First Generation
1. Jacques BOURGEOIS was born on Jan 8, 1620/21
in La Ferté-Gaucher, France.1
He appeared in the census in 1671 in Port Royal, Annapolis Co., Acadia.2 He died in 1701 in Port Royal,
Annapolis Co., Acadia. Jacques BOURGEOIS and Jeanne TRAHAN were
married in 1643 in Port Royal, Annapolis Co., Acadia. By his own
account, Jacques Bourgeois, the pioneer of the Bourgeois family in Acadia, came
to Acadia as a surgeon in 1642, during the governorship of Charles d'Aulnay.
The most recent theory about Jacques Bourgeois' birthplace comes from René
Perron. His research on the origins of Acadian families in France brought him
to a La Ferté-Gaucher where he found in the registers of the parish of Saint-Romain
the baptismal certificate of Jacob Bourgeois, born on January 9, 1621, son of
Marguerite Bourgeois. He might have learned his trade of surgeon in a commandery
of the Order of Malta in nearby Coutrans.
[n.b. Paul-Pierre Bourgeois, in a special report to 'le bourgeois' (Vol 8, Apr
1998), a newsletter of the Association of Bourgeois in America, wrote that he
had seen a birth record for Jacques Bourgeois. This viewing came on a visit by
him to the traditional birth place of Jacques, La Ferté Gaucher, France
during the Summer of 1994.
The record, dated 8 January 1621 is written in Latin and reads as follows: "...Jacobus,
filisu defuncti Nicolai Grandjehan, usque ___ Bourgeois relictae ejusdem..."
Although Paul-Pierre Bourgeois did not offer a translation, I believe it can
be partially translated as "...Jacobus, son of the deceased Nicolai Grandjehan,..."
jkc]
Around 1643, shortly after his arrival in Acadia, Jacques Bourgeois married Jeanne
Trahan, daughter of Guillaume and Françoise Charbonneau. Through this marriage
he entered into one of the oldest Acadian families.
When Port-Royal surrendered on August 16, 1654, Jacques was lieutenant of the
small Acadian garrison. His name tops the 1671 census list where he is described
as a surgeon. Judging by the extent of the cultivated acreage of his farm, in
two different places, and by the number of cattle he owned, Bourgeois made a
living from agriculture as much as from his profession. It is possible this means
that he had already begun his settlement at Beaubassin.
in 1671, Jacob Bourgeois, surgeon, age 50 was enumerated with his wife, Jeanne
Trahan, age 40; children: Jeanne, 27; Charles, 25; Germain, 21; Marie, 19; Guillaume,
16; Marguerite, 13; Francois, 12; Anne, 10; Marie, 7; Jeanne, 4; 33 cattle and
24 sheep.
Jacques Bourgeois was a jack of all trades. He was equally at home as carpenter,
merchant and colonizer.
It was he who established the colony of Beaubassin by settling his sons there,
as well as his sons-in-law, Pierre Cyr and Germain Girouard. When Beaubassin
was granted to La Vallière as a seigniory in 1676, his patent letters stated
he was not to interfere with the settlers already established there.
At Beaubassin, Jacques Bourgeois was involved in ship building and he also built
a flour mill and a sawmill. His knowledge of English allowed him to trade with
the Boston merchants, notably with one John Nelson. He died at Port-Royal in
1701.
His son Charles settled at Beaubassin and continued his father's work. His brother
Germain stayed at Port-Royal where he was a merchant. The Acadian Bourgeois are
descended from these two brothers.
The majority of the members of the Bourgeois family living in Acadia in 1755
were deported to New England, especially to Massachusetts, and to South Carolina
and Connecticut.
Unable to live as exiles among anglo-protestants, they courageously took to the
roads in order to come back to Canada and most of them settled in the Nicolet,
Saint-Grégoire, Bécancourt, L'Assomption and Saint Jacques de l'Achigan
areas. Descendants of that family are also to be found on Îles-de-la-Madeleine
and on Cape Breton, particularly in Chéticamp and Île-Madame.
In New Brunswick, this family settled in the southern part of the province, especially
at Memramcook and in Grande-Digue.
The ancestor of the Bourgeois family of Memramcook and of Grande-Digue, Pierre-Benjamin,
was a grandson of Germain Bourgeois of Port-Royal.
Pierre-Benjamin died at Grande-Digue, in 1821, at the age of approximately 95.
It is not because of his longevity that he is interesting, but rather because
he married five times. Only the names of four of his five wives are known: Cécile
Aucoin, Anne LeBlanc, Anne Thébault and Anne Thibodeau.
However, not all the Memramcook Bourgeois descend from Pierre-Benjamin. Some
are descended from Pierre-Benjamin's cousin from Beaubassin, Joseph Bourgeois.
Often called Calotte, Joseph married Félicité Belliveau at Pisiquit
in 1764. Like Pierre-Benjamin, he lived to a ripe old age, 94, and died at Memramcook
in 1833.
Joseph was the ancestor of Father Philias Bourgeois, a professor at Collège
de Saint-Joseph and the author of Vie de l'abbé F.-X. Lafrance and of a
Histoire Du Canada en 200 leçons, published by the Librairie Beauchemin
in 1902 and in 1903.
From the New Brunswick, Canada Telegraph-Journal, August 11, 1994: "...Jean
Poirier, the first ancestor of this family in Acadia, was born in France where
he married, around 1646, Jeanne Chabrat. He appears to have been the soldier
"Jehan Poirier" who came to Acadia in 1641 with Jacques Bourgeois on
board the ship Saint-Francois."
In his book, "History of the Acadians", Bona Arsenault writes that
Jacques Bourgeois was one of the most prosperous inhabitants of Port Royal, Acadia,
Canada in 1671. Records show that he owned 33 cattle and a herd of sheep in
1671. He had arrived in 1640 as surgeon under d'Aulnay's regime and was in charge
of coastal shipping and trading with the Indians in Baie Francaise, now the Bay
of Fundy.
Jacques and his sons, Charles and Germain, as well as others, began the settlement
of Beaubassin around 1672.
The following was taken from a paper read before the 'Historical Society of Chignecto',
by W.C. Milner, pub. 1901, in"Acadensis", vol. l, no.3
"The advantages of Chipecto for fur trading with the Indians, and for cattle
raising, had not escaped the eyes of Port Royal; and one of the residents there,
Jacques Bourgeois, who, in coasting along the bay, engaged in trading ventures
amongst the Indians, had spied out the land at Beaubassin; and, returning to
Port Royal, sold out his farm and cattle and came back to Beaubassin, accompanied
by his two sons-in-law, Pierre Sire and Germain Girouard, and the latter's two
brothers-in-law, Jacques Belon and Thomas Connier, and also by Pierre Arsinault.
This little colony comprised the first European settlers in Chignecto, and, excepting
the settlement at Baie des Vents, the first in the province of New Brunswick.
Bourgeois, the leader of the immigrants, was in his way a notable man. He was
a surgeon by profession; his name appears in the capitulation of 1654 as brother-in-law
and lieutenant of Doucet de La Verdure, guardian of the children of d'Aulnay,
and commandant at Port Royal; and he was one of the hostages delivered to the
English. His settlement at Beaubassin was made between the years 1671 and 1675.
Sieur de La Valliere's grant did not permit him to interfere with existing rights,
so he located himself beside Bourgeois and constructed there his manorial buildings.
He brought with him from Canada a number of families, amongst them were the Chiasson
and the Cottard; also he had employed people bearing the familiar names of Mercier,
Lagasse and Perthuis, (the latter held the responsible office of armorer), and
also Hache Galand, who was a man of business and his men-at-arms; he could lead
a fur trading expedition into the wilderness, or he could direct an attack on
the English. He married an Acadian lass - Anne Connier - and their descendants
to-day number hundreds of families. As nearly all the female part of the population
was on the Bourgeois side of the settlement, it was not long before any jealousies
melted away and the people were all Bourgeois.
It is presumable, but not certain, that the Bourgeois settlement was at Fort
Lawrence, in the vicinity of the Chignecto Ship Railway Dock."
Jeanne TRAHAN (daughter of Guillaume TRAHAN and
Francoise CHARBONNEAU) was born in 1629 in Bourgeueil, Anjou, France.
She died in 1676 in Port Royal, Annapolis Co., Acadia.4 Jacques BOURGEOIS and Jeanne TRAHAN had the following
children:
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