138 THEISLAND ACADIANS 
     
    
   
   
    
     of young Acadian families who left Rustico to found new settlements 
     
     on Crown Land in the Matapedia Valley in Quebec and, later, in 
     
     Saint-Paul-de-Kent in southeast New Brunswick. His aim was to get 
     
     half of his parishioners to emigrate’®’. He also recruited young colonists 
     
     and supporters in the other.overpopulated Acadian communities on 
     
     the Island and in New Brunswick'®. 
     
    

    
     The emigration to New Brunswick continued after Father Bel- 
     
     court’s departure, with a marked increase around the time of the 
     
     Acadian national conventions in the early 1880s. As we shall see, the 
     
     emigrants headed mainly for Rogersville and Adamsville. After the 
     
     last of the absentee landowners were forced to sell their properties, 
     
     Acadians were able to acquire land more easily on the Island. As a 
     
     result, several families left Rustico around 1880 to found a small 
     
     settlement, which they called Nouvelle Acadie(New Acadia), in Lot 43 
     
     in Kings County. Between 1860 and 1890, other families also moved 
     
     away from Rustico to resettle in the area of Bloomfield, Prince 
     
     County'®’. 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE FARMERS’ BANK OF RUSTICO 
     
    
   
   
    
     The founding of the Banque de Rustico was without question the 
     
     most interesting economic initiative of the period. Conceived by 
     
     Father Belcourt, it was created in 1861 but only became chartered in 
     
     1864 under the official name of the Farmers’ Bank of Rustico'®®. With 
     
     an initial capital of only 1200 pounds, it was the smallest chartered 
     
     bank in Canada and perhaps even in the whole of the British Empire’. 
     
     It was also the first people’s bank in Canada and operated successfully 
     
     until the expiry of its charter thirty years later. 
     
    

    
     When the parish priest in Rustico created this banking institution 
     
     his desire was to develop a spirit of thrift and entrepreneurship 
     
     amongst his parishioners. He encouraged people to invest in the bank 
     
     by purchasing shares and opening a savings account. At the same 
     
     time, he gave instructions on how to run the institution so that the 
     
     farmers of Rustico were soon managing the bank on their own. The 
     
     bank offered Acadians distinct advantages, including the possibility 
     
     of borrowing at better rates than from lenders or commercial banks. 
     
     Consequently, the people in Rustico were able to gain greater control 
     
     over their economy and even save their farms from the grasp of greedy