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From: "Lucie M. Consentino" <>
Subject: The History of Grand-Pré by John Frederic Herbin
Date: Sat, 05 Jun 1999 08:10:09 -0400


Hi Everybody.. thought I would share with you an interesting story that
I've just posted to my web site:

THE TELLING BY AN ACADIAN WOMAN FROM COBEQUID

As She Witnessed the Horror of the Deportation

This story was first written by John Frederic Herbin in his book "The
History of Grand-Pré" in the
1800's. His mother was Acadian and he bought the land known to be
Grand-Pré knowing it was
indeed the land where the Church of St-Charles-des-Mines and its
cemetery had been. The land
was later donated to the government and later declared an historical
site of Nova Scotia. Money
raised by Acadians to build the Memorial Church and the statue of
Evangeline now stand there as
monuments of the Acadian Ancestors who had lived here, raised their
families, owned productive
lands and who finally had everything taken from them by the British in
the Deportation of 1755.

THE RETURNED ACADIAN

Along my father's dykes I roam again,
Among the willows by the river-side.
These miles of green I know from hiss to
tide,
And every creek and river's ruddy stain.

Neglected long and shunned our dead have
lain,
Here where a people's dearest hope had
died.
Alone of all their children scattered
wide,
I scan the sad memorials that remain.

The dykes wave with the grass, but not for
me.
The oxen stir not while this stranger
calls.
From these new homes upon the green
hill-side,
Where speech is strange and this new people
free,
No voice cries out in welcome; for these
halls
Give food and shelter where I may not
bide.
-J.F. Herbin

John Frederic Herbin published the following excerpt stating that it was
"from Historical and
Genealogical Record of the First Settlers of Colchester County", by
Thomas Miller, had been recorded
as told by an Acadian woman who witnessed the events:

"On the second day of September, 1755, the French inhabitants of
Cobequid Village (now Masstown), lying on the
north side of the bay, and upper part of the Township of Londonderry,
were engaged in their fields at their work, it
being harvest time. With the afternoon Tide three vessels were seen
coming up to the Bay. Two of them prepared
to anchor, one opposite the Village, and the other at Lower Cobequid,
whilst the third ran further up the shore.
Curiosity was high! Who were they, and where were they going? Their
curiosity was still heightened by the
appearance of a person in the garb of a curate, who informed them that a
notice telling the inhabitants of the village
of Cobequid, and the surrounding shores, as well ancient as young men
and lads, ordering them all to be at the
Church the next day at 3:00p.m. The order had been signed by John
Winslow.

When the men and boys in the Church were read the Order, they were
speechless with terror; death stared them in
the face. Three hundred men and boys found themselves prisoners in their
own Church. Some of the boys screamed
aloud, some attempted to force the door, but they were overawed by the
muskets of their guards.

Much has been written about that terribly frightening day. Once the
deportation was in motion, one woman who had
either escaped or been left behind because of overcrowding, returned to
her former place of abode, and there
remained during the night altogether unconscious. In the morning, when
she returned to consciousness she was too
weak to stand; it was some hours before she realized the full horror of
her situation. After a time she was able to
crawl to the door, and there the scene which surounded her was fearful.
The first object she beheld was the Church,
the beautiful Mass House, a blackened heap of ruins. She was recalled to
a sense of her forlorn situation by her
cow which came to her, asking by her lowing to be milked. She milked her
cow and partook of some of the milk with
a crust of bread, which revived her so much that she set out to see if
she could find any one remaining in the
village; but there was no one to be found. cattle had broken into the
fields, and were eating the wheat; horses were
running in droves through the fields. On the evening of that day, cows
and goats came to their accustomed
milkingplace and lowed around the desertd dwellings; pigs yet fastened
in the pens squealed with hunger; and the
oxen, waiting in vain for the master's hand to free them from the yhoke
(for they were used in moving the goods to
the vessels), were bellowing in agony of hunger; they hooked and fought
with each other, running through the
marsh, upsetting the carts or tumbling into ditches, until death put an
end to their sufferings. The pigs were rooting
up the gardens.

This woman sat down on the doorstep beholding the desolation of the
Village, when an Indian approached her, and
told her to come with him. She inquired the fate of her people. Gone,
said he, all gone, pointing down to the Bay;
the people everywhere are prisoners; see the smoke rise, they will burn
all here tonight. He pointed up the Bay; two
or three blazing fires attested the Indian's story as too true. He
assisted her in gathering some of the most valuable
things that were left. The Indian then piloted her to his wigwam, near
the edge of the forest; here she found about a
dozen of her people, the remnant left of what was once the happy
settlement of the village of Cobequid.

They waited about the woods on the north side of the Bay for more than a
month to see if any more stragglers could
be found before they would start to go to Miramichi. At length they were
joined by about twenty of the French
inhabitants who had escaped from Annapolis (Port-Royal). These persons
informed them that the houses and crops
in Annapolis were burnt by the soldiers who were sent the river to bring
them to the ships. Some fled to the woods;
some, besides this party, crossed the Bay, intending to go to Miramichi
through the woods.

After another week's travel, they met with a party that had escaped from
Shepoudie (now called Shubenacadie).
>From these persons they learned that about two hundred and fifty
buildings were burned along the sides of the
river, and that while they were firing the Mass House there, the Indians
and French rallied and attacked the British
soldiers, and killed and wounded about thirty of them, and drove the
remainder back to the ships."

When John Frederic Herbin wrote his book, this is what he thought and
saw as he looked across
what once was the thriving, bustling, lively village of Grand-Pré: "A
commerative structure of a
permanent character will before long be erected at Grand-Pré. In the
history of this part of Acadia it
was the most clearly marked and important place in Minas. Winslow and
his soldiers were encamped
there in 1755. It was the last to be destroyed when the Acadians were
removed. Grand-Pré is the
home of Longfellow's 'Evangeline', and a stone memorial there would be
fitting to perpetuate the
name of the poet, as well as to mark the spot he has made famous, and to
stand among the few
landmarks of the departed people which have come down to us from their
day. The row of willows
they set out alongside the church road must in time fall into decay. The
depression in the earth which
was once a cellar will be filled up. The well may cease to exist. The
site of the Acadian church is less
plainly discernible every year. Not a trace remains of the cemetery.
Time is obliterating the Acadian
roads. Imperishable marble should now mark the place, and tell its
history to the many persons who
come every year to look upon what remains of the once populous Grand-Pré
of the Acadians. A fund
is now being raised for the purpose of making of this ground an Acadian
and Longfellow Memorial
Park."

And so today, at this very location stands the Grand-Pré National
Historical Park - All that John
Frederic hoped for has come to pass - his was a great vision equalling
the legacy he left us as a
tribute to his Mother's People, The Acadians. Through the efforts of
Herbin in purchasing the land
and in the end donating it to the government of Nova Scotia, it has,
ironic as it may seem, been
made a National Historic Park by the government. The location of the
well remains well marked;
there is indeed an "imperishable marble" stone stating Hebin's donation;

the Memorial Church of St-Charles has been built where the original
Church once stood; a
beautiful statue of Evangeline stands before the walk to the Church
looking whistfully out to the
sea; there is a haunting memory where it is believed the cemetery once
was (many who visit say
they feel the presence of their ancestors); vestiges of the dykes can
still be seen; the now immense
almost 400 year old Willows still stand - once as silent witnesses to
all that happened in September
of 1755 - now as silent witnesses to all who come to remember the
ancestors who gave life and
breath to this land they called their beloved Acadia!

Vive l'Acadie! Long Live Acadia! .. if not in a place we can touch and
see, then in our hearts and spirits!

NOTE: Information for this page was accessed at the American Canadian
Genealogical Society, Manchester, New
Hampshire where the book "The History of Grand-Pré" (Fourth Edition) by
John Frederic Herbin is available. Originally written in the ninteenth
century, it was thought worthy of reprint by Heritage Classics. When
Herbin wrote his book, he
cited himself as being "The only descendant of the Exiled People now
living in the Grand-Pré of the Acadians".

Hope you've enjoyed this "telling".. Lucie

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

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