Jean-Baptiste Pitre (1711 - 1758)

Born Jan 1711 in Annapolis Royal, Acadie, Nouvelle-France

Ancestors

Son of François Pierre Pitre and Anne Prejean

Husband of Cécile Boudrot — married about 1733 in Acadie

Descendants

Died 8 Jun 1758 at age 47 in Québec, Canada, Nouvelle-France

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Biography

Jean-Baptiste Pitre was born in January of 1711 at Port Royal, Acadia, the second son of François Pitre and Anne Préjean. He was baptized on 16 April 1711 by Bonaventure Masson. The baptism was inscribed in the register on 28 December 1711.^[1] He was born into a period of relative stability within the colony and his parents remained in Port Royal throughout his childhood. Shortly before his 15th birthday his father died. This left his 19-year-old brother Antoine as the senior male in the family with Jean Baptiste undoubtedly inheriting more responsibility as well. Antoine married about 1731 and their mother Anne Préjean remarried to widower Michel Boudrot in April of 1732.

Around 1733 Jean-Baptiste married Cécile Boudrot the daughter of his mother’s new husband Michel Boudrot and his first wife Cecile Leblanc. The Boudrots were from Grand Pré which would explain the first two of Jean-Baptiste and Cécile’s children being born at Grand Pré. But by 1737 they were back at Port Royal. Relations with the English were becoming more difficult so Jean-Baptiste like many others sought less contentious areas in which to live. By about 1740 they had moved to Beaubassin where they remained through the birth of their last child, Isidore, in 1754.^[2]

Their known children were:

1. Marie Josephe Agathe Pitre (May 6 1734 – Feb 6 1808)
2. Michel Pitre (Oct 2 1735 – about 1807)
3. Charles Modeste Pitre (Dec 21 1737 – before Apr 9 1766)
4. Marie Louise Pitre (about 1738 – May 15 1791)
5. Marguerite Anastasie Pitre (Dec 10 1739 – unknown)
6. Rosalie Pitre (Nov 4 1741 – unknown)
7. Anne Pitre (Feb 12 1744 – Jun 12 1758)
8. Joseph Pitre (Jan 30 1746 – May 4 1823)
9. François Mathurin Pitre (Dec 21 1747 – Jan 13 1830)
10. Jean Pitre (about Mar 24 1750 – May 8 1758)
11. Jean Baptiste Pitre (about 1752 – Jun 11 1758)
12. Isidore Pitre (Jul 29 1754 – Dec 22 1758)

The British were determined to gain control of this strategic area and that meant removing the Acadians. Rumors of deportations began to circulate amongst the colony. Many Acadians had already sought refuge on Ile St. Jean, now hundreds more took to the woods of Nova Scotia.

Jean-Baptiste’s family now consisted of himself and Cécile, both in their forties, their 20-year-old daughter Marie Josephe Agathe, 19-year-old Michel, 14-year-old Marie Louise, 10-year-old Anne, 8-year-old Joseph, 7-year-old François Mathurin, 4-year-old Jean, 2-year-old Jean-Baptiste and infant Isidore. They, along with hundreds of other Acadians, sought refuge in the woods around the Memramcook, Chipoudy and Petitcodiac Rivers. Missionary François Le Guerne and Captain Charles Deschamps de Boishebert of the French colonial regulars provided a lifeline of supplies and helped to organize resistance. It was not enough. The British were becoming more determined to rid themselves of the Acadians, and the Acadians were suffering from exhaustion and starvation. Jean-Baptiste moved his family up to Miramichi around 1757 and followed the French troops on to Québec City.^{[citation needed]}

Québec was no better for the refugees. With few supplies and a severe famine, many were easily felled by a smallpox epidemic. Within a seven month period five of the family died from smallpox: eight-year-old Jean died 8th May 1758, his father Jean-Baptiste on 8th June, six-year-old Jean-Baptiste on 11th June, 14-year-old Anne on 12th June, and 4-year-old Isidore on 21st December. Jean-Baptiste was buried on 9 June 1758 in Québec (Notre-Dame). ^[3]

The Acadian refugees, including his widowed wife Cécile Boudrot, began to look elsewhere for a home and refuge. Remote and sustainable, Nicolet seemed to be the answer. Eldest son Michel had married Marie Josephe Orillon in May of 1759 at Notre Dame, Québec. They settled at Bécancour initially but were at Nicolet by 1762. Daughter Marie Josephe Agathe Pitre married Jean-Baptiste Desfosses in September 1760 at Nicolet, followed a month later by her sister Marie Louise to Gabriel Cottret. Lastly, Joseph married Marie Antoinette Lupien in June 1770 at Nicolet. François Mathurin became a priest, lived to the age of 82 and was buried at Nicolet.

Sources

1. ↑ The Registers of St. Jean-Baptiste, Annapolis Royal, 1702-1755, register RG 1 volume 26 page 102; online database with images, Jean Baptiste Pitre Baptism, 16 April 1711 , accessed March 2021.
2. ↑ Children of JEAN-BAPTISTE PITRE and CÉCILE BOUDREAU citing: Bona Arsenault, History of the Acadians, p. 1277
3. ↑ PRDH: Research Programme in Historical Demography (membership): Individu: 157856

See also:

• Geneanet.org. Karen Theriot Reader Family Tree page for Jean Baptiste Pitre citing Bona Arsenault, HISTOIRE ET GENEALOGIE DES ACADIENS; 1600-1800; Ottawa, Editions Lemeac, 1978, vols. 2-6; p. 728 (Port Royal); own copy. Jean-Baptiste PITRE, born 1711, son of Francois & Anne Préjean, settled at Grand-Pré. Also on p. 1277 (Grand Pré): he married around 1733 to Cécile BOUDROT (no parents given); eleven children. He was at St-Charles-des-Mines from 1734 to 1736; at Beaubassin from 1737 to 1754. He was buried at Québec on 9 Jun 1758. His widow married Pierre PELLERIN, widower of Marie Belliveau at Nicolet in Oct 1762.
• Stephen A. White, Patrice Gallant, Hector-J. Hébert, Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Acadiennes (Moncton, N.-B.: Centre D'études Acadiennes, Université De Moncton, 1999) p. 1325
• Paternal relationship to Pitre-7 is confirmed by a triangulated group consisting of April Shawl GEDmatch M768992, Kevin Charles Lajiness GEDmatch M658673 and Samantha A. Guillory GEDmatch A714347 sharing a 13.7455 cM segment on chromosome 14 from 24981935 - 32601696 .
• André Carl Vachon, "Les réfugiés acadiens en Nouvelle-France 1755-1763" Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Mémoire de maîtrise, Juin 2018, p. 62 http://depot-e.uqtr.ca/id/eprint/8497/1/032072632.pdf
• https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/francois-pitre_2521281
• Family. Search ID: LHBB-T94.