Until quite recently Acadian genealogical research was focused rather narrowly on trying to trace the precise places of origin of the early colonists. Of late, however, questions have been raised with increasing frequency regarding the racial origins of certain members of those colonists? families. In particular, there has been an upsurge in interest in trying to establish genealogical ties between those families and the Amerindian tribes who had inhabited the area for untold centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans. In this context, the lack of precision is of little import, as all that is really desired is a basis for determining who among the members of the pioneer families came from France or other European countries, and who might have been born in Acadia of mixed parentage.
On the level of racial origins, there is a source that provides a considerable amount of information. This is the series of fifty-eight depositions of the heads of the Acadian families that were taken down on Belle-?le-en-Mer between February 15th and March 12th, 1767, pursuant to an order from the parliament of Brittany at Vannes. The deponents were required to provide under oath, in the presence of witnesses including other Acadians, the local parish priests, and the Abb? Jean-Louis LeLoutre, former Vicar General of the diocese of Qu?bec and ?director? of the Acadian families settled on Belle-?le, all the details they could regarding their own civil status and that of their immediate families, plus their direct-line genealogies back to their first ancestors who came from Europe, ?with indication of the places and dates as much as they can remember.? The depositions were intended to take the place of the registers of the parishes in Acadia that had been lost ?during the persecution by the British.? In practical terms, they would also furnish the French authorities a means of identifying those who, as refugees from said persecution, were entitled to the King?s bounty and protection.
Two sets of the depositions were made up in 1767. One set of copies was left on Belle-?le, and the other was sent to the district court at Auray. Both sets have been carefully preserved, the latter of the two being now housed in the departmental archives at Rennes.
The importance of these records to Acadian history and genealogy was recognized long ago. As early as the 1880's, Father H.-R. Casgrain obtained a full transcription of them and had it published in the Collection de Documents in?dits sur le Canada et l?Am?rique publi?s par le Canada-fran?ais (Qu?bec: Imprimerie de L.-J. Demers & Fr?re), Vol. II (1889), pp. 165-194 and Vol. III (1890), pp. 5-134. In what follows, all references are made to this version of the depositions, using the abbreviated form ?Doc. in?d.? An English translation of Father Casgrain?s publication was prepared and published by Milton P. and Norma Gaudet Rieder in their The Acadians in France, Vol. II, Belle Isle en Mer Registers, La Rochette Papers (Metairie, Louisiana: the compilers, 1972), pp. 1-85. This English translation includes an index to all the personal names in the volume (pp. 122-134), so references to it have not been deemed necessary.
Father Casgrain?s version of the depositions is accompanied by a series of commentaries by Edm? Rameau de Saint-P?re regarding fifteen families whom the latter identified as being among the very first settlers of Acadia (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 135 et seq.). Many of M. Rameau?s conclusions and deductions are still considered valid, but certain errors in three of the depositions led him astray. The present writer identified these errors and explained the faulty deductions they caused in his article ?Corrections aux ?Notes explicatives, sur les D?clarations des Acadiens conserv?es ? Belle-Isle-en-Mer, et les ?tablissements des premiers colons de l?Acadie? de Edm? Rameau de Saint-P?re,? Cahiers de la Soci?t? historique acadienne (hereinafter SHA), Vol. XV (1984), pp. 116-121. The errors in question and others will be dealt with in the appropriate places in the following material.
The depositions provide information regarding the European origins of the male progenitors of forty-six families from whom the Acadians at Belle-?le directly descended, and of those of four collateral families. They give as well similar information regarding the female progenitors of those same families who bore twelve different surnames.
It is evident from the repetition of certain phrases and expressions in the various depositions that the information they contain was produced by and large through a collaborative effort among the members of certain families. There are nevertheless some inconsistencies between some statements dealing with the same ancestors.
The depositions also contain a certain number of outright errors. The majority of these concern the first names of some twenty of the first ancestors for whom places of origin are specified, sixteen men and four women. And for three of these four, their family names are wrong as well. Most of these errors concern the grandparents, or more remote forebears, of the spouses of the deponents. They may thus be understood as arising from problems in communication and the normal process of forgetfulness in oral tradition. After all, even today not many people who do not have a special interest in genealogy can readily name their own great-grandparents, and even fewer know the names of their forebears of any earlier generations. Some may even have problems recalling the names of their own grandfathers and grandmothers.
Oral tradition does tend to preserve quite accurately information regarding the number of generations that have elapsed since a family migrated from one place to another, as well as the knowledge of where its forebear had originated. In the following, only one error regarding the number of generations in a lineage has been found; that concerns the Thibodeaus and may in fact merely be a clerical error. With regard to origins, the various deponents who were related to the Melansons could not agree on whether the family had come from England or Scotland, six declaring it was the former, and two the latter. The husbands of two sisters thought that the Pellerins had come to Acadia from Qu?bec, but the latter had in fact moved to Qu?bec from Acadia. Pierre Boudrot mistakenly thought that his wife?s brother?s wife?s father Jean Ozelet had come from France, whereas that worthy had in fact been born in Newfoundland, but it is easy to see how Pierre might have been misinformed about a relative so many times removed.
It must be noted that there are some peculiarities regarding the phrasing of the depositions. In many instances they use the expressions ?issued of? or ?descended from? as a rather poetic way of saying that one person was the ?child of? another. This poetic terminology does not, however, mean that any links have been left out of the family line. The depositions also often speak of a first ancestor as having come from France ?with his wife,? but, as Father Archange Godbout pointed out (in his article ?Daniel Leblanc,? in the M?moires de la Soci?t? g?n?alogique canadienne-fran?aise [hereinafter SGCF], Vol. V, pp. 4-9, published as long ago as 1952), one should not necessarily interpret this as meaning that the two came together, and at the same time. Rather, the expression may be taken to mean simply that both the husband and the wife had come from France. Ironically, in at least a couple of cases where there is a substantial likelihood that a couple did indeed come together (Martin Benoit and his wife Marie Chaussegros, Jean Doiron and his first wife Marie-Anne Canol) the phrasing is quite different, saying that ?both of them? were from France.
The families and individuals whose origins are mentioned in the depositions are presented in alphabetical order in the following listing. As already mentioned, all references to the depositions are to the version of them that was published by Father Casgrain.
APRENDESTIGUY de MARTIGNON, Martin d?, came from France, according to his great-grandson Jean LeBlanc, who named his forebear simply as the Sieur de Martignon (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 42). Other documents show that the Sieur de Martignon was born at Ascain, in the province of Guyenne, France (see DGFA-1, p. 21). Nothing is said in the deposition about his wife, but it is known from her appearance as a godmother in the parish register of Beaubassin (June 2, 1681), that she was Jeanne de Saint-?tienne de La Tour, a M?tisse daughter of Charles de Saint-?tienne de La Tour (see DGFA-1, p. 1433). As mentioned above, the depositions were ordered drawn up for the purpose of providing information about the European ancestry of the deponents, so any mention of mixed-blood ancestors appears to have been deliberately omitted. One must not presume solely from the omission of an ancestor?s name, however, that the individual was other than European.
AUCOIN, Jeanne, came from France with her husband Fran?ois Girouard, according to two depositions, one made by her great-grandson Pierre Richard (Doc. in?d., Vol. II, p. 191), and another made by Louis Courtin, husband of her great-great-granddaughter Marie-Jos?phe Martin (ibid., Vol. III, p. 27). Jeanne?s baptismal record (November 26, 1630) has been traced in the records of the parish of Ste-Marguerite at La Rochelle in France.
AUCOIN, Michelle, came from France with her husband Michel Boudrot, according to four depositions, two made by her great-grandsons, F?lix Boudrot (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 39) and Pierre Boudrot (ibid., p. 120), one made by a great-great-grandson, also named F?lix Boudrot (ibid., p. 36), and another made by Pierre LeBlanc, husband of her great-great-granddaughter Fran?oise Trahan (ibid., p. 41). Dispensations in the marriage records of several of Michelle?s descendants who married descendants of Jeanne Aucoin and the ages attributed to Michelle and Jeanne in the Acadian censuses show that Michelle was Jeanne?s older sister (see DGFA-1, p. 40).
AUCOIN, Martin, came from France , according to the deposition made by his grandson Alexandre Aucoin (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 106). Five others, all made by widows or widowers of other grandchildren of Martin Aucoin, include statements to the same effect (ibid., Vol. II, pp. 181, 193; Vol. III, pp. 22, 29, 127-128). All six of these depositions indicate that Martin Aucoin married Marie Gaudet, only one, that of Claude Pitre (ibid., Vol. III, p. 29), adding the detail that their marriage took place at Port-Royal.
BABIN, Antoine, came from France with his wife Marie Mercier, according to his grandson Claude Babin?s widow, Marguerite Dupuis (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 51). The widow?s son Laurent Babin?s deposition says the same thing (ibid., p. 131), as does that of Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre, whose son Joseph was the widower of one of Antoine Babin?s great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, p.177).
BARRIEAU, Nicolas, came from France, along with his wife Martine H?bert, according to his grandsons Alexis and Jean Doiron (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 16). While this appears to be true with respect to Nicolas Barrieau, it is evidently inaccurate regarding his wife Martine H?bert, because nine other depositions (ibid., Vol. II, p. 182; Vol. III, pp. 8, 11, 30, 45, 90, 92-93, 93-94, and 110-111) all agree that it was Martine?s parents, ?tienne H?bert and Marie Gaudet, who had immigrated to Acadia from France.
BASILE, Perrine, came from France with her husband Andr? C?lestin dit Bellem?re, according to Claude-Joseph Billeray, husband of her granddaughter Brigitte Forest (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 95), and Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc, husband of another granddaughter, Marguerite C?lestin dit Bellem?re (ibid., p. 119).
BENOIT, Martin, married Marie Chaussegros, and both of them were from France, according to their grandson PierreTrahan (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 8). As might be expected, the depositions of Pierre?s son Pierre (ibid., p. 110) and nephews Joseph and Simon-Pierre Trahan (ibid., p. 123) agree, as does that of Jean Doiron, who was married to Martin and Marie?s granddaughter Anne Thibodeau (ibid., p. 17).
BERNARD, Marie, came from France with her husband Ren? Landry, according to nine depositions. One of these depositions was made by Marie?s granddaughter Marguerite Dupuis (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 51), and another by Jean LeBlanc, husband of another granddaughter Fran?oise Blanchard (ibid., p. 43). Three more came from great-grandsons (ibid., pp. 48, 123, 132), three from the husbands of great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, pp. 176-177, 181; Vol. III, p. 118), and one from two great-great-grandsons (ibid., Vol. II, p. 189). This affirmation that Marie Bernard came from France means that her mother Andr?e Guyon must have come from there as well (see DGFA-1, p. 125).
BLANCHARD, Jean, came from France with his wife, according to Jean LeBlanc, husband of his great-granddaughter Fran?oise Blanchard (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 43). The deposition of Fran?oise?s nephews Joseph and Simon-Pierre Trahan is to the same effect (ibid., p. 123). Both depositions mistakenly give Guillaume as the ancestor?s given name. Jean LeBlanc?s makes an additional error regarding the name of Jean Blanchard?s wife, calling her Huguette Poirier. The censuses of 1671 and 1686 meanwhile clearly show that she was named Radegonde Lambert (see DGFA-1, pp. 143-144). The source of these errors is probably a simple confusion arising from the fact that Jean LeBlanc?s wife?s grandfather Martin Blanchard had a brother Guillaume who was married to a woman named Huguette, as this writer explained in an article published in 1984 (SHA, Vol. XV, pp. 116-117). This Huguette was not named Poirier, however, but Gougeon, although her mother, Jeanne Chebrat, had married a man named Jean Poirier before she wed Huguette?s father Antoine Gougeon, and all her male-line descendants in Acadia were Poiriers. Unfortunately, we do not know just what questions Jean LeBlanc asked in trying to establish the Blanchard lineage, but he might certainly have had the impression that Huguette was a Poirier from the fact that so many of her relatives were Poiriers, including her grandnephew Joseph, who was also on Belle-?le in 1767 (see Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 13-15).
BODART, Fran?ois, came from France, according to Guillaume Montet, husband of his granddaughter Marie-Jos?phe Vincent (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 97). Montet?s deposition erroneously calls his wife?s grandfather Pierre, and provides no information whatsoever regarding Fran?ois Bodart?s wife, who we know from the parish register of Grand-Pr? (October 4, 1710) was named Marie Babin (see DGFA-1, pp. 161-162). Additionally, the censuses of Port-Toulouse in ?le Royale for the years 1724, 1726, and 1734, show that Fran?ois Bodart was actually born at Brussels (see ibid.), which was still at that time in the Spanish Netherlands. These lapses may be due to the fact that Montet had never lived in Acadia, and had only been married to Marie-Jos?phe Vincent for a little less than four years.
BONNI?RE, Pierre, was born in Brittany, married Madeleine-Jos?phe Forest, and died at Plymouth, in England, according to the deposition taken from his son-in-law Pierre Deline (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 95-96). La Roque?s census in 1752 specifies that Pierre Bonni?re was born at ?Raquiel,? in the diocese of Vannes. He was a relative late-comer to Acadia, being first mentioned in Acadian records as a witness at a marriage at Grand-Pr? on June 26, 1730 (see DGFA, Seconde partie, 1715 ? 1780 [in preparation], s.n. Bonni?re).
BOUDROT, Michel, came from France with his wife Michelle Aucoin, according to four depositions, two made by his great-grandsons, F?lix Boudrot (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 39) and Pierre Boudrot (ibid., p. 120), one made by a great-great-grandson, also named F?lix Boudrot (ibid., p. 36), and another made by Pierre LeBlanc, husband of his great-great-granddaughter Fran?oise Trahan (ibid., p. 41).
BOURG, Antoine, came from France, according to Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre, widower of Antoine?s great-granddaughter Anne Bourg (Doc. in?d., Vol. II, p. 175). Another deposition, that of Jean Melanson, who was a grandson of Antoine?s son Bernard, mistakenly indicates that it was Bernard who came from France (ibid., Vol. III, p. 22).
BOURGEOIS, Jacques, came from France with his wife, according to his great-grandson Jean LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 42). It is known from the various seventeenth-century censuses of Acadia that his wife was named Jeanne Trahan (see DGFA-1, pp. 251-253) . She arrived in Acadia in 1636 aboard the Saint-Jehan (A. Godbout, ?Le r?le du Saint-Jehan et les origines acadiennes,? SGCF, Vol. I [1944], pp. 19-30), and Jacques Bourgeois came to the colony five years later, aboard the Saint-Fran?ois (J.-M. Germe, ?Rapport du Saint-Fran?ois,? Le Messager de l?Atlantique, No. 13 [April 1991], pp. 13-18).
BRASSEAU, Pierre, came from France and married at Port-Royal Gabrielle Forest, according to Claude LeBlanc, widower of Pierre?s granddaughter Marie-Jos?phe Longu?p?e (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 47). Claude LeBlanc erroneously called his late wife?s forebear Jean, but the censuses in Acadia from 1693 onward show that his given name was in fact Pierre (see DGFA-1, pp. 267-268).
BREAU, Ren?e, came from France with her husband Vincent Brun, according to her great-grandson Claude Pitre (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 28). The baptismal records of Ren?e and Vincent?s daughters Madeleine (January 25, 1645) and Andr?e (August 21, 1646) are in the registers of the parish of La Chauss?e, in the present department of Vienne (see DGFA-1, p 289).
BRUN, Vincent, came from France with his wife Ren?e Breau, as is mentioned in the last paragraph. Claude Pitre gave the family name as LeBrun, which is a variant used by some descendants.
CANOL, Marie-Anne, married Jean Doiron, and both of them were from France, according to Pierre Trahan, husband of her granddaughter Madeleine Vincent (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 111). Marie-Anne?s family name is not provided in this deposition, but it is known from the 1686 census and the marriage records of three of her children in the registers of Port-Royal and Grand-Pr? (see DGFA-1, pp. 513-514).
C?LESTIN dit BELLEM?RE, Andr?, came from France with his wife Perrine Basile, according to Claude-Joseph Billeray, husband of his granddaughter Brigitte Forest (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 95), and Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc, husband of another granddaughter, Marguerite C?lestin dit Bellem?re (ibid., p. 119). Both of these depositions mistakenly call the ancestor Jacques, instead of Andr?, but the 1693 census of Acadia and the marriage records of five of his children in the registers of Grand-Pr? show that the latter was in fact his given name (see DGFA-1, pp. 325-326).
CHAUSSEGROS, Marie, married Martin Benoit, and both of them were from France, according to their grandson PierreTrahan (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 8). As might be expected, the depositions of Pierre?s son Pierre (ibid., p. 110) and nephews Joseph and Simon-Pierre Trahan (ibid., p. 123) agree, as does that of Jean Doiron, who was married to Martin and Marie?s granddaughter Anne Thibodeau (ibid., p. 17).
COMEAU, Pierre, came from France, according to five depositions: one from Pierre Trahan, husband of Pierre Comeau?s granddaughter Madeleine Comeau (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 8), another from Pierre and Madeleine?s son Pierre (ibid., pp.110-111), a third from Madeleine?s nephews Sylvestre and Simon Trahan (ibid., p. 30), and the other two from her grandnephews Laurent Granger (ibid., p. 32) and F?lix Boudrot (ibid., p. 36). None of these give Pierre Comeau his correct first name, four calling him Jean, while Laurent Granger offered no given name at all for his ancestor. The confusion between the name Jean and Pierre probably arose from Madeleine Comeau?s inability to recall her grandfather?s first name?he had after all died some years before her birth, so she had never known him personally?and the presumption that her own father Jean had been named after his father before him. There is no mention in any of the depositions of Pierre Comeau?s wife Rose Bayon, who is known to Acadian genealogy only through her appearance in the 1671 census (see DGFA-1, pp. 369-370).
DAIGRE, Olivier, came from France and married at Port-Royal Marie Gaudet, according to eight depositions: four from his great-grandsons Honor?, Paul, and Olivier Daigre (Doc. in?d., Vol. II, pp. 179-180), Simon-Pierre Daigre (ibid., Vol. III, p. 34), Charles H?bert (ibid., p. 94), and Ren? and Pierre Trahan (ibid., p. 108), three on behalf of or from his great-granddaughters? husbands Joseph LeBlanc (ibid., Vol. II, pp. 177-178), Joseph-Simon Granger (ibid., p. 185), and Charles Granger (ibid., Vol. III, p. 115), and one from Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc, on behalf of Olivier?s great-great-grandson Joseph Daigre, who was Jean-Baptiste?s first cousin and ward. All of these depositions mistakenly call the first Daigre ancestor in Acadia Jean, rather than Olivier, which is shown to have been his true name by the censuses of 1671 and 1678, as well as by his son Olivier?s marriage contract (see DGFA-1, pp. 446-447).
DAROIS, J?r?me, came from Paris and married at Port-Royal Marie Gareau, according to his son-in-law Claude Pitre (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 29).
DOIRON, Jean, married Marie-Anne Canol, and both of them were from France, according to Pierre Trahan, husband of his granddaughter Madeleine Vincent (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 111). Another Pierre Trahan, who was a nephew of Jean Doiron?s second wife, Marie Trahan, mistakenly attributes the given name of Charles to him (ibid., p. 8), as do three other depositions: one from Jean Doiron?s grandson Jean H?bert (ibid., p. 11), one from his great-grandson F?lix Boudrot (ibid., p. 39), and the last from Marie-Madeleine LeBlanc on behalf of her son-in-law Miniac Daigre, another of the ancestor?s great-grandsons (ibid., p. 25). Miniac Daigre?s uncles Alexis and Jean Doiron in their joint deposition likewise call their grandfather Charles, but do not mention his place of origin (ibid., p. 16). The 1693 census shows clearly that the same man who was listed as the husband of Marie-Anne Canol in 1686 had remarried Marie Trahan, and both those censuses and various other records in Acadia uniformly call the Doiron forebear Jean (see DGFA-1, pp. 513-516).
DOUCET, Marguerite, came from France with her husband Abraham Dugas, according to her great-grandson Alain LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 50). This deposition does not name her, but Marguerite is identified as Abraham?s wife and ultimately widow by four Acadian censuses between 1671 and 1700 and by her burial record in the register of Port-Royal (see DGFA-1, p. 526).
DUBOIS, Jean, came from France and married at St-Charles-des-Mines Anne Vincent, according to Pierre Trahan, husband of Anne Vincent?s niece Marguerite Vincent (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 112). St-Charles-des-Mines was the official name of the parish at Grand-Pr?. The fact that the marriage records of four of Anne Vincent?s siblings are still to be found in the surviving registers of Grand-Pr? corroborates Pierre Trahan?s declaration regarding where she married, even though her own record has not been discovered (see DGFA-1, pp. 1577-1578).
DUGAS, Abraham, came from France with his wife, according to his great-grandson Alain LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 50). This deposition does not name Abraham?s wife. She is identified as Marguerite Doucet by four Acadian censuses between 1671 and 1700 and by her burial record in the register of Port-Royal (see DGFA-1, p. 526).
DUON, Jean-Baptiste, came from Lyon in France and married at Port-Royal Agn?s H?bert, according to his son Cyprien Duon (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 104). A second depositon, from Pierre Trahan, second husband of Cyprien?s brother Jean-Baptiste?s widow, also says that the Duon ancestor came from France, but without specifying his city of origin (ibid., p. 113). Jean-Baptiste Duon and Agn?s H?bert?s marriage record in the register of Port-Royal shows that their son Cyprien?s information is completely accurate (see DGFA-1, p. 582).
DUPUIS, Michel, came from France, according to his granddaughter Marguerite Dupuis, widow of Claude Babin, who erroneously called him Martin Dupuis (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 51). The widow also declared that her grandfather married Perrine Th?riot, but various records in Acadia show that his wife was named Marie Gautrot (see DGFA-1, pp. 596-597). Not surprisingly, Marguerite?s son Laurent Babin?s deposition contains the same information and misinformation as his mother?s (ibid., pp. 131-132). Honor? Daigre, widower of Marguerite?s grandniece Fran?oise-Osite Dupuis, meanwhile maintained that it was his late wife?s grandfather Martin Dupuis, rather than her great-grandfather, who had come from France (ibid., Vol. II, p. 180).
GAREAU, Dominique, came from France and married at Port-Royal Marie Gaudet, according to Claude Pitre, husband of his granddaughter Madeleine Darois (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 29). Sylvestre Trahan, husband of Madeleine?s sister Ursule, swore to the same thing (ibid., p. 31). Both mistakenly called Dominique Gareau?s wife Anne Gaudet, but the 1686 census shows that her first name was Marie (see DGFA-1, pp. 665-666).
GAUDET, Fran?oise, came from France with her husband Daniel LeBlanc, according to ten depositions: five from her great-grandsons (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 42, 48, 50, 88, 117), four from her great-great-grandsons (ibid., Vol. II, p. 189; Vol. III, pp. 55, 115, 120), and one from the husband of one of her great-great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. III, p. 54). An eleventh, from her great-grandson Honor? LeBlanc, but in which her grandson Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre seems to have collaborated (ibid., Vol. II, p. 170), adds that she was Daniel?s second wife, and that she and her husband had brought with them Marie LeBlanc, the daughter of Daniel?s first marriage. Father Archange Godbout proved through an analysis of various marriage dispensations in an article published in 1952 (?Daniel Leblanc,? SGCF, Vol. V, pp. 4-9) that the first marriage was actually Fran?oise Gaudet?s, and that while her daughter was indeed named Marie, she was Marie Mercier, and not Marie LeBlanc. Unfortunately, none of the eleven depositions that speak of her French origin mentions Fran?oise?s name, but she is shown to have been Daniel LeBlanc?s wife by four Acadian censuses (see DGFA-1, p. 666).
GAUDET, Marie, came from France with her husband ?tienne H?bert, according to nine depositions: one from her grandson Jean H?bert (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 11), one from Pierre Trahan, husband of her granddaughter Madeleine Comeau (ibid., p. 8), one from Pierre and Madeleine?s son Pierre Trahan (ibid., pp. 110-111) and one from their nephews Sylvestre and Simon Trahan (ibid., p. 30), two from husbands of Marie?s great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, p. 182; Vol. III, p. 90), one from a great-great-grandson (ibid., Vol. III, pp. 93-94), and two from husbands of her great-great-granddaughters (ibid., pp. 45, 92-93). Seven of these depositions name Marie Gaudet; only those of the two Pierre Trahans, father and son, do not. Marie was a younger sister of Fran?oise Gaudet, who appears in the preceding paragraph. As Marie Gaudet was also younger than her brother Denis, it may be presumed that he too came to Acadia from France (see A. Godbout, ?Jean Gaudet,? SGCF, Vol. XI [1960], pp. 50-53).
GAUTROT, Anne, came from France with her husband Joseph Pr?tieux, according to her great-grandson Joseph LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 44-45). Unfortunately, this particular Joseph LeBlanc was not well-informed about his ancestors? names, although he was correct in his statement regarding their origin. He declared that his maternal grandmother was Madeleine Lavergne, but she was in fact named Anne Pr?tieux, according to the record of Joseph?s own parents? marriage in the register of Grand-Pr? (July 18, 1730). The record of his grandmother Anne Pr?tieux?s marriage is also still extant, in the register of Port-Royal (November 24, 1710), and it shows that Anne Gautrot and her husband Joseph Pr?tieux were originally from the Charente region in France.
GIROUARD dit LA VARANNE, Fran?ois, came from France with his wife Jeanne Aucoin, according to two depositions, one made by his great-grandson Pierre Richard (Doc. in?d., Vol. II, p. 191), and another made by Louis Courtin, husband of his great-great-granddaughter Marie-Jos?phe Martin (ibid., Vol. III, p. 27). Both of these depositions erroneously call the Girouard ancestor Jacques, instead of Fran?ois, probably because the deponents presumed that he had borne the same first name as his elder son, to whom they were both connected. Fran?ois is the name that one finds, however, in three Acadian censuses and in his younger son?s marriage record in the register of Beaubassin (see DGFA-1, pp. 718-719).
GRANGER, Laurent, came from Plymouth in England and married at Port-Royal Marie Landry, according to nine depositions: six from his great-grandsons (Doc. in?d., Vol. II, pp. 180, 184; Vol. III, pp. 32, 34, 97-98, 115) and three from husbands of his great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. III, pp. 21, 124, 125). All nine of these deponents were the grandsons or the husbands of the granddaughters of Laurent?s son Ren? Granger.
GU?RIN, Fran?ois, came from France and married Anne Blanchard, according to Claude Pitre, widower of his granddaughter Isabelle Gu?rin (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 28-29). Claude made a mistake in his statement regarding his first wife?s grandparents, calling them J?r?me and Marie, instead of Fran?ois and Anne. He apparently presumed that his father-in-law J?r?me Gu?rin had been named after his father before him. The correct given names appear in the 1671 census (see DGFA-1, pp. 775-776).
H?BERT, ?tienne, came from France with his wife Marie Gaudet, according to nine depositions: one from his grandson Jean H?bert (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 11), one from Pierre Trahan, husband of his granddaughter Madeleine Comeau (ibid., p. 8), one from Pierre and Madeleine?s son Pierre Trahan (ibid., pp. 110-111) and one from their nephews Sylvestre and Simon Trahan (ibid., p. 30), two from husbands of ?tienne?s great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, p. 182; Vol. III, p. 90), one from a great-great-grandson (ibid., Vol. III, pp. 93-94), and two from husbands of his great-great-granddaughters (ibid., pp. 45, 92-93). Seven of these depositions name his wife as Marie Gaudet; only those of the two Pierre Trahans, father and son, do not.
LALANDE dit BONAPPETIT, Pierre, came from France, served as a soldier at Port-Royal and married there, according to his grandson Joseph LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 44-45). Joseph omits his grandfather?s given name and mistakenly calls his grandmother Madeleine Lavergne, but her name was in fact Anne Pr?tieux, according to his own parents? marriage record in the register of Grand-Pr? (July 18, 1730). Pierre Lalande and Anne Pr?tieux?s marriage record also still exists, in the register of Port-Royal (November 24, 1710). It shows that Pierre was from Viriat en Bresse, in the province of Auvergne, France, and confirms that he had been a soldier.
LAMBERT, Radegonde, came from France with her husband Jean Blanchard, according to Jean LeBlanc, husband of her great-granddaughter Fran?oise Blanchard (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 43). The deposition of Fran?oise?s nephews Joseph and Simon-Pierre Trahan is to the same effect (ibid., p. 123). Both depositions mistakenly give Guillaume as the ancestor?s given name. Jean LeBlanc?s makes an additional error regarding the name of Jean Blanchard?s wife, calling her Huguette Poirier. The censuses of 1671 and 1686 meanwhile clearly show that she was named Radegonde Lambert (see DGFA-1, pp. 143-144). The source of these errors is probably a simple confusion arising from the fact that Jean LeBlanc?s wife?s grandfather Martin Blanchard had a brother Guillaume who was married to a woman named Huguette, as this writer explained in an article published in 1984 (SHA, Vol. XV, pp. 116-117). This Huguette was not named Poirier, however, but Gougeon, although her mother, Jeanne Chebrat, had married a man named Jean Poirier before she wed Huguette?s father Antoine Gougeon, and all her male-line descendants in Acadia were Poiriers. Unfortunately, we do not know just what questions Jean LeBlanc asked in trying to establish the Blanchard lineage, but he might certainly have had the impression that Huguette was a Poirier from the fact that so many of her relatives were Poiriers, including her grandnephew Joseph, who was also on Belle-?le in 1767 (see Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 13-15).
LANDRY, Ren?, came from France with his wife Marie Bernard, according to nine depositions. One of these depositions was made by Ren?s granddaughter Marguerite Dupuis (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 51), and another by Jean LeBlanc, husband of another granddaughter Fran?oise Blanchard (ibid., p. 43). Three more came from great-grandsons (ibid., pp. 48, 123, 132), three from the husbands of great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, pp. 176-177, 181; Vol. III, p. 118), and one from two great-great-grandsons (ibid., Vol. II, p. 189).
LAPIERRE, Fran?ois, married Jeanne Rimbault, and both of them came from France, according to Joseph Poirier, husband of their granddaughter Ursule Renaud (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 14). This is yet another deposition in which the given names are inaccurate; Joseph Poirier calls his wife?s grandparents Jacques and Marie, rather than Fran?ois and Jeanne, which is how they are listed in the Acadian censuses. What?s more, in this case it can be shown that Fran?ois Lapierre and Jeanne Rimbault must have been married in Acadia, because she appears in the 1671 census at the age of only eleven years, and their marriage took place only some eight or nine years later, about 1680 (see DGFA-1, pp. 961-962, 1397-1398).
LE BLANC, Daniel, came from France with his wife, according to ten depositions: five from his great-grandsons (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 42, 48, 50, 88, 117), four from his great-great-grandsons (ibid., Vol. II, p. 189; Vol. III, pp. 55, 115, 120), and one from the husband of one of his great-great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. III, p. 54). An eleventh, from his great-grandson Honor? LeBlanc, but in which his grandson Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre seems to have collaborated (ibid., Vol. II, p. 170), adds that this wife was Daniel?s second, and that she and her husband had brought with them Marie LeBlanc, the daughter of Daniel?s first marriage. Unfortunately, none of the eleven depositions that speak of her French origin mentions this wife?s name, but Fran?oise Gaudet is shown to have been Daniel LeBlanc?s wife by four Acadian censuses (see DGFA-1, p. 666). Father Archange Godbout proved through an analysis of various marriage dispensations in an article published in 1952 (?Daniel Leblanc,? SGCF, Vol. V, pp. 4-9) that the first marriage was actually Fran?oise Gaudet?s, and that while her daughter was indeed named Marie, she was Marie Mercier, and not Marie LeBlanc.
L?GER dit LA ROSETTE, Jacques, was a soldier and drummer from France who married Madeleine Trahan, according to Madeleine?s nephew Pierre Trahan (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 8). Pierre mistakenly called his aunt Anne, and simply named her husband ?La Rozette,? but the censuses and parish records of Port-Royal clearly show that Jacques L?ger married Madeleine Trahan (see DGFA-1, pp. 1043-1044). The nickname La Rosette appears from time to time in records concerning Jacques and Madeleine?s children and grandchildren.
LEJEUNE, Pierre, came from France, according to Claude Pitre, husband of Madeleine Darois, whose first husband Alexis Trahan was Pierre Lejeune?s great-grandson (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 29). There is reason to believe that this Pierre Lejeune was married to a Doucet (see DGFA-1, pp. 1048-1049).
LONGU?P?E, Vincent, came from France and married at Port-Royal Madeleine Rimbault, according to Claude LeBlanc, widower of his granddaughter Marie-Jos?phe Longu?p?e (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 47). Claude?s father-in-law was Louis Longu?p?e, and he unfortunately seems to have presumed that his wife?s grandfather bore the same first name. The censuses of Les Mines in Acadia from 1693 through 1714 show that her grandfather was called Vincent, however (see DGFA-1, pp. 1098-1099).
MARTIN, Barnab?, came from France and married at Port-Royal Jeanne Pelletret, according to Louis Courtin, husband of his great-granddaughter Marie-Jos?phe Martin (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 27). Here again there are errors concerning the names of the first forebears in Acadia. Louis Courtin calls his wife?s great-grandfather Ren? Martin, and Ren?s wife Marguerite Landry. It is particularly easy in this instance to understand how the deponent came to be so misinformed. In the first place, Louis Courtin was not an Acadian, but a surgeon from the diocese of Blois, who had married his Acadian wife at Cork, in Ireland. Secondly, as this writer explained in an article published in 1984 (SHA, Vol. XV, p. 119), Marie-Jos?phe Martin was only fourteen years old at the time of the Deportation in 1755, and she had lost her father eight years before that, when she was only six. By 1767, with her mother also dead, the only persons on Belle-?le upon whom Marie-Jos?phe could have called for help with her genealogy were her two younger sisters, who were certainly not likely to know more than she did. So it is not surprising that there should have been some confusion in Louis Courtin?s information about his wife?s ancestors. The substitution of the given name Ren? for Barnab? probably came about because Marie-Jos?phe?s grandfather ?tienne Martin had an older brother by that name. Meanwhile, the confusion of the family names Pelletret and Landry likely occurred because Jeanne Pelletret?s mother Perrine Bourg was married twice, and her second husband was Ren? Landry l?a?n?. Perrine Bourg had no male offspring from her Pelletret marriage, but she had two Landry sons who had a considerable number of descendants (see DGFA-1, pp.915-916, 1283-1284).
MELANSON, Charles, came from England and married at Port-Royal Marie Dugas, according to his grandson Jean Melanson (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 22).
MELANSON, Pierre, came from England and married at Port-Royal Marguerite Mius, according to six depositions: one from the widow of his grandson Pierre Melanson (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 24), one from his great-grandson Louis-Athanase Trahan (ibid., p. 38), two from the widower of one and the husband of another of his great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, p. 181; Vol. III, p. 118), one from the stepfather of the husband of another great-granddaughter (ibid., Vol. III, p. 113), and one from the husband of one of his great-great-granddaughters (ibid., p. 125). All of these depositions mistakenly call Pierre Melanson?s wife Anne-Marie, rather than Marguerite, but various records in the registers of Port-Royal, Grand-Pr?, and Beaubassin, as well as several censuses, all provide the latter given name (see DGFA-1, pp. 1148-1150). A seventh deposition, that of Pierre Melanson?s great-great-grandson Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 55), gives Anne, rather than Anne-Marie, as her first name, and states that Pierre came from Scotland, instead of England. This Scottish origin is seconded by Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre, widower of Pierre?s granddaughter Anne Bourg, who also changes Pierre?s wife?s name to Fran?oise de La Tour, adding that she was of noble extraction (ibid., Vol. II, p. 175). It might be thought that this means that Pierre Melanson had been married twice, but Joseph LeBlanc?s wife?s mother was some ten years younger than her brother Philippe, the ancestor of all the other Melanson descendants on Belle-?le, who was obviously named after their maternal grandfather Philippe Mius d?Entremont, and it can likewise be shown that Marguerite Mius was the mother of at least four of their younger siblings, so she must have been the mother of all of Pierre Melanson?s known children (see DGFA-1, loc. cit.). As for the noble extraction of Pierre Melanson?s wife, that is attested by the fact that her father was a baron, and Joseph LeBlanc may have attributed to her the name de La Tour because her father had been closely associated with Charles de Saint-?tienne de La Tour (see ibid., pp. 1201-1202).
MERCIER, Marie, came from France with her husband Antoine Babin, according to her grandson Claude Babin?s widow, Marguerite Dupuis (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 51). The widow?s son Laurent Babin?s deposition says the same thing (ibid., p. 131), as does that of Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre, whose son Joseph was the widower of one of Marie Mercier?s great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, p.177).
OZELET, Jean, came from France and married Jeanne Moyse of Tatamagouche, according to Pierre Boudrot, whose brother-in-law Claude Boudrot was Jean Ozelet?s son-in-law (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 121-122). As is mentioned in the introduction to this list, Pierre was wrong about his wife?s brother?s wife?s father having come from France, because that worthy had in fact been born at Petit-Plaisance in Newfoundland, but it is easy to see how Pierre might not have been correctly informed about a relative so many times removed who had come to Acadia from another French colony (see DGFA-1, pp. 1262-1263).
PELLERIN, Fran?ois, came from Qu?bec and so did his wife Andr?e Martin, and the two were married at Beaubassin, according to Joseph LeBlanc, husband of his great-granddaughter Marie-Modeste H?bert (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 45-46). John Tierney, an Irishman originally from Limerick who had married Marie-Modeste?s sister Madeleine-P?lagie H?bert at Liverpool in England shortly before the repatriation of the exiles in 1763, swore to exactly the same thing (ibid., p. 93). Both of these depositions contain errors regarding the Pellerins, and these errors show that the deponents misunderstood their wives? forebears? history. First, they said that the first Pellerin in this line was Jacques, instead of Fran?ois, and then they mistakenly thought that Fran?ois?s wife was named Marie Colbec, rather than Andr?e Martin. The name Colbec (originally Caudebec) was actually the nickname borne by Andr?e Martin?s second husband, Pierre Mercier, so Andr?e had become Madame Colbec, but that was not her maiden name. It is not known where Andr?e Martin married Fran?ois Pellerin, but it was probably at Port-Royal, because she and Fran?ois were living at Port-Royal six years afterwards, at the time of the 1671 census, which was taken before the settlement of Beaubassin began. It was at Beaubassin, however, that Andr?e married Pierre Mercier, as is attested by their marriage record in the register of that parish (April 24, 1679). And there is a Qu?bec connection, but it was to what is now the province of Qu?bec, and not from there, that Andr?e and her second husband moved, between the time of the 1703 census in Acadia and the marriage of their daughter Madeleine-Michelle at Montmagny in 1706. The Merciers settled on the Rivi?re du Sud, in back of Montmagny (see DGFA-1, pp. 1174-1175, 1277-1278). Interestingly, in 1767 the Acadians would normally have continued to call the country in which Montmagny and the Rivi?re du Sud are situated Canada, but John Tierney was a British subject, and the British had begun to call the whole country by the name of its chief city.
PESSELEY, Marie, came from Paris and married Jean Pitre, who was originally Flemish, according to her grandson Claude Pitre (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 28). Marie?s father, Isaac Pesseley, was a passenger aboard the Saint-Jehan, which left La Rochelle bound for Acadia April 1, 1636. Prior to that he and his family had lived at Piney, in Champagne. Isaac?s wife Barbe Bajolet and their children who were then living did not accompany him in 1636, but it is known from the contract of her second marriage that his widow returned to France from Port-Royal in 1646 (see DGFA-1, pp. 1034, 1288-1289). It consequently appears more likely that Isaac and Barbe?s daughter Marie was born in Acadia, rather than at Paris, although as has been seen it is certain that both of her parents came from France.
PITRE, Jean, was originally Flemish and married Marie Pesseley, who came from Paris, according to his grandson Claude Pitre (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 28), as is mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The Parisian origin of Marie Pesseley is quite doubtful, and Father Clarence d?Entremont questioned the Flemish origin of Jean Pitre, because he had found mention of a blacksmith named John Peters in Acadia who came from England (Histoire du Cap-Sable [Eunice, Louisiana: H?bert Publications, 1981], Vol. III, p. 1050), and the 1671 census does show that Jean Pitre was a specialized sort of metalworker, an edge-tool maker (see DGFA-1, pp. 1318-1319). While there is no proof that the blacksmith and the edge-tool maker were one and the same, there is no real contradiction in supposing that they might have been, inasmuch as there were many Flemish artisans in England during the middle part of the seventeenth century, and one of them might have chosen to emigrate to Acadia sometime after the English capture of the colony in 1654.
POIRIER, Michel, came from France and died at Beaubassin, according to his grandson Joseph Poirier (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 14). The deponent makes no mention of his forebear?s wife, but it is known from several censuses and the parish records of Beaubassin that she was Marie Boudrot (see DGFA-1, pp. 1328-1329). The 1671 census refers to Michel Poirier as the son of ?the late? Jean Poirier, which indicates that his father had also lived in Acadia. There is reason to believe that this Jean Poirier was the same man who came to the colony in 1641, aboard the Saint-Fran?ois (J.-M. Germe, ?Rapport du Saint-Fran?ois? and ?Le d?part de Jehan Poirier en 1641?? Le Messager de l?Atlantique, No. 13 [April 1991], pp. 13-14, 19). It is also believed that Jean Poirier married Jeanne Chebrat, who appears in the 1671 census as the wife of Antoine Gougeon, because of the confusion between the names Poirier and Gougeon in the depositions of Jean LeBlanc and his wife?s nephews (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 43, 123). As the Poirier-Chebrat marriage only occurred around 1647, it is entirely possible that the offspring from that marriage, including Michel Poirier, were actually born in Acadia, rather than in France.
PR?TIEUX, Joseph, came from France with his wife, according to his great-grandson Joseph LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 44-45). Unfortunately, this particular Joseph LeBlanc was not well-informed about his ancestors? names, although he was correct in his statement regarding their origin. He declared that his maternal grandmother was Madeleine Lavergne, but she was in fact named Anne Pr?tieux, according to the record of Joseph?s own parents? marriage in the register of Grand-Pr? (July 18, 1730). The record of his grandmother Anne Pr?tieux?s marriage is also still extant, in the register of Port-Royal (November 24, 1710), and it shows that Joseph Pr?tieux and his wife Anne Gautrot were originally from the Charente region in France.
RENAUD, Louis, came from France and married Marie Lapierre, according to his son-in-law, Joseph Poirier (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 14). These facts are attested by the record of Louis Renaud and Marie-Madeleine Lapierre?s marriage, in the register of Grand-Pr? (October 10, 1718), which shows that Louis Renaud came from Marseille.
RICHARD dit SANSOUCY, Michel, came from France and married at Port-Royal Madeleine Blanchard, according to Pierre Doucet, husband of his great-granddaughter Marie-Blanche Richard (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 53-54). Pierre mistakenly called his wife?s great-grandmother Anne, instead of Madeleine, but the 1671 census shows her true given name (see DGFA-1, pp. 1373-1374). Three other depositions confirm the French origin of Michel Richard dit Sansoucy, although two of these attribute the given names of Ren? to him and Marie to his wife, one from his great-grandson Pierre Richard (Doc. in?d., Vol. II, p. 191) and the other from Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre, on behalf of his son Joseph, whose wife Ang?lique Daigre was another great-grandchild of the ancestor (ibid., p. 178). The last deposition, from Pierre Trahan, whose father-in-law?s first wife was Michel Richard?s daughter, provides no given name for the ancestor and does not mention his spouse at all (ibid., Vol. III, p. 111).
RIMBAULT, Jeanne, married Fran?ois Lapierre, and both of them came from France, according to Joseph Poirier, husband of their granddaughter Ursule Renaud (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 14). This is yet another deposition in which the given names are inaccurate; Joseph Poirier calls his wife?s grandparents Jacques and Marie, rather than Fran?ois and Jeanne, which is how they are listed in the Acadian censuses. What?s more, in this case it can be shown that Fran?ois Lapierre and Jeanne Rimbault must have been married in Acadia, because she appears in the 1671 census at the age of only eleven years, and their marriage took place only some eight or nine years later, about 1680 (see DGFA-1, pp. 961-962, 1397-1398).
ROBICHAUD, ?tienne, came from France with his wife, according to his great-great-grandson Pierre Doucet (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 53). Pierre erroneously attributed the first name of Charles to his forebear, probably because his great-grandfather Prudent Robichaud had an older brother by that name. He does not mention the name of his great-great-grandmother, but she was Fran?oise Boudrot, according to several early censuses (see DGFA-1, pp.1403-1404). Despite his deposition, it is quite unlikely that Fran?oise came from France. She was the eldest daughter of Michel Boudrot and Michelle Aucoin (ibid., p. 184). It is well established, by no fewer than four depositions (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 36, 39, 41, 120) that both of them came from France, but other documentation showing that Michel Boudrot was already in Acadia by 1639, three years before Fran?oise?s birth, suggests that she must have been born in the colony (see DGFA-1, pp. 184-186).
SEMER, Jean, came from Ireland, and married Marguerite Vincent, according to Pierre Trahan, husband of Marguerite?s niece Madeleine Vincent (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 112). The record of Jean and Marguerite?s marriage, in the register of Grand-Pr? (November 22, 1717), on the other hand, states that Jean was a native of Guernsey, in the English Channel.
TH?RIOT, Jean, came from France, according to three depositions: one from Marie-Jos?phe Dupuis, widow of his great-grandson Pierre Th?riot (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 127), and two others from the second husbands of the widows of that same Pierre?s brothers Cyprien (ibid., Vol. II, p. 181) and Simon-Joseph (ibid., p. 193). None of these depositions mentions Jean Th?riot?s wife Perrine Rau, who is only known to Acadian genealogy through her appearance in the 1671 census (see DGFA-1, pp. 1483-1484).
THIBODEAU, Pierre, came from France, according to Charles LeBlanc, husband of his granddaughter ?lisabeth Thibodeau (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 90). There is one generation too many in the Thibodeau lineage as laid out in Charles LeBlanc?s deposition. As it seems rather unlikely that Charles?s wife, whose father was named Jean Thibodeau, would have added a second Jean in her own ancestry, it may be that the error was made by the clerk charged with writing out the information by the s?n?chal of Auray, who had the overall supervision of the taking of the depositions. Charles LeBlanc apparently did not mention Pierre Thibodeau?s wife. She was Jeanne Th?riot, daughter of the Jean Th?riot mentioned in the preceding paragraph (see DGFA-1, p. 1508).
TRAHAN, Guillaume, came from France and married at Port-Royal Madeleine Brun, according to twelve depositions: one from his grandson Pierre Trahan (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, pp. 7-8), six from or on behalf of great-grandsons (ibid., Vol. III, pp. 13, 30, 41, 108, 110, 123), four from husbands of great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, p. 182; Vol. III, pp. 41, 45-46, 93), and one from the second husband of the widow of a great-grandson (ibid., Vol. III, p. 29). The similarity of expression among all these depositions suggests that there was a good deal of collaboration in their preparation, which one would expect because of the near relationships among the various deponents, who nonetheless descended from all three of Guillaume Trahan?s sons. The Trahan family?s origins are very well documented. Guillaume Trahan?s first marriage has been traced at Chinon (J.-M. Germe, ?Mariage de Guillaume Trahan et de Fran?oise Corbineau,? Le Messager de l?Atlantique, No. 12 [January 1991], p. 27), and he and his first family appear on the passenger list of the Saint-Jehan in 1636, which states that they had been living at Bourgueil, in Touraine (A. Godbout, ?Le r?le du Saint-Jehan et les origines acadiennes,? SGCF, Vol. I [1944], pp. 19-30). As for Guillaume?s second wife, Madeleine Brun, her baptismal record (January 25, 1645) has been found in the register of La Chauss?e, in Poitou.
TRAHAN, Jeanne, came from France with her husband Jacques Bourgeois, according to her great-grandson Jean LeBlanc (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 42). Jeanne is not named in this deposition, but it is known from the various seventeenth-century censuses of Acadia that Jacques Bourgeois?s wife was named Jeanne Trahan (see DGFA-1, pp. 251-253) . She arrived in Acadia with her father, mother, and one sibling in 1636 aboard the Saint-Jehan (A. Godbout, ?Le r?le du Saint-Jehan et les origines acadiennes,? SGCF, Vol. I [1944], pp. 19-30), and Jacques Bourgeois came to the colony five years later, aboard the Saint-Fran?ois (J.-M. Germe, ?Rapport du Saint-Fran?ois,? Le Messager de l?Atlantique, No. 13 [April 1991], pp. 13-18).
VINCENT, Pierre, came from France, and married at Port-Royal Anne Gaudet, according to his granddaughter Madeleine Vincent?s husband Pierre Trahan (Doc. in?d., Vol. III, p. 111).
