Région Évangéline, Î.P.E
Island Acadian History

Why is the Region Named after Evangeline?

The Evangeline Region was founded in 1812 by Acadians who had originally settled near Malpeque Bay on the north shore of Prince Edward Island. These early settlers established two parishes which, for a long time, were called La Roche (Egmont Bay) and Le Grand Ruisseau (Mont-Carmel). The name "Evangeline" was not used until 150 years after the arrival of the first settlers.

The year 1960 is an important date in the history of the Evangeline Region. It was in 1960 that this region obtained its first secondary school. At that time, there were twelve small school districts: eight in the parish of Egmont Bay, three in the parish of Mont-Carmel and one in the village of Wellington. Each district had its own little school but none of the schools went beyond Grade X. Students who wanted to continue their studies were thus forced to leave the area. The ratepayers throughout these school districts decided to unite in order to have a regional school built in Abram's Village that would include Grades IX to XII. Not only was this one of the first regional high schools on the Island, but it was also Acadian and French-speaking. To stress this cultural uniqueness, the school and its school board were named after Evangeline, the famous Acadian heroine created by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Over the next several years, the area serced by the school became known as the Evangeline Region.

Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie

Evangeline is the main character in an epic poem published in 1847 in the United States by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). The poem tells the sad story of Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse, two young lovers from Grand Pré, Nova Scotia. On the day of their betrothal in 1755, they are separated and deported by the British to the Anglo-American colonies. After many years of wandering in search of her fiancé, Evangeline takes refuge in a convent in Philadelphia where she becomes a nun. It is in a hospital that she finds her beloved Gabriel on his death bed.

Translated into many languages, Longfellow's poem became an international success. This story of the Deportation, set in a romantic context, brought world attention to the fate of the Acadians. As the Acadians themselves became familiar with the poem, they identified with Longfellow's sympathetic interpretation of their past and with the herione who symbolized the innocence of their ancestors.

In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,
Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand Pr´
Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward,
Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks without number

…

Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the Basin of Minas,
Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of Grand-Pré,
Dwelt on his goodly acres; and with him, directing his household,
Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of the village.

• From Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Acadians of Prince Edward Island: a Bit of History

Although the Evangeline Region was settled by Acadians in 1812, their presence on the Island dates back much earler. It was in 1720 that the first Acadian families moved from mainland Nova Scotia to the Island, which at that time belonged to France and was called Isle Saint-Jean. These Acadians joined two or three hundred other settlers who had come directly from France earlier the same year. Numerous settlements were established, including Port-Lajoie, Havre-Saint-Pierre, Tracadie, Malpè, and Pointe-Prime.

These early Acadian settlers came from Acadie, in other words, from mainland Nova Scotia. The Acadians were of French origin and been living for several generations in the flourishing villages of Port-Royal, Grand-Pré, Pisiquid (Windsor), Cobequid (Truro), and Beaubassin (near present-day Amherst).

By moving to Isle Saint-Jean, the Acadians left their homeland, which had been under British domination since 1713. Despite the political situation in Nova Scotia, the majority of Acadians were reluctant to abandon their fertile farms in order to start all over again in the French colony of Isle Saint-Jean. At first, only a small number of Acadians decided to resettle on Isle Saint-Jean. However, the situation changed considerably in 1749 when the tension on the mainland became unbearable due to the presence of French and British soldiers and the ever-increasing threat of deportation. In fact, so many Acadians moved to Isle Saint-Jean between 1748 and 1752 that the population jumped from 735 to 2,223. Many more families took refuge on the island in 1755 when the Deportation began in Nova Scotia. In 1758, the island colony fell to the British, who decided to expel the inhabitants to France. By then, the Acadian population was close to 5,000.

Isle Saint-Jean. The Mi'kmaq called the island Abegweit ("Cradled by the Waves"). We do not know who named the island after Saint John nor when. We do know that his name was used by the Basques and Bretons who fished off the island long before it appeared on Guillaume Levasseur's 1601 map of the North Atlantic. The island was renamed Prince Edward Island in 1799 in honour of one of King George III's sons.

The entire population was not deported. It is estimated that about 2,000 inhabitants of Isle Saint-Jean were able to escape by fleeing to the woods or by taking refuge on the mainland.

After the Deportation

When peace had been restored between France and Great Britain with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, a number of individuals and families made their way back to the Island, which was now a permanent British possession. Some of these Acadians returned specifically to work in the fisheries for English merchants. Most of these Acadians men and women came to the Island from Chaleur Bay; from southern New Brunswick; from the French Islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon; and even from France. They clustered in small communities bound together by family ties.

In the meantime, the British government has the Island surveyed and divided into 67 townships or lots which were distributed to prominent Englsh notables. These men, in turn, were required to settle their land to tenant farmers. And so began the regime of absentee landlords which the Acadians, like other settlers on the Island, could not avoid. If they wanted to stay on the Island, they had to become tenant farmers and pay an annual fee to their landlord. This "rent" not only included a sum of money but also a portion of the harvest and an animal from the herd. This land tenure system caused many hardships. The Acadians did not see eye to eye with the landlords or their agents. They were frequently victims of dishonest practices and often unable to fulfil the terms of their lease. As a result, the Acadians found themselves forced to abandon the land they had cleared and farmed for many years and to start from scratch elsewhere.

The Founding of the Evangeline Region

Acadian families moved to the Evangeline Region as a direct result of the leasehold system of land tenure that the British had established on the Island in 1767. Before they moved, they had been farming for at least 30 years in Lots 16, 17 and 19 on the shores of Malpeque Bay. Over the years, whether they liked it or not, they had respected the demands of a series of different landlords. The most notorious of these men was Colonel Harry Compton, who arrived from England to take care of Lot 17, which he acquired in 1804. For a while, it would appear that he and his Acadian tenants got along well. However relations deteriorated to the point where a group of tenants decided to abandon their well-established farms in hope of finding a better life in Lot 15. It was there that they founded La Roche (Egmont Bay) and Le Grand Ruissseau (Mont-Carmel).

Most of the families who moved to this uninhabited part of the Island became squatters. They knew that the proprietor of Lot 15 was not taking care of his grant, so they hoped that they would be able to acquire the land legally and thus become landowners. Four Acadians did manage to buy 500 acres in Lot 15 at an auction in December 1813. But it was only in 1828, several years after the Island government had confiscated the proprietor's lot, that about 60 Acadians succeeded in buying, at a relatively fair price, the land they were occupying.

In 1852, the colonial government gave the Acadians the opportunity to purchase land in Lot 15 at a reduced rate. By doing this, the authorities sought to redress the wrong perpetrated on the Island Acadians by the British government, which, after the Treaty of Paris, had not given them back the land they were living on prior to the Deportation. To a certain degree, Lot 15 was thus reserved for Acadians. This gesture by the local government in the 1850s partly explains why Lot 15 today is the Acadian Township with the most homogenous population where the French language is the most vibrant.

The Evangeline Region extends beyond the borders of Lot 15. As the land in the township filled up with people, the children of the founding families, and other families who arrived after 1830, had to settle on adjacent lots further inland. All or part of the present-day communities of St. Philip, St. Hubert, St. Gilbert and Urbainville are located in Lots 14 and 16. The village of Wellington in Lot 16 developed as a result of the construction of a railway station in 1873-74. Acadians settled there around that time.

Râpure Recipe

• 1 lb. fat pork
• 2 chopped onions
• 1 cup mashed potatoes
• 24 raw potatoes, finely grated
• 2 cups soft bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp. salt
• pepper
• summer savory
• 1/4 cup lard

Cut meat in cubes and fry in a saucepan. Add onions and fry until brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Peel and grate potatoes. (To speed up the process, use a blender or food processor.) Drain and squeeze out liquid using a sieve or cotton bag.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Place the melted lard in an oven dish (24 x 30 cm) and add the potato mixture. Pieces of fried pork can be placed on top of the mixture.

Bake in a 180°C oven for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Cut in square portions and serve hot. Eat as is or with molasses.

Variation: Replace pork with chicken or rabbit or a mixture of meats.

Serves 6.

• For more information on origins of families, place names, traditional foods, and economic, spiritual, social and cultural life; see: Historical Guidebook of the Evangeline Region, Prince Edward Island, Canada by Georges Arsenault, 1998 (ISBN 2-9804117-1-x).

• Georges Arsenault
  65 Ambrose Street
  Charlottetown, PE
  C1A 3P8