European interest and mapping of the Chignecto region gathered momentum in the later decades of the 17th century and led to the beginning of European settlement. In 1671 Jacques Bourgeois with two sons, three sons-in-law and their families arrived on the Chignecto Isthmus from Port Royal and established the settlement of Beaubassin east of the Missaguash River, on the edge of the Fort Lawrence ridge. Four years later, Michel Le Neuf de La Vallèlire was granted rights to the "Beaubassin Seigneury” and established his settlement west of the Missaguash River on a small raised area in the marsh known later as Tonge's Island. By 1686, a colony of 127 people had extended settlement onto the Tantramar marshlands, a church had been built beside the Tantramar River, cattle, sheep and pigs were being grazed and land was cultivated.