Deslauriers
The Antigonish County Deloreys are all descended from Thomas Jacquet of Rouen, Normandy, France, who enlisted in the French Army at an early age. As was customary at the time when joining the army, Thomas adopted an assumed name becoming soldier “Deslauriers”. Around 1750, his regiment was dispatched to the garrison in Quebec. Thomas married at Lavaltrie, Quebec on June 19, 1752 and eight sons and one daughter were born to this couple.
An authoritative account of the early years of the Deslauriers family in the new world is provided by Stephen White of the Centre for Acadian Studies at the University of Moncton at the following website.
After British forces captured Quebec in 1780, Thomas decided to stay in Canada. He left the French Army, as it was ordered out of Canada and elected to move to Isle Madame Cape Breton. Helived at Arichat for a few years and when John Paul Jones and the American privateers began raiding Isle Madame Thomas moved his family Fortune Bay, PEI where he built a schooner and conducted business with French residents on St. Pierre and Miquelon.
In 1787, Thomas obtained a 700 acre land grant at Tracadie Bay, Nova Scotia and dispatched four of his sons, Nicholas, Charles-George, Jean Baptiste and Alexis to take possession of the property. Thomas Deslauriers and his youngest son, Benjamin Thomas, arrived later.
Tracadie became the family’s main location, where all five brothers married and produced a total of 25 sons. By 1811, most family members were still called “Jacquet dit Deslauriers” but after 1830, the surname rapidly changed to Delorey.
After their arrival in Tracadie, four of Thomas’s son had already settled down. Nicholas married Madeleine LaBlanc, daughter of Claude LeBlanc and Judith Benoit, and widow of Claude Babin. Charles-George married Francoise Sauvage dit Forgeron, daughter of Pierre Sauvage dit Forgeron and Marie-Jeanne Pinet. Jean-Baptiste was married to Anges Coste, daughter of Claude Coste and Marguerite Vigneau. Alexis had taken for his wife Agnes Pitre, daughter of Joseph Pitre and Anne-Marie Bourg. It was only some years later that Benjamin Thomas, the namesake of his father, joined his destiny with that of Felicite Gautreau, daughter of Basile Gautreau and Marie-Madeleine Girouard. Finally, much later, Jean-Baptiste, married Madeleine Landry, daughter of Baptiste Landry and Anne Pitre.
The Delorey surname is not prominent in Havre Boucher today but over the years, many of our pioneer settlors took Delorey girls as their bride so the Delorey lineage runs strong in the maternal ancestry of present day residents of Havre Boucher.