|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WAYFARER
PASSAGE,
EPISODE
TWO
| |
Indigo Breaux from Madawaska, Maine
|
| |
|
The Journey to
L′Acadie
|
|
|
THE JOURNEY TO L′ACADIE, written by Indigo John Breaux, born in Madawaska, Maine, was fourth of six children and youngest son. My parents had three boys and three girls.
I was twelve when my father dies which is hard enough to deal with but then my mother decides to leave our home in Maine and move our family to Louisiana to live with her family.
The drive is hot and long, our move proves to be very hard for the five of us who made the journey: my mom, Elise Marie Breaux, my older sister, Isabelle Susanne and two younger sisters, Genevieve Mary, Amelia Louise and myself.
| |
| |
My two older brothers had already moved out and did not come with us to Louisiana. The first born, Joseph Gilbert is in the military and the second born, John Louis, married Arsene Suzanne and is now living in Madawaska with their two children, John Louis Junior and Barry John.
There are only fond memories for me of my youth in Maine, especially the canoe journeys with dad into the Allegash wilderness.
—Indigo Breaux
|
|
The
Family History
|
|
INDIGO
BREAUX was born in 1955 in the town of Madawaska, Maine which sits astride the St. John River at the top of Maine on the border with New Brunswick, Canada.
His family can trace their heritage back to the days of French settlements in New France before the British Expulsion of the Acadiens in 1755.
Both of his parent′s lineage had come from the west coast of France below the Loire River where they previously lived but were persecuted for their religious beliefs.
These emigrants would travel by ship across the Atlantic seeking a home for the pursuit of their beliefs unfettered by the then established religious orders. The new world seekers settle in what is now coastal Nova Scotia, becoming farmers and fishermen, prospering in a new homeland that would come to be called L′Acadie.
When the British takeover of the maritimes began, many of the Acadiens, including Indigo′s family, escaped from the Expulsion by hiding in the forest. Later, after the British ships left port, they returned to their homes, gathered as much of their possessions as they could carry, boarded their boats, and crossed over the Bay of Fundy. Not wanting to be seen by the British when they returned, these families paddled up the Wolastoq.
1
After over two months and nearly five hundred miles of travel upriver, they finally felt that they were well out of the reach of any more invasions from the British troops. Then they pull their boats ashore and set up camp near the Madawaska River, a fork where reeds grow.
Deciding which bank of the river to settle upon would determine the nationality there grandchildren would become as this river is later to be the border between Canada and the US. Both of his parent′s families settled on the south bank, built log homes and started their lives anew, this choice of the south bank put then in the area which would later become the state of Maine. Others that traveled with them on the journey up the river settled on the opposite bank.
|
| |
| |
|
|
WHEN INDIGO WAS very young, his father Thomas François moved the family upriver, first to Fort Kent and then to where the Allagash river splits from the Saint John. His father was a trapper and wanted to have his family near to where he set his traps.
As a young boy, Indigo would go with his father to check on the traps, either on the Saint John or the Allagash river. Both of these two rivers flow up from southeastern parts, out of a remote and boundless expanse known as the Allagash Wilderness.
They would drive to where the road came to an end and the road would always end at the river. There is where they would drop their canoe into the river, load their supplies and begin paddling upriver into the woods, many times for days on end. It did not take long for Indigo to gain a deep love for this large watery wilderness in the northernmost reaches of Maine, one filled with all types of wildlife.
| |
| |
During the countless trips with his father, he would come to explore deeper and deeper into this vast river wilderness, camping on the bank, fishing the waters, checking the traps and occasionally hunting some of the wildlife along this water trail. Thus, even at a very young age, he came to be proficient in outdoor skills, fishing and hunting, but also especially adept at living in the outdoors.
Indigo learned English in school, but before his schooling began, he learned French from his parents. However, his mother, Elise desired that her children all learn to speak and write English. Still, growing up in northern Maine, Indigo knew that his heritage was definitively French and often told others, "Je suis Acadien" (I am Acadian.) He never was able to know his grandparents very well, whom all spoke only French because they died when he was very young, even before he began school and he has little memory of them because the visits were few and at a very young age.
His mother was a devout Catholic and reared her children to be likewise making sure that they attended mass every Sunday and Catechism every Saturday. Although he never liked going to church, he respected his mother′s wishes and because of this rearing, he came to respect both God and the Bible, he even began reading the English King James version in his early adult years.
|
| |
|
The
First Journeys
|
|
|
MY FATHER DIED WHEN I was twelve and mom could not support our family in Maine by her self, so, after receiving an invitation from family living in Louisiana, she decided to pack up the kids, and as much of there possessions into the station wagon and make the journey south to a new home.
The drive from Maine to Louisiana was long, tiring and it only got hotter and hotter the further south we drove. Isabelle was constantly complaining about the heat and no one really liked being so cramped in the car like we were but we all endured the journey and arrived on the bayou where our family were.
Our first home was a trailer on my aunt Evon′s property. It smelt of must and mold but mom got us all on our knees scrubbing every inch until every pore of our bodies wreaked from the smell of Pine-sol.
| |
| |
Then we moved our things into the trailer which became our home for the next several years. The girls shared the large bedroom while mom and myself each moved into one of the two small rooms. My room was on the south end of the trailer and had a window which looked out onto the Bayou Lafourche.
The mid sixties in the prairie farm and wetlands of southwest Louisiana prove to be quite a change from thick woodlands and vast river wilderness of Maine but not one impossible to accustom oneself to.
When Sunday arrived, we all put on our best clothes and went to mass at church. Mom also enrolled us in the Saturday Catechism classes and our routine of every Saturday and Sunday morning at the church thus began.
I recall one exceptionally hot day, there was a woman who came up to the front of the church to receive communion but the priest would not give it to her. I asked mom why and she said it was because of the dress she wore which had bare shoulders. Now as hot and humid as it was there in that place during the summer, I could never understand why the priest would not allow someone to receive communion when she was just trying to be comfortable.
Then when I began reading the Bible, there were some passages that really puzzled me so I would go to the priest and ask him for an answer. However, more times that not, the priest did not have a satisfactory answer. One particular passage which confused me was where Jesus said at Matthew 23 and verse 9, "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."
In my efforts to understand those words, I knew that Jesus was not talking about my father François but, instead, was speaking in reference to a religious father. However, all of the priests were called Father by everyone. When on the next Sunday I was at church, I waited until after the mass and approached the priest when he was finished his duties. I showed him the verse in my Bible and then asked him "Why do you have everyone call you Father when Jesus said not to do this."
His answer was "You have to stop reading that book because it is just confusing you!" I turned around, walked away and never went back to that church again.
|
| |
|
The
Wayƒaring Journeys
|
|
|
THE DESIRE OF MY HEART burns for answers to my questions, but by going to the churches near to me, none of their religious leaders could provide truly satisfying answers to me. Rather, the message that is being preached in these churches today is a social gospel, one of endeavoring to improve world conditions.
However, the Bible teachings of Christ shows otherwise.
(John 15:19;
John 17:16)
Furthermore, human experience show that attempting to make the world better is a futile task, as no effort by a social gospel will ever wipe away all tears from our eyes, nor death, nor sorrow, nor crying nor pain. Only God′s Kingdom can accomplish that.
(Revelation 21: 3
- 4)
| |
| |
Often, I would pray for God to help me find the answers, at times it was for long hours that I beseeched him, even going down to the bayou to be alone so that I could read my Bible, meditate and pray. Doing so only proved that the more I read in the Bible, the more question I had.
I saw that there are many churches who call themselves followers of Christ, but I wondered if their claim is true because most all of those that go to these churches do not follow the teaching of Jesus that he commanded his followers to obey. This makes me wonder if there are any who do obey the words of Jesus and if so, where are these ones that worship God according to God′s Word, the Bible. Are they still around now, and if so, where can they be found now?
Jesus said "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)
How do I learn to do the will of God if not by reading the Bible. Still, I feel that I need someone to help me to find answers to all these questions. Where can this person be found, I keep asking myself and praying for help. Then I come upon this verse at 1 Samuel chapter 9 and verse 6, I read, "And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go."
What place is this where I may find this man so he may tell me what way this is that we should go? The next day, when I was at reading, I began reading in Isaiah and when I reached chapter 35, I found at verse 8 a very interesting passage, "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."
I had to look in a dictionary to find out what a wayfaring man is and what I found out is that a wayfarer is a foot traveler, a person who travels on land similar to a seafarer who travels on water. An additional definition is a person who wanders a path in life. This makes perfect since to me now as the Bible is very clear on the idea that a true Christian must follow closely the footsteps of Jesus.
Now I know how to find the Way of Holiness, I need to begin walking on my path in life and so I begin the preparations for my steps in search for this way.
|
| |
|
Go back to Wayƒarer Passage, click on the down arrow.
|
|
|
Thank you for visiting
The Wayƒarers Journal.
| |
See Ya above the Treeline!
| |
This Page Last Updated: 30 September 2024
|
|
|
To continue to the next Episode Level page,
Click here
|
|
| |
