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Distant Descendants of the Acadians
Get Together in Louisiana
By Emily Yellin, New York
Times, 8/16/99
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LAFAYETTE, La. -- Two weeks might seem a long time for seven of Minus
Granger's long-lost cousins to stay with him at his home. But that does
not take
into consideration how far they traveled -- from Canada and France. And
it also
does not take into consideration how much catching up they had to do --
almost 400 years' worth.
They call one another cousins, but they have to go back to the 17th century
to
find a common ancestor: Laurent Granger (pronounced grahn-JAY), who emigrated
in
1657 from Europe to Acadia, an area that encompassed present-day Nova Scotia,
New
Brunswick and Prince Edward Island as well as parts of Quebec and northern
Maine. He married Marie Landry there in 1667, and so began the generational
links to these present-day Grangers.
The Grangers were not the only distant descendants of Acadians coming together
in the Cajun region of southwest Louisiana over the past two weeks. From
July 31 until Sunday, thousands of descendants from 81 families with names
like LeBlanc, Broussard and Thibodeaux have been convening in towns throughout
a 22-parish region of Louisiana called Acadiana, which is bounded by Lake
Charles, the Atchafalaya Basin and Ville Platte.
They traveled from all over the United States and from Canada and France
to
take part in the second Congres Mondial Acadien (World Acadian Congress),
a
bilingual cultural celebration designed to restore some pride and unity
to a
beleaguered people ripped apart nearly 250 years ago.
The gatherings bring together the descendants of families expelled in the
1750s by the British government from the land they called Acadie. The first
Congress was held in Canada in 1994 and drew nearly 225,000 people, including
some 3,000 from Louisiana.
Collete LeGac, 49, traveled here with her husband, Yves, 52, from Belle-Isle
en Mer, France, off the coast of Brittany, where her mother's Granger
ancestors resettled after they were expelled from Acadia.
Ms. LeGac attended the 1994 congress, where she met Minus Granger, 75,
her
Cajun host, and her five fellow house guests, all of whom are from Canada.
Speaking French, with Granger and the Canadians translating, Ms. LeGac
pointed
out that every major region where Acadians now live -- Louisiana, Canada
and France -- was represented at Granger's dinner table.
"It just shows that even though our ancestors suffered being dispersed
to
distant places, we will always be able to find ourselves again," she said.
The Acadians began immigrating to the New World from France in the early
1600s. But Britain took control of the region from France in the early
1700s
and, viewing the Acadians as a threat during the French and Indian War,
dispersed them through its American colonies starting in 1755. Men were
separated from their families. Many Acadians, young and old, died at sea.
Some, like Ms. LeGac's ancestors, were sent to England and held as prisoners,
eventually escaping to France. A few managed to stay behind in present-day
Canada, where they hid in remote regions.
Those who ended up in the 13 colonies felt unwelcome, and many eventually
traveled to western Louisiana, where some of the deportees who had escaped
to
France joined them in the late 1700s. They soon established a new
Acadian
settlement here, which evolved into Cajun culture as it is known today.
The
word "Cajun" is an English variation of "Acadian."
"We are still family," Minus Granger said, motioning toward his guests,
"after so many years of being separated."
Next to him, Michel Granger, 54, a teacher from Calgary, Alberta, spoke
about the troubles faced by his ancestors who stayed in Canada and often
felt the need to hide their heritage. "For a long time, if you were an
Acadian
in Canada, you were a nonperson," he said.
The Cajuns in Louisiana also faced persecution. Minus Granger and others
said they were punished for not speaking English in school.
The centerpiece of this year's Congres Mondial Acadien was the network
of 56
family reunions in community centers, American Legion halls and coliseums
throughout Acadiana. Each reunion drew anywhere from a few hundred to nearly
2,000 participants.
Many who had traveled here from France and Canada were especially impressed
by
the music, dancing and food. But an equally popular feature was the
genealogical areas set up at each reunion.
Family members manned computer databases and tables of official family
records to
help their namesake cousins find their own particular lineage. Many had
first
learned about the reunions from Internet genealogical searches. Displays
of
family photographs and intricately detailed family trees filled walls and
tables.
That was the case at the joint Babineaux-Granger reunion, held at the
civic center in Rayne, west of Lafayette, where more than 800 people
showed up. Like Minus Granger and his house guests, they were all descended
from Laurent Granger, whose daughter Marie Marguerite married the first
Babineaux to migrate to Acadia.
Among Laurent's notable Cajun descendants is Louisiana's current
lieutenant governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.
"I don't think we can fully realize the impact of that time when our ancestors
were expelled from the shores of Canada," Ms. Blanco said in a speech.
"But they endured. And when you think about it, our grandmothers and
grandfathers had to be really tough people to be able to make it. They
survived and obviously thrived, no matter where they were. So that is our
heritage."
The Granger cousins all seemed to have arrived at a sense of wonder during
their visit, impressed by how many people have connected with one another
and formed family bonds through their ties to distant relatives.
"The English wished to erase Acadian life from the world," said another
of
Minus Granger's house guests, Pierre Granger, 60, a cardiologist from Quebec.
"But I am actually grateful to them in a way. Because instead of erasing
it, they
multiplied it. And now instead of one homeland, we have many."
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