Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
My Mother was a Pitre.
1. CÉCILE4 BOUDREAU (MICHEL3, CLAUDE2, MICHEL1) was born Abt. 1712 in Grand-Pré, Kings , Acadie, and died 13 Jan 1811 in Nicolet, Québec, Canada. She married JEAN-BAPTISTE PITRE Abt. 1733 in Grand Pre, Acadie, son of FRANÇOIS PITRE and ANNE PREJEAN. He was born Jan 1710/11 in Port Royal, Acadie, and died 08 Jun 1758 in Québec City, Québec, Canada.
Notes for CÉCILE BOUDREAU:
On June 9th, 1758, Cécile Boudreau saw her husband of many years Jean-Baptiste Pitre pass away during the smallpox epidemic in Québec City. She had buried her son Jean-Baptiste, eight years old, the month before. Four days after her husband's funeral, her daughter Anne Pitre died at the age of 14. On December 21st of that same year, she lost her baby Isidore, who was only 4 years old. Cécile Boudreau still had five children with her when she moved to what is now Nicolet, Québec. This area is said to have been recommended by their missionaries and the Abenakis and became a good place to settle. Near the St. Lawrence, it permitted access to the gulf and Acadie where many hoped to return. Cécile would settle there with her family and in 1762, she married her second husband, Pierre Pellerin. Thirty years later, her husband passed away and she became a widow again. According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biographies : She apparently reached the age of 97, still strong, lucid, and courageous. An unfortunate fall then forced her to take to her bed. After 18 days during which she was willing to drink "only a little water and two shots of rum," she died. [Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biographies, Vol. V, 1801-1820]
**
Cécile Boudreau was not the only one going through hard times between 1755 and 1763 and like many other acadians, members of her family were subject to deportation. In the Village de Michel, her brother, Michel Boudreau ‘fils' was on Colonel Winslow's list of Acadians who were deported. He died before May 21, 1763. Her brother Olivier and his family were later found in Louisiana. Her sister, Marguerite was deported to Connecticut and after making her way to St-Domingue, passed away there on October 20, 1764. Her sister Marie with her husband, disappeared sometime between March 19, 1757 and January 17, 1761. Her brother François dit Lami died in Québec City on November 24, 1757. Her brother Pierre died sometime before 1763. Her brother René died around 1756 or 1757. Her brother Jean-Baptiste also died from the smallpox epidemic in Québec City on January 9, 1760.
Jean-Baptiste Pitre & Cécile Boudreau had eleven children: Marie Josephe-Agathe Pitre, born 1734, Grand-Pré, married Jean-Baptiste Desfossés, October 28, 1760, Nicolet County, Québec, Michel Pitre, born October 2, 1735, Grand-Pré, married Marie Josephe Orillion on May 14, 1759 in Québec, Charles-Modeste Pitre, born 21 December 1737 in Beaubassin died Abt. 1769 married Madeleine Vincent b: Abt. 1739 m: Abt. 1759. His family was found in Louisiana. Marguerite-Anastasie Pitre, born 10 December 1739 in Beaubassin, Marie Louise Pitre, born 1740 in Beaubassin; married Gabriel Coltret on October 10, 1760, Rosalie Pitre, born 8 April 1742 in Beaubassin, Anne Pitre, born 15 February 1744 in Beaubassin, died on June 12, 1758 in Québec, Joseph Pitre, born 30 January 1746 in Beaubassin, married Marie Antoinette Lupien on June 07, 1770 in Nicolet County, Québec d: 5 May 1823 Nicolet, Québec
François-Mathurin Pitre, born 21 December 1747 in Beaubassin. d: 14 January 1830, Jean-Baptiste Pitre, 25 March 1750 in Beaubassin, died May 8, 1758 in Québec, Isidore Pitre born 30 July 1754 in Beaubassin, died on December 21, 1758 in Québec.
**
BOUDREAU (Boudreault, Boudreaux, Boudreau), CÉCILE (Pitre; Pellerin), b. c. 1714 in Annapolis Royal, N.S., probably the daughter of Charles Boudreau and Marie Josephe Landry; m. there c. 1731 Jean-Baptiste Pitre, and they had 11 children; m. secondly October 1762 Pierre Pellerin in Nicolet (Que.); d. there 13 Jan. 1811. Having escaped the massive and cruel deportation of 1755 [see Charles Lawrence*], Cécile Boudreau, her husband, and her children joined about 200 Acadian families who scattered into the woods bordering the Memramcook, Shepody, and Petitcodiac rivers (N. B.). Fortunately these families were able to count on the aid of missionary François Le Guerne* and of Charles Deschamps* de Boishébert, a captain in the colonial regular troops. The two men worked together to ensure the survival of the Acadians, provide for their sustenance, and organize their resistance to the British.
Foreseeing the second phase of the expulsion, which would be carried out in 1758 [see Robert Monckton*] any of the families, including Cécile Boudreau’s, moved up the coast to Miramichi in 1757. They were exhausted, and suffered from starvation as a result of poor crops and from epidemics. Several of them then resigned themselves to following Boishébert’s troops, which had been recalled to Québec for the winter of 1757–58. The situation at Québec seemed little brighter. There was a dearth of supplies and a severe famine. The Acadians had to make do with cod and rotten meat. According to the testimony of several persons, these poor living conditions brought about the death of a number of Acadians. On 9 June 1758, amid the general gloom and inactivity, Cécile Boudreau had to bury her husband, who had fallen victim to the smallpox epidemic raging at the time. A month earlier she had done the same for her son Jean, barely eight years of age, and four days after her husband’s interment she buried one of her daughters. It was for such reasons that the Acadian refugees then sought to flee Québec. Some joined Le Guerne, who had become parish priest of Saint-François, on Île d’Orléans. Others settled in the Beauce or in the regions of Saint-Joachim and Bellechasse. In 1758 a large number went to Saint-Grégoire (Bécancour); others, including Cécile Boudreau’s family, chose Nicolet. This locality, which their missionaries and the Abenakis had drawn to their attention, turned out to be a good place for a settlement. It was situated near the St Lawrence, which gave access to the gulf and to Acadie, where everyone hoped to live once again. The region offered an abundance of woods and lakes that enabled them to ensure their subsistence; moreover it was remote and tranquillity was easily found. When along with other Pitres and Boudreaus, Orillon-Champagnes, Gaudets, Laurts, Melançons, Bastaraches, Commeaus, and Rouisse-Languedocs, Cécile Boudreau arrived in this new setting to find fresh hope and take root, she still had five children with her; one of them, François, would receive a commission later as captain in the militia. She married Pierre Pellerin in 1762 and was widowed 30 years later. She apparently reached the age of 97, still strong, lucid, and courageous. An unfortunate fall then forced her to take to her bed. After 18 days during which she was willing to drink "only a little water and two shots of rum," she died.A long way from Nicolet the Québec Gazette, a major paper of the province, printed a paragraph about this strong and incomparable woman which formed a longer and better tribute than any cold tombstone could offer. It told of the circumstances of her death and concluded: "This venerable Acadian constantly retained all her mental faculties with remarkable freshness and good health until the accident which brought her to the grave."
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/arsenault/messages/1829.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|