Spring 2013 Newsletter
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SPRING 2013 Les Guédry d’Asteur Volume 11, Iss. 1 GENERATIONS IN THIS ISSUE It’s already Spring 2013 with just over a culture of emerging Franco-American year before our next Guédry-Labine & Pe- communities in New England just before ACADIANS IN 2 titpas Reunion. This Spring 2013 edition WWII. MADAWASKA - of “GENERATIONS” brings some updated THEIR JOURNEY information on our 16 August 2014 Reun- And don’t skip Bon Appetit where you AND STRUGGLE ion in Van Buren, Maine as well as several will find delicious recipes from our by Martin Guidry other articles that may interest you. Guédry and Petitpas chefs. In this issue are Rappie Pie, a staple in Acadian Nova The Acadians in the Madawaska region of Scotia, and Zucchini Bread, a tasty addi- GUÉDRY-LABINE 9 & PETITPAS Maine and New Brunswick had a difficult, tion to any meal. REUNION yet interesting journey over many years to 15 August 2014 – reach their final homes. In “Acadians in Glance at the Photo Corner and see the Van Buren, Maine Madawaska – Their Journey and Struggle” huge family of Edval Sonnier, shared we briefly explore this journey and the with us by a descendant of Hypolite O. BON APPETIT: 13 many difficulties they faced and overcame Guidry and Corine Sonnier who are pic- Recipes from the – both on the journey and after they tured here as well. A real treasure. Guédry/Labine reached the lush valleys of the upper St. Family Cookbook John River. They are the cousins that we’ll Many of you may remember reading the be visiting in August 2014. interesting accounts of Olympic Alpine EXTANT ACADIAN 14 RECORDS skiing sent to us by André Labine of PART V: ACADIAN We conclude our five-part series on the Fernie, British Columbia. André was CHURCH RE- Acadian Church Records in this edition. one of the expert skiers selected to work CORDS FRANCE, Although it is not bedtime reading, we the ski slopes during the 2010 Winter ENGLAND, CARIB- hope the information provided may aid you Olympics in Vancouver, British Colum- BEAN, SOUTH in your genealogical and historical research bia. We’ve received word that André has AMERICA (POST- on your family. This series identifies been selected to work the Alpine slopes DEPORTATION: 1755-1800) where you may find original and copies of during the 2014 Winter Olympics in So- church records on the Acadians as they chi, Russia. Quite an honor for a mem- journeyed throughout the world. It also ber of our family. So be watching for BOOK NOOK 38 provides an interesting history of where André Labine repairing the slopes and and how the Acadians received basic reli- ensuring the safety of skiers next Febru- GUÉDRY & PETIT- 39 PAS ATHLETES- gious services (baptism, marriage, burial) ary during the XXII Winter Olympics. PROFESSIONAL before and after being deported. This work is very demanding with long hours and strenuous skiing over a period As always, the Book Nook has a few very of several weeks. We hope again to get nice books providing insight into the lives first-person reports from the slopes of and travels of our Acadian ancestors. Aca- Sochi during the Olympics. Les félicitai- dian Hard Times looks at the lives of the tons, André, et la bonne chance!!!! Acadians in Madawaska area during the early 1900s. The First Franco-Americans uses interviews to study the history and GENERATIONS Volume 11, Issue 1 Page 2 ACADIANS IN MADAWASKA - THEIR JOURNEY AND STRUGGLE by Martin Guidry On 28 July 1755 British Governor Charles Lawrence continued to be deported to the Atlantic seaboard signed a document forever changing the lives of colonies of North America, to France and even to thousands of Acadians. On this date he ordered that England. More Acadians began to flee – especially all Acadians be deported from Acadia. Many rea- to the French territory of New Brunswick. sons have been suggested for the deportations in- cluding: the Acadians were French and Catholic, the A number of years earlier a small group of Acadians Acadians would not sign an unqualified Oath of Al- had settled on the lower St. John River in New Bruns- legiance to the King of England and the British wick near old Fort Latour. By 1701 fifty people lived wanted the Acadian farms for British settlers. Al- in this area. In 1732 over eighty Acadians from fif- though each of these probably played a role in the teen families fled the British authorities in Acadia decision to deport them, the more significant reason and resettled on the St. John River near today’s Fre- likely was that Britain and France had been fighting dericton, New Brunswick. They called their village in Europe and North America for over a century and Sainte-Anne-des-Pays-Bas or Ste-Anne’s Point. another war was looming. With some skirmishes Their numbers continued to grow as other villages occurring in the early 1750s, the Seven Years War sprang up nearby. By 1755 over two thousand Aca- (also known as the French and Indian War) began in dians were at Grimrose, Jemseg, Nashwack, Ecoupag earnest during 1756. Sensing war was inevitable, and Ste-Anne. Lawrence feared that the Acadians may support the French during any fighting in Acadia. Since the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Acadia be- longed to Britain yet most French Acadians chose to stay in Acadia. They only wanted to live in peace on their farms and not choose between the French or the British. In their minds they were Acadian – not French or British. Both the British and French, how- ever, continually harassed and threatened the Aca- dians – trying to gain their allegiance and support. The British threatened the Acadians that they had to sign an unqualified Oath of Allegiance to the King of England or leave Acadia. The French had several priests, including Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, threaten the Acadians by telling them that they must move to nearby French territory or the priests would have the local Mi’kmaq people attack them. By 1749 some Acadians had taken the harassment of their priests seriously and began migrating to Île St- The British under Colonel Robert Monckton continu- Jean (today Prince Edward Island), Île Royale (today ally raided the lower St. John River, burning down Cape Breton) and southern New Brunswick. They Acadian villages and massacring settlers, but the joined a small number of their cousins who had set- Acadians clung to their new lands in the only signifi- tled in these areas many years before. On 13 August cant Acadian settlements in New Brunswick. In 1759 1755 the first Acadians were deported from the Monckton’s Rangers burnt the village of Ste-Anne to Beaubassin area. For the next 8 years Acadians the ground. The surviving Acadians fled to nearby GENERATIONS Volume 11, Issue 1 Page 3 ACADIANS IN MADAWASKA - THEIR JOURNEY AND STRUGGLE forests where they lived for the next eight years. The Acadians’ resourcefulness, their strong friend- ship with the local Native Americans and the help of Charles des Champs de Boishébert, the local French military commander, contributed significantly to their survival. Living each day was a constant strug- gle. In 1763 the French and Indian War ended and the Treaty of Paris was signed. The Acadians were now free to migrate to new places. Being very poor and having no means to pay for transportation, many Acadians languished for several more years petition- ing colonial governments to pay for their transport to Québec, Acadia, Louisiana, Saint-Domingue or else- where. The Acadians hiding in the woods of New Brunswick returned to their old homes near Ste- Anne only to find them being occupied by English St. John River Map colonists. Even the town of Ste-Anne had acquired a new English name – Fredericton. Even though they had just been pushed from their homes in the Colonies, they were not sympathetic to Resilient as always, the Acadians packed their mea- the Acadians who had undergone an even worse ex- ger belongings and moved further up the St. John perience. Without delay the English loyalists became River – to Ecoupag, French Village and Kennebec- hostile toward their Acadian neighbors – burning cassis. Here they settled, cleared land again and hoped to have land grants approved by the British fences of the Acadians, stealing animals, destroying government. Government officials in Québec and crops and opening Acadian cellars during the worst New Brunswick promised to protect the Acadians frosts of winter to freeze stored vegetables. They even evicted the Acadians from their own lands. To the and their new lands. English colonists, the Acadians were French squatters A few of the Acadians who had been coureurs des even though the Acadians had settled these farms two bois (i.e., trappers, traders, woodsmen) became decades earlier. The belligerent attitude of the new “express carriers”. Traveling overland and by water, English settlers upset Canadian authorities as they they kept the lines of communication open between wrestled with solving this problem. Halifax and Québec. Thus they came to know the upper St. John River and its fertile valleys well. Governor Parr of Nova Scotia tried to help the Aca- dians, but he did not want to displease the Loyalists. With the end of the American Revolution in 1783 Finally, in consultation with Governor Haldimand of many English loyalists living in the American colo- Québec, Governor Parr decided to resettle the Aca- nies fled to British Canada for safety and protection. dians in the upper St. John Valley. Here they could They were harassed by the victorious Americans and protect the postal routes and safeguard travelers.