Roi/Roy etc. Family Tree based on Independent Sources
Rene Marie Louis Perrine Gillaume Marie Jean Francoise 13X Great Grandparents Boileau I Soussac Proulx Gascoing Quantin Lerbertiere Bougrault Argouges 1525- 1525- 1525- 1525- 1535- 1535- 1520-? 1515-?
12X Great Grandparents Rene Marie Andre Marguerite Boileau II Proulx Quantin Bougrault 1545- 1545- 1555- 1555-
Rene Marthe Leonard Jeanne 11X Great Grandparents Boileau III Quantin Ferrand Portabise 1574-1644 1575- 1600- 1600-
Rene Nova Scotia Archives: Joachine 10X Great Grandparents Nobility Boileau IV Seigneur de Pezamancodis Ferrand 1611- Burial 1705 1620-
Nobility Rene Anne Jean Marguerite 9X Great Bergeron Dagaut or Serreau de Boileau Grandparents d’Amboise Dugas St-Aubin 1638-1705 1643-1700 1646-1710 1621-1705
Barthelemy Genevieve 8X Great Jean Roy Marie Dubois Bergeron Serreau de Grandparents 1651-1665 1665-? d’Ambroise St-Aubin Acadians 1663-1736 1667-1739
Jean Francois 7X Great Nova Scotia Marie Archives: Roy dit Josephe 1736 Census of Grandparents Marriage 1717 Laliberte Bergeron Point St. Anne 1692-1748 1697-1740 Nova Scotia Archives: Baptism Francois Roy Marguerite 1739 Census of
6X Great 1718-1763 Godereau Point St. Anne Grandparents 1720-1771
Marguerite 5X Great Alexis Roy Jeanson Grandparents 1745-1817 1749-1802
4X Great Isabelle Richard Joseph Roi Grandparents 1787-1867 1776-1842
3X Great Joseph Boucher Charlotte Roi (Roy) Grandparents 1800-1852 1812-1870
Julius Boucher Marie Denise Farly 2X Great Grandparents 1844-1926 1847-1935
Cousins
Joseph Ambroise Marie Julia Farly 1X Great Grandparents Boucher 1879-1955 1865-1926
Gen 3 - Grandmother Valerie Marie Boucher Boerjan 1900-1995 - 1 -
Our Noble Ancestry
Background
Amboise is one of the first settlements on the Loire River in France and is located in the Loire Valley, 35 kms from Tours and 250 kms southwest of Paris. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court. It is famous for its royal castles. Many noteable people lived at Amboise, such as Charles VIII, King of France, born in 1470. Louis XI lived there as well. In 1516, Francois I invited the famous painter, Leonardo de Vinci, to stay there.
The Château at Amboise was home to Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, for much of her early life, as she was raised there at the French court of Henry II. She arrived in France from Scotland in 1548, aged 6, via the French king's favourite palace at Saint Germain en Laye near Paris, and remained in France until 1561, when she returned to her homeland as Queen.
Our 9X paternal Great Grandparents, Rene Bergeron d’Amboise (1643), and Anne Dagaut (1646), were born in France. Rene was born at Chapelle, Florentine, Amboise. Anne was born at Tours, Indre-et-Loire.
Chapelle, Florentine - 2 -
Tours
Also, our 9X maternal Great Grandparents, Jean Serreau de St-Aubin (1621) and Marguerite Boileau (1638), were also born in France, Jean at Loudun, Poitou-Charentes, France, and Marguerite at Orches, Poitou, France. The area south of Loudun is the place of origin of a significant portion of the Acadians, one of the early founding people of New France in Canada.
Both the Bergerons and Serreaus were from noble families in France who had fallen on hard times.
Porte du Martray in Loudun Orches, Poitou, France
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History of the Amboises
In the late 900s, Gelduin, the Lord of Saumur, moved from Saumur, between Angers and Tours, to a new chateau at Chaumont-sur-Loire, just upriver from Amboise. His son was the first to be called d'Amboise, supposedly after he incorporated the town of Amboise into his estates.
The first seigneur of Amboise was an Angevin loyalist, Lisois I, living about the same time as Gelduin. Lisois' son married Denise de Chaumont, possibly the daughter or granddaughter of Gelduin, resulting in a long line of the d'Amboise family centered in both Amboise and Chaumont. They were nominally loyal to the Counts of Anjou, one of whom inherited the English throne, Henry II, and founded the Plantagenet dynasty in that country. It was at Chaumont that Henry II met for the last time with Archbishop Thomas à Becket, who was murdered shortly afterwards in his cathedral at Canterbury. The chateau at Chaumont was razed to the ground not long after.
The Amboise clan grew in strength and stature throughout the ages. They married well, and inherited a number of other seigneuries and a chateau. They also rebuilt their original home. At least one of these Lords of Amboise (Seigneurs d'Amboise) died in one of the battles of the Hundred Years War.
House of Amboise
The family split in two, one line centered at Amboise, the other at Chaumont. In 1460, seven years after the end of the Hundred Years War, Pierre d'Amboise had 17 children, one of whom he named George. Some of George’s siblings became famous in French history.
King Louis XI of France (1461-83) (he has a big nose) inherited a medieval realm and developed it into a national monarchy that lasted until the French Revolution of 1789. A new merchant class grew, which sheltered the growing bourgeoisie, and held the lords in check. The nobles did not care for the centralization of power that Louis XI was forging and in 1465 a number of them rebelled "for the good of the people." Pierre d'Amboise, who had fought for his country with Jeanne d'Arc at Orleans, participated in the rebellion. Louis regained control and took the chateau at - 4 -
Chaumont away from d'Amboise, razed it to the ground, then returned the land to the family. However, the d'Amboise family was powerful enough not to simply accept this. Pierre began rebuilding his chateau the next year, and the work was continued by a son, Charles, and his grandson, Charles II.
Of Pierre d'Amboise's 17 children, two sons (including Georges) became cardinals in the Catholic Church. Another was an architect and builder. A number of others were counselors to various kings. For being "petite noblesse" or minor aristocracy, this was a very influential family.
At this time, the king owned the lands around the town of Amboise. He began the planning and building of a great chateau on a rocky spur of land jutting into the Loire River. It was designed to guard the bridgehead and the small town.
The French King, Charles VIII (1483-98), was born at Amboise in 1470. It was he who built the Chapel of St. Hubert, originally as part of the chateau. He also had a big nose.
Louis XII (1498-1515) continued building the structure at Amboise, and was responsible for building the Louis XII wing, six large double casements connected by a balcony of ironworks. He also continued the big nose.
By now Georges d'Amboise, son of Pierre, was Georges, Cardinal d'Amboise. He became one of the most reliable advisors to Louis XII, and the king turned over many functions to him. In fact, when people asked the king to do something, he would reply: "Laissez faire à Georges" (Let George do it)!
Francis I (1515-1547) continued work on the great chateau at Amboise. During his reign, Leonardo da Vinci finally came to live in France; he died at Amboise (at the Clos Lucé manor) as a guest of the king in 1519. Francis is supposedly buried in the Chapel of St-Hubert. He also continued the tradition of the big nose, although he looks very different from his forebears (almost Asian). - 5 -
Eventually the great Amboise family had "four main branches" which consisted of the family at Amboise itself, those at Chaumont-sur-Loire (Pierre's and Georges' family), the famous branch at Bussy and another branch at Aubijoux.
Sometime in the early 1500s, after the chateau of Chaumont was completed, the Amboise family lost their home for the final time. At that time, all of society was changing and the aristocracy was suffering a number of reversals
The next century and a half were filled with wars, religious civil wars, and rebellions. During the French Wars of Religion, Catholics and Calvinists (the Huguenots or French Protestants) fought each other through eight civil wars from 1561 to 1598. During these terrible times a mass execution was carried out at the chateau of Amboise in 1560, after which the royal family rarely used the place. A horrible massacre again occurred on St. Bartholomew's Night (1572). The Valois dynasty in France ended, with the throne reverting to the Bourbon family (1594).
Aside from massive political and religious movements, this period also saw economic influences the world had never seen before. The influx of gold and silver from the Americas changed everything. Significant amounts of silver, although worth less than gold, had reached Europe. For the first time in history, smaller, less valuable silver coins gave common people the chance to earn and save money. Common people with spendable cash caused unbelievable social change: the middle class (called the bourgeoisie in France) was born.
All of this had a grave effect on the aristocracy. Tax structures were changing and peasants were leaving the land for cities, jobs, and a chance to live a better life. The aristocracy was suddenly unable to raise the money they had once collected from the peasants who worked on their land. The cost of horses, carriages, good cloth (not the woolens worn by the peasants), the great variety of foods, good wine, and all the necessary servants was tremendous. Between the new - 6 - economic phenomenon called inflation and their reduced income, it became extremely difficult for the nobles to run a chateau or a mansion in a manner that was expected. Many of the nobility financed their lifestyle by selling off lands to the new middle class, and the bourgeoisie often loaned money to the aristocracy to help them maintain their expensive lifestyles. This led to a number of noble families going bankrupt.
The rising middle class not only became richer, they grew more powerful. Many merchants and bankers became more influential than the nobles. More than a few of the bourgeoisie were eventually named to the nobility. Two classes of aristocracy came into existence: the old landed nobility and the mercantile nouveau riche. At the same time, more than a few voices began to ask why the nobles were still so privileged when they did nothing but live off the working classes. The status of much of the nobility declined at the same time as that of the bourgeoisie increased.
In society at large, wages did not keep up with prices, and there was a great need for relief for the poor. Villages and towns could not afford to care for them, and the Church developed new orders of priests and nuns to administer to the underclass. Much of the work of George Cardinal d'Amboise, in his position as Archbishop of Rouen, was involved with the relief of the poor. Regrettably, such charitable work made only a small difference.
In 1598 King Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes, providing for freedom of religious worship within certain limits. It was accepted by both Catholics and Protestants. This is important to Acadian history because the earliest settlement and development of that colony was a joint Protestant-Catholic effort.
Meanwhile, in France, the Catholics began the siege of the last major Protestant stronghold, the city of La Rochelle, in 1627. La Rochelle fell to royal forces the following year. This was the primary seaport from which settlers and military personnel departed for New France and Acadia.
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In 1643, our 9X Great Grandfather, Rene Bergeron d’Amboise was born at Chapelle, Florentine, Amboise. His wife was Anne Dagaut, born at Tours, France, in 1646. Jean died in 1700 at Tours, and Anne died in 1710, also at Tours. Their son was Barthelemy Bergeron d’Amboise, our 8X Great Grandfather.
The Fronde, a series of civil wars in France, took place between 1648 and 1652. Louis XIV, the Sun King, had raised taxes, which led to opposition from the princes, the nobility, the law courts, and the French people. Louis won out over them in the end.
One of the major genealogists of the Bergeron d'Amboise family was
Father Adrien Bergeron, an Acadian from the Nicolet county area on
the south bank of the St. Lawrence, across from Trois Rivières, Québec.
He published articles and genealogies from the 1960s (perhaps earlier)
to the 1980s. It was from his work that the basic framework of the early
family came from.
This is the world that Barthelemy Bergeron d'Amboise was born into. The Bergerons were usually referred to as d’Amboise rather than Bergeron.
The descendants of Barthelemy Bergeron d'Amboise were the forebears of the Acadians in New France (Canada) and New England (U.S.). Barthelemy was one of eight families of Bergerons who emigrated to New France from France.
Amboise is located on the Loire River in Touraine, France. The Loire is the longest river in France. “Bergeron” means “little shepherd”. The family were descended from a nobleman, the Lord of Saumur, who lived close to Amboise. Eventually - 8 - the nobles became bereft of wealth due to high taxes and started to sell off their lands. Many noble families went bankrupt. In 1604, Samuel de Champlain and others developed a colony in Acadia. This colony had many problems; however, it did provide a destination for many young French men who wanted to leave France. Champlain moved on four years later to found another "more successful" colony at Quebec, in New France.
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History of the Serreau’s (Saint-Aubins)
The Saint-Aubins are a family of ancient chivalrous extraction – nine generations from the Reformation to the nobility in 1669. Some examples are:
Alain de St-Aubin, knight, Sieur de Boquehan, 1445.
Roland de St-Aubin, Sieur of the Morandais, 1528.
Rene de St-Aubin, Chevalier, Sieur du Buttay
Hubert de St-Aubin: mentioned as a witness in letters of 1185, Duke of Brittany, Abbey of Savigny.
William of St-Aubin, knight in 1210, he appears in an act of Eon de Pontchateau.
Henri de St-Aubin, served with seven squires in the wars of Brittany in 1369.
Galhot de St-Aubin, was seneschal of La Guerche in 1396.
Guillaume de St-Aubin, made donations in the presence of several bishops to the Abbey of Buzay in 1144.
Herbert de St-Aubin, Raoul de la Bouexiere, among the lords of the party of Duke Eudon II of Porthoet in 1154.
Henry de St-Aubin, among the men-at-arms and archers of Bonabes, Lord of Rouge and Derval, in 1351-1352.
Raoul de St-Aubin, titles of Brissac and Argentre, Association of the nobility against the invasion of the country, 1379.
Jehan de St-Aubin, Robin de St-Aubin, military men destined to accompany Richard of Brittany, 1419.
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In 1429, Antoine de Toulongeon, chamberlain of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, received the land of Saint-Aubin.
The seigniory of Saint-Aubin then extended on both banks of the Loire, so that lands that are currently part of the commune of Dompierre sur Besbre (Allier-03) depended on the parish and seigniory of Saint Aubin until the Revolution, and long after 1790, these estates continued to belong to the owners of the castle of Saint Aubin.
This family’s ancestry can be traced back to Rollo, the Viking chieftain who arranged with the French king at Paris to settle on lands at the mouth of the Seine River. The d’Argouges family, of which Marguerite and Marie Boyleau were descended, accompanied William the Conqueror on his conquest in England in 1066.
Marguerite is our 9X Great Grandmother and was married to Jean Serreau de Saint-Aubin. Marguerite and Marie were sisters.
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Our Ancestors
Barthélémy Bergeron d'Amboise, our 8X Great Grandfather
Barthélémy was born in 1663 and was baptised on 23 May at St-Denise Church, Amboise, Inde-et-Loire, France.
Barthélémy set out from Amboise for Canada in 1685 as a volunteer marine for the French Navy. He lived in Lower Town, Quebec (area at sea level), from 1685 to 1690, with Pierre Lezeau, master of his boat.
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Barthélémy accompanied Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville on most of his campaigns, including that to Hudson Bay in 1686. Le Moyne was a soldier, ship captain, explorer, colonial administrator, knight of the Order of Saint- Louis, adventurer, privateer, trader, and member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine.
Barthélémy was married in Quebec about 1695, to Genevieve Serreau St. Aubin, born in Quebec City in 1667, daughter of Jean Serreau St. Aubin and Marguerite Boyleau, also minor nobility who had left France for new opportunities. She was the daughter of Jean Serreau de St-Aubin, a landed noble, and Marguerite Boileau. She was also the widow of Jacques Petitpas. The Serreau line as well as the Boileau family can be traced back for many centuries.
Between about 1696 and 1709, the couple had 5 children: Barthélémy, Marie, Michel, Augustin, Marie-Anne, and Anne-Marie.
The movements of the family are illustrated from the baptismal records of their children. Their first child was baptised near Quebec at St Francois on the Isle d'Orleans. Barthélemy was captured by Colonel Church in 1704 and held captive in Boston. Their fifth child was born in Boston on June 24, 1706 and baptised in Port Royal later that year on September 20. The sixth child was born in Port Royal on 24 September and baptised on the 26 September 1709.
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Jean Serreau de Saint-Aubin
Jean Serreau de Saint-Aubin was born in 1621 in the province of Poitou, France. Poitou was part of the land ruled by Eleanor of Aquitaine (right), wife of King Henry II of England. Jean was a soldier, sailor and seigneur.
Jean arrived in Canada around 1663, and established himself on the Ile d'Orleans in the Argentenay seigneury.
Jean married the Fille du Roi, Marguerite Boyleau. Marguerite had a plethora of generations of her ancestors who lived in France.
Rene Boyleau I, Sieur de la Baste, leather merchant, and Marie Soussac – our 13X Great Grandparents.
Rene Boyleau II, born in 1545 at Tours, Sieur de la Baste, and Marie Proust, daughter of the Sieur de la Groupillere – our 12X Great Grandparents.
Rene Boyleau III, born in 1572, Sieur de la Groupillere, bourgeois merchant, and Marthe Quantin, daughter of the Seigneur de la Menardiere, de Tichebourg et du Moulinet – our 11X Great Grandparents.
Rene Boyleau IV, born 1611 at Tours, St-Saturnin, Sieur de la Groupillere, and Joachine Ferrand, the daughter of the Sieur de Belesbat – our 10X Great Grandparents.
Marguerite’s father was René Boyleau IV, Sieur de la Goupillière. Rene Boyleau was a Squire, and Sieur de la Roche and La Crainoise.
The marriage of Marguerite’s parents took place in 1635 in Ballan-Miré (St-Venant), Indre-et-Loire (records not - 14 - preserved) and is confirmed in the proceedings at Orches (St-Hilaire) on 08- 09-1637.
By the late 17th century, Marguerite’s parents no longer had any wealth, and their daughters, Marguerite and Marie, signed contracts as Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King) with the Crown and set out for New France.
The Filles du Roi became wives of the soldiers that were serving in New France. In this way, the soldiers would stay in New France and start families. Eight hundred French women emigrated to New France between 1663 and 1673 as part of a program sponsored by King Louis XIV. Many of these Filles du Roi are our ancestors.
Some of the female immigrants to New France before 1663 had to pay their own passage, and few single women wanted to leave home to move and settle in the harsh climate and conditions of New France. The population growth of competing English colonies awakened concern among the officials about France’s ability to maintain its claim in the New World if they did not increase the population of New France.
The Filles du Roi were predominantly between the ages of 12 and 25, and received the King’s support in terms of funds and material goods. The king paid for their passage to the French East India Company and also furnished their trousseau. The Crown was also supposed to pay a dowry for each woman, originally set at four hundred livres, but they may or may not have received the dowry, depending on the Treasury’s ability/funds.
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Socially, the young women came from different social backgrounds, but were all quite poor. Trousseau They might have been from an elite family that had lost its fortune, or from a large family with children "to spare”. Officials usually matched A hope chest, also called dowry chest, cedar chest, trousseau women of higher birth with officers or chest or glory box was a piece gentlemen, such as Jean Serreau, who were of furniture traditionally used living in the colony, sometimes in the hopes that to collect items such as clothing the nobles would marry the young women and and household linen, by be encouraged to stay in Canada rather than unmarried young women in return to France. anticipation of married life. The young women selected usually did not have much in terms of The Filles du Roi, who had many offspring, are material belongings to bring the maternal ancestors of thousands of North with them on the voyage; for Americans. Because they came from the French- this reason the King gave them speaking regions and institutions of France, they the hope chest which contained such items as handkerchiefs, contributed to Louis XIV’s longed-for sewing needles, ribbons, standardization of the French language in 17th- combs, and other personal century Canada. items. The Filles du Roi would have carried these personal Marguerite was born in about 1638 at St-Jean possessions to the New World d’Arcay, Loudun, Poitou, France. She signed a in their hope chest on the ship. marriage contract with Jean Serreau de Saint- Aubin and they were married in 1662 at Chateau-Richer. The couple did not know each other very well, only meeting a few times before their marriage. There was a 17 year age difference, Marguerite being 24 and Jean 41. The couple would have two children before their lives fell apart.
It seems that Marguerite was very beautiful, but also quite a flirt; and when helping her husband clear land on Ile de Orleans, she took a fancy to a young Swiss soldier, Jean Terme. Jean was a bachelor who had recently been granted a three acre lot in the seigneurie of Argentenay, but was - 16 - then boarding with Jacques de Launay and Catherine Benard. It wasn't long before an affair became known, and though Marguerite's husband repeatedly warned the handsome Swiss to stay away, it was to no avail.
Finally, on July 25, 1665, after finding Marguerite and Terme walking arm- in-arm on the beach, Serreau exploded, grabbed a stick and beat the young man to death. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, but managed to escape to France, where he pled his case. In February of 1666, he was granted a pardon by the King and returned to Quebec. Serreau probably escaped the charge of murder because of his position. He and Marguerite must have patched things up, because two more children were born.
The couple’s reunion would be short-lived when it was discovered that Jean was occupying his land illegally, and the owner of the property, Madame d'Ailleboust, demanded that he be evicted. He appealed but lost and was demanded to pay 5 sols to the poor of Hotel-Dieu. About the same time, he was accused of having traded intoxicating drink to the "Red-Skins", and not wishing to tempt his fate, relocated to French holdings in Acadia, eventually becoming the Seigneur of Passamaquoddy, on Riviere St.- Croix. Marguerite died in Quebec and does not appear to have followed him to Acadia.
Though Marguerite's story sounds unflattering, we have to remember that her husband was at least 17 years her senior, and in the days of arranged marriages, it was probably not a love match. She obviously did fall in love with someone else, and no doubt his death was devastating to the young woman.
Jean settled at Pesmocadie (Passamaquoddy) on the Sainte-Croix River in Acadia soon after 1676. In June 1684 he received a land grant which he made into a prosperous seigneury. He went on to live on Ile Archimagan, near what is now the town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick.
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Jean and Marguerite had four children:
1. Marguerite, born on April 7, 1664 in Château-Richer. She died in Acadia.
2. Pierre, born on June 21, 1665 on the island of Orleans. He moved to his parents’ homeland, France, and married Judith Van Woest-Winchel in Nantes.
3. Geneviève, born on August 7, 1667, at the ville de Québec. She died in 1739. She was married to Barthélémy Bergeron d’Amboise, and they had many children. She was also the widow of Jacques Petitpas. Many of their descendants settled in Louisiana after being driven out of Acadia.
4. Charles, born in 1668 in Château-Richer.
Argentenay
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Sainte-Croix River
The Anglo-French War (1689–97), a war among many others between Britain and France, began in Acadia. England tried to expand their territories into Acadia. The English were alarmed because of the support France was giving to the First Nations in Acadia and the threat of their attack into New England. New France was divided into three entities: Acadia, Canada (Quebec), and Louisiana. Even though the population of New England was 10 times as large as in the French territories, the French had a significant military presence in their colonies because of their population of men with military backgrounds from France and their relationship with the First Nations.
New England established a relationship with the Iroquois to counter the French and the Wabanaki Confederacy (Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abanaki and Penobscot Indians). There were raids carried out by both sides which interrupted trade, especially the fur trade.
English settlers in Massachusetts had encroached into Acadia and expanded their settlements there. France also encroached into Maine, establishing missions there. These encroachments had to end. Battles took place in both areas with resulted in many deaths and enslavements. In August 1689, Jean-Vincent d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin led an Abenaki war party that captured and destroyed the fort at Pemaquid (Bristol, Maine), thus changing the frontier border. - 19 -
New England sent Major Benjamin Church (left) to carry out raids in Acadia. Massacres of settlers (civilians) were carried out by both sides. Williams Phips, a New Englander, led a successful attack against Port Royal, Acadia. The residents of Port Royal were forced to take an oath of allegiance to the English king. Phips left but English from New York arrived to burn the settlement, taking anything they wanted. They even burned the parish church. They left after which the Acadians moved their capital to Fort Nashwaak (Fredericton). Port Royal was not made capital again until 1699.
In 1690, Church returned to Acadia to relieve the English fort in Maine that had been occupied by the Wabanaki Confederacy. Many people were killed during the fight for the fort. Church left, only to return in 1692 when he was on the hunt again. He spent much of the year attacking Acadians and French all along the coast. He thought nothing of killing Indian women and children.
In 1693, New England attacked Port Royal again, with the French and natives retaliating and raiding the English settlement in New Hampshire. The New Englanders also attacked Lachine, Quebec, killing many people.
Jean Serreau had extensive lands in France and was given a large piece of land in Acadia. Jean carried the title of ‘ecuyer’, or squire, the lowest noble rank. Little is known of Serreau’s family in France except he was descended from nobles (see above for information in the Saint-Aubins).
The circumstances of Jean’s capture by Benjamin Church were that in August 1692 William Phips (left), who had recently been appointed governor of Massachusetts and who wished to fortify the coast of Maine against the French, sent Major Benjamin Church (right) with his troops in pursuit of the French enemy, with orders to take as many prisoners as possible. Having set off in the direction of Penobscot Bay, Church seized Saint-Aubin and his son- in-law Jacques Petitpas, who at the time was married to Genevieve. They along with their families were taken to Boston.
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At that time, the Bostonians coveted a prey that was much more valuable to them, namely Baron Jean-Vincent d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin (left), whom they could not abide because of his actions in Maine.
In order to obtain the freedom of the Acadians, two heads of the imprisoned families pretended to accept the proposal that they should go with two deserters from Quebec to carry off or assassinate Saint-Castin. But when they reached Penobscot Bay, they tied up the two traitors and took them to Governor Robinau de Villebon (right), who had them executed. Villebon rewarded the two Acadians with a sum of money sufficiently large “to enable them to deliver their wives and children from the English.”
One must suppose that they were not able to secure the freedom of all the members of their families, for in a letter that Jean Serreau de Saint-Aubin sent to Boston in 1695 mention is made of a ransom of 30 livres for his daughter. This letter also suggests that Saint-Aubin, having been ruined by Church’s raid, was thinking of going to settle elsewhere. Indeed, he asked the governor of Massachusetts, whose territory included at that time the whole of Acadia, to grant him in exchange for his “land at Pesmoncady on a small river which the Indians call Secoudec to build a saw-mill there.” In addition, he endeavoured to obtain a grant of land facing Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island), the land being called Picquetou (Pictou), as well as land on a small river called Artigonyche (Antigonish, N.S.). The following year he asked the French authorities to confirm the grant of his “seigneury which he was forced to abandon because of the English invasion and which he is in a position to restore.”
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Jean Serreau distinguished himself also in Newfoundland, in the service of his country: this was probably during the winter of 1696–97, when Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville (left), after destroying Pemaquid, set out to conquer the island, at the time when Jacques-François de Brouillan [Monbeton] was governor at Placentia (Plaisance). Brouillan, when he became governor of Acadia, presented Saint-Aubin in 1703 with a certificate testifying to his services, his loyalty, and his bravery, both on the continent and in Newfoundland.
Saint-Aubin went to France for a short period, no doubt to recover possession of his land, which a general decree of 1703 had been taken from him. In the following year, he won his case and returned to Acadia, probably to Port-Royal, where he died at the age of 84 in 1705, incidentally the same year his wife died in Quebec.
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The Next Generation
The daughter of Serreau and Marguerite, Genevieve Serreau de St-Aubin, had married Barthélémy Bergeron d’Amboise, and their family arrived in Port Royal, Acadie with the French officer, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, in 1696.
King William's War in the Bay of Fundy
A naval battle off St. John took place on July 14, 1696, between France and England toward the end of King William's War in the Bay of Fundy, off present-day Saint John, New Brunswick. The English ships were sent from Boston to interrupt the supplies being taken by d’Iberville from Quebec to the capital of Acadia, Fort Nashwaak (now Fredericton, New Brunswick), on the Saint John River.
The French ships of war, Envieux and Profond, captured the English frigate Newport ( 24 guns), while the English frigate, Sorlings (34 guns), and a provincial tender escaped.
One hundred and forty Mi'kmaq and Maliseet warriors were also in d’Iberville’s forces.
Two English vessels opened fire on the French ships. Bonaventure opened the gun ports on the Profond and the English ships kept windward, (ticnnent le vent), and realizing they were outgunned, endeavoured to escape. The Profond tried to gain the wind on them, and d'Iberville in the Envieux followed, contending with stormy weather.
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D'Iberville, on the Envieux, fired upon the English frigate Newport, under the command of Captain Paxen, dismasting her. The prize fell astern, almost striking the bow of the Envieux, and then lowered her flag. M. d'Iberville left her to be manned by M. de Bonaventure, who had her taken to the St. John River, where he almost lost her among the rocks where she ran aground.
D'Iberville in the Envieux continued to chase the larger ship, the Sorlings, under the command of Captain Eames. The shot of the French ship passed beyond the chase, but night and fog ended their combat, which had lasted three hours, and the English ship escaped. On July 15, 1696, the day after the battle, d'Iberville entered Saint John Harbour.
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Previous to this, Villebon, a French military officer, sailed for Port Royal, which had been under attack by the British just days before his arrival. An English flag flew over the fort, and the church and other buildings had been destroyed. Its military and citizens had been detained and transported to Boston as prisoners of Sir William Phips.
Villebon left Port Royal after shoring it up as best he could and set out across the Bay of Fundy to St. John where he raised the French flag. As the English moved back into the area, Villebon retreated.
Port Royal had been a free port until 1698, with both French and English coming and going. The French living at Port Royal did no trade with the other French on the Saint John River for fear of English repercussions.
The French on the river carried out attacks on the English settlements, killing many of the settlers. Also, French privateers attacked English ships and transported the goods they stole to St. John. However, the tide of battle switched back and forth, from the English to the French and back again.
In 1700, the French governor of Placentia was ordered to Acadia. Upon arrival he observed the independent spirit and attitude of the Acadians. They seemed to follow their own rules rather than the French government’s - 25 - rules. At this time, the Acadian village of St. John consisted of 70 or 80 small one-story houses. The ruling class kept apart from the common people. There was plenty of livestock and furs, but they were bereft of knives, hatchets, kettles, etc., and salt. The first task was to rebuild the fortifications at Port Royal, and to again make the residents productive. The settlers squabbled among themselves, but they managed to complete the fortifications just in time, as the English and Benjamin Church arrived. The Acadians hated Church as in the past he had burned their houses and crops and killed their animals. The French and their Indian allies were just as bad when they looted and killed the English settlers, including women and children, on the frontier in what is now Maine. There was an extreme hatred between the English and the French.
The English forces under Church spent the spring and summer of 1704 attacking and looting along the Acadian coast. He had 550 men who carried out these attacks.
In 1704, Barthelemy and his entire family were taken prisoner, along with his wife's family members, in the attack by Colonel Church against Port Royal and taken captive to Boston. After their release, they returned to Port Royal where they lived in the Cape area, near the fort. Barthelemy set up a sailing operation which he ran by himself.
In 1730, he went to and was established on the Riviere Saint Jean, New Brunswick today, where he was a pioneer of Sainte-Anne-du-Pays, Fredericton today.
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Sainte-Anne-du-Pays
We know 10 children of Barthélemy and Geneviève: Barthélemy, Marie, Michel, Marie-Jeanne, Françoise, Marie-Anne, Joseph-Augustin, Marie- Josette and Marie-Genevieve and Marguerite. Here is information on each of them.
1. Barthélémy Jr, was born in 1696. He married Marguerite Dugast, daughter of Claude and Marguerite Bourg, at Port-Royal, April 21, 1721. He was captured by the English at the St. John's River and held prisoner in Halifax until 1763. He was then deported and he went to Louisiana with his family, where he lived at St-Jacques on the Mississippi. It is here that he died.
2. Marie was born about 1700. She married François-Xavier Roy dit Laliberté, son of Jean Roy and Marie Aubois, in Port-Royal, January 7, 1717. They settled in Quebec.
3. Michel, born in 1702, married his first wife, Jeanne Hébert, daughter of Jean and Madeleine Dugast, in Pigiquid, around 1721. After the death of his first wife, around 1730, he married Marie Dugast, daughter of Abraham and Marguerite Landry, in Port-Royal. He eventually made the journey to Quebec’s St. Lawrence Valley.
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4. Marie-Anne was born June 24, 1706 in Boston while her parents were in captivity and was baptized in Port-Royal on June 20 September 1706. She married Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine, son of Gabriel and Angélique Robert-Jasne, at Ste-Anne-des-Pays-Bas (Fredericton), in 1727. In "The Acadians in France 1762-1776", Mr. P. Rieder gives the list of Acadian families in France on September 15, 1772. Joseph Bellefontaine is mentioned, aged 77, and Marie-Anne Bergeron, 67 years old. Both were said to be very infirm. They lived in Cherbourg. Moreover, in his "History and Genealogy of Acadiens "published in 1978, Bona Arsenault indicated that Marie-Anne, born in 1706, was the wife of Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine. Finally, Father Bergeron, in Volume III of his work, says that Marie-Anne was born in Port Royal on June 24, 1706.
5. Françoise, born in 1708, married Valcourt (Jean-René) Godin, son of Gabriel and Angélique Robert-Jasne, at Ste-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, about 1734. Valcourt was the brother of Joseph, husband of Marie-Anne.
6. Anne-Marie, born in 1709, married Jacques Godin-Bellefontaine, son of Gabriel and Angélique Robert-Jasne, Ste-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, circa 1731. (Note: According to Bona Arsenault, she was born in 1707.)
7. Joseph-Augustin was born in 1710. He was married to Marie-Rose Melanson, daughter of Jean Melanson and Marguerite Petitot, in Cobequid (Truro), in 1732. Like his brother, Barthélemy, he was taken captive to Halifax and then deported to Louisiana where he died. Rose, on the other hand, was separated from her husband and died in Quebec.
8. Marie-Josette, born in 1712, married Ambroise Brun, son of Claude Brun and Cécile Dugas, in Ste-Anne-du-Netherlands, around 1730.
9. Marie-Genevieve married Joseph D'Amours, son of Louis D’Amours and Ursule St-Castin, around 1745, in Ste-Anne-du-Pays-Bas.
10. Marguerite married Bonaventure Godin, son of Gabriel Godin and Andrée Angélique Jeannes, around 1740.
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Barthélémy, because of his large family, is the head of many descendants known by the name of Bergeron, and sometimes known by the name of d'Amboise, scattered throughout the North American continent, from the Gaspesie to California.
In 1705, Barthélémy’s father-in-law, Jean Serreau de St-Aubin, died and was buried at Port Royal. He was 85. Incidentally, his estranged wife, Marguerite, also died in 1705 in Quebec.
In September 1706, 51 prisoners were released, among them Barthélémy Bergeron’s family. They were in bad shape. When they returned to Acadia, their home was destroyed, so they settled in Port Royal. Their daughter, Anne-Marie, was born in September 1709. In 1710, they had a son, Joseph Augustin, who was to be their last son. They had three more girls, Josette, Genevieve and Marguerite.
Barthélémy was a merchant in peace time and a privateer in times of war. He sailed up and down the Bay of Fundy. Trade was carried out between Acadia and Boston which was frowned upon by their respective governments. The Acadians only had raw goods, and needed to trade with Boston for items they could not provide for themselves. Barthélémy was seen as a smuggler. Other goods traded were actually muskets, powder and shot, sold to the French. They munitions were given to the Indians to use against the New Englanders.
Even though they traded with Acadia, the Bostonians were determined to conquer Acadia and defeat the French. They laid siege to Port Royal in 1707, destroying a number of farms and houses. St. Castin arrived with a band of Abenaki Indians, and the English left.
Charles Serreau de St-Aubin, Geneviève’s brother, had married a Malecite woman in about 1690. They had two sons, Joseph and Jean Baptiste. The Acadians tried to strengthen their defences at Port Royal, while the Indians carried out their war on land. The privateers continued their business.
The Bergeron d’Amboise family was still living in Port Royal in 1709. In 1710, war again broke out with an English attack on Port Royal. The French were forced to surrender in October. The English had captured Acadia - 29 -
(Nova Scotia) for a final time. The Bergeron d’Amboise family appeared four years later in the Acadian Census of 1714. The Bergerons were living in or near Port Royal with three sons and three daughters.
In 1717, our 7X Great Grandmother, Marie Josephe Bergeron, married Jean François Roy at Port Royal. In 1721, Barthélémy Jr. married Marguerite Dugas. Michel married the following year.
The Treaty of Utrecht returned all of Acadie Peninsulaire (Nova Scotia) to the English. The Bergerons moved to Ste-Anne because of the pressure from missionaries to move Acadians out of the English territories. Barthélémy took his family to French Acadia at Sainte-Anne’s Point (Fredericton). He kept up his sailing and may have even continued his privateering.
After 1710, Port Royal became Annapolis Royal, and it was still under English control.
Living on the St. John River (New Brunswick) in the 1731 Census were Barthélémy Sr. (called “the old Bergeron dit d’Amboise), Barthélemy Jr, Michel, Augustin, all Bergerons, François Roy (our ancestor), plus more. With Port Royal no longer in French hands, the French government was looking at establishing a new military base at Cape Breton.
Tensions were still high between the English and French. In 1736, Michel Bergeron and his brother-in-law went to visit the old Acadian town of Port Royal. They obviously did not know of the law regarding French outsiders (failing to wait upon the Lieutenant Governor) and they ended up in prison. Pleading ignorance of the law, the only way they could be released was if they gave up the names of people living at St. Anne’s. They were also required to pay a penalty of 100 pounds each, security for their good behaviour. The English believed these poor French could never come up with that amount of money. A Captain Blinn offered security for the money, which was accepted.
The 1736 Census of Point St. Anne shows our 7X Great Grandparents, François Roy, and his wife, Marie Josephe Bergeron, with 5 boys and 4 girls. The Census of 1739 again indicates François Roy, his wife, 8 children and his - 30 - son, François. Also listed on this census were Barthélemy Jr., Augustin, and Michel Bergeron with their families.
On one occasion, Michel Bergeron was sailing his chaloupe, making for the St. John River. The English chased him which resulted in Michel running aground. About 20 men poured out of the chaloupe and ran away, pursued by the English, who were being fired upon by the French. The English took everything of value from the chaloupe. They set the chaloupe up as bait for the French. The French encroached to retrieve the chaloupe and the English were overcome, abandoning the chaloupe. However, the English had confiscated the cargo, which consisted of 20 casks of wheat and a barrel of lard.
There was peace for many years, and then England and France were at each other’s throats again – this war was called the War of the Austrian Succession. It was known as King George’s War in the English colonies.
The French tried to get the Acadians to join their fight with the English but the Acadians wanted to stay out of it.
The English were successful in their battles against the French. They took the fortress at Louisbourg and practically destroyed the French Navy.
The war ended in 1748 and each side regained everything they had lost. Once again, France held Louisbourg.
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Two years later, England and France entered their final war. Battles took place in the Americas, Europe, Africa, India and other areas. The Seven Year’s War began in 1756 and ended in 1763. France ended up losing most of their empire.
Even though the Acadians did not take sides in the war, the English did not like them and wanted to get rid of them. They were too French, still papists, spoke French, and were friendly with the Indians. The English were convinced the Indians were colluding with the French, even though they were not.
After capturing lands which accommodated excursions into the French areas of Nova Scotia, the stage was set.
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Expulsion of the Acadians
Half of the early Acadians came from Brittany, Poitou, Normandy and Picardy in France. There was a strong Celtic influence in these areas plus Protestant/Huguenot influences. Brittany had not even been part of France until 1515. Religious values were more internal rather than influenced by outside forces, like the Catholic Church. This was in contradiction to the French who lived in Quebec, who were strongly influenced by the Catholic Church. Even the Acadians who moved to Quebec adopted the attitudes of other Quebecois to the Church, and revered the sacraments and the Virgin Mary. Those who went to the southern U.S. maintained their independent views on the Church.
The Expulsion of the Acadians (1755–1764) occurred during the French- Indian Wars and was part of the military campaign against New France by the British. The English first deported Acadians to the thirteen colonies, then after 1758 to Britain and France. A census of 1764 indicates that 2,600 Acadians remained in the colony, presumably having eluded capture.
The reason for the expulsions was that the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. Some also participated in various military operations against the British, and maintained supply lines to the French fortresses in the region. As a result, the British sought to eliminate any future military threat posed by the Acadians and to permanently cut the French supply lines.
British ships landed near Acadian towns and the army landed. They invited the Acadian men to a meeting in the local churches. When the Acadians came, the English locked the doors of the churches, and forced the women and children onto their ships.
Some of the English officers disagreed with splitting up the families and tried to keep them together. This was difficult because Acadian families consisted of not only the nuclear family but extended family, like aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.
The ships took these families to various colonies throughout the common- wealth, such as Maryland and Georgia. Those in Catholic settlements were - 33 - treated well, and managed to settle in. However, others did not, and the English even resorted to selling some Acadians in the slave markets of North Carolina.
Seven thousand of the 10,000 Acadians living in Nova Scotia were deported and thousands died. Some of the ships sunk and in some cases the colonies would not accept them so they were forced to stay on the ships.
Some of the Acadian men managed to escape and join up with the French. This gave them the opportunity to harass the English, which they did, accompanied by Micmacs and other Indians.
Of the 3,000 Acadians left behind in Nova Scotia, most managed to escape to make their way to the St. John River. They were refugees who wandered around the forests for up the 8 years, not finding a permanent settlement. However, they managing to evade the British. Those who found refuge with the French forces were sent to Canada, where they settled at various places on the St. John River. Fortunately, the English had sent many of their troops home to England and enlistments from New England were low, giving a reprieve to the Acadians.
Sixteen hundred Acadians from St. John reached Quebec City, right in the middle of a famine. Over 300 of the Acadians died from starvation and smallpox.
In the spring of 1758, 29 of the refugees travelled up the St. Lawrence to Becancour, where the local seigneur settled them on lands in his seigneury. The landscape was very much like their lands at home, and they settled in comfortably. Back on the St. Anne River, the remaining Acadians were at the mercy of the English. Many fled into the forests and after a hard time surviving, they returned to their homes.
During the earlier wave of expulsions, many Acadians left for Louisiana, Canada, the uncolonized northern part of Acadia, now Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island. During this wave, the Acadians were either thrown out of the colony or placed in prison.
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The British achieved their objectives; however, the result of the expulsion was the devastation of both a primarily civilian population and the economy of the region. Thousands of Acadians died in the expulsions, mainly from diseases and drowning when ships were lost. On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to legally return to British territories, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance.
The Acadians were driven out of Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. One of the British who was instrumental in deporting the Acadians was Colonel Robert Monckton (right), who lead a force of 1,150 men to destroy the Acadian villages on the St. John River.
In late October 1758, General Moncton and his troops travelled up the St. John River. He had 700 soldiers at his disposal, and a goal of annihilating the Acadians. The Acadians fled into the forests again and the English burned their villages. Moncton destroyed everything he could find, houses, barns, crops, and animals. He took 30 families prisoner and headed back to Halifax.
In the winter, many Acadian lives were lost and many left the area looking for refuge elsewhere. They had no safe place.
Word reached the Acadian settlements at St. Anne that General Moncton was on his way upriver, and the Acadians retreated further up the St. John River looking for Indian families they could stay with. Moncton considered St. Anne of no consequence, and did not proceed there. Thus, the Acadians felt safe there and proceeded to settle there, thinking the English would never come that far upriver, and that they would be safe. Moncton might not have been a threat, but officers of the New England Rangers were. They prepared to go on an expedition to wipe out the remainder of the Acadians. - 35 -
New England Ranger Lieutenant Hazen engaged in frontier warfare against the Acadians in what has become known as the "Ste Anne's Massacre". On February 18, 1759, Hazen and about fifteen men arrived at Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. The Rangers pillaged and burned the village of 147 buildings, two Mass-houses and various barns and stables. The Rangers burned a large store-house, containing a large quantity of hay, wheat, peas, oats and other foodstuffs, and killed 212 horses, about five head of cattle and a large number of hogs. They also burned the church located just west of Old Government House, Fredericton.
On February 19, the Rangers set out from Fort Frederick on snow shoes. Some were killed in an accident and the remainder headed towards Ste- Anne’s Point. They arrived at the village and captured many occupants of the village. Two of the Acadians, Joseph Godin Bellefontaine, the leader of the Acadian militia on the St. John River, and Michel Godin Bellefontaine refused to sear an oath of allegiance to the English Crown and were tried to trees and the English proceeded to kill their families in front of them. The English continued to press for the oath, saying they would spare their families. Again, they were refused. The English killed one of Joseph’s daughters and three of his grandchildren in front of him, crushing his daughter’s head with a blow from the butte of a rifle and splitting another Acadian woman’s head open with an axe. Joseph’s wife was Marie Anne, daughter of Barthélémy Bergeron and Genevieve Serreau. The Rangers also took six prisoners.
Anne Bergeron and Eustache Paré took many children and fled into the forests with just the clothes on their backs, barely escaping the English bullets.
Joseph and his brother, Michel, expected to be killed in the same manner as their families had been killed before them, but because they were French militia, they were taken prisoner and moved to Fort Frederick. The English planned to exchange them for English prisoners.
Atrocities were carried out during this attack by the Rangers. The soldiers scalped the murdered women and children and brought their scalps back to Fort Frederick. They also brought prisoners up the river. The English had made it up the river to St-Anne, 140 miles from Fort Frederick, and when - 36 - they arrived, they found it deserted. They proceeded to destroy everything in sight, burning buildings, killing over 200 horses, cattle, hogs, etc. Many of the inhabitants of the village had gone to Canada, and the remainder scattered into the woods.
When the solders returned to the Fort, they lied about where they got the scalps and were heralded as heroes. However, some of them boasted of their conquests, and rumours abounded.
When the Acadians returned to the village, they did their best to bury the two murdered women and the children of the village in the cemetery near the ruins of the church. However, the ground was frozen and they could not dig deep enough. Their remains were discovered in the early 1900s.
The Acadians who were deported to France could not make a go of farming in the desolate lands awarded them by the French Crown, and they left France for Louisiana, which was then a colony of Spain. Because they were comfortable with the Catholic monarchy and government in Spain, they tool oaths of allegiance to the Spanish government. Soon the Acadians comprised the largest ethnic group in Louisiana.
Some of the Acadians were even sent by the British to places such as French Guiana and the Falkland Islands, and St. Dominique. The Acadians who settled in Louisiana formed the basis of the Cajun population in the area.
The British captured Quebec City in 1760. In 1761 they took Montreal. The remaining Acadians living at St. Anne realized they were defeated and took the oath of allegiance. They travelled back to their lands on the St. John River. They needed permission from the British to stay on their lands, and they were rejected and ordered to Halifax where they were arrested. They were to be deported to England.
The English were negotiating with the Indians and Metis (half Indian, half French Acadian) regarding their lands. This wished to placate the Indians the preserve the fur trade. Some of the Acadians disguised themselves, wearing painted faces and Indian clothing. These included Amboise St-Aubin, the grandson of Jean Serreau de St-Aubin, who was half Indian (Malecite).
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Nova Scotia and Quebec
On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to legally return to British territories, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. Some Acadians returned to Nova Scotia (which included present-day New Brunswick). Under the deportation orders, Acadian land tenure had been forfeited to the British crown and the returning Acadians no longer owned land. Beginning in 1760, much of their former land was distributed under grant to the New England Planters. The lack of available farmland compelled many Acadians to seek out a new livelihood as fishermen on the west coast of Nova Scotia, known as the French Shore. The British authorities scattered other Acadians in small groups along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was not until the 1930s, with the advent of the Acadian co-operative movements, that the Acadians became less economically disadvantaged.
As for our Bergeron ancestors, they left Acadia and settled in Quebec, in L’Assomption and St. Jacques l’Achigan, where many other Acadians had settled. In 1763, the day after the British conquest of the future Quebec and Canada, it was the last regional phase of the Great Upheaval of 1755 (deportations of the Acadians). Barthélémy and his wife were already dead.
Several of Barthélémy’s and Genevieve’s children and grandchildren, including Michel and his wife, Magdeleine Bourg, moved on to the future St-Gregoire de Nicolet. The Acadians hid in the area, and settled in Belancour, Gentilly, Nicolet, Becquets, Trois-Rivieres, Champlain, and Yamachiche. The land was hidden by the forests near the St. Lawrence River, and the settlers were welcomed by the Abenakis. The settlers established shipyards there.
Some of Barthélémy and Geneviève's grandchildren died quite young, most probably because of the shock, stress, and ill-treatment they received during the Grand Dérangement. Most of them went on to start new lives wherever they finally settled down. Their descendants lived in their new homelands on the southern shore of St. Lawrence near Trois Rivières, Bécancour and - 38 -
Nicolet; in the Edmundston region of New Brunswick; throughout New England; and spreading out from New Acadia in Louisiana. Some individuals migrated far away from their homelands, and their modern families are now all over the globe.
Windmill in Acadian settlement in Quebec
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Francois Roy dit Laliberté and Marguerite Godereau (Gaudreau)
Our 6X Great Grandparents were born at Port Royal (Annapolis), with Francois being born on 27 Nov 1718 to Jean Francois Xavier Boniface Roy and Marie Josephe Bergeron. François Roy dit Laliberté married Marguerite Bergeron dit Gaudreau and they had 2 children, Alexis and Francois Jr. Francois passed away before 1763. Marguerite passed away in about 1771.
Alexis Roy and Marguerite Jeanson
Our 5X Great Grandfather, Alexis Roy, was born in 1745 in Quebec. He was married to Our 5X Great Grandmother, Marguerite Jeanson, on October 28, 1771. Alexis was married twice – his second wife was Madeleine Marguerite Richard, and they were married on February 21, 1803. Alexis died in 1817 at l’Assomption, Quebec. Marguerite Jeanson died in 1802 at St-Jacques, l’Achigan, Quebec.
Joseph Roi (Roy) and Isabelle Richard
Our 4X Great Grandfather, Joseph Roi, was born in 1776 at St-Jacques l’Achigan, and our 4X Great Grandmother, Isabelle Richard, was born at St- Jacques l’Achigan in 1787. Her parents were Jean Baptiste Richard and Mathurine Thériault. The young couple were married in 1804 at St-Jacques. Joseph died in 1842 at St-Jacques, and Isabelle died in 1867.
Joseph Boucher and Charlotte Roi (Roy)
Our 3X Great Grandfather, Joseph Boucher, was born in 1800 at Berthier, Lanaudier, Quebec and our 3X Great Grandmother, Charlotte Roy, was born in 1812 at St-Jacques l’Achigan. Joseph and Charlotte were married in 1843. Charlotte was Joseph’s second wife. There was a 12-year age difference between Joseph and Charlotte. Joseph had 6 living children from his first wife, Julie Foucher, when he and Charlotte married, ages 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12. Charlotte was 31 when she married Joseph and she went on to have 5 children of her own. She had a large household to take care of. Joseph died in 1852 at St-Ambroise de Kildare, and Charlotte died in 1870, also at St-Amboise de Kildare. She survived her husband by 18 years. - 40 -
Julius Boucher and Marie Denise Farly
Our 2X Great Grandfather, Julius, Charlotte’s oldest child, was born in 1844, a year after Charlotte’s marriage. Our 2X Great Grandmother, Denise, was born in 1847 at Ile Dupas, Berthier, Quebec. The couple were married in 1864, when Denise was 17 and Julius 20. They had many children. Julius died in 1926 in Crookston, Minnesota, and Denise died in 1935, also in Crookston. In 1885, they had left their homes in Quebec and moved to Huot State Park, where they lived for about a year. Then they moved to Lowell Township, where they purchased Section 31 and set up a farming operation.
Joseph Boucher and Marie Julia Farly
Our 1X Great Grandfather, Joseph Boucher, was our Grandma Valerie’s father. He was born in 1865, the oldest child in the family, at St-Gabriel-de- Brandon, Quebec. Our 1X Great Grandmother, Julia Farly, as born at Belle River, Ontario in 1879. There was a 14-year age difference between Joseph and Julia. The second cousins were married in Minnesota in 1897, where both their parents had immigrated to from Quebec. They had 12 children. Joseph died in 1926 at Crookston, Minnesota, and Julia died in 1955, also at Crookston. Julia outlived Joseph by almost 30 years. Joseph had provided well for Julia, and she did not have financial difficulties after his death. She lived in the house on East Roberts Street in Crookston that she and Joseph had purchased on retirement, and her daughter and daughter-in-law cared for her in her old age. She was a good mother and her children loved her very much.
Whether our 1X Great Grandparents knew about their Acadian roots, or our noble ancestry, is not known. They never spoke of it, and never wondered if they had long lost relatives in Louisiana, so perhaps the family history stories had not been passed down to them.
C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\Our Noble Ancestry.docx Bergeron d'Amboise, Barthélémy
Barthélemy Bergeron I d'Amboise was born in 1663 at Ambroise, Touraine, France, and died in 1736 in the province of Quebec. His family in France were minor nobility who had lost their wealth and lands over the previous 100 years.
Barthélémy was a soldier of the first Compagnie Franche de la Marine, and a companion of Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville. He was recruited in France. In New France, these were the only regular soldiers stationed by the Crown from 1685 to 1755. When the French minister of marine, Jean Colbert, established the Troupes de la Marine in January 1683, only those troops recruited in France could be commissioned as officers (lieutenant, captain, and higher ranks). Colonial recruits could serve as non-commissioned officers (corporal, sergeant, and sergeant-major). In 1687, Colbert granted Canadian recruits the right to receive officer's commissions in the Troupes de la Marine. With time, the Compagnies Franches de la Marine would become increasingly dependent on Canadian officers.
In the spring of 1686, the new governor of New France, Jacques-René de Brisay, Marquis de Denonville, dispatched a small force of 30 regulars and 70 militia overland to James Bay on Hudson’s Bay. The Chevalier de Troyes, an ex-officer of the Régiment de Carignan-Salières, commanded the regular troops, while the Le Moyne brothers, d'Iberville, Ste. Helene, and Maricourt, led the militia.
Counting on the element of surprise, the Governor hoped the small force could seize the English trading forts on James Bay. The force travelled 1,000 kilometres and quickly took Moose Fort, Fort Charles, and Fort Albany. While the English garrisons had prepared to repel naval assaults, they never anticipated an overland attack. In the summer of 1687, d'Iberville (right) and the militia returned to Quebec in an English ship they had captured.
The King of France and the French ministries, and insisted on by the Intendants of New France, the young members of the military were required to marry within one year of their arrival in New France under penalty of fine. Barthélémy’s status was special, however, and he would remain single for more than 9 years after his arrival.
During the off-seasons, Barthélémy amassed a large amount of money that he entrusted to the care of his friend Pierre Lezeau, master of boats, at Quebec on January 7, 1690 (notary Gilles Rageot), before going to war with d'Iberville in the North Bay in Newfoundland and in Pemaquid in Acadia.
Barthélémy left the Marines, and he made the decision to remain to Port- Royal, Acadia. A navigator, captain, and privateer, he spent the rest of his life around the French Bay (Bay of Fundy). Barthélémy settled in Port Royal in 1693.
Barthélémy was married to Geneviève Serreau de St-Aubin in 1695 at Port Royal. She was the daughter of Jean Serreau St-Aubin and Marguerite Boileau. The St-Aubins were also minor nobility who had come to New France looking for a better life. The Bergerons left their mark on history.
Acadia
Barthélémy was an experienced seafarer, who became a navigator, then captain of a ship, and finally an owner of a schooner sailing in the French Bay (or Bay of Fundy). Under the name d’Amboise, Barthélémy is listed as being resident "in the neighborhood of the cape, in the Lower Town and near the Fort at Port Royal."
As a man of the sea, Barthélémy sailed ships for the remainder of his life in Acadia, on the "great road of water" - the French Bay between Port Royal, the Isthmus of Chignitou, and the Rivière St-Jean, or Ste-Anne, where he established his family residence.
Assault on Grand Pré
The Assault on Grand Pré was executed by British colonists in Boston under the command of Colonel Benjamin Church against the inhabitants of Grand Pré in Acadia from 24 to 26 June 1704 during the Second Intercolonial War.
The Boston settlers left the city on May 25, 1704 with 500 provincial militiamen and some Native American guides. The expedition arrived at the Minas Basin on June 24, after storming smaller communities at Pentagouet and Passamaquoddy. Despite the fact that he had lost the element of surprise, Church took control of Grand Pré, and spent three days destroying the village and the dykes that protected agriculture. The land was flooded with salt water, but the Acadians repaired the Aboiteaux. Church continued his repeated assaults on Beaubassin and other communities before returning to Boston.
Acadia was at the time dominated by a series of colonies scattered along the shores of the Bay of Fundy and its adjacent bays. Its principal establishment and capital, Port-Royal, was the only community substantially fortified, defended by a star-shaped fort with a modest garrison. The land at the Upper Bay, on the shores of the Minnesota and Cumberland Basins, was one of the most important areas of food production in the colony, and Grand Meadow one of the largest and richest communities in the colony, on the Minas Basin, with a population of about 500 inhabitants in 1701.
On July 2, 1704, when the English landed at Port Royal, they looted 4 houses and captured 51 prisoners, including Barthélémy, Genevieve and their three young children (Barthélémy II - 5, Marie Josephe - 3 and Michel - 1). They were taken to Boston and held captive until September 1706 when they were part of a prisoner exchange by the English government in Boston. They had 7 more children, Marie-Anne, Francoise, Anne Marie, Joseph Augustin, Marie Josette, Marie Genevieve and Marguerite. Marie-Anne was born in June 1706 while the family was in captivity in Boston. She wasn’t baptised until September 20, 1706, after the family’s return to Port Royal.
The prisoners that Church took in 1704 were brought to Boston, where they were at first given relatively free access to the town. The town selectmen complained, and the Acadians were then confined to Castle William. They were exchanged in 1705 and 1706 for prisoners taken in the Deerfield raid, although the negotiations were complicated by Dudley's initial refusal to release the noted French privateer, Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste, who was ultimately exchanged, along with Noel Doiron and other captives, for Deerfield's minister John Williams.
The direct effects of the raid were fairly short-lived in Acadia. Because of the destruction of the crops and stored grain, the colony suffered a flour shortage that winter in 1705, although it was not severe enough to cause significant hardship. Grand Pré was rebuilt, the dykes were repaired, and there was a successful harvest in 1706. The memory of the raid, however, lasted in the minds of the population. As late as the 1740s (after Acadia had become British Nova Scotia), Grand Pré's inhabitants worried about a return of English raiders, and were cautious in their dealing with British authorities.
At the behest of the French authorities anticipating the coming debacle with England, the Bergerons left Port Royal (the so-called English Acadia) for Ste- Anne on the St-Jean River (Fleuve Saint-Jean) between 1728 and 1730, Ste- Anne seemingly being a better protected region of French Acadia.
The Great Death (Expulsion) of 1755
The tragic story of the dispersion of Acadians in 1755 was known as the Great Death.
In 1720, Vaudreuil had proposed to those who wanted them, concessions on the banks of the St. John River. It is therefore to this place that the Acadians who did not want to pronounce the oath of loyalty requested by the English turned. By the Treaty of Utrech, France had ceded Acadia (Nova Scotia) to England. The present-day New Brunswick was still part of New France and this corner of the land became the "New Acadia". Thereafter, the old Acadia (Nova Scotia) was not referred to as Acadia.
It was towards 1728-30 that the inhabitants of Port-Royal and surroundings left the lands their parents had settled for the new Acadia; the Bergerons d'Amboise seem to have been at the forefront of this part of the Acadian adventure. The vast majority of Barthélémy's family settled in Ste-Anne-du- Pays-Bas, today Fredericton, around 1728. The Acadians of Ste-Anne-des- Pays-Bas would be the last to leave Old Acadian (Nova Scotia) lands.
According to Acadian genealogist Bona Arsenault, some of Barthélémy Bergeron d'Amboise's sons were captured by British forces during the expulsion of the French from Old Acadia and held as prisoners at Halifax along with their families. After being released, they made their way to Louisiana via St-Domingue, today's Haiti, in 1765, and were thus among the earliest Acadians to reach that colony. Many of Barthélémy’s children, including four sons, did go to the Mississippi Valley colony, but Barthélémy did not.
By this time, Barthélémy’s and Genevieve’s oldest son, Barthélémy II, was married and had his own family. Six of his sons, Pierre Bergeron dit Nantes, Francois Bergeron, Michel Bergeron, Simon Bergeron, Joseph Bergeron d'Ambroise, and Étienne Bergeron d'Ambroise, escaped the British round-up on Rivière St-Jean and made the long, difficult journey north to the St. Lawrence valley. Families were separated in the round-up, and three of Michel Bergeron's daughters, Anne-Marie, Geneviève, and Marie, and perhaps his widow, ended up in Louisiana.
Barthélémy’s and Genevieve’s youngest son, Augustin, did go to Louisiana with one of his sons, Jean-Baptiste. He died in 1765 at St. Martinville, St. Martin (Attakapas Poste), Louisiana. Two of Augustin’s other sons, Pierre and Charles-André Bergeron, journeyed from Rivière St-Jean to Miramichi on the eastern New Brunswick shore before moving on to the St. Lawrence valley.
Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this family to the winds. The Bergerons who went to Canada settled along the upper St. Lawrence River at Bécancour, St.-Grégoire-de-Nicolet, Nicolet, Gentilly, St.-Anne-de-la- Pocatière, Trois-Rivière, and Yamachiche; at L'Îsle-Verte, Kamouraska, and Cacouna in the lower St. Lawrence valley; and on the north shore of the Baie des Chaleurs at Carleton, Bonaventure, New-Carlisle, Paspébiac, and Percé. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien (Cajun) cousins hundreds of miles away, and until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, they may even have forgotten the others existed.
Every one of the 30 Acadian Bergerons who emigrated to Louisiana came from the prisoner of war camps in Nova Scotia. When the war finally ended, the Bergerons at Halifax had a serious dilemma on their hands. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in Article 14 of the treaty that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. In the case of the Acadians, however, this meant that they could return only to French soil. Rivière St-Jean was no longer French territory and had not been since the British attack there in 1759. British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors or owners. If they chose to remain in Nova Scotia, they could live only in the interior of the peninsula in small family groups and work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New Englanders. If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the hated oath if they joined their cousins in the St. Lawrence Valley. After all that they had suffered on the question of the oath, no Acadian wanted to consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Halifax exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St-Domingue, today's Haiti, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies already had gone, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana. And so, the Bergerons at Halifax gathered up what money they could and prepared to leave their beloved homeland.
In 1763, the day after the British conquest of Quebec and Canada, the final regional phase of the Great Upheaval of 1755 occurred. Barthélémy and Genevieve had passed on by this time. Several of their children and grandchildren had been caught up in the conflict and chose to emigrate to St-Gregoire of Nicolet in Quebec.
Family of Barthélemy Bergeron d’Amboise and Geneviève Serreau-de-St-Aubin
We know of 10 children of Barthélémy and Geneviève: Barthélémy II, Marie, Michel, Marie-Jeanne, Françoise, Marie-Anne, Joseph-Augustin, Marie-Josette and Marie-Genevieve and Marguerite. Below is information on each of these children.
1. Barthélémy II was born in 1696. He married Marguerite Dugast, daughter of Claude Dugast and Marguerite Bourg, at Port-Royal, on April 21, 1721. He was captured by the English at St. John's River and held prisoner in Halifax until 1763. He was then deported and sent to Louisiana with his family, where he lived at St-Jacques on the Mississippi, where he died.
2. Marie Josephe was born between 1698 and 1700. She married François- Xavier Roy dit Laliberté, son of Jean Roy and Marie Aubois, in Port-Royal, on January 7, 1717. The Roy (or Roi’s) moved to Quebec, and their descendants lived there until the 1800s when some (like Julius Boucher) made the move to Minnesota.
3. Michel, born in 1702, married first his wife, Marie Dugast, in 1727, daughter of Jean and Madeleine Dugast, in Pigiquid. He married his second wife, Marie Jeanne Hebert, in 1749.
4. Marie-Anne was born June 24, 1706 in Boston and was baptized in Port- Royal on September 20, 1706. She was born while her parents were prisoners of the British. She married Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine, son of Gabriel Godin and Angélique Robert-Jasne, at Ste-Anne-des-Pays-Bas (Fredericton), in 1727. In "The Acadians in France 1762-1776", Mr. P. Rieder gives the list of Acadian families in France on September 15, 1772. Joseph Bellefontaine is mentioned, aged 77, and Marie-Anne Bergeron, 67 years old. Both were said to be very infirm. They lived in Cherbourg. Moreover, in his "History and Genealogy of Acadiens" published in 1978, Bona Arsenault indicates that Marie-Anne, born in 1706, was wife of Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine.
5. Françoise, born in 1708, married Valcourt (Jean-René) Godin, son of Gabriel Godin and of Angélique Robert-Jasne, at Ste-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, about 1734. Valcourt was the brother of Joseph, husband of Marie-Anne.
6. Anne-Marie, born between 1707 and 1709, married Jacques Godin- Bellefontaine, son of Gabriel Godin and Angélique Robert-Jasne, at Ste- Anne-du-Pays-Bas, in 1730. Jacques was also the brother of Joseph, husband of Marie-Anne.
7. Joseph-Augustin was born in 1710. He was married to Marie-Rose Melanson, daughter of Jean Melanson and Marguerite Petitot, in Cobequid (Truro), in 1732. Like his brother, Barthélémy II, he was taken prisoner and moved with the other prisoners to Halifax, then deported to Louisiana where he died. Rose, his wife, on the other hand, was separated from her husband and died in the Quebec.
8. Marie-Josette, born in 1712, married Ambroise Brun, son of Claude Brun and Cécile Dugas, in Ste-Anne-du-Netherlands, around 1730.
9. Marie-Genevieve married Joseph d'Amours, son of Louis d’Amours and Ursule St-Castin, around 1745, in Ste-Anne-du-Pays-Bas.
10. Marguerite married Bonaventure Godin, son of Gabriel Godin and Andrée Angélique Jeannes, around 1740.
Barthélémy and Genevieve, because to their large family, are at the head of a large number of descendants, sometimes known by the name of Bergeron, sometimes by the name d'Amboise, scattered throughout the North American continent, from the Gaspesie to California to Louisiana.
Descendants of Barthélémy Bergeron d'Amboise and Genevieve Serreau de St-Aubin
Louisiana: Western Settlements
Descendants of Barthélémy and Genevieve were among the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. The first of them reached New Orleans in February 1765 with the party from Halifax via St-Dominigue, today's Haiti, led by Joseph Broussard. After a brief respite in the city, they followed the Broussards to the Atakapas District, where they helped establish La Nouvelle-Acadie along the banks of Bayou Teche. However, New Acadia was not kind to them. The Atakapas Region covered what is now all or a part of Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Mary, and Vermilion Parishes in Louisiana.
Augustin Bergeron, youngest son of Barthélémy and Genevieve, arrived with the Broussard party as a 55-year-old widower. With him was one of his sons, Jean-Baptiste, age 35, Jean-Baptiste's wife, Catherine Caissie dit Roger, age 29, and their five children - Madeleine, age 15, Osite, age 13, Jean-Baptiste, age 11, Charles, age 9, and Joseph, an infant. Catherine was pregnant when they made the voyage, and her daughter Marianne was born at Atakapas on the last day of May. Sadly, Augustin, Jean-Baptiste, infant son Joseph, and newborn Marianne died in the epidemic that swept through the settlement along the Bayou Teche in the Western Prairies in the summer and fall of 1765. During the time of the Acadian migration to the Atakapas region, the Teche was the primary means of transportation.
That fall, Jean-Baptiste's widow and her four surviving children moved to Cabanocé/St-Jacques on the river to escape the epidemic. They did not return to the Western Prairies.
Augustin's nephew, Barthélemy Bergeron III, age 25, Barthélemy III's wife Anne Arceneau, age 20, and their infant son, Charles, also came to the Bayou Teche with the Broussard party. Barthélemy III and Charles died in the 1765 epidemic. Anne joined dozens of other Atakapas settlers who retreated to Cabanocé/St. Jacques to escape the sickness. She remarried at Cabanocé/St. Jacques in 1767.
Augustin's niece Cécile Bergeron, age 30, her husband, Joseph Dugas, and four of their children, ages 14 to infancy, also came to Atakapas with the Broussard party. Infant daughter Mathilde died in New Orleans soon after the family reached the colony, and Joseph died in the 1765 epidemic. Cécile retreated to the river that fall, and she and her daughters did not return to the Western Prairies, but her son did.
Augustin's niece Anne Bergeron, age 24, her husband, Pierre Arseneau, age 34, their year-old daughter, and her sister-in-law, the widow Bernard, age 39, also came to Atakapas with the Broussard party. They all survived the 1765 epidemic and retreated to the river. Anne and her family had returned to the Atakapas District by the 1780s. Anne died at Atakapas in March 1804; she was 63 years old.
Augustin's niece Marie Bergeron, age 20, came with her husband, Joseph Arseneau, age 25. They survived the 1765 epidemic and retreated to the river, where they stayed.
Judith Bergeron, age 31, came with her husband, Jean Arseneau, age 37, and their four sons, ages 3 to 18. They all survived the 1765 epidemic and retreated to the river, where they also remained.
In the following decades, Acadian Bergerons remained on the river or moved down into the Bayou Lafourche valley; none of them returned to the Western Prairies. When Bergeron families did settle in what became St. Martin, St. Landry, and Lafayette parishes during the late colonial and early antebellum periods, they were French Creoles from Pointe Coupee or upper Bayou Lafourche, not descendants of the Acadians who had fled to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques.
Bayou Lafourche
Louisiana: River Settlements
The three other sons of Barthélémy and Genevieve who went to Louisiana from Halifax via St-Domingue (Haiti) did not go to the Atakapas District with their uncle, brother, and cousins. They settled, instead, in the Acadian community of Cabanocé/St-Jacques, now St. James Parish, on the river above New Orleans. With them were their widowed mother and a married sister and her family.
Marguerite Dugas, age 62, widow of Barthélémy II, was accompanied to Louisiana by her unmarried son, Germain Bergeron, age 22, who married and remained on the river. Marguerite's eldest son, Jean-Baptiste Bergeron d'Amboise, age 43, leader of one of the Halifax contingents that settled at Cabanocé/St-Jacques, went to Louisiana with his wife, Marguerite Bernard, age 35, and four children - Jean-Baptiste d'Ambroise, age 15, Marie-Blanche, age 13, Marin, age 10, and Mathurin, age 8. Jean-Baptiste d'Amboise and Marguerite had more children in Louisiana but no more sons. They remained on the river. Their daughters married into the Antaya, Arceneaux, de St-Germain, and Gaudet families.
Marguerite's son, Charles Bergeron, age 37, went to Louisiana with his wife, Isabelle Arseneau, age 32, and three children - Simon, age 12, Jean- Théodore, age 3, and Marguerite, age 2. Charles and Isabelle had no more children. Charles died at Cabanocé/St-Jacques before September 1769 (his daughter was listed in the census as an orphan). After his daughter came of age, she moved to the Atakapas District and married into the Melançon family. Both of Charles's sons remained on the river.
Marguerite's daughter, Marguerite Bergeron, age 42, went with her husband, Bonaventure Godin dit Bellefontaine, age 50, and their four children, ages 9 to 16, to the river, where they stayed.
Marie Dugas, age 54, widow of Michel Bergeron , and daughter-in-law of Barthélémy and Genevieve, went to Louisiana with two teenaged relatives, sisters Anne-Marie, or Marie-Anne, called Anne, Bergeron, age 16, and Marie Bergeron, age 15. Anne remained at St-Jacques and married into the Hébert and Part families. Her sister, Marie, also remained on the river and married into the Bourgeois family. Anne died near Convent, St. James Parish, in June 1813, in her early 60s.
Marie's and Michel’s daughter, Geneviève Bergeron, age 35, widow of Jean- Baptiste d'Amours dit de Louviere, went to Louisiana with her six children, ages infancy to 15. Three of her children, two sons and a daughter, moved to the Western Prairies, but her other children remained with her on the river.
Marie-Anne Bergeron, age 36, widow of Alexandre Godin dit Lincour, went with her four children, ages 6 to 14. They remained on the river. Marie may have remarried Canadian Francois Antaya at St-Jacques in September 1787, while in her late 50s.
Later in the year, in the wake of the 1765 epidemic that struck the Acadians along the Bayou Teche, the following Bergerons from the Atakapas District fled to the river.
Catherine Caissie dit Roger, widow of Jean-Baptiste Bergeron, was accompanied by her surviving children, Madeleine, Osite, Jean-Baptiste, and Charles. They went from Atakapas to Cabanocé/St-Jacques. Her daughter, Osite, remained on the river, and another daughter, Madeleine, who married Frenchman Étienne Renauld at New Orleans in May 1768, settled in New Orleans, except for a brief time spent on the Bayou Lafourche. Both of her brothers settled along the Lafourche.
Cécile Bergeron lost her husband, Joseph Dugas, and infant daughter, Mathilde, in their first year in the colony. Cécile took her three surviving daughters to the river, where she remarried twice, first to Nicolas, son of Christophe Lahure of Longwy, Lorraine, France, at New Orleans in March 1767, and then to Pierre, son of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Bernard, at St- Jacques in June 1770. Cécile died in James Parish in August 1814.
Marie Bergeron and her husband, Joseph Arseneau, remained on the river after they escaped the Bayou Teche epidemic. Marie died at St-Jacques in June 1799; she was 54 years old.
Most of the Acadian Bergerons who settled at St-Jacques moved to upper Bayou Lafourche by the 1790s, but the following remained on the river.
Descendant of Jean-Baptiste Bergeron d'Amboise (c1750-1801):
Jean-Baptiste, eldest son of Jean-Baptiste Bergeron d'Amboise and Marguerite Bernard, born at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, on Rivière St.-Jean in c1750, went to Louisiana in 1765 with his parents and siblings and then followed them to Cabanocé/St-Jacques, on the river above New Orleans. Jean-Baptiste married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Olivier Foret, at St-Jacques in January 1775. Marie also had been born in Acadia during he expulsions and had come to Louisiana with her widowed mother in the 1760s. They lived on the right, or west, bank of the river near the boundary between the St-Jacques and Ascension districts. Their daughter married into the Breaux, Landry, and Simoneaux families. Jean-Baptiste died at St-Jacques in October 1801; he was 50 years old. Marie died at the home of her son, Michel, in St. James Parish in October 1847; the priest who recorded her burial said that she was 94 years old. By this time, Michel had become of major planter in St. James Parish. Most of his sons remained in St. James, but one son moved upriver to Pointe Coupee and settled among his French Creole namesakes there.
Other Bergerons on the River:
Area church and civil records make it difficult to link some Bergerons on the river with known Acadian lines of the family there.
Paul Bergeron died in St. James Parish "at Widow Michel Bergeron about 4:00 at night" in September 1853. The priest who recorded his burial said that Paul was 71 years old when he died but did not bother to record his parents' names or mention a wife.
Valentin Bergeron's daughter, Marie Léonie, was born in St. James Parish in July 1866. The priest who recorded her baptism did not bother to record her mother's name.
Louisiana: Lafourche Valley Settlements
The first European colonists on the Bayou Lafourche were French, who settled here in the 18th century when the area was claimed as part of La Louisiane. They imported African slaves as workers and developed sugar cane plantations.
The history of the oaks and all they’ve witnessed along the bayou is much older. The name, “Lafourche,” is French and means “the fork.” That is because the bayou branches off of the Mississippi River at Donaldsonville, forming a fork or distributary that empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Geologists say that at one time the bayou was the main course of the Mississippi.
As the Acadian’s numbers grew, this area on the Mississippi became known as the “Acadian Coast.” In time, the first Acadians were joined by other immigrants – Germans, French, Spanish, Irish, Africans, and others, all seeking their own new “homeland” in the Louisiana territory. With each additional wave of immigrants, their settlements moved farther upriver and then inland along Bayou Lafourche, where new land offered new opportunities for the freedom and peace they sought.
These early immigrants settled first close to the fork of the Mississippi near present-day Donaldsonville, Belle Rose, Paincourtville, and Plattenville. An early census of 1769 estimated the population of Lafourche at 267 persons of all ages, sex, and color, living within a 35-mile stretch from Donaldsonville to approximately where Thibodaux is today. In 1778, a group of Spanish immigrants from the Canary Islands were settled near Donaldsonville by the Spanish Government, and after 1785, additional small groups of Acadians followed after learning of the availability of land offered by Spain. Slowly, settlements were established farther and farther down the length of the bayou.
During the late 1780s and early 1790s, Spanish officials were counting Acadian Bergerons on Upper Bayou Lafourche. They had come from the river settlements, especially St-Jacques, and their descendants established a new, significant center family settlement in what became Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes.
Descendants of Germain BERGERON (c1743-1790s):
Germain, son of Barthélémy Bergeron II d'Amboise and Marguerite Dugas, born at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, on Rivière St.-Jean in c1743, went to Louisiana in 1765 with his widowed mother and followed her to Cabanocé/St-Jacques, on the river above New Orleans. He married fellow Acadian Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Bénoni LeBlanc, at Cabanocé in May 1768. Marguerite had come to the Louisiana from Maryland as an orphan in 1767. Germain and Marguerite lived on the left, or east, bank of the river near the boundary between the St-Jacques and Ascension districts before moving to Assumption on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their daughters married into the Gautreaux and Metra families. Germain died before November 1796, after which his wife remarried at Assumption. His sons settled throughout the Bayou Lafourche valley, in Assumption, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes.
Sources: The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Military Museum Census of 1714 The Lafourche Live Oak Tour
C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\BERGERON d.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Ambroise Boucher Date Place Birth 10 Oct 1865 St-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Quebec Marriage 1897 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Death 13 Feb 1926 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Parents Julius Boucher & Denise Marie Farly
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Julia Farley Date Place Baptism 30 May 1879 Belle River, Rochester County, Ontario Marriage 1897 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Death 31 Dec 1955 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Parents Adelme Farly & Valerie Allard
Children: Name Event Date Place Vitaline Boucher Birth 15 Aug 1898 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage Death 11 Nov 1954 St. Paul, Minnesota Spouse Jack Holter Valerie Boucher Birth 21 Jan 1900 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage 12 July 1919 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Death 12 Oct 1995 Rosetown, Saskatchewan Spouse William H. Boerjan Dora Marie Boucher Birth 29 Aug 1901 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage Death 1980 Spouse Mr. Ristau Arthur Boucher Birth 1902 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage Death 1902-1903 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Spouse David Joseph Boucher Birth 22 Apr 1904 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage Death 1951 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Spouse Noella St. Yves
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Ambroise Boucher (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Julia Farley Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Leo Joseph Boucher Birth 18 Aug 1906 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage Death 1979 Spouse Henriette Boucher Birth 1909 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage Death 1909 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Spouse Ida Lucille Marie Birth 24 July 1910 Boucher Marriage Death 1971 Spouses Mr. Arness and Mr. Kasprick Rosa Belle Marie Birth 15 Nov 1911 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Boucher Marriage Death 30 Dec 1975 Hobbs, New Mexico Spouse Henry Buce Harry Joseph Edward Birth 10 Nov 1913 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Boucher Marriage Death 1988 Spouse Mildred Nelson
Pg. 2
FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Ambroise Boucher (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Julia Farley Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Gladys Boucher Birth 28 Dec 1914 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota Marriage 05 May 1942 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Death 07 Apr 2013 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Spouse Gerard Menard Emily Theresa Marie Birth 19 Dec 1915 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Boucher Marriage Death 20 Feb 1998* Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Spouse Wally Berglund Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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Notes:
*Find-a-Grave
Wedding Picture – Joseph & Julia Boucher with witnesses
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\JosephABoucher+JuliaFarly.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jules (Julius) Boucher Date Place Birth 14 Sept 1844 St-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Marriage 09 Aug 1864 St-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Death 13 Feb 1926 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Parents Joseph Boucher & Charlotte Roi
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Denise Farly Date Place Baptism 19 July 1847 Ile-Dupas, Berthier, Quebec Marriage 09 Aug 1864 St-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Death 31 Oct 1935 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Parents Amable Farly & Marie Forcier
Children: Name Event Date Place Joseph Ambroise Birth 08 Aug 1865 St-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Joliette, Qc Boucher Marriage 27 Sept 1897 Eldred, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Death 18 July 1934 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, US Spouse Marie Julia Farly Magloire Boucher Birth 22 Nov 1866 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec (Lived 2 years) Marriage Death 14 Aug 1868 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Spouse Joseph Israel Boucher Birth 19 Apr 1868 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Marriage 1897 Lowell, Polk County, Minnesota, USA Death 15 Sept 1945 Yakima City, Washington, USA Spouse Catherine Champoux Joseph Napoleon Birth 04 Sept 1869 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Boucher Marriage (Lived 10 months) Death 07 July 1870 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Spouse Marie Louise Lumina Birth 14 Dec 1870 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Boucher* Marriage Death Spouse
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jules Boucher (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Denise Farly Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Joseph Ildorique Birth 21 Jan 1872 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Boucher Marriage Death Spouse Marie Mathilde Birth 03 Sept 1874 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Boucher Marriage Death Spouse Joseph Joachim Birth 17 Oct 1876 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Zenon Boucher Marriage Death Spouse Marie Elizabeth Birth 19 Jan 1878 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Pamela Boucher Marriage (Lived 7 months) Death 25 July 1878 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Spouse Marie Anna Pamela Birth 02 July 1879 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Boucher Marriage Death Spouse
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jules Boucher (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Denise Farly Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Marie Regina Birth 10 Jan 1881 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Boucher Marriage Death Spouse Rose Delima Orifide Birth 11 Apr 1882 St-Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, Quebec Boucher Marriage Death Spouse Pamelia (Amelia) Birth 16 Nov 1883 Boucher Marriage Death Spouse Edmond Boucher Birth 15 Jan 1885 Marriage Death Spouse Wilfred Arthur Birth 14 May 1886 Lowell Township, Minnesota, USA Boucher Marriage 23 July 1912 St. Anne’s Church, Crookston, Minn Death 28 July 1969 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, US Spouse Parmelia (Molly) Riopelle
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jules Boucher (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Denise Farly Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Rene Boucher Birth 03 May 1889 Marriage 24 Feb 1959 Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA Death 01 July 1974 Polk County, Minnesota Spouse Melina Duguque Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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* Marie Louise Lumina Boucher lived to at least 11 years of age because she is listed in the 1881 census.
Notes: 16 children born, 3 died before age of 5. In the history of Lowell Twp under Wilfred A. Boucher, it says that 18 children were born, with 15 surviving.
C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\JuliusBoucher+DeniseFarly.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Boucher Date Place Birth 09 May 1800 Berthier, Lanaudier, Quebec Marriage 24 Oct 1843† St. Ambroise de Kildare, Quebec Death 27 May 1852 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Parents Jean-Baptiste Boucher and Felicite Aubin-Lambert
Mother (Maiden Name): Charlotte Roy 2nd Wife Date Place Baptism 30 Nov 1812* St. Jacques l’Achigan, Montcalm, Quebec Marriage 24 Oct 1843† St. Ambroise de Kildare, Quebec Death 04 Jan 1870 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Parents Joseph Roy and Isabelle (Elizabeth) Richard
Children: Name Event Date Place Julius Boucher Birth 14 Sept 1844 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Marriage 09 Aug 1864 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Death 13 Feb 1926 Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota Spouse Marie Denise Farly Vitaline Boucher Birth 10 Oct 1845 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Marriage Death 24 Mar 1860 Spouse Louis Boucher Birth 09 Jan 1847 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Marriage Death 11 Mar 1932 St-Charles-Borromée, Joliette, Quebec Spouse Lisa Marion Emelia Boucher Birth 02 Aug 1848 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec (Emelina) Marriage (Genevieve Emilie) Death 11 July 1905 Spouse Azarie Boucher Birth 08 Oct 1850 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Joliette, Quebec Marriage Death 02 Feb 1916 Spouse
* Baptismal Record † Marriage Record – 8 months after the death of Joseph’s first wife. **1851 Census
Pg. 1 FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Boucher (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Julie Foucher dite Ste-Maurice (1st Wife) Date Place Baptism Ab 1808 Marriage Ab 1830 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Quebec Death 04 Feb 1843 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Quebec Parents Jean-Baptiste Foucher dit St-Maurice and Claire Gautron dite Larochelle
Children: Name Event Date Place Joseph Boucher Birth 30 June 1831 Marriage Death Spouse Toussaint Boucher Birth 30 Oct 1832 Marriage Death Spouse Leon Boucher Birth 24 Mar 1834 Marriage Death Spouse Nathalie Boucher Birth 11 Nov 1835 Marriage Death Spouse Cyrille Boucher Birth 16 Aug 1837 Marriage Death Spouse
Pg. 2
FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Boucher (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Julie Foucher dite Ste-Maurice (1st Wife) Date Place Baptism Ab 1808 Marriage Ab 1830 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Quebec Death 04 Feb 1843 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Quebec Parents Jean-Baptiste Foucher dit St-Maurice and Claire Gautron dite Larochelle
Children: Name Event Date Place Narcisse Boucher Birth 04 May 1839 Marriage Death Spouse Philomene Boucher Birth 08 Mar 1842 (Died at 3 months) Marriage Death 27 June 1842 Spouse
Pg. 3
C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\JosephBoucher+CharlotteRoy.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Roi (Roy)* Date Place Birth 26 May 1776 St-Jacques, Montcalm, Quebec Marriage 15 Oct 1804** St-Jacques-L’Achigan, Quebec Death 11 Mar 1842 St-Jacques, Montcalm, Quebec Parents Alexis Roy (died 1796) and Marguerite Jeanson (died 2 Jan 1802)
Mother (Maiden Name): Isabelle-Elisabeth Richard* Date Place Birth 19 Apr 1787 St-Jacques-L’Achigan, Quebec Marriage 15 Oct 1804** St-Jacques-L’Achigan, Quebec Death 1867 Parents Jean Baptiste Richard (1767-1833) and Marie Elizabeth Mathurine Thériot (1762-1835)
Children: Name Event Date Place Marie Charlotte Roy Birth 11 Dec 1812 St. Jacques de Montcalm Marriage 24 Oct 1843 St. Ambroise de Kildare, Quebec Death Spouse Joseph Boucher Joseph Roy Birth 18 Nov 1805 St-Jacques Marriage 26 Apr 1837 St. Esprit Death Spouse Emelie Bertrand Marie Louise Roy Birth 16 Mar 1807 St. Jacques de Moncalm, Quebec Marriage Death Spouse Jean Baptiste Roy Birth 12 Jan 1809 St. Jacques de Montcalm Marriage Death Spouse Toussaint Roy Birth 26 Mar 1810 St. Jacques de Montcalm Marriage Death 05 Apr 1832 Notre Dame de Montreal, Quebec Spouse *St. Jacques de Montcalm (Drouin) Marriage Certificates – Societe genealogique Canadienne-Francais, Montreal **See attached marriage record.
Pg. 1 FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Roi (Roy) (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Isabelle-Elisabeth Richard Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Francois Roy Birth 27 Jan 1811 St. Jacques Marriage Death Spouse Emilie Roy Birth 19 Nov 1814 St. Jacques de l’Achigan, Montcalm Marriage Death Spouse Jules Roy Birth 24 Sept 1816 St. Jacques de Montcalm Marriage Death Spouse Sophie Roy Birth 01 Jan 1819 St. Jacques de Montcalm Marriage Death Spouse Olivier Roy Birth 14 Nov 1820 St. Jacques de Montcalm Marriage Death Spouse
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Roi (Roy) (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Isabelle-Elisabeth Richard Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Heloise (Eliza) Birth 14 Oct 1822 St. Jacques (Louise) Roy Marriage Death Spouse Julienne Roy Birth 17 Jan 1823 St. Jacques de Montcalm Marriage Death Spouse Heloise Roy Birth 12 Nov 1824 St. Jacques Marriage Death Spouse Marie-Elise Roy Birth 04 Aug 1827 St. Jacques Marriage Death Spouse Alexis Leon Roy Birth 12 Dec 1831 St. Jacques Marriage Death Spouse
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Joseph Roi (Roy) (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Isabelle-Elisabeth Richard Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Justine Roy Birth 07 Apr 1834 St. Jacques Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\JosephRoy+IsabelleRichard.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Alexis Roi (Roy) Date Place Birth Circa 1745 Acadia Marriage 28 Oct 1771* L’Assomption, Quebec Death 28 Apr 1817* L’Assomption, Quebec Parents Francois Roy & Marguerite Goderous (Gaudreau)
Mother (Maiden Name): Marguerite Jeanson Date Place Birth 16 Mar 1749 Port Royal, Acadia (Nova Scotia) Marriage 28 Oct 1771* L’Assomption, Quebec Death 02 Jan 1802 St-Jacques-de-l’Achigan, Montcalm, Quebec Parents Thomas Jeanson (Janson) & Marie-Josephe Girouard
Children: Name Event Date Place Joseph Roy Birth 26 May 1776 St-Jacques-de-l’Achigan, Quebec Marriage 15 Oct 1804 St-Jacques-de-L’Achigan, Quebec Death 11 Mar 1842 St-Jacques-de-l’Achigan, Quebec Spouse Isabelle Richard Marie Josephe Roy Birth 21 June 1774 Marriage 1792 St-Jacques-de-l’Achigan, Quebec Death Spouse Paul Pose Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse *Source: Drouin.
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\AlexisRoy+MargueriteJeanson.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: François Roy (Acadian) Date Place Birth 27 Nov 1718 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Marriage 28 Oct 1740 Riviere St-Jean (St. John River), Acadia Death Before 2 July 1763 Parents Jean François Roy (1692-1749) and Marie Josephe Bergeron (1698-1740)
Mother (Maiden Name): Marguerite Godereau (Gaudreau) Date Place Baptism 1720 Riviere St-Jean, Acadia Marriage 28 Oct 1740 Riviere St-Jean, Acadia Death 1771 Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place Alexis Roy Birth 1745 Acadia Marriage 02 Jan 1802 Burial 28 Apr 1817 L’Assomption, Quebec Spouse Marguerite Jeanson François Roy Birth Circa 1744 Acadie Mazeret Marriage 04 July 1763 St. Pierre-les-Becquets, Nicolet, Qc Death 08 Aug 1824 Becancour, Gentilly, Nicolet, Qc Spouse Therese Brisson Dutilly Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\FrancoisRoy+MargueriteGodereau.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jean François Xavier Boniface Roy Date Place Birth 1692 Cap Sable, Acadie, New France Marriage 18 Jan 1717 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death 1748 Burial 06 Mar 1748 Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico Parents Jean Roy and Marie Aubois (Amerindian)
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Josephe Bergeron Date Place Birth 20 May 1697 Montmorency, Quebec Marriage 18 Jan 1717 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death 1740 St. Anne-des-Pays-d'en-Bas (now Fredericton), York, Acadie Parents Barthélémy Bergeron and Genevieve Serreau
Children: Name Event Date Place Marie Josephe Roy Birth 1718 Acadie, New France dit Laliberté Marriage 1735 Acadie, New France (Source: PRDH) Died 18 Nov 1803 Bécancour, Bas-Canada Spouse Jean Parr François Roy Birth 27 Nov 1718 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Marriage 1740 Death Bef 02 July 1763 Spouse Marguerite Bujold Benoit Boniface Roy Birth Circa 1720 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Marriage Circa 1760 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Death 09 May 1818 Bouctouche, New Brunswick, Canada Spouse Euphrosine Bourg Genevieve Roy Birth Circa 1721 Acadie, New France Marriage 1747 Acadie, New France Death 30 Aug 1782 Chantenay, Loire-Atlantique, France Spouse Joseph d’Amours Joseph Roy Birth Circa 1728 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Marriage 1749/1759 Death Spouse Marie-Agnes d’Amours & Marie Anne Barrieau
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jean François Xavier Boniface Roy (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Josephe Bergeron Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Abraham Roy Birth Circa 1731 Port Royal, Acadie Marriage 1756/1768 Death 17 May 1799 Louisiana Spouse Anne Aubois & Madeleine Doucet Marie Rose Josephe Birth Circa 1738 Nova Scotia, Canada Roy Marriage Death Circa 1800 Batiscan, Qc Spouse Jean Felix Godin Birth Marriage Death Spouse
Only one Jean Roy was deported to Massachusetts: apparently the son of François Roy and his wife, Marie. Jean was married ca. 1757 to Françoise CORPORON. He is not listed above but is included in the records for deportations by the British. Their children: Pierre-Paul (1757); Marie-Françoise (1760); Marie-Cécile (1761); Marie-Madeleine (1766); Charles (ca. 1772). At Massachusetts 1755 and Trois-Rivières 1767.
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\JeanFrancoisRoy+MarieJosepheBergeron.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jean Roy dit Laliberte Date Place Birth Circa 1651 St. Malo, Ile-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France Marriage 1686 Acadie, New France Death 1708 Parents Unknown
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Aubois (Amerindian – Mic Mak Tribe) Date Place Baptism Circa 1665 Acadie, New France Marriage 1686 Acadie, New France Death Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place Anne Roy Birth 1686 Acadie, New France Marriage 1705 Boston, the Colonies Burial 16 Oct 1717 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Spouse Jean Clémenceau Marie Roy Birth 1689 Acadie, New France Marriage 24 Nov 1710 St. Jean Baptiste, Acadie, New France Death 28 Mar 1765 Mirebalais, Ile d’Hispanola, Haiti Spouse Joseph Comeau Jean-Baptiste Roy Birth 1691 Marriage 03 Oct 1712/1743 Grande Pré Death 06 Apr 1770 Champlain, Quebec Spouse Jeanne Le Jeune, Francoise Corporon Jean François Roy Birth 1692 Cap Sable, Acadie, New France dit Laliberté Marriage 18 Jan 1717 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death Circa 1749 St. Anne’s Point, Acadie, New France Spouse Marie Josephe Bergeron Philippe-Nazaret Birth 1696 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Roy Marriage 16 Aug 1718 Grande Pré, Acadie, New France Death Bef 07 July 1763 Marlborough, Massachusetts Colony Spouse Cécile Mazerolle
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FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jean Roy (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Aubois Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Charles Roy Birth Circa 1698 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Marriage Death 1760 Pisiguit (Windsor), Acadie, New France Spouse Charlotte Marie Chauvert dite LaGerne Marie-Madeleine Roy Birth 1701 Marriage 10 Sept 1730 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Death Spouse Marie Luce Fontaine Marie Francoise Roy Birth 22 Oct 1703 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Marriage 1725 Acadie, New France Death 12 Jan 1758 Montmagny, New France Spouse Etienne Trahan René Roy dit Renaud Birth 29 Aug 1708 Port Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia Marriage 1743 Death 18 Jan 1758 St-Francois-du-Sud, Qc Spouse Marie-Josephe Daigre Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\JeanRoy+MarieAubois.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Barthélemy Bergeron d’Amboise† Date Place Baptism 23 May 1663 St-Denise Church, Amboise, Inde-et-Loire, France Marriage 1695 Port Royal, Acadie Death Bef 1736 Riviere St. Jean, Acadie (buried in Acadia) Parents René Bergeron dit d’Amboise and Anne Dagault Godparents Barthélemy Bertail and Gabrielle Saicher
Mother (Maiden Name): Genevieve Serreau de St-Aubin Date Place Birth 07 Aug 1667 St-Aubin-de-Batiscan, Champlain, Qc Marriage 1695 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death Aft 1739 Port Royal, Acadie, New France (buried in Acadia) Parents Jean Serreau (Landed Noble) and Marguerite Boileau – the Serreaus had a lineage that can be traced back for centuries
Children: Name Event Date Place Barthelémy Bergeron Birth Bef 01 Jan 1696 Ile d’Orleans, New France II** Marriage 21 Apr 1721 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death Bef 09 Apr 1766 St. Martinville, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana (after expulsion from Acadia) Spouse Marguerite Dugas Marie Josèphe Birth Ab 1698-1700 Bergeron Marriage 18 Jan 1717 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death Ab 1740 Spouse François Roy (also, Jean François Roy) Michel Bergeron Birth Ab 1702 dit de Nantes Marriage 1727 & 1749 Acadie, New France Death Bef 06 Aug 1764 Spouse Marie Dugas & Marie Jeanne Hebert Marie Anne Bergeron Birth 24 June 1706 Boston, Massachusetts dit Amboise*** Baptism 20 Sept 1706 Port Royal, Acadia Marriage 1725 Ste-Anne-de-la-Riviere-St-Jean, Acadie Death 15 Sept 1779 Cherbourg, Normandy, France Spouse Joseph Alexandre Godin **He was captured by the English at the St. John River and held prisoner in Halifax until 1763. He was then deported to Louisiana with his family, where he lived in St-Jacques on the Mississippi River. It was there that he died. ***Marie Anne Bergeron was born while in captivity in Boston.
Pg. 1 FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Barthelemy Bergeron dit d’Amboise (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Genevieve Serreau Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Françoise Bergeron Birth 1708 Marriage 1734 Death Spouse Valcourt (Jean-René) Godin Anne-Marie Bergeron Birth 24 Sept 1709 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Marriage 1730 Riviere-St-Jean, New Brunswick Death 01 Jan 1770 Ste-Famille, Ile d’Orleans, Quebec Spouse Jacques Philippe Godin Joseph Augustin Birth 1710 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Bergeron†† Marriage Ab 1732 Cobequid , Acadie, New France Death 31 Aug 1765 St. Martinville, St. Martin (Attakapas Poste), Louisiana Spouse Marie-Rose Melanson
† A genealogical researcher in France by the name of Jean-Marie Germe has found a baptismal certificate for Barthélémy Bergeron d’Amboise, [Germe, AGCF98c, p. 13 (he has a photocopy of the baptismal certificate), and AGCF99, p. 3]. †† Augustin was taken prisoner and moved to Halifax, then deported to Louisiana where he died. Rose, his wife, on the other hand, was separated from her husband and died in Quebec.
Pg. 2 FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Barthelemy Bergeron dit d’Amboise (Cont’d) Date Place Birth Marriage Death Parents
Mother (Maiden Name): Genevieve Serreau Date Place Baptism Marriage Death Parents
Children: Name Event Date Place Marie Josette Birth 1712 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Bergeron Marriage 1730 Death Spouse Ambroise Brun Marie Genevieve Birth Ab 1718 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Bergeron Marriage 1745 Death Spouse Joseph d'Amours Marguerite Birth Ab 1720 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Bergeron Marriage 1740 Death Spouse Bonaventure Godin
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Note on Barthélémy and Geneviève:
Barthélémy Bergeron, a young nobleman without funds, arrived in Canada in September 1684 as a naval volunteer with the French marines. The Compagnies Franches de la Marine were established in 1622 to serve on board war ships. The Département de la Marine was also given responsibility for French overseas colonies. In the late 1600s and early 1700s, these soldiers were the only permanent infantry troops in Canada. They began arriving in New France in 1683 to protect the fur trade and the colonists. The only other troops in the colony were the militia made up of men between the ages of 16 and 60. Barthélémy was 21 when he came to New France with the military.
Barthelemy and his comrades arrived too late in the year to do any fighting. Very few military maneuvers ever took place during the winter. Thus, from October until May, the troops were put up in the homes of local people. The locals were permitted to have their soldier cut wood, uproot stumps, clear land, or beat wheat in the barns. This was hard labor! In return, the soldier received ten sous per day, in addition to his food. Barthélémy was, by title, a common soldier, but he would have a much better life than the vast majority of soldiers. He did not live with any of the locals, but at the home of Pierre Lezeau, a “boat-master.”
Barthélémy came from Inde-et-Loire, France, and was a resident of Quebec from 1685 to 1690. His friends were mostly other young noblemen. He lived in Acadia circa 1696. In 1704, he was a prisoner along with his family, and was held hostage in Boston by the English. After his release, he returned to Port Royal. Around 1730, he settled on the St-Jean River (New Brunswick) where he was a pioneer at Ste-Anne of the Netherlands (Fredericton). Many of his descendants bear the name of Damboise (d’Ambroise).
The entire family was taken prisoner and transported to Boston a few times. Marie-Anne, one of Barthélémy's and Geneviève's daughters, was born in Boston when her parents were captive there. Col. Benjamin Church, who had pillaged and burned French settlements in 1696, led an expedition at the end of May 1704 to attack the French at Grand Pre and Port Royale. They pillaged, burned homes and churches, broke dykes to let water flood the fields, killed cattle, murdered some families and took hostages, including Barthélémy and Genevieve Bergeron and their four children. They were held prisoners at Boston in Fort William on Castle Island, in Boston Harbor, for over two years, then were exchanged for English prisoners in September 1706 and allowed to return to Port-Royal. A historian noted: “51 prisoners were received from Boston, at Port Royal, among whom were d’Amboise (Barthélémy Bergeron) and his family. They were in a condition of absolute destitution.” After his liberation, Barthélémy lived in the section of town near the fort and owned a schooner. He made trading trips between Port Royal and other Canadian towns.
In 1707, Barthélémy lived on the south bank of Rivière-au-Dauphin, now the Annapolis River, next to Abraham Dugas, just below the village at Port-Royal.
Pg. 4
In the 1730s, the extended family moved to the Rivière St-Jean valley, where they pioneered the settlement of Ste-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, now Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick. Barthélémy and Geneviève had 10 children.
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\BarthelemyBergeron+GenevieveSerreau.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Rene Bergeron d’Amboise Date Place Birth 04 May 1643 Chapelle, Florentine, Amboise, France Marriage Ab 1663 St-Denis, Amboise, France Death 1700 Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France Parents Jean Bergeron III and Catherine Douaray
Mother (Maiden Name): Anne Dagault Date Place Baptism 06 Aug 1646 Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France Marriage Ab 1663 St-Denis, Amboise, France Death 1710 Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place Barthélémy Birth 23 May 1663 St-Denis, Amboise, Inde-et-Loire, France Bergeron * Marriage 1695 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death Bef 1736 Riviere St. Jean, Acadie, New France Spouse Geneviève Serreau Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
* PRDH – Baptismal Certificate. Also Father Adrian Bergeron.
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\ReneBergeron+AnneDagault.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jean Serreau dit St-Aubin Date Place Birth 1621 Loudun, Poitou-Charentes, France Marriage 1663 Château-Richer, New France Death 29 Mar 1705 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Parents Unknown
Mother (Maiden Name): Marguerite Boileau Date Place Birth 11 Aug 1638 Orches, Poitou, France Marriage 1663 Château-Richer, New France Death 1705 St-Jean, Ile d’Orleans, New France Parents René Boileau and Joachine Ferrand
Children: Name Event Date Place Marguerite Serreau Baptism 07 Apr 1664 Château Richer, New France Marriage Burial Spouse Pierre Serreau Baptism 21 June 1664 Quebec Marriage 04 Feb 1698 Nantes (St-Nicholas), Loire Death Spouse Judith Van Woest-Winchel Geneviève Serreau Birth 07 Aug 1667 St-Aubin-de-Batiscan, Champlain, Qc Marriage 1695 Port Royal, Acadie, New France Death Aft 1739 Port-Royal, Acadie, New France Spouse Barthélemy Bergeron I and Jacques Petitpas in 1690 Charles Serreau Birth Marriage 1690 Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\JeanSerreau+MargueriteBoileau.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: René Boileau Date Place Birth 18 Feb 1611 Sieur de la Goupillière Marriage 1635 Ballan_Miré, St-Venant, Touraine, France Death Parents René Boileau and Marthe Quantin
Mother (Maiden Name): Joachine Ferrant Date Place Birth Ab 1620 Ballan-Miré, Touraine, France Marriage 1635 Ballan-Miré, Touraine, France Death Parents Leonard Ferrand and Jeanne Portebise
Children: Name Event Date Place Marguerite Boileau Birth 11 Aug 1638 Orches, Poitou, France Marriage 1663 Château-Richer, New France Death 1705 St-Jean, Ile d’Orleans, New France Spouse Jean Serreau Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\ReneBoisleau+JoachineFerrant.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: René “Sieur de la Goupillière” Boileau Date Place Birth 01 Jan 1574 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, France Marriage Circa 1600 Tours (Indre-et-Loire), France Death 29 Mar 1644 Parents René Boileau and Marie Proulx
Mother (Maiden Name): Marthe Quantin Date Place Baptism Circa 1575 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, France Marriage Circa 1600 Tours (Indre-et-Loire), France Death Parents Andre (Quantin) de la Ménardière and Marguerite Bougrault
Children: Name Event Date Place René Boileau Birth 18 Feb 1611 Sieur de la Goupillière Marriage 1635 Ballan_Miré, St-Venant, Touraine, France Death Spouse Joachine Ferrant Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\ReneBoileau+MartheQuantin.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Leonard (Sieur de Belesbat) Ferrand Date Place Birth Circa 1600 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Mother (Maiden Name): Jeanne Portebise Date Place Baptism Circa 1600 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place Joachine Ferrant Birth Ab 1620 Ballan-Miré, Touraine, France Marriage 1635 Ballan-Miré, Touraine, France Death Spouse René Boileau Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\LeonardFerrand+JeannePortebise.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: René "Sieur de la Baste" Boileau Date Place Birth 01 Apr 1545 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, France Marriage Death Parents René Boileau and Marie Soussac
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Proulx Date Place Baptism Circa 1545 Marriage Death Parents Louis Proulx and Perrine Gascoing
Children: Name Event Date Place René Boileau Birth 01 Jan 1574 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, France Marriage Circa 1600 Tours (Indre-et-Loire), France Burial 29 Mar 1644 Spouse Marthe Quantin Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\ReneBoileau+MarieProulx.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Andre Quantin de la Ménardière Date Place Birth Circa 1555 Marriage Death Parents Guillaume Quantin and Marie Larebertiere
Mother (Maiden Name): Marguerite Bougrault Date Place Baptism Circa 1555 Marriage Death Parents Jean Bougrault and Francoise Argouges
Children: Name Event Date Place Marthe Quantin Birth Circa 1575 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, France Marriage Circa 1600 Tours (Indre-et-Loire), France Death Spouse René Boileau Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\AndreQuantin+MargueriteBougrault.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: René ‘Sieur de la Baste’ Boileau I Date Place Birth Circa 1525 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, France Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Soussac Date Place Baptism Circa 1525 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place René Boileau Birth 01 Apr 1545 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, France Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\ReneBoileau+MarieSoussac.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Louis Proulx Date Place Birth Circa 1525 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Mother (Maiden Name): Perrine Gascoine Date Place Baptism Circa 1525 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place Marie Proulx Birth Circa 1545 Marriage Death Spouse René “Sieur de la Baste” Boileau Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\LouisProulx+PerrineGascoing.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Guillaume Quantin Date Place Birth Circa 1535 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Mother (Maiden Name): Marie Larebertiere Date Place Baptism Circa 1535 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place Andre Quantin Birth Circa 1555 Marriage Death Spouse Marguerite Bougrault Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\GuillaumeQuantin+MarieLarebertiere.docx FAMILY INFORMATION
Father: Jean Bougrault Date Place Birth Circa 1520 Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Mother (Maiden Name): Francoise Argouges aka d’Argouges Date Place Baptism Circa 1515 Tours, Touraine, Poitou, Fraance Marriage Death Parents Unknown
Children: Name Event Date Place Marguerite Bougrault Birth Circa 1555 Marriage Death Spouse Andre Quantin Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse Birth Marriage Death Spouse
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C:\Documents\Family Information\Bouchers\Roys\JeanBougrault+FrancoiseArgouges.docx