I was asked to forward this to lists. ----- Original Message ----- From: pierre m To: gboivin@telusplanet.net Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 2:10 PM Subject: Métis in Acadia Hi, Gary Boivin Can you publish this message on the RootsWeb.com. Thank you... and excuse my english. The Metis in Acadia There were no French women to marry before 1634 in Acadia. The lords Gravé Dupont and Charles De Saint-Étienne de La Tour united themselves according to the Indian way to Natives in 1610. The men of their troops imitated them. France was chased out of Acadia in 1613. La Tour stayed there with the lord Biencourt and the men of their troop who were united to Natives. In 1627, La Tour wrote to Cardinal Richelieu that he had formed a Franco-Indian community which kept the territory for France. France returned to Acadia in 1634. Colonists of strictily French origin landed in Port-Royal between 1634 and 1650 (refer to the role of Saint-Jehan who identified 12 French couples). The French of Port-Royal and the lord Menou d'Aulnay attacked the Franco-Natives and their Metis children at Fort Saint-Jean (St. John) in 1645 in order to take control of the fur trade. They massacred 45 defenders, according to lord Nicolas Denys. Except for a few exceptions, their native women disappeared forever as well as their Metis children. In 1653, France is once again chassed from Acadia but the French colonists stay in place. France returned to Acadia in 1670 and processes a Census at Port-Royal in 1671. This census allowed the identification of colonists who were strictly of French origin having arrived between 1634 and 1650 and persons of francophone family names but of unkown origin. The past genealogists of Quebec were all at the service of the Canadian Catholic Church which denied the existence of Metis in Quebec, even declaring that they had all died before 1800. Due to the absence of acts, they wrongly presumed that the persons of unknown origin in Port-Royal in 1671 were French men and women who had landed in Acadia between 1653 and 1670, including Radegonde Lambert. Now, this is impossible since France did not send any French colonists in a territory occupied by the English colonists. These persons were therefore the Metis children and thir descendants who had survived the attack of Fort Saint-Jean in 1645 and who were brought by force and reeducated at Port-Royal. France had always the habit of reeducating the minor children of its enemies since the preceeding century. It had also reeducated by force the children of French protestants. For lack of evidence of the origin of a person in North America in the 17th century, the genealogists should not presume that this person is European but Indian or even Metis. It is a question of a simple presumption which could be reversed with the help of an opposite proof. It is a question also of a deduction made with common sense. The persons of unknown origin in the Census of Port-Royal in 1671 need to be presumed natives, Indians or Metis. Their behavior demonstrate morever that they are Metis. They intermarried among themselves and found refuge once again at the Saint John River in order to retake the fur trade and to become the leader of native bands which resisted England. This is why it is so difficult to identify the Metis of Acadia: they were par tof the resistance and Catholic Church in Canada and F.X. Gameau, Tanguay, Casgrain, Lionel Groulx and Archange Godbout denied their existence. Because of a lack of baptismal, marriage and burial acts, historical proof is used to determine the origin of persons. Refer to the texts of the Biorgraphical Dictionary of Canada to understand the history of Acadia. Refer also to information found in the Acadian Archives Center at the University of Monction. We would not be able to say that Neil Armstrong met an American woman on the Moon if we discover one day descendants on this satellite. Therefore we can not say that the French who landed alone in America in the 17th century met French women who were hanging around there. Briefly, these French men united themselves to Natives and theri children removed by force perpetuated their memory by keeping their family name. Pierre Montour Directeur général Corporation métisse du Québec et de l'Est du Canada/ Metis Corporation of Québec and Eastern Canada www.metisduquebec.ca