“ . . . Jean spent his first five years at Wilmington and his last six at Woburn. His move to Woburn came as a result of his intolerable conditions in Wilmington. Jean petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature on numerous occasions demanding better living conditions for himself and his family. There are to be found many of these petitions in the Massachusetts Archives, Jean’s name being given some ten times as John Labardor or Labrador. After 1763, he is found listed as John or Jean Guidry, Gaidry, Guidri or Guidrit. These petitions provide some of the best historic documentation we have of Jean’s life in Acadia and in Boston. In one petition he states:

“ John Labrador sheweth that while he lived at Maligast (Mirligueche) he was so faithful in serving and assisting all Englishmen in distress and from the cruelty of the Indians that one day in particular, having sent away out of the harbour one vessel which the Indians intended to prey on and which they forbade him at his peril, they waylaid him coming from the vessel and shot him with buckshot, several of which were log’d in his flesh and thirty odd went thro his coat which marks he now bears, having three yet in his back, but they not satisfied with that treatn’d to take his life away the first opportunity which obliged him to abandon his habitation and go live in Pisiquite”.

Because the Acadians were under state supervision, any decisions made regarding them had to be made by the State Legislature. In December 1757, Jean Guidry describes the kind of living conditions he had to bear in Wilmington:

“ . . . in ten weeks, he received nothing but a haunch of lamb and one quart of milk a day. He has no wood (December 26, 1757) because they refused to lend him an ox to haul the wood he cut. So then, he is without food or fire in a house that has no door and no roof. When it rains, they have to move their beds along a wall against the wind in order to avoid rain and snow. Once he remarked to a Councillor that they were flooded in the house: the Councillor replied that they should build a boat and float. “

Again on January 10, 1758, a petition was signed by Francis Mius, “a Nova Scotian French person placed at Tewkesbury.” It was likewise endorsed by “Lawarence Mius, placed at Methuen”, and brought forth the complaints also “of John Labrador, another placed at Wilmington - respectfully setting forth the hardships and sufferings they undergo in the present situation. “

Apparently Jean’s petitons met with some success for we find him moved to Woburn in 1760. His family continued to grow and 1763 he had 5 sons and 2 daughters. This seems amazing when you consider that over half of the Acadians in Massachusetts are reported to have died during their exile there. In 1763, when Jean and other Acadians signed a petition requesting to be sent to France, only about 1000 of the original group of Acadians, out of the 2000 deported in 1755 remained alive.

With the fall of Montreal on September 8, 1759, tbe (sic) French and Indian War was all but over. For the terms of surrender, Vaudreuil, the French Governor, had presented fifty-five articles of peace to Amherst, the King of England’s representative. On the margin of the 39th Article which stipulated that all the French must remain in Canada and not be deported, Amherst wrote, “Agreed except as regards the Acadians”. Again as a marginal note to the 54th Article, which would guarantee a safe return of officers, militiamen and Acadian prisoners in New England to their respective countries, the general scribbled, “Accepted, but with reservation to the Acadians”.

With the French and Indian War concluded, the Acadians in Boston and vicinity began to hope to leave their exile. Up to this time, France had not taken an active part in rescuing the Acadians from the American colonies but had provided, when requested, refuge to great numbers of them exiled to England, Île Royale, Île St-Jean and from the American continent. In fact, the first to arrive in Cherbourg, France was from Bosotn. However, at peace negotiations held in England, the Duke of Nivernois, Peer of France, who represented the French King, was made more fully aware of the Acadians’ plight. On his return to France he had his Secretary de la Rochette write letters to the Acadians in the English colonies in America, inviting them to come to France to be with friends and relatives. When the 1000 Acadians in Boston and Massachusetts heard of Rochette’s letter, they signed a petition asking to return to France. Note their request as itemized above.

As soon as the Lords of Trade in England learned of Nivernois’ scheme to attract the Acadians to France or to her tropical colonies, a formal protest was registered with the French Ambassador. Notwithstanding, on December 6, 1763, the French Duke wrote Choisel to keep sending boats to pick up the Acadians, particularly those in New York and Boston. He assumed the Acadians there would find a way to leave America. None went to France. Some went to Louisiana, while other like Jean returned to Canada. A few remained where they had been exiled and were finally absorbed into the surrounding population.

Although Acadians started leaving Boston as early as 1763, Jean and his family did not get permission until 1766. Missing the boats to France and Louisiana, Jean Guidry signed his name with a group of Acadians to a list of persons requesting to be transferred to St. Dominique Island in the West Indies. This petition was signed on December 1, 1764, at which time Jean signs his name “Guedrit” and states that there are ten in his family. The petition for passage to the West Indies was denied on the grounds that the Acadians were English subjects and should remain under English rule.

In 1765, Governor Murray of Canada signed a decree requesting English subjects to settle in Quebec. On January 13, 1766, several Acadians asked the Governor of Boston for permission to write to Murray to obtain his approval for their return to Canada. Permission to make that appeal was granted. Murray, in turn, promised to try to accomodate the Acadians, apparently seeing it as an advantage to have the Acadians settle where they could be an asset to Canada and the British Empire. After sending inquiries out to different parts of Quebec, Murray found several areas, mostly around Montreal, willing to welcome these exiled Acadians. On June 2, 1766, Jean signed another petition, along with 890 Acadians in the Boston area asking to be released in order to proceed with the move to Quebec. Permission was granted and on June 13, 1766, most of the Acadians left the villages they had been exiled to, determined to find their way back to their homeland. Some traveled by boat, while others walked by way of Lake Champlain. On September 8, 1766, the Quebec Gazette announced the arrival of these Acadians.

Jean and Marguerite went up the river to Montreal until some parish priest met them and led them to his parish. On October 16, 1766, M. Degneay, the Cure of l’Assomption, took in about 80 Acadians (12 or 13 families) to help them get started in their new life. Jean and Marguerite were part of this group guided by Father Degneay to the town of l’Assomption where they spent the winter in a warehouse near the church. Soon after their arrival in l’Assomption, Jean and Marguerite had their marriage blessed by the church and had the Baptism of four their children, born in exile, validated.

After spending a long winter in the warehouse, Jean and his family became the first Acadians to buy land along the grand line from St. Alexis, near Ruisseau St. Georges. This land was purchased on April 2, 1767. It had been completely paid for by 1781 and would stay in the family for over one hundred years, finally being sold by Modeste Guildry dit Labine in 1871.

Along with being one of the first Acadians to buy land, Jean was also one of the first to build a house along Ruisseau St. Georges, no doubt similar in style to that of early architecture.

The turmoil in his life all but over, Jean could finally turn his attention to raising a family and being a farmer. He and Marguerite raised eleven children in Quebec, although the oldest, Anne Marie, married Nicolas Dufault soon after their arrival in Quebec, (September 14, 1767). Four of Jean’s sons, as far as we know, (Olivier, Jean Baptiste, Charles and Mathurin) spent some time as voyageurs. Olivier eventually worked his way down the Mississippi to Louisiana to reunite with the Guidrys there. Mathurin drowned in the Lachine rapids while still young.

Jean outlived his second wife, Marguerite, and in 1799, married for the third time, Marie Angelique Marois, the widow of Pierre Milot. A death certificate dated 1802 indicates that Jean died at age 80. He is most likely buried at the old cemetery site in St. Jacques though no markers give evidence of this and the original burial ground is not clearly located.

We don’t know how the deportation and difficult times affected Jean and his family once they settled at St. Jacques. Like other refugees in other times, they more than likely talked about their experience very little, and spent the rest of their lives thinking about the future, rather than the past. There is a strong possibility that Jean’s son Olivier, sent word back to Quebec that he had found his Uncles, Jean Guidry’s brothers, in Louisiana. We can be certain in saying, however, that they never saw one another again.

Jean Guidry dit Labrador dit Labine lived a remarkable life, one full of turmoil, adventure, hardship, tragedy, courage and endurance. In death he would finally find that eternal peace that his life seemed to have very little of. He left behind him a great number of descendants and the Labine family multiplied and grew. “5353

None

Pierre Milot

“ . . . Jean spent his first five years at Wilmington and his last six at Woburn. His move to Woburn came as a result of his intolerable conditions in Wilmington. Jean petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature on numerous occasions demanding better living conditions for himself and his family. There are to be found many of these petitions in the Massachusetts Archives, Jean’s name being given some ten times as John Labardor or Labrador. After 1763, he is found listed as John or Jean Guidry, Gaidry, Guidri or Guidrit. These petitions provide some of the best historic documentation we have of Jean’s life in Acadia and in Boston. In one petition he states:

“ John Labrador sheweth that while he lived at Maligast (Mirligueche) he was so faithful in serving and assisting all Englishmen in distress and from the cruelty of the Indians that one day in particular, having sent away out of the harbour one vessel which the Indians intended to prey on and which they forbade him at his peril, they waylaid him coming from the vessel and shot him with buckshot, several of which were log’d in his flesh and thirty odd went thro his coat which marks he now bears, having three yet in his back, but they not satisfied with that treatn’d to take his life away the first opportunity which obliged him to abandon his habitation and go live in Pisiquite”.

Because the Acadians were under state supervision, any decisions made regarding them had to be made by the State Legislature. In December 1757, Jean Guidry describes the kind of living conditions he had to bear in Wilmington:

“ . . . in ten weeks, he received nothing but a haunch of lamb and one quart of milk a day. He has no wood (December 26, 1757) because they refused to lend him an ox to haul the wood he cut. So then, he is without food or fire in a house that has no door and no roof. When it rains, they have to move their beds along a wall against the wind in order to avoid rain and snow. Once he remarked to a Councillor that they were flooded in the house: the Councillor replied that they should build a boat and float. “

Again on January 10, 1758, a petition was signed by Francis Mius, “a Nova Scotian French person placed at Tewkesbury.” It was likewise endorsed by “Lawarence Mius, placed at Methuen”, and brought forth the complaints also “of John Labrador, another placed at Wilmington - respectfully setting forth the hardships and sufferings they undergo in the present situation. “

Apparently Jean’s petitons met with some success for we find him moved to Woburn in 1760. His family continued to grow and 1763 he had 5 sons and 2 daughters. This seems amazing when you consider that over half of the Acadians in Massachusetts are reported to have died during their exile there. In 1763, when Jean and other Acadians signed a petition requesting to be sent to France, only about 1000 of the original group of Acadians, out of the 2000 deported in 1755 remained alive.

With the fall of Montreal on September 8, 1759, tbe (sic) French and Indian War was all but over. For the terms of surrender, Vaudreuil, the French Governor, had presented fifty-five articles of peace to Amherst, the King of England’s representative. On the margin of the 39th Article which stipulated that all the French must remain in Canada and not be deported, Amherst wrote, “Agreed except as regards the Acadians”. Again as a marginal note to the 54th Article, which would guarantee a safe return of officers, militiamen and Acadian prisoners in New England to their respective countries, the general scribbled, “Accepted, but with reservation to the Acadians”.

With the French and Indian War concluded, the Acadians in Boston and vicinity began to hope to leave their exile. Up to this time, France had not taken an active part in rescuing the Acadians from the American colonies but had provided, when requested, refuge to great numbers of them exiled to England, Île Royale, Île St-Jean and from the American continent. In fact, the first to arrive in Cherbourg, France was from Bosotn. However, at peace negotiations held in England, the Duke of Nivernois, Peer of France, who represented the French King, was made more fully aware of the Acadians’ plight. On his return to France he had his Secretary de la Rochette write letters to the Acadians in the English colonies in America, inviting them to come to France to be with friends and relatives. When the 1000 Acadians in Boston and Massachusetts heard of Rochette’s letter, they signed a petition asking to return to France. Note their request as itemized above.

As soon as the Lords of Trade in England learned of Nivernois’ scheme to attract the Acadians to France or to her tropical colonies, a formal protest was registered with the French Ambassador. Notwithstanding, on December 6, 1763, the French Duke wrote Choisel to keep sending boats to pick up the Acadians, particularly those in New York and Boston. He assumed the Acadians there would find a way to leave America. None went to France. Some went to Louisiana, while other like Jean returned to Canada. A few remained where they had been exiled and were finally absorbed into the surrounding population.

Although Acadians started leaving Boston as early as 1763, Jean and his family did not get permission until 1766. Missing the boats to France and Louisiana, Jean Guidry signed his name with a group of Acadians to a list of persons requesting to be transferred to St. Dominique Island in the West Indies. This petition was signed on December 1, 1764, at which time Jean signs his name “Guedrit” and states that there are ten in his family. The petition for passage to the West Indies was denied on the grounds that the Acadians were English subjects and should remain under English rule.

In 1765, Governor Murray of Canada signed a decree requesting English subjects to settle in Quebec. On January 13, 1766, several Acadians asked the Governor of Boston for permission to write to Murray to obtain his approval for their return to Canada. Permission to make that appeal was granted. Murray, in turn, promised to try to accomodate the Acadians, apparently seeing it as an advantage to have the Acadians settle where they could be an asset to Canada and the British Empire. After sending inquiries out to different parts of Quebec, Murray found several areas, mostly around Montreal, willing to welcome these exiled Acadians. On June 2, 1766, Jean signed another petition, along with 890 Acadians in the Boston area asking to be released in order to proceed with the move to Quebec. Permission was granted and on June 13, 1766, most of the Acadians left the villages they had been exiled to, determined to find their way back to their homeland. Some traveled by boat, while others walked by way of Lake Champlain. On September 8, 1766, the Quebec Gazette announced the arrival of these Acadians.

Jean and Marguerite went up the river to Montreal until some parish priest met them and led them to his parish. On October 16, 1766, M. Degneay, the Cure of l’Assomption, took in about 80 Acadians (12 or 13 families) to help them get started in their new life. Jean and Marguerite were part of this group guided by Father Degneay to the town of l’Assomption where they spent the winter in a warehouse near the church. Soon after their arrival in l’Assomption, Jean and Marguerite had their marriage blessed by the church and had the Baptism of four their children, born in exile, validated.

After spending a long winter in the warehouse, Jean and his family became the first Acadians to buy land along the grand line from St. Alexis, near Ruisseau St. Georges. This land was purchased on April 2, 1767. It had been completely paid for by 1781 and would stay in the family for over one hundred years, finally being sold by Modeste Guildry dit Labine in 1871.

Along with being one of the first Acadians to buy land, Jean was also one of the first to build a house along Ruisseau St. Georges, no doubt similar in style to that of early architecture.

The turmoil in his life all but over, Jean could finally turn his attention to raising a family and being a farmer. He and Marguerite raised eleven children in Quebec, although the oldest, Anne Marie, married Nicolas Dufault soon after their arrival in Quebec, (September 14, 1767). Four of Jean’s sons, as far as we know, (Olivier, Jean Baptiste, Charles and Mathurin) spent some time as voyageurs. Olivier eventually worked his way down the Mississippi to Louisiana to reunite with the Guidrys there. Mathurin drowned in the Lachine rapids while still young.

Jean outlived his second wife, Marguerite, and in 1799, married for the third time, Marie Angelique Marois, the widow of Pierre Milot. A death certificate dated 1802 indicates that Jean died at age 80. He is most likely buried at the old cemetery site in St. Jacques though no markers give evidence of this and the original burial ground is not clearly located.

We don’t know how the deportation and difficult times affected Jean and his family once they settled at St. Jacques. Like other refugees in other times, they more than likely talked about their experience very little, and spent the rest of their lives thinking about the future, rather than the past. There is a strong possibility that Jean’s son Olivier, sent word back to Quebec that he had found his Uncles, Jean Guidry’s brothers, in Louisiana. We can be certain in saying, however, that they never saw one another again.

Jean Guidry dit Labrador dit Labine lived a remarkable life, one full of turmoil, adventure, hardship, tragedy, courage and endurance. In death he would finally find that eternal peace that his life seemed to have very little of. He left behind him a great number of descendants and the Labine family multiplied and grew. “5353

None

Marie Angélique Marois
Marie Angelique Marois
Marie Angelique Marios
Marie Angélique Maois