Joseph Le Prieur (1713 - 1772)

Born 17 Jan 1713 in Annapolis Royal, Acadie, Nouvelle-France

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Quimine — married about 1736 (to Jun 1742) in Beaubassin, Acadie [uncertain]

Husband of Marguerite Olivier — married 14 Jan 1743 in Beaubassin, Acadie, Colony of Nova Scotia

Husband of Marguerite Caissie — married 3 Oct 1759 (to Jan 1772) in Cherbourg, Dépt of Manche, Normandy, France

Died 10 Jan 1772 at age 58 in Cherbourg, France

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Biography

Joseph Dubois was born 17 Jan 1713 at Port Royal. He was the son & first-born child of Guillaume Le Prieur dit Dubois and Madeleine Poitevin. He was baptized 18 Apr 1713 At Port Royal. His godparents were Christophe Poitevin and Marie Godet, widow of Bonhomme named Fardelle.^[1][2][3] Joseph’s baptism took place exactly one week after the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, by which France surrendered the mainland of today’s Nova Scotia to Britain for the final time, along with the vital fishery centered at Plaisance (now Placentia) in Newfoundland. The historical consequences were momentous.

Joseph was the only one of his known sibling-set to be born at Port Royal. A census of 33 households on Île-Royale in 1717 names "Guillaume Dubois," the father, with a wife, and one son (who would be Joseph).^[4] Their next child (Jacques) was baptized around 1718 at the settlement of Port Toulouse. His birthplace was given as the nearby Îles Michaud.^[5]. By 1720, they had joined the new community on l’île Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island), founded in that same year by the Compagnie de l’Île-Saint-Jean with migrants from France and a handful of other Acadian families.

Joseph Le Prieur dit Dubois was the first-born of his parents’ 10 known offspring, and the only one of the 10 known to have survived the Expulsion of 1758. He himself would father 11 children, be widowed three times on Île- Saint-Jean, & marry for a fourth time after exile to France, where his body was buried a week before his 59th birthday.

Joseph (22) married Marie Quimine (19) (born in Beaubassin, Acadie) in 1736 in Beaubassin, Acadie. ((no record) (Landry, ID #8937). Quite possibly at her home community of Beaubassin.)

Their known children were:

1. Marie-Josèphe Le Prieur (Sep 26 1737 – before 1827) .
2. Anne Le Prieur (Feb 22 1740 – before 1840)

Only 22 months later, the burial of the late Marie Quimine took place at Saint-du-Nord on June 23, 1742.

Joseph (29) married Marguerite Olivier (22) (born in Beaubassin, Acadie) on Jan 14, 1743 in Beaubassin, Acadie. ^[6][7]

Their known children were:

1. Emmanuel Le Prieur (Jun 1 1744 – unknown) .
2. Roch Le Prieur (about 1745 – Dec 16 1758) .
3. Jean-Baptiste Le Prieur (about 1747 – Sep 1759) .
4. Marie Le Prieur (about 1749 – about Dec 16 1758) .
5. Marie-Josèphe Le Prieur (Mar 30 1751 – Dec 16 1758)
6. Marguerite-Josèphe Le Prieur (Sep 5 1752 – Dec 16 1758)
7. Joseph-François Le Prieur (May 4 1755 – Dec 16 1758)

Joseph (43) married Magdeleine Anasthasie Gautrot (18) (born in Grand Pré, Acadie) in 1757. The now-large family was deported from Isle St. Jean aboard the Ruby in late 1758 for expulsion to France. Madeleine-Anastasie Gautrot died, either from shipboard disease or from the wreck of the Ruby on the rocks of Pico island in the Azores on 16 Dec, along with at least 4 of her stepchildren.

Joseph (46) married Marguerite Caissie (42) (born in Beaubassin, Acadie, Colony of Nova Scotia) on Oct 3, 1759 in Cherbourg, Dépt of Manche, Normandy, France. Joseph was already linked to her family years earlier. On 20 Dec 1734, before his first marriage, Joseph had stood as godfather for baby Antoine L’Enfant, whose mother Brigitte Caissie was Marguerite’s older sister. Much later, in the census of 1752 (p. 7), Joseph & wife Marguerite Olivier were living next door to Marguerite Caissie & her husband Christophe Delaunay with their respective children, as two of the 6 households settled at Bay Fortune (“Havre La Fortune”) on the southeast coast of the island. One can imagine friendships. Joseph & Christophe were aged 49 & 47, while their respective spouses were 29 & 25 (according to the document). Incidentally, baptisms of children from both households appear in the register of Saint-Pierre-du-Nord before, during, & after 1752.

Their known children were:

1. Marie-Marguerite Le Prieur (Sep 11 1760 – before 1772) .
2. Jean-Baptiste Le Prieur (Jul 18 1762 – Jul 18 1762)

Joseph (dit DUBOIS) LE PRIEUR was on the 1734 census of St-Pierre-du-Nord, age 22 years; on 1752 (LaRoque) census, age 49 years (sic). On 1761 census of Cherbourg; on 1767, age 59 years (sic); on 1772, age 65 years (sic).^[3]

Joseph was buried on 10 Jan 1772 at Cherbourg, France. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ An Acadian Parish Remembered The Registers of St. Jean-Baptiste, Annapolis Royal, 1702-1755 RG 1 volume 26 page 118 https://novascotia.ca/archives/acadian/archives.asp?ID=451
2. ↑ Source: #S2 Page: p. 1338
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} "Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Acadiennes"; Stephen A. White; 2 vols., Moncton, New Brunswick: Centre d'Études Acadiennes, 1999; p. 1075; #(3)
4. ↑ Landry, "Recensements de Port Toulouse." Guillaume is listed as Guillaume Dubois, the "dit" by which he was commonly called, and which he used in his signatures.
5. ↑ The tiny îles Michaud – now called the Basque Islands – lie just off the present-day beach at Point Michaud, on the southern shore of Cape Breton, about 23 km east along the coast from Port Toulouse (that is, from today’s village of St. Peters). A handful of families would have been maintaining a fishing post there. See pp. 147-148 & 157-158 in Pouyez.
6. ↑ Library and Archives Canada Fonds des Archives départementales de la Charente-Maritime [La Rochelle, France] : C-1207 Registres de Beaubassin - reel_c1207 MG 6 A 2 (Image 106) http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c1207/106?r=0&s=6
7. ↑ Acadian Church Records, vol. II Author: Milton P. and Norma Gaudet Rieder Publication: Metairie, LA: Authors, 1976 Page: 87

See Also:

• BIRTH-PARENTS-OCCUPATION-MARRIAGES-CHILDREN-RESIDENCES-DEATH: Bona Arsenault, HISTOIRE ET GENEALOGIE DES ACADIENS; 1600-1800; Ottawa, Editions Lemeac, 1978, vols. 2-6; p. 737 (Port Royal)

• http://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/GenealogieQuebec.aspx?genealogy=Caissie_Marguerite&pid=424354&lng=en

• Census 1717 of Port Toulouse. “Acadian & French Ancestral Home,” site of Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, at http://www.acadian-home.org/census1716.html. Accessed Dec 2020.

• Landry, Marcel Walter. Généalogie des Landry à travers le monde. Database: “Acadiens avant 1825.” Updated to 25 Oct 2019. Search page: http://mwlandry.ca/genealog/searchform.php. (Note that this site is extremely well researched but specific citations are generally not provided in this database on the site.)
• Landry, Marcel Walter. "Recensements de Port Toulouse." Last updated 5 Jan 2021. Accessed 6 Jan 2021 at [1].
• Lockerby, Earle. 2007. “Le Comte de Saint-Pierre et l’île Saint-Jean.” The Island Magazine, no. 61 (spr-sum): 15-23. Also at http://vre2.upei.ca/islandmagazine/fedora/repository/vre%3Aislemag-batch2-777.
• Lockerby, Earle. 2008a. Deportation of the Prince Edward Island Acadians. Halifax NS: Nimbus.
• Lockerby, Earle. 2008b. “The Comte de Saint-Pierre and Île-Saint-Jean: Establishment of a Sedentary Fishery.” ‘’Les Cahiers de La Société historique acadienne’’ 38 (2 & 3, juin-septembre): 122-155.
• Parish Register of Saint-Jean Baptiste, Port Royal. Nova Scotia Archives. ’’An Acadian Parish Remembered, The Registers of St. Jean-Baptiste, Annapolis Royal, 1702-1755’’. (Original manuscript images.) Guillaume le Prieur and Magdelaine Poitevin marriage, 3 Feb 1712, RG 1 volume 26. Accessed Dec 2020 at https://novascotia.ca/archives/acadian/archives.asp?ID=1280.
• Parish Register of Saint-Jean Baptiste, Port Royal. Library and Archives Canada. ‘’Fonds de la paroisse catholique Saint-Jean-Baptiste (Port-Royal, N.-É.)’’. (A handwritten transcript of the original register.) Microfilm C-1870. Accessed Dec 2020 at [2].
• Pouyez, Christian. 1973. “La population de l’Ile Royale en 1752.” Reproduced from the journal Histoire sociale / Social History, vol 6, no. 12, pp. 147-180; downloaded 6 Dec 2020 from the open-source Core site at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/268422593.pdf.

The following information needs to be moved (or verified) in their respective profiles:
Marie Quimine was also her parents’ first-born, although we have no record of the exact date in her estimated birth year of 1716. Her parents wed at Beaubassin on 7 Feb 1715, and there Marie Quimine grew up. The father, Jacques Quimine (MWL #4513) , had emigrated from southernmost Brittany, France, at some undetermined point. (He does not appear in GDD’s list of engagés.) (Note: In Fr. Félix Pain’s record of Jacques’ marriage, his surname is written as Kimin, which is Basque-like, although we were unable to find it in France today in that form.) Mother Marie-Josèphe Chiasson (MWL #8905) had herself been born at Beaubassin & had grown up there. (See Marie-Josèphe Chiasson’s father’s documented profile at Chiasson-561, & her own at Chiasson-728.)

Marguerite Olivier, was probably 19 or 20 years old when she wed Joseph Le Prieur, 10 years younger than her groom. Her birth record is missing. She was the third child (& 3rd daughter) of the 7 offspring of Pierre Olivier (Jr), a tailor, & Françoise Bonnevie (MWL #5764 & 5760). The parents were living at Port Royal when they had their first 2 daughters, but evidently moved to Beaubassin sometime after the birth of the second in mid-Feb 1722, and before the birth of Marguerite around 1723.

Of the 7 children born to the couple, we know nothing about the life of the first, except the dates of his birth & baptism. The 5th child, as shown just above, died in infancy. Four others perished during the Expulsion, aboard the Ruby, either from shipboard disease of from the shipwreck at the Azores on 16 Dec 1758. One son (the 3rd offspring), along with his father, did survive the crossing, but the boy died about 9 months after landing in France.

His new wife was Madeleine-Anastasie Gautrot She was the first-born of the 8 children of the farming couple Claude Gautrot & Geneviève-Salomé Hébert (MWL #9424 & #1123), who had married at Port Royal in early 1737. Likely this was the birthplace of Madeleine-Anastasie. However, the family were living at Grand-Pré in the mid-1740s, as we know from birth records of their third, fourth, & fifth offspring (1743, 1746, 1747). All but one of Madeleine-Anastasie’s siblings were boys. No doubt she became mother’s domestic helper at a very young age.

Joseph & his fourth wife, Marguerite Caissie In France, Joseph found solace with a former neighbor from Île-Saint-Jean, the widowed Marguerite Caissie (MWL #7859). (The Acadian project in Wikitree does not include a standardized spelling for this surname, as of Jan 2021. Landry uses :Delaune.”), Marguerite had married Christophe Delaunay around 1739. (The record is missing; this estimate appears in Landry.) Christophe was from the village of Perriers-en-Beauficil, presently in the canton of Montainais (formerly Sourdeval), arrondissement of Avranches, 32 km ENE of Avranches, in southwestern Normandy. (Landry, reporting “Perrier”; & Wikipedia searches, especially note https://www.wikimanche.fr/Perriers-en-Beauficel, accessed Jan 2021.) Ten children were born to the couple, from Dec 1740 to Feb 1757. The death of Christophe is unrecorded. For the majority of these offspring, the data are sketchy, & there is inconsistency between the report in the 1752 census and the facts offered in Landry. It does seem that at least 2 had died in childhood before the 1752 survey, and the 3 last-born apparently had passed away as children before 9 Aug 1761 (Landry). For more information, see the detailed entry for Marguerite Caissie at 40.12.25, baptism of her first-born, Pierre Delaunay. Was it shortly before, or during, the Expulsion of 1758, or shortly after arriving in France? All we know is that Marguerite was a widow when she married Joseph in the parish of the Très-Saint-Trinité in Cherbourg on 3 Oct 1759, 3 days before her 43rd birthday, when her new husband was 46. Despite her age, Marguerite recorded two births in this new union, as listed below, the later one when she was 3 months short of her 46th birthday. However, both died in childhood.

Marguerite lived to be 70, passing away on 2 Jan 1787. There is no record that she married a third time. When she died, she was among the many Acadian exiles concentrating in Nantes, and especially in the parish of Saint-Martin in Chantenay, at the western side of the city, from 1775 onward, of whom many joined the large emigration to Louisiana in 1785. Clearly, Marguerite was among those who remained behind. It is unknown how or why she found her way to Nantes. Or whether she had been among those who had tried to settle in the so-called “Acadian Line” in the vicinity of Archigny in Poitou, about 30 km NE of Poitiers. That resettlement occurred not quite two years after Joseph’s demise. (For a detailed account and analysis of this project, see Hodson Ch. 6, pp. 173-196 & notes pp. 241-245,) Hodson (pp. 181-182) indicates that life was becoming increasingly difficult for Acadian exiles at Cherbourg by the 1760s & remained so. It seems quite possible that Marguerite found her way there before joining the great majority most of those settlers who abandoned the place and headed for Nantes in 1775.