Eight years ago, a barren tongue of land of half a dozen acres or so…today peopled with from 1,200 to 2,000 people, according to how you estimate, with almost 200 tenement houses… And yet they talk of Western booms. The growth of Lewiston’s “Little Canada” district was as rapid and astounding to those who witnessed […]
In 1897, the Franco-American national society of Lewiston, Maine, held a parade to mark the 25th anniversary of its founding. The Institut Jacques-Cartier had helped the community celebrate the feast of Saint John the Baptist – La Saint-Jean – every year on June 24th, but the 1897 parade was a special occasion. In addition to celebrating the […]
In 1886, the school board of the city of Augusta noted that as more French Canadians were coming to the city, they were increasingly bringing their families with them, or starting families in their new homeland. As a result, the committee recommended that these young “French scholars” be educated in the city’s public school system. […]
Pride. Character. Betterment. A few of the reasons Aimée McDuff of Brunswick gave his friend Philias Morin for his enlistment in the US Army in the fall of 1917. McDuff, a Franco-American, enlisted in the Engineer Corps, but transferred to the Medical Corps where his ability to speak French was highly valued. McDuff’s letter was written from […]
In several histories of the Catholic church in Bucksport, Maine, the tradition is maintained that the earliest members of that faith to settle in the town came from Quebec around 1835 – a distance of 200 miles – on foot. Remarkable as this is, the backstories of some of these families may be even more […]
Our element, like all others, maybe even more than all others – bound by tradition and character – must get involved, and cooperate. Such was the firm pronouncement of La Justice of Biddeford, Maine, on its front page for April 12, 1917, just a few days after the US Congress had declared war on Germany. The prominent column, entitled […]
It would be easy to write about the long history of strife between Maine’s Franco-American and Irish communities. The two immigrant groups fought for dominance in many of Maine’s mill towns in the 19th century, and for control of the Catholic Church in the state. Fistfights were common. However, on this Saint Patrick’s Day, […]
Less than a century since the Maine legislature was engaged in passing laws restricting the use of French in public schools, restricting the ability of French Canadians to naturalize, and imposing literacy tests on voters, French was heard in the halls of the state house. At least a dozen New Mainers – immigrants to […]
“Fun for all, and all for fun,” was the verdict of one local newspaper; “a Mardi Gras” reminiscent of the pre-prohibition era, according to another. On the weekend of 7-8 February, 1925, eight hundred French Canadian snowshoers descended on the city of Lewiston, Maine (population 30,000), for two days of revelry and winter sports. The festivities, […]
American thanksgivings are characterized by slabs of roasted meat, free-flowing liquor and good cheer. This tradition is usually traced to the Pilgrim Fathers, and a feast they shared with the local Indians at Plymouth (Massachusetts) in 1621. However, it’s now widely accepted that there are many other possible origins for the tradition of Thanksgiving, including Spanish celebrations […]
