Note –  Since the publishing of this podcast, historian Éva Guillorel from the University of Rennes in France has done significant research into the origins of “La Complainte de Louisbourg.” She has uncovered evidence that this Acadian folksong is based on an older French song written about one of the sieges of Philippsburg. Her findings were published in the Spring 2022 edition of the journal Acadiensis and updates some of the information found in this episode.

Two strong links exist between the Acadian village of Chéticamp and the French fortress of Louisbourg – Jeanne Dugas and the family of Joseph Gaudet. Our third instalment on the Acadian folk song “Louisbourg’s Lament” examines the life and times of these two people and the experiences of their immediate families.

BIBLIOGRAPHY –

1. Lane-Jonah, A. M. (2016). Everywoman’s Biography: The Stories of Marie Marguerite Rose and Jeanne Dugas at Louisbourg. Acadiensis, 45(1). Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/view/24584
2. Louisbourg Parish Records – G1, Vol. 406, Registry 4, f. 31v – http://www.krausehouse.ca/krause/ParishRecordsHtml/Default.htm
3. Bernard Pothier, “DUGAS, JOSEPH (1714-79),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed February 3, 2021, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/dugas_joseph_1714_79_4E.html.
4. Letter from Louis du Pont Duchambon to Minister of the Marine Maurepas, September 2 1745
5. 1752 Census of Île Royale and Île St-Jean, Sieur de la Roque – “Port Toulouse”
6. Commissioner of Public Records Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 vol. 445 no. 47 – https://archives.novascotia.ca/census/RG1v445/returns/?ID=3638
7. Archives des Colonies : Recensement de l’Île Royal et de l’Île Saint-Jean, Série G1 – 4582 – https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c4582

TRANSCRIPT

This is The Lost World of Cape Breton Island. In parts one and two of our episode about the Acadian folksong “La Complainte de Louisbourg,” we covered when and how this traditional ballad was first recorded. We then analyzed its contents historically to see how it stood up against the events captured in its lyrics. In Part 3 of our podcast about “La Complainte de Louisbourg,” we look at how this song might have found its way to the village of Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. 

Hidden within the vast catalogue of traditional songs from Chéticamp, we find “La Complainte de Louisbourg.” The song refers to the 1745 siege of Louisbourg from the standpoint of Governor Louis Du Pont Duchambon. The lyrics are incredibly detailed, including vivid descriptions that point to an eyewitness to those events. It even goes so far as to list the precise honours of war afforded to the French garrison in the final terms of surrender. Despite there being several Acadian communities on Cape Breton Island today (such as those on Isle Madame) whose history actually does overlap with that of Louisbourg’s, this lament seems to have originated solely with the Acadians from the region of Chéticamp. 

Today, only a three hour drive separates the towns of Chéticamp and Louisbourg, and if one were to look at a map of Cape Breton Island they might make the assumption that their histories dovetailed nicely, that these places must be old familiar acquaintances. Interestingly enough, this is not the case. In a historical sense, these two settlements are practically strangers. For example, The language spoken in Chéticamp would have been somewhat different from the French heard on the streets of Louisbourg. The Acadians of Chéticamp had their own dialect, or patois, which would have differed somewhat from the French spoken in Louisbourg. Also, the town of Cheticamp was founded in 1785. By this time, Louisbourg as a French fortified town had ceased  to exist. As the first wave of settlers stepped onto the shores of Chéticamp, the only things left of the once magnificent town of Louisbourg was a handful of dilapidated houses standing in what used to be a busy intersection – and by 1782, mostly inhabited by English families. In the years leading up to the final disconnect between the Acadians and France, their relationship had grown stale. So although the answer to how this traditional song came to exist in Cheticamp seems simple enough, there is more to it than meets the eye. 

During the first half of the 18th century, the fault-line between the colonial empires of Great Britain and France ran through Canada’s Maritime region – the modern day provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. During those years, these borderlands existed in an almost continuous state of unrest, frequently erupting in skirmishes, raids and clashes regardless of whether or not the countries were at war. At the end of each officially declared war that touched the Maritimes, the French would lose another piece of their traditional colonial claims – France would cede mainland Nova Scotia to the British in 1713, followed by the occupation of Île Royale and Île Saint-Jean in 1758, and then finally New France in its entirety in 1763. Chaos ensued in the wake of those receding borders, and the Acadians were caught in the middle of it.

In the years following their expulsion at the hands of the British in 1755, some Acadians would attempt a return to the regions which their families had previously settled before the expulsion, while others decided to forge new realities. The area now known as Chéticamp, on the northwest coast of Cape Breton Island was founded in 1785 by those Acadians who wanted a new beginning. The location of Chéticamp is telling – wedged between the Cape Breton Highlands on one side and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on the other. These were clearly a group of people who wanted to be left alone – far from any future potential fighting between France and England. The Island, though now an extremely peaceful area, had been a battleground for the French and English during the 1740’s and 1750’s, and then an offshore battleground for the American, French and British navies in the 1770’s and 1780’s. The location of their new settlement, Chéticamp, ensured that whatever changes might come upon Cape Breton Island in the future, these Acadians would not be affected.

At least two direct links exist between the towns of Chéticamp and Louisbourg – Jeanne Dugas and Joseph Gaudet, some of the very first settlers to the Chéticamp area.

Jeanne Dugas was born in Louisbourg on October 16th 1731 to an Acadian family originally from Grand Pré, Nova Scotia. Historian Anne Marie Lane-Jonah says the following about Jeanne’s upbringing: “Jeanne lived in the cosmopolitan port town of Louisbourg until she was about 10-12 years old. Her family moved back to mainland Nova Scotia/Acadia, possibly to avoid the coming strife as war approached in the mid-1740s; this move began what would be for Dugas a lifetime of peregrinations that took in the entire Maritime region: avoiding war, fleeing expulsion, being captured and imprisoned, resettling, and then re-resettling again. The journey for Jeanne and her husband, Pierre Bois, ended more than 40 years later, in 1785, when they were among “les quatorze vieux” – the founders at the Acadian village of Chéticamp in western Cape Breton.”

Her older brother, Joseph Dugas, experienced much of the same hardships throughout his life. Born in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia in 1714, he was an eye-witness to many of the pivotal moments in the history of the Maritimes. After living in Île Royale for almost three decades, he fled to Québec after the final surrender of Louisbourg in 1758, was imprisoned in Halifax in 1761, settled in St. Pierre et Miquelon after his release and then was finally deported to St. Malo, France in 1778, only to pass away within a few months of arriving. The lives of both Joseph and his sister Jeanne typify the reality of what life was like on the Acadian frontier in the 18th century. 

Joseph Dugas was an extremely active figure in Louisbourg’s commercial life throughout his three decades in Île Royale. At age 15 he was the captain of a small merchant ship, and then along with his father he supplied the garrison of Louisbourg with firewood. Historian Bernard Pothier, speaking about this contract, says: “Between 1730 and 1737 the annual income from this business averaged 5,567 livres, phenomenal earnings compared with a garrison captain’s pay of 1,080 livres.” Industrious and capable, in May 1745, with the New England troops already digging into the hills above Louisbourg harbour, Governor Duchambon tasked Dugas with the urgent mission of travelling to Nova Scotia and locating Paul Marin de La Malgue and his Canadian and Mi’kmaq troops in order for them to come to Louisbourg’s assistance. Although it’s unclear if Dugas was able to return to Louisbourg before its surrender on June 28, when he did eventually return, William Pepperrell, commander-in-chief of the New England forces occupying Louisbourg and Commodore Peter Warren used him in much the same capacity as did Governor Duchambon. Joseph Dugas’ experiences afforded him a unique view  of what was transpiring in Nova Scotia in the years leading up to the declaration of war between Great Britain and France. The 1752 census tells us that Joseph Dugas was reunited with his sister Jeanne and her husband Pierre Bois in Port Toulouse (present-day St. Peter’s, Nova Scotia) after Île Royale was returned to the French at the end of the war. 

Looking at Dugas’ close involvement with the French and English governments at Louisbourg just before and directly after its capture, it is possible that Joseph Dugas could have been the eye-witness that inspired the “La Complainte de Louisbourg.” The details of the siege of 1745 could have subsequently been shared with his sister Jeanne and her husband Pierre. In turn they would have taken that information through their sojourns and finally to Chéticamp, where they made their final home in the 1780s. 

Another link exists between Chéticamp and Louisbourg with the family of Joseph Gaudet. The 1818 census of Chéticamp reveals that two of Joseph Gaudet’s sons, Maximilien and Louis were born in Louisbourg about 1761 and 1769 respectively. As to how long the family was actually living in Louisbourg during its final years as a town is unclear, and I would be very interested in knowing more about this part of their story, should anyone have this information. Joseph Gaudet was born in Nova Scotia around 1736, making him around 9 years old at the time of the first siege. There is a possibility that once he married and moved to Louisbourg, he obtained enough of the story of the first siege to piece together what had happened and brought that information with him to Chéticamp later in life. 

The story of how “La Complainte de Louisbourg” came to be is still somewhat unknown, but two very strong possibilities exist as to how the information contained in its verses arrived in the quiet, idyllic region of Chéticamp, Nova Scotia: firstly, Jeanne Dugas and her husband Pierre Bois, and secondly the family of Joseph Gaudet. Perhaps its source of information is this elusive eye-witness to the long lost Colony of Île Royale, or perhaps it is the product of this eye-witness’s grandchildren or even great-grandchildren preserving their ancestor’s words in song. It is our hope that one day, the entire story of this song will finally come to light. [END]