Acadian Archives

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what is a picture of a book worth? The Acadian Archives has a rich collection of books and periodicals in addition to our archival and genealogical materials. These items span all age levels and a variety of topics, from local history to educational resources to childhood classics. If a title catches your eye, stop by the Archives, or reach out to us via email or phone.

Text and Images: Madeline Soucie, Archivist/Cataloging Librarian

Beginning in 1755, British colonial leaders forcibly removed thousands of Acadians from their homes in what are today the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Many Acadians were dispersed in Britain’s North American colonies; others were imprisoned in Halifax or sent to Europe. Yet more families escaped and found refuge in the St. Lawrence River valley. The deportation created a cycle of migrations that would last into the 1780s. Through this process, a people that had numbered 14,000—concentrated in the Bay of Fundy region and wishing to stay aloof of imperial rivalries—melted into small diasporic communities, isolated from one another, that spanned the length and breadth of the Atlantic Ocean.

To accompany the springtime lecture series on Acadian history, the Archives team is pleased to provide excerpts of documents that help trace how and why the Deportation occurred. This very small sample appears in Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia: Papers Relating to the Acadian French 1714-1755 and Papers Relating to the Forcible Removal of the Acadian French from Nova Scotia, 1755-1768, edited by Thomas B. Akins (Halifax: Charles Annand, 1869). These works are available on the Nova Scotia Archives’ Acadian Heartland: Records of the Deportation and Le Grand Dérangement, 1714-1768.

The first two documents below present the dilemmas facing both the Acadians and their new British rulers. Although entitled to move to the French colony of Ile Royale (Cape Breton), Acadians wished to do so only upon finding purchasers for their land and their goods; colonial authorities, meanwhile, worried about the consequences of their departure. After many colonists had signed a conditional oath of loyalty in the 1720s, British leaders resorted to a system of deputies and allowed the expansion of Acadian settlements. The later documents reflect the challenge of remaining neutral between French demands for aid and British expectations of unconditional loyalty.

We have maintained as much as possible the original spelling. Please note that the documents contain terms that are no longer in use and that we would today find offensive.

Document Excerpts

Colonel Samuel Vetch to England’s Lords of Trade, November 24, 1714

As to the 4th [query,] what may be the consequence of the French [Acadians] moving from Nova Scotia to Cape Bretton; They are evidently these, First their leaving that country intirely destitute of inhabitants: There being none but French, and Indians (excepting the Garrison) settled in those parts; and as they have intermarried, with the Indians, by which and their being of one Religion, they have a mighty influence upon them. So it is not to be doubted, but they will carry along with them to Cape Bretton both the Indians and their trade, Which is very considerable. And as the accession of such a number of Inhabitants to Cape Bretton, will make it at once a very populous Colony; (in which the strength of all the Country’s consists) So it is to be considered, that one hundred of the French, who were born upon that continent, and are perfectly known in the woods; can march upon snow shoes; and understand the use of Birch Canoes are of more value and service than five times their number of raw men, newly come from Europe. So their skill in the Fishery, as well as the cultivating of the soil, must inevitably make that Island [Cape Breton], by such an accession of people, and French, at once the most powerful colony, the French have in America. And of the greatest danger and damage to all the British Colon[ie]s as well as the universal trade of Great Britain . . .

As to the next question, which relates to the time of the French’s removing from Nova Scotia, with their effects: I am informed, several of them, who have no very great substance, are already removed thither, this summer; and that the rest design to do so next summer, as soon as their harvest is over, and grain got in . . . The consequences of which are evidently these: First, It will Intirely strip that Colony, of the above cattle of all sorts, and reduce it to its primitive state; To replenish which at the same rate (it now is from New England the nearest Colony to it, which is one hundred and ten leagues) at a moderate computation of freight, only for the transportation of such a number of Black Cattle, and a proportionable number of Sheep and Hoggs, will cost above Forty thousand pounds; besides the long time it will require to stock that country . . .

Letter of the Acadians to the Governor, May 1720

[I]nasmuch as you demand from us an oath which is so much the more burdensome as we should expose both ourselves and our families to the fury of the savages, who threaten us every day and watch all our proceedings in order to assure themselves that we are not violating the oath taken in presence of General Nicholson and two officers from Isle Royale. This oath is known to the courts of England and France, and it appears to us very difficult to relieve ourselves from the conditions it imposes. And if we should happen not to keep our promise to our invincible monarch, we would have nothing to expect but punishment from the threatening hand of the savages.

Nevertheless Sir we promise you that we shall be equally as faithful as we have hitherto been and that we shall not commit any act of hostility against any right of his Britannic Majesty, so long as we shall continue to remain within the limits of his dominions. You reproach us Sir in the proclamation with having remained on our property more than the year stipulated in the articles of peace. We have the honor to reply that it was impossible for us to do otherwise for the following reason, that although permission to sell our real estate was granted to us, yet we have not been able to do so not having yet found a purchaser; the above privilege therefore has been useless to us.

Lt. Gov. Lawrence Armstrong to the Lords of Trade, October 5, 1731

[The Acadians] are a very ungovernable people and growing very numerous, and the method of treating with them upon any subject, is by their deputies . . . they in time may be perhaps brought through their own free and voluntary acts to pay a greater obedience to the government, and contribute to its support [through taxation], and as civil magistrates are much wanted, I entreat Your Lordships [for] directions for appointing at least some justices of the peace, and other inferior officers amongst them . . .

I have signified to Your Lordships, that there [are] several people who have petitioned for grants; some of them are for small plots, in and adjacent to this town . . . but especially by several young people who have settled themselves, some years ago, at a place called Chippody in the Bay, not far from Chickenectua [Chignecto], where, if upon the surveyors’ report there is no woods proper for masting [for the English navy], I presume grants may be made out for the same, without being interpreted a breach of any article of the instructions.

François Du Pont Duvivier’s Order to the Acadians, August 27, 1744

We captain of infantry, commanding the troops detached for the enterprise of Port Royal . . . declare in the King [of France]’s name, as follows —

The [Acadian] inhabitants of Mines comprising the parishes of Grand Pre, River Canard, Piziquid and Cobequid, are ordered to acknowledge the obedience they owe to the King of France, and in consequence the said parishes are called upon for the following supplies: that of Grand Pre, eight horses and two men to drive them: that of the River Canard, eight horses and two men to drive them: and that of Piziquid, twelve horses, and three men to drive them: as also the powder horns possessed by the said inhabitants, one only being reserved for each house. The whole of the above must be brought to me at ten o’clock on Saturday morning at the french flag which I haye had hoisted, and under which the deputies from each of the said parishes shall be assembled, to pledge fidelity for themselves and all the inhabitants of the neighbourhood who shall not be called away from the labours of the harvest. All those for whom the pledge of fidelity shall be given will be held fully responsible for said pledge, and those who contravene the present order shall be punished as rebellious subjects, and delivered into the hands of the savages as enemies of the state, as we cannot refuse the demand which the savages make for all those who will not submit themselves. We enjoin also upon those inhabitants who have acknowledged their submission to the King of France to acquaint us promptly with the names of all who wish to screen themselves from the said obedience, in order that faithful subjects shall not suffer from any incursions which the said savages may make.

Answer of the Acadians of Mines to Captain Michel de Gannes’ Order, October 10, 1744

We the undersigned humbly representing the inhabitants of Mines, river Canard, Piziquid, and the surrounding rivers, beg that you will be pleased to consider that while there would be no difficulty by virtue of the strong force which you command, in supplying yourself with the quantity of grain and meat that you and M. Du Vivier have ordered, it would be quite impossible for us to furnish the quantity you demand, or even a smaller, since the harvest has, not been so good as we hoped it would be, without placing ourselves in great peril.

We hope gentlemen that you will not plunge both ourselves and our families into a state of total loss; and that this consideration will cause you to withdraw your savages and troops from our districts.

We live under a mild and tranquil government, and we have all good reason to be faithful to it. We hope therefore, that you will have the goodness not to separate us from it; and that you will grant us the favour not to plunge us into utter misery.

Jacques Leblanc
Pierre Leblanc
François Leblanc
Renne [  X  ] Grange Senr.
Claude Leblanc
Jacques Terriot
Antoine Landry
Pierre Richard Senr.
Joseph [  X  ] Granger
R. Leblanc

Response to the Acadian Deputies in the Proceedings of the Colonial Council, Halifax, May 25, 1750

My friends, the moment that you declared your desire to leave and submit yourselves to another government, our determination was to hinder nobody from following what he imagined to be his interest. We know that a forced service is worth nothing and that a subject compelled to be so against his will, is not very far from being all enemy.

We frankly confess, however, that your determination to leave gives us pain.

We are well aware of your industry and your temperance, and that you are not addicted to any vice or debauchery. This province is your country; you or your fathers have cultivated it; naturally you ought yourselves to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Such was the design of the king our master. You know that we have followed his orders. You know that we have done everything to secure to you not only the occupation of your lands, but the ownership of them forever.

We have given you also every possible assurance of the enjoyment of your religion, and the free and public exercise of the Roman Catholic religion . . .

In your petitions, you ask for a general leave. As it is impossible that you could all meet at a certain rendezvous in order to set out all together, with all your families, one must understand by the expression “congé général” a general permission to set out whenever you shall think proper, by land, or by sea, or by whatever conveyances you please. In order to effect this, we should have to notify all the commanders of his majesty’s ships and troops to allow everyone to pass and repass, which would cause the greatest confusion. The province would be open to all sorts of people, to strangers and even to the savages. They have only to dress themselves like you in order to render it difficult to distinguish them from you.

The only manner in which you can withdraw from this province, is to follow the regulations already established. The order is, that all persons wishing to leave the province, shall provide themselves with our passport, to be shown to the vessels or troops they may meet. And we declare that nothing shall prevent us from giving such passports to all those who ask for them, the moment that peace and tranquility are reestablished in the province.

Proceedings of the Colonial Council, Halifax, July 28, 1755

The said [Acadian] deputies were then called in, and [they] peremptorily refused to take the oath of allegiance to his majesty . . . [w]hereupon they were all ordered into confinement.

As it had been before determined to send all the French inhabitants out of the province if they refused to take the oaths, nothing now remained to be considered but what measures should be taken to send them away, and where they should be sent to.

After mature consideration, it was unanimously agreed that, to prevent as much as possible their attempting to return and molest the [English] settlers that may be set down on their lands, it would be most proper to send them to be distributed amongst the several colonies on the continent, and that a sufficient number of vessels should be hired with all possible expedition for that purpose.

Further Reading

The Acadian Archives are home to a wealth of published resources on the Deportation. The following English-language works, which provide an overview of this dramatic chain of events, are a small sample of that collection. For additional information or to schedule an appointment, please reach us at acadian@maine.edu or by phone at 207-834-7535.

• Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland (2005).
• Griffiths, N. E. S., ed., The Acadian Deportation: Deliberate Perfidy or Cruel Necessity? (1969).
• Griffiths, N. E. S., From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Border People, 1604-1755 (2005).
• Hodson, Christopher, The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History (2012).
• Plank, Geoffrey, An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the People of Acadia (2001).

There is no such thing as a cultural backwater. There are, however, under-resourced areas that lie beyond the reach of state institutions and that must blaze their own path. For generations, such was the case of the Upper St. John Valley.

Britain and the United States resolved their longstanding border dispute in 1842, but many years passed before residents of far northern Maine felt the presence of state institutions in their everyday life—a sparse slate of sheriffs and customs officials was, in normal times, the only face of government.

In other words, Valley residents—the majority being of Acadian and French-Canadian heritage—experienced a great deal of autonomy. While linked commercially with the St. Lawrence River valley and southern New Brunswick, they had to organize themselves and create their own institutional framework. In the field of education, such efforts suffered from a distance, the cost of building and maintaining schools, the scarcity of qualified teachers, and the apathy of parents for whom education was well removed from their daily preoccupations.

As Fr. Francis Brassard explained in his master’s thesis (1967), the population long depended on “roving teachers” who provided the rudiments of formal education for a few months at a time before moving to another location. The growing influence of the Roman Catholic Church from the 1840s to the 1890s offered only limited breakthroughs, for the older obstacles remained. It was instead the creation of a local education system supported by the state, in 1872, that advanced the cause of public instruction in Aroostook County. The Maine legislature pledged funds to towns that organized schools and that met a small number of benchmarks. New laws passed in 1889 and 1893 increased resources (notably providing textbooks) and implemented local supervision of the school system.

The broad terms of these laws offered flexibility—and enabled local communities to be creative in their educational arrangements. In other areas of Maine, due to local cultural and religious conditions, a clear separation between public and private (often denominational) schools arose. In the Upper St. John Valley, led by their Catholic clergy, residents increasingly took advantage of state funds, but responded to teacher shortages by hiring nuns and adapted to scarce resources by turning to those of the Catholic Church.

The initiator of this mixed system appears to have been a Belgian priest named Charles Sweron, who long held the reins of the parish in Frenchville. The Quebec-born Arthur Décary, formerly of the Brunswick parish, would follow his lead and invite the Little Franciscans of Mary to teach in Fort Kent’s common schools in 1906.

But it may be Father Joseph Marcoux’s relationship with the Little Franciscans that proves most telling. Marcoux was born in Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville, in southern Quebec, in 1850. He served as a vicar in Bedford, Farnham, and Saint-Pie; spent many years in Manitoba as a missionary; and, after 1890, successively became pastor of Wallagrass and Eagle Lake in Maine. The Acadian Archives in Fort Kent have partially reconstituted Marcoux’s correspondence with the Little Franciscans from the collections of the motherhouse in Baie Saint-Paul (MCC-00435).

Marcoux helped recruit the sisters of Baie Saint-Paul to establish and staff a hospital in Eagle Lake; he also worked to maintain a positive relationship that would be responsive to the needs of local residents. In 1912, after consultations with Bishop Louis S. Walsh, the nuns’ salary was doubled, the hospital received $2,500 from the diocese for a new annex, and the religious order obtained a new parcel of land from the bishop—who owned all Church property in Maine—for a new convent. Walsh was regularly involved in many financial decisions involving local schools and hospitals. Although his reputation as anti-French outlived him, he easily turned to the Quebec nuns and, with Marcoux, exerted pressure on the religious order to extend services to the local French-heritage population.

That pressure increased over time. In Eagle Lake, the local superintendent of schools informed Marcoux that a public school could be opened the moment two sisters were secured as teaching staff. The town would provide facilities and all learning materials. Marcoux turned to the Little Franciscans and asked for two sisters, one to teach in French, the other in English. Several months later, he asked for a third who would teach music and singing.

Mother Marie-Dominique, the superior in Baie Saint-Paul, did not accept new requests unquestioningly. In the summer of 1917, she highlighted the defective heating in the school and the cold from which sisters suffered in trips between the school and the hospital. By that point, Marcoux was insistently pleading for a “grant” of five teachers; he hoped to replace two laywomen who were not up to parents’ expectations. This seemed to be beyond the capacity of the Franciscans. The superior also categorically refused to accept boarders at the Eagle Lake school, citing prior issues in Wallagrass; if boarders were taken, she bluntly stated, she would recall the nuns to Quebec.

Relations were no doubt still shaky when Marcoux died of influenza in the fall of 1918. It remains, no less, that northern Maine enjoyed a close relationship with Quebec’s Catholic Church through the Little Franciscans, the Daughters of Wisdom, other religious orders, missionaries and pastors, and the logistical and financial support they all provided to our French-heritage communities. That relationship survived even as Maine enacted an English-only education bill the year after Marcoux’s death.

The mixed system of education—ostensibly public, but “entangled” with religious institutions—continued well into the post-World War II era. Of Fort Kent’s St. Louis School, Brassard wrote, in the 1960s:

Through the process of disestablishment and the aftershocks of the Second Vatican Council, these arrangements would slowly unravel in the last third of the twentieth century. Still, women religious taught alongside laypersons in Fort Kent public schools until 1999.

Beyond the unique cultural landscape of the St. John Valley, the history of schools and hospitals in our region reminds us that despite the American trope of separation of church and state, an equal commitment to religious freedom has created complex relationships between religious and civic institutions. If that is true in many parts of the country, in northern Maine we find a special arrangement that lasted nearly a century—with relatively little controversy.

The Acadian Archives offer access to Father Marcoux’s correspondence with the Little Franciscans, but also to a wealth of local histories and primary sources that trace the complicated history of education in the St. John Valley. For additional information or to schedule an appointment, please reach us at acadian@maine.edu or by phone at 207-834-7535.

Patrick Lacroix, Director of Acadian Archives

Further Reading

Aside from the following resources, our library includes broader works about the Catholic Church in Maine, the history of the state and our unique borderland region, and religious education in Quebec. Our Ready Reference files and the finding aid folder belonging to the Marcoux correspondence also include valuable contextual information.

• Brassard, Francis. “The Origin of Certain Public Schools in the St. John Valley of Aroostook County, Maine.” M.A. thesis, Ottawa University, 1967. Acadian Reference, LC3732.M2 B73 1967.
• Callnan, Miriam Therese. Aroostook Architect: The Life and Times of the Reverend Joseph S. Marcoux. Brunswick: Harpswell Press, 1977. Acadian Reference, BX4705.M35 C3 1977.
• Craig, Béatrice, and Maxime Dagenais. The Land in Between: The Upper St. John Valley, Prehistory to World War I. Gardiner: Tilbury House, 2009. Acadian Reference, F1044.S2 L36 2009.
• Desmeules, Sylvain. Les Petites franciscaines de Marie. Quebec City: Editions GID, 2012. Acadian Reference, BX4392.D47 P47 2012.
• Les Filles de la Sagesse – Ste-Agathe, Maine – 1904-2004. Ste-Agathe: Ste-Agathe Historical Society, ca. 2004. Acadian Reference, BX4334.8.Z9 F3 2004.
• Little Franciscan Sisters of Mary 60th Anniversary 1906-1966. Fort Kent: St. Louis Parish, 1966. Acadian Reference, BX1418.S134 L58 1966.
• The Little Franciscans of Mary: Commemorating Their Ministry to a Variety of Calls and Needs in Northern Maine. Fort Kent: St. Louis Parish, 1999. Acadian Reference, BX1418.S134 L55 1999.
• Little Franciscans of Mary. The Foundresses: the Little Franciscans of Mary. Paris: Editions du Rameau, 1987. Acadian Reference, BX4392.L57 1987.
• Marie-Michel-Archange (Sr.). By This Sign You Will Live: History of the Congregation of the Little Franciscans of Mary, 1889-1955. Worcester: n.p., 1964. Acadian Reference, BX4392.G3713 1964.
• Sance, Elisa E. A. “Language, Identity, and Citizenship: Politics of Education in Madawaska, 1842-1920.” Ph.D. dissert., University of Maine, 2020. UMaine DigitalCommons.

Il n’y a pas de périphérie lorsqu’il est question de culture, chacune ayant sa légitimité. Il existe cependant des régions moins favorisées qui sont hors de la portée des institutions étatiques et qui doivent tracer leur propre chemin. Ce fut longtemps le cas de la vallée du haut fleuve Saint-Jean.

La Grande-Bretagne et les États-Unis arrivent à s’entendre sur l’emplacement de la frontière en 1842, mais de nombreuses années s’écoulent avant que les habitants de l’extrême nord du Maine ne ressentent la présence de l’État dans leur vie quotidienne. Les rares shérifs et agents de douanes, éparpillés sur ce vaste territoire, sont les seuls visages de l’autorité civile.

Autrement dit, à cette époque, les habitants de la vallée, la majorité étant d’origine acadienne et canadienne-française, jouissent d’une grande autonomie. Bien qu’ils soient liés par le commerce à la vallée du Saint-Laurent et au sud du Nouveau-Brunswick, ils doivent s’organiser eux-mêmes et créer leur propre cadre institutionnel. Dans le domaine de l’éducation, ces efforts sont minés par les grandes distances, le coût de construction et d’entretien des écoles, la pénurie d’enseignants qualifiés et, enfin, l’apathie de parents pour qui une éducation formelle ne rejoint par les soucis du quotidien.

Comme le père Francis Brassard explique dans son mémoire de maîtrise (1967), pendant longtemps la population dépend de « professeurs itinérants » qui lui fournissent les rudiments du savoir pendant quelques mois avant de se rendre ailleurs. L’influence croissante de l’Église catholique des années 1840 jusqu’à la fin du siècle ne permet que des percées limitées, car les anciens obstacles perdurent. C’est plutôt la création d’un système d’instruction local soutenu par l’État, en 1872, qui fait avancer la cause de l’éducation dans le comté d’Aroostook. La législature du Maine promet des fonds aux villes qui organisent des écoles et qui rencontrent des critères assez modestes. De nouvelles lois votées en 1889 et 1893 augmentent les ressources (notamment des manuels fournis par l’État) et mettent en place une supervision locale du système scolaire.

Les dispositions relativement larges de ces lois offrent de la flexibilité et permettent aux communautés d’être créatives dans l’organisation de leurs écoles. Ailleurs dans le Maine, en raison de différentes conditions culturelles et religieuses, une séparation claire entre les écoles publiques et privées (souvent confessionnelles) émerge. Dans la vallée du haut fleuve Saint-Jean, dirigés par leur clergé catholique, les habitants profitent de plus en plus des deniers publics, mais répondent à la pénurie d’enseignants en embauchant des religieuses et s’adaptent au manque de ressources en se tournant vers celles de l’Église catholique.

Le pionnier de ce système mixte semble être un prêtre belge du nom de Charles Sweron, qui est très longtemps curé de la paroisse de Frenchville. Le Québécois Arthur Décary, anciennement de la paroisse de Brunswick, suit son exemple et invite les Petites Franciscaines de Marie à enseigner dans les écoles communes de Fort Kent en 1906.

Or, c’est peut-être la relation du père Joseph Marcoux avec les Petites Franciscaines qui s’avère la plus révélatrice. Marcoux voit le jour à Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville, dans le sud du Québec, en 1850. Il est vicaire à Bedford, Farnham et Saint-Pie, puis passe de nombreuses années au Manitoba en tant que missionnaire. Après 1890, il devint successivement pasteur de Wallagrass et d’Eagle Lake dans le Maine. Les Archives acadiennes de Fort Kent ont reconstitué en partie la correspondance entre Marcoux et les Petites Franciscaines à partir des collections de la maison mère de Baie Saint-Paul (MCC-00435).

Marcoux aide à recruter les sœurs de Baie Saint-Paul pour établir un hôpital à Eagle Lake et lui assurer le personnel nécessaire. Il s’efforce de maintenir un rapport positif avec les religieuses pour qu’on puisse continuer à rencontrer les besoins des résidents locaux. En 1912, après des consultations avec l’évêque Louis S. Walsh, le salaire des religieuses est doublé, l’hôpital reçoit 2500$ du diocèse pour une nouvelle annexe et l’ordre religieux obtient une nouvelle parcelle de terre de l’évêque—détenteur de tous les biens de l’Église dans le Maine—pour un nouveau couvent. Walsh est régulièrement impliqué dans les nombreuses décisions financières impliquant des écoles et des hôpitaux locaux. Bien que sa réputation de francophobe lui ait survécu, il s’empresse de se tourner vers les religieuses du Québec et, avec Marcoux, exerce des pressions sur celles-ci pour étendre les services à la population d’héritage français dans la région.

Cette pression croît au fil du temps. À Eagle Lake, le surintendant local des écoles publiques explique à Marcoux qu’une école peut être ouverte dès que deux sœurs acceptent d’y enseigner. La municipalité fournira alors la salle et tout le matériel d’apprentissage. Marcoux se tourne vers les Petites Franciscaines et demande deux sœurs, l’une pour enseigner en français, l’autre en anglais. Quelques mois plus tard, il demande une troisième qui donnerait des cours de musique et de chant.

Mère Marie-Dominique, la supérieure de Baie Saint-Paul, n’accepte pas sans réserve les nouvelles demandes. À l’été 1917, elle souligne dans ses lettres le chauffage défectueux de l’école et le froid dont souffrent les sœurs lors des déplacements entre l’école et l’hôpital. À ce moment, Marcoux plaide avec insistance pour l’obtention de cinq enseignantes; il souhaite remplacer deux laïques qui ne rencontrent pas les attentes des parents. Cela semble dépasser les moyens des Franciscaines. La supérieure refuse également d’accepter des pensionnaires à l’école d’Eagle Lake, citant des problèmes antérieurs à Wallagrass; si on lui envoie des pensionnaires, déclare-t-elle, elle rappellera ses religieuses au Québec.

Les relations sont sans doute toujours tièdes lorsque Marcoux meurt de la grippe espagnole à l’automne 1918. Il n’en demeure pas moins que le nord du Maine entretient très longtemps des relations serrées avec l’Église catholique du Québec par l’intermédiaire des Petites Franciscaines, des Filles de la Sagesse, d’autres congrégations religieuses, des missionnaires et des curés et puis par le soutien logistique et financier que ces gens apportent aux familles acadiennes et canadiennes-françaises d’ici. Cette relation se poursuit même lorsque le Maine adopte un projet de loi sur l’enseignement exclusif en anglais l’année suivant la mort de Marcoux.

Le système d’éducation mixte—théoriquement public, mais intimement lié aux institutions religieuses—est toujours en place après la Seconde Guerre mondiale. À propos de l’école St. Louis de Fort Kent, Brassard écrit, dans les années 1960:

En raison de la sécularisation du pouvoir civil et des remous créés par le deuxième concile du Vatican, ce type d’entente s’effiloche dans le dernier tiers du vingtième siècle. Pourtant, des religieuses enseignent aux côtés de laïcs dans les écoles publiques de Fort Kent jusqu’en 1999.

Tout ceci reflète l’unique paysage culturel de la vallée du fleuve Saint-Jean. Or, l’histoire des écoles et des hôpitaux de notre région nous rappelle aussi que, malgré l’idéal de la séparation de l’Église et de l’État, un autre grand principe étatsunien—celui de la liberté religieuse—a créé des relations complexes entre les institutions religieuses et civiques. Si cela est vrai dans de nombreuses régions du pays, nous trouvons dans le nord du Maine un rapport spécial qui a duré près d’un siècle avec relativement peu de controverse.

Le public peut consulter la correspondance du Père Marcoux avec les Petits Franciscaines aux Archives acadiennes. Nos collections incluent aussi des ouvrages d’histoire locale et des sources primaires qui retracent le parcours compliqué de l’éducation dans la vallée du fleuve Saint-Jean. Pour plus de renseignements ou pour prendre rendez-vous, veuillez nous joindre à acadian@maine.edu ou par téléphone au 207-834-7535.

Patrick Lacroix, directeur des Archives acadiennes

Pour en savoir davantage

Outre les ressources qui suivent, notre bibliothèque comprend des ouvrages plus généraux sur l’Église catholique dans le Maine, sur l’histoire de l’État et de notre région liminale puis sur l’éducation religieuse au Québec. Nos fichiers « Ready Reference » et l’instrument de recherche de la correspondance de Marcoux contiennent aussi de précieuses informations contextuelles.

• Brassard, Francis. « The Origin of Certain Public Schools in the St. John Valley of Aroostook County, Maine. » Mémoire de maîtrise, Université d’Ottawa, 1967. Acadian Reference, LC3732.M2 B73 1967.
• Callnan, Miriam Therese. Aroostook Architect: The Life and Times of the Reverend Joseph S. Marcoux. Brunswick: Harpswell Press, 1977. Acadian Reference, BX4705.M35 C3 1977.
• Craig, Béatrice, et Maxime Dagenais. The Land in Between: The Upper St. John Valley, Prehistory to World War I. Gardiner: Tilbury House, 2009. Acadian Reference, F1044.S2 L36 2009.
• Desmeules, Sylvain. Les Petites franciscaines de Marie. Québec : Editions GID, 2012. Acadian Reference, BX4392.D47 P47 2012.
• Les Filles de la Sagesse – Ste-Agathe, Maine – 1904-2004. Ste-Agathe: Ste-Agathe Historical Society, ca. 2004. Acadian Reference, BX4334.8.Z9 F3 2004.
• Little Franciscan Sisters of Mary 60th Anniversary 1906-1966. Fort Kent: St. Louis Parish, 1966. Acadian Reference, BX1418.S134 L58 1966.
• The Little Franciscans of Mary: Commemorating Their Ministry to a Variety of Calls and Needs in Northern Maine. Fort Kent: St. Louis Parish, 1999. Acadian Reference, BX1418.S134 L55 1999.
• Little Franciscans of Mary. The Foundresses: the Little Franciscans of Mary. Paris : Editions du Rameau, 1987. Acadian Reference, BX4392.L57 1987.
• Marie-Michel-Archange (sr). By This Sign You Will Live: History of the Congregation of the Little Franciscans of Mary, 1889-1955. Worcester: n.p., 1964. Acadian Reference, BX4392.G3713 1964.
• Sance, Elisa E. A. « Language, Identity, and Citizenship : Politics of Education in Madawaska, 1842-1920. » Thèse de doctorat, Université du Maine, 2020. UMaine DigitalCommons.

Over the last three and a half years, I have been working for the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. The Archives have contributed so much to the St. John Valley, and it is great to be a part of that. I have had the opportunity to help digitize many collections for the Archives.

A few collections have stood out to me. Round Pond is a camp in the North Maine Woods. The camp kept a visitors log for many decades for guests to write about their time at the camp. We ended up getting the chance to digitize the visitors log and learned so much about the camp in the process. The log has entries from many people, a lot of them mentioning the strenuous trek to even make it to the camp. Many of the entries were about the fish and game they encountered while at the camp. This was especially interesting to me because, coming from southern Maine, I don’t see any of these animals. I thought it was interesting that there are so many cool things you can see close to [the UMFK] campus. The design of the book was also interesting because it was covered in birch bark.

Another favorite collection is the UMFK historical collection. The collection features what life on campus looked like in the ’60s and ’70s. As a student, it is enlightening to see how the campus has changed over the years. Students could smoke cigarettes in the lair, formal dances were held, and there were theater performances. Looking at the photos, it is weird to find what has changed on campus and what has stayed the same. Most of the photos are just of students enjoying life on campus.

The Archives has given me the opportunity to grow as a person and learn new skills. I had the chance to learn about genealogical research. While learning how to do this, I discovered that I have a great, great grandmother from Fort Kent. I also had the chance to learn about and use Excel while digitizing collections.

The Archives also allowed me to get to know Anne Chamberland and Lise Pelletier. They are two wonderful women who worked very hard and have contributed so much to the community. They genuinely cared about students and made everyone feel welcomed. Anne and Lise put their heart into the Archives, and for that, I would like to thank them. The Archives has truly made an impact on my life, and it is going to be strange not being a part of it anymore.

The Acadian Archives are open daily Monday to Friday. Patrons seeking more information about these and other collections are encouraged to reach us via e-mail, acadian@maine.edu, or by phone at 207-834-7535. We look forward to meeting you.