The Landry Story

Excerpts From:

Michel Landry, 1996 History of Carleton

Jean-Claude LeBlanc, 2009 Landry Research

Carleton, Quebec, Canada

Jean-Claude Landry, from Ventrouze, France, arrived in Port Royal with his second wife, Marie Sallee (widow of Michelle Aucoin), their son Rene Landry “the Younger” age 6, and three other family members. The three other members were Rene (the older), Antoinette (perhaps Rene’s twin sister) and Marguerite who were Jean-Claude’s adult children from his first wife. Accompanying Marguerite was her husband Robert Martin, an Acadian. It seems that the Landry family arrived in one of these two harbors, Holy François or Saint John.

Note: Antoinette Landry married, in 1641, to Antoine Bourg, the ancestor of the Bourgs of Carleton. Further, about 1640, one of the girls born of the first marriage of Mary Sallee married Michel Boudrot, possibly from the family line of the Boudreaus of Carleton.

It is certain that Rene Landry “the Older” was born in La Ventrouze in 1618. He arrived in Port Royal in 1640 as an unmarried man. He married the widow Perrine Bourg in 1645 in Port Royal. Perrine had also migrated to Acadia with her parents and brother, Antoine in 1632.

Note: Perrine was the widow of Simon Pelletret, who died at Port Royal in 1644. She had three Pelletret children, Henrietta, Jeanne and Simon.

The census of Port Royal in 1671, Rene Landry, laborer, and Perrine Bourg, were recorded as having seven children. The census indicates that Rene Landry was working twelve acres of land, owning 10 head of cattle and 6 sheep. In 1686, when a second census was conducted in Port Royal, Rene Landry was recorded as deceased and Perrine Bourg was living with their son, Claude (Charles) Landry, born in 1663. Claude Landry (born about 1663) was recorded as married in 1683 to a Marguerite Terriot, the daughter of Claude and Marie-Francoise Gauterot. Claude’s mother, Perrine, was recorded as 74 years old; Claude Landry, as 26 years old; and, Marguerite as 20 years old. Claude and Marguerite were recorded as having a daughter, Marguerite (18 months old), 7 cattle, 8 pigs, a gun and working 3 acres of land.

Note: Local historians believe that Perrine Bourg was in her 60s in 1686 and Claude’s first daughter was named Madeleine. There appears to be several errors in the ages and names in this census. The 1692 census seems to be more accurate as it records Perrine Bourg, a widow, as age 67; Claude Landry as age 33; Marguerite Theriot, his wife, age 26; and children: Madeleine 8, Marie 6, Claude 3, and Marguerite 1 year. In seven years Claude increased his land to 32 acres, his cattle to 15, 15 sheep and 8 pigs. The gun was still owned.

Claude and Marguerite Theriot had 6 daughters and 4 sons, Joseph being the youngest born June 19, 1713 in Port Royal. Joseph Landry married Jeanne Robichaud in Port Royal, on October 6, 1734. Jeanne Robichaud, born October 13, 1713, was the daughter of Prudent Robichaud and Henrietta Petitpas. (Henrietta was the daughter of Claude Petitpas of Port Royal.) Joseph and Jeanne had ten children.

Note: The family of Joseph Landry and Jeanne Robichaud was among the Acadian families deported on the Pembroke, one of the last ships to leave Annapolis Royal in 1755. This was the only group of Acadians who successfully managed to take control of their vessel from the English captain and crew of 8, and avoid deportation. The Pembroke was 42 tons and had 33 men, 37 women, 70 sons and 92 daughters (232 persons) aboard. She sailed from Goat Island on December 8, 1755, in the Dauphin River across from Annapolis Royal, bound for North Carolina. The convoy included 7 vessels transporting 1664 Acadian prisoners and a frigate to guide them to Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, South Carolina and North Carolina. When bad weather separated the Pembroke from the other boats, and from the frigate which accompanied them, the Acadians saw their chance and revolted. Without any defense from the English the Acadians became masters of the ship.

The Acadians set sail for and arrived in the harbor at the mouth of the St. John River in New Brunswick, February 8, 1756. The Acadians were not at the end of their troubles. As Governor Lawrence of Halifax describes it to Governor Shirley of Massachusetts in a letter dated February 16, 1756, he had sent his Rangers clothed like French solders, in a schooner disguised by flying French colors, to the St. John River, to discover what was going on in the region and possibly bring off some of the St. John Indians who were allied with the French. However, an unfortunate Acadian went aboard and now their ploy discovered, the Acadians fired off the ‘perriers’ (small canons) taken from the Prembroke, on the English boat, forcing it to retreat back to Port Royal. Then they burned the Pembroke so that it would not fall again into the hands of the English.

According to Stephen White, Joseph Landry along with his wife Jeanne Robichaud and their children (Anne, Euphrosine, Florent, Claude, Marguerite Rebecca, Theotiste, Marie and Jean) ere among the Acadians on board the Pembroke bound for North Carolina. The passengers of the Pembroke passed the winter of 1755-1756at the village of Ste-Anne-des-Pays-Bas (today known as Fredericton New Brunswick). There is a declaration by Sebastian Landry, the grandson of Joseph, confirming that Joseph Landry and his family were on board the Pembroke and later traveled to Quebec. The declaration was recorded by e. Rameau de Saint-Pere in September 1860.

Around 1767, Joseph Landry and one of his sons, Florent, returned to Deschambault. The tomb of Joseph Landry can be found in Deschambault with his death recorded in 1768. One of his sons, Florent Landry, died in 1774. They are listed, in memento, as martyrs of Acadian.

Note: Florent Landry, of Deschambault, and his wife Marguerite (Gregoire), attended the baptism of their nephew, Nicholas Landry (son of Claude and Helene Landry), on 13 November 1773. Marguerite (Gregoire) and Joseph LeBlanc are recorded as godparents of Nicholas. Further, it is recorded that Rebecca and Marguerite-Marie, daughters of Joseph Landry and Jeanne Robichaud, combined families along the River Hamelin in Deschambault.

Another of Joseph Landry and Jeanne Robichaud was Claude Landry. He was born in Port Royal, Acadia, in 1746 and became a navigator. Claude married on 16 October 1770, in the Notre Dame Des Victories in Quebec (recorded), to Helene Dugas, daughter of Charles Dugas and Anne LeBlanc of Tracadieche. They moved to Tracadieche shortly after their marriage and had 14 children. In 1784, it is recorded that they occupied three acres to the front of lot number 42. Their neighbors to the east were a brother-in-law, Charles Dugas, and to the west Charles Landry, respectively occupying lot 43 and part lot 42. Lot 41, the largest in Carleton was occupied by Antoine Aimond. Claude died in Carleton in 1803, at the age of 58 years.

Note: Claude Landry, like many others native to the region of Carleton, built his life despite being a son of exile. Claude gave his neighbors things they needed to rebuild, such as the use of his mill and flour. This explains that the people of Carleton awarded honors to Claude as a veritable patriarch. As a “son of exile” he continued in the Christian faith, was courageous and made a home at the corner of Gaspésie peninsula. The name of Claude Landry deserves to be listed as a builder and leader, in honor, along with Alexis Landry, founder of Caraquet, Pierre Landry, first judge of the Acadian Maritime Provinces, and Valentin Landry who founded the "Evangeline at Weymouth”, Nova Scotia, in 1887.