Island Falls

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My Grandparents, Ronald and Virginia Martin lived in Island Falls, a place I didn’t always enjoy visiting. Their tiny house was too neat, too boring . But when they came to visit us in Camden, they brought presents! My Grammie, a school teacher in nearby Crystal,  brought books , colored pencils, new dresses, and her still- to -this -day amazing cinnamon rolls to go with our Saturday night baked beans. And Grampy would bring his violin! We begged him to play and tell us stories. Our favorite was,” Mysterious Mose”, a Maine Game Warden who always got his man.

After our bean supper, Grampy and  my Dad would head off to their gig and we would migrate into the bathtub and later, watch the remnants of Lawrence Welk and Hee-Haw. It was at one of those dances that my Father met my Mother. In those days, dancing was THE entertainment. At one point my Grandfather had two bands; “The Black Diamonds” and the family Band, “The Martins”. My Mother played piano, Uncle Richard played sax and my Grand Father played his fiddle. Although my Grandfather went on to be the Administrator at the local hospital and ran the local IGA store, it is his dance bands that people recall.

One visit in 1977, I decided to ask my Grandfather about our heritage. I  knew that “Martin” was a French name and had heard stories of  my Great-Great Grandfather, “The Old Frenchman”, Tofield.  I had also heard stories and insinuations about my Great –Great Grand  Mother, Durpeau. “That’s the Durpeau in ya.”, was  standard whenever we got angry or were stubborn about something. We got the feeling that this was not a compliment!

“Grampy, can you tell me about our family? Where did we come from?

“Well….we are French Arcadian.”

He did not tell me much more than that, but I knew he neither spoke French nor was Catholic. The fact that he knew enough to be able to identify our family as Acadian was interesting, but just as interesting and telling, was the fact that he mispronounced the word.

                                         

                                                

A View of the West Branch of the Mattawamkeag