Charles  MELANSON dit LAVERDURE

MELANSON, CHARLES, ploughman, settler; b. 1643; d. some time before 1700.

Historians agree neither on his ethnic origin nor on the date of his arrival in Canada. Undeniably, he “came from Scotland”; but, as a notarial contract designated him “Sieur de La Ramée, and as his brother Pierre was nicknamed “La Verdure,” Placide Gaudet concluded that the family might have been of French origin, and that, because it was Huguenot, it might have emigrated to Scotland, whence it went to Acadia. Some writers claim that the Melansons, belonged to the settlement founded by Sir William Alexander, the younger, According to Placide Gaudet, the family arrived in the colony in 1657 with Governor Temple; it settled at Port-Royal; later it is thought to have emigrated to Boston, leaving in Acadia Pierre and Charles, the only members of the family whose names have been preserved in history.

The elder, Pierre, dit La Verdure, a tailor, husband of Marie-Marguerite Mius d’Entremont, was one of the

From Rootsweb.com:

' Census: Port Royal, Acadia, 1686 Age 44
Research bulletin 250, the Melanson settlement (1664 1755), Canadian minister of the environment. Charles Melanson, age 14 and his parents arrived in Acadia from England in 1657. His father, Pierre Laverdure, was a Huguenot who had moved to England from France before 1632. His mother, Priscilla, was English, a fact that is well accepted by historians, although generations of die hard descendants, who will not admit an ounce of English blood, continue to insist that she was Scottish.'

The following is from www.acadian-home.org/ ancestorsacadian.html:

Pierre Melanson dit Laverdure was a french Protestant who married in exile in England to an english woman named Priscilla. Brought to Acadia with his family by Thomas Temple in the spring of 1657, Pierre, his spouse and their youngest son went to Boston after the Treaty of Breda in 1667. Their two other sons, already married to Acadian women, remained in Acadia.

England to Acadia on the 'Satisfaction'

'In spring of 1657, as part of the occupying English force under the command of Sir Thomas Temple, Pierre Melanson dit La Verdure, a French Huguenot, arrived in Port-Royal with his English wife Priscilla, whom he had married in England in c1631, and their three children, all of them sons: Pierre dit Laverdure, fils, born in c1632 probably in England, Charles dit La Ramée, born in c1643, and Jean or John dit La Verdure. With the return of Acadia to France in 1667, Pierre dit La Verdure, père, his wife, and their youngest son John withdrew to Boston. However, Pierre's two older sons remained in Acadia, where they had married Acadian women and started families of their own.'

Source: www.acadiansingray.com/

Charles MELANCON, 28, wife Marie DUGAST 23; Children: Marie 7, Marguerite 5, Anne 3, Cecille 6 months; cattle 40, sheep 6.

Charles MELANSON 44, Marie DUGAS 38; children: Isabelle 13, Charles 11, Madeleine 9, Marie 7, Francoise 4, twins Pierre and Ambroise 10 month; 1 gun, 6 arpents, 20 cattle, 12 sheep, 6 hogs.

'Through the 1690s Charles Melanson continued to operate as a secret informant for Massachusetts authorities, even as his brother Pierre Melanson dit Laverdure served as 'captain of the coast' for the French.'

Source: A Great and Noble Scheme by John Mack Faragher, page 104

Charles MELANCON 46, Marie DUGAS 42, Charles 18, Madeleine 16, Marie 12, Francoise 10, Pierre & Ambroise (twins) 8, Claude 5, Jeanne 3; 20 cattle, 25 sheep, 12 pigs, 35 arpents, 4 guns

In August 1695, English authorities imposed on the Acadian inhabitants at Port-Royal an oath of allegiance to King William III. Many family heads signed or made their marks on the document that attested to their having taken the oath. Louis Allain, Jean Babineau, called Babinot, Jean Bastarache, Jean Belliveau, Martin and Guillaume Blanchard, Bernard and Martin Bourg, François Broussard, Pierre Cellier, called Le Cellier, Étienne, Jean l'aîné, Pierre l'aîné, and Pierre le jeune Comeau, Jean Corporon, Pierre Doucet, Claude Dugas, ___ Dupuis, Jean Fardel (an Englishman whose wife was a Gaudet), Pierre Gaudet, Jacob and Alexandre Girouard, Laurent Granger, Giraud (Jérôme) Guérin, Emmanuel Hébert, Claude and Pierre Landry, Daniel LeBlanc, Jacques Léger dit La Rosette, Pierre Martin, fils, Étienne Pellerin, Martin Richard, Charles Robichaud dit Cadet, François Robin, Germain Savoie, Pierre Sibilau, Claude and Bonaventure Thériot, and Jacques Triel dit Laperrière--all made their marks.

Charles MELLANSON 57; Marie DUGAST (wife) 52; Charles 23; Marie 18; Ambroise and Pierre, twins, 13; Claude 11; Jean 8; Marguerite 5; 15 cattle, 9 sheep 9 hogs, 35 arpents, 76 fruit trees, 2 guns.

Charles MELANSON 53; Marie DUGAST (wife) 49; Pierre and Ambroise, twins, 15; Claude 12; Jeanne 10; 30 cattle, 22 sheep, 35 arpents, 2 guns.