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*THE ACADIANS*

The word Acadia has been interpreted by many historians to mean "fertile land, or rich pastures". Some of the early explorers, Samuel de Champlain for example, during the early seventeenth century on their voyages to the regions of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine (lands bordering on the Bay of Fundy), referred to the area as Acadia. For this reason, Samuel de Champlain born in 1567 in Brouage France, may well be considered the "Father of Acadians" since, during his explorations Samuel, along with Sieur de Mont, established what is now known as the first Acadian settlement on the North American continent, under the French flag. This first settlement was established on the Isle-of-St.-Croix, at St. Croix River near Calais Maine. These people, who were selected by the French authorities, are said to have been highly skilled craftsmen and farmers. This choice was made in an effort to make the colony as self-sufficient as possible, thus ensuring the success of the settlement. After experiencing harsh winters and extreme cold on this small island, they moved their settlement into the rich agricultural area of the Bay of Fundy, which subsequently became known as Acadia. Because of Acadia's strategic location between the French colony of Canada and the Massachusetts and New England colonies, the Acadians occupied an enviable position between two great European powers, France and England. The French colony of Port Royal established in 1605, was exchanged back and forth between France and England on a number of occasions. By the year 1632, after the signing of the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, other settlers continued to arrive to the area. Records of 1668, indicate the presence of one PIERRE CYR. Two years after his arrival to the colony, in 1670, when the population of Acadia was recorded as being 441 souls, PIERRE CYR married the seventeen year old Marie Bourgeois and the couple started the line of CYR, which can be traced to our present-day Cyrs. The first Port Royal Acadian census of 1671 lists PIERRE SIRE as owning eleven cattle and six sheep. His only son (in 1671) is listed in the census as being three months old.

 

Click here for details on the CYR/SIRE Family Genealogy CD-ROM, now available

 

Photo courtesy of Madelaine Pearson

 

Possible alternatives to the Origin of the word "Acadia"

1. INDIAN THEORY: The Miquemaques word for the cod fish, was CAD. French fishing fleets had been sailing the waters around Acadia, long before Columbus "discovered" the New World. These fishermen called their favourite spot "La" (the), "Cad" (cod fish). Thus the term "La Cadie" (the land of the Cod fish) which, when translated from French to English, becomes the word "Acadia"!

 

2.VERRAZZANO THEORY: It is rumoured that the Italian Explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzane, sailing from France in 1524 was the first known European to coin the term Acadia or Arcadia. The name came to him from one of two possible sources. One would be his meetings with a native who used the word "quoddy" or "cadie" to describe what Verrazzano understood to be the territory surrounding them. The second possible origin of the word would be from Greek or Roman classics, where the word Arcadia is used to describe a pastoral paradise. Verrazzano, impressed with the beauty of his surroundings, may have seen this beautiful land and called it Arcadia"... after the idyllic mythical land!

Giovanni da Verrazzano
(1485-1528)

3. CHAMPLAIN THEORY: After spending the winter of 1604-1605 on Sainte Croix Island off the coast of present-day Maine, Pierre du Gua, Sieur DeMonts and his men moved their colony to Port Royal in the sheltered Annapolis Valley. In 1605, these explorers built a fortification which they named in honor of the King's geographer on the expedition, Samuel de Champlain. He called the land "Acadie", a derivative of Verrazano's "Arcadia"

Champlain, Samuel de (false portrait)
False portrait of Samuel de Champlain, based on an engraved portrait of Michel Particelli d'Emery by Balthazar Moncornet and dated 1654. Nevertheless, this image has become the one most associated with Champlain as no other detailed image of the man exists (Courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-6643).

 

4. RADDALL'S THEORY: In July 2003, Mike Campbell offered yet another possible origin. Apparently in Thomas Raddall's "Warden of the North" (his classic history of Halifax, N.S.), he mentions... "All Mi'kmaq place names were descriptive, and so the suffix of ak-a-de ("place of") occurred frequently. This deceived the early French explorers, who considered it the name of the country and marked it "Acadie" on their maps." Raddall doesn't mention his own source for this info, but it seems at least to be a reasonable possibility since there are still placenames in Nova Scotia with the "acadie" suffix, such as Shubenacadie, and Tracadie (also in N.B.). The area where Halifax now stands was called something like Goo-ow-acadie.

 

5. ZACHARY RICHARD'S THEORY: (from Zachary's email received October 29, 2007): "Le pays de mes ancêtres étaient connu sous le nom de Cadie aussi bien qu’Acadie. Sous Henri IV on l’écrivait Cadie. Le mot apparaît sur les cartes italiennes du 16e siècle. On ne sait pas son origine. On pense que c’est en référence à l’Arcadie de la Grèce antique. Ou bien du mot Mi’kmaq « algatiq » qui veut dire « lieu de campement » ou bien du l’Abénaki « quoddy » qui veut dire « terre fertile ». Peu importe, le peuple s’appelait « Cadien ». Avec la création des instituions acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (drapeau acadien, hymne national, etc.) de la fin de la 19e siècle, plus d’un siècle après la déportation, les Acadiens du nord (provinces maritimes du Canada), par le biais de l’élite ecclésiastique, ont opté définitivement pour le mot Acadien."

 

ACADIAN GENEALOGY

The area comprising today's New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, was once known as "ACADIA". The first Frenchmen arrived at Port Royal (present-day Annapolis Royal), in 1605. Settlement continued until the early 1700's when, in 1713, ACADIA was given to the British. Although a large majority of Acadians were exiled from Nova Scotia between 1755 and 1759 (Le Grand Dérangement), many escaped to New Brunswick and remained in the more remote areas of that part of ACADIA. From there, many traveled back to France, or settled in Quebec. In 1785, many ACADIANS immigrated to Louisiana where they became known as CAJUNS.