Mi'kmaq Ancestral Information

My Great Great Grandmother: Kate Charles, b: about 1857 in Clare, Nova Scotia, Canada d: after 1923 in Nova Scotia, Canada
In stories told in the family, she was called "Blind Kate", and she is pictured in a photograph in a wheelchair late in her life.

My Great Grandfather: James Sullivan Bartlett b: 22 FEB 1879 in Acadian Indian Reserve, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, d: 26 JUL 1938 in North Kennebunkport, York, ME
He was a respected Indian Guide and Building Mover in and around Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He had a beach and a cove named after him. He also built furniture made out of branches with the cut ends painted different colors. One sat outside at my Great Aunty Lou's house next door during my growing up years. Stories in the family say that he was a jokester. People who came to visit were likely to have their sweater nailed to the wall they had hung it on or their shoes nailed to the porch where they left them before going into the house.

My Great Grandmother: Mary Rose Charles, b: 13 MAY 1880 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada d: 18 MAR 1955 in North Kennebunkport, ME (later renamed Arundel)
The family called her "Ma" and "Gigu". She and my great grandfather lived near the "Gravel Pit" (Acadia Reserve) and in Yarmouth. They picked crops in New England and eventually moved to Arundel, Maine with their five daughters- Frances, Louise, Dot (Dorothy), Geige (Georgina), and Mag (Marguerite). They bought a little land and built the house I grew up in on Rt.1 in Arundel. They built two more homes and helped their daughters and husbands build houses.

My Grandmother: Frances Viola Bartlett, b: 06 JAN 1898 in Acadian Indian Reserve, Yarmoth, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada d: 25 JAN 1944 in Biddeford, ME. Daughter of James Bartlett and Mary Rose Charles. She was baptized in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Feb 12, 1898. I never knew her. She died from Leukemia nine years before I was born. I'm told she was kind-hearted and hard of hearing.

My Great Aunt: Louise Mamie Bartlett b: 31 MAY 1903 in Acadian Indian Reserve, Yarmoth, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada d: 14 MAR 1993 in Kennebunkport, York, ME. She lived next door to my family home during my growing up years. We had breakfasts at her fire pit between our houses during the warm months. She taught me most of the Mi'kmaq language I know. She would tell us to be proud of our Indian blood. She took my little sister out picking new fir growth for bedding to sleep on outside on the ground, and family story says she went out to perform a traditional ritual on new moon and knew how to make rain. Truly. Long after her passing my godmother (Great Aunt Mag) and Aunt Lou's daughter Madeline would experiment with recreating her way of making the rain.

My Great Aunt: Dorothy May Bartlett Mitchell, b: 31 MAR 1906 in Acadian Indian Reserve, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada d: 31 MAY 1961 in Kennebunk, ME. She lived on Log Cabin Road and raised my sister Pat. She baked her black onyx ring into my cousin Jackie's birthday cake because she knew she was going to pass on. Jackie never wore it and so Jackie's mother, my godmother, gave me the ring. I gave it to my sister who was raised by Aunt Dot.

My Great Aunt: Georgina Bartlett Hanson, b: 13 AUG 1907 in Acadian Indian Reserve, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada d: 02 JUN 1962 in Kennebunk, ME

My Great Aunt: Bartlett, Marguerite Julia, the youngest when the family left Acadia Reserve. She was my godmother. In the following taken from a ship manifest, she is accompanying her mother, my great grandmother, to the states from Yarmouth, N.S. All of the accounts of my family members' move to the states list them as Indian:
ID: I3
* Name: Mary Rose Charles
* Name: Bartlett
* Sex: F
* Change Date: 30 JUL 2000
* Birth: 13 MAY 1880 in Yarmouth, Yardmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
* Note: Most likely at the Yarmouth Indian Reserve.
* Immigration: 30 JUN 1924 254 Ann St., Hartford, Hartford, CT
* Note:
Manifest, Dept. of Labor #490735
Bartlett, Mary R
Port of Yarmouth, N.S.
Age 45 female, married
30 Jun 1924
5ft 4in, dark complexion, black hair, brown eyes
* NATI: Canadian, Race: Mic-Mac.
born at Yarmouth, N.S.
From Canada, Nova Scotia to Hartford, CT.
In USA previously in Sept 1921 - Sept 1922
To join her daughter Mrs James Maher at 354 Ann St., Hartford,
CT.
Accompanied by 1 child Marguerite, female, 7 years, Drk, Brn,
Brn. born in Yarmouth, N.S.
Yarmount - Boston Steam Ship Co. Arrived Boston 1 Jul 1924.
* Occupation: Basket Weaver
* Death: 18 MAR 1955 in North Kennebunkport, York, ME