Augustin Guedry - Hero of the Expulsion
Augustin Guedry was the son of Pierre Guedry dit LaBine and the grandson of our common ancestor, Claude Guedry dit Grivois. In 1755, at the age of 15, Augustin was captured by the English but was never deported. He escaped and never left Acadia. This is his story.
Around the time of the Expulsion, Pierre Guedry dit LaBine, Augustin's father, was in Merligueche, apparently with Augustin, perhaps with the entire family. Pierre had returned from Ile Royale at the behest of his brother Paul (Old Labrador) who had secured permission from the English to allow his close relatives to return to Merligueche. Paul Guedry was known to have a certain amount of influence with the English because of his expertise as a coastal pilot.
Sometime in 1755, after the expulsion order was issued, Augustin was captured by the English. He was put on board a prison ship, probably the Pembroke, ready to sail for the English colonies. Augustin, along with other captured Acadians, escaped from the ship before it sailed.
The Pembroke is recorded as the only ship that experienced a mass escape of Acadian prisoners in 1755. It was docked at Goat Island off the shore of Port Royal when the escape took place. Legend has it that Augustin swam ashore and made a run for it, eventually making his way to La Have, near Merligueche, where his family had lived for years and where he had last seen his father and brothers. But they were not to be found. Pierre Senior had made his way back to Ile Royale. The others, with the exception of Old Labrador, were captured and deported, most finding their way, eventually, to Louisiana.
When Augustin could not find his family, he was taken in by the friendly Mi'kmaqs who had lived in the area for decades if not centuries. He lived among them for about eight years. During that time he remained a free man, one of the few Acadians who managed to do so. He lived in constant fear of capture but, being the product of at least two generations of Coureurs de Bois (woodsmen), he was a survivor. Augustin was one of many Guedry Family heroes.
In 1763, after the treaty of Paris, when the Acadians were once again free to come back to their homeland, Augustin came out of the woods and settled quietly on the west coast of Nova Scotia at Gilbert's Cove. It was there that he met and married Marie Jeanson. Later, in 1787, when an English family moved in beside him, he and his family moved down the coast to become the pioneer settlers of Cheticamp, now called St. Alphonse. At that time, his name was recorded as "Gedree".
Augustin and Marie are the ancestors of most, if not all, of the Geddrys, Jeddrys, Jedreys, Guidreys and Guiddrys who still live in the Northeast, in Nova Scotia and New England. Augustin was my great great great grandfather.
For a more complete story of Augustin, including new information and theories about the family of his grandfather Claude Guedry dit Grivois and his father Pierre Guedry dit LaBine, see my book, "The Story Of An Acadian Family". To purchase a copy, email me at scorpioaz4@cox.net