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Read before the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society 21 November 2007
Introduction
On October 14, 1731, four men from the Cobequid in Nova Scotia attended the home of Governor Lawrence Armstrong in Annapolis Royal. The men, who had been named as heirs in the will of a former seigneur of their district, wanted their rights as heirs validated. One of them was identified in the resulting minutes as Noel Doiron2 who was said to reside in "Trejeptick3 on the South side of the Basin of Mines"4 (a region that is now located in the municipality of East Hants).5 This passing reference not only identifies the name of an Acadian settler residing in East Hants, but also provides a foundation to construct a comprehensive history of the East Hants Acadians. For almost fifty years, Noel Doiron was the patriarch of the largest Acadian settlement in East Hants (three times the size of other settlements in the region). As a result, the story of Noel Doiron is intertwined with the collective history of the East Hants Acadians.
The story of Noel Doiron and his family provides a tragic portrait of an 1 8th century Acadian community. The tenterhooks of history stretch Noel Doiron and his family from captivity in Boston where he and his wife marry; to productive dyke building years on the south side of the Minas Basin; to years of exile and famine on He St. Jean (Prince Edward Island); and, finally, to an ill-feted voyage aboard the Duke William after the fell of Fortress Louisbourg in 1758. While no etchings or paintings exist of the Doiron family, their historical presence can be traced through the letters of their parish priest and government documents such as contemporaneous maps of the region, censuses, the minutes of colonial council, and not least, through a marriage certificate bearing the signatures (a pair of exes) of the Acadian patriarch and his wife.
The importance of Noel Doiron and the leadership he provided extends beyond the patriarchal influence he yielded in a prominent Acadian village. A contemporary described him as the "father of the whole island" - a reference to the leadership position he held among the Acadians living on He St. Jean. Such leadership was clearly documented in...