The French birthplace of Claude Petitpas is unknown, but the date was probably 1624. In one record he mentions that his father's name was Isaac Petitpas. He was in Acadia by 1645, listed as a "laboreur," but he must have been literate, because he was soon a court clerk and a landowner. Later in life he was known as the "sieur de Lafleur," having accumulated considerable property and influence, and was a royal notary. The family made money trading with the Micmac in the early years of the colony.

Claude married Catherine Bugaret (sometimes Bagard) about 1658. Her father Bernard Bugaret was a Basque carpenter working in Port-Royal. Her mother's name is unknown, but was no doubt French (not Micmac, as some sources suggest) because Catherine was apparently born in France about 1638 (the family was from Villefranche du Queyran in the Basque region - the village church is pictured above, on an old postcard). Claude and Catherine had at least thirteen children (birth order uncertain): Bernard (1659); Marguérite (1661, married Martin Dugas and Claude Guédry); Claude (c1663, married Marie-Thérèse ?, 4 children, and then Françoise Lavergne); Jean (1664); Jacques (1664, twin? married Geneviève Serreau dit St-Aubin); Marie (1669?-1709?, married c1689 Michel de Forest, brother of our ancestor René); Isabelle (married Olivier Boudreau and then Alexandre Richard, half-brother of our ancestor Michel Richard): Henriette (1674-1756, married Prudent Robichaud, 11 children); Paul (1675); Charles (1676); Martin (1677); Pierre (1681); and Anne (c1681, married Jacques Levron Girouard, 6 children).

After Claude Petitpas died, Catherine married Charles Chevalier in 1692. See Dugas for Marguérite's descendants