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Connect with your ancestors like never before with the self-guided geolocated genealogical tours offered by Trace my roots! Walk in your ancestors’ footsteps by visiting their ancestral lands, discovering monuments to their memories, or by reflecting on their lives at their burial sites, all thanks to Trace my roots’ geolocated tours.
The Trace my roots website offers geolocated tours you can follow at your own pace, by bike or car, using a phone or tablet. Depending on the tour, you may visit, for example, the home of an ancestor, the bridge or the street bearing their name, the family store, or the resting place of the ancestor and their descendants.
These tours, enhanced by historical documentation that puts the locations visited and how they relate to your family into context, will allow you to connect with your ancestors in a unique and unforgettable way.
Get 10% off all tours by entering the code CODEDROUIN at checkout!
Trace my roots is a product of Parcours fil rouge, a nonprofit organization aiming to promote the historical heritage of Quebec.
How do the tours work?
First, you must select and purchase the tour(s) of your choice, which you can do at this address.
For demonstration purposes, we will use the Boucher family tour.
Once you have the tour in hand, choose your preferred method of transportation (bike, car or on foot), and go to the first stop. Each stop of the tour includes a Google Maps geolocation allowing you to get there with ease, as well as historical documentation putting the stop and its relation to the family in context.
In the case of the Boucher family tour, the first stop takes us to the banks of the Ouelle River and teaches us about the first Boucher’s lives as sailors.
” Pierre Boucher’s [1673 -] son François Boucher [1699-1759] became a captain on fishing boats, while Pierre’s grandson, also named François [1730-1816], became a notorious sailor, merchant and civil servant. The latter’s son Pierre (1764 -), worked as a pilot, and second son Louis-Michel [1769 -] later took over their father’s position. “
Boucher family tour, Trace my roots
The tour then takes us to the modern cemetery of Rivière-Ouelle, where many Boucher descendants are buried.
The third stop of the tour is located at the mouth of the Ouelle River and is titled “Rivière-Ouelle Heroes“
“Galeran Boucher and his sons Pierre and Philippe, as well as his nephew Pierre Boucher dit Desroches and his nephew’s son Ignace, were part of a group of some 40 volunteers who pushed Major General William Phips’ fleet to the mouth of the Ouelle River around October 13th, 1690.
Each parish resident had to have his own rifle, powder, ammunition and be prepared to respond in the event of an attack. The Lord being absent, it was the priest, Pierre de Francheville, who allegedly gathered his parishioners, armed with rifles, to prevent the English from landing to resupply.”
Boucher family tour, Trace my roots
The tour then takes us to the ancestral land of Pierre Boucher from which he exploited the beluga whale fishery, then brings us to the seigneurial concessions of Pierre, Ignace and Benoit Boucher.
Finally, the tour ends at the original cemetery of Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatière.
“At least 37 members of the Boucher family, descendants of Marin Boucher and Perrine Mallet, or of the lineage of Pierre Boucher, governor of Trois-Rivières, founder and Lord of Boucherville, rest in this cemetery. The latter is Gaspard Boucher’s son, who immigrated at the same time as Marin and came from the same place; they were in fact called “cousins”. A commemorative plaque lists the names of the 219 founding families whose members were buried here.”
Boucher family tour, Trace my roots
You too can connect with your ancestors today!
If you have any questions about the tours or the website, you can reach the Trace my roots team at this address.
