Pierre Laverdure dit Melanson 1600
10th great-grandfather on Richard line
- Birth: 1600-1608 - France
- Marriage: 1631 - England, Priscilla Melanson 1602
- Immigration: 1657, with Sir Thomas Temple on the Satisfaction
- Death: 01 DEC 1676 - Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
- Burial:
According to a discussion on the Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History website: "One family that has been surrounded by confusion has been the Melanson/Melanson family. Melanson is an English name, so early researchers beleive they were English or Scottish. Further research has found that the Acadian Melansons were sons of Pierre La Verdure. He married Priscilla Melanson around 1630 in England or Scotland. He and his family arrived in Acadia with Sir Thomas Temple on the Satisfaction in 1657. One son is thought to have stayed in New England. One son, Pierre, a stonemason, was born in 1632 and married Marguerite Mius d'Entremont around 1664 in Port-Royal. One son, Charles, was born in 1642 and married Marie Dugas in 1663 at Port-Royal. the Melansons were some of the first settlers of the Grand-Pre region.
"While the name is English (or Scottish), it is now thought that their father was a French Huguenot. the two Melansons who settled in Acadia took their mother's surname."
As a result of the fall of La Rochelle in 1628, "when the death blow was delivered to the Calvinists in France," Pierre fled to England.
He and Priscilla had three sons, at least, all born in England. in the spring of 1657, the family embarked in England on board the vessel Satisfaction, under the command of Captain Peter Butler. the family was part of the company that Thomas Temple was transporting to Acadia, over which he had been named Governor after its capture by the English. Having first stopped at Boston, Captain Butler next went to the fort on the St. John River, where a group of his passengers disembarked, and finally to Port-Royal. It appears the La Verdure (or Melanson, as they were known) family stopped at Fort St. John. After the Treaty of Breda of 1667, under which England ceded Acadia to France, Pierre and Priscilla sought refuge under the Protestant government at Boston, leaving behind in Acadia two of their sons, Pierre and Charles, with their young children. the sons had married Acadian women.
La Mothe-Cadillac relates that in 1685 he saw Pierre and Charles Melanson, whom he calls Scotsmen, aged sixty and sixty-five years, who were married to French women. in 1692 he saw their mother, then aged ninety years, in Boston.
Pierre Laverdure was a French Protestant Who found refuge in England because of the persecution of his faith. He married in England Priscilla Melanson gold [sic] Malleson.
He arrives in Acadia (1651 - 1667 British) with the future governor Thomas Temple 1st May 1657 (source Laval University and Toronto, Huida Ryder)
After Acadia is retaken by France in 1667 he moves with His wife and the youngest to Boston where he probably died. per Family Search entry
