The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-07
FRENCH CANADIAN Event.
PROPOSED REUNION OF DESCEND
ANS OF FAMILIES DRIVEN
FROM ACADIE IN 1855
SCATTERED OVER MIDDLE WEST
Some Towns Still Maintain Charnc-
teristics of the Past, Notably
BOurbOnnais in IL
IinOis.

PlopdpIy occur during the autumn. 1t is
expected that the Canadian congress will
issue an order calling together all the de-
scendants of those old French families,
that were expelled from Acadie in 1855
for a reunion
1t is little known that hundreds, per-
haps thousands, of families tracing their
| descent directly to Acadian sources are
scattered IN small agricultural communi-
ties all over the Middle West, from Wis
consin to Louisiana. They are called
Acadians even today in the upper portion
of Louisiana, where the majority has set
| tied
In fact, the only points of picturesque
and historic value now remaining IN that
! section of the country are these little
french-Canadian settlements scarcely
| ever visited, seldom written of, vet of
such unique interest and charm They
are situated all along through the valley
OF the Mississippi, quaint Isolated.
French-spea)1ing villages, fringing the
| borders Of little rivers like the gentle
! bend of f1eur-de-lis over the streams of
! Normandy and Brittany
/ Many of them settled by the descend
ants of those Acadians who were expelled
from Port Royal in i155, hold today all
| the charm, the manner and custom that
for instance, Kaskaskia and Bourbonnais
Some that were established as fur-trading
posts have grated on them other calls Of
commerce and of settlement, and have
so mingled blOods and forged ahead that
the French nhYsiognomy is dwarfed anf
all but obliterated, as in Chicago, St.
Louis, and Prairie Gu Chen. kaskaskia.
Momence, Bourbonnais-thcse have lost
nothing of the fragrance of the fleur-de-
| lis. and of these Bourbonrais is first
This small French Village is situated in
Kankakee county, fifty miles southwest
of Chicago. 1t is thrown, just the hand
full of it, like les fieurs des cerises, off
from the banks of the kanilakee river,
quite in the heart of the little hills and
groves of trees three miles beyond the
city of kankakee. A church spire, clark
as French eyes, slender and full of grace,
embraced by the misty tops of soft viii
lows gold statue of lie Occur Sacre
high on the doomed turret of St. Vim
tours college; the tender leaning Of flow
ers against the stained walls of old Aca-
dian fashioned houses; In. the spring time
such feverish burst of apple blossoms
white and tremulous, against a sunset
sky, and then at veSpers the low voice OF
a young French priest chanting the Ave
Maria, this is Bourbonnais, Bourban-
nais in the month of May, gentle and full
OF quiet, overlooking with the new wine
of the wind of spring" The sky IS blue
as the robe of the Sainte Verge, the air
is clean and cool, and all the village
,penetrates like those sweet notes of the
meadow lark as it nestles to quiet in the
fields at night.
There are stories here. Every house
OH la rue de PEglise, from Sanasec's pOr-
tique past lie barber, Pentrepreneur de
tombe lie docteur, lie marchand, la pres
bytere, to les barriere du convent, each
&c ST. all n tha okoY.
road the old mali highway, on which the
first settlers used TO drive their oxen
loads of grain clear to Chicago, this still
remains as 1t was, FYageole's stone house
and the old Legris tavern nodding gray
and sleepy over its edge like les viex set
tleurs themselves. And les Vieux set
tleurs! They are the soEs and daughters
of les voyageurs, les coureur des bois,
the fur traders, whose adventurous his
tories light up the waters of the Missis-
sippi and all the Middle West They still
preserve in all it's Acadian fervor and
simplicity the faith of their forefathers
1t is remarkable that within so short a
distance from st. Louis and Chicago a
settlement like Bourbonnais should exist
1t is so entirely out of things, as clois
tered from 1.-THE pomp of the world, the |
flesh, and the DEVIL as though it. too |
like it's young sisterhoOd, had avowed itself |
to virgtnity, and, clothed in the white |
veil, consecrated its beauty to oblivion
1t was named from Francois Bourbon |
nals, Canadian FFenchman, who settled |
there with an Indian wife at the begin |
ming of the century. 1t was hut log |
cabin deep in the forests, this beginning |
of Bourbonnais- For all the growth it |
had 1t might as we'll have been still-born, |
for not until the advent of Noel Levas- !
seur did it achieve a spark of life. Le-
Vasseur was a Frenchman, with the
Of
st. Louis, the energy, the executive abil-
ity, the personal force. Thus at the start |
Bourbonnais had promise. The French
gathered from all parts of Canada and |
settled in the new Acadie Lacasseur |
was trader and Bourboanais became |
one of the posts of the American Fur |
company, as well as an agricultural com |
munity.
The Granger family settled there sixty |
years ago. That family has had a most |
interesting history, holding anew another |
story of Evangeline
The founder of the family was an Eng
lIsh gentleman, Lawrence Granger. who
cane TO Port Royal, Nova Scotia. with
an English squadron late In the seven
teenth century. He married a beautiful
French girl, daughter of one of the first
families In Acadia, Marie landry. Their
descendants suffered the fate of all the
Acadians in the expulsion of 1855. and
CHARLES Granger, his grandson, was cast
ashore IN the woods of Connecticut with
ms COUSIN whom he afterward married.
Ihelr son, Jean Baptiste became
comreur de bois and voyager. He can,e
TO ST Louis and was present at the
naming or that city. He married Marie
Angelique Gregoire i'll 1894, and their son
DaVld Granger, settled in Bourbonnais
Grove with his family. The Rev. Adolf
Pnus Granger pastor of the largest
french church in KankaIkee, is the son
OF David Granger Father Granger is
an authority on French CANADIAN his
tory, and has made special study of
the old Acadian families and settlements
in the United States 80
The first glimpses of vthe VILLAGE ora
charming. An electric car line extends
from + akee through Bradley. a small
% town, quite to the end of
BourbonnaiS. 1t IS like passing along +ho
bare, stripped branch of a November +ree
and suddenly leaping into a sweet full
ness of f1owers-comme les feurs dos
cerfses. In May it is best, when il is
all gold with sun and dandelions and
green with the wonderful color of spring
and the houses under the fretted shad-
OWs or the young leaves are painted in
soft colors, are white and rain-washed
and do not stare hard at the eye. One
passes swiftly the house of HypoIfte
the dairyman. It is like fluff
and Whit of scented lace under the
trees, with its curves and turns of min
ute wood carving, but 1t is gone like a
French grisette, and then gray toned,
1uiet with clean white trimmings like
Evangeline turned nun comes the house
Of Moses Narcotic, simple, stately. Each
little house is adorned with flowers, each
with white curtains, each is blinking
sleepily like the old French towns of
Normandy and Picardy and along the
shores of the ST. Lawrence All the
French towns except st. Louis have the
sleepy tone, and yawn from the growing
of tha cock and the K.snria EEIoi-o.. nm