DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

ROBINSON, ELIZA ARDEN – Volume XIII (1901-1910)

d. in Victoria 19 March 1906

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

DAMOURS (d’Amours) DE CLIGNANCOUR, RENÉ, seigneur, and fur-trader; baptized 9 Aug. 1660 at Quebec, the son of Mathieu Damours* de Chauffours and Marie Marsolet; fl. 1684–1710.

On 20 Sept. 1684, René Damours received a grant of land in Acadia extending along both banks of the Saint John River from Medoctec (Meductic) to Grand-Sault (Grand Falls), a distance of over ninety miles. He devoted less attention than his brothers to farming, clearing only 15 acres in a dozen years. He seems to have preferred trade with the Indians, and it is believed that he kept retainers for this purpose at Medoctec, the largest Indian village on the Saint John. Some of the charges of licentiousness and failure to clear land, levelled by Governor Robinau* de Villebon against the Damours brothers, may have been true in René’s case during his first years on the Saint John, but positive proof is lacking.

On 13 Oct. 1689 at Quebec, Damours married Françoise-Charlotte, daughter of Charles Legardeur* de Tilly. They journeyed to Acadia where they took up residence, not on René’s own property but on Cléoncoré Island (now Eccles Island), which belonged to his brother, Louis. Indications are that, while remaining an active fur-trader, he gradually devoted more attention to farming. A census of 1698 shows that he, his wife, and four children were still living on Cléoncoré Island, where he was raising cattle, hogs, and poultry, and growing some grain.

When Hathorne attacked Fort Saint-Joseph (Nashwaak) on 18 Oct. 1696, Damours was given joint command, along with the privateer Pierre Maisonnat, dit Baptiste, of the force of Indians participating in its defence. The next day, when ordered to harry the New England force then withdrawing, he and Baptiste found it impossible to persuade the Indians to follow.

It seems that he moved his family to Port-Royal shortly after the evacuation of Fort Saint-Joseph by Villebon in 1698. However, he continued to participate in Indian raids on New England settlements. He was present when Port-Royal was captured by English and colonial forces under Nicholson in the fall of 1710. Later, he was sent to Governor Vaudreuil [Rigaud] by the Acadian settlers living in the Port-Royal area with a letter (dated 13 Nov. 1710) in which they complained of harsh treatment by Vetch, then commander at Port-Royal. This is the last record we have of René Damours.

George MacBeath

AN, Col., C11D, 2, ff.244, 244v, 246, 278; 3, f.18; 7, f.98. Charlevoix, History (Shea), V, 235. Coll. de manuscrits relatifs à la N.-F., I, 386; II, 244. Jug. et délib., III, 399. P.-G. Roy, Inv. concessions, IV, 1; VI, 65; Inv. contrats de mariage, II, 119. Webster, Acadia, 94, 106, 110, 170. Tanguay, Dictionnaire, I, 154. Arsenault, Hist. et généal. des Acadiens, I, 59: 66, 381. Murdoch, History of Nova-Scotia, I, 321. W. O. Raymond, Glimpses of the past; history of the river St John, A.D. 1604–1784 (Saint John, N.B., 1905). Ganong, “Historic sites in New Brunswick,” 312.

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

George MacBeath, “DAMOURS DE CLIGNANCOUR, RENÉ,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 19, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/damours_de_clignancour_rene_2E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/damours_de_clignancour_rene_2E.html
Author of Article:   George MacBeath
Title of Article:   DAMOURS DE CLIGNANCOUR, RENÉ
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1969
Year of revision:   1982
Access Date:   March 19, 2024