When Roger Casey was first counted in the census of Acadia in 1671 at Port Royal, his name was spelled Kuessy. Over the years, the name was spelled in many different ways, quite possibly because of the illiteracy of most of the inhabitants,or as the census taker heard it. The spellings of Caissie, Caissy, Quessy, Casey that are mostly in use today to describe Roger's descendants, all sound the same way to a Francophone, whether spelled with a C a Q or a K. For the purpose of the present document, I have retained the spelling Caissie throughout the text, except for direct quotations.

In the summer of 2009 we made an important discovery. We found a reference to Roger in a letter published in London in 1758. That letter dated March 1755 was written by Father Antoine Maillard, missionary to the Indians. At pages 104 and 105 of this lengthy letter we find a reference to Roger Caissy. Maillard writes that he "could never learn there were above three of purely British subjects, who also, ultimately conforming both in the religious and civil institutions of the French became incorporated with them. These families were the Peters, the Grangers and the Cassys". Maillard adds that Roger John-Baptist Cassey – that is how he names him - was an Irish Roman Catholic, and what he tells us that we did not know until now, is that "Roger had been an indented servant in New England and had obtained at length his discharge from his master with permission to remain with the French Acadians for the freer exercise of his religion".

Roger was an indented servant in New England before he arrived in Acadia. These indented servants were mostly domestics and farm workers. Some were under contract at heir own request for all sorts of economic or social reasons, and others were indentured against their will. The contracts were usually of a 4 to 7 year duration for persons between 14 and 21 years old. Those forced into bondage were often the victims of kidnaping forcefully embarked on ships and sold upon their arrival in the colonies. It was also common practice in England to sell orphans into bondage so that the state would not otherwise have to take care of them. And there were also those who were condemned by the courts for various crimes.

When one considers what had happened in Ireland after 1649, when Cromwell's troops invaded the island, it is reasonable to conclude that Roger was not one of the volunteers. The historian Rameau de St-Pere suggested in his book "Une colonie féodale en Amerique", published in 1877, that Roger had perhaps been arrested during some confrontation with the British in Ireland, and transported to Acadia. It's possible. In 1653 Cromwell had ordered the capture of 550 Irish persons for deportation in bondage to the American colonies.

Webmaster's note: The reference by St-Pere that Vincent is citing is available here.

An image of the entry of Roger and Marie Francoise in Port Royal from the 1671 Acadian census.

 It shows Roger as age 25,  Marie age 22 and daughter Marie age 2. (Courtesy Vincent Caissie)

In 1671, Roger was among the 300 or so white settlers in Acadia. There were sixty-eight families, and forty-seven of them were listed as 'laboureurs'. Roger Caissie was one such farmer although he did not have any land under cultivation. He was then married to Marie Francoise Poirier and had one daughter Marie, age 2. He had no land of his own but he had three heads of cattle and two sheep. Marie Francoise was the daughter of Jehan Poirier and Jeanne Chabrat, and had one brother Michel. Her father, who had arrived in Acadia in 1641 aboard the Le Saint-Francois, had died about 1656, perhaps as a victim in the raid on the settlement by Major Sedgwick of Boston. Her mother had remarried Antoine Gougeon and together they had one daughter named Henriette. In the days of large families, Marie Francoise had only one brother and a half-sister, all born in Port-Royal. This family was among the first permanent settlers of Acadia.

In 1676, Michel LeNeuf, Sieur de LaValliere, a gentleman from Trois-Rivieres received a seigneurial concession at Beaubassin and invited new settlers to establish there. Before he received the land grant, in 1672 Jacques Bourgeois, a surgeon who had arrived on the same ship as Jehan Poirier, had settled in that area. Roger and his brother-in-law Michel Poirier might have gone to Beaubassin earlier with Jacques. We do not know exactly when Roger arrived at Beaubassin but it seems safe to say that it was before 1678. In 1684 there was a case of witchcraft at Beaubassin and one witness stated that in 1678, he was sleeping at Roger Caissie's house.

In 1686, Mr. de Meulles on an inspection tour of Acadia, went by Beaubassin which he described as follows: "On small hills, surrounded by immense prairies, twenty-two houses, each having three or four adjoining buildings, twelve to fifteen heads of cattle and as many pigs and sheep". The prairies were, in his opinion, vast enough to support one hundred thousand heads of cattle. A census was taken that year and it shows that Beaubassin had a population of 127. All the inhabitants were of French extraction except two: Roger Caissie, Irish, and Emmanuel Miranda, a Portuguese, who like Roger had married an Acadian.

Roger was considered a well-to-do inhabitant at Beaubassin. An analysis of the community of the 1680 by Myriam Marceau (L'Etranger qui Dérange) states that when taken as a clan the Caissie and the Poirier were the fourth in importance in terms of possessions. In 1693, Roger had 26 heads of cattle, 32 sheep, 34 pigs and three guns. In 1698, two years after a raid by Colonel Church when most of Beaubassin was destroyed, he had 17 heads of cattle, 20 sheep and 12 pigs, and he had thirty of the thirty one fruit trees in the area. Obviously, in 1696, Roger had managed to hide a portion of his herd in the surrounding woods. It may be significant to consider also that by then, his son Jean had married and Roger had probably helped him out with some of his herd. If both are taken together, the total is almost at the level of 1693.

Roger and Marie Francoise had seven children that we know about. Marie (1668) Jean (1676) Pierre (1678) Guillaume (1680) Michel (1684) Madeleine (1688) Marie (1697). Some authors add a Marie Anne (1699), but that appears to be an error. Because of the rather long time between some of the births, it would not be so improbable to think that there were other pregnancies or perhaps children who died at a very early age. The fact that two children have the same name is not uncommon among Acadians in those days. It was not unusual to name a new born after an older child who had married and left home. This is the case of the eldest Marie, who, by 1697 had married Toussaint Doucet.

Perhaps the best documents to tell us what kind of a man was Roger and what kind of relationship existed between him and Marie Francoise, are the depositions made by witnesses at the trial of Roger Campagna who had been accused of sorcery. There were four accusations but only one directly concerns the Caissie's. Campagna was single, 45 years old in l684, and on Easter Sunday of that year went calling on Roger to seek Marie's hand in marriage; she was 16 years old. Roger answered that his wife was away on that day and that he should return another day when she was there. The next day Campagna came over, and when he was seen approaching with his gun he was met at the door by Marie Francoise. The deposition of Roger and Francoise state that Roger had gone asleep on his bed when Campagna was seen approaching, and that Marie had gone upstairs. There followed a dispute between Francoise and Campagna where sharp words were exchanged and threats made by Campagna. Another great page telling this tale can be found at a wonderful collection of stories by Father  Clarence J. D'Entremont  

One of the most interesting comment in Francoise deposition later was one in which she claims that Campagna had said "I have been told that you would be the cause of this marriage not taking place". That was in answer to a statement by Francoise that what "Roger had promised yesterday, today she was un-promising it."

First, it is not believable that Roger would have gone to bed, much less fallen asleep while this was going on. Marie, as was shown later was not at all afraid to face Campagna and, in my view would not have willingly gone upstairs leaving her mother alone to face a man with a gun. I rather think that Francoise, on seeing Campagna approaching, would have told both Roger and Marie to disappear while she took care of the bachelor. Now that would make Roger anything but a fearless individual, unless he had by then become accustomed to Francoise's total domination of the household, and had more to fear from Francoise's temper than from Campagna. The two comments quoted in the previous paragraph, would tend to confirm that in the village, Francoise was seen as the 'boss'. Francoise's 'un-promising' and the general tone of the deposition would support this theory. 

In 1714, there was another census and we find Roger, Francoise and the youngest Marie living together at Beaubassin. The sons are also there, except for Guillaume who had gone to Riviere du Nord in the Province of Quebec where he had died about 1711. He had only two daughters at the time of his death. In 1715, there was a document listing the inhabitants of Checanectou who were present on proclaiming K. George at Beaubassin. In that document we see Le vieux Roger and Pierre Roger. This was obviously Roger Caissie and his son Pierre. That is the last reference that we find about Roger. In 1730, at the signing of the oath of allegiance, they are absent and presumed dead. We have no documentary proofs of their passing.

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