Pierre Morin dit Boucher is our eighth great grandfather, and here is his story collected from several sources. [
These writings may have been machine translated from French.] He is the first Morin in our family to come from France.
Pierre Morin, also known as "Boucher", which means butcher; born 1616 in Coulonges, sur L'Atize, France, came to Acadia as a saddler. He married Marie Martin in Port Royal Acadia in 1659. At that time Pierre was about 43 years old. Marie, the daughter of Pierre Martin and Catherine Vigneau, native of Port Royal, was about 14 years of age. At the time of their youngest child's birth (Jacques) in 1686, Pierre was 70 years old and Marie was 40. Pierre died in 1690 at age 74 in Restigouche. The site today is near Old Mission/Church Point, New Brunswick. Pierre obtained a piece of land near Port Royal and built a log home. This little farm provided an existence with excellent fishing in the river and coastal waters. According to Acadian census records of 1671, Pierre's land tax consisted of a chicken and one bushel of wheat payable November 11, of each year. His possessions were: 3 cows, 4 sheep and 1 acre of land under cultivation.
The following nine children were born in Port Royal: Marie,
Pierre II, Louis, Antoine, Marie Anne, Anne, Jacques, Charles and Marguerite.
By 1680, Port Royal had prospered a great deal and had six small craft outfitted as fishing vessels which aided the welfare of the community. Although Acadia had been returned to French control in 1667, by the Treaty of Breda, the area was far from being a peaceful place to live. French and English ships were in constant battle, with pirate ships making repeated raids on the territory often burning houses and killing livestock. On one occasion the pirates hung two inhabitants just for sport. Since the fort was only lightly manned, there was little security for the area residents.
By 1680, Pierre has had enough of this uncertain life and sells his small farm. The family and possessions are then moved to a little village far to the north side of Acadia called Beaubassin. This colony had been founded eight years earlier by a friend of Pierre, named Jacques Bourgoeis. This place was first known as "Bourgoeis Colony". The family travels there partly by ship up the north coast in the Bay of Fundy with their farm livestock. Beaubassin, the name means "Beautiful Basin", was located near the north shore of Chignecto Bay near what is now Fort Beausejour National Park, and Aulae, New Brunswick. It was then in the possession of a French Nobleman by the name of Michel Le Neuf, through concession of the King of France. Pierre Morin obtained several acres of farmland and built a house there for his family. He was thus a "habitant" of the Seigneury of Beaubassin.
The area marshlands were a haven for wildlife and seafood. Due to the extreme high and low tides here, residents had begun to build dikes to control the water and to reclaim fertile marsh slopes along the Le Marguerite (Missiquash) River. This was a time of peace for these people, far from Port-Royal and its troubles.
The family made their own furniture, boiled their own maple sugar, spun wool and flax, and made their own clothing. Cooking was done in an open fireplace with a stone oven. The big round loaves of French bread were put in and removed from the oven with long handled paddle-shovels. Favorite foods were pea soup, meat pies, pigs feet, ragout and the French bread. Large eels were caught and smoked for winter food. Butter as we know it was not generally used, but they did put the thick milk into crock "noggins" where it became quickly sour and even thicker. This was consumed "ravenously" with their meals. The children often captured and rode on the backs of big turtles which lived in the rivers.
Here in Beaubassin, Acadia, were born four more children to Pierre and Marie Morin. They were: Jean-Marie, Jacques-Francois, Simon-Joseph and Jacques aka Jacques Beausejour.
In 1682 two of the children are married in a double ceremony at the chapel of Notre Dame de Bon Secours, in Beaubassin.
Pierre who is 20 years old marries
Francoise Chiasson, daughter of Guyon Chiasson and Jeanne Bernard. Marie now 14 years old, marries Jacques Cochu, a navigator.
The Acadian census of 1686 lists for Pierre Morin Sr. possession of 15 cows, 12 pigs, 8 sheep, 30 acres of land.
Pierre's son Louis, born in 1664, was suspected of "misconduct" with Marie-Joseph LeNeuf, the daughter of the French nobleman. The governor of l' Acadie, Mr. de Menneval, confiscated all the goods of the family to the profit of the father of the young lady without any formality of justice. He then banishes the father, mother, sisters and even the sons-in-law from Beaubassin and colony. 44 people out of 129 of the total population of the village are banished. Then Louis is sent to France on the Rascal, and nobody ever heard of him again. Banished from Beaubassin in these painful circumstances, this family takes refuge at the village of the Micmacs Indians of Restigouche in the content of Bay of Hearts in 1688.
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| A sample of Mi'kmaq "hieroglyphic" writing, the Ave Maria |
The earlier text tells of this family's fate two years later, in 1688. Pierre Sr. died at Restigouche in 1690. The family protector, Richard Denys, was killed in 1691 with many others who were aboard the great schooner Sainte Francois Xavier, which was torn apart at sea in a violent storm. The family then disposed of their allotted land and moved to the capital city, Quebec, where several members received land grants. In 1697, Pierre's widow, Marie, received a grant of "a half-league on each side of the Gaspe River" from Francois De Galliet, lieutenant of the King, in Montreal. This she gave up in 1702 and lived out her days in Quebec City.
[see map of Pierre Morin's life]
