Most of the settlers of Surette's Island came from the parish of Saint Anne du Ruisseau (Eel Brook). This was part of the territory of Cape Sable which we now refer to as Sheburne and Yarmouth Counties. Saint Anne du Ruisseau was established about 20 years previous by a small group of Acadians who managed to escape deportation by the British. One of these individuals was Pierre Surette. Pierre II was born in Port-Royal in1709. Pierre II Surette had married in Grand-Pre, September 30th, 1732. After the Treaty of Paris in 1763 he was released from a prison in Halifax, about 6 or 7 later he moved to Saint Anne du Ruisseau.. In 1801 a government grant was given to a group of Acadians that gave them the lands from Tusket southward to Morris Island. Two brothers Fredrick & Charles-Baromme Surette went to Surette's Island. The grant required that the land be cleared and planted within a specific period (about 4 years). An area consisted of over 8000 acres, granted to 27 Acadians. Part of this was Surette's Island..Surette's Island. Named after Frédéric Surette who with some others settled on the island (859 acres) in about 1812. |