Prince Edward Island Cultural Groups

Library and Archives Canada
First of all, realize that members of different ethnicities, nationalities, and cultures are recorded in all the major record groups used for genealogy in Prince Edward Island. For some groups additional specific records were created by the government and churches. For many groups, information has been published by interested authors detailing their histories and identities. For each group below, in addition to a brief history, there is a link to an article prepared by the Library and Archives Canada detailing available records and publications.
 * Ethno-Cultural Groups

Acadians

 * Acadian Genealogy Resources Library and Archives Canada.
 * Généalogie Acadienne Database--Search Engine The biggest Acadian genealogy database. More than 800,000 individuals are available.
 * 1757-1946 - Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946], index and images, ($). List of Acadian parish registers in the Drouin collection
 * GenealogyQuebec.com, the Drouin Instiute’s genealogical research website, offers two research tools dedicated to Acadian genealogy. ($)
 * The Drouin Collection Database, a collection of parish registers (baptisms, marriages and burials) from Quebec, Acadia, as well as parts of Ontario, New Brunswick and the United States. The collection also contains Acadian censuses from 1673 to 1784. ($)
 * The Acadia Families Tool This tool contains family files based on the Acadian parish records mentioned above. In total, the tool contains 96,000 family files from 1621 to 1849 and is equipped with a search engine which allows searches by last name, first name, date and parish. In addition, the original records are attached to the family files, allowing the information contained in them to be viewed and verified.($)

The term "Acadians" refers to immigrants from France in the early 1600s who settled in the colony of Acadia, in what are now the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The colonization of Acadia by the French started in 1604 at Port-Royal. In the 1630s, about 20 families came from the Loudunais area. Steadily, the population grew and the territory expanded to include Nova Scotia, Cape-Breton Island, New-Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. With the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Acadia was given away to Great Britain.

Due to the threat of a new war in America, about 10,000 Acadians were made prisoners and were deported to the American colonies, Great Britain and France. By 1764, the Acadians were allowed to return on condition of dispersing themselves over the territory and swearing their loyalty to the British Crown. Some returned to the province of Quebec, particularly in the area of Yamachiche and L'Acadie.

Black Canadians
There has been a steady stream of migration of Black people into Canada via Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States since the 17th century. The first recorded Black person to arrive in Canada was an African named Mathieu de Coste who arrived in 1608 to serve as interpreter of the Mi'kmaq language to the governor of Acadia. A few thousand Africans arrived in Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves. After the American Revolution, the British gave passage to over 3000 slaves and free Blacks who had remained loyal to the Crown. These Black Loyalists joined the many other United Empire Loyalists in settlements across the Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Other Black slaves joined their Loyalist slave owners when they migrated to Canada.
 * Black History in Canada Genealogy Resources Library and Archives Canada.
 * Wikipedia: Black Canadians
 * Immigrants to Canada, Porters and Domestics, 1899-1949 Database
 * Slave Life and Slave Law in Colonial Prince Edward Island, 1769-1825

Irish Immigrants

 * Irish Genealogy and Family History Library and Archives Canada.
 * Exiles and Islanders : the Irish settlers of Prince Edward Island WorldCat

Loyalists

 * The Abegweit Branch, U.E.L. Assn. and PEI Muster Rolls - 1784
 * The Abegweit Branch is the local branch of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada on Prince Edward Island. The Abegweit Branch, has existed for many years, meeting 4 times annually, and is looking for new members to carry on the traditions of the association, and to help us remember our UEL ancestors.

Loyalists were American colonists who stayed loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men at the time. When their cause was defeated, about 15 percent of the Loyalists (65,000–70,000 people) fled to other parts of the British Empire, to Britain itself, or to British North America (now Canada). The southern Loyalists moved mostly to Florida, which had remained loyal to the Crown, and to British Caribbean possessions. Northern Loyalists largely migrated to Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. They called themselves United Empire Loyalists. Most were compensated with Canadian land or British cash distributed through formal claims procedures. Historian Maya Jasanoff calculates about 2,000 went to Prince Edward Island.

During and after the American Revolutionary War, from 1776 to 1783, the colony's efforts to attract exiled Loyalist refugees from the rebellious American colonies met with some success. Walter Patterson's brother, John Patterson, one of the original grantees of land on the island, was a temporarily exiled Loyalist and led efforts to persuade others to come. Governor Patterson dismissal in 1787, and his recall to London in 1789 dampened his brother's efforts, leading John to focus on his interests in the United States. Edmund Fanning, also a Loyalist exiled by the Revolution, took over as the second governor, serving until 1804. His tenure was more successful than Patterson's.