America

Margaret, the daughter of David Forsyth III, Lord of Dykes and heir to the Fronsac title in France, married Jean, grandson of Captain Jean Denys, who acquired great renown in France in connection with early American explorations. Their son, Nicholas Denys, was born at St. Vincent de Tours, in 1598. In recognition of the services of his ancestors in discovering lands for France in America, he received from the King in 1632 the northern half of Acadia, a territory of about thirty-two thousand square miles. He was also made its governor.

One authority says he was a Huguenot, another that he was very liberal in his religious views, but he had trouble with the Catholics. LeBorgne planned an ambush against him, captured him when alone, and carried him a prisoner to Port Royal (Annapolis). While in prison he obtained aid from the Protestant English with whom he was forced to form an alliance for his own safety, and they released him by armed intervention. In the meantime he had opened the country to colonists, built ships, encouraged trade with New England and established his capital at Pierre. His enemies next proceeded to petition the king for his removal from the governorship. They succeeded in getting Giraudiere appointed, and Denys retired into his own territory. The new governor with the aid of the king’s ships and troops made war on him and seized the ships by which he traded with New England, but he finally repelled his enemies and in 1659 was made governor viceroy of Gaspesie Acadia and New Foundland. In 1667, his claims to the title of Vicomte de Fronsac were recognized and ordered to be registered by King Louis XIV. His history was published in Paris in 1672 in two volumes. Charlevoix, historian of Canada, refers to him as the best instructed of the new governors of New France, and the most enterprising, most liberal and best-educated person in the country.

The children of Walter Forsyth, whose wife, Margaret, was granddaughter of Nicholas Denys, inherited from their mother’s family the shipping and private armed vessels which were their part in the Forsyth and Denys enterprises on the seas which extended to the French and British Americas and Indies.

The Forsyths were in alliance with the Normans of France, favored the Stuart cause in Scotland, and were opposed to English control. Their privateers were safely harbored along the west coast of Ireland with Irish and French vessels in secret, and engaged in contraband trade in defiance of English law. Their place was in the vicinity of Garrickfergus near the castle of the O’Neals, where the sea protected their ships that sailed under the flag of France.

The Lordships of the Forsyth and Denys families in Canada at one time comprised 8,846,640 acres. When the English moved the Acadians, some went to Louisiana where Pierre Denys became a Colonel in the American army and was an aide to General Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans.