Where Histories Cross
Saturday, October 20, 2001

– story by Lana MacEachern
Evening News
 

(Click on image to see larger picture)	Photo caption: 1) Faye Hommè-Zeigler, second from left, and her husband, Ken, right , of Pennsylvania, were united with long-lost cousins, including Joe Vacheresse and Dorothy Bonvie, both of Riverton.
	2) Chance encounter brings Evening News reporter Lana MacEachern in contact with relatives she never knew existed.

           The petite woman who stepped out if the gold-coloured minivan into the afternoon sun barely paused to catch my name or sketch a mental flow chart connecting our branches of a common family tree………

           She just embraced me in the warm, spontaneous hug of someone who has driven hundreds of miles to find long-lost relatives and knows the person standing before her is family of some description and that’s all that matters.

           “It’s like, you just want to hug right away,” said Faye Hommé-Zeigler afterward as she pondered the excitement of meeting relatives she hadn’t known existed until recently.  “You’re part of me, I’m part of you”

             Faye and her husband, Ken Zeigler traveled from Pennsylvania to Pictou County in early October to walk the ground where her ancestors once lived and meet her Canadian cousins.

             Her grandfather, Eugene Joseph Hommé, came to Nova Scotia from France as a child in 1874 with his family including grandparents and several aunts, uncles and cousins.  It is thought they were drawn to this area because of the coal mining industry.

             Eugene and his family ended up moving on to Pennsylvania, with the exception of his sister, Marie.  She married Edward Vacheresse and remained in Pictou County. 

             Faye and Ken had a chance to meet some of the descendants of that union, including her second-cousins Dorothy Bonvie and Joe Vacheresse, both of Riverton, the grandchildren of Edward and Marie. (Dorothy Bonvie is my grandmother which makes me a second-cousin twice removed.)

             Faye started looking into her roots when her children had grown up.  A couple of years ago, a series of coincidences too striking to be entirely accidental formed a circle connecting Pennsylvania, Nova Scotia and France.  During a trip to France, Faye and Ken visited St. Christophe en Champagne where her great-great grandfather had been born, and the first person they encountered was a descendant of the mayor who signed the birth certificate of one of her forefathers.  She eventually came into contact with Pierre Vay, who turned out to be the husband of a cousin and who just happened to be researching the Hommé family and the emigration to Nova Scotia.

            “When Pierre told me about Stellarton a few years ago I said, ‘Oh my, we have to come up here,’” said Faye.

             “It was like when I met the people in France-a fulfillment of meeting other new relatives for the first time.  Then my thoughts go to, I’m going to walk where my grandparents, my ancestors walked.”

            Back in Pictou County, Bridgeville resident John Ashton was busy researching the former French settlement of Raymond-ville, located in the Lorne/Trafalgar area.  He stopped in at the Hector Exhibit Center archives in Pictou one day to ask if they had any information about French settlers in Pictou County.  Site manager Kathy Chaisson had just received a fax from Pierre Vay in France with the same request.

           John got Fay’s address from Pierre and the two began exchanging information.  Her husband said she would “light up” every time a new piece of the puzzle fell into place.

          “A typical evening at home would be ‘Ken, I got something from Stellarton,’ and we would sit around the table and focus on her excitement.”

           The final link was forged when John contacted one of Dorothy Bonvie’s daughters on an unconnected matter and discovered they were from the same Vacheresse line connected with Raymond-ville.

          In early October, a reunited group of Hommé descendents accompanied John to Raymond-ville, located in the midst of Crown land forested by Stora Enso.

          “This road hasn’t seen the Hommés in 130 years,” he joked during the slow, jarring trip over a logging road that one can only imagine was a mere footpath through the woods when our ancestors traversed it.

           For the next few hours we stood on a ridge of earth thought to have once held the Hommés’ log cabin, saw the stone foundations of a house and barn, peered down a hand-dug well and gazed reverently on the tomb-stone of Eugene and Marie Hommé’s aunt and her husband.

           “I love this,” said Dorothy.  “I never thought I’d see this place.”

            A gathering at John’s home a few nights later allowed Faye and Ken to meet more of the family.  A lively evening of introductions and story-telling ensued.

             Faye and Ken hope to return to Nova Scotia in a couple of years and extend an invitation for their new-extended cousins to visit them in Pennsylvania.

            As Ken put it, “this is just the beginning.”