A Blupete Biography Page


Francois-Marie Perrot
(1644-91).

Perrot came to Canada (after an abortive start which saw him and his young wife shipwrecked on the coast of Portugal) during 1669. The following year, without his wife, he arrived at New France to take up his position as the French governor of Montreal.

Perrot did not get on with his superior, Frontenac. "He [Perrot] encouraged his soldiers to desert and become coureurs de bois, so that they might bring him more furs, and he distributed strong liquor among the Indians in his trading operations. His truculent and overbearing manner aroused general dislike."1

The French authorities eventually saw to Perrot's dismissal at Montreal and had him transferred to Port Royal, where, in 1684, he assumed his position as the governor of Acadia, arriving at Port Royal in September, 1685. In short order, Perrot took up his old trading activities; first with the Indians and then with the Bostonians. He became quite envious of Castine's success.

In April of 1687, Perrot was dismissed and replaced by Meneval as Governor of Acadia.

After his dismissal, Perrot continued on in Port Royal in his private fishing and trading activities. He was associated with The Company of Acadia, which had been incorporated in France, in 1682, a company in which Boucher had shares. When Phips took Port Royal in 1690 (though apparently Perrot was not there at the time) Perrot's trading establishment, including his warehouses at Port Royal, were destroyed. When, during June of 1690, Villebon arrived at Port Royal - wasted and destroyed - he was to find Perrot there amongst the rest of the stunned inhabitants. Villebon, having made the determination to relocate the French capital, took Perrot over with him in the Union to the St. John; there, together with other key officials, to establish a new Acadian capital in a more secure spot. Villebon went up the river to ferry his supplies in smaller boats leaving behind the Union at the mouth of the St. John. Perrot stayed with the Union; but, unfortunately, English pirates happened along and overpowered the French vessel. Perrot was recognized as a rich French trader of Port Royal and he was "made prisoner, keel-hauled and otherwise maltreated in the hope of forcing him to reveal where he had buried his money at Port Royal."2

Perrot survived his ordeal on the St. John River, but, as reported by Frontenac, died the following year at Martinique, or maybe Paris.

______________________________________________
[TOP]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Webster, Letters Journals and Memoirs of Villebon ..., p. 188.

[2] Webster, op. cit., p. 188.

_______________________________

Found this material Helpful?

_______________________________
[Up]
[NOVA SCOTIAN BIOGRAPHIES]
[The Lion & The Lily -- Book 1 (1500-1763)]
[Settlement, Revolution & War -- Book 2 (1760-1815)]
[The Road To Being Canada -- Book 3 (1815-1867)]
[History Jump Page]
[Home]

Peter Landry
2012 (2020)