Jean-Louis Le Loutre

Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre (September 26 1709 – September 30 1772), was a priest and missionary. He was born to Jean-Maurice Le Loutre Després, a paper maker, and Catherine Huet, the daughter of a paper maker in the parish of Saint-Matthieu in Morlaix, France. He entered the Séminaire du Saint-Esprit in Paris in 1730. By this time he had already lost both of his parents. When he completed his training, he transferred to the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères in March 1737 as he intended to serve the church abroad. He sailed for Acadia soon after this and arrived in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia that autumn, along with others who would settle in Acadia. Le Loutre was to be allowed to replace Abbé de Saint-Vincent, a missionary to the Mi'kmaqs and live in Shubenacadie. Before doing so, he spent time at Malagawatch, Île Royale(now Cape Breton Island) to learn the Micmac language.

On September 22, 1738, Le Loutre left for Shubenacadie where he ministered the Indians and the French. He built chapels for the Indians. It was declared that French and Indian ministers must be distinct when war between France and Great Britain broke out in 1744. The French ministers were advised to appear neutral to avoid expulsion, and the Indian ministers were advised to encourage the Indians to foray into the British areas as advised by the French military authorities.

When Louisbourg fell to American-Anglo forces in 1745, the new masters of Île Royale tried to seize Le Loutre by telling him that he would be in danger elsewhere. Le Loutre, instead, went to Canada(Quebec) to consult with authorities, accompanied by five Micmacs. He left a week later with instructions that made him a military leader whereby through him the French government was able to exercise control over the Indians in Acadia. He was also to keep a watch on the communications between the Acadians and the British garrison. Le Loutre had also been given instructions to receive at Baie of Chibouctou (Halifax Harbour) the squadron under the Duc d’Anville that France was sending in 1746 to recover Acadia. Only he and Maurice de La Come knew how to identify the ships of the fleet. The British had a price on the head of Le Loutre and La Come would replace Le Loutre’s duties if anything were to happen to him. The fleet was delayed and many ships had been sunk, and when Le Loutre went to Annapolis Royal to meet with a ship but this did not happen because the squadron had to return to France. Le Loutre sailed to France on La Sirène.

Le Loutre returned to Acadia in 1749 on Le Chabanne with Charles Des Herbiers de La Ralière who was the new governor of Île Royale, which had been returned to France. He had made two previous attempts to return but ended up in British prisons, after which he concealed his identity by using the names of Rosanvern and Huet.

Acadia had changed since his departure. Louisbourg was with the French again, and the British had founded Halifax. The ministry set up headquarters at Pointe-à-Beauséjour (near Sackville, New Brunswick) because Shubenacadie was too close to the British in Halifax. Le Loutre wrote to the minister of the Marine: “As we cannot openly oppose the English ventures, I think that we cannot do better than to incite the Indians to continue warring on the English; my plan is to persuade the Indians to send word to the English that they will not permit new settlements to be made in Acadia. …I shall do my best to make it look to the English as if this plan comes from the Indians and that I have no part in it.” Attacks were made by the Indians and the governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis, wanted Le Loutre dead or alive and offered a reward. Le Loutre promised to establish newcomers from France for three years but soon found it difficult to supply the new settlers, the Indians, and the garrisons at Fort Beauséjour and Île Saint-Jean with food and other necessities. The settlers wanted to return to their former lands and Le Loutre felt that people at the warehouse were not doing their job as there were supplies in the warehouse. Le Loutre went to Quebec in 1752 to meet with authorities but was not satisfied with his representation and so he returned to Acadia, entrusted his Micmacs to Abbé Jean Manach, and left for France in December 1752.

Le Loutre went to the courts in France and wrote up reports about how the French and British lands in Acadia should be divided so that Acadians would not have to be divided between two governances. He also got money from the courts to build dykes in Acadia so that low-lying lands could be protected from the tides and land could be used for raising cattle and growing crops so that there would no longer be problems of starvation. He was granted other money sources for his mission and sailed to Acadia with other Missionaries in 1753. Upon his arrival, he encouraged the Indians to break the peace they had signed with the British while he was gone and used them to harass British settlers. He paid 1800 pounds for 18 British scalps. Le Loutre threatened to abandon Acadians and that the Micmacs would retaliate, and the Acadians petitioned to Cornwallis that they could not sign an oath because the Micmacs would not forgive them for doing so. In 1755, British forces obliged surrender at Fort Beauséjour and soon after, deportation of the Acadians began.

Le Loutre knew he was in danger and escaped to Quebec through the woods. In the late summer, he returned to Louisbourg where he sailed to France. The ship that he was on was seized by the hands of the British in September and Le Loutre was taken prisoner and was not released until 8 years later in 1763 after the signing of the treaty of Paris. He tried to help deported Acadians settle in lands such as Morlaix, Saint-Malo, and Poitou. However, on the trip to Poitou to show some Acadians the land, Le Loutre died at Nantes on September 30, 1772.

He lived with sincere devotion to French Acadia.

External inks

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2022 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
* [http://www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1700-63/Loutre.htm "History of Nova Scotia - Abbé Le Loutre"]
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