The Père Charles Aucoin Genealogy Centre
When Father Charles Aucoin (1911-1999) retired from his priestly duties in 1973, the beneficiary of that retirement was the village of Chéticamp. For the next quarter of a century, the Chéticamp native threw himself into a labour of love. His name has become synonymous with the resurrection of La Société Saint-Pierre and the founding of the voluntary department of history and genealogy at Les Trois Pignons.
Father Aucoin undertook the laborious task of transcribing by hand all the old church records from 200 years of Acadian settlement in northern Inverness County. Father Aucoin prepared more than 100,000 personal file cards. He also wrote a number of articles on Acadian life and history.
At Les Trois Pignons, Father Aucoin delighted in entertaining visitors to the cultural centre. He was of particular help to former Chéticamp people or their descendants who returned to the village in search of information about their ancestors and family history.
Today a very important department at Les Trois Pignons is that of the History and Genealogy of the Chéticantins. Under the able direction of our volunteers Jean-Doris LeBlanc Edmond Burns and Charles D. Roach, there is accumulated here all possible documentation on these subjects: books, copies of parish registers, census lists, listing of names from all the headstones in the cemetery, old photographs, etc… Please feel free to e-mail our volunteers for genealogy reasearch.