Marguerite Petitpas

Marguerite Petitpas, the progenitor of the Guédry family in Acadia, was born about 1660 at Port-Royal, Acadia. She was the daughter of Claude Petitpas, the greffier of Port-Royal, and Catherine Bugaret. Marguerite was at Port-Royal during her youth and about 1677 married Martin Dugas, son of Abraham Dugas and Marguerite Doucet. They had a son and daughter before Martin's tragic death by drowning about 1680. A widow with two enfants, she married Claude Guédry about 1682 and they had eleven children - 2 daughters and 9 sons. At least six of their children (2 daughters and 4 sons) reached adulthood and had offspring as did her two children with Martin Dugas. Although Claude Guédry and Marguerite Petitpas resided briefly near Port-Royal, they spent most of their life in the small community of Merliguèche where they raised their combined family. Here among a small group of Acadians and the friendly Mi'kmaq, they earned a living from the forests and seas. Life was not easy in the backwoods of Acadia as they had to endure harsh winters, living off the land with scarce resources, being mistaken for Mi'kmaq and treated as such by the British, being captured and sent to Boston for a year in 1722, struggling with the hanging in Boston of a son and grandson in 1726 and other harsh realities of a pioneer life. Although certainly educated to some extent and having successful family in Port-Royal, they chose the beautiful, yet undeveloped, Merliguèche as their home - probably because Marguerite "inherited" it from her grandfather Bernard Bugaret. Marguerite's strength and perseverance during trying times brought distinction to the Guédry and Petitpas families as she raised her children and taught them well the lessons of life so they could venture into the world and continue the strong Guédry family.