PAGE 40 
     
    
   
   
    
     ._ dur“. .ÆL.M.AÆÙ_.  , ‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The blood 
     
    
   
   
    
     of innocent people, 
     
    
   
   
    
     men, women, 
     
     and children, 
     
     speak from 
     
    
   
   
    
     “we should 
     
    
   
   
    
     not be forgotten", 
     
    
   
   
    
      . ,4...“ manuwmuwaàwnùucnma ..A...M...4  
     
    
   
   
    
     and they are 
     
    
   
   
    
     not forgotten. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     «vs-«sua»- Æu»... . “Mage-#451 
     
    
   
   
    
     â .h 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
        
     
    
   
   
    
     After my graduating from College 
     
     in 1975 and beginning my career, 
     
     I seriously started to research my 
     
     Acadian heritage. With my English 
     
     Loyalist wife in tow, we visited the 
     
     parishes of Baie-Egmont, Miscouche, 
     
    
   
   
    
     Mont-Carme], Wellington, Tignish, 
     
     and Cascumpec. We visited «Le 
     
     Village» and the Acadian Museum 
     
     in Miscouche. I dragged her all 
     
     over the Island, Visiting graveyards 
     
     and bookstores and historic sites. I 
     
     started to acquire books, pamphlets, 
     
     magazines and parish histories of 
     
     the area. My famin tree started t0 
     
     corne together. I found out that my 
     
     surname had not always been Perry, 
     
     but Poirier. My grandfather changed 
     
     it in the late 1920’s. I found out that 
     
     all of my father’s brothers are 
     
     named Joseph, every one of them 
     
     used their second or even their third 
     
     name, except the youngest; he got 
     
     to use Joseph. My mother’s sisters 
     
     are all christened Mary, be it Mary 
     
     Bertha, Mary Edna, etc. They all 
     
     use their second name as their 
     
     common name. My mother, luckily 
     
     the youngest of the girls, didn’t like 
     
     her second name so she can use 
     
     Mary, however she goes by Marie. 
     
     The more I dug into this famin 
     
     history thing, the more passionate 
     
     I became about it. The people in 
     
     history became real and fascinating 
     
     to me. Paul Arsenault, Germain 
     
     Poirier, Xavier Gallant, and Iean 
     
     Aucoin. The path led further back 
     
     in time to Pierre Arsenault, Iehan 
     
     Poirier and Iacob Bourgeois. And 
     
     back to France, with side paths by 
     
     way of the Melansons to England, 
     
     the Caissies to Ireland, and Noiles 
     
     to Holland. Who were all these 
     
     people? Why did they come here? 
     
     What were they like? How did they 
     
     live? 
     
    
   
   
    
     At the time we were living in 
     
     Truro, Nova Scotia, there was a lot 
     
     to explore on that side of the Strait 
     
     too Beaubassin, Grand—Pré and 
     
    
   
   
    
     LA PETITE SOUVENANCE 
     
    
   
   
    
     Port—Royal. I remember my first visit 
     
     to Grand—Pré. A feeling came over 
     
     me that something terrible had 
     
     happened there, despite its pastoral 
     
     setting, I could feel the loneliness 
     
     and the starkness of the place. I 
     
     could see the expulsion, families 
     
     torn apart, never to see each other 
     
     again. On my office wall at home 
     
     is a print of a famous painting 
     
     depicting the scene of the expul— 
     
     sion. It serves as a reminder not to 
     
     forget. A beautiful and scenic area 
     
     forever marked by a tragic chain 
     
     of events. The blood of innocent 
     
     people, men, women, and children, 
     
     speak from the grave «we should 
     
     not be forgotten», and they are not 
     
     forgotten. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Later in 1978, we moved to 
     
     Mississauga, Ontario, and I took 
     
     advantage of some of Canada’s 
     
     largest libraries and bookstores to 
     
     add to my information and collec— 
     
     tion. I was devouring reading 
     
     material on the subject, both in a 
     
     genealogical and a historical sense. 
     
     Authors such as Bona Arsenault, 
     
     Naomi Griffiths, Yvon Leger, Henri 
     
     Blancharcl, Michel Poirier and Ste— 
     
     phen White. One day I found a copy 
     
     of Georges Arsenault’s Complaintes 
     
     acadiemzesï I signed it out from the 
     
     library and kept renewing it for 
     
     months. The librarian commented on 
     
     my constant renewing and, because 
     
     it was not really in great demand, 
     
     she bent some of the library's rules 
     
     and allowed me to keep it 
     
     longer. I read most of it with a 
     
     French-English dictionary in one 
     
     hand and the book in the other. It 
     
     was my first attempt to read more 
     
     than «born», «married», and 
     
     «died» in French. The chapter in 
     
     the Complaintes on Xavier Gallant 
     
     enthralled e, as he was one of 
     
     my ancestor. I had to know more. 
     
     I had my parents, who live in 
     
     Summerside, pick up locally pu- 
     
     blished books that I COLildn't find in 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     2 Georges Arsenault,Complaintes acadiennes de l’Îlc—du-Priucc-Edmuml, Les 
     
    
   
   
    
     Éditions Leméac, Ottawa, 1980.