Jean Victor Brau

The Breau Family includes Jean Victor Breau / Brau; born about 1750 in Chipoudy, died before 1796 at Neguac, NB; escaped the Acadian expulsion with his parents, and raised a family with Marie Arsenault at Neguac, New Brunswick.

Family reference: 182.8

	Born	1750	Chipoudy, Acadie (now Hopewll Hill, N.B.)
	Died	before 1796	Neguac, New Brunswick
	Married	about 1769	Marie Arsenault

Parents:

• Father: Ambroise Brau
• Mother: Marie Anne Michel

Children:

1. Jean Magloire Breau; d. 1842
2. Esther Breau
3. Jacques Breau; b. before 1779; d. before 1861
4. Judith Julie Breau; b. 1777
5. Charles Breau; b. 1778; d. 1861
6. Marie Breau; b. 1780
7. Magdeleine Breau
8. Jean Victor Breau

The Parents of Jean Victor

Jean Victor's Early Years

Young Victor was just a young boy of five when the British military started le Grand Dérangement or the Acadian Expulsion of the Nova Scotia lands. Fleeing north with his parents, he survived the starvation of Beaubears Island on the Miramichi and the raiding parties of General Wolfe's navy of 1758. But Victor lost most of his siblings; three sisters and two brothers were deported to Louisiana; and then only he and his older brother Anselme made it to Neguac.

During that tragic epoc, the British Governor of Nova Scotia, Major Charles Lawrence, was offering a bounty of thirty pounds for each Acadian male prisoner, twenty-five pounds for each woman or child and twenty-five pounds for an Acadian or Native scalp1.

In 1758, Colonel Murray, under orders from General Wolfe, pillaged the village of Rivière à la Croix in search of Acadians. The British troops burnt all the dwellings inlcuding the church and confiscated all provisions. The Acadians who were lucky enough to escape hid in the woods, up the small river that has since then been known as Rivière-des-Caches. The name Burnt Church was later adopted by the English because the remains of the burnt church stood as a land mark for several years1.

The fact that Acadians were eventually premitted to settle the region and obtain land grants, after the Seven Years War between England and France, is an indication that the English authorities, at that time, considered the land to be unattractive. The rich and fertile lands throughout the province were reserved for the Loyalist and other British settlers. This is evident by the fact that the Miramichi and Tabusintac River areas are predominantly English speaking cummunities. Acadian and the Native people were considered to be squatters on the King's land. When conflict of land ownership occured, the Acadians simply moved elsewhere, as the knowledge thaty they could not win a land claim in an English court and their mistrust of the English made them want to distance themselves from them1.

Jean Victor and Marie Arsenault

Marie Arsenault was a daughter of Pierre Arsenault and Marguerite Cormier. She and Jean Victor were married in 1769, a year after both his parents passed away.

The Final years for Jean Victor

He eventually settled at Neguac, New Brunswick, where in 1797 he was listed as a widower with three sons and three daughters2.

Footnotes

Neguac settlement

Sources

1. "No Man's Land", by Jean-Louis Comeau, Kanata, Ontario, private publication, June 1998; 229 pages; a genealogical history of Comeau Settlement; ISBN 0-9684439-0-7
2. "A Breau Genealogy", 2nd Edition, compiled by Robert Brault and Clarence T. Breaux; private publication, 2nd edition 2004; 440 pages; history and family lines of the descendants of Vincent Brault (1629-1686), a pioneer Acadian

Family Outline

Descendancy Chart for JeanVictorBreau1750

0 JeanVictorBreau1750

1 JacquesBreau1779

1 OlivierBreau1801

1 EdouardBreau1830

2 PrimeBreau1829

-- JimBenedict - 18 Apr 2006
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