NOTES

The First parish register was begun in Halifax when Edmund Burke came to Halifax in 1801. Since that time registers have been kept in all parishes and missionary districts. These parish registers form the best and surest sources for Catholic Church history, for they give a certain guide to the names and dates of priests. Besides at times priests inscribed valuable notes in their registers.

With reference to Cumberland county, the records of the Catholics at Minudie were kept at Memramcook from 1820. The Minudie register dates from 1848. A Parrsboro register was begun in 1857; and the register for Saint Charles Church in Amherst was begun only in 1889. These registers are our most valuable source.

The Reverend William H. Smith, Parish Priest in Amherst from 1932 to 1945, compiled a brief history of the parish which is especially valuable because it not only collated information gathered from the various registers but also preserved local tradition from reliable witnesses long since dead.

French writers have published many histories of the Acadians, even giving information about out-of-the- way places like Minudie. English writers have ignored almost completely or at best have given only incidently references to the development of the Catholic Church.

Clicking on the note returns you to the text.

Notes Chapter I

  1. Reuben G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (75 v., Cleveland, 1897), III, 249.
  2. Mgr. de Saint-Valliere, Mandaments, I 191-265, Archives of the Archdiocese of Quebec.
  3. The French called Cumberland Basin Baie de Beaubassin in honor of Sieur de Beaubassin. The village was given the same name and later the entire district was known as Beaubassin. The village was situated at the mouth of the river, about three miles north of Amherst.
  4. de Valliere, op.cit.
  5. Ibid., 181
  6. L. LeJeune, Tableaux Synoptiques de l'Histoire de l'Acadie (Montreal, 1918) 59.
  7. John Bartlett Brebner, New England's Outpost (New York, 1927), 46,47,68. The author explained why the settlements grew and their relations with the older centers.
  8. W.C. Milner, "Records of Chignecto," Collections of Nova Scotia Historical Society (Halifax, 1911), XV 60; John Clarence Webster,ed., The Building of Fort Lawrence in Chignecto, 1750 (Saint John, NB, 1941) "Journal", 7, Note 10, Page 22. Webster gave the name LaPlanche, not Les Planches.
  9. Beausejour was named after Laurent Gaudin-Chatillon, Sieur de Beausejour. Cf. Jeanne Gregoire, Beausejour-Bellefontaine, Deux Noms Immortalizes dans L'Histoire de l'Acadie (Montreal, 1955), 20.
  10. Webster, op.cit., "Instructions from governor Cornwallis to Major Charles Lawrence," 15- 16.
  11. Ibid., "A Journal of the Proceedings of the Detachment under My Command after Entering the Basin of Chignecto," Major Charles Lawrence, 17-20.
  12. Ibid., "Journal", 7.
  13. Ibid., "The Proceedings", 17-20; Pacifique de Valigny. Chroniques des Plus Anciennes Eglises de l'Acadie (Montreal, 1944), 91.
  14. Harrison to Nicholson, "Letters and Other Papers, "Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society (Halifax, 1891), 90.
  15. Milner, opcit., 31-33
  16. Ibid., 32-33. 
  17. William Tutty, "Third Letter to the Society, "Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society (halifax, 1891), VII, 115.
  18. Ian F. MacKinnon,Settlements and Churches in Nova Scotia, 1749-1776 (Halifax, 1930), 26-27, 35, 50-51.
  19. Ibid., 18; Milner,op.cit., 58.
  20. Thomas C. Haliburton, An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia (2 v., Halifax, 1829), I, 244.
  21. Ibid., II 64-65; Valigny, op.cit., 116-117; Milner,op.cit., 61.
  22. Milner, Ibid., 60; Ph. F. Bourgeois, Vie de l'Abbe Francois-Xavier Lafrance (Montreal, 1913), 87-88. Land was granted under certain terms; a quit rent of a shilling a year for every 50 acres, the grantee bound to cultivate or, enclose a portion of the land each year. Thus grantees were anxious to have tenants on their lands to fulfill the conditions.
  23. Valigny, op.cit., 121-125; Cornelius O'Brien, Memoires of Bishop Burke, Bishop of Zion, First Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia (Ottawa, 1894), 66.
  24. Haliburton, Op. cit., II, 64.
  25. Valigny, op.cit., 125-126; Bourgeois, op.cit., 74-77; Anonymous, Memoires sur les Missions de Nouvelle-Ecosse, du Cap Breton, et d'Ile du Prince-Weouard de 1760 a 1820 (Quebec, 1895), 42,50,54-57, 73-74
  26. Valigny, op.cit., 126; Bourqeois, op,cit., 77-79; O'Brien, op.cit., 66.
  27. W.V. McCarthy, Mss., Halifax Archdiocese Archives.
  28. A.A. Johnston, Antigonish Diocesan Historian gave his information.
  29. Anonymous, Letters of Hibernicus (no place, no date), 97, 157. The author is supposed to have been Hugh O'Reilly, Parish Priest of Pictou; the letters were probably written in 1841.
  30. The Cross, Halifax, Nov. 22, 1845.
  31. Minudie Register, Halifax Archdiocesan Archives.
  32. The Cross, Halifax, March 17, 1849.
  33. Ibid., August 12, 1848
  34. W.H. Smith Mss., St. Mary's Basilica Archives; Deed dated April 7, 1747, Book U, 106, Amherst Court House.
  35. Minudie Register
  36. Ibid., where Rogers noted the fact.
  37. Ibid., cf. the note by Rogers.
  38. St. Edward's Register, St. Theresa's Rectory, Hamilton, Bermuda
  39. Wedgeport Register
  40. He died at Windsor; buried in Holy Cross cemetery, Halifax
  41. Bourgeois, <U>op.cit.</U>, 87-88.
  42. Marqueite Woodworth, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway (Kentville, NS, 1936), 43. The D.A.R. was officially opened on June 3, 1858, the Halifax-Truro line on Dec. 15, 1858.
  43. Parrsboro Register.
  44. Ibid.
  45. Ibid.
  46. The Evening Express, Halifax, Dec. 6, 1873.
  47. Acta et Decreta Primi Concilii Provincialis Halifaxensis (Halifax, 1860) 38,45. >
  48. The Cross, Halifax, 1849.
  49. A note book extant in St. Charles' Church archives gives a list of parishioners and their payments of dues to Father Donnelly. this shows a majority of parishioners at this time wre Scots and Irish.
  50. W.H. Smith, Mss., St. Mary's Basilica archives.
  51. An old man at Tidnish told Father Smith that he remembered Father Mihan saying Mass in his home when he was a boy.
  52. Halifax Archdiocesan Archives, Halifax.
  53. St. Charles' Register, statement written and signed by William Mihan.
  54. W.H. Wmith, Mss.
  55. Parish Records, Dartmouth.
  56. Deed registered April 13, 1889 at Amherst Court House, Book 22, p. 209; deed registered April 16, 1889, Book 22, p. 95; deed registered June 8, 1894, book 39, p. 284; deed registered May 28, 1895, book 42, p. 57
  57. Deed registered April 1, 1895, book 41, p. 504.
  58. W.H. Smith, Mss.
  59. Sister Louise Augustine, "Saint Charles School, Amherst, Nova Scotia,"Souvenir of the Laying and Blessing of the Cornerstone and Blessing of the New St. Charles High School (Amherst, 1960).
  60. W.H. Smith, Mss.
  61. Sister Louise Augustine, op.cit.
  62. This information was given to me by Sister Mary Marguerite, now dead, who was stationed in the early days in Amherst.
  63. W.H. smith, Mss.
  64. Deed registered Jan. 18, 1905, book 91, p. 267.
  65. Deed registered July 7, 1909, book 94, p.383.
  66. This information was given me by Monsignor Emil Bourneuf, in 1958.
  67. Sister Louise augustine, op.cit.
  68. Ibid.
  69. Deed registered April 1, 1915, book 126, p.94.
  70. Deed registered Nov. 1, 1918, book 134, p. 183.

    71. Chapter III

    Information about the appointments of the various priests was obtained from the various parish registers. Information concerning the many buildings, unless noted below, was found in the Register of St. Charles' Church. Since the author lived in the parish from 1929 until 1940 and has been closely connected with it since, much of the information for the years following 1929 is from personal knowledge.

1