There are many references to Michel Boudrot being born in the "parish of Cougnes". This is an old part of the city of La Rochelle, France, that has strong ties to Acadia/New France. The reference to Cougnes might be to the church: "de l'église Notre-Dame-de-Cougnes, première paroisse de La Rochelle". Little else is known about him and his life in France before his travels to Acadia. There are a few options that have been explored. Follow out this link to learn more about the the possibilitites.

Michel Boudrot was probably recruited to Port Royal by the Governor Charles d'Aulnay. He was present at the baptism of the governor's daughter, Marie d'Aulnay, on Sept. 21, 1639, in his capacity as First Trustee of Port-Royal.

Did you know that one of our ancesters, Joseph Dugas, was the master carpenter in the Fortress Louisburg? He lived in one of the houses that have been reconstructed in Block 2 of the city. We hope to visit the house on Saturday of the reunion and walk on the very stones that he and his family crossed in his day.

Joseph and his wife Marguerite had a daughter, also named Marguerite, who died at 15 in December 1732, and she was also the godmother of several of her siblings, including Jeanne Dugas. She is believed to have been the first female to be given permission to leave the Fortress of Louisbourg. She went with a Priest to minister to the sick Indians at Cheticamp, as she was trained as a nurse. She lived to be 80 years old.

There was also much closer intermarriage, both in Cheticamp and Louisbourg. Joseph Dugas and others probably had out-of-wedlock children. But having connections with the Officers and Clergy, things were left kind of blurry on purpose.

Estade (married to Flavie), grandmother to our Ann Marie, was the daughter of a Marie Bois who was the granddaughter of Pierre Bois and Jeanne Dugas.

Did you know that Germain Boudrot's first family died in a prison camp after they were deported? He and his family were deported from Pisquit (present day Windsor) around 1757 and he and his family were kept prisoner in Bristol, England. After the war, Germain lived for a short time in Saint-Malo, France before returning to Acadia.

Although there are a number of Joseph Boudros listed as deported from Grand Pre in the documents (1755), our Joseph was not one of them. Our Joseph wasn't born until 1768 after Germain returned from from Saint-Malo to Cheticamp.

The Boudreaus come from le Platin. Did you know that Marie-Anne's family was from the Plateau which is up higher and closer to the mountains in the direction of the beach?