Scots in New Scotland and farmers as slaves

Posted by jdemaris on October 21, 2007 at 07:41:35 from (69.67.230.185):

In Reply to: Scottish immigrants to Canada posted by Bill from Scotland on October 20, 2007 at 17:01:34:

My very distant grandparents - the Pitres and Boudreaus - were held as farmer-slaves by the Scots in Port Royal, Nova Scotia (New Scotland) a very long time ago. Interesting story I've pasted at the bottom of this.

I've seen some incredibly cheap land in the Nova Scotia area recently - at least as compared to rural New York state land. I've been temped to buy some - but I have no interest in being a Canadian, or an out-of-country land owner. Check out Dignam Land (dignam dot com ) Company and look at the some of large parcels or Canadian land.

Interesting note in regard to French Canadians and the Scottish in Port Royal, Acadia, New Scotland. Many French Canadians were held as prisoners and slaves - and forced to farm and produce food for the Scots in "New Scotland."
This includes part of my family. My very distant grandmother is a hero (heroin?) in French Canadian history books because she stood up to the Scots - and led a bunch of Kanucks out of New Scotland and into Nicolet, Québec and Mount Royal (Montréal). Nicolet is known to be the one place French Canadians who fled New Scotland, felt safe in Canada.
From what I've read, many other French Canadians at that time regarded the captive French Canadians in New Scotland as traitors - since many fed the Scots and did not stand up to them. For that reason, many - after fleeing - did not feel welcome in Canada - and many wound up in New Orleans as "Cajuns" - derived from "Acadiens."
Here's a bit of history on my many-gs-grandmother, Cécile Boudreau. It is from the dictionary for French-Canadian Biography:

Having escaped the massive and cruel deportation of 1755, Cécile Boudreau, her husband, and her children joined about
200 Acadian families who scattered into the woods bordering the
Memramcook Shepody, and Petitcodiac rivers (N.B.). Fortunately these
families were able to count on the aid of missionary FrançoisLe Guerne*
and of Charles Deschamps* de Boishébert, a captain in the colonial
regular troops. The two men worked together to ensure the survival of
the Acadians, provied for their sustenance, and to organize their
resistance to the British.
Forseeing the second phase of the expulsion, which would be carried
out in 1758, many of the families, including
Cécile Boudreau's, moved up the coast to Miramichi in 1757. They were
exhausted, and suffered from starvation as a result of poor crops and
from epidemics. Several of them then resigned themselves to following
Boishébert's troops, which had been recalled to Québec for the winter of
1757-58.
The situation at Québec seemed little brighter. There was a dearth
of suppliess and a severe famine. The Acadians had to make do with cod
and rotten meat. According to the testimony of several persons, these
poor living conditions brought about the death of a number of Acadians.
On 9 June 1758, amid the general gloom and inactivity, Cécile Boudreau
had to bury her husband, who had fallen victim to the smallpox epidemic
raging at the time. A month earlier she had done the same for her son
Jean, barely eight years of age, and four days after her husband's
interment she buried one of her daughters.
It was for such reasons that the Acadian refugeess then sought to
flee Québec. Some joined Le Guerne, who had become parish priest of
Saint-François, on île d'Orléans. Others settled in the Beauce or in
the regions of Saint-Joachim and Bellechasse. In 1758 a large number
went to Saint-Grégoire(Bécancour); others, including Cécile Boudreau's
family, chose Nicolet. This locality, which their missionaries and the
Abenakis had drawn to their attention, turned out to be a good place for
a settlement. It was situatied near the St. Lawrence, which gave access
to the gulf and to Acadia, where everyone hoped to live once again. The
region offered an abundance of woods and lakes that enabled them to
ensure their subsistence; moreover it was remote and tranquility was
easily found.
When along with other Pitres and Boudreaus, Orillon-Champagnes,
Gauders, Laurts, Melancons, Bastaraches, Commeaus, and
Rouisse-Languedocs, Cécile Boudreau arrived in this new setting to find
fresh hope and take root, she still had five children with her, one of
them, François, would receive a commission later as captain in the
militia. She married Pierre Pellerin in 1762 and was widowed 30 years
later. She apparently reached the age of 97, still strong, lucid, and
courageous. An unfortunate fall then forced her to take to her bed.
After 18 days during which she was willing to drink "only a little water
and two shots of rum," she died.
A long way from Nicolet, the QUEBEC GAZETTE, a major paper of the
province, printed a paragraph about this strong and incomparable woman
which formed a longer and better tribute than any cold tombstone ccould
offer. It told of the circumstances of her death and concluded: "this
venerable Acadian constantly retained all her mental faculties with
remarkable freshness and good health until the accident which brought
her to the grave."

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