Charles Comeau - Pioneer of Petit Rocher
Acadian establishments
Charles Comeau - Pioneer of Petit Rocher
Acadian establishments
Marie-Osithe Bernard
Our ancestors in the Bernard Family
Children of Charles Comeau & Marie Bernard
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Also arrived in Petit Rocher, three brothers named Raphaël, Isaac and Charles Comeau, sons of the first marriage of François Comeau. Translated from the first chaper of his book � l'ombre du Petit Rocher, Father F.M. Camille names our ancestor among the first families who settled in Petit-Rocher during the years 1802 to 1811.
Charles Comeau was born June 18, 1785 in Tracadièche (Carleton), the son of François Comeau dit le jeune and Marie Beaudry. Charles Comeau married Marie-Osithe Bernard on January 8, 1810 in Bonaventure. This young couple would settle in Petit Rocher where they brought up at least 10 children in this new community.
The beginnings in the history of Petit Rocher was a difficult time for the first settlers who struggled with misery and poverty. In fact, during a two-day stay in Petit-Rocher near 1830, Robert Cooney* would only eat salted Harreng and boiled potatoes. Only one house among the 120 homesteads had a coat of paint: the house of Charles Comeau. The others, Mr. Cooney stated had retained their primitive look with only a few kitchen utensils and a wood stove surrounded by craddles. However these cradles were soon filled with the future villagers of Petit-Rocher who later built one of the most prosperous villages in Gloucester County.
This house was built by the Comeau family around 1820 and it is the oldest house still standing in Petit-Rocher today. Is it the house of Charles Comeau ? One of his brothers ? or his sons ? This still remains to be found.
*Robert Cooney, auteur de A Compendious History of the Northern part of the province of New-Brunswick and the district of Gasp�
Marie-Osithe Bernard was born March 27, 1789 in Bonaventure, daughter of Jean-Marie Bernard and Marie-Lutine Babin. On June 8, 1810, she married Charles Comeau in Bonaventure and would settle with her new husband in Petit-Rocher where they brought up at least ten children.
Jean-Marie Bernard was born in Ste-Anne-de-Ristigouche on February 25, 1760. He was married to Marie-Lutine Babin around 1789 in Bonaventure. Marie-Lutine died September 15, 1822 in Bonaventure.
There were three pioneers in Acadia whose family name was Bernard. Two sisters, Jeanne and Marie Bernard (wife of Ren� Landry dit le jeune) were born of (first name unknown) Bernard & Marie Guyon.
Even though there have been statements to the contrary, the third one, Ren� Bernard does not seem to be linked the two sisters. Ren� Bernard is the ancestor of Marie-Osithe Bernard who married Charles Comeau in Bonaventure.
Ren� Bernard only arrived in Acadia after the census of 1686. Three years later around 1689, he was around 26 years old when he married Madeleine Doucet, daughter of Pierre & Henriette Pelletret. this couple settled in Beaubassin where eight children were born.
Their son Joseph Bernard will marry twice. Around 1729, he wed Marie-Josephe Gaudet, daughter of Claude and Marguerite Belou in Beaubassin. At least six children were born of this marriage. After the census of 1752, he married Marguerite Arseneau, widow of Pierre Poirier and daughter of Charles & Françoise Mirande. Of this second nuptial, at least four more children will be born. Among them, Jean-Marie Bernard was the father of Marie-Osithe Bernard.
Little by little, the Acadians resettled in groups along the shores of the Golf of St. Lawrence, and Baie des Chaleurs as well as in the region of Memramcook, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. The survival strategies of the pioneer families allowed them to redevelop the Acadian colonies. The displacement, although collective during deportation, was more individual upon their return. As a result, they ended up occupying the steps of Acadia and became more prevalent in New Brunswick than in Nova Scotia which had been the cradle of their culture 150 years earlier.
The southern coast of the Baie des Chaleurs will then be populated until the end of the 18th century, by the French who will develop from centres such as Restigouche, Ste-Anne de Bathurst, Caraquet, Shippagan, Tracadie & Néguac.
By the beginning of the 19th Century, the Acadian settlements situated mostly in the peripheral and rural regions of the Maritimes, become more permanent.
Source: Deportation of the Acadians
Published by Supply & Services Canada, 1986, Environment Canada (Parks)
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Last update: June 26, 2000