Generation 7 - The Rise of Consciousness

Pierre Pitre

This Pierre Pitre son of Pierre & Marie Hach� was born on May 19, 1823 and baptized June 15 that same year in Bathurst. Like his father before him, he also became a farmer.

At the age of 25, he married Marie Daigle in this church in his family's parish of St-Pierre (later Ste-Famille) on January 10, 1848. The first church was built in 1798 but all baptisms, funerals & weddings were registered by passing missionaries who came by occasionally. The larger church seen here was built in 1840 and was demolished by fire in 1880

In the 1861 census taken in Bathurst North, Gloucester County, we find the following information on the family of Pierre Pitre & Marie Daigle:

Petre Peter 2nd 33, father, Born in N.B., Farmer, Roman Catholic

Mary 32 , wife, Born in New Brunswick, Roman Catholic

Children: Born in New Brunswick, Roman Catholic,

Mary 11, Margaret 9, Frances 5, Ellen 2, Peter 6,

At that time, it was not unusual for the French names enumerated to be misspelled or anglicized.

A few years after, this couple witnessed the rise of consciousness in the Acadian people which started in 1854. This was demonstrated by the creation of Acadian educational institutions, newspapers and the political involvement of certain Acadians.

This rise of consciousness did not occur without struggle. The Common Schools Act of 1871 created a crisis among Acadians which was named the Caraquet Riots.

First Coll�ge du Sacr� Coeur
Built in Caraquet, N.B. in the late 1800's
Rebuilt in West Bathurst, N.B. after fire in 1917

The following children of Pierre Pitre & Marie Daigle can be found in the church registers of Ste-Famille-de-Bathurst.

1. Marie Pitre born March 1849 in Bathurst, N.B.
2. Pierre Pitre born August 9, 1853 in Bathurst, N.B.
3. Marguerite Pitre born May 1851 in Bathurst, N.B.
4. Fran�oise Pitre born June 1856 in Bathurst, N.B.
5. H�l�ne Pitre born February 1859 in Bathurst, N.B.
6. Joseph Pitre born March 24, 1861, he married Marie Arseneau on October 20, 1891 in Ste-Famille-de-Bathurst, N.B

Marie Daigle

Marie Daigle was born in Bathurst on September 9, 1828, a month and a half earlier than the officially registered marriage of her parents, Fabien Daigle and Marie-Louise Hach� on October 21, 1828. This was not uncommon as marriage ceremonies were officiated by an elder in the parish and later registered during the annual or bi-annual visit of the missionary priest. She was the eldest of at least eight children.

At the Church of Ste-Famille-de-Bathurst, she married her second cousin Pierre Pitre on January 10, 1848. Pierre was the son of Pierre Pitre & Marie-Marguerite Hach�. The mothers of Pierre Pitre & Marie Daigle were cousins.

Marie Daigle passed away before 1887 when she is registered as deceased at her daughter's wedding but she did live to see the reawakening of the Acadian people which seemed to follow the publication of �vangeline.

Marie Daigle is a descendant of pioneers Olivier Daigle & Marie Gaudet.

HISTORICAL TIDBITS

Evangeline

In 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published the poem �vangeline * A Tale of Acadie * which tells the story of the expulsion of the Acadian people from their homeland and awakened an interest in the history of Acadians.

Evangeline is based on the true tale of two lovers, Emmeline Labiche and Louis Arseneau, who were separated when the British deported the Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1755. For the first time, a story of the expulsion was written from the Acadian perspective and attracted the world's attention to the tragedy.

The publication of the poem 'Evangeline' awakened a sense of awareness in the Acadian people and spawned a change in their social and political influence.

Source: Acadia & Evangeline - Historical Perpectives

The Caraquet Riots

The Common Schools Act of 1871 created a crisis among Acadians known as the Caraquet Riots. The act denied the Acadians their own French and Catholic schools and as a result the Acadians refused to pay the education tax. Because of the unpaid taxes the majority of the French people of Gloucester County, N.B. were ineligible to serve on the district school boards.

On the 1871 census, there were only 71 English-speaking Protestants of the 3,111 residents in Caraquet. However all the economic and political power in the region was held by two English men. Robert Young and James Blackhall not only held all the power of the region, they also supported the school.

When James Blackhall held a meeting at the Caraquet school to fill the school board with English-speaking people, the Acadians broke the meeting up. The Acadians then threatened James Blackhall and forced him to sign a petition, promising not to attend any more school meetings. In response to this event Robert Young's clerk (a man named Colson Hubbard) circulated a note which threatened to burn the Catholic priest's home.

The next day, about 100 Acadian men gathered outside Young's store and Young was forced to barricade himself inside. Soon Sherriff Robert Vail arrived with a force of English constables. Several Acadians were arrested and the crowd dispersed.

On Jan. 26, 1871 violence erupted again as Young's gang entered the house of Andr�e Albert with a warrant for Charles Parise. When they entered the house, Constable Ramsay heard noises in the attic and opened fire. It is not clear whether Charles Parise was even in the house but two men died as a result of the shots fired in the attic; Louis Mailloux and John Gifford who was hit in the head and died instantly. The next day 13 more Acadians were taken prisoner and transported in sleighs to the Bathurst jail.

Acadian school in Petit-Rocher 1888

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