[FCHSM] Book: Companions of Champlain

[avtrudeau at wowway.com]

Peggy Youngs recently gave us the benefit of her review of a new book, Companions of Champlain - see below. Unfortunately, I read her review too late to cancel my own order for the book, and I have since received my own copy.

I have to say that I ditto everything that Peggy says, plus, I am including in this e-mail the contents of a draft of a letter that I am sending to the author, Ms Denise Larson. I guess about all I can really say at this point is that if you were considering buying the book, don't bother -- at least not for now.

Al Trudeau

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Peggy's Review

Hi all,

Well, I bought the book Companions of Champlain, and after reading it I have to say I'm disappointed
There is very little content to this book that is probably not in other books already. Out of 178 pages,
only 35 involve any background information. The only founding family of which there is much mention
is that of Louis Hebert, and at that there is very little.

Most of the book is made up of:
Reference list--8 pp.
Appendix I--how to do genealogy, 3 pp.
Appendix II--glossary, 20 pp.
Appendix III--genealogy of first families (explanation of pedigree charts and lineage lists, 4 pp.
Appendix IV--Companions of Champlain (lineage lists), 80 pp.
Appendix V--examples of pedigree, modified method, and full reference citations, 5 pp.

I also felt that our journal proofreaders could have done a much better job than what was done in this
book. One example that I can't believe got overlooked--use of the word through instead of throw.

I can't help but think that this book was rushed to publication because of the imminent 400th anniversary
this year.

I'm happy to let anyone take a look at this book and will bring it to the meeting next month.

Peggy

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Draft of Al Trudeau's letter to Denise R. Larson, author of Companions of Champlain:

15 February 2008

Ms Denise R. Larson
c/o Clearfield Co.
3600 Clipper Mill Road
Baltimore MD 21211

Dear Ms Larson:

I just received and read with interest your new book, Companions of Champlain Founding Families of Quebec 1608-1635. I must tell you I am disappointed. The glaring errors it contains could have been and should have been caught if the book had received even a cursory proof read before publication.

Some examples:
Page 53. You say that the Carignan-Salières Regiment served in Canada from 1685 to 1688. The Regiment served from 1665 to 1668.

Page 82. You say that Marive Cloutier was born c. 1699 and married in 1684 to Jean Gravel but that the marriage was annulled. Marie Cloutier was born c. 1659 [Jetté, p. 259]. She had previously been betrothed by marriage contract on 17 March 1681 [Notary Claude Aubert] to Noël Rancourt, but the contract was annulled on 21 March 1681 [Jetté, p. 964]. She subsequently did marry Jean Gravel [ Jetté, p. 523].

Page 97. You list the 7 children of Simon Guyon and Louise Racine all under the surname of Racine. They are all Guyon [Jetté, p. 548].

Page 99. You say Denis Guyon married Elisabeth Boucher, daughter of Françoise ShouBoucher & Florence Gareman. Should be François Boucher [Jetté, pp. 136 & 548]. Françoise is the feminine form of the name.

Page 128. You say the child of Charles-François Bissot and Anne-Françoise Forestier was Marie-Madeline Forestier. She was Marie-Madeleine Bissot [Jetté, p. 111]. Also, Marie-Madeleine is generation V-i, and should be indented.

Page 141. Marie Langlois married to François Miville is generation II-viii and should not be indented with generation III.

There are other relatively minor mistakes that at first I just passed over as annoying but not critical, though rather disappointing in what otherwise could have been a most enjoyable read. But finally I reached a point where I began to doubt seriously the credibility of the entire work. That’s a real shame because I believe it all could have been easily avoided if the book had only been given one last critical proof reading before going to print. As it is, this work simply is not ready for publication.

In your FINAL NOTES on page 169 you solicit (sort of) comments from readers to propose corrections for future editions. My comment would be that as a bare minimum you should have several persons [the more eyes you can bring to bear, the better] who are reasonably familiar with the subject matter go through the present version with a nit-picking fine tooth comb and come up with an errata sheet that should then be mailed to every buyer of record so far and also included with every copy that is sold from here on out. It goes without saying that If there ever is a future edition, it would incorporate all those corrections.

Sincerely,

Alfred Trudeau

WOW! Homepage (http://www.wowway.com)

 
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