 Bourg was born in Rivière-aux-Canards, the eldest son of Michel and Anne Hébert Bourg.In 1755 he was deported with his family to Virginia where they were refused asylum.They were then sent to England where they were held as prisoners until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 and the Bourg family went to Saint-Malo, and eventually wound up in nearby Saint-Servan.