Gaspé Peninsula

Then, as the season waned, the vessels, which linked them to the world they had left, unfurled their sails, and set out for France.

seventy-nine men remained at sainte-croix among them de monts and champlain in the vast solitude of forest they settled down for the winter which was destined to be full of horrors by spring thirty-five of the company had died of scurvy and twenty more were at the point of death evidently sainte-croix was not a good place for a colony the soil was sandy and there was no fresh water so in june after the arrival of a vessel bringing supplies from france de monts and champlain set out to explore the coast in search of a better site but finding none which they deemed suitable they decided to tempt fortune at poutrincourt's domain of port royal thither then in august the colonists moved carrying their implements and stores across the bay of fundy and landing on the north side of the annapolis basin opposite goat island where the village of lower granville now stands the colony thus formed at port royal in the summer of sixteen o five the first agricultural settlement of europeans on soil which is now canadian had a broken existence of eight years owing to intrigues at the french court de monts lost his charter in sixteen o seven and the colony was temporarily abandoned but it was re-established in sixteen ten by poutrincourt and his son charles de biencourt the episode of port royal one of the most lively in canadian history introduces to us some striking characters besides the leaders in the enterprise already mentioned de monts champlain poutrincourt and biencourt we meet here le lawyer merry philosopher historian and farmer likewise louis hibert planting vines and sowing wheat the same louis hibert who afterwards became the first tiller of the soil at quebec footnote le carbot was the historian of the colony his history of new france reprinted by the champlain society toronto nineteen eleven with an english translation notes and appendices by w l grant is a delightful and instructive work here also is mirbertu sagamore of the micmacs a man of a hundred summers and the most formidable savage within the memory of man hitherto in sixteen eleven come the jesuits biard and masse the first of the black-robed followers of loyola to set foot in new france but the colony was to perish in an event which foreshadowed the struggle in america between france and england in sixteen thirteen the english captain argall from new-founded virginia sailed up the coasts of acadia looking for frenchmen the jesuits had just begun on mount desert island the mission of st sauveur this argall raided and destroyed he then went on and ravaged port royal and its occupants young biencourt and a handful of companions were forced to take to a wandering life among the indians twenty years passed before the french made another organized effort to colonize acadia the interval however was not without events which had a bearing on the later fortunes of the colony missionaries from quebec both recollets and jesuits took up their abode among the indians on the river st john and at nipissiguit on chaleur bay trading companies exploited the fur fields and fisheries and french vessels visited the coast every summer it was during this period that the english puritans landed at plymouth sixteen twenty at salem sixteen twenty eight and at boston sixteen thirty and made a lodgment there on the southwest flank of acadia the period too saw sir william alexander scott's in nova scotia and saw the english kirks raiding the settlements of new france footnote see the jesuit missions in this series chapter four the baron de poutrincourt died in sixteen fifteen leaving his estate to his son biencourt and after biencourt's own death in sixteen twenty three it was found that he had bequeathed a considerable fortune including all his property and rights in acadia to his friend and companion that interesting and resourceful adventurer charles de la tour this man when a lad of fourteen and his father claude de la tour had come out to acadia in the service of poutrincourt after the destruction of port royal charles de la tour had followed young biencourt into the forest and had lived with him the nomadic life of the indians later the elder la tour established himself for trade at the mouth of the penobscot but he was driven away from this post by a party from the english colony at plymouth the younger la tour after coming into biencourt's property built fort lomeron afterwards named st louis at the place now known as port la tour near cape sable this made him in fact if not in name the french ruler of acadia for his fort st louis was the only place of any strength in the whole country in sixteen twenty seven the survivors of biencourt's wandering companions had settled down some of them in their old quarters at port royal but most of them with la tour at cape sable then came to acadia seventy scottish settlers sent hither by sir william alexander who took up their quarters at port royal and named it scott's fort the french described these settlers as all kinds of vagabonds barbarians and savages from scotland and the elder la tour went to france to procure stores and ammunition and to petition the king to grant his son a commission to hold acadia against the intruders but the elder la tour was not to come back in the role of a loyal subject of france he was returning in sixteen twenty eight with the ships of the newly formed company of one hundred associates under when off the gaspe coast appeared the hostile sail of the kirks and la tour was taken prisoner to england there he entered into an alliance with the english accepted grants of land from sir william alexander had himself and his son made baronets of nova scotia and promised to bring his son over to the english side young la tour when his father returned accepted the gift and by some means procured also in sixteen thirty one a commission from the french king as lieutenant-general of acadia later as we shall see his dual allegiance proved convenient The restoration of Acadia to France in 1632 by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was to Cardinal Richelieu the signal for a renewal of the great colonizing project which he had set on foot five years earlier and which had been interrupted by the hostile activities of the Kirks.

Footnote.

See the Founder of New France, Chapter 5, and the Jesuit Missions, Chapter 4. richelieu appointed lieutenant-general of acadia isaac de rassely one of the company of one hundred associates and commander of the order of malta with authority to take over acadia from the scots rassely brought out with him three hundred settlers recruited mainly from the districts of touraine and brittany the first considerable body of colonists to come to the country he was a man of more than ordinary ability of keen insight and affable manners the commander wrote champlain possessed all the qualities of a good a perfect sea-captain prudent wise industrious urged by the saintly motive of increasing the glory of god and of exercising his energy in new france in order to erect the cross of christ and plant the lilies of france therein he planned for acadia on a large scale he endeavored to persuade louis the thirteenth to maintain a fleet of twelve vessels for the service of the colony and promised to bring out good settlers from year to year unfortunately his death occurred in sixteen thirty five before his dreams could be realized he had been given the power to name his successor and on his death-bed he appointed his cousin and companion charles de monieux sieur d'alnay charnisset adjuring him not to abandon the country but to pursue a task so gloriously begun years of strife and confusion followed rassely had made la heve his headquarters but charnisay took up his at port royal footnote charnisay built his fort about six miles farther up than the original port royal and on the opposite side of the river at the place thenceforth known as port royal until seventeen ten and since then as annapolis royal or annapolis this brought him into conflict with charles de la tour who had now established himself at the mouth of the river st john and whose commission from the king giving him jurisdiction over the whole of acadia had apparently never been rescinded the king to whom the dispute was referred instructed that an imaginary line should be drawn through the bay of fundy to divide the territory of charnisay from that of la tour but this arrangement did not prevent the rivalry between the two feudal chiefs from developing into open warfare in the struggle the honors rested with charnisay having first undermined la tour's influence at court he attacked and captured la tour's fort st john this happened in sixteen forty five la tour himself was absent but his wife a woman of heroic mold made a most determined resistance footnote this follows the story as told by denise see page eighteen note which has been generally accepted by historians but charnisay in an elaborate memoir memoire instructive gives a very different version of this affair la tour was impoverished and driven into exile his remarkable wife died soon afterwards and charnisay remained lord of all he surveyed but charnisay was not long to enjoy his dominion in may sixteen fifty he was thrown by accident from his canoe into the annapolis river and died in consequence of the exposure in the year following charnisay's death charles de la tour reappeared on the scene armed with a new patent from the french king making him governor and lieutenant-general of arcadia he took possession of his fort at the mouth of the st john and further strengthened his position by marrying the widow of his old rival three years later sixteen fifty four when the country fell again into the hands of the english la tour turned to good account his previous relations with them he was permitted to retain his post and lived happily with his wife at fort st john so far as history records until his death in sixteen sixty six they had five children who married and settled in acadia many of their descendants may be counted among the acadian families living at the present time in nova scotia and new brunswick by the treaty of breda in sixteen sixty seven a was restored to france and a period ensued of unbroken french rule the history of the forty-three years from the treaty of breda until the english finally took possession is first a history of slow but peaceful development and latterly of raids and bloody strife in which french and english and indians were involved in sixteen seventy one the population according to a census of that year numbered less than four hundred and fifty this was presently increased by sixty new colonists from france by sixteen eighty five this population had more than doubled and the tiny settlements appeared to be thriving but after sixteen ninety war again racked the land during this period acadia was under the government of quebec and there was always a local governor the first of these hubert de granfontaine came out in sixteen seventy he and some of his successors were men of force and ability but others such as brulon who issued card money without authority and applied torture to an unconvicted soldier and perrault who sold liquor by the pint and the half-pint in his own house were unworthy representatives of the crown by seventeen ten the population of acadia had grown to about twenty-one hundred souls distributed chiefly in the districts of port royal minas and chignecto most of these were descended from the settlers brought over by rassely and charnisay between sixteen thirty three and sixteen thirty eight on the whole they were a strong healthy virtuous people sincerely attached to their religion and their traditions the most notable singularity of their race was stubbornness although they could be led by kindness where they could not be driven by force though inclined to litigation they were not unwilling to arbitrate their differences they had none who were bred mechanics every farmer was his own architect and every man of property a farmer the term mr was unknown among them they took pride in their appearance and wore most attractive costumes in which black and red colors predominated content with the product of their labor and having few wants they lived in perfect equality and with extreme frugality in an age when learning was confined to the few they were not more illiterate than the corresponding class in other countries in the summer the men were continually employed in husbandry they cultivated chiefly the rich marsh lands by the rivers and the sea building dikes along the banks and shores to shut out the tides and made little effort to clear the woodlands in the winter they were engaged in cutting timber and wood for fuel and fencing and in hunting the women in carding spinning and weaving wool flax and hemp of which their country furnished abundance these with furs from bears beavers foxes otters and martins gave them not only comfortable but in some cases handsome clothing although they had large herds of cattle they never made any merchantable butter being used to set their milk in small noggins which were kept in such order as to turn it thick and sour in a short time of which they ate voraciously footnote public archives canada brown collection m six five one a page seventy one the lands which the acadians reclaimed from the sea and cultivated were fertile in the extreme a description has come down to us of what was doubtless a typical acadian garden in it were quantities of very fine well-headed cabbages and of all other sorts of pot herbs and vegetables apple and pear trees brought from france flourished the peas were so covered with pods that it could only be believed by seeing the wheat was particularly good we read of one piece of land where each grain had produced six or seven stems and the smallest ear was half a foot in length filled with grain the streams and rivers too teemed with fish The noise of salmon sporting in the rivers sounded like the rush of a turbulent rapid, and a catch such as ten men could not haul to land was often made in a night.

The British offered very favourable terms.

So far as the Acadians were concerned, it was proposed that, since they had taken up arms under threat of death, they were to be pardoned and allowed to return to their homes and enjoy the free exercise of their religion.

the soldiers of the garrison were sent as prisoners to halifax after the fall of beausjour which monkton renamed fort cumberland the british met with little further resistance four gaspereaux on bai verte against which monkton next proceeded was evacuated by the commandant villeray who found himself unable to obtain the assistance of the acadians and the few acadians at the river st john when captain rouse appeared before the settlement with three ships made an immediate submission rouse destroyed the cannon burned the fort and retired with his troops up the river The Indians of the St. John, evidently impressed by the completeness of the British success and awed by their strong force, invited Rouse to come ashore and assured him of their friendliness.

Having removed the menace of the French forts, Lawrence was now able to deal more freely with the question of the Acadians.

One of these was Sorel, where the seigneury that had been bought by the Crown was granted out to the newcomers in lots.

The other was in the Gaspé Peninsula, on the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and of Chaleur Bay.

The seigneury of Sorel was well peopled, for each grantee received only sixty acres and a town lot, taking the rest of his allotment in some of the newer settlements.

The settlement in the Gaspé Peninsula was more sparse.

The chief center of population was the tiny fishing village of Paspébiac.

In addition to these settlements, some of the exiles took up land on private seigneuries.

Encore une fois, je dis pas que c'est tous les courtiers qui devraient charger 1,25 %.

Encore une fois, le gars qui vend une maison moyenne en Gaspésie à 200 000, il peut pas charger 1,25 %.

On s'entend là-dessus, c'est impossible.

Je dis pas que c'est tous les courtiers à Montréal ou sur la rive sud ou sur la rive nord qui devraient charger en bas de 4 %.

It's always a pleasant memory.

My mother's family has been on the Gaspé Peninsula for a few hundred years.

Where is that exactly? Will you place me?

Sure.

I have a pretty solid grasp of the English, of the French language.

Luckily, my mom is from Gaspésie.

But even I, from a detailed standpoint, it's a difficulty for me to try and figure out what the hell you're saying in French when I, again, on a day-to-day basis, don't deal in French.

And I'm from here.

Je pense que j'ai tout un passé de relation houleuse avec l'activité physique au secondaire, entre autres.

Nous autres, je vivais dans une petite ville en Gaspésie.

Une ville en Gaspésie où, nous, dans notre école secondaire, il n'y avait pas de parascolaire d'art, pas de parascolaire de musique, juste du parascolaire sport.

Je voulais m'impliquer dans le parascolaire sport.

Maintenant, rendu en secondaire 2...

Fait que oui, les gens sont prêts à se déplacer pour ça, parce que souvent, tu sais, y a tout un terrain au Québec, je suis convaincu, on va faire le tour.

Y a-tu un terrain au Québec que vous avez pas joué encore, qui est loin ? Moi, c'est Fort-Préval en Gaspésie.

Moi, tout le monde m'a parlé de Fort-Préval en Gaspésie.

Ça a l'air qu'il y a un trou qui est sur le bord de l'eau.

C'est un peu- Ah, ça doit être incroyable, les vues là-bas aussi.

Mm-hmm.

I wanna take my kids out even further, um, and get out there to Gaspésie and, and see that.

You know, it just, I've never, I've lived here for f- 43 years, Peter.

I've never been to Gaspésie, you know? Like, gotta do it.

And, uh, so, and it's, and it costs, frankly, it costs a lot less than it costs to go and, and rent a place in Maine and, uh, you know, jump through all the hoops, and frankly, give your money to Americans, uh, when, you know.

[laughs] Yeah.