The Mixed Blood Acadien in Bemish Murdoch

Beamish Murdoch, 1800-1876, a Halifax lawyer and member of the Nova Scotia legislative assembly wrote the definitive 19^th century history of Acadia and Nova Scotia in three volumes from 1865 to 1867. He provided extensive notes and relied heavily on records from British and French colonial offices and New England historians who wrote extensively on the history of Acadia. Though today we think of Acadia as the present-day Maritime Provinces, Acadia historically takes in most of Maine as well. Much of what we know about Acadia comes from late 18^th century New England historians.

 

It's a commonplace today to present all white 19^th century historians as racist and colonial in their period representations of the Mi’kmaw and to a lesser extent the Acadien, who come down from colonized history as the oppressed, racially pure, morally superior white Catholic people of Longfellow’s, Land of Evangeline myth. Murdoch however is a thorough historian and not inclined to racist exaggeration, nor does he engage with the noble savage paradigm as sometimes James Hanay does. Like James Fennimore Cooper, Murdoch views the period he describes as an age of adventure where ancient and modern civilizations clash for good or for evil. There is no doubt however Murdoch believes in the justness of British imperialism.

 

“There can be no doubt that if the Acadians had not been constantly stimulated by French agents, clerical and lay, to a disaffected and hostile feeling against the British rule, they might have become the happiest and most prosperous people in the world.”  Vol. 1, pg. 447

 

Murdoch’s history of Nova Scotia and Acadia contains many interesting insights into the mixed blood Acadien. First, he frankly acknowledges that they do exist as people unto themselves sperate from the Mi’kmaw and the Acadians and had in the 18^th century a unique political perspective. Murdoch gives several historical citations which speak to the organization and perspective of the mixed blood Acadien of western Nova Scotia, the people who settled the Chebake.

 

This first illustration speaks only too clearly about the profound mixing of French and Mi’kmaw blood…..

 

“ ….And you may remember that I often said that the French in time of peace were more capable of supplying the Indians with arms, ammunition, &c. , than in war, because half if not more of their ships bound to Canada were then taken, and that so long as the priests and Jesuits are amongst the Indians, they  would endeavor to set them at variance with the English,  that the French will furnish them with officers, whom to know from Indians is difficult, because several have been bred up amongst them, and are dressed and painted as they are.  I hope you will excuse the trouble given you by, sir, your most humble servant, FRANCIS NICHOLSON. London, July, 1715 . Vol 1, pg. 348

 

In the next report a mixed blood Acadien wants his status as loyal subject to the crown acknowledged. He evidently sees himself as a person dissimilar to the pure blood second wave Acadians, who were later deported….

 

…..Nov'r. , 1734, at major Henry Cope's house (Annapolis Royal) …the secretary acquainted the Board that there was one Joseph Munier, ( see Sept. 27, 1734) , an half Indian, come to make his submission , and to take the oath of allegiance to his majesty, and therefore to know whether it might not be administered to him , and he admitted the same privileges as his Majesties other French subjects. The Board agreed that, as he was an active man amongst the Indians, and as it might prove to the good of his Majesty's service to admit him, the oath was accordingly ordered to be administered, who, being sent for, he took the same before the Board. Vol 1, pg. 504

 

Here the mixed blood Acadien of the Tintamarre want to assert their loyalty to the crown in the aftermath of skirmishes in Maine that broke Governor Dummer’s treaty. Soon these same mixed blood Acadien would be caught up in Pere Le Loutre’s war and compelled to flee to Canada….

 

.…In the course of this winter some of the inhabitants of Mines, Piziquid &c. entertained or professed to entertain apprehensions for such of them as were half breeds, owing to the declaration of war against the Indians proclaimed in New England.  On this, (lieutenant governor) Mascarene wrote to the deputies of these places to reassure them, promising to protect all loyal men, no matter what colour their faces may have.  5 January 1744-45, Vol 2, pg.72

 

And in the Chebake the three brothers Muise, grandchildren of Marie Mi’kmaw assert their loyalty to the crown. As a result, they were not deported……

 

….In August Mascarene gave an official certificate to the three brothers Muise of Poubomcoup (Pubnico) of their steady loyalty since the declaration of war.  Vol 2, pg. 76.

 

There are too many citations to go into in this blog post, but serious work needs to be done on Bemish Murdoch and his account of the mixed blood people of Acadia. It is astonishing to me that in this age of Truth and Reconciliation, Murdoch’s scholarship is written off as colonized racism and the obvious truths he speaks about the mixed blood Acadien of Western Nova Scotia are ignored.

Daniel N. Paul We Were Not the Savages

 

Daniel N. Paul is an esteemed Mi’kmaq elder. He first came to my attention while writing the script for my video, Tintammare, 2022. From time to time I came across quotes from Paul’s, We Were Not The Savages, 1993  (4th edition, 2022)  They were used to assert the moral superiority, from the perspective of modern non-traditional indigenous commentators of indigenous peoples on Turtle Island generally, and more particularly with respect to native participation in the various conflicts of the French and Indian wars and other engagements in Acadia. This conflation of the Turtle Island/Garden of Eden narrative with our Native people‘s struggle for survival in the 18^th century seemed incongruous to me and self-serving on the part of present day non-traditional indigenous commentators who employ the trope.

Intrigued by this obviously non-historical perspective I conceived the comfortable racist idea Daniel N. Paul was a biased amateur historian. A primitive apologist for the contemporary non-traditional Turtle Island paradigm. With this in mind I requested the book at the Ottawa Library. The OPL had only one copy in its holdings,  it took four months to get hold of it.  Contrary to my initial  idea, the book was and is a revelation to me. I am lost in admiration for Daniel N. Paul and his work.  As a descendent of Philip and Marie-Anne Pinet, both Mi’kmaq persons and Marie Mi’kmaq, wife of Philip Muise and other unknown Mi’kmaq grand-mères.  I take our Mi’kmaq, Sang-Mêlés Acadien history very seriously. Like so many of my so-called Acadian peers I grew up a white racist, a victim of the colonial Land of Evangeline myth. Another similarly employed Garden of Eden trope.

After discovering my mixed blood indigenous identity in the late 1980’s I endeavored to reconcile the apparent hatred and denial that existed on one hand between the Land of Evangeline Acadians and the Mi’kmaq and the Mi’kmaq and the Sang-Mêlés Acadien of Western Nova Scotia, our clan the mixed blood people of the Chebake.

Reading into Daniel N. Paul’s amazing polemic. I was struck by both the history and perspective. I looked for evidence denied by Darryl Leroux and his non-traditional indigenous followers of the reality of the Sang-Mêlés as a mixed race people similar to the Métis of the west. Far from reading between the lines as I had to with much of Bemish Murdoch and his 18^th century sources. Daniel N. Paul right from the beginning acknowledges the profound mixing of  French and Mi’kmaq blood in the 17^th and 18^th century. I won’t give detailed excerpts. But please see:

all from the third edition

page 23, paragraph 3

page 29, paragraph 3

page 73, paragraph 2

page 106, paragraph 2

pages 120-121-122

If Daniel Paul’s polemic is correct, either all the mixed blood Mi’kmaq/French people living in western Nova Scotia were absorbed into the Sipekne’katik First Nation  in 1876 when the Indian Act was put into force, or some mixed blood Acadians continued to live as a people beyond the control of the Indian Act in the Chebake. This is a difficult question because of the philosophical mischief posed by the idea of blood quantum. Presumably if all mixed blood Acadians were absorbed into the new First Nations in the 19^th century, then possibly the First Nations of western Nova Scotia, including the recent Acadia First Nation are in fact not racially pure by blood quantum standards, but mixed blood like the Métis of the west. I believe this very real historical concern drives the unending hostile reaction between the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia and the Sang-Mêlés Acadien of the Chebake in our present day.  

Beyond my necessary polemic I have to return to the excellence of Daniel N. Paul’s wonderful rendering of our living history. On one level Paul’s history is as biased as any other, but what sets his work apart is its larger themes. The idea that the Mi’kmaq and other indigenous peoples were as competent socially as the immoral invaders who subdued them, is really a new idea today, just as it was in 1993. This moves Daniel N. Paul’s larger polemic into the realm of moral philosophy.

As chance would have it, Paul republished a fourth edition of We Were Not The Savages in September 2022. I’ve purchased a copy and cherish the work. I send my profoundest respect to the elder Daniel N. Paul.

 

Eric's note 7/9/2023

Daniel Paul left the scene on June 27, 2023. We offer Thanks and Praise to the Creator for  sharing this spirit with us. He has influenced Generations.