The Acadian Comeback

A typical Nova Scotia house  and yard with a very typical Acadian star.

Before the Canada trip I knew about the Expulsion of the Acadian population of thousands "French Neutrals" from Acadie by the British forces in the 18th century. What I didn’t know, was that after 1764 and the Treaty of Paris Britain shifted its policies and Acadians were allowed to return in small groups, though their original lands were never restored.

As you drive the Maritime Provence's roads and byways the evidence of Acadians is

The Acadian flag is an adaptation of the
French tricolor.

everywhere.  The Acadian flag flies over many homes.  The Acadian star decorates many houses. 

I expected Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to be solidly English speaking. That is not the case at all…French is likely to the the first language spoken to you by a grocery store cashier in the town of Shediac, or Bouctouche. In Cheticamp French is likely the first language of the Snow Crab fishermen. Driving you encounter Acadian museums, Acadian history centers.  In Nova Scotia a stretch of road is called the Acadian Highway.  There is the Acadian coast. 

I found family names on signs: Cormier Farms: You-Pick-Strawberries, Pierre Cormier DDS., LeBlanc Insurance. Their names are on the landscape in places like Cormier-Village, New Brunswick and River Hébert in Nova Scotia.   

Festivals celebrate Acadian music and food. Every other year there is a great Acadian Reunion that attracts thousands of people. There is a recipe for Acadian Poutine. Acadian women still hook rugs. Gift shops stock Acadian sox, Acadian hats, Acadian backpacks, shot glasses, placemats.

Acadians have a stubborn, fierce pride. These folks have a proud heritage and they are not embarrased to celebrate their identity.  I have to admit, that by the time I left the Maritimes, I felt a bit of Acadian pride myself. I am considering decorating my California cottage with an Acadian star. 

The word Acadia is found on ships, movie theaters, and this University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Acadia - Wikipedia

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.

Grand Dérangment: Acadians Expelled

"This Evangeline statue stands before the reconstructed chapel at the site of the historic church of St. Charles-des-Mines, where Acadians were incarcerated before they were sent into exile. Now managed by Parks Canada, the memorial is the most significant site of memory for the Acadian people." John Mack Faragher

In late August 1755, 400 British soldiers marched into the village of Grand Pré.  Their commander, Colonel John Winslow demanded provisions and bunked his troops in the church and took the priest house for his headquarters.  The work of the harvest was allowed to continue. What could the population do? Their weapons had been confiscated and their leaders were in jail in Halifax.  

On September 5th, all men over 16 were called to the church.   Inside Winslow read a document from the British governer of Nova Scotia with the help of a translator to 400 assembled men. It included this: "... your Lands and Tenements, Cattle of all kinds, and Livestock of all sorts are forfeited to the Crown with all other of your Effects, saving your Money and Household Goods. And that you and yourselves are to be removed from this provence."

Winslow walked out of the church and the men were held, locked inside. Winslow doubled the guard and later that night he wrote in his journal:

"Thus ended the Memorable fifthe of September, a Day of great Fatigue & Trouble."

Trouble perhaps, but not nearly the trouble that the Acadians were headed for. After many days of delay the captured Acadians were herded onto Yankee transport ships.  Their livestock was confiscated, their buildings destroyed, their records burned.  Families were separated and after being kept as prisoners below decks on the ships for many weeks, many died during the voyages.  Acadians were delivered in small groups to English colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusettes, Virginia, Carolina, Georgia. As French speaking, catholic beggars they were treated with suspicion and scorn.  Charles Lawrence, the British governer of Nova Scotia who had concocted and executed the expulsion, had failed to inform the other colonial governers that these French speaking refugees would be arriving in their colonies. 

In an moment Acadians were transformed from prosperous, self sufficient farmers to an enemy people in an enemy land.  

Information panel from the Parks Canada exhibit at Grand Pré Visitor Center. 

Sources:
A Great and Noble Scheme, The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland,  John Mack Faragher, WW Norton & Co. 2005
note: To read details of the Expulsions at Gran Pre, Chapter 12, page 335

Wikipedia: Expulsion of the Acadians - Wikipedia

Beausoleil

Joseph Broussard, known as "Beausoleil". A portrait by Herb Roe.  

Beyoncé and the Search Sisters are related! We share Acadian Ancestors: the Search Sisters eighth great Grandparents: Michel Thibodeau and Agnes Dugas (1683-1734). Of course a lot has happened since then.  

I am amused and excited. Excited, with no one to tell but husband WW, he rolls his eyes and says… “Well if you go back far enough you are related to everyone”. Shrug. Genealogy bores the pants off of him. 

Sigh.

The real news is not about Beyoncé. The remarkable connection I am excited about is with " Beausoleil".  Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil is an Acadian  legend. I have been reading about him for the past couple of weeks. He was a prime player in the Acadian resistance to the British occupation of Acadia. He was a guerrilla fighter  and friend of the Mi'k Maq Indians. He was tough, resourceful, ruthless, with a talent for disappearing into the woods. He and his Indian allies terrorized the Brits and the New England Yankees.  He had reason:The Brits burned his house and barns, destroyed his livestock and sent his family running to the woods.  

The historian John Mack Faragher believes that his deeds as a resistance fighter are actually the amalgam of Joseph and his Brossard brothers, enhanced in the retelling.    Beausolil married my 7th Great Aunt Agnes Thibaudeau 1706-1777. His legend rates his own Wikipedia entry.

After visiting Acadia, now called by the English names of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island I know that I had  dozens of ancestors living in Port Royal (now called Annapolis Royal) , along the Riviere Dauphine (Annapolis River),  Beaubassin (Amherst). Our Acadians were disappeared along with the French names. I have been intensely curious about what happened to these Acadians in our family tree during the Great Explusion or as it is said in French, the "Grand Derangement". 

Reading the history of 17th and 18th century I learned some of the Broussards and Tibaudeas eventually landed in Louisiana. Uncovering the tale of Beausoleil I have details of what happened to some of our Thibodeaus along with one of the most amazing survival sagas of the era:

Source:

WikipediaJoseph Broussard - Wikipedia

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/brossard_joseph_3E.html

Another version here:

Grand Pré: Exhibiting Acadian Life

 Grand Pré  means Great Meadow

The French colonizing Acadia were very good at growing farms and big families. As the population grew the next generations of Acadians settled up the Annapolis River valley.  At Grand Pré located along the Bay of Fundy these farmers began diking the tides to dry the marshes to make arable farm land.  

These marsh landscapes are part of the Bay of Fundy basin, a region is famous for its gigantic tides.  It has been a prime agriculture area for centuries, in large part because these French settlers  built an very effective dike system to control the shifting water. Now the area is famous for its wineries and has an aspect that is not unlike Sonoma, but with a much deeper history. 

Many of these colonists migrated from the La Rochelle area of France, where the tradition of dike building and water management was not new to them. They brought their expertise and traditions of community cooperation to convert  marsh to  meadow. Because the settlers way of life did not compete with the native Miq mak tribe's way of life, the relations with the Indians were good. 

Reading our family tree this pattern of migrating north holds true.  Jean Tibodeau and wife Marguerite Hebert were both born in Port Royal (later called Annapolis Royal) but died in the northern settlement of Grand Pré. Thomas Cormier 1636 was married in 1666 to Marie Madeleine Girouard but died in the far north settlement of Beaubassin.   

Parks Canada has created a visitor center at Grand Pré that exhibits the settlement history and demonstrates the dike building methods. A film tells the story of the Grand Dérangment and how the entire Acadian community at Grand Pré (except for the renegades who fled into the woods) was rounded up, loaded into ships and sent in small groups to the American Colonies. This "great and noble scheme" as it was called by the British suits in Nova Scotia was executed to rid the region of troublesome French, and to make it easier to overpower the indian tribes. It also had the added dividend of aquiring rich farmlands that could support the British efforts in the new world.  

As outlandish as the idea of expelling 10,000 French speaking subjects from lands they had tended for more than a century was, it worked.  Within a few years the area was repopulated with loyal protestant Brits and Yankees from New England. People who worshiped the right God, and saluted the right flag.

At Parcs Canada Visitor Centres all signs are posted in French and English.

Grand Pré is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What does that mean exactly?

According to Wikipedia: "A World Heritage site is a landmark or area which is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as having cultural,[1] historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties. The sites are judged important to the collective interests of humanity. To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be an already classified landmark, unique in some respect as a geographically and historically identifiable place having special cultural or physical significance (such as an ancient ruin or historical structure, building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, mountain, or wilderness area). It may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet." 

Sources:

Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia - Wikipedia

Parks Canada - Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada

Landscape of Grand Pré - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Musee

The archive of the Heritage Society at Annapolis Royal.

There is no point in coming back to the graveyard during the day to look for the ancestor's graves. The Acadians marked their graves with wooden crosses. The crosses, and all signs of the Acadians were banished or burned with the British expulsion of all Acadians begining in 1755.  If I want to find evidence of the ancestors I must go to the town Museum. 

 O'Dell House is an historic house exhibit downstairs and home to the Annapolis Heritage Society. The archive and genealogy library is in a

O'Dell House on St.George Street, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

beautiful upstairs room overlooking the street and the river beyond. Light streams in from the tall windows, lighting up the memorial quilts on the walls and the amber wood floors. The young assistant asks what are you looking for? 

I ask, "what do you have?  Do you have... Acadians?… Heberts? Cormiers? LeBlancs? Bruns? Tibodeaus?"

I  am getting that  I-have-come-to-the-right-place feeling. I could stay for a long time, but I have only an hour before closing. I quickly skim the books that seem they will offer the most information on my family names. I request copies. It is a race with the clock.

The next morning I return for another hour. (Alas, my fellow traveler is no geneaology buff and there are not enough boats to keep him entertained for very long this morning). This time at the museum I am greeted by Cheryl Anderson, a volunteer at the library who really knows the resources. 

She asks, “Did you get the map?”

And the document that goes with it?  It is new. It describes the land grants of the first families on both sides of the river. Wow. I see it contains... Bruns. Heberts. Thibodedeaus.

Priceless. 

Cheryl says,"do you have a copy of the 1671 census?"

“Here are the rare books.  This one, the Jehn book, is hard to find. Sometimes it comes up on the used sources.  Do you know what happened to your families in the Deportation?”

She is a miracle. Now I really wish I had longer. There is much to be learned here. I tear myself away and begin scheming on when I might return.Still, the map she provided was a great companion as we drove up the Annapolis river valley. I chart the bends in the river, guessing where my first families settled.  

         
 

"Acadian Settlement Map 1707 shows families of Thibodeau, Brun, Theriault, LeBlanc, Giraourd, Heberts  settled along what was then called the "Riviere Dauphine".

Cheryl promises to send me a color version map in the mail. Genealogy angels (as my sister and I call them) sometimes intervene and when they do the results are miraculous. She is one of those angels. 

I thank her… and my good luck. 

Sources: 
Map: Acadian Settlement on the Annapolis River 1707, Annapolis Ventures

Annapolis Heritage Society: http://annapolisheritagesociety.com/genealogy/

Genealogy Centre | Annapolis Heritage Society

The Grave Yard Tour: Welcome to Acadie!

Alan Melanson (top right) tells tales in the Garrison Graveyard, Annapolis Royal,  Nova Scotia.

We have been told by fellow travelers not to miss the night time graveyard tour of Annapolis that is given by a local historian. We meet at the Fort at dusk greeted by Mssr. Alan Melanson. He hands us a lantern lit by a candle and asks us where we are from.  

"California.... San Francisco."  
"California?  Why are you traveling here?", he wonders. 
"My ancestors came from this town", I tell him.  
"British or Acadians?" he queries.  
I reply with a list of family names, "Hebert, Cormier, Michaud, LeBlancs" . 
"Welcome, fellow Acadian, he beams.   "Did you know that there are 3 million of us scattered around the world? "

People drift in as the sky darkens. A group of about 20 people assembles around Mr. Melanson who is dressed in a black mourning coat and top hat. He has the face of a character actor, the French accent of an Acadian, and the assurance of someone who has given this tour many times.  We we follow him across the grassy hills into the dim, graveyard around the fort. We climb stairs. He cautions us not to trip on the small foot stones (these are paired with head stones.) Good God!, it is dark in this graveyard. 

As we go Alan tells a series of stories of the people now underground. Buried in the Garrison Graveyard are many, but only a few have markers.  He tells us stories of English soldiers, Scots traders, Micmac first people, African free people, and of the Acadian French colonists. He gives us the recipe for Moose Nose Soup. He describes us how the widows of soldiers in the fort where thrown onto the street unless they married another soldier within the week.    We learn to say SHAM plan (Champlain) and Ah ca DEE (Acadia) He tells us the story Acadian deportation in 1755 when his and every French Acadian was banished from their homeland.  He tells us a little about his own history and how some of his deported relatives mutinied, stole the transport boat from their captors and sailed for Quebec. 

Mr. Melanson is an accomplished historian and a charismatic story teller. By the end of the tour I am feeling proud to be an Acadian. Strange what an evening stumbling around a graveyard in the dark can accomplish.

Another account of the graveyard walk:

https://www.mainewriter.com/articles/Graveyard-Tour.htm