Claude Marc Pitre
13 May 1700 Port Royal – 7 March 1775 Belle Ile en Mer
Claude Marc Pitre was born on the 13th of May 1700 at Port Royal, Acadia, the eldest child of Marc Pitre and Jeanne Brun. The couple moved locations within Acadia, possibly to remove themselves as far as possible from British control.
One move eventually brought them to Cobequit where, on 12 June 1724, 24-year-old Claude Marc married Isabelle Guerin, the 19-year-old daughter of Jerome Guerin and Isabelle (Elisabeth) Aucoin. Their son Joseph was born there in 1726 and it is likely Cobequit became their home for the next 30 years.
In 1744, when hostilities resumed between the French and the English, the Acadians were accused of supporting the French. The council at Port Royal had ordered an investigation of the allegations and the two representatives who came from Cobequit in December of 1744 were Claude Pitre and Pierre Theriot. (I believe they were Claude Marc and his wife’s brother-in-law.) No action seems to have been taken at this time.
In August 1755, the men were marched off from Cobequit, leaving the families behind who trekked to Tatamagouche to get boats to Ile St. Jean. (When the British showed up to remove them no one was there.) It seems probable that Claude Marc’s family was with this group as they did not show up in the 1752 census of the island. It also seems probable that the 14-year-old Catherine Josephe Pitre who died in August of 1756 at Port Lajoie was one of Claude Marc’s daughters (no parents were given in the burial record). It is known that Claude Marc’s daughter Anne Josephe married at Port Lajoie to Ambroise Bourg on 1 June 1757 (her brothers Alexandre and Jean Baptiste were witnesses).
Late in 1758 the deportations to clear the island of Acadians began in earnest. Claude Marc’s wife Isabelle Guerin died “in a shipwreck on the way to Europe.” Son Joseph and his family were on Ile St. Jean in 1757 and somehow escaped deportation. [A report on 6 November 1758 noted that Lord Rollo had to leave a whole parish of a far part of the island behind. This was probably the Rollo Bay area where Joseph’s descendants are known to have settled.] There is no further information on Alexandre (presumably died during the crossing). Jean Baptiste had married Felicite Daigre and they survived the crossing but lost their firstborn. Anne Josephe and her husband Ambroise Bourg survived the crossing but she died a year later, probably due to complications having given birth five days earlier.
Claude Marc ended up in Liverpool. [The sloops Sally and Molly, Prosperous and Endeavor and the schooner Ranger departed from the entrance to the Gaspereau River at Grand Pre on 27 October 1755. They arrived in Virginia during the latter part of November but the governor of Virginia refused to accept them and many died on board. Those remaining were transported to England four months later. During the 7-year-period from 1756 to 1763 around 1200 Acadians arrived in England. By 1763 fewer than 800 had survived disease and the harsh living conditions.] If Claude Marc had been aboard one of these ships then he must have been separated from his family with other Cobequit men and deported in October of 1755. This might help to explain why his two sons and not he were the witnesses at his daughter’s wedding and why no parents were listed at the burial of the child mentioned above.
One must presume that Claude Marc knew of his wife’s death as he married again to Madeleine Darois, the 40-year-old widow of Alexis Trahan (who had died in Liverpool in 1756). Claude Marc, Madeleine and her eight-year-old son Paul Trahan finally left Liverpool for Morlaix on L’Esturgeon on the 7th of June 1763. In all, 753 Acadians crossed the English Channel. They had been promised settlement on lands in France at the expense of the King. The reality was not quite as promising. On arrival they were housed in barracks where disease soon killed many of them.
In 1765 Claude Marc, Madeleine, and Paul were one of the Acadian families resettled to Belle Ile en Mer. On 28th February 1767 Claude Marc gave his declaration there (see below). He was living with his 2nd wife and stepson in the village of Arpens de Triboutons, parish of Sauzon, which is where he died on 7 March 1775. His stepson Paul Trahan died on the island in 1826 so presumably Madeleine Darois also died on Belle Ile sometime after Claude Marc’s death.
Continuation of tree (1st child of Marc Pitre/Jeanne Brun); all known surname descendants:
3 Claude Marc Pitre b: 13 May 1700 Port Royal, Acadia; d: 7 March 1775 Sauzon, Belle Ile en Mer
+Isabelle Guerin b: 29 September 1704 Cobequid, Acadia; m: 12 June 1724 Cobequid, Acadia [Jerome/Isabelle (Elisabeth) Aucoin]; d: 1758 in the shipwreck of an English ship on way to Europe
4 Joseph Pitre b: 17 December 1726 Cobequid, Acadia
+Anne Bourg b: Abt. 1729 Cobequid, Acadia; m: Abt. 1752 Cobequid, Acadia [Ambroise/Elisabeth Melanson]
4 Alexandre Pitre b: Abt. 1730 Acadia; d: Aft. 1757
4 Jean Baptiste Pitre b: Abt. 1733 Acadia; d: Aft. 1785 Louisiana
+Felicite Daigre b: Abt. 1734 Acadia; m: Abt. 1757 Ile St. Jean [Jean Baptiste/Marie Anne Breau]; d: Aft. 1785 Louisiana
4 Anne Josephe Pitre b: Abt. 1736 Acadia; d: 21 December 1759 Tres Ste. Trinite, Cherbourg, France
+Ambroise Bourg b: Abt. 1732 Cobequid, Acadia; m: 1 June 1757 Port Lajoie, Ile St. Jean [Charles/Cecile Melanson]; d: Bet. 1785 - 1790 New Feliciana, LA
4 Catherine Josephe Pitre b: Abt. 1742 Acadia; d: 27 August 1756 Port Lajoie, Ile St. Jean
*2nd Wife of Claude Marc Pitre:
+Madeleine Darois b: 21 May 1719 Grand Pre, Acadia; m: 9 May 1760 Liverpool, England [Jerome/Marie Gareau]; d: Aft. 28 February 1767
Notes for Claude Marc Pitre:
- Excerpt from The Acadians in France, Vol. 2, Belle Isle en Mer Registers, La Rochette Papers (compiled, translated and edited by Milton P. Rieder, Jr. and Norma Gaudet Rieder):
Declaration of Claude Pitre of Arpens de Triboutons: On February 28, 1767 appeared
Claude Pitre living in the village of Arpens de Triboutons, parish of Sauzon. Who in the presence of
Jean Baptiste LeBlanc, Simon Pierre Daigre, Joseph Babin and Armand Granger
witnesses, all Acadians living on this island, declared that he was born at Port Royal on May 13, 1700 of
Marc Pitre and Jeanne Brun of the said place; Marc Pitre born of
Jean Pitre originally Flemish and of Marie Pincelet of Paris.
Jeanne Lebrun (Brun) daughter of Sebastien Lebrun and Henriette Bourg and
Sebastien Lebrun issued of Vincent Lebrun who came from France with his wife
Marie Brault and both died at Port Royal. The said Claude Pitre married at Cobeguit, parish of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul June 12, 1724 to
Elisabeth Guerin born at the said Cobeguit September 29, 1704 of Jerome Guerin and Elisabeth Aucoin.
Jerome Guerin was the issue of another Jerome Guerin who came from France married to
Marie Blanchard. The said Jerome Guerin died at Port Royal and
Marie Blanchard at Beaubassin. Elisabeth Aucoin was born at Beaubassin of
Martin Aucoin who came from France, married at Port Royal to Marie Gaudet
and both died at the said place. Of the first marriage of Claude Pitre with
Elizabeth Guerin was born at Cobeguit, in the said parish of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul, December 17, 1726, a boy named
Joseph Pitre who married at the said place Anne Bourg daughter of
Ambroise Bourg and Elisabeth Melancon of Isle Saint Jean in North America, Diocese of Quebec; the said
Elizabeth Guerin died at sea with the rest of her family in 1758 on an English ship which was shipwrecked in transporting a party of Acadian families from the said Isle Saint Jean to Europe.
Claude Pitre married a second time in England at Liverpool May 9, 1760 to
Magdeleine Darois born at Mines, parish of Saint Charles, in 1715 of Jerome Darois
who came from Paris and married at Port Royal to Marie Gareau and died at the Riviere de Petkoudiak in the Bay of Beaubassin. The said
Marie Gareau died in Virginia, she was the daughter of Dominique Gareau who came from France, married
Anne Gaudet at Port Royal and both of them died at the said place. The said
Magdeleine Darois married in 1749 to Alexis Trahan born at Pigiguit, parish of l'Assomption, in 1727 of
Alexandre Trahan of Port Royal and of Marguerite LeJeune. Alexandre Trahan issued of another
Alexandre Trahan of Port Royal who was married at the said place to Marie Pellerin
and the said Alexandre Trahan descended from Guillaume Trahan who came from France and of
Magdeleine Brun, both of them died at Port Royal. Marguerite LeJeune born at Port Royal in 1698 of
Pierre LeJeune and Marie Thibodault of Port Royal. The said
Pierre LeJeune issued of another Pierre LeJeune who came from France, married at Port Royal and died there. Of the marriage of the said
Magdeleine Darois and Alexis Trahan, deceased at Liverpool in England in the month of July 1756, was born at Pigiguit, parish of l'Assomption the 10th of August 1752,
Paul Trahan the only son of this marriage is living at the village of Arpens de Triboutons, parish of Sauzon with his mother and his step-father
Claude Pitre. Such is the declaration of the said Claude Pitre who having it read to him stated that the contents was right and that he could not sign the accounting in accordance with the ordinance.
Completed and drawn up under the signatures of the witnesses named as being
present, of Messire Joseph Benoist parish priest of Sauzon, of Messire Jean
Louis Le Loutre missionary priest and of us clerk, at the said Sauzon March 12
of the said year. Signed: Joseph Babin, Jean Baptiste LeBlanc, Simon Pr.
Daigre, Armand Granger, J.L. Le Loutre ptre. miss., Jh. Benoist cure de Sauzon
and Thebaud commis.
Back one generation to parents of Claude Marc Pitre
Items in RED taken from transcriptions in the following:
- Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles Acadiennes (Stephen A. White)
- The Acadians in France, Vol. 2, Belle Isle en Mer Registers, La Rochette Papers (Rieder & Rieder)
- Letter from Stephen A. White to Leo Peters
- Acadians in Exile (Hebert)
- The Acadian Exiles in Saint-Malo 1758-1785 (Robichaux)
Last updated: 3 December 2006