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Individual:
THE ACADIAN LEBLANC ANCESTOR
The roots of the LEBLANC families are diverse in New France. (Quebec) In Acadia,
there was only ONE, but its numerous derivations stretch across all of Canada,
the United States and into Louisiana. The LEBLANCS are to the land of Evangeline
what the Smiths are to the United States or the Tremblays are to the land of
Dollard, the Sieur des Orneaux.
Daniel LEBLANC is held responsible for this respectable Acadian line.
Unfortunately, the French origins of the father of this small group of people
are difficult to specify. There are many hypotheses as to where Daniel came from
but none of them can be proven today. The Great Deportation of the Acadians
carried away with it many important documents, records and registers.
PORT-ROYAL
In 1605, Francois GRAVE, Sieur du Pont, and Samuel de CHAMPLAIN founded
Port-Royal located at the mouth of the Annapolis River. The settlement was made
up of buildings grouped around a central court yard. In the summer of 1607, the
site was abandoned and l'ordre du bon temps, abolished. Biencourt de
POUTRINCOURT, in 1610, re-established the colony; but, three years later, the
English pirate Samuel ARGALL destroyed this settlement from top to bottom.
Finally, Port-Royal was returned to French jurisdiction. Inspite of its crude
buildings, Port-Royal appeared as the first lasting European settlement in North
America, north of Saint Augustine, Florida. It was Isaac de RAZILLY, a ship's
captain and chevalier of Malta, who in 1632 led about 300 soldiers and colonists
who settled at La Heve and in the neighboring area.
Less than 20 years later, it was at Port-Royal that Daniel LEBLANC wanted to put
down the foundation of his house. He was about 24 years old at the time and
quite audacious. He decided to establish his residence on the north bank of the
Port-Royal river, called today the Annapolis River, northeast of
marais-a-Belisle, about 13 kilometers above the fort of Port-Royal and nearly a
little less than a kilometer below the chapel of Saint-Laurent.
Father Archange GODBOUT, O.F.M., the very respected genealogist, believes that
Daniel LeBlanc went to Acadia before 1650. Frantoise Gaudet, his wife, belonged
to a well-established family at Port-royal; its head, Jean Gaudet, had been
known in the region since 1636. Francoise was the widow of a husband named
Mercier and the mother of a daughter named Marie.
AT WORK AND IN ORDEAL?
The founders of the Acadian people were valiant and brave, but also they were a
people stricken, disturbed and troubled by various allegiances.
The colonists of Port-Royal had barely begun to reorganize themselves when in
1654 the place was again taken by the English. At that time there were about 200
inhabitants. From 1654 to 1664, there was no resident missionary at Port-Royal.
The nearest Jesuits lived at Miscou. The Treaty of Breda, signed in 1667,
granted territorial and commercial advanted to France and Acadia back to France.
According to Placide GAUDET, it was only in 1670 that the French authorities
truly began their duties.
May we imagine the frustration and the anguish which the Acadian colonists
endured? The climate of the area was certainly, clement. One could easily live
from fishing, hunting, trading, and farming. However, it was in this disturbed
and divided land, that Daniel LeBlanc and his family lived. At the end of their
life, in 1690, PHIPS reconquered Acadia in the name of Albion. It was only
returned to France in 1697 by the Treaty of Ryswick. During the War of the
Spanish Succession (1701-1713), other set-backs awaited this beautiful land. It
finally passed to England in 1713, on the occasion of the Treaty of Utrecht.
Port-Royal was renamed Annapolis Royal. All members of the LEBLANC line remember
it.
CENSUS of 1671
After the Treaty of Breda and the return of French authority, the Acadian
population began to scatter. There was a census.
In 1671, Port-royal counted 68 families: 63 men and as many women, 5 widows and
227 children. The livestock was made up of 829 head of cattle and 399 sheep. It
seems that there were 417 arpents of workable land.
Daniel LEBLANC, 45 years old, and his 48 year old wife, Francoise GAUDET, were
listed in the census under the category of workers. They owned 18 head of cattle
and 26 sheep. Their cleared lands were 10 arpents "in two places". The neighbors
named: Michel POIRIER and Vincent BRAULT. The list of the inhabitants was drawn
up by Laurent MOLINS, a Franciscan priest. On 8 November 1671, Hughes RANDIN
(1628-1680(, from Quebec, drew up the summary of this work before sending it to
Jean-Baptiste COLBERT, Secretary of State and Navy Secretary, at the residence
of the king.
Is it possible to obtain other details on this LeBlanc family?
THE LEBLANC FAMILY
The census of 1671 provides us with the names of the SEVEN children of Daniel
and Francoise: Jacques, Francoise, Etienne, Rene, Andre, Antoine and the
youngest, Pierre. They were between the ages of 20 and 7. Were there other
children who had died in infancy? There is no way to know. The historians have
noted, however, that the infant mortality rate was very low in Acadian. There
were no epidemics as in New France.(Quebec)
Jacques LEBLANC, the eldest, was born about 1651. At Port-Royal abt 1673, he
married Catherine HEBERT, daugther of Antoine and Genevieve LEFRANC. This family
settled at Grand-Pre, Saint-Charles-des-Mines, where they saw 13 children born,
including the youngest Bernard who became a royal notary.
The eldest of the daughters, and the only daugther, Francoise, was the first to
enter the state of matrimony by marrying Martin BLANCHARD, son of Jean and
Radegonde LAMBERT, in 1671.. Francoise died rather young since her husband was
married a second time about 1686, to Marguerite GUILLEBEAULT, daughter of Pierre
and of Catherine TERRIOT. Martin BLANCHARD was a hardworking and an enterprising
man. In 1701, he sold his property to his son Rene, issue of Francoise LeBlanc.
He left Port-Royal to join in the fortune of Mathieu MARTIN, provisional
seigneur of Wecobequit.
As for Etienne LEBLANC, he was involved in navigation. His destiny is unknown.
His brother Rene was allied to the great Bourgeois family by marrying Anne,
daughter of Jacques and of Jeanne TRAHAN. The historian Adrien BERGERON reports
that the couple brought 6 children into the world, including Rene, junior, who
became a notary. Rene LEBLANC, a notary immortalized by Henry Wadsworth
LONGFELLOW in his poem Evangeline, (can be found on this web site) had 3
children himself from his first wife and 17 from his second, including triplets
born in 1721.
Andre, also born at Port-Royal about 1659, became the husband of Marie DUGAS,
daughter of Abraham and of Marguerite DOUCET. This family settled at Grand-Pre
where ten children were born.
His brother Antoine LEBLANC was also married to a BOURGEOIS, Marie, sister of
Anne, wife of Rene LEBLANC. They had ten children.
The six sons of Daniel LEBLANC and Frantoise GAUDET had 46 known children [35
grandSONS]...a researcher has counted 52 of them.. who produced 200 others. And
thus was the beginning of the birth of a people very widespread today in Canada
and in the United States. There were but two at the starting line; they became a
multitude at the finish.
AT THE END OF THE CENTURY
Daniel LEBLANC was the wise and venerable ancestor who knew how to win the
respect and gratitude of his compatriots.
"When on 24 May 1690 Sir William PHIPS, who had just taken possession of the
place, required that some habitants of Port-Royal and those of the river by the
same name chose six among them to form a Council in order to keep peace among
them and to administer the court, Daniel LEBLANC was one who was chosen."
Father Adrien BERGERON continued his eulogy when he reported that the most
important document that they had concerning Daniel LEBLANC was that of the
statement of the work carried out in Acadia by Sieur d'Aulnay; the report was
drawn up on 15 October 1684 by the notable people of Port-Royal, recorded and
certified at Parish on 27 December 1688. the signers of the document were
Louis-Alexandre Des FRICHES de Meneval, then governor for the King of all
Acadia, and Father Louis PETIT, grand vicar of the diocese of Quebec, curate of
Port-Royal.
Ancestor Daniel LEBLANC died between 1693 and 1698. History, sometimes cruel,
has not even remembered the day of his death at Port-Royal. Francoise GAUDET,
widow in a first marriage to a man named MERCIER, responsible for a daughter
Marie MERCIER, was a mother 7 times with Daniel LEBLANC, She died at the home of
her son Pierre, between 1698 and 1700.
The measurement of the life of men is neither material accumulated nor money in
the bank, but the value of his acts, his heart and soul. DANIEL and FRANCOISE,
you were good and generous, without measure.
Acadian LEBLANCS have made themselves notable in several professions such as
medicine, journalism, law, government, etc. Their sons and daughters are found
in several religious communites. Among the priests, three reached episcopate.
The first, Msgr Edouard-Alfred LEBLANC occupied the episcopal seat of Saint
John, New Brunswick, from 1912 to 1935, as fifth bishop of this diocese founded
on 4 May 1842. He was born at Saint-Bernard in Nova Scotia on 15 October 1870.
His parents were Luc LEBLANC, farmer and Julie BELLIVEAU.
His Excellence Msgr Albini LEBLANC was first named Bishop of Hearst, Ontario, in
1940, then of Gaspe where he exercised his episcopal authority from 1945 until
1957, the year of his accidental death.
Msgr Camille-Andre LEBLANC was named Bishop of Bathurst, New Brunswick, on 25
July 1942, and inducted into his function on 8 September of the same year, the
birthday of the Virgin Mary. He retired on 8 January 1969.
The LEBLANCS are more than a name; they are an admirable people!
SOURCE: French Canadian Ancestors by Thomas J. Forest (English version of Nos
Ancetres. This is a series that is also available in French. There are many
volumes to this series.
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