Placide Gaudet

1850-1930

Placide Gaudet (teacher, journalist, genealogist, historian, and office holder) was born 19 November 1850 in Dupuis Corner (Cap-Pelé), NB. Gaudet attended the local school and developed an interest in Acadian genealogy and history through listening to his grandfather. In January 1862 his mother moved to her father-in-law’s farm in Dorchester. When the College of St Joseph opened in nearby Memramcook two years later, Gaudet was one of its first students. After graduating in 1873, Gaudet began to study for the priesthood at the Grand Séminaire de Montréal but by late November 1874 he had returned to New Brunswick. Gaudet enrolled in the regular program of the Normal School in Fredericton during the autumn of 1881. In the Cocagne region he taught during 1882-1883. He spent a short period in Bathurst with the Courrier des provinces Maritimes. He became the editorial secretary of Le Moniteur acadien during the fall of 1886. From there he moved to L’Évangéline in Weymouth, NS, where he worked from July 1890 to mid-August 1893. In May 1894 he went back to the Courrier des provinces Maritimes and stayed until March 1895. In August 1895 Gaudet moved to Church Point, NS, to teach at the new Collège Sainte-Anne and remained until the college burned down in January 1899. That year he received a full-time contract from the National Archives to copy registers in the Acadian parishes of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Gaudet moved to Ottawa to become genealogist at the National Archives of Canada where he produced a genealogy of Acadia published in the Report concerning Canadian archives for the year 1905 (Ottawa, 1906). He remained at the National Archives until 1924. In 1921 Gaudet wrote an 84-page booklet entitled Le grand dérangement in support of the Acadian proposal to construct a commemorative church at Grand Pré, NS. After retirement in 1924 he moved to Moncton, NB.  He died 9 November 1930 in Shediac, NB.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Cap-Pele, Dorchester, Memramcook, Bathurst, Moncton

Archival Material

• Fonds Placide-Gaudet
  ⌄
  Location

  Centre d'études acadiennes Anselme-Chiasson

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  1, CP5, G5, PL5, F1033, F1047, F2279-F2300

  Date Range of Material

  1600-1928

  Extent

  12 m of textual records and 2 reels

  Scope and Content Note

  Fonds consists of historical files on Acadia; historical files on the different regions of Acadia where the Acadians were established before and after the Deportation; historical records concerning New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Magdalen Islands, the United States and more particularly Louisiana; biographies of people who have marked the history of Acadie; files concerning the life of the missionaries in Acadia; files concerning the Acadian clergy and the bishops; autobiographical folders; Acadian censuses; correspondence relating mainly to the history and Acadian genealogy.

• Placide Gaudet fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  Library and Archives Canada

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  R1713-0-4-F, MG30-C20

  Date Range of Material

  1600-1928

  Extent

  13.35 m of textual documents.
  25 microfilm reels of textual records.

  Scope and Content Note

  The fonds consists of Acadian genealogies and genealogical notes prepared by Placide Gaudet. Series 1 and 2 contain original transcripts and documents; Series 3 contains a reproduction on microfilm of the Placide Gaudet fonds kept at the Center d'études acadiennes.