Memramcook (historically also spelled Memramcouke or Memramkouke; or ) is a village in Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada. Located in south-eastern New Brunswick, the community is predominantly people of Acadian descent who speak the Chiac derivative of the French language. An agricultural village, it has a strong local patrimony, key to the history of the region. It was home to the Mi'kmaq people for many years and was the arrival site of Acadians in 1700. A large part of these Acadians were deported in 1755, but the village itself survived.
The Collège Saint-Joseph was the first francophone university in the east of Canada, which opened its doors in 1864 and hosted/organized the first National Acadian Convention in 1881.
History
Name Memramcook was called the "Berceau de l'Acadie", which translates to "cradle of Acadia". Long inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the site saw the arrival of their allies, the Acadians in 1700.Arsenault, Bona, Histoire des Acadiens, Bibliothèque nationale du Québec. 1978. Lemaéac p 79. It now goes by the slogan of "Notre belle vallée", since the recent re-branding of the village in May 2015. The village name is originally Mi'kmaq and means "variegated" referring to the many intricacies of the Memramcook River. The first mention of the area used the spelling Mémérancouque in 1757. The missionaries turned it into Memerancook, Memerancooque (1757), Memeramcook (1803), Memramkook (1812), Mamramcook (1812) and finally Memramcook. There have been several recent controversies about the name, such as people who offer the spelling Memramcouk or Memramkouke.
Origins Mi'kmaq people were already established in the region for a couple hundred years before the Acadians arrived. Their main village and cemetery seemed to be in Beaumont, and they also had a camp at what is now today Saint-Joseph. Beaumont was a strategic location, giving that it allowed them to control the Petitcodiac River, the most important marine transport route in the region. Knockout, Bernard, Skéouite, Toudoi, Argémiche, Thomas and others were the common family names at the time.
Samuel de Champlain and Jean de Poutrincourt explored the region in 1605. They noted a rocky point (the Beaumont point) and no human presence. In 1612, Father Biard, Charles de Biencourt and their four Native American guides returned to visit Memramcook. At that time, there were about 60–80 cabins.
In 1672, Acadian and European word-runners and fishers started to frequent the area and some stayed to establish themselves. The village became a part of domain of La Vallière (Beaubassin) in 1676.
In 1698, Pierre Thibaudeau, Guillaume Blanchard, Pierre Gaudet and a few others left Port-Royal to explore Trois-Rivières. Pierre Gaudet, the youngest of the group, decided to stay in Memramcook. The village developed much more quickly after the signing of the Utrecht Treaty, which gave Acadia to England in 1713. Many families from Port-Royal moved to Memramcook at this time as it was still French territory.
Hamlets that would be later known as Pierre-à-Michel and Beaumont were founded in 1740. The Fort de La Galissoniére was constructed in 1751. Its job was to defend the entire isthmus of Chignecto, but was later replaced by Fort Beauséjour. Residents were also starting to construct the famous dyke system to dry out the marshes for agriculture. In 1752, the village was composed of 250 people from 51 different families. There were the Blanchards, Richards, Lanoues, Dupuis, Benoîts, Landrys, LeBlancs, Aucoins, Maillets, Girouards, Forests, Daigles, Savoies, Robichaud, Bastaraches, Heberts, Deslauriers, Cyrs, Bourques and Thibodeaus. People lived mostly along the river, and the first chapel was built in 1753 at Pointe-aux-Bouleaux, which is Ruisseau-des-Breau today.
Deportation In August 1755, English soldiers were sent to Beaubassin, Petitcodiac, Chipoudy, and Memramcook to take the Acadiens prisoners. However, through guidance by the local missionary, Father LeGuerne, and the local people of the Miꞌkmaq nation, the Acadians hid in the woods. Then, on August 26, Lieutenant Boishébert of Miramichi and 125 soldiers and a group of Miꞌkmaq, surprised 200 Englishmen, under the command of Major Joseph Frye. The English had set fire to the church of Chipoudy and 181 homes, as well as 250 houses in Petitcodiac. Boishébert gave the order to attack at the moment that the English were setting fire to the church of Petitcodiac. After three hours of fierce fighting, the English retreated, leaving behind 50 dead, and around 60 wounded. It was thus that 200 families were able to escape the deportation.
Acadian renaissance After the deportation, Memramcook Village became even more important to Acadia, as much for its population of 75 families in 1786 but also as a symbol of Acadian heritage. "Old Acadia" was the villages in the marshes of Grand-Pré or Port-Royal, and Memramcook was one of the only to not have been invaded by the English. Memramcook was also the first in New Brunswick to found a Catholic parish in 1781. During the colonisation of Northumberland, from 1785 to 1789, a good part of the colonists came from Memramcook. This laid the foundation for important villages like Bouctouche and Richibouctou.
In 1755, Joseph Frederick Wallet Desbarres bought the territory of the Pointe, which was essentially the village territory itself. The province of New Brunswick was created in 1784. Two years later, the Acadians living on the riverbank of river Memramcook received the conditions of the government. The first agreement was signed between Desbarres and the Acadians in 1784, through their agent Mary Cannon. People of the Pointe reclaimed for the first time their land in 1786. They received new requests for the area in 1792 and 1795, and the land was re-given to Desbarres in 1805. Another petition was created in 1808 and in 1821 they were given back their rightful land. A similar situation was experienced by the Acadians of l'Anse-des-Cormier in 1822. Desbarres died in 1824 at the age of 102. The property ownership conflict was fully resolved in 1841 and ratified in 1842, and habitants of the Pointe could buy land at the price of $1 per acre.
Interior development of the Memramcook Village continued. The Village-des-Piau was founded in 1769 and Pointe-à-l'Ours the year after. The village of Bonhomme Gould (today Lourdes) was founded in 1790. In 1782, the Thomas-François Le Roux abbey hosted the first resident priest. A new church was built in La Montain.
The Mi'kmaqs of Memramcook organized themselves more and more towards 1830 to combat social issues and difficulties related to weather and natural causes. They asked for the foundation of a native reserve, Fort Folly, which was realized in 1840 in Beaumont. They constructed the Chapel Sainte-Anne there 2 years later.
In 1854, Father François-Xavier Stanislas Lawrence founded the Saint-Thomas seminary, the first francophone college of Acadia. In 1862, the doors were closed due to financial problems. Father Camille Lefebvre arrived in 1864 as the new parish priest. He founded the Saint-Joseph college the same year in the seminary building.
The opening of the college contributed to an economic growth than continued in the village into the 19th century. Between 1800 and 1925, numerous quarries were exploited, specifically in Beaumont. The hamlet experienced expansion, counting 100 homes in 1860. Stone was a major industry there, being exported to the States from 4 quarries. The quarries eventually stopped their exportation to the USA because of taxes. Charbon and other mineral mines were also found in Beaumont. Four oil wells, some of the first in North America, were dug in 1859 in Pré-des-Surette by H.C Tweedal, an entrepreneur from Pittsburgh. They were not enterable but permitted for the discovery of Albert Formation, where other non-enterable wells were dug. From 1876 to 1879, other wells were built in Saint-Joseph. The New Brunswick Petroleum Company received an agreement for 99 years for this entire area. From 1903 to 1905, they dug 77 wells. The most bountiful well would give about 50 barrels a day, and it is estimated that 3000 barrels were extracted from the fields of Pré-des-Surette. There was also a copper mine, an iron mine at College Bridge from 1892 to 1898 and a gypsum mine in Memramcook East. Boats were built in Pré-d'en-Bas and in Beaumont. The village even had its own beurrerie from 1892 to 1908. There were also other industries and businesses, today most being gone, such as finishing, a mill and a foundry.
The first Acadian National Convention was held in Memramcook in 1881. The term Acadian was defined and the date for the national holiday was chosen.
Contemporary Acadia in Memramcook The Monument Lefebvre was built in 1896. The Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur congregation was set up in 1924. Saint-Joseph College fell victim to a fire in 1933 but the chapel was the only thing spared. In 1934, reconstruction of the college took place. The 10th National Acadian Convention took place in Memramcook in 1937 The Caisse Populaire of Memramcook was created in 1941, with that of Pré-d'en-Haut starting in 1944. The Pré-d'en-Haut school opened in 1949. In 1955, the schools in the valley consolidated and a regional school opened in 1958. The 12th National Acadian Convention was held in Memramcook. Abbey-Landry School K-8, Known then as École Régionale de la Vallée de Memramcook (High School) was inaugurated in 1961. Université Saint-Joseph became part of the Université de Moncton campus in 1963. Saint-Joseph campus closed its doors in 1972 and the Memramcook Institut (A hotel and language school) opened in 1966 Saint-Joseph separated from the Dorchester parish and become a unique village in 1966 Memramcook hosted the 8th Finale des Jeux de l'Acadie in 1987 May 8, 1995, Saint-Joseph and 7 local villages consolidated to become the Village de Memramcook. Memramcook was host to the first Jeux de la Francophonie Canadienne in 1999 Governor General Roméo LeBlanc organized a dinner in Memramcook during the Sommet de la Francophonie, with Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali as well as French, Haitian and Malian presidents attending. President of France, Jacques Chirac received the Léger-Comeau medal and two honorary doctorats Murielle Roy and Martin Légère were inducted into the National Merit Order. The Caisse-Populaire de Pré-d'en-Haut closed in 2011.
Municipality development Memramcook was founded in the early 1700s in the region of Beaubassin in Acadia, of New France. Acadia was taken over by the British in 1713, but the freedom afforded to the north of the Mesagoueche River, including Memramcook, was still contested. In 1768, Memramcook was annexed to Cumberland, Nova Scotia. New Brunswick was created in 1784 by the Sunbury region and part of Cumberland. Memramcook is now part of the county of Westmorland. The parish of Dorchester, created in 1787 by territories not in a county, included Memramcook at one point. In 1827, the parish of Shediac was formed with parts of the Dorchester parish, Sackville and Westmorland. The country of Westmorland was constituted in 1877. The municipality of the country was dissolved in 1966. The parish of Dorchester took over Westmorland again. Memramcook was incorporated as a town in 1995 incorporating the villages and communities of Saint-Joseph, Breau Creek, Cormier's Cove, La Hêtrière, McGinley's Corner, Memramcook, Memramcook East (Lourdes), Pré-d'en-Haut, Shediac Road, and a portion of the Parish of Dorchester.
Geography
Location