acter ' 



FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN MAINE 197 



Clay Houdelette, direct descendant of Louis Houdelette 

 and Mary Cavalier, was commander of a steamship ply- 

 ing between San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands. 

 One of the most interesting passages in his career was the 

 occasion on which he received knighthood at the hands of 

 the potentate of that group of islands. 



Another fiimily was that of Jean Pochard, weaver, son jean Pochard 

 of the Honourable Nicholas Pochard, mayor of Auue-sui-- 

 I'eau in France. In May, 1751, the ministers and elders a "Char- 

 of the church at Chenebie gave him a certificate for him- 

 self and family, comprising his wife and four sons, set- 

 ting forth that ''they and their children have lived up to 

 the present time in a Christian manner, professing the 

 holy religion according to the Confession of Augsburg, 

 having committed no crime, at least that has come to our 

 knowledge." The mental reservation at the end shows 

 an admirable degree of caution on the part of the writers, 

 to say the least. Jean Pochard with his family sailed 

 from Rotterdam to Boston on the ship PHscilla in 1751, ship Prisciiia 

 and reached Frankfort plantation, the first township or- 

 ganized for settlement on the Kennebec after the proprie- 

 tors of the Kennebec Purchase came into possession, in 

 March of 1752. Tradition says they tarried awhile at 

 Fort Richmond, from fear of the Indians. Indeed, an 

 Indian tragedy on Swan Island was then a very recent 

 affair. They very soon built for themselves log houses on 

 the banks of the Eastern River, the sites of some of which 

 are still distinctly traceable. In 1765, John Pochard mort- 

 gaged forty acres of land situated on Dresden neck, to 

 William Bowdoin, of Roxbury, in trust, to secure the 

 owners of the ship Prisciiia the sum of £27, 15s. , 6d. , the 

 amount of his passage money from Rotterdam to Boston ; 

 and in 1773, James Bowdoin, administrator of the estate 

 of William, discharged tliat mortgage. We can gather 

 from this kindly action how ready were the Bowdoins to 

 aid their fellow countrymen, and we may be sure that 

 Bowdoin College proceeded from the same trait of char- 



I75I 



