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During the year of 1752, Joseph Sieur de la Roque was entrusted by the orders of M. le comte de Raymond, to prepare a census of France's Atlantic territories. La Roque began his work in the middle of winter and met many obstacles. His census, which is located in the Paris Archives, seems to have been prepared with care and attention to detail. It includes not only the full names of all the head of households, but also their ages, names and ages of their wives, names and ages of all their children, possessions, and places of birth. This type of information has proved to be invaluable to genealogical researchers, as after the expulsion by the British in 1758 (only 6 years following this census), vital records of the Acadian population were very scarce.
Listed below are the Samson families listed in La Roque's census. They are shown as residents of Port Toulouse, present day St. Peter's, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
On page 15:
| Michel Samson, resident sea
coaster, a native of Acadia, 40 years of age and in the colony for 25 years;
married to Jeanne Testard a native of Port Royal, 35 years of age.
They have 4 sons and 4 daughters:
Jean, aged 17 years
They have been granted two years rations. The land they occupy was granted verbally by Messieurs de Sainte Ovide and Le Normand. They have two oxen, eight cows, and six fowls. They have cleared two or three arpents of land, which they have turned into meadows, where hay comes up best, and a garden where vegetables thrive best. |
| Charles Pinet, resident sea coaster, native of Port Toulouse, 27 years of age; married to Jeanne Samson, native of Port Royal, 32 years of age. They have one son, who has not yet been named. The land on which they dwell belongs to Sr. Samson, their father-in-law, and he has given them land for building and to make a small garden where garden products do best. They have 2 cows and 6 fowls, and have been granted two years rations. |
| Mathieu Samson, resident sea
coaster, native of Port Royal, 42 years of age; married to Marguerite Lapierre,
native of Acadia, 42 years of age. They have 4 sons and 3 daughters:
Pierre Samson, aged 17 years
They have been granted two years rations, and have been in the colony since 1730. They have three oxen, two cows, and seven fowls. The land they occupy was granted to them verbally by Messieurs de St. Ovide and Le Normand. They have made a clearing for a garden and a piece of ground four arpents in extent for a meadow. |