Acadian Explusion: a family scattered

Contemporary painting of another Acadian town being burnt - Thomas Davies 1758*

On a summer day in 1755 my 4^th great grandfather Charles Dupuis, age 9 watched from shipboard as everything he knew receded over the horizon. He, with 10 of his brothers and sisters, their spouses, uncles, aunts and cousins watched in horror as British soldiers set fire to their farm houses and barns. He left behind the graves of his parents Antoine and Marie Josephte Dugas who died when he was only a year old. He would be the only one of his family who would return to what had been French territory. Before that he would be a refugee in the British colonies of North America.

My great grandmother Adeline Raymond pictured on the right,  was descended from many of the original settlers of L'Acadie. (modern Nova Scotia)  Her mother was listed as "Sally Wells" on US records. I knew she was French and eventually discovered that her real name was Salome Dupuis, daughter of Antoine Dupuis resident of Lacadie, a small town south of Montreal in the Richelieu valley. Her paternal grandparents Charles Dupuis and Anne Doucet were both born in L' Acadie - he is Grand Pre in 1746 and she in Port Royal around 1750. Hence both as children would have been witnesses to the expulsions and emigrations from Acadie which began in the late 1740's and escalated 1755-1762. It is unlikely that Salome knew her grandparents as both died before she was born. Did she learn of the exodus from stories passed down in her family? If so did she pass them on to Adelaide?

The fate of the children of Antoine Dupuis and Marie Josephe Dugas, parents of Charles, gives a sample of the various places of deportation and emigration experienced by families in L’Acadie. Antoine and Marie both died in Grand Pre in 1747 right before the Acadian Expulsion known as L’Grand Derangement. My ancestor Charles, twin brothers Joseph and Jean Baptiste and sister Euphrosine were all under 10 when the parents died and likely were taken into the homes of older married brothers and sisters.

Charles Dupuis and Anne Doucet had lived under British rule all their lives.  Britain ruled L'Acadie since 1713, before both of their births. Their ancestors had settled this area in the early 17th century.  After the British takeover initially their families' lives on their prosperous farms had continued as before. The "Great Meadow" had rich farmland that had been reclaimed from the sea by a system of dikes. In 1730 the Acadians swore an oath of allegiance to the British on condition they would not have to fight the French or their Native allies. But toward the end of the 1740's there was unrest in the area due to British insistence on an unconditional oath of allegiance. Wars being fought far away in Europe had repercussions on the land of L'Acadie. Unrest spread and between 1749-1755 active armed resistance to British rule spread throughout the area.

The 11 living Dupuis children (which included two sets of twins) their spouses and children were scattered through the British colonies and England. The names of Charles' brothers, uncles, cousins, brothers-in-law all appear on the list of men scheduled for deportation in 1755. Some of these colonies were hospitable to the refugees but others resented having these families thrust upon them - French speaking and Catholics in an English speaking and Protestant colony. Those who went to England fared worse since they were regarded as enemy combatants and prisoners of war. Three of Charles siblings were sent to England: Francoise Osite Dupuis, her husband Honore Daigle, their children, his brother Jean Baptiste age 10, and eldest sister Marie Josephe Dupuis with her children and  husband Pierre Theriot. Of these Francoise died in England as well as brother -in-law Pierre.

Older brother Antoine Dupuis, wife Marguerite Boudrot and family were sent to New York. Simon-Pierre, wife Marie LeBlanc and children may also have originally been sent to New York but made their way to Connecticut with widowed sister Marguerite Dupuis Boudrot, Charles and sister Euphrosine. His  sister Marie Anne and husband Michel Boudrot were deported to Portabac in Maryland Joseph Herbert and wife Madeliene Dupuis were sent with their teenage children to an unknown British colony perhaps New York with Jean Baptiste's twin Joseph.  Later, after Madeliene's death,  they wind up in Connecticut where he will meet and marry my 5th great grandmother Anne Bourg widow of Jean Doucet, parents of Anne Doucet who would later marry Charles Dupuis. (but that is a story for another blog entry)

When the war between France and Britian ended with a treaty in 1763 the Acadian exiles were free to move to more congenial locations. Between that date and 1767 siblings and their families went to the French speaking island of Dominique (present day Haiti) in the Carribean. Antoine and wife  baptized their children born in New England in Mirebas. Both  parents  died and were buried in Mirebas. Some of their children would continue on to Louisiana. A Spanish colony in 1765 it was especially hospitable to Catholic immigrants seeing them as a bulwark against the British. Acadians who stayed in Dominique were forced to more again during the Haitian Revolt and many moved to  Louisiana which was once again French and back to the former British colonies now the United States.  Marie Dupuis Boudrot and family  brother Joseph, Marguerite Dupuis Boudrot and children,  also sought refuge in Louisiana. Marie Anne Dupuis widow of Michael Boudrot deported to Portabac Maryland went with her family to Louisiana. In 1802 with the Louisana purchase that territory became part of the expanding United States.

Those in England went to France: eldest sister Marguerite Dupuis Theriot  now widowed, her children and Jean Baptiste age 21. In 1767 they were among 78 Acadian families living on the island Belle-Ile-en-Mer off the coast of Brittany. It is from an affidavit sworn by her that much of the information about the family migrations is known. Those in France were often disappointed because the French government did not live up to promises of land and support for the refugees. Some Theriot children who went to France eventually wound up returning to the New World and settling in Louisiana. Jean Baptiste died, unmarried in France in 1783.

 Of the 11 living children of Antoine and Marie Josephte only my ancestor Charles found his way back north after being deported to Connecticut. While in Connecticut he met and married Anne Doucet (her family story will be another blog entry)  In 1769 he came back to former French territory with his new wife and some of her relatives,  to have their 1768 marriage blessed in the newly founded town of Lacadie, Quebec. This town was founded by Acadian refugees and its church Ste Margaret of Blainfindie has the records of the many descendants of Charles including my 3rd great grandmother Salome Dupuis.

This summary of the fate of Antoine Dupuis and Marie Josephte Dugas' children is a microcosm of the Acadian Expulsion - to the British  colonies, to France, England and the French Caribbean islands and eventually migration back to French Canada and Louisiana.

* http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/artwork_e.jsp?mkey=3755

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DNA revisited: Viking, Visigoths and assorted others!

After receiving an initial DNA ethnic profile I puzzled over the combination of British Isles, Scandinavian, Southern European and assorted unknowns that my Irish and French Canadian ancestors seemed to have passed on to me. A refinement of the profile is even more interesting: As was no surprise my DNA profile comes from Europe 97%, with the remaining 3%  2% West Asia (Caucasus) and 1% Central Asia. The bulk of the ancestry is Irish 68% which still is a bit of a mystery - since some of that DNA should come from my father who was French Canadian. The rest is scattered over three regions Italy/Greece10%, Europe West 5%, and Scandinavia 5% Iberian Peninsula 3% Great Britain 3% Europe East 2% , Finnish/Northern Russia< 1%, and European Jewish< 1%.  All of those ethnic markers leave room for the Vikings and the Visigoths which I speculated about in an earlier blog entry, But it contains some interesting twists for example the European Jewish trace.

My candidates for the lines producing some of these DNA traces could be: Raymond dit Toulouse line. The ancestor who immigrated to the new World was a soldier named Jean Baptiste Bertrand dit Raymond dit Toulouse son of Raymond Bertrand from the city of Toulouse. That area would have been the meeting place of southern European DNA (Romans, Visigoths, Greeks). Plus I am twice descended from this line with both of my paternal great-grandmothers being Raymonds.

It is interesting that the profiles of others with similar DNA have a large amount of Acadian surnames from my Dupuis side. Some genealogists speculate that this population had a percentage of both Scottish and British mixture. My Melancon line is supposed to have originated in Scotland and from the city of Quebec I am descended through at least two of the daughters of Abraham Martin nicknamed "the Scotsman".  Of course there is always the soldier Jose Bertrand from Valladolid Spain, ancestor on  my Dad's side for the dash of Iberian pennisula.  Irish legends have my Celtic ancestors migrating through the area now known as Spain as well.

On a recent visit to France I visited the Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History. In the Marais where the  Museum is located there has been a Jewish community since the middle ages. Since many of my ancestors came from Paris and area around the city including the Marais district this could have been the connection.

The 3% that is not European is divided into West Asia 2% (Caucasus2%) and
Asia Central< 1%.  I still have hopes that some of the Asia central was through my (documented) Native American ancestry and a bit disappointed that they didn't pass on more.

Sarmartian soldiers

The Caucasus was equally a surprise. Since I just visited Turkey (and loved it) traveling through this same area it was nice to know some of my DNA made its way from there to Europe. An Internet search for how some Turkish DNA might have found its way to northern Europe led me to the Sarmartian solders who served in the Roman Legions. They were fierce warriors respected by their enemies the Romans. So much so, that in 147 C.E. after defeating them, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius enlisted 8,000 in his legions. 5,500 cavalrymen were sent to the north of England around York on the Scottish border. When there service was over Roman soldiers were often given land and remained where they had served, marrying into the local population. Wonder if that is how DNA from Turkey found its way into my family tree?


It is fun to speculate!