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From: "Lucie M. Consentino" <>
Subject: Re: Acadians of Coquebid
Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 09:25:13 -0400


Hi Don & Everybody

I believe that the story of our Acadian Ancestors is being told again and again as
more and more researchers have poured over the documents available - the
testimonies, etc.
Our Acadian heritage has been by far and large an oral tradition but as more and
more documents are researched an found, we now have quite a bit in printed form as
well.

For instance:
The Acadians who went to Ile St-Jean, now Prince Edward Island, did so before
the deportation began because of the unsettled feelings with the British -
mainly, they no longer wished to remain under British rule. At the time, Ile
St-Jean was a French possession. In 1758 there were between 3,400 and 5,000
Acadians residing there. It was following the fall of Louisburg that Prince
Edward Island - a neighboring island to Cape Breton - was now occupied by British
forces who now deported to France two-thirds of the Acadian population from this
island. Upon arrival in France, most of these deportees lived in slums in
France's Atlantic port cities. Most of the remaining P.E.I. Acadians made their
way either to Quebec, while a much smaller group migrated to St-Pierre et Miquelon
islands. A few Acadians, unwilling to run from the English any longer, hid in the
woods on Prince Edward Island for the duration of the Seven Years' War. In 1763,
British authorities discovered the existence of approximately thirty families,
"misearbly poor, who had taken refuse in the thick of the woods." These families
constituted to the builk of the early postbellum Acadian community on Prince
Edward Island. According to the 1768 census of the region, the island's 203
Acadian inhabitants resided at St-pierre, Tracadie, Rustico, and Malpèque,
villages in which the exiles worked as fishermen for British entrepeneurs.

That's the story as I've known it.... and it has been written as such by Carl
A. Brasseaux' "Scattered to the Wind" published by The Center for Louisiana
Studies - University of Southwestern Louisiana - Lafayette, LA

With regard to Longfellow's poem "Evangeline", we must remember that he built this
fine piece of poetry on a truth but embellished upon it. Some of the places
referenced by him were not part of the deportation. His hope was simply to make
known the plight of these people as he sat one evening listening to this story as
it had been told to the Reverend as they had dinner at Hawthorne's home. In
fact, Longfellow had never been to Nova Scotia when he wrote this reknowned poetry
- however, it gave new life to the Acadians and it became a symbol for them

Evangeline is not the real woman in the story either.. Longfellow thought of three
names he would like to use and finally decided upon Evangeline... More on this
later.

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/6106
Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home

wrote:

> The Acadians of Grand Pre were immortalized by Longfellow's epic poem
> "Evangeline", and the story of their arrest and deportation is told over and
> over again.
> In addition, a lot of genealogical information has been forthcoming from
> their descendants over the years.
>
> We hear stories of the Acadians who were at Port Royal (Annapolis) and how
> they were gathered and deported.
>
> The story of Pisiquid Acadians (Those who were established in the parishes
> of l'Assomption and Sainte famille) with their arrest at Fort Edward and
> eventual deportation to Maryland is slowly being told.
>
> Although a little hazy, the story of those Acadians who were at Beausejour
> and Louisbourg is being told. We learn that they were transported to Europe
> (England and France) and eventually emigrate to Louisiana in 1785. We also
> learn that maybe as many as 1,300 of these Acadians perished at sea, when
> their transports sank during the violent winter storms of the North Atlantic.
>
> But what about the Acadians of Coquebid and the lesser known Acadian
> settlements?
>
> Who will tell their story?
>
> Is there a story to tell?
>
> We know that many fled to Ile St. John and were amongst the Acadians that
> were transported to England, etc.
>
> But what about the whole story?
>
> Does anyone know?
>
> Don Landry
>
>
> ==== ACADIAN-CAJUN Mailing List ====
> ACADIAN HISTORICAL: http://www.acadian.org/genealogy/tidbits.htm

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