Did You Know?

In my first book I had added a number of 'did you knows'.  I've added some of them here for interest sake. I'll be adding these along with many, many, Catudal specific 'did you knows' to my next book, The Families Catudal.

Did you know?

New France was the name given to all the territory in North America held by France from the 1520’s until 1763.

The Name “New France” was first used by Giovanni da Verrazzano who was an explorer sent by King François I of France to look for a passage through North America. Although Verrazzano did not find the passage he did explore the east coast of North America giving the whole area the name of New France.

Did you know? (This entry followed an in-depth discussion about what a dit name is and how it was used by our French forefathers, and mothers)

dit is used for masculine names, dite for feminine. The word dit is used to reference non-gender specific dit names. The word dite is only used with-in the proper name of a female.

Did you know?

That at its peak, New France’s territory went from Newfoundland to Lake Superior and north from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.

Did you know? (I had this entry under a discussion about what it was like for people from France to come over by ship in the 17th and 18th century)

The drinking water aboard ship was kept in wooden casks. The water in these casks soon went bad. Sometimes by the time people got to the end of the cask there were more maggots than water.

Below deck “the stench -- ripe and acrid from rat droppings mixed with mildew, rot and the odours of never-washed bodies -- was so strong that scientists of the day speculated that it was a violent explosion of these shipboard vapours that created ball lightning.”

Did you know?

That raising a white flag did not always mean a wish to surrender but actually the opposite. During the 17th century if one raised a white flag it meant that one wanted to start or join a battle.

Did you know?

Descendants of Coureurs des Bois and First Nations women became a new nation, the Métis.

Did you know?

François Duplessis Faber (1689-1762) is almost always mistaken for his brother François Antoine Duplessis Faber (1703-1733). François Antoine was killed in a well documented battle between the French and the Sauk and Renard (Fox) Indians at Green Bay, present day Wisconsin. His older brother, François, was a well known and celebrated officer in his own right. In fact the Library and Archives of Canada’s Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online has a biography on François.It is François Duplessis Faber (1689-1762) for whom our first Catudal to come to New France worked.

Did you know?

In 1615 France sent the Recollect Friars to convert the Indians. Jean Dolbeau 1586 – 1652 landed in Québec in May of 1615 and was the first person to hold a Mass in the new World.

Did you know?

That until the 1960’s divorce was not recognized in Canada. If you had wanted a divorce prior to that time in history then you would have had to apply to the Canadian Senate who then would carryout an investigation. If, after the investigation, you were to have been granted the right to divorce then the whole matter would have had to be presented in the form of a private members’ bill. If the Private member’s bill passed then your marriage would be dissolved.

Did you know?

Liquid shampoo was first introduced in 1927.

Did you know?

Urban legend has it that the ‘points’ on a Hudson Bay blanket (the thin black stripes), originally were used to denote the cost of the blanket in beaver pelts. Four stripes would have meant that the blanket cost 4 beaver pelts. This is not the reason for the ‘points’ on a Hudson Bay blanket.

The points reference the size of the blanket. The sizes range from 2.5 to 8; with the most common sizes being 3.5 (Twin), 4 (Double), 6 (Queen) and 8 (King).

Did you know?

Death by drowning was very common in the 17th and 18th centuries. People often used the waterways to travel between towns and cities due to the lack of roads. Traveling over frozen lakes and rivers was quite dangerous with many people reportedly falling through thin ice.

Did you know?

That there were only four doctors in New France during the whole of the French regime, which lasted from 1534 with Jacques Cartier’s discovery of Canada and ended February 10, 1763, when the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the Seven Year War between England and France (known as the French and Indian War in North America)

On the other hand, surgeons were common. Up until 1743 they shared a “single occupational guild: that of the barber-surgeons!”

The reason surgeons and barbers were grouped under one umbrella was due to the common practice of bleeding people. One only had to know where to find a vein (surgeon) and then cut it open (barber). The common element of a cutting instrument is what bound the two professions together.

Did you know?

The first shaving razors came into use in about 3,000 BC and were made of copper and were commonly found in both India and Egypt.117 Before that time, and even in some parts of the world today, sea shells are used to remove hair.