DOCSLIB.ORG

The Chignecto Isthmus

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Chignecto Isthmus P R E F AC E . OR some year s past I, in c o m m on with many others, have felt that all letters of interest and accessible facts in connection with the early history of the Truemans should be collected and put in per manent form , not because there is anything of interest to the general public in the records of a family whose members have excelled , if at all , in private rather than in public life , but in order that the little knowledge there is of the early history of the family might not pass forever out of the reach of later generations with the death of those Whose memory carries them back to the original settlers . In getting together material necessary for the work , numbers of interesting facts concerning other families came inevitably to light. In order to preserve these facts, and at the same time give the book a slightly Wider interest, I decided to write a short history of those families connected by marriage with the first and second g enerations of Truemans, and also, as far as material was available , of the first settlers in the old township o f Cumberland , which now includes the settlements of Fort Lawrence, Westmoreland Point, Point de Bute , Jo lic ur e , Bay Road, Bay Verte , Upper P RE FACE iv . Tidn ish and Port Elgin . Finally , as a kind of set h ting for the whole , I ave prefaced these records with a brief outline of the early history of the Isthmus . That the work falls far below the ideal goes with ff out saying . Anyone who has made the e ort to collect facts of local history knows how difficult it is to get reliable information . In almost every case where there was a conflict of Opinion I have e n deavo r e d to verify my facts by light thrown on them from different directions ; but doubtless mistakes will be found . By keeping the work in preparation for a lon ger time, more matter of interest could certainly be added, and p e rhaps corrections made ; but to this there is no end , as the discovery of every new item of interest reveals a whole series more to investigate . To all who have given me assistance warmest N r h am . o t thanks are tendered . To Dr Ganong,of p ton, Mass . ; Judge Morse, Amherst ; W . C . Milner, Sackville ; and Dr. Steel of Amherst, grateful ac kn o wle dg m e n t is especially due for their ready and ’ ’ cheerful help . To Murdoch s Nova Scotia, Hannay s Acadia and to Dixon’s and Black’s family histories I have also been indebted . I N T T I O N R O D U C . HIS book needs no introduction to the people of the Isthmus,whom it will most interest. I shall therefore attempt only to point out the plan the“ present work will take i n the general history of East ern Canada . Mr. Trueman does not profess to have attempted a complete history of the Isthmus . The earlier periods, prior to the coming of the Yorkshiremen, ar e so replete with interest that a many times larger work than the present would be necessary for their fu ll e t consideration, but Mr. Trueman has tr a ed them with sufficient fulness to show the histo rical conditions of the country into which the Yorkshiremen came . It is the historyof these Yorkshiremen and their descend M r m so ants which . True an treats fully and author it ati v l e y , and withal, from a local standpoint, so interestingly ; and his work is the more valuable for the reason that h itherto but little has been published o - n up n this subj ect. Some articles have appeared i local newspapers,and there are references to it in the provincial histories, but no attempt has hitherto been a m de to treat the subject as it deserves . Those of us who are interested in histo ry from a more scientific standpo int will regret that the material, particularly vi INTRODUCTION . of the earlier part of the Yorkshire immigration could not have been more documentary and less tradi ’ ti on al, but that it is as here given is not Mr. Trueman s fault b u t a result of the nature of the case . It is not impossible, by the way, that such documents may yet be discovered, perhaps in some still unsuspected be m archives . It is to reme bered , however, that to a local audience, documents are of less interest than tradition, and the genealogical phases of history , here . so fully treated ,are most interesting of all . Mr True man seems to have sifted the traditions with care ,and he certainly has devoted to his task an unsurpassed knowledge of his subject, much loving labor, and no h small e n t us1as m . I believe the local readers of his work will agree with me that this history could not have fallen into more appropriate hands . It does n o t seem to me that Mr. Trueman has exaggerated the part played by the Yorkshiremen and their descendants in our local history . While it is doubtless too much to say that their loyalty saved Nova Scotia (then including New Brunswick) to Great Britain by their steadfastness at the ti m e of the Eddy incident in 1776, there can be no doubt that it contributed largely to that result and rendered easy the supp re sswn of an uprising which would have given the authorities very great trouble had it succeeded . But there can be no question whatever as to the value to the Chignecto region, and hence to all - this part of Canada, of thi s immigration of God fear ing, loyal , industrious, progressive Yorkshiremen . Although they and their descendants have not occupied e ao n m N u cr . vii the places in life of greatest prominence , they have been none the less useful citizens in contributing as they have to the solid foundations of the upbuilding of a great people . It is of interest in this connection to note that ’ Mr. Trueman s book,although preceded in Nova Scotia by several county histories, i s for New Brunswick , ’ with one or two exceptions (in Jack s History of the ” ’ City of St. John , and Lorimer s pamph let History of the Passam aqu iddy Islands the fi rst h isto ry of a limited portion of the Province to appear in book form , although valuable newspaper series on local h it history ave been published . May prove the leader of a long series of such local histories which, let us hope , will not cease to appear until every portion of these interesting Provinces h as been adequately treated . W . F . GANONG . C N T E N T S O . PAGE . CHAPTER I . CHIGNECTO C A E H PT R II . N EW E NGLAND I M M IGR ATION, 1755 - 1770 CHAPTER III . YOR K S HIR E IM M I GR ATION V CHAPTER l . EDDY R EBELLION C E HAPT R V . O F THE IS TH M US E C HAPT R VI . CHAPTE R VII . X CONTENTS. PAGE. CHAPTER VIII IX CHAPTER . FAM ILIES CONNECTED BY M AR R IAGE WITH SECO ND GENER ATI ON o r TR UEM ANS C HAPTER X . THE FI R ST SETTLER S OF CUM B ER LAND I LL T RAT IO N U S S . FOR T CUM BER LAND I N 1 850 or CHIGNECTO ISTHM US “ ” TH E BR ICK H OUSE, PR OSP ECT FAR M , ER E CTED 1799 THE HAR M ON T R UE M AN H OUSE, BUILT IN 1806 THE C HIG NEC TO ISTHMUS CHAPTER I . ’’ THE CHI GN EC TO IS THM US . HE disc overy of America added nearly a third to the then known land surface of the earth , and opened up two of its richest continents . If such ’ an extent of territory were thrown into the world s - market to day, the rapidity with which it would be exploited and explored ,and its wealth made tri buta ry ’ to the world s requirements, would astonish, if th ey were here, the men who pioneered the settlement of the new country and left so royal a heritage to their descendants. To those who cross the Atlantic in the m great ocean liners of our ti e, and think them none too safe, the fleet with which Sir Humphrey Gilber t crossed the sea to plant his colony i n the new land must seem a frail protection indeed against the dangers of the weste rn ocean . Perhaps in no way can the progress made since the beginning of the nineteenth century be more forcibly brought before the mind than by compari ng the immens e iron ste amships of the present day with the small wooden vessels with which commerce was THE CHIGNECTO ISTHMUS . carried on and battles were fought and won a hundred and fifty years ago. The Isthmus of Chignecto separates the waters of th e Bay of Fundy from those of Bay Verte, and con sti tu te s the neck of land which saves Nova Scotia from being an island . It is seventeen miles between the two bays at the narrowest point, and considering - the town of Amherst the south eastern limit, and the - village of Sackville the north western , it may be put down as a li ttle less than ten miles in W idth .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Siege of Fort Beauséjour by Chris M. Hand Notes
    1 The Siege of Fort Beauséjour by Chris M. Hand Notes Early Conflict in Nova Scotia 1604-1749. By the end of the 1600’s the area was decidedly French. 1713 Treaty of Utrecht After nearly 25 years of continuous war, France ceded Acadia to Britain. French and English disagreed over what actually made up Acadia. The British claimed all of Acadia, the current province of New Brunswick and parts of the current state of Maine. The French conceded Nova Scotia proper but refused to concede what is now New Brunswick and northern Maine, as well as modern Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. They also chose to limit British ownership along the Chignecto Isthmus and also harboured ambitions to win back the peninsula and most of the Acadian settlers who, after 1713, became subjects of the British Crown. The defacto frontier lay along the Chignecto Isthmus which separates the Bay of Fundy from the Northumberland Strait on the north. Without the Isthmus and the river system to the west, France’s greatest colony along the St. Lawrence River would be completely cut off from November to April. Chignecto was the halfway house between Quebec and Louisbourg. 1721 Paul Mascarene, British governor of Nova Scotia, suggested that a small fort could be built on the neck with a garrison of 150 men. a) one atthe ridge of land at the Acadian town of Beaubassin (now Fort Lawrence) or b) one more west on the more prominent Beauséjour ridge. This never happened because British were busy fighting Mi’kmaq who were incited and abetted by the French.
    [Show full text]
  • The Boundaries of Nationality in Mid-18Th Century Nova Scotia*
    GEOFFREY PLANK The Two Majors Cope: The Boundaries of Nationality in Mid-18th Century Nova Scotia* THE 1750S BEGAN OMINOUSLY IN Nova Scotia. In the spring of 1750 a company of French soldiers constructed a fort in a disputed border region on the northern side of the isthmus of Chignecto. The British built a semi-permanent camp only a few hundred yards away. The two armies faced each other nervously, close enough to smell each other's food. In 1754 a similar situation near the Ohio River led to an imperial war. But the empires were not yet ready for war in 1750, and the stand-off at Chignecto lasted five years. i In the early months of the crisis an incident occurred which illustrates many of *' the problems I want to discuss in this essay. On an autumn day in 1750, someone (the identity of this person remains in dispute) approached the British fort waving a white flag. The person wore a powdered wig and the uniform of a French officer. He carried a sword in a sheath by his side. Captain Edward Howe, the commander of the British garrison, responded to the white flag as an invitation to negotiations and went out to greet the man. Then someone, either the man with the flag or a person behind him, shot and killed Captain Howe. According to three near-contemporary accounts of these events, the man in the officer's uniform was not a Frenchman but a Micmac warrior in disguise. He put on the powdered wig and uniform in order to lure Howe out of his fort.
    [Show full text]
  • Methodism Among Nova Scotia's Yankee Planters
    Methodism Among Nova Scotia's Yankee Planters Allen B. Robertson Queen's University During the 1770s two revivalist evangelical sects gained a following in Nova Scotia; one, Newlight Congregationalism — with both Predestinar- ian and Free Will variants — grew out of the religious and social heritage of the colony's dominant populace, the New England Planters. The other sect, Wesleyan Methodism, took root among transplanted Yorkshiremen who moved between 1772 and 1776 to the Isthmus of Chignecto region where it was initially propagated among the faithful in local prayer groups. Ordained and lay preachers of both movements promoted a series of revivals in the province which drew an increasing number of followers into the evangelical fold.1 The first of these revivals was the Newlight- dominated Great Awakening of 1776-84. In general, Newlightism's greatest appeal was in the Planter townships even though it mutated by 1800 into a Baptist polity. Methodism, which had a fluctuating number of adherents among the visiting military forces at Halifax, had its stronghold in areas settled by British-born colonists, and increased in numbers with the successive waves of Loyalists coming to the province after 1783.2 Methodism was not confined, however, to segregated geographical areas of Nova Scotia. By the early nineteenth century, there were significant Methodist congregations composed primarily of Planters located throughout the Annapolis Valley and along the province's South Shore. Interesting questions are posed for historians when we consider why New Englanders and their descendants were attracted to what appeared to be essentially a foreign hierarchical religious-cultural movement which had broken from 1 Gordon Stewart and George Rawlyk, A People Highly Favoured of God: The Nova Scotia Yankees and the American Revolution (Toronto, 1972); J.M.
    [Show full text]
  • Birds of the Nova Scotia— New Brunswick Border Region by George F
    Birds of the Nova Scotia— New Brunswick border region by George F. Boyer Occasional Paper Number 8 Second edition Canadian Wildlife Service Environment Canada Environnement Canada Wildlife Service Service de la Faune Birds of the Nova Scotia - New Brunswick border region by George F. Boyer With addendum by A. J. Erskine and A. D. Smith Canadian Wildlife Service Occasional Paper Number 8 Second edition Issued under the authority of the Honourable Jack Davis, PC, MP Minister of the Environment John S. Tener, Director Canadian Wildlife Service 5 Information Canada, Ottawa, 1972 Catalogue No. CW69-1/8 First edition 1966 Design: Gottschalk-)-Ash Ltd. 4 George Boyer banding a barn swallow in June 1952. The author George Boyer was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, on August 24, 1916. He graduated in Forestry from the University of New Brunswick in 1938 and served with the Canadian Army from 1939 to 1945. He joined the Canadian Wildlife Service in 1947, and worked out of the Sackville office until 1956. During that time he obtained an M.S. in zoology from the University of Illinois. He car­ ried on private research from April 1956 until July 1957, when he rejoined CWS. He worked out of Maple, Ontario, until his death, while on a field trip near Aultsville. While at Sackville, Mr. Boyer worked chiefly on waterfowl of the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border region, with special emphasis on Pintails and Black Ducks. He also studied merganser- salmon interrelationships on the Miramichi River system, Woodcock, and the effects on bird popu­ lations of spruce budworm control spraying in the Upsalquitch area.
    [Show full text]
  • An Assessment of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Availability in Constructed Wetlands in the Cumberland Marsh Region, Canada
    An assessment of nitrogen and phosphorus availability in constructed wetlands in the Cumberland Marsh Region, Canada by Maxwell J. Turner Thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology Acadia University April, 2016 © Copyright by Maxwell J. Turner 2016 The thesis by Maxwell J. Turner is accepted in its present form by the Department of Earth and Environmental Science as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science with Honours Approved by Thesis Supervisors _____________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Ian Spooner Date _____________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Mark Mallory Date Approved by the Head of the Department _____________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Ian Spooner Date Approved by the Honours Committee ______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Anna Redden Date ii I, Max Turner, grant permission to the University Librarian at Acadia University to reproduce, loan or distribute copies of my thesis in microform, paper or electronic formats on a non-profit basis. I, however, retain copyright in my thesis. ___________________________________ Maxwell Turner ___________________________________ Date iii Acknowledgements I would like to extend recognition to Acadia University and Ducks Unlimited Canada, whose funding and dedication to scientific research made this project possible. Nic McLellan of Ducks Unlimited provided both in-field help and a useful supply of regional knowledge. I would like to thank the entirety of the Department of Earth and Environmental Science for providing a supportive learning environment that allows one to feel comfortable, acknowledged, and feel the expectation for success; but a special thanks to Dr. Rob Raeside whose subtle acknowledgements truly made me feel that this was the department to which I belonged.
    [Show full text]
  • Nova Scotia Routes
    Nova Scotia – Northern Mainland Northern Mainland of Nova Scotia Most visitors pass through this part of Nova Scotia on their way to better-known tourist destinations – north to Cape Breton or south to the Lighthouse Route – leaving quieter roads for the cyclist. But northern mainland Nova Scotia has spectacular scenery and extraordinary variety, from gentle countryside reminiscent of Prince Edward Island, to coastal mountains and bluffs that are often compared to Cape Breton. The warm waters of Northumberland Strait lap inviting beaches on the northern shore, while just 60 kilometres to the south, the giant, cold tides of Fundy have created a rugged coastline that is ideal for shorebirds, hikers, beachcombers, and photographers – but not for swimmers! The eastern Atlantic coast, like the better known Lighthouse Route, has rocks, lighthouses, fishing villages, and fog, but with far fewer people. In fact, northern Nova Scotia has less tourist traffic than any other part of the province. Maritimers are known for friendliness, but in this quiet part of Nova Scotia, where cycle tourists are still something of a novelty, Near Cap D’Or you will receive welcomes that are even warmer and more genuine than usual. When we cycled here, we were struck by the pride residents feel in their corner of the province. When they learned we were writing a guidebook, they often said something like, “You be sure to tell people what a grand place this is!” We describe three wonderful loop rides in Northern Nova Scotia. The Amherst-Chignecto Tour, in blue, is the longest. It begins and ends near the New Brunswick border and could take a week or more.
    [Show full text]
  • Fort Beauséjour National Park Museum CATALOGUE of EXHIBITS
    CATALOGUE OF EXHIBITS IN THE Fort Beauséjour National Park Museum CATALOGUE OF EXHIBITS IN THE Fort Beauséjour National Park Museum PREPARED BY J. C. WEBSTER, C.M.G., M.D., D.Sc. LL.D., F.R.S.C. Member of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada HONORARY CURATOR DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND RESOURCES HON. T. A. CRERAR. Minister CHARLES CAMSELL, Deputy Minister LANDS, PARKS AND FORESTS BRANCH R. A. GIBSON, Director NATIONAL PARKS BUREAU F. H. H. WILLIAMSON, Controller OTTAWA, CANADA 43910—U FORT BEAUSËJOUR NATIONAL PARK NEW BRUNSWICK Introduction HE site of old Fort Beauséjour, located on the long ridge between the Aulac and Missaguash rivers, and over­ Tlooking Chignecto Bay, forms one of the most interest­ ing historical places in New Brunswick. The fort was originally constructed by the French between 1751 and 1755 on the orders of de la Jonquière, Governor of Canada, as a counter defence against the English Fort Lawrence, which stood on a parallel ridge about a mile and half to the south­ east. It derived its name from an early settler, Laurent Chatillon, surnamed Beauséjour, after whom the southern end of the ridge had been named Pointe-à-Beauséjour. In 1755, before its actual completion, Fort Beauséjour was attacked by an expedition from Boston under the com­ mand of Colonel the Honourable Robert Monckton. Landing at the mouth of the Missaguash river, the English force, which numbered about 2,000 New Englanders, encamped at Fort Lawrence before marching on the fort, being joined there by 300 British regulars. Following the capture of an outpost at Pont à Buot, heavy guns and mortars were landed from the boats, gun-emplacements were dug over 800 yards north of the fort, and a heavy fire was opened on the fortifi­ cations by the batteries.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix to "The Acadian Refugee Camp on the Miramichi, 1756-1761"
    List of Refugee Acadian Households at Camp Espérance on the Miramichi, 1756-1757 Appendix to "The Acadian Refugee Camp on the Miramichi, 1756-1761" by Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc English translation & glossary of place names by John Estano DeRoche See a glossary of PLACE NAMES after the lists of households Columns in the Lists of Households 1. Surname of husband or male individual. (In the rare cases of a single woman alone, her names are in cols. 1 & 2.) Also, “dit” indicates a nickname. 2. His given name, with his code number in Stephen A. White’s Dictionnaire généalogique des familles acadiennes (DGFA); & in parentheses, his father, ditto. 3. Surname of wife. (In the rare cases of a single woman alone, her subsequent husband might be named here.) 4. Her given name; and in parentheses, her father’s given name & his code # in White’s DGFA. (Note: “Isabelle” and “Élisabeth” were interchangeable.) 5. Date and place of marriage if known. The letter “c” (for “circa”) indicates an estimate of the year. Many place names had multiple spellings, in both English & French. Some of those are provided in the glossary of “Places”, below. In all cases, mention of a 2nd or 3rd marriage refers to the man; instances of a woman’s remarriage are not entered in this table 6. Place of origin of the household (or of the man), before displacement. 7. Number of persons in the household in the 1754/55 census of Beaubassin & of the Memramcook, Petitcodiac, & Shepody River communities. A zero means the household was not counted in that census.
    [Show full text]
  • Acadian Exiles: a Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline Arthur G
    The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Maine History Documents Special Collections 1922 Acadian Exiles: a Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline Arthur G. Doughty Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistory Part of the History Commons Repository Citation Doughty, Arthur G., "Acadian Exiles: a Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline" (1922). Maine History Documents. 27. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistory/27 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine History Documents by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHRONICLES OF CANADA Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton In thirty-two volumes 9 THE ACADIAN EXILE BY ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY Part III The English Invasion IN THE PARISHCHURCH AT GRAND PRE, 1755 From a colour drawing by C.W. Jefferys THE ACADIAN EXILES A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline BY ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY TORONTO GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY 1922 Copyright in all Countries subscribing to the Berne Conrention TO LADY BORDEN WHOSE RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LAND OF EVANGELINE WILL ALWAYS BE VERY DEAR CONTENTS Paee I. THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA . I II. THE BRITISH IN ACADIA . 17 III. THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE . 28 IV. IN TIMES OF WAR . 47 V. CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS 59 VI. THE 'ANCIENT BOUNDARIES' 71 VII. A LULL IN THE CONFLICT . 83 VIII. THE LAWRENCE REGIME 88 IX. THE EXPULSION . 114 X. THE EXILES . 138 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . 162 INDEX 173 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE PARISH CHURCH AT GRAND PRE, 1758 .
    [Show full text]
  • The Chignecto Isthmus and Its First Settlers
    The Chignecto Isthmus And Its First Settlers Howard Trueman The Project Gutenberg Etext of Chignecto Isthmus; First Settlers by Howard Trueman Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! Please take a look at the important information in this header. We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and further information is included below. We need your donations. The Chignecto Isthmus And Its First Settlers by Howard Trueman June, 1998 [Etext #1351] The Project Gutenberg Etext of Chignecto Isthmus; First Settlers ******This file should be named chgnt10.txt or chgnt10.zip****** Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, chgnt11.txt VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, chgnt10a.txt Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a copyright notice is included. Therefore, we do NOT keep these books in compliance with any particular paper edition, usually otherwise. We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance of the official release dates, for time for better editing. Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
    [Show full text]
  • Chignecto Ship Railway
    Building Tomorrow’s Society Bâtir la Société de Demain Fredericton, Canada June 13 – June 16, 2018/ Juin 13 – Juin 16, 2018 CASE STUDY: CHIGNECTO SHIP RAILWAY Higgins, Bruce1 1 CBCL Limited, Halifax, Canada 4 [email protected] 1 PROJECT OVERVIEW The site of the Chignecto Ship Railway was designated as a national civil engineering historic site by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) in 1989. While CSCE has made effort to designate many historic sites across Canada, these accomplishments are not well known amongst engineers and the general public. The purpose of this case study is to provide insight into this project, and thereby promote more interest in it and civil engineering history in general. It is also intended that this will help promote engineering history as a regular session at annual CSCE conferences. The topic is meant to have a general appeal to civil engineers, particularly with regard to history, heavy civil construction, transportation and the allure of visionary mega-projects. The 27 km long project is located in Nova Scotia, but immediately adjacent the New Brunswick border. The approach is to briefly explore the engineer and his dream, followed by the construction, associated problems and aftermath. 2 THE ENGINEER Henry George Clopper Ketchum was born in Fredericton NB in 1839. During the 1850’s he was excused from classes at King’s College to obtain engineering experience in railway building in New Brunswick. He went on to distinguish himself on the difficult Sao Paulo Railway in Brazil. Returning to Fredericton, he obtained the first diploma in civil engineering from the University of New Brunswick in 1862.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Beaubassin, Acadie: a Cautionary History (À La Manière De H.W. Longfellow) Came Paysans to That Pleasance, That Saltwater
    Of Beaubassin, Acadie: A Cautionary History (à la manière de H.W. Longfellow) Came paysans to that pleasance, that saltwater marsh, the Isthmus—Chignecto, Came les Acadiens there, in 1670: History says so. And came they there to ranch—bull, cow, and calf—following Jean Bourgeois, who made bread, Thanks to his flour-mill, and who fed lumber from his saw-mill. (Pines fell like lead.) Next arrived the trader Michel Leneuf de la Vallière de Beaubassin, Likely outfitted with tuque and snowshoe, knife and cross, musket and moccasin, And who fished the Fundy-flooded creeks, and farmed, and soldiered at futile War, And won a hundred leagues, on what’s now Tonge’s Island, where he was seigneur. That was in 1676, and the village of Beaubassin now Arose richly, fattening on the Tantramar Marsh, between hay and snow, And battening on the seagrass portage between the Bay of Fundy and The Northumberland Strait, plus Trade twixt Acadie, Ile Royale, et New England. Ex edgy, nervy Ireland, Roger Quessey seeded blossoming orchards; By 1685, Beaubassin boasted pears and apples in boulevards, Plus twenty-two habitations and crowds of cattle, teeming pigs and sheep: The next year, a church went up, and les citoyens knelt in prayer before sleep. Come 1715, fifty families call Beaubassin home, and tap Apples for Acadian Calvados, and hold the centre of a map Depicting trade between Boston and Louisbourg, and now tend a thousand Cattle and eight-hundred hogs. But Strife between France and Britain (New England) Compels Benjamin Church, “Damn Yankee,” to besiege Beaubassin, not once, but Twice—in 1696 and 1704.
    [Show full text]