Joseph Poirier

     Joseph Poirier was born circa 1705 at Beaubassin, Acadia, New France.¹ He was the son of Michel Poirier and Marie-Madeleine Bourgeois.¹ In the 1714 Census, Joseph was recorded living in Beaubassin, Colony of Nova Scotia, British North America.¹

Joseph Poirier married Jeanne Gaudet, daughter of Guillaume Gaudet and Marie Boudreau, in 1730.¹ After 1713 & before 1755, the region of Greater Beaubassin was split between the clearly British part on the Nova Scotia side of the Missiguash river and the disputed French-controlled (but British-claimed) part in what is now New Brunswick. In 1750, the British built a fort just on their side of the boundary, to face the recently constructed French fort of Beauséjour. In that same year, much of the Beaubassin settlement on the British side was destroyed by fire, at the behest of certain interests among the French, to force Acadians to migrate across to the French-controlled side. In 1750, as a consequence, Jeanne & Joseph & their offspring joined the considerable number of Acadians beginning to emigrate from British-held & British-claimed parts of Acadia, heading mainly to the French territory of Île Royale. That colony included today's Prince Edward Island, then called Île Saint-Jean, as well as Cape Breton, with its capital at Louisbourg. Jeanne & Joseph opted for Cape Breton.¹ Joseph and Jeanne appeared on the US Census of 1752 at Port-Toulouse, Île Royale (now Cape Breton), Colony of Nova Scotia, British North America. They have been in the colony two years and have been granted rations for that time.¹ In the summer of 1758, the fortress-town of Louisbourg fell to British forces for the last time. By that autumn, Acadians were being expelled to France. The Poirier-Gaudet household, however, was not among the exiles, presumably having been among the Acadians who escaped and hid deep in the forests for the next several years.¹ Joseph and Jeanne lived in 1763 at Port-LaJoie, St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island), Colony of Nova Scotia, British North America, where they were mentioned in a letter written by Acadians wishing to go to another French colony.¹