Discovering my Robichaud Roots
My Acadian Discovery
Ann Anderson - Tennessee
I always knew that my mother was French and that both of her parents had moved to Massachusetts from Canada, but I don't recall ever hearing French spoken either by my mother or my grandparents. It wasn't until the year 2013, at the age of 60, that I first really became interested in learning about my Acadian heritage.
I like to travel, and I should say that I especially enjoy driving. It had been seven years since my last major road trip around the U.S. and Canada--which had been an 80-day and 13,000 mile adventure. Now living in Tennessee, I began to think about expanding my usual visit back home to Massachusetts, to possibly seeing friends in the province of Ontario and the state of Michigan, family and friends in the state of Washington, and then on to southern California for a spiritual retreat.
But as I was looking at maps, my eyes drifted over to New Brunswick, and I thought, "I should at least take a couple of days to visit the homeland of my 'mima' and 'pipa', my mother's parents." I remembered they had come from the area of Shippagan, and in early March, 2013, contacted my uncle Fabe (Fabien Chiasson; now age 94) for more information. Since he had visited Shippagan and Lameque many times, I was really hoping he would be able to give me the names, addresses and phone numbers of some relatives. His first response, however, was rather discouraging. He said all the people he knew would probably be dead now! I asked for the addresses and phone numbers anyway, believing that there might be children or other relatives who could still be contacted.
In the meantime, I used the only channel I could think of to begin finding some Chiasson and Robichaud family in advance of driving up there and knocking on doors! I began with the website of the Maritime Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, since I became a member of that denomination some twenty years ago. Much to my surprise, I discovered that Roger Robichaud, currently living in Moncton, is an assistant to the treasurer of the Maritime Conference. There was a picture of him on the website, and I was able to contact him through email--I had found my first Acadian cousin in New Brunswick! Even if he didn't really believe we were cousins. During my journey, I had opportunity to get to know Roger and his wife Jo-Anne at the annual Seventh-day Adventist Camp Meeting in Pugwash, NS; and then later to spend a week visiting with them in their home in Moncton.
Back to my Uncle Fabe. He had been bitten by the genealogy bug 35 or 40 years ago. He has done a mountain of research, visiting the Acadian Peninsula many times, attending one or more Congrès mondial acadien, and also communicating with Stephen White. I received from him a brief history of our family probably twenty or more years ago, but never really became interested. When I finally began investigating last year, I was shocked to learn that my French Acadian ancestors had migrated to the New World in the 1600s! And I had only ever thought of myself as the second generation born in the USA, through both my paternal (Swedish) and maternal lines.
In mid-April, Uncle Fabe gave me information about three first cousins of his (so also my mother's first cousins). Yolande (Losier) Lanteigne of Caraquet; her brother Jean-Jacques Losier, currently living in/near Quebec city; and their brother, Laurent, living in Haute Lameque. Their mother, Annie, was a half-sister to my grandfather, Peter/Pierre Chiasson, who as a young man had emigrated to Massachusetts with his brother. In an interesting twist, it also turned out that my first cousin, Scott Harper (now living in California), had met Jean-Jacques, in Quebec City, in a "chance" encounter in 2012. As they were chatting, they discovered the family connection.
The excitement was building even more as I began to read some of the history of the Acadian people, the ongoing wars between the British and the French, the deportations, and the return to the New World. My Robichaud ancestors were deported from Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) to France in the 1758 deportation, and returned 15 years later via Paspébiac, Quebec; being employed and transported from the Isle of Jersey by Charles Robin and Company. It appears that my Chiasson ancestors escaped the deportations altogether.
So my road trip last year took quite a turn--the focus would be more of an Acadian roots journey, tracing the steps of my ancestors in the Maritime Provinces, and meeting as many relatives as possible. My plans to visit friends in Ontario and Michigan were dropped. It was my privilege to spend seven weeks in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, visiting many Acadian historical spots including Port Royal, Annapolis Royal, Great Village, Grand Pré, Beaubassin, Fort Beausejour, Prince Edward Island, Beaubears Island, the Acadian Peninsula, and even a foray into the Gaspé Peninsula, and more.
I visited every Acadian Museum I could find, learning interesting tidbits of our history. I learned about the dykes the Acadians built to reclaim the salted land…ending up with the most fertile soil for farming purposes. While in Prince Edward Island, I was delighted to enjoy, with many tears, a moving world premiere musical production of "Evangeline," based on the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in Charlottetown. I just saw online that a musical recording is being made and should be available this summer, while the Confederation Center in Charlottetown has plans to run the show again in 2015.
I met cousins:
• some very distant Chaisson cousins in (or from) Tignish, PEI, including Mike Pendergast, an accomplished musician and children’s entertainer who works at Avonlea (Village of Anne of Green Gables);
• a "famous" Robichaud cousin in Truro, NS (Ron Robichaud, past president of the Francophone Society of Nova Scotia);
• another "famous" cousin in Shediac, NB (author Armand Robichaud, one of the organizers for the CMA Robichaud family reunion this summer; this connection was made through another Robichaud cousin, Zack, whom I met at the Camp Meeting in Pugwash);
• and many much closer cousins in the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick, particularly Chiasson (12 of my mother's first cousins!), but also Robichaud.
I have closer connections on the Chiasson side, because it was my Chiasson grandfather who emigrated to Massachusetts, while my Robichaud great-grandparents, Edmund & Emilie, emigrated earlier, taking my grandmother and all her siblings with them. Nevertheless, I made a couple of interesting connections with Robichaud cousins in the Acadian Peninsula.
• Paul Robichaud, currently living in Petit-Rocher, has an interest in our genealogy and has an extensive website, robichaudfamily.tribalpages.com.
• Henri Robichaud’s father, Michel, purchased Edmund’s house, when Edmund emigrated to the United States. Edmund and Michel were first cousins. Henri remembered seeing my grandmother's name, Lena, written on a doorpost, showing her age and height at the time. Henri was very hospitable, showing me: the plot of land where that house once was (it burned down over 30 years ago); the land where the Robichaud homestead of my g'g'g'grandfather, Pierrot, once was—the homestead buildings having been moved to the Historic Acadian Village (Henri was living at the original site, and working at the Village, when I met him last year); and the cemetery containing many gravesites of my Robichaud ancestors.
I’m sure I met many more cousins in the Acadian Peninsula—probably just about every person I met is related somehow. Isn’t that the way it is there? It seems that the Acadians in that region, about 50,000 of them have continued to marry primarily within their own people.
And now, by the grace of God (la grâce de Dieu), I look forward to a return visit, especially to meeting many more of my cousins at the CMA Robichaud family reunion in August!
Faith Notes
Just about everyone that I met and talked with about my journey asked if I was doing all this traveling alone, by myself.
"I am never alone," I would answer, "Jesus is always with me. He promised never to leave nor forsake me. And if He is with me, so are the Father and the Holy Spirit."
Everyone appreciated this, smiling and nodding their heads, sometimes repeating the name of Jesus. A blessing for me and for them!
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The border agent when I crossed into Canada asked if I had any weapons...guns, knives...not even a can of mace?
"I don't need any weapons," I said, "I have Jesus. He can take care of me." I didn't add, but should have, "and if not, I will still worship Him."
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This interesting tidbit about Charles Robin may be more fascinating to me than to some who will read this, because of my interest in the history of Christianity, as well as my desire to view history and all people from the perspective of God and His character as revealed in the Bible. For example:
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, He is patient with you; for it is not His purpose that anyone should be destroyed [eternally], but that everyone should turn from his sins. 2 Peter 3:9, CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)
Here's the interesting point: Several sources have noted that Charles Robin, who enabled my Robichaud ancestors to return to Acadia, was a Huguenot, whose family had fled France to the Isle of Jersey, escaping persecution during the Protestant Reformation.
"Following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the French lost fishing rights in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Quickly filling the vacuum was Charles Robin, a French Huguenot from the Isle of Jersey."
Maritime Provinces, Trudy Fong, Globe Pequot, May 1, 2007.
The Protestant Reformation affected the Channel Islands just as it did all of Britain, and about the middle of the 16th century Protestantism became the predominant religion. And so the Islands and the French-speaking Islanders welcomed the Protestants escaping persecution in France after the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572. They were known as Huguenots.
Ann Anderson, April 2014