Germain Doucet (Sieur de LaVerdure): My Paternal Ancestry

Following the St. Germain-en-Laye Treaty of March 29, 1632, it was by order of Cardinal Richelieu (Minister of State to King Louis XIII), that Commander Isaac de Razilly came to re-occupy the colony; so, too, did Germain Doucet (Sieur de La Verdure), the progenitor of this author’s family, accompany him. Sailing from France on July 4, 1632, they arrived with a variety of livestock, seeds, tools, implements, arms, munitions, and other supplies, at La Have (LaHève), located at the mouth of the La Have River in present day Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, on September 8. In keeping with the forced Deportation of the French Acadian people, the family of Joseph Doucet and Anne Surette were exiled from Port Royal, to Massachusetts, on December 4, 1755. After a few weeks in Boston, they were assigned to the town of Gloucester in County Essex. Less than ten years later, Joseph is listed on a petition, to the Governor of Massachusetts, dated August 24, 1763, seeking permission, together with one hundred seventy-nine families, to return to Old France, which was not to be. Several years later, a second attempt was made. On February 8, 1766, one hundred forty-seven families (a total of eight hundred ninety souls), including Joseph Doucet, asked for permission to leave Massachusetts, in order to return to Canada; as before, they were unable to leave. It was during the following year, 1767, that the Acadians petitioned Governor Franklin of Nova Scotia for land on which to settle. As they were Roman Catholic, they could not be granted land. The Governor, however, allotted them land, along the shore of Baie Sainte-Marie (today known as St. Mary’s Bay) on December 23, 1767. Joseph Doucet spent the first winter at Annapolis Royal (formerly Port Royal, his original home). With land surveyed in 1768, the township of Clare was laid out along Baie Sainte-Marie. Joseph Doucet settled near what is today called Church Point. The records show that, after completing the necessary requirements, he was granted title to Lot 58 (103 acres), in the township of Clare, on May 18, 1775, living there for the rest of his life, as both fisherman and farmer. Several of his sons, namely Joseph, Charles, Jean Magloire and Michel, settled further south in Yarmouth County, the area of this author’s roots.