Joseph (Robineau) Robineau de Villebon (1655 - abt. 1700)

Born 22 Aug 1655 in Québec, Canada, Nouvelle-France

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 5 Jul 1700 at about age 44 in Fort Saint-Jean, Acadie, Nouvelle-France

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Biography

Joseph (Robineau) Robineau de Villebon is Notable.

Joseph (Robineau) Robineau de Villebon is the descendant of a Huguenot emigrant.

Joseph (Robineau) Robineau de Villebon lived
in Canada, Nouvelle-France.

Joseph Robineau de Villebon (1655-1700)

... Governor of Acadia (1690-1700), was born in New France (Quebec, Canada) on August 22, 1655, the second son of René Robineau de Bécancour, surveyor-general of New France. He was educated in France, and joined the army. He served with a dragoon regiment for about ten years, and then returned to Canada with the rank of captain. He was sent by Frontenac to Port Royal in Acadia; and in 1690 he was appointed Governor of Acadia, in succession to Menneval. He was exceptionally successful in defending the province against the aggressions of the English; and he retained office until his death at Port St. John on July 5, 1700.^[1][2]

Robinau de Villebon’s personality dominated the Acadian scene for a period of about ten years (1690–1700), at the time of the War of the League of Augsburg. To carry out the policy of Versailles a soldier was needed in Acadia, a man who was capable of holding out with very little aid. The choice of Villebon seems to have been a good one: a native of the country, he knew Acadia; in addition he had gone to France in his youth to finish his education and to serve in the army... The king allowed Joseph Robinau to proceed with the rebuilding of Fort Saint-Jean. Villebon dedicated himself to this task and transferred his seat of government to Fort Saint-Jean about 1698. It was there that he died, 5 July 1700. The Sieur de Dièreville*, who had visited him the very day of his death, described Villebon as 'a man of sound judgment, tall & very well set up.'

...Villebon’s personality has given rise to much controversy, for he often committed actions which it is difficult to see in their right light. During his stay in Acadia many complaints were made about him. In his report entitled “Mon séjour de l’Acadie,” M. de Gargas (the principal recorder in Acadia during the years 1685–88) charged him with having intimidated and insulted the settlers and with having extorted exorbitant sums from them for goods, among other things. Gargas called Villebon the terror of the country. In 1696 the intendant, Bochart de Champigny, sent on to the minister other complaints against Joseph Villebon: the seigneurs and the habitants of the Saint John River in particular accused the governor of “threats and bad treatment” towards them and “charge him with having secured for himself all trade in his fort.” Villebon’s brothers, who were at the time serving under his orders, were accused of aiding him in this business and of leading scandalous lives. One of the most picturesque accusations was that by Mathieu de Goutin, judge for Acadia in 1698, who affirmed, among several other grievances, “that the Sieur de Villebon has caused to be used up 112 pounds of gunpowder in the bonfire to celebrate the peace, while drinking healths to his mistresses, and that he and the Sieur Martel, his son-in-law, became drunk while so doing.” It seems however certain that Villebon never married. Jean Martel de Magos had married at Port-Royal a certain Marie-Anne Robinau, who was considered to be the illegitimate daughter of the governor...

This free exchange of complaints and particularly their subject reveal to us a glimpse of a colourful period which was faithfully reflected in the personality of the rugged and turbulent governor. Villebon had had a very stormy career, and even at the moment of departing this life he could not help provoking a slight incident: Abbé Abel Maudoux, with whom he had fallen out a short time before his death, required that he be paid his honorarium before agreeing to officiate at his funeral. Claude-Sébastien de Villieu, Villebon’s lieutenant, finally yielded to the priest’s demands and paid, so that the governor would have a Christian burial.

Whatever one may think of Villebon, one must take into account the circumstances in which he was called to act: the war, the little help that France offered him, and the lack of settlers (according to the census made by Intendant de Meulles, in 1686 Acadia had 885 inhabitants; in 1693 the total was apparently 1,009). In our opinion, it was principally because of his military talents and his skill in dealing with the Indians that the French government kept him in office and that Meneval, and above all Frontenac, always supported and defended him. ^[3]

Joseph Robineau de Villebon (1655-1700):

Joseph, the second of seven sons, was born in Quebec and was sent to France for an education. Villebon's education was capped, while in France, with a commission in the French army. Though it is not clear, it seems he spent a few years in France with his military duties. He came back home to Quebec in the late 1670s or early 1680s having received a promotion to the rank of captain. By 1686 he was stationed at Port Royal, first under Governor Perrot and then Governor Meneval.

Villebon spent the winter of 1689/90 back in Paris and was sent out to Port Royal in the spring, leaving La Rochelle on May 4, 1690. On arriving at Port Royal on June 14th he was to find Port Royal in ruins, the church and other buildings had been destroyed, the town had been plundered and the French governor, Meneval, to whom, presumably, he was to report, carried away to Boston as a prisoner of Phips. Villebon had established himself; first, in 1690, at Jemseg, then at Nashwaak (just across from modern day Fredericton), and then at Fort St. John, where, having just located himself there, he died in 1700.

As to the extravagance of Villebon, we have the contemporary account of De Goutin: 'The Sieur de Villebon has caused to be used up 112 pounds of gunpowder in the bonfire to celebrate the peace [Treaty of Ryswick, 1697], while drinking healths to his mistresses, and that he and the Sieur Martel, his son-in-law, became drunk while so doing.' What else might we expect of Villebon, being a rough colonial diamond, polished, but only at its edges. He was the man for the job and his superiors knew it.'^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ See J. C. Webster, Acadia at the end of the seventeenth century: Letters, Journals, and Memoirs of Joseph Robineau de Villebon (Saint John, N.B., 1934). Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. VI, (Toronto: University Associates of Canada, 1948) p. 241. Quebec History
2. ↑ "'Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1', written in collaboration with Émery Le Blanc (Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto/Université Laval)

   'ROBINAU DE VILLEBON, JOSEPH, officer, captain, governor of Acadia; b. 22 Aug. 1655 at Quebec, son of René Robinau de Bécancour and Marie-Anne Leneuf de La Poterie; d. 5 July 1700 at Fort Saint-Jean in Acadia.

3. ↑ biographi.ca
4. ↑ blupete.com Hist

• John Clarence Webster, "Acadia at the End of the Seventeenth Century: Letters, Journals and Memoirs of Joseph Robineau de Villebon, Commandant in Acadia, 1690-1700," and Other Contemporary Documents (New Brunswick Museum, 1934). Memoirs of Joseph Robineau de Villebon Joseph Robineau Villebon (sieur de)
• Wikipedia: 'Joseph Robineau de Villebon
• Nos Origines
• "Elections Quebec: 'The 125 electoral divisions Origin and meaning of toponyms', p. 28." toponyms