I'm sure you've heard of or probably even tasted the highly marketed cajun food, but do you know exactly what a Cajun is? Because I don't think enough people know about the cajun people and their heritage, I am going to share a little with you.
Most cajuns live in the state of Louisiana. Today, they make up a large percent of South Louisiana's population. Our ancestors came from the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, which was colonized in 1604 by wonderful French people. Mostly hardy French farmers and fishermen who knew how to develop their resources and live off of the land so there was little need for currency. They found much joy in family and fun and their land was given the name Acadie and its people, Acadians. Coming from the Greek legend of the Utopian province of Arcadia, our people are always willing and ready to work..and live simple lives. The entire story is very long, but I will give you a short version. Conflict arose between the French and the British when the rule of their land had to be passed over. The British were uneasy about the French Acadians living in their midst. They were especially concerned when the majority of the Acadian people refused to sign an oath of allegiance to the Crown, that is, unless the signing of the oath contained provisions for them to continue in their Catholic religion and protect them from having to bear arms against the enemies of the British Empire. The term could have included not only their French countrymen, but their friends, the native Micmac Indians. In 1755, the Acadians watched their villages burn to the ground, and they were herded onto British ships to be sent throughout the colonies. The ships were not designed for people and the conditions were unbearable. Death came to many of the peope due to disease. The first groups were dispersed among the American Colonies. However, they were not welcomed or accepted in many places. They were torn from loved ones, mistreated, and many were made slaves. Due to these unhappy conditions, many Acadians began a determined quest to return to Nova Scotia or else find new and more suitable homelands. They set out in small vessels to make their way up the coast to Nova Scotia. Charles Lawrence, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1754 and later Governor, had proposed the drastic removal of the Acadian people to take care of what he saw as a military issue, and what he called "the Acadian problem." When he heard of the Acadians' journey homeward, he urged fellow governors to prevent their return. Most were captured in New York and Massachusetts, but a few managed to reach the St. John River. Another group sailed from Massachusetts to Quebec in 1766, joining forces with the Acadians who had escaped and fled there from Nova Scotia in 1755, and settled near Quebec City. Acadian exiles in the middle and southern colonies gravitated towards the former French colony of Louisiana, whose new Spanish rulers were sympathetic to the Catholic religion. Many people were shipped to France, which made several unsuccessful efforts to establish colonies in Brittany, Bell-Isle-en-Mer, Poitou, Corsica, French Guiana, Santa Domingo, and the Falkland Islands. The Spanish government finally came to the rescue with an offer of land in Louisiana, and in 1783 nearly 1,600 Acadians left for the Spanish colony. There was much movement between various settlements as families tried to unite and find their lost relatives. The forced migrations were over by the early 1800s. Although the great movement left the Acadians scattered around the Atlantic rim, their sense of their own identity remained intact, and their intense pride and determination to remain true to their culture and traditions prevails even to this day. The Acadians were close to being destroyed as a people but they endured and survived. In the lands where they settled, the Maritime provinces, Quebec, Louisiana, New England, and France, they were able to hold onto their language and customs. In the swamps and marshes of Louisiana, they reaped the good of the bayous, rivers and Gulf waters..and the great Atchafalaya swamp. Their culture was preserved and they continued the same family spirit among neighbors and the same zest for living, undaunted by one of the most brutal ordeals in history.
The name "Cajun" came from "Acadian". The people still to this day hold God, family, and their work dear. And now the name "Cajun" is used with much affection and respect..
My Great Grandparents on my Mother's Dad's side were of the Cajun and Spanish descent..My Grandparents on my Mother's Mother's side were Indian and Irish. My Grandfather's Mother, Annie DuBois Sharbino, had never heard English, until she married my Great Gandfather, James Sharbino, when she was seventeen years old.
My Great Grandfather, James Breedlove's Mother, was a Cherokee Indian, that lived in a Tee Pee in Oklahoma.
"However I came to be, I'm proud to say I am of French and Indian descent. My family has a great love for each other and we pride ourselves on our love for family and work." -Wanda Sharbino Drewett
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