French influence in the United States (house, high schools, taxation)

[mjlo]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Doesn't Detroit have some of the most French history outside of the Gulf Coast? I swear there was a thread on this a while back.

Michigan as a whole has a lot of French history but Detroit especially. Street names, last names, city names ect.

[santafe400]

Upper rural New England, especially Maine. I believe it has the highest percentage of people per state identifying with French ancestry. In fact, I'm not so sure what most of Maine really has in common with most of New England anyway.

[Mr. Joshua]

New England.

My grandmother's maiden names are Boudreau and Aucoin (pronounced au-kwa in a nasally french way)

Also the lower Mississippi Valley and Michigan areas.

[Hollytree]

Rhode Island had a lot of French Canadian immigration in the 19th cent especially in the Blackstone Valley area.

see here... http://www.woonsocket.org/french.html

[Acajack]

Interesting thread. People have covered off most of the areas where there was decent settlement.

French Canadian explorers in the days before Canada and the U.S. even existed travelled to much of the American west, especially the western and northern parts.

You can see their path in the sparse but still obvious archipelago of French place names in places as far as Idaho (Coeur d'Alene), Wyoming (Grand Teton) and Nebraska (Platte River, or Rivière Platte, meaning flat river).

But there wasn't really any French settlement in these areas. Maybe a teeny bit in some parts of the upper Midwest like Wisconsin and Minnesota.

There was a also a French influence among some aboriginal groups on the northern Plains, many of which are kind of a French-native métis mix and have French surnames to this day.

For example the imprisoned leader of AIM, the American Indian Movement, Leonard Peltier, has a surname that is derived from the French Canadian name Pelletier.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by hobbesdj

It is on the verge of extinction, but French was commonly spoken in Missouri right up into the 20th century:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oy9WZNShBU


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNBpRyB5T1M


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRDN5Axs-DI

Remember that the French settled not only in Canada and (modern day) Louisiana, but also around St Louis (where the name comes from), Detroit and in areas of Illinois which was called the Pays d'en Haut (high country). Here is a map of actual French settlement (rather than just claimed lands) during the 17th-18th centuries.

Cool map there! Thanks for posting it!

[Acajack]

French Canadians were always a bit footloose and fancy-free.

A few other examples not from the northeast or Louisiana.

- Juneau, the state capital of Alaska, was named for Joseph Juneau, the co-founder of the city who was from a small town (now a suburb) just outside of Montreal.

- Madonna's mother's name was Louise Fortin, a Franco-American born in Michigan and a descendant of French Canadians from Quebec. Madonna and Quebec singer Céline Dion are actually very distant cousins.

- Former Montana governor Marc Racicot is also very obviously of French Canadian origin. Although he spells his first name the French way, I am not sure if he speaks any French at all.

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by Acajack

French Canadians were always a bit footloose and fancy-free.

A few other examples not from the northeast or Louisiana.

- Juneau, the state capital of Alaska, was named for Joseph Juneau, the co-founder of the city who was from a small town (now a suburb) just outside of Montreal.

- Madonna's mother's name was Louise Fortin, a Franco-American born in Michigan and a descendant of French Canadians from Quebec. Madonna and Quebec singer Céline Dion are actually very distant cousins.

- Former Montana governor Marc Racicot is also very obviously of French Canadian origin. Although he spells his first name the French way, I am not sure if he speaks any French at all.

Yes, when they come to the French Canadian Riviera (the Coast of Maine) they wear speedos. Some of them can be mildly obscene.

[UKWildcat1981]

New England especially around Vermont,Maine and New Hampshire.. lot of French influence.

[JerseyGirl415]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

Yes, when they come to the French Canadian Riviera (the Coast of Maine) they wear speedos. Some of them can be mildly obscene.

Same with when they come to Cape May, NJ! French Canadians love vacationing there. Those speedos are always interesting. You know who the tourists are.