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Beaubassin
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Founding of Beaubassin
     Jacques Bourgeois, d’Aulnay’s former surgeon and a farmer, moved to Beaubassin soon after 1671.  He had been in the area before, and probably like the trading prospects and room for growth.  It had much more of the valuable salt marsh that could be converted to good farmland.  The group (of Bourgeois, and 5 other families) was settled in less than 5 years.  Michel Leneuf de La Valiere (Nicolas Denys’ son-in-law) had visited the settlement and had obtained a seingeurie of the area (10 leagues square - about 1000 sq. mi.) by 1678.  [Clark, p. 141]
     He had to leave the current settlers and the land they had (and planned on acquiring) alone.  LaVilliere settled on Tonge’s Island (between the 2 ridges).  He put a stockade around his buildings and dyked off some land.  Like the settlers, most of the buildings were logs, though some outbuildings (stables, barns) may have been of planks.  A 1682 list of 11 men at Beaubassin who didn’t accept the concession contracts were Pierre Morin, Guyou Chiasson, Michel Poirier, Roger Kessy, Claude Du Gast, Germaine & Guillaume Bourgeois, Germaine Giroir, Jean Aubin Migneaux, Jacques Belou, and Thomas Cormier.  Few new people arrived before 1686.  La Villiere brought in engages from outside of Acadia, at least one married an Acadian girl.  [Clark, p. 142]
 There’s a 1680s description (by Demeulle?) of the area.   There were vast meadows.  Over 20 homes were on the borders or islands of the marsh.  Each farm had many outbuildings, 12-20 cattle, 12 pigs, 12 sheep.  The livestock were kept in stables only 2-3 months in the winter, or to fatten them up before butchering them.  Many were probably lost to wolves.  They depended on livestock, and had been neglecting crops ... though soon the fields should be ready for larger crops.  Women made linen and woolen cloth for clothing.  Both men and women wore Indian mocassins made by themselves.  He noted the short distance across the isthmus and suggested a 
possible canal to shorten the Quebec-Port Royal journey; in part so the Acadians would 
trade more with Quebec than New England.  [Clark, p. 143]
 The population of the area, unsteady at first, grew steadily from 1690 on.  It went 
from: 127 (1686) to 101 (1687/8) to 84 (1689) to 119 (1693) to 174 (1698) to 188 (1701) 
to 246 (1703) to 271 (1707). 
     There were a large number of cattle.  But since the cattle were only milked while the calves were suckling, there was a shortage of milk (and of butter).  LaVilliere and Bourgeois both build gristmills by the late 1680s.  Jacques also had a sawmill. 
     Gradually, the produce in Port Royal found its way to Beaubassin ... ie. fruit trees (apple, 
pear, plum) and were established by 1700.  The more severe winter may have prevented 
cherry trees from surviving. 
     The area didn’t grow as much as Minas.  Perhaps because LaVilliere left for Canada, and his son-in-law replacement (Sebastien de Villieu) did poorly.  Sebastien gave eviction orders and took back the land of settlers who had squatted at Shepoudy.  Raids by Benjamin Church (where buildings were destroyed and cattle killed) in 1696 and 1704 were harmful.  The gypsum and coal were probably used regularly, but didn’t seem to attract much attention.   Grindstone Island hadn’t become known for its product. Coal veins could be observed at Joggins when sailing by (but no harbor and the tide made it difficult to take advantage of).  The isthmus was a crossroads for Indians.  [Clark, p. 144]

     Beaubassin was the first and major settlement on the Chignecto isthmus.  The Chignecto was a vague area (like Minas) which spread from Shepody around to River Hebert.  There were many ridges rising like islands above the marshy grassland.  Villages were built on the hills.  The main marsh areas were north of Cumberland Basin.  [Clark, p. 220]
     There was a low ridge between the Missaguash and the La Planche, and a higher one between the La Planche and the Aulac.  Ft. Lawrence and Ft. Beausejour were build at the end of the two ridges in the 1750s.  Though the Missaguash became a boundary between English and French forces (and later, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), no such boundary existed until the mid 1700s.  Population of the area was: 350 in 1714, 450 in 1720, 800-1200 in the early 1730s, 1800 in the late 1730s, 3000-4000 in 1748.  In the late forties, population was even more confusing with soldiers, people in trade, and people heading for Isle Royale and Isle St. Jean.  Also, Le Loutre was trying to get the Acadians east and south of the Missaguash to move to French territory. 
      Families were settled at: Weskak (also called Wehehauk, Oneskak, Peshkak, etc.; present-day Westcock), Pre des Bourgs (Sackville), Pre des Richards (Middle Sackville), Tintamare (Upper Sackville), La Butte, Le Coupe, and Le Lac (on the Jolicoeur ridge), Portage (at the head of the Missaguash), Minudie (Menoudie, the Elysian Fields), Maccan (Makan), Nappan (Nepane), Hebert River, and the old Beaubassin lands along the Missaguash and the La Planche.  Check the 1752 census to see who was settled in these areas.  More dykes could have made more area for settling.   The area was a strategic location for trading and communication (military, commercial) with French territory.   [Clark, p. 221]
     The old Beaubassin nucleus (described by Morris) was about 50 houses along the Missaguash, 1/2 mile from the sea.  There were 4 families at Baie Verte that cut hay for the cattle on a 1000 acre midden, who made their living by trading with Louisburg and Canada. [Clark, p. 222]
     The population of the area in 1750 has been estimated ranging from 2000 (Morris) to 3750 (Rameau).  Using an average of about 3000, this would put 850 east of the Missaguash 
in the Cumberland Basin (River Hebert-125, Minudie peninsula-175, Maccan River-75, Nappan River-150, east of LaPlance River-50, Beaubassin from Missaguash to LaPlanche-275), 650 west of the Missaguash in the Cumberland Basin (Beaubassin on the Ft. Beausejour ridge-225, Aulac and LaCoupe-150, Tantramar-150, Pre des Bourgs-25, Pre des Richards-75, Baie Verte-25), 100 scattered about, and 1200 in the Shepody Basin (300-Memramcook, 400-Petitcodiac, 500-Shepody). [Clark, p. 223]
 

Census of Chignecto and Outlying Districts in 1754
(Prepared by M. Placide Gaudet)
1. Old Inhabitants ---
     Places
Men
Women
Boys
Girls
  Vescack
11
11
17
25
  La prée des Bourques
10
10
18
12
  Prée des Richards
  6
  5
11
  9
  Tintamarre
32
31
70
51
  La Coupe
  5
  6
16
13
  Lac
18
19
52
27
  Beauséjour
16
17
31
22
  La Butte Roger
  4
  4
  5
  5
  Pont a Buot
---
---
---
---
     Total
102
103
220
164
  Chipoudy
---
---
---
---
  Petcoudiac
170
172
396
362
  Memeramcouk
---
---
---
---
2. Refugees Settled ---
  Vescack
  7
  7
  8
11
  La prée des Bourques
  6
  7
15
11
  Prée des Richards
  4
  3
  7
  8
  Tintamarre
11
10
19
14
  Jolicoeur
14
13
34
30
  Lac
21
21
35
37
  Beausékpir
20
20
21
28
  Pont a Buot
12
11
16
20
  Portage
  9
  9
24
17
  Baye Verte
26
26
40
40
  Gaspereau
  4
  4
  9
11
     Total
133
131
228
227
  Chipoudy
  8
  7
23
21
  Petcoudiac
  8
  8
10
  5
  Memeramcouk
12
12
24
14
  Cap. Tourmantin
10
10
16
16
  Chimougouick
  8
  8
12
  9
  Cap St. Laurent
  3
  3
  4
  6
   
49
47
89
71
3.  Refugees not settled ---
  Lac
26
25
57
36
  Beauséjour
  8
10
14
15
  Pont a Bout
  7
  8
14
13
     Total
41
43
85
64
4. Total for Chignecto ---
  Old Inhabitants      589
  Refugees Settled      719
  Refugees unsettled      233
      1541
Contributed by Ed Rogers (Thanks, Ed) 
Beaubassin (Amherst) LINKS
The Chignecto Isthmus and Its First Settlers
The site hosting this page is gone, but I think I can find it elsewhere.  I'll post it when I can.		 Online text of this 1902 book in its entirity.  Though most of it is post-Acadian, it does have some relevant information.  It was written by Howard Trueman and takes the English view (the Acadians had to be deported because they refused to take the oath).
Records of Chignecto This is an article by Dr. William C. Milner which appeared in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Volume XV, Halifax, N.S., WM. MacNab and Son, 1911.  The beginning has some Acadian informatio.
• Fort Lawrence, 1755
• The Taking of Fort Beausejour, 1755		 A number of maps and scenes at Blupete's site. 
Fort Lawrence/Beaubassin Heritage Association On this site you will find Robert Hale's 1731 description of Beaubassin in his journal.

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