Jean Baptiste Robichaud (abt. 1751 - 1808)

Born about 1751 in Village des Cadet, Acadie, Colony of Nova Scotia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Félicité Cyr — married 4 Feb 1773 in St-Servan, St-Malo, Bretagne

Descendants

Died 4 Mar 1808 at about age 57 in Shippegan, Gloucester, New Brunswick Colony

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Biography

Jean-Baptiste and Félicité were among the first Acadians to settle at Grand Shippagan and pioneers of that locality ^[1]

"Jean-Baptiste Robichaux’s father, Joseph, came from Port-Royal (Annapolis Royal, N. S.) but settled in the region of Cobequid (near Truro) at Village des Cadet after his marriage in 1726. Eleven children were born there; Jean-Baptiste was the tenth. Although many of their neighbours responded in the early 1750s to the efforts made by the French government and its agents to persuade Acadians living under British rule to remove to French territory,…the Robichaux family remained in Nova Scotia; their distance from Annapolis Royal and the presence of French troops at Louisbourg, Île Royale (Cape Breton Island), and Fort Beauséjour (near Sackville, N.B.) perhaps gave them a sense of security on their lands. Nevertheless, they had eventually to take the weary road to exile. About the time of the deportation in 1755… – whether before or after is unclear – Joseph Robichaux took his family by the “emigrants’ road” to Tatamagouche, and then by ship to Pointe Prime (Point Prim) on Île Saint-Jean (P.E.I.). It was there that many Acadians from Cobequid, as well as the former parish priest, Jacques Girard, had settled.

The surrender of Louisbourg [in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia] to British forces under Jeffery Amherst and Edward Boscawen in July 1758 brought with it the capitulation of Île Saint-Jean. In spite of an appeal by Pierre Cassiet and Jean Biscaret, two of the missionaries to the Acadians on the island, it was decided that Colonel Lord Rollo should proceed with plans to deport the inhabitants. Sent to France, the Robichaux family arrived at Saint-Servan in Brittany at the onset of winter, after a crossing that proved fatal for their father. ^[2] They settled in the tiny village of Pleudihen on the outskirts of Saint-Servan and, like other Acadian families, were supported for some years by the French government. But they had difficulty adapting to their new life and dreamed of returning home.

On 4 Feb. 1773, at Saint-Servan, Jean-Baptiste married a fellow exile, Félicité Cyr (Sire);^[3] they were to have 15 children. At that time the Jersey merchants of the firm Robin, Pipon et Cie. were eager to sign on the Acadian families living on the coasts of France in order to obtain a stable work-force for their settlements in Gaspé and on Cape Breton Island, since the young people from Jersey did not seem to want to take up permanent residence there. Early in the spring of 1774 Jean-Baptiste and his brothers went to Jersey, and in April the Acadian contingent left Saint Helier on two ships, the Hope and the Bee, bound for Charles Robin’s establishment at Paspébiac in Gaspé, which they reached the following month. Jean-Baptiste and his wife settled at Bonaventure with their eldest child, Jean-Baptiste, who had been born on 16 Nov. 1773 at Saint-Servan. There they lived in straitened circumstances on his ten-acre plot, completely dependent on the company, Charles Robin having encouraged the Acadians to concentrate on fishing rather than farming. Unable to gain secure possession even of this small property, Robichaux contemplated joining the Acadian families south of the Baie des Chaleurs. About 1790 he crossed the bay with his family to settle at Grand Chipagan, taking up residence on Pointe Brûlé to the west of the harbour. He was the first settler from Grand Chipagan to petition the government for title to his land, in 1798. His rights were recognized, but he was not long to enjoy peaceful possession of his property. He died on 4 March 1808, and was buried the next day in the old cemetery at Caraquet. ^[4] His widow went to live at Caraquet in the home of one of her daughters, where she died some years later.

Jean-Baptiste Robichaux’s story clearly recalls the numerous moves that Acadian families had to endure at the time of the deportation. He was one of the first Acadians to settle at Grand Shippagan and a pioneer of that locality. His brothers all established themselves in New Brunswick, Isidore being an early settler at Pokemouche (Inkerman), and Joseph, Pierre, Michel, and Charles the founders of Saint-Charles (Kent County)" ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Donat Robichaud, “ROBICHAUX, JEAN-BAPTISTE,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed August 2, 2021, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/robichaux_jean_baptiste_5E.html.
2. ↑ "Rolle des habitans de l'Isle St Jean débarqués à St Malo le 23 janvier 1759 des 5 paquebots anglois le Yarmouth, la Patience, le Mathias, la Restoration et le John et Samuel," Fonds de l'inscription maritime de Saint-Servan (France): C-4619, MG6 C2, Library and Archives Canada, Roll of the " Five English ships " (Yarmouth, Patience, Mathias, Restoration, John Samuel) disembarked at Saint-Malo on January 23, 1759 image 212, accessed 10 Sep 2023

   ROBICHEAU Joseph, 55 y, died in Saint Servan 11 March 1759
   LE BLANC Claire, 50 y
   ROBICHEAU Marie Josèphe, 26 y, fille
   ROBICHEAU Anne Théodose, 23 y, daughter
   ROBICHEAU Françoise, 20 y, daughter
   ROBICHEAU Marguerite Pélagie, 15 y, daughter
   ROBICHEAU Michel, 13 y, son
   ROBICHEAU Isidore, 10 y, son
   ROBICHEAU Jean Baptiste, 8 y, son
   ROBICHEAU Charles, 6 y, son
   ROBICHEAU André, 4 y, son, died at sea

3. ↑ Thot, Archives en ligne Ille-et-Vilaine, Registres paroissiaux et état civil, 10 NUM 35313 410 > Commune SAINT-SERVAN > 1773 > Mariages image 5 of 20 Jean Baptiste Robicho & Félicité Cyr Marriage Record

   Were present at the ceremony: Pierre & Isidore Robicho brothers of the groom, Jean Cyr father of the bride, Joseph Granger her brother-in-law.

4. ↑ Burial Record Ancestry.com. Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Search: C Caraquet 1768-1899 > image 125 of 1632. Accessed on ancestry.ca, August 2021.
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     Date of death : 4 March 1808. Burial : 5 March 1808. Were present at the burial his wife and his sons-in-law Jean Baptiste Léger and Tranquille Blanchard. The funeral was supplemented on 27 March 1808 and recorded in the Saint Pierre aux Liens parish register in Caraquet.

• Albert J. Robichaux, THE ACADIAN EXILES IN ST. MALO; 1758-1785; pt 1, vol. II, Eunice, LA, Hebert Publications, 1981; p. 711, family #834; own copy.

Born about 1751, no place given; married Felicite Cyr, daughter of Jean Cyr and Marie-Josephe Hebert, 4 February 1773, at St_Servan, Isle-et-Vilaine, France. One child Jean-Baptiste born at St-Servan 16 November, 1773; baptized there the same day. Jean-Baptiste disembarked with his parents at St. Malo on 23 January, 1759, from one of the "Five Ships." He lived with his parents at St-Servan from 1759 to 1772.

• Stephen A. White, « La généalogie des trente-sept familles hôtesses des "Retrouvailles 94", Les Cahiers de la Société historique acadienne, vol. 25, nos 2 et 3 (1994). Genealogy of 37 Families

Jean-Baptiste, n v 1751; m St-Servan 4 fév 1773 Félicité CYR (Jean-Jacques & Marie-Josèphe Hébert); d Grand-Shippagan 4 mars 1808.

• Sources cited on biographi.ca: Donat Robichaud AAQ, 311 CN, I–VI. AD, Ille-et-Vilaine (Rennes), État civil, Saint-Servan, 1762; 4 févr. 1773. AP, Saint-Bonaventure (Bonaventure), Reg. des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures; Saint-Joseph (Carleton), Reg. des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures. Arch. paroissiales, Caraquet, N.-B., Reg. des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures de l’Acadie, 1768–99. BL, Add. mss 21862: 17b (transcript at PAC). Northumberland County Registry Office (Newcastle, N.B.), 8: 23–25, testament de J.-B. Robichaux. Placide Gaudet, “Généalogie des Acadiens, avec documents,” PAC Rapport, 1905, II, iiie partie: 333. Patrice Gallant, Les registres de la Gaspésie (1752–1850) (6v., [Sayabec, Québec, 1968]), 5: 454–56. Donat Robichaud, Les Robichaud: histoire et généalogie (Bathurst, N.-B., [1967]), 86–90.

• http://robichaudfamily.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=robichaudfamily&view=0&pid=46281&ver=12814

• "Les Descendants de Francois Gionet" by Alexandre Jean Gionet 1984