| Claude Pitre is an Acadian. Join: Acadians Project Discuss: ACADIA |
"Claude Pitre was born about February 1671, appearing in the 1671 census as a 9-month-old, the youngest of Jean Pitre and Marie Pesseley's three children on that census. Acadia at that time was a community of about 400 people."[1][2]. The family continued to live in Port Royal, found there in 1678.[3]
In 1686, at Port Royal, Claude, aged 16, was living with his parents, Jean PITRE, aged 61 [sic], and Marie PESELET [sic], aged 45, and his 6 siblings: Mare [sic], aged 12, Pierre, aged 9, Jean, aged 6, Francois, age 4, an unnamed girl, aged 2, and an unnamed girl, aged 1 month. By this time his two oldest sisters had married and were settled nearby with their husbands.[4]
In 1693, at Port Royal, Claude, aged 22, was living with his stepfather, Francoise [sic] ROBIN, aged 50, and his mother, Marie PESSELET [sic], aged 48, and his five siblings: Marie [sic], aged 18, Pierre, aged 13, Francois, aged 11, Marguerie [sic], aged 10, and Jeanne, aged 7. No land or livestock was listed.[5]
"Over the next 20 years a relative stability existed within the colony, as they farmed, fished and traded. As relations were becoming more heated with the British, Claude married, probably at Port Royal c.1696, to Marie Anne Comeau, who was about eighteen. She was the oldest daughter of early Acadians Pierre Comeau, known as l'Esturgeon, and Jeanne Bourg.[6]
They had their first child a year later, in 1697. Baby Marie was age 1 by the time of the 1698 census.[7]. The next children came in quick succession, by 1701 there were three children[8], and in 1703 there were five children[9]. By 1714 their family had increased to eight children[10]
Together they had eight children, all born in Port-Royal, Acadie:[6]
Having eight children over eleven years must have taken its toll as Marie Anne died at the age of twenty-nine, a month after their twins were born.
Claude now had at least six children to care for as well as earn a living. Maybe this was an unappealing proposition for young women in the area, because it was two and a half years before he remarried. (It’s possible that his youngest sister Jeanne, who is probably the “daughter over 12” appearing with their widowed mother in the 1707 census,[11] took over the domestic duties for his family. Their stepfather had died 9 months prior, and their mother died 5 months after Marie Anne’s death so she could have easily stepped into the role. What became of her is unknown.)
Twenty-two-year-old Anne "Jeanne" Henry became Claude’s second wife during the winter of 1710. Their marriage was 17 Feb 1710 in Port-Royal, Acadie.[12][6][13] Anne was the middle child of Robert Henry, a Frenchman, and Marie Madeleine Godin, a Quebecois.
Children, all born in Port-Royal, Acadie:[6]
Eight months after their marriage, Port-Royal, having been given no assistance by France, surrendered to the English forces. The inhabitants of Port-Royal and those people living within three miles were granted permission to stay for two years by taking a conditional oath of allegiance, rendering them "French neutrals." The rest of Acadia came under English control in 1713. Most may have wanted to leave but to do so would mean giving up their hard-earned farms on good land and starting over who knew where.
The 1714 census still finds Claude, Anne, and their now eight children in Port-Royal.[14]
The 1717 burial registers record the death of Claude's two-week-old son, Rene,[15] and six months later his 15-year-old son, Jean.[16]
Five of Claude's children from his first marriage married in Port-Royal during the 1720s; presumably Claude was still there. By the late-1720s Claude was in his mid-fifties. Claude and Anne were still in Port-Royal in 1726,[citation needed] but the family may have moved to Chipoudy not long after. Daughter Marie Josephe married in Chipoudy in 1734.[citation needed]
Claude died during this time -- his widow is listed in the 1752[17]and the 1754/55[18]censuses at Chipoudy.
Three of his sons, Pierre, Joseph and Charles, were prisoners at Halifax in 1763.[19] Of Claude's children from his first marriage, one died on Ile St. Jean, two in France and one in Louisiana; from the second marriage, one died in France, and three others in exile in Quebec, as did his widow Anne, in hospital, in 1757." [1]
at Port Royal: Jean PITRE 61, Marie PESELET 45; children: Claude 16, Mare 12, Pierre 9, Jean 6, Francois 4, one girl 2, one girl 1 month. In the original 1686 Census, Marc was listed correctly but transcribed as Mare. Pesseley was listed as Peselet.
at Port Royal: Francoise ROBIN 50, Marie PESSELET 48, Claude 22, Marie 18, Pierre 13, Francois 11, Marguerie 10, Jeanne 7. In the original 1693 census at Port Royal, Francois Robin was listed correctly but transcribed as Francoise Robin, Marc was listed correctly but transcribed as Marie, Marguerite was listed correctly but transcribed as Marguerie, and Pesseley was listed as Pesselet.
Claude PITRE 25; Marie COMMEAU (wife) 20; Marie 1; 2 cows, 4 sheep,
ean PITRE 30, Anne COMMEAU (wife) 23; Pierre 2, Anne 3, Marie 1; 1 gun 6 cattle, 9 sheep, 5 hogs, 5 arpents.
Claude PITRE, his wife 3 boys, 2 girls, 1 arms bearer.
Claude PITRE and wife, 2 sons, 6 daughters.
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Categories: Chipoudy, Acadie | Port-Royal, Acadie | Acadians
When members of the Martin de Bourgueil families left Port Royal after 1713 and established themselves in Louisbourg, many of them lost their Acadianism as their female descendants married "Frenchmen" from the continent in a bustling military capital with little agriculture around it. Their poor husbands got caught up in a deportation that labelled them as Acadians when in fact they were not. However when some of that family settled in L'Isle St-Jean about 25 to 30 years before being deported, they remained Acadian as well as the "French" husbands that their women married, largely because of the new agricultural settlements they created there.
However knowledge of their lifestyle would be an interesting addition to the biographies of some people. Please feel free to write their stories. Much of our time is spent finding facts and sources and thus other insights may not get recorded. Your story about the wife of Claude Pitre is a good example. Some of that can be intuited using the censuses as many people found their spouses by proximity and family relationships such as likely with Claude and Anne. My favorites are when two brothers marry two sisters, sometimes even on the same day. I often think they must have enjoyed each others company and had many family dinners together!
According to https://gw.geneanet.org/lucie2019?lang=fr&p=marguerite&n=pitre&oc=5 he could be identified as the husband of Marguerite Pitre born 1711, the first daughter of the marriage with Anne (Jeanne) Henry.
edited by Cindy (Bourque) Cooper
That said, I have no connection with Acadie whatsoever, I just stumbled on this profile while monitoring unconnected profiles born in France. And that one being from Bretagne, where all my ancestors come from, I had to do something about it :-)
Actually the family name of François is certainly FARDET (aka FARDEL) and I found three Geneanet profiles for him :
https://gw.geneanet.org/katheriot?n=fardet&oc=&p=francois giving names and dates of four children, with some sources.
https://gw.geneanet.org/henrene?n=fardet&oc=1&p=francois has only three children, but the death place (Saint-Malo) supported by a note : "4 par Lemoyne 27. François Fardet, 91 ans, St Malo. Cet homme a servi à Louisbourg ; il est infirme et n'a rien. Son grand âge mérite des égards, on propose de lui conserver le traitement (108 l.)" Note sure what "Lemoyne 27" stands for
https://gw.geneanet.org/dalerideout?n=fardet&oc=&p=francois has not much info, but a lot of sources :-)
edited by Bernard Vatant