Paul Mascarene, who so gallantly and successfully defended Annapolis Royal against the French and Indians, was born in the south of France in 1684. His father was a Huguenot, and at the revocation of the edict of Nantes was obliged to abandon his native country. Young Mascarene was early thrown upon his own resources. At the age of 12 he made his way to Geneva, where he was educated. Afterwards he went to England, became a British subject and entered the army. He was present at the taking of Port Royal by General Nicholson and, after serving with credit in various capacities, was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1740. He eventually rose to the rank of a major general in the English army.
Mascarene preserved his love for his native tongue and was always disposed to deal kindly with the Acadians. Two very interesting letters written by him in French to Madame Francoise Bellisle Robichaux have been preserved. This lady came of rather remarkable ancestry. She was the granddaughter of the Baron de St. Cactin, and had as her great-grandsires on the one hand the celebrated Charles la Tour, and on the other the famous Penobscot chieftain Madockawando.
In view of the fact that the Belleisle family lived for a considerable time on the St. John river, where their name is preserved in that of Belleisle Bay, it may be well to trace the lineage in fuller detail.
The eldest daughter of Charles la Tour by his second wife, the widow of d’Aulnay Charnisay, was Marie la Tour, who was born in St. John in 1654.[19] She married when about twenty years of age Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, who was eleven years her senior. Their son Alexander, born in 1679, married December 4, 1707, Anastasia St. Castin, a daughter of the Baron, de St. Castin by his Indian wife Melctilde, daughter of Madockawando, and as a consequence of this alliance the younger le Borgne obtained great influence over the Maliseets. Lieut.-Gov. Armstrong alludes to this circumstance in a letter to the Lords of Trade, written in 1732, in which he observes, “Madame Bellisle’s son Alexander married an Indian and lived among the tribe, being hostile to the British government.” This statement is hardly fair to Anastasie St. Castin, for, while her mother certainly was the daughter of an Indian chief, her father was the Baron de St. Castin and she herself a well educated woman. The genealogist of the d’Abbadie St. Castin family, however, uses rather grandiloquent language when he styles the 87 mother of Anastasie St. Castin, “Mathilde Matacawando, princess indienne, fille de Matacawando, general-en-chef des indiens Abenakis.”[20]
In spite of the supposed hostility of Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle to British rule in Acadia, he came before the governor and council at Annapolis and took the oath of allegiance. He also presented a petition requesting the restoration of the seignioral rights of his father as one of the la Tour heirs; this was ordered to be transmitted to the home authorities. For several years the sieur de Belleisle lived with his family at Annapolis and the governor and council regarded him with favor, but failed to obtain the recognition of his seignioral rights. After a time the la Tour heirs got into litigation among themselves, and one of their number, Agatha la Tour, who had married an officer of the garrison, Ensign Campbell, seems to have outwitted the other heirs and to have succeeded in selling the rights of the la Tour family to the English crown for three thousand guineas. This naturally was displeasing to Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle. He retired to the St. John river about the year 1736 and settled near the mouth of Belleisle Bay. He had a son Alexander (the third of the name[21]), who married Marie Le Blanc and settled at Grand Pre, where he died in 1744. Francoise Belleisle, who had the honor of being a correspondent of Lieut.-Governor Mascarene, married Pierre Robichaux. The wedding took place at Annapolis Royal, January 16, 1737, the officiating priest being St. Poncy de Lavennede. The contracting parties are described in the old church register as “Pierre Robichaux, aged about 24 years, son of Francois Robichaux and Madeleine Terriot, and Mademoiselle Francoise de Belle Isle, aged about 22 years, daughter of Sieur Alexandre Le Borgne de Belle Isle and Anastasie de St Castin of the Parish of Ste Anne.” The bride signs her name Francoise le Borgnes. It is evident that the “Parish of Ste. Anne” was the parish or mission of that name on the St. John river from the fact that two years later a second daughter of the Sieur de Bellisle married a Robichaux and in her marriage certificate she figures as “Marie Le Borgne de Belle Isle, daughter of Alexandre Le Borgne de Belle Isle and of Anastasie St. Castin of the River St. John.”
The brothers Robichaux settled after their marriage near their father-in-law on the St. John river and it was from them that the little settlement of Robicheau, above the mouth of Belleisle Bay, derived its name.[22]
(From the Calnek-Savary History of Annapolis, by permission of the Hon. Judge Savary.)
Francoise Belleisle Robichaux wrote to Paul Mascarene early in 1741 respecting her claim to some property in dispute with her relatives at Annapolis. The governor in his reply gives her some information and advice, adding, “I think you too reasonable to expect any favor of me in what concerns my conduct as a 88 89 judge; but in every other thing that is not contrary to my duty I shall have real pleasure in testifying to you the esteem I have for you. Let me have your news when there is an opportunity, freely and without fear.”