A man of letters, well versed in the classics, Pichon served as scribe to the commandants, taking down their correspondence, editing it, and improving the grammar. For the next two years he acted as chief clerk responsible for stores, although his commissions never arrived from France. Pichon arrived at Beauséjour on 3 Nov. 1753. But it was Prevost who dispatched Pichon to Chignecto and requested a commission for him as scrivener and subdelegate of the intendant of New France. Raymond provided Pichon with a glowing recommendation and asked the minister to send him to Fort Beauséjour (near Sackville, N. B.) as commissary, noting that such an appointment would meet with the approbation of Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre. When Raymond returned to France in 1753, Pichon remained behind. Pichon drew closer to Louisbourg’s financial commissary, Jacques Prevost de La Croix, who granted favours to anyone willing to join his camp against the governor. Raymond recommended him to the minister of Marine for the position of king’s attorney of the Admiralty Court, but was refused. Raymond’s promises proved illusory and Pichon became increasingly disenchanted with the governor’s imperious conduct. He also prepared many of the governor’s reports to France, carefully retaining copies for use in his future publication. In 1752 he accompanied Raymond on his tour of Île Royale and Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) and gained the intimate geographical knowledge of the area displayed in the book on Cape Breton he wrote eight years later. Little is recorded about him during his first two years in the colony. In 1751 Raymond was appointed governor at Louisbourg and Pichon became his secretary, allured by promises of advancement. Again according to his own account, he became a forage inspector of the army in upper Alsace and in 1745 was appointed to organize hospitals on the Lower Rhine and in the Netherlands, where he met Jean-Louis de Raymond. In 1741 he obtained a position, probably as a clerk, in the hospital service of the French armies in Bohemia and Bavaria. His father refused to compensate him, and he resumed his work as a legal secretary. He left this position to aid his father in a complicated law suit which took six years to resolve. Later he tutored a seigneur’s children and managed his business affairs. When his father withdrew his stipend, Pichon was forced to clerk for several lawyers.

According to Pichon his parents wanted him to become a priest, but he left school at 14 and went to Paris to study medicine. For much of his life there is autobiographical material, though what is said about his early career is often contradictory.

Thomas Pichon is one of the most intriguing figures in the early history of Canada. 30 March 1700 at Vire (dept of Calvados), France, son of Jean Pichon, a minor merchant, and Marie Esnault d. 22 Nov. 1781 at Saint Helier, Jersey. PICHON, THOMAS, known as Thomas Tyrell (Thirel, Tirel), colonial official, spy, and author b. Source: Library and Archives Canada/MIKAN 2895778

Pichon in english