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.
Visit Genealogy Wise
