Marie Rosalie Bonnevie and Marie Josephe Bonnevie, Rose Bonnevie’s petition to the French government in 1773.
Marie Rosalie Bonnevie and Marie Josephe Bonnevie, Rose Bonnevie’s petition to the French government in 1773, August 10, 1773. Archives nationales d’outre-mer.
Document Text |
Summary |
| To Monseigneur
Monseigneur Boynes, Minister and Secretary of State in the Department of the Navy
Monseigneur, |
To the Minister and Secretary of State for the French Navy |
| Very humbly, Rose Bonnevie, native of Beaubassin, wife of Jean Gousseman of Seville in Spain, sergeant in the French troops of Louisbourg and its territories, daughter of Jacques Bonnevie, farmer and blacksmith, and of Marguerite Laure, both from Port Royal, who left the place of their birth and moved to Beaubassin where they built a farm that the petitioners’ father cultivated while continuing to practice his profession of blacksmith, and Marie Bonnevie, her older sister, an extremely disabled single woman, beseech you and take the liberty to present to Your Excellency: | Rose Bonnevie very humbly sends this petition. She was born and raised in Beaubassin. She is the wife of Jean Gousseman, a Spanish man who is a sergeant in the French army. She is the daughter of Jacques Bonnevie, a blacksmith, and Marguerite Laure. Her parents were born in Port Royal and moved to Beaubassin to build a farm. Rose’s sister Marie Bonnevie is a single woman with significant physical disabilities. |
| that they were both raised in the aforementioned Beaubassin and are thus Acadian by origin and birth; that when the English came to the canton to ravage it, Jacques Bonnevie, their father, lost everything he possessed and fled with all his family to Restigouche (at the mouth of the Canadian river in Chaleur Bay); that it was there that Rose Bonnevie married Jean Gousseman (who was there with a detachment of troops from Louisbourg); that in the last war with the English who took possession of the entire region, Gousseman lost everything he owned and fled with his family and sister-in-law, Marie Bonnevie, to Miquelon where he acquired a tract that was conceded to him and to others, and there he built a fishing company; | Rose and Marie were both raised in Beaubassin. They are Acadian. When the English invaded Acadia in 1755 their father lost everything. He fled with his family to Restigouche. This is where Rose met and married Jean. When the English claimed the region at the end of the French and Indian War, Jean lost everything. He and Rose moved again. They brought Marie with them. They settled in Miquelon, where Jean set up a fishing business. |
| that in 1767 the governor of that island ordered him to leave for France, and the very next day forced him to board a ship with such speed that he was forced to abandon everything, barely having the time to get his personal belongings and those of his family, with the verbal promise that an appraisal would be made on his house, his furniture and other effects, and that he would receive compensation for these in France, which moreover has yet to be done. Upon his arrival in Brest he was sent to Cherbourg in February 1768, without any assets and almost without clothing, and there he, his wife, and his sister-in-law each received an allowance from the King of 6 sous a day and an allowance of 3 sous for each of their four children. These subsidies along with his job allowed them to feed themselves and little by little to purchase the most needed personal effects and household items. But the Commissioner has just informed them that, given the six livres per month of half-wages that the King pays to Jean Gousseman as a soldier, the subsistence allowance is to be terminated at the start of the month. | In 1767 the governor of Miquelon ordered Jean to report to France for duty. Jean and his family were forced to go so quickly that they had to leave all of their belongings behind. The governor promised that the family would be compensated for what they left behind, but they never were. The family settled in Cherbourg in 1768. The government paid them a small stipend per person during this difficult transition. It was enough money to buy food and replace some of the necessities they had left in Miquelon. But now the government is ending this stipend because Jean receives a monthly payment as a soldier. |
| This termination of funds obliges Rose Bonnevie to submit to Your Excellency that these six livres per month only make up one-seventh of the subsidies that the King granted this family and she assumes that you will understand that these are not by any means sufficient for feeding the father, the mother and the four children, especially in this time of elevated prices, when the most common bread is sold at 3 sous per pound and the same is true for other essential foodstuffs, and thus this puts the aforementioned Gousseman in the painful necessity of being unable to share resources with Marie Bonnevie, his sister-in-law, who has been reduced to a state of infirmity which absolutely prohibits any form of work, and who will find herself in the most atrocious misery and forced to beg to survive if you do not, Monseigneur, show mercy in continuing to pay the petitioners and the four Gousseman children the same allowance with which they have survived to this day. This is the justice and favor the petitioners seek from Your Excellency, whose precious long life the petitioners and their family will continue to earnestly pray for. | This is why Rose is writing to you. Jean’s monthly pay is not enough money to support Jean, his wife, and their four children, especially in a time of high prices This means they can no longer afford to support Marie. Marie cannot work. If you do not show mercy and find a way to continue the stipend, Marie will be forced to beg to survive. This is the help and justice Rose is asking for. She and her family will continue to pray for you. |
| Presented on 10 April with the marks of the petitioners. [Signed with two Xs] | Sent to the Minister on April 10, 1773. Rose signed with an X. |
| [NOTE AT BOTTOM]
Marie Bonnevie appears to be the only one who is in a position to warrant the continued subsidy from his Majesty, given the reality of her disabilities. |
[NOTE AT BOTTOM]
Marie Bonnevie’s disabilities seem to make her the only person who is eligible for a stipend. |
| [NOTE AT TOP]
We have granted Jean Gousseman, her husband, a half-salary of 6 livres per month. The rest of the family has been removed. |
[NOTE AT TOP]
We have granted Rose’s husband, Jean Gousseman, a salary of six livres a month. The rest of the family has been removed from the stipend list. |
| [ATTACHED NOTE]
We, doctor of medicine at the Royal Military and Maritime Hospital of Cherbourg, certify to having visited the so named Marie Bonnevie of roughly forty years of age who is very disabled in both nature and configuration. Her arms are atrophied and she has been unable to use them for many years, she is hunchbacked both in the front and the back, her eyes are bad and blemished, and she is asthmatic due to her humps. All of these ailments and physical deformities have reduced her to utter infirmity. Cherbourg, the thirtieth of March 1773. [Signed: De Laville, M.D.] |
[ATTACHED NOTE]
Dr. De Laville visited Marie Bonnevie. He found that she is about forty years old and has significant physical disabilities. She cannot use her arms, her back is not straight, her eyes are bad, and she cannot breathe properly. She is unable to work. Signed March 30, 1773. |
Translation by B. Christopher Wood, Ph.D.
Background
Ongoing competition between the European countries with colonies in North American meant that many colonies changed hands in the 1700s. This could be catastrophic for the colonists. For example, Nova Scotia was originally part of the French colony called Acadia. The colonists were called Acadians. The English took control of Nova Scotia in 1713 after a military conflict. In 1755 English colonial authorities expelled all the French Acadians in Nova Scotia because they believed they could not be trusted to support the English during the French and Indian War. During the upheaval families were separated and people lost their livelihoods. The expelled Acadians moved all over the world, where they had to rebuild their lives from scratch.
About the Documents
This is a petition filed by Acadian refugee Rose Bonnevie in 1773. Rose and her extended family were displaced many times by the fighting between the French and the English. By the time of this petition, she was living in France with her husband, four children, and physically disabled sister. She wrote this petition to ask the French government to provide the money her family needed to survive after their many relocations. Rose begins by asserting her Acadian heritage to prove why the French government should be helping her. This document helps us understand the massive impact that colony transfers could have on everyday people.
Vocabulary
- Acadia: A French colony in northeastern North America that included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces of Canada, the Gaspé Peninsula, and Maine.
- Acadian: A colonist who lived in the French colony of Acadia.
- French and Indian War: A colonial war that was fought from 1754 to 1763 between the British and the French. Indigenous communities sided with the colonial power they expected would best protect their sovereignty. The Spanish were allies of the British. Part of the larger global conflict known as the Seven Years’ War. The British triumphed and greatly expanded their territory in North America.
- petition: A formal written request sent to an authority figure.
- refugee: A person who has been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or natural disaster.
Discussion Questions
- Why were the Acadians forced to leave their colony? What does this tell us about the vulnerability of colonists in North America?
- What challenges did Rose Bonnevie face after she was expelled from Acadia? How did her gender impact her experience?
- Why did Rose Bonnevie file this petition? What does this reveal about the relationship between colonists and their ruling governments in Europe?
Suggested Activities
- Pair this resource with Life Story: Madame Montour to consider how women used their unique positions in society to negotiate for themselves and their families in the French colonies.
- Pair this resource with The Casket Girls and The Ursulines in Louisiana to illustrate the kind of women who were involved in settling the French colony of Louisiana.
- Consider this resource along with Migrating North for a broader discussion of what it means to be displaced from one’s community.
Themes
POWER AND POLITICS; IMMIGRATION, MIGRATION, AND SETTLEMENT
