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Monday, June 21, 2010

JOSEPH & AGNÈS: TREK OUT OF ACADIA...

[Note: The French version is available on the French side of our website. Just click on our TERRIOT ACADIAN FAMILY SOCIETY website icon ON THE LEFT to go to the website. Then proceed to the French side.]

On 12 June 2010, the ‘Association des familles Thériault d'Amérique’ commemorated an important fifth-generation Acadian ancestor of the Terriot family. (The fifth generation of the Terriot family is the generation that spans the years of the Grand Dérangement.) For many years from 1755 until 1759, Joseph Terriot of Grand Pré and his spouse, Agnès Cormier managed to evade the pernicious hunts of the English to deport the Acadians during the ‘Grand Dérangement’.

(At right, the parish church of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli where Joseph and Agnès eventually settled. Click on photo to enlarge.)

Eventually, Joseph and Agnès capitulated and fled their beloved Acadia leaving their home and property around Beaubassin (present day Amherst). Married for 13 years, they had six children at the time: two sons and four daughters. The youngest was an infant daughter believed to have been born just before they left Acadia. This was a long and arduous trek. Using simple straight-line measurements, the trip covered at least 700 km.