VOL. 11, NO. 7 — JULY 2018 1757 map of Acadia (present- day Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick, Ile Ste- Jean (Prince Edward Island) and Ile-Royale (Cape Breton Island). Image source: Wikie- media FOR THE RECORDS The Acadians, 18th-century Refugees European interest in exploring the New World dates to present-day border between Maine and New Bruns- the time of the Vikings, but the major period of discov- wick. Initially, the settlers thought their stores of sup- ery begins when the French explorer Jacques Cartier plies would be safe from the Indians there. However, explored the northeast coast of North America on three the small island was later abandoned. Port Royal (now voyages in 1534. Pierre du Gua de Monts and Jean de Annapolis Royal), founded on the northern shore of Poutrincourt, along with cartographer Samuel de Acadia in 1605, proved to be a more suitable location. Champlain, began the first serious exploration of the Other settlements followed throughout the 17th centu- island of Acadia (Acadie in French) in 1604, when they ry, including Beaubassin, Grand-Pré, Cobequid and inspected the coastline down to present-day Cape Cod. Pisiguit, among other locations. The Acadian established their first settlement at Ile Ste- Settlers arrived primarily from West Central France, Croix (Ste. Croix Island) on the Ste. Croix River, the especially the province of CONTINUED ON PAGE 3. NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRAR Y [ OPEN JULY 14–15 ] JULY 2018 | PAGE 3 Poitou, although there were occasional arrivals from England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, and the Basque country. The Greater Acadian area eventually came to include not only Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), but also Ile St-Jean (Prince Edward Island), and Ile-Royale (Cape Breton Island). Soon after the French settled Acadia, colonists arriv- ing from England established Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and Plymouth Colony in 1620. Smaller English settlements existed along what would become the New England coast where they encountered French settlements. Trade between the French and English colonies was common, with each group of colonies profiting from the other. This map of the Grand Dérangement shows the paths of Acadian migrants after deportations. Image source: Wikimedia. Funding issues from the French crown forced the Acadian settlers to return to France in 1607. While William Alexander by James I and its name changed to they were gone, Membertou, chief of the Micmac and Nova Scotia. Acadia was then returned to France in the one of the members of the Wabanaki Confederation Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye in 1632. Finally, in 1713, inhabiting Greater Acadia, watched over Port Royal Acadia, along with Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay for them. When the Acadians returned in 1610, Mem- Territories, were permanently transferred to England by the bertou, along with his wife and children, were bap- Treaty (or Peace) of Utrecht. tized in the Catholic Church. The Acadians were now living in British territory, which Although hundreds of passengers sailed from France put them in a difficult position. Not only was the King of to Acadia, only two ship lists survive, those of the St- England a Protestant, swearing loyalty to him would Jehan, arriving in 1636 <www.acadian-home.org/St- acknowledge that the Micmacs’ land was the property of JehanShip1636.html>, and the St-François, in 1641 England and would destabilize the Acadians’ relationship <http://froux.pagesperso-orange.fr/diversstfran.html>. with the tribe. On the other hand, swearing loyalty to the The lists note the occupations for many passengers, French crown would force the Acadians into fighting the including carpenters, coopers, tailors, and cobblers, in English, who were their trading partners. In order to ap- addition to a master baker, wine maker, and master pease the Acadians, the English granted them the Conven- gardener. If they were going to settle in the wilds of tions of 1730, allowing them to remain neutral in conflicts Acadia, at least they were going to live, dress and eat between the French and English. The French and Indians well. later allied against the English in what would become the French and Indian War beginning in 1754. Unfortunately, it did not take long for problems to develop between the French and English concerning Seeking a permanent solution to the neutral French Acadi- land ownership, trade and fishing rights. In 1613, Vir- ans, the newly-appointed governor of Acadia, Charles ginian Samuel Argyll and his men attacked Acadia, Lawrence, deported them. The Grand Dérangement, as the destroying the settlement on Ile Ste-Croix and occu- Acadians referred to it, began in September 1755 at Grand- pying Port Royal. In 1621, Acadia was granted to Sir Pré with the roundup of four hundred men and boys. Be- NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRAR Y JULY 2018 | PAGE 4 tween seven and ten thousand people were deported Note that Cajuns and Creoles in Louisiana are not the from Acadia over the next several years. Some es- same people. Cajuns are descendants of people caped into other parts of Canada, but most were sent from Acadia (Nova Scotia) and may be totally or hundreds or thousands of miles from their homes. The partially of French origin. Many early Acadians initial deportees were sent to the British American married Micmac women, so their descendants colonies, where they were rejected because of their also carry Native American genes. The Creoles Catholicism (the northern British colonies were Puri- can have roots from anywhere in France, Spain, tan, the southern ones, Anglican), or because the re- or Africa, but not in Acadia. sources to accommodate them did not exist. They were sent back to Acadia, only to be deported again to Resources for Acadian research England, France, the Caribbean, and some even to the Falkland Islands off the coast of Argentina. Their lands were given to British settlers, and some were later granted as bounty land to African Americans who fought for the British side in the American Revo- lution. Most of the Acadians who were deported to France temporarily settled in the northern and western port cities of Le Havre, Cherbourg, St. Malo, and Morlaix, and on the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, although siza- ble numbers lived in Nantes in Brittany and Chatellerault in Poitou, the original French homeland of many Acadians. In 1785—up to thirty years after the initial deportations—the King of Spain bore the expense of resettling approximately 1600 Acadians in his territory of Louisiana, where they became known as ‘Cadiens or “Cajuns.” Research guides The Cajun flag, created and adopted in Some Acadians returned to Nova Scotia after escap- Doucette, Michele. Tracing Y our Ancestry: French 1974. Source: ing to other parts of Canada or came back after the Acadian, French Canadian. McMinnville, Tenn.: Wikimedia. end of the French and Indian War in 1763. Their de- St. Clair Publications, 2013 R 929.1 D728T scendants continue to live in the province. Approxi- Normandeau-Jones, Lea. Finding Your Acadian An- mately 1000 Acadians who had lived in the British cestors. Toronto: Heritage Productions, 2001. North America colonies eventually found their way to R 929.1 N847F Louisiana to join friends and relatives who had sailed there from France. Atlases In 2003, realizing the injustice of the Grand Dérange- Hebert, Timothy. Acadian-Cajun Atlas. S.l.: Timothy ment, Queen Elizabeth II issued a proclamation des- Hebert, 2003. R 976.3 H446A ignating July 28 as a commemoration of the deporta- tion of the Acadians. The annual observance began in Census records 2005, the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the deportation of the Acadians. Trahan, Charles C. Acadian Census, 1671–1752. NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRAR Y JULY 2018 | PAGE 5 Rayne, La.: Hébert Publications, 1994. circulating copy Q 971.6 T765A ________. History of the Acadians. [Montreal]: Lem- éac, 1978. 971.004 A781H Church records Akins, Thomas B. Acadia and Nova Scotia: Docu- ments Relating to the Acadian French and the De Ville, Winston. Acadian Church Records. Mobile, First British Colonization of the Province, 1714– Ala.: [s.n.], 1964–. Q 971.5 D494A. Library has 1758. Cottonport, La.: Polyanthos, 1972. vols. 2 and 3 only. 971.6 A315A _______. Acadian Church Records, 1679–1757. New Brasseaux, Carl A. Acadian to Cajun: Transformation Orleans: Polyanthos, 1975. R 971.5 D494A of a People, 1803–1877. Jackson, Miss.: Univer- Hebert, Timothy. Acadian Church Records; Port La- sity Press of Mississippi, 1992. R 976.3 B823A Joye, Ile St. Jean, 1749–1758; St. Jean l’Evange- ________. The Founding of New Acadia: The Begin- liste Parish. S.l.: T. Hebert, 2000. nings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765–1803. R 971.74 H446A Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996. R 976.3 B823F Dictonaries Deveau, J. Alphonse. Two Beginnings: A Brief Aca- dian History. Yarmouth, N.S.: Editions Lescarbot Robinson, Sinclair. NTC’s Dictionary of Canadian Press, 1980. 971.6 D489T French. Lincolnwood, Ill.: NTC Pub. Group, Faragher, John Mack. A Great and Noble Scheme: 1991. R 447.9 R664N The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Shea, Jonathan D. Following the Paper Trail: A Mul- Acadians from the American Homeland. New tilingual Translation Guide. Teaneck, N.J.: York : W.W Norton & Company, 2005. Avotaynu, 1994. R 929.1072 S539F and circulat- R 971.6 F219G and circulating copy ing copy Hodson, Christopher. The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History. New York: Oxford Families University Press, 2012. R 971.5 H692A Jehn, Janet B. Corrections & Additions to Arsenault’s Jehn, Janet B. Acadian Descendants, 6 vols.