March 16, 2010

Tombstoneless Tuesday - March 16th, 2010

The photocopied page below is one of many listing the names of the Acadians who died in 1757 in Quebec.  These Acadians had managed to escape the deportation in 1755 when the British set out to exile all of the Acadians from their lands.  Some of those Acadians who died in 1757 were among those who were about to be deported on the ship Pembroke when it was overtaken by the Acadians.  They then set sail for the St John River/Rivière St-Jean where they remained until they heard the British were coming to capture them.  They set fire to the Pembroke and headed up to Miramichi.  Food was scarce at Miramichi and some were dying of starvation so many of those Pembroke Acadians decided to continue on to Quebec only to be decimated during the epidemic that ensued.  They had been through so much and in the end when their freedom was assured so many of them died.

Here are few:

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred and fifty-seven was buried Rosalie Girouer (Girouard), Acadian, who died the previous day, having received the sacraments, approximately fifteen years of age, daughter of Germain Girouer and Marie Arseneau, his spouse; present Jean Vallée, Guihaume Taphorin and many others.

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred fifty-seven was buried Suzanne Bussièere, Acadian, widow of Pierre Comeau, who died theprevious day, having received the sacrements, eighty years of age.

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred fifty-seven was buried Jean Baptiste Forais (Forest), acadian, who died theprevious day at the age of six years, son of Jean Forais and deceased Marie Josephte Pitre, his spouse.

On the twelfth of December seventeen hundred fifty-seven was buried Pierre Cormier, Acadian, deceased the previous night sixteen years of age, having received the sacrements, son of deceased Pierre Cormier and Marguerite Cyre, his spouse.

This information comes from  "Recherche Historiques" published by Pierre-Georges Roy, Volume Thirty-Six published in 1930.

These Acadians remnants of an unjust war have no tombstones but the lack of such should not allow us to remember them any less even though they lay in unmarked graves.

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Lucie's Legacy
Lucie LeBlanc Consentino


3 comments:

Caroline said...

My Richard ancestor (Joseph) died there in 1757-58 along with all of his younger children. I wonder whether his older children were not even there, or whether they just survived the disease. I will have to go looking for that document.

Anonymous said...

I have been searching my family tree for several years. My materal grandmother is a Melanson and my paternal grandmother is a Comeau. The first three names on this sheet are on my family tree as well. I look forward to searching your website. Thank you!

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino said...

Thank you for both of your posts. These particular Acadians had escaped the deportation.