Claude  PETITPAS

PETITPAS, CLAUDE, schooner captain, interpreter, known particularly for his collaboration with the English, third child of a family of 15, son of Claude Petitpas, Sieur de Lafleur, clerk of the court at Port-Royal (Annapolis Royal, N.S.), and of Catherine Bugaret; b. c. 1663 at Port-Royal, d. some time between 1731 and 1733.

During his youth Petitpas was closely associated in his voyages and activities with the Micmacs in the neighbourhood of Port-Royal, where he lived in his father’s home until his marriage. Around 1686 he married an Indian girl of that tribe named Marie-Thérèse, born in 1668, by whom he had at least seven children, according to the 1708 census. On 7 Jan. 1721, after his first wife’s death, he remarried, again at Port-Royal; his second wife was Françoise Lavergne from that town, daughter of Pierre Lavergne, Father Breslay’s servant, and of Anne Bernon. She was only 17; he was about 57. She bore him four children.

While his first wife was alive Petitpas lived at

Claude PETITPAS, 45, wife Catherine BAGARD 33; Children: Bernard 12, Claude 8, Jean 7, Jacques 5, Marguerite 10, Marie 2, Elisabeth 1; cattle 26, sheep 11.

Claude PETITPAS, Sr. de lafleur, clerk of the court, 60; Catherine BUGARET his wife 46; children: Claude 23, Jacques 19. Marie 18, Henriette 12, Paul 11, Charles 10, Martin 9, Pierre 5, Anne 2; 2 guns, 12 arpents, 22 cattle 10 hogs.

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.