Charles Martel taught at D’Escousse in 1848 and 1849.
A native of Arichat, the young Martel had studied commerce at the Arichat Academy. With Arichat being a commercial centre, it was common for young men to study in preparation for a vocation in the business world.
Having completed his studies at the Arichat Academy, Martel would have qualified for a teaching certificate. He was 19 years old when he prepared his first school report in 1848. However, Charles P. Martel is remembered, not for his career in teaching, but rather for the fact that he was one of the first Acadians to be ordained to the priesthood in the diocese.
The Schools Act of 1826 divided regions into school sections, each section responsible for its own school. At this time, teachers were paid 50 pounds per annum. Each community had its own school: D’Escousse, Poulamon, Martinique, Poirierville, Cap la Ronde, and Rocky Bay. With the exception of D’Escousse and Poulamon, these were all one-room buildings.
Until the 1920s, conditions were crude, to say the least. Pot-bellied stoves provided uneven heat, water was drawn, and toilet facilities were outdoors. Later, new desks, manufactured in Amherst by Rhodes and Curry, were procured. It was 1954 before further upgrades were undertaken to provide electricity, plumbing, and heating.
The old school in D’Escousse was closed in 1903 as it was declared unfit and no teacher could be found. Then on May 21, 1904 Les Filles de Jesus came to the rescue. Three sisters, Marie Saint Cyrille, Marie Saint Maximin, and Saint Alban-Marie, all newly arrived from Europe, took up residence. They had 104 students. The sisters found conditions primitive and suffered from the severe winters; they left in August 1906.
In 1953, Father Wilfred Boucher lured the order back to the northside, and in 1955, the school sections of Martinique, Poulamon, Poirierville, and Rocky Bay were consolidated with D’Escousse on the site of the present-day Civic Improvement Hall. The glebe house became the convent where the sisters remained until they moved to Arichat in 1968, however, they continued their teaching duties in D’Escousse.
In 1964, the provincial government mandated further school consolidation, which resulted in the closure of all the smaller schools in Martinique, Poulamon, Poirierville, Cap la Ronde, and Rocky Bay. A modern school was opened in D’Escousse in 1969 and continued until 1990 when declining enrollments forced its closure and children were transported to Arichat. The Sisters were still providing instruction when the school closed its doors for the last time.
The Filles de Jesus returned to the northside in 1983 when they bought a house from Frankie Landry.
The priests and sisters had a profound effect on the choices of vocations considered by the young. As a result, the northside has produced its share of students who entered religious orders, some of whom are Fathers Pierre Baccardax, A.P. Poirier, Vincent Poirier (ordained in D’Escousse in 1985), and Jim McGrath; Brother Grimes; and Sisters Aquin Doyle, Lucina Doyle, Edith Doyle, Mary Alberta (Minnie) Joyce, Annette Landry, Marcelle MacDonald, Catherine Morrison, Edna Pertus, Sadie Pettipas, Valma Pettipas, Mary Rose Landry, and Mary Theresa Landry, among others.