Mountain Cajuns?

Lost Ancestors in American History

Say "Cajun", and most people will think of jambalaya, accordions and the Louisiana swamps.

Those with some knowledge of colonial-era history will know that this relict French-speaking population in the USA's Deep South are refugees of "Acadie", part of the French holdings in North America centred around Eastern Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia in present-day Canada, and indeed part of the present US state of Maine.

Acadie functioned as an autonomous state, separate from Canada proper.

"Ownership" of Acadie was aggressively contested by the French and British crowns from the early 1600s, up until the end of the Seven Years War (or what US people call the French and Indian War). The war and its aftermath saw masses of Catholic French-speaking Acadians being expelled or forcibly removed from lands which they had been farming and improving for over 150 years.

This event is known as The Great Expulsion of 1755-1764.

By most accounts these Acadians, or “Cajuns”, were at the time living amicably alongside and intermarrying among the local native tribes such as the Mi'kmaq, and are considered one of the earliest Métis (mixed ethnic) groups in North America.

As the other major Catholic power in North America, Spain accepted these Acadian refugees into Spanish Louisiana, where they and their culture survive to this day.

So far, so clear. End of story? Not quite.

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A cursory glance at the history books would lead us to believe that ALL Cajuns ended-up in French or Spanish controlled regions along the Mississippi River following their expulsion from Acadie at the hands of the British.

But in October of 1755, a first convoy of ships, carrying perhaps 1600 of these Cajuns, set sail from Acadie for South Carolina as part of "The Great Expulsion".

Just as with the Irish "coffin ships" of nearly a century later, shipboard conditions were atrocious, and hundreds perished while underway. Once in South Carolina, these luckless people were confined to these ships for weeks, while officialdom squabbled over what to do with them. Death and disease became so rampant that this desperate human cargo was eventually allowed to spill out of the ships to set up camp on the beaches.

Many sought immediate escape from a certain future of poverty or harsh indentured servitude, and the citizens of South Carolina were not unhappy to see a vexing problem remove itself.

The South Carolina Gazette noted on May 7, 1756 that "upwards of 80 Acadians went from hence in Canows (canoes), for the Northward: the country Scout-Boats accompany them as far as Winyab. Yesterday upwards of 50 more of those People went for Virginia, in the Sloop Jacob Capt. Noel."

Taxes were eventually levied to raise enough money for three months' welfare to feed and house these destitute people until they could be distributed among different parishes, with orphans being sold into indenture.

Local French Huguenot (Protestant) settlers were said to have grumbled loudly over being taxed to support their erstwhile religious foes.

Once the welfare fund was exhausted, many Cajuns chose to camp in settlements along the Santee River, in conditions of squalor, rather than see their families torn apart. It was not even possible to hunt for subsistence, as Anglo-American fear of a Cajun and Métis alliance with the Indians against the British overlords meant that the Catholic French refugees were not allowed to own firearms.

Finally, after being much reduced by a calamitous smallpox epidemic, at least three groups of South Carolina Acadians tried to escape to the west over land.

Because British officials suspected that the Acadians might link up and join forces with the Indians, they immediately gave chase, and two of the groups were retrieved.

But another group made their way up the Santee River Valley of South Carolina, stealing weapons and supplies on the way, before heading into the mountains of Southern Appalachia, where it is presumed they hiked northward along the mountain chain, or crossed over entirely, hoping to follow the Ohio River into French and Indian territory.

Only two of this latter group are known to have made it to Fort Duquesne, the French military installation in what was then still known as Haute-Louisiane (Upper Louisiana).

Fort Duquesne lay at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, where the US city of Pittsburg is now located.

It is impossible to know whether the rest of these Acadians perished from their privations, were killed or taken captive by local tribes, or simply came to live among them - a not uncommon occurrence, as French relations with Indigenous peoples were on a generally friendly and collaborative footing when compared to the racism and enslavement offered by many Anglo-Americans.

The truth is, the fate of these "Mountain Cajuns" is probably lost to the mists of time and Appalachia.

But spare a thought the next time you read that Appalachia is a place settled mostly by "Scots-Irish" people.

The historical record tells a far more complex story - a Casey might be a "Quessy", a Turner could be a "Latournier", and a Brown might in fact be a "Brun".

Your Carpenters may once have been "Carpentiers", your Corbins "Corbains", your Jacks "Jacques".

Well-known mixed-ethnic Southern Appalachian families such as the Brashers and Colletts carry names once common in Acadie - "Brasseur" and "Collette".

And lest the idea of mixed-ethnic or "Métis" Cajuns in Appalachia sounds a bit far-fetched, just remember this:

In a study published in Genome in April of 2020, it was revealed that a man in Tennessee is still the carrier of mitochondrial DNA linking him to the Beothuk tribe of Eastern Canada - a people whose last known member, a woman named Shanawdithit, died of tuberculosis in 1829!

The Beothuk's culture and history shared a great deal of overlap with the still extant Miawpukek First Nation - a Mi'kmaq people.

While the Miawpukek and Beothuk were situated mostly in Newfoundland, the Mi'kmaq people as a whole were, and are, still found throughout Canada's Atlantic Provinces, including Nova Scotia.

Of course, you may prefer to call Nova Scotia "Acadie" or "Epekwitk", depending on your cultural affinities...

I'm including a selection (from my own research) of French-derived Appalachian surnames just below.

Some readers might enjoy sharing it the next time someone insists that Appalachian culture equals Scots-Irish culture.

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Agee (Agie)

Alley (Allée)

Amonett

Aubrey

Auxier (from German "Achser", but also present in French Alsace)

Barbee (Barbé, Barbier)

Barton

Belcher

Bellew (when Anglicised, from French "Ballou"; not to be confused with "Bilyeu")

Berrong (Beron)

Binion

Blue (Ballou)

Bobo (Baubeau)

Bouchelle

Brashear (Brassieur)

Broret

Bundren (Bondurant)

Chardavoyne (Char de Voine?)

Chasteen (Chastain)

Crockett

Dabney (d'Aubigne)

Damron (also "Dameron")

De Busk (Deboske, de Busque?)

Debreuil (Paw-Paw French)

DeHart (de Haart, de Hardt - perhaps Dutch, Flemish, or Alsatian)

Delashmutt/Shoemate (de la Chaumette)

Demoret

DeShon (Deschamps)

DeSpain

DeZarn

Diel

Dismukes (Des Meaux?)

Dumas

DuPont (rare)

Dupree

DuPuy (Manakin colony)

Duvall

Farrar

Faubion

Faucheraud (rare)

Ferree

Foret (Forêt)

Foure (Manakin colony)

Fountain (Fontaine)

Fugate (Fugett)

Fuqua (Fouquet)

Gastineau

Gautier

Gevedon (Gevaudan)

Guerin (often "Geren" in Appalachia)

Hardin (Hardouin)

Hash (Heche)

Hatcher

Hazard (Hassard)

Jordan (Jourdan)

Jouett

Julian

LaFon (LaFond)

Lambert

Lanier

LaRue

Le Grande

Lemaster (Le Maistre)

Lemay

Lovely (sometimes from "Lavallée")

Loving (Lavigne)

Maupin

Maury

Maxey

Michaux

Money (from both French "Monet" and Anglo-Gaelic "Munney")

Mullinax/Mullinix (Molyneaux)

Mullins (sometimes from "Moulin")

Napier

Noe

Oxshear (see "Auxier" - from German "Achser", but present in Alsace)

Parton (Partain)

Perault (Manakin)

Pinneo

Ramey (Rémy)

Reno (Renaud)

Reynold(s) (sometimes from French "Reynaud")

Robinette

Rongey

Runyon (Rongnion)

Salyer (Sallier)

Sartain

Sevier (Xavier)

Shamblin (Champlain)

Sublett (Soblet)

Surguine (prob from "Séguin")

Tackett (Tacquette)

Terror (Tirard)

Tezon (Paw-Paw French)

Trout (Trautt; perhaps Alsatian)

Tunnell (Tonnellier)

Turcotte

Via (also "Viar")

Whisenhunt (Visinand; found among French and German Swiss)

Wingo (Vigneau)