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Individual:
Re: Louis Allain b16?? from France
There was only one family of the Allain name in Acadia: that of Louis Allain, a
blacksmith and merchant probably born in France about 1655. Allain was well
educated and appears to have settled in Port-Royal about 1687.
This was not his first trip to North America - two years before he purchased a
property in Wells, Maine. On this 100 acres property there was a house and a
third of a sawmill. A few month before purchasing his Maine property, Louis
bought a share of50 percent in a ship called Endeavour. Since he spoke
English fairly well, trade with the New England merchants was no problem.
Around 1689, Louis married Marguerite Bourg, daughter of Antoine Bourg and
Antoinette Landry. The marriage took place in Port Royal. She bore two children:
Pierre, who settled at Grand-PrT, and Marie who in 1715 married Nicholas
Gauthier, a leadingAcadian personality of his day.
Louis sold his old Wells property after 1720. He settled in Blelair, in the
vicinity of Port-Royal. There he built a grain mill and a saw mill. In addition,
he plied this trade in a coastal vessel trading with the Bostonians.
Louis formed a partnership with Jean-Baptiste Naquin - called L'+toile - who had
also married a Marguerite Bourg and who lived on the upper part of the
Port-Royal river. When Jean-Baptiste Naquin died in 1706, Louis Allain bought
his property.
Louis corresponded with the governor of New France, Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil.
However some of his letters sent by the French governor fell into the hands of
the British governor of Annapolis Royal, Jean Doucett. Recognized as a
businessman with astrong character, Louis was used by the French authorities
as a negociator for the exchange of French and Acadian prisoners in Boston.
Louis retired from business at an advanced age and passed on his property to his
daughter Marie and her husband Nicolas Gauthier. Louis Allain's possessions
included mills, houses, a store and several ships. After Louis Allain died at
Port-Royal on July 16, 1737 Nicolas Gauthier continued his father-in-law's
commerce and became one of the wealthiest Acadians in Port-Royal.
In 1744, when France and Britain went to war again, Duvivier led an expedition
to capture Port-Royal. He established his headquarters on Nicolas Gauthier's
property at Belair. The attempt failed and Gauthier was accused of collaboration
with the enemy with the result that the Annapolis Royal government confiscated
all his possessions. He had to flee with his family to Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward
Island).
Pierre Allain, son of Louis and of Marguerite Bourg, settled at Grand-Pre where
he married Marguerite LeBlanc in 1717. He was likely in partnership or employed
by his brother-in-law, Nicolas Gauthier. He is presumed to have been a navigator
like his father, and he died at Brest during a voyage to France around 1745.
Pierre had thirteen children, including four boys: Louis, Pierre, Benjamin and
Jean-Baptiste. Louis Allain married in 1748, at Beaubassin, Anne Leger, and
settled at Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. Fearing deportation, he sought refuge
with his family at Miramichi which was under the protection of commander
Charles de BoishTbert. He later settled at Bouctouche leaving his son
Michel, married to Josette Savoie, at Neguac.
Pierre married Catherine Hebert and after the Deportation they settled in
Louisiana.
Benjamin married Marie-Rose Bujold and settled at Carleton in the Gaspe
peninsula where his descendants are numerous. Jean-Baptiste married Marguerite
Cormier, in 1762, at Becancourt. Jean-Baptiste was at Saint-Ours, Que., in 1782.
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