Our Acadians?

Fascinating, treacherous, cruel, unjust.  The story of the deportations of the Acadians from their homeland is a truly gruesome chapter in history.  Yet I am compelled to finish rereading John Mack Faragher's, A Great and Noble Scheme. 

More than 10,000 Acadians were forced onto ships. Many of them died on the crowded transport ships from either disease or sinking.  Once they arrived  in the English Colonies they were sent to various towns, so that they could not form any troublesome groups. Acadians  faced starvation, hostility and exposure.  They labored for subsistence. The children were conscripted as servants in English speaking households. Their catholic faith was considered subversive. It was assumed the Acadian French were friends of the savage Indian tribes and if given a chance they would ally with the tribes and turn on their English speaking hosts and slit their throats.  At this time the borderland skirmishes were called in this country the French and Indian Wars. These French speakers were considered the enemy.

By http://maps.bpl.org - A map of the British and French settlements in North America, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27806577

As I read, I wonder which of my ancestors were loaded onto the transport ships? Did any escape?  Where did they land? Who survived?  I know that some in my direct line survived, otherwise I wouldn't exist.  In truth, the expulsion happened to all the Girourds, Heberts, Cormiers, LeBlancs, Thiboudeaus ancestors. All the aunts, uncles, cousins; everyone of them purged from Acadia.

Madeleine Thibodeau 1741-1824. Our fifth great grandmother was fourteen when the British swept into Gran Pré.  Records show she married Louis Saindon in 1762.  Louis Saindon 1740-1819  was born in Sainte-Anne Madawaska in what is now New Brunswick. He dies, like his wife in Cacouna, Riviere-du-Loup. a village along the St Lawrence River in Quebec.  It is safe to say that the Acadian Deportation brought these two together. But the how of their meeting and marriage is an intriguing question. 

The history of Madeleine's aunt Agnes Dugas Madeleine Thibodeau is documented.    Agnes Dugas was married to Joseph Broussard dit Beausoliel.  Their migration to Louisiana is the stuff of legends. Still I wonder how one part of the Thiboudeau clan migrated south to  Louisiana…. While another part migrated north to Quebec. 

There is the mystery of the fates of Madeleine Thibodeau's parents and their many children:Pierre Thibaudeau 1710-1755? our 6th great grandfather was born in Port Royal married to Marie Cormier 1710-1770.

Perhaps the a concerted team effort of the Search Sisters will uncover more about the fates of our deported Acadians. I hope so.

Sources:
Allison Tree on Ancestry.com 
Madeleine Thibaudeau - Facts

Expulsion of the Acadians - Wikipedia

Note: At this moment in history Acadia and Quebec are refered to as two different provences. Canada did not exist.