Hi (4+1 removed cousin) Stanley & friend (long time) Judy, Your discussions reminded me of some great history of the Acadians including many coming to La. in Dudley LeBlanc's book "Acadian Miracle" published in 1966. I "dug" my copy out & while looking for a story which I have remembered of some treking accross Tennessee who came accross hunters that told them to build rafts & go by way of the Tenn., Ohio, & Miss. rivers to get to La. (Rene LeBlanc, the notaty, died on the trip). After a brief search, I couldn't find it, but did find some facinating stuff on pg. 309 +. Dudley talks (pp. 314 - 315) about Acadians arriving around 1757, citing the 1st record ("a baptism of a daughter of Poirier (probably Jean Pierre) and Madeline Richard, baptized 1757...) Enjoy. Jim Le Blanc Baton Rouge, La. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cajun" <cajun@thecajuns.com> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 9:10 AM Subject: RE: [ACADIAN-CAJUN] Passengers on the Ship Britania > Judy, > > The "myth" relates to a group of Acadians who supposedly made a > cross-country trek in 1755. There is no evidence for this as the > earliest documented arrival is 1764. > > The information re Nicolas Ory that was originally published by Deiler > referred to a 1773-1774 trek from Maryland to Ft. Pitt and then down the > Ohio and Mississippi River. Dr. Conrad's article corrected the Deiler > information. Nicolas Ory was with the 1769 group. > > There were groups that came from Ft. Pitt and from the Illinois Region, > Fort Vincennes, etc. but these weren't Acadians - they were French and > French-Canadians. > > The 1769 group is the last documented group of Acadians to arrive prior > to 1785. In 1788, a small group of 19 refugees from St. Pierre Island > [Miquelon] arrived on board Capt. Joseph Gravois's schooner - seventeen > were Gravois family members; and, in 1809, a few Acadian families > arrived with the Santo Domingo refugees. See arrival of the Acadians on > my site at http://www.thecajuns.com/acadians.htm > > Stanley LeBlanc > http://www.thecajuns.com > -----Original Message----- > From: Judy Riffel [mailto:j.a.riffel@worldnet.att.net] > Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 7:17 PM > Subject: Re: [ACADIAN-CAJUN] Passengers on the Ship Britania > > > I'm not sure what message this is referring to, but the overland journey > from the East Coast to Louisiana is no myth. I've found several > references to a couple of groups of German families (relatives and > friends of some of the Britain passengers) coming to Louisiana from > Maryland in 1773-74 via the Ohio River. The reason was that all the > seaports were closed at that time. See my article "Nicolas Ory and the > Germans of Iberville Parish" in le Raconteur, Dec. 2000. > > If any Acadians came to Louisiana at this time (which I haven't > verified), then they would have likely come via the overland route as > well. > > If anyone has any documentation as to why the seaports would have been > closed at this time, I'd be interested in knowing about it. Thanks. > > Judy Riffel > Baton Rouge, LA