Author discovers family history through 18 years of research

By CHLOË ERNST

 Author Linda Layton and her great-great-great-great-grandmother Marie Anne Payzant have both embarked upon journeys spanning the Atlantic Ocean and two decades - albeit under different circumstances.

 Marie Anne's epic journey began when, as a Huguenot, she fled from France to Jersey to escape religious persecution. In Jersey, Marie Anne met and married Louis Payzant, who had also fled to Jersey to escape Catholicism.

 In 1753, the couple and their four children sailed across the Atlantic to settle in Lunenburg and, in 1755, built a home on Payzants Island, now Coveys Island, in Mahone Bay.

 But within a year, a Maliseet raiding party, which was loyal to the French, landed on the island, killed and scalped Louis and took a pregnant Marie Anne and her children captive.

 The Maliseet took the family through Acadia to Quebec by canoe. Marie Anne was kept as a prisoner of war for four years and the children were adopted by the Maliseet.

 But Marie Anne and her children survived the ordeal and eventually made their way back to Nova Scotia. They settled in Falmouth where Marie Anne remarried, living to be 85.

 More than two centuries later, Ms Layton travelled from her home in Burlington, Ontario to France, Jersey and Nova Scotia, tracing the lives and searching out the roots of her French Huguenot relatives.

Linda Layton

 Eighteen years of research is woven into her book "A Passion for Survival," which retells the captivating history of the Payzants and, in particular, the raid on Payzants Island.

 The story of the killings on the island is best known locally for the "bloody hand" imprint on a rock.

 Folklore recounts the story of Louis falling on to the rock and leaving his bloody handprint, which was seared into the rock by the heat from the burning Payzant home.

 The author, who works as a library technician, first heard the incredible story many years ago.

 "I started being interested in genealogy and the story when I was in my teens," Ms Layton says.

 But her fascination with the history soon became much more.

 "It just worked its way up from an interest, to a hobby, to an obsession," she says. "I just wanted to find everything I could about them."

 Her search to find "everything" meant wading through many stories containing embellished information.

 "Over the years, this story has been handed down to different generations orally and it has been enhanced and changed and altered."

 However, her extensive search also led Ms Layton to some delightful surprises.

 "We did walk on the same stone floor in the church in Jersey where Marie Anne and Louis were married and where they lived for 14 years, and that was a real thrill."

 As well, she has visited Coveys Island twice and explored an old foundation and seen the famed "bloody hand" imprint.

 But Ms Layton, who highly treasures the truth, doesn't buy the folklore explanation for the imprint on the rock.

 She believes that iron deposits have rusted in the rock - although she concedes that the folklore story is fascinating.

 "It is wonderful to keep the story alive," the author says. "It's far more interesting than just iron deposits on a rock."

 But Ms Layton wanted her readers to know both explanations for the imprint. "I put it in because I'm into the truth," she says.

 Ms Layton is amazed by how many people have heard about the island raid and hopes more will be able to discover the story of the Payzants through her book.

 "I hope people in the Bridgewater-Lunenburg area would be interested because it's a local story - if they don't know it already," she says.

 Ms Layton hopes Payzant descendants and students of Canadian and women's history will also find the book compelling.

 "It's an excellent Canadian story and I wish more people could learn about it."

 And while Ms Layton doesn't have any plans to take on the huge task of researching a second book about her ancestors, she encourages others to craft their family stories and bring their genealogy to life.

 She says stories like hers will help make Canadian history more real.

 "We need more slices of Canadian history."