Eusebe Pitre

1824 Bathurst, New Brunswick – 1895 Brewer, Maine 

 

 

Continuation of tree (13th child of Charles Olivier Pitre/2nd wife Marie Esther Theriot); all known surname descendants:

                   6     Eusebe Pitre  b: Abt. 1824  Bathurst, Gloucester, NB; d: 17 November 1895  Brewer, Penobscot, ME

                               +Elizabeth Doucet  b: Abt. 1833; m: 12 August 1857  Ste. Famille, Bathurst, Gloucester, NB [Pierre/Isabelle Pitre]; d: Abt. 1873  Bathurst, Gloucester, NB

                         7        Mary Pitre  b: 1 May 1858  Ste. Famille, Bathurst, Gloucester, NB; d: 21 October 1942  St. John, St. John, NB

                                     + Joseph McManus  b: 23 September 1848  St. John, St. John, NB; m: 13 April 1885  St. Jean Immaculate Conception, St. John, St. John, NB; d: 22 August 1916  St. John, St. John, NB   

                                   *2nd Husband of Mary Pitre:

                                     + Michael Daley  b: Abt. 1863  St. John, NB; m: 31 July 1917  Bathurst, Gloucester, NB [Hugh/Susanne McCowan]; d: Aft. October 1942

                         7        Charles Pitre  b: 6 February 1860  Ste. Famille, Bathurst, Gloucester, NB; d: 17 September 1906  St. John, St. John, NB

                                     +Mary Esther Degruchy  b: Abt. 1865  New Bandon, Gloucester, NB; m: 16 February 1885  St. John the Evangelist, Belledune, Gloucester, NB [George/Venerande Blanchard]; d: 3 July 1945  Waterford, Saratoga, NY

                         7        Elizabeth Pitre  b: 17 August 1861  Ste. Famille, Bathurst, Gloucester, NB; d: 6 December 1922  St. John, St. John, NB

                                     + Edward Graham  b: 4 May 1854  Norton, Kings, NB; m: 13 August 1888  St. John, St. John, NB [Michael/Margaret Dowlan]; d: 17 July 1920  St. John, St. John, NB

                         7        Margaret Pitre  b: 24 December 1863  Ste. Famille, Bathurst, Gloucester, NB; d: 27 August 1945  Jacquet River, Restigouche, NB

                                     + Joseph Albert  b: Abt. 1859; m: 2 February 1885  St. John the Evangelist, Belledune, Gloucester, NB [Bernard/Marguerite Bertin]; d: 4 March 1940  Jacquet River, Restigouche, NB

                         7        Jean Pitre  b: Abt. 1865  Beresford, Gloucester, NB; d: Aft. 1871

                         7        Jacques Pitre  b: 9 May 1869  St. Polycarpe, Petit Rocher, Gloucester, NB; d: 23 June 1891  Petit Rocher, Gloucester, NB

                         7        George Pitre  b: 27 October 1873  St. Polycarpe, Petit Rocher, Gloucester, NB; d: 5 July 1932  West Bathurst, Gloucester, NB

                                     +Sarah B. Doucet  b: 26 January 1871  Bathurst, Gloucester, NB; m: 6 September 1898  Ste. Famille, Bathurst, Gloucester, NB [Basile/Marie Melanson]; d: Aft. July 1932

 

 

Notes for Eusebe Pitre:

Census

- 1861 Bathurst, Gloucester, New Brunswick:  Useb Petre 36 (farmer), wife Elizabeth 35, Mary 2, Charles 1; widowed mother Hester Petre 88 [sic 71]; Mary A. Doucett 26 & Samuel Doucett 15.

- 1871 Beresford, Gloucester, NB:  Eusebe Pitre 55, wife Elizabeth 38, Marie 12, Charles 10, Elizabeth 8, Marguerite 6, Jean 4, Jacques 2.

- 21 November 1874 land grant Eusebe Petre (v. 92, #15901) Beresford, Gloucester, NB, 100 acres.

 

- 1881 Bathurst, Gloucester, NB:  Charles Pete 20, living w/family of Thomas Raitt 32 (photographer) & wife Fyfe 32.  George Pete 5, living w/family of Dennis Commeau 60 (blacksmith) & wife Margaret 60.  Mary Pete 30 & Margaret Pete 20, living w/John Baldwin 33 (fish merchant) & wife Annie 27.  [Jacques 11 - ?] 

 

- 1891 Durham, Restigouche, NB:  Joseph Albear 24 factory laborer & wife Margaret 21, Mary 5, Margaret 2, Joseph 1, Josephine 2 months, lodger James Peete 18 mill man.

 

- Contributed by Marc Pitre, Eusebe's 2 x great-grandson:  Eusebe Pitre's wife Elizabeth Doucet died when their last child George was born in 1873.  Apparently, Eusebe fled to the USA and George was brought up and adopted by Elizabeth's family (1881 census shows George is living with Dennis & Marguerite Comeau.)  George took the name of Comeau during the years prior to his own marriage in 1898, but he married using his real name of Pitre.  After Eusebe left for the States, the last word the family had was that he died getting robbed for the few dollars he had in his pockets. 

 

Obituary:  Biddeford Saco Journal (Biddeford, ME), Monday, 18 November 1895:  Bangor, Me., Nov. 18 - Isaac Peat of Brewer, a hermit, aged 70, was found dead in his camp yesterday afternoon.  He was a native of Miramichi, N.B.

- L'Impartial (PEI), Thursday, 28 November 1895:  Death of an Acadian Hermit - Monday night's newspapers announced the death of 'Isaac Peat' arriving at a camp in Brewer, Maine where his body was found by passers-by.  The dispatches say that 'Isaac Peau' is a native of Miramichi.  We think we can say the person mentioned above is none other than Eusebe Pitre, from Bathurst, who left this parish, 5 or 6 years ago, to go on foot to the United States.  The man at that time had an attack of mental alienation.  He arrived in Brewer 2 months after his departure from Bathurst, according to a report that appeared a month ago in one of the American newspapers.  Pitre lived like a hermit in the middle of a plain not far from Brewer, Maine.  He led a miserable life, thought himself to be pursued by the demon, and he himself recounted that in the middle of the night he often received the visit of his satanic majesty and that he chased him with a rifle.  He did not work and the charitable people of his neighborhood did not let him miss the necessities of life.  He died at the age of 70.  He leaves several children, including a very well married daughter, it is said, in St. Jean, N.B., and who, for two months, had research done for her --- father.  Courrier des Prov. Mar.

- Le Moniteur Acadien (NB), 25 Nov 1895; Courier from the Maritime Provinces:  Eusebius Pitre "Death of Isaac Peat in Brewer, Maine, in a camp... from Miramichi.  This is Eusebius Pitre of Bathurst... lived like a hermit... thought he was being pursued by the devil... died at 70... leaves many children including a daughter married in St. John's, NB."

* To Monsignor Robichaud:  Letter from Ernestine LeBlanc, Robertville, NB, 8 January 1988:  Have you heard that there was a murder in Ste-Louise around 1890?  It was my uncle John Pitre of Dunlop who told me this:  Around 1935 old Isaie Duguay told me that my grandfather Eusebe Pitre lived alone in the wood behind Ste-Louise with a big guard dog.  Everyone said that Eusebius had gold hidden in his hut.  One day a visitor found him murdered.  The big dog had also been killed."                            

 

 

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Items in RED have been verified against parish register entries. 

- Some deaths in RED from online death certificates (1920-1938), online death registrations (1888-1919).

- New Brunswick marriages in RED also from Vital Statistics Records (online)

 

Last updated:  29 August 2023.