3. DNA Matches with Acadian French Descendants

DNA Matches from John Morrison

The DNA which matches so many Acadian French, is from a Scot, named,  John Morrison.
John was the son of John Morrison 1702 1740 and his wife Elizabeth Alleson 1707.  John was the brother of James, Dugald, Margaret, Janet and Elizabeth (known).


Leaving Scotland

Increasing agricultural prosperity, industrial expansion, and British policy forbidding the emigration
of skilled artisans all combined to account for the temporary decline of Lowland emigration to North America, while the proverbial if perverse loyalty of Highlanders to the British Crown helps explain their preference for the British colonies, especially after American independence.6 As one Scots settler wrote to his mother in 1783, "It's an impossibility for any loyal subject to remain (or any to return) in the United States for any one that's found in the country is . . . inhumanly dealt with by its ungovernable mobs and encouraged by their rulers".

American hostility to loyal Scots may have declined, but memories of it remained alive. Moreover, a fair number of Scots, again mainly Highlanders who did most of the military service overseas, came to the Maritimes with the Loyalists, providing a basis of friends and family connections upon which further immigration could build. Disbanded soldiers have not been included in the figures of Table I, but the resettlement of Scots Loyalists in the Maritimes after 1783 helped redress the unfavourable balance of the earlier emigration. Although in 1770-1775 most Scots had departed for provinces which would rebel, by 1785 a large number of these people had found their way to the loyal provinces of British North America, especially the Maritimes

The most common failing of the 1774-75 lists is that they do not clearly identify family groupings, often listing women (as was the common practice in the countryside) by their maiden names and omitting children who were not paying passengers. In addition, the lists vary greatly in the specificity of occupation, place of residence, and reasons for emigration. Whole shiploads are described collectively as having decided to leave Scotland "in order to procure a Living abroad, as they were
quite destitute of bread at home".10 Women's occupations are typically omitted, and servants accompanying wealthier emigrants are often not so specified.

 As well as in newspaper and magazine reports, emigration data s to be found in: Records of the
Highland Society, Edinburgh; Customs Records for Scottish Ports in the Scottish Record Office [SRO], Edinburgh; Customs Records for Prince Edward Island, 1790-1810, in PAPEI;
[Edward S. Fraser of Reelig], "On Emigration from the Scottish Highlands & Isles", manuscript in the National Library of Scotland [NLS], Edinburgh; Home Office Papers on Scotland, in the SRO; Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, and Canada Colonial Office Papers in the Public Record Office [PRO], London; Treasury Papers (especially T. 47/12) in the PRO; Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and Canada State Papers in the Public Archives of Canada; the Public Archives.
 


The DNA of Dugald, my 6th great grandfather, and John who is my 6th great uncle, has been confirmed.   All are the descendants of John Morrison 1736 - 1807 and his wife Isabelle Catanach 1737 - 1836.

They were born in Glasgow, and emigrated in 1783.  The family lived in Alloah, Clackmanshire.  They arrived in 1783 and settled in Bathurst, Gloucester, New Brunswick

First called Nepisiguit, then St. Peters, Bathurst received its current name in 1826 after then-British colonial secretary, Henry Bathurst, third Earl of Bathurst.

The current site of Bathurst was once a summer encampment of the Mi’kmaq First Nation. Indeed, its original name, Nepisiguit, is derived from the Mi’kmaq word winpegijawik, meaning “rough water.” The first European to visit the area was Jacques Cartier in 1534. Cartier gave Chaleur Bay its name after its noticeably warm waters.

The first permanent settlers on Chaleur Bay were the Récollet missionaries who arrived from France in 1619. Bathurst was officially founded by then-governor of Acadia, Nicolas Denys in 1652. The site, home to Denys’ headquarters, was abandoned after his death in 1688. The next group to settle the area was dispossessed Acadians, who arrived from what is now Nova Scotia, in 1755. (See History of Acadia.)

By 1768 English merchant Commodore George Walker had established a successful fur trading, fishing and shipbuilding enterprise, and oversaw trade activity across the entire Chaleur Bay. During his time at what was then called Nepisiguit, George Walker served as justice of the peace for surrounding settlers. Walker performed such duties as marriages and burials, and brokered disputes amongst the Mi'kmaq, Acadians and British. Commodore Walker died suddenly in England in 1777.

In 1778, during the American Revolution, American privateers destroyed his fortified Nepisiguit outpost.

Their children were:

• Helen Morrison 1763  James Robertson
• Alexander Morrison 1768
• Elizabeth  Morrison                              1769 John Duncan
• William Morrison                                 1770 Marie Hache
• John Morrison 1778
• James Morrison 1784

The marriage of Helen to James Robertson produced 10 children, 8 girls and 2 boys.

Isabella; Marguerite; Maria; Helene; Elizabeth; Anne; Margaret; Marie; James and Alexander.

1. Isabella Robertson         1782 - 1871  m Romaine LeBlanc  1777 - 1885
2. Marguerite Robertson     1784 - 1823 m Augustin Godin 1786 - 1843
3. Helene Robertson            1786 - 1861  m  Dominique Doucet  1780 - 1869
4. Elizabeth Robertson        1789 - 1871 m Georgoire Arseneau  1802 - 1871
5. Anne Robertson  1792  m  Pierre Godin  1800 - 1825
6. Margaret  Robertson       1798 - 1823
7. Maria Robertson            1799
8. James Robertson             1802 - 1894  m  Mary Melanson  1807 - 1898


It was the marriages of these children, my 6th cousins, that has been responsible for all the matches.

1.  Isabelle Robertson married Romain LeBlanc  son of Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Doucet.

Marie LeBlanc 1805 - 1871 Alme Melanson  1799 - 1835

Joseph LeBlanc 1807 - 1882 Marie Cormeau  1812 - 1888

Helene LeBlanc 1811   1897 Ferdinand Doucet 1807 - 1891

Edouard LeBlanc                 1814 1897 Marie Cormeau  

James LeBlanc 1815 - 1899

Isabella LeBlanc                  1818 - 1878 Antoine Doucet  1815  

Nancy LeBlanc 1819

Ann LeBlanc                      1819  1899 Hilarion Doucet  1811

Margaret LeBlanc               1821 Raphael Doucet   1818

Romain LeBlanc                 1823 Helene Doucet 1829

Lucy LeBlanc                     1825 David Doucet 1823 - 1900

The LeBlanc children married into the Doucet family, the children of Antoine Doucet and Rosalie DeGrace 

Father Pierre Doucet                            (1752-1827) 

Mother Marie Hache dit Gallant          (1747-1813)

Spouse Rosalie DeGrace (-)

Married 1806 

Children

• Ferdinand   Doucet                           (1807-1891) 

• Rose Doucet                                     (1809-1871) 

• Marie Doucet                                    (1810-) 

• Antoine Doucet                                 (1812-) 

• Raphael Doucet                                (1813-1815) 

• Antoine Doucet                                (1815-) 

• Raphael Doucet                                 1816-) 

• Hilaire Doucet                                  (1819-) 

• Marguerite Doucet                           (1822-) 

• David Doucet                                   (1823-1900) 

2. Marguerite Robertson married Augustin Godin   

There were two daughters

Monique Godin       1814 - 1914                          m  Josephe Hache

Marguerite Godin   1820 - 1888                           m  Augustine Pinette

3. Helene married Dominique Doucet

Their children:

Father Pierre Doucet (1751-1827)

Mother Marie Hache Gallant (1747-1813)

Spouse Helene Robertson (1786-)

Married 1803 

Children •

1.         Marie (-) 
2. • Pierre (-) 
3. • Joseph D. (1804-) 
4. • Marie (1806-) 
5. • Edouard (1808-) 
6. • Luce (1809-) 
7. • Marguerite (1810-) 
8. • Hélene (1811-) 
9. • Dominique (1814-) 
10. • Monique (1816-) 
11. • Romain (1818-) 
12. • Éloi (1820-) 
13. • Marin (1822-) 
14. • Francois Xavier (1824-) 
15. • Mathilde (1828-) 

• 
  

4.  Elizabeth Morrison m Georgiou Doucet

Georgoire Arseneau was the son of Joseph Arseneau and Marie Goudin.  Their family included:

• Jean-Noel Arseneau  1790–  Marie Gaudet  

• Helene Arseneau             1793–

• Fidele Arseneau              1794–1856    Marie Ann Doucet  

• Joseph Arseneau              1795–  

• Marie Celeste Arseneau    1798–1839 Nicholas Deotte (Dioet) 1790  

• Gregoire Arseneau           1802–1871  Elizabeth Robertson   1789 - 1871  

• David Arseneau               1803– Madeline Doucet

• Julie Delphine Arseneau   1804– Jean Perry Dumaresq 1809 - 1877  

• Laurent Arseneau             1805– Monique Mineut Comeau 1807 - 1887   

• Henriette Arseneau   1809–1861 Pierre Beaudreau  1803 - 1874

• Helene Arseneau              1811–1861 Nicholas Comeau  1811 - 1901  

• Dominique Arseneau 1814–1907 Marie Aucion  1814 - 1891  

• Marie Arseneau                1815–1850 

• Moise Arseneau            1818–  

• Marguerite Arseneau 1820– Romain Arseneau  1817  

• Ursule Arseneau               1825–1858 Joseph Hache  

• Maxime Arseneau     1826–1883  Theotiste Hache 

Marriage of Joseph and Marie

8. James Robertson m Mary Melanson 

There were at least 2 children

Mary Robertson  1828 - 1920

James Robertson  1831 - 1869

 (These girls were my 3rd cousins*5)

This project was done in order to ascertain the  Maternal Ancestors of Sarah Coakley 

in relation to the  direct lineage of her descendant from maternal lineage 

Grandparents         Patrick Jessome 1905  - 1965    m  Sarah Ellen (Nellie)  Coakley 1903 - 1979

GGP                 John Bernard Coakley  1876 - 1931  m Mary Blanchard    1879 - 1940

2GG
Marcellan Blanchard  1829 - 1913 m  Marguerite LeBlanc 1844 - 1921
Thomas Coakley         1844 - 1926 m  Sarah Miller  1851 - 1901

3GGG
Jean Blanchard           1809 - 1833 m Suzanne Chiasson  1803 - 1832

Francois LeBlanc       1809        m Isabelle Arseneau 1809 - 1860

Thomas Coakley        1783       m  Ann Doyle 1813      (Ireland)

James Miller              1795 - 1871        m Jane Marple  1806 - 

4GGGG      
   Jean Blanchard             1770 - 1810 m Francois Hache  1776 - 1826

Firmin Chiasson           1780 - 1859  m Helene Poirier 1785

Jean Noel Arseneau      1762 - 1831 m Marie Madeline Gaudet 1768 - 1812

Francois LeBlanc          1758 - 1844 m Anastacie Bourgeois 1764 - 1828

James Miller                 1754 - 1825 m Eleanor Mahon 1753 - 1796 

Richard Marple             1764 - 1848 m Jane McPherson   1770

5GGGGG

Francois Blanchard               1738 - 1782 m Marguerite Deveau 1741- 1775

Charles Hache (Gallant)        1749 - 1842 m Felicite Gautrot  1749 - 1851

Basile Chiasson                     1756 -1819 m Anne Arseneau  1757 - 1838

Raymond Poirier                   1744 - 1809 m Marie Bois  1752 - 1809

Joseph Arseneau                   1716 - 1812 m Marguerite Boudrot 1723 - 1768

Jean Gaudet                           1730 - 1822 m Marie Melanson  1747 - 1825

Joseph LeBlanc                     1722 - 1818 m Marguerite Hebert 1726- 1758

Pierre Benjamin Bourgeois   1726 - 1821 m Anne LcBlanc 1728 - 1768

David Marple                        1736 - 1780 m Mary Martin  1740

James McPherson                  1750

6GGGGGG

Francois Blanchard               1708 - 1768 m Marguerite Carret 1705 -1765  

Charlemaigne Deveau           1719 -1771         m Anne Doucet 1722 - 1752

Jacques Hache                       1693 - 1760 m Marie Bourdreau 1717 -1798

Paul Chiasson                        1707 - 1730 m Louise Boudrot 1736 - 1768

Joseph Poinier                       1702 - 1740 m Jeanne Arseneau 1712 - 1801 

Francois Arseneau                 1710                m Anne Bourgois

Augustin Gaudet                    1686 - 1760 m Agnes Chiasson  1698 - 1752

Pierre Melanson                     1720 - 1791 m Marie Granger 1723 - 1764

Claude-Andre LeBlanc          1696 - 1765         m Madeline Boudrot  1698 - 1747

Joseph Hebert                         1690 m Ann Marie Boudrot  1690

Claude Bourgeois                   1695 - 1760 m Marie LeBlanc 1704 - 1781

Rene Pierre LeBlanc              1701 - 1759         m Anne Teriot  1705 - 1759

7GGGGGGG    Rene Blanchard                1677 - 1754  m  Marie Saviote 1688 - 1767

Pierre Carret                     1680 - 1754  m  Angelique Chiasson  1684 - 1742

Pierre Deveau                     1694 1752 m  Marie Callsey  1702 - 1758

Charles Doucet             1694    1730 m  Cecile Poirer   1700 - 1723

Michel Hache                     1662 - 1737 m  Anne Cormier 1674 - 1739

Francois Boudrot                1666 - 1733    m   Jeanne Anne Landry 1695 - 1740

Pierre Arseneau                  1670 - 1735      m   Anne Beaudrot   1679 - 1766

Francois Guerin (Gaudet)   1635 - 1670 m  Anna Blanchard 1645 - 1714

Sebastian Chiasson             1670 - 1703 m   Marguerite Belou 1680 -1724

Jean Melanson                    1692 - 1760 m   Madeline Petitot  1694 - 1780

Laurent Granger                  1688 - 1751 m   Marguerite Bourg  1673 - 1747

Andres LeBlanc                  1659 1730 m   Madeline Baudrot 1698 - 1747

Germaine Bourgois            1650 - 1711 m   Madeline Dugas  1664 - 1738

Pierre LeBlanc                    1684 - 1745 m   Marie Landry

Antoine LeBlanc                 1662 m  Marie Bourgois 1664 - 1718

By the 8th+ Great grandparents, the information is much less but very complicated with marriages. 

 The family history of those ancestors whose children who have links to our family trees follows.  

Unrelated children have not been listed.  The early history is quite fascinating.  

Firstly the lineage of Nellie Coakley through her mother, Mary Blanchard.

It is this lineage that crosses with mine on so many occasions, and that is just from following the direct children, not their siblings, were it is certain there will be even more links.

 

Bathurst had been the location of the annual Mi'kmaq summer coastal community of Nepisiguit prior to European settlement. Europeans first reached the shores of the Baie des Chaleurs when in 1534 it was named by Jacques Cartier. Early settlers from France came to the area in the 17th century in what became part of the colony of Acadia. In 1607 Samuel de Champlain sailed into the Miramichi,[7] and in 1636, Nicolas Denys was granted a seignory by the French crown, apparently the third grant in the colony of Acadie.Jean Jacques Enaud, who hailed from the French Basque Country, was granted in 1638 the seignory at the southeastern gap of the harbor later named Alston Point.Remark is made on William Francis Ganong's map of Bathurst Harbour, depicted here at left, of the residence of Nicolas Denys and the seignory of Gobin.

Little is known about the region between the death of Nicholas Denys in 1688 and the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), whereby Louis XIV ceded the territory of Acadia to Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Although it was marked as an inlet, the Nepisiguit river was not noted in a British map dated 1744, although by 1755 Thomas Jefferys illustrates the "Nipisiki River" and "Nipisighit Bay".Historians remark the Battle of the Restigouche in June 1760 (one of the final events in the Seven Years' War) in the Baie des Chaleurs, and various other incidents as the colony of Nouvelle France expired.

According to Gamaliel Smethurst, a trader who supposedly was permitted there by Governor Murray, the British attempted to remove the remaining scattered Acadians from the Nepisiguit basin and Caraquet in late October 1761. Following the formal fall of this part of Acadia to British control in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, the region saw the arrival of numerous English and Scottish settlers, eager to exploit the region's natural resources. Some grants were rewards for good and loyal service with the King's arms: for example, Captain Arthur Goold of the Royal Marines was granted 2,000 acres on both sides of the Nepisiguit River mouth on 9 September 1784 in what is now known as East Bathurst.

1800s

One of the Scotsmen was Hugh Munro, who arrived in 1794and who around 1800 was the founder of "the first and most ancient establishment" in the timber trade of Nepisiguit Bay. In 1807 Munro was appointed a justice of the peace and judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Northumberland County, He was first elected as one of the members of the Legislative Assembly for Northumberland County at the general election of 1820, and maintained that office until the dissolution of that body in 1827. In 1828 he was elected to sit in the 9th New Brunswick Legislature when the county of Gloucester was given its first representative.

It seems that the great 1825 Miramichi Fire had a significant impact on the fortunes of Bathurst, for the devastation of 6,000 acresforced northwards many displaced people. This incident was the reason for the subdivision of two new counties, Kent and Gloucester, out of what had been Northumberland County, and in 1826, St. Peter's harbour was renamed in honour of the Colonial Secretary, Lord Bathurst.

The first St. George's Anglican Church was built in 1825 and consecrated as a place of worship in 1836. The Anglican burial ground near the old post office dates to 1823. The more recent St. George's church, which was built in 1864, on King avenue below St. Andrew Street is a nice example of Carpenter Gothic architecture.

Plan of the Town of Bathurst, New Brunswick as it appeared in November 1828. The Nepisiguit River mouth is off to the right.

The community, which up to 1828 had been named St. Peters,[was renamed by the Governor, Sir Howard Douglas (1823–1831), in honor of Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (1762–1834), Secretary of State for the Colonies of the British government.

A man named Cooney wrote in May 1832 that in 1828, Bathurst only contained a few houses, but that four years' hence it had sprouted a brick Court House roofed with slate, a Gaol, a Post Office, a few mercantile establishments, and more than 30 homes. What we now know as Riverside Drive was populated by several Francophone families (who are assumed to be the remnants of Captain MacKenzie's evacuation) and their "neat little Chapel... and two or three rustic wind mills", presumably for grinding grain. He estimated the population of Bathurst and its harbour area to be more than 600 souls. Economic activities included farming, lumbering, and fishing.

Joseph Cunard, attracted by the county's timber resources, set up a branch of his family's shipbuilding firm here at some time after the great fire in Miramichi of 1825.

By 1828, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick as representative for Northumberland County, and was variously a justice of the peace and served on the board of health. Joseph's brother Samuel Cunard was also a landowner in Bathurst. Cunard purchased the Gould grant in 1837 and his production of ships in Bathurst harbor began in earnest.

The age of timber ships began its decline in 1848 with the 1848 launch of Brunel's SS Great Britain, the revolutionary iron-hulled steamship. This event caused Joseph's shipbuilding firm to founder, and with it went New Brunswick's economy. Samuel went on to manage the Cunard Line. A shipbuilder who followed in Cunard's wake by the name of John O'Brien built more than 60 ships from 1858 to 1877. Ship's carpenters, spar and mast makers, adzemen and other tradesmen were paid up to five dollars per day. It was not unusual during the heyday of Bathurst shipbuilding to see anywhere from five to fifteen ships in various stages of construction along the waterfront.

A stagecoach service between Bathurst and Chatham was launched by James Foran in 1832. Others, like James Waitt, James MacBeath, William Branch and John Rennie soon opened competition.

"Delirium tremens occasioned by the abuse of ardent spirits" caused at least one untimely death in 1831. So it was in 1832 that a Temperance Society was organised in New Bandon, a small town east of Bathurst. Upwards of 50 persons attended.

The first full-time local doctor, Sam Bishop, arrived in 1833; a contemporary of his was known as Robert Gordon. Bishop and Gordon would conduct vaccination clinics throughout the county in 1841 when an epidemic of small pox struck. The third doctor to set up a local practice (but not until 1871) was Gideon Mitchell Duncan.

The Gloucester County Grammar School, later known as the Bathurst Grammar School, opened its doors on 1 October 1835 under the direction of Charles Lloyd. He provided room and board for 24 pounds per annum if the student was under 10 years of age; older students were charged two pounds more. At least two private schools were active elsewhere in the County during the same era.

The town map of 1836 shows "public landing" government docks at the water end of the four downtown streets, Douglas, King, Murray, and Black (now Main), as well as the western end of Water (now Main) Street. The town extends as far south as Munro Street; glebe lots were located between King and Murray, south of Munro.

In mid-19th century Gloucester County, settlers who petitioned the province for 50 or 100-acre parcels of land were required in order to obtain their grant: to homestead this land for three years, that is, to build a house on it and eventually to cultivate four acres on