I’ve been reading “Augustin Davignon and André Brault dit Chaillot, Brothers-in-law of Winsooki Falls, Vermont,” by Michael F. Dwyer and Susan L. Valley in the Winter 2016 issue of The NEHG Register.

I’m not related to the families mentioned in the article and the French-Canadians I’m researching did not move into the area discussed in the article. In fact, the ones I’m working on moved into Clinton County, New York, approximately twenty years after the French-Canadians in the article migrated.

But that doesn’t mean the article might not give me some insight into researching the French-Canadians that I’m working on. There’s some general comments about the family’s continued ties to the church in their former area of residence. That’s something I really had not thought too much about with the French Canadians I’m working on. Most of my personal research in migrants who went to a different nation is with people who crossed the ocean.

That makes it difficult to go back for baptisms and other church acts.

There’s also example after example of first and last name variants based upon how English speakers rendered French names. While one can think of how these names may be rendered, it’s helpful to see how the variant spellings have been connected and can give some insight into how names were pronounced and interpreted.

I was hoping to also get some insight into Vermont local records. However the time period of the article is after the time when my own, non-French-Canadian ancestors lived there.

But it never hurts to read something not directly related to your family.

You may even learn something.