BELLE ISLE MARSH, CRADLE OF ACADIA

And from the other end of the continent, we received a short note from Gérard Theriault from Petit Ruisseau, Nova Scotia to let us know of some news that had just been published by the 'Courier de la Nouvelle Écosse' regarding the on-going work at the archaeological digs in Belle Isle, an Acadian settlement which was part of the Port Royal colony about 10 miles upriver from the village proper. Jehan and Perrine Terriot, progenitors of our family were recorded as having lived there in the 17th century. Visit our website sections "Sail from La Havre to Le Heve" and "Promise of Acadia" (http://www.terriau.org/jehan.htm#Sail") for the history of Jehan and Perrine in Port Royal. Gérard is our delegate for the Léo François & Marguerite LeBlanc Thériault Great-Branch, of Church Point, NS on St-Mary's Bay. Here's the article from the Courier that we translated for your convenience...

CANADA RECOGNIZES ACADIAN CONTRIBUTION...

Just received a note from Karen Theriot Reader of some news that she picked up from the Parcs Canada website. Thank you, Karen. Karen is our family researcher and genealogist for the Louisiana Theriots and also our administrator for the Terriot DNA Project. She is our delegate for the Joseph Elric and Leora Theriot Great-Branch. Here's the news...

Last week, the Canadian government unveiled a Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque commemorating the national historic significance of the Acadian aboiteau system. "This maritime technology played a pivotal role in the rise and evolution of the Acadian people during the 17th and 18th centuries,” said Senator Poirier. The Acadian aboiteau system is the essential element of a technique to drain salt marshes. Throughout the colonial period, Acadians were the only people in North America to drain and cultivate a large portion of the rich salt marshes that lay below high tide mark. These exceptionally fertile farmlands were the key to the prosperity of the Acadian community up until the Deportation in 1755. Here's the first article. ... and the second article.

BELLE ISLE OF THE PORT ROYAL COLONY

I received a note from an Acadian friend Ghislain Savoie. He reports:

"My brother Jean-Claude, who lives in NB, sent me a message today informing me that the Government of Nova Scotia announced that the Belle-Isle area in Nova Scotia was now protected. Our Acadian ancestors, the Savoies, Thériaults, Gaudets, Doucets, and others were the first settlers of this village which was one of the largest in the colony of Port Royal. Jean-Claude sponsors archaeological excavations of the homes of some of the Acadians in Belleisle. These excavations which are conducted by archaeologist Marc Lavoie, Professor at the University of Ste-Anne in Church Point, Nova Scotia, are discussed in the Radio Canada article which follows. At right is the aerial photo that I took of the Belleisle Marsh area in 2004. (Click on the photo to expand.)

_________________

The following article was translated in english. The link of the original article in french is:

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/atlantique/2010/10/23/001-marais_Belle-Isle_protection.shtml

The marshes of Belle Isle, located between Annapolis Royal and Bridgetown, are now protected by the government of Nova Scotia.
The Minister of Acadian Affairs, Graham Steele, made the announcement Friday evening at the opening of the Annual General Meeting of the Acadian Federation of Nova Scotia.
The marshes of Belle Isle are one of the first places where the Acadians settled in Acadia of the Maritimes.
In the 17th century, thirty Acadian families owned farms where they had drained the marshes with dikes.
According to archaeologist Marc Lavoie, Belle Isle has special significance because no one ever moved into the marsh after the Deportation. He explained that apart from the Acadians, no one knew how to maintain the dikes and their 'aboiteaux'.
The archaeologist, who made excavations in the marshes of Belle Isle for several years, says that "the marshes of Belle Isle is where the largest Acadian village was located in the cradle of Acadia."
Furthermore, a quarter of the marsh of Belle Isle is now protected thanks to the efforts of Robert and Diane Surette. They discovered, after buying land in these marshes that it was the land of their ancestors.

Facebook in Privacy Breach

For those of you who are users of Facebook, the Wall Street Journal recently revealed that if you use the 'Farmville' and 'Texas HoldEm Poker' and other apps, your user ID and other personal information was released to advertisers. Check out the article.

THINKING OF DEAR SUZANNE...

In our business of preserving genealogy and family history, we meet and work with some very dedicated people. It is truly inspiring. People who are so dedicated and who will devote years for the love of their work. One such dedicated lady was Suzanne Lévesque, our Founding Delegate for the Charles and Claudia Thériault Great-Branch of Sainte-Épiphane, QC. Suzanne was one of the first to contact us in our first year to encourage us in our work but to ask us why we had not included her branch in our Archive! I explained how we are organized and that we include only those branches that someone brings to us and who is willing to represent the branch. So she said "Sign me up! What are we waiting for?" That was the start of a long association.

As I continue my current project of reorganizating my files, I recently came up on some materials that were sent to me by another very dedicated lady who I hope I'm not going to embarrass by mentioning her name: Murielle Thériault, our Delegate for the George and Virginie Thériault Great-Branch. Included in Murielle's package was a photo of Suzanne in her kitchen. Immediately, I wanted to post it here for everyone to see and reminisce.

As many of you know, we lost Suzanne a few years ago after a long battle with her health... and we miss her and her wonderful work and cooperation. Here's to Suzanne, her very fine work and total dedication. She helped many of our other delegates make some sense out of their genealogy. What would we have done without Suzanne?

FROM OUR DELEGATE, VINCENT DURANT

For what seems to be years now, I have been cleaning out out my files (both on my computer and in my Study) and in general, getting myself reorganized. Over the last decade of operations with the Terriot Acadian Family Society, I have been blessed with so many letters from our delegates and other members of the family. Many are very noteworthy and cannot just be filed but need to be brought to your attention.

One such letter was from Vincent Durant, our delegate for the Philomene and Stephen Great-Branch. This was received around 2 August 2005 when Canada Post issued two special stamps to honor the expulsion of the French Acadians from their homeland. The commemorative stamps are simply beautiful (left click on each set to enlarge) and although I am five years late in bringing this kind thought to your attention, I thought that it is never too late to acknowledge a good deed such as Vincent's.

Thank you Vincent!

Hint: After you left click on the stamp set to enlarge it, once the new window opens with the enlarged image, left click on that image to enlarge it even further. The detail is exquisite! Can you see the beautiful Évangeline in front of her church in Grand Pré?

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.

(Read on...)