BLOCK 4

BY

TERRENCE D. MACLEAN

January 1974

(Fortress of Louisbourg
Report Number H D 24)

LOT B

[PAGE 17:]

(1) OWNERSHIP:

The land adjacent to Delort on Block 4 was first conceded in 1717 by De Costebelle and De Soubras to Madame François Dupont Duvivier:

Concession du Me Duvivier sur le même alignment de 5 toises de frond sur 40 de profondeur bornée d'un costé par le terrain du gros La Motte, et de l'autre par celuy de S. de Lore ... [NOTE 66].

The front of Lot B was formed by the piquet house built in 1713 for François Dupont Duvivier while the rear of the lot projected beyond what later became Rue Royale. The size of the lot was reduced considerably by the layout of the streets of Louisbourg in 1722-1723, when the southern boundary was aligned along Rue Royale [NOTE 67]. The final limits of the lot were established in the 1734 list of concessions:

A Mad e veuve, du Vivier, un terrain de 30 pieds de face sur la place du port sur 162 pieds de profondeur le long du terrain du Sr. Guillaume de l'or, 170 pieds du profondeur le long du terrain du feu Sr. Pierre Casagnolle, borné au nord par la place du port, A l'est par le terrain du feu Sr. Casagnolle, au sud par la rue Royalle, et à ouest par le terrain du Sr. de l'or, le dit terrain occupé par laditte Duvivier par concession du 27 novembre 1717 [NOTE 68]. (See Figure 2)

[PAGE 18:]

The ownership of Lot B remained in Madame Duvivier's hands until November 19, 1736, when the land and the old piquet house on Rue du Quay were sold to Louis Jouet for 2,500 livres [NOTE 69]. On the same day Jouet formed a partnership with Madame Duvivier's son, François Dupont Duvivier, which provided for the sale of the southern part of Lot B for 1,250 livres, undoubtedly a condition of the original purchase [NOTE 70]. The new proprietors held the land until 1745, recovered it after the first occupation, and retained it until the siege of 1758.

Soon after Duvivier gained control of the south half of Lot B he became involved in a prolonged dispute over its limits. Despite the fact that the 1736 act of sale stated unequivocally that the lot was 30 pieds wide throughout its depth from Rue du Quay to Rue Royale, the young officer, after a series of manoeuvres, managed to wrest enough land from his neighbors to build a charpente house that was too big for the original width of the lot.

The controversy began in 1736 when Blaise Cassagnolles, one of the proprietors of Lot C, Block 4, started to build a house on Rue Royale adjacent to the Duvivier property. Madame Duvivier claimed that the foundation of the house encroached on her land and protested to the Superior Council: "elle s'oppose quil fasse aucune Batise sur Led terrain jusqua ceque les different quils ont ensemble pour les Bornes dud Terrain soit decidée ..." [NOTE 71]. In her view the boundaries of the two lots were yet to be established because the 1734 toisé of concessions was unclear in delineating property lines for Lot B. It stated only that the west boundary of the Duvivier lot ran along Delort's property while the east boundary ran along Cassagnolles's land [NOTE 72]. Aware of this ambiguity François [PAGE 19:] Duvivier started in 1737 to build a house near the back of Lot B large enough to incur the protest of neighbors on both sides. On August 26, Guillaume Delort's lawyer, Jean Laborde, presented the merchant's case against Duvivier, reiterating the precise limits of Lot A as they appeared in the 1734 toisé and adding that:

depuis il a jouy dud. terrain et des batisses qu'il y a fait dessus sans aucun trouble ny empêchement jusques à ces jours derniers que François Dupont écuyer sieur Duvivier, capitaine de compagnie, voulant aussi batir sur le terrain qu'il a contre celuy du comparant, a tiré un alignement et ensuite comancé la fouille des terres pour les fondements de sa batisse, et comme led. sieur Duvivier se rend un pied sur le terrain qui a été concédé et ratifié au sieur Delort ...

Delort demanded that Duvivier stop work on the house until the king's surveyor could officially measure the lots, after which, at least in Delort's view Duvivier would have to demolish the house and pay damages [NOTE 73]. The statement was delivered to Duvivier that same day, but he dismissed it, replying that the alignment he took conformed to his concession. He then launched his own attack on Delort:

... le sieur Delort ayant une cloison de sa vieille maison sur le terrain dud. sieur Duvivier, il demande que led. sieur Delord ait à le demolir et à la metre à l'endroit où elle étoit lorsqu'il a donné la permission aud. sieur Delord de l'avancer et en outre à ce que ce dernier ait à démolir la boulangerie [PAGE 20:] qu'il a sur le terrain dud. sieur Duvivier, ainsi qu'il paroit par lalignement qui en a été tiré [NOTE 74].

Duvivier based his claim on his own interpretation of the 1734 toisé. He likely viewed it as a confirmation of the orders given by the crown in 1722-1723 when the streets of Louisbourg were realigned. At that time the old houses along Rue du Quay on Block 4 were to be placed in line with the buildings along the front of Blocks 1, 2 and 3, which would have shifted the west wall of Duvivier's old house more to the north and parallel to Rue de l'Estang. If the property line had followed the partition between the newly-aligned houses, Duvivier's and Delort's, Duvivier would be correct in assuming that Delort's buildings in 1737 were encroaching on his land. The houses, however, were not realigned, but Duvivier pressed his claim as if they had been.

Three weeks after Delort lodged his protest, Blaise Cassagnolles issued a similar statement through the same lawyer, complaining that the size of Duvivier's new house violated his property rights on Lot C.

... led. sieur Duvivier a fait piquer des fenêtres à sa charpente pour prendre jour du été du terrain du comparant, ce qui est contraire à la coutume de Paris, n'ayant pas l'espace requise entre la terrain du comparant et celui du sieur Duvivier, et led. sieur Cassagnolles s'étant encore aperceu que les égouts de la charpente doivent tomber sur son terrain, ce qui luy causeroit un tort considerable ... [NOTE 75].

As in the previous situation with Delort, Duvivier, true to his military fibre, decided to attack. He asked the king's surveyor, [PAGE 21:] François-Madeleine Vallée, to go to Block 4, "pour y terminer le toisé de la ligne ponctuée prenant au point mitoyen des deux maisons, l'une appartenante au sieur Blaise, et l'autre a lad. dame veuve Duvivier [sic] sur la rue du Port [NOTE 76]. The survey gave Duvivier the case he used against Cassagnolles, since the line drawn ran well outside the east side of the new Duvivier house and intersected the new Cassagnolles house on Rue Royale [NOTE 77]. The line, of course, was measured from the actual 1737 alignment of the old Rue du Quay house. So in effect Duvivier wanted to use the projected 1723 alignment of his old house, which was not implemented, for his property line along Lot A and the actual 1737 alignment for his property line along Lot C. This would have given him much more property than was specified in the 1736 act of sale, or the 1734 toisé.

Duvivier elucidated his case against Cassagnolles in a letter to Sabastien-François-Ange Le Normant, commissaire-ordonnateur, and the Superior Council on July 2, 1738. Acting for himself and Louis Jouet he wrote that in 1721 or 1722 Lamotte Cassagnolles built a piquet storehouse adjoining the rear of his house on Rue du Quay partly on the Duvivier land. The surveyor for the store, according to Duvivier, failed to respect the fact that "l'enlignement [sic] de ma maison ... devoit être ma enlignement [sic] titre qui n'est incontestable." He further stated that his mother, who owned Lot B at the time the store was built, was not able to protest because she was not living in Louisbourg at the time and Duvivier himself and his brothers and sisters were too young. She did protest, however, in 1736 when the stone foundation of Cassagnolle's new house on Rue Royale was being built, but construction continued against her protest. The object of Duvivier's letter to Le Normant was to renew the fight [PAGE 22:] against Cassagnolles, who by extending the property line along the piquet magazin took fifteen pieds of Duvivier's land. The officer wanted the Superior Council to convene the next day to settle the matter and to order Cassagnolles to bring proof that he owned the land upon which he was building [NOTE 78].

The proprietors of Lot C, Blaise Cassagnolles and Bernard Detcheverry, appeared before the council on July 3rd and claimed that the suppliants in the case, Duvivier and Jouet, did not own the land in question, informing the council that the 1736 act of sale, contained in the papers of the late Claude Joseph Demarest, could substantiate their claim [NOTE 79]. Accorded a delay of eight days to prepare a defense against Duvivier's protest, Cassagnolles and (Detchaverry brought considerable evidence to bear against the officer, no title of ownership. They pointed out, however, that they and their predecessors had occupied the land for more than twenty years, "ainsy dans le cas dont il s'agit on ne peut disconvenir que la possession des deffendeurs fait preuve qu'ils sont les vrais maîtres ... et qu'ils doivent être maintenu dans leur possession," [NOTE 80]. In order to establish the limits of their lot they referred to the 1734 toisé, which gave them 30 pieds on Rue du Quay and 41 pieds on Rue Royale, and which, in their interpretation, gave Duvivier 30 pieds on Rue du Quay and the same on Rue Royale [NOTE 81].

The point at issue was the 1734 which was ambiguous in its description, of Lot B, Duvivier took advantage of this, choosing to ignore the 1736 act of sale and while the dispute raged he continued to build his oversized house. There was a tenuous basis, nevertheless, for his claim, for the Paris Customs, article 187, stipulated that if there was [PAGE 23:] no title to the contrary, the property lines in such disputes were to follow the partitions between buildings [NOTE 82]. So with no title against him and with no clear delineation - at least in his view - in the 1734 toisé, Duvivier decided to aggrandize whatever he could.

Under ordinary circumstances Duvivier's case would have been discounted in court, and the windows and drains of his house facing Lot C would have to be blocked. But the Superior Council thought it would be inappropriate to condemn an officer of the garrison, so they refused to act against Duvivier. The windows remained open and the drains continued to pour water on Lot C. Considering this judgment a breach of justice, Cassagnolles and Detcheverry appealed their case to Versailles for review by the king [NOTE 83]. A well documented case was presented by Cassagnolles' and Detcheverry's lawyer, Dufour, emphasizing, in particular the 1734 toisé and referring for the first time in the dispute to several plans of the town. Dufour had obviously conducted research in France, for he also cleared up the question of land titles. He pointed out that the sale to Cassagnolles and Detcheverry was transacted in France; consequently the contract did not specify the exact size of the lot because the seller, Nicolas Cassagnolles, was not familiar with the property. So the question was reduced to one of determining the exact limits of the lot - far from a vexing problem for the king and his council, since they had already confirmed the validity of the 1734 toisé, which gave Cassagnolles and Detcheverry 41 pieds on Rue Royale and Duvivier, by indirect if not direct calculation only 30 pieds on Rue Royale. The king in Council notified the governor of Isle Royale, Isaac-Louis De Forant, and the new commissaire-ordonnateur, François Bigot, that the royal judgment would be final and [PAGE 24:] that the question of alignments was to be property treated, adding further that all courts and judges were to respect his majesty's decision and that De Forant and Bigot were not to interfere: "ordonne que le present arrêt sera executé nonobstant opposition ou autre Empechement" [NOTE 84].

Having considered the decree of the Versailles council, the governor and commissaire-ordonnateur finally settled the dispute by an order dated August 20, 1743, which directly contravened the wishes of the Versailles council as communicated to Bigot and De Forant in 1739. The Isle Royale officials ordered:

que la maison des sieurs Blaise Cassagnolles et Bernard Detcheverry scitué sur la rue Royalle contenant 40 pieds de face sur lad. rue, et celle desd. Sieurs Duvivier et Jouet, batty à 29 pieds et demi de lad. rue du costé desd. Detcheverry et Cassagnolles contenant 30 pieds de face subsisteront telles quelles sont, que lesd. sieurs Duvivier et Jouet prendront à l'est de leur maison 6 pieds de terrain de large sur 137 pieds de long, lequel 6 pieds commenceront à 31 pieds et demi de la rue Royalle, qu'au bout des 37 pieds cy dessus les limites de deux terrains courront au nord & prendre à deux pieds et demy à l'est de la maison desd. sieurs Duvivier et Jouet, a joindre en droiture la borne de l'ouest du terrain de 30 pieds de face desd. Detcheverry et Cassagnolles sur la rue cy devant du Port [Rue du Quay]. (See Figure 3).

[PAGE 26:]

The decision deprived Cassagnolles and Detcheverry of land that was rightfully theirs. In even more flagrant fashion, Bigot and Jean Baptiste Louis Le Prevost Duquesnel, who had replaced the late De Forant as governor, ordered Cassagnolles and Detcheverry to pay for the surveying costs. [NOTE 85]. Such was the commitment to justice of the Louisbourg administration, and such was the dichotomy between official Versailles policy and local practice.

Duvivier's dispute with Guillaume Delort was resolved out of court, again in the officer's favour. Delort simply relinquished one pied of land from Rue du Quay to Rue Royale to Duvivier and Jouet on August 13, 1743 [NOTE 86].

As a result of these adroit machinations the size of Lot B after 1743 was augmented from 4,950 pieds square to 5,464 pieds square. Lot A was reduced by 162 pieds square, and Cassagnolles and Detcheverry lost 352 pieds square on Lot C.

(2) OCCUPANTS:

François Dupont Duvivier, the first occupant of Lot B, was a captain in the expedition that founded Louisbourg in 1713, and one of three sons of Hughes Dupont Duvivier who served as officers in Isle Royale: Michel Dupont De Renon was a captain when he drowned at Port Dauphin in 1719, while Louis Dupont Du Chambon was king's lieutenant and acting governor at Louisbourg during the first siege. François Duvivier served as the captain of a company of regular troops in Acadia from 1702 until the capture of Port Royal by Colonel Francis Nicholson in 1710, at which time he returned to France. In 1705 he had married Marie Mius d'Entremont without securing the permission of his family or the commanding officer [PAGE 27:] at Port Royal, Simon-Pierre Denys De Bonaventure. The French Ministry reprimanded Duvivier, while Denys lamented that such alliances between officers and young women of obscure birth could not but prejudice their careers in the king's service. Four sons were born at Port Royal between 1705 and 1710, a daughter in France, and another daughter at Louisbourg in 1715 after Captain Duvivier's death in the fall of 1714 - the first officer to die in the colony. [NOTE 87].

The precipitate marriage had no adverse effect on Duvivier or his family at Louisbourg. The officer would have received the Cross of St. Louis in 1715 if he had lived, for the king had recommended the award [NOTE 88]. His prominence as an officer of the garrison was also reflected in two official decrees after his death, In June, 1715, the Comte de Pontchartrain, Minister of the Marine in France, authorized a 300 livres pension for the widow Duvivier in a letter to the governor of Isle Royale [NOTE 89]. The amount was adequate by contemporary standards., and was granted with surprisingly little delay. Two years later the king in a mémoire to Governor De Costebelle and Commissaire-Ordonnateur De Soubras dictated that the children of officers were not to join the garrison before the age of 14, but granted a special dispensation to the second and third sons of the widow Duvivier, Joseph and Michel, who were allowed to enter the service at age ten and eleven respectively [NOTE 90]. The oldest son, François, was a marine guard at Rochefort in 1718 and came to Louisbourg one year later as an ensign. All. three sons became captains at Louisbourg and chevaliers of the Order of St. Louis [NOTE 91]. Also, Duvivier's brother Du Chambon, married Jeanne Mius d'Entremont., sister of Marie, yet he rose to the rank of king's lieutenant, was awarded the Cross of St. Louis, and retired with a large pension [NOTE 92].

[PAGE 28:]

The family had been living in the piquet house built for Captain Duvivier on Block 4 with royal funds in 1713, and continued to live there for several years after his death. In 1719 the Lot B house was rented to Boisberthelot De Beaucours, king's lieutenant, so it is probable that Madame Duvivier returned to France with her younger children [NOTE 93]. She was not living in Louisbourg in 1722 and was described in 1734 as a resident of Paris [NOTE 94].

None of the Duvivier family lived on Block 4 between 1719 and 1737. The Rue du Quay house was rented until 1721 to Beaucours, to the clerk of the Superior Council, Philibert Genier in 1725, and finally to Joseph Dugas fils in 1738 [NOTE 95]. Dugas, in association with another Block 4 resident, Jean Milly, and François Poinsu, established a butchery in the old Duvivier house. In order to get permission from the governor and commissaire ordonnateur to set up his business Dugas had to provide a 6,000 livre guarantee to the administration of the colony, which he obtained from Guillaume Delort [NOTE 96]. Duvivier, however had to provide a guarantee of payment to Delort on behalf of Dugas {NOTE 97]. The officer was also involved in acquiring beef for the butchery from Canada, probably because Dugas did not have the means to do so [NOTE 98]. Duvivier was not merely renting the building but was financing the business, with Dugas and company the nominal proprietors.

Dugas, was the only tenant on Lot B after Duvivier fils and Louis Jouet bought the land in 1736, and the butcher's stay was to be temporary according to the terms of the Duvivier-Jouet partnership. The two men had ambitious plans, for in their partnership agreement they signified their intention to build a large stone magazine 30 pieds wide and 100 [PAGE 29:] pieds long, at the front of Lot B on the site of the butchery [NOTE 99]. The magazin was not built, but Dugas and the butchery disappeared from Block 4 by the end of the first siege [NOTE 100]. Also included in the terms of the partnership was the construction of a charpente house facing Rue Royale. The house was built in 1737 for the common use of Duvivier and Jouet, who with their families were its only French occupants before the siege of 1758 [NOTE 101].

François_Dupont Duvivier fils, born in 1705 in Port Royal, became an ensign at Louisbourg on July 11, 1719; lieutenant in 1730; captain and aide-major of a marine detachment in 1732; and was commander of the Royal Battery in 1740 [NOTE 102]. He was chosen in 1744 to lead the first military expedition emanating from Louisbourg. Duvivier, given a force of 22 officers, 80 French and 37 Swiss soldiers and 218 sailors, was ordered to capture Canso and Annapolis. The first task was accomplished with relative ease, but the siege of Annapolis was lifted on the verge of success by orders from Louisbourg after a conflict in command between Duvivier and Captain DeGannes. The latter was reprimanded on his return to Louisbourg, but Duvivier was exonerated, his career reaching its apogee at a time when French military successes at Isle Royale were far outweighed by failures [NOTE 103]. On May 17, 1745, Duvivier was awarded the Cross of St. Louis [NOTE 104]. After leaving military service in 1747 he was appointed king's lieutenant at Isle St. Jean on April 1, 1750, to the chagrin of De Gannes who was "bien mortifié" by the choice [NOTE 105]. It appears, however, that Duvivier did not report to Isle St. Jean, but opted to stay in France, where he was awarded a 1,200 livre pension in 1753 [NOTE 106].

[PAGE 30].

Though the officer's military prowess attracted some notice in France, his notoriety in the colony was based on his somewhat dubious accomplishments as a landowner and merchant. In his brief sojourn on Lot B from 1737 to the first siege, Duvivier commanded a good deal of attention and was undoubtedly one of the dominant personalities on Block 4. In his dispute with Cassagnolles and Detcheverry over the limits of Lots B and C he proved himself to be shrewd, aggressive and possessed of considerable influence with the local administration. He supplemented his officer's income with a variety of business ventures and if the accusations contained in a petition to the crown in 1738 from the "habitants pêcheurs de l'Ile Royale" were true, then Duvivier was as ruthless in his business dealings as he was in the land dispute, and equally successful. In a long list of complaints the fishermen charged that Duvivier was profiteering at their expense, both in fishing supplies and in foodstuffs.

The best example furnished in the petition referred to Duvivier's conduct during the severe food shortage at Louisbourg in the spring of 1738. The governor and intendant of Canada informed the Louisbourg administration in May that Canada would not be in a position to supply foodstuffs and advised that precautions be taken at Isle Royale. Privy to this news Duvivier proceeded to buy up the excess food supplies in the town without giving any explanation. Later the inhabitants were forced to buy back the supplies at his inflated prices. The fishermen also pointed out that these tactics, ruinous to the inhabitants of the town, were abetted by Le Normant, that Duvivier was given all the supplies he wanted from the king's storehouse in order to engage in his trading speculations. He replaced the goods with flour from France and New England [PAGE 31:] that he acquired after the food shortage at a fair price, while the fishermen had been forced to pay Duvivier inflated prices for the original supplies [NOTE 107].

In this chain of events, as in the land dispute with Cassagnolles and Detcheverry, Duvivier's connection with Le Normant is revealed as a most unholy alliance. Captain Duvivier's fortunes peaked during Le Normant's term as commissaire-ordonnateur, and it is interesting to note that the officer's residence on Block 4 was built at this time.

François Duvivier probably remained a bachelor until his departure from Louisbourg, since no marriage ceremony or family baptisms were registered in the parish records, nor is there any other reference to Duvivier having children or a wife. On the other hand, marriages and baptisms in the families of Duvivier's two brothers were registered [NOTE 108].

Louis Jouet, Duvivier's business partner', first came to Louisbourg in 1724 as captain of a merchant vessel from Martinique [NOTE 109]. A native of La Rochelle he decided to stay in Louisbourg, where he married Louise Peré in 1728 [NOTE 110]. In the same year he was described in the parish records as a bourgeois merchant [NOTE 111]. Jouet conducted business in Louisbourg for the remainder of the French period as a prominent member of colonial society, for two of his three children, Louis and Marie, had as their respective godfather, Louis Levasseur, lieutenant-general of the Admiralty, and Sebastien François Ange Le Normant, commissaire-ordonnateur of Isle Royale [NOTE 112]. The merchant owned at least one black slave throughout his residency on Block 4 [NOTE 113].

Jouet was living in the Lot B house facing Rue Royale by 1740 [NOTE 114]. Previously he and his family had been living in a stone house on the [PAGE 32] Presqu'ile du Quay rented from the heirs of Nicholas Bottier, the same house that François Duvivier was living in from 1732 to at least 1737 [NOTE 115]. It is likely that Jouet and Duvivier shared accommodation on Presqu'ile du Quay before both moved into the Block 4 residence. Duvivier held the lease on the Bottier house in 1732, while Jouet held the lease in 1739 at the time the house was sublet [NOTE 116].

Jouet was actively engaged in the fish trade at Louisbourg from the late 1720s to the end of the French period. As well as buying and selling a variety of schooners and 30 to 40-ton batteau vessels which he employed in the fishery, the merchant owned a 60- ton brigantine ship, L'Aigle, from 1736 to 1741 [NOTE 117]. He bought the brigantine from Charles St. Etienne De la Tour for 6,000 livres, used it for five years, and then sold it to Jean Labadie for the same price [NOTE 118]. Most of Jouet's business transactions involved shipments of cod, although there is one reference to a small shipment of tafia and sugar which he sold to Antoine Peré in 1755 [NOTE 119]. Like most of the successful merchants at Louisbourg he concentrated on the staple of the Isle Royale economy, the bountiful and profitable cod.

(3) BUILDINGS:

There were only two buildings on Lot B during the French period, a piquet building at the front of the lot on Rue du Quay and a charpente structure near the back of the lot and Rue Royale. (See Figure 4).

The piquet house (No. 1 in Figure 4) was built for Duvivier senior and his family in 1713, mainly with royal funds. In 1715 it was described as being 30 pieds long along Rue de l'Etang, and 20 pieds north to south, with walls of standing pickets and a board roof. The floor was constructed [PAGE 34] of two pouce planks; and the house had one chimney. Also included in the description was a sill and more than one partition: "Le solage et Les cloisons ont êtes faits par Les soins du Monsieur Duvivier qui a este Luy meme dans Le Bois a chercher les Billots et fait finir et placer par Les ouvriers du Roy" [NOTE 120]. "Le solage" in this context may have referred to a wooden sill for the partitions between this structure and the contiguous buildings on Lots A and C, or to a wooden sill for interior partitions, or to a wooden sill for the exterior walls. There was, however, a separate mention of one pouce planks in reference to partitions, so it would seem that the interior partitions were simply one pouce planks and that the exterior partitions between structures, i.e. the two walls running north to south, were constructed of cut pickets with a wooden sill. If this method was used for two exterior walls, it could well have been extended to all four, hence the possibility of the entire building resting on a wooden sill. The value of the house was estimated in 1715 to be 750 livres, 500 for the pickets, roof, nails and labor provided by the crown and 250 for the partitions, doors, iron fittings, lean-to, garden and labor supplied by Duvivier [NOTE 121]. The failure to mention the chimney was probably an oversight while the lean-to, which did not appear on the plans, was likely a minor addition attached to the rear of the house after 1713.

The descriptions and cost estimates given for the other piquet buildings constructed on Block 4 at the same time as the Duvivier house along Rue du Quay included features differing from the Lot B structure. For example the old Delort house on Iot A had a bark roof and the DePensens house on Lot C had a cellar. Therefore the houses built along the front [PAGE 35:] of Block 4 in 1713 were separate buildings placed contiguous to one another and not one continuous structure with internal partitions along each property line.

Very little information on the Rue du Quay house can be gleaned from the plans. On those that show roof styles the house has a two-slope roof [NOTE 122]. On the early plans there is a courtyard and at least one garden in back of the house [NOTE 123]. There is no information available on the interior layout of the house, nor on the placement of doors and windows.

By 1719 the house must have been in bad repair, for in that year its tenant, M. De Beaucours stated that he could not spend another winter in the structure [NOTE 124]. In 1725 another tenant, M. Philibert Genier deducted from his rent payment the cost of repairs to the house, including the replacement of 20 panes of glass and minor repairs to the floor [NOTE 125]. The house was converted into a butchery in 1738, but it is not known what, if any, alterations were made in the building itself. It disappeared from the plans after 1734 but reappeared on two 1746 plans, both of which are unreliable in their representation of Block 4. It did not appear on the other 1746 plans, however, nor was the building depicted on subsequent plans, so it probably was destroyed before or during the first siege [NOTE 126].

The dimensions of the building vary from plan to plan, as shown in the following table, but this does not indicate that the building itself changed.

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TABLE 2: DIMENSIONS OF DUVIVIER PIQUET HOUSE:

(1) Plan: 1717-2; Dimensions (in pieds: 24 x24;
(2) Plan: 1720- 4; Dimensions (in pieds: 36 x20;
(3) Plan: 1722-1; Dimensions (in pieds): 30 x20;
(4) Plan: 1724-2; Dimensions (in pieds): 25 x20;
(5) Plan: 1726-4; Dimensions (in pieds): 27 x21;
(6) Plan: 1730-2; Dimensions (in pieds): 30 x24;
(7) Plan: 1734-4; Dimensions (in pieds): 36 x24;
(8) Plan: Average; Dimensions (in pieds): 29 x21.

In summary the 1715 description of the building as a structure 30 pieds x 20 pieds is verified by the plans.

The charpente house near Rue Royale (No. 2 in Figure 4) was built at the common expense of Duvivier and Jouet in 1737. In their partnership agreement the two men had stated their intention to build "une maison de charpente aussi couvert en planche et bardeaux ... qui aura le pignon sur la Rue Royale ... de Trente pieds de face sur la profondeur de guarante Pieds ou plus" [NOTE 127]. By September, 1737, construction was well advanced, to the chagrin of Blaise Cassagnolle on Lot C who complained about the placement of windows in the house: "led. Sieur Duvivier a fait piquer des fenêtres à sa charpente pour prendre jour de côté du terrain du comparant ... les egouts de la charpente doivent tomber sur son terrain" [NOTE 128]. Despite these remonstrances the house was built with windows and drains on the east side, and presumably on all other sides, for the complaints from Duvivier's neighbors raged until the early 1740s. The settlement of the dispute in 1742 did not occasion changes in the house, since Duvivier was given more land [NOTE 129].

The house first appears on the plans in 1745, 30 feet (English plan) back from Rue Royale, 75 feet from and parallel to Rue de l'Estang [NOTE 130]. It remains that way on the plans until 1752 when the alignment changes to make it parallel to the lot boundaries and not to Rue de l'Estang; also the house is located about 15 pieds to the west of the former position [NOTE 131]. This new position and alignment is supported by the comprehensive English plan of 1767 [NOTE 132]. It is possible that by 1752 Louis Jouet, who was living in the Lot B house at the time, was able to make a deal with the Delort family which allowed him to move the house closer to Rue de l'Estang on the same alignment as the Lot A-B property line. The change could also be an imprecision in the plans, however, for the house is shown on the old alignment on a 1768 plan [NOTE 133].

There is very little information available on the exterior of the house, and none on the interior. The roof had four slopes, being hipped at the north and south ends, and was probably boarded and shingled as stated in the 1736 partnership agreement [NOTE 134]. According to an English survey of 1768 there were no masonry buildings on Block 4, but the house might have been charpente with masonry fill and board revetment and thus classified as a wood structure. The same survey described the condition of the house as tolerable so the house needed many repairs [NOTE 135]. There is no reference to the building after 1768.

The dimensions of the house, as represented on a sampling of the plans, are shown in the following table, with the short side running east to west.

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TABLE 3: DIMENSIONS OF DUVIVIER-JOUET HOUSE:

(1) Plan 1745-17: DIMENSIONS (in feet if not specified): 45 x 20
(2) Plan 1746-2: DIMENSIONS (in feet if not specified): 50 x 30
(3) Plan 1748-2: DIMENSIONS (in feet if not specified): 40 x 35
(4) 1752-11: DIMENSIONS (in feet if not specified): 40 x 30 pieds
(5) 1757-12: DIMENSIONS (in feet if not specified): 40 x 30
(6) Plan 1767-1 DIMENSIONS (in feet if not specified): 40 x 30
(7) Plan 1768-: Plan Average DIMENSIONS (in feet if not specified): 44 x 28.

ENDNOTES
I. [PAGE 235:]

LOT B:

[NOTE 66:] A.N., Colonies, CIIB, Vol. 1, fol. 152, Toisé particulier des concessions Louisbourg, 10 novembre 1717; also A.N., Outre Mer, G2 Vol. 462, fols. 100-106, Brevet de confirmation des concessions, Paris, 22 juin 1718.
[NOTE 67:] A.C., C11A, Vol. 126, fol. 111, Estat des emplacements concedes à Louisbourg dans l'Enciente de la Place relatif au plan de 1723, Louisbourg, 1723; also plans 1723-1, 1723-2, 1723-3 and 1723-4.

[PAGE 236:]

[NOTE 68] A.N., Colonies C11B, Vol. 15, fol. 28, Etat des terrains concédés dans la ville de Louisbourg sous le bon plaisir du Roy par Messieurs le gouverneur et comissaire-ordonnateur de l'Isle Royale jusqu'au 15 octobre 1734, Louisbourg, 15 octobre 1734; also A.N., C11G, Vol. 12, fols. 99-100, Confirmation des concession ..., Paris, 5 avril 1735.
[NOTE 69:] A.N., Outre Mer G3, Carton 2039, part 1, No. 163, Vente d'une maison, Louisbourg, 19 novembre 1736.
[NOTE 70:] A.N., G3 Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2039, part 2, No. 41, Acte de société, Louisbourg, 19 novembre 1736.
[NOTE 71:] A.N., Outre Mer, (G2, Vol. 185, fol. 120, plumitif d'audience, Louisbourg, 9 juin 1736. [NOTE 72:] See above, p. 18.
[NOTE 73:] A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2046-1, No. 7, Laborde notaire, Louisbourg, 26 août 1737. [NOTE 74:] Ibid.
[NOTE 75:] A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2046-1, No. 41, Laborde notaire, Louisbourg, 19 septembre 1737.
[NOTE 76:] A.C. E Vol. 131, fol. 22, as quoted in Bernard Pothier, A Study of Property and Town Planning ( a compilation of documents on file in the Fortress of Louisbourg Archives, hereafter cited as Pothier compilation).
[NOTE 77:] Ibid. fol. 24.
[NOTE 78:] A.N., Outre Mer, G2., Vol, 185, fols, 121-123, Duvivier à LeNormant, Louisbourg, 2 juillet 1738.
[NOTE 79:] Ibid., plumitif d'audience, Louisbourg, 3 juillet 1738.

[PAGE 237:]

[NOTE 80:] A.C. E., Vol. 131, fol. 26, Louisbourg, 3 juillet 1738, as quoted in Pothier compilation.
[NOTE 81:] A.N., Outre Mer, G2, Vol. 178, fols. 837-840, Défense fourni par Cassagnolles et Detcheverry, Louisbourg, n.d.
[NOTE 82:] M. Desgodets et M. Goupy (editors), Des Batiments, Suivant la Coutome De Paris, Rouen, 1787, pp. 52-76.
[NOTE 83:] A.C., A , Vol. 3, pp. 11-21, contestation entre Blaise Cassagnolles, Bernard Detcheverry et Sieur Duvivier, Versailles, 25 avril 1739, (PAC transcript on file in the Fortress of Louisbourg Archives).
[NOTE 84:] Ibid. p. 21.
[NOTE 85:] A.C., E, Vol. 131, fol.s. 111-122, Duquesnel et Bigot, 20 août 1743, (as transcribed in Pothier compilation).
[NOTE 86:] A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2047-1, No. 26, Laborde notaire, Louisbourg, 13 août 1743.
[NOTE 87:] A.N., Outre Mer, G1, Vol. 467, part 3a, census, Louisbourg, 1713; A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2056, No. 22, acte de tutelle, Louisbourg, 2 septembre 1715; Bona Arsenault, Histoire et Geneologie des Acadiens, Quebec, Le Conseil de la Vie française en Amerique, 1965, Vol. 1, p.397; Bernard Pothier, "François Dupont, Duvivier", DCB, Vol. II, pp. 205-206.
[NOTE 88:] A.C., D2C, Vol. 47, fol. 294, Duvivier, Capitaine, 1715.
[NOTE 89:] A.N., Colonies, B, Vol. 37-3, fol. 210, Pontchartain à Costebelle, Paris, 4 juin 1715.
[NOTE 90:] A.N., Colonies, B. Vol. 39-5, fol. 287, Memoire d.u Roi à Costebelle et Soubras, Versailles, juin 1717.
[NOTE 91:] Aegidius Fauteux, Chevaliers, p. 141, 174 et 175.

[PAGE 238:]

[NOTE 92:] Bona Arsenault, Acadiens, Vol.. 1, p. 397; Aegidius Fauteux, Chevaliers, p. 127.
[NOTE 93:] A.N., Colonies, C11B, Vol. 4. fol. 208, St. Ovide, Louisbourg, 28 novembre 1719.
[NOTE 94:] A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2039-1, No. 51, Procuration de Dame Marie Dentremont, Louisbourg, 9 janvier 1734.
[NOTE 95:] A.N., Outre Mer, G2, Vol. 179, fols. 12-13, plumitif d'audience, Louisbourg, 12 novembre 1725.
[NOTE 96:] A.N., Colonies, C11B, Vol. 19, fols. 129-133, Le Normant, Louisbourg, 28 décembre 1737.
[NOTE 97:] A.N., Colonies, G3, Carton 2046-1, No. 45, Laborde notaire, Louisbourg, 12 octobre 1737.
[NOTE 98:] A.N., Colonies, C11B, Vol. 20, fol. 305, Petition contre Duvivier, I,ouisbourg, 26 novembre 1738; also A.N., Colonies, G2, Vol. 186, fol. 93, plumitif d'audience, Louisbourg, 1740.
[NOTE 99:] A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2039-2, No. 41, Acte de société, 19 novembre 1736.
[NOTE 100:] See below, p. 36.
[NOTE 101:] Duvivier did not live in Louisbourg after the first siege, but Jouet remained in the Rue Royale house throughout the 1750s.
[NOTE 102:] A.N., Outre Mer, G1, Vol. 406, 4th register, fol. 21, Acte de Baptême de François Rodrigue, Louisbourg, 12 juillet 1730; Vol. 406, 4th register, fol. 54, Acte de baptême de Duchambon fils, Louisbourg, 28 novembre 1734; Vol. 407, 1st register, fol. 46, Acte de baptême de François Richard, Louisbourg, 15 avril 1740; Aegidius Fauteux, Chevaliers, pp. 141-142.

[PAGE 239:]

[NOTE 103:] A.N. Outre Mer G2 Vol. 188, fols. 288-303, Correspondence entre Duvivier et Mascarene, Annapolis, septembre 1744; J.S. McLennan, Louisbourg From Its Foundation To Its Fall, 3rd edition, Sydney, Fortress Press, 1969, p. 111.
[NOTE 104:] Aegidius Fauteux, Chevaliers, p. 142.
[NOTE 105:] A.C., B, Vol. 91, p. 337, Desherbiers et Prevost, Paris, 23 mai 1750; A.N., Colonies., C11B, Vol. 29, fol. 58, Desherbiers, 5 novembre 1750.
[NOTE 106:] Aegidius Fauteux, Chevaliers, p. 141.
[NOTE 107:] A.N., Colonies, C11B, Vol. 20, fols. 304-307, Petition contre Duvivier, Louisbourg, 26 novembre 1738.
[NOTE 108:] A.N., Outre Mer, G1., 4th register, fol. 67, Acte de mariage, Louisbourg, 15 septembre 1737.
[NOTE 109:] A.N., Outre Mer., G3, Carton 2058, No. 18, Procuration de Marie Dacarette, Louisbourg, 19 septembre 1724.
[NOTE 110:] A.N., Outre Mer, G1, Vol. 406, 4th register, fol. 5, Acte de mariage, Louisbourg, 31 août 1728.
[NOTE 111:] Ibid., fol. 39, Acte de baptême, Louisbourg, 13 juin 1728.
[NOTE 112:] Ibid., fol. 33, Acte de baptême, Louisbourg, 15 Janvier 1732; fol. 65, Acte de baptême, Louisbourg, 23 mai 1737.
[NOTE 113:] Ibid., fol. 61, Acte de baptême de Jacques, nègre appartenant au Sieur Jouet, Louisbourg, 23 mai 1736; fol. 62, Acte de baptême, Louisbourg, 11 juin 1736; Vol. 407, 2nd register, fol. 6, Acte de baptême, Louisbourg, 16 septembre 1742; Vol. 408, 2nd register, fol. 19, Acte de baptême, Louisbourg, 15 fevrier 1753.
[NOTE 114:] A.N., Outre Mer, G2, Vol. 196, dossier 124, fol. 38, plumaitif d'audience, Louisbourg, 11 mai 1740.

[PAGE 240:]

[NOTE 115:] A.N., Outre Mer., G3, Carton 2046-1, No. 146, Bail à loyer, Louisbourg, 3 janvier 1739; Carton 2038-1, No. 94, Bail à loyer, Louisbourg, 22 novembre 1732; Carton 2046-1, No. 41, Laborde notaire, Louisbourg, 19 septembre 1737.
[NOTE 116:] Ibid., Carton 2046-1, No. 129. Bail à loyer, Louisbourg, 3 Janvier 1739.
[NOTE 117:] There are numerous examples of boat sales involving Jouet as a principal in Outre Mer, G3, Cartons 2038, 2039, 2043, 2046, 2047; and in ACM, Vols. B266, B267, B279, liasse 6113. (See the selection lists for these series in the Fortress of Louisbourg Archives).
[NOTE 118:] ACM, Vol. B267, fol. 79-80, Vente d'un brigantin, Louisbourg, 17 novernbre 1736; and ACM, vol. B276, fol. 63-64, Vente d'un brigantin, Louisbourg, 18 août 1741.
[NOTE 119:] For examples of Jouet's cod transactions see A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2037, No. 129, 20 octobre 1730; Carton 2038-1, No. 39, 30 novembre 1731; Carton 2046-1, No. 115, 23 novembre 1738; G2, Vol. 203-2, dossier 306, fol. 46, 26 novembre 1753. Reference to the tafia and sugar shipment made in G2, Vol. 205, dossier 385, fols34-35, 22 août 1755.
[NOTE 120:] A.N., Colonies, C11B., Vol. 1, fols. 257-25, Inventaire des maisons faites et mil sept cent treize dans Le havre de Louisbourg, Louisbourg, 30 septembre 1715.
[NOTE 121:] Ibid., fols. 255-256, Estimation ... des Maisons du Roy qui sont au sud du Port de Louisbourg, Louisbourg, 19 octobre 1715.
[NOTE 122:] Examples found, in: A.F.L., plans 1717-2, 1720-2, 1734-4.

[PAGE 241:]

[NOTE 123:] Plans 1717-2, 1718-2, 1720-2.
[NOTE 124:] A.N., Colonies C11B Vol., 4, fol. 208, M. De St. Ovide Louisbourg, 28 novembre 1719.
[NOTE 125:] A.N., Outre Mer, G2. Vol. 179, fols. 12-13, Plumitif d'audience, Louisbourg, 12 novembre 1725.
[NOTE 126:] This conclusion is based on measurements taken from the plans of the distance between the Delort storehouse and the first building on the Rue du Quay façade of the block.
[NOTE 127:] A.N., Outre Mer, G3, Carton 2039-2, No. 41, Acte de société, Louisbourg, 19 novembre 1736.
[NOTE 128:] Ibid., Carton 2046-1, No. 41, Laborde notaire, Louisbourg, 19 septembre 1737.
[NOTE 129:] See above, p. 25.
[NOTE 130:] A.F.L., plan 1745-17.
[NOTE 131:] Ibid., plan 1752-11.
[NOTE 132:] Ibid., plan 1767-1.
[NOTE 133:] Ibid., plan 1768-1.
[NOTE 134:] Ibid., plan 1752-11.
[NOTE 135:] PAC, MG 11, C.O. 217, Vol. 25, fols 140-141, Report on the present state of Louisbourg. Louisbourg, 26 septembre 1768 (copy on file at AFL).