Robichaud Stories

We know that the widow of François Robichaud (the second), Marie LeBorgne Belleisle and their children were recorded in Cap-Saint-Ignace, in 1762. The census indicates that a widow Robichaud lives to the second concession of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli.129 Only one of their son, Joseph, was identified as a resident of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, by Father Donat Robichaud, "... two other sons Joseph and François returned to Acadie and had remarkable families." 1 Some children of Pierre Robichaud and Francoise Belleisle LeBorgne also remained in the region, including Pierre, junior, who accompanied his mother to St. John (NB) in 1760 and subsequently moved to l’Islet. Are there still Robichaud descendants in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli and region?

 

An analysis of phone books (1996) of Côte-du-Sud, or the region of Montmagny to Rivière-du-Loup (essentially all communities between Edmundston, in New Brunswick, and Quebec City) shows that 62% of Robichaud names registered, 105 of 170, are located in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli (51) and in the two neighbouring municipalities of Sainte-Perpétue (29) and Saint-Pamphile (25). No other community has significant Robichaud gatherings. These three communities represent 88% of Robichaud’s in the directory of Montmagny region. The city of Montmagny only has four Robichaud and l'Islet has three. The city of Rivière-du-Loup has (11) Robichaud, which is explained by its size, it dominates the region. There are also some Robichaud in Témiscouata: Saint-Honoré (6) Cabano (3), Saint-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha ! (3) Squatec (3) as well as Pohénégamook (6) and Rivière-Bleue (4). There is no doubt that Saint-Jean-Port-Joli (with neighbouring communities of Sainte-Perpétue and Saint-Pamphile) is where we find the largest concentration of Robichaud in the Côte-du-Sud. Taking into account the size of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli and the proportion of Robichaud therein, it is fair to say that it is the capital of Robichaud of Quebec. Indeed, there are 1551 Robichauds in telephone directories of the province Québec.2 The only other communities to have more than 50 Robichaud are Montreal (278) and Quebec (73), which is due to their size. Others communities having 25 or more Robichauds are Granby (26) Longueuil (35), Rimouski (33) Sherbrooke (25) and Saint-Lambert (30).

 

The village of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli was settled from 1679, two years after Noel Langlois-dit-Traversy was appointed First Lord. In 1723, there were only nine tenants. Residents had to go first to Cap-Saint-Ignace then, after 1699, to l'Islet, for religious services. Members of the Aubert de Gaspé family, were lords for longer, from 1686 to 1854, five generations. The last lord, Philippe Aubert de Gaspé (1786-1871), wrote the first true French-Canadian novel, Les Anciens Canadiens, in 1863, which describes life in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli before and after the conquest of 1759.3

 

It is 4 or 5 of August 1759 that "... a detachment under Captain Gorham devastated the Côte-du-Sud region, from Rivière-Ouelle to Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, taking the cattle after burning houses and boats. Most houses in the first range or concession (rang) of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli were destroyed during the raid and several people were probably refugees with co-parishioners in the second range. "4

 

According to more recent research of Gaston Deschênes, it would rather be the Scott "rangers" that allegedly burned 140 houses in the villages of Saint-Roch, Saint-Jean, l'Islet and Cap-Saint-Ignace on Sunday, September 16, 1759. Pressed for time, the English are unlikely to have time to ravage the second tier villages. This is where the widow of François Robichaud will settle with her children.5

 

The population, which was 389 people (56 families) in the census of 1762, is 1103 inhabitants in 1790 due to the fertility of residents and a large influx of Acadian refugees. In 1779, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli builds a church and receives its first resident priest in 1781. The population will continue to grow (in 1853, the population is 3513 inhabitants ) to the 3rd and 4th range, which will detach to become the municipality of Saint- Aubert (named in honor of the noble family ) in 1857. The arable land is increasingly limited, non-agricultural employment is virtually absent, new roads were opened and new parishes were created in the interior: Saint-Damase, Tourville, Sainte-Perpétue, Saint-Pamphile. The young people are leaving to work in factories in American cities, to Lac Saint-Jean and to the Canadian west. Today, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli is still predominantly agricultural. Crafts, particularly woodcarving, started by Bourgault brothers in 1931, the mini-sailboats of Leclerc and the Chamard family weaving make Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, the premier tourist destination of the Côte-du-Sud region.

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References:

1. Gaston DESCHÊNES dans une lettre à Armand G. ROBICHAUD, après un examen du document de TALBOT, Éloi-Gérard, Généalogie des familles originaires des comtés de Montmagny, L’Islet et Bellechasse, Tome XIV.

2. DESCHÊNES mentionne cependant  que TALBOT«...a malheureusement attribué à François des enfants de Pierre. »

3. Sur le CD-ROM « Canada Phone », édition 1995.

4. Philippe Aubert de Gaspé, fils, a écrit en 1837, alors qu’il n’avait que 23 ans, L’Influence d’un livre, un roman dont on croit que Philippe Aubert de Gaspé, père, a écrit au moins un chapitre. Le fils, journaliste, est mort à Halifax « ruiné par les abus de l’alcool » en 1841. (Les Anciens Canadiens, Fides, Montréal, 1967, chronologie, p. 7)

5. DESCHÊNES, Gaston, Portraits de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Les Éditions des Trois-Saumons, 1984, p. 13. (Ayant comme référence un reportage du New York Mercury du 31 décembre 1759.)

6. DESCHÊNES, Gaston, L’année des Anglais, op. cit., p. 75.

 

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Translated from ROBICHAUD, Armand, Des histoires de Robichaud, du Poitou à la mer Rouge, Éditions de la Francophonie, Moncton, 2002, p. 192-196.