3714. THOMAS Charles CORMIER
Cormier family
Telegraph-Journal, Friday, July 29, 1994; p. A4
The ancestor of the Cormier family in Acadia - Thomas - was born around 1636 in La Rochelle, France. He was the son of master carpenter Robert Cormier and of Marie Piraude. He came to Acadia as a child with his father to work on Nicolas Deny's fort at Saint Peters on Cape Breton.
The enlistment contract, signed at La Rochelle on January 8, 1644 was found in the archives of notary Teuleron. Robert Cormier agreed to come to Acadia with his family and to work there for three years. It appears that Robert returned to France and that his only son, Thomas, stayed in Acadia. The census taken in 1671 in Port-Royal indicates that Thomas Cormier was - like his father - a carpenter by trade, that he was 35 years old and married to 17-year-old Madeleine Girouard. He had a small farm with seven horned animals and seven sheep. A few years later, Thomas moved, with his family to Beaubassin, where he was one of the pioneers of the new Acadian colony. All Cormiers have their roots in Beaubassin. Thomas left a family of 10 children, including four sons: François, Alexis, Germain and Pierre. Their familes endured the miseries and deprivations brought about by the 1755 deportations. Because of their proximity to the present-day border of New Brunswick; many of the Cormiers were able to escape their persecutors by fleeing to the northern part of the province and Quebec, where they found a safe haven and where numerous descendants of that family settled, particularly in the Trois-Rivières, Richelieu and the Gaspé areas. Certain Cormier families were deported to South Carolina and eventually made their way to Louisiana. Others found refuge on Miquelon and rejoined the land of their ancestors in France. In New Brunswick, the Cormier family pioneered the establishment of several Acadian communities such as Caraquet, Petit-Rocher, Memramcook and Bouctouche.
The ancestor of the Memramcook Cormiers, Pierre, married to Anne Gaudet, was captured by the British in 1755 and imprisoned in Fort Cumberland (Beauséjour). Tradition has it that Pierre escaped disguised as a woman. On the eve of the day when he and other Acadians were slated to be deported to Georgia, his sister brought him food as well as female garments. Pierre Cormier and his family lived on the St. John River in 1770, but he decided to leave in 1786 after the arrival of the Loyalists. He settled at Memramcook, where he died.
Contributed by Fidele Theriault of Fredericton, New Brunswick.1671 Census
Thomas CORMIER, carpenter, 35, wife Madeline GIROUARD 17; Child: 1 daughter 2; cattle 7, sheep 7.Sylvia is an eighth cousin, two times removed of Brian Cormier, a long time friend from the 15 Fd Regt, RCA, in Vancouver. Thomas Charles Cormier; born in 1636 in LaRochelle, France; was the first common ancestor between Brian Cormier's line and Sylvia Henderson's line. Thomas' son, Alexis continues Brian's line and his son, Pierre I, and daughter, Ann-Marie, continue on Sylvia's line, eventually both Pierre and Ann-Marie lines married into the Leger family.
3715. Marie-Madeleine GIROUARD
1671 Census
Thomas CORMIER, carpenter, 35, wife Madeline GIROUARD 17; Child: 1 daughter 2; cattle 7, sheep 7.1693 Census
Madeleine GIROUARD widow (of Thomas CORMIER) 39, Alexis 16, Germain 13, Pierre 11, Claire 9, Marie 7, Agnes 7, Jeanne 5; 16 cattle, 4 sheep, 12 hogs.1698 Census
Marie-Madeleine GIROUARD (widow of Thomas CORMIER?) 45; Germain 18; Pierre 16; Claire 14; Marie and Agnes, twins, 12; Jeanne 10; 12 cattle, 4 sheep, 8 hogs.
3840. Denis GAUDET
Denis was the eldest child of Jean and Nichole.
Denis and Martine had five children, including two which carried the first name Pierre.
4050. Guillaume TRAHAN
Guillaume arived in NB aboard the Saint-Jehan in 1636.
He received one of the first land grants at Port Royal, close to the fort.
TRAHAN, Guillaume, came from France and married at Port-Royal Madeleine Brun, according to twelve depositions: one from his grandson Pierre Trahan (Doc. inéd., Vol. III, pp. 7-8), six from or on behalf of great-grandsons (ibid., Vol. III, pp. 13, 30, 41, 108, 110, 123), four from husbands of great-granddaughters (ibid., Vol. II, p. 182; Vol. III, pp. 41, 45-46, 93), and one from the second husband of the widow of a great-grandson (ibid., Vol. III, p. 29). The similarity of expression among all these depositions suggests that there was a good deal of collaboration in their preparation, which one would expect because of the near relationships among the various deponents, who nonetheless descended from all three of Guillaume Trahan’s sons. The Trahan family’s origins are very well documented. Guillaume Trahan’s first marriage has been traced at Chinon (J.-M. Germe, “Mariage de Guillaume Trahan et de Françoise Corbineau,” Le Messager de l’Atlantique, No. 12 [January 1991], p. 27), and he and his first family appear on the passenger list of the Saint-Jehan in 1636, which states that they had been living at Bourgueil, in Touraine (A. Godbout, “Le rôle du Saint-Jehan et les origines acadiennes,” SGCF, Vol. I [1944], pp. 19-30). As for Guillaume’s second wife, Madeleine Brun, her baptismal record (January 25, 1645) has been found in the register of La Chaussée, in Poitou.
1671 CensusGuillaume TRAHAN, 60, wife Madelaine BRUN 25; Children: Guillaume 4, Jehan-Charles 3, Alexandre 1; cattle 8, sheep 10. Pierre SIRE, gunsmith, 27, wife Marie BOURGEOIS 18; Child: Jean 3 months; cattle 11, sheep 6.
4051. Magdeleine BRUN (LeBRUN)
1686 Census
Pierre JOAN 60, Magdelaine BRUN his wife 47; children by her first marriage (to Guillaume Trahan): Guillaume 19, Jean 17, Jean-Charles 15, Jeanne 12, Magdelaine 9, Marie 14; (children with Pierre) Susanne Joan 2 months; 2 guns, 8 arpents, 10 cattle, 10 sheep.
4054. Jean PITRE
PITRE, Jean, was originally Flemish and married Marie Pesseley, who came from Paris, according to his grandson Claude Pitre (Doc. inéd., Vol. III, p. 28), as is mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The Parisian origin of Marie Pesseley is quite doubtful, and Father Clarence d’Entremont questioned the Flemish origin of Jean Pitre, because he had found mention of a blacksmith named John Peters in Acadia who came from England (Histoire du Cap-Sable [Eunice, Louisiana: Hébert Publications, 1981], Vol. III, p. 1050), and the 1671 census does show that Jean Pitre was a specialized sort of metalworker, an edge-tool maker (see DGFA-1, pp. 1318-1319). While there is no proof that the blacksmith and the edge-tool maker were one and the same, there is no real contradiction in supposing that they might have been, inasmuch as there were many Flemish artisans in England during the middle part of the seventeenth century, and one of them might have chosen to emigrate to Acadia sometime after the English capture of the colony in 1654.
1671 Census
Jean PITRE, edge tool maker, 35, wife Marie PESELET 26; Children: Marie 5, Catherine 3, Claude 9 months; cattle 1. Etienne COMMEAUX 21, wife Marie LEFEVBRE; Child: Catherine 3 weeks; cattle 7, sheep 7.