When a French Name is Not French.

After doing some antiquing in Boutiliers Point, we were on our way West along the southern coast of Nova Scotia.  The weather turned very rainy that day and we weren't stopping long anywhere.  One of the locations Dawn wanted to visit was Lunenburg, since her family is German and we thought the weather might clear and give us a chance to walk around this UNESCO World Historic site.  No such luck.  It was pouring rain when we arrived and we were both too discouraged to get out.  However, this town with its historic downtown and waterfront (which we drove through) and Bluenose Schooner make this place at the top of our list of places to visit on our next trip to NS (and oh, yes, we definitely want to come back.)  On our way out of town, however, we stopped at the tourist center and made this discovery, the Monument to settlers from Montebelaird.  The original Boutiliers, came from this French speaking, but independent, Protestant principality along the French/Swiss border in 1752, at the invitation of the British government.  They were part of a group of German, Swiss and Montebelairdian settlers meant to act as a counterbalance to the Acadian population in Nova Scotia.  The Acadians, celebrated in Longfellow's poem Evangeline,were descendants of the original French settlers.    As such, their loyalty was often in question in British eyes.  The French in the early part of the 18th century still controlled a significant part of the Maritimes from their fortress in Louisburg.  Although the Acadians requested that they play a neutral role in the British-controlled Nova Scotia, eventually, in conjunction with the French and Indian War, as it is known in US History,they were deported from the province in what was known as the Great Expulsion. This photo is of a monument on the waterfront in Halifax that shows the forced migrations of the Acadians.

In 1752, Bouteillers (Boutiliers) arrived from Montebelaird region to settle in Lunenburg and surrounding areas.  They were meant to replace the Acadians and support the British Crown. Hence, in my opinion, the reduced importance of speaking French in the family.  I knew of no relative in our family that spoke French, going back to my great grand parents.  The strong ties that bind French Canadians - language, history, and Catholicism have always been missing from our family heritage.  Now I better understand why. These were folk who were looking to adopt the language and customs of their new Mother country - Britain.  There would have been no harkening back to the good old days in France or Montebelaird.  They would not have been leaving their homeland to extend their country via her colonies but to create a new life in a new land, to create a nation that would become Canada.

So at least now, I have a place to start and a confirmation that our family came to Nova Scotia, not from France (although Montebelaird would be incorporated in 1793 into France), but from an independent nation. And that they were, as always maintained, huguenots- French Protestants.  Now to start making the connections between those settlers and the family branch that wandered into Aroostook County, Maine and became my ancestors.