Survival!

About the Book

Many years ago, I was privileged to discover the roots of the Rougeux family and document the story of their emigration into in a book titled The Long Journey, which was published in 2000. That book focused on their incredible journey from the beautiful Champagne region of Northeastern France and their survival in isolated Central Pennsylvania nearly two hundred years ago. Survival fills in much of the background and ancient history dating back to pre-Roman times until their emigration two thousand years later. Survival is sourced from recently translated medieval documents pertaining to the forty villages nestled within the Valley of l’Amance in the Champagne region of the Upper Marne River of France. Unlike most historical works, these sources describe events impacting the powerless living under the thumb of the very few at the top of the food chain. A photograph tour of many of these old villages is included. Much of this translation is composed of contemporary events recorded more than a millennium ago in the archaic French of that time. This story certainly illustrates the tenuous and fragile thread of our great good fortune to be alive in this country.

About the Author

Born just before the start of the Great Depression in 1929, the author spent his formative years on the hard scrabble farm in an isolated Central Pennsylvania Appalachian plateau community of his French speaking immigrant forefathers and neighbors. Anxious to escape, immediately after graduation from high school he left the region and found employment as a 3rd shift box car loader at the General Electric Company at their Erie Plant. The excitement of a paying job soon faded and realizing further education was necessary, his application to the four year Engineering program was accepted, eventually leading to a PE licence, promotions to Manager Engineering and of Quality Control and relocations to other facilities during the 31 years before resignation to accept Director of Engineering of a global company requiring travel to Europe, Asia and the Far East and North America. During travel in France, the rural village of his forefathers, bearing the same name as his, was discovered. Several visits were made to Rougeux in the succeeding years in which ancient documents and historical records were unearthed. These led to to the publication of “The Long Journey” in 2000. Subsequent discoveries and translations by the author have led to publication of this book. The author has been married sixty-seven years, had eight children, sixteen grandchildren and ever-expanding numbers of greats. The author enjoys fine woodworking, old clock repair, historical reading and has authored a privately published book, ‘An Octogenerian Remembers’.