When Hilarion Thériault sensed his time was near at 71 years old, he made the decision to create a will, a rare occurrence among Acadians in the 19th century. This rarity stemmed from the fact that many Acadians had little property to pass down. Following the Acadian deportation, a significant number lost their land and homes. Furthermore, Roman Catholics in the province were not permitted to own property until the 1780s. Despite many Acadians working and living on the land they inhabited, obtaining land titles was a prolonged struggle.
Thériault, however, was determined not to depart unprepared, as stated in his will. Colby Gaudet, a post-doctoral fellow at Dalhousie University, delved into Thériault’s will and those of 23 others from the small Acadian community of Clare, N.S. His objective was to gain insights into how certain families navigated the legal and religious customs associated with mourning and death.
Gaudet remarked that drafting wills was both an act of resistance and adherence for Acadians. They utilized the existing Anglophone property framework but emphasized their Roman Catholic identity. Thériault’s will requested the settlement of debts, reparations for any injustices in his memory, and the provision of peace for his family.
Maurice Basque, a historian at l’Institut d’études acadiennes at the Université de Moncton, highlighted that these wills were written amidst significant social ostracism of Acadians. In 1755, Lt.-Gov. Charles Lawrence ordered the expulsion of Acadians after they declined to pledge allegiance to the British Crown. The Crown claimed Acadian lands, distributing them among settlers from New England in a deliberate effort to replace the Acadian population.
Although some Acadians eventually returned, their reintegration was far from welcoming. Basque noted that they were systematically excluded from certain positions of authority through oath tests aimed at forcing individuals to renounce core Catholic tenets.
Gaudet emphasized the language barrier faced by Acadians when their wills were reviewed by predominantly Anglo-Protestant county judges. These judges, who oversaw the wills, added another layer of complexity for Acadians who had to draft wills in a language they were not fluent in. All the wills Gaudet examined were prepared by a priest named Jean-Mandé Sigogne, who had fled France during the French Revolution and settled in Clare in 1799.
Gaudet’s study of the wills revealed that they were primarily left behind by community leaders like Thériault, who was a founding churchwarden of the parish. Influenced by the profound role of the church and Catholicism in their lives, these leaders ensured that their wills reflected their faith, even in the face of societal disapproval.
Moreover, the wills shed light on the interactions between Black individuals and Acadians. Gaudet’s research was sparked by the will of Amable Doucet, who bequeathed a Black slave named Jerome to his wife along with his other assets. Another will studied by Gaudet involved Étienne Thibodeau selecting his neighbors Paul Dugas and Anselm Hatfield as witnesses. Hatfield, a Black man from New York, had previously been an indentured servant to Dugas but was now a free member of the community.