THE OXFOED SETTLEMENT 137 



during the wiuter of 1G81. Fran(;ois Bureau came of 

 noble blood, and fled to London with his brother Thomas 

 from their native village of Niort, in Poitou. In 1088 

 Fraugois came to Oxford with his wife Anne and their 

 two sons and two daughers. The eldest daughter, Anne, 

 became later on the wife of Benjamin Faneuil and the 

 mother of Peter Faneuil of Boston fame. 



Besides these, there was Jean Germaine, whose name 

 wiis corrupted into Germon or German, and his daughter 

 Margaret, who came from La Tremblade, in the province 

 of Saintouge ; Paiz Cassaneau, of Languedoc ; Daniel 

 Johonnot, a youthful nephew of Andre Sigouruey ; Jean 

 Martin, his wife Anne, and their two children ; Elie 

 Dupeux, a native of Port des Barques on the Saiutonge 

 coast ; Kene Grignou, Thomas Mousset, Guillaume Barbut, 

 Jean Millet, Pierre Cante (Canton), Cornilly, Butt, 

 Thibaud, Mourgues, and an Englishman named Johnson 

 who married Susanne Sigourney. Jacques Depont was a 

 nephew of Bernon, while Jean Baudouin was the eldest 

 son of Pierre Baudouin, founder of the illustrious Bow- 

 doin family in America. 



Ill 

 But the little colony so prosperously begun was destined 

 to have its full share of troubles. The practice of some Troubles 

 unscrupulous traders in selling rum to the Indians seems xrldefs 

 to have given the settlers the first premonitions of im- 

 pending disaster. In 1691 the worthy Pastor Bondet, i6gi 

 who had an appointment from the^Society for the Propa- 

 gation of the Gospel to work among the Indians, wrote a 

 letter to one of the Massachusetts authorities imploring 

 him to use his influence in putting a stop to the trafific. 

 After stating that the cause of his request is one which 

 fills his heart with sorrow, he writes, "My humble re- 

 quest will be at least before God and before you a solemn 

 protestation against the guilt of those incorrigible persons 

 who dwell in our place. The rome is always sold to the 



