2008 
     
    
   
   
    
     himself as a Récollet priest. “faisant les 
     
     fonctions curiales de la paroisse de 
     
     Malpec.“ 
     
    
   
   
    
     These entries indicate two things: 
     
    
   
   
    
     l. That Malpec was established as a 
     
     separate parish on Île Saint-Jean 
     
     sometime before mid-l745. not in the 
     
     early 1750s. as has been popularly 
     
     believed. 
     
    
   
   
    
     E.) 
     
    
   
   
    
     That Malpec had a priest. probany 
     
     resident in the community. some 
     
     years before Father Dosque settled 
     
     there in 1753. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The marriage which Father Riou of 
     
     Malpec perfonned at Saint—Pierre—du- 
     
     Nord on August 15, 1745 united Simon 
     
     Billard and Marie Charpentier. Though 
     
     there i5 no hint of it in the register. there 
     
     is an interesting story behind this 
     
     marriage. Simon Billard was born in 
     
     France and was a soldier in the gamson 
     
     which in 1744 and 1745 was stationed at 
     
     Saint-Pierre-du-Nord rather than at Port— 
     
     LaJoye. He was also a gunsmith and had 
     
     some skills as a blacksmith. While at 
     
     Saint-Pierre-du—Nord he obviously fell in 
     
     love with the local Acadian girl, Marie 
     
     Charpentier. Rather than evacuate to 
     
     Quebec with his troop, following the fall 
     
     of Louisbourg to the British in the 
     
     summer of 1745, Billard chose t0 become 
     
     a deserter and 2 ‘/2 weeks later wedding 
     
     bells were ringing at the church of Saint- 
     
     Pierre—du—Nord A few years later when 
     
     French administrative and military 
     
     oñîcials returned to the Island, Simon 
     
     Billard as a deserter was in trouble. 
     
     However, a petition by the local 
     
     inhabitants, emphasizing the valuable 
     
     services that Billard had performed as a 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     blacksmith. appcars to have successfully 
     
     extricated him.3 l'lc and Marie raiscd a 
     
     famin at Saint-Picrrcælu—Nord and in latc 
     
     1758 l‘ound thcmselvcs in France, among 
     
     the deportees from Île Saint-Jean. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Several other entries of intercst touk place 
     
     during the pcriod when Britain and 
     
     France were at war. On Novembcr Il, 
     
     1747 there is recorded an adult baptism ol‘ 
     
     Dorothe’e. “ne’gresse domestique" (tif 
     
     Monsieur de la Borde. This is 
     
     confirmation that there were blacks on the 
     
     lsland under the French regimc, a fact wc 
     
     know from other documents. Jean Pierre 
     
     Roma at Trois-Rivières had black slaves 
     
     and a black “domestique” of 
     
     Commandant Villejouin was deported 
     
     with him from Port LaJoye in I758. 
     
    
   
   
    
     After the war the first priest at Saint— 
     
     Pierre—du—Nord was Charles de la 
     
     Goudalie. who came here in 175| at the 
     
     age of 72. having had many years 
     
     experience in Quebec and Acadia. The 
     
     outpost of Saint-Pierre-du-Nord must 
     
     have been a challenging assignment for a 
     
     man of his age and he left within a couple 
     
     of months. The next priest t0 practise at 
     
     Saint-Pierre—du—Nord was Father Jacques 
     
     Girard. who up until now has been 
     
     associated only with the parish of Pointe- 
     
     Prime. He came from the parish of 
     
     Cobequid (now Truro), and was at Saint- 
     
     Pierre-du—Nord for four months in the 
     
     summer of 1752. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Girard was succeeded at Saint—Pierre-du- 
     
     Nord by Father Jean Marc Perronnel 
     
     whose first entry was on Christmas day in 
     
     1752. ln an entry two weeks later he 
     
     signed himself “curé missionnaire de St 
     
     Louis du Nord Est et de St Pierre du 
     
     Nord.” The parish of Saint—Louis—du— 
     
    
   
   
    
     3 Archives Nationales (Paris), Archives des Colonies, Série Cl 1C. Vol.8, pp. 191-192. “lnhabitants‘ [of 
     
     Saim—Pienvmx-Nord] petition to Monsieur Benoit.“ The document is undated, but from its context can be deter- 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
       
     
       
     
    
   
   
    
     miner! m have been wrinen in September or October 1748. 
     
    
   
   
    
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