Normand Léveillée: French-Canadian Genealogist and Educator

One of my inspirations for Old Grandmother’s Tree is the work of the late French-Canadian genealogist and educator, Normand Léveillée (March 8, 1935- April 21, 2019). Léveillée was also a Miteouamigoukoue descendant, and therefore my cousin. In addition to his research on the life of our ancestor Miteouamigoukoue, Léveillée’s work poignantly portrayed a moving sketch of her as a real human being, who overcame a tragic loss to rebuild her life.

Sadly, by the time I discovered Normand Léveillée and my own connections to Miteouamigoukoue, I learned that the genealogist had passed away just a few months earlier. He had lived only about an hour’s drive away from me. Perhaps it was fitting that Normand Léveillée watched over the creation of this book from the Campfires in the Sky. I imagine that he stood there proudly, cheering me on while standing by the side of our ancestors Miteouamigoukoue and Pierre Couc.

But what does the “Campfires in the Sky” refer to? If you may recall in my last blog post, I talked about how Old Grandmother’s Tree contains mini-stories with the ten main stories of the book. Well, Campfires in the Sky is one of those storie —as you will soon see.

After his death, Normand Léveillée’s website and research were deleted. Fortunately, during my research I had saved pdf copies of his website. With the gracious permission of his family, I have included these in the Old Grandmother’s Tree website. If you have not yet read these, I encourage you to do so! You can find Normand Léveillée’s research on our ancestor Miteouamigoukoue here: https://oldgrandmotherstree.com/a-tribute-to-normand-leveillee/

Stay tuned for more upcoming announcements and updates!