Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, February 23, 1999

Ship Saint-Jehan brought first families to Port Royal

by Jim Bradshaw

In April 1636, the ship Saint-Jehan left La Rochelle, France, with 78 emigrants from Paris, Dijon, La Rochelle and villages named Bourgueil and Chinon in the Loire Valley. Among them were five saltmakers, three sailers, a wood chopper, a toolsmith, a cooper, four tailors, a shoemaker, a vine-grower, a miller, a gardener, a gunsmith, and 19 farmers. Seven men brought their wives, and six of them brought children.

Not all of the Saint-Jehan's passengers would stay, but most of them would. Pierre Martin and his wife came from Bourgueil. They became the parents of Mathieu Martin, reportedly the first child born in Acadia of a European father and mother. Another was Jean Gaudet. He was 61 years old in 1636. He farmed Annapolis Basin lands for more than 30 years, dying there at the age of 97.

According to historian and genealogist Bona Arsenault, "The admiralty records of La Rochelle are the first to show French families coming to Acadia. They came aboard the Saint-Jehan on April 1, 1636, along with hired men recruited from Champagne, Anjou, La Rochelle and Brittany."