miles below
the village of Medoctec, although it may have been the Grand Falls
eighty miles above. The sieur de Clignancourt fixed his headquarters a
few miles above Fredericton at or near Eccles Island, which was
formerly called "Cleoncore"--a corruption of Clignancourt. An old
census shows he lived in that vicinity in 1696, and this is confirmed
by a statement in an official report of the same year that he lived a
league from Fort Nachouac. Rene d'Amours had an extensive trade with
the Indians, he was unmarried and lived the life of a typical "coureur
de bois."

Bernard d'Amours, the youngest of the quartette, came to Acadia
rather later than his brothers and was granted a seigniory at
Canibecachice (Kennebecasis), a league and a half along each side of
the river and two leagues in depth.[10] He married Jeanne le Borgne,
and their son Alexander was baptized at Port Royal in 1702 by a
Recollet missionary.

[10] The grants of Louis d'Amours at Richibucto, and of Mathieu and
Rene on the St. John river are of the same date, September 20,
1684; that of Bernard on the Kennebeccasis is dated June 20,
1695.

The brothers d'Amours were in the prime of life when they came to
Acadia; the census of de Meulles taken in 1686 gives the age of Louis
as 32 years and that of Mathieu as 28. All the brothers engaged in
hunting and trading with the Indians and were in consequence disliked
by Governor Villebon, who viewed them with a jealous eye and mentions
them in unfavorable terms in his official dispatches. Villebon's
hostility was no doubt intensified by a representation made to the
French ministry in 1692 by Louis d'Amours that the Governor of Acadia,
to advance his own private fortune, engaged in trade, absolutely
prohibited by his majesty, both with the natives of the country and
with the people of New England.

Frontenac and Champigny at this time filled the offices respectively
of governor and intendant (or lieutenant governor) of New France, and
the king in his message to them, dated at Versailles June 14, 1695,
refers to matters on the River St. John in the following terms:

"His Majesty finds it necessary to speak on the subject of the grants
obtained by the Sieurs d'Amours, which comprehend an immense tract of
land along the River St. John. It is commonly reported that since they
have lived there they have not engaged in clearing and cultivating
their lands, that they have no cattle nor any o