Brault Family History & Genealogy

Brault-The Journey by Lynette Baker Dow

My ancestors are of French origin. The story of their struggle to have a better life for themselves and their children is the basis of this family history. Originally published in Lifelines Volume 12, Number 1-Whole Number 22, 1995.

French Origins
To secure a foothold in the fishing and fur trades the French kings enlisted some of their seaport merchants for assistance. The agreement consisted of a promise to secure a permanent settlement in exchange for a monopoly on the fish trade. Unfortunately, the merchants did not provide the colonists with enough supplies and so forced these stouthearted people to become self sufficient quickly.

The two regions the French found most compelling were the peninsula and land surrounding the territory called Acadia, and the St. Lawrence Valley, known as Canada.

Sigurd de Monts and Samuel de Champlain started the first settlement in 1604. LaRochelle, in France, primarily backed the settlement of Port Royal, Acadia (today Annapolis Royal) in 1613.

The French who settled Acadia quickly developed a new Acadian culture that was unique in many ways. Historical and political events shaped the Acadian's features changed forever individual family groups. Although Acadians found life very difficult during the period after France lost control and England took control. The difficulties and forced change made strong people who responded positively in the face of insurmountable odds (1).

As early as 1613, the friction between the French and English took form when under the English Port Royal was raided, which was commenced by Captain Samuel Argall of Virginia. Attempts at reorganization of Port Royal in the 1620s failed because monetary resources were not available. Struggles for power in Acadia took place during 1627 and 1632 between groups of English and French baronets.

Louis XIII commissioned Charles de la Tour to be Lieutenant General of Acadia on February 11, 1631. In May of 1632 Isaac de Raizlly became governor of Acadia and brought along Seigneur d'Aulnay Charnisy as his lieutenant. However, when de Raizlly died in 1636 a rivalry developed between d'Aulnay and Charles de la Tour. In 1651 la Tour secured a patent as Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Acadia.

Most French came to New France by means of recruitment. Merchants and entrepreneurs intended to recruit skilled workers, but most of the people who embarked for Acadia turned out to be apprentices or peasants. Upon fulfillment of the contract between intendant and worker, most of the so called artisans became traders or habitants. Of the 1,200 military men sent by King Louis XIV to New France, some officers and men stayed, in Acadia, permanently.

Many of the French came from Aunis, Angoumois, Poitou, and Saintonge, located in the central and western regions of France. My Brault ancestor is the subject of this history.

Vincent Brault, the ancestor who emigrated to Acadia about 1650, came from La Chaussee (Vienne), located in central France in the northern part of Poitou, ten miles west of Lodun. Vincent was accompanied by his sister, Renee, and his brother-in-law, and other peasants from the La Chaussee area on this journey. Charles de Menou d'Aulnay, probably recruited them from lands he owned in and around La Chaussee.

The relative isolation of the village of La Chaussee from any large city made Seigneur d'Aulnay a powerful man. As history testifies, d'Aulnay was the principal colonizer of Acadia.

The Brault name is derived from Gaul-Germanic Beroaldus, and is a very old name borne by many French families in this area (2). The Brault's of LaChausse May have originated in an area called Brault near the village of Derce in Viennes. Le Chateau de Brault, is a stone country house that dates from the sixteenth century.

In the mid 1600s the way to get from LaChausse to La Rochelle, took about a week by foot and was approximately 112 miles long. The most common route was a road that went by Poitres and Niort to La Rochelle, a town on the western side of Poitou on the Atlantic Ocean. It was a convenient place for Emmanuel Le Boegne, d'Aulnay's business agent, to live since La Rochelle monopolized shipping to Acadia during this time. Vincent Brault most likely took this route to La Rochelle where he became an engage, i. e., he signed a document before a notary, to work exclusively for an individual for a specified period of time. Many of these agreements still exist and undoubtedly the contract provided for passage to Acadia. Routinely the engage received half his wages in advance to buy clothes and tools before embarking on the trip to Acadia. Records show that hundreds of colonists, i. e., recruits, passed through La Rochelle, France on their way to Acadian ships. They usually set sail at Easter time to ensure a safe return well before winter.

While many surely dreamed of a better life in Acadia, the passage on board the ship took its toll on everyone. Often passengers waited in port for weeks before setting sail. Once underway the voyage usually lasted about two months. As no passenger ships existed in the seventeenth century, square-rigged galleons or pinnaces made the trips to the colony.

Noblemen and clergy fared better on board, in the captain's quarters, than the colonist. The colonists slept with the animals in tight, confined space where sickness such as dysentery, yellow fever, scurvy, and sea sickness plagued them. Piracy was always a great risk on the sea. In times of war, being taken a prisoner by the enemy was, also, a threat. Routinely ships left La Rochelle traveled north-west along the French coast, where at Brittany, they headed west for Newfoundland's Grand Bank.

Acadian Life
Port Royal at the Bay of Fundy was an early settlement of the French. Later, during the reign of Queen Anne, the British renamed the town Annapolis Royal after her.

In 1650, approximately 300 French people lived in and around Port Royal. About half of these numbers consisted of families. The seigneurial, or French feudal ownership of land, came to the colony as well. A seigneur is a title of distinction frequently of nobility, very often presupposing ownership of land and certain fiscal, judicial and political authority. The implication of kinship, patronage, and service binding one man to another extended into the roturier class. A peasant who was a copy holder or tenant-farmer was to some extent regarded as the vassal of his seigneur (3). Many colonists owned land through d'Aulnay, they paid dues and owed duties to him. There is a good chance that Vincent Brault, as an engage, farmed the land owned by d'Aulnay. In Acadia, d'Aulnay's chief rival, Charles de la Tour, dropped out of sight in 1645, and d'Aulnay, himself, died in a canoeing accident in 1650. In 1654 the English seized control of Acadia under Oliver Cromwell, which they held until 1670. The French, in a series of moves, fled away from the English by going further up the river. However, the Treaty of Breda in 1667, restored Acadia to France and by 1670, the French controlled the colony once again.

The census of 1671, revealed that the Acadian population totaled 500 people. Vincent Brault, age 40, had a family consisting of a wife, Marie Borg, age 25, and their four children: Marie, age nine; Antoine, age five; Marguerite, age three; Pierre, age one; nine head of cattle, seven sheep, and four arpents of plowed land. Vincent Brault died in 1686 at the age of fifty-five years. Marie Bourg, his widow, stayed in Port Royal with her son Jean Brault, born in 1675. According to the census of 1714, they still lived in the vicinity of Port Royal. Marie Bourg, died at the age of 86 on September 19, 1730.

Eventually, along the Annapolis River small villages, largely made up of families, flourished. The Acadians hunted, gathered berries, fished, and farmed the land. They used salt to preserve meat and fish for use during the winter. Bark canoes comprised the most popular form of travel, and most learned to manage one skillfully.

About 1670, when the French regained control of Acadia, some young Port Royal settlers decided to make a fresh start. They migrated up the Bay of Fundy to the Chignecto and Minus Bay area. In 1707, 580 people resided in these areas.

The settlers planted oats, wheat, peas, and other vegetables in the tidal marshland and apple orchards in the countryside. The Acadians also, took part in trade with New England merchants. The merchants traveled up the Bay of Fundy seeking to barter tools, textiles, sugar, and spices for Acadian furs, fish, surplus grain, and livestock.

In 1701, Vincent Brault's sons joined the earliest settlements in these areas. My ancestor Francois Brault, born in 1674 at Port Royal, moved with his brothers, to Rivere-aux-Canards near Grand Pre. In those days, it was common to see closely grouped farms with the same family name villages. In 1755, the Villages des Brault, at Rivber-aux-Canards, included twenty different families.

Nearly all Acadians farmed the lands. The tidal marshes were remarkably fertile. Acadians drained the tidal marshes, because the tide (could surge to 46 feet) often covered the land in the Minas Bay and the Bay of Fundy. The Acadians reclaimed the land by building dikes at low tide. Deep clumps of turf comprised the dikes. These clumps were banks of overturned turf about five feet high and ten feet wide at the base, and tapering to one or two feet wide at the top, efficiently stopping tidal waters. Grass grew over the top of the low causeway. Sluices cut into the wall to channel the water, and were fitted with clapper valve gates. They permitted in fresh water from streams and rainfall, but prevented sea water from seeping back in at high tide (4). However, it took rainfalls of up to two or three years to wash away the remains of the salt water.

The Acadians were clannish. More often than not, married sons lived in their parent's houses. Respect for elders, especially parents, played an important role in Acadian society. Families living in a proximity to each other, often banded together to do work for the family as a unit. Acadian hospitality, and deference to parent's religious devotion portrays the deeply rooted virtues of the Acadians. Somehow after doing my research I more fully understand my ethnic roots.

Grand Pre population grew rapidly between 1686 and 1714. It grew from 57 persons to 1,000 in only 28 years. Therefore, new arrivals settled further up the Minus Basin in two parishes called L'Assumption (now Windsor) and Saint-Famille (now Falmouth). The Braults settled in these new areas.

By 1700, an entirely new set of traditions developed separately from the original French settlers that were now Acadian. When no priest was available the oldest member that could be found celebrated a "White Mass," that is, led the group in religious services.

Normally, Acadians built their homes of logs filled with clay. These simple houses became popular by the uncertainty of the times. In the event the Acadians had to leave the enemy could find nothing of value left behind. When their enemies appeared, the settlers fled to the woods with their few belongings and their cattle. As there were no road to speak of, the waterways were the chief mode of transportation among the Acadians. The early Acadians were very successful at fishing, hunting, lumbering, and live stock breeding. The Acadians being so resourceful and successful at the salting of fish and meat, were able to send surpluses regularly to France.

The Acadians tanned their own leather, made their own soap, furniture, and spun their own clothing using wither wool or flax. When spring arrived the maple sap ran freely, and the Acadians gathered it and boiled it into syrup. They also enjoyed spruce beer. Still, they relied on outsiders for goods such as metal for bars, guns, ammunition, and salt needed for fur trading with the Indians.

In 1701 the first school opened its doors in Port Royal under the direction of Sister Chausson, a French nun. Long before the school opened French missionaries taught the Acadian youth. Through 1714, French secular priest organized education for the children.

Important church feast days were celebrated with processions and hymns. The Acadians were happy self-reliant people of Gallic background. They always clung to the nature of the French, living more day to day than thinking about the future. It is said that Acadians enjoyed "violent horse racing," and adventurous fishing expeditions. Among the virtues of the Acadians were courage, being practical, thrifty, sober, healthy, hospitable, interested in social equality, marital fidelity, religious piety, and cheerfulness. During the long winters, the tradition of many old French songs and dances were kept alive with there frequent use by the Acadians. Acadian descendants still enjoy these traditions today.

Acadian Deportation
Seventeen-ten, marks the moment of decline of French power in North America. That year Port Royal fell and shortly afterward the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 recognized British sovereignty over most of the territory known today as Nova Scotia. However, the area of Cape Breton Island remained a French possession, also the territory later known as New Brunswick and Maine.

Under these circumstances the French urged the Acadians to migrate to Cape Breton, but few persons took this advice. Giving up a stable life for one of uncertainty did not appeal to the Acadians. The struggle for power in Acadia between the French and English manifested itself in raids by French upon English settlements and shipping. Through these disputes Acadians tried to remain neutral. The English in Nova Scotia recognized representatives of the Acadians. Notaries and deputies played an important role by representing acadian interests.

Matters grew increasingly complicated by French plans to build a high fortress city on the western part of Cape Breton, named Louisbourg. Construction of Louisbourg began in 1720. It was important to the French strategically. It was at the entrance to the Cabot Strait, the establishment of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. Therefore, Louisbourg became a symbol of French power in North America. For twenty years France poured vast sums of money into building the most advanced military fortress to protect French interests in North America.

Inevitably, the English in Nova Scotia requested the Acadians to take an Oath of Allegiance to the English Crown. Their efforts were largely unsuccessful, as the Acadians would not raise a hand against France.

In 1745, invaders from New England, consisting of over five thousands troops, attacked and captured Louisbourg. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, returned control of Louisbourg to France, but peace did not last. Hostilities began again in 1754 with the French and Indian War. British forces came from Massachusetts and Nova Scotia to invade and capture French outposts in the Chignecto Isthmus (Note: This isthmus borders the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America.), namely Fort Beausejour and Fort Gaspereau. The British considered the newly built French outposts to be located on British land. The British intended to isolate Louisbourg from Quebec, as the French forts encircling British strongholds were proving to be a threat to them.

Problems began for the Acadians when they said they would take an Oath of Allegiance to the King of England. The French, of Acadia, said they would take the oath under the condition that they would never take up arms against France. The Acadians said that if forced to take an unqualified oath they would voluntarily leave their homeland rather than fight against France. The Acadians who stayed in Nova Scotia persevered to the end refusing to take the unqualified oath of allegiance to the English King.

It all began on July 16, 1755, when the inhabitants of Annapolis Royal (formerly Port Royal) met and drafted their answer to Charles Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia. Upon receipt of the Acadians refusal to take the oath, Lawrence told the Council that the Acadians would no longer be subjects of Britain, as they had been since 1710. The English had tolerated the Acadian position for twenty-five years, because they were dependent on the Acadians for food. Fear that the Acadians would join the French forces at Louisbourg led the British to declare deportation of the Acadians.

On July 28, 1755, on Governor Lawrence's orders and under Lieut. Col. Winslow's command, Massachusett's volunteers executed Lawrence's orders of deportation. Approximately 9,500 Acadians inhabited the territory at that time. The deportation was called Le Grand Derangement, or The Great Uprooting. The first round-up of Acadians took place at Fort Beausejour, followed by Annapolis Royal, Pisquid (Fort Edward), and Grand Pre.

Lawrence gave the orders to Lieut. Col. Winslow, but kept them secret so that the inhabitants would not take their cattle and escape before deportation. At deportation, the English took all the Acadians livestock and grain to help pay for their passage to the English colonies.

The ships filled with the Acadians, had several destinations, including: North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Connecticut.

Lawrence was ruthless in removing the Acadians. He ordered Lt. Col. Winslow to deprive those who escaped deportation by burning all their property and possessions. Therefore, they had no means of substance in Acadia. Moreover, he told Murray, another of his men, that he should take whatever measures necessary if the Acadians put up a fight.

On August 9, 1755, Acadians still inhabited Pointe Beausejour on the Isthmus of Chignecto. Lawrence ordered a meeting. Upon arrival all persons became prisoners and were put aboard ships, and not all peacefully. On August 26, 1755, Lt. de Boishebert, the French commander, with the help of a group of Indians made a surprise attack on two hundred English troops. They had been burning villages on the Peticodiac River. This episode enabled two hundred families to escape deportation. They fled to the St. John River, New Brunswick, and Quebec.

The events at Grand Pre truly illustrates the brutal reality of the Acadians deportation. A proclamation by Gov. Lawrence said that all Acadians should attend a meeting, September 5, 1755, at the church in Grand Pre. When the meeting commenced Winslow took everyone prisoner. He told them they had to give up all their possessions except personal items that could be carried on board ship. The Acadians did not know the destination of the ships, more often than not families became divided. They boarded different ships and never saw each other again, because the ships had different destinations.

The English deported Village des Brault from Grand pre on October 27, 1755, at Rivere-aux-Canards on the Minas Basin, was among those deported from Grand Pre. He had married Marguerite Bariault in 1745 at Grand Pre. About 6,000 Acadians left Acadia between 1749 and 1752 on their own volition.

Conditions on the ships were intolerable, with overcrowding being one of the greatest problems. Many sick and elderly died during the voyage to the English colonies. The most traumatic event was leaving behind everything they had known. Many Acadians hid quantities of money and other effects that were of value to them. Often the English found these valuables and confiscated them. The Acadians were forced to leave homes, churches, land, and cemeteries that they had known for several generations.

This tragic episode in history inspired the American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write the poem, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadia in 1847. It is the story of a maiden's thirty year search for her fiancé after the deportation in 1755. She finally finds him on his deathbed.

The deportation of Alexis and Marguerite Brault along with many others in the family led them to Hingham, Massachusetts in 1755. Naturally, life in Protestant Massachusetts was far from idyllic for the Acadians. The townspeople disliked the responsibility thrust upon them. Often families had to move several times to find a home. Acadians found limited employment opportunities. Men and boys found work on farms, fishing, and as laborers. While the women and girls worked as spinners, weavers, and as servants. Some friendships developed between the English and the Acadians, but the many years of bitterness between the two adversaries inhibited many good relationships. Also, anti-Catholic sentiment made life very difficult for the Acadians.

After the Treaty of Paris in 1764, the Acadians given the opportunity to move at their will, went the the French settlements of Quebec, Louisiana, or the Canadian Maritimes.

Alexis Brault played an important role in obtaining permission for Acadians to migrate to Quebec. Alexis served as a member of a delegation chosen by the Massachusetts legislature sent to Quebec in March of 1766. There he obtained permission on April 28, 1766, from Gov. Murray allowing the Acadians to migrate to Quebec.

The entire family except for their son, Firmin, who moved to Louisiana, migrated to L'Assumption, Quebec north of Montreal. Firmin went on to found Breaux-Bridge, LA. My ancestor, Charles Alexis Brault, son of Alexis was probably born in Hingham, MA about 1757.

Three years later, in 1770, Alexis Brault and his family settled in L'Acadie until the migration to Clinton County in New York State.

Another branch of the Brault family left on a ship from Pointe Beausejour for Halifax, but they never arrived. During a storm the ship sailed off course and landed on the Island of Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland. Once they arrived safely on the Island, none wanted to leave. Eventually this family migrated to the St. Lawrence Valley region.

Migration to the United States
Samuel de Champlain discovered and gave name to the north-south waterway, we still today, call Lake Champlain. Settlement of lands on the western shore, by other than Amerindians, was by the French-Canadians in areas around their forts, previous to 1755. There were some Yankee settlement prior to the American Revolution of 1776-81, but the major influx of Yankees came after the War when land grants were given by the new government to pay for the favors of war.

French migration to Clinton County in northern New York is the result of geographical and historical events. Lake Champlain lies strategically between the Green Mountains in Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains in New York. The Indians called the Champlain Valley Canadiere Guarunte, meaning Gate to the Country. The Champlain Valley was the logical route of migration as Lake Champlain is connected to the Richelieu River, which flows into the St. Lawrence, on through Cabot Straight, and then to the Atlantic ocean. Geographical factors such as the extreme elevation of the Adirondacks to the southwest blocked traffic flowing in these directions. This extreme elevation sloping to the north-east created a very narrow lake plain.

Point au Roche settled in 1733, was settled by French-Canadian soldiers and their families returning, victorious, from the American Revolution. They had manned for the famed Congress own Regiment. These soldiers and their families were outcasts in Canada because of their allegiance to the Americans during the Revolution, and as such could not go home. The new American government rewarded these faithful servants with land grants upon which to settle, in April of 1783. These tracts were called the Canadian and Nova Scotia Tract.

One hundred thousand acres comprised the tract, running west of the village Plattsburgh, north to the Canadian border, and east to the lake. It included the present towns of Plattsburgh, Schuyler Falls, Saranac, Dannemora, Altona, Mooers, and Champlain. Surveyors measured the wildly forested lots of land assigned to each soldier. language was a barrier, as unfortunately, the surveyors did not speak French. Locating the surveyors, who were often in the wilderness doing their job, and then trying to communicate their needs was a frustrating experience for the French-Canadian settlers. Much of the land, given to the returning soldiers, was inaccessible wilderness, often looked upon by the owner as inhabitable. moreover, often the French soldiers had no money with which to pay for the services of the surveyor. Many of the French lots were not redeemable by the French for one reason or the other, or they were traded by the refugee-soldier for food and clothing. For all these reasons the French refugees were ripe to be targeted for exploitation. So many lost the rights to the land they had earned through their faithful, courageous, and steadfast efforts.

For those refugees who did settle their lands, they brought their skills with them. They were lumberjacks, harness makers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, shipwrights, carpenters, and boatman. Although they were skilled, most could neither read nor write, and the language barrier, their French culture, and their Catholic faith made life in the Champlain Valley very difficult. They usually were forced to take lower pay than an American, and for the same work. Through all this, the church was their salvation.

Beginning around 1840, the industrialization of Plattsburgh, Clinton County, New York began. This was the answer to the plight of many Canadians, who because of high birth rates, economic depression, and shrinking land resources were in desperate straits in their homeland. Thus began the movement of Canadians, among them many Acadians, to northern New York.

Although from 1850 to 1880 economic growth had steadily increased, the number of skilled artisans had decreased. With the arrival of the industrialization the status of the craftsman had eroded away steadily. Therefore, those French-Canadians who has arrived unskilled, and learned a skill to elevate themselves economically lost in the end because mechanization took over most of the skilled artisans' workloads.

The 1850 census of Plattsburgh, revealed that most of the French-Canadians owned nothing. There was no change in the tax rolls of 1886. Clearly the reasons why French-Canadians had not been nearly as successful as their Yankee neighbors was due to their ethnicity. Anglo perception of the French was one of resentment, language, religion, a different culture, different social mores (the French liked to drink, a habit thoroughly disliked by the Anglo) were all to be held against the French in their struggle to co-exist with the Anglos.

Nativism to a high degree became the source of fear. Native born Americans, especially those old stock Yankees, felt increasing fear of the waves of immigrants flooding the American shores. Among the elite, the social Darwinist philosophy and economic ideology equated the poverty of the immigrant classes with their failure to embrace the capitalist doctrines of hard work and self-discipline. Although, these conclusions could logically be drawn by Yankees the reasons why French-Canadians did not assimilate the Yankee cultures are, no doubt, based upon their heritage over hundreds of years. Instilled over the course of several hundred years were their pre-industrial peasant values. Their clannishness and sense of family came first. Traditional society focused upon families living close to each other, depending on one another to survive. They worked together for the common good of the family. In rural surroundings raising oneself economically had become relatively easy to do. When the French migrated to Plattsburgh, the traditional way of life changed for the most part. Prejudice and suspicion took economic opportunity away from the French-Canadians. The Anglos paid low wages to the French and it was often only the less welcome jobs that were available to them.

Through all of this, the Catholic Church served the people. They served them best by providing schools where French children could be given a bilingual education. This was unheard of in the Yankee common schools.

Resentment continued, and little opportunity was given by the Anglos to the French. Some French Anglicized their names in order to get better jobs and have a better standard of living. But, throughout, the 19th and 20th centuries the French lived among themselves. They remained French in culture and tradition. Plattsburgh, as well I'm sure did other areas or cities that had a large concentration of French, had a section that is still called Little Canada.

Alexis Brault's son, Alexis, born in 1805, probably at L'Acadie, PQ, had moved from L'Acadie to Laprairie by 1831. Sometime between 1850 and 1857, Alexis left Laprairie for Dannemora, New York (Editor's note: the Dannemora State Prison was built at this time period and he most likely worked on the construction of the prison). He had married Emilie Giroux on November 21, 1831, in Laprairie. The St. Peter's Church census of 1857 lists Alexis as 51 years old. The 1860 US census finds Alexis and family in Plattsburgh, New York.

By 1900, the people of French descent were the majority of the total population in Northern New York.

The Story Continues...
It is safe to conclude that Alexis Brault farmed in Canada before moving to Plattsburgh, and moved because word had reached him that economic opportunities were better in the United States.

Born April 10, 1871, my great-grandfather, Francois Alfred Brault, became quite successful in Plattsburgh. A Franco-American guide, written in 1925, states that Fred (short for Alfred) Brault was an entrepreneur. He, also, owned land and participated in elections. Fred and John B. Boissey started a contracting and building business in 1903. They also manufactured concrete building blocks. Boissey and Brault built the chapel portion of St. Peter's Church and the Ecole St. Pierre (boy's school--known as the green school) in 1906. Francois Alfred Brault married Roseanne Desmarais at St. Peter's Church September 23, 1893. My grandmother, Mary Grace Brault, came into this world, at home, on August 11, 1909, in Plattsburgh. she recalls her grandmother living in her house with her immediate family. Treatment and up bringing of boys and girls in her family was essentially equal. Her sister, Catherine, who lives in Arizona, and one of her brothers, played piano. All the children in her family attend D'Youville Academy (girl's school) and Ecole of St. Pierre (boy's school) at St. Peter's. Catholicism involved all facets of the life for the family. Before dinner Grace was always said. As a teenager, she enjoyed going to the movie theater on Sundays. The family owned cars, including a Studebaker and a Nash.

The family routinely listened to the radio. My grandmother remembers listening to Franklin Roosevelt on the radio. she classifies him as a wonderful President.

The events of World War I seem far away to my family, and we were not touched in a personal way by its effects.

Prohibition had a great effect on Clinton County. In the early 1920s, the federal boarder patrol began stopping illegally smuggled liquor from entering the United States from Canada. One route commonly used, ran from Quebec to Plattsburgh, then south to Albany. The waterway, of Lake Champlain, was also used for the transport of illegal alcohol.

Bootleggers came in many forms. They were so called because they often hid a flask of liquor in their boot. There were the professional, as spoke of above, who was likely to be an outsider. a local person might traffic for more than his personal use. He might be your neighbor, even a relative. Most local people who trafficked were known by the community. Proving it was another matter. There were also the causal bootlegger, those who might go across the border, get a drink or two there, then bring some back home for later. As you might imagine many skills were employed in the smuggling of booze.

The depression of the 1930s lowered wages, and many lost their jobs. My family did not suffer as much as others. My mother recalls that on their farm, where she grew up (Editors note: in Black Brook, NY), there was always plenty to eat. Money raised from the sale of milk yielded very little, so that even though there was an abundance of food, money was very scarce. Bartering was often a way of getting what was needed.

No one in my family served in World War II. When I spoke to my mother about this era, she told me some very interesting things directly related to the war. She was a school girl during that time. As many fathers were off to war, the school children were allowed to go home at noon to help with chores for the family. Sugar was one of the items that was very scarce. My maternal grandmother was in the habit of providing her family with baked goods, so when the stores had a supply, she hurried off to get as much as she was allowed. At nighttime some of the townspeople (air wardens) volunteered to keep a lookout for enemy planes. They, also, made sure the local people kept a 'blackout," that is, when the alarm sounded, no light could be seen from your home. A minimum of light was used and drapes and shades were drawn. If any light was visible from outside the warden would come to the door and let you know, and the situation was corrected. During the time of a blackout, cars were required to drive without lights, or with a special light. It was all very serious. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had shocked everyone, including my mother. It made everyone realize how vulnerable the United States was to attack.

My father served in the Korean War, or as it was called police action. He was a marine. Whenever I spoke to him about fighting in the war, he eluded to the fact that he did not much care for the Koreans. The experience of battle in Korea made him feel this way. He does not have anything good to say about going to fight in a war.

All six children of my parents attended college. I feel that is quite an achievement considering that my ancestors lived by modest means as farmers and tradesmen. Education did not seem to be a main concern to them, but the better times struggled for over many generations has finally paid off. Not to say that the quality of life is necessarily any better; however I think education and a more active role in society translate to a more fulfilling life.

Endnotes
1) Brault, Gerald J., The French Canadian Heritage in New England, page 111.
2) Ibid, page 112
3) Goubert, Pierre, Louis XIV and 20 Million Frenchmen, page 321
4) Brault, page 119
5) Ouellette, Susan, Lifelines, Vol. 8; No. 1, 1991, page 12

Bibliography
The French Canadian Heritage in New England by Gerald Brault
History of the Acadians by Bono Arsenault
New England's Outpost by John Barlette Breber; Hamden: Archon Books, 1965
A Short History of France by Herbert Batterfield, D. W. Brogan, H. C. Darby, J. Hampton Jackson; Cambridge University Press 1961
Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen by Pierre Goubert; New York Pantheon Books, 1966
Lifelines Vol. 8 No. 1 1991, page 12 by Susan Ouellette
"1857 Census St. Peter's Church," Plattsburgh, New York
"Introduction" by Addie Shields, Marriage Records of Clinton County 1830-1880, Vol. 106 by Benoit Pontbriand


Brault Ancestor Chart

Vincent BRAULT M. ca 1631 Marie BOURG
Port Royal, Acadia

Francois BRAULT M. Ca 1702 Marie COMEAU
Rivière-Aux-Canada

Alexis BRAULT M. ca 1745 Marguerite BARIAULT
Acadia

Charles BRAULT M. 18 Oct. 1779 Marguerite CLOUATRE
Laprairie, Quebec

Alexis BRAULT M. 23 Jan. 1804 Felicite TROMBLAY
L'Acadie, Quebec

Alexis BRAULT M. 21 Nov. 1831 Emilie GIROUX
St. Philippe, Laprairie, Que

Francois-Xavier BRAULT M. 14 Oct. 1862 Marguerite LEFEBVRE
St. Martine, Quebec

Francis Alfred BRAULT M. 23 September 1893 Roseanne DESMARAIS
Plattsburgh, New York

Mary Grace BRAULT M. 17 March 1928 Lawrence BAKER
Plattsburgh, New York

Richard BAKER M. 29 Nov. 1952 Florence TREMBLEY
St. Matthews, Black Brook, NY

Lynette BAKER M. July 1988 Paul DOW
West Palm Beach, FL