My Family Tree

GAUDET, DENIS

Events

Parents

Families

Narrative

[E_Cole5H17.GED]

[Cole5H17.GED]

DC0119
Around the time of the treaty of Breda (1667), which officially
restored Acadia to France, Denis Gaudet migrated towards the top of
the Port Royal river. His now adolescent sons would be assured of
their own possession of land to begin their own establishments. They
were the first colonists in this locality situated about 20 kilometres
upriver from the fort. They went on to create a large domain on both
sides of the river in the region of present Bridgetown, Nova Scotia.
Denis and his two sons both named Pierre (one surnamed l'Ainé, and
the other le Jeune), constructed the new farm on the north bank. A map
drawn by the surveyor George Mitchell in 1733 shows five habitations
at one "Godet Village," at the north-east end of the valley, at a
place where the river turns to the south and the space which separates
the North and South Mountains gets wider. The author of the history of
the town of Bridgetown, Elizabeth Coward, who knows the region
thoroughly, places the location of Gaudet Village to the south-east of
the present Riverside Cemetery, at the inner limits of the town of
Bridgetown, on land which later belonged to the Chipman family and who
correspond to number 133 in the cadastral survey of Grandville
Township. At the start of the 17th century, the lawyer-poet Marc
Lescarbot described the surroundings at the top of the river
(translated from French): "...we are full of desire in seeing the
country upstream of the river where we find the prairies (marshes)
virtually continuous for more than 12 leagues, among which flow
numerous streams that come from the hills and mountains nearby; the
forests are plentiful to the waters edge... and there are many bright
clearings a long way from the shores..."
In the census of the Port Royal river valley in 1671, Denis Gaudet
gives his age as 46 years old, his wife Martine Gauthier was 52 years
old. They had five children, two were married: Anne Gaudet was 25
years old (married to Pierre Vincent); Marie Gaudet was 21 years old
(married to Olivier Daigre, who lived opposite Gaudet Village on the
south bank); Pierre Gaudet l'AinT, aged 20; Pierre Gaudet le Jeune,
aged 17; Marie Gaudet, aged 14. All were farmers. Denis had six
arpents of cultivated land (an arpent = roughly 5/6 of an acre), nine
horned cattle and 13 sheep, some large, some small.
In the census of Port Royal in 1693, Denis Gaudet was a widower aged
70 years. He was living with his son Pierre le Jeune who married Marie
Blanchard.
/DC0119

Source References

Pedigree

Ancestors