"... the only man of all European hordes that treated the Indian like a brother;" ... Mary Hartwell Catherwood.

Read clippings from the article from left to right.  Click on each to enlarge.

Link to: "Excerpts from "In the Dikelands. The Ebb and Flow of the Tides in Nova Scotia: Notes by Mrs. Catherwood. An American Among the Descendants of the Loyalists.  What She Saw in New Brunswick. The Sad Story of the Acadians in Grand Pre Meadows." Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) · Sun, Sep 29, 1889 · Page 25. https://www.newspapers.com/image/371134813. Downloaded on Nov 22, 2023

Clippings shared with the express written permission of Newspapers.com

Link to: Vaughan, M. (2023, May 19). "Metis in Minnesota: In the Minnesota region during the eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries, métis, or mixed-ancestry, people often acted as bridges between white and Native American communities." MNOPEDIA. https://www.mnopedia.org/group/m-tis-minnesota

Link to: Cosier, S. (2023, November 6). "Dugout Canoes, the ‘Pickup Trucks’ of Their Day, Go Digital in Wisconsin: For millennia, people used dugouts for transport and trade. Now, an ambitious project is preserving the canoes virtually and revealing new details." Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wisconsin-dugout-canoe-archaeology?mc_cid=460903a6e7&mc_eid=3880d5eb58

After fleeing the French Revolution and making his way first to England and then to Clare, Nova Scotia, Father Sigogne served the Mi'kmaw and the poorest of the poor Acadian peoples of the Cap-Sable and Baie Sainte-Marie parishes, which he founded, from 1799 to his death in 1844.

Through his application of "moral rigorism" upon the communities he served, his liberal use of the threat of excommunication as a means of discipline, his advocacy for the spiritual, educational and other temporal needs of Acadian and Mi'kmaw, and his staunch devotion to the communities he served until his death, for which Nova Scotia's provincial officials (if not always his parishioners) held him in high esteem, Father Sigogne left an indelible, and praiseworthy mark on the history of the area.

As his personal correspondence attests, Father Sigogne was notably distressed about the level of contempt his parishioners had for their mixed-blood brethren, who were the offspring of intermarried Acadian and Mi'kmaw parents. 

As noted in his biography, Father Sigogne's attempts to address the problem within the community did not succeed, and later he would rely upon social mechanisms such as intermarriage and the passage of time, to lessen, if not eliminate altogether, this long-standing prejudice.

References:

• Pothier, B. (1988). SIGOGNE, JEAN-MANDÉ. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 7. https://doi.org/November 2, 2023
• (n.d.). Father Sigogne. Le Petit Bois. Retrieved November 2, 2023, from https://lepetitbois.ca/en/self-guided-walks/father-sigogne/
• Boudreau, G. C. (n.d.). Father Sigogne and Nova Scotia’s Acadian Heritage. Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America. Retrieved November 2, 2023, from http://www.ameriquefrancaise.org/en/article-424/Father_Sigogne_and_Nova_Scotia%E2%80%99s_Acadian_Heritage.html

Also link to: Association des Acadiens-Metis Souriquois blog site: https://acadiens-metis-souriquois.ca/aams-blog/news-and-reflections-ancient-place-names-close-to-home-baie-sainte-marie-clare-march-18-2023

The Fultz House Museum, in Lower Sackville, has published an engaging brochure, "Captain John Gorham: Hero or Monster."  Here, we may read a summary of the vile and murderous exploits of Captain John Gorham and his band of Rangers.  As we read the brochure, we learn that In return for a generous bounty offered by the British Governor Shirley and later by Governor Cornwallis, Captain Gorham and his Rangers engaged in the collection of human scalps. The brutal practice of collecting scalps for pay, exploited in full by John Gorham and his Rangers, continued from approximately 1744 through the early 1750s, and targeted Mi'kmaq warriors, civilians, and anyone living in settlements and villages that "stood in their way." 

What happened under the command of Captain John Gorham and his Rangers was far worse, as contemporary research reveals.  Brian D. Carroll, in his 2012 article,  “Savages” in the Service of Empire: Native American Soldiers in Gorham's Rangers, 1744–1762," gives insight into Gorham's Rangers, a primarily Indian company, and its role in subduing a hostile Acadian and Mi'kmaq population using a variety of techniques comprising collection of scalps from Mi'kmaq warriors, civilians, and Acadian guerillas, crop burning, amphibious raids, surprise attacks, terror -- including the taking, killing or selling of captives - deception, impersonation "stealth and subterfuge."

Reference: Carroll, Brian D. (2012). "Savages” in the Service of Empire: Native American Soldiers in Gorham’s Rangers, 1744-1762." The New England Quarterly Vol. 85, No. 9. p. 407. https://archive.org/details/2012-09-us-the-new-england-quarterly-vol.-85-no.-9/mode/2up

Articles in the Portland Press gives a local historian's point of view about Gorham's Rangers:

References:

• Humiston, F. (1968, January 4). "Boston Town to Thomas Town - 258: Cajuns Threat to British After Beausejour Victory." Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine). Page 8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/848451808. Downloaded October 26, 2023
  

• Humiston, F. (1968, January 16). "Boston Town to Thomas Town: British Decide Actions Must be Taken Against Acadians. Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine) · Tue, Jan 16, 1968 · Page 7. https://www.newspapers.com/image/848527966 Downloaded on Oct 26, 2023
  

Clippings are re-printed with the Permission of Newspapers.com.