Like many other Americans with New England ancestry, I have some ancestral lines
that went from New England, to Nova Scotia and back to New England with “The
Planter Movement”. This migration happened
after the Acadian Expulsion of 1755, when the French Protestants were forced to
leave Nova Scotia. The area was
re-populated with foreign Protestants and New Englanders. Some New England Loyalists removed to Nova
Scotia after the American War of Independence.
Other New Englanders of French extraction had their ancestors leave Nova
Scotia after 1755 and arrive in the “Boston States”. Later, some of these Planter families came
back to New England after several generations.
The migrations back and forth, or from one country to the other continue until
present times.
If you look at the maps of New England and the Canadian
Maritime provinces, you can see that traveling by water made these two regions
very easily accessible to each other. I had ancestors from Cape Cod,
Connecticut and Boston’s North Shore travel to Nova Scotia by water. In 2007 I traveled from Bar Harbor, Maine to
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia by ferry to trace my roots. My route was the same one traveled by my
ancestors, although they used coastal sailing vessels instead of a modern
catamaran ferry.
If you have ancestors from Nova Scotia, or if you area
resident of Nova Scotia with New England roots, it pays to become acquainted
with the history of the two regions.
There are basic outlines of the Planter Movement, the Acadian
Expulsions, the Revolutionary War Loyalists and Ulster Scots migrations online
starting with short sketches at Wikipedia to more lengthy records at the Nova
Scotia Archives website.
You don’t have to travel to Nova Scotia to trace your
roots. Here is a list of helpful steps:
1)
Try
online searches at websites such as FamilySearch.org and Cyndislist.com to
become familiar with the databases available for free and for subscription on
the web
2)
Search out genealogy societies such as the
Canadian American Genealogical Society in Manchester, New Hampshire or local
genealogy clubs
3)
There are many websites and blogs available for
Nova Scotia research such as Lucie LeBlanc Consentino’s “Acandia Ancestral
Home” blog or check out the forums on Facebook for Nova Scotia genealogy
4)
There are books on Loyalists, Acadians, Planters
and I listed some below
If you would like to plan a "genea-jaunt" (research trip) to Nova Scotia you should try to do as much research at home ahead of time. Map out the villages where you ancestors lived so you can plan your driving route, and research the times and hours of the local repositories of records. Most archives will be closed on a Sunday, but we planned to be at the Baptist church in Billtown on that day, where my 2nd great grandfather, Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, had been the minister, or use that day for cemetery hunting (cemeteries don't close on Sundays). Don't forget to photograph where your ancestors lived, worshipped, went to school, and all the local landmarks.
 |
| The Billtown, Nova Scotia Baptist Church where my 2nd great grandfather was the pastor. We drove our car and traveled by ferry to get here in 2007 |
Nova Scotia is accessible by air to Halifax, or by ferry from Portland, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Driving is a long trip, through Maine and New Brunswick, but a worthwhile route if you also have New Brunswick ancestors. We decided to drive one way (because Reverend Bill was buried in St. John, New Brunswick), and to take the ferry the other way because I had many ancestors in Yarmouth as well as in Billtown and Lunenburg. We also visited Louisburg because I had many ancestors fight in the several attempts by New Englanders to overtake the French fort there.
Sources:
Dictionnaire Genealogique des Families Acadiennes by Stephen A.
White, 2 volumes, 1999
Planter Nova Scotia 1760 – 1815, by Julian Gwyn, 2010
New England Planters in Maritime Provincial Canada, by Judith
Norton, 1993
Nova Scotia Archives http://novascotia.ca/archives/
(formerly Public Archives of Nova
Scotia)
The New England Planters website http://www.cyberus.ca/~bharvey/planters.shtml
The New Englanders in Nova Scotia database at the New England
Historic Genealogical Society website (membership needed). This database has 48,155 names from more than
650 families of Planters and Loyalists http://www.americanancestors.org/search.aspx?Ca=096&Da=398
Nova Scotia GenWeb Project
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canns/
Planters
Studies Centre, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
Chair:
Stephen Henderson Email stephen.henderson@acadiau.ca
Genealogical
Association of Nova Scotia http://novascotiaancestors.ca/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NovaScotiaAncestors
Family
Search Nova Scotia Genealogy Records https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Nova_Scotia_Online_Genealogy_Records
American
Canadian Genealogy Society, Manchester, New Hampshire http://www.acgs.org/
Lucie
LeBlanc Consentino’s “Acadian Ancestral Home” blog
Gail Dever’s
“Genealogy a la Carte” blog http://genealogyalacarte.ca/
Lorine McGinnis Schulze’s “The Olive Tree Genealogy”
website, Nova Scotia resources page
Thank you Heath Wilkinson Rojo for this lovely post, it gives some excellent pointers for tracing roots in Nova Scotia. You mentioned several migrations to Nova Scotia, with special emphasis on the Planters, but I was surprised that you didn't mention the Foreign Protestants. Like the Planters, they were a "bolster the British presence in what is now Nova Scotia initative" and were just slightly before the Planters in 1750-1753. Headhunted throughout Germany, Switzerland and Montbeliard France, these protestant folks were first brought to Halifax and then to Lunenburg in 1753. They add another great reason for coming to Nova Scotia to enjoy some ancestral tourism. Cheryl Lamerson, South Shore Genealogical Society.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I haven't any ancestors from this area but will add the link to this post to Evernote. People are always asking me about doing research in places that are so foreign to me and this will be useful to have up my sleeve.
ReplyDeleteA very informative post.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Heather, as you know, I too have connections in Nova Scotia, I believe you share a lineage there with Man. Thanks for the links.
ReplyDelete