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The lands of this farm, afterwards the subject of
litigation** between DesBarres and Wellwood
Waugh,*** are now commonly called the "Waugh Block". Waugh, when he
came to Tatamagouche, took over the remainder of Delesdernier’s lease, but so
far as is known, neither he nor his descendants attempted to keep the dykes up.
They were not interested in marsh but in intervale and upland.
It is doubtful whether any of these dykes had a real utility. The French at
Tatamagouche were only following the practice of the Acadians, who were never
lovers of upland and who always showed a marked preference for marsh. This had
been their hereditary form of agriculture since the days of their ancestors
in France. But the tides at Tatamagouche have a rise and fall of only about five
feet, not one-tenth of those of the Bay of Fundy, and for this reason dyking was
impractical here. From the size of the yet remaining dykes, it is evident that
the Acadians for their numbers, disposed on them an inordinate amount of labor
and of attention.
**This litigation was a suit brought in the Court of Chancery in 1809 by
DesBarres against Mary Cannon, Waugh and the other tenants at Tatamagouche. It
was "in Chancery" for fifteen years before DesBarres’ death and was
never brought to trial. The papers on fyle in the suit are in the Provincial
Archives, Halifax . They contain much interesting material on the early History
of Tatamagouche
***Wellwood Waugh, the first Scotch settler at Tatamagouche . He emigrated
from Scotland to Prince Edward Island in 1774 and about 1780 with his family
settled on the Waugh’s River intervale near the Willow Church. For a time he
acted as DesBarres agent at Tatamagouche. When DesBarres became involved in
financial difficulty and absconded the tenants’ cattle at Tatamagouche were in
1787 attached for his debts. Waugh then assisted Mary Cannon, DesBarres agent
and mistress, who lived at Falmouth in having the attachment withheld. In
return, Mary Cannon contrary, it was alleged, to DesBarres’ instructions, gave
Waugh a nine hundred and ninety nine year lease of the Waugh Block. Upon his
return DesBarres brought the suit mentioned in the note above to set aside the
lease. It had also something to do with the estrangement of DesBarres from Mary
Cannon, who it seems did not live with him after his return from England.
DesBarres afterwards succeeding in redeeming his Tatamagouche and other lands
from the attachment.
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