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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 Poirier Michel  Abt 1674Beaubassin, Acadie I430
2 Poirier Jean Baptiste  Abt 1702Beaubassin, Acadie I1147
3 Nuirat Marie  27 Nov 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3273
4 Nuirat Marguerite  Abt 1722Beaubassin, Acadie I3237
5 Nuirat Jean - Jacques  1 Jan 1734Beaubassin, Acadie I3269
6 Morin Pierre  23 Dec 1683Beaubassin, Acadie I10143
7 Mirande Madeleine  12 Jul 1685Beaubassin, Acadie I1136
8 Migneault Alexis  1686Beaubassin, Acadie I1128
9 Girouard Germain  Est 1656Beaubassin, Acadie I538
10 Girouard Françoise  4 Oct 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I9112
11 Cyr Pierre - Pol  22 Nov 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3279
12 Cyr Marguerite  9 Feb 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I3272
13 Cyr Jean - Chrisostome  17 Jun 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3268
14 Cyr Hosine  10 Feb 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I3263
15 Cyr Anne  1 Jan 1735Beaubassin, Acadie I3258
16 Cotard Pierre  Abt 1713Beaubassin, Acadie I636
17 Cormier Pierre  1695Beaubassin, Acadie I5553
18 Caissy Jean  Abt 1703Beaubassin, Acadie I606
19 Caissy Baptiste Claude  31 Aug 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I3260
20 Bourgeois Théotiste  11 Mar 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I3282
21 Bourgeois Theotiste  28 Aug 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I2169
22 Bourgeois Scholastique  10 Feb 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2053
23 Bourgeois Scholastique  10 Feb 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I3281
24 Bourgeois Rosalie  29 May 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I1499
25 Bourgeois Pierre  3 Nov 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2168
26 Bourgeois Pierre  7 Jul 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2171
27 Bourgeois Pierre  2 Jan 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2052
28 Bourgeois Pierre  21 Jan 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I3294
29 Bourgeois Pierre  Abt 1699Beaubassin, Acadie I949
30 Bourgeois Paul Paul  1707Beaubassin, Acadie I2043
31 Bourgeois Paul Pablo  1731Beaubassin, Acadie I2050
32 Bourgeois Paul  13 Apr 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2160
33 Bourgeois Michel  27 Jun 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I3277
34 Bourgeois Michel  10 Dec 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I2167
35 Bourgeois Michel  1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2049
36 Bourgeois Michel  2 Dec 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3278
37 Bourgeois Michel  15 Aug 1722Beaubassin, Acadie I3276
38 Bourgeois Michel  1713Beaubassin, Acadie I952
39 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  24 May 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I2175
40 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  12 Sep 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2163
41 Bourgeois Marie Modeste  8 Nov 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I2173
42 Bourgeois Marie Madeleine  25 Dec 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2166
43 Bourgeois Marie Josèphe  20 Aug 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I2055
44 Bourgeois Marie - Madeleine  4 Jan 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3275
45 Bourgeois Marie  1752Beaubassin, Acadie I2051
46 Bourgeois Marguerite - Josèphe  18 Mar 1720Beaubassin, Acadie I1486
47 Bourgeois Madeleine  24 Jun 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2165
48 Bourgeois Joseph  14 Nov 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I2174
49 Bourgeois Joseph  10 Mar 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I1174
50 Bourgeois Joseph  1734Beaubassin, Acadie I2048

1 2 Next»



Christened

Matches 1 to 50 of 53

1 2 Next»

   Last Name, Given Name(s)    Christened    Person ID 
1 Nuirat Marie  27 Nov 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3273
2 Nuirat Jean - Jacques  3 Jan 1734Beaubassin, Acadie I3269
3 Cyr Pierre - Pol  24 Nov 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3279
4 Cyr Marguerite  9 Feb 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I3272
5 Cyr Joseph  18 Jun 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3271
6 Cyr Jean - Chrisostome  17 Jun 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3268
7 Cyr Hosine  10 Feb 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I3263
8 Cyr Anne  1 Jan 1735Beaubassin, Acadie I3258
9 Caissy Baptiste Claude  31 Aug 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I3260
10 Bourgeois Théotiste  11 Mar 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I3282
11 Bourgeois Theotiste  28 Aug 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I2169
12 Bourgeois Scholastique  10 Feb 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2053
13 Bourgeois Scholastique  10 Feb 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I3281
14 Bourgeois Rosalie  29 May 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I1499
15 Bourgeois Prudan  20 Sep 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3280
16 Bourgeois Pierre  11 Nov 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2168
17 Bourgeois Pierre  7 Jul 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2171
18 Bourgeois Pierre  23 Jan 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2052
19 Bourgeois Pierre  21 Jan 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I3294
20 Bourgeois Paul  13 Apr 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2160
21 Bourgeois Michel  27 Jun 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I3277
22 Bourgeois Michel  10 Dec 1742Beaubassin, Acadie I2167
23 Bourgeois Michel  2 Dec 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3278
24 Bourgeois Michel  16 Aug 1722Beaubassin, Acadie I3276
25 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  24 May 1747Beaubassin, Acadie I2175
26 Bourgeois Marie-Anne  12 Sep 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I2163
27 Bourgeois Marie Madeleine  25 Dec 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2166
28 Bourgeois Marie Josèphe  20 Aug 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I2055
29 Bourgeois Marie - Madeleine  4 Jan 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3275
30 Bourgeois Marie - Josèphe  20 Aug 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3274
31 Bourgeois Marguerite - Josèphe  18 Mar 1720Beaubassin, Acadie I1486
32 Bourgeois Madeleine  24 Jun 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2165
33 Bourgeois Joseph  14 Nov 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I2174
34 Bourgeois Joseph  10 Mar 1741Beaubassin, Acadie I1174
35 Bourgeois Joseph  20 Dec 1732Beaubassin, Acadie I3270
36 Bourgeois Jeanne Baptiste  1 Jan 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I2047
37 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  1 Jan 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I3266
38 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  9 Jan 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I3265
39 Bourgeois Jean - Baptiste  4 Feb 1733Beaubassin, Acadie I3267
40 Bourgeois Jean  22 Feb 1746Beaubassin, Acadie I3264
41 Bourgeois François  27 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2164
42 Bourgeois Clément  10 Nov 1744Beaubassin, Acadie I2090
43 Bourgeois Claude  26 Apr 1734Beaubassin, Acadie I3262
44 Bourgeois Charles  10 Mar 1743Beaubassin, Acadie I2176
45 Bourgeois Charles  11 juin 1719Beaubassin, Acadie I2159
46 Bourgeois Basile  21 Mar 1748Beaubassin, Acadie I3261
47 Bourgeois Armand  22 Jun 1745Beaubassin, Acadie I2170
48 Bourgeois Anne Marie  4 Jun 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I2054
49 Bourgeois Anne Marie  4 Jun 1740Beaubassin, Acadie I3259
50 Bourgeois Anne  10 Aug 1718Beaubassin, Acadie I1482

1 2 Next»



Died

Matches 1 to 6 of 6

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

Buried

Matches 1 to 2 of 2

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

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

Census

Matches 1 to 3 of 3

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