Acadian Families After Expulsion
Jacques and Marie Girouard (Boisseau) farmed in Newport Township in 1754 until their land and livestock were confiscated and their family was deported on separate ships in the 1755 expulsion. The story of what happened to them, their daughter, Theotiste Landy, son-in-law Paul Landry, their five children, and two grandchildren has been researched by historian Diana Ross McCain, published in Connecticut Magazine and presented in William Gerrior’s “Acadian Awakenings”.
Jacques and Marie, daughter Theotiste, son-in-law Paul, and one of Theotiste and Paul’s children were deported to Maryland while five other children of Jacques and Marie and two other children of Theotiste and Paul were deported to Connecticut. Described as “poor, naked, and full of vermin” on arrival after a long, harrowing journey, there the children were “bound out” to a local household, exchanging their labour for food and shelter.
While the Landry and Girouard parents were frantically seeking their children, the young children were losing their language and memory of their parents. After great personal struggle, the parents managed to find their children but local officials took the children back to the households to which they were bound. The Girouards and Landrys petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly for the return of their children. Two of the children remained in Connecticut and two ended up on prison ships to England. After eight years in New England, the Girouard parents and some of the children got a passage to the French colony Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, where Jacques died shortly after arrival. Sadly, the tragic story of this Newport Township Acadian family was repeated too many times by other fractured Acadian families.
In 2017, relatives of local deported Acadian families came to Newport Township for a cross-cultural gathering, which was also attended by others representing Mi’kmaq, Planter, and African Nova Scotian descendants of the area. Together, participants shared music, food, and a commitment to learning from each others’ histories to create a more compassionate and just future.
You can read more about the Girouard family in “Acadian Awakenings”, a series of books by William Gerrior, on the history of Acadians and the Acadian Girouard (Gerrior, Giroir, Giroire, Gerrior) family.
Jacques and Marie, daughter Theotiste, son-in-law Paul, and one of Theotiste and Paul’s children were deported to Maryland while five other children of Jacques and Marie and two other children of Theotiste and Paul were deported to Connecticut. Described as “poor, naked, and full of vermin” on arrival after a long, harrowing journey, there the children were “bound out” to a local household, exchanging their labour for food and shelter.
While the Landry and Girouard parents were frantically seeking their children, the young children were losing their language and memory of their parents. After great personal struggle, the parents managed to find their children but local officials took the children back to the households to which they were bound. The Girouards and Landrys petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly for the return of their children. Two of the children remained in Connecticut and two ended up on prison ships to England. After eight years in New England, the Girouard parents and some of the children got a passage to the French colony Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, where Jacques died shortly after arrival. Sadly, the tragic story of this Newport Township Acadian family was repeated too many times by other fractured Acadian families.
In 2017, relatives of local deported Acadian families came to Newport Township for a cross-cultural gathering, which was also attended by others representing Mi’kmaq, Planter, and African Nova Scotian descendants of the area. Together, participants shared music, food, and a commitment to learning from each others’ histories to create a more compassionate and just future.
You can read more about the Girouard family in “Acadian Awakenings”, a series of books by William Gerrior, on the history of Acadians and the Acadian Girouard (Gerrior, Giroir, Giroire, Gerrior) family.