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One Mathieu Martin, was in fact, or at least enjoyed the reputation of being, the first white child born in the colony. This distinction, for which he could hardly claim responsibility, nevertheless, was to prove its value. For in 1689, in honour of his birth, he received a grant from Louis XIV of France, of the Seigniory* of Cobequid. This Seigniory took in land two leagues deep, beginning at a point on the Bay of Fundy opposite the mouth of the Shubenacadie, and extending around the North shore to where Truro is now situated, and then South through the present districts of Lower Truro and Clifton, till the Shubenacadie was again reached. Martin was given the exclusive right to hunt and fish and was required to render homage at the Chateau St. Louis at Quebec. He was, however, forbidden to cut the oak trees which, under his grant, were reserved for the use of His Majesty, Louis XIV. In 1703, the Colony of Cobequid was well
established consisting of about ninety inhabitants, twenty-two of whom
were capable of bearing arms. About this time, and probably before 1710,
the Acadians came to Tatamagouche. Whether the first who came were from
the Cobequid settlements or stragglers or adventurers from the French
districts, in what is now New Brunswick and Quebec, we do not know. There
is a faint tradition that they came to Tatamagouche from the North and not
from the other Acadian settlements in Acadia. On a map of L’Isle**Saint
Jean, dated about 1715, is to be found perhaps the earliest occurrence of
the name, Tatamagouche. The map also shows a road inland from Tatamagouche
to the other Cobequid villages. Back |
