torn from their land and the lives they had built for themselves. Some

i managed to escape and come to Ile St. Jean. Unfortunately, Ile St.

T Jean’s French settlers were to meet with a similar fate only a few years

; thereafter.

‘ In 1758 the Fortress of Louisbourg surrendered to British forces,

I which would also meant the surrendering of Ile St. Jean. At this time,

1 two priests from Ile St. Jean, one being Jean Biscarat from St. Pierre,

I went to Louisbourg to plead with officials to stop the deportation order,

but unfortunately they did not succeed. (38)

1‘. It has been written that the entire French population of St. Peters

was loaded onto boats in the 1758 deportation, both of which sank,

taking all of St. Pierre’s French population to their icy graves. Tragically,

this was true for some families. For many years, however, there have

. been descendants of the French Settlers of St. Pierre trace their way back

to PEI, proving that that above statement is false.

Waldron Leard of ”The History Room" in Kingsborough, has traced

.5; the lives of the French Settlers who lived at St. Pierre. Some families

g such as the “Oudy” family completely disappeared. Most, however, could

3? be traced for as many as eleven to twelve generations. In this research,

? Leard has concluded that there are eight primary blocks where these

é descendants currently exist. The majority of descendants found their

way to Lousianna. This was followed by the Acadian Peninsula of New

Brunswick, Quebec, and the south shore of Nova Scotia (particularly the

Yarmouth area). The remaining four blocks are found on the Island in

3 East Point, The Souris Line Road, the Town of Souris, and St. Anthony’s

1 Parish in Bloomfield. (39) Waldron also estimates that there are almost

fifty people buried in the unmarked French cemetery in St. Peters

'; Harbor. (40)

‘1 For years the French Settlers had worked and made their

i settlement at St. Pierre one of the finest communities on the Island. It

f; had worked well. They were uprooted and sent away, many of who

‘; reached their final destination, many of who did not. Often it was the

children who did not survive the difficult journey. The cold December

waters of the Atlantic were the final resting-place for many of those young French settlers.

FRENCH ART IFACTS

Like the Mi’Kmaq, the French Settlers also left behind many artifacts in Greenwich which help us to understand a little more about their lives. Among the French artifacts discovered in Greenwich were “brick fragments, pieces of coarse earthenware, green-glazed stoneware and an . 18th century, hand forged door hinge discovered near the overgrown cellars of a French settlement." (41) Perhaps the biggest find was the bell dlscovered at the Stookley Farm in St. Peters Harbor in the early 1870s. For many years, local residents of St. Peters believed that this bell had