Pierre Thibaudeau

Pierre Thibaudeau was born about 1630, in France. 

Pierre Thibaudeau Plaque

Plaque at the site of Prée-Ronde

Here’s a story about him that appeared in the newspaper:

“The ancestor of this family in Acadia, Pierre Thibodeau, is believed to have been born in 1630 in Marans, a village near La Rochelle, France. He followed Emmanuel LeBorgne de Belle-Isle to Acadia as a young man during the middle of the 1650s. Shortly after his arrival he married a young Acadian girl, Jeanne Theriault, who gave birth to 17 children.
“Pierre Thibodeau settled approximately 17 kilometres from the mouth of the Port-Royal river in a lovely spot called Pree-Ronde. There he built his house, his farm and his flour and grist mill. Pierre was undoubtedly prosperous but he had larger ambitions. On June 20, 1695, Governor de Frontenac granted him on the Kennebec river (Maine), a seigniory two leagues deep and a league on each bank of the Kennebec river along with the islands.
“At the age of 67, the enterprising Pierre Thibodeau decided to found a new community on the northern part of Baie Francaise (Fundy) called Chipoudie, now Hopewell Cape. He associated his sons and a few neighbors for this new foundation and had the necessary machinery for a flour and grist mill brought over from Boston.
“In addition to his occupations as a farmer and a miller, Pierre Thibodeau was also a merchant. He traded furs with the Indians. Pierre Thibodeau died at Pree-Ronde and was buried at Port-Royal on December 27, 1704. His children settled at Port-Royal, Grand-Pre and Chipoudie.”
From: Telegraph-Journal, Wednesday, August 10, 1994; p. A8

Pierre Thibaudeau is the children’s 9th-great-grandfather.