Baron Jean Vincent de St. Castin was born in France and served in the French military in Acadia in the early 17th century.

He married a Penobscot woman, Pidianiske (baptized as Molly Mathilde) and was active in the beaver fur trade, establishing a trading post at Castine.

He engaged in many military skirmishes against the English for dominance over land in Nova Scotia and northern Maine between 1665 and 1712.