This week's 52 Ancestors prompt is "Reunion". If you have Acadian Ancestry, then you probably know that this year is the Congres Mondial Acadien (CMA). Held every four years, it is a huge celebration for those with Acadian roots. Each one is hosted by a different region of the original Acadian settlers. This year's celebration runs from August 10 to 24, and the host communities are spread across Prince Edward Island and southeastern New Brunswick. I'm a little disappointed not to be able to go, as my maternal side settled in Shippegan and Memramcook. Along with other special events, there are family reunions scheduled across the host areas. These reunions are held for any descendants of a particular Acadian surname. So far the list of reunions scheduled are:
- Arsenault
- Babin
- Babineau(x)-Granger
- Barrieau/Barriault
- Belliveu/Beliveau
- Boudreau/Boudrot/Boudreault/Boudreaux/Budrow
- Bourgeois/Bourjeois/Bushway/Bushwa/Blaise/Burgess
- Breau/Breault/Breaud/Breaux/Bau/Braux/Breault/Braud/Bro/Brod/Brot/Brough/Brow/Browe
- Broussard
- Caisse/Caissey/Quessy/Roger
- Chevarie/Chavarie/Cheverie/Chevary/Etcheverie/D'Etcheverie
- Cormier
- Cyr
- Daigle/D'Aigre/Desgre/Deagle
- Damour/D'Amour/D'Amours
- Duguay/Dugue/Dugay/Dougay
- Forest/Foret/Forrest
- Gaudet
- Gauvin/Gauvain/Govan/Govang/Gavin/Govin
- Girouard/Giroir/Gerrior and the Acadians of Tor Bay
- Goguen/Bristol dit Williams
- Granger
- Guedry/Guidry/Gaidry/Geddry/Jeddry/Labine/Labean/Petipas/Pettipas/Pitts
- Hache/Hachey/Hachez/Hashi/Hashie/Ache/Achee/Gallant/Galland/Gallan/Galan
- Hebert
- Landry/Londere/Landre/Laundry/Londre/Londry
- LeBlanc
- Leger/Legere/Trahan
- Mallet/Mallais/Malley
- Maillet
- Martin
- Melanson
- Morin
- Richard
- Robichaud/Robicheau/Robichaux/Robicheaux/Robichon/Robichung/Robshaw/Robertshaw/Robinson
- Roy
- Thibodeau/Thibodeaux/Thibaudault/Thibault/Thibaut/Thibeault
If your tree is like mine, you would have a hard time deciding which ones to go to! I have most of these surnames in my tree.
There's still time to plan your trip. You can visit the CMA's website to get all the details. Even if going isn't in the cards for you, it doesn't mean you can't spend some time researching your Acadian ancestors instead. So I decided to list some great websites to further your Acadian research.
Nova Scotia Archives
This is a great resource if your researching your earliest Acadian ancestors. New Brunswick used to be part of Nova Scotia, so a lot of the Acadian research you want will be part of the Nova Scotia Archives. While not everything they have is online, they have some great online collections. I wrote a blog post back in 2017 on their online Acadian collections. You can see my post here. mt particular favourite in the digitization and indexing of The Registers of St. Jean-Baptiste, Annapolis Royal, 1702-1755 in the collection called An Acadian Parish Remembered.
Acadian & French-Canadian Ancestral Home
This website is run by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino. Lucie is a well respected Acadian speaker and researcher, and her website has fully sourced information on Acadians both pre and post deportation. She has compiled information on:
- Cemeteries
- DNA
- Census records
- History
- First Nations and Metis
- Deportation Records
- Book Lists
- Newspapers
- The Jesuits
- Research Aids
- Births, Marriages, and Deaths
If you descend from the LeBlanc family, Lucie has also compiled information on them as well.
Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History
Run by Tim Hebert, this is another amazing website to help further your research. Tim gives detailed information on the history and life of Acadians and Cajuns. Among his gems are:
- Census transcriptions
- Links and microfilm numbers at provincial archives for church records
- Information on obtaining notarial records
- Genealogies
- How-to's
- Links to other websites
This website does not appear to have been updated in quite awhile, so some information is out of date. However, it is a fantastic starting point for your research.
Les Amis de Grand-Pre
This society promotes Acadian culture and history in the Grand-Pre area. On their website you can access information such as articles, maps and transcriptions of records from the region. In particular, you should look at their transcriptions of the only 3 surviving registers of St-Charles-des-Mines. There are both English and French versions, so don't worry if your French isn't very good. To help you out, here are the links to the PDFs of the English versions:
You'll also want to look at the births, marriages, and deaths for St-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards. There is some dispute as to whether the people here were part of the St-Charles-des-Mines parish, or were a parish of their own. These entries are a compilation of other sources.
These are just a few sites to help your research. Check out my tab of Acadian Research Links for more sites. If you have any to add, feel free to provide links in the comment section.
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