Joseph LeBlanc

                                               
  Joseph LeBlanc, my 5th g-Grandfather, was born on 10 November 1718 in Grand-Pre' Acadia. Joseph was the son of Jacques LeBlanc and Elizabeth-Isabelle Boudrot

  On 26 Nov 1742, at the age of 24, Joseph took for his wife a Marie Madeleine Melancon (Melanson). The couple were married in Grand-Pre' and would remain there till world events forced them to be deported from their home in 1755. See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadian_deportation

  On 2 September 1743 Joseph and Marie Madeleine's son Etienne was born. Unfortunately this son would live only eighteen days. Joseph and Marie would have three more children, a girl named Marie Madeleine, and two boys named Anselme and another Etienne.

  On 5 September 1755, Joseph, along with the other males of Grand-Pre', were locked in the Parish Church and informed that all but their personal property was being forfeited to the British Crown. The men would remain in captivity until transports arrived to take them to the Colonies.

  Joseph and his family were transported to the Colonies, where they were held captive at Sutton Massachusetts until the end of the "French and Indian War".  Massachusetts records indicate that Joseph was "in poor health, unable to do much work" Records indicate that the family grew by four girls and one boy while in captivity, but lack of records cannot confirm if these children were born to Joseph and Marie or orphans that they took charge of.

  Upon release from captivity, most Acadian families returned to Canada. There are no records indicating that Joseph and his family ever returned to Canada and it is speculated that he may have taken his family to "The West Indies" were many famlies died of disease.

  The only member of Joseph's family known to survive  is the son "Etienne". Etienne appears to have reached Quebec by 1776 when he was recruited into the American Continental Army to fight the British in the American Revolution. A marriage of the son "Etienne" in 1778 indicates that his parents were deceased.

  Grand-Pre Acadia is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site;(See;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand-Pr%C3%A9_National_Historic_Site

  For family Genealogy See  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I1586 

James Robinson "Early Settler of Hardwick Massachusetts"

  James Robinson, my 7th g-Grandfather,  was born on 15 March 1690 in Boston Massachusetts to Thomas Robinson and Sarah Dennison.

  James Robinson would work as a "house-wright", a builder of homes similar to today's occupation of a carpenter. He inherited property in Boston from his paternal Grandfather, across from the Old South Church, on what is today's Washington Street. He sold this property in 1712 and bought a home on Boyston Street. In 1714, he sold the property on Boylston Street and moved his family to Rochester Massachusetts.

  On 3 July 1711, in Roxbury Massachusetts, James Robinson married a Patience Ruggles. From this marriage two sons would be born in Boston Massachusetts and another three sons and three daughters would be born in Rochester Massachusetts.

  With the exception of one daughter, James Robinson and his family would move to  Hardwick Massachusettes. The Robinson's and the Ruggles's famlies were some of the earliest settlers of Hardwick, helping to establish the Town in 1739..

  James Robinson would die on 11 March 1762 in Hardwick and is buried at  Hardwick Central Cemetery. (See Photos)

  Family Genealogy at: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I319

Mathieu Gervais "A soldier of the King"

  Mathieu Gervais, my 7th g-Grandfather, was born in Paris France in 1646 to Pierre Gervais and Catherine Saillard.
 

  At the age of nineteen, Mathieu sailed to the New World as a soldier  of  "The Grandfontaine Company" of "The Carnigan Regiment".(See photos of Unit" Flag and Uniforms)  The Company left France on 16 May 1665, on the French Warship  "L'Aigle d' Or" and arrived in New France on 18 August 1665. The "Carnigan Regiment" would provide security for French settlers against Indian attacks in Quebec. See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carignan-Sali%C3%A8res_Regiment 

  Matheiu Gervais,like many other soldiers of his unit, remained in New France upon the units return to France. Matheiu and other members of his unit were rewarded for their remaining in New France with parcels of land.

  On 31 August 1676, in Montreal Quebec, Mathieu Gervais married a Michelle Picard. From this marriage four sons and six daughters would be born.

  Mathieu Gervais would die at the age of eighty-two on 31 January 1728 in Montreal Quebec, where he was buried on 1 February 1728.
See:http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I5366