• Click Here if you would like to go to the Melancon/Melanson Family History page.

  • Click Here if you would like to go to my current work on the genelogical data pages regarding my specific lineage to Pierre Mellanson Sieur dit LaVerdure, one of the original (circa 1680) founders of:

    Grand-Pre, St. Charles aux Mines, l'Acadie - Wikipedia Link.

  • Both the National Parks Canada and the Grand-Pre National Commemorative Society sites give historical credit for Grand-Pre's founding to my 10th generation, great(x7) grandfather, Pierre Melanson dit LaVerdure, and grandmother, Marguerite Mius d'Entremont.

    Grand-Pre National Historic Site - Parks Canada

    Grand-Pre National Historic Site - Société Promotion Grand-Pré


  • The Melancon/Melanson family has proven ties to King Alfred the Great as well as the Mius-d'Entremont family and the Roman Emporer Charlemagne.

    Pierre arrived in Acadie along with his brother, Charles. They settled on the north side of the Annapolis River, a short distance to the east of Scotch Fort.

    Pierre had 10 children: Philippe, Cecile, Pierre, Marie, Marguerite, Isabelle, Jean, Madeleine, Anne, and Paul. He was one of the principle founders of Grand Pre around 1680.

    Melanson Village was named for he and his brother. According to the 1686 Census of Port Royal, it shows the Melanson family had nine children at the time, 12 guns, 50 acres, 31 cattle, 8 sheep and 27 hogs. Pierre was named Major-in-Charge of the Militia Post.

    Official Correspondence regarding Pierre Melanson, Sieur dit LaVerdure by Governors of Acadia, House of Bourbon government, King Louis XIV

    From the Canadian Archives, MG 18, H20: "I certify that Sieur Melancon, chief of the nation of Indians of all Acadia, as well as the French of that county, has rendered to me all sorts of services for the establishment of this colony, and that this establishment would not have been made without his help, and that I have retained for him, as his reward for his serviceswhich he rendered to my master, the King, the title of Colonel General of the Militia and Chief of the Indian nation. By misfortune, M. de Carillon, commanding the King's vessel, La Francoise, was taken by the English in the port of Le Have (sic), that Sieur de Melancon defrayed the expenses of all the crew and kept them at his house for six weeks without ever wishing any compensation more than to be useful to His Majesty. I certify further that after having made his abjuration and embraced the Catholic religion, he, by his example and exhortation, charged the inhabitants and Indians to be loyal to the King, to live and die in the faith of the Roman Religion.
    Done at Port Royal in Acadie, the first of March, 1704 and signed by: DeBrouillan [Acadien Governor Jacques Francois de Brouillan.]


    Official Correspondence regarding Pierre Melanson, Sieur dit LaVerdure by Governors of Acadia, House of Bourbon government, King Louis XV

    I certify that Mademoiselle Melancon, wife of Sieur le Poupet de la Boularderie, is the daughter of Sieur Melancon, chief of the inhabitants of Acadie, and that during the space of five years that I governed in that country, I always used him to command the Militia as he had done in the time of governors who were my predecessors, that he has served with all zeal possible. I certify further that after having made his abjuration and embraced the Catholic religion, he charged the inhabitants to be loyal to the King, to live and die in the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Religion.
    Done at Paris, the third of August, 1727 and signed by: De Subercase, former governor of Acadie [ Daniel Auger, Sieur de Subercase.]"


Timeline

1608
Pierre dit La Verdure born


1627-1628
Huguenot Rebellion - Siege of LaRochelle, France


1628
Pierre dit La Verdure and French Huguenots flee to safe refuge in England


1630
Pierre dit La Verdure marries Priscilla Mallinson from Yorkshire


1657
With Cromwell's newly appointed English Governor of Nova Scotia, Sir Thomas Temple, Pierre dit La Verdure and Priscilla Mallinson travel to settle in Nova Scotia with their 3 children: Pierre, Charles and Jean.


1664
Charles Mellanson dit La Ramee' founds the Canadian National Historic Site: The Melanson Settlement with his wife, Mary Dugas.

Founded on the north shore of the Annapolis River, 6.5 km from the former Port-Royal, the Melanson Settlement is a national historic archaeological site of Canada.

Parks Canada National Historic Archaeological Site:
The Melanson Settlement


1667
When Acadia was returned to France by the Treaty of Breda, Pierre dit La Verdure, Priscilla Mallinson and son John move to Boston. Charles Mellanson dit La Ramee and Pierre Mellanson, Sieur de Laverdure remained in Acadia.


1675
Major Richard Waldron gives Henry Lawton orders to gather uprising Indians. William Waldron and John Laverdure are recruited and hire the vessel,"Endeavor", at Cape Sable. John Laverdure invites a group of approximately 17 Indians aboard and distracts them. John Laverdure and his pirate crew kidnapped the Indians, including the "Sagamos" - the chief and his wife. Sailing to the Açores, they sold their cargo of Indian captives.


1676
During the summer of 1676, the "pirates", John Laverdure, Henry Lawton and William Waldron are apprehended and thrown in jail. John Laverdure, was left at liberty in return of a bail of 100 pounds that his mother Priscilla Mellanson borrowed from her landlord. The day of his trial, John Laverdure jumped bail.


1676-1677
Searching for his son, John Laverdure, Pierre dit La Verdure dies during the winter of 1676 - 1677 [abt Dec 1676] in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Age: 68


1677
Priscilla Mellanson petitions the governor of Massachusetts and his council pleading that the 100 pounds she had put in bail would not be forfeited. In the letter she states the origin of the French Acadian Melanson family, which would never have confirmed otherwise.


1682
Pierre "Peter" Mellanson, Sieur de Laverdure (seigneurial agent and captain of the militia) founds the Canadian National Historic Site: Grand-Pré with his wife, Marie Marguerite Anne Mius D'Entremont, daughter of Philippe Mius D'Entremont, Lord of Pomcoup and Pierre Terriau.

Founded in the area around the Minas Basin at the Bay of Fundy, Grand-Pré was a center of Acadian settlement from about 1682 until 1755. Approximately 2,200 Acadian men, women and children were deported from Les Mines which accounts for nearly a third of the total number of Acadians deported from l'Acadie in 1755.

The Grand-Pré settlement founded by Melanson is a national historic archaeological site of Canada.

Parks Canada National Historic Archaeological Site:
Grand-Pré


1691
Priscilla Mellanson dies during the winter of 1691, December, in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Age: 78


1720
Son of Pierre dit La Verdure, Pierre Mellanson Sieur dit Laverdure, founder of Grand Pré, Seigneurial Agent and Major-in-Charge of the Militia Post, dies in Saint-Charles-des-Mines, Acadie


1755 - July, 28th
Acadian delegates meet with Lt. Governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council. On signing another "Oath of Allegience" to the British Crown, they place the condition that they would never be required to bear arms against the French.

Governor Lawrence gives the order to seize all Acadian lands and livestock and executes the organized and systematic detainment and expulsion of the "French Neutrals" in Nova Scotia.


1755 - September, 5th
Colonel John Winslow reads the deportation decree, issued by Governor Charles Lawrence, in the Grand-Pré Church. Acadian deportation and Exile forever known as "Le Grand Derangement"


1755 - September
Acadian settlements destroyed by English troops - Families imprisoned, some escape


1755 - September
Colonel John Winslow warns "if within 2 days the absent ones are not delivered up, military execution would be immediately visited upon the next of kin." (quoted in Dudley LeBlanc, The Acadian Miracle, p.174)


1755 - October
Imprisoned and detained Acadians begin to be sent by ship into exile, where approximately one third perished. Because a strength of Acadian life was in their close extended family system, the British believed fragmenting the families was essential.


1755 - November
Exiled Acadian families begin to arrive in Maryland, Massachusettes and other deportation areas.


1755 through 1764
Acadians dispersed to numerous areas of the globe. This "Ethnical Cleansing" traumatically scars the memory of Acadian culture. They live in British Crown controlled group exile and prison compounds, or perish to shipwrecks, and disease due to inhumane living conditions.

Small groups of Acadians managed to escape and hide in the woods. Many who fled were hunted down, trapped, imprisoned and exiled. Some were successful and returned to their homes over the following decades.


1763 - February 10
The Seven Years War (French and Indian War) officially ends with the Treaty of Paris. Preferring to keep areas in Guadeloupe, France cedes areas of Canada to Britain.


1764
British Crown begins to allow exiled and imprisoned Acadians to return to their homeland.


1765
Spanish Crown begins to welcome and issue official land grants to exiled Acadians in the Poste des Attakapas, Vacherie, St. Gabriel and St. Jacques de Cabanocé (St. James Parish) areas of Louisiana.


1765
Two Melanson families firmly establish themselves in St. James Parish as they did at The Mélançon Settlement and Grand-Pré areas in Nova Scotia.


1770
French "cedilla" spelling: "Mélançon" begins to be officially used.

Mélançon/Melanson families begin migrating to the 2nd Acadian Coast: Donaldsonville, Paincourtville areas and the Ascension, Assumption, Lafourche Parishes.



Click Here if you would like to go to the Melancon/Melanson Family History page.




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