Morin Family Tree of Acadia
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The Morin Connection My great grandmother Ellen Moffatt was the daughter of John Moffatt and Emily Morin born May 15, 1849 and died February 11, 1927 in Russell, Ontario, Canada. My mother had no idea of her family heritage. It is such a rich and fascinating family tree which contains many families and I was proud as I uncovered her past and to learn her family had something to do with the building of the country I call home. However, I will deal only with the family tree which leads to her. (I do have information on the other branches) Although I am on ancestry.ca a lot of the information I was able to obtain on the Morin family comes from http://morintrek.ning.com/ Below is a picture from the site above, showing the Acadian families of 1671 which are a part of my mother's past.
John Baptist Morin As far back as I can trace the Morin Family begins with John Baptist Morin, who would be my 10th great grandfather, he married Jeanne D. Arc Lavoie who died on August 20, 1641 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France. (Because I do not read French figuring out some of the records proved quite difficult) Benoit Morin They had a son, Benoit Morin born in 1620 in Granville, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France and died in 1652 in Normandy, France. He first married Therese Girard 1620-1647. Pierre Morin dit Boucher They had a son named Pierre Morin dit Boucher born on May 28, 1634 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France. He came to Port Royal, Acadia (Nova Scotia) and married Marie Madeleine Martin 1635-1714 in 1661 in Port Royal, Acadia (Nova Scotia) Marie-Madeline Martin’was the daughter of Pierre Martin 1601-1686 and he married Catherine Vigneau 1603-1678 and they brought from France on April 1, 1636 the first apple trees to Acadia. They came on the ship Saint-Jehan and were recruited by Nicollas Denys under the instructions of Governor of Acadia Charles de Menou d’Aulnay. A little history is required here. Nicollas Denys was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France, in 1598, the son of Jacques Denys, a captain of King Henri IV’s Royal Guard and Marie Cosnier. The Martin family was also from Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France. Once he secured rights to his own lands in Acadia through the Company of New France, Denys continued to seek his fortunes now as the Governor of Canso and Isle Royale (now called Cape Breton Island). Denys founded settlements at St. Pierre (now St. Peter’s, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, home of the Nicholas Denys Museum), Ste. Anne (Englishtown, Nova Scotia) and Nepisiquit (Bathurst, New Brunswick). Denys died in 1688 at Nepisiquit (in the outskirts of Bathurst, New Brunswick), a town of his own creation. During his tenure in the New World, he appears to have offered more stability of governance than those other royal appointees around him. Perhaps his greatest legacy is his writings about the lands and peoples of Acadia, especially Description géographique et historique des costes de l’Amérique septentrionale: avec l’histoire naturelle du païs, two volumes written in 1672, after he retired to Paris. Because of this work, he remains the main informant on the conditions of Acadia for the years from 1632 to 1670. The Martin’s second son, Mathieu is considered to have been the first child born in Acadia of European parents. To mark this, King Louis XIV of France granted the Seigniory of Cobequid, now Truro, Nova Scotia, to the pioneer family in 1684. The Mathieu-Martin high school in Dieppe commemorates the memory of this early Acadian born Seigneur. On March 28, 1689, Matheiu Martin received the seigniory of Cobequid. Martin, who called himself “weaver by the Grace of God, and gentleman through the kindness of the King,” was the first white child born in Acadia. The “Saint-Matthieu” grant was 2 leagues deep, beginning around Five Islands on the north side of the bay and going around the north shore to present-day Truro, westward the south shore to Petit Riviere (today’s Tennycape). It also extended down the Shubenacadie to the Stewiacke. The settlements to the north (Tatamagouche, Remsheg) were also to be considered a part of Cobequid. Although he was given the right of hunting and fishing, he had to protect the oak trees for the King’s use. The first settlers to join Martin at Cobequid were the families of Martin Blanchard, Marin Bourc, and Jerome Guerin, who came from Port Royal. The 1703 census shows 90 people at Cobequid. As noted, there were settlement locations that developed that were not on the bay: Ville Hebert (where the Stewiacke meets the Shubenacadie), Tatamagouche, and Remsheg. All three locations are thought to have been inhabited sometime between 1703 and 1710. Later settlements along the Northumberland Strait were Brule-River John and CapJohn. When Martin died in 1724, there was a dispute over ownership of the area. Although Joseph Dugas and Jean Bourg claimed the Will deeded it to them, an Acadian named Triquelle also claimed it. Finally, after years of debate, it was resolved when the decision was made that Martin couldn’t transfer ownership. The grant was returned to the King and residents had to pay quit rents. When paid, it was usually done in crop goods rather than money. Mathieu Martin’s sister Andrée married François Pellerin, the first of his name in Acadia. Another daughter of Pierre Martin and of Catherine Vigneau, Marie, married Pierre Morin and raised a large family in Beaubassin. Just a note, the Morin and Martin families are directly related to my mother. This all happened 200 years before Canada became a country and they are directly related to my mother’s grandmother Ellen Moffat and thus to my mother. Pierre and his wife had ten sons and two daughters: Children:
Pierre Morin - my 7th great grandfather My 7th great grandfather was Pierre Morin born in 1662 in Port Royal, Richmond, Acadia, Nova Scotia, he married Francoise Lavallee Chiasson born 1665 in Port Royal, Acadia (Nova Scotia). Together they had twelve children, seven sons, Pierre, Sebastien, Denis, Michel, Jean Baptiste, Antoine and Charles and five daughters, Marie, Barbe, Francoise, Agathe and Marie Francoise. Pierre Morin lived in Mount-Louis, Quebec in 1699. He died on April 15, 1741 in Montmagny, Quebec, Canada. Chiasson. The marriage contract reads as follows: The year 1682 on November the eighth, after publication of the Banns for the marriage of Pierre Morin, (son of Pierre Morin commonly known as Boucher, and of Marie Martin, his wife) and Francoise Chiasson, (daughter of Guyon Chiasson and Jeanne-Bernard, his wife) both from the parish of Saint-Jean Baptiste, of Port Royal, and now living at Beaubassin and since no impediments have been made known, I, Fr. Claude Moireau, Missionary Priest, Recollet, marry them in our chapel of Notre Dame de According to census records of 1686 Pierre Morin owned 2 guns, 14 head of cattle, 8 pigs, 6 sheep and 6 acres of land under cultivation at Beaubassin. He went to Chaleur Bay with the family in 1688. in 1694, he lived in Quebec City. In 1697, he lived on the Seigneury of Riviere du Sud, where the Sieur Couillary de Lespinay had granted him land. He received another land grant as well with his brothers Jacques and Jacques-Francois, at Mont Louis in 1721. On January 17, 1725, the Morin couple gave their entire land holdings to their eleven children. Each received a lot measuring three and one-half rods, two feet five inches square, for cultivation purposes. The conditions were that the parents would be provided with food and lodging for the rest of their lives. Francoise died about 1730. Pierre died in April 1741, at St. Thomas, Quebec. 1662, Pierre born in Port Royal, Richmond, Acadia, Nova Scotia; s/o 336. Pierre Morin Dit Bouche I & 337. Marie Madeleine Martin. 1671, Port Royal. (S) 1671-1699 Census’ of New France. [68 families, including widows 5,227 children, 829 horned cattle, 399 sheep, 417 acres of tillable land, 525 barrels harvest, 33 minots, 24 bushels.] 1680, Beaubassin. (S) 1671-1699 Census’ of New France. 1694, they are living in Québec. (S) 1671-1699 Census’ of New France. 1700 Census of Mont-Louis. Pierre, Francoise, Marie, Sabastien, Denis, Agathe, Michel 1/17/1725, Pierre and Francoise deeded their property to their 11 children under the provision they would take care of them for the rest of their lives. 10/21/1731, Pierre attended the wedding contract signing of their son Charles. [Francoise is not listed as attending.] 4/15/1741 in St-Francois-de-la-Riviere-du-Sud, Pierre, age given as 79, was buried. Julien Mercier and Pierre Boulet attended the burial by priest Andre Jorian. Pierre Morin - Banished From Acadia In 1688, a local farmer’s son romanced the daughter of the prominent family in the Acadian village of Beaubassin. When she became pregnant, the farmer, Pierre Morin dit Boucher, and 18 members of his family forfeited all of their village property and were banished from the colony of Acadia. The punishment was excessive even by the conservative mores of the time. To understand how this could happen, one needs to know the events that led up to that banishment and the situation in Acadia at the time which is outlined below. About 1661 to 1680 Pierre Morin dit Boucher married Marie Madeleine Martin at Port Royal, Acadia, in about 1661. Pierre was originally from Normandy where he was born about 1634. Pierre and Marie Madeleine’s second son, Louis Morin, was born in 1664 at Port Royal, Acadia, where Pierre had a small farm. The 1671 census mentions that Pierre possessed: three head of cattle; four sheep; and had one arpent (about 0.85 acre) under cultivation. Pierre and Marie had eight children by 1680 and had moved to the village of Beaubassin in northwest Acadia at the head of the Bay of Fundy. The village of Beaubassin was founded about 1672 by Jacques Bourgeois d’Aulnay. There were six families living in the village five years later. Michel Leneuf de Lavallière obtained a seigneurie for the area near the original village as a reward for seizing three small English vessels in 1676. His seigneurie did not include the original village, but Leneuf plotted to acquire the excluded land. In 1682, Leneuf listed eleven men who rejected the concession contracts that he offered. On that list were: Pierre Morin; Guyou Chiasson; Michel Poirier; Roger Kessy; Claude Dugast; Germaine and Guillaume Bourgeois; Germaine Giroir; Jean Aubin Migneaux; Jacques Belou; and Thomas Cormier. Few new people relocated from other areas in Acadia or from France, so Leneuf brought in engagés (workers under contract) from Québec to populate his seigneurie. 1680 to 1687 Michel Leneuf’s first wife, Marguerite Marie Denys, daughter of Nicolas Denys and Marguerite Lafite, died sometime before 1683. He later married Françoise Denys, daughter of Simon Denys and Françoise Dutartre. In 1683, Leneuf served as governor of Acadia for one year. The courts relieved Leneuf as governor because he granted fishing rights to fishermen from Boston. Leneuf took possession of his seigneurie in 1684. However, he returned to military service in Québec in 1687 during a time of increased Iroquois raids there. He left his future son-in-law, Marie Josèphe Leneuf was one of Michel Leneuf’s daughters. She was born on 18 April 1671 at Trois-Rivières in Québec. She was no older than 12 years old when her mother died and was 16 years old when her father left to go back to Québec in 1687. She appears to have been close to the family of Pierre Morin dit Boucher. She was the godmother of the two youngest children of Pierre: Simon Joseph Morin on January 8, 1685 and Jacques Morin on September 23, 1682. March 2, 1686. The fortunes of Pierre Morin dit Boucher improved during the early 1680s. By 1686, Pierre and Marie Madeleine had 12 children. It is recorded in the 1686 census that Pierre Morin, senior, had: 15 head of cattle; eight sheep; 12 pigs; and cultivated 30 arpents while Pierre Morin, junior, had: 14 head of cattle; six sheep; eight pigs; and cultivated six arpents. The 1686 census also recorded that there were only 129 persons living in the Beaubassin area. Other changes were also happening in Acadia at this time. The parish priest in Beaubassin, Fr. Claude Moireau, was recalled to Québec in 1686. Fr. Moireau was a Récollet priest. The Récollets were a French branch of the Franciscans. L’abbé Claude Trouvé assumed the responsibility for administering to the people in Beaubassin. Trouvé was a Sulpician priest. The object of the Society of Saint Sulpice is “to labor, in direct dependence on the bishops, for the education and perfection of ecclesiastics.” Trouvé had a varied background as a parish priest in France, as a missionary to the Iroquois, and as an ecclesiastical superior of the Ursuline monastery in Québec. Although the sources do not explicitly say, it is certainly possible that his approach to administering to his parishioners was a bit stricter than was Fr. Moireau’s. Changes were happening in the civil government also. Louis Alexandre Des Friches de Meneval was named governor of Acadia on 1 March 1687. He traveled from France and did not reach Port Royal until early October 1687. Meneval’s first concerns were to examine the accounts and illicit trading activities of the previous governor, pay arrears owed the soldiers, and either restore the fort at Port Royal or decide to build a new one. Prior to his appointment, he had been only a company lieutenant in the army. Although, he was not experienced in colonial The lieutenant governor acted as judge and clerk of the court for Acadia and assisted the governor. Mathieu Des Groutin replaced aging Michel Boudrot, who was in his late 80s, in this office. Des Groutin arrived in Acadia in 1688 on the ship, the Fripone, but was not confirmed in his office by the Sovereign Council until 29 November 1688. Although the lieutenant governor would normally play a major part in any consideration like the banishment of the Morin family, that office was operationally vacant in early 1688. Early 1688 Louis Morin was 23 or 24 years old while Marie Josèphe Leneuf was almost 17 years old. They had known each other for several years. With her mother dead, her father gone to Québec to fight the Iroquois, and the familiar parish priest reassigned, one thing led to another and Marie became pregnant. Marie’s family sought retribution. L’abbé Trouvé acted as a criminal judge and prosecutor, although he appears to have had no authority. Trouvé found Louis Morin guilty and also judged Pierre, his wife, their children, sons-in-law, and grandchildren to be coconspirators. The sons-in-law were included because one of them had talked about Trouvé and about the young lady. Trouvé sentenced Louis Morin to navel service for the rest of his life.The nineteen persons in the Morin family forfeited their property to the absent Michel Leneuf. Reverend Archange Godbout quotes a letter written by Lieutenant Governor Mathieu Des Groutin – signed on 2 September 1689. The letter complained about Trouvé’s banishment of the Morin family and mentioned that the Morin family was related to almost one third of the Acadian population and were friends with many others. Godbout also quotes a letter of Mathieu Des Groutin – signed on 2 October 1690 – mentioning complaints against Trouvé regarding the banishments “and about the confessions …” The specific complaint isn’t mentioned, although it is unlikely that the confession penances were considered too lenient. Reverend Godbout also noted the normal penalties that the law of that period called for: In France, an arbitrary penalty proportionate to the circumstances which surrounded it is pronounced against those who seduce virgins. If the girl voluntarily acceded to her seducer, and her carnal knowledge was followed by pregnancy, only a sentencing to damages and interests is pronounced against the author of the pregnancy, and more or less considerable, according to the rank and fortune of the parties concerned. The begetter of the child is moreover condemned to assume responsibility for it, to cause it to be fed, and brought up in the Catholic religion. The complaints against Trouvé were so great that he was forced to abandon his parish. He initially wanted to relocate to the nearby village of Les Mines, but the people there would not receive him. Finally, he moved to the capital, Port Royal, where he was under the protection of Governor Meneval. Louis Morin was sent to France on the ship, the Fripone, which had recently brought the new lieutenant governor, Mathieu Des Groutin, to Acadia. Louis was never heard from again. Pierre Morin dit Boucher and the other 17 members of his family were forced to forfeit their property and to leave Acadia. Richard Denys established the exiles at Ristigouche, about 150 miles northwest of Beaubassin in Chaleur Bay, near his trading post. Richard Denys was the brother-in-law of Michel Leneuf. Although it is mentioned that Denys did this to make up for the wrongs his family inflicted on the Morins, it was also to his benefit to settle the Morins near his trading post. The trading post was near a Mikmac Indian village but there were no French settlers there before the Morins arrived. Pierre Morin died at Ristigouche in 1690. Richard Denys died in 1691 and the Ristigouche seigneurie reverted to the Crown. After this, the Morin family moved to Québec where several of them and of their extended families achieved success and social positions. The Morin family also avoided the later Deportations that tore apart many Acadian families; however, that was nearly 70 years in the future and was not a consolation for the Morins of 1688. Marie Josèphe Leneuf fared much better than did Louis Morin. In April, 1689, about a year after the Morins were banished, Jacques René De Brisay, Seigneur and Marquis De Denonville, and Bochard de Champigny granted Marie the area near the Chicabenacady River in Minas Bay to “make settlements there and trade with the savages.” She later returned to Trois-Rivières and married Jean Paul Legardeur de Saint Pierre, her second cousin, on 15 September 1692. They had five children. Jean Paul had a successful career as a military officer, fur trader, emissary to the Chippewas, and seigneur. There is no record of the baby of Marie Josèphe Leneuf and Louis Morin. There is no evidence that Pierre Morin was related to Noël Morin who married Hélène Desportes, the widow of Guillaume Hébert, at Québec City in 1640. Both Pierre and Noël had large families and left many descendants in French Canada. Famous descendants of Pierre Morin dit Boucher include Céline Dion. Children of Pierre Morin dit Boucher and Marie-Madeline Martin: 1. Pierre Morin – B. about 1662, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada, Acadia; D. Apr 1741, St-Thomas, Quebec; M. Françiose Chiasson (1668-1724), 8 Nov 1682, Beaubassin, Acadia 2. Louis Morin – B. about 1664 Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada 3. Antoine Morin – B. about 1666 Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada 4. Marie Morin – B. about 1668 Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada; M. (1) Jacques Cochu (?-~1710), 8 Nov 1682, Beaubassin, Acadia; (2) Jean Pinet, 3 Feb 1710, Quebec City, Quebec 5. Anne Morin – B. about 1670 Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada; D. Aug 1745, Quebec City, Quebec; M. (1) René Deneau, about 1687, Beaubassin, Acadia; (2) Jean-Claude Louet (?-1739), 15 Jul 1707, Quebec City, Quebec 6. Jacques Morin – B. about 1671, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada M. Marie-Anne Lavergne (?-~1754), 13 Feb 1699, Quebec City, Quebec 7. Charles Morin – B. about 1674, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada; D. about Jul 1724, Quebec; M. Anne-Therese Minet, 23 May 1719, Quebec City, Quebec, my 6th great grandfather. 8. Marguerite Morin – B. about 1676, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada 9. Jean-Marie Morin dit Ducharme – B. 10 Aug 1680, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada; D. 30 Jan1717, Quebec City, Quebec; M. M arie-Elisabeth Hubert (1697-1717), 17 Nov 1715, Quebec City, Quebec 10. Jacques-François Morin – B. 23 Sep 1682, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada 11. Simon-Joseph Morin – B. about Jan 1685, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada; D. before 1686, Beaubassin, Acadia 12. Jacques Morin – B. about Mar 1686, Beaubassin, Acadia (New Brunswick), Canada; D. Apr 1757, St-Pierredu- Sud, Quebec; M. Marie-Charlotte Robert-Jeannes (?-1734), 25 Aug 1704, Chambalon, Quebec Sources: “The Morins of Acadia,” French-Canadian and Acadian Genealogical Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, Rev. Archange Godbout, Charles Morin was born January 16, 1707 in Montmagny, Seine-Saint-Denis, Ile-de-France, France and died on December 17, 1786 • Montmagny, Quebec, Canada.
Joachim Morin my 5th great grandfather was born May 20, 1749 in St Thomas de la Caille, Quebec and died on February 27, 1818 in Dorchester, Comte Beauce, Quebec
Joachim Morin my 4th great grandfather was born on August 21, 1773 in Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, Comté-Beauce, Québec and died on March 29, 1850.
Antoine Morin my 3rd great grandfather was born on April 4, 1820 in Ste-Marie, Beauce, Québec, Canada and died on May13, 1905 in Rockland, Russell County, Ontario, Canada
Emily Morin 1849–1927 my 2nd great grandmother married on September 27 1865 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada John Moffatt 1823-1938
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