Monthly Archives: August 2016
The Acadians of York County – Few but not Forgotten
A threat to security; a liability on the public purse; unwanted and unwelcome. Those sentiments have been applied to today’s refugees, especially this election cycle – but they were also the feelings of many New Englanders to the thousands of Acadians who found themselves placed in towns across Massachusetts (including the District of Maine) in […]
Moses in the Wilderness (of Waterville)
They hardly dared believe their eyes – several had not seen [a priest] in seventeen years Thus was Moïse Fortier, a youthful 27 year-old parish priest, received on a visit to Waterville in 1841. Fortier had been dispatched by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Bishop of Quebec to minister to the […]
“The World’s Greatest College Athlete” – and Maine Olympian – Robert Legendre
When the United States Olympic athletes appear in the opening ceremonies of the 2016 games in Rio, they’ll be wearing shoes made in Auburn by Rancourt & Co., a Franco-American family company with deep roots in the city’s shoemaking history. But they won’t be the first Franco-American contribution of Maine’s Twin Cities to the Games. […]
Lewiston’s Rum War Brought Violence, Graft – and no Shortage of Booze
You might as well try to stop the Androscoggin River from flowing, as to try and stop the sale of drink here. That was the gloomy assessment of Napoléon Lajeunesse, the Deputy Marshall (the equivalent of the Deputy Chief of Police) for the City of Lewiston, Maine, in 1893. Futile or not, Maine’s temperance forces […]