Go in search of your French ancestors or those who came to France…
guided by genealogy and archival specialists who are also seasoned investigators…
What if? What if? What if you had French ancestors?
Mike’s inspiring story—USA, ancestry: Quebec / Normandy
"My family history has always been a subject of interest to me; my older cousin had done some research on the Dulon (Dulong) family and their settlement in Quebec, Canada, which provided me with a starting point for my own research.
I studied French in high school, without connecting the language to my family history, and I certainly didn’t expect to use the language of my ancestors in France, their country of origin.
Upon arriving in the village of Dulong, I looked out at the landscape, trying to imagine a land without modern roads. I pictured my ancestors breaking up the earth, perhaps by hand, perhaps with the help of horses or oxen.
Even though I didn’t find any Dulongs to talk to, I felt a connection to the town, having come from a very small farming town in Wisconsin myself. The gravestones in the cemetery and the quaint little church made the history feel more real.
Reading the names and dates, touching the old bricks of the church, and looking through the old windows reminded me of times long past.
I stood up and looked at the church in the village of Dulong and realized that it would have looked much the same a few hundred years ago.
The door hardware would have been touched by my great-great-great-grandparents and other family members, and most likely, their descendants (my distant relatives) still attended services there.
A unique experience…
We had the opportunity to visit the site with Mike.
"I walked along the dirt paths to pick raspberries—almost certainly raspberries that had sprouted from hundreds of years of seeds that the Dulongs had missed, which fell to the ground and have been growing back every year since.
The modern inhabitants of one of the farms were not Dulong, but kept pigeons, ducks, and other livestock, continuing practices that would have been followed over the past centuries. Their desire to explore led them to the New World, first to Canada, then to the United States.
In a world of irony and fate, many members of my family would return to France, both the Dulongs and those on my father’s side. My great-great-uncle returned to Normandy during World War II.
I first came for a language immersion program, then to follow in my ancestors’ footsteps. When my great-great-uncle arrived, he didn’t know that his surname would be linked to the Dulong name later, after his death, and when I visited France for the first time, I didn’t know much about my great-great-uncle’s history or even his existence, or the history of the village of Dulong.
The way things are connected and impact the future is a fascinating mystery to uncover and can greatly enrich our perspective on life and our place in the world."
Mike
Now it’s your turn—come experience this incredible adventure!!!
Feel free to reach out to discuss it.
We can also design a custom trip just for you.
How does it work?
6 steps to actively prepare for your trip
- Gather all the information on the earliest generations: date and place of birth, date and place of marriage, date and place of death for parents and grandparents, and even great-grandparents.
- Gather as many official documents as possible: family register, military service record, social security number…
- Gather photos, images…
- Start looking at the databases available online: Généanet, My Héritage, etc.
- Get in touch with people who have already started researching their family history.
- Write down in a dedicated notebook the memories that have been passed down from generation to generation…
An all-inclusive package
More than just a language study trip, it’s a truly personalized adventure
in search of your ancestors’ history.
1,450 euros
– personalized support and guidance,
– accommodation,
-full board,
– Themed tour of the region
– goal setting, data verification, planning, overall strategy
Accommodation
Accommodation
15 hours of instruction
Teaching materials
Transport
HOW CAN WE GET STARTED TOGETHER?
The first thing we offer is a free initial consultation to better assess your needs based on the resources you have available. Next, we’ll conduct a detailed analysis of the potential outcomes of your search.
After that, we’ll create a list of actions to implement by developing a specific program.