Southeast Texas descendents of Claude Guédry and Marguerite Petipas, who immigrated from France to Nova Scotia in the 17th Century, gathered in Beaumont on Saturday for a presentation on Grand Réveil Acadien ( the Great Acadian Awakening), which will be held in Louisiana in October. 

“Bonjour, bonjour, como sa va?” said event coordinator Marty Guidry in the costume of Pierre Guidry for the presentation. “A lot of y’all probably descend from Pierre Guidry.” Listen: MP3  RealPlayer

Pierre Guidry arrived in South Louisiana in 1768 as part of the Grand Dérangement, the French name for the Great Upheaval or Great Expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia by the British. Many of Pierre’s descendants, as well as other cousins of Claude Guédry’s progeny settled in Southeast Texas in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

“The Guidry/Guedry family is planning its next reunion during the Grand Réveil Acadien, which will take place from 7-16 October 2011 across southern Louisiana,” Marty Guidry said. “The Guidry/Guedry Reunion will be on 8 October 2011 in Cut Off, Louisiana.”