They lived at Louisbourg. In 1768 Lt. Gov. Francklin of Nova Scotia reported on a number of settlers in Cape Breton, who were living on and who had made improvements on lands to which they held no title. In the list of those at Gabarus, near the ruins of the French fortress of Louisbourg on the southern coast of Cape Breton, were "Richard Collins, Edward and Thomas McDonald, John Clewly [Clory?], Francis Joice [Josse], Peter Jervois [Girroir], John Perry, and ----- Curdo [Guillaume Cordeau], who had built dwelling-houses and stages," Uniacke's Sketches of Cape Breton (Halifax, 1958). François Josse and his family were still residing at Gabarus Bay in 1771 when they were visited by Fr. Charles-François Bailly.
A François Josse Sr. was living in D'Escousse at the time of the 1811 census. He and his wife were both over 60 years of age, and he was listed as a yeoman. They owned two Cattle and one sheep.