Story: Lake Huron / Lac Huron

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Lake Huron: 44.8N -82.4W

Morgan James Hanam via form
Sydney, Nova Scotia - April 25, 2011

Coordinates: 44.8 -82.4

Where I lived as a child in Kincardine, Ontario, we were very close to a beach on Lake Huron. The Huron is important to me because it was the first major body of water that I was aware of. Its recession from the shore at the time (getting shallower and shallower each year) eventually made me aware that it had originally been over where my house was abutting a low cliff past the top of our subdivision — so that I became aware of deep time and geology at the tender age of seven.

I had many adventures along the shore — one I remember distinctly was in winter, the ice floes had piled up along the shore very thickly that year and extended out several dozen yards. I made my way out to the outermost floes and literally skipped along at the edge of the ice. This was a joyous act of daring but thinking back on it now I was very lucky.

 

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Process: Isidore and Rose Alma Legault

Legault Waterway Plaisance, Papineau, Outaouais, Quebec, CA	Cours d'eau Legault Plaisance, Papineau, Outaouais, Québec, CA
Tweet your story @tongue rug or fill out a short form! Tweetez votre histoire @tonguerug ou remplissez un formulaire!

 

I decided to follow the same process as the Lapalme map and superimpose multiple generations of Legaults with the respective tongue rug placenames. I started with Roch Legault (Legoff) in Irvillac, France and moved westward.

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Just as I suspected, five generations of Legaults have lived in proximity to the waypoints that are concentrated in the Outaouais region: LE-1, LE-8, LE-10 and LE-6.

• Jacques Legault
  (b. Sep 19, 1764, Pointe-Claire, d. Mar 18, 1847, Montebello, Papineau, QC)
• Michel-Amable Legault
  (b. Nov 16, 1809 Rigaud, Vaudreuil, d. Sept 11, 1906, St-André Avelin, Papineau, QC)
• Justinien Legault dit Délaurier
  (b.  Feb 1831, Rigaud, Vaudreuil, St-André Avelin, Papineau, QC)
• Isidore Emirie Legault
  (b. Abt, 1856-1876, St-André Avelin, Papineau, QC)
• Isidore Legault
  (b. May 7, 1918, St-André Avelin, Papineau, QC, Apr 8, 2007, Sudbury, ON)

I remember when cycling to each of these bodies of water, I passed by many farms. Most of the Legaults were listed in censuses as farmers or cultivators. My grandfather Isidore had worked as a lumberjack before injuring himself. It was the thriving forestry industry in Northern Ontario that triggered his move northwest.

I was unable to find much info on Isidore Emirie Legault?

Story: Simon River / Rivière-à-Simon

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Rivière-à-Simon: 45.9N -74.25W

Paul Meillon via form
Montreal - April 23, 2011

Coordinates: 45.9 -74.25

A beautiful nude goddess, floating down the river, her red curly hair mixing with the undulating lemna minor, while I film, enchanted.

 

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Story: Lake Simcoe / Lac Simcoe

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Lake Simcoe: 44.4366677N -79.339167W

Paul Meillon via form
Montreal - April 23, 2011

Coordinates: 44.4366677 -79.339167

Fishing at night with square nets and lamps at the Orillia lake, quite the adventure! Wiggling slimy silver gleaming in the night.

 

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Story: Rouyn Lake / Lac Rouyn

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Lac Rouyn: 48.233333N -79.016667W

Paul Stavert via form
Montreal - April 23, 2011

Coordinates: 48.233333 -79.016667

Eternal summer days of youth, where the infinite mystery of the world revealed itself in blue crystalline sandy lakes, surrounded by pines, and the strange undulating movement of leeches.

 

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Story: Abitibi Lake / Lac Abitibi

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Abitibi Lake: 44.666667N -79.75W

Paul Stavert via form
Montreal - April 23, 2011

Coordinates: 48.666667, -79.75

I remember in my youth swimming in the freezing Canadian lakes in Abitibi. I was surprised how glacial waters, with a habituation phase, could turn mildly warm! Also the stories of how a kid at the daycamp, who had a phobia of water, fell in after his canoe was overturned. The autopsy showed he died of syncope, stopping of the heart from fear, not of drowning.

 

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Process: Sigefroi et Herméline Lapalme

Lapalme Waterway Saint-Esprit, Montcalm, Lanaudière, Québec, CA	Cours d'eau Lapalme Saint-Esprit, Montcalm, Lanaudière, Quebec, CA
Tweet your story @tongue rug or fill out a short form! Tweetez votre histoire @tonguerug ou remplissez un formulaire!

Corresponding with another person doing genealogical research on the Lapalme family, I found out that we were distant cousins: my great-great-great-grandfather Sigefroi Lapalme (1827) was the brother of his relative, Théophile. While updating my files, I realized that some of my Lapalme waypoints for the tongue rug were situated near my ancestors' birthplaces.

The Lapalmes can be traced back to Martin Janson (1605) in St-Sulpice, Paris, France. I was able to mark thirteen generations on the map. Though my water icons do ressemble Easter eggs somewhat, it still gives me a general idea of the influence of family groupings on toponymy.

 

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In fact, the last waypoint I visited, Lapalme Waterway (LA-3) near L’Assomption, was indeed the birthplace, or at least the residence, of five generations of Lapalmes.

• Christophe Jeanson dit Lapalme (b. Jul 19, 1694 in Québec (Québec), d. Aug 20, 1778, L'Assomption, Québec.)
• Louis Janson (Jeanson dit Lapalme) (b. Sep 12, Apx. 1730, Pointe-aux-Tremble, Québec, d. June 9, 1802, L'Assomption, Québec)
• Louis-Marie Janson-Lapalme (b. Aug 27, 1758, St-Pierre-du-Portage, L'Assomption, Québec, d. Mar 4, Apx. 1819, L'Assomption, Québec)
• Louis Jeanson (Janson) (b. Sep 24, 1799, d. March 24, 1877, L'Assomption, Québec)
• Louis Janson (Jeanson-Lapalme) (b. Dec 9, 1830, St-Pierre-du-Portage, L'Assomption, Québec)
• Sigefroi Lapalme (b. Mar 15, 1825, St-Esprit, Québec, d. April 28, 1896, Embrun, Russell, Ontario)

Sigefroi Lapalme had moved to the largely French-speaking agricultural community of Embrun in Eastern Ontario where my grand-father was born two generations later.

I would have matched the placenames and the Lapalme lineage much sooner if it were not for the fact that my computer had been stolen a few years ago. I lost many personal files and even artwork related to the Tongue Rug project. I was devastated at the time, but I eventually just started over. I thought it ironic that I was once again reconstituting missing information — piecing together parts of my family history much like the crafting of a traditional tongue rug.

Story: Panache Lake / Lac Panache (PA-1)

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Lac Panache: 45.5N -73.583333W

Nathalie Lapalme via form
Barrie, Ontario
April 17, 2011

My Lac Panache is a place I call Heaven. It's a place like no other in this entire world. My fondest memories of childhood were spent there with my family. It's a place that offers comfort, a sense of belonging, of love and beauty. A place I can go to unwind, truly relax, get away from the rush of everyday life. It's a place where you don't need an invitation, food tastes great, the water is BEAUTIFUL, the air is pure, the sauna is purifying and the company wonderful. The one place on this earth I would rather be. And I hope that my daughter will cherish this little bit of Heaven that has been generously shared with us over the years and I'd like to thank Grand-maman for making this beautiful place, a place we have been blessed to call our "camp". The giggles, laughter, stories and the memories, will last forever in my heart.

 

FORM_PA1	#TONGUE_PA1

 

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Process: Add a tongue to the sladdakavring

Though my adoptive and birth names served as the initial genealogical/geographical names for the tongue rug — all bodies of water and the occasional bridge — I also used two other waypoints that did not share my family names: Lake Panache (PA-1) and Mont-Royal (MO-1). Effectively, a starting-point and an end-point; where I was from, and where I chose to settle. While doing my fieldwork, I also came across a few other waypoints that helped me to situate my “tongues” in a larger map.

• Bellevue hill and Lost Lake (A-2, A-3)
• Lac-à-l’Épaule and Montagne du Père-Legault (LA-5, LE-4)
• Lac-aux-loutres and the Lachine Canal (MO-1)

I had been classifying these new waypoints with the tongues found in the nearest geographical area. Yet it is not obvious that a story about the Lachine canal for example, would be part of the Mont-Royal waypoint. If I want people to submit stories about their own chosen body of water, best to add another tongue. I've started receiving a few stories.

 

#TONGUE_PA1 Stories: 1   2	#TONGUE_MO1 Stories: 1   2   3   4	#TONGUE_S1 ...	#TONGUE_S2 ...	#TONGUE_S3 ...
#TONGUE_LA1 Stories: 1	#TONGUE_LA2 ...	#TONGUE_LA3 ...	#TONGUE_LA4 ...	#TONGUE_LA5 ...
#TONGUE_LA6 ...	#TONGUE_LE1 ...	#TONGUE_LE2 ...	#TONGUE_LE3 ...	#TONGUE_LE4 ...
#TONGUE_LE5 ...	#TONGUE_LE6 ...	#TONGUE_LE7 ...	#TONGUE_LE8 ...	#TONGUE_LE9 ...
#TONGUE_LE10 ...	#TONGUE_LE11 ...	#TONGUE_A1 ...	#TONGUE_A2 ...	#TONGUE_A3 ...
#TONGUE_A4 ...	#TONGUE_A5 ...	#TONGUE_A6 ...	#TONGUE_A7 ...	#TONGUE_A8 ...
#TONGUE_A9 ...	#TONGUE_A10 ...	#TONGUE_A11 ...	#TONGUE_A12 ...	#TONGUE_A13 ...
+ ADD YOUR TONGUE ...