Jean-Mandé Sigogne
Born on April 6th, 1763 in Beaulieu-lès-Loches, France, Sigogne was ordained into the priesthood in 1789. Exiled to England because of his anti-revolutionary stance, Sigogne arrived in Southwestern Nova Scotia in 1799 to initiate a 45 year ministry among the Acadians.
In 1806, he was named Justice of the peace given his good reputation with the officials of the province. In 1807, Sigogne obtained new land concessions for the ever growing population of Salmon River and a few years later, thanks to him, many Acadians settled for the first time in Concessions and in Corberrie where he founded his last parish. However, it is in the field of education that many of his efforts were concentrated and he tried desperately to further advance the learning process by setting up the region's first school where the rudiments of reading and writing were taught.
Jean-Mandé Sigogne died on November 9th, 1844, in his parish of Sainte-Marie. Less than half a century later, his remains were exhumed to be buried in front of the newly founded Collège Sainte-Anne as a mark of his devotion to the educational progress of his Acadian flock. This College was mainly for the purpose of giving it's community a higher degree of education in its mother tongue.
here are other key persons involved:
