Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin

Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin (b. 1652, Béarn, France - d. 1707, Pau, France) was a French military officer serving in Canada, and an Abenaki chief.

Jean-Vincent was the youngest of three sons in this noble family. Little is known of his early years other than he lost his mother in infancy and his father before his teens. He left for Canada at the age of thirteen as an ensign in the army; a suitable pursuit for the younger son of a noble.

He was likely part of Alexandre de Prouville's brutal campaign against the Iroqois in 1666 although his name does not appear in surviving records until 1670 when he was part of the repossession of Acadia by the French. It was in the Penobscot River area that he gained his knowledge of the Penobscot and was eventually adopted into a local tribe.

In 1674 he made his way to New France after a harrowing experience there with Dutch pirates allied with the Bostonians. Governor Frontenac gave Saint-Castin the task of allying the Abenaki with the French. He took this role seriously and, while he became the third Baron de Saint-Castin on the death of his elder brother that year, he appears to have devoted his time to becoming an Abenaki.

He took an Indian wife, the daughter of the Penobscot chief, Madokawando. Two of his children were Bernard-Anselme and Joseph.

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=594 Dictionary of Canadian Biography]