Breau
Vincent Breau was born near Loudun, 300 kilometres south-west of Paris, France, in 1631, and was about 21 when he arrived at Port Royal, in Acadie. Nine years later he married Marie Bourg and raised a family of 11 children. His second child, Antoine (b.1666 in Port Royal), married Marguerite Babin about 1687 in Port Royal. They had eleven children all born in Port Royal.
Port Royal was largely vacated by the Acadians following the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and the Breau’s relocated along the banks of the Pisiguit River near Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. Under the terms of that Treaty, France ceded Acadia, Newfoundland and Hudson Bay to England, while France kept Ile Royale (Cape Breton) and Ile Saint Jean (Prince Edward Island).
Vincent’s fourth child Jean (b.1699) married Anne Gautrot about 1722 in Pisiguit and they had six surviving children including Amand born March 15, 1731 in Grand Pre. Amand was baptized the day he was born at St. Charles des Mines, Grand Pre. His father Jean died on February 7, 1747 and was buried February 8, 1747 at St. Charles des Mines in Grand Pre.
Amand, aged 20 was counted in the census of 1752 at Port Toulouse (St. Peters) Ile Royale along with his widowed mother and five siblings. The census taker noted that Amand followed the coastal trade. The relocation to Port Toulouse allowed this family to escape the 1755 Acadian deportation at Grand Pre. Amand married Theotiste Bonnevie about 1762 and he and his wife were numbered among the prisoners at Halifax on August 12, 1763. Their marriage was revalidated on October 9th, 1765 at Ile de Miquelon noting that the marriage had taken place in Halifax.
Amand and Theotiste relocated to Chezzetcook by 1770 where their fourth child Sylvain was born February 3, 1770 and baptized in 1771 by visiting missionary Father Charles François Bailly.
Sylvain married Pelagie Godin (dit Bellefontaine) about 1793 in Chezzetcook. After their marriage, Sylvain and Pelagie remained at Chezzetcook until about 1805 when they moved the family to Molasses Harbour (Port Felix) Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. In 1807, Sylvain petitioned the government for a grant of land on the east side of Molasses Harbour.
The first record of Sylvain and Pelagie in Harbour au Bouchie was a deed signed May 29, 1815 by Boniface Benoit and Magdaleine Manet selling 100 acres of land in Cape Jack to Sylvain Breau for five pounds in lawful currency. This land fronted on Bay of St. George and was bounded on the east by lands of Philistin Coste. It would appear that this couple moved to Harbour au Bouchie to be closer to Pelagie’s younger brother Anselm who had married Ozite Deslauriers in Tracadie about 1805 and settled there raising a large family.
Sylvain and Pelagie had nine surviving children, all of whom settled in Harbour au Bouche and are the ancestors of the many Brow descendants who remain in Havre Boucher to this day.
The Breau surname, like many other early Acadian names was modified over the years with Brow now being the predominant spelling in the Havre Boucher area.