Jean-Baptiste Robichaud

     Although many of his father's neighbours responded in the early 1750s to the efforts made by the French government and its agents to persuade Acadians living under British rule to remove to French territory,…the Robichaux family remained in Nova Scotia; their distance from Annapolis Royal and the presence of French troops at Louisbourg, Île Royale (Cape Breton Island), and Fort Beauséjour (near Sackville, N.B.) perhaps gave them a sense of security on their lands.^1,2 Jean-Baptiste Robichaud was born in 1751 at Cobéquid, Colony of Nova Scotia, British North America.^3,1 He was the son of Joseph Robichaud and Claire LeBlanc. They were deported in 1755. Joseph Robichaux took his family by the “emigrants’ road” to Tatamagouche, and then by ship to Pointe Prime (Point Prim) on Île Saint-Jean (P.E.I.) It was there that many Acadians from Cobequid, as well as the former parish priest, Jacques Girard, had settled.² The surrender of Louisbourg [in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia] to British forces under Jeffery Amherst and Edward Boscawen in July 1758 brought with it the capitulation of Île Saint-Jean. In spite of an appeal by Pierre Cassiet and Jean Biscaret, two of the missionaries to the Acadians on the island, it was decided that Colonel Lord Rollo should proceed with plans to deport the inhabitants. Sent to France, the Robichaux family arrived at Saint-Servan in Brittany at the onset of winter, after a crossing that proved fatal for their father. They settled in the tiny village of Pleudihen on the outskirts of Saint-Servan and, like other Acadian families, were supported for some years by the French government. But they had difficulty adapting to their new life and dreamed of returning home.^1,2

Jean-Baptiste Robichaud married Félicité Cyr, daughter of Jean-Jacques Cyr and Marie-Josèphe Hébert, on 4 February 1773 at Église Saint-Servan, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, France.^4,3,1,2 The Jersey merchants of the firm Robin, Pipon et Cie. were eager to sign on the Acadian families living on the coasts of France in order to obtain a stable work-force for their settlements in Gaspé and on Cape Breton Island, since the young people from Jersey did not seem to want to take up permanent residence there. Early in the spring of 1774 Jean-Baptiste and his brothers went to Jersey, and in April the Acadian contingent left Saint Helier on two ships, the Hope and the bound for Charles Robin’s establishment at Paspébiac in Gaspé, which they reached the following month. Jean-Baptiste and his wife settled at Bonaventure with their eldest child, Jean-Baptiste, who had been born on 16 Nov. 1773 at Saint-Servan. There they lived in straitened circumstances on his ten-acre plot, completely dependent on the company, Charles Robin having encouraged the Acadians to concentrate on fishing rather than farming. Unable to gain secure possession even of this small property, Robichaux contemplated joining the Acadian families south of the Baie des Chaleurs.¹ Jean-Baptiste and Félicitémoved in 1790. About 1790 he crossed the bay with his family to settle at Grand Chipagan, taking up residence on Pointe Brûlé to the west of the harbour. He was the first settler from Grand Chipagan to petition the government for title to his land, in 1798. His rights were recognized.¹ Jean-Baptiste Robichaud died on 4 March 1808 at Shippagan, New Brunswick, Canada.¹