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As I have posted before: the word "armourer" in 1671 did not refer to a man who made guns
that definition came many years later
It did refer loosely to man engaged in the making of real knights armour
however, men in this trade identified themselves with a word referring to exactly which piece of armour they themselves made and not "armourer"
Most of the time the word really was intended to mean "seller of arms"........and was primarily related to Paris and the Armuriers.......dealers.......of which there were hundreds if not more compared to craftsmen of weapons.....
Most of the craftsmen were in St. Etienne........and were members of guilds and considered so valuable they were near
prisoners of the craft........a lifetime of service was expected..........
This shortage of these men in France prompted them to import them as often as they could from Liege Belgium.....and many went to work in St. Etienne and were also sent to Tulle in the smaller plant in the south of France on consignment.......
Arms makers were exempted from all military service. Specializing in this trade meant a fairly good living with no need to migrate anywhere at all, let alone Canada where no forges or iron making facilities existed.
So, when we see the term Armourer listed as a trade for a Canadian immigrant during this time: there are 2 usual meanings:
1) weapons dealer:
2) enlisted man in charge of weapons.....usually soldier as opposed to sailor
We need to remember that France had barely gotten into the large fighting gun business.......and were well behind the English and Belgians.......nearly every one made was under the direct supply to the King for the creation of armies..and the reestablishment of a viable French navy.
We need to remember that France had to scramble to put together the Carignan soldiers to come to Canada in 1665.....such was the disarray of the French military.
One fact is clear:
by 1667 the fight between the
Le Borgne family
and
Temple in Boston
over control of Nova Scotia was at battle level.
Either would have interest in weapons and gunpowder and both required mercenaries.
And both of these men were nearly broke from the fighting....carrying on the fight with whatever credit they could arrange.
The Le Borgne family by far had many more commercial resources within La Rochelle were their business was established and in Calais, their birth home.
Temple was reduced to begging from friends and family in England........which is how he bought Nova Scotia from La Tour to begin with.....with credit.
-----------
As all organized immigration had stopped around 1654 in Nova Scotia, and we saw no new families, just single men up until 1670
we can pretty much assume that the majority of newcomers were in some way related to this ongoing fight
between
Le Borgne
and
Temple
Obviously Temple would not recruit Frenchmen to fight Frenchmen in a military way:
but he would have to engage with dealers of arms and gunpowder somewhere......and there is a high probability that these were Belgians merchants....
and his supply would have been choked in La Rochelle via the Borgne family grip in that town.
Merchants to colonies nearly always sent a relative as agent or overseer to the destination of their money or cargo.........with the ships......it is not impossible that Pierre Sirre was such a person........and Belgic merchant records might reveal such a situation.
Knowing that Pierre could write and wrote in a Belgic style of handwriting, and that he likely knew how to spell his name as it was commonly used at the time by his family
and that the name Sirre is a very highly represented in Holland....
This provides a very good clue as to who he was and where he came from........
----------------
On the opposite side, we know Le Borgne recruited as many as 100 men at various times to fight his battles for him and we have to assume that some must have stayed in Acadia at at least one of the forts.
He would also be in need of both weapons and gunpowder as well as soldiers.
Thus we can postulate that Pierre could have come as:
1) his recruit: armourer: in charge of weapons
2) an agent representing an arms dealer
The Le Borgne family spent a lot of energy crying the blues to French courts in Paris.........so clearly they sailed back and forth between La Rochelle and Calais and region ports......
Thus if they picked up Pierre it could have been either in the north or in La Rochelle.
The Sirre name spelling exists in La Rochelle, but on a very small scale.
and there are Suire's in the arms making business recorded in that region on a cottage scale.....mostly arrow makers.
But once again, if you knew how to write at all, one would think you knew how your particular family spelled it.....
and the Sire, Lesuire, Le Suire, Suire, Sirre clans of La Rochelle all used their own version of the name quite faithfully over more than 3 or 4 generations during that time.
One would have to believe that he at least believed his name was indeed Sirre........and not Sire, which he would have run across if he was from that region.
---------------------------------------
The only aggravation with accepting a La Rochelle origin for Pierre is the seeming lack of records: merchant, soldier, engagee, anything.
La Rochelle had a very long tradition of maritime record keeping and by 1681 the laws were stringent about it...
Every Armateur or ship owner sent an agent to represent him on board: usually family
and wanted complete records of who was on his ship, what was on his ship, etc.....which is why every ship had a scribe.......
If Pierre came out of La Rochelle in the late 1600's somewhere someone made a note of it.........perhaps lost or perhaps just not found......and especially if he was an engagee.........because this man would need a record to be paid......
Thus it seems much more likely, if Pierre came via La Rochelle he came NOT as an engaged man: but as some kind of agent.........either picked up in the Calais region ports or La Rochelle.........
One thing is sure: Port Royal only registered 20 guns in the census of 1671 but 2 "armourers"........and no forge......no gunmaking was going on......and real weapons makers forbidden to leave France
It is more probable that the older one was of the military definition:
officer of weapons
while the second, Pierre
was an agent who stayed on
We tend to forget how much trade occurred between Boston and Port Royal: to the extent that a "warehouse" existed in Port Royal..........and in turn both of these towns traded in sugar and rum with the Caribbean.
These commercial interests were the point of the entire fight between Le Borgne and Temple for Acadia.
---------------------------------------
If we look at the most sensible
opportunities to come to Acadia during Pierre's adult lifetime
during the fighting between Temple and Le Borgne
we would lean towards him being a merchant/agent from
northern France.........and more likely attacked to Le Borgne..........
-------
Aside from these two main opportunities: there is one
possibility not often brought up
Nicholas Deny's, whose brother was in Quebec and father was a Captain of the Royal Guard, and family was established in Tours:
having been imprisoned for a time in Port Royal,having lost his claim, went back to France to re-establish it, and came back with 120 armed men.......
and in 1669, his settlement burned down........thus leaving everyone homeless......
it is not unreasonable to assume that some may have sought shelter in Port Royal...........Pierre amongst them
So far I have not seen records for Deny's engagees.........
Certainly after Beaubassin was established, these two regions had a fair amount of contact with each other......
--------------
So that really only leaves 4 sensible ways for Pierre to get easily to Acadia........
1) via Boston and Temple as agent
2) via Le Borgne: soldier or agent*
3) via Deny's: soldier or agent
4) via Boston: agent not affiliated with either man
*remembering that Le Borgne did also travel to Boston
where he could have met Pierre had he been in town as an agent for some other commercial interest and elected to go to Acadia
-----------------
One can safely assume if he ever landed in Quebec then went to Acadia there would be traces of him left behind as the records are much better there........
What makes this all so odd: is the very brief window of time for Pierre to get there: the very few actors in this game to align with
and yet:
he comes unseen, unrecorded and unknown.......slipping in under the radar to firmly establish himself..and beginning to leave records of his own.........
The hunt goes on.........
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