Michel Bastarache dit Basque (7 February 1730 – 15 January 1820) is notable in Canadian history for his role in the
expulsion of the Acadians
The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian pe ...
from
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
. More specifically he was part of the expulsion from the
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour (), renamed Fort Cumberland in 1755, is a large, five-bastioned fort on the Isthmus of Chignecto in eastern Canada, a neck of land connecting the present-day province of New Brunswick with that of Nova Scotia. The site was strateg ...
area (near
Sackville, N.B.). He, and some of his family, became renowned for their bravery during this period.
Michel and his brother Pierre were part of a contingent of 960 Acadians sent to
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
in 1755. The next year about a dozen of this group, including Pierre, escaped and headed north on foot. They reached
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
, were captured by
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
, and ransomed by a fur trader who took them to
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, where they arrived in September 1756. There they were questioned by Governor
Vaudreuil.
The brothers went to
Panaccadie, New Brunswick, where a few Acadian families were in hiding. Bastarache learned that his wife had fled to
Île Saint-Jean
Isle Saint-Jean was a French colony in North America that existed from 1713 to 1763 on what is today Prince Edward Island.
History
After 1713, France engaged in a reaffirmation of its territory in Acadia. Besides the construction of Louisb ...
(Prince Edward Island). He brought his wife and children back to New Brunswick where they went into hiding again, where
Pierre Du Calvet
Pierre du Calvet (1735 – March 28, 1786) was a Montreal trader, justice of the peace, political prisoner and epistle writer of French Huguenot origin.
Biography
Family
Pierre du Calvet was born in the Summer of 1735 in Caussade in the Frenc ...
made note of them living in 1761. They and four children were prisoners at
Fort Cumberland
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
in 1763. A large number of families requested deportation to France, but were refused permission to leave as they were considered British subjects.
The family eventually were allowed to stay and the long line of the Basque family continues to this day.
References
*
''Michel Bastarache dit Basque - Biography''(French)
(French)
Bastarache, Michel
1730 births
1820 deaths
{{Canada-bio-stub