EARLY SETTLMENT
     Although Champlain and Poutrincourt briefly visited the area in 1606, it was over 80 years before Acadians moved in to settle the area.  On March 28, 1689, Matheiu Martin received the seigniory of Cobequid.  Martin, who called himself "weaver by the Grace of God, and gentleman through the kindness of the King," was the first white child born in Acadia.  The "Saint-Matthieu" grant was 2 leagues deep, beginning around Five Isalnds on the north side of the bay and going around the north shore to present-day Truro, westward the south shore to Petit Riviere (today's Tennycape).  It also extended down the Shubenacadie to the Stewiacke.  The settlements to the north (Tatamagouche, Remsheg) were also to be considered a part of Cobequid.  Although he was given the right of hunting and fishing, but he had to protect the oak trees for the king's use. 
     The first settlers to join Martin at Cobequid were the families of Martin Blanchard, Marin Bourc, and Jerome Guerin, who came from Port Royal.  The 1703 census shows 90 people at Cobequid.  As noted, there were 3 settlement locations that developed that were not on the bay: Ville Hebert (where the Stewiacke meets the Shubenacadie), Tatamagouche, and Remsheg.  All three locations are thought to have been inhabited sometime between 1703 and 1710.  Later settlements along the Northumberland Strait were Brule-River John and Cape John.

COBEQUID (& ALL ACADIA) BECOMES ENGLISH PROPERTY FOR GOOD
     The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 permanently assinged Acadia to England.  As part of the treaty, Acadians would be allowed to stay or leave (within the year).  Captain La Ronde (the French official from Ile Royale) and Paul Mascarene (the English official from Port Royal) went to the Minas area to present the terms to the Acadians.  A message was sent to the Cobequid Acadians asking them to meet at Minas as well.  They met together on September 4 and 5.  Recollet priest Pere Bonaventure explained the terms to the Acadians.  The Minas Acadians had already signed on to the agreement.  Most of the Cobequid Acadians did as well, though it later turned out that none were allowed to leave Acadia.  The English government kept delaying things till the deadlilned had passed. 

The 1714 list included the following enumeration. Name                   Sons Daughters  Matthieu Martin                ---      ---  Jean Turpin and wife            1       ---  Jean Bourg and wife             2        2  Martin Blanchard and wife       4        3  Pierre Terriot and wife         4        5  Jean Benoist and wife           1        5   Antoine Breaux and wife         1       ---  Jean Hebert and wife            5        2  Jerome Guerin and wife          1        6  Germaine Terriot and wife      ---      ---  Noel Douaron and wife           4        1  Joseph Dugas and wife           4        3  Michel Aucoin and wife          4        2    Alexis Aucoin and wife          3        1  Pierre Bourg and wife           4       ---  Abraham Bourg and wife          2        3  Magdelaine Rainbo ditte        ---      ---  Longu Epee                      1        5  Le Robert Henry and wife        5        2  Francois Gautreau and wife      3        1

The 1714 census by priest Felix Pain found a slightly different account.  The area is called "Wecobeguit" in his census.        Mathieu MARTIN.         Jean HERPIN and wife, 1 son, 3 daughters.         Martin BOURG and wife.         Jean BENOIT and wife, 1 son, 5 daughters.         Jean HEBERT and wife, 5 sons, 5 daughters.         Germain TERRIOT and wife, 5 sons, 5 daughters.         Michel AUCOIN and wife, 4 sons, 2 daughters.         Jean BOURG and wife, 1 son, 3 daughters.         Pierre BOURG and wife, 4 sons.         Abraham BOURG and wife, 2 sons, 3 daughters.         Madeliene RIMBAUT.         Robert HENRI and wife, 3 sons, 3 daughters.         Jean BOURC and wife, 4 sons, 3 daughters.         Pierre TERRIOT and wife, 4 sons, 5 daughters.         Antoine BREAU and wife, 1 son.         Jerome GUERIN and wife, 1 son, 6 daughters.         Noel DOURON and wife.         Joseph DUGAS and wife, 4 sons, 3 daughters.         Alexis AUCOIN and wife, 3 sons, 1 daughter.         Francois GAUTREAU and wife, 3 sons, 1 daughter.         Martin HENRY and wife, 3 sons, 3 daughters.         Widow LONGUEPEE, 1 son, 5 daughters.

COBEQUID IN THE 1720s
     Paul Mascarene described the area in 1720 as follows.  "Cobequid is 12 leagues to the northeast of Minas, at the head of the most easterly arm of the sea of the Bay of Fundy. There are about 50 families settled in this place, the soil of which produces good grain and abounds in livestock and other commodities of life. By the river the settlers communicate with Chebucto, a harbour on the East Coast, and by a road through the forest, at a distance of about 20 leagues, they arrive at Baie Verte, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence."
     At this time, the only English presence was a small garrison at Port Royal.  The Cobequid Acadians, located a distance from Port Royal, didn't have much interaction with the English.  One item that did cause English interaction was in trying to stop the Cobequid Acadians from sending cattle to Louisbourg. 
     When Martin died in 1724, there was a dispute over ownership of the area.  Although Joseph Dugas and Jean Bourg claimed the will deeded it to them, an Acadian named Triquelle also claimed it.  Finally, after years of debate, it was resolved when the decision was made that Martin couldn't transfer ownership.  The grant was returned to the king and residents had to pay quit rents.  When paid, it was usually done in crop goods rather than money.  Some leaders such as Cornwallis even let them go without paying the rents. 
     The first resident priest of Cobequid seems to have been Recollet priest Pierre Verquillie from fall 1724 to April 1726.  During his tenure, it seems that another priest built the first church in the Cobequid area.  Father Gaulin was the missionary to the Indians at La Heve, Cap Sable, and Shubenacadie at that time.  In 1725, he had a church built at Shubenacadie.  It is recorded that he requested items for use in this church [Etudes Historiques et Geographiques, Ste.-Anne de Ristigouche, Bonaventure, P. Q., 1935, pp.285-286].  The items included a ciborium for holding the host, a monstrance for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, a small portable altar, and a tool for baking altar bread.  He received the altar set two years later.
     After King George II came into power, British subjects were again required to pledge an oath to his majesty.  In 1727, lieutenant-governor Armstrong sent Ensign Wroth around Acadia to secure the oath from the French population.  He didn't even go to Cobequid, however.  He merely sent a note to be posted on the church door.  Since an Acadian church was not known at this time, perhaps he meant the Indian chapel built by Gaulin in 1725.  If there was another church in Cobquid (besides Gaulin's), no information on it has survived.  The oath that Wroth obtained was later voided becaise the English claimed that he had made too many concessions. 
     When Armstrong's replacement, General Phillips got them to take another version of the oath in 1729-30.  He was only able to do this after a verbal agreement that they would not be forced to bear arms against the Indians or the French.  Although this exclusion did not appear in the copy sent to England, the 2 French priest recorded the verbal promises in certificates on April 25, 1730.  The population of Cobequid at this time (in 1731) was 500 people in arranged in 68 families. 

LE LOUTRE & THE CATTLE TRADE 
     The Acadians at Port Royal seemed to consider the Acadians at Cobequid to be troublesome.  This was due to their remote location, the local priest, and their trade with Louisbourg.   The priest would be a thorn in the side of the English for a couple of decades.  The French priest Jean Louis LeLoutre arrived at Tatamagouche on Oct. 1, 1738 to serve Cobequid Acadians and the Micmacs.  He built a chapel for the Mi'kmaq on the west side of the Shubenacadie, across from the mouth of the Stewiacke (see the map below).  The location of the church was at Snide Farm (Mass House Farm) about 60 years ago.   Local Indian tradition says that the church bell was thrown into a pond nearby when the church was destroyed in 1755. 
      Louisbourg was the main market for Cobequid livestock and produce.  Goods were taken up the Isgonish River as far as possible.  Then a portage road was used for a distance of about 10 miles.  When they got to the Waugh or French River they'd continue to the harbor.  Then a larger boart took the goods to Louisbourg.  From the English point of view, this not only meant that they were supplying the enemy; they also didn't have enough to supply Port Royal.  Traditions says that they buried some of the income from trading with Louisbourg.

FRENCH-ENGLISH HOSTILITIES: 1744-1748
     When hostilities between the French and English resumed in that year, Duvivier destroyed the English post at Canso (May 13, 1744).  Before he could get to the other post (Port Royal), several hundred Indians attacked it.  The Acadians (including those at Cobequid) were accused of providing supplies to the Indians.  When confronted with this allegation, they responsed that if they did so, it was because the Indians had threatened them.  (Nova Scotia Archives, V. 1, p. 147)
     Although Duvivier did arrive several months later (in August), reinforcements didn't arrive and he left for the Minas basin.   Acadians were quick to inform the English that any assistance they gave to Duvivier was under duress.  Duvivier had written that an order of death for those that disobeyed.  The Acadians produced the document to illustrate their case. 
     Cobequid appears in the council records of Port Royal in December of 1744.  The council had ordered an investigation of Acadian support of the enemy and 2 representatives (Claude Pitre & Pierre Therriot) from Cobequid showed up.  Although they denied assisting Duvivier, it came out that Joseph Dugas and Joseph LeBlanc had sent 2 herds of cattle and sheep from Minas to Louisbourg via Cobequid.  It doesn't seem that any action was taken.

      An interesting account of events in the area can be found in William Pote's Journal from 1745.  Early in that year, French Lieutenant Marin and a group of soldiers and Huron Indians from Quebec headed for Port Royal for an attack.  On May 17, they captured a New England schooner (the Montague) somewhere between Goat Island and Scotch Fort; William Pote Jr. and his crew were captured.  The following week, on May 23, Marin's troops and captives when over land to the Minas Basin.  They crossed the bay by boat, landing at Cove d'Eglise (the location of the Cobequid church) on June 8, 1745.  They went to the church and sang Te Deum to celebrate.  Pote's Journal noted that one of the Acadians said that they should have "left their (the English) carcasses behind and brought their skins." (Pote's Journal, p. 34)
     After attending mass the following Sunday, they travelled north to Tatamagouche.  The journey over mountains and valleys was about 27 miles in length.  While waiting to leave, the Indians killed some of the cattle and smoked the meat for them to eat on the trip to Louisbourg.  They finally loaded aboard 2 ships, with the Indians in canoes.  The ships soon ran aground and they were forced to return to land.  They tried to leae the following day after the ships were afloat, but soon confronted a group of 3 English ships led by David Donahew.  Marin never did make it to Louisbourg.  Donahew himself was captured several weeks after the battle.  Pote records that Indians cut open his breast, sucked his blood, hacked up his body, and ate some of his flesh.  (Pote's Journal, p. 174) 
     When the confrontation occurred, the Indians paddled back to shore and hid behind the sea wall.  They took Pote and traveled up the St. John River to Quebec.  He was held there for 2 years before being returned to the English in a prisoner exchange.  To secure his journal, he gave it to a female prisoner for safekeeping.  The journal was 'found' in 1890 and 400 copies were published in 1895.

     In the winter of 1747, de Ramesy (who was at Beaubassin) heard that Colonel Noble and a group of New Englanders were at Grand Pre.  Although De Ramesay had been injured recently, he sent Coulon de Villiers across 200 miles of snow-covered terrain for a surprise attack. They headed to Remsheg along a road cut by La Corne in 1746.  They arrived at Remsheg on January 25 and at Tatamagouche on January 26.  The population along the northern shore at this time was about 150 peoplel.
       Heading south towards Cobequid, they med the priest Girard at the village of Bacouel.  He was heading to Tatamagouche to visit some sick parishioners.  They continued southward.  A small group was sent ahead of the main body to prevent any Acadians from informing the English of their approach.  They arrived at Isgonish to find the Acadians willing to help.  After picking up supplies at Cove d'Eglise, they crossed the ice filled bay under a strong north wind.  The rest of the story is told in detail in Dr. MacMechan's "Red Snow on Grand Pre."

RELIGION
      As noted above, LeLoutre was a strong presence in the Cobequid area.  Besides the Indian Mass House along the Shubenacadie, he is thought to have led in the construction of the church at Cove d'Eglise (as noted by John Webster in his copy of Willard's Diary) when he arrived in 1738.  The parish was known as St. Pierre and St. Paul. 

     As noted above, the only evidence of an earlier church was the one built under Gaulin's direction in 1725. Using a translation of that French name, English settlers that arrived in 1760 called the location Masstown ... a name that exists to this day.  Miller's "History ... of Colchester ..." notes that the Acadian church was 40' wide by 100' long.  The English settlers found only the remains of the church, since the soldiers had burned almost everything to the ground.  It is said that the new landowners would plow up pieces of the brass church bell occassionally.  Father Cummane, who had served the Cobequid parish  for a while, is said to have had some pieces of the bell.  An English captain (named Floyer) recounted a visit to the area in his journal on August 8, 1754.  "Half after twelve we came to the Mass House, which I think is the neatest in the country: 'Tis adorned with a fine, lofty steeple and weather-cock. The parsonage house is the only habitation here."  Tradition says that the church was on Shore Road, on the farm of Earl Jennings & Sons, about 0.6 mile from its eastern junction with Route 2.  The precise location is said to have been at the site of a corrugated barn east of Lloyd Jennings' home and south of road 20.  The parish cemetery was thought to have been across the road in an area of Earl Jennings' (Lloyd's father) pasture.  In 1873, Thomas Miller wrote that the church was in a field owned by Alexander Vance and was near the home of a man named Lightbody.  Earl Jennings later purchased land from a Mr. Lightbody.  To this date, the exact location has not been archaeologically determined.
     In 1960, a ceremony was held by the National Society of Acadians and a cairn was erected nearby.  The memorial is actually 1 1/2 miles from the presumed site of the church.  The plaque reads: "OLD FRENCH CHURCH Commemorating The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul Erected near this site By the French as the Parish Church for the Acadian Settlements of Cobequid. During the time Of the Deportation in 1755, the British forces Destroyed the Church Along with the Homes Of the Acadians. The Church gave to this Community the French Name of Cove d'Eglise And the English Name Masstown."
      LeLoutre built another church (actually a 'chapel of ease') at Tatamagouche. Though the church was destroyed during the expulsion, the first English settlers of that area (about 1770) found an Acadian cemetery (with crosses still standing at the gravesites) at the top of a hill on the cleared upland between the junction of the French and Waugh's Rivers. Other chapels existed throughout Cobequid.  John Webster's "The Career of the Abbie Le Loutre" in 1933 mentions 3 other chapels in Cobequid.  They were located 4, 5, and 6 leagues away from Cove d'Eglise.  They were all destroyed by the English.  All (except for Gaulin's Indian church) were built under Le Loutre's direction.  The mission church at Shubenacadie, known as Sainte Anne, was located near the former Indian Residential School and about 175 yards from J.H. Juurlink's barnyard (this was many years ago). 
     LeLoutre left Cobquid to serve elsewhere in 1742.  The next Cobequid priest was Sulpician Abbe Girard, the second and last priest to the parish of St. Pierre and St. Paul. 
     When English settlers arrived at Tatamagouche in 1770, they did find an Acadian cemetery with crosses still standing.   It was located at the top of a raised area of land at the junction of the Waugh and French Rivers. 
     Records from the entire parish have been lost.  Perhaps they were destroyed by the English in the 1750s.  Some think Girard may have taken them to Ile St. Jean and were lost at sea when the island population was deported in 1758.  The settlers didn't want to farm over the cemetery (though a school was built nearby) and it became overgrown with vegetation.

ENGLISH NEIGHBORS

      Judge Morris wrote of a visit to Cobequid in 1748.  Along the south shore of the bay he found 4 families at Petit Riviere (Tennycape), 7 families at Ville Noel (Noel Shore), and 4 families at Ville Robert (Maitland-Selma).  Heading down the Shubenacadie River, there were 14 families in 2 settlements where the Stewiacke River joins the Shubenacadie.  One was near the Indian chapel on the west side of the river.  Ville Pierre Hebert was on the east side just north of the Stewiacke.  Along the bay shore, between the Shubenacadie and the head of the bay, were 30 families in the communities of Ville Perce, Ville Conde, and Ville Michel Aucoin.  Ville Aucoin, located along Riviere Aucoin (Salmon River) at present-day Bible Hill and Ville Dugas along the Riviere Dugato (North River) contained 6 families.  Heading west along the north shore of the bay he found 15 families at the mouth of the Isgonish River (Fort Belcher and Onslow) and 17 families at Cove d'Eglise (Masstown).  Heading west, he found Ville Burke (DeBert).  He found 12 families at Les Cadets (Great Village), Le Bourg, and Petit Louis Longue Epee.  Ville Jean Bourque (near Portapique) had 10 families.  Further west were 4 families at Point Economy, and 4 families at Five Islands.  To the north, there were 6 families at Remsheg (Wallace) ... 12 miles east of Tatamagouche.  There were 12 famlies at Tatamagouche, River Jean, and Cape Jean ... spread out over a distance of some 30 miles.   In all, there were about 800 people in 142 families in Cobequid ... scattered over a large area. 

     In 1749, the English finally succeeded in getting their own people to settle in Acadia.  Halifax was founded in that year.  Concern grew among the Acadians at Cobequid and Pisiquid, the 2 settlements closest to Halifax.  Interactions between them soon began to cause trouble.  In 1750, a government messanger went to Cobequid and never returned.  The English assumed that a group of 30 Indians staying there for the winter were responsible.  English soldiers were sent to Cobequid to arrest the Indians.  They also arrested Father Girard, who was accused of helping the Indians and brought him before the council in March (Nova Scotia Archives, p. 178).  While at Halifax, Girard was a prisoner in Cornwallis' house until May.  He had to take an oath of allegiance and promise not to leave the area without permission before being allowed to return to Cobequid ("Montcalm and Wolfe", V. 1, p. 111, Francis Parkman).

The French priests - assited by the Mi'kmaq - began urging the Acadians to move to French territory in 1750. They began the journey to Ile St. John, but did so under duress. As the French governor wrote, "they leave their homes with great regret and they began to move their luggage only when the savages compelled them."

Despite his pledge, he escaped to Ile St. Jean with many of his parishioners in 1752.  For several years, since the founding of Halifax, the French priests and officials had been urging the Acadians to move to French Territory.  Le Loutre, for one, was relentless in is efforts to relocate the Acadians.  Many of them made the trip to Ile St. Jean, Ile Royale, Riviere St. Jean, and the Beaubassin areas.  Five Cobequid families had relocated to Beausejour and Shediac by 1751.  The next year, even more families relocated to the Chignecto isthmus.  Eighteen of these were Bourc (5), Boudrot (2), LeBlanc (2), Arosteguy, Kuessy, Mouton, Hamon, Pothier, Pitre, Doucet, Robichaud, and Thibodeau.  The governor of Ile St. Jean, which received hundreds of Acadians from 1749 to 1752, wrote that the Cobequid Acadians "leave their homes with great regret and they began to move their luggage only when the savages compelled them." (Parkman, ibid, p. 114)      Father Girard and many of his parishioners relocated to Pointe Prime, Ile St. Jean.  They found that conditions were worse there than at Cobequid.  Father Girard wrote in October 1753 that "Many of them cannot protect themselves day or night from the severity of the cold.  Most of the children are entirely naked; and when I go into a house they are all crouched in the ashes, close to the fire; they run off and hide themselves, without shoes, stockings or shirts.  They are not all reduced to this extremity, but nearly all are in want." (Parkman, ibid, p. 114)     Some even offered to take the English oath so that they could home.

Cobequid area in the 1750s

      The Acadians that remained at Cobequid were carefully watched by the English.  Indians continued to head down the Shubenacadie River to attack the English settlements at Dartmouth, Halifax, and Lunenburg.  The English pressed for a stronger oath from the remaining Acadians. 
      Those Acadians that remained continued to sell livestock to Louisbourg.  Though  rent collection was sporadic, we do find 16 farms in Cobequid that were taxed in 1754.  It notes that some people hadn't paid taxes for years and were calle upon to pay up.  Joe Blanchard at Tatamagouche, for example, was asked taxed for 3s 10d for each of previous 7 years.  The total tax collected was 25 pounds, 12 s, and 4 d.  Other names that are on the list are Aucoin, Blanchard, Bourg, Dugas, Hebert, and Robichaud. 

THE EXILE BEGINS
     On July 28, 1755, the Council passed the decision that that all Acadians be removed from the colony.  Lt. Gov. Lawrence sent Col Monckton a message on July 31 with the news.  Monckton was directed to destroy Tatamagouche first, no doubt to stop the flow of livestock and produce to Louisbourg.  He sent Capt. Lewis and 150 soldiers on August 4.  The following day, Abijah Willard and 100 soldiers (mainly from Lancaster, Massachusetts) were sent to join Lewis.  (Nova Scotia Archives, V. 1, p. 263)

     Willard kept a  journal of the events (which was later published in the Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society No. 12), which may have been the first military action of the 1755 deporations. 
     Willard's group left Fort Cumberland at 9 am on Tuesday, Aug. 6.  Aided by 2 French guides, they  went by Amherst Point and up the Maccan River.  They reached the bay at Moose River on Aug. 9 and were at Portepic (Portaupique) by Aug. 10. Continuing on their journey, they found an Acadian home 7 miles further east and stopped for milk and butter.  After camping for the night, they left early the next morning (4 am) and traveled 10 miles east to Cove d'Eglise ... arriving at 2 in the afternoon.  Captain Malcolm (of Lewis' group) was there to meet them.  Sheep and cattle were butcherd by the Acadians to feed the soldeiers on the 12th.  The healthy men left the following day and headed for Isgonish, 3 miles to the east.  They met Major Preble and his men there and were fed by 200 weight of bread, supplied by the Acadians. 
     At 4 the afternoon, Willard and his men headed north.  They had traveled 3 miles from Isgonish before meeting Captain Lewis.  Lewis gave Willard the sealed orders, which said to burn all of the Acadian homes on the way to Tatamagouche and along the shore.  Willard sent all but 100 men back to Cove d'Eglise.   He and his 100 headed north, going about 4 miles before stopping by a small stream that was full of trout.  They left early (4 am) the next day (Aug. 14) and  followed the Isgonish River northward.  Traveling across an old trail over Cobequid Mountain, they went over the summit and down the mountian along a branch of the French River.  They came to the home of Francis Boyes.  Though the Frenchman was 80 years old, he appeared healthy enough to travel.  After sending him to Tatamagouche to secure 8 sheep (Boyes told them that he could bring 20), the English headed there themselves.  After arriving at 4 in the afternoon, they informed the Acadians that they were to meet at Joseph Blanchard's home at 9 the next morning. 
     The next day (Aug. 16), Captain Lewis took 40 men and headed for Remsheg.  The Acadians gathered together at the Blanchards.  Willard then had his men search the  houses to confiscate their weapons.  His orders were read to the Acadians.  All of the Acadian men were to go to Fort Cumberland.  The woman and children could follow or stay behind.  In any case, all of the buildings were to be burned down.  When one Acadian prostested, saying they he had taken  the oath under Phillipps and had never fought against the English, Willard replied that they were rebels since thay had helped the Indians traveling from Ile St. Jean to New England.  The Acadians' response, that they had to help the Indians under threats of death, meant nothing to Willard.  He would carry out his orders as assigned.  After debating for 2 hours, the 22 Acadian men decided to leave the women and children behind.  Willard was relieved at this decision.
     Around noon of the following day (Aug. 16) Lewis returned from Remsheg to announce that he had burned down  several homes and had captured 3 families.  Willard took his troops across the Tatamagouche River.  After taking the rum from a storehouse (that also held molasses, sugar, wine, and iron works), he burned down the storehouse, the chapel, and 11 other buildings.  Besides destroying a number of canoes, they also destroyed a 70 ton sloop and a 30 ton schooner loaded with livestock to be brought to Louisbourg.  At 3 in the afternoon, the men burned all other buildings in the area.  This settlement was probably located on a raised piece of land between the joining of the Waugh and French Rivers. 
     Willard traveled for 3 miles to the residence of an Acadian who had been at Tatamagouche for 45 years.  Though he was calm, his wife was overcome by the events.  This home (probably along Waugh's River), 3 others, and several barns were burned down.  Having completed the job, Willard and his men headed south, arriving at Cove d'Eglise at 9 pm in the evening.  They ordered the Acadians to prepare beef and mutton and to bake bread. 
     History doesn't record exactly what became of the women and children left at Tatamagouche.  Perhaps the eventual publication of the second part of Stephen White's Dictionnaire will provide some answers.  Perhaps they fixed up temporary shelters and lived off the land.  The area had plenty of shell fish and berries.  It is possible that they joined their Acadian friends and relatives at Beaubassin, Ile Royale, or Ile St. Jean.  In a short time, when the deportations began to their  south and west, thousands of Acadins headed for those areas.  If they were still in the area, they may have joined the throngs of escaping Acadians.  It is also possible that they were gathered up the following month to be deported from Beaubassin.
     They gathered up supplies and headed east on Tuesday (Aug. 18).  They arrived at Riviere Dugato (North River), near the Ville Dugas.  The next day they crossed that river and the Riviere Aucoin (Salmon River) and rounded the eastern end of the bay.  Heading west, they encountered several Acadian settlements, corn fields, tobacco fields, and apple orchards.  The corn and tobacco crops appeared ruined from a heavy frost the night before.
      Willard visited the deputies (as ordered) and  found them  to be amiable.  When they arrived at Ville Bourg (halfway between Riviere Aucoin (Salmon) and the Shubenacadie, the 5 homes were deserted except for the deputy who  showed them around.  Willard told the deputy to tell the residents (wherever they were hiding out) to bring him 14 oxen and 12 sheep or he'd burn down their village.  He and his men headed counterclockwise around the bay and returned to Cove d'Eglise by 10 pm.  On the 20th the Acadians arrived with 4 oxen and 12 sheep, which were butchered to supply each man with 8 pounds of meat.  The following day, Willard and all of his men headed west.  A number of canoes (each with an officer and a few Frenchmen) were sent to Portaupique with the supplies, while the rest of the men walked over land until reaching the town at sunset.  The following day, the canoes and troopsall headed west to Point Economy (12 miles away).  Eight men had to be left behind due to sickness and were taken by the Acadians to Pisiquid the following day.
     Their next day's travel brought them to the Black Hills (The Brothers).  These were two islands located just to the west of Moose River.  The travel was not without incident.  Six miles from Point Economy (around Redhead), they were at a place where the banks were 100 feet above the shore.  Without warning, the massive tide came in and they had to scramble to get to the shore.  After escaping the tide, they had a clam meal and traveled 4 more miles for the day.  They continued their trip the next day until reaching the Maccan River, ultimately reaching Fort Cumberland on August 26. 

     The news of deportation was first presented to the Acadians at Grand Pre on September. 5.  We don't know if the Acadians found out about Willard's actions and understand what lay in store for  them.  Although Thomas Miller wrote that the Cobequid Acadians were deported at this time, documents by Winslow (who was in charge of the deportations), Willard, and others show that they were not.  Captain Lewis and a number of soldiers were sent to Cobequid, expecting to finds two to three hundred Acadians.  But when they arrived, the area was vacated.  Perhaps they found out about Tatamagouche and or Grand Pre and beat a hasty retreat before the English were able to get to Cobequid.  The English stayed in the area for several days (Sept. 23 - 26) burning down all of the settlements.  Somehow, 2 barns escaped the flames.  That site (near Clifton ) has been called Old Barns or Barns Village. 

Here is the story of the deportation of Cobequid as told by Thomas Miller in the Historical and Genealogical Record of Colchester County. On the second day of September, 1755, the French inhabitants of Cobequid Village (now Masstown) lying on the north side of the bay, and upper part of the Township of Londonderry, were engaged in their fields at their work, it being harvest time.  With the afternoon tide three vessels were seen coming up the Bay.  Two of them prepared to anchor, one opposite the Village, and the other at Lower Cobequid; whilst the third ran further up the shore.  Curiosity was rife.  Who were they, and whither were they going?  Their curiosity was still heightened by the appearance of a person in the garb of a curate, who informed them that the following notice was posted on the door of the Church:  ''To the inhabitants of the Village of Cobequid, and the surrounding shores, as well ancient as young men and lad ordering them all to repair to the Church the next day at three P.M., and hear what he had to say to them.''  Signed by John Winslow. Meanwhile the Sailors landed, and were freely supplied with milk, eggs, and anything they wanted, by the farmers.  Small parties of Soldiers landed, chatted with the people, examined their farms, or strolled to the uplands in search of partridges, and in the afternoon of the third day of September they joined the people as they repaired to the Church.  The women had milked the cows, and prepared supper, but no one came from the Church.  The moon rose, and the sisters strolled out and ran to the Church to ascertain the cause of their delay.  When they arrived at the Church, to their great astonishment, they found it surrounded by armed Soldiers, who answered their inquiries by pointing their bayonets, and ordering them to go home.  They met many of the women from the houses nearest the Church, all anxious and sad at the detention of their friends.  At daybreak the following notice was read, which was stuck on the fence opposite the Church; ''Cobequuid, September 4th, 1755.  All Officers, Soldiers and Seamen employed in His Majesty's Service, as well as all His subjects, of what denomination soever, are hereby notified that all cattle, viz., horses, horned cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and poultry of every kind, that was supposed to be vested in the French inhabitants of this Province, have become forfeited to His Majesty, whose property they now are; and every person of what denomination soever, is to take care not to hurt, destroy, or kill any of the above named animals, nor to rob orchards, or gardens, or to make waste of anything in these districts, without special order given at my Camp, the day and place to be published throughout the Camp, and at the Village where the vessels lie.  Signed by John Winslow, Lieut. Colonel Commanding.'' When the people read this notice they were speechless with terror; death stared them in the face.  In the meantime three hundred men and boys found themselves close prisoners in their own Church.  Some of the boys screamed aloud, some attempted to force the door, by they were overawed by the muskets of their guards.  Day dawned at length over the wretched prisoners; they wished to be allowed to return to their families for food; this was refused, but their families were ordered to supply food to them.  A few of these prisoners were sent out during the day to inform those that dwelt at a distance from the Church if they did not immediately surrender, their houses would be burnt and their nearest friends shot.  One of these messengers attempted to escape; he was shot, and his house and barn set on fire.  Thus the work of destruction was commenced.  About 200 married women, and upwards to 100 young women, besides children, were ordered to collect what they could of their apparel, and prepare to embark.  In vain the men entreated to know whiter they were going, but no answer was given.  By noon, the 5th of September, the beach was piled with boxes, baskets and bundles; behind them were crowds of weeping women and children; children crying for their mothers, and mothers looking for their children; sick men and bedridden women were carried by strong maidens, or tipped out of the carts which bore them to the spot.  A little before high water the prisoners in the Church were ordered to form six deep and march to the place of embarkation; they refused to obey this command.  The troops were ordered to fix bayonets and advance on the prisoners.  This act produced obedience, and they commenced their march.  When they came to the beach and saw their property, their mothers, wives, children and sisters kneeling at each side of the road, one long, loud wail of anguish went up from them on account of being so suddenly torn away from their houses and homes, the place of their nativity, their flocks and fields, which were then covered with the crops of the season, with some of their wheat cut, and the remainder ready for cutting, and separated from their wives and families, leaving behind them their Church and the graves of their kindred, to be dispersed among strangers in a strange land,--among a people whose customs, laws, language and religion were strongly opposed to their own.  The women were ordered the same afternoon to embark in another ship.  About midnight all were on board, except one or two women who had escaped to visit their forsaken houses the next morning, and witness the sad havoc that had been made the night before by some of the British soldiers who remained, by setting fire to a number of the house of the Village.  Among these was their Chapel, of 100 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth, which contained a large heavy bell.  This Chapel stood in a field which is now owned by Alexander Vance, near the house of Mr. Lightbody of Masstown.  This place took its name from the fact that the French had their place of worship or Masshouse there.  Mr. Vance informed the writer, that he had recently ploughed up some of the melted metal of the bell, and the spot upon which it stood was pointed out by Mr. Thomas Fletcher, son of the late Thomas Fletcher, who was one of the first settlers in this place after the French were driven out. The transport ship, with the men on board drifted down to the mouth of the Avon River, and there awaited the other vessel that had the women and children on board.  At daybreak she was in sight, and they drifted down the Bay with the saddest freight on board that ever sailed out of the Cobequid Bay; and as the vessels stood out to pass Blomedon, the third vessel that had run further up the Bay joined them, freighted with the French inhabitants who were gathered from the places now called Onslow, Truro, Clifton and Selma.  With a favorable wind these miserable, houseless, homeless wanderers were soon borne out of sight of the place of their nativity; night hid from their view forever the blue mountains of Cobequid. It may here be mentioned that while the French inhabitants of Truro were hunted by the British soldiers as the partridge on the mount, some of them fled for a hiding place, and encamped in the woods up the Salmon River, in a deep valley of the brook that Mr. William Murray had his Mills on recently, and from this the brook took its name as French Village Brook.  One of the females who had escaped, or had been left behind on account of a boat being overloaded, returned that night to her former place of abode, and there remained during the night altogether unconscious.  In the morning, when she returned to consciousness, she was too weak to stand; it was some hours before she realized the full horrors of her situation.  After a time she was able to crawl to the door, and there the scene which surrounded her was fearful.  The first object she beheld was the Church, the beautiful Mass House, a blackened heap of ruins.  She was recalled to a sense of her forlorn situation by her cow which came to her, asking by her lowing to be milked.  She milked her cow and partook of some of the milk with a crust of bread, which revived her so much that she set out to see if she could find any one remaining in the Village; but there was no one to be found.  Cattle had broken into the fields and were eating the wheat; horses were running in droves through the fields.  On the evening of that day, cows and goats came up to their accustomed milking place, and lowed around the deserted dwellings; pigs yet fastened in the pens, squealed with hunger; and the oxen, waiting in vain for their master's hand to free them from the yoke, (for they were used in moving the goods to the vessels) were bellowing in the agony of hunger; they hooked and fought with each other, running through the marsh, upsetting the carts or tumbling into the ditches, until death put an end to their sufferings.  The pigs were rooting up the gardens.  She sat sown on the doorstep beholding the desolation of the Village, when an Indian approached her and told her to come with him.  She enquired the fate of her people.  ''Gone,'' said he, ''all gone,'' pointing down the Bay, ''the people everywhere are prisoners; see the smoke rise, they will burn all here to-night.''  He pointed up by the Bay; two or three blazing fires attested the Indian's story as too true.  He assisted her in gathering some of the most valuable things that were left.  The Indian then piloted her to his wigwam, near the edge of the forest; here she found about a dozen of her people, the remnant left of what was once the happy settlement of the Village of Cobequid (now Masstown).  They waited about the woods on the north side of the Bay, for more than a month to see if any more stragglers could be found before they would start to go to Miramichi.  At length they were joined by about twenty of the French inhabitants who had escaped from Annapolis.  These persons informed them that the houses and crops in Annapolis were burnt by the soldiers who were sent up the River to bring them to the ships.  Some fled to the woods; some, besides this party, crossed the Bay intending to go to Miramichi through the woods.  After another week's travel they met with a party that had escaped from Shepoudie (now called Shubenacadie).  From these persons they learned that about two hundred and fifty buildings were burned along the sides of this River, and that while they were firing the Mass House there, the Indians and French rallied and attacked the British soldiers and killed and wounded about thirty of them, and drove the remainder back to their ships.

     Other than the barns, almost nothing was left to show that the Acadians had been there.There were some ruins, bricks, and perhaps cellars to mark the settlements.  In the years that followed, traces of the Acadians disappeared as time went by.  Great Village and a mound where the mill used to be and a few dykes.  There were dykes at Onslow and  DeBert.  Five Islands had some cellars and oven bricks.  An Acadian well was located near the Aucoin (Salmon) River.  An old Acadian mill location became McClure Mills.  Dykes could be found near the French Marsh at Princeport along the Shubenacadie River.  At Tatamagouche, remains for a mill (of the 5 that had been located there)  could be seen for years. just below Murdock's Bridge.  Along Waugh's River there was "Mine Hole", where the Acadians had begun mining copper.  Dykes could also be seen along in the area of Tatamagouche.
     A raised piece of land (about 10 acres) near Lower Truro, called Savage Island, was known to be a cemetery for the Acadians (and Indians).  It continued to be used as a burial place for Indians and Catholics after the expulsion.  In the 20th century, it was noted that medical students would visit the area to pick up bones to use as study material.

COBEQUID TODAY
     Today, the center of Cobequid is the town of Truro.  Some Acadian place names still remain in the area, such as Noel and Tatamagouche.  While some Acadians returned to Nova Scotia to resettle the area, they did not resettle in the Cobequid area.