Explore the heritage and traditions of the Acadian people, a social legacy of
proud men and women. Imagine traveling with them on what seemed to be an
endless ODYSSEY*
and, witness the KNIT* between these brave exiles. Driven
from their Nova Scotia homes in 1604, they endured every imaginable hardship
as they journeyed
to their ultimate homeland in south Louisiana.
Of approximately
18,000 Acadians in Nova Scotia, as many as 6,000 had left
the
land between 1749 and 1752. Many more fled after 1752, and were continu-
ing to flee even
on the eve of their exile.
Governor
Lawrence planned the Acadian deportation in 1754. To accomplish
the task, Lawrence asked
Judge Mooris, the provincial surveyor, to prepare a re-
port on how to go about
the exile. The request was made in 1755. To accommo-
date the plan, Governor Shirley
of Massachusetts promised enough ships to carry
away the 7,000 Acadians remaining in Nova Scotia.
The Acadians in the Districts of Annapolis Royal, Mines and Pilliquid refusing
to take the oath of allegiance
to the queen of England and renounce their Catholic
faith. Because of their refusal to take the mandatory allegiance
they were ordered
to be removed from their native land
at the earliest possible
date. For this purpose,
orders were given to send a sufficient number of transports up Chignecto Bay to
board the exiles. The orders
further stated that after the
exiles were on board the
vessels,particular instruction as to the manner of their disposition and their des-
tination would be revealed.
On Friday September 5, 1755, 418 men and boys, ten years of age or older,
were gathered at the Grand
Pre church in old Acadie. At three o'clock in the after-
noon, when all of the men were
in the church, the door was closed and locked.The
men were placed under arrest
and told that their lands and goods were no longer
theirs. They and their
families were to be put aboard ships and sent elsewhere.
The exile continued for years scattering the Acadians to all parts of the world,
many never finding a permanent
home nor their family and friends. A large con-
tingency of Acadians
reached the great State of LOUISIANA when
France
offered ships and Spain offered money, land, livestock and tools to relo-
cate these settlers. The quistadores
(Spanish) were moving west in search of
gold and silver and needed
support for their troops.They knew the hard work
the Acadians would produce abundant
of goods to border with the Spanish.
And
so they came on ships with odd names such as: Le Bon Papa, La
Bergere,
Le Beaumont,
Le St. Remi, La Caroline
and l'Amistad D'arcangel. The came, they
stayed, established
a new home and....ended ODYSSEY.
A list of approximately 300 Acadian family names was drawn from documents
of Acadia/Nova Scotia in the first half of the 18th century. All
lived in the colony at
sometime between
1700 and 1755.
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