In a census of the Port Royal people, made in 1671, the name Pierre
Melanson appears, but with no account of his family or possessions. He
refused to give the facts asked for. There has been some doubt as to
his antecedents, although he was a man of importance, and his name
appears in several historical documents. Some think he was the son of
the Scotchman, Pierre Melanson, who remained in Acadia after the colony
under Sir William Alexander was broken up in 1632.
It has been ascertained, however, that Pierre Melanson was a tailor and
farmer of considerable wealth, when he sold his Port Royal property in
1669. He was also Captain of militia, and a man of mark among the oldest
inhabitants of that place. His courage and enterprise are shown by his
removal to the unsettled country of Minas in 1681. His selection of the
Gaspereau Valley for his new home, points to a knowledge of the country,
for he settled in the most beautiful and favorable situation in the
region. It was at the head of the tide, sheltered, with extensive
marshes, and rich uplands suitable for farming. The forests lay upon the
hills, the stream teemed with gasperot, salmon, and trout. The Basin of
Minas could be easily reached at high tide by boat. Conditions were most
favorable for the development of the little colony, and those which soon
sprang up in that neighbourhood (Gaspereau) and at Grand-Pré.
The Gaspereau villages grew in importance, and were among the richest
and most populous in 1755. The Melansons numbered about eighty souls,
and were connected by kinship and marriage with all the Acadian families
of Minas.
It was one of the daughters of this Pierre Melanson who married the
"Notary Public" of Longfellow's Evangeline.
"Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of the ocean,
Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of the notary public;
Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the maise, hung
Over his shoulders; his forehead was high; glasses with horn bows
Sat astride his nose, with a look of wisdom supernal.
Father of twenty children was he, and more than a hundred
Children's children rode on his knee, and heard his great watch tick."
Another daughter, Anne, married Thomas Jacasse, and it was their son who
later refused to sign the deliberations for the surrender of Quebec.