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OUR FIRST FAMILIES.
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elected by the residents of the several Acadian settlements to conduct their affairs with the English at Annapolis were usually the leading men of the place, but the name Aucoin seldom appears among them. In 1749 Renanchon Aucoin was accused of joining with the Indians in the attack which they made in December of that year on the fort at Mines, which was held by a garrison under Capt. Handfield. This Aucoin was described as a resident of the River de Gembert at Piziquid. The same year Pierre Aucoin was employed as a messenger by Governor Cornwallis to carry letters to the Acadians at Cobequid, and the priest and deputies at that place were summoned before the council at Halifax for detaining him.

Michael Boudrot was 71 years old when the census of 1671 was taken; his wife was Michelle Aucoin, aged 50, and they had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. The oldest son was François, aged 29, who was still unmarried. The second son Charles, aged 22, was also unmarried. All the sons lived at home with their parents, but two of the daughters, Margaret and Jeanne, were married and had homes of their own. Margaret was the wife of François Bourc, whose age was 28. She had two children, a boy of five years and a girl. Jeanne had become the wife of Bonaventure Terriau, and had one child, a girl. Michael Boudrot occupied a most important position in the colony, for he was its judge in civil and criminal cases. He had held this office for many years, and only gave it up when he had attained the great age of 88 and had become unable to perform the duties of his position. What these duties were may be gathered from the instructions to his successor, Des Goutins, who was told to prevent law suits as far as possible, to settle all differences amicably, to act in concert with the governor, not to pass