in the days of Danielou.
It may be well, whilst speaking of the remarkable continuity of the
French occupation of the country in the vicinity of St. Anns, to state
that after Chapter VII. of this history had been printed the author
chanced to obtain, through the kindness of Placide P. Gaudet, some
further information relating to the brothers d'Amours, the pioneer
settlers of this region.
The brothers d'Amours, Louis, Mathieu and Rene, were residents on the
St. John as early at least as the year 1686, when we find their names
in the census of M. de Meulles. A document of the year 1695[94] shows
that their claims to land on the St. John river were rather
extravagant and hardly in accord with the terms of their concessions.
Louis d'Amours, sieur de Chauffours, claimed as his seigniory at
Jemseg a tract of land extending two leagues along the St. John,
including both sides of the river two leagues in depth. He also
claimed another and larger seigniory, extending from a point one
league below Villebon's fort at the Nashwaak four leagues up the river
with a depth of three leagues on each side. His brother Rene d'Amours,
sieur de Chignancourt, lived on this seigniory a league or so above
the fort.
[94] This document is entitled "Memoire sur les concessions que les
sieurs d'Amours freres pretendent dans la Riviere St. Jean et
Richibouctou." A copy is in the Legislative Library at
Fredericton.
The statement made in a previous chapter that Rene d'Amours was
unmarried and lived the life of a typical "coureur de bois" is
incorrect. The census of 1698 shows that he had a wife and four
children. His wife was Charlotte Le Gardeur of Quebec. The names of
the children, as they appear in the census, are Rene aged 7, Joseph 5,
Marie Judith 2, and Marie Angelique 1. While fixing his residence in
the vicinity of Fort Nashwaak, Rene d'Amours was the seignior of a
large tract of land on the upper St. John extending "from the Falls of
Medoctek to the Grand Falls," a distance of more than ninety miles.
After the expiration of eleven years from the date of his grant, Rene
d'Amours seems to have done nothing more towards its improvement than
building a house upon it and clearing 15 acres of land. Even in the
indulgent eyes of the Council at Quebec, of which his father was a
member, this must have appeared insufficient to warrant possession by
one man of a million acres of the choicest lands on the St. John
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