To: mail@paulbacon.com
Subject: Re: Charles Frank Bacon
Hi Paul,
So what do you know about your family tree? Is your real last name Bacon? I found out that my great grandfather, Charles Frank Bacon, was really Charles Francois Bachand and he was born in Canada at St. Hyacinthe in August of 1856. I have that family all the way back in France in 1620. We have some Iroquois blood. I am told that in Canada the name Bachand sounds a lot like Bacon. Did he change it on purpose?
C.F.B. deserted his family when his baby daughter, my great Aunt Leda, was less than a year old. He also had five sons: Wilfred, Charles, Frank, John and George.
From: ROBT BACON
L-R: Frank Chelsea Bacon, Anna Agnes Boudo Bacon, Marie Boudo (Anna's MOther), Charles Bacon Jr., Charles Francois Bacon, John Henry Bacon. The earliest photo -- it could have a date on it of 1892 because the baby is John and he was born in June of that year. Interesting to note Anna Agnes Boudo came to the United States in 1875 at age 8. My daughter Marnie has a ring that was my great grandmother's, with a small red ruby in it. But that is the only thing we have of hers. Charles Francois Bachand came from Canada in 1876 at age 20. All I have of him is this one family photo. I remember the day Uncle George mailed it to me from Florida. To have a photo of the great grandfather I was researching was amazing. Especially because I had no idea that one even existed.
His son Frank was my grandfather. At the time, 1900, they lived on Brown Street in Adams, Massachusetts. The building still stands.
No one knows where he disappeared to. There was a big To Do about him hitting his 15 year old son Charlie. His wife, Anna Agnes Boudo, born in Bohemia, walked two miles up street, as we used to say, and turned him into the Adams Police. I could never find that record. He was 44 years old at the time.
I spent the first 18 years of my life in Adams. No one had a clue that the Bacons were really Bachands. Every child turned out to be successful and just “good people” in general. Except for Aunt Leda, they all married well. Aunt Leda never married, but took care of her mother until the end. She lived in Buffalo, New York.
My guess is that this was taken around 1916 because of the age of Aunt Leda, but I could be off by a year or two or three. Both my grandmother and grandfather are in this one. Were they married or engaged at the time? Charlie with both hands on his lap pressed the button that took the photo. I remember Uncle George telling me that. Uncle George gave me this photo. It was taken on Howland Avenue or Brown street in Adams Massachusetts. I think Uncle George said Howland Avenue.
Top: Frank Bacon, Hattie Marie Fontaine, George Bacon, Wilfred Bacon
Bottom: Leda Bacon, Charles Bacon, Anna Boudo Bacon, John Bacon
I was close to George Washington Bacon, my great uncle. He passed in Florida at age 84, before I knew for sure that we had a name change. Aunt Georgina said he was out mowing the lawn, stopped to rest, and died resting sitting against a tree. We should all be so lucky. He really needed to know where his father disappeared to. He remembered him pouring over his books and records. He said CFB was a canvasser or salesman, as they called it at the time. He also said his father was of fine carriage. Cool? I have a family photo of all of them together.
The five sons in their sixties, maybe. Wilfred (1989-1975), George (1895-1979), John (1892-1980), Frank (1890-1956), Charley (1888-1961). Not pictured: Leda Hattie Bacon (1900-1994).
Does that ring any bells? Any possible connection?
Bob Bacon Bachand
781-837-4836
p.s. Hey! I really enjoyed your NYC cop book. The one thing that really stood out was the people throwing things at you from tenements. I don't think I want to be a cop.
Epilogue:
All five brothers and Aunt Leda led successful and respectable lives in spite of growing up without a father. When he deserted his family, the oldest child was only twelve. George Washington Bacon always said that his brother was 15 at the time. Could it be that my great grandfather left in 1903 instead of 1900? In any case, how did they manage? Aunt Leda took care of her mother until the end and never married. The five brothers had successful lifelong marriages and all were very close until the end.
There is a terrible loose end to this tale and it is what became of the father, Charles Francois Bachand. Through their whole lives, these six children and their mother wanted to know the answer. Perhaps YOU will take over and find out?
For all future generation readers. All this information is in three black bound scrapbook style volumes that need serious rearranging -- but at least I took the time to research and collect it all. It also contains my wife’s, Sandy Zabek Bacon -- family tree and history back to Poland. My mother’s, Nora Lemanski Bacon -- Russian/Polish family is also covered. There also is a chart rolled up with a family tree that I have kept and added to through the years. That by now needs work also.
I have the Bacon/Bachan/Bachand family back to 1620, and I feel good about that. Beyond that the Bachans go back to Belgium, but I did no more research. It was interesting to me to find out that my real last name was Bachand not Bacon, and that I had French blood and even a little Canadian/Iroquois .
No one in all these photos knew any of that before they passed. Although in 1976, Uncle George and I had a suspicion. The children their father was originally from Saint Hyacinthe, Canada but never met any of that Bachand family. Also I never heard of any correspondence between Canada and the United States. Charles Francois did speak French of course. I know that from a census that was taken in Adams, Massachusetts. There is a copy of it in one of the black books and it is full of good information.
Another Epilogue:
From: Paul Bacon
Date: March 8, 2010 5:58:26 PM EST
To: ROBT BACON
Subject: Re: Charles Frank Bacon
Reply-To: mail@paulbacon.com
Hello Bob,
Thanks for sharing your genealogy information. I'm afraid I can't
answer your questions. I will pass your message along to my
grandfather. He's done a bit of research into our family tree and may
be able to correspond with you.
Hope you're well. Thanks for reading "Bad Cop."
-- Paul
