Representing the descendants of Roger Casey and Marie Françoise Poirier

BIENVENU

Bienvenu à la page Web de la famille Caissie. Nous espérons que cette visite vous fera connaître et apprécier l’histoire de notre famille. Issus d’un jeune couple établi à Beaubassin en Acadie, nous nous retrouvons aujourd’hui dans plusieurs pays et sur plusieurs continents. Que votre visite sur notre site, peu importe votre provenance, soit accompagnée de nos salutations sincères. Attardez-vous sur nos différentes pages et signez notre Guest Book. Nous apprécions tous les commentaires. 

La famille Caissie a la distinction d’être issue du premier Irlandais à s’installer en sol acadien. La famille remonte à un couple, Roger Kuessy et Marie Françoise Poirier, que l’on retrouve pour la première fois en 1671 à Port Royal, aujourd’hui Annapolis Royal, Nouvelle-Ecosse. De là, on suit ses traces jusqu’à Beaubassin et celles de ses descendants dans les villages environnants. Nous possédons quelques documents qui attestent du sort que la famille a connu au cours des déportations qui débutèrent en 1755, et qui contribuèrent à la présence des descendants Caissy à travers le monde, notamment en Amérique-du-Nord, en Australie et en Europe. Nous affichons des patronymes différents – Casey, Caissy, Caissey, Caissie, Quessy, Roger et Rogers – mais nous partageons tous l’histoire de la famille que nous voulons vous raconter sur ce site Web. 

A variant of a Casey coat of arms

WELCOME

Welcome to the Caissie Family Website! We hope you enjoy your visit as we gather to learn and remember our family's history. From one young couple in the village of Beaubassin,  Acadia, we have now grown to having descendants in numerous countries and continents across the globe. As you visit our site from wherever you are, please take a warm family greeting from us all! Please take the time to visit and post to our guest book, we appreciate your comments!

The Caissie family has the distinction of being the only known Irish-Acadian family to be found in the records of Acadia prior to 1755. We can trace the genesis of the family to one couple, Roger Kuessy and Marie Francoise Poirier, who are first found residing in Port Royal, today’s Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia. From there, we can trace their move from Port Royal to the village of Beaubassin and their descendants to other villages in the region. We have some record that bears witness to our family’s experiences through the deportations that began in 1755 and have led to the global presence of known Caissie descendants in North America, Australia and Europe. We bear differing surnames: Casey, Caissy, Caissey, Caissie, Quessy, Roger and Rogers but we all share the history of the family that this web site endeavors to tell.

LATEST NEWS

 7 May 08 - With apologies, at this time there will not be a Caissie reunion due to the lack of an available person to lead the effort. If anyone is interested, please contact Vincent Caissie at the e-mail above for more information.

SITE UPDATES

Your humble webmaster has begun to get his act together and has started a revamp to the site.

Please test drive our new Forum

 Thank you for visiting our site! If this is your first visit, you have discovered an on-going work by a collective of Caissie family cousins and researchers who strive to make this website the authoritative place to discover the origins and history of the differing branches of the Caissie family, descendants of Roger Casey and Marie Françoise Poirier. The effort started in 1998 when a group of Caissie cousins discovered each other by means of the Internet and the results of this collaboration will be presented over time. Along the way, we have lost some of our members but have discovered many cousins and new friends along the way.

 If you share our heritage, you belong to the greatest family in the world. One that, along with our Acadian and Cajun cousins, have faced adversity with courage and determination. We welcome contact and contributions.

    The Caissie family traces its beginning to Roger Casey and Marie Françoise Poirier, first found as a young couple on the 1671 census of Port Royal Acadia. Here they are listed with the first child, Marie, who was listed at age 2. Roger is listed as a "labourer", a form of tenant farmer. Roger is shown as age 35, but like most early records, this is possibly incorrect. Later data recorded on other census show a wide swing in ages, so without firm corroborative data, we will probably never know for sure.  Roger's surname appears to be recorded as "Kuessy" and from there a wide range of surname variations began. Roger claimed to be of Irish origin, but the trail currently leads no further back for him. Marie Françoise Poirier was the daughter of Jehan Poirier and Jeanne Chabrat. Records showing Roger and Marie Françoise span from 1671 to 1714 and no later records are known to exist.

  Roger and Marie Françoise had a total of seven children, 4 sons and 3 daughters.  These were Marie (b. 1669), Jean (b. 1676), Pierre (b.1678), Guillaume (b. 1680), Michel (b.1684), Madeline (b. 1688) and Marie Anne (b. 1697).

More on the first Caissie family

Butte á Roger - Ancestral home of the Caissie

Butte á Roger in 2001 (Vincent Caissie)

Roger and Marie Françoise moved to Beaubassin from Port Royal where they settled near the village on a small hill near what is known today as the Fort Cumberland Ridge. This we now know was Butte á Roger. We are fortunate because we have a pretty good idea where Roger and Marie Françoise settled and carved a home that for several generations was home to Caissie descendants until the residents of the Beaubassin area were exiled in late 1755. This hill, located approximately three-fourths of a mile from Fort Beauséjour lay between it and the Missaguash River, which now marks the border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. This is not coincidental as the river also marked the front lines between English and French forces during the war which led to disastrous consequences for our family and the other Acadians.

The approximate location of Butte á Roger is: