Thank you for replying, Alyssa. Information I have gathered to date suggests my ancestors with M1b1 mitochondrial DNA were Acadian Portuguese descended from the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. The family sheltered with the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq to avoid the Acadian expulsion. My 3G-grandmother returned to the rural European community after the British government lost interest in the expulsion, but some of her siblings remained with the Mi'kmaq. There is a fairly significant pool of haplogroup M1b1 mitochondrial DNA on the Iberian Peninsula, so I suggest you consider the Portuguese whaling community of coastal Massachusetts in addition to the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq as you investigate the maternal branch of your family tree.