Campion Family Genealogy

Campion Granger Genealogy

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My Granger Family Connections are:

GRANGER, GRAINGER, LANDRY, MARTIN, SALE and SALES

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Page Contents

Introduction Dolores’s Note Family History

Acknowledgements Contact Information

Bill & Rosealee Campion.

Thank you for dropping by my site, Rosealee and I hope you enjoy your visit with us.

One day I recived a package in the mail, It would change my life for ever! It was a black book! named "The Granger Family History" My mother Mary Lorraine Granger was an Acadian and this book is her family history.

When I opened the book, the first thing I saw was a note from my cousin Dolores

(daughter of my mother's sister, Rosalie! This page contains her notes…)

My Cousin Aurel's under taking was to leave a "Family Record", so we would know from where we came.

Before my cousin Dolores sent the Book of the "Granger Genealogy", she added not only the new births that took place since Cousin Aurel's passing in August of 1991, but the Family History too!

It was this history that brought the family alive for me! My mother never talked about her family outside of her sister and two brothers and their children. So my family knowledge was restricted to a very small world of aunts, uncles and first cousins. This very same thing happened with my fathers family too.

Young Bill Campion

I was born on the 19 of December, 1933 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Mother once said, that I was born in the middle of the worse snow storm in the history of Springfield! At that same time dad was serving his printers apprenticeship at a local news paper. When he finished his apprenticeship and became a journeymen he was informed by the news paper, they had a company policy of not hiring family members, (his father worked at the same news paper). At the same time the great depression had struck and work was impossible to find! The printers union

informed my father, if he was willing to relocate to Baltimore, Maryland there was work to be had at the News Post, News Paper. So when I was only three years old my family and I moved to Baltimore. This cut me off from the rest of the family. Accept for a visit every three to six years to Springfield, where we always stayed at my mother's sister Rosalie's home. Most of the visits like most seperated families were becouse of funerals.

Except for my loving wife and four wonderful children, I had little sense of belonging or being part of a family after the passing of my parents. For this reason I undertook this task of publishing "the Granger and Campion History", so that my children and their descendants would know who they are as well as where they came from. And just maybe, why the're the way they are!

Thanks to my brother Kenneth, I have met (over the computer) a very distant cousin in Louisiana, who was involed in the gathering of the Granger history for "La Reunion des Babineaux et Granger" held 1999 in Louisiana and sent me a copy of the book "La Famille De Granger" that was used at the reunion. It had information that I did not have, so I wrote and asked if I may use the information from the book for my Granger web site?

The Young Grangers

This is what she wrote back: " Please feel free to use anything you can from the 1999 Granger Book, I consider all the information included in the book available to anyone who needs it ". . On behalf of all who may benefit, Thank You Cousin.

To my children and their descendants, I hope you enjoy Cousin Aurel's and my gift to you. A special thank you to Cousin Dolores for

sending me the book and for your work in adding all the new births and history, there by giving me the two missing pieces of my life, My Family and My History".

Also thanks to a friend that I met on the internet, William Coveduck who made this site possible. He designed and constructed this site, for which my family and I will always be greatful. It's act's of kindness like this that make the world a better place to live.

William Adalor Campion, Sr.

Tenth Generation

20 January, 2002

Dolores’s Note

Cousin Dolores

Bill: I cant remember if I included this introduction to Aurel's family history when I sent your copy. It helps to explain where he got most of his information on the family.

Regarding that pirate story I told you about. I clearly remember when Uncle Tully, Uncle Ted, Uncle Al, Aunt Josie, Aunt Mary and Aunt Mable, (Pepe's brothers and sisters), would come to our house for a visit or to dinner, afterwards talking about

the Indian Maiden, and the Pirate who was hung from the yardarm! As a kid I was all ears. Just wish I could remember all the stories that were told around our dinner table back then!

Cousin Dolores

Our Family History

The Granger Family

This genealogy was developed partly out of curiosity about the origin of the name of Granger and because of the realization families today tend to grow apart and lose contact. Some written record, therefore, I hope will preserve the identity of family members and their ancestors. This is an effort to provide a written record of the paternal ancestors of Theodore Granger and his descendants. When I started to do this genealogy, my first approach was to find out if

someone else had already researched and prepared some publication on the Granger family

Though my grandparents had come from Canada and there was little possibility of a genealogy on my Granger ancestors being on file in a library in the United States, I knew it wouldn't hurt to check the Library of Congress of the United States where there is a Genealogy Room. Lo and behold! There are several Granger genealogies on file there. The principal one was written by James Nathaniel Granger and published in Hartford, Conn., in 1893. The first Granger in that genealogy was Launcelot who came to America prior to 1640 and lived in Ipswich, Mass. Then he returned to England to settle his mother's estate and returned to America and made his home on Kent Island near Newbury (Old Town) Mass. Some of his descendants settled in and near Rutland, VT., and my father was born there so, I thought there was a possibility of a connection with that Granger family. But I was wrong. The Launcelot Granger family line is a distinctly different one from the Canadian Grangers.

James Nathaniel Granger makes reference to some Canadian French Grangers who were expelled from Grand Pre at the same time as the mythical Evangeline which were obviously not part of the Grangers in his genealogy. His observation is correct.

However, interestingly, his frist generation ancestor, Launcelot, came from England and the frist generation ancestor of the Canadian Grangers also came from England; Plymouth, England, accordmg to the records, though the name of Granger is proclaimed to be of French origin. Launcelot was probably a generation older than Laurent as he came to America before 1640 and Lament, the first generation ancestor in this genealogy, was born m 1637. He is shown as being 34 years of age in the census taken in 1671 as reported in the "Acadian Miracle" by Dudley J. LeBlanc. The main problem of any research is where to look for the specific information desired. I have been fortunate and have found that generally one source leads to another. James Nathaniel Granger's genealogy on his ancestor Launcelot made reference to the mythical Evangeline being expelled from Grand Pre. That led to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Evangeline" which, I'm, told, most every school child knows but somehow escaped my education. Grand Pre was the town in Acadia from which Evangeline was expelled by the British. A review of the poem and notes on why Longfellow came to write it, provided a further reference to the Acadians and is well known in Nova Scotia today. There are sites preserved, parks and even a statue of the mythical heroine, so, the histoiy may not be new to a lot of readers. I found it to be interesting. A brief summary of that history is included in this genealogy for those who may be interested.

My research was further enhanced by an old family picture of great grandfather Candide and his family taken on his golden wedding arnriversary, which had been handed down through the family. The picture had been taken in Montreal and it was common knowledge that on several occasions my father, Telesphore J. Granger, Aunt Josie and Uncle Aurel Dube did travel to Montreal to visit relatives. I knew there must be relatives in the Montreal area or at least descendants of some of my father's relatives, though I had no addresses nor had anyone in the family maintained contact with them. Nonetheless, through the use of a Montreal telephone directory and the kind assistance of the Canadian Embassy Office of Tourism in Washington, D.C., I was able to contact Grangers in the Montreal area who are related to our common ancestor and who have been researching the Granger family for some time.

Aurel J. Granger

Ninth Generation

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Acknowledgements

Genealogical information on the Granger ancestors, generation (1) throng six (6) and the information on the seventh (7) generation having origin in Canada was provided by LUCIEN GRANGER of Drummondville, P.Q. Canada. He had been researching the Granger family for fifteen years and used "Historie et Genealogie Des Acadiens" by Bona Arsenault for the very early information. LUCIEN GRANGER is a descendant of Pierre Granger, a brother to Felix I, fourth (4th) generation Granger in this genealogy. Similar information was also provided by: a. Laurent Granger, of Montreal, P.Q. Canada. Laurent is a descendant of David (Joseph David Granger, fourth (4th) generation, a brother to Pierre and Felix 1. b. Robert Granger, of Montreal, P.Q. Canada. Robert is a descendant of Moise Granger, fiflh (5th) generation, a brother to Felix II, father of Candide Granger. c. Francois Granger, Montreal, P.Q. Canada. Francois is a descendant of Rene Granger, second (2nd) generation in this genealogy.

Lucien Granger

The information from LUCIEN GRANGER included the date of birth, marriage and wife's name of Dieudonne (James) Granger, older brother of grandfather Theodore. His death date was obtained from the Courthouse in Rutland, VT. and information on his children and descendants was provided by Kay Stewart, Norma Anderson, his granddaughters and by Gene Granger his great grandson. Gene Granger and Kay Stewart both live in Rutland, VT.

Information on Theodore Granger descendants was obtained in part from the Springfield City Hall, Springfield MA., West Springfield City Hall, West Springfield, MA. or from members of the individual families.

I want to also acknowledge the assistance I received from my sisters, Laura Michaud and Grace Baker and my cousins Anita (Allard) LaFrancis, Viola (Welch) Frappier, Aurore (Granger) Bach, Frank Betters and Anna Granger (wife of George Granger-deceased) in the gathering of information on the descendants of Theodore Granger, our grandfather.

Curiosity may have been a motivating force in starting this little excursion into genealogy but once started the research became more intriguing. I had always been aware of strong family ties. Research supports the fact that our family and, perhaps most people in the not too distant past were very family oriented. Families were large and tended to stay in the same general area. Today, families tend to move about and often grow apart. In two or three generations, family ties may be lost. it is hoped therefore this account of Theodore and Delvina Granger family will provide a source of antecedents for future descendants.

Aurel J. Granger

Ninth Generation

Contact Information

Send me an E-mail: Bill Campion Sr.

Web address: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/campion

Last revised: Date

April 02, 2002