My Acadian Ancestors in Guilford, Connecticut

"And most magnetic Guilford ever seems;
Its rocky ledges and its winding streams
Its hills and vallies and its rock-bound shore;
Its grand reminders of the days of yore."

- S. Ward Loper 1904

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to venture out on a road trip. My destination was the tranquil, historic town of Guilford, Connecticut.  According to a plaque posted on the outskirts of the town green, Guilford is the seventh oldest town in Connecticut.  In 1639, a Puritan minister named Henry Whitfield along with a group of young, well-educated, and confident followers purchased land from the Squaw (female) Sachem (Chief) Shaumpishuh of the Menunkatuck Indians.  Most New England towns founded in the early seventeenth century built palisades (high wooden fences) to protect them from “unfriendlies” such as Indians.  Guilford was unique in that instead of building palisades, they constructed stone houses where the town leaders lived and the townspeople could retreat in case of an attack.  One of the stone houses where Henry Whitfield once lived, exists as the oldest stone house in New England.

Henry Whitfield House

 

My reason for visiting this quintessential New England town was to become acquainted with the place where my fifth great grandparents, John Smith, the son of Benjamin Smith and Mary Russell, and Anastasie Hebert who were married in the Second Congregational Church, North Guilford in 1769.  Their union was unusual since John Smith was a Congregationalist, descended from English Puritans who settled on the banks of the Quinnipiac River in New Haven in 1638, and Anastasie Hebert was a Catholic Acadian. 

    

Anastasia and her parents, Pierre and Elisabeth Dupuis, her grandparents, Rene and Marie Boudreau, and siblings were among the families banished from Acadia and sent to the New England colonies. Britain won Acadia (the Indian word for fertile soil) from France in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. (Moulton ) 

  

 Acadian Peasants Clipart

 Although the Acadians lived under British rule for the next forty-two years, they would not swear allegiance to Britain, as they wanted to stay impartial between their French compatriots and the British.   About 16,000 French neutrals lived peacefully in British ruled Nova Scotia (New Scotland) until the Great Deportation of 1755 stripped them of their land, home, and cattle.  Acadian wives and mothers were anguished and heartbroken as they watched their husbands and sons mercilessly seized from their homes by British soldiers, many never to reunite with their families again.   The Governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, ordered the deportation of the Acadians and dispersed about 1,600 of them among the New England colonies. Connecticut accepted 600 refugees with the hope that they would be “cured” of their French customs and blend into the New England culture. 

Sandham, 1850

Acadians at the Port of Boston in 1755 by Robert Dafford

The Hebert family, likely looked upon as a peculiar oddity by the townspeople, arrived in Guilford in the winter of 1756.  The customs of the French speaking Catholics were in high contrast to the English speaking, staunch Protestants of Guilford who reluctantly accepted eleven French Papists (Catholics) and lodged them at the town’s expense.  Needless to say, the prudent residents of Guilford were not overly pleased with footing the bill to house, clothe, and feed these Acadian refugees. In 1756, the Selectman voted to put the Hebert family into servitude, which would relieve the residents from financial burden. (Norton 108-109)

“…put out to service so many of the French Family which is amongst us as they can Dispose of without Cost to the best Advantage to free the Town from Charge.” 

April 12, 1756                                                              Nath Hill, Clerk

While in Guilford, the Hebert’s boarded in the Joseph Clay house, built in 1670 for Clay’s young bride, Mary Lord. The saltbox style home known as the Acadian House since the Hebert's lived there, is still standing just two blocks from Guilford Green.

  

Acadian House, 2012

When and where John Smith and Anastasie Hebert first met is a mystery.  Anastasie was just about twelve years old in 1756 when she arrived in Connecticut and put into service, tending to the chores of the more well to do residents like washing their clothing, preparing meals, and cleaning their homes.  Although John was from East Haven, many of his Russell relatives resided just a few miles north in Guilford, so it is probable that he made frequent trips to the town and likely crossed paths with Anastasie when he visited. Maybe John was smitten with Anastasie’s talented lace needlework, which is on display in the Reverend Whitfield House Museum located on Whitfield Street in Guilford.

Acadian Lace, possibly Anastasia's, on display at the Whitfield House

 John and Anastasie’s were married on December 18, 1769 as documented in the records of the Second Congregational Church.

“John Smith, of East Haven and NUSTUSSA HIBBURD, a French woman of Guilford were married Dec. 18^th”

Most of the Smith children were born in either Guilford or East Haven, Connecticut between 1771 and 1783.  

Sixteen years passed, when on April 13, 1772 the Selectman provided $25.00 to “the old Frenchman” and his family for financial assistance to help defray the cost of traveling to Quebec, by way of Albany.   Anastasie’s parents returned to Canada and settled in L’Acadie, Quebec.  John and Anastasie traveled to L’Acadie sometime between 1783, when their daughter Marie Josette was born in Connecticut and 1789, when their oldest daughter Cecile was married in Ste. Marguerite, Quebec.

Interestingly, John was not the only Smith to marry a French woman from Guilford, Connecticut. Benjamin, John’s brother, married Marie Richard in 1773.  Benjamin and Marie also made the journey to L’Acadie, Quebec evidently to be closer to her French family.   Although John and Benjamin Smith and their Acadian families lived the rest of their lives in L’Acadie, Quebec, John apparently chose not convert to Catholicism as his brother Benjamin did.

Saint Marguerite, Quebec

Smith Family Lineage

Benjamin Smith    -     Mary Russell        +      Pierre Hebert   -   Elisabeth Dupuis

           John Smith                              +                      Anastasie Hebert

Jean Baptiste Smith  m.  Apolline Brouillet

Michel Smith  m. Sophie Cyr

Narcisse Smith m. Philomene Lussier

Gilbert Smith m. Elise Morin

Blanche Smith m. Alphee Desmarais 
(my grandparents)

Sources:


 Lafreniere, Albert N. "Acadians in Guilford, Connecticut." Acadian and French Canadian Ancestral Home. Consentino, Lucie LeBlanc, 1998. Web. 20 April 2001. <www.acadian-home.org>.


 Moulton , Alexander J. "Connecticut Refugees of Years Ago." New Haven Register 11 August 1940, Sunday n. pag. Print.

Norton, Frederick E. "An Unwritten Tragedy." Connecticut Magazine. Jan-Dec 1899: 108-109. Print.


 Perry Jr, Arthur C. American History. (1913): 215. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. <http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/45100/45194/45194_acadians.htm>. 

  Sandham Alfred. Exile of the Acadians from Grand Pré. 1850. Photograph. CanadianaWeb. 30 Apr 2012. <http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/imagepopups/c024549_e.html>.

Smith Pruchnicki, Suzanne. "Our Acadian Ancestors in Connecticut."Print. 


 White, Stephen. "The Acadians in Canada During the 18th Century” and “The Acadian Exiles Who Remained in Massachusetts and Connecticut." Genealogy Classes and Workshops. American French Genealogical Society. Woonsocket, RI. 25 March 2012. Address. 

Thank you to the Historical Room Specialist Patty Baldwin of the Guilford Free Library!
http://www.guilfordfreelibrary.org/historical-room/