Born in Northern Ontario, Canada in a small community next to the Sturgeon River at the falls, on a winter day in 1957 about 11:30 pm, from my mother’s accounts, she had delivered me, birthed the placenta and was all cleaned up in time for her nightly midnight call to my dad who got off work then in Elliot Lake. That was my beginning 57 years ago placing me at the head of 8 children

I learned I had a connection to the Menominee Tribe, the wild rice people, that had lived in the heart of Turtle Island, against the shores of the Great Lakes since the last Ice Age for more than 10,000 years. These are the accounts of my origins.

My Native Origins can be traced back as far as recorded history allows to first contact with the white man and the Menominee Tribe in the late 1700’s.  The synchronistic manner in which i obtained the various bits of information about my origins, came to me over time. Though they where fascinating discoveries about myself, they were unrecognizable threads of information to me on their own, at the time I received them.

I can now weave these threads into the tapestry of my ancestry understanding the position I hold amongst all of my ancestors with absolute certainty. Belonging to this greater whole has given me such perspective on the absolute infinite powers that guide us along our journey, I felt this information needed to be shared with all of my relations.

Twenty five years ago, following the birth of my youngest son by C-Section where the epidural had damaged the nerves of my leg I was on a flight from Halifax to Toronto and was synchronisticly placed next to a neurosurgeon from my home town who said he could take a look at what the problem was and I booked an appointment to see him.  While he was examining me face down, with my spine exposed, for the numbness in my right foot following the complications from the epidural for the C-Section, he casually mentioned I was of Mongolian origin. I laughed and said I was French Canadian how could I possibly be Mongolian?

22 years ago my grandmother Gertrude Brasseur Gauthier told me her great great grandmother was a pure blooded Indian who, in a fuschia coloured taffeta wedding dress, married her great great grandfather.

11 years ago genealogist Gwen Patterson traced my origins to them – Françoise Cleremont & François Dussome officially, along with supporting documents from church records, census records, municipal and written accounts in books and journals. Then following my blood line, down to my roots in the Pre-Neolithic Period originating on the Asian Steppes.

9 years ago I found Janet Rice, a Memominee woman in Midland who confirmed the markings on our body signifying we are of Menominee Tribe with origins carrying the B Blood Group. The Wild Rice People is what other Indian Tribes referred to them as and so the Menominee were appointed the surname of “RICE” for accounting purposes.

Most recently I have learned that the Menominee labelled as “The Wild Rice People had a name for themselves “The Ancient Ones”.

My roots are shallow on my father’s side Guy Albert Robert, they are still being uncovered.

My maternal roots, beginning with my mother Marlene Denise Gauthier, can be traced back to 1650.

• On my maternal grandfather’s side, Henry (Hank) Gauthier back to 1650 Please visit the vast expanse of love poured into the Gauthier family tree by my second cousin Cathy Jehle
• On my maternal grandmother’s paternal side Olivier Brasseur back to 1757 when the first Brasseur arrived in Canada. Exactly 200 years to my birth in 1957, I am the 7th generation. Link to Brasseur books.
• On my maternal great grandmother Marie Jeanne Duquette I can trace my lineage back to the late 1700’s. This maternal lineage links me to my Native Status since my grandmother was forced to loose her Status in marriage.
• I will be adding members to the Family Tree continually – each member will have their own post.  Many with supporting birth, marriage and death registration documents.
• I am also a 7th generation Menominee descendant whose origins are traced back more than 10 to 15.000 years to a small tribe of less than 5,000 Mongolians who crossed over the Bering Straight land bridge during the last Ice Age and migrated to the heart of Turtle Island as the last glacial Age retreated. Dr. Peter D’Adamo’s take on it.
• Predominantly B Blood Group the Wild Rice Tribe and Mongolians roots are Egyptian & Jewish in origin. See the distribution map here