Fort Louisbourg is having a big celebration this year, and I was reading in a book I bought an article that I would like you to read. It is not about Fort Louisbourg but about Isle Madame and surrounding areas. Here is the exert from the book "The Acadians of Nova Scotia".
Fishermen have frequented the waters off Ile Madame and the south coast of Cape Breton Island for more than three centuries. The first Frenchmen to settle in this area at least on a temporary basis were brought out in the 1640s by Nicolas Denys who founded the short lived fishing station of Saint Pierre later called Port Toulouise and now known as St Peters located on a narrow stretch of land separating The Atlantic Ocean and the Bras D'Or Lakes.
When France lost Acadie in 1713, it founded the colony of Ile Royal (Cape Breton) which was protected by the immense fortress at Louisbourg. It was the cod fishery, and not agriculture that formed the economic basis of the new colony. In order to populate the island, France tried to entice or coax the Acadians to leave their furtile lands along the shores of the Bay of Fundy. For various reasons, very few of them were tempted by these invites. In fact resent researchers have shown that only 67 families moved to Cape Breton between 1713 and 1734 and even some of these families eventually moved back to mainland Nova Scotia. The Acadians settled in the two major outports of Cape Breton(Port Toulouse and Petit De Gras) and became involved in coastal trade with Louisbourg. Almost every Acadian in Richmond County today can claim descent from the cluster of families who immigrated to Cape Breton in the early part of the 18th century. Their family names are Coste, Petitapas,LaForest,Boudrot,Dugas, Boucher,Vigneau,Fougere,Langlois,Marchand and Samson. By the time the Frenchman Sieur de la Roque carried out his detailed census of all the settlements on Ile Royale in 1752 thre were about 35 Acadian families settled on Ile Madame along with several families from France.
This is all something that is good to know, especially if you had ancestors from the Cape Breton area.
Now changing the subject, I have added a few more names to my Chartersville Cemetery, not many but some. I have also added more photos of the Beaubassin Archeological Dig, that were shared with me by some of my genealogy group members, they can be found on my website at http://www.acadian-roots.com/ .
We are still looking for anyone out there who have Roys, Godin,Bellefontaine,Pare, etc that branches into the families of Barthelemy Bergeron dit Damboise and his wife Genevieve Serreau dit St Aubin who are interested in attending a Bergeron dit Damboise reunion in Fredericton New Brunswick Canada July 18/19 2009 to be held at Wilmot Park (sure hope it doesn't rain grin). The Societe Historique Riviere St Jean is also hosting a celebration to commemorate the attack and massacre of the Acadians in Pointe Sainte Anne today Fredericton. If you are interested you can contact
larrybergeron@earthlink.net or contact me.
Well thanks for the lovely visit, I do hope you found today's blog a bit interesting.
Have a great day
Aline