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Our
goal for "Shores of Nova Scotia" is to capture and document as many
of our Acadian oral  histories
for Nova Scotia. Oral history is the oldest form of history. These histories
are spoken, electronically recorded or written, either by the person with
the story or by interviews, or in testimonies by oral history experts.
The histories are usually passed down from one generation to the other
and are part of our local tradition and culture. They include all of those
family stories that so many of us have heard from our grandparents, parents,
aunts or uncles, and later wished we could remember. By virtue of its nature,
oral history, is highly perishable and unfortunately, so much of the detail
and substance of those histories are lost over time. This is especially
true for the generations of the past century where our families have been
so mobile, making it difficult to teach those histories to the younger
generations. Fortunately, a relatively small part of our oral history is
documented anecdotally and in some cases, some often serve as the basis
for research which eventually become part of our documented history. Hopefully,
our effort in this section will augment the number of oral histories that
are documented.
To build on our work
here, we invite you to submit your family stories to us in a new section
to our 'La Jaseuse'
blog (After going to the blog, click "Shores of Nova Scotia: More Stories"
in the 'Our Postings' section in the left side bar of the blog.).
We invite all of our Nova Scotia Thériault family members to tell
your stories that you may have experienced first-hand any time prior to
the 1950's, or that were told to you by your family elders. They can be
short (many are) or they can be long. Here are examples of a few oral
histories or family stories.) This is a good way to make sure these
stories are not lost. Let's start writing down some of those stories!
INTRODUCTION After we set up our
oral histories of the Acadians of Louisiana which was so beautifully written
in our "On the Bayou"
section by delegate Aline Theriot Meaux, or 'Mizmo", we hoped to do the
same for other Acadian areas in the North American continent. The
areas that we considered included Nova Scotia, Caraquet, Madawaska,
and the Québec areas. COLLECTION OF THE ACADIAN ORAL HISTORIES OF NOVA SCOTIA To set the scene for our oral histories of the Acadians of Nova Scotia, we will first present an overview of the history of those Acadians in Nova Scotia. This article was originally written in French by Gérard Thériault for 'Le Terriot', a publication of the 'Association des familles Thériault d'Amerique' in Québec, titled "The Acadian Resettlement of St-Mary's Bay in Nova Scotia". (After you download the article, you may print it for your convenience.) The overview presents information that is important to understand before you begin listening to the oral histories which follow. For our first oral history, Gérard chose an important work by Monsieur Gérard d'Entremont published in 2003. We cannot think of a better way to begin this new section than with Monsieur d'Entremont. Later, we will continue with other oral histories from Nova Scotia, from the Baie Sainte-Marie and other areas of the peninsula. (NOTE: It should be noted that in order to minimize the storage space taken by these recordings on our website and the download times, the fidelity of the recordings was reduced and is less than the fidelity of the original recordings on the CDs that you may purchase.)
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The
material for this section comes from one of our delegates from Nova Scotia,
Gérard Thériault. Gérard has been an important part
of the Terriot Acadian Family Society since 2004 as delegate of the Leo
and Marguerite Thériault Great-Branch. He was born in Petit Ruisseau
in the Clare area of Nova Scotia to Gustave Thériault and Hélène
Gaudet. He is a grandson of Leo and Marguerite Thériault. Consistent
with his deep interest and love of the Terriot family, he is also President
of the Association des familles Thériault de la Nouvelle Écosse
which hosted the CMA2004 reunion of the family and also, a very active
member of the Association des familles Thériault d'Amérique.
But many of us have especially enjoyed Gérard in his role of welcoming
other members of the Terriot family to Nova Scotia... essentially ambassador
for the Thériault family to Nova Scotia. Many have experienced the
great warmth and pleasure of being received by Gérard and his team
of Thériaults to St-Mary's Bay. Thank you, Gérard!
When
we gathered for our conference of the Terriot Acadian Family Society in
Bathurst in 2009, Gérard Thériault proposed that we start
a collection of oral histories for the Acadians of Nova Scotia. Thus was
born the "Shores of Nova Scotia", our newest website section.
"Le
coin de l'histoire acadienne du Sud-ouest"by Gérard d'Entremont.
Created by Professeur d'Entremont, he starts with a quick overview of the
Acadian history of Nova Scotia but later focuses on the southwestern corner
of Nova Scotia. This recording is in French. These recordings were
produced in 2003-2004 by CIFA, C.P. 8, Saulnierville, NS B0W 2Z0. To purchase
the set, contact Mr. Ed Blinn at CIFA. 902 769-2432 or 769-3101