Jean Pitre
1699 Acadia - 1758 at sea
Jean Pitre dit Bejeau was born about 1699 in Cobequit, Acadia, the eldest child of seven boys and five girls born to Jean Denis Pitre and Francoise Babin. During Jean’s childhood his family shifted locations several times within Acadia. Being the eldest he was probably given responsibility early, but as a child he was certainly never without playmates.
Around 1721 Jean married Marguerite Theriot of Grand Pre, the third child of Pierre Theriot and Marie Bourg. (The registers, recording their marriage and subsequent births of their eleven children, probably no longer exist. Their family unit has been reconstructed from other sources.)
Throughout the majority of their marriage Jean and Marguerite probably lived as did most other Acadians. They got on with life, while the political winds changed around them. By the 1750’s, like many others, Jean sought refuge from the inevitable on Ile St. Jean.
In the 1752 census Jean & Marguerite, both now in their fifties, were settled on the north side of Riviere du Ouest. They had three of their adult children with them and three teenagers. The following year Marie would marry Alexis Marin Blanchard, as would Isabelle to Jean Baptiste Henry, Susanne to Jean Baptiste Olivier Henry, and Jean to Francoise Marie Henry. Three of their daughters were already married: Genevieve to Joseph Blanchard, Madeleine to Pierre Henry, and Marie Josephe to Joseph Theriot. They had some livestock and had made a garden on the plot. But even this meager existence was not to last.
Late in 1758, the English removed Jean and many hundreds more from the island. Jean and wife Marguerite both died at sea on the crossing to France. Of their offspring, Marie and her husband survived the trip (three of their children died at sea) only to die in Nantes along with their youngest child within weeks; Genevieve survived also, with the loss of four of her five children, but her husband died within a week of her sister; Marie Madeleine & her husband survived the trip but Marie Madeleine succumbed two months later (one of their four children died at sea); Elisabeth Isabelle & her husband survived but he died about six weeks later; Susanne & her husband survived the trip but he also died two months later along with one of their five children (three children perished at sea); Marie Josephe and her three children all died at sea but her husband survived the trip; Jean’s widow arrived alone as her husband and three children had died at sea; Pierre survived but died 6 weeks later; and 20-year-old son Anselme survived.
The loss incurred by this branch of Pitres was huge. Not only had Jean and Marguerite lost their own lives, but the death toll included five of their children, four sons-in-law, and nineteen grandchildren.
Continuation of tree (1st child of Jean Denis Pitre/Francoise Babin); all known surname descendants:
3 Jean Pitre b: Abt. 1699 Cobequid, Acadia; d: 1758 at sea during the crossing to France
+Marguerite Theriot b: Abt. 1701 Grand Pre, Acadia; m: Abt. 1721 Acadia [Pierre/Marie Bourg]; d: 1758 at sea during the crossing to France
4 Marie Pitre b: Abt. 1722 Cobequit, Acadia; d: 11 February 1759 Hotel Dieu, St. Malo, Ille-et-Villaine, France
+Alexis Marin Blanchard b: Abt. 1725 Cobequit, Acadia; m: 29 October 1753 Port Lajoie, Ile St. Jean [Joseph/Anne Dupuis]; d: 3 February 1759 Hotel Dieu, St. Malo, Ille-et-Villaine, France
4 Marguerite Genevieve Pitre b: Abt. 1723 Acadia; d: Bef. 1785 France
+Joseph Blanchard b: Abt. 1720 Acadia; m: Abt. 1745 Acadia; d: 16 February 1759 Hospital, St. Malo, Ille-et-Villaine, France
*2nd Husband of Marguerite Genevieve Pitre:
+Francois Landry b: 13 May 1716 Port Royal, Acadia; m: 11 February 1777 Chantenay, Bretagne, France [Charles/Catherine Josephe Broussard]; d: Aft. 1785 Louisiana
4 Marie Madeleine Pitre b: Abt. 1726 Acadia; d: 29 March 1759 St. Servan, Ille-et-Villaine, France
+Pierre Henry b: Abt. 1719 Cobequit, Acadia; m: Abt. 1747 Acadia [Jean Francois/Marie Hebert]; d: Bef. 1785 France
4 Elisabeth Isabelle Pitre b: Abt. 1727 Cobequit, Acadia; d: 5 October 1797 Plattenville, Assumption, LA
+Jean Baptiste Henry b: Abt. 1727 Acadia; m: 12 February 1753 Port Lajoie, Ile St. Jean [Germain Jacques/Cecile Deveau]; d: 8 March 1759 St. Servan, Malo, Ille-et-Villaine, France
*2nd Husband of Elisabeth Isabelle Pitre:
+Prospere Landry b: Abt. 1725 Acadia; m: 17 October 1761 Pleurtuit, Ille et Villaine, France [Jean Baptiste/Marguerite Comeau]; d: 3 October 1797 Plattenville, Assumption, LA
4 Susanne Pitre b: Abt. 1730 Cobequit, Acadia; d: 20 June 1786 Pointe Coupee, LA
+Jean Baptiste Olivier Henry b: Abt. 1728 Acadia; m: Abt. 1748 Acadia; d: 28 March 1759 St. Servan, Ille-et-Villaine, France
*2nd Husband of Susanne Pitre:
+Pierre Hebert b: Abt. 1735 Cobequit, Acadia; m: 30 June 1760 Pleurtuit, Ille-et-Villaine, France [Jean/Marie Claire Dugas]; d: Aft. 1786 Louisiana
4 Marie Josephe Pitre b: Abt. 1731 Acadia; d: 1758 at sea during the crossing to France
+Joseph Theriot b: Abt. 1728 Acadia; m: Abt. 1750 Acadia [Joseph/Francoise Melanson]; d: Aft. 1759
4 Jean Pitre b: Abt. 1732 Beaubassin, Acadia; d: 1758 at sea during the crossing to France
+Francoise Marie Henry b: Abt. 1733 Acadia; m: 10 February 1754 Port Lajoie, Ile St. Jean [Jean Francois/Marie Hebert]; d: 17 October 1784 St. Servan, Bretagne, France
4 Pierre Pitre b: Abt. 1735 Acadia; d: 7 March 1759 St. Servan, Ille-et-Villaine, France
4 Anne Pitre b: Abt. 1737 Acadia; d: Aft. 1752
4 Anselme Pitre b: Abt. 1738 Cobequit, Acadia; d: Abt. 1792 Lafourche, LA
+Elisabeth Dugas b: Abt. 1739 Acadia; m: 14 February 1763 St. Suliac, Bretagne, France [Pierre/Isabelle (Elisabeth) Bourg]; d: 28 April 1776 St. Jacques, Nantes, France
*2nd Wife of Anselme Pitre:
+Madeleine Leblanc b: Abt. 1748 Acadia; m: 29 October 1776 Nantes, France [Mathurin/Elisabeth Babin]; d: 4 January 1781 Hotel Dieu, St. Malo, Ille-et-Villaine, France
4 Paul Pitre b: Abt. 1742 Acadia; d: Aft. 1752
The Sinking of the Duke William and of the Violet Taking the Acadians into Exile - An article by the late Rev. Clarence d'Entremont [website of Michele Doucette]
Back one generation to parents of Jean Pitre
- Earliest items in RED sourced from Dictionnaire Genealogique Des Familles Acadiennes (Stephen A. White) and from extant registers.
- Later items in RED have been verified against parish register entries.
- Transcriptions from The Acadian Exiles in St. Malo (Robichaux)
- Transcriptions from The Acadian Exiles in Chatellerault (Robichaux)
- Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records
Last updated: 15 October 2011.