Letter from Stephen White, February 2002

Jean Jauffret ( he signed his name that way) lived in the Magdalen Islands before coming to Isle Madame. He was godfather there (Havre-Aubert) in 1805, and a witness at a marriage there in 1806. A petition of 1825 (in the Calendar of Cape Breton Land Papers, no. 3033,) states that he had been in Cape Breton for twenty years, but this is probably slightly exaggerated. According to the 1813 militia list , he was born 25 years earlier, or about 1788. This may not be accurate, as 25 was the age of majority for the French. His age of 41 in the 1825 petition just mentioned is probably more accurate. He was first married about 1809 or 1810. He had one daughter at the time of the 1811 census, two by the time of the 1813 militia list and seven by the time of his 1825 petition.
It is this Jean Jauffret, and not one of his forebears, who was the first of the line to come to Cape Breton.
I have no direct information regarding Jean Jauffret’s place of origin. I have seen a source that suggests that he might have come from Marseilles, however. The source is a compilation of all the French soldiers and sailors who served in the French forces involved in the War of American Independence. These records cover 1778 to 1783. There were eleven men named Jauffret or Jeauffret among these men. All eleven came from the south of France, eight from Marseilles, two from Saint-Tropez, and one from La Ciotat. Two of the eight men from Marseilles were even named Jean Jauffret, although this war was of course a generation earlier than your ancestor. It would appear from this, however, that there is a significant probability that your ancestor came from Marseilles, or at least its vicinity, as well.

Stephen A. White


From 1838 D'Escousse Census:

John Jeffrie & Jane (Geneviève MARCHAND) Fisherman
2 Males - born 1832 to 1838 < Jean, married to Adele Josse
3 Females - born 1824 to 1831
3 Females - born before 1823

From death records of L’Assomption Church, Arichat, NS:
725 07-13-1856 Arichat 07-15-1856
Jauffret, Jean 74 ans
époux de Géneviève Marchand