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Joseph Broussard

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Joseph Broussard, also known as Beausoleil, (1702 - 1765) was a leader of the Acadian people in Acadia; later Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

File:Beausoleilbroussard painting HRoe 2004.jpg
Joseph "Beausoleil" Broussard. Artist Herb Roe

He was born in Port Royal in 1702 but he lived much of his life along the Petitcodiac River. With his wife Agnes, he had eleven children.

After the construction of Fort Beausejour in 1751, he lent aid to the garrison there. He became a leader of an armed resistance following the expulsion of the Acadians, leading assaults against the British on several occasions between 1755 and 1758. He traveled through the upper Bay of Fundy region in his schooner, which the British finally seized in November 1758. He was then forced to flee, travelling first to the Miramichi and later to Fort Edward. He was permitted to travel with several others to Dominica but, unable to adapt to the climate, he went to Louisiana.[1]

Not long after his arrival in 1765, Joseph Broussard died in St. Martinville. The exact date of his death is unknown, but it assumed to have been on or around October 20.

Now many of his descendants live in Nova Scotia. They are proud to call him ancestor.

Modern cultural references

The Cajun music group BeauSoleil is named after him.

References

  1. ^ C. A. Pincombe and E. W. Larracy, Resurgo: The History of Moncton, Volume 1, 1990, Moncton, p. 30
  • John Mack Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from their American Homeland (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005).
  • Warren A. Perrin, Acadian Redemption: From Beausoleil Broussard to the British Queen's Royal Proclamation (Opelousas, La.: Andrepont Publishing, 2005).