Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, ?

Cajun heritage detailed

By Liz Hebert, Staff Writer

"There were four major groups--the Acadians, the Creoles, the Santo Domingo refugees, and the so-called foreign French," Brasseaux told members of the Downtown Rotary Club. "We know the most about the Acadians, but they were the smallest group that came here. The foreign French were the largest group, but we know the least about them."

Brasseaux said that though the other three groups were widely represented in South Louisiana by the late 18th century, the foreign French did not begin arriving in large numbers until after an 1815 volcanic eruption caused widespread famine in France, spurring waves of migration to North America from 1820-1839.

"The famine was over by the 1820s, but the economic situation became increasingly bad for many of those in France," the USL professor said. "The craftsmen and cottage industries could no longer compete with the growing industry there so they were forced to leave.

"Overpopulation, particularly in the Alsace region, was also a key reason for the French migration. There was a massive migration from Alsace in this period not only to America, but also to Russia. Many came over as indentured servants."

According to Brasseaux, most of the French immigrants who came to America were farmers, but the vast majority of those who settled in Louisiana (8,264, according to port reports) were merchants or professional people such as teachers, lawyers and priests.

"Lousiana really got the good end of the deal," he said. "These people were urbanites. They first settled in New Orleans, but many left and settled in small South Louisiana towns. The influence they provided there is immeasurable."

Brasseaux said that because the four groups intermarried extensively, it is now difficult to determine exactly what percentage of those currently residing in Acadiana with so-called French names are truly of Acadian descent.

In addition to the Acadians, other French Canadian groups contributed to the area's current culture. These non-Acadian French Canadians, Brasseaux said, formed the nucleus of the white Creoles of New Orleans.

"You really have to differentiate between the terms Acadian and Cajun today, because the term Cajun has come to encompass a large group of people who are not really Acadian (those who migrated from Nova Scotia in Canada from 1765-1785)," Brasseaux said. "What we consider Cajun now owes its basis to the Acadians, Creoles and foreign French."

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