OR
Did Acadians commonly suffer from what we now call
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
after the Grand Derangement?
Or was
Geoffroi Benoit the only one with documented mental illness
after the deportation??
Joseph Godefroy/Geoffroi/Godfroi Benoit and his wife, Madeleine Babin are ancestors of the nine Wills children who are subjects of this blog. Documents in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Archives describe Joseph Geoffroi Benoit as 'almost an idiot' and "disordered in his senses." He and Madeleine just endured 'le grand derangement' - the expulsion from Acadia along with their children. He was arrested along with other Acadian men and boys in the church, marched to a ship in the harbor, probably watched his home being torch and his wife and children being brutally forced onto boats. Geoffroi and his sister Marie's families were exiled to Boston without food and material possessions. His mother, Jeanne Hebert, died on the docks days after the overcrowded ship arrived in Boston. She had lain sick above a fortnight without ay care'.
A communication from Michael B. Melanson (the Melanson Family genealogist) brought this description of Geoffroi Benoit to my attention via a FB communication. In his work, "Melanson-Melancon: The Genealogy of an Acadian and Cajun Family". Dracut Massachusetts: Lanesville Publishing. 2004, Michael Melanson cites documents in the Massachusetts Archives (Volume 23) detailing events in the lives of Acadian exiles in Boston. The details include a description of Geoffroi Benoit upon his arrival at Boston harbor. He was "disoriented in the senses" (pp 358-360). A second description noted "Geoffroi was reported to be almost an idot [sic, idiot]" (p 300).
There's two words we do not commonly use in everyday American speech: derangement from the French and idiot from the Greek "idiotes" meaning "private person" or person lacking a skill or expertise.
Acadians call the deportation from Acadia "Le Grand Derangement". In English it calls to my mind words like "deranged", chaos, helter-skelter. The word "Idiot" which was in common usage when I was a child but is seldom used today unless attempting an insult. Below are definitions from an online dictionary.
idiot [id-ee-uh t] noun
1. Informal. an utterly foolish or senseless person:
If you think you can wear that outfit to a job interview and get hired, you're an idiot!
2. Psychology. (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the lowest order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.
Synonyms: fool, half-wit; imbecile; dolt, dunce, numskull.
Copyright 2015 Dictionary.com
To understand what "idiot" meant in the 18th century, I found this definition online at
A Guide to Eighteenth-Century English Vocabulary Jack Lynch 14 April 2006:
Idiot didn’t always have the same insulting tones it has today. An idiot was someone with impaired mental ability (Johnson’s definition is “A fool; a natural; a changeling; one without the powers of reason”). The word could be used in a value-neutral sort of way: when Swift willed money “for building and maintaining an hospital for idiots and lunatics,” he wasn’t being insulting.
derangementAgain from
Dictionary.com we find in today's usage it means insanity, disorder, disarrangement or the act of deranging. In medicine it is also used for mental disorder or insanity.
Was Geoffroi Benoit traumatized by the events? Did he struggle against the colonial troops and receive injuries? Was the disorientation temporary? Permanent? We may ever learn if he overcame his trauma.
He and his family were able to immigrate to Quebec when the Quebec colonial administration offered families the option to locate there.
Geoffroi Benoit died 2 July 1769 in St Charles sur Richelieu, Quebec Province. He was 49 years old. His widow, Madeleine lived until she was 80.
Here's my line to Geoffroi and his ancestors:
Marie Elizabeth "Libby" Bissonnette, my grandmother
Paul Benoit 1751-1831. He likely experienced the Acadian Deportation as a small child - 4 or 5 years old. He was the son of
Geoffroy Benoit 1716-1769
He and his wife were exiled to Lancaster in the Massachusetts Colony where they lived until they were able to move to Quebec. He was the son of
Claude Benoit 1686-1743, he was the son of
Martin Benoit 1643-1714. Martin was born in France and came to Acadia to start a life with his wife, Marie in the spring of 1671 aboard l'Oranger.
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Below is a recap of the stories written about Acadians in this blog so far. This list includes some early posts that may not have been well researched but I am reviewing them for accuracy and hope they will "make the cut"!
