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Beaubassin, Acadie



 



Tree: Famille Boucher
Notes: Lasers over Beaubassin

The history books tell us that Jacques Bourgeois, Jeanne Trahan, and their extended family moved from Port-Royal to Beaubassin in the early 1670s, thus beginning the Acadian story at Chignecto. Concurrently, Michel Leneuf de la Vallière, a merchant from Trois-Rivières and business partner of Nicolas Denys (in fact, he was married to Nicolas' daughter, Marie), set up an independent trading post and colony nearby, populated largely by immigrants from the St. Lawrence Valley. This made Beaubassin, from its inception, something of a hybrid settlement: a fusion of Canadiens and Acadiens. What both groups shared, furthermore, was a devotion to the fur trade, which necessitated engagement and alliance with Mi'kmaw partners. No surprise, then, that they positioned themselves at the west end of the Chignecto portage, the well travelled overland route linking the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was very much a cultural crossroads.

Dyking the vast tidal marshes of this region began, as was common in old Acadie, as a piecemeal process governed by kin and clan. In time, the French inhabitants developed large cattle herds that also became a valuable trade commodity, both to New England and, later, to the fog-bound citadel of Louisbourg as well.

One of these traders, Robert Hale of Beverly, Massachusetts, made a voyage to Beaubassin in 1731 and recorded his observations in a journal. There are several descriptions of the settlement in the pre-Deportation period, each offering its own insights, but I've always found Hale's among the most well-rounded and insightful, despite its often judgmental tone.

Hale refers to the Beaubassin village as Mesequesh, a reference to the creek - or river - that borders the site and still bears this name, and says it was the largest village in the bay. He and his crew had difficulty guiding their vessel into the muddy creek on account of the high wind, and were ignominiously "bedaubed with Clay in coming ashore." Either the wharves were full, or there were no wharves. The local tavern keeper, Guillaume Cyr, "let us in & gott water to wash our Legs & feet."

Hale saw Chignecto as very different from his home. The inhabitants spoke French and were Catholics, and even this small community had two churches, "on one of which they hang out a Flagg Morning & Evening for Prayers."

The land itself seemed alien, verging on hostile. His journal is attentive to the perils of navigation in this extremely tidal environment, swept as it was by capricious winds, and he remarks that even the diminutive trees were often "blown up by the Roots." As a Maritimer who has driven to Massachusetts several times, I have often observed the way in which the roadside forest gradually changes character as one moves south. The conifers fall back in favour of the deciduous varieties, the trunks grow stouter, and the canopy reaches higher and higher. Hale would have experienced this process in reverse, and he seems to have found the effect slightly unsettling.

To Hale's eyes, even the architecture seemed to cower from the dominant winds, and "the people build all their Houses low, with large Timber & sharp Roofs (not one house being 10 feet to the Eves)." On his first morning in Beaubassin he "walk’d about to see the place & divert myself," noting "There are but about 15 or 20 Houses in this Village." We can imagine him casually strolling the length of the community, observing roof line, glancing into doorways and over fences.

"The women here differ as much in ye Cloathing (besides wearing of wooden Shoes) from those in New Engld as they do in Features & Complexion," he writes, "wc is dark eno' by liuing in the Smoak in ye Summer to defend ymselves against ye Muskettoes, & in ye winter against ye Cold." The persistent torment of the mosquito is frequently encountered in primary accounts of the early colonial period. Remarkably, Capt. John MacDonald commented on the smoake-blackened interiors of Acadian houses at neighbouring Minudie in 1795. The houses MacDonald described seem to have changed little from those described in the pre-Deportation period, or indeed from those archaeologists have excavated: "The premises of every one seem to be a house from 18 to 25 feet long & as many in breadth without porch or partition but the outer door opening immediately into the sole room."

The houses Hale saw at Beaubassin seem to have been built to a similar plan. "They have but one Room in yr Houses besides a Cockloft, Cellar, & Sometimes a Closet," he wrote, and "Their Bedrooms are made something after ye Manner of a Sailor's Cabbin, but boarded all round about yr bigness of ye Bed, except one little hole on the Foreside, just big eno' to crawl into before which is a Curtain drawn & as a Step to get into it, there stands a Chest."

Hale is less impressed by the material wealth of the settlement, which he seems to regard as rather limited. "They have not above 2 or 3 chairs in a house, & those wooden ones, bottom & all. I saw but 2 Muggs among all ye French & ye lip of one of ym was broken down above 2 inches." We know from archaeological excavations that the inhabitants had access to a range of imported ceramics and glass object, so this observation of Hale's has always struck me as somewhat puzzling. It is probably best read in reference to Hale's social context and expectations, for he came from a place with perhaps better access to, and interest in, European ceramics.

For all of this, what may have been odd or occasionally disquieting for the visitor was home to the inhabitants, and creature comforts could readily be found. At Cyr's Hale dined on "Bonyclabbler, soop, Sallet, roast Shad, & Bread & Butter," and at Pierre Arsenault's he remarked on the "roast Mutton, & for Sauce a Sallet, mix'd with Bonyclabber Sweetned with Molasses." Bonny clabber, a kind of thickened, sour milk, was apparently a commonplace of early colonial cookery. The Rev. Dr. Andrew Brown, who in the late 18th century compiled evidence of pre-Deportation Acadian traditions by interviewing many visitors to old Acadie, wrote "Supper was a lighter meal, consisting wholey of different preparations of milk in which cream was not spared." We certainly see plenty of coarse earthenware milk pans in the archaeological ruins of the inhabitants' houses.

As a Protestant from New England, it is understandable that Hale also took an interest in the religious practices of his Catholic hosts, some of which were communal, while others were more personal. "Just about Bed time wee were surpriz'd to see some of ye Family on their Knees paying yt Devotions to ye Almighty, & others near them talking, & Smoaking &c. This they do all of them (mentally but not orally) every night & Morning, not altogether, but now one & then another, & sometimes 2 or 3 together, but not in Conjunction one with the other."

-----

Beaubassin is a storied community in a storied landscape. Today it is a wind-swept field and a national historic site of Canada. Archaeological investigations of the site began in 1967 and continue to the present. In recent years, LiDAR imagery has been captured that offers a new perspective on the site. The high land to the right contains the village, while the old map, dating to 1755, shows the site after the village had been destroyed and Fort Lawrence built nearby.

Facebook 22/04/2018

OpenStreetMap

Location : Latitude: 45.84066376381272, Longitude: -64.237060546875


Birth

Matches 1 to 50 of 78

1 2 Next»

   Last Name, Given Name(s)    Birth    Person ID 
1 Arsenaud Abraham  Abt 1721Beaubassin, Acadie I3238
2 Arsenault Joseph  1 Jun 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I9944
3 Arseneau Anne  26 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I3257
4 Arseneau Marguerite  26 Jan 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I3298
5 Arseneau Marie Madeleine  29 Nov 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3299
6 Boudreau Boudrot Angélique  Abt 1751Beaubassin, Acadie I2177
7 Bourg Pierre  Beaubassin, Acadie I687
8 Bourgeois Agnès  10 Jan 1686Beaubassin, Acadie I431
9 Bourgeois Anne  1679Beaubassin, Acadie I608
10 Bourgeois Anne  10 Aug 1718Beaubassin, Acadie I1482
11 Bourgeois Anne Marie  4 Jun 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I2054
12 Bourgeois Armand  22 Jun 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2170
13 Bourgeois Basile  10 Feb 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I3261
14 Bourgeois Charles  Abt 1672Beaubassin, Acadie I548
15 Bourgeois Charles  Est 1695Beaubassin, Acadie I947
16 Bourgeois Charles  8 May 1719Beaubassin, Acadie I2159
17 Bourgeois Charles  10 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2176
18 Bourgeois Claude  1674Beaubassin, Acadie I788
19 Bourgeois Claude  Abt 1703Beaubassin, Acadie I962
20 Bourgeois Clément  10 Nov 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I2090
21 Bourgeois François  27 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2164
22 Bourgeois Jacques  Abt 1709Beaubassin, Acadie I954
23 Bourgeois Jean  24 Dec 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I3264
24 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  4 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3267
25 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  7 Jan 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3265
26 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  1 Jan 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I3266
27 Bourgeois Jeanne Baptiste  1 Jan 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I2047
28 Bourgeois Joseph  25 Nov 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I3270
29 Bourgeois Joseph  1734Beaubassin, Acadie I2048
30 Bourgeois Joseph  10 Mar 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I1174
31 Bourgeois Joseph  14 Nov 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I2174
32 Bourgeois Madeleine  24 Jun 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2165
33 Bourgeois Marguerite - Josèphe  18 Mar 1720Beaubassin, Acadie I1486
34 Bourgeois Marie  1752Beaubassin, Acadie I2051
35 Bourgeois Marie - Madeleine  4 Jan 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3275
36 Bourgeois Marie Josèphe  20 Aug 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I2055
37 Bourgeois Marie Madeleine  25 Dec 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2166
38 Bourgeois Marie Modeste  8 Nov 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I2173
39 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  12 Sep 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2163
40 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  24 May 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I2175
41 Bourgeois Michel  1713Beaubassin, Acadie I952
42 Bourgeois Michel  15 Aug 1722Beaubassin, Acadie I3276
43 Bourgeois Michel  2 Dec 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3278
44 Bourgeois Michel  1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2049
45 Bourgeois Michel  10 Dec 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I2167
46 Bourgeois Michel  27 Jun 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I3277
47 Bourgeois Paul  13 Apr 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2160
48 Bourgeois Paul Pablo  1731Beaubassin, Acadie I2050
49 Bourgeois Paul Paul  1707Beaubassin, Acadie I2043
50 Bourgeois Pierre  Abt 1699Beaubassin, Acadie I949

1 2 Next»



Christened

Matches 1 to 50 of 53

1 2 Next»

   Last Name, Given Name(s)    Christened    Person ID 
1 Arseneau Anne  26 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I3257
2 Arseneau Marguerite  26 Jan 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I3298
3 Arseneau Marie Madeleine  29 Nov 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3299
4 Bourgeois Anne  10 Aug 1718Beaubassin, Acadie I1482
5 Bourgeois Anne Marie  4 Jun 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I2054
6 Bourgeois Anne Marie  4 Jun 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3259
7 Bourgeois Armand  22 Jun 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2170
8 Bourgeois Basile  21 Mar 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I3261
9 Bourgeois Charles  11 juin 1719Beaubassin, Acadie I2159
10 Bourgeois Charles  10 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2176
11 Bourgeois Claude  26 Apr 1734Beaubassin, Acadie I3262
12 Bourgeois Clément  10 Nov 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I2090
13 Bourgeois François  27 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2164
14 Bourgeois Jean  22 Feb 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I3264
15 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  4 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3267
16 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  9 Jan 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3265
17 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  1 Jan 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I3266
18 Bourgeois Jeanne Baptiste  1 Jan 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I2047
19 Bourgeois Joseph  20 Dec 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I3270
20 Bourgeois Joseph  10 Mar 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I1174
21 Bourgeois Joseph  14 Nov 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I2174
22 Bourgeois Madeleine  24 Jun 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2165
23 Bourgeois Marguerite - Josèphe  18 Mar 1720Beaubassin, Acadie I1486
24 Bourgeois Marie - Josèphe  20 Aug 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3274
25 Bourgeois Marie - Madeleine  4 Jan 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3275
26 Bourgeois Marie Josèphe  20 Aug 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I2055
27 Bourgeois Marie Madeleine  25 Dec 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2166
28 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  12 Sep 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2163
29 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  24 May 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I2175
30 Bourgeois Michel  16 Aug 1722Beaubassin, Acadie I3276
31 Bourgeois Michel  2 Dec 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3278
32 Bourgeois Michel  10 Dec 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I2167
33 Bourgeois Michel  27 Jun 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I3277
34 Bourgeois Paul  13 Apr 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2160
35 Bourgeois Pierre  21 Jan 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I3294
36 Bourgeois Pierre  23 Jan 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2052
37 Bourgeois Pierre  7 Jul 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2171
38 Bourgeois Pierre  11 Nov 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2168
39 Bourgeois Prudan  20 Sep 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3280
40 Bourgeois Rosalie  29 May 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I1499
41 Bourgeois Scholastique  10 Feb 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2053
42 Bourgeois Scholastique  10 Feb 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I3281
43 Bourgeois Theotiste  28 Aug 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I2169
44 Bourgeois Théotiste  11 Mar 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I3282
45 Caissy Baptiste Claude  31 Aug 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I3260
46 Cyr Anne  1 Jan 1735Beaubassin, Acadie I3258
47 Cyr Hosine  10 Feb 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I3263
48 Cyr Jean - Chrisostome  17 Jun 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3268
49 Cyr Joseph  18 Jun 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3271
50 Cyr Marguerite  9 Feb 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I3272

1 2 Next»



Died

Matches 1 to 6 of 6

   Last Name, Given Name(s)    Died    Person ID 
1 Blanchard Anne  1714Beaubassin, Acadie I4446
2 Bourgeois Charles  1678Beaubassin, Acadie I408
3 Bourgeois Marguerite  8 Aug 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I411
4 Bourgeois Marie  2 Mar 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I409
5 Cormier Madeleine  Bef 14 Feb 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I1441
6 Mirande Emmanuel  Bef 1707Beaubassin, Acadie I546

Buried

Matches 1 to 2 of 2

   Last Name, Given Name(s)    Buried    Person ID 
1 Bourgeois Marguerite  9 Aug 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I411
2 Bourgeois Marie  3 Mar 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I409

Baptism

Matches 1 to 1 of 1

   Last Name, Given Name(s)    Baptism    Person ID 
1 Bourgeois Marie Modeste  8 Nov 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I2173

Married

Matches 1 to 41 of 41

   Family    Married    Family ID 
1 Arsenaud / Nuirat  1 May 1741Beaubassin, Acadie F1153
2 Arseneau / Poirier  6 Feb 1720Beaubassin, Acadie F1170
3 Bernard / Doucet  1690Beaubassin, Acadie F2136
4 Bernard / Gaudet  28 Nov 1719Beaubassin, Acadie F1753
5 Bouderot / Bourgeois  6 Feb 1748Beaubassin, Acadie F1168
6 Boudrot / Quessie  16 Feb 1718Beaubassin, Acadie F1155
7 Bourg / Bourgeois  31 Jan 1741Beaubassin, Acadie F586
8 Bourgeois / Bernard  3 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie F566
9 Bourgeois / Blanchard  Abt 1692Beaubassin, Acadie F226
10 Bourgeois / Blanchard  1703Beaubassin, Acadie F339
11 Bourgeois / Bourg  3 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie F568
12 Bourgeois / Cormier  16 Feb 1718Beaubassin, Acadie F556
13 Bourgeois / Cormier  18 Aug 1722Beaubassin, Acadie F422
14 Bourgeois / Cyr  3 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie F579
15 Bourgeois / Cyr  15 Nov 1747Beaubassin, Acadie F587
16 Bourgeois / Doucet  10 Jun 1748Beaubassin, Acadie F582
17 Bourgeois / Gaudet  23 Nov 1734Beaubassin, Acadie F580
18 Bourgeois / Poirier  12 Feb 1743Beaubassin, Acadie F1157
19 Bourgeois / Richard  Abt 1725Beaubassin, Acadie F3147
20 Bourgeois / Richard  14 Feb 1746Beaubassin, Acadie F1166
21 Cormier / Bernard  17 Jul 1759Beaubassin, Acadie F1745
22 Cormier / Cyr  22 Nov 1718Beaubassin, Acadie F2078
23 Cormier / Cyr  22 May 1747Beaubassin, Acadie F1149
24 Cyr / Bourgeois  3 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie F572
25 Forest / La Barre  Abt 1698Beaubassin, Acadie F1358
26 Giroire / Bourgeois  13 Aug 1748Beaubassin, Acadie F1141
27 Girouard / Bourgeois  9 Jun 1680Beaubassin, Acadie F220
28 Héon / Bourgeois  6 May 1748Beaubassin, Acadie F554
29 Hugon / Bourgeois  10 Apr 1720Beaubassin, Acadie F573
30 Mangeaut / Quessie  24 Apr 1713Beaubassin, Acadie F1162
31 Mirande / Bourgeois  30 Nov 1679Beaubassin, Acadie F224
32 Morin / Chiasson  8 Nov 1682Beaubassin, Acadie F4192
33 Nuirat / Bourgeois  1712Beaubassin, Acadie F552
34 Nuirat / Godet  8 Oct 1746Beaubassin, Acadie F1160
35 Poirier / Bourg  23 Dec 1734Beaubassin, Acadie F1159
36 Poirier / Bourgeois  1698Beaubassin, Acadie F170
37 Poytier / Nuirat  3 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie F1163
38 Quessie / Bourgeois  1695Beaubassin, Acadie F340
39 Richard / Poirier  Abt 1753Beaubassin, Acadie F1363
40 Savoie / Haché Gallant  11 Aug 1734Beaubassin, Acadie F5112
41 Sire / Poirier  25 Jan 1735Beaubassin, Acadie F1164

Census

Matches 1 to 3 of 3

   Family    Census    Family ID 
1 Bourgeois / Dugas  1686Beaubassin, Acadie F4
2 Bourgeois / Dugas  1693Beaubassin, Acadie F4
3 Bourgeois / Dugas  1698Beaubassin, Acadie F4

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