King Louis XIV Grants Land in the Southernmost Border Reaches Connecting New France With The American Colonies

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the St. Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763. At its peak in 1712, the territory of New France extended from Newfoundland across Canada to the Rocky Mountains and from Hudson Bay down to the Gulf of Mexico. Its inhabitants, mainly centered on the Canadian east coast and through Quebec, engaged in farming and logging, exploited the very rich Atlantic fishing grounds, and created a lively fur trade.     

But the French were not alone in seeking to settle and take advantage of America’s resources – the English were there also, and contending with the French every step of the way. They colonized all of the eastern seaboard of what is now the United States except for Florida (which was then Spanish) and the far north. There, in Maine and maritime Canada, English and French ambitions directly collided and sparks flew. And the dividing line between settlements of the two nations, where populations confronted one another, ran along the St. George River that passes through Thomaston, Maine.    

In 1704, the King's representatives gave countenance to Thomas Lefevre to travel to New France.  This was the same year as the Deerfield Massacre, during Queen Anne's War, which saw French and Native American forces cross the contested border and burn part of the town, killing 56 people.  In retaliation, the English authorities authorized cross-border raids that kidnapped French settlers.  Among these was Thomas Lefebvre (Lefevre) and his sons, who were kidnapped and not returned until 1707.  His original authorization and land grant had been burned by the British during the incursion.

Document Signed on vellum, in French, Versailles, May 20, 1708, "confirming and ratifying the concession made in my name… in Acadia to Sr. Thomas Lefebvre by Sieurs Marquis de Vandreuil, Governor and Lt. General, and Raudot, Intendant de Justice, Police and Finance for New France, which had originally been given Sr. de Callierre and by Sr. Beauharnois (ex-Governors of New France), Governor and Intendant to the said coutry, and then burned at the time of the invasion of the English…."

This plot of land was ground zero.  It stood on the coast at the St. George River in what is now South Thomaston and Thomaston. Its ownership was contested.  Moreover, since the French regarded this as the border of their own territory, its population was important but it also would have been a dangerous place to live. 

It is signed by both King Louis XIV and his Secretary of State, Louis Phelypeaux. In 1998, the Maine state legislature noted that “Thomas Lefevre had a habitation at South Thomaston in the early 1700's,” and called his holdings “perhaps the westernmost French settlement on the coast.”   

This is as far as the French tide got, and it began to recede in 1712. Half a century later, when the French and Indian War ended in 1763, France was forced to cede virtually all of North America to the English, bringing the French adventure there to an effective end.