New Maryland Historical Trust Sign Unveiled Recognition Given to Acadian Heritage

Nearly 260 years ago a small group of refugees landed on the shores of Maryland against their will. The year was 1755, during the outset of the French and Indian War, but a different war was being waged against the French Catholics - known as Acadians - as they were expelled from their lands in Nova Scotia, Canada. Four shiploads, carrying about 900 Acadians, were unloaded on the shores of Maryland in November 1755 and by 1770 the majority of these displaced Acadians left by ship to Louisiana.

Rarely discussed in history books, these Acadian people were the early settlers of Oxford, Newtown (today Chestertown), Georgetown, Fredericktown, Baltimore, Annapolis, Upper Marlboro, Lower Marlboro and Port Tobacco and many of their names are found in the Maryland 1763 Acadian census.

At the Manokin River Park on July 28, 2013 at 3:00 pm, a Maryland Historical Trust Sign will be unveiled, recognizing the Acadians' contribution to Maryland's mainstream history and experience on the Eastern Shore.

Click here to read more...

Nova Scotia's warming up! (Elsewhere too!)...and the festival season is beginning.  Here are some links to help you begin your travel-by-ancestry adventure!

http://canada.travelall.com/ns/eventcalendar.htm

and here's a not-to-be-missed festival:

http://www.festivalacadiendeclare.ca/en/

and don't forget to add this date to your calendar:

http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/thingstoseeanddo/listingdetails.aspx/mi%27kmaq-acadian-festval/-24764

Here's one from Newfoundland!

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/planyourtrip/festivalsevents

and another location:

http://gowesternnewfoundland.com/activities/mikmaq-museumtte-du-cap-park/

Stay tuned for another historic event, as related to our ancestry, planned for July 28th, in Princess Anne, Maryland...details coming soon!

Plan to be in Louisiana in October for the Acadian - Cajun festival season!

http://lafayettetravel.com/play/festivalsevents/festival-acadiens

Let's not forget to go to Maine!

http://www.abbemuseum.org/calendar/july.html

Mackinac Island on Lake Huron is central to the histories of North America's fur-trading industry in the the 18th and 19th centuries and the Wachter, Fraser, Fisher, and Farlinger (also known as Farling and McFarland) families of northern Michigan.  On Mackinac Island, a 3.8 square mile spit of land located at the “tip of the mitten,” mid-way between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, the North American fur-trading industry found its nexus, and a culture, comprised of Canadian fur-traders and their Native American wives, had its beginnings.

At the root of this family genealogy and cultural heritage is grandmother “Nancy-Anne Fraser,” whose storied, Scottish surname evokes discussion of John Fraser, a founding partner in Canada's McTavish, Fraser and Co. -- chief suppliers and fur brokers for the legendary North West Company... Click here to read more!

The devastating effects of the forced expulsion of an Acadian people from Nova Scotia in the mid-eighteenth century are no more apparent than in Louisiana-born Earl David's family genealogy. Marred by loss of life, forced separation, and exile, the David (pronounced “dah-VEED”) family history during the years between 1755 and 1759 pieced together by family historian Earl David and second cousin Robert David by way of their own, original records research and a quest for ancestry in France, is characterized by human tragedy on a grand scale.  At the center of the cataclysm is paternal ancestor, Jean Pierre David, a Master Blacksmith for the King of France, Louis XV, who lived with his family at the Fortress of Louisbourg until the late 1750s .... Click here to read more!