Family secrets

In years past, I have heard many things about my grandfather, Raymond LaPlante. I heard that he was a "pool shark", a gambler, and a womanizer. I don't know about all of that, since the family didn't talk much about family affairs and does not maintain close ties. For certain, he was raised in an old world patriarchal system. He totally dominated my grandmother. My grandmother, Beatrice Lacasse was a rather quiet, gracious, hard working woman whom I loved dearly. She raised five children, worked tirelessly for them and the home, kept a garden, fruit trees, blueberry and raspberry patches, and canned fruits and vegetables. She also waited on my grandfather "hand and foot" so to speak.

Even when my grandmother was dying of cancer, she tended to my grandfather's every whim...and I do mean whim. He was an amuptee, having had several amputations further and further up his legs until he had nothing but two stumps by the time he was in his late sixties or early seventies. Both my grandparents were born in 1907, give or take a year. I believe she was older than he was by one year, so I am not sure. They both died when I was in my teen years.

During my trip to visit with my mother, I heard the story that my father, Robert, once told about him doubting that my grandmother was his biological mother. Like I said earlier, it was once said that my grandfather was a womanizer in his younger years. My father claimed that he once saw his birth certificate and that his birth mother was not listed as the mother he had known his whole life. Another clue that fed his doubts was that he had blue eyes, his father had blue eyes; that his mother and four siblings all had brown or hazel eyes. Though it is genetically possible, depending upon the unknown gene pool of my grandmother and the dominant vs. recessive eye color gene, it apparently caused doubt in my father's mind.

This story was relayed to my mother by my father in what must have been the early years of their marriage. My father had a stroke when I was four years old and became an aphasic. I just heard this for the first time this past weekend. It peaked my curiosity and made me ponder more than I thought it would.

Since the family has never been close, never passed along family history or tradition, and certainly never really gave a genealogy, I have always been curious. I can personally only trace that side of the family back to my grandfather on his side and to a short history of "begats" on the side of my grandmother. I actually found this online once, just searched for it, and can't locate it at the moment.

I sent a request to the City of Franklin, where my father was born and where I grew up, for a copy of his birth certificate. According to the web site, it can take four to six weeks for a result. I did call the City Clerk's office and I was told that it is not unusual to retrieve records from the 1930's and that there was already a decent system of recording in place then. Perhaps this mystery will be solved eventually.