MIQSION OF S. S. SIMON AND JUDE l EIGNISH -

In the autumn of the year 1799. eight families of French Acadians living in the parish of Malpec. on the shore of Richmond Bah. tempted by the prospect of more fruitful harvest fields and richer fishing grounds that was afforded by the thickly populated district in which they lived. decided upon removing to the wild lands of an Indian settlement. called in the Mic Mac language Mtagunechk. signifying a paddle. This place was called Tagumiche by the French. and later on the English called it Tignish. It was situated on the North western shore of Prince Edward Island. Theyaccord- ingly shipped their few possessions in canoes and started westward. After a tedious and perilous voyage. they landed at Tignish, close to what is now called the “old Burying Ground". One of the first to leap ashore was a bdy of thirteen years of age named Pierre Chaisson. who died in 1879 at the ripe old age of ninety three years. Mr. Chaisson is famous in local history as being the first person to fell a tree in Tignish. Just as Joseph Bernard is noted as the first person christened in the new mission; t -' "L. The voyageurs made some temporary provision to shield themselves against the rigor of the coming winter, and in the spring. put up strong log houses. the cellars of which are still plainly discernable. The new settlement was formed at the cost of much toil; forests had to be felled. dykes built, and drains cut through the marshes before the golden dreams of a rich harvest could be realized. Then:if a horse needed a shoe, or an axe an edge a Journey of over fifty miles to John Baker's forge at Bedeque. or to George Warren's at Darnley was necessary to supply the deficiency. Grain had to be carried in sledges. or in canoes to John Taylors mill at Bedeque

or Wallace's at Kalpec, or even as far as Indian River to be ground. A weddirg