I'm Carolyn Halstead (1939 - 2010)

Bonjour !
Allow me to introduce myself.

I'm Carolyn Halstead and my mother was Roxalena Garcelon,

named for her grandmother.
Our family is from Charleston, West Virginia.
Through my mother I'm a 7th generation descendant of Pierre Garcelon and you can see my lineage at this website: http://www.tamingthetree.tribalpages.com/ . Click: Home > Index under J > then Carolyn Jones (my maiden name) and reading from left to right follow a straight line through the male Garcelons until you reach Pierre.

My mother and I have always been proud of our heritage and I studied French in college (but taught Spanish for many years) and about 25 years ago she and I made a trip to Guernsey to explore our past.

In 2006 I googled Pierre Garcelon's name and came up with some of his original letters and other material in one of the private collections in the Bowdoin College Library in Brunswick, Maine.
As luck would have it, soon afterward I passed through there and Lewiston on a road trip and managed to have a look at the letters and some of the other items.

After returning very inspired from the trip and with a little more time to devote, I googled Pierre's name again and found a website about ongoing Garcelon research being conducted in France by Francois and Renee Vaillant.Francois' mother was a Garcelon, too.
Although I know relatively little about the American Garcelons and even less about the French ones, I've always been curious about my French roots.
The Vaillants are thorough researchers and adept at using modern technology. They are fortunate as well to have early records more at hand in France which they are able to read in old French!
They know the people and the area where Pierre was born and lived.
This past summer I had the good fortune to join them for a few days in Auvergne, in the center of France, where Mauriac and Clermont are located. Mauriac is near where Pierre was born.
In addition, for two weeks in September 2008, there will be an exhibition on the Garcelons in a public library in Mauriac and prepared by the Vaillants. It would be fascinating if some of the American descendants could attend and meet some of the French Garcelons. If you haven't seen the area, this would provide a perfect opportunity to do so.
The Garcelons I met were warm and welcoming and rather surprised to see me as I seem to have been the first American Garcelon to have visited that lovely area in France.
The Vaillants showed me around and are very engaging and delightful people. They have asked me to bring the website to your attention. My next project is to translate the site into English.
They welcome their American "cousins" to share online their own family information, such as pictures, letters and documents pointing to our "French connection" and about their family's life in America: where they came from, where they lived and what kind of work they did. We would like very much to add to the section on American Garcelons.
The site is at http://garcelon.free.fr .
Francois' e-mail address is :  fr-vaillant@sfr.fr   + 
Please make your other Garcelon acquaintences aware of this website and e-mail Francois and introduce yourselves and tell us about your area of interest.

With my best regards,
Carolyn Halstead

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