V. FIRST MARRIAGE TO MARGUERITE DUGAS

Several years into his employment with Jacques Bourgeois, Pierre is believed to have married Marguerite Dugas in Port Royal about 1675. She was born in Port Royal in 1657 and was the daughter of Abraham Dugas and Marguerite Doucet. The following 1671 Acadian Census entry confirms Marguerite's parentage and her birth year. (NOTE! There is an error in this entry regarding the name of Marguerite's mother. Her mother's name was also Marguerite and is listed as such in all

Although documentation of the marriage of Pierre Arsonneau and Marguerite Dugas has not been recovered, it is the common belief that the event took place in 1675. Pierre would have been 29 years old and Marguerite, a young bride of 18. The evidence which supports 1675 as the year of this marriage can be deduced from the 1686 census. Calculating from this record, the birth year of the oldest child, also Pierre, is 1676. Thus the marriage most likely occurred in 1675. Marguerite's death is also undocumented, but her absence in the census of 1686 indicates that she is deceased. Because of lack of supportive documentation we can only say, with certainty, that the marriage took place about 1675 and Marguerite died between the years of 1678-1686 in Port Royal, Acadia. The marriage of Pierre Arsonneau and Marguerite Dugas produced two sons:

Pierre3, born in 1676 in Port Royal

Abraham dit le grand, born in 1678 in Port Royal

The following census extraction is supportive of the year 1675 as the year of Pierre2 Arsonneau and Marguerite Dugas's marriage, based upon 10 year old Pierre3 who would have been born in 1676. Further, the record places her death between 1678-1686, based upon her absence in the entry and 8 year old Abraham who would have been born in 1678.