Travelling together, Georges's polygynous family soon followed. On 4 January 1749, his legal wife Elisabeth Méricane, their daughter and SaintGeorges's sister Elisabeth-Bénédictine, Georges's concubine Anne, their son Saint-Georges, and a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old 'mulatto' male valet François, arrived in Bordeaux on board the La Paix. Centrally positioned between the Atlantic ports of Bordeaux and La Rochelle, Angoumois provided the Atlantic world with many Protestant refugees and was a Protestant stronghold. Its capital, Angouleme, sits on the navigable Charente waterway. By the mideighteenth century, the crypto-Protestant Angoumois diaspora, comprised of the transatlantic descendants of religious refugees, was not only diverse but had grown wealthy from trade in critical colonial commodities (sugar, coffee, indigo and slaves). This diaspora was bound together by global trading ties, not infrequently cemented by intermarriage and familial bonds. After their arrival in France, the polygynous family stayed with Georges's older brother and the toddler Saint-Georges's uncle, Pierre de Bologne (born in Martinique, 17061792) at his home in the St. Jean parish of Angouleme. After serving in the European campaigns, as a musketeer in the diverse army commanded by Maurice de Saxe in the War of the Austrian Succession, Pierre married Bénédictine Husson in 1738. By the time of Georges's legal crisis, he was well established in ancien régime parliamentary circles and, through his connections at court, was able to secure a King's pardon and return of property for his brother Georges. Elisabeth-Bénédictine remained in France to begin her education. JeanneFrançois Méricane was left to travel with Georges's nephew François Cazaux, on the Chaste Catherine, back to Guadeloupe, via Martinique. They departed from Bordeaux on 1 August 1749. Georges, however, travelled together with Anne, the four-year-old Saint-Georges, François and the plantation manager, François Beraud (born in Angouleme). They left Bordeaux on the Achille a day later, with a layover in Martinique.