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LaHave – Founding Fathers
By Joan Dawson
1.
The Godfather: How LaHave got its name
Samuel
de Champlain is often called the Father of New
France, but he might also be called the Godfather
of LaHave and the surrounding area, as it was
he who on his first map made in Acadia gave
the name Port de la Hève to what we now
know as Green Bay and the mouth of the LaHave
River. Champlain was accompanying Pierre Du
Gua, Sieur de Monts, on an expedition to establish
a settlement and trading post in Acadia. The
name Cap de LaHève was chosen because
it was the first land they sighted when they
came to mainland North America in their vessel,
le Don de Dieu on 8 May, 1604. The last land
they had seen when leaving France at the start
of their voyage was Cap de LaHève, on
the Normandy coast. Champlain’s map was
entitled "le Port de La Hève,"
and took in the area from Cherry Hill to Hirtle’s
Beach. The name LaHève, sometimes spelt
LaHaive in early French records, thus became
attached to a wide area, including the river
and Razilly’s settlement. (It is sometimes
wrongly stated that the name LaHave comes from
le Havre, the port at the mouth of the River
Seine.) It was written as LaHave under the British
rule, representing the anglicised pronunciation
of the word, and now forms part of the name
of a number of settlements on the river
.
Champlain’s map shows that the new arrivals
did not have time to explore the river, but
they saw the islands at its mouth, and they
identified two native settlements, one on the
east side of the river, and the other west of
the Petite Riviere, which was also named at
this time as the "petite riviere de LaHève."
One of the LaHave natives, identified as Messamouet,
later accompanied Champlain on his explorations
of the Bay of Fundy and the coast of what is
now Maine.
LaHave
has the distinction of being both the first
landfall of De Mont’s expedition, and the
subject of Champlain’s first map of an
Acadian site, on which he identified features
that are recognisable today.
Champlain
and his companions went on to set up a short-lived
establishment at Ste-Croix on the Bay of Fundy,
and a more successful one at Port Royal, where
the Habitation has been reconstructed from his
plans and drawings. In 1607, they were recalled
to France, stopping briefly again at LaHave
on their return journey.
Champlain
returned to New France the following year, established
a settlement at Québec, and spent most
of the rest of his life there, exploring, making
maps, and administering the struggling colony
until his death at Christmas, 1635.
2.
The Founding Father: European Settlers come
to LaHave in 1632
At
the end of the summer of 1632, an expedition
arrived at the port of LaHave, led by Isaac
de Razilly, a French aristocrat, naval veteran
and Knight of Malta, accompanied by Nicolas
Denys, a versatile entrepreneur, and Charles
de Menou d’Aulnay, a cousin of Isaac de
Razilly, who had served in the French navy as
his lieutenant. Razilly had with him a commission
from the French King as Lieutenant General and
Vice Roy of all of New France. He was also acting
on behalf the the Company of New France, a commercial
organisation hoping to make money from the fur
trade, of which he was a member.
Isaac
de Razilly had clear ideas on colonization,
which he had expressed in a memoir to Cardinal
Richelieu several years previously. He saw it
as a way of strengthening the French economy
through trade, and protecting French interests
in North America by establishing a permanent
population. He also saw it as a chance for some
of the poor of France, which had been torn by
the wars of religion, to seek a better life.
He set sail with 300 men, of whom 200 were to
spend the winter at LaHave. Later more recruits
were engaged by Menou and Denys, who made several
voyages back to France, and in the spring of
1636, the St-Jean left La Rochelle for Acadia
with nearly eighty passengers, including several
married men with their wives and children. Although
their destination is not recorded on the passenger
list, these people were surely travelling to
join the community at LaHave. They were probably
the last of such immigrants, because in early
July of that same year Isaac de Razilly died
suddenly and soon afterwards Menou transferred
the settlers to Port Royal.
Razilly
was a visionary, and referred to LaHave as an
"earthly paradise." He was a pious
man, who had included in his first group of
colonists some Capuchin fathers to care for
the spiritual well-being of the settlers and
also to preach the gospel to the native peoples.
He constructed a fort overlooking the river
mouth, dwellings for himself and his men, and
a chapel and lodging for the Capuchins. He brought
with him construction materials, provisions
for the winter and also seed, cattle and other
animals, to make the settlers as self-sufficient
as possible. He pastured the animals in the
meadows beside Oxner’s Beach. He wrote
that after the first hard winter when they had
difficulty completing their accommodation and
some settlers died from the harsh conditions,
the community as well fed and healthy. He identified
some good farmland at Petite Riviere and established
some of the settlers there as farmers. They
had harvested grain from their fields before
Razilly’s death and the colony looked set
for reasonable self-sufficiency.
Razilly
seems to have been a diplomatic man and a peacemaker.
He lived at peace with his countryman, Charles
de LaTour, to whom the King had also given a
commission, albeit a lesser one giving him powers
only in Acadia. They established a comfortable
relationship which did not survive Razilly’s
death. Razilly also got along well with Nicolas
Denys, whose ambition was to develop a viable
commercial base in the area.. In Razilly’s
day, Denys was allowed to ship lumber from his
camp across the river in the supply ships returning
to France – concession cancelled by Menou
when he assumed command. Razilly got along well
with the native people, too, a fact that he
attributed to the good work of the Capuchins
whose good influence extended beyond LaHave
itself. But it was Razilly’s vision and
wisdom that shaped the settlement.
3.
The Forefather of Modern LaHave: Joseph Pernette
Joseph
Pernette was born in Strasbourg and was one
of the leading "Foreign Protestants"
brought to Nova Scotia by Cornwallis in 1751.
He established himself first as a businessman
in Halifax, but in the early 1760s, when new
townships were being laid out across the province
for New England "Planter" immigrants,
he became interested in the area west of the
LaHave river. In 1765 he received a large grant
in the township of New Dublin, extending from
the falls above Bridgewater to just above LaHave.
He later added to his holdings land around the
Fort Point area.
He
was not the first European settler in the area;
the name New Dublin reflects the presence in
the early 1760s of Planter settlers of Scots-Irish
origin from New England. But most of them had
failed to settle, partly because they found
the land hard to clear and cultivate, and also
from lack of leadership. A few shore lots were
occupied, and some people were operating fisheries
at Dublin Shore and on the islands. The "Town
Plot" of New Dublin, now the village of
LaHave, was undeveloped and the township was
clearly not flourishing.
After
Joseph Pernette received his grant on the west
side of the LaHave River he proceeded to take
steps to develop the area and to bring in new
settlers, both as grantees and as employees
on his estate. His West LaHave homestead overlooked
the cove where the present yacht club is located,
and near it on Pernette’s Brook (where
the bridge now crosses) he established the first
grist mill and lower down, at the mouth of the
brook, the first sawmill on the LaHave River.
He brought from England an expert shipwright
from the naval dockyard at Chatham, and built
the first ship on the River.
Pernette served in public life as Justice of
the Peace, performing marriages in the area
until a permanent clergyman was appointed, and
dealing with local disputes. He also conducted
a census of the area. He was responsible for
the construction of the road from Lunenburg,
to the east side of the LaHave, where he installed
a number of settlers. He was colonel of the
local Militia, and generally acted in the capacity
of community leader. He invested considerable
funds in developing an infrastructure which
assisted the development of agriculture and
industry on the LaHave River.
He
was married to the daughter of a Lunenburg surgeon,
and had a large family, many of whom were later
to take part in the public life of the province.
He gave the original homestead to his son John,
and a second house and land to the south to
Garrett Miller, a Halifax businessman who married
his daughter Catherine.
John
Pernette continued to run the farm and the mills,
and also for many years operated a ferry which
linked the road from Lunenburg to the road to
Liverpool (the old Post Road visible today,
and the Mount Pleasant Road which at that time
was a link on the highway to Liverpool.) He
was also a deputy surveyor, laying out land
for newcomers as the community expanded.
Garrett
Miller donated the land on which the original
St. Peter’s Church stood, with the surrounding
graveyard and a lot for the parsonage, and contributed
to the construction of the church. The foundations
of the church, which was subsequently moved
to its present location when the highway was
built, are still visible, as are the graves
of John Pernette and some of his family, and
of Garret Trafalgar Nelson Miller, Garret’s
son.
Joseph
Pernette eventually grew tired of rural life
and retired to Halifax, where he died, and is
buried in St. Paul’s church. His legacy
is not only the land still occupied by his descendants,
but also the communities of West LaHave and
beyond.
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