Marie Catherine  RICHARD

"Francois Brossard, ancestor of one of the most famous families in Acadian history, was born perhaps in Acadia in c1653 to parents still unknown. He married Catherine, daughter of Michel Richard, at Port-Royal in c1678. They settled on haute rivière, now the upper Annapolis River, at a place called Beausoleil. Not long after his marriage, Francois "collaborated with Pierre Thibodeau in the colonization of Chipoudy, but he did not go to settle there himself." Francois and Catherine had 11 children. Four of their daughters married into the Landry, Doucet, Préjean, and Bourg families. Francois and Catherine had six sons, all born at Port-Royal, five of whom created families of their own. Francois died suddenly at his farm on haute rivière in December 1716, in his early 60s. "

François Brossard, later Broussard, born in c1653, perhaps in Anjou, may have come to the colony aboard L'Oranger. He married Catherine, daughter of Michel dit Sansoucy Richard and Madeleine Blanchard, at Port-Royal in c1678. De Meulles found them still at Port-Royal in 1686. François was age 33, and Catherine was 22. They lived with three children, a son and two daughters, the younger daughter "not yet ... baptized" at 11 days old. They owned 1 gun, 7 cattle, 6 sheep, and 5 hogs. Catherine gave François 11 children, including six sons, five of whom created families of their own. The activities of two of those sons would write the family's name large in Acadian history.