Castine
 family descendants in Australia
             (best to view on computer)

  Born in Escout, Bearn, Southern France, in 1652, in sight of the Pyrennees, Jean-Vincent was to lose his mother to the plague when he was only four months old.  His grandmother raised him (and one presumes his siblings, Jean-Jacques II, b. 1650, Marie b. 1651 ) in her home at Arette, Southern France.

 

   His father was the first Baron de Saint-Castin. ‘In 1654 Jean-Jacques d’Abbadie I obtained authorization from King Louis XIV for the elevation of his fief into a barony.’  He died before 24th Feb. 1666 because his elder son signed a deed of sale as the second Baron de Saint-Castin therefore his son must have inherited the estate.  Nothing there for landless Jean-Vincent so, like cadet (second) sons of the time, he ventured into the world to seek his fortune.  Because of his birth and  education, he became an ensign in the King’s army in the regiment called the Carignan Salières and by the age of 13 had gone to Quebec to help quell the Iroquois in the campaign of 1666. (Jude's note 2024 - Peace Treaty signed in 1667, Regiment returned to France July 1668.)

 

  In 1670, when the treaty of Breda had restored Acadia (battleground of 4 nations) to the French, we see the young ensign travel with the new Governor of Acadia, Captain Andigné de Grandfontaine to Penobscot Bay which was to become his home.

 

  They both established themselves at Pentagouet (on the Penobscot River), a hotspot in the middle of French and British contested territory but the coastal region remained above all the domain of the Penobscot and the inland forests the domain of the Abenaki.  Jean-Vincent was entrusted with several missions which meant he could study the people and the country.  He was a 19 year old young man who built a house and began to trade beaver furs with the Penobscot whose friendship he soon gained.  He roamed the woods, hunted with them, had many promiscuous liaisons, acquired great influence and was made a minor chief.  It was the custom of Jean-Vincent to visit Port Royal each year to attend Mass, make confession and donate to the Catholic Church.  He was imprisoned there by the Governor of Acadia, Perrot for 70 days for his affairs with women in Port Royal.  It was said he was ‘addicted to liberatinism’ (cohabiting with the Indians).  He later gave up his promiscuous ways as most young men do!  He soon became a fluent speaker of the language of the Penobscot and adopted their mode of dress.  He, being well versed in the art of military tactics, taught them the use of firearms and some of the fundamentals giving them a greater advantage over their enemies.  He was a complex man who could inspire fear and admiration in equal measure, leading war parties, delivering ransom notes, escaping assassination attempts, fighting bitter battles and acting as advisor to his father-in-law, the great Penobscot chief (sachem), Madockawando.

 

  The Baron chose (or was he given) a wife from his Penobscot tribe, a daughter of the great Madockawando. Her name was Pidianske (shortened form of Pidikwanniskwe) and her Christian name was Marie-Mathilde.  It’s not clear whether he married one or two of Madockawando’s daughters but he was accused of having several wives and living a dissolute life deep in the Acadian forests.  With Pidianske he had two children.  His first wife may have died and he took another (maybe the daughter of Madockawando) called Misoukdkosie, Christian name Marie-Melchilde de Nicosquoue.  With her he had 10 children.  So in total, the Baron had 12 children at least.  He married Pidianske and Misoukdkosie in the Indian custom but it is certain that the Church insisted on a Catholic wedding to Misoukdkosie in 1684 by Father Jacques Bigot, a Jesuit missionary to the Abenaki.

 

  In 1673 Jacques de Chambly became the new Governor of Acadia.  In 1674 Chambly and Jean-Vincent were captured by Dutch pirates.  Chambly was taken prisoner but Jean-Vincent managed to escape to Quebec with the Abenaki.  While Jean-Vincent was reporting the incident in Château Saint-Louis, the governor general of Canada (Baude de Frontenac) saw the potential of this young, intelligent and enthusiastic officer and proposed, (off the record), that Jean-Vincent urge the Abenaki and other nations to adopt the interests of France.  It was to set the pattern for him for the rest of his life.

 

  1674 saw the death of his elder brother and Jean-Vincent became the third Baron de Saint-Castin.  But now was not the time to return to France to collect his inheritance!  At this time he seems to have divested himself entirely of his position as a French officer.  He divided his time between a Penobscot tribe nearby and Pentagouet Fort from where he began trading in beaver furs and moose skins through which he amassed a fortune.

 

  The French regarded him as a significant force operating in their favour from military and commercial standpoints.  The Baron continued to trade and because he was more Abenaki than French, he no longer considered he was affected by the French so he maintained close business relations with the English of Boston as well.  But the French needed an alliance with the Abenaki so they always dealt tactfully with the Baron.  Until his death in 1698, Madockawando remained chief among his people but nothing was done without his son-in-law’s advice and say-so.

 

  The British from Boston also wanted this territory and tried in vain to tempt the Baron to their side.  Failing this they attacked many times in various places but were repelled by the Baron and his Penobscot warriors.

 

  Madockawando died in 1698, leaving the Baron as principal chief of the Penobscot.  When peace returned in 1699, the Baron resumed his trading with the English of Boston, disregarding French regulations to desist. Accusations were levelled against him and in 1701 he returned to France to defend the allegations in court and to (finally) straighten out his personal affairs…to claim his inheritance.

 

  He quickly triumphed in the court at Versailles about his illegal trading with the British but in 1702, on his return to his native Bearn, his brother-in-law, the lawyer Jean de Labaig, his sister Marie’s husband, was ready for a contest for the right to the Barony.  Labaig tied the courts up in lengthy argument and even tried to prove the Baron illegitimate.  The court tried to hurry the ‘parlement of Pau’ because the Baron was more then ever needed back in Acadia but it was all in vain.

 

  In 1707, exhausted by extensive quibbling and chicanery, Jean-Vincent d’Abbadie, third Baron de Saint-Castin, died in Pau, never to see his beloved Dawnland Acadia again and leaving many undocumented children.

 

     References:

 

Salagnac, G C 1997 ‘Biographies’ Dictionary of Canadian Biography; 1701 to 1740, vol 2, p.3-7, University of Toronto Press.

 

Chassé, P ‘The d’abbadie de Saint-Castins and the Abenakis of Maine in the seventeen century’, Philip P. Boucher 1984, Proceedings of the tenth meeting of the French colonial historical society, April 12-14.