CHAPTER VII.
The Brothers D’Amours.
Among the young adventurers who came to Acadia towards the close of the seventeenth century were four brothers, sons of Mathieu d’Amours[9] of Quebec. The father’s political influence as a member of the Supreme Council enabled him to obtain for each of his sons an extensive seigniory. That of Louis d’Amours, the eldest, included a tract of land of generous proportions at the Richibucto river; the grant was issued September 20, 1684, but the seignior had already built there a fort and two small houses, and for two years had been cultivating a piece of land. His sojourn was brief, for in a year or two we find him living on the River St. John, where his brothers Mathieu and Rene were settled and where they were not long after joined by their brother Bernard.
As mentioned in a previous chapter, it was customary among the French noblesse for each son to take a surname derived from some portion of the family estate; accordingly the sons of Councillor d’Amours figure in history as Louis d’Amours, sieur de Chauffours; Mathieu d’Amours, sieur de Freneuse; Rene d’Amours, sieur de Clignancourt and Bernard d’Amours, sieur de Plenne.
After his arrival at the River St. John, Louis d’Amours fixed his abode on the banks of the Jemseg and became the proprietor of the seigniory formerly owned by the sieur de Soulanges. His brother, and nearest neighbor, Mathieu’s seigniory included all the land “between Gemisik and Nachouac,” two leagues in depth on each side of the river. The wives of Louis and Mathieu d’Amours were sisters, Marguerite and Louise Guyon of Quebec.
To Rene d’Amours, sieur de Clignancourt, was granted a seigniory extending from the Indian village of Medoctec to the “longue sault.” The longue sault was probably the Meductic rapids twelve 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.
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 56 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 other employment than that of a miserable traffic exclusively with the savages; and as his Majesty has been informed that the lands in those parts are the best in the world, watered by large rivers and in a situation more temperate and pleasant than other parts of Canada, the sieurs d’Amours must be compelled to establish themselves upon a better footing; and those people who are to have new grants of land are directed to this part of Acadia where, as his Majesty is informed, the sieurs d’Amours pretend to have exclusive possession of about thirty leagues of country.”