There were five Bachands in the phone book. None except one was interested in my inquiries. Interestingly enough, the one that was spoke with a French accent. At the end of the conversation, which led nowhere, he mentioned a Bachand Farm in Northboro that he remembered from his childhood.
There were only two Bachand listings in Northboro, Rolland and Kelly. Kelly sounded young. I called Rolland. When I called him, I told him my name was Bacon but originally Bachand. He immediately went into a long spiel about the first Bachand in North America, who was a French soldier from St. Cloud, just outside Paris. Rolland said our namesake Nicholas married a 13-year-old Iroquoian from the Mohawk tribe. I have it that he married a 14-year-old French girl. I like his story better. Now I knew we were related. I asked him many questions such as " Your father Arthur, who walked down from St. Hyacinthe Quebec to live in Leominster - What was his birth date?" Rolland replied, "I'm not good at remembering things like that. You see I am ninety four years old."
Armed with my genealogy chart and two 4" thick binders, I headed up to Northboro to visit with Rolland Bachand and his wife Gertrude. Rolland was waiting for me. I was surprised to find him in cowboy clothes from boots to hat. He wears glasses, speaks loudly, talks a mile a minute, and grasps everything you say. As my Great Uncle George Washington Bacon would say of him, "He has fine carriage."
His father, Arthur, still living . . . (only kidding) had two brothers, Uncle August and Uncle Domineux. His mother was a Brodeur from Waterford Connecticut. Rolland and Gertrude have four daughters and five sons. He worked for Bond Bread from 1938 to 1965, then 10 years as a school custodian, and he raised turkeys from 1948-1960. Hence the Bachand Farm in Northboro.
One of his family stories really had me. It seems his cousin Ernest Bachand and his best friend Ernest Peliquin decided to go to the Klondike in western Canada in search of gold. They traveled mostly by train, having a connection in St. Hyacinthe of another cousin who was a railroad detective. "Well, by God, they got as far as North Dakota when Ernest Bachand stopped in a bank to cash a check. The teller informed him that the bank president had the same last name. The bank president invited them home, fed them dinner and provided beds. In the morning, they headed to Canada by way of Northern California. Ernest & Ernest did not strike it rich, but they almost froze to death. They ran out of money in St. Louis, Missouri. They asked for work as carpenters at the 1904 St. Louis International Exposition, the predecessor of today's World Fair. Both men were seventy-two years young at the time."
In 1999, on a complete fluke, while researching my daughter Kezia's first name, I talked on the phone with Linda at Glamour magazine. My wife first saw the name Kezia in Glamour magazine while we were teenagers, and loved it. This is the picture that caught her eye. The model's name is Kezia Hovey. She was actually a fashion editor of some acclaim (but that's a story for another day).
When Lynda called me with more information, she left her full name, Lynda Laux Bachand. Originally from North Dakota, she remembers the family history of the Bachands trekking to the Klondike. The bank president was her Grandfather.
My wife said to bring a camera to the interview with Rolland. I did. The home care visitor took our photo. It is on my desk. We both have receding hairlines. Everyone who sees the photo says we are related.
I thought I had taken enough of his time and said I should go. Rolland said that's okay, he was driving later that afternoon to visit his aunt in Shelburne Falls. She's 103.
by Bob Bacon
March 2005
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