Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Acadians in New England

You learn something new every day (well, I do, I hope you do too!). I always thought that ALL of the Acadians were removed to Louisiana (or escaped to Quebec, or died) when the English took control of what is now Nova Scotia in the mid- 1700's.

I was doing a little research for a family friend who is descended from Acadians who migrated from Nova Scotia to New England in the late 1800's. She wanted to know about a French Huguenot Church in Haverhill MA and had not been able to find anything about it. She had heard that her great-grandfather was one of the church founders in the late 1800's. I was surprised to hear about Acadians in New England - even if they were Protestant!

I posted a note to the Essex County MA mailing list (MAESSEX@rootsweb.com) asking for information, and I got a response from a Congregational/UCC minister in Massachusetts. He consulted his Congregational/UCC resources and found some information about current churches in Haverhill, and some information on the French churches there that were absorbed by the Congregational Church in the early 1900's.

One of the links provided by my correspondent was to http://www.acadian-home.org:80/newsletter-issue-2.html, which provides a narrative of the Acadians who emigrated to New England. It was an interesting read.

My friend gave me her great-grandfather's name, and her grandmother's name, so I am going to look for vital, census and other records to help her find out a little more family history.

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