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From 1747 till the end of their stay at Tatamagouche we know little of the Acadians at Tatamagouche. The population was almost stationary and according to the information we have, never was more than twelve families. Essentially Tatamagouche was merely an outpost and a convenient stopping place to break the journey, or to aid in the keeping open of communications between the Peninsula and Cape Breton and the French settlements on the Isthmus and in St. John’s Island. But to the Tatamagouche salt marshes the French cast hopeful eyes and as well made clearings on the uplands on Waugh’s River and the French River and along the shore. They raised crops of grain and reared cattle, sheep and poultry. After the founding of Halifax in 1749, their position was more difficult for their trade with Louisbourg, where they obtained specie for their products was declared illegal by the Council at Halifax. However, they continued in this contraband traffic and assisted in reshipping from Tatamagouche the greater volume of cattle and produce brought from the Acadian settlements at Cobequid and from what is now known as the Annapolis Valley, over the road from Isgonish to Tatamagouche . The fisheries, too, they found a source of food and probably shipped some fish to Louisbourg. It is likely, too, they made masts for the French navy from the tall, white pine trees which abounded in the lowlands, and whose burnt stumps preserved by their balsam can yet be seen. They were able to live, because their wants were few and in their time the self-sufficiency of the family unit was almost absolute. One reason why the little colony did not increase in population was that particularly from 1749 on, the French themselves were inducing or coercing the Acadians to quit the mainland and retire to strengthen their numbers beyond the Missaquash River or in Cape Breton and St. John’s Island. In the years preceeding the actual Expulsion of 1755, many Acadians thus quitted the province. Particularly in the years from 1750 to 1755 there was a large emigration from the Acadian settlements on the main land to St. John’s Island. And of these, many with their cattle and few household goods went via Tatamagouche. Not a few Cobequid refugees, settled at Point Prim at the entrance to what is now Charlottetown Harbour. Back |
