Claude Pitre (1671 - bef. 1752)

Born Feb 1671 in Port-Royal, Acadie, Nouvelle-France

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Anne Comeau — married 1698 in Quebec City, Quebec

Husband of Anne Henry — married 17 Feb 1710 in Quebec City, Quebec

Descendants

Died before 1 Jan 1752 in Annapolis Royal, Annapolis, Nouvelle-Écosse

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Biography

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.^[1] Acadia at that time was a community of about 400 people.

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.^[2] Having eight children over the next 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,^[3] 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.^[4][5] Anne was the middle child of Robert Henry, a Frenchman, and Marie Madeleine Godin, a Quebecois.

Eight months later 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 eight children in Port-Royal.^[6] The 1717 burial registers record the death of Claude's two-week-old son, Rene,^[7] and six months later his 15-year-old son, Jean.^[8] 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^[9] and the 1754/55^[10] censuses at Chipoudy. Three of his sons, Pierre, Joseph and Charles, were prisoners at Halifax in 1763.^[11] Of Claude's children from his first marriage, one died on Ile St. Jean, two in France^{[citation needed]} and one in Louisiana;^{[citation needed]} from the second marriage, one died in France, and three others in exile in Quebec, as did his widow Anne, in hospital, in 1757.

Marriages/ Children

Marriage (1) Marie Anne Comeau, c.1696 in Port-Royal, Acadie^[2] Children, all born in Port-Royal, Acadie:^[2]

1. Marie Pitre (c.1697)
2. Anne Pitre (c.1698)
3. Pierre Pitre (c.1699)
4. Marie Marguerite Pitre (c.1700)
5. Jean Pitre (1702)
6. Marie Pitre (1705)
7. Francoise Pitre (1707)
8. Angelique Pitre (1707)

Marriage (2) Anne "Jeanne" Henry, 17 Feb 1710 in Port-Royal, Acadie^[2]

Children, all born in Port-Royal, Acadie:^[2]

1. Marie Marguerite Pitre (1711)
2. Marie Josephe Pitre (1712)
3. Pitre (c.1714)
4. Rene Pitre (1717)
5. Joseph Pitre (1718)
6. Brigitte Pitre (1721)
7. Charles Pitre (1723)
8. Therese Pitre (1726)

Residence

CENSUS: 1671, Port Royal, Acadia^[1]

CENSUS: 1678, Port-Royal, Acadie^[12]

CENSUS: 1686, Port Royal, Acadia^[13]

CENSUS: 1693^[14]

CENSUS: 1698^[15]

CENSUS: 1701^[16]

Claude Pitre died after 1734 and before 1752 in Chipoudy, Acadie.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Tim Hebert," Transcription of the 1671 Acadian Census at Port-Royal, Acadie," 1671 Census Transcribed. Citing original census at Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752” Images 3-14.

   Jean PITRE, edge tool maker, 35, wife Marie PESELET 26; Children: Marie 5, Catherine 3, Claude 9 months; cattle 1.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Stephen A. White, Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Acadiennes: 1715 à 1780 ("DGFA") (Moncton, NB: Centre d'Études Acadiennes) pp. 1318 & 1320
3. ↑ Tim Hebert, Acadian-Cajun Genealogy website 1707 Acadian Census accessed 18 August 2019.
4. ↑ Library and Archives Canada, Fonds de la paroisse catholique Saint-Jean-Baptiste (Port-Royal, N.-É.)-1870 C-1870 (image 145-146) http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c1869/145?r=0&s=5
5. ↑ An Acadian Parish Remembered The Registers of St. Jean-Baptiste, Annapolis Royal, 1702-1755 Claude Pitre and Anne Henry marriage RG 1 volume 26 page 297 https://novascotia.ca/archives/acadian/archives.asp?ID=1260
6. ↑ Tim Hebert, "Transcription of the 1714 Acadian Census at Port-Royal, Acadie," 1714 Census Transcription. The original census at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Images 239-261.

   Claude PITRE and wife, 2 sons, 6 daughters.

7. ↑ Nova Scotia Archives in An Acadian Parish Remembered: The Registers of St. Jean-Baptiste, Annapolis Royal, 1702-1755 René Pitre burial (registered in 1717)

   Register RG 1 volume 26 page 359

   Priest Justinien Durand

   Registration Date 13 April 1717

   Event Burial

   Name René Pitre

   died , about one month old, infant

   Father Claude Pitre

   Mother Anne Henry

8. ↑ Jean Pitre burial (registered in 1717)

   Register RG 1 volume 26 page 361

   Priest Justinien Durand

   Registration Date 24 October 1717

   Event Burial

   Name Jean Pitre

   died , about fifteen years old, young boy

   Father Claude Pitre

   Mother Marie Comeau, deceased

9. ↑ Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home" 1752 Census The original census can be found at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Images 277-308.

   Widow Pitre, 1 boy, 1 girl

10. ↑ Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home" 1755 Census

    Anne Henry, veuve, 1 boy, 1 girl

11. ↑ Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, "Fort Halifax, List of Acadian Prisoners at Halifax, 12 August 1763" online at "Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home," website.

    Joseph Pitre

    Charle Pitre

    Pier Pitre

12. ↑ Tim Hebert, "1678 Port Royal Acadian Census," with correlations done by Rev. Clarence J. d'Entremont, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, online at 1678 Census

    Jean Pitre & Marie Pesselet

    2 acres& 2 cows

    4 boys: Claude, 10 [sic]; Marc, 5; Pierre, 3; Jean, 1

    2 girls: Marie, 14; Catherine,16

13. ↑ Tim Hebert, "Transcription of the 1686 Acadian Census, at Port-Royal, Acadie," 1686 Census Transcribed, citing original census at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Images 15-60.

    Jean PITRE 61, Marie PESELET 45; children: Claude 16, Mare 12, Pierre 9, Jean 6, Francois 4, one girl 2, one girl 1 month.

14. ↑ Tim Hebert, "Transcription of the 1693 Acadian Census at Port-Royal, Acadie," 1693 Census Transcribed, citing original census at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Images 62-108

    age 22 years.

15. ↑ Tim Hebert, "Transcription of the 1698 Acadian Census at Port-Royal," Acadie1698 Census Transcribed, citing original census at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Images 110-150

    age 25 years.

16. ↑ Tim Hebert, "Transcription of the 1701 Acadian Census at Port-Royal, Acadie," 1701 Census Transcription, citing the original census at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Images 174-211.

    Jean, age 30 years.

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