Hello everyone and welcome to beautiful Petit de Grat.

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Steven DeRoche, and I will be your guest speaker for this morning. Today, I will explain to you a little of Petit de Grat's history and where we are today. I know that much of my audience today are genealogists and historians, so I also tried my best to include information that would even be new to them, like some certain traditions passed on in Petit de Grat. At the end of my speech, I will recite two legends that you may still hear in Petit de Grat when you talk to the elders. So without any further delay, lets begin.

When I think of Petit de Grat, the very first word that comes to mind, other then the 'home' of course, is the word fishing. The fish reserves around Petit de Grat is what made the village what it is today. It was a way of life; the only way of life. Half French, half Basque, the words Petit de Grat mean little fishing village. Petit being French for 'little' and Degrat being Basque for 'fishing village'. And those words couldn't be closer to the truth. Seeing as agriculture was always near impossible, the settlers of the region, no matter what their background occupation was, had to revert to fishing. And that's exactly what they did. But even before these settlers had come to Petit de Grat, European fishermen, such as the Basques and the French had built temporary huts in many of the numerous bays and inlets in the region. During the fishing season, these fishermen came to the new world, filled their boats with as much cod and mackerel as they could, and left for Europe. They did this for a very long time, as the fish reserves had never before been touched and were therefore very abundant.

As the years went by, the Acadians became well established on mainland Nova Scotia. But, that would soon change. After the treaty of Utrect in 1713, Acadia passed from French to British rule, at the exception of Ile Royale (known today as Cape Breton) and Ile Saint-Jean (present day Prince Edward Island). Many Acadians agreed to live under British rule because they would be at peace at last. But others refused to sign the oath of allegiance to the British Crown and left Nova Scotia for the French colonies, such as l'Ile Royale.

It was at this point that the Fortress of Louisbourg was named capital of the French colony and used to protect the colony from invaders coming into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was around this time that the first permanent settler came to live in Petit de Grat. According to legend, that first settler was Gabriel Samson who took up fishing after moving to Petit de Grat. It's also written that Gabriel had a rather large family of 32 children, explaining why the name Samson is so common in the region. Though this story has been passed down orally for many years, very little documentation exists that could offer any proof of the first years of the settlement. The year 1714, given as the year Petit de Grat was founded, may not be absolutely correct.

We do know, however, that Gabriel did not have 32 children, but actually 11 or so. He was the son of Gabriel Samson senior, one of two brothers who left France in 1665 and settled in Levis, Quebec. The younger Gabriel, ancestor of all Acadian Samsons, had left Quebec for Port Royal many years before, where he married in 1704, a young widow named Jeanne Martin Chesnay. Not long after their marriage, Gabriel, his wife and their unborn child were captured in a British raid on Port Royal and taken to Boston as prisoners, where their first child, Madeleine, was born in 1705. After being imprisoned for over a year, they were finally released and returned to Port Royal in January of 1706 where Gabriel worked as an engineer.

Gabriel and Jeanne lived in Port Royal until Acadia fell under British rule, in 1713. In order to avoid taking the oath of allegiance to the British Crown, Gabriel, his wife and his nine children immigrated to the French colony of Ile Royale. It would have been about this time when Gabriel would have established in Petit de Grat with his family, where he would have two more children.

In 1720, the family moved to Port Toulouse (present day Saint Peter's) where he built and navigated coasting vessels for many years. Gabriel lived until 1757, some 30 years more than his wife Jeanne, who passed away in 1728. As far as I can tell, they never re-established on Isle Madame. It would be Gabriel's grandson, Michel Samson who would permanently etch the Samson name to the village of Petit de Grat, some twenty years after the death of his grandfather.

As the years went by, between 1714 and 1752 many fishermen had come and gone, but Petit de Grat grew steadily in size none-the-less. Both Acadian and French families settled in the small village. The village had become relatively important when two French merchants, D'Aroupet and Hiriat, turned Petit de Grat into more than just a fishing community. Under their influence, the port went from a law-biding fishing village to a major smuggling centre. Some officials even stated that there was more coming through Petit de Grat at the time than the fortress of Louisbourg.

In 1752, Joseph Sieur de LaRoque, while compiling his Acadian Census of Ile Royale and Ile Saint-Jean, stopped in Petit de Grat. Upon entering the village, Sieur de LaRoque commented on both the people and their land. He stated: "The only way of life in Petit de Grat is the cod fishery and every inhabitant of the region does just that. The cod fishery in Petit de Grat is amongst the best on Ile Royale"; "The earth in the community does not support agriculture, being that it is largely made up of large stones" (Sieur Joseph de LaRoque, 1752).

A few years after these words were written, the Acadians of Nova Scotia were deported, at the exception of Ile Royale. The injustices for the Acadians were just beginning. They knew it wouldn't be long before the British troops would come to Ile Royale and try to take over Louisbourg. And in 1758, they did just that. Once Louisbourg fell, the fishermen in Petit de Grat, scared for their lives, left for a safer area. Very few families remained. Petit de Grat was deserted.

A few years later in 1764, Charles Robin of the island of Jersey, located between France and England in the Channel Islands, came to nearby Arichat to begin an important fishing establishment. While doing so, he brought many Jerseymen and some Acadians which had been deported to France in 1755. As Arichat, then known as Narichaque, began to grow into an important town, many other Acadians of the Maritimes, found their way to Isle Madame. Being that is was safe in Arichat, the fishermen felt safe in Petit de Grat. Slowly Petit de Grat began to grow once again.

According to the records written by a missionary priest, Charles Francois Bailey, who visited Petit de Grat in 1771, Mr. Stephen A. White, a very prominent Acadian genealogist, (whom we are honored to have with us today) was able to determine that the entire population of Petit de Grat was made up of one single Acadian family's offspring. That Acadian family, previously living in Port Toulouse (Saint Peter's), had established themselves in Petit de Grat not long after the fall of Louisbourg. It was the family of the Marie-Madeleine Belliveau Fougere Dugas. The population, which was made up of about thirty-five people, were her children and stepchildren, and their offspring.

That time was a time of peace for the new settlers of Isle Madame, but that feeling of safety did not last very long. In 1775, the War of Independence broke out, and the Acadians had to leave Isle Madame, Petit de Grat included, as they feared the American privateers. They all left for Chezzetcook, near Halifax. Once again, Petit de Grat had been abandoned. But this abandonment wouldn't last long. Once peace was restored, most families returned to Petit de Grat and village continued to grow.

The turn of the century brought more families into the community: the Davids and the Briands, for example. The population steadily continued to grow. By 1811, the population had reached 180 people and was still on the rise. They continued to fish in peace for the first time.

Acadians are known today as very religious, and they were in the past as well. Being that Petit de Grat has always had a large Acadian population, the catholic religion and its rituals were always very common. But, for a very long period of time, Petit de Grat had no church of it's own to perform these various rituals. However, that fact did not diminish the catholic faith in the community. Families were forced to travel great distances to Arichat, not only for special ceremonies, but for mass as well. This is the reason why all records of religious ceremonies; baptisms, marriages and funerals, for example, pertaining to families of Petit de Grat are located amongst those of Arichat, as they were performed by the same church.

Only in 1904 was Edward Doyle hired to build Petit de Grat's first and only church. The first mass was said on January 01, 1905 by Father L.J. Gallant, but seeing as there was no resident pastor, no religious ceremonies were performed. The first resident pastor, Henri de Gonzague Chouinard, only came in June of 1912, and Saint Joseph's Parish was born. Today, Saint Joseph's Parish Church still stands at the same location as it did when it was built 96 years before. Since then however, the church has gone through a considerable amount of renovations, from a new steeple to the retouching of the statues inside.

A number of enterprises and other commercial buildings exist in Petit de Grat today. Being that Petit de Grat was always a fishing village, fishing companies and co-ops were once very abundant in the community, but none were as important as Richmond Fisheries. In 1931, two local men, Andre Samson (my great grandfather) and Jacques Goyetche, had convinced the fishermen of Petit de Grat to form a cooperative, the Richmond Shore Fish Limited. This small industry did heavy trade in dry fish and purchased a great deal of fish from the local fishermen. But after a few years of inactivity, the establishment was sold in 1950 to Booth's Fisheries, a company based in Chicago. After being destroyed by fire and rebuilt the same year, the company continued to create a large number of employment to the parishioners for 25 years. In 1975, the establishment was bought by Richmond Fisheries and ran it until the early 90s when it was shut down. The impact on the community was immense. Approximately three hundred people lost their jobs and were left no skills to do anything else. The tags program supported them for a while, but most of them were forced to take courses in order to find another job.

Another important enterprise in Petit de Grat that must be mentioned is the Saint Joseph's Credit Union. Founded in 1936, it was built to provide financial assistance to the population in order to aid the local economy. As of today, the Credit Union has 20 million dollars in assets, and it continues to play a very large role in the economy of the community. Just recently, our Credit Union received a national award for their outstanding community economic development.

In the early 1950's, the parishioners of Petit de Grat gained the luxury of a food co-op, situated at the entrance to the region we call the Point. It stood in that same building for 31 years, before moving in 1981, to a new location a few dozens meters down the road. It was then named the Charles Forest Co-op, in honor of Father Charles Forest, parish priest from 1953-1960, who helped initially establish the Co-op. Today the Co-op is no longer in the community. It is now situated in Arichat, on the high road.

In the early 90's, the community realized the importance of their culture and decided it was time they had an establishment to promote that culture. Under the leadership of Yvon Samson, the plans for such a building got underway, and before long, Le Centre La Picasse was realized in 199__. Today the Picasse houses a college, a restaurant, a library, a youth centre, a multi-purpose room for concerts and such, and a number of offices such as a Service Canada office, an office for the School Board as well as for la Federation Acadienne. It's an educational and cultural Centre with a goal to promote French language to everyone in the community, young and old.

Personally, I believe that a community is only as strong as the strength of the bond between its people. The more we work together the more we can accomplish; it is a team effort. This is the reason why Petit de Grat is what it is today. The people know what is needed and they know that if they are going to get what they need, they must work together to get it. La Picasse is a great example of what we can accomplish if we stick together. Every community must realize that if they wish to grow and create a community to be proud of, they must remain as one.

I believe that Petit de Grat, with all of its accomplishments, has much to be proud of. Number one, it's the only remaining village in Richmond County, where the majority of the population still speak the old Acadian French and celebrate their Acadian culture and heritage. We are very honored to being recognized for that, but believe me, that's only the beginning. One thing that the community can be proud of is the success of the Petit de Grat Red Caps, our local baseball team. Baseball is Petit de Grat's favorite sport, it always has been and it probably always will be. The sport is so popular in the community that we have two teams in the Richmond Amateur Baseball Association, the Petit de Grat Red Caps and the Little Anse Hawks, however, it's the Red Caps that have given us the most to be proud of. Since their first ball game in 1947, the Red Caps have won eight provincial championships, one maritime championship and three Atlantic championships, not to mention countless first place finishes in league play. Every year, we continue to support them and every year they seem to do better and better.

Not only are we proud of our accomplishments over the many years, but we also have very high hopes for the future, through the youth of the community. The youth of Petit de Grat, themselves, have a lot to be proud of in their own right. First, Petit de Grat houses La Maison des Jeunes de Richmond, a local francophone youth group, devoted to promoting the French language and culture to the children of the community. Today, this youth group is among eight others in the province who are all connected by a provincial wide Youth Council. Not only is our youth group the most active out of the eight, but three of the six executive leaders of the Council are from this very region. Secondly, Petit de Grat is also the home of La Cooperative Jeunesse au travail, a local youth work force. Founded in 1979, the members of this cooperative give their all to doing odd jobs, in order to help and enrich the community. This youth Co-op is not only the oldest of it's kind in Canada, but it's also the only one active year round, giving them something to be very proud of.

Yes, it's true, Petit de Grat has much to be proud of, but I have not yet mentioned what we are most proud of. What we are most proud of is not an accomplishment made by the community itself as a whole, but more a number of accomplishments made by one of our own. Petit de Grat has always been a place of culture and heritage, and we have always done all our possible to preserve just that. I think it is very evident today just how much has been done to maintain the Acadian culture in our community.

A lot of time has been sacrificed in the fight to arrive where the Acadians are today, but nobody had fought harder or spent more time to the cause than Denise Samson. A native of Petit de Grat, Denise started her career as a psychology teacher at l'Universite Sainte-Anne at la Pointe de l'Eglise on the other side of the province. She then spent seven years working with la Federation Acadienne de la Nouvelle-Ecosse (the Acadian Federation of Nova Scotia), under the youth sector. She was in her glory working with young adults, and in this position she touched many young lives and made a lot possible for them.

In 1978, she established a youth leadership program which eventually brought to the foundation of the Conseil Jeunesse Provincial (the francophone youth council, which I mentioned moments ago). Today this Youth Council brings together the youth of the eight major Acadian regions of Nova Scotia. Denise then took the position of leader of the Federation Acadienne. During the time she was president, she played a major role in the founding of Radio Canada Halifax, l'Association des Acadiennes de la Nouvelle-Ecosse (Acadian Woman's Association), the Acadians days of Grand-Pre, and la Federation des Parents Acadiens de la Nouvelle-Ecosse (Acadian Federation for Parents of Nova Scotia).

In 1986, Denise left la Federation Acadienne to begin a study of the Acadian Youth in the province, but she had to abandon the study due to health problems. A year later, she returned to work as a psychologist for the Conseil Scolaire de Clare. In 1987, the Acadian community had took on the initiative to begin a French newspaper in Nova Scotia called Le petit Courrier. They immediately asked Denise to take charge of the project. She therefore became president and founder of la Societe de Presse Acadienne (Acadian Society of the Press), a role she continued to occupy until she was forced to resign in 1990 because of health problems.

A year later, on June 16, 1991, Denise lost her battle with cancer. Throughout her life, Denise's world rotated around children and family. Without her, the Acadian's of Nova Scotia would not be where they are today. For her devotion to her culture and her community, she was awarded a national award called l'Ordre de la Pleadre.

Even after her passing, her shear existence and accomplishments continue to influence people today, to success. The building we are in now; the Picasse, was built in her memory. Her presence was, is and will always be felt in every Acadian region around Nova Scotia. Denise fought for the Acadian culture with every bit of strength she had.

I would like to finish off my speech now by showing you a bit of that culture. I would like to explain to you our sobritchais, and then tell you two stories; legends I guess you could call them, from Petit de Grat. Some of you may have heard them before, maybe when you were young from a grandparent, like I did. Others may have read them in a book or heard them from a friend. When you visit Petit de Grat, you will probably notice that many people don't call others by the surname, but by a totally different name; a sobritchais. A sobritchais, or a nickname is a name that the Acadians used to name different families and villages. These nicknames held special meanings and specific characteristics. Throughout the ages we were able to recognize the people and their customs. Even today we use these nicknames to distinguish the numerous families with the same name in Petit de Grat. It is in Petit de Grat that the names of families were so common that it was necessary to use these nicknames to distinguish the different descendants. In particular, the Boudreaus, the Samsons, the Landrys.

Here are a few examples. The Catous are descendants from Sylvere Samson who owned a store, cattle and lots of land. To many people, he had everything. In French "qui a tout" means "he who has everything" Hence the name Catou. This next one has a story to it that has been passed down for generations. It's the Saindoux. Three brothers named Albert, Sammy & Lamain Landry often played cards at a local store. The winner would not receive any money but would have to settle for groceries. At the end of one particular night after they had been lucky they chose a bunch of lard as their prize. From then on they were called the Saindoux, since Saindoux is French for lard. The Madousses are Boudreaus. After the war in Louisbourg, many Acadians hid in the forest to safeguard against attack from the English. One man, Charles Boudreau thought he heard an enemy approach and threw a porcupine at him. This was actually not an enemy but rather a friend, who called him "mon maudit Madousse:, which translates to "Damn porcupine" In Petit de Grat, you still hear these sobritchais everyday, especially from the older folk.

You can ask them about the sobritchais and they will surely answer you, but I dare you to ask one about les feux-follets and see what kind of reaction you get. The first story I would like to tell you is about dancing fireballs in the sky, which we call les feux-follets. Many years ago, even before the introduction of electricity to Isle Madame, there have been dozens of witnesses to the scariest ghost phenomenon ever in this region. It all started one very stormy night in Petit de Grat. The fishermen had tied their boats up in fear of losing them to the sea that night. No fisherman dared venture out to sea. But one boat, was out there in the middle of the storm; the Norway. While passing by the mouth of Petit de Grat harbor, the crew of the Norway realized in what danger they were actually in, and turned into Petit de Grat harbor, trying to reached land before it was too late. In the middle of the harbor, the Norway was thrown upon l'Ile des Souris, a rock just off the Pointe. The ship sunk and all hands lost.

A few days went by since this terrible storm had struck and the winds now were strangely calm. The fisherman were preparing to head out to sea, when all of a sudden, they looked up to see fire dancing in the sky. Terrified, they ran to their houses to protect themselves from the fireballs, which covered the morning sky. The fisherman did not go out that day, and it was a good thing they hadn't, for that day turned out to be even stormier than it had been a few nights before.

From that point on, these fireballs only came out when a storm was about to hit, and the fishermen always trusted their warning. The people immediately linked to fireballs to the Norway, saying that it was the ghost of the crew making sure that our fishermen did not make the same mistake they did. Time went by, and the feux-follets continued to come. When all of a sudden, the people of Petit de Grat were finding people dead with burned faces or with their knives sticking out of them. They linked the killings to the feux-follets. Apparently the feux-follets attacked the people, took their knives and killed them with them. The children were told that if they see a feu-follet, they better stick their knife deep into a tree, deep enough so the feu-follet couldn't remove it. It turns out that that method worked, and that's what they did to protect themselves from them. Suddenly, when electricity was introduced, the feux-follets disappeared and were never seen again. Many witnesses to the feux-follets still exist today, some were even attacked by them, and survived to tell the tale.

This last story is of a man named Goshnet, the way my grandmother told it to me. Many years ago, in Gros Nez on the island of Petit de Grat, there lived a family. It was the family of Edouard Boudrot and his wife Adele Landry. On this particular night, it was very stormy and very cold, too cold to be outside. Adele had just finished making some soup and Edouard was sitting at the table, when there was a sudden knock at the door. Startled, Edouard and Adele both looked at each other, wondering who it could be this late at night in such horrible weather. Fearing that it was a neighbor in need, Edouard answered the door. There stood a rather tall man, with blond hair and blue eyes, the likes of which Edouard had never seen before. Edouard immediately invited the freezing man into his home and lead him to the table. When the man sat down, Adele approached him and placed a bowl of soup on the table. He sure looked cold, and she thought a bowl of soup may just be what he needed to warm up. Upon receiving the bowl of soup, the man looked up at Adele and said: "Goshnet". Confused, Adele and Edouard glanced at each other once again. They found that the only word the man would say was: "Goshnet", so that's what they called this foreigner, "Goshnet".

Goshnet stayed with the family all winter, helping Adele with the household chores and with the children. When the weather warmed up, Edouard thought that Goshnet, being as big and tall as he was, would be very useful on the fishing boat, so he lead him to his boat. But when Goshnet approached the boat, he became hostile, as though he was afraid of the water. Edouard, being very persistent, continued to urge him to the boat, but Goshnet would not go. Finally Goshnet's patience ran out and he pulled out a knife and lunged at Edouard, nearly catching him with the blade. Edouard was finally able to calm the man down and take him back home, but he knew that after this incident, he could never trust him again. Goshnet packed his stuff and headed out. After a few hours, Edouard began to regret sending Goshnet out of his home, and started searching for him, but he never found him. Nobody had seen him. It puzzled Edouard because he knew that Goshnet was afraid of the water, and since they were on an island, where could he go. It's at that moment that Edouard began to wonder if Goshnet truly existed.