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From:
Subject: Re: [Q-R] Acadians had a choice.
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:27:52 EDT
In a message dated 7/14/2004 8:35:30 AM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:
I just read two replies to a previous article mainly regarding Acadians.
However, they are a bit long but I can't very well leave one part out
without the other. So am not making a judgement, just passing some comments
along as I thought it might be of interest to others as well. Joyce Crete.
I am a descendant of Charles Lemoine de Longueil and Catherine Primeau, the
parents of Pierre Lemoine d'Iberville and his brother Jean-Baptiste Lemoine de
Bienville, who, together with their relatives the Messiers and the Chauvins,
are responsible for the development of the French Colonies in Mobile and
Nouvelle-Orléans, where many of the French speaking inhabitants of Acadia found
refuge after they had been exiled to British possessions in North America.
I am a descendant of Jonathan Haynes and Sarah Moulton of Haverhill,
Massachusetts Bay Colony, New England, whose sons Jonathan and Joseph were captured by
Natives and brought up the Canada Trail to opposite banks of the
Saint-Laurent, at Ange-Gardien and at Montmagny, where they married French girls and
raised families. Their family fought on the British side of the Wars of Spanish
and Austrian Succession (better know as the "French and Indian Wars".
I am a descendant of Pierre Bernier and Marie-Françoise Boulet, whose
GGGrandaugher Marie-Modeste Gaudreau married Oliver Cromwell Phelps, whose parents,
Amos Phelps and Deiadama Long, exiled themselves voluntarily from Connecticut
after the American Revolution to resettle in a land still loyal to the British
Crown.
I am a descendant of Clement Gosselin and of his father-in-law Antoine Dionne
and future father-in-law François Monty who trekked down the Connecticut
Valley and the Torrington Post Road to join the Continental Army and drive the
British out of the French territory they had just conquered.
I am very much aware that the people of Quebec, of the Maritime Provinces, of
New England, of the southern Mississippi Valley and elsewhere are the
descendants of all of the nations and races who have settled here, there and
everywhere over the last several millennia.
The author of the article cited says, in conclusion, that he is a "descendant
of French Huguenots (but that's another story)" [His words, not mine.] In
fact, it is not "another story". Many of the settlers in Quebec during the
late 17th century originated in such places as Saintonge and Aunis (La Rochelle)
and fled to Quebec to escape the persecution of the Huguenots by the French
Regime.
That he seeks diminish the exile of the French speaking Acadians who survived
while others were massacred, ignores the historically significant fact: His
ancestors also had a choice. Instead of being massacred, they could left the
country voluntarily.
Lastly, spare me from those who propagate hate literature pleading that they
are not making judgments.
On this feast of Blessed Gadéli Tekawitha, may they enjoy a better future in
this life than her relatives gave to Brébeuf and Jogues. And as good as they
got in the next.
Fr Owen Taggart
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