Acadian wills reveal subtle defiance against colonial constraints

Colby Gaudet, a post-doctoral fellow at Dalhousie University, analysed 24 wills from the Acadian settlement of Clare, Nova Scotia, focusing on how the community used legal instruments to assert agency. Hilarion Thériault, a churchwarden who died at 71, left a will that demanded debt repayment and reparations, reflecting both preparedness and defiance. All the wills were prepared by French-born priest Jean-Mandé Sigogne, who acted as a linguistic bridge between Francophone Acadians and Anglo-Protestant judges.

Historians Maurice Basque and others contextualise the documents within the aftermath of the 1755 deportation ordered by Lt-Gov. Charles Lawrence, which stripped Acadians of land and limited their civic participation. The wills also reveal social ties, such as a Black slave named Jerome transferred in Amable Doucet’s testament and Black witness Anselm Hatfield’s role in another document.