Pierre Bois

  General Notes:

mom sheet

From 1809 census in Le Platin: Jeanne DUGAS, widow of Pierre BOIS.

From Le Trois Pinion Web Page
According to updated research, brothers by the name of John Chiasson and Paul Chiasson predated the coming of Pierre Bois and Joseph Richard, also known as Matinal, in 1782. There is still Bois blood in Cheticamp since his daughter remained and married in Cheticamp. Richard returned to Montreal but his two sisters remained in Cheticamp and married.
The two Chiasson brothers, John and Paul were married to two Boudreau sisters. They came to Cheticamp before 1782 and John's death is recorded in Petit Etang in 1809. However, he had two sons who traveled to Louisiana from Belle Cote and later returned. Paul was captured in the Mac Kenzie raids of 1759 and brought to the Halifax garrison . Paul next shows up in Miquelon with his wife, three children, father and mother. According to this research, the Chiasson family is the oldest in Cheticamp.

From LTP E. Burns : name on founder's marker;

I have written dowh: i think for born St Peter's Port Toulouse

Notes from

<http://homepage.mac.com/michelc1/AGUYONA18.htm>

Charles D Roach, History of Cheticamp - In French, I (Jackie Langley used a translator and my limited knowledge of French to discern these notes).

1750 - There was a fishing station at Cheticamp (Charles D Roach who cites Nicholas Denys)

1782 Two Acadian Families in Cheticamp:
- Pierre Bois
- Joseph Richard

These families were formerly of Port Toulouse.
(Charles D Roach who cites Fr. Rameau who cites “Fougére”)

Pierre Bois Family

Pierre Bois (per sieur of the Castles 1752 census) born in Port Toulouse about 1733.

M&D: Pierre & Marie Coste of Ardoise

1752 census - Pierre Boy (19) Married to Jeanne Dugas (native of Louisbourg 22), no children, 2 cows, 1 chicken, on land granted from Joseph Dugas father of Jeanne.
Jeanne Dugas daughter of Joseph Richard and Marguerite Richard.

1760 Pierre Bois and Jeanne Dugas are refugees in Rostigouche.
At the time Pierre was a lieutenant in the French troops (Bourdon)
1761 July - They are still there.

1761 Fall, The Bois Family is seized in the MacKenzie raids. Have a record of Pierre Bois family (7) in a Halifax prison. They were imprisoned until 1763 (end of the Seven Year War) and settled in Arichat.
Francois-Regis born July 5, 1766
Geneviève born January 26, 1769

Left Arichat about 1780 because of the American pirate raids to Paspebiac (thru Madeleine Islands)

From there they settled in Cheticamp. The Robins had a fishing station there.

Oral History has the Pierre Bois house near the bridge in Platin on the property of Eddie a John Poirier. There has been no physical evidence found to date.



Pierre Bois most likely died in Cheticamp before the census of 1809.
(1089 census Jeanne Dugas, widow of Pierre Bois)

1790 September 27: Grant to Cheticamp Settlers of 7,000 crown acres knows as “The Grant to Pierre Bois”.

1812 census Jeanne Dugas statement which details their travels:

Aprés la chute de Louisbourg, ils étaient allés se réfugier à l'Ile Saint-Jean (l'Ile du Prince-Édouard). Ensuite à Remshic (Wallace actuel), puis de nouveau au cap-Breton, de là à Restigouche, de Restigouche à Halifax, de Halifax à Arichat, puis aux Iles de la Madeleine en route pour la région de Paspébiac, et de là à Chéticamp. Ils en avaient vues des vagues!

Source :
Pour nous faire une idée de leurs nombreuses pérégrinations, nous n'avons qu'à relire le témoignage que Jeanne Dugas (alors veuve de Pierre Bois) faisait à Mgr Plessis lors de sa visite pastorale à Chéticamp en 1812. Ce témoignage est cité par le Père Anselme Chiasson à la page 30 de son livre susmentionné. D'après ce récit, Pierre Bois et Jeanne Dugas avaient d'abord vécu au cap-Breton.

Jeanne Dugas died in Cheticamp in the fall of 1817.

Jeanne Dugas was the wise woman of town; a c'est-a-aire, the one who helped woman with childbirth. Also, she would baptize the baby in absence of a priest.

Pierre married Jeanne Dugas before 1752 in Port Toulouse, Ile Royale. (Jeanne Dugas was born about 1730 in Louisbourg, Il Royal and died in 1817 in Cheticamp, Inverness, Novia Scotia, Canada.)