Sunday, October 17, 2010

Acadians in the Mylott Family: Family of Alexandre Guilbault & Marguerite Girouard and the "The Pembroke"

Arthur Homer Mylott (1918-2006), his mother was
   Edith Lida Glode (1889-1965), her mother has
      Marie Angeline Allard (1865-1918), her father was
          Louis Allard (1841-1900), his mother was
            Marie Marguerite Guilbault (1808-1844), her father was
               Louis Guilbault (1772-    ), his father was
                  Gregoire Guilbault (1750-1808) who was likely born (there's no documentation) in Port Royal about 1750 and was about five years old at the time of the Grand Expulsion of the Acadians from their farms in today's Nova Scotia. The story of Gregoire and his family is just one of many tragedies the Acadians endured as a result of their expulsion.


The Deportation Cross


Gregoire was a son of Alexandre Guilbault (1708-1776)  and Marguerite Girouard (1713-1757). Their other children were Armand (born in 1734), Joseph (born in 1736), Marie (born in 1741), Ursule (born before 1745), Jean (born 1749), then Gregoire, then Marie Gertrude (born before 1754). So at the time of the expulsion some of the children ranged from young adults to a baby.

It is believed the family of Alexandre Guilbault and Marguerite Girouard were among the passengers on The Pembroke, the only ship to rebel against their English crew.  The Guilbault family is listed as Family #12 in Paul Delaney's Reconstructed Passenger list. Although Gregoire does not seem to be identified among the Guilbault children in Delaney's passenger list, I suspect he was with his parents. The Pembroke was at anchor in the Dauphin River (today it is named Annapolis River) along Goat Island near Port Royal and embarked in December 1755 with 232 Acadians headed for the colony of Carolina.  The Acadians on board commandeered the Pembroke into the St John River in present day New Brunswick and spent a harsh winter with little food and shelter in the northeast woods. The full story can be found at The Pembroke Passenger List Reconstructed at Acadian Ancestral Home. Please take some time to read their story.

The Acadians who survived, gradually made their way into Quebec via the St John River but their troubles were hardly over.  War with the English and a poor harvest tore open the countryside. Smallpox was ravaging in the cities & countryside, in military troops and families at this time. When finally, the family was in safely in Québec city, under the French troops, smallpox hit the family. The first to succumb was sixteen year old Marie on 7 December 1757.  Next was Jean on December 23rd - he was only eight years old. Two days later, on Christmas Day, the mother, Marguerite Girouard, died from smallpox. A mother and two children all dead within eighteen days.

Gregoire survived.  Whether he had the disease and lived, I do not know but he married in 1771 in Sorel, Quebec to Marie Agathe Angelique Hus dit Millet and had several children. Gregoire Guilbault was the great-great-great-great grandfather of Arthur Homer Mylott.




Here's other stories about illnesses and disease in our families...




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1 comment:

  1. MinniewdwSeptember 10, 2016 at 1:12 AM

    Thank you for this post! Louis Allard (1841-1900) was my 3g gf, and I learned so much about his ancestors. Thanks again.

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