Mmmm – Prince Edward Island Seaweed Deserts!
The other day I blogged about the Jersey, Channel Islands practice of harvesting seaweed (vraic) off the beaches.This prompted a little trip down memory-lane for Carol-Ann (Theriault Gen.12).
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“I visited PEI a few years back to attend the wedding of a cousin (Lagace, Gen.11). While taking a walk on the beach I had the pleasant surprise of coming across a horse galloping through the ocean with a few men standing nearby.
My cousin explained that they were seaweed harvesting. There is a semi-floating ‘sled’ attached behind the horses which drag them along to collect the seaweed brought in by the tide. They overturn the sled on the beach, collect the seaweed, then load it into a pickup truck for transport.
I imagine the way it is done today is much the same as it was then – the triangles you see are semi-floating sleds and since they didn’t have pickup trucks they may have dumped the seaweed into small boats to bring to a central depot rather than pile it on the beach and bring it in by pickup truck.”
Vintage Postcard: Shippegan Peat Moss, New Brunswick
What does a bag of peat moss have to do with Shippegan – land of fishermen? We already know that when our ancestors first settled in the Shippegan area, they were there to harvest the sea (especially cod) – certainly not to farm the land which was poorly suited to most types of agriculture.
Nowadays it turns out that the land itself can also be “harvested”. I’m talking about the peat moss. Peat moss is in great demand today – especially by organic gardeners – and Shippegan peat moss is particularly valued!
Western Peat Moss, Shippagan
“… the vast plains of Shippagan had been considered a serious handicap to the growth of the community. People could not foresee that these plains would one day be the basis of a flourishing peat moss industry. Since 1942, various companies such as Fafard, Western, Atlantic and others have successfully processed and marketed peat moss from thousands of acres in Shippagan and surrounding area, giving employment to hundreds of workers.”
Related Posts:
A Canadian Family Headstone: Theriau, Anastasie
This is the headstone of Anastasie Theriault, daughter of Tranquil/Aime Theriault and Julie Brideau who had married in Caraquet, Gloucester in 1834. It’s located in Petite-Riviere-de-L’Ile, Shippegan, Gloucester, New Brunswick.
These Theriaults are of the same Caraquet lineage as ours. We share the common ancestors Joseph Jean Theriault and Marie Joseph Girouard who were married in 1754 in Riviere-aux-Canards.
Anastasie married Olivier Valle on May 28th, 1854 and together they had at least 11 children/
Related Posts:
A Canadian Family Headstone: VALLEY, O. – 1912(?)
Map: Lamecque, Miscou, Shippegan
A Canadian Family Headstone: Valley, O.
This is the final resting place of Olivier Vallee in Petite-Riviere-de-l’Ile Cemetery in Shippegan. Olivier’s parents were Alexis Vallee and Catherine Pineau who had married in Perce (Gaspe,Quebec) in 1819. He’s quite possibly the Olivier Valley who died at the age of 87 years old on May 12th, 1912.
Olivier married Anastasie Theriault (daughter of Tranquil/Aime Theriault and Julie Brideau) on May 28th, 1854 in Caraquet, Gloucester, New Brunswick, Canada.
The couple’s children included: Anne Rose, Olivier D., Tranquil, Joseph, Bernard, Marie, Alexandre Barthelemi, Felix, Pierre, Mary and Margaret. Their daughter Anne Rose Vallee married Philippe Luce and Anne Ward’s son Philip Charles Luce.
In this way, the Vallees are intertwined with both our Jersey Luces and our Caraquet Theriaults.
Related Posts:
The Luces from Jersey, Channel Islands to Canada
Map: Baie des Chaleurs, 1769
If you skim through our Ward/Luce and other Canadian Jersey lines you’ll notice that there’s a lot of movement between Gaspe and Shippegan/Miscou. Nowadays, we see these as two places – one in Quebec and one in New Brunswick – but to the fishermen of centuries past, all the land around the Baie des Chaleurs was seen as one large region bordering fertile fisheries.
Partie du Canada ou se trouvent le Fleuve St.Laurent/Didier Robert de Vaugondy
Detail (cropped & enlarged)
Robert de Vaugondy, Didier, 1723-1786.
Partie du Canada où se trouvent le Fleuve St. Laurent et La Nouvelle Ecosse?. –
Scale [ca. 1:5 800 000] (W 76º–W 61º/N 52º–N 44º). — [Paris : s.n., 1769].
1 map : hand col. ; 17 x 22 cm.
LOCATION: G3402.S3 1769 R6 RBD Map
Related Post:
Map: Lamecque, Miscou, Shippegan
Further Reading:
La Collection W.H. Pugsley de Cartes Anciennes du Canada
Vintage Postcard: VRAIC?
Seaweed has been an important part of Jersey life for well over 800 years, so our own Luce ancestors
would have been quite familiar with scenes of seaweed harvesting like the one below.
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Seaweed was a fertilizer for Jersey farming families until well into the early 1900s, since Jersey’s very sandy soil made fertilization crucial and the seaweed was readily available.
Here’s a fascinating excerpt from Plees’ Account of the Island of Jersey from the early 1800s.
Historical Document: Marmaduke Lawrence Harvey – Baptism, 1897
This website has focused on our Canadian Family’s shared Jersey, French Canadian and Acadian heritage – however in recent years we’ve joined our lines with those of some Franchinis from central and northern Italy and Harveys who originated in the United Kingdom. Research on these lines has just started!
Today I’d like to share our first historical document pertaining to the Harveys.
Methodist Centenery Church – Point St-Charles (Montreal) - 1897
Marmaduke Lawrence Harvey - Baptism
This baptismal certificate confirms that Marmaduke’s parents were Albert Joseph Harvey and Emma Dolling Young and that the officiating minister was Melvin Taylor.
A Canadian Family Database lists four other children for this couple (Albert Cecil, Anne, John, and Margarita Elizabeth) but I haven’t located the primary documents. Our family is connected to the Albert Cecil Harvey line.
Related Posts:
Marmaduke Lawrence Harvey At The Turn Of The Twentieth Century | Military Uniform
Further Reading:
Map: Lameque, Miscou, Shippegan
This map of Lamecque, Miscou and Shippegan is taken from W.F. Ganong’s “The History of Miscou and Shippegan” which was originally published in 1908. It lies in modern-day Gloucester County, New Brunswick, Canada.
Historical Map of Miscou and Shippegan - Ganong
Placename var.:
Chipagan, Shippagan, Shippegan
L’Amec, Lamecque
Related Posts:
Further Reading:
The History of Miscou and Shippegan
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