Acadians and Britons

At sunrise on October 1710 was raised for the last time in Port Royal Nova Scotia. Later that morning Francis Nicholson’s men fell into ranks to watch Daniel Subercase formerly surrender. Then the French marched out and the British and Americans marched in, to hoist the Union Jack, drink to Queen Anne’s health and to give the town the queen’s name to be known as Annapolis Royal. The French officials, and the garrison and their families total of 258 boarded ships and sailed home. Nicholson sailed at the end of October leaving Vetch in command of 200 royal marines and 250 New Englanders. They were a big force but not big enough for the job they had to do. By 1710 there were almost 2000 Acadians. They were a well settled, widely scattered independent minded and surpassingly stubborn people. They had seen Britons come and they had seen them go. Vetch had urged an expulsion for the French inhabitants in Canada. In a letter sent to Queen Anne, Nicholson and Vetch proposed that in order to bring the native Indians under her majesty’s subjection and to convert them to the protestant religion it would be necessary to transport all the French from the country except those who wanted to convert to protestant . Again the next January Vetch recommended expulsion. He would have sent the Acadians to Newfoundland or the Caribbeans. But no one in London was willing to take responsibility and later when it seemed they might leave of their own free will, Vetch had second thoughts” the departure would leave emptiness where now there were men and women, farms and cattle. Without them ,Britain’s new province would be nothing but trees. Someone had to raise crop, care for the cattle and chop the wood. They might not be the most trustworthy population he thought but they were better than no population at all. And so began a half century of coexistence. The Acadians coped by interacting as little as possible with the Britons who governed them, the Britons would also keep to themselves in forts or enclaves and the Indians would not admit to being anyone’s subjects.

The Micmacs who were freedom loving had gone their separate way, trying to maintain their way of life in the face of alien intrusion. They got along well with the French. But things were different now, Nicholson and Vetch brought a new set of rules and the Indians knew they had to fight them. They knew that the Britons were not like the French, they grabbed their lands, had no respect for their customs and rights. The micmacs were never strong enough to throw the Britons out but when their Acadian friends marched to reconquer Acadie ,they marched at their side.

So as you can see, the expulsion or deportation of 1755 was already being mentioned in the ealier part of the 1700s. For more on this story I would suggest you read A Land of Discord Always by Charles D Mahafee Jr. It is very interesting and goes into a lot of details. Thanks for reading my blog and I would now just like to change the subject and invite you to check out my Acadian items and genealogy items at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* and check out what I have done at http://www.zazzle.com/boot_eek*

　

Who were the Acadians.

Acadians are descendants of French Colonist who settled in Acadia which at first was Nova Scotia in the seventeenth century, later they settled in parts of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. I say they were French Colonist but there were also Melanson who were English marrying into the Acadians and thus they were Acadians and an Irish man called Roger Kuessy who married an Acadian girl thus their children would become Acadians too. Later on we had the 1755 Deportation of the Acadians, (French and Indian War) . Around 11500 Acadians were deported to different parts of the world. About one third of these Acadians died from diseases ,starvation and drowning. It sure must have been some tragic during this event. We saw the movie Titanic seeing all those people panicking, jumping overboard ,the Acadians on these over crowded vessels must have been so afraid , it makes me sad just thinking about it.

Some of the Acadians were deported to Massachussetts ,Carolina, Virginia ,Hawaii, ,France etc. Later on some Acadians who were deported were offered land in Louisiana and they accepted, these Acadians were later known as Cajuns. Now think about the Acadians later known as Cajuns, they went to a place they had never been, and many of them lived in the Bayous, they had to deal with the alligators and snakes and whatever else they came across. I think it must have been scary especially their encounters with the alligators. But they had to learn to survive any way they could. Of course that can be said for the Acadians who escaped the Deportation by fleeing in the woods. Just take a walk in the woods today when the little black flies or horse flies are in full force, we can’t stand it. It sure must have been miserable for the Acadians. They were survivors or at least fought to survive as many died in the woods of starvation and cold. The cold can you imagine staying out all night in the really cold weather? Now the Acadians were not all perfect I am sure, just like any other culture, there are some bad ones and some good ones. There were some unsung heros that we never heard about, there are so many stories that we will never know about the Acadian people . We read about their hardships and tragedies, but what about their good times? Wouldn’t it be nice to hear how something made them laugh, or sad? How did the Acadians really get along with their neighbours? Were the women mad at one another? Was their husband making eyes at the neighbours wife? Did they play jokes on one another? What about the children? We have read that they helped with the chores around the house and barn but what else did they do to pass the time? I sure would love to know.

Alex Haley wrote a story about his Roots and he spanned many generations, it would be nice to write a story about the Acadian families or about a certain one. We have lots of love stories, besides Evangeline it would be nice to write a love story about an Acadian couple. I believe I told you my Mom was only fourteen when she married my Dad. And she told me that he never proposed to her but asked her aunt to ask her if she would marry him. Can you imagine? Then my father sold his bike for two dollars then went to the city to get a marriage license which he was refused because she was too young and someone had to sign for her. Her father was away at the time, (It was a good thing because when he found out he was fit to be tied) so my grandmother signed for Mom. Mom took the train , met my father in the city and went to get married in the Catholic Church, of course the priest didn’t want to marry them, Mom was too young, but that didn’t stop my father he said to my Mom, then we’ll get married at the justice of the peace but instead they went to the Baptist Church and the minister married them. Such is what we call determination. But their marriage was short lived because the parish priest went to their door told Mom to go home, and he wrote to the bishop for permission to marry them Catholic. Permission was granted and the got married. My Dad often told Mom you are lucky I married you twice. Grin. See what I mean about stories? I sure wish I could have heard stories from the time of my ancestors. I am pretty sure they had some interesting tales to tell.

Now getting back to Acadians, through the generations the Acadians married into other cultures, such as the Iriish, Scotts, English, Native Americans and perhaps many other cultures. Nevertheless , most of us have a mixture but we should always remember we are part Acadians and should never be ashamed of it.

Now changing the subject (I am known for doing so grin) Many of you know I have a store and in my store I have some Acadian and Cajun stuff and also lots of surname products plus lots more , you can check it out if you have time at

http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* Now I would like to introduce you to a few stores belonging to others that I like, check them out too just in case I don’t have what you want at the moment.

http://www.zazzle.com/family_tees?rf=238218562978565840

http://www.zazzle.com/vickiescreations?rf=238218562078565840

http://www.zazzle.com/suzyjaki?rf=238218562078565840

http://www.zazzle.com/pharrisart?rf=238218562078565840

　

Chow for now.