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Paul and Angelique Pack for Laconia

Members of LaPlante Family Life in Sainte Perpétue, Canada was very harsh for farms in the spring of 1914. They could barely support the families who owned them. The weather was dry and the soil was poor. Antoinette and Maurice Bedard had talked most of the winter about going to America.

Antoinette had heard from her cousin Paul, who had moved to Laconia, New Hampshire. He wrote about finding work at the Belknap Mill. He could feed his family. The Bedards decided to sell their farm and move to America.

Paul and Angelique were the oldest of their six children. They could take only what would fit in their suitcases. They carefully packed their favorite things.

Paul picked out a small wooden box that his father had made for him on his 13th birthday. It had a flock of geese carved on the top. He packed it with his clothes. He filled the rest of the suitcase with schoolbooks, a slingshot and a baseball.

Angelique put two aprons in her suitcase that Meme, her grandmother, made her last Christmas. The aprons reminded her of Meme. Angelique filled the rest of the suitcase with other clothes, her sewing kit and her favorite doll.

On a cold April morning, the Bedards hired a neighbor to take them to the railroad station in a hay wagon drawn by two horses. The railroad station was in Montreal, 45 miles away. After a 12-hour ride, they would take a train to Laconia.

Questions and Activity

1. What reasons did the Bedards give for going to America? [ Answer ]

2. Cousin Paul wrote about his life in Laconia. How would living in a village or town be different from living in a city? [ Answer ]

3. What was Paul's favorite item? Why were the aprons so important to Angelique? [ Answer ]

4. How many years ago did Paul and Angelique make that trip? [ Answer ]

5. Try this activity. You are moving to a new home. You can take only one suitcase with you. Look around your room. What items would you take? Fill the suitcase below with your choices. Draw or list the items in the suitcase. How are your choices different from Paul's and Angelique's? Why?

This story, written by educator Chris Lewis of Franklin, with funding from the Institute of Museum & Library Services, is loosely based on records of the LaPlante family, who moved from Sainte Perpétue to Franklin about 1903. The photograph (1996.5.4) was donated by Rita LaPlante Norander, and shows, left to right, Frank, Adelina, Octavie, Hector, Eva, and Alvina at 53 Canal St. in Franklin in 1903 or 1904.

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