would NOT go back to Catholic school.

White-haired baby;  Aunt Rosie went to Catholic school and told the nuns she had a baby sister with white hair. They proceeded to spank her. Aunt Mary was so upset—the next day she took the white-haired baby to school to prove it to the nuns. That baby was Alice.
 
 

This is Tony's Dad back in the day. One hell of a drummer!!

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