Tuesday October 25 2005
In search of the Grand-Pré bell
By Roger Hétu
The introducer forgot to tell you that I do not master yet the english language. Many words tonight will be mispronounced. There will be momments of hesitation. You will hear stangely constructed phrases or sentences. Consequently, tonight, you will be playing a guessing game.
If this process becomes too tedious I suggest you blame Clint McInnes for choosing such a rotten speaker.
However if you manage to understand most of what will be said tonight then you should congratulate…the speaker.
When I moved to the valley in 2003 I joined a social club named Les Ami(e)s de Grand-Pré. (meaning in english: The friends of the Great Meadow)
Les Ami(e)s de Grand-Pré are a group of francophone and other speaking french as a second language, mainly of King's County.
Les Ami(e)s de Grand-Pré meet regularly since 1990. This society was incorporated in 1993.
Their aims are
- To develop and make known the acadian culture
- To help Grand-Pré National Historic site and its staff by volunteering, researching, providing information tools and training.
- To make possible for interested persons of this region to socialize in french.
-Some join just to pratice french, (you know, like gossipping)
-Others like to prepare and eat acadian food, make and wear acadian costume, play or listen to acadian music.
-Others prefer doing history or genealogy research
- As for me, Last January I tricked them into naming me their webmaster. I built a web site with lots of information on Grand-Pré and Acadian history in general. This site is in french and english but is not bilingual. The targetted surfer should be bilingual.
-Again this Christmas, the Ami(e)s de Grand-Pré will be organizing the popular puppet show "The magic Carpet of Grand-Pré" at the Grand-Pré National Historic site Interpretive center. There will be english and french showing of this Christmas children story followed with holidays'handcraft workshop. The date and hours will be announced in the Advertiser. It is free, come with your little grand-children.
-Some of us are also gifted in handcraft. They use this talent for fundraising: For the CMA 2004 they produced and sold this happy acadian star. The dancing star.
However this year they made this bell which started a controversy.
The bell of the Grand-Pré St-Charles-aux-Mines Church. what bell? Some of us questionned the very existence of this bell.
Grand-pré settlers owned large cattle herds, they were well off. Their church ought to have a bell.
In the second paragraph of the theme song of CMA2004
I hear the church bells of Grand-Pré.
Like a bird singing out of a beautiful spring,
Like a brook newly freed of winter’s ice and debris,
I return to the cradle of Acadie.
You should be thankfull that I did'nt sing that to you.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem «Tale of Acadie»:
…Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell from its turret
Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with his hysop
Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings upon them,…
…Thus passed the evening away. Anon the bell from the belfry
Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew…
…And lo! with a summons sonorous
Sounded the bell from its tower…
…Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelus sounded…
The 28 of July, at 5H55PM (that's 17h55 in french) South Grand-Pré Covenanter church along with 100s other churches rang their bells for the memorial of the deportation. But the Grand-pré National Historic Site memorial church does'nt even have a bell .
There is a long list of novels, poems, songs with references to the bell but no historic text ever mention it.
Did the Grand-Pré church bell existed only in litterature?
How can we tell the devoted fundraiser committee that Their bell might not even have existed ?
In 1755.
Col. Winslow asked that the sacred objects be removed from the church
Not a word on the bell
Was there one? If so what happened to it.
So The Ami(e)s de Grand-Pré created a sub-committee to deal with the matter.
Susan Surette-Draper
Ken Belfountain
Roger Hétu
This committe was later known as The ding-a-lings committee:
We Asked Historians, Archivists, Archeologists, parcs Canada interpreters, University acadian research centers.
They knew nothing about the existence or non existence of the Bell of St-Charles Church.
Not much written history on the St-charles-aux-mines church
That church was the theater of very important events. Not having any written description it makes it impossible to built a replica.
We can guess that the old church was at least twice as large as the actual memorial church because it held 418 prisonners in 1755.
We can guess that it was a very simple building because no officer wrote anything about it contrary to the neighbouring church of St-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards . The later was described with praise by the british officers. According to them It was a very pretty church with a nice steeple and oak carved interior: It was material for a poem. And then they burnt it down.
Did the St-Charles Church had a belfry and/or steeple ?
L'Abbé H. R. Casgrain in his book «Une Seconde Acadie» related in one chapter the "bataille de Grand-Pré , février 1747". (Meaning in english the 1747 massacre at Grand-Pré)
Quote (And I am translating in english)
«Aussitôt après, [L'acte de capitulation] le Chevalier de la Corne (the acting commanding officer) ordered to take down the english flag from the top of the church steeple»
Yes there was a belfry and steeple but not a word on its bell
To better understand how the Grand-Pré bell would have been acquired and what could have happenned to it we thought it would be informative to look at others acadian churches stories.
Fortunately, Father Clarence D'Entremont, a very renowned acadian historian, had already published in the Newspaper the Yarmouth Vanguard a series of articles on acadian bells. Here is a summary:
______
Port-Royal
In 1652 Sedgewick raided Port-Royal. He Brought back 2 bells, 200 and 100 pounds
1652-1706 no bell (sort of abandonned, not really governed) ownership changed 7 times. Acadie, New Scotland, New Holland (1674) Mainly military occupation of the Port-Royal or Jemseg fort.
1706 the bell delivered by the State of France cracked on the first use. A new bell was made, baptized Marie Belle (inscription engraved) for St-Jean-Baptiste Church of Port-Royal
In 1755, knowing the british intention, the bell was taken down, filled with money belonging the acadian parishionners and buried. The persons knowning the burial site having died during the deportation the bell was lost.
I said "Knowing the british intention"
En 1710, alors âgée de 15 ans, Marie-Madeleine fut témoin de la prise et l'occupation par les Anglais, de Port-Royal qui fut renommé Annapolis Royal. L'année suivante,(1711) elle épouse à Annapolis Royal, lors d'une cérémonie protestante, le lieutenant William Winniett de la garnison anglaise.
Marie-Madeleine was the daughter of the infamous Maisonat dit Baptiste acadian privateers
Trois des filles de Marie Madeleine Maisonnat épousèrent des officiers britanniques éminents: Anne Winniet (née 1712) épousa Alexander Cosby, le beau frère de Richard Phillips, Marie-Madeleine Winniet épousa le capitaine Edward How, Elizabeth Winniett épousa John Handfield, le commandant d'Annapolis Royal lors de la déportation.
Cette vielle dame française, appartenant à la religion de Rome, belle-mère de plusieurs officiers anglais, avait une énorme influence dans la communauté d'Annapolis Royal. Elle assistait aux conseils de guerre du fort, et ses opinions devenaient des ordres. Certains prisonniers étaient même relâchés de sa propre autorité, laquelle était jugée suffisante.
1780 Jacob Troop, german settler was farming an acadian land. He Hit the bell with his plow. He did'nt say about it then. Oral tradition saysThe neighbours had noticed that Mr Troop was living well without working too hard. He annonced his discovery only 20 years later when he decided to give the bell to father Sigogne, Baie-Ste-Marie parish priest
.
This bell was destroyed during the sept 12 1820 huge fire that burned everything for miles and miles.
Father Sigogne made a collection of old copper pennies which with a few pieces of the melted bell were used to cast a new bell inaugurated in 1823 at Church point
In 1905 this old copper pennies bell was given to the parish of Concession.
Les cloches de l'île St-Jean(île du Prince-Edouard)
In 1753, M. Prévost, Louisbourg top bureaucrat asked le Ministre de France to give 4 bells for Isle St-Jean: The bells of Pointe Prime, Rivière Nord Est, Malpec and Saint Pierre arrived shortly after Since these parishes were detached daughters of Port-Lajoie parish (Charlottetown) we think that the mother church had ist bell also. Father Caradet Récollet, did wrote in 1737 about the use of a small bell at his parish church
In 1758, after the fall of Louisbourg to the british, the acadians of Ile St-Jean were deported. The parishionners of Saint-Pierre had the time to bury the church sacred objects and the bell.
Nearby on Aug 9 1870, Jerald Barry hit with his plow the St-Pierre huge bell. First given to the protestant church of Morell the bell was later exchanged for a new bell with the catholic parish of Saint Alexis at Baie Rollo. That bell is still there. It has the french inscription «Jésus-Marie-Joseph. P. Cosse m'a fait. Mechlin 1723 (en Belgium) En 1870 elle fut retirée des ruines d'une église d'un village à I.P.E. En 1882 les paroissiens de Baie Rollo m'ont fait fondre à nouveau par Meneeley et Co De West Troy, N.Y. en souvenir de leurs ancêtres acadiens».
The bell of Malpec was also found. That bell is now in the Malpec United church. It has this latin inscription : INTER NATOS MVLIERVM NON SVREXIT MAIOR JOANNES BAPTISTA, Among those who are born from a women non are greater than John the Baptist «Parmi ceux qui sont nés d'une femme nul n'est plus grand que Jean Baptiste»
La cloche de Cobequid (Truro)
The St-Pierre & St-Paul parish of Cobequid had a huge 100*40 feet church. It presumly had its bell. Alexander Vance farmer of Masstown found the metallic debris right were once stood the church.
La cloche Beaubassin-Beauséjour
The Church of Beaubassin had a bell which was removed just before being burned by the French in 1750. The destruction of Beaubassin was ordered by the French and the acadians were deported at Beausejour
The british acting governor Charles Lawrence was about to built a fort at Beaubassin. The french did'nt want the acacdian to help him. Father Germain took down the bell and brought it to Beausejour
This bell weigh 250 lbs, 20 inch high with a base diameter of 20 inches. The bell had many fleur-de-lys and this latin inscription: «AD HONOREM DEI FECIT F M GROSS A ROCHEFORT 1734,» In honnor of God F.M Gross made me in Rochefort in 1734 (En l'honneur de Dieu, F. M. Gross m'a fait à Rochefort en 1734).
Put into storage when Beausejour fell in 1755 to the british the bell was used again in 1795 at the anglican St-Marc church at Mount Thatley . In 1936, the bell was an exhibit at Dr. Webster Museum at Fort Beauséjour (Aulac).
Aug 14 2004, the Beaubassin bell rang again for the first time since 254 years at its original site of Beaubassin (Today Amherst) (For CMA 2004 family reunions)
This bell is now part of the permanent collection at the Beauséjour National Historic site of Canada, Aulac
La cloche de Tantramar (Aujourd'hui Upper Sackville N.B.)
Buried just before the british invasion in 1755. Back from exile the acadians brought it to Memramcook. The bell was used for many years and later was cast with two other smaller bells to become a huge bell.
Les cloches du Fleuve Saint-Jean (N.B.)
Many parish churches were successively built with the same name
Sainte Anne. Une à Jemseg, une autre à Pointe Ste-Anne (Fredericton), une troisième à Aucpaque et la dernière à Kingsclear.
A second church named St-Jean was at Medoctek. Medoctek was the main Malecites amerindian In 1720 the king Louis XV of France gave to this church a bell. In 1767 this bell was moved to Ekpahoc. Then during the american révolution in 1777, the Malecites moved north with their bell to the Keswick river (Co de Restigouche).
Later this land at Keswick river was sold to an english man from Fredericton. The church was burnt and we lost the trace of the Louis XV bell
Them some day a couple of Abenakis anerindian who were hunting in the Madawaska region heard and recognized the bell of their old church. That evening the belfry was visited. The very same night the bell disappeared and reappeared in the amerindian village
En 1794, Ste-Anne de Kingsclear church serving amérindiens and the acadiens inherited the Louis XV bell. In 1904 the church was struck by lightning. The bell could not be repaired
From the broken Louis XV bell was cast a lot a small bells wich were sold in a fundraising to rebuilt the church. One of those bell is in exhibit at the Ste-Anne de Kingsclear church and another one at the Université of Moncton museum.
The Pointe Ste-Anne (Fredericton) church and the bell was destroyed in feb 1759 by the Moses Hazen Rangers in one of their acadian scalps expedition. This massacre survivors fleed to Quebec. On their return no bell debris was ever found.
La cloche de Nanrantsouak
At the time when Acadie included the eastern part of today's Maine
In winter 1721-1722 Colonel Thomas Westbrook de Boston raided the amerindian village of Nanrantsouak on the river Kenebec. Father Rasle hid the bell in the forest before he died. The bell was found in 1808 under an hemlock bush. That bell is now at the Museum of Maine Historical Society
Les cloches du Cap Sable
5 churches were built in this area but no text had ever shown evidence of a bell.
But from oral tradition there was one at Pubnico. This bell was presumly buried on the Island "à Hucher". That island was subject to many searches but in vain.
La cloche de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
In 1793 The new revolutionnary french government declared war to England. The follwing commandant Edgel invade St-Pierre-et-Miquelon without a shot being fired. It was probably during this raid that the bell of St-Pierre-Miquelon was brought to Halifax and later sold for the futur Catholic cathedral church .
Today's church autoritys say the don't know what happened to this bell..
I have found on an internet forum, discussion about this bell. Some present day residents of St-Pierre-Miquelon would love to have the permission to climb Halifax Belfries so sure they are that their bell is somewere in the city.
Well it appears that we are not the only ding-a-lings looking for a bell.
Les trois cloches de la forteresse de Louisbourg
Ces trois cloches furent offertes en 1735 par Louis XV. Elles furent baptisées respectivement Saint-Louis, Saint-Antoine Marie et Saint-Jean.
La cloche de Saint-Louis était la plus grosse. En 1745, lors de la première capitulation de Louisbourg, elle fut emmenée à Portsmouth, New Hampshire et offerte à l'église «Queen Chapel». Cette église devint «St-John Church» en 1791. En 1806 un incendie détruit l'église. La cloche fut coulée à nouveau par Paul Revere de Boston et replacée dans le clocher de l'église reconstruite. well known patriot of the American War of IndependenceEn 1905, la cloche Saint-Louis craqua. Elle fut refondue mais cette fois-ci on lui a ajouté 300 livres de métal. Elle pesait alors 2600 livres. Une des inscriptions se lit: «Vox ego sum vitae--Voco vos orate venite». "I am the voice of life - I call you to come and pray."
La cloche de Saint-Antoine Marie avait un diamètre de 23 pouces et une hauteur de 18 pouces. Sur un des coté de son arc de résonance figure un dessin de St-Joseph tenant l'enfant Jésus dans ses bras. Sur le support en bois on mentionne qu'elle fut coulée en Bretagne en 1723. Cette cloche échappa au pillage de 1745 mais non pas à celui de capture définitive de Louisbourg en 1758. Elle fut d'abord entreposée à Halifax puis vendue en 1773 à la paroisse Luthérienne de Lunenburg. Elle fut placée dans le clocher de l'actuelle «Zion Lutherian Church», l'église Luthérienne la plus ancienne au Canada. En 1782 elle échappa à l'invasion des corsaires américains (privateers) car on l'avait cachée submergée au fond du havre «Back Harbour»
La cloche Saint-Jean ne pesait que 52 livres. On peut lire l'inscription Française «Bazin m'a fait» sous laquelle il y a un Fleur-de-Lys. Elle est restée longtemps à Louisbourg et ce n'est qu'au début du 19ième siècle quelle fut emportée à Halifax. Elle fut d'abord utilisée dans une école de la paroisse de St-Georges à Halifax. Puis elle fut donnée à l'église anglicane St-John de Fairviews (Dutch Village, Halifax). En 1896, Robertine Barry qui travaillait au quotidien «La Patrie» acheta la cloche Saint-Jean pour 100$. Elle fut placée dans le musée du Château Ramezay à Montréal.
Les cloches du monastère de Sainte-Claire (Louisbourg)
Les Pères Recollets venus de Placentia Terre-Neuve à Louisbourg en 1714 y avait érigé le monastère de Sainte-Claire. Il y avait deux cloches: la cloche Marie Joseph bénite en 1724 et la cloche Georges Angélique qui fut acquise en 1757. Cette dernière venait d'un vaisseau anglais capturé par le capitaine La Croix, un des corsaires de l'Acadie.
Il y a eu une cloche à Chester, faite en France en 1700 et qui avait appartenu à un monastère. En 1840 cette cloche remplacée par une plus grosse fut utilisée comme alarme dans un vaisseau de pêche. Après un retour à Chester où elle fut utilisée pour annoncer certains évènements spéciaux elle fut installée sur le vaisseau «Peerless». Ce vaisseau fut finalement vendu mais quinze ans plus tard il est retrouvé au Chili. Il avait toujours la même cloche. Selon le père Clarence d'Entremont il serait plausible de croire qu'elle est l'une des cloches du monastère de Sainte-Claire.
La cloche d'Ingonish (Cap Breton)
Ingonish fondé en 1720 reçut sa cloche nommée Jean Françoise en 1729. Elle avait l'inscription française suivante: «Pour la paroisse d'Ingonish je fus nommée Jean Françoisse par Jean Decarette et par Françoise Vrail, parrain et marraine. Le fosse Huet m'a fait en 1729».
Enterrée en 1758 lors de la conquête elle fut découverte en 1849 en parfaite condition. Elle fut emportée à Sidney et a probablement été emportée en nouvelle Angleterre au milieu du 19ième siècle.