Marie Bernard

Family/Spouse: Rene Landry. Rene was born in 1634 in La Chaussée, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France; died in 1693 in Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia ; was buried in Garrison Graveyard, Annapolis Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

ANTOINE LANDRY — ACADIEN PIONEER
Co-Founder of the Settlement at 'La Rivière-des-Habitants'

Antoine was born about 1660 in Port-Royal, Acadie, the eldest son (and first child) of René Landry 'le jeune' and Marie (Bernard). In early Acadie, there were two unrelated (or distantly related) René Landrys who had emigrated from France; and Antoine's father, being 'the younger' of the two, is customarily referred to as 'le jeune' (or sometimes 'le cadet'). Antoine, a first-generation Acadien, was one of 15 children born to René and Marie; and like his many siblings, he grew up in Port-Royal (present-day Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) which was then the main hub of the Acadien community.

» It should be noted that in 17th century America the region known as 'Acadie' (aka 'Nouvelle-Écosse' or 'Nova Scotia') was a political football — and control of the region fluctuated back and forth between France and England. At the time of Antoine's birth, Acadie was under British rule; but six years later, the 'Treaty of Breda' restored control of the colony to France. For clarification regarding Antoine's place of birth, it would be inaccurate (for a number of reasons) to select 'Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada' from Find-A-Grave's drop-down list. That present-day location is actually the site of the original French habitation built in 1605 (on the north bank of the river); and in point of fact, there was no 'Annapolis County' in Antoine's era — and 'Canada' back then referred to the region along the Saint Lawrence River.

It was around 1681 (in Port-Royal, no doubt) when Antoine exchanged wedding vows with Marie Thibodeau, who was a year or so younger than he. Like her husband, Marie had also been born in Port-Royal — the first child (and eldest daughter) of Pièrre and Jeanne (Thériot) Thibodeau; but because she shared the same name with two younger sisters, this Marie is sometimes referred to as 'the elder Marie Thibodeau' — Marie l'ainée. A first-generation Acadienne and one of 16 children, Marie grew up on the family farm at Pré-Ronde (present-day Round Hill, Nova Scotia) — about five miles upriver from Port-Royal. Her parents were the progenitors of all American Thibodeaus whose roots trace back to 17th-century Acadie.

Soon after marrying (probably sometime in the spring of 1682), the Landrys left Port-Royal to establish themselves in an undeveloped area near the Bassin-des-Mines, about 60 miles northeast of their home village. Following the lead of Pièrre Thériot (their brother-in-law), Antoine and his brother Claude were among a handful of young men who pioneered a new settlement along the Rivière-Saint-Antoine near present-day New Minas, Nova Scotia. The region became known as 'Le Grand- Pré' (alternately labeled La Grand'Prée but commonly referred to as 'Les Mines'); and it was there in the fall of 1682 that Antoine's wife gave birth to the first of their 12 children. Eventually, the Saint-Antoine came to be called 'La-Rivière-des-Habitants' (many years later, the Cornwallis River); and by the close of the decade, a nominal census report shows that the population at Les Mines had grown to about 30 families (more than 160 people).

Antoine and Marie were last documented in the Acadien census of 1703 and their youngest child was born circa 1704; but church records indicate that by February of 1711 (when their daughter Françoise married) both were deceased. According to family depositions in the 'Declarations of Belle-Île-en-Mer', the Landrys died at Les Mines; and though it's logical to presume that both were buried in the ancient Acadien cemetery at St- Charles-des-Mines, no church records have been found to confirm this. We only know that they passed away 'sometime between 1704 and 1711' — Antoine, in his early 50s at most, and Marie, probably in her mid to late 40s.

The Landry children, all of whom married, eventually helped populate the region with more than 120 grandchildren; but nearly five decades after their parents' demise, at least 8 of the 12 siblings (along with most of those grandchildren) were deported by the Brits during 'Le Grand Dérangement'.

Buried:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169168754/antoine-landry

Family/Spouse: Marie Thibodeau. Marie was born in 1661 in Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia ; died in Grand Pré, Kings County, Nova Scotia; was buried in Saint-Charles-des-Mines, Grand Pré, Kings County, Nova Scotia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Antoine Landry, Jr., the eldest son of Antoine and Marie (Thibodeau) Landry, was born on December 4, 1683 in Acadie, presumably along the Rivière St-Antoine (later dubbed La-Rivière-des-Habitants and eventually renamed the Cornwallis River) near present-day New Minas, Nova Scotia. His parents were married c1681 in Port-Royal (now Annapolis Royal); and shortly thereafter, they were among the first group of pioneer families to establish in 'Le Grand Pré', a new settlement overlooking the Minas Basin, about 60 miles north of Port-Royal. According to an entry in the old registers penned by Reverend Claude Moireau (a Récollet missionary priest assigned to that region), Antoine was formally christened at 'les Mines' on June 25, 1684, nearly six months after his birth; and his godparents were René Landry, his 'pépère', and Cécile (Melançon) Landry, an aunt by marriage. One of 12 children, Antoine Jr. was a second-generation Acadien, his grandfather having emigrated from France in the late 1650s; and like his father, Antoine Jr. became a family man and a farmer.
Marie-Blanche LeBlanc, the eldest daughter of Antoine and Marie (Bourgeois) LeBlanc, was born c1687 — probably in Port-Royal, though a post-deportation genealogical document known as the 'Declarations of Belle-Île-en-Mer' indicates that Blanche, like her husband, had been born at 'les Mines'. Nonetheless, her parents did in fact move north to the Minas Basin, settling near the village of Grand-Pré (still so-named today) where they raised a family of 10 children. Blanche was also a grandchild of the prominent pioneer-surgeon Jacques Bourgeois who had emigrated from France in 1641, as well as a niece of René LeBlanc who is said to have been the Grand-Pré notary immortalized in Longfellow's poem 'Évangéline'.

Antoine and Marie-Blanche were no doubt married at L'Église de St-Charles-des-Mines in Grand-Pré, c1705; and together they raised a family of 10 children, their youngest having been born in 1734 when Blanche was in her late 40s. They would be blessed with enough longevity to be surrounded by more than three dozen grandchildren; but like many Acadiens of that era, their lives would end in tragedy. During that fateful autumn of 1755 in what came to be called 'Le Grand Dérangement', the Landry family was literally torn apart. Six of the Landry children and many of the grandchildren were rounded up and detained by British troops to be deported from their beloved Acadie; and though four of the couple's sons managed to evade capture by fleeing into the woods, Antoine and Blanche (he in his early 70s and she in her late 60s) were far less fortunate. Like thousands of other Acadiens, they were eventually prodded at gunpoint into the hold of a wooden cargo vessel and shipped off to an unfamiliar place — in their case, Boston, Massachusetts. The name of the vessel which carried them away is unknown, though it's possible (even likely) that the Landry couple departed Acadie aboard the 'Race Horse' or the 'Swallow', both of which sailed from Grand-Pré and arrived in Boston just after Christmas. It was without a doubt a harrowing experience. Wedged below deck, side by side, in an unventilated holding area were hundreds of Acadiens who sat in the dark, fearing for their lives. Though historians suggest that both Antoine and Blanche perished 'between September of 1755 and September of 1756', no one knows for sure when either died — whether while imprisoned at Grand-Pré, or aboard the ship, or after disembarking at Boston. Their fate, like that of many, is known but to God. May they rest in peace, knowing that their story has been told.

Family/Spouse: Marie-Blanche Leblanc. Marie-Blanche (daughter of Antoine Leblanc and Marie Bourgeois) was born in ca 1687 in Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Francois married Catherine Cormier in ca 1736 in Beaubassin, Westmorland County, New Brunswick. Catherine (daughter of Pierre Cormier and Catherine Leblanc) was born about 1720 in Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia ; died on 25 Dec 1808 in Kamouraska, Québec. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186318511/francois-landry

Family/Spouse: Agnes Thibodeau. Agnes (daughter of Jean-Baptiste Thibodeau and Marie Leblanc) was born in 1738 in Grand Pré, Kings County, Nova Scotia; died on 6 Oct 1810 in Saint-André, Kamouraska, Québec; was buried in Cimetière Saint-André, Saint-André-de-Kamouraska, Québec. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Anne Sirois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Rosalie married Firmin Gagnon on 24 Jan 1825 in Saint-André, Kamouraska, Québec. Firmin (son of Jean-Francois Gagnon and Marie-Claire Duval) was born on 6 Jan 1795 in Saint-André, Kamouraska, Québec. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jules married Marie-Anne Burns on 24 Aug 1857 in Saint-Fabien, Rimouski, Québec. Marie-Anne (daughter of Bartholomew Burns and Charlotte Emelie Arsenault) was born about 1836 in Eel River Crossing, Restigouche County, New Brunswick; died before 1871. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]