In the Acadian tradition, I am Bobby à Leon à John à Jean à Edouard à Joseph à Alexandre à Joseph à Jean-Baptiste à Jean à René Landry dit le jeune. For those not familiar with my mother tongue, the "à" means "son of" or "daughter of".
I'm descended directly from René Landry dit le jeune, one of two men named René Landry who lived in l'Acadie toward the end of the 17th century. The other René, René Landry dit l'ainé, is believed to be no more closely related to René dit le jeune than 3rd cousins based on an analysis of surviving records by genealogists at l'Université de Moncton. Acadians had a tradition of naming their children after grandparents, godparents, uncles and aunts with the result that many names repeated. To tell people apart, we use nicknames, denoted by the word "dit" (called).
There is false information on some websites that René le jeune's father was named Jean-Claude Landry. Jean Claude was not a Landry. For further information, see "Acadian Genealogy Exchange", Vol XXII, No.2, pp 39-42: http://newsarch.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ACADIAN-CAJUN/1998-07/0901635536
Family trees can get complicated, especially when they cover over 400 years as mine does. To keep this blog within the limits imposed by my ISP, I'll outline the four threads in my family tree that run through my grandparents, Jean-Antoine Landry, his spouse Hélène-Jeanne Boudreau, Honoré David, and his spouse Sabine-Rose Boudreau. As you can see, both my grandmothers have a shared ancestry. That's not the only instance of relations between relatives. My ancestral lines cross so often that I should be able to play "Duelling Banjos" -- hey, wait a minute, I do, with my fifth cousin who's married to my first cousin once removed. To invoke the spirit of Father Mulcahy, enough with the jocularity.
My paternal grandfather Jean-Antoine (John Anthony) Landry:
René Landry dit le jeune was born about 1634 in France and died between 1689 and 1693 in Port-Royal, Acadie. About 1659. he married Marie Bernard (b. ca. 1645; d. ca. Jan 11, 1715) the daughter of N. Bernard and Andrée Guyon. Looks like Marie Bernard was about 14 years old at the time of her marriage. They had 15 children: Antoine, Claude, Cécile, Jean, René, Marie, Marguerite, Germain, Jeanne, Abraham, Pierre, Catherine, Anne, Charles dit Charlot and Isabelle.
Jean Landry, son of René dit le jeune and Marie Bernard, was born about 1666. He married about 1687 Cécile Melanson, daughter of Pierre Melanson dit Laverdure and Marguerite Muis d'Entremont. Cécile was born about 1668 and died Jun 12, 1716 at Port-Lajoie, Ile St-Jean (Prince Edward Island). They had 9 children: René, Jean-Baptiste, Joseph, Marie-Josephe, Benjamin, an unnamed son, two unnamed daughters and Cécile.
Jean-Baptiste Landry, son of Jean and Cécile Melanon, about 1690 in "la Cadie." On Nov 16, 1711 he married Marguerite Gautrot in Grand-Pré, Acadie. Marguerite was born about 1693 in Pisiguit, Acadie (Windsor, Nova Scotia) and died before May 15, 1767. We know 5 of their children: Jean-Baptiste dit Labbé, Joseph, Ami dit Lami, Alexis and Marguerite-Genevieve. Jean-Baptiste, three of his sons and 15 grandchildren fled from Grand-Pré to Ile-Royale (Cape Breton) in 1751 as tensions between the English and the Acadians worsened. I'm still piecing their movements together but it seems that they fled from Cape Breton to Northern New Brunswick following the fall of Louisbourg in 1758 where the were captured by the British after the fall of Québec, imprisoned on George's Island in Halifax harbour, deported from there and made their way to the islands of St-Pierre et Miquelon where they were living when they were hired to return to Cape Breton and work in the fishing industry.
Joseph Landry, son of Jean-Baptiste and Marguerite Gautrot was born Jul 10, 1717 in Grand-Pré, Nouvelle-Écosse (Nova Scotia). He married Marie-Marguerite Breau about 1737. She was the daughter of Alexandre Breau and Marie Dugas. They had five children we know of: Anne, Marguerite, and unnamed daughter, Alexandre and Anne-Gertrude. According to the 1752 census of Ile-Royale, Joseph was a carpenter who arrived at Port-Toulouse (St. Peters) on Aug 15, 1751 after fleeing from Grand-Pré with his father, brothers and their families. He returned to Cape Breton between 1767 and 1771.
Alexandre Landry, son of Joseph Landry and Marie-Maguerite Breau was born about 1754 while his family was in exile on Ile-Royale. As a baby, he followed the forced travels of his father and grandfather. Alexandre married Marcelline (Madeleine) Marchand, daughter of Jean marchand dit Poitiers and Marie-Genevieve Pouget about 1775 in Arichat, following the family's return to Cape Breton. Alexandre and Marcelline had at least three children. Simon dit le grand, Joseph and Alexandre. Alexandre was one of the heads of 70 families who signed a petition on Mar 8, 1786 addressed to Governor J.F.W.Desbarres of Cape Breton.
Joseph Landry, son of Alexandre and Marcelline Marchand married Marine Richard, daughter of Jean Richard and Marie (Marie-Anne) Thériot. Birth marriage and death dates for these grandparents are virtually impossible to find due to a fire in 1838 that destroyed the glebe house in Arichat where baptismal, marital and burial records were kept. I have, to date, identified four of their children, Joseph, Simon, Edouard and Pierre.
Edouard Landry, son of Joseph Landry and Marine Richard was born about 1813 and died Oct 26, 2891 in Petit-de-grat, Nova Scotia. He married twice, first to Félicité Boudrot, daughter of Joseph Boudrot and Charlote Marchand. Félicité was born about 1811 and died Apr 11, 1878, also in Petit-de-grat. Edouard and Félicité had five children: Jean (le vieux Johnny), Rémi, André, Marin, Judique (Judith). Edouard operated a ferry boat across the harbour at Petit-de-grat. After Félicité died, Edouard married a second time to Marie Martel.
Jean (le vieux Johnny) Landry, son of Edouard and Félicité Boudrot, was born Dec 26, 1840 in Petit-de-grat and died May 29, 1933 in Petit-de-grat. He married Victoire LeBlanc Jan 17, 1865 in Arichat. She was the daugher of Désiré LeBlanc and Rufine Briand. She was born Aug 14, 1840 and died May 25, 1919. Le vieux Johnny and Victoire had four children: Edouard (Ned), Selianne, Marie Jeanne and Jean Antoine (John Anthony).
Jean Antoine (John Anthony) Landry, my paternal grandfather was born Dec 2, 1885 and died May 29, 1970 (on my 33rd birthday) in Petit-de-grat. He married Hélène Jeanne (Lina Jane) Boudreau in Arichat on Feb 17, 1908. She was the daughter of Capt. Dominique Boudreau and Archange Boudreau. They had 12 children, three of whom died shortly after birth. I grew up with all my grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.
My paternal grandmother Hélène-Jeanne (Lina Jane) Boudreau:
Michel Boudrot was born about 1600 and died between Aug 20, 1688 and 1693 at Port-Royal, Acadie. Michel was one of the original Acadian settlers. He served as Lieutenant General, Civil and Criminal for a number of years
