“ CHAPTER IV
AUGUSTIN ESCAPES, SETTLES IN ST. MARY’S BAY

Augustin Gedree was born in 1740, in either Pisiquit or Île Royale. He married Marie Francoise Jeanson around 1767, the year his father died. Augustin was the son of Pierre Guedry dit LaBine and Marguerite Brasseau and the grandson of Claude Guedry dit Grivois and Marguerite Petitpas. He is the ancestor of all the Guedry, Geddry, Guidrey, Guiddry, Jeddry and Jedrey families in Clare, Nova Scotia and New England.

Augustin is my great, great, great, grandfather. Somehow that seems a very close relationship for two people born almost two full centuries apart. The reason can be found by reviewing the Genealogy. Augustin and I are so close because I am the result of a string of births that happened when the age of the male members of the family averaged thirty-nine years.

Augustin Escapes

Augustin was captured by the English but was never deported. He was not deported because he escaped. He never left Acadia. This is his story.

In 1754, Augustin’s father Pierre dit LaBine was in Merligueche, probably with his family. Pierre is recorded as having surrendered to the English “at the time of the exile”, probably in 1755, on Île St-Jean (Prince Edward Island). Perhaps Augustin, then 14 or 15 years old was “taken” while Pierre was in Merligueche. Perhaps he was captured or detained at the time of his father’s surrender on Île St-Jean. In any case he was put on board a ship ready to sail for the English colonies. Somehow Augustin escaped from the ship before it sailed. Legend has it that he swam ashore and made a run for it, eventually making his way to La Heve in the region of Cape Sable, near his Grandfather’s old stomping grounds.

It is quite possible, but not verified, that the name of the ship he escaped from was the Pembroke. The Pembroke is recorded as the only ship that had experienced a mass escape of Acadian prisoners in 1755. It was docked at Goat Island off the shore of Port Royal when the escape took place.

Why Augustin would have been transported to Port Royal from Merligueche or Ile St Jean is unknown. A possible reason is “lack of transport”, not enough ships, to do the deed. English records are replete with complaints about “lack of transport”. If Augustin had been captured while Pierre was in Merligueche, and then was brought to Port Royal because transport was available there, that would explain why, when he escaped, he made his way back to Le Heve in the Merligueche area. He would have thought his father was still there.

We know that Augustin lived among the Micmac Indians for at least eight years. He remained a free man, one of the few Acadians who managed to do so. Of course he lived in constant fear of capture, but being the product of at least two generations of Coureurs de Bois, would have been quite comfortable living that way.

Augustin Settles in St. Mary’s Bay

In 1763, when the Acadians were again free to come back to their homeland (many did not), Augustin emerged from the woods and settled quietly on the west coast of Nova Scotia on land at Gilbert’s Cove near Hobb’s Hill and west of St. Croix Chapel. We believe it was there that he met and married Marie Jeanson and where at least three of their children, Hermat-Pierre, Joseph Felix and Augustin Jr. were born. In 1900, that land was owned by M. Charles Mande Melancon.

The couple initially entered into a civil marriage before witnesses in 1767. Their marriage was “rehabilitated” in a Church ceremony by a missionary from Windsor (now Truro) on May 8, 1769. One source reports that when English Colonists moved in beside him in 1787, he moved down the coast of St. Mary’s Bay, obtained a Grant of Land and became the pioneer settler of Cheticamp. This was certainly understandable given what he and his family had experienced under the English.

Bona Arsenault believed and had written in his books that Augustin settled in Cheticamp, Cape Breton. I wrote him and explained that there were two Cheticamps, the second in the St. Mary’s Bay area of Nova Scotia. At first he rejected the idea. Then one morning at seven A. M., while I was still asleep, the phone rang. The operator said, “Please hold for a call from the Office of the Vice-Premier of Canada”. That woke me up. Bona Arsenault, who was then a Member of Parliament, and for some reason was calling from that office, came on the line and apologized for not taking my Cheticamp, St. Mary’s Bay claim seriously at first, but, being the good Genealogist he was, he had looked into it and had now concluded I was correct. He told me I “would get full credit” in his future writings on the subject. I never checked. Bona and I had several other conversations over the next few months. I believe it was he who directed me to Father Partrice Gallant at the University of Moncton, New Brunswick.

The remainder of Augustine’s children were born in Cheticamp, St. Mary’s Bay, now known as St. Alphonse. During my visit to Meteghan in 1965, I was brought to a house, in St. Alphonse, that, I was told had been built by Augustin’s son Philippe. The story was that old Augustin might have lived out his final days there and this his son Evariste, my great grandfather was born there. In 1965, the house was owned by the Deveau family. There is a photograph of the house, substantially modified since the original of course, in the Picture Gallery.

A list of Augustin’s children is shown in Table 4. There is a gap of 10 years between Anne and Philippe. It is possible there were other children, but if there were, I have found no record of them.

Table 4
Children of Augustin Gedree and Marie Jeanson

Name Year of Birth

Hermat-Pierre 1767
Joseph Felix 1770
Augustin 1771
Anne 1773
Philippe 1783
Romain 1784
Frederic 1790
Jean 1790

Augustin, his son Augustin, Hermat-Pierre and Philippe appear on the Annapolis County Poll Tax record of 1792. At that time their name was spelled Gedree. The Pierre listed in the record is Hermat-Pierre.

The next we hear of Augustin’s children is in a census taken over the years 1818 to 1822 by Father Ligogne. In that census and subsequent censuses taken by the same Priest, we find the Gedrees, Philippe, some of his brothers, some of his children and Philippe’s mother, Marie Jeanson, still living in the St. Mary’s Bay area. Some lived in Meteghan, another in Plympton.

The 1818-1822 census indicates that Augustin was “deceased”. We interpret this confusing statement to mean Augustin died sometime between 1818 and 1822 while married to Marie-Jeanson.

Other entries indicate that Marie was living with her son Jean and his wife Rosalie Clothilde Robichau from 1822 to 1827 at least. Marie Jeanson was no longer living with her son according to the Ligogne census of 1840-1843, meaning she had probably passed away by then.

At least one Genealogist has suggested that Augustin had a second wife. I have found no evidence of it and there appears to be no knowledge of it within the family. The census of Father Ligogne seems to contradict it as well.

Four of Augustin’s Children Establish Families

Records indicate that two of Augustin’s children established families that remain today in the St. Mary’s Bay area and parts of New England, primarily Massachusetts. They are Hermat-Pierre and Philippe. I was told that Frederic and Jean also established families in the Nova Scotia/Cape Breton area but their trails has been harder to follow. I have included as much information as I was able to find about them in the narrative.

Of these four, the most extensive families, or at least the ones we know the most about, are those begun by Philippe and Hermat-Pierre. Hermat-Pierre’s name has been carried down through family records simply as Pierre. “5412

    ___________________

“ The Family of Philippe

Philippe was the fifth child of Augustin. He married Angelique Theriau sometime after the turn of the nineteenth century. Their first child was born in 1804. Philippe was then only 21 years old. In the family tradition of large families, Philippe and Angelique combined to have fourteen children.

A complete list of Philippe’s children is shown in Table 6. The descendants of Philippe spelled their names Geddry, Jeddry, Guidrey or Guiddry.

Their tenth child was Evariste, born on October 26, 1820. In 1965, I was told that an expression regarding Evariste was still used by some at that time. It was not flattering and I would have discounted it except there is another story that appears to support it. The expression is, in Fench, “Laid comme le vieux Varice”. It means “ugly as old Varice (Evariste)”. Evariste was my great grandfather.

The other story comes from the book “Along the Shores of Saint Mary’s Bay”, by Alphonse Deveau. In it, Deveau tells a story about a teacher, on the road from Salmon River to Meteghan in 1813, who meets a gentleman of small stature riding on a small black horse. The little guy rides along with the traveler for several miles. He is talkative and somewhat of an annoyance. Even more of a concern was the fact that this gentleman was rumored to have turned in escaped French prisoners to the English. The teacher just happened to be one, so he was quite understandably concerned and wary. The little man on the horse had the name “Antoine Grivois (Guedry)”. The teacher, whose name was Francois Lambert Bourneuf, comments, “The man was ugly as sin”.

Table 6
The Children of Philippe Gedree and Anglique Theriau

Name Year of Birth Name Year of Birth
Joseph Charles 1804 Rosalie 1817
Julitte Adelaide 1806 Cesaire 1818
Marie 1808 Evariste 1820
Gervais 1810 Pierre 1821
Elizabeth 1812 Hilaire 1824
Cyprien 1814 Marc Maurice 1825
Maximin 1815 Catherine - 1827
. Antoinette

Two people in the same family that engender such similar comments about their appearance are too coincidental for it not to be true. Apparently genetics has corrected the problem because I have never met an “ugly” Geddry, Jeddry, Guidrey or Guiddry. In fact, some of us are quite attractive!

I believe that Antoine was a cousin of Evariste, although I have not been able to place him with any certainty. Looking through the Genealogy, there are two candidates at a compatible age. One, born in 1794, would probably have been too young to turn in French prisoners. In any case, his family was in Louisiana by 1813.

The second seems possible from the age point of view. He was born in 1754 and as a young man could have been in a position to turn in French prisoners after the French and Indian war. He descended from Pierre Guedry dit LaBine through Charles. Unfortunately for this hypothesis, his family was also in Louisiana by 1813.

It looks as if Antoine will have to remain “anonymous” until either I or another Genealogist can connect him to the family.

Evariste married Francoise Saulnier sometime before 1865, but the exact date has escaped us. In 1845 his father Philippe, deeded him one third of his land in Cheticamp. A photocopy of that deed is shown in the Picture Gallery of Chapter VI. The deed was quite faded when it was photographed with high contrast film, but with a magnifying glass, almost all of it can be read.

Most of the descendants of Evariste currently live in Clare, Nova Scotia. Many live in Meteghan, or in Massachusetts, although there are quite a few in other parts of Nova Scotia and the United States as of this writing. The author is one of them. He lives in Arizona.

While assembling the Genealogy, and especially during the editing process, I happened to notice a set of unhappy events in the family of Evariste. My first inclination was to call it the “curse of the legs”, but since I don’t believe in curses of any kind, I decided to just label it what it was . . . an odd set of circumstances.

Evariste died of gangarene in the foot. His son Alexandre fell under the wheels of a train and had both legs cut off. He died shortly thereafter. A second son, Jean Adrian (my grandfather), was hit by a car in Salisbury, Massachusetts. As it was told to me, both his legs were broken. He died from pneumonia as a result of the accident. James, another of Evariste’s sons, was cut in half in a sawmill accident. Evariste’s grandson, Bernard L. Geddry Sr. (my father), went down an open manhole on his motorcycle around 1920. He refused to allow the doctors to amputate his leg. He spent the rest of his life in pain with a severe limp. Evariste’s great grandson Gustave also lost a leg in a train accident but survived the trauma to live a normal life. Another great grandson, Louis Armstrong lost two legs to diabetes before he passed away. And, incredibly, in 1965, while on a trip to Meteghan, my the wife Virginia fell down the stairs in Mary Ann Comeau Jeddry’s house and, of course, broke her leg. I hope the string has ended. “5450

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“ Catalogue of the Families of the Parishes of St. Mary’s Bay and St. Mandé etc. 1818-1823

. . . .

. 206
Philippe Guiddery ) c
Angeliq. Theriau ) c
Joseph Charles 15 Août 1804
Julitte Adelaide 18 Juin 1806 c
Marie 17 9bre 1808
Gervais 24 Juillet 1810
Elizabeth 1 Février 1812 {sic}
Cyprien 4 Mars 1814
Maximin 8 7bre 1815
Rosalie 22 Mars 1817
Cesaire 27 Xbre 1818
Evariste 26 8bre 1820
Pierre 19 Xbre 1821 “13721,13718

Note: Philippe Guiddery, Angelique Theriau and Juliette Adelaide Guiddery were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church (the ‘c’ beside their names indicates ‘confirmed’).

    ___________________

“ Catalogue of the Families of the Parishes of St. Mary’s Bay and St. Mandé etc. 1823-1829

. . . .

. 228
Philippe Guiddery ) c
Angelique Theriau ) c 814
Jos. Charles 15 Août 1804 c
Julitte Adelaide 18 Juin 1806 c
Marie 17 9bre 1808 c
Gervais 24 Juillet 1810 c
Elizabeth 29 Février 1812 {sic} c 1515
Cyprien 4 Mars 1814 {sic} c
Maximin 8 7bre 1815 c
Rosalie 22 Mars 1817
Cesaire 27 Xbre 1818
Evariste 26 8bre 1820
Pierre 19 Xbre 1821 1520
Hilaire 14 Janvier 1824
Marc Maurice 22 7bre 1825 {sic}
Catherine Antoinette 2 Mai 1827 “13722,13719

Note: Philippe Guiddery, Angelique Theriau, Joseph Charles Guiddery, Juliette Adelaide Guiddery, Marie Guiddery, Gervais Guiddery, Elizabeth Guiddery, Cyprien Guiddery and Maximin Guiddery were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church (the ‘c’ beside their names indicates ‘confirmed’).

    ___________________

“ 1827 Clare Township

. . . .

JEDERIE, Philip - 7 Males in household, 7 Females in household, 0 Male servants, 0 Female servants, 14 Total people in household, Occupation Agriculture, Religion Roman Catholic, 0 Births in the family in year ending 1 October 1827, 0 Female marriages in the family in year ending 1 October 1827, 0 Deaths in the family in the year ending 1 October 1827, County Digby, Location Clare Township “7155

    ___________________

“ Catalogue of the Families of the Parishes of Baie Ste. Marie and St. Mandé etc. par order alphabétique 1840-1844

. . . .

. 271
Guiddery (Philippe ) c
Angélique Theriau ) c 966
Cyprien 2 Mars 1814 {sic} c
Maximin 8 7bre 1815 c
Rosalie 22 Mars 1817 c
Evariste 26 8bre 1820 c
Pierre 19 Xbre 1821 c
Hilaire 14 Janv. 1824 c 1661
Marc Maurice 27 7bre 1825 c {sic}
Cath. Antoinette 2 Mai 1827 c 974 “7165,13720

Note: Philippe Guiddery, Angélique Theriau, Cyprien Guiddery, Maximin Guiddery, Rosalie Guiddery, Evariste Guiddery, Pierre Guiddery, Hilaire Guiddery, Marc Maurice Guiddery and Catherine Antoinette Guiddery were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church (the ‘c’ beside their names indicates ‘confirmed’).

None

Philippe Gedree
Philippe Guédry
Philippe Guiddery
Philip Jederie

“ Catalogue of the Families of the Parishes of St. Mary’s Bay and St. Mandé etc. 1818-1823

. . . .

. 206
Philippe Guiddery ) c
Angeliq. Theriau ) c
Joseph Charles 15 Août 1804
Julitte Adelaide 18 Juin 1806 c
Marie 17 9bre 1808
Gervais 24 Juillet 1810
Elizabeth 1 Février 1812 {sic}
Cyprien 4 Mars 1814
Maximin 8 7bre 1815
Rosalie 22 Mars 1817
Cesaire 27 Xbre 1818
Evariste 26 8bre 1820
Pierre 19 Xbre 1821 “13721,13718

Note: Philippe Guiddery, Angelique Theriau and Juliette Adelaide Guiddery were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church (the ‘c’ beside their names indicates ‘confirmed’).

    ___________________

“ Catalogue of the Families of the Parishes of St. Mary’s Bay and St. Mandé etc. 1823-1829

. . . .

. 228
Philippe Guiddery ) c
Angelique Theriau ) c 814
Jos. Charles 15 Août 1804 c
Julitte Adelaide 18 Juin 1806 c
Marie 17 9bre 1808 c
Gervais 24 Juillet 1810 c
Elizabeth 29 Février 1812 {sic} c 1515
Cyprien 4 Mars 1814 {sic} c
Maximin 8 7bre 1815 c
Rosalie 22 Mars 1817
Cesaire 27 Xbre 1818
Evariste 26 8bre 1820
Pierre 19 Xbre 1821 1520
Hilaire 14 Janvier 1824
Marc Maurice 22 7bre 1825 {sic}
Catherine Antoinette 2 Mai 1827 “13722,13719

Note: Philippe Guiddery, Angelique Theriau, Joseph Charles Guiddery, Juliette Adelaide Guiddery, Marie Guiddery, Gervais Guiddery, Elizabeth Guiddery, Cyprien Guiddery and Maximin Guiddery were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church (the ‘c’ beside their names indicates ‘confirmed’).

    ___________________

“ 1827 Clare Township

. . . .

JEDERIE, Philip - 7 Males in household, 7 Females in household, 0 Male servants, 0 Female servants, 14 Total people in household, Occupation Agriculture, Religion Roman Catholic, 0 Births in the family in year ending 1 October 1827, 0 Female marriages in the family in year ending 1 October 1827, 0 Deaths in the family in the year ending 1 October 1827, County Digby, Location Clare Township “7155

    ___________________

“ Catalogue of the Families of the Parishes of Baie Ste. Marie and St. Mandé etc. par order alphabétique 1840-1844

. . . .

. 271
Guiddery (Philippe ) c
Angélique Theriau ) c 966
Cyprien 2 Mars 1814 {sic} c
Maximin 8 7bre 1815 c
Rosalie 22 Mars 1817 c
Evariste 26 8bre 1820 c
Pierre 19 Xbre 1821 c
Hilaire 14 Janv. 1824 c 1661
Marc Maurice 27 7bre 1825 c {sic}
Cath. Antoinette 2 Mai 1827 c 974 “7165,13720

Note: Philippe Guiddery, Angélique Theriau, Cyprien Guiddery, Maximin Guiddery, Rosalie Guiddery, Evariste Guiddery, Pierre Guiddery, Hilaire Guiddery, Marc Maurice Guiddery and Catherine Antoinette Guiddery were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church (the ‘c’ beside their names indicates ‘confirmed’).

None

Angélique Theriau
Angelique Theriau
Angeliq. Theriau
Angelique Therriau
Angelique Theriault