If you have ancestors who came from France to Canada during the 1600s, chances are they are profiled in this series of books. Each chapter talks about the life of a different pioneer family. Check them out!
A few interesting quotes I found in these books:
In reference to waves of immigrant families coming to Canada from France during that time period:
"According to navigators, the first wave is the strongest; in genealogy, it would seem to be the opposite. The first wave is the weakest, while those who survive increase and multiply to infinity."
Thomas J. Laforest
Our French-Canadian Ancestors : Volume XIV, Page 155
"The dead often need the living to perpetuate their memory; the living always need the dead to understand themselves and to give a sense of eternity to their fleeting existence."
Thomas J. Laforest
Our French-Canadian Ancestors : Volume XIV, Page 211
"Men, who first walked on the soil of their homeland, have left impressions which neither time nor neglect can erase. They are our predecessors."
Thomas J. Laforest
Our French-Canadian Ancestors : Volume XV, Page 129
"The family has extended the past, multiplied the present and opened the horizons of the future. Without family, there is an end to the line, a break in history and the disappearance of a people. Family is, according to Lacordaire, the principle of virtues which divides the theatres of the world, similar to those obscure sources from which great rivers emerge and whose waters go to enlarge oceans."
Thomas J. Laforest
Our French-Canadian Ancestors : Volume XV, Page 34
"...To forget one's ancestors would be like becoming a stream without a source, a tree without roots, or a ship without a rudder."
Thomas J. Laforest
Our French-Canadian Ancestors : Volume XII, Page 64