Who is Francoise-Marie Jacquelin?

Answer 1

Francoise Marie Jacquelin was the daughter of a physician from Nogent, France. Born in the early 1600s, in 1639, she personally negotiated a wedding contract; in 1640, sailing across the magnificent and treacherous Atlantic Ocean to an area now known as Saint John, NB, Canada, to marry the governor of Acadia, Charles LaTour, a much older man whom she'd never met. All this at the tender age of nineteen.

Intelligent, and blessed/cursed with a warrior's nature, she proved to be an admirable adversary for her new husband's adversary, a rival governor from across the bay.

Increasingly aware that she was a problem, the rival governor played well thought-out cards, and attacked when Francoise's husband and many of his men were away. After a lengthy battle, and deception on the part of a turncoat guard within the fort, the LaTour fort fell, with all of the men, save the turncoat and one other, being hanged until dead.

Francoise died three weeks later, and was given a funeral and commendation appropriate to her status. Having said that, she was also buried in an unmarked grave, perhaps to avoid a shrine and the perpetuation of her memory, both likely leading to a future, perhaps stronger revolt on the part of those loyal to her and her ideals. A very young son was sent back to France with Francoise's domestic, fading into the pages of history.