Strong Roots Run Deep in Canada

Paspabiac, Quebec, located in the eastern part of the province on Chaleur Bay, is the town to which my Great, Great, Great Grandfather Lionel Strong immigrated. Originally from West Chinnock, England, he moved his family initially to St Saviour, Jersey Island (a British island located just off the northwest coast of France) sometime between 1841 and 1849 prior to finally settling in Paspabiac sometime between 1851 and 1858. Lionel worked for the Charles Robin Company. Behind me is a cod packaging plant of a rival cod fishery that was located right next to the Charles Robin Company's cod packaging plant in Paspabiac.

Although he doesn't have a headstone anymore, this is where Lionel is buried. It is St. Peter's Cemetery in Paspabiac, Quebec. We were fortunate to have figured this out. It was only because the library (in the background, upper left), which used to be the church, keeps a list of everyone buried there. After struggling through the language barrier (French), they were good enough to let us look through it and we found that this is in fact where he is buried. We are now in the process of collecting funds to pay for a headstone for him here.

This is my dad's second cousin Joan Strong, one of many Strong's still living in Canada. She lives in Cabano, Quebec and French is her native tongue. Fortunately, her English is much better than our French so we were able to communicate easily. On a whim I called her and asked if we could come visit and she agreed and fed us a wonderful dinner to boot. It was a great mini-reunion.

This is my Great, Great Grandfather Francis Strong's headstone. He is buried in Dalhousie, New Brunswick just on the south side of Chaleur Bay. He died at age 56. He was born at St. Saviour, Jersey Island and came to Paspabiac with his father Lionel and mother Mary and at least two other brothers when he was less than 10 years old.

My Great, Great Grandfather Francis' wife (Mary Jane Buckle) is buried here at this cemetery in Portage, Maine. She lived to be 94 years old and was a widow for over 33 years when she finally passed away! As it turns out, four consecutive generations of Strong men married a woman with the first name of Mary. Francis and Mary's daughter Elisabeth, also known as Bella, is also buried here. Mary lived with Bella for quite some time prior to her death. Portage is now a one horse town located about an hour's drive from the Van Buren, Maine Canadian border crossing.