Acadians of Québec

The following information is from Le Grand Arrangement des Acadiens au Quebec (Notes de Petite Histoire Généalogies - France, Acadie, Québec - de 1625 à 1925) by Adrien Bergeron (Éditions Élysée; Montréal, Canada; 1981). It was obtained from the Société de Généalogie de Lanaudière (Joliette, Québec) in 2006 by Sandra (Pettipas) Perro and translated from French to English by Edward Ulysee Pellerin in 2007. Sandra Perro and Edward Pellerin are both descendants of Claude Petitpas and are originally from the Tracadie and Larry's River areas of Nova Scotia respectively. Highlighted comments below are by Sandra (Pettipas) Perro.

In the history of Acadia, if anyone should be remembered for promoting his name and his country, it is certainly Claude Petitpas because he relentlessly and boldly wandered the lands of New France as well as New England.

Also, many Madelinots (inhabitants of les Îles de la Madeleine) and Acadians from Québec's North Shore will find it particularly interesting to familiarize themselves with the exploits of this tireless servant of Charles de Menou d'Aulnay, of De Villebon, of d'Iberville, of Bonnaventure and many others. The testimonies on his behalf are prominent: la Collection de manuscripts relatifs à la Nouvelle-France alone mentions more than nine detailed accounts and strong evidence beginning in 1792. However there is an even older document which mentions his name; it originates in la généalogie manuscrite de la famille de Menou (the Genealogical Manuscript of the Menou Family) , which brings us to the 15th century and leads us to the Motin genealogy wherein is recorded in 1638 the marriage of Charles de Menou and Jeanne Motin who arrived in Acadia on the famous ship Le Saint-Jehan .

It is precisely in this genealogical manuscript of the Motin family that we find that which follows:

Extract of baptism September 21, 1639 Pt Rl (Port Royal) stating that Marie, daughter of Sieur Charles de Menou, Esquire … lieutenant- general for the King of the coast of Acadie, New France, was baptized at 4 o'clock in the evening of the day that she was born at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday September 21 and that she was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin by Claude Petitpas and Mr. Boudrot, first syndicates of Port Royal. In addition to this honourable citation, it is extremely interesting for Petitpas descendants to note that our ancestor Claude was present in Acadia even before 1639 because on this date he was already a deputy syndicate of Port Royal.

(It is thought by many that the Claude Petitpas referred to above as syndicate was Claude Petitpas Sr., Sieur de la Fleur, ancestor of Acadian Petitpas families of Atlantic Canada & of Petitpas families of Louisiana. Others, however, question this assumption noting that the Petitpas in question may have been a relative rather than Claude Sr. himself who was born in 1624 and would have only been 15 years old in 1639.)

However, let us reflect on the year 1692 where in "Aux Isles des Monts Déserts Nov 9e " an edict appears in favour of Sieurs Saint-Aubin and Petitpas: (Col. des Man., II p.92):

Regarding the requisition that we have made on behalf of Sieurs Saint-Aubin and Petitpas, residents of Acadia, it gives us great pleasure, given the services which they have rendered to the King i.e. they have remitted in the hands of the French two soldiers who had fled from Canada and had taken letters to the English who were coming to seize Sieur de St Castinet to deliver him to the English. This is after they (Saint-Aubin and Petitpas) had left behind their families who were at present prisoners detained in Boston where they had actually come to give us advice as to the plans of the English toward Canada and to give us account of the state of affairs of New England, this information having been burned and destroyed by the said English. Seeing them now hardly able to exist, we find it necessary to repay these inhabitants, having no funds to satisfy their extraordinary expenses.

With the good wishes and in concert with Sieurs d'Hyberville and Bonnaventure, Captain and Lieutenant of a light frigate, at present moored at Isles des Monts Deserts, ordered the clerk (treasurer) of the gentlemen of Acadia to remit to said persons five hundred and fifty-four pounds, French money, from company coffers, to be distributed to said Saint Aubin and Petitpas, in payment for the important service that they rendered to Canada and promising to said clerk that he would be discharged and that it will please the court not to impede and order the payment.

Signed at Isles des Monts Deserts this ninth day of November, 1692.

Le C. de Villebon,
D'Hyberville,
Bonnaventure.

Three pages further, the same Collection de manuscrits officiels presents us with a memorandum on the abduction of Sieur de Saint-Castin. It clearly states that Villebon, d'Iberville and Bonnaventure thought it necessary for that service to give 554 pounds to these two inhabitants deprived of everything and to provide them with means to liberate their wives and family from the hands of the English in consideration for their loyalty.

(The Petitpas mentioned above refers to Jacques Petitpas, son of Claude Sr. and brother of Claude Petitpas Jr., ancestor of Acadian Petitpas families, and of Marguerite (Petitpas) Guédry. Saint-Aubin was the maiden name of Jacques Petitpas' wife Genevieve. The Saint-Aubin involved with Jacques is either his father-in-law or brother-in-law.)

In 1693 (ibidem: p.109) a letter appears from the Minister of France to Count de Frontenac dated February 14 wherein it is stated,

You will have learned that the advice that you have given us with regard to New England's attack on Québec next Spring by the people of New England has been confirmed by said Petitpas and SaintAubain and in such detail that there is no doubt . . .

In 1698 (ibidem II/307) in a secret message in a letter from M. de Bonaventure to the Minister we learn

that an English caiche (possibly a curse) has been made towards the Petitpas name at Nasiscaudabouet in the region of entagouët to the effect that the Indians have told them that the English have made the threat at Cap St. Tambre . . .

Here, let us overlook all the rest so that we may deal with more recent dates and facts, beginning in the year 1752 with the Census of Sieur La Roque where we find a number of Petitpas families from the Acadian peninsula,

refugees on Isle Saint-Jean" (Prince Edward Island) : they are, at Port Toulouse (St. Peter's, Cape Breton) , Judicth Petitpas, 60 years of age, native of Port Royal, widow of Marc La Soude, living with two of her sons; Jacques Petitpas, coastal fisherman, married to Françoise Breault; Jean Petitpas coastal fisherman married to Françoise (Bertaud) Monthory; Then at Baie-de-l'Ardoise (Cape Breton) Joseph Petitpas, fisherman married to Anne Lafargue; Magdeleine Coste, widow of Barthelémy Petitpas:; and lastly Louis (Benjamin) Petitpas married to Magdeleine Poujet: these latest families are situated on Île de la Sainte-Famille, near Port Toulouse.

Judith Petitpas was the daughter of Claude Petitpas Jr. and his 1st wife Marie-Thérèse, a Mi'kmaq. Jacques was the son of Claude Petitpas Jr. and his 2nd wife Françoise Lavergne. Jean Petitpas (i.e., Jean Baptiste) was the son of Claude Petitpas Jr., and his 2nd wife Françoise Lavergne. Barthelémy Petitpas was the son of Claude Petitpas Jr., and his 1st wife MarieThérèse. Louis Benjamin Petitpas was the son of Claude Petitpas Jr. and his 2nd wife Françoise Lavergne.

It was because of Louis Benjamin Petitpas' close association with Fr. Maillard, a French priest whom the English both feared and revered because of his ability to amicably control the Mi'kmaq, that the Petitpas were able to avoid deportation and to eventually resettle in the Tracadie, East Tracadie and Larry's River areas of Nova Scotia. All children of Claude Petitpas Jr. mentioned above would be nephews and nieces of Marguerite (Petitpas) Guédry.

In regard to the last person mentioned, and this is not too pleasant to relate, Abbé C.J. d'Entremont wrote a six page article published in les Cahiers de la S.H.A. de Moncton, vol. 7, no.1, pp.14ss entitled "The First Naturalized American Acadian in 1781." The author, citing the opinion of M. Roland J. Auger, Minister of Cultural Affairs of Quebec, suggests there is "in the United States at present, a population of at least one million residents of which one or the other of their ancestors was of Acadian descent" - let us not forget incidentally that Louisiana, consisting of many Acadian refugees, was not part of the Union until 1812 and consequently cannot be included in the count - the author himself who is Acadian-American believes that the first Acadian to become a naturalized American citizen was named Louis-Benjamin Petitpas in 1781 .

He writes that he was from Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia. For some time he conduced business between Halifax and Boston with his ship. One must add his name to those Acadians who fought in the army of Independence because he fought in the American expeditionary forces on July 1st 1782 against Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. (This is the same Louis-Benjamin Petitpas mentioned above, the son of Claude Petitpas Jr. and his 2nd wife Françoise Lavergne)

Insofar as to the conclusions of the aforementioned article, it would seem to me difficult to endorse them totally. However, this is not the place to discuss one's opinion. Alone, from the rest and of the same points of view, this document is sufficient to prove that in Québec, for example, next door to old Acadia so dear to our hearts, there are more than a million and a half Acadians who, by their culture, their language and their conviction have remained faithful to their mother country, maintaining an integral part of its traditions.

That said, let us return to the two principal Acadian-Québecois Petitpas - those from Îles-de-la Magdeleine and of the North Shore. It is said that François, son of Guillaume and of Angélique Sceaux, was the first by that name to land on the Islands in 1804, coming from Miquelon; one year later, on September 16, he married Anne Boudrot at Havre- ubert. It is, however, at Havre-aux-Maisons that they appear to have established their home.

(Miquelon is a small island located off the coast of Newfoundland and today, along with neighbouring St. Pierre, is France's only remaining possession in North America. Havre-Aubert and Havre-auxMaisons are both islands of the archipelago of Îles-de-la-Magdeleine (i.e., the Magdalen Islands) belonging to the province of Québec, but located in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence just north of Prince Edward Island. It is here that my great grandfather, Captain Isiah Fougere, descendant of Francoise (Petitpas) Coste (daughter of Claude Petitpas Jr. and his 1st wife Mi'kmaq Marie-Thérèse), sailed with his vessel The Celeste for supplies for his home community of Larry's River, Nova Scotia in the late 1800's. The former prestigious Hotel Fougere still stands today on the archipelago at Cap-aux-Meules.)

However shortly thereafter, if I am not mistaken, two of the four sons of François à Guillaume migrated towards the North Shore (Québec) via Pointe-ux-Esquimaux (Eskimo's Point) : Francois II married MarieBarbe Cormier and Lazare married Marie Lapierre - the latter hailing from Cap-aux-Meules (part of Îles-de-la-Magdeleine) and reaching Blanc-Sablon in 1854 (East of northern Quebec and off the southern coast of Labrador) . These facts were found in the precious Journal of Placide Vigneau having left on May 27th or 28th, 1857, from Havre-aux-Maisons (part of Îles-de-la-Magdeleine) aboard the schooner of Firmin Boudreau accompanied by the families of Raphaël Boudreau, Benjamin Landry, Louis Cormier and Joseph Boudreau. It is worthy to note that Vigneau always spelled his name 'Petit-Pas': if logic had anything to do with it, he would have had perfect reason to do so. But who can say if, in fact, this was the proper spelling of this very prominent name. (In a copy of a document signed by Claude Petitpas Sr. in 1684 in the capacity of clerk at Port Royal, Acadia, Claude also spelled his name "petit pas" meaning 'little step' or one who treds or walks with a quick, light step. See below for a copy of this document.)

And now what would you say if we ended these 'Short Commentaries' as we could or should have started: quoting from the first Acadian census of 1671:

CLAUDE PETITPAS laboureur (plowman) 45 years of age, his wife, Catherine Bagard (Bugaret) 33 years of age. Their seven children: Bernard 12 years old, Marguerite 10 years old, Claude 8 years old, Jehan 7 years old, Jacque 5 years old, Marie 2 ½ years old, and Elisabeth 1 year old. Their 20 cattle and 12 sheep and their 30 acres of cultivated land.

(Marguerite Petitpas married Claude Guédry and is ancestor of all known North American Guédry families. Claude Petitpas, Jr. is the ancestor of present-day Pettipas families in the Tracadie and Larry's River areas of Nova Scotia)

Nothing can be more reliably authentic than that.

The following document signed by Claude Petitpas Sr., Sieur de la Fleur, Clerk at Port Royal, 1684. Provided by permission from Sandra (Pettipas) Perro, author of Getting To The Roots Of My Family Tree . Translation is:

The fifteenth day of July One Thousand six Hundred Eighty Four I, myself, Claude petit pas, undersigned, clerk in the court and seat of Port Royal, certifies to all to whom it shall pertain, to have registered the present at the Clerk's office so that nobody can pretend to have no knowledge of it. Made at the said Port Royal the twentieth day of July, one thousand six hundred and eighty four. Claude petit pas, clerk M boudrot Dentremont

No mention is made as to what is referred to by 'the present'.