Looking back over the decades and, indeed, centuries, it is amazing to observe the numerous family names that once were common in this area. Two of those names that no longer holds a place here are Begin and Blancpied.
John Begin married Anastasie LeBlanc. A son, Charlie, was born November 11, 1840 and he was married at Arichat on October 28, 1865 to Louise Marie Beausejour. Born in 1845, she was the daughter of Polycarpe Beausejour and Susan Paon. She died in 1926, her husband one year earlier in 1925.
The third generation consisted of the offspring of Charlie and Louise Marie: John Jeffrey Begin born January 20, 1874, died 1960; Napoleon Charles Alphonse born in 1871 November 6; and Marie A. Begin. She married Daniel Grimes, son of Pierre Grimes and Marcelline Josse on June 16, 1896. Louise died in 1960 at the age of 94 or 97 in Edmonton, Alberta. Daniel was 63 when he passed in 1934.
Generation four consisted of the children of Marie Begin and Daniel Grimes: Edgar Grimes was born in 1903; Marie Louise Grimes was born on April 12, 1901; Charles Pierre Grimes: dates unknown; and Marie Alberta Grimes who died age 96 in June 1997. She had married Sam Gagnon. Emma Grimes was born in 1913 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Charles Blancpied was born in 1799 or 1800 on the island of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands which are found in the English Channel between England and France. He was married to Elizabeth Levesconte. In 1819 they came to Isle Madame with one child and landed near the John Jean establishment in D’Escousse. By trade Charles was a shoemaker but also spent time as a trader.
The children of Charles and Elizabeth were Caroline Jean 1828, Philip Abraham Joshua 1830, Mary was born in 1832 and died the same year of hydrocephalus, and John George, 1834.
Charles John Blancpied was wed to Charlotte LeBlanc who died in 1870 at the age of 80. There were five offspring: John married Sabine Vigneau in 1854; Henriette married Amie Langlois; Anne Elizabeth was born in 1831 and married David Forest in 1857 at Arichat; Marguerite Angelique was born in 1834 at Tracadie; and Pierre Michael, 1833, was married to Charlotte Marmaud and he died in 1915.
Charles Jean Blancpied was married in 1854 to Sabine Vigneau, daughter of Renald Vigneau and Brigitte Langlois. The children were: Sabine Eugenie 1858 married James Graham Thomson; Charlotte Eugenie 1860; Louise Apolline, born 1862 wed Isidore Blancpied; and Charles Jean Blancpied, 1864.
John Blancpied was born in 1832 and died at the age of 51 on May 31, 1883. He married Elizabeth Langlois.