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History of Acadia / Nova Scotia 

Map of the old Beausejour Village

8/20/2013

34 Comments

 
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I think I've done something that has never been done before. And for a change it's not something that's really stupid.
In 1750 Charles Lawrence made a British assault on the old settlement at Beaubassin on the southeast side of the Missaquash River. Prior to his arrival Abbe Le Loutre ordered the burning of the entire village and removal of the residents to the north side of the river.
A new settlement was established and a French Fort - Beausejour - was established to protect both the settlement and the new territory. The area - now called the Isthmus of Chignecto - is barely 8 miles wide and was a crucial place in the battle for North America - it was the ony way to get to Quebec from Europe in the winter.
To this point (at least to my knowledge) no attempt has been made at mapping the replacement settlement. I've taken a stab at it. I've used as a reference the sketches drawn by Lieutenant John Hamilton of the Regiment of 40th Foot of the British Army in 1755. (see below)
I've used the Fort and the relative land elevations to try and plot the houses and other buildings (including the church). He likely drew these sketches from the Fort Lawrence. 
One deficiency of both his sketches and my map is that we can only draw and plot what we can see - so there may be other buildings that are not included. My map (and his sketches) include 29 buildings plus the church and fort. This would suggest a population of, say, over 100 people.
Comments are welcome.

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34 Comments
Brian
8/20/2013 07:22:44 am

This is interesting because if my scale is correct, then the village extended past the place where the English established their siege trenches.

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leona bourque link
10/28/2014 01:37:37 am

Among my papers is a map of Pres d Bourg copied from a book by the British found in the stacks of the Redwood Library. .(the oldest private library in US). Of course now I am 81 and do not have that copy at my fingertips...Good work...from a bleeding heart American...French ...twelve generations of Acadie/Quebecoise....
Most Sincerely,
Leona
Newport RI USA

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Brian F
10/28/2014 06:14:08 am

Hi Leona.... Did you know that "Nova Scotia" has the highest percentage of people living over the age of 90 in the world? Geneticists have traced this to a gene they believe comes from the Acadian population...
I would love to see that map - is it different from the ones I have on the site??
Thank you for kind remarks - I feel humbled when my work touches the heart of an Acadian descendant. Have you had a chance to read the book? I would be happy to send you a free e-book...
Salut!
BLF

leona bourque
7/5/2015 02:32:20 am

Sorry I got my nose outta joint because of your comments about one of my favorite authors....Sometimes I get a bit defensive due to my loyal nature.. Be well Brian...be blessed..Leona..

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brian
7/5/2015 03:43:28 am

you got you nose out of joint?? Never noticed - Which author?

Brian M Jacques
8/20/2013 11:12:01 am

Thank you for your excellent work. The site of Fort Beausejour/Cumberland is sacred to my family, as many of my direct ancestors, first eluded Deportation, only to be imrisoned at the fort for the duration of the French and Indian War.

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brian french
8/20/2013 11:27:14 am

M. Jacques - Thank you for your kind comments.
I grew up there and used to play on that land when I was a little boy never really knowing what had happened. Now, since I started writing the book, I have absorbed the place, walking the marshes and woods trying to find the exact place where specific things happened. I even found an old pottery bowl when I was out on the dykes. It is a timeless place - hasn't changed since the terrible events. I know local people who still going looking every spring for little artefacts. You can still breathe the same air your ancestors did.
Was Jacques your Acadian family name?
I write in the book about captors at Fort Beausejour (if you've been there you know how small it is). You know that Joseph Brossard managed to help 80 people escape the fort.
They were professional diggers - that was their job - digging trenches and making dykes and digging tunnels for aboiteaux - it must have been easy to dig a tunnel to escape...
(By the way - we tend not to use the phrase "French Indian War" in Canada, because we Canadians are French and Indians as well as English. And it wasn't a war, it was the English occupying a country and the war things going on as a result of mostly aboriginals trying to discourage them that went on and off for 70 years. Acadians were also involved in resisting the occupation.)

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Janice Broussard Coari
4/19/2014 07:23:44 pm

Thanks for your comments about my ancestor Joseph Beausoleil BROUSSARD. I am fascinated about your story and your research and work. I live in Louisiana, I am assuming you live in the area you are researching.I was fortunate enough to have visted Fort Beausejour twice - once before part of the fort was off limits - as some parts were of limits and could not be seen again when I last visited. I have some photos of my visit I will try to find them.

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Jason Jeandron link
8/21/2013 01:31:03 am

Interesting map. I'm surprised that a large-scale geophysical survey hasn't been done along there to positively identify the locations of each homestead. This would be an ideal landscape for such an assessment.

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Brian French
8/21/2013 01:45:20 am

They've done one on the old settlement in Beaubassin - I think I have a picture of it on this site - if not I'll post.
The government of Canada is ignoring Fort Beausejour in favour of more politically beneficial places (notably Niagara).

Reply
Jason Jeandron
8/21/2013 01:50:59 am

Yes, I think that I may have recalled hearing about a very specific and localised survey of a particular area, but this area is ideal for a landscape scale survey. It is quite common in the UK and parts of Europe and reveals so much about the past activities of the area surveyed. Instead of assuming where things probably happened, you can identify the precise locations and it helps to focus future research, since you know where things are.

John Estano deRoche link
8/21/2013 03:07:22 am

Terrific, Brian. I'm really looking forward to reading Tintamarre. I have a special fascination with the Beaubassin area -- although I grew up elsewhere (in NS). Had ancestors there.

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Dawn Comeau
8/21/2013 03:32:10 am

I wonder if you can tell me...
Is/was Veskak/Vechkok the same place???

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John Estano deRoche
8/21/2013 04:24:35 am

Veskak/Cechkok (& Vechcaque & Westcock) was is just south of the present town of Sackville, on the south bank of the Tantramar River where it curves sharply toward the east, very near the mouth of the river. And just there, also, the mouth of the Aulac River joins the estuary. (At least, on the maps!)

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John Estano deRoche
8/21/2013 04:28:28 am

Meant to add -- at least one present-day map out there (which is circulated widely) places Veshkak in the wrong location. That map is item/page 19 on Brian's main Tintamarre page.

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Terry J. Deveau
8/21/2013 05:37:57 am

Very interesting. Have you checked this for comparison? It is an excellent reference.

Atlas of the Acadian Settlement of the Beaubassin 1660 to 1755, The Great Marsh, Tintamarre and Le Lac, by Paul Surette. Published in 2005 by the Tantramar Heritage Trust.

http://heritage.tantramar.com/THTPublications.html

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Brian F.
8/21/2013 07:33:28 am

I need to get my hands on Surrettes Book - has he actually got the layouts of the villages? I think he did do one on Beaubassin - but the historians tell me its not really accurate.
Westcock is actually quite close to Beausejour - just across the tantramar river

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Janice Broussard Coari
10/29/2013 08:12:04 pm

My ancestors were Acadian Settlers Jean Francois Broussard and Catherine Richard.He was the Father of Joseph " Beausoleil "and his brother Alexandre Broussard, who went to Louisiana and died there in 1765. I am descended from Beausoleil and Alexandre's Brother, Pierre Broussard.After the Acadian Exile, my Broussard Ancestor - Charles Broussard, born 1743, St. Charles Aux Mines, Acadia, came to Louisiana and settled in Baton Rouge about 1785.
I there is any help I can give you on Louisiana or the Louisiana Broussards, just ask. I'd be honored to help any way I can ! I am so impressed with your work, and you are doing what I would love to do ! Best wishes on your book !

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Brian
10/30/2013 01:46:21 am

Janice - do you have any records or stories about how you ancestors got to Louisiana? I think they would have been "shipped" to South Carolina or Georgia. Was one of your ancestors sent to a French Caribbean island?

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Brian
10/30/2013 01:39:13 am

Thank you so much, Janice.
I almost hate to stop writing - although I finished my rewrite last night, I think I'll go back and add more detail on the actual expulsion.
Beausoleil is of course one of the heroes of Tintamarre - although there were many heroes, he is the most reported on. And he is the second or third most important character!!!

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leona bourque link
5/12/2014 05:32:14 am

Your article was sooo interesting...I burned my muffin! My Acadien ancestors were the Bourgue/Bour family from Antoine; and my Quebecoise were the Lemieux from Quebec...Twelve generations on both sides..thanks for being such a good writer...
Blessings to you and yours..

L Bourque

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Brian link
5/12/2014 07:06:05 am

Hi Leora - there were many Bourques in the area - the little town there - Sackville was originally a settlement called Pre de Bourque!.
Thank you for reading...
Merci. Brian

Reply
iee (leona) bourque link
5/13/2014 01:03:00 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

iee (leona) bourque link
5/13/2014 01:03:20 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque link
5/13/2014 01:04:25 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque link
5/13/2014 01:06:13 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque link
5/13/2014 01:06:33 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque
5/13/2014 01:06:41 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque link
5/13/2014 01:07:01 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque link
5/13/2014 01:07:26 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque link
5/13/2014 01:07:50 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

leona bourque link
5/13/2014 01:08:00 am

Thank you Brian:

On my facebook page I noted that I have a copy of a map with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada..The library here is the Tibrary...the oldest private in the US. My father was born in Sackville. His ancestors my mother Edna Lemieux in 1928. My brother Arthur is survived by a son and 5 grandchildren, two of which are boys with the Bourque name. They were all born in San Francisco, CA.
Most sincerely,
Lee (Leona) Bourque aka Marylee Bourke on facebook.

Robert Richard
7/5/2015 12:51:37 am

Hello Léona, I'm very curious in seeing the mention map : "with Pres de Bourg from a book here published by the early government of Canada". Thanks for sharing a link or an image to robert.j.richard@icloud.com.

Reply
leona bourque
12/22/2018 11:45:04 am

Redwood Library Newort RI Stacks book in poor condition...series of books. One which contained pred d bourg. Fyi...Have a good holiday...1221/18 85 and holding...

Reply



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    Brian Lloyd French

    I was born 3 miles from the scene of the action and played in the places where the principals in Tintamarre lived and died.

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