Claude de Launay-Razilly, appointed by King Louis XIII as Acadia's new governor after the death of his brother, Isaac de Razilly, died suddenly at forty-eight in December 1635, had not come to Acadia but appointed Charles de Menou d'Aulnay, who had served as one of Razilly’s able assistants, as his lieutenant to govern on his behalf and run the company, Razilly-Condonnier, in Acadia while he ran the operation in France.

D'Aulnay had gone immediately to Port Royal, erected a new fort, moved the La Hève colonists, and sent to France for twenty additional families, making Port Royal the principal settlement in Acadia, which at this time embraces not only Nova Scotia, but a portion of New Brunswick, extending as far west as the Penobscot.

D’Aulnay in 1637 marries Jeanne Motin, the daughter of Louis Motin, who had been a financial backer of his late predecessor and cousin Isaac de Razilly.