The Pitre Family
of
L'Ardoise, Cape Breton
 by:  Patrick B. Burke & Isabel Love
 

My name is Isabel Love and I married into a family having Acadian ancestry. My mother-in-law Catherine Love [nee Pitre] was born January 26, 1892 in L'Ardoise, Richmond Co. N.S. I have been tracing The Pitre Family Ancestry and my own family roots for several years.
 

I should note here that this census shows Jean as being married to one Marie Maols and it is noted that he is supposed to have had a first wife named Marie Peselet. There is I believe a conflict here for I find later data sources  that indicate Jean PITRE as being married to Marie Peselet and not Marie Maols. For instance our next reference point with respect to our PITRE family which is again a census record of Port Royal, and that is the census of 1678 in which we find:

By 1686 and our next data source which is again a census the census of 1686 Port Royal, our first born Canadian generation of "Pitre" children, namely  22 year old Marie and 18 year old Catherine were married. Catherine PITRE 18 had married one Claude BERTRAN born 1651 in France. 22 year old Marie PITRE  meanwhile had married François TOURANGEAU 42 also of France. Their child Jeanne born in 1684 is the first recorded grandchild of the Pitre family to be born in Acadia. Jean PITRE by this time was at the tender age of 61 years. Jean's wife Marie PESELET was listed as being 45 years old and their other children were again Claude now age 16, Marc 12, Pierre 9, Jean 6, François 4, a girl aged 2, believed to be Marguerite and a girl 1 month, believed to be Jeanne.

Between the years of 1686 and 1758 times were indeed not easy for our Pitre family, or for that matter any other Acadian family. To survive our ancestors were forced to move about Acadia and are recorded as having lived in various locale in both Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island prior to fleeing to L'Ardoise, a small, isolated fishing village on the south-eastern end of Cape Breton Island. We have further documentation in the form of the 1714 census of Port Royal Annapolis which lists our Claude PITRE by now about age 44 and his wife, 2 sons and 6 daughters. Also listed are Claude's brothers Marc PITRE who by now is age 40 and his wife, 2 sons and 2 daughters. Brother François PITRE  now  age 32 and his wife, 2 sons and 2 daughters. Sister Marie PITRE by now age 50 is also listed with her 72 year old husband François Tourangeau.

To escape the tumultuous happenings taking place in and around Port Royal, Annapolis during the early 1700's, and to remain French loyalists many members of our Pitre family, as did many other Acadian families, moved to Isle St. Jean, present day Prince Edward Island, around the year of 1750. We find on the census of 1752 of Prince Edward Island the following Pitre families:

At Riviére du Quest Prince Edward Island

Joseph Pitre b. 1699 and his wife Elizabeth Boudrot b. 1701 moved to P.E.I. with their family in 1750. 
Their children were listed as:

• Pierre, aged 27 years

• Joseph, aged 18 years

• Paul, aged 16 years

• Jean Baptiste, aged 14 years

• Marie Roze, an orphan, native of l'Acadie, aged 8 years, lives with them.

Magdelaine Pitre b. 1727  [whom I believe to be a daughter of Joseph] and her husband Louis Henry b. 1722 and children:

•  Margueritte Josephe Henry aged 2 years

• Helenne Henry, aged 2 months

François Pitre b. 1727 [whom I believe to be a son of Joseph] and his wife Rozalie Henry b. 1729 and their daughter 

• Victoire aged 18 months.

Marie Pitre b. 1731 [whom I believe to be a daughter of Joseph] and her husband Jean Henry dit Le Neveu b. 1731

Charles Pitre b. 1729 [whom I believe to be a son of Joseph] and his wife Anne Henry b. 1731

Catherine Pitre b. 1712 [sister to Joseph] and her husband Joseph Henry b. 1707 and their children:

• Joseph Henry, aged 17 years

• Bazille Henry, aged 13 years

• Jean Baptiste Henry, aged 6 years

• Marie Henry, aged 19 years

• Sephrose Henry, aged 14 years

• Anne Henry, aged 13 years

• Margueritte Modeste Henry, aged 2 years

• Margueritte Joseph Henry, aged 3 months

Jean Pitre b. 1697 [ brother to Joseph & Catherine] and his wife Margueritte Terriaud b. 1701 and their children:

• Jean Pitre, aged 20 years

• Pierre, aged 18 years

• Enselme, aged 14 years

• Marie, aged 30 years

• Elizabeth, aged 28 years

• Anne, aged 15 years

Suzanne Pitre b. 1730 [daughter of Jean & Margueritte] and her husband Baptiste Oliver and their children: 

• Marie Oliver aged 31 months

• Margueritte Oliver aged 18 months

• Magdelaine Oliver, aged 15 days

At Rivière du Nord-Est Prince Edward Island

Marie Madeleine Pitre b. 1706 [daughter of FRANÇOIS & ANNE] widow of Pierre Godet and her children:

• Etienne Godet, aged 23 years

• Pierre Godet, aged 23 years

• Dominique Godet, aged 19 years

• François Godet, aged 14 years

• Cyprien Godet, aged 12 years

• Joseph Godet, aged 6 years

• Doratte Godet, aged 16 years

• Anne Godet, aged 9 years

• Marie Godet, aged 12 years

At Grande Anse Prince Edward Island  

Amant Pitre - b. 1724 [son of Jean Baptiste & Margueritte] and wife Genevieve Hertrement b. 1724 and their children:

• Bazille Pitre, aged 15 years

• Tranquille, aged 4 years

• Ambroise, aged 3 years

• Anne, aged 1 year.

Marie Ozitte Pitre - b. 1729 [parents believed to be Jean Baptiste & Margueritte] and husband Joseph Le Prince b. 1714 and their son:

• Joseph Olivier Prince aged 20 months

At Pointe Prime Prince Edward Island

Magdelainne Pitre - b. 1707 [believed to be the daughter of Jean & Françoise] and her husband Louis Mathieu b. 1704 and a son by her first marriage:

• Baptiste Olivier Douaron b. 1734.
  

Michel Pitre - b. 1706 [son of Jean & Françoise] and his wife Marie Magdelaine Douaron b. 1708
and their children:

• François Pitre, aged 19 years

• Charles, aged 17 years

• Paul Michel, aged 14 years

• Simon, aged 13 years

• Theotist, aged 21 years

• Marie Magdelaine, aged 16 years

• Eufrosinne, aged 8 years

At Anse à Pinet Prince Edward Island

Charles Pitre - b. 1720 [son of Jean & Margueritte] and his wife Anne Thibadeau b. 1721 and their children:

• Jean Baptiste, aged one year

• Marie Martha, aged 6 years

• Ozitte, aged 4 years.

At The Harbour of Bedec Prince Edward Island

Marie Josephe Pitre - b. 1731 [daughter of Joseph Pitre] and her husband Joseph Terriaud dit Le Bonhomme b. 1728 and their son:

• Pierre Paul Terriaud aged 7 months.

Paul Pitre - b. 1742 [son of Joseph] is living with Marie Josephe and her husband Joseph Terriaud.

Marie Pitre - b. 1706 [daughter of Marc & Jeanne] and her husband Jean Bourg b. 1707 and their children:

• Jean Bourg, aged 17 years

• François Bourg, aged 14 years

• Charles Bourg, aged 6 years

• Marguerite Bourg, aged 18 years

• Marie Bourg, aged 8 years.

At Anse du Nord-Ouest Prince Edward Island

Anne Marie Pitre - b. 1707 [Jean & Françoise] and her husband Mattieu Brasseaux and their children:

• Pierre Brasseaux, aged 21 years

• François Brasseaux, aged 15 years

• Mathurin Brasseaux, aged 13 years

• François Xavier Brasseaux, aged 11 years

• Jean Baptiste Brasseaux, aged 6 years

• Anthiotiste Brasseaux, aged 24 months

• Marguerite Joseph Brasseaux, aged 19 years

• Brigitte Brasseaux, aged 17 years

• Elizabeth Gertrude Brasseaux, aged 7 years

• Marie Joseph Brasseaux, aged 4 years

• Pellagie Brasseaux, aged 2 months.

As we know the expulsion of the Acadians began in 1755 and by some miracle we find that at least a few Pitre families managed to evade capture and deportation. These I believe were members of both Jean and Joseph's Pitre families. To survive we find that these family members had to change the Pitre surname to that of the more anglicized surnames of Perry, Perrie, Peter and Peters. 

Our family line which descends through Joseph's son Pierre and through Pierre's son François Xavier Pitre is found living in the St. Peters, L'Ardoise district of Cape Breton in 1813. In fact Xavier and his 2 sons Benjamin and Casimir are found listed on the 1813 Militia Roster for Cape Breton Island.By 1838 Catherine Pitre's great grandfather Benjamin Pitre and great granduncle Casimir Pitre had appeared in the L'Ardoise census. Benjamin Pitre was married to Marie Martel in about 1810 and Casimir was wed to one Judith Martel. Benjamin and Casimir were listed I believe as  fishermen on the 1813 Militia Rolls. 

Land records show that François Xavier Pitre, Catherines great-great-grandfather and father to Benjamin and Casimir, lived on a tract of land between River Bourgeois and Barachois in 1811 and 1813. Xavier Peters age 64 originally of  P.E.I. and in 1813 living at River Bourgeoisis is listed as being a Fisherman. Xavier is found to be living on 10 acres of land to which he has no title. Living with him is 1 adult female, 0 boys, and 2 girls for a total of 4 persons in the household.

The Pitre's were prolific people and their families grew and multiplied and spread throughout Canada. When Catherine was born she lived with her parents and siblings at Peter's Hill in L'Ardoise. As a young lady Catherine moved to Halifax. She was employed by Moirs chocolates and lived at 17 Maitland St.. She lived in Halifax at the time of the great explosion. Her brother John Pitre moved to Maine, U.S.A. and her brother James moved to Rhode Island and spent his life there. Catherine Pitre herself, moved to Toronto in 1922 and married one George Love in 1923 and gave birth to 9 children.

At present, the following report (PDF File) is what we have on the Pitre family of L'Ardoise. As more information becomes available through ongoing research, this family web-page will continue to be updated.

The report is in 'PDF' format and requires Acrobat Reader to be installed on your computer. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed, click on the icon below to obtain the reader and install it.


  

Pitre Family Tree

The Pitre Trail from Acadia

Descendants of Francois Xavier Pitre (PDF File)