Claude Saulnier (abt. 1724 - 1801)

Born about 1724 in Petitcoudiac, Acadie, Colony of Nova Scotia

Ancestors

Husband of Françoise Aucoin — married about 1752 in Acadie

Descendants

Died 6 May 1801 at about age 77 in Pointe de l'Eglise, Colony of Nova Scotia

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Biography

Early Years
Claude Saulnier was the son of René Saulnier and Marie Josephte Trahan.^[1][2] He was born about 1724.^[3]

Claude married Françoise Aucoin, daughter of Pierre Aucoin and Catherine Comeau, about 1752.^{[4] [2]}

Their children were:

1. Marie Françoise Saulnier
2. Simon Saulnier
3. Jean-Baptiste Saulnier
4. Pierre Dominique Saulnier
5. Joseph Saulnier
6. Marguerite Saulnier
7. Geneviève Marie Saulnier

Grand Dérangement
In 1755, Claude and Françoise were living at Petcoudiac with one son. ^[2]

Around 1756 Claude and his family escaped deportation by fleeing to Camp d'Espérance on the Miramichi, in present-day northeastern New Brunswick, which was established at the end of the summer of 1756 to protect from famine and from the roundups of the British soldiers the nearly 1 400 Acadians who were refugees there. ^[5] His brothers Charles and René were also there with their families. They suffered greatly because of diseases and lack of food at the camp. This forced Acadians to move further north to Ristigouche in the Baie des Chaleurs area.

By 1761 many of the Acadian refugees around Baie des Chaleurs were captured by British forces, or promised to surrender the following year, and were imprisoned in Halifax or Fort Edward. ^[6] Claude, with 5 family members, unnamed, appeared on a list of prisoners at Fort Edward in 1762. He was listed with other Acadian men who were too sick to be sent to Halifax as labourers. ^[7]

The Acadian prisoners were released after the treaty of 1763. The British authorities permitted Acadians to remain in the Colony of Nova Scotia as long as they took an oath of allegiance. However the majority of the prisoners rejected their offer and left the colony by their own means by leasing vessels since the British refused to pay their passage to other colonies. Claude chose to stay in his homeland and settled in Baie Sainte-Marie.

Burial
He died on 6 May 1801, at age 77 years, and was buried the next day at Pointe-de-l'Église.^[3][8] Were present Jean-Baptiste, Simon, Joseph and Pierre Saulnier, his children, as well as Jean Saulnier, his son-in-law married to Marie-Françoise.

Sources

1. ↑ #DGFA, p. 1450; cites "selon P Gaudet, frère de Marie"
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Stephen A. White, Recensements de Beaubassin et des Trois Rivières de Chipoudie, de Memramcook et de Petcoudiac (1686-1755). Les Cahiers de la Société historique acadienne, vol. 50, nos 2-4, juin-décembre 2019, pp. 392-393.

   Claude Saulnier (son of René DGFA #3) married Françoise Aucoin (daughter of Pierre DGFA #8) around 1752. On 1755 census at Petcoudiac, 1 son. Found refuge at Camp d'Espérance. The family later settled at Baie-Sainte-Marie and Meteghan.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} #DGFA, p. 1450, cites "Rg Pointe-de-l'Église (copie P Gaudet) 6/7 mai 1801 77a"
4. ↑ #DGFA, p. 1450
5. ↑ LeBlanc, R.-G. (2012). Les réfugiés acadiens au camp d’Espérance de la Miramichi en 1756-1761 : un épisode méconnu du Grand Dérangement. Acadiensis, 41(1). Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/view/19077/21083. (See appendix at the end) Also English translation by John Estano DeRoche "The Acadian Refugee Camp on the Miramichi, 1756-1761"
6. ↑ Judith Beattie and Bernard Pothier, The Battle of the Restigouche, Parks Canada Canadian Heritage, 1996 p. 41 http://parkscanadahistory.com/series/saah/restigouche.pdf
7. ↑ Lucie LeBlanc Consentino. List of Acadian Prisoners at Fort Edward, 1761-1762, list dated 5 October 1761, Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home. Original record, online database with images, Isaac Deschamps, Nova Scotia Archives MG 1 volume 258 item 18 - p. 100-105 (5 October 1761 to 11 October 1762) Original Record, pages 1 to 6, page 2, accessed April 2023

   Charles Saulnier, 6 people total

8. ↑ Burial Claude Saulnier: "Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946"
   B > Nouvelle-Écosse; Baie-Ste-Marie > 1799-1801 > image 66 of 73
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Image (accessed 8 April 2023)

• DGFA: Stephen A. White, Dictionnaire Généalogique Des Familles Acadiennes (Moncton, N.-B.: Centre D'études Acadiennes, Université De Moncton, 1999)

See also:

• Marcel Walter Landry Claude Saulnier at Généalogie des Landry à travers le monde, accessed April 2023 (login required)

• https://www.geni.com/people/Claude-Saulnier/6000000003721634068