We may now review the growth of the Acadian Minas from the coming of the first settlers in 1681 to the year 1755, when Colonel John Winslow, with the New England volunteers, encamped upon the church ground of St. Charles at Grand-Pré. In December of that year the houses and barns, churches and mills of the Acadians were destroyed, and for five years the country was without an inhabitant. We have the names of the older parents, of their children, their possessions. We also have record of the younger married couples who came to make homes in the new country of Minas. The villages grew chiefly in clusters about the establishments of the elders. Dykes were built. Land was cleared of wood for their gardens and orchards. Roads were made connecting all the centres of farm life. Winter roads for their timber, fencing, and firewood were made. Finally, they cut a way through the forests from Halifax to Annapolis Royal. They were increasing in population, and in worldly goods. The Three First Families Perhaps before entering directly upon the historical aspects of the Evangeline country, it would be interesting to know something of its outstanding families, members of which figured prominently in the later history of the place. The three most picturesque and important persons in the history of the Minas country are Pierre Melanson, Pierre Terriot, and René LeBlanc. The Melansons (Gaspereau) In a census of the Port Royal people, made in 1671, the name Pierre Melanson appears, but with no account of his family or possessions. He refused to give the facts asked for. There has been some doubt as to his antecedents, although he was a man of importance, and his name appears in several historical documents. Some think he was the son of the Scotchman, Pierre Melanson, who remained in Acadia after the colony under Sir William Alexander was broken up in 1632. It has been ascertained, however, that Pierre Melanson was a tailor and farmer of considerable wealth, when he sold his Port Royal property in 1669. He was also Captain of militia, and a man of mark among the oldest inhabitants of that place. His courage and enterprise are shown by his removal to the unsettled country of Minas in 1681. His selection of the Gaspereau Valley for his new home, points to a knowledge of the country, for he settled in the most beautiful and favorable situation in the region. It was at the head of the tide, sheltered, with extensive marshes, and rich uplands suitable for farming. The forests lay upon the hills, the stream teemed with gasperot, salmon, and trout. The Basin of Minas could be easily reached at high tide by boat. Conditions were most favorable for the development of the little colony, and those which soon sprang up in that neighbourhood (Gaspereau) and at Grand-Pré.