BOOK TEN-3: The Louisiana Acadian "Begats" - continued
William, called
"Billy," Johnson, a native of Scotland, came to Port-Royal,
soon renamed by the British Annapolis Royal, in the autumn
of 1710 as a British soldier. He got into trouble with his superiors, was
branded on the forehead with the crow's foot, the sign of a thief, and expelled
from the garrison. Undaunted, Billy sought refuge in the nearby Acadian
community, denounced Protestantism, and became a Catholic. In c1714, he
"married" Isabelle, daughter of Jean Corporon and Françoise Savoie,
at Annapolis Royal and "became" an Acadian. Seven years earlier, in
September 1707, Isabelle had given birth to a "natural" son, Louis
In 1755, descendants of "Billy" Johnson dit Jeanson and Isabelle Corporon could still be found at Annapolis Royal. Le Grand Derangement of the 1750s scattered the family to the winds. In the fall of 1755, the British deported at least two Jeanson brothers, Jean-Baptiste and Thomas, and their families to Connecticut. After the war, they followed other Acadians from New England to Canada and settled at St.-Jacques de l'Achigan and L'Assomption on the north shore of the upper St. Lawrence between Trois-Rivières and Montréal. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Meanwhile, two Jeanson brothers, Charles and Guillaume, and their families, eluded the British at Annapolis Royal, spent a hard winter on the Fundy shore, crossed the bay to Chepoudy the following spring, and found refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. The old soldier's youngest son Guillaume dit Billy became a leader in the Acadian resistance in the Gulf area. In early December 1757, after recrossing the Bay of Fundy, he and his fellow Acadians, along with Mi'kmaq fighters, ambushed and nearly destroyed a party of British soldiers at Bloody Creek on the upper Annapolis River. By the early 1760s, however, the Jeansons and their families either were captured by, or surrendered to, British forces in the region and held in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. The British counted Billy and his family at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, in August 1762. A year later, in August 1763, Charles Jeanson and two of his "children" appeared on a repatriation list compiled in the prison barracks at Halifax. This probably was Charles, fils and two of his younger siblings. Their parents likely had died by then. Cousin Joseph, son of Jean-Baptiste, also may have been held at Halifax in the final months of the war.
The Acadians being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to go to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where exiles in the seaboard colonies were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, five were grandchildren of "Billy" Johnson dit Jeanson.
Their uncle, Guillaume dit Billy Jeanson at Fort Edward did not go to Cap-Français with his nephews and niece at Halifax but chose to remain in greater Acadia, British rule be damned. After the war, he took his family to the British-controlled fishery in Gaspésie on the north shore of the Baie des Chaleurs, where they were counted at Carleton in 1777. They, too, likely lost touch with their kinsmen in faraway Louisiana. Billy died at Carleton in December 1806, reportedly at age 95. He was 84.
Johnson/Jeansons settled late in Acadia, but they were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. Five descendants of William "Billy" Johnson of Annapolis Royal, the soldier with the crows-foot brand on his face, came to Louisiana in the 1760s. When each of them got there is anyone's guess, but they likely reached the colony in 1765 from Halifax via Cap-Français. None appear in the early church records of the Acadian Coast, though one of them certainly married in a river community during the late 1760s. Two appear in the Cabahannocer census of April 1766, which places them in the colony in 1765; one in the Cabahannocer census of September 1769; and both again in the Ascension census of August 1770. Their sister first appears in Louisiana records at Opelousas in 1771. All four of her brothers appear with her and her husband there in October 1774. Three years later, in May 1777, all five of the Jeansons who came to Louisiana finally appear in a single census together, at Opelousas--one of them, Joseph, making his first appearance in Louisiana records.
Though three of the four Jeanson brothers who came to the colony took wives, the Acadian Jeansonnes of South Louisiana spring only from the two older brothers--Charles, fils and Jean--who settled at Opelousas. Although the brothers married fellow Acadians, their descendants, who remained on the Opelousas prairies in what became St. Landry and Acadia parishes, tended to marry non-Acadians--French, German, and Anglo Creoles--who greatly outnumbered Acadians on the Opelousas prairies. From 1790 to 1861, in fact, Jeansonnes married only four fellow Acadians, all of them Pitres. The others took non-Acadian spouses, a remarkable record of exogamy for an Acadian family even in the Opelousas country. This exogamy rate, and the fact that a number of Anglo-American Johnsons and even a Scandinavian Johnson also settled in St. Landry Parish, considerably complicated the family's genealogical picture during the antebellum period.
At least three Jeansonnes served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, and one of them paid with his life. Joseph S. Jeansonne was serving in the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry when he died at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in late July 1862, before his unit saw action and nearly a year before the siege there. The war took its toll on the Jeansonnes back home. Federal armies marched three times through the Teche and upper Vermilion valleys, including the Opelousas area, and burned and pillaged many farms, some of them likely owned by Jeansonnes. Thanks to these Federal invasions, emancipation came early to the area, with its resulting economic and social turmoil. Confederate foraging parties and cutthroat Jayhawkers also plagued the areas where Jeansonnes lived, adding to the family's misery. In October 1863, Gerasime Jeansonne, age 27, died at Bois Mallet near present-day Eunice, a notorious Jayhawker hideout. One wonders if his death was war-related, and if Gerasime was one of the Jayhawkers. ...
In Louisiana, the spelling of the Acadian family's surname evolved from Jeanson to Jeansonne. The family's name also is spelled Janson, Jansonne, Jaunie, Jeanconne, Jeantonne, Johonson in the Bayou State.01
.
Only five Acadian Jeansons--four males and a female, four siblings and a cousin--came to Louisiana in the 1760s, and they all ended up on the western prairies. Marie Jeanson, younger sister of three of the males and a first cousin of the fourth, married a non-Acadian Langlois on the river before moving to the prairies. Two of the brothers also moved from the river to the Opelousas prairies and created families in what became St. Landry Parish. Most, if not all, of the Acadian Jeansonnes of South Louisiana descend from the two lines:
Charles, fils (c1745-1790s) à William dit Billy, père Jeansonne
Charles, fils, oldest son of Charles Jeanson and Marie Aucoin, born at Annapolis Royal in c1745, followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment in British Nova Scotia, likely at Halifax. He most likely came to Louisiana in 1765 with three of his younger siblings and settled at Cabahannocer and Ascension on the river above New Orleans on what became known as the lower Acadian Coast. Charles, fils first appears in Louisiana records at Opelousas in 1774, still a bachelor. Spanish officials counted him there in May 1777, still a bachelor in his early 30s. He married Marie-Rose, called Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Cosme Brasseur dit Brasseux and Élisabeth Thibodeau of Grand-Pré and Maryland, probably at Opelousas soon after the counting. Rose, a native of Grand-Pré or Maryland, came to the colony with her widowed mother and siblings in 1767. Her and Charles, fils's children, born in Opelousas, included Françoise in May 1777; Louis-Marie or Auguste-Louis, called Louis, fils, baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1779; Charles III baptized, age 5 months, in November 1781; perhaps a Marie born in c1782 but died at age 18 in March 1800; Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, born in September 1783; Joseph in June 1784; Marguerite in July 1789; Marie-Louise baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1793; and Dionisia or Denise in June 1794--eight or nine children, three or four daughters and five sons, between 1777 and 1794. Charles, fils's first succession was filed at Opelousas in May 1788, years before his death. He died by May 1796, probably in his late 40s, when his wife was listed in an Opelousas census as a widow. She remarried to Walter Mills in the late 1790s and followed him to Avoyelles Parish. Her and Charles, fils's daughter Françoise married into the Clark family. Three of Charles, fils's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Louis Marie or Auguste Louis, called Louis, fils, married Élise dite Lise, daughter of Jean Baptiste Demaré or Desmarets and Madeleine Fontenot, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1810. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included a child, name and age unrecorded, died in April 1812; Silisse or Célise born in February 1814; Louis, also called Auguste Louis, fils, in April 1816; Céleste in October 1818; Cyprien Louis in March 1821; Marie Madeleine, perhaps also called Marie Louise, in January 1826; Delphine in August 1828; Emérante in December 1831; Gérard in November 1834; and twins Jean or John and Pierre in May 1838--11 children, at least five daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1811 and 1838. Daughters Célise, Céleste, and Marie Louise married into the Hargrave, Reed, and Gaspard families by 1870. Two of Louis, fils's older sons also married by then.
Oldest son Auguste Louis, fils, called Louis, married Hyacinthe, daughter of Henry McCauley and Marie Louise Fontenot, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in February 1843. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Théodule in December 1843; Célima in April 1846; Azéline in April 1849; Jean Pierre in July 1851; Augustine in January 1856; and Gerand, probably Gérard, le jeune in March 1858. Auguste Louis, fils, in his early 40s, remarried to Céline or Céliste, 22-year-old daughter of Jean Baptiste Frugé and Julie Marcantel, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1860. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Gustave in May 1861; Osmin in October 1863; François Villeneuve near Grand Coteau in January 1869; ... Daughter Célima, by his first wife, married into the Frugé family by 1870. None of Louis's sons married by then.
Louis, père's second son Cyprien Louis married cousin Azéma, daughter of Jean Baptiste Desmarets, fils and his second wife Céline Lacasse, at the Opelousas church in November 1840. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Jean Baptiste in November 1844; and Louis le jeune in December 1846. Cyprien Louis's succession, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in August 1851. He would have been age 30 that year. Neither of his sons married by 1870.
Charles, fils's second son Charles III married Joséphine, daughter of Jean Baptiste Guillory and Margeruite Hayes of Avoyelles, at Opelousas in October 1806. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Louis le jeune, perhaps also called Don Louis, in January 1812; and Aloyse, also called Florence and Louisa, in October 1816. Charles III may have remarried to Hélène Geofriant, Jeanprion, or Jeaufriant in his late middle age, place and date unrecorded. If so, he was still fathering children in his 70s. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Élaudie, perhaps Élodie, in late 1842 and baptized at the Opelousas church, age 7 months, in May 1843; Paul born in March 1844; Pauline in September 1845; Napoléon, perhaps also called Léon, in June 1848; Apollinaire in September 1849; Oline in October 1851; and Hilaire near Ville Platte, then in St. Landry but not in Evangeline Parish, in April 1855--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1812 and 1855. Daughters Louisa and Élodie, by his first and second wives, married into the Smith family, and perhaps into the Billaudeau family as well, by 1870. Four of Charles III's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Louis le jeune, perhaps also called Don Louis, from first wife Joséphine Guillory, may have married fellow Acadian Delphine Broussard, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Jean Pierre in August 1843; Louis, fils and Marianne, perhaps twins, in March 1848; Émelia in September 1850; and Jusselin, perhaps Josseline, a daughter, near Ville Platte in May 1853--five children, two sons and three daughters, including a set of twins, between 1843 and 1853. None of Louis's children married by 1870.
Charles IIIs second son Aloyse, also called Florence, from first wife Josèphine Guillory, married Azéline, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Charles Pitre and his Creole wife Phelonise Joubert, at the Opelousas church in September 1846; the recording priest called Aloyse Florence. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Florentine in February 1850; Azéline in November 1851; and Florence, fils in August 1853--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1850 and 1853. Daughter Florentine married into the Fuselier family by 1870. Aloyse's son did not marry by then.
Charles III's third son Paul, by second wife Hélène Geofriant, may have married Athanaise Brunet or Billeaudeau, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born near Ville Platte, then in St. Landry but now in Evangline Parish, included Prosper in January 1867; Mélie baptized at the Ville Platte church, age 3 months, in July 1870; ...
Charles III's fourth son Napoléon, perhaps also called Léon, from second wife Hélène Geofriant, may have married Marie Charite Ives, place and date unrecorded. Their son Austin was born near Ville Platte in February 1868; ...
Charles, fils's third son Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, evidently married fellow Acadian Judique Broussard in St. Landry Parish in the early 1800s. Daughter Céline was born near Opelousas probably soon after the marriage. Jean Baptiste may have died in St. Landry Parish in July 1845. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Baptiste died "at age 57 yrs." This Jean Baptiste would have been closer to 61. Daughter Céline married into the DeVille family in early 1828. One wonders if Baptiste fathered any sons.
Jean (c1746-c1822) à William dit Billy, père Jeansonne
Jean, second son of Charles Jeanson and Marie Aucoin, born at Annapolis Royal in c1746, followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment in British Nova Scotia, perhaps at Halifax. He likely came to Louisiana in 1765 with three of his siblings and settled with them at Cabahannocer on the river. Jean married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Préjean and his first wife Madeleine Martin, on the river in the late 1760s. Spanish officials counted them on the right, or west, bank of the river at Ascension, upriver from Cabahannocer, in August 1770. By 1774, they had moved to the Opelousas District. Their children, born in Opelousas, included Jean-Baptiste in the early 1770s; Rosalie in the early or mid-1770s; André, called Andrea by the recording priest, in December 1777 but died in St. Landry Parish, age 34, in March 1812; Marie-Madeleine dite Manon born in the late 1770s; Marie-Josèphe baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1780; perhaps another Marie born in c1781 but died at age 18 in March 1800; Auguste or Augustin baptized, age 2 months, in September 1782; Hippolyte born in c1786 or 1787 but died at age 12 in January 1799; Félicie or Félicité baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1789; Apollonie or Apolline born in the early 1790s; Jean, fils buried at Opelousas, "a boy," age unrecorded, in January 1793; and Euphrosine born in May 1794--11 or 12 children, five sons and six or seven daughters, between the early 1770s and 1794. Jean's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in March 1822. He would have been in his late 70s that year. Daughters Rosalie, Marie Madeleine, Marie Josèphe, Apollonie, Félicité, and Euphrosine married into the Fontenot, Ritter, DeVille, Ledoux, Fuselier, and Guillory families. Two of Jean's sons also married.
Oldest son Jean-Baptiste married Isabelle, daughter of Pierre Joubert and his Acadian wife Catherine Pitre, at Opelousas in November 1797. Their children, born in Opelousas, included Céleste in December 1798 but died the following July; another Céleste baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1799 but died at age 1 in March 1800; a son, name unrecorded, born in c1800 but died at age 2 in October 1802; Jean-Baptiste, fils, called Baptiste, baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1800 but died the same day "as a child"; Marie-Louise baptized, age 5 weeks, in August 1802; Pierre baptized, age 2 months, in September 1803; and two children, perhaps twins, names unrecorded, died in July and August 1805, one of them at age 19 days in late July, so they were newborns. Wife Isabelle died at Opelousas, age 26, in March 1807. Jean Baptiste filed a succession at the Opelousas courthouse in April 1817; it was not post-mortem and evidently was filed on the eve of his remarriage. In his early or mid-40s, Jean Baptiste, whom the recording priest described as a resident of Prairie de Langlois, "Captain of Militia and president of the members de l'admistration de cette eglise (of the church administration)," remarried to Marie Françoise, called Françoise, daughter of Allibamont Creoles Henry Fontenot and Marie Louise Doucet of Grande Prairie, at the Opelousas church in April 1817. Their daughter Caroline was born in St. Landry Parish in October 1817 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1819--nine children, at least four daughters and three sons, including a set of twins, by two wives, between 1798 and 1817. Jean Baptiste's post-mortem succession, naming his widow, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in August 1822. He would have been in his late 40s or early 50s that year and probably died at his home on Prairie Ronde. None of his daughters married. Only one of his sons did.
Third and perhaps youngest son Pierre, by first wife Isabelle Joubert, married Clarisse, daughter of Joseph Andrépont and Marie Thérèse Langlois, at the Opelousas church in April 1823. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Élisabeth or Isabelle in c1824; Clara in March 1825; and Pierre, fils in January 1829--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1824 and 1829. Daughters Élisabeth/Isabelle and Clara married into the Saucier and Vasseur families by 1870. Pierre's son also married by then.
Only son Pierre, fils, married Sophie, daughter of Hubert Doucet, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and Adriènne Lafleur, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1850, and sanctified the marriage at the Opelousas church in November 1869. ...
Jean's third son Auguste or Augustin married Marie, daughter of François Guillory and Marie Jeanne Fontenot, at the Opelousas church in March 1810. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Augustin, fils baptized at the Opelousas church, age 2 months, in September 1812; Émelie or Émeline born in February 1816; twins Paulin dit Babolin and Pauline in June 1818; Joseph in late 1820 but died at age 1 1/2 months in January 1821; Aurelien born in December 1822; Florence in February 1825; Terance or Terence in December 1828; Marie in August 1831; Jean Gerasine or Gerasime, called Gerasime, in May 1836; and Alzina or Alsina in April 1838--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1812 and 1838. A succession for wife Marie, probably post-mortem, naming her husband, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July 1843. Augustin, père died in St. Landry Parish in December 1847, likely a widower. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial said that Augustin died "at age 62 yrs." He was 65. His succession, calling him Augustin Sr., was filed at the Opelousas courthouse later that month. Daughters Émeline, Marie, and Alsina married into the Lavergne, LaCasse, and Pitre families by 1870. Four of Augustin's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured. Nevertheless, his was the largest Acadian line of the family.
Oldest son Augustin, fils married, in his late 30s, Céleste or Célestine C., daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Pitre and his Creole wife Catherine Vigé and widow of Auguste Ledoux, at the Opelousas church in September 1849; one wonders if this was his first marriage. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Célina in August 1850; Célestina in April 1855 but, called Célestine, died at age 1 month in May or June; Bruneaut, probably Bruno, Darmas born in October 1858 but, called Bruno de Armas, died at age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in August 1866; and Paul Augustin born in November 1860--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1850 and 1860. Augustin, fils died "at Plaquemine," probably Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, in October 1870. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Augustin died "at age 60 yrs." He was 58. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse a few days after his passing. Daughter Célina married into the Boudreaux family, and perhaps into the Whilock family as well, by 1870. Neither of Augustin, fils's sons married by then.
Augustin, père's second son Paulin dit Babolin, a twin, married Amélina, Alevine, Aveline, Avelina, or Evelina, 23-year-old daughter of French Canadian Joseph Lavergne and his Acadian wife Augustine Richard, at the Opelousas church in May 1837; the recording priest called Paul Babolin, hence his dit, and the parish clerk called him Olin. His and Amelina's children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Joseph baptized at the Grand Coteau church, age 2 months, in May 1838; Babolin, fils born in October 1839; Marie Heberville or Eberilia in December 1841; Marie Avelina in April 1843; Marie Elesida or Elisida, called Elisida, in January 1846; Gustave François in February 1849; and Louis Ophela in July 1852 but, called Louis A., died at Washington, St. Landry Parish, age 11, in December 1863 (one wonders if the boy's death was war-related)--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1838 and 1852. Babolin, père's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July 1852. He would have been age 34 that year. Daughters Marie Eberilia and Marie Elisida married into the Lebarge and Gautreaux families by 1870. None of Babolin's sons married by then, and one of them evidently died in Confederate service before he could marry.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Joseph may have been the Joseph S. Jeanson who enlisted in Company K of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish. The regiment went on to serve at Vicksburg, Mississippi, from late 1862 into the summer of 1863, but Joseph was not part of the fighting there. He enlisted in the company probably at Opelousas in April 1862, accompanied them to Vicksburg in late May, and died the following July 28, perhaps of disease, place unrecorded. Joseph à Babolin would have been age 24 at the time of his death.
Augustin, père's fourth son Aurelien married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Pitre and his Creole wife Céleste Symphorose Vigé and widow of Napoléon Frulette, at the Opelousas church in December 1856. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Estelle in November 1857; Louis Durel in June 1859; Aurelia in July 1862 but died at age 1 1/2 in September 1863; ...
Augustin, père's sixth and youngest son Jean Gerasime, called Gerasime, Gerasin, and Gerasine, married Marie Mélina, called Mélina, daughter of Jean Baptiste Rider and Marie Clarise Roy, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, at the Opelousas church in January 1861. Daughter Marie Mélina was born in St. Landry Parish in August 1862. Gerasime died at Bois Mallet near present-day Eunice, a notorious Jayhawker hideout, in October 1863. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial said that Gerasin, as he called him, died "age 23 yrs. at Bois Malette." He was 27. One wonders if his death was war-related, and if he was a Jayhawker.
Joseph (c1748-1806) à William dit Billy, père Jeansonne
Joseph, likely third son of Charles Jeanson and Marie Aucoin, born probably at Annapolis Royal in c1748, followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment in British Nova Scotia, perhaps at Halifax. He likely came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 with his brothers and sister, but he does not appear in Louisiana records until May 1777, when he was counted as a 29-year-old bachelor at Opelousas. If he did come to the colony in 1765, he, too, likely lived for a time at Cabahannocer and perhaps at Ascension on the river, though he appears in none of the countings there. He may have married Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Léger and Marie Savoie, at Opelousas in the 1780s. Joseph died at Opelousas in October 1806. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 55 when he died. He was closer to 58. One wonders if he fathered any children.
Paul (c1755-?) à William dit Billy, père Jeansonne
Paul, fourth and youngest son of Charles Jeanson and Marie Aucoin, born probably at Annapolis Royal in c1755, followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment in British Nova Scotia, perhaps at Halifax. He most likely came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 with his older siblings and settled with them at Cabahannocer on the river. Spanish officials counted him in April 1766 and September 1769 on the right, or west, bank of the river at Cabahannocer with the family of fellow Acadian Claude-Amable Duhon of Annapolis Royal, perhaps a distant kinsman. In August 1770, still in his teens, Paul was living with older brother Jean on the right bank of the river at Ascension, just above Cabahannocer. He followed his brothers to the Opelousas District in the early 1770s and was counted there, still a bachelor in his late teens and early 20s, in October 1774 and May 1777. He evidently never married.
Louis-Noël (de?) Labauve, called Noël, came to Acadia by 1678, the year he married Marie, daughter of René Rimbault and Anne-Marie ____ of Port-Royal. They settled at Grand-Pré and then at Chignecto before moving back to the Minas Basin. Anne-Marie gave Louis-Noël a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters. Four of their daughters married into the Bastarache, Levron, Hébert dit Baguette, and LeBlanc families. One of their daughters, the one who later married an Hébert, had a "natural" daughter at Annapolis Royal in 1713. Five of Louis-Noël's sons married, into the Lejeune dit Briard, Blou, LaVache, and Levron families. In 1755, his and Marie's descendants could be found at Minas, Chignecto, Chepoudy and Peticoudiac in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, and on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale in the French Maritimes. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this family even farther.
The first Acadians in Nova Scotia rounded up by the British in the fall of 1755 were the ones at Chignecto and in the nearby trois-rivières. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto-area Acadians there were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, local habitants, pressured by the French, served in the fort as militia. They, too, along with Canadians and troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the local Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. No Labauves ended up in Georgia or South Carolina, so most, if not all, of them still in the area took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore.
Labauve families also escaped the British at Minas in the fall of 1755, but some of their kinsmen were not so lucky. The British rounded up a Labauve family in the fall of 1755 and deported them to Pennsylvania. Labauves from Rivière-aux-Canards were among the hundreds of Acadians from Minas transported to Virginia. The first contingent of exiles reached Hampton Roads during the second week of November and suffered the indignity of being turned away by the colony's authorities. Exiles languished in the lower James River aboard disease-infested ships while the governor and his council pondered their fate. As winter approached, Virginia's Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered the "French Neutrals" dispersed to the ports of Hampton, Norfolk, and Richmond. The following spring, the governor and his council, along with the colony's Burgesses, debated the question and concluded that the "papists" must go. Virginia authorities hired more vessels and sent the Acadians to England, where they were packed into warehouses in several English ports and many died of smallpox. The Labauves were held at Liverpool.
Living in territory controlled by France, the Labauves on the Maritime islands escaped the roundups in Nova Scotia during the summer and fall of 1755. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on the islands and transported them to France. Labauves and their families suffered terribly in the crossing. The few survivors settled in the St.-Malo suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, at Châteauneuf on the west side of the river south of St.-Servan, and at Meillac near Combourg in the countryside southeast of St.-Malo. In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England, including Labauves, were repatriated to several ports in France. The Labauve family at Liverpool landed at Morlaix in northwestern Brittany.
In 1773, a Labauve at Morlaix, along with his Labauve cousin and her husband from St.-Servan-sur-Mer, chose to take part in a major settlement venture in the interior of Poitou. French authorities were tired of providing for the exiles languishing in the port cities. An influential nobleman offered to settle them on land he owned near the city of Châtellerault. The settlement floundered. In November 1775, after two years of effort, the Labauves retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes, where they lived as best they could on government handouts and on what work they could find. The Labauves settled in the parish of St.-Martin de Chantenay on the western outskirts of Nantes. When in the early 1780s the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, the Labauves agreed to take it.
In North America, conditions only got worse for the Acadians who had escaped the British in the late 1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France, one of which was Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, now a major Acadian refuge. A naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche in late June 1760. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the militia and the Indians to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, another naval force, this one from Québec, appeared at Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On October 24, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers counted 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche, two families of Labauves among them. The British held them in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war, including Fort Edward at Pigiguit and Halifax.
At least one family of Labauves from Petitcoudiac escaped capture several times and, after the war, remained in greater Acadia. They escaped first from the trois-rivières in the fall of 1755, after which they took refuge on Île St.-Jean. They escaped from the island in late 1758, and perhaps yet again from Restigouche two years later. They either did not wait around for the British to strike the remote outpost, or they were among the hundreds of exiles captured in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. In 1765, they were living among other Acadian exiles on lower Rivière St.-Jean in present-day western New Brunswick. They were still there in 1769.
At war's end, Acadians being held in the seaboard colonies, theoretically, were free to go, but
not until the British discerned their intentions.
Even then, colonial officials discourated repatriation. In June 1763
Labauves being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in other parts of greater Acadia. After all that they had suffered on the question of the oath, no self-respecting Acadian would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where exiles in the British colonies were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, four were Labauves.
An Acadian Labauve, perhaps a descendant of Louis-Noël, did go to the French Antilles in the 1760s. Marie-Aimée-Françoise, daughter of Honoré Labauve and Madeleine Boton, both deceased, died "on [the] farm of M. Gourge à Mariboroux," French St.-Domingue, age 14, in October 1781. The Fort-Dauphine priest who recorded the burial called the teenager an Acadienne.
Labauves settled early in Acadia, and they were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. In 1765, a Labauve, his wife, two sons, and a nephew reached New Orleans from Halifax via Cap-Français and settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. Later in the decade, the nephew crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, married, and started a western branch of the family. Another Labauve and his small family came to Louisiana from France in 1785 and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, but his line did not endure. Meanwhile, during the late colonial period, Labauves at Cabahannocer moved up to the Baton Rouge area. Their descendants settled in what became East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, and Iberville parishes. Several families also moved to Pointe Coupee Parish, where few Acadians settled. During the early antebellum period, four young Labauves from the river joined their cousins on the western prairies. During the late antebellum period, a Labauve from the river created a family line on Bayou Lafourche. By then, the western branch of the family, scattered in St. Landry, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Mary, Vermilion, Calcasieu, and present-day Cameron parishes, as well as on the prairies of East Texas, nearly rivaled in size the eastern branch, centered in West Baton Rouge Parish. Few Acadian families of South Louisiana were as peripatetic as the Labauves, who tended to emulate the settlement patterns of their ancestors in Acadia.
Church records show that no non-Acadian Labauves established families in the Bayou State before the War of 1861-65. Most, if not all, of the Labauves of South Louisiana, then, are descendants of Louis dit Noël of Port-Royal, Chignecto, and Minas.
Judging by the number of slaves they held during the late antebellum period, some Labauves lived comfortably on their farms, plantations, and vacharies along the river and out on the prairies. In 1850, brothers Jean Baptiste and Dominique Labauve held 11 and nine slaves apiece on their adjacent farms in West Baton Rouge Parish. Cousin Placide Labauve held a dozen slaves on his Calcasieu Parish farm that year. A decade later, Jean Baptiste owned 14 slaves in West Baton Rouge Parish. His younger brother Guy held a dozen slaves on his West Baton Rouge farm. In nearby Pointe Coupee Parish, the widow of Jean Baptiste and Guy's brother Joseph Isidore, fils owned 18 slaves. Out on the prairies of Calcasieu Parish, Placide Labauve now owned 13 slaves. In St. James Parish, the widow of cousin Antoine Labauve held eight slaves on her left-bank farm. Amazingly, in Iberville Parish, a Labauve was co-owner of a huge plantation of 182 slaves also owned by German Creole Alexander Hotard. Census records for 1860, however, do not reveal the identity of this wealthy Labauve. In 1860, two of Jean Baptiste and Guy's brothers, Victor and Dominique, held 10 and eight slaves, respectively, in Jackson County, Texas. ...
In Louisiana and Texas, the family's name also is spelled Labauf, LaBauvre, Labeauve, Labeaux, Labeuve, Laboff, Laboffe, Labouve, Labove, LaBove, Laubauve, Lavauve, Lavob, LeBau. This Acadian family should not be confused with the French Creole Lebeaus or Le Boeufs.02
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The first of the family to emigrate to Louisiana--a small family with two sons and a teenage nephew, four Labauves in all--came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, in 1765. From New Orleans, they followed dozens of fellow exiles to Cabahannocer on the river above the city. The older Labauve and his sons remained on what came to be known as the Acadian Coast, while his nephew, who married a daughter of Joseph dit Beausoleil Broussard, established a western branch of the family on the prairies west of the Atchafalaya Basin:
Antoine, fils (c1726-1779) à Louis-Noël Labauve
Antoine, fils, perhaps also called Antoine-Zénon, younger son of Antoine Labauve and Catherine Lejeune, born probably at Minas in the mid- or late 1720s, followed his family to Île St.-Jean, but he may not have remained there. He married Anne Vincent in c1756. If they were still on the island in late 1758, they escaped the British roundup there, crossed Mer Rouge, and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Anne gave him two sons during exile, Jean and Marin, perhaps twins, born in c1759. In the late 1750s or early 1760s, they were either captured by, or surrendered to, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. Entoine, as he was called, his wife, and five children appeared on a repatriation list at Halifax in August 1763. One of the "children" may have been a son of older brother Charles. One wonders who the other children may have been. In 1764-65, Antoine, fils, Anne, their two sons, and their nephew emigrated to Louisiana via Cap-Français and settled at Cabahannocer, where Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river in April 1766 and September 1769. Anne gave Antoine, fils seven more children at Cabahannocer, including Pierre born in c1767; Adélaïde in c1770; Joseph-Isidore, called Isidore, baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1771; Marie-Divine or -Ludivine baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1774; twins Marie-Modeste, called Modeste, and Paul, baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1776; and Anne-Céleste, called Céleste, baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1778--at least nine children, five sons and four daughters, including a set of twins, between 1759 and 1778, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. Antoine, fils died at Cabahannocer in March 1779, in his early 50s. Daughters Adélaïde, Marie (probably Marie-Divine), and Modeste married into the Legendre, Vincent, and Doiron families, all three of them to cousins, two of them to first cousins. Daughter Adélaïde, while she was still married to Louis-Joseph Legendre, a fellow Acadian exile who came to the colony from France in 1785, gave birth to daughter Marie dite Maneta in June 1802 and baptized her at New Orleans in September 1803 (the recording priest did not give Marie's father's name), but the girl died on the upper Lafourche at age 12 in October 1814. The Assumption Parish priest who recorded Maneta's burial called her a Labauve, not a Legendre, which may explain the lacuna in her baptismal record. Adélaïde gave birth to son François-Hippolyte in July 1803, while still married to Louis-Joseph Legendre, and again, at the boy's baptism at the St.-Louis Cathedral in New Orleans the following November, the recording priest gave no father's name, so one wonders what was the circumstance of her marriage to Louis-Joseph, who may not have died until December 1812, at age 50. Three of Antoine, fils's sons married on the river and established a center of family settlement there. Two of them settled at Baton Rouge, another at New Orleans. Four of his grandsons moved to the western prairies in the early 1800s. His other grandsons remained on the river, at Baton Rouge and in St. James Parish. His fourth son's line was especially vigorous. Some of Antoine, fils's descendants were living in East Texas during the late antebellum period. Most of the Labauves of South Louisiana, and perhaps all of them who settled in East Texas, descend from Antoine, fils.
Oldest son Jean, perhaps a twin, followed his family into imprisonment in Nova Scotia and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer. He was counted with his family on the east bank of the river there in January 1777 and March 1779, when he would have been in his late teens, so he survived childhood. He then disappears from Louisiana records. He probably did not marry.
Antoine, fils's second son Marin, perhaps Jean's twin, followed his family into imprisonment and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where, at age 27, he married Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Richard and Agnès Hébert dit Manuel, in February 1786. Their children, born on the river, included Marin-Joseph, called Joseph, at Cabahannocer in July 1787; Adolphe in July 1790; Eulalie in December 1792 but died at New Orleans, age 3 1/2, in October 1796; and Antoine le jeune at New Orleans in c1796--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1787 and 1796. Marin died a widower at New Orleans in February 1797. The priest who recorded the burial said that Marin was age 35 when he died. He probably was closer to 37. All three of his sons married. Two of them settled on the western prairies, and the other returned to St. James Parish. A grandson also returned to the river.
Oldest son Marin Joseph or Joseph Marin married Anne Marine, called Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Dupuis and Élisabeth Benoit, in the 1800s. They lived near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, on the river before crossing the Atchafalaya Basin in the early 1810s and settling on the Vermilion. Their children, born on the river and the prairies, included Joseph Bernardin, called Bernard, near St. Gabriel in May 1809; Domitille in May 1811 but died at age 14 months in July 1812; Isabelle Douilde born in April 1813; and Jean Baptiste in c1814 but died at his parents' home on the Vermilion, age 1, in September 1815. Wife Anne Marine died at Vermilion in October 1815, age 38. Her succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in November. Joseph Marin remarried to Marie, daughter of William Perry of Carencro and his French-Canadian wife Marguerite Roger, at the St. Martinville church in February 1822. They settled on the lower Teche near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Ooiska or Lodoiska in June 1823 but died at age 16 1/2 in October 1839; Marie Alexina born in January 1826; Émile, also called Joseph Émile and J. E., in February 1828; Marc Joseph in October 1833; Élisa or Alisa in December 1837; Roza in July 1838[sic]; Camilla baptized at New Iberia, age unrecorded, in September 1838; and Joseph born in October 1841--11 children, five sons and six daughters, by two wives, between 1809 and 1841. Marin Joseph may have died near New Iberia in April 1865. The priest who recorded the burial of "Mr. Labauve" and who did not mention a wife, said he died "at age 70 yrs." If "Mr. Labauve" was Joseph Marin, he would have been age 78 at the time of his death. His succession, calling him Joseph Marin but mentioning no wives, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following August. Daughters Marie Alexina, Alisa, and Camilla, by his second wife, married into the Miguez, French, and Etie families by 1870. Two of Marie Joseph's sons also married by then. His oldest son returned to the river and settled near Baton Rouge. The other remained on the prairies.
Oldest son Joseph Bernardin, called Bernard, from first wife Anne Marine Dupuis, married cousin Marie Modeste, called Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Bénoni Daigle and Anne Marie Dupuis and widow of Pierre LeTullier, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in October 1837. They remained on the river. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Damas Cléophas, called Cléophas, in October 1838; and Herminia Elisima or Alexima baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age unrecorded, in June 1839. Daughter Alexima married into the Baron family. Bernard's son also married, but the line may not have endured.
Only son Cléophas married Juliènne Aurore, daughter of fellow Acadians François Henry and Aureline Lejeune, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in May 1859. Cléophas died near Baton Rouge in September 1866, a months shy of age 28. His family line may have died with him.
Marin Joseph's third son Joseph Émile, by second wife Marie Roger, married Martha, daughter of William Cobbom, Colborm, or Carmon and Mary Aldridge and widow of ____ French, in a civil ceremony in St. Martin Parish in June 1867. Their son Joseph Abner was born near New Iberia in October 1869; ...
Marin's second son Adolphe married cousin Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Louis Hébert and Rose Richard of La Côte aux Puces, or the Flea Coast, near New Iberia, at the St. Martinville church in February 1812. They settled in St. Mary Parish on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Théodule Clairville in July 1815; Marie Célimène in April 1819; Théogène in April 1823; Rosa in April 1826; and Marie Anne in the 1820s--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1815 and the late 1820s. A succession for wife Arthémise, perhaps post-mortem, calling him Oldufe, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in February 1849. In 1855, Adolphe, in his mid-60s, testified in a lawsuit over who was the rightful owner of Île Dernière, or Last Island, a popular resort off the coast of Terrbonne Parish. The resort, popular among Teche valley planters, was destroyed by a hurricane in August 1856 with a frightful loss of life. Daughter Marie Anne married into the Curtis family. Both of Adolphe's sons also married. His older son returned to the river, but his younger son settled in the coastal marshes of what became Cameron Parish. One of the lines may not have endured.
Older son Théodule Clairville married first cousin Marie Irma, daughter of fellow Acadian Antoine Labauve and his Creole wife Anastasie Rome, his uncle and aunt, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in February 1840. One wonders if they had any children.
Adolphe's younger son Théogène married Lise Ardoin, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born on the prairies and the southwest marshes, included Hermogène near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in June 1852; Léo near Creole, then in Calcasieu but now in Cameron Parish, in June 1853; Marie Belzire in September 1857; Alex McDonald in January 1859; Désiré in July 1860; Joseph Philogène near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in September 1861; ... None of Théogène's children married by 1870.
Marin's third and youngest son Antoine le jeune married Anastasie, daughter of Alexis Rome and Marie Charlotte Frederique, at the Convent church in January 1824. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Hirma or Irma in October 1824; André Adolphe in April 1826; Adonies or Adonis in June 1828; Damanche, Domas, or Damas in June 1830; St. Hilaire in January 1833 but, called Hilaire, died at age 23 (the recording priest said 22) in July 1856; Marie Célimène born in December 1834 but, called Célimen, died at age 15 1/2 (the recording priest said 16) in August 1850; and Élise or Éliza in c1838--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1824 and 1838. Antoine le jeune died near Convent in March 1848, age 52. In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted five slaves--two males and three females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 16 to 4--on Wdw. Ant. Labauve's farm in the parish's eastern district next to the farm of Sébastien Rome; these were the slaves of Anastasie Rome. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted eight slaves--four males and four females, six blacks and two mulattoes, ages 22 to 2, living in three houses--on Wd. Ant. Labauve's farm in the parish's Second District on the left bank of the river. Daughters Marie Irma and Éliza married into the Labauve and Cantrelle families, one of them to a first cousin, by 1870. Two of Antoine's sons also married by then.
Second son Adonis married Marie Zulma, called Zulma, daughter of Jean Baptiste Cantrelle and Eugénie Simoneaux, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in February 1857. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Alfred in February 1859; Marie Élodie in November 1863; and Louise in February 1869--three children, a son and two daughters, between 1859 and 1869. Adonis died near Convent in July 1869. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Adonis died at "age 38 years." He was 41.
Antoine's third son Domas married Louisa, daughter of Prosper Plaisance and his Acadian wife Adèle Guidry, at the Convent church in December 1870. ...
Antoine, fils's third son Pierre married cousin Henriette Renée, called Renée, daughter of fellow Acadians Daniel Benoit and his first wife Henriette Legendre, at Baton Rouge in February 1793. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Reine-Anne or Anne-Reine in June 1794; Isidore-Pierre, called Pierre, fils, in August 1796; Antoine died "a child" in August 1800; Zénon born in February 1801; Célestine or Céleste in February 1803; and Azélie in April 1805--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1794 and 1805. Daughters Anne Reine and Céleste married into the Trahan and Hébert families, and one of them settled on the western prairies. Two of Pierre's sons also married. One of them also settled on the prairies.
Oldest son Isidore Pierre, also called Pierre, fils, married Élise dite Lise, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Hébert and Félicité Breaux and widow of Placide Hébert, at the St. Martinville church in February 1820. They settled at Le Grand Bois near New Iberia. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Pierre Adolphe, called Adolphe, in September 1820; Télésphore in September 1822 but died at age 11 (the recording priest said 9) in October 1833; Marie Azélie born in February 1825; François Valcour, called Valcour, in December 1826; Joseph Théolin in July 1829 but, called Théolin, died at age 24 (the recording priest said 22) in September 1853; Amélie born in October 1831; Jean Baptiste in February 1834; François Ovide in April 1837; and Joseph Livodais or Livaudais in January 1841--nine children, seven sons and two daughters, between 1822 and 1841. Pierre, fils's first succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in May 1824, years before he died. Pierre, fils died in St. Martin Parish in April 1848, age 51. His post-mortem succession, calling him Pierre "of Baton Rouge" and calling his wife Lize Hébert, wid. of Placide Hébert, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following July. Daughter Amélie married into the Arceneaux family by 1870. Three of Isidore Pierre's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Pierre Adolphe, called Adolphe, married Marie Pouponne, called Pouponne, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul David and Marcelline Vincent, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in November 1850. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Alphonsine, called Alphonsine, baptized at the New Iberia church, age 2 months, in November 1851; Pierre born in April 1852 but died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 2 1/2 months) in October 1854; Joseph Thelimpe born near New Iberia in April 1855; Eugène in July 1859; Marie Eugénie in December 1861; ... Daughter Alphonsine married into the Breaux family by 1870. None of Adolphe's sons married by then.
Isidore Pierre's third son François Valcour, called Valcour, married Émilie, probably another daughter of Paul David and Marcelline Vincent, in a civil ceremony in St. Martin Parish in April 1857. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Élisa in May 1848, nine years before her parents married; François Oscar in January 1860; Demascart in December 1861; ...
Isidore Pierre's sixth son François Ovide may have been the O. Labauve who held two slaves--both of them 22-year-old mulatto males--in the western district of St. Mary Parish in June 1860. Did he marry?
Isidore Pierre's seventh and youngest son Joseph Livaudais married Marie Célestine, called Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Trahan and Elmire LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in January 1861. Daughter Marie Laurenne was born in St. Martin Parish in June 1862; ...
Pierre's third son Zénon married first cousin Eulalie Élisabeth, called Élise or Éliza, daughter of Isidore Labauve and Jeanne Granger, his uncle and aunt, at the Baton Rouge church in March 1828; they had to secure dispensation for second degree of relationship in order to marry. Their children, born on the river, included Irma Élisabeth in October 1831; Adison, Edison, Olidon, or Odillon, in August 1832; Marie Anne Élisabeth, also called Mary Ana Elizabeth, in November 1834; Élizabeth Althea in the 1830s; Virginie, also called Virginie E., in November 1842; Marie Alina, also called Aline E., in April 1845; Isidore Labéo, called Labéo, in March 1847; Albertine Noémie near Plaquemine in March 1851; John Fernand in April 1853; and Joseph Alberi in July 1857--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1831 and 1857. Daughters Irma Élisabeth, Élizabeth Althea, Mary Ana Elizabeth, Virginie E., and Aline E. married into the Scratchley, Mille, Lauve, Haggerty, and Caneza families by 1870. One of Zénon's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Olidon or Odillon married Ann Pamelia, called Pamelia, daughter of Foreign Frenchman Thomas Mille and his Acadian wife Pauline Dupuy, at the Plaquemine church, Iberville Parish, in April 1853; Olidon's younger sister Élizabeth Althea married one Pamelia's brothers. Olidon and Pamelia's children, born near Plaquemine, on the west bank of the river, included Mary Pauline Regina in July 1855; Thomas Wilfrid in September 1857; Paul in October 1859; Marie Noémie in August 1861; ... None of Olidon's children married by 1870.
Zénon's second son Labéo married Hattie Emma, called Emma, McCoy perhaps at New Orleans in the late 1870s. He was living alone at 270 Thalia Street, New Orleans, in 1875, so he likely married Emma after that date, in his late 20s or 30s.
Antoine, fils's fourth son Joseph-Isidore, called Isidore, married Jeanne-Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Granger and Anne Thériot of St.-Malo, at Baton Rouge in January 1798. They settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Jean-Ambroise, called Jean-Baptiste, J. B., and Ambroise, in September 1798; Joseph-Dominique or Dominique-Joseph in August 1799; Pierre-Marie in March 1803; Joseph Isidore, fils in November 1804; Victor or Victorin in July 1806; Guy in the late 1800s or early 1810s; Éliza or Élisabeth in the early 1810s; Marie Euphrosine, called Euphrosine, in July 1812; Louis Onésime, called Onésime and Drosin, in July 1814; and Simon in February 1821--10 children, eight sons and two daughters, between 1798 and 1821. Isidore died probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in February 1824, in his early 50s. Daughters Éliza and Euphrosine married into the Labauve, Hébert, and Derichebourg families. Seven of Isidore's sons also married, three of them to sisters, but not all of the lines endured. Two of them settled on the western prairies before moving on to East Texas. The others remained in West Baton Rouge Parish. One of Isidore's younger sons and a grandson were among the relatively few Acadians who settled in Pointe Coupee Parish. Isidore's oldest son married five times!
Oldest son Jean Ambroise, called Jean Baptiste, J. B., and Ambroise, married, in his late teens or early 20s, Anne Virginie, called Virginie, daughter of fellow Acadian Magloire Dupuis and his Creole wife Henriette Serret, probably at Baton Rouge in the late 1810s. Their children, born on the river, included Victorin le jeune near St. Gabriel in September 1820; Nuan near Baton Rouge in August 1824; Annalise or Analise in August 1826; Baptiste Ulysse in September 1828; and Élisabeth in late 1831 and baptized at age 4 months in March 1832. Jean Baptiste, at age 36, remarried to Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Hébert and Marguerite Chiasson of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church in May 1835. Their son Marie Numa, called Numa, was born near Baton Rouge in March 1836. Jean Baptiste, at age 39, remarried again--his third marriage--to fellow Acadian Eurasie Dupuis of West Baton Rouge Parish at the Baton Rouge church in June 1838. She evidently gave him no more children. Jean Baptiste, at age 43, remarried yet again--his fourth marriage--to Marie Félasie, Ferelie, or Forelie, daughter of fellow Acadian Édouard Daigre and his Creole wife Agathe Betancourt of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Brusly church in May 1842. Their children, born near Brusly, included Marie Latitia or Lutecia, called Lutecia, in February 1844; Jean Alcide in January 1849; and Olivia in August 1850. A "Mrs. Jean Baptiste Labauve," actual name not given, died near Brusly, age 33, in August 1855. Was this Marie Félasie Daigle? In August 1850, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted 11 slaves--six males and five females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 43 to 2--on John B. Labauve's farm next to the farm of brother Dominique. At age 59, Jean Baptiste remarried a fourth time--his fifth marriage--to first cousin Alida Marthe, 24-year-old daughter of Louis Terence Derichebourg and his Acadian wife Mathilde Marguerite Granger, at the Brusly church in February 1858; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marie Reine was born near Brusly in May 1861, when Jean Baptiste would have been age 62--10 children, five sons and five daughters, by four of his five wives, between 1820 and 1861. In July 1860, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted 14 slaves--seven males and seven females, all black except for one mulatto, ages 48 to 2, living in 4 houses--on Jean Bte. Labauve's farm. Daughters Analise and Lutecia, by his first and fourth wives, married into the Hébert and Landry families by 1870. Two of Jean Baptiste's sons also married by then and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, the only Acadian Labauves to go there during the antebellum period.
Oldest son Victorin le jeune, by first wife Anne Virginie Dupuis, married Augustine, another daughter of Édouard Daigre and Agathe Betancourt of West Baton Rouge Parish and sister of Victorin's stepmother, at the Baton Rouge church in June 1846. Wife Augustine died near Brusly in October 1847, age 22, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Victorin le jeune evidently remarried to Amelia or Émelia Bélagie, probably Pélagie, Ansoward or Enswart and settled in Lafourche Parish by the late 1850s. Their children, born on the bayou, included John William in September 1858; and Robert Isaac Moïse in April 1860.
Jean Baptise's fourth son Numa, by second wife Joséphine Hébert, married Marie Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Foret and Athémise Landry at the Brusly church in July 1857. Their children, born near Brusly and on the Lafourche, included Homer in May 1858; Marie Marthe in September 1859; Jean Odillon in May 1861; Rosalie Virginie in Lafourche Parish in January 1862; Marie Laura in December 1867; Henri in October 1869; ...
Isidore's second son Joseph Dominique or Dominique Joseph married Marie Azélie, called Azélie, another daughter of Magloire Dupuis and Henriette Serret, at the Baton Rouge church in February 1821. Their son Isidore Dorvalle, Dorval, Dorville, or Orval was born near St. Gabriel in December 1821. Dominique remarried to Dorsille, daughter of fellow Acadians Victor Chiasson and Henriette Dupuy, at the Baton Rouge church in January 1829. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Adolphe in September 1829; and Élisabeth dite Élisa in 1831 and baptized at age 6 months in March 1832. Dominique remarried again--his third marriage--to Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, another daughter of Alexis Hébert and Marguerie Chiasson, at the Baton Rouge church in October 1835. They moved on to the Teche valley in the mid-1850s. Their children, born on the river and the Teche, included Joseph Isidore le jeune in July 1836; Joseph in March 1838; Joseph Gilbert baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age unrecorded, in April 1840; Marie Joséphine born near Brusly in November 1841; Marie Ordalie in September 1847; Joseph Thelesmar in September 1849; Joseph Aristide in February 1853; and Ulyssia in St. Martin Parish in April 1855--11 children, seven sons and four daughters, by three wives, between 1821 and 1855. In August 1850, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted nine slaves--four males and five females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 1--on Dominique Labauve's farm next to older brother John B.'s farm. During the late 1850s, when he was in his late 50s, Dominique and younger brother Victor, who also had settled on Bayou Teche, moved to the prairies of East Texas. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Jackson County, Texas, near Port Lavaca, counted eight slaves--four males and four females, all black, ages 46 to 2, living in one house--on Dominique Labauve's farm next to the farm of brother Victor. Daughter Élisa, by Dominique's second wife, married into the Landry family by 1870. Two of Dominique's sons also married in Louisiana by then.
Oldest son Isidore Dorvalle or Dorval, called Dorval and Orval, from first wife Azélie Dupuis, while a resident of West Baton Rouge Parish, married Émelie, daughter of Zénon Bergeron, a French Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and Madeleine Picard, at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in August 1842. Their children, born in Pointe Coupée Parish, included Joseph Aloysius in October 1844 but died in December; Joseph Dominique Zénon born in September 1845 but, called Zénon, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in August 1851; Joseph Roselius born in April 1847; Joseph Louis Odilon in June 1849; Maria or Marie in April 1851; and Adélaïde posthumously in early 1853 and baptized at age 15 months in June 1854--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1844 and 1853. Dorval died in Pointe Coupee Parish in August 1852. The priest who recorded the burial said that Dorval, as he called him, died at "age 32 years." He was 30. Daughter Marie married into the Bueche family by 1870. None of Dorval's sons married by then.
Joseph Domingue's second son Adolphe, by second wife Dorsille Chiasson, married Marie Séverine, called Séverine, daughter of fellow Acadian Séverin Lejeune and his Creole wife Séraphine Aillet, at the Brusly church in January 1848. Their children, born near Brusly, included Joseph Edgard in November 1848; Marie Dephalide in December 1850 but, called Marie Cephalide, died in January; Joseph Alcide born in March 1851[sic] and baptized at the Brusly church in November 1853; Marie Alice born in August 1854; twins Marie Louise and Marie Alice in January 1860 and baptized the following May and June, respectively; Marie Ella born in November 1869; ... None of Adolphe's children married by 1870.
Isidore's third son Pierre Marie married Henriette Coralie, called Coralie, yet another daughter of Magloire Dupuis and Henriette Serret, at the Baton Rouge church in July 1831. They settled in West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Marie Pulcherie or Eucheris in April 1833; Marie Irma in July 1835; Simon le jeune in December 1837; Annette Arthémise, called Arthémise, baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1840; Marie Zulmée, called Zulmée, born near Brusly in February 1842; Anne Julie in November 1846; Joseph Aulim in January 1849; and Martha Azélie Virginie in February 1853--eight children, six daughters and two sons, between 1833 and 1853. In July 1860, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted six slaves--four males and two females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 14, living in two houses--on Pierre Labauve's farm; this probably was Pierre Marie. Daughters Marie Eucheris, Marie Irma, Zulmée, and Arthémise married into the Saurage, Richard, Thibodeaux, Gassie, and Hébert families, one of them, Marie Irma, twice, by 1870. Neither of Pierre's sons married by then.
Isidore's fourth son Joseph Isidore, fils married Hélène, also called Mélina, daughter of Jean Baptiste Juge and Aimée Porché, at the Pointe Coupee church in March 1833. Their children, born in Pointe Coupee Parish, included Léon in the 1830s; Marie Helena, called Helena, baptized at age 5 months in July 1839; Marie Eugénie Joséphine, called Joséphine, born in July 1840; Numa perhaps in the early 1840s; Jule in February 1844 but, called Jules, died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in August 1847; Louis Albert born in July 1846 but, called Albert, died at age 8 (the recording priest said 10) in September 1854; and Jean Baptiste le jeune born in October 1848--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between the 1830s and 1848. Joseph, a resident of Chenal, died in Pointe Coupee Parish in November 1850, age 46. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Pointe Coupee Parish counted 18 slaves--11 males and seven females, six blacks and 12 mulattoes, ranging in age from 61 years to 8 months, living in five houses--on Wdw. Jos. Labauve's farm; these were Hélène Juge's slaves. Daughters Helena and Joséphine married into the David and Major families by 1870. Two of Joseph Isidore, fils's remaining sons also married by then, after their Confederate service.
Oldest son Léon married Julie, daughter of Bruno Lejeune, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and Odille Picard, at the Pointe Coupee church in February 1857. Their children, born near Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, included Marie Philomène in early 1861 but died at age 2 months, 7 days in June 1861; Joseph Jules born in September 1863 but, called Jules, died age 2 1/2 in January 1866; ...
Joseph Isidore, fils's second son Numa married Adèle Lelia, daughter of Lelio Lebeau and Adelphine Bergeron, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, at the Lakeland church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in February 1870. ...
Isidore's fifth son Victor or Victorin married Marie Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadian Éloi Dugas and his Creole wife Susanne Bonin, at the St. Martinville church in July 1833. They settled near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, on the lower Teche. Their children, born there, included Marie, perhaps also called Émelie, in October 1834; Charles Auguste or Gustave Charles in November 1838; Romain, also Romain Dupré, in February 1841; Éloy or Éloi in April 1843 but, called Victor Éloie, died the following August; and Louise born in June 1854. A succession, probably post-mortem, for wife Marie Arthémise, naming her husband, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in October 1845. Victor, at age 38, remarried to Joséphine Élina or Helina, daughter of Valcour Gonsoulin and his Acadian wife Élise Hébert, at the New Iberia church in October 1844. They remained near New Iberia until the late 1850s, when they followed Victor's older brother Dominique to East Texas. Victor and Joséphine's children, born near New Iberia, included Marie Odile in November 1845; Victor, fils in December 1851; Mathilde in April 1853; Éliza in November 1855; Odilon in January 1857; Joseph Numa in August 1858; and Charle William in January 1859--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, by two wives, between 1834 and 1859. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Jackson County, Texas, counted 10 slaves--four males and six females, all black, ranging in age from 40 to 1, living in two houses--on Victor Labauve's farm next to the farm of brother Dominique. Daughter Émelie, by his first wife, married into the Broussard family at New Iberia and remained there. One of Victor's sons also married in Louisiana and remained.
Oldest son Charles Auguste or Gustave Charles, by first wife Marie Arthémise Dugas, married Suzanne, daughter of fellow Acadian Sosthène Vincent and his Creole wife Hyacinthe Judice, at the St. Martinville church in July 1858. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Sosthènes in August 1859 but died at age 2 1/2 in February 1862; Joseph Numa le jeune born in March 1862; ... When his father and uncle migrated to East Texas in the late 1850s, Gustave and Suzanne remained in St. Martin Parish.
Victor's second son Romain Dupré, by first wife Marie Arthémise Dugas, was granted emancipation by the St. Martin Parish court in November 1859, after he turned 18. One wonders if this had anything to do with his father's migrating to Texas in the late 1850s. Did Romain remain in South Louisiana or follow his family to East Texas?
Isidore's sixth son Guy married Élisa, daughter of fellow Acadians J. B. LeBlanc and Rosalie Hébert, at the Baton Rouge church in February 1832. She evidently gave him no children. Guy remarried to Emma, daughter of Antoine Serret and his Acadian wife Eulalie LeBlanc of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church in June 1843. In July 1860, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted 12 slaves--six males and six females, 10 blacks and two mulattoes, ranging in age from 50 to 3, living in three houses--on Guy Labauve's farm. One wonders if he fathered any children by either of his wives.
Isidore's seventh son Louis Onésime, called Onésime, married Doralise, daughter of fellow Acadians Ursin Landry and Emérante Hébert, at the Baton Rouge church in March 1837. They settled in West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Louis Timoléon in April 1838; Joseph Simon in March 1840; Marie Elvira in late September 1844 but, called Elvira, died at age 9 (the recording priest said 10) in early August 1854; and Pierre Armant Brusly born in May 1848--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1838 and 1848. Onésime, called Onésyme by the recording priest, died near Brusly in January 1849, age 34 (the recording priest said 33). None of his children married by 1870.
Jean-Baptiste (c1743-1803) à Antoine, père à Louis-Noël Labauve
Jean-Baptiste, only son of Charles Labauve and Marie Hébert and Antoine, fils's nephew, born probably at Minas in c1743, followed his family into exile and may have been one of the five "childern" with his uncle Antoine, fils at Halifax in August 1763. He followed his uncle, aunt, and two first cousins to Louisiana in 1765 and settled with them at Cabahannocer on the river, but he did not remain there. In the late 1760s, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where he married Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil and Agnès Thibodeaux, in c1769. Françoise, a native of Peticoudiac in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, had come to Louisiana with her widowered father and large extended family in February 1765. With her, Jean-Baptiste created a western branch of the Labauve family. Their children, born at Attakapas, included Jean-Baptiste, fils, called Jean, in April 1771; Anne in September 1772; François baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1776; and Christine in September 1782--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1771 and 1782. Jean-Baptiste died at Attakapas in February 1803. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jean-Baptiste died "at age 65 yrs." He was closer to 60. Daughter Christine married into the Landry and Benoit families. One of Jean Baptiste's sons also married on the prairies.
Younger son François married Marguerite dite Éloise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph dit Pepin Hébert and Françoise Hébert of Fausse Pointe on the lower Teche, at Attakapas in June 1795. They settled on the Vermilion farther out on the prairie. Their children, born there, included twins Louise dite Lise and Placide in February 1796; Marie-Ismène, called Ismène, in October 1797; and Nicolas in July 1799 but died at age 2 in September 1801--four children, two daughters and two sons, including a set of twins, between 1796 and 1799. François remarried to Marie-Angèle, daughter of Jacques Fostin of Illinois and his Acadian wife Françoise Trahan and widow of Augustin Trahan, at Attakapas in June 1802. She evidently gave him no more children. François's succession, naming his second wife and her first husband and noting that her son Leufroy Trahan by her first husband was married to Julie Ardoin and "under interdiction" in May 1825, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in April 1835. François would have been in his late 50s that year. One wonders why his stepson was "under interdiction." François's daughters Lise and Ismène, by his first wife, married into the Landry and Boudreaux families. François's remaining son also married.
Oldest son Placide, a twin, by first wife Éloise Hébert, married Anne, called Annette, Manette, and Nanette, daughter of fellow Acadians Anselme Thibodeaux and Anne Trahan of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1817. They settled on the Vermilion in what became Lafayette Parish before moving out to the Calcasieu prairies. Their children, born there, included Placide, fils "at Vermilion" in November 1818; David in September 1820; Marie Domitille in December 1821 but, called Marie Domicille, died at age 4 1/2 in September 1826; Éloise or Louise born in February 1823; Émile, also called Émile Saule, in January 1825; Toussaint baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1 1/2 months, in October 1826; Belzire died at age 1 month, 6 days in April 1828; Marie Olive baptized at age 1 1/2 months in May 1831; Oliva born in February 1833; Celibate, perhaps a daughter, in late 1834 and baptized at age 10 months in August 1835; Nanette born near Grand Coteau in April 1837; Emérante in August 1839; and Désiré in May 1841--13 children, five sons and eight daughters, between 1818 and 1841. In December 1850, the federal census taker in Calcasieu Parish counted 12 slaves--six males and six females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 50 to 3--on Placide Labauve's farm; was this Placide, père or Placide, fils? In July 1860, the federal census taker in Calcasieu Parish counted 13 slaves--eight males and five females, four blacks and nine mulattoes, ages 55 years to 4 months, living in three houses--on Placide Labauve's farm; again, which Placide was this? Daughter Éloise married into the Venable family by 1870. Three of Placide, père's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Placide, fils married Marie Nathalie, called Nathalie, daughter of fellow Acadians François Xavier Drosin Broussard and Marie Denise Duhon, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1843, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1847. Their children, born on the prairies, included Placide III in the mid-or late 1840s; Théogène in January 1849; Marie Seliva in February 1851; David le jeune in September 1852; Jean near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in May 1855; Ozémé near Grand Coteau in March 1858; Marie Nathalie in April 1860; Marie Azélia near Church Point on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in December 1865; ... Neither of Placide, fils's daughters married by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Oldest son Placide III married Amelia or Amélie, daughter of Dominique Gary and Célestine Leleux, at the Church Point church in February 1867. Their son Joseph was born at Coulee Triffe, now Estherwood, Acadia Parish, in July 1867; ...
Placide, fils's second son Théogène married cousin Uranie, daughter of fellow Acadians Béloni Broussard and Josèphine Landry, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1867. Daughter Nathalie was born near Church Point in August 1869; ...
Placide, père's third son Émile married Nancy, daughter of James Griffin and Catherine Laner or Larier, at the Grand Coteau church in May 1850. Their children, born on the prairies and the southwest marshes, included Marie Olive near Grand Coteau in August 1848; Domitille in February 1850; Marie Lisman in St. Landry Parish in March 1852; Émile, fils near Grand Coteau, in January 1855; Oliva near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in January 1856; Célina near Creole, then in Calcasieu but now in Cameron Parish, in August 1858; and Nanette in April 1860--seven children, six daughters and a son, between 1848 and 1860. None of Émile's children married by 1870.
Placide, père's sixth and youngest son Désiré may have married fellow Acadian Mare Zélima Richard, place and date unrecorded. Their son Simon was born near Church Point in September 1866; ...
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Four more Labauves--a small family, an unmarried, sister, and their female cousin and her family--came to Louisiana aboard at least two of the Seven Ships from France 20 years after their cousins had reached the colony. The first of them from France, the female cousin and her family, crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in late July 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to Manchac below Baton Rouge, but no new family line came of it.
The other Labauves from France--the male cousin, his second wife, a stepson, and his unmarried sister--crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, but no new family line came of it. Not until the late antebellum period did a Labauve from the Acadian Coast establish a new center of family settlement on Bayou Lafourche:
Pierre (c1747-?) à Louis à Louis-Noël Labauve
Pierre, only son of Jean Labauve and Agnès Saulnier, born at Rivière-aux-Canards, Minas, in c1747, followed his family to Virginia, England, and Morlaix, Brittany, France, where he married Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Brun and Anne Caissie of Chignecto and Port-La-Joye, Île St.-Jean, in St.-Martin des Champs Parish in September 1770. Madeleine gave him two daughters at Morlaix: Marie-Madeleine born in c1770; and Madeleine-Augustine in June 1773. Later that year, Pierre took his family to the interior of Poitou, but, like most of the exiles who had gone there, they did not remain. In November 1775, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. Their daughter Marie-Madeleine died at nearby Chantenay in 1778, age 8. Meanwhile, Madeleine gave Pierre three more children at Chantenay: Pierre-Marie born in April 1779 but died at age 5 in February 1784; Jeanne-Eulalie born in March 1781 but died the following December; and Victoire-Reine born in December 1782 but died at age 1 1/2 in March 1784--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1770 and 1784. Wife Madeleine died at Chantenay in December 1783, age 38. Pierre remarried to Anne, also called Jeanne, daughter of François Bonfils and Marie Sevin of St.-Martin de Cheix, west of Nantes, and widow of Acadian Jean Dugas, at St.-Martin de Chantenay in October 1784. Pierre, Anne, and her Dugas son from her first marriage emigrated to Louisiana in 1785. Pierre's remaining child, daughter Madeleine-Augustine, who would have been age 12 in 1785, did not accompany her family to Louisiana, so, like her other siblings, she probably had died young. From New Orleans, Piere and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Laforuche. Second wife Anne, who died at New Orleans in September 1801 (the recording priest called her Juana) in her 50s, gave Pierre no more children in the colony, so his line of the family did not take root in the Bayou State. His stepson, Jean Dugas, fils, who was age 13 when he came to Louisiana with his mother and stepfather, married an Hébert on the upper Lafourche in the late 1790s.
In the summer and fall of 1755, when the British rounded up the Acadians in Nova Scotia, they sent only a raiding party to the lower St.-Jean. The Acadian settlements farther upriver remained unmolested for now, but their respite from British oppression was short-lived. In the early autumn of 1758, after the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg on Île Royale in July, a force of redcoats under Colonel Robert Monckton struck the Rivière St.-Jean settlements, with tragic results. By then, Surgeon Philippe de Saint-Julien de Lachaussée, second wife Marguerite Belliveau, who he had married in c1756, and infant daughter Louise-Françoise from his first wife Françoise, had moved on to Miramichi on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, where Philippe took care of his fellow refugees in the overcrowded camp. By early 1760, the family had moved north with other refugees to the French stronghold at Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, where Philippe served as chief surgeon for the Acadian militia. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to subdue the remaining French strongholds in New France, one of which was Restigouche, now a major Acadian refuge. A British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche in late June 1760. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the militia and the Indians to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, another British naval force, this one from Québec, appeared at Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On October 24, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers counted 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche. Philippe, called "chirurgien major entretenu," and his family of five were among them. Philippe's son Pierre-Philippe was baptized at Restigouche in March 1761, so some of the exiles evidently were allowed to remain at the refuge before the British shipped them off to prison compounds in Nova Scotia. One wonders where the surgeon and his family were held for the rest of the war.
Acadians being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada or other parts of greater Acadia. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where exiles in the seaboard colonies were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 or early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, two were the surgeon, a widower again, and his 10-year-old daughter. His other children, including son Pierre-Philippe, evidently had died by then.
The surgeon and his daughter reached New Orleans via Cap-Français in early 1765. He was, in fact, the leader of one of the contingents of refugees from Halifax. He and his fellow exiles settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans, where he remarried, again, this time to an Acadian widow, who gave him another son. The son survived childhood, married a fellow Acadian at Cabahannocer in April 1792, and created a family of his own, but only one of his sons married. Meanwhile, the old surgeon died in St. James Parish at age 80.
French-Canadian Lachaussés appeared on the river above New Orleans in the 1760s and on upper Bayou Lafourche on the eve of the Louisiana Purchase. Church and civil records reveal no kinship between these Canadians and the French-born surgeon from Rivière St.-Jean. Moreover, despite one of the Canadians marrying twice at Cabahannocer and producing a son of his own, the son died before he could marry, so the surgeon's Canadian namesakes produced no family lines in South Louisiana.
The old surgeon's grandson, from whom all Acadian Lachausées in South Louisiana and East Texas spring, did not remain on the river but crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the old Attakapas District during the early antebellum period. He married a fellow Acadian in St. Martin Parish in September 1821 and remarried to another Acadian in the 1830s. They settled in what became Lafayette Parish, and he fathered at least five sons by his two wives. Three of those sons married and settled in Lafayette and Vermilion parishes.
Judging by the number of slaves they held during the late antebellum period, the Acadian Lachaussées of the western parishes, despite their aristocratic ancestry, participated only peripherally in the South's slave-based plantation economy. A Lachaussée's widow owned four slaves in 1850. A decade later, her older remaining son held only three bondsmen.
Only one Acadian Lachaussée appears in Confederate service records during the War of 1861-65. Simon Lachaussée was married and a father when he served in Company C of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, which fought in South Louisiana. The 7th Cavalry was especially effective in fighting Jayhawkers on the southwestern prairies. Simonet survived the war and settled near Erath, Vermilion Parish.
Although the name Lachaussée is not as common as other Acadian surnames, descendants of the surgeon from Picardie can still be found in Abbeville, Lafayette, Erath, Delcambre, Jennings, and other prairie communities, as well as in East Texas. Local priests sometimes called the family St. Julien as well as La Fosse, the names of non-Acadian families who settled in the area. Over time, the Acadian family's name evolved from the aristocratic de Saint-Julien de Lachaussée to simply Lachaussée.
The family's name in Louisiana and East Texas also is spelled Dechaussé, La Chance, La Chanse, La Chasse, Lachause, Lachaussai, Lachaussaye, Lachausee, Lachauset, La Chausse, La Chiose, Lachoche, Lachose, Lafause, Lafausse, St. Julien.03
Philippe de Saint-Julian de (c1727-1808) Lachaussée
Younger son Valentin-Philippe, called Philippe, by third wife Rose Bourgeois, married, at age 20, cousin Pélagie, also called Rose, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Marie Richard and Rosalie Bourgeois, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in April 1792. Pélagie Rose was a native of Cabahannocer whose parents had come to Louisiana from Georgia and Halifax in 1764 and 1765. Her and Philippe's children, born at Cabahannocer, included Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Julien in August 1793; Philippe de Saint-Julien le jeune in the mid-1790s; Marie-Marcellite, called Marcellite, in January 1796; and Charles-François posthumously in November 1797--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1793 and 1797. Valentin-Philippe died at Cabahannocer in August 1797, age 25. Daughter Marcellite married into the LeBlanc family on the river and followed her husband to the western prairies. One of Valentin-Philippe's sons, perhaps the only surviving one, followed his sister to the prairies in the early 1810s, after which the family's name disappears from Acadian Coast records. The son married on the prairies and created an enduring family line there.
Second son Philippe de Saint-Julien le jeune followed his sister to St. Martin Parish, where he stood as a godfather at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in August 1814. He married Hortence, daughter of fellow Acadians Benjamin LeBlanc and Scholastique Breaux, at the St. Martinville church in September 1821; the priest who recorded the marriage called the groom Philippe St. Julien, the name under which his family was known in some of the area church records (not to be confused with a French-Creole family of that name). Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Philippe de St. Julien, fils in October 1824 but died at age 4 1/2 in April 1829; Marie or Marine born in August 1826; a child, name unrecorded, in early 1828, "privately baptized," but died at age 16 months in July 1829; Marcellite born in March 1830; Villcor dit Lafausse in late 1831 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 1/2 months, in January 1832 but, called Villeor, died at age 2 1/2 years in August 1833; and Raphaël born in September 1833. A succession, probably post-mortem, was filed for wife Hortence, calling her Hortance and calling him Philip La Chauset, at the Vermilionville courthouse in December 1836. In his 40s, Philippe le jeune remarried to fellow Acadian Marie-Céleste, called Céleste, Girouard, probably in Lafayette Parish in the late 1830s. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Saint Julien, called Julien, in the late 1830s or early 1840s; Simonette or Simonet in July 1840; and Célestine in May 1843 but died at age 12 1/2 (the recording priest said 13) in October 1855--nine children, at least five sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1824 and 1843. Philippe le jeune died in his late 40s or early 50s before August 1850, when the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted four slaves--three males and a female, all black, ranging in age from 35 to 20--on Widow P. Lachaussée's farm in the parish's western district; these probably were the slaves of his widow, Céleste Girouard. Daughters Marine and Marcellite, by his first wife, married into the Bernard, Guidry, and Melançon families by 1870. Three of Philippe le jeune's remaining sons also married by then. They settled in Lafayette and Vermilion parishes, but only two of the lines endured.
Third son Raphaël, by first wife Hortence LeBlanc, married cousin and fellow Acadian Héloise LeBlanc at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in June 1857. They settled near Youngsville, Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Azélina in March 1858; and Euphémie in January 1860. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted three slaves--a 23-year-old mulatto female, a 3-year-old mulatto female, and a year-old black male--on Raphaël Lachaussée's farm next to the farm of Mrs. Euclide Bernard, who was Raphaël's sister Marine. Raphaël died in Lafayette Parish in November 1861, age 26. His family line, except perhaps for its blood, probably died with him.
Philippe le jeune's fourth son Saint Julien, called Julien, from second wife Céleste Girouard, married cousin Cécile LeBlanc at the Youngsville church in April 1861 (the marriage was not registered civilly at the Vermilionville courthouse until April 1867). Their son Eraste was born in Lafayette Parish in February 1862. Saint Julien remarried to Euphémie Dillon or Dellon at the Abbeville church in October 1865. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Philippe Alcide in August 1866; Marie Élomire in December 1867; Luc in February 1870; ...
Julien's third son Luc, by second wife Euphémie Dillon, married fellow Acadian Sylvanie Broussard in November 1889. Their children included Henry born in April 1897.
Son Henry married Olite Hébert in June 1917. In the 1920s, Henry took his family to Port Arthur, Texas, where his descendants can be found today.
Philippe le jeune's fifth and youngest son Simonet, by second wife Céleste Girouard, married fellow Acadian Marie Belzire Broussard at the Abbeville church in January 1861. Their children, born in Vermilion Parish, included Désiré in December 1861; Adraste in July 1865; Clémence in July 1868; ... During the War of 1861-65, Simonet served in Company C of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in South Louisiana, which fought local Jayhawkers. Simonet was still alive in the 1890s and was buried at Erath, Vermilion Parish.
Pierre Lalande, alias Blaise des Brousses dit Bonappétit, a soldier in the King's service, married Anne, daughter of Joseph Prétieux and Anne Gautrot, at Annapolis Royal in November 1710, a month after the Acadian capital fell to the British. After the British took over the colony in 1713, Pierre went to French-controlled Île Royale aboard the French vessel Marie Josephe to look at land there. Evidently he did not see anything he liked because he moved his family to the Minas Basin by 1719. They lived at Grand-Pré and at Ste.-Famille, Pigiguit. Before she died in March 1726, age 35, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth, Anne gave the former soldier eight children, three daughters and five sons, at Annapolis Royal and in the Minas Basin: Marie-Madeleine in c1711; Anne-Marie in July 1712; Joseph in May 1714; Jean-Baptiste dit Bonnapétit in the mid-1710s; Sylvestre at Minas in December 1719; Jacques in the early 1720s; Pierre dit Bonappétit at Ste.-Famille, Pigiguit, in c1723; and Euphrosine probably on the eve of her mother's death. After Anne died, Pierre took his family to Petiticoudiac in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, placing an even greater distance between himself and British authorities at Annapolis Royal. His older daughters married into Hélie dit Nouvelle and LeBlanc families at Grand-Pré in 1729 and 1730. Four of his sons also married, two of them into the Lapierre and Saulnier families in the mid-1740s and the early 1750s at Petitcoudiac. In 1755, descendants of Pierre Lalande, alias Blaise des Brousses dit Bonappétit, and Anne Prétieux could be found at Petitcoudiac in the trois-rivières west of Chignecto and on one of the Maritime islands.
Pierre dit Bonappetit's oldest son Joseph and two of his children were recorded at Halifax in August 1763, a typical fate for Acadians from Petitcoudiac who had escaped the British roundup in 1755 and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. At war's end, Joseph did not emigrate to Louisiana from Halifax, though where he resettled is anyone's guess. The fate of his younger brothers Jean-Baptiste, Sylvestre, and Jacques also is anyone's guess. What is certain is that Sylvestre's daughter Madeleine by wife Marguerite Saulnier did end up in Louisiana, though exactly when she got there, and with whom, is uncertain. She probably sailed from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, with hundreds of other Acadians from the prison compounds of Nova Scotia in 1764-65. Only seven years old at the time, she probably was watched over by her mother's Saulnier relatives. No matter, she was the first member of the family to go to Louisiana.
The story of Joseph et al.'s youngest brother Pierre dit Bonappétit, fils is more easily guessed at. Pierre, fils and his family probably moved from Petitcoudiac to one of the French Maritime islands in the 1740s or early 1750s. When the British rounded up the Acadians in Nova Scotia in 1755, Pierre dit Bonappétit, fils and his family, living in territory still controlled by France, would have escaped deportation. Their respite from British oppression would have been short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on the French islands and deported them to France.
Most of the island Acadians ended up in the suburbs and villages of the St.-Malo area, but many were scattered to other French ports during the 1758-59 crossing. Pierre dit Bonappétit, fils and his family landed at Le Havre in Normandy in early February 1759. Tragedy stalked the family there. The year 1768 was especially hard. In September 1768, Pierre dit Bonappétit, fils, now a widower, died at Le Havre, age 45. In October, his 25-year-old son Sylvain died. And in November, 19-year-old son Joseph le jeune followed his father and brother to the grave. One of Pierre dit Bonappétit, fils's nephews may have accompanied him to France. Joseph, fils, son of Pierre dit Bonappétit's older brother Joseph, born probably at Petitcoudiac in c1746, somehow became separated from his parents during the roundup of 1755 and most likely joined his uncle in the French Maritimes, from which the British deported him to France in 1758-59. Joseph, fils would have been age 13 when he reached Le Havre. When he came of age, he became a sailor and married fellow Acadian Marie-Pélagie Doiron at Le Havre in c1772. The following year, Joseph and Marie-Pélagie followed other exiles languishing in the port cities to the interior of Poitou, where they attempted to become productive farmers on an influential nobleman's land near the city of Châtellerault. Their daughter Émilie, also called Eulalie, was born in St.-Jean l'Evangelise Parish, Châtellerault, in January 1774. In October 1775, after two years of effort, Marie-Pélagie retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. Joseph, fils was not with her and their daughter in the convoy, so he probably had returned to the sea to provide for his family. When Joseph, fils returned to France, Marie-Pélagie gave him more children at Nantes: Joseph-Édouard in St.-Nicolas Parish in January 1777; and Jacques-Jean in c1779 but died at age 2 at nearby Chantenay in 1781--at least three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1774 and 1779. Joseph, fils died probably at Nantes in the late 1770s or early 1780s, in his 30s. Meanwhile, Marie Lalande, perhaps a descendant of Pierre dit Bonappétit, married Jean-Baptiste-Toussaint, son of Acadians Joseph-Simon Granger and Marie-Josèphe Thériot of Minas and Belle-Île-en-Mer, at Paimboeuf, the lower port of Nantes, in c1774. She gave him two sons there. When in the early 1780s the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, Marie-Pélagie Doiron, still an unmarried widow, and two of her Lalande children--Émilie, age 11; and Joseph-Édouard, age 8--agreed to take it.
Lalandes settled fairly late in Acadia, and most of them came "late" to Louisiana. A Lalande orphan evidently came to Louisiana in 1765 and settled in the Opelousas District. She married twice, into the Bourassa and Moreau families, and remained in the area. Joseph-Édouard Lalande of Nantes, France, did not come to the colony until 1785, and he did not settle near his cousin on the Opelousas prairies. He followed his widowed mother and an older sister to the Acadian Coast above New Orleans, but he did not remain there. He moved to the old Attakapas District in the 1810s and settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Half of his 10 sons married and settled in St. Martin, Lafayette, Vermilion, Acadia, and St. Landry parishes. All of the Acadian Lalandes of South Louisiana are descended from Joseph-Édouard and his many sons.
Lalande seems to be a fairly common surname in France. French Lalandes came to colonial Louisiana as early as the 1720s. Most, if not all, of them settled at New Orleans. They could be found, also, at Natchitoches on the Red River. In the 1770s, two French-Canadian brothers who tended to spell their surname Lalonde settled on the western prairies, concentrating in what became St. Landry Parish. The younger brother, Guillaume, created a vigorous family line there. Many of his descendants settled near Arnaudville on upper Bayou Teche. Smaller families of French-Creole and Foreign-French Lalandes settled in some of the river parishes above New Orleans and along Bayou Lafourche, but most Lalande/Lalondes, Acadian and non-Acadian, lived west of the Atchafalaya Basin, creating a complicated genealogical picture for the family there. For example, by the 1830s, area priests began using the surname Lalonde for descendants of Acadian Joseph-Édouard Lalande.
Judging by the number of slaves they owned during the late antebellum period, some Lalande/Lalondes lived comfortably on their farms, vacharies, and plantations along Bayou Lafourche and on the western prairies. In 1850, the estate of Foreign Frenchman Joseph Lalande of Assumption Parish held 33 slaves. French Canadian Cyprien Lalonde owned 21 slaves in St. Landry Parish. Older brother Georges held nine slaves that year. Most of the Lalande/Lalondes of South Louisiana, however, owned no slaves at all, at least none who appear on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860. ...
Nearly two dozen Lalande/Lalondes served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, at least three of them as officers. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Lalan, Laland, Lalanda, Lalane, Lalanne, L'allande, Lauland, Lelande, Loland.04
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The first of the family--a 7-year-old orphan in the care of Saulnier relations--likely came to the colony in 1765 from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, and followed them to the Opelousas District, where she married twice to non-Acadians.
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Exactly twenty years later, two more Acadian Lalandes, a sister and a brother, came to the colony with their widowed mother on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of August 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to Baton Rouge. The sister married into the LeBlanc family on the river, and the brother married there, too. But he and his wife did not remain. During the early antebellum period, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the old Attakapas District and established the only Acadian line of the family:
Joseph-Édouard (1777-1822) à Joseph à Pierre Lalande
Joseph-Édouard, son of Joseph Lalande, fils and Marie-Pélagie Doiron, born in St.-Nicolas Parish, Nantes, France, in January 1777, came to Louisiana as an eight-year-old orphan with his widowed mother and older sister. He lived first in the Baton Rouge area and then at Cabahannocer/St.-Jacques on the lower Acadian Coast, where he married Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Breaux and his first wife Marie-Madeleine Melançon, in February 1803. Madeleine's parents had come to Louisiana from Maryland as teenagers in the late 1760s. She and Joseph-Édouard did not remain on the river. In the late 1810s, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born on the river and the lower Teche, included Joseph Maximilien, called Maximilien and Maxilien, at Cabahannocer in February 1804; Arsène, probably a son, in May 1805 but died at age 6 in St. James Parish in May 1811; Ursin, also called Joseph Ursin, born in August 1806; Napoléon, also called Joseph Napoléon, Napoléon R., Paul, Paul Napoléon, and Augustin Napoléon, in October 1808; André Joseph in October 1810; Marie Clémentine, called Clémentine in October 1811 but died at age 9 "at her parents' home" on Fausse Pointe in September 1821; Joseph Sylvère, called Sylvère and Sylvain, born in August 1814; Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in April 1816 in St. James Parish; a son, name unrecorded, in either St. James Parish or on the lower Teche in c1817 but died at age 2 in September 1819 "at his parents' home" at Fausse Pointe; Jean Dositée born on the lower Teche in May 1818; Félonise in March 1820; Valsin in October 1822; and Jean Baptiste Alsendore, called Alsendore, posthumously in April 1823 but died at "his mother's home at La Fausse Pointe," age 1 1/2, in June 1824--13 children, 10 sons and three daughters, between 1804 and 1823. Joseph Édouard died at his home at Fausse Pointe in November 1822, age 45. His succession, which names his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in August 1823. Daughters Carméite and Félonise married into the Gaspard and Guilbert families on the prairies. Only half of his many sons married, several of them to sisters, and most to non-Acadians, but not all of the lines endured. Most of his sons and grandsons settled in Lafayette Parish, west and northwest of Fausse Pointe, but some of them remained in St. Martin Parish, moved southwest into Vermilion Parish, or moved north into the Grand Coteau area of St. Landry Parish, where a number of French-Canadian Lalondes had settled (in fact, by the 1830s, area priests began applying the surname Lalonde to Joseph-Édouard's descendants although most of the Lalandes lived not in St. Landry but in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes). The Acadian Lalandes of South Louisiana descend from Joseph Édouard and his sons.
Oldest son Joseph Maximilien, called Maximilien and Maxilien, followed his family to Fausse Pointe and married Madeleine Arsènne, called Arsènne, daughter of fellow Acadians Théodore Joseph Broussard and Henriette Trahan, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in March 1823. Their children, born on the prairies, included Joseph, fils, also called Joseph Bruno, in November 1823; Paul Maximilien in February 1827; a child, name unrecorded, died at age 5 hours in June 1829; Paul Delineau born in c1830; Joseph, also called Joseph Valsin and Valsin, in June 1831; Pierre Théolin, called Théolin, in c1833; Madeleine, also called Eugénie, in February 1834; and Théodore baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 2 months, in February 1837 but died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in September 1840--eight children, at least six sons and a daughter, between 1823 and 1837. Wife Madeleine died in 1851. Her succession, post-mortem, naming her husband, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in June of that year. Joseph Maximilien, who did not remarry, died a widower in Lafayette Parish in November 1857. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 58 when he died. He was 53. Daughter Madeleine married a Broussard cousin. Four of Joseph Maximilien's sons also married.
Oldest son Joseph, fils, also called Joseph Bruno, married Carmélite, 16-year-old daughter of Salvador Morvant and his Acadian wife Anastasie Granger, at the Vermilionville church in January 1844. Did they have any children?
Maximilien's third son Paul Delineau married Palmyre, daughter of fellow Acadians André Basile Landry and his first wife Marie Eulalie Melançon, at the Vermilionville church in October 1852. She evidently gave him no children. Paul Delineau remarried to Mélanie or Mélaïde, daughter of Pheliciène Hulin, at the St. Martinville church in July 1854. Their children, born on the prairies, included Arsène in September 1855; Joseph Edgard near Youngsville, Lafayette Parish, in July 1859 but died at age 3 in St. Martin Parish in November 1862; Adélaïde born in September 1861; ...
Maximilien's fourth son Joseph Valsin may have married Marie Lapointe at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in June 1858. Their son Joseph was born near Abbeville in September 1861 but may have died at age 1 (the recording priest said 3) in November 1862; ...
Maximilien's fifth son Pierre Théolin, called Théolin, was emancipated by the Lafayette Parish court in July 1851 after he turned 18. He married Zoé, daughter of perhaps Nicolas Vallot and Marguerite Domingues, at the St. Martinville church in July 1854. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Léonard in July 1855; Laodice near Youngsville in February 1867; ... During the War of 1861-65, Pierre Théolin served in Company B of the Yellow Jackets Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Louisiana. He survived the war, returned to his family, and remarried to Céleste Saveur in Lafayette or Vermilion Parish in the late 1860s. Their son Pierre was born soon afterwards. Pierre Théolin died near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in 1888, age 56.
Joseph Édouard's third son Joseph Ursin, called Ursin, followed his family to Fausse Pointe and married Marie Catherine, called Catherine, daughter of Jean Schexnayder and Marguerite Baudoin, at the Vermilionville church in July 1829. Their daughter Mélanie was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 4 1/2 months, in October 1830. A succession for wife Catherine, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September 1834. Ursin, at age 30, remarried to Adélaïde, called Délaïde and Mélaïde, 20-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Louvière and Louise Granger, at the Vermilionville church in November 1836. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Melozain, also called Adam, baptized, age 1 1/2 months, in December 1837; Marie Mélasie in May 1840; and Amélie in September 1841--four children, three daughters and a son, by two wives, between 1830 and 1841. Daughter Marie, by his second wife, married into the Schexnayder family by 1870. Ursin's son also married by then.
Only son Melozain, also called Adam, by second wife Adélaïde Louvière, may have married Élina Leleux, place and date unrecorded. They were living near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in the late 1860s. Adam died near Rayne, Acadia Parish, in October 1898, age 60.
Joseph Édouard's fourth son Augustin Napoléon, called Napoléon and also Paul, followed his family to Fausse Pointe and married Susanne, daughter of Jean Fabre or Favre and Charlotte Normand, at the Vermilionville church in July 1828. Their daughter Edila or Edita was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in September 1833. In August 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted two slaves--both female, both black, ages 20 and 2--on Napoléon Lalande's farm in the parish's western district. Napoléon, at age 56, remarried to Azélie, daughter of Salvador Morvant and his Acadian wife Anastasie Granger, at the Youngsville church in November 1864. Their children, born on the southwest prairies, included Demostine, perhaps a son, in Lafayette Parish in September 1864; Phelonise in January 1866; Joseph Napoléon, fils in October 1867; Vileor or Vilcor in December 1868; Numa Lalon in April 1870; Aristide in October 1872; Henry or Harrison near Abbeville in March 1879; Joseph Overton near Rayne, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in January 1882 when his father was age 73!; ... Daughter Edita, by his first wife, married into the Richard and Comeaux families by 1870.
Joseph Édouard's sixth son Joseph Sylvère, called Sylvère and Sylvain, followed his family to Fausse Pointe and married Marguerite, another daughter of Jean Fabre or Favre and Charlotte Normand, at the Vermilionville church in July 1834. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Dorsiny, Dorsin, Dorsile, or Dorsélie in April 1836; Portalise or Portalys, perhaps a daughter, in December 1837 but died at age 1 1/2 in May 1839; Joseph baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in November 1839 but died at age 13 months in October 1840; Jean Ida or Adon, called Adon, born in April 1841; Aladin in November 1842; Paul in c1844; Eve, perhaps also called Virginie, in October 1846; Marguerite Azéma in December 1848 but, called Azéma, died at age 6 1/2 in April 1855; Jules in February 1853 but died at age 13 (the recording priest said 18) in April 1866; Albert born in April 1855; Marie in March 1857; Carolie in December 1861; ... Daughter Virginie married into the Morvant family by 1870. Two of Joseph Sylvère's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Dorsin, Dorsile, or Dorsélie married Eléonore or Léonore, daughter of Jean/Léon Gary and Marie Dolor Viator, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1855, and sanctified the married at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1862. Their children, born on the St. Landry prairies, included Marie Zulma near Grand Coteau in April 1857; Marguerite Azéma in November 1860; Léodice Joseph in September 1862; Joseph near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in April 1867; Cléoma near Youngsville in February 1870; ... None of Dorsile's children married by 1870.
Joseph Sylvère's sixth son Paul married Natalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Dubois, fils and Alzire Broussard, at the Youngsville church in September 1867. Their children, born near Youngsville, included Marie Alzire in October 1868; Anaïse in June 1870; Arthur in January 1872; Albert in November 1873; ...
Joseph Édouard's ninth son Valsin married 17-year-old Aglaé, yet another daughter of Salvador Morvant and Anastasie Granger, at the Vermilionville church in October 1842. Daughter Anastasie died an infant in Lafayette Parish in October 1843. Wife Aglaé died at age 18, probably from the rigors of giving birth to daughter Anastasie, born three days before Aglaé died. Valsin remarried to Juliènne Dubois probably in Lafayette Parish in the 1840s. Daughter Philomène, born probably in Lafayette Parish in the late 1840s, married into the Vidaillet family. Did Valsin father any sons?
Philippe Lambert, probably no kin to the other Lamberts of greater Acadia, born probably in France in c1682, married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Michel Boudrot, fils and Marie-Madeleine Cormier, in c1712 and settled at Chignecto. Marie-Madeleine gave Philippe five children there, three daughters and two sons: Marie born in c1714; Michel; Isabelle; Anne in July 1722; and Pierre at Menoudy across the basin from Beaubassin in c1726. Daughters Marie and Anne married into the Garceau dit Richard and Doiron families at Chignecto. Philippe's sons married into the Girouard, Arseneau, and Doiron families there. In 1755, descendants of Philippe Lambert and Marie Boudrot could still be found at Chignecto. Le Grand Dérangement of 1755 scattered the family to the winds.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. During the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, assisted by Mi'kmaq warriors led by Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads in the British-controlled area east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Philippe Lambert's widow and probably some of her children and their families were among the refugees in this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto-area Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, local habitants, pressured by the French, served in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the Canadians and French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with the French at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies.
In October 1755, the British deported Philippe Lambert's younger son Pierre, Pierre's second wife, and seven children to South Carolina aboard the ship Edward Cornwallis, which reached Charles Town in late November. In January 1756, Pierre, his wife, and two children appeared on a list of Acadians "incapable of Labor, Sick or Infirm." Colonial officials counted Pierre at Prince Frederick Parish, Winyah, South Carolina, in 1756; once again he was a widower. In c1761, he remarried again--his third marriage--to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Doiron and Anne LeBlanc and widow of Pierre Boucher. Two years later, in August 1763, Pierre, Marie, son Pierre, fils, and infant son Jean appeared on a repatriation list being circulated in the colony. With them on the list were a Boucher stepdaughter from Marie's first marriage and three Doiron orphans, children of Pierre's older sister Anne, who had died at Prince Frederick probably of malaria in October 1756.
While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged the exiles in the seaboard colonies to go to St.-Dominique, where they could escape British rule. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years's War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to what was left of their possessions in the Caribbean basin and assist in the "war of vengeance" to come. French officials saw the exiles as a ready source of cheap labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the island's major planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own if they came to the sugar colony. In late 1763 or 1764, Pierre Lambert and his family evidently followed other exiles from South Carolina to French St.-Domingue. After a year or more of effort, however, Pierre and his family, still without land, looked for the first opportunity to leave the island. This occurred in 1765 when Acadian refugees from Halifax came through Cap-Français, east of Môle St.-Nicolas, on their way to New Orleans and the Mississippi valley. Pierre, wife Marie Doiron, son Pierre, fils, and stepdaughter Marie-Anne Boucher were among the relatively few exiles who ventured to Louisiana directly from the French Antilles.
Philippe Lambert settled fairly late in Acadia, but his younger son was among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. Pierre Lambert and his third wife arrived directly from French St.-Domingue in 1765 and settled with Halifax exiles in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. She gave him more children there. Four of his seven sons married, but only three of them created family lines that endured. During the early antebellum period, two of Pierre's grandsons joined the Acadian exodus from the river to Bayou Lafourche, but his other grandsons remained on the river in what became St. James, Ascension, and Livingston parishes. One of the Lafourche valley grandsons moved down bayou to Terrebonne Parish, but the other remained on the upper Lafourche in Assumption Parish. The larger center of this family's settlement remained on the Mississippi and along the Amite. The Lamberts along the Amite were among the few Acadians who settled in Livingston Parish. None of Pierre's descendants moved west of the Atchafalaya Basin during the antebellum period.
Meanwhile, non-Acadian Lamberts came to the colony as early as the 1720s, decades before their Acadian namesakes arrived from St.-Domingue. Most of the French-Creole Lamberts lived at New Orleans, but one family settled on the lower German Coast below Cabahannocer and another farther upriver at Pointe Coupée. During the late colonial and early antebellum periods, non-Acadian Lamberts also settled in the predominantly-Acadian communities of St. James and St. Gabriel on the river,, Assumption on the upper Lafourche, and Attakapas and Opelousas on the western prairies. During the antebellum period, two non-Acadian families, one created by a Dalmatian from the Adriatic coast, the other by a young Parisian, set down roots in St. Landry and St. Martin parishes on the prairies. In the late antebellum period and during the War of 1861-65, non-Acadian Lamberts, both French and Anglo American, moved to the Baton Rouge area and into the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley, further complicating the family's genealogical picture along the river and the bayous. Lamberts who lived in South Louisiana, especially on the prairies before and after the war, included Afro Creoles who may have been owned by Lamberts, or, more likely, were descendants of slaves or free blacks with the given name Lambert. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Lambar, Lambare, Lamber, L'Ambert, Lamberti, Lamberto, Lampert, Lembert. It should not be confused with the Lambre family, none of whom were Acadians.05
.
The only Acadian Lamberts to come to the colony--a small family with two children, only one of them a Lambert--arrived in 1765, but they did not come from Halifax via French St.-Domingue. They, in fact, came to New Orleans directly from St.-Domingue, among the relatively few Acadians who arrived there via that route. They settled with the Halifax exiles at Cabahannocer on what came to be called the Lower Acadian Coast:
Pierre (c1726-1790s) Lambert
Pierre, younger son of Philippe Lambert and Marie-Madeleine Boudrot, born at Menoudy, Chignecto, in c1726, married Marguerite Arseneau probably at Chignecto in c1750. She gave him a son, Pierre, fils, born there in c1751. Pierre remarried in 1754 or 1755 probably at Chignecto to a woman whose name has been lost to history. In the fall of 1755, the British deported him, his second wife, and seven "children" (likely younger relatives, some of them probably orphans, along with his son) to South Carolina aboard the transport Edward Cornwallis. Colonial officials counted him with two sons, Pierre, fils and Jean, at Prince Frederick Parish, Winyah, near present-day Georgetown, up the coast from Charles Town, in 1756. One wonders who was the mother of Jean. Pierre's second wife had died by then. In 1761, in his mid-30s, Pierre remarried again--his third marriage--to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Doiron and Anne LeBlanc and widow of Pierre Boucher, in South Carolina. She gave him another son named Jean, born in c1762. (One wonders what happened to the first one.) In August 1763, Pierre, wife Marie, and six children, including three Doiron orphans, probably Marie's younger sisters, a Boucher stepdaughter, and two Lambert sons--Pierre, fils, age 16 (probably 12); and Jean, age 1--were still living in the southern colony. Later that year or in 1764, they chose to go to French St.-Domingue and likely settled at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the island. Pierre and Marie came to Louisiana in 1765 probably with Acadian refugees from Halifax who came through Cap-Français, east of Môle, on their way to New Orleans. Only stepdaughter Marie-Anne Boucher, age 11, and son Pierre, fils, now age 14, were with them, so the second Jean had died in South Carolina or in St.-Domingue. Pierre and Marie had their marriage blessed at Cabahannocer in May 1766. She gave him more children there, including Marie-Anne, called Anne, born in c1767; Michel in c1769; Madeleine-Pélagie, called Pélagie, baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1770; Joseph born in c1773; Philippe or Félix baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1774; and Paul baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1776--at least nine children, seven sons and two daughters, by three wives, between 1751 and 1776, in greater Acadia, South Carolina, and Louisiana. Pierre, père died probably at Cabahannocer before July 1794. Daughters Madeleine-Pélagie and Marie-Anne married into the Bonvillain and Labis or Labys families. Four of Pierre, père's sons also married, but only three of their lines endured. One of Pierre's daughters lived, and died, at New Orleans. Two of his grandsons moved to the Bayou Lafourche valley in the early 1800s. The others remained on the river in what became St. James, Ascension, and Livingston parishes.
Oldest son Pierre, fils, by first wife Marguerite Arseneau, followed his family to South Carolina, French St.-Domingue, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where, in his late 30s, he married Josèphe-Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Bruno Célestin dit Bellemère and Anne Breau, in October 1787. Josèphe-Marie, also called Marie-Josèphe, a native of St.-Servan-sur-Mer near St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France as a teenaged orphan in 1785. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Pierre III in July 1788; Éloi-Élias in August 1790; Pascal in April 1792; Marie-Mélanie, called Mélanie, in July 1794; Félicité in April 1796; and Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, in January 1799--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1788 and 1799. Pierre, fils died at Cabahannocer/St.-Jacques/St. James in August 1800. The priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre was age 55 when he died. He was closer to 53. His widow remarried at St. James to a French Canadian and moved to upper Bayou Lafourche. Two of her Lambert sons and two of her Lambert daughters followed her there. Daughters Mélanie, Madeleine, and Félicité married into the Guidry, Petit, Rivet, and Moron families. Two of Pierre, fils's sons also married.
Oldest son Pierre III followed his widowed mother to upper Bayou Lafourche and married Victoire, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Benoit and Marie Madeleine Gautreaux and widow of Charles Bergeron, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in December 1815. Their son Pierre Polycarp was born on the upper Lafourche in January 1815. Pierre III remarried to Marie, daughter of Mathurin Daunis or Donis and his Acadian wife Anne Bourg of Lafourche, at the Plattenville church in January 1819. They moved down bayou before settling in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born there, included Émelie in the 1820s; Michelle Léonise in c1830; and Leufroi Donat in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1833--four children, two sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1815 and 1833. Pierre III died in Terrebonne Parish in October 1835, age 47. His succession inventory was filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in August 1836. Daughters Émelie and Michelle Léonise, by his second wife, married into the Thibodeaux and Daigle families. Both of Pierre III's sons also married and remained in Terrebonne Parish.
Older son Pierre Polycarp, by first wife Victoire Benoit, married Célanise or Célanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Béloni Babin and Madeleine Dugas of Iberville Parish, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in October 1842. They evidently settled near the boundary between Terrebonne and Lafourche Interior parishes. Daughter Anaïse Madeleine, also called Madeleine A., was born there in June 1843. Pierre Polycarp remarried to Eugénie or Amelise, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Isidore Gautreaux and his Creole wife Marie Rosalie Siville and widow of Jean Aurelien Boudreaux, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in July 1849, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church in August 1854. They settled on Bayou Petit Caillou in Terrebonne. Their children, born there, included Marie Émelie in July 1850; Joseph Arthur in November 1851; Victoire Salonie in October 1853; Virginie Zoée in July 1855; Georges Jean in January 1858; and Elezida Dalila in February 1860 but died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 7) in Terrebonne Parish in October 1865--seven children, five daughters and two sons, by two wives, between 1843 and 1860. Pierre died in Terrebonne Parish in December 1870, age 55. Daughter Madeleine A., by his first wife, married a Boudreaux stepbrother by 1870. Neither of Pierre Polycarp's sons married by then.
Pierre III's younger son Leufroi Donat, by second wife Marie Daunis, married Zéolide Evelina, daughter of fellow Acadian Firmin Blanchard and his Creole wife Marie Hélène LeBoeuf of Terrebonne Parish, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in August 1858, and, erroneously called Pierre by the recording priest, sanctified the marriage at the Houma church in June 1859. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Eve in March 1860; Émelie Evelia in January 1862; Adam Oleus in October 1864; Joseph Firmin near Montegut in December 1867; Joseph Pierre Marie in March 1870; ...
Pierre, fils's third and youngest son Pascal followed his widowed mother to upper Bayou Lafourche and married Marie Césaire, called Césaire, daughter of Nicolas Bélanger and Marguerite Lejeune of Illinois, in a civil ceremony recorded in both Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes in July 1815, and sanctified the marriage at the Plattenville church in July 1817. They remained on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes before moving to Bayou Boeuf. Their children, born there, included Marie Elmire in January 1815; Adeline in May 1816; Félonise Brigitte in June 1817 but died at age 2 in August 1819; Marie Azélie born in July 1819; Joseph Drosin, called Drosin, in March 1822; Joseph Michel in January 1825 but died at age 10 months the following October; twins Marie Malvina and Marie Melissaire born in April 1832, but Marie Melssaire died at age 4 months (the recording priest said 14 1/2 months) in August, and Marie Malvina died at age 1 1/2 in July 1833; and Pascal, fils born in March 1835 but died at age 17 months in August 1836--nine children, six daughters and three sons, including a set of twins, between 1815 and 1835. Daughter Adeline married into the Mars family. Pascal's remaining son also married.
Oldest son Joseph Drosin, called Drosin, married Marie Céleste or Célestine Stout, place unrecorded, probably in the early 1840s, and settled in Assumption Parish. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Célestine in September 1844; Marie Célina, called Célina, in November 1847; Marie Ophelia in December 1850; André Marcellus in February 1853; Lucien in September 1854; Pierre Hippolyte in August 1856; Marie Adelisca in April 1859; Marie Célima in January 1861; ... Daughter Célina married into the Alleman family at Pierre Part on the north shore of Lake Verret by 1870. None of Joseph Drosin's sons married by then.
Pierre, père's fourth son Michel, by third wife Marie Doiron, married Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Vincent and Marguerite Cormier, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in May 1798. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St.-Jacques/St. James, included Michel-Édouard, called Édouard, in July 1799; Eugène in January 1801; Arthémise in December 1802; and Jean Joseph, called Jean, posthumously in November 1804 but died near Convent at age 18 in April 1823--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1799 and 1804. Michel died at St. James in March 1804, age 35. Daughter Arthémise married into the Berteau family. Two of Michel's sons also married and settled on the river.
Oldest son Michel Édouard, called Édouard, married cousin Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Guidry and Marguerite Vincent, his uncle and aunt, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in February 1827; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included Édouard Lucien, called Lucien, in January 1828; Marie Célestine in September 1829 but died at age 2 in October 1831; Marie Élisa born in November 1831; Auguste Théogène in March 1834; Marie Zélima or Célina in June 1836 but died at age 2 years, 3 months in October 1838; Théodule born in July 1838; Victorin in November 1840 but died at age 26 in April 1867 (one wonders if his death was war-related); a son, name unrecorded, died six hours after his birth in May 1843; Célestine Delphine born in June 1844; Édouard Thelesmar in September 1846; and Angelina Célestine in December 1848--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1828 and 1848. Édouard may have died near Convent in April 1869. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Édouard died at "age 55 years." This Édouard would have been age 69. Édouard's remaining daughters did not marry by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Lucien married cousin and fellow Acadian Hélène Guidry probably at Convent in the late 1850s. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Odile in September 1859; Marie Adèle in April 1864; ...
Michel's second son Eugène married Virginie, daughter of Joseph Michel, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and Marie Pertuit, at the Convent church in May 1830. Their children, born near Convent, included Eusèbe in March 1831; Marie Léonore or Eléonore, called Eléonore, in February 1833; Eugène, also called Eugène Sosthène and Sosthène, baptized at age 6 months in June 1835; Justilien or Justinien born in May 1837 but died at age 16 months in September 1838; Zénon Félicien born in July 1839; Auguste in August 1841; Louisa in September 1843; Charles Adolphe, called Adolphe, in August 1845; Marie Amélie or Amelia, called Amelia, in December 1847; and Laurent Jean in August 1850--10 children, seven sons and three daughters, between 1831 and 1850. Daughters Eléonore and Amelia married into the Donaldson and Guidry families by 1870. Three of his sons also married by then.
Oldest son Eusèbe married cousin Marie Eveline, called Eveline, daughter of German Creoles Onésime Oubre and Josèphine Bernard, at the Convent church in January 1858; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marie Alice was born near Convent in September 1859. Did they have anymore children?
Eugène's second son Eugène Sosthène, called Sosthène, married Marie Félicie, called Félicie, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Célestin Bourgeois and his Creole wife Gertrude Coussat, at the Convent church in April 1859. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Regina in February 1860 but died at age 9 1/2 (the recording priest said "ca. 8 years") in October 1869; Marie Cécilia born in October 1861; Marie Blanche in April 1863 but, called Blanche, died at age 5 in July 1868; Félix Valcour born in August 1865 but, called Valcour, died at age 3 1/2 in March 1869; Eugène Victor born in January 1867; Marie Amanda in May 1868; ...
Eugène's sixth son Adolphe married first cousin Angelina, daughter of Étienne Badeaux and Elmire Michel, his uncle and aunt, at the Convent church in April 1868; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marie Ophelia was born near Convent in June 1869; ...
Pierre, père's fifth son Joseph, by third wife Marie Doiron, married Théotiste dite Osite, daughter of Nicolas Vicknair and Apollonie Helfer, at St.-Jean-Baptiste on the upper German Coast, downriver from Cabahannocer, in February 1794. They settled at Cabahannocer. Joseph's descendants were among the few Acadians who settled across the Amite River in Livingston Parish. They, in fact, helped put the "French" in French Settlement there. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Joseph, fils in November 1794 but died there at age 14 months in January 1796; Pierre-Léon born in February 1796; Euphrosine in December 1798; Michel-Drosin, called Drosin and Derosin, in May 1801; another Joseph, fils in February 1802; and Jean Cyprien or Symphorien, in December 1808--six children, five sons and a daughter, between 1794 and 1808. Joseph's daughter evidently did not marry, but his remaining sons did.
Third son Michel Drosin, called Drosin, married, at age 27, Arthémise, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Eusèbe Babin and Françoise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1829. Their son Joseph Timoléon, called Timoléon, was born in Ascension Parish in November 1829 but died at age 2 1/2 in August 1832. Meanwhile, wife Arthémise, called "Mrs. Derosin" by the recording priest, died in Ascension Parish in May 1830, age 22. Michel Drosin remarried to Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Gautreaux and Marie Marthe Richard, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1831. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph le jeune in April 1832; Marie Célestine in July 1834; Sostin or Sosthène, also called Drosin and Derosin, baptized at age 7 months in December 1838; Marie Louisa born in January 1840; and Alexandre in January 1843--six children, four sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1829 and 1843. Neither of Drosin's daughter married by 1870, but his remaining sons did and settled along the Amite River in either Ascension or Livingston Parish near French Settlement.
Second son Joseph le jeune, by second wife Eulalie Gautreaux, married fellow Acadian Virginie Adeline Guidry probably in Ascension Parish in the early 1850s. They settled near French Settlement. Their children, born there, included Marie Célestine in November 1850; Pierre in May 1853; Marie Aimée in September 1854; Joseph, fils in February 1856; Jean le jeune in June 1858; Louis in December 1860; Marie Louise Ludovicam near Gonzales in December 1863; Marie Célestine in November 1866; ... None of Joseph le jeune's children married by 1870.
Michel Drosin's third son Sosthène, also called Drosin, from second wife Eulalie Gautreaux, married Marguerite Lutetia, called Lutetia and Tesia, daughter of Norbert Villeneuve and his Acadian wife Marcellite Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in October 1855. They settled near French Settlement. Their children, born there, included Drosin le jeune in October 1857; Jean le jeune in Ascension Parish in June 1860; Marie Eulalie in August 1864; Félix Beauregard in February 1867; Marie Cécelia in January 1869; ...
Michel Drosin's fourth and youngest son Alexandre, by second wife Eulalie Gautreaux, likely married Marie Irma, called Irma, Guitreau probably at French Settlement in the mid-1860s. Their children, born near French Settlement, included Maurice in September 1866; Louisa in February 1870; ...
Joseph, père's fourth son Joseph, fils, the second with the name, married Susanne, daughter of Jean Descareaux and Susanne Chenet, at the Convent church in July 1826. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph III near Convent in March 1827 but died at age 1 1/2 in September 1828; Pierre Degore born in April 1831; and Marie Joséphine in August 1832. Joseph, fils remarried to Caisere, daughter of Antoine Haydel and Césaire Miette, at the French Settlement church, Livingston Parish, in June 1842. Daughter Antonie had been born at French Settlement in August 1840 and was baptized there three days before her parents' marriage--four children, two sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1827 and 1840. Neither of Joseph's daughters may not have married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Second son Pierre Degore, by first wife Susanne Descareaux, married first cousin Marie Célestine, daughter of Célestin Poché and Coralie Descareaux, his uncle and aunt, at the Convent church in June 1853; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marie Célestine was born near Convent in March 1855 and did not marry by 1870.
Joseph, père's fifth and youngest son Jean Cyprien or Symphorien evidently married Marguerite Merisa or Mirza Guitreaux or Guidroz, a French Creole, not a fellow Acadian, probably in Ascension Parish in the 1830s. Their children, born near French Settlement, included Paul in the 1830s; Marie Élodie in July 1838; Jean Synforien or Symphorien, fils in January 1840; Marguerite Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, in March 1842; Hipolite in April 1844; Joseph le jeune in July 1846; François Luc in October 1848; Marie Noémi in December 1850; Pierre le jeune in April 1853; Marie Mirza in May 1855; and Marc in November 1857--11 daughters, seven sons four daughters, between the 1830s and 1857. Daughter Élisabeth married into the Salassi family by 1870. One of Jean Cyprien's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Paul married cousin Marie Florestine, daughter of Leufroi Deslattes and Elmire Vicknair, at the French Settlement church in May 1866; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near French Settlement, included Evariste in March 1867; Lucien in January 1869; ...
Pierre, père's sixth son Philippe or Félix, by third wife Marie Doiron, married Marguerite, daughter of Pierre Charpentier and Jeanne Moutard of New Orleans, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in February 1801. Their daughter Marguerite-Marcelline was born posthumously there in October 1801. Félix died at Cabahannocer in October 1801, 12 days before his daughter was born. The priest who recorded the burial said that Félix was age 25 when he died. He was 27. Did his daughter marry?
René Landry
l'aîné, an early 1640s arrival, and his wife Perrine Bourg created
the first, and what proved to be the smaller, branch of the Landry family
in Acadia. Perrine gave René
l'aîné five children, two sons and three daughters.
Their daughters married into the Doucet, Comeau, Granger,
Richard dit Beaupré, and Dupuis families. René
l'aîné' and Perrine's sons married into the Robichaud dit
Cadet and Thériot families. The great majority of
their descendants remained at Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal,
but a few also moved on to Pobomcoup near Cap-Sable and to the French
Maritime islands.
A Landry with the same given name as
In the fall of 1755, many of the Landrys at Minas and Pigiguit found themselves on transports bound for Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. They were especially numerous in the Bay Colony and Maryland. The hundreds of Acadians transported to Virginia, the first contingent of which reached Hampton Roads during the second week of November 1755, suffered the indignity of being turned away by the colony's authorities. The exiles languished in the lower James River aboard disease-infested ships while the governor and his council pondered their fate. As winter approached, Virginia's Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered the "French Neutrals" dispersed to the ports of Hampton, Norfolk, and Richmond. The following spring, the governor and his council, as well as the colony's Burgesses, debated the question of Acadian presence in the colony and concluded that the "papists" must go. Virginia authorities hired more vessels and sent the exiles on to England, where they were packed into warehouses in several English ports and where many died of smallpox. Landrys were held at Falmouth, Southampton, and Liverpool. Back in Nova Scotia, the few Minas Landrys who escaped the British roundup joined their cousins on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore or in Canada. Most of the Landrys still at Annapolis Royal in 1755 evidently escaped the roundup there. After a hard winter on the Fundy shore, they crossed the bay to Chepoudy the following spring and joined their fellow refugees on the upper Peticoudiac or lower Rivière St.-Jean before moving on to Canada or the Gulf shore.
Island
Landrys did their best to create a life
for themselves in the suburbs and villages of the St.-Malo
area. Not all of them remained there.
One Landry
who had lost his wife and three children on the crossing to
the Breton port received permission from French
authorities to move on to La Rochelle on the Bay of Biscay in February 1759. He then
disappears from history. Most of his
Landry kinsmen remained at St.-Malo and
settled in the St.-Malo suburb of St-Servan-sur-Mer; at
St.-Suliac and Pleudihen-sur-Rance on the east side of the river south of
St.-Malo; and at Pleurtuit and Plouër-sur-Rance on the west
side of the river.
In North America, conditions only got worse
for the Acadians who had escaped the British in the late
1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore
or moved on to
Canada, where they gathered at Québec.
At war's end,
Landrys being held in the British seaboard colonies, theoretically, were free to go, but
not until the British discerned their intentions.
Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation.
Landrys from both branches of the
family were especially numerous in Massachusetts and
Maryland, where they appeared on repatriation lists
circulated in those colonies in July and August 1763.
Other
Landrys still living in the seaboard colonies at
war's end emigrated also to the French Antilles to avoid
living in territory controlled by the British. While
the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged
exiles in the seaboard colonies to go to St.-Domingue.
Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War,
the French were determined to hang on to what was left of
their shrinking empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would
protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the
Caribbean basin and assist in the "war of revenge" to come.
Exiles who could be lured to the tropical island would prove
a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors,
but also for the island's major planters, who hoped to
supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the
deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar
colony.
The first of them reached Cap-Français in late 1763.
The experience proved an unhappy one for many of the exiles,
including members of two Landry families
who French officials sent to Mirebalais in the island's
interior near Port-au-Prince to work on indigo and coffee plantations. However, w
The
dozens of
Landrys in Maryland endured life among
Englishmen who, despite their colony's Catholic roots, did
not care much for the French "papists" thrust upon them.
When word reached the Acadians in Maryland that the Spanish
would welcome them in Louisiana, they pooled their meager
resources to charter ships that would take them there.
Many Landrys were part of the
three contingents of exiles from the Chesapeake colony
that reached New Orleans in September 1766, July 1767,
and February 1768--130
Landrys in all, more than any other
family from any one place that settled in Louisiana
Among the first families of French Acadia, no Acadian family came earlier to Louisiana, and no other Acadian family sent more individuals there than the Landrys. Between February 1764, when the first group of Acadian exiles reached New Orleans, through 1785, when hundreds more arrived from France, over 200 Landrys--two-thirds of them from Maryland alone--called Spanish Louisiana their new home. (Nearly all of them were descendants of René le jeune of Acadia; only four of them, immigrant siblings from France, can be traced back to the older cousin, Rene l'aîné.) Most of the 1764 and 1765 arrivals from Georgia and Halifax settled on the Mississippi along what came to be called the Acadian Coast, but their family's presence there was not substantial at first. Not until the migrations from Maryland in 1766, 1767, and 1768 did the Landrys become a significant presence on the river. During the late colonial period, centers of family settlement arose also on the western prairies and along Bayou Lafourche, but most Landrys remained on the Mississippi, in what became St. James, Ascension, Iberville, and West Baton Rouge parishes. Some even settled in Pointe Coupee Parish, where few Acadians had gone. Most of the 1785 arrivals from France favored the Bayou Lafourche valley over the crowded river settlements. Later in the colonial period, however, when Maryland exiles or their children, as well as Landrys from France, joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche, the family's presence on the southeastern bayou became even more substantial.
Non-Acadian Landrys from Canada, France, and Switzerland appeared in St. Martin Parish in the early 1800s, but they were vastly outnumbered by their Acadian namesakes there. The family line from Switzerland, which spread western from St. Martin into nearby Lafayette Parish, was especially vigorous. Afro-Creole Landrys, the result of the family's participation in the South's "peculiar institution," also lived in South Louisiana during the antebellum and immediate post-war periods.
As they had occupied nearly every significant settlement in old Acadia, Landrys settled in every Acadian community of South Louisiana. The family's settlement patterns in the late colonial and early antebellum periods resemble a series of waves spreading out from the family's principal base on the Acadian Coast. The first wave, no more than a ripple, moved out to the western prairies beginning in the early 1770s, followed by successive waves across the Atchafalaya Basin into the early antebellum period. Most of the western Landrys settled in what became St. Martin, Lafayette, St. Mary, and Vermilion parishes, but at least one family set down roots on the Opelousas prairie south of the present city. Meanwhile, beginning in the late 1780s, several waves of Landrys moved from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche, followed by ripples of movement deeper into the Lafourche and Terrebonne country during the early 1800s. At least two Landrys settled on the Gulf at Chenière Camanada near Grand Isle at the southern edge of Jefferson Parish. Others moved from the upper Lafourche to the shores of Lake Verret, where some of their descendants turned into alligator hunters during the twentieth centry. During the early antebellum period, in a reversal of the usual Acadian migration pattern, a few Landry families moved from upper Bayou Lafourche back to the river. Also in a reversal of the usual Acadian migration pattern, at least one Landry moved from the prairies to the river during the late antebellum period. Following a more typical pattern of movement, Landrys from the Lafourche valley moved to the lower Atchafalaya, to the western prairies, and especially to lower Bayou Teche during the late antebellum and immediate post-war periods. Evidently this movement was the beginning of a virtual family exodus. A recent study of Louisiana families with French and Spanish roots notes: "Today [1986] ... Landry families in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes comprise but a small part of the clan in Louisiana." Perhaps as part of that exodus, Landrys from the Lafourche valley were moving to the Vacherie area of St. James Parish during the immediate post-war period. The Landrys nevertheless maintained a solid presence on the upper Lafourche in Assumption Parish.
The family produced a number of wealthy indigo and sugar planters, a district commandant, and a lieutenant governor, most of them from river-parish families. Joseph dit Bellehomme Landry from Grand-Pré and Maryland served as commandant of the Ascension District on the river and the upper Lafourche from 1799 to 1803 and was elected to the first Louisiana state senate in 1812. His son Trasimond served as the first lieutenant governor of the state of Louisiana during the late 1840s. ...
According to the study of Louisiana families with French and Spanish roots, "Among the surnames of French origin in Louisiana that of Landry is second only to Hébert." Interestingly, dozens more Landrys than Héberts emigrated to Spanish Louisiana, and Landry marriages outnumbered Hébert marriages by a substantial margin during the first century of Acadian presence in South Louisiana. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Lendry, Landri, Landris, and L'audry. Members of a Landry family from Canada who settled in western Virginia spell their surname Londeree, a spelling inspired, perhaps, by their anglophone neighbors.06
.
Landrys came to Louisiana as early as February 1764. They were, in fact, among the first Acadian exiles--21 in all, four of them Landrys--to settle in Louisiana:
Olivier (c1728-1770s) à Antoine à René le jeune Landry
Joseph, père's third son Benjamin married double cousin Anne-Apolline, called Apolline and Poulone, daughter of fellow Acadians René Landry and his second wife Anne Landry of Ascension, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in April 1799. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St.-Jacques/St. James, included Marie-Madeleine-Azélie, called Azélie, in May 1800; Benjamin, fils in January 1804; Céleste Théotiste in April 1806; and Placide in March 1808 but died the following August. Apolline died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in April 1808, "age about 35 yrs.," perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Benjamin remarried to double cousin Marie Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Anselme Landry and Agathe Landry and widow of Allain Babin and Amand Breaux, at the St. James church in November 1810. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Marie in August 1811; Marie Eugénie in September 1813; and Joseph Sylvère, called Sylvère, in December 1815--seven children, four daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1800 and 1815. Benjamin died in St. James Parish in March 1816. The priest who recorded the burial said that Benjamin was age 45 when he died. He was in his early 40s. Daughters Azélie and Céleste, by his first wife, married into the Achée and Blanchard families. Only one of Benjamin's sons seems to have married, and he settled on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Third and youngest son Joseph Sylvère, called Sylvère, from second wife Céleste Landry, only three months old when his father died, married, at age 19, Rosalie or Rosaline, daughter of Jacob Rebre and Gertrude Piercuire of Germany, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1835. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Numa in June 1836; Landry Ernest in January 1838; Marie Élisa in c1839 but died at "age ca. 2 years" in April 1841; Marie Eugénie born in January 1840; and a son, name unrecorded, died the day of his birth in February 1841--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1836 and 1841. Sylvère may have died in Assumption Parish in October 1848. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said Silvère, as he called him, died at "age 36 years." Joseph Sylvère would have been age 32. None of his children married by 1870.
.
A year after the first Landrys came to the colony, three more members of the family--two young sisters with their mother and stepfather and a young husband with a pregnant wife--reached New Orleans with the Broussards from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, in February 1765. That spring, they followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche, where the sisters remained, and where one of them married. After the young husband lost his wife and newborn son in a mysterious epidemic, or to the rigors of childbirth, that summer, he retreated with other Teche-valley Acadians to Cabahannocer on the river and remarried there, but no new Landry family line came of it:
Mathurin (c1737-1823?) à ? à René le jeune Landry
.
Six more Landrys--a widower with two young sons, the rest of whose family had been deported to Maryland; an orphan; and two wives--came to Louisiana in 1765 on later ships from Halifax via Cap-Français. They did not follow the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche but settled at Cabahannocer. Another line of the family came of it on the river (see below).
.
Many more Landrys--67 of them, including four sets of brothers--reached New Orleans from Baltimore in September 1766, the largest single Acadian family group ever to reach Louisiana. They settled at Cabahannocer, where cousins from Georgia and Halifax had settled two years earlier, and where one of the family head's sons had settled the year before. After the arrival of these Maryland exiles, the number of Landrys and their family lines increased dramatically in the colony, not only on the river, but also on the western prairies and upper Bayou Lafourche:
Joseph (c1710-1783) à René le jeune Landry
Abraham dit Petit Abram (c1712-1786) à René le jeune Landry
Y
Petit Abram's second
F
S
Petit Abram's third son Étienne, by first wife Élisabeth LeBlanc, followed his family to Maryland, was counted with them at Oxford in July 1763, and followed them to New Orleans and Cabahanncoer in 1766. He married cousin Brigitte, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Trahan and his first wife Brigitte Landry, at nearby Ascension in May 1776. Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river there in April 1777. They lived for a time at New Orleans but settled upriver near the boundary between the Cabahannocer and Ascension districts in what was being called the lower Acadian Coast. Their children, born on the river, included Rosalie baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1777; Éloi born in August 1779; Anne-Madeleine in January 1782; Mathurin in March 1784 but died at New Orleans at age 6 1/2 in November 1790; and Marie-Jeanne baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1786--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1777 and 1786. Étienne died by July 1787, when his wife remarried at Ascension. Daughter Rosalie married into the Leroux and Martin families and settled in St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes, among the relatively few Acadians to settle there. One of Étienne's sons married and settled on the western prairies.
Older son Éloi married cousin Juliènne, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Trahan and Marie Hugon, probably at Ascension in the late 1790s or early 1800s. If so, they did not remain on the river. They settled at Grande Pointe on upper Bayou Teche before moving to the lower Vermilion. Their children, born on the prairies, included Antoine at Grande Pointe in September 1803; Marie, perhaps also called Dulcina, in March 1805; Marguerite Uranie on the lower Vermilion in June 1807; Emérite in February 1809 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1810; Éloi, fils born in December 1810 but died at his father's home on the lower Vermilion, age 14, in August 1824; Olive born in January 1812; Angélique in January 1815; twins Eugénie and Jean in June 1817, but Jean died in Lafayette Parish, age 14, in August 1831; a son, name unrecorded, died in December 1818 eight days after his birth; and Clémentine born in June 1822--11 children, four sons and seven daughters, between 1803 and 1822. Éloi's first succession, which calls him a widower, names his wife, and lists his "heirs"--Olive, Angélique, and Eugénie, all unmarried--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in May 1831. He died in November 1843. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Éloy, as he called him, died "at age 66 yrs." He was 64. The priest also noted that Éloi was "buried at Perry's Bridge near Abbeville, La.," Vermilion Parish. Éloi's post-mortem succession was filed at Vermilionville courthouse in January 1844. The recording clerk noted that Éloi was "Grandfather to Lusiphore and Telesphore Landry, the children of Antoine Landry and Clémence Guidry," so this was him. Daughters Marguerite, Dulcina, Angélique, Olive, Eugénie, and Clémentine married into the Maillard, Campbell, Dubois, Bourgeois, Guidry, and Benoit families. Only one of Éloi's sons married.
Oldest son Antoine married Virginie Clémentine or Clémence, called Clémentine, daughter of fellow Acadian François Guidry and his Creole wife Céleste Dartes, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1828. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Lusiphor or Onésiphore baptized, age 3 months, in April 1830; and Télésphore baptized at age 3 months in April 1832. Antoine died in Lafayette Parish in November 1833, age 30 (the recording priest said 29). His succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse that December. He evidently fathered no daughters. His two sons married.
Older son Onésiphore married cousin Felicienne, also called Félicia, daughter of Joseph Dejean and his Acadian wife Arcène Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in May 1851. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Joseph Antoine in February 1851; Onésiphore Albert in October 1853; a child, name and age unrecorded, died near Abbeville, Vermilionville Parish, on the lower Vermilion, in June or July 1854; Marie Louise born in September 1856; Marie in September 1858; a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age 4 months in October 1860; ... None of Onésiphore's children married by 1870.
Antoine's younger son Télesphore likely married fellow Acadian Louisa Hébert and settled near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, by the early 1850s. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Marie Clémentine in October 1854; Antoine Dermily in February 1857; Onésiphore le jeune in January 1867; ... None of Telesphore's children married by 1870.
Petit Abram's fourth son Simon, by first wife Élisabeth LeBlanc, followed his family to Maryland, was counted with them at Oxford in July 1763, and followed them to New Orleans and Cabahanncoer, where he married cousin Anne-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter perhaps of fellow Acadians Germain Babin and Marguerite Landry, in October 1767. Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer in September 1769 and on the same bank of the river at nearby Ascension in August 1770 and April 1777. They owned a single slave in 1777. Their children, born at Ascension, included Cletus or Elotte baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1770 but died at Ascension, age 2, in September 1772; Simon-Béloni, called Béloni, born in c1771; Marie-Madeleine in March 1773; Pierre-Alexis in July 1774; Joseph-Simon in December 1775; Olivier in December 1777; Firmin baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1779; and Simon-Nicolas or Nicolas-Simon born in February 1782--eight children, seven sons and a daughter, between 1770 and 1782. Simon may have died at Ascension in February 1782, in his late 30s. Daughter Marie Madeleine married into the Landry and Gaudin families. Six of Simon's sons married and remained on the Acadian Coast, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Simon-Béloni, called Béloni, married Marie-Jeanne dite Jeanette, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Chauvin and his Acadian wife Marguerite Breaux, at Ascension in September 1793. Their children, born at Ascension, included Eugène in November 1793 but died at age 1 1/2 in January 1795; Marguerite-Justine born in September 1797; Julianne-Madeleine or Madeleine-Juliènne in January 1801; Pauline or Apolline baptized, age 3 months, in August 1804; Robert died nine days after his birth in April 1806; Gertrude Mélitine born in March 1809; Adèle Victoire in December 1811; and Jean Baptiste Longin in March 1815--eight children, three sons and five daughters, between 1793 and 1815. Simon Béloni died in St. James Parish in March 1829, age 58. Daughters Marguerite, Madeleine Juliènne, Apolline, and Gertrude Mélitine married into the Theriot, Babin, Breaux, and Landry families. Béloni's remaining son also married.
Third and youngest son Jean Baptiste Longin married Marie Aureline, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Théodore Babin and Henriette Babin, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in July 1836. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Gertrude in April 1837; Claire Célestine in August 1839 but, called Célestine, died at age 2 in July 1841; Martiale Morille, probably a son, born in July 1841; Jules Olésime in May 1843; and Baptiste Gustave in March 1845. Jean Baptiste Longin remarried to cousin Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians François Crochet and Eulalie Landry of Assumption Parish, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1853. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included François Louis in November 1853; Jean Franklin in February 1855; Félix Augustin in November 1856; and Arsènes Théo in December 1860--nine children, two daughters and seven sons, by two wives, between 1837 and 1860. Remaining daughter Marie Gertrude, by his first wife, married into the Dugas family by 1870. None of Jean Baptiste Longin's sons married by then.
Simon's third son Pierre-Alexis married cousin Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Babin, at Ascension in January 1795. Their children, born at Ascension, included Sylvain in August 1795; Marie-Mélanie, called Mélanie, in April 1797 but died at age 15 1/2 in December 1812; Élie-Narcisse or Narcisse-Élie born in March 1799; and Simon le jeune, called Simonet, in June 1801--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1795 and 1801. Pierre-Alexis died at Ascension in October 1801, age 27. His sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Sylvain married double cousin Claire or Éloise Bathilde or Mathilde, called Bathilde and Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Babin and Céleste Landry, at the Donaldson church in May 1820; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of relationship in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, in May 1821 but died at age 5 1/2 in December 1826; Bathilde Ethelvina, called Ethelvina, born in April 1823 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1824; Euphrasie Adveline born in May 1825 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1826; and Rosalie Armelise or Armelise Rose born posthumously in October 1826--four children, all daughters, between 1821 and 1826. Sylvain died in Ascension Parish in February 1826, age 30. Remaining daughter Armelise Rose married into the Delaune family. Sylvain evidently fathered no sons, and his daughter gave her husband no chilidren, so not even the blood of this family line endured.
Pierre Alexis's second son Élie Narcisse or Narcisse Élie, at age 21, married cousin Mélanie Geneviève, daughter of fellow Acadians Guillaume Raphaël Landry and Marie Madeleine Breaux, at the Donaldson church in February 1822; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Guillaume Sylvanie in January 1823; Édouard Dorsigny in September 1825; Jules, also called Jules Élie, in December 1827; and Laurent Rodolphe in August 1830--four children, all sons, between 1823 and 1830. Wife Mélanie died near St. Gabriel in June 1831, age 27. Élie Narcisse, at age 42, may have remarried to Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Julie Trahan and widow of Firmin Guidry, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in December 1841. One of Élie's sons married by 1870.
Third son Jules Élie, by first wife Mélanie Landry, married Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Dupuy and Hortense Hébert, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1855. They settled near Gonzales in the interior of Ascension Parish. Their children, born there, included Norma in July 1856; Paul Élie in December 1859; Germain Séverin in February 1862; Hortense Eva in January 1867; Terence Mathurin in November 1869; ... None of Jules's children married by 1870.
Pierre Alexis's third and youngest son Simonet married double cousin Bathilde Célesie, called Célesie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Donat Landry and Angèle Landry of Iberville Parish, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1828. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Angèle Edelvine in January 1829 but, called Evelina, died at age 2 1/2 in August 1831; Simon George Gédéon born in July 1830; Marie Evéline in July 1832; Berthilde Azilia or Azélia, also called Azélia B., in March 1834 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1835; Madeleine Euphrasie born in January 1836 but, called Euphrasie, died at age 18 in June 1854; and Acadius or Arcade Augustine, called Augustine, born in January 1841--six children, five daughters and a son, between 1829 and 1841. Simonet died in Ascension Parish in January 1867. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Simonet died at "age 65 years," so this was him. Wife Célesie died in Ascension Parish also in January 1867, age 65, less than a week after Simonet's passing. Daughter Augustine married into the LeBlanc family by 1870. Simonet's son did not marry by then.
Simon's fourth son Joseph-Simon married cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Babin and Osite LeBlanc, at Ascension in September 1797. Their children, born there, included Gilbert-Firmin in September 1799 but died at age 38 (the recording priest said 39) in December 1837; Delphine, also called Marie-Delphine, born in January 1801; Reine died eight days after her birth in October 1802; Françoise Euphrosie or Euphrasie born in March 1804; Marcellite Pélagie in October 1805; Anne Thersile in May 1807 but, called Tarsille "dit Chase," may have died near Convent, St. James Parish, in February 1852, age 44 (the recording priest said 40); Joseph Valéry born in December 1809; Pie Isidore, called Isidore, in May 1811; Raphaël Cyprien, called Cyprien, in December 1812; Bernua died, age unrecorded, in March 1815; Agappe Vunsul born in March 1816; Rosalie Ursule in August 1818; and Simon Tiburse or Thiburse, called Thiburse, posthumously in March 1820--13 children, six sons and seven daughters, between 1799 and 1820. Joseph Simon died in Ascension Parish in December 1819, age 44. Daughters Marie Delphine, Marcellite Pélagie, Françoise Euphrasie, and Rosalie Ursule married into the Gaudin, LeBlanc, Villeneuve, Breaux, and Gautreaux families. Three of Joseph Simon's sons also married.
Third son Pie Isidore, called Isidore, married Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Gautreaux and Marie Melançon, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1835. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Thomas Isidore, called Isidore, in December 1835 but died at "age ca. 1 yr." in March 1837; Edmond Martin born in November 1837 but, called Edmond, died at age 9 1/2 (the recording priest said 10) in August 1847; Marie Evelina, called Evelina, born in February 1840; Marie Adèlle in March 1842 but died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 7) in September 1848; Marie Odalie born in August 1844 but, called Odalie, died at age 3 (the recording priest said 2 1/2) in August 1847; Joseph Oscar born in January 1847 but, called Hoscar, died at age 8 1/2 in October 1855; Prudent Avit born in June 1849; Rosalisa in August 1852; and August Eugène in November 1854 but, called Eugène, died at age 10 1/2 in September 1865--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1835 and 1854. Isidore died in Ascension Parish in September 1855, age 44. Daughter Evelina married into the Babin family by 1870. Isidore's remaining son did not marry by then.
Joseph Simon's fourth son Raphaël Cyprien, called Cyprien, married Marie Apolline, called Apolline, daughter of François Lucenty, Lucenti, or Lucentie and his Acadian wife Marie Anne Gautreaux, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1837. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Marguerite in November 1837; Marthe Elvenia, called Elvenia, in April 1842; Thérèsa Elorsia or Elonia, called Elonia, in November 1843; James Xavier in May 1847 but died at age 6 1/2 in August 1853; Aubin Alvery born in March 1850; and Joseph Elphége in January 1852--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1837 and 1852. Daughters Marie, Elvenia, and Elonia married into the Yentzen, Allemand, and Erris families by 1870. None of Cyprien's remaining sons married by then.
Joseph Simon's seventh and youngest son Simon Thiburse, called Thiburse, married Élizabeth, daughter of Manuel Monson or Mansan and Eulalie Lagrange, at the Donaldsonville church in October 1855. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Lucien Joseph in December 1856; Lucie in April 1858; Simon Grégoire in May 1860; Marie Alice in June 1861 but, called Alice, died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in November 1867; Paul Adrien born in January 1864; ... None of Thiburse's children married by 1870.
Simon's fifth son Olivier married Angèle or Angélique, also called Henriette, another daughter of Sylvain LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Babin, at Ascension in June 1797. Their children, born there, included Marguerite-Cydeline or -Sidolise in March 1798; Julianne-Arthémise in February 1800 but died at age 2 1/2 in August 1802; Joséphine born in October 1801 but died at age 7 1/2 in August 1809; Servant or Simon le jeune born in October 1803; and Olésime or Onésime, perhaps also called Paul Onésime, in September 1805. Olivier remarried to Marie, daughter of Jean Pierre Culaire and his Acadian wife Geneviève Marie Hébert, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in September 1812. Son Jean was born in Ascension Parish in September 1813--six children, three daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1798 and 1813. At age 50, Olivier remarried again--his third marriage--to cousin Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Babin and Osite LeBlanc and widow Alexandre Valéry Babin, at the Donaldsonville church in July 1827. Olivier died probably at his home on Bayou Corne, Ascension Parish, in February 1832. The priest who recorded the burial said that Olivier was age 58 when he died. He was 54. Remaining daughter Marguerite, by his first wife, married into the Babin and Villard families. Olivier's sons also married and settled on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Simon le jeune, by first wife Angèle LeBlanc, married cousin Anne Valerante or Valerente, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Babin and Céleste Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in October 1826. Their daughter Marie Amelia was born in Ascension Parish in May 1830 and married into the Daigle family. Did Simon le jeune father any sons?
Olivier's second son Onésime, by first wife Angèle LeBlanc, married, at age 21, cousin Madeleine Clothilde, called Clothilde, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Théodore Babin and his first wife Madeleine Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in July 1827; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included an infant, name and age unrecorded, died there in April 1830; Onésime Roselier born in June 1831 but died at age 4 (the recording priest said 5) in August 1835; Élisabeth died "age several mos." in June 1832; Clothilde Pauline born in February 1833; Simon Théodore in October 1834; Olivier le jeune in March 1837 but died at age 15 months in June 1838; and Angelina Berthilde born in May 1839 but, called Berthilde Angélique, died at age 1 1/2 in September 1840. Wife Madeleine Clothide died in Ascension Parish in October 1840, age 31. Onésime remarried to Rosalie, daughter of Ferdinand Capdeville and his Acadian wife Marie Élisabeth Melançon and widow of Norbert Neraux, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1844. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Abraham Sylvère in March 1848; and Vincent de Paul in July 1849--nine children, at least five sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1830 and 1849. Evidently none of Onésime's daughters married by 1870, but one of his remaining sons did.
Second son Simon Théodore, by first wife Madeleine Clothilde Babin, married Joséphine, daughter of Pierre Pellerin, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, also called Tellier, and Marie Rose Lartigue, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1853. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Théodore Gervais in June 1854; Siméon Olivier in January 1860; Rose Joséphine in November 1861; Rosa Gertrude in November 1864; ... None of Simon's children married by 1870.
Olivier's third and youngest son Jean, by second wife Marie Culaire, married Marie Élina, called Élina, daughter of André Conrad and Eulalie Grabert, at the St. Gabriel church in April 1844. Daughter Marie Eulalie Lucie was born near St. Gabriel in October 1845. Jean, called "a native of New River, Ascension parish," died near St. Gabriel in November 1846, age 33. He evidently fathered no sons, and his daughter did not marry by 1870.
Simon's sixth son Firmin married cousin Henriette, another daughter of Joseph Babin and Osite LeBlanc, at Ascension in October 1803. Their children, born there, included Andrew Firmin, also called Odin, in September 1804 but died at age 15 in November 1819; Rosalie Émelie, also called Émelie Eulalie, born in September 1806 but died at age 2 in September 1808; Marcellin born in April 1808 but died the following September; Marguerite Euphémie, called Euphémie, born in September 1809 but died at age 2 in October 1811; and Anne Amélie born in August 1811--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1804 and 1811. Why did two of their children die within a day of one another in September 1808? Was it from yellow fever? An accident? Did this line of the family endure?
Simon's seventh and youngest son Nicolas Simon or Simon Nicolas married cousin Osite, daughter of fellow Acadians Isaac LeBlanc and Marguerite Babin, at Ascension in April 1804. They lived on the river near the boundary between what became Ascension and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Léocade, called Léocade, in February 1805; Jeanne in January 1807 but died at age 3 1/2 in October 1810; Céleste Euphrasie born in March 1809 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1811; a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age 6 weeks in October 1811, and her twin brother, name unrecorded, died at age 4 months in January 1812; Barthélémy Séverin born in November 1812; Emérante in January 1817; and a daughter, name unrecorded, died three days after her birth in January 1820. Nicolas remarried to cousin Marie Élise or Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Grégoire Melançon and Marie Christine Landry and widow of Jérôme Rivet, at the St. Gabriel church in September 1828. They lived on the river near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Christine Euphrasie, called Euphrasie, in August 1829 but died at age 2 in September 1831; Louis Simon born in August 1831; Joseph Ferdinand in February 1834; a child, perhaps theirs, name unrecorded, died at age 2 days in September 1836; Vilfrid Géraud, called Géraud, born in October 1837 but, called Gérant, died at age 2 in October 1839; and Edmond Nicolas born in November 1842--14 children, at least seven daughters and six sons, by two wives, between 1805 and 1842. Nicolas, while a "res. of New River at the Bluff," died in Iberville Parish in October 1849, age 67 (the recording priest said 68). Daughter Léocade, by his first wife, married a Babin cousin. Three of Nicolas's remaining sons also married.
Third son Louis Simon, by second wife Marie Élise Melançon, married double cousin Marie Sulvina, daughter of fellow Acadians Anselme Landry and Madeleine Joséphine Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in November 1855. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Alibert in May 1856; Lucia Joséphine in November 1853; Julia Élizabeth in May 1860; Cléophas Siméon in January 1862; ... None of Louis Simon's children married by 1870.
Nicolas's fourth son Joseph Ferdinand, by second wife Marie Élise Melançon, married Marie Armélise, called Armélise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Valéry Breaux and Marie Rose Hébert, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1855. They lived near the boundary between Ascension and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Albert in November 1856; Simon B. in February 1859; François Richard in April 1863; twins Lucam Joannem and Lucam Nicolaum, probably Lucas Jean and Lucas Nicolas, in June 1865; ...
Nicolas's sixth and youngest son Edmond Nicolas, by second wife Marie Élise Melançon, married cousin Elisca, daughter of fellow Acadians Séverin Breaux and Serasine Landry, at the Gonzales church, Ascension Parish, in January 1866. Their children, born near Gonzales, included Philomène Lucia in November 1866; Jean Séverin in December 1869; ...
Petit Abram's fifth son Pierre-Abraham dit Pitre, by second wife Marguerite Flan, followed his family to Maryland, was counted with them at Oxford in July 1763, and followed them to New Orleans and Cabahannocer in 1766. He married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Allain and Catherine Hébert, at nearby San Gabriel in January 1773. Spanish officials counted them on the right, or west, bank of the river at nearby Ascension in April 1777. Their children, born at Ascension, included Victoire-Constance in November 1774; Marie-Valise dite Élise, baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1777; Allein or Alain, also called Simon Alain, born in October 1778; Pierre-Augustin in July 1780; Pierre-Grégoire, also called Landry and Grégoire, in November 1782; Marie- or Henriette-Adélaïde baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1786; Renée baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1788; Marie-Carmélite born in January 1790 but died at age 1 1/2 in April 1791; Marie-Carmélite-Marguerite born in April 1792; and Marie-Eugénie in November 1794--10 children, seven daughters and three sons, between 1774 and 1794. Pierre Abraham dit Pitre died at Ascension in September 1805, age 53. Daughters Élise, Henriette Adélaïde, Marie, and Marie Carmélite Marguerite married into the Landry, Gautreaux, Rousseau, and Mollère families. Two of Pitre's sons also married and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Oldest son Simon Alain married Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Aucoin and Marie Marguerite Noël, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1808. They remained on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Libois in June 1809 but died at age 1 1/2 in December 1810; Geneviève Armélise, called Armélise, born in January 1811; and Gervais Espire or Esprit in August 1827--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1809 and 1827. Simon Alain, called Allen Luc by the recording priest, died near Plattenville in December 1845, age 67. Daughter Armélise married into the Guidry family. Simon Alain's remaining son did not marry by 1870, if he married at all.
Pitre's third and youngest son Pierre Grégoire, also called Landry and Grégoire, married Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, daughter of Jacques Rousseau and Charlotte Oubre, at the Plattenville church in November 1811. They remained on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Séraphine Clémence in March 1812; Marie Hélènesine or Élesile, called Élesile, in August 1813; Terence Prudent, called Prudent, in April 1815; Romain Dufoi, Dufossard, or Defossat in February 1817; Emérant Gilbert in January 1819; Élisabeth in September 1820; Landry Godegrand, called Godegrand, in September 1822; Marie Marine Malvine in June 1824; Justin in August 1826; Marie Marguerite in December 1827; and Adolphe in December 1831 but died at age 1 in December 1832--11 children, five daughters and six sons, between 1812 and 1831. Grégoire died in Assumption Parish in November 1840. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Pierre Grégoire Landry died at "age ca. 50 years." He was 58. Daughters Élisabeth and Élesile married into the Gross and Landry families by 1870. Pierre Grégoire's five remaining sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured. One of them settled on the western prairies, but the others remained on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Prudent married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin LeBlanc and Arthémise Dugas, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in December 1845. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Catoire Prudent in November 1846; Pierre Justin baptized, age 2 months, in May 1849 but, called Justin, died near Plattenville at age 18 (the recording priest said 19) in August 1867; Charles Édouard born in April 1852; Marie Alida in December 1854 but died at age 4 1/2 in August 1859; Grégoire le jeune born in November 1856; Marie Octavie in early 1858 and baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1858; Marie Amélie born in November 1859; Marie Olimpe in December 1861 but, called Olympe, died at age 5 1/2 in June 1867; Marie Irène born in November 1864; ... None of Prudent's children married by 1870.
Pierre Grégoire's second son Romain Dufoi, Dufossard, or Defossat, married Mare Émilie, called Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Melançon of Ascension Parish, at the Plattenville church in September 1837. They settled near Paincourtville. Their children, born there, included an infant, name and age unrecorded, in December 1838; Émmelie in September 1841 but, called Amélie, died at age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in July 1849; Marie Claire, called Claire, born in April 1847; and a daughter, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died a newborn in April 1851 (the recording priest at Plattenville called the father "Dufapare")--four children, at least three daughters, between 1838 and 1851. Remaining daughter Claire married a Gautreaux cousin. Did Dufossard father any sons who survived infancy?
Pierre Grégoire's third son Emérant Gilbert moved to the western prairies and married Adélaïde, daughter of French Canadian Valéry Roy and his Creole wife Brigitte Nezat, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1847. They remained on the prairies. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marie Brigitte or Brigitte Marie, in March 1848; Ambroise in January 1850; Henry Emérante in July 1852; Pierre Anatole in July 1856; Marie Joséphine in October 1858 but died at age 6 in September 1864; Joseph Edgard born in November 1861; ... Daughter Brigitte married a Nezat cousin by 1870. None of Emérant Gilbert's sons married by then.
Pierre Grégoire's fourth son Godegrand married first cousin Marie Julie Zulmée, called Zulmée, daughter of Adélard Rousseau and Azélie Porché, his uncle and aunt, at the Paincourtville church in June 1850; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marie Brigitte in September 1852 but died the following December; Marie Joséphine born in September 1855; Joseph Charles in November 1857; Augustin Alcide in April 1859; Jean Beauregard in June 1862; and Marie Arselie in December 1864. Godegrand, at age 46, remarried to Alexandrine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Alexandre Ozelet and Henriette Guillot, at the Paincourtville church in March 1869. Daughter Marie Marguerite was born near Paincourtville in July 1870; ... None of Godegrand's children married by 1870.
Pierre Grégoire's fifth son Justin married Marie Zulmée or Zulma, daughter of Charles Triche and Marguerite Alexandre, at the Plattenville church in March 1857. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Pierre Mirouvet near Plattenville in May 1858; Charles Maldorfi in March 1860; Joseph Thomas Delphin near Paincourtville in December 1861 but, called Thomas, died at age 1 in December 1862; Optime born in April 1863; a son, name and age unrecorded, perhaps Optime, died near Plattenville in December 1863; Adam born in March 1865; Abel in August 1866; Marie Marguerite in January 1868; ...
Petit Abram's sixth and youngest son Joseph dit Le Cadet, by second wife Marguerite Flan, was so named to distinguish him from his eldest half-brother Joseph. Cadet followed his family to Maryland, was counted with them at Oxford in July 1763, and followed them to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he married Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne LeBlanc and Élisabeth Boudrot, in February 1778. Their children, born at nearby Ascension, included Marie, also called Marthe, in December 1778 but died the following September; Joseph-Thadée, called Thadée, born in March 1780; Simon le jeune in April 1782; and Jacques-Donat, called Donat, in December 1783--four children, a daughter and three sons, between 1778 and 1783. Cadet died at nearby Ascension in January 1784, age 27. Two of his sons married and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Oldest son Joseph-Thadée, called Thadée, married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Dugas and Rose Babin, at Ascension in July 1799. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche between the Ascension and Valenzuela districts before moving down bayou. Their children, born there, included Joseph-Marcellin or Marcellin-Joseph in May 1800; Donat-Benjamin, called Benjamin, in February 1803; Marie Sélesie in March 1804; Pierre in October 1805; Étienne Rosémond, perhaps called Rosémond, in September 1808; and Gertrude Madelaine, called Madeleine, in July 1811--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1800 and 1811. Joseph Thadée died near Raceland, Lafourche Parish, in October 1857. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph Thadée died "at age 76 yrs." He was 77. Daughter Madeleine married into the Henry family. Three, perhaps four, of Thadée's sons also married and settled on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Joseph Marcellin or Marcellin Joseph married Carmélite Rosalie or Rose, also called Rosalie Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Savoie and Marie Bergeron, at the Plattenville church in September 1819. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Eulalie in July 1820; François in October 1821; Marcelline Adèlle in September 1823; Lucien in August 1826; Marguerite in August 1828; Marie Mathilde, called Mathilde, in May 1830; Marguerite Anaïse in September 1832; Henry Omer, called Omer and Homère, in July 1834; Marie Élisa or Liza in September 1834[sic, perhaps meant 1835); Laurent Ferjus, called Ferjus and Frejus, in August 1836; Cézaire Rosalie in September 1841; Clémance or Clémence Elvire or Elmire, called Elmire, in October 1843; and Marie Admyra in July 1846--13 children, nine daughters and four sons, between 1820 and 1846. Daughters Marguerite Anaïse, Mathilde, Marie Liza, and Elmire married into the Dupré, Hébert, Henry, and Guidry families by 1870. Joseph Marcellin's sons also married by then and settled on the Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son François may have married Marie Basilise LeBoeuf, place and date unrecorded. Their son Joseph was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1841 and did not marry by 1870.
Joseph Marcellin's second son Lucien may have married German Creole Honorine Mathilde Hotard in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in August 1852. Did they have any children?
Joseph Marcellin's third son Henry Omer, called Omer and Homère, married Elma, Élina, or Helina, daughter of Octave Bouvier and his Acadian wife Delphine Thériot, at the Raceland church, Lafourche Parish, in May 1856. They settled near the boundary between Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Edgard Amédée in February 1858; Théophile Nickles, probably Nicolas, in April 1859; Marie Joséphine in January 1861; Louise in August 1862; ...
Joseph Marcellin's fourth and youngest son Ferjus, called Frejus "from Terrebonne Parish" by the recording clerk and the recording priest, married cousin Euzelie or Euselia, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Basile Henry and Madeleine Landry of Terrebonne Parish, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1862. Ferjus died by May 1865, when his widow remarried at Chacahoula, Terrebonne Parish, to another Landry. One wonders if Ferjus's death was war-related and if his family line endured.
Joseph Thadée's second son Donat Benjamin, called Benjamin, married cousin Marie Delphine, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Hippolyte Breaux and Adélaïde Dugas, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1823. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Phelonise or Félonise, called Félonise, in February 1825; Joseph Aurelien, called Aurelien, in February 1826; and Marguerite Mélicaire or Mélissaire, called Mélissaire, in January 1831--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1825 and 1831. Benjamin may have died near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in October 1869. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Benjamin died at "age ca. 77 years." Donat Benjamin would have been age 66. Daughters Félonise and Mélissaire married into the Chiasson, Boutary, Bourgeois, and Waguespack families, both of them twice. Benjamin's son also married.
Only son Aurelien married Marcelline, daughter of Pierre Destival or Detreval and his Acadian wife Clothilde Foret, at the Thibodaux church in February 1848. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Pierre Joseph Onésime, called Onésime and Onésippe, in January 1849; and Pierre Oscar, called Oscar, posthumously near Raceland in November 1854. Aurelien died near Raceland in August 1854. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Aurelien died "at age 28 yrs.," so this probably was him. "Letters of tutorship" for his sons Onésippe and Oscar were filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in May 1857. Neither of his sons married by 1870.
Joseph Thadée's third son Pierre married Mélicère, 22-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Bourgeois and Madeleine Thériot, at the Thibodauxville church in June 1832. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Pierre, fils in October 1834; twins Joseph A. or Ernest, called Ernest, and Marie Augustine or Ernestine in March 1837; Matilde in April 1839; Michel Théophile, called Théophile, in October 1841; and Ozémé, perhaps also called Pierre, in October 1844--five children, three sons and two dauhters, including a set of twins, between 1834 and 1844. A decree of tutorship for his three sons--Pierre, Joseph Ernest, and Théophil--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in March 1855. Pierre would have been age 50 that year. Daughter Marie Ernestine, a twin, married into the Babin family by 1870. One of Pierre's sons also married by then.
Second son Ernest, a twin, married Félicie Marcelline, called Marcelline, daughter of Joseph Walker and Georgina Brou, not an Acadian Breaux, at the Raceland church in August 1860. Their children, born near Raceland, included Joseph Ernest, fils, called Ernest, fils, in July 1861; and Marie Alice posthumously in January 1863. Ernest, père died in October 1862, age 25. A succession inventory, listing his two small children--Ernest and Marie Alice--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in December 1865. Was Ernest's death war-related?
Joseph Thadée's fourth and youngest son Étienne Rosémond may have been the Rosémond Landry who died in Ascension Parish, age 26 (the recording priest said 25) in March 1835, or the Rosémond Landry who married Marie Agnès Corvesier and settled in Lafourche Interior Parish by the early 1850s. Daughter Marie Octavie Séverine was born there in October 1852 and did not marry by 1870.
Joseph dit Le Cadet's third and youngest son
Jacques Donat, called
Donat
René (c1716-1781) à René le jeune Landry
René,
Only son Pierre-Joseph was two years old when his father died in 1772. He was raised by his widowed mother and her family. In 1785, at age 15, perhaps with the family of his maternal great-uncle Jean-Jacques Thériot, who crossed on La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, Pierre-Joseph emigrated to Spanish Louisiana and followed his relatives and their fellow passengers to the new Acadian settlement of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge. Like his relatives and most of the Acadians there, he did not remain. In the late 1780s or early 1790s, he followed his kin to San Gabriel on the river below Baton Rouge, where he came of age. By then, his paternal grandfather René had died at nearby Ascension, but his many paternal uncles and two paternal aunts lived in the area, so his extended family was considerable. Pierre-Joseph, at age 20, married cousin Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph-Charles Breaux and Marie-Josèphe Landry, at San Gabriel in June 1790. Scholastique's parents had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1768, and she was born on the river a few years later. The couple lived on the river near the boundary between the San Gabriel and Ascension districts. Their children, born there, included Joseph-Raphaël, called Raphaël, in June 1791; Édouard-Léandre in December 1792; Florentin in February 1795; Lazare, also called Azar, Azarie, Azary, Azory, and Cezary, in August 1798; Victoire-Arainis or Ariane in April 1800; and Pierre le jeune in January 1802 but died at age 25 in April 1826. Pierre-Joseph remarried to Marguerite Rosalie, daughter of Swiss surgeon Bernard Capedeville and his second wife Acadian Anne Clouâtre, at St. Gabriel in January 1804. Their children, born there, included Jean Esilippe or Eshinte, also called Jean Eslippe, in November 1804 but died near St. Gabriel at age 18 in September 1823; Marine Caroline born in July 1806; Lucien in May 1808; Eugène in June 1810; Benjamin Achille, called Achille, in March 1812; Marie Sophie, called Sophie, in January 1814; Louis Onésime, called Onésime, in August 1817; Magloire in October 1820; and Marie Virginia in the late 1810s or early 1820s--15 children, 11 sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1791 and the early 1820s. In 1814-15, during the War of 1812, Pierre-Joseph served as captain of the 8th Company, Meriam's Regiment of Louisiana Militia. After the war, his contemporaries referred to him as Captain. He also was an artistic woodworker. He died at St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in March 1843, age 73. A plaque highlighting his life and accomplishments stands in the cemetery behind the old church at St. Gabriel. Daughters Marie Caroline, Victoire Ariane, Sophie, and Marie Virginia, by both wives, married into the Boush or Bush, Breaux, Comeaux, Riviere, and Capdeville families. Pierre Joseph's nine remaining sons also married and settled on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph Raphaël, called Raphaël, from first wife Scholastique Breaux, married Joséphine, daughter of Manuel Couillard, also called Boies, Coella, Cuellars, Guie, Guiet, Gavot, Goye, Guyor, and Marie Louise Mesinger, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1818. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Julian Raphaël in late January 1819 but died the first of February; Jean Timoléon born in October 1819 but died at age 14 months in December 1820; Damase born in December 1819[sic]; Raphaël Florentin in July 1821 but died at age 3 months the following October; Gustave, also called Gustave Raphaël, born in December 1823; Marie Gertrude, called Gertrude, in November 1826; and Joseph Raphaël, fils in c1828 but died at age 3 in September 1831--seven children, six sons and a daughter, between 1819 and 1828. Joseph Raphaël, père may have died near St. Gabriel in October 1828. If so, he would have been age 37. Daughter Gertrude married into the Hébert family. One of Raphaël's remaining sons married by 1870.
Fifth son Gustave Raphaël married Marie Amelie, daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Dupuy and Hortense Hébert, at the St. Gabriel church in May 1849. Did they have any children?
Pierre Joseph's second son Édouard Léandre, by first wife Scholastique Breaux, married Marie Eméranthe, called Eméranthe, daughter of Jean Baptiste Lambremont and Anne Hamilton, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1816. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Eliezer in September 1816; Jean Baptiste Raphaël in January 1818 but, called Raphaël, died at age 20 (the recording priest said 18) in January 1838; Marie Séraphine or Serasine born in August 1820; Marie Josèphe or Joséphine in March 1822; a son, name unrecorded, died a newborn in December 1823; Ulger born in 1825 or 1826 but died at age "15-16 years" in August 1841; Marie Calliste born in May 1828; an unnamed son, perhaps theirs, died near St. Gabriel, age unrecorded, in April 1829; Valmond born in August 1829; Marie Eugénie in July 1831 but died at age 2 1/2 in March 1834; Marie Azéma born in April 1832; and Marie Estelle in April 1834--a dozen children, six sons and six daughters, between 1816 and 1834. Daughters Marie Serasine, Marie Joséphine, and Marie Azéma married into the Trosclair, Landry, and Gautreaux families by 1870. One of Édouard's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Eliezer married Élodie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dupuy and Serasine Orillion, at the St. Gabriel church in May 1849. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Alonzia in March 1850 but, called Alonzia, died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 7) in October 1856; and Joseph Alonzo born in September 1852. Eliezer's son did not marry by 1870.
Pierre Joseph's third son Florentin, by first wife Scholastique Breaux, married Marie Céleste Alethe, daughter of fellow Acadians Armand Hébert and Marie Boudreaux and widow of Louis Mathieu Boissac, at the St. Gabriel church in November 1824. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Florentin, fils in August 1825 but died at St. Gabriel at age 12 (the recording priest said 11) in August 1837; and Florentine, perhaps theirs, who died at St. Gabriel in April 1833, age unrecorded. The family line evidently did not endure.
Pierre-Joseph's fourth son Lazare dit Azar, Azarie, Azary, Azory, and Cezary, from first wife Scholastique Breaux, married Marie Céline or Célestine, another daughter of Jean Baptiste Lambremont and Anne Hamilton, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1823. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Marie Élisabeth or Élisa in October 1823; Pierre Augustin in April 1825; Joseph Newville or Neuville, called Neuviille, in October 1826; Hermogène in c1829 but died at age 18 in November 1847 and was buried in St. Raphaël Cemetery on the west bank of the river; an infant son, name and age unrecorded, died in June 1830; Gustave born in c1831 or 1832; and twins Jean Diogène, called Diogène, and Paul Théodore in March 1835, but Paul Théodore died at age 11 months in February 1836--eight children, a daughter and seven sons, including a set of twins, between 1823 and 1835. Lazare died near St. Gabriel in September 1835. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Cezary, as he called him, died at "age 38 years." Lazare would have been age 37, so this probably was him. Daughter Marie Élisa married into the Allain family. Three of Lazare's remaining sons also married by 1870, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Neuville may have married Joséphine Marquette, place and date unrecorded. Their son Numa was born in Iberville Parish in June 1852 but died at age 1 in June 1853. Joseph Neuville died in Iberville Parish in December 1854, age 28. His line of the family probably died with him.
Lazare's third son Gustave married Emma, daughter of fellow Acadians Victorin Allain, père and Aimée Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1849. He worked as a carpenter at Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, on the west bank of the river. Their children, born there, included Malvina in November 1849; Marie Alcée or Althée, called Althée, in September 1854; Joseph Azarie in February 1856; Marcellite in November 1857; Geneviève Helena or Élena in October 1859; Marie Virginie in February 1862; Marie Aimée in December 1863; Joseph Charles in March 1866; Gustave Ignace in February 1868; ... None of Gustave's children married by 1870.
Lazare's fifth son Diogène, a twin, married Marie Alisia, Aloisa, Aloisia, or Aloysia, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Richard and Laurence Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in April 1855. Their children, born on the river, included Simon Hermogène near St. Gabriel in June 1856; Marie Félicie in October 1858; Marie Thérésa in August 1860; twins Paul Neuville and Vincent Théodore in July 1864; Marie Eugénie near Gonzales in the interior of Ascension Parish in November 1866; Marie Céline in March 1869; ... None of Diogène's children married by 1870.
Pierre Joseph's seventh son Lucien, by second wife Marguerite Rosalie Capdeville, married Marie Madeleine Delphine, also called Mary Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Élie LeBlanc and Victoire Chiasson, at the St. Gabriel church in April 1839. They settled near Plaquemine. Their children, born there, included Joseph Lucien in January 1840 but died the following August; Marie Victoria born in February 1841 but died the following July; Théophile born in February 1842; Élie Murat, called Murat, in May 1843; Delphine Florvilly, called Florvilly, in October 1844; Marie Olymphe, called Olymphe, in August 1846; Armand dit Arnie in March 1848; Herminie in December 1849; Octave in August 1851; Mary Cora, called Cora, in February 1853; Mary Victoire in December 1854; Romain Nemour in August 1856; and Prevost in September 1859--13 children, seven sons and six daughters, between 1840 and 1859. Daughter Florvilly married into the Bernard family by 1870. None of Lucien's sons married by then. At least two of them served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65.
During the War of 1861-65, second son Théophile served in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Théophile, who enlisted in the company in August 1861, was captured near Somerset, Kentucky, in March 1863 and sent to prisoner-of-war camps in Kentucky and Maryland before he was exchanged in Virginia in late April. The following July, he was wounded near Richmond, Kentucky, and left on the field. He again spent time in Federal prison camps in Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois until he was exchanged again, in March 1865, so he survived the war and returned to his family, but he evidently did not marry by 1870.
During the war, Lucien's third son Murat served in Companies E and I of the 30th Regiment/Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. He enlisted in the regiment at Plaquemine in March 1862 and was present with his unit until July 1864, when a wound sent him to a hospital, no place recorded. One wonders if he survived the war and returned to his family.
Pierre Joseph's eighth son Eugène, by second wife Marguerite Rosalie Capdeville, married Marguerite Adriènne, called Adriènne, daughter fellow Acadians Jean Élie Hébert and Marguerite LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church in August 1835. They settled on the west side of the river along Bayou Maringouin at the eastern edge of the Atchafalaya Basin, near today's Rosedale. Their children, born there, included Eugène, fils in August 1836; Césaire in June 1838; Marie or Mary Louisa in October 1839; Luc Valaze or Valazin in November 1841; Joseph Aristide in December 1843 but died there at age 10 1/2 in June 1854; Marguerite Medora born in December 1847 but died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in November 1850; Cordelia born in c1850; Annaire in c1852; and Angèle Alice dite Angie in January 1860--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1836 and 1860. None of Eugène's daughters married by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Second son Césaire married Marie Cordelia, daughter of Jacques Trosclair and Joséphine Seguinot, at the Plaquemine church in January 1869. ...
Eugène's third son Luc Valazin married Ermance, daughter of Charles F. Lefeaux and Félice Hotard, at the Plaquemine church in February 1869. Daughter Mary Anne was born near Plaquemine in January 1870; ...
Pierre Joseph's ninth son Benjamin Achille, called Achille, from second wife Marguerite Rosalie Capdeville, married cousin Aurore, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Landry and his Creole wife Rosalie Hamilton, at the St. Gabriel church in August 1833. Their son Théodore Erval died near St. Gabriel, age 1 month, in October 1834. Benjamin Achille remarried to Ada Cécile Pauline or Pauline Cécile, also called Marie Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Breaux and Marie Joséphe Henry, at the St. Gabriel church in December 1836. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Amédée, also called Joseph Amédée, in October 1837; Thuria Florian T. or Florian T., a son, in July 1839; Volney Grégoire or Grégoire Volney in May 1842; Marie Cécile in May 1845 but died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in November 1850; Pierre Mazaire born in July 1847; Marie Alizia in June 1850; and Marie in October 1853 but died at age 1 1/2 in January 1855--eight children, five sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1834 and 1853. Benjamin Achille died near St. Gabriel in October 1854, age 42 1/2 (oddly, the recording priest gave that exact age). Achille's remaining daughter did not marry by 1870, but three of his sons did, and at least three of them served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65.
Second son Joseph Amédée, called Amédée, from second wife Marie Pauline Breaux, married Marie Louise Eléonide, daughter of Joseph Besson and his Acadian wife Célestine Richard, at the St. Gabriel church in September 1867. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Alice in July 1868; Henry in December 1869; ...
During the War of 1861-65, Benjamin Achille's third son Florian T., by second wife Marie Pauline Breaux, probably was the F. T. Landry who served in Company A of the 3rd Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Florian enlisted at Bayou Goula, Iberville Parish, in May 1861, served for a time as clerk in the Adjutant General's office, so he was educated; was captured with his unit at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863; and joined other members of his company in a parolee camp at Enterprise, Mississippi. With other paroled men from the 3rd Louisiana Infantry, he served in Company H of the 22nd Consolidated Regiment Louisiana Infantry, which was organized at Enterprise in January 1764 from remnants of several Louisiana regiments. They fought in the Mobile area. Florian T. did not surrender with the regiment at Meridian, Mississippi, on 8 May 1865 but was paroled at Jackson, Mississippi, on May 19. Back at home, he married Marie Marcelline, called Marcelline, daughter of Adonis Petit and Eulalie Emma Gaiennie, at the Plaquemine church in June 1866. Their children, born near Plaquemine, included Benjamin Alcée in March 1867; Marie Angèle in November 1869; ...
During the war, Benjamin Achille's fourth son Volney Grégoire, by second wife Marie Pauline Breaux, called Volney H. in Confederate records, served in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Volney enlisted at Camp Schlatre, Louisiana, in August 1861, age 19, but he did not serve out the war with his regiment. In the summer of 1862, when his regiment was in eastern Tennessee, he was discharged from the service, probably for medical reasons, and went home. He married Henrietta, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Richard and Eugénie LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church in October 1865. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Joseph Benjamin in June 1866; Eugénia in February 1868; ...
Benjamin Achille's fifth and youngest son Pierre Mazaire, by second wife Marie Pauline Breaux, may have been the P. M. Landry who, along with an uncle and first cousin, served in the Independent Rangers of Iberville Squadron Militia Cavalry, which never left the area, and who also served in the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, which fought in Louisiana. He did not marry by 1870.
Pierre Joseph's tenth son Louis Onésime, called Onésime, from second wife Marguerite Rosalie Capdeville, married, at age 32, Joséphine, daughter of Alexandre Hotard and Euphémie Loriot, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1850. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included J. Montéléon in May 1851 but died at age 16 months in September 1852; Jean Aramis born in December 1852 but died at age 4 1/2 in August 1857; twins Alexandre Athos and Pierre Pathos born in May 1855, but Alexandre Athos died at age 1 (the recording priest said 15 months) in August 1856; André Ascanio born in December 1856 but died the following July; Louise Onésime born in February 1859; Marie Onésime in February 1863; ... None of Onésime's children married by 1870.
Pierre Joseph's eleventh and youngest son Magloire, by second wife Marguerite Rosalie Capdeville, married Marie Dulcinée, daughter of Pierre Michel Lambremont and his Acadian wife Marie Louise Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in July 1843. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Pierre Misaël, called Misaël, in March 1844; Marie Noémie in November 1845; Marie Clara in March 1847; Joseph Alonzo in January 1849; and Gille in c1850 but died at age 4 in October 1854. Magloire remarried to Marie Élena, Éline, or Élina, daughter of fellow Acadian Dorville Breaux and his Creole wife Sophie Boush, at the Plaquemine church in August 1854. They settled at nearby Bayou Goula on the west bank of the river. Their children, born there, included Magloire Raphaël in April 1855 but, called Raphaël, died at age 3 1/2 in October 1858 and was buried in St. Raphaël Cemetery near Bayou Goula; Sophie Johannida born in September 1856 but, called Sophie Juanita, died near Bayou Goula, age 2, in October 1858; Marie Amelia born in April 1858; Marie Malvina in July 1859; Amelia Marguerite in March 1861; Marie Lydia in August 1864; Joseph Aristide in June 1866; Marie Aimée in January 1868; ... During the War of 1861-65, Magloire probably was the Magloin Landry who served in the Independent Rangers of Iberville Squadron Militia Cavalry, which never left the area. If this was him, he would have been in his 40s at the time of his service. Daughter Marie Clara, by his first wife, married a Breaux cousin by 1870. None of Magloire's sons married by then, but one of them may have served with him in the local militia.
During the war, oldest son Pierre Misaël, by first wife Marie Dulcinée Lambremont, may have been the Mizaël Landry who, along with his father and a first cousin, served in the Independent Rangers of Iberville Squadron Militia Cavalry. Pierre Misaël did not marry by 1870.
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Oldest son Émile Ursin married Marie Émilie, called Émilie or Amelia, daughter of Léon Montet and his Acadian wife Divine Broussard, at the Vermilionville church in February 1855. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Evelina in February 1856; and Laura in July 1858. Émile Ursin's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in January 1868. He would have been age 34 that year.
Ursin's second son Alexandre married Marie Émilie, called Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadian Éloi Comeaux and his Creole wife Marguerite Émelina Bonin, at the Vermilionville church in April 1856. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish and on the lower Teche, included Éloi in July 1858; Ursin le jeune in October 1860; Gaston near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in August 1865; ...
Ursin's fourth and youngest son Sosthène married cousin Olymphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Zénon Landry and Oliva Comeaux, at the Youngsville church in July 1865. They settled near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Anaïse in May 1866; Ulysse Bernard in August 1867; Arthur in June 1869; ...
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Hubert's second son Jean Baptiste Marcellin married Zulma, daughter of fellow Acadian Hubert Arceneaux and his Creole wife Irma Rodrigue, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in March 1859. Their children, born near Labadieville, included Alice Zoéma in April 1862; Xavier Telesma in September 1867; ...
Hubert's fourth and youngest son Joseph Hubert married Célima, another daughter of Hubert Arceneaux and Irma Rodrigue, at the Labadieville church in April 1868. ...
Grégoire's third son
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Joseph Vincent's fi
Oldest son Louis, by first wife Élisabeth LeBlanc, described by the recording priest as a "soldier of the militia," married Marguerite-Carmélite, called Carmélite, daughter of militia captain Jean Vives of Spain and his Acadian wife Marguerite Bujole, at Assumption on upper Bayou Lafourche in January 1803; Carmélite's mother was Louis's stepmother's sister, and Louis's half-sister Marie-Céleste married Carmélite's brother Antoine. Louis and Carmélite's children, born at Ascension, included Marguerite Carmélite, called Carmélite, in March 1804; Marie Mathilde, called Mathilde, in October 1806; Onésime Théodule in May 1809; Anne Constance in October 1810; Achille Édouard in April 1812 but died at age 7 in April 1819; Marguerite Coralie, called Coralie, born in March 1814; Joseph Théodule in c1815; Marie Corrine in November 1817; Anne Estelle in July 1819; Marie Désirée in February 1821; and Élisabeth Amanda in October 1822. Louis, at age 47, remarried to Clémence Lessard, widow of Butler Gilbert, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1824. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Louis Lessard in December 1824; and Joseph Homer or Homère, called Homère and Omer, in September 1827 but not baptized until March 1834--13 children, eight daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1803 and 1827. Louis died in Ascension Parish in June 1831. The priest who recorded the burial said that Louis was age 60 when he died. He was 55. The priest also said that Louis's mother was Anne Bujol, but his date of birth suggests that his mother was his father's first wife, Élisabeth LeBlanc. Daughters Marguerite Carmélite, Mathilde, Marie Corrine, Coralie, Anne Estelle, Marie Désirée, and Élisabeth Amanda, by Louis's first wife, married into the Corvaisier, Gourrier, Morrison, Dugas, Landry, Templet, and Gaudet families. Three of Louis's sons also married, but only one of them may have carried on the family line.
Third son Joseph Théodule, by first wife Carmélite Vives, while a "res. of Perry County, Missouri," married first cousin Marie Manette, daughter of fellow Acadian Valéry Landry and his Creole wife Félicité Désirée Renaud, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1846; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marie Oneida was born in Ascension Parish in July 1848. Joseph Théodule died in Ascension Parish in August 1849, age 35. His daughter did not marry by 1870.
Louis's fourth son Louis Lessard, by second wife Clémence Lessard, married cousin Delia, daughter of first cousin Achille Landry and Gertrude Blanchard, at the Donaldsonville church in September 1852; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Louis Lessard died in Ascension Parish in February 1853. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, did not give Louis Lessard's age at the time of his death, only his name. Louis Lessard would have been age 28. Did he father any children?
Louis's fifth and youngest son Joseph Homère, called Homère and Omer, by second wife Clémence Lessard, may have married Émilia or Amelia Chestnut, Chesnot, or Cesnet, place and date unrecorded, probably in the early 1850s, and settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Julien Omère in December 1854; Alexandre in September 1860 but died at age 9 1/2 (the recording priest said 11) in April 1870; Catherine Rosalie born in October 1861 but, called Catherine, died at age 6 in November 1867; Mary Anne born in September 1863; ... None of Homère's children married by 1870.
Belhomme's second son Achille Toussaint, by second wife Anne Bujole, married Marie Modeste, called Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Breaux and Madeleine Clouâtre, at St. James, formerly Cabahannocer, in August 1806. Their children, born on the river, included Joseph in July 1807; Achille, fils, also called Joseph Achille, in February 1809[sic]; François Amédée, called Amédée, in November 1809[sic]; Marie Lise, called Lise, in February 1814 but died at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 16) in July 1828; Pierre Théodule, called Théodule, born in December 1814[sic]; Anne Aglaé in December 1816 but, called Aglaé, died at age 15 1/2 in March 1832; Joseph Gustave born in December 1818; Marie Arthémise in January 1821; Marie Josèphe, also called Marie Josèphe Irma and Marie Irma, in October 1822; and perhaps another Marie Lise in c1823--10 children, five sons and five daughters, between 1807 and 1823. Achille Toussaint died in Ascension Parish in November 1823, age 39. Daughters Marie Arthémise, Marie Irma, and Marie Lise married into the Turnillon, Martin, and Beaman families, all non-Acadians. All five of Achille's sons married, but not all of the lines endured. His widow remarried to his younger brother Jean Trasimond, the future lieutenant governor.
Oldest son Joseph married first cousin Marie Edelvina or Ethelvina, also called Elvina, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse Landry and Henriette Blanchard, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1827; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Lise Cécilia in May 1828; Marie Aima in December 1829 but, called Aima, died at age 2 1/2 in October 1832; Pierre Landry born in January 1831 but evidently died at age 3 in March 1834; Lazare St. Jacques, also called Lazare Louis Jacques and L. St. James, born in December 1833; Marie Sophronie baptized at age 5 months in July 1835 but died at age 34 (the recording priest said 33) in January 1869; Louis Audrey born in June 1836; and Pierre Armand in October 1837 but, called Armand, died at age 6 in October 1843--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1828 and 1837. Joseph may have died in Ascension Parish in August 1844. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph Landry died at "age 36 years." This Joseph would have just turned 37. Wife Marie Ethelvina died in Ascension Parish in November 1844. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded her burial said that she died at "age 36 yrs., 11 months," a widow. None of their daughters married by 1870, but one of their sons did.
Second son Lazare St. Jacques married cousin M. Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of Jean Baptiste Noël Jourdan and Mélanie Pourcine, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in January 1859; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included Joseph Alfred in March 1861; Joseph St. Jacques in July 1862; Marie Agnès in June 1864; Joseph Pierre Louis in March 1866; Joseph Denis Albert in October 1867; ... During the War of 1861-65, Lazare St. Jacques, called L. St. James in Confederate records, served as a private in two Louisiana artillery units that fought in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. He enlisted in the Watson Battery at Corinth, Mississippi, in June 1862, several weeks after the unit had seen action at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, in April. He was age 28 at the time of his enlistment and the father of two sons, the youngest of whom had been born less than two months before he enlisted. Lazare St. Jacques followed his unit back to Louisiana and was captured and paroled with them at Port Hudson, Louisiana, in July 1863. He and his fellow gunners waited for exchange in a parolee camp at Enterprise, Mississippi. While waiting for exchange, Lazare must have found time to visit his family in St. James Parish in the fall of 1863; a daughter was born near Convent in June 1864. In late 1863, Confederate authorities de-commissioned the Watson Battery, and most of the men served in a Mississippi battery. Lazare St. Jacques, however, now properly exchanged, enlisted in another Louisiana unit, Holmes's Battery, which was organized at Clinton, Louisiana, in March 1864. The battery saw action at Woodville, Mississippi, in October 1864. Captain Holmes and many of his gunners were captured in the fight. Nonetheless, a superior officer described Holmes's unit as "the most efficient arm of the [artillery] service" in the region. Lazare St. Jacques evidently was among the unit's gunners who escaped capture, and he likely served for a time in Bradford's Mississippi Battery. In early 1865, the remnants of Holmes's Louisiana Battery, including Lazare St. Jacques, were assigned to the fortifications at Mobile, Alabama, where they manned the guns in Battery Missouri. In March 1865, Lazare St. Jacques was assigned temporarily to department headquarters at Mobile. He and his fellow Confederates evacuated the city in April 1865 and surrendered with other Confederate forces under Lieutenant General Richard Taylor at Meridian, Mississippi, in May. As the birth of his third son attests, Lazare St. Jacques returned to his family and resumed his life in St. James Parish.
Achille Toussaint's second son Achille, fils, also called Joseph Achille, married Marie Gertrude, called Gertrude, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Blanchard and Marguerite Dupuy, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in October 1831. They settled on the river near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Marguerite Lillia in September 1832 but, called Lilia, died at age 14 months in November 1833; Marie Delia, called Delia, born in January 1834; Marie Modeste, called Modeste and perhaps also Joséphine Modeste, in January 1836; and Joseph Trouard in February 1838 but, called Joseph Troare, died at age 2 1/2 in July 1840. Achille remarried to Anne Marie Aureline, Aurelie, or Azéline, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Blanchard and Louise LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1843. They also settled near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Jean Ovide in December 1843 but, called Ovide, died at age 11 1/2 (the recording priest said 13) in July 1855; Elfége Éloi Toussaint born in February 1845 but, called Elphége, died at age 10 1/2 in October 1855; and Marie Lise or Louisa, called Louisa, born in June 1846--seven children, four daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1832 and 1846. Second wife Aurelie evidently died before August 1850. Achille, fils evidently did not remarry again. He died in Ascension Parish in April 1870. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Achille died at "age 62 years." He was 61. Daughters Delia and Joséphine Modeste, by his first wife, married into the Landry, Degelos, and Lessarde families, one of them, Delia, twice, by 1870. None of Achille, fils's sons lived long enough to marry, but the blood of the family line may have endured.
Achille Toussaint's third son François Amédée, called Amédée, married first cousin Marie Anne Emma, called Emma, another daughter of his uncle and aunt Narcisse Landry and Henriette Blanchard, at the Donaldsonville church in August 1834; they, too, had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Octave in June 1835; Marie Octavie in December 1836 but, called Octavie, died at age 8 months in August 1837; Marie Louise Armentine born in July 1838; and Amédée Louis in August 1841 but, called Louis Amadéo, died eight days after his birth. François Amédée, while "domiciled in New Orleans," remarried to Marie Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Evariste Mire and Anne Clémence Gaudet of St. James Parish, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in January 1848. Their son Evariste Amadéo was born in St. James Parish in March 1850--five children, three sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1835 and 1850. None of Amédée's children married by 1870.
Achille Toussaint's fourth son Pierre Théodule, called Théodule, married Marie Alvina, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Gaudet and Melicerte Richard, in a civil ceremony in Mississippi in September 1841, and sanctified the marriage at the Donaldsonville church the following day. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Théodule Eugène in March 1843; Nicholas Siméon in January 1847 but died the following August; Joseph Armant born in May 1852 but, called Armand, died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in October 1858; and Marie Eugénie born in September 1856 but died 8 days after her birth--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1843 and 1856. Pierre Théodule remarried to Marie Louise, daughter of Napoléon Dupont and Irma Dupuis, perhaps a fellow Acadian, at the Convent church in February 1866. Théodule's remaining son did not marry by 1870; he may have not survived the War of 1861-65.
Achille Toussaint's fifth and youngest son Joseph Gustave married cousin Rosalie Elisca, another daughter of Evariste Mire and Anne Clémence Gaudet, at the St. James church in April 1844; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their son Augustin Gustave Achille was born in Ascension Parish in October 1846 but, called Gustave Achille, died at age 6 in November 1852. Did they have anymore children?
Belhomme's third son Joseph Narcisse, called Narcisse, from second wife Anne Bujole, married cousin Marie Henriette, called Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Blanchard and Madeleine Bujole, at Ascension in February 1807. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Delphine, also called Ethelvina, in December 1807; a daughter, name unrecorded, in c1809 but died at age 5 months, 12 days in January 1810; Marie Céleste born in September 1810; Marie Anne, also called Marie Anne Emma or Aima, in October 1812; Casilda Marie in October 1814; Narcisse Joseph in February 1816 but died at age 3 years, 2 months in March 1819; Joseph Aristide or Aristide Joseph born in July 1817; Marie Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, in January 1819; Marie Henriette, called Henriette or Henrietta, in May 1820; Joseph Narcisse, fils in July 1821 but, called Narcisse, died at age 1 in September 1822; and Joseph Hercules born in October 1826 but died at age 4 1/2 months the following March. Narcisse, in his early 40s, remarried to cousin Marie Gérarde or Gérade, daughter of Joseph Comes and his Acadian wife Marie Landry and widow of Auguste Jacques Dubor, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1829. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Vincent de Paul baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1831 but died at age "several months" the following January; Pierre Hercule born in June 1833 but, called Hercule Pierre, died at age 9 months in April 1834; Marie Aimée born in January 1836; Marie Laure, called Laure, in June 1837 but died at age 10 months, 2 days in April 1838; Marie Zulmée born in August 1838; and Marie Madeleine Luce in July 1842--17 children, 11 daughters and six sons, by two wives, between 1807 and 1842. Joseph Narcisse died in Ascension Parish in March 1870. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph Narcisse died at "age 83 years," so this was him. Daughters Ethelvina, Marie Anne Emma, Élisabeth, Henrietta, and Marie Zulmée, by both wives, married into the Landry, Vives, Breaux, and Comstock families by 1870, two of them to Landry brothers who were their first cousins. Narcisse's remaining son also married by then.
Second son Joseph Aristide or Aristide Joseph, by first wife Henriette Blanchard, married, at age 21, first cousin Anne Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Landry and his first wife Carmélite Vives, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in August 1838; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Cécile in May 1839 but died at age 1 in June 1840; Louis Aristide born in July 1840; and Marie Estelle in January 1842. Wife Anne Estelle died in Ascension Parish in September 1843, age 24. Joseph Aristide, at age 29, remarried to another first cousin, Marie Anne Nesida, Nisida, or Nizida, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Trasimond Landry and Marie Modeste Breaux, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1847; they, too, had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity; Marie Anne Nesida's father was serving as Louisiana's first lieutenant governor when she married Joseph Aristide. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Trasimond in March 1848; Marie Arthémise in February 1851 but died at age 1 in January 1852; Marie Irma in June 1852; Joseph Samuel in February 1855; Joseph Laurant in June 1857 but, called Joseph Laurent, died at age 15 days; Édouard Fernand born in December 1858; Marie Blanche born in May 1861; Marie Aurore in December 1862; Marie Lea in October 1865; ... None of Joseph Aristide's remaining daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did, after his Confederate service.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Louis Aristide, called "Tip," from first wife Anne Estelle Landry, served as a corporal and sergeant in the Donaldsonville Artillery with some of his Landry cousins, so he, too, was one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. He survived the ordeal and returned home to his family. He married cousin Augustine, daughter of fellow Acadians Léon LeBlanc and Euphémie Breaux, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1866; they had to secure a dispensation for third and fourth degrees of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Louis, fils in April 1867; Joseph Raymond in January 1869; Henry Robert in July 1870; ...
Belhomme's fourth son Philippe Ursin, called Ursin, from second wife Anne Bujole, married Marie Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Grégoire LeBlanc and Marie Babin, at the Donaldson church in May 1810. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Jules, also called Joseph Jules, in February 1811; Marthe Mathilde in September 1813; Marie Azélie in July 1814; Ursin, fils in October 1817 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1819; Joseph Philippe Adolph born in August 1819; Marie Noémie, called Noémi, in September 1821; and Philippe Ursin, fils, called Ursin, in January 1823--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1811 and 1823. Ursin died in Ascension Parish in June 1831. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Ursin was age 44 when he died. He was 46. Daughters Marie Azélie and Noémi married into the Butterly and Boucherou families. Two of Ursin's remaining sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Jules, also called Joseph Jules, married Marie Éloise, called Éloise, daughter of Jean Louis Picou and Gertrude Lavigne, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1830. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, in March 1831 but died the following November; and Marie Élize born in August 1833. Jules remarried to cousin Marie Aimée, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Blanchard and Marie Judith LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1837. Daughter Marie Aimée Désirée, called Aimée Désirée, was born in Ascension Parish in June 1838--three children, all daughters, by two wives, between 1831 and 1838. At age 37, J. Jules, as the recording priest called him, remarried again--his third marriage--to cousin Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Rosémond LeBlanc and Clotilde Bujole and widow of Edmond Melançon, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1848. She evidently gave him no more children. Jules died in Ascension Parish in January 1870. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jules died at "age 59 years." Joseph Jules would have been a month shy of that age, so this was him. Daughter Aimée Désirée, by his second wife, married a LeBlanc cousin. Did he father any sons by any of his wives?
Ursin's fourth and youngest son Philippe Ursin, fils, called Ursin, fils, may have married Creole Emma Marguerite or Marguerite Emma St. Martin at the Donaldsonville church in March 1853. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Atanas in December 1853; Paul Cléof., probably Cléopha, in September 1855; Jean Edgar in November 1857 but, called Jean died at age 8 (the recording priest said 9) in February 1866; Marie Emma born in January 1860; Alice Mathilda in February 1862 but, called Alice Mathilde, died in Ascension Parish, age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said "age 6 months"), in August 1863; Pierre L. born in March 1864; Joseph Théodule Ursin in March 1866 but, called Théodule, died at age 2 1/2 in October 1868; ... None of Ursin, fils's children married by 1870.
Belhomme's fifth son Isidore Valéry, called Valéry, from second wife Anne Bujole, married Félicité Désirée, called Désirée, daughter of Jean Renaud or Reynaud and Marie Charlotte Eléonore Songy of New Orleans, at the Donaldson church in August 1815. Valéry became a "sugar maker," his plantation located two miles west of Donaldsonville. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Anne Marie Antoinette, also called Marie Désirée, in March 1817; Félicité Louise in December 1819; Marie Manette in December 1820; Philippe, also called Philippe L. and Phillip, in February 1821; Marie Céleste in December 1824; Renaud Jacques Prosper, also called Jean Reynaud Jacques Prosper, R. Prosper, and Prosper, in March 1826; Louis Valéry in September 1827 but died at age 23 in December 1850; Casimire or Casimir Octave born in August 1829 but died at age 1 in August 1830; Marie Azélie born in October 1831; and Joseph Reynaud in July 1834 but died at age 2 1/2 in January 1837--10 children, five daughters and five sons, between 1817 and 1834. Valéry died in Ascension Parish in September 1863, age 73. Daughters Marie Désirée, Félicité Louise, Marie Manette, Marie Céleste, and Marie Azélie married into the Duffel, Landry, Reynaud, Eaton, and Peck families, two of them to Duffel brothers. Two of Valéry's sons also married and settled on the river. One of them became a lawyer and served as an officer in General R. E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
Oldest son Philippe married first cousin Marguerite or Marie Narcissa Estelle, called Estelle, daughter of Pierre Pedesclaux and his Acadian wife Marie Arthémise Landry, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1847; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Philippe Edgar in October 1848 but, called Edgar, died at age 3 in September 1851; a son, name unrecorded, died the day of his birth in August 1849; Joseph Charles born in April 1851; Marie Laure in April 1853; Joseph Egard in August 1854; Marie Althé in February 1856; Phillip, fils in April 1857 but, unnamed and age unrecorded, may have died at age 1 in May 1858; Georges born in June 1858; Marie Estelle in January 1860; twins Félix and Jean in February 1861, but Jean died a day after his birth, and Félix died at age 18 days; Charles born in August 1862; Marie Artée Artémise in January 1866; a child, perhaps theirs, name unrecorded, died "a few hours old" in Ascension Parish in August 1867; ... None of Philippe's children married by 1870.
Valéry's second son Prosper graduated from Georgetown College, Washington, D.C., in 1846, age 20. After traveling two years through Europe, he studied law at the State University, today's Tulane University, in New Orleans. Following his graduation in 1854, he returned to Donaldsonville to practice law. He married first cousin Adèle, another daughter of Pierre Pedesclaux and Marie Arthémise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1855; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Laurence, a daughter, in March 1857; Charles W. in June 1862, nine months after his father joined the Confederate army; Marie Charlotte Jeanne in April 1866; ... During the War of 1861-65, Prosper served in the Donaldsonville Artillery, raised in Ascension Parish, which fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. At age 35, he enlisted in the battery as a private, was soon elected junior second lieutenant, promoted to senior second lieutenant in September 1862, and to senior first lieutenant in January 1863. On 11 July 1864, early in the Petersburg campaign, he was promoted to captain and battery commander, his rank to date from the previous February 27. On 9 April 1865, he surrendered with his unit, and Lee's army, at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, and returned to his family and his law practice in Ascension Parish. He died "peacefully and painlessly" at his home on St. Patrick Street, Donaldsonville, "at 10:55 a.m." on 16 April 1907, age 81. He was interred in the Landry Tomb, Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Cemetery, Donaldsonville. None of his children married by 1870.
Belhomme's sixth and youngest son Jean Trasimond, called Trasimond, from second wife Anne Bujole, served, while in his late teens, as a second lieutenant in the Seventh Regiment Louisiana Militia during the War of 1812. He was appointed paymaster of the Sixth Regiment Ascension Parish Militia in May 1814 and commanded a militia company in December 1814, when he was 19. In March 1815, after the Battle of New Orleans, he joined St. Martin's Company Militia at Camp Hopkins on Bayou Lafourche. In January 1817, two and a half years after his father's death, he helped form a family partnership to manage his father's plantation, New Hope, in Ascension Parish, a share of which he acquired in March 1821. At age 28, he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in July 1824 and served until his resignation in 1831. At age 29, he married Marie Modeste, called Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Breaux and Madeleine Clouâtre and widow of older brother Achille Toussaint, at the Donaldsonville church in August 1825. Their chldren, born in Ascension Parish, included Jeannette Nizida, perhaps also called Marie Anne Nesida, in February 1826; Marie Henriette Lillias in August 1827; Marie Lise in June 1829; Jean Trasimond, fils, called John and J. T., in March 1831; Samuel Joseph in October 1832 but died at age 22 in November 1854; and Marie Aglaé, called Aglaé, born in April 1834--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1826 and 1834. Trasimond, père served as a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1828 and 1836. In 1833, he was appointed to solicit subscriptions to the Citizen's Bank of New Orleans. He was elected to the Louisiana State Senate in 1832 and became the state's lieutenant governor in 1846, by which time he had become a Whig. He was, in fact, the first lieutenant governor in Louisiana state history. During the War of 1861-65, while in his late 60s, he served as a colonel in the Louisiana state militia and as head of the Ascension Parish Police Jury's appropriations committee for the war. Trasimond died in Ascension Parish in October 1873, age 78, and was buried in the Ascension church cemetery at Donaldsonville. Daughters Marie Anne Nesida and Aglaé married into the Landry and Pedesclaux families. Only one of the lieutenant governor's sons married.
Older son Jean Trasimond, fils, called John, John T., and J. T., married Amélie, Émelia, or Émilia Élizabeth, called Élizabeth, daughter of Adolphe Seghers or Segers and Élisabeth Duffel of Ascension Parish, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in May 1855. They settled on the river, first at New River in Ascension Parish and then near Baton Rouge. Their children, born there, included John, Jr., in c1857; S. A. in c1858; Marie Atala in March 1860; Robert Boyd Lee in September 1863; George Beaman near Baton Rouge in March 1866; Marie Clara in January 1868; ... During the war, John served as corporal and sergeant in the Donaldsonville Artillery with first cousin Prosper Landry, who commanded the battery. As his marriage and the birth of his children reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family.
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During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Andéol, called Andriol in Confederate records, may have served in Company A of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Evidently while he was back home, waiting for his unit to be exchanged, Andéol married Azéma, daughter of Louis Taylor, formerly Teller, a German Creole, and his Acadian wife Carmélite Leger, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in December 1863. Daughter Andréa was born near Grand Coteau in December 1864. Andéol remarried to Alida, daughter of Jean Miller, another German Creole, and his Acadian wife Françoise Boudreaux, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church in June. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Émilia in October 1867 but, called Émilie, died the following January; Aspasie born in June 1869; ...
Firmin's third son Hubert, by second wife Sally Thibodeaux, married Anne-Euphrosine, called Euphrosine and Euphosie, daughter of Jean Legros and Marie Anne Lecuron of False River, Pointe Coupée, and Opelousas, at Attakapas in February 1800. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Marie in October 1800; Hubert-Euphroi, also called Godefroi and Leufroi, in July 1802;Cécile in September 1805; a son, name unrecorded, died at his parents' home at Île-aux-Cannes near Fausse Pointe seven days after his birth in September 1806; Mélanie born at Fausse Pointe in August 1807; Bélisaire in c1808; Eusèbe at Petite Anse southwest of Fausse Pointe in January 1810; Émilien at Fausse Pointe in January 1812; Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in February 1814; Édouard Valsin in July 1816; Julie Célimène, called Célimène, in January 1819; Victor Treville, called Treville, in November 1820; and Jean Beauville, called Beauville and Bouville, also called Bovide, in September 1823--13 children, five daughters and seven sons, between 1800 and 1823. Hubert died "at his home at la fausse pointe" in July 1824. The priest who recorded the burial said that Hubert died at age "about 53 years." He was 51. His succession, naming his wife and 11 of their children and some of their spouses--Émilien, Carmélite, Édouard, Celimène, Treville, Bovide, Marie Sidonise and her husband, Cécile and her husband, Leuffroy, Mélanie, and Alexandre (perhaps Bélisaire)--was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in March 1830. Daughters Marie, Cécile, Mélanie, and Carmélite married into the LeBlanc, Derouen, and Leleux families. Six of Hubert's sons also married, four of them to LeBlancs, three of whom were sisters, and two to Héberts who were sisters. All of Hubert's married sons settled on the lower Teche, most of them near New Iberia but one as far down as St. Mary Parish. Not all of the lines endured. A granddaughter and at least two grandsons settled in St. Landry Parish, one of them on the Calcasieu prairies.
Oldest son Hubert Euphroi dit Godefroi or Leufroi married Marie Éloise, also called Louise Modeste and Modeste Éloise, daughter of fellow Acadians Agricole LeBlanc and Euphrosine Hébert, at the St. Martinville church in January 1827. Their children, born on the Teche and the prairies, included Godefroi, fils in late 1827 and baptized at the St. Martinville church, age 5 months, in April 1828; Éloise, also called Louise, born in December 1829; Odile in May 1832; Alphred or Alfred in October 1834; Arthémise in January 1837; Marie near New Iberia in April 1839; Alix in March 1840; Euphrosine in October 1843; Rosalie in November 1845; and Ozémé in Lafayette Parish in June 1850--10 children, four sons and six daughters, between 1827 and 1850. Godefroi, père's succession may have been filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in May 1860. He would have been age 58 that year. Daughters Éloise/Louise and Arthémise married into the Gary and Lopez by 1870. Two of Godefroi's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Godefroi, fils married cousin Marguerite Eugénie or Virginie, also called Éloise, daughter of fellow Acadian François Landry and his Creole wife Marguerite Leleux, at the Grand Coteau church in July 1849. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marguerite Lareine, called Lareine, in December 1850; Hubert le jeune in June 1852; and Léopold in February 1858--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1850 and 1858. Godefroi, fils's succession may have been filed at the Opelousas courthouse in May 1860. He would have been age 32 that year. Daughter Lareine married into the Broussard family by 1870. Neither of Godefroi, fils's sons married by then.
Leufroi's second son Alfred likely married Marie Azéma, called Azéma or Aséma, daughter of perhaps fellow Acadians Amand Richard and Scholastique Poirier of St. Martin Parish, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in February 1855. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Daughter Colastie was born there in November 1855. Did they have anymore children? Alfred's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in June 1866. He would have been age 32 that year. Wife Marie remarried at Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in November 1866, so Alfred's succession was post-mortem. His daughter did not marry by 1870. Did he father any sons?
Hubert's second son Bélisaire married Logie Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Théophile LeBlanc and Clarisse Hébert, at the St. Martinville church in March 1829. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Paul Bélisaire in April 1831 but died at age 9 months in February 1832; Hubert le jeune born in October 1833; Agricole in March 1836; Élodie in c1837; Éloi in March 1838; Luc or Lucquet in c1841; Jacques in May 1842; Alexandre in December 1844; Alexis in November 1846; Charles Ernest, called Ernest, in April 1849; and Marie Alix in October 1850--11 children, nine sons and two daughters, between 1831 and 1850. Daughter Élodie married into the Leleux family by 1870. Four of Bélisaire's sons also married by then.
Second son Hubert le jeune married Marie Zelma, called Zelma, daughter of Joseph Daniel and his Acadian wife Marie Sonnier, at the New Iberia church in January 1857. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Célima in October 1857; Laclaire in October 1859; Luc le jeune in September 1864; Eusèbe in October 1866; Paul O. near Patoutville, formerly Île Piquant, now Lydia, in December 1868; ...
Bélisaire's third son Agricole married Isabelle or Élizabeth, another daughter Joseph Daniel and Marie Sonnier, at the New Iberia church in October 1859. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Odile in December 1861; Césaire in December 1864; Camille in July 1867; Alexandre near Lydia in July 1870; ...
Bélisaire's fourth son Luc married Marie Lezima or Lezina, daughter of Arvillien Gary or Garry and his Acadian wife Azélie Thériot, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in October 1865, and sanctified the marriage at the New Iberia church in November. They settled near Patoutville. Their children, born there, included Marie in October 1866; Jacques in October 1868; Honora in December 1869; ...
Bélisaire's seventh son Alexis married Idea, daughter of fellow Acadian Isidore Rivet and his Creole wife Carmélite Bermeyo of Assumption Parish, at the Lydia church, Iberia Parish, in April 1870. ...
Hubert's fifth son Émilien married Rosalie Dalisène, Dalizène, Delisène, Alizaine, or Fanelie, another daughter of Théophile LeBlanc and Clarisse Hébert, at the St. Martinville church in March 1832. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Émile, also called Émilien, fils, in January 1834; Rosalie in December 1835; Achil or Achille in January 1838; Phanelie or Fanelly in c1840; Marie Alphonsine in November 1844 but, called Alphonsine, died at age 10 1/2 in June 1855; Euladie or Eulalie born in December 1845; Marie Olimpe or Olympe, called Olympe, in August 1846; Pauline in May 1849; Alix le jeune in February 1851; Léonce in July 1854; and Mathilde in July 1857--11 children, four sons and seven daughters, between 1834 and 1857. Daughters Rosalie, Eulalie, Olympe, and Phanelie married into the Dugas, Louvière, Broussard, and Daniel families, one of them, Rosalie, twice, two of them, Eulalie and Olympe, to Broussard brothers, by 1870. Two of Émilien's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Émile, also called Émilien, fils, married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Louvière and Delphine Broussard, at the New Iberia church in May 1854. Daughter Martillia was born near New Iberia in July 1855. Émilien, fils died in Lafayette Parish in September 1857. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Émile, as he called him, died "at age 25 yrs." Émilien, fils was 23. His succession, which called him Émile, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse two days after his death. Was Émilien a victim of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana during the summer and fall of 1857? His daughter did not marry by 1870.
Émilien, père's second son Achille married Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadian Frédéric Louvière and his Creole wife Doralise Borel, at the New Iberia church in August 1866; Achille's sister Rosalie remarried to Célestine's brother Adrien. Achille and Célestine's children, born near Patoutville/Lydia, included Achille, fils in February 1869; Rodolphe in June 1870; ...
Hubert's sixth son Édouard Valsin married Julie Pamelise, yet another daughter of Théophile LeBlanc and Clarisse Hébert, at the St. Martinville church in July 1837. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Julie in March 1838; Pauline in April 1842; Siméon Ovid or Ovide in March 1844; Euphrosie in April 1846; Paulin in June 1848; Hébert in November 1850; Gustave in September 1854; Oscare in June 1856; Jacques in October 1858; Richard Toffle in April 1861; ... Édouard Valsin's oldest son served in the War of 1861-65 but, like his sister and younger brothers, did not marry by 1870.
Oldest son Siméon Ovide was working as a clerk probably in New Iberia, then in St. Martin Parish, during the summer of 1861. At age 17, he enlisted in Company C of the 8th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. According to Confederate records, Siméon had a fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and stood 6 feet, 7 inches tall! The gangly youth was captured four times in Virginia while serving with Lee's army: at Fredericksburg in May 1863 during the Chancellorsville campaign, Rappahannock Station the following November, Strasburg in the Shenandoah September 1864, and High Bridge on the retreat from Petersburg in April 1865. Needless to say, he spent much time in Federal prisoner-of-war camps--at Old Capitol Prison, D.C.; Fort Delaware, Delaware; and Point Lookout, Maryland. In June 1865, exactly four years after his enlistment, he was released from the prison compound at Newport News, Virginia, after taking the oath of allegiance to the U.S. government. Siméon returned to South Louisiana, married French Creole Olorine Ardoin, and settled on the Calcasieu prairies. Their son Simeon, fils was born "in Lacassine," Calcasieu Parish, today's Jefferson Davis Parish, in June 1874. Siméon, père died probably at Lacassine in c1904, age 59 or 60. (Siméon Ovide is a direct ancestor of Allen Landry of Jennings and Hathaway, Jefferson Davis Parish, father of the author's Landry first cousins.)
Hubert's seventh son Victor Treville married Marie Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Lacroix Hébert and his Creole wife Geneviève Bonvillain, at the New Iberia church in June 1844. They settled near New Iberia and then at Charenton, St. Mary Parish, lower down the Teche, before moving to Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Cécilia near New Iberia in April 1845; Amélie near Charenton in May 1847; and Cécile in Lafayette Parish in March 1857--three children, all daughters, between 1845 and 1857. Daughter Amélie married into the Henry family by 1870. Did Victor father any sons?
Hubert's ninth and youngest son Jean Beauville, called Beauville and Bouville, married Clémentine, another daughter of Jean Lacroix Hébert and Geneviève Bonvillain, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in April 1846, and sanctified the marriage at the New Iberia church the following June. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Ophelia in May 1847; Apolline dite Pauline in May 1849; Jean Ovide, called Ovide, in March 1851; Ulisse in April 1853; Clémence in February 1855; and Eugène in November 1858--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1847 and 1858. Daughters Ophelia and Pauline married into the Malitte and Hains families by 1870. None of Jean Beauville's sons married by then.
Firmin's fourth son Valentin, by second wife Sally Thibodeaux, married, at age 23, Marie-Françoise, also called Marine and Marinette, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Hébert and Françoise Hébert, at Attakapas in April 1801. They settled at Fausse Pointe on the lower Teche. Their children, born there, included Valentin, fils in December 1801 but died the following April; Marie, also called Marie Françoise, born in January 1803; Adolphe, also called Joseph Adolphe, in December 1804; Elisa or Élisabeth in January 1808; Madeleine in September 1811 but died nine days after her birth; François Xavier born in December 1812; another Valentin, fils in December 1814; Joséphine Claire, called Claire, in August 1817; and Marie in May 1820--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1801 and 1820. Wife Marie, called "native of this parish" by the St. Martinville priest who recorded her burial, died "at age about 40 yrs. at her home a la fausse pointe" in June 1823. Her succession, naming her husband, was filed at the St. Martinville courhouse the folowing October. Valentin, at age 46, remarried to Joséphine, daughter of François Prevost and Angélique Provost and widow of Gilbert Amy, at the St. Martinville church in June 1824. She evidently gave him no more children. Valentin died near New Iberia in December 1842. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valentin died "at age 67 yrs." He was 64. His succession, calling him Valentine, was not filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, until February 1845, so he may have lived near the boundary between St. Martin and St. Mary parishes and owned property in both parishes. Daughters Élisabeth, Marie Françoise, and Claire, by his first wife, married into the Amy, Leleux, and Pellerin families. Valentin's remaining sons also married and settled on the lower Teche.
Second son Joseph Adolphe, by first wife Marine Hébert, married Arthémise, daughter of Louis LeBlanc, a French Canadian, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Aspasie LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in November 1832. They settled in St. Mary Parish. Their son Joseph, also called Joseph O., perhaps Oliffe, was born there in February 1834. Adolphe's succession, calling him Josseph Olamphe and naming his wife, was filed at the Franklin courthouse in May 1836. He would have been age 32 that year. His son married.
Only son Joseph O., perhaps Oliffe, married Marie Estelle, called Estelle, Estellia, and Estelie, daughter of Gabriel Viator and Adélaïde Miguez, at the New Iberia church in January 1854. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Marie Arcène in December 1854 but, called Arsène, died "at age 13 mths." in February 1856; Luke Deluke born in September 1858; Darmas Armand in June 1861; Désiré in September 1864; Pierre Fenelon in April 1867; ... None of Joseph O.'s children married by 1870.
Valentin's third son François Xavier, by first wife Marine Hébert, married Marguerite Levine, daughter of Louis Leleux and Irène D'Autruiel, at the St. Martinville church in July 1833. They lived on lower Bayou Teche before moving to the St. Landry prairies. Their children, born on the Teche and the prairies, included Marguerite Virginie in December 1835; Marie Élodie, called Élodie, in January 1837; Drosin near New Iberia in June 1842; Aristide near Grand Coteau in May 1846; Pauline in November 1847; Anaïs in April 1850; Aurore in August 1852; Irène in June 1855; Marie Eulalie in March 1858; François Devasin in October 1861; Philosin in April 1864; ... François's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1866. He would have been age 54 that year. Daughters Marguerite Virginie and Élodie married into the Landry and LeBlanc families by 1870. One of François's sons also married by then.
Second son Aristide married Azéma, daughter of François Legros or Gros and his Acadian wife Carmélite LeBlanc, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in November. Their children, born near Church Point, included Alegie in October 1868; Gabriel in February 1869; ...
Valentin's fourth and youngest son Valentin, fils, the second with the name, from first wife Marine Hébert, married Mérite Marie Armeline, Amélie, or Armélise, daughter of fellow Acadian Dorothée Dupuy (one wonders who her father may have been) and widow of Petit Maubon Latiolais, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1855, and sanctified the marriage at the Opelousas church in August 1856, but Valentin, fils and Marie Amélie had been married, or at least were living together, for years before their marriage. Their children, born on the lower Teche and the prairies, included Firmin near New Iberia in December 1846; Jean Baptiste near Grand Coteau in January 1849; Valentin Adolphe in June 1851; Claire in St. Landry Parish in August 1856; Oliva near Grand Coteau in May 1859; Evophilia in August 1862; ... None of Valentin, fils's children married by 1870.
Firmin's fifth and youngest son Alexandre Anselme, by second wife Sally Thibodeaux, married Susanne, daughter of Benjamin Hargrave and Rebecca Gwaltney of Virginia and Vermilion, in St. Martin Parish in December 1807. Alexandre died "at 5:00 a.m. ... at his home" in Lafayette Parish in June 1826, age 44. His succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in July. He and his wife evidently had no children, at least none who appear in area church records, so his family line probably died with him.
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A second contingent of Landrys from Maryland--at least 41 of them--reached New Orleans in July 1767--the largest Acadian family group to come to Louisiana that year. Like the 1766 arrivals, these Landrys were largely from the Minas Basin and had been deported to Maryland in the fall of 1755. From New Orleans, the 1767 arrivals would have preferred to join their many relatives at Cabahannocer, but Spanish Governor Ulloa insisted that they settle in a new Acadian community, San Gabriel d'Iberville, south of Bayou Manchac, on the river above Cabahannocer. The Acadians soon discovered that communication between San Gabriel and Cabahannocer would be easy via the river, so this second contingent of Maryland arrivals acquiesced into going to the new Spanish post, adding substantially to the number of Landrys on what became known as the upper Acadian Coast.
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Second son Adolphe, by first wife Clémence Comeaux, married cousin Marie Célestine, called Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians David Landry and Cléonise Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1840. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Joseph Adolphe in July 1841 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1842; David born in March 1843; Clémence Amélie in November 1844 but, called Marie Clémence Émelie, died at age 11 months in October 1845; twins Marie Olivia and Olivier born in September 1846, but Olivier died at age 1 in October 1847; Ignace born in January 1850; Théodore in February 1852; Marie Caecilia in December 1853; and Adolphe, fils in January 1856--nine children, six sons and three daughters, including a set of twins, between 1841 and 1856. Adolphe, père died near St. Gabriel in April 1856, age 36 1/2. Widow Célestine remarried to a Guitteaux at St. Gabriel in April 1862. Her and Adolphe's remaining daughters did not marry by 1870, but one of their sons did.
During the War of 1861-65, Adolphe's second son probably was the David Landry who served in the Independent Rangers of Iberille Squadron Militia Cavalry, which remained in the area, and in Company I of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Louisiana. David married Ophelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Vives Hébert and Domitille Richard, at the St. Gabriel church in May 1868. ...
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A third contingent of Landrys from Maryland--22, perhaps 23, more members of the family, including two sets of brothers--reached New Orleans from Port Tobacco in February 1768 with the extended family led by brothers Alexis and Honoré Breau of Pigiguit. Spanish Governor Ulloa forced them to settle at Fort San Luìs on the river north of Baton Rouge and across from the British settlement at Natchez, far from their kinsmen on the Acadian Coast. A French-Creole-led revolt, assisted by exiles from the Acadian Coast settlements, overthrew Ulloa later that year. The Breaus and their kinsmen no doubt applauded the ouster of the unpopular governor. Ulloa's successor, Governor-General Alejandro O'Reilly, at the head of a substantial military force from Cuba, established formal Spanish rule in the colony in the summer of 1769. O'Reilly ordered the consolidation of Spanish defenses on the river and allowed the Acadians at Fort San Luìs de Natchez to settle where they wanted. Most of the Landrys there moved downriver to the Acadian Coast, while some chose to resettle near their cousins on the western prairies. Only two more enduring families lines came of it, on the river and the prairies:
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A generation after the first Landry family reached the colony, dozens more came to Louisiana from France in 1785. These were Landrys from from Minas whom the British had exiled to Virginia in the fall of 1755, had deported to England the following year, and repatriated to France in the spring of 1763, as well as Landrys from Pigiguit, Cobeguit, and Île St.-Jean whom the British had deported to France from the Maritime islands in late 1758. When the Spanish government offered to resettle these exiles in its Mississippi valley colony, 54 Landrys took up the offer and crossed to New Orleans aboard five of the Seven Ships. Most of them chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche, but some of them settled in river communities near their cousins already there. Many new Landry family lines came of it.
The first of them--a large family with seven children, a middle-aged couple, and a wife, 10 Landrys in all--crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in July 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to Manchac on the river just above San Gabriel:
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Charles, fils's ninth and youngest son François-Marie followed his family to New Orleans and Manchac and moved on to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Babin and Madeleine Babin and widow of Eusèbe Landry, in February 1803. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between the Ascension and Valenzuela/Assumption districts. Their children, born there, included Marie Zoraïde in October 1804; Marie Mélanie in February 1807; a son, name unrecorded, died a day after his brith in February 1809; Marie Barbe born in December 1810; Madeleine Joséphine in January 1813; and Constance died two days after her birth in February 1817--six children, five daughters and a son, between 1804 and 1817. François Marie, at age 52, remarried to Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Babin and Marguerite Brasset, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in July 1831. They remained on the river. François Marie died in Iberville Parish in September 1850, age 71. Daughters Marie Zoraïde, Marie Mélanie, Marie Barbe, and Madeleine Joséphine, by his first wife, married into the Babin, Roth, Melançon, and Landry families. François Marie seems to have fathered no sons who survived childhood, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, may have died with him.
Anselme (1741-1810) à Antoine à René le jeune Landry
Anselme, eighth and youngest son of Jean dit Jane Landry and Madeleine Melanson, born and baptized at Grand-Pré in October/November 1741, was still a teenager when he became separated from his family in the fall of 1755 and the British deported them to Massachusetts. Anselme ended up on a ship to Virginia. The following spring, Virginia authorities sent him and the hundreds of other exiles in the Old Dominion to England, and he was repatriated with other exiles in England to Boulogne-sur-Mer, Picardy, France, in the spring of 1763. Later in the year, he received permission to move to St.-Malo in Brittany. He settled at Pleudihen-sur-Rance on the east side of the river south of the Breton port, where he married Agathe, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Barrieau and Véronique Girouard of Pigiguit and widow of Isidore Daigre, in February 1765, about the same time that his family in Massachusetts was contempling their resettlement in British Canada. Agathe gave Anselme three children in the Pleudihen area: Marie-Olive born at La Chapelle in July 1766; Joseph-Charles at La Gravelle in February 1769 but died at La Ville Ger, age 4 1/2, in August 1773; and Blanche-Charlotte born at La Gravelle in May 1771--two daughters and a son, between 1766 and 1771. Soon after his son Joseph-Charles's death, Anselme took his family to the interior of Poitou. In December 1775, after two years of effort, Anselme, Agathe, and their two daughers retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes and settled at nearby Chantenay, where Anselme worked as a seaman. Younger daughter Blanche-Charlotte died at Chantenay in July 1780, age 9. Older daughter Marie-Olive married a Boudrot there in May 1783. Two years later, Anselme, Agathe, and their married daughter and her family emigrated to Spanish Louisiana. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to Manchac, but they did not remain there either. In the late 1780s or early 1790s, they joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche. Anselme and Agathe had no more children in the colony, unless they had another son in c1785 who died at age 5 in September 1790. Anselme died in Interior, later Lafourche Interior, now Lafourche Parish in October 1810, age 69. His family line, except for its blood, died with him.
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Twenty-one more Landrys--four families, one of them led by a widow, several wives, and two unmarried sisters--crossed on La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-August 1785. Most of them followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, but one family chose to settle on the western prairies. More Landry family lines came of it, but not all of them endured:
Jean-Baptiste (c1724-1787) à Antoine à René le jeune Landry
Jean-Baptiste, sixth son of Antoine Landry, fils and Marie-Blanche LeBlanc, born at Minas in March 1724, married Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of René Aucoin and Madeleine Bourg, at Grand-Pré in July 1748. They settled at Rivière-aux-Canards on the northern end of Minas Proper. According to Bona Arsenault, Élisabeth gave Jean-Baptiste a child, name unrecorded, in 1748. They moved on to Île St.-Jean after August 1752. Arsenault says Jean-Baptiste had a daughter, Anne, born in c1753 and a son, Jean-Baptiste, fils, in c1755 and attributes the children to Jean-Baptiste's second wife, who he says Jean-Baptiste married in c1752. Albert J. Robichaux, Jr.'s study of the Acadians in France, followed here, says daughter Marie was born in c1751 and son Joseph, not Jean-Baptiste, fils, in c1754, and attributes them to first wife Élisabeth, who must have died on Île St.-Jean soon after Joseph's birth. According to Stephen A. White, Jean-Baptiste remarried to Isabelle, also called Élisabeth, daughter of Claude Dugas and Anne Hébert, in c1759, which would have been in France soon after their arrival. However, Robichaux and transport passenger records show that when Jean-Baptiste reached St.-Malo in January 1759 he was accompanied by second wife Isabelle Dugas and two children, Joseph and Marie, so he and his second wife likely had married in the late 1750s on the eve of the island's dérangement. They settled at Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo, where second wife Isabelle gave Jean-Baptiste five more children: Élisabeth- or Isabelle-Augustine born in March 1760; Jean-Baptiste, fils in January 1762; Marguerite-Geneviève in February 1765; Rosalie- or Rose-Marguerite in September 1769; and Pierre-Isaac in May 1771. Oldest daughter Marie, by first wife Élisabeth Aucoin, married a Dupuis widower at Plouër in 1771. Jean-Baptiste took his family to the interior of Poitou in 1773. Daughter Marie and her family also went there. Isabelle Dugas gave Jean-Baptiste another daughter, Marie-Anne dite Annette, born in St.-Jacques Parish, Châtellerault, Poitou, in November 1775. In March 1776, after two years of effort, Jean-Baptiste, Isabelle, and their children retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire to the port of Nantes. Their daughter Rose-Adélaïde was born in St.-Similien Parish, Nantes, in October 1780 but died at age 3 in October 1783--nine children, six daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1751 and 1780, in greater Acadia and France. Meanwhile, two of their older children died in St.-Similien Parish: Rose-Marguerite at age 6 1/2 in June 1777; and Pierre-Isaac at age 6 1/2 in February 1778. In 1785, Jean-Baptiste, Isabelle, and four of their children, three daughters and a son, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana. Oldest son Joseph, by Jean-Baptiste's first wife, who would have been age 31 in 1785, if he was still living, did not accompany his father and stepmother either to Nantes or to the Spanish colony. Nor did oldest daughter Marie, also by his first wife, who died in St.-Similien Parish, Nantes, in January 1781, age 30. Her widower, Joseph Dupuis, and their daughter did go to Louisiana. From New Orleans, Jean-Baptiste and his family did not follow most of their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche but went, instead, to Attakapas on the southwestern prairies. Isabelle gave him no more children there. Jean-Baptiste died at Attakapas in October 1787, age 63. His remaining daughers Élisabeth-Augustine, Marie-Geneviève, and Marie-Anne, by second wife Isabelle, married into the Dugas, Landry, Broussard, Granger, and Girouard families on the prairies, one of them, Élisabeth-Augustine, three times. Jean-Baptiste, père's remaining son also married at Attakapas and died two months after his father passed. As it turned out, Jean-Baptiste's family line, except for the blood, did not endure in the Bayou State, though it may have lived on in France.
Second son Jean-Baptiste, fils, by second wife Élisabeth Dugas, followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and Attakapas, where he eivdently married fellow Acadian Marie Breaux in the mid- or late 1780s. Their son Augustin was born posthumously in February 1788. Jean-Baptiste, fils, called Baptiste "from France," died at Attakapas in December 1787, age 25. His son, if he survived childhood, did not create a family of his own, so the line did not endure.
Prosper (c1726-1797) à Claude à René le jeune Landry
Prosper, second son of Jean-Baptiste dit Baptiste Landry and Marguerite Comeau, born at Minas in c1726, was still a bachelor when he moved to Île St.-Jean in c1750. He married Anne-Josette, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Boudrot and Louise Saulnier of Pigiguit, at Port-La-Joye on the island in September 1751. In August 1752, a French official counted them with their 9-week-old daughter, Marguerite, his brother Joseph, and her brother Mathurin at Grande-Anse on the southeast coast of the island. Marguerite was Prosper and Anne-Josette's only child. Anne-Josette died on the island, and Prosper remarried to Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Jean Bourg and Françoise Aucoin of Cobeguit, at Port-La-Joye in July 1754. According to Arsenault, Marie-Madeleine gave Prosper a son, Jean-Baptiste, born in 1757. The British deported them to Rochefort, France, in late 1758. Marie-Madeleine died either on the crossing or in Rochefort before October 1759, when Prosper arrived at St.-Malo from Rochefort, unaccompanied, and settled at St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo. His children Marguerite and Jean-Baptiste, by both wives, evidently had died by then. At age 35, Prosper remarried again--his third marriage--to Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pitre and Marguerite Thériot and widow of Jean-Baptiste Henry, at Pleurtuit across the river from St.-Suliac in October 1761. Élisabeth gave Prosper five more children in the Pleurtuit area: Jean-Pierre born at St.-Antoine in July 1762; Marie-Madeleine at Créhen in January 1764; Simon-Joseph in November 1765; Marguerite-Geneviève in May 1768 but died at Créhen in July; and another Marguerite-Geneviève born at Créhen in August 1769--seven children, four daughters and three sons, by three wives, between 1752 and 1769, in greater Acadia and France. Prosper took his family to Poitou in 1773. In March 1776, after more than two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. Youngest daughter Marguerite-Geneviève died in St.-Jacques Parish, Nantes, age 8, in July 1777. In 1785, Prosper, Élisabeth, and their two sons emigrated to Spanish Louisiana. His second daughter Marie-Madeleine, who would have been age 21 in 1785, if she was still living, did not follow her family to the Spanish colony. From New Orleans, Prosper and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. He and Élisabeth had no more children there. Prosper died on the upper Lafourche in October 1797, in his early 70s, two days before third wife Élisabeth Pitre died. Their two remaining sons married on the upper Lafourche.
Second son Jean-Pierre, by third wife Élisabeth Pitre, became a carpenter in France. He followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Dominique Guérin and Anne LeBlanc, in February 1786. Isabelle, a native of Trigavou near Pleurtuit, also had come to Louisiana in 1785 aboard La Bergère, so they may have known one another in France. Their daughter Isabelle- or Élisabeth-Marthe was baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1787. Jean-Pierre remarried to Anne-Marie dite Annette, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Daigle and Marie Boudreaux and widow, perhaps, of Simon LeBlanc, at Lafourche in January 1790. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Jean-Pierre, fils in November 1790; Madeleine-Geneviève in January 1792; Rosalie in July 1793 but died at age 2 1/2 in January 1796; Marguerite born in March 1795; another Rosalie in December 1798; and Marie-Anne in February 1798--seven children, six daughters and a son, by two wives, between 1787 and 1798. Jean Pierre, père died in Assumption Parish on the upper Lafourche in August 1810, age 48. Daughters Élisabeth-Marte, Marie, Rosalie, and Marguerite, by both wives, married into the Barrilleaux, Thibodeaux, Guillot, Simoneaux, Mendoza, and Dovier families; one of them, Marguerite, settled on lower Bayou Teche with her second husband. Jean-Pierre's son also married and settled on the upper Lafourche.
Only son Jean-Pierre, fils, called Jean, from second wife Annette Daigle, married Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Blanchard and Marguerite Aucoin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in August 1812. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Jean, fils in April 1813; Henri Firmin in July 1815 but died at age 2 months the following September; Marcellin Florentin born in July 1816; Ferdinand Théodule in November 1818; Landry, also called L. W., Landry M., and Eleme, in the late 1810s or early 1820s; Pierre Victor in July 1821; Marie Clothilde, called Clothilde, in September 1823; Reasimond Dormeville or Rosémond Dorville, called Dormeville and Dorville, in July 1825; and Augustine Pamela, called Pamela, in July 1829--nine children, seven sons and two daughters, between 1813 and 1829. He may have been the Jean Landry who died "by drowning in Bayou [Lafourche]" at "age ca. 40 yrs." in October 1830. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial did not give Jean's parents' names or mention a wife. Jean Pierre, fils would have been a month shy of 40 at the time, so this likely was him. Daughters Clothilde and Pamela married into the Harvey and Landry families. Five of Jean's remaining sons also married and settled in Assumption Parish.
Third son Marcellin Florentin married Clémentine, daughter of André Dupré and Petronille Langlinais, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1840. They settled on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie Aurelie in August 1841; Marie Célima in September 1842; Maurice Lucien in September 1844; and Marie Camilla in July 1846--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1841 and 1846. Marcellin died near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in September 1847. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Marcellin died at "age 30 yrs." This Marcellin would have been age 31, so this probably was him. None of his daughters married by 1870. After his war service, his son did marry by then and created a vigorous line of the family.
Only son Maurice, due to the early deaths of his parents, was raised by the Templet family on upper Bayou Lafourche. He was a student in Assumption Parish when he enlisted as a private in the Donaldsonville Artillery at New Orleans in April 1862, age 17. With other recruits, he joined his fellow cannoneers in Virginia and, as one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers, served with his unit in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania the entire war. He does not appear on the surrender rolls of Lee's army at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, because he and other members of the battery were separated from the unit in the final days of fighting at Petersburg, avoided capture, and made their way home as best they could. At age 22, Maurice married Louise Veneda or Velleda, daughter of fellow Acadians Onésiphore Aucoin and Marine Guillot, at the Plattenville church in February 1867. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Mathilde in January 1868; Gustave Morille near Paincourtville in March 1870; ... In all, the couple had six daughters and three sons on their sugar farm in Assumption Parish. At age 70, Maurice remarried to widow Valérie Triche Rodrigue at Paincourtville in September 1915. She gave him no more children. He died of "heart trouble" at his home near Napoleonville in May 1935, age 90--the last surviving veteran of his unit. He was buried in Assumption Catholic Cemetery at Plattenville.
Jean's fourth son Ferdinand Théodule likely married cousin Eglantine, perhaps also called Euphrosine, Landry, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born near Paincourtville on the upper Lafourche, included Omer in September 1845; Marie Léocadie in January 1846; Joseph in January 1847; Lucien Ultimere in July 1849; and Octave Ulysse in September 1856--five children, four sons and a daughter, between 1845 and 1856. Ferdinand's daughter did not marry by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Omer married Amanda, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Comeaux and Aureline LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in February 1868. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marie Léontine in October 1868; another Marie Léontine in July 1870; ...
Jean's fifth son Landry married Azéline or Azéma, daughter of Lubin Simoneaux and his Acadian wife Marie Daigle, at the Plattenville church in November 1841. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Judith in February 1843; Augustine Silveria near Paincourtville in May 1845; Sarrasin Cyprien in May 1847; Améline Célestine in November 1848; Victoire Honorine in December 1850; Nicol in August 1852; and Cléobert in October 1854--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1843 and 1854. None of Landry's children married by 1870.
Jean's sixth son Pierre Victor married cousin Eléonore, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Landry and Colette Hébert and widow of Narcisse Trahan, at the Paincourtville church in January 1846. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Pierre Désiré or Desire Pierre in April 1847; Jean le jeune in June 1849 but, his name unrecorded by the Paincourtville priest, died at age 9 months in April 1850; and Pauline Marie born in June 1851--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1847 and 1851. Pierre Victor's daughter did not marry by 1870, but his remaining son did.
Older son Désiré Pierre married Cordilia, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Dugas and Clémence Hébert, at the Paincourtville church in April 1868. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Eléonore Angelina in May 1869; Pierre Leufroi in October 1870; ...
Jean's seventh and youngest son Dormeville or Dorville married cousin Alsina or Alexine, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Landry and his Creole wife Roseline Simoneaux, at the Paincourtville church in May 1847. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Gervetus in November 1849 but, called Gervey, died at age 1 1/2 in July 1851 "after receiving the sacraments"; and Augustin Jean Baptiste born in February 1853. Dormeville's surviving son did not marry by 1870.
Prosper's third and youngest son Simon-Joseph, by third wife Élisabeth Pitre, also became a carpenter in France. He followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Luce, daughter of fellow Acadians Marin Bourg and Marie-Osite Daigle, at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in July 1795. Marie-Luce, a native of Plouër-sur-Rance near Pleurtuit, had come to Louisiana from France aboard a later ship. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marine baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1797 but died the following July; Simon-Joseph, fils, called Simonet, born in May 1798; and Marie-Constance in February 1800 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1802--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1797 and 1800. Simon-Joseph, père died in Assumption Parish in December 1815, age 50, a widower. His son also created his own family on the bayou.
Only son Simon-Joseph, fils, called Simonet, likely married fellow Acadian Élisabeth or Élise Aucoin in Assumption Parish in the early 1820s. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Octave in December 1824; Marie Pamelise in c1826 and baptized at the Plattenville church, age 9 1/2, in January 1835; Marie Pamela, called Pamela, born in June 1827; and Simon Ulisse or Ulysse in January 1830--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1824 and 1830. Simonet died in Assumption Parish in June 1833, age 35. Daughter Pamela married into the Badeaux family by 1870. Neither of Simonet's sons married by then, if they married at all.
Pierre, fils (c1736-1798) à René, fils à René le jeune Landry
Pierre, fils, oldest son of Pierre Landry and Anne Thériot, born at Minas in c1736, followed his family to Virginia in 1755 and to England in 1756, where he married fellow Acadian Marthe LeBlanc in c1762. Marthe gave him a son, Joseph, born there soon after their marriage. They were repatriated to St.-Malo, France, aboard the transport Ambition in May 1763 and settled in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, where Pierre, fils worked as a carpenter. Marthe gave him four more children there: Joseph-Giroire or -Grégoire born in January 1766; Jean-Raphaël in April 1768; Marie-Madeleine-Adélaïde in November 1770; and Louis-Pierre or Pierre-Louis in October 1773. Soon after his third son's birth, Pierre, fils took his family, including his widowed mother, to the interior of Poitou. In March 1776, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. They settled in St.-Jacques Parish, where Marthe gave Pierre, fils another daughter, Anne-Susanne, born in July 1776--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1762 and 1776. Youngest son Pierre-Louis died in St.-Jacques Parish, age 3, in September 1776. In 1785, Pierre, fils, Marthe, and four of their children, two sons and two daughters, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana. Oldest son Joseph, who had gone with his family to Poitou and Nantes and would have been age 23 in 1785, if he was still living, chose not to accompany his family to Louisiana. From New Orleans, Pierre, fils and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. He and Marthe had no more children in the colony. Pierre, fils died on the upper bayou in September 1798, age 63. Daughters Marie-Madeleine and Anne Susanne married into the Hébert and Penro families on the Lafourche. Pierre, fils's two remaining sons also married there and created vigorous lines.
Second son Joseph-Giroire or -Grégoire became an engraver in France. He followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Paule or -Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Prosper-Honoré Giroir and Marie Dugas, in December 1788. Marie-Paule, a native of St.-Coulomb near St.-Servan-sur-Mer, also had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard La Bergère, so they may have known one another in the mother country. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie-Rosalie, called Rosalie, in September 1789; Joseph-Henri, called Henri, in March 1791; Auguste or Augustin in August 1792; Fabien-Maximilien, called Maxile, in February 1795; Ursin-Valéry, called Valéry, in November 1796; Grégoire in August 1799; and Françoise-Estelle, called Estelle, in November 1801. Joseph-Giroire, at age 45, remarried to Marie, daughter of Bernard Capdeville and his Acadian wife Anne Clouâtre, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in May 1811. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Virginie in February 1812; Julie dite Juliette in September 1813; Mathilde Claire in November 1816; Jean-Baptiste in June 1818; and Ives, Yves, Ives Jean Baptiste or Jean Baptiste Ives, called Jose, in the early 1820s--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, by two wives, between 1789 and the early 1820s. Joseph Giroire likely was the Joseph Landry who died in Assumption Parish in June 1849. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph, "born in Nantes, [actually St.-Servan-sur-Mer], France," died at "age 86 years." This Joseph would have been age 83. Daughters Rosalie, Françoise Estelle, Marie Virginie, Juliette, and Mathilde, by both wives, married into the Landry, Charlet, Capdeville, Duhon, and Dufrene families. Six of Joseph Giroire's sons also married and settled on Bayou Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph Henri, called Henri, from first wife Marie Paule Giroir, married Jeanne Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Simon Boudreaux and his French wife Marie Julienne Brossier, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in November 1813. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Gatin Joseph Ovid, called Joseph, in November 1813; Estelle Élise, called Élise, Élisa, and Éliza in August 1817; Marie Lucie in October 1819 but, called Eloisca, died at age 13 1/2 in May 1833; Louise Prudence born in August 1821; a son, name unrecorded, died eight days after his birth in May 1823; Marie Clarisse Ameline born in July 1824; Henri Léovinski, Lovinski, or Lovency, called Lovency, in October 1826; Ulalie or Eulalie Marguerite in September 1828 but died at age 8 in October 1836; Henriette Adeline born in November 1830; and Octave Emare in July 1832. At age 44, Henri remarried to cousin Coralie Mélanie Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Bourg and Félicité Landry, at the Plattenville church in September 1835. Their child, name unrecorded, born on the upper Lafourche, died at birth in June 1836--11 children, at least five sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1813 and 1836. Was he the Henri Landry who died "in the 'catastrophy at Last Island' (hurricane" in August 1856? The Paincourtville priest who recorded the old man's burial, and who gave no parents' names or mentioned a wife, said that Henri died at "age 75 years." This Henri would have been age 65. Daughters Estelle Éliza and Marie Lucie, by his first wife, married into the Foret and Bourg families. Three of Henri's sons also married. The youngest moved to the lower Atchafalaya after the War of 1861-65.
Oldest son Joseph, by first wife Adélaïde Boudreaux, married Marguerite Élise, called Élise and perhaps also Basalisse, daughter of Joseph Élie Friou and his Acadian wife Marguerite Bourg, at the Plattenville church in December 1835. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Octavie Aglaée in September 1836; Lucien in the late 1830s or early 1840s; Désiré Joseph in March 1841; Adélaïde in February 1843; Marie Hirma in July 1845; Élisa Rosine in July 1847; and Marie in September 1849--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1836 and 1849. Daughters Octavie and Adélaïde married into the Simoneaux and Gautreaux families by 1870. One of Joseph's sons also married by then.
Older son Lucien married Azéma, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Aucoin and Eléonore Barrilleaux, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1869. ...
Henri's third son Lovency, by first wife Adélaïde Boudreaux, married Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Fabien Bourg and Clarisse Daigle, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1848. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph in December 1849; Joseph Adrien in February 1852; and Joseph Henry in March 1855--three children, all sons, between 1849 and 1855. None of Lovency's sons married by 1870.
Henri's fourth and youngest son Octave Emare, by first wife Adélaïde Boudreaux, may have married fellow Acadian Angelina Giroir or Girouard, place and date unrecorded. He worked as a carpenter and then on the railroad. He and Angelina settled first on the upper Lafourche and then at Brashear, now Morgan, City, St. Mary Parish, on the lower Atchafalaya, a railroad center. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Fedora, also called Théodora, in c1850; Désiré Gustave, called Gustave, in November 1851; Louis Oscar, called Oscar, in September 1853; Marie Octavie in October 1855 but, called Octavie, may have died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 16) in Assumption Parish in March 1860; Simon Oleus born on the upper Lafourche in October 1861; and Marie Eldora in March 1866. Octave remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Ursin Delaune and Mélissaire Theriot, at the Brashear City church in December 1868. Their daughter Marie Odile Clara, called Levcadie, was born at Brashear City in June 1870; ... Daughter Fedora, by his first wife, married into the LeBlanc family by 1870 on the western prairies. None of Octave's sons married by then.
Joseph Giriore's second son Auguste or Augustin, by first wife Marie Paule Giroir, married Marie Louise, Luce, or Lucie, another daughter of Joseph Simon Boudreaux and Marie Julienne Brossier and widow of Hippolyte Brets, at the Plattenville church in January 1816. They settled on the Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Angèle in November 1816; Carmélite Lucie in March 1819; Julien Auguste or Augustin, called Augustin, fils, in May 1821; Eugénie in c1823 but died at age 9 in November 1832; Eugène Ansilien in November 1824; Marguerite Augustine in October 1825; Joseph Victor in November 1827; Julie Zulma in March 1830; Alexandre Zénon Charles in April 1832; and Marie Marine or Mariane in May 1835--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1816 and 1835. Wife Lucie's succession, calling her husband Auguste, dated 9 October 1849, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, on lower Bayou Teche, so Auguste and Lucie must have lived there, too. Evidently he returned to the upper Lafourche after her death. At age 62, he remarried in a civil ceremony to Mélanie, daughter of Élie Friou and his Acadian wife Marguerite Bourg, and sanctified the marriage at the Plattenville church in April 1855. She gave him no more children. Daughters Marguerite Augustine and Marie Mariane, by his first wife, married into the Templet and Besse families and settled on lower Bayou Teche. Two of Augustin's sons also married. They settled on the lower Atchafalaya River and then on lower Bayou Teche either just before or during the War of 1861-65.
Oldest son Augustin, fils, by first wife Marie Luce Boudreaux, married cousin Gertrude Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dupuis and Rosalie Landry, at the Plattenville church in May 1840. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie, perhaps theirs, died in April 1840, age 1 month; Eugène Augustin born in February 1841; Siméon in February 1843; Charles in April 1845; Louisianne Uranie in September 1847; and Caliste in September 1850--six children, two daughters and four sons, between 1840 and 1850. Augustin, fils's succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse in June 1859. He would have been age 48 that year. One wonders when the family moved to the lower Teche. Augustin, fils's remaining daughter did not marry by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Eugène Augustin married Marie Apolline Laforest at the Brashear City church, St. Mary Parish, in April 1868. Daughter Clothilde Marguerite Agnès was born near Brashear City in February 1869; ...
Auguste's third son Joseph Victor, by first wife Marie Luce Boudreaux, married Roseline or Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Aucoin and Françoise Louise Daigle, at the Paincourtville church in July 1847. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche and the lower Teche, included Joséphine in the late 1840s or early 1850s; Augustine Marie near Plattenville in August 1849; Augustin le jeune in May 1851; Élizabeth Rosella in February 1854; Joseph Arthur near Brashear, now Morgan, City in April 1863; Marie in July 1865; ... Daughter Joséphine married into the Rodriguez family at New Iberia on the lower Teche by 1870. Neither of Joseph Victor's sons married by then.
Joseph Giroire's third son Fabien Maximilien, called Maxile, from first wife Marie Paule Giroir, married double cousin Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Landry and Marguerite Landry, at the Plattenville church in February 1817. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Lucien in December 1817; Auguste in c1819 but died at age 15 months in November 1820; Auguste Ennode born in August 1820; Céleste Aglaé in September 1822 but may have died the day after her birth; Grégoire le jeune, also called Emar, born in September 1825; Cara or Emma Virginie in February 1828; Constant or Constantin in April 1830 but died at age 5 in May 1835; Zulmée Avelina born in November 1832; and Hélène Elmire, called Elmire, in May 1835 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1837--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between 1817 and 1835. Maxile died in Assumption Parish in October 1855. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial said that Maxile died "age ca. 56 years." Fabien Maximilien would have been age 60. Daughters Emma and Zulmée married into the Hébert and Charlet families. Two of Maxile's remaining sons also married.
Oldest son Lucien married cousin Marie Aurora or Aurore, daughter of Ursin Marroy, Maroy, Maroi, Maroir, Marois, Marroi, or Marrois and his Acadian wife Louise Landry, at the Paincourtville church in January 1840. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Philomène Evélina, called Evélina, in November 1840; Joseph Télésphore Anatole in March 1843 but, called Joseph Anatole, died at age 1 in March 1844; Marie Tilma, called Tilma, born in March 1846; Joseph Aristide, called Aristide, in January 1849; Joseph Enau in May 1851; Marie Olphida in July 1854; Joseph Bienvenu in December 1856; Marie Émelie in February 1859; Joseph Camille in December 1861; Marie Eugénie in September 1866; ... Daughters Evélina and Tilma married into the Landry and Guidry families by 1870. One of Lucien's sons also married by then.
Second son Aristide married cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Désiré Crochet and Bathilde Landry, at the Paincourtville church in January 1870. ...
Maxile's fourth son Grégoire le jeune married cousin Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadians Lazare Hébert and Céleste Landry, at the Paincourtville church in September 1851. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Nicolls in August 1852 but, called Nicols, died at age 3 in October 1855; Marie Élizabeth Eulalie born in July 1855; Alphonsine in December 1857 but died at age 4 1/2 in March 1862; Joseph Désiré born in December 1860; Joseph Maxil Lazare in May 1863 but died at age 2 in September 1865; ... Grégoire died in Assumption Parish in November 1863. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Grégoire died at "age 37 years." This Grégoire would have been age 38, so it probably was him. Was his death war-related? None of his children married by 1870.
Joseph Giroire's fourth son Ursin Valéry, called Valéry, from first wife Marie Paule Giroir, married cousin Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Rose Landry of Ascension, at the Plattenville church in February 1819. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Théodule in November 1820; Jule or Jules in April 1821[sic] but died at age 7 in August 1828; Justine Euphrosine born in June 1823; Eugène in the early or mid-1820s; Eulalie Clarisse in September 1825 but, called Clarisse, may have died at age 23 (the recording priest said 22) in April 1849; Rosémond Osémé born in December 1827; and Rosalie Elvania in March 1830--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1820 and 1830. Valéry died in Assumption Parish in April 1831, age 34 (the recording priest said 33). None of his daughters married by 1870, if they married at all. Two of his remaining sons did marry by then, and one of them moved to lower Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65.
Second son Eugène married cousin Constance, also called Hortense Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Richard and Constance LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in September 1845. Their son Nicholas Abraham was born near Plattenville in June 1846 but, called Nicols, died at age 1 (the recording priest said 2) in June 1847. Eugène remarried to Marie Armélise or Asélima, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Daigle and Rose Templet, at the Paincourtville church in June 1848. They settled on Grand Bayou north of Lake Verret before moving to lower Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche and the lower Teche, included twins Marie Eleucadie and Rose Elvegna or Elvania, called Elvania, in September 1849, but Marie Eleucadie, called Léocadie, died at age 15 1/2 (the recording priest said 17) in July 1865; Joseph Théogène Adrien born in February 1852; Joseph Philogène in September 1854 but, called Philogaine, died at age 5 in November 1859; Désiré Augustin born in April 1860; Marie Olfida in August 1862; Adriènne in September 1865; Rodolphe Joseph near New Iberia on the lower Teche in December 1868; ... Daughter Elvania, from his second wife, married into the LeBlanc family in Assumption Parish by 1870. None of Eugène's sons married by then.
Valéry's fourth and youngest son Rosémond Osémé married Marcellite or Marcelline, daughter of Marcellin Solar and Dolar Rodrigue, at the Paincourtville church in December 1858. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Jean in August 1860; Clémentine Lalie Marie in October 1866 but, called Marie, may have died near Paincourtville, age 10 months, in August 1867; ...
Joseph Giroire's fifth son Grégoire, by first wife Marie Paule Giroir, married cousin Phelonise Geneviève, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Rose Landry, at the Plattenville church in January 1826. Grégoire remarried to Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Aucoin and Marie Rose Bourg and widow of Magloire Landry, at the Plattenville church in January 1837. Grégoire died in Assumption Parish in November 1839, age 40 (the recording priest said 39). He may have had no children by either of his wives. If so, his family line died with him.
Joseph Giroire's seventh and youngest son Ives, Yves, Ives Jean Baptiste or Jean Baptiste Ives, called Jose, from second wife Marie Capdeville, married Delphine Denise, daughter of Jean Charles Barbier and his Acadian wife Jeanne Rosalie Aucoin, at the Plattenville church in August 1844. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Camille Grégoire in November 1845 but, called Camile, died at age 9 (the recording priest said 10) in September 1855; Marie Élisabeth born September 1848; Epége Sostènes in August 1850 but, called Elphége, died at age 5 in September 1855; Marcellin Achille born in June 1852 but, called Achille, died at age 3 1/2 in September 1855; Alexandre Aristide born in August 1854 but died at age 1 in September 1855; Henrietta E. born in March 1856; and Jean Baptiste Arthur near Canal, today's Napoleonville, in June 1858 but died the following October. Wife Delphine died in July 1858, age 37, probably from complications of giving birth to son Jean Baptiste Arthur. Ives likely remarried to fellow Acadian Sidalise Bourg, place and date unrecorded. They settled at Canal until after the War of 1861-65. Their children, born there and on lower Bayou Teche, included Joseph Vincent in January 1860; Pierre Étienne in August 1862; Marie Oceana near Canal in February 1865; Rosalie near New Iberia in August 1868; ... None of Ives children married by 1870.
Pierre, fils's third son Jean-Raphaël, called Raphaël, became a printer in France. He followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married cousin Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Richard and Marie-Blanche LeBlanc, in August 1789. Marguerite, also a native of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard La Bergère, so they may have known one another in the mother country. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Jean-Raphaël, fils, also called Louis, in August 1790 but died at Assumption at age 7 in November 1797; Marie-Eulalie born in November 1791 but died at age 5 1/2 in July 1797; Marie-Arthémise, called Arthémise, born in March 1794 but died at age 3 1/2 in July 1797; Théotiste-Claire born in June 1795; François-Magloire, called Magloire, in April 1797; Louis-Paterne in April 1799; Henri-Léon, called Léon, in April 1801; Marie-Hortense in October 1803; and Auguste Bernard in October 1805--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1790 and 1805. At age 70, Jean Raphaël remarried to Marie Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Charles Thibodeaux and Marie Madeleine Theriot, at the Plattenville church in February 1839. Marie Pélagie was a native of Louisiana, but her parents, like Jean Raphaël, also emigrated from France in 1785. She evidently gave him no more children. Jean Raphaël, called Raphaël, died in Assumption Parish at the end of January 1840, age 71. Daughters Théotiste Claire and Marie Hortense, by his first wife, married into the Richard, Martin, and LeBlanc families. Three of Raphaël's remaining sons also married and settled on the Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son François Magloire, called Magloire, from first wife Marguerite Richard, married Françoise or Fanny Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Aucoin and Madeleine Rose Bourg of Baton Rouge, at the Plattenville church in January 1817. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Adélaïde in c1818; Marcellin Faustin in March 1822 but died at age 3 in April 1825; Théophile Raphaël born in December 1829; and Marie Justine Edelvina in April 1830--four children, two daughters and two sons, between the late 1810s and 1830. Magloire died in Assumption Parish in October 1834, age 37 (the recording priest said 38). Daughter Adélaïde married into the Bouguet and Barthe families, but Magloire's remaining son and his other daughter did not marry by then.
Jean-Raphaël, père's third son Louis Paterne, by first wife Marguerite Richard, married Marie Rose, called Rose, another daughter of Jean Baptiste Aucoin and Madeleine Rose Bourg, at the Plattenville church in December 1818. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Louise Azéline or Azéma in October 1819; Marie Mélanie in July 1824; Élisa Rose in May 1830; and Rosalie Aglaée in September 1836--four children, all daughters, between 1819 and 1836. Louis Paterne may have died in Ascension Parish, on the upper Lafourche, in September 1855. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who gave no parents' names or mentioned a wife, said that Louis F., as he called him, died at "age 57 years." Louis P. would have been age 55 1/2. Daughter Louise Azéma married into the Constance family by 1870. Did Louis Paterne father any sons?
Jean-Raphaël, père's fourth son Henri Léon, called Léon, from first wife Marguerite Richard, married Marguerite Susanne, called Susanne, daughter of Joseph Cheramie, fils and his Acadian wife Gertrude Olivie Michel, at the Plattenville church in January 1821. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Léon Raphaël, called Raphaël, in July 1823; and Magloire Saint Jeste in March 1827. One of Léon's sons married by 1870.
Oldest son Raphaël, while a resident of Chenière Camanada in lower Jefferson Parish on the Gulf of Mexico, married Clémence, daughter of François Rigaud or Rigaux and Adélaïde Encalade of nearby Grand Isle, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in August 1846, six months after a daughter was born to them. Their children, born probably at Chenière Camanada, included Hortense in February 1846; Clémence in February 1848; Marguerite in October 1850; Alcide Raphaël in March 1851; and Marie Ernestine in August 1854--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1846 and 1854. None of Raphaël's children married by 1870.
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Five more Landrys--an elderly husband and his wife, who may not have survived the crossing, and four young siblings--crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in September 1785. They followed their fellow passenges to upper Bayou Lafourche. A vigorous Landry family line came of it:
Simon (c1735-1785?) à Claude à René le jeune Landry
Simon, seventh and youngest son of Jean-Baptiste dit Baptiste Landry and Marguerite Comeau and younger brother of Prosper of La Bergère, born at Minas in May 1735, was still a young bachelor when he accompanied his parents to Virginia in 1755 and England in 1756. In c1761, at age 26, he married fellow Acadian Marguerite Gautrot, 38-year-old widow of ____ Leroy and Joseph Granger, in England. She gave him a son, Jean, born there in April 1762. After repatriation, Simon and his family, including three stepsons, followed his widowed mother to St.-Malo, France, in May 1763 and settled near her in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer. Marguerite gave Simon no more children. In 1773, Simon and his family did not follow his older brothers and other exiles to the interior of Poitou but remained at St.-Servan. By September 1784, however, they had joined his family in the lower Loire port of Nantes. The following year, Simon and Marguerite emigrated to Spanish Louisiana. Their only child, Jean, who would have been age 23 in 1785, if he was still living, chose to remain in the mother country. Simon and Marguerite, ages 50 and 62, respectively, may not have survived the crossing to New Orleans.
Aimable-Étienne (1765-1832) à René à Pierre à René l'aîné Landry
Aimable-Étienne, third son of Joseph Landry and his second wife Jeanne-Marie-Madeleine Varangue, born in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg, France, in December 1765, followed his family to Poitou in the early 1770s, his widowed mother to Nantes later in the decade, and three of his siblings to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche in 1785. (He, his younger brother, and two sisters may have been the only descendants of René Landry l'aîné of Acadia to go to Louisiana. All of the others would have been descendants of l'aîné's younger cousin René le jeune.) Aimable married Ursule-Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians François Pitre and Ursule Breau, at Ascension on the river in February 1788. Ursule, a native of Pleurtuit near St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 with her widowed mother aboard a later vessel. She and Amable-Étienne settled on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Angélique in February 1789; twins Félicité-Marguerite and Françoise-Eulalie in April 1790; Modeste in June 1791; Étienne-Joseph in September 1792; Marie-Françoise, perhaps called Françoise, in March 1794; Paul-Olivier or Olivier-Paul in September 1795 but died at age 8 in September 1803; Jean-Baptiste born in March 1799; François-Lucien in October 1800; and Élie in December 1802--10 children, five daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1789 and 1802. Aimable Étienne died in Assumption Parish in July 1832, age 67. Daughters Angélique, Françoise, and Modeste married into the Forest, Colon, Barrilleaux, and Hunot families. Three of Aimable Étienne's remaining sons also married and settled on the Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured. Since Aimable's younger brother's family line did not endure, his likely was unique among the many Acadian Landrys of Louisiana.
Oldest son Étienne Joseph married cousin Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Landry and Marie Giroir, perhaps in a civil ceremony, and sanctified the marriage at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1813. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Raphaël in September 1814 but died at age 1 in September 1815; Angèle Élise born in May 1816; Édouard Trasimond in June 1818 and may have been the Trasimond Landry who died in Ascension Parish, age 21 (the recording priest said 24), in November 1839; Françoise Estelle born in March 1820; Marie Delphine, perhaps called Delphine, in May 1823 but, called Delphone, may have died at age 9 1/2 (the recording priest said 10) in August 1832; Cyprien born in September 1824 but died 10 days after his birth; Onésime Cléopha, called Cléopha, born in December 1825; Émelie in c1829; and Domine or Evelline Mathilde in January 1831--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1814 and 1831. Étienne died near Plattenville in November 1853. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Étienne died at "age 64 years." Étienne Joseph would have been age 61. His widow Rosalie died near Plattenville in November 1853, less than a week after her husband passed. The priest who recorded her burial said that she died at "age 68 years." One wonders if Étienne and Rosalie were victims of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana during the summer and fall of 1853. Daughters Émelie and Evelline Mathilde married into the Blanchard, Caillier, and Hill families, one of them, Émelie, twice. One of Étienne Joseph's sons also married, but the line may not have endured.
Fourth and youngest son Onésime Cléopha, called Cléopha, may have married fellow Acadian Azélie Boudreaux, place and date unrecorded. Their son Henry Éloy was born in Assumption Parish in August 1852 but, called Henry Clay, died at age 7 in July 1859. Cléopha died in Assumption Parish in October 1853. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial said that Cléophas, as he called him, died at "age 25 years, 9 months." He was 27. Was he also a victim of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana during the summer and fall of 1853? His family line likely died with him.
Aimable Étienne's third son Jean Baptiste married Ludivine, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Foret and Marie Madeleine Blanchard, at the Plattenville church in May 1820. Their daughter Ludivine Joséphine was born on the upper Lafourche in April 1824 but died in June. Jean Baptiste remarried to Euphrosine, Euphrasie, or Joséphine dite Frosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Blaise Boudreaux and Perrine Barrilleaux, at the Plattenville church in October 1827. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Jean Baptiste, fils in September 1828 but died nine days after his birth; Armogène born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1829 but, called Hermongène, died at age 14 in Assumption Parish in September 1843; Jean Baptiste, fils, the second with the name, born in October 1833; Joseph Léon, called Léon, in April 1837; and Marie Donatilde in May 1845--six children, two daughters and four sons, by two wives, between 1824 and 1845. Daughter Marie, by his second wife, married into the Thibodeaux family at New Iberia on lower Bayou Teche by 1870. Only one of Jean Baptiste's remaining sons married by then and settled on the upper Lafourche.
Fourth and youngest son Joseph Léon, called Léon, from second wife Frosine Boudreaux, married Nathalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Grégoire Aucoin and Clarisse Hébert, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1858. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche included Grégoire Telemaque Joseph in June 1859; and Omer Audressy in June 1861; ...
Aimable Étienne's fifth and youngest son Élie married Anne Rosalie, called Rosalie, another daughter of Blaise Boudreaux and Perrine Barrilleaux, at the Plattenville church in November 1825. They lived on the upper bayou near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Armogène or Hermogène in April 1828; Eugène Bazile or Basile, called Basile, in December 1829; Jean Baptiste Villiers in February 1832 but died at age 4 1/2 in November 1836; Pauline Rosa or Rosela born in April 1834; Marie Louise Eugénie in August 1836; Rosama Azulmie or Roséma Zulmé, in November 1838; Marie Virgile or Virginie, called Virginie, in July 1841; and Marie Evélina or Evéline in January 1844--eight children, three sons and five daughters, between 1828 and 1844. Daughters Marie Eugénie, Pauline Rosela, Roséma Zulmé, Virginie, and Marie Evéline married into the Naquin, Lasseigne, Bertrand, Breaux, and Samson families by 1870. Élie's remaining sons also married by then and moved to lower Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65.
Oldest son Hermogène married Clara Cécile, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Olivier Gautreaux and his Creole wife Rosalie Peltier, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1850 or 1851. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes before moving to lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born on the Lafourche and the lower Teche, included Ernest Demetrius in November 1851; Joseph Villier in April 1856; Charles Arthur in October 1858; Anne Cécilia near Labadieville in August 1861 but, called Cécilia, died near New Iberia on lower Bayou Teche, age 7, in August 1868; Léa Élie born near New Iberia in October 1867; Pierre Oscar in November 1869; ... None of Hermongène's children married by 1870.
Élie's second son Eugène Basile, called Basile, married Marie, daughter of Barthélémy Jolibois and his Acadian wife Mathilde Bourg, at the Thibodaux church in January 1853. They also settled near the boundary between Lafourche and Assumption parishes and, like his older brother, moved to the New Iberia area. Unlike his brother, however, they returned to the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Louise Victoria on the upper Lafourche in November 1855; Marie Octavia in March 1858; Adolphe Avi in June 1860; Émelie Philemène near New Iberia in March 1867; Marie Adilia near Labadieville in May 1870; ... None of Basile's children married by 1870.
Abraham-Isaac (1772-1816) à René à Pierre à René l'aîné Landry
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Six more Landrys--an elderly widower with two orphaned grandchildren and a nephew, and two wives--crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They followed their fellow passenges to upper Bayou Lafourche. Another robust family line came of it:
François (1716-1797) à René le jeune Landry
François, younger son of Charles dit Charlot Landry and Catherine-Josèphe Broussard, born, according to Stephen A. White, at Annapolis Royal in May 1716, married Marie-Josèphe, called Marie, daughter of Jean Babin and Marguerite Boudrot, in c1735 and, according to Bona Arsenault, settled at l'Assomption, Pigiguit. Marie gave François five children there: Joseph born in c1736; Jean-Charles in c1738; Germain in c1740; Marie-Josèphe in c1742; and François, fils in c1746. François took his family to Île St.-Jean in c1750. Marie gave him another son, Claude-Raphaël, born on the island in the early summer of 1752. That August, a French official counted François, Marie, and six children, five sons and a daughter, at Rivière-du-Nord-Est in the island's interior. Marie gave François two more children on the island: Anne-Madeleine born in c1755; and Marguerite-Josèphe in c1757--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between 1736 and 1757. The British deported the family to Cherbourg, France, in late 1758. François worked as a carpenter there. Marie died by June 1763, when, at age 47, François remarried to Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Carret and Angélique Chiasson and widow of Barthélemy Martin, in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg. She evidently gave him no more children. A French survey of 1772 noted that François was asthmatique. His third son Germain married Cécile, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Chênet or Chesnay dit La Garenne and Anne Pothier of Île St.-Jean, in Très-St.-Trinité Parish in July 1767. In 1773, François and Madeleine followed his son Germain and his family, along with hundreds of other exiles in the port cities, to the interior of Poitou. In December 1775, after two years of effort, François and Madeleine, along with his son Germain, retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. At age 60, François remarried again--his third marriage--to Marguerite-Geneviève, 54-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pitre and Marguerite Thériot and widow of Joseph Blanchard, at Chantenay near Nantes in February 1777. She gave him no more children. Son Germain died at Chantenay before January 1785, when his widow, Cécile LaGarenne, remarried to a Frenchman there. That year, when hundreds of Acadians emigrated from France to Spanish Louisiana, Cécile and her new husband and her younger Landry children, ages 9 and 7, remained in the mother country, but two of her older Landry children, ages 16 and 15, did not. François, now age 69 and a widower again, did not remain in France but emigrated to Spanish Louisiana with his two teenage grandchildren, as well as a Landry nephew from one of his sisters. From New Orleans, François and his young charges followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. François did not remarry again. He died at nearby Ascension on the river in February 1797. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names but called him a widower, said François died at "age 83 years." He was 80. Granddaughter Bonne-Marie-Adélaïde married into the Lejeune family on the upper Lafourche. Grandson Jean-Jacques-Frédéric did not marry, so son Germain's family line did not endure in the Bayou State. François's nephew, however, married a Landry cousin on the upper Lafourche and created a vigorous family line there.
Jean-Charles (1767-1844) à Jean-Baptiste dit Baptiste? à Claude? à René le jeune Landry
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Oldest son Édouard Benjamin, called Benjamin, married cousin Françoise Denise, called Denise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Duhon and Adélaïde Landry, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in February 1816. They settled on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Émilie Rose dite Émelite in February 1817; Joseph in May 1818 but died at age 16 months in October 1819; Marcellin born in October 1820 but died at age 5 1/2 in September 1826; Thérèse Mélanie, called Mélanie, born in October 1822; Hippolyte Adon in December 1824; Adeline Élisabeth in November 1826; Pauline Sérafinne in January 1829; Joseph Sosthène, called Sosthène, in November 1830; Marie Roselise, also called Bazelice, in January 1833; Martin in April 1835; Désiré in March 1837; and Joseph Lima or Numa, called Numa, in June 1839--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, between 1817 and 1839. Daughters Émelite, Mélanie, and Bazelice married into the Savoy, LeBlanc, and Vincent families by 1870. Three of Benjamin's sons also married by then, but only one of the lines seems to have endured.
Third son Hippolyte Adon likely married fellow Acadian Augustine, also called Marie Justine and Justine, Guidry in the early 1840s, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Hippolyte Gédéon near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in November 1844 but, called Hyppolite, died at age 1 1/2 in October 1846; Jean Baptiste Théophile born in June 1846 but died at age 1 in June 1847; Françoise Eve Noémie, called Noémi, born in December 1847; Joseph, perhaps also called Ernest, in December 1849; and Joseph Willfill in December 1852--five children, four sons and a daughter, between 1844 and 1852. Hippolyte Adon died near Paincourtville in September 1854. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Hyppolite, as he called him, died at "age 30 years." Hippolyte Adon would have been only two months shy of that age. Daughter Noémi married a Babin cousin by 1870. One of Hippolyte Adon's sons also married by then.
Third son Ernest married Hélène or Helena, daughter of fellow Acadian Eusilien Theriot and his Creole wife Mélasie Kern, at the Paincourtville church in February 1868. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marie Cécilie in December 1868; Joseph Alfred in August 1870; ...
Benjamin's fourth son Joseph Sosthène, called Sosthène, married first cousin Adeline Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Henri Breaux and Joséphine Duhon, his uncle and aunt, at the Paincourtville church in May 1853; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their son Joseph, fils was born near Paincourtville in November 1855 but, called Meridier, may have died at age 3 1/2 in August 1859. Joseph Sosthène may have been the Joseph Landry who died near Paincourtville in July 1856. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died at "age ca. 26 years," so this probably was him. His family line likely died with him.
Benjamin's fifth son Martin married double cousin Élesile, daughter of fellow Acadians Auguste Landry and Irène Landry, at the Paincourtviille church in February 1858. Two years later, Martin was working as a laborer near Crane's Forge in Assumption Parish. He and wife Élesile were still childless. He may have died near Paincourtville in October 1862. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Martin died at "age 33-34 years." This Martin would have age 27. His line of the family may have died with him. One wonders if his death was war-related.
Jean Charles's second son Marcellin Séverin married cousin Delise, Felide, Feline, Phelie, Pheline, or Selide Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Armand Landry and his Creole wife Marguerite Borne, at the Plattenville church in September 1821. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Célestine in September 1822; Firmin in October 1824; a son, name unrecorded, died a day after his birth in September 1826; Marcellus Porphiro born in February 1828; Marie Célima, called Célima, in April 1832; a child, name unrecorded, died at birth in October 1833; and another child, named unrecorded, died at birth in March 1835. Marcellin, in his late 30s, remarried to cousin Adélaïde Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Dupuis and Constance Landry and widow of Jean Baptiste Thomas Moïse, at the Plattenville church in July 1838. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Augustin Séverin, called Séverin and Séverin M., in August 1839; Marie Arnestine or Ernestine, called Ernestine, in July 1841; Marie Laurenza, called Laurenza, in March 1843; Maurice Lucien near Paincourtville in September 1844; Joseph Marcel, called Marcel, in July 1845; Martial Aristide in July 1847 but, called Marcial Aristide, died at age 3 1/2 in May 1851; Apolonie Yrènie born in February 1850; twins Joseph Théogène and Joseph Théophile in April 1852; Pierre Martial in June 1854; Ernest Ubalde in May 1856; and Marie Angéline in February 1859 but, called Angéline, died at age 3 1/2 in October 1862--19 children, at least six daughters and 11 sons, including a set of twins, by two wives, between 1822 and 1859. Daughters Célima, Ernestine, and Laurenza, by both wives, married into the Breaux, Gautreaux, and Dugas families, two of them to Dugass and one of them, Célima, married twice, by 1870. Four of Marcellin's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Firmin, by first wife Pheline Landry, likely married fellow Acadian Ethelvina, called Telvina, Hébert, place and date unrecorded, and settled near Paincourtville by the mid-1840s. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Marie Adélaïde Églaïde or Égladie, called Égladie, in May 1847; Marie Angéline, called Angéline, baptized at the Paincourtville church, age 3 months, in June 1849; Firmin Augustin born in December 1851; Joseph Ophild in December 1853; Marie Olphida, perhaps theirs, in December 1855; Marie Aimé in November 1857; Marie Léonore in March 1860; and Joseph Oleus near Pierre Part north of Lake Verret in February 1862 but, called Oleus, died at age 2 1/2 in September 1864. Firmin, at age 39, remarried to Augustine, daughter of fellow Acadian Léandre Hébert and his Creole wife Eméline Campos, at the Paincourtville church in October 1863. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Augustin Alcée near Pierre Part in January 1865; Ernestine in December 1866; ... Daughters Égladie and Angéline, by his first wife, married into the Savoy and Ozelet families by 1870. None of Firmin's sons married by then.
Marcellin's third son Marcellus Porphiro, by first wife Pheline Landry, married Elmire or Elmina, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin LeBlanc and Arthémise Dugas, at the Paincourtville church in February 1850. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Palmire in December 1850; and Jean in August 1857 but, called Joseph, may have died at age 8 in November 1865. Marcellus remarried to Anatalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Isidore Rivet and his Creole wife Carmela Bermeyo, at the Paincourtville church in July 1861. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Augustin Liviston, perhaps Livingston, in August 1862; and Marie Rosalie in August 1864--four children, two daughters and two sons, by two wives, between 1850 and 1864. Marcellus died near Paincourtville in February 1865. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Marcellus died at "age 37 years," so this probably was him. One wonders if his death was war-related. None of his children married by 1870.
Marcellin's fourth son son Augustin Séverin, called Séverin and Séverin M., from second wife Adélaïde Dupuis, married cousin Adveline, daughter of Sarasin Marroy or Marrois and his Acadian wife Élise LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in May 1858; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Germain in May 1859; Joseph Treville in December 1860; Marie Dauveline in January 1863; Joseph Julien in January 1865; Joseph Vileor in January 1867 but died the following November; Marie Angéline born in November 1868; Marie Élise in September 1870; ...
Marcellin's sixth son Joseph Marcel, called Marcel, from second wife Adélaïde Dupuis, married Ellen, daughter of William Burke and Kate Burke, at the Paincourtville church in February 1868. Their son Marcellin Richard was born near Paincourtville in November 1868 but died the following August; ...
Jean-Jacques-Frédéric (1770-?) à François à René le jeune Landry
Jean-Jacques-Fréderic, older son of Germain Landry and Cécile Chênet or Chesnay dit La Garenne and grandson of François Landry, born in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg, France, in July 1770, followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, and Chantenay, and his paternal grandfather, an older sister, and a cousin to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. He settled with them on upper Bayou Lafourche and was still a bachelor there in January 1798. He evidently did not marry.
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Eleven, perhaps 12, more Landrys--a large family led by a widower, a wife, a widow and her family, and a young bachelor--crossed on La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans from St.-Malo in early December 1785. The widow and her family chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche. The widower's family, the bachelor, and the wife followed most of their fellow passengers to the new Spanish settlement of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge. A few years later, they, along with most of the other Acadians, abandoned the bayouside community and resettled downriver. Another Landry family line came of it:
René (1730-?) à René, fils à René le jeune Landry
René's third son Pierre followed his family to New Orleans, Bayou des Écores, and Baton Rouge, where he married Victoire-Eulalie, called Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Olivier Daigre and Marie LeBlanc, in February 1802. Eulalie, a native of Belle-Île-en-Mer, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard an earlier vessel. Their children, born at Baton Rouge, included Marie-Émilie or -Azélie, called Azélie, in December 1802; and Pierre Julien, called Julien, in October 1804. Daughter Marie Azélie married into the Trahan and Henry families. Pierre's son also married.
Only son Pierre Julien, called Julien, married Marguerite, daughter of Joseph Martinez and Marguerite Lopez, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in February 1827. They settled on the river near the boundary between East Baton Rouge and Iberville parishes, probably north of Bayou Manchac. Their children, born there, included Philip or Philippe in May 1828; Hermogène in August 1829; Théodore in March 1831; Alcidonis Fare, also called Alcide Onésiphore, in December 1832; Marguerite Hernestine in August 1841; and Eulalie, also called Luticia Eulalie, in February 1847--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1828 and 1847. Daughter Luticia Eulalie married into the Rivas family by 1870. Three of Julien's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Philippe "of East Baton Rouge Parish" married Marie Emma Adélaïde, called Emma, daughter of fellow Acadians Édouard LeBlanc and Adélaïde LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in February 1854. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Joseph Arnaud in November 1854 but died the following February; Marie Althée born in November 1856; Joseph Julien in June 1858; twins Jean Enos and Omer in November 1860; Philippe, fils in August 1862; Marie Odile in July 1865; ... None of Philippe's children married by 1870.
Julien's third son Théodore may have married cousin Marie Lozama or Lozanna Martinez, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Rose in April 1860; Irénée Dinicari near Plaquemine on the west side of the river in December 1869; ...
Julien's fourth and youngest son Alcidonis or Alcide, at age 34, married Clara, daughter of J. H. Rils or Rills and Laure Delery, at the Plaquemine church, Iberville Parish, in October 1867. Their children, born on the river, included Julian Hamilton near Baton Rouge in November 1868; Effa Térésa near Plaquemine in October 1870; ...
René's fourth and youngest son Joseph-Marie followed his family to New Orleans, Bayou des Écores, and Baton Rouge. Probably after he came of age in the late 1790s, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where he married Modeste-Arthémise, called Arthémise, mulata libre daughter of Pierre-Marin Lenormand and Jeanne-Charlotte dit Boutin of New Orleans, in July 1801; the priest who recorded the marriage said that Joseph had lived at Attakapas "for many years." In the 1810s, they lived "around the Church" at St. Martinville. Their children, born on the Teche, included Louise in November 1802; Charles in September 1805; Joseph, fils, also called Joseph Darcourt and Darcourt, in October 1808; Alexandre Victorin, called Victorin, in June 1811; Marie Delsene or Delzinde in December 1813; and Louise Estelle in February 1817--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1802 and 1817. Joseph Marie died in St. Martin Parish in October 1852--one of the last Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died "at age 75 yrs." He was 74. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in November. Daughters Marie Delzinde and Louise Estelle married into the Labarthe and Gauthier families, one them, Marie Delzinde, in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Joseph Marie's three sons married Lenormand sisters who also were their cousins.
Oldest son Charles married cousin Adélaïde Léontine or Léontine Adélaïde, daughter of Joseph Marin Lenormand and Élisabeth dite Ponponne Caselar, at the St. Martinville church in January 1827. Their children, born on the Teche, included Charles, fils in May 1828 but died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 12 months) in January 1831; Joseph Dorzely or Dorcili born in February 1831; Marie Louise Azélie in May 1833; and Pierre in December 1841--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1828 and 1841. Charles's daughter did not marry by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Second son Joseph Dorcili, at age 38, described as a man of color, married Marie Clelie, daughter of fellow Acadian Philemon Broussard and his Creole wife Élisa Ardoin, at the New Iberia church, Iberia Parish, in December 1869; the marriage also was recorded at the St. Martinville church. ...
Joseph Marie's second son Joseph Darcourt married cousin Marie Louise Euchariste, called Euchariste, another daughter of Joseph Marin Lenormand and Élisabeth Caselar, at the St. Martinville church in May 1829. Their children, born on the Teche, included Adèle in May 1830; Adélaïde Ernestine in July 1832 but died in St. Martin Parish, age 12 (the recording priest said 13), in July 1844; Alexandre (also called Alexandre Darcourt, who married twice?) in November 1834; Césaire in December 1836; Rose Arthémise or Félicie in September 1838; Marie, perhaps their daughter, in March 1840; Pierre Numa, called Numa, in November 1841; Léontine in July 1844; Amédé or Amédée in January 1847; and Alexandre Ismond in June 1852--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1830 and 1852. Daughters Rose Félicie and Léontine, described as women of color, married into the Nepveu and Berry families by 1870. Three of Joseph Darcourt's sons also married by then, two of them to sisters who also were their cousins.
Second son Césaire married double cousin Adélaïde Clothilde, called Clothilde, daughter of Pierre Lenormand and Eléonora Adelina Lenormand, at the St. Martinville church in July 1861. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Joseph Henri in July 1862; Rose Marie in August 1863; Mathilde in May 1868 but may have died at age 1 1/2 in January 1870; Antoinette born in September 1870; ...
Darcourt's third son Numa married double cousin Léocade, another daughter of Pierre Lenormand and Eléonora Adelina Lenormand, at the St. Martinville church in November 1865. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Willy in February 1867; Rosa Alysia in February 1869; ...
Joseph Marie's third and youngest son Alexandre Victorin, called Victorin, married cousin Adèle, yet another daughter of Joseph Marin Lenormand and Élisabeth Caselar, at the St. Martinville church in July 1835. Their children, born on the Teche, included Ernest in July 1836; and Louise Cora in September 1839. Neither of Victorin's children married by 1870.
Pierre Lanoue, "young scion of a noble Huguenot family in France," after converting to Catholicism, came to Acadia in c1667 as a 19-year-old cooper, an odd profession for someone whose family was "noble." At age 34, he married Jeanne, 17-year-old daughter of François Gautrot, père and Edmée Lejeune, at Port-Royal in c1682. They had only one child, a son, Pierre, fils, born in c1683, who married into the Granger family in November 1702. Pierre, fils fathered nine children, including six sons who married into the Belliveau, Thibodeau, Landry, and Richard families, four of them to daughters of Charles Belliveau. One of Pierre, fils's three daughters married into the Melanson family. Pierre, père the progenitor died at Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal sometime between 1707 and 1714, in his late 50s or early 60s. Wife Jeanne died at Annapolis Royal in October 1749, in her mid-80s. In 1755, descendants of Pierre Lanoue the cooper and his son Pierre, fils could still be found at Annapolis Royal and at Grand-Pré and Chignecto. Le Grand Dérangement of 1755 scattered this family even farther.
The Acadians of Chignecto were the first to be rounded up by the British during the fall of 1755, but many of them escaped. Pierre, fils's younger sons Honoré and Michel and their families were among the ones who found refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. They then moved on to the French stronghold at Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs. Honoré and Michel died either on the Gulf shore or at Restigouche before 24 October 1760, when their widows and families were counted there with hundreds of other Acadians on the eve of the stronghold's surrender. The British sent many of the exiles at Restigouche to prison compounds in Nova Scotia, where they were held for the rest of the war. In August 1763, Lanoues appeared on repatriation lists ciculated in the compound at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Beauséjour, near the family's old homesteads at Chignecto, and at Halifax.
Most of the Lanoues at Annapolis Royal and Minas did not escape the roundups there in the fall of 1755. Lanoues from those communities were deported to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and South Carolina. At least one Lanoue eluded the British roundup at Annapolis Royal and escaped to Canada, with tragic result. A Lanoue wife died at Québec in January 1758, victim, most likely, of the smallpox epidemic that struck the Acadians in and around the Canadian capital from the summer of 1757 to the spring of 1758.
At war's end, Lanoues being held in the British seaboard colonies, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intentions. Even then colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. In August 1763, Lanoues were still living in Massachusetts. That same year, even more members of the family were still in Connecticut. Most of the Acadians in New England, including the Lanoues, chose to resettle in Canada, where kinsmen from Annapolis Royal had gone as early as 1756. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles. So, in a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of Pierre Lanoue the cooper began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. Especially after 1766, Lanoues could be found on the upper St. Lawrence at St.-Philippe-de-Laprairie and L'Acadie across from Montréal, and on the north shore of the St. Lawrence at St.-Jacques de l'Achigan and L'Assomption between Montréal and Trois-Rivières. In Nova Scotia, they could be found at Grosses-Coques on Baie St.-Marie, today's St. Mary's Bay. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Some of the Lanoues captured at Annapolis Royal in the fall of 1755 ended up in one of the southernmost colonies, with tragic consequences for one family. In the fall of 1755, the British deported two Lanoue wives and a widow and four of her Lanoue sons to South Carolina aboard the British transport Hobson, the only vessel from Annapolis Royal to go to that distant colony. The widow of Pierre Lanoue, fils's fourth son René and her youngest son François died "of stranger's fever," probably smallpox, "at the plantation of a Mr. Vanderhorst" soon after they reached the colony, but her other three boys survived. Henry Laurens, the future hero of the American Revolution, became young Basile Lanoue's patron and helped him become a tanner at Charles Town. Basile taught the trade to his older brother Jean-Baptiste. Under the influence of the Laurens and other wealthy Carolinians, and perhaps remembering the faith of their ancestors, the Lanoue orphans converted to Protestantism: Basile became a Huguenot, and Jean-Baptiste an Anglican/Episcopalian. Basile, in fact, became an elder in his Huguenot congregation and later became a member of the Circular Congregational Church, also called the Old White Meeting House, in Charles Town. In South Carolina, their name evolved from Lanoue to Lanneau--Basile became Basil Lanneau, and Jean Baptiste John Lanneau, and they were among the few Acadians who remained in the British colonies after 1763. John died at Charles Town in 1781, in his early 40s. He did not marry. Basil became a man of substance in the new home he had chosen. A descendant notes that he "became a wealthy and prominent citizen of Charleston. He served three terms in the Legislature of South Carolina, 1796, 1798, and 1802." Basil's first wife and their five children perished in a yellow fever epidemic and were all buried in the Huguenot churchyard. From his second marriage, Basil created "an extensive progeny, the most distinguished of whom was his grandson, Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, doubtless the greatest classical scholar America has produced." The descendant continues: "In 1793, after the loss of his first family, Basil Lanneau made the tedious journey to his childhood home [Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia] in the hope of finding one of his elder brothers. He had nearly given up when he accidentally discovered his long-lost brother Amand, who had returned from exile" and settled on nearby Baie Ste.-Marie. "Through Amand he located the widow of his brother, Pierre IV, and after much persuasion she allowed her son, Pierre V, and her daughter, Sarah, to return with him to Charleston. From this Pierre, the fifth of the name, is descended the second branch of the family in South Carolina. Known in Charleston as Peter Lanneau, he was the father of Fleetwood Lanneau, the latter a prominent merchant, banker, member of the legislature, officer of Governor Gist's staff and Captain of the Palmetto Guard." One wonders if the Lanneaus of Charleston were even aware that their Cadien kinsmen in South Louisiana even existed.
Meanwhile, the Acadians being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, two were descendants of Pierre Lanoue the cooper.
Lanoues settled early in Acadia and were a large family there, and they were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana, where they remained a relatively small family. Two brothers came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 and settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river, where only one of them created a family of his own. His descendants, except perhaps for a great-granddaughter, remained on what became known as the Acadian Coast, where their name evolved into Lanoux.
Non-Acadian Lanoues do not appear in South Louisiana church records during the colonial period. However, a Frenchman named de Lanoue de Vair, son of a count from the lower Pyrenees, settled near Baton Rouge by the early 1830s. He and his two teenage sons died on a terrible day in May 1849, but he had older sons who could have carried on the line in the Bayou State. A Laneau, probably Foreign French, or perhaps a distant cousin from South Carolina, appeared along Bayou Teche during the 1850s.
Judging by the number of slaves they owned during the late antebellum period, the Lanouxs of the old Acadian Coast participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy. None of them appears on either of the slaves schedules compiled by the federal census bureau in 1850 and 1860. As wartime and post-war church records reveal, some of the Lanouxs of Ascension Parish settled in the Gonzales area, away from the river and its incomparable soil deposits, so they did not live in a location that was conducive to plantation agriculture.
Only a few Lanouxs served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. One of them, from Ascension Parish, was killed in action at Winchester, Virginia, in September 1864. ...
In Louisiana, the Acadian family's name evolved from Lanoue to Lanoux and also is spelled D'Anous, Laneaux, Lanneau, Lannoux, Lanoir, Lanoire, Lanore, Lanorie, Lanou, LaNoüe, Lanue, Lenoux. These Acadians should not be confused with French Creoles and Afro Creoles with similar-sounding surnames such as Lanau, Lanaud, Lanausse, Lanaux, Laneau, Laneaux, Laneur, Lanon, Lannon, Lanoesse, Lanois, Lanoix, Lanos, Lanoy, and Lanusse, some of whom, like the Lanoixs, settled near the Lanouxs and married Acadians.07
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The Acadian Lanoues of Louisiana descend from the younger of two brothers who came to the colony from Halifax as orphaned teenagers in 1765 and settled on the river above New Orleans:
Joseph (c1743-?) à Pierre, fils à Pierre Lanoux
Pierre le jeune (c1746-1817) à Pierre, fils, à Pierre Lanoux
Pierre le jeune, younger son of Michel Lanoue and Marie-Judith Belliveau, born at Annapolis Royal or Chignecto in c1746, followed his family into exile in the fall of 1755. He likely was counted with his widowed mother and siblings at Restigouche in October 1760 and was imprisoned at Halifax in the final years of the war. Pierre le jeune came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 with his older brother Joseph and settled at Cabahannocer. In September 1769, a Spanish official counted Pierre on lot number 130 on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer near his brother. There was no one else in his household, so Pierre was still a bachelor. He married Catherine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques LeBlanc and Catherine-Marie-Josèphe Forest of Minas, probably at Cabahannocer in c1770. Catherine had come to the colony from Maryland in 1766. They owned a slave in 1779. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Simon baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1771; Michel le jeune baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1773; Marine baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1775; Marie-Euphrosie, baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1777; Euphrosine born in September 1778; Élie baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1781 but died at age 14 in May 1795; Marie-Marthe born in c1783; Marie-Scholastique or Scholastique-Marie, also called Marie-Célestina, in October 1787; Marie-Louise in the late 1780s or early 1790s; and Carmélite in February 1795--10 children, three sons and seven daughters, between 1771 and 1795. Pierre le jeune died near Convent, St. James Parish, in July 1817. The priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre, "nat. Acadia," was age 72 when he died. Daughters Marine, Euphrosine, Marie-Marthe, Marie-Scholastique, Marie-Louise, and Carmélite married into the LeBlanc, Melançon, Laudenbach, Trait, Landry, and Mire families, one of them, Euphrosine, three times. Oldest daughter Marine married a French-Canadian LeBlanc, and younger daughters Marie Marthe and Carmélite married Acadian LeBlancs. Pierre le jeune's remaining sons also married and settled on the river in St. James and Ascension parishes. The younger son's line was especially robust. Pierre le jeune's descendants, with the exception of a great-granddaughter, remained on the river in what became St. James and Ascension parishes--the lower Acadian Coast. One of his grandsons settled upriver in Iberville Parish on the upper Acadian Coast. Several of his granddaughters and great-granddaughters married Foreign Frenchmen. All of the Acadian Lanouxs of South Louisiana are descended from Pierre and his two married sons.
Oldest son Simon married, in his late 20s, Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadians Joachim dit Bénoni Mire and Madeleine Melançon and widow of Louis dit Luc Richard, at Ascension upriver from Cabahannocer in January 1798. They evidently lived near the boundary between the Cabahannocer and Ascension districts. Their children, born there, included twins Simon, fils and an unnamed son in October 1798, but the unnamed son died soon after his birth; Augustin born in February 1801; Jordan or Jourdain in July 1802 but died in Ascension Parish, age 43, in September 1845; Madeleine Clotilde born in December 1804; Jean Dominique, called Dominique, in August 1805; Romain or Roman in August 1806; Scholastique Henriette or Henriette Scholastique in February 1808; Marie Joséphine in March 1810; and Rosalie in July 1813--10 children, six sons and four daughters, including a set of twins, between 1798 and 1813. Simon died in Ascension Parish in June 1838. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Simon was "ca. 60 yrs." old when he died. He was closer to 67. Daughters Madeleine, Henriette Scholastique, Marie, and Rosalie married into the Gassin, LeBlanc, Bourgeois, Jaume, and Savoie families. Four of Simon's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured. His sons and grandsons settled in St. James, Ascension, and Iberville parishes.
Oldest son Simon, fils, a twin, married cousin Osite, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marguerite Gaudin, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in October 1819; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marguerite, perhaps also called Marie Eléonise, was born near Convent in July 1820. Simon, fils died in Ascension Parish in April 1845, age 46. Daughter Marie Eléonise married into the Jaume family. Simon, fils probably fathered no sons, so his line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, likely died with him.
Simon, père's third son Augustin married Célestine or Céleste, daughter of Martin Angèle, Angel, Anger, Angere, Auger, or Hinger and Céleste Wilson, at the Convent church in November 1829. They settled near the boundary between St. James and Ascension Parish evidently on the east side of the river. Their children, born there, included Auguste in September 1830; Marie Tersille or Telcide in June 1832; Félix in January 1834; Marie Olive in February 1836 but died at age 15 months in July 1837; Édouard born in January 1838 but died at age 16 months in May 1839; Jean Baptiste born in February 1840 but died at age 9 in April 1849; François born in February 1843 but died in April; and Marie Aurela or Aurelia, called Aurela, born in June 1844--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between 1830 and 1844. Augustin died in Ascension Parish either in July 1845 at age 44, or in November 1867, age 65 (the Ascension church evidently "buried" him twice!). If he died in November 1867, he would have been a widower. Daughters Marie Telcide and Aurela married into the LeBlanc, Gaudin, and Balso or Baldo families, one of them, Aurela, twice, by 1870. Augustin's remaining sons also married by then. One settled upriver in Iberville Parish. The other remained in Ascension Parish.
Oldest son Auguste married Pucherie or Pulcherie, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon LeBlanc and Scholastique Gautreaux, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in October 1853. They settled near Gonzales in the interior of Ascension Parish. Their children, born there, included Jim August in November 1855; Marie Eugénia in August 1858; Marie Malvina in November 1861; Marie Victoriam in March 1864 but, called Victoria, died the following August; Alphred born in August 1865; twins Joseph Arthur and Louis Albert in January 1869; ... None of Auguste's children married by 1870.
Augustin's second son Félix married, at age 21, cousin Marie Eléonore, daughter of John Anger and his Acadian wife Delphine Louvière and widow of William Malbrough, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in March 1855. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included in Marie Aurelia March 1856 but, called Aurelia, died in Ascension Parish, age 14, in May 1870; Ellena born near St. Gabriel in May 1859; Célestine Cécile in February 1863; Marie Corinne in December 1864; ... During the War of 1861-65, Félix served in Company A of the 3rd Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Félix's time with his unit was short-lived, however. He enlisted in May 1861, age 27, but was discharged for reasons not revealed in his Confederate service record the following November or December. Judging by his age at the time of his enlistment, he likely was discharged for medical reasons and made his way home as best he could.
Simon, père's fifth son Jean Dominique, called Dominique, married Sidalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Sylvain LeBlanc and Adélaïde Melançon and niece of Dominique's brother Simon, fils's wife Osite, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1841. Daughter Berthilde Amelina was born in Ascension Parish in November 1842 and married into the Grégoire family before 1870, so the blood of the family may have endured. Did Dominique father any sons?
Simon, père's sixth and youngest son Romain or Roman married Marie Émelie, called Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Savoie and Rosalie Duhon, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1827. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Simon Bienvenu, called Bienvenu, in 1828; Ursule Célestine, called Célestine, in October 1829; Tiburce in April 1832; Félicité in April 1834 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1835; Romain, fils born in April 1836 but, called Roman, died at age 12 1/2 (the recording priest said 14) in January 1849; Marie Emma Lize or Emmalise, called Emmalise, born in May 1838; Rosalie Cérasine in July 1840; Simon Pierre in April 1843; and Félicité, the second with the name, in December 1845 but died at age 2 1/2 in June 1848--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1828 and 1845. Daughters Célestine and Emmalise married into the Grégoire and Pelletier families by 1870. Two of Romain's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Simon Bienvenu, called Bienvenu, married Marie Églantine, called Églantine, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse LeBlanc and Célanie Melançon, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1851. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Anna Aglaïde in July 1853; Charles Eucher in February 1856 but, called Eucher, died the following November; Marie Célanie born in December 1857 but, called Marie, died at age 5 1/2 in March 1863; Emalise born in May 1860 but died at age 1 1/2 in January 1862; Rosalie Joséphine born in September 1862; Félicité Léonise in May 1865 but, called Léonise, died in Ascension Parish, age 5 (the recording priest said 4), in July 1870; Joseph Flavien born in February 1868; ... None of Bienvenu's children married by 1870.
Romain's fourth and youngest son Simon Pierre married Adèliar or Adèlia L., also called Deleria, daughter of Joseph Yarbrough and Élisabeth Gonzales, at the Gonzales church, Ascension Parish, in November 1866. Their children, born near Gonzales, included Joseph Roma in December 1867; Henry Clay in February 1869; ...
Pierre le jeune's second son Michel le jeune married Marie-Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Sonnier and Marie Breaux, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in February 1795. Like older brother Simon's family, they must have lived on the river near the boundary between the Cabahannocer and Ascension districts. Their children, born there, included Pierre-Élie, called Élie le jeune, in February 1796; Marie-Josèphe in April 1797 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1798; Célestine born in March 1800; Hélène in August 1802; André-Decomine, called Decomine and Alexandre, in September 1803; Michel Marine in April 1805 but died at age 4 in July 1809; Jacques born in c1807 and baptized, age 27 months, in September 1809; Louis Zéphirin born in April 1809 but may have died near Convent, age 43, in April 1852; Marie, perhaps called Marie-Joséphine, born in March 1811; Scholastique in the late 1800s or early 1810s; Jean Casimir, called Casimir, in June 1813; and Marie Eméranthe in August 1818--a dozen children, six sons and six daughters, between 1796 and 1818. Michel le jeune died near Convent, St. James Parish, in April 1843. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Michel died at "age 72 yrs.," but he probably was a year of so younger. Daughters Hélène, Marie Joséphine, Scholastique, and Marie Emérante married into the Hinger or Anger, Gisclard, Hymel, and Cazales families. Daughter Scholastique, who married Charles Hymel in June 1832, gave birth to daughter Marie near Convent in August 1843; the priest who recorded the baptism did not give the girl's father's name. Four of Michel's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured. A granddaughter settled on Bayou Lafourche, but his other descendants remained on the river, in St. James and Ascension parishes.
Oldest son Pierre Élie, called Élie le jeune, married Marie Apollone dite Polonne, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Louis Gautreaux and Marie LeBlanc, at the Convent church in January 1816. They settled near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes evidently on the east side of the river. Their children, born there, included Marie Émilie in October 1816; Magloire in November 1818; Edmond in November 1820; Paul Aristide, called Aristide, in January 1823 but died at age 13 in February 1835; Marie born in June 1825 but died at age 3 in August 1828; Zéphirin Anselm born in April 1827; Narcisse Trasimond, called Trasimond, in April 1829; Marie Ofelia in August 1831 but, called Ophilia, died at age 19 in September 1850; and twins Céleste and Marie Aglaé born in September 1833, but Céleste died at age 2 1/2 in January 1836--10 children, five daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1816 and 1833. Élie le jeune died near Convent in October 1847. The priest who recorded the burial said that Élie died at "age 53 yrs." He was 51. Daughters Marie Émilie and Marie Aglaé married into the Melançon and LeBlanc families by 1870. Two of Élie's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Magloire married Odalie, daughter of Jean Louis Parent and his Acadian wife Marie Rose Dupuy, at the Donaldsonville church in August 1853. They settled near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes evidently on the east side of the river before moving to Gonzales, in the interior of Ascension Parish, by the late 1860s. Their children, born there, included Aloysia in July 1854; Marie Hermine in August 1856; Louis Augustin in December 1858; Louis Euphémon in May 1861; Élie Sainteville in October 1863 but, called Élie, died near Convent at age 1 in September 1864; Joseph born near Convent in March 1866; Eléanore Aglaé near Gonzales in December 1869; ... None of Magloire's children married by 1870.
Élie le jeune's fourth son Zéphirin Anselme may have died near Convent in April 1852. If so, he would have been age 25. Or he may have died in September 1864 at age 37, though the priest who recorded the burial said that Zéphirin died at age 30. In either case, he probably did not marry.
Élie le jeune's fifth and youngest son Trasimond married Anaïs, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Gaudin and Colastie Hébert, at the Convent church in May 1853. Daughter Marie Ophelia was born near Convent in July 1854. Trasimond died near Convent in October 1855. The priest who recorded the burial said that Trasimond died at "age 27 yrs." He was 24. Daughter Marie Ophelia married into the Louvière family by 1870, so the blood of the family may have endured. Did Trasimond father any sons?
Michel le jeune's second son André Decomine, called Decomine and Alexandre, married Élise or Lise, daughter of Nicolas Gisclard and Charlotte Morvant, at the the Donaldsonville church in August 1829. They settled near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes evidently on the east side of the river. Their children, born there, included André Zéphire or Zéphirin in September 1830 but died at age 5 months the following January; André Émile, called Émile, born in January 1832; Jean Baptiste in January 1841; Michel le jeune in March 1834; Marie Emma Élize, also called Marie Émalize, in June 1836; Aglaé Philomèle in November 1838 but died at age 6 1/2 in October 1845; and Marie Louise born in May 1843 but died at age 4 1/2 in November 1847--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1830 and 1843. André Decomine died in Ascension Parish in August 1868. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that André D., as he called him, died at "age 75 yrs." André Decomine was a month shy of age 65. Daughter Marie Émalize married into the Brasset family by 1870. André Decomine's remaining sons also married by then.
Second son Émile married Virginie, daughter of Barthéléme Hamilton and his Acadian wife Mélanie Dupuy and widow of Marius Dugas, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1854. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included twins Lisa Mélanie and Marie Élise in February 1857. Émile remarried to Alide, Alzide, or Alcida Thomlett or Tomelette at the Donaldsonville church in March 1864. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Rosalie Zélamie in March 1865 but, called Zélamie, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in October 1867; Robert Lee born in July 1867; Virginie Alcida in November 1870; ...
André Decomine's third son Jean Baptiste married Irma, daughter of fellow Acadians Aristide Theriot and Célestine Mire, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1867. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Jean Adélard in March 1868; Léonie in September 1870; ...
André Decomine's fourth and youngest son Michel le jeune married cousin Ursule, daughter of fellow Acadians Arsène Bourgeois and Augustine Arceneaux, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1864; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Louise in July 1865 but died at age 1 1/2 in December 1866; Marie Eve born in September 1867; Mary Alice in January 1870; ...
Michel le jeune's fourth son Jacques married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Savoie and Rosalie Duhon, at the Convent church in April 1828. Their children, born on the river, included Augustine, also called Marie Augustine, in August 1829; Rosalie Orestine or Serazine in October 1832; and Marguerite Delphine, called Delphine, in September 1834--three children, all daughters, between 1829 and 1834. Jacques died in Ascension Parish in January 1868. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jacques J., as he called him, died at "age ca. 64 years." Jacques was age 60. Daughters Marie Augustine, Delphine, and Rosalie Orestine/Serazine married into the Gautreaux, LeBlanc, Marchand, and Martin families, one of them, Rosalie Orestine, twice, her second marriage on Bayou Lafourche. Did Jacques father any sons?
Michel le jeune's sixth and youngest son Jean Casimir, called Casimir, married first cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Landry and Marie Marthe Lanoux, his uncle and aunt, at the Convent church in September 1831; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes, evidently on the east side of the river. Their children, born there, included Marie Célestine in April 1832; Céleste in August 1834[sic]; Marie Adèlle in late 1834 but died at age 7 months in May 1835; Adam born in June 1836 but died at age 8 months in March 1837; Michel Douradoux, called Douradoux, born in April 1838; Donate or Donat in October 1840; a son, name unrecorded, baptized at age 5 weeks, died, age unrecorded, in December 1842; Landry, also called Louis Landry, baptized at the Convent church, age 4 months, in February 1845; Joseph Casimir born in October 1847; Marie Carmélite in December 1848 but died the following April; Louis Benjamin born in October 1850; and Pauline Philomène in March 1856--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, between 1832 and 1856. Casimir died near Convent in December 1858, age 45. None of his daughters married by 1870, but two his sons did. Not all of the lines endured.
Second son Michel Douradoux, called Douradoux, married cousin and fellow Acadian Philomène Boudreaux at the Donaldsonville church in February 1861; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Adine in March 1864; and Marie Philomène in July 1866 but died near Convent, age 3 1/2, in October 1869. Douradoux died near Convent in October 1867, age 29 (the recording priest said 30). Did he father any sons?
Casimir's fourth son Louis Landry, called Landry, married cousin Louisa, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Richard and Adèle Mire, at the Convent church in February 1867; they had to secure a dispensation for second and third degrees of consanguinity in order to marry. Their son Joseph Fortune was born near Gonzales, Ascension Parish, in May 1870; ...
Jean dit Jolycoeur, son of Jean Lebert and Marie DuFay of St.-Laurent, Paris, reached Annapolis Royal by May 1714, when he married Jeanne, 30-year-old daughter of Vincent Breau dit Vincelotte and Marie Bourg. Jean dit Jolycoeur and Jeanne moved to the Minas Basin in c1720. They had eight children, four daughters and four sons, in both of the settlements: Marie-Josèphe born at Annapolis Royal in March 1715; Jean-Baptiste in May 1716; Paul in August 1718; Charles in September 1720; Jeanne at Minas in June 1723; Osite in July 1725; Marie in c1726; and Honoré, date unrecorded. Daughters Jeanne and Marie married into the Gautrot and Hébert families. Jolycoeur and Jeanne's four sons also married, into the Lapierre and Robichaud families and into two families whose names have been lost to history. In 1755, Jean dit Jolycoeur's descendants could still be found at Minas. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this family to the winds. The fate of Jolycoeur's oldest son Jean-Baptiste and youngest son Honoré has been lost to history, but the records allow one to follow middle sons Paul and Charles, as well as two of their sisters, into exile.
Paul Lebert and his family, living at Rivière-aux-Canards, suffered terribly for it. In the fall of 1755, the British rounded up most of the Acadians at Minas and transported them to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and several New England colonies. Paul, wife Marie-Madeleine Lapierre, and their three children ended up on one of the deportation transports headed for Virginia, where they endured a fate worse than most of the other Acadians exiled from Minas. Virginia authorities refused to allow the hundreds of Acadians sent to the Old Dominion to remain in the colony. Exiles died on the filthy, crowded ships anchored in Hampton Roads while Governor Robert Dinwiddie and his council pondered their fate. As winter approached, the governor ordered Acadians from one vessel moved up to Richmond, two of the vessels were unloaded at Hampton, and two more at Norfolk. Finally, in the spring of 1756, the governor, his council, and the colony's Burgesses made their decision ... the "papists" must go! In May, the first shipment of Acadians in hired vessels left for England, and in two weeks all of them had gone: 299 to Bristol, 250 to Falmouth, 340 to Southampton, and 336 to Liverpool, a total of 1,225 exiles by one count, including Leberts. In England, they were packed into warehouses in several ports, where many died of smallpox. Paul Lebert and his family were held at Liverpool, where wife Marie-Madeleine gave him two more sons.
Brother Charles Lebert and his family escaped the British roundup at Minas probably by escaping to one of the Maritime islands still controlled by France. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the British fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on Île Royale and nearby Île St.-Jean and deported them to France. Charles, wife Anne-Marie Robichaud, and four children were deported to St.-Malo in late January 1759. The result was disaster for the family. Charles and wife Anne-Marie survived the crossing, but most of their children perished. Their two sons died at sea. A daughter died a few months after the family reached the Breton port, probably from the rigors of the voyage. Only their oldest child, daughter Anne-Josèphe, survived the crossing with her parents. They settled at Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo.
Paul and Charles's younger sister Jeanne also endured the crossing from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo and settled at Plouër, where she married a Gautrot widower in January 1761. They settled at nearby Pleslin. Youngest sister Marie-Josèphe and her Hébert husband had been counted at Rivière-du-Moulin-à-Scie in the interior of Île St.-Jean in August 1752. She and her family were counted at Québec in 1757, so they evidently left the island before its dérangement and escaped to Canada. Marie-Josèphe died at Québec in December 1769, while brothers Paul and Charles and sister Jeanne were still lingering in France.
In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England, including the Leberts, were repatriated to several ports in France. Paul and his family landed at Morlaix in northwest Brittany. In October 1765, they sailed from Morlaix to St.-Malo and settled near his brother Charles at Plouër. Pierre's wife Marie-Madeleine Lapierre was not with him; she had died either in England or at Morlaix. Paul's younger sons died young at Plouër. Oldest son Pierre, now a sailor, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Boudrot and Claire Comeau, there in February 1770. Marguerite gave Pierre two daughters and a son at Plouër. Paul's younger daughter Marie-Josèphe married Pierre-Janvier, son of fellow Acadians Claude Guédry and his first wife Anne Lejeune of l'Assomption, Pigiguit, at Plouër in February 1773. Paul's older daughter Marguerite married Pierre-Janvier's brother, Jean-Baptiste Guiédry, at Plouër in January 1774. Paul Lebert died at nearby La Mettrie Paumerais in August 1770, age 52. His younger brother Charles and his wife Anne-Marie Robichaud, meanwhile, had more children at Plouër, three sons and a daughter, but the daughter died young. Oldest daughter Anne-Josèphe married Pierre, son of fellow Acadians Victor LeBlanc and Marie Aucoin of Grand-Pré, at Plouër in February 1767.
In 1773, Charles, wife Anne-Marie, three of their unmarried children, married daughter Anne-Josèphe, nephew Pierre and his family, and nieces Marguerite and Marie-Josèphe and their families followed other exiles in the St.-Malo area to the interior of Poitou, where they hoped to become productive farmers again on land owned by an influential nobleman near the city of Châtellerault. Charles died at Archigny south of Châtellerault in August 1775, age 55. Four months after his death, in December 1775, the remaining Leberts retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire to the port of Nantes. Pierre Lebert and wife Marguerite Boudrot had another son there. Pierre, age 30, died at La Gour Bannien near Plouër in late March 1778, a week before his son was baptized in St.-Nicolas Parish, Nantes, so Pierre evidently had returned to the St.-Malo area without his family and was unable to rejoin them on the lower Loire. Wife Marguerite died in St.-Nicolas Parish, Nantes, in April, age 34. Their infant son and his three older siblings, ages 8, 5, and 6 when their parents died, were raised by relatives. Two of the children, including the infant, did not survive childhood. Charles Lebert's daughter Marie-Madeleine, who, with her widowed mother and siblings, had left Poitou after her father's death there, married her sister Anne-Josèphe's husband's brother, Olivier LeBlanc, in St.-Léonard Parish, Nantes, in June 1781. Then everything changed for the long-suffering Leberts. In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana. Most of the Leberts and their spouses agreed to take it.
A Lebert settled fairly "late" in Acadia, and his descendants--eight of them--also came "late" to Louisiana, in 1785 aboard four of the Seven Ships from France. Only two of them were males. They both married, but only one of them, a son of Pierre Lebert, had sons who created families of their own. All of the Acadian Leberts of South Louisiana, then, are descended from this immigrant from France who settled on the western prairies at the northern edge of present-day Lafayette Parish. ...
Only two Acadian Leberts--Pierre,
son of Charles, and Louis,
son of Jean-Louis, first cousins and grandsons of Pierre-Jean-Joseph-Joachim Lebert--served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. Both
survived the war. They enlisted at the same time, in March 1862, and
served in the same unit, Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry,
raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at
Leberts can be found today in the city of Lafayette, only a few miles from where their Acadian ancestor settled near Carencro. The majority of Leberts in South Louisiana, however, can be found farther to the west in Calcasieu Parish, especially at Lake Charles, Westlake, Sulphur, and Vinton.
Originally, the family's surname was spelled Leber, even in Louisiana, but it evolved into Lebert by the early 1800s. The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Le Ber, Lebere, Leberre. They should not be confused, as they sometimes were, with the much more numerous Héberts. They are also sometimes confused with the French-Canadian Levert family, who settled in St. James Parish on the river and on Bayou Lafourche.08
.
Eight Leberts came to Louisiana aboard four of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. The first of them, a wife and her family, crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in late July. They followed their fellow passengers to Manchac south of Baton Rouge. No family line came of it.
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Two more members of the family--a wife and her bachelor brother--crossed on La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-August 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, but the brother did not remain. No lasting Lebert family line came of it:
Pierre-Joseph (c1767-?) à Jean dit Jolycoeur Lebert
Pierre-Joseph, fifth son of Charles Lebert and Anne-Marie Robichaud, born at Plouër-sur-Rance on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo, France, in December 1767, followed his family to the interior of Poitou and his widowed mother and siblings to Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche. Pierre-Joseph married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Dugas and Marie Grossin, at Baton Rouge in February 1794. Marie-Josèphe, a native of St.-Énogat, today's Dinard, across the harbor from St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana with her family aboard the first of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. Her and Pierre-Joseph's daughter Élise, or Lise, was born probably at Baton Rouge, date unrecorded, but it likely was soon after her parents' marriage. Pierre-Joseph and Marie-Josèphe may have had no sons, at least none who appear in local church records. Wife Marie-Josèphe died near Baton Rouge in April 1825, age 51. Her burial record calls her the wife, not the widow, of Pierre Lebert, so Pierre Joseph may still have been alive then. If so, he would have been in his late 50s. Daughter Lise married into the Blanchard family and died near Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish, in May 1858, age 62. After her death, Leberts disappear from the church records of the river parishes, so, except for its blood, this family line did not endure.
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Four more Leberts--two wives and another young bachelor and his sister--crossed on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of August 1785. One of the wives may not have survived the crossing. The other wife and her husband followed their fellow passengers to Manchac on the river and then moved on to upper Bayou Lafourche in the late 1780s or early 1790s. The bachelor brother, having gone with his kinsmen to Manchac, did not remain there with his older sister, nor did he follow his aunt to the upper Lafourche. He chose, instead, to settle on the western prairies. A vigorous Lebert family line came of it. All of the Acadian Leberts of South Louisiana, in fact, descend from this well-traveled young fellow and two of his sons:
Pierre-Jean-Joseph-Joachim (1772-1823) à Paul à Jean dit Jolycoeur Lebert
Pierre-Jean-Joseph-Joachim, older son of Pierre Lebert and Marguerite Boudrot, born at Plouër-sur-Rance on the river south of St.-Malo, France, in June 1772, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes. He was a 13-year-old orphan in 1785 when he came to Louisiana from France with his paternal aunt, Marie-Josèphe Lebert, and her husband, Pierre-Janvier Guédry, along with an older sister. He followed them from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. By the mid-1790s, Marie-Josèphe and Pierre-Janvier had moved to upper Bayou Lafourche, where other relatives had gone. Pierre-Jean-Joseph-Joachim, now in his early 20s, did not follow his aunt and uncle to the upper Lafourche but moved, instead, to the western prairies and settled in the community of Beaubassin on the upper Vermilion River east of Carencro at the northern edge of the Attakpas District--the only member of the family to go there. He married Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Hébert and Jeanne De La Forestrie, probably at Beaubassin in May 1796. Marie-Rose, a native of St.-Similien Parish, Nantes, had crossed to Louisiana from France in 1785 on a later vessel with her parents and siblings. Marie-Rose and her family had settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, where her father died in the late 1780s. Her mother remarried to Nicolas-Jean-Sébastien Benoit, a fellow Acadian exile from France. After her mother died at Lafourche, Marie-Rose followed her stepfather and her brothers to the Opelousas District in the mid-1790s. Sébastien Benoit moved on to the Calcasieu River country, at the far western edge of the huge Opelousas district, and was a pioneer of what is now the city of Lake Charles. But Marie-Rose remained with husband Pierre-Jean-Joseph-Joachim on the upper Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Pierre-Augustin in March 1797, baptized at the home of the Widow Arceneaux in Carencro the following July, but died at age 16 months in July 1798 probably at his father's home at Beaubassin; Charles born in January 1799; Marie-Carmélite, called Carmélite in July 1801 but died at age 17 1/2 "at her parent's house" in November 1818; Pierre-Zéphirin born in June 1803; Marcelle or Marcellite in February 1805; Jean-Louis, called Louis, in May 1808; Marie Marguerite in December 1810; Marie Adélaïde in November 1812; Virginie in January 1815 but died at age 6 1/2 in February 1821 and was buried in the Grand Coteau cemetery; a son, name unrecorded, born in September 1817 but died nine days after his birth; and Émilie born in April 1821--11 children, five sons and six daughters, between 1797 and 1821. Pierre Jean Joseph Joachim died probably at his home at Beaubassin in March 1823. The Grand Coteau priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre was age 49 when he died. He was 51. His succession, naming his widow, was filed at the new Lafayette Parish courthouse in Vermilionville in June 1823. Daughters Marcellite and Marie married into the Léger and Gauthier families. Three of Pierre Jean Joseph Joachim's sons also married, but only two of them perpetuated the family line in the Bayou State. Few of his descendants married fellow Acadians.
Second son Charles married Amélie dite Mélite, 19-year-old daughter of William Hayes and Madeleine Olivier, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1821. Their children, born on the upper Vermilion and in lower St. Landry, included Célestine in August 1822; Marcellite in January 1825; Pierre le jeune in the late 1820s; Amélia in c1829 but died at age 10 in January 1839; Clarisse born in January 1834 but died at age 28 (the recording priest said 25) in December 1862; and Marguerite, perhaps also called Adélaïde, born in July 1839--six children, five daughters and a son, between 1822 and 1839. Charles died by December 1855, when he was recorded as deceased in his son's marriage record. Daughters Marcellite, Clarisse, and Adélaïde married into the Benoit, Berwick, and Courville families. Charles's son also married and survived his war service.
Only son Pierre le jeune married Marguerite Caroline, called Caroline, daughter of Antoine Dorsin Delhomme and Marie Joséphine Bertrand, a Creole or French Canadian, not a fellow Acadian, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1855. Their children, born on the upper Vermilion, included Antoine Charles in October 1856 but died at age 8 in November 1864; Joseph Léonard born in March 1858; Louis Duclosel in March 1861; Marie Émelie in July 1862; twins Clarissa and Clarisse in April 1864; Désiré in September 1867; ... During the War of 1861-65, Pierre le jeune, along with a first cousin, served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought, and was captured, at Vicksburg, Mississippi. As the birth date of son Désiré reveals, Pierre survived the war and returned to his family. None of his children married by 1870.
Pierre's third son Pierre Zéphirin married Marie Forestier probably in Lafayette Parish in c1820. Their daughter Carmélite was born in c1821 but died at age 3 in February 1824 and was buried in the Grand Coteau cemetery near the southern edge of St. Landry Parish. Pierre-Zéphirin died by February 1824, when he was listed as deceased in daughter Carmélite's burial record at Grand Coteau, the closest church to Beaubassin at the time. Pierre-Zéphirin would have been age 20 at the time of his daughter's death. His family line died with him.
Pierre's fourth son Jean Louis, called Louis, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Thibodeaux and Marie Louise Cormier, probably at Beaubassin in July 1829; the marriage was recorded not at the church at Grand Coteau but at the newer one at Vermilionville, Lafayette Parish, south of Carencro. Their children, born on the upper Vermilion, included a child, name unrecorded, died a day old in December 1830; Virginie or Virginia born in January 1832; Marie Célanie, called Célanie, baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 4 months, in July 1836 but died at age 11 (the recording priest said 10) in May 1847; Louis, fils born in June 1838; Marie Louise in April 1840; Marie Uranie in the early 1840s; Marie Émilie in October 1844 but died at age 2 1/2 in May 1847; and Pierre Kleber born in May 1848 but, called Pierre Cleber, died at age 16 (the recording priest said 15) in February 1865 (one wonders if his death was war-related)--eight children, at least five daughters and two sons, between 1830 and 1848. In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted a single slave--a 17-year-old black male--on Jean Louis Lebert's farm in the parish's western district. Jean Louis died probably at Beaubassin in June 1858, age 51. In late June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted probably the same slave--now recorded as a 24-year-old black male--on Widow Jean Louis Lebert's farm. Daughters Virginia and Marie Uranie married into the Bernard and Penz families. One of Jean Louis's sons also married.
During the War of 1861-65, older son Louis, fils, along with a first cousin, served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. While waiting for his regiment to be exchanged, Louis, fils was supposed to have married Marie Denise, daughter of Alexandre Durio and Adeline Chotin, at the Grand Coteau church in January 1864, but the marriage was recorded later that month at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish. Their children, born on the prairies, included Pierre Kleber, called Kleber, le jeune in December 1865 but died at age 22 in January 1888; Jean Clet, called Clet or Clay, born in February 1873 but died at age 10 in July 1883; Louis Cléopha, called Cléopha, born in December 1876 but died at age 15 months in April 1878; Louis Chireac born in February 1885; Alexander Cleus in August 1886; ...
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The last of the Lebert family, an 11-year-old young orphan, crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early September 1785. She followed the family with whom she crossed to upper Bayou Lafourche. If she survived childhood, she did not marry.
Daniel LeBlanc, born in c1626 perhaps at Martaizé, south of the middle Loire valley near Loudun in the interior of Poitou, central France, was a young farmer when he arrived at Port-Royal in c1645, among the earliest settlers in French Acadia. A few years later, in c1650, he married Françoise, older daughter of Jean Gaudet and his first wife and widow of ____ Mercier. They "settled on the north bank of the Port-Royal River (today's Annapolis River), to the northeast of the marsh at Bélisle, about nine miles above the fort at Port-Royal, and a half mile below the chapel of Saint-Laurent, where he died between the years 1693-98." Françoise gave Daniel seven children, six sons and a daughter, on the haute rivière. Their daughter married into the Blanchard family. Five of their sons married into the Hébert, Bourgeois, Dugas, and Thériot familes, which, like the Blanchards, were among the oldest families in the colony. After they married, the four older LeBlanc sons helped pioneer the settlements in the Minas Basin, where they created a large extended family. The youngest son remained on his father's lands near Port-Royal. (According to family genealogist Lucie LeBlanc Consentino: "... as was the usual way for the Acadians, the youngest son inherited the father’s land."). By 1755, descendants of Daniel LeBlanc and Françoise Gaudet had, according to Acadian genealogist and descendant Stephen A. White, created the largest family in greater Acadia. Most of them could be found in the Minas Basin at Grand-Pré, Rivière-aux-Canards, Pigiguit, and Cobeguit, but they also could be found at Chignecto, at Chepoudy in the trois rivières area west of Chignecto, at Annapolis Royal, and in the French Maritimes. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this huge family to the winds.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. During the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, along with Mi'kmaq warriors led by Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. LeBlancs may have been among the refugees affected by this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto-area Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, at least one LeBlanc was among the local Acadians who were serving in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the Canadians and French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the area Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies, some of them without their families. LeBlancs ended up in South Carolina. Other LeBlancs escaped the British roundup at Chignecto and in the trois-rivières and took refuge on lower Rivière St.-Jean, in camps on the Gulf of St. Lawerence shore, or moved on to Canada.
Dozens of LeBlancs from Minas and Annapolis Royal ended up on ships bound for the northern seaboard colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, and to the Chesapeake colonies of Maryland and Virginia. As in Massachusetts, the "French Neutrals" sent to Maryland were dispersed throughout the colony. LeBlancs were held at Baltimore and Annapolis on the mainland, and at Georgetown, Fredericktown, Oxford, and Snow Hill on the colony's Eastern Shore. They were especially numerous at Oxford. The many LeBlancs shipped off to Virginia endured a fate worse than the other refugees the British deported from Minas. In mid-November 1755, when five deportation transports appeared unexpectedly at Hampton Roads, Virginia's governor Robert Dinwiddie protested their deportation to his colony without his consent. Exiles died on the filthy, crowded ships anchored in Hampton Roads while Virginia authorities pondered their fate. As winter approached, the governor ordered Acadians from one vessel moved up to Richmond, two of the vessels were unloaded at Hampton, and two more at Norfolk. The following spring, the governor, his council, and the colony's Burgesses debatd the question and made their decision--"the papists" must go! In May, the first shipment of Acadians in hired vessels left for England, and in two weeks all of them had gone: 299 to Bristol, 250 to Falmouth, 340 to Southampton, and 336 to Liverpool--1,225 total exiles by one count. They were packed into warehouses in the English ports, where many died of smallpox. The English held LeBlancs at Falmouth, Southampton, and Liverpool. Back in Nova Scotia, the few members of the family who escaped the roundup at Minas made their way to lower Rivière St.-Jean, to camps on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, or to Canada. LeBlancs at Annapolis Royal, descendants of Daniel's youngest son Pierre, who escaped the British in the fall of 1755 spent a hard winter on the Fundy shore. In the spring, they crossed to Chepoudy and joined their cousins on the lower St.-Jean, the upper Petitcoudiac, or in the Gulf shore camps. A few may have moved on to Canada via the St.-Jean portage.
Living in territory controlled by France, the LeBlancs on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale escaped the roundup of their cousins in Nova Scotia in 1755-56. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on the Maritime islands and deported them to several ports in France. LeBlancs crossed on Le Duc Guillaume, which left Louisbourg in September with 346 exiles aboard. After a mid-ocean mishap, the transport limped into St.-Malo harbor the first of November. Nearly half of the passengers, including LeBlancs, perished in the crossing or died from its rigors soon after reaching the Breton port. LeBlancs also crossed on the transport Tamerlane, which left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November with 56 exiles aboard, survived a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England, and reached St.-Malo in mid-January 1759. Most of the island LeBlancs crossed on one or more of the five deportation transports--the Yarmouth, Patience, Mathias, Restoration, and John Samuel--that left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy with 1,033 Acadians aboard, bound for St.-Malo. Despite the mid-December storm that sank three other vessels, the Five Ships remained in convoy and, a week behind the Tamerlane, reached St.-Malo together during the third week of January 1759. Only 694 exiles were still aboard, 339 having died at sea. During the following weeks, 156 of the Five-Ships survivors died in local hospitals from the rigors of the crossing--nearly 500 deaths aboard these vessels, some of them LeBlancs.
Island LeBlancs did their best to create a life for themselves in the suburbs and villages of the St.-Malo area. Most of them congregated in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, but others could be found at Plouër-sur-Rance and Pleslin on the west side of the river south of the Breton port, at Châteauneuf across the river, and at La Gouesnière and St.-Méloir-des-Ondes in the countryside east of St.-Servan. Island LeBlancs landed also at the northern fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in Picardie, at Cherbourg in Normandy, and at the naval port of Rochefort on the Bay of Biscay. They were especially numerous at Boulogne-sur-Mer. Some of them moved on to St.-Malo and other ports. In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England, including many LeBlancs, were repatriated to France. Considering the number of Minas LeBlancs deported to Virginia in 1755, it is no wonder that more members of the family went to France from England in 1763 than from the Maritime islands in 1758-59. LeBlancs crossed from England on the transport Ambition, which reached St.-Malo on May 22; on La Dorothée, which reached St.-Malo on May 23; and on vessels that took them to other French ports, especiallty to Morlaix in northwest Brittany. A LeBlanc and his family came to France in late 1763 not from England but from South Carolina and landed at Bordeaux, where they remained. From December 1763 through November 1764, Acadians in the coastal cities left France for Guiane on the northeast coast of South America, at least three LeBlanc wives among them. For most of the exiles who ventured to this newest French colony, the experience was not a happy one. The LeBlanc survivors did not remain but returned to Morlaix and St.-Malo. In late 1765, Acadians repatriated from England and a few who had been deported from the French Maritimes agreed to become part of a new agricultural settlement, this one on newly-liberated Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany. As a result, most of the LeBlancs who ended up in France settled in all four of the island's municipal districts, especially on the northern coast near Sauzon. Not all of them remained. LeBlancs who had been sent to France managed to make their way back to greater Acadia to work in British-controlled fisheries there. At least one LeBlanc family joined an expedition sponsored by fishery manager Charles Robin of the Isle of Jersey that transported more than a hundred Acadians to Robin's operation in Gaspésie on the north shore of the Baie des Chaleurs. In April 1774, the couple crossed on one of two vessels, the Hope or the Bee, from St.-Helier on the south coast of Jersey. A month later, they reached Robin's headquarters at Paspébiac in Gaspésie. In the early 1770s, LeBlancs in France, including some who had gone to Belle-Île-en-Mer, chose to take part in another, even grander, settlement venture, this one in the interior of Poitou. French authorities were tired of providing for the exiles languishing in the coastal cities. An influential nobleman offered to settle them on land he owned near the city of Châtellerault. French authorities endorsed the scheme, and most of the Acadians still in France signed on. After two years of effort, however, most of the Poitou Acadians, including the LeBlancs, abandoned the venture and retreated down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. The first convoy left Châtellerault in October 1775 and the fourth and last one departed in March 1776. At Nantes and in the western suburb of Chantenay, the wayward LeBlancs lived as best they could on government handouts and what work they could find. By the summer of 1785, Spanish authorities and their agents in France, with the inestimable assistance of Acadian Olivier Terrio of Nantes, had coaxed over 1,500 of the exiles into starting a new life in faraway Louisiana. At least 73 LeBlancs, most of them languishing at Nantes and Chantenay, took up the offer--the largest group of Acadian LeBlancs to emigrate to the Spanish colony. Many members of the family, however, especially those still on Belle-Île-en-Mer and at Morlaix, chose to remain in the mother country.
In North America, conditions only got worse for the Acadians who had escaped the British in the late 1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France, one of which was Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, now a major Acadian refuge. A British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche in June 1760. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the militia, some commanded by LeBlancs, and the Indians to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, a second British naval force, this one from Québec, appeared at Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On 24 October 1760, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers counted 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche, including several families of LeBlancs. During the following months, these Acadians, along with others still in the area, either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area, who held them in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. One of these compounds was Fort Edward, overlooking the old LeBlanc homesteads at Pigiguit. LeBlancs were counted there in 1762. Another prison compound stood at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Fort Beauséjour, at Chignecto, where, in August 1763, two LeBlanc families appeared on a list of Acadians hoping to leave the colony. Still another prison compound stood at Annapolis Royal, where a LeBlanc family was counted in 1763. The largest and oldest prison compound was at Halifax, where, in August 1763, LeBlancs appeared on another list of Acadians who sought to remove themselves to French territory.
The war over, LeBlancs being held in the British seaboard colonies also, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intentions. Even then, colonials authorities discouraged repatriation. Many LeBlancs nevertheless appeared on repatriation lists compiled in several of the colonies in the summer of 1763. They were especially numerous in the Bay Colony, where a list was compiled in August. Members of the family were still in Massachusetts three years later, when, in June 1766, colonial officials compiled a "List of Names of the French Who Wish to Go to Canada," where many of their relatives had gone. LeBlancs appeared on this list as well. LeBlancs still in Connecticut in 1763 appeared on a repatriation list there. In June 1763, members of the family appeared on a list compiled in Pennsylvania. LeBlancs were still numerous in Maryland, especially at Baltimore. In July 1763, LeBlancs appeared on repatriation lists at Annapolis, and at Snow Hill and Oxford on the Eastern Shore. A repatriation list compiled in South Carolina in August 1763 included several families of LeBlancs.
Most of the Acadians in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, including dozens of LeBlancs, chose to repatriate to Canada, where kinsmen from Annapolis Royal, Chignecto, and Minas had gone as early as 1756. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles. So, in a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of Daniel LeBlanc began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. Especially after 1766, LeBlancs could be found on the upper St. Lawrence and the lower Richelieu at Bécancour, Chambly, Contrecoeur, L'Acadie, L'Ancienne-Lorette, L'Assomption, Lavaltrie, Maskinongé, Montréal, Nicolet, Québec City, Rivière-du-Loup, St.-Anicet, St.-Denis-sur-Richelieu, St.-Grégoire, St.-Jacques de l'Achigan, St.-Ours, St.-Polycarpe, St.-Sulpice, Soulanges, Trois-Rivières, and Yamachiche; in remote Gaspésie, they could be found at Bonaventure, Carleton, and Cascapédia; and on the îles-de-la-Madeleine in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In what became the province of New Brunswick, LeBlancs settled at Birch Cove, Bouctouche, Memramcook, Nepisiguit (now Bathurst), Ruisseau-des-Renards (now Fox Creek), and at St.-Louis-de-Kent on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In Nova Scotia, they could be found on Baie Ste.-Marie. today's St. Mary Bay, at Pointe-de-l'Église, at Cap-Sable and Chezzetcook on the Atlantic coast, and at Arichat on the north shore of Île Madame south of Cape Breton Island. A few also settled in Newfoundland. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, led by Louisiana state senator Dudley LeBlanc, may even have forgotten the others existed.
After the war, Acadian exiles in Nova Scotia and the seaboard colonies chose to go to St.-Pierre and Miquelon, French-controlled fishery islands off the southern coast of Newfoundland that offered an opportunity to elude British rule. Most of the LeBlancs who went there settled on Île Miquelon. By 1767, unfortunately, the Newfoundland islands had become so crowded that French officials, obeying a royal decree, deported the fishermen/habitants to France. Most of them promptly returned to the islands the following year. In September 1778, during the American Revolution, the British captured St.-Pierre and Miquelon and deported 900 islanders, most of them Acadians, to Nantes, La Rochelle, Rochefort, Cherbourg, and St.-Malo, where their Acadian cousins in France had gone. On November 6, LeBlancs arrived at St.-Malo aboard the brigantine Jeannette and settled at nearby St.-Servan-sur-Mer. After the war ended in 1783 and France regained possession of the Newfoundland fishery, 600 of the fishermen/habitants returned to the islands the following year, including LeBlancs.
Other LeBlancs in the seaboard colonies emigrated, instead, to the French Antilles to avoid living in territory controlled by the British. While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British colonies to go to St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean region and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles lured to the island would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the island's major planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. The first of them reached Cap-Français in late 1763. More followed in 1764. The experience at the naval base proved an unhappy one for many of the exiles; however, according to local church records, the few LeBlancs who worked there survived the ordeal, at least in its early days. French officials sent Acadian LeBlancs also to the interior community of Mirebalais northeast of Port-au-Prince to work on tobacco and indigo plantations. The family's experience there also was not always a happy one. However, when fellow Acadians from Halifax and Maryland, including many LeBlancs, came through Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans from late 1764 through 1768, none of the LeBlancs still in St.-Domingue chose to join them. They evidently had found a place for themselves in the sugar colony's slave-based plantation economy. Acadian LeBlancs also ended up on the French-controlled island of Martinique.
LeBlancs being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their many cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles, including LeBlancs, chose to relocate to Île Miquelon or French St.-Domingue. Others considered going to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, at least 26 were LeBlancs.
Meanwhile, the many LeBlancs still in Maryland endured life among Englishmen who, despite their colony's Catholic roots, did not care much for the French "papists" thrust upon them. When word reached the Acadians in Maryland that the Spanish would welcome them in Louisiana, they pooled their meager resources to charter ships that would take them to New Orleans. At least 60 LeBlancs were part of the three contingents of exiles from Baltimore and Port Tobacco that reached New Orleans in September 1766, July 1767, and February 1768. A few others decided to stay in the Chesapeake colony, where many of their descendants called themselves White.
LeBlancs were among the first families of Acadia, and they were some of the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. The first of them came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, in February 1765. They followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche that spring and remained there. Later that year, even more LeBlancs from the prison compounds of Nova Scotia reached New Orleans. They did not follow the others to Bayou Teche but settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above the city. Dozens more LeBlancs came to the colony from Maryland in the late 1760s, and they, too, settled on the river, at Cabahannocer, Ascension, and San Gabriel, on what came to be called the Acadian Coast. A few of their sons joined their cousins on the western prairies later in the colonial period, but the great majority of the Maryland exiles remained on the river in what became St. James, Ascension, Iberville, and West Baton Rouge parishes. Many more LeBlancs came to Louisiana from France in 1785. Some joined their cousins on the river, but most of them settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, which became a third center of LeBlanc family settlement in the colony. During the late colonial period and continuing well into the antebellum years, LeBlancs joined the Acadian exodus from the river parishes to the upper Lafourche and added substantially to the family lines already there. During the antebellum period, a few LeBlancs from Bayou Lafourche reversed the usual Acadian migration pattern and "returned" to the Acadian Coast, while others drifted down bayou into Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes, some choosing to settle in the coastal marshes. Meanwhile, on the western prairies, LeBlancs spread out from their base along Bayou Teche and settled in what became St. Martin, St. Mary, Lafayette, St. Landry, Vermilion, and Iberia parishes. During the late antebellum and immediate post-war periods, LeBlancs from the river and the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley moved to the lower Atchafalaya, Bayou Teche, and as far as the St. Landry prairies. But, despite all this movement, the old Acadian Coast, especially Ascension Parish, remained the largest center of LeBlanc family settlement in today's Acadiana.
Non-Acadian LeBlancs came to Louisiana as early as the 1720s, some of them as colonial officials. Most of them remained at New Orleans. Until 1775, none of them married Acadians. A young naval officer from southeastern France with the aristocratic surname LeBlanc de Villeneuve married a local Creole girl in the 1750s and fathered at least eight sons. His oldest son moved to Pointe Coupée by the 1780s and established a prominent family there and in the Baton Rouge area. His other sons remained at New Orleans. Like their father, the LeBlanc de Villeneuve sons served as officers in the Louisiana regiment during Spanish rule. They also served as officers in the colonial militia. During the late colonial and early antebellum periods, two non-Acadian LeBlancs, one of them probably a French Creole, the other a French Canadian, settled among their Acadian namesakes on the western prairies; and two more French-Canadian LeBlancs, one of them, perhaps a wandering Acadian, settled on the Acadian Coast. The other French Canadian on the river moved to upper Bayou Lafourche later in the antebellum period, but his line did not endure. Living in predominantly-Acadian communities, most of these relative late-comers married Acadians. Throughout the antebellum period, Foreign-French LeBlancs emigrated to Louisiana from France and the Caribbean Basin; most of them remained in the New Orleans area. At least one non-Acadian LeBlanc living in Lafayette Parish during the late antebellum period was a free man of color.
Despite the impressive numbers of non-Acadian LeBlancs who settled in South Louisiana, the great majority of LeBlancs in the Bayou State are Acadians. In fact, no Acadian family other than the Landrys brought more individuals to Louisiana than the LeBlancs. By the late antebellum period, the descendants of Daniel LeBlanc emulated their Acadian forebears by settling in nearly every community of South Louisiana. ...
Nearly 200 LeBlancs, most of them Acadian, served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, some as officers. At least 17 members of the family died in Confederate service. ...
The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Leblan, Leblance, LeBlanche, and Oblanc.09
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The first Acadian LeBlancs--seven of them from a single family, including two brothers and two sisters--came to Louisiana in February 1765. All but one of them followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche. The one who remained at New Orleans--ironically, the widow of a Broussard--did so to become an Ursuline nun. Her brothers, sister, nephew, and nieces remained on the Teche, and the other sister, also married to a Broussard, died in the mysterious epidemic that struck the Teche-valley Acadians that summer and fall. The sister who remained at New Orleans died of smallpox there in the early 1770s. Her brothers survived these hardships and created vigorous lines on the western prairies:
Simon (1736/37-1815) à Antoine à Daniel LeBlanc
Simon-Joseph, called Simon, second son of René LeBlanc le jeune and Anne Thériot, born at Minas in 1736/37, escaped the British roundup in 1755 and followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. He married Catherine Thibodeau in c1758, probably at Miramichi, where his parents starved to death the following year. Soon after, Simon and Catherine either were captured by, or surrendered to, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. Son Cosme was born in c1760 in exile. Two more children--Marie-Louise in July 1762; and Donat in c1764--were born during the family's imprisonment in Nova Scotia. Simon and Catherine with three children, including perhaps his youngest brother Petit René, appeared on a repatriation list at Halifax in August 1763. In 1764-65, the couple and their three young children followed the Beausoleil Broussards--three of his sisters had married two sons and a nephew of resistance leader Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil--to Louisiana via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue. Wife Catherine was pregnant on the voyage and gave birth to another daughter, Marie-Angélique, aboard ship or at Cap-Français on New Year's Day 1765. The newborn and her older sister Marie-Louise were baptized at the New Orleans church on 20 and 22 February 1765, soon after the family reached the city. Younger son Donat, who would have been a year old when they reached the colony, was not baptized with his sisters, so he likely had died by then. Simon's name appears on a list of Acadian exiles attempting to exchange their Canadian card money for French funds at New Orleans in April 1765. Later that month, he and his family, including brother Petit René, followed the Broussards across the Atchafalaya Basin to Bayou Teche. Wife Catherine died there in November 1765, a late victim, perhaps, of the mysterious epidemic that struck the Teche-valley Acadians that summer and fall. Infant daughter Marie-Angélique also died that winter or the following spring. Simon remarried to Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph dit L'Officier Guilbeau and Madeleine Michel and widow of Jean Boudrot, at Attakapas in c1768. Marguerite and her first husband also had come to Louisiana in February 1765 with the Broussards, and her father had died in the same epidemic that had killed Simon's first wife and perhaps his youngest daughter. Simon and Marguerite settled near Carencro at the northern edge of the Attakapas District and at La Pointe on upper Bayou Teche. She gave him more children there, including Ester born in c1769; Frédéric, also called Louis, in February 1771 and baptized by a Pointe Coupée priest the following April; Agricole born in November 1772 and baptized by a Pointe Coupée priest the following April; Marguerite born in September 1774; Joseph in November 1776; Pierre in June 1778; Simon, fils, called Simonet or Simonette, baptized, age 2 months, in April 1780 but died "at the home of his parent's at la pointe" in October 1817, age 37 (the recording priest said "age about 34 years"; his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August 1818); Sylvestre born in February 1782; Marie in June 1784; and François-Joseph in September 1787--14 children, nine sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1760 and 1787, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. Wife Marguerite died at their home at "La Pointe" in March 1814, in her early 70s. Simon, who did not remarry again, died at his home at "La Pointe" in December 1815. The priest who recorded the burial said that Simon was age 82 when he died. He was closer to 79. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, the following August. Neither of his daughters by his first wife married, but daughters Ester, Marguerite, and Marie, by his second wife, married into the Comeaux, St. Julien, and Barras families on the prairies. Seven of Simon's sons married and settled in a number of communities in the Attakapas District. Most of them remained on the upper Teche, but one moved down bayou to Fausse Pointe, another settled at Carencro, and another along the upper Vermilion. Most of the lines endured. Simon's, in fact, was the first as well as one of the largest LeBlanc family lines established on the western prairies.
Oldest son Cosme or Côme, by first wife Catherine Thibodeau, followed his parents to Halifax, New Orleans, and Attakapas, where he married Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Broussard and Anne Bourgeois, in July 1781. They settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Marguerite, also called Modeste, in June 1782; Agricole le jeune baptized, age 2 months, in April 1786; Théophile born in October 1787; Moïse in March 1790 but died at age 8 in August 1798; Adélaïde baptized, age 1 1/2, in April 1795; Alexis born in January 1797; Anastasie, also called Aspasie, in April 1798; and Frédéric le jeune, also called Onésime, in 1800 and baptized, age 7 1/2 months, in March 1801--eight children, four daughters and four sons, between 1782 and 1800. Cosme died at his home at Fausse Pointe in April 1811. The priest who recorded the burial said that Côme was "age about 55 yrs." when he died. He probably was in his early 50s. Daughters Marguerite, Adélaïde, and Aspasie married into the Broussard, Sonnier, and LeBlanc families, daughter Aspasie's LeBlanc husband a French Canadian, not a fellow Acadian. Cosme's four sons also married and settled on the prairie.
Oldest son Agricole le jeune married Euphrosine dite Frosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Hébert and Françoise Hébert of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1808. They settled at Fausse Pointe. Their children, born there, included Modeste Aloyse or Éloise Modeste in January 1809; a son, name unrecorded, in November 1810 but died six days after his birth; Anastasie born in August 1812; Aspasie in c1813 but died at age 3 in August 1816; twins Agricole, fils and Euphrosine born in October 1814, but Agricole, fils died at age 5 1/2 in September 1820; Alexis le jeune born in February 1817; Onésime, also called Onésime Agricole, in January 1820; and Placide, also called Placide Agricole and Agricole, posthumously in May 1822--nine children, four daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1809 and 1822. Agricole le jeune died at his home at Fausse Pointe in May 1822. The priest who recorded the burial said that Agricole was age 32 when he died. He was closer to 36. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in September 1822. Daughters Éloise Modeste and Euphrosine married into the Landry and Broussard families. Two of Agricole le jeune's remaining sons also married, but only one of the lines endured.
Fourth son Onésime Agricole married first cousin Marie Alix, called Alix, daughter of Alexis LeBlanc and Marie Sidonise Landry, his uncle and aunt, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in January 1841, and "validated" the marriage at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, the following October. They settled down bayou. Onésime's succession, calling him Onésime Agricole and naming his wife, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in February 1854. He would have been age 34 that year. Did he father any children?
Agricole le jeune's fifth and youngest son Placide Agricole married Adèle, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Cyprien Savoie and his Creole wife Marie Césariènne Bonin, at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in July 1845. Their children, born on the Teche and the Opelousas prairies, included Marie Adèla near New Iberia in May 1846; Agricole, fils in the late 1840s; Cyprien in June 1849; Adeline or Adèl'a in October 1850; Aristide in November 1852; Marguerite Froisine in November 1854; Céleste Anaïse in March 1857; Joseph Aladin in May 1859; Léontine in May 1862; Ernest near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in November 1864; ... Agricole Côme LeBlanc's succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in October 1853. If this was Placide Agricole, he would have been age 31 that year. The birth dates of two of his sons hints that the succession would not have been post-mortem. Daughter Adeline married into the Leleux family by 1870. One of Placide's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Agricole, fils married Marguerite, daughter of Marcellin or Maxilien Maillard, Mayard, or Mayer and Ceregnie Argreau, probably Hargroder, at the Church Point church, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in June 1868. Daughter Marie Adèle was born near Church Point in September 1869; ... They also had a son named Adelus who married a Broussard and is the direct ancestor of the author's LeBlanc first cousins.
Cosme's second son Théophile married Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Louis Hébert and Rose Richard of Bayou Teche, at the St. Martinville church in June 1811. They settled at Fausse Pointe and at Côte-aux-Puces, or the Flea Coast, near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Eulogie dite Logie Arthémise in March 1811; Clarisse Mélite or Émilite in March 1814; Rosalie Dalisène in April 1817; and Julie Parmelise in May 1818--four children, all daughters, between 1811 and 1818. Daughters Clarisse Émilite, Logie Arthémise, and Rosalie married into the Broussard and Landry families, two of them to Landry brothers. Théophile evidently fathered no sons, but the blood of the family line likely endured.
Cosme's fourth son Alexis married Marie Sidonise, Sidonie, or Edonise, daughter of fellow Acadian Hubert Landry and his Creole wife Anne Euphrosine Legros of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in February 1820. They settled at Fausse Pointe and in St. Mary Parish. Their children born there, included a son, name unrecorded, in December 1820 but died at his parents' home a month after his birth; Marie Alix born in November 1821; Alexis, fils in April 1823 but died at age 2 in April 1825; Célestine born in August 1824; Marie Zelmire in December 1826; Marie Corestilde in September 1828; Marguerite Zéline in April 1830; Marie Olive, called Olive, in January 1832; Désiré in November 1833; Aurelien in the 1830s; Joseph in the 1830s; Hubert in the 1830s or early 1840s; Julie in May 1843; and Cécile in September 1844--14 children, seven sons and seven daughters, between 1820 and 1844. Alexis's succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in July 1846. He would have been age 49 that year. Daughters Marie Alix, Marie Zelmire, Marie Olive, and Julie married into the LeBlanc, Legnon, Hébert, Louvière, and Landry families, two of them, Marie Olive and Julie, twice, and two of them, Julie and Marie Olive, to Louvières, by 1870. Four of Alexis's sons also married by then and settled on the lower Teche.
Third son Désiré married cousin Donatille, Adonatile, or Adonathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Landry and Françoise Landry, at the New Iberia church in February 1854. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Désiré Nises near New Iberia in December 1854; Martinus in July 1856; Léonore in June 1859; Donathilde in August 1861; Marie Olivanie in November 1863; Pierre near Patoutville, now Lydia, in December 1868; Zulmée in December 1870; ... None of Désiré's children married by 1870.
Alexis's fourth son Aurelien married Aurelia or Auresia Stevens, Stevin, or Stivens at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in September 1858. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Louis Stevens near New Iberia in March 1860; Paule in June 1861; Marie in June 1864; Marie Honoren in December 1865; Pierre near Charenton in March 1869; ...
Alexis's fifth son Joseph married cousin Julie Félicie or Félicite, daughter of Jules Pellerin, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Claire Landry, at the New Iberia church in February 1860. Their children, born the lower Teche, included Alexis le jeune near New Iberia in March 1861; Joseph Olidon in July 1862; Cécile in December 1864; Calix in November 1866; Paul near Patoutville in April 1869; ...
Alexis's sixth and youngest son Hubert married cousin Élizabeth, daughter of fellow Acadian Gédéon Landry and his Creole wife Anne Lormand, at the New Iberia church in December 1860. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Duprélom near New Iberia in May 1864; Jean Armogène in March 1866 but, called Jean, may have died near Breaux Bridge at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in August 1868; ...
Cosme's fifth and youngest son Frédéric le jeune, also called Onésime, married Cécile, another daughter of Hubert Landry and Anne Euphrosine Legros, at the St. Martinville church in May 1821. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Frédéric, fils in May 1822; Claire or Ste. Claire in January 1824; Élodie in November 1825; Émile in March 1827; Marie Joséphine Olimpe or Olympe, called Olympe, in June 1828; Isabelle Esfilla in May 1830; Camille in March 1833; Carmélite in September 1834; Alexis le jeune in May 1838; Marie Alix or Alice in October 1840; and Philomène in December 1847--11 children, four sons and seven daughters, between 1822 and 1847. Daughters Ste. Claire, Olympe, Marie Alice, and Philomène married into the Broussard and Louvière families, two of them to Broussards, by 1870. All four of Frédéric le jeune's sons also married by then and settled on the lower Teche.
Oldest son Frédéric, fils may have married fellow Acadian Amélie, called Mélie, Broussard, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Onésime le jeune near New Iberia in November 1850; Célima in May 1852; twins Alexandre and Frédéric Dehousard in October 1855; Ezilda in May 1858; Alida in May 1860; Marie Corrine in July 1863; Eugène Phulias in November 1866; Melina near Patoutville, now Lydia, in August 1869; ... None of their children married by 1870.
Frédéric le jeune's second son Émile married Hermina or Ermina, daughter of Bernard Miguez and Eléocadie Etie, at the New Iberia church in February 1855. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Hiacinthe in March 1856; Nicolas in December 1857; Joseph Alcé in April 1860; Honora in December 1863 but died at age 4 1/2 in June 1868; Marie Derosin born in February 1867; ...
Frédéric le jeune's third son Camille married Marie, daughter of Joseph Larive and his Acadian wife Louise Ladowiska Louvière, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in November 1865, and sanctified the marriage at the New Iberia church in December. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Marie in October 1866; Camille Blanc near Patoutville in September 1868; ...
Frédéric le jeune's fourth and youngest son Alexis le jeune married Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Théogène Louvière and Marguerite Anise Louvière, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in October 1865, and sanctified the marriage at the New Iberia church in November. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Jean Baptiste near New Iberia in September 1866; Alexis, fils in February 1868; Arcade near Patoutville in October 1869; ...
Simon's third son Frédéric, also called Louis, from second wife Marguerite Guilbeau, married Louise Constance, also called Marie Louise and Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Thibodeaux and Gertrude Bourg, at Attakapas in August 1794. They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Placide and Urbin or Ursin, perhaps twins, in September 1795, but Placide died in Lafayette Parish, age 62 (the recording priest said 60), in September 1857 (his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courhouse in June 1858); Narcisse born in February 1797 but died near Carencro, age 64 (the recording priest said 66), in February 1861 (his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in March); Frédéric, fils born in November 1798; Julien, also called Arvillien, in October 1800; and Caliste or Calixte in September 1802--six children, all sons, including a set of twins, between 1795 and 1802. Frédéric, père, "resident of Attakapas," died at New Orleans in November 1803. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Federico, as he called him, died at age "50 yr." He was closer to 32! Three of his sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Ursin, perhaps a twin, married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Melançon and Madeleine Prejean, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1825. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included twins Marie Mélagie and a son, name unrecorded, in August 1826, but the son died a day after his birth, and Marie Mélagie died at age 20 days later in the month. Ursin remarried to Victoire, also called Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadian Victorin Guidry and his Creole wife Marie Calais, at the Vermilionville church in February 1829. Their children, born on the prairies, included Désiré in January 1830 but died by October 1862, when his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse (one wonders if his death was war-related); Azélie born near Grand Coteau in November 1831 but died in St. Martin Parish at age 5 (the recording priest said 6) in December 1836; Ursin, fils born in June 1833; Eugénie baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in July 1836 but died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in August 1838; Edmond baptized at age 10 months in November 1838; Athanase born in St. Martin Parish in December 1840; Placide le jeune in October 1844; Joseph Ernest in December 1846; Dominic baptized at the Breaux Bridge church, age 1 month, in September 1848; and Eusèbe born in June 1854--a dozen children, three daughters and nine sons, by two wives, between 1826 and 1854. Ursin, père died in St. Martin Parish in September 1856. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Ursin died "at age 59 yrs." He was 61. His succession, which named his second wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in May 1858. None of his daughters survived childhood. Two of his sons married by 1870, but one of the lines may not have endured.
Third son Ursin, fils, by second wife Victoire Guidry, married cousin Marie Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Edmond Guidry and Marie Josette Sonnier, at the St. Martinville church in April 1856. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their son Antoine was born there in April 1857. Ursin, fils's succession, evidently post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in March 1865. He would have been age 32 that year. One wonders if his death was war-related. Widow Azélie remarried to a Potier the following July.
Ursin's fourth son Edmond, by second wife Victoire Guidry, married cousin Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Guidry and Joséphine Thibodeaux, at the Breaux Bridge church in September 1861. During the War of 1861-65, Edmond likely served as a first corporal in Company D of the Orleans Guard Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought at Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862. Edmond survived the horrific battle and in May was transferred, along with most of the men in his unit, to Company A of the 30th (Sumter) Regiment Louisiana Infantry. He served as a private in this unit. Soon after the transfer, Edmond fell sick at Magnolia, Mississippi. He was sent home on extended sick furlough but never rejoined his company. He died near Breaux Bridge in March 1863, age 25. His succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, less than a week after his death. His widow Célestine remarried to a Dupuis the following December. Did Edmond father any children during his short married life?
Frédéric, père's fifth son Julien, also called Arvillien, married Juliènne, daughter of fellow Acadians Dominque Babineaux and Marguerite Thibodeaux, at the St. Martinville church in April 1820. They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Azélie baptized at the Grand Coteau church, age unrecorded, in August 1821; Louise born in August 1822; Adélaïde Babine Éliza, called Éliza or Élisa, in the early 1820s; Émilien in June 1825 but died the following September; twins Mélanie and Onésime born in October 1826, but Mélanie died at age 6 in October 1832; Ozémé or Osémé born in September 1828; Treville in June 1830; Narcisse in July 1832; Cidalise or Sidalise baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in June 1835; and Émile baptized at age 3 months in March 1839--11 children, five daughters and six sons, between 1821 and 1839. Arvillien, called Hervilien by the Grand Coteau priest who recorded the burial, died probably at Carencro in July 1849, age 48. Daughters Élisa/Éliza and Sidalise married into the Benoit, Richard, and Cormier families, one of them, Élisa, twice, by 1870. Two, perhaps three of Julien's sons, also married by then.
Second son Onésime, a twin, married fellow Acadian Adélaïde Landry in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in August 1843. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Mathilde in July 1849; Adélaïde dite Délaïde Lesima in October 1850; Marie Onezia in June 1853; and Jean Baptiste in May 1857--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1849 and 1857. An Onézime LeBlanc died near Grand Coteau in August 1860 "at age 30 yrs." This Onésime would have been age 33. Daughter Délaïde married into the Sonnier family at Church Point farther out on the prairie by 1870.
Arvillien's third son Osémé married cousin Marie Adeline, called Adeline and Deline, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Richard and Adélaïde Babineaux, at the Grand Coteau church in May 1849. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Aurelin, probably Aurelien, in March 1850; Juliènne in November 1851; Louis Alcide in December 1853 but, called Louis Alcid, died at age 2 1/2 in May 1856; Marie Hemelie born in October 1855 but, called Marie Émelite, died at age 1 in October 1856; Alexandre born in July 1857; Louis Edmond in November 1859 but, called Edmond, died at age 4 1/2 in January 1864; Marie Edmonia born in November 1861 but, called Edmonia, died at age 4 in November 1865; Coralie born in December 1864 but, called Corallie, died at age 1 1/2 in October 1866; ... None of Osémé's children married by 1870.
Arvillien's fourth son Treville may have died near Grand Coteau in May 1860. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Treville died "at age 27 yrs.," but this Treville would have been a month shy of 30. Was he the Treville LeBlanc who married fellow Acadian Adélaïde Guidry? If so, their daughter married a Guidry cousin at nearby Church Point.
Frédéric, père's sixth and youngest son Caliste or Calixte married Marguerite Eurasie, called Eurasie, daughter of fellow Acadian François Bernard and his Anglo-Creole wife Louise Caruthers, at the Vermilionville church in October 1829. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Aurelien baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in October 1830 but died at age 3 in October 1833; Lise Aureline born in May 1832; Louisa in late 1834 and baptized at age 5 months in February 1835; Marguerite Céphalide in 1837 and baptized at age 5 months in January 1838; and Ulalie or Eulalieborn in February 1841--five children, a son and four daughters, between 1830 and 1841. Daughters Lise, Louisa, Marguerite, and Eulalie married into the Brouse or Bruce, Comeaux, and Prejean families, two of them to Prejeans, by 1870, so the blood of the family line likely endured.
Simon's fourth son Agricole, by second wife Marguerite Guilbeau, married Marie-Céleste, called Céleste, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians François-Joseph Savoie and his fourth wife Marie-Jeanne Martin dit Barnabé, at Attakapas in October 1793. They settled on upper Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Suzanne dite Suzette in late 1794 and baptized, age 8 months, in July 1795; Pierre-Dosincourt born in September 1796 but died at Grande Pointe at age 21 in January 1818; Agricole, fils, also called Chevalier, born in April 1798; Marie-Marthe, also called Marie-Lolette and perhaps Marie-Marthe-Céleste, baptized, age 4 1/2 months, in March 1801; Marie born in October 1802; a son, name unrecorded, died 11 days after his birth in December 1804; a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age 15 days in November 1805; a son, name unrecorded, died the day after his birth in June 1807; another son, name unrecorded, died three days after his birth in July 1808; Marie Louise born in August 1809; yet another son, name unrecorded, died six days after his birth in November 1810; and still another son, name unrecorded, died eight days after his birth in July 1813--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, between 1794 and 1813. Agricole, père, described as a "res. [of] Opelousas," died near Baton Rouge in March 1815. The priest who recorded the burial said that Agricole was age 45 when he died. He was 42. Was Agricole living on the river at the time of his death or only visiting? Daughters Suzanne dite Suzette, Marie Lolette, and Céleste married into the Wiltz and Castille families, two of them to Castille brothers. One of Agricole's sons also married.
Second son Agricole, fils, also called Chevalier, married Marie, 16-year-old daughter of Pierre Cormier and his second wife Rosalie Dugas of Carencro, at the Grand Coteau church in February 1820. They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Pierre Agricole in October 1820 but died at age 2 1/2 months in December; Alexandre born in September 1821; Pierre, also called Pierre Dosincourt le jeune and Azincourt, in September 1824; and Maximilien baptized, age 3 weeks, in December 1826 but died at age 5 weeks in January--four children, all sons, between 1820 and 1826. Agricole, fils died in Lafayette Parish in January 1832. The priest who recorded the burial said that Agricole was age 30 when he died. He was 34. His remaining sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Alexandre married Amélie or Amelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Broussard and Séraphine Guilbeau, at the Breaux Bridge church in December 1848. Daughter Marie Alexandrine was born near Breaux Bridge in December 1848 10 days before her parents' marriage, so they likely had married civilly before December 1848. Alexandre remarried to Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Guidry and Joséphine Thibodeaux, at the Breaux Bridge church in September 1858. Alexandre's succession may have been filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in December 1859. He would have been age 38 that year. His daughter did not marry by 1870.
Agricole, fils's third son Pierre Dosincourt le jeune, also called Azincourt, married Elmaze or Elmasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Édouard Broussard and his Creole wife Doralise Ardoin, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in February 1851. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Pauline in November 1851 but died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in May 1853; Marguerite Emma born in April 1853 but, called Ema Dazincourt, died at age 15 in June 1868; Léonie born in January 1855; Cécilia or Cécile in April 1856; Marie Élida dite Nelia in October 1858; Marie Noémi, called Noémi, in June 1860; Alphonsine in October 1861; George Arthur in August 1864; twins Agalice Célestine and Alice in September 1867; Marie Louise in December 1870; ... None of Pierre's children married by 1870.
Simon's fifth son Joseph, by second wife Marguerite Guilbeau, married, in his mid-40s, Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of Philippe Wiltz and Marie Rose Dozat and widow of Anaclet Broussard, at the St. Martinville church in July 1821. They settled at Grande Pointe on the upper Teche. Their children, born there, included Marie in April 1822; Marguerite in November 1824; Joséphine in December 1827; and Adélaïde in April 1831--four children, all daughters, between 1822 and 1831. Joseph died in St. Martin Parish in August 1833, age 56, two days before his youngest brother François died there. Daughters Marie, Marguerite, Joséphine, and Adélaïde married into the Wiltz, Belair, and Thibodeaux families, two of them to Wiltz brothers whose mother was a LeBlanc, so the blood of the family line likely endured.
Simon's sixth son Pierre, by second wife Marguerite Guilbeau, married Hortense, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Broussard and Anne Landry, probably at Attakapas in the early 1800s. They settled on the Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Eugénie in April 1804; and Pierre, fils in January 1806. Pierre, père died "at his home at Vermilion" in June 1806, age 28. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in September 1811. Daughter Eugénie married into the Comeaux family. Pierre's son also married.
Only son Pierre, fils married cousin Marie Adeline, called Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Olidon Broussard and Victoire Babineaux, at the Vermilionville church in January 1827. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Pierre Onézime in February 1828 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1830; Neuville or Neville baptized, age 2 months, in May 1830; twins Hortense and an unnamed son born in February 1833, but the son died two hours after his birth, and Hortense died in Lafayette Parish, age 21 (the recording priest said 23), in August 1854; twins Duplaissin and Laisin born in September 1834; Jean Dupré in December 1840; Marie Carmélite in May 1842; twins Bernard and Élise in August 1847; and Maria Azéma or Azéna in November 1849 and, called Marie Azéna, was emancipated at the Vermilionville courthouse, age 18 1/2, in January 1868--11 children, seven sons and four daughters, including three sets of twins, between 1828 and 1849. Daughter Azéna married into the Hébert family by 1870. Three of Pierre, fils's remaining sons also married by then.
Second son Neville married, at age 38, cousin Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Sarasin Broussard and Véronique Hébert, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in June 1868. A child, name and age unrecorded, died near Abbeville in October 1869; ...
Pierre, fils's sixth son Jean Dupré married fellow Acadian Séverine, also called Levarine, Hébert, place and date unrecorded. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Jean Portalis in February 1863; Alice in October 1867; Azéna in December 1868; ...
Pierre, fils's seventh and youngest son Bernard married Émelina, daughter of fellow Acadians Sevigné Arceneaux and Azadine Brasseaux, at the Vermilionville church in June 1867; the marriage was recorded civilly at the Vermilionville courthouse in June 1870. ...
Simon, père's eighth son Sylvestre, by second wife Marguerite Guilbeau, married Perosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Duhon and Marie Josèphe Gautreaux, at Attakapas in February 1806. The settled at La Pointe on upper Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Marie Aspasie, called Aspasie, in December 1806; Adeline in August 1809; Marie Azélie probably in the early 1810s, if she wasn't Adeline; Marie Erasie or Eurasie in September 1813; Sylvestre, fils, also called called Sylvère, in June 1815 but died at age 31 (the recording priest said 32) in March 1847; a son, name unrecorded, died eight days after his birth in February 1818; Joseph, also called Joseph Théodule and Théodule, born in January 1820; Jean Baptiste in February 1823; Marie in November 1826; and Julie in April 1831--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1806 and 1831. Sylvestre died near Breaux Bridge in December 1870. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Sylvester, as he called him, died "at age 99 yrs." He was 88. Daughters Marie Aspasie, Marie Eurasie, Marie Azélie, Marie, and Julie married into the Thibodeaux, Guidry, Guilbeau, and Martin families, one of them, Julie, twice, two of them, Marie Eurasie and Julie, to Guidry brothers, and two of them, Aspasie and Marie, to Thibodeaux brothers. Two of Sylvestre's sons also married, to sisters.
Third son Joseph Théodule, called Théodule, married Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadian Adrien Guilbeau and his Creole wife Catherine Arthémise Neraut, at the St. Martinville church in April 1847. They settled on the upper Teche between Arnaudville and Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Jean Aristide, called Aristide, in January 1849; Marie Ernestine, called Ernestine, in November 1850; Marie Adolphina, called Adolphina, in September 1852; Marie Athenaïs, perhaps also called Marie Arthémise, in May 1854; Marie Carolie in April 1856; Louis Sylvain in April 1858; Louis Ozémé in May 1860; Anaïs in September 1862; Marie Philosia in November 1864; Marie Parosine in February 1867; Adriènne Marie in February 1870; ... Daughters Ernestine, Adolphina, and Arthemise married into the Broussard, Bertrand, and Thibodeaux families by 1870. One of Théodule's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Aristide married Louisa, daughter of fellow Acadians Antoine Broussard and Élodie Bernard, at the Breaux Bridge church in August 1869. ...
Sylvestre, père's fourth and youngest son Jean Baptiste married Adriènne, another daughter of Adrien Guilbeau and Catherine Arthémise Neraut, at the Breaux Bridge church in July 1848. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Marie Arthémise, called Arthémise, in May 1849; Marie Herminie, called Herminie, in September 1850; André Lessins in October 1852; Marie Cora in October 1854; Marie Corine near Arnaudville in September 1856; Jean Adrien in August 1858; Marie Azéma in December 1860; and Marie in May 1866--eight children, six daughters and two sons, between 1849 and 1866. Daughters Arthémise and Herminie married into the Babineaux and Hardy families by 1870. Neither of Jean Baptiste's sons married by then.
Simon, père's ninth and youngest son François Joseph, by second wife Marguerite Guilbeau, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Dugas and Marguerite Dupuis of La Butte and widow of Amand Guilbeau, at the St. Martinville church in April 1812. The settled at Grande Pointe. Their children, born there, included Arsènne or Arsène, a daughter, in March 1813; Julie in April 1815; twins François, fils and an unnamed brother in May 1817, but the unnamed twin died at birth; Joseph Dorsineau born in July 1819 but, called Joseph Dorcenaux, died near Breaux Bridge, age 48 (the recording priest said 46), in October 1867 (his succession, calling him Joseph Dorcius, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following December); twins Joseph Valsin, called Valsin, and Ursin born in June 1821; and Simon le jeune in January 1824 but died "at his father's home at la pointe," age 1 1/2, in May 1825--eight children, two daughters and six sons, including two sets of twins, between 1813 and 1824. A succession for wife Marguerite, likely post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August 1832. François Joseph died in St. Martin Parish in August 1833, age 45. His succession, naming his widow, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in September. Daughters Julie and Arsène married into the Melançon and Huval families. Two of François Joseph's remaining sons also married.
Oldest son François, fils married cousin Marie Doralise, called Doralise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dupuis and Rosalie Theriot, at the St. Martinville church in November 1839. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Joseph, perhaps also called François III, in September 1840; and Léonard in December 1844. François, fils's sons married by 1870.
Older son François III married cousin Élisa, daughter of fellow Acadians Ludovic, probably Louis, Guidry and Marie Eurasie LeBlanc, at the Breaux Bridge church in January 1866. Son Adam died near Breaux Bridge, age 10 months, in December 1868; ...
François, fils's younger son Léonard married Céleste, daughter of Eugène Calais and Juliènne Patin, at the Breaux Bridge church in October 1866. ...
François Joseph's fourth Joseph Valsin, called Valsin, married Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Bourgeois and Célina Landry, at the St. Martinville church in October 1846. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Jules in July 1847; Mathilda or Mathilde in May 1849; Euphrasie in May 1851; Marie Célesie in July 1853; Aristide in September 1855; Joseph Giuberti in July 1857; Alcée in October 1859; and Eudolie in September 1861--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1847 and 1861. Wife Eugénie, called "Mrs. Valsin LeBlanc" by the recording priest, died near Breaux Bridge, age 37, in July 1865. Valsin, at age 45, remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Landry and Marie Herbertile Landry, at the Breaux Bridge church in February 1867. Daughters Mathilde and Euphrasie, by his first wife, married into the Guidry and Landry families by 1870. None of Valsin's sons married by then.
René dit Petit René (c1751-1809) à Antoine à Daniel LeBlanc
René, called Petit René, seventh and youngest son of René LeBlanc le jeune and Anne Thériot and brother of Simon, was born probably at Minas in c1750 or 1751. While still very young, he followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and watched his parents starve to death at Mirimachi when he was age 8 or 9. He followed his older siblings into a prison compound in Nova Scotia in the early 1760s and probably was counted at Halifax with the family of older brother Simon in August 1763. Still in his teens, he followed brother Simon and two of his older sisters, both married to Broussards, to Louisiana in 1764-65. That April, from New Orleans, he followed Simon and one of his sisters, part of the extended family of the Beausoleil Broussards, to lower Bayou Teche. In 1769 and again in 1771, when Petit René was in his late teens and early 20s, a Spanish official counted him in the household of Petit Jos Broussard, his brother-in-law from Petit Jos's first marriage to older sister Anastasie, who had died in a prison camp in Nova Scotia in the early 1760s; Petit Jos was the oldest surviving son of resistance fighter Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil. Petit René married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Trahan and Marguerite Broussard, at Attakapas in c1775. Marguerite, a native of Petitcoudiac, also had come to Louisiana with the Broussards in 1765; her maternal grandfather, in fact, was Alexandre Broussard dit Beausoleil, Joseph dit Beausoleil's older brother. Petit René and Marguerite settled on the lower Vermilion River. Their children, born there, included Céleste in March 1777; Raphaël baptized, age 5 months, in July 1779; Rosalie born in May 1781 but died at age 11 in January 1793; Julien born in April 1783; Marguerite in October 1785; Marie-Éloise or -Louise, also called Héloise, in July 1788; Adélaïde in the late 1780s or early 1790s; Hilaire in July 1792; Jean baptized, age 6 months, in September 1795; and Pélagie in April 1797--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1777 and 1797. Petit René died at his home on the lower Vermilion in August 1809, in his late 50s. Daughters Céleste, Marguerite, Marie Éloise or Louise, Adélaïde, and Pélagie married into the Langlinais, Bourgeois, Trahan, Melançon, Broussard, Bouquet, and Baudin or Bodin families, one of them, Adélaïde, three times. Two of Petit René's sons also married, but only the youngest son's line endured.
Second son Julien married cousin Scholastique dite Colastie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph dit Josime LeBlanc and Marguerite Duhon of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1809. They settled on the Vermilion and in St. Mary Parish on the lower Teche. Their children, born there, included Élisa or Éliza on the Vermilion in September 1814; and Marie Pamela, called Pamela, in February 1828. Julien died in St. Mary Parish in March 1840, age 56. His succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse in April. Daughters Éliza and Pamela married into the Comeaux and Landry families. Julien evidently fathered no sons, so this family line, except for its blood, probably died with him. After her year of mourning, Scholastique remarried to Gédéon Guenot in St. Mary Parish in June 1841, but her new husband's succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse in January 1844, so she may have become a widow again. She died in St. Mary Parish the following April, age 55.
Petit René fourth and youngest son Jean married Denise, also called Adenise and Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles dit Charlitte Duhon and Isabelle Broussard of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in October 1821. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Carmélite in October 1822 but, called Carmélite, died at age 6 1/2 in December 1829; Jean Baptiste, called Jean, fils, born in February 1824; Eugène in c1825 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 13 months and 4 days, in December 1826; Théogène born in c1827 and baptized, age 1 year, 6 days, in August 1828; Dosité born in March 1829; Aurelia born in c1831 and baptized at age 19 months in January 1833; Onésime born in c1833 and baptized at age 1 in May 1834; Émilia born in May 1835; Dolzé, a son, baptized at age 9 months in October 1837; Seven, Sevin, or Sevènne baptized, age 8 months, in October 1839; Émelina born in c1840 and baptized at age 13 months in April 1841; and twins Azélie and Zelia born in September 1841--13 children, six daughters and seven sons, including a set of twins, between 1822 and 1841. None of Jean's daughters married by 1870, but all seven of his sons did, many to Broussard cousins.
Oldest son Jean Baptiste, called Jean, fils, married cousin Caroline, daughter of Grégoire Bodin and his Acadian wife Pélagie LeBlanc, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but not in Iberia Parish, in October 1846. They settled in St. Mary Parish. Their children, born near Charenton, included Pélagie in December 1847 but died at age 5 near Charenton in January 1853; twins Alcée and Jean Alcide born in December 1849; and Aristille in October 1852--four children, two daughters and two sons, including a set of twins, between 1847 and 1852. None of Jean Baptiste's children married by 1870.
Jean, père's second Eugène married cousin Joséphine, another daughter of Grégoire Bodin and Pélagie LeBlanc and widow of Ursin Provost, at the New Iberia church in February 1854. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Eugénie in December 1854; Eugène Homère in September 1859; and Élodie posthumously in September 1867--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1854 and 1867. Eugène died probably in St. Mary Parish in January 1867, age 41. His succession, giving his death date and naming his wife, was filed at the Franklin courthouse in November. None of his children married by 1870.
Jean, père's third son Théogène, married, in his early 30s, cousin Marie Louise, called Louisa and Louisiana, 17-year-old daughter of Don Louis Langlinais and his Acadian wife Azélie Trahan, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in June 1861. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Félicia in March 1862; Azélie in November 1863; Oriska baptized at the Abbeville church, age 3 months, in March 1866; Étienne born in December 1867; and Ophelia, perhaps also called Paula and Pola, in November 1869--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1862 and 1869. Théogène died in May 1870. The Abbeville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Théogène died "at age 41 yrs." This Théogène was 42. Wife Louisa remarried to a Romero, who helped raise her children. Daughters Pola, ... married into the Istre, Romero, and Trahan families after 1870. Pola's daughter Marie Zelma, called Zelma, from husband Numa Istre, was born at Midland, Acadia Parish, in December 1897. Zelma married Léonce Cormier of Carencro in Crowley, Acadia Parish, in 1913 and is the author's paternal grandmother.
Jean, père's fourth son Dosité married cousin Delyside, Delzane, Delzanne, Delzinde, or Belzinde, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Onésime Broussard and Scholastique Duhon, at the Abbeville church in September 1854. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Pierre Dupré in July 1855; Dema in December 1856; Scholastique in October 1858; Marie Idea in June 1860; Jean Alcide in September 1861; Medina in March 1864; ... None of Dosité's children married by 1870.
Jean, père's fifth son Onésime married cousin Eméranthe, another daughter of Pierre Onésime Broussard and Scholastique Duhon, at the Abbeville church in April 1855. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Julia in April 1856; Olivier in July 1857; Ophelia in June 1859; Jean Alexis in August 1861; Augustin in October 1863; ... Onésime's succession, identifying his wife, was filed at the Abbeville courthouse in 1867. He would have been age 34 that year. Another succession for him may have been filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in August of that year. None of his children married by 1870.
Jean, père's sixth son Dolzé likely married fellow Acadian Hortense Broussard at the Abbeville church in November 1860. Their children, born near Abbeville, included François Ulysse in January 1862; Marguerite Elvina in January 1866; twins Eugène le jeune and Eugénie in October 1867; Joseph Lucien in November 1869; ...
Jean, père's seventh and youngest son Sevènne may have married fellow Acadian Élodie Broussard at the Abbeville church in November 1865. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Elzina in October 1866; Onésime in January 1869; ...
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Most of the LeBlancs who came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 were not part of the Broussard party. These LeBlancs--17 or 18 of them, including two wives, a young bachelor, and three families--arrived later in the year and settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. So many Acadians settled at Cabahannocer, in fact, that the area soon became known as the Acadian Coast. The LeBlancs who went there in 1765 created a number of vigorous family lines not only on the river, but also on upper Bayou Lafourche and the western prairies:
Joseph (1720-1805) à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Oldest son Joseph, fils followed his parents into exile and imprisonment and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he married cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne LeBlanc and Élisabeth Boudrot, in February 1771. Marguerite also had come to Cabahannocer with her family in 1765. Their children, born there, included Rosalie baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1772; Donat baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1773; another Rosalie born in c1776 but died at age 20 in September 1796; Marie-Anne baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1778; Benjamin baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1779; Madeleine born in the early 1780s; Joseph III in c1782 but died at age 17 in December 1799; and Marie-Josèphe born in June 1787. Spanish officials counted the couple on the right, or west, bank of the river at Cabahannoce in January 1777. Joseph, fils remarried to Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Doiron and Anne Vincent and widow of Antoine Rodriguez of Florida, at Cabahannocer in July 1787; one suspects his wife Marguerite had died from giving birth to daughter Marie-Josèphe. Joseph, fils and Pélagie's children, born at Cabahannocer, included Simon in October 1788; Marcellite in the late 1780s; Marthe in March 1790; Marie-Clémence, called Clémence, in September 1791; Constance in February 1794; Françoise in August 1795; and Narcisse-Hermogène, called Hermogène, in October 1795--15 children, 10 daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1772 and 1795. Joseph, fils died in St. James Parish, formerly Cabahannocer, in October 1818. The St. James priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph died at "age about 70 yrs." Daughters Madeleine, Marcellite, Clémence, and Constance, by both wives, married into the Daigre, LeBlanc, Dugas, and Melançon families. One of Joseph, fils's daughters from his second wife settled on the western prairies. Three of his sons married, but not all of the lines endured. His oldest son settled on the river, and his younger sons joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche during the early antebellum period.
Oldest son Donat, by first wife Marguerite LeBlanc, married cousin Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Melançon and Osite LeBlanc, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in December 1801. They settled on the river near the boundary between the Cabahannocer and Ascension districts. Their children, born there, included Joseph le jeune in October 1802 but died at age 5 in October 1807; Louis Onésime, called Onésime, born in August 1804; Marguerite Mélanie, called Mélanie, in August 1806; Marcellin or Marcellus Hermogène in October 1808; Donat, fils in the 1800s; Marie Louise in September 1810; Marie Euphémie, called Euphémie, in November 1811; Pierre in February 1815 but died the following August; Marie born in August 1816 but died at age 1 1/2 in June 1818; Paul born near Convent, St. James Parish, in March 1819; another Joseph le jeune, in Ascension Parish, in August 1821; Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in c1823 and baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1824; another Marie Louise baptized, age 4 months, in September 1826; and Privat Euphémon born in August 1829--14 children, eight sons and six daughters, between 1802 and 1829. Donat, père died in St. James Parish in October 1843. The St. James priest who recorded the burial said that Donat died at "age 64 yrs. and 6 days." He was closer to 70. Daughters Marguerite Mélanie, Marie Louise, Euphémie, and Carmélite married into the Dugas, Gautreaux, Gaudet, Mathieu, and LeBlanc families, two of them to Gautreauxs, and one of them, Carmélite, married twice. Five of Donat's sons also married, and most remained on the river. One of them moved from St. James to St. Landry Parish on the western prairies by the late 1850s, and at least one of his daughters was living in St. Landry Parish during the post-war period.
Second son Onésime married couisin Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Isidore Blanchard and Marie LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in May 1826. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Tranquille Octave, called Octave, in July 1827; Marie Coralie in January 1831; and Onésime Elphége baptized at Convent, age 6 months, in August 1834 but, called Elphese, died "at his father[']s home, after a 7 or 8 day illness," age 19, in September 1854--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1827 and 1834. Onésime remarried to cousin Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Landry and Marthe Lanoux, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in January 1839; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marie Coralie, by his first wife, married into the Gravois family. Onésime's remaining son also married.
Older son Tranquille Octave, called Octave, from first wife Joséphine Blanchard, married Colombe Rosina, called Rosina, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Richard and Roseline Richard, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1848. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Joséphine Angelina in November 1848; Joseph Octave in January 1850; Louis Joseph in August 1851; Joseph Clément in January 1854; and Marguerite Coralie in December 1860--five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1848 and 1860. None of Octave's children married by 1870.
Donat's third son Donat, fils married, probably in his 30s, double cousin Yrma or Irma, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Melançon and Constance LeBlanc, at the St. James church in April 1842. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes before moving to the western prairies in the late 1850s or early 1860s. Their children, born there, included Marie Lezima in February 1843; Marie Lutetia in April 1844; Marie Alice in May 1846; Placide Donatien in October 1847; Pierre in February 1849; Joseph Antoine in June 1852; Célestin Samuel in April 1854; Constance Hororine in December 1858; Marie Anne in December 1863; Paul Vincent in July 1864; ... Daughters Marie Lutetia and Marie Alice married into the LeBlanc and Dongieux families in St. Landry Parish by 1870. Two of Donat, fils's sons also married by then, one of them on the prairies, the other on the river.
Oldest son Placide Donatien, called Donatien Placide by the recording priest, married cousin Marie Feliska, daughter of fellow Acadians Félix Melançon and Mélodie Dugas, at the St. James church in April 1869; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. ...
Donat, fils's second son Pierre married Zada or Zeda M., daughter of Jackson L. Proctor and Suzanne Bihm, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1869. Daughter Mathilde was born in St. Landry Parish in September 1870; ...
Donat, père's fourth son Marcellus married Claire Élisa, daughter of fellow Acadians Valentin Theriot and Justine Landry, at the Convent church in October 1841. Their son Ernest Jacques or Jacques Ernest was born in St. James Parish in September 1843. On wonders if Marcellus was the Marcel LeBlanc who died in March 1860. The Convent priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give the age of the deceased. If this was Marcellus à Donat, he would have been age 51 at the time of his death. His son married.
Only son Jacques Ernest married Armentine, daughter of Édouard LeBoeuf and Myrthilde Serre, at the St. James church in March 1870. ...
Donat, père's seventh son Joseph le jeune, the second with the name, married Apollonie or Apolline, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Gautreaux and Henriette Adélaïde Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in July 1841; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of affinity in order to marry. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Justina in July 1842; Joseph G. or Genois, called Genois, in January 1844; Marie Philomène, called Philomène, in September 1847 but, called Philomène Agalisse, may have died at age 6 in September 1853; and Marie Célestine born in February 1850--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1842 and 1850. Joseph, père evidently died on the river in June 1852. The St. James priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died at "age 30 yrs." and "left [his] wife with three or four children." Moreover, the St. James priest who recorded the death of his daughter Philomène a year later noted that the girl died at the "home of her mother, widow Joseph LeBlanc." This Joseph would have been age 31 in June 1852, so this likely was him. Neither of his remaining daughters married by 1870, but his son did.
Only son Joseph Genois, called Genois, married Marie Amélie, daughter of Jean Baptiste Ory and Marcelline Becnel, at the St. James church in February 1867. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Joseph Georges in January 1868; Louis Ovide in April 1869; ...
Donat, père's eighth and youngest son Privat Euphémon married double cousin Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Melançon and Adélaïde LeBlanc, at the St. James church in January 1850. Did they have any children?
Joseph, fils's second son Benjamin, by first wife Marguerite LeBlanc, may have married fellow Acadian Thérèse Babin, place and date unrecorded. Their son Benjamin, fils died at Ascension a day after his birth in May 1803. The family line probably died with him.
Joseph, fils's fourth son Simon, by second wife Pélagie Doiron, married Marie Bathilde, Mathilde, or Basille, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Babin and Anastasie Landry, at Ascension in November 1806. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James Parish before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche by the early 1830s. Their children, born on the river, included Doralise in August 1808; Lusignan in May 1809; Marguerite Felonise or Phelonise, called Phelonise, in March 1810; Sosthène in September 1814; Augustin Veton, also called Augustin Villebaud, Vileon, or Vileor, in July 1816; Joseph Lusignan in July 1820 but, called Joseph Losignon, died at age 19 in February 1840; Terance or Terence born in November 1822; Joseph Osémé in June 1825 but died at age 1 in October 1826; and Marie Léonelle, called Léonelle, born in August 1827--nine children, three daughters and six sons, between 1808 and 1827. Simon died in Assumption Parish in September 1858, a few weeks shy of his 70th birthday. Daughters Phelonise and Léonelle married into the LeBlanc and Comeaux families. Two of Simon's remaining sons also married.
Third son Augustin Vileor, called Vileor, married cousin Joséphine Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadian Benjamin LeBlanc and his Creole wife Félicité Marois, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1833. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Simon Vileor in December 1834; Marie Olfida or Olphina, called Olphina, in December 1837; Lusignan Benjamin in January 1839 but, called Lusinian, died at age 16 in October 1855; twins Césaire Adea and Marie Adio born near Paincourtville in August 1843, but Marie Adio died at age 1 1/2 in November 1844; Mathais, also called Mathais Alcibiade, born in September 1846; and Ives Nicholas in May 1848 but, called Nicholas, died at age 10 months in March 1849. Wife Arthémise died in Assumption Parish in August 1849, age 34. Augustin Vileor remarried to Amélie Simoneaux, place and date unrecorded. Their son Casimir Augustin was born posthumously near Paincourtville in March 1854 but, called Augustin, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in February 1857--eight children, six sons and two daughters, including a set of twins, by two wives, between 1834 and 1854. Vileor died in Assumption Parish in November 1853, age 37. Daughter Olphina, by his first wife, married into the Treille family by 1870. Two of Vileor's remaining sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Simon Vileor, by first wife Arthémise LeBlanc, married, at age 19, Marguerite Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Élie Comeaux and Constance Landry, at the Paincourtville church in April 1854. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marie Arthémise, called Arthémise, in March 1856; and Marie Odalie, called Odalie, in February 1859. Simon Vileor died in Assumption Parish in April 1861. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Simon Vileor died at "age 27 years." He was 26. His widow Élisabeth married into the Aubry family. Neither of her and Simon Vileor's daughters married by 1870.
Vileor's fourth son Mathais Alcibiade, by first wife Arthémise LeBlanc, called M. Alcibiade "of Assumption Parish" by the recording priest, married Marie Michaelle, daughter of Adélard Dicharry and his Acadian wife Carmélite Poirier, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1868. Daughter Carmélite Liddia was born in Ascension Parish in March 1870; ...
Simon's fifth son Terence may have married Élina Simoneaux, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Aristide or Aristide Joseph near Paincourtville in August 1843; Simon Demophon in October 1845; Madeleine or Marie Alice in February 1848; Marie Clémence died, age unrecorded, in June 1850; and Thérése Clémence born in June 1851--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1843 and 1851. Terence died in Assumption Parish in November 1852. The Paincourtville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Terence died at "age 29 years." He was 30. Daughter Marie Alice married a Comeaux first cousin by 1870. One of Terence's sons also married by then and settled in Ascension Parish, perhaps on the upper bayou.
During the War of 1861-65, older son Aristide Joseph, called Aristide J. in Confederate records, likely served in Company H of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He survived the war, returned to his family, and, called Aristide J. "of Assumption Parish" by the recording priest, married Virginie or Virginia, daughter of John F. Ayraud and Virginie Hatkinson, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1866. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Joséphine Rita in March 1867; Louise Laurina in October 1869; ...
Joseph, fils's fifth and youngest son Narcisse Hermogène, called Hermogène, from second wife Pélagie Doiron, married cousin Marie or Marine Josette, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Melançon and Apollonie LeBlanc, at the St. James church in May 1814. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension Parish before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche by the early 1830s. Their children, born there, included Émile, perhaps also called Narcisse, in February 1815; Adelina in c1816; Marie Élise in January 1817 but died at age 9 1/2 in July 1826; Éloi, also called Édouard, born in February 1819; Marie Marcellite in July 1824 but died at age 9 1/2 in October 1833; Marie Honorine born in January 1828 but, called Honorine, died at age 5 1/2 in December 1833; Pélagie born in the 1830s; Marie Armélise, called Armélise, in February 1837; Marie Elmine or Elmire, called Elmire, in March 1840; and Joseph Erones or Ernest, called Ernest, near Paincourtville in December 1843--10 children, three sons and seven daughters, between 1815 and 1843. Hermogène died by January 1867, when he was listed as deceased in two of his children's marriage records. Daughters Adelina, Elmire, Armélise, and Pélagie married into the LeBlanc, Babin, Landry, and Neitzerroff families, one of them, Pélagie, twice, and two of them, Adelina and Pélagie, to LeBlanc cousins. Hermogène's sons also married, the older ones to sisters who also were their cousins.
Oldest son Émile married cousin Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Gravois and Rosalie LeBlanc of Ascension Parish, at the Plattenville church in October 1833. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Célestine in c1835; Marie Émelie in January 1836; Philippe Charles in October 1837 but, called Charles, died at age 1 in September 1838; Marie Florence born in April 1839 but, called Florence, died at age 15 in May 1854; Marie Léonelle, called Léonelle, born in January 1840[sic, probably 1841 or 1842]; Lucien Gesned in November 1842 but, called Gervais, died at age 1 in November 1843; Joseph Adam born in April 1844 but died at age 1 1/2 in June 1845; Bernardin born near Paincourtville in May 1845 but died at age 2 1/2 in December 1847; Marie Marguerite born in December 1846 but, called Marguerite, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in August 1848; Joseph born in July 1848 but died at age 7 in November 1855; Marie Julie Zulma born in May 1850 but, called Marie, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in September 1851; Joseph Émile, perhaps also called Pierce, born in July 1852; Étienne F., probably Fillmore, called Fillmore, in March 1854; Marie Octavie, called Octavie, in June 1855; Marie Clémentine, called Clémentine, in March 1857; and Marie Alice in February 1859 but died the following July--16 children, nine daughters and seven sons, between 1836 and 1859. Daughters Célestine and Léonelle married into the Daigle, Falcon, Aucoin, and Barbier families, each of them twice, by 1870. Neither of Émile's remaining sons married by then.
Hermogène's second son Éloi, also called Édouard, married cousin Céleste Émilie, called Émelite, Mélite, and Marie, another daughter of Joseph Gravois and Rosalie LeBlanc, at the Plattenville church in September 1838. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Méline or Eméline in November 1839; Mélizie, a son, in the late 1830s or early 1840s; Victorine, also called Élodie, in November 1841; Bersyet or Besson in March 1843 but, called Bercegère, died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest did not state his age) in June 1849; Joseph born near Paincourtville in April 1845; twins Amélise or Mélise Vincent and Émile Vincent in April 1847; Michel René in November 1849 but, called Joseph René, died at age 2 1/2 in July 1852; and Joseph Winfield Scott baptized at Donaldsonville, age unrecorded, in December 1852--nine children, three daughters and six sons, between 1839 and 1852. Éloi died in Ascension Parish in April 1853. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Éloi died at "age 40 years." He would have been age 34. Wife Mélite, who did not remarry, died at age 52 in March 1864. Daughters Élodie and Eméline married into the Rougeau and Denoux families by 1870. Two of Éloi's sons also married by then. One of them moved to the western prairies after the War of 1861-65. Another moved to St. James Parish on the river.
Oldest son Mélezie married Marcelline, daughter of fellow Acadians Valsin Melançon and Carmélite Landry, at the Convent church in February 1869. ...
Éloi's second son Joseph married cousin Marie Leticia, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat LeBlanc and Irma Melançon of St. James Parish, at the Opelousas church in August 1867. Their son Paul Rigobert was born in St. Landry Parish in January 1869; ...
Hermogène's third and youngest son Ernest married cousin Aureline, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Rivet and Dulsine LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in January 1867. ...
Joseph, père's second son Gilles followed his parents into imprisonment and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he married Théotiste, daughter of fellow Acadians Bonaventure Godin dit Bellefontaine and Marguerite Bergeron of Rivière St.-Jean, in February 1781. Théotiste and her family also had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765. Her and Gilles's children, born on the river, included Désiré in c1781; and Constance in c1782. Gilles remarried to cousin Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Désiré LeBlanc and Marie-Madeleine Landry and widow of Joseph dit Dios Babin, at Ascension in December 1783. Marine had come to Louisiana with her family from Maryland in 1766. Her and Gilles's children, born on the river, included Nicolas dit Colin in c1784; Rosémond in March 1789; and Marie-Désideria in October 1791, place unrecorded, and baptized at the New Orleans church the following November--five children, three sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1781 and 1791. In the 1790s or early 1800s, they moved from the river to lower Bayou Teche and settled at Fausse Pointe, where wife Marine died in September 1811, in her mid-50s. Her succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, the following November. Gilles, in his late 50s, remarried again--his third marriage--to Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Bourgeois and Marie Bergeron of St. James and widow of Auguste Gravois, at the St. Martinville church in September 1816. Madeleine was a native of Louisiana whose parents had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 on separate expeditions. She gave Gilles no more children. Gilles returned to the river in his old age. He died in St. James Parish in September 1832, age 74. Daughter Constance, by his first wife, married into the Dugas family on the river and the Bernard family on the prairies and settled there. All three of Gilles's sons married, settled at Fausse Pointe, and created vigorous lines.
Oldest son Désiré, by first wife Théotiste Godin, married cousin Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc, fils and his second wife Pélagie Doiron, at St. James on the river in May 1807 and settled at Fausse Pointe near his family by the late 1810s. Their children, born on the river and the lower Teche, included Désiré, fils in June 1808 but may have died in St. James Parish in June 1809; Henriette, also called Henriette Ponponne, born in April 1810; Léon Silvère or Sylvère, called Sylvère, in March 1812 but died "at his father's home at la fausse pointe," age 12, in July 1824; Marie Emélite or Émilie born in St. James Parish December 1813; Léocade in July 1815; Egidins Leyssin, also called Jules Lessin and Lessin, at Fausse Pointe in February 1817; Élisa in January 1819; a son, name unrecorded, died at birth in March 1821; Jean, also called Joseph Ozémé and Ozémé, born in August 1822; Marie Arthémise in September 1824; a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age 8 days in July 1826; Anato or Anatole born in December 1827; and Euphémie in c1831 and baptized at the St. Martinville church, age 1, in September 1832--13 children, six sons and seven daughters, between 1808 and 1831. Wife Marcellite died in St. Martin Parish in October 1844, age 60. Her succession, naming her husband, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse two days after her death. Désiré died in St. Martin Parish in August 1863. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Désiré died "at age 82 yrs." Daughters Henriette Ponponne, Marie Émilie, Léocade, Élisa, and Marie Arthémise married into the Dauterive, LeBlanc, Greig, Broussard, and Berard families. Two of Désiré's remaining sons also married, to sisters.
Third son Jules Lessin married Marie Alzire or Elzire, daughter of fellow Acadians Camille Broussard and Marie Élisa Dugas, at the St. Martinville church in October 1839. Their children, born on the Teche, included Jules Désiré in October 1839; Euphémon in the early 1840s; Henri Camille in April 1843; Amie Lidia, called Lidia, in March 1845; Henri in November 1846; Élisabeth baptized at the St. Martinville church, age unrecorded, in January 1850; Louise born in August 1850; and Alfred Emmard near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in March 1852--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between 1839 and 1852. A succession for wife Alzire, calling her husband Jules Lezin, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in July 1852; one wonders if her death was caused by the rigors of childbirth. Jules Lessin remarried to Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul David and Irène Vincent, at the St. Martinville church in August 1853. She evidently gave him no more children. Daughters Lidia and Élisabeth, by his first wife, married into the Comeaux and Gondran families by 1870. Three of Jule Lessin's sons also married by then and settled near New Iberia.
Oldest son Jules Désiré, by first wife Marie Alzire Broussard, married Philomène Amélie, daughter of fellow Acadian Césaire Martin and his Creole wife Marie Pamela Patin, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in October 1866. Their children, born on the prairies and the lower Teche, included Marie Alzire in Lafayette Parish in August 1867; Angèle near New Iberia in July 1869; Marie Alice in November 1870; ...
Jules Lessin's second son Euphémon, by first wife Marie Alzire Broussard, married cousin Arisa or Lariza, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Dugas and Élise Louvière, at the St. Martinville church in August 1866. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Lessin Jules in September 1867; Marie Ada in October 1870; ...
Jules Lessin's fourth son Henri, by first wife Marie Alzire Broussard, married double cousin Célina, daughter of fellow Acadians Lucien Broussard and Élisa LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in December 1867. Daughter Cécile was born near New Iberia in January 1869; ...
Désiré's fifth son Jean Ozémé married Susanne Constance, called Constance, another daughter of Camille Broussard and Marie Élisa Dugas, at the New Iberia church in January 1843. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Félix in September 1846; Gabriel in July 1849; and Camille Marcellite, probably a son, in May 1858 but, called Marcellite, may have died at age 4 in September 1862. Ozémé remarried to Émilie, daughter of Arvis Patin and his Acadian wife Aspasie Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in September 1859. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie in February 1861; Emma in September 1862; Constance in August 1864; Jean Gilles in April 1866; Luc in November 1869; ... One of Ozémé's sons married by 1870.
Oldest son Félix, by first wife Constance Broussard, married Marie, daughter of François Terence Begnaud and Eugénie Constantin, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in November 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Vermilionville church in December. Their son Cyriague was born in Lafayette Parish in September 1867; ...
Gilles's second son Nicolas dit Colin, by second wife Marine LeBlanc, married Marie Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Breaux and Marie Breaux, at St. James in January 1805. They also settled at St. James and Fausse Pointe. Their children, born on the river and the lower Teche, included Nicolas, fils in November 1805; Edmond, also called Edmond Gilles and Gilles Edmond, in January 1808; and Marie dite Ponponne in March 1809 but died at age 20 "at her mother's home at la fausse pointe" in November 1829 before she could marry--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1805 and 1809. Nicolas dit Colin died in St. James Parish in April 1814, "age about 30 yrs." His succession, naming his widow and their children, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following June, so he must have still owned property there. Evidently his widow took their minor children back to the Teche. Both of her and Colin's sons married and remained on the lower Teche, but not all of the lines endured.
Older son Nicolas, fils married cousin Marie Helina or Élina, daughter of Godefroi Prevost or Provost and his Acadian wife Anne LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in January 1833. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Eléonore in November 1833; a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age 2 months in November 1835; Paulin Constant died near New Iberia, age 8 months, in September 1840; and Nicolas Colin le jeune born in October 1841 but died at age 11 1/2 in March 1853--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1833 and 1841. Nicolas, fils's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in January 1843. He would have been age 37 at the time. Daughter Eléonore married into the Richard family in St. Mary Parish, so the blood of this family line may have endured.
Colin's younger son Edmond Gilles married first cousin Marie Léocade, called Léocade, daughter of fellow Acadians Désiré LeBlanc and Marcellite LeBlanc, his uncle and aunt, at the St. Martinville church in February 1834. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marcellite, also called Henriette Marcellite, in August 1836; Edmond, also called Louis Edmond, in May 1838; Marie Constance, called Constance, in January 1841; Marguerite in March 1844 but died the following January; Gervais born in June 1845; Oscar in July 1847 but died at age 1 in August 1848; Philomène born in late 1848 but died at age 10 months in August 1849; Arsène, perhaps a son, died at age 5 weeks in July 1850; Joseph Gabriel born in June 1852; Nicolas Omer in March 1854; Aspasie and Aurelia in July 1857--11 children, five daughters and six sons, between 1836 and 1857. Daughters Henriette Marcellite and Constance married into the Broussard family by 1870. Edmond Gilles's oldest son, who never married, died in the War of 1861-65. None of Edmond Gilles's remaing sons married by 1870.
Oldest son Louis Edmond was a 23-year-old bachelor, working as a clerk in St. Martinville, when war broke out in the spring of 1861. Edmond, as he was called in Confederate records, served as a lieutenant in Company C of the 8th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, but his service as one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers was short-lived. At age 24 and still unmarried, Edmond was killed in action at the Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia, in July 1862. His comrades buried him on the battlefield. The caretaker of a nearby Federal cemetery found his remains in the late 1880s, they were returned to St. Martinville, and, after elaborate ceremonies that involved the entire town, Edmond was re-interred in the family's huge vault in St. Michael's Cemetery on the east side of Bayou Teche.
Gilles's third and youngest son Rosémond, by second wife Marine LeBlanc, married Marie Désirée, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Breaux and Julie Prince, at the St. James church in June 1809. They settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their son, name unrecorded, died there at birth in September 1810. Wife Marie Désirée evidently died from the rigors of childbirth. Her succession, filed in the St. Martin Parish courthouse, St. Martinville, is dated October 1810. Rosémond remarried to Françoise or Marie Marcellite or Émelite, called Marcellite and Mélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Bourgeois and Marie Bergeron, sister of his stepmother, at the St. James church in March 1811. They returned to Fausse Pointe. Their children, born there, included Marie Émilie or Amélie, called Amélie, in March 1812; Édouard in December 1813; Arthémise Euphémie or Euphémie Arthémise in January 1816; Rosémond, fils, also called Lesimond, in December 1817; Jules in December 1819; Marie Azéma, called Azéma, in February 1822; and Joséphine Elmire in February 1824 but died at age 1 in February 1825--eight children, four sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1810 and 1824. Rosémond died "at his home at la fausse pointe" in February 1825. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Rosémond was "age about 30 yrs." when he died. He was closer to 36. Hs succession, naming his second wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse later that month. Daughters Amélie, Euphémie Arthémise, and Azéma, by his second wife, married into the Durand, Montagne, and Boutté families. Three of Rosémond's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Édouard, by second wife Marcellite Bourgeois, married Hortiste, daughter of Ursin Patin and his Acadian wife Marie Aspasie Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in May 1838. Édouard's succession, not mentioning his wife but listing his heirs, all of whom were his siblings--Marie Amélie and her husband, Azéma, Arthémise Euphémie and her husband, Rosémond, and Jules--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September 1838. He would have been age 25 that year. His family line died with him.
Rosémond's third son Rosémond, fils, by second wife Marcellite Bourgeois, married Virginie, daughter of Louis Langlinais and his Acadian wife Aspasie Boudreaux, at the Vermilionville church in February 1837. They settled at Côte Gelée near today's Youngsville, where Rosémond, fils worked as a merchant. His and Virginie's children, born there, included a child, name unrecorded, died at age 5 weeks in December 1837; a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age 7 days in December 1839; Aline born in August 1840 but, called simply "girl," died at age 9 in Lafayette Parish in April 1849; a daughter, name unrecorded, died 8 days after her birth at Côte Gelée in early August 1842; Luca Adolf or Adolphe, called Adolphe, born in July 1843; Hélène in September 1844; Éliza, also called Eliska, in February 1847; Omer or Homer in February 1849; Ubalde, also called Pierre or Peter Ubalde and Théobold, in May 1852; Zoé in c1853; Rosa in June 1855; Aspasie in July 1857; Babilas in January 1861; ... Daughters Hélène, Eliska, and Zoé married into the Moss, Mouton, and Langlinais families by 1870. Two of Rosémond, fils's sons also married by then and settled in Lafayette Parish.
Oldest son Adolphe married Olivia, daughter of Olivier Blanchet and Célima Roy, at the Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in September 1867. Daughter Emérite Marthe was born near Youngsville in July 1868; ...
Rosémond, fils' third son Pierre Ubalde married, at age 16, Fedora, daughter of fellow Acadians Octave Landry and Angelina Girouard, at the Youngsville church in December 1868. Their son Cyprien Euger was born near Youngsville in September 1869; ...
Rosémond, père's fourth and youngest Jules, by second wife Marcellite Bourgeois, married Marguerite Émilie, called Émilie and perhaps also Pamela, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Don Louis Boudreaux and Céline Landry, at the Vermilionville church in May 1843. They settled near Breaux Bridge and in Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Edmond in February 1844; Jules, fils in January 1846; Julie in February 1848; Michel Numa in December 1849; Marie Nathalie in October 1851; Joseph Derma in February 1854; Joseph Elfèche in July 1858 but, called Elfèche, died the following October; Paul born near Youngsville in December 1859; Louis in February 1864; and Joseph Carlos in St. Martin Parish in January 1867--10 children, eight sons and two daughters, between 1844 and 1867. Wife Pamela, as she was called by the recording priest at St. Martinville, evidently died near there in January 1869, age 41. Neither of her and Jules's daughters married by 1870, but one of their sons did.
Second son Jules, fils married Hélène, daughter of Onésime Allemand and Elmire Champagne, at the St. Martinville church in October 1865. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Elmire in August 1866; Édouard in February 1869; Félicie Rose in December 1870; ...
Étienne (1722-late 1760s) à Antoine à Daniel LeBlanc
Étienne, oldest son of René LeBlanc le jeune and Anne Thériot and older brother of Simon and Petit René of Attakapas, born at Minas in November 1722, married Élisabeth, daughter of Claude Boudrot and Catherine Hébert, at Grand-Pré in October 1742. Between 1743 and 1754, at Minas, Élisabeth gave Étienne six children: Marie born in c1743; Simon in c1744; Anne in c1746; Marguerite in c1749; Étienne, fils in c1751; and Mathurin in c1754. Like his parents, Étienne and his family escaped the roundup at Minas in the fall of 1755 and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Élisabeth gave him a daughter, Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, born in c1758 perhaps in the refugee camp at Miramichi. After surrendering to, or being captured by, British forces in the area, they were held in the prison compound at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Fort Beauséjour, Chignecto, for the rest of the war. Élisabeth gave Étienne another child in captivity, Joseph in July 1762, born probably at Fort Cumberland, where the family appeared on a repatriation list with seven children, four sons and three daughters, in August 1763. In 1764-65, Étienne, Élisabeth, and six of their children, four sons and two daughters, followed two of his younger brothers and two of his younger sisters to Louisiana. Older daughters Marie and Anne, who would have been ages 22 and 19 in 1765, were not with them. One wonders if they had died after being counted with the family at Fort Cumberland in 1763 or chose to remain in greater Acadia, perhaps with men they intended to marry. Another daughter, Marie-Marthe-Élisabeth, called Marthe, was born in April 1765 either aboard ship or at Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, on the family's voyage to New Orleans--nine children, five daughters and four sons, between 1743 and 1765, in greater Acadia and on the way to Louisiana. From New Orleans, Étienne and his family did not follow his siblings and the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche, but settled, instead, at Cabahannocer on the river, perhaps because they reached New Orleans later in the year and eschewed a voyage through the Atchafalaya Basin. Evidence of their arrival can be found in the baptismal record of youngest son Joseph, dated 8 December 1765, at St.-Louis church in New Orleans. Infant daughter Marie-Marthe-Élisabeth, born in mid-April, was baptized there on the same day. Étienne and Élisabeth had no more children in the colony. He died probably at Cabahannocer by September 1769, in his late 40s, when wife Élisabeth was listed in a census there as a widow. She resettled at nearby Ascension in the 1770s. Daughters Marguerite, Madeleine, and Marie-Marthe married into the LeBlanc, Landry, Robichaux, Lamothe, and Lecompte families on the river and upper Bayou Lafourche. Three of Étienne's sons also married, settled on the river and the upper Lafourche, and created vigorous lines. Another son survived childhood but did not marry.
Oldest son Simon le jeune followed his family into exile and imprisonment and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, and his widowed mother to Ascension upriver from Cabahannocer, where he married cousin Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Isabelle Gaudet, in September 1772. Spanish officials counted the couple on the right, or west, bank of the river at Ascension in April 1777. They likely lived near the boundary between the Cabahannocer and Ascension districts. Their children, born there, included Joseph le jeune in c1773, Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, in October 1775; Paul dit Hippolyte baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1778; Marguerite born in January 1780 but evidently died the following September; Simon dit Simonette born in June 1781; Louis in September 1783 but died at age 13 in August 1795; Benjamin baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1786; Céleste baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1788; Étienne le jeune born in November 1789; Eléonore-Carmélite, called Carmélite, in January 1792 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1794; Jean-Baptiste born in January 1794 but died at age 23 in Ascension Parish in October 1817; and Hippolyte born in August 1796--a dozen children, eight sons and four daughters, between 1773 and 1796. Simon le jeune died in Ascension Parish in July 1810. The Donaldson priest who recorded the burial said that Simon, "nat. Acadia, spouse [of] Isabelle LeBlanc," died at "age 66." Daughter Madeleine married into the Carmouche family. Five of Simon le jeune's remaining sons also married. Two of them and many of his grandsons settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Another son remained on the river.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune married cousin Apolline, also called Apollonia, Polonia, and Paulonne, daughter of fellow Acadians François Dugas and Isabelle Gaudet, at Ascension in February 1797. Their children, born there, included Joseph Narcisse, called Narcisse, in the late 1790s; Hippolyte-Eugène, called Eugène, in June 1800; François-Masil or -Alexis, in March 1802 but died the following August; Apolline-Hortense, called Hortense, born in June 1803 but died at age 2 in September 1805; twins Madeleine Aspasie and Pierre Olésime or Onésime, called Onésime, born in May 1805; Narcisse Leufroi, called Leufroi, in September 1807; and a "newborn" daughter, name unrecorded, died on 7 June 1809. Wife Apolline died at Ascension on 29 June 1809, age 35, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Joseph le jeune remarried to Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Babin and Anastasie Landry and widow of Noël Michel Dugas, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in June 1810. She evidently gave him no more children. Joseph, at age 39, remarried again--his third marriage--to first cousin Julie Clothilde, called Clothilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Dugas and Sophie Foret, at the Donaldson church in May 1812; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on the river and the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included twins Célestine and Treville in April 1817, but Célestine died at age 12 1/2 in September 1829; Élise Philonise born in April 1819; Marie Clarisse, called Clarisse, in November 1821; Arthémise in March 1824 but died the following month; and Valéry, also called Joseph Valéry, born in February 1826--14 children, seven sons and seven daughters, including two sets of twins, by two wives, between the late 1790s and 1826. Joseph le jeune, called Joseph dit Simon by the recording priest, died in Assumption Parish in March 1829, age 56. Daughters Madeleine Aspasie, Élise, and Clarisse, by his first and third wives, married into the Simoneaux, Marroy, and Dugas families. Five of Joseph le jeune's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph Narcisse, called Narcisse, from first wife Apolline Dugas, married Joséphine, daughter of Alphonse Senette and Claire Barbet, at the Donaldson church in September 1819. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph le jeune in July 1820; a son, name unrecorded, died three days after his birth in September 1821; Joséphine born in October 1822; Claire Malvina, called Malvina, in August 1824; Narcisse, fils in June 1826; Marie Anaïs, called Anaïs, in December 1828; Madeleine Elmire, called Elmire, in June 1829[sic]; Marie Felonise in December 1831; Honoré died at age 6 weeks in September 1833; and Honoré Joseph died eight days after his birth in October 1834. Narcisse, père remarried to cousin Séraphine, also called Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Daigle and Madeleine LeBlanc, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1835. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Leufroy or Leufroi, called Leufroi, in November 1835 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1837; Marcellin, also called Marcel and Marcellus, born in January 1838; Claire Eulalie in January 1840; Victorine in March 1842; Marie Élisa in October 1844 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1846; and Marie Madeleine Aimée born in August 1847 but, called Aimée, died at age 1 1/2 in October 1848--16 children, seven sons and nine daughters, by two wives, between 1820 and 1847. Daughters Joséphine, Malvina, Anaïs, and Elmire married into the Boudreaux, LeBlanc, and Dalferes families, one of them to a first cousin, two of them to Dalferes brothers, by 1870. Only two of Narcisse's remaining sons married. His oldest son left the Lafourche and settled near Baton Rouge, but the line did not endure. His youngest son moved down bayou to lower Lafourche Parish.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune, by first wife Joséphine Senette, married Sarah Élizabeth, daughter of Anthony Monget and his Acadian wife Rosalie Longuépée, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in September 1843. They remained in the Baton Rouge area. Their children, born there, included Marie Joséphine in June 1845; and Abner Joseph in June 1848 but, called Joseph, may have died at his widowed mother's house, age 17 or 18 months (the recording priest said 20 months), in November 1849. Was Joseph le jeune the Joseph LeBlanc who died near Baton Rouge in May 1849? The Baton Rouge priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died at "age 30 years." Joseph le jeune would have been two months shy of age 29. His daughter did not marry by 1870.
Narcisse's seventh and youngest son Marcellin, by second wife Séraphine Daigle, married Marcelline, daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Breaux and Marguerite Breaux, at the Lockport church, Lafourche Parish, in August 1865. Their children, born near Lockport, included Joseph Holdon in March 1867; Eusèbe Abel in August 1869 but, called Eusèbe Abe, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 11 months) in November 1870; Marie Sidonisse born in March 1870; ...
Joseph le jeune's second son Hippolyte Eugène, called Eugène, from first wife Apolline Dugas, married Céleste Adeline, called Adeline or Aline, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Boudreaux and Céleste Babin, at the Donaldson church in February 1822. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Eugène Adolphe, called Adolphe, in April 1823; Nicolas Villeor in December 1825; Marie Léonelle, called Léonelle, in December 1828; Joseph Casimere or Casimir, called Casimir, in April 1832 but died at age 8 1/2 in September 1840; Adeline Marie born in 1833 but died at age 7 months in January 1834; Élesie Malvina born in June 1835; Claire Clémentine, called Clémentine, in July 1838; and another Joseph Casimire in August 1840 but died at age 11 months in July 1841--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1823 and 1840. Daughters Léonelle and Clémentine married into the Placencia and Dalferes families by 1870. One of Eugène's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Eugène Adolphe, called Adolphe, married, at age 20, first cousin Claire Malvina, called Malvina and Mulsina, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Narcisse LeBlanc and his Creole wife Joséphine Senette, his uncle and aunt, at the Plattenville church in January 1844. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes and also down bayou. Their children, born there, included Joseph Israël in October 1843; Clara Eliska, called Eliska, in November 1846; Marie Amanda, called Amanda, in July 1849; Victorio Édouard in December 1851; Zulma near Lockport in December 1855; Marie Corine in Assumption Parish in March 1859; Charles Adolphe near Lockport in April 1861; Joséphine Marguerite Laura in October 1866; ... Daughters Eliska and Amanda married into the Barker and LeBlanc families by 1870. One of Adolphe's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Joseph Israël married Célina, daughter of Ramon Barrios, an Isleño Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Séraphine Arceneaux, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in March 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Lockport church in April. Their children, born near Lockport, included Joseph Désiré in February 1867 but died the following May; Marie Joséphine born in March 1868; Marie Elmire in March 1870; ...
Joseph le jeune's fourth son Pierre Onésime, called Onésime, a twin, from first wife Apolline Dugas, married cousin Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Lubin LeBlanc and Mélanie Aucoin, at the Plattenville church in October 1833. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Aremise, also called Polonie, in February 1835 but died the following December; Marie Amélie born in June 1836 but, called Amélie, died at age 19 in October 1855; Joséphine, perhaps theirs, born in April 1837; Joseph Mizaël or Misaël, called Misaël, in March 1838; Marie Elisca in January 1840 but died at age 4 1/2 in August 1844; Irma born in November 1841 but died at age 4 in October 1845; Joseph Gesnet or Gesner born in September 1843 but, called Gesner, died at age 1 in September 1844; Marie Elmire, called Elmire, born in August 1845; Marie Élisa or Éliza, called Éliza, in December 1847; a son, name unrecorded, died at age 1 month in March 1850; and Marie Emmérence born in November 1851--11 children, eight daughters and three sons, between 1835 and 1851. Daughters Éliza and Elmire married into the Rodriguez and Daigle families by 1870. Onésime's remaining son did not marry by then and may not have survived an accidental wounding during the War of 1861-65.
Oldest son Joseph Misaël may have been the Misaël LeBlanc who, in late April 1862, at age 24, enlisted in Company H of the 29th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. According to his Confederate record, Misaël was accidentally wounded "before leaving Assumption Parish and remained home." He never reported for duty. If this was Joseph Mizaël à Onesime, one wonders if his wound prevented him from starting a family of his own. Unlike two of his sisters, he did not marry by 1870.
Joseph le jeune's fifth son Narcisse Leufroi, called Leufroi, from first wife Apolline Dugas, married cousin Phelonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon LeBlanc and Marie Bathilde Babin, at the Plattenville church in February 1830. Joseph, perhaps their son, was born in c1838 but died in Assumption Parish at age 29 in November 1867. Wife Phelonise died in Assumption Parish in October 1853, age 41. One wonders if she was a victim of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana during the summer and fall of that year. Leufroi, at age 46, remarried to cousin Coralie, daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry LeBlanc and Hortense Landry, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1854. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Anaïse in June 1855; Marie Élise in February 1857; Julie Élizabeth in July 1858; Marie Cécile Victoire in December 1860; Amélie Filonise in September 1862 but, called Amélie Felonise, died at age 1 in September 1863; Jacques Édouard born in July 1864; Marie Eulalie Alphonzine in February 1867; Marie Léonelle in August 1869; ... None of Leufroi's children married by 1870.
Joseph le jeune's seventh and youngest son Joseph Valéry, called Valéry, by third wife Clothilde Dugas, married cousin Clémentine or Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Melançon and Séraphine Daigle, at the Plattenville church in February 1845; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They lived in Ascension Parish perhaps on the upper Lafourche near the boundary with Assumption Parish. Their children, born there, included Marie Noémi, also called Noémie M., in March 1847; Madeleine Hirma in December 1848; Julie Camilla in November 1850; Emma in September 1852; Justine Serenie in September 1854; Claire Séraphine in November 1856; a son, perhaps theirs, in c1861 but, name unrecorded, died in Assumption Parish at age 2 in November 1863; Marie Clémence born in March 1865; Joseph Clairbone, probably Claiborne, in July 1868; François Sidney in October 1870; ... Daughter Noémie M. married a Daigle cousin by 1870. Valéry's remaining sons were too young to marry by then.
Simon le jeune's second son Paul dit Hippolyte married Clarisse, daughter of Louis Barbe or Barbet and Charlotte Falgout of St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands and widow of Honoré Senette, at Ascension in August 1805. Their children, born there, included Hippolyte Alexis or Alexis Hippolyte, called Alexis, in September 1807; Anastasie Mathilde in July 1809; Louis Léandre, called Léandre, in November 1811; and Eulalie, perhaps also called Désirée, in February 1816--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1807 and 1816. Hippolyte died in Ascension Parish in March 1834, age 57. Daughter Desirée married into the Senette family and settled on lower Bayou Teche west of the Atchafalaya Basin. Both of Hippolyte's sons also married and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, one of them not until after the War of 1861-65.
Older son Alexis married cousin Madeleine Perosine, called Perosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc le jeune and Madeleine Duhon, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in January 1827; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Madeleine Arselie in December 1827; Clara Aglaé in October 1831 but, called Aglaé, may have died at age 25 (the recording priest said 22) in November 1856; Alexis Hippolyte, fils, called Hippolyte, born in September 1833; Marie Léocade or Eléocade in December 1835; and Reine Élise dite Lise born in January 1838--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1827 and 1838. Daughters Marie Eléocade and Lise married into the LeBlanc and Melançon families in St. James Parish. Alexis's son also married there.
Only son Hippolyte married Augustine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Marie Richard le jeune and Eliza Breaux, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in 1859. Did they have any children?
Hippolyte's younger son Léandre, at age 24, married cousin Euphrosine, Euphrosie, or Euphrasie, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Melançon and Constance LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1836; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of relationship in order to marry. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche perhaps after the War of 1861-65. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Maria Clara, called Clara, in March 1837; Marie Louisa, called Louisa, in April 1840; Désirée died at age 4 1/2 months in May 1842; Philomène born in August 1843 but died in September; Jacques Valérien born in August 1846; and Joseph Désiré near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in January 1868[sic, probably 1848]--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1837 and 1848. Léandre evidently died by August 1850, when his wife, called Euphrasie LeBlanc, and two of his daughters, Clara and Louisa, appear in the federal census for the eastern district of St. James Parish with her Melançon relatives but not with Léandre and their two youngest sons. If so, Léandre would have been in his late 30s at the time of his passing. Daughter Louisa married into the Senette family at Donaldsonville by 1870. Neither of Léandre's remaining sons married by then, if they married at all.
Simon le jeune's third son Simon, fils dit Simonette married Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians François Landry and Rose Dugas, at Ascension in March 1802. Their children, born there, included Simon-Maximilien or -Maxille, called Maxille, in February 1803; Azélie Euphrosine in March 1805; Joseph Hermogène in July 1807; Hippolyte Rosémond, called Rosémond, in December 1809; Marie Fare dite Farelitte in December 1811; and Élise in April 1818--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1803 and 1818. Simonet, as he was called, died in Assumption Parish in September 1840, age 59. Daughter Farelitte married a Dugas cousin on upper Bayou Lafourche. All three of Simonette's sons also married and settled on the upper Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Simon Maxille, called Maxile, married cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Armand Landry and Marguerite Le Borgne de Belisle, at the Plattenville church in January 1822. They remained on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie Aureline, called Aureline, in October 1822; Amélie or Ameleria Marguerite in April 1824; Rosémond Uneirile or Neuville, called Neuville, in January 1826; Eugène Émile, called Émile, in April 1828; Adeline Célestine, called Célestine, in May 1830; Marguerite Joséphine baptized at the Plattenville church, age unrecorded, in October 1833 but died at age 13 months in September 1834; Marie Émilie born in October 1835 but died at age 1 in November 1836; Jule or Jules born in early 1838 but died at age 18 months in September 1839; Marie Amélie, the second with the name, died, age unrecorded, in September 1839 18 days after her brother Jule died (one wonders if they were twins); Joseph Léon born in April 1840; Marie Rosa, called Rosa, in August 1841; Joseph in December 1844; and Marie Zulmée Eugénie in June 1849--13 children, eight daughters and five sons, between 1822 and 1849. Daughters Aureline, Célestine, Ameleria, Rosa, and Marie Zulmée Eugénie married into the Comeaux, Lagreze, Bloomfild, probably Bloomfield, Doucet, and Lanoix families, one of them, Célestine, twice, and two of them, Célestine and Ameleria, to Foreign-French brothers, by 1870. Two of Maxille's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Neuville married Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Blanchard and Clairisse Pauline Guillot, at the Paincourtville church in January 1859. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Joseph Camille in February 1860; Marie Angela in October 1822; Erneste Gervais in September 1863; Marguerite Herminy baptized at the Paincourtville church, age unrecorded, in July 1865; Félix Robert born in July 1867; Eugénie Léa in November 1869; ...
Maxille's second son Émile married Eveline, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Dugas and Clémentine Hébert, at the Paincourtville church in January 1861. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Charles Alphonse in November 1866; Alphonsine Carmélite in July 1868; Jean Baptiste Alcée in February 1870; ...
Simonette's second son Joseph Hermogène, married, at age 50, Marie Juliènne, called Juliènne, daughter of fellow Acadian Élisa Breaux at the Paincourtville church, Lafourche Parish, in May 1858. One wonders who Marie Juliènne's father may have been. Was it Jean Marie Richard? If so, Marie Juliènne was the sister of Joseph Hermogène's younger brother Rosémond's second wife Rosalie. Joseph Hermogène and Marie Juliènne remained on Bayou Lafourche. Daughter Marie Françoise Élia was born near Paincourtville in July 1862; ...
Simonette's third and youngest son Rosémond married cousin Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Benjamin Landry and Denise Duhon, at the Plattenville church in June 1837. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Félix, also called Simon Félix and Félix, in June 1838; and Joseph Désiré in June 1840 but died the following September; Rosémond, fils, perhaps theirs, born in c1842 or 1843 and died at age 6 1/2 in June 1849. Rosémond, at age 53, remarried to Rosalie, also called Élisa, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Marie Richard and Élisa Breaux, at the Paincourtville church in April 1863. Their son Joseph Albert was born posthumously near Paincourtville in March 1866--three children, all sons, by two wives, between 1838 and 1866. Rosémond died in Assumption Parish in December 1865. The Paincourtville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Rosémond died at "age 56 years," so this was him. Was his death war-related? One of his sons married by 1870.
Oldest son Simon Félix, called Félix, from first wife Mélanie Landry, married double cousin Marie Emma, called Emma, daughter of fellow Acadians Alcide Landry and Colette Landry, at the Paincourtville church in September 1859. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Louis Philippe in July 1860; Alphonse in August 1862; Mélanie Amélie in April 1866; Samuel in August 1868; ...
Simon le jeune's fifth son Benjamin married Félicité, daughter of Joachim Marois and his Acadian wife Eulalie Foret, at Ascension in September 1806. Their children, born there, included Joseph Rosémond, called Rosémond, in January 1810 but died at age 7 1/2 in October 1817; Étienne Marcellin, called Marcellin, born in September 1811; Félicité Adolphine in August 1813; and Joséphine Arthémise, called Arthémise, in July 1815--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1810 and 1815. Benjamin died in Ascension Parish in October 1817, age 31. Daughter Arthémise married a LeBlanc cousin on Bayou Lafourche. Benjamin's remaining son also married on the Lafourche and created a robust line.
Younger son Étienne Marcellin, called Marcellin, married Marguerite Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Dugas and Marguerite Duhon of St. James Parish, at the Plattenville church in February 1830. They remained on the upper Lafourche, where Marcellin became a sugar planter. His and Arthémise's children, born there, included Marcelus in c1829; Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, in December 1830; Marguerite Elmire, called Elmire, in May 1832; Arthémise in c1834; Joseph died at age 2 months in March 1836; Joseph Benjamin born in February 1837; Joseph Jule or Jules, called Jules, in December 1838; Désirée, probably Désiré, Joseph, also called Désiré B. and Désiré R., in March 1841, who served as an overseer on his father's plantation; Joseph Jean Octave born in November 1842 but, called Joseph Oscar, died at age 1 1/2 in February 1844; Marie born in c1843; Marguerite Émilie in October 1844 but, called Marie Émelie, died at age 3 in October 1847; triplets Félicie Evella, Marie Hélène, and Marie Virginie born in August 1846, but Marie Hélène died four days after her birth, Marie Virginie, called Virginie, died four days later, and Félicie, called Félicie Evena, died 18 days after her birth; Joseph Eftroy, also called Leufroi B., born in June 1848; Joseph Marcellus or Marcel, called Marcel, in December 1849; Palmire in c1851; Marie, called Arcelie, in January 1852; and Joseph Gustave, called Gustave, in January 1855--19 children, nine sons and 10 daughters, including a set of triplets, between 1829 and 1855. Daughters Joséphine, Elmire, Arthémise, and Arcelie married into the Landry, Daigle, and LeBlanc families by 1870. Five of Marcellin's sons also married by then.
Second son Joseph Benjamin likely married Aurore or Aurora, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babin and Felonise Babin, at the Paincourtville church in January 1855. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Felonise Élizabeth in December 1857; Nicolas Nicolse in December 1859; Joseph Léonce in February 1862; Marie Elmire near Paincourtville in June 1864 but, called Elmire, died at age 2 in Assumption Parish in August 1866; Marie Berte born in April 1867; a son, name unrecorded, died "right after birth" in August 1870; ...
Marcellin's third son Jules married first cousin Coralie, daughter of fellow Acadians Murville Landry and Marie Fidelise Dugas, his uncle and aunt, at the Paincourtville church in January 1858; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included a son, name unrecorded, in 1858 but died near Plattenville, age 1, in September 1859; Marie Fidèle born near Paincourtville in November 1858; Joseph Alphred in March 1861; Marie Julie in July 1865; ...
Marcellin's fourth son Désiré Joseph married Marie Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Trasimond Trahan and Clémentine Savoy, at the Paincourtville church in January 1860. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marguerite Arthémise in November 1860 but, called Artémise, died near Brusle St. Martin, age 4, in October 1864; Marie Amélie Cordelia born in September 1862; Désiré Clément in November 1867; ...
Marcellin's sixth son Joseph Leufroi or Eftroy married cousin Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Gédéon Guidry and Armélise Landry, at the Paincourtville church in February 1867; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their son Joseph Ferdinand was born near Paincourtville in October 1868; ...
Marcellin's seventh son Marcel married Elvania, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Landry and Asélima Daigle, at the Paincourtville church in August 1870. ...
Simon le jeune's sixth son Étienne le jeune married cousin Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcel LeBlanc and Madeleine Bourgeois, at the St. James church in February 1813. They lived in Ascension Parish before moving on to upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Étienne Baptiste, also called Étienne Jean Baptiste, in December 1815 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1817; Octave born in August 1817; Mélanie Aureli or Oretie in July 1819 but died at age 4 in August 1823; Alexandre, probably Alexandrine, born in February 1823; Jeanne Euphémie in February 1827; and Félix Asigna in November 1829. Wife Euphrosine died in Assumption Parish in November 1833, age 40. Étienne le jeune, at age 44, remarried to cousin Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Rose Landry, at the Plattenville church in July 1834. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Ozémé in May 1835 but, called Osémé, died at age 14 (the recording priest said 13) in May 1849; Joséphine, perhaps theirs, born in April 1837 but, called Émelie, died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in February 1842; and Joseph Ignace, also called Ignace E., born in February 1841--nine children, five sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1815 and 1841. Étienne le jeune died in Assumption Parish in November 1852, age 63. His widow Eulalie died in Assumption Parish in February 1858, "age ca. 58 years." Daughter Alexandrine, by his first wife, married into the Theriot family by 1870. Three of Étienne le jeune's remaining sons also married by then. One of them moved to Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65.
Second son Octave, by first wife Euphrosine LeBlanc, married cousin Marie Doralise, called Doralise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Richard and Hortense LeBlanc of Terrebonne Parish, at the Plattenville church in June 1841. They settled near Pierre Part north of Lake Verret before moving to lower Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65. Their children, born there, included Élina or Helina in c1844; Marie Eugénie in November 1845; Marie Hortense, called Hortense, in February 1848; Joseph Ozémé, called Ozémé, in February 1850; Marie Isora or Isaura, called Isaura, in December 1851; Marguerite Aimay or Aurée, called Aurée, in February 1854; Étienne in February 1856; Marie Euphrasie, called Euphrasie, in March 1858; Paul in March 1860; Collette Octavie near Pierre Part in March 1862; Alexandrine Mathilde in December 1863; Jean Baptiste Désiré in St. Martin Parish in January 1867; ... Daughter Élina married into the Weont or Owen family at Pierre Part and the Borel family on the lower Teche by 1870. None of Octave's sons married by then.
Étienne's third son Félix Asigna, by first wife Euphrosine LeBlanc, married cousin Marguerite Aimée, called Aimée, daughter of Anselme Mollère and his Acadian wife Aséma LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in May 1856. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Jean Camille in February 1857; Pierre Marcel in November 1858; Marguerite Azéma in October 1861; Joseph Nicols in December 1863; ...
Étienne's fifth and youngest son Joseph Ignace, also called Ignace E., from second wife Eulalie LeBlanc, married Ophelia, daughter of Honoré Simoneaux and Arseli Simoneaux, at the Paincourtville church in October 1863. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Edmond Honoré in November 1866; Honora Marie in September 1868; a son, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died "at birth" in October 1869; ...
Étienne's second son Étienne, fils followed his parents into exile and imprisonment and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, and his widowed mother to Ascension, where Spanish officials counted him with her and his younger siblings on the right, or west, bank of the river in August 1770 and April 1777. Étienne, fils married cousin Osite, also called Dorothée, daughter of fellow Acadians Désiré LeBlanc and Marie-Madeleine Landry, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in January 1778. They lived at New Orleans in the early 1790s before returning to the Acadian Coast. Their children, born on the river, included Anne-Catherine, called Catherine, at Ascension in September 1778 but died in Assumption Parish on the upper Lafourche, age 52 (the recording priest said "age ca. 50 yrs."), in June 1831; Édouard III born in June 1780; Marie-Céleste, perhaps also called Manette, in November 1782; Céleste, also called Anne-Céleste, in October 1786; Marcelline in November 1790; André-Étienne at New Orleans in August 1791; Étienne-Privat at Cabahannocer in July 1793 but died at age 6 in July 1799; and Gustave born in October 1795 but died at age 3 in October 1798--eight children, four daughters and four sons, between 1778 and 1795. Étienne, fils died at Cabahannocer in October 1796, age 45. Daughters Manette and Céleste married into the St. Martin and LeBlanc families. Only one of Étienne, fils's sons married. He settled on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Second son André Étienne married double cousin Marguerite Luce, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre dit La Vielliarde Landry and his second wife Marie Landry and widow of Joachim Zeringue, at the Plattenville church in February 1812. They remained on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included twins Marie Azéma and Osita or Ozite Pamela in July 1813; Hélène Marguerite in August 1816; Joseph Désiré, called Désiré, in May 1818; Clémentine Marguerite or Marguerite Clémentine in May 1820; Marie Noimie in April 1822 but died later in the year; Marie Malvina born in July 1823 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1824; another Marie Malvina born in March 1826; and André Aristide, called Aristide, in May 1827--nine children, seven daughters and two sons, between 1813 and 1827. André, at age 64, remarried to Marie Esther, called Esther, 58-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Bernard and Eulalie Blanchard of St. James Parish and widow of Jean Baptiste Bernard of Lafourche Parish, at the Paincourtville church in June 1856. His two sons, both married, were among the witnesses. Esther's first husband had died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1853. She and André lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche parishes. She evidently gave him no more children. He died near Plattenville in November 1857. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that André died at "age 64 years." He was 66. His succession inventory, naming his second wife and his son Désiré by his first wife, was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse, Lafourche Parish, that November. Daughters Ozite Pamela, Hélène, Marie Azéma, Marguerite Clémentine, and Marie Malvina, by his first wife, married into the Nicolas, Hébert, Valdes, Gilet, Mollère, and Bazillac families, including two Mollère brothers, and perhaps into the Blanchard family as well. André's two sons also married, but only one of them created a family line that endured.
Older son Joseph Désiré, called Désiré, from first wife Marguerite Luce Landry, may have married fellow Acadian Égladie Comeaux, place and date unrecorded, but it probably was in Assumption Parish in the mid-or late 1840s. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Claire Octavie, also called Claire Marie, in March 1848; Joseph Prosper in November 1849; Marguerite Élodie in February 1852 but, called Élodie, died at age 8 1/2 (the recording priest said 9) in October 1860; and Philippe André born in August 1858--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1848 and 1858. Daughter Claire Marie married into the Hébert family by 1870. Neither of Désiré's sons married by then.
André Étienne's younger son André Aristide, called Aristide, from first wife Marguerite Luce Landry, married Hélène, called Élena, daughter of fellow Acadian Paul Savoy and his Creole wife Félicie Marois, at the Paincourtville church in January 1849. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marie Félicie in November 1849; and Marguerite in February 1851 but died there the following October. Aristide died in Assumption Parish in February 1867. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Aristide died at "age 40 years." André Aristide would have been a few months shy of that age, so it probably was him. His remaining daughter did not marry by 1870. He evidently fathered no sons, so, except perhaps for its blood, his family line died with him.
Étienne, père's third son Mathurin followed his family into imprisonment and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, and his widowed mother to Ascension, where Spanish officials counted him with her and some of his siblings on the right, or west, bank of the river in August 1770 and April 1777. Mathurin married Marie-Rose or -Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Theriot and Madeleine Bourgeois, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in May 1778. They lived on the river near the boundary between the Cabahannocer and Ascension districts. By the early 1790s, they had joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche before continuing down bayou into the Terrebonne country. Their children, born on the river and the southeastern bayous, included Marie-Madeleine baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1781; Céleste born in the early 1780s; Marie-Rose in January 1786; Charles-Mathurin or -Étienne, called Étienne le jeune, in May 1788; Marie-Tarsile, called Tarsile, in February 1791; twins Constance and Jean-Louis in c1794; and Madeleine in December 1798--eight children, six daughters and two sons, including a set of twins, between 1781 and 1798. Mathurin's succession was filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in December 1825. He would have been age 66 that year. Daughters Céleste, Marie Tarsile, Madeleine, and Constance married into the Hébert, Chauvin, Bergeron, and Terrebonne families. In a reversal of the usual Acadian settlement pattern, at least two of them returned to the river. One of Mathurin's son married on Bayou Lafourche and had many sons of his own. Two of Mathurin's nephews followed their uncle to upper Bayou Lafourche.
Older son Charles Mathurin or Étienne, called Étienne le jeune, married cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Melançon and Osite LeBlanc, at the St. James church in August 1809. Their children, born on the river and the Lafourche, included Étienne, fils in May 1810; Narcisse Toussaint or Toussaint Narcisse in November 1811; Euphémie in July 1813; Pierre Paul, called Paul, in October 1816; Charles, also called Clarke, in August 1819; Jacques Delphin, called Delphin, J. Delphin, and Delphine, in September 1821; Ursin in October 1823; and Marguerite in September 1825--eight children, six sons and two daughters, between 1810 and 1825. Étienne le jeune died in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1828. The priest who recorded the burial said that Charles Étienne, as he called him, died "at age 40 yrs." His succession inventory, which called him Étienne, named his wife, and listed his children--Étenne, fils, age 18; Narcisse Toussaint, no age given, but he was 17; Euphémie, age 15; Paul, age 12; Charles, age 9; Delphin, age 7; Ursin, age 5; and Marguerite, age 3--was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse in November. Daughters Euphémie and Marguerite married into the Bertrand and Richard families. All six of Étienne le jeune's sons married and settled in Lafourche Interior Parish; half of them married Robichauxs.
Oldest son Étienne, fils married Azélie or Azéna Rosalie, 15-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Bertrand and Henriette Rassicot, at the Thibodauxville church in August 1830. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Étienne III in April 1833 but died near Paincourtville, age 20 (the recording priest said 23), in October 1853, victim, perhaps, of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana that summer and fall; Zélima or Azélima born in March 1836; Marguerite Siska or Eliska, called Eliska, in January 1839; Marie Émilie in June 1840; Marie Mathilde in December 1841; Marie Euphrosine in September 1843; Joseph Émile, called Émile, in April 1845; and Marie Louisa, called Louisa, in October 1847--eight children, two sons and six daughters, between 1833 and 1847. Daughters Azélima, Eliska, and Louisa married into the Chauvin, Breaux, and Foret families by 1870. One of Étienne, fils's sons also married by then.
Younger son Joseph Émile, called Émile, married Élodie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Lejeune and Théotiste Dugas, at the Thibodaux church in January 1867. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Marie Émelie in September 1868; Cécile in November 1870; ...
Étienne le jeune's second son Narcisse Toussaint married Célina, Célima, Élina, Estina, Melina, Selina, Tellina, or Zélima, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Robichaux and Rosalie Rassicot, at the Thibodauxville church in August 1831. Their children, born on the lower Lafourche, included J. Étienne, called Étienne, perhaps in the early 1830s; Narcise or Narcisse, fils in October 1832; Mélite Célina, also called Émelie, Émelite, and Émelina, in July 1834; Marie Mélasie, called Mélasie, in March 1836; Joseph in October 1837; Prosper in October 1839; Marie or Mary in c1840 but died at age 14 in March 1854; Marie Marguerite born in July 1842; Marie Mélina, called Mélina, in June 1843; Marguerite Philomène, called Philomène, in June 1847; Eugène in June 1845; Joseph Narcisse in August 1849 but, called Narcisse, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in June 1855; Joseph Lovinsy, called Lovinsy, born in July 1851; Joséphine near Lockport in September 1853; Pierre near Raceland in March 1856; and Jean in the 1850s or 1860s--16 children, nine sons and seven daughters, between the 1830s and the 1850s or 1860s. Narcisse Toussaint died near Lockport in April 1867. The priest who recorded the burial said that Toussaint Narcisse, as he called him, died "at age 54 yrs. & 4 mths." He was 55. "Letters of executorship" in Narcisse Toussaint's name, listing his wife and two of his children--Lovincy and Joséphine--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in February 1868. Strangely, a burial record at the Lockport church says that Narcisse LeBlanc died in July 1867 "at age 69 yrs." The priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, so one wonders if this Narcisse was Narcisse Toussaint; if it was, the priest missed the dead man's age by 14 years! Daughters Émelie/Émelite/Émelina and Mélasie married into the Marks and Foret families, both of them to Foret brothers, by 1870. Three of Narcisse Toussaint's sons also married by then.
Oldest son J. Étienne, called Étienne, married cousin Odalie or Ordalie, perhaps also called Nathalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Narcisse LeBlanc and Séraphine Daigle, at the Raceland church in August 1855. They settled near Lockport. Their children, born there, included Marie in August 1856; Coplin von in March 1858; Joseph Elphise in February 1861; Jean le jeune in February 1864; Joseph Cléophas in November 1866; ... None of Étienne's children married by 1870.
Narcisse Toussaint's third son Joseph married Célestine, also called Justine Celesta, daughter of Joseph Toups and his Acadian wife Mélissaire Bourgeois, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in April 1858. Their children, born on the lower Lafourche, included Étienne le jeune in April 1859; Joséphine in May 1861; Marie in December 1862; Albert in January 1865; Marie Léa in March 1866; Émile in March 1869; ...
Narcisse Toussaint's fifth son Eugène married cousin Louisa, daughter of John Dalferes and his Acadian wife Anaïse LeBlanc, at the Lockport church in April 1866. ...
Étienne le jeune's third son Paul married 18-year-old Émelia dite Mélite, another daughter of Joseph Robichaux and Rosalie Rassicot, at the Thibodauxville church in June 1837. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Paul, called Paul, fils, in July 1838; Charles A. in March 1840; Marie Marguerite in July 1842; Marie Philomène in November 1844 but, called Philomène, died at age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in July 1852; Joseph Étienne born in July 1847; and Joseph Cléophas in May 1850 but, called Cléophas, died at age 2 1/2 in October 1852--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1839 and 1850. Neither of Paul's daughters evidently did not marry by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Joseph Paul married Philomène Daunis or Dannis at the Thibodaux church in August 1864. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Marie Céleste in December 1865; Marguerite Agathe in December 1867; ...
Étienne le jeune's fourth son Charles married Élisa, Élida, or Éliza, also called Lisa, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Breaux and Marguerite Roger, at the Thibodaux church in June 1845. Their children, born on the lower Lafourche, included Marguerite in c1846; Charles Ozémé, called Ozémé, in March 1848; Marie Louise or Louisa, called Louisa, in October 1849; Louis Oscar, called Oscar, near Lockport in November 1851; Marie Zulma or Julema in December 1853 but, called Marie Zulema, died in January; Alidor born in May 1855; Marie Julie in February 1857; Marie Ernestine in June 1859; Marie Palmire in May 1861; Charles, fils in August 1863; Joseph Wakour in November 1864; ... Daughters Marguerite and Louisa married into the Bourgeois and Gonzales families by 1870. Two of Charles's sons also married by then.
Oldests son Ozémé married Célina, daughter of Sosthène Folse and Marcelline Verret, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in June 1870. ...
Charles's second son Oscar married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Marcellus Daigle and his Creole wife Marie Hernandez, at the Lockport church in August 1869. ...
Étienne le jeune's fifth son Jacques Delphin married Émelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Robichaux and Tarzile Bertrand, at the Thibodaux church in November 1854. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Jacques Philippe in early 1855 but died at age 2 years, 4 months in June 1857; twins Joseph Anathole and Philippe Émile born in September 1855, but Joseph Anathole died the following December; a second Jacques Philippe born in March 1857; Marie Lucile in June 1861; Marie Virginie in November 1863; Marie Alice in March 1866; and Joseph Delphin posthumously in April 1868--eight children, five sons and three daughters, including a set of twins, between 1855 and 1868. Although Jacques Delphin was listed as deceased in a June 1857 burial record of a son, he did not die until September 1867. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that J. D., as he called him, died "at age 47 yrs." He was 46. His youngest son was born seven months later. None of his children married by 1870.
Étienne le jeune's sixth and youngest son Ursin married Nesida, also called Élesida, Élezida, Lezida, Éliside, and Éliza, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Part and Marguerite Robichaux, at the Thibodaux church in July 1847. They settled on the lower Lafourche near Lockport and Raceland. Their children, born there, included André Léon, called Léo, in November 1848; Marie either born or died in October 1850 (the church record is confusing); Pierre Marie born in October 1851; Albert in November 1854; Paul Edgar in February 1857; Augustin Camille in April 1859; Marguerite Hélène in January 1861; Thomas in July 1863; Marie Euphémie in August 1865; Marie Élesida in September 1867; ... None of Ursin's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Léo married Marie Louise, daughter of Honoré Beranger and Louise Guidroz, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in March 1867. Their children, born near Raceland, included Marie Cécile in March 1868; Louis in August 1869; ...
Étienne, père's fourth and youngest son Joseph followed his family to New Orleans, where he was baptized at the church there in December 1765, age 3 1/2. He followed his family to Cabahannocer, where he was counted with them in April 1766 but not with his widowed mother and siblings in September 1769, when he would have been age 7 1/2, so he likely died young, unless he was the Joseph LeBlanc who died at nearby St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in June 1821, age 60 (this Joseph would have been 59). The priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, so if this Joseph did survive childhood, he likely did not marry.
André (?-?) à ? à Daniel? LeBlanc
Spanish officials counted André LeBlanc at Cabahannocer in April 1766, with a boy and a girl in his household. If he was Acadian, he likely had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765. But, despite his living in an Acadian community, one wonders if he was Acadian. Was he a French-Creole or French-Canadian LeBlanc who had moved from New Orleans, Pointe Coupée, or even Natchitoches into what was becoming an Acadian community? Who were his parents? How old was he in April 1766? Was he married? Who were the children with him? Were they his children, his younger siblings, or young cousins? What happened to him in Louisiana?
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More LeBlancs--including six families, several wives, and at least two orphans, 33 members of the family in all (including two not yet born), one of the largest single Acadian family groups to emigrate to Louisiana--reached New Orleans in September 1766 after a three-month voyage from Baltimore, Maryland, via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue. As part of the first contingent of Acadian exiles from the Chesapeake colony, they settled at Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans near their cousins already there. Several more vigorous lines of the family came of it:
Jacques, fils (1708-1795) à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Oldest son Marcel, in his early 20s and still unmarried, escaped the British roundup at Pigiguit in the fall of 1755 and, while the rest of his family was deported to Pennsylvania, sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore probably with his uncle Joseph, who had escaped with his family from Annapolis Royal in 1755. By 1760, Marcel had moved north to the French stronghold at Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, where he appears on a list of Acadian refugees there dated 24 October 1760. A month later, at Restigouche, he married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Breau and Ursule Bourg of Cobeguit. The British held them in the prison compound at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, within sight of his family's old homestead, until the end of the war. Marie-Josèphe gave Marcel a daughter, Marguerite, born at Fort Edward in c1763. In 1765, Marcel, Marie-Josèphe, and daughter Marguerite emigrated with other Nova Scotia exiles, including his uncle Joseph and his family, to Louisiana via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, and settled with them at Cabahannocer. The following year, Marcel's parents and siblings joined him there from Maryland. Marie-Josèphe gave Marcel more children at Cabahannocer, including Marie-Josèphe born in c1766; Sylvain- or Sylvestre-Marie baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1770; Angélique baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1772; Paul-Olivier, called Olivier, baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1776; Apollonie baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1778; and Adélaïde baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1780--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1763 and 1780, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. In late summer 1779, in his mid-40s, Marcel may have served as a fusileer in the Acadian Coast company of militia that fought under Governor Bernardo Gálvez against the British at Fort Bute and Baton Rouge. The date and place of Marcel's death have been lost. Daughters Marguerite, Marie-Josèphe, Angélique, Adélaïde, and Apollonie married into the Dugas, Melançon, and Chiasson families, three of them to Melançons. Marcel's sons also married. The older one remained on the river, but the younger one joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche.
Older son Sylvain- or Sylvestre-Marie married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Godin dit Bellefontaine and Madeleine Melançon, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in August 1789. Their children, born there, included Paul-Sylvestre, also called Luc-Paul and Paul-Sylvain, in September 1790; Marie-Françoise in September 1792; Adélaïde, also called Marie Adélaïde, in September 1794; Marcellin in c1795; Jean-Baptiste in October 1796; Osite in October 1798; Marcel le jeune in November 1800; Léonise in February 1803; Simon in February 1805; Marie Euphrosine in September 1807; and Joseph in c1810 or 1811--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1790 and 1811. Sylvain, called Sylvaire, may have died near Convent, St. James Parish, in October 1831, age 62, or he may have been the Silvain LeBlanc who died in Ascension Parish in January 1834, age 63. Daughters Marie Françoise, Adélaïde, Osite, and Léonise married into the Prejean, LeBlanc, Melançon, Lanoux, and Richard families. All but one of Sylvestre Marie's sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Paul Sylvestre married cousin Adélaïde, called Délaïde and Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Melançon and Osite LeBlanc, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in May 1811. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Paul, fils in March 1812; Marguerite Eugénie, called Eugénie and perhaps also Euphémie, near Convent in December 1813; Faustin, also called Sosthène and Justin, born in February 1818; Marcellin le jeune in November 1819 but died at age 1 in February 1821; and Marie Cidalise or Sidalie born in February 1822--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1812 and 1822. Paul Sylvestre may have died near Convent in March 1822. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Paul died at "age 30." Paul Sylvestre would have been age 31. Daughters Euphémie and Sidalie married into the Arceneaux, Chauvin, and Lanoux families, Euphémie twice. Paul Sylvestre's remaining sons also married. One settled upriver in West Baton Rouge Parish, but the other one remained in St. James.
Oldest son Paul, fils married Marie Esther, called Esther, daughter of fellow Acadians Manuel Breaux and Lize Bergeron, at the St. James church in October 1830. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included a son, name unrecorded, died at age 11 days in August 1831; Paul Silvain or Sylvain born in October 1832; Paul Faustin, called Faustin, in August 1834 but died at age 4 in November 1838; Zénon born in April 1836 but died at age 1 in May 1837; Marie Louise or Louisa born in early 1839 and baptized at age 14 months in May 1840; Faustin le jeune born in January 1841; Marie Emma born in c1842 but died at age 4 in August 1846; Joseph born in July 1845 and baptized in June 1851 but may have died at age 9 (the recording priest at the Convent church said 12) in November 1854; and Augustin born in January 1849--nine children, seven sons and two daughters, between 1831 and 1849. Paul, fils died near Convent in August 1863, age 51. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughter Marie Louisa married into the Falgout and Pabane families by 1870. One of Paul, fils's sons also married by then.
Second son Paul Sylvain married Marie Émilie, called Émilie, daughter of Eugène Matherne and Marie Eméranthe Ory, at the Convent church in July 1858. They moved upriver to the Baton Rouge area but returned to St. James Parish by the late 1860s. Their children, born on the river, included William Lucien near Baton Rouge in August 1859; Joseph Pierre in November 1865; Marie Eve near Convent n September 1867; Marie Louisa in September 1869; ...
Paul Sylvestre's second son Faustin married Juliènne Pourpore, daughter of Julien Bourgoyne or Bourgogne and Cécille Tullier, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in July 1842. They settled in West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Jules Augustin in October 1845; Adam Adolphe in January 1848; Marie Victoria, called Victoria, in March 1850; Jacques in c1851 but died at age 4 in October 1855; Edgard born in February 1852; and Marie in August 1853. Faustin remarried to Marie Doralise, also called Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Bélonie Daigre and Marie Anne Trahan and widow of Auguste Hébert, at the Brusly church in October 1856. Their children, born near Brusly, included Joseph Arnaud in October 1857; and Paul le jeune in February 1860. Daughter Victoria, by Faustin's first wife, married a Tullier cousin by 1870. None of his sons married by then.
Sylvestre Marie's third son Jean Baptiste married cousin Marie Cléonise, called Cléonise and Léonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Bonaventure Godin dit Bellefontaine and Marie Broussard, at the Convent church in May 1815. Their children, born near Convent, included Marguerite Hortense, called Hortense, in January 1818; Lessin, perhaps also called Jean Baptiste, fils, in December 1819; Sylvin or Sylvain in November 1821; Marie Mathilde, called Mathilde, in July 1823; Amélie or Émilie in January 1825; Augustine, probably a daughter, in August 1826; a son, name unrecorded, in September 1828 but died 15 days after his birth; Marie Elmire, called Elmire, born in May 1830; Marie Philonise, called Philonise and Felonise, in August 1831; Marie Thérèse Evelina in October 1832 but, called Thérèse Delphine, died at age 1 in November 1833; Joseph born in early 1834 but died in July; Louisa born in June 1835 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1836; and Landry born in September 1837 but died in November--13 children, eight daughters and five sons, between 1818 and 1837. Jean Baptiste, père may have died near Convent in March 1844. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jean Baptiste "of Ascension Parish" died at "age 47 yrs.," so this probably was him. Daughters Mathilde, Hortense, Émilie, Elmire, and Felonise married into the Louvière, Bourgeois, Gravois, and Gautreaux families, including two brothers who were their cousins. Jean Baptiste's two remaining sons also married, but one of the lines may not have endured.
Oldest son Lessin, perhaps also called Jean Baptiste, fils, married Marie Corinne, called Corinne, daughter of fellow Acadian Désiré Arceneaux and his Creole wife Céleste Enger, probably in a civil ceremony in Ascension Parish, and sanctified the marriage at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1843. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Camille in May 1842; Rosella in September 1844; Marie Elmir in May 1846; Marie Estella or Estelle, called Estelle, in December 1847; Émile in July 1849 but died at age 2 in July 1851; a child, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died at age eight days in August 1853; Joseph born in March 1855 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1856; Adam born in September 1857; a child, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died in Ascension Parish, age 2 days, in January 1859; Joseph Aristide, perhaps theirs, died in February 1862 eight days after his birth; Louis George, also perhaps theirs, born in October 1863 but died at age 9 months in July 1864; Eve Philomène born in November 1865; ... Daughters Rosella and Estelle married into the Gaudin and Brasset families by 1870. None of Jean Baptiste, fils's remaining sons married by then.
Jean-Baptiste's second son Sylvain married Delphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Lanoux and Delphine Savoie, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1851. Did they have any children?
Sylvestre Marie's fourth son Marcel le jeune, at age 22, married Henriette Scholastique dite Colastie, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Lanoux and Félicité Mire, at the Donaldsonville church in August 1823. They lived on the river near the boundary of Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Désiré in July 1824; Marie Malvina in March 1830 but died at age 9 (the recording priest said 10) in May 1839; Joseph Marcellin born in May 1833 but, called Marcel, fils, died at age 14 months in July 1834; Marie Désirée born in August 1840 but died at age 1 in July 1841; and Marie Eve, called Eve, born in July 1842--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1824 and 1842. Marcel le jeune may have been the Marcel LeBlanc who died in St. James Parish in March 1860. The Convent priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give the age of the deceased. Marcel le jeune would have been age 59. Remaining daughter Eve married into the Brooks family by 1870. Marcel le jeune's remaining son also married.
Older son Désiré married Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadians Noël Richard and Joséphine Babin, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1842. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marcel le jeune in December 1842; Joseph Euphémon, called Euphémon, in November 1844; Désiré, fils in February 1846 but may have died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in December 1848; Marie Joséphine born in October 1848; Laurent Osémé in May 1851; Jean Baptiste Jules in May 1853; Euphémon le jeune in October 1856; Optime in June 1859; Marie Madeleine in January 1865; ... Neither of Désiré's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Second son Euphémon married Marie Rosa or Rose, daughter of fellow Acadian François Neuville Bourgeois and his Creole wife Marie Rose Antoinette Huguet, at the Convent church in October 1866. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Rosa in April 1868; Joseph Euphémon, fils in May 1870; ...
Sylvestre Marie's fifth son Simon married cousin Marie Scholastique, called Scholastique and Colastie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Gautreaux and Marie Marthe Richard, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1830; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born on the river, included Marguerite Coralie in June 1831; Marie Victorine in February 1834 but, called Victorine, died at age 10 in February 1844; Marie Scholastie or Scholastique, called Scholastique, born in January 1836; Marguerite Pulcherie or Pucherie, called Pucherie, in July 1838; Martelisa in March 1841; Marie Malvina in February 1843 but died in April; and Simon Adam born in November 1844 but died the following May--seven children, six daughters and a son, between 1831 and 1844. Simon died in Ascension Parish in March 1852. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Simon died at "age 46 years." This Simon would have been age 47. He was listed as deceased in the marriage record of a daughter in October 1853, so this probably was him. Daughters Marguerite Coralie, Pucherie, and Scholastique married into the Landry, Lanoux, and LeBlanc families by 1870. His only son died an infant, so his family line, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.
Sylvestre Marie's sixth and youngest son Joseph married, in his late teens or early 20s, Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, 28-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Melançon le jeune and Théotiste Arceneaux, at the Convent church in August 1830. Eugénie, at age 18, had given birth to daughter Noémi near Convent in March 1826, but did not have the baby baptized until April 1828. The priest who recorded the baptism said nothing of the father, but, judging from the daughter's marriage record 18 years later, it likely was Joseph, who would have been in his mid- or late teens in March 1826. His and Eugénie's other children, also born near Convent, included Joseph, fils in 1831 and baptized in June 1833 but died at age 5 (the recording priest said 4) in September 1836; Laura born in September 1836; Camille in October 1839; and Elisca in March 1841 but died at age 4 1/2 in October 1845--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1826 and 1841. Joseph died by June 1846, when he was listed as deceased in his oldest daughter's marriage record. He may have been the Joseph LeBlanc who died near Convent in March 1846, age 35. The priest who recorded the burial gave no parents' names or mentioned a wife. Daughters Noémi and Laura married into the Rodrique and Bertaut families by 1870. Joseph's remaining son did not marry by then.
Marcel's younger son Paul-Olivier, called Olivier, married Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Lalande and Pélagie Doiron at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in August 1797. Émilie, a native of Poitou, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785. Their chldren, born at Cabahannocer, included Joseph in August 1798; Hermogène-Marcellin or Marcellin-Hermogène, in July 1800; Hortense in November 1801; Émilie baptized, age 5 months, in December 1803; Doralise baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1806; Paul Achille, called Achille, born in February 1807; Désiré, also called Désiré A., in August 1809; Marie Reine in April 1811; and Pélagie in July 1813. In his early 40s, Olivier remarried to cousin Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Gabriel Breaux and Marguerite Templet of Assumption Parish, at the St. James church in June 1818. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Victorine or Victoire, called Victorine and Victoire, in June 1820; triplets Joseph Arsène, also called Sarasin, Joseph Marcel, and Anne in July 1823, but Anne died at age seven months (the recording priest said 6 months) the following March, and Joseph Marcel died at age 3 in October 1826; Marie Paysanne, perhaps also called Pouponne, baptized at age 3 months in September 1825; Lazare born in July 1827; and Paul le jeune in March 1831--16 children, eight sons and eight daughters, including a set of triplets, by two wives, between 1798 and 1831. Judging by the marriages of his younger sons, during the early 1830s Olivier and second wife Madeleine moved to upper Bayou Lafourche, settling perhaps near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Olivier died in Assumption Parish in September 1847. The Paincourtville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said Olivier died at "age 73 yrs.," so this likely was him. Daughters Hortense, Émilie, Marie Reine, Doralise, Victoire/Victorine, and Pouponne, by both wives, married into the Richard, Blouin, Melançon, Landry, Allain, and Babin families by 1870. Six of Olivier's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured. His oldest son remained on the river, though one of Olivier's grandsons by that son settled on Bayou Lafourche. Olivier's other married sons and some of his daughters also settled on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Joseph, by first wife Émilie Lalande, married cousin Marie Josèphe, perhaps also called Marie Amélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Melançon and Marie Josèphe LeBlanc, at the St. James church in December 1815. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Adrien, called Adrien and J. Adrien, in March 1817; Lazare Marcellin in July 1819 but died at age 3 in July 1822; Marie Émelie born in May 1821; Marie Sélesie or Célesie in March 1823; Marie Hortense Élize, perhaps also called Elizabeth, in May 1825; Marcel Bienvenu in February 1827 but, called Marcelus, may have died at age 28 (the recording priest said 29) in March 1855; Théodore Télésphore born in January 1829; and Anne Pélagie in October 1831--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1817 and 1831. An "application for administration" was filed for Joseph's "child" Joseph Adrien in May 1850. Joseph died by December 1850, when he was listed as deceased in a daughter's marriage record. He would have been in his early 50s at the time. Daughters Marie Émelie, Élizabeth, and Marie Célesie married into the Landry and Cherot families on the Lafourche by 1870. Only one of Joseph's sons married by then, also on the Lafourche, and settled in Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Joseph Adrien, at age 28, married Marie Célina, daughter of fellow Acadian Henry Michel Thibodaux, a son of former governor Henry Schuyler Thibodaux, and Henry Michel's Creole wife Marie Rosalie Hymel of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in June 1845, though they may have married civilly a few years earlier. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Henry or Henri, called Henri, in March 1844, 15 months before his parents' church wedding; Marie Madeleine in July 1845 but died four days after her birth; and Emma born perhaps in c1846. Wife Marie Célina died in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1846, age 23. A "petition for inventory" in her name, calling her husband Joseph A. and listing their children--Emma and Henri--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in October 1846. Joseph Adrien, at age 30, remarried to Brigitte Elselina or Uzelina, daughter of Evariste Poché and his Acadian wife Elmire Thibodaux, at the Thibodaux church in September 1847; Brigitte's mother was a daughter of the former governor and Adrien's first wife's paternal aunt. Adrien and Brigitte may have lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes before moving to Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born there, included Jean Evariste in June 1848; Amélie Edmire or Elmire, called Elmire, in February 1850; Euphémie Zuléma in January 1853; Adrien, fils born in c1853 or 1854 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1855; and Fhoebée Adriènne born in November 1855--eight children, three sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1844 and 1855. Joseph Adrien died evidently in Terrebonne Parish in February 1856. The Houma priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Adrien, as he called him, died "at age 35 yrs." Joseph Adrien would have been age 39. His succession inventory was filed at the Houma courthouse in February. Daughter Elmire, by his second wife, married into the Bourgeois family by 1870. None of Joseph Adrien's remaining sons married by then.
Olivier's second son Hermogène Marcellin or Marcellin Hermogène, by first wife Émilie Lalande, married Cléonise, Eléonise, Eléonide, or Léonise, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Landry and Marie Madeleine Melançon, at the St. James church in August 1819. They lived on the river before moving to the upper Lafourche and settling near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Victor Marcellin in July 1821; Marguerite Amélie in July 1823 but, called Marguerite Émilene, died the following April; Théotiste Anaïs born in April 1825; Paul Landry, called Landry, in July 1827; Paul Béllissaire or Bélisaire in June 1830 but, called Bélisaire, died at age 14 1/2 in December 1844; Madeleine Oliva or Olive, called Oliva, born in February 1833; Bazile or Basile Numa, called Numa, in January 1836; Pélagie Adoisca, Adoisca, in June 1838; and Marie Philimène, perhaps theirs, in December 1844--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1821 and 1844. Hermogène Marcellin died on upper Bayou Lafourche in September 1860. The Paincourtville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Armogène, as he called him, died at "age 62 or 63 years." Hermogène Marcellin would have been age 60, so this probably was him. Daughters Oliva and Adoisca married into the Dugas and Blanchard families by 1870. Three of Hermogène Marcellin's sons also married by then, two of them sisters, and remained on the upper bayou.
Oldest son Victor Marcellin likely married fellow Acadian Amelie or Émelie Richard, place unrecorded, in the 1840s. Their children, born on the Teche and the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Sosthène, called Sosthène, in St. Martin Parish in November 1846 and baptized at the Paincourtville church on the upper Lafourche the following March; Joseph Elphége, called Elphége, born probably near Paincourtville in August 1849; François Xavier in December 1855; Marie Léonize in January 1853; and Jean Marcel in December 1857--five children, four sons and a daughter, between 1846 and 1857. Victor died in Assumption Parish in November 1867. The Paincourtville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Victor died at "age 47 years." Victor Marcellin would have been age 46, so this probably was him. His daughter did not marry by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Oldest son Sosthène, whom the recording priest called a "native of St. Martin Parish," married Élisabette, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Ozelet and Henriette Guillot, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1867. She evidently gave him no children. Sosthène remarried to Élesima, daughter of Joseph Rodrigue and his Acadian wife Nisa Landry, at the Paincourtville church in July 1869. Twins Marie Émelie and Véronique Élisa were born near Paincourtville in March 1870; ...
Victor Marcellin's second son Elphége married cousin Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadians Achille LeBlanc and Hortense Landry, at the Paincourtville church in June 1869; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. ...
Hermogène's second son Paul Landry, called Landry, married first cousin Aglaé, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Richard and Hortense LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in February 1852. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Paul Amédée in March 1853 but, called Amédée, died at age 11 1/2 in August 1864; Joseph Adolphe born in December 1855; Basile Germain in November 1857; Pierre Flegi in June 1859; Marie Aloisa in May 1861; Pierre Amadéo in March 1863; Marguerite Elisca in February 1865; Jean Alphred in January 1867; Paul Alcée in January 1868; ... None of Paul Landry's children married by 1870.
Hermogène's fourth and youngest son Numa married first cousin Marie, another daughter of Jean Baptiste Richard and Hortense LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in May 1858; they, too, had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Marie Oliva in March 1859; Joseph Camille in September 1860; Joseph Alfred in February 1862 but, called Alfred, died the following June; twins Joseph Émile and Marie Émilie born in January 1864; Jean Baptiste in November 1866; Pierre Albert in April 1869; ...
Olivier's third son Paul Achille, called Achille, from first wife Émilie Lalande, married Marie Hortense, called Hortense, another daughter of Éloi Landry and Marie Madeleine Melançon, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1834. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Paul Ernes in December 1835 but, called Paul Ernest, died at age 19 in November 1855; Leuffroy Barthélémi born in June 1837 but died at age 6 1/2 in September 1843; Joseph Jules born in February 1839 but, called Jules, died at age 1 (the recording priest said 19 months) in February 1840; Marie Ernestine, called Ernestine, born in December 1840; Marie Ophelia in January 1843 but, called Ophelia, died at age 2 in January 1845; twins Paul Lusinian and Marie Lutetia born in November 1844, but Marie Lutetia, called Etelia, died near Paincourtville, age 2, in October 1846; Joseph Alceste born in January 1847 but, called Alcé, died at age 8 1/2 in September 1855; Marie Amélie, called Émelie, born in November 1850; and Marie Emma in February 1853--10 children, five sons and five daughters, including a set of twins, between 1835 and 1853. Achille died near Paincourtville in January 1863. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Achille died at "age 56 years," so this was him. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Ernestine and Émelie married into the Beaugez and LeBlanc families by 1870. Achille's remaining son, a twin, did not marry by then.
Olivier's fourth son Désiré, by first wife Émilie Lalande, married Marie Domitille or Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dugas and Marie Landry, at the Plattenville church in October 1836. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Livodai or Livaudais, called Livaudais, in February 1838; Joseph Camille in February 1840; Joseph Désiré in May 1842; Joseph, perhaps also called Émile, in February 1844 but died at age 20 in February 1864 (one wonders if his death was war-related); Marie Eddea or Adea, called Adea, born in September 1846; Catherine Camilla, called Camilla, in May 1848; Joseph Achille in March 1851; and Arture in August 1853. Désiré, called Désiré A. by the recording priest, at age 47, remarried to Justine, daughter of fellow Acadians Baptiste Guidry and Reine Dugas, at the Paincourtville church in December 1856. They settled at Bruslé St. Martin, Assumption Parish, near that civil parish's boundaries with Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Paul Olivier in October 1857; Joseph Lufroid in March 1861; Joseph Jesner in October 1862; Marie Rosa in October 1864; Aurela in November 1867; ... Daughters Adea and Camilla, by his first wife, married into the Giroir and Crochet families by 1870. Two of Désiré's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Livaudais, by first wife Marie Dugas, who signed himself Livodé, married cousin Renette, daughter of fellow Acadian Sosthène Dugas and his Creole wife Aglaé Renée Langlois, at the Paincourtville church in August 1861. Their son Joseph Livaudais, fils was born near Paincourtville in June 1862; ...
Désiré's second son Joseph A., by first wife Marie Dugas, probably Joseph Désiré, not Joseph Achille, who would have been only age 14, married cousin Amelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Hermogène Giroir and Marie Dupuis, at the Paincourtville church in November 1865; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included François Camille in October 1866; Marie Anastasie Valérie born in May 1868; ...
Olivier's fifth son Joseph Arsène, also called Sarasin, a triplet, from second wife Madeleine Breaux, married, at age 30, Éliza, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babin and Phelonise Babin, at the Paincourtville church in January 1854. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Cécilie Felonise in November 1854; Joseph Vileor in January 1856; and Paul Ernest in November 1857 but, called Ernest, may have died at age 4 (the recording priest said 5) in October 1861--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1854 and 1857. Joseph Arsène may have died near Paincourtville in November 1858. The priest who recorded the burial said that Sarrasin, as he called him, died at "age 25 years." Joseph Arsène dit Sarasin, the surviving triplet, would have been age 35, so, if this was him, the priest may have meant that he died at age 35 years. Neither of Joseph Arsène's remaining children married by 1870.
Olivier's seventh son Lazare, by second wife Madeleine Breaux, married Séraphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Dugas and Adeline Babin, at the Paincourtville church in August 1847. Lazare died near Paincourtville in September 1855, age 28. His family line evidently died with him.
Jacques, fils's second son René followed his family to Pennsylvania and married fellow Acadian Anne Blanchard there in c1761. At war's end, they did not follow his family to Maryland but resettled, instead, at Arichat on Île Madame, Nova Scotia, far from his family in Louisiana. Between 1762 and 1776, in Pennsylvania and at Arichat, Anne gave René eight children, three sons and five daughters. Two of René's daughters married into the Boudreau and Forest families, and his three sons into the Vincent, Boudreau, and Fougère or Forgues families at Arichat. A grandson settled in the îles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Jacques, fils's third son Sylvain followed his family to Pennsylvania and then to Maryland by July 1763, when he appeared on a repatraition list with them at Oxford on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Perhaps that same year he married cousin Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, LeBlanc. She gave him a son, Simon-Sylvain, called Sylvain, fils, born at Oxford in c1765. They followed his family to Spanish Louisiana in September 1766. Madeleine was pregnant on the voyage. Son Olivier le jeune was born at New Orleans that November. They settled at Cabahannocer, where Madeleine died in the late 1760s. Sylvain remarried to fellow Acadian Marie-Josèphe Babin probably at Cabahannocer soon after Madeleine's death. Spanish officials counted them on the right, or west, bank of the river there in September 1769. The following August, they were living on the same side of the river at nearby Ascension, where they were counted again in April 1777. Their children, born on the river, included Joseph dit Masa, Maza, Mazan, or Moses, in c1770; Rosalie in c1772; Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, in March 1774; Paul-Hilaire or -Sylvain, in January 1776; Marine, also called Martine, baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1778; Angèle born in December 1779; Marie, perhaps Marie-Henriette in November 1781; Simon-Pierre in October 1783 but died in Ascension Parish, age 32, in September 1815; a daughter, name unrecorded, perhaps Marguerite, born in February 1786; Marie-Ludivine, called Ludivine, in February 1790; and Marie-Clémence, called Clémence, in May 1791--13 children, five sons and eight daughters, by two wives, between 1765 and 1791, in Maryland and Louisiana. Sylvain served as 1st Sous-Caporau, or first corporal, in Judice's company of the Acadian Coast militia in 1779. That year he was also counted as a fourth corporal in Verret's company of the Acadian Coast militia. He likely participated in Governor Gálvez's offensive against the British at Fort Bute and Baton Rouge that autumn. Sylvain died in Ascension Parish in July 1807, age 66. Daughters Rosalie, Marie-Madeleine, Marine, Marie Henriette, Marguerite, Ludivine, and Marie Clémence, by his second wife, married into the LeBlanc, Landry, Babin, Melançon, Trahan, Beres, Breaux, Bourdier, and Prince families, and one of them settled on Bayou Teche. Three of his sons also married and settled on the river.
Oldest son Simon-Sylvain, called Sylvain, fils, from first wife Madeleine LeBlanc, married Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Godin dit Lincour and Marie Babin of Rivière St.-Jean, at Ascension in July 1793. Their children, born there, included Marcellin in May 1794; Marguerite in March 1796; and Marie-Joséphine, called Joséphine in the 1790s. Simon Sylvain, in his late 40s, remarried to cousin Marie Anne, called Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon LeBlanc and Marie Trahan and widow of Firmin Landry, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in July 1810. Their son Désiré Sylvain was born in Ascension Parish in September 1811--four children, two sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1794 and 1811. Simon Sylvain died in Ascension Parish in April 1833, age 68. Daughter Joséphine, by his first wife, married into the Lessard family. One of his sons also married.
Oldest son Marcellin, by first wife Élisabeth Godin, married, at age 19, cousin Marie Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Landry and Marie LeBlanc of Ascension Parish, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in January 1814. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Élisabeth in November 1814 but, called Élisabeth, died at age 7 1/2 in August 1822; Marcellin, fils born in January 1817; Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, in January 1819; Anne Élisa in June 1821; Marie Malvina, called Malvina, in January 1826; Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in September 1828; and Simon le jeune in September 1830--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1814 and 1830. Marcellin died in Ascension Parish in July 1851. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Marcelin, as he called him, died "at New River" at "age 56 years." This Marcellin would have been age 57. Daughters Joséphine, Carmélite, Anne Élisa, and Malvina married into the Breaux, Poché, Dehamaz, Gautreaux, Louvière, Grabert, and Lecorre families, one of them, Joséphine, thrice, and another, Carmélite, twice, by 1870. Neither of Marcellin's sons married by then, at least not in South Louisiana.
Sylvain's third son Joseph dit Masa, Maza, Mazan, or Moses, by second wife Marie-Josèphe Babin, married cousin Marie-Ludivine, called Ludivine and Divine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre LeBlanc and Anne Landry, at Ascension in February 1791. Their children, born there, included Alain-Sylvain in February 1793 but died an infant; Alexandre-Zénon or Zénon-Alexandre born in April 1795; Sylvain-Corentin or -Corantin in December 1797; Joseph, fils in August 1798 but died the following November; Placide born in October 1799; Pierre-Michel in September 1801 but died at age 1 in October 1802; Simon le jeune born in May 1803 but died seven days after his birth; Niazart, perhaps also called Omer, born in September 1804 but may have died at age 9 months in July 1805; and Marie Judique born in February 1807--nine children, eight sons and a daughter, between 1793 and 1807. Joseph dit Maza died in Ascension Parish in August 1807, in his mid- or late 30s. His daughter evidently did not marry. Three of his sons married, but only one of their lines endured, in Ascension Parish.
Second son Alexandre Zénon married Célesie, daughter of fellow Acadians Bélonie Babin and Madeleine Dugas, at the St. Gabriel church in November 1818. Their children, born on the river, included twins Eugène and Napoléon Zénon in October 1819, but Napoléon Zénon died at age 3 months the following January, and Eugène died at age 10 in October 1829; and Marie Azélie born in October 1821 but died at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 13) in February 1836--three children, two sons and a daughter, including a set of twins, in 1819 and 1821. Alexandre Zénon may have died near St. Gabriel in September 1822, in his mid 20s, or he may have been the Zénon LeBlanc who died in Ascension Parish in June 1831, age 36. His daughter did not live long enough to marry, and his twin sons died young, so his line of the family died with him.
Masa's third son Sylvain Corentin married cousin Marguerite Cléonise or Léonise, also called Léonise Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Raphaël Babin and Marguerite Landry, at the Donaldson church in October 1820; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Rosémond in November 1823 but died at age 3 in October 1826; Pauline Alzina born in March 1827; Nicolas Florentin in February 1830 but, called Florentin, died at age 22 in August 1852 (but for some reason he was not buried until the following April); Valentine or Valentin Espire born in August 1831; Sifrin Constantin in February 1834; and Jules in October 1836. Sylvain Corentin remarried to Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Bourg and Félicité Blanchard and widow of Nicolas Ory of Livingston Parish, at the St. Gabriel church in October 1842. Son Antoine was born in Ascension Parish in December 1843--seven children, six sons and a daughter, by two wives, between 1823 and 1843. Daughter Pauline, by his first wife, married a Babin cousin by 1870. One of Sylvain Corentin's sons also married by then.
Third son Valentin, by first wife Marguerite Babin, married cousin Juliènne, daughter of fellow Acadians Trasimond Babin and Clarisse Melançon, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1853. Did they have any children?
Masa's fifth son Placide married, at age 23, cousin Céleste Marcelline or Madeleine, 22-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Landry and Angèle Landry, at the St. Gabriel church in April 1823. They settled on the river near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Malvina in December 1826; an unnamed infant died eight days after his/her birth in June 1828; a son, name and age unrecorded, died in January 1830; Placide Prudent born in January 1831 but died at age 12 1/2 (the recording priest said 11) in September 1843; Élisabeth Angélique born in January 1833 but, called Élizabeth, died at age 8 1/2 (the recording priest said 10) in October 1841; Joseph Télésphore born in February 1835 but, called Télésphore, died at age 6 1/2 in October 1841; and Marguerite Corinne born posthumously in October 1836 but, called Corinne, died at age 4 in September 1840--seven children, at least three daughters and three sons, between 1826 and 1836. Placide died in Ascension Parish in March 1836. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Placide was age 38 when he died. He was 36. Remaining daughter Marie Malvina married into the Parent family by 1870. None of Placide's sons survived childhood, so his family line, except perhaps for its blood, did not endure.
Sylvain's fourth son Paul-Hilaire or -Sylvain, by second wife Marie-Josèphe Babin, married Marie-Lena-Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Blanchard and Marie-Madeleine Bujole, at Ascension in October 1803. Their children, born there, included Fernand Narcisse, also called Pharon Narcisse or Narcisse Pharon and Paul Pharon, in October 1804; and Marie Melisanie or Mélizaire, called Mélizaire, posthumously in July 1806. Paul died in Ascension Parish in April 1806, age 30. Constance remarried to a LeBlanc in 1810. Her and Paul's daughter Mélizaire married into the Fouteley and Picou families. Their son married twice and had many sons of his own, but most of them died young.
Only son Narcisse Pharon married cousin Anne Coralie, called Coralie, daughter of fellow Acadians Victor Landry and Jeanette Melançon, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1829; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Narcisse Faron, fils in October 1829 but, called Faron, died at "age several mos." in April 1830; Landry born in 1830 but died at age 6 months in March 1831; Anne Constance born in January 1832 but, called Constance, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in July 1833; Anne Melida or Veleda, called Velleda, born in March 1833; twins Eléonore Victorine and Joseph Victorin in September 1834, but they both died in October; Anne Euphrasie born in March 1836 but died the following November; Joseph Elzear or Elzire, called Elzire, born in May 1837 but died the following October; Élisa dite Lise born in June 1838; Camille Joseph Adam in February 1841; Joseph François in March 1842 but, called Joseph, died the following September; Marie Estelle born in October 1843 but, called Estelle, died at "age 4 years, 2 months" in December 1847; and Anne Coralie, called Coralie, born in July 1845--13 children, six sons and seven daughters, between 1829 and 1845. Pharon, at age 43, remarried to cousin Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Séraphin Gaudin and Clémentine LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in March 1848; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. She evidently gave him no more children. Narcisse Pharon, called Pharon, died in Ascension Parish in May 1852, age 47. Daughters Élisa dite Lise, Velleda, and Coralie, by his first wife, married into the Gomez, Rivet, and Blanchard families, and perhaps into the Bergeron family as well, by 1870, one of them, Coralie, on upper Bayou Lafourche. Pharon's remaining son did not marry by then, if he married at all.
Jacques, fils's fourth and youngest son Paul followed his family to Pennsylvania and then to Maryland by July 1763, when he appeared with them on a French repatriation list at Oxford on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He married fellow Acadian Agnès, also called Anne, Babin in Maryland in the mid-1760s. In c1766, Anne gave Paul a son, Marcel le jeune or Marcellin, born either at Oxford or, more likely, on the voyage from Baltimore to Louisiana. From New Orleans, Paul, Anne, and their infant son followed his parents and siblings to Cabahannocer, where Anne gave Paul more children, including Marie-Rose born in c1768; Jean-Jacques, called Jacques, baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1771; twins Laurent and Paul, fils, baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1773; Apollonie baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1776; Augustin baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1778; another Laurent baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1781; Sylvain le jeune in the early 1780s; and Hippolyte in the 1780s or 1790s but died near Convent, St. James Parish, in February 1823, age unrecorded--10 children, eight sons and two daughters, including a set of twins, between 1766 and the late 1780s or 1790s. Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer in September 1769 and January 1777. Daughter Marie-Rose married into the Gautreaux family. Four of Paul's sons married, but not all of the lines endured. The ones that did were vigorous. An older son moved to the western prairies, and two of Paul's grandsons settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, but most of his descendants remained on the Acadian Coast.
Oldest son Marcel le jeune or Marcellin followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where, at age 20, he married cousin Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Bourgeois and Rosalie LeBlanc of Chigencto, in April 1786. Madeleine was a native of Cabahannocer whose parents had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765. Her and Marcel le jeune's children, born at Cabahannocer, included Marguerite in January 1787; Baptiste-Paul in November 1788; Scholastique in September 1790 but died at age 6 1/2 in July 1797; twins Joseph and Rosalie born in April 1792; Marcellite in February 1794; Marie-Euphrosine, called Euphrosine, in December 1795; another Scholastique in April 1797 but died at age 1 1/2 in September 1798; Paul-Valentin, perhaps called Valentin, born in June 1799 but likely died in Ascension Parish, age 51, in September 1850; and Augustin dit Justin born in August 1801. In his mid-40s, Marcel lejeune moved to Bayou Teche and remarried to Marie Anne, middle-aged daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Surette and Marie Thibodeaux and widow of Firmin dit Ephrem Robichaux, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in August 1811. Evidently the marriage did not suit Marcel le jeune. He secured a decree of separation by July 1812, when he petitioned the authorities in St. Martin Parish for a succession inventory to divide up their property. In his early 50s, Marcel le jeune remarried again--his third marriage--to Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Part and Marguerite Melançon and widow of Jean Arceneaux, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in March 1819. Their children, born near Convent, included Émile in December 1819; Terence, also called Jérôme, in the early 1820s; and Marcellin, fils in July 1824--13 children, six daughters and seven sons, including a set of twins, by two of his wives, between 1787 and 1824. Most of Marcel le jeune's children remained in St. James Parish, to which he returned in his final days. He died near Convent in September 1824. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Marcellin, as he called him, died at "age 53." He was closer to 58. Daughters Marguerite, Rosalie, and Euphrosine, by his first wife, married into the Louvière, Gravois, and LeBlanc families. Four of Marcel le jeune's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured. Two of the older sons settled on Bayou Lafourche, but a younger son remained in St. James Parish.
Second son Joseph, by first wife Madeleine Bourgeois, married Marie Célanie, called Célanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Hippolyte Breaux and Sophie Adélaïde Dugas, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in January 1813. They joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche later in the decade and settled near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Emélite in May 1815; Joseph Edmond in November 1817; Joseph Valérie or Valéry, called Valéry, in June 1822 but died in Lafourche Parish, age 32 (the recording priest said 35) in August 1860 (his succession inventory was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse four days after his death); Marie Matilde, called Mathilde, born in April 1824; Marguerite Marcelite or Marcelline, perhaps theirs, in November 1826; Madeleine Ordalie, called Ordalie, in November 1829; and Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, in January 1831--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1815 and 1831. Joseph died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1834. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 45 when he died. He was 42. His succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his children and one of their spouses--Ordalie, Valéry, Mathilde, Marcellite, Eugénie, and Marie and her husband--was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse in October. Daughters Marie Émilie, Ordalie, Marcelline, Mathilde, and Eugénie married into the Molaison, Savoie, Roussi or Rossi, Davis, and Chiasson families by 1870. Joseph's remaining son seems not to have married by then, if he married at all, but the blood of the family line likely endured.
Marcel le jeune's fourth son Augustin dit Justin, by first wife Madeleine Bourgeois, married Marie Azélie, called Azélie, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Duhon and Adélaïde Landry, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in November 1822. They also settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Joseph Prudent, also called Joseph Douradour or Douradon, in April 1824; Bernard François Alfred, called Alfred and Alfred Édouard, in August 1826; Marie Malvina in February 1829 but died at age 4 1/2 in September 1833; Marie Clémentine, called Clémentine, born in May 1831; Alcide in c1833 but died at age 14 in December 1847; Joseph died at age 18 days in May 1836; and a son, name unrecorded, died at age 1 month in September 1837--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1824 and 1837. Augustin dit Justin died in Assumption Parish in June 1838, age 36. Daughter Clémentine married into the Landry family. Two of Justin's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph Prudent or Douradour married Carmélite, daughter of Mathias Rodriguez and Theresa Hernandez, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1843. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Daughter Marie Euphémie, called Euphémie, was born there in March 1844. Joseph Prudent died near Plattenville in September 1857. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph Douradon, as he called him, died at "age 34 years." He was 33. Daughter Euphémie married into the Ayraud family, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Augustin dit Justin's second son Bernard François Alfred, called Alfred and Alfred Édouard, married cousin Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Hermogène LeBlanc and Marie Melançon, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1849. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marie Virginie, called Virginie, in May 1850; Marie Malvina, called Malvina, in August 1852; Augustin in October 1856; Joseph Alfred in October 1858 but, called Alfred, died at age 5 in October 1863; ... Bernard François Alfred died by October 1863, when his wife was called a widow in a son's burial record. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Virginie and Malvina married into the LeBlanc and Ronquille families by 1870. Bernard François Alfred's remaining son did not marry by then.
Marcel le jeune's fifth son Émile, by third wife Marguerite Part, married Eugénie Marie or Marie Eugénie, daughter of Eugène Matherne and Eméranthe Ory, at the Convent church in April 1846. Their children, born near Convent, included Joseph Clément in June 1847; Joseph Alfred in September 1849 but, called Joseph Alfrede, died at age 17 (the recording priest said 16) in August 1766; Marie Zulma born in October 1851; Joseph in August 1855; Marie in June 1857; Marie Lucia in September 1861; Marie Julia in March 1864; Joseph Louis in December 1866; ... None of Émile's children married by 1870.
Marcel le jeune's sixth son Terence, also called Jérôme, from third wife Marguerite Part, married double cousin Marie Eléocade dite Léocade, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis LeBlanc and Madeleine Perosine LeBlanc, at the St. James church in August 1851. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Clémence in c1851 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1853; and Claire Odalie born in June 1852. Terence may have remarried to Julia Leluce or Deluce, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph in June 1857; and Marie Olésima in March 1859 but died eight days after her birth--four children, two sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1851 and 1859. Daughter Claire Odalie, by his first wife, married into the Dugas family by 1870. Terence's remaining son did not marry by then.
Paul's second son Jean-Jacques, called Jacques le jeune, married Marie-Rosalie, called Rosalie, another daughter of Paul Bourgeois and Rosalie LeBlanc, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in April 1792. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Pierre Paul, called Paul, in July 1795; a son, name unrecorded, died a day after his birth in October 1797; Émilie dite Mélitte born in June 1799 but died at age 11 1/2 in September 1811; Jacques-Evariste, called Evariste, born in May 1801; Simon baptized, age 4 1/2 months, in October 1803 but died the following December; Jacques Narcisse, called Narcisse, born in October 1804; Paul, also called Paul Destival or Estival and Destival Paul, in January 1807; Louis Breville, called Breville, in August 1809; Mathilde, also called Marie Mathilde, in November 1811; Caroline in July 1816; Pierre in the mid- or late 1810s; and Marie Clémentine, called Clémentine, in May 1822--a dozen children, eight sons and four daughters, between 1795 and 1822. Jacques le jeune died near Convent in March 1830. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jacques was "age 62 yrs." when he died. He probably was in his late 50s. Daughters Caroline, Marie Mathilde, and Clémentine married into the Chauvin, Gautreaux, Carlin, and Melançon families, and one of them settled on Bayou Lafourche. Six of Jean Jacques's sons also married. They settled on the river.
Oldest son Pierre Paul, called Paul, married Marie Sidalise, called Sidalise, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Gautreaux and Marie Duhon of Ascension Parish, at the St. James church in October 1820. Their children, born near Convent, included Paul, fils in October 1821; Marie Marcelline, also called Carmélite, in November 1822; Alexandre Valsin in November 1824 but, called Valsin, died "at home in St. James Parish," age 21, in April 1846; and Marie Mathilde Aglaé, called Aglaé, born in December 1828--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1821 and 1828. Paul died near Convent in July 1853, age 58. Daughters Carmélite and Aglaé married into the Melançon and Pelletier families. Paul's remaining son also married.
Older son Paul, fils married Henriette Lodoiska, called Lodoiska, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Breaux and Lize Bergeron, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1839, on the same day and at the same place his uncle Pierre married Lodoiska's sister Marie Aglaé. Paul, fils and Lodoiska lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes, moved to the upper Lafourche, and then returned to the river. Their children, born there, included Élisabeth or Éliza born in May 1840; Marie Aimé in December 1843; Paul Léonard, called Léonard, in March 1845; William in April 1847; Estafinie in June 1849 but, called Stephenie, died at age 3 in June 1852; Joseph Camille born in September 1851 but died the following April; Marcelle Pierre born in January 1853 but, called Pierre, died at age 10 in June 1863; Joseph born in May 1855; Joseph Octave in February 1857; Marie Louisa in February 1859; Joseph Antoine in March 1861 but died in Ascension Parish in April; Marie Clémentine born near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in September 1862 but died in Ascension Parish, age 6 (the recording priest said 7), in August 1868; Julie Lodoisca born in Ascension Parish in February 1865; Marie Ermantine in July 1867; ... Paul, fils died in Ascension Parish in April 1870, age 49. Daughter Éliza married into the Babin family by 1870. One of Paul, fils's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Léonard married Léonise, daughter of Michel Ourso and Marie Gomez, at the Donaldsonville church in November 1866. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie, perhaps theirs, died at age 15 days in August 1867; Paul Léonard born in September 1868 but, called Léonard, may have died at age 1 in October 1869; ...
Jean Jacques's third son Evariste married Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Madé Bourg and Rosale Mire and widow of Damas Lessard, at the Convent church in February 1825. They lived on the river near the boundary of St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Evariste Clairville, called Clairville, in November 1825; Evariste Télésphore, called Télésphore, in May 1828 but died at age 4 1/2 in October 1832; Jean Baptiste born in November 1830; Joseph in c1833 and baptized at the Convent church, age 17 months, in November 1834; Stinville or Sinville, also called Henville, born in the early 1830s; Paul Homère or Omer, called Omer, in September 1836; Louis Breville le jeune, called Breville and Neville, in January 1840; Marie Phelonise or Cléonise, called Cléonise, in June 1842; and Jacques Valsin in February 1845 but, called Valsin, died at age 4 1/2 in September 1849--nine children, eight sons and a daughter between 1825 and 1845. Daughter Cléonise married into the Gaudin family by 1870. Five of Evariste's remaining sons also married by then and settled on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Clairville married cousin Laure, daughter of fellow Acadians Anatole Gautreaux and Eugénie Gravois, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1846; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on the east side of the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Mathilde in September 1848 but, called Marcelline, died near Convent at age 13 months in October 1849; and Marie Helena born near Convent in August 1851 but, called Marie Élina, died there at age 1 in August 1852. Did Clairville father any sons? No matter, his line of the family, including its blood, died with him.
Evariste's fourth son Joseph married Eléonore, also called Cléonarde and Léonora, daughter of fellow Acadians Ursin Hébert and Eugénie Part, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1854. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Alexis in February 1855; Casimir Alexandre in March 1857; Marie Sara in March 1859; ... None of Joseph's children married by 1870.
Evariste's fifth son Stinville married cousin Marie Scholastique, called Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon LeBlanc and Scholastique Gautreaux, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1855; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Jean Armand in August 1856; and Marie Alice in October 1858.
Evariste's sixth son Omer married Élisabeth, daughter of Henriette Eliser or Elizer, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1861. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give Élisabeth's father's name, so one wonders who he may have been. Omer and Élisabeth settled near Gonzales, in the interior of Ascension Parish. Their children, born there, included Paul Evarise in November 1861; Marie Madeleilne in August 1864; Marie Henriette in November 1866; Marie Victoria in March 1869; ...
Evariste's seventh son Breville le jeune married cousin Adveline, also called Adeline and Admeline, daughter of Jean Descoteaux and his Acadian wife Mathilde Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1860. They also settled near Gonzales. Their children, born there, included Marie Mathilde in November 1860; Maria Sélina in November 1863; Marie Aglaé in November 1865; Félix Clairville in February 1868; Marie Ezilia in April 1869; ...
Jean Jacques's fifth son Narcisse married Euphrosine Marie Célanie, called Célanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Melançon and Marie Léonise Lanoux, at the Convent church in February 1825. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Narcisse Théophile in October 1827 but, called Théophile, died at age 17 1/2 (the recording priest said 18) in March 1845; Marie Glantine or Églantine born in January 1830; a son, name unrecorded, died at age 4 months in September 1833; Étienne, also called Étienne Bienvenu and Bienvenu Étienne, born in July 1835; and Marie Adoristine, called Adorestine, in December 1837--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1827 and 1837. Narcisse died in Ascension Parish in March 1841. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Narcisse died at "age ca. 38 years." He was 36. Daughters Marie Églantine and Adorestine married into the Lanoux and Rodriguez families. Narcisse's remaining son also married.
Third and youngest son Étienne Bienvenu or Bienvenu Étienne married Arcade Augustine, called Augustine, daughter of fellow Acadians Simonet Landry and Bathilde Célesie Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1857. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Jacques Roselius in November 1867; Joseph Landry in June 1870; ...
Jean Jacques's sixth son Paul Destival married Marie Sidalise, called Sidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians Simonette Boudreaux and Céleste Babin, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1828. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes, probably on the Ascension side of the line. Their children, born there, included Paul Désiré in September 1829; Marie Laetetia, called Lutesia, in February 1832; Louis Oscar in May 1834 but, called Oscar, died at age 4 in August 1838; Marie Lise born in October 1836 but, called Lise, died at age 3 in October 1839; Paul Faustin born in February 1839 but, called Faustin, died at age 8 1/2 in November 1847; and Onésime Edwin born in February 1843--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1829 and 1843. Paul Destival, called Destival Paul by the recording priest, died in Ascension Parish in May 1844, age 37. Daughter Lutesia married into the Brasset family by 1870. Neither of Paul Destival's remaining sons married by then.
Jean Jacques's seventh son Louis Breville married Émilie dite Mélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Charles Arceneaux and Marguerite Part, at the Convent church in February 1831. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Carmélite in November 1831; and an infant son, name and age unrecorded, died in June 1833. Louis Breville remarried to Mélasie, another daughter of Étienne Melançon and Marie Léonise Lanoux, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1838. Their son born Louis Breville, fils was born in Ascension Parish in September 1840--three children, a daughter and two sons, by two wives, between 1831 and 1840. Louis Breville, père died in Ascension Parish in November 1865. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Breuville, as he called him, "father of Louis LeBlanc, died at "age 55 years." Breville was age 56. His remaining son married, but the line may not have endured.
Second son Louis Breville, fils, by second wife Mélasie Melançon, married Marie Olfida or Olphida, daughter of fellow Acadians Casimir Boudreaux and Henriette Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1860. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Élizabeth in November 1860 but, called Élizabeth, died at age 1 1/2 in March 1862; Eve Marie born in August 1862 but, called Eve, evidently died at age 1 in September 1863; Marie Lucie born in November 1864; Henriette in August 1866; Joseph Alphonse born in December 1868 but, called Alphonse, died the following August; Eugénie born in July 1870; ...
Jean Jacques's eighth and youngest son Pierre married Marie Aglaé, called Aglaé, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Breaux and Lize Bergeron, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1839, on the same day and at the same place his nephew Paul, fils married Marie Aglae's sister Henriette Lodoiska. Pierre and Marie Aglaé settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Élize, called Élize, in March 1840; and Marie Clémentine in June 1841 but, called Amélie, died near Convent at age 17 months in November 1842. Pierre remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Élie Lanoux and Paulonne Gautreaux, at the Convent church in April 1853. They remained on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes before moving to Gonzales in the interior of Ascension Parish. Their children, born there, included Pierre Désiré in February 1854; Joseph Adam in February 1855; Éli Aristide in June 1856; Jacques Césaire in October 1858; Cécile in c1861 but died near Gonzales at age 5 in September 1866; Marie born near Gonzales in July 1865; Louis Sidonie in April 1868; ... Daughter Élize, by his first wife, married into the Letulle family by 1870. None of Pierre's sons married by then.
Paul, père's fifth son Augustin married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joachim Mire and Madeleine Melançon, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in February 1798. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Marie-Henriette, called Henriette, in December 1798; and Marie-Azélie, called Azélie, probably posthumously in September 1801 but, called Asélie, died near Convent, age 31 (the recording priest said 32), in January 1833. Augustin may have died on the German Coast, just downriver from Cabahannocer, in January 1801. The St.-Jean des Allemands priest who recorded the burial called him "native of Cabanoce" but did not give his wife's name, mention his parents, or give his age at the time of his death. This Augustin would have been in his early 20s. He evidently fathered no sons. Daughter Henriette married into the Breaux family, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Paul, père's seventh son Sylvain le jeune married cousin Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Duhon and Anne LeBlanc, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in May 1803. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Jean Baptiste in March 1804 but died at age 7 1/2 in September 1811; and Madeleine Perosine, called Perosine, in December 1805. Sylvain le jeune died in St. James Parish in June 1808. The St. James priest who recorded the burial said that Sylvain was "age about 45 yrs." when he died. He probably was 25. Daughter Perosine married a LeBlanc cousin, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Désiré (c1717-1777) à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Oldest son Simon followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where he married Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Arceneaux and Marie Hébert and widow of Barthélémy Bergeron, in November 1767. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Antoine-Alexandre, called Alexandre and also Simon, baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1770 (he was, in fact, the first baptism at the Cabahannocer church); Édouard born in May 1772 and baptized at Ascension the following August but died in St. James Parish, age 47, in March 1819; Anne-Constance, called Constance, baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1774; Henriette, perhaps also called Ludivine, born in c1777; and Simon Benjamin, called Benjamin le jeune, baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1780--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1770 and 1780. Simon died at Cabahannocer before June 1780, when a son was baptized posthumously there. Daughters Constance and Henriette married into the Richard and Babin families. Two of Simon's sons also married. His oldest son moved to Bayou Lafourche before moving on to the western prairies, where Simon's youngest son also settled.
Oldest son Antoine-Alexandre, called Alexandre and also Simon and Simonet, married Marie-Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of French Canadian Antoine-Alexandre Dupré dit Terrebonne and his Acadian wife Marianne Godin, at Ascension in June 1791. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Anne-Clémence or -Clémentine in c1791; Édouard in August 1792; Clémentine in May 1794; Carmélite in March 1796 but died at Cabahannocer, age 1 1/2, in October 1797; Norbert-Dupré born in June 1798; and Anaclet, called Clet and Clete, in February 1800--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1791 and 1800. In the early 1800s, Alexandre took his family from the upper Lafourche to Grand Lake in the lower Atchafalaya Basin before moving across the prairie to Lake Peigneur west of New Iberia, at the southern end of the Attakapas District. Antoine Alexandre died probably on Lake Peigneur in October 1841. The New Iberia priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Antoine died "at age 72 yrs.," so this was him. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, later in the month. Daughter Anne married into the Prevost or Provost family. All three of Antoine's sons married and settled on Lake Peigneur near today's Jefferson Island.
Oldest son Édouard married Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Philippe de Saint-Julien Lachaussée, fils and Pélagie Richard of St. James Parish, at Ascension in July 1810. They settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche before moving to Lake Peigneur. Their children, born on the river and the prairies, included a son, name unrecorded, died "at the residence of Louis Dugas at Fausse Pointe at birth" in November 1811; Édouard, fils born in July 1813 and baptized the following April in St. James Parish; Antoine born "on the Lake" in July 1814; Célestin in the mid- or late 1810s; Clémentine Sélima in May 1817; Clet le jeune in December 1818; Norbert le jeune in January 1822[sic]; Célestine in May 1822[sic]; Marie Marcellite in December 1823[sic]; Marguerite Melizer in January 1824[sic, perhaps 1826]; Félicité in October 1827; Pélagie in May 1829; Marie Irma in c1830; and Amélite in June 1831--14 children, six sons and eight daughters, between 1811 and 1831. Édouard, père died near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in August 1852, age 60. Daughters Clémentine Sélima, Marie Marcellite, and Marie Irma married into the Boutté, LeBlanc, and Romero families. Four of Édouard's sons also married and settled on the lower Teche and on the prairies, but not all of the lines seem to have endured.
Second son Édouard, fils married Joséphine or Séraphine Irène, also called Tremi and Agnès, daughter of Charles LeRoy, Roy, Roi, Leray, or Feray and his Acadian wife Marie Theriot, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1837. Their children, born on the prairies, included Amelia or Émelie baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in August 1838; Marie Azéma or Émelie born in c1842; twins Clémentine and Eugénie in April 1845; Clavis, called Clara, in February 1848; Séraphine Reine, also called Irène Seraphine, in December 1852; Corinne in the 1850s; Édouard III near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in July 1855; Jean Désiré in Lafayette Parish in June 1861; ... Daughters Émelie, Marie Azéma, Clémentine, Clara, Irène Seraphine, and Corinne married into the LeBlanc, Guilbeau, Rouly, Landry, and Piat families, two of them, Clara and Irène, to Landrys, by 1870. None of Édouard, fils's sons married by then.
Édouard, père's fourth son Célestin married Théotiste or Théolise, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Broussard, fils and Anastasie Broussard, at the St. Martinville church in January 1837. Their son Onésime, born in Lafayette Parish in May 1843, did not marry by 1870.
Édouard, père's fifth son Clet le jeune married first cousin Marie Aurelia, called Aurelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Clet LeBlanc l'aîné and Mélanie Richard, his uncle and aunt, at the New Iberia church in May 1839. They evidently settled on the prairies. Daughter Marie Eulodie or Élodie was born in Lafayette Parish in May 1840; and Odile or Odille, perhaps a twin, died at age 1 1/2 in August 1841. According to two marriage records at Abbeville and Youngsville, however, daughters Marie Élodie and Odille married into the Colomb and Pommier families by 1870. Except perhaps for its blood, did this family line endure?
Édouard, père's sixth and youngest son Norbert le jeune married Marie Éloise or Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Duhon and Marie Marcellite Savoie, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1843, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1845. Their children, born on the lower Teche and the prairies, included Désiré near New Iberia in August 1844; Marie Félicianne in Lafayette Parish in July 1849; a daughter, name and age unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish in February 1852; Alexandre Norbert born in June 1854; Élizabeth near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in November 1857; and Euphémon near Grand Coteau in January 1859--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1844 and 1859. None of Norbert le jeune's children married by 1870.
Antoine Alexandre's second son Norbert Dupré married Joséphine dite Josette, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Broussard and Madeleine Thibodeaux, at the St. Martinville church in August 1816. They, too, settled on Lake Peigneur. Their children, born there, included Madeleine Clémence, called Clémence, in the 1810s; Marie Céleste in June 1817; Charlotte Élina in December 1818; Norbert, fils in March 1820 but died at age 28 in January 1849, two weeks before his father died; and Simon, called Simonet, born in April 1822. Wife Joséphine's post-mortem succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in January 1824. Norbert Dupré remarried to first cousin Euphémie, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Benjamin LeBlanc and Scholastique Breaux, his uncle and aunt, at the St. Martinville church in February 1824. They also may have settled on Lake Peigneur. Their children, born there, included Élisa in December 1825; Benjamin in March 1829; Scholastique Célestine, called Célestine, in April 1831 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1832; another Scholastique born in December 1833; Édouard in April 1836 but died at age 18 months in October 1837; Auguste born in January 1840; and Louis Euphrmon or Euphémon, called Euphémon, in August 1846--a dozen children, six daughters and six sons, by two wives, between 1816 and 1846. Norbert Dupré died near New Iberia in January 1849. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Norbert, Sr. died "at age 62 yrs." He was 50. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in February. Daughters Charlotte Élina, Élisa, and Clémence, by both wives, married into the Provost, Dillon, and LeBlanc families by 1870. Four of Norbert Dupré's sons also married by then.
Second son Simonet, by first wife Joséphine Broussard, married Marie Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of André dit Cadet Dupré and Marie Perronille Langlinais of Assumption Parish, at the New Iberia church in April 1841. Their children, born on the lower Teche and out on the prairies, included Joséphine Élodie near New Iberia in June 1842; Jean Baptiste in August 1843; Désiré in December 1844 but, called Désirée, died near New Iberia the following June; John Louis died near New Iberia in February 1846, age unrecorded; Joseph Simon born in December 1846 but, called Simonette, died near New Iberia at age 2 in January 1849; Marie Odalise or Odalie, called Odalie, born in July 1850; Amanda in February 1852; André Léodia near Abbeville in August 1855; Norbert le jeune in January 1857; and André in January 1859--10 children, three daughters and seven sons, between 1842 and 1859. Daughters Amanda and Odalie married into the Langlinais and Lemaire families by 1870. None of Simonet's sons married by then.
Norbert Dupré's third son Benjamin, by second wife Euphémie LeBlanc, married Célima, another daughter of André dit Cadet Dupré and Marie Perronille Langlinais and widow of Benjamin's first cousin Antoine Clet LeBlanc, at the New Iberia church in August 1850. Their children, born on the lower Teche and the prairies, included Euphémie near New Iberia in May 1851; Jules near Abbeville in January 1854; Aristile in April 1857; Eucharis in March 1862; Marie Aurela near New Iberia in September 1866; Emma near Youngsville in December 1868; ... Daughter Euphémie married into the Broussard family by 1870. None of Benjamin's sons married by then.
Norbert Dupré's fifth son Auguste, by second wife Euphémie LeBlanc, may have married fellow Acadian Marie Dugas at the Abbeville church in November 1865. Their children, born on the prairies, included Joseph near New Iberia in September 1866; Élisa near Youngsville, Lafayette Parish, in January 1869; ...
Norbert Dupré's sixth and youngest son Euphémon, by second wife Euphémie LeBlanc, married Olymphe, daughter of Olivier Blanchet and Celima Roy, at the Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1866. Daughter Clodora was born near Youngsville in August 1869; ...
Antoine Alexandre's third and youngest son Anaclet dit Clet or Clete, married Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Richard and Rosalie Michel, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in January 1822. They lived on the river before moving to Lake Peigneur. Their children, born there, included Antoine, also called Antoine Clet, in St. James Parish in December 1822; Clete, Anaclet, or Clet, fils baptized at the Vermilionville church, age unrecorded, in June 1826; Marie Orelia or Aurelia, called Aurelia, born in August 1826; Richard in May 1828; twins Céleste Hélodie or Élodie and a son, name unrecorded, in July 1830, but the son died "at his parent's home at Lake Pegneur[sic]" either three or 13 days after his birth, and Céleste Élodie died at age 1 in July 1831; Michel born in March 1832; Dupré in c1833; Éloi in c1834 and baptized at age 18 months in October 1835; Félix Alphred or Alfred, called Alfred, born in February 1836; Raymond Villcor, Vilcor, Vileor, or Vileon baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in April 1838; twins Cécilia and Ursule born in November 1839; Désiré in January 1842 but died at age 1 (the recording priest said 18 months) in February 1843; and Clémence born in October 1845--15 children, 10 sons and five daughters, including two sets of twins, between 1822 and 1845. By 1870, daughter Aurelia married a LeBlanc first cousin with the same name as her father. Seven of Clet's sons also married by then and settled on the prairies.
Oldest son Antoine Clet married Marie Célima or Sélina, daughter of André dit Cadet Dupré and Marie Perronille Langlinais, at the Vermilionville church in September 1841. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Adolphe in October 1842; Antoine, fils in December 1845; Jeanne Clara in January 1848; and a child, perhaps theirs, name and age unrecorded, died near New Iberia in January 1849--four children, at least two sons and a daughter, between 1842 and 1849. Antoine Clet's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in August 1849. He would have been age 27 that year. Widow Célima remarried to Antoine Clet's first cousin Benjamin LeBlanc in August 1850. None of her and Antoine's children married by 1870.
Clet's second son Clet, fils married Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Bernard and Marie Céleste Girouard, at the Vermilionville church in June 1842. They settled on lower Bayou Teche and near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Alcider, perhaps also called Désiré, in November 1843; Carmélite in the late 1840s or early 1850s; Clet III in December 1855; Éloi Julle near Charenton, St. Mary Parish, in May 1858; Aristide in October 1861; Célestina in January 1867; ... Daughter Carmélite married into the Boudreaux family by 1870. One of Clet, fils's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Désiré, likely Alcider, married Clara, daughter of Marcellin Reaux and his Acadian wife Euphémie Lachaussée, at the Youngsville church in February 1870. ...
Clet, père's third son Richard married Emelina or Amelina, called Melina, daughter of Louis Moore and his Acadian wife Modeste Hébert, at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in February 1852 Their chldren, born on the lower Teche and the prairies, included Richard, fils near Charenton in January 1854; twins Louis Alphonse and Marie Alphonsine in September 1855; Modeste Alicia in St. Landry Parish in December 1857; Evélina near Abbeville in November 1859; Noélie Emma in May 1862; Oscar in January 1864; Noémie Louise in April 1866; Pauline Nathalie in May 1868; Marie Camilla in July 1870; ... None of Richard's children married by 1870.
Clet, père's sixth son Dupré married Adèle or Odile, daughter of Hubert Pellerin and Élina Moore, at the Charenton church in May 1853. Their children, born on the prairies, included Antoine Dupré near Abbeville in June 1855; Helena in June 1857; Gustave in September 1859; and Azéma in October 1861. Dupré remarried to Euphrasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Guidry and Caroline Landry and widow of Don Louis Bernard, at the Youngsville church in February 1866. Their children, born on the prairies, included Mozart near Youngsville in February 1867; Joseph Azare in June 1869; ... None of Dupré's children married by 1870.
Clet, père's seventh son Éloi married Hortense, daughter of Marcellin Reaux and his Acadian wife Euphémie Lachaussée, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in November 1854. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Émile in September 1855 but died the following January; Honorat born in December 1856; Euphémie in March 1860; Octave in May 1862; Oliva, probably a son, near Abbeville in April 1866; Olivia near Youngsville in May 1868; Alzire in February 1870; ... None of Éloi's children married by 1870.
Clet, père's eighth son Félix Alfred married Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadian Édouard LeBlanc, fils, his first cousin, and his Creole wife Irène LeRoy, at the Vermilionville church in April 1858. They settled near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Féliciènne in March 1859; Étienne Félix in August 1861; Arthur in September 1863; Numa baptized at the Youngsville church, age unrecorded, in April 1866; Félicia born in September 1868; ...
Clet, père's ninth and youngest son Raymond Vileor married Amelina, daughter of Ursin Langlinais and his Acadian wife Anastasie Roy, at the Vermilionville church in October 1859. Daughter Eléonore was born in Lafayette Parish in August 1862; ...
Simon's third and youngest son Simon Benjamin, called Benjamin le jeune, married Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Breaux and Madeleine Clouâtre, at Cabahannocer/St. James in November 1804. After living on the river, they settled near his older brother Antoine Alexandre at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche by the late 1810s. Their children, born on the river, included Anne Hortense, called Hortense, in 1805 and baptized at the St. James church, age 6 months, in January 1806; Marie Euphémie, called Euphémie, born in March 1807; Simon Drosin, also called Antoine Drosin and Drosin, in March 1809; Marie Constance, called Constance, in June 1811; Simon in August 1813; Joseph in July 1815 and baptized at the St. James church in October; and Modeste born in June 1817 and baptized at the St. Martinville church in May 1818--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1805 and 1818. Benjamin died at his home at Fausse Pointe in March 1820. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Benjamin was "age about 48 years" when he died. He was closer to 40. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse that same month. Daughters Hortense, Euphémie, Constance, and Modeste married into the Lachaussée, LeBlanc, Reaux, and Lerow or Leroux families, one of them to a first cousin. Two of Benjamin le jeune's sons also married, to LeBlanc cousins.
Oldest son Simon Drosin, called Drosin, married cousin Madeleine Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Norbert Dupré LeBlanc and Joséphine Broussard, at the St. Martinville church in February 1834. Their children, born on the prairies, included Jean Baptiste baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 10 months, in October 1835 but died in St. Martin Parish, age 1 1/2, in July 1836; Joseph Olidon, called Olidon, born in March 1837; Norbert Ovid or Ovide, called Ovide, baptized at the New Iberia church, age unrecorded, in January 1844; Marie Joséphine born in June 1845 but, called Joséphine Marie, died near New Iberia, age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 7 months), in January 1847; Philomène Élina or Élima born in March 1847; and Simon le jeune in January 1855--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1835 and 1855. Wife Madeleine Clémence died near New Iberia in September 1867, age 53. Her succession, calling her Madeleine, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following December. Daughter Élima married into the Darby and Bessan families by 1870. Only one of Drosin's sons married by then.
Second son Joseph Olidon married fellow Acadian Alzire Hébert at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in May 1857. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Joseph Ali in December 1860; Arthur in May 1863; Modeste Alice in June 1866; Rosa Magedleine in August 1868; Erasme in August 1870; ...
During the War of 1861-65, Simon Drosin's third son Ovide may have served as a sergeant in Company I of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, the Chasseurs du Teche, raised in St. Martin Parish, that fought in Louisiana, especially against prairie Jayhawkers late in the war. Ovide died near New Iberia in August 1867, age 23. Did he marry? Was his early death war-related?
Benjamin le jeune's second son Simon married cousin Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Édouard LeBlanc and Marcellite Lachaussée, at the New Iberia church in April 1839. Their children, born on the prairies, included Simon Anatol or Anatole, called Anatole, near New Iberia in July 1840; Édouard died in Lafayette Parish, age 12 days, in March 1843; Marie Luciènne born in July 1844; and Scholastique dite Scolatie perhaps in the late 1840s or early 1850s--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1840 and the late 1840s or early 1850s. Daughter Scolastie married into the Moore family by 1870. Simon's remaining son also married and settled on the lower Teche.
Older son Anatole married Olymphe, daughter of Valsin Miguez and Louisiana Miguez, at the New Iberia church in November 1865. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Marie Laure in December 1866; and Simone le jeune in March 1869. Wife Oymphe died the following December. Did Anatole remarry?
Désiré's second son Isaac followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where, at age 22, he married double cousin Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Melanson and Madeleine LeBlanc, in February 1768. Their children, born on the river, included Joseph-Isaac in c1770; Dernon or Dermon in c1772; Marie-Sophie in January 1774; Marguerite-Félicité in November 1775; Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, in July 1778; and Françoise baptized, age recorded, in March 1780. In summer and fall of 1779, during the American Revolution, Isaac served as first sergeant and sergeant major in the Acadian Coast militia when it fought under Governor Gálvez against the British at Fort Bute and Baton Rouge. Isaac, at age 36, remarried to cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Babin and Ursule Landry, at Ascension in May 1782. Their children, born there, included Charles-Pierre in May 1783; Madeleine in November 1785; Osite baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1785[sic]; Barthélémy-Anselme, called Anselme le jeune, baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1787; Isaac, fils born in October 1789 but died at age 6 months in May 1790; and Marie-Constance born in May 1793 but died age 3 1/2 in Ocotober 1797--a dozen children, six sons and six daughters, by two wives, between 1770 and 1793. Isaac, called "2nd Lieut. in the Militia & Chief Steward of the Church" by the recording priest, died at Ascension in June 1794, age 47. Daughters Marie Sophie, Marguerite, Osite, and Madeleine, by both wives, married into the Blanchard, Hutchinson, Landry, and Melançon families, two of them within a week of one another. Five of Isaac's sons also married. One of them created a vigorous line in Ascension Parish, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph-Isaac, by first wife Marie-Rose Melançon, married Anne- or Marie-Marthe, called Marthe, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Blanchard and Marie-Josèphe Landry and widow of Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Landry, at Ascension in May 1792. Their children, born there, included Isaac- or Jean-Colin, called Colin and Colin-Isaac, in February 1792; Isabelle or Élisabeth in October 1794; Marie-Arthémise in October 1795 but, called Artémise, died in Ascension Parish, age 37 (the recording priest said 36), in June 1833; Joseph-Dernon, called Dernon le jeune, born in November 1796; Joseph Édouard, called Édouard, in January 1798; another Marie-Arthémise, also called Arthémise, in March 1799; Marie-Aurelie or -Aureline in August 1800; and Marguerite-Eléonore in October 1801 but, called Marie Léonida, died at age 2 in November 1803--eight children, three sons and five daughters, between 1792 and 1801. Daughters Arthémise, Élisabeth, and Marie Aurelie, married into the Breaux and Tusson families, two of them, Élisabeth and Marie Aurelie, to the same man. Joseph Isaac's sons also married.
Oldest son Isaac Colin married, at age 18, Anne Séraphine, called Séraphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Paul Landry and Marie Françoise Hébert, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in April 1816. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Isaac, fils, also called Isaac Aulime and Aulime, in March 1817; Pierre Émile, called Émile, in February 1819; Joseph-Adélard, called Adélard, born in March 1821 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1822; Anne Désirée, called Désirée, born in March 1823 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1824; Basile Camille, called Camille, born in June 1825; Joseph Carville, also called Clairville and Camille, in August 1827; Félix in July 1829; Françoise Carmélite, called Carmélite, in August 1831; twins Alphonse Amédée and Joseph Amédée posthumously in October 1833, but Joseph Amédée died at 14 months in December 1834, and Alphonse Amédée, called Amédée, at age 35 in January 1769--10 children, eight sons and two daughters, including a set of twins, between 1817 and 1831. Isaac Colin died in Ascension Parish in May 1833, age 41 (the recording priest said 42). Remaining daughter Carmélite married into the Cire or St. Cyr family. Five of Isaac Colin's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Isaac Aulime, called Aulime, married cousin Élisabeth Etelvina, called Etelvina, daughter of fellow Acadians Landry Babin and Marie Louise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in July 1841. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Grégoire Dernon in January 1843; Louise Loudovisca or Lodoiska in August 1845; and Joseph Isaac Alcé baptized at the Paincourtville church, age 2 months, in May 1849 but, called Alcée, died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in August 1852--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1843 and 1849. Daughter Louise Lodoiska married a Babin cousin in Pointe Coupee Parish by 1870. Aulime's remaining son did not marry by then.
Isaac Colin's second son Pierre Émile, called Émile, married first cousin Marie Zulma, daughter of fellow Acadian Édouard LeBlanc and his Creole wife Gertrude Mollère, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1842. He likely was the Émile LeBlanc who died in Ascension Parish in March 1843. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said Émile died at age 23. This Émile would have just turned age 24. His line of the family died with him.
Isaac Colin's fourth son Camille married cousin Marie Onezida dite Nesida, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Theriot and Marie Élisabeth dite Lise Richard, at the Donaldsonville church in November 1851; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Lise, perhaps theirs, died two hours after her birth in October 1852; and Camila born posthumously in December 1853. Camille died in Ascension Parish in November 1853, age 28 1/2. Was he a victim of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana during the summer and fall of 1853? His remaining daughter did not marry by 1870.
Isaac Colin's fifth son Joseph Clairville married Marie Emma, called Emma, daughter of Pierre Cire or St. Cyr and Zoraïde Marois, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1851; Joseph Clairville's sister Carmélite married Marie Emma's brother Théodule. Joseph Clairville and Marie Emma's children, born in Ascension Parish, included François Samuel in September 1852; Louis Alexandre in April 1861 but died in June; Marie Amanda born in September 1855 but died at age 3 in August 1858; Marie Cécile Cire born in November 1857; and Anne Eugène in February 1859--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1852 and 1859. Joseph Clairville died in Ascension Parish in January 1866. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Clarville, as he called him, died at "age 38 years." Joseph Clairville would have been that age, so this probably was him. None of his children married by 1870.
Isaac Colin's sixth son Félix married cousin Aimée Désirée, called Désirée, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Jules Landry and Aimée Blanchard, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1855; they had to secure a dispensation for third and fourth degrees of consanguinity in order to marry. Their son Joseph Émile was born in Ascension Parish in August 1857. Félix may have remarried to Marie Rodriguez, place and time unrecorded. Their son Eugène was born in 1866 and baptized at Donaldsonville, age 2 months, in January 1867; ...
Joseph Isaac's second son Joseph Dernon, called Dernon le jeune, married Marie Delphine, called Delphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph dit Belhomme Landry and his second wife Anne Bujole, at the Donaldson church in May 1817. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Anne Émeline, Hermine, or Hermina, called Hermina, in May 1818; Eugène, perhaps their son, in c1819 but died at age 16 in March 1826; Joseph, also called Lazare Dernon and Dernon, fils, born in September 1820; Denis Valcour in October 1823 but died at age 3 1/2 in June 1827; Thérèse Céleste or Célestine Thérèse born in September 1828 but died at age 1 in September 1829; a newborn son, name unrecorded, died in May 1830; Elvina in the 1830s; Justin Samuel born in September 1834 but died at age 1 in November 1835; and Élisabeth Cécilia, called Cécilia, born in November 1836--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1818 and 1836. Dernon le jeune died in Ascension Parish in November 1837, age 41. Daughters Hermina, Elvina, and Cécilia married into the Blanchard, Lafargue, Rougeau, and Gaudin families, one of them, Hermina, twice. Dernon le jeune's remaining son also married and settled in Ascension Parish, but the line did not endure.
Second son Joseph Dernon, fils, also called Dernon, fils and Lazare Dernon, married Marie Élise, Lise, or Louise, daughter of Marcellin Comes and his Acadian wife Arthémise Breaux, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1841. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Marthe Cécile, called Cécile, in September 1842; Marie Philomène Alice in July 1844; Marie Marguerite Lise in October 1846; and Marie Lore Antonia in June 1849--four children, all daughters, between 1842 and 1849. Dernon, fils died in Ascension Parish in August 1858. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that S. Dernon, as he called him, died at "age 38 years." Daughter Cécile married into the Viallon family by 1870. Dernon, fils fathered no sons, at least none who appear in local church records, so, except perhaps for its blood, his family line evidently died with him.
Joseph Isaac's third and youngest son Joseph Édouard, called Édouard, married cousin Marie Gertrude, called Gertrude, daughter of Louis Mollère and his Acadian wife Anne Landry, at the Donaldson church in February 1821; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Édouard in December 1821 but died at age 11 months in November 1822; Marie Zulma born in August 1823; Jean Adolphe, called Adolphe, in August 1825; Dominique Ernest, called Ernest, baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1827; Marie Gracieuse born September 1829; Marie Ernestine in January 1832; Joseph Édouard, fils in February 1834; Louis Dernon, called Dernon, in May 1836; Narcisse Octave, called Octave, in November 1838; Pierre Émile Amédéo in August 1840; Prosper Alfred in June 1842; and Marie Gertrude posthumously in April 1846--a dozen children, eight sons and four daughters, between 1821 and 1846. Édouard evidently died in Ascension Parish in October 1845. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Édouard died at "age 47 years, 8 months." He would have been that age, so this probably was him. Daughters Marie Zulma, Marie Ernestine, Marie Gracieuse, and Marie Gertrude married into the LeBlanc, Viala, Julian, and Ganel families by 1870. Three of Édouard's sons also married by then. His oldest married son settled in Terrebonne Parish after the War of 1861-65 before returning to the river. His younger sons remained in Ascension Parish.
Second son Jean Adolphe, called Adolphe, married double cousin Marie Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Privat Dernon LeBlanc and Marie Françoise LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1850; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension and Terrebonne parishes, included Marie Odalie in January 1851 but died in July; Léonce Eugène born in June 1852; Vincent Armand Elfége in March 1854; Joseph Egard in May 1856 but, called Joseph Edgar, died at age 3 in April 1859; Marie Odalia, the second with the name, born in March 1858; Marie Zulmé in August 1860; and Marie Marguerite Louisiane in Terrebonne Parish in July 1862 but, called Marguerite, may have died in Ascension Parish, age 1, in August 1863. Wife Marie Marguerite died in Terrebonne Parish, age 28, in late July 1862, perhaps from the rigors of child birth; or she may have been the "Mrs. Adolphe LeBlanc, age 40 years," who died in Ascension Parish in August 1863. Adolphe, at age 43, remarried to Marie or Mary, daughter of William Niles or Wiles and Euphrasie Black and widow of ___ Peiret, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in August 1868. They settled on the river. Their son John Adolpho, fils was born in Ascension Parish in September 1869; ... None of Adolphe's children married by 1870.
Édouard's third son Ernest may have married Marie Élisa or Élisabeth, called Élisa, Éliza, and Lise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Theriot and Marie Élisabeth dite Lise Richard, at the Donaldsonville church in July 1857. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Camille in September 1858; Emanuel Edgar in December 1859 but, called Edgard, died at age 8 1/2 in August 1868; Marie Lisida born in October 1861; Marie Lise Léontine in November 1863 but, called Léontine, died at age 1 1/2 in October 1864; Marie Lorina born in April 1865; Marie Lise, the second, perhaps third, with the name, in October 1867; Marie Olivia in March 1870; ...
Édouard's fifth son Louis Dernon may have married Marie Hortense Ganel, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Louis Octave Olivier in Ascension Parish in July 1867; and Paul Prosper Édouard in April 1869, and two unnamed sons, perhaps Louis Octave Olivier and Paul Prosper Édouard, ages unrecorded, died in Ascension Parish in July and August 1869; ...
Isaac's second son Dernon, by first wife Marie-Rose Melançon, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Richard and Anne Landry, at Ascension in June 1794. Dernon died at Ascension in August 1794, two months after his wedding. The priest who recorded the burial did not give Dernon's age at the time of his death. His family line probably died with him.
Isaac's third son Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, from first wife Marie-Rose Melançon, married cousin Marie-Rosalie, called Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Hébert and Isabelle LeBlanc, at San Gabriel "between Feb. & May 1801." Their children, born on the river, included Marguerite-Irène in March 1802 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1803; another Marguerite-Irène, called Irène, born in December 1803; Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, in August 1805; Jean Baptiste, fils in June 1806 but died at age 4 in August 1811; Joseph Joachim born in April 1809 but may have died at age 1 1/2 in July 1810; Marie Delphine born in January 1811 but died at age 3 1/2 in September 1814; Élisabeth dite Élisa born in November 1813; Jean Baptiste Jule, called Jules, in February 1816 but died at age 6 1/2 in June 1822; Adolphe born in c1818 but died at age 4 in July 1822; Jean Baptiste Adolph born in August 1820; and Sostain or Sosthène in October 1822--11 children, five daughters and six sons, between 1802 and 1822. Jean Baptiste may have died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in November 1823. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give his parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jean Baptiste was "age 50 yrs." when he died. If this was Jean Baptiste à Isaac, he would have been age 45. Daughters Joséphine, Irène, and Élisa married into the Hébert, Payne, and Labauve families. Neither of Baptiste's remaining sons married by 1870, so one wonders if they, unlike their four older brothers, survived childhood. The blood of the family line may have endured.
Isaac's fourth son Charles Pierre, by second wife Maguerite Babin, married Marguerite Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Hyacinthe Landry and Marguerite Landry, at Ascension in January 1804. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Marguerite Carmélite in October 1804; Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, in March 1807 but died at age 3 1/2 in December 1810; Marine Arthémise born in July 1809 but, called Arthémise, died at age 1 1/2 in November 1810; Pierre born in October 1810; Rosémond in October 1813; and Valeno, probably Valéry, in May 1816--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1804 and 1816. Charles Pierre died by October 1819, when wife Adélaïde remarried at Donaldson. Her and Charles Pierre's remaining daughter Marie Marguerite Carmélite married into the Lecoq family by 1870. One of Charles Pierre's sons also married by then.
Third and youngest son Valéry married cousin Léonie or Léonise Apolline, called Apolline, daughter of fellow Acadians Landry Babin and Marie Louise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1835. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included a newborn son, name unrecorded, died three days after his birth in September 1836; Marie Gertrude born in March 1838; Marie Aglaé in November1839 but, called Aglaé, died at age 1 in September 1840; Marguerite Félicie, perhaps called Félicie or Félécie, born in August 1841; and Arthur Félicien in August 1844--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1836 and 1844. Valéry may have died in Ascension Parish in April 1869. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valéry died at "age ca. 55 years." He may have been a couple of years younger. Daughter Félécie may have married into the Gonzales family by 1870. Valéry's remaining son also married by then, after his war service.
During the War of 1861-65, younger son Arthur Félicien may have served in Company E of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. If so, he survived the war and returned to his family. Arthur Félicien married cousin Fidelise, daughter of fellow Acadians Arsène Hébert and Euphrosie Gaudin, at the Donaldsonville church in 1865; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Alexine in July 1865; Joseph Albert in March 1867; Valérie Léa in January 1869 but, called Valerine Léa, died at age 1 1/2 in July 1870; ...
Isaac's fifth son Barthélémy Anselme, called Anselme le jeune, from second wife Marguerite Babin, married Marie Lena Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Blanchard and Marie Madeleine Bujole and widow of Paul Sylvain LeBlanc, at the Donaldson church in February 1810. Their daughter Arthémise was born in Ascension Parish in November 1811. Barthélémy remarried to Anne dite Nanette, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Landry and his Creole wife Anne Moreau, at the Donaldson church in May 1817. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Rosémond in March 1818; and Pierre Barthélémy posthumously in February 1820--three children, a daughter and two sons, by two wives, between 1811 and 1820. Barthélémy died in Ascension Parish in January 1820, age 33. Daughter Arthémise, by his first wife, married into the Fautelet family by 1870. One of his sons also married by then.
Older son Rosémond, by second wife Nanette Landry, married Gracieuse, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Breaux and Françoise Landry, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in June 1839. Their son Édouard was born near St. Gabriel in April 1840. Rosémond remarried to cousin Victoire, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Hébert and Victoire LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church in March 1845. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Pierre Adonis, called Adonis, in December 1845; Joseph Livaudais in October 1847; Marie Élisabeth in July 1849 but, unnamed, evidently died near St. Gabriel at age 2 in June 1851; and twins Joseph Olivar and Marie Olivia born in March 1851--six children, four sons and two daughters, including a set of twins, by two wives, between 1840 and 1851. Rosémond may have died in Iberville Parish in September 1867. The St. Gabriel priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give Rosémond's age at the time of his death. This Rosémond would have been age 49. His remaining daughter did not marry by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Second son Adonis, by second wife Victoire Hébert, married Mélanie Athalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Trasimond Richard and his Creole wife Uranie Pujol, at the St. Gabriel church in March 1870. ...
Désiré's third son Jérôme followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer and married cousin Marie-Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Landry and Marie-Josèphe Bourg and widow of Thomas Comes, probably at Ascension in the 1770s. Jérôme served as third sergeant in Verret's company of the Acadian Coast militia in 1779 and probably participated in Governor Gálvez's offensive against the British at Fort Bute and Baton Rouge that autumn. In June 1788, Jérôme, along with cousin Claude LeBlanc, clashed with Ascension Commandant Louis Judice over levee maintenance. Jérôme's infant son, name unrecorded, died at Ascension in December 1788. Jérôme died at Ascension in April 1789, age 40. His family line probably died with him.
Désiré's fourth son Désiré, fils followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer. He was counted with them at Ascension, age 17, in August 1770 and may not have married.
Désiré, père's fifth son Benjamin followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer and married cousin Marie-Rose, called Rose or Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Babin and Osite LeBlanc, at Ascension in July 1790. Their children, born there, included Anne-Marie dite Marie-Manette in May 1791; Ignace-Baptiste in October 1795 but died a day after his birth; Benjamin-Désiré, called Désiré le jeune, born in November 1796; Adélaïde in December 1797; Narcisse in January 1800 but died at age 1 1/2 in September 1801; Joseph born in March 1801; another Narcisse in May 1802 but died at age 1 1/2 in December 1803; and Benjamin, fils born in May 1803 but died the day after his birth--eight children, two daughters and six sons, between 1791 and 1803. Benjamin, père died in Ascension Parish in February 1804, age 44. Daughter Anne Marie dite Marie Manette married into the Dupony or Dupouille and Ayrard or Ayraud families. Benjamin's remaining sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Benjamin Désiré, called Désiré le jeune, married cousin Marguerite Phelonise, called Phelonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Dugas and Madeleine Babin, at the Donaldson church in June 1817. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Benjamin le jeune in March 1818 but may have died at age 4 1/2 in October 1822; Rosalie born in September 1820; Madeleine Adeline in June 1823; Théodule in the 1820s; Joseph Théodore in October 1827; and Trasimond in January 1830 but died at age 3 1/2 in July 1833--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1818 and 1830. Désiré le jeune died in Ascension Parish in April 1837. The priest who recorded the burial said that Désiré was age 42 when he died. He was 40. Daughters Rosalie and Madeleine Adeline married into the Lessard and Hébert families. Désiré le jeune's remaining sons also married.
Second son Théodule married Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadian Derosier Breaux and his Creole wife Madeleine Denoux, at the St. Gabriel church in August 1857. They lived on the river near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Mathieu Théodule in September 1858 but died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in March 1864; Rigobert Olim Théodule born in January 1861; Madeleine Évee in November 1862; Jules Ovide in June 1864; ...
Désiré le jeune's third son Joseph Théodore married Aurelie, Amelie, Amelia, Émelie, or Emelia, daughter of Christophe Webre and Félicie Rome, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in August 1848. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Désiré in August 1849; Pierre Christophe in April 1852; Philonise Althée in June 1854; Federick, perhaps Frédéric, Hubert in April 1856; Marie Elmire in May 1858; Joseph Talisma in April 1860; Michel Ernest in February 1863; Christine Arcilia in January 1865; Marie Émelia in October 1868; Benjamin Constant in December 1870; ... None of Joseph Théodore's children married by 1870.
Benjamin's fourth son Joseph married cousin Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babin and Anne Duhon, at the Donaldson church in February 1822. She evidently gave him no children. Joseph remarried to cousin Marguerite, 26-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Babin and Marie Françoise Landry and widow of Edmond Bujole, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1825. Their daughter Marguerite, also Marie, Noémie was born in Ascension Parish in November 1825. Joseph, at age 56, remarried again--his third marriage--to Elmire, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Landry and Françoise Hébert and widow of Adolphe Bourdier, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1858. Did she give him anymore children? Daughter Marie Noémie, by his second wife, married an Ayraud cousin. Evidently Joseph fathered no sons by any of his wives, but the blood of the family line may have endured.
Désiré, père's sixth son Anselme followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer and married cousin Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Vincent-Ephrem Babin and Marguerite LeBlanc, at Ascension in December 1784. Their children, born there, included Grégoire le jeune, called Sifroi, baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1788; Marie-Judith, called Judith, born in October 1792; and Jacques-Valéry, also called Valéry-Anselme, in December 1794--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1788 and 1794. Anselme died at Ascension in February 1797, age 35. Daughter Judith married into the Blanchard family. Anselme's sons also married, but neither of the lines endured.
Older son Sifroi married first cousin Anne Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne LeBlanc and Osite LeBlanc of St. James Parish, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldson church in January 1809; they had to secure dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included a "newborn," name and unrecorded, died in July 1810; and a son, name and age unrecorded, died in August 1811. Wife Céleste died in Ascension Parish in September 1813, age 27. Sifroi died in Ascension Parish in March 1816, age 28. His family line died with him.
Anselme's younger son Jacques Valéry, also called Valéry Anselme, married Euphrosine, daughter of Pierre Gaillard, also called Denoux, and Louise Lagrange, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1816. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Euphrasine Anne in May 1817; Anselme Valéri in July 1819 but, called Valéry Anselm, died at age 6 (the recording priest said "6 or 10 yrs.") in July 1825; Victor born in c1820 but died at age 13 in June 1833; Marie Émilie born in July 1822; Sifroi Dufossat in January 1825 but died at age 1 in April 1826; Marie born in October 1827; Marie Aima or Emma Valéry in February 1830; Madeleine Eudolie in January 1832; a son, perhaps theirs, name unrecorded, died three days after his birth in September 1836; and Marie Elmire born in November 1837 but, called Elmire, died at age 2 1/2 in May 1840--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1817 and 1837. Valéry Anselme died in Ascension Parish in August 1853. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valéry Anselme, as he called him, died at "age 59 years." He was 58. Daughters Émelie and Marie Emma married into the Rivet, Landry, and Webre families, one of them, Émelie, twice, by 1870. None of Valéry's sons survived childhood, so except perhaps for its blood, the family line did not endure.
Désiré, père's seventh and youngest son Grégoire married Marie-Anne-Barbe, called Barbe, daughter perhaps of fellow Acadians Olivier Babin and Marie Breau, at Ascension in April 1787. Their children, born there, included Désiré le jeune baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1788; Marie-Clémence, called Clémence, born in August 1790; Privat-Bernon or -Dernon in August 1792; Rosémond in July 1794; Angèle in July 1796; Catherine died, age unrecorded, in October 1797; Toussaint dit Lessaint or Jean-Baptiste-Lessin, called Lessin, born in August 1798; Marie-Hortense in September 1799; Geralde, a daughter, in the early 1800s; and Léon Narcisse in September 1805--10 children, five sons and five daughters, between 1788 and 1805. Grégoire died in Ascension Parish in May 1824. The priest who recorded the burial said that Grégoire was age 50 when he died. He was closer to 55. Daughters Clémence, Geralde, and Marie Hortense married into the Landry, Comes, Comeaux, and Gaillard families. All five of Grégoire's sons married, one of them three times, another one twice. Not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Désiré le jeune married cousin Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Lanoux and Catherine LeBlanc, at the Donaldson church in December 1810. An unnamed son, perhaps theirs, was born in c1817 but died in Ascension Parish, age 5, in October 1822. Did they have anymore children? Désiré le jeune died in Ascension Parish in December 1853. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Désiré died at "age 65 years." His family line evidently died with him.
Grégoire's second son Privat Dernon married, at age 40, cousin Marie Françoise, 40-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marguerite Gaudin of St. James Parish and widow of Célestin Prejean, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1832. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Grégoire, called Grégoire le jeune, in May 1833; and Marie Marguerite, called Marguerite, in April 1835. Wife Marie died in Ascension Parish in April 1846, age 54. Privat died in Ascension Parish in March 1858. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Private, as he called him, died at "age 65 years." Daughter Marie Marguerite married a LeBlanc cousin. Privat's son also married a cousin.
Only son Grégoire le jeune married cousin Mathilde, daughter of Hubert Comes and his Acadian wife Gertrude LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1860. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Louis Léon in March 1861 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1863; Joseph Charles born in November 1862; Just Henri in March 1866 but, called Henri, died the following September; Joseph Artur born in August 1867; Marie died at age 3 days in March 1870; ...
Grégoire's third son Rosémond married Marie Clothilde, called Clothilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Bujole and Marie Bourg, at the Donaldson church in November 1816. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Eugène in September 1817; and Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in May 1819. Rosémond remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Landry and Marie Josèphe Blanchard, at the Donaldsonville church in November 1826. She evidently gave him no more children. Rosémond remarried again--his third marriage--to Émilie, daughter of Michel Migaud and his Acadian wife Rosalie Hébert, at the Donaldsonville church in October 1830. Daughter Carmélite, by his first wife, married into the Scott, Melançon, and Landry families. His son evidently did not marry, so the family line, except perhaps for its blood, did not endure.
Grégoire's fourth son Toussaint dit Lessaint or Jean Baptiste Lessin, called Lessin, married Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Gravois and Marie Bourg, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1823. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Élisabeth in November 1823 but died 17 days after her birth; Jean Baptiste Lessin, fils born in July 1825; and a son, name and age unrecorded, died in November 1827. Lessin remarried to Céleste Eugénie, called Eugénie, daughter of Benjamin Borne and Rose Aimée Laurent, at the Donaldsonville church in October 1829. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Numa, called Numa, in March 1831; Rose Élize in September 1833 but, called Marie Élize, died at age 1 1/2 in February 1835; Pierre Félix born in February 1836 but died in March; Marie Cécilia or Cécile born in January 1838; Marie Adolphina or Adolphine, called Adolphine, in November 1839; Euphémie Aimée in February 1844; Marie Athenaise born in November 1847 but died two days after her birth; Jean Baptiste born in July 1857; and a child, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died in Ascension Parish, age 2 days, in January 1859--a dozen children, at least six daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1823 and 1859. In the late 1850s, Lessin was working as "a carpenter at Bringiers," a large sugar plantation in Ascension Parish. Lessin died in Ascension Parish in June 1864, age 65. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Marie Adolphine and Marie Cécile, by his second wife, married into the Picou, Allemand, Caballero, and Guidry families by 1870. One of Lessin's sons also married by then.
Third son Numa, by second wife Eugénie Borne, married Justine or Justina, daughter of Pierre Oubre and his Acadian wife Justine Guidry, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1856. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Atala in May 1858; Pierre René in March 1860; Anne Metella in February 1862; Joseph Numa, fils in October 1864; ...
Grégoire's fifth and youngest son Léon Narcisse married Euphémie Delia or Delia Euphémie, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Raymond Breaux and Rosalie Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1825. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Léonard in February 1826 but died at age 10 1/2 in June 1836; Joseph Camille born in January 1828 but, called Camille, died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 7) in October 1832; Jules Norbert born in June 1830 but died at age 6 in June 1836; Joseph Auguste born in May 1832; Marie Léontine in July 1834; Pierre Hercule in November 1837 but, called Hercule, died at age 11 months in 1838; Marie Rosalie Armantine born in October 1839; Marie Augustine, called Augustine, in July 1843; twins Joseph Léon and Marie Léontine, the second with the name, in April 1846, but Joseph Léon died the following June; Joseph Adam Arthur born in January 1849 but, called Joseph Adam, died at age 4 in March 1853; and Louis Benjamin born in November 1855 but died at age 9 months in August 1856--11 children, seven sons and four daughters, including a set of twins, between 1826 and 1855. Léon died in Ascension Parish in December 1858. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Léon died at "age 53 years," so this probably was him. Daughters Léontine and Augustine married Comes and Landry cousins by 1870. Léon's remaining son did not marry by then.
Jean-Pierre (1726-1770s) à Jean à Jacques à Daniel LeBlanc
Jean-Pierre, called Pierre, second son of Pierre LeBlanc and Anne Thériot, born at Grand-Pré in April 1726, perhaps a twin, married cousin Osite, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Melanson and Madeleine LeBlanc of Grand-Pré, probably at Minas in c1752. The British deported them to Maryland in the fall of 1755. Osite gave Jean-Pierre three children in the Chesapeake colony: Isaac born in c1761; Joseph dit Josime in c1762; and Hélène in c1765. The couple with their two sons appeared on a French repatriation list at Snow Hill on the colony's Eastern Shore in July 1763. Jean-Pierre, Osite, and their three children, two sons and a daughter, emigrated to Louisiana in 1766. Osite evidently was pregnant on the voyage. Another son, Simon, was born at Cabahannocer in c1767--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1761 and 1767, in Maryland and Louisiana. Spanish officials counted the family, including Osite's widowed mother, on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer in September 1769. Jean-Pierre died probably at Cabahanncer in the 1770s, and Osite remarried to an Acadian Bourgeois. Her and Jean-Pierre's daughter Hélène married a Bourgeois stepbrother. All three of Jean-Pierre's sons married, but not all of the lines endured. Two remained on the river, where one of the lines endured. The middle son moved on to the western prairies during the late colonial period and created a vigorous line there.
Oldest son Isaac followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where, in his late 20s, he married Marie-Anne, 23-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Arceneaux and Marie Bergeron, in November 1789. Marie-Anne was a native of Cabahannocer whose parents had come to Louisiana with the Broussards from Halifax in 1765. Isaac and Marie-Anne's children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Aemondo in November 1790; Jean-Baptiste-Stanislas, called Stanislas, in May 1792; Anselme in c1793; Céleste or Célestine, baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1794 but died at age 4 1/2 in January 1800; Sosthène born in October 1796 but died at age 40 near Convent, St. James Parish, in October 1836; Dominique born in August 1797; twins Casimir and Marie-Justine in December 1799, but Marie Justine died at age 5 1/2 in July 1805; Sébastien dit Bastien born in c1801; Étienne in c1802 and baptized, age 1, in December 1803; Sylvestre born in December 1803; Nicolas in May 1805; Semer in April 1808; and Isaac, fils near Convent, St. James Parish, in December 1809--14 children, 12 sons and two daughters, including a set of twins, between 1790 and 1809. Isaac, père died in St. James Parish in January 1810. The priest who recorded the burial said that Isaac, "nat. Angleterre (New England)," was age 61 when he died. He was closer to 49. Neither of his daughters survived childhood. Five of his sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Jean Baptiste Stanislas, called Stanislas, married Marie Constance Antoinette, called Constance, 19-year-old daughter of Pierre Bruneau or Bruno and Marie Salome, at the Convent church in May 1819. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Aglaé in April 1820; Adolphe in January 1822; Marie Lizida in January 1824; Joseph Clairville in October 1825 but died at age 2 1/2 in August 1828; Marie Scholastique born in February 1828; and Elvina in December 1829--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1820 and 1829. Did any of their children marry by 1870? Did the family leave South Louisiana, or the Pelican State, and Stanislas's children married elsewhere?
Isaac's third son Anselme married Eugénie, daughter of Nicolas Saurage or Sorage and Marie Tircuit, at the Convent church in March 1835. Their son Arsène Amédée was born near Convent in September 1835 but did not marry by 1870.
Isaac's fifth son Dominique married Eugénie, daughter of Ambroise Haydel and Marie Frederick of St. John the Baptist Parish, at the Convent church in February 1819. She evidently gave him no children, at least none who survived infancy. Dominique remarried to Arthémise, daughter of Abraham Rome and Jeanne Bodouine, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in February 1821. Their son Dominique, fils was born near Convent in January 1824 but died at age 3 1/2 in November 1827. Dominique remarried again--his third marriage--to cousin Marie Perosine, called Perosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Bourgeois and Hélène LeBlanc, at the Convent church in January 1831. Their children, born near Convent, included Philippe Désiré, called Désiré, in May 1831; Louis Martin died at age 2 months in March 1834; and Marcellin born in January 1836--three children, all sons, between 1831 and 1836. One of Dominique's sons married by 1870.
Second son Philippe Désiré, called Désiré, from third wife Perosine Bourgeois, "res. New Orleans," married cousin Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Auguste Bourgeois and Scholastique Duhon of St. James Parish, at the St. James church in June 1854. They settled near Vacherie, St. James Parish. Daughter Marie Alcidie was born there in 1866; ...
Isaac's sixth son Casimir, a twin, may have married Marie Orellia, called Orellia, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Sonnier and his Creole wife Josette Percle, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in March 1849. If this was him, Casimir was age 49 at the time of the wedding, so one might wonder if this was not him but another Casimir LeBlanc of St. James Parish. Did they have any children?
Isaac's seventh son Sébastien dit Bastien married Charlotte, also called Corinne, daughter of Jean Loque or Louque and Marie Cambre, at the Convent church in July 1830. Their children, born near Convent, included Elvana in November 1831 but died at age 2 in January 1834; Terence born in 1833 and baptized at the Convent church, age 14 months, in August 1834 but died in September; Auguste born in April 1836; Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, in May 1837; Alexandre in January 1839; and Joseph Théodule in December 1840--six children, two daughters and four sons, between 1831 and 1840. Bastien died near Convent in August 1841. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Bastien died at "age 40 yrs." Remaining daughter Eugénie married into the St. Pierre family. One of Bastien's sons also married by 1870.
Second son Auguste married, at age 30, cousin Helena, daughter of Octave Roussel and Clorine St. Pierre, at the Convent church in April 1866; they had to secure a dispensation for second and third degrees of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included a son, name unrecorded, born in c1867 but died near Convent, age 3, in July 1870; Marie Léontine born in August 1869; ...
Jean-Pierre's second son Joseph dit Josime followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer. During the late 1770s or early 1780s, after he came of age, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and, at age 22, married Marguerite, 20-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Duhon and Marie-Josèphe Prejean, at Attakapas in August 1784. Their children, born on the prairies, included Rosalie in October 1785; another Rosalie in December 1786; Scholastique dite Scolastie in October 1789; and Clotilde in c1792 but died at age 6 in October 1798. At age 38, Josime remarried to Marguerite, daughter of André Bernard, père, not a fellow Acadian but a German Creole, and Marguerite Ledlemaire, probably Edelmayer, of the German Coast and widow of Joseph Roy, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in January 1801. They lived on the river for a while and then resettled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born on the river and the lower Teche, included Éloi at Cabahannocer in December 1801; Joseph in September 1804 and baptized at Attakapas the following June; Valéry born at Fausse Pointe in October 1806; Aspasie in c1807 but died at age 3 in January 1810; Marguerite Erasie born in July 1808; and Marguerite in April 1810--10 children, seven daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1785 and 1810. Josime died at his home at Fausse Pointe in March 1812. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph, "native of Acadie, living at La Fausse Pointe," died "at age 52 years," so this probably was him, though he was a native of Maryland, not "Acadie." His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in April. Unlike Josime's burial record, his succession recorded his wife's name and gave the names and ages of his children. Daughters Rosalie and Scholastique, by his first wife, married into the Bourgeois, Theriot, LeBlanc, and Guenot families; both married twice, one, Rosalie, in St. James Parish on the river. Josime's three sons also married and settled in Lafayette Parish.
Oldest son Éloi, by second wife Marguerite Bernard, followed his family to the prairies and married cousin Marie Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of Jean Louis Langlinais and his Acadian wife Céleste LeBlanc of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in February 1821. Their children, born on the prairies, included Célestine in April 1822; Éloi, fils in c1824 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1, in January 1825; Arvain, Arven, Arvène, Irvaine, or Arsène born in October 1825; Césaire in late 1827 and baptized at age 5 months in April 1828; Dalmace, Dermance, Darmas, Dermas, Armas, or Ermas born in May 1831; Villcor, perhaps also called Vileor, in c1833 and baptized at age 2 in January 1835; and Joseph Mondreaux or Monroe born in c1839 and baptized at age 1 in January 1840--seven children, a daughter and six sons, between 1822 and 1839. Daughter Célestine married into the Porter family. Éloi's six sons also married.
Oldest son Éloi, fils married Marie Dulcine, called Dulcine, daughter of Leufroi Maillard and his Acadian wife Marguerite Landry, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in July 1856. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Éloi Olivier in April 1857; Zoée Cora in April 1859; Olive Blanche in September 1861; Marie Annile in May 1864; Léo in February 1867; and Joseph posthumously in August 1869--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1857 and 1869. Éloi, fils died near Abbeville in June 1869. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Éloi died "at age 45 yrs.," so this was him. None of his children married by 1870.
Éloi, père's second son Arsène or Arvène married Ernestine, daughter of Charles Baudoin and his Acadian wife Julie Mouton, at the Vermilionville church in June 1845. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Amelie probably in the late 1840s; Jean Sevènne, called Sevènne probably in the late 1840s; twins Artémise and Éloi le jeune in February 1855; Laura in March 1856; Odile in July 1858; Laurent Beauregard in August 1861; Ernestine in June 1865; Félix Arvène in March 1868; ... Daughter Amelie married a Baudoin cousin by 1870. One of Arsène's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Jean Sevènne married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadian Théodule Guidry and his German Creole wife Célestine Touchet, at the Abbeville church in August 1867. Their son Lucas was born near Abbeville in September 1869; ...
Éloi, père's third son Cesaire may have married fellow Acadian Ezilda Broussard at the Abbeville church in October 1861. ...
Éloi, père's fourth son Dermance married Émilie, Amélie, or Amelia, daughter of Joseph Viator and Palmire Miguez, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in December 1852. Their children, born on the lower Teche and the prairies, included Odille, likely a daughter, near New Iberia in October 1853; Joseph Seville near Abbeville in March 1855; Joseph Albert near New Iberia in August 1856; Jean Baptiste Odéon in March 1858; Marie Palmire near New Iberia in February 1861; ... None of their children married by 1870.
Éloi, père's fifth son Villcor may have married Onésime[sic], a daughter of perhaps fellow Acadian Onésime Boudreaux, place and date unrecorded. Their son Fernest was born near Abbeville in August 1856; ...
Éloi, père's sixth and youngest son Joseph Mondreaux, called Joseph M. by the recording priest, married fellow Acadian Marie Pamela Hébert at the Abbeville church in January 1860. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Joseph Nicoise in December 1860; Victor in July 1862; ...
Josime's second son Joseph, fils, by second wife Marguerite Bernard, married cousin Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Trahan and Marie Éloise LeBlanc, probably in St. Martin Parish in the early 1820s. Their children, born on the prairies, included Émile in October 1824 but died at age 6 1/2 in August 1831; Clémentine baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 months, in September 1826 but died at age 5 1/2 in August 1831; Euphémine born in c1828 and baptized at age 1 in October 1829; Joseph III baptized at age 6 months in June 1831; Séverin baptized at age 2 1/2 months in April 1833; Zelmire, a daughter, baptized at age 3 months in November 1836; Pele, called Perry, born in August 1838; Jean Alcide, called Alcide, in September 1840; and Ernest in December 1846--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1824 and 1846. According to a history of Vermilion Parish, "Joseph LeBlanc was an extensive planter and a prominent citizen of Vermilion Parish. In 1843, Joseph sold forty acres of property to Père Megre[t], which now comprises the center of Abbeville," named for the abbé, a native of France, "including the St. Mary Magdalene Church property, the Courthouse and Magdalene Square. The first Catholic Chapel was formed in Joseph LeBlanc's home, located on Vermilion River where St. Mary Magdalene Church now stands." None of Joseph, fils's daughters seems to have married by 1870. Four of his sons did marry by then. His third son, like his father, was influential in his community.
Second son Joseph III married Marie Hermance, Hermanie, or Ermonee, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Émile Bernard and Marie Joséphine Comeaux, at the Abbeville church in April 1856. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Eugénie in December 1858; Joseph Gilles in September 1861; Numa Firmin in September 1863; Optat in November 1867; Gilbert Claude in April 1870; ...
Joseph, fils's third son Séverin, according to one of his daughters, "pursued his studies in the local schools of Vermilion Parish acquiring a reasonable education in both French and English." He married, at age 20, Léontine Blanchet, place unrecorded, in July 1853. Their children, born in Vermilion Parish, included Joseph in December [1854]; Firmin Onésiphore in September 1856; Séverin, fils in May 1858; Marie Regina in December 1859 but, called Regina, died at age 3 in October 1862; Pierre Lucius born in February 1862; Jean Alcide in February 1864; Hippolyte Aurelie in September 1865; Jules Olivier in May 1867; Carmélite in March 1869; ...--11 children in all. Wife Léontine died in Vermilion Parish in January 1891. At age 65, Sévertin remarried to Octavie, daughter and only child of Albert D. LaBorde of Toulouse, France, and Athenais Hardy of Abbeville, at Abbeville in March 1898. Their children, born there, included LaBorde J., who settled in St. Louis, Missiouri; Carmen (author of her father's historical sketch), who married Lewis H. Wood of Abbeville; and Bell, who married Leonard J. Toups of Thibodaux. During his long life, Séverin, according to his daughter Carmen, "served as a member of the Vermilion Parish School Board for a number of years. He was a Conservative Democrat and never sought political preferments, steadfastly refusing any political favor[!]." According to Carmen, her father "served during the Civil War as First Lieutenant in Fournet's Batallion[sic], Company F," the Yellow Jackets Battalion, raised in St. Martin Parish, though no extant Confederate service record bears his name. "Mr. LeBlanc moved to Abbeville in late 1897," the daughter goes on, "building a new home on Charity Street, one block east of the Courthouse. At this time he turned over the management of his plantation to his son, Rom?[sic] LeBlanc. For many years Severin was the largest cotton planter in Vermilion Parish. His plantation was located about ten miles northwest of Abbeville consisting of 1,515 acres, on which stood a large cotton gin and commissary. The plantation home still stands [in the 1980s] and is a fine example of the homes of that era. In late 1906, Séverin LeBlanc," now in his early 70s, "sold his plantation to Alcee LeBlanc," perhaps fifth son Jean Alcide. "In April of 1982, the plantation home ... was entered into the National Register of Historical Places for its historical significance.... Upon moving to Abbeville, Mr. LeBlanc entered the general mercantile business located on State Street next door to the First National Bank. He served as a member of the original Board of Directors of the Planter's Rice Mill. He was one of the founders of the Bank of Vermilion, organized in 1900, which was re-organized as the First National Bank in 1902. He was the first President of both of these banks, serving as President of the latter bank until 1905." He died at Abbeville in February 1907, age 74. None of his sons by his first wife Léontine married by 1870. According to his daughter, "several of the sons were involved in agriculture and banking and mercantile businesseses. One son was a physician, one a judge, and another a member of the Louisiana Legislature and Mayor of Abbeville."
Joseph, fils's fourth son Perry married cousin Elomire or Éloise, daughter of James Dillon and his Acadian wife Élisa LeBlanc, at the Abbeville church in October 1858. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Élizée in July 1859; Clarisse Elina in December 1861; ...
Joseph, fils's fifth son Alcide married Marie Éliza or Elysia, daughter of fellow Acadians Ursin Joseph Bernard and Sylvanie Comeaux, at the Abbeville church in September 1866. Their children, born near Abbeville, include Marie Edita in July 1867; Marie Léonie in September 1869; ...
Josime's third and youngest son Valéry, by second wife Marguerite Bernard, married cousin Carmélite, another daughter of Charles Trahan and Marie Éloise LeBlanc, at the Vermilionville church in July 1825. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Urasie in May 1826 but died at age 9 1/2 in January 1836; Anastasie born in late 1827 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 months, in April 1828 but died at age 10 months in August; Désiré Valéry born in 1829 and baptized at age 5 months in January 1830; Célima baptized at age 4 months in July 1832; Lezima born in April 1834; Césaire baptized at age 3 months in November 1836; and Loise born in February 1839--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1826 and 1839. Valéry died in Lafayette Parish in November 1839. The priest who recorded the burial said that Valéry was age 30 when he died. He was 33. His remaining daughters did not marry by 1870, if they married at all. One, perhaps two, of his sons married.
Older son Désiré Valéry married Marie Clara, called Clara, daughter of fellow Acadians Ursin Joseph Bernard and Sylvanie Comeaux, at the Abbeville church in May 1854. Their children, born on the prairies, included Louisa near Abbeville in February 1855; Louis Hasan in March 1857; Mero Valéry in February 1861; Euphémon in April 1862; Arthur in January 1865; Joseph Gustave in July 1867; Marie Emma near Youngsville in May 1870; ... None of Désiré's children married by 1870.
Valéry's younger son Césaire may have married fellow Acadian Ezilda Broussard at the Abbeville church in October 1861. ...
Jean-Pierre's third and youngest son Simon may have married fellow Acadian Marie Michel at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in October 1787. Their son Simon, fils, born at Cabahannocer in December 1788, died there at age 9 1/2 in October 1798, so the family line may not have endured.
Pierre (c1731-?) à ? à Daniel LeBlanc
Pierre LeBlanc, born probably at Minas in c1731, was exiled to Maryland in the fall of 1755. He married fellow Acadian Anne Landry probably in Maryland in the late 1750s. She gave him at least three children in the Chesapeake colony: Anne-Rose or Rose-Anne, called Rose, born in c1759; Simon probably in the early 1760s; and Ludivine by July 1763. The couple and their three children appeared on a repatriation list at Oxford on Maryland's Eastern Shore in July 1763. In 1766, daughter Rose was the only child still with them, so the others, still young, probably had died. Pierre took his family to Louisiana in 1766 and settled at Cabahannocer, where Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river in September 1769. The following August they were counted on the same side of the river at nearby Ascension, where they were counted again in April 1777. Anne gave Pierre more children on the river, including Sylvain born in c1770; Jacques in March 1773 but died the following September; and Marie-Louise-Divine born in September 1774--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1759 and 1774, in Maryland and Louisiana. Daughters Rose and Marie-Louise-Divine married into the Dugas, LeBlanc, and Landry families. Pierre's remaining son married, but, except perhaps for its blood, the line did not endure.
Second son Sylvain married cousin Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Babin, at Ascension in February 1791. Their children, born there, included Marie-Clémentine or -Clémence in January 1792; Louis-Michel in September 1793 but died at age 21 in April 1815; Marie-Madeleine born in March 1795; Benjamin-Elmosen in April 1796 but, called Benjamin-Hermogène, died in Ascension Parish, age 37 (the recording priest said 38), in July 1833; Henriette in January 1798 but died at age 29 (the recording priest said 30) in May 1827; Humbert or Hubert born in November 1799; Marguerite in July 1801; and Claude in February 1803 but died "an infant."--eight children, four daughters and four sons, between 1792 and 1803. Wife Rosalie died at Ascension in March 1803, age 31, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Sylvain did not remarry. Called Sylvaire by the recording priest, Sylvain may have died near Convent, St. James Parish, in October 1831, age 62, or, more likely, he was the Silvain LeBlanc who died in Ascension Parish, "age ca. 63," in January 1834. Daughters Marie Clémence and Marguerite married into the Gaudin and Gautreaux families. One of Sylvain's sons also married, but the line did not endure.
Third son Humbert or Hubert married Marcellite Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Simon Landry and Marguerite Babin, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in April 1825. Their daughter Marie Uranie, called Uranie, was born in Ascension Parish in February 1826. Hubert, called Ubert, died in Ascension Parish in June 1826, age 26. Daughter Uranie married into the Desnoyer family. Except perhaps for its blood, Hubert's family line died with him.
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More LeBlancs--26 of them, including three more families, one of them led by a widow, and a number of wives and orphans--reached New Orleans from Baltimore, Maryland, via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, in July 1767. Spanish officials insisted that these Maryland exiles, 213 of them, settle not at Cabahannocer or on the western prairies but at San Gabriel d'Iberville, a new Acadian community on the river below Baton Rouge south of Bayou Manchac. The new arrivals, after protesting to Spanish Governor Ulloa, agreed to the arrangement when they realized that San Gabriel was not far upriver from Cabahannocer, where many of their kinsmen had settled. Five more LeBlanc family lines came of it, on the river and out on the western prairies:
Bonaventure (1734?-1811) à André? à Daniel LeBlanc
Bonaventure, perhaps second son of Jacques LeBlanc and his second wife Marguerite Labauve, born at Minas in November 1734, married Marie Thériot probably at Minas in the early 1750s. She gave him two children there: Joseph dit Adonis or Adons born in c1751; and Anne in c1753. The British deported the family to Maryland in the fall of 1755. Marie gave Bonaventure more children there: Marie-Madeleine born in c1757; and Esther in c1761. In July 1763, the couple appeared on a repatriation list at Baltimore with a son, three daughters, and a Richard orphan. Another son, Hyacinthe or Isaac, was born soon after the listing--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1751 and 1763, in greater Acadia and Maryland. The couple came to Louisiana with their five children in 1767 and remained at San Gabriel, where they had no more children. Bonavenuture died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in October 1811. The priest who recorded the burial said that Bonaventure was age 80 when he died. He probably was closer to 76. Daughters Anne, Marie-Madeleine, and Esther married into the Landry, Babin, Culere or Dulaire, Biven, Rivet, Goudeau, Longuépée, and Dubois families. Marie-Madeleine married three times and Esther four times, and they outlived all of their husbands. Both of Bonaventure's sons also married, but one of the lines did not endure.
Older son Joseph dit Adons followed his family to Maryland, was counted with them at Baltimore in July 1763, and followed them to New Orleans and San Gabriel, where he married Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Landry and Anne Flan of Minas, in the late 1760s or early 1770s. Spanish officials counted them on the "right bank, ascending," or east bank of the river, at San Gabriel in March 1777. Their children, born there, included Marguerite in January 1773; Rosalie or Rose baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1774; Marine dite Marinette born in January 1776; Marie-Élise, Éloise, Héloise, or Louise baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1777; Joseph, fils born in October 1778; Adélaïde dite Délaïde in the late 1770s; Simon baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1780; Élisa in the early 1780s; Marguerite-Apolline born in February 1782; Augustin, also called Auguste, in May 1783 but died near St. Gabriel, age 46 (the recording priest said 44), in July 1829; Jean-Baptiste-Joseph born in April 1785; Joseph-Béloni or Bénoni, called Béloni, in c1788 but died "at la prairie Gros Chevreuil" between Grande Pointe on the upper Teche and the Atchafalaya Basin, age 38, in July 1826 (his succession, listing no heirs, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in September); Anne died an infant in September 1790; Étienne-Édouard, called Édouard, born in July 1794; an infant, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died four days after his/her birth in July 1805; Eugène, perhaps their son, born in c1810 but died at age 16 in March 1826; and Pierre Dalcantasa, perhaps their son, baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1818--17 children, at least eight daughters and eight sons, between 1773 and 1818. Joseph dit Adons may have died near St. Gabriel in March 1824, in his early 70s. Daughters Rose, Délaïde, Élisa, Marinette, Éloise, and Marguerite married into the Gareuil, Hébert, Babin, Arceneaux, and LeBlanc families. Four of Adons's sons married, two of them to first cousins, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Simon married cousin Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon-Joseph Dupuis and Ludivine Landry, at San Gabriel in August 1801. Their children, born there, included Euphrosine-Arthémise, called Arthémise, in November 1802; Simon Joseph, called Joseph le jeune, in February 1804; Achille Ursin in October 1805 but died at age 27 in April 1833; Domitille born in January 1808; and twins Hermogène and Ludevine in February 1816. At age 38, Simon remarried to first cousin Marie Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Isaac LeBlanc and Félicité Melançon, his uncle and aunt, at the St. Gabriel church in August 1818; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Célestin in May 1819; Marie Selad in March 1822; Jules in April 1824; Marie Letitia in November 1826; Théodore in February 1830 but died at age 24 in Iberville Parish in February 1854, a month after his father died; an infant son, perhaps theirs, and perhaps Théodore's twin, name unrecorded, died in February 1830--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, by two wives, between 1802 and 1830. Simon died near St. Gabriel in January 1854. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Simon died at "age 74 years." Daughters Arthémise, Domitille, and Marie Letitia, by both wives, married into the Lesassier, Haydon, Boissac, and Pritchard families. Four of Simon's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune, by first wife Euphrosine Dupuis, married cousin Marguerite Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Grégoire Babin and Marie LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church in March 1833. Their daughter Élisabeth Adeline was born near St. Gabriel in July. The priest who recorded the girl's baptism did not include the father's name but, oddly, called the mother "wife of Joseph LeBlanc." Did this imply that Joseph was not the girl's father? Did the family line endure? She evidently did not marry by 1870, if she married at all.
Simon's third son Hermogène, by first wife Euphrosine Dupuis, a twin, married Mary Azélie, daughter of John Allen and Marguerite Simone of "Valense County, Mississippi," in a civil ceremony there, and sanctified the marriage at the St. Gabriel church in December 1839. Their son John William was baptized at the St. Gabriel church, age unrecorded, the same day his parents were married there. One wonders where Valense County may have been; there is no such county in the State of Mississippi today, nor is it among the hand full of counties the state has abolished since 1817, when Mississippi became a state of the Union. Hermogène's son did not marry by 1870.
Simon's fourth son Célestin, by second wife Marie Rose LeBlanc, married cousin Desoline, Théodile, or Zéolide, daughter of fellow Acadian Placide LeBlanc and his Creole wife Lotetia Dodd, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1840. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Célestin Lucien in January 1841 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1842; Marie Corine born in June 1846; Aristide Taylor in March 1848; Ignace in January 1850 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1851; Joseph Simon born in December 1852; Marie Rosa in June 1856; Marie Loetitia in October 1860; Gabriel Achille in October 1863; ... Daughter Marie Corine married into the Boissac family by 1870. None of Célestin's sons married by then.
Simon's fifth son Jules, by second wife Marie Rose LeBlanc, married Domitille, daughter of fellow Acadian Paul Hébert and his Anglo wife Marie Eugénie Hamilton, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1849. Domitille was a sister of Paul Octave Hébert, who served as governor of Louisiana during the early 1850s and as a Confederate general during the War of 1861-65. Another witness to their marriage was Domitille's first cousin, Louis Hébert, who, like her brother Paul Octave, was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as a Confederate general. Jules's and Domitille's children, born in Iberville Parish, included Jules Octave in February 1850; Robert Célestin in July 1851 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1852; Paul Hébert born in January 1853; Malvina Lodo. in September 1854; Simon le jeune in January 1856; and Eugénie Cora in March 1857--five children, four sons and a daughter, between 1850 and 1857. Jules died in Iberville Parish in September 1859, age 35. None of his children married by 1870.
Adons's third son Jean Baptiste Joseph married Marie Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Hébert and Marie Boudreaux, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1810. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Amand Balthazar in August 1811 but died at age 3 in September 1814; an infant, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died at birth in October 1812; Joseph Hermogène born in September 1813; Marie Céleste or Célestine baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1817; and an infant, name and unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died at birth in January 1819--five children, at least two sons and a daughter, between 1811 and 1819. Jean Baptiste Joseph may have been the Jean Baptiste LeBlanc who died near St. Gabriel, age 54, in September 1839. Daughter Marie Célestine married into the Walsh family. One wonders if Jean Baptiste Joseph's remaining son also married.
Adon's fourth son Joseph Béloni or Bénoni, called Béloni, may have married Euphrosine, daughter of Antoine Lanclos and Madeleine Molineaux and widow of Vital Rivet, at the St. Gabriel church in December 1811. They had a daughter, name and date of birth unrecorded. Béloni moved to the western prairies and remarried to Judique, daughter of Creoles Joseph Bergeron and Clémence Aymond, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1824. Béloni died at his home on Prairie Gros Chevreuil, east of present-day Breaux Bridge, in July 1826, age 38. His successions were filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in September 1826 and August 1827. The first succession noted that he had no heirs, so one wonders what happened to his daughter from his first wife, who may have married into the Trahan family. Béloni seems to have fathered no sons by either of his wives, so his line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, probably died with him.
Adons's fifth son Étienne Édouard, called Édouard, married first cousin Marie Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, another daughter of Isaac LeBlanc and Félicité Melançon, his uncle and aunt, at the St. Gabriel church in August 1818; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Joseph Édouard, called Édouard, fils in September 1819; Marie Adélaïde in December 1820; a son, name unrecorded, in c1821 but died at age 2 in August 1823; Jule, also called Jules Édouard, born in February 1824; and Emma Adélaïde, also called Marie Emma Adélaïde, in July 1828, four days before her father's death--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1819 and 1828. Édouard, père evidently died near St. Gabriel in July 1828. The priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give Édouard's age at the time of his death. This Édouard would have been age 34. Daughters Emma Adélaïde and Marie Adélaïde married into the Landry and Hébert families. Édouard's remaining sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Édouard, fils married Lucille, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Allain and Carmélite Landry, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1841. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Elvina in December 1841 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1843; Marie Célestine, called Célestine, born in May 1843; Marie Elvina, the second with the name, in February 1844; Joseph Arnaud in November 1846 but died at age 1 in November 1847; Mary Odile, called Odile, born in October 1848; Clara in May 1851; Eda in January 1857; and Hanna, perhaps theirs, in August 1859--eight children, seven daughters and a son, between 1841 and 1859. Daughters Célestine, Marie Elvina, and Mary Odile married into the Mather, Weston, and Babin families by 1870. Édouard, fils's son did not survive childhood, so, except perhaps for its blood, the family line did not endure.
Édouard, père's third and youngest son Jules Édouard married Delphine, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Dupuy and his Creole wife Delphine Gareuil, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1857. Their son Édouard le jeune was born in Iberville Parish in January 1858. Did they have anymore children?
Bonaventure's younger son Isaac or Hyacinthe followed his family to New Orleans and San Gabriel, where he married Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Melançon and Anne Babin, in November 1786. Their children, born at San Gabriel, included Victoire in September 1787; Clotin, perhaps Clothilde or Marie-Clothilde, in December 1788; Maximilien, called Maxile, in February 1791 but died in Iberville Parish, "a bachelor," age 57, in August 1848; Marie-Rose born in May 1793; Adélaïde in October 1795; Marguerite in February 1798; Félicité-Adeline in May 1800; Delphine, also called Marie-Delphine, in July 1801; Arthémise in September 1804; and Hortense in March 1807--10 children, nine daughters and a son, between 1787 and 1807. Isaac died near St. Gabriel in September 1826, age 63. Daughters Victoire, Marie Clothilde, Adélaïde, Marie Rose, Marguerite, Marie Delphine, Arthémise, and Hortense married into the Allain, Tusson, LeBlanc, Delaune, Chiasson, Babin, Blanchard, and Roth families, three of them twice, three to LeBlancs, two of whom were their first cousins--11 marriages among them. Isaac's son lived to a ripe old age but did not marry, so this line of the family, except for its blood, did not endure.
Jean-Charles (c1736-?) à Antoine à Daniel LeBlanc
Jean-Charles, called Jean, perhaps the sixth and youngest son of Acadian resistance fighter Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre and Anne Bourg, born probably at Minas in c1736, was still a teenager when the British deported him to Maryland with two of his older brothers in the fall of 1755. Jean married fellow Acadian Judith-Marguerite dite Juditte Landry in Maryland in c1756. Judith gave Jean four children in the Chesapeake colony: Jean-Baptiste dit Agros born in c1757; Joseph dit Agros in c1758; Simon dit Agros in c1760; and Marie in c1762. The family appeared on a repatriation list at Baltimore in July 1763. Daughter Anne was born there in February 1766--five children, three sons and two daughters, from 1757 to 1766. The couple came to Louisiana in 1767 with their five children and had no more children in the colony. Daughters Marie and Anne married into the Landry and Provenché families at San Gabriel. Jean's three sons also married. Two of them settled on the river, but their lines may not have endured. The youngest one created a robust line on the western prairies.
Oldest son Jean-Baptiste dit Agros was counted with his family at Baltimore in July 1763 and followed them to New Orleans and San Gabriel in 1767. He married Madeleine-Marthe, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Foret and Marguerite Richard, at San Gabriel in April 1782. Their children, born there, included Gabriel in April 1786 but died at age 21 in February 1808; Apolline born in April 1788; Placide in c1789; Victoire in February 1790; Hippolyte in December 1792; Laurent in December 1794 but died at age 25 (the recording priest said 30) in November 1820; Marthe-Adeline, called Adeline, born in August 1798; Apolline dite Pauline in January 1801 but died at age 25 in September 1826; Marie Carmélite Eugénie, called Carmélite, in January 1804; an infant, name and gender unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died four days after his/her birth in July 1805; and Édouard born in c1807 but died at age 5 in July 1812--11 children, at least five sons and five daughters, between 1786 and 1807. Was he the Jean LeBlanc, "former school teacher," who died near St. Gabriel in Feb 1806, age 50? Jean Baptiste dit Agros would have been age 48 that year. Daughters Victoire, Adeline, and Carmélite married into the Hébert, Landry, and Dupuis families. Only one of Jean Baptiste's sons married but may not have fathered a son of his own, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, may not have endured
Second son Placide married Marie Delphine, also called Marie Desline and Letitia, daughter of John Dodd and Elizabeth Hall, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in January 1817. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Marie Estelle, called Estelle, in September 1819; and Marie Desoline, called Desoline, in November 1822. Placide may have died near St. Gabriel in February 1824. If so, he would have been age 35. Wife Letitia evidently remarried to another LeBlanc. Her and Placide's daughters Estelle and Desoline married into the Landry, Alexandrie, and LeBlanc families. Having fathered no sons, Placide's line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.
Jean's second son Joseph dit Agros was counted with his family at Baltimore in July 1763 and followed them to New Orleans and San Gabriel in 1767. He married Anne-Julie or Julie-Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Chrysostôme Trahan and Anne-Françoise Granger of Ascension, at Ascension, downriver from San Gabriel, in October 1787. Anne-Julie, a native of Morlaix, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785. They settled on the river at Manchac between San Gabriel and Baton Rouge. Their children, born there, included Joseph, fils in August 1788; Marie-Angèle, perhaps also called Azélie, in January 1790 and baptized at the New Orleans church the following November; Jean-Baptiste le jeune born in January 1792; Marguerite, perhaps also called Eulalie, in February 1794; Sophie, also called Reine-Sophie, in May 1796; another Jean-Baptiste le jeune in October 1798; Constance in December 1800; Pierre in January 1803; and Julie Emérite, called Emérite and perhaps also Marie Améranthe, in November 1807--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1788 and 1807. Noting the baptism of their oldest daughter, they evidently lived in New Orleans before returning to Manchac. In the early 1800s, they crossed the river and settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Joseph dit Agros died probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in March 1811, age 55, likely a widower. Daughters Azélie, Eulalie, Reine Sophie, Emérite/Marie Améranthe, and Constance married into the Guidry, Serret or Serrette, Landry, and Reboul families, two of them to Spanish Creole brothers from New Orleans. One of Joseph's sons married, but the famly line may not have endured.
Oldest son Joseph, fils married cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Marie Trahan and his Creole wife Adélaïde Tullier of Baton Rouge, at the St. Gabriel church in April 1817. Their son Joseph Colombe was born near Baton Rouge in December 1833 and did not marry by 1870. Did the family line endure?
Jean's third and youngest son Simon dit Agros was counted with his family at Baltimore in July 1763 and followed them to New Orleans and San Gabriel in 1767. He was still there on the "left bank ascending," or west side of the river, in March 1777, a teenager, living with brother Joseph. Later that decade or in the 1780s, Simon moved to the western prairies, where he appeared on an Attakapas District militia list in August 1789. At age about 30, he married Anne dite Manon, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste dit Cobit Hébert and his second wife Théotiste-Marie Hébert and widow of Jean Mercier, at Attakapas in November 1790. Anne's family had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765, and she was born at Attakapas. She and Big Simon settled on the Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Scholastique dite Colastie in September 1793; Marie-Silesie in March 1796 but died at age 2 1/2 in July 1798; Marie-Emérante, called Emérante and Amarante, born in December 1797; Simon-Maximilien, called Maximilien, Maxile, or Maxilien, in September 1799; Joseph-Théotime, also called Joseph dit Agros le jeune, in May 1801; Caliste or Calixte in August 1803; Simon, fils, also called Simon dit Agros, fils and Simonet, in February 1805; Marie in February 1807 but died at age 1 in February 1808; Clothilde born in February 1808; Jean Charles le jeune in June 1810; Onésime in March 1815; and a son, name unrecorded, died 10 days after his birth in July 1823--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, between 1793 and 1823. Simon dit Agros's will was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in March 1819. He died in Lafayette Parish in April 1828, age 68. His succession, calling his wife Nanon, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following June. Daughters Scholastique dite Colastie and Amarante married into the Cormier, Bourg, Broussard, and Durio families, both of them twice. Five of Big Simon's sons also married and remained on the prairies.
Oldest son Simon Maximilien, called Maximilien, Maxile, or Maxilien, married cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Guidry and Solange Hébert of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in January 1820. They settled on the Vermilion and then farther west on Bayou Queue de Tortue. Their children, born there, included Marguerite in February 1821; Placide in January 1823; Onésime le jeune in January 1825; Pierre Lasty in July 1828; Eugénie baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in April 1831 but died at age 2 1/2 in May 1833; Laissin, Lessin, or Lucien baptized at age 5 months in November 1835; and Azélina in January 1843. Maximilien, at age 55, may have remarried to Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Leger, fils and Marguerite Louise Boutin and widow of Evariste, also called Cornelius dit Landry, Breaux, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1855. At age 60, Maximilien, called "un vieux, widr. de La Que Tortue," by the recording priest, remarried again--perhaps his third marriage--to Louise or Louisa Servant, widow of Louis Thibodeaux, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1860. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Maxille Aimable in April 1861; Joséphine in November 1863; ... Maximilien's estate record, calling him Maxile and naming his new wife, was recorded at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in January 1868. He would have been age 69 that year. Daughter Marguerite, by his first wife, married into the Leger family by 1870. Four of Maximilien's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Placide, by first wife Marguerite Guidry, may have married fellow Acadian Marie Arenize, Eremise, Kemise, or Remise Broussard at the Grand Coteau church in July 1846, but they evidently were living together before their church wedding, perhaps following a civil ceremony. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Théoville in April 1846; Lessin le jeune in November 1849, Onésime le jeune in July 1851; Émile in February 1855; Elzina in June 1857; Demosthène in January 1860; Marie Ozéna in October 1863; ... Placide's daughter did not marry by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Oldest son Théoville married Eléonore dite Léonore, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Richard and Léonore Trahan, at the Church Point church, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in July 1867. ...
Placide's second son Lessin married Marie Oliva, called Oliva, another daughter of Pierre Richard and Léonore Trahan, at the Church Point church in August 1868. Daughter Eve was born near Church Point in February 1869; ...
Maximilien's second son Onésime le jeune, by first wife Marguerite Guidry, married Marie, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Leger and Marie Duhon, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1843. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included a child, name and age unrecorded, died in November 1847; and Marie born posthumously in December 1850. Onésime le jeune died in Lafayette Parish in August 1850, age 25. Daughter Marie married into the Simon family.
Maximilien's third son Pierre Lasty, by first wife Marguerite Guidry, married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Cormier and his second wife Creole Marie Ledoux, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in September 1846. Their son Pierre, fils was born near Grand Coteau in January 1848. A succession for wife Adélaïde, naming her husband, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in October 1848. One suspects that Adélaïde was a victim of the rigors of childbirth. Pierre Lasty remarried to fellow Acadian Marie Eléonore, called Eléonore, Broussard in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1849. Their children, born on the prairies, included Pierre Alasty, probably Lasty, fils in August 1850; Aurelien Pierre in February 1852; Adrien in November 1853; Hermogène in September 1856; Théogène in February 1859; Émelina in January 1863; Amelia near Grand Coteau in February 1865; Marie Melisa near Church Point in July 1867; ... They were living on the Mermentau River, at the boundary between St. Landry and Calcasieu parishes, in the late 1860s. One of Pierre Lasty's sons married by 1870.
Second son Pierre Lasty, fils, by second wife Eléonore Broussard, married Azélima Royer in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1869. They, too, may have settled on the Mermentau River. Their son Clémile was born in May 1870; ...
Maximilien's fourth son Lessin or Lucien, by first wife Marguerite Guidry, married Émeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Don Louis Broussard and Marie Vincent, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in March 1853. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Ursin in April 1854; Joseph Duplecin in July 1859; Pierre Dolcin in March 1863; ...
Simon's second son Joseph Théotime, also called Joseph dit Agros le jeune, married Élisabeth or Isabelle, also called Eurasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Broussard and Élisabeth Savoie of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in June 1820. They settled in what became Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Silvanie or Sylvanie in June 1821; Joanie, perhaps a daughter, died in March 1824, no age recorded; Clémence or Clémentine born in March 1824; Maxille Joseph in July 1827; Martin in July 1840; and Adam in July 1842. Joseph may have remarried to Carmélite DeBlanc, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and settled in St. Landry Parish. Joseph Numa, perhaps their son, was born in St. Landry Parish in February 1861, when Joseph dit Agros le jeune would have been almost 60--seven children, five sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1821 and 1861. What may have been Joseph dit Agros le jeune's succession, naming his two wives and calling his second wife a DeBlanc, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1861. Daughter Clémentine, by his first wife, may have married into the Guidry family by 1870. None of Joseph dit Agros le jeune's sons married by then.
Simon's third son Caliste or Calixte married Marie dite Cléonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Benjamin Broussard and Marie Madeleine Hébert of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in April 1821. They settled probably near Carencro at the northern edge of Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Augustin Valsain or Valsin in April 1825; Cléonise, perhaps also called Phelonise and Léonise, in November 1827; Scholastique Idorisse in October 1830; Dolzin in August 1833; Aladin in late 1835 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 months, in March 1836; Zélonise baptized at age 4 months in August 1838; Luc, perhaps also called Lucas and Luca, born in September 1840; Azélie in April 1844 but may have died at age 21 (the recording priest said 19) in September 1865; and Adonnatile or Donatille born in September 1845--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1825 and 1845. Daughters Phelonise, Zélonise, and Donatille married into the Simon, Perret, Clément, and Guilbert families, one of them, Zélonise, twice, by 1870. Three of Caliste's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Augustin Valsin married Marie, daughter of Jean Baptiste Simon, fils and his second wife, Acadian Célestine Granger, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in May 1844, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church in June 1847. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Odilia in May 1845; and Jean in June 1849. Augustin's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in October 1855. He would have been age 30 that year. Daughter Odilia married into the Stutes family by 1870. Augustin's son did not marry by then.
Caliste's third son Aladin likely married Élizabeth, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Guidry, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in April 1857, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church the following June. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born on the prairies, included Isabelle in January 1858; Clémentine in August 1859; Marie in May 1861; Aladin Joseph in December 1862; twins Amela and Marie Uméa in June 1865; Adam in October 1867; Amelia in September 1869; ...
Caliste's fourth and youngest son Luc, called Lucas by the recording clerk, may have married fellow Acadian Célima Breaux in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1865. They settled at Pointe Émile Mouton near Church Point in what became Acadia Parish. Their children, born there, included Aristide in October 1866; Camille in July 1868; Émile in August 1870; ...
Simon's fourth son Simon dit Agros, fils dit Simonet or Simonette, married Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, daughter of François Meaux and his Acadian wife Constance Broussard, at the Vermilionville church in July 1826. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Sosthène baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 17 days, in October 1827; Eugène baptized at age 2 months in October 1830; Eugénie baptized at age 4 months in May 1834; Carmélite baptized at age 2 months in June 1836; Zarafin or Gerasin baptized at age 3 months in March 1839; and Lucien born in December 1841--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1827 and 1841. None of Simonet's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons married by then and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche before returning to the prairies.
Third son Gerasin "of St. Landry Parish" married Roséma, daughter of Siméon Fremin and Amélie Mars of Lafourche Parish, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in November 1864. They did not remain on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche and the prairies, included Joseph Félicien near Labadieville in August 1866; Marie Levinie in Lafayette Parish in December 1867; ...
Simon, père's sixth son Onésime married Eulalie, daughter of Roman Pavie or Pavy and his Acadian wife Marie Marcellite Trahan, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in May 1836, and sanctified the marriage at the Vermilionville church in January 1843. They evidently lived together before their civil marriage. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Eulalie in December 1834 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 7 1/2, in September 1842, but the baptism was not recorded until May 1834; Natalie baptized at age 2 1/2 months in May 1837; Jule born in May 1838, Lésime in May 1840; and Marie in January 1842--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1834 and 1842. Wife Eulalie's succession, probably post-mortem, calling her husband Olézime, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in August 1843. Daughter Eulalie married into the Richard family by 1870. One of Onésime's sons also married by then.
Second son Lésime married fellow Acadian Irma Hébert in a civil ceremony in St. Martin Parish in April 1857. ...
Jean-Baptiste (c1750-?) à Joseph dit Le Maigre à Antoine à Daniel LeBlanc
Jean-Baptiste, third son of Joseph LeBlanc, fils and his first wife Marie Landry and nephew of Jean-Charles, born at Pigiguit in c1750, evidently became separated from his family in the fall of 1755 and was deported not to Virginia with his parents and siblings but to Maryland with an uncle. In 1767, Jean-Baptiste followed his uncle Jean-Charles and three cousins to New Orleans and San Gabriel and married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Comeaux and Marguerite Babin, at Ascension in December 1775. When Spanish officials counted them on the "right bank ascending," or east side of the river, at San Gabriel in March 1777, they owned a slave. Their children, born on the river, included Jean-Alexis, called Alexis and Alexi, baptized at Cabahannocer, age unrecorded, in March 1777; Joseph born in March 1778; Geneviève-Gertrude in October 1781; Marie-Constance in March 1785 but died the following November; Marie-Louise born in May 1786; Marguerite in July 1788; Jean-Baptiste, fils in June 1790 but died near St. Gabriel, age 49 (the recording priest said "age about 57 yrs.") in September 1839; Joseph-Édouard born in November 1794, and Marie-Clothilde, called Clothilde, in the 1790s--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1777 and the 1790s. Was he the Jean-Baptiste, "age 77 yrs.," who was buried at St. Gabriel in June 1816? The priest who recorded the burial gave no parents' names or mentioned a wife. This Jean-Baptiste would have been age 66 that year. Daughters Geneviève, Clothilde, and Marie Louise married into the Hébert and Blanchard families. Two of Jean Baptiste's sons also married, but neither of the lines, except for the blood, seems to have endured beyond the second generation.
Oldest son Jean Alexis, called Alexis and Alexi, married Anne Marine, called Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Richard and Cécile Dupuy, at San Gabriel in November 1805. Their children, born there, included Marie Artésie or Artémise in March or August 1806 but died at age 3 in May 1809; Euphémie born in September 1808 but died at age 4 in September 1812; and Anne Marine, called Marine, born in January 1811. Alexis remarried to cousin Marie Clothilde, called Clothilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Isaac LeBlanc and Félicité Melançon, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in June 1813. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Marie Otilde, Odille, or Odile in March 1814; an infant, name unrecorded, died a day after his/her birth in September 1815; and Alex Marcellin, also called Jean Marcellin, born in November 1817 but died at age 20 in February 1838--six children, at least four daughters and a son, by two wives, between 1806 and 1817. Alexis died near St. Gabriel in December 1824. The priest who recorded the burial said that Alexis was age 50 when he died. He probably was a bit younger. Daughters Anne Marine and Marie Odille, by both wives, married into the DeMiller, Denis, and Boissac families, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Jean-Baptiste's second son Joseph married cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph dit Adons LeBlanc and Marie-Marguerite Landry, at San Gabriel in June 1802. Their children, born there, included Clothilde Artémise, called Artémise, in June 1804; Joseph, fils in November 1807 but died at age 12 in February 1820; and Marguerite Théodile or Othilde born in October 1810 but died at age 11 1/2 in September 1822--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1804 and 1810. Joseph, père died in Iberville Parish in December 1813, age 35. Daughter Artémise married a Landry cousin and died within a year of her wedding. Joseph's only son did not live long enough to marry, so this family line did not endure.
Pierre (1753-1790) à Jean à Jacques à Daniel LeBlanc
Pierre, fourth and youngest son of Joseph LeBlanc and Marie-Marguerite Landry, born at Minas in October 1753, was taken by his family to Maryland when he was very young and appeared on a repatriation list with two older brothers at Baltimore in July 1763, when he would have been age 9. He followed three of his sisters, one of them married, to New Orleans and San Gabriel in 1767. When a Spanish official counted him on the "left bank ascending," or west side of the river, at San Gabriel in March 1777, he was a 23-year-old bachelor with a male slave, substantial numbers of livestock, and six arpents of frontage on the river. He married Marguerite-Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Janvier Breau and Rose-Osite Landry, at nearby Ascension in October 1778. They evidently settled on the river near the boundary between the Ascension and San Gabriel districts. Their children, born there, included François-Xavier in October 1779; Narcisse in March 1783; Joseph-Auguste, called Auguste, in November 1784; twins Maxim or Maximilien and Pierre-Charles in March 1787, but Pierre-Charles died the following July; Pierre-Paul, called Paul, born in March 1789; and Marguerite, perhaps also called Henriette, posthumously in February 1791--seven children, six sons and a daughter, between 1779 and 1791. Pierre died near San Gabriel in November 1790, age 37. Daughter Henriette married into the Dupuis family. Four of Pierre's remaining sons also married on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Narcisse married cousin Marie Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Babin and Élisabeth LeBlanc, at St. Gabriel in February 1806. Their children, born there, included Eugénie in October 1807 but died at age 5 in September 1812; Marie Uranie born in July 1809; and another Eugénie, also called Marie Eugénie, in October 1816--three children, all daughters, between 1807 and 1816. Narcisse died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in September 1853. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Narcisse died at "age 71 years." He was 70. Daughters Marie Uranie and Marie Eugénie married into the Breaux and Richard families. Narcisse evidently fathered no sons, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, probably died with him.
Pierre's third son Joseph Auguste, called Auguste, married cousin Marie Rosalie, called Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Michel LeBlanc and Marguerite Landry, at St. Gabriel in February 1806; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their daughter, name unrecorded, died at birth in January 1807. Wife Rosalie died at Barataria in c1814 or 1815, in her late 20s, and was reinterred at St. Gabriel in January 1816. Auguste remarried to Emérante Marie or Marie Emérante, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Augustin Gabriel Bujole and Marie Josèphe Bourg, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in January 1817. Their daughter Marie Zuma was born in Ascension Parish in February 1818. Auguste remarried again--his third marriage--to Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Babin and Marguerite Brasset and widow of Louis Seguinot, at the St. Gabriel church in March 1820. Their unnamed child died near Baton Rouge in October 1823--three children, at least two daughters, by three wives, between 1807 and 1823. Auguste died near St. Gabriel in July 1829, age 44. His remaining daughter did not marry by 1870, at least not in South Louisiana, so family line may have died with him.
Pierre's fourth son Maximilien, a twin, married Marie Hélène, called Hélène, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Allain and Marguerite Babin, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1808. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Joachim in January 1809; Marie Catherine in July 1811 but died the following October (the priest who recorded the burial and called her Marie Célestine said she died at age 9 months); Adélaïde born in November 1812 but died at age 2 1/2 in September 1815; Marie Rosline born in July 1814; Pierre Eperin or Zéphirin, called Zéphirin, in June 1816; Pierre Hermogène, called Hermogène, in January 1818; Marie in c1819 but died at age 3 in August 1822; Marguerite born in April 1820; Marie Caroline in March 1822 but, called Caroline, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 6 months) in July 1823; Maximilien, fils born in January 1824; Marie Solidaine or Solidènne, called Solidènne; and Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, born in May 1829--a dozen children, four sons and eight daughters, between 1809 and 1826. Maximilien, père died near St. Gabriel in October 1843, age 56. Daughters Solidènne and Eugénie married into the Aucoin and Hébert families by 1870. Three of Maximilien's sons also married by then and settled on the river.
Oldest son Joachim married Ludivine dite Divine, daughter of fellow Acadians Abraham Hébert and Ludivine Landry, at the St. Gabriel church in September 1837. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Myrthine in June 1839; Marie Georgina in September 1840; Marie Locadie in January 1843; Joachim, fils in February 1845; Marie Dylia in October 1847 but, called Dylia, died at age 3 1/2 in June 1851; Thomas Richard Stuart born in July 1850; Marie Stephanie in August 1853; and Louis in May 1858--eight children, five daughters and three sons, between 1839 and 1858. None of Joachim's children married by 1870, at least not in Louisiana.
Maximilien's second son Pierre Eperin or Zéphirin, called Zéphirin, married Gertrude, daughter of Louis Voisin and Gertrude Lopez, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1840. They settled near Plaquemine on the west side of the river in Iberville Parish. Their children, born there, included Marie Lauzanne, also called Lozama, in March 1841; Louis Lovinsky in May 1843; Hélène Orinza in January 1850 but died in August; Joseph Oneda born in August 1851 but died at age 1 (the recording priest said 9 months) in June 1852; Ignace born in August 1855; and Joseph Zéphirin Laurent posthumously in May 1859--six daughters, two daughters and four sons, between 1841 and 1859. Zéphirin died in Iberville Parish in April 1859, age 42. Daughter Lozama married into the Doiron family by 1870. None of Zéphirin's sons married by then.
Maximilien's third son Pierre Hermogène, called Hermogène, married, at age 47, Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Urbin Achée and Domitille Dupuy and widow of Joseph Housiaux, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1865; one wonders if this was his first marriage. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Emma in October 1865; twins Alexandre Armant and Marie Armantine in May 1867, but Alexandre may have died in June; ...
Pierre's sixth and youngest son Pierre Paul, called Paul, married, at age 20, cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Mathurin Landry and Perpétué Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1810; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born on the river, included Pierre Jude in February 1811; Marguerite Eugénie, called Eugénie, in November 1812; Pierre Eugène, called Eugène, in February 1815; Euphémie in February 1817; Marie Clarisse baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1819 but died the following December; Ursin born in June 1820; Marie Doralie in November 1822; and an unnamed infant died at age 6 months in July 1823. Pierre Paul, in his late 30s or early 40s, evidently remarried to Thérésa Letitia, called Letitia or Loetitia and perhaps called also Marie Delphine or Desoline, daughter of Jean Dodd and Elizabeth Hall and widow, most likely, of Placide LeBlanc, at St. Gabriel in the late 1820s. Their children, born there, included Théodorine or Théodorice, also called Telcide, in March 1830; and Marie Adalie posthumously in February 1833 but, called Marie Idalie, died at age 19 in May 1852--10 children, at least three sons and six daughters, by two wives, between 1811 and 1833. Pierre Paul died in c1832, in his early 40s. Daughters Eugénie, Euphémie, and Théodorice/Telcide, by both wives, married into the Hébert, Berret, Babin, Lejeune, and LeBlanc families by 1870. One of Pierre Paul's sons also married by then.
Second son Pierre Eugène, called Eugène, from first wife Marguerite Landry, married Marie Adeline, called Adeline and Deline, daughter of fellow Acadians François Theriot and Ursule Trahan, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in April 1844. They settled in West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Magloire Eugène in October 1846; Marguerite in February 1849; François Joseph in December 1853; Ursule Ida in March 1857 but died at age 1 in March 1858; Marie Laure born in May 1860; ... None of Eugène's children married by 1870.
Joseph-Michel (1758-1833) à Jean à Jacques à Daniel LeBlanc
Joseph-Michel, younger son of Michel dit Michaud LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Trahan, born and baptized at Baltimore, Maryland, in December 1758, likely was the Joseph LeBlan counted with his widowed mother and two sisters on a repatriation list at Baltimore in July 1763. In 1767, he followed his mother and sisters, one of them married, to New Orleans and San Gabriel, where he married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Landry and his second wife Marie-Madeleine Babin, in June 1781. Their children, born at San Gabriel, included Madeleine in May 1782; Augustin or Auguste in May 1783 but died in Iberville Parish, age 50 (the recording priest said 52), in February 1834; Jean-Baptiste born in April 1785 but died near St. Gabriel, age 58 (the recording priest said 59), in December 1843; Joseph, fils born in April 1786 but died 10 days after his birth; François-Xavier born in April 1789; Rosalie, also called Marie-Rosalie, in March 1787; Jérôme in April 1790; Élie, also called Élir, in April 1793; Étienne-Édouard in July 1794; Narcisse in September 1795; Aimé-Isaac-Michel, called Isaac, Isaie, and Uzaire, in December 1800; Hélène in June 1803 but died at age 8 in September 1811; and Pierre Dalcantasa, perhaps their son, baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1818--13 children, three daughters and 10 sons, between 1782 and 1818. Joseph Michel's impromptu baptism in Maryland was "rectified" at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in January 1819, when he was age 60. He died near St. Gabriel in October 1833. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph Michel died at "age 81 yrs." He was 74. Daughter Marie Rosalie married a LeBlanc cousin in 1806, died at Barataria south of New Orleans in c1814 or 1815, in her late 20s, and was reinterred at St. Gabriel in January 1816. One wonders what they were doing at Barataria, which in the 1810s was a notorious smugglers' lair. Only three of Joseph Michel's remaining sons married by 1870. They remained on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Sixth son Élie, also called Élir, married Marie Victoire or Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Chiasson and Marie Madeleine Blanchard, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1814. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Élie, fils, also called Leche, in c1814; Pauline in c1815 but died at age 7 in July 1822; Lucien born in January 1818; and Marie Madeleine Théophile or Delphine in August 1819. Élie remarried to Irène, daughter of Jacques dit Santiago Hernandez and his Acadian wife Anne dite Manette Rivet, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1825, on the same day and at the same place his younger brother Isaac married Irène's sister Céleste. Élie and Irène's children, born in Iberville Parish, included Élisabeth Domitile in June 1827 but died at age 1 1/2 in January 1829; Hermogène born in May 1829; Victorine in March 1831; Adolphe in April 1833; Jean Baptiste in August 1838; and Auguste in January 1841--nine children, six sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1814 and 1841. Élie, père died in Iberville Parish in February 1849. The St. Gabriel priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Élie, Sr., as he called him, died at "age 57 years." He was 55. Daughters Marie Madeleine Delphine and Victorine, by both wives, married into the Landry and Blanchard families by 1870. Four of Élie's sons also married by then and settled on the west side of the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Élie, fils, also called Leche, from first wife Marie Victoire Chiasson, married Marie Joséphine, Séraphine, or Serasine, daughter of Joseph Vincent Desmoulet or Demoulette and Marie Marguerite Barkouss, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1838. They settled near Plaquemine on the west bank of the river. Their children, born there, included Marie Victoire in June 1838; Ana Delphine in c1839; Marie Marguerite Pamelia, called Marguerite, in April 1840; Marine Laetetia in October 1842 but, called Marine Leutitia, died at age 1 in September 1843; Marie Sarah born in August 1844; and Emma in September 1848--six children, all daughters, between 1838 and 1848. Élie, fils died at Plaquemine in November 1853, age 39. Was he a victim of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana during the summer and fall of 1853? Daughters Ana Delphine and Marguerite married into the Marrionneaux, Martinez, and Brown families, one of them, Marguerite, twice, by 1870, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Élie, père's second son Lucien, by first wife Marie Victoire Chiasson, married cousin Marguerite Aloisia, Aloysia, Alouisia, or Alouisine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Élie Hébert and Marguerite Eugénie LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1850. The also settled near Plaquemine. Their children, born there, included Amédée born in December 1850; Marie Euphémia in August 1852; Théodulus in November 1854; Aristides in September 1856; Amilcar in June 1858; Victoria in February 1860; Élie le jeune in December 1861; Antoine in June 1865; Marie Eugénie in April 1866; ... None of Lucien's children married by 1870.
Élie, père's third son Hermogène, by second wife Irène Hernandez, married Cécile Aurelia, called Aurelia, daughter of fellow Acadian Théodore Orillion and his Creole wife Victoire Roland, at the Plaquemine church, Iberville Parish, in May 1852. Their children, born near Plaquemine, included Peter Adolph in March 1853; Mary Phelomena in December 1855; Joseph Frederick in January 1858; Blanche Cécile in March 1863; ... None of Hermogène's children married by 1870.
Élie, père's fourth son Adolphe, by second wife Irène Hernandez, married Marie Ophelia, called Ophelia, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Rosémond Orillion and his Creole wife Mary Antoinette Blake, at the Plaquemine church in May 1856. Their children, born near Plaquemine, included Mary Irène Cora in July 1857; Marie Linda in August 1858 but died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in April 1862; Victoria Ophelia born in December 1859; Louis Adolphe in December 1861; Marie Julie in June 1866; twins Louis Paul and Marie Pauline baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1869; ... None of Adolphe's children married by 1870.
Joseph Michel's eighth son Narcisse married cousin Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Olivier Brasset and Marine Landry, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1817. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Marie Derville or Tersile, called Tersile, in December 1817; and an infant, name unrecorded, died nine days after his/her birth in July 1819. Narcisse died near St. Gabriel in September 1819, age 24. Daughter Tersile married into the Rils family. Except for its blood, this line of the family did not endure.
Joseph Michel's ninth son Aimé Isaac Michel, called Isaac, Isaïe, and Uzaire, married Céleste, another daughter of Jacques Hernandez and Anne Rivet, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1825, on the same day and at the same place his older brother Élie married Céleste's sister Irène. Isaac and Céleste's children, born near St. Gabriel, included Isaac, fils in May 1825 but, called Isaïe, died at age 8 in April 1833; Joseph, also called Joseph Y., probably Joseph Isaïe, born in February 1828; Zénon in April 1832 but died at age 4 in February 1836; and Marguerite in the late 1820s or early 1830s. Isaïe's remarried to Marie Domitille, daughter of Joseph Hernandez and his Acadian wife Françoise Chiasson, at the St. Gabriel church in April 1836. They lived on the river near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Ysari in February 1837 but, called Isaïe, died at age 7 1/2 in October 1844; Marie Domitille born in May 1839 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1840; Marie Théodise born in January 1841 but died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in September 1844; and Charles born in August 1843 but died eight days after his birth--eight children, five sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1825 and 1843. Remaining daughter Marguerite, by his first wife, married into the Danos family by 1870. Isaïe's remaining son also married by then.
Second son Joseph Y., probably Joseph Isaïe, by first wife Céleste Hernandez, married Marie Elmire, called Elmire, daughter of Louis Voisin and Gertrude Lopez, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1850. They settled on Grande Rivière on the eastern side of the Atchafalaya Basin west of Plaquemine. Their children, born there, included Marie Elmire, called Mary, in November 1850; Marguerite Amanda, called Amanda, in June 1852; Célestis Bastilla, called Bastila, in June 1854 but, called Cécile Bastilia, died at age 8 1/2 (the recording priest said 10) at Grande Rivière in September 1862; Célina Emely born in May 1856; Olivia in March 1858; Joseph Isaïe, fils in September 1860; Louis Beauregard in February 1864; Émile in September 1866; ... None of Joseph Isaïe's children married by 1870.
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In early 1768, a LeBlanc wife with her Clouâtre husband came to Louisiana from Maryland with the large party from Port Tobacco led by brothers Alexis and Honoré Breau of Pigiguit. Spanish governor Ulloa forced them to settle at Fort San Luìs de Natchez, far upriver and across from the British stronghold at present-day Natchez, Mississippi, but they did not remain. No new LeBlanc family line came of it.
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The arrival dates of at least two LeBlancs who came to Louisiana in the 1760s and settled on the river are difficult to determine. One was a young woman who married to a fellow Acadian at Cabahannocer in May 1768. The other was a young orphan who also married soon after his arrival. No lasting LeBlanc family line came of it:
Jean-Charles (c1738-?) à ? à Daniel LeBlanc
Jean-Charles, son of Jean LeBlanc and Marie Thériot, perhaps of Minas, came to Louisiana perhaps from Maryland before August 1770, when he married Anne-Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Landry and Marie-Josèphe Theriot, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church on the river above New Orleans. Anne-Madeleine had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1768 with six of her siblings and followed them to Fort San Luìs de Natchez. One wonders if Jean-Charles also had come to Louisiana from Maryland that year and followed his fellow exiles to Fort San Luìs. One also wonders if Jean-Charles and Anne-Madeleine had any children.
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The largest contingent of LeBlancs who emigrated to Louisiana--at least 73 of them, including 20 families--arrived aboard every one of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. Among them were LeBlancs from Minas who the British had exiled to Virginia in the fall of 1755, had deported to England the following year, and repatriated to France in 1763, many of them settling on Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany. The LeBlancs from France also included members of the family from Pigiguit and Cobeguit who had resettled in the French Maritimes before and after 1752 and who the British had deported from the islands to France in 1758-59. Many LeBlancs who crossed on the Seven Ships chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche, and many settled on the river near their cousins already there.
The first of them--18 LeBlancs, including five families and a wife--crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in July 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to Manchac on the river between Baton Rouge and San Gabriel. A few lasting family lines came of it there and on the western prairies:
Simon (1723-1802) à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Simon, sixth and youngest son of Jacques LeBlanc le jeune and Catherine Landry, younger brother of Jacques, fils and Joseph of Cabahannocer, born at Minas in April 1723, married Marguerite, 21-year-old daughter of Jean Bourg and Françoise Aucoin, at Cobeguit in August 1743. They evidently settled near his family at Minas. Marguerite gave Simon four children there: Françoise born in c1745; Jean in October 1746; Basile in c1748; and Simon in c1750. The British deported the family to Virginia in the fall of 1755, and Virginia authorities sent them on the England the following spring. They were held at Penryn-Falmouth, where wife Marguerite died soon after their arrival, perhaps of smallpox. Simon remarried to Marie, 34-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Trahan and Élisabeth Thériot and widow of François Granger, at Falmouth in August 1757. They were repatriated to Morlaix, France, in the spring of 1763. In 1764, Marie gave Simon another son, Joseph, born in St.-Martin des Champs Parish, Morlaix, in November 1764. In late 1765, Simon and his family followed two of his older brothers, Honoré and Charles, to recently-liberate Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany and settled at Keroudé in the Bangor district, in the island's southern interior, near his brother Charles. Simon's oldest daughter Françoise, by first wife Marguerite, remained at Morlaix and, in 1767, at age 22, joined the Ursuline order of nuns there. Marie gave Simon four more children on Belle-Île-en-Mer: Pierre-Marie born in December 1766; Marie-Anne in July 1769; Jacques-Pierre-Marie in June 1771; and Marguerite in c1776--nine children, three daughters and six sons, by two wives, between 1745 and 1776, in greater Acadia and France. In 1776, the family was living at Bortémont near Bangor. Meanwhile, Simon's oldest son Jean, by first wife Marguerite, had moved to Chantenay, a suburb of Nantes on the lower Loire in southeast Brittany, where he married in April 1782. The following year, Simon and the rest of his family joined son Jean at Chantenay. Two of Simon's younger children died there: Marguerite at age 7 in October 1783; and Pierre-Marie at age 17 1/2 in February 1784. In 1785, Simon, Marie, two of their younger sons, Joseph and Jacques-Pierre-Marie, their youngest remaining daughter Marie-Anne, and his married son and his family emigrated to Louisiana aboard the first of the Seven Ships. Daughter Françoise the nun, as well as two of Simon's sons, Basile and Simon, fils, from first wife Marguerite, who, if they were still living, would have been in their late 30s in 1785, did not accompany their family to the Spanish colony. From New Orleans, Simon and his family followed their fellow passengers to Manchac below Baton Rouge and later moved downriver to Ascension on the lower Acadian Coast, where Simon died in February 1802, age 78. Daughter Marie-Anne married into the Landry and LeBlanc families on the river and upper Bayou Lafourche. Three of Simon's sons also married, in France and Louisiana. His two younger sons settled on the river and the western prairies, where they created vigorous lines. His oldest son and his wife remained on the river, but, except for its blood, the line did not endure.
Oldest son Jean, by first wife Marguerite Bourg, followed his family to Virginia and England and to Morlaix and Belle-Île-en-Mer. He left Belle-Île-en-Mer in the late 1770s or early 1780s and married cousin Thérèse, also called Bertille or Tarsille, daughter of fellow Acadians François Hébert and Élisabeth Bourg of Cobeguit, at St.-Martin de Chantenay near Nantes in April 1782. Daughter Marie-Rose was born there in June 1784. They and their infant daughter followed his family to New Orleans and Manchac in 1785. Daughter Marie-Rose married into the Longuépée family at Manchac. Jean and Thérèse evidently had no sons, so only the blood of this family line may have endured in the Bayou State.
Simon's fourth son Joseph, by second wife Marie Trahan, followed his family to Belle-Île-en-Mer and became a sailor. He nevertheless followed his family to Chantenay, New Orleans, and Manchac, where he married cousin Marguerite-Blanche-Ian, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and his second wife Anne Hébert, in February 1787. Marguerite, a native of Belle-Île-en-Mer, also had come to Louisiana aboard Le Bon Papa in 1785 and probably had known Joseph since their childhood together on the island. Their children, born at Manchac, included Marie-Rose in February 1788; Jérôme in April 1790; and Marine in June 1792. Joseph remarried to Marie- or Laurentine-Uriènne, called Corentine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Longuépée and Marie-Françoise Bourg, at Manchac in July 1799. Corentine, a native of St.-Servan-sur-Mer near St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard a later vessel. Their children, born at Manchac, included Thérèse-Marie-Hortense, called Hortensne, in October 1800; Marie Henriette, also called Marie Françoise Henriette, in June 1804; Marcellite in c1805 or 1806; and Marie Mathilde, baptized at age 2 months in April 1807--seven children, six daughters and a son, by two wives, between 1788 and 1807. Daughters Marie Rose, Hortense, Marie Françoise Henriette, and Marcellite, by both wives, married into the Danos, Melançon, Rivet, Hernandez, and Berret families. Joseph's son also married.
Only son Jérôme, by first wife Marguerite Blanche Ian LeBlanc, married Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Charles Comeaux and his Creole wife Catherine Bouch, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in February 1814. They settled near Bayou Goula, Iberville Parish, on the west side of the river. Their children, born there, included Derosin in November 1817 but, called Drauzin, died at age 31 in February 1849; Timoléon, called Moléon, born in November 1818; Trasimond in September 1820 but, called Jean Trasimond, died at age 37 in December 1857; Jean Valsin, called Valsin, born in August 1821; Jean Rosémond in May 1823 but, called Jn. Rosémond, died at age 27 in July 1850; and Marie Finette born in the early 1820s--six children, five sons and a daughter, between 1817 and the early 1820s. Jérôme died near Bayou Goula in September 1847, age 57. Daughter Marie Finette married into the Daigre family. All of Jérôme's sons survived childhood, but only two of them married.
Second son Timoléon married Élisabeth, called Élise, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Davat Landry and Mélissère Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1851. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Aurelia in November 1851; Joseph Alvar in March 1853; Marie Alphonsine in October 1855; Roman in February 1858 but died at age 1 in April 1859 and was buried in St. Raphaël Cemetery on the west side of the river near Bayou Goula; twins Irène and Marie Melicer born in June 1861; Marie Aglée in December 1862; ... None of Timoléon's children married by 1870.
Jérôme's fourth son Valsin married, at age 28, Marie Euphrosine, Euphrosie, or Euphrasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Henry and Séraphine Breaux and widow of Edmond Trahan, at the St. Gabriel church in November 1849. They lived briefly on upper Bayou Lafourche before returning to Iberville Parish. Their children, born there, included Marie Felina in Assumption Parish in March 1851; Marie Joséphine in September 1852 but, called Séraphine, evidently died at age 2 1/2 in April 1855; Joseph Edgard born near Plaquemine in July 1854; Marie Fedoria in October 1855; Armant in February 1858; Marie Clémence in November 1859; and Marie Aloisia in October 1863. Valsin, at age 43, remarried to Athanaise, daughter of Rosémond Lambremont and his Acadian wife Christine Clémentine Breaux and widow of Adolphe Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1865. Daughter Adelina Ada was born near St. Gabriel in June 1868; ... None of Valsin's children married by 1870.
Simon's sixth and youngest son Jacques-Pierre-Marie, by second wife Marie Trahan, followed his family to Chantenay, New Orleans, and Manchac, where he married Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Brasseaux and Isabelle Richard, in April 1798. They moved to Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche by the early 1810s. Their children, born at Manchac and on the lower Teche, included Marcellin at Manchac in July 1799 but died at his parents' home at Fausse Pointe, age 23, in October 1822 ; Josette-Lurville baptized, age 3 months, in October 1801; Jacques-Nicolas, also called Jacques-Colin, Colin, and Paulin, born in August 1803; Joseph Serville in c1804 but died at Fausse Pointe, "age about 14 years," in January 1818; Derosin born in April 1806 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1807; Édouard born in June 1808; Marie Adèle or Adeline, called Adeline, in March 1813; and a son, name unrecorded, died "at birth at his father's home at la fausse pointe" in May 1824--eight children, six sons and two daughters, between 1799 and 1824. Jacques died in St. Martin Parish in February 1854. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jacques died "at age 88 yrs." He was 82. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in December 1855. Daughter Marie Adeline married into the Dugas family. Jacques's remaining sons also married, but only one of them had sons of his own.
Second son Jacques Nicolas, also called Jacques Colin, Colin, and Paulin, married Marcellite Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Babin and Anastasie Melançon of La Pointe on the upper Teche, at the St. Martinville church in August 1823. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Léomire or Louise in January 1826; Anastasie Elmire or Elmire Anastasie in March 1828; Alexandre in December 1829; Antoine Sevigné, called Sevigné, in December 1831; Eugénie Ernestine, called Ernestine, in September 1833; Marcelite Élodie, called Élodie, in September 1835; Joseph Ernest, called Ernest, in January 1838; Abner Aristide in January 1840; Louisa in March 1842; and Léontine Colin, perhaps also called Marie Léontine, in April 1845--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1826 and 1845. Colin died in St. Martin Parish in September 1855. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Colin died "at age 48 yrs." He was 52. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in October. Daughters Elmire Anastasie/Anastasie Elmire, Marie Léomire/Louise, Marcelite Élodie, Eugénie Ernestine, Marie Léontine, and Louisa married into the Trahan, Magee, Babin, Thibodeaux, Gradenigo, Begnaud, and Pellerin families, one of them, Elmire Anastasie, twice, by 1870. Three of Colin's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured. One son died in Confederate service.
Oldest son Alexandre married Marguerite Lodoiska, called Lodoiska, daughter of Ursin Ozenne and Julie Picard, at the St. Martinville church in February 1852. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Eva in January 1860; and Julie in January 1862. During the War of 1861-65, Alexandre may have served in the Yellow Jackets Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, and in Company K of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jackets Battalion Infantry, both of which fought in Louisiana. In October 1862, at age 32, perhaps as a conscript, he enlisted probably in the Yellow Jackets at Bayou des Allemands, southeast of New Orleans, and was transferred to Company K of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jackets Battalion Infantry when that unit was created at Simmesport, Louisiana, in November 1863. In late February 1864, Alexandre was reported sick at "Taylor Hospital" and was admitted to the Confederate general hospital at Shreveport in late March. He may have been the Alexandre LeBlanc who died in June 1864. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Alexandre died "at age 35 yrs." This Alexandre would have been age 34. If this was him, his younger daughter was only 2 1/2 years old when he died. Did he father any sons?
Colin's second son Antoine Sevigné, called Sevigné, married Célima or Célina, daughter of Olivier Blanchet and his Acadian wife Carmélite Boudreaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1852. Their children, born on the prairies, included Donat Jules in St. Martin Parish in May 1854; Joseph Colin near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in November 1855; Juste in November 1863; Lydia in May 1868[sic]; Mathilde in June 1868[sic]; Blanchet, age unrecorded, died in September 1870.; ... None of Sevigné's children married by 1870.
Colin's third son Joseph Ernest married Mathilde, daughter of Alexandre Begnaud and Elisa Constantin, at the Vermilionville church in August 1868. Son Elmyre was born in Lafayette Parish in December 1869; ...
Jacques's fifth son Édouard, at age 21, married double cousin Marie Elemie, daughter of fellow Acadians Désiré LeBlanc and Marcellite LeBlanc of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in June 1829. Édouard died "at his parents' home at la fausse pointe" the following September, age 21 (the recording priest said 22). He fathered no children, so his line of the family died with him.
Joseph dit Jambo (1729-?) à Jacques à Daniel LeBlanc
Pierre (c1744-1815) à Pierre dit Pinau à Antoine à Daniel LeBlanc
Pierre, oldest son of Victor LeBlanc and Marie Bourg, born at Minas in c1744, followed his family to Île St.-Jean and St.-Malo, France, and settled with his widowered stepfather Grégoire Maillet at Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of the river south of the Breton port. Pierre also lived at St.-Méloir-des-Ondes in the countryside east of St.-Malo and worked as a joiner in the mother country. He married Anne-Josèphe, called Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Lebert and Anne Robichaux of Rivière-aux-Canards, at Plouër in February 1767; she was the sister of his younger brother Olivier's future wife. Anne gave Pierre four sons at Plouër: Joseph-Oliver born in May 1768; Pierre-Paul in February 1770; Jean-Cléandre in September 1771; and François-Joseph-Marc in March 1773. Pierre took his family to Poitou in 1773, where his youngest son died in September 1774, age 1 1/2. In December 1775, after two years of effort, Pierre and his family retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. Anne gave Pierre four more children there: Victor-Charles born in Ste.-Croix Parish in March 1776; twins Charles-François and Marie-Modeste in St.-Léonard Parish in October 1777, but Marie-Modeste died in January 1778 and Charles-François in May 1779; and Anne-Marguerite born at nearby Chantenay in February 1782, but she died in March. Pierre, Anne, and their four remaining sons emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785 aboard the first of the Seven Ships. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to Manchac. At age 43, Pierre remarried to Geneviève, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Richard and his first wife Catherine-Josèphe Gautrot and widow of Simon dit Pierre Pitre and Victor Boudrot, probably at Baton Rouge in September 1787. She gave him another daughter, Marie-Josèphe, born at Manchac in August 1789--nine children, six sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1768 and 1789, in France and Louisiana. Pierre died at Manchac in August 1815, in his early 70s, a widower again. Daughter Marie-Josèphe, by second wife Geneviève, married into the Guidry family at Baton Rouge. Every one of his four sons, all from his first wife and all born in France--Joseph-Olivier, Pierre-Paul, Jean-Cléandre, and Victor-Charles--evidently died young. There is no evidence in area church records that any of them married, so only the blood of this family line seems to have endured in the Bayou State.
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Fifteen more LeBlancs--four families, three led by widows, several wives, a middle-aged bachelor, and an aging patriarch with his third wife--crossed on La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-August 1785. Most of them chose to settle on upper Bayou Lafourche in what the Spanish called the Valenzuela District. Two chose to settle on the river at Ascension and Manchac. A few more family lines came of it on the river, the Lafourche, and out on the prairies:
Claude (1723-1800) à André à Daniel LeBlanc
Second son Charles Marie, by first wife Marie Madeleine Lebert, married Modeste Aimée or Emérite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Blanchard and Aimée Modeste Bourg, at Baton Rouge in February 1806. Their children, born there, included Modeste Emma or Aimée in March 1807; and Charles, fils in November 1808. Charles Marie remarried to Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Bénoni Hébert and Marie Madeleine Allain, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in March 1813. They settled in West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Magloire Charles in July 1817; Élisabeth, baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1816; Henriette born in November 1818; and Victorin in January 1822. Charles Marie, in his early 50s, remarried again--his third marriage--to Anne Marine, called Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Hébert and Marguerite Gautreaux and widow of Jean Louis Landry, at the Baton Rouge church in May 1837. She evidently gave him no more children. Charles Marie died probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in August 1854. The Baton Rouge priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Charles "of West Baton Rouge Parish" died at "age 70 years." He was 69. Daughters Modeste Aimée, Élisabeth, and Henriette, by his first two wives, married into the Dupuis, Anger, and Babin families. Two of Charles Marie's sons also married. His older son settled on the western prairies but may have returned to the Baton Rouge area, and his younger son remained on the river.
Oldest son Charles, fils, by first wife Modeste Blanchard, settled with his family in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. After he came of age, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and married Élisabeth Tarsile or Tarsile Élisabeth, daughter of Jean Marie LeTullier or Tullier and his Acadian wife Élisabeth Dupuis of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1833. They settled near Breaux Bridge on upper Bayou Teche before returning to the Baton Rouge area. Their children, born on the Teche and on the river, included Marie Coralie, called Coralie, in June 1834; Émelie or Émilie in January 1836; Élisabeth in December 1837; Jean Charles in August 1839; Jacques in February 1843 and baptized at the Baton Rouge church the following November; Joseph Aristide born in St. Martin Parish in January 1845; Modeste Victoria in December 1846; Adélaïde Alexida or Alexona near Breaux Bridge in August 1848; Henriette in June 1850; Pauline Julie in April 1852; Marie Ophelia in March 1854; Baziline in July 1856; and Louisa Cécilia near Baton Rouge in August 1860--13 children, 10 daughters and three sons, between 1834 and 1860. Daughters Élisabeth, Émilie, Adélaïde Alexona, and Modeste Victoria married into the Frederick, Aville, Guidry, and Devilliers families by 1870. None of Charles, fils's sons married by then.
Charles Marie's second son Magloire Charles, by second wife Élisabeth Hébert, likely married fellow Acadian Pauline or Apolline Richard in West Baton Rouge Parish in the late 1830s. Their children, born there, included Lucette Ines in June 1843; Louise Célestine in May 1845; Élisabeth dite Élize near Brusly in September 1846; Charles Wilfred in February 1848; Henriette Virginie in October 1849; a daughter, name and age unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died near Baton Rouge in January 1853; Paul Joseph born in July 1855; Augustin in July 1857; and Cécelia Pauline in July 1859--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1843 and 1859. Daughters Louise Célestine and Élize married Broussard brothers by 1870. None of Magloire Charles's sons married by then.
Olivier's third and youngest son Magloire Henri, by first wife Marie Madeleine Lebert, married Marie Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Blanchard and Élisabeth Mouton, at the Baton Rouge church in August 1810. They settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Sylvère or Sylvain, perhaps also called Silbert, in July 1811; and Marie Evélina in April 1819. Wife Modeste, called a LeBlanc, died in West Baton Rouge Parish in November 1853, age 58. Magloire "of West Baton Rouge Parish" died there in November 1860, age 73. Daughter Marie Evélina married into the Allain family. Magloire Henri's son also married.
Only son Sylvère or Sylvain, perhaps also called Silbert, evidently married fellow Acadian Joséphine Broussard and settled near Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, on the west bank of the river, by the late 1830s. Their children, born there, included Emma in c1839; Marie Aloisa or Aloysia in October 1846; Roman Émile in April 1849; Marguerite Alline, called Alline, in June 1851; and Alcée Oliviée in March 1853--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1839 and 1853. Wife Joséphine, called "Mrs. Silvert LeBlanc," was buried near Plaquemine in July 1863. The priest who recorded the burial did not give her age at the time of her passing. Daughter Marie Aloysia married into the Hébert family by 1870. Neither of Joséphine and Sylvain's sons married by then.
Étienne (c1749-1799) à Claude à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Étienne, third son of Félix LeBlanc and his first wife Marie-Josèphe Thériot, born probably at Chignecto in c1749, followed his family to Île St.-Jean and Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, and his widowed father to St.-Malo, perhaps to the îles Malouines, today's Falkland Islands, and back to St.-Malo. He may also have followed his father and stepmother to Poitou and retreated on his own to Nantes in 1775 or 1776. When his older brothers returned to North America and settled in the British-controlled fishery at Gaspésie on the north shore of the Baie des Chaleurs, Étienne, still a bachelor, remained in France, but not for long. He emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. From New Orleans, he followed his fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche and was last counted there in April 1797, a 47-year-old bachelor with three slaves. He died at New Orleans in August 1799, age 50, still a bachelor, so his father's family line did not take root in the Bayou State.
Simon (1761-c1789) à Pierre à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Simon, third and youngest son of Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc from his second wife Ursule Breau, born probably at Southampton, England, in October 1761, followed his family to St.-Malo, France, in May 1763 and settled with them in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer. He was still there in 1771. Two years later, he followed his parents to Poitou and then to Nantes later in the decade. After he came of age, he worked as a day laborer. He followed his widowed mother and a niece to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. Simon married Anne-Marie dite Annette, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Daigle and Luce-Perpétué Bourg, at Ascension in April 1788. Annette, a native of Plouër-sur-Rance south of St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana in 1785 aboard a later ship. Their son Joseph was born on the upper Lafourche in August 1789. Simon died by January 1790, in his late 20s, when his wife remarried at Lafourche. His son probably died young, so this family line did not endure in the Bayou State.
Jean-Baptiste (1768-1820) à Jacques dit Petit Jacques à Antoine à Daniel LeBlanc
Jean-Baptiste, second son of Jean-Jacques LeBlanc from his second wife Nathalie Pitre, born at St.-Servan-sur-Mer near St. Malo, France, in March 1768, followed his parents to the interior of Poitou in 1773, where he witnessed his father's leadership of the Acadians who questioned the viability of the Poitou venture. He retreated with his family to Nantes after the venture failed, and worked as a sailor in the lower Loire port. Still a teenager, he followed his widowed mother and a younger sister to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he was counted in January 1788 working as an engagé with the family of Jean Licaire. Unlike his sister, Jean-Baptiste did not remain on the upper Lafourche. He married Marie-Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Boudreaux and Monique Dupuis, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer on the river in January 1795. Marie-Henriette was a native of Cabahannocer whose family had gone there from Halifax in 1765. Her and Jean-Baptiste's children, born at Cabahannocer, included Marie in October 1795; Marie-Antoinia in January 1799; Célestine in September 1800; Jean-Baptiste-Lucien in July 1802 but died at age 12 in September 1814; Marguerite Basilique born in August 1805; Joseph Casimir, called Casimir, in July 1807; Simon Eugène in December 1810 but, called Eugène, died at "age about 16 yrs." in March 1826; Jean Jacques le jeune born in December 1812; and a "newborn" daughter, name unrecorded, died in September 1814--eight children, five daughters and three sons, between 1795 and 1814. Jean Baptiste died in St. James Parish in April 1820, age 51. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Baptiste was "nat. of Nantes," but he actually had been born near St.-Malo, on the other side of Brittany. None of his many daughters married. His remaining sons married and settled on the river, on Bayou Lafourche, and out on the western prairies.
Second son Joseph Casimir, called Casimir, at age 37, married Orellia, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Sonnier and his Creole wife Josette Percle, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1845. She evidently gave him no children. At age 44, Casimir remarried to cousin Cidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians Olivier Boudreaux and Susanne Breaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in June 1852. They settled in Lafayette and St. Landry parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie in Lafayette Parish in December 1854; Philomène Casimir, a daughter, in St. Landry Parish in July 1855 but died there, age 1 (the recording priest said 2), in June 1856; Aureliana born in c1857 but died in St. Landry Parish at age 11 in August 1868; Joseph Jean Baptiste Olivier born in June 1860; Jean Jacques le jeune in May 1862; Simon in August 1866 but died at age 2 (the recording priest said 3) in August 1868; ... None of Casimir's children married by 1870.
Jean Baptiste's fourth and youngest son Jean Jacques le jeune married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Landry and Madeleine Melançon, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in February 1835. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Éloi or Éloi Joseph in December 1835; Marie Eliska in September 1837; Jean Elfèche or Elphége, called Elphége, in March 1839; Marie Virginie in May 1841; Joseph Oscar in August 1843 but died at age 2 1/2 in July 1846; Joseph Prospère born in July 1845; Marie Louise Aurelia, called Marie Aurelia, in September 1847; Joseph Clément in May 1851 but died the following October; and Pierre Jean Baptiste born in June 1853 but, called Pierre Jn. Bpte, died the following November. At age 44, Jean Jacques le jeune remarried to Florestine, Florestille, or Forestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Melançon and Éloise Arceneaux and widow of Drosin Bertaud, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in January 1857. They, too, evidently settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Zoé in January 1860; Marie Ida baptized at the St. James church, age unrecorded, in May 1861; Marie Aimée born in July 1865; ... Daughter Marie Aurelia, by his first wife, married a Melançon cousin by 1870. Three of Jean Jacques's sons also married by then, and one of them may have married a stepsister.
Oldest son Joseph Éloi or Éloi Joseph, by first wife Marie Landry, married Madeleine Adèle, called Adèle, daughter of Laurent Dongieux and his Acadian wife Caroline Bourg, at the St. James church in February 1857. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Marie Blanche Caroline in December 1857; Joseph Éloi, fils baptized at the St. James church, age unrecorded, in September 1859; Marie Lize born near Convent, across the river, in December 1860; Marie in November 1863; Marie Juliette in July 1865; Marie Joseph[e] in August 1867; Marie Jeanne in August 1869; ...
Jean Jacques le jeune's second son Jean Elphége, called Elphége, by first wife Marie Landry, married M. Amelia, called Amelia, Bertaud at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in December 1863; the priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names; if Amelia's father was Drosin Bertaud, she would have been Elphége's stepsister. The couple settled in St. James Parish, first on the west bank near St. James and then on the east bank of the river near Convent. Their children, born there, included Joseph Élie near St. James in September 1865; Joseph Vincent near Convent in January 1867; Louis Ulrie in April 1868; Céline Christine in February 1870; ...
Jean Jacques le jeune's fourth son Joseph Prospère, by first wife Marie Landry, married Maria Anna Buquoi at the Donaldsonville church December 1869. ...
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Fifteen more LeBlancs--three families, including a set of unmarried siblings, several wives, and a widow--crossed on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of August 1785. Most of the ship's passengers settled in the Baton Rouge area. A few LeBlancs followed them there, but most did not remain. They settled, instead, downriver at Cabahannocer and out on the western prairies, but most of them moved on to upper Bayou Lafourche. More enduring family lines came of it:
Paul (c1743-1810s?) à André à Daniel LeBlanc
Paul, fourth son of Claude-André LeBlanc and Madeleine Boudrot, born probably at Minas in c1743, followed his widowered father to Île St.-Jean and was counted with him, three sisters, and a brother-in-law at Anse-au-Matelot on the southeast shore of the island in August 1752. The British deported him with members of his family to Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, in late 1758. After his father's death in October 1765, Paul moved on to St.-Malo in Brittany, which he reached on 1 July 1766, and settled near his older brother Charles, who had crossed from the Maritimes on another ship in 1758. Paul worked as a carpenter and day laborer in the St.-Malo suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, where he married cousin Anne, 24-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians François Boudrot and Anne-Marie Thibodeau of Minas, in May 1770. Anne gave Paul two daughters there: Anne born in March 1771; and Marie-Anne in March 1773. They followed his older brother Charles to the interior of Poitou in 1773. Paul's younger daughter Marie-Anne died in St.-Jean l'Evangeliste Parish, Châtellerault, age 1 1/2, in August 1774; and Anne gave him a son, Sylvestre, born at Cenan southeast of Châtellerault in April 1775. In December of that year, after two years of effort, Paul, Anne, and their two remaining children retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. Anne gave Paul five more children there: Paul, fils born in St.-Similien Parish in November 1776 but died in Ste.-Croix Parish the following July; Geneviève born in St.-Jacques Parish in January 1779 but died at nearby Chantenay at age 1 1/2 in August 1780; Adélaïde born at Chantenay in October 1780 but died at age 3 1/2 in March 1784; Adélaïde-Marguerite born in May 1782; and Rosalie in March 1785. Older son Sylvestre died in Ste.-Croix Parish in September 1777, age 2 1/2; and oldest daughter Anne died at nearby Chantenay in January 1784, age 12. Paul, Anne, their two remaining daughters, Adélaide-Marguerite and Rosalie, and a Trahan niece emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to Baton Rouge, where a Spanish official counted them in November 1792. Soon afterwards, they joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche. Anne gave Paul more children on the river and upper bayou, including Marie-Modeste, born on the river in December 1789; Joseph-Marie baptized at Pointe Coupée, age unrecorded, in August 1790; and Marie-Eulalie, called Eulalie, born at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in March 1793--11 children, eight daughters and three sons, between 1771 and 1793, in France and Louisiana. A succession inventory, dated 15 May 1813, and filed at the Lafourche Interior Parish courthouse notes that Paul LeBlanc "is apparently still alive on this dated--name signed on document." The parish clerk did not mention a wife or give Paul's parents' names. If this was Paul of Minas, Île St.-Jean, and France, he would have been age 70 at the time. Daughters Adélaïde-Marguerite, Rosalie, Eulalie, and Marie Modeste married into the Caissie dit Roger, Boudreaux, Rousseau, and Bergeron families on the upper Lafourche. Paul's remaining son also married, but the line did not endure.
Third and youngest son Joseph Marie followed his family from Baton Rouge to the upper Lafourche and married cousin Madeleine Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Théodore Bourg and Marie Rose LeBlanc, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1816. Daughter Marie Hortense was born near Plattenville in December 1817. Joseph's succession inventory and estimation was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1820. He would have been age 30 that year. His daughter did not marry by 1870. Did Joseph Marie father any sons?
Moïse (1761-c1790) à François à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Moïse, fourth son of Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc from second wife Marguerite Célestin dit Bellemère, born at Southampton, England, in September 1761, followed his family to St.-Malo, France, in the spring of 1763. He settled with them at St.-Énogat, today's Dinard, across the harbor from St.-Malo, and followed them to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany in November 1765 before moving on to the lower Loire port of Nantes. He married Angélique-Madeleine-Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean De La Forestrie and Marie-Madeleine Bonnière of St.-Pierre-du-Nord, Île St.-Jean, at St.-Martin de Chantenay near Nantes in November 1780. Angélique gave Moïse two children there: Marie-Josèphe born in January 1782; and Jean-Martin in November 1783. The couple, with their two children, led five of his younger siblings to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. They did not follow their fellow passengers to Baton Rouge but settled, instead, on upper Bayou Lafourche. They had no more children in the colony. Wife Angélique, in fact, died soon after they reached the colony. Moïse remarried to Madeleine-Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Eustache Bertrand and Marguerite Landry, at Ascension in April 1786. She gave him another daughter, Marie-Anne, baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1788--three children, two daughters and a son, by two wives, between 1782 and 1788, in France and Louisiana. Neither of Moïse's daughters seems to have married. His son married twice on the Lafourche and created a vigorous family line there.
Only son Jean Martin, by first wife Angélique De La Forestrie, while still an infant, followed his family to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Ambroise Pitre and Isabelle Dugas of St. James on the river, at Assumption in February 1804. Céleste was a native of Louisiana whose family had come to the colony from France in 1785 aboard an earlier vessel. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Angèle or Angélique born in March 1805; Joseph, also called Joseph dit Moïse and Joseph Martin, in July 1806; Marguerite Céleste in October 1807; Marie Clémence in July 1809; Jean Napoléon, also called Joseph Napoléon and Napoléon, in February 1811; and Marie Célesire or Célesie in September 1817. Jean Martin, at age 34, remarried to Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Joseph Nicolas Thibodeaux and Adélaide Vincent of Lafourche, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in October 1818. Clémence also was a native of Louisiana whose parents had immigrated from France in 1785. They settled down bayou in Lafourche Interior Parish. Their children, born there, included Ambroise Félicien or Félicien Ambroise in July 1819 but died at age 18 (the recording priest said 19) in February 1839; Marie Ursin or Ursine born in March 1821; Michel Nicolas in November 1823 but, called Nicolas, died near Plattenville at age 29 in October 1853; and Silvin or Sylvain Benjamin, called Benjamin, born in February 1825--10 children, five daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1805 and 1825. Jean Martin died in either Lafourche Interior or Terrebonne Parish in April 1826, age 42. His succession inventory, naming his second wife and listing two of his daughters by his first wife and their spouses--Angélique and her husband; and Marguerite and her husband--and a petition for the tutelage of his minor children by his second wife and listing them--Ambroise Félicien, Marie Ursine, Michel Nicolas, and Silvani Benjamin--were filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in February and April 1836, a decade after his death. Daughters Marguerite, Marie Clémence, Marie Angélique, Marie Célesie, and Marie Ursine, by both wives, married into the Naquin, Hébert, Lejeune, Blanchard, and Pichoff families. Three of Jean Martin's sons also married and settled on the Lafourche and in Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Joseph dit Moïse, also called Joseph Martin, from first wife Céleste Pitre, married Marie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Lejeune and Barbe Trahan, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1826. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Alexis Joseph in December 1826; Rosaline in March 1830; twins Adam Alexis and Baptiste Adam in August 1831, but Adam Alexis died seven days after his birth; Armélise Célina born in October 1832; Adam François or François Adam, called François, in September 1834; Hylaire or Hilaire, also called Joseph Hilaire, in June 1837; Ulysse, also called Harrison Ulysse, called Harrison, and perhaps also Alexandre, in August 1839; Michel Abdam, probably Adam, in November 1841; Théodule Théophile in January 1844; Marie Roséma or Rosémé, called Rosémé, in August 1846; and Adrien Joseph in May 1850 (an "application for administration" was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse for son Joseph Adrien, probably Adrien Joseph, in May 1850; one wonders why)--a dozen children, nine sons and three daughters, from 1826 to 1850. Joseph dit Moïse died in Lafourche Parish in August 1866. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph Moïse died "at age 67 yrs." He was 60. A succession inventory and tutorship request, calling him Moïse Joseph, naming his wife, and listing his surviving children, including their ages and one of their spouses--Roseline, age 35, and her husband; François, age 33; Hilaire, age 31; Harrison, age 27; Michel, age 25; Théodule, age 23; Rosémé, age 19; and Adrien, age 15--was filed at the Houma courthouse the following October. Daughters Roseline and Marie Rosémé married into the Babin and Breaux families by 1870. Six of Joseph's sons also married by then, four of them to two sets of sisters, and settled on the Lafourche and in Terrebonne Parish, but not all of the lines endured.
Fourth son François Adam married cousin Azéma or Ozéma Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Evariste Louvière and Nicolette dite Collette LeBlanc of Assumption and Lafourche parishes, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in October 1859. They settled near Montegut at the edge of the Terrebonne coastal marshes. Their children, born there, included Sylvain Joseph in October 1860; Félicité in December 1862; Pierre Charles Silvestre in January 1865; Joseph Camille in January 1867 but died the following July; Aleces born in November 1869; ...
Joseph's fifth son Hilaire married Dovidia or Dovilia, daughter of fellow Acadians Evariste Molaison and Julie Arthémise Pitre, at the Houma church in March 1867. Their son Joseph Migues was born in Lafourche Parish in December 1867. Hilaire remarried to Léa, daughter of fellow Acadian Martial Usé and his Creole wife Marie Sanches, at the Thibodaux church in December 1868; the marriage was recorded also in Terrebonne Parish. Hilaire died in Lafourche Parish in July 1870. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph Hilaire, as he called him, died "at age 36 yrs." He was 33. A petition for inventory in his name, naming his deceased first wife and listing his only child, Joseph, was filed at the Houma courthouse in August.
Joseph's sixth son Harrison Ulysse married Zulma, also called Rosalie, another daughter of Evariste Molaison and Julie Arthémise Pitre, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in August 1864. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Malvina in October 1865; Marie Eliska in May 1867; Émile Abel in March 1869; Joseph Ernest in December 1870; ...
Joseph's seventh son Michel Adam "from Terrebonne Parish" married cousin Aglie, Agladie, or Azélie, another daughter of Evariste Louvière and Nicolette LeBlanc, at the Houma church in May 1864. They lived near the boundary between Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Auxiliade Odreci in September 1865; Pierre Calixste in October 1870; ...
Joseph's eighth son Théodule "of Terrebonne" married Ernestine, daughter of Terence Toups and his Acadian wife Euphrosine Breaux "of Lafourche," in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in January 1867, and sanctified the marriage at the Vacherie church, St. James Parish, in February. Their son Pierre Théophile was born in Lafourche Parish in December 1868; ...
Joseph's ninth and youngest son Adrien Joseph married Aglaé, daughter of Laurent Pelegrin and Delphine Malbrough, at the Thibodaux church in January 1870. ...
Jean Martin's second son Jean or Joseph Napoléon, called Napoléon, from first wife Céleste Pitre, married Marie Céline or Célina, daughter of Justin Pontiff and his Acadian wife Marie Madeleine Lejeune, at the Thibodauxville church in November 1837. They lived at Chacahoula near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Napoléon, fils in January 1839; Olésiper or Olésiphore Eubert or Hubert, called Hubert, in September 1841; Malvina Célestte or Célestina in September 1842; Arsinela or Odilia Adelina, called Odilia and Odelia, in March 1846; Joseph Martial, called Martial, in June 1848; Marie Zulma, called Zulma, in March 1850; Marie Célina in December 1851; Augustin in February 1854; Ulysse Maxilien in December 1855; Ulysse Édouard in May 1858; Julie in November 1859; Jean in October 1861; Charles Odressi in August 1864; ... Daughters Malvina Célestina, Odilia, and Zulma married into the Ordoneaux and Boudreaux and families, including two Boudreaux brothers, by 1870. One of Napoléon's sons also married by then.
Second son Olésiphore Hubert, called Hubert, "from Terrebonne Parish" married Philomène, daughter of fellow Acadians Ursin Barrilleaux and Cléonise Potier of Assumption Parish, at the Houma church in December 1861. They also settled at Chacahoula. Their children, born there, included Marie Eve Lereska in February 1864; twins Joseph Camila and Joséphine Camela in September 1866; Jean Félicien in February 1870; ...
Jean Martin's fifth and youngest son Sylvain Benjamin, called Benjamin, from second wife Clémence Thibodeaux, married cousin Eléonore Anathalie dite Nathalie, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Joseph Thibodeaux and his Creole wife Agathe Biron, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in November 1846, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church in May 1847. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included a child, name unrecorded, died at birth in August 1848[sic]; Evéline Sylvanie born in September 1848[sic]; Marie Apolline or Pauline in July 184[9] on Bayou Petit Caillou; Désiré Maurice in May 1858; Neuville Alexis in September 1863; ... Daughter Marie Pauline married into the Blanchard family by 1870. Neither of Benjamin's sons married by then.
Joseph (1766-1829) à François à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Joseph, fifth son of Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc from second wife Marguerite Célestin dit Bellemère, was born near Le Palais, Belle-Île-en-Mer, France, in March 1766, soon after his family went to the island, and became a sailor. By the early 1780s, he evidently followed his older brother Moïse to the lower Loire port of Nantes, sailed to Spanish Louisiana with him and four younger siblings in 1785, and followed them from New Orleans to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Madeleine-Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Gautreaux and Anne-Pélagie Trahan, in May 1788. Marie-Madeleine, a native of Morlaix whose family also had been sent to England, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard a later vessel. Her and Joseph's children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marianne-Eulalie, called Eulalie, in February 1792; Charles-Joseph-Procopio, also called Joseph-Charles, in April 1794; Marie-Marthe-Pélagie, called Pélagie, baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1797; Joseph-Simon, called Simon and Simon-Jude, born in October 1799; Jeanne-Marie in October 1800 and baptized at the New Orleans church the following May; Pierre-Gratien, called Gratien, born at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in December 1802; and Auguste Magloire in October 1809--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1792 and 1809. As the baptism of one of their daughters reveals, they were living at New Orleans in May 1801, but they returned to the Lafourche soon afterwards. Joseph died in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1829. The Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 65 when he died. He was 63. His succession inventory, naming his wife and listing most of his children and some of their spouses--Auguste; Simon; Eulalie and her husband; Pélagie and her husband; Pierre Gratien; and Charles, deceased--was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse later that month. Daughters Marie Eulalie and Pélagie married into the Boudreaux family. All four of Joseph's sons married on the Lafourche, two of them to sisters.
Oldest son Charles Joseph Procopio, also called Joseph Charles and Charles, married Marie Madeleine, daughter of Joseph Malbrough and Angélique Couturier of Lafourche, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1819. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior Parish. Their children, born there, included Philagon, also called Joseph Philagon, Filogouis, or Philogène, in December 1819; Auguste or Augustin Pierre in April 1821; and Guillaume Rémond Charles in January 1823--three children, all sons, between 1819 and 1823. Charles Joseph Procopio died by March 1829, when he was listed as deceased in his father's succession inventory. He was in his early 30s at the time. His three sons married and settled in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley. Two of them married sisters.
Oldest son Joseph Philagon, Philogoni, Philogonie, Filogouis, or Philogène, while a resident of Terrebonne Parish, married Rosalie Anne or Anne Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Jean Baptiste Hébert and Émelie Cécile Boudreaux of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodaux church in May 1843. Their children, born on the Lafourche and in Terrebonne Parish, included Homère Conelius baptized at the Thibodaux church, age unrecorded, in September 1845; Ernest René born in November 1847; Jean Baptiste Ovil or Ovile near Chacahoula, Terrebonne Parish, in October 1849; Joséphine Emma born in January 1859; Vileor Prosper in Lafourche Parish in January 1854; Ozea Aglaé in Terrebonne Parish in June 1856; Zulma Elvire in January 1862; Marie Joséphine in January 1864; ... A "renunciation" in Joseph Philagon's name was filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in January 1850; one wonders for what purpose. None of his daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Homère C., as he was called, married Rosa Angélique, daughter of Augustin Authement and his Acadian wife Adeline Foret, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in November 1865. Their children, born near Montegut, included Rose Eva Adèla in January 1868; Rosalie Mélanie in January 1870; ...
Charles Joseph's second son Auguste or Augustin Pierre married Irma Cléonise or Éloise, another daughter of Louis Jean Baptiste Hébert and Émelie Cécile Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church in April 1843. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Auguste Alces, called Alces, in November or December 1844; Adam Alphonse in April 1854; and Marie Armélise in February 1858--three childlren, two sons and a daughter, between 1844 and 1858. None of Auguste's children married by 1870.
Charles Joseph's's third and youngest son Guillaume Rémond Charles married Marie Zulema or Zulma, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Molaison and Marie Azélie Bourgeois, at the Thibodaux church in July 1854. They settled at Chacahoula near the boundaries between Assumption, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Adam Arthur in October 1856; Marguerite Evelina in October 1858; Armand in November 1860; Joseph Edgard in May 1863; Marie Anastasie in November 1865; ... None of Guillaume's children married by 1870.
Joseph's second son Joseph Simon, called Simon and Simon Jude, married, at age 23, Marie Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Boudreaux and Marie Rose Benoit, at the Thibodauxville church in May 1824. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Grégoire in September 1825; Marie Madeleine in April 1826; Gratien le jeune in February 1830; Eulalie Mathilde in January 1831; Apollinaire Zéphirin in July 1833; Florant H. in October 1835; Simon Lucien Cléophas in March 1838; Hubert Théodule in May 1840; Jean Michel in September 1842; and Aubuc Maximin in March 1845--10 children, eight sons and two daughters, between 1825 and 1845. Daughter Marie married a Boudreaux cousin by 1870. None of Joseph Simon's sons married by then.
Joseph's third son Pierre Gratien, called Gratien, married Victoire, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Boudreaux and Marguerite Ludivine Pitre of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in November 1825. They may have resettled in Terrebonne Parish, where a document, perhaps a mortgage, was filed in their name--the clerk called him Gracien--at the Houma courthouse in December 1826. Their children, born on the Lafourche and perhaps in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Rogite in April 1827; Cléophine Pauline in the late 1820s; Marie Eulalie in January 1830 but died at age 9 1/2 in October 1839; Fideline Pauline born in February 1832 but, called Pauline, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said "age 3 yrs. 8 mths.") in November 1834; Marguerite Emérante born in March 1834; Eugène Bazile or Basile in June 1836; Philomène Octavie in September 1838; Marie Célestine Adèle baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1843 but died seven days after her birth; and Victorin, actually Victorine, Suzanne born in August 1844--nine children, eight daughters and a son, between 1827 and 1844. Daughter Cléophine Pauline married into the Thorton family by 1870. Gratien's son did not marry by then.
Joseph's fourth and youngest son Auguste Magloire married, at age 22, 21-year-old Rosalie Théotiste, another daughter of Jean Baptiste Boudreaux and Marie Rose Benoit, at the Thibodauxville church in May 1832. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Étienne in April 1833; Simonette Félix or Félix Simonette in November 1834; François Prospère or Prosper in March 1837; Ovile Bernard in May 1839; Jean Baptiste Olelus or Oleus in March 1842 but, called Oleus, died near Montegut, age 24, in August 1866 (the recording priest did not give his age at the time of his death; one wonders if his death was war-related); Marie Victorine, called Victorine, born in January 1844; Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, in April 1845; Azélime Séraphina in October 1847; and Théodule Ulger in October 1849--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1833 and 1849. Daughters Victorine and Joséphine married into the Picou and Richaux or Richoux families by 1870. Three of Auguste Magloire's sons also married by then, and one of his sons died in Confederate service before he could marry.
Oldest son Joseph Étienne married Joséphine Théotiste, daughter of fellow Acadian Barthélémy Thibodeaux and his Creole wife Marie Josèphe Clémence Duroche, at the Thibodaux church in May 1858; the marriage was recorded also in Terrebonne Parish, where they settled. Their children, born near Montegut, included Euphrosie Marie in March 1862; Euzelia Eva in December 1863; Marie Elda in May 1866; Jean Marie Joseph in August 1868; ... Joseph Étienne may have died near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, in July 1870. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died "at age 38 yrs." Joseph Étienne would have been age 37.
Auguste Magloire's second son Félix Simonette married, at age 35, Amelia, daughter of Valéry Berthelot and Mathilde Malbrough, at the Montegut church in August 1870. Considering his age at the time of the wedding, one wonders if this was his only marriage.
Auguste Magloire's third son François Prosper may have married Arthémise Duplantis, place and date unrecorded. Their son Baker Joseph was born in Terrebonne Parish in January 1855. Did they have anymore children?
During the War of 1861-65, Auguste Magloire's fourth son Ovile Bernard, also called Oville, served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Oville was "severely wounded" on 26 June 1863 during the final days of the Siege of Vicksburg and sent home on parole. While waiting for his unit to be exchanged, he died in Lafourche Parish in April 1864, probably from his wounds. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Ovile died "at age 22 yrs." He was a month shy of 25. He evidently did not marry.
Jacques-Hippolyte (1768-1844) à François à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Jacques-Hippolyte, called Hippolyte and Polito, sixth son of Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc from second wife Marguerite Célestin dit Bellemère, born near Bangor, Belle-Île-en-Mer, France, in March 1768, became a carpenter in France. He evidently followed his older brothers to Nantes, sailed to Spanish Louisiana with them and three younger siblings, and followed them from New Orleans to upper Bayou Lafourche. Still a bachelor, he was living with two younger siblings on the upper Lafourche in April 1797. He married Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Gaudet and his first wife Marguerite Bourgeois of Cabahannocer on the river, probably at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in the late 1790s. They settled there near the boundary of what became Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie-Marcelline in March 1799; twins Marie-Blanche and Rosalie-Marcelline in January 1801; Joseph-Henri in January 1803; Joseph Rosémond, called Rosémond, in August 1804; Marie Artémise in February 1807; Celia or Azélie Adélaïde in February 1809; Joseph Daniel, called Daniel, in September 1811; Jean Baptiste Marcellus in August 1814; Paul in October 1816; and Natalie Domitille in August 1819 but died at age 4 in October 1823--11 children, six daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1799 and 1819. Jacques Hippolyte died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1844. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Jacques Hyppolite, as he called him, died "at age 78 yrs." He was 76. Daughters Marie Marcelline, Marie Blanche, Marie Artémise, Rosalie, and Azélie Adélaïde married into the Broussard, Boudreaux, Breaux, Bourg, Aucoin, and Lamoureaux families, two of them on the same day in May 1820. Only two of Jacques Hippolyte's sons married.
Second son Joseph Rosémond, called Rosémond, married Émilie Élise, Lise, or Mélise, called Mélite, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Boudreaux and Marie Rose Benoit, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1827; the marriage was recorded also in Lafourche Interior Parish. They lived probably on the upper bayou near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Zéphirin, called Zéphirin, in January 1828; Joseph Eugène in January 1829; Séraphine Louise or Louisa in May 1831; Silvin or Sylvain Walkar or Walker in October 1837; and Azélie Carmélite in April 1839 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1840--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1828 and 1839. Rosémond died in Lafourche Parish in February 1856. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Rosémond died "at age 50 yrs." He was 51. A petition for a family meeting in his name, calling his wife Mélitte and listing only one of his children--youngest son Sylvain Volcar, actually Walker--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in August 1856. Remaining daughter Séraphine Louisa married into the Lafontaine family. Two of Joseph Rosémond's sons also married.
Oldest son Joseph Zéphirin, called Zéphirin, married Adèle Auderestine, daughter of Marceline Baudoin, at the Thibodaux church in April 1858; Adèle's father likely was an Hébert. She and Zéphirin settled at Chacahoula near the boundaries between Assumption, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Oscar Savinien in October 1859; Léon Alcide in June 1862; Marie Alida in June 1865; Telvina Louisa in August 1867; Albert Clovis in March 1870; ...
Rosémond's third and youngest son Sylvain Walker married Marie, daughter of Eugène Maronge and Marcelline Lelorec, at the Thibodaux church in July 1859. They lived on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Hélène Amanda in August 1860; Marie died at age 2 days in June 1862; Marie Théodocia born in December 1863; another Marie in October 1866; ...
Hippolyte's third son Joseph Daniel, called Daniel, married Marguerite, daughter of François Lelorec and his Acadian wife Marie Augustine Richard, at the Thibodauxville church in September 1840. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Armogène in March 1841 but, called Joseph Hermogène, died at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 15) in October 1855; Louis Émile born in November 1842 but, called Émile, died at age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 11) in October 1853, victim, perhaps, of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana that summer and fall; Amédée Masuro born in November 1844; Élizé Augustave in April 1847; Azélie Zéolide in March 1849; Jules Marcellus in April 1851; Orestille Victoria in April 1853; Prospert in June 1855; Marie Louisa in October 1857; J. in c1859 but died at age 6 in March 1865; Marie Augustine born in June 1860; and Édouard Joseph in March 1863. Daniel may have remarried to cousin Azélie LeBlanc in the mid-1860s, when he was in his 50s. Their daughter Marie Denise was born in Lafourche Parish in February 1866; ... None of Daniel's many children married by 1870, at least not in South Louisiana.
François-Marie (1770-1849) à François à René à Daniel LeBlanc
François-Marie, seventh and youngest son of Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc from second wife Marguerite Célestin dit Bellemère, born near Bangor, Belle-Île-en-Mer, France, in May 1770, became a rope maker in France. Still a teenager, he evidently followed his older brothers to Nantes, sailed to Louisiana with them and two younger sisters, and followed them from New Orleans to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians Ambroise Pitre and Isabelle Dugas of Cabahannocer, at Assumption in September 1800. Marie-Françoise, a native of Chantenay near Nantes, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard an earlier vessel. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph-Benjamin in November 1800; Céleste-Isabelle in July 1801; Jean-Valentin, called Jean-François, Joseph-François, and François, in October 1802; Pierre Alexandre in May 1804; Marie Rosalie in February 1807; Valentin Joseph in November 1808 but died in Lafourche Parish in October 1860, a month shy of age 52; Anne Théotiste or Théotiste Anne born in June 1812; and Eléonore Scholastique in September 1814--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1800 and 1814. François Marie died in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1849, age 79. Daughters Céleste, Marie, and Théotiste Anne married into the Levron, Bernard, and Dupré families. Two of François Marie's sons also married, but only one of the lines endured, in Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Joseph Benjamin married Marie Rose, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Martin and his Creole wife Marguerite Grebe or Grimberk, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1832; the marriage was recorded also in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marguerite Céleste, perhaps also called Céleste Marie, in November 1833; and Marie Eléonore in November 1835. Daughters Céleste Marie and Marie Eléonore married into the Moore and Porche families. Did Joseph father any sons?
François Marie's second son Jean Valentin, called Jean François, Joseph François, and François, married Marguerite Céléonare, 20-year-old daughter of Jacques LeBoeuf and Marie Jeanne Linet, at the Thibodauxville church in January 1826. Their children, born on the Lafourche and later in Terrebonne Parish, included Céleste Félonise in September 1827; Joseph Marcellin in March 1830; Jean Marie in September 1832; Hortance Virginie, called Virginie, in January 1836; Ulisse or Ulysse Augustin, called Augustin, in December 1838; Hélèneore Zélina in May 1841; Jean Baptiste François, called François, in March 1844; Marie in Terrebonne Parish in August 1848; and Jean Baptiste in December 1852--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1827 and 1852. Daughters Céleste Félonise and Virginie married into the Buquet and Lucke or Luke families by 1870. Four of Jean Valentin's sons also married by then and settled in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.
Oldest son Joseph Marcellin married cousin Mélina Marie or Marie Mélina, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Saturnin Levron and Céleste LeBlanc, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in July 1854. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Joseph Dominique in August 1855; Hilaire Bernard in May 1858; Ludovic Zénon in July 1861; Marie Philomène in November 1862; ...
Jean Valentin's second son Jean Marie married Marie Aglaé, called Aglaé, daughter of fellow Acadian Florentin Janvier Boudreaux and his Creole wife Marie-Anne Durocher, at the Houma church in March 1855. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Victoire in February 1856 but, unnamed, died at age 16 months in June 1857; Camilla Eve born in March 1858; Léopold Franklin in December 1859; Jean Baptiste Florentin in October 1861; Arthur Hortaire or Ultère in September 1863; Marguerite Estelle in February 1866; Edgard Félix in September 1867; Marie Mélasie in October 1869; ...
Jean Valentin's third son Ulysse Augustin, called Augustin, married Mélasie, daughter of Jacques Labit or Labie and his Acadian wife Henriette Roger, at the Houma church in May 1860. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Susanne Augustine in February 1861; Philippe Augustave in June 1863; Pammela Félicie in May 1865; Eve Augustina in October 1867; Louis Joseph in September 1869; ...
Jean Valentin's fourth son Jean Baptiste François, called François, married cousin Aglaé M., daughter of fellow Acadians Edmond Bernard and Marie LeBlanc, at the Thibodaux church in July 1866. Their son Jean Zacharie was born in Lafourche Parish in May 1867; ...
.
Nineteen more LeBlancs--three families, all of them led by older men; several wives; and two bachelors--crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September 1785, dangeroully overcrowded. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. Several new family lines came of it:
Charles (c1717-1780s?) à Jacques à Daniel LeBlanc
Charles (1734-?) à André à Daniel LeBlanc
Charles, third son of Claude-André LeBlanc and Madeleine Boudrot and brother of Paul of Le Beaumont, born at Minas in April 1734, may have followed his widowered father to Île St.-Jean in the early 1750s, but he was not counted with him or with the family of his older sister Anne at Anse-au-Matelot in August 1752. Perhaps he came to the island after the 1752 count. Charles married 27-year-old Anne Benoit in c1758 on one of the Maritime islands. Later that year, the British deported them to St.-Malo, France, aboard the transport Tamerlane. They settled at Chàteauneuf on the east bank of the river south of the Breton port, where Anne gave Charles a son, Charles-Jean or Jean-Charles, born in September 1761, and where Charles worked as a day laborer and a sawyer. Anne died at Châteauneuf in September 1761, age 30, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Charles remarried to Rosalie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Claude Trahan and Marie Tillard, at St.-Servan-sur-Mer near St.-Malo in February 1763. Rosalie gave Charles six more children there: Marie-Rose born in November 1763; Pierre-Honoré in July 1765; André-Marie in November 1766; Marie-Françoise in January 1769; Grégoire-Charles in May 1771 but died at age 1 in July 1772; and Barbe-Anne born in December 1772. Charles took his family to Poitou in 1773. Rosalie gave him another son, Jean-Baptiste, born in St.-Jean l'Evangeliste Parish, Châtellerault, in June 1774, but the boy died a month after his birth. In December 1775, after two years of effort, Charles, Rosalie, and his six remaining children retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. Rosalie gave Charles five more children in Ste.-Croix Parish, Nantes, most of whom died young: Rosalie-Geneviève born in February 1776 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1777; Marie-Apolline born in October 1777 but died the following December; Louis-René born in April 1779 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1781; Rosalie born in January 1782 but died the following October; and another Jean-Baptiste born in October 1784. In 1785, Charles, Rosalie, and six of their unmarried children, three daughters and three sons, emigrated to Louisiana. Charles's oldest son Charles-Jean, recently married, took an earlier vessel to the Spanish colony. From New Orleans, Charles and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where his oldest son, who had gone to Baton Rouge, joined them. Rosalie gave Charles another son, Honoré, born on the upper Lafourche in c1792 or 1793--14 children, eight sons and six daughters, by two wives, between 1761 and the early 1790s, in France and Louisiana. Daughters Marie-Rose, Marie-Françoise, and Barbe-Anne, by his second wife, married into the Bourg, Boudreaux, and Hébert families on the Lafourche. Three of Charles's sons also married, one in France and two on the upper Lafourche, but none of the lines seems to have endured.
Oldest Charles-Jean or Jean-Charles, by first wife Anne Benoit, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes, where he married Brigitte-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Amable Hébert and Marie-Anne Richard, in the early 1780s. Brigitte was a native of Morlaix in Brittany. Still childless, the couple emigrated to Spanish Louisiana aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, and followed their fellow passengers to Manchac, south of Baton Rouge, before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche, where his father had settled. The couple also lived at New Orleans in the late 1790s and early 1800s, with tragic result. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Rosalie in c1785 probably in New Orleans soon after they reached the colony but died there, age 14, in October 1799; Françoise born at Cabahannocer on the river below Baton Rouge in November 1786; Jean-Charles, fils, called Charles, at Manchac in April 1788 but died either in Iberville Parish in April 1822, age 34 (the recording priest, who called him Jean, said 35), or in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 36, in January 1824 (the recording priest called him Jean Charles); Isabelle born at Ascension on the river above Cabahannocer in May 1790 but died at New Orleans, age 9, in October 1799; Scholastique born at Ascension in March 1792; Aimable-André or André-Aimable at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in February 1794; Angélique at New Orleans in August 1795 but died there, a "very young child," actually age 4, in October 1799; Augustin born in c1796 probably in the city but died there, age 3, in October 1799; Charles, described by the priest who buried him as a "very young child," died at New Orleans in September 1799, age unrecorded; and Alexandre born in late c1800 and baptized at the New Orleans church, age 2 months, in January 1801--10 children, five daughters and five sons, between 1785 and 1800. Charles Jean and Brigitte Josèphe buried five of their children, ages 14 to infant, at New Orleans between 9 September and 25 October 1799--victims, perhaps, of a yellow fever epidemic that struck the city. Neither of their remaining daughters and only one of their remaining sons married. In a reversal of the usual Acadian settlement pattern, Charles Jean "returned" to the river and settled in Iberville Parish. The line, except perhaps for its blood, evidently did not endure.
Second son Aimable André or André Aimable married Marguerite Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Breaux and Rosalie Landry, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, on the river in November 1818. They settled near St. Gabriel. Their children, born there, included Charles le jeune in August 1819; Marie Rosalie in April 1821; Jean in c1822 but died at age 2 in November 1824; Arthémise born in January 1823; Anne Marguerite Félicianne in August 1825; and André Théodule died, age unrecorded, in October 1826. Amable-André remarried to Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Allain and Marguerite Babin and widow of Joseph Hébert, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1828. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Marie Domitile in March 1829; Marie Élodie in May 1831; Marie Adélaïde in January 1833; and Marie Célestine, perhaps theirs, in May 1837--10 children, three sons and seven daughters, by two wives, between 1819 and 1837. Daughters Marie Domitile and Marie Élodie, by his second wife, married into the Danos and Mire families. Only one of André Aimable's sons married, but the line did not endure.
Oldest son Charles le jeune, by first wife Marguerite Joséphine Breaux, married Euphrasie, daughter of Georges Troxler and Anne Ménard, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1844. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Marie Telvina in December 1844; Charles, fils in January 1846 but died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in July 1852; and André Bertrand born in June 1847 but, called Bertrand, died at age 4 in June 1851--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1844 and 1847. Charles le jeune died in Iberville Parish in August 1848, age 29. His daughter did not marry by 1870, and his two sons did not survive childhood, so, except perhaps for its blood, this line of the family did not endure.
Charles's second son Pierre-Honoré, by second wife Rosalie Trahan, followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Anne-Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Boudreaux and Marguerite Thibodeaux, in February 1792. Anne, a native of Pleudihen-sur-Rance on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France with her large family in 1785 aboard a later vessel. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Anne-Rosalie in February 1793; and Marie-Josèphe in March 1794. Pierre-Honoré evidently died at Cabahannocer on the river in August 1796, age 31. His succession was filed at what became the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1797. Widow Anne remarried to a Boudreaux cousin. Her and Pierre Honoré's daughters Anne Rosalie and Marie Josèphe married into the Guidry and Prejean families. Except perhaps for its blood, his line of the family died with him.
Charles's third son André-Marie, by second wife Rosalie Trahan, followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Hébert and Marguerite-Louise Valet, in October 1793. Marie-Louise, a native of Archigny, Poitou, had come to Louisiana from France aboard a later vessel in 1785 with a brother and half-brother. She and André-Marie were still childless five years after their wedding. André Marie died in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1848, age 81. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that André Marie was married to "Maxie Pitre," perhaps a confusion in surnames with Marie Louise's half-brother Martin Bénoni Pitre. André's line of the family evidently died with him. His widow Marie Louise did not remarry and died in Lafourche Parish in January 1851, in her late 70s--one of the last Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join her ancestors.
Charles's seventh son Jean-Baptiste, the second with the name, from second wife Rosalie Trahan, followed his family to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he was counted with them in January 1798, age 14. Did he marry? He may have been the Jean Baptiste LeBlanc who died in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1850. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jean Baptiste died "at age 70 yrs." This Jean Baptiste would have age 65. He, too, would have been one of the last Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors.
Charles's eighth and youngest son Honoré, by second wife Rosalie Trahan, was age 4 when he appeared in the Valenzuela census of April 1797 with his family. He does not appear with them in the January 1798 census, so he probably died young.
Pierre (1734-?) à Jean à André à Daniel LeBlanc
Pierre, oldest son of Jean dit Dérico LeBlanc and François Blanchard, born at Minas in August 1734, was still a bachelor in his early 20s when he followed his family to Virginia and England. He married Françoise, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Trahan and Élisabeth Thériot, at Liverpool in January 1758. Françoise gave Pierre a daughter, Marie, born there in October 1761. In the spring of 1763, Pierre and his family were repatriated to Morlaix in northwestern Brittany. Françoise gave him another daughter there, Marguerite-Geneviève, called Geneviève, born in St.-Mathieu Parish in September 1763. Two years later, they followed other Acadian exiles from England to recently-liberated Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany and settled first at Le Palais on the island's eastern shore and then at Borderun near Sauzon on the north end of the island. Françoise gave Pierre three more children on the island: Marie-Thérèse born near Le Palais in January 1766 but died near Sauzon at age 4 in April 1770; Yves born at Sauzon in June 1769; and Simon in February 1771 but died two days after his birth. Pierre and his family returned to Morlaix by October 1773, when Françoise gave him another daughter, Marie-Anne, called Anne, born in St.-Martin des Champs Parish there. Later that year, they followed other Acadian exiles in the coastal cities to the interior of Poitou. In December 1775, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. Françoise gave Pierre four more children at Nantes and nearby Chantenay: another Simon born in c1776; Françoise in Ste.-Croix Parish in July 1778; Anne-Marie in St.-Sébastien Parish in June 1780; and Mathurine-Françoise at Chantenay in November 1784--10 children, seven daughters and three sons, between 1761 and 1784, in England and France. Meanwhile, fourth daughter Anne died in St.-Jacques Parish, Nantes, at age 3 1/2 in August 1777; and oldest son Yves died at Chantenay, age 15 1/2, in December 1784. Pierre, Françoise, and their four remaining children, three daughters and a son, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. Two of their youngest children--Françoise and Anne-Marie, born at Nantes--would have been ages 7 and 5 in 1785 and did not accompany the family to the Spanish colony, so, like most of their older siblings, they likely had died young. Youngest daughter Mathurine-Françoise, an infant when she crossed with her family to New Orleans, may not have survived the crossing on the overcrowded ship. From New Orleans, Pierre and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. At age 56, Pierre may have remarried to Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Hébert and his first wife Madeleine Doiron and widow of Pierre Robichaux, at Ascension on the river in August 1790. Anne, also a native of Minas, had come to Louisiana as a widow on Le St.-Rémi, so they may have known one another for several years. If the remarriage did occur, she gave him no more children. Pierre's succession, likely post-mortem, was filed at the Interior Parish courthouse on the middle Lafourche in December 1810. He would have been age 76 that year. Daughters Geneviève and Marie, by his first (perhaps only) wife, married into the Michel family on the river and upper Bayou Lafourche. His remaining son married on the upper Lafourche and created a vigorous line there.
Third and youngest son Simon, the second with the name, also called Simon Louis, Amand, and perhaps Louis Simon, from first (perhaps only) wife Françoise Trahan, followed his family to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Juliènne-Perrine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Hébert and his second wife Luce-Perpétué Bourg, at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in February 1802. Juliènne, a native of Tréméreuc on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 with her widowed mother aboard a later vessel. She and Simon remained on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Louis-Lubin in February 1803; Léocade Émilie in February 1804; Bélonie or Bénoni Simon or Simon Bélonie, called Simonet and Simonette, in May 1805; Filanise or Félonise Lucie in April 1807 but died at age 24 in July 1831; Célestin Faustin born in August 1808; Adélaïde, perhaps also called Eglaié, December 1809; Marianne or Marie Anne in February 1811; Lucie Farelly or Foralie in April 1812 but, called Foralie, died at age 19 (the recording priest said 18) in June 1831; Étienne Théodule born in July 1813; Pierre Hermogéne, called Hermogène, in March 1815; Françoise Colette, called Colette or Collete, in March 1817; Onésime or Olésime Tarville or Carville in November 1818; Auguste in c1819; and Constance Juliènne in October 1820--14 children, seven sons and seven daughters, between 1803 and 1820. Simon may have died in Assumption Parish in March 1860. The Labadieville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Louis Simon, as he called him, died at "age 86 years." Simon would have been been in his early 80s. If this was him, he would have been one of the last of the Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors. Daughters Léocade, Eglaié (Adélaïde?), Marie Anne, Collete, and Constance married into the Bourg, Berthelot, Brez, Louvière, and Boudreaux families. Five of Simon's sons also married and settled on the Lafourche.
Second son Bélonie or Bénoni Simon or Simon Bélonie, called Simonet and Simonette, married Adèle Élise, also called Adélise, Adeline, and Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Pierre Bourg and his Creole wife Mérante Berthelot, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1827. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Eulalie died at age 7 months in October 1829; Adelina born in June 1831; Tresimond or Trasimond Faustin in February 1834; Théodul or Théodule Jean Baptiste in December 1835; Augustin or Auguste le jeune in July 1841; Osémé in January 1844; Florestine Tarsille in April 1846; Aurestile in May 1848; and Julie Ulalie August 1850--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1829 and 1850. Daughters Adelina, Florestine, and Julie married into the Lasseigne and Vicknair families, two of them to Lasseignes, by 1870. Three of Simonette's sons also married by then, and all three may have served in the War of 1861-65, one of them perhaps at the cost of his life.
Oldest son Trasimond Faustin married Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadian Germain Doiron and his Creole wife Marguerite Fremin, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1857. Their children, born near Labadieville, included Marie Zulmée in February 1858; Trasimond Teola in April 1863; ...
Simonette's second son Théodule Jean Baptiste married Octavie, daughter of fellow Acadians Hubert Aucoin and Élize Daigle, at the Labadieville church in February 1868. ...
Simonette's third son Auguste le jeune married cousin Philomène, daughter of Jean Berthelot and Louise Rousseau, at the Labadieville church in January 1868. ...
Simon's third son Célestin Faustin married Armélise, Arthémise, Ermélise, Carmélite, or Hermeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Antoine Boudreaux and Marie Josèphe Michel, at the Thibodauxville church in April 1837. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes before moving down bayou. Their children, born there, included Marie died at age 23 days in February 1838; Evéllina Zulma, called Zulma, born in January 1839; Solina or Célina Rosama in August 1840; Gustave in May 1842; François Orville in April 1844; Thomas Euzelien Lovinsky in November 1846 but, called Lovinci Euselien, died in Lafourche Parish at age 1 in November 1847; Marie, the second with the name, born near Labadieville in July 1849; and Julie Angelina in November 1852--eight children, five daughters and three sons, between 1838 and 1852. Daughters Zulma and Célina married Boudreaux and Berthelot cousins by 1870. Célestin Faustin's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Gustave married Uranie, daughter of fellow Acadian Ferdinand Firmin Thibodeaux and his Creole wife Catherine Célesie Faite, at the Labadieville church in January 1868, two days before his brother François married at the same church. Their children, born near Labadieville, included Marie Alice in January 1869; Zulmé Adéla in October 1870; ...
Célestin's second son François Orville married Rosa, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Doiron and Marie Louise Trahan, at the Labadieville church in January 1868, two days after his brother Gustave married at the same church. Daughter Honorida Alida was born near Labadieville in December 1869; ...
Simon's fifth son Pierre Hermogéne, called Hermogène, married fellow Acadian Marie Angèle, called Angèle and Angela, Landry, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Augustin in in the 1830s; Édouard Hermogène near Plattenville, Assumption Parish, in October 1838; Joseph Maximin in May 1842; Julie Séverine in November 1846; Marie baptized at the Paincourtville church, age 2 months, in July 1849; Joachim Joseph born in May 1851; Zoé in July 1853; and Louis Baumin in September 1855--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between the 1830s and 1855. Daughters Julie and Marie married into the Boudreaux and LeBoeuf families at Chacahoula by 1870. One of Hermogène's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Augustin married Odilia, daughter of fellow Acadians Rosémond Hébert and Marie Templet, at the Canal church, today's Napoleonville, Assumption Parish, in November 1860 and moved to Brashear, now Morgan, City, St. Mary Parish, on the lower Atchafalaya. Son Ulysse Beauregard was born there in October 1862; ...
Simon's sixth son Onésime or Olésime Carville married fellow Acadian Carmélite Marguerite Landry probably in Assumption Parish, date unrecorded. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie in c1840; Trasimond Joseph baptized at the Plattenville church, age unrecorded, in August 1841; Étienne Carville, called Carville and Clairville, born in December 1842; Madeleine Zulmée Céleste, perhaps also called Élodie, in September 1847; Helisiphore Nume, also called Marie Zulma, in December 1849; Eugénie in c1851; Augustin Oscar, called Oscar, in October 1853; Ozémé in c1854; and Charles died eight days after his birth in June 1855--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1840 and 1855. Wife Carmelite died by June 1860, when she did not appear in the federal census for Berwick City. Onéime was working as a butcher and a farmer there at the time. Daughters Marie Zulma and Eugénie married into the Toustenau or Toustaneau and Serville families in St. Mary Parish on the lower Teche by 1870. One of Onésime's sons also married by then and, with at least two of his sisters, settled on the lower Atchafalaya after the War of 1861-65.
Second son Carville, called Clerville by the recording priest, married Joséphine Evéline, called Evéline, daughter of fellow Acadians Valsin Templet and Joséphine Boudreaux, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in December 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Brashear, now Morgan, City church in January. Their children, born near Brashear City, included Onésime Eugénie[sic] in November 1867; Almina Marie in January 1869; Odille Carmélite in October 1870; ...
Simon's seventh and youngest son Auguste married Adeline or Adèle, daughter of Édouard Peltier or Pelletier and Marcelline Berthelot of Assumption Parish, at the Thibodaux church in July 1845. They settled on the bayou near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Aurelia Augustine in November 1845; Zoémie Oceana, called Oceana, in October 1847; Lotitia or Letitia Roséma in December 1848; Bernard Bictorin in February 1850; and Marie Louise in December 1852--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1845 and 1852. Auguste died near Labadieville in September 1855, age 35. Daughters Oceana, Aurelia, and Letitia married into the Dubois, Boudreaux, and Arcement families by 1870. Auguste's son did not marry by then.
Thomas (c1746-1786) à ? à Daniel LeBlanc
Thomas LeBlanc, born in British Nova Scotia, perhaps at Minas, in c1746, was deported perhaps to Virginia and England in 1755-56, when he was young, and to France in 1763. He became a tailor in the mother country. A Spanish official counted him at Morlaix in northwest Brittany in September 1784, when he would have been in his late 30s. He was living alone. Morlaix was one of the destinations of Acadian exiles repatriated from England in the spring of 1763, so he may have spent most of his time in France there. According to ship records, he was among the Acadians at Morlaix who, probably in early 1785, had crossed Brittany to the lower Loire port of Paimboeuf to join other exiles on their journey to Louisiana. They were still there in late June when they were loaded aboard an already-crowded ship that had taken on passengers at St.-Malo. Before they left for the Spanish colony, more exiles were allowed to board the vessel from nearby Nantes. Thomas was still a bachelor when he made the crossing aboard the overcrowded vessel. From New Orleans, he followed his fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he died in December 1786, age 40, only 13 months after reaching the colony. His burial record called him an Acadian. He does not seem to have married.
Joseph (1753-1836) à Jacques le jeune à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Joseph, fourth and youngest son of Honoré LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Trahan, born at l'Assomption, Pigiguit, in January 1753, followed his family to Virginia; Liverpool, England; Morlaix, France; and Belle-Île-en-Mer, but he did not remain on the lovely island. By September 1784, he had returned to Morlaix, where he appeared on a list of Acadians who wanted to emigrate to Louisiana, which he did, alone, the following year from the lower Loire port of Paimboeuf, across the Breton peninsula from Morlaix. He was the only member of his large immediate family to go to the Spanish colony. From New Orleans, he followed his fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where, in his mid- or late 30s, he married Marguerite, daughter of perhaps fellow Acadian Charles Forest, soon after reaching the colony, although the baptism of Joseph, fils, son of Joseph LeBlanc and Marguerite Foret, at Lafourche in December 1785, three months after Le St.-Rémi reached New Orleans, hints that the couple may have been married when they reached the colony despite Joseph's being listed as single on the ship's passenger list and in the Valenzuela census of January 1788. Their other children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Pierre-Urbin, -Lubin, or -Aubin in c1787; an unnamed child, age unrecorded, died on the upper bayou in August 1788; Marguerite-Constance born in June 1790; and Joseph-Ursin in July 1792 but died at age 10 months in May 1793. At age 40, Joseph remarried to Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians François Landry and Marie-Rose Dugas, at Ascension in November 1793. They remained on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Ursin in October 1794; Valéry-Cyprien baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1796; Marie-Eulalie in January 1799; Geneviève-Philonie or Felonise, called Felonise and Philonise-Geneviève, born in January 1802; Clarisse Hélène in April 1804; Rosémond in May 1807; and Augustina Marselia dite Arselie, in August 1809--a dozen children, at least six sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1785 and 1809. Joseph died in Assumption Parish in August 1836. The recording priest at Plattenville, who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died at "age ca. 87 yrs.," but he was in his early 80s. Daughters Marie Eulalie, Clarisse Hélene, Philonise Geneviève, and Arsélie, by his second wife, married into the Landry, LeBlanc, Mollère, and Girot families, two of them twice. Four of Joseph's sons also married and settled on the Lafourche.
Second son Pierre Urbin, Lubin, or Aubin, by first wife Marguerite Foret, married Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Aucoin and Marie Marguerite Noël, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in October 1810. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Julie Zéolide, perhaps also called Marie Zéolide, in October 1811; Marie Adeline, called Adeline or Adelina, in August 1813; Laurent Thomas, called Thomassin, in November 1814; Evariste Anaclet in September 1816; Eulalie Eglantine in September 1818; Germain Valéry in May 1820; Marie Arcéli Dourcinée, called Dulsine, in November 1821; a daughter, name unrecorded, died nine days after her birth in September 1824; Euphémie Carmélite born in September 1825 but, called Carmélite, died at age 1 in September 1826; and another Euphémie born probably in the 1820s. Pierre Urbin remarried to Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Landry and Osite Landry and widow of Étienne Daigle, at the Plattenville church in January 1827. Daughter Marie Virginie was born on the upper Lafourche in October 1827 but, called Virginie, died at age 17 in December 1844--11 children, eight daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1811 and 1827. Pierre Urbin, called Lubin, died in Assumption Parish in October 1832, age 45. Daughters Marie Zéolide, Eulalie, Adelina, Dulsine, and Euphémie, by his first wife, married into the Achée, LeBlanc, Landry, Rivet, Suarez, and Melançon families. Pierre Urbin's sons also married and created vigorous lines.
Oldest son Laurent Thomas, called Thomassin, from first wife Mélanie Aucoin, married cousin Adelina or Delina, daughter of fellow Acadians Hermogène LeBlanc and Marie Melançon of St. James Parish on the river, at the Plattenville church in May 1833. Their son Hubert Rosémond was born in Assumption Parish in January 1835, evidently a twin to an unnamed child who died at age 3 weeks (the recording priest at Plattenville said 3 months) in February. Wife Adelina died in Assumption Parish in September 1836, age 20. Thomassin remarried to Marie Céleste, daughter of Louis Hobe, Hope, Hoppe, Ope, or Opes and his Acadian wife Basilise Pitre, at the Plattenville church in October 1837. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Valsin Amédée in October 1838 but, called Amédy, died at age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 10) in July 1849; Michel Camille born in September 1840 but, called Michel, died six days after his birth; Marie Basilisse or Bazelize, called Bazelize, born in April 1842; Cécilie in February 1846 but, called Céleste, may have died at age 20 (the recording priest said 18) in August 1866; and Jules Joseph Augustin born near Paincourtville in August 1849--seven children, at least four sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1835 and 1849. Thomassin, called Tomassin by the recording priest, died near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in November 1850, age 36. Daughter Bazelize, by his second wife, married into the Ducasse family at Pierre Part, Assumption Parish, on the north shore of Lake Verret, by 1870 but died soon after her wedding. One of Thomassin's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Hubert Rosémond, by first wife Adelina LeBlanc, married Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Dugas and Adeline Babin, at the Paincourtville church in September 1859. Their son Joseph Armogène was born near Paincourtville in December 1860 but, called Armogène, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in May 1862. Did they have anymore children?
Pierre Urbin's second son Evariste Anaclet, by first wife Mélanie Aucoin, married Edesie or Élesie, also called Desie and Daisie, daughter of fellow Acadians Guillaume Jean Bourg and Clarisse Breaux, at the Plattenville church in August 1834. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Célina, called Célina, in February 1836; Evariste Désiré in July 1838 but, called Désiré, died at age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 11) in March 1849; Joachim Joseph born in November 1839; Émile Urbain in December 1841; Estelline or Estellina in December 1843; Septiène Augustin in August 1846 but, called Augustin, died at age 1 1/2 in November 1847; Clarisse Tellessa or Théreza, called Théreza, born in November 1848; Joséphe Mathilde in February 1851; and Paulin Euzilien in January 1854--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1836 and 1854. Evariste likely died in Assumption Parish in April 1865. The Paincourtville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Evariste died at "age 50 years." This Evariste would have been age 48, so this probably was him. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Célina, Estellina, and Théreza married into the Vallet, Boudreaux, and Oncale families by 1870. None of Evariste's remaining sons married by then.
Pierre Urbin's third and youngest son Germain Valéry, by first wife Mélanie Aucoin, married Marguerite Élina, Helena, or Eldia, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Landry and Françoise Landry, at the Plattenville church in June 1839. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph, perhaps also called Alcée, near Plattenville in April 1842; Marie Léa near Paincourtville in November 1844; Joseph Eugène, called Eugène, in March 1847; another Joseph in November 1849 but may have died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said "age 6 days") in August 1855; Marie Élisabeth born in July 1852; Joseph Ulysse in December 1856; Marie Élodie in June 1859 but, called Élodie, died near Paincourtville, an "infant," actually age 8 months, in February 1860; Joseph Albert born near Labadieville in July 1861; Joseph Émile near Paincourtville in May 1864; ... Germain died near Paincourtville in September 1868. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Germain died at "age 49 years." He was 48. Neither of his daughters seems to have married by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Oldest son Alcée, perhaps also called Joseph, married double cousin Virginie, daughter of fellow Acadians Bernard François Alfred LeBlanc and Pélagie LeBlanc, at the Paincourtville church in October 1867. They settled on the upper Lafourche between Paincourtville and Plattenville. Their children, born there, included Joseph Alfrede in September 1868 but, called Alfred Joseph, died at age 1 in August 1869; Joseph Arthur born in July 1870; ...
Germain's second son Joseph Eugène, called Joseph E. by the recording priest, married cousin Camille, daughter of fellow Acadians Xavier Dugas and Armalise Landry, at the Paincourtville church in November 1867; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Marie Valérie in September 1868; and Robert Edmond in November 1870[sic, probably earlier]. Joseph Eugène, called Eugène by the recording priest, remarried to Félicia, daughter of fellow Acadians Neuville Blanchard and Félicie Savoie, at the Paincourtville church in September 1870. ...
Joseph's fourth son Ursin, by second wife Marie Rose Landry, married Marie Sidalise or Zolide, daughter of fellow Acadians Hippolyte Breaux and Adélaïde Dugas of Ascension, at the Plattenville church in February 1819. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Gertrude Coralie in March 1820; Désiré in March 1822; Joseph Ignace, called Ignace, in August 1823; Adélaïde in September 1825 but died at age 29 (the recording priest said 30) in August 1854; Marie Rosa, called Rosa or Rose, born in October 1827; Joseph Hippolyte, called Hippolyte, in January 1830; Jean Baptiste Amédée in June 1832; Marguerite Melicère or Mélissaire, called Mélissaire, in October 1835; Marie Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, in c1838; and Marie Pauline, called Pauline, in April 1842--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1820 and 1842. Ursin died in Assumption Parish in September 1856. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Ursin died at "age 62 years." Daughters Rosa, Mélissaire, Marie Élisabeth, and Pauline married into the Landry, Dugas, Gautreaux, and Verret families by 1870. Two of Ursin's sons also married by then.
Second son Joseph Ignace, called Ignace, married Azéma, also called Emma, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Landry and Rosalie Giroir, at the Paincourtville church in January 1847. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Pierre Hortimer in February 1849; Augustin Asée in September 1850; Léonard Stephen in November 1852; Joseph Numa in November 1855; Marie Dezy in March 1858; Joseph Paul in February 1861; Alida in April 1865; a son, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died "at birth" in October 1869; ... None of Ignace's children married by 1870.
Ursin's third son Joseph Hippolyte, called Hippolyte, married, at age 38, Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Daigle and his Creole wife Mathilde Simoneaux, at the Paincourtville church in November 1868. One wonders if this was his first marriage. Daughter Marie Pauline was born near Paincourtville in July 1869; ...
Joseph's fifth son Valéry Cyprien, by second wife Marie Rose Landry, married cousin Marie Hortense, called Hortense, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Raphaël Landry and Marie Marguerite Richard and widow of Julien Martin, at the Plattenville church in June 1821. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Léon Désiré or Désiré Léon in October 1822; Élisabeth Juliette in July 1824; Séverin in February 1826 but died in late March; Eusèbe Alcide born in August 1829 but, called Alcide, died at age 28 near Paincourtville in August 1865 (was his death war-related?); Marie Ophélie born in October 1827; Valéry Louis François, called Louis, in August 1831 but died at age 3 in September 1834; Marie Coralie, called Coralie, born in December 1832; Casimir died at age 1 month in April 1836; Aubin Aristide born in March 1837 but, called Aristide, died at age 28 in August 1865 (one wonders if his death was war-related); Marie Julie Adélaïde born in July 1838; Joseph Raphaël in June 1840; Anne Joséphine, perhaps theirs, called Joséphine, in September 1842; Ulysse in c1844 but, called Eulisse, died at age 2 in August 1846; and Jule Adrien born in March 1848--14 children, nine sons and five daughters, between 1822 and 1848. Valéry died in Assumption Parish in December 1861. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valéry died at "age 65 years." Daughters Élisabeth, Coralie, Marie Julie, and Joséphine married into the Schomer, Babin, LeBlanc, Delaville, Clément, Garot, and Gaudin families by 1870, one of them, Élisabeth, twice, and another, Joséphine, three times in three years, twice to Foreign Frenchmen! Three of Valéry's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Léon Désiré or Désiré Léon married Marguerite Amélie or Armélise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Hébert and his first wife Faralie Aucoin, probably in Assumption Parish in the early 1840s. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Wilbrode in December 1843; Romain Théophile, called Théophile, baptized at the Paincourtville church, age unrecorded, in March 1845; Marie Élodie born in October 1846; and Joseph Jules in December 1848. Léon Désiré renewed "marriage vows" with Marie Émilie, called Amélie, daughter of Pierre Stout and Amelite Delmaire, at the Paincourtville church in May 1853, so they probably had married civilly. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Marie Touribule near Paincourtville in April 1853; Désiré in May 1855; Joseph Alcide in July 1857; Marie Léonie near Pierre Part north of Lake Verret in August 1861; ... None of Léon Désiré's children married by 1870.
Valéry Cyprien's third son Eusèbe Alcide, called Alcide, married Marie, daughter of Lorence Rodrigue, Rodrigues, or Rodriguez and Marie Vegue, at the Paincourtville church in January 1853. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Herminia in September 1855; Élizabeth Remigia in October 1857; Marie Marguerite Eugénie in December 1859 but, called Marguerite, died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 7) in October 1866; Elea Eudalie born in June 1861; Marie Mélanie in December 1862; Alcide, fils died eight days after his birth in September 1865; Séraphine Odalie born in September 1866; Joseph Alcide in November 1868; ... None of Alcide's children married by 1870.
Valéry Cyprien's seventh son Joseph Raphaël married Cécilia, daughter of Amand Henderson and Élisa Bercegeay, at the Paincourtville church in June 1858. Joseph Raphaël died in Assumption Parish in May 1870. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph Raphaël died at "age 30 years." Did he father any children?
Joseph's sixth and youngest son Rosémond, by second wife Marie Rose Landry, married Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Aucoin and Rose Bourg, at the Plattenville church in December 1825. They settled near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Adrien Eusilien in October 1826; Hippolyte Numa, called Numa, in February 1828; Pierre William in October 1830; Joseph Rosémond in October 1833; Clairville Guillettre in November 1834; twins Irma and Zulma in January 1837; Jean Baptiste Amédée in February 1838; Charles Octave in December 1839; Gustave in 1842; and Félicité Noémi, called Noémi, in May 1844--11 children, eight sons and three daughters, including a set of twins, between 1826 and 1844. Rosémond, père died in Assumption Parish in November 1852, age 45 (the recording priest said 44). Daughters Zulma and Noémi married into the Mollère, Streck, and Triche families, one of them, Noémie, twice, by 1870. Four of Rosémond's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Adrien Eusilien may have married Élise, Élisa, or Éliza, also called Laisa and Laiza, Landry, place and date unrecorded, and settled in Assumption Parish by the late 1840s. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Adriènne, called Adriènne, in November 1850; Rosa Odilia in February 1852; André Placide in October 1853; Louis Joseph in September 1855 but, called Joseph, died at age 8 1/2 in April 1864; Noémie Joséphine born in February 1857; Louis Achille in February 1859; Camille Alcé in October 1860; René in October 1862; ... Daughter Adriènne married a Landry cousin by 1870. None of Adrien Eusilien's sons married by then.
Rosémond's second son Hippolyte Numa, called Numa, likely married Augustine Larousse or Larose, place and date unrecorded, but it probably was in the late 1840s. They settled in Assumption Parish before moving down bayou to Lafourche Parish. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Justine in April 1850; Marie Cécilia in November 1851; Camille probably in the early 1850s; Joseph died in Assumption Parish the day of his birth in December 1853; Louis Numa Augustin born in July 1855; René Laurent Victor in August 1857; Marie Clara in August 1859; Ernest Joseph in April 1860; Marie Calmalalis near Lockport in August 1864; Augustin Anatole in March 1867; ... None of Numa's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did and settled on the lower Lafourche.
Oldest son Camille married cousin Amanda, daughter of fellow Acadians Adolphe LeBlanc and Malvina LeBlanc, at the Lockport church, Lafourche Parish, in April 1870. ...
Rosémond's fourth son Joseph Rosémond married Evéline, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Barrilleaux and Adèle Theriot, at the Plattenville church in February 1855. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Rosémond Vileor near Plattenville in December 1855; Mirtilia Evélina in November 1860; Cyprien in May 1863; Hornes Octave near Lockport in September 1865; Théodore in February 1868; Joséphine Odila in May 1870; ... None of Joseph's children married by 1870.
Rosémond's fifth son Clairville Guillettre married Elmire, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse Templet and Irène Melançon, at the Plattenville church in February 1866. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Ernest Joseph in April 1868; a newborn infant, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died in Assumption Parish in November 1869; ...
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Four more LeBlancs--two small families and a wife--crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. One family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. The other family settled for a time on the river below New Orleans before crossing the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas prairies. No new LeBlanc family lines came of it:
Pierre (1737?-c1810?) à Jacques? à Daniel LeBlanc
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A LeBlanc and her Bourg husband crossed on La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early December 1785. They brought no children with them to the colony. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to the new Acadian community of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge but moved on to upper Bayou Lafourche by the 1790s.
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A LeBlanc bachelor crossed alone on La Caroline, the last of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in late December 1785. He chose to settle on upper Bayou Lafourche, where he created a vigorous line of the family:
Claude-Marie (1765-c1816) à Honoré à Jacques le jeune à René à Daniel LeBlanc
Claude-Marie, older son of Charles LeBlanc and Anne dite Annette Landry and nephew of Joseph of Le St.-Rémi, born in St.-Mathieu Parish, Morlaix, France, in May 1765, followed his family to Belle-Île-en-Mer, where he came of age, and then to the lower Loire port of Nantes. In October 1785, still a bachelor, he sailed out of Nantes on the last of the Seven Ships. From New Orleans, he joined other exiles, including his uncle Joseph LeBlanc, on upper Bayou Lafourche, where the Spanish granted Claude-Marie six arpents of frontage. By 1791, still a bachelor in his mid-20s, Claude-Marie had increased his frontage on the bayou to seven arpents. At age 29, he married Marguerite-Anastasie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Benoît Comeaux and Anne Blanchard of Chepoudy and Petitcoudiac, at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in June 1794. Marguerite-Anastasie, a native of Cherbourg, had come to the colony from France in 1785 aboard an earlier vessel. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph-Rosémond, called Rosémond, in March 1794; Auguste in February 1798; Simon-Pierre or Pierre-Simon in September 1800; Marie-Carmélite in December 1802; Silesie in January 1805; Rosalie in March 1807; Jean Marie in February 1809 but died in Lafourche Parish, age 44 (the recording priest said 45), in September 1853, victim, perhaps, of the yellow fever epidemic that struck South Louisiana during the summer and fall of 1853 (his succession inventory was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in February 1854); Modeste born in April 1811; and Scholastque in c1813--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1794 and 1813. Claude Marie's succession, probably post-mortem, naming his wife and listing his children--Joseph Rosémond, age 20; Simon Pierre, age 15; Marie Carmélite, age 13; Silesie, age 11; Rosalie, age 8; Jean Marie, age 7; Modeste, age 4; and Scholastique, age 3--was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1816. He would have been age 51 that year. Daughters Marie Carmélite, Silesie, Scholastique, Modeste, and Rosalie married into the Bruce, Poché, Ledet, and Picou families, two of them, Scholastque and Modeste, to Ledet brothers whose mother was an Acadian Quimine. Two of Claude Marie's sons also married and remained on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Joseph Rosémond, called Rosémond, married Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Bergeron and Marie Babin of Lafourche, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1817. They settled down bayou in Lafourche Interior Parish. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Carmélite in March 1818; Joseph Rosémond, fils, called Rosémond and also Jean Baptiste, in April 1820; Marie Telvina died at age 6 weeks in September 1822; Auguste Drosin born in February 1824 but died at age 2 in March 1826; Marie Mélina or Amelina, born in March 1827; Onésime or Olésime Cléofar or Cléopha in February 1830; Eugène Émile, called Émile, in May 1833; Zélina Clara, called Clara, in June 1836; twins Augustin Lovincy or Lovincy Augustin and Mathilde Augustine in June 1839; and Clémentine, perhaps theirs, in the 1840s--11 children, six daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1818 and the 1840s. Joseph Rosémond died in Lafourche Parish in September 1851. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph Rosémond died "at age 56 yrs." He was 57. A petition for family meeting in his name, naming his wife and listing two of his minor children--twins Lovincy and Mathilde--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in October 1855. Daughters Marguerite Carmélite, Mélina/Amelina, Clara, and Clémentine married into the Sevin, Toups, Madere, Boudreaux families, and perhaps into the Mouton family as well; one of them, Clara, married three times. Four of Joseph Rosémond's sons also married and remained in Lafourche Parish.
Oldest son Joseph Rosémond, fils, called Rosémond and also Jean Baptiste, married Aglaé, daughter of fellow Acadians Aubin Bénoni Thibodaux, a son of the former governor, and Eugénie Hébert, at the Thibodaux church in June 1848. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Justin Washington in December 1849; Eugène Hampton in October 1851; Marie Alice October 1853; Joseph Thomas in January 1856 but, called Thomas, died at age 10 1/2 in December 1866; Louisiane Eugénie born in September 1857; Mathilde Victoria in May 1860 but died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in January 1865; Joseph Abdon born in October 1863; Berthe Evillia in November 1865; Julia Aglantine in May 1868; ... None of Joseph Rosémond, fils's children married by 1870.
Rosémond's third son Onésime or Olésime Cléopha married Jeanne Ophelia, called Ophelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Mathurin Pitre and Félicité Esther Thibodeaux, at the Thibodaux church in May 1849. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Emma in November 1849; Eugénie Philiaman in November 1852; Joseph Louis in August 1856; Paul Johnson in July 1863; Albert Henri in December 1866; Marie in August 1868; ... None of Onésime's children married by 1870.
Rosémond's fourth son Eugène Émile, called Émile, married Cécilia, daughter of Thomas Hargis or Kargis and Félonise Caillouet, at the Thibodaux church in November 1856. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Philippe Émile in August 1857; Marie Louise Cécilia in March 1870; ...
Rosémond's fifth and youngest son Augustin Lovincy or Lovincy Augustin, a twin, married Letitia Eléonore, daughter of Pierre Lagarde and Élise Baudoin, at the Thibodaux church in January 1861. Daughter Marie Lydia was born in Lafourche Parish in December 1862. Did they have anymore children?
Claude-Marie's third son Simon Pierre or Pierre Simon married Marie Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Foret and Marguerite Foret, at the Thibodauxville church in April 1822. Their son Paul Olivier was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1823 but died eight days after his birth. Simon Pierre remarried to Julie, 18-year-old daughter of Pierre Benjamin Langer, Langes, Lansé, Lanzee, Lause, Lausee, Lauze, Lauzet, Louzet, Loze, Lozy, Rosa, Sauser, or Savise and Marguerite Coque of Assumption Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in December 1828. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Edmond Pierre in November 1831; Pierre P., also called Pierre Prosper or Prosper Pierre in January 1834; Rosa Bathilde in March 1836 but, called Rosa Pauline, died at age 1 in March or June 1837; Jules Valfroy or Valfroi born in March 1838; Julie Camilia Rosa in February 1841 but, called Julie Zola Camila, died at age 5 1/2 in April 1846; E. Claude born in February 1844; Jean Arthur in January 1846; Eve Louise, called Louise, in Feubruary 1848; and Euphrosie Théodisia, also called A. Euphrasie, in March 1850--10 children, six daughters and four sons, by two wives, between 1823 and 1850. Daughters Louise and A. Euphrasie, by his second wife, married into the Hébert and Picou families, on the same day and at the same place, by 1870. Two of Simon Pierre's sons also married by then.
Second son Edmond Pierre, by second wife Julie Louzet, married Marie Enezile dite Nezile, daughter of fellow Acadians Basile Marie Richard and his second wife Henriette Bourgeois, at the Thibodaux church in July 1849. They lived near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes and then near Montegut at the edge of the coastal marshes in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born there, included Edmond Jules in August 1850; Helenea Phrenele in February 1856; Elmira in March 1858; Léo Arthur in May 1860; Erneste Myrtille in July 1862; twins Eggard Justilien and Oscar in June 1863; Julie Célestine in September 1865; Ceda Valérie in May 1868 but died at Montegut, age 1 1/2, in November 1869; Savinien Ademar born in October 1870; ... None of Edmond's children married by 1870.
Simon Pierre's third son Pierre Prosper or Prosper Pierre, by second wife Julie Louzet, married Elfreda or Elfrida, daughter of fellow Acadian Eusilien Gautreaux and his Creole wife Céleste Boyer, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1857; the marriage was registered also in Terrebonne Parish. They settled at Chacahoula near the boundary between Assumption, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Lilia in March 1858; Louis Arnold in October 1859; Joseph Alcide in March 1861; Joseph Charles in January 1863; Léonie Constant in September 1864; Céleste Berthe in January 1867; Julie Céleste in February 1869; ...
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A LeBlanc widow was among the last Acadians to come to Louisiana. Marine LeBlanc of Minas, widow of Joseph Babin, and her family came to Louisiana aboard the schooner Brigite, owned and piloted by fellow Acadian Joseph Gravois. With Marine were five of her Babin children, ages 25 to 15. They, with the other 12 Acadians aboard La Brigite, left St.-Pierre, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland, in mid-October 1788 and reached New Orleans two months later--perhaps the only Acadians to reach the Spanish colony by sea directly from greater Acadia. Marine took her family to Ascension on the Acadian Coast, where she died in September 1789, age 53.
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A LeBlanc, perhaps an Acadian, left his home on the St. Lawrence near Montréal in the 1790s, made his way down to Spanish Louisiana, perhaps via the upper Mississippi, married an Acadian, and settled on the Acadian Coast above New Orleans. Most of his descendants married Acadians:
Andrés (?-?) à ? à Daniel? LeBlanc
Andrés, son of Jean-Baptiste LeBlanc and Thérèse Benoit of Contrecoeur, Canada, married Marine or Marianne, daughter of Acadians Pierre Lanoux and Catherine LeBlanc, at Cabahannocer on the Acadian Coast in May 1797, his first appearance in Louisiana records. Contrecoeur, on the south side of the upper St. Lawrence between Sorel and Montréal, was the home of a LeBlanc family from Rivières-aux-Canards, Minas, who had been held in Massachusetts for over a decade. In 1766, they, along with hundreds of other Acadian exiles in New England, repatriated to Canada. It is possible, then, that Andrés, like other young Acadians in Canada, left his home in the 1790s and made his way to Spanish Louisiana via the upper Mississippi. Andrés and wife Marine settled on the lower Acadian Coast first at Cabahannocer, in what became St. James Parish, then farther upriver near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes, probably on the river's west bank. Their children, born there, included Andrés, fils in July 1797; Françoise Marine in October 1798 but, called Francisca, died at age 2 in October 1800; Valéry born in January 1801; Édouard in July 1802 but died near Convent, St. James Parish, age 9, in September 1811; Marie Calostia born in November 1804; Élisée in July 1806; and Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in May 1808--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1797 and 1808. Daughter Carmélite married into the Melançon and Rouillier families. Three of Andrés's sons also married, two of them to Acadians, and settled on the Acadian Coast and perhaps on upper Bayou Lafourche. Some of their sons also married Acadians--a typical Acadian marriage pattern, hence Andrés presence here.
Oldest son Andrés, fils married Marie Louise, called Louise, Éloise, and Héloise, daughter of Acadians Jean Baptiste Bourgeois and Marguerite Saunier, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in February 1818. They also lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Eugène in November 1818; Appolline dite Pauline in August 1820; Reine in October 1822; Augustin in October 1825; Augustine in November 1828; André Bélisaire in March 1830; Marie Malvina in October 1832 but, called Malvina, died at age 25 in January 1858; René born in the 1830s; and Joseph Hulyeo, perhaps Joseph Julius, in August 1837--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1818 and 1837. Andrés, fils may have died in Ascension Parish in September 1865. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Rodez, as he called him, died at "age 65 years"; Andrés, fils would have been age 68. Daughters Pauline and Augustine married into the Bourgeois and Brown families. All of Andrés, fils's sons also married and settled on the Acadian Coast.
Oldest son Eugène married Pauline, daughter of Acadians Pierre Babin and Marine Chiasson, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in June 1846. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Emma in August 1847; Alfred in November 1848 but died at age 4 1/2 in August 1853; Arman born in April 1855; Estelle in late 1857 or early 1858 but died at age 11 months in November 1858; and Émilia born in June 1859--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1847 and 1859. None of Eugène's children married by 1870.
Andrés, fils's second son Augustin married Théodorine or Théodorice, also called Telcide, daughter of Acadian Pierre Paul LeBlanc and his second wife, Anglo Creole Loetitia Dodd, at the St. Gabriel church in December 1848. Their children, born near Plaquemine on the west bank of the river, included Marie Louisa in June 1849; Marie Laura in April 1851; Octave in late 1853 and baptized at the Plaquemine church, age 6 months, in March 1854; Latitia born in December 1855; Malvina Esida in January 1857; Paul Albert in May 1858; and Augustin, fils in August 1860--seven children, four daughter and three sons, between 1849 and 1860. None of Augustin's children married by 1870.
Andrés, fils's third son René married Marie Caroline, called Caroline, daughter of Anglo American John Terrell and his Creole wife Eugénie Lambremont, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1854. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Cornelia in May 1855; Marie Cora in September 1857; André René in December 1859; Hélène Eliska in October 1862; Étienne Alphonse in April 1866; Laura Eugénie in February 1870; ...
André, fils's fourth son André Bélisaire, called Bélisaire André by the recording priest, married Marguerite Adèle, called Adèle, another daughter of John Terrell and Eugénie Lambremont, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1858. They settled near Plaquemine. Their children, born there, included Joseph Omer in January 1861; Marie Dilia in December 1862; Henri Philippe in December 1864; twins Eugène and Eugénie in October 1867; James Raymond in March 1870; ...
Andrés, fils's fifth and youngest son Joseph Hulyeo, also called Joseph Julius, married Marie Augustine Théodore, place and date unrecorded. Their son Joseph Julius, fils was born in St. James Parish in July 1867; ...
Andrés, père's second son Valéry married Marie Sidalise, called Sidalise, 15-year-old daughter of Acadians Luc Gaudin and Henriette Landry, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in May 1820. Their children, born near Convent, included Victor in July 1821; Marie Aloisia in April 1824 but, called Marie Lodisca, died at age 13 in April 1837; and Joseph Isidore, called Isidore, born in September 1826--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1821 and 1826. Valéry died near Convent in September 1857. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valéry died at "age 56 yrs.," so this was him. One of his sons married and settled in Ascension Parish.
Second son Joseph Isidore, called Isidore, married cousin Marie Tersille or Telcide, called Telcide, daughter of Acadian Augustin Lanoux and his Creole wife Céleste Anger, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1852. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie, perhaps theirs, died a day after her birth in March 1853; Marie Adorisca born in September 1854; Joseph Victor in May 1857 but, called Victor, may have died at age 11 1/2 in November 1869; François D. Kenner born in April 1859; Marie died at age 7 days and was buried "next to child of Ch. Pelletier" probably at Donaldsonville; Marie Coralie born in March 1863; Isidore, fils, a "small infant," age unrecorded, died in June 1866; and twins Jean René and Joseph Renaux born in May 1867, but, called Joseph Renaud, Joseph died the following October, and, called René, Jean René died at age 1 (the recording priest said 15 months) in June 1868. Wife Telcide, called "Mrs. Isidore LeBlanc" by the recording priest, died in Ascension Parish, age 35, in October 1867, perhaps from the rigors of giving birth to twins. None of Isidore and Telcide's children married by 1870.
Andrés, père's fourth and youngest son Élisée may have died young, unless he was the Mélisé, Mélisée, or Mélizé, also called Mélissère, Élisée, and Élizée, LeBlanc who married Marie Dalferes or Dalferez, place and date unrecorded. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, probably near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes, by the late 1840s, before moving down bayou. Evidently they returned to the upper bayou by the late 1860s. Their children, born on the Lafourche, includeded Léonise in c1849; Damas in September 1850 but died at age 1 in September 1851; Joseph François in November 1852 but, called Joseph, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said "age 2 years, 2 months") in September 1854; Aimée born in September 1854; Joséphine Éliza in April 1856; Eulalia Damasa or Adamas, called Adamas, evidently a son, in October 1857; Sidonia Alice, called Alice, in August 1859; Joseph Narcisse near Raceland, Lafourche Parish, in April 1861 but, called Narcisse, died near Plattenville, Assumption Parish, age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said 6), in October 1868; Marie Thérèse born in Ascension Parish in December 1862; Charles André near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, in November 1864; Octave in Ascension Parish in October 1866 but died in Assumption Parish, age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 2), in August 1868; James André born in Ascension Parish in April 1868 but, called James, died in Assumption Parish, age 1 1/2, in July 1869; Paul Antony born in November 1870; ... Daughter Léonise married into the Landry family at Donaldsonville by 1870. None of Élisée's remaining sons married by then.
François, son of Mathurin Legendre and Marie Morel of Maillard (some sources say St.-Malo), France, probably no kin to the other Legendres in greater Acadia, came to Louisbourg, Île Royale, probably in the 1740s and worked as a pécheur en chaloupe, or fisherman, there. He married Marguerite, daughter of Acadians Antoine Labauve and Catherine Lejeune of Grand-Pré, at Louisbourg in April 1750. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Havre-St.-Pierre on the north shore of Île St.-Jean, where a French official counted them with 18-month-old daughter Henriette in August 1752. Marguerite gave François at least two more children on the island, a son and a daughter, in August 1754 and February 1757.
Living on an island still controlled by France, François Legendre and his family escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia during 1755 and 1756. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoasts rounded up most of the habitants on Île St.-Jean and transported them to France.
François, wife Marguerite, and their three children, two daughers and a son, endured the crossing aboard one of the five deportation transports that left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November 1758, survived a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England, and reached St.-Malo together in late January 1759. The voyage proved tragic for the family: the younger children, ages 4 and 1, were buried at sea. In the St.-Malo area, François and Marguerite had at least three more children, all sons, between 1760 and 1767. Their surviving daughter married into the Benoit family in the St.-Malo suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer in February 1768.
In 1773, François and Marguerite took their children to the interior of Poitou as part of a major settlement venture near the city of Châtellerault. In November 1775, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. François died at Chantenay near Nantes in July 1781, age 59. Marguerite did not remarry. A son married into the LeTullier family of Normandy at Chantenay in September 1783. When the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, Marguerite Labauve and her four Legendre children agreed to take it.
Legendres settled late in greater Acadia, and they came "late" to Louisiana. In fact, if the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to its lower Mississippi colony, there probably would be no Legendres in the Bayou State today, at least none with Acadian ancestry. In July 1785, Marguerite Labauve and her children--a daughter and three sons, two of them married--reached New Orleans aboard the first of the Seven Ships and followed their fellow passengers to Manchac on the river south of Baton Rouge. The middle son married and lived in New Orleans before joining his brothers at Baton Rouge. Members of the family--most, if not all of them, descendants of the youngest brother--remained in the Baton Rouge area.
Meanwhile, during the antebellum period, Foreign-French Legendres settled in predominantly-Acadian communities in South Louisiana and at New Orleans and Pointe Coupée, where few Acadians settled. A Legendre from Chantenay, France, probably not kin to the Acadian Legendres of Baton Rouge, came to Louisiana by 1810, married an Acadian Richard, and settled on Bayou Lafourche, where he and his wife had many children, including at least 10 sons. As a result, by the late antebellum period, the Lafourche valley Legendres greatly outnumbered their Acadian namesakes along the river. In the 1840s, a native of New Orleans started a family in St. James Parish on the old Acadian Coast. ...
Nearly two dozens Legendres, Acadians as well as non-Acadians, served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Gendre, Jandre, LeChandre, Legandre, Legendra, Lejeandre, Lejendre, Leseandre, Lexandre, Logendre.10
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Five members of the Acadian family--three children, one of them a newborn, and two married siblings and their families--crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in July 1785. They followed their widowed mother and fellow passengers to Manchac on the river south of Baton Rouge. At least one robust family line came of it:
Jean-Baptiste (1760-?) Legendre
Jean-Baptiste, second son of François Legendre and Marguerite Labauve of Île St.-Jean, born at Meillac near St.-Malo, France, in January 1760, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes. He married Marie-Rose, called Rose, daughter of René LeTullier of Normandy and his Acadian wife Collette Renaud, at St.-Martin de Chantenay near Nantes in September 1783. Marie-Rose was a native of Cherbourg, birthplace of her father; her mother was from Île St.-Jean. Jean-Baptiste and Rose's daughter Rose was born at Chantenay in December 1784. In 1785, Jean-Baptiste, Rose, and their infant daughter followed Jean-Baptiste's widowed mother, brothers, and married sister to New Orleans and Manchac. They had more children there, including Regine- or Reine-Constance born in August 1786; Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, in February 1789; and Jean in December 1790--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1784 and 1790, in France and Louisiana. Daughters Marie Madeleine and Reine married into the Clément and Grenier families. Jean Baptiste's son also married.
Only son Jean may have been the Jean Michel, called Michel, Legendre who married Jeanette, Jeanifer, or Jeanne Élisabeth Cevallo or Sevallo, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Marie Joséphine in the 1830s; and Dominique in August 1839. Daughter Marie Joséphine married into the Clifton family by 1870. Jean Michels's son also married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, only son Dominique served in Company F of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in West Baton Rouge Parish, which fought in Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. However, Dominique's service in the unit was short and dishonorable. He married Amelia, daughter of fellow Acadian Simon Comeaux and his Creole wife Irma Lemoine, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in August 1864, a year after he had deserted his unit at Jackson, Mississippi, in July 1863. This was the second, and perhaps the final, time he had deserted his regiment. One wonders what he did for the rest of the war and what his former comrades thought of him during the post-war years. ...
Louis-Joseph (1762-c1800?) Legendre
Louis-Joseph, third son of François Legendre and Marguerite Labauve of Île St.-Jean, born at Châteauneuf on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo, France, in July 1762, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes and his widowed mother, brothers, and married sisters to New Orleans and Manchac. He married first cousin Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Antoine Labauve and Anne Vincent, his uncle and aunt, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer on the lower Acadian Coast in December 1785; one wonders why the marriage was re-recorded at New Orleans in January 1792. Adélaïde, a native of Cabahannocer, was a sister of Louis-Joseph's brother Yves-François's wife Marie-Ludivine. Adélaïde and Marie-Ludivine's parents had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765. As the re-recording of their marriage shows, Louis-Joseph and Adélaïde moved on to New Orleans in the late 1780s or early 1790s. They were still there in the early 1800s. Their children, born on the river, included Mélicite at Cabahannocer in November 1787; Louis, fils in c1791 but died near Baton Rouge, age 22, in August 1813; Reine-Marcelline, called Marcelline, born at New Orleans in August 1792; Raphaël-Jean-Baptiste at New Orleans in August 1794 but, called Raphaël, died near Baton Rouge, age 51 (the recording priest said "age ca. 55 years"), in October 1845, unless he was the Baptiste Juan Legendre who died near Baton Rouge, "age 38-40," in February 1833; Célestin born in August 1796 and baptized at the New Orleans church, age 2 1/2, in March 1799; and Joseph died at New Orleans, a "very young child," in August 1800--six children, two daughters and four sons, between 1787 and 1800. Louis-Joseph may have died in the city soon after son Joseph's death, and his widow Adélaïde evidently remained there. She did not remarry, but she continued to have children. Her daughter Marie, also called Maneta, was born in the city in June 1802; and son François-Hippolyte, called Hippolyte, in July 1803. The New Orleans priest who recorded the children's baptisms in September and November 1803 did not list Louis-Joseph Legendre as the childrens' father; the priest, in fact, listed no father for either of the children. The priest called the children Labauves and gave the names only of the maternal grandparents, so they probably were not Louis-Joseph's. The burial of Louis Legendre, "age 66, an immigrant," was recorded at St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, near Baton Rouge, in December 1812. Louis-Joseph, were he still living, would have been age 50 at the time, so this probably was another, non-Acadian Louis Legendre. Evidently widow Adélaïde left the city by the early 1810s: daughter Marie dite Maneta Labauve "of St. James of Cabahanoce parish" died on upper Bayou Lafourche in October 1814, age 12, while Adélaïde's sons by Louis-Joseph were living at Baton Rouge. Her and Louis-Joseph's daughter Marcelline married into the L'Amie family at Baton Rouge. Only one of her and Louis Joseph's sons seems to have married. He lived on the lower Teche before returning to Baton Rouge, but the line died out early. Adélaïde's "natural" son Hippolyte died near Baton Rouge at age 27, in May 1820; the priest who recorded the burial said nothing of a wife.
Third son Célestin followed his family from New Orleans back to the Acadian Coast and married Madeleine Estelle, called Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Breaux and Anastasie Guilbeau of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1818. One wonders how a boy from New Orleans hooked up with a girl from the old Attakapas District. After their wedding, they joined his cousins on the river near Manchac and Baton Rouge. Their children, born there, included Charles Célestin in March 1819 but died there at age 8 (the recording priest said 10) in November 1827; and Hélène born in May 1821. Célestin died near Baton Rouge in October 1823, age 27. His daughter did not marry by 1870, and his only son died young, so this family line did not endure.
Yves-François (1767-1834?) Legendre
Yves-François, called François, fourth and youngest son of François Legendre and Marguerite Labauve of Île St.-Jean, born at St.-Servan-sur-Mer near St.-Malo, France, in April 1767, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes and his widowed mother, brothers, and married sister to New Orleans and Manchac. He married first cousin Marie-Divine or -Ludivine, another daughter of Antoine Labauve and Anne Vincent, his uncle and aunt, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in January 1791. They remained at Cabahannocer for a few years, moved upriver to the Baton Rouge area, and settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born on the river, included Félix at Cabahannocer in November 1792; François-Jean, also called Jean-Baptiste and Jean-Raphaël, near Baton Rouge in April 1797; François, fils, also called Joseph, baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age 5 months, in November 1801; Louis baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age 4 months, in June 1802 but died a week after his baptism; Marie, perhaps also called Rosalie, born in June 1803; Maurice in August 1805; Alexandrine in October 1808; Marie Dorothée in April 1811; Joséphine in September 1814; and Lucien in November 1816--10 children, six sons and four daughters, between 1792 and 1816. Yves François may have died near Baton Rouge in April 1834. He would have been age 67 that year. The age of "Ivon" Legendre in the Baton Rouge church register, who was buried on 27 April 1834, is illegible, and the recording priest did not list Ivon's parents' names or mention a wife. Daughters Rosalie and Joséphine married into the Charotte, Dalcourt, and Dumond families. Four of Yves's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured. Nevertheless, most, if not all, of the Acadian Legendres of South Louisiana descend from Yves François and three of his sons.
Second son François Jean, also called Jean Baptiste and Jean Raphaël, married Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Louis Firmin Arbour and his first wife Rosalie Poirier, probably at Baton Rouge by the mid-1810s. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Bertille in October 1816; Jeanne Rosalie in November 1818; Victorine Alzire in November 1823; and Joseph probably in the 1820s--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1816 and the 1820s. François Jean may have been the Baptiste Juan Legendre who died near Baton Rouge, "age 38-40," in February 1833. If so, he would have been age 35-36 at the time of his passing. None of his daughters married by 1870, but his son did.
Only son Joseph married cousin Corinne, also called Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Gaudin and Scholastique Hébert, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in August 1858; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They evidently settled in the Baton Rouge area before returning to the old Acadian Coast. Their children, born on the river, included Joseph, fils near Baton Rouge in August 1860; Louis in July 1864 but may have died at age 1 1/2 in March 1866; Jean Baptiste born in March 1867; Augustin Ives near Convent in October 1870; ...
Yves's third son François, fils, also called Joseph, married Joséphine, daughter of Jean Baptiste Altazin and his Acadian wife Geneviève Arbour, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in August 1828. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Wilfred in May 1829; and Adolphe in November 1831. Neither of François, fils's sons married by 1870, unless they married outside of South Louisiana.
Yves's fifth son Maurice married Léonise, daughter of Gaspard Tilano and Anna Dias, at the Baton Rouge church in October 1826. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Marie Aurore, called Aurore, in November 1827; Rosalie Laura Léonice in December 1831; Féliciènne Oreline in September 1833; Leufroi in January 1836 but died near Baton Rouge, age 30, in May 1866; Cécilia born in the mid or late 1830s; Suzanne Léocadie in August 1837; Pauline Carmélite in March 1839; Henriette Angéline in November 1840; Clara Léontine in August 1844; and Louise Victorine baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age 2 months, in August 1849. Maurice remarried to Céleste or Célestine Laffiton, place and date unrecorded. Their chilidren, born near Baton Rouge, included Carlos Maurice in June 1858; Clara Sidonia in November 1862; Cajetan in September 1867 when his father was in his early 60s; ... Daughters Aurore, Rosalie, and Cécilia, by his first wife, married into the Bouché, Lockwood, and Bogan families by 1870. None of Maurice's sons married by then.
Yves's sixth and youngest son Lucien married Louise Jeanne Webb probably at Baton Rouge in the late 1830s or early 1840s. Their daughter Marie Anne was born near Baton Rouge in November 1842. Lucien remarried to Eugénie Amelina, called Amelina, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Comeaux and Carmélite Hébert, at the Baton Rouge church in May 1850. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Lucien Aurelius in February 1852 but, called Lulu, may have died near Baton Rouge, age 15 1/2 (the recording priest said 16), in September 1867; Lucinda Ora Maria born in August 1854; Aurelia Julia in January 1857; Andrew Herron in January 1858; Charles Jefferson Davis in July 1861; Marie Joséphine in September 1867; ... None of Lucien's children married by 1870.
Jacques Léger dit La Rosette, a drummer in the sieur de Villeu's company of troupes de la marine stationed at Fort St.-Joseph at Nashwaak, across the river from present-day Fredericton, New Brunswick, on lower Rivière St.-Jean, was born probably in France in c1668. Around 1693, after his discharge from the King's service, the drummer married Madeleine, daughter of Acadians Guillaume Trahan and his second wife Madeleine Brun, at Port-Royal and took land on the south side of Rivière-au-Dauphin, today's Annapolis River, above Port-Royal. Madeleine gave Jacques 11 children, four sons and seven daughters, at Port-Royal. Four of their daughters married into the Michel, Robichaud dit Cadet, Bertrand, and Doucet families. Three of their sons married into the Amireau and Comeau families and settled not only at Annapolis Royal, formerly Port-Royal, but also at Chepoudy and Petitcoudiac in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, and on Île St.-Jean in the French Maritimes. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
By the early 1750s, the trois-rivières area long had been the heart of Acadian resistance to British control of greater Acadia. Here also lived several bands of the Mi'kmaq nation who did the bidding of Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, the radical French priest who had become the leader of the resistance. The Légers at Chepoudy and Petitcoudiac, who by 1755 were the majority of the family, could not have escaped the consequences of living in such a place. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto- and trois-rivières-area Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Légers may have been among the local Acadians who were serving in the fort as militia. If so, they, too, along with the Canadians and French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Nova Scotia's Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto-area Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. None of the Légers were sent there. Most, if not all, of them escaped the British roundup that summer and fall and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Their cousins at Annapolis Royal were not so lucky. The British deported a large Léger family to New York. In the late 1750s or early 1760s, they moved on to Connecticut, where they remained for the rest of the war.
Living in territory controlled by France, the Légers on Île St.-Jean escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia during 1755 and 1756. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on the island and transported them to France. Légers ended up at La Rochelle. In August 1762, a granddaughter of Jacques dit La Rosette Léger married a French ship's carpenter deported from Louisbourg, in Notre-Dame Parish, Rochefort, so Légers may have moved to the naval port from La Rochelle after 1760. Her brother took an unusual route to France. He evidently did not follow his parents to Île St.-Jean in the 1750s, when he would have been in his mid- or late teens. He married a Pinet in c1760, place unrecorded, perhaps in greater Acadia during exile. The couple evidently fell into British hands soon after their marriage and were held at Louisbourg, where, in c1762, a son was born. In November of that year, the British deported the family to La Rochelle aboard the transport Windsor. After the war, the family followed other Acadian exiles in France to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. A daughter was born there in c1767. That year, to alleviate overcrowding on the island, French officials, obeying a royal decree, forced most of the fisher/habitants on Miquelon and nearby Île St.-Pierre to emigrate to France. The Léger's went, instead, to French St.-Domingue, where relatives from Conneciticut already had gone. They arrived in the sugar colony in c1768, but they did not remain. By May 1769, they returned to France, landing probably at Cherbourg in Normandy, where two more sons were born and the father of the family died in his early 30s. By September 1784, his widow and three sons had moved on to the lower Loire port of Nantes. The following year, she took two of her younger Léger sons to Spanish Louisiana aboard the first of the Seven Ships from France. Her oldest Léger son followed on a later vessel. No other members of this branch of the family emigrated to the Spanish colony, including the sister who had married the Frenchman at La Rochelle.
In North America, conditions only got worse for the Acadians who had escaped the British roundups in the late 1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France, one of which was Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, now a major Acadian refuge. A British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche in late June 1760. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the Indians and the militia to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. The following October, after the fall of Montréal, another British naval force, this one from Québec, appeared at Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On 24 October 1760, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers counted 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche. None of the Légers were among them. During the following months, Acadians still in the area either surrendered to, or were captured by, the British, who held them in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. One of these compounds was Fort Edward at Pigiguit. In 1762, British officials counted three Léger brothers and their families there. Another compound was at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Fort Beauséjour, Chignecto, where, in August 1763, two Léger families appeared on a French repatriation list. The largest and oldest prison compound was at Halifax, where, in August 1763, one of the Léger families that had been held at Fort Edward the year before appeared on another repatriation list.
The war over, Légers being held in the British seaboard colonies also, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intentions. Even then, colonials authorities discouraged repatriation. A large family of Légers was living in Connecticut in 1763. Most of the exiles being held in New England chose to go to British-controlled Canada. The Légers were not among them. They went, instead, to the French Antilles to avoid living in territory controlled by Britain. While the end-of-war treaty was still being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British seaboard colonies to go to St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean region and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the colony's major planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. The first of them reached Cap-Français in late 1763. More followed in 1764. They included the Légers who had been held in New York and Connecticut. The family's experience was not a happy one in St.-Domingue. When fellow Acadians from Halifax, including Légers, came through Cap-Français on their way to Louisiana in 1765, three of the Légers still languishing in the sugar colony chose to join them.
The Légers being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in other parts of greater Acadia. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Île Miquelon, where Légers had gone. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including Légers, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, at least four were Légers.
Three Léger brothers, including two of them held at Forts Edward and Cumberland, chose not to follow their fellow Acadians, including their kinsmen, to St.-Domingue and Louisiana but to remain in greater Acadia. One of them settled at Windsor, formerly Pigiguit, before moving on to Rivière St.-Jean in present-day western New Brunswick. Another, who may have escaped the British roundup at Restigouche, took his family to Bonaventure in Gaspésie on the north shore of the Baie des Chaleurs before crossing the bay to Caraquet in present-day northeastern New Brunswick. The youngest brother took his family from Fort Cumberland to nearby Memramcook in the trois-rivières area, not far from where they had been forced into exile in 1755. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of what became Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Légers settled early in Acadia, and they were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. A widow, a childless couple, and a wife came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français in 1765. The widow followed her in-laws to the Opelousas District, but the others settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. The childless couple remained childless. Also in 1765, perhaps on the same ship as their relatives, three Léger siblings--two sisters and a brother--came to Louisiana directly from French St.-Domingue. The two sisters married and remained on the river. In the early 1780s, after he came of age, the brother crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District and started a western branch of the family. Later in the decade, more Légers--three brothers following their widowed mother--came to the colony from France. They followed her to the Opelousas District, married, and started large families of their own there. Before the War of 1861-65, no Léger lines remained on the river or along Bayou Lafourche, only on the western prairies. They settled at Grand Coteau at the southeastern edge of the Opelousas District; along upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, especially around Church Point; and even farther out on the Opelousas prairies along the Mermentau River. In the Attakapas District, they settled near Carencro at the northern edge of the district; along the Vermilion; and on Bayou Teche.
Germans named Lecher, their surname sometimes spelled Lege, Leger, and Legere by their francophone neighbors, came to the colony as early as the 1720s and settled on the German Coast above New Orleans. During the antebellum period, Foreign-French Legers emigrated to Louisiana from France and Mexico. One of them settled on the western prairies near his Acadian namesakes, but no new family line came of it. The great majority of the Legers in South Louisiana, then, are not German Creoles or Foreign French but descendants of Jacques Léger dit La Rosette, many of whom still can be found on the southwest prairies of today's Acadiana.
The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Legé, Legee, Legere, Legers. The Acadian family also should not be confused with the French Laiches who lived lower down on the Acadian Coast.11
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The first members of the family--four Légers, including an elderly husband, a small family led by a widow, and a wife--came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765. With them or right behind them came three more Légers--two unmarried sisters and their younger brother--who were among the few Acadians who emigrated to Louisiana directly from French St.-Domingue. The sisters married into the Michel and Bruno families at New Orleans and Cabahannocer and remained on the river. The elderly couple and the wife also settled at Cabahannocer. The widow and her two children followed her Savoie brother from New Orleans across the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas prairies, where the male cousin from the river resettled a decade or so later. A vigorous family line came of it on the western prairies:
Jean-Baptiste (c1719-?) à Jacques dit La Rosette Leger
Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, oldest son of Jacques Léger, fils and Anne Amireau, born in c1719 at Annapolis Royal or in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, married Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of Pierre Saulnier and Madeleine Comeau of Petitcoudiac, in c1739, probably at Petitcoudiac. Madeleine gave Jean two daughters there: Isabelle born in c1739; and Madeleine in c1741. They escaped the British roundup in the fall of 1755 and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. During the late 1750s or early 1760s, they either were captured by, or surrendered to, British forces in the area and held in the prison compound at Fort Edward, formerly Pigiguit, for the rest of the war. Jean and Madeleine emigrated to Louisiana from Halifax via Cap-Français in 1765. Their daughters, who, if they were still living, would have been in their early 20s, did not accompany their parents to the colony. Jean and Madeleine settled at the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. They had no more children in the colony. Jean, in his mid-50s, remarried to Cécile, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Poirier and Marie Cormier of Chignecto and widow of Olivier Landry, in April 1774. Cécile and her husband had been among the first Acadian exiles to come to the colony in 1764. She gave Jean no more children, so this line of the family did not endure in the Bayou State.
Joseph (?-?) à Jacques, fils à Jacques dit La Rosette Leger
Joseph, third and youngest son of Paul Léger and Marie-Modeste Savoie and Jean's nephew, if he was born in the trois-rivières, followed his family into exile and into imprisonment at Fort Edward in the early 1760s. In 1765, he followed his widowered mother and a sister to Louisiana and settled with them on the Opelousas prairies. He may have appeared on an Opelousas militia list as a fusileer in 1789. After that, he disappears from Louisiana records, so there is no evidence that he married or that his line endured.
Paul (c1758-1818) à Jacques dit La Rosette Leger
Paul, youngest son of François Léger and Marie-Modeste Savoie of Annapolis Royal, was born in New York in c1758 before his exiled family moved on to Connecticut. In 1763 or 1764, he followed them to French St.-Domingue. Only seven years old and an orphan in 1765, he followed his two older sisters from Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, among the relatively few Acadians who went to the Spanish colony directly from the French Antilles. Spanish officials counted him on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer in January 1777; he was an engagé, or hired worker, with the family of fellow Acadian Paul Martin. Paul Léger, now in his 20s, moved to the Opelousas District in the late 1770s or the 1780s and was counted in the Grand Coteau area at the southeast end of the district in 1788. In his early 30s, he married Marie-Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Potier and his first wife Anne-Marie or Marie-Anne Bernard, at nearby Attakapas in July 1789. Marie-Constance, a native of Le Havre, had come to Louisiana with her family from France in 1785. They settled near Grand Coteau in what became St. Landry Parish. Their children, born on the prairies, included Anastasie, perhaps also called Marie, in c1791 and baptized, age 4, in July 1795; Anne dite Manette born in c1792 or 1793 and baptized, age 2 1/2, in July 1795; Eugénie born in 1794 and baptized, age 14 months, in June 1795; Marie-Madeleine-Aspasie, called Marie-Madeleine and Madeleine, born in January 1796; Paul, fils in November 1797 but died seven days after his birth and re-interred at Opelousas in November 1801; Arthémise, also called Anastasie, born in the late 1790s; Alexandre in January 1799 but died "at his home at Gran[sic] Coteau," age 18 (the recording priest said 20), in October 1818; Apolline- or Apollonie dite Pauline-Lucie or -Constance born in c1801 and baptized, age 2 1/2, in August 1803 but died at age 17 1/2 "at her home at Gran[sic] Coteau" in August 1818; Hippolyte-Paul born in January 1803; Juliènne in April 1807; and Scholastique in February 1813--11 children, eight daughters and three sons, between 1791 and 1813. Paul died "at his home at Gran[sic] Coteau" in March 1818, "age 59 years." Sadly, he and two of his younger children died in the same year. The priest who recorded son Alexandre's burial on 27 October 1818 noted that the boy "was unable to receive the sacraments, not being in a state or condition to receive them because of his serious illness." Daughter Apolline Constance had died in late August, age 17, and the priest had noted that she, too, also could not receive the sacrament "having so little time once she got ill--perdu la parole (she lost her speech)." One wonders what killed them. Paul's estate record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in March 1818, and a succession, listing his wife, children, and some of their spouses--Marie and her husband; Anastasie and her husband; Manette and her husband; Magdelaine (deceased) and her husband; Eugénie; Hypollite; Juliènne; Alexandre (deceased); Lucy; and Scholastie--was filed there in September 1822. Daughters Marie, Marie Madeleine, Anne, Arthémise/Anastasie, Eugénie, Juliènne, Scholastique, and Apolline dite Pauline Lucie married into the Akerson, Ritter, Prejean, Steel or Stut, Wyble, Bordelon, Prewet or Proud, and Kennison families, only one to a fellow Acadian. Paul's remaining son also married, settled near Grand Coteau, and produced a vigorous line.
Third and youngest son Hippolyte Paul married Marcellite, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Lebert and Marie Hébert, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1821. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Apolline in March 1825; Paulin in December 1826; Paul le jeune, also called Paul Astran or Astron, in November 1828; Alexandre le jeune in October 1830; Hippolyte, fils in June 1832; Pierre in June 1835; Constant in October 1837; Anastasie in July 1839; Napoléon in 1842 and baptized at the Opelousas church, age 5 months, in April 1843; and Émelia or Amelia born in August 1844--10 children, three daughters and seven sons, between 1825 and 1844. Wife Marcellite's succesion, probably post-mortem, naming her husband, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in November 1844. Hippolyte, who did not remarry, died near Grand Coteau in November 1861, age 58. Daughters Anastasie and Amelia married into the Roade and Royer families. All seven of Hippolyte Paul's sons married and settled on the prairies, but not all of the lines endured. All but one of Hippolyte Pauls's sons served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65.
Oldest son Paulin married Adélaïde Eusilda, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Girouard and Marie Adeline Melançon, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1850. They settled near Youngsville in Lafayette Parish south of Vermilionville. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Élida in July 1852 but, called Alida, died at age 1 1/2 in January 1854; Marcellite born in November 1853; Damase, a son, in September 1855; Eugénie in November 1862; Jules in April 1866; Marie Laperle in July 1869; ... During the War of 1861-65, Paulin served in Company G of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised on the western prairies, which fought in Louisiana, especially against prairie Jawhawkers. As the birth of his younger son reveals, Paulin survived the war and returned to this family. Daughter Marcellite married into the Broussard family by 1870. None of Paulin's sons married by then.
Hippolyte Paul's second son Paul le jeune, also called Paul Astran or Astron, and also Olistron and Eugène, married fellow Acadian Émilie Savoie at the Grand Coteau church in April 1849; neither the St. Landry Parish clerk nor the Grand Coteau priest who recorded the marriage gave the bride's parents' names. Her and Paul le jeune's children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Marcelliènne or Marcelline, called Marcelline, in September 1849; and Azéma Polastron in September 1851. Paul Astran died near Grand Coteau in March 1853, age 24. Daughters Azéma and Marcelline married into the Duplechin and Courvelle or Courville families by 1870. Except perhaps for its blood, his family line may have died with him.
Hippolyte Paul's third son Alexandre married Aurore or Aurora, daughter of fellow Acadians Arthur Lucien Bourgeois and Marie Zélia Prejean, at the Opelousas church in April 1860. Their son Alexandre, fils was born in St. Landry Parish in July 1861; ... During the War of 1861-65, Alexandre le jeune may have served in Company H of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi--the same regiment in which his younger brother Napoléon served.
Hippolyte Paul's fourth son Hippolyte, fils married Mary, daughter of George Washington Addison and his Acadian wife Arthémise Richard, at the Vermilionville church in June 1855. Their children, born on the prairies, included George Washington in Lafayette Parish in January 1856; Albert in July 1859 but died at Bois Mallet, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, age 3 (the recording priest said 4), in October 1862; twins Marie Mathilde and Hippolyte III born in May 1861, but Hippolyte III died at Bois Mallet, age 5 months, in October 1861; Yves born in August 1862; ... During the war, Hippolyte, fils served as a conscript in Company I of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He joined the company at Vicksburg in October 1862, at age 30, and was one of the many cannoneers in his regiment who fell sick in late 1862 and early 1863. He was confined to the Vicksburg city hospital in late winter and early spring of 1863, but, unlike many of his fellow Cadien conscripts, he recovered from his illness. After the regiment surrendered at Vicksburg in July 1863, Hippolyte, again unlike many of his fellow Cadiens, accepted parole and remained with his regiment after he was exchanged. He was absent sick again, this time at Montgomery, Alabama, in early 1864. Later that year, he was sent on detached service to Ross Hospital, Mobile, Alabama, where he likely served as an orderly or a nurse. In December 1864, he was issued a surgeon's certificate of disability and was exempted from field service, but he remained with his unit and was on the roll of nurses and patients at the Moore Hospital, Meridian, Mississippi, when the war ended in that part of the Confederacy in May 1865. He received his end-of-war prisoner parole at Meridian and went home. None of his remaining sons married by 1870.
Hippolyte Paul's fifth son Pierre married Marie Uranie, daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Benoit and Marie Zéolide Babineaux, at the Vermilionville church in July 1860. Daughter Marie Anastasie was born in Lafayette Parish in April 1862; ... During the war, Pierre may have served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry with younger brother Constant.
Hippolyte Paul's sixth son Constant married Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Onésime Babineaux and Juliènne Benoit, at the Vermilionville church in April 1860. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Joseph Alcide in April 1861 but, called Alcide, died at age 7 months the following November; Euclyde born in September 1862, six months after his father enlisted in the Confederate army; Marie Ovilia born in February 1865; and Estelle Catharine in December 1867. During the war, Constant, who spelled his surname Legere, served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Constant's Confederate service was cut short by illness. He went on extended sick furlough in July 1862, four months after his enlistment, and received a medical discharge later in the year. His wife Estelle died from giving birth to daughter Estelle Catharine in December 1867. Constant remarried to Udalie, also called Adalie, daughter of fellow Acadian André Basile Landry and his second wife, Creole Marie Céline Cailler, widow of Émilien Babineaux, at the Vermilionville church in February 1869. They settled near Carencro. Their son Hippolyte was born there in January 1870; ... Constant remarried again--his third marriage--to fellow Acadian Marie Irma Guidry at the Carencro church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1876. In his early 50s, Constant remarried yet again--his fourth marriage--to Octavie McBride at the Carencro church in February 1889. Constant died near Carencro in May 1923, age 85. He was buried in St. Peter Catholic Cemetery, Carencro. His tombstone, in French, calls him Constant Legere.
Hippolyte Paul's seventh and youngest son Napoléon served in Company K of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Though he served in a different regiment than older brothers Pierre and Constant, they were in the same brigade at Vicksburg. Napoléon survived the war and returned to his family. He married Euphrasie or Euphrosine Coulon, daughter of Louis Coulon Devillier and Adolise Carrière, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1865, and sanctified the marriage at the Opelousas church in January 1866. Their son Alexis was baptized at the Opelousas church, age 2 months, in February 1867; ... Napoléon's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1870. He would have been age 28 that year.
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Twenty years after the first of their family reached Louisiana, two Léger brothers came to the colony with their widowed mother, Angélique Pinet, aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in late July 1785. Most of their fellow passengers chose to settle at Manchac south of Baton Rouge. The widow and her sons, however, were among the hand full of Acadians from France who chose to go to the Opelousas District, where a first cousin of her husband had settled a few years earlier. The widow's oldest Léger son reached New Orleans in November 1785 aboard the fifth ship, L'Amitié, and followed his mother and brothers to Opelousas. Widow Angélique, at age 45, remarried to a Blanchet from Québec at Opelousas in April 1787. Her three Léger sons married fellow Acadians and remained on the western prairies. Most of the Legers of South Louisiana are descended from the widow's three sons. Their descendants were especially plentiful in the Grand Coteau area at the southeastern edge of the Opelousas District:
Michel, fils (c1762-c1817) à Jean à Jacques dit La Rosette Leger
Michel-Prosper, also called Michel, fils, eldest son of Michel dit Richelieu Léger and Angélique Pinet of Annapolis Royal, was born at Louisbourg on Île Royale, now Cape Breton Island, in c1762, four years after the French citadel, and Île Royale, fell into British hands. Exiled from greater Acadia, he followed his family to La Rochelle, France; Île Miquelon; French St.-Domingue; and Cherbourg, France, where his father died in c1770. Spanish officials counted Michel, fils with his widowed mother and two younger brothers in the lower Loire port of Nantes in September 1784. The following year, his mother and younger brothers sailed to Louisiana aboard the first of the Seven Ships, but Michel, fils was not aboard. Three months later, he crossed to New Orleans on a later vessel, probably as a stowaway, and joined his family on the Opelousas prairies, where he married Marguerite-Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre-Paul Boutin and his first wife Ursule Guédry, in June 1787. Marguerite-Louise was a native of Manchac on the river whose family had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1767 and moved from the river to the prairies. The couple settled near his family on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé west of Grand Coteau near present-day Church Point. In the late 1790s or early 1800s, Michel, fils moved his family south to Anse La Butte on upper Bayou Vermilion before moving to nearby Grand Prairie, near present-day downtown Lafayette. Their children, born on the prairies, included Michel III baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in July 1789 but died at age 8 1/2 in February 1798; a child, name and age unrecorded, died on Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé in 1791; Alexandre born in February 1792; Julien in July 1794; another Michel III in c1795; Augustin or Auguste in January 1796; Célestine or Céleste in June 1799; Henry in July 1801; Apollonie dite Pauline in November 1803; Placide in December 1805; and Modeste in January 1811--11 children, at least seven sons and three daughters, between 1789 and 1811. Michel, fils's estate record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in August 1817. He would have been age 55 that year. Daughters Célestine/Céleste, Pauline, and Modeste married into the Breaux, LeBlanc, Eades, and Miller families. Five of Michel, fils's sons also married and settled in what became St. Landry, St. Martin, Lafayette, and Calcasieu parishes.
Second son Alexandre married Marie Augustine, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Dugas and Marie Duhon of La Butte, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1814, the same day his younger brother Julien married there. Alexandre and Marie settled on the upper Vermilion before moving west to the Mermentau River valley. Their children, born on the prairies, included Alexandre, fils on the Vermilion in December 1815; and Charles Édouard, also called Neuville, posthumously on the Mermentau in November 1816. Alexandre, père died probably on the Mermentau in July 1816, age 24. His succession, naming his wife and two sons, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August. One, perhaps both, of his sons married. Only one of the lines endured.
Older son Alexandre, fils married Marie Adélaïde dite Mélaïde, called Adélaïde, daughter of François Lormand and Marie Primeaux, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1833. Their children, born on the prairies, included Alexandre III in Lafayette Parish in June 1834; Alexandre, actually Alexandrine, Zulma, called Zulma, baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 6 months, in August 1836; Demosthène baptized at age 4 months in June 1838; Azéma born in November 1839; François, also called François Despanet and Despanet, in November 1841; Marie in August 1843; Élisabeth in January 1846; Louise Azéma in December 1847; Rodolphe in October 1849; Onille in August 1851; Oleus near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in June 1853 but died there at age 14 (the recording priest said 15) in September 1867; Louis Ferregus born in February 1855; and Regina in February 1859--13 children, eight sons and five daughters, between 1834 and 1859. Daughters Azéma, Zulma, and Louise Azéma married into the Meaux, Guidry, and Broussard families by 1870. Two of Alexandre, fils's sons also married by then.
Second son Alexandre III may have married Adélaïde Touchet in the early 1850s, place unrecorded. Their children, born on the prairies, included Azéma near Abbeville in September 1854; Azémie in May 1856; Alexandre IV in April 1858; Azélia in March 1860; Joseph, perhaps theirs, in c1861 but died at age 3 in June 1864; Annonciade born in December 1864; and Azeïde in September 1867. Alexandre III may have remarried to Belzire Abshire at the Abbeville church in September 1869. Their son Ademar had been born there in March 1869; ... None of Alexandre III's children married by 1870.
Alexandre, fils's fourth son François Despanet married Uranie Dartes at the Abbeville church in April 1860. Their children, born near Abbeville, included François Despanet, fils in November 1862; Eve in October 1866; Adeline in April 1869; ...
Alexandre, père's younger son Charles Édouard, also called Neuville, may have been the Édouard Leger who married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Louvière and Éloise Granger, but died by June 1837, when Joséphine remarried to a Lormand in Lafayette Parish. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the marriage noted the name of the bride's first husband. His line of the family died with him.
Michel, fils's third son Julien married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Duhon and Scholastique Hébert of the upper Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in February 1814, the same day his older brother Alexandre married there. Julien and Marie also settled on the upper Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Julien, fils in February 1815; Perosine in May 1816, perhaps also called Caroline; Arsènne, a daughter, in c1817 and baptized at the St. Martinville church, age 1, in July 1818; Cyprien born in April 1819; Azélie dite Zélie, also called Azélina, in March 1821; Scholastique in October 1823; a son, name unrecorded, in September 1825 but died eight days after his birth; Marie baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 1/2 months, in April 1827; Joseph born in March 1830; and Lisa baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months (another record says 7 months), in May 1832--10 children, four sons and six daughters, between 1815 and 1832. Julien's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in June 1845. He would have been age 51 that year. Daughters Caroline, Arsènne, Scholastique, Zélie/Azélina, and Marie married into the Simon, Cormier, Tromp, and LeBlanc families, three of them to Simons, one of them twice, by 1870. Three of Julien's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Julien, fils married Marie Phelonise, called Phelonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Trahan and Susanne dite Suzette Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in December 1833. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Julien III baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 days, in September 1834; Théogène baptized at age 2 months in May 1837; Marie baptized at age 3 1/2 years in March 1839; Michel le jeune born in April 1840; Jean Baptiste in September 1841; Onésime le jeune in December 1842; Emérite near Grand Coteau in May 1848; and Hippolyte in August 1852--eight children, six sons and two daughters, between 1834 and 1852. Neither of Julien, fils's daughters married by 1870, but five of his sons did.
Oldest son Julien III may have married Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, Martin, perhaps a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in April 1858, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in March 1859. ...
Julien, fils's second son Théogène married Léonie, daughter of Étienne Veltin and Clotilde Bernod, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in February 1858. Wife Léonie died the following November, age 18, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Théogène remarried to Mélisé or Melisa, daughter of Victorin Royer and his Acadian wife Marcellite Benoit, at the Grand Coteau church in December 1860. They settled near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish. Their children, born near there, included Élisabeth in September 1861; Émilie in July 1864; Joseph le jeune in September 1866; Odilia in February 1868; Marie Idolie in February 1870; ...
Julien, fils's fourth son Jean Baptiste Jean may have married Anne Dante, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Philomène in September 1857; John in July 1860; Louisa in February 1862; Robert in November 1864; Franck Homère in December 1867; ...
Julien, fils's fifth son Onésime le jeune may have marred Émilie Roy, perhaps a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1868. ...
Julien, fils's sixth and youngest son Hippolyte married cousin Fidelise, daughter of fellow Acadians Treville Duhon and Eulalie Trahan, at the Vermilionville church in April 1870. ...
Julien, père's second son Cyprien married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Hébert and Anne Geneviève Granger, at the Vermilionville church in November 1837. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Cyprien, fils in c1837 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 25 months, in March 1839; Marie Geneviève born in December 1840; Pierre in March 1843 but died at age 18 (the recording priest said 19) in April 1862 (one wonders if his death was war-related); and Marguerite born in March 1845 but may have died at age 3 1/2 in January 1849--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1837 and 1845. Cyprien, père's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in November 1845. He would have been age 26 that year. Daughter Marie Geneviève married a Trahan cousin by 1870. Cyprien's remaining son also married by then.
Older son Cyprien, fils married Marguerite, "natural daughter," perhaps, of Arthémise Martin, probably a fellow Acadian, at the Vermilionville church in March 1859. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Cyprien III in August 1863; Marie Marguerite in February 1866; Pierre le jeune in January 1870; ...
Julien, père's fourth and youngest son Joseph may have married Dulcine, Lucine, or Ursine Laviolette in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1847, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church in June. Daughter Scholastique was born near Grand Coteau in September 1849 and did not marry by 1870.
Michel, fils's fourth son Michel III, the second with the name, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Duhon and Marie Trahan of the upper Vermilion and widow of Yves Goplet, "at the residence of Olidon Broussard," St. Martin Parish, in October 1818. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Michel IV in November 1819; and Onésime in September 1821. Both of Michel III's sons married.
Older son Michel IV married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Maximilien LeBlanc and Marguerite Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in January 1840. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marguerite in November 1840; Élisée dit Lisée, a son, in October 1842; Toussaint in September 1844; Anathasie or Nathalie in December 1846; Michel V in February 1849; Joachim in December 1851; Marie Sylvanie in November 1854; and Azélie in February 1859--eight children, four daughters and four sons, between 1840 and 1859. Daughters Marguerite, Nathalie, and Marie Sylvanie married into the Broussard, Louvière, and Simon families, one of them, Marguerite, twice, two of them, Nathalie and Marie Sylvanie, to Simons, by 1870. All of Michel IV's sons also married by then, and most, if not all, of them settled on the prairies along Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé.
Oldest son Élisée dit Lisée married cousin Scholastique, called Colastie and Scolatie, daughter of Charles Simon and his Acadian wife Perrosine Leger, at the Vermilionville church in May 1861. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Eugéna in February 1862; Azéma in April 1864; Azélina in August 1866; Colastie in December 1869; ...
Michel IV's second son Toussaint married Éloise or Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Louvière, fils and Zephiline Hébert, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in April 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church in March 1870, on the same day and in the same church in which his brother Michel V sanctified his marriage. Toussaint and Éloise's son Duplessis was born in Lafayette Parish in November 1868; ...
Michel IV's third son Michel V married Aurelia, daughter of fellow Acadian Valsin Trahan and his French-Canadian wife Adveline Primeaux, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in August 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church in March 1870, on the same day and in the same church in which his brother Toussaint sanctified his marriage. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Adeline near Youngsville in August 1867; Valsain in October 1868; ...
Michel IV's fourth and youngest son Joachim married Marie Mathilde, called Mathilde, daughter of Lessin Simon and his Acadian wife St. Clair Landry, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in February 1868, and "validated" the marriage at the Church Point church in March 1870, two days after his brothers Toussaint and Michel V sanctified their marriages there. Joachim and Mathilde's children, born on the prairies, included Eucharis in Lafayette Parish in November 1868; Joachim, fils near Church Point in April 1870; ...
Michel III's younger son Onésime likely married fellow Acadian Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, Trahan at the Grand Coteau church in July 1846; they may have married civilly a few years earlier. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie in c1844; Marguerite near Grand Coteau in October 1847; Onésime, fils in c1849 but evidently died young; Pierre in March 1850; Eugénie in October 1852; Joseph near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in October 1854; Collastie in December 1856; twins Lezima and Lezimène in September 1859; and Onésime, fils, evidently the second with the name, in August 1861--10 children, six daughters and four sons, including a set of twins, between 1844 and 1861. Daughters Marie, Marguerite, and Eugénie married into the Istre, David, and Duhon families by 1870. None of Onésime's sons married by then.
Michel, fils's fifth son Augustin or Auguste married Marie Eméranthe, called Eméranthe and Méranthe, 20-year-old daughter of Jean Meche and his Acadian wife Rosalie Savoie, at the Grand Coteau church in August 1821. Their children, born on the prairie, included Marie, also called Marie Velsine and Valsinne, near Grand Coteau in November 1822; Augustin, fils in July 1825; Treville in July 1827; Emérite in September 1829; Zéphirin in April 1832; Denise baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 months, in October 1834; and Placide le jeune born near Grand Coteau in May 1838--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1822 and 1838. Augustin, père died near Grand Coteau in February 1860. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or name a wife, said that Augustin died "at age 67 yrs." He was 64. His succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse later in the month. Daughters Marie, Emérite, and Denise married into the Sonnier, Prejean, and Miller families, one of them, Denise, twice, by 1870. Three of Augustin's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Augustin or Auguste, fils married Célestine, daughter of Isaac Kennison and his first wife Acadian Marguerite Savoie, at the Grand Coteau church in October 1852. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included a child, name unrecorded, born in December 1853 but died the following February; Marie Azéma born in January 1855; Amélie in October 1856 but died the following December; Eve born in October 1857; Stanislas in October 1859 but died at age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in August 1867; Télésphore born in February 1861; Augustin III in September 1862; Homer in March 1866; ... During the War of 1861-65, Augustin, fils may have served in Company A of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry with younger brother Zéphirin. If so, the birth date of his youngest son reveals that he survived the war and returned to his family. Daughter Marie Azéma married a Leger cousin by 1870. None of Augustin, fils's sons married by then.
Augustin, père's second son Treville married fellow Acadian and cousin Élisa or Éliza Savoy or Savoie at the Grand Coteau church in February 1848. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Modeste, called Modeste, in March 1849; Denysa or Adensia in April 1851; Émile in January 1854; Sélise in May 1856; Auguste le jeune in August 1859; Marie Élisa in September 1861 but, called Élisa, died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in May 1866; Jean Treville born in December 1864; ... Daughters Modeste and Adensia married into the Smith and Guidry families by 1870. None of Treville's sons married by then.
Augustin, père's third son Zéphirin married Félicia or Félicité Oliva, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Sylvestre Richard and his Anglo-Creole wife Marie Andrus, at the Grand Coteau church in April 1856. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Jean Telismar in September 1860 but, called Telismar, died at age 5 1/2 in July 1866; Marie Noéllie born in December 1862; Alcide in September 1866; Marie Formosia in November 1869; ... During the war, Zéphirin served in Company A of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Zéphirin enlisted in April 1862, and daughter Marie Noéllie was born back at Grand Coteau the following December, the day after Christmas, while he was fighting in the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, north of Vicksburg. Zéphirin survived the battle, was captured with his unit at Vicksburg in July 1863, accepted a federal parole, and went home to wait for an exchange. After the war, he and his family settled near Church Point, where he was buried. ...
Michel, fils's seventh and youngest son Placide married Marie Azélie or Azélie Marie, daughter of Joseph Matte and Esther Bellard, at the Opelousas church in January 1834. Their children, born on the prairies, included Numa baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in April 1835; Alcide born in St. Landry Parish in March 1836; Azéma in April 1837; Placide, fils near Grand Coteau in October 1840; Azélie perhaps in the early 1840s; Marie Mélasie, called Mélasie, in June 1843; Louisa in April 1845; Louis Prosper in August 1847; Marie Mirza, called Mirza, in October 1849; twins Edmond and Simon near Church Point in December 1851; Marie Estelle near Grand Coteau in November 1855; and Jean in November 1861--13 children, seven sons and six daughters, including a set of twins, between 1835 and 1861. Placide, père's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in May 1864. He would have been age 59 that year. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Azéma, Mélasie, Mirza, Azélie, and Louisa married into the Richard, Ledoux, Araby, Bergeau, and Winn families by 1870. Five of Placide's sons also married by then, and one of them died in Confederate service.
Oldest son Numa married Hyacinthe, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Séverin Richard and Célasie Thibodeaux, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in October 1852. Their children, born on the prairies, included Joseph Numa near Church Point in October 1853; Azélie in December 1855; Pierre Elma near Grand Coteau in January 1859; and Louis Vileor in August 1861--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1853 and 1861. During the war, Numa served in Company F of Miles' Legion Louisiana Infanty, raised in Orleans Parish. While serving at Port Hudson, he contracted rubella and was taken to the Confederate hospital in Woodville, Mississippi, where he died on 14 March 1863, age 28. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Woodville. His post-mortem succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1868. His widow remarried to a fellow Confederate, Joseph Julien Doucet, fils, who, family tradition says, had promised to raise Numa's children, none of whom married by 1870.
Placide's second son Alcide married Célestine Doucet, perhaps a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1858, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church the following June. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Adélaïde in March 1859; Alcide, fils in August 1860; Céleste in August 1862; ...
Placide's third son Placide, fils may have married Eugénie Simar in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in April 1864. They settled near Church Point. During the war, Placide, fils served in Company B or D of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Reserve Corps, a local-defense unit raised in St. Landry Parish that fought against local Jayhawkers. He survived the war and returned to his family. Their children, born on the prairies, included Eugénie near Church Point in October 1866; Julia near Grand Coteau in October 1869; ...
Placide, père's fourth son Louis Prosper married Marie Desi or Dezie, daughter of Jean Baptiste Arne, Arnet, or Arnest and Madeleine Dufrene, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church in January 1867. She evidently gave him no children. Louis Prosper remarried to Virginie, daughter of Eugène LeBoeuf and his Acadian wife Marie Louise Lejeune, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1868, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church the following May. Daughter Marie Olisia was born near Church Point in April 1870; ...
Placide, père's fifth son Edmond married cousin Maria Azéma, daughter of his first cousin Augustin Leger, fils and his Creole wife Célestine Kennison, at the Grand Coteau church in August 1870. ...
Louis (c1769-1843) à Jean à Jacques dit La Rosette Leger
Louis, second son of Michel dit Richelieu Léger and Angélique Pinet of Annapolis Royal, born at Cherbourg, France, in c1769, followed his widowed mother and brothers to Nantes by September 1784. The following year, he followed his widowed mother and a younger brother to Spanish Louisiana aboard the first of the Seven Ships. From New Orleans, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District, where Louis married Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph dit Hilaire Doucet and Anne Landry of Attakapas, in January 1792. Anne was a native of Attakapas whose parents had come to Louisiana from Halifax with the Broussards in 1765. She and Louis settled near his older brother Michel on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé. Their children, born there, included a son, name unrecorded, in April 1788 but died a few days after his birth; Louis, fils born in November 1792 but died at age 20 in January 1813; Jean-Narcisse baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in November 1794; Éloise, also called Louisa, born in May 1796; Michel le jeune baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1798; Joseph baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1800 but died at age 9 in January 1809; Hilaire born in January 1802; Mélanie in c1804 and baptized at age 18 months in November 1805; a child, name and age unrecorded, died in December 1806; Éloise born in c1807 and baptized at age 2 in November 1809; Joséphine born in February 1810; Julien le jeune in June 1812; Julie, also called Marie Julie, in February 1816 but died at age 13 in February 1829; and Marie Zélie born in March 1818--14 children, at least seven sons and six daughters, between 1788 and 1818. Louis, père died in St. Landry Parish in September 1843. The priest who recorded the burial said that Louis died "at age 74 yrs." His succession, naming his wife and heirs and some of their spouses--Héloise and her husband; Louise, deceased, and her and their children; Julien; Michel; Marie and her husband; Hilaire; Mélanie and her husband; and Joséphine and her husband--was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in November. Daughters Louisa, Mélanie, Éloise, Joséphine, and Marie married into the LeBoeuf, Grabeau or Grabot, Richard, Jeany or Janise, Daigle, and Matte families, one of them, Éloise, twice. Four of Louis's sons also married and settled in what became St. Landry Parish, but not all of the lines endured.
Third son Jean-Narcisse may have married fellow Acadian Modeste Prejean, place and date unrecorded. Their son Diogène was born near Grand Coteau in July 1822. Jean-Narcisse does not appear with his siblings in his father's succession in September 1843, so he may have died by then. His son did not marry by 1870.
Louis, père's fourth son Michel le jeune married Céleste or Célestine, daughter of Joseph Matte and Esther Bellard, at the Opelousas church in June 1821. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Céleste in September 1822; Emérante dite Mérante in August 1824; Michel, fils, perhaps also called Louis Michel, in July 1826; Jérôme in September 1827; Célestin in June 1829; Marie in 1830 but died at age 5 months in March 1831; Joséphine born in September 1831; Joseph in September 1833; Marie Armase, called Armase and Hermance, in April 1835; Julie in May 1838; Jean or John Geran in January 1840; Caroline in September 1842; Placide le jeune in October 1844; Azélie in July 1847; and Pélagie in March 1850--15 children, nine daughters and six sons, between 1822 and 1850. Michel le jeune's first succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in May 1850. He would have been age 52 that year. A second succession, calling his wife Céleste and listing five his married children, including two of his daughter's spouses--Gérôme, Célestin, Mérante and her husband, Hermance and her husband, and Joséphine--was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1854. Daughters Emérante dite Mérante, Céleste, Marie Hermance, Julia, Caroline, and Azélie married into the Richard, Carrière, Daigle, and Fontenot families, two of them, Céleste and Emérante, to Richard brothers, and two of them, Julia and Caroline, to Daigles, by 1870. Five of Michel le jeune's sons also married by then and settled on the prairies.
Oldest son Michel, fils, also called Louis Michel, married Hyacinthe, daughter of Joseph Étienne Daigle, a German Canadian, not a fellow Acadian, and his Creole wife Marie Amante Fontenot, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1853, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1855. They settled near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish. Their children, born there, included Marie Térèse in March 1856; and Stanislas in August 1858. Louis Michel remarried to cousin Anaïse, daughter of Étienne Daigle V, a first cousin of his first wife, and Étienne's Acadian wife Joséphine Leger, at the Grand Coteau church in July 1861. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Moyle in October 1862; Marie Alida in April 1864; Marie in March 1866; Lucie in December 1867; Thérèse in December 1869; ...
Michel le jeune's second son Jérôme married Irma, another daughter of Joseph Étienne Daigle and Marie Amante Fontenot, at the Grand Coteau church in July 1848. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Joséphine in September 1849; Joseph Gusman in January 1853; Gustave in December 1856; Constance in February 1859; Marie Coralie in June 1867; Élisabeth in May 1870; ... Daughter Joséphine married into the Ledoux family. None of Jérôme's sons married by 1870.
Michel le jeune's third son Célestin married Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadian Valcourt Savoie and his Creole wife Eugénie Rattel, at the Grand Coteau church in July 1850. Their children, born on the prairies, included Michel le jeune near Church Point in May 1851; Céleste in April 1854; Marie Méline in February 1857; Martin near Opelousas in July 1859; Célestine in April 1862; ... Célestin's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in September 1865. He would have been age 36 that year. If the succession was post-mortem, was his early death war-related? None of his children married by 1870.
Michel le jeune's fourth son Joseph married cousin Olive or Oliva, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Richard and Éloise Leger, at the Grand Coteau church in May 1854. Their children, born near Church Point, included Marie Letitia, called Letitia, in c1854, perhaps on the eve of her parents' church wedding, and baptized at the Church Point church, age 17 months, in June 1855; and Louis born in January 1862. Joseph evidently died near Church Point in August 1865. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph died "at age 30 yrs." He was 31. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1866. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughter Letitia married a Leger cousin.
Michel le jeune's fifth son Jean Geran may have married Célestine Bellard, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Evilia was born in St. Landry Parish in August 1859. Jean remarried to Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvère Thibodeaux and his second wife Céleste Doucet and widow of Onésime Olivier, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in November 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church in December. Their children, born near Church Point, included twins Armina and Armine in July 1867; Céleste in September 1869; ...
Louis, père's sixth son Hilaire married Émilie dite Mélite, daughter of Pierre Pariseau and Pélagie Bellard, at the Opelousas church in June 1821. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Émilie in June 1822; Émiline in January 1824; Louis, also called Louis Hilaire, in November 1825; Marie Pélagie, called Pélagie, in November 1827 but died at age 2 in November 1829; Zéphirin born in April 1830; Éloise or Éloyse in October 1832; Amelia or Émilia in March 1835; and Marie in early 1837 and baptized at age 15 months in May 1838. A succession for wife Émilie, called Émelie and naming her husband, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in November 1850. Meanwhile, Hilaire remarried to cousin Caroline, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Éloi Doucet and his Creole wife Modestine Carrière and widow of Blaise Lejeune le jeune, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1850. Their children, born near Church Point, included twins Eugène and Eugénie in May 1851--10 children, seven daughters and three sons, including a set of twins, by two wives, between 1824 and 1851. Hilaire's succession, naming his second wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in October 1868. He would have been age 66 that year. Daughters Émilia and Eugénie, by both wives, married into the McGee and Doucet families by 1870. Two of Hilaire's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Louis Hilaire, by first wife Mélite Pariseau, married cousin Azéma, daughter of Étienne Daigle V, a German Canadian, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Joséphine Leger, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1847, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church the following November. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Pauline in September 1848; Marie Aurelie in February 1851; Mirza in August 1853; Jules in June 1856 but died at age 4 1/2 in November 1860; Julie born in February 1860; Julien le jeune in February 1863; Louise in January 1866; ... Daughter Pauline married into the Richard family by 1870. None of Louis Hilaire's sons married by then.
Hilaire's third and youngest son Eugène, by second wife Caroline Doucet, married cousin Letitia, also called Eleticia, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Leger and Olive Richard, at the Church Point church in September 1870. ...
Louis, père's seventh and youngest son Julien le jeune married Aureline or Aurelina, daughter of fellow Acadians François Richard, père and Hélène Brasseaux, at the Opelousas church in May 1830. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Zélima in January 1831; Marie Azéma in January 1833; Louis Julien in the 1830s; Julien, fils in October 1838; and François in May 1850--five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1831 and 1850. Daughter Marie Azéma married into the Berwick family by 1870. Two of Julien le jeune's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Louis Julien married Joséphine, daughter of William Berwick and his Acadian wife Céleste Lejeune, at the Church Point church in November 1854; Louis's sister Marie Azéma married Joséphine's brother William, Jr. Louis and Joséphine settled at Prairie Hays near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Célestine in September 1855; Louis, fils in July 1859; Marcelitte in March 1862; Marie in June 1868; Estelle in November 1870; ... None of Louis Julien's children married by 1870.
Julien le jeune's second son Julien, fils married Azéline, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Lejeune and Adeline Hébert, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1867, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church the following March. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Joseph in December 1868; Odilia in October 1870; ...
Jean le jeune (c1770-1848) à Jean à Jacques dit La Rosette Leger
Jean le jeune, third and youngest son of Michel dit Richelieu Léger and Angélique Pinet of Port-Royal, born at Cherbourg, Normandy, France, in c1770, followed his widowed mother and brothers to Nantes by 1784, and his widowed mother and brother Louis to Spanish Louisiana aboard the first of the Seven Ships in 1785. From New Orleans, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District, where Jean le jeune married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Savoie and Marguerite Boutin, in August 1796. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marguerite, also called Marguerite Sidalise, in October 1797; Marie-Emérante or -Mérante in November 1799; Carmélite in c1802 and baptized at the Opelousas church, age 14 months, in September 1803; Susanne dite Suzette born in c1804 and baptized at age 17 months in March 1806; Jean-Valère or Valéry, called Valéry and also Jean, fils, born in April 1807; Dositée, a son, in June 1809; Arsène, a daughter, in 1811 and baptized at age 7 months, in March 1812; Adélaïde born in December 1813; Joachim in April 1816; Célestine in July 1818; and a son, name unrecorded, died at "la Prairie du Grand Coteau," age unrecorded, in October 1819 and was re-interred at the Grand Coteau church cemetery the following December--11 children, seven daughters and four sons, between 1797 and 1819. Jean le jeune died near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in July 1848, age 78. His succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in September 1849. Daughters Marguerite, Marie Mérante, Susanne dite Suzette, Carmélite, Arsène, and Adélaïde married into the Morin, Bourque, Teller, Fontenot, and Wood families, including two Morin brothers. Jean le jeune's two remaining sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Jean Valéry, called Valéry and also Jean, fils, married Marie Louise, called Louise, daughter of Étienne Billardin and Éliza Ritter, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in November 1827. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Élisabeth in January 1830; Marie Nosea in July 1832 but died at age 1 1/2 in May 1834; François born in March 1834 but may have died at age 2 1/2 in January 1837; Jean Émile born in December 1838 but, called Émile, died at age 3 months the following March; Eugénie born in August 1840 but died at age 5 in October 1845; Adolphine, also called Adolphina, born in April 1843; Élodie in the early 1840s; Marguerite in March 1846; Azélima in October 1848 but died at age 2 1/2 in January 1851; Azélie in the late 1840s or early 1850s; and Eulalie born in February 1851--11 children, nine daughters and two sons, between 1830 and 1851. Jean Valéry died near Grand Coteau in February 1853, age 45. His succession, calling him Jean Jr., his wife Marie Louise Blardin, and naming four of his children--Adolphine, Marguerite, Élodie, and Eulalie--was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1854. Daughters Élisabeth, Adolphine, Élodie, and Azélie married into the Frederick, Diriner, Miller, and Kidder families, one of them, Adolphine, twice, two of them, Adolphine and Azélie, to Millers, by 1870. Jean, fils's sons died young, so, except perhaps for its blood, his line of the family probably died with him.
Jean le jeune's second son Dosité married, at age 28, Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, 15-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Semere, fils and Marie Melançon, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1838. They settled near Grand Coteau. Their children, born there, included Marie Coralie in February 1840; Marguerite Cora in October 1841; Jean Baptiste in January 1844; Marie Cephalide in April 1846; Azélie in April 1849; Anne Osla in April 1851; a child, name unrecorded, died a day after his/her birth in March 1853; twins Dosithé, fils and Jacques born in May 1854, but Jacques died eight days after his birth, and Dosithé, fils, called Dosithée, died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in February 1861; Marie Alicia born in November 1856; Marcellite in January 1859 but died in February; Félix born in May 1860 but died at age 2 1/2 in November 1862; Marie Clara born in January 1863; ... Dosité, called Dosithée by the recording priest, died near Grand Coteau in December 1865, age 56. His succession, naming his wife and calling him Dosité, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July 1866. Daughters Marie Coralie, Marguerite Cora, and Marie Cephalide married into the Fall, Doucet, and Miller families by 1870. Dosité's remaining son also married by then, after his war service.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Jean Baptiste, called J. B. in Confederate records, may have served in Company A of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Corinne, daughter of John William Smith and Carmélite Micta, at the Grand Coteau church in December 1865. Daughter Marie Helena was born near Grand Coteau in August 1866; a child, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died at birth in January 1869; another child, name unrecorded, also perhaps theirs, died at birth in May 1870; ...
Jean le jeune's third son Joachim married, at age 22, Marie Élisa, called Élisa and Éliza, 21-year-old daughter of Anglo-Creole Narcisse Andrus, originally Andrews, and his Acadian wife Marguerite Prejean, at the Grand Coteau church in January 1838. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included twins Jean Gustave, called Gustave, and Joseph Octave in September 1838, but Joseph Octave died at age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 11) in February 1849; Marie Constance born in May 1839; Joseph Valesin or Valsin, called Valsin, in September 1841; Marie Evélina in January 1848 but died at age 8 1/2 (the recording priest said 9) in October 1856; Marie Delisa born in October 1852; Adolphe in April 1844; Joseph in March 1846; Marguerite Élonie in December 1849 but, called Marguerite Élonide, died at age 15 in December 1864; a child, name unrecorded, died at age 5 days in February 1855; and Joseph Andéol born in October 1857--11 children, at least six sons and four daughters, including a set of twins, between 1838 and 1857. Daughter Marie Constance married a Prejean cousin by 1870. Three of Joachim's sons also married by then, one of them after his war service.
Oldest son Jean Gustave, called Gustave, a twin, married Ophélie or Ophélia, daughter of Raphaël Meche and his Acadian wife Adèle Boudreaux, at the Grand Coteau church in September 1861. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Gustavie in December 1862; Marie Elzina in August 1866; Marie Elonie in July 1868; Joseph Gustave in January 1870; ...
During the war, Joachim's third son Joseph Valsin, called Valsin, served probably as a conscript in Company E of the Miles's Legion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Tammany Parish, which fought in Mississippi and Louisiana. He was captured near Port Hudson, Louisiana, in May 1863 and promptly took the oath of allegiance to the United States government. This being the equivalent of desertion, he probably did not return to his unit. He survived the war and returned to his family. Valsin married Sylvanie, daughter of Joseph Courvelle or Courville and his Acadian wife Marcelline Thibodeaux, at the Grand Coteau church in December 1865. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Joseph Lucien in October 1866; Marie Alicia in February 1869; ...
Joachim's fourth son Adolphe married Louisa or Louisette, daughter of Louis Quebedeaux (according to the church record) or fellow Acadian Louis Thibodeaux (according to the St. Landry Parish civil record) and Joséphine Courvelle, at the Grand Coteau church in September 1866. There was a Louis Thibodeaux who married Joséphine Courvelle, so Louisa/Louisett may have been part of that Acadian family. Daughter Adolphina, whose mother was called a Thibodeaux, was born near Grand Coteau in July 1867; ...
Pierre Lejeune dit Briard of the Brie region, east of Paris in northern France, married a daughter of Germain Doucet, sieur de La Verdure, at Port-Royal in c1650, but her given name has been lost to history. Interestingly, the bride's father also was from Brie. Pierre dit Briard does not appear in the first Acadian census of 1671. Given the family's tendency to move around, he may have temporarily left the colony with his family. Pierre dit Briard and his wife had no daughters, but they did have two sons, born at Port-Royal, who married into the Thibodeau, Kagigconiac (Mi'kmaq), Gaudet, and Arnault (Renaud) dit Grislard families. The younger son married three times; his first wife was a Mi'kmaq probably from La Hève.
In 1755, descendants of Pierre Lejeune dit Briard could be found in small numbers at Annapolis Royal and in the Minas Basin at Pigiguit and Cobeguit, but most of them had moved from Pigiguit, where they had congregated over the decades, to the French-controlled Maritime islands. They were especially numerous at Baie-des-Espagnols on Île Royale, where they had gone in 1749 and 1750, but they also could be found at Grande-Ascension, Anse-au-Matelot, and Bédec on Île St.-Jean and on Île Madame off the southern coast of Île Royale. By 1754, some of the Baie-des-Espagnols families had returned to peninsula Nova Scotia, where they secured permission to live not at their old homes at Pigiguit but at Mirliguèche on the Atlantic coast southwest of Halifax. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large, peripatetic family even farther.
The first of them to suffer the terrors of deportation was a young family still living at Pigiguit in 1755. Amand Lejeune had just married Anastasie Levron. Soon after their wedding, the British deported the newlyweds to Virginia. Minas Acadians were sent also to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New England, but the ones shipped off to the Old Dominion endured a fate worse than the others. In mid-November 1755, when five transports appeared unexpectedly at Hampton Roads, Virginia's governor Robert Dinwiddie protested their deportation to his colony without his consent. Exiles died on the filthy, crowded ships anchored in Hampton Roads while the Virginia authorities pondered their fate. As winter approached, the governor ordered Acadians from one vessel moved up to Richmond, two of the vessels were unloaded at Hampton, and two more at Norfolk. The following spring, the governor, his council, and the colony's Burgesses debated the question and concluded that "the papists" must go. In May, the first shipment of Acadians in hired vessels left for England, and in two weeks all of them had gone: 299 to Bristol, 250 to Falmouth, 340 to Southampton, and 336 to Liverpool--1,225 exiles in all by one count. They were packed into warehouses in the English ports, where many of them died of smallpox. Amand Lejeune and his bride were held at Liverpool, where she gave him two sons.
The Lejeunes at Mirliguèche also were deported from their homes in 1755 despite having co-operated with the British. In 1754, while they were still at Baie-des-Espagnols, Jean-Baptiste Lejeune, his wife Marguerite Trahan, and dozens of their kinsmen--Boutins and Guédrys, as well as Lejeunes and Trahans--had come to the realization that "the Land there" on the island "being so very bad they were utterly incapable of subsisting their Families, and had applied to the Governor of Louisbourg for leave to return to their former Habitations, to which he had consented." But they did not return to Pigiguit. In the fall of 1754, in fear of starvation, they left Spanish Bay, as well as French-controlled territory, and ventured from Louisbourg to Halifax by boat. The refugees beseeched Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence and his colonial Council to let them return to their former lands. After hearing their case, the Council agreed to the request only if they "voluntarily" took "the Oath of Allegiance to His Majesty," George II, "unqualified by any reservation"--a hard request for self-respecting Acadians. However, the Council minutes noted, "it appearing that they were in very great distress being intirely destitute of all necessitous," they "very cheerfully" took the hated oath and were issued rations to get them through the winter. Lawrence evidently changed his mind about allowing them to return to Pigiguit. He sent them, instead, to Mirliguèche on the Atlantic coast west of Halifax, near where Lejeunes and their Mi'kmaq kin once lived and where Foreign Protestants had built the settlement of Lunenburg the year before. When Lawrence and his Council authorized the deportation of the Acadians of British Nova Scotia the following July, the Lejeunes and their kin at Mirliguèche, despite having taken the unqualified oath, did not escape the hard hand of British oppression. In September 1755, as their cousins at Minas were being herded onto transports, redcoats from Halifax gathered up the Acadians at Mirliguèche and held them in the prison compound on Georges Island in Halifax harbor. In December, the British herded 50 of them, including Jean-Baptiste Lejeune and his family, aboard the sloop Providence and deported them to North Carolina--the only Acadians who actually made it to that seaboard colony. They landed at Edenton on Albemarle Sound in March 1756 and remained in the area for at least four years. In c1760, colonial authorities, probably tired of the expense of caring for them, allowed them to join their fellow exiles in Pennsylvania. By then, Jean-Baptiste and his wife Marguerite Trahan probably were dead. Their children, at least five of them, chose to follow a Trahan uncle from Pennsylvania to Maryland.
Living in territory controlled by France, the great majority of Lejeunes still on the Maritime islands escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia during 1755 and 1756. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the British rounded up most of the habitants still living on the islands and transported them to France.
Some members of the family escaped this latest deportation. Joseph Lejeune had married Anne-Théotiste Brasseur at Bedec on the southwest shore of Île St.-Jean soon after the August 1752 counting there, but they did not suffer the fate of their many siblings and cousins. They crossed Mer Rouge before the fall of Louisbourg and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore before moving on to Canada. Joseph remarried to a Canadian on Île d'Orléans below Québec in April 1757, so Anne-Théotiste did no survive the first years of exile. Joseph and his new wife remained in the Québec area. First cousin Jean-Baptiste Lejeune, his wife, and most of their children, who had been counted at Anse-aux-Matelot on the south shore of Île St.-Jean in August 1752, managed to escape the British roundup on the island and cross Mer Rouge to the Gulf shore. Jean-Baptiste's younger brothers Chrisophe, Germain, fils, and Paul, counted at Baie-des-Espagnol in April 1752, evidently escaped the roundup on Île Royale. From the Gulf shore, Jean-Baptiste and his family moved on to Québec, but his three brothers may have remained on the Gulf of St. Lawrence with hundreds of other exiles. Eustache Lejeune dit Briard and his family, who had been counted at Point à Jacob on the north coast of Île Madame in February 1752, also managed to escape the 1758 roundup and seek refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
However, most of the island Lejeunes were not so lucky. The British rounded them up and placed them on transports bound for St.-Malo, France. The crossing devastated the family. One is hard put, in fact, to find another Acadian family that lost a higher percentage of its members to deportation than the Lejeunes of Île Royale and Île St.-Jean. Four Lejeune siblings and their families crossed aboard the deportation transport Duke William that left Chédaboutou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November with 364 Acadians aboard and sank in a storm off the southwest coast of England in mid-December. All of the Lejeunes aboard perished. A Lejeune cousin, his wife, and seven of their unmarried children, along with the families of several of their sons, crossed on the transport Violet, which sailed in the same convoy and sank in the same storm. All were lost. Island Lejeunes also crossed on one or more of the five transports--the Yarmouth, Patience, Mathias, Restoration, and John Samuel--that left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy with 1,033 Acadians aboard, survived the mid-December storm that sank three other transports, and reached St.-Malo together during the third week of January 1759. Sadly, only 694 exiles were still aboard, 339 having died at sea. During the following weeks, 156 of the Five-Ships survivors died in local hospitals from the rigors of the crossing--nearly 500 deaths aboard these vessels, including many Lejeunes. Members of the family also crossed on the transport Supply, which left Chédaboutou Bay in the 12-ship convoy with 163 Acadians aboard. It, too, was battered by the mid-December storm and limped into the harbor at Bideford, England, a week later. A few of the Acadians transhipped to Bristol, but most of them, including Lejeunes, went on to St.-Malo, which they finally reached during the second week of March 1759. More family members perished in that crossing.
Island Lejeunes did their best to create a life for themselves in the suburbs and villages of the St.-Malo area, including St.-Suliac, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, Châteauneuf, Pleurtuit, and St.-Énogat, today's Dinard, on both banks of Rivière Rance south of St.-Malo, and St.-Thual and Lamballe in the countryside west of the Breton port. At least one island Lejeune landed at the naval port of Rochefort on the Bay of Biscay, but he did not remain. He and his family, which he created at Rochefort, returned to greater Acadia by 1764, when they were counted on Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. In 1767, in an attempt to relieve overcrowding on Miquelon and nearby Île St.-Pierre, French officials, obeying a royal decree, ordered the island's fisher/habitants to emigrate to France, the Lejeunes probably among them. If they went to France, they likely returned to Miquelon the following year, as most of the islanders did. In 1778, during the American Revolution, the British captured Miquelon and St.-Pierre and deported the islanders to France. The Lejeunes ended up at La Rochelle near Rochefort. One wonders if they returned to Miquelon with other islanders in 1784 or if they remained in France.
In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England, including a family of Lejeunes, were repatriated to France. The Lejeunes landed at Morlaix in northwest Brittany and settled in St.-Martin des Champs Parish. They did not follow other Acadian exiles repatriated from England to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany in late 1765, nor did they remain at Morlaix.
From December 1763 through November 1764, Acadians left France for the new French colony of Guiane on the northeastern coast of South Amerca, two Lejeune sisters from Rochefort among them. Many of the Acadians returned to France, but the Lejeunes evidently remained in the tropical colony.
In the early 1770s, Lejeunes at St.-Malo and Morlaix chose to take part in yet another, even grander settlement venture, this one in the interior of Poitou. French authorities were tired of providing for the exiles languishing in the coastal cities. An influential nobleman offered to settle them on land he owned near the city of Châtellerault, and the French government endorsed the scheme. Beginning in October 1775, after two years of effort, most of the Poitou Acadians, including the Lejeunes, retreated in four convoys down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. The Lejeunes from St.-Malo took the third convoy that left in December 1775. With them was their widowed mother, now in her mid-70s. Their cousins from Morlaix took the final convoy that left for Nantes in March 1776. There and at nearby Chantenay, the wayward Acadians lived as best they could on government handouts and what work they could find. In the early 1780s, when the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, 17 Lejeunes agreed to take it. They included all of the Lejeunes at Nantes and Chantenay. The family of a Lejeune from Minas and Île St.-Jean who had taken his family from St.-Servan-sur-Mer to Morlaix in December 1771 evidently remained at Morlaix when their cousins moved on to Spanish Louisiana. The Lejeune family who had returned to France from Île Miquelon in 1778 were still in the mother country in 1784 and also did not join their cousins in the Spanish colony.
In North America, the war finally over, Acadians who had eluded the British in the late 1750s now could emerge from hiding and choose, more or less, where they wanted to settle. Children of the Lejeune who had escaped from Île Madame in 1758 settled on Rivière St.-Jean and at Petit-Rocher and French Village on the Gulf of St. Lawrence in what became the province of New Brunswick. Three Lejeune brothers who had escaped the British roundup on Île Royale in 1758 evidently returned to the island, which the British called Cape Breton. The older brothers married fellow Acadians, the youngest brother a Mik'maq, and each of them "rehabilitated" their families at the Mi'kmaq settlement of Petit-Bras-d'Or in the center of the big island in August 1771. None of them seem to have joined their oldest brother Jean-Baptiste and their cousin Joseph and their families at Charlesbourg, St.-Charles de Bellechasse, St.-Gervais de Bellechase, and St.-Michel de Bellechasse near Québec City. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of what became Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Acadians being held in the British seaboard colonies at war's end, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intentions. Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. Five Lejeune orphans who, in the early 1760s, had followed relatives from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and then to Maryland, were still in the Chesapeake colony in July 1763, when they appeared on a French repatriation list circulating in the colony. Three of them were counted with Breau and Trahan relatives. One wonders why the other two do not appear in the July 1763 counting. The Lejeune siblings were still in the colony three years later, enduring life among Englishmen who, despite their colony's Catholic roots, did not care much for the French "papists" thrust upon them. When word reached the Acadians in Maryland that the Spanish would welcome them in Louisiana, they pooled their meager resources to charter ships that would take them to New Orleans. None of the Lejeunes were part of the first three Acadian expeditions that reached New Orleans from Baltimore and Port Tobacco in September 1766, July 1767, and February 1768. That changed in January 1769, when the Lejeune orphans, under the care of their uncle Honoré Trahan, booked passage on a British vessel that would take them from Port Tobacco on the lower Potomac to the Spanish colony.
Lejeunes settled early in Acadia, but they were relative late-comers to Louisiana. The first to arrive were four Lejeune siblings following their maternal uncle from Maryland aboard the ill-fated Britannia in 1769--the last group of Acadian exiles to go to Louisiana from that Chesapeake colony. Two of the sibling brothers lived at Ascension on the river for a while, where one of them married a fellow Acadian. During the early 1770s, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District, where they settled along upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé in present-day Acadia Parish, perhaps, as one historian speculates, to be closer to their sister Nanette in East Texas. Both brothers raised large families. Typical of Acadians in the Opelousas area, many of their descendants married non-Acadians, especially German Creoles and Anglo Americans. Meanwhile, in 1785, 17 of their Lejeune cousins came to Louisiana aboard four of the Seven Ships from France. None of these late comers crossed the Atchafalaya Basin. They settled, instead, in what became West Baton Rouge Parish or on upper Bayou Lafourche. During the antebellum period, Acadian Lejeunes could be found in three distinct centers of family settlement--the earliest and largest one on the western prairies, especially around Opelousas, Church Point, and Ville Platte in present-day St. Landry, Acadia, and Evangeline parishes; another center in West Baton Rouge Parish; and a third along the upper and middle stretches of Bayou Lafourche. At least one Lafourche Lejeune moved to lower Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65.
Non-Acadian Lejeunes came to the colony decades before their Acadian namesakes arrived. Most remained at New Orleans, but Lejeunes from the Illinois country settled at Pointe Coupée by the 1750s. Michel Lejeune and his descendants, typical of non-Acadians at Pointe Coupée, tended to marry their own kind. A few of Michel's grandsons moved downriver to the Baton Rouge area, and one settled in St. Landry Parish near his Acadian namesakes, but most of his many descendants remained in Pointe Coupee Parish. The most famous member of the family, Major General John Archer Lejeune, hero of World War I and commandant of the United States Marine Corps, for whom Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, is named, is a descendant of Jean-Baptiste, an Illinois Lejeune who settled at Pointe Coupee. In his memoirs, however, published after his retirement, the general hints that his paternal ancestor was an Acadian from Brittany who came to Louisiana via Canada, the Great Lakes, and Illinois after the French and Indian War.
During the early antebellum period, Acadian Joseph Lejeune of St. Landry Parish, married to a Hayes from the Carolinas, anglicized his surname to Young, adding yet another complexity to the family's genealogy. These Acadian Youngs should not be confused with their Anglo-American namesakes who settled in South Louisiana during the antebellum period. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Lejeunne, Lejuine, Lejune. The Creole Lejeunes, and perhaps the Acadian members of the family who settled on the river and along the Lafourche, tend to pronounce their surname luh-JHOON. The Acadian Lejeunes on the prairies, however, and perhaps some of the Pointe Coupee Lejeunes, prefer to be called luh-JHERN or luh-JHAN.12
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The Lejeune orphans who came to Louisiana from Maryland in 1769 created two vigorous family lines on the western prairies:
Jean-Baptiste, fils (c1749-?) à Paul dit Briard à Martin dit Labrière à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Jean-Baptiste, fils, called Jean, oldest son of Jean-Baptiste Lejeune and Marguerite Trahan, born probably at Pigiguit in c1749, followed his family to Baie-des-Espagnols, Halifax, Mirliguèche, Georges Island, and North Carolina, and his siblings to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, Natchitoches, the Acadian Coast, and Opelousas, where, at age 30, he married Isabelle Outré in c1779. They settled at Avoyelles north of Opelousas, or, as a family historian suggests, he and younger brother Blaise may have lived at Avoyelles before moving to the Opelousas District to be near younger brother Joseph. Isabelle and Jean-Baptiste, fils's children, born on the prairies, included Marie baptized by an Opelousas priest, age unrecorded, in October 1779; Jean-Baptiste III baptized at the Opelousas church, age 3 weeks, in September 1781; Anne born at Opelousas in May 1786; and Céleste in January 1788 and baptized by an Opelousas priest the following October, with the notation that her family were "de los Avoilles"--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1779 and 1788. None of their children seem to have married, at least not in the region, so this family line may not have endured in the Bayou State.
Blaise (c1750-?) à Paul dit Briard à Martin dit Labrière à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Blaise, second son of Jean-Baptiste Lejeune and Marguerite Trahan, born probably at Pigiguit in c1750, followed his family to Baie-des-Espagnols, Mirliguèche, Georges Island, and North Carolina, and his siblings to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, Natchitoches, and the Acadian Coast. He married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Breau and Marguerite Gautrot of San Gabriel, at nearby Ascension in November 1773. Later in the decade, they followed his relatives to the Opelouas prairies. Bayou Blaise Lejeune, also called Blaise Lejeune Gully, a tributary of Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, is named for him or his oldest son. Blaise and Marie-Josèphe's children, born on the river and the prairies, included Blaise, fils, either at Ascension or Opelousas in c1775; Jean-Baptiste le jeune, called Baptiste, in December 1777; Joseph le jeune baptized at the Opelousas church, age 5 months, in July 1780; Hilaire baptized at age 3 months in July 1782 but died at age 4 in May 1786; Céleste or Célestine born in January 1783; Joseph Ozier in the 1780s; and Marie-Angélique or Angèle in August 1796--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1775 and 1796. Daughters Céleste and Marie-Angèle married into the Trahan and Doucet families. Four of Blaise's sons also married and settled on the southwest prairies. Unlike younger brother Joseph and his descendants, who as early as the 1820s anglicized their surname to Young, Blaise and his progeny continued to call themselves Lejeune. Like many Acadians who settled in St. Landry Parish, Blaise's descendants married relatively few fellow Acadians, simply because there weren't that many.
Oldest son Blaise, fils married Anne-Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, daughter of Manuel Quintero and his Acadian wife Marie Granger of Pointe Coupée and Ascension at Opelousas in May 1792. They settled on Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé. Their children, born there, included Joseph le jeune in September 1793; Jean baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in July 1795; Marguerite baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1798; Célestine or Céleste born probably in the late 1790s or early 1800s; Michel born in c1802 and baptized at age 2 in November 1804; Ursin born in 1805 and baptized at age 8 months in April 1806 but died at age 26 in January 1831; Hiacinthe or Hyacinthe born in November 1808; a child, name and age unrecorded, died in March 1811; and Étienne born in February 1813 but died at age 3 1/2 in August 1816--nine children, at least three daughters and five sons, between 1793 and 1813. Blaise, fils may have remarried to Violle Vigé, place and date unrecorded. If so, she seems to have given him no more chilren. Her succession, calling her husband Blaze Lejeune, so who else could it have been, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in October 1845. Blaise, fils died in St. Landry Parish in August 1848, age 73. Daughters Marguerite, Célestine/Céleste, and Hyacinthe, by his first wife, married into the Lebleu, Godin, Berwick, and West families, one of them, Hyacinthe, at age 13! Three of Blaise, fils's sons also married.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune, by first wife Adélaïde Quintero, married Émilie dite Mélite, daughter of Charles Bourassa and his Acadian wife Madeleine Lalande, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in February 1816. They settled on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé near present-day Church Point. Their children, born there, included a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age six days in November 1816; Joséphine born in January 1818; Louis in c1819; Joseph, fils in December 1820; Siforien or Symphorien in October 1829; Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, in November 1834; Pierre in December 1835; Émilie or Émilia baptized at the Grand Coteau church, age 1 month, in May 1838; Caroline born in November 1839; and Charles Dupré, called Dupré, in March 1840--10 children, five daughters and fives sons, between 1816 and 1840. Joseph le jeune died probably on Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé in July 1842, age 48. Daughters Joséphine, Émilie, and Madeleine married into the Matte, Leger, and Dies families. Joseph le jeune's five sons also married.
Oldest son Louis married, at age 20, Eméranthe dite Méranthe, 17-year-old daughter of Pierre Matte and Marie Janise, at the Opelousas church in June 1839. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Louis Damon in August 1840; Joseph le jeune in November 1843; Julie in July 1845; Mirza in November 1848; Marie Amélie in May 1851; and Louisa near Church Point in October 1853--six children, two sons and four daughters, between 1840 and 1853. A succession for Louis Lejeune was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July 1854. This Louis would have been in his mid-30s that year. Daughter Julie married into the Araby family by 1870. Louis's two sons also married by then.
Older son Louis Damon married Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadian Julien Doucet and his Creole wife Joséphine Fontenot, at the Church Point church in May 1870. Their son Ernest was born near Church Point in December 1870; ...
Louis's younger son Joseph le jeune married Azilda dite Zilda, daughter of Louis Bellard and Célise Carrière, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1868, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church the following November. Their son Louis le jeune was born near Church Point in July 1870; ...
Joseph le jeune's second son Joseph, fils married Philonia, Phelonie, or Phelonise, also called Veronie, Hall in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1839. Their children, born on the prairies, included Pauline near Grand Coteau in May 1840; Modeste in September 1841; Émilie or Amelie near Opelousas in July 1843; Marie Laure or Laura in December 1844; Paulin in August 1847 but died near Church Point at "age 13 or 14 yrs." in March 1861; Eugénie born in October 1849; Louisa near Church Point in October 1851; Joséphine in December 1853; Hypolide or Hypolite in December 1855; Eustache Dupré, called Dupré, in March 1858; Marcellite in February 1860; and Albert near Grand Coteau in April 1861--a dozen children, eight daughters and four sons, between 1840 and 1861. Joseph, fils may have died near Church Point, age 43 (the recording priest said 46), in September 1864. Was his death war-related? His succession, calling his wife Félonise Teal, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in September 1865. Daughters Modeste, Émilie, Pauline, and Marie Laura married into the Blanchard, Daigle, Doucet, and Diaz or Diez families, and perhaps into the Lejeune family as well, by 1870. None of Joseph, fils's sons married by then.
Joseph le jeune's third son Symphorien married Azélie, Azélima, Sélima, or Zélima, also called Lélimon, Araby in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in November 1851. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Augustin in November 1854; Caroline in November 1856; Michel le jeune in March 1858; Ovina in April 1860; Julie in May 1864; Joseph le jeune in January 1867; Paul in June 1870; ... None of Symphorien's children married by 1870.
Joseph le jeune's fourth son Pierre married Ophelia, daughter of François Ledoux and Orphie Matte, at the Church Point church in July 1857. Did they have any children?
Joseph le jeune's fifth and youngest son Dupré married Élodie, daughter of Célestin Matte and Joséphine Bellard, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1867. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Joseph le jeune in December 1868; Albert in December 1870; ...
Blaise, fils's second son Jean, by first wife Adélaïde Quintero, married, in his late teens, Marie Louise, called Louise, "natural" daughter of Étienne Lacase and his Acadian "wife" Cécile Hébert of Bayou au Boeuf, Rapides Parish, at the Opelousas church in August 1813. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marie Louise or Louise Marie in June 1814; Caroline in the 1810s; Charlotte in January 1816; Blaise le jeune in February 1818; Adélaïde in June 1820; Cécile in April 1823; Louise, also called Élisa and Éliza, in July 1827; Zéphirin in July 1829; and Ursin le jeune in February 1832. A succession for wife Marie Louise, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in August 1834. By then Jean, in his late 30s, evidently remarried to Aimée, also called Emena, Émilie, Divine, and Anne Roy, a French Canadian or a French Creole, not a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in March 1833. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marie Mirza in May 1833; Jean, fils in August 1835; Émelie baptized at the Grand Coteau church, age 3 months, in December 1837; Azima born in August 1839; Élisabeth in January 1841; Ambroise in October 1843; Edmon in March 1845; Philemon in March 1848; and Aurelia in January 1853, when her father was in his late 50s--18 children, 11 daughters and seven sons, by two wives, between 1814 and 1853. A succession naming Jean and second wife Aimée, as she was called, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in March 1853, soon after the birth of their youngest child. Daughters Marie Louise, Caroline, Adélaïde, Cécile, and Élisa or Éliza, by his first wife, married into the Doucet, LeBoeuf, Buck, Trahan, Emay, Maillard or Mayer, and Caney or Kenny families by 1870, two of them twice. Three of Jean's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Blaise le jeune, by first wife Marie Louise Lacase, married, at age 21, Marie Caroline, called Caroline, 15-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Éloi Doucet and his Creole wife Modeste Carrière, at the Opelousas church in April 1839. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Émile in the early 1840s; Marie Louise in March 1842; Ursin le jeune in September 1844; and Blaise, fils in April 1847--four children, three sons and a daughter, between the early 1840s and 1847. Blaise le jeune's daughter did not marry by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Émile married Élisabeth, daughter of George Tromp and his Acadian wife Zélima Leger, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1863, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1865. Their children, born on the prairies, included Jean le jeune near Church Point in April 1866; François near Eunice, St. Landry Parish, in December 1869; ...
Jean's second son Zéphirin, by first wife Marie Louise Lacase, married Célesie Odile, called Odile, daughter of Creoles Pierre Bertrand and Félicité Selesie Vigé, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1851, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church in May 1852. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marie Odillia in April 1852; Napoléon Zéphirin in January 1855; and Onésime Paulastron perhaps posthumously near Grand Coteau in August 1858--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1852 and 1858. Zéphirin's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in June 1858. He would have been age 29 that year. None of his children married by 1870.
Jean's third son Ursin le jeune, by first wife Marie Louise Lacase, may have married Carmélisse Maillard, place and time unrecorded. Their son Ursin Oneville was born in St. Landry Parish in March 1863; ...
Blaise, fils's third son Michel, by first wife Adélaïde Quintero, married fellow Acadian Éloise Doucet in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1823. She evidently gave him no children. Michel remarried to Marie Josèphe dite Josette, daughter of Antoine Bellard, fils and his Acadian wife Marie Aucoin, at the Opelousas church in April 1824. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marie Eimas, Ermance, or Hermance in March 1825; Célestine in January 1827; Marie Mirza, called Mirza, in December 1828; Michel, fils in February 1831; Onille in December 1834; Émile in the 1830s; Edmond Yves in April 1837; François Alcide in June 1839; Marie Amélie, called Amélie, in September 1840; and Simon in August 1842--10 children, four daughters and six sons, between 1825 and 1842. Daughters Marie Ermance, Mirza, Célestine, and Marie Amélie, by his second wife, married into the Reed, Doucet, Vigé, Andrepont, Chiasson, Stroud, and Frugé families, one of them, Mirza, thrice, by 1870. Five of Michel's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Michel, fils, by second wife Josette Bellard, married Aglaé, daughter of Augustin Fontenot and his Acadian wife Céleste Hébert, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1851. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Portalis near Grand Coteau in February 1854; François Homer in October 1855; Edmond le jeune near Ville Platte, then in St. Landry but now in Evangeline Parish; in December 1856; Célestine near Grand Coteau in September 1859; Sosthènes in February 1862; Marie Aglaé in September 1866; Michel III in October 1868; ... None of Michel, fils's children married by 1870.
Michel, père's second son Onille, by second wife Josette Bellard, married Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Olivier Richard and his Creole wife Louise Joubert, at the Opelousas church in October 1855. Daughter Octavie was born in St. Landry Parish in February 1857; ...
Michel, père's third son Émile, by second wife Josette Bellard, married Célanie Louise, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Charles Pitre and his Creole wife Phélonie Joubert, at the Opelousas church in February 1855. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included Louise Angelos in February 1856; Oliva in December 1857; William in February 1861; Émile, fils in December 1862; Alicia in October 1865; Théodore in November 1867; Estelle in February 1870; ...
Michel, père's fourth son Edward Yves, by second wife Josette Bellard, married cousin Marie Euphrosine, daughter of Creole Dorville Bergeron, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Joséphine Lejeune, at the Opelousas church in May 1859. ...
Michel, père's fifth son François Alcide, called Alcide, from second wife Josette Bellard, married Joacine or Joachine Frugé in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in April 1858, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church the following July. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there, included François Alcide, fils in February 1859; Marie Altima in January 1861; Octavie in January 1864; Elvina Marie in April 1866; Louis de Gonzague in September 1867; Marie Gadrate in January 1870; ...
Blaise, père's second son Jean-Baptiste le jeune, called Baptiste, married Émilie, daughter of George Bock and Marie Anne Schexnayder, at the Opelousas church in January 1809. They settled on Bayou des Cannes, west of Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé. Their children, born there, included Pierre Lessin, called Lessin, Lessaint, and Toussaint, in April 1810; Marcelline or Marcelite in June 1812; Onésime in August 1815 but died at age 15 in December 1830; Jean, also called Jean Baptiste, fils, born in September 1818; Lufroy, Leufroi, or Dufroi in July 1823; Osémond or Rosémond in November 1827; and Blaise le jeune in May 1834--seven children, six sons and a daughter, between 1810 and 1834. Daughter Marcelite married into the Dugas family, and perhaps into the Hébert family as well. Five of Baptiste's sons also married.
Oldest son Pierre Lessin, called Lessin, Lessaint, and Toussaint, married Phelonise, daughter of Antoine Pierre Frugé and his Acadian wife Euphrosine Hébert, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1829, and sanctified the marriage at the Opelousas church in March 1840. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Valerian in January 1831; Céleste in October 1833; Zéphirin le jeune in February 1836; Phelonise in February 1839; Marie Oline in December 1843; and Sydonie in February 1846--six children, two sons and four daughters, between 1831 and 1846. None of Lessin's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Younger son Zéphirin le jeune, called Zéphirin Blaise by the recording clerk, may have married Julie Legros in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1854. Did they have any children?
Baptiste's third son Jean Baptiste, fils married Adeline, Adèle, or Adélaine, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Auguste Hébert and Anne Trahan, at the Opelousas church in May 1839. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included André in November 1840; Jean Baptiste III in January 1843; Adeline in June 1845; Ursin Jean Baptiste in November 1848; Azélima or Azéline in December 1850; and Azélie in July 1853--six children, between three sons and three daughters, between 1840 and 1853. They were living near Grand Coteau by 1850. Daughters Adeline and Azéline married into the Villejoin and Leger families by 1870. One of Jean Baptiste, fils's sons also married by then.
Oldest son André may have married Marguerite Maillard, no place recorded, in the late 1850s. Their son Rodolphe was born near Grand Coteau in August 1860; ...
Baptiste's fourth son Leufroi or Dufroi, married Aureline or Azéline Frugé in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1841. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Duffroy or Dufroi Théodule in October 1842; Marie Irène in April 1845; Leufroi, fils in August 1847; Irma in December 1850; and Aurelia in April 1852--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1842 and 1852. None of Leufroi's daughters married by 1870, but ones of his sons did.
Younger son Leufroi, fils married Virginie or Virginia Diaville or Diavel in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Opelousas church the following September. ...
Baptiste's fifth son Rosémond married Joséphine, daughter of François Marcantel and Joséphine Frugé and widow of Joseph Diaville, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1851, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church the following October. Their children, born on the prairies, included Jean Baptiste le jeune near Church Point in August 1852; Amélie near Grand Coteau in June 1858; François in March 1861; and Josite in January 1865. Rosémond, at age 39, may have remarried to Élodie Roy in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1867. They settled near Eunice. Their children, born there, included Louis in April 1868; Rosémond Joseph in May 1870; ... None of Rosémond's children married by 1870.
Baptiste's sixth and youngest son Blaise le jeune may have married Marie Arsène, also called Joséphine, Martin, widow of Henry Lepage, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1854. Their children, born on the prairies, included Jean Baptiste near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in June 1861; Blaise, fils in March 1864; ...
Blaise, père's third son Joseph le jeune married Geneviève, daughter of Hubert Janise and his Acadian wife Marie Brasseaux, at Opelousas in November 1796. Their children, born there, included Joséphine in December 1798; Hilaire le jeune in c1800 but was baptized, age 5, in November 1805; a son, name unrecorded, born in c1800, died at age 2 in October 1802; Marie-Céleste baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in April 1801; Hubert born in July 1803; Joseph, also called Joseph Olivier and Treville, baptized at age 3 months in April 1806; Baptiste born in c1810 and baptized at age 1 in March 1809; Joseph Olivier, also called Treville, born in c1810; Joachim in c1811 and baptized at age 16 months in October 1812; Geneviève born in November 1813; Adeline, perhaps theirs, in the 1810s; Marie Irène in May 1816; and Joseph François in April 1819--13 children, five daughters and eight sons, between 1798 and 1819. Daughters Joséphine, Adeline, and Geneviève married into the Berwick, Daigle, and Patin families. Two of Joseph le jeune's sons also married, but one wonders if they remained in South Louisiana.
Oldest son Hilaire le jeune may have married Rosalie Schexnayder in St. Landry Parish in the early 1820s. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Hilaire, fils in November 1826; and Joseph le jeune in January 1829. Neither of Hilaire le jeune's sons married by 1870, at least not in South Louisiana.
Joseph le jeune's fourth son Joseph Olivier, also called Treville, married cousin Marie Aurore, daughter of Mamert Janise and Françoise Langlois, at the Opelousas church in July 1826. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Joseph Treville in June 1827; and Mamert Harvil in January 1829. Neither of Joseph Oliver's sons married by 1870, at least not in South Louisiana.
Blaise, père's fifth and youngest son Joseph Ozier married Euphrosine dite Frosine, daughter of Michel Carrière and Juliènne Marcantel, at the Opelousas church in August 1805. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Julien baptized, age 1 month, in August 1806; Louis born in February 1808; Onésime in September 1809; Étienne in September 1811; Adeline, perhaps theirs, in the 1810s; Charles in September 1820; Alexandre in March 1823; and Joséphine in June 1824--eight children, six sons and two daughters, between 1806 and 1824. Josesph Ozier's succession, calling him Ozier, naming his wife, and listing his children--Louis, Étienne, Charles, Dufrillon, Joséphine, and Julien--was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1825. He would have been in his 40s that year. Daughter Joséphine married into the Bergeron family, and Adeline, if she was theirs, married into the Daigle family. Three of Joseph Ozier's sons also married.
Oldest son Julien married cousin Élise, Éliza, Éloise, Lisa, or Lise, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Young, originally Lejeune, and his Creole wife Marie Louise Bihm, at the Opelousas church in September 1827. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Éloyse, perhaps Éloi, in November 1828; John Jefferson in November 1830; Aminda in March 1833; Émelie in January 1836; François Stivins in April 1838; Pierre Lavigne in May 1840; Houston in June 1844, Oscar in February 1848; Julien, fils in February 1850; and Edjus in August 1852--10 children, eight son and two daughters, between 1828 and 1852. Neither of Julien's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons may have.
Fourth son Pierre Lavigne may have married cousin Marie Laure Lejeune, place and date unrecorded. She died in St. Landry Parish, age 19, in February 1859. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial did not give her parents' names. Did Pierre Lavigne remarry and have children?
Joseph Ozier's second son Louis married cousin Caroline, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Young, originally Lejeune, and his Creole wife Marie Louise Fontenot, at the Opelousas church in June 1829. Their son Louis, fils was born in St. Landry Parish in May 1830. Louis may have remarried to Caroline's younger sister Lise in the 1830s. Their daughter Louise was born in St. Landry Parish in August 1839 but died two days after her birth. A succession for Louis Lejeune was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July 1854. This Louis would have been age 46 that year. His son did not marry by 1870.
Joseph Ozier's fourth son Étienne married cousin Joséphine, Joasine, or Joachine, daughter of Michel Carrière and Céleste Stouts, at the Opelousas church in January 1832. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Dasencourt in August 1833; Ozène in May 1837; Arthémise in September 1839 but died "at Bois Malette" at age 21 in October 1860; Charles Dupré, perhaps called Dupré, born in September 1841; Adeline in April 1843; Étienne, fils in March 1846; and Aurelien in December 1847 but may have died at age 13 (the recording priest said 12) in September 1861. A succession for wife Joséphine, calling her Joasine and him Étienne, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in April 1849. Étienne remarried to Marie Gaume, Grown, Gand, Gomm, Elgone, or Agamasse, probably in St. Landry Parish in c1850. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Coralie in c1851; Solus in February 1852; Louis le jeune in October 1854; Marie Aurelia, called Aurelia, in April 1856; Ophilea in February 1858; Angelas or Angelos in December 1859; Cléopha in November 1862; Onésime in August 1867; ... Daughters Adeline and Coralie, by both wives, married into the Johnson and Godeaux families by 1870. Two of Étienne's sons also married by then.
Third son Dupré, by first wife Joséphine Carrière, may have married Hermoza or Hermosa, perhaps also called Céleste, Matte in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1861, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church in October 1866. Their children, born near Church Point, included François in April 1864; Hermina died at age 1 months in October 1866; ...
Étienne's fourth son Étienne, fils, by first wife Joséphine Carrière, likely married Florentine Darbonne or Derbonne at the Opelousas church in July 1866. ...
Joseph (c1756-1847) à Paul dit Briard à Martin dit Labrière à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Joseph, third and youngest son of Jean-Baptiste Lejeune and Marguerite Trahan, born in North Carolina in c1756, perhaps a twin, followed his siblings to Pennsylvaina, Maryland, Texas, Natchitoches, the Acadian Coast, and the Opelousas prairies. He married Perrine dite Patsy, daughter of Gilbert Hayes and Jeanne Jackson of Carolina, at Opelousas in c1782. They settled on Prairie Faquetaique along upper Bayou des Cannes near his older brothers. Their children, born on the Opelousas prairies, included Marie-Josèphe dite Josette in 1782 and baptized at the Opelousas church, age 9 months, in June 1783; Joseph, fils born in August 1784; Jean-Baptiste le jeune in March 1786; Marguerite in May 1788; Susanne in September 1789; Pierre dit Pitre in January 1791; Hubert dit Briard, also called Gilbert, in March 1793; Jacques or James baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1796; Eugénie dite Jane baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1798; Zénon baptized, age 5 months, in July 1801; Louise dite Eliza, baptized, age 3 months, in October 1803; Caroline born in May 1805; and a child, name and gender unrecorded, died six days after his/her birth in August 1807--13 children, at least six daughters and six sons, between 1782 and 1807. A succession calling him Joseph dit Briard was filed at Opelousas Post in December 1787, long before his death, so one wonders if it was for him. A "Separation of Community Property" record, calling him Joseph Young Sr. and his wife Patsy Hayes, and listing their children and their daughter's spouses--Joseph; Marie Josette and her husband; Jean Baptiste; Susanne and her husband; Marguerite and her husband; Pitre; James; Jane and her husband; Éliza and her husband; Caroline and her husband; and Gilbert, "now deceased"--was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in September 1821. A succession for wife Patsey Haye, as she was called, probably post-mortem, calling him Joseph Young, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1822. An estate record, calling him Joseph Young and his wife Pattsy Hayes, also was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, in February. At age 66, Joseph remarried to Marie or Mary, daughter of Michel Ritter and Marie Louise Stelly and widow of Jean Teller or Taylor, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1822, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in October 1843. She gave him no more children. Influenced perhaps by his first wife and her Anglo-American relatives, by the 1820s Joseph had anglicized his surname to Young; he was called Joseph Young, Sr. in the civil record of his second marriage, dated May 1822. Called Joseph Briard Young, Joseph died "sur Plaquemen," that is, on Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, in October 1847. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial said Joseph died "at age 110 years." He was in his early 90s. His post-mortem succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse two days after his death. Daughters Marie-Josèphe dite Josette, Marguerite, Susanne, Eugénie dite Jane, Louise, and Caroline, by his first wife, married into the Reed, Barton, Bihm, Lacombe, Ortega or Ortego, Prudhomme, and Bechum families. Five of Joseph's sons also married, and most of them, like their sisters, called themselves Young. One wonders if they spoke English as well as French at home, and if they became anglophones before the early twentieth century, when Cajuns began speaking American English along with their native French patois. Like many Acadians who settled in St. Landry Parish, Joseph's descendants married relatively few fellow Acadians.
Oldest son Joseph, fils, by first wife Patsy Hayes, married Marie Louise, daughter of Michel Ritter and Barbe Cor, at Opelousas in September 1805; the marriage was sanctified at the Grand Coteau churh, St. Landry Parish, in October 1843, 38 years (the recording priest said 26) after being "Married by Judge in Opel." The recording priest also said that Joseph, fils was "106 yrs. old" at the time the marriage was revalidated (Joseph, fils actually was 59, so the priest must have imbibed too much altar wine.) Joseph, fils and Marie Louise's children, born in St. Landry Parish, included a child, name unrecorded, born in c1803 but died "at about age 7 yrs." in June 1810; Hippolyte dit Polite, baptized, age 2 months, in October 1807; Marie Louise born in February 1809; Solasti or Lasty baptized, age 13 days, in October 1810; Perrine dite Patsey born perhaps in the early 1810s; Adeline, perhaps theirs, in the 1810s; Guillaume, also called William, in September 1814; Jacques, also called James and Jim, in May 1816; Henri, also called Emery, in January 1818; Barton in the late 1810s or early 1820s; Émilie in February 1823; and Joseph Levi, called Levi, Olivier, and Olivil, in the 1820s--a dozen children, at least seven sons and four daughters, between 1803 and the 1820s. Daughters Marie Louise, Patsey, and Émilie married into the Smith, McGee, and Carrière families, and perhaps into the Daigle family as well. Seven of Joseph, fils's sons also married and settled on the Opelousas prairies, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Hippolyte dit Polite, calling himself Young, married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Placide Savoie and Adélaïde Babin, at the Opelousas church in February 1828. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Louis in December 1828; Paul dite Paulite in October 1830; Onésime in October 1835; Adélaïde in October 1836; Marguerite in November 1838; Michel in March 1841; Méline in May 1843; Hippolyte, fils in the 1840s; and Jesse in January 1847. Hippolyte, again calling himself Young, remarried to Amélie or Émelie, called Mélie, daughter of Joseph Langley, sometimes misspelled Langlais, Langlay, Langlois, and Lingle, and Mélitte Casenwell or Cosenwell, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1852, and sanctified the marriage at the Opelousas church in April 1864. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Émelie in November 1854; Marie Louise in January 1856; Mélasie in January 1857; Louis Barn in September 1858; Octavie in July 1860; Ernest in c1863 and baptized at the Opelousas church, age 10, in August 1873; Sarah born in July 1866; ... None of Hippolyte's daughters married by 1870, but four of his sons did.
Second son Paul dit Paulite, by first wife Adélaïde Savoie, called Paulite by the recording priest, and calling himself Young, may have, at age 36, married fellow Acadian Adélaïde Savoie at the Ville Platte church, then in St. Landry but now in Evangeline Parish, in March 1866. Considering his age at the time of the wedding, one wonders if this was his first marriage. ...
Hippolyte's third son Onésime, by first wife Adélaïde Savoie, calling himself Young, may have married cousin Louisa Young in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1857. Daughter Louisa was born in St. Landry Parish in April 1859; ...
Hippolyte's fifth son Hippolyte, fils, by first wife Adélaïde Savoie, calling himself Young, married Françoise, daughter of Jean Baptiste Jean Baptiste and Madeleine ____, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1866. The recording clerk said nothing about the bride's surname or her ethnicity. Judging by her father's surname, she may have been a Creole of color. ...
Hippolyte's sixth son Jesse, by first wife Adélaïde Savoie, calling himself Young, may have married Marie Reed in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1866. They settled near Eunice. Their son Arthelus was born there in February 1870; ...
Joseph, fils's second son Lasty or Solasti, calling himself Young, married Sally, 16-year-old daughter of William Link and Marie Bihm, at the Opelousas church in January 1833. Did they have any children?
Joseph, fils's third son Guillaume or William, calling himself Young, married Bekhen, perhaps Becky, Lee, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Gilbert in July 1847; and Lucinde in October 1849. William's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in May 1850. He would have been age 36 that year. None of his children married by 1870.
Joseph, fils's fourth son Jacques, called James and Jim, calling himself Young, married cousin Irène, daughter of fellow Acadians Anselme Doucet and Angèle Lejeune, at the Opelousas church in May 1837. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Arthémise in October 1838; Joseph le jeune in April 1845; Pierre near Grand Coteau in September 1848; Louis in July 1856; and Lodoiska in August 1858--five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1838 and 1858. None of Jim's children married by 1870.
Joseph, fils's fifth son Henri, also called Emery, Henry, André, and Joseph, calling himself Young, married Alimon, Alimone, Célimone, Clémence, Edmonde, Elemone, Elimone, Léomone, Simone, or Simonese, daughter of Louis Simon Fontenot and Célestine LaFleur, at the Opelousas church in May 1835. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Élisa in April 1836; Henry, Jr. in January 1838; William in January 1840; Célestine in February 1842; Marie Louise, perhaps theirs, in January 1844; Louisia, perhaps Louisiana, in December 1845; Louis in the 1840s; Mélina or Émeline in March 1850; Joseph in April 1852; Pierre near Ville Platte in September 1854; and Octavie in November 1856--11 children, six daughters and five sons, between 1836 and 1856. Henri/Emery, Sr., still calling himself a Young, remarried to Irène Smith, widow of Joshua Huk, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1860. ... Daughters Élisa, Célestine, Marie Louise, Louisiana, and Émeline, by his first wife, married into the McGee, Fontenot, and Manuel families, two of them, Marie Louise and Louisiana, twice, and three of them, Élisa, Célestine, and Louisiana, to McGees, by 1870. Three of Henri's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Henry, Jr., by first wife Célimone Fontenot, calling himself Young, married Virginie, daughter of John H. McGee and his Acadian wife Anastasie Savoie, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1855; Henry, Jr.'s sister Éliza married Virginie's brother Pierre. Henry, Jr. and Virginie's son Lucius was born in St. Landry Parish in January 1857; ...
Henri's second wife William, by first wife Célimone Fontenot, calling himself Young, married Marie Doluce, called Doluce, daughter of Jean Pierre LaFleur and Delphine Rozat, at the Opelousas church in April 1857. Their children, born on the prairie betwee Ville Platte and Eunice, included Théophile in September 1848; Marie Ofilia in March 1860; Théodore in May 1862; William, Jr. in August 1863; Theismas, perhaps a daughter, in June 1866; Artellus "at Faqua Taique" in February 1868; Octasie in December 1869; ...
Henri's third son Louis, by first wife Célimone Fontenot, calling himself Young, married first cousin Sydonia, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Levi Young, formerly Lejeune, and his Creole wife Amelia Lagrange, his uncle and aunt, at the Ville Platte church in January 1867. They settled on the prairie between Ville Platte and Eunice. Their children, born near Eunice, included Alicia in February 1868; Sydonia in March 1870; ...
Joseph, fils's sixth son Barton, calling himself Young, married Lucinda or Lucenne, also called Lucindy and Melis, Lee in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in April 1839. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Alphred, also called Alfred Barton and Alfred B., in February 1841; Élisa in September 1846; and Lorenzo Barton, called Lorenzy, in the 1840s. Barton remarried to Melissa N., daughter of George Lee and Rachel Clark, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in October 1845. She evidently gave him no more children. Both of Barton's sons married.
Older son Alfred B., by first wife Lucinda Lee, calling himself Young, married Cephaline or Zéphaline, daughter of Pierre Manuel and Joséphine Ratel, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in October 1858, and sanctified at the Eunice church in March 1870. The ecclesiastical record recognized the legitimacy of their three sons. They settled between Ville Platte and Eunice. Their children, born there, included John Uranza or Laurenze, called Laurenze, in October 1860; Jean Baptiste in c1863; Joseph, also called Gilbert, in April 1867; Lussenie in October 1869; ...
Barton's younger son Lorenzo Barton, by first wife Lucinda Lee, calling himself Young, married Arthémise Isaure, daughter of probably fellow Acadian Pierre Valcourt Savoie and his Creole wife Eugénie Ritter, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1860, and sanctified the marriage at the Opelousas church the following December. Their son Lorenzo Barton, fils was born in St. Landry Parish in September 1860; ...
Joseph, fils's seventh son Joseph Levi, called Levi, Olivier, and Olivil, calling himself Young, married Amelia, Amélie, Émeline, or Émelia, daughter of Lasty Lagrange and Caroline Taylor, at the Opelousas church in April 1844. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Lasti or Lasty in February 1845; Dom, Don, or Jean Louis in July 1846; Louis in April 1848; Sydonie or Sydonia in September 1851; Elvina in February 1852; Oliva in September 1855; Émilia in May 1857; Félicia in November 1859; ... Daughter Sydonia married a Young (formerly Lejeune) cousin by 1870. One of Levi's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Lasty married Fanny H., daughter of John H. McGee and his Acadian wife Anastasie Savoie, at the Opelousas church in July 1865. They settled near Ville Platte. Daughter Marie Denriènne was born there in December 1866; ...
Joseph, père's second son Jean-Baptiste le jeune, also called John, from first wife Patsy Hayes, married Marie Louise, called Louise, daughter of Jacob Bihm and Marie Ritter, at Opelousas in December 1807. They settled on Prairie Faquetaique. Their children, born there, included David in September 1808; John, also called Jean Baptiste, fils, in September 1810; Louise in June 1813; Marie Louise in September 1815 but died at age 11 months in August 1816; Étienne Stivns, called Stephen or Steven, born in August 1817; Susanne in November 1819; Joseph le jeune in August 1821; twins Anne and Fagny in July 1823; Odilia in July 1827; Marie Amelia in July 1829; Rosanne in July 1830; Hélène, Élina, or Eléonor in December 1831; Serianne in October 1834; and Perrine in September 1836--15 children, four sons and nine daughters, between 1808 and 1836. Jean Baptiste, père died in St. Landry Parish in June 1843. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Baptiste dit Joung, as he called him, died "at age 53 yrs." He was 57. Daughters Anne, Eléonor, and Perrine married into the Prudhomme, Amy, and Chachere families by 1870. Four of Jean Baptiste le jeune's sons also married by then.
Oldest son David, calling himself Young, married Azélie, daughter of Louis Fontenot dit Belaire and Marie Louise Joubert, at the Opelousas church in February 1827. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Onésime in May 1826; a son, name and age unrecorded, died in August 1828; Caroline born in August 1829; Jesse, perhaps also called J. T., in the late 1820s or early 1830s; Louise in December 1831; Alfred in February 1834; Jessy or Jesse in March 1836 but, called Jerry, died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in September 1842; Marie Émelia or Azélie born in March 1838; Louis in February 1840; Louisa in December 1841; Odile in October 1843; Ziliènne in October 1845; Élodie in December 1847; and Lucile in September 1851--14 children, six sons and eight daughters, between 1826 and 1851. David's succession, calling his wife Azélie Belaire Fontenot, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in March 1854. He would have been age 46 that year. Daughters Caroline and Marie Azélie married into the Hébert and Manuel families by 1870. Four of David's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Onésime, calling himself Young, may have married cousin Louisa Young, originally Lejeune, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1857. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Pierre in April 1861; and Onésime, fils in May 1863. Onésime's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1864. He would have been age 38 that year. Was his death war-related? Widow Louisa remarried to Adolphe Manuel in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in March 1864.
David's third son Jesse, calling himself Young, married Émelie, daughter of Thomas Buller and Émilite Brignac, at the Opelousas church in February 1854. They settled near Ville Platte. Their children, born there, included Thomas in March 1855; Denise in April 1857; Jesse, fils in September 1860; Adam baptized at the Ville Platte church, age 2 months, in December 1869; ...
David's fourth son Alfred, calling himself Young, may have married Domelise, daughter of Jules Jacques Fontenot, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1857. Their children, born near Ville Platte, included Christoval in November 1860; Alfred, fils in May 1862; ...
David's sixth and youngest son Louis, calling himself Young, married Lise, daughter of Arsène Saucier and Lise Fontenot, at the Opelousas church in January 1861. They settled on the prairie between Ville Platte and Eunice. Their children, born there, included Jean Baptiste le jeune in October 1861 but died at age 11 months in September 1862; Alfred born in December 1866; Eugène in August 1870; ...
Jean Baptiste le jeune's second son John, calling himself John B. Young, married double cousin Evélina or Evelyn, also called Aglaé, daughter of Michel Bihm and his Acadian wife Eugénie Lejeune, at the Opelousas church in May 1829. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included John, Jr. in May 1832; Juliènne in October 1837; Emiliènne in January 1840; François in February 1849; and Emma B. in August 1851--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1832 and 1851. John B.'s succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1854. He would have been age 44 that year. None of his daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Older son John, Jr., called Jonathan Young, may have married Célina Ellender probaby in St. Landry Parish by the early 1850s. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Jonathan, fils in January 1853; and St. Germain in August 1855. Neither of Jonathan's sons married by 1870.
Jean Baptiste le jeune's third son Étienne, called Stephen or Steven, calling himself Young, married Marianne Hortence, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Victor Richard and his Creole wife Marie Anne Vasseur, at the Opelousas church in August 1839. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Mélanie in December 1840; Eyya in December 1842; Houston in September 1846; Taylor in March 1849; Mélina Marie in November 1853; Marie Cécilia in June 1857; Pierre Jeff Davis in August 1861; ... Daughter Mélanie married into the Guidry family by 1870. One of Étienne's sons also married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Houston served in Company K of the 3rd (Harrison's) Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought in Louisiana and Arkansas. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Don Hopkins and Zéliènne Lyons, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in November 1868. ...
Jean Baptiste le jeune's fourth son Joseph le jeune, calling himself Young, may have married Tabitha Lyons in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1845. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included James Mendoza in March 1848; John Wesley, perhaps called J. W., in October 1849; Josephus Richemond in February 1851; Jonthan, probably Jonathan, Lyon in October 1852; Jefferson Ahart in February 1854[sic]; and Johanna Frances in July 1854[sic]--six children, five sons and a daughter, between 1848 and 1854. Joseph le jeune's daughter did not marry by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Oldest son James Mendoza, called James M. by the recording clerk, and calling himself Young, likely married Isidore[sic] M. Steen in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in October 1869. ...
Joseph le jeune's second son John Wesley, called J. W. by the recording clerk, and calling himself Young, may have married Elizabeth J., daughter of Daniel Steen, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1868. ...
Joseph, père's third son Pierre dit Pitre, by first wife Patsy Hayes, married Marie Louise, called Louise and Lise, daughter of Louis Fontenot dit Belaire and Marie Joubert, at the Opelousas church in August 1810. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Pierre, fils, called Peter, baptized at the Opelousas church, age 6 weeks, in September 1811; Caroline born in March 1813; Louise, perhaps also called Lise, in October 1814; Louis in June 1817; and Onésime in May 1826--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1811 and 1826. Pierre, called Peter Young "of l'anse aux Pailles," died in St. Landry Parish in June 1847, age 56 (the recording priest said 55). Daughters Caroline and perhaps Lise married Lejeune cousins. One of Pitre's sons also married.
Oldest son Pierre, fils, called Peter, married Céleste, 16-year-old daughter of Michel Carrière and Céleste Stout, at the Opelousas church in February 1836. Their son Onésime le jeune was born in St. Landry Parish in October 1837. Pierre, fils, called both Pierre Lejeune and Peter Young in the marriage records, remarried to first cousin Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadian James Young, originally Lejeune, and his Creole wife Irène Prudhomme, his uncle and aunt, and widow of François Vallet, at the Opelousas church in January 1839. She evidently gave him no more children. Peter's succession, naming his first but not his second wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1856. He would have been age 45 that year. Widow Mélanie remarried the following November. Peter's son married by 1870.
Only son Onésime le jeune, by first wife Céleste Carrière, may have married Clémentine Aguillard in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1869. Daughter Eve was born near Eunice, St. Landry Parish, in May 1870; ...
Joseph, père's fourth son Hubert dit Briard, also called Gilbert, from first wife Patsy Hayes, married Céleste or Célestine, daughter of Jacques dit Jacob Fontenot and his Acadian wife Rosalie Jeansonne, at the Opelousas church in April 1814. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Hubert, fils in March 1815; Célestine in July 1817; and Olivier dit Briard in September 1819--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1815 and 1819. Hubert dit Briard died by September 1821, when he was listed as deceased in his parents' separation-of-community-property record. His daughter does not seem to have married, but one of his sons did.
Younger son Olivier dit Briard, called Olivier Lejeune in the marriage record, may have married Alexandrine Daigle, probably a German-Canadian Creole, not a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in March 1841. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Olive near Grand Coteau in January 1842; Alexandrine in May 1851; Joseph Olivier in October 1845; Gilles in August 1848; Alexandre in February 1854; and Louise near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in February 1856--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1842 and 1856. A succession for Olivier Young was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in September 1856. He would have been age 37 that year. None of his children married by 1870.
Joseph, père's fifth son Jacques or James, by first wife Patsy Hayes, married Irène, daughter of Michel Prudhomme, fils and Sidonie Darbonne, at the Opelousas church in July 1815. Jacques was calling himself James Young by the late 1820s. His and Irène's children, born on the prairies, included Irène, also called Eriane and Uranie, in September 1817; Sidonie in July 1819; Mélanie in May 1821; Rosaline in c1823; and André in October 1827--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1817 and 1827. James's succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in March 1828. He would have been in his early 30s that year. Daughters Eriane, Sidonie, Mélanie, and Rosaline married into the Rider, Hay, Vallet, Lejeune/Young, and Demarest families, including two Hay brothers; one of the daughters, Mélanie, married three times, by 1870. James's son also married by then.
Only son André may have married cousin Lovigna or Lavigna Young, originally Lejeune, place and time unrecorded. Their children, born on the prairies, included Joséphine near Eunice in August 1860; Joseph in February 1862; Oska, probably Oscar, in November 1866; ...
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Fifteen years after the first Acadian Lejeunes arrived in Spanish Louisiana, 17 more members of the family reached the colony from France aboard four of the Seven Ships. None of them joined their cousins on the western prairies, at least not before the War of 1861-65, and most of them produced vigorous family lines on the river and in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley.
Nine Lejeunes--three families headed by two brothers and a son--crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in July 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to Manchac on the river south of Baton Rouge and created several vigorous lines there:
Eustache (1732-?) à Pierre dit Labrière, fils à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Eustache, second son of Jean Lejeune and Françoise Guédry, born probably at Pigiguit in December 1732, followed his family to Baie-des-Espagnols, Île Royale, and was counted with them there in April 1752. He married Marie, daughter of Ignace Carret and Cécile Henry, at the Spanish Bay in May 1753. Marie gave Eustache two daughters on Île Royale: Marie-Madeleine born in c1754; and Marguerite in c1757. The British deported them to St.-Malo, France, in late 1758. Eustache and Marie survived the crossing, but their two daughters died at sea. The couple settled at St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo and in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, where Marie gave Eustache seven more children: Jean-Baptiste born at St.-Suliac in April 1760; Marie-Jeanne-Perrine-Madeleine in January 1762; François-Zénon at St.-Servan in January 1764 but died there at age 4 in February 1768; Geneviève-Charlotte born in December 1765; Françoise-Eugénie in November 1767 but died the following November; Servan-Mathurin born in July 1769; and François-Marie in May 1771. Wife Marie died at St.-Servan in November 1772, age 42. Eustache, at age 40, remarried to Jeanne-Perrine, 33-year-old daughter of locals Jean Gicquel and Perrine Le Couet of Plouër-sur-Rance, across the river from St.-Suliac, at St.-Servan in June 1773. Soon after the marriage, Eustache took his family to the interior of Poitou. In December 1775, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians, including his aging widowed mother, from Châtellerault down the Vienne and the Loire to the port of Nantes. Eustache worked as a ship's carpenter there. Jeanne gave him three more children at nearby Chantenay: Jeanne-Marie born in July 1781 but died in August; Pierre-Alexis born in April 1783 but died at age 1 in April 1784; and Rosalie born in April 1784--a dozen children, seven daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1754 and 1784, in greater Acadia and France. Eustache's oldest son married at Nantes or Chantenay. In 1785, Eustache, Jeanne, four of his unmarried children, two daughters and two sons, his married son and his wife, and a Gautrot niece, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana aboard the first of the Seven Ships. Eustache's fourth daughter Geneviève-Charlotte, who, if she was still living, would have been age 20 in 1785, did not accompany her family to Louisiana. Evidently Eustache's youngest daughter Marie-Rose, called Rosalie, who would have been age 2, died during the crossing; she appears on the ship's embarkation roll, but not on its debarkation list. From New Orleans, Eustache and his family followed their fellow passengers to Manchac, where they remained. Daughter Marie-Jeanne-Perrine-Madeleine married into the Babin family at Baton Rouge. Eustache's younger sons also married there. One remained at Baton Rouge with his older brother, and the other resettled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Eustache's oldest son was one of the last Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors.
Oldest son Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, from first wife Marie Carret, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes. He married Marie-Geneviève, called Geneviève, daughter of fellow Acadians Séverin Doiron, and Geneviève LeBlanc, at Nantes or nearby Chantenay in the early 1780s. Still childless, they followed his family to New Orleans and Manchac and settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Geneviève was pregnant on the crossing. Their children, born in the Baton Rouge area, included Marie-Geneviève in December 1785; Marie-Victoire in the late 1780s; Sophie in c1788 but died at age 7 in October 1795; Françoise-Rosalie born in March 1790; Maturin in December 1792; Zénon in June 1794; Caroline in January 1796; Jean, called Jean-Baptiste, fils, in c1799 and baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age 1, in May 1800; Eusèbe baptized at age 10 months in December 1801; Éliza or Élise born in December 1802; and Séverin, also called Zéphirin, in July 1808--11 children, six daughters and five sons, between 1785 and 1808. Baptiste died near Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish, in April 1854, age 94, probably a widower. Daughters Marie Victoire, Caroline, and Éliza married into the Aillet, Babin, and Templet families. Four of Baptiste's sons also married and remained in West Baton Rouge Parish. Not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Maturin or Mathurin married cousin Marie Émilie, called Émilie and Émerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Paul Trahan and Marie-Josèphe Lejeune, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in February 1811. Their children, born in the Baton Rouge area, included Marie Séraphine, called Séraphine, in October 1811; Célestin Valentin in December 1813 but died near Brusly, age 33, in October 1847; Eugène born in March 1816; Rosalie in October 1817; and Apolline dite Pauline in July 1821--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1811 and 1821. Wife Émilie died near Brusly, age 45, in September 1847. Mathurin died near Brusly in May 1855, age 62 (the recording priest said 63). Daughters Séraphine, Rosalie, and Pauline married into the Thibodeaux, Doiron, and Granger families at Baton Rouge. Neither of Mathurin's sons seems to have married, but the blood of the family line likely endured.
Jean-Baptiste's second son Zénon married Élisabeth, called Lise, Élise, and Élida, daughter of Isleño André Martin and his Acadian wife Marie Landry, at the Baton Rouge church in March 1824. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Élisabeth in November 1824; Malvina in August 1826; Alfred in August 1828; Alida in the early 1830s; Charles in January 1833 but died near Brusly, age 23, in December 1856; Ursin Private or Privat, also called Privat Ursin, born in August 1835; Adille in c1836; Théodore in January 1838; Marie Zénon, perhaps also called Estelle, in May 1840; and Joseph Théogène, called Théogène, in August 1842--10 children, five daughters and five sons, between 1824 and 1842. Zénon died in West Baton Rouge Parish in October 1847. The Brusly priest who recorded the burial, and did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Zénon died at "age 47 years." He was 53. Daughter Alida married into the Foret family by 1870. Two of Zénon's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Alfred married cousin Élisabeth, called Élise and Éliza, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Foret and Arthémise Landry, at the Brusly church in June 1852; Élise's brother Adonis married Alfred's sister Alida. Alfred and Élise's children, born near Brusly, included Marie Lord in February 1852; Arthémise Olympe in October 1853; Jean Anatole in July 1855; Armandine Célestine in August 1859; Charles le jeune in June 1861; Marie Blanche in November 1869; ... None of Alfred's children married by 1870.
Zénon's third son Privat Ursin married Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Magloire Dupuy and Eugénie Hébert, at the Brusly church in May 1856. Their children, born near Brusly, included Joseph Numa in January 1857; Marie Eugénie in Novembre 1858; Marie Emilda in January 1861; ...
Jean-Baptiste's third son Jean Baptiste, fils married, in his late 30s, Roseline, daughter of fellow Acadians Landry Allain and Rosalie Templet, at the Baton Rouge church in December 1838. Their children, born near Brusly, included Clémentine in February 1840; and twins Geneviève Odile, called Odile, and Jean Célestin in October 1841--three children, two daughters and a son, including a set of twins, in 1840 and 1841. Daughter Odile, a twin, married into the Bourg and Hébert families by 1870. Jean Baptiste, fils's son did not marry by then.
Jean-Baptiste, père's fifth and youngest son Séverin, also called Zéphirin, married Séraphine, daughter of Thomas Aillet and Juliènne Marrionneaux of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church in April 1830. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Séverine in the 1830s; Donatien in July 1832; Domitille in March 1834; Pamelia Apolline in April 1836; Amelia in late 1839 and baptized at age 5 months in March 1840; Théodule born near Brusly in March 1841; Joseph Théophile in September 1842; Marie Zéolide, called Zéolide, in August 1846; Achille Théodore in May 1848; Séverin Forestal in May 1850 but, called Séverin, died at age 3 1/2 in August 1853; and Thomas Isadore born in May 1854--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1832 and 1854. Daughters Séverine, Domitille, and Zéolide married into the Labauve, Leray, and Alexandrie families by 1870. Two of Séverin's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Donatien married Mirza, daughter of fellow Acadians Landry Landry and Irène Trahan, at the Brusly church in May 1853. Their children, born near Brusly, included Joseph Arthur in February 1855; Donatien Otard in January 1857; François Alphonse in December 1858; Marie Evila in April 1861; ... None of Donatien's children married by 1870.
Séverin's second son Théodule married Théodorice, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Paul LeBlanc and his second wife Letitia Dodd, at the Brusly church in April 1865. Daughter Léocadi was born near Brusly in September 1870; ...
Eustache's third son Servan-Mathurin, by first wife Marie Carret, followed his parents to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and Manchac, where he married Geneviève-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon dit Pierre Pitre and Geneviève Richard, in November 1792. Marguerite, a native of St.-Servan-sur-Mer near St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard a later vessel. They joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche in the late 1790s. Their children, born at Manchac and on the Lafourche, included Jean-Baptiste le jeune in October 1794; Élie in 1796 and baptized, age 9 months, in May 1797; Michel-Mathurin, also called Joseph-Mathurin, born in October 1798 and baptized at the Assumption church on the upper Lafourche 11 months later; Marie-Irène, René, or Reine born in the late 1790s; Cléonise-Marguerite in October 1800; and Marie-Clémence in August 1803--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1794 and 1803. Daughter Marie Irène married into the Guillot family. Two of Servan Mathurin's sons also married and settled on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Jean Baptiste le jeune married Modeste Théotiste, called Théotiste and Théotista, daughter of fellow Acadians François Dugas and Marie Clément, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in November 1821. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Pauline Adèle, called Adèle, in October 1822; Jean Cyprien Treville, also called Taylor, in September 1825; Jean Baptiste Oville or Clovis, called Clovis, in April 1828; Cléonise Deterville in March 1831; Marie Azélie in August 1834; Marguerite Zéolide in September 1837; Jean Baptiste Octave Ernest in August 1840 but, called Ernest, died at age 19 in August 1859; Marie Élodie, called Élodie, born in August 1843; and Marie Eliska in November 1846 but died at age 1 in December 1847--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1822 and 1846. Daughters Adèle, Zéolide, Mary/Marie, and Élodie married into the Burton, Thibodeaux, Tabor, and LeBlanc families by 1870. Two of Jean Baptiste le jeune's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Jean Cyprien Treville, called Taylor by the recording clerk, married Charlotte Elvire, called Elvire, daughter of Joseph Walker and Georgina Brou, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in April 1869. Their son Henri Ernest was born in Lafourche Parish in July 1870; ...
Jean Baptiste le jeune's second son Clovis married Eulalie Uranie, called Uranie, daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Bourgeois and Théotiste Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church in April 1854. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Michel Désiré Ambroise in December 1855; Aristide Anatole in May 1857; Camille Arthur Théodore in January 1860; Joseph Robert Augustin in October 1862 but, called Joseph Robert, died at age 2 in October 1864; Matilde Eliska Camilia born in August 1865; Cordelius Joseph Arthur in July 1868; ...
Servan Mathurin's third and youngest son Michel Mathurin, also called Joseph Mathurin, married Rosalie Clémence, also called Marie Rosalie and Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Ambroise Mathurin Hébert and Isabelle Madeleine Guillot and widow of Auguste Pichot, at the Thibodauxville church in February 1832. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Michel Fulgence in December 1832 but died at age 9 months the following August; Marie Pauline born in December 1833; Joseph Marcellin in January 1835; Zénon in January 1836 but died at age 9 months the following October; Adèle Marguerite born in March 1837 but, called Adèle, died at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 15) in June 1851; Jean Baptiste Adélard Paulin born in June 1838 but, called Adlard, died at age 21 in October 1859; Ovile Forestile Evariste born in November 1839; Eutope Amadéo, called Amadéo, in May 1842; Henry died at birth in July 1844; and Adolphine Rosalie born in September 1846--10 children, seven sons and three daughters, between 1832 and 1846. Evidently none Michel Mathurin's daughters married by 1870, if they married at all. Only one of his remaining sons seems to have married by then.
Sixth son Amadéo married Eveleda or Evellida, daughter of Charles Lepine and Anastasie Nicolas, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in February 1862. Their son Valère was born near Raceland on the lower Lafourche in August 1869; ...
Eustache's fourth son François-Marie followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and Manchac, where he married Marguerite-Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Lebert and Marguerite Boudreaux, in January 1798. Marguerite-Marie, a native of Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo, also had come to Louisiana from France aboard Le Bon Papa. They settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born on the river, included Jean-Marie baptized, age 5 months, in June 1800; Élie-Hyacinthe baptized, age 3 months, in November 1801; Émelie, also called Julie Émelie and Julie, born in April 1803; Hortense in July 1806 but died near Brusly, age 51 (the recording priest said 48 and nothing about a husband), in August 1857; and Apolline dite Pauline born in April 1808--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1800 and 1808. Daughters Julie Émelie and Pauline married into the Doiron, Richard, Henry, and Longuépee families, one of them, Julie Émelie, three times. Both of his sons also married and settled in West Baton Rouge.
Older son Jean Marie married cousin Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadian Grégoire Alexis Lejeune and his Creole wife Marie Tardit, at the Baton Rouge church in April 1830; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of relationship in order to marry. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Jean Alphonse, called Adolphe, in October 1833; Marcell Ursin in December 1837; Marie Azéline in the early 1840s; and François Théodore in September 1845--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1833 and 1845. Jean Marie died near Brusly in October 1846, age 46 (the recording priest said 47). Daughter Marie Azéline married into the Sarradet family by 1870. Two of Jean Marie's sons also may have married by then.
Oldest son Adolphe may have married fellow Acadian Élodie LeBlanc, place and date unrecorded. Their son Jean was born in Ascension Parish in February 1858. Did they have anymore children?
Jean Marie's second son Marcel Ursin may have married Françoise Dubroca, place and date unrecorded. Their son Aristide Marcel was born near Baton Rouge in September 1869; ...
François Marie's younger son Élie Hyacinthe married cousin Marie Eléonore, called Eléonore and sometimes Hélène, daughter of Louis Julien Aillet and his Acadian wife Marie Lejeune of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church in April 1832; they had to secure a dispensation for second and third degrees of relationship in order to marry. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Joachim Élie in April 1833; Emma in January 1835; Louis in March 1837 but died at age 20 (the recording priest said 19) in July 1857; Hélène Léodadie, probably Léocadie, born in August 1840; Geneviève Clémentine in December 1841; Marie Léontine in December 1842; Anastasie Augustine or Augustine Anastasie in May 1845; Marguerite Victoria near Brusly in May 1847; and Jean Baptiste Abraham in February 1849--nine children, three sons and six daughters, between 1833 and 1849. Daughters Augustine Anastasie and Marie Léontine married into the Babin and Hébert families by 1870. Élie Hyacinth's remaining sons did not marry by then.
Grégoire (c1737-1826) à Pierre dit Labrière, fils à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Grégoire, fourth son of Jean Lejeune and Françoise Guédry and Eustache's brother, born probably at Pigiguit in c1737, followed his family to Baie-des-Espagnols, Île Royale, and was counted with them there in April 1752. In late 1758, the British deported him to St.-Malo, France, aboard the transport Supply, which did not reach the Breton port until early March 1759. He settled at Châteauneuf on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo and then near his older brother at St.-Suliac just downriver. Grégoire became a sailor. In April 1760, he embarked from St.-Malo on the corsair Hercules, was captured by the Royal Navy, and spent the rest of the war in an English prison. He returned to St.-Malo in June 1763 and settled near his older brother at nearby St.-Servan-sur-Mer, where, at age 27, he married Charlotte, 17-year-old daughter of locals Pierre Descroutes and Élisabath Galisson, in February 1764. Charlotte died at St.-Servan in January 1767, age 19 or 20, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Grégoire promptly remarried to Hélène, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dubois dit Dumont and Madeleine Vécot of Île St.-Jean, at St.-Servan in June 1767; Hélène called herself a Dumont. She gave Grégoire three children in the area: Grégoire-Eustache born at St.-Servan in December 1768 but died there the following March; Marie-Josèphe born at Pleurtuit on the west side of the river southwest of St.-Servan in May 1770; and Jeanne-Olive-Élisabeth in July 1772. They moved to St.-Énogat, today's Dinard, across the harbor from St.-Malo, later in the year, but did not remain. Grégoire and his family followed his older brother Eustache to the interior of Poitou in 1773. Hélène gave Grégoire another daughter, Geneviève, born in St.-Jean l'Evangeliste Parish, Châtellerault, in May 1774, but she died there the following August. Meanwhile, their second daughter Jeanne-Olive-Élisabeth died in that parish in August 1774, age 2. In December 1775, after two years of effort, Grégoire, Hélène, and their surviving daughter Marie-Josèphe retreated with brother Eustache, their widowed mother, and other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. Hélène gave him Grégoire more children at nearby Chantenay: Marie born in February 1776 but died at age 5 in April 1781; Jean-Marie born in c1778 but died at age 6 in March 1784; Grégoire-Alexis, called Alexis, born in February 1781; Julien in February 1783; and Hélène-Sophie in October 1784 but died in November. In 1785, Eustache, Hélène, and their three remaining children, a daughter and two sons, along with a Gautrot niece, followed brother Eustache and his family to Spanish Louisiana aboard the first of the Seven Ships. From New Orleans, they followed Eustache to Manchac, where they remained. Hélène gave Grégoire another daughter there, Modeste-Geneviève, born in c1787 and baptized probably at the Pointe Coupee church, age 29 months, in June 1790--10 children, four sons and six daughters, by one of his two wives, between 1768 and 1787, in France and Louisiana, most of whom died young. Grégoire died at Baton Rouge in July 1826, in his late 80s (the recording priest said "age ca. 91 yrs."), a widower again. Daughters Marie-Josèphe and Modeste-Geneviève, by his second wife, married into the Trahan and Longuépée families at Baton Rouge. Two of Grégoire's sons also married there and settled near their cousins across the river in West Baton Rouge Parish, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Grégoire Alexis, called Alexis, from second wife Hélène Dumont, followed his family to New Orleans and Manchac, where he married Marie, also called Marguerite, daughter of Charles Tardit and his Acadian wife Gertrude Anne Hébert, in May 1806. They settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Marcellin Alexis in February 1807; Adélaïde in the late 1800s or 1810s; Marie Séraphine, called Séraphine, in June 1810; Oreline Gertrude in May 1811; Jean Fergus in September 1817; Azéline or Asélie Jean in c1819 and baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age 2 1/2 years, in June 1822; Marie Aureline, called Aureline, born in the early 1820s; and Marie Joséphine in December 1825--eight children, two sons and six daughters, between 1807 and 1825. Daughters Adélaïde, Séraphine, Asélie, and Marie Aureline married into the Lejeune, Doiron, Thibodeaux and Henry families. One wonders if either of Alexis's sons married.
Grégoire's third son Julien, by second wife Hélène Dumont, followed his family to New Orleans and Manchac, where he married Élizabeth, daughter of William Gibson and Marie Smith of Kentucky, in c1808. They settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Their children, born there, included Alexis in April 1809 but died five days after his birth; Marie Éloise born in December 1810; Zénon in January 1813; Joséphine in January 1814; Hélène in April 1811[sic] and baptized at the Baton Rouge church in January 1819 (so she likely had been born the year before); Paul Léon, called Léon and also Élie, born in 1819 and baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age 13 months, in May 1820; Ursin Emant or Amand, also called Victorin, born in December 1824; Eugène in August 1827; and Virginie Carmélite in February 1829--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1809 and 1829. Daughter Hélène married into the Doiron family. Four of Julien's sons also married.
Second son Zénon married Delphine, also called Elvina, Delvina, and Telvina, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Daigre and Marie Landry of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in October 1834. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Théodule Zénon in December 1835; Valière Euchadis in October 1842 but, called Valière, died at age 11 in October 1853; Forestin or Forestal, called Forestal and Forestin, born in January 1845; and Edgard near Brusly in February 1847--four children, all sons, between 1835 and 1847. Two of Zenon's sons married by 1870.
Third son Forestal married cousin Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Thibodeaux and Delvina Landry, at the Baton Rouge church in April 1868. Daughter Marie Forestine Delvina was born near Baton Rouge in March 1869; ...
Zénon's fourth and youngest son Edgard married cousin Alphonsine, daughter of Louis Lavigne and his Acadian wife Adeline Landry, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in January 1869. Daughter Marie Amanda was born near Brusly in December 1869; ...
Julien's third son Paul Léon, called Léon, married Émilie Eléonore dite Léonore, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Léger Daigre and Modeste Trahan of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church in June 1843. Their children, born near Brusly, included Marie Léontine in November 1846; Marie Armantine in November 1848 but, called Armantine, died at age 18 in August 1867; Jean Baptiste Abraham born in February 1849; Joseph Oscar in August 1851; Numa Alcide in May 1854; Marie Forestine in May 1856; and Jean Baptiste in March 1858--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1846 and 1858. Daughter Marie Léontine married into the Serrett family by 1870. None of Paul Léon's sons married by then.
Julien's fourth son Ursin Amand, also called Victorin, married fellow Acadian Rosalie Trahan probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in the early 1840s. Their children, born near Brusly, included Alphonse in August 1845; Rosa in the late 1840s; Michel Arthur in April 1851; Julien Albert in July 1858; and Lucien in November 1860--five children, four sons and a daughter, between 1845 and 1860. Daughter Rosa married into the Lemoine family by 1870. One of Ursin Amand's sons married also by then.
Oldest son Alphonse married first Dousin Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Élien Doiron and Hélène Lejeune, his uncle and aunt, at the Brusly church in January 1867. ...
Julien's fifth and youngest son Eugène married Joséphine, daughter of Augustin Seguin and his Acadian wife Marie Rose Longuépée, at the Brusly church in June 1858. Their children, born near Brusly, included Marie Joséphine Élizabeth in April 1859; and Joseph Anatole in December 1860.
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A young Lejeune husband and his wife crossed on Le St.-Rémi, fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, but no new family line came of it:
Jean (c1756-1824) à Paul dit Briard? à Martin dit Labrière? à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Jean, oldest son of Amand Lejeune and Anastasie Levron, born at Liverpool, England in c1756, followed his family to Morlaix, Poitou, and Nantes, where he married Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadians Félix Boudrot and Marie-Josèphe LeBlanc, in St.-Nicolas Parish in November 1782. In 1785, still childless, they emigrated to Louisiana and settled on the upper Lafourche, where members of his family joined them after crossing on a later vessel. Jean and Félicité may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children. Jean died in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1824. The Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial, and who gave no parents' names nor mentioned a wife, said that Jean died "at age 72 yrs," but he likely was in his late 60s.
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Six more Lejeunes, all of them siblings traveling with their widowed mother, crossed on L'Amitiè, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They also followed their fellow passengers, and an older, married brother, to upper Bayou Lafourche, where two more family lines emerged:
Joseph (c1763-1825) à Paul dit Briard? à Martin dit Labrière? à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Joseph, second son of Amand Lejeune and Anastasie Levron, born at Liverpool, England, in c1763, followed his family to Morlaix, Poitou, and Nantes, and his widowed mother and siblings to Spanish Louisiana. He married Bonne-Marie-Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Germain Landry and Cécile Chênet dit La Garenne, at New Orleans in November 1785, soon after they reached the colony on the same ship. They settled near their families on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born on the upper bayou, included Jean-Joseph baptized at Assumption, age unrecorded, in February 1788; Rose-Clémence, also called Rosalie and Eulalie-Clémence, born in December 1789; Alexis-Joseph, also called Alexis, fils and Alexis Simon le jeune, in April 1791; Ambroise-André in the 1790s; and Marie-Josèphe, called Josèphe, in September 1795--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1788 and 1795. Wife Bonne died at Lafourche in February 1797. At age 35, Joseph remarried to Marie-Josèphe, 44-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Lebert and Madeleine Lapierre and widow of Pierre-Janvier Guidry, at Assumption in September 1798. Marie-Josèphe, a native of Rivière-aux-Canards at Minas, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard an earlier vessel. She gave him no more children. A succession in Joseph's name had been filed in what became the Thibodauxville courthouse, Interior Parish, in August 1798, on the eve of his remarriage. A succession inventory in his name and listing his first wife was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse in November 1824. Joseph died in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1825. The Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph died "at age 60 yrs., but he likely was in his early 60s. Daughters Eulalie Clémence and Josèphe, by his first wife, married into the Levron and Daigle families. Two of Joseph's sons also married on the Lafourche, but only one of the lines seems to have endured.
Second son Alexis Joseph, also called Alexis, fils and Alexis Simon le jeune, from first wife Bonne Marie Adélaïde Landry, married Marie Rosalie or Marie Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Pierre dit Alequin Thibodeaux and Marie Rose Damour dit Louvière, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1816. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Célestin Alexis in March 1818; Marie Uranie in February 1821 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1822; Auguste or Augustin dit Gustin, born in February or June 1823; Marie Mélanie in May 1825; Joseph V. or Wilfride in August 1827; Adelina or Adeline in October 1829; and Jean Louis in August 1832--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1818 and 1832. Alexis died in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1833. The Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial said that Alexis was age 46 when he died. He was 42. His succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his children--Célestin, Auguste, Marie Mélanie, Joseph Wilfride, Adeline, and Jean Louis--and their birth dates, was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse in August 1833, and a petition for family meeting in Alexis's name, naming his wife and children--Célestin; Augustin; Marie and her husband; Adeline and her husband; Joseph, age "about 20 yrs."; and Jean Louis, age "about 15 yrs."--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1848. Daughters Adeline and Marie Mélanie married into the Bergeron and Schulanberg or Schmlenbury families by 1870. Two of Alexis's sons also married by then, one settling on the river, the other on the Lafourche, but one of the lines may not have endured.
Oldest son Célestin Alexis, while a resident of Thibodaux, married, at age 37, Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Blanchard and Anaïs Bernard of St. James Parish on the river and widow of Pierre Michel, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in February 1855. Did they have any children?
Alexis's second son Auguste or Augustin dit Gustin, married Marie Delphine, called Delphine, daughter of Manuel Garci, Garcie, Garcy, or Garcia and his Acadian wife Raine Bourque, at the Thibodaux church in July 1844. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie in April 1845 but died three days after her birth; Marie Eve born in March 1848; Jean Taylor Adam baptized at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, age 10 days, in May 1849 but, called Jean Adam died at age 3 in May 1852; Joseph Alexis born in January 1854; Augustave in March 1856; Alexina Ovilia in September 1857; Marie Philomène in March 1860; Zulema in February 1861; ... None of Gustin's children married by 1870.
Joseph's third and youngest son Ambroise André, by first wife Bonne Marie Adélaïde Landry, married Justine Annette, also called Augustine, daughter of Antoine Ledet and Marguerite Vilique, at the Plattenville church in August 1818. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Jean Baptiste, called Jean Baptiste, in February 1819 but died there at age 11 1/2 in August 1830; Marie Bonne Adèle, called Adèle and Adèle Marie, born in April 1820; Eugène in January 1822; and Hortance Séraphine posthumously in April 1823 but, called Ortance, died at age 4 1/2 in August 1827--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1819 and 1823. Ambroise died in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1822. His succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his living children--Jean Baptiste and Adèle--was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse in December. Daughter Adèle married into the Roustan family. Both of Ambroise's sons seem to have died young, so one wonders if his line, except perhpas for its blood, endured.
Alexis-Simon (1773-1835) à Paul dit Briard? à Martin dit Labrière? à Pierre dit Briard Lejeune
Alexis-Simon, fourth and youngest son of Amand Lejeune and Anastasie Levron, born at Morlaix, France, in March 1773, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes and his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Françoise-Barbe, called Barbe, daughter of fellow Acadians Martin Trahan and his first wife Marie-Madeleine LeBlanc and sister of one of his sister's husbands, in January 1794. Barbe, also a native of Morlaix, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard an earlier ship. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary of what became Ascension and Assumption parishes before moving down bayou to Lafourche Interior Parish. Their children, born there, included Anne-Adélaïde-Constance, called Adélaïde-Constance and Constance, in September 1794; Pierre-Amand, -Laman, or -Lamant, in January 1797; Antoine-Marcellus, called Marcellus, in March 1799; Rosalie-Susanne in May 1800; Alexis-Jean-Baptiste, called Jean-Baptiste, in May 1801; Joseph-Marin in October 1802; Rosalie Clémence in January 1804; Marie Anne in October 1805; Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, in January 1807; Mélanie Basilique or Basilice in October 1808; Célonie or Célenie Delphine in February 1811 but died at age 17 1/2 in January 1829, a day after giving birth to "natural" daughter Marie Célenie; Joseph Benjamin born in c1814; and Antoine Marcel in July 1815--13 children, seven daughters and six sons, between 1794 and 1815. Alexis died in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1835, age 62, a widower. His succession release, not naming his wife but listing his heirs, mostly his children and some of their spouses--Madeleine and her husband; Marie; P. Amand; Joseph Bn.; Antoine; Constance and her husband; Rosalie and her husband; Mélanie and her husband; Marie Rose Doucet, a widowed daughter-in-law, and her Barras husband "to heirs of Jean Martin LeBlanc[sic]"--was filed at the Houma courthouses in September 1836, so Alexis Simon evidently owned property in Terrebonne Parish as well as. Daughters Adélaïde Constance, Rosalie, Marie Madeleine, Marie, and Mélanie Basilice married into the Molaison, Hébert, Pontiff, LeBlanc, and Thibodeaux families. Four of Alexis Simon's sons also married and settled on the Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Pierre Amand, Laman, or Lamant, also called P. Amand, married Marie Clémence or Clémentine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Martin LeBlanc and Marie Céleste Pitre, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in November 1826. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Céleste Angélique in December 1827; Marie Cilvanie or Sylvanie, called Sylvanie, in October 1829; Marie Célesie, called Célesie, in September 1832; Charles Alexis, called Alexis, in November 1833; Evéline in January 1837; Thérèse Mathilde, called Mathilde, in February 1839; Joseph Cyprien in October 1840; Joacin or Joachim Elmond in November 1842; Rosalie or Rosela Joséphine in March 1845; Marie Malvina Anastasie in April 1848; Clémentine in September 1850; and Bierrek in September 1853--a dozen children, eight daughters and four sons, between 1827 and 1853. An interdiction for "insanity" filed against Pierre Amand in Terrebonne Parish in August 1837, after he had fathered five children, was "cancelled & declared void" in October 1838. One wonders who filed it. Daughters Céleste, Célesie, Sylvanie, Mathilde, Rosela, and Marie married into the Boudreaux, Pitre, Lamoureux, Estivenne or Estivens, and Lapeyrouse families, including two Estivenne/Estivens brothers, by 1870. Two of Pierre Amand's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Charles Alexis, called Alexis, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Bourgeois and Mélasie Robichaux, at the Thibodaux church in May 1861. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Marie Alexina in April 1862; Pierre Lovinci in February 1865; Marie Mélasie in September 1869; ...
Pierre Amand's second son Joseph Cyprien may have married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Crejustin Martin and his Creole wife Modeste Lecomte, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in April 1863; the parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the groom's parents' names. Their children, born near Raceland on the lower Lafourche, included Joseph Madéo in February 1864 but died the following January; Céleste Alcida born in February 1866; Paul Alcide in March 1868; Michel Adélard in May 1870; ...
Alexis Simon's second son Antoine Marcellus, called Marcellus, married Marie Célanie, called Célanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Archange Bernard and Justine Arceneaux, at the Thibodauxville church in February 1835. Their son Pierre Jackson, also called Joseph Jackson and Jackson, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1835. Marcellus remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Aucoin and Victoire Arcement, at the Thibodaux church in May 1842. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Aurestile Louis Evariste in October 1843 but, called Louis Evariste Aurestile, died in Lafourche Interior Parish at age 2 1/2 in July 1845; Alexis Emelius, called Emelius, born in July 1845, five days before his older brother Aurestile died; and Marie Émelie Victoire born in November 1848--four children, three sons and a daughter, by two wives, between 1835 and 1848. Marcellus's daughter did not marry by 1870, but two of his sons did. One them moved to lower Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65, but the other one remained on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Pierre or Joseph Jackson, called Jackson, from first wife Célanie Bernard, married Aurelie, daughter of Onésime Bernard, a German Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Rosalie Hébert, at the Thibodaux church in November 1856. Their children, born on the Lafourche and the lower Teche, included Maria Amanda in Lafourche Parish in August 1857; Norbert Avit near Lydia, Iberia Parish, on lower Bayou Teche, in February 1870; ...
Marcellus's third and youngest son Alexis Emelius, called Emelius, from second wife Marie Aucoin, married Ophelia Marie, daughter of Lucien Cointment and his Acadian wife Azéline Bernard, at the Thibodaux church in January 1869. Their son Edgard Antoine was born in Lafourche Parish in September 1869; ...
Alexis Simon's third son Alexis Jean Baptiste, called Jean Baptiste, married Marie Rose, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian François Doucet and his Creole wife Marie Adélaïde Engilbert, at the Thibodauxville church in July 1823. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Jean Baptiste, fils in January 1824 but died 16 days after his birth; Jean Baptiste Silvin or Sylvain born in March 1826; and François Alexei or Alexis posthumously in February 1828--three children, all sons, between 1824 and 1828. Jean Baptiste, called Maximilien Jean Baptiste by the recording priest, died in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1827. The Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Baptiste was age 30 when he died. He was 26. Neither of his remaining sons seems to have married, at least not by 1870, so the family line may not have endured.
Alexis Simon's fifth son Joseph Benjamin married Marie Louise, called Élise, 18-year-old daughter of Louis Baudoin and Marie Geneviève Himel, at the Thibodauxville church in May 1833. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Raphaël in October 1834 but, called Joseph Alex, died at age 1 (the recording priest said "age 18 mths.") in October 1835; and Eve A., also Marie Eve Aglaé, Aglaé Eve, and Aglone Eve, born in September 1836. Joseph Benjamin died in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1838. The Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 20 when he died. He was closer to 24. His succession, which named and his wife and listed his remaining child--Marie Eve Aglaé--was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse in March 1838. His widow Marie Louise remarried to a Lagarde. In June 1854, a family meeting was held in Lafourche Parish "to decide tutorship" for daughter Aglone, or Aglaé, Eve, still a minor. Aglaé Eve, like her mother, married into the Lagarde family. Joseph Benjamin's son did not survive childhood, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.
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A middle-aged Lejeune wife, her husband, a daughter, and a niece crossed on La Caroline, the last of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of December 1785. They followed other exiles to San Bernardo south of New Orleans, where the Lejeune wife remarried. No new Lejeune family line came of it.
François Levron dit Nantois, born in France, perhaps at Nantes, in c1651, arrived at Port-Royal soon after the first Acadian census was taken in 1671, perhaps aboard L'Oranger. In c1676, he married Catherine, daughter of François Savoie and Catherine Lejeune, at Port-Royal. Between 1677 and 1722, Catherine gave François six children, four sons and six daughters, all born at Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal. François dit Nantois died at Annapolis Royal in June 1714, in his early 60s. His daughters married into the Vincent, Benoit, Garceau dit Tranchemontagne, Richard dit Boutin, Picot dit La Rigeur, Maucaïre, and Comeau families at Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal. Three of his four sons married into the Doucet, Veronneau dit Denis, Brunet, and Labauve families at Port-Royal and in Canada. In 1755, François and Catherine's descendants could be found at Pigiguit in the Minas Basin, Chepoudy in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, on Île St.-Jean, and in Canada. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered the family even farther.
The Levrons living at Chepoudy in the trois-rivières area escaped the British roundup there in the fall of 1755. Three brothers and their families, and a cousin and his family, sought refuge in Canada most likely via the Rivière St.-Jean portage that ran up to Rivière-du-Loup on the lower St. Lawrence. From there, they moved up to Québec. One of the brothers died at Québec in December 1757, victim, perhaps, of the smallpox epidemic that killed several hundred exiles in the area from the fall of 1757 to the spring of 1758. A brother's wife also died at Québec that December, and an infant son died there in January 1758. Two younger brothers from Chepoudy, both bachelors, evidently did not follow their kinsmen to Canada but sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore.
A Levron wife was living with her new husband, a Lejeune, at Pigiguit when, soon after their wedding, the British deported them to Virginia in the fall of 1755. The Acadians shipped off to the Old Dominion endured a fate worse than the other exiles deported from the Minas settlements. In mid-November 1755, when five transports appeared unexpectedly at Hampton Roads, Virginia's governor Robert Dinwiddie protested their deportation to his colony without his consent. Exiles died on the filthy, crowded ships anchored in Hampton Roads while Virginia authorities pondered their fate. As winter approached, Acadians from one vessel were moved up to Richmond, two of the vessels were unloaded at Hampton, and two more at Norfolk. The following spring, the governor, his council, and the colony's Burgesses debated the question and concluded that the papists must go. In May, the first shipment of Acadians in hired vessels left for England, and in two weeks all of them had gone: 299 to Bristol, 250 to Falmouth, 340 to Southampton, and 336 to Liverpool--1,225 exiles in all by one count. They were packed into warehouses in the English ports, where many of them died of smallpox. The Levron wife and her husband were held at Liverpool, where she gave him two sons.
Living in territory controlled by France, the Levrons of Île St.-Jean escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. In late 1758, after the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on Île St.-Jean and nearby Île Royale and deported them to France. A Levron family landed in Boulogne-sur-Mer in Picardie, where they had more children and lost a son. In 1764, soon after the birth of their youngest daughter, they moved to Morlaix in northwest Brittany to live near the husband's younger borther, who, as a teenager, had ended up on a transport that took him to Morlaix in 1759. The older couple had more children in the Breton port. Meanwhile, in September 1765, the younger brother married into the LeBlanc family in St.-Mélaine Parish, Morlaix. He and his wife also had children there. The younger brother remarried into the Richard family in St.-Martin des Champs Parish, Morlaix, in January 1776. His second wife gave him more children. Neither of the Levron brothers followed other exiles in the port cities to Poitou in 1773, nor did they join other exiles in the lower Loire port of Nantes later in the decade. The older brother's oldest son married a Trahan cousin in St.-Martin des Champs Parish in February 1785.
Meanwhile, in the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England were repatriated to France. The Levron wife, her Lejeune husband, and their two sons landed at Morlaix and settled in St.-Martin des Champs Parish near her Levron cousins. She gave her husband Amand more children at Morlaix. They did not follow other Acadian exiles repatriated from England to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany in November 1765, but, unlike her Levron cousins, they did not remain at Morlaix. In 1773, they ventured to the interior of Poitou with hundreds of other exiles languishing in the coastal cities. In March 1776, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. Between 1776 and 1783, the couple had three more children at Nantes and nearby Chantenay. In November 1782, the Levron wife's oldest Lejeune son married into the Boudrot family in St.-Nicolas Parish, Nantes. Her husband died at Chantenay in May 1784, age 54. She did not remarry.
When in the early 1780s the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, the older Levron brother, his married son, his cousin at Chantenay, recently widowed, and most of the members of their families agreed to go there. The younger brother and his wife, however, chose to remain in the mother country. One wonders why the brothers chose different paths. Generally, if an Acadian man or woman remained in France in 1785 it was because he or she had married into a local French family. This was not the case with the younger Levron brother--both of his wives were fellow Acadians. Between June 1791 and July 1792, during the early days of the French Revolution, officials counted him, his wife, and four of their children still at Morlaix. The official said the husband worked as a carpenter and the wife as a shopkeeper. Looking at their occupations, and considering the fact that this Levron brother was only in his late teens when he reached Morlaix in 1759 and that he did not take his family to Poitou to work on a nobleman's estate there, one suspects that the couple spurned the life of farmers, which they would have been encouraged to pursue in Spanish Louisiana. They preferred, instead, to live as city dwellers in a busy Breton port.
In North America, the Levrons from Chepoudy who had found refuge in Canada began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. By the late 1760s, these latter-day arrivals (some of their Levron cousins had settled in Canada as early as the 1720s) could be found on the upper St. Lawrence at Maskinongé between Trois-Rivières and Sorel, at St.-Cuthbert north of Sorel, and at Lachine and Pointe-Claire just upriver from Montréal. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
The Levron brothers from Chepoudy who had taken refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore did not fully escape the British. In fact, conditions only got worse for these Acadians. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France, one of which was Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, now a major Acadian refuge. A British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche in late June 1760. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the militia and the Indians to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, a second British force, this one from Québec, appeared at Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On 24 October 1760, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers counted 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche, but none were Levrons. Sometime in the late 1750s or early 1760s, they either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. In July and August 1762, British officials counted the brothers, now middle-aged bachelors, at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, with dozens of other exiles.
At war's end, the Acadians being held in Nova Scotia faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Île Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British seaboard colonies had gone, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, only one of them, the older of the two brothers at Fort Edward, was a Levron.
Levrons settled early in Acadia, and although a male descendant of François dit Nantois was among the earliest Acadian exiles to seek refuge in Louisiana, he never married. All of the Acadian Levrons are descended from Alexis, the older son of Michel Levron of Minas and Île St.-Jean, who came to Louisiana with his father in 1785. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche and, later, in the Terrebonne country.
Their farms must have been small. In 1850, only a single Levron owned slaves. Marguerite Levron, probably a widow, held five slaves on her farm in Lafourche Interior Parish. In 1860, federal census takers counted no slaves owned by Levrons, at least none who appeared on the federal slave schedules of that year, so members of this family participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy.
A number of Levrons served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. All of them survived the conflict. Meanwhile, the war played havoc on the family's economic status, no matter how humble it had been before the conflict. Successive Federal incursions devastated the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were not around. ...
Today, descendants of Michel and Alexis Levron can still be found in substantial numbers in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. The name is scarce west of the Atchafalaya Basin and in the river parishes.
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Lebron, LeBrun, Legrano, Leuron, Leuvron, Levrans, Levrant, Leveron, Levrond, Levrons, Levront, Liveron. This family should not be confused with the Lebron and Lebrun families, whose surnames have similar spellings and pronunciations but who are French Creole and Foreign French, not Acadian, in Louisiana.13
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In February 1765, the first of the family, a 41-year-old bachelor, came to Louisiana from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, but no Levron family line came of it:
Louis dit Luci (1724-?) à François dit Nantois Levron
Third son Alexis followed his family from Boulogne-sur-Mer to Morlaix, where he married Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Trahan and Françoise Thériot, in St.-Martin des Champs Parish in February 1785. Later that year, they followed his family to Paimboeuf, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where all of their children were born, including Joseph in c1786; Pierre-Vincent-Marie, called Vincent, in February 1789; Marie-Françoise-Isabelle in May 1791 but, called Françoise, died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 54, in December 1845; Jean-Saturnin, called Saturnin and Turnin, born in November 1794; Delphine in the early or mid-1790s; Marie-Marguerite in March 1799; Pierre in April 1800; and Marie-Josèphe in October 1802--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1786 and 1802. Alexis's succession inventory was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1818. He would have been age 57 that year. Daughters Delphine and Marie Josèphe married into the Ledet and Aubert or Hobert families. All four of Alexis's sons married, one of them twice, and settled on Bayou Lafourche. By the late 1840s, some of them were being counted in Terrebonne as well as Lafourche Interior parish. The Acadian Levrons of South Louisiana are descended from two of Alexis's sons.
Oldest son Joseph married Marie, daughter of Joseph Adam and his Acadian wife Marguerite Crochet, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1814. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marcelus, perhaps their son, in c1814 but died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 31, in February 1846; Julie or Julia born in May 1815; Evariste Lazare in February 1817; Marie Élisa or Élise, called Élise, in February 1819; Michel in February 1821; and Joseph, fils in June 1822--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1814 and 1822. Joseph, père died in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1824, age 38. A petition for succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his remaining children--Julia, Evariste, Élisa, Michael, and Joseph--and their birth dates was filed at the Lafourche Interior Parish courthouse in June 1824. Daughter Julie married into the Aucoin family, and daughter Élise gave birth to a "natural" son but did not marry. Two of Joseph's sons also married.
Second son Evariste married Clémence Marianne, called Marianne or Marie Anne, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Joseph Naquin and his Creole wife Constance Lirette, at the Thibodeaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in June 1840. Their children, born on the bayou, included Matilde Clémentine, called Clémentine, in March 1841; Marie Zéolide, called Zéolide, in June 1842; Joseph Evariste, called Evariste, fils, in September 1843; Aurelien Washington in January 1845; Volze Arbunot in January 1847; and Augustin dit Justin, in May 1849--six children, two daughters and four sons, between 1841 and 1849. Evariste, père died in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1849, two days before son Augustin was born. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Evariste was age 35 when he died. He was 32. A plea for "tutelage" in Evariste's name, calling his wife Marie Anne Naquin, and listing their children--Clémentine, Zéolide, Evariste, Aurelien, Volsey, and Justin--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in May 1850. Daughters Clémentine and Zéolide married into the Ayo and Gros families by 1870. None of Evariste's sons married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, second son Aurelien served in Company E of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. Aurelien lost an arm in the fighting around Atlanta in late summer of 1864 but survived the war and returned to this family. He did not marry by 1870.
Joseph's youngest son Joseph, fils married Clothilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Louis Hébert and Marie Rose Gaudet, at the Thibodaux church in October 1850. Their children, born in the Lafourche/Terrbonne valley, included Marie Odilia in Lafourche Parish in November 1851; Marie Armantine in May 1853; Marie Odile in March 1855; Joseph Xavier in February 1856; Joséphine in January 1859; Augustin in Terrebonne Parish in October 1860 but died at age 9 months in August 1861; Angelina Elfrida born in October 1863; ... None of Joseph, fils's children married by 1870.
Daughter Élise gave birth to son Aurelien Similien in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1841. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not give the father's name. Élise was age 22 and unmarried when her son was born, so he was given the surname Levron. She evidently did not marry the father or anyone else. During the war, Joseph's grandson Aurelien, by daughter Élise, may have served in Company G of the 18th Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He evidently survived the war and returned to his family but did not marry by 1870.
Alexis's second son Pierre Vincent Marie, called Vincent, married Rosalie Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Lejeune and Marine Bonne Adélaïde Landry, at the Plattenville church in August 1806. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Vincent, called Vincent, fils, in March 1811; and Maurice in September 1816. Vincent remarried to Marie Basilice, 26-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Guillot and Rose Julie Comeaux and widow of Eugène Bebanque, at the Thibodauxville church in November 1828. She evidently gave him no more children. Vincent, père died in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1847, age 58. A petition for "Family meeting" in his name, calling his wife Marie Bazilice Guillot, and listing his children--Joseph Maurice; and Vincent, Jr. (deceased)--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1847. Two of his sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Older son Vincent, fils, by first wife Rosalie Lejeune, married Marie Céleste Daunis in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1835, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodauxville church in July 1836. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Clara in the late 1830s; Élise or Élisa Anne in November 1837; and James A. Scudday probably in the late 1830s--three children, two daughters and a son, in the late 1830s. Vincent, fils died before April 1847, probably in Lafourche Interior Parish, when he was listed as deceased in a "Family meeting" petition in his father's name filed at the Thibodaux courthouse. Vincent, fils would have been age 36 that year. A petition of tutorship in Vincent, fils's name, calling his wife Céleste Daunis, and listing his children--Clara, Éliza, and James Scuddy--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1849. Daughter Élisa married into the St. Martin family by 1870. His son served the Southern Confederacy in two Louisiana units.
During the War of 1861-65, son James A. Scudday served as first sergeant of Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. J. A. Scudday, as he was called, enlisted in October 1861 as third sergeant and was promoted to first sergeant in December. He was honorably discharged from the 18th Louisiana Infantry in February 1862, before the regiment saw action in the Battle of Shiloh in April, and re-enlisted as a private in the 1st Louisiana Field Battery, raised in St. Mary Parish, that fought in Louisiana. He served with this unit for the rest of the war. He survived the war and returned to his family but did not marry by 1870.
Vincent's younger son Maurice, by first wife Rosalie Lejeune, married Marie Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadian Eugène Bourgeois and his Creole wife Angélique Barrios, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1850. Their children, born near Lockport on the lower Lafourche, included Marie Angélique in April 1852; and Marguerite Olympe in June 1854. Maurice died "at the habitation of Dr. Head" near Lockport in February 1868. The priest who recorded the burial said that Maurice, who he called Moris, was age 54 when he died. He was 51. Neither of his daughters married by 1870.
Alexis's third son Jean-Saturnin, called Saturnin and Turnin, married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians François Marie LeBlanc and Marie Pitre, at the Thibodauxville church in June 1822. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Michel François in April 1823; Marie Mélina or Mélina Marie in February 1826; Marie Clémentine in the 1820s; Victor Forentin in the 1820s; Joseph Alexis, also called Pierre Joseph, in February 1830; Auguste Vincent in November 1834; Carmélite Élodie or Adèlle in January 1836; and Marcelin Useline or Eusilien, also called Marcel, in December 1838--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between 1823 and 1838. A petition for "tutelage" of his children, naming his wife and listing their children--Michel, Marie Mélina, Marie Clémentine, Pierre Joseph, Victoire Florentin, Auguste Vincent, Carmélite Adèlle, and Marcelin Uzelien--was filed in Saturnin's name at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1839. He would have been age 45 that year. Daughters Mélina Marie and Carmélite married into the LeBlanc and Lirette families by 1870. Saturnin's five sons also married.
Oldest son Michel married Marie Émelia, daughter of Marcelin Duplantis and Marie Desirée Sevin, at the Houma church in July 1856. Daughter Marie Dezie was born in Terrebonne Parish in November 1857. Michel remarried to Marie Rosalie, called Rosalie, daughter of Jacques Leboeuf and Marie Leboeuf, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in August 1860. Their son Antoine Célestin was born in Terrebonne Parish in July 1862; ...
Saturnin's second son Victor married Cécile Théotiste, daughter of Charles Isidore Dupré and his Acadian wife Théotiste Annette LeBlanc, at the Houma church in January 1855. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Roséma Dorothée in December 1856; Euzelien Camille in April 1859; Eve Evélina in August 1860; Marie Marguerite Dama in December 1861; Félicien Justilien in November 1863; Thomas Azolin in March 1865; Augustave Neuville in August 1866; Evélina Corine in May 1868; Ambroise Washington in December 1869; ...
During the War of 1861-65, Saturnin's third son Joseph may have served in the Terrebonne Parish Regiment Militia. He married Mélina, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Charles Naquin and Melissère dite Mélitte Chiasson, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in February 1866. Their children, born near Montegut, included Ernest Joseph in January 1867; Adeline Survina in December 1868; ...
Saturnin's fourth son Auguste married Marie Juliènne, daughter of Jean Baptiste Duplantis, père and his Acadian wife Marie Jeanne Martin, at the Houma church in May 1856. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Julie in January 1863; Zulina Chesie in September 1865; ... During the war, Auguste served in the Terrebonne Parish Regiment Militia.
Saturnin's fifth and youngest son Marcel married Eve, daughter of François LeBoeuf and Marie Ambroise Waguespack, at the Houma church in May 1860. Their son Joseph Jules was born in Terrebonne Parish in April 1864. Marcel remarried to Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Daigle and his Creole wife Carmélite Lirette, at the Houma church in August 1867. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Émile Landry in June 1868; Marie Alice in September 1870; ...
Alexis's fourth and youngest son Pierre married Marie Rosalie, called Rosalie, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Hilaire Clément and Geneviève Sophie Boudreaux, at the Thibodauxville church in November 1822. Did they have any children?
Michel's fourth son Jean-Marie followed his family from Morlaix to Paimboeuf, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Julie-Geneviève, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Dantin and his first wife Jeanne Gesmier, a Frenchwoman, in February 1802. Julie-Geneviève, a native of Ste.-Crox Parish, Nantes, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard a later vessel. Her and Jean-Marie's son Joseph-Michel-Fabien was born on the upper Lafourche in January 1803. Jean-Marie died in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1831. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Marie was age 68 when he died. He was 64. His son did not marry by 1870, if he married at all, so this line of the family may not have endured.
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The last of the family--a Levron widow and her six Lejeune children--crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where the widow's Levron relatives had gone. No new family line came of it.
Vincent Longuépée, born probably in France in c1671, married Madeleine, daughter of René Rimbault and Anne Marie ____, at Port-Royal in c1692 and settled at Minas. From the early 1690s to the early 1700s, Madeleine gave Vincent six children, five daughters and a son. By 1703, the family was being counted at Cobeguit, so they were early settlers in that community at the eastern end of the Minas Basin. Vincent died at Cobeguit by 1714. His daughters married into the Coëndo dit La Rose, Dahy, Lambert, Papon dit Sans Regret, Closquinet dit Desmoulins, and Bénard families, most of them on Île Royale, one of the French Maritime islands. Son Louis married into the Brasseur family of Pigiguit probably at Cobeguit in c1720. They remained there, where they raised six children, five sons and a daughter. In 1755, Vincent Longuépée's descendants could be found at Cobeguit and in the French Maritimes. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered the family even farther.
When British forces began rounding up the Acadians in Nova Scotia in the summer and fall of 1755, the Longuépées still living at Cobeguit joined the exodus to the North Shore settlement of Tatamagouche, from which they crossed Mer Rouge, today's Northumberland Strait, to the south shore of Île St.-Jean. Amazingly, by the spring of 1756, the entire village of Cobeguit had escaped the clutches of the British. Since Île St.-Jean was still controlled by the French when the British struck in Nova Scotia, the Longuépées and their neighbors avoided the fate of their fellow Acadians in the other Fundy settlements. The Longuépées oldest son married into the Bertaud dit Montaury family on Île St.-Jean in c1758. About the same time, the second son, who had married a Bourg at Cobeguit, died on the island, and his widow remarried to a Heusé.
The family's respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on Île St.-Jean and nearby Île Royale and deported them to France. The elder Longuépée, now age 64, his 57-year-old wife, three unmarried sons, and an orphaned Boudrot niece made the crossing to France on the deportation transport Supply, which left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November 1758, survived a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England that sank three other vessels, put in at Bideford, England, for repairs, and did not reach St.-Malo until early March 1759. The oldest son and his pregnant wife, as well as the second son's widow, her second husband, and her 3-year-old Longuépée daughter, also crossed on Supply. Everyone in the three families survived the crossing but not its rigors. The Longuépées' daughter, her LeBlanc husband, and their two young children crossed on the transport Tamerlane, which also left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy in late November and, despite the storm, reached St.-Malo in mid-January. Their daughter died at sea.
The Longuépées and their extended family settled in the St.-Malo area. Their daughter gave her LeBlanc husband more children at La Gouesnière and La Pahorie in the countryside southeast of the Breton port, but she died at La Pahorie in September 1762, four days after she gave birth to another son. The oldest Longuépée son and his Bertraud dit Montaury wife lived at Bonaban near Le Gousenière and in the St.-Malo suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, where they had many more children between 1759 and 1772. Meanwhile, the fifth and youngest son died at Hotel-Dieu, St.-Malo, in August 1760, still in his late teens, and the father died at St.-Servan in June 1763, age 69. The third son married an Acadian Henry at St.-Suliac, on the east side of Rivière Rance south of St.-Malo, in February 1763 but also settled at St.-Servan, where they created a small family. The fourth son married an Acadian Bourg at La Gouesnière in May 1762, but they settled near their kinsmen at St.-Servan, where his wife gave him 10 children between 1764 and 1785. Meanwhile, the daugher of the second son died at St.-Servan in December 1767, age 12--her father's only child.
Evidently none of the Longuépée sons participated in the large settlement venture in the interior of Poitou during the early 1770s, nor did they join their fellow exiles in the lower Loire port of Nantes later in the decade. They remained, instead, in the St.-Malo area, where they raised their families and did what they could to adjust to life in the mother country. But life in France must not have been very appealing to two of the younger brothers. When the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, the third and fourth sons of Louis Longuépée of Cobeguit agreed to take it. The Longuépée's older remaining brother and his family chose to remain in France.
The Longuépées settled in French Acadia two decades before the colony was lost to Britain in 1714, and they also came "late" to Louisiana. In fact, if the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Mississippi valley colony, there probably would be no Longuépées in the Bayou State today, at least none with Acadian ancestry. Two families of them came to the colony in 1785 aboard a ship that sailed directly from St.-Malo and settled in a recently-created Acadian community in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge. By the early 1790s, however, they had left that ill-fated community and moved downriver to the Baton Rouge area, where most of them settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. One daughter moved on to Bayou Lafourche, but no family lines appeared there, and no Longuépées, at least before the War of 1861-65, crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the western prairies.
Church records show no non-Acadian Longuépées coming to Louisiana during the colonial or antebellum periods. All of the Longuépées of South Louisiana, then, are descendants of Louis of Cobeguit and one of his younger sons.
Although they lived in a parish noted for its sugar plantations, no Longuépée appears on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860. This means they either owned no slaves or managed to avoid having their slaves counted by federal census takers. It also means that they participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy.
Despite the small size of the family, at least 10 Longuépées served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, and at least one of them died in Confederate service. Auguste Longuépée, age 37, followed his younger brother into Company H of the 4th Louisiana Infantry, the West Baton Rouge Tirailleurs, raised in that parish, and fought with them in the Western Theatre of Operations. Auguste was killed in action at Jonesboro, Georgia, in August 1864, during the Atlanta campaign. His brother, nephews, and cousins survived the war, though not all of them served honorably. Three of his nephews deserted their units in 1863.
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Longapée, Longépé, Longépée, Longuépé, Longuespée, Longue-épée.14
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A dozen members of the family--two brothers, the older one with a son, the younger one with nine children, five daughters and four sons--crossed on La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans from St.-Malo in early December 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge. A few years later, the family resettled at Baton Rouge, most of them on the west side of the Mississippi across from the village. All of the Longuépées of South Louisiana come from three of the younger brother's sons:
Older son Janvier-Pierre, called Pierre, followed his family to New Orleans, Bayou des Écores, and Baton Rouge, where, at age 33, he married cousin Élisabeth- or Isabelle-Modeste, 34-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Henry and Marie Pitre and widow of Ambroise Theriot, in November 1798; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Élisabeth-Modeste, a native of Pleurtuit near St.-Malo, also had come to Louisiana in 1785 aboard La Ville d'Archangel. Their children, born on the river, included Rémy-Léandre, in 1800 and baptized at the San Gabriel church, age 7 months, in May 1801 but died at age 31 (the recording priest said 32) in June 1832; Hilaire-Constant born near Baton Rouge in January 1802; Rosalie-Sophie in August 1803; and Jean Baptiste le jeune in September 1804 but died the day after his birth and a week and a half after his father died, so he was born posthumously--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1800 and 1804. Janvier Pierre died near Baton Rouge in September 1804, age 39, only two months after his own father died. Daughter Rosalie married into the Monjet family. None of Janvier Pierre's sons married, so, except perhaps for its blood, this family line did not endure.
Jean, fourth son of Louis Longuépée and Anne Brasseur, born probably at Cobeguit in c1739, followed his family to Île St.-Jean, St.-Malo, La Gouesnière, and St.-Servan-sur-Mer. Jean married Marie-Françoise, called Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Bourg and Françoise Dugas, at La Gouesnière in May 1762 but settled near his family at St.-Servan, where Marie-Françoise gave Jean a large family: Marie-Françoise-Jeanne born in July 1764; Anne-Josèphe in September 1766; Marguerite-Olive in October 1769; Jean-Jacques in August 1771; Pierre le jeune in c1773; Laurentine-Uriènne in July 1776; Hélène-Apolline in November 1778 but died the following April; Louis le jeune born in c1779; Jean-Baptiste in c1781; and another Hélène in January 1785--10 children, six daughers and four sons, between 1764 and 1785. Like his older brother Ambroise, Jean also did not take his family to Poitou, nor did they join their fellow exiles at Nantes. They, too, were among the Acadian exiles in France who emigrated to Spanish Louisiana directly from St.-Malo. Third son Louis le jeune, age 6 in 1785, may not have survived the crossing from France. From New Orleans, Jean, Marie-Françoise, and their nine remaining children, five daughters and four sons, followed older brother Ambroise and his family to Bayou des Écores and then to the Baton Rouge/Manchac area. Jean and Marie-Françoise had no more children in the colony. Daughters Marie-Françoise-Jeanne, Marguerite-Olivie, and Laurentine-Uriènne dite Corentine married into the Henry, Hébert, and LeBlanc families at New Orleans, Bayou des Écores, and Manchac, and one of them settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Three of Jean's sons also married and settled on what came to be known as the upper Acadian Coast. All of the Acadian Longuépées of South Louisiana descend from Jean's sons, especially the youngest one, who settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish.
Oldest son Jean-Jacques followed his family to New Orleans, Bayou des Écores, and Manchac. He married cousin Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Charles LeBlanc and Brigitte Hébert, at nearby San Gabriel in January 1802; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Marie-Rose, a native of Chantenay near Nantes, France, had come to the colony, an infant, from France in 1785. Her and Jean Jacques's children, born on the river, included Jean-Baptiste le jeune in June 1803; Marie Rose in February 1805; Isabelle in August 1807; and Joseph in the 1810s--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1803 and the 1810s. Daughter Marie Rose married into the Seguin family. One of Jean Jacques's sons also married.
Younger son Joseph married cousin Célestine Arthémise, daughter of François Seguin and his Acadian wife Marie Pélagie Bourg of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in October 1832. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Joseph Jules in January 1834; Marie Nathalie, called Nathalie, in July 1835; Célina in July 1837; Virginie in 1839 and baptized at the Baton Rouge church, at age 8 months, in January 1840; Célestine Ermine born in August 1841 but, called Hermine, died at age 12 1/2 (the recording priest said 13) in October 1853; and Alcé Luma or Numa, called Numa, born in July 1843--six children, two sons and four daughters, between 1834 and 1843. Daughters Célina, Nathalie, and Virginie married into the Getz, Cline, Seguin, and Lindsly families, one of them, Virginie, twice, by 1870. One of Joseph's sons also married by then, after he completed his war service.
During the War of 1861-65, Joseph's younger son Numa served in Company F of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in West Baton Rouge Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Amélie, daughter of Pierre Leclerc and his Acadian wife Felonise Trahan, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in February 1866. Daughter Marie Dilia was born near Brusly in October 1868; ...
Jean's second son Pierre followed his family to New Orleans, Bayou des Écores, and Manchac, where he married Esther, daughter of fellow Acadians Bonaventure LeBlanc and Marie Theriot and widow of Théodore Rivet and Simon Goudeau, in January 1794. Esther, a dozen years his senior, was a native Baltimore, Maryland, and had come to Louisiana with her family as a girl in 1767. Their children, born on the river, included Marie, perhaps also called Henriette, in October 1794; Jean le jeune in January 1797; and Simon-Pierre perhaps posthumouisly in March 1799--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1794 and 1799. Pierre died probably at San Gabriel by May 1800, when he was called deceased in the baptismal record of his younger son. Daughter Henriette married into the Leguinaud family. One of Pierre's sons also married.
Younger son Simon Pierre married Sophie Ludivine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Comeaux and Julie Thérèse Bourg, at the Baton Rouge church in January 1833. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Marie Henriette in March 1846; Julie Ludivine in June 1838; Pierre Hilaire, called Hilaire, in January 1843; Jean Baptiste Diogène near Brusly in February 1846; and Joséphine Marie in March 1849--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1846 and 1849. Daughter Julie Ludivine married a Comeaux cousin by 1870. Neither of Simon's sons married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, older son Hilaire served in Company H of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in West Baton Rouge Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He was wounded at Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862 and at Baton Rouge the following August. He survived the war and returned to his family but did not marry by 1870.
Jean's fourth and youngest son Jean Baptiste followed his family to New Orleans, Bayou des Écores, and Manchac. In his late 20s, he married Modeste Geneviève, called Geneviève, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Grégoire Lejeune and his second wife Hélène Dumont, at the Baton Rouge church in March 1808. Modeste's family had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard the first of the Seven Ships, but she was a native of Louisiana. Their children, born in what became West Baton Rouge Parish, included Zénon Gilbert in August 1808; Marie Modeste in November 1809; Jean Alexis, called Alexis, in May 1810; Basile Julien, also called G. Basile, in September 1811; Louis le jeune in November 1813; Jean Baptiste, fils in August 1816; Joseph Narcisse, called Narcisse, in August 1820 but died at age 17 in August 1837; Élize or Éliza born in February 1824 but died at age 2 1/2 in August 1826; Augustin or Auguste born in January 1826; and Édouard in January 1828--10 children, eight sons and two daughters, between 1808 and 1828. Jean Baptiste, père died in West Baton Rouge Parish in November 1854, age 73; he was one of the last of the Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors. Wife Geneviève, called "Mrs. Baptiste Longué-épée" by the recording priest, died near Brusly in October 1855, age 68 (the recording priest said 66). Neither of their daughters married by 1870, but four of Jean Baptiste's sons married by then. Most of the Longuépées of South Louisiana are descendants of these sons.
Second son Jean Alexis, called Alexis, married Constance Caroline, called Caroline and also Hortense, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Comeaux and his second wife Julie Thérèse Bourg, at the Baton Rouge church in March 1831. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Aureline in February 1832; Arthémise Élodie in January 1834; Marie Adèle Léona, called Adèle, in September 1835; Alexis, fils in November 1837; Élisabeth, perhaps also called Élisa, in late 1839 and baptized at 3 months in January 1840; Marie Caroline born in November 1840; Emma Victorine in May 1844; François Amédé in March 1846 but, called Amédée, died at age 8 in August 1854; Marie Célina, called Célina, born in February 1849; and Célestine Angelina in July 1855--10 children, eight daughters and two sons, between 1832 and 1855. Daughters Arthémise, Adèle, Célina, and Élisa married into the Babin, Dupuy, Pino, and Lemoine families by 1870. Alexis's remaining son did not marry by then.
Jean Baptiste's third son Basile Julien, also called G. Basile, married cousin Apolline dite Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadians François Lejeune and Marguerite Hébert of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church in September 1835. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Apolline Nathalie in July 1836; Marguerite Armentine in May 1841; and Basil Gilbert, called Gilbert, in July 1844--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1836 and 1844. Daughter Apolline Nathalie married into the Templet family by 1870. Basile's son also married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, only son Gilbert served as a conscript in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery. His first cousin Jules also was a conscript in that unit. Like his cousin, Gilbert deserted his unit after it was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863. Gilbert survived the war, returned to his family, and evidently married fellow Acadian Marie Augustine Doiron and settled near Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish, by the late 1860s. Daughter Marie Félicia was born there in October 1870; ...
Jean Baptiste's fourth son Louis le jeune, a month shy of his 16th birthday, married fellow Acadian Julie dite Pouponne Comeaux of West Baton Rouge Parish, perhaps the 24-year-old daughter of Jean Baptiste Comeaux and his second wife Julie Thérèse Bourg of that parish, in a civil ceremony probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in October 1829, and sanctified the marriage at the Baton Rouge church in June 1830; the priest who recorded the church marriage did not give the bride's parents' names; if Julie's parents were Jean Baptiste and Julie Thérèse, she would have been the older sister of Louis le jeune's older brother Alexis's wife. Louis and Julie's children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Louis Donis in September 1830 but, called Donis, died at age 21 (the recording priest said 14!) in February 1852; Joséphine Aloysia born in March 1832; Marie Louise in April 1833; Adeline Arbonet in October 1835; and Jules, perhaps Louis Jule, born in January 1840 but called a Comeaux in his baptismal record recorded at the Pointe Coupee church in November 1843 (and whose godfather was Louis Longuépée!). Louis le jeune, at age 25, remarried to Brigitte Paliou of West Baton Rouge Parish, widow of André Lemoine, at the Baton Rouge church in June 1839; one wonders if he did so after securing an annulment from his first marriage. Louis and Brigitte's children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Gertrude baptized, no age given, in March 1841; and Jean Louis in October 1842--seven children, three sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1830 and 1842. Daughter Marie Louise, from Louis le jeune's first wife, may have given birth to daughter Marie Sulvina near Baton Rouge in July 1858, and to son François Aristide there in July 1861. The priest who recorded the children's baptisms did not give the name or names of the children's fathers or the mother's parents' names. Marie Louise would have been in her mid- and late 20s when the children were born. Daughter Gertrude, by Louis le jeune's second wife, married into the Breaux family by 1870. Only one of his sons seems to have married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, second son Jules, by first wife Julie Comeaux, served as a conscript in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery. His first cousin Gilbert also was a conscript in that unit. Like his cousin, Jules deserted his unit after it was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863 and probably went home. He married Cécile, daughter of Jean François Tuillier and his Acadian wife Marie Arvelline Hébert, at the Brusly church in July 1865. ...
During the War of 1861-65, Louis le jeune's third and youngest son Jean Louis, by second wife Brigitte Paliou, may have served in Companies H and B of the 11th Regiment Louisiana Infantry and the Consolidated 13th-20th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Pointe Coupee and Iberville parishes, which fought in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. Louis, as the Confederate records call him, was captured at Jackson, Mississippi, in July 1863 and was sent to the prisoner-of-war compound at Camp Morton, Indiana. The prisoner-of-war experience must have been too much for him. In September, Louis, not quite age 21, agreed to take the oath of allegiance to the U.S. government nearly two years before the war ended. Was he released from prison after he took the oath? If so, did he go home to his family? He evidently did not marry by 1870, at least not in South Louisiana.
Jean Baptiste's seventh son Augustin or Auguste married fellow Acadian Carmélite Eugénie Lejeune probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in the mid-1840s. Their children, born near Brusly, included Théodore Gilbert, perhaps called Gilbert, in November 1846; Zénon in September 1849 but died at age 8 (the recording priest said 10) in August 1857; Edmond born in December 1851; Marie Adèle in September 1854; Aristide in May 1857; and Marie Élizabeth in July 1860--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1846 and 1860. Despite his age--37--and his being married and the father of several children, in February 1863 Auguste enlisted in Company H of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in West Baton Rouge Parish, that fought in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. His younger brother Édouard also served in the unit. Auguste was killed in action at Jonesboro, Georgia, at the end of August 1864. His wife and children received $75 from the Baltimore Ladies Fund. Neither of his daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons may have.
Oldest son Théodore Gilbert may have married fellow Acadian Marie Augustine Doiron, place and date unrecorded, and settled near Brusly by the late 1860s. ...
During the war, Jean Baptiste's eighth and youngest son Édouard, called Edmond in Confederate records, served in Company H of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry with older brother Auguste. Édouard was captured at Nashville, Tennessee, in December 1864 and spent months in a prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. Unlike brother Auguste, Édouard survived the war and returned to his family. He did not marry by 1870.
Jean-Baptiste and Geneviève's d
Non-Acadians from France with simil
.
Nearly all of the members of the family who came to Louisiana--a widow and six of her Louvière children--arrived in 1765 from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue. They settled at Cabahannocer on the river, but not all of them remained there. Three vigorous family lines emerged on the river, on upper Bayou Lafourche, and out on the western prairies. The widow's older daughter married a French-Canadian LeBlanc on the river and followed her brothers to the western prairies:
Charles (c1750-?) à Louis de Chauffours à Mathieu de Freneuse à Mathieu d'Amours de Chauffours (Louvière)
Charles, oldest son of Jean-Baptiste d'Amours dit de Louvière and Geneviève Bergeron, born probably at Ste.-Anne-du-Pay-Bas on Rivière St.-Jean in c1750, followed his family to Massachusetts, back to greater Acadia, and then to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he married Anne-Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Melanson and Marguerite Broussard of Annapolis Royal, in c1770. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Rosalie, baptized at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in July 1770; Madeleine-Louise, also called Anne, baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1771; Félicité baptized, age unrecorded, in January or February 1773; Marie-Geneviève, called Geneviève, baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1774; Jean Louis, called Louis, baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1776; Théotiste baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1778; David baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1781; Jean-Baptiste le jeune, called Baptiste, born in c1782; and Daniel died at Cabahannocer, age unrecorded, in June 1795--nine children, five daughters and four sons, between 1770 and 1795. Daughters Anne, Geneviève, and Félicité married into the Godin, Rouillier, and Clouâtre families. Two of Charles's sons also married. One of them married on the river and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. The other remained in what became St. James Parish and created a vigorous line there.
Oldest son Jean Louis, called Louis, married cousin Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Melançon and Félicité Landry of Lafourche, at St. James, formerly Cabahannocer, in September 1804. They joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche by the early 1810s and created another center of family settlement there. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Onésime at St. James in June 1805; Marie Delphine, called Delphine, in March 1807; Marie Théotiste, called Théotiste, in March 1809; Evariste, also called Pierre Evariste, Varice, and Valéri, in Assumption Parish on the upper Lafourche in December 1811; Benjamin in May 1817; Jean Baptiste Désiré, also called Pierre Hermogène and Aimé Hermogène, in August 1822; Jean Louis, fils died 10 days after his birth in September 1824; Loudiviska Cléonisse born in October 1826 but died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in July 1830; and Achille born in c1828--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1805 and 1828. Jean Louis died in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1847. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Louis was age 66 when he died. He was 70. Wife Madeleine died probably in Terrebonne Parish in June 1853. A petition for inventory in her name, naming her husband and listing their children and some of their spouses--Evariste, Benjamin, Achilles, Delphine and her husband, Théotiste and her husband, Marie and her husbands, Armogène and his wife, and Olézime--was filed at the Houma courthouse in January 1854. Daughters Delphine, Théotiste, and Marie married into the Auger, Labiche, Gautreaux, and Pontiff families. Four of Jean Louis's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured. The ones who did create successful lines settled in Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes.
Oldest son Onésime married ____ Allain, perhaps a fellow Acadian, place and date unrecorded. Onésime died in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1849, age 45. He and his wife may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children.
Jean's Louis's second son Evariste, also called Pierre Evariste, Varice, and Valéri, married Nicolette dite Colette, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon LeBlanc and Julienne Hébert, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1837. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Pierre, fils died at age 1 month in January 1838; Adelina, Develina, or Evélina, called Evélina, born in May 1839; Azémia or Azélie Madeleine in July 1840; Agladie in December 1842; Philomène in April 1844; Henri Valéri in January 1846; Evariste Léon or Léonie, called Léonie, a daughter, in March 1848; Célina Zulma in May 1850; Ludger Armogène in January 1852; Marie Alida in April 1853; Elisca Julie in October 1854; and Florestine in January 1857--a dozen children, three sons and nine daughters, between 1838 and 1857. Daughters Evélina, Azélie, and Philomène married into the Benoit, LeBlanc, and Domingue families by 1870. One of Evariste's sons also married by then.
Second son Henri married America, daughter of William Whitney and his Acadian wife Azélie Gautreaux, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in February 1870. ...
Jean Louis's fourth son Jean Baptiste Désiré, also called Pierre Hermogène, Aimé Hermogène, and Armogène, married Eméranthe dite Méranthe, daughter of fellow Acadian Mathurin Daigle and his Creole wife Élise Lirette of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodaux church in February 1846; the marriage also was recorded in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Henry Dubrick in November 1846; Emma probably in the late 1840s; Osémi Alphonse, called Alphonse, in January 1851; and Marie Célestine, called Célestine, posthumously in November 1853--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1846 and 1853. Hermogène, as the recording priest called him, died probably in Terrebonne Parish in February or March 1853, age 30. A petition for his succession inventory, calling his wife Emérante and listing his children who had been born--Henry, Emma, and Alphonse--was filed at the Houma courthouse in April. Daughters Emma and Célestine married into the Bergeron and Lirette families by 1870. One of Hermogène's sons also married by then.
Older son Henry married Euphrasie, daughter of Émile Fanguy or Fangui and Uranie Chauvin, at the Houma church in October 1869. Their son James Frederick was born in Terrebonne Parish in September 1870; ...
Jean Louis, père's sixth and youngest son Achille married fellow Acadian Angeline Aureliènne, called Aureliènne, Richard at the Chacahoula church, Terrebonne Parish, in February 1859. Their son Jean Baptiste Félicien Cordeus was born in Lafourche Parish in February 1860. During the War of 1861-65, Achille served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment of Militia. He was captured at the Battle of Labadieville in Assumption Parish in October 1862 and paroled at Thibodaux soon afterwards. Achille died in Lafourche Parish in August 1865. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial, and who named his wife, said that Achille died "at age 37 yrs." One wonders if his death was war-related.
Charles's third son Jean-Baptiste le jeune, called Baptiste, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcel LeBlanc and Marie Madeleine Bourgeois, at St. James in June 1804. Their childen, born near Convent in St. James Parish, included Caroline in August 1805; Eulalie in c1806 but died at age 5 in September 1811; Rosalie born in April 1807; Désiré in January 1809 but died at age 3 1/2 in September 1811; Marie Émilie, probably also called Marie Mélite, born in November 1810; Jean, also called Jean Baptiste Vasseur, in September 1814; Evariste in August 1816; Marie Marcelline, called Marcelline, in July 1818; Jean Marcellin, called Marcellin, in August 1820 but, called Marcellus by the recording priest, died at age 11 in August 1831; and Louise Victorine, called Victorine, born in July 1824--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1805 and 1824. Jean Baptiste died near Convent in October 1824, age 42. In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted three slaves--a male and two females, all black, ranging in age from 20 to 14--on Widow J. Bte Louvières's farm next to Vasseur Louvières in the parish's eastern district; these probably were the slaves of Baptiste's widow, Marguerite LeBlanc. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted three slaves--all females, all black, ages 30, 4 and 2--on Widow J. B. Louvière's farm next to Vavasseur Louvière in the parish's East Bank 4th District. Daughters Caroline, Marie Mélite, Marcelline, and Victorine married into the Bourgeois, Dugas, Melançon, Champic, and Ramirez families. Two of Baptiste's sons also married.
Second son Jean Baptiste Vasseur, called Vasseur and Vavasseur, married Eméranthe dite Mirande, daughter of George Laudenbach and his Acadian wife Euphrosine Lanoux, at the Convent church in December 1838. Their children, born near Convent, included Victor in October 1839; Donat Marcellus, called Marcellus, in July 1841; Joseph, also called Joseph Amédée and Amédé, in July 1843; Douradon or Douradou in the 1840s; Joseph Désiré in January 1846 but, called Désiré Joseph, died at age 18 months in October 1847; Marie Irma born in March 1848 but, called Marie Hirma, died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in July 1851; Louise Stella born in March 1850; Auguste Jean Baptiste Wilson in November 1852; Angela in February 1855; and Marie Élodie in July 1860--10 children, six sons and four daughters, between 1839 and 1860. In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted three slaves--two males and a female, all black, ranging in age from 22 to 4--on Vasseur Louvières's farm next to Widow J. Bte. Louvières in the parish's eastern district. In June 1860, the federal census taker counted eight slaves--one male and seven females, all black, ages 31 to 2, living in four houses--on Vavasseur Louvière's farm next to Widow J. B. Louvière in the parish's East Bank Fourth District. None of Vasseur's daughters married by 1870, but four of his sons did.
Oldest son Victor married Oliva, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Gaudin and Scholastique Hébert, at the Convent church in June 1862. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Alzina in June 1863; another Marie in September 1864; Joseph Victorin in September 1866; a child, name unrecorded, died "a few days old" in December 1868; François Ulrie born in January 1870; ...
Vasseur's second son Marcellus married Marie Ophelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Trasimond Lanoux and Anaïse Gaudin, at the Convent church in February 1870. Daughter Marie Sidonia was born near Convent in December 1870; ...
Vasseur's third son Joseph Amédée married Adélaïde Olivia, called Olivia, daughter of fellow Acadians Adolphe Poirier and Rosalie Bourgeois, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1862. They settled near Gonzales in the interior of Ascension Parish. Their children, born there, included Joseph Justilien in December 1861; Amédée Joseph in March 1863 but died at age 2 in August 1865; Joseph Thuriaf born in January 1867; Marie Amedia in April 1869; ... During the War of 1861-65, beginning in the summer of 1863, Amédée served in Company D of the 14th Regiment Confederate States Cavalry and in Company A of Ogden's Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, units raised in Ascension Parish that fought in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. As the birth of one of his sons attests, he survived the war and returned to his family.
During the war, Vasseur's fourth son Douradon or Douradou served in the Pelican Artillery, also called the 5th Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, raised in St. James Parish, which fought in Louisiana. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married cousin Claire, daughter of fellow Acadians Édouard Donat Gravois and Marthe Eurasie dite Razie Landry, at the Convent church in January 1867; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included Joseph Arthur in October 1867; Joseph Dumas in April 1870; ...
Baptiste's third son Evariste married cousin Mathilde, also called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste LeBlanc and Marie Cléonise Gaudin, at the Convent church in October 1837. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Jean Baptiste Aristide, called Aristide, in November 1839; Marie Hélène or Helena in August 1842; Evariste, fils in January 1845; Joseph Agnès, actually Ernest, in January 1846 but, called Ernest, died at age 9 (the recording priest said 8) in September 1855; Ernestine born in June 1848; Laura Alexandra in December 1850 but, called Laurent[sic], died at age 18 months in April 1852; Marine Élisa, perhaps also called Alice, born in January 1853; and François Thibeaux in May 1855. Evariste remarried to cousin Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin LeBlanc and Arthémise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in October 1856. She evidently gave him no more children. At age 49, Evariste remarried again--his third marriage--to Amélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Séverin Duhon and Rosalie Part and widow of Bertrand Lanigrasses, at the Convent church in October 1865. Their children, born near Convent, included Joseph Villère in July 1866; Joseph Sidney in November 1868 but, name unrecorded, died near Convent at age 9 months in September 1869; ... Daughters Marie Helena, Ernestine, and Alice, by his first wife, married into the Brooks, Guidry, and Bergeron families by 1870. One of Evariste's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Aristide, by first wife Mathilde LeBlanc, married cousin Olive, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Gaudin and Scholastique Hébert, at the Convent church in February 1860; they had to secure a dispensation for second and third degrees of consanguinity in order to marry. During the War of 1861-65, Aristide served in Company E of the St. James Regiment Militia and may have served in the Pelican Artillery, also called the 5th Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, raised in St. James Parish, which fought in Louisiana. If he was the A. Louviers who served in the battery, he was captured during operations along lower Bayou Teche in April 1863. Soon after his capture, the Federals sent him to New Orleans to be exchanged, and there his Confederate service record ends. Did he survive the war and return to his family?
Jean-Baptiste, fils (c1754-?) à Louis de Chauffours à Mathieu de Freneuse à Mathieu d'Amours de Chauffours (Louvière)
Jean-Baptiste, fils, second son of Jean-Baptiste d'Amours dit de Louvière and Geneviève Bergeron, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1754, followed his family to Massachusetts, back to greater Acadia, and then to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he settled with his widowed mother and siblings. In August 1777, Spanish officials counted him at nearby Ascension, where he was working as an engagé, or hired hand, in a French surgeon's household on the right, or west, bank of the river. Jean-Baptiste, fils evidently did not marry.
François (c1759-1808) à Louis de Chauffours à Mathieu de Freneuse à Mathieu d'Amours de Chauffours (Louvière)
François, third son of Jean-Baptiste d'Amours dit de Louvière and Geneviève Bergeron, born at Boston, Massachusetts, in c1759, followed his family back to greater Acadia and then to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he settled with his widowed mother and siblings. He did not remain there. In the late 1770s, he and younger brother Isidore crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where François married Marie-Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Thibodeaux and Brigitte Breaux of Peticoudiac, in c1776. Marie-Louise had come to Louisiana from Halifax as an infant in February 1765. They settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Jean-Baptiste le jeune in c1777 and baptized at the Attakapas church, age unrecorded, in June 1784, but died at age 7 in December; Marie-Eugénie, called Eugénie, born in the late 1770s or early 1780s; Benjamin in June 1781; Frédéric in 1782 and baptized, age 7 months, in May 1783; François-Xavier, called Xavier, born in February 1788; Susanne or Suzanne dite Susette in April 1791; Apolline dite Polone in March 1792; Marie, also called Marie-Cléonise, in 1794 and baptized at age 9 months in May 1795; and a son, name and age unrecorded, died at Attakapas in November 1796. François, at age 40, remarried to Angélique, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Bourgeois and Anne-Osite Landry and widower of Pierre Arceneaux, at Attakapas in November 1799. Their children, born at Fausse Pointe, included Émilien on Good Friday 1801; Domitille in August 1803; and Camilien baptized at the St. James church, age 4 months, in June 1806--a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1777 and 1806. François died suddenly at his home at Fausse Pointe, St. Martin Parish, in August 1808, age 48. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following month and mentioned only his first wife. Daughters Eugénie, Suzette, Apolline, Marie, and Domitille, by both wives, married into the Benoit, Prince, Bonin, Broussard, Comeaux, and Robichaux families, the youngest one on upper Bayou Lafourche. Three of François's sons also married, and they and their sons settled along the Teche in St. Martin, St. Mary, and Iberia parishes.
Second son Benjamin, by first wife Marie Louise Thibodeaux, married Louise dite Lise, also called Marie Anne, daughter of Paul Bonin of Mobile and Marie Fostin of Illinois, at Attakapas in July 1804. They settled at Fausse Pointe. Their children, born there, included Benjamin, fils in September 1806 but died at age 9 in July 1815; a son, name unrecorded, died in September 1808 seven days after his birth; François le jeune born in February 1810 but died at age 35 in January 1846 (his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in April 1847); Joseph, also called Joseph Benjamin, born in February 1812; Marie in April 1814; Louis, also called Louis Bélloni, in May 1816 but died "at his father's house" at Fausse Pointe, age 5, in June 1821; Paulin born in September 1818; Élise dite Lise born in the late 1810s or 1820s; a son, name unrecorded, died at age 6 months in June 1821; a son, name unrecorded, died at birth in March 1822; Jean-Baptiste le jeune, also called Vileor, born in May 1822[sic]; Germain, also called Delaunay or Delauney, in September 1824; a son, name unrecorded, died "at his parents' home" shortly after his birth in December 1826; Marie Phelonise, called Phelonise, in August 1828 but died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in March 1831; and Helina born in January 1830--15 children, 11 sons and four daughters, between 1806 and 1830. In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--a 40-year-old black female--on Benjamin Louvière's farm at Fausse Pointe. Benjamin died in St. Martin Parish in October 1859. The priest who recorded the burial said that Benjamin died "at age 84 yrs." He was 78. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in November. Daughter Lise married into the Dugas family. Four of Benjamin's sons also married and settled in St. Martin and Iberia parishes, but not all of the lines endured.
Fourth son Joseph Benjamin married, at age 33, first cousin Louise Emitilia, perhaps also called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians François Xavier Louvière and Arthémise Hébert, his uncle and aunt, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in August 1845. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Suzanne in July 1846, but, called Susanne Adivine, died at age 1 in September 1847; Marie Adélaïde born in November 1848; Hippolyte in August 1851; François le jeune, perhaps theirs, in November 1853; Erista in May 1862; ... None of Joseph Benjamin's children married by 1870.
Benjamin, père's sixth son Paulin married, at age 42, Marie Aurelia, daughter of Pierre Auguste Molbert and Marie Antoinette Soine, perhaps an Acadian Sonnier, at the St. Martinville church in May 1860. Judging by his age at the time of the wedding, one wonders if this was his first marriage. Daughter Marie Félicie was born posthumously in St. Martin Parish in September 1867. Paulin had died in St. Martin Parish the previous July, age 48 (the recording priest said 49). His line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.
Benjamin, père's ninth son Jean Baptiste le jeune, also called Vileor, married Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul David and Renée Marcellite Vincent, at the New Iberia church in December 1846. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Jean Baptiste, fils in July 1847; St. Cyr in November 1850; Constance in September 1852 but died at age 2 in October 1854; Ulger born in November 1853; Cora in October 1856; Anatole in February 1859; Marie Fedora in January 1861; Marie Alida in December 1862; Charles Aubeal in December 1864; Léonce in September 1866; Olympe in September 1868; ... In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--a 16-year-old black male--on J. B. Louvièr's farm. One wonders if this J. B. was him or a cousin. None of his children married by 1870.
Benjamin, père's tenth son Germain, also called Delaunay or Delauney, married Marie Laure or Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians François Trahan and Anne Reine Labauve, at the New Iberia church in July 1847. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Marie Coraline in May 1848; Louise Demoseka in December 1850 but, called Louisa, died at age 1/1/2 in May 1852; Émilia born in March 1853; Marie Mathilde in March 1858; Amélie Althée in February 1861; and Marie Laure baptized at the St. Martinville church, age unrecorded, in November 1866. Germain, called Delauney by the recording clerk, remarried, at age 44, to Ordalie or Irdalie David, perhaps a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Martin Parish in March 1868. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Marie Alice in March 1869; Joseph Terreole in February 1870; ... Daughter Marie Coraline, by his first wife, married into the Broussard family by 1870.
François's third son Frédéric, by first wife Marie-Louise Thibodeaux, married Pélagie, daughter of Jean-Louis Bonin of Mobile and his Acadian wife Marguerite Prince, at Attakapas in April 1802. They settled at Fausse Pointe. Their children, born there, included Pélagie in February 1804; Frédéric, fils in January 1806; Sylvère or Sylvestre in June 1807; Marie Euphrasie or Euphrosie in February 1809; Silvanie in May 1810; Donat Evan, called Evan, in March 1812 but died at age 4 1/2 in October 1816; Louise Lodoiska born in December 1813; Moyse or Moïse in April 1815; a son, name and age unrecorded, died in August 1817; Dolze born in c1817 but died at age 3 in December 1820; Susanne, also called Susanne Élouise, born in October 1820; Marguerite Analise or Anise in February 1824; and Marie Astasie in July 1827 but, called Anastasie, died at age 17 1/2 (the recording priest said 18) in November 1844 before she could marry--13 children, seven daughters and six sons, between 1804 and 1827. Frédéric, père died in St. Martin Parish in January 1831, age 48. Daughters Pélagie, Marie Euphrosie or Euphrasie, Silvanie, Louise Lodoiska, Susanne Élouise, and Marguerite Anaïse married into the Bonin, Derouen, Larrive or Larive, Broussard, and Louvière families, two of them to Bonin brothers, and one of them to a Louvière first cousin, by 1870. Three of Frédéric's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Frédéric, fils married Doralise Marie or Marie Doralise, daughter of Eugène Borel and Manette Prevost of St. Mary Parish, at the St. Martinville church in July 1826. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Coralie in May 1827; Frédéric III in August 1829 but died at age 31 in June 1861; Louise Félicité in September 1831; Séverin in February 1834; Adrien in March 1837; Jean Melicourt or Melicour in June 1840; and Célestine in June 1843--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1827 and 1843. In December 1850, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted six slaves--four males and two females, three blacks and three mulattoes, ranging in age from 50 to 6--on Frédérick Louvièr's farm. Daughters Louise Félicité, Marie Coralie, and Célestine married into the Moore, Doty, and Landry families by 1870. Two of Frédéric, fils's sons also married by then.
Second son Adrien married cousin Caroline or Coralie, daughter of Norbert Bonin and Zulma Bonin, at the New Iberia church in May 1854. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Joseph Celicourt in July 1856; Adam Félix in December 1857; and Marie in February 1862. Adrien remarried to Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Émilien Landry and Rosalie Dalisene LeBlanc and widow of Pierre Dugas, at the New Iberia church in February 1866. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Marie Zulmé in July 1866; Cora in September 1867; Marie in September 1870; ... None of Adrien's children married by 1870.
Frédéric, fils's fourth and youngest son Jean Melicourt married Marie Alice, daughter of fellow Acadians Frédéric dit Onésime LeBlanc and Cécile Landry, at the New Iberia church in January 1861. ...
Frédéric, père's second son Sylvère or Sylvestre married Marcelliènne or Marcellite, daughter of Joseph Derouen and his Acadian wife Marie Solange Prejean, at the St. Martinville church in January 1828. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Lodoiska in October 1828 but, called Marie Lodoiska, died at age 15 1/2 in July 1844; Marie born in November 1830 but died at age 6 1/2 (the recording priest said 9) in August 1837; Marguerite born in November 1832 but died at age 12 in November 1844; Geneviève born in January 1835; Marguerite Elmire in October 1835; Joseph Alcide, called Alcide, in November 1838; Pélogie, also Pélagie, Eléonor in February 1841 but died at age 3 1/2 in July 1844; Jean Baptiste Ferjus born in February 1843 but, called Ferjus, died at age 2 1/2 in October 1845; Arsène, a daughter, born in December 1844; Optat, perhaps Octave, in June 1847; Octavie in June 1848 but died at age 4 (the recording priest said 5) in May 1852; Joseph died 15 days after his birth in June 1849; and Sylvestre, fils born in July 1850. In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted seven slaves--two males and five females, all black, ranging in age from 25 years to 4 months--on Silvère Louvière's farm next to Xavier Louvière at Fausse Pointe. A succession for wife Marcelliène, calling him Silver and probably post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in November 1852. Sylvère remarried to cousin Marie Virginie, called Virginie, daughter of Barthélémy Bélisaire Bonin and his Acadian wife Eugénie Bourgeois, at the New Iberia church in December 1852. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Bélizaire in December 1853; Sylvestre Dupré in February 1855; Marceliane in September 1856; Homère in August 1858; Filias Léonce in January 1860; Moïse le jeune in June 1863; Alexandre Brunair in September 1865; Jean Vores near Patoutville, now Lydia, Iberia Parish, in September 1868, when his father was in his early 60s; ... In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted six slaves--two males and four females, perhaps all black, ages 38 to 5--on Sylvestre Louviere's farm in the parish's western district; this probably was Sylvère. Daughters Marguerite Elmire and Arsène, by his first wife, married into the Bonin, Rachan or Rachon, and Broussard families, one of them, Marguerite, twice, by 1870. Two of Syvère's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Alcide, by first wife Marcelliènne Derouen, married Julie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis LeBlanc and Marie Sidonie Landry, at the New Iberia church in February 1860. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Despon Beauregard in January 1862; Phileman or Philemon in May 1863; Anatole in July 1864; and Natalie in September 1865--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1862 and 1865. During the War of 1861-65, Alcide, a resident of St. Mary Parish, served in Company C of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Natchitoches Parish, which fought in Louisiana. His first cousin Moïse Louvière, fils, also served in that company. Alcide died near New Iberia in December 1865. The priest who recorded the burial said that Alcide died "at age 25 yrs." He was 27. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in April 1866. One wonders if his death was war-related.
Sylvère's second son Octave, by first wife Marcelliènne Derouen, married Marie Alzire, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Broussard and his second wife Ste. Claire LeBlanc, at the New Iberia church in December 1866; the marriage was recorded also in St. Mary Parish. They settled near Patoutville. Their children, born there, included Joseph Alcide in January 1868 and received his emancipation in January 1888; Emérise born in September 1869; ...
Frédéric, père's fourth son Moyse or Moïse married Gertrude Adeline, called Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Lacroix Hébert and his Creole wife Geneviève Bonvillain, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in August 1839. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Stanislaus or Stanislas in August 1840 but died at age 3 in September 1843; Gertrude Adeline, also called Gertrude Aurore, born in September 1842; Ducléon in c1843; Moïse, fils in February 1845; Aureline in January 1847; Pélagie, also called Eulalie and Odalie, in September 1848; twins Frédéric le jeune and Jean in January 1851; Marie Clerie, Cloré, or Clare, in February 1853; Clesmé in c1855; Denis in October 1857; Marie Zélia in January 1861; Joséphine in April 1862; Aristide Clovis in January 1867; ... In December 1850, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted a single slave--a 17-year-old black female--on Moïse Louvièr's farm. Daughters Gertrude Aurore, Aureline, Odalie, and Marie Clare married into the Bonin and Larive or Larrive families, three of them, Gertrude, Aureline, and Marie Clare, to Bonins, two of them brothers, by 1870. One of Moïse's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Ducléon married Philomène, daughter of fellow Acadians Frédéric dit Onésime LeBlanc and Cécile Landry, at the New Iberia church in September 1865. They settled near Patoutville. Their children, born there, included Stanislas in August 1866; Frédéric Prevot in September 1869; ...
During the War of 1861-65, Moïse, père's second son Moïse, fils, a resident of St. Mary Parish, served in Company C of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Natchitoches Parish, with his first cousin Alcide Louvière. He did not marry by 1870.
François's fourth son François Xavier, called Xavier, from first wife Marie Louise Thibodeaux, married Arthémise, also called Susanne Pouponne, daughter of fellow Acadian Nicolas Hébert and his Creole wife Louise Bonin of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in April 1814. They settled at Fausse Pointe. Their children, born there, included François, also called François Hermogène, in February 1817; Susanne in March 1819 but died at age 4 1/2 in August 1823; Jean Baptiste, also called Jean Baptiste Théogène and Théogène, born in December 1820; Louis, also called Louis Tertule, in June 1825 but died at age 22 in March 1848 (his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following November); Marie, also called Adelia, born in April 1823; Marguerite, also called Louise Emitilia, in August 1827; Céleste Olivarie in March 1829; Élise Oliva, called Oliva, in February 1832; Pierre Galispi or Galespe in October 1833; Louise in July 1835; Domitille in c1837; Joseph Aladin, called Aladin, in February 1838; Clara in April 1839; and Angelie, perhaps theirs, in May 1845--14 children, five sons and nine daughters, between 1817 and 1845. In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted six slaves--four males and two females, all black, ranging in age from 25 to 1--on Xavier Louvière's farm next to Silvere Louvière at Fausse Pointe. Xavier died in St. Martin Parish in February 1863. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that François Xavier died "at age 82 yrs." He was 75. His succession, calling his wife Arthémise Hébert, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in October 1865. Daughters Adelia, Marguerite, Céleste Olivarie, Élise Oliva, Domitille, and Clara married into the Mallet, Louvière, Bonin, Hébert, and Oubre families, two of them to Bonins. Four of François Xavier's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son François Hermogène married Marie Célestine, daughter of Côme DeBlanc and his Acadian wife Marie Landry, at the New Iberia church in July 1844. A succession for François Louvière, mentioning no wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in April 1847. This François would have been age 30. If this was him, and the succession was post-mortem, his line of the family evidently died with him.
Xavier's second son Jean Baptiste Théogène, called Théogène, married first cousin Marguerite Anaïse, daughter of fellow Acadians Frédéric Louvière, père and his Creole wife Pélagie Bonin, his uncle and aunt, at the St. Martinville church in March 1845. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Matilde, Mathilde, or Mathilda in August 1842; Joseph des Palière died, age unrecorded, in February 1847; another Joseph, perhaps theirs, born in June 1851; François, perhaps theirs, in November 1853; Édouard, perhaps also theirs, in March 1862; and Alexandre Adam in May 1864. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--a 16-year-old black male--on J. B. Louvier's farm; one wonders if this was him or a cousin. Marguerite Anaïs, called "Mrs. Théogène Louvière," died near New Iberia in July 1865. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names, said she died "at age 40 yrs." Her succession, calling her husband Théogène, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in October 1866. Jean Baptiste Théogène, at age 45, remarried to Marie Olive, called Olive, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis LeBlanc and Marie Sidonie Landry, at the New Iberia church in November 1866. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Edolie in September 1867; Magloire at nearby Patoutville in October 1869; ... Daughter Mathilde, by his first wife, married into the LeBlanc family by 1870. None of Théogène's sons married by then.
Xavier's fourth son Pierre Galispi married Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Frédéric LeBlanc and Cécile Landry, at the New Iberia church in April 1854. They settled near New Iberia. Their children, born there, included Alex, perhaps also called Alexis, in April 1855 but may have died at age 11 (the recording priest said 12) in July 1866; Mathilde born in October 1856; Louis Zerthur, perhaps Arthur, in January 1859; Louise in January 1861; Marie Zulmée in October 1862; Edora in December 1864; Eve in April 1867; Cécile in April 1869; ...
Xavier's fifth and youngest son Joseph Aladin, born probably at Fausse Pointe in February 1838, married Henriette Eléonore, daughter of Henry Ransonnet and Marie Estelle Bonin, at the New Iberia church in July 1865. ...
Isidore (c1763-?) à Louis de Chauffours à Mathieu de Freneuse à Mathieu d'Amours de Chauffours (Louvière)
Isidore, fourth and youngest son of Jean-Baptiste d'Amours dit de Louvière and Geneviève Bergeron, born at Boston, Massachusetts, in c1763, followed his family back to greater Acadia and then to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he settled with his widowerd mother and siblings. In the late 1770s, he and older brother François moved to the Attakapas District, where Isidore married Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Landry and Théotiste Thibodeaux, in November 1787. They settled near his brother at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born there and on the river, included Julien in c1788; Rosalie in January 1789; Louis in c1793 and baptized at the Attakapas church, age 2, in April 1795; Julienne baptized, age 18 days, in November 1795; Joseph born in August 1798; Rosémond at Cabahannocer in December 1801; Marie Céleste, called Céleste, at Fausse Pointe in August 1804 but died at Fausse Pointe, age 18 months, in January 1806; and Adélaïde born in November 1806 but, called Tonton, may have died in St. Martin Parish, age 39, in January 1846. At age 49, Isidore remarried to Marie, daughter of Simon Picard and Marie Doré of St. Charles Parish and widow of Jacques Touchet, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in August 1812. They settled on the lower Vermilion River. Their children, born there, included Julie in November 1813; and Joachim in October 1815--10 children, five sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1788 and 1815. Daughters Rosalie, Juliènne, and Julie, by both wives, married into the Steven, Granger, and Abshire families. Four of Isidore's sons also married. Three of them created lasting family lines along the Teche and out on the prairies.
Oldest son Julien, by first wife Françoise Landry, married Éloise, Héloise, or Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Granger and Marguerite Landry of Prairie Sorel, at the St. Martinville church in October 1816. They settled at Côte Gelée. Their children, born there, included Adélaïde dite Mélaïde, perhaps also called Marie Adélaïde, in October 1817; Joséphine in January 1819; Julien, fils in March 1820; Joseph le jeune in July 1821 but died "at his father's house" at age 4 in July 1825; and Clairville, also called David Clairville and Clairville, born in August 1829--five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1817 and 1829. Julien, père died probably at his home at Côte Gelée in January 1848, age 60. His succession evidently was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish in May 1848. Daughters Mélaïde and Joséphine married into the Lalande, Mire, Leger, Lormand, and Trahan families, one of them twice and the other, Joséphine, three times. Two of Julien's sons also married.
Oldest son Julien, fils married cousin Marie Zépheline, Zéphiline, or Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians François Hébert and Domicile Granger, at the Vermilionville church in September 1839. Their children, born near New Iberia, included Joseph le jeune in October 1841; Joséphine in October 1843; and Éloise dite Louise in December 1847--three children, a son and two daughters, between 1841 and 1847. Daughter Éloise married into the Leger family by 1870. Julien, fils's son also married into that family.
Only son Joseph le jeune married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Leger and Marguerite LeBlanc and widow of Gerasin Broussard, at the Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1866. ...
Julien, père's third and youngest son David Clairville, called Clairville, was, at age 19, assigned "a tutor," as per his father's post-mortem succession, in May 1848. He married fellow Acadian Marguerite Zoë Mire in c1849, place unrecorded, and settled near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marguerite Azélie near Grand Coteau in August 1850; Damase in St. Landry Parish in December 1855; Jules near Youngsville in November 1858; and Placide in July 1861--four children, a daughter and three sons, between 1850 and 1861. Daughter Marguerite married into the Lormand family by 1870. None of Clairville's sons married by then.
Isidore's second son Louis, by first wife Françoise Landry, married Marie Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Vital Landry and Pélagie Mire of Côte Gelée, at the St. Martinville church in October 1818. In December 1850, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted five slaves--all females, all black, ranging in age from 30 to 6--on Louis Louviere's farm. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted seven slaves--one male and six females, all mulattoes except for one black, ages 22 years to 6 months--on Louis Louvièr's farm. Did Louis and Marie Azélie have any children?
Isidore's third son Joseph, by first wife Françoise Landry, married Delphine Séraphine, also called Adèle, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Broussard and Constance LeBlanc of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in April 1821. They settled at Côte Gelée, Île aux Cannes, and Petite Anse in Lafayette, St. Martin, and St. Mary parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph, fils at Côte Gelée in April 1822; a daughter, name unrecorded, in late 1823 but died at Île aux Cannes, age 2 months, in January 1824; Édouard born in November 1824; Marcellite in October 1826; Carmélite in November 1827; a son, name unrecorded, died "at his parent's home at la petite ance," age 2 months, in November 1829; Marie Oliva, called Oliva, born in October 1830; Théodule in November 1832; Paulin in June 1835 but died at age 10 months in April 1836; Joséphine born in February 1837; Jean Osémé, called Osémé, near New Iberia in May 1839; Clet or Clayton in September 1843; Marie Constance, called Constance, in January 1847; and Rosalie in July 1849--14 children, seven sons and seven daughters, between 1822 and 1849. Joseph's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in August 1852. He would have been age 54 that year. It evidently was not a post-mortem succession for him, or it may have been a post-mortem succession for wife Delphine. Joseph may have died near New Iberia in July 1870. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died "at age 76 yrs." This Joseph would have been a month shy of 72, but who else could it have been? Daughters Carmélite, Marcellite, Oliva, Joséphine, Marie Constance, and Rosalie married into the Maillard, Borel, Savoie, Landry, Delhomme, Sonnier, and Hébert families by 1870. Three of Joseph's remaining sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph, fils married Victoire Sidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians François Prince and Rosalie Savoie, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in July 1847 or 1848, but they evidently had been living together for several years. Their children, born probably in St. Mary Parish, included Olypsi, also called Olepsy, Lepsé, and Aulepsy, a son, in c1844; and Léon in c1845. Did they have anymore children? They evidently moved on to Lafayette Parish before the war. Wife Sidalise is not listed with Joseph, fils, an overseer, and son Aulepsy in the June 1860 federal census for Lafayette Parish, so she evidently had died by then. Son Léon also is not listed with his father and older brother in that census.
During the War of 1861-65, older son Olypsi, as he was called in Confederate records, served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry with two of his uncles, Osémé and Clet, who were only a few years older than Olypsi. Olypsi enlisted in the company at Vermilionville in March 1862, age 17 or 18, accompanied his regiment to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and may have been the "L. Louvier" who the unit's historian says suffered a "gun shot wound in the head" during the battle of 19 May 1863 during the siege of the city. Though he survived the war and returned to his family, Olypsi died in Lafayette Parish, age 22, in July 1866. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial called him Olepsy, son of Joseph Louvière, but did not give his mother's name. Can Olypsi's early death be attributed to his war service? No matter, he did not marry after he returned from the war, so his father's family line died with him.
Joseph, père's second son Édouard married cousin Marie Élina, Hélène, Helena, or Héloise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Granger and Juliènne Louvière, at the Vermilionville church in May 1844. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Joseph le jeune in April 1845; Éloi in August 1851; Marie Azélie in April 1856; Félix in August 1858; Juliènne in November 1861; ... One of Édouard's sons married by 1870.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune married Alexandrine, daughter of fellow Acadian Eusèbe Hébert and his Creole wife Eléonore Robin, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in September 1867. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Édouard in October 1868; Eusèbe in August 1870; ...
Joseph, père's sixth son Jean Osémé, called Osémé, married Marie Azélie, Zélie, or Azélina Lantier or Nantier, also called Duhon, probably in Lafayette Parish in the late 1850s. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Delphine in December 1860; Célima in February 1862; Joséphine in September 1864; Jean, fils in June 1866; Joseph Olepse in December 1868; ... During the War of 1861-65, Osémé, along with a younger brother and a nephew, served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. As the birth dates of Osémé's sons reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family.
During the War of 1861-65, Joseph, père's seventh son Clet or Clayton served with brother Osémé and a nephew in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry. He, too, survived the war and returned to his family. He settled at Rayne in present-day Acadia Parish, where he is buried, but he did not marry by 1870.
Isidore's fourth son Rosémond, by first wife Françoise Landry, married Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Breaux and Marie Madeleine Melançon and widow of Joseph Lalande, at the St. Martinville church in May 1825. Their children, born on the prairies, included Ozémé or Osémé baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 months, in August 1826 but died a few weeks later; and Théodule, also called Joseph Théodule, born in July 1827. A succession for wife Madeleine, probably post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in June 1830. Rosémond remarried to Charlotte Lormand or Normand, place and time unrecorded, but it probably was in the early 1830s; they settled in Lafayette Parish. Their daughter Françoise Octavie was born there in October 1832--three children, two sons and a daughter, by two wives, between 1826 and 1832. At age 65, Rosémond "of Manchac," as the recording priest called him (Rosémond was born at Cabahannocer/St. James), remarried again--his third marriage--to Amelina, daughter of Balthasar Delahoussaye and Modeste Champagne and widow of Jean Louis Picard, at the St. Martinville church in February 1866. She evidently gave him no more children. Daughter Françoise, by his second wife, married into the Leleux family. Rosémond's remaining son also married.
Younger son Joseph Théodule, called Théodule, from first wife Marie Madeleine Breaux, married fellow Acadian Julie Landry probably in St. Martin Parish in the early 1850s. Their children, born on the prairies, included Édouard Zartur near New Iberia in May 1855; Joseph le jeune born in February 1857; Léodice in July 1859; Julie in June 1861; and Paulin in May 1864. At age 37, Joseph Théodule, as the recording priest called him, described as "a widower," remarried to Célestine, daughter of Gilbert Amy and his Acadian wife Élise Landry, at the St. Martinville church in October 1864. Their daughter Belzire (the priest who recorded the baptism called the mother Julie Landry) was born in Lafayette Parish in April 1866 but died "at age a few days" in May--six children, three sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1855 and 1864. Théodule died in Lafayette Parish in January 1867. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Théodule died "at age 31 yrs." He would have been age 39. His succession, calling him Théodule and naming his first wife but, strangely, not his second one, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse two weeks after his death. None of his children married by 1870.
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The last of the family to come to Louisiana--she called herself a Damour, not a Louvière--arrived aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. She and her second husband, a Thibodeau, and their infant son followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where she died by November 1804, when her husband remarried again. No new Louvière family line came of it.
Barnabé Martin, probably not kin to the other Martins of French Acadia, married Jeanne, daughter of Simon Pelletret and Perrine Bourg, at Port-Royal in c1666 and created another, even larger, Acadian branch of the Martin family. Between 1667 and 1686, at Port-Royal, Jeanne gave Barnabé eight children, including five daughters and two sons. Barnabé died at Port-Royal, probably in his late 40s, soon after the birth of his youngest child, whose gender is unknown. Four of his and Jeanne's daughters married into the Simon dit Jacques Le Boucher, Coste, Chênet or Chesnay dit La Garenne, Samson, and Gentil families, and at least two of them followed their husbands to the French-controlled island of Île Royale in the 1710s. Barnabé and Jeanne's sons also married, into the Mignier dit Lagassé and Comeau families, but neither of them followed their sisters to Île Royale. Their descendants settled not only at Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal, but also at Chignecto, Chepoudy in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, Pobomcoup near Cap-Sable, and on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale. The majority of them, however, were still living in the Annapolis valley when Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered the family even farther.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. In the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, along with Mi'kmaq warriors led by Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Barnabé Martins may have been among the refugees affected by this petit dérangement. By then, the trois-rivières area had become the heart of Acadian resistance to British control of Nova Scotia, so the Barnabé Martins at Chepoudy could not have escaped the consequences of living in such a place. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto-area Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Barnabé Martins may have been among the area Acadians who were serving in the fort as militia. If so, they, too, along with the Canadians and the French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the local Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. The British rounded up two Barnabé Martin daughters and their families at Chignecto and deported them to South Carolina. The sisters' parents and brothers escaped the British and sought refuge on lower Rivière St.-Jean before moving on to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Their Barnabé Martin cousins at nearby Chepoudy also escaped the British and sought refuge up the shore.
The Barnabé Martins still living in the Annapolis valley suffered a similar fate. The British deported two brothers to New York in December 1755, but most of their siblings and cousins still at Annapolis Royal escaped the redcoats. After a hard winter on the Fundy shore, they crossed to Chepoudy the following spring and followed their cousins to lower Rivière St.-Jean. Some continued up the St.-Jean portage to Canada and resettled in various communities below Québec, where at least two of them died in a smallpox epidemic that struck the exiles in and around the Canadian capital between the summer of 1757 and the spring of 1758. Other Barnabé Martins from Annapolis Royal sought protection from the British in several refugee camps on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore.
Living in territory controlled by France, Acadians on Île St.-Jean escaped the fate of their cousins in Nova Scotia in 1755 and 1756. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats gathered up most of the habitants on the island and deported them to France. If a Barnabé Martin widower and his many children were still at Malpèque on the northwest shore of Île St.-Jean in 1758, they would have been among the dozens of islanders who escaped the British, crossed Mer Rouge, and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Records show that no Barnabé Martin was deported to France from Île St.-Jean or Île Royalen in the late 1750s.
Barnabé Martins did end up in the mother country but by a different route. A Barnabé Martin and his Girouard wife from Annapolis Royal had daughters but no sons. After he died, his widow remarried to an Aubois from Pobomcoup and settled with him there. In the fall of 1755, according to Bona Arsenault, one of the Barnabé Martin daughters, who would have been age 12, escaped to Canada with an uncle. Arsenault says the British deported two of the daughters, ages 15 and 13, to England, no date given, which implies that they were sent to Virginia first. No British deportation vessel went from Annapolis Royal to Virginia in the fall of 1755, so the girls were either at Minas in the fall of 1755, perhaps with their mother and stepfather, or, more likely, they reached England via another route, perhaps directly from Nova Scotia. A possible scenario is that, while the Barnabé girls were living with their stepfather and mother at Pobomcoup, British rangers arrived in September 1758 after the fall of Louisbourg, captured many of the habitants in the Cap-Sable area, and transported them to Georges Island, Halifax. The British then sent them on to France. These Cap-Sable exiles reached Le Havre in early 1759 with some of the Acadians deported to France from the Maritime islands. The Barnabé daughters, however, with their mother and stepfather, likely were among the hand full of Cap-Sable habitants who escaped into the woods when the Rangers struck the area that autumn. If so, they did not remain free for long. In late June 1759, unable to survive in the wilderness, they surrendered to the British, who held them on Georges Island until early November, when they shipped them to England, which they reached in late December. Most of these Cap-Sable exiles were trans-shipped from England to Cherbourg and other French ports, where they arrived in mid-January 1760. The Barnabé girls, their mother, and stepfather evidently were not among them. The oldest sister, Marie-Josèphe, married a Courtin from north central France at Cork, Ireland, in September 1761. He was a French surgeon and probably a fellow prisoner of war. One suspects that the rest of her sisters, other than the one who had gone to Canada, were with her in Ireland as well, having gone there from England--among the few Acadian exiles who sojourned in the Emerald Isle. In the spring of 1763, after the war with Britain finally ended, the sisters likely were repatriated to Morlaix in northwest Brittany with the Acadians who had been held in England since 1756. The sisters were still at the Breton port in 1764. Their mother, and perhaps their stepfather, remained in Ireland. The mother died at Kinsale, Ireland, in September 1765, age 51. Late that year, in France, the Barnabé sisters followed other exiles repatriated from the British Isles to the recently-liberated Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany. The older sister and her surgeon husband were counted with two daughters, ages 6 and 1, on the island that November. Also counted there in 1765 were two of her younger sisters, ages 23 and 15. One of the sisters married a Trahan widower from l'Assomption, Pigiguit, near Sauzon on the northern end of island in June 1777 and died there in January 1781, age 39. In May 1778, the youngest sister married a Cordouan from Velay, France, near Sauzon. He worked on a tobacco farm. She died near Sauzon in April 1779, age 33, perhaps from complications of childbirth. One record insists that Marie-Josèphe, the oldest Barnabé Martin sister, died on Belle-Île-en-Mer in May 1804. Other records, followed here, show that, as a widow, she and four of her Courtin children emigrated to Louisiana aboard the third of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. From New Orleans, she and her children followed their fellow passengers to Baton Rouge. She was, in fact, the only member of her immediate family to go to the Spanish colony, and the only Barnabé Martin to go to Louisiana from France.
In North America, conditions only got worse for the Acadians who had escaped the British in the late 1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France, one of which was Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, now a major Acadian refuge. A British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche in late June 1760. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the Acadians and the Indians to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, another British naval force, this one from Québec, appeared at Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. A Martin, called a Marin, and his family of three were among the 1,003 exiles who appear on a list, dated 24 October 1760, complied by French officers on the eve of formal surrender. During the following months, other exiles in the area either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces and, along with their compatriots from Restigouche, held in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. British officials counted a Barnabé Martin at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, in July 1762. A year later, in August 1763, three families of Barnabé Martins appeared on a repatriation list at Halifax.
At war's end, most of the Barnabé Martins still in North America were not languishing in Nova Scotia compounds or being held in a British seaboard colony. They were liviing, instead, in Canada, where many of them had gone as early as 1756. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles. In a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of Barnabé Martin began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. By the late 1760s, they could be found on the upper St. Lawrence at L'Assomption, Repentigny, and St.-Jacques de l'Achigan; and on the lower St. Lawrence on Île d'Orléans and at Ste.-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and Kamouraska. In present-day New Brunwick, they settled at Baie-des-Ouines, now Bay du Vin, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, and at Madawaska on upper Rivière St.-Jean along the western border of the province. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Barnabé Martins still languishing in seaboard colonies at war's end, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intensions. Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. Most of the Acadians in New England and New York chose to repatriate to Canada, but Barnabé Martins in those colonies also chose to go elsewhere. Back in May 1756, colonial officials in New York had counted two Barnabé Martin families headed by brothers at Easthampton and Oyster Bay, Long Island, in Suffolk County. According to a French repatriation list circulating in the colony, both families were still in New York in 1763, the younger brother having remarried. To avoid British rule, the brothers chose to resettle on Martinique in the French Antilles, which they reached by September 1764, when one of their children was baptized "dans la paroisse du Fort" at age 4. The older brother died on Martinique between February and December 1767, in his early 50s. The younger brother worked as a master carpenter before becoming a merchant on the island. Both of their families lived at La Mouillage on the south coast of the island and at Au Cabet, today's Le Cabet, on Martinique's northwest shore. Other Acadian exiles went to Martinique, but no other Acadian family could match in size the two branches of the Martin family who settled there.
Two Barnabé Martin sisters deported with their husbands to South Carolina in 1755 decided at war's end that, in order to escape British rule, they, too, would resettle in the French Antilles, but they did not go to Martinique. While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British colonies to resettle in St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean region and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the island's major planters, who hoped to supplement the labor of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. The first of the exiles reached Cap-Français in late 1763. More followed in 1764. The Barnabé Martin sisters and their husbands went to Môle St.-Nicolas, but their experience there was not a happy one, at least not for the older sister. She, her Olivier husband, and their infant son joined one of the expeditions from Halifax or Maryland that came through Cap-Français in 1765 or 1766 on their way to New Orleans--among the relatively few Acadian exiles who emigrated to Louisiana directly from the French Antilles. Spanish authorities counted the couple at New Orleans in July 1767. The younger sister and her LeBlanc husband remained in St.-Domingue. He died at Môle St.-Nicolas in August 1776, in his late 30s, and his Barnabé Martin widow remarried twice to Frenchmen at Môle in 1779 and 1782.
Barnabé Martins being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to the French Antilles, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including Barnabé Martins, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, at least 16 were Barnabé Martins.
The surname Martin/Martín can be found throughout Europe and the Americas--it is, in fact, the most common surname in France and is exceedingly common in Spain and wherever the Spanish settled. It should be no surprise, then, that most of the Martins of South Louisiana are not Acadians. Guillaume Martin dit Sans Chagrin, probably a French Canadian, was a soldier at Fort Biloxi, then a part of Louisiana, in 1700, only a year after the colony was founded. Martins from France, Switzerland, and even England lived in Louisiana as early as the 1720s. As many as a dozen Spanish Martíns from the Canary Islands appeared in the late 1770s, when Governor Bernardo de Gálvez brought hundreds of Isleños to Louisiana via Cuba to increase the colony's population. Spanish soldiers named Martín were plentiful in New Orleans by the 1790s. During the antebellum period, non-Acadian Martins from the United States, Britain, Spain, and Spanish America came to South Louisiana. They were especially numerous on Bayou Lafourche and the western prairies. A Martin from Scotland married two Acadians and established a family line among his Acadian namesakes on Bayou Teche. At least one Isleño Martín, whose mother was an Acadian, settled on upper Bayou Teche during the antebellum period. Many of the dozens of Foreign-French Martins who came to Louisiana from France, the Caribbean Basin, Mexico, and Texas during the antebellum period remained at New Orleans, but a few chose to settle at Pointe Coupee and on upper Bayou Lafourche. Many Martins who were free persons of color, and especially freedmen and freedwomen--Afro Creoles either once owned by members of the Martin family or, more likely, whose progenitor bore the given name Martin--appear in South Louisiana church records before and after the War of 1861-65.
Two separate lines of Martins were among the first families of Acadia, and descendants of Barnabé Martin were some of the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. Nearly all of them came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, in 1765. The first of them--two sets of brothers and a cousin--came with the Broussard party in February and settled on lower Bayou Teche that spring. Later that year, more Barnabé Martins, brothers who were cousins of the Teche valley Martins, came to the colony from the prison camps of Nova Scotia and settled at Cabahannocer on river above New Orleans along what became known as the Acadian Coast. In late 1765 or early 1766, a Martin and his family left the Teche valley and joined his younger brothers at Cabahannocer. By the end of the colonial period, the eastern and western branches of the family were about equal in size. Nearly all of the western families descend from a single line, that of Claude of Annapolis Royal, a great-grandson of Barnabé, the family's progenitor. One of the Teche valley Martins, Marguerite dit Barnabé, who was married to a Robichaud when she came to Louisiana, remarried to a French-born surgeon at St. Martinville and became the maternal grandmother of future Louisiana governor Alexandre Mouton. A Barnabé Martin widow came to the colony from France in 1785, the only member of the family to do so. During the early antebellum period, two Acadian Martin brothers from St. James Parish joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche and created a third center of family settlement there. In the following decades, they moved down bayou into Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes, as far down as the salt marshes lining the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, by the early antebellum period, Acadian Martins virtually disappeared from the river. In the late 1820s, however, in a reversal of the usual Acadian settlement pattern, a Martin from Bayou Lafourche returned to the old Acadian Coast and settled in St. James Parish--the only Acadian Martin family still living on the river at the end of the antebellum period. Two Acadian Martin brothers from the Lafourche valley moved to the western prairies after the War of 1861-65. Evidently the Acadian Martins who came to Louisiana all hailed from the line of Barnabé and his wife Jeanne Pelletret, not his older namesake Pierre and his wife Catherine Vigneau.
On the eve of the War of 1861-65, most Acadian Martins lived west of the Atchafalaya Basin in Lafayette, St. Martin, and St. Landry parishes, and east of the Atchafalaya Basin in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. But, with the exception perhaps of the families in Lafayette and St. Martin, the numbers of these Acadian Martins paled in comparison to their non-Acadian namesakes, who lived in nearly every community of South Louisiana. As a result, the family's genealogical profile is considerably complicated wherever Martins can be found in today's Acadiana. Not surprisingly, many non-Acadian Martins took Acadian spouses, especially on the prairies and in the Bayou Lafourche valley.
Dozens of Martins, many of them Acadians, served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, and some of them died in Confederate service. ...16
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The first of the family to come to the colony--two sets of bachelor brothers who were first cousins, a married sister and her family and an unmarried sister, another first cousin and his small family, and his sister and her family, 10 Barnabé Martins in all--reached New Orleans in February 1765 with the Broussards from Halifax. They followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche that April. That summer and fall, a mysterious epidemic killed the sister's Robichaud husband, but she remained on the Teche and remarried. Her brother, however, and one of the bachelor brothers, retreated to Cabahannocer on the river, creating two centers of Barnabé Martin settlement on each side of the Atchafalaya Basin:
Claude (1730-1798) à René à Barnabé Martin
Claude, second son of Charles Martin and Jeanne Comeau, born at Annapolis Royal in December 1730, was still a bachelor when he escaped the British roundup there in the fall of 1755 and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Sometime in the late 1750s or early 1760s, he either surrendered to, or was captured by, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. In 1764-65, he and two siblings, a younger brother and sister, followed a married sister and the Broussards to Louisiana and settled with them on lower Bayou Teche in the spring of 1765. Unlike a first cousin, who retreated to the river that fall to escape the Teche valley epidemic, Claude and his siblings remained on Bayou Teche, where, in his late 30s, he married Marie, daughter, perhaps, of fellow Acadians Dominique Babin and Marguerite Boudrot of Minas, in c1769. By then, he had become a leading figure in the Teche community. When taking an oath of allegiance to the Spanish monarch in December 1769, Claude made his mark as syndic of the Attakapas settlements. He and Marie settled at La Pointe on the middle Teche near present-day Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Jean-André, called André, in September 1770; Joseph-Marin, called Marin, in January 1773; Marie-Apolline, called Apolline and Pauline, baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1776; Michel born in March 1777; Marie-Angelique, called Angélique, baptized by an Opelousas priest, age 4 1/2 months, in July 1779; Valéry born in December 1781; and Dositée, a son, in April 1784 but died at age 24 "at the residence of wid[ow]. Baptiste Mannan [Jean Baptiste Cormier III dit Mano], his sister," in March 1809--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1770 and 1784. By 1774, Claude held two slaves. He held four slaves in 1781 and owned substantial numbers of livestock and a large vacharie in the district. Claude served as major domo or trustee of the Attakapas church at today's St. Martinville. He died probably at La Pointe in July 1798, age 67. His will was "written by Père M. Bernard Barrière," date unrecorded. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in June 1822, a year and a half before his widow's death. Her succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in December 1823. Daughters Marie-Apolline and Marie-Angélique married into the Cormier and Mouton families. Four of Claude's sons also married, two of them to Creole sisters. All of them remained on Bayou Teche or moved out to the Attakapas prairies, but not all of the lines endured. Nevertheless, most, if not all, of the Acadian Martins on the southwest prairies descend from Claude and three of his sons.
Oldest son Jean-André, called André, married Catherine, also called Gertrude, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain Sonnier and Madeleine Bourg of Opelousas, at Opelousas in June 1795. They settled near the bridge at La Butte on upper Bayou Vermilion between present-day Breaux Bridge and Lafayette, and at Grand Prairie, a few miles farther down the Vermilion near present-day downtown Lafayette. Their children, born there, included Emérante in March 1796 but died at age 2 1/2 in June 1798; André, fils, also called Valérien-André, born in January 1798; Valéry le jeune in May 1800 but died "at his parents' [home]" at Grand Prairie, age 7, in August 1807; Charles, also called Charles or Baru Zéphirin, born in September 1802; Thomas, also called Thomas Drosin, in October 1804 but died at age 7 in October 1811; Adeline, perhaps also called Erminionne, born in December 1806; twins Célestine and Julie in March 1809; Amélie in September 1811; and Caroline in February 1814--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1796 and 1814. "Besides his holdings on the Vermilion," one historian maintains, André "owned land on the Mermentau River within the Calcasieu frontier, where he ran large herds of cattle." The same source adds: "André purchased some 1500 acres of land on the Mermentau River from the Attakapas Indians; probably he had been running cattle in that area long before the purchase, using Indians as herders." André turned 29 in 1799, so if he had been herding cattle on the Mermentau "long before the purchase," he would have done so beginning in his late teens or early 20s. André, père's succession, calling his wife Gertrude, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in June 1822. He would have been age 52 that year. A second succession evidently was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in November 1824, after the new civil parish had been carved out of St. Martin Parish. Daughters Erminionne and Amélie married into the Arceneaux and Dugas families. Two of André, père's sons also married. One of them became a major sugar planter in Lafayette Parish.
Oldest son André, fils, also called Valérien-André, married Marie Cléonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dugas and Anne dite Annette Thibodeaux of La Butte, at the St. Martinville church in January 1818. Their children, born in what became Lafayette Parish, included Adrien in June 1819 but died at age 33 (the recording priest said 30) in September 1852; Valéry le jeune born in March 1821; and another Valéry le jeune in August 1826. A succession for wife Marie Cléonise, obviously post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in August 1840. In his early 40s, Valérien André, called André, Esq. by the parish clerk, remarried to Émilie dite Émilite, daughter of fellow Acadians David Guidry and Marie-Modeste Borda and widow of Alexandre Dugas, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1839; Émilie, whose maternal grandmother was a Barnabé Martin, was in her late 30s at the time of the wedding. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Clarice or Clarisse in late 1839 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1 1/2 months, in January 1840; and Mathilda born in June 1841 but, called Matilda, died at age 1 (the recording priest said 2) in June 1842--five children, three sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1819 and 1841. André, fils, like his father, "was a large landholder, in 1860 operating a 1400-acre sugar plantation on Bayou Vermilion near [present-day] Lafayette with 85 slaves," enough to qualify him as a "great planter." André, fils died in Lafayette Parish in May 1867. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valérien, as he called him, died "at age 71 yrs." He was 69. His succession, calling him André and indentifying his second wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in July. Daughter Clarisse, by his second wife, married into the Mouton and Campbell families. Only one of André, fils's sons married.
Second son Valéry le jeune, also called Valéry André, from first wife Marie Cléonise Dugas, married, at age 24, Lodoiska, 17-year-old daughter of Joseph Dejean and his Acadian wife Arsène Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in March 1845. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Arsène, a daughter, in September 1846; Marie Cléonide, called Cléonide, in September 1848; André le jeune in August 1850 and, called André D., was emancipated in Lafayette Parish, age 18, in December 1868; Joseph Adrien born in May 1852; Joséphine in September 1854; Adrien le jeune in April 1856; and Mathilde in December 1827[sic, probably 1857] and baptized in September 1859--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1846 and 1857. Valéry le jeune died in Lafayette Parish in October 1867, five months after his father died there. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valérie, as he called him, died "at age 46 to 47 yrs." If he was the first Valéry le jeune, he would have been age 46. Daughters Arsène and Cléonide married into the Mouton and Judice families by 1870. None of Valéry le jeune's sons married by then.
André, père's third son Charles Zéphirin, at age 20, married Marie Caroline, called Caroline, daughter of Joseph Chevalier Daigle, a German Canadian, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Pélagie Doucet, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1823. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Azéma in September 1824; Charles, fils in April 1828 but died at age 19 (the recording priest said 20) in February 1848; Fernesse, Fernes, or Fernest born in 1830 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 8 months, in June 1831; Coralie born in June 1833; Orphise, probably a daughter, baptized at age 5 1/2 months in October 1836; Martial Thissapherne, also called Martial D., born in July 1838; Caroline, called Elmire and Edmire, in April 1841; Jules, actually Julie, in August 1843; Gabriel in c1847 but died at age 16 in February 1863; and André Mart born in November 1851--10 children, five daughters and five sons, between 1824 and 1851. Charles Zéphirin died in Lafayette Parish between October and December 1863. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that "Zephyrin" died "at age 52 yrs." He was 61. His succession, with a will dated 8 September 1853, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in January 1864. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Azéma, Coralie, Julie, and Elmire/Edmire married into the Boudreaux, Bienvenu, Martin, and Cochrane families by 1870. Two of Charles Zéphirin's sons also married by then.
Second son Fernes married Hélène Françoise, daughter of Robert, also called Herbert, Eastin and his Acadian wife Marie Arceneaux, at the Vermilionville church in October 1855. They settled near Youngsville, Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Charles Herbert in July 1856 but died at age 1 in August 1857; Marie Sanistelia born in January 1858; Joseph Edmond in October 1859; twins Félix and Herbert in August 1861; Edmond Zéphirin in January 1865 but died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in December 1867; Paul born in October 1866 but died the following March; Horace born in March 1870; ...
Charles, père's third son Martial married Mydia or Nydia, daughter of Robert Taylor and Nancy Anne Collins, at the Vermilionville church in November 1860. Their son Robert Bruce was born in Lafayette Parish in February 1862. "Mrs. Martial Martin" died in Lafayette Parish in March 1864, no age given. Martial remarried to Eveline or Evelina, daughter of Solomon Harmon and Sarah Celeste Collins, at the Opelousas church in December 1866. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Nydia in August 1867; Annette in August 1869; ...
Claude's second son Joseph-Marin, called Marin, married Marie-Anne, called Anne, Annette, and Nanette, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dugas and Anne dite Annette Thibodeaux of La Butte, at Attakapas in October 1799. They settled at Grande Pointe on the upper Teche. Their children, born there, included Mélanie in October 1800; Michel, also called Michel Aladin and Aladin, in c1802 or 1803 and baptized "at age about 18 mths." in August 1804; Joseph born in August 1804 but died 24 hours after his birth; another Joseph born in September 1805 and baptized "at La Pointe at the residence of [his deceased grandfather] Claude Martin" the following January; Arvillien born in the late 1800s or early 1810s but died "from falling off a horse" in August 1822, age unrecorded; Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, born in April 1812; Joseph Roséaimé, called Roséaimé, in February 1814 but, called Rose Aimée by the recording priest, died the following July; and Anne Aséma or Azéma born in January 1818--eight children, three daughters and five sons, between 1800 and 1818. Marin died in Lafayette Parish in August 1824. The priest who recorded the burial said that Marin was age 43 when he died and that his wife had died a day before he did. He was 51. His succession, naming his wife, had been filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in April 1824. Daughters Mélanie, Carmélite, and Azéma married into the Guidry, Riguez, and Beraud families. One of Marin's daughters, Anne Azéma, attended school at the Grand Coteau academy from November 1826, when she was age 9, until May 1830. Only one of Marin's remaining sons married. He created a vigorous line in Lafayette Parish.
Oldest son Michel Aladin married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Potier and Marie Mouton of Lafayette Parish, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in December 1823. They settled probably near Carencro, at the northern edge of the parish. Their children, born there, included Césaire in c1825 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 17 months, in March 1827; Adolphe, also called Louis Adolphe, baptized at age 3 months, 26 days, in September 1827; Michel Fileas or Philias, called Philias and also Joseph, born in February 1829; Pierre in July 1831; Alphrede, probably a daughter, in October 1832; Alexandre Flavius baptized at age 1 1/2 months in April 1834; Sosthène born in December 1835 but died at age 7 months the following July; Joseph Numa, called Numa, born in December 1837; Balthazar in the late 1830s or early 1840s; Jean Baptiste in March 1843; and André Aladin in the 1840s--11 children, 10 sons and a daughter, between 1825 and the 1840s. A succession, naming Michel Aladin and his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in August 1845; it would not have been post-mortem for him, so it may have been his wife's, not his, succession. If so, he did not remarry. Michel Aladin died in Lafayette Parish in April 1855. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Aladin, as he was called, died "at age 46 yrs." He was in his early 50s. His daughter did not marry by 1870, if she married at all. Eight of his sons married by then, and one of them died in Confederate service.
Oldest son Césaire married Marie Pamela, daughter of Ursin Patin and his Acadian wife Marie Aspasie Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in February 1847. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Philomène Amelia in March 1848; Cécile or Cécilia in November 1849, Alixe, probably a daughter, in December 1851; Aspasie in May 1854; Louis in July 1856; Emma in August 1858; Annah in April 1860; Paul in March 1862; Marie Athenais in May 1864; Adélaïde in May 1866; ... Daughters Philomène and Cécilia married into the LeBlanc and Albarado families by 1870. Neither of Césaire's sons married by then.
Michel Aladin's second son Louis Adolphe, called Adolphe, married Marie Erasie, called Erasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Hippolyte Eugène Breaux and his Creole wife Marie Joséphine Begnaud, at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in June 1848. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Mathilde in June 1849 but, called Mathilda, died near Breaux Bridge, age 1 1/2, in November 1850; Michel Aladin le jeune born near Grand Coteau in March 1850; Marie Elmire in St. Martin Parish in December 1854 but, called Marie, may have died in Lafayette Parish, age 11 1/2 (the recording priest said 13), in September 1866; Joséphine born in Lafayette Parish in February 1858; Jean in May 1860; and Marie Carmélite in February 1862--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1849 and 1862. Adolphe died perhaps in Lafayette Parish in December 1862, age 35. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September 1865. Was his death war-related? None of his children married by 1870.
Michel Aladin's third son Philias married Euphémie, daughter of Joseph Castille and his Acadian wife Marie Marthe Céleste LeBlanc, at the Breaux Bridge church in November 1850. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Omer in November 1851; Philomène in September 1854; Emérite in July 1856; a son, name unrecorded, died at age 4 months in December 1862; Émile born in May 1866; Irma in July 1870; ... None of Philias's children married by 1870.
Michel Aladin's fourth son Pierre married Fanelie, another daughter of Ursin Patin and Marie Aspasie Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in June 1854. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Helena in August 1855; Marie Élise in February 1857; Eugénie in May 1859; and Pierre Aladin in April 1861--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1855 and 1861. Six months after the birth of his son, at age 30, Pierre enlisted in Company F of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana. He was promoted to third corporal and accompanied his regiment to Tennessee in the spring of 1862. He was grievously wounded at the Battle of Shiloh in early April, fell into enemy hands, and was sent to the U.S. general hospital at St. Louis, Missouri, where he died of his wounds on April 19, still age 30. His succession, which names his wife and says he died on May 1, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in August 1865. None of his children married by 1870.
Michel Aladin's fifth son Alexandre married Honorine, another daughter of Hippolyte Eugène Breaux and Marie Joséphine Begnaud, at the St. Martinville church in November 1856. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie in Lafayette Parish in October 1857; Adelma in March 1859; Alexandre, fils in November 1862; Aloyde in January 1865; Marie Léa in March 1867; Léo near Breaux Bridge in April 1869; ...
Michel Aladin's seventh son Joseph Numa, called Numa, married Marie Caroline, called Caroline, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Valsin Mouton and his second wife Marie Carmélite Dugas, at the Vermilionville church in May 1861. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Louise near Grand Coteau in July 1862; Joseph Georges in Lafayette Parish in October 1863 but, called George, died at age 8 months in June 1864; Adonis born near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in August 1864; Armide, perhaps a son, died "at age 3 wks." in in Lafayette Parish in February 1866; Jean Palmyre born in November 1867; Louis Aimar in March 1869; ...
Michel Aladin's eighth son Balthazar married Octavie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dugas, fils and Marguerite Arminionne Hébert, at the Vermilionville church in February 1859. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Donatille in January 1860; Élodie in July 1866; ...
Michel Aladin's tenth and youngest son André Aladin married Azéma, daughter of Pierre Ozémé Constantin and Émelia Begnaud, at the Vermilionville church in October 1865; the marriage was recorded civilly in Lafayette Parish in October 1866. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie in December 1866; Émelie in October 1868; ...
Claude's third son Michel married Marguerite, daughter of Jean Baptiste Huval and his Acadian wife Anne dite Nanette Doucet of La Pointe, at Attakapas in September 1806. They settled at La Pointe on the upper Teche. Their children, born there, included Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in November 1807; Placide Norval in May 1810 but died "at his father's home at la pointe," age 17 1/2, in October 1827; Joseph Portalis born in September 1812 but died at age 2 in August 1814; and Marie, called Marie Euzèïde, born in August 1828--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1807 and 1828. Michel died in St. Martin Parish in November 1833. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Michel was age 54 when he died. He was 56. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in May 1834. Neither of his sons lived long enough to marry. Daughters Carmélite and Marie Euzèïde married into the Broussard and Voorhies families, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Claude's fourth son Valéry married Céleste or Célestine, another daughter of Jean Baptiste Huval and Nanette Doucet, at Attakapas in August 1805. They settled at La Pointe, today's Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Valéry, fils in November 1805 and baptized "at Lapointe, residence of widow Claude Martin" the following June but died "at his parents' home" at La Pointe, age 2 1/2, in September 1808; Placide born in September 1807 and baptized "au quartier dit de La Butte (the area called La Butte) at the home of [his uncle] André Martin" the following December; Marie Félonice or Félonise, called Félonise, born in April 1810 but died at age 3 in March 1813; Caroline born in October 1812; Laure in March 1815 but died at age 14 in February 1829; Louis, also called Louis Balthazar and Balthazar, born in August 1817; a daughter, name unrecorded, in c1820 but died at age 2 in September 1822; André le jeune, also called André Valsin and Valsin André, born in December 1820; and Siméon Valérien, called Valérien le jeune, in February 1826--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1805 and 1826. Valéry died in St. Martin Parish in November 1857. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Valéry died "at age 77 yrs." He was 75. His succession, calling him Vallery Sr., was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following January. Daughter Caroline married into the Mouton family but died only four months after her wedding. Four of Valéry's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Placide married Marie Erasie or Eurasie, called Eurasie, daughter of fellow Acadians François Bernard and Madeleine Broussard, at the St. Martinville church in September 1827. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Madeleine Félicité or Félicianne in July 1828; Placide Omer, called Omer or Homer, in July 1831[sic, perhaps 1830]; Siméon Valéry or Valéry Siméon in January 1832[sic]; and Albert Fileas in February 1833--four children, a daughter and three sons, between 1828 and 1833. A succession for wife Erasie, as she was called, probably post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August 1836. Placide died in St. Martin Parish in January 1846, age 39 (the recording priest said 40), probably a widower. His succession, naming his dead wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse later that month. Daughter Madeleine Félicianne married into the Rousseau family. Placide's three sons also married, none of them to fellow Acadians, two of them to sisters from a prominent French Creole family.
Oldest son Omer or Homer married Élise, daughter of Alexandre Estilette and Eugénie Calais, at the St. Martinville church in May 1855. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included William Martin in May 1856; Erazie in June 1857 but, called Erasie, died at age 2 in August 1858; René born in June 1859; Georges in April 1861; Marie Michaele in December 1864; Marie Eve in November 1866; Marie Théolymphe in July 1869; ... None of Omer's children married by 1870.
Placide's second son Siméon Valéry or Valéry Siméon married Marie Françoise Célina, called Célina, daughter of Maximilien Derneville DeBlanc and Marie Aspasie Castille, at the Breaux Bridge church in June 1849. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Louise near Breaux Bridge in June 1850; Agnès in August 1851; Robert in March 1853; Marie Aimée in February 1855; Marie Aspasie in March 1857 but, called simply "girl," may have died near Breaux Bridge, age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 9), in October 1867; Berthe born in November 1861; ... None of Siméon Valéry's children married by 1870.
Placide's third and youngest son Albert Fineas was "emancipated" by a decree issued at the St. Martinville courthouse in January 1852. He was just shy of age 19. He married Félicianne, another daughter of Maximilien Derneville DeBlanc and Marie Aspasie Castille, at the St. Martinville church in February 1857. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Gabriel Samuel in November 1857; Marie Laurence in August 1859; Henry Louis in August 1861; Placide Laurent in May 1863; Louis in August 1866; Charles Marie Oscar in February 1870; ...
Valéry, père's third son Louis Balthazar, called Balthazar, married, in his mid-30s, Julie, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvestre LeBlanc and Perosine Duhon, at the St. Martinville church in April 1853. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Corine in January 1854; Marie Laure, called Laure, in February 1855; Élizabeth near Breaux Bridge in January 1857 but, called Victorine Élizabeth, died near Breaux Bridge at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in November 1860; Angèle, a son, born in January 1859 but, called Jean Angèl, died near Breaux Bridge at age 1 year, 4 months in May 1860; and Marie born posthumously in November 1862--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1854 and 1862. Louis Balthazar died near Breaux Bridge in August 1862, age 45. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in September. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughter Laure married into the Hébert family by 1870. Balthazar's son died an infant, but the blood of this family line may have endured.
Valéry, père's fourth son André le jeune, also called André Valsin, Valsin André, and Valsaint A., married fellow Acadian Azélie Guidry at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in February 1841. Their children, born on the prairies, included Agnan Edgard, called Edgard or Edgar, in November 1841; Victor in March 1843; Joseph Valsin in 1846 but died at age 11 months in August 1847; a child, name and age unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish in January 1848; and Bazilis, probably Basilise, Célestine, probably a daughter, born near Breaux Bridge in June 1848. A succession for wife Azélie, calling her husband André Valsin, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in January 1852. André Valsin remarried to Louise, daughter of Robert Cochrane and Éliza Voorhies, at the Vermilionville church in January 1852. Their children, born on the prairies, included Paul in July 1853; Marie Caroline in January 1856; Jean Horace in February 1859; Robert in May 1860; a child, name unrecorded, died "at birth" in September 1862; Élisa born in November 1863; Joseph Albert in July 1866; Placide Charles in October 1868; ... None of André Valsin's daughters married by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Oldest son Edgard, by first wife Azélie Guidry, likely was the Edgar Martin who served as a private in Company C of the 8th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish. He enlisted in the company at Camp Moore, Tangipahoa Parish, in June 1861. The Confederate record said he was age 18, but he was 19. He followed his unit to Virginia, where, beginning in early 1862, it became part of General R. E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia--one of Lee's Louisiana Tigers--but Edgar was not with his company for very long. He was present with his unit through September 1861 and then fell ill. He lingered in the Louisiana Hospital at Richmond from October into November, when he was discharged from the hospital, as well as the service, and allowed to return home. At age 21, he married cousin Julie, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Zéphirin Martin and his German Canadian wife Marie Caroline Daigle, at the Vermilionville church in January 1863. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Joseph Claude in October 1863; Marie Aline in October 1865; Marie Louise in February 1869; ...
André le jeune's second son Victor, by first wife Azélie Guidry, married Ismène, daughter of fellow Acadian Sosthène Mouton and his Creole wife Eugénie Latiolais, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1861. In June 1861, soon after his marriage, Victor enlisted in Company C of the 8th Regiment Louisiana at Camp Moore with older brother Edgard. The Confederate record said Victor was age 20 when he enlisted, but he was 18. His enlistment record says he was a farmer. He followed his unit to Virginia and fell sick there. He lingered in the hospital at Culpeper, Virginia, from September to November, when he rejoined his company. He was present for duty from November 1861 to June 1862, so, unlike brother Edgard, Victor actually served as one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. In July 1862, perhaps after the Seven Day's Battles around Richmond, Victor fell ill again and was absent sick in a Virginia hosptial to August 1862, when he was granted a furlough to Louisiana. He did not return to his unit and was declared a deserter in March 1863. Wife Ismène, who evidently gave Victor no children, died after January 1866, when the couple sanctified their marriage at the Vermilionville church. Victor remarried to Sidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Alexandre Sidney Mouton and Marie Coralie Mouton of Lafayette Parish, at the St. Martinville church in December 1869; she was a niece of his first wife. Victor and Sidalise settled near Breaux Bridge. Their son Joseph André was born there in December 1870; ... One wonders what Victor's Mouton in-laws thought of his status as a deserter to the Confederate cause.
Valéry, père's fifth and youngest son Siméon Valérien, called Valérien le jeune, married Marthe Angelina or Angéline, another daughter of Sosthène Mouton and Eugénie Latiolais, at the Vermilionville church in February 1852. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Jean Sosthènes in November 1852; Sidney in April 1856; Auguste in May 1858; Marie Eugénie in September 1859; Edmond in November 1861; Marie Élodie in 1864 and baptized, age unrecorded, at the Breaux Bridge church in May 1864; Émile born in March 1866; Paul Alfred in September 1868; ... None of Siméon Valérien's children married by 1870.
Bonaventure (c1753-1817) à René à Barnabé Martin
Bonaventure, ninth and youngest son of Charles Martin and Jeanne Comeau, born probably at Annapolis Royal in c1753, while still very young, followed his older brother Claude into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Sometime in the late 1750s or early 1760s, he, along with his brother, either surrendered to, or was captured by, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. He followed his older siblings and the Broussards to New Orleans and Bayou Teche and remained with them in Attakapas, where Spanish officials counted him in the La Manque settlement on lower Bayou Teche in April 1766. He was still living in the prairie district in May 1777, a bachelor in his early 20s. He owned no slaves, but he held 38 head of cattle and 15 horses, so he had done well in his time on the prairies. In the late 1770s or early 1780s, he married Louise, daughter of Antoine Duverne and Louise LaPrade of New Orleans, probably at New Orleans and lived with her there. Their children, born in the city, included Pierre in December 1793 and baptized at the New Orleans church, age 3, in December 1796; and Jean-Marie died a "very young child" at New Orleans in October 1799. They, or at least Bonaventure, did not remain in the city. In the early 1800s, he left New Orleans and settled on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé on the Opelousas prairie, where he took up with fellow Acadian and cousin Anne Eléonore, called Eléonore, Comeaux. Their "natural" children, born on the prairie bayou, included Prosper or Prospere in c1807; and Anne in the early 1800s--four children, three sons and a daughter, by two "wives," between 1793 and the early 1800s. Called "spouse of Marie Duvernet [and] inhabitant at Plaquemine Broule (Brulée[sic])" by the priest who recorded the burial, Bonaventure died "at his home" in December 1817. The priest said Bonaventure was age 75 when he died. He likely was in his mid-60s. His succession was recorded in April 1818 at the St. Landry Parish courthouse in Opelousas. Daughter Anne, by Eléonore Comeaux, married into the Richard family. Bonaventure's line of the family survived through a "natural son" who settled in St. Landry Parish. Like his sister, the son remained on the Opelousas prairies.
Third and youngest son Prosper, by Eléonore Comeaux, married Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians François Richard and Hélène Brasseaux, at the Opelousas church in January 1826; Azélie's brother François, fils was the husband of Prosper's sister Anne. In 1850, Prosper worked as a carpenter. In 1860, he was working as a "school master." His and Azélie's children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Azélie in January 1827; Prospère or Prosper, fils in January 1830; Louise in June 1833; Bonaventure le jeune dit Bonna in October 1836; Hélène in c1837; and Alex in c1850--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1827 and 1850. Prosper died "at Plaquemine," perhaps Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, St. Landry Parish, in June 1867. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Prosper died "at age 60 yrs." His succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July. Daughters Louise and Hélène married into the Hidalgo and Matte families by 1870. One of Prosper's sons also married by then.
Older son Prosper, fils may have married Elizabeth Carr, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born on the prairies, included Thomas Bonaventure in St. Landry Parish in February 1861; Prosper III near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in May 1862; ...
Ambroise dit Barnabé, fils (c1734-1796) à René à Barnabé Martin
Ambroise dit Barnabé, fils, oldest son of Ambroise dit Barnabé Martin and his first wife Anne Cyr and Claude and Bonaventure's first cousin, born probably at Chignecto in c1734, followed his family to Île St.-Jean in c1742 and was counted with his widowered father and siblings at Malpèque on the northwest shore of the island in August 1752. In late 1758, they, along with many other Acadians at Malpèque, escaped the British roundup on the island, and Ambroise, fils followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. He married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Godin dit Bellefontaine dit Lincour and Françoise Dugas of Rivière St.-Jean, in c1759, place unrecorded. Soon after their marriage, they either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held at in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. Their daughter Hélène was born in c1761, either in exile or during imprisonment. EnbeRoize Martin, as he was called, his unnamed wife, and six children appeared on a repatriation list at Halifax in August 1763. One wonders when the couple could have had so many children since their marriage had occurred only four years earlier, so some of the "children" may have been orphans under their care. Daughter Élisabeth or Isabelle was born at "La huauve," perhaps La Hève, down the coast from Halifax, in c1764, on the eve of their going to Louisiana with the Broussards later that year. They took only their two daughters there. From New Orleans, which they reached in late Febuary 1765, they followed the Broussards and sister Marguerite and her Robichaud husband to lower Bayou Teche, but they did not remain. Probably to escape the epidemic that struck the Teche valley Acadians that summer and fall, which killed his brother-in-law, Ambroise, fils and his family retreated to Cabahannocer on the river, where three of his younger brothers who had come to the colony on later ships had gone; sister Marguerite remained on the Teche. Spanish officials counted Ambroise, fils and his family at Cabahannocer in April 1766. They may have lived on the river near the boundary between the Cabahannocer district and the upper German Coast. Their other children, born there, included Marguerite baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1770; Rosalie born in September 1772 and baptized at the St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands church on the upper German Coast in November; Paul-Ambroise baptized at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in February 1775 but died in St. Martin Parish, age 74, in March 1849 (his last will was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the day after his death); Dominique baptized at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in January 1777; and Marguerite-Aimée baptized there, age unrecorded, in November 1780--at least seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1761 and 1780, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. In January 1777, they were living on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer. By 1779, Ambroise, fils owned a single slave there. He died at Cabahannocer in January 1796. The priest who recorded the burial said that Ambroise died at "age 70 years." He was closer to 62. Daughters Hélène, Isabelle, and Marguerite married into the Fontenot, Grabert, and Boucad families on the river. One of his sons joined his cousins on the western prairies, but neither he nor his brother married. Except perhaps for its blood, then, this line of the family did not endure in the Bayou State.
Joseph (c1741-1807) à René à Barnabé Martin
Joseph, second son of Paul dit Barnabé Martin and Marguerite Cyr and first cousin of Claude, Bonaventure, and Ambroise, fils, born probably at Chignecto in c1741, evidently escaped with members of his family to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore in 1755. In the late 1750s or early 1760s, he either surrendered to, or was captured by, British forces in the area, and held in a prisoner compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. He and a younger brother followed the Broussards from Halifax to Louisiana in 1764-65 and settled with them on lower Teche in the spring of 1765. Joseph married Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Thibodeaux and Marguerite Trahan and widow of Charles Pellerin, probably at Attakapas in c1769. They remained on the Teche. Their children, born there, included Esther in the early 1770s; and Françoise-Pélagie, called Pélagie, in January 1773. Joseph owned two slaves on the Teche by 1777, and held five slaves, two males and three females, in 1785. He died at his home in St. Martin Parish in May 1807. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph "of Bayou Teych, of Acadie," died "at home ... at age 66 yrs." Daughters Esther and Françoise Pélagie married into the Dugas, Breaux, Moreau, Doucet, and Savoie families, Esther twice and Françoise three times. If Joseph and Isabelle had any sons, none of them married, but the blood of the family line likely endured.
Pierre (c1745-?) à René à Barnabé Martin
Pierre, youngest son of Paul dit Barnabé Martin and Marguerite Cyr, born probably at Chignecto in c1745, evidently escaped with members of his family to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore in 1755. In the late 1750s or early 1760s, he either surrendered to, or was captured by, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. In 1764-65, he and older brother Pierre followed the Broussards to Louisiana and lower Bayou Teche. Pierre may not have married, so his line of the family died with him.
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Six more Barnabé Martins--a middle-aged widow and her two unmarried male cousins, a young husband and his wife, and two wives and their families, all siblings or first cousins--also came to the colony in 1765 from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, but their ships came later in year. They did not follow the Broussards to the Attakapas District but settled at the established Acadian community at Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. Several more family lines came of it, not only on the river, but also on upper Bayou Lafourche, which became a third center of Barnabé Martin family settlement:
Joseph dit Barnabé (c1739-1790s) à René à Barnabé Martin
Joseph dit Barnabé, second son of Ambroise dit Barnabé Martin, père and his first wife Anne Cyr and brother of Ambroise, fils, born probably at Chignecto in c1736, followed his family to Île St.-Jean in 1742 and was counted with his widowered father and siblings at Malpèque in August 1752. He followed them into exile in the 1750s and married fellow Acadian Marguerite Pitre in c1760, place unrecorded. They, too, either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in the prison compound at Halifax, where they appeared on a repatriation list with no children in August 1763. They emigrated to Louisiana from Halifax in 1764-65, still childless, but they did not follow his brother Ambroise, fils and sister Marguerite to lower Bayou Teche. Joseph and wife Marguerite settled, instead, at Cabahannocer. Their children, born there, included Joseph, fils in c1765; Marguerite in April 1768 and baptized at the New Orleans church in April 1769; Marie baptized at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in December 1770; Michel baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1773; Pélagie baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1775; and Paul le jeune baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1779--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1765 and 1779. They lived on the river near the boundary between the Cabahannocer and upper German Coast districts, where Spanish officials counted them in April 1766, and they were living in New Orleans in April 1769, when a daughter was baptized there. They were back at Cabahannocer in January 1777 on the left, or east, bank of the river. Two years later, they held two slaves at Cabahannocer. Joseph died by December 1795, when his wife was counted in an upper Bayou Lafourche census without a husband. She did not remarry. Daughter Pélagie married into the Broussard family at Cabahannocer. Two of Joseph's sons also married there but, during the early antebellum period, settled in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley, where they established a third center of Martin family settlement that soon outnumbered their cousins on the river.
Oldest son Joseph, fils married Marie, daughter of Pierre Charpentier and Jeanne Moulard or Moutard of New Orleans, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in October 1787. Their children, born there, included Joseph-Louis or Louis-Joseph, perhaps also called Maximilien, in April 1789 but may have died at age 25 in October 1814; Louis, also called Louis Joseph, born in August 1790; Michel le jeune in August 1792; Marie-Anastasie, also called Marie-Natalie, in December 1794; Marguerite-Josèphe or Joséphine, called Joséphine, in August 1797; Marie-Euphrosine in June 1801; Georges-Saintville, called Saintville, in September 1802; Marie Mathilde in August 1804; Martin in November 1806 but died 10 days after his birth; Céleste Mathilde born in c1808; Chrysostôme or Chrejustin dit Justin in January 1809; Élise Euphrosine in c1810; and Marie Célanie in c1814--13 children, six sons and seven daughters, between 1789 and 1814. During the early antebellum period, the family joined the Acadian exodus from the river to Bayou Lafourche. Joseph's succession inventory, naming his wife, was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in November 1815. He would have been in his mid-50s that year. Daughters Marie Natalie, Élise Euphrosine, Céleste Mathilde, Joséphine, and Marie Célanie married into the Thibodeaux, Lepine, Babin, St. Pierre, Sicard, and Price families. One wonders if Joseph, fils's daughter was the Joséphine Martin who gave birth to "natural" daughter Marguerite Artémise Antoinette in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1822, when Joséphine would have been age 24. Four of Joseph, fils's sons also married. In a reversal of the usual Acadian settlement pattern, one of them returned to the river, but Joseph, fils's other sons and his daughters remained on the Lafourche.
Second son Louis, also called Louis Joseph, married Marie Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Charles Theriot and Madeleine Landry of St. James Parish, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1811. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Azélie in June 1816[sic] and Etelvine in December 1816[sic], perhaps twins; Clémentine in July 1818; Marie Doralise in March 1820; Marie Louise in January 1822; Élisa Pamela in March 1824; Louis Leisin or Lessin, also called Louis, fils, in February 1826; Joseph Michel in March 1828; and Orelien or Aurelien Laurent in December 1834--nine children, six daughters and three sons, perhaps including a set of twins, between 1816 and 1834. Joseph may have died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1849. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph Martin died "at age 70 yrs." Joseph Louis would have been a few months shy of 60. Daughters ... married into the Araby, Comardelle, Faucheux, Foret, Price, and Rome families by 1870. One of Louis Joseph's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Louis Lessin, called Louis, fils, married Scholastique dite Colastie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Auguste Babin and his Creole wife Justine Toups, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1846. Their chlidren, born on the lower Lafourche, included Louis Amédée in December 1847; Auguste Théodule, called Théodule, near Raceland in April 1850; Gustave in September 1853; Célestine in March 1857; Félix Morance in September 1859; Joseph Armand in April 1865; Marie Armantine in August 1868; ... One of Louis's sons married by 1870.
Second son Théodule married cousin Célina, daughter of Eugène Pertuit and his Acadian wife Éliza Babin, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in May 1870. ...
Joseph, fils's third son Michel le jeune, living in Lafourche Interior Parish, married Délise or Élise, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Bourgeois and Madeleine Thibodeaux, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in July 1822. They lived in Lafourche Interior Parish before returning to St. James Parish by 1830. Their children, born on the Lafourche and the river, included Michel Paulin near Thibodauxville in June 1823; Marie Élisa or Élisabeth in November 1825 but died near Convent, St. James Parish, age 14, in October 1839; and Marie Lise born near Convent in November 1830--three children, a son and two daughters, between 1823 and 1830. Michel le jeune may have been the Michel Martin who died near Convent in July 1833; the recording priest did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give Michel's age at the time of his passing. If this was him, he would have been age 40 that year. His remaining daughter did not marry by 1870, if she married at all. His son did. He settled near Convent, married French-Creole sisters, and was the only Acadian Martin family head who remained on the river.
Only son Michel Paulin married Louisa, daughter of Maximien Roussel and Marcellite Louque, at the Convent church in June 1844. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and St. John the Baptist parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Hortensia or Orthensia in January 1845; Rodolphe or Randolph in July 1846; and John in December 1848. Michel remarried to Célestine, another daughter of Maximien Roussel and Marcellite Louque, at the Convent church in July 1853; they had to secure a dispensation for first degree of affinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included Wanburen, probably Van Buren, in March 1857; Louisa in September 1858; Maurice in September1860; Léopold in July 1862; Célestine in July 1864; Louis in February 1866; a child, name unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died at "age a few hours" in November 1867; Benjamin born in October 1868; ... None of Michel Paulin's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Randolph "of St. John the Baptiste Parish," by first wife Louisa Roussel, married, at age 22, cousin Florestine, daughter of Antoine Elphége Poché and his Acadian wife Madeleine Bourgeois, at the Convent church in March 1869; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. ...
Joseph, fils's fourth son Georges Saintville, called Saintville and Serville, married Marie Héloise, called Héloise and Éloise, 26-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Maurice Blanchard and his Creole wife Marie Madeleine Foreman, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in April 1830. Their children, born on the bayou, included Marie Marcelline in January 1833; Neuville in March 1834 but died at age 22 in February 1856; Pierre born in February 1837; Justin le jeune in March 1839[sic]; Joseph le jeune in April 1839[sic, perhaps 1840 or 1841]; Marie Arthémise in October 1840; and Paul in February 1843--seven children, two daughters and five sons, between 1833 and 1843. Neither of Saintville's daughters married by 1870, but four of his sons did.
Second son Pierre married Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse Robichaux and Marcelline Forest, at the Raceland church, Lafourche Parish, in May 1857. Daughter Anastasie Ezilda was born near Raceland in April 1858. Did they have anymore children?
Saintville's third son Justin le jeune married Octavie, daughter of Abraham Bourgeois, fils, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and Marie Elisca Picou, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in May 1866. Their son Joseph Elphége had been born near Raceland in April 1864; ...
Saintville's fourth son Joseph le jeune married Evéline, daughter of Alexis Autin, fils and his Acadian wife Célanise Bergeron, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in July 1858. Their children, born near Raceland, included Marie Eglantine in June 1859; Joseph Clovis in April 1862; Marie Joséphine in October 1864; Ernest Cléophas in July 1866; Émile Alexis in April 1869; ...
Saintville's fifth and youngest son Paul married Élisa, daughter of Toussaint Damos, Danoe, or Danos and Armance Bourgeois, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, at the Thibodaux church in October 1870; Paul's brother Justin le jeune's wife's father was Paul's wife's mother's brother. ...
Joseph, fils's sixth and youngest son Chrysostôme or Chrejustin dit Justin married Marie Modeste, called Modeste, 19-year-old daughter of Jacques Lecompte and his Acadian wife Marie Babin, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1829. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Anaïse, called Anaïse, in March 1830; Henry Justin, called Justin, in July 1832; Marie Nesille L., called Enesilde, in September 1834; Marguerite Anatole in June 1841; Marcellin[e] Palmire, called Palmire, in July 1843; Élise Martiner, also called Adèle Élise, in January 1837; Justine in February 1840; Joseph Justilien, called Justilien, in January 1846; Mathilde Eugénie in November 1848; and Adèle near Raceland in April 1852--10 children, seven daughters and three sons, between 1830 and 1852. Daughters Anaïse, Enesilde, Adèle Élise, Palmire, Justine, Marguerite, and Mathilde married into the Gervais, Folse, Falgout, Robichaux, Lejeune, and Bourgeois families, two of them, Enesilde and Palmire, to Folse brothers, by 1870. Two of Justin's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Henry Justin, called Justin, married Marie Aglaé, called Aglaé, daughter of Jean Baptiste Duplantis and Séraphine Charpentier, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1855. Their children, born on the edge of the coastal marshes, included Jean Baptiste Henry near Raceland in May 1856; Justin Gérard in Terrebonne Parish in April 1858; Marie Élise in June 1862; Olympe Modeste in September 1863; Louis Joseph near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in November 1865; Ursule Justilia in October 1867; ...
Justin's third son Justilien married Anastasie, daughter of Paul Grabert and Hermense Hotard, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in May 1866. Their children, born near Raceland, included François Justilien in October 1867; Marie Evellia in November 1869; ...
Joseph, père's second son Michel married Marguerite, daughter of Jacques Grabert and Marianne Pommier of St.-Charles des Allemands on the lower German Coast, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in November 1793. During the early antebellum period, they, too, moved to Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Michel-Ambroise, called Ambroise and also Michel, fils, in November 1794; twins Damien and another son, name unrecorded, in October 1797, but the son with the unrecorded name died at age 15 months in December 1798; Mélanie born in c1799 but died at age 1 in August 1800; Marie-Mélanie born in September 1801; Joachim in November 1803; Jacques in November 1805; François Maxim in August 1808; Marie Rose probably in the 1810s; Eugénie probably in the 1810s; and Eléonore in July 1817--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1794 and the 1810s. Daughters Marie Mélanie, Marie Rose, Eugénie, and Eléonore married into the Thibodeaux, LeBlanc, Duplantis, De La Torre, and Arenas families. Five of Michel's sons also married. His older sons settled in Lafourche Interior Parish, but his younger sons moved down the valley to Montegut and Chacahoula in Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Michel Ambroise, called Ambroise and Michel, fils, was living in Lafourche Interior Parish when he married Françoise Aspasie or Aspasie Françoise, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Boudreaux and Victoire Gautreaux of Thibodauxville, at the Plattenville church in February 1820. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Michel Ambroise, fils in November 1820; Marie Mélanie in December 1821; Marie Virginie in August 1823 but, called Virginie, died at age 2 1/2 in November 1825; Pierre Eugène born in February 1825; Clervil or Clerville Fleroial in March 1827; Adélaïde Aveline in December 1828; Joachim George, called George, in April 1830; Marie Élisa, called Élisa and Mélissa, in June 1832; Zéolide died at age 17 days in October 1834; Paul Elfége or Elphége born in February 1836; Amédéa or Amédée Théophile in March 1839; and Ulisse or Ulysse Adrien, called Adrien, in March 1843--a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters, between 1820 and 1843. Michel Ambroise, père's succession inventory was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1860. A petition for "appointment of tutor" for two of his children--Adrien and George--calling him Michel, his wife Aspasie, and saying she was dead, was filed at the same courthouse the following June. Michel Ambroise would have been age 66 that year. Daughter Désirée Marie "Entered Society 22 July 1850 at Grand Coteau," which means she became a nun. Other daughters Marie Mélanie and Élisa married into the Kellingsworth or Killingworth and Larkin families by 1870. Two of Michel Ambroise's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Michel Ambroise, fils, called Michel, Jr., married Hippoline dite Pauline, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Thibodeaux and Martine Haché, at the Thibodaux church in May 1844. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Angélique in June 1845 but, called Marie, may have died in Lafourche Parish, age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said "age 6 or 7 years") in October 1852; Marie Julia born in December 1854; Jacques Édouard, called Édouard, in August 1846; Joseph Oleus Adrien in October 1848; Marie Philomène in late 1850 but died at age 3 1/2 months the following February; Pierre François Xavier born in December 1852; a child, name and age unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died "during [a] yellow fever epidemic" in October 1853; and Villeor Ozéma born in October 1857--eight children, at least four daughters and three sons, between 1845 and 1857. None of Michel Ambroise, fils's daughters married by 1870, but two of his sons did, on the western prairies.
Oldest son Édouard married Louise or Louisa, daughter of Charles Simon and his Acadian wife Perodine Leger, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1869. Daughter Pauline was born in Lafayette Parish in March 1869; ...
Michel Ambroise, fils's second son Joseph married Marie Erminie, daughter of fellow Acadians Stainville Trahan and Marie Cydalise Trahan, at the Vermilionville church in February 1869. ...
Michel, fils's fourth son Joachim George, called George by the parish clerk, may have, at age 29, married Rosalie Serazine, called Serazine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Lanoux and Marguerite Savoie of St. James Parish, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in May 1859. Daughter Marie Laura was born in Lafourche Parish in March 1860; ...
Michel, père's second son Damien, also called Dantin and Dan, a twin, married Marie Théoliste or Théotiste Josèphe, 15-year-old daughter of François Malbrough and his Acadian wife Marie Madeleine Duhon, at the Thibodauxville church in February 1822. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Milicère, called Milicère, in December 1822; Émile in July 1828; Louis Janvier in September 1830; Rositte Sylayee or Célina, called Célina, in August 1834; and Joseph Théodule in September 1837--five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1822 and 1837. Daughters Rositte/Célina and Milicère married into the Savoie, Dubois, and Domingue families, one of them twice, by 1870. Two of Damien's sons also married by then and settled in Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Émile married Marguerite Pamela, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Foret and his Creole wife Céleste Schweitzer, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in September 1850. Did they have anymore children?
Dantin's third and youngest son Joseph married Anaïse or Judise, daughter of Anatole Matherne and his Acadian wife Céleste Savoie of Lafourche Parish, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in July 1864. They settled near Montegut. Their children, born there, included Joseph Aleban in October 1865; Robert Émile in April 1869; ...
Michel, père's fourth son Joachim married Euphrosine dite Phroisine, daughter of Pierre Rousseau and Rosalie Fontenot, at the Thibodauxville church in May 1834; the marriage was recorded also in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marguerite Eufrosilie or Frazeilie Marguerite in February 1835; Joachim Evariste, called Evariste, in January 1837; and Zénon Marcel in July 1839 but died at age 10 1/2 months in June 1840--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1835 and 1839. Daughter Frazelie Marguerite married into the Watkins family in Terrebonne Parish. Joachim's remaining son also married there.
Older son Evariste married Édolie, Édolide, Édalie, or Édalide, perhaps Élodie, daughter of fellow Acadians C. Jérôme Guidry and Nanette Arcement of Terrebonne Parish, at the Houma church in July 1858. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Joseph Ellis in May 1859; Marie Geoltine in August 1860; Marie Noella in April 1862; Joseph Florest in January 1864; Joseph Wiltz in February 1866; Joseph Elfried in October 1867; Euphrosie Alicia in December 1868; Joseph Ivans in March 1870; ...
Michel, père's fifth son Jacques married Marie Pauline or Pauline Marie, also called Juliènne Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Honoré Breaux and Marie Félicité Trahan, at the Thibodauxville church in August 1831; the marriage also was recorded in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Élisa in November 1832; Léanier or Léonide Ofillia, Ophilia, or Ophelia, in November 1834; Jacques, fils in July 1837; Pamela Mathilde in May 1839; Aimé Théophile in October 1841; Charles Faustin, called Faustin, in February 1844; and Joseph le jeune in July 1846--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1832 and 1846. Daughters Léonide Ophelia and Pamela Mathilde married Malbrough brothers. All four of Jacques's sons also married.
Oldest son Jacques, fils may have married fellow Acadian Azélie, called Zélie, Boudreaux, place and date unrecorded. They lived perhaps near the boundary between Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Théodore in February 1861 but died the following November; Raphile, probably Raphaël, O. born in August 1862; Félicia Parphilia in May 1865; Marie Eve in January 1867; Jacques Augustin in November 1869; ...
Jacques, père's second son Aimé married Anaïs, daughter of fellow Acadians Hubert Landry and Pélagie Boudreaux, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in July 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church in July 1867. They settled at Chacahoula, near the boundaries between Lafourche, Assumption, and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Théophile Hubert in November 1867; Joseph Nicolas in November 1870; ...
Jacques, père's third son Faustin married Christiana Élisa, daughter of Joseph Dosquet or Dosky and Mary Stenbury, at the Thibodaux church in July 1865. They settled near Chacahoula. Their children, born there, included Dolphina Luvinia in December 1866; Joseph Alfred in February 1869; ...
Jacques, père's fourth and youngest son Joseph le jeune married Cécilia, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Henry and Gertrude Landry, at the Thibodaux church in February 1867. Daughter Eve Luvinia was born in Lafourche Parish in December 1868; ...
Michel, père's sixth and youngest son François Maxim married Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Chiasson and Marcellite Thibodeaux, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in April 1834, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodauxville church in May. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Jean Pierre in March 1834; Jean Pierre François, called François, fils, in March 1835; Victorin in December 1838 but died at age 20 (the recording priest said 19) in December 1858; Evariste Justinien or Justilien, called Justilien and perhaps Justin, born in June 1841; Joseph in October 1842 but, called Joseph Oscar, died at age 5 in September 1847; and Marie Félicie born in December 1845--six daughters, five sons and a daughter, between 1834 and 1845. Daughter Félicie married into the Larousse family by 1870. Two of François Maxim's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son François, fils married Anaïse, daughter of fellow Acadian Hippolyte Hébert and his Creole wife Farelise Rose Forgeron, at the Thibodaux church in February 1859. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Louis Justilien in Lafourche Parish in January 1863; Marie Justilia in October 1865; ...
François Maxim's fourth son Justilien married Marie, daughter of Jacques Duet or Dhuet and his Acadian wife Adèle Molaison, at the Thibodaux church in October 1863. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Eve Georgina in September 1866; Marie Cécile in November 1869; ... Justilien may have died near Raceland in January 1870. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parent's names or mention a wife, said that Justin, as he called him, died "at age 28 yrs." Justilien would have been age 29.
François (c1746-?) à René à Barnabé Martin
François, sixth son of Ambroise dit Barnabé Martin, père, by his second wife Émiliènne Comeau, born on Île St.-Jean in c1746, was counted with his widowered father and siblings at Malpèque in August 1752. He followed them into exile in 1758, into the prison compound at Halifax, and to Louisiana in 1765. Like older half-brother Joseph, François settled at Cabahannocer, where he married Cécile, daughter of Julien DeGirre and Hélène Dubois of Ginet, France, in February 1781. Their son Joachim was born at Cabahannocer in August 1795 and joined his cousins on the western prairies.
Only son Joachim moved to the prairies when he came of age and died "at the home of Mr. Godrau in this town of St. Martin" on Bayou Teche in October 1828. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joachim died "at age about 35 years." He was 33. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, later that month. Joachim probably did not marry, so his family line likely died with him.
Paul dit Barnabé (c1749-1815) à René à Barnabé Martin
Paul dit Barnabé, seventh and youngest son of Ambroise dit Barnabé Martin, père, by his second wife Émiliènne Comeau, born on Île St.-Jean in c1748, was counted with his widowered father and siblings at Malpèque in August 1752. He followed them into exile in 1758, into the prison compound at Halifax, and to Louisiana in 1765. Like older brothers Joseph and François, Paul settled at Cabahannocer, where Spanish officials counted him on the left, or east, bank of the river, still a bachelor, in January 1777. He married Marie-Françoise, called Françoise, daughter of André Oubre and Marie-Élisabeth Bonvillain of St.-Charles des Allemands on the lower German Coast, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in January 1779. They lived on the river near the boundary between the Cabahannocer district and the upper German Coast. Their children, born there, included Magloire baptized at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in November 1779; Régis baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1781; Marie-Françoise born in October 1782 and baptized at the St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands church on the upper German Coast the following January; Noël born in December 1784 but died near Convent, St. James Parish, age 31, in October 1815; Justine born in August 1788; Maximilien in May 1790 but died near Convent, age 24, in October 1814; Symphorien born in January 1792; Claire or Clarice in December 1793; Joachim in August 1795; Mélanie in July 1796; Eugénie in July 1800; and a daughter, name unrecorded, "recently born," died in March 1802--a dozen children, six sons and six daughters, between 1779 and 1802. Paul died near Convent in August 1815. The priest who recorded the burial said that Paul was "age 64" when he died. Daughters Marie Françoise, Justine, Clarice, Mélanie, and Eugénie married into the Rogers, Backley, Fontenot, St. Pierre, and Oubre families on the river. Only one of Paul's sons seems to have married. If the family line endured, it was one of only two Martin families still on the Acadian Coast during the early antebellum period.
Oldest son Magloire married Mélanie Hoemen, place and date unrecorded. Their son Paul Magloire was born at St. James in June 1806 and did not marry, if he married at all, by 1870.
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A sister of two of the young bachelor brothers who settled with their cousins on lower Bayou Teche came to the colony in 1765 or 1766 not from Halifax but directly from French St.-Domingue, where she and her Olivier husband had gone from South Carolina in 1763 or 1764. Spanish officials counted them with their young son at New Orleans in July 1767. They evidently remained in the city.
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The arrival date of two Barnabé Martins evidently has been lost to history. One of them, a young woman in her 20s, does not appear in Louisiana records until her marriage to a Savoie widower at Attakapas in August 1769. Except for a brief interlude at Cabahannocer in the late 1770s, she and her husband remained in the prairie district near her cousins. The other Barnabé Martin does not appear in Louisiana records until February 1774, when he married at Cabahannocer. No new lasting family line came of it:
Anselme (c1750-early 1780s) à Charles? à René à Barnabé Martin
Anselme, son, perhaps, of Pierre Martin and Marie-Josèphe Thibodeau, born in c1750 perhaps at Annapolis Royal, first appears in Louisiana records in February 1774, when he married Marie-Théotiste, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Hébert dit Manuel and Claire Robichaux of Cobeguit, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church on the river. The priest who recorded the marriage noted that Anselme's parents were Paul Martin and Marie Thibodeau "of Acadia." Did the priest mean to say Pierre Martin and Marie Thibodeau? If so, he would have been a nephew of two of the Barnabé Martins, Claude and Bonaventure, who followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche in the spring of 1765 and a cousin of the rest of the family members in the colony. Anselme and Marie-Théotiste left Cabahannocer soon after their marriage, crossed the Atchafalaya Basin, and resettled in the Attakapas District. Spanish officials counted them there in May 1777. Their son Valéry, perhaps their only child, was baptized at the St.-Jacques Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in July 1775. By 1781, they held 10 arpents of frontage on one of the prairie bayous and 20 animals. Anselme died by December 1783, in his early 30s, when his wife remarried at Attakapas. His son probably died young, so this line of the family did not endure.
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Marie-Josèphe, a Barnabé Martin widow, with her four children, three daughters and a son, whose father was French surgeon Louis Courtin, was the only Acadian Martin to come to Louisiana from France. Marie-Josèphe and her children crossed aboard Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of August 1785. The oldest daughter married Spanish sailor Juan Garcia aboard ship during the crossing. Marie-Josèphe, her unmarried children, and the older daughter and her husband followed their fellow passengers to Baton Rouge. The second daughter married two Spaniards. Marie-Josèphe did not remarry.
Louis Mezerrolet or Mazerolle dit Saint-Louis, born in France in c1661, married 29-year-old Geneviève Forest, widow of François Savary, at Port-Royal in c1692. Louis and Geneviève had at least four children, three daughters and a son. In late August 1714, after the Treat of Utrecht had left peninsula Acadia in the hands of the British, Louis dit Saint-Louis and other Acadians at Annapolis Royal, at the behest of French officials and with permission from the British, traveled aboard the ship Marie Joseph to Île Royale, formerly Cape Breton Island, to look at land in the new French colony. Most of the Acadians returned to Annapolis Royal, unimpressed with what they had seen. Not so Louis and his family. They settled at Port-Toulouse on Île Royale before moving on to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island. Louis dit Saint-Louis died probably on one of the Maritime islands in late 1747 or early 1748, in his late 80s. Two of his daughters, Cécile and Marie, married into the Roy, Darembourg, and Philippe dit La Roche families. Cécile settled at Minas, and Marie remained in the French Maritimes. Louis's son Joseph also married, into the Doiron and Daigre families, and settled near his sister Cécile at Minas. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered the family even farther.
When the British rounded up the Acadians at Minas in the autumn of 1755, they deported them to Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New England. Joseph Mazerolle, second wife Anne Daigre, and most of their children ended up in Massachusetts. During the British roundup at Minas, third son Simon, age 12, became separated from the family and ended up on a ship headed for Virginia. From their arrival in mid-November 1755, exiles died on the filthy, crowded ships anchored in Hampton Roads while Virginia authorities pondered their fate. As winter approached, Acadians from one vessel were moved up to Richmond, two of the vessels were unloaded at Hampton, and two more at Norfolk. The following spring, the governor, his council, and the colony's Burgesses debated the question and concluded that the "papists" must go. In May, the first shipment of Acadians in hired vessels left for England, and in two weeks all of them had gone: 299 to Bristol, 250 to Falmouth, 340 to Southampton, and 336 to Liverpool--1,225 exiles in all by one count. They were packed into warehouses in the English ports, where many of them died of smallpox. By 1763, more than half of them were dead. Simon Mazerolle, age 20 that year, was among the survivors.
In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England were repatriated to France. While his family was still languishing at Boston, Simon Mazerolle landed at St.-Malo in May 1763 aboard the transport La Dorothée. He crossed with the family of Pierre Aucoin, described on the ship's roll as Simon's "brother," but they were not kin. Simon followed the Aucoins to Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of Rivière Rance south of the Breton port and became a rope maker. He married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Claude Trahan and Hélène Aucoin of Rivière-aux-Canards, at Plouër in November 1763. Marguerite also had endured exile in Virginia, deportation to England, and had come to France aboard La Dorothée, so she and Simon may have known one another since childhood. They lived at nearby Pleslin from 1764 to 1766 before moving to the St.-Malo suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer in 1767. Between 1765 and 1777, at Pleslin and St.-Servan, Marguerite gave Simon five children, two sons and three daughters. During the 1760s and 1770s, Simon and his family did not participate in the settlement schemes on Belle-Île-en-Mer or in Poitou. They nevertheless left St.-Malo, crossed Brittany, and were living in the lower Loire port of Nantes in September 1784. Despite the loss of only one child and long-time residence in the St.-Malo area, life in the mother country must have had its terrors for Simon and his family. When the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, Simon Mazerolle and wife Marguerite, like most of the Acadians in France, agreed to take it.
Meanwhile, in North America, Joseph Mazerolle, wife Anne Daigre, and the rest of his family languished with hundreds of other exiles in Massachusetts. They do not appear on a repatriation list circulating in that colony in August 1763, but they likely appear on a list of "the French Who Wish to Go to Canada" from Massachusetts compiled in June 1766. Later that year or in early 1767, Joseph and his family repatriated not to Canada but to greater Acadia. Oldest son Joseph, fils's marriage to a Thibodeau, made at Boston in January 1764, was "rehabilitated" at Québec in February 1767, or at least the rehabilitation was recorded there. The family settled at Madawaska on upper Rivière St.-Jean on the border of present-day Maine and New Brunswick. Joseph, père's youngest son Pierre married a Trahan in November 1776 (the marriage, too, was recorded at Québec) and also settled at Madawaska. Joseph, père died there by 1783, in his late 60s or early 70s. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of what became Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Joseph's oldest sister Cécile, her husband Philippe Roy, and their family, like brother Joseph, had remained at Minas, but they were not deported to Massachusetts or Virginia in the fall of 1755. They were among the many Minas habitants who ended up in Maryland. When a repatriation list circulated among the Acadians there in July 1763, Cécile LeRoy, a widow, was living at Lower Marlborough in the interior of the colony with two of her Roy children. None of them followed hundreds of their fellow Acadians to Louisiana later in the decade.
One wonders what was the fate of Joseph and Cécile's sister Marie, who, unlike her parents and siblings, remained in the French Maritimes, where she married twice, into the Darembourg and Philippe dit La Roche families, and settled on Rivière-du-Nord-Est in the interior of Île St.-Jean with her second husband by August 1752. After the fall of the French fortress of Louisbourg in July 1758, the British deported most of the island Acadians to France. Marie either had died by then or did not survive the crossing to France.
Mazerolles settled early in Acadia, but they came "late" to Louisiana. In fact, if the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Mississippi valley colony, there probably would be no Mazerolles in the Bayou State today. The Mazerolle who crossed from France to Spanish Louisiana in 1785 followed his fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. Most of his descendants remained in Assumption Parish, but one grandson moved to Brashear, now Morgan, City, on the lower Atchafalaya during the late antebellum period.
Church records show no non-Acadian Mazerolles coming to Louisiana during either the colonial or antebellum periods. No Mazerolle appears on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860. This means that they either owned no slaves or managed to avoid having their slaves counted by federal census takers in those years. It also means that they participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy.
According to Confederate service records, only one member of this family served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. Étienne P. Mazerolle of Assumption Parish, called E. P. in Confederate records, was a married man with at least two children when he either enlisted in, or was conscripted, into the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry probably in 1862. He was captured at Labadieville, not far from his home, in October of that year. The Federals promptly paroled him, and he probably returned to his family. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Macerole, Macerolle, Madeolle, Maderole, Madrol, Maierolle, Maserol, Maserole, Maserolle, Maserose, Masserelle, Masserole, Masserolle, Mazereur, Mazerol, Mazerole, Mazerolles, Mazeronne, Mazorolle, Mazrol, Mazrolle, Menserol, Menserolle, Mierolle.17
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All of the Mazerolles of South Louisiana are descendants of the immigrant who crossed with his family from France aboard La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships. They reached New Orleans in August 1785 and followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche:
Simon (1743-1802) à Louis dit Saint-Louis Mazerolle
Simon, third son of Joseph Mazerolle and his first wife Marie-Josèphe Doiron, born at Minas in c1743, was age 12 when he became separated from his family and was deported to Virginia, not Massachusetts, in the fall of 1755. The following spring, Virginia authorities sent him and hundreds of other Minas exiles on to England, where Simon came of age. He was repatriated to France with other Acadians in England aboard the transport Dorothée and landed at St.-Malo in May 1763 with the family of Pierre Aucoin. Simon settled at Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo, where, at age 20, he married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Claude Trahan and Hélène Aucoin, in November 1763. They moved on to nearby Pleslin and then to the St.-Malo surburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, where Marguerite gave him a family: Simon-Pierre born at Pleslin in June 1765 but died at St.-Servan, age 22 months, in April 1767; Marie-Perpétué born in April 1767; Élisabeth-Marie in August 1769; Anne-Françoise in July 1771; and Étienne in c1776--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1765 and 1776. In the 1760s and 1770s, Simon and his family did not participate in any of the settlement schemes in France but remained, instead, in the St.-Malo area. By September 1784, however, they were living on the other side of Brittany in the lower Loire port of Nantes. The following year, Simon, Marguerite, and four of their children, three daughters and their remaining son, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana from France. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. The couple had no more children there. At age 43, Simon remarried to Luce-Perpétué, also called Laure, 43-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Bourg and Françoise Benoit and widow of Jean-Baptiste Hébert, in January 1788. Luce, a native of Cobeguit, had crossed to Louisiana with her first husband on the same ship Simon and his family had taken from France in 1785. Simon and his new wife remained on the upper Lafourche. She gave him no more children. Simon died in Assumption Parish in September 1802, age 59. Daughters Marie-Perpétué, Élisabeth-Marie, and Anne-Françoise, by his first wife, married into the Barrilleaux, Hébert, and Daigle families on the upper Lafourche. His remaining son also married and settled on the upper bayou. The Acadian Mazerolles of South Lousiana are descended from this son.
Younger son Étienne, by first wife Marguerite Trahan, followed his family to Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where, in his early 20s, he married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Vincent Landry and Susanne Gaudin, in February 1798. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Dosité-Étienne, probably a daughter, in June 1799; Étienne, fils in June 1801; Pierre in June 1803; Ursin Mathurin in September 1805; Marie Adèle in June 1807 but died at age 2 1/2 in November 1809; Élise Marguerite born in February 1810; Alexandre André in August 1814; and Louis Auguste, called Auguste, in August 1817--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between 1799 and 1817. Étienne died at Brulé, Assumption Parish, in July 1831, age 55. Daughter Élise married into the Friou family. Three of Étienne's sons also married. One of his grandsons moved to the present-day Morgan City area during the late antebellum period, but his other grandsons remained on the upper Lafourche.
Oldest son Étienne, fils married Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadian Julien Ozelet and his Creole wife Marguerite Billardin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1828. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Martin Silvanie or Sylvanie in March 1829; and Honorine in the early 1830s. Étienne, fils remarried to Rosalie Aglaé, called Aglaé, daughter of fellow Acadians Rémi Hébert and Élisabeth Guidry and widow of Jean Pierre Berthelot, at the Plattenville church in January 1834. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marguerite Marie in December 1834; Élisabeth in June 1840; and Marie Clémentine in May 1848--five children, a son and four daughters, by two wives, between 1829 and 1848. Daughters Honorine and Marguerite, by both wives, married into the Simoneaux and Sanchez families by 1870. Étienne, fils's son also married by then.
Only son Martin, by first wife Clarisse Ozelet, married Adeline or Adelina, daughter of Georges Mars and his Acadian wife Adeline Lambert, at the Canal church, today's Napoleonville, Assumption Parish, in April 1860. Their son Émile Anatole was born near Canal in January 1861; Marie Clarisse near Brashear, now Morgan, City, on the lower Atchafalaya River, St. Mary Parish, in March 1862; Marie Philomène in November 1864; ...
Étienne, père's second son Pierre married Élisabeth dite Élise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Benoît Gautreaux and Élisabeth Bergeron, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in October 1830. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Étienne Pierre in March 1831; Daisie in the 1830s; Valmond Valère or Valéry in March 1836 but, called Valmont, died near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, age 23, in November 1859; Élisabeth born in the 1830s; and Marie Angéline in February 1841. Pierre remarried to fellow Acadian Élisabeth Templet, place and date unrecorded, but it probably was on the upper Lafourche in the early 1840s. Daughter Marie was born on the upper Lafourche in the 1840s--six children, two sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1831 and the 1840s. Daughters Daisie, Élisabeth, and Marie, by both wives, married into the Aucoin, Daigle, and Trahan families by 1870. One of Pierre's sons also married by then.
Older son Étienne Pierre, by first wife Élise Gautreaux, married cousin Laurenza Lesida or Oleside, called Lesida, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Emérant Crochet and Arthémise Thibodeaux, at the Paincourtville church in August 1854. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Joseph Ulgère, called Ulger, near Paincourtville in June 1856; Élizabeth Artémise, called Arthémise, in February 1858; and Séverin, called Séverice by the baptizing priest, near Pierre Part on the north shore of Lake Verret in February 1860--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1856 and 1860. During the War of 1861-65, E. P., as Confederate records call him, served in the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in South Lousiana, which fought in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana. He may have been a conscript. He was captured at Labadieville, not far from his home, in October 1862 and was promptly paroled by the Federals. His service record does not say if he returned to his unit. None of his children married by 1870.
Étienne, père's fifth and youngest son Auguste married Adélaïde Roseline, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Joseph Boudreaux and his Creole wife Marie Vincente Montet, at the Plattenville church in January 1849. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Augustin in March 1850; and Marie Marguerite in February 1852. Neither of Auguste's children married by 1870.
In spring of 1657, as part of the occupying English force under the command of Sir Thomas Temple, Pierre Laverdure arrived in Port-Royal with his English wife Priscilla ____, whom he had married in England in c1631. With them were their three sons, born in England: Pierre, fils, in c1632; Charles dit La Ramée in c1643; and Jean or John dit Laverdure, birth year unrecorded. For reasons yet explained, Pierre Laverdure, père's older sons Pierre, fils and Charles adopted the surname Mellanson. Evidently Pierre, père served as tutor to the children of the deceased former governor, Charles d'Aulnay, during his sojourn in British-controlled Acadia. The Melansons, as they came to be called, were an unusual Acadian family, at least in the beginning. Pierre, père was not the typical French peasant or petit-bourgeois who came to the colony as a farmer, worker, or skilled craftsman, escaping whatever it was in France that compelled him to settle in a colonial wilderness. Pierre, père was French, but he was a Huguenot, a Calvinist, not a Roman Catholic. His wife was a Protestant Englishwoman, and his three sons were born in England and raised as Protestants. His older sons married during the English occupation--Pierre, fils to a Mius d'Entremont, Charles to a Dugas--and their wives were typical Acadians in one regard; they were Roman Catholics whose religion required a spouse to be Catholic so that a priest could sanctify the marriage and legitimize their children. And so Pierre, fils and Charles converted to Roman Catholicism, or, perhaps more precisely, abjured their Protestant faith. When the English retroceded the colony to France in 1667, the older sons' father, mother, and youngest brother left for the Protestant sanctuary of Boston, but Pierre, fils and Charles remained in Acadia with their growing families. In the decades that followed, despite the unusual history of their family, these former Protestants and their Catholic descendants became typical Acadians. In 1755, descendants of brothers Pierre, fils and Charles Melanson could be found at Annapolis Royal, in the Minas Basin, at Chignecto, at Petitcoudiac in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, and on Île St. Jean. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. During the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, assisted by Mi'kmaq warriors led by Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads in the British-controlled area east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Melansons may have been among the refugees in this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, the Chignecto-area Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, area Acadians served in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the Canadians and French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. A family of Melansons were among the exiles sent to Georgia.
Melansons at Minas and Pigiguit were deported to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia in the fall of 1755. Acadians shipped off to the Old Dominion suffered the indignity of being turned away by the colony's authorities. In mid-November 1755, when five transports appeared unexpectedly at Hampton Roads, Virginia's governor Robert Dinwiddie protested their deportation to his colony without his consent. Exiles died on the filthy, crowded ships anchored in Hampton Roads while the colony's political leaders pondered their fate. As winter approached, the governor ordered Acadians from one vessel moved up to Richmond, two of the vessels were unloaded at Hampton, and two more at Norfolk. The following spring, the governor, his council, and the colony's Burgesses debated the question and concluded that the "papists" must go. In May, the first shipment of Acadians in hired vessels left for England, and in two weeks all of them had gone: 299 to Bristol, 250 to Falmouth, 340 to Southampton, and 336 to Liverpool--1,225 exiles in all by one count. They were packed into warehouses in the English ports. Melansons were held at Bristol, where some of them died in a smallpox epidemic soon after their arrival, and at the Channel port of Southampton.
The British rounded up Melansons at Annapolis Royal in the fall of 1755 and shipped them to Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. However, most of the Melansons at Annapolis Royal escaped the British. After enduring a hard winter on the Bay of Fundy shore, they crossed to Chepoudy the following spring and took refuge either on the upper Petitcoudiac or on lower Rivière St.-Jean. Some of them joined hundreds of other exiles in refugee camps at Shediac, Richibouctou, and Miramichi on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, where they fought starvation, hard winters, and British raiding parties during the following years. Others moved on to Canada via the lower St. Lawrence or the Rivière St.-Jean portage. At least 10 Melansons from Annapolis Royal and Chignecto perished in a smallpox epidemic that struck Acadian exiles in and around the Canadian capital between the summer of 1757 and the spring of 1758.
Living in territory controlled by France, the few Melansons on Île St.-Jean escaped the fate of their cousins in peninsula Nova Scotia. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up the habitants on the Maritime islands and deported them to France. Most of the island Melansons escaped the British, crossed Mer-Rouge, and joined other refugees on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, but some of them ended up on transports headed to France. A large family of Melansons crossed on one of the five deportation transports--either the Yarmouth, Patience, Mathias, Restoration, or John Samuel--that left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November with 1,033 Acadians aboard, bound for St.-Malo, survived a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England that sank three other vessels, and reached St.-Malo together during the third week of January 1759. Only 694 exiles were still aboard, 339 having died at sea. During the following weeks, 156 of the Five-Ships survivors died in local hospitals from the rigors of the crossing--nearly 500 deaths aboard these vessels. The Melanson father and his two oldest children, a daughter and a son, survived the crossing, but the three youngest children, a daughter and two sons, died at sea, and the wife and a daughter died in St.-Malo hospitals soon after they reached the Breton port, probably from the rigors of the crossing. The father and his two remaining children settled at St.-Énogat, today's Dinard, across the harbor from St.-Malo, where the father remarried to a fellow Acadian in 1761. The daughter also married there to a fellow Acadian, in January 1767. Two Melanson families from Île St.-Jean landed in the northern fishing center of Boulogne-sur-Mer in Picardie in early 1759, but they did not remain. In May 1766, one of the families took the brigantine Hazard to St.-Malo and settled in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer near some of their Melanson cousins before moving to Pleudihen-sur-Rance on the east side of the river south of St.-Servan in 1770. A son married a fellow Acadian there in January 1772 and died probably at Pleudihen by November 1784, when his wife remarried. The father of the family, at age 60, remarried to a Frenchwoman near Pleudihen in c1784. Meanwhile, a smaller, younger Melanson family also landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer. Their daughter died there in January 1759 probably from the rigors of the crossing. The wife died in St.-Nicolas Parish in January 1760, age 22. The father remarried to a local Frenchwoman there in September 1761. By 1773, however, they were gone.
Another large Melanson family, this one from Annapolis Royal, ended up in France by a different route. After escaping from Annapolis Royal in the fall of 1755, they took refuge on lower Rivière St.-Jean in the spring of 1756, were captured by New-English rangers there in early 1759, and taken to the prison compound at Halifax. From there, the British deported them to England in November of that year and sent them on to Cherbourg, where they landed the following January. The wife died in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg, in late January 1760, age 60, two weeks after she and her family had reached the Norman port. The father died there the following month, in his early 70s. Four of their daughters married at Cherbourg. A son and his wife also ended up at Cherbourg in January 1760. French authorities counted them there in 1761, 1767, 1772, and 1775. The son worked as a ship's carpenter in the Norman port and died by September 1790, when French authorities counted his wife at Le Havre across the Baie de Seine without him. One wonders if they had any children. The youngest son, in his early 30s, married a Frenchwoman in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg, in January 1765. Two years later, French officials counted him and his family still at Cherbourg and noted that he was a 35-year-old disabled fisherman. His son died at Cherbourg in March 1772, age 2 1/2. The family was still there the following September, when he was described as a fisherman and day laborer and his wife as a spinner. The following year, he took his family to Poitou.
In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England, including many Melansons, were repatriated to France. In May, a widower and two of his children crossed from Bristol to St.-Malo aboard the transport Dorothée and settled at St.-Servan-sur-Mer. His daughter married a fellow Acadian at St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of St.-Servan in September 1763. A large family of nine also crossed on Dorothée. They settled near Melanson cousins at St.-Énogat, where another daughter, their eighth child, was born the following October. Also in May, a young Melanson crossed to St.-Malo from Southampton with the family of an Hébert uncle aboard the transport Ambition. The teenager lived with his uncles's family at St.-Servan until February 1766, when, at age 19, he returned to greater Acadia to work in a French-controlled fishery off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Meanwhile, in November 1765, the Melanson cousins followed dozens of other exiles from England to recently-liberated Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany and settled at Le Cosquet near Locmaria on the southwest end of the island. One of the fathers died there in November 1766, age 51. By 1792, his wife and her children had resettled at Concarneau in southwest Brittany. Meanwhile, the other cousin died probably at Le Cosquet in 1782, age 72. One wonders what happened to the son who went to the island with him.
In 1773, Melansons from two of the coastal cities participated in another, even grander, settlement venture, this one in the interior of Poitou near the city of Châtellerault. Melansons from Boulogne-sur-Mer settled at St.-Phele-de-Maillé southeast of Châtellerault. When, after two years of effort, most of the Poitou Acadians retreated in four convoys down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes, the Boulogne-sur-Mer family remained in Poitou, where the French wife gave her Melanson husband more children at St.-Phele-de-Maillé. An older daughter married a local Frenchman from Ste.-Radegonde Parish at St.-Phele-de-Maillé in June 1784. Meanwhile, a Melanson fisherman from Cherbourg, his French wife, if she was still living, and their daughter also went to Poitou--an odd choice for a fisherman unless one considers that he was reported disabled six years earlier. In November 1775, now a widower, he and his daughter took the first convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes and settled at nearby Chantenay, where he died in August 1776, age 43. One wonders what became of his daughter.
When the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, the majority of the Acadians still residing in the kingdom agreed to take it. Not the Melansons. Of the dozens of them still living in France in 1785--in the St.-Malo area, at Cherbourg, Concarneau/Quimper, Chantenay, St.-Phele-de-Maillé, and on Belle-Île-en-Mer--only two elected to go to the Spanish colony where many of their kinsmen from Halifax and Maryland had settled two decades earlier. A 64-year-old Melanson from St.-Énogat and his second wife, age 69, crossed to Louisiana on one of the Seven Ships, but none of his children followed. A Melanson wife from Belle-Île-en-Mer, age 49, went to Louisiana with her Gautrot husband, also age 49, and two of their children. One wonders if the many Melansons who chose to remain in France, especially the ones in southwest Brittany, retained their Acadian identity.
In North America, conditions only got worse for the Acadians who had escaped the British in the late 1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France, including Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, now a major Acadian refuge. A naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche in late June 1760. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the militia and the Indians to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, another British naval force, this one from Québec, appeared at Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On 24 October 1760, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers prepared a list of 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche. No Melansons appeared on the list. Meanwhile, other refugees, including Melansons, either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. One of the compounds was at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, where, in July 1762, British officials counted two Melanson families near the old Melanson homesteads. The following month, they counted more Melansons there. Another prison compound stood at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Fort Beauséjour, at Chignecto, where Melansons also had lived. Here, in the summer of 1763, three Melanson families, including one that had been counted at Fort Edward the previous year, appeared on a repatriation list. Exiles were held also at Annapolis Royal, probably in old Fort Anne, near old Melanson homesteads; and in the fishing center at Chédabouctou on the northeast Atlantic coast, where a Melanson was counted in the early 1760s. The oldest and largest compound was at Halifax, where, in the summer of 1763, another large Melanson family appeared on a French repatriation list.
The war over, Melansons languishing in the British seaboard colonies, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intensions. Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. Prompted by French efforts to lure them away, many Melansons appeared on repatriation lists circulated in Atlantic colonies soon after the war's end, including Massachusetts in August 1763, Connecticut in June 1763, Pennsylvania that June, and especially in Maryland in July 1763, where they were counted at Snow Hill on the colony's Eastern Shore, at Annapolis, and Baltimore.
Most of the Acadians in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania chose to resettle in Canada, where many of their kinsmen had gone as early as 1756. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles. So, in a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of the Melanson brothers began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. Especially after 1766, Melansons from both families could be found on the upper St. Lawrence and the lower Richelieu at Rivière-aux-Glaises now Gentilly, Iberville, Laprairie, Lotbinière, Louiseville, Maskinongé, Montréal, Nicolet, St.-Grégoire, St.-Étienne-de-Grès, St.-Guillaume d'Upton, St.-Jacques de l'Achigan, St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, St.-Luc, and Yamachiche; and on the lower St.-Lawrence at Kamouraska, L'Isle-Verte, Montmagny, and St.-Vallier de Bellechasse. They also could be found in present-day New Brunswick at Barachois, Cap-Pelé, Memramcook, Prés-d'en-Haut, Nepisiguit now Bathurst, Richibucto, Scoudouc, Shemouge, and St.-Louis-de-Kent on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore; and on Rivière St.-Jean in the western part of the province. In Nova Scotia, they settled on St. Mary's Bay at Grosse-Coques and Church Point; and at Chezzetcook, Météghan, Minudie, and Ste.-Anne-du-Ruisseau-de-l'Anguille in other parts of the province. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Acadian exiles in the seaboard colonies, seeking to avoid British rule, chose to resettle in the French
Antilles, especially on St.-Domingue, but only a single
Melanson went there. Other
exiles from the seaboard colonies and the prison
compounds in Nova Scotia, including Melansons, chose to
resettle on St.-Pierre and Miquelon, French-controlled fishery islands
off the southern coast of Newfoundland that also offered an opportunity to elude British rule.
Melansons being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New England "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their many cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles, including a Melanson, chose to relocate to Île Miquelon. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including a Melanson, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, six were descendants of Pierre Melanson, fils.
Meanwhile, the many Melansons still in Maryland endured life among Englishmen who, despite their colony's Catholic roots, did not care much for the French "papists" thrust upon them. When word reached the Acadians in the Chesapeake colony that the Spanish would welcome them in Louisiana, they pooled their meager resources to charter ships that would take them to New Orleans. At least 30 Melansons--the largest number of them who would go to Louisiana--were part of the first two contingents of exiles from Baltimore that reached New Orleans in September 1766 and July 1767. Some members of the family, however, decided to remain in Maryland. Perhaps uniquely, three of the Melansons who remained--a widowed father and two married daughters--having second thoughts about their decision back in the late 1760s, joined their many cousins in Spanish Louisiana during the mid-1780s.
Melansons settled early in Acadia and were among the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. The first of them--a wife and a widow and her five children--came to the colony from Halifax via French St.-Domingue in 1765. In 1766 and 1767, dozens more Melansons came from exile in Maryland and settled near their cousins on the river above New Orleans on what came to be known as the Acadian Coast. Not until the late 1770s did Melançons leave the river for Bayou Teche and establish a western branch of the family. They and their descendants settled in what became St. Martin and Lafayette parishes. Two more Melansons came to Louisiana from France in 1785 and settled at Bayou des Écores, north of Baton Rouge, and on upper Bayou Lafourche, but no new family lines came of it. However, beginning in the 1810s, Melançons from several family lines belatedly joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche and created a third center of family settlement there. Later in the antebellum period, a few more Melançons moved from the river to the western prairies, but most of their cousins remained along the old Acadian Coast. Beginning in the late 1850s, one grandson of a Maryland exile who settled at Cabahannocer even lived in Pointe Coupee Parish, a bastion of Creole settlement.
Interestingly, all but one of the 41 descendants of Pierre Laverdure the Huguenot who ended up in Louisiana came from his older son Pierre Mellanson dit Laverdure, fils, not his younger son Charles Mellanson dit La Ramée. Moreover, the one Melanson descendant of Charles dit La Ramée who emigrated to Louisiana, Marie-Madeleine, who came to the colony from France in 1785, could not have created an agnatic line in Louisiana. All Acadian Melançons in Louisiana, then, are descendants of Pierre dit Laverdure, fils.
By the end of the antebellum period, Melançon family settlement patterns mirrored those of their ancestors back in Acadia. Beginning at their original base on the lower Acadian Coast, Melançons in Louisiana created three widely dispersed centers of family presence: along the river, out on the western prairies, and on Bayou Lafourche. On the river, they lived along both banks in St. James, Iberville, and Ascension parishes, and several families settled in West Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee parishes. West of the Atchafalaya Basin, they lived along Bayou Teche from Breaux Bridge down to New Iberia, along the upper Vermilion and at Carencro, and around nearby Grand Coteau in southeastern St. Landry Parish. On Bayou Lafourche, they settled from the Ascension/Assumption parish line down to Lockport in lower Lafourche Parish. They were especially numerous on the upper bayou around Plattenville in Assumption Parish. A few more Melançons from St. James Parish moved to the western prairies after the War of 1861-65, but the largest center of family settlement remained along the Mississippi.
Church records show no non-Acadian Melansons living in Louisiana during the colonial period. A Melançon, described as "a soldier," lived in Ascension Parish during the early antebellum period but cannot be linked, even by inference, to any line of the family. Afro-Creole Melançons, once owned, and in some cases freed, by members of the family, settled in the Lafourche valley and especially on Bayou Teche during the late antebellum and immediate post-war periods. But the great majority of the Melançons of South Louisiana are descendants of French Huguenot Pierre Laverdure.
Dozens of Melançons served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, some of them at the cost of their lives. ...
In Louisiana, the spelling of the family's surname evolved from Melanson to Melançon. The family's name also is spelled Bulenson, De Mason, Lanson, Melansson, Melanzon, Melason, Melencon, Melenson, Mellancon, Mellansson, Menançon, Menanson, and at least one lovable oddball spells his name Mélançon. Unfortunately, antebellum church records in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes confuse the Melançons with the Lançons, whose progenitor was from Malta, not Acadia, and who settled in Terrebonne Parish, where few Melançons lived. The Melançons also have been confused with the Monsons, an Isleño family that settled near them in Ascension Parish.18
.
Six members of the family--a Melanson wife, and a widow with her five Melanson children--came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue in 1765 and settled at the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. During the 1770s, the widow remarried and, with her Melanson children, crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where her sons created a western branch of the family. One of the sons returned to the river during the 1790s, but the other two remained on the prairies, where two vigorous family lines emerged:
Joseph (c1752-1807) à Paul à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Joseph, who Bona Arsenault calls Le Vieux, oldest son of Paul-Honoré Melanson and Marie-Josèphe Breau, born perhaps at Petitcoudiac in c1751 or 1752, was taken by his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment at Halifax, and followed his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and Cabahannocer. Spanish authorities counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer in April 1766 and on the other side of the river there in September 1769. In 1777, in his mid-20s but still unmarried, Joseph followed his stepfather François Moreau, his mother, and his siblings to the Attakapas District, but he did not remain. He married Barbe, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Babin and Ursule Landry, at Ascension on the river above Cabahannocer in October 1778. In the early 1780s, he took his family back to Attakapas and settled at L'Anse, probably Anse La Pointe, on upper Bayou Teche. Their children, born on the river and the prairies, included Angèle-Marguerite at Ascension in September 1779; Osite in October 1780; Alexandre at Attakapas in January 1784; Joseph, fils, also called Joseph-Clairville, in August 1786; Charles in c1787; Louis in January 1789 but died "at the home of his sister, Ozite Melançon [wife of David Babineaux] on Bayou Teche," age 35, in March 1824; Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, born in c1797; an unnamed son in April 1797 but died at age 2 1/2 months the following July; and an unnamed daughter born in April 1799 but died seven days after her birth--nine children, three daughters and six sons, between 1779 and 1799. Joseph dit Petit Moro, as he was called, probably an homage to his stepfather, died at his home at L'Anse in January 1807. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph died "at age 60 yrs." He would have been in his mid- or late 60s. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in June. Daughters Angèle and Osite married into the Wiltz and Babineaux families in St. Martin Parish. Four of Joseph's sons also married in St. Martin Parish, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Alexandre, beginning in his early 40s, fathered children by Marie Éloise, called Éloise, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles dit Charlitte Trahan and his French Creole wife Marie Landrau of Île des Cypres. During the years her children with Alexandre were born, Éloise, oddly enough, was the wife of Jean Baptiste Cluseau or Clusiaux, who she had married at Attakapas in September 1806 and evidently did not, or could not, divorce. Alexandre and Éloise's "natural" children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Alexandre Lucien in May 1825; Marie Aimée in May 1827 but died at age 6 in April 1833; Joseph Clairville le jeune, called Clairville, born in July 1829; and Charles in August 1831 but died at age 2 1/2 in May 1833--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1825 and 1831. A "Last Will" filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in July 1835 for Alexandre Melançon may have been his. If so, it was not post-mortem. After the death of Éloise's husband Jean Baptiste, Alexandre, at age 62, married her at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in November 1846. Alexandre died in St. Martin Parish in September 1850. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Alexandre died "at age 76 yrs." He was 66. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following February. Two of his sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Alexandre Lucien married Marie Clarence, Cloraine, Cléomène, or Loraine, daughter of François Desroujeaux and Catherine Champagne, at the St. Martinville church in June 1847. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Marie Louise, called Louisa, in July 1848; Éliza in October 1850; Marie Ophélia, called Ophélia, in August 1853; Marie Amelia, called Amélie, in May 1855; Alice, perhaps theirs, in c1858 but died near Breaux Bridge at age 2 in March 1860; and Emma born near Breaux Bridge in February 1860--six children, all daughters, between 1848 and 1860. Daughters Ophélia and Amélie married into the Laviolette and Gillespie families, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Alexandre's second son Joseph Clairville le jeune, called Clairville, married Marie Aminthe or Amynthe, Agathe, or Annette, daughter of Jean Baptiste Barras and Joséphine Wiltz, at the St. Martinville church in October 1850. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Joséphine in October 1852; Adolphina in September 1854; Joseph Adam, called Adam, in March 1857; Adèle Angela, called Angela, in December 1859; Paul Despulière in May 1862; and Julien in July 1865. Clairville, at age 40, remarried to Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Savoie and his second wife Creole Clémentine Barras and widow of Alcide Barras, at the St. Martinville church in December 1869. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Émile in July 1870; Léonice, called Louise, near Breaux Bridge in November 1872; Amélie in February 1875; Clémence in May 1877; Constance in January 1880; and Marie-Edmée in May 1882--a dozen children, eight daughters and four sons, by two wives, between 1852 and 1882. Daughters Joséphine, Angela, Louise, Amélie, and Clémence, by both wives, married into the Ducrest, Barras, and LeBlanc famlies after 1870. All of Clairville's sons married, into the Doré, Babin, Barras, and Lapeyruse families after 1870.
Joseph's second son Joseph Clairville married Marie Madeleine, daughter of Antoine Ledoux and his Acadian wife Marguerite Gaudet of St. James Parish, at the St. Martinville church in March 1813. They settled at La Pointe on upper Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Joseph, fils, also called Joseph Zénon and Zénon, in May 1814; Marguerite Arthémise in April 1816; and Rose-Aimé in October 1818 but, called Ozémé, a boy's name, died at age 4 in November 1822--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1814 and 1818. Joseph Clairville died "at his home at l'ance" in October 1819, "at age about 34 yrs." His widow remarried to a Cormier widower. Daughter Marguerite also married into the Cormier family. Joseph Clairville's son also married.
Only son Joseph, fils, also called Joseph Zénon and Zénon, married Céleste, daughter of James Caruthers or Credeur, Jr. and his Acadian wife Carmélite LeBlanc, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in May 1836. They settled probably near Carencro at the northern edge of Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, baptized at age 1 month in January 1837 but died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 7) in September 1842; Marie Mélazie or Mélessé baptized at age 8 months in August 1839; Charles le jeune born in July 1841; Joseph III in August 1843 but died at age 6 in September 1849; Marie Émélie born in August 1846; Onézime in February 1849; and Angèle in December 1851--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1836 and 1851. Daughter Angèle married into the Quebedeaux family. Two of Joseph Zénon's sons also married.
Oldest son Charles le jeune married Hélène, also called Zéline, daughter of Denis Quebedeaux and his Acadian wife Éloise Trahan, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1863; Hélène's brother Joseph Stainville married Charles le jeune's sister Angèle. Charles le jeune and Hélène settled on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish. Their children, born there and near Rayne in what became Acadia Parish, included Joseph in July 1864; Charles, fils in February 1866; Marie or Maria in November 1868; Léonard in c1769; Éloise or Louise in December 1870; Moïse in May 1872; Céleste in February 1874; Jacques in August 1875 but may have died young; Théosa near Rayne in January 1878; Helena in March 1879; Anna in November 1880; Louisiana in May 1882; and Onésime le jeune in February 1884--13 children, six sons and seven daughters, between 1864 and 1884. Charles le jeune died in Acadia Parish before December 1888, when his post-mortem succession was filed at the Crowley courthouse. Daughters Maria, Éloise/Louise, Céleste, Théosa, and Anna married into the Lavergne, Ortego, Meche, Comeaux, and Guidry families after 1870. Five of his sons--Joseph; Charles, fils; Léonard; Moïse; and Onésime le jeune--also married, into the Meche, Holloway, Hollier, Doucet, and Thibodeaux families after 1870.
Joseph Zénon's third and youngest son Onésime married cousin Marie Philomène, called Philomène, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Trahan and his Anglo-Creole wife Marie Caroline Caruthers, at the Grand Coteau church in October 1869; the marriage also was recorded at the Church Point church in November. They settled near Church Point. Their children, born there and near Rayne, included Onésime, fils in May 1870; Maria in August 1879; Caroline in August 1881; and Lambert in September 1882--four children, two sons and two daughers, between 1870 and 1882. Onésime, père died in Acadia Parish before August 1889, when his post-mortem succession was filed at the Crowley courthouse. Daughters Maria and Caroline married into the Provost and Quebedeaux families after 1870. Both of his sons also married, into the Chiasson and Gould families after 1870.
Joseph's third son Charles married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Thomas Theriot and Agnès Daigre of St. James Parish, at the St. Martinville church in June 1809. Charles died "at the home of Alexandre Broussard at la fausse pointe" on Bayou Teche in December 1823. The priest who recorded the burial said that Charles was "a native of Baton Rouge" and died "at age about 30 years." His family line died with him.
Joseph's fifth son Jean Baptiste, called Baptiste, married Clémence, daughter of Jean Baptiste Ringuet and Marie Anne Bourgeois, a French Creole, not a fellow Acadian, of La Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in November 1816. They settled at La Pointe near present-day Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included a son, name and age unrecorded, probably an infant, died at his parents' home in October 1817; Jean Baptiste, fils born in May 1819 but died at age 4 1/2 "at the home of Julien Melançon on Bayou Teche" in February 1824; Théodule born in July 1821; Terence in March 1824 but died the following November; Désiré born in August 1826; Clémence, perhaps Clément, in December 1828 but, called a boy, died at age 10 months in November 1829; Emérite born in December 1830; Joseph Aladin, called Aladin, in March 1833; and Adèle in December 1835--nine children, seven sons and two daughters, between 1817 and 1835. In 1850, Jean-Baptiste, described as a laborer, age 53, was living with his wife and three children at Fausse Pointe on the lower Teche. Baptiste may have died near Breaux Bridge, St. Martin Parish, in November 1866. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did give any parents' names or mention a wife, said Jean Baptiste died "at age 80 yrs." This Jean Baptiste would have been in his late 60s. Daughter Adèle married into the Pelletier and Richard families. Two of Baptiste's remaining sons also married.
Second son Théodule married Élisa or Lysa, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Chiasson and Marie Sonnier and widow of Paul Bertrand, at the St. Martinville church in December 1845. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Lodoiska or Adoiska in December 1846; Amérite or Emérite in March 1848; and Odilan, probably Olidon, in October 1850--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1846 and 1850. Daughter Adoiska married a Chiasson cousin. Théodule's son also married, twice, into the Bijeaux family after 1870.
Baptiste's seventh and youngest son Joseph Aladin, called Aladin, married cousin Julie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Théodore Babineaux and Marie Azélie Melançon, at the St. Martinville church in April 1854. Julie gave Aladin a son, Hébrard, in February 1857. She died in St. Martin Parish that month, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Joseph Aladin remarried to Philomène, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse Guidry and Emérante Blanchard, at the Breaux Bridge church in May 1859. Their children, born near Breaux Bridge, included Désiré in February 1860; Marie Lucretia in April 1861; Lézida, called Nézida, in September 1869; Ermina, called Hermine, in April 1872; Mary, or Marie, in January 1875; Emérite in July 1877; and Emérange in July 1880--eight children, two sons and six daughters, by two wives, between 1857 and 1880. Daughters Marie Lucretia, Nézida, Hermine, Marie, Emérite, and Emérante married into the Usé, Robert, Latiolais, Guidry, and Patin families after 1870. Aladin's older son Hébard also married, into the Legrand family after 1870.
Jean-Baptiste (c1756-1825) à Paul à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, third son of Paul-Honoré Melanson and Marie-Josèphe Breau, Joseph's brother, born in exile in c1756, followed his family into imprisonment, his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, and his stepfather, his mother, and his siblings to the Attakapas District in 1777. He married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Bergeron and Isabelle Arceneaux, probably at Attakapas in c1786. Marguerite also had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 and settled at Cabahannocer. They returned to the river in the early 1790s, probably soon after the death of their oldest son. Their children, born on the prairies and the river, included Anne-Marie in c1787; an unnamed daughter in November1788 but died of a fever eight days after her birth; an unnamed son born in c1789 but died at age 4 in November 1793; Modeste born in March 1790; Susanne dite Suzette in November 1792; Carmélite at Cabahannocer in August 1795 but died at age 2 there in September 1797; Paul-Eugène born in September 1797; Séverin in February 1800 but died in St. James Parish, age 83, in April 1883; and Marie-Arthémise, called Arthémise, born in February 1802--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1787 and 1802. Baptiste died in St. James Parish in July 1825, age 68. Daughters Anne-Marie and Suzette married into the Richard family in St. James Parish. None of Jean Baptiste's sons married, so only the blood of this family line may have endured.
Dominique-Jean dit Minique (c1759-1849) à Paul à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Dominique-Jean dit Minique, called Jean, fourth and youngest son of Paul-Honoré Melanson and Marie-Josèphe Breau, and brother of Joseph and Jean-Baptiste, born in c1759 in exile, followed his family into imprisonment, his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and Cabahannocer and his stepfather, his mother, and his siblings to the Attakapas District in 1777. Called Jean by the recording priest, Minique, at age 30, married Rose-Luce, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Doiron and Marie-Blanche Bernard of Pigiguit, at Attakapas in May 1789. Rose-Luce, a native of Le Havre, France, had come to Louisiana in 1785 aboard one of the Seven Ships. The couple remained on the prairies. Their children, born at Attakapas, included Julien, also called Guérin, in c1790; Marcellin in February 1792; Carmélite in February 1793; Euphrosine dite Euphrasie baptized, age 2 months, in March 1795; and Pierre-Maximilien born in July 1798--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1790 and 1798. Jean dit Minique died near Breaux Bridge, St. Martin Parish, in January 1849, age 90. A succession for Jean Melançon, probably Minique, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in March 1854. Daughters Carmélite and Euphrasie married into the Cormier, Breaux, and Bernard families on the prairies. Jean's three sons also married and established vigorous family lines there.
Oldest son Julien married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain Broussard and Félicité Guilbeau of La Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1808. They settled at La Pointe on the upper Teche. Their children, born there, included Émile dit Enoc, in March 1809; Clémence in Sepember 1810 but died the following June; Pierre Émilien born in October 1812; Théogène in January 1815; an unnamed son died at birth in December 1816; Julien, fils, also called Méance, born in April 1818; and another son, name unrecorded, died at birth in July 1820--seven children, six sons and a daughter, between 1809 and 1820. In 1850, Julien, a widower, said to be age 65, was living at Petite Anse in southern St. Martin Parish with children and grandchildren. A decade later, he owned a slave. Julien died in St. Martin Parish in April 1866. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Julien died "at age 86 yrs." He probably was in his mid- or late 70s. Julien's daughter did not survive chilhood. His four remaining sons married and settled on the prairies, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Émile dit Enoc married Marie Victoire, called Victoire, daughter of fellow Acadians François Xavier Theriot and Apollonie Broussard, at the St. Martinville church in February 1833. Their children, born on the Teche, included Marie Amélie in March 1834; Marguerite Athalie in October 1835 but died at age 8 in September 1843; Céleste Cleli born in November 1837; Onésifort or Onésiphore in July 1840; Joseph Numa near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in February 1842 but, called Joseph Ema, died at age 1 1/2 in August 1843; Sevigné or Sevigny François born in c1843; Philomène Euphémie in October 1844 but, called Philomène, died at age 3 months (the recording priest said 10 months) the following January; Céleste Lésida born in December 1849; another Philomène near St. Martinville in January 1852; and Jacques Euphémon in July 1854--10 children, six daughters and four sons, between 1834 and 1854. Daughters Marie Amélie and Céleste Lésida married into the Poirier and Guilbeau families, one of them after 1870. Two of Émile's sons married by 1870.
Oldest son Onésiphore married Anaïs, daughter of fellow Acadians Élisée Guilbeau and Elmire Cormier, at the St. Martinville church in October 1860. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Arthur in September 1861 but died at age 8 months in June 1862; Marie Léomia born in October 1765; Joseph Odilon or Olidon in February 1867; Marie Elmire, called Elmire, in March 1869; Marie Cora in December 1870; Philomène in December 1871; Ovide in November 1874; Valérie Desmas in December 1876; Victorine Corinne in July 1879; and Marie Amelia in May 1882--10 children, four sons and six daughters, between 1861 and 1882. Onésiphore died in St. Martin Parish in January 1893, age 53. Daughters Elmire, Marie Cora, and Philomène married into the Comeaux and Huval families after 1870, two of them to brothers. One of Onésiphore's sons, Odilon, married, into the Freeman family after 1870.
Émile's third son Sevigné married Irma, daughter of Jean Baptiste Romero and his Acadian wife Mélissère LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in January 1867. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Amelia in February 1868; Alcée in July 1869; Joseph Arthur in October 1870; and Willie in January 1873--four children, a daughter and three sons, between 1868 and 1873. Sévigne died in St. Martin Parish in September 1892, age 48. His youngest son Willie married into the Touchet family after 1870.
Julien's second son Pierre Émilien married Joséphine, another daughter of François Xavier Theriot and Apollonie Broussard, at the St. Martinville church in January 1838. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Clelie died at age six weeks in December 1838; and Eugène born in February 1851. In 1850, Émilien, described as a laborer, was living with his wife at Petite Anse in south St. Martin Parish. A decade later, he owned 14 slaves. His son did not marry by 1870.
Julien's third son Théogène married, at age 30, Marie Arthémise, called Arthémise, 20-year-old daughter, of, perhaps, fellow Acadians Alexandre Babin and Tarsille Thibodeaux, at the St. Martinville church in July 1845. Their children, born on the Teche, included Céleste Alida, called Alida, in November 1844[sic, probably 1846]; and Marie Louise dite Louisianaise, in 1847 and baptized, age unrecorded, at the Breaux Bridge church in January 1848. Wife Arthémise died in St. Martin Parish in May 1847, age 22, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial did not give her parents' names. Her post-mortem succession, naming her husband, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in May 1853. Théogène remarried to Marie Cléophine, called Cléophine, daughter of Joseph Allegre and his Acadian wife Marcellite Cormier, at the St. Martinville church in May 1853. Their children, born on the Teche, included Marie Alice dite Aline in Febrauary 1854; and Laurence in March 1855--four children, all daughters, by two wives, between 1846 and 1855. Théogène died near Breaux Bridge in October 1867. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Théogène died "at age 40 yrs." He was 42. His succession, identifying his second wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in November. Daughters Alida, Louisianaise, Aline, and Laurence, by both wives, married into the Guilbeau, Gauthier, Melançon, Sonnier, and Trahan families, the youngest after 1870 and one of them to a first cousin. Théogène fathered no sons by either wife, but the blood of the family line likely endured.
Julien's fourth son Julien, fils may have fathered a "natural" daughter, Céleste, in c1838, when he was in his late teens. If so, when she died at age 2 in August 1840, the St. Martinville priest who recorded the girl's burial gave only the father's name--Julien Melançon. (One doubts that this was Julien, père, who would have been age 48 in 1838.) Julien, fils, at age 24, married cousin Marie Uranie, called Uranie, daughter of fellow Acadians Raphaël Cormier and Carmélite Melançon, at the St. Martinville church in August 1842. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Marie Aimée, also called Emma, in December 1845; and Jean Numa, called Numa, near Breaux Bridge in March 1848--three children, two daughters and a son, by two "wives," between 1838 and 1848. In 1850, Julien, fils and his family were living on his plantation near Petite Anse in south St. Martin Parish. Julien, fils died at St. Martin Parish in December 1894, age 76. Daughter Emma married into the Castille family by 1870. Julien, fils's son also married by then.
Only son Numa married first cousin Marie Louise, called Louisianaise, daughter of fellow Acadians Théogène Melançon and Arthémise Babin, his uncle and aunt, at the Breaux Bridge church in December 1867. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Jules in December 1870; Théogène in September 1872; Useville in April 1874; Carmélite in January 1877; Willie in August 1878; Saul in August 1880; Alida in November 1882; Laurence in September 1884; Arthur in December 1886; and Numa, fils in May 1889--10 children, seven sons and three daughters, between 1870 and 1889. Numa and his family were living in St. Martin Parish in 1900. Daughters Carmélite, Alida, and Laurence married into the Babin and Landry families after 1870. Four of his sons--Jules, Théogène, Useville, and Willie--also married, into the Sonnier, Landry, Babin, and Ducrest families after 1870.
Dominique Jean dit Minique's second son Marcellin married Scholastique dite Colastie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Guidry and Marie Breaux of Grande Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in April 1813. They settled on the upper Teche. Their children, born there, included two unnamed sons, probably twins, died at their parents' home at ages 6 days and 3 weeks in December 1813 and January 1814; Pierre Treville born in March 1815; Clémentine in October 1816; Marie Zéolide in January 1818; another Pierre Terville or Treville, called Treville, in December 1819; Cléonide or Cléonise in March 1821; Arvillien, Ervillien, or Hervillien, also called Adrien and Émilien, in February 1823; Marie Oliva in January 1825; Jean Clairville, called Clairville, in February 1826; Jean Stinville or Stenville in July 1827; Émile in February 1829 but died at age 13 1/2 in September 1842; Jean Vilmont or Valmont born in July 1830; Cyprien in November 1832; and Euphémie in March 1833 but died at age 4 1/2 in September 1837--15 children, 10 sons and five daughters, between 1813 and 1833. Marcellin died in St. Martin Parish in March 1848, age 56. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse a few days later. Daughters Clémentine, Marie Zéolide, Cléonide, and Marie Oliva married into the Courville, Semere, Guidry, and Melançon families by 1870. Seven of Marcellin's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Pierre Treville married Julie, daughter of fellow Acadians François LeBlanc and Marguerite Dugas, at the St. Martinville church in December 1835. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Julie in November 1836; Pierre Désiré, called Désiré, in February 1840; Joseph Clairville in November 1842; Élodie in January 1845; and Aladin in c1856 but died near Breaux Bridge, age 4, in August 1860--five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1836 and 1856. Daughters Julie and Élodie married into the Allemand and Huval families by 1870. One of Pierre Treville's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Désiré married first cousin Scholastique dite Colastie, also called Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Placide Semere and Marie Zéolide Melançon, his uncle and aunt, at the Breaux Bridge church in January 1860. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Anaïse in December 1860; Cécile or Cécilia in September 1862; Joseph in July 1866; Jean Derville or Terville in November 1868; Honora in December 1870; Résida in March 1873; Philomène in January 1876; Léonie in July 1878; Clémence in July 1880; and Pierre Ovignac, called Ovignac, in May 1884--10 children, seven daughters and three sons, between 1860 and 1884. Daughters Anaïse, Cécilia, and Honora married into the Bourg or Bourque and Pitre families after 1870. Désiré's two older sons also married, into the Lebert and Boudreaux families after 1870.
Marcellin's second son Pierre Terville married cousin Domitille, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Melançon and Mathilde Doucet, at the St. Martinville church in July 1846; Terville's sister Marie Oliva married Domitille's brother Alexandre, fils. Terville's succession, probably post-mortem, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in May 1848. He would have been age 28 that year. Domitille also may have had a post-mortem succession, naming her husband, filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in December 1850. She would have been age 26 that year. She and Terville evidently had no children.
Marcellin's third son Hervillien married Caroline, daughter of Charles Jean Baptiste Huval and his Acadian wife Marguerite Guilbeau, at the Breaux Bridge church in July 1848. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Hélodie or Élodie in September 1849; Ernestine in February 1851 but died at age 3 1/2 in September 1854; Emma born in April 1852; Célestine in September 1853; Jean in March 1856; Amélie in June 1858; and Lucas in January 1860--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1849 and 1860. Hervillien died at Breaux Bridge in April 1881, age 58. Daughters Élodie, Emma, and Célestine married into the Champagne and Hollier families before and after 1870. Hervillien's two younger sons also married, into the Dugas and Broussard families after 1870.
Marcellin's fourth son Jean Clairville, called Clairville, married cousin Eugénie, daughter of Onésime Patin and his Acadian wife Adélaïde Guidry, at the Breaux Bridge church in December 1850. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Arcade in September 1851; Joseph Ervillien or Hervillien in December 1853; Marie Virginie in October 1856; Joachim in December 1858; Adelin in February 1861; Cyprien in January 1864; and Marie Eve in February 1866. Wife Eugénie died at Breaux Bridge in July 1867, age 33. Jean Clairville, at age 42, remarried to Félicia, daughter of fellow Acadians Léonard Thibodeaux and Madeleine Ordalie Cormier, at the Breaux Bridge church in December 1868. Their daughter Louison was born near Breaux Bridge in April 1874--eight children, five sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1851 and 1874. Félicia died perhaps from the rigors of childbirth by the following December, when Jean Clairville, at age 48, remarried again--his third marriage--to Adélaïde, 40-year-old daughter of Charles Guilbeau and Adélaïde Guilbeau and widow of Thomas Valcourt Hayes, at the Breaux Bridge church. She gave him no more children. Jean Clairville died before his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in October 1894. He would have been age 68 that year. Daughters Marie Virginine, Marie Eve, and Louison married into the Laviolette, Melançon, and Dugas families after 1870. His four older sons--Arcade, Joseph Hervillien, Joachim, and Adelin--also married, into the Talley, Guidry, Laviolette, Benoit, and Melançon families after 1870.
Marcellin's fifth son Jean Stenville married Erasie or Urasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Bourgeois and Céleste Landry, at the St. Martinville church in February 1853. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their daughter Marie Céleste, called Céleste, was born there in September 1854. Jean Stenville, at age 47, remarried to Eulalie, daughter of Timoléon Latiolais and his Acadian wife Améline Dupuis and widow of Alexandre Melançon, at the St. Martinville church in June 1874. Their daughter Elvire was born near Breaux Bridge in March 1875. Wife Eulalie died at Breaux Bridge in November 1878, age 38. Jean Stenville, at age 53, remarried again--his third marriage--to Élise, 35-year-old daughter of Onésime Calais and his Acadian wife Adèle Broussard, at the Breaux Bridge church in June 1880. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Adèle in May 1881; and Alphonse in November 1886 when Jean Stenville was age 59--four children, three daughters and a son, by three wives, between 1854 and 1886. Daughters Céleste, Elvire, and Adèle, by all three wives, married into the Thibodeaux, Guidry, and Meaux families, two of them after 1870. Jean Stenville's son evidently did not marry.
Marcellin's seventh son Jean Vilmont married Marie Célesie, Célisa, Célima, Célina, or Éliza, daughter of Jacques Doré and his Acadian wife Marie Virginie Blanchard, at the Breaux Bridge church in January 1851. They remained near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Jean Sevigné in January 1853; Virginie in July 1855; Eulodie, a son, in August 1857 but died the following month; Odilia Joséphine born in December 1859 but, called Odilia, died the following May; Marie Eve or Eva born in March 1861; Louise in September 1863; and Alcée in September 1866--seven children, three sons and four daughters, between 1853 and 1866. Wife Marie Célesie died by August 1879, when Jean Vilmont, at age 49, remarried to Leticia, 31-year-old daughter of David Duplechin and Mélina Devillier and widow of Onésime Stelly, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish. She evidently gave him no more children. The couple were living in Lafayette Parish in 1900. Jean Vilmont died at Breaux Bridge in February 1902, age 71. Daughters Marie Eva and Louise, by his first wife, married into the Bourg and Pourciaux families after 1870. Jean Vilmont's youngest son Alcée also married, into the Hébert family after 1870.
Marcellin's eighth and youngest son Cyprien married Félicie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jacob Sosthène Broussard and his Creole wife Marie Marcellite Begnaud, at the St. Martinville church in September 1853. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Élise in December 1854; and Joseph, also called Clébert, in October 1856. In 1900, Cyprien and his wife were living on Main Street in Breaux Bridge. Daughter Élise may not have married, but Cyprien's son Joseph married, into the Thibodeaux family after 1870.
Dominique Jean dit Minique's third and youngest son Pierre Maximilien or Maxilien, married Marie Azélie, Azéline, Zéline, or Céline, daughter of fellow Acadians Hippolyte Savoie and Victoire Guilbeau of La Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in July 1816. They settled at La Pointe. Their children, born there, included an unnamed son died at age 1 month in August 1817; Marie Azélie, called Azélie, born in July 1819; Marie Azéna dite Zéna, in October 1822; Pierre Dolzé, called Dolzé, in January 1825; another Pierre Dolze, also called Dolze Pierre, in June 1828; Marie Azélia in February 1832; Alphred or Alfred in November 1834; Constance in March 1839; and Joseph in December 1841--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1817 and 1841. Pierre Maximilien's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in March 1844. He would have been age 46 that year. Daughters Marie Azélie, Marie Azéna dite Zéna, and Marie Azélia married into the Babineaux, Cormier, Bertrand, and Alexandre families by 1870. Three of Pierre Maximilien's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Pierre Dolzé, called Dolzé, married Marie Athanaise dite Thanaise, daughter of fellow Acadians Maximilien Babineaux and Clémence Breaux, at the Breaux Bridge church in April 1848--the first marriage recorded at the new St. Bernard church there. Their children, born at Breaux Bridge, included Marie Alsire or Alzire, called Alzire, in July 1849; Marie Constance in December 1853; and Eve in June 1856--three children, a son and two daughters, between 1849 and 1856. Pierre Dolzé died in St. Martin Parish in January 1867. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Dorsin, as he called him, died "at age 41 yrs." He was 42. His succession, calling him Dolsin, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse later in the month. Daughter Eve married into the Laviolette family after 1870. Pierre Dolzé's son evidently did not marry, but the blood of the family line may have endured.
Pierre Maximilien's second son Dolzé Pierre was living with his older sister Marie Azéna and brother-in-law Michel Treville Cormier at Fausse Pointe on the lower Teche in 1850. He married Amélie or Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Onésime Cormier and Céleste Dupuis, at the St. Martinville church in April 1851. Their children, born on the Teche, included Alfred le jeune in March 1852; and Sylvain in August 1853 but died the following October. Dolzé Pierre died in St. Martin Parish in October 1853, age 25 (the recording priest said 26). His older son Alfred le jeune married, into the LeBlanc and Bertrand families after 1870.
Pierre Maximilien's third son Alfred was living with his older sister Marie Azéna and brother-in-law Michel Treville Cormier at Fausse Pointe in 1850. He married Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Aurelien Bijeaux and his Creole wife Marie Collins, at the St. Martinville church in May 1854. They settled near Breaux Bridge. Their children, born there, included Adam in July 1856; Félix in October 1858; Marie Azélina in November 1860; Joseph Dolzé, called Dolzé, in January 1863; and Emma Célina, called Célina, in November 1866--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1856 and 1866. Alfred died before November 1868, in his early 30s, when his widow remarried to a Wiltz at St. Martinville. Her and Alfred's daughters Marie Azélina and Célina married into the Laviolette family after 1870. Alfred's youngest son Dolzé also married, into the Lasseigne family after 1870.
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The largest group of Melansons to come to the colony--23 individuals, most of them part of an extended family from Grand-Pré that ended up at Snow Hill, Maryland--reached Louisiana in September 1766 after a three-month voyage from Baltimore--members of the first contingent of Acadian exiles from the Chesapeake colony. Two of the families were headed by widows, and two of the younger Melansons were orphans without parents. Spanish authorities sent them to Cabahannocer, where they settled near their cousins already there. Many new family lines came of it, on the river, the prairies, and upper Bayou Lafourche. One of the lines was especially robust:
Alexandre (1717-late 1760s) à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Alexandre, fourth son of Jean Melanson and Marguerite Dugas, born at Minas in 1717, married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of Jean Gautrot and Anne LeBlanc, in c1740 probably at Minas, where, between 1741 and 1748, Marie-Josèphe gave Alexandre four children: Jean-Septime born in July 1841; Joseph in April 1744; Marguerite-Josèphe in June 1745; and Marie-Madeleine in January 1848. Wife Marie-Josèphe died at Minas in March 1748, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Alexandre remarried to Osite Hébert probably at Minas in c1749. She gave him three more children there: Madeleine born in c1750; Pierre-Jacques in c1750; and Joseph in c1754. The British deported the family to Maryland in the fall of 1755. Osite gave Alexandre two more sons in the colony, probably at Snow Hill on the Eastern Shore: Étienne born in c1756; and Paul-Olivier in c1762. Alexandre, wife Osite, and five sons and a daughter, appeared on a repatriation list at Snow Hill in July 1763. Older daughters Marguerite-Josèphe and Marie-Madeleine, who would have been ages 18 and 15, and older son Joseph, who would have been age 19, were not among them. One wonders if they had survived the rigors of exile. Alexandre, Osite, and five of their children, four sons and a daughter, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1766. Oldest son Jean-Septime, listed with the family at Snow Hill in 1763, who would have been age 25 in 1766, did not go with them. One wonders if he chose to remain in Maryland, or if he went from that colony to French St.-Domingue or some other French possession. As a result of Jean-Septime's decision, whatever it may have been, none of Alexandre's four children from his first wife accompanied him to the Spanish colony. From New Orleans, Alexandre and his family followed their fellow passengers to Cabahannocer. Family historian Michael Melanson says the family appears "on the list of Acadians at New Orleans, in July 1767," but they do not; Alexandre, Osite, and their children would have been settled at Cabahannocer by then. Their son Charles dit Migouin or Miquoin was born probably at Cabahannocer in early 1768--10 children, seven sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1741 and 1768, in greater Acadia, Maryland, and Louisiana. Alexandre died probably at Cahahannocer before September 1769, in his late 50s or early 60s, when Osite was counted on the east bank of the river there as a widow. Daughter Madeleine, by his second wife, married into the Godin family at Cabahannocer soon after reaching the colony. Alexandre's five youngest sons, the youngest one born in Louisiana, also married fellow Acadians in the colony and created vigorous lines on both sides of the Atchafalaya Basin. This became, in fact, the largest Melançon family line in the Bayou State.
Third son Pierre-Jacques dit Santiago, by second wife Osite Hébert, followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where he married Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Landry and Ursule Landry, in July 1773. Their children, born on the river, included Joseph le jeune baptized at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in July 1774; Paul dit Hippolyte baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1776; Constance baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1779; Henriette-Eulise born in November 1781; Emmanuel-Marius dit Manuel in April 1787; Marie in April 1789; Simon in November 1791; Rosémond in June 1794 but died in Ascension Parish, age 39, in February 1834; and Édouard born in January 1798 but died at age 4 in August 1802--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1774 and 1798. Santiago, in his late 60s, remarried to Marie-Christine, called Christine, daughter of Augustin Landry and Anne-Marie Forest and widow of Grégoire Melançon, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, upriver from Ascension in January 1817. She gave him no more children. Santiago died near St. Gabriel in February 1829, in his mid- or late 70s; the recording priest said age 75. Daughters Constance, Henriette, and Marie, by his first wife, married Gautreaux brothers. Four of Santiago's sons also married, at Cabahannocer/St. James and Ascension on the river. Two of them settled on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune, by first wife Élisabeth Landry, married Apollonie or Apolline dite Poulone, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcel LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Breaux, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in November 1796. They remained there until the 1820s, when they joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Marie-Josèphe in October 1797; Henriette-Louise dite Lise in November 1799; Rosalie, also called Rosaline and Constance, in October 1801; Joseph, fils in December 1803; Marguerite Cidalie in November 1805 but died in Assumption Parish on the upper Lafourche, age 25 (the recording priest said 26), in February 1831; Paul born in June 1808 but died near Convent, St. James Parish, age 35 (the recording priest said 32), in October 1843; Apollonie born in May 1810; Joseph Silver, Silvère, or Sylvère, called Sylvère, in December 1812; Marie Émélite in December 1814; Paul Trasimond, called Trasimond, in April 1817; Désirée, perhaps theirs, in c1822 but died in St. James Parish, age 11, in June 1833; and Joseph Narcisse born in Assumption Parish in December 1827--a dozen children, seven daughters and five sons, between 1797 and 1827. Wife Apollonie died in Assumption Parish in February 1839, age 62. Joseph le jeune died there in September 1844, age 70. Daughters Marie Josèphe, Henriette Louise, Rosalie, and Apollonie married into the LeBlanc, Delanoir, and Champagne families on the river and upper Bayou Lafourche. Three of Joseph le jeune's sons also married and settled on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Joseph, fils married cousin Marie Henriette, called Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Gautreaux and Françoise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1827; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Joseph Narcisse Valcourt, called Valcourt, in December 1827; Rose Élisabeth in August 1829 but died the following October; Marie Malvina born in January 1831 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1833; Marie Joséphine born in March 1833 but died a week later (the recording priest said 12 days after); and Joseph Albert, called Albert, born in February 1837--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1828 and 1837. None of Joseph, fils's daughters survived childhood. Both of his sons married and settled on the upper Lafourche
Older son Joseph Valcourt, called Valcour, married Constance, daughter of Jean Martinez and Constance Plaisance, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in March 1851. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie in January 1852 but died a week after her birth; Gratieuse Françoise, also called Gracieuse Joséphine, born in March 1853; Jean Albert in March 1855; Virginie, also called Levinia, in February 1857; Pauline Olinda or Ollinda in April 1859; Constance Anastasie in April 1861 but, called Constance, died the following September; and Marie Alfronia dite Euphonia born in September 1862--seven children, six daughters and a son, between 1852 and 1862. Daughters Gracieuse Joséphine and Ollinda married into the Ruiz and Prejean families, one before 1870. Youngest daughter Euphonia bore a "natural" son in September 1886, when she was in her early 20s. Valcour's son also married, into the Bloom family after 1870.
Joseph, fils's younger son may have been the Albert Melançon who married Mary Walker, place and date unrecorded. Their son Mathias was born in Ascension Parish in August 1861; ...
Joseph, père's third son Joseph Sylvère, called Sylvère, married Marie Céleste or Célesie, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Pierre dit Simonet Boudreaux and Céleste Babin, at the Plattenville church in April 1837. They, too, settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary of Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Louisa in September 1838 but, called Marie Louise, died at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 16) in May 1853; Marie Manette born in April 1841 but, called Manette, died at age 6 in July 1847; Amélie Joséphine, called Joséphine, born in June 1843; Joseph Gabriel in February 1846; Joseph Cézaire or Césaire, called Césaire, in August 1848; Nazaire Clair or Claire, called Claire, in July 1852; Séverin Clairville in January 1856; Antoinette Adèle, called Adèla, in January 1859; and Monique Aimée in May 1862--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1838 and 1862. Sylvère died near Plattenville in August 1869. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parent's names or mention a wife, said that Silvère, as he called him, died at "age ca. 50 years." He was 56. Daughters Joséphine, Claire, and Adèla married into the Gaspard, Ohlmeyer, and LeBlanc families, one of them before 1870. Sylvère's three sons also married, one of them before 1870, the others into the Theriot and Ohlmeyer families after 1870.
Second son Césaire married Marie Alida, called Alida, daughter of fellow Acadians Trasimond Aucoin and Azélie Hébert, at the Plattenville church in February 1869. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Ptolemée in February 1870; Jules in October 1872; Sylvère Théodore, called Théodore, in December 1876; Thérèse Célesie, called Theresa, in December 1879; Jean-Philippe, called John, in June 1883; Paul Rodolph, called Rudolphe, in October 1885; Estelle Jeanne, called Jeanne, in September 1887; and Beauregard in December 1893--eight children, three daughters and five sons, between 1870 and 1893. Césaire, a widower, and his six younger children were living in Assumption Parish in 1900. His oldest son Jules married into the Borne family in Assumption Parish in 1895.
Joseph, père's fourth son Trasimond married Eulalie, daughter of Jean Martinez and Constance Plaisance, at the Plattenville church in November 1840. They lived on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Thélésphore or Télésphore, called Télésphore, a daughter, in September 1841; Adélard dit Taylor in January 1843 but, called Taylor, died at age 6 1/2 in August 1849; Jean Silvère or Sylvère born in November 1844; Marie Sedelise or Sidalie, called Sidalie, in December 1846; Eudalie Ozéma in October 1848 but, called Odalie, died at age 6 months the following April; Élise Gorgeon, called Alice, born in May 1850; Narcisse Natole in March 1852; Augustin in December 1853; Cécilia Micaela in December 1855; Sidonia Mathilde, called Cécidone, in December 1857; Célesie Ovile in July 1860 but, called Ovile, died at age 2 1/2 in November 1862; and Joseph Vives, called Vives, born in December 1862--a dozen children, seven daughters and five sons, between 1841 and 1862. Daughters Télésphore, Sidalie, Alice, Cécilia, and Cécidone married into the Ruiz, Acosta or Lacoste, Monson, and Fernandez families, three of the marriages before 1870, two of them after. One of Trasimond's older sons died during the War of 1861-65, probably from the rigors of his Confederate service. Two of Trasimond's younger sons--Augustin and Vives--also married, into the Monson, Rodriguez, and Schwab families after 1870.
Second son Sylvère le jeune served as a private in Company H of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish. Silver, as he was called in Confederate records, enlisted probably at Napoleonville in April 1862, age 17, and followed his unit to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where it fought in several battles later in the year and in the Siege of Vicksburg the following spring and summer. Unit records show him present for duty from late August 1862 through late February 1863. He and his regiment, along with the rest of the Confederate army at Vicksburg, surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on 4 July 1863. Sylvère likely was sent home with his fellow parolees soon after the surrender. Was he wounded in any of the fighting at Vicksbourg? Did his 15 months on active duty wreck his health? Confederate records say nothing more about him after his parole. Called Sylver by the recording priest, Sylvère le jeune died in November 1864, perhaps at home, three days after he turned 20, his early death most likely war-related. He did not marry.
Santiago's second son Paul dit Hippolyte, by first wife Élisabeth Landry, married Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Lanoux and Catherine LeBlanc, at St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer in January 1798. Their children, born on the river, included Paul-Roman or -Romain in October 1798; Joseph le jeune in February 1801 but died at age 6 months the following August; Cilicia or Célesie born in February 1802 but died at age 10 in June 1812; Marie Léonide or Léonise, called Léonise and Élonise, born in February 1805; Victoire in c1809 but died at age 10 in October 1819; Simon le jeune, also called Simon George, born in October 1809; and Aurore in October 1812--seven children, three sons and four daughters, between 1798 and 1812. By 1810, Paul dit Hippolyte and his family had moved to the west bank of the river in what had become St. James Parish. That year he held two slaves. Called Hippolite Paul by the recording priest, he evidently died near Convent, St. James Parish, in June 1814. The recording priest said Hippolyte Paul died at age 27. Paul dit Hippolyte would have been age 37. Daughters Léonise and Aurore married into the Mulheinrick and Gignon families near Convent. Paul dit Hippolyte's remaining sons also married in St. James Parish.
Oldest son Paul Roman married Élisabeth dite Betze, 20-year-old daughter of Charles Hymel and his Acadian wife Émelie Prejean of Ascension Parish, at the Convent church in August 1825. Their children, born near Convent, included Sosthènes in August 1826 and baptized as Paul Roman, fils in December; Reine born in January 1828 but died at age 7 1/2 in April 1835; Marie Célestine, called Célestine, born in December 1829; Joseph Ulgère or Ludgère, called Ludgère or Ludger, in February 1832; Adam, perhaps theirs, in December 1834 but died the following January; and Colombe Colonie, called Colonie, a daughter, born in December 1837--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1826 and 1837. Paul Romain, père died near Convent in April 1843, age 44. Wife Émelie remarried to an Ascota. Paul Roman's daughter Colonie married into the Balda family. Two of his sons also married by 1870. One of them moved to the western prairies after the War of 1861-65 but may have returned to St. James Parish.
Oldest son Sosthènes or Paul Roman, fils married Laurenza, daughter of Martin Isaac Bernier and his Acadian wife Domithilde Gautreaux, at the Convent church in February 1847. Their children, born on the river, included Joseph Holestang in Ascension Parish in October 1847 but, called Olestan, died there at age 15 1/2 (the recording priest said 16) in January 1863 (one wonders if his death was war-related); Joseph Ludgère le jeune born in October 1849; and Paul Justilien in March 1852--three children, all sons, between 1847 and 1852. In 1850, Sosthènes, called Romain, was living with his wife and two sons on the east bank of the river in St. James Parish. Sosthènes died in Ascension Parish in March 1853. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who gave no parents' names or mentioned a wife, said that Sostin, as he called him, died "at age 25 years." He was 26. His second son Joseph married into the Hostler family after 1870.
Paul Romain's second son Ludger married Marie Scholastique, called Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Noël Richard and Marie Joséphine Babin and widow of Dumesnil dit Roblin Mire, at the Convent church in May 1862. They settled on the western prairies. Their children, born there, included Noël Joseph or Joseph Noël Ludger in St. Landry Parish in December 1866; Carmélite in May 1869; and Martine Scholastique, called Scholastique, in July 1871--three children, a son and two daughters, between 1866 and 1871. Daughter Scholastique married into the Trabaux family after 1870. Ludger's son Joseph also married, into the Rome family after 1870.
Paul's dit Hippolyte's third and youngest son Simon le jeune married cousin Marie Émilie, Eunice, Émeline, Améline, Méline, or Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Élie Lanoux and Marie Poulonne Gautreaux, at the Convent church in February 1833. Their children, born near Convent, included Euphrosine, called Euphrasie, in September 1833; Arseine or Arsène Bruno in October 1835; Hélie or Élie Evariste, called Evariste, in March 1837; Hippolyte Lésiphore or Onésiphore, called Onésiphore, in June 1839; Simon Buren in June 1841 but, called Simon Darine, died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in December 1845; Marie Laurentia born in November 1842 but died at age 11 months in November 1843; Aristide born in January 1845 but died at age 2 1/2 in November 1847; Richard born in April 1847; twins Madeleine Louise and Marie Aglaé in April 1849, but Marie Aglaé, called Aglaé, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in October 1855, and Madeleine Louise, called Louise, died at age 12 (the recording priest said 13) in October 1861; Joseph Edmond born in July 1851 but, called Edmond, died at age 4 in October 1855, the day before his sister Aglaé died; Marie Rosa born in March 1853 but, unnamed by the recording priest, died at age 8 1/2 (the priest said 9) in October 1861; Joseph Villeore born in January 1855; and an unnamed infant died in April 1858, six days after his/her mother died. Wife Marie Émeline died near Convent in March 1858, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Simon le jeune, at age 52, remarried to Anaïse, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Gaudin and Scholastique Hébert and widow of Trasimond Lanoux, his first wife's brother, at the Convent church in February 1863. They remained near Convent. Their children, born there, included Marie Élia, called Éliza, in April 1864; Simon, fils died 10 days after his birth in April 1866; George Jean Baptiste born in June 1868; Albert in January 1871; and Andrieux in January 1874--19 children, at least six daughters and a dozen sons, by two wives, between 1833 and 1874. Simon le jeune died near Convent in February 1874, age 64. Daughters Euphrasie and Éliza, by both wives, married into the Theriot and Lannegrasse families, one before 1870, the other after. Six of Simon le jeune's sons also married, three before 1870, and three--Joseph, George, and Albert--into the Dupepe, Babin, and Mire families after 1870.
Second son Evariste, by first wife Marie Émeline Lanoux, married M. L. Eudoxie, called Eudoxie, daughter of Louis Isidore dit Victor Letullier and Berthilde Legendre, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, at the Convent church in February 1860. Their children, born near Convent, included Eudoxie died, age unrecorded, in November 1862; Joseph Ernest born in May 1864; Louis Hénault in November 1865; Evariste Élie in September 1868; Joseph Ulysse or Ulysse Joseph in August 1870; Joseph in November 1871; Marie-Louise in August 1873; Julia in May 1877; and Victor in February 1880 but died at age 6 in June 1886--nine children, three daughters and six sons, between 1862 and 1880. Evariste, called Ernest, his wife, and two children, Ulysse and Julia, were living in East Baton Rouge Parish in 1900. One wonders if any of their children married.
Simon le jeune's third son Onésiphore, by first wife Marie Émeline Lanoux, married Estelle, also called Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Eugène Gaudin and Adèle Bourgeois, at the Convent church in February 1867. Daughter Marie Délia was born in January 1868 but died 10 days after her birth and the day after her baptism. Wife Estelle probably died soon after from the rigors of childbirth. Onésiphore remarried to Delphine, another daughter of Eugène Gaudin and Adèle Bourgeois, at the Convent church in February 1869. Their children, born near Convent, included Télésmar in December 1870; Mélanise in August 1872; Michaelle in February 1874; Marie Adine in February 1876; an unnamed infant died at age 4 months in November 1877; Josèphine Louise born in December 1878; Eugène in April 1881; Jean Achille, called Achille, in May 1883; Mathilde Anne in August 1885; and Eugénie in May 1888--11 children, at least seven daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1868 and 1888. Onésiphore's oldest son Télésmar married into the Letullier family at Convent. In 1900, Onésiphore, his wife, four of their children, and a grandson were living in Ascension Parish.
Simon le jeune's fifth son Richard, by first wife Marie Émeline Lanoux, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Sosthène Breaux and Carmélite Guidry, at the Gonzales church, Ascension Parish, in April 1866. Their children, born near Gonzales, included Marie Eliska in March 1870; Noémie Carmélite in August 1872; Maria in April 1875; Mercedes in the late 1870s; Jean in August 1878; Cécilia in November 1881; George in January 1885; and Marie in November 1887--eight children, six daughters and two sons, between 1870 and 1887. Daughter Mercedes married into the Dearmond family at Gonzales. In 1900, Marie, probably a widow, was living with her two youngest daughters in Ascension Parish. One wonders if any of her other Melançon children married.
Santiago's third son Emmanuel Marius dit Manuel, called Marius, from first wife Élisabeth Landry, married Marie Marcelline or Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Gautreaux and Marie Josèphe Duhon, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in April 1811. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes and then down bayou in Lafourche Interior Parish. Their children, born there, included Marie Mélania or Mélanie, called Mélanie, in April 1812; Simon le jeune in November 1815; Joseph Lessaint or Lessin, called Lessen, in February 1817; Lise Henriette or Henriette Élise in St. James Parish in September 1818 (the recording priest at Convent noted that her parents were members "of St. Joseph Parish, Assumsption of Lafourche," which actually was the church at Thibodauxville) but died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 5 1/2, in April 1824; Rosalie Marcelline born there in February 1820; Emanuel or Emmanuel in February 1822; Émelie Séraphine, called Séraphine, in February 1823 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1824; Euphémie born in September 1825; Marie Helen or Hélène in July 1827; Joseph Paul in July 1829 but, called Paul, died at age 3 in August 1832; and Marie Obéline, called Obéline, born in March 1832--11 children, seven daughters and four sons, between 1812 and 1832. Marius died near Plattenville, Assumption Parish, in March 1854. The priest who recorded the burial said that Marius died at "age 58 years." He was 66. Daughters Mélanie, Rosalie Marcelline, Euphémie, and Obéline married into the Barbier and Blanchard families by 1870. Two of Manuel's remaining sons also married by then and remained on the upper Lafourche.
Oldest son Simon le jeune, in his early or mid-30s, married Euphémie, daughter of fellow Acadians Lubin or Urbin LeBlanc and Mélanie Aucoin, place and date unrecorded. They settled near Plattenville on the upper Lafourche. There children, born there, included Andose Asemilia in September 1849 but, called Andoche, died at age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 12) in July 1860; and Simon Saba born in February 1852. Wife Euphémie died the following October, age 25, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Simon, at age 40, remarried to Marie Zulmée, daughter of Jean Martinez and Constance Plaisance, at the Plattenville church in August 1856. They remained on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie Hélène, called Hélène, in August 1857; Marie Marceline, called Marcelline, in June 1860; Jean Simon in June 1862 but, called Simon J., died at age 3 in August 1865; Thomas Jackson born in July 1864; Joseph Simon in Ascension Parish in November 1866 but, called Simon Joseph, died near Plattenville at age 8 months in July 1867; Constance Obéline born in February 1870; Marie Amélie in May 1872; and Marie Berthe in June 1873--10 children, six daughters and four sons, by two wives, between 1849 and 1875. Daughter Hélène, by his second wife, married into the Obercamp family after 1870. Simon le jeune's oldest son Simon Saba also married, into the Hernandez family after 1870.
Marius's third son Joseph Lessaint or Lessin, called Lessin, married cousin Marie, daughter of Manuel Martinez and Marguerite Plaisance, at the Plattenville church in February 1841. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Désiré Enoé, called Noé, in December 1841; Arthure Simon in February 1843; Marie Hélène in September 1844 but, called Hélène, died at age 2 (the recording priest said 3) in October 1847; Marie Emmanuela born in July 1846; Marie Hélène Marguerite, called Hélène, the second with the name, in June 1848; Michel, actually Michaele, a daughter, in January 1850; Marcelline Modeste in November 1851; Désiré Ilere near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in March 1854; Amasilie, probably Amalise, Zoémie Lucie, called Zoémie, in October 1856; Philomène in c1858; Victor Oscar in February 1860; Marie Marguerite in October 1862; and Osémé Joseph in August 1865--13 children, five sons and eight daughters, between 1841 and 1865. Lessin died near Labadieville in February 1881, age 64. Daughters Hélene, Michaele, and Marcelline married into the Allemand, Himel, and Vicknair families by 1870, and Zoémie, Philomène, and Marie Marguerite into the Colegan and Falcon families after 1870. One of Lessin's sons also married by then. Two of his sons, Desiré and Osémé, married into the Allemand and Daigle families after 1870.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Noé served in Company C of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He married Marie Éloise or Héloise, daughter of fellow Acadians Basile Talbot and Marie Henry, at the Labadieville church in April 1864 while waiting for his unit to be exchanged. After the war, they settled near Labadieville. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Oliva or Olivia in July 1865; Camelia Julie in May 1867; Louise Eve in August 1869; Émile in the early 1870s; Alcée Meleus in March 1874; Lévi Jean in September 1876; Camille Théodore in January 1880; and Clét in April 1883--eight children, three daughters and five sons, between 1865 and 1883. In 1900, Noé and his family were still living in Assumption Parish.
Santiago's fourth son Simon, by first wife Élisabeth Landry, married Émelite, called Mélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Clouâtre and Marie Poirier, at the St. James church in February 1813. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Simon, fils in January 1814; and Théodule in December 1814. Simon, père died near Convent in March 1840. The priest who recorded the burial said that Simon died at "age 50 years." He was 48. Neither of his sons seems to have married, so the family line probably died with him.
In 1850, second son Théodule, age 35, was living in the household of Émile Breaux on the east bank of the river in St. James Parish, obviously unmarried. Was he working as an engagé?
Alexandre's fourth son Joseph, the second with the name, by second wife Osite Hébert, followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where he married Anastasie, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Breaux and Madeleine Trahan of Pigiguit, in May 1779. Anastasie was a native of Maryland, and her father was one of the Breau brothers who gave Spanish Governor Ulloa so much grief in 1768 after reaching the colony from Port Tobacco, Maryland, earlier that year. Anastasie and Joseph's son Pierre-Paul was born at Cabahannocer in October 1780. She died at nearby Ascension in January 1783, age 20. Joseph, at age 30, remarried to Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcel LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Breaux, at Ascension in September 1784. Their children, born there, included Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, in c1785; Hippolyte Paul, called Paul, in October 1786 or February 1787 but died at age 27 near Convent, St. James Parish, in June 1814; Joseph, fils born in July 1788; Blaise-Alexandre in February 1791; Marie-Josèphe in September 1793; and another Marie-Josèphe in February 1802 but died a day after her birth--seven children, four sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1780 and 1802. Joseph, père died by 1810, when second wife Marie-Josèphe was described in a census as a widow. Daughters Madeleine and Marie, by his second wife, married into the Landry and LeBlanc families in St. James Parish. One of Joseph's sons also married, on the river.
Third son Joseph, fils, by second wife Marie Josèphe LeBlanc, married cousin Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Pélagie Doiron, at the St. James church in February 1809. The following year, Joseph, fils and his family were living on the east bank of the river in St. James Parish and held four slaves. Their children, born there, included Marie Marcellite or Marcelline, called Marcelline, in March 1810; Honorine in c1811 but died at age 18 months in November 1813; another Honorine born in June 1812 but died at age 1 in August 1813; Joseph III born in February 1813; yet another Marie Honorine, also called Marie Victorine, in January 1816 but died at age 5 1/2 in October 1821; Marcellin, also called Marcellin Louis, born in July 1818; Théotiste Euphrosine, also called Euphrasie, in November 1819; a son, name unrecorded, died at "age about 15 days" in August 1821; Marguerite, perhaps also called Désirée, born in August 1822 but, called Désirée, may have died in St. James Parish, age 11, in June 1833; Constant, also called Constant Paul, born in March 1824; Irma in c1826; twins Marcellin Camille, called Camille, and Simon Rosémé or Osémé, called Osémé Simon, in October 1829; Robert Flegier or Phlegie Robert in May 1831; and Pierre Ernest in February 1832 but died "at his mother's home" in St. James Parish, age 22, in September 1854--15 children, seven daughters and eight sons, including a set of twins, between 1810 and 1832. Joseph, fils died in St. James Parish in June 1833. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 47 when he died. He was 44. Daughters Marcelline, Euphrasie, and Irma married Melançon and LeBlanc cousins by 1870. Six of Joseph, fils's sons also married by then, two of them to sisters. Four of them settled on the western prairies, but not all of the lines endured there. One of them resettled on upper Bayou Lafourche during the late 1860s.
Oldest son Joseph III married Marguerite Uranie, called Uranie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Louis Bernard and Aspasie Dugas, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in September 1836. They lived on the river for a few years and then returned to the western prairies in the late 1840s or early 1850s. Their children, born on the river and the prairies, included Joseph IV in Ascension Parish in August 1837; Joseph Séverin Jessner, called Gessner, in February 1839; Aspasie in July 1843; Marie Cléopha, perhaps a son, in April 1846; Marie Constance near Convent, St. James Parish, in December 1847; Jean Dracos in Lafayette Parish in May 1851 but, called Dracos, died at Washington, St. Landry Parish, age 17, in November 1868; Marie Idea born in Lafayette Parish in December 1853; Joseph Alphares near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in October 1855; and Louis Yorick in February 1858--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1837 and 1858. Joseph III, at age 52, remarried to Cidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians Anaclet Cormier and Madeleine Richard and widow of Marcellin Patin, at Grand Coteau in January 1865. She gave him no more children. None of his daughters married by 1870. Daughter Constance, by his first wife, married into the Lescale family near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, after 1870. Only one of Joseph III's sons, his youngest, Louis Yorick, seems to have married, into the Webre family after 1870.
Joseph, fils's second son Marcellin Louis married Eulalie, daughter of Étienne Gabriel de la Morandière and his Acadian wife Élisa Richard, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1844. They settled at the northeastern edge of St. Landry Parish near Washington, west of the upper Atchafalaya River. Their children, born there, included Louis Étienne in October 1845; Corine in February 1850; Oscar in January 1853; Clara Marie in August 1855; and Alexis Joseph in c1857 but died at Port Barre, St. Landry Parish, in June 1860--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1845 and 1857. Marcellin Louis, at age 62, remarried to Marie Marcellite, daughter of John F. Smith and his Acadian wife Olivia Guilbeau, at the Grand Coteau church in October 1881. She gave him no more children. Daughter Clara Marie, by his first wife, may have married into the Barry family after 1870. Marcellin Louis's older son married by 1870, and younger son Oscar married into the Bird and Landry or Greenly families after 1870.
Older son Louis Étienne married Amélie, daughter of Alexandre Castille and Emilia Robin, at the Washington church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1870. Their children, born in northeastern St. Landry Parish, included Marcellin Louis le jeune at Washington in March 1871 but died at age 2 at Port Barre in July 1873; Aline born near Opelousas in December 1872; Marie Anne Corine, called Corinne, between Port Barre and Leonville in September 1874; Augustin J. Berchman, called Berchman, in March 1877; Angèle in January 1879 but died at age 19 in July 1898; Eulalie born in April 1880; Béatrice in October 1882; Gabriel in April 1885; and Louise in August 1887--nine children, three sons and six daughters, between 1871 and 1887. Louis Étienne died at Port Barre in September 1888, age 42. Daughters Aline and Corinne married into the Joubert and Robin families at Washington and Port Barre after 1870. His widow Amélie, who evidently did not remarry, was still living in St. Landry Parish with five of her younger children in 1900.
Joseph, fils's fourth son Constant married Hélène Félicité Élodie, called Élodie, daughter of Joseph Paul Fabre and Amélie Perrette, at the St. James church in May 1855. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Joseph Louis Charles in May 1856; and Marie Émilia in October 1857. Their son may not have survived childhood, but their daughter married into the Dubourg family after 1870, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Joseph, fils's fifth son Camille, a twin, at age 36, married Marie Philomène, daughter of Jean Baptiste Dejean and Julie Nezat, at the Opelousas church in January 1866. One wonders if this was his first marriage. He and his wife evidently were that rare Cajun couple who had no children.
Joseph, fils's sixth son Osémé Simon, Camille's twin, married cousin Marie Aurelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Jacques LeBlanc and Marie Landry, at the St. James church in April 1867; they had to secure a dispensation for second and third degrees of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled in Ascension Parish, perhaps near the boundary with St. James. Their children, born there, included Marie Anne in December 1868 but died at age 7 1/2 in October 1886; Joseph Lullus born in October 1870; Sidney in January 1872; Jean Baptiste in August 1873 but died eight days after his birth; Marie Monique born in August 1875; Mary Rita in May 1877; Claire in July 1880; Wanita dite Nita in March 1884; and Loretta in May 1889--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1868 and 1889. Daughter Marie Monique married into the Hidalgo family in the 1890s. One wonders if any of Osémé Simon's sons and more of his daughters married.
Joseph, fils's seventh son Phlegie Robert married Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, another daughter of Jean Louis Bernard and Aspasie Dugas, at the Vermilionville church in June 1854. They lived briefly in Ascension Parish before returning to the prairies, but they resettled on Bayou Lafourche after the War of 1861-65. Their children, born on the river, the prairies, and the Lafourche, included Marc Camille in April 1855; Alicie Clarisse near Grand Coteau in February 1857; Adolphe in January 1859; Gabriel near Breaux Bridge, St. Martin Parish, in December 1861; Marie Irma, called Irma, in October 1862; Ruth Armide in Ascension Parish in November 1866; Euphrasie Célina in the late 1760s; Marie Anze or Anze Rosalie near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in July 1871; Joseph Robert near Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, in April 1875; and John M. in the late 1870s or 1880s--10 children, five sons and five daughters, between 1855 and the 1870s or 1880s. Daughters Irma and Euphrasie married into the Price and Lyall families after 1870. Three of Phlegie's sons--Marc Camille, Adolphe, and John M.--also married, into the Bernard, Fandal, and Lebrun families after 1870.
Alexandre's fifth son Étienne, by second wife Osite Hébert, followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he married Ludivine, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Breaux and Marie Benoit, at Cabahananocer in April 1780. Their children, born there, included Jean-Henri, called Henri, in August 1781; Étienne, fils in c1782; and Alexandre le jeune in October 1786--three sons between 1781 and 1786. Étienne, père died by January 1789, in his early 30s, when his wife remarried to an Arceneaux at Cabahannocer. One of his sons married and settled in St. James Parish. A grandson moved to upper Bayou Lafourche in the early 1840s.
Oldest son Henri married cousin Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joachim dit Bénoni Mire and Madeleine Melançon, at St. James, formerly Cabahannocer, in February 1804. Their children, born there, included twins François Étienne, called Étienne le jeune, and Pierre Henry, also called Pierre Alex, in March 1806; Joseph Adrien in July 1808; and Jean Hermogène, called Hermogène, in January 1811--four sons, including a set of twins, between 1806 and 1811. In 1810, Henri and his family were living on the west bank of the river in St. James Parish, where he held two slaves. Henri died in St. James Parish in November 1817, age 36. Two of his sons married. His oldest son moved to upper Bayou Lafourche before returning to the river, and his second son remained in St. James Parish. Not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Étienne le jeune, a twin, married Marie Reine, called Reine and Irène, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Olivier LeBlanc and Émelie Lalande, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1833. They lived near Convent before joining the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche later in the decade. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Marie Irène, called Irène, in May 1834 near Convent; Marie Émilie, called Émilie or Émélie, in February 1836; Rosalie Rosella in Assumption Parish on the upper Lafourche in October 1837; Hermina in c1838; Étienne Arms, Armes, or Armos, in June 1839 but, called Armos, died at age 3 1/2 in October 1842; and Pierre Félix, called Félix, born in January 1842--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1834 and 1842. Wife Marie Reine died in Assumption Parish in February 1842, age 30, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Étienne le jeune, at age 42, remarried to Aureline Geneviève, daughter of Norbert LeBoeuf and Ursule Rodriguez, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in March 1848. Wife Aureline died the following November, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Étienne le jeune, at age 45, remarried again--his third marriage--to Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Babin and Marguerite Landry and widow of Ursin Hébert, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1851. They remained in Ascension Parish. She gave him no more children. Étienne le jeune died near Gonzalez, in the interior of Ascension Parish, in December 1865. The priest who recorded the burial said that Étienne Melansson, as he called him, died at "age ca. 61 years." He was 59. He was buried in the cemetery at "la prairie." Daughters Irène, Émelie, and Hermina, from his first wife, married into the Kling, Duplessis, and Breaux families by 1870. Étienne le jeune's remaining son evidently did not marry, but the blood of this family line endured.
Henri's second son Pierre Henry, also called Pierre Alex, Étienne le jeune's twin, married cousin Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Landry and Madeleine Melançon, at the Convent church in November 1834; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included Pierre Henri, fils baptized at age 2 months, 2 days in November 1835 but died at age 11 1/2 in May 1847; Madeleine Hélèna born in August 1837 but, called Madeleine, died at age 17 1/2 (the recording priest said 18) in May 1855; and Joseph Bienvenu, called Bienvenu, born in August 1839--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1835 and 1839. In 1850, Pierre Henri, a widower, was living with his two children on the east bank of the river in St. James Parish. Pierre Henri died near Convent in October 1855. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Pierre died at "age 45 yrs." He would have been age 49. His daughter did not marry, but his remaining son did.
Younger son Bienvenu married Ade Aglaé, called Aglaé, daughter of fellow Acadians Zénon Arceneaux and Euphémie LeBlanc, at the Convent church in June 1856. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Henry, called Henry, in June 1857; Louis Alfred, called Alfred, in September 1858; Marie Odile in July 1860 but, called Odile, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 1 1/2) in March 1863; Joseph Bienvenu born in April 1863; Marie Euphémie, called Euphémie, in September 1865; François Clément, called Clément, in January 1868; Madeleine Helena, called Helena, in July 1870; Camille in July 1872; and Zénon Sébastien in November 1874--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1857 and 1874. Bienvenu died at New River near Gonzales in February 1881, age 41. Daughters Euphémie and Helena married into the Breaux and Lambert families after 1870. Bienvenu's five older sons also married, into the Trabaux, Babin, Lee, Guidry, and Breaux families after 1870.
Henri's third and youngest son Hermogène was an unmarried farmer living on the east bank of the river in St. James Parish in 1850. In his household was 19-year-old Oscar Breaux, probably an engagé. Hermogène, called Armogène by the recording priest at Donaldsonville, died in Ascension Parish in April 1853, a month shy of age 40. He did not marry.
Étienne's second son Étienne, fils married Marie-Louise, called Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Lanoux and Catherine LeBlanc, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in April 1803. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Tarsile in April 1804; Marie Delphine in March 1806; Zéphirin in February 1808; Célanie Euphrosine, called Euphrosine, in February 1810; Victorin in May 1812; Marcellin in September 1814; Marie Justine in September 1817; Élisabeth Mélasie, called Mélasie, in November 1819; and Dorosta Egesippe, also called Egesippe Dorestan and Dorestan Egesippe, a son in April 1824--nine children, five daughters and four sons, between 1804 and 1824. Étienne, fils died near Convent in December 1825. The priest who recorded the burial said that Étienne was "age 33" when he died. He probably was in his early 40s. Daughters Tarsile, Marie Delphine, Euphrosine, Marie Justine, and Mélasie married into the Landry, Chase, Bourgeois, LeBlanc, and Boudreaux families. Daughter Tarsile may have been the Torsille Melançon who gave birth to daughter Marie Diesine in early 1836, but the girl died at age 1 month in May 1836. The Convent priest who recorded the girl's burial did not give the father's name. Tarsile may still have been married to her second husband, O. W. Chase, so he may have been the girl's father. Étienne, fils's four sons also married and settled in St. James and Ascension parishes, but not all of the lines endured. In the early 1860s, one of his grandsons moved upriver to Pointe Coupee Parish, where few Acadians lived.
Oldest son Zéphirin married Marie Faralie or Farelite, called Faralie or Foralie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Paul Bourgeois and Scholastique Babin, at the Donaldsonville church in June 1828. They lived on the river near the boundary of Ascension and St. James parishes before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche and settling near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Marie Rose Aimée, called Marie Rose and Rose Aimée, near Convent in March 1829; Étienne Esteve, called Esteve, in March 1831; an unnamed infant son died six days after his birth in August 1833; Octavie born in September 1834; Félicie in March 1837; Pierre Cléopha, called Cléopha, in Ascension Parish in September 1843; and Joseph Optime, called Optime, near Paincourtville in May 1846 but died in Ascension Parish, age 19, in August 1865 (one wonders if his death was war-related)--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1829 and 1846. Zéphirin died in Ascension Parish in January 1852, a few weeks shy of age 44. Daughters Rose Aimée, Octavie, and Félicie married into the Crochet, Bergeron, and Melançon families. Only one of Zéphirin's sons seems to have married, but the line did not endure. Another son may have died in Confederate service before he could marry.
Oldest son Esteve married Ethelvina, daughter of fellow Acadians Landry Babin and Marie Louise Landry and widow of Aulime LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in July 1852. Their children, born on the river, included Hypolite Franklin in August 1854 but died in Pointe Coupee Parish, age 22, in August 1876; and Étienne Thimothée born in January 1857. Esteve died in Ascension Parish in September 1886, age 55. Neither of his sons seems to have married, so his family line died with him.
Zéphirin's third son may have been the Cléophas Melançon who enlisted in Company D of the 27th Regiment Louisiana Infantry in Iberville Parish on 8 March 1862, age 18. He was present on company rolls through May and likely followed his regiment to Vicksburg, Mississippi. He did not live long enough to fight with his unit there but died in late June 1862, still only 18. If he died at Vicksburg, he likely was buried in a local cemetery, perhaps at Soldiers Rest in Cedar Hill Cemetery.
Étienne, fils's second son Victorin married Marie Sylvanie, called Sylvanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Boudreaux and Théotiste Bergeron, at the Convent church in September 1834. Their son Victorin, fils was born in May 1835. Victorin, père remarried to Catherine, daughter of Christophe Webre and Félicité Rome, at the Convent church in May 1848. Their children, born near Convent, included Apolline Félicie in February 1849 but, called Félicie, died at age 21 in June 1870; Marie Louise, called Louise, born in July 1850; Marie Enesida in April 1853 but, called Enezida, died in October; Philomène Victorine, called Victorine, born in January 1855; Louis in August 1856; Timothée in c1857; Étienne le jeune in December 1858; François Zavier in October 1861 but, called François Xavier, died at age 2 (the recording priest said 12!) in September 1863; and Marie Célida born in June 1864 but, called Marie Ceida, died at age 2 in September 1866--10 children, five sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1835 and 1864. Victorin died in Ascension Parish in December 1891, age 79. Daughters Louise and Victorine, by his second wife, married into the Landry and Blanchard families in 1870 and after. Four of Victorin's sons also married, the oldest before 1870, the younger sons--Louis, Timothée, and Étienne--into the Dugas, Oubre, Lanoux, and Gaudin families after 1870.
Oldest son Victorin, fils, by first wife Sylvanie Boudreaux, married first cousin Félicie, also called Perpétué, daughter of fellow Acadians Zéphirin Melançon and Marie Farelite Bourgeois, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1858; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born on the river, included Constant Michel in March 1859; Pierre Gustave or Gustave Pierre in Pointe Coupee Parish in November 1861; Joseph A. in Ascension Parish in April 1864 but, called Joseph Edmé, died the following August; Casimir Léo or Léo Casimire born in March 1866; Marie Silvanie in October 1868 but died at age 2 1/2 in February 1871; Marie born in August 1873; and Anne Ada, called Ada, in March 1876 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1878--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1859 and 1876. Victorin, fils's remaining daughter may not have married. His remaining sons married into the Denoux, Richard, LeBlanc, and Bourgeois families after 1870.
Étienne, fils's third son Marcellin married cousin Marie Élisabeth or Élisabeth Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Léger Landry and Anne Élise Babin, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1847; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born on the river, included Stanislas Marcellin, called Marcellin, fils, in May 1848; Céleste Élizabeth in November 1849 but, called Élizabeth, died at age 1 in November 1850; Marie Toussine Octavie born in November 1851 but, called Octavie, died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in June 1855; twins Marie Julie and Julie born in October 1853, but Julie, called Julia, died at age 1 1/2 in June 1855 two days before her older sister Octavie died; Philomène Lise, called Lise, born in February 1856; Claire Tarsille in August 1858; Étienne Léger in December 1860; Marie Célanie in May 1863 but, called Célanie, died at age 4 in July 1867; Marie Aimée born in June 1865 but died at age 2 in July 1867, several weeks before her sister Célanie died; Josèphine Cora, called Cora, born in March 1868; Marguerite Arthémise in November 1870 but died 10 days after her birth; and Berthe Antoinette born in May 1873 but died two days after her birth--13 children, two sons and 11 daughters, between 1848 and 1873. Daughters Marie Julie, Lise, and Cora married into the Wunstel and Mire families in Ascension and Iberville parishes after 1870. Neither of Marcellin's sons married, but the blood of this long suffering family may have endured.
Étienne, fils's fourth and youngest son Egesippe Dorestan dit Edé married cousin Marie Désirée, called Désirée, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Comeaux and Hortense LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in May 1847, the month after his older brother Marcellin married there; Egesippe and Désirée also had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born on the river, included Marie Clara, called Clara, in April 1848; Étienne Nemorin in November 1849; Marie Estelle, called Estelle, in August 1851; Pierre Emau in November 1853 but, called Edmond, died at age 11 in October 1864; Louise Ortense or Hortense born in October 1855; Egesype Désiré in August 1857; Paul Théophile in August 1859 but, called Théofile, died at age 6 in October 1865; Joseph Beauregard born in September 1861 but died at age 6 in October 1867; Anne Aimée born in July 1864 but, called Emma, died the following October; and Joseph Arthur born in September 1866--10 children, three daughters and seven sons, between 1848 and 1866. Dorestan died in Ascension Parish in September 1867, age 43. Daughters Clara and Estelle married into the Mollère and Rodriguez families by 1870, and Louise Hortense into the Templet family later in the decade. Three of Dorestan's sons also married, into the Borne, Caillier, and Oubre families after 1870.
Étienne, père's third and youngest son Alexandre le jeune married Héloise or Éloise, also called Louisa, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Charles Arceneaux and Marie Josèphe Babin, at St. James church in February 1807. Their children, born across the river near Convent, included Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, in January 1808; "two children," probably twins, names and ages unrecorded, died in July and August 1810; Hermogène born in c1811; Marcel or Marcellus in February 1814 but died at age 3 1/2 in September 1817; Florentin born in March 1816; Florine in March 1817; Faustin in May 1819; Amelie or Émelie in October 1821 but died at age 1 in November 1822; Félix born in March 1825; Cécile Florestine, called Florestine, in May 1827; Joseph Romin or Romain, also Ramire, in June 1829; Valmire or Volmir in October 1832; and Victorin le jeune in May 1835--14 children, at least four daughters and eight sons, between 1808 and 1835. Alexandre died near Convent in June 1844. The priest who recorded the burial said that Alexandre died at "age 52 yrs." He was 57. Daughters Eugénie, Florine, and Florestine married into the LeBlanc and Bertaut families, two of them to brothers, by 1870. Eugénie, who married Joseph LeBlanc at Convent in August 1830, may have been the Eugénie Melançon who gave birth to daughter Noémi at age 18 near Convent in March 1826 but did not have the baby baptized until April 1828. The priest who recorded the baptism said nothing of the father. Six of Alexandre le jeune's remaining sons also married and settled on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Hermogène, in his early 30s, married Marcelline, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Louvière and Marguerite LeBlanc, at the Convent church in January 1843. Their children, born on the river, included Jean Jacques Avit in June 1844; and Louis Gérard in October 1846. Hermogène, called Harmogène by the Convent priest, died in Ascension Parish in December 1849, age 38. One wonders if either of his sons married.
Alexandre le jeune's third son Florentin married Élize, Lise, or Lize, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis LeBlanc and Parosine LeBlanc, at the St. James church in June 1853. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Joseph Florentin in May 1854; Marie Aglaée in February 1856 but, called Marie Aglaé, died at age 4 1/2 in October 1860; Marie Julia born in January 1858 but, called Julia, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in October 1860, five days after her sister Marie Aglaé died; Marie Cécilia dite Ellia born in December 1859; Reine Laure, called Laura, in August 1863; Marie Luce, called Luce, in October 1865; Marie Heln or Ella, called Ella, in September 1867; and Joseph Octave, called Octave, in November 1869--eight children, two sons and six daughters, between 1854 and 1869. In February 1860, Célestine Moncelle, a mulatto and wife of Joseph Prescott, a slave who served in the Confederate army, gave Florentin a "natural" son, Adolphe. Florentin died near Convent in June 1870. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Florentin died at "age 53 years." He was 54. Daughter Ella married into the Loret family after 1870. Florentin's sons, Octave and Adolphe, also married, into the Gonzales and Robinson families after 1870.
"Natural" son Adolphe was raised by his mother and stepfather, who had "about 13 children." Adolphe was called a Prescott in the federal census of 1880 for Ascension Parish, but he was aware of who was his biological father and kept in contact with his white siblings. His wife, Ella Robinson, was a black woman from Mississippi 10 years his junior who he married at New Orleans in November 1899 when he was in his late 30s. She gave him nine children, seven daughters and two sons, between 1893 and c1915, the first three born before their church wedding. The family lived in Orleans and St. James parishes before moving to Gulfport, Mississippi, where Adolphe worked as a cooper. He was still living in 1920.
Alexandre le jeune's fourth son Faustin married Carmélite, also called Marie Marcelline, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul LeBlanc and Cécolise Gautreaux, at the Convent church in January 1839. Their daughter Marie Marceline was born near Convent in November 1839. Faustin died in March 1841. The Convent priest who recorded the burial said that Faustin died at "age 23 yrs." He was 21. Daughter Marie Marceline married into the Peytavin family, so the blood of this family line may have endured.
Alexandre le jeune's fifth son Félix married Mélodie, daughter of fellow Acadian Benjamin Dugas and his Creole wife Mélissère Fulcher, at the Convent church in January 1847. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Féliska, called Féliska, in January 1848; Marguerite Félidie in August 1849 but, called Félidie, died at age 2 1/2 in January 1853; evidently a second Féliska born in c1850 but, according to Convent church records, died at age 3 in January 1853; Joseph Félix, called Félix, fils, born in March 1852; Jean Baptiste in June 1853; Paul Ulisse or Ulysse, also called Ulysse Paul, in March 1855; Mirille or Arille in February 1857; and an unnamed infant died at birth probably in May 1858. Félix, at age 39, remarried to Marie Constantine Eulalie or Marie Eulalie Constantine, called Constantine, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Hervillien Bourgeois and Marie Adorestine Bourgeois, at the Convent church in June 1864. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born on the river, included Marie Adorestine in July 1865; Joseph Henry, called Henry, in December 1866; Paul Stanislas, called Stanislas, in January 1869; Luc Alexandre in October 1870; Eugénie in January 1873; Lucie Héloise died two weeks after her birth in January 1875; Joséphine born in March 1876; Bernadette Eulalie in May 1878; Augustine dite Gussie in December 1880; and Étienne in July 1883--18 children, at least nine daughters and eight sons, by two wives, between 1848 and 1883. Though a resident of St. James Parish, Félix died at New Orleans and was buried at Convent in February 1895, age 69. Daughter Marie Féliska, by his first wife, married a LeBlanc cousin by 1870, and daughter Marie Adorestine, by his second wife, married into the Louis and Bertaut families after 1870. Five of Félix's sons also married, into the Theriot, Wood, Bertaut, and Walton families after 1870.
Alexandre le jeune's sixth son Joseph Ramire married cousin Ophélia, daughter of Evariste Blouin and his Acadian wife Félicité Arceneaux, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, on the river, in January 1851. Their children, born near Convent, included Alexandre le jeune in November 1851; Joseph Septime in September 1854 but died in October; Marie Odele or Odile born in November 1855; and Alexis Joseph in June 1857--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1851 and 1857. By the early 1870s, the family resettled on the Opelousas prairies. Daughter Marie Odile married into the Callahan family at Opelousas after 1870. Joseph Ramire's oldest son also married, into the Dejean family at Opelousas after 1870. Joseph R., as he was called, wife Ophélia, and two of their grandchildren were still living in St. Landry Parish in 1900.
Alexandre le jeune's seventh son Valmire married Lésida, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Bourgeois, fils and Hortense Gaudin, at the Convent church in January 1852. Their children, born near Convent, included Augustin Forentoire or Forester, called Forester, in September 1853; Aloysius in February 1855; Marie Neila in July 1856; Joseph René in March 1859 but, called René, died at age 2 in June 1861; Joséphine Alice, also called Marie Alice, born in October 1861; Michel Alcide, called Alcide, in September 1864; Joseph Septime, called Septime, in June 1866; and Faustin probably posthumously in 1867--eight children, six sons and two daughters, between 1853 and 1867. Valmire died near Convent in December 1866. The priest who recorded the burial said that Valomir, as he called him, died at "age 40 years." He was 34. Daughter Marie Alice married into the Webre family at Convent after 1870. Four of Valmire's sons--Forester, Alcide, Septime, and Faustin--also married, into the Montz, Templet, Bourgeois, and Clouâtre families after 1870.
Alexandre's sixth son Paul-Olivier, by second wife Osite Hébert, followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he married Osite-Barbe, another daughter of Marcel LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Breaux, in the 1780s. Their children, born on the river, included Marie-Josèphe in February 1786; Juliènne (the baptizing priest called her Julien) in August 1787; Marie-Madeleine in August 1787 but died at age 7 in March 1795; Marguerite born in January 1791; Adélaïde in November 1792; Marie-Louise in August 1794; Jean-Baptiste in August 1796 but died in September; Paul-Olivier, fils born in November 1797; Gilbert in October 1799; Marguerite-Marcellite in October 1801 but died at age 13 in July 1815; Emérante born in July 1804; Joseph le jeune in July 1806; and Euphémie in July 1809 but died at age 2 in September 1811--13 children, nine daughters and four sons, between 1786 and 1809. Wife Osite Barbe died in St. James Parish in August 1811, age 44. In his mid-60s, Paul Olivier remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Broussard and Anne Bourgeois and widow of Bonaventure Gaudin, at the Convent church in May 1821. She gave him no more children. Paul Olivier died at Convent in June 1847, in his mid-80s. Daughters Marie Josèphe, Juliènne, Marguerite, Adélaïde, Marie Louise, and Emérante, by his first wife, married into the LeBlanc, Babin, Thibodeaux, Arseneaux, Theriot, Daigre, and Breaux families on the river and the upper Lafourche. Three of Paul Olivier's sons also married on the river and the upper Lafourche.
Second son Paul Olivier, fils, by first wife Osite Barbe LeBlanc, married cousin Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marguerite Gaudin, at the St. James church in October 1815. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie in March 1816; Paul Olivier III, also called Paul Rome or Romain, in November 1818 but, called Paul Rome, died at age 24 in October 1843; Marguerite Éliza born in October 1820; Victor in October 1823; Célestine in September 1825 but died at 8 months the following July; Apollinaire born in July 1827; Marie Victorine, called Victorine, in November 1829; twins Marguerite and Auzitte or Osite in October 1831, but both of them died a week later; Joseph died at age 5 months in October 1833; Adam born in December 1834 but died in January; and Marie Zélina born in January 1837--a dozen children, seven daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1816 and 1837. Paul Olivier, fils may have been the Paul Romain Melançon was died in St. James Parish in April 1843. The Convent priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Paul Romain died at age 45. Paul Olivier, fils would have been that age, so it likely was him. Daughters Marie and Victorine married into the Bertaud and LeBlanc families. Only one of Paul Olivier, fils's sons married, but the line did not endure.
Third son Apollinaire married double cousin Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis LeBlanc and Parosine LeBlanc, at the St. James church in July 1850. Their son, J. Arthur, was born in St. James Parish in September 1853. In 1860, on his farm in St. James Parish, Apollinaire owned two slaves living in a single house. He died by 1900, when his widow was counted on Chestnut Street in New Orleans with three of her Melançon nieces. Evidently her Melançon son did not marry.
Paul Olivier, père's third son Gilbert, by first wife Osite Barbe LeBlanc, married Céleste Emérante, called Emérante or Méranthe, daughter of Pierre Champagne and Marie Chauvin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1819. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Emérante Ernoisse or Anaïse near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1820; Marie Juliane or Juliènne, called Juliènne, in Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1822; Ortense or Hortense Céleste in February 1823 but, called Hortance, died at age 10 1/2 in June 1833; Gilbert, fils, also called Jules or Julien Gilbert, born in April 1825; Barbe Rosella, called Rosella, in April 1827; Euphémie in March 1831 but died at age 16 1/2 (the recording priest said 17) in July 1847; Pierre Théodule, called Théodule, born in September 1833; Paul Aimé, called Aimé, in January 1835; Marie Enesile, called Evesilda, in December 1838; and an unnamed infant died a day after his/her birth in September 1843--10 children, at least six daughters and three sons, between 1820 and 1842. Daughters Emérante, Juliènne, Rosella, and Evesilda married into the Bourgeois, Landry, Richard, and Pitre families. Gilbert's three sons also married on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Gilbert, fils, also called Jules Gilbert, married Marie Louise, called Louise, daughter of Jacques Matherne and Marie Rémilie Seven, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1850. Their children, born on the lower Lafourche, included Gilbert Ozémé near Lockport in February 1851; Jacques Faustin, called Faustin, in February 1853; Marie Euphémie in October 1855; Isidore Marcel in December 1857; Eve Georgina, called Georgina, near Raceland in April 1861; Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, in March 1863; and Amélie Lorenza, called Lorenza, in January 1867--seven children, three sons and four daughters, between 1851 and 1867. In 1900, Jules Gilbert, a widower in his mid-70s, was living in the household of his oldest son Gilbert Ozémé in Lafourche Parish. Daughters Georgina, Mélanie, and Lorenza married into the Barrios, Sevin, and Parks families after 1870. All of Jules Gilbert's sons married, into the Sandros, Martin, and Perkins families after 1870.
Gilbert's second son Théodule married Marguerite Élisa, daughter of Pierre Ledet and his Acadian wife Marie Céleste Molaison and widow of Eugène Bourgeois, at the Thibodaux church in January 1856. They moved down bayou settled near Raceland. Their children, born there, included Marie Théolinde or Théoline, called Théoline, in January 1857; Marie Hortense, called Hortense, in June 1859; Marie Célestine, called Célestine, in March 1861; Marie Zéolie or Zéolide, called Zéolide, in September 1863; and Pierre Alexandre, called Alexandre, in September 1866--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1857 and 1866. Théodule died in Lafourche Parish in September 1896, age 63. Daughters Marie Théoline, Célestine, Hortense, and Zéolide married into the Zeringue and Theriot families after 1870, three of them to Zeringues, two of whom were brothers. Théodule's son Alexandre also married, into the Toups family after 1870.
Gilbert's third and youngest son Aimé married, at age 30, Marie Elvina, called Elvina, daughter of Jean Perilloux and Marcellite Ledet, at the Thibodaux church in March 1865. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Paul Cléonas dit Clet, in September 1866; Philomène Emérantia n February 1868; Marie Louisa, called Louisa, in September 1869; Joseph Ignace in December 1871; Hélène in March 1874; Jean Marcellus, called Marcellus, in December 1875; Émile in January 1879; Émelie Joséphine in April 1881; Marcellite in February 1883; Paul Henri, called Henri, in January 1885; Gabriel Charles in March 1887; and Joachim Eusèbe, called Eusèbe, in August 1891--a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters, between 1866 and 1891. In 1900, Aimé and his family were still in Lafourche Parish. Daughters Philomène, Louisa, Hélène, and Marcellite married into the Gros, Lejeune, Ledet, and Champagne families at Thibodaux after 1870. At least three of Aimé's sons--Clét, Marcellus, and Émile--married, into the Toups, Orgeron, and Ledet families after 1870.
Paul Olivier, père's fourth and youngest son Joseph le jeune, by first wife Osite Barbe LeBlanc, married Marcelline, daughter of fellow Acadians Luc Gaudin and Henriette Landry, at the Convent church in July 1824. Their children, born there, included Joseph Valsin, called Valsin, in May 1825; Marie Mélanie in October 1827 but, called Mélanie, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in June 1833; and Paul Étienne born in September 1829 but died at age 6 months in March 1830--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1825 and 1829. In 1850, Joseph le jeune, his wife, and their son and his family were living together in Ascension Parish. Joseph le jeune died near Convent in March 1854, age 47 (the recording priest said 48). His remaining son married.
Older son Joseph Valsin, called Valsin, married cousin Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Douradou Landry and Marie Félonise Dugas, at the Convent church in July 1845; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Marcelline, called Marcelline, in August 1846; Joseph Paul, called Paul, in January 1848; Mathurin Douradoure in November 1849; and Marie Pauline, called Pauline, in March 1852--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1846 and 1852. Valsin died near Convent in January 1856. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Valsin died at "age 33 yrs." He was 30. Daughters Marcelline and Pauline married into the LeBlanc and Poché families by 1870. None of Valsin's sons married by then, but younger son Mathurin married into the Bourgeois family after 1870.
Alexandre's seventh and youngest son Charles dit Migouin or Miquoin, by second wife Osite Hébert, the only one of his father's sons born in Louisiana, was counted with his widowed mother and siblings on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer in September 1769, when he was 17 months old. He married Claire, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Breaux and Marie-Josèphe Landry and widow of Pierre Comeaux, at the St.-Jaques de Cabahannocer church in January 1790. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Marie-Claire in December 1790; Alexandre-Anaclet, also called Alexandre le jeune, in August 1792; Marie in c1794; Charles Eugène, called Eugène, in June 1795 but "died suddenly ... at the home of Agricole Braud at La grand-pointe," St. Martin Parish, age 26 (the recording priest said 22), in August 1822; Mélissère born in February 1797; Anaclét in c1797; Marcellite in January 1799 but died "at the home of Jean Baptiste Seymer," her brother-in-law, in St. Martin Parish, age 23, in January 1822; and an unnamed daughter died five weeks after her birth in March 1802. Wife Claire died at Cabahannocer in January 1802, age 38, likely from the rigors of childbirth. Charles remarried to Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Bourgeois and Marie Giroir and widow of Nicolas Picou, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in August 1803. Charles took his family to St. Martin Parish by 1809 and settled near Grande Pointe on upper Bayou Teche. Their children, born on the river and the Teche, included Alexandre Martin in November 1804; Victorin in April 1807; Marie, called Éliza, in September 1809; and Eugène in c1815--a dozen children, six daughters and six sons, by two wives, between 1790 and 1815. Charles died near Grande Pointe in December 1818. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial and called him Charles dit Miquoin of Acadie said he was age 54 when he died. He was 50. His succession, naming his first wife and daughter Marcelite by his first wife was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in February 1819. Daughters Marie, Mélissère, and Éliza, by both wives, married into the Semere, Guidry, and Martin families in St. Martin Parish. Three of Charles's sons also married on the Teche, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Alexandre Anaclet, also called Alexandre le jeune, from first wife Claire Breaux, married, at age 31, Mathilde, 20-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Maurice Doucet and Marie Doucet of Iberville Parish and Grande Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in June 1823. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Domitille or Domithilde in March 1824; Alexandre, fils in July 1827; Amelia in July 1831; Marie Pamelia in September 1835; Eugène le jeune in August 1838; and Matilde or Mathilde in October 1841--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1824 and 1841. A "Last Will" filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in July 1835 for Alexandre Melançon may have been his. If so, it was not post-mortem. Alexandre le jeune died in St. Martin Parish in January 1844. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said Alexandre died "at age 45 yrs." He was 52. A succession for his widow Mathilde, naming him, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in January 1853; she evidently did not remarry. Daughters Domithilde and Amélia married into the Melançon and Landry families by 1870. Alexandre le jeune and Mathilde's sons also married by then and settled near Breaux Bridge.
Older son Alexandre, fils married cousin Marie Olive, Oliva, Octavie, or Célina, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Melançon and Scholastique dite Colastie Guidry, at the St. Martinville church in November 1846; Alexandre, fils's sister Domitilde married Marie Olive's brother Pierre Treville. Alexandre, fils and Marie Olive settled on the upper Teche between Breaux Bridge and St. Martinville. Their children, born there, included Clémentine baptized at the Breaux Bridge church, age unrecorded, in December 1847 but died at age 7 in August 1852; Firmin born in July 1849; Letitia in January 1851; Léonie in July 1852; Marie Ophélia in June 1854; Onésiphore in November 1856; Ernestine in October 1858; Adam in July 1860; Honorine in January 1863; Alcée le jeune in February 1865; and Alfred in February 1867--11 children, six daughters and five sons, between 1847 and 1867. Wife Marie Olive, called Marie Octavie by the recording priest, died near Breaux Bridge in December 1868, age 43 (the recording priest said 45). Her succession, calling her Oliva and naming her husband, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in January 1870. Alexandre, fils remarried to Eulalie Latiolais in c1869. She gave him no more children. Alexandre, fils died near Breaux Bridge in November 1870. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Alexandre died "at age 45 yrs." He was 43. His succession, identifying both of his wives, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse two weeks after his death. Daughters Letitia and Honorine married into the Dupuis and Thibodeaux families before and after 1870. Two of Alexandre, fils's sons also married, into the Thibodeaux, Krantz, Doucet, and Guidroz families before and after 1870.
Oldest son Firmin, by first wife Marie Olive Melançon, married Emma, daughter of fellow Acadians Léonard Thibodeaux and Madeleine Ordalie Cormier, at the Breaux Bridge church in December 1870. Their children, born there, included Marie Azéma in January 1872; Alexandre le jeune in August 1873; Oscar in September 1875 but died at age two in September 1877; and Mathilde born in September 1877--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1872 and 1877. Firmin died at Breaux Bridge in November 1878, age 29. Daughter Mathilde married into the Fuselier family. Firmin's older son Alexandre le jeune also married, into the Patin family.
Alexandre le jeune's younger son Eugène le jeune married Marie Uranie, called Uranie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Dupuis and Marie Semere, at the Breaux Bridge church in March 1859. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Julien in December 1859; Ignace in August 1861; Alcée, also called Alice, in May 1863; Marie Élizia in February 1866; Udonie in June 1868; Théophane, called Cléophas, in October 1870; Noëlie in December 1872; and Alexandre le jeune in June 1876 but died nine days after his birth--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1859 and 1876. In 1900, Eugène le jeune, evidently a widower, and his spinster daughter Marie, age 36, were still living in St. Martin Parish. Daughters Alice and Noëlie married into the Hayes and Melançon families. Eugène le jeune's three older sons Julien, Ignace, and Cléophas also married, into the Huval, Amy, Landry, and Melançon families.
Charles's third son Anaclet, by first wife Claire Breaux, married Anne Doralise, called Doralise, daughter of fellow Acadians Nicolas Thibodeaux and Eléonore Prejean, at the St. Martinville church in January 1820. They settled at Grande Pointe before moving to the southern edge of St. Landry Parish. Their children, born on the prairies, included Télésphore in October 1820 but died the following April; Apolline dite Pauline Arthémise born in February 1822; Marcellitide, called Marcellite, Eady, and Ida, in late 1822 and baptized at Grand Coteau, "age about 1 yr.," in September 1823; an unnamed infant died on the day of his/her birth in February 1825; and Claire Céleste born near Grand Coteau in January 1827 but, called Claire, died "at her parent's home" at Grande Pointe the following December, two months after her father's death--five children, at least one son and three daughters, between 1820 and 1827. Anaclet died "in the morning at his home on Bayou Teche" in September 1827. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Anaclet died "at age about 30 years." His succession, naming his wife and three children--Pauline, age 6; Eady, age 5; and Céleste, age 9 months--was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in October 1827. Daughters Apolline Arthémise and Marcellite married into the Thibodeaux and Daigle families, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Charles's fifth son Victorin, by second wife Scholastique Bourgeois, married Marie Antoinette dit Chantillon, "natural" daughter of Casimir dit Gayard Pellerin, homme de couleur libre, and Denise Trahan, perhaps a fellow Acadian, at the St. Martinville church in December 1841. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Joseph in December 1844, Charles in November 1846, Victoria in March 1849; Victoire in March 1850; Philomène in January 1852 but died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 7 months) in June 1853; Célestine born in November 1853; Alcide in July 1855; Louis near Breaux Bridge in September 1858; Hippolyte in May 1859; Adolphe in March 1861; Benjamin in April 1863; and Ernest in April 1867--a dozen children, eight sons and four daughters, between 1844 and 1867. Victorin died in St. Martin Parish, perhaps in his early 60s, before his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in March 1872. Daughter Célestine married into the Amy family after 1870. One of his sons, Alcide, also married into the Amy family after 1870.
Charles's sixth and youngest son Eugène, by second wife Scholastique Bourgeois, the second with the name, was, in 1850, at age 35, living on the plantation of his sister-in-law Mathilde Doucet, widow of his half-brother Alexandre le jeune, at Grande Pointe. He evidently did not marry.
Paul (1730-c1770) à Jean à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Paul, oldest son of Jean-Baptiste Melanson and Madeleine LeBlanc and nephew of Alexandre, born at Minas in October 1730, married Marie, daughter of Germain Thériot and Marguerite Boudrot, at Minas in c1750. Marie gave Paul a son, Philippe, born there in c1751. The British deported them to Maryland in the fall of 1755. Marie gave Paul four more children in the Chesapeake colony: Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, born in c1756; Jean-Baptiste in c1759; Marie-Anne in c1762; and Paul, fils, perhaps Marie-Anne's twin in c1762. Paul, Marie, and four of their children appeared on a repatriation list near his family at Snow Hill on the Eastern Shore in July 1763. Oldest son Philippe, who would have been age 12, was not listed with them; he was still alive, so he must have been living with another family. Paul, Marie, and four of their remaining children followed his relatives to Louisiana in 1766 and settled at Cabahannocer on the river. Son Paul, fils, who would have age 3 in 1766, was not with them, so he may have died in Maryland or on the voyage to Louisiana. Spanish authorities counted Paul, wife Marie, sons Philippe and Jean-Baptiste, and daughters Madeleine and Marie, on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer in September 1769. Marie gave Paul, père another son, Paul-Olivier, perhaps born posthumously, at nearby Ascension in May 1770, but he died there in May 1775, age 5--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1751 and 1770, in greater Acadia, Maryland, and Louisiana. Paul, père died probably at Ascension before August 1770, in his late 30s, when wife Marie was counted as a widow in a census there. Marie remarried to fellow Acadian Amand Prejean, a widower from Chepoudy, in c1773 and followed him to the western prairies later in the decade. Two of her younger Melançon children, Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Anne, followed. Her Melançon daughters Madeleine and Marie-Anne married into the Breaux, Landry, and Parr families on the river and the prairies. Only one of Paul's sons married, on the prairies. The line was a vigorous one.
Oldest son Philippe followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer and was counted with his widowed mother and siblings at nearby Ascension in August 1770, when he would have been age 19. When his mother followed her second husband to the Attakapas District later in the decade, Philippe evidently remained on the river. He did not marry.
Paul's second son Jean-Baptiste le jeune followed his family to New Orleans, Cabahannocer, and Ascension, and his widowed mother and stepfather to the western prairies in the late 1770s. Jean-Baptiste married his stepsister Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Préjean, his stepfather, and his first wife Madeleine Martin, at Attakapas in May 1785. They settled at Carencro at the northern edge of the Attakapas District. Their children, born there, included Marguerite in May 1786; Jean-Baptiste, fils in December 1788; Scholastique in c1791 but died at age 17 in August 1808; Émilien born in August 1796; Marie in August 1800; twins Louise, also called Lise, and Onésime in October 1803, but Lise died at age 10 in October 1813; Adélaïde born in February 1806; and Marie Éloise, called Éloise, in August 1808 but died at age 10 in August 1818--nine children, six daughters and three sons, including a set of twins, between 1786 and 1808. Jean Baptiste, père died "at his home" at Carencro in October 1813. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Baptiste dit Guyam of Acadie, as he called him, was age 50 when he died. He probably was closer to 54. His first succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, the month of his death, and a second one at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in January 1825, two years after that civil parish was created. A succession for wife Madeleine was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in May 1826. Daughters Marguerite, Marie, and Adélaïde married into the Babineaux, Landry, and LeBlanc families on the prairies. Jean Baptiste's three sons also married and settled in Lafayette Parish. A grandson settled near New Iberia on lower Bayou Teche.
Oldest son Jean Baptiste, fils, also called Jean and Louis, married Susanne dite Suzette, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Landry and Élisabeth Landry, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in October 1808. They settled at Carencro and then at Côte Gelée on the prairie west of Bayou Teche. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Adéline in August 1809; Jean Baptiste in September 1811; Jean Achille, called Achille, in c1813; Marguerite Célanie in December 1813; Joseph, also called Joseph Osémé, in April 1816; Zélie in October 1818; Pierre Bélisaire, called Bélisaire, at Côte Gelée in February 1821; Céleïde, also called Euphémie Azélie, in October 1823; Félicia in c1825; Louis died eight days after his birth in October 1826; and Eugène dit Théogène born in late 1830 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in February 1831--11 children, five daughters and six sons, between 1809 and 1830. A succession for wife Susanne, naming her husband and probably post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in November 1847. Jean died in Lafayette Parish in September 1858. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Jean, as he called him, died "at age 68 yrs." He was 69. His succession, calling him Jean, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in October. Daughters Marie Adéline, Marguerite Célanie, Euphémie Azélie, and Félicia married into the Giroir, Comeaux, Richard, and Mire families. Four of Jean Baptiste, fils's sons also married on the prairies, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Jean Achille, called Achille, married Marie Euphrosine, called Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Dominique Prejean and Marie Marguerite Savoie of Lafourche and St. James, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1832. They evidently settled near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Jean Thénile or Théomile, called Théomile, in May 1833 but died age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in October 1840; Napoléon born in March 1836; and an unnamed infant died an hour after birth in December 1838--three children, at least two sons, between 1833 and 1838. Jean Achille died in Lafayette Parish in March 1857. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Achille, as he called him, died "at age 43 yrs." He was 45. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in May. His remaining son, before and after Confederate service, created a vigorous line on the Lafayette prairie.
Second son Napoléon married Cléonide, daughter of fellow Acadians Don Louis Broussard and Anastasie Landry, at the Vermilionville church in November 1855. They settled at Youngsville near Côte Gelée. Their children, born there, included Jean Achille le jeune in March 1858; André Bienvenu in November 1859; Euphrasie in June 1861; Euphémond in June 1864 when his father was waiting for his unit to be exchanged; Alphonse in August 1867; and Paul in March 1869. During the War of 1861-65, Napoléon served in Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He survived the war and returned to his family. At age 40, Napoléon remarried to Estelle, daughter of Armand Hulot and his Acadian wife Françoise Landry, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in February 1876. They remained at Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Gaston in May 1878; Berthe in October 1879; and Emérite in July 1881. Napoléon, at age 56, remarried again--his third marriage--to Euphémie Decoux in a civil ceremony in c1892; the marriage was sanctified at the Youngsville church in April 1901. Their children, born on the prairies, included Théomille in April 1893; and Marie Hetel in November 1894--a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters, by three wives, between 1858 and 1894. Napoléon died at Youngsville in February 1902, age 66. Daughters Euphrasie and Emérite, by his first two wives, married into the Smith and Lamulle families after 1870. Six of his sons--Jean-Achille, André Bienvenu, Alphone, and Paul--also married, into the Morvant, Bernard, and Hulot families after 1870.
Jean Baptiste, fils's third son Joseph Osémé married Carmélite, also called Amélie, Émelie, Émelise, Émilite, and Mélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Nicolas Amand Broussard and his first wife Adélaïde Broussard, and widow, perhaps, of Robert Bell, Jr., at the Vermilionville church in December 1839. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Onésiphore in December 1840; Marie Suzette or Suzanne, called Suzanne, in December 1841; Joseph, fils in February 1843; and Mathilde in April 1844--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1840 and 1844. Joseph Osémé died in Lafayette Parish in March 1869. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Ozémé, as he called him, died "at age 57 yrs." His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse later in the month. Daughters Suzanne and Mathilde married into the Girouard, Addison, and Melançon families. One of his sons also married on the prairies by 1870, but the line did not endure.
Older son Onésiphore married Marie, daughter of Victor Alexandre Aubé and Élisabeth Meaux, at the Vermilionville church in February 1862. They settled near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Edmonia in February 1866 but died at age 4 in February 1870; Victoria born in December 1867; Élisabeth in November 1869; Marie Louisianne in February 1872 but died at age 3 in January 1875; Josèphe Iffe in April 1874; and Rosa in December 1876--six children, all daughters, between 1866 and 1876. Daughter Victoria married into the Touchet family after 1870, so the blood of this family may have endured.
Jean Baptiste, fils's fourth son Pierre Bélisaire, called Bélisaire, married Delphine, daughter of Delphin Leleux and his Acadian wife Anastase Landry, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in February 1843. They lived also in Lafayette Parish. Their children, born on the lower Teche and the prairies, included Pierre Onézime or Onésime near New Iberia in September 1844 but, name unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish, age 5 1/2, in August 1850; Marguerite born in August 1846; Joséphine in July 1849; Marie Élodie in June 1853; Éloise in June 1856; and Nicolas in Lafayette Parish in December 1858--six children, two sons and four daughters, between 1844 and 1858. None of Pierre Bélisaire's remaining children seem to have married, at least not in the Bayou State.
Jean Baptiste, fils's sixth and youngest son Eugène dit Théogène Eugène married Julie, daughter fellow Acadians Édouard Comeaux and Marguerite Granger, at the Vermilionville church in February 1851. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Elisida in December 1851 but, called Editha, died at age 8 1/2 (the recording priest said 10) in March 1860; and Marie Coralie born in August 1853 but, called Coralie, died at age 4 in August 1857. Eugène died in Lafayette Parish in February 1854, age 23. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in April. His family line died with him.
Jean Baptiste, père's second son Émilien married Marie Cléonise, called Cléonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Benoit and Eugénie Louvière, at the Vermilionville church in February 1828. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Valsin in c1828 but died near Carencro, age 50, in January 1878; Oliva in April 1831; Éloi baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in November 1835; Honoré born in August 1838; Émilien, fils in March 1842; an unnamed infant died, age unrecorded, in November 1848; and Eugénie born near Grand Coteau in August 1851--seven children, at least four sons and two daughters, between 1828 and 1851. Émilien died in Lafayette Parish in September 1859, age 63. The following year, his widow, Cléonise Benoit, who evidently did not remarry, held six slaves living in one house in Lafayette Parish. Daughter Eugénie married into the Chautin family by 1870. One of Émilien's sons also married by then.
Second son Éloi married cousin Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Osémé Melançon, his first cousin, and Émélise Broussard, at the Vermilionville church in April 1860. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Émilie in January 1861; Joseph in March 1862; Edmonia in May 1863; Jean Ophé or Orphé in July 1864; Marie, called Mary, in March 1866; Rosa in August 1868 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1869; Éloi, fils born in March 1870 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1871; Adam born in January 1872; Ernest in January 1874; Alcée Ducre in May 1876 but died the following February; Pierre born in December 1877; Albert in January 1880; and Eugénie in c1881 but died at age 7 in 1888--13 children, five daughters and eight sons, between 1861 and 1881. Daughters Émilie, Edmonia, and Mary married into the Comeaux, Coussan, and Babineaux families after 1870. Four of Éloi's sons--Joseph, Orphé, Adam, and Ernest--also married, into the Comeaux, Richard, Stelly, and Kidder families after 1870.
Jean Baptiste, père's third and youngest son Onésime married cousin Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Célestin Prejean and Marie Marcellite Landry, at the Vermilionville church in January 1828. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Désiré in February 1829 but died at age 4 1/2 in October 1833; Jean Baptiste Sothène or Sosthène born in January 1831; Portalis in January 1833 but died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest, who did not give his name, said 3) in April 1837; Marcelite born in 1835 and baptized at age 6 months in April 1836; Edmond died six days after his birth in September 1838; Marcel born in December 1839; Alcide in January 1842; Onézime or Onésime, fils in November 1845; and Euphémie in January 1848--nine children, seven sons and two daughters, between 1829 and 1848. Onésime died in Lafayette Parish in March 1865. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Onésime died "at age 60 yrs." He was 61. One wonders if his death was war-related. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following November. Daughters Marcellite and Euphémie married into the Bernard, Comeaux, and Boudreaux families by 1870. His four remaining sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Jean Baptiste Sosthène married Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Philippe de Saint-Julien Lachaussée III and Hortense LeBlanc, at the Vermilionville church in September 1849. They evidently were that rare Acadian couple who had no children. Jean Baptiste Sosthènes died, in his late 30s or early 40s, before his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in June 1872.
Onésime's fourth son Marcel married Philomène, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Arvillien Broussard and Colastie Thibodeaux, at the Vermilionville church in June 1860. They settled near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Marie Euchariste in April 1861; Romain in October 1862; Angèle in November 1864; Marie Nydia in May 1867 but, called Marie Nidio, died three weeks later; Marie Anna born in August 1876; and Laura in April 1878--six children, five daughters and a son, between 1861 and 1878. Daughters Marie Euchariste and Laura married into the Bernard, Adams, and Mouton families after 1870. Marcel's son also married, into the Bernard family after 1870.
During the War of 1861-65, fifth son Alcide served in Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Noémi, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Guidry and Oliva Landry, at the Youngsville church in August 1865. The settled at Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Marie Choraline in June 1866; Edmond in December 1867; Alcée in March 1872; and Rousseau in October 1875. Alcide, at age 43, remarried to Irma, daughter of fellow Acadian Eusèbe Hébert and his Creole wife Eléonore Robin, in December 1885. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Eléonore in September 1886; Useville in January 1890; and Louis Philibert in March 1892--seven children, two daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1866 and 1892. In 1900, Alcide and his family were still in Lafayette Parish. Neither of his daughters seems to have married. Two of his older sons, Edmond and Rousseau, married, into the Bernard and Landry famliies.
Onésime's sixth and youngest son Onésime, fils married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Drosin Boudreaux and Adélaïde Duhon, at the Youngsville church in October 1866. Their children, born in Lafayette and Vermilion parishes, included Idolie near Youngsville in December 1867; Élodie in April 1870; Numa in February 1876; and Alphée near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in November 1882--four children, two sons and two dauthters, between 1867 and 1882. In 1900, Onésime, Adélaïde, and youngest son Alphée were living on Avenue H, Crowley, in Acadia Parish. Daughters Idolie and Élodie married into the Prejean and Foreman families. Older son Numa also married, into the LeBlanc family.
Joseph (1734-late 1760s) à Jean à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Joseph, second son of Jean-Baptiste Melanson and Madeleine LeBlanc and Paul's brother, born at Minas in November 1734, followed his family to Maryland, where he married fellow Acadian Anne Landry in c1759. She gave him two children in the Chesapeake colony: Olivier born in c1760; and Marguerite in c1763. They, too, appeared on a repatriation list near his family at Snow Hill on the Eastern Shore in July 1763. In 1766, they followed his family to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where Anne gave Joseph another son, Simon, born in May 1768 but died in April 1776, age 7--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1760 and 1768, in Maryland and Louisiana. Joseph died at Cabahannocer by September 1769, in his early or mid-30s, when Anne was called a widow in a census there. She remarried on the river to fellow Acadian Augustin Broussard of Minas in 1769 or 1770 and followed him to Attakapas by 1777. Her Melançon daughter Marguerite married into the Thibodeaux family on the prairies in 1780. Her remaining Melanson son did not marry, but the blood of the family line may have endured.
Older son Olivier followed his widowed mother and a younger sister to New Orleans and Cabahannocer in 1766. Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river there in September 1769, and they were living on the same side of the river at nearby Ascension in August 1770. By then, Olivier's mother had remarried to fellow Acadian Augustin Broussard, who took them to the Attakapas District. Olivier was counted with them there in May 1777. He would have been age 17. He did not marry.
Jean-Baptiste, fils (1736-?) à Jean à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Jean-Baptiste, fils, third son of Jean-Baptiste Melanson and Madeleine LeBlanc, born at Minas in December 1736, followed his family to Maryland, was listed with them at Snow Hill, and followed his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he married Osite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dupuis and Élisabeth LeBlanc of Minas, in May 1768. Osite, a native of Minas, also had come to the colony with her family in 1766. They settled on the east bank of the river at Cabahannocer. Their children, born there, included Pierre-Eusèbe, called Eusèbe, in c1769; Marie-Rose baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1772; Geneviève baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1774; and David born in April 1778--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1769 and 1778. Daughters Marie-Rose and Geneviève married into the Landry and Bourg families on the river, and the older one resettled on the western prairies. Jean-Baptiste, fils's sons also married on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Older son Pierre-Eusèbe, called Eusèbe, married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcel LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Breaux, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in January 1795. They settled on the river near the boundary of what became St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marine in January 1799; Jean-Baptiste in December 1800; Marcel in October 1803 but died at age 41 in December 1844; Ursin born in September 1805; Mélanie in October 1807; Edmond in October 1809; Augustin in January 1812; Éloi in August 1814; Pierre Martin, called Martin, in November 1816; and Irène or Reine Léonore, called Irène, in November 1819--10 children, three daughters and seven sons, between 1799 and 1819. Was Eusèbe the "Pierre Michel" Melançon who died in St. James Parish in August 1827, age 60? Eusèbe would have been in his late 50s that year. Daughters Marine, Mélanie, and Irène married into the Templet and Moïse families. Six of Eusèbe's sons also married. Five of them settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, a result, perhaps, of the consolidation of river-front property by the growing sugar industry. The family line of the son who remained on the river, except perhaps for its blood, did not endure. One of Eusèbe's grandsons served as sheriff of Assumption Parish on the upper Lafourche.
Oldest son Jean Baptiste le jeune married Séraphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Michel Daigre and Madeleine LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in August 1825. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie Clémentine, called Cémentine, in May 1826; Marguerite Adèlie in December 1827; Marcelle or Marcel Cléophas in April 1831; and Jean Baptiste Villère in January 1833 but died at age 2 (the recording priest said 3) in March 1835--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1826 and 1833. Jean Baptiste died in Assumption Parish in October 1833, age 32. Daughter Clémentine married a LeBlanc cousin at Assumption. Jean Baptiste's remaining son also married.
Older son Marcel Cléophas married cousin Malvina LeBlanc probably in Assumption Parish in the early 1850s. Their daughter Marie Valleda was born there in February 1854 but did not marry by 1870.
Eusèbe's third son Ursin married double cousin Marcelline or Marcellite, 21-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Melançon and Constance LeBlanc, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in July 1831; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their daughter Constance Adélaïde Flaire was born in Ascension Parish in May 1832. Wife Marcellite died in St. James Parish in June 1833, age 23. Ursin remarried to first cousin Doralise, 28-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Olivier LeBlanc and Émélie Lalande, at the St. James church in November 1835; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Nicolle Thélin or Théolin Nichols, a son, in September 1836; an unnamed infant died seven or eight days after his/her birth in March 1839; Augustin Mélon born in May 1840 but, called Augustin, died at age 4 (the recording priest said "age 5 yrs., 6 months") in September 1844; twins Joseph and Marie Ysora born in April 1842, but Joseph died the following day, and Marie Ysora, called Isaura, died at age 12 1/2 (the recording priest said 13) in January 1855; Pierre Flegi born in January 1844 but, called P., died at age 4 1/2 in September 1849; Joseph Amilcare, called Amilcar, born in December 1847; and Émile in January 1851 but died the following December--nine children, at least six sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1832 and 1851. Wife Doralise died in January 1851, age 44. In 1860, Ursin's plantation in Assumption Parish held 32 slaves in five slave houses, so he had become a successful planter. At age 55, he remarried again--his third marriage--to cousin Pélagie Fanny, another daughter of Olivier LeBlanc and Émélie Lalande, at the Donaldsonville church in August 1861; they had to secure a dispensation for first degree of affinity and second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. She gave him no more children. Ursin died in Assumption Parish in February 1875, age 69. His remaining daughter did not marry, but his two remaining sons did.
Oldest son Théolin Nichols, by second wife Doralise LeBlanc, married cousin Pamela, daughter of fellow Acadians Godefroi Templet and Carmélite Bourg, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1858; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. In 1860, Théolin and his wife were living on his father's plantation in Assumption Parish. During the War of 1861-65, Théolin Nichols, called T. N. in Confederate records, served in Company H of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish. In April 1862, at age 22, T. N. enlisted as a private in the company probably at Napleonville and followed his regiment to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Along with 29,000 other Confederates captured by Grant's army in July 1863, T. N. was paroled and sent home to await exchange. He evidently did not report to his exchanged regiment's camp at Alexandria, Louisiana, in the summer of 1864 but remained at home. The Federals captured him probably at home in October and exchanged him at Red River Landing, Louisiana, later in the month. T. N. surrendered and was paroled again in June 1865 at war's end. He registered as an end-of-war parolee at Napoleonville the following November. His and Pamela's son Timothée Émile was born in December 1866, eight years into their marriage. Théolin Nichols died near Plattenville in October 1867, age 31. One wonders if his early death was war-related. His son married into the Riche family in 1889.
Ursin's fifth son Amilcar, by second wife Doralise LeBlanc, married Nohémi, daughter of fellow Acadians Lazare Guillot and Ernestine Aucoin, at the Plattenville church in February 1868. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Ursin Eugène in December 1868; Léa Isora or Isaura in March 1870 but died at age 12 1/2 in November 1882; Alice born in February 1872; Marie Theresa in January 1874; Aline Léa in February 1875 but died at age 3 1/2 in October 1878; Thomas Arthur born in September 1876 but died the following July; Laurenza born in March 1878 but died the following October; Marie Eve born in October 1879; and George in March 1882. At age 45, Amilcar remarried to Louise, daughter of Michel Cazare and Eugénie Edwin, at the Plattenville church in May 1893. Their son Callum Gustave was born in September 1895--10 children, four sons and six daughters, by two wives, between 1868 and 1895. Daughter Alice, by his first wife, married an Aucoin cousin in the 1890s. Amilcar's oldest son Ursin Eugène also married, to a Guillot cousin in 1892.
Eusèbe's fourth son Edmond married cousin Euphémie, daughter of Hippolyte Carmouche and his Acadian wife Madeleine LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1830; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their son Edmond Osémé, called Osémé, was born in January 1831. At age 34, Edmond remarried to cousin Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Rosemond LeBlanc and Clothide Bujole and widow of Robert Scott, at the Donaldsonville church in December 1843. She gave him no more children. Edmond, called Edmont by the Donalsonville priest, died in Ascension Parish in October 1845 on his 36th birthday (the recording priest said 38). Edmond's son, evidently his only child, married and served as sheriff of Assumption Parish.
Only son Edmond Osémé, called Osémé, from first wife Euphémie Carmouche, was a 19-year-old clerk living with the family of Assumption Parish deputy sheriff Claibore Loret in 1850. Edmond Osémé married Pauline Reullan, Ruela, or Ruelet probably in Assumption Parish in c1853. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Edmond Auguste in April 1854; Joseph Albert in October 1855 but, called Albert Joseph, died at age 2 1/2 in January 1858; Clémentine Nelly or Nelly Clémentine baptized at Labadieville, Assumption Parish, age unrecorded, in November 1857; and Corine Euphémy born in February 1860 but, called Corine, died at age 1 1/2 in August 1861--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1854 and 1860. In 1860, E. O., as he was called, was living with his family in Napoleonville and serving as sheriff of Assumption Parish.
Eusèbe's fifth son Augustin married Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Timothée Hébert and Rosalie Comeaux, in c1843 and followed his brothers to upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Gustave Timotée in May 1844 but, called Gustave, died at age 14 in July 1858; Elphége born in November 1846; and Cornelia or Cordélia in May 1851--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1844 and 1851. Augustin died in Assumption Parish in November 1877, age 65. Daughter Cordélia married a Blanchard cousin by 1870. Augustin's remaining son also married by then.
Younger son Elphége married Cécile or Cécilia, daughter of Louis Paranthon, Parenton, Parenthon, or Parenthan and his Acadian wife Céleste Moïse, at the Plattenville church in May 1867. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Thérèze in May 1868; Louis Gustave, called Gustave, in August 1869; Alphonse in March 1872; Sidney in August 1874; and Ulysse in September 1877--five children, a daughter and four sons, between 1868 and 1877. Son Gustave married into the Vega family after 1870.
Eusèbe's sixth son Éloi married cousin Rosalie Édesse or Edesie, called Desie, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Dugas and Clémence LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church in December 1837; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Adélaïde Elmina or Elmina Adélaïde in December 1838; Hilaire Amilgar in January 1841 but, called Hilaire Amilcar, died at age 7 in March 1848; and Pierre Edmond born in June 1844 but, called Edmond, died at age 3 1/2 in March 1848--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1838 and 1844. Was he the Éloi Melançon who died near Convent, St. James Parish, in August 1852? The recording priest said he died at "age 39 yrs." This Éloi would have been age 38. Daughter Elmina married into the Thibaut family, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Eusèbe's seventh and youngest son Pierre Martin, called Martin, married Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Florentin Templet and Clarisse Blanchard, at the Plattenville church in June 1841. They remained on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Pierre Aristide in July 1843 but, called Aristide, died at age 11 months in June 1844; Cécile born in October 1845; François Adam René in July 1847 but, called René, died at age 14 in October 1861; Marie Malvina, called Malvina, born in December 1849; an unnamed infant son, age unrecorded, died in June 1852; Clara Alice, called Alice, born in June 1852; Edgard Oscar, called Oscar, in December 1854; and Marie Irène in January 1859--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1843 and 1859. Pierre Martin died in Assumption Parish in July 1875, age 60. Daughters Malvina, Alice, and Marie married into the Caillier, Landry, and Chiasson families after 1870. Pierre Martin's remaining son Oscar also married, into the Lalande family in 1879.
Jean Baptiste, fils's younger son David married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Marin Landry and Pélagie Landry, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahanncoer church in December 1801. Their children, born there, included an unnamed infant "recently born" died in November 1802; Paul Valéry born in February 1804 but, called Valry, died at age 3 in March 1807; and Joseph born in April 1806. Wife Madeleine died in St. James Parish in January 1809, age 36. David remarried to Modeste Marie or Marie Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Gautreaux and Marie Richard, at the St. James church in February 1814. Their children, born near Convent, St. James Parish, included Jean Marcellin in March 1815 but died at age 5 1/2 in September 1820; Simon Norbert born in October 1816 but died at age 3 1/2 in September 1820; Marie Marthe dite Martine born in January 1819; Marie Marcelline in September 1821; Marie Élisabeth in September 1824; David Jules or Jules David in November 1826 but died at age 6 in October 1832; Simon Amédé born in August 1829 but, called Amédé, died in Ascension Parish, age 29, in March 1859; Pierre Léopold born in September 1831; and Pierre Paul posthumously in September 1832 but died at age 1 1/2 in May 1834--a dozen children, nine sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1802 and 1832. David died near Convent in August 1832, age 54. Daughters Martine and Marie Élisabeth, from his second wife, married into the Marchand and Lucenty families. Only one of David's many sons married.
Third son Joseph, by first wife Madeleine Landry, married Carmélite, daughter of French Canadian and possible fellow Acadian André LeBlanc and his Acadian wife Marie Lanoux, at the Donaldsonville church in November 1830. Their chldren, born on the river, included Marie, also called Marie Marine, in Ascension Parish in October 1831; and Eugénie Madeleine in St. James Parish in November 1834 but, called Madeleine Eugénie, died at the home of her stepfather, Simon Rouillier, near Convent in April 1849, age 14 1/2. Joseph died near Convent in October 1836, age 30. Daughter Marie Marine married into the Gravois family at Convent, so the blood of the line may have endured.
Charles (1743-1787) à Jean à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Charles, fourth and youngest son of Jean-Baptiste Melanson and Madeleine LeBlanc, born at Minas in March 1743, followed his family to Maryland, was listed with them at Snow Hill, and followed his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and Cabahannocer. Charles married Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadians René Landry and Marie Theriot, at nearby Ascension in February 1768 and settled on the east bank of the river at Cabahannocer. Their children, born on the river, included Joseph in c1769 but evidently died young; Simon born in c1771 but died at Ascension, age 1, in September 1772; Marie-Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, born in June 1773; Jean-Baptiste-Allain, called Allain, in June 1775; twins Charles, fils and Éloi baptized at Cabahannocer, age unrecorded, in November 1777; Marie-Élise born at Ascension in November 1781; Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, in June 1783; Olivier-Pierre in July 1785; and Marie-Isabelle born perhaps posthumously and baptized at Ascension, no age given, in August 1787--10 children, six sons and four daughters, including a set of twins, between 1769 and 1787. Charles, père died at Ascension in May 1787, age 44. Daughters Élisabeth, Marie Élise, Madeleine, and Marie married into the Capdeville, Richard, Louvière, and Bernard families on the river. Four of Charles's sons also married, on the river, the western prairies, and upper Bayou Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured.
Third son Jean Baptiste Allain, called Allain, married Marguerite Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Orillion dit Champagne, fils and Marie Rose Breaux, at St. Gabriel in October 1805. They lived on the river near the boundary between the St. Gabriel and Ascension districts. Their children, born there, included Jean Baptiste, fils in July 1806; twins Joseph Norbert and Marie Rose in July 1808, but Joseph Norbert died in late August; triplets Joseph Eugène, called Eugène, Marie Arthémise, and Marie Hortense born in August 1810, but Eugène died in October; Marie born in c1811 but died at age 11 in September 1822; Joseph Pellerin born in January 1816[sic]; Marie Josèphe in July 1816[sic]; André in c1816[sic] but died at "age 3 yrs." in October 1819; and Amédée Landry, called Amélie, a daughter, born in August 1818 but died at age 1 in November 1819--11 children, five sons and six daughters, including a set of twins and a set of triplets, between 1806 and 1818. Jean Baptiste Allain died in Ascension Parish in March 1841. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said he died at "age 70 years." He was 65. Daughter Marie Rose married a Babin cousin. None of Allain's remaining sons seems to have married, so only the blood of this family line may have endured.
Charles's fourth son Charles, fils, a twin, married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians René LeBlanc and Marguerite Trahan of Bayou Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1808. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their daughter Marie Ceraline, called Ceraline, was born in February 1810 but died at age 1 1/2 in June 1811. Charles died at his home on the lower Vermilion in February 1810. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Charles died "at age 30 yrs." He was closer to 33. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August. His daughter did not survive childhood, and he fathered no sons, so his line of the family died with him. His widow Adélaïde remained on the prairies and remarried twice there.
Charles, père's fifth son Éloi, Charles, fils's twin, owned nine slaves in 1810, when he was in his early 30s and still unmarried. He married Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Bergeron and Marie Babin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1815. They remained on the Lafourche. Their children, born in Interior/Lafourche Interior Parish on the middle bayou, included Édoard or Édouard in January 1815; Victor in April 1820; Constance in April 1822; L'Advertine in c1822; Célonise in c1824; Éloin or Éloi Gille or Gilles in September 1824; Marie in September 1827; Félicité Céleste, called Féliciènne, in November 1827 (probably 1828); and Ethile Célima, called Célima, in January 1830--nine children, three sons and six daughters, between 1815 and 1830. Éloi died in Ascension Parish in May 1850. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Éloi died at "age 75 years." He probably was a few years younger than that. Daughters L'Adverine, Célonise, Féliciènne, and Célima married into the Savoie, Pierce, and Mequet families. One of Élois's sons also married.
Second son Victor married cousin Farelie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Savoie and Marie Françoise Bergeron, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1841, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1849. They settled near Raceland and Lockport on the lower bayou. Their children, born there, included Eve Victorine in April 1842; Zéolide in September 1843; Andrée, also called Alfred, in December 1845; Marie Céline, called Céline, in November 1847; Alcide in April 1850; Marie Elvine or Elvire, called Elvire, in January 1853; Clémentine Evertilde or Ebertile, called Ebertille, in October 1856; Nina Angela, called Angela, in November 1857; Émilie, also called Dulcina, in August 1860; and Louise Joséphine or Joséphine Louise in March 1864--10 children, eight daughters and two sons, between 1842 and 1864. Victor died near Larose on the lower Lafourche in July 1904, age 84. Daughters Eve Victorine, Zéolide, Céline, Elvire, Ebertile, Angela, Dulcina, and Josèphine Louise married into the Perrin, Arceneaux, Raymond, Barrios, Galjour, Bruce, Bourgeois, and Labat families before and after 1870. One of Victor's sons married before 1870.
Older son Alfred, also called Andrée, married Élizabeth, daughter of George W. Leonard and his Acadian wife Mélanie Daigle, at the Lockport church, Lafourche Parish, in June 1867. They remained on the lower Lafourche. Their children, born at Lockport and Larose, included Mélanie Sera near Lockport in June 1868; Victor in September 1871; Armandine, also called Amand Angèle, near Larose in October 1873; André in May 1875; William in July 1877; Dovida in March 1879; Eugénie in August 1881; Joséphine Célestine in October 1883; Arthur in October 1885; Clarence Davis in November 1791; and Julie-Marie in February 1895--11 children, five daughters and six sons, between 1868 and 1895. Daughters Armandine and Dovida married into the Savoie and Usé families in 1888 and 1899. Two of Alfred's sons, Victor and André, married into the Richoux and Ayo families in 1878 and 1905 and perpetuated the family line.
Charles, père's sixth and youngest son Olivier married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Gaudet and Marguerite Poirier, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in May 1808. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Joseph in March 1809 but died at age 4 1/2 in July 1814; Marie Delphine born in January 1811 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1812; Éloi le jeune born in October 1814; Jean Délard or Adélard, called Adélard, in July 1817; Marcellin in March 1820 but died near Convent, St. James Parish, age 4, in May 1824; and an unnamed infant daughter, age unrecorded, died in November 1822--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1809 and 1822. Olivier died in Assumption Parish in August 1824, age 39 (the recording priest said 38). Neither of Olivier's daughters survived childhood. Two of his sons married and settled in St. James and Pointe Coupee parishes, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Éloi le jeune married Marguerite dite Mirza, daughter of Olivier Schexnayder and Adélaïde Chenet, at the Convent church in February 1839. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included an unnamed son died near Convent a day after his birth in October 1839; Marie Mirza born in April 1841; Éloi Fargeau in June 1842 but died the following December; Adam Alcée, called Alcée, born in October 1843; Pierre Elfedge in September 1845 but, called Elphége, died at age 10 1/2 in June 1856; Jules Marcellin born in September 1847; Joseph Numa in August 1849; and Alphonse Audry in June 1852--eight children, seven sons and a daughter, between 1839 and 1852. Éloi le jeune died near Convent in August 1852. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' name or mention a wife, said that Éloi died at "age 39 yrs." He was 37. Daughter Marie Mirza married into the Poché family after 1870. One of Éloi le jeune's sons also married by then. Two other sons, Alcée and Numa, married into the Richard and Roussel families after 1870.
Fifth son Jules married Elizabeth Shepard, also called Heurt, place unrecorded, in c1868. Their children, born on the river, included William in May 1869; and Edmond Alphonse in May 1871. Jules, at age 33, remarried to Delphine Denoyer of St. John the Baptist Parish, widow of Joseph Pollet, at the Convent church in Februry 1881. She evidently gave him no more children. In 1900, Jules was living with a nephew in St. James Parish. Did any of his sons marry?
Olivier's third son Adélard married Augustine, daughter of Desolives Decoux and Émelie Joffrion, at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in June 1859. Adélard was among the few Acadians who lived in Pointe Coupee, a bastion of Creole settlement. Their children, born there, included Adam Edgar in May 1861; Olivier Luc in January 1863; Basile Elfer near Convent in January 1866 but accidently shot to death by a brother in Pointe Coupee Parish in February 1875, age 9; and Jean Joseph born in February 1869--four children, all sons, between 1861 and 1869. Adélard died by May 1869, when he was listed as deceased in a son's baptismal record at the Pointe Coupee church. None of his remaining sons seems to have married, so his line of the family may have died with him.
Joseph dit Dios Rose (c1756-1808) à Jean à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Joseph, fourth and youngest son of Pierre Melanson and Rosalie Blanchard, nephew of Alexandre and first cousin of Paul, Joseph, Jean-Baptiste, fils, and Charles, born probably in Pennsylvania in c1756, appeared on a repatriation list there with six of his orphaned siblings in June 1763. He followed older sister Marguerite to Maryland and from there to New Orleans and Cabahannocer, where he settled with her and her new husband Amand Landry on the west side of the river. He was living with them on the same side of the river at nearby Ascension in August 1770, age 15. In April 1777, the Spanish census taker, calling him Joseph dit Dios Rose, age 20, counted him still on the west bank of the river, this time with the family of Amand Gautreaux, for whom Joseph was probably working as an engagé. Joseph married Marguerite-Gertrude, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Landry and Marie-Josèphe Bourg and widow of Augustin Licara or Sierra, at Ascension in February 1779. She brought four slaves into the marriage. Their children, born at Ascension, included Jérôme in c1780; Joseph, fils in c1782; Marie-Élise dite Lise in c1787; Pierre, also called Louis, baptized at the Ascension church, age unrecorded, in March 1788; Anne-Jeannette, also called Anne-Élise, born in February 1789; Paulin in c1790; and Anne-Marie dite Manette in April 1791--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1780 and 1791. Joseph died at Ascension in August 1808, age 52. Daughters Marie Élise, Anne Jeannette, and Anne-Marie married into the Landry and Picou families at Ascension. Joseph's four sons also married and settled in St. James, Ascension, and Iberville parishes, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Jérôme married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Isaac LeBlanc and Marguerite Babin, at Ascension in April 1804. Their children, born at Ascension, included Guillaume died the day after his birth in February 1805; Jeanne born in October 1806 but died the following August; Judith born in June 1808; Anne Marie dite Jeannette, in March 1810; Clarisse in July 1812; and an unnamed son died the day after his birth in January 1815. In 1810, Jérôme held two slaves at Ascension. In c1816, at age 36, Jérôme remarried to fellow Acadian Rosalie Bourgeois, place unrecorded. Their daughter Marie Alzine was born in December 1817--seven children, two sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1805 and 1817. Jérôme died in St. James Parish in September 1817. The St. James priest who recorded the burial said that Jérôme, "nat. Lafourche parish [Lafourche des Chitimachas was the original name of Ascension]," died at "age about 37 yrs." Daughters Judith, Jeannette, Clarisse, and Marie Alzine, by both wives, married into the Landry, Babin, Hébert, and Poché families at Ascension. Both of Jérôme's sons died as newborns, so his line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.
Joseph dit Dios Rose's second son Joseph, fils married Marie, Marine, or Marianne, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marie-Josèphe Babin, at Ascension in February 1802. Their children, born at Ascension, included Lucien in May 1803; Neuville in October 1804; Louis Godefroi in August 1806 but died at age 5 in August 1811; Marcellin born in November 1808; Narcisse in June 1812 but died at age 35 (the recording priest said 38) in November 1847; Marie Julina or Zulma, called Zulma, born in October 1814; and Josèphine in March 1818 but died at age 8 1/2 in February 1827--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1803 and 1818. Joseph, fils died in Ascension Parish in February 1823. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died at "age 40 yrs." Daughter Zulma married into the Landry and Sarites or Zurita families. Two of Joseph, fils's remaining sons also married in Ascension.
Second son Neuville married Marie Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Nicolas Orillion and Marie Reine Foret, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1826. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Clara, called Clara, in November 1826; Achille Neuville died at age 3 weeks in September 1828; and Marie Constance born in August 1829 but died at age 20 (the recording priest said 18) in April 1850. Neuville remarried to fellow Acadian Marie Cléonise, Éléonise, or Léonise Hébert probably in Ascension Parish in c1830. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Léonise Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, in December 1831; Napoléon Neuville in July 1834 but, called Neuville, fils, died at age 18 in December 1852; Joseph Aristide, called Aristide, born in November 1836; Lisa Nathalie, called Nathalie, in September 1839; and Genot Arnes or Ernest, called Ernest, in April 1844--eight children, four daughters and four sons, by two wives, between 1826 and 1844. In 1860, Neuville held 50 slaves in 14 houses on his plantation in Ascension Parish. He died in Ascension Parish in September 1865, age 61. Daughters Clara, Élisabeth, and Nathalie, by both wives, married into the Hébert, Bujole, and Dominique or Dominguez families at Ascension. Neuville's remaining sons also married there.
Third son Joseph Aristide, called Aristide, from second wife Léonise Hébert, married fellow Acadian Cécilia Landry probably in Ascension Parish in c1858. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Aristilia in September 1859; Miroque Silvère in December 1860 but, called Sylvaire, died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in October 1864; Daniel Adélard born in December 1862 but, called Adlar, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 2) in September 1864; Bartélmi Adam, called Adam, born in August 1865; Obierge Aristide, called Aristide, fils, in July 1867; Marine Eulogie in March 1869; Sébastiènne Isabelle in January 1871; Marie Antoinette in May 1872; and Idona in January 1876--nine children, five daughters and four sons, between 1859 and 1876. Aristide died in Ascension Parish in July 1875, age 38. Daughters Marie Antoinette and Idona married into the Collet and Dichary families in the 1890s. Two of Aristide's sons, Adam and Aristide, fils, also married, into the LeBlanc and Hébert families in the 1890s, but only Adam fathered children.
Neuville's fourth and youngest son Ernest, by second wife Léonise Hébert, married Susan or Susanne, daughter of Harry G. Waterman and Sara Norwood, at the Donaldsonville church in August 1862. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Ernest, fils died in Ascension Parish nine days after his birth in May 1863; Alice Sara born in May 1864; Juliènne in February 1866 but, called Julia, died at age 4 (the recording priest said 2 1/2) in July 1870; Henry Gilbert or Gilbert Henry born in September 1867 but died at age 10 in May 1878; Marie Élisabeth born in September 1869; Ernest Thomas in August 1872; Robert in September 1874; Allen Sébastien in February 1876 but died the following September; Jesse born in January 1879; Martha Anna, called Anna, near Smoke Bend in November 1884; and Frances Sylvia, called Sylvia, in March 1887--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1863 and 1887. In 1900, Ernest, a widower, was living with his four youngest children probably at Smoke Bend near Donaldsonville, Ascension Parish.
Joseph, fils's fourth son Marcellin married first cousin Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Melançon and Rosalie or Rose Landry, his uncle and aunt, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1834. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Dernon in March 1835; Aristide in September 1837; Alfred Prosper or Prospère in January 1839; Victorine in September 1840; and Firmin Alphret in October 1842--five children, four sons and a daughter, between 1835 and 1842. Marcellin died in Ascension Parish in July 1847, age 38. Daughter Victorine married into the Guidry and Landry families before and after 1870. Only one of Marcellin's sons married, three times in fact, before and after 1870. Another son died in Confederate service.
Second son Aristide married Euphrasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Arsène Hébert and Rosalie Euphrasie Babin, at the Donaldsonville church in March 1859. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Ulgère Elphége, called Elphége, in February 1860; Marie Louise dite Corinne in January 1862; Matille Élène or Mathilde Hélène in August 1864; and Marie Angela or Angélina in June 1867. Wife Euphrasie died in Ascension Parish in October 1870. Aristide, in his mid-30s, remarried to fellow Acadian Azéme Babin probably at Gonzales, Ascension Parish, in c1872. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Joseph Ulger, called Ulger, in February 1873; Hubert in November 1878; Eve Élodie, called Élodie, in January 1881; and Étienne Aristine in August 1884. Aristide, at age 52, remarried again--his third marriage--to Helena, daughter of fellow Acadian Trasimond Dupuis and his Creole wife Arthémise Hosler or Horsler, at Gonzales in February 1890. Their daughter Élina was born in July 1891--nine children, four sons and five daughters, by three wives, between 1860 and 1891. Aristide died at Gonzales in April 1893, age 55. Daughter Corinne, by his first wife, married into the Landry family at Gonzales in 1889. Aristide's oldest son also married, into the Greaud family at St. Gabriel in 1884, so the line endured.
During the War of 1861-65, Marcellin's third son Alfred Prospère served in the Donaldsonville Artillery, which fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. A 22-year-old unmarried clerk from New River, Ascension Parish, Alfred enlisted in the company at Donaldsonville on 13 September 1861. He was mortally wounded at Sharpsburg, Maryland, on 17 September 1862, when his leg was shot off. Left in a Confederate hospital at Shepherdstown, Virginia, after Lee's army withdrew into the Shenandoah Valley, the Federals paroled him on September 30, and he died from his terrible wound soon after, age 23.
Joseph dit Dios Rose's third son Pierre dit Louis married cousin Rosalie or Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Hyacinthe Landry and Marguerite Landry, at the Donaldson church in December 1808. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Louis Camille, called Camille, in September 1809; Marie Mathilde, called Mathilde, in June 1811; Louis Treville, called Treville, in December 1813; Jean Valentin, called Valentin, in November 1816 but died at age 6 1/2 in September 1823; Rosalie born in February 1819; and Marie Amélie or Émelie, called Émelie, in March 1824--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1809 and 1824. Louis died in Ascension Parish in August 1839. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give his parent's names or mention a wife, said that Louis died at "age 50 yrs." Louis would have been 51, so this was him. Daughters Mathilde, Rosalie, and Émelie married into the Melançon, Bruyère, and Regouffe families in Ascension Parish, one of them to a first cousin. Louis's remaining sons also married there, but only one of the lines endured.
Oldest son Camille, at age 46, married cousin Marie Arthémise, called Arthémise, 36-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jérôme Rivet and Marie Élise Melançon and widow of Hippolyte Adolphe Babin, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1856. Their daughter Cécile Camilla was born in November 1856. Did she marry?
Louis's second son Treville married Judith, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Éloi Hébert and Angélique Hébert, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in August 1836. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. Gabriel and Ascension parishes before moving to the west side of the river near Bayou Goula, Iberville Parish. Their children, born on the river, included Anaïse in August 1837; Louis in 1839 but died at age 11 months in August 1840; Sylvestre born in December 1840 but died the following June; Christin born in November 1843; Athanais in March 1845 but died at age 1 in March 1846; Oscar born in September 1846 but died at age 13 in October 1849; Forestine born in August 1848 but died at age 1 1/2 in April 1850; an unnamed infant daughter born in May 1850 but died the following November; Mathieu Adonis, called Adonis, born in September 1851; Jean Baptiste Turville, probably Treville, in June 1853; Joseph Éloi in February 1856 but died the following June; Marie Angèle born in May 1857; and Jean Adoue in June 1858--13 children, four daughters and nine sons, between 1837 and 1858. Treville died at Bayou Goula in September 1885, age 71. Daughter Anaïse married into the Gaudin family. Only one of Treville's many sons, Adonis, married, into the Saurage family in 1873, so the line endured.
Joseph dit Dios Rose's fourth and youngest son Paulin married Adélaïde, daughter of Pierre Gaillard, also called Denoux, and Lucille Lagrange, at the St. Gabriel church in January 1816. They lived on the river near the boundary between St. Gabriel and Ascension parishes. Paulin died in Ascension Parish at "age ca. 40 yrs." in May 1830. He and his wife evidently were that rare Cajun couple who had no children, so his line of the family probably died with him.
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Seven more Melansons--a wife with her family, and a family with five children--reached New Orleans from Baltimore, Maryland, via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, in July 1767 and hoped to join their cousins at Cabahannocer, but they did not go there. Spanish Governor Ulloa insisted that the recent arrivals settle at San Gabriel d'Iberville south of Bayou Manchac, a new Acadian community on the river above Cabahannocer. The Melansons and their fellow refugees consented to the arrangement because San Gabriel was so close to their kinsmen downriver. Another family line came of it, but, except for its blood, it did not endure beyond the third generation:
Amand (1728-1781) à Philippe à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Amand, second son of Joseph Melanson and Marguerite LeBlanc, born at Minas in October 1728, married Anne Babin in c1751 probably at Minas. Anne gave him a son, Joseph, born there in c1752. The British deported the family to Maryland in the fall of 1755. Anne gave Amand five more children in the Chesapeake colony: Anne born in c1760; Marguerite in c1762; Simon in c1764; Mathurin in c1765; and Olivier in c1767. Amand, Anne, and their older children Joseph, Anne, and Marguerite, appeared on a French repatriation list at Baltimore in July 1763. Daughter Marguerite died between July 1763 and April 1767, when Amand, Anne, and five of their children, four sons and a daughter, the youngest son a newborn, left Baltimore for Spanish Louisiana. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to San Gabriel, where Anne gave Amand three more children: Félicité born in c1771; Louis-Grégoire, called Grégoire, in September 1772; and Marguerite-Constance, called Constance, in January 1775--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1752 and 1775, in greater Acadia, Maryland, and Louisiana. By March 1777, Amand owned a slave, 20 head of cattle, four horses, 16 hogs, and 30 fowl on 10 arpents of frontage along the west bank of the river in the Iberville District. He died at San Gabriel in December 1781, age 53. Widow Anne did not remarry. She died at San Gabriel in November 1801, age 72. Her and Amand's daughters Félicité and Constance married into the LeBlanc and Landry families at San Gabriel and remained on the western bank of what became Iberville Parish. Three of Amand's sons married on the river, but, amazingly, except perhaps for the blood, none of their family lines seems to have endured.
Oldest son Joseph followed his family to Maryland, New Orleans, and San Gabriel. In his late 30s, he married Marie-Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Godin dit Lincour and Anne Bergeron of Rivière St.-Jean and widow of Antoine-Alexandre Dupré dit Terrebonne and Jean Villeneuve, at nearby Ascension in February 1790. Their daughter Marie-Cléonise was born at Ascension in December 1790 but died at age 1 in November 1791. Joseph evidently fathered no sons, so his line of the family died with him.
Amand's second son Simon followed his family to New Orleans and San Gabriel and married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Vincent Landry and Suzanne Godin, at nearby Ascension in February 1790. Their children, born on the river, included Grégoire le jeune in March 1790; Jérôme in December 1792; Marguerite in December 1793; Thomas in November 1795; and Cléonise probably in the late 1790s--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1791 and 1820. Simon died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in January 1810. The priest who recorded the burial said that Simon was age 48 when he died. Daughter Cléonise married into the Robichaux family. Only one of Simon's sons married, but the line did not endure.
Second son Jérôme married Marguerite Domitille, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Hébert and Anne Marie Dupuis and widow of Henry Comeaux, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1825. Their children, born at St. Gabriel, included Joseph le jeune in March 1827 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1828; Euphémie born in July 1829; Jeanne Domitille, called Domitille, in April 1831 but died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 3 months!), in July 1832; and Marie Céline, called Céline, born in August 1833 but, called Sélima, died at age 4 (the recording priest said 5) in August 1837--four children, a son and three daughters, between 1827 and 1833. Daughter Euphémie married into the Tullier family, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Amand's fifth and youngest son Louis Grégoire, called Grégoire, married Marie-Christine, called Christine, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Landry and Anne-Marie Forest, at San Gabriel in April 1792. Their children, born there, included Joseph-Simon or -Zénon, called Joseph-Zénon and Zénon, in July 1793; Henriette-Marine in April 1795; Édouard in March 1797; Marie-Élise in March 1799; an unnamed infant daughter died eight days after her birth in December 1801; Pierre born in August 1803; Joachim Grégoire in July 1805 but died at age 9 1/2 in March 1815; Maximilien Norbert, called Norbert, born in December 1807; and Joseph Théophile in August 1810--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1793 and 1810. Grégoire died near St. Gabriel in July 1812. The priest who recorded the burial said that Grégoire was age 44 when he died. He was 39. His wife remarried to Pierre Jacques dit Santiago Melançon, a much older cousin. Her and Grégoire's daughters Henriette Marine and Marie Élise married into the Landry and Rivet families. Four of Grégoire's remaining sons also married at St. Gabriel and settled in Iberville, Ascension, and West Baton Rouge parishes, but, amazingly, none of their lines, except for the blood, seems to have endured.
Oldest son Zénon married Hortense, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Corrantine Longuépée, at the St. Gabriel church in February 1819. She evidently gave him no children. Zénon remarried to Marie Cléonise, called Cléonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Breaux and Rosalie Landry and widow of David Landry, at the St. Gabriel church in November 1824. Their children, born near St. Gabriel, included Marie Rosalie in April 1825; and Marie Fannely in February 1827 but died at age 1 1/2 in December 1828. Zénon died near St. Gabriel in November 1858, age 65. Remaining daughter Marie Rosalie married into the Lacroix family, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Grégoire's second son Édouard married Marie Élisabeth or Élize, daughter of Santiago dit Jacques Hernandez and his Acadian wife Anne dite Mannon Rivet, at the St. Gabriel church in April 1828. Their children, born at St. Gabriel, included Marie Doralise in April 1829; and Marie Domitille or Domithilde, called Domithilde, in May 1831. Daughters Marie Doralise and Domithilde married into the Lambremont and Hamilton families at Plaquemine, across the river from St. Gabriel, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Grégoire's third son Pierre married Marie Adéline, called Adéline, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Charles Hébert and Martine Breaux, at the St. Gabriel church in October 1831. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Caroline in 1831 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1832; Jean Baptiste died as an infant, age unrecorded, in December 1833; Pierre Joseph Joachim born in March 1834 but died at age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said "age 9 years 5 months") in August 1844; Marie Adeline Élisabeth born in November 1836 but, called Adeline, died in Ascension Parish, age 17, in September 1855; Marie Pauline born in February 1838 but died the following month; Marie Augustine Coralie born in September 1839 but died in December; Jean Baptiste Noël born in December 1840 but died the following April; Marie Gertrude born in March 1842; Marie Adelina in April 1843; and Marie Chrestine near Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish, in March 1849 but, called Marie Christine, died near Brusly in July--10 children, seven daughters and three sons, between 1831 and 1849. All of Pierre's sons died young. Daughter Marie Adelina married into the Templet family, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Grégoire's fifth son Norbert married cousin Marie Barbe, daughter of fellow Acadians François Landry and Constance Babin, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in May 1832. They lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Odile, called Odile, in February 1833; Jean Baptiste in August 1836; Marie Adelina or Adeline, called Adeline, in October 1838; Grégoire Euphémia, a son, in September 1840; and a newborn, name unrecorded, died in September 1842--five children, at least two daughters and two sons, between 1833 and 1842. At age 43, Norbert remarried to cousin Marie Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Melançon and Rosalie Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in March 1851. She gave him no more children. Norbert died in Ascension Parish in October 1855. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give his parents' names or mention a wife, said that Norbert died at "age 40 years." He was 47. Neither of his sons married. Daughter Odile married into the Breaux family by 1870, so the blood of the family may have endured.
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The arrival dates of three Melansons--a father and two married daughters--who came to Louisiana probably from Maryland during the late colonial period can only be guessed. No new family line came of it in the Bayou State:
Joseph (c1716-1786) à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Joseph, third and youngest son of Pierre dit Pedro Melanson and Marie Blanchard, born at Minas in c1716, married cousin Madeleine, daughter of Jacques Hébert and Marguerite Landry, at Grand-Pré in January 1738. Madeleine gave Joseph five children there: Marie-Madeleine born in June 1739; Isabelle in February 1741; Joseph, fils in November 1742; Paul-Olivier in July 1745; and Marie-Josèphe in November 1746. Wife Madeleine died at Minas in late November 1746, in her late 20s, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Joseph remarried to cousin Marguerite, daughter of Germain Hébert and Anne Caissie, at Grand-Pré in August 1748. The British deported the familty to Maryland in the fall of 1755. Marguerite gave Joseph more children at Minas and in the Chesapeake colony: Anne; Baptiste; Madeleine; Marie-Josèphe; Rose; Pierre; Marguerite born in c1766; and Geneviève in the late 1760s--a dozen children, nine daughters and four sons, by two wives, between 1739 and the late 1760s, in greater Acadia and Maryland. Joseph, Marguerite, and nine children, seven daughers and two sons, appeared on a repatriation list at Annapolis in July 1763. Joseph and Marguerite's daughters Marguerite and Geneviève married into the Fellen and Lazare families in Maryland. Joseph's oldest son Joseph, fils also married there, but his wife's family's name has been lost to history. Joseph, père's wife Marguerite likely died in Maryland, and most of his children remained there with him when most of the Acadian exiles in the Chesapeake colony left for Louisiana during the late 1760s. Joseph, père, probably a widower, emigrated to Louisiana probably from Maryland by the mid-1780s. He died at San Gabriel on the Acadian Coast, established by exiles from Maryland two decades earlier, in December 1786, age 70. His married daughters Geneviève and Marguerite and their husbands also emigrated to the Spanish colony. The sisters died at New Orleans in October 1796 within days of one another, victims, perhaps, of a yellow fever epidemic that struck the city. Joseph's only married son did not follow his father and sisters to Louisiana, so this family line did not take root in the Bayou State.
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Only two of the many Melansons who had been exiled in France came to Louisiana on the Seven Ships of 1785--an elderly husband whose younger brother had come to the colony from Maryland in 1767, and a middle-aged wife who seems to have been the only direct descendant of Charles dit La Ramée of Port-Royal to come to Spanish Louisiana. The older brother and his wife settled along the river, the descendant of La Ramée and her family on upper Bayou Lafourche. No new Melanson family lines came of it:
Joseph (1721-?) à Philippe à Pierre, fils à Pierre (Laverdure) Melançon
Joseph, fils, oldest son of Joseph Melanson and Marguerite LeBlanc and older brother of Amand of San Gabriel, born at Minas in January 1721, married Anne Bourg probably at Minas in c1746 and settled on Rivière Gaspereau. Anne gave Joseph, fils a large family there and on Île St.-Jean, where they moved after August 1752: Anne-Josèphe born in c1747; Germain in c1749; an unnamed son in c1750; Marie in c1751; Joseph III in c1754; Osite in February 1756; and another Joseph III in c1757--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1747 and 1757. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the British deported Joseph, fils, Anne, and their six remaining children, ages 12 to 2, aboard one of the so-called Five Ships to St.-Malo, France. The three youngest children, two sons and a daughter, died at sea. Wife Anne died at Hôtel-Dieu, St.-Malo, in February 1759 probably from the rigors of the crossing, and another daughter died there in March. Joseph, fils and his remaining children, daughter Anne-Josèphe and son Germain, settled at St.-Énogat, today's Dinard, across the harbor from St.-Malo, where Joseph, fils remarried to fellow Acadian Ursule Hébert, widow of Alexandre Bourg, in April 1761. She gave him no more children. The blended family remained at St.-Énogat, where, in January 1767, Joseph's daughter Anne-Josèphe married a Bourg from Cobeguit who worked as a sailor. In September 1772, French authorities noted that Joseph, fils, now in his early 50s, was a laborer at St.-Malo living with his wife, a weaver, and a grown son who was a sailor. Joseph, fils and his family did not go to the interior of Poitou in 1773, nor did they join other Acadian exiles in the lower Loire port of Nantes later in the decade. Joseph, fils and Ursule emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785 aboard La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which left St.-Malo in August and reached New Orleans in early December. He was, in fact, the only male Melanson to go to Louisiana from France. One of Ursule Hébert's Bourg daughters and the daughter's Henry husband also went to the Spanish colony from St.-Malo, but Joseph, fils's two remaining children by first wife Anne--Anne-Josèphe and Germain, ages 38 and 36 in 1785--remained in France, Anne-Josèphe with her large family at St.-Énogat. One wonders if brother Germain ever married. From New Orleans, Joseph, fils and Ursule followed their fellow passengers to the new Acadian settlement of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge. None of Joseph, fils's sons created families of their own, at least not in Louisiana, so only the blood of this family line endured, in France.
Two major Michel families, perhaps related, came to French Acadia in the late 1680s. François Michel dit La Ruine, born in France in c1651, came to the colony by 1686, when he was counted at La Hève on the Atlantic coast. His first wife was Madeleine Germon, who he married at Port-Royal that year. She died in c1694 probably at La Hève before she could give him children. François remarried to Marguerite, daughter of Jean Meunier and Marguerite Housseau, probably at Port-Royal in c1695. They settled at Rivière-Ste.-Croix and Grand-Pré at Minas and at l'Assomption, Pigiguit, on the east end of the Minas Basin. Between 1696 and 1717, Marguerite gave La Ruine a dozen children, at least four sons and seven daughters. Six of their daughters married into the Cyr, Bourg, Poirier, Vincent dit Clément, Doiron, and Savary families. Two of their sons married into the Forest and Vincent families. Meanwhile, another member of the family, Sr. Jacques Michel dit Saint-Michel, born in France in c1658, perhaps a kinsman of François dit Le Ruine, reached Acadia in c1687 and married Catherine, daughter of Étienne Comeau and Anne-Marie Lefebvre, at Port-Royal in c1689. They remained there. Between 1690 and 1719, Catherine gave Jacques 13 children, eight sons and five daughters. Jacques dit Saint-Michel died at Annapolis Royal in February 1748, age 90. His five daughters married into the Savoie, Martin, Breau, Guilbeau, and Egan families. Four of his sons married into the Léger, LeJuge, Boudrot, Breau, and Guilbeau families. In 1755, descendants of François Michel dit La Ruine and Marguerite Meunier could be found at Cap-Sable and on Île St.-Jean, and those of Sr. Jacques Michel dit Saint-Michel and Catherine Comeau at Annapolis Royal, Minas, and on Île St.-Jean. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered these large families even farther.
In the fall of 1755, the British deported several Michel dit Saint-Michel families at Annapolis Royal to Massachusetts and Connecticut. However, two young members of the family, one recently married, the other still in his late teens, escaped the British roundup there, spent a hard winter on the Fundy shore, crossed to Chepoudy the following spring, moved on to lower Rivière St.-Jean, and followed other exiles to Canada. In 1760, the brothers were living at St.-Pierre-les-Becquets on the upper St. Lawrence below Trois-Rivières. Another Annapolis escapee and her husband crossed the Bay of Fundy and took refuge not in Canada but on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, where they and hundreds of other exiles endured more terrible winters as well as starvation. Her Michel dit Saint-Michel aunt, her aunt's Guilbeau husband, and their children were rounded up at Annapolis Royal, but they did not end up in a seaboard colony. The British placed them aboard the transport Pembroke, bound for North Carolina, but, soon after the vessel entered the Bay of Fundy, the passengers overwhelmed the officers and crew and sailed the Pembroke to the mouth of Rivière St.-Jean. They, too, sought refuge at the lower river settlements before moving on to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore.
Meanwhile, a Michel dit Saint-Michel cousin from Minas ended up on a ship bound for Virginia, where he and hundreds of other exiles suffered the indignity of being turned away by the colony's authorities. After their arrival in November and December 1755, they languished in the lower James River aboard disease-infested ships until, with winter approaching, Virginia's Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered them dispersed to Hampton, Norfolk, and Richmond, while he and the colony's political leaders pondered their fate. The following spring, the Virginians sent them on to England, where they were packed into warehouses in several English ports and where many died of smallpox. The Michel dit Saint-Michel cousin was held probably at Southampton and married a fellow Acadian there in c1762.
Their cousins on Île St.-Jean, living in territory controlled by France, escaped the roundups in Nova Scotia in 1755, but their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on the Maritime islands and deported them to France. One family, that of a Michel dit La Ruine, left the island before its dérangement and took refuge in Canada, but most members of both families still on Île St.-Jean fell into British hands. A Michel dit Saint-Michel family crossed aboard the Tamerlane, which left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November 1758 and, despite a storm off the southwest coast of England, reached St.-Malo in mid-January 1759. Two Michel families crossed on one or more of the five British transports--the Yarmouth, Patience, Mathias, Restoration, or the John Samuel--which left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy in late November with 1,033 Acadians aboard, bound for St.-Malo. Despite the mid-December storm that sank three other vessels in the convoy, the Five Ships reached St.-Malo together during the third week of January 1759. Most of the Michels survived the crossing aboard these ships. However, a Michel dit La Ruine, her husband, and their children crossed aboard the Violet, which left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy in late November with the Tamerlane, the Five Ships, and other vessels, but the family did not reach St.-Malo. In mid-December, the Violet and another transport sank in the storm off the southwest coast of England. All 400 passengers aboard the Violet were lost.
A member of one of the Michel families also ended up in the St.-Malo area, but she went there by a different route. A daughter of one of the dit La Ruines of Annapolis Royal married a sailor probably on the eve of Le Grand Dérangement and settled at Cap-Sable, which the British did not attack in 1755. A daughter was born there in c1757. In September 1758, after the fall of Louisbourg that July, a British force struck the settlements in the Cap-Sable area in September, rounded up Acadians there, transported them to the prison compound on Georges Island, Halifax, and deported them to Le Havre, France. Some of the Cap-Sable Acadians, however, likely including the Michel dit La Ruine and her family, took to the woods when the British appeared. After enduring a terrible winter, they, along with dozens of other exiles, surrendered to the British the following summer. They, too, were held at Georges Island. In November 1759, the British deported them to England aboard the transport Mary. They reached England in late December, and British authorities sent them on to Cherbourg, France, which they reached in mid-January 1760. Another daughter was born aboard the Mary on the voyage to England. Two more daughters were born in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg, in August 1761 and March 1763. They moved on to Le Havre across the Baie de Seine, and, in July 1768, the family sailed aboard the Joseph from Le Havre to St.-Malo. They settled first in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer and then at Pleurtuit on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo. The husband died by November 1773, when the dit La Ruine remarried into the LeBlanc family at St.-Servan.
Meanwhile, island Michels did their best to create a life for themselves in the suburbs and villages of the St.-Malo area. One of them, a dit Saint-Michel, created a large family at St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of the Breton port. In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England, including a Michel dit Saint-Michel cousin, were repatriated to France. The cousin and his wife crossed from Southampton aboard the Ambition and landed at St.-Malo in May 1763. They settled at St.-Servan-sur-Mer, where they created a large family. In 1773, the Michels at St.-Malo, both dit Saint-Michel and dit La Ruine, chose to take part in a major settlement venture in the interior of Poitou. French authorities were tired of providing for the exiles languishing in the coastal cities. An influential nobleman offered to settle them on land he owned near the city of Châtellerault, and French authorities endorsed the scheme. A Michel dit Saint-Michel and his larege family settled near Bonneuil-Matours south of Châtellerault. His cousin from England and his large family settled at Châtellerault. A dit La Ruine, her second husband, and their children also settled near Châtellerault, where the husband died in November 1775. After two years of effort, most of the Poitou Acadians abandoned the venture and retreated in four convoys down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. Two of the Michel families traveled in the third convoy, which left Châtellerault in December 1775, and the other Michel family traveled in the fourth convoy, which left in March 1776. At Nantes and nearby Chantenay, the wayward Acadians lived as best they could on government handouts and what work they could find. The Michel dit Saint-Michel family from England settled at Chantenay, where another son was born. Sadly, the family lost four children there. The head of the family also died at Chantenay, after September 1784, in his early 50s. His island cousin and his family settled in St.-Nicolas Parish, Nantes, where another daughter was born. The family lost two sons at Nantes, and the wife also died there. His second daughter married into the Gautrot family at Nantes in the early 1780s. The dit La Ruine wife, twice widowed, also settled in St.-Nicolas Parish, where she remarried again into the Landry family, and yet again--her fourth marriage!--to a Daigre at nearby Chantenay. When the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, mosts of the Acadians still residing in the kingdom agreed to take it--eight Michels from both families among them.
In
North America,
At war's end
Acadian exiles in the seaboard colonies also chose
to resettle in the French Antilles, away from British
rule. Even while the end-of-war treaty was still
being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in
the British colonies to go to St.-Dominique. Although
driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the
French were determined to hang on to what was left of their
shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas
on the northwest end of the island would protect the approaches to their remaining
possessions in the Caribbean region and assist in the
"war of revenge" to come. Exiles lured to
St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only
for the naval contractors, but also for the colony's major planters, who hoped to supplement
the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the
French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar
colony. Among
the Acadians who chose to go to St.-Domingue were a Michel dit
Saint-Michel and his family, including a younger
brother, from Connecticut. In
August 1764, they arrived at Port-au-Prince and were sent
not to Môle St.-Nicolas on the other end of the island but
to Mirebalais in the island's interior to work on
indigo and tobacco plantations.
The move proved disastrous for the family. From
September 1764 to February 1765, a 12-year-old; the
60-year-old head of the family; a 24-year-old daughter; and
an older son's 24-year-old wife
died at Mirebalais. Soon after
his wife's death, the now-widowed son left Mirebalais
and hooked up with Acadian exiles from Halifax coming though
Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans--one of the
relatively few Acadians to go to Louisiana directly from the
French Antilles. His uncle remained in
the sugar colony, at least for a time. He married an Acadian
Doucet probably at Le Havre, France, where
her family had been deported from Île Royale to France
in 1758. One wonders what brought him to Le
Havre and when did he make the voyage from St.-Domingue. In 1785, despite having a brother in the
Spanish colony, he and his wife did not follow their fellow exiles in France to
Louisiana. He died "at his home on Petit Quai Notre Dame, Le
Havre," in September 1807, in his early 60s.
The first Acadian Michels to come to Louisiana, an
aunt and her niece from the dit Saint-Michel branch, reached the colony in
February 1765 from Halifax. The
aunt and her Guilbeau family settled on
lower Bayou Teche with the Broussards, the niece
and her Comeau husband in the
Opelousas District. That same year, a young widower,
brother of the niece, came to Louisiana
not from Halifax but directly from French St.-Domingue and settled at
Cabahannocer on the river, on what became known as the
Acadian Coast. Pierre Michel
dit Saint-Michel and his second wife Marie
Léger had three
sons, and they created a robust family line in what became St. James Parish.
In fact, most, if not all, of the Acadian Michels
of South Louisiana are descended from Pierre and his sons. More Acadian Michels
arrived from France in 1785. Only one of them created a family line, this one on upper Bayou Lafourche, but, except for its blood, the line
did not endure. In the 1830s, one
of Pierre Michel's grandsons moved from the river to upper Bayou
Lafourche, resurrecting that center of family
settlement. Two of his descendants moved on to Bayou Terrebonne, where one of
them became a planter. By the 1850s,
the number of Acadian Michels living on the southeastern bayous approached that of their
kinsmen still living on the river. Meanwhile, in the late 1810s, another of
Pierre Michel's grandsons lived briefly on Bayou Vermilion on the
western prairies before returning to the river.
In the 1840s, one of Pierre's great-grandsons settled on lower Bayou Teche
in St. Mary Parish,
but the line did not endure. As a result, few, if any, Acadian Michels
lived west of the Atchafalaya Basin during the late antebellum period, and
no Acadian family lines emerged there until after the War of 1861-65.
A number of Michels, mostly
non-Acadians, appear on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860, but two of the largest Michel slaveholders were
Acadians. In 1850, Florentin Michel of Assumption Parish owned
14 slaves. In 1860, his son Pierre Florentin of Terrebonne Parish held
24 slaves on his plantation. Michel cousins
on the river owned a few slaves apiece during the 1850s, but most of their kinsmen participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based
economy.
.
Two descendants of Jacques Michel dit Saint-Michel--Madeleine, wife of Joseph Guilbeau dit L'Officier; and Anne, wife of Victor Comeau--reached the colony in February 1765 with the party from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil. That April, they followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche and survived the mysterious epidemic that killed the aunt's husband that summer. The aunt remained in the Attakapas District, and the niece resettled farther up the Teche in the Opelousas District, where she remarried to a Cormier from Chignecto.
Later that year, the nieces's younger brother, a widower, came to the colony from Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue--one of the relatively few Acadians to go to Louisiana directly from the French Antilles. He remarried in New Orleans soon after his arrival, and he and his wife settled among other Acadian exiles at Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. Robust family lines came of it on the river and in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley:
Pierre (1737 or 1738-1813) à Jacques Michel dit Saint-Michel
Pierre, second son of Jacques Michel dit Saint-Michel, fils and Jeanne Breau, born at Annapolis Royal in c1737 or 1738, followed his family to Connecticut in 1755, where he married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Poirier and Madeleine Granger, in c1762. A Pierre Miche and his wife Jean Miniot appeard on a French repatriation list in the colony in 1763; one wonders if this was Pierre and Marguerite. In 1764, they followed his family to Mirebalais, French St.-Domingue, where their marriage was "attested to" that September. There they worked on area plantations. Pierre's youngest brother, his father, and a younger sister died at Mirebalais between September and December 1764. After the death of his wife at Mirebalais in February 1765, Pierre made his way to Cap-Français and hooked up with Acadian exiles from Halifax coming though the port on their way to New Orleans. He traveled alone, so if Marguerite had given him any children, they did not survive childhood. Pierre, in his late 20s, remarried to Marie, 22-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians François Léger and Madeleine Comeau of Annapolis Royal, at New Orleans in March 1766. Marie, like Pierre, was a native of Annapolis Royal. She, too, had been exiled to Connecticut in 1755 before moving to New York. Like Pierre, she had come to Louisiana directly from French St.-Domingue, in her case with two younger siblings, so one wonders if the couple had known one another during exile. She and Pierre settled at Cabahannocer, where they remained. In 1766, Pierre was a member of Verret's company of the Cabahannocer militia. Spanish officials counted him and his family on the left, or east, bank of the river there in January 1777. Pierre owned two slaves there in March 1779. His and Marie's children, born at Cabahannocer, included François in the late 1760s; Anastasie baptized at the Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in December 1771; Joseph baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1773; Scholastique-Anastasie baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1775; Marie-Rosalie, called Rosalie, baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1777; Anne-Marie and Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, perhaps twins, baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1780; Pierre, fils baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1781; and Anne born probably in the early 1780s--nine children, three sons and six daughters, perhaps including a set of twins, between the late 1760s and the early 1780s. In November 1803, Pierre Clément de Laussat, the French colonial prefect who was supervising the transfer of Louisiana to France and then to the United States, made a tour of inspection up the Mississippi River and visited Pierre and Marie's habitation. Laussat wrote of the visit in his memoirs: "I wanted to see one of the Acadian families which populated this coast [Côte-des-Acadiens, he called it]. So I went to the house of Pierre Michel, a cotton and corn planter. He and his wife are sexagenarians [he was 66, she was 59]. Both born in Acadia, they were married in Louisiana and had seven or eight children. Everybody in the house was at work--one daughter was ironing; another was spinning; and the mother was distributing the cotton, while a number of little Negroes, all under twelve, were carding it, picking out the seeds, and drying it. No one, more than these people, regretted not being able to remain French." Pierre died near Convent, St. James Parish, in March 1813. The priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre, "nat. of Acadia," died at "age 80 yrs." in the "presence of Pierre Landry and Joseph Landry." Pierre Michel was in his mid-70s at the time of his passing. Daughters Anastasie, Anne-Marie, Scholastique, Rosalie, Madeleine, and Anne, by his second wife, married into the Theriot, Hébert, Berteau, Richard, Landry, and Harty or Hartley families, and perhaps also into the LeBlanc family, on the river. Pierre's three sons also married on the river. Most, if not all, of the Acadian Michels of Louisiana are descended from Pierre, his sons, and grandsons, some of whom resettled in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley and on lower Bayou Teche.
Oldest son François, by second wife Marie Léger, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre LeBlanc and Françoise Trahan, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in January 1788. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included François, fils in October 1788; Marie-Flore in February 1790; Thaddée in February 1792; Marie-Eugénie in August 1793; Florentin in March 1795; François-Célestin, called Célestin, in January 1797 but died at age 8 1/2 in August 1805; and Marie Zelomire, perhaps also called Marie-Claire and Clarisse, born in September 1806--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1788 and 1806. François, père died near Convent in May 1831. The priest who recorded the burial said that François was age 67 when he died. He probably was in his early 60s. Daughters Marie Eugénie and Marie Claire/Clarisse married into the Duhon and Caillouet families. François's remaining sons married and moved upriver to Ascension Parish, one of them after living in the old Attakapas District for a few years. François's youngest married son and most of his grandsons settled in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley.
Oldest son François, fils married Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Laurent Arceneaux and Félicité Bourgeois, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in January 1809. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, near Convent in January 1810 but died at age 2 1/2 in June 1812; Augustin born in August 1818; Pierre, also called Pierre Michel, died in Ascension Parish 21 days after his birth in August 1821; Joseph Félix, called Félix, born in March 1824; Marie Malvine or Malvina in January 1826 but died in Ascension Parish, age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6), in October 1831; Charles Clairville, called Clairville, born in January 1828; and Marie Amelie or Émelie, called Émelie, in January 1831--seven children, three daughters and four sons, between 1810 and 1831. In August 1850, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted a single slave--a 54-year-old black female--on F. Michelle's farm; this may have been François, fils. He died in Ascension Parish in June 1868. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that François died at "age ca. 80 years." He would have been several months shy of that age. Daughter Émelie married a Michel first cousin. Two of François, fils's sons also married and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, but not all of the lines endured.
Third son Joseph Félix, called Félix, married first cousin Marie Adolesthine, called Adolesthine, daughter of fellow Acadians Benjamin Mire and Céleste Arceneaux, his uncle and aunt, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1847, and sanctified the marriage at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, the following September; they had to secure dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled in Ascension Parish on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Joseph Félix, fils in May 1848; and Pierre Lovinski in January 1850 but died at age 2 months, 12 days, the following March. Félix remarried to Marie Laure or Laura, Cabos, Cabosse, or Calosse in the 1850s, place unrecorded, and settled in Ascension Parish, perhaps on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie Carmélite Sidonie in April 1858; Marie Alice in May 1862 but died the day after her birth; Marie Micael born in Ascension Parish in August 1867 but, called Marie Michael, died there at age 7 months the following March; Marie Anne born near Baton Rouge in October 1869; ... None of Félix's children married by 1870.
François, fils's fourth and youngest son Clairville married, at age 17, Adèle, daughter of Adélard Rousseau and Azélie Poché, at the Paincourtville church in May 1845. They remained on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie Félicité or Félicie, called Félicie, in February 1846; Marie Joséphine in October 1849; and Claire in c1850--three children, all daughters, between 1846 and c1850. Clairville died in Ascension Parish in July 1850, age 22. Daughters Félicie and Claire married into the Acman and Lescale or Lescales families by 1870, so the blood of the family line likely endured.
François, père's second son Thaddée married Marie Madeleine Carmélite, called Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians François Duhon and Marie Madeleine Bourgeois, at the Convent church in July 1812. They moved to the old Attakapas District later in the decade and settled on Bayou Vermilion, but they returned to St. James Parish by 1820 and lived on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born on the river and the prairies, included twins Amand Adrien and Jean Pierre, called Pierre, near Convent in May 1813; Thaddée, fils in November 1815; Florentin le jeune on Bayou Vermilion in December 1817 but died at his parents' home, age 19 months, in July 1819; Luc, also called Leufroi, born near Convent in June 1820; Maria in February 1822; Marcellin, perhaps also called Marcel, in April 1823; Marie Carmélite, perhaps also called Marie Madeleine, in June 1825 but, called Marie Madeleine, died at age 18 1/2 (the recording priest said 17, so she may have been a different daughter) in October 1843; and Justin born in August 1827 but, called Augustin, died near Convent, age 4, in September 1831--10 children, seven sons and two or three daughters, including a set of twins, between 1813 and 1827. None of Thadée's daughters married by 1870, if they married at all. Four of his sons did marry by then, and most, if not all, of them remained on the river.
Second son Jean Pierre, called Pierre, a twin, married Marie Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Guidry and Marie Rose Theriot, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in October 1842. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Jean Aristide, called Aristide, in July 1843; Pierre Arthur in September 1844; Marie Rosa in October 1846 but, called Marie Rose, died at age 1 1/2 in December 1847; Jean Pierre, fils born in June 1848; Marie Azéma in February 1850 but died at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 13 1/2) in July 1864; Marie Amélie born in January 1852; Lucien Eusemi in February 1854; Omar in September 1855; Rose Marie in August 1857; Marie Madelaine Alice in March 1860 but, called Marie, died at age 7 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in October 1867; Jean Albert born in December 1861; Marie Carmélite in January 1864; Marie Élizabeth in November 1865; François in February 1868; ... None of Jean Pierre's children married by 1870. One of his sons evidently did not survive his brief Confederate service.
Jean Pierre's oldest son likely was the Aristide Michel who served in Company E of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish in April 1862. Aristide enlisted in the company in Ascension Parish, age 18, soon after it was formed and was promptly promoted to corporal. He did not enjoy his new rank very long. He died probably of disease at the regiment's Camp Pegues below Vicksburg, Mississippi, the following September, age 19, before his unit saw action at the Mississippi River citadel.
Thadée's third son Thaddée, fils married Françoise Capitaine, Perico, or Perrique, place and date and unrecorded. They settled on the river near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Césaire in November 1837 but, called Joseph Cezar, died at age 21 in November 1837; Thaddée III born in November 1839; and Eléonore Carmélite, called Carmélite, in April 1843--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1837 and 1843. Daughter Carmélite may have married into the Black family by 1870. Thadée, fils's remaining son did not marry by then.
Thadée, père's fifth son Leufroi married cousin Marie Renée, daughter of fellow Acadian François Duhon and his Creole wife Marie Rome, at the Convent church in February 1846. Their children, born near Convent, included Thomassin in December 1846 but, called Trasimond, died at age 9 in November 1855; Marie Élisabeth in Pointe Coupee Parish in January 1851 but, called Élisa, died near Convent, age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 5), in November 1855; Louise Lufroi born in March 1853 but, called Louisa, died at age 2 1/2 in July 1855; and Numa born in March 1855--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1846 and 1855. Leufroi died near Convent in November 1855. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Leufroy, as he called him, was age 30 when he died. He was 35. His remaining son did not marry by 1870.
Thadée, père's sixth son Marcellin may have been the Marcellin Michel who married Marie, also called Admira, daughter of Comoa Hartman or Hartement and Jeanne Hartman, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in September 1845. They settled on lower Bayou Teche. Their daughter Marie Célaise was born near Charenton, St. Mary Parish, in November 1846. Marcellin's succession, calling his wife Admira Hartman, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in June 1848. He would have been age 25 that year. His daughter did not marry by 1870. He evidently fathered no sons, so his family line, except perhaps for its blood, probably died with him.
François, père's third son Florentin married first cousin Marguerite Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Theriot and Anastasie Michel, his uncle and aunt, at the St. James church in February 1819; they had to secure dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They lived on the east bank of the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes, moved to Ascension Parish by the early 1830s, settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, and then moved down bayou. Their children, born on the river, included Pierre Florentin near Convent in December 1819; François Édouard, also called Edmé, in November 1821; Delphin Télésphore, called Télésphore, in December 1823; Joseph Justinien, called Justinien, Justilien, and Julian in June 1827; Marie Angéline or Angelina in December 1830; Paul Elphége, called Elphége, near Donaldsonville in January 1833; and Marie Elvina or Evélina, called Evélina, near Convent in August 1835--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1819 and 1835. Wife Arthémise died by March 1848, when a "Decree ordering inventory," naming her husband and listing some of their children--Joseph Justinien, Marie Angelina, Paul, Elphége, and Marie Evélina--was filed in her name at the Thibodaux courthouse. In December 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted 14 slaves--seven males and seven females, all black, ranging in age from 60 to 8--on Florentin Michel's farm along the bayou. Florentin, at age 59, remarried to Eméranthe, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Blanchard and Collette Landry and widow of Valéry Landry, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in March or April 1854. She gave him no more children. Florentin died in Assumption Parish in September 1855. The priest who recorded the burial said that Florentin was age 70 when he died. He was 60. Daughters Marie Angelina and Marie Evélina married into the Theriot and Templet families on the Lafourche. Florentin's five sons also married. Two of them moved farther down to Bayou Terrebonne. The other three remained on Bayou Lafourche.
Oldest son Pierre Florentin, also called P. F., from first wife Arthémise Theriot, married cousin Zélima, also called Emma, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Theriot and Marie Séraphine Thibodeaux, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in June 1839. Their children, born on the Lafourche and in Terrebonne Parish, included Saturin Prospère in Assumption Parish in November 1843; Isidore Marguerithe on Bayou du Large, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1851; Adam Michael in November 1852; Marie Eva in May 1856; and Joséphine Victorine in April 1859--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1843 and 1859. In November 1850, the federal census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted three slaves--two males and a female, all black, ages 28, 23, and 22--on Pierre F. Michel's farm. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted 24 slaves--17 males and seven females, 21 blacks and three mulattoes, ages 60 to 1, living in four houses--on P. F. Michel's plantation in the parish's 11th Ward. Neither of his daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Saturnin Prospère married Marie Octavie, daughter of Nicolas Lirette and his Acadian wife Mélasie Boudreaux, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in October 1864. ...
Florentin's second son François Edmé, called Edmé, from first wife Arthémise Theriot, married Judith Charpentier, place and date unrecorded. Their son François Edmé, fils was born in c1845 and baptized at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, age 9, in March 1854. Edmé remarried to first cousin Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadians François Michel, fils and Carmélite Arceneaux, his uncle and aunt, at the Paincourtville church in September 1847; they had to secure dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They resettled at Pierre Part north of Lake Verret in Assumption Parish in the early 1850s. Their children, born on the lower Teche and the upper Lafourche, included François Edmond died 20 days after his birth in August 1848; Tiburce born in January 1852; Marie Evela in September 1853 but, called Evela, died near Pierre Part, age 5 (the recording priest said 6), in October 1858; Lucien born in July 1855; Marie Corine in April 1857; and Marie Télésia in September 1858--seven children, four sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1845 and 1857. In December 1850, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted two slaves--a 26-year-old black male, and a 16-year-old black male--on Edmé Michelle's farm; this probably was him. None of his children married by 1870.
Florentin's third son Télesphore, by first wife Arthémise Theriot, married cousin Marie Hélène, called Hélène and Élena, Theriot probably in Assumption Parish in the early 1840s. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Euphrasie or Euphrosie Elénore near Plattenville in December 1843; Télésphore Euclide in January 1847; Joseph Dorcino near Paincourtville in December 1848; Ursule in 1850 but died in Lafourche Interior Parish at age 3 months in October 1850; Pierre Théodule born in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1852 but, called Théodule, died at age 14 in June 1866; and Joseph Télésphore born posthumously near Paincourtville in June 1854--six children, two daughters and four sons, between 1843 and 1854. Télésphore died in Assumption Parish in February 1854. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial said that Delphin Télésphore was age 22 when he died. He was 30. Daughter Euphrosie married into the Coupel family. A son, named and age unrecorded, died in Assumption Parish in June 1855. One wonders which son this may have been. None of Telesphore's remaining sons married by 1870.
Florentin's fourth son Joseph Justinien, called Justinien, Justilien, and Julian, from first wife Arthémise Theriot, married Marguerite Azella, called Azella and also Aséline, daughter of Adélard Rousseau and Azélie Poché, at the Paincourtville church in July 1848. They settled on Bayou Pigeon north of Lake Verret. Their children, born there, included Joseph Degue in October 1849; Hippolyte Savin Savillien, called Savillien, in August 1851; Joseph Nestor, called Nestor, in January 1854; and Joseph Mirthille, called Myrtile, in September 1856--four children, all sons, between 1849 and 1856. None of Justilien's sons married by 1870.
Florentin's fifth and youngest son Elphége, by first wife Arthémise Theriot, married Aspasie, daughter of Ursin Prevost and Élisa Toups of Terrebonne Parish, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1859. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Evélina in January 1861; Paul Arthur in July 1862; Prospère Elfebe, probably Elphége, in March 1864; Marguerite Éliza in July 1866; ...
Pierre, père's second son Joseph, by second wife Marie Léger, married Marie-Madeleine or -Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Bourgeois and Osite Gautreaux, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in February 1793. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Joseph, fils in September 1793; Pierre-Eugène, called Eugène, in April 1795; Pierre-Marcellin, called Marcellin, in April 1798; François-Anaclet in February 1800; Élie-Rémi in October 1802; Marie Marguerite Arthémise, called Arthémise, in May 1805 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1806; Marie Célasie born in May 1807; and Marie in c1810 but died at age 4 in July 1814. Joseph remarried to Marie Rosalie, called Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Gautreaux and Marie Duhon of Ascension, at the Convent church in April 1817. Their children, born near Convent, included Simon in January 1818 but died there at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 13) in October 1832; Onésime born in September 1819; and Étienne in c1822 but died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 21, in November 1843--11 children, eight sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1793 and 1821. Joseph's remaining daughter did not marry. Only three of his remaining sons married. Most of them settled in St. James Parish, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph, fils, by first wife Marie Bourgeois, married Véronique, daughter of Jacques Poché and Véronique Vicknair, at the St. James church in July 1813. Their children, born near Convent, included Joseph III in October 1814; Pierre Théodule, called Théodule, in December 1816 but died at age 2 1/2 in July 1819; Marie Sidonie born in September 1818; Marcellin Florian in February 1821; Jules in June 1823; Jean Théophile in September 1825; and Marie Joséphine posthumously in October 1828--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1814 and 1828. Joseph, fils died near Convent in July 1828. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 31 when he died. He was 34. Neither of his daughters married by 1870. Only one of his remaining sons seems to have married. If so, the family line did not endure.
Third son Marcellin Florian may have been the Marcellin Michel who married Marie, also called Admira, daughter of Comoa Hartman or Hartement and Jeanne Hartman, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in September 1845. They settled on lower Bayou Teche. Their daughter Marie Célaise was born near Charenton in November 1846. Marcellin's succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in June 1848. He would have been age 27 that year. The clerk who recorded the succession did not give his parents' names. Marcellin evidently fathered no sons, so his family line, except perhaps for its blood, probably died with him.
Joseph, père's second son Eugène, by first wife Marie Bourgeois, married Manette, daughter of Christophe Roussel and Perrine Hydel, at the St. James church in February 1813. Their children, born near Convent, included Delphine in the 1810s; Pierre Eugène, called Eugène, fils, in July 1817; Sylvère baptized, age 2 months, in August 1820 but died at age 5 in May 1825; Victorin born in June 1822 but died at age 15 months in September 1823; Marguerite Amélie, called Émelie, born in January 1825; Louise in the 1820s; and Joseph Théodule in March 1828 but died at age 38 in August 1866--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between the 1810s and 1828. Eugène, père died near Convent in March 1832. The priest who recorded the burial said that Eugène was age 35 when he died. He was closer to 37. In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted two slaves--a 30-year-old black female and a 3-year-old mulatto male--on Widow Eugène Michel's farm between Valéry Roussel, Jr. and Rosémond St. Pierre, two of her sons-in-law, in the parish's eastern district; these were the slaves of Eugène, père's widow, Manette Roussel. Daughters Delphine, Émelie, and Louise married into the St. Pierre and Roussel families, two of them to Roussel brothers. Manette and Eugène's remaining son also married.
Oldest son Eugène, fils married Séraphine, daughter of Pierre Rosémond St. Pierre and his Acadian wife Aurore David, at the Convent church in May 1840. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Amelia, called Émelie, in February 1841; Marie Émilia baptized at age 4 1/2 months in November 1842 but, called Émilia, died at age 2 1/2 in September 1844; Marie Amelia born in February 1844 but, called Marie Anne, probably her actual name, died the following September; Adam born in August 1845 but died at age 2 in September 1847; Joseph Théogène born in April 1848 but, called Théogène, died at age 2 1/2 in August 1850; Jules Pierre born in January 1850 but died at age 13 in November 1863; Odille born in August 1852 but, called Odilia, died at age 1 in September 1853; Joseph Adam born in July 1854; Florian in July 1856; Aurore in August 1858; Louis Alphonse in January 1864; ... In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted three slaves--all female, all black, ages 17, 3, and 2, living in one house--on Eug. Michel's farm next to Valéry Roussel, a brother-in-law, in the parish's Left Bank District 1; this may have been Eugène, fils, or it may have been his widowed mother. Eugène, fils may have died near Convent in August 1868. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Eug., as he called him, died at "age 55 years." Eugène, fils would have been age 51. Daughter Émelie married a Roussel cousin by 1870. None of Eugène, fils's sons married by then.
Joseph, père's third son Pierre Marcellin, called Marcellin, from first wife Marie Bourgeois, called Paul by a recording priest, may have married Anne Arthémise, called Arthémise, Ortiz in St. James Parish in the late 1810s or early 1820s. Their son Paul Marcellin was born near Convent in March 1824 and may have married. If so, the family line did not endure.
Only son Paul Marcellin may have been the Marcellin Michel who married Marie, also called Admira, daughter of Comoa Hartman or Hartement and Jeanne Hartman, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in September 1845. They settled on lower Bayou Teche. Their daughter Marie Célaise was born near Charenton in November 1846. Marcellin's succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in June 1848. He would have been age 24 that year. The clerk who recorded the succession did not give his parents' names. Marcellin evidently fathered no sons, so his family line, except perhaps for its blood, probably died with him.
Pierre, père's third and youngest son Pierre, fils, by second wife Marie Léger, married Marguerite, also called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Blanchard and Marguerite Breaux, at St. James, formerly Cabahannocer, in February 1807. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Pierre III in January 1808; Marie Adélaïde in July 1810; Emérante in February 1816; Joseph Joachim, called Joachim, in August 1818; Marie Fideline, called Fideline, in January 1822; and Joseph Philippe in May 1824--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1808 and 1824. Pierre, fils died near Convent in March 1834, age 52. Daughters Marie, Emérante, and Fideline married into the Becnel, Theriot, and Crane families by 1870. Two of Pierre, fils's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Pierre III married cousin Marie Cléonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Blanchard and Françoise Bernard, at the Convent church in July 1831. Did she give him any children? Pierre III died at his mother's house near Convent in October 1851, age 43 (the recording priest said 44). Did his family line die with him?
Pierre, fils's second son Joseph Joachim, called Joachim, married Eunice Harrison probably in St. James Parish in the late 1840s. Their children, born near Convent, included William Harrison in September 1848; and Benjamin Auguste in December 1849. Neither of Joachim's sons married by 1870.
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Twenty years after the first of the family reached Louisiana, eight more Michels, seven of them descendants of Jacques dit Saint-Michel, one a descendant of François dit La Ruine, arrived aboard two of the Seven Ships from France in 1785.
Anne, granddaughter of François dit La Ruine, crossed on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of August. She, her fourth husband, and seven of his children followed their fellow passengers to Manchac south of Baton Rouge, where Anne died within a year of her arrival.
Seven descendants of Jacques dit Saint-Michel--a middle-aged widower with three of his unmarried children, his married daughter and her husband, and the widow of a Michel cousin and her two daughters--crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, but no new lasting family lines came of it:
Pierre (1737-?) à Jacques Michel dit Saint-Michel
Pierre, fifth son of François Michel dit Saint-Michel and Marie-Anne Léger, born probably at Annapolis Royal in c1737, followed his father to Île St.-Jean in 1751 and was counted with him, his stepmother, siblings and a half-sibling at Anse-à-Pinnet on the southeast coast of the island in August 1752. Pierre married Marguerite, daughter of Germain dit Germain-Jean Pitre and Marguerite Girouard, on Île St.-Jean in c1757. Marguerite gave him a son, Joseph, born in c1758 on the eve of the island's dérangement. Later that year, the British deported them to St.-Malo, France, aboard the transport Tamerlane. They reached the Breton port in mid-January 1759 and settled at St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo, where son Joseph died the following November. Pierre worked as a day laborer and carpenter there. Marguerite gave him more children at St.-Suliac: Joseph-François born in March 1760; Anne-Marguerite in January 1762; Marie-Madeleine in June 1764; Gertrude-Olive in February 1766; Suliac-Germain in October 1768; and Pierre-Thomas-Marie in October 1771. Pierre took his family to the interior of Poitou in 1773. Marguerite gave him another son, Jean-Louis, born at Bonneuil-Montours south of Châtellerault, in September 1774. In March 1776, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes, where Marguerite gave Pierre another daughter, Marie-Louise, born in St.-Nicolas Parish in March 1781--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1758 and 1781, in greater Acadia and France. Meanwhile, two of their sons--Jean-Louis, age 3; and Pierre-Thomas, age 9--died in St.-Nicolas Parish in November 1777 and October 1780. Wife Marguerite died probably in St.-Nicolas Parish by September 1784, when a Spanish report of Acadians in France called Pierre a widower. He did not remarry. Meanwhile, in the early 1780s, his second daughter Marie-Madeleine married into the Gautrot family at Nantes. In 1785, Pierre and three of his unmarried children, two daughters and a son, along with his married daughter and her husband, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana. Two of his other children--Anne-Marguerite, who would have been age 23 in 1785, and Suliac-Germain, who would have been age 17--if they were still living, did not follow their widowed father to the Spanish colony. From New Orleans, Pierre and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where daughter Gertrude married into the Cheramie family soon after their arrival. Youngest daughter Marie-Louise did not marry; she may not even have survived the crossing from France on the overcrowded St.-Rémi. Pierre's remaining son married, but the line did not endure.
Second son Joseph-François followed his family to Poitou and Nantes. He was still a bachelor in his mid-20s and living with his widowered father when his family sailed to Spanish Louisiana. From New Orleans, he followed his father and sisters to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Geneviève, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre LeBlanc and Françoise Trahan, in May 1786, soon after their arrival. Geneviève, a native of Morlaix, also had crossed from France on Le St.-Rémi and followed her family to the upper Lafourche. Her and Joseph François's children, born there, included Marie-Josèphe in the late 1780s; and Jean-Charles in February 1792. Joseph François, called François Joseph by the recording priest, died in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1824, age 63 (the recording priest said 64). Daughter Marie Josèphe married into the Daigre and Boudreaux families. Joseph François's son did not marry, so, except perhaps for its blood, this line of the family did not endure in the Bayou State.
Pierre LeMire dit Mire, born in Paris in c1705, came to British Nova Scotia in the 1720s and married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of Michel de Forest and his first wife Marie Petitpas, soon after his arrival. They settled at Pigiguit on the southeast end of the Minas Basin. Marie-Josèphe gave Pierre two children, a daughter and a son, there in 1727 and 1736. Pierre dit Mire remarried to Isabelle, daughter of Claude Thibodeau and Isabelle Comeau, at Annapolis Royal in July 1738. Between 1741 and 1744, Isabelle gave him five more children, two daughters and three sons--at least seven children, three daughters and four sons, by two wives, between 1727 and 1744. Pierre dit Mire may have fathered two other sons. In 1755, his descendants still could be found at Pigiguit. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this small family to the winds.
One
authority hints that Pierre
dit Mire took his family to Montréal before 1755, but this is unlikely.
The family evidently escaped the British roundup at Pigiguit in the
fall of 1755, made their way to the Bay of Fundy shore,
spent a hard winter there, and crossed the bay to Chepoudy
the following spring. Some of them continued on to Canada
via the Rivière St.-Jean portage. Pierre dit
Mire died before 1757, in his 50s,
probably in exile. A son died at Québec in December
1757, age 14, victim, perhaps, of the smallpox epidemic that
struck the exiles in and around the Canadian capital from the summer of 1757
to the spring of 1758 and killed hundreds of them. A daughter married into the Terrien, perhaps
Terriot, family at Nicolet
on the upper St. Lawrence across from Trois-Rivières
in February 1761. Another daughter married into the Coltret
there in April 1765. They remained in Canada.
Oldest son Joachim dit Bénoni and his half brothers Joseph and Simon became separated from the rest of the family during the British roundups and sought refuge not in Canada but on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Evidently Bénoni, during the late 1750s or early 1760s, married a daughter of Pierre Part and Angélique Godin of Rivière St.-Jean on the Gulf shore. About the time of his marriage, Bénoni, his wife, and his half-brothers either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the region and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. In August 1763, Beleaunie Mir, his wife, and two "children"--probably his brothers, now ages 21 and 19--appeared on a repatriation list at Halifax. Bénoni's wife died soon after the list was made.
The British deported most of the Acadians at Pigiguit to Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts in the fall of 1755. In June 1763, in Pennsylvania, Pierre Mire, wife Madeleine, and three of their children appeared on a repatriation list in that colony. One wonders if Pierre was a son of Pierre dit Mire of Pigiguit.
At least one family of Mires ended up in French St.-Domingue, the destination of hundreds of exiles who at war's end sought an escape from British rule. While the end-of-war treaty was still being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British seaboard colonies to go to St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean region and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the colony's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. Hundreds took up the challenge. They converged on the island in 1763 and 1764, but not all of them were happy with the experience. In the mid- and late 1760s, a few of them hooked up with Acadian exiles from Halifax and Maryland who changed ships at Cap-Français on the coast east of Môle St.-Nicolas as they made their way to New Orleans. Others simply stayed and endured. Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, Mire, a master carpenter, married Madeleine Mouton, perhaps a fellow Acadian, probably in St.-Domingue. A daughter was born at Môle St.-Nicolas in March 1776, and three sons were born there in c1779, December 1781, December 1782. One wonders how Jean was kin to Joachim dit Bénoni et al.
Mires being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including a Mire, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, three were sons of Pierre dit Mire.
Mires settled "late" in Acadia, but they were among the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. Three brothers from Pigiguit came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 and settled at Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans on what became known as the Acadian Coast. The oldest brother remained at Cabahannocer, which later became St. James Parish. One of the younger brothers moved upriver to Manchac south of Baton Rouge by the late 1780s. About the same time, the other younger brother crossed the Atchafalaya Basin, settled at Côte Gelée in the Attakapas District, and created a western branch of the family. During the early antebellum period, Mires from Manchac and St. James joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche, creating a third center of family settlement that soon rivaled in numbers their cousins on the river and the prairies. Out on the prairies, members of the family moved from Côte Gelée north, south, and west into present-day St. Landry, Vermilion, and Acadia parishes. According to one authority, "Unlike many of their French-speaking compatriots, the Mires did not migrate in large numbers into Calcasieu Parish or into southeastern Texas. However, many of the St. James branch ... moved into Baton Rouge, Gonzales, and New Orleans" during the twentieth century.
Non-Acadians named LeMire and Mire lived in Louisiana as early as the 1720s. A Mire born in New England before Le Grand Dérangement lived among his Acadian namesakes in St. James Parish during the antebellum period. He evidently left no descendants. One wonders if he was French Canadian, French, or perhaps a wayward Acadian. At least one Mire family living in Lafayette Parish during the late antebellum period was created by a free man of color. But most of the Mires of South Louisiana are descendants of Pierre LeMire dit Mire of Paris and Pigiguit.
Judging by the number of slaves they owned during the late antebellum period, some members of the family, especially in St. James Parish, lived well on their farms and plantations. Jean Baptiste, second son of Joachim dit Bénoni Mire of St. James Parish, created a large sugar plantation called Arcadia near present-day Welcome and passed it on to his only son Evariste. By 1850, Evariste owned 52 slaves, his widowed mother owned 16, and his sons Evariste Camille and Jérôme Elphége owned 25 more. A decade later, Evariste Camille held 112 slaves on his major holding and 11 more slaves on another farm, making him one of the largest slaveholders in the state. Several of his cousins in St. James and Ascension parishes also owned slaves, though none of them held enough (20) to qualify as planters. But one came close. In 1860, Béloni Mire held 17 slaves on his Ascension Parish farm. On the western prairies, Benjamin Mire owned eight slaves in Lafayette Parish in 1850. A decade later, he held 11. A few of his cousins owned a hand full of bondsmen each. During the same period, Mires on Bayou Lafourche held no slaves, at least none who appeared on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860.
Over two dozen Mires served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, one of them as a captain. ...
Before they came to Louisiana, the family's name evolved from LeMire to Mire, embracing the Acadian progenitor's dit. The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Lemire, Meyr, Meyre, Mhire, Mhyrre, Mier, Mir, Mirre, Mires, Mirr, Mirre, Myers, Myr, Myre, Myrre. The Acadian family should not be confused with the Mayer, Mier, Myers, and other families with similar-sounding surnames who lived in South Louisiana during the antebellum period.20
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All of the Acadian Mires of South Louisiana are descended from the three brothers who came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Française, St.-Domingue, in 1765. Vigorous family lines came of it on the river, the western prairies, and upper Bayou Lafourche:
Joachim dit Bénoni (1736-?) Mire
Joachim dit Bénoni, oldest son of Pierre LeMire dit Mire by his first wife Marie-Josèphe Forest, born at Pigiguit in c1736, followed his famliy into exile and married a daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Part and Angélique Godin of Rivière St.-Jean whose given name has been lost to history. If she gave Bénoni any children, they did not survive exile and imprisonment. Nor did she. Bénoni came to Louisiana in 1765 as a widower with two of his younger half-brothers and settled at Cabahannocer, where he remarried to Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Melanson and Marguerite Broussard of Minas, in June 1768. They remained at Cabahannocer, where they owned two slaves in March 1779. Their children, born there, included Scholastique in c1769; Félicité and Marie-Madeleine, probably twins, baptized at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in October 1770; Benjamin baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1772; Rosalie baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1773; Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1775; Pierre-Bénoni baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1777; Alexandre Paschal dit Paul, baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1779; Marguerite baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1780; Joseph le jeune born in c1783; and Anne-Madeleine, called Madeleine, in September 1786--11 children, six daughters and five sons, between 1769 and 1786. Daughters Scholastique, Félicité, Rosalie, Marguerite, and Madeleine married into the Richard, Bourgeois, Lanoux, Bourg, LeBlanc, and Melançon families, one of them, Félicité, three times. All five of Bénoni's sons married. One of them settled on Bayou Lafourche, but the others remained on the Acadian Coast in what became St. James and Ascension parishes. Not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Benjamin, by second wife Madeleine Melanson, married Marie-Modeste, called Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Arceneaux and Marie Bergeron, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in February 1798. Daughter Carmélite was born near Convent in January 1799. Benjamin died near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1832, age 60. Daughter Carmélite married into the Rennes family. Benjamin evidently fathered no sons, but the blood of the family line may have endured.
Bénoni's second son Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, from second wife Madeleine Melanson, married Esther, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Arceneaux and Marie Dupuis, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in October 1799. Their children, born there, included Jean-Baptiste-Evariste, called Evariste, in August 1800; and Marie Doralise in January 1809. Baptiste "established a sizable plantation, called Arcadia, near present Welcome in St. James, and he and his son, Evariste, became well-known antebellum sugar planters." Jean Baptiste died in St. James Parish in February 1836, age "about 60 yrs. old." In July 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 16 slaves--six males and 10 females, seven blacks and nine mulattoes, ranging in age from 46 to 1--on Widow J. B. Mire's farm in the parish's eastern district; these probably were Esther Arceneaux's slaves. In July 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 23 slaves on Widow J. B. Mire's plantation next to E. Camil Mire's huge plantation in the parish's Right Bank District 9; again, these probably were Esther Arceneaux's slaves. Daughter Marie Doralise married into the Hébert family. Baptiste's son also married in St. James Parish.
Only son Jean Baptiste Evariste, called Evariste, married Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Jérôme Gaudet and Louise Bourgeois, at the St. James church in February 1819. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Jean Baptiste Télésphore in May 1820 but died the following September; Evariste Camille or Camille Evariste born in June 1821; Jérôme Elphége, called Elphége, in January 1823; Rosalie Eliska in October 1825; and Marie Louise in October 1828--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1820 and 1828. In August 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 52 slaves on Evariste Mire's plantation next to E. Camille Mire's farm in the parish's eastern district. Daughters Rosalie Eliska and Marie Louise married Landry brothers from Ascension. Two of Evariste's sons also married, and one of them became an even more successful planter in St. James Parish.
Second son Evariste Camille or Camille Evariste married Claire Odalie or Odile, daughter of Pierre Pedesclaux and his Acadian wife Arthémise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1845. They settled on the river near the boundary of Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Benjamin Camille in November 1845; Evariste, fils in October 1846 but died at age 1 in October 1847; Jérôme Trasimond born in January 1848; Marie Arthémise in January 1849; Philippe Octave in June 1850 but, called Octave, died at age 11 months in May 1851; Marie Clémence born in July 1851; Marie Estelle in May 1853; a second Phillippe Octave in May 1854; and Joseph Eugène in August 1855--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1845 and 1855. In August 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 19 slaves--10 males and nine females, all black, ranging in age from 30 years to 1 month--on E. Camille Mire's farm next to Evariste Mire's plantation in the parish's eastern district. In July 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 112 slaves living in 34 houses on the plantation of E. Camil Mire & Co. between Elphése Mire and Widow J. B. Mire in the parish's Right Bank District 9. The federal agricultural schedule for that year noted that the real property value of Camille's "company" was $90,000; its personal property value, mostly slaves, was $98,200; and its plantation consisted of 2,425 acres, 575 of them "improved." Camille also owned a farm near brother Elphége that held 11 more slaves--five males and six females, all black except for three mulattoes, ages 41 years to 2 months. Did he have a plantation in Lafayette Parish also? During the War of 1861-65, Evariste Camille served as captain of Company E of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, the Chasseurs St. Jacques, raised in St. James Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana (the regiment was commanded by fellow Acadian Colonel Alfred Mouton). Evariste Camille assumed command of the company at Camp Moore, Louisiana, in June 1861, soon after he turned 40. In late 1861 and early 1862, he spent much time on sick leave. He received a discharge, probably for medical reasons, in May 1862, while his unit was stationed in northern Mississippi and after it had fought in the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. He evidently survived the war and returned to his family. None of his children married by 1870.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Benjamin Camille, called B. C. in Confederate records, served in the Pelican Artillery, later called the 5th Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, raised in St. James Parish, which fought in Louisiana. He survived the war and returned to his family but did not marry by 1870.
Evariste's third and youngest son Jérôme Elphége, called Elphége, married cousin Marie Ophelia, called Ophelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Hébert and Doralise Mire, at the St. James church in April 1847. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Rosalie Odile in March 1848; Jean Baptiste le jeune in May 1850; Joseph Ferand in November 1853; Paul Gustave in May 1856; Jérôme Elphége, fils in January 1858; Joseph Clément in February 1863[sic]; Michel Marie in October 1863[sic]; Joseph Septime in October 1867; ... In August 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted six slaves--five males and a female, all black, ranging in age from 30 to 20--on Elphége Mire's farm in the parish's eastern district. In July 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted three slaves on Elphése Mire's farm next to E. Camil Mire's huge plantation in the parish's Right Bank District 9. Elphége may have held a share in his older brother's large plantation "company." During the War of 1861-65, Elphége, in contrast to his brother the captain, served as a private in Company E of the St. James Parish Regiment Militia. He survived the war and returned to his family. None of his sons married by 1870.
Bénoni's third son Pierre-Bénoni, by second wife Madeleine Melanson, married Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Bernard and Pélagie-Madeleine Dugas, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in October 1796. Pierre Bénoni took his family, including the married ones, to Bayou Lafourche during the early 1820s and settled on Bayou Guillot west of Thibodauxville. Their children, born on the river and the Lafourche, included Benjamin-Pierre in November 1797; a daughter, name unrecorded, in c1799 but died at age 18 months in December 1800; Marie Azélie born in the early 1800s; Jean-Baptiste le jeune in February 1801; Marie-Caroline, called Caroline, in October 1802; Marie Émilie, called Émilite, in October 1804; Marie Ulalie or Eulalie, called Eulalie, baptized at age 2 months in July 1806; Pierre Neuville or Neuville Pierre born in December 1806[sic]; Marie Cléonise in May 1809; Marie Delphine in January 1813; Marie Denise in December 1814; Evariste le jeune born in May 1817; Joachim le jeune in c1818; another Jean Baptiste le jeune in June 1819; and Marie Célesie in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1822--15 children, six sons and nine daughters, between 1797 and 1822. Pierre died in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1833, age 56. In December 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted four slaves--three males and a female, all black, ranging in age from 25 to 3--on the Widow P. Mire's farm between Widow Morvant and Valéry Guillot; these may have been Henriette Bernard's slaves. Her and Pierre Bénoni's daughters Marie Azélie, Caroline, Émilite, Marie Cléonise, Eulalie, Marie Denise, Marie Delphine, and Marie Célesie married into the Lessart, Poirier, Dugas, Robichaux, Levert, Morvant, Gautreaux, Aucoin, and Guillot families. Five of Pierre Bénoni's sons also married, one of them twice. The great majority of the Mires in the Bayou Lafourche valley are descendants of Pierre Bénoni and his sons.
Oldest son Benjamin Pierre married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Laurent Arceneaux and Félicité Bourgeois, at the Convent church in February 1816. Their children, born on the river and the Lafourche, included Joachim le jeune near Convent in February 1817; Pierre Orten in April 1819 but, called Ortaire, died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 4 1/2, in December 1823; Marie Aspasie or Euphrasie baptized at the Convent church, age 2 months, in June 1821; Vincent died in Lafourche Interior Parish a day after his birth in July 1823; Marie Reine born in March 1825; Marie Adolestine, called Adolestine, in August 1827; Arthémide or Arthémise in the 1820s; and Benjamin Désiré posthumously in December 1830, baptized at the Convent church in March 1831, but died on the Lafourche the following July--eight children, four sons and four daughters, between 1718 and 1830. Benjamin Pierre, called Benjamin, died in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1830, age 32. Daughters Marie Euphrasie, Arthémide, and Adolestine married into the Jonannetaud, Hébert, and Michel families, one of them at St. Gabriel on the river. Benjamin Pierre's remaining son also married.
Oldest son Joachim le jeune married Malvina or Malvine Gagneaux, Gagnoux, or Jagneaux probably in Assumption Parish by the mid-1840s. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Numa near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in October 1848; Justilien in September 1851; Irma in March 1853; Victorine in December 1854; Léo in January 1857; Julie Victoria in May 1858; Elmira Malvina in January 1863; Léa Célina in February 1866; Marie Malvina in July 1868; ... In July 1860, the federal census taker in Assumption Parish counted five slaves--three males and two females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 16, living in a single house--on Joachim Mire's farm at Bruly St. Vincent in the parish's Ninth Ward. Daughter Irma married into the Thibodeaux family by 1870. None of Joachim le jeune's sons married by then.
Pierre Bénoni's third son Pierre Neuville or Neuville Pierre married Basilise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Olivier Gautreaux and Julie Arcement, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in August 1827. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Rosa Domitilde in June 1829 but, called Marie Domithilde, died at age 5 1/2 in October 1834; Magloire Aristide born in October 1830, baptized in Ascension Parish a decade later, and, called Aristide, died at age 18 (the recording priest said 20) in March 1849; Joseph Théodul or Théodule, called Théodule, born in January 1831; Pierre Éloy or Éloi, called Éloi, in February 1833; and Jean Baptiste in December 1842 but died there the following August--five children, a daughter and four sons, between 1829 and 1842. Neuville died in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1847. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Neuville died "at age 38 yrs." He was 40. His remaining sons married and settled in Assumption Parish.
Second son Joseph Théodule, called Thédule, married Angelina, daughter of fellow Acadian Hilaire Breaux and his Creole wife Venerante Martin, at the Canal church, Assumption Parish, in January 1858. Their children, born near Canal, today's Napoleonville, included Pierre Oleus in December 1858; Marie Léoncia in September 1860; Sylvère Séverin in February 1862; ...
Pierre Neuville's third son Éloi married first cousin Domithilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Boudreaux and Mélanie Gautreaux, his uncle and aunt, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1855; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Marie Louisiane in February 1856; Joseph Aristide near Canal in March 1858; Camille in March 1860; Jean Baptiste in May 1862; Alexis Volcare in December 1866; Eugène Volsi in March 1869; ... During the War of 1861-65, Éloi served as a conscript along with dozens of other men from Assumption Parish in Company B of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. When his unit surrendered at Vicksburg in July 1863, Éloi, along with most of the conscripts in the regiment, refused parole. He spent the rest of the war at Camp Morton, Indiana, as a prisoner of war. As the birth dates of his younger sons attest, Éloi survived his prisoner-of-war ordeal and returned to his family.
Pierre Bénoni's fourth son Evariste le jeune married cousin Marie Azélie, Azéline Azélina, Zéline, Zélanie, Azélie Marie, or Eugénie Zélire, 19-year-old daughter of Joseph Morvant and his Acadian wife Marie Éloise Bernard, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in August 1837. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Arvillien, also called Aurelien, in July 1839; Pierre Dorville, called Dorville, in November 1841; André Émile in February 1844 but, called Émile, died at age 6 1/2 in December 1850; Marie Odilia born in January 1846; and twins Delphine and Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, in March 1849, but, called Marie Delphin, Delphine died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in January 1855. Evariste le jeune remarried to Marie Pauline, called Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadians Théodore Boudreaux and Marie LeBlanc and widow of Cyprien Hébert, at the Thibodaux church in May 1850. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Mélanie, Mélazie, or Mélagie Ursule in September 1851; Malvina in October 1853; Ophelia in January 1856; Marie Émelia in June 1858; Marie Théodila in June 1861; Joseph Aurestile in May 1864; Marie Elmira in March 1866; ... Daughters Marie Odilia, Joséphine, and Mélazie, by both wives, married into the Aucoin, Bernard, and Henry families by 1870. Two of Evariste le jeune's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Arvillien or Aurelien, by first wife Azélie Morvant, married Marie Mélina, called Mélina, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Charles Aucoin and his Creole wife Marie Hélène LeLoret and sister of his sister Marie Odilia's husband Ulysse, at the Thibodaux church in June 1861. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included twins Eve Louisiane and Marie Amanda in April 1869; ...
Evariste le jeune's second son Dorville, by first wife Azélie Morvant, married Lesida or Nezida, daughter of German Creole Zénon Bernard and his Acadian wife Azéline Roger, at the Thibodaux church in February 1864. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Marie Lucinda in August 1866; Toussaint Alcide in November 1870; ... During the War of 1861-65, Dorville served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment Militia. He was captured at the Battle of Labadieville, near his home, in October 1862, but the Federals soon released him, and he returned to his family.
Pierre Bénoni's fifth son Joachim le jeune married Célesie, another daughter of Pierre Olivier Gautreaux and Julie Arcement, at the Thibodauxville church in November 1831. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joachim Auguste or Augustin, called Augustin, in August 1832; Jean Baptiste Siméon, called Baptiste, in February 1836; Pierre Orestile or Aristide, called Aristide, in June 1838; Mirthé or Myrthé Amelina in October 1842; and Émilie in the early 1840s--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1832 and the early 1840s. Joachim died in St. Martin Parish west of the Atchafalaya Basin in September 1845. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Joachim le jeune was "Born in Baillou Lafourche" and died "at age 27 yrs." One wonders what he was doing in St. Martin Parish at the time of his death. Daughters Myrthé and Émilie married into the Boudreaux, Richard, and Bourg families. Three of Joachim's sons also married. Two of them remained on Bayou Lafourche, and one lived on the river as well as near Lake Verret, but none of them settled on Bayou Teche.
Oldest son Augustin married Marie Élodie, called Élodie, daughter of fellow Acadians André Aimable LeBlanc and Adélaïde Allain, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in May 1854. They lived on the river before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche. They may have settled near the boundary between Assumption and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Augustin, fils in December 1860; André Aimable in August 1862; Marie Philomène Auguste in January 1865; Gabriel Nemours in October 1867; ... In July 1860, the federal census taker in Iberville Parish counted three slaves--a male and two females, all black, ages 50, 16, and 14--on Augustin Mire's farm.
Joachim, le jeune's second son Jean Baptiste Siméon married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Bourg and Rosalie Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church in January 1858. They settled on the bayou near the boundary between Lafourche and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Silvert, probably Sylvère, in March 1859; Olivia Marie in January 1861; Mirtilia in April 1862; Émile Oleus in March 1864; Léa Oliva in January 1866; Lydia Valeria in February 1869; ... During the War of 1861-65, John B., as Confederate records called him, served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment Militia. He was captured at the Battle of Labadieville, near his home, in October 1862, released by the Federals early in November, and returned to his family.
Joachim le jeune's third and youngest son Aristide married Joséphine Victorine, called Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Théodule Boudreaux and his Creole wife Pauline Émilie Bouvet, at the Thibodaux church in December 1861. ...
Pierre Bénoni's sixth and youngest son Jean Baptiste le jeune, the second with the name, married Adèle, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Guillot and Marie Eléonore Hébert, at the Thibodaux church in November 1841. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Eulalie in August 1842 but died at age 3 in September 1845; Evariste Rosémond born in January 1844; Alouisia or Alouisa in January 1846; Augustin Orsine in April 1847; Julien Justinien in June 1849; Françoise Pamella or Émelia in April 1851; Jean Baptiste Aurelien in January 1855 but died at age 10 in August 1865; and Marie Ophelia born in September 1856--eight children, four daughters and four sons, between 1842 and 1856. Daughters Alouisa and Pamela Émelia married Guillot and Bernard cousins by 1870. One of Jean Baptiste le jeune's sons also married by then, also to a cousin, after his war service.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Evariste served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married cousin Aurelie, daughter of fellow Acadian Valéry Guillot and his Creole wife Arthémise Morvant, at the Thibodaux church in December 1866. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Marie Oceana in October 1867; Valérie Alida, a daughter, in March 1869; Aurelien Joseph in December 1870; ...
Bénoni's fourth son Alexandre Paschal dit Paul, by second wife Madeleine Melanson, married Marie-Céleste or -Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Lanoux and Catherine LeBlanc, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in February 1802. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Béloni le jeune in December 1802; a son, name and age unrecorded, died in January 1805; Joseph Rosain or Drosin, called Drosin, born in May 1808; Paul Dumesnil, called Dumesnil, in the late 1800s or early 1810s; Marie in July 1813; Victorine in May 1816; and Pierre Nicolas dit Colin, in January 1819 but died at age 14 in April 1833--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1802 and 1819. Paul died near Convent in December 1824, age 45 (the recording priest said 44). In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted six slaves--two males and four females, all blacks, ranging in age from 48 to 15--on Widow Paul Mire's farm between Drauzin Mire and the Widow Charleville Blouin in the parish's eastern district. Were these Marie Céleste Lanoux's slaves on a farm that lay on property between one of her sons and one of her daughters? Daughters Marie and Victorine married into the Blouin and Sarassin families. Three of Paul's sons also married.
Oldest son Béloni le jeune married Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Bourgeois and Marguerite Sonnier, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in February 1822. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Paul, also called Paul Comesse, Comesse or Côme, in November 1823; Jean Baptiste Doradon or Douradou, called Douradou, Douradoux, J. B., and Rado, in March 1826; Célestine in October 1827; twins Marie Odile or Odille, called Odille, and Marie Oliva or Olivia in May 1830; Marguerite Victorine, Victorine, in May 1833; Victor in April 1835; Pierre Valsin or Valsin Pierre, called Valsin, in August 1837; Marguerite Aglaé, called Aglaé, in October 1839; and Dominique Armand in September 1841 but, called Dominique Armond, died at age 12 in October 1853--10 children, five sons and five daughters, including a set of twins, between 1823 and 1853. In August 1850, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 10 slaves--six males and four females, all black, ranging in age from 53 years to 6 months--on Bélony Mier's farm. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 17 slaves--10 males and seven females, all blacks except for one mulatto, ages 45 to 1, living in four houses--on B. Mirre's farm in the parish's Fifth Ward; this probably was Béloni le jeune. Daughters Célestine, Odille, Victorine, Marie Olivia, and Aglaé married into the Theriot, Bertaud or Berteau, Lasselle, Marchand, and Dicharry families by 1870. Three of Béloni's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Côme married Noémie, daughter of Jérôme Bertaud and his Acadian wife Madeleine Breaux, at the Donaldsonville church in February 1848; Noémi's brother Télésphore married Côme's sister Odille. Côme and Noémie's children, born in Ascension Parish, included an unnamed daughter died seven days after her birth in Ascension Parish in February 1849; and Marie Cora born in May 1850. Their remaining daughter did not marry by 1870.
Bélonie le jeune's second son Jean Baptiste Douradou, called Douradou and Rado, married Marie or Marine Apolline, daughter of fellow Acadians Drosin Gravois and Pauline Landry, at the Convent church in June 1856. They settled on the river near the boundary between St. James and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Aglaé in April 1857; Nicolas in December 1858 but, called Nicholas, died at age 8 1/2 (the recording priest said 8) in November 1867; Cécile Carmélite born in December 1860; Mederique in August 1865; Marie Luce in December 1867; Justine near Gonzales, in the interior of Ascension Parish, in October 1870; ...
Bélonie le jeune's fourth son Valsin married cousin Joséphine, daughter of Éloi Dicharry and his Acadian wife Claire Bourgeois, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1869. Their son Joseph Frenzei was born in Ascension Parish in February 1870; ...
Paul's second Joseph Drosin, called Drosin, married Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Boudreaux and Théotiste Bergeron, at the Donaldsonville church in January 1828. They also lived on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Osile, called Osile, in c1828; Marie Aurelia in April 1829; Joseph Dumisiel or Dumesnil, called Dumesnil le jeune, in April 1831; Jean Baptiste Prudent, called Prudent, in June 1833; Césaire Sylvanie baptized at the Convent church, age 5 months, in November 1836; and Joseph Osémé, called Osémé, born in January 1839 or 1840. Drosin remarried to Aureline, daughter of fellow Acadians Emérant Crochet and Eugénie Gautreaux, at the Convent church in February 1843. They also lived near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Eugénie Azéline or Azélina, called Azélina, in January 1844; Marie Mélodie, called Mélodie, in May 1846; Jean in July 1847; Adolphe in September 1848 but, called Adolphe Drozain, died at age 1 in November 1849; Joseph Emérand born in March 1850 but, called Emérond, died at age 2 in July 1852; Marie Louisa born in October 1851; Scholastique Azéma Drazin in September 1853; Joséphine Rosa in June 1855; Evariste Télésphore in May 1857; Marie Pamela in August 1859; Aurelie Élisabeth in March 1862; ... In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted a single slave--a 22-year-old black female--on Drauzin Mire's farm next to the widow of Paul Mire in the parish's eastern district. Daughters Osile, Azélina, and Mélodie, by both wives, married into the Richard, Ayme, Parent, and Bercegeay families, one of them, Osile, twice, by 1870. Three of Drosin's sons also married by then. Not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Dumesnil le jeune, by first wife Eulalie Boudreaux, married Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Noël Richard and Joséphine Babin and sister of his sister Silvanie's husband Télésphore, at the Convent church in January 1853. Dumesnil, called Dumeni Meyr by the recording priest, died near Convent in September 1853, age 22. His line of the family probably died with him.
Drosin's second son Jean Baptiste Prudent, called Prudent, from first wife Eulalie Boudreaux, married cousin Émelie or Amélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Landry and Phelonise Dugas and widow of Cyprien Bourgeois, at the Convent church in November 1856; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They lived on the upper Lafourche as well as on the river. Their children, born there, included Joseph Clément near Convent in November 1857; Camille in June 1859; Marie Adeline in Ascension Parish in April 1861; Joannis Baptiste Prudent, fils near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in January 1864; Cécile in August 1866; Michel Ernest near Convent in July 1869; ... During the War of 1861-65, Prudent served with younger brother Osémé in Company A of the Ogden Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Ascension Parish towards the end of the war, which fought in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. As the birth dates of his younger children reveal, he survived the war and returned to this family.
Drosin's fourth son Osémé, by first wife Eulalie Boudreaux, married fellow Acadian Nezida Bourg at the Donaldsonville church in February 1862. During the War of 1861-65, Osémé served with brother Prudent in Company A of the Ogden Regiment Cavalry. Like his brother, Osémé survived the war and returned to his family. He remarried to Elizabeth, daughter of Louis Charles Adolphe Bercegeay and his Acadian wife Marie Baseline Guédry, at the Gonzales church, Ascension Parish, in December 1869. ...
Paul's third son Paul Dumesnil, called Dumesnil and Dumini, married Marguerite Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dugas and Marguerite Poirier, at the Convent church in February 1830. Their son Paul, also called Paul Théodule and Théodule, was born near Convent in June 1831. Paul Dumesnil remarried to Marie Belzire or Delphine, another daughter of Michel Boudreaux and Théotiste Bergeron, at the Convent church in November 1836. Their children, born near Convent, included Léon Dumesnil in November 1837; Marie Émilie in September 1840; Ursin in April 1844; Cléophas in September 1846; Marie in January 1850 but, called Marie Cora, died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in December 1853; and Marie Cécile born in July 1852 but, called Cécile, died at age 1 1/2 in February 1854--seven children, four sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1831 and 1854. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted four slaves--a male and three females, all black, ranging in age from 23 to 2--on Dumunil Mire's farm in the parish's Left Bank District 4. Daughter Marie Émilie, by his second wife, married into the Oubre family by 1870. Two of Dumesnil's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Théodule, by first wife Arthémise Dugas, called P. Théodore by the recording priest, married Carmélite, also called Carmelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Landry and Phelonise Dugas and widow of Valsin Melançon, at the Convent church in April 1858. Their children, born near Convent, included Edmond in July 1859 but, called Félix, died at 8 months in April 1860; Louis Alfred born in December 1860; Angèle in June 1863; Eve Eugénie in July 1866; Lidie Alice in March 1869; ...
Dumesnil's second son Léon, by second wife Marie Belzire Boudreaux, married cousin Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Neuville Savoie and Rosalie Lanoux of Ascension Parish, at the Convent church in October 1867; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. ...
During the War of 1861-65, Dumesnil's fifth and youngest son Cléophas, by second wife Marie Belzire Boudreaux, while still in his teens, served in the Grosse Tete Flying Artillery, later called the 6th Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Louisiana. After the war, he settled in St. Martin Parish, where he died in April 1941, age 94. Did he marry?
Bénoni's fifth and youngest son Joseph le jeune, by second wife Madeleine Melanson, married Clarisse or Claire, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Paul Arceneaux and his Creole wife Élisabeth Fontenot, at the St. James church in February 1811. Their children, born near Convent, included Adélard in August 1813; Claire Zélenie or Zénelie in October 1815; Théodule Amand in the mid- or late 1810s; Marie in September 1817; Dominique Arestille or Aristide, called Aristide and Alexis, in August 1819; Élisabeth in July 1821; Adélaïde or Algaé in January 1824; Marguerite Adèle, called Adèle, in December 1824; Paul le jeune in March 1827; Madeleine in May 1829; and Rosalie Rodile in October 1831--11 children, four sons and seven daughters, between 1813 and 1831. In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted eight slaves--three males and five females, six blacks and two mulattoes, ranging in age from 70 to 12--on Joseph Mire's farm in the parish's eastern district. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 11 slaves--six males and five females, all mulattoes except for two blacks, ages 27 to 2, living in three houses--on "Ww." J. Mire's farm next to Widow Mire in the parish's Left Bank District 2; this may have been Joseph le jeune. He died near Convent in August 1863. The priest who recorded the burial, and gave no parents' names or mentioned a wife, said that Joseph died at "age 80 years." One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Zénelie, Élisabeth, Adèle, Aglaé, and Madeleine married into the Jacob, Houlon, Richard, Hébert, and Roussel families by 1870. Three of Bénoni's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Adélard married Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Comeaux and Marie Joséphine Bourgeois, at the Convent church in June 1836. Their daughter Drausin was born near Convent in September 1837 but died three days after her birth. Did they have anymore children?
Joseph le jeune's second son Théodule Amand married Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Bourgeois and Françoise Gaudin, at the Convent church in August 1836. Their children, born near Convent, included Joseph le jeune in July 1838; Eugénie in November 1840; Élisa or Eliska in August 1842; Emma in May 1844; Marie Victoria, called Victoria, in May 1846; Rosalie Élodie in January 1848; Hortense in the 1840s; Jean Baptiste in February 1857; Aristide le jeune in July 1858; Amand in November 1862; another Joseph le jeune baptized at Convent, age unrecorded, in March 1865; ... In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted four slaves--two males and two females, all black, ranging in age from 24 years to 4 months--on Théodule Mire's farm between Jn. Bte. Bourgeois and Widow Estival Bourgeois in the parish's eastern district. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted eight slaves--four males and four females, five blacks and three mulattoes, ages 24 to 1, living in four houses--on Théo Mire's farm in the parish's Left Bank District 3; this may have been Théodule. Daughters Emma, Eliska, Hortense, and Victoria married into the Richard, Bourgeois, Rouiller, and Champton families, including to two first cousins, by 1870. None of Théodule's sons married by then.
Joseph le jeune's third son Dominique Arestille or Aristide, called Aristide and Alexis, married Marie Ernestine, called Ernestine, daughter of Christophe Roussel and Eméranthe Poché, at the Convent church in May 1848. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Lovinia, called Lovinia, in March 1849; Françoise Eméranta in January 1851; Dominique Decalogne in January 1853; and Claire Noélie in December 1854--four children, three daughters and a son, between 1849 and 1854. In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted a single slave--a 26-year-old black female--on Aristide Mire's farm in the parish's eastern district. Aristide died near Convent in September 1857. The priest who recorded the burial, and who gave no parents' names but called him "widower Marie Roussel," said that Aristide died at "age 35 yrs." He was 38. Daughter Lovinia married into the Chauvin family by 1870. Aristide's son did not marry by then.
Joseph (c1742-1792) Mire
Joseph, second son of Pierre LeMire dit Mire, from his second wife Isabelle Thibodeau, born at Pigiguit in c1742, followed his older half-brother Bénoni into exile and imprisonment, came to Louisiana with him and a younger brother in 1765, and followed them to Cabahannocer. By the late 1780s, Joseph had moved upriver to Manchac south of Baton Rouge, where, in his early 40s, he married Marie-Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon-Pierre Daigre and his first wife Marie-Madeleine Thériot, in May 1786. Marie-Marguerite, a native of Falmouth, England, had come to Louisiana with her family from France in 1785. Their children, born at Manchac, included Joseph, fils in July 1787; Élie in August 1789 but died in Ascension Parish, age 43 (the recording priest said 40), in April 1832; and Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, born in April 1791--three children, all sons, between 1787 and 1791. Joseph died probably at Manchac in January 1792, in his late 40s. Only one of his sons married; he settled on Bayou Lafourche.
Third and youngest son Jean Baptiste, called Jean, married Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Bergeron and Marie Babin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1817. They remained on the Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes, where they helped create a third center of Mire family settlement. Their children, born there, included Marie Séraphine, called Séraphine, in December 1818; Jean Baptiste Séraphin, called Séraphin, in July 1820; Marcelite, also called Marcellite Basilise, in July 1822; Juliènne Feralie in December 1824; Arthémise Milite or Mélite Arthémise in April 1826; Drosin in March 1829; Madeleine Mathilde in July 1833; Jean Prospère or Prosper in September 1836; Cécile Aina or Irma Cécile in December 1837; Victor Justin, called Justin, in the late 1830s or early 1840s; Pauline Emezile in June 1841; and Jules Valsine or Valsin, called Valsin and Valsume, in June 1847--a dozen children, seven daughters and five sons, between 1818 and 1847. Proceedings of a family meeting, calling him Jean, naming his wife, and listing their unmarried children--Marguerite, Magdelaine, Jean Prosper, Irma Cécile, Victor Justin, Pauline Emezile, and Jules Valzume--were filed at the Thibodaux courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in July 1848. Jean Baptiste would have been age 57 that year. Daughters Marie Séraphine, Marcellite Basilise, Juliènne Feralie, Mélite Arthémise, and Irma Cécile married into the Danos, Tourrel, Rocheleau or Rochelot, Mobley, and Cheramie families, including two Danos brothers from Iberville, by 1870. Three of Jean's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured. Two of them remained on Bayou Lafourche, but the youngest son settled on lower Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65.
Oldest son Jean Baptiste Séraphin, called Séraphin, married Geneviève Cécile, called Cécile, daughter of fellow Acadians François Achille Foret and Geneviève Bergeron, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in April 1842. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Mélasie, called Méladie, in December 1842; Marie Anastasie Rosianne, also called Serafine Anastasie and Nastasia, in July 1846; and Félix Armand in January 1851--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1842 and 1851. Daughters Marie Mélasie and Serafine Anastasie married into the Danos and Basile families by 1870. Séraphin's son did not marry by then.
Jean Baptiste's fourth son Victor Justin, called Justin, married Mélasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Ludger Guidry and Césaire Savoie, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in March 1863. Justin died by September 1865, when Mélasie remarried in Lafourche Parish. A petition for his succession inventory was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse, Lafourche Parish, in March 1867. One wonders if his death was war-related. His line of the family evidently died with him.
Jean Baptiste's fifth and youngest son Jules Valsin, called Valsin and Valsume, married Mathilia, daughter of Leufroi Bonvillain and his Acadian wife Rosalie Vincent, at the Patoutville, now Lydia, church, Iberia Parish, in May 1870. ...
Simon (c1744-1807) Mire
Simon, third son of Pierre LeMire dit Mire, from his second wife Isabelle Thibodeau, born at Pigiguit in c1744, followed his older brothers into exile and imprisonment, came to Louisiana with them in 1765, and followed them to Cabahannocer, where he married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Cormier, père and Marie-Madeleine Richard of Chignecto, in March 1766. Madeleine, a native of Chignecto, had come to Louisiana with her family from Georgia in February 1764--among the first Acadian exiles to settle in the colony. In the early 1780s, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled at Côte Gelée in the Attakapas District, where Simon claimed 5 x 40 arpents of land, surveyed by the Spanish in 1795, on Bayou Tortue west of Bayou Teche and at the eastern edge of the Côte Gelée. Their children, born at Cabahannocer and Côte Gelée, included Joseph le jeune in c1768; Marie-Anne in c1769; Pierre baptized at the Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in October 1770; Simon, fils dit Simonet baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1773; Pélagie baptized, age unrecorded, in July 1774; Marie-Élisabeth or -Isabelle, called Élisabeth, born in November 1777; Marie-Madeleine baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1779; Constance baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1781; Benjamin le jeune born at Attakapas in November 1783; and Domitille in February 1798 but died at age 2 1/2 in November 1800--10 children, four sons and six daughters, between 1768 and 1798. Simon died at his home at Côte Gelée, then in St. Martin but now in Lafayette Parish, on Christmas Day 1807. The priest who recorded the burial said Simon was age 70 when he died. He was closer to 63. His succession, naming his widow, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, the following February. Madeleine did not remarry. Her succession record, naming Simon, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in December 1821. Daughters Marie-Anne, Pélagie, Marie-Élisabeth, and Constance married into the Landry, Trahan, Boulet, and Granger families. Three of Simon's sons also married and remained on the southwestern prairies. Simon's many descendants settled in what became St. Martin, St. Landry, Lafayette, Vermilion, and Acadia parishes, and perhaps in St. Mary Parish as well.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune, before he married, fathered a "natural son," Joseph-Simon, born at Attakapas in September 1796, by Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Granger and his first wife Geneviève Babin of Opelousas. Joseph le jeune married Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Guilbeau and Anne Trahan, at Attakapas in August 1796, a month before his son was born. They settled at Carencro at the northern edge of the Attakapas District and at Côte Gelée to the south. Their children, born on the prairies, included a son, name unrecorded, died at age 3 weeks in June 1797; Placide born in April 1798; Joseph-Zéphirin, called Zéphirin, in April 1800; Cyprien in October 1801; Joseph, fils died, age unrecorded, in March 1804; a daughter, name unrecorded, died eight days after her birth in September 1804; Onésime born in October 1805 but died at age 2 1/2 in April 1808; twins Élisée dit Lise, a son, and Élise or Éliza, born in February 1808; Marie Céleste in November 1810; Émilie died 15 days after her birth in May 1813; Marie Carmélite or Carmégille born in April 1815; and Benjamin le jeune probably in the 1810s--14 children, nine sons and five daughters, by two "wives," between 1796 and the 1810s. Joseph le jeune died "at his home at La Côte Gelée" in December 1820, age 52 (the recording priest said 50). His succession, naming his widow, his heirs, and some of their spouses--Placide; Joseph Zephirin; Benjamin; Constance and her husband; Marie Carmézile and her husband; Élizé; Lize; and Marie Céleste--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in April 1823. Daughters Constance, Élise, Marie Céleste, and Marie Carmégille married into the Granger, Dubois, Primeaux, and Plaisance families. Four of Joseph le jeune's remaining sons, including his "natural" one, also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph Simon, by Madeleine Granger, married Lucie Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Florentin Bourg and Félicité Trahan of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in November 1818. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, only recently carved out of St. Martin Parish, included Josette Arthémise, called Arthémise, in December1823 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 14 months, in January 1825; Joseph Simon, fils born in April 1840; and Lucie in February 1844--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1823 and 1844. Joseph Simon, père may have remarried to Louise Bourque, perhaps a kinswoman of his first wife, place and date unrecorded. None of Joseph Simon's children married by 1870.
Joseph le jeune's second son Placide, by wife Émilie Guilbeau, married Marguerite Azélie Gisclard probably in Lafayette Parish by the mid-1820s. Their daughter Marguerite Zoé was born in Lafayette Parish in March 1825. A succession for Placide, not post-mortem, naming his wife and daughter, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in June 1828, probably after his wife died. At age 31, Placide remarried to Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Olidon Broussard and Anne Bernard and widow of Jean Baptiste Duhon, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in August 1829. She evidently gave him no more children. His succession, again not post-mortem, with "Very little information," was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in 1835. Wife Adélaïde's succession, probably post-mortem, naming her husband, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in February 1841. Placide, at age 49, remarried again--his third marriage--to Marie Adélaïde dite Délaïde, 39-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Louvière and Héloise Granger and widow of Ursin Lalande, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in June 1847. She also gave him no more children. Placide died in Lafayette Parish in January 1859, age 61 (the recording priest said 63). Placide's daughter, evidently his only child, did not marry by 1870, if she married at all, so, despite his number of marriages, his line of the family probably died with him.
Joseph le jeune's fourth son Joseph Zéphirin, called Zéphirin, from wife Émilie Guilbeau, married Marguerite Françoise, called Françoise, daughter of Balthazar Plaisance and his Acadian wife Henriette Breaux of Assumption Parish and Côte Gelée, at the St. Martinville church in October 1821. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included a child, name unrecorded, died at age 26 days in February 1823; Joseph le jeune born in April 1824; Mélanie in July 1826 but died at age 8 in July 1834; Léon born probably in the late 1820s or early 1830s; Eugénie in September 1831 but died the following April; Émelina or Ermelina baptized at age 3 months in July 1834 but, called Émelina, died at age 13 (the recording priest said 14) in August 1847; Euphémie baptized at age 2 1/2 months in April 1837; Émilie or Émelie born in April 1840; and Maxile or Maximilien in July 1841 but died at age 2 in September 1843--nine children, at least three sons and five daughters, between 1823 and 1841. Joseph Zéphirin died in Lafayette Parish in February 1843, age 42. His succession, naming his wife and listing his "minor" heirs--Joseph; Léon; Ermelina; Euphémie; Émelie; and Maximilien--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse later that month. Daughters Euphémie and Émelie married into the Hébert and Breaux families. Zéphirin's remaining sons also married, but one of the lines may not have endured.
Oldest son Joseph le jeune married Adeline Lançou in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in September 1843. Did they have any children?
Zéphirin's second son Léon married Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of Auguste Royer and his Acadian wife Caroline Bourque, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in November 1849, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1854. Their children, born on the prairies, included Euphémon in St. Martin Parish in October 1850; Zéphirin near Grand Coteau in May 1852 but not baptized at the church there until March 1859; Euphémie born in November 1853; Élise in September 1855; Léon, fils in August 1857; Marie Émilie in February 1859; Thomas in December 1860; Joseph Théo in Lafayette Parish in March 1862; Marie near Grand Coteau in December 1865; Marie Verdi near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in October 1867; ... During the War of 1861-65, Léon served in Company D of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Lafayette and St. Landry parishes, which fought mostly against local Jawhawkers. Léon survived the war and returned to his family. None of his daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Oldest son Euphémon married Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadian Alexandre Cormier and his Creole wife Susanne Ledoux, at the Church Point church in December 1869. ...
Joseph le jeune's seventh son Élisée, by wife Émilie Guilbeau, married Anne Marie, called Marie, daughter of Joseph Reaux, Reoux, or Reo and his Acadian wife Marie Granger, at the Vermilionville church in July 1826. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Adeline in November 1827; Melizer or Bélisaire baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in September 1829; Aglaé born in September 1831; Théodule in c1833 and baptized at age 2 in November 1835; Théogène baptized at age 2 months in March 1836; Aurelia born in February 1838; Émelia in March 1840; Amélie or Émelie in January 184[1 or 2]; Marie Nathalia or Mathilde, called Nathalia, in August 1845; Joseph in November 1848; Policarpe in January 1851; and a child, name and age unrecorded, died near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in July 1854--a dozen children, at least six daughters and five sons, between 1827 and 1854. Daughters Marie Adeline, Aglaé, Aurelia, Émelia, and Marie Nathalia married into the Simon, Trahan, Primeaux, Boulé or Boulay, Breaux, and Schexnayder families, two of them, Aglaé and Émelia, twice, and two of them, Marie Adeline and Aglaé, to Simon brothers, by 1870. Three of Élisée's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Bélisaire married Marie, daughter of Éloi Simon and his Acadian wife Adélaïde Boudreaux, at the Vermilionville church in April 1848. Their children, born on the prairies, included Adélaïde in September 1849; a child, name and age unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish in June 1850; Victorine born in March 1851 but, called Victoire, died near Abbeville at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in December 1855; and Robert born near Abbeville in August 1853--four children, at least two daughters and a son, between 1849 and 1853. Bélisaire's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in February 1860. He would have been age 31 that year. None of his children married by 1870.
Élisée's second son Théodule married cousin Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Adrien Richard and Anastasie Granger and widow of Pierre Arvillien Roy, at the Vermilionville church in March 1856. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie in January 1857; Désiré in September 1858; Élisée le jeune in May 1861; Lastie Joseph in January 1864; Pierre Onésime near Church Point in January 1868; ...
Élsée's third son Théogène married Uranie, daughter of Alexis Bertrand and his Acadian wife Marie Carmélite Trahan, at the Vermilionville church in July 1859. Their children, born near Youngsville, included Jean in April 1861; Marie in January 1863; ... Théogène's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September 1865. He would have been age 29 that year. One wonders if his death was war-related.
Simon's third son Simon, fils dit Simonet married Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Broussard and Anne Landry, at Attakapas in May 1797. They settled on the Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Édouard in March 1799; and Marie, also called Marie Arthémise, in February 1801. Simonet died by May 1802, when Constance remarried to a Meaux at Attakapas. Simonet would have been in his late 20s at the time of his passing. His succession was not filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, until May or June 1814. Daughter Marie Arthémise evidently did not marry, but she had a son who had a son of his own. Simonet's son did marry.
Only son Édouard married cousin Aspasie or Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Thibodeaux and Pélagie Broussard of Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in September 1819. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Joséphine in October 1822 but died at age 10 days in November; Édouard, fils born in January 1824; Marie Azéma, called Azéma, baptized at age 2 months in October 1826; Céleste baptized at age 10 days in August 1828 but died at age 17 days in September; a child, name unrecorded, died a day after his/her birth in June 1829; and Célima or Sélima born in October 1830--six children, at least four daughters and a son, between 1822 and 1830. Édouard, père died in Lafayette Parish in April 1831. The priest who recorded the burial said that Édouard was age 30 when he died. He was 32. His succession, naming his wife and heirs--Édouard, Azéma, and Sélima--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September 1831. Daughter Azéma married into the Bourg family by 1870. Édouard's son also married by then.
Only son Édouard, fils married Marie, 18-year-old daughter of Joseph Baker and Azarie Royer, at the Vermilionville church in January 1847. Their son Joseph Simon was born near Abbeville in November 1855. In August 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted two slaves--a 10-year-old black male and a 20-year-old black female--on Édouard Mire's farm in the parish's western district. His son did not marry by 1870.
Only daughter Marie Arthémise gave birth to a "natural" son, Onésime, in October 1819, when she would have been age 18. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the boy's baptism in May 1821 did not name the father, whom Marie Arthémise evidently did not marry. Her son nevertheless called himself a Mire.
Onésime married fellow Acadian Léa Guidry probably in Lafayette Parish in the early 1840s. Their children, born on the prairies, included Alexandre in Lafayette Parish in November 1845; Valérien near Abbeville in February 1854; Oliva in January 1856; Azéna in January 1858; Belzire in December 1859; Emma in February 1862; Azéma in June 1865; ... None of Onésime's children married by 1870.
Simon, père's fourth and youngest son Benjamin le jeune married Marie Éloise or Louise, called Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Bernard and Marguerite Broussard of Côte Gelée, at the St. Martinville church in October 1810. They settled at Côte Gelée. Their children, born there, included a son, name unrecorded, died "at his parents' at Côte Gelée" two days after his birth in April 1812; Marie Carmélite, Carmelle, or Carmésile, called Carmésile, born in April 1815; Adélaïde Belzire in May 1816; Édouard le jeune in August 1818; Marguerite, also called Elmire, in July 1820; Evariste in April 1822; Norbert in April 1824; Clément in December 1826; and Léo baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in March 1829--nine children, six sons and three daughters, between 1812 and 1829. Benjamin died in Lafayette Parish in February 1842. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Benjamin died "at age 55 yrs." He was 58. His succession, naming his wife and listing his heirs and some of their spouses--Carmésile and her husband; Belzire and her husband; Elmire and her husband; Édouard; and Evariste; but no Norbert, Clément, or Léo--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in February 1843. In October 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted eight slaves--four males and four females, all black, ranging in age from 45 to 1--on Widow Benjamin Mire's farm next to Norbert Mire in the parish's western district; these were Marie Éloise Bernard's slaves. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 11 slaves--five males and six females, six blacks and five mulattoes, ages 55 to 1, living in a single house--on Mrs. Bnin. Mire's farm next to Norbert Mire; again, these were Marie Éloise Bernard's slaves. Her and Benjamin's daughters Carmésile, Adélaïde, and Elmire married into the Breaux, Broussard, and Boulet or Boullé families by 1870. Four of Benjamin's sons also married by then.
Second son Édouard le jeune married Caroline Renée, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi dit Petit René Broussard and Angélique Julie Girouard, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in July 1842. They settled near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Benjamin le jeune in the 1840s; Félicianne in August 1850; Marcelite in October 1852; Delphine in March 1854; Éloi in June 1855; Marie Édouarine in May 1859; Joachim in July 1860; Onésime in December 1862 but died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in June 1866; Jean Édouard born in July 1865; Anaïs in May 1866; ... Daughter Marcelite married into the Boulet family by 1870. One of Édouard le jeune's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Benjamin le jeune married Louise, daughter of Édouard Teal, Teel, Till, Tille, or Liel and his Acadian wife Felonise Richard, at the Vermilionville church in July 1868. Their son Donat was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1870; ...
Benjamin le jeune's third son Evariste married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Giroir and Madeleine Thibodeaux, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in December 1842. Did they have any children? In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted seven slaves--four males and three females, all blacks except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 50 to 2, living in a single house--on Evariste Mire's farm. Evariste remarried to Mary Célaise, Celisie, Selasie, or Silasie, perhaps another daughter of Édouard Teal and Felonise Richard, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in May 1866, and was sanctified at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in September 1867. Their children, born on the prairies, included Norbert le jeune near Grand Coteau in May 1867; Clarisse near Youngsville in September 1868; ...
Benjamin le jeune's fourth son Norbert married Félicia, also called Delcide, Delsine, Delzere, Telside, and Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Melançon and Susanne Landry, at the Vermilionville church in February 1850. They settled near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Alexandre in October 1850; Louisianaise in February 1852; Joseph in July 1855; Joséphine in May 1857; Suzette in July 1861; Nicolas in December 1862; Marie Vina in November 1866; ... In October 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted a single slave--a 5-year-old black male--on Norbert Mire's farm next to the widow of Benjamin Mire in the parish's western district. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted four slaves--two males and two females, all black except for one mulatto, ages 25 to 1, living in a single house--on Norbert Mire's farm next to Mrs. Bnin. Mire. Despite his age--he was 37 in 1861--and being a resident of Lafayette Parish during the War of 1861-65, Norbert served probably as a conscript in Company A of the Crescent Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in New Orleans, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. When the Crescent Regiment became part of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment Louisiana Infantry in November 1863, Norbert served in that unit as well, in Louisiana. Like his brother Clément, Norbert survived the war and returned to his family. None of his children married by 1870.
Benjamin le jeune's fifth son Clément married Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Breaux and his Creole wife Apolline Mallet, at the Vermilionville church in April 1849. They settled near Youngsville. Their children, born there, included Paul in April 1850; Marie Élida, called Elida, in August 1852; Clément Clémile in May 1854; Bertille in November 1856; Sevigné in August 1859; Nathalie in January 1862; Émelia in May 1866; Pauline Aurida in October 1867; ... Despite his age--he was 35 in 1861--during the war Clément served probably as a conscript in the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. When the 18th Infantry became part of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry in November 1863, Clément served in that unit as well, in Louisiana. He survived the war and returned to his family. Daughter Alida married into the Dubois family by 1870. None of Clément's sons married by then.
François Moyse dit Latreille, born in c1655 perhaps at Arcasson, today's Arcachon, Guyenne, near Bordeaux, France, reached Acadia by 1681, when he was recorded as the godfather of an Indian girl at Chignecto. He married Madeleine, daughter of Pierre Vincent and Anne Gaudet, at Port-Royal in c1685. They moved to Passamaquoddy on Rivière Ste.-Croixe, at the border of present-day Maine and New Brunswick, where they were counted in 1693, and then to Rivière St.-Jean, present-day New Brunswick, where they were counted five years later. François died at Annapolis Royal in January 1711, in his late 50s, so the family must have returned to the Acadian capital sometime in the early 1700s. Between 1686 and 1699, Madeleine gave Latreille six children, two daughters and four sons. One of their daughters married into the Pouget dit Lapierre family. Three of Latreille's sons also married, into the Brun, Petitpas, and Daniel families at Annapolis Royal, on Île Royale, and on the French island of Guadaloupe on the eve of Le Grand Dérangement. In 1755, descendants of François dit Latreille still in greater Acadia could be found on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale in the French Maritimes.
Living in territory controlled by France, the Moyses on the Maritime islands escaped the roundups in Nova Scotia in 1755. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the island habitants and deported them to France, Moyses among them. The crossing was a disaster for François dit Latreille, fils and his extended family, most of whom crossed on one of the five British transports--the Yarmouth, Patience, Mathias, Restoration, or the John Samuel--that left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November 1758 and, despite a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England that sank three of the other transports, reached St.-Malo together in late January 1759. The ones who made it to the Breton port settled at St.-Suliac and Pleudihen-sur-Rance on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo and created new families there. In 1773, most of them followed their fellow exiles languishing in the coastal cities to the interior of Poitou. After two years of effort, all of them retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes, where they survived as best they could on government subsidies and what work they could find, and where more of them died.
One, perhaps two, members of the family made it to France by a different route. Louis dit Latreille and his family either had left Île Royale before 1758 or escaped the British roundup there and took refuge in greater Acadia, perhaps on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Some time during the early 1760s they either surrrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the region and held in a prison compound for the rest of the war. Louis's daughter Marie married a Pitre at Louisbourg on Île Royale in August 1763, six months after the war had ended. Her husband, who had been deported from the Maritimes to St.-Malo, France, in late 1758, probably had signed up for privateer duty in the Breton port, fell into British hands again, and was held at Louisbourg for the rest of the war. Wishing to free themselves of British rule, by 1766 the Pitres had followed Marie's widowered father to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland, where their marriage was sanctified and their children's baptisms were recorded in the church register at Notre-Dame-des-Ardiliers. They did not remain on the island. In 1767, French officials, obeying a royal decree to relieve overcrowding on Miquelon and nearby Île St.-Pierre, ordered most of the fisher/habitants to emigrate to France. Marie and her family sailed to the mother country aboard the schooner Créole and arrived at St.-Malo in mid-November 1767. Most of the islanders returned to Miquelon the following year, but Anne and her family chose to settle near her cousins at St.-Suliac. Her husband also had relatives there. She gave him three more children at St.-Suliac, but two of them died young, one of them a victim of smallpox. In 1773, they, too, went to Poitou, where she gave him another son, and in November 1775 retreated to Nantes, where her husband worked as a carpenter and she gave him two more children at nearby Chantenay, both of whom died young. Her husband died at Nantes by September 1784, when a Spanish official counted her there with two sons and two daughers and called her a widow. When the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, not all of the Moyses grabbed it. One family--that of Bénoni, son of François dit Latrielle, fils, now living at Nantes--chose to remain in France. But a Moyse wife and her second husband, and widow Marie Moyse and her Pitre children, chose to take their families to the Spanish colony.
Meanwhile, even before the war with Britain had ended, one of Louis dit Latreille's sons made his way to the French Antilles perhaps to live near a paternal uncle who had moved to Guadaloupe on the eve of Le Grand Dérangement. Charles Moyse married a Frenchwoman at Capesterre-de-Marie-Galante on the southeast shore of Guadaloupe in January 1762. One wonders if he created a family there. On thing is certain--he did not join his sister Marie in Spanish Louisiana
Moyses settled early in Acadia, but they came "late" to Louisiana. In fact, if the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to resettle in their Mississippi valley colony, there probably would be no Moïses in the Bayou State today, at least none descended from François dit Latreille. Four Moyses came to Louisiana from France in 1785, but only one of them could have created a family line. The Acadian Moïses in Louisiana today are descended from Joseph-Pierre, son of Joseph Moyse of Île St.-Jean, and Joseph-Pierre's oldest son Joseph Marie of upper Bayou Lafourche.
Non-Acadians with similar sounding surnames appear in South Louisiana church records during the late colonial and antebellum periods. Most were French Creoles, Foreign French, or even Anglo Americans, and one of them was Swiss. Some of them were free persons of color who may have used an ancestor's given name, "Moïse," or Moses, as their surname.
Acadian Osémé Moïse, son of Joseph Marie, held no slaves during the late antebellum period, at least none who appear on the federal slave registers of 1850 and 1860, so he and his family participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy. During the War of 1861-65, probably motivated by the specter of Confederate conscription, Osémé enlisted in a local volunteer cavalry company. Meanwhile, successive Federal incursions devastated the upper Lafourche valley where his young wife and infant children lived, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were driven away. After the war, Osémé returned to his farm in Assumption Parish, where he died in March 1869, age 34. One wonders if his early death was war-related.
In Acadia, the family's surname was spelled Moyse, but it was also being spelled Moïse by 1785 during exile. By the mid-nineteenth century in Louisiana, Moise, like the given name, had become the usual spelling for the family's surname and remains so today, though generally with an anglicized "i" instead of the French "ï." The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Moises, Moisses, Moy, Moyses.21
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All of the Acadian Moyse/Moïses who came to Louisiana crossed on three of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. The first of them--a widow and two of her Moyse children--crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where a Moïse family line emerged:
Joseph-Pierre (1773-1822) à Françoise dit Latreille, fils à François dit Latreille Moïse
Joseph-Pierre, older son of Joseph Moyse and Marie Hébert, born at St.-Suliac, Brittany, France, in June 1773, followed his family to Poitou and Nantes and his widowed mother and a younger sister to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where, at age 30, he married Anne-Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Bénoni Blanchard and his second wife Madeleine Forest, in June 1803. Anne-Marguerie, also a native of St.-Suliac, had crossed to Louisiana from France in 1785 on a later vessel. They remained on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Joseph Marie in September 1804; Anne Marie Gabrielle in December 1805; François Joseph in March 1808 but, called Fois., died in Assumption Parish, age 24, in June 1833; Jean Baptiste Thomas born in December 1810; Benoît or Bénoni in late 1813 but died at age 2 months in January 1814; Marie Madeleine born in March 1815; and Céleste Scholastique in February 1818--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1804 and 1818. Joseph-Pierre died in Assumption Parish in February 1822, age 48. Daughters Anne and Marie Madeleine married into the Giroir and Dauge families, and perhaps into Parenton or Parenthon family as well. Only two of Joseph Pierre's sons married, and only one of the lines endured. The Acadian Moïses of South Louisiana descend from Joseph-Pierre and one of his grandsons.
Oldest son Joseph Marie married Marie Eurasie, called Eurasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Comeaux and his Creole wife Clémence Simoneaux, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1834. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Osémé Joseph or Joseph Osémé, called Osémé, in December 1834; Marie Eurasie in August 1836; Émilie Marguerite baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1838; Augustine Palmire born in October 1839; Angelina died eight days after her birth in September 1841; Clémentine Aglaé born in October 1842; and Elmire Mélanie in March 1845--seven children, a son and six daughters, between 1834 and 1845. Joseph Marie died in Assumption Parish in November 1845. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 43 when he died. He was 41. Daughters Augustine and Elmire married into the Heriard and Daigle families by 1870. Daughter Émilie Marguerite, who may not have married, gave birth to a "natural" child in the final days of the War of 1861-65. Interestingly, it may have been this natural-born son who perpetuated the Acadian Moyse/Moïse family in South Louisiana.
Only son Osémé Joseph or Joseph Osémé, called Osémé, married Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Henry Breaux and Joséphine Duhon and widow of Joseph Landry, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in October 1860. Their children, born near Paincourtville, included Berjitte Juliette in July 1861; Marie Mélodia in February 1863; Marie Olivia in April 1865; Marie Corine in September 1867; and Marie Aimée posthumously in November 1869--five children, all daughters, between 1861 and 1869. In September 1862, when his wife was pregnant, Osémé enlisted in Company H of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought in Louisiana. Daughter Marie Melodia was born the following February. Osémé must have taken advantage of his unit's hit-and-run raids in the Bayou Lafourche valley during the summer of 1864; daughter Marie Olivia was born the following spring. Osémé survived the war and returned to his family. He died near Paincourtville in March 1869. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Ozémé, as he called him, died at "age ca. 35 years." He was nine months shy of that age. His youngest daughter died eight months after his death! Did he father any sons? Was his early death war-relatated?
Joseph Albert, called Albert, "natural" son of Émilie Marguerite Moïse, was born near Pierre Part, Assumption Parish, in April 1865, in the final months of the war. The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not name the father. Albert used his mother's surname. He married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadian Élie Foret and his second wife, Creole Marie Léonelle, called Léonelle, Gastal, probably in Assumption Parish in the early 1890s and settled at Napoleonville. Between 1892 and 1910, Léonelle gave Albert nine children, three sons and six daughters. Daughter Sunole Marie, born in 1892, married Arthur Berniard. Sunole and Arthur operated a bakery in Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, on the lower Atchafalaya.
Joseph Pierre's third son Jean Baptiste Thomas married Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Eusèbe Melançon and Adélaïde LeBlanc, at the Plattenville church in August 1830. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included a daughter, name unrecorded, died in Assumption Parish two days after her birth in August 1831; and Adélaïde Thesie, called Edesie or Edezie, born in July 1832. Jean Baptiste Thomas remarried to Adélaïde Marine, called Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Dupuis and Constance Landry, at the Plattenville church in October 1836. She evidently gave him no more children. Jean Baptiste Thomas died in Assumption Parish in April 1837, age 26 (the recording priest said 25). Daughter Edezie, by his first wife, married into the Charlet family. Jean Baptiste Thomas evidently fathered no sons, so, except perhaps for its blood, his family line probably died with him.
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A Moyse widow and her Pitre family crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They, too, went to upper Bayou Lafourche.
A Moyse wife and her Guédry family crossed from St.-Malo on La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early December. They followed their fellow passengers to the new Acadian community of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge. No new Moïse family lines came of it.
Gabriel Moulaison dit Recontre, born in Limoges, France, in c1685, arrived in Acadia by 1702, the year he fathered a daughter by Marie, daughter of Olivier Daigre and Marie Gaudet and widow of Pierre Sibilau, at Port-Royal. Gabriel dit Recontre and Marie did not marry. Their daughter married into the Henshaw family. In July 1706, at Port-Royal, Gabriel married Marie, daughter of Julien Aubois dit Saint-Julien of Louisfert, north of Nantes, Brittany, France, and Jeanne Aimée of the Cap-Sable area; Gabriel's mother-in-law likely was Métis. Gabriel and Marie settled at Cap-Sable, where she gave him nine children, four sons and five daughters, all of whom created families there. Gabriel dit Recontre's daughters by his legitimate wife married into the Bertrand, Doucet, Mius d'Entremont, and Viger families. His sons married into the Doucet, Melanson, Comeau, and Porlier families.
Since the family was relatively new to Acadia, its members were more or less together in 1755 on the eve of Le Grand Dérangement. Gabriel, père was still alive when his sons Joseph and Gabriel, fils married at Cap-Sable in July 1753, but he probably died soon afterwards, in his late 60s or early 70s, and did not live long enough to accompany his family into exile.
In the spring of 1756, at the end of the first phase of deportations in Nova Scotia, British forces from Halifax swooped down on Cap-Sable and Pobomcoup and rounded up many of the habitants and fishermen in the area. Two English sloops, the Mary and the Vulture, transported approximately 170 Acadians from the Cap-Sable area to New York and Massachusetts. The Moulaisons probably were not among them. The likely had eluded the British and remained at Cap-Sable.
Their respite from capture was short-lived. In late September 1758, two months after the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg on Île Royale, 400 British soldiers disembarked at Cap-Sable to search for Acadians still in the area. Two sailboats manned by British troops sailed along the shore above and below the cape "to prevent the vermin from escaping in canoes," one British officer commented. This time luck ran out for the Moulaisons of Pobomcoup. The British burned all of the houses and other buildings in the area to deny the Acadians shelter and sustenance. In late October, the British embarked 68 Acadians they had captured at Cap-Sable, plus their priest, on the transport Alexander II. This probably included Moulaisons. The Alexander II reached Halifax the first week of November, and the British sent the Cap-Sable Acadians to England four days later. In December, the English sent them on to France along with Acadians they were deporting from the Maritime islands. Moulaisons and their fellow exiles landed in the Norman ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg in mid-January 1759.
The Moulaisons lingered in the Norman ports until 1773, when the extended family at Cherbourg followed hundreds of other exiles languishing in the port cities to an influential nobleman's land in the interior of Poitou near the city of Châtellerault. By late 1775, however, after two years of effort, most of the Poitou Acadians abandoned the venture and retreated in four convoys down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes. The Moulaisons took the first and third convoys out of Châtellerault in October and December 1775. At Nantes and at nearby Chantenay and Paimboeuf, they subsisted as best they could on government handouts and what work they could find, but they also celebrated births and marriages and buried some of their own. In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana. Six of the Cap-Sable Moulaisons, still at Nantes and Pleurtuit near St.-Malo, took up the Spanish offer, but some did not.
Moulaisons settled fairly late in Acadia, and they came "late" to Louisiana, where their name evolved into Molaison. If the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Mississippe valley colony, there would be no Moulaisons/Molaisons in the Bayou State today, at least none who could call themselves Acadian. All of the Acadian Molaisons of South Louisiana descend from two first cousins, Jacques III and Joseph, both of whom came to the colony from France in 1785. Jacques III married the daughter of a French nobleman, and their descendants remained in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. Joseph married a fellow Acadian, and their descendants settled in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley from Assumption Parish down to the coastal marshes.
Jacques III was still alive in 1850 when a federal census taker counted 50 slaves on his plantation near Brusly Landing in West Baton Rouge Parish. The only other Molaisons who held slaves in Louisiana that year lived in New Orleans and probably were not Acadian. None of Jacques III's cousins in the Lafourche valley held slaves during the late antebellum period, at least none who appeared in the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860, so they likely were petit habitants who participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy.
A number of Acadian Molaisons served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. Several of them, all from the Lafourche valley, served with the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry at Vicksburg. Extant service records reveal no member of the family losing his life in Confederate service.
The Molaisons lived in areas of South Louisiana that were especially hard hit by the war. Early in the conflict, successive Federal incursions devastated the Bayou Lafourche valley, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were driven off. Even before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in January 1863, Federal commands controlling the lower Mississippi freed the slaves on every farm and plantation their forces could reach. This would have included the Molaison plantation in West Baton Rouge Parish. Union navy gunboats shelled and burned dozens of plantation houses along the river, perhaps including the Molaisons'. ...
The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Mailaison, Malaison, Molaisson, Molaizon, Moleçons, Molesan, Moleson, Molezon, Molison, Mollaison, Moloison, Moulezon, Moulizot, Oulizon. This Acadian family should not be confused with the Monlezuns, who were French Basques, not Acadians. The Monlezuns did not come to Louisiana until the early antebellum period and settled on the western prairies, where no Acadian Molaisons settled.22
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All of the Acadian Moulaisons who came to Louisiana crossed on three of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. The first of them, a family of five, crossed on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of August. They followed their fellow passengers to Baton Rouge. A robust family line came of it:
Jacques, fils (c1747-1812) à Gabriel dit Recontre Molaison
Jacques, fils, oldest son of Jacques Moulaison and Cécile Melanson, born probably at Cap-Sable in c1747, followed his family to Halifax, England, Cherbourg, and Poitou, where, at age 27, he married Marie-Blanche, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Doiron and Marguerite Michel and widow of Bonaventure Thériot and Sylvain Aucoin, in St.-Jean-de-l'Evangeliste Parish, Châtellerault, in May 1774. A daughter, Marie-Rose, called Rose, was born at nearby Cenan in July 1775. Later in the year, Jacques, fils and his family retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes, where they settled in St.-Nicolas Parish. Marie-Blanche gave him two more children there: Marie-Sophie, called Sophie, born in December 1776; and Jacques III in May 1779--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1775 and 1779. Jacques, fils, Marie-Blanche, and their children emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. The couple had no more children at Baton Rouge. Jacques, fils died there in July 1812. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jacques, "married," died at age 77. He was in his mid-60s. Daughters Rose and Sophie married into the Daigre and Broussard families at Baton Rouge. Jacques, fils's son also married, settled in what became West Baton Rouge Parish, and became a substantial sugar planter there by 1850.
Only son Jacques III followed his family to New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where he married cousin Céleste-Renée, daughter of French nobleman Félix Gilles Louis Bernard du Montier and his Acadian wife Marie Victoire Bourg, in May 1807. Céleste's father was a French nobleman and veteran of the American Revolution. Her maternal grandmother was Marie-Modeste Molaison, Jacques III's paternal aunt. Jacques III and Céleste's children, born in what became West Baton Rouge Parish, included Victoire Euphémie, called Euphémie, in January 1809; Jacob or Jacques Félix, also called Jacques, fils, in December 1811; Célestine Delphine in July 1814; Agricole Prudent, called Prudent, in October 1816; Jules Augustave baptized at the nearby St. Gabriel church, age unrecorded, in May 1820; Théodule Gil born in November 1820; Théophile Bernard in May 1823 but, called Théophile, died at age 27 (the recording priest said 25) in May 1850; Paul born in the early 1820s; Louise died at age 6 months in July 1826; Alexandre born in December 1829 but died at age 2 in September 1831; Léon born in April 1832; and Numa in February 1836--a dozen children, three daughters and nine sons, betwee 1809 and 1836. Socioeconomically, Jacques III did very well during the antebellum period perhaps because of the wealth and influence of his in-laws. In August 1850, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted 50 slaves--21 males and 29 females, all black except for two mulattoes, ranging in age from 50 years to 3 months--on Jacques Molaison's plantation. Jacques III, like his father, lived to a ripe old age. He was buried in the family tomb at Brusly Landing, West Baton Rouge Parish, in December 1854, age 75 (the recording priest said 76)--one of the last Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors. One wonders what happened to all of his slaves after his death; none of his sons appear as slaveholders in the federal census of 1860. Daughters Euphémie and Célestine married into the Gras and Daigre families by 1870. Five of Jacques III's sons also married by then and settled in West Baton Rouge, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Jacob or Jacques Félix, also called Jacques, fils, married Irma, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Foret and Arthémise Landry, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in January 1835. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Dorville in December 1835; Céleste Célestine in November 1837; and Jacques Joseph Osward in July 1846--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1835 and 1846. None of Jacques Félix's children married by 1870.
Jacques III's second son Agricole Prudent, called Prudent, married Marie, daughter of Bernard Peyronnin and Marie Grassie, at the Baton Rouge church in April 1837. Daughter Céleste Delphine was born in West Baton Rouge Parish in March 1838. Prudent died in West Baton Rouge Parish in July 1838, age 21. Daughter Céleste Delphine married into the Broussard family. Prudent evidently fathered no sons, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him. In August 1850, Prudent's remains were moved to a new family tomb at Brusly Landing, West Baton Rouge Parish.
Jacques III's third son Jules Augustave married cousin and fellow Acadian Élisa or Élise Dupuis at the Baton Rouge church in October 1838; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of relationship in order to marry. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Jules, fils in January 1840; and Joseph George in December 1847. Neither of Jules's sons married by 1870.
Jacques III's fourth son Théodule Gil married Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse Landry and Marie Carmélite Hébert of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church in November 1843. Their children, born in West Baton Rouge Parish, included Odon in December 1845; Numa Amédée in December 1848; Céleste Carmélite in September 1851; and Joseph Théophile in June 1854--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1845 and 1854. In August 1850, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted two slaves--a 25-year-old male, and a 16-year-old female, both blacks--on T. Molaison's farm. Théodule died near Brusly in September 1857, age 36. None of this children married by 1870.
Jacques III's sixth son Paul married fellow Acadian Hélène Marie Babin probably in the mid- to late 1840s, place and date unrecorded, but it likely was West Baton Rouge Parish. Their son William Paul was born near Brusly in 1849 and did not marry by 1870.
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Another Moulaison--a bachelor and his widowed mother--crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where another robust family line emerged:
Joseph (c1755-1810s) à Gabriel dit Recontre Molaison
Joseph, older son of Pierre Moulaison and Marie-Josèphe Doucet and first cousin of Jacques, fils, born probably at Cap-Sable in c1755, followed his family to Halifax, England, and Le Havre, and his widowed mother to Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche. At age 30, he married Marie-Marguerite-Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Gautrot and Marguerite-Louis Haché, at Ascension in June 1786. Marie-Marguerite, a native of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, also had emigrated to Louisiana in 1785 aboard L'Amitié. After a brief sojourn at Cabahannocer and in New Orleans in the late 1780s and the 1790s, they joined the Acadian exodus from the river to Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born on the river and the upper Lafourche, included Pierre at Cabahannocer in November 1787; Joseph, fils in February 1790; Marie-Céleste in c1791; Madeleine, also called Marie-Madeleine, in New Orleans in May 1792; Jean-Amable in August 1796 and baptized at the New Orleans church in October; Ursule, also called Ursule, Delphine, born probably at New Orleans in November 1798; Henriette at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in July 1801; Marguerite Pélagie in March 1805; and Jean Baptiste in June 1805[sic, probably 1807]--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1787 and 1807. Joseph's belongings were inventoried and recorded at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in March 1815. He would have been age 60 that year. Daughters Marie Céleste, Marie Madeleine, Ursule Delphine, Henriette, and Marguerite married into the Ledet, Dechamps, Pitre, Clouâtre, and D'Hué families. Three of Joseph's sons also married on the Lafourche.
Oldest son Pierre married Marie Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Guillaume Bénoni Hébert and Marie Anne Dantin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1809. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Madeleine in August 1810; Pierre Joseph, called Joseph le jeune, in February 1812; Marie Adèle, called Adèle, in March 1816; Eugénie Mélissère in June 1818; Evariste in July 1820; Marguerite Seracine in September 1822 but died at age 6 months in March 1823; Christine Félicité Marguerite born in February 1824; Pierre Melius, also called Pierre, fils, in July 1826; Joseph Adrien, called Adrien, in February 1828; Joachim in c1830 but died at age 4 in June 1834; Marguerite Justine born in c1832 but died at age 23 in August 1855; Marianne Lorenza born in April 1833 but, called Marie Anne, died at age 22 (the recording priest said 18) in August 1855; and Marie E. or Estelle born in October 1835--13 children, eight daughters and five sons, between 1810 and 1835. Pierre, père died in Lafourche Parish in June 1858, age 70. A succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his remaining children and some of their spouses--Joseph; Marie; Adèle and her husband; Eugénie; Evariste; Pierre, Jr.; Adrien; and Estelle and her husband--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in February 1859. Daughters Adèle and Marie Estelle married into the D'Hué and Chiasson families. Pierre's remaining sons also married.
Oldest son Pierre Joseph, called Joseph le jeune, married Marie Azélie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Bourgeois and Rosalie Marguerite Richard, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1832. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Léodie in October 1833; Marie Julema or Zulema in January 1836; Joseph Elphége in April 1838; Joséphine in July 1840; Joseph Adrien le jeune in June 1843; Amelia in the 1840s; and Lovincy in April 1848--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1833 and 1848. Joseph, called Joseph J. B. by the Thibodaux priest, who gave no parents' names nor mentioned a wife, died in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1852, age 40. Daughters Marie Zulema, Joséphine, and Amelia married into the LeBlanc, Boudreaux, Giroir, and Part families by 1870. One of Joseph le jeune's sons may have married by then.
Oldest son Joseph Elphége or second son Joseph Adrien le jeune may have married Marie Alzire, called Alzire, Alzina, and also Marcelline, Lefort, place and date unrecorded, and settled near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, by the early 1860s. Their children, born near Lockport, included Joséphine in December 1863; Marie Lydia in June 1866; Marguerite Émelie in March 1869; ...
Pierre's second son Evariste married Adeline, 14-year-old daughter of Nicolas Laine, Laisne, Lene, or Lenée and his Acadian wife Marie Doucet, at the Thibodaux church in May 1841. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Julles or Jules Omare or Homer in February 1843; Evariste Justilien, called Justilien, in December 1844; Eusèbe Adrien in October 1848; Marie Julia in August 1850; Émellite in May 1853; Mélasie Malvina in April 1855; and Joseph Léo in June 1857 but, called Léo Joseph, died at age 18 months in November 1858--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1843 and 1857. None of Evariste's daughters married by 1870, but two of his sons did, after their war service.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Jules served in Company I of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. After he was captured at Vicksburg, he may have served with Company D of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery at Mobile, Alabama, from which he went absent without leave in January 1865. Late in the war, Jules married Aglaé Bruse, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Constance Malvina was born near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, on the lower bayou, in January 1865; ...
During the war, Evariste's second son Justilien served in Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Justilien married Elmire, daughter of fellow Acadians Ambroise Arsène Naquin and Louise Bathilde Talbot, at the Thibodaux church in July 1865. The settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie in May 1866; Cotilia Philomène in March 1869; ...
Pierre's third son Pierre Melius, also called Pierre, fils, married Phelonise, daughter of fellow Acadian François Doucet and his Creole wife Marie Adélaïde Engilbert, at the Thibodaux church in May 1848. Daughter Marie Philonise was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1850. Pierre, fils remarried to Azéma, Rosanna, Roséma, or Rosina, daughter of fellow Acadian Hippolyte Hébert and his Creole wife Farelie Rose Ford, at the Thibodaux church in April 1857. Their children, born on the Lafourche and the river, included Augustin Oscar in August 1858; Henri France in September 1860; Zulema Anaïse in April 1863; Pierre III in April 1864; Marie Aseina near Vacherie, St. James Parish, in April 1866; Cécile Zulma in Lafourche Parish in October 1867; Adeline Aimée in October 1870; ... None of Pierre's children married by 1870.
Pierre, père's fourth son Joseph Adrien, called Adrien, married Zéolide, daughter of Drosin Toups and Eulalie Estevan, at the Thibodaux church in May 1855. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Louisa in February 1856; Adrien Léon in October 1857; and Henri in May 1859--three children, a daughter and two sons, between 1856 and 1859.
Joseph's second son Joseph, fils married Adélaïde Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Lejeune and Barbe Trahan of Morlaix, France, at the Plattenville church in April 1812. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Ursule Adeline in April 1816; Rosalie Eve in December 1817; Joseph Marcellus, called Marcellus, in February 1821 but died at age 22 (the recording priest said 25) in July 1843; Jean Baptiste or Evariste, called Evariste, born in October 1823; Marguerite Survina in October 1825; Michel, also called Michel Raphaël, in March 1828; Baptiste Augustin or Auguste, called Augustin, in January 1831; Alexis Joseph or J. Alexis in December 1832; Marie Varistille, perhaps also called Marie Célima, in September 1836; and P. Onésime, called Onésime, probably in the 1830s--10 children, four daughters and six sons, between 1816 and the late 1830s. Joseph, fils died in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1842, age 52 (the recording priest said 54). A succession inventory, naming son Alexis, was filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1859, years after his death. A petition for administration, naming his wife and his children and some of their spouses--Marcellus, Rosalie and her husband, Auguste, J. Alexis, P. Onésime, Marie and her husband, Marie Célima, Evariste (deceased) and his widow, and Michel (deceased) and his widow--was filed at the Houma courthouse the following November. Daughters Rosalie and Marie married into the Folse family by 1870. Three of Joseph, fils's sons also married by then, two of them to sisters.
Second son Jean Baptiste or Evariste, called Evariste, married Julie Arthémise, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Pitre and Rosalie Haché, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in May 1844, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church in July 1848. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Rosalie Zulma, called Zulma, in October 1845; Marie Dovilia or Dovidia, called Dovidia, in July 1847 and baptized the day of her parents' church wedding; Henry Philemon born in October 1848; Marguerite Alexina in December 1853; and Marie Florestine in August 1855--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1845 and 1855. Daughters Zulma and Dovidia married LeBlanc brothers by 1870. Evariste's son did not marry by then.
Joseph, fils's third son Michel Raphaël married Carmélite, another daughter of Jean Pierre Pitre and Rosalie Haché, at the Thibodaux church in April 1851. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Jeanne Justine, called Justine, in January 1852; Augustin in June 1854; and Marie Eugénie posthumously in December 1855--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1852 and 1855. Michel Raphaël died in Lafourche Parish in June 1855, age 27. His succession inventory, naming his widow, was filed at the Houma courthouse in March 1856. Daughter Justine married into the Robichaux family by 1870 and settled near Raceland. Michel's son did not marry by then.
During the War of 1861-65, Joseph, fils's fourth son Baptiste Augustin or Auguste, called Augustin, served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was captured at Vicksburg, paroled, exchanged with his unit, sent home, and survived the war. He evidently did not marry before 1870.
Joseph, fils's sixth and youngest son P. Onésime, called Onésime, married Aglaé, daughter of Urbain Adam and Joséphine Junot and widow of Aurelien Robichaux, at the Thibodaux church in February 1867. ...
Joseph, père's fourth and youngest son Jean-Baptiste married Marie Émilie, also called Eulalie and Marie Mélite, 14-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Célanie Breaux of St. James Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in January 1830. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joachim Guillaume in May 1832; Jean Baptiste Freguis in April 1833 but, called Jean Baptiste, died at age 20 (the recording priest said 21) in February 1854; Paul Justin born in March 1835; Joseph le jeune in September 1837; Evariste Emil or Émile in July 1839; Marie Célima in June 1841; Marie Estelina, called Estelina, in December 1843; Marie Edmire or Elmire, called Elmire, in January 1846; Marie Aimée, called Aimée, in April 1848; and Marie Mathilde in December 1851--10 children, five sons and five daughters, between 1832 and 1851. Jean Baptiste died by November 1868, when he was listed as deceased in a daughter's marriage record. His widow Marie Émilie, called "Mrs. Jean Baptiste Molaison," died in Lafourche Parish, age 60, in February 1870. Daughters Elmire, Estelina, and Aimée married into the Guidry, Rivet, and Lapeyrouse families, and perhaps into the Pitre family as well, by 1870. Two of Jean Baptiste's sons also married by then.
Fourth son Joseph le jeune may have married Marie Alzire, called Alzire and also Marcelline, Lefort in Lafourche Parish in the early 1860s. Their children, born near Lockport, included Joséphine in December 1863; Marie Lydia in June 1866; Marguerite Émelie in March 1869; ...
Jean Baptiste's fifth and youngest son Evariste Émile married Odelia or Odilia, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Hébert and Marie Rose Gaudet, at the Thibodaux church in February 1862. Their children, born near Raceland, included Marie Elvire in September 1863; Marie Lydia in December 1864; Marie in April 1866; Mélite Augustine in May 1867; Joseph Arthur in October 1868 but, called Arthur, died at age 1 in September 1869; Marie Augusta born in February 1870; ...
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The last member of the family to come to Louisiana--an older sister of Jacques Moulaison, fils of Baton Rouge, her Bourg husband, and their 10 children--crossed on La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans directly from St.-Malo in early December 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to the recently-created Acadian community of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge. No new family line came of it.
Jean,
also called Jean-Jacques, son of Antoine Mouton, maître d'hôtel de M. de Grignan
(probably the
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. In the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, assisted by Mi'kmaq warriors led by the Abbé Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads in the British-controlled area east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Moutons, who likely lived in the village of Beaubassin, would have been among the refugees in this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Chignecto Acadians, pressured by the French, served in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the Canadians and the French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. Three of the Mouton brothers--Pierre, Salvator, and Louis--escaped the British roundup at Chignecto and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore.
The British deported Sr. Jean Mouton's eldest son, Jean, fils, to South Carolina aboard the British ship Edward Cornwallis, which reached Charles Town on 19 November 1755. With him were his wife Marguerite Poirier and 10 children, some of whom may have been nieces and nephews. Jean, fils's brother Jacques, his wife Marguerite Caissie, and their family suffered the same fate; they were transported to South Carolina aboard the Endeavor, which reached Charles Town the same day the Edward Cornwallis arrived. Jacques died before July 1763, place unrecorded. Younger brother Charles, his wife Anne Comeau, and her two children by her first marriage to a Bourgeois do not appear on the passenger lists of any of the vessels going to Charles Town, so they may have been among the Chignecto Acadians the British transported to Georgia. If so, they did not remain. They, along with brother Jacques's only son Jean le jeune, evidently were among the exiles in Georgia and South Carolina allowed by the governors of those colonies to return to greater Acadia by boat in the spring of 1756. If so, Charles and Anne got no farther than Long Island, New York, where colonial officials refused to allow them to go any farther and held them in the colony until the end of the war. A Charles Lamottin with a wife and child were sent to New Rochelle northeast of Manhattan in May 1756; this may have been Charles, Anne, and infant son Georges. Nephew Jean was luckier. Traveling perhaps in an earlier expedition, he made it all the way to Rivière St.-Jean and joined his three uncles on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore.
One of Sr. Jean's daughters, Anne, her husband Joseph Richard, and their family, escaped the British roundup at Annapolis Royal in 1755, spent a hard winter on the Fundy shore, crossed to Chepoudy the following spring, and fled north to Canada probably via the Rivière St.-Jean portage. The move proved fatal for the family. At age 30 and now a widow, Anne died in a smallpox epidemic in November 1757 that struck hundreds of Acadian refugees in and around Québec that summer and into the following spring.
Anne's older sister Marguerite, husband Jean Hébert, and their family, still at Cap-Sable in 1755, suffered a different fate. In the spring of 1756, late in the first phase of deportations, British forces from Halifax swooped down on Cap-Sable and Pobomcoup and rounded up many of the habitants and fishermen in the area. Two English sloops, the Mary and the Vulture, transported approximately 170 Acadians from the Cap-Sable area to New York and Massachusetts. Marguerite and her family probably were not among them. They likely had eluded the British and remained at Cap-Sable. Their respite from capture was short-lived. In late September 1758, two months after the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg on Île Royale, 400 British soldiers disembarked at Cap-Sable to search for Acadians still in the area. Two sailboats manned by British troops sailed along the shore above and below the cape "to prevent the vermin from escaping in canoes," a British officer quipped. The British burned all of the houses and other buildings in the area to deny the Acadians shelter and sustenance. The Héberts likely escaped again, but they, along with other Acadians, after a hard winter in the woods, surrendered to the British the following June. They were held in the prison compound on Georges Island, Halifax, until November, when the British deported them to England and sent them on to Cherbourg, France. Marguerite Mouton died there in January 1760, age 35, soon after their arrival--the only descendant of Sr. Jean Mouton of Chignecto to have gone to France. Husband Jean Hébert died in the Norman port two months later. In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana. Jean and Marguerite's son Étienne Hébert, a sailor, now in his late 30s and living at Nantes, agreed to go to the distant colony. He took with him his third wife Anne-Madeleine Breau and five of his children. His sister Marie Hébert, age 36 in 1785, and her husband Jean-Baptiste Lamoureaux dit Rochefort and their two children also ventured from Nantes to the Spanish colony.
In North America, things got worse for the Moutons who had taken refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. By the late 1750s, Sr. Jean's sons Pierre, Salvator, Louis and their families had moved north to Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, now a major Acadian refuge. With them was Jean dit Neveu, the Nephew, son of older brother Jacques, whose family had gone to South Carolina. Louis married Marie-Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Bastarache and Angélique Richard and a sister of brother Salvator's wife Anne, perhaps soon after reaching the bay refuge. The Moutons' time at Restigouche did not last long. In late June 1760, after the fall of Québec the previous September, a British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouiche, leaving the militia and the Indians to prevent a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. Pierre Mouton died in the fighting, but his brothers Salvator and Louis survived the attack. In October, after the fall of Montréal, another British naval force, this one from Québec, arrived at Restgouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On 24 October 1760, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers compiled a list of 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche. Among them were Louis Mouton and three members of his family. Brother Salvator and his family were not on the list, but they, too, ended up as prisoners of war in Nova Scotia, where they were held for the rest of the war. British officials counted brothers Louis and Salvator and nephew Jean and their families in the prison compound at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, in July, August, and October 1762. The following year, the British counted Salvator and Louis and perhaps Jean dit Neveu at Annapolis Royal, where they may have been working as laborers on Acadian dykes now owned by the so-called New-English Planters.
The Moutons being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by the Planters. If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to the French Antilles, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including Moutons, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, eight were descendants of Sr. Jean Mouton of Chignecto.
At war's end, members of the family, to avoid British rule, chose to resettle in the French Antilles. While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British colonies to resettle in St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean region and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the colony's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the labor of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. The first of them reached Cap-Français from South Carolina in late 1763. More followed in 1764. Among them were François Mouton, son of Jean, fils, who married Marguerite Poirier either in South Carolina or on the sugar island. Four of their sons were born at Môle St.-Nicolas: Louis in March 1776; Denis-François in November 1778; Antoine in January 1781; and Julien in June 1785. As the birth dates of the children reveal, when, in the mid- and late 1760s, Acadians from Halifax and Maryland, including Moutons, came through Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans, François and his family did not join them; they evidently had found a tolerable place in the island's slave-based plantation economy. A Marguerite Mouton married master carpenter Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, Mire, perhaps a fellow Acadian, probably in St.-Domingue; one wonders how she was kin to François of Chignecto. From March 1776 to 1782, Marguerite gave husband Jean four children probably at Môle St.-Nicolas. Meanwhile, an Acadian Mouton chose to resettle in another corner of the French Antilles. After the war, Charles Mouton, wife Anne Comeau, and their children did not follow other exiles languishing in New York to British Canada but chose, instead, to go to Martinique, where French officials counted Charles, Anne, two of her Bourgeois children, and two Mouton sons at Champflore in January 1766. They did not remain on the island. Charles evidently learned of his brothers' movement from Halifax to Louisiana via Cap-Français the year before. Later in the decade, he and his family also moved on to New Orleans--among the few Acadian exiles who went to the Spanish colony directly from the French Antilles.
Moutons settled "late" in Acadia, but they were among the earliest (though not among the first) Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. Two brothers and a nephew and their families came to New Orleans in 1765 from Halifax via Cap-Français and settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river, where kinsmen from Martinique joined them later in the decade. In the late 1770s, the nephew and two of his younger cousins left the river and settled on the western prairies. Their uncle and a cousin from Martinique remained on the river, but neither of those river lines endured. Despite their relatively small numbers and their "late" arrival on the prairies, the Moutons of Chignecto contributed significantly to the development of the Attakapas region. Especially influential was Jean dit Chapeau Mouton, founder of the village of Vermilionville, today's city of Lafayette, and his son Alexandre, the state of Louisiana's first popularly-elected governor. No other family exemplified more fully the expression "genteel Acadians." During the antebellum period, Moutons from all three prairie lines--that of Jean dit Chapeau being the largest--settled in every part of Lafayette Parish, especially at Grand Prairie and Vermilionville and at Carencro, north of Chapeau's village. Others could be found in nearby St. Martin, St. Landry, and Vermilion parishes. A significant number of Moutons chose non-Acadian spouses, and many of them married cousins.
The great majority of the Moutons of South Louisiana are descendants of Sr. Jean of Marseille and Chignecto, but a few of their non-Acadian namesakes lived in the region. During the antebellum period, at least four Moutons from France, called Foreign French by native Louisianians, came to New Orleans from Bordeaux and Le Havre, but most of them moved on to Texas. A Mouton family lived near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in the late 1830s and may not have been Acadian. Moutons who lived on the prairies during the immediate post-war period were Afro Creoles once owned, and perhaps freed, by members of the family, some of whom, like the governor, had been major slaveholders. ...
According to one historian, the Moutons of Louisiana have produced not only a governor, a U.S. Senator, and a Confederate general, but also three lieutenant governors, several U.S. congressmen, state legislators, local mayors, and other political and administrative leaders, as well as military officers, engineers, physicians, and lawyers; they, in fact, take up three double-columned pages of the Dictionary of Louisiana Biography. They have also produced at least one computer software architect and probably more than their share of public school teachers.23
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In spite of family tradition and dubious historical narratives that place members of this family in French Louisiana as early as the mid-1750s, the first Acadian Moutons--eight of them in three families headed by two brothers and a nephew--did not reach the colony until late 1765, a year and a half after the first Acadian exiles actually reached New Orleans. Three robust Mouton families lines came of it, first on the river and then on the prairies, where most of the family settled:
Salvator (c1733-1773) Mouton
Salvator, sixth son of Sr. Jean Mouton and Marie Girouard, born at Chignecto in c1733, married Anne, daughter of Jean Bastarache and Angélique Richard, at Annapolis Royal in January 1752 and settled at Chignecto. Anne gave Salvator three children there: Marin born in c1753; Anne-Préxède in c1754; and Jean in c1755. They escaped the British roundup at Chignecto in the fall of 1755 and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. In the late 1750s, they moved on to Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs and were there during the British attack on the French stronghold in the summer of 1760. Sometime in the early 1760s they either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in the prison compound at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, in Nova Scotia until the end of the war. Daughter Céleste was born in c1761. The couple evidently lost their daughters during exile and imprisonment. Salvator, Anne, and their two sons emigrated to Louisiana from Halifax via Cap-Français in 1765. Anne was pregnant on the voyage and gave birth to another daughter, Marie-Geneviève, at New Orleans in September 1765--five children, two sons and three daughters, between 1753 and 1765, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. They were still in the city in early December when their youngest daughter was baptized at St.-Louis church. They settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on what was later called the lower Acadian Coast near his brother Louis and nephew Jean dit Neveu, who also had come to the colony from Halifax via St.-Domingue. Salvator's wife Anne died soon after their arrival, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth. Salvator remarried to Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Forest and ____, at New Orleans in 1768. She gave him no more children. He died at New Orleans in April 1773, age 40. Later in the decade, his children, with nephew Jean, crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District. Daughter Marie-Geneviève married into the Guilbeau family at Attakapas and died at age 18 from the rigors of childbirth. Salvator's two sons also married, neither of them to fellow Acadians, and created vigorous lines on the prairies. His younger son's family line was especially large and became one of the most influential families in the Bayou State. One of Salvator's grandsons, in fact, became the first popularly-elected governor of the State of Louisiana.
Older son Marin dit Capuchon followed his family into exile and imprisonment, and to New Orleans and Cabahannocer. He married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of Creoles Jean-Baptiste Lambert and Catherine Lacroix of Mobile, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in January 1777. Later that year, Marin and younger brother Jean followed their older cousin Jean dit Neveu to the Attakapas District, where they made their fortunes. Brother Jean settled at Carencro at the northern edge of the district, but Marin settled at the southern end of Attakapas along the lower Vermilion River south of present-day Abbeville at what became known as Mouton Cove. He and Marie-Josèphe also settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marin, fils in October 1781; Marianne dite Petit Anne in October 1782; Salvator-Marin in November 1784; Marguerite in December 1787; Julie in c1791 and baptized at the Attakapas church, age 4, in September 1795; Aspasie, perhaps also called Anastasie, born in 1794 and baptized at age 13 months in September 1795; Louise dite Lise born in July 1796; and Joseph-Onésime, called Onésime, in December 1798--eight children, three sons and five daughters, between 1781 and 1798. In February 1815, at age 62, Marin remarried to Marguerite, daughter of German Creoles André Bernard and Marguerite Edelmeyer of St. James Parish and widow of Jean Roy and Josime LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish. She was living at Fausse Pointe at the time of their marriage. She gave him no more children. According to family tradition, Marin was called Capuchon for the hat he wore. Along with brother Jean, who their neighbors called Chapeau, Marin acquired much land along the upper and lower Vermilion during the early antebellum period. Marin died at Mouton's Cove, Vermilion Parish, in September 1836, in his early 80s. His succession, calling his first wife Mary Lambre (but not naming his second wife, probably because she gave him no children) and listing his heirs--Marin, Onésime, Mary Anne and her husband, Marguerite and her husband, Julie and her husband, Anasthasie and her husband, and Lize--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, the month of his death. Daughters Marianne, Marguerite, Julie, and Anastasie/Aspasie, by his first wife, married into the Hébert, Boudreaux, Baudoin, and Luquet families. Marin's three sons also married and settled in present-day southern Lafayette and northeastern Vermilion parishes, but not all of the lines endured. One historian notes that Marin's descendants remained in the Youngsville and Abbeville areas well into the 1800s. Some of them migrated westward into Acadia and Calcasieu parishes by the late 1880s and even into East Texas in the early twentieth century, but most of his descendants remained in Lafayette, St. Martin, and Vermilion parishes.
Oldest son Marin, fils, by first wife Marie-Josèphe Lambert, married Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Théodore Broussard and Henriette Trahan, at Attakapas in June 1800. Their son Sylvestre was born there in January 1802. Marin, fils, in his early 50s, remarried to Césaire, daughter of Pierre Baudoin and Margaret Delmain and widow of Jean Trahan, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in November 1832. Marin, fils's succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in July 1857. He would have been age 76 that year. His son married.
Only son Sylvestre, by first wife Isabelle Broussard, married, at age 19, Adélaïde, 14-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste dit Mano Cormier and Pauline Martin, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1821. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Adélaïde in February 1822; Marie Adèle in January 1824; Aspasie baptized at the Vermilionville churh, age 12 days, in October 1826; Amélie born in October 1828; Marie Azildore in November 1830; Sylvestre Alcide in December 1832 but died at age 21 months in November 1833; Marie Athenaise born in August 1834 but died in September; Céleste Alix or Alice, called Alice, born in September 1835; Élisabeth in late 1837 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in January 1838; Marin le jeune born in the 1830s or early 1840s; and Françoise in December 1841--11 children, nine daughters and two sons, between 1822 and 1841. Daughters Alice, ... married into the Merriman and Morton families by 1870. Sylvestre le jeune's remaining son also married by 1870.
Younger son Marin le jeune married Marie Zulma, called Zulma, daughter of fellow Acadians Onésime Landry and Carmélite Landry, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in June 1866. Their son Horace was born near Abbeville in November 1868; ...
Marin dit Capuchon's second son Salvator Marin, by first wife Marie Josèphe Lambert, married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Comeaux and Perpétué Broussard, at Attakapas in February 1804. She gave him no children. Salvator Marin remarried to Susanne, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Charles Boudreaux and Dorothée Comeaux of Bayou Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in August 1807. They settled, according to a church record, "au bord du Vermillion," that is, on the edge of Bayou Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Aurien or Aurelien in October 1808; Marie in January 1810 but died "at her parents'" the following July; and an unnamed daughter died nine days after her birth in July 1811--three children, a son and two daughters, between 1808 and 1811. Called a "res. Attakapas" by the priest who recorded the burial, Salvator died in St. James Parish in October 1811, age 26. One wonders what he was doing on the river at the time of his passing. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August 1813. His widow remarried to a Broussard. Neither of their daughters survived childhood. Salvator Marin's son married, but the line did not endure.
Only son Aurelien, by second wife Susanne Boudreaux, married Carmélite, daughter of Olivier Blanchet and Ursule Faustin, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1828. Their daughter Marie Carmélite was born in Lafayette Parish in April 1830 but died at age 3 1/2 in September 1833. Aurelien died in Lafayette Parish in August 1830. The priest who recorded the burial said that Aurelien was age 23 when he died. He was 21. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in June 1833. He fathered no sons, at least none who appear in area church records, so this line of the family did not endure.
Marin dit Capuchon's third and youngest son Joseph Onésime, called Onésime, from first wife Marie Josèphe Lambert, married Aspasie, also called Tarsile, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Hébert and Félicité Breaux of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in October 1815. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in August 1816; Arvillien in January 1818; Adeleine or Adeline in January 1820; Onésime, fils, perhaps also called Lésime, in November 1821; Anastasie in late 1824 and baptized at age 18 months in February 1826; Placide born in September 1826; Belizère or Bélisaire in January 1827; Hordalise in c1832 and baptized at age 4 in May 1836; Tarsille born in c1835 and baptized at age 1 in May 1836; Athanase born in May 1837; and Lisa in July 1840--11 children, six daughters and five sons, between 1816 and 1840. Daughters Carmélite and Adeline married into the Dartes and Boudreaux families by 1870. Onésime's five sons also married by then.
Oldest son Arvillien married cousin Scholastique Cidalise, called Scolastie and Cidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Boudreaux and Scholastique Hébert, at the Vermilionville church in June 1836. They settled near Youngsville in southern Lafayette Parish. Their children, born there, included Placide le jeune baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in March 1838; Léontine born in March 1839; Marguerite in July 1842; Augustin in March 1844; Ursin Augustin in the late 1840s or early 1850s; triplets Marie, Onézime le jeune, and Théodore in January 1855; and Emethilde in November 1859--nine children, five sons and four daughters, including a set of triplets, between 1838 and 1859. Daughter Marguerite married an Hébert cousin. Two of Avillien's sons also married by 1870.
Second son Augustin married Esilda, daughter of fellow Acadian Ozémé Vincent and his Creole wife Aspasie Farque, at the Youngsville church in October 1865. She evidently gave him no children. Augustin remarried to double cousin Arminie or Herminie, daughter of fellow Acadians Eusèbe Lessin Hébert and Carmélite Hébert, at the Youngsville church in February 1868. Their children, born near Youngsville, included Émilie in November 1868; André Neuville in November 1869; ...
Arvillien's third son Ursin Augustin married cousin Félicia, daughter of fellow Acadians Euclide Bourg and Cidalise Boudreaux, at the Youngsville church in January 1870. ...
Onésime's second son Onésime, fils may have married Clarisse or Laclaire Lapointe, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born near Abbeville included Lesima in January 1841; Orelie, perhaps a daughter, in March 1843; Belzire, a daughter, in Febuary 1845; Placide le jeune in January 1849; Salvator in December 1850; Théodore in February 1853; Lessaint in December 1854; and Homère in November 1856--eight children, three daughters and five sons, between 1841 and 1856. None of Onésime, fils's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Second son Salvator married cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Euclide Hébert and Armeline Boudreaux, at the Youngsville church in October 1870. ...
Onésime, père's third son Placide may have married Amelia or Azilia Meaux, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born there, included Élisabeth near Abbeville in March 1854; Adeline in February 1856; Félix in March 1858; and Oseah in June 1863. Placide may have remarried to fellow Acadian Julie or Julia Bourg, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Placide Numa in December 1867; Emma in September 1869; ... None of Placide's children married by 1870.
Onésime, père's fourth son Bélisaire married fellow Acadian Lezima LeBlanc, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Eraste in April 1856; Alzire in March 1858; Eugénie in August 1860; Alice in March 1863; ...
Onésime, père's fifth and youngest son Athanase married Clara, daughter of fellow Acadians Drosin Boudreaux and Adélaïde Duhon, at the Abbeville church in July 1854. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Omer in June 1855; Adélaïde in June 1857; Ploucide, perhaps Placide, in December 1858; and Eva in April 1870--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1855 and 1870. None of Athanase's children married by 1870.
Salvator's younger son Jean dit Chapeau was still an infant when his family took him into exile in the fall of 1755 and still very young when he followed them into imprisonment, to New Orleans, and Cabahannocer. In 1777, in his early 20s, still a bachelor, he followed older brother Marin, now married, and older cousin Jean dit Neveu to the Attakapas District. It was the younger Jean, called Chapeau for the kind of hat he wore, who established the Moutons as one of the most influential Acadian families in Louisiana. At Attakapas in June 1783, at age 29, he married Marie-Marthe, called Marthe, teenage daughter of New Orleans retired surgeon Antoine Borda, a native of Châteaudun near Orléans in northwestern France, and his Acadian wife Marguerite Martin dit Barnabé, who, like Jean, was a native of Chignecto. Marguerite was the widow of René Robichaud and, with him and two daughters, had come to Louisiana with the Broussards from Halifax in February 1765. Jean dit Chapeau and Marthe settled at Carencro at the northern edge of the Attakapas District. Their children, born there, included Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste and Jean, fils, in April 1784; Marie-Modeste in February 1787; Marie-Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, in February 1789; Joseph in January 1791; François in November 1792; Marie-Marthe in 1794 and baptized at Attakapas, age 5 1/2 months, in May 1795; Charles born in March 1797; a son, name unrecorded, died eight days after his birth in March 1799; Louis, also called Jean-Louis and Don Louis, born in August 1800; Pierre, called Pierre-Treville, in November 1802 but died "at his parents' home" at Carencro, age 6, in October 1808; Alexandre born in November 1804; Antoine Émile, called Émile, in January 1807; Césaire in February 1809; Célestine or Céleste in February 1811; and a son, name unrecorded, died at birth in November 1816--15 children, 11 sons and four daughters, between 1784 and 1816. According to family historians, the success of this branch of the Mouton family may be attributed not only to Jean's ambition in acquiring land and accumulating a fortune, but also to the well-educated Marthe, "who introduced her children to the French intellectual tradition, a trait retained by most of their descendants." Jean and brother Marin purchased much of their land from the remnants of the Atakapas nation, including an 1802 purchase of 4,251 acres near Bayou Cypress Point on the west side of the lower Vermilion River, from one of the last Atakapas chiefs. However, after Louisiana became a part of the United States the following year, federal officials refused to certify some of the Mouton land claims. No matter, Jean dit Chapeau became a cattleman and later a prominent cotton and sugar planter in present-day Lafayette Parish. As early as 1812, he owned 28 slaves on his Carencro plantation. He claimed tracts of land as far west as the Mermentau River, where he probably herded cattle. In 1824, a year after Lafayette Parish was created from St. Martin Parish, he helped establish the village of Moutonville, soon renamed Vermilionville, now the city of Lafayette, on property he owned at Grand Prairie on Bayou Vermilion. He donated a dozen lots in his village for the new parish courthouse and a village square. A succession for wife Marie Martha, as she was called, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in June 1832. Jean dit Chapeau died in Lafayette Parish in November 1834, age 80 (the recording priest said 79), a widower. He was buried in the cemetery behind the church in Vermilionville on land he had donated for a new church parish in 1821. The church is now the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, named in honor of Jean Mouton's patron saint. Daughters Marie-Modeste, Adélaïde, Marie Marthe, and Céleste married into the Potier, Bernard, Malchaux, Dugas, and Guidry families. Chapeau's eight remaining sons also married, and all but one of the lines endured. Most of his sons and grandsons, especially his son Alexandre, did well in life, becoming prominent cattlemen, sugar planters, or cotton growers in the old Attakapas and Opelousas districts. Alexandre served as the first popularly-elected governor of Louisiana; a grandson was briefly lieutenant governor; and another grandson, a graduate of West Point, became a Confederate general and died in action during the War of 1861-65. Jean's descendants became the quintessential "genteel Acadians." One would be hard-pressed, in fact, to find a more distinguished family line in South Louisiana. Interestingly, many of Jean's descendants married their cousins.
Oldest son Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste and Jean, fils, married cousin Marie Angélique, called Angélique, daughter of fellow Acadians Claude Martin and Marie Babin, at Attakapas in June 1801. The settled at Grande Pointe on upper Bayou Teche and at nearby La Butte on upper Bayou Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Marie-Arsène in February 1802 but died at age 1 in March 1803; Jean Sosthène, also called Sosthène Jean and Jean Baptiste Sosthène, born in April 1804; Marie Cidalise, called Cidalise, in September 1808; Edmond, also called Edmond Eugène, in June 1811; and another Arsène in c1818. At age 50, Jean, fils remarried to Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of James Andrews or Andrus and Cécile Robertson, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in March 1834. Their child, name unrecorded, died at age 4 days in October 1835--six children, at least three daughters and two sons, by two wives, between 1802 and 1835. Jean, fils, called "Jean of Mermentau River" by the Vermilionville priest who recorded his burial, died in May 1837. The priest said Jean died "at age 55 yrs." He was 52. Youngest daughter Arsène, by his first wife, entered the female academy at Grand Coteau in October 1828, age 10, and remained until September 1830. She evidently did not marry. Daughter Marie Cidalise, by his first wife, married into the Antoine and Voorhies families. Jean, fils's two sons also married.
Older son Jean Sosthène, also called Sosthène Jean and Jean Baptiste Sosthène, from first wife Angélique Martin, married Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, daughter of Joseph Latiolais and Marie Françoise Nezat of La Pointe on the upper Teche, at the St. Martinville church in May 1822. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Jean Joseph Sosthène, called Joseph Sosthène and Sosthène Joseph, in November 1824; Louis Alexandre Sidney, called L. A. Sidney, Sidney, and Sydney in December 1826; Françoise Élodie, called Élodie, in the 1820s; Françoise Angélique Zenaïde in November 1830 but died the following July; Stanislas Correar or Correarde, called Correarde, born in May 1832 but died at age 5 1/2 in October 1837; Jacques Alcé or Alcide born in February 1834 but died at age 6 1/2 in October 1840; Françoise Marthe Anglina born in early 1836 and baptized at age 1 year, 1 month, in February 1837; Philomène Zilia or Zélia, called Zélia, born in March 1838; Marie Charlotte Isma or Ismène, called Ismène, in April 1841; and Charles Auguste, called Auguste, in August 1841[sic, probably 1842 or 1842]. A succession for wife Eugénie, naming her husband, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in October 1844. Jean Sosthène remarried to Célestine Vavasseur at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1846. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Joseph Edmond, called Edmond le jeune, in August 1848; François Émile, called Émile, in February 1850; Eugène Emma in April 1852; Marie Estelle in April 1854; Benjamin in May 1856; and Marie Idea, called Idea, in September 1858--16 children, eight sons and eight daughters, by two wives, between 1824 and 1858. By 1860, Jean Sosthène had become a "great planter": he held 56 slaves on his plantation in Lafayette Parish, owned $18,000 in real property, and $28,800 in personal property (mostly the value of his slaves). Jean Sosthène died in Lafayette Parish in February 1863, age 58. His succession, naming his wives, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in March. One wonders if his death was war-related. Daughters Élodie, Zélia, and Ismène, by his first wife, married into the Olivier, Mouton, and Martin families by 1870, one of them to a cousin who became a Confederate general who died in the war. Three of Jean Sosthène's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Jean Joseph Sosthène, by first wife Eugénie Latiolais, acquired, according to a family historian, the first part of his property that became Walnut Grove plantation in Lafayette Parish in 1851, in his late 20s. Jean Joseph Sosthène, at age 27, married cousin Henriette Odèïde, called Odèïde, 17-year-old daughter of former governor Alexandre Mouton and his first wife Célestine Zélia Rousseau, his great uncle and great aunt, at the Vermilionville church in January 1852. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Alexandre le jeune in May 1853; Antoine Bordat or Borda in August 1855; Charles Olivier in June 1856; Frédéric in June 1858; Alida in April 1860; Émile in c1859 but died at age 3 in February 1863; Frank born in April 1863; Alice in November 1864; Alfred in July 1866; Sidney le jeune in July 1868; Coralie in June 1870; ... According to the family historian, Jean Joseph Sosthène's plantation was destroyed in 1863, probably when the Federals marched through the Teche-Vermilion valley that spring and fall. During the war, Joseph Sosthène served as first sergeant of Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, the "Lafayette Prairie Boys," commanded by cousin Eraste Mouton. In September 1863, while his regiment was waiting to be exchanged, another cousin, Brigadier General Alfred Mouton, facilitated the promotion of Joseph Sosthène to major, and he evidently served on the general's staff. As the birth of his younger children reveal, Joseph Sosthène survived his regiment's travails at Vicksburg, as well as the war, and returned to his family and his ruined home.
Jean Sosthène's second son Louis Alexandre Sidney, called Sidney, from first wife Eugénie Latiolais, married cousin Marie Coralie, called Coralie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Mouton and Marie Cidalise Arceneaux, his great uncle and great aunt, at the Vermilionville church in December 1847. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Sidalisia or Sidalise, called Sidalise, in Lafayette Parish in May 1849; Joseph in St. Martin Parish in November 1851; Joseph Léonard in Lafayette Parish in July 1853; Martin in August 1856; Marie Noémi in September 1857; Albert near Breaux Bridge in July 1859; Charles André in September 1861 but died the following May; ... Daughter Sidalise married into the Martin family by 1870. None of Sidney's sons married by then.
Jean Sosthène's sixth son Edmond le jeune, by second wife Célestine Vavasseur, married Emérite, daughter of Horace Voorhies and his Acadian wife Uranie Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in February 1870. ...
Jean, fils's younger son Edmond Eugène, by first wife Angélique Martin, married Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, daughter of Cornelius Voorhies, père and Aimée Gradenigo of St. Landry Parish, at the Vermilionville church in July 1828; Edmond's sister Cidalise married Eulalie's brother Cornelius, fils. Edmond and Eulalie's children, born on the prairies, included Félix Flavius Horace, called Horace, in Lafayette Parish in June 1829 but died at age 14 in August 1843; Adolphe Alexandre born in January 1831; Marie Félicia in 1833 and baptized at age 9 months in February 1834; Marguerite Alix or Alice, called Alice, born in 1835 and baptized at age 15 months in August 1836; Eugène Édouard, called Édouard, born in late 1837 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 6 months, in May 1838; Agate Noémie, called Noémi, baptized at age 4 months in November 1839 but died at age 6 1/2 in October 1846; James Edmond born in the late 1830s or 1840s; Louise in c1843 but died at age 4 in October 1847; William Edgard in St. Martin Parish born in January 1848; and Paul in April 1850 but died at age 3 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in January 1854--10 children, six sons and four daughters, between 1829 and 1850. Edmond died in Lafayette Parish in November 1852, age 41 (the recording priest said 40). Daughters Marie Félicia and Alice married into the Broussard and Guidry families by 1870. Edmond's three remaining sons also married by then.
Second son Adolphe Alexandre married Marie Elmire, called Elmire, daughter of Charles Durand and his Acadian wife Amélie LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in December 1853. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Charles Edmond in September 1854 but died at age 14 months in December 1855; Elmire born in September 1855; and Marie Elmire in February 1857--three children, a son and two daughters, between 1854 and 1857. None of Adolphe Alexandre's children married by 1870.
Edmond Eugène's third son Édouard, residing in Lafayette Parish, married Marie Athanaise, called Athanaise, daughter of François Vavasseur and his Acadian wife Joséphine Arceneaux, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in November 1866. Daughter Joséphine Marie Martha was born in August 1869 and baptized at the Vermilionville church soon after her birth, so they did not remain on the river; ...
Edmond Eugène's fourth son James Edmond married Héloise or Éloise, another daughter of Charles Durand and Amélie LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in May 1870; they evidently had married earlier in a civil ceremony. Daughter Marie Joséphine Laurence was born in St. Martin Parish in March 1870, two months before her parents' church wedding; ...
Jean dit Chapeau's second son Joseph married Marie Cidalise, called Cidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Arceneaux and Marie Anne Breaux of Carencro, at the St. Martinville church in January 1809. They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Joseph, fils in July 1810 but died at age 4 1/2 in January 1815; Louis Valsin born in February 1812; Pierre, also called Pierre Léonard and Léonard, in January 1815 but died at age 16 1/2 in September 1831; Marie Émilie or Émilia, called Émilia, born in December 1816; Marie Émelie in September 1819; Philoctène, evidently a son, in March 1822; Marie Hélène or Élina in July 1824 but died at age 2 in July 1826; Marie Claire or Clara baptized at age 1 1/2 months in September 1826 but died at age 10 in May 1836; Willfrid Emar or Aymar, called Aymar, born in February 1830; and Marie Coralie in January 1832--10 children, five sons and five daughters, between 1810 and 1832. Joseph died in Lafayette Parish in August 1835. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 47 when he died. He was 44. His succession, calling his wife Cidalize, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following December. Daughter Émilia, the older one with the name, entered the female academy at Grand Coteau in April 1826, age 9, and remained until July 1829, a year before she married at age 13 1/2. Daughters Marie Émilia and Marie Coralie married into the Latiolais and Mouton families. Joseph's two remaining sons also married by 1870.
Second son Louis Valsin married Caroline, daughter of fellow Acadian Valéry Martin and his Creole wife Céleste Huval, at the St. Martinville church in September 1828. She gave him no children. Louis Valsin remarried to Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Dugas and Constance LeBlanc of Pont Breaux, now Breaux Bridge, at the St. Martinville church in November 1829. Their children, born on the prairies, included Louis Joseph or Joseph Louis in Lafayette Parish in October 1831; Roché in October 1832; Marie Corine in November 1833; Marie Marthe Cara, called Marthe, in September 1835; Élisa Coraïde, called Coraïde, baptized at age 40 days in November 1837; Félix born in August 1839; a child, name and age unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died in July 1840; Marie Caroline born in January 1841; Jacques Antoine in September 1842; Thomas in St. Martin Parish in May 1844; Marie Carmélite near Grand Coteau in June 1846; Valsaint or Valsin Alcides, called Alcide, in Lafayette Parish in January 1847; Berthe in February 1850; and Henry in May 1852--14 children, at least seven sons and six daughters, by one of his wives, between 1831 and 1852. Louis Valsin died in Lafayette Parish in November 1867. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Louis, père, as he called him, died "at age 55 to 60 yrs." He was 55. His succession, calling him Louis V. and naming his second wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in December. Daughters Marie Corine, Coraïde, Marie Caroline, Marthe, and Berthe married into the Olivier, Guidry, Martin, Breaux, and Butcher families by 1870. Four of Louis Valsin's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Louis Joseph or Joseph Louis, by second wife Carmélite Dugas, married cousin Marie Aspasie Ofillia or Ophelia, called Ophelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Mouton and his second wife Creole Marie Julie Latiolais, his great aunt and great uncle, at the Vermilionville church in June 1853. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Ann Clara in January 1855; Joseph Félix in May 1858 but died the following September; Philomène Cécile born in July 1859; Marguerite Helena in December 1861; Euchariste in September 1864; twins Marie and Marthe in June 1868; Marie Louise Eugénie in October 1869; ... None of Joseph Louis's children married by 1870.
Louis Valsin's second son Roché, by second wife Carmélite Dugas, married cousin Marie Émilie, called Émilie, daughter of Pierre Alexandre Latiolais and his Acadian wife Marie Émilia Mouton, at the Vermilionville church in February 1858. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Philomène Isaure in August 1859; Joseph in December 1860 but, called Joseph Coklin, died at age 3 1/2 in September 1864; Louis born in March 1862; Marie Émilie Zizine in October 1865; Marie Félix in March 1867; Marie Gustave in February 1869 but, called Gustave, died at age 6 months the following September; Homère born in March 1870; ...
Louis Valsin's fourth son Thomas, by second wife Carmélite Dugas, married Anaïse, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babin and Marie Terzille Thibodeaux, at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1870. ...
Louis Valsin's fifth son Alcide, by second wife Carmélite Dugas, married Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Rosémond Breaux and Geneviève Calixte Arceneaux, at the Vermilionville church in April 1869. ...
Joseph's fifth and youngest son Aymar married Marie Elvina or Adelina, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Treville Bernard and Marie Euphrasie Arceneaux, at the Vermilionville church in May 1851. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Pierre Joseph in July 1852; Marie Cidalise in August 1854; Anastasie died at age 4 months in September 1856; Marie Octavie born in August 1857; Marie Victorine in c1857, perhaps 1858, but died at age 8 in August 1865; Alexandre born in c1859 but died at age 4 in January 1863, on the eve of his father's going off to war; Louis Aymar born in April 1861; Marie Emma in December 1863; Marie Léa in March 1866; ... During the War of 1861-65, Aymar served in Company I of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Orleans Parish, which, under his cousin Colonel Alfred Mouton, fought at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862. Aymar was not with the unit then, however. He enlisted in Company I, a private, at Camp Bisland on the lower Teche in February 1863, age 33, probably as a conscript. He was captured at nearby Franklin on the lower Teche in April 1863 and paroled at Port Hudson on the river in May. He evidently returned to his unit and served in Company K of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jackets Battalion Louisiana Infantry, formed at Simmeport in November 1863. Aymar was present with the Consolidated 18th Regiment in January and February 1864 and may have fought with it in the Red River campaign that spring, a witness, perhaps, of his cousin Alfred's death at the Battle of Mansfield in April 1864. Aymar received his end-of-war parole at Alexandria in June 1865 and returned to his family. None of his remaining children married by 1870.
Jean dit Chapeau's third son François married Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dugas and Annette Thibodeaux of La Butte, at the St. Martinville church in May 1814. Their daughter Eugénie was born near Carencro in April 1815. She attended the Grand Coteau academy from April 1826, when she was 11, until July 1829, and married a Bernard cousin whose mother was a Dugas. François "committed suicide ... at his home" in Lafayette Parish in September 1827, while his daughter was at school and his father was still living. The priest who recorded the death said that François died "at age 38 years." He was 34. The priest noted that François, who according to church law at the time could not have had a church burial, was buried "by the inhabitants of this parish in the cemetery indicated by the Pastor," which probably was away from the graves of those who had not died at their own hand. François's succession, naming his wife and heir, daughter Eugénie, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in December 1827. François fathered no sons, at least none who appear in local church records, so his family line, except perhaps for its blood, did not endure.
Jean dit Chapeau's fourth son Charles le jeune married Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Dugas and Constance LeBlanc of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in May 1817. They settled at La Butte on the upper Vermilion. Their children, born there, included a son, name unrecorded, died "at the home of Mrs. François Bernard at La fausse pointe," age 1 month, in April 1818; and Charles, fils born in February 1819 but died in Lafayette Parish, age 20, in August 1839. The first succession for wife Arthémise, obviously post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in October 1821, the day Charles remarried to Marie Julie, called Julie, daughter of Joseph Latiolais and Marie Françoise Nezat of La Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in October 1821. Their children, born on the prairies, included a son died at birth in December 1822; another son, name unrecorded, died two days after his birth in July 1823[sic]; Charles Alexandre Homère, called Charles Homère, Charles Homer, Homère, and Aubert, born in December 1823[sic]; Charles Césaire Arthur born in 1825 and, called Charles Cesar Omer, baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 11 1/2 months, in May 1826 but, called Orther, died in Lafayette Parish, "age 30 yrs. & some months," in September 1855 (his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in November); Pierre Joseph Ernest born in January 1827 but died at age 2 1/2 in November 1829; Charles Eraste, called Eraste, born in June 1828; Marie Françoise Nizida or Nisida in April 1830; Marie Marthe Dalila in July 1831; Marie Céleste Lesima in February 1833; Charles Rosémond Gesner in February 1834; Zesnaire, perhaps a son, in c1835 but died at age 2 in August 1837; Marie Aspasie Ofillia or Ophelia, called Ophelia, born in February 1836; Marie Hortense Alice in August 1838, but, called Lise, died at age 3 1/2 in July 1842; Marie Élena born in February 1841; Marie Louise Eugénie in April 1843; and Jean Persifont in November 1847--18 children, 11 sons and seven daughters, by two wives, between 1818 and 1847. For some reason, a second succession for first wife Arthémise, long after she died, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in August 1836. Charles, père died in Lafayette Parish in April 1848, age 51. Daughter Marie Élena, by his second wife, "Entered Society" at the convent at Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in September 1860, age 19. Daughters Marie Françoise Nisida, Marie Marthe Dalila, Céleste Lesima, and Ophelia, also by his second wife, married into the Bienvenu and Mouton families, including two Bienvenu brothers and two Mouton cousins, one of them a first cousin, by 1870. Two of Charles le jeune's sons also married by then.
Fourth son Charles Homère, by second wife Julie Latiolais, was educated in local private schools, graduated from St. Charles College, Grand Coteau, read law, was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1844, and practiced law in Lafayette Parish. He married Henriette Celimène or Celimène Henriette, daughter of Lasty Dupré and Marie Berard, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in December 1848. Celimène was a granddaughter of former Louisiana governor Jacques Dupré. Charles Homère and Celimène's children, born on the prairies, included Charles Kossutt or Kossuth in Lafayette Parish in October 1849; Louise Charlote in July 1851; Marie Judith in January 1853; Émile Antoine in St. Landry Parish in April 1854; André or Andrew Herron in January 1855; Arthur Charles in October 1858; Julien Jouberty in August 1860; Joséphine Eugénie in February 1863; ... During the late antebellum period, Charles Homère served as appointed district attorney for the parishes of Lafayette, St. Landry, Vermilion, and Calcasieu. He served in the Louisiana state Senate and was elected the state's fifth lieutenant governor in 1855, serving as a Democrat. After resigning that office after March 1858, he was elected a district judge. During the War of 1861-65, he served as aide-de-camp to his first cousin, General Alfred Mouton. After the war, he practiced law again, in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes as well as in New Orleans. He was elected district attorney for St. Martin and Iberia parishes, and, resuming private practice, served as attorney for the Lafayette Parish police jury. Charles Homère, in his mid-40s, remarried to Marguerite Eméranthe or Emérite, daughter of Charles St. Maurice Olivier du Closel de Vezin and Charlotte Amynthe Berard, at the St. Martinville church in July or August 1867. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Charles Maurice in April 1868; Jean Homère in January 1870; Philip; Jérôme; Frank T.; ... Charles Homère died at Lafayette in March 1912, in his late 80s, and was buried in St. John the Evangelist Cemetery behind the cathedral. None of his children married by 1870.
Charles's seventh son Charles Eraste, called Eraste, from second wife Julie Latiolais, married Louise Corinne, called Corinne, daughter of Jean Joss Louaillier or Louiellier and Marie Carrière, at the Opelousas church in April 1856. Their children, born on the prairies, included Jean Jules in Lafayette Parish in January 1857; Marie Mathilde in St. Landry Parish in February 1860; Philomène Amélie in February 1862 but, called Amélie, died at age 10 months (the recording priest said 7 months) in March 1863, when her father was serving at Vicksburg; Philomène Pauline born in September 1863; Marie Monique, called Monique, in April 1865; Joseph Charles in November 1866; Marie Joséphine in August 1868; Anne Ema or Emma, called Emma, in May 1870; ... During the war, Eraste served as captain of Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, the "Lafayette Prairie Boys," raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought, and was captured, at Vicksburg, Mississippi. As the birth dates of his younger children reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family. He is buried in the cemetery behind the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette.
Jean dit Chapeau's sixth son Louis le jeune, also called Jean Louis and Don Louis, married Marie dite Lulotte, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste dit Mano Cormier and Pauline Martin of La Butte, at the St. Martinville church in February 1817. They settled at Grand Prairie. Their children, born there, included Marie Arsènne, called Arsènne, in February 1818; Euphémie in July 1820; and Louis, fils, also called Don or Jean Louis, fils, posthumously in November 1822--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1818 and 1822. Don Louis, père died in what soon would become Lafayette Parish in September 1822, age 22. His succession, listing his minor children--Arcène, age 5; and Euphémia, age 3--was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the month of his death. Another succession, naming his wife and children--Marie Arsène, age 7; Euphémie, age 5; and Louis, age 2--was filed at the Lafayette Parish courthouse at Vermilionville in April 1825. Older daughter Marie Arsène, called Arsène, attended the Grand Coteau academy from October 1828, when she was age 10, until September 1830. Daughters Marie Arsène and Euphémie married into the Chaix and Creighton families. Don Louis's son also married.
Only son Don Louis, fils married Célestine, daughter of François Bordelon and Clarisse Voorhies of Avoyelles Parish, at the Vermilionville church in April 1840. Their children, born on the prairies, included a child, name and age unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died in July 1840; and Erneste born in October 1841. Don Louis, fils's son did not marry by 1870.
Jean dit Chapeau's eighth son Alexandre was educated by his mother in his early years, but as a teenager he was sent to Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., a Jesuit school, where he learned to speak English. Back in Louisiana, in June 1822, at age 17, Alexandre filed a succession at the St. Martinville courthouse, naming his younger brothers Émile and Césaire as his heirs. At age 22, Alexandre married Célestine Zélie or Zélia, called Zélia, daughter of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Céleste Dupré of Opelousas and granddaughter of former Louisiana governor Jacques Dupré, at the Opelousas church in September 1826. They settled at Grand Prairie on Bayou Vermilion, site of present-day Lafayette, and at Carencro. Their children, born on the prairies, included Jean Jacques Alexandre Alfred, called Alfred, at Opelousas in 1829; Marie Célestine or Céleste Matilde in April 1831; Alexandre Ambroise, called Ambroise, in Lafayette Parish in June 1832 but died at age 1 in July 1833; Henriette Odèïde, called Odèïde, born in March 1834; and Marie Cycilis Acadi baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1 month, in August 1836 but, called Cécilia, may have died at age 27 (the recording priest said 26) in October 1863 (one wonders if her death was war-related). Alexandre practiced law for a while, but he also turned to planting. In the early 1830s, the voters of Lafayette Parish elected him to the state legislature. He served as speaker of the state House of Representatives from 1831-32, when he was not yet 30. Wife Zélia died in November 1837 while Alexandre was serving a short term as United States Senator. At age 37, he remarried to Anne Emma Kitchel, called Emma, 25-year-old daughter of Charles K. Gardner of New York, a former high ranking army officer and clerk of the U.S. Treasury Department, in New York City in January 1842. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Lyssa in c1845; Charles Alexandre in c1847; Paul Joseph Julien in November 1848; Marie in June 1851; Georges Clinton in September 1853; Alex Alida Gardner in July 1855; and William Rufus, called Rufus, in January 1857--a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1829 and 1857. Alexandre, a Jacksonian Democrat, was Louisiana's first popularly-elected governor, serving from 1843 to 1846. He became president of the state railroad commission in the early 1850s, when he was recorded as owning 91 slaves on his plantation outside of Vermilionville. He named his Greek-revival mansion on Bayou Vermilion Île Copal for the trees that grew around it. In the late 1850s, he led a vigilance committee against marauding cattle rustlers who preyed on local cattle herds from their hideouts in the prairies west of Vermilionville. In early 1861, he served as president of the Louisiana secession convention, but soon afterwards, for the first time in his distinguished political career, he was defeated in a bid for office, this time for a seat in the Confederate Senate. He survived the War of 1861-65, though it devastated him personally and financially, and died at his home near Vermilionville in February 1885, age 80. Daughters Marie Céleste Mathilde, Odèïde, and Marie, by both wives, married into the Gardner, Mouton, and Guidry families by 1870. Of the govnernor's sons, only the oldest married by then.
Oldest son Alfred, by first wife Zélia Rousseau, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Class of 1850, at age 21. He married cousin Philomène Zilia or Zélia, called Zélia, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Sosthène Mouton, his first cousin, and his first wife Creole Marie Eugénie Latiolais, at the Vermilionville church in February 1854. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Jacques Dupré in February 1855; Zilia Rousseau in October 1857; Charlotte Ismène in March 1860; Émilie in May 1862; and Cécilia in March 1864--five children, a son and four daughters, between 1855 and 1864. Alfred served as a brigadier general in the Louisiana militia during the late 1850s. He owned 13 slaves on his Carencro farm in 1860. In October 1861, the governor of Louisiana appointed Alfred colonel of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry. Nine of the regiment's 10 companies were raised in South Louisiana, and no regiment in the Confederate army contained as many Cajuns as this one. After being wounded at Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862 while leading his regiment in action, Alfred was promoted to brigadier general and given a new command that he took to South Louisiana in the autumn of 1862; his old regiment, the 18th Louisiana Infantry, and its later configuration, the Consolidated 18th Louisiana Infantry, was part of the brigade. Alfred did not survive the war--on 8 April 1864, during the Red River Campaign, he was killed in action at the Battle of Mansfield, age 35. A daughter had been born in Lafayette Parish two weeks before his death. He was buried in St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Lafayette, not far from his father and grandfather. An imposing monument in the form of an obelisk marks the general's final resting place. A statue of him, which served as Lafayette Parish's Confederate monument from 1922, stood in front of the parish courthouse in downtown Lafayette until July 2021, when it was removed at the insistence of "woke" protesters. It has since been re-erected near the Confederate cemetery at Camp Moore outside of Kentwood, Tangipahoa Parish, where the general's South Louisiana regiment was organized in October 1861. None of the general's children married by 1870.
Jean dit Chapeau's ninth son Antoine Émile, called Émile, married Marie Madeleine Gadrate, Gadrat, Gardrate, or Guadratte, called Gadrate, another daughter of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Céleste Dupré of St. Landry Parish, at the Opelousas church in April 1828; Gadrate was a sister of Émile's older brother Alexandre's first wife Zélia. Émile and Gadrate settled at what became known as Pointe Émile Mouton in present-day Acadia Parish. Their children, born there, included Alexandre Antoine baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 4 hours, in March 1829 but died 10 days later; a daughter, name unrecorded, born in c1830 but died at age 7 in January 1837; Joseph Antoine Alcide, called Joseph Alcide and Alcide, born in January 1831; Marie Coraïde in July 1832; Antoiniss, perhap a daughter, baptized at age 9 months in October 1834; Onésime, also called Onésime Rousseau, O. Rousseau, O. R., and Rousseau, born in August 1835; Marie Palmire, called Palmire, in May 1837 but died at age 2 (the recording priest said 15 months) in May 1839; Pierre Ignace, called P. Ignace and Ignace, born in the late 1830s; Ambroise in May 1840; Jean Jacques Alexandre le jeune in October 1843; and Gadrate in the early 1840s--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1829 and 1843. "Mrs. Émile Mouton" died in Lafayette Parish in June 1861, age 45. Antoine Émile, called Émile by the recording priest, died probably at Pointe Émile Mouton in March 1865, age 58 (the recording priest said 59). His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following September. Was his death war-related? Daughter Gadrate may have married a Dupré cousin by 1870. Five of Émile's sons also married by then.
Second son Joseph Antoine Alcide, called Alcide, may have married fellow Acadian Amelia Broussard in Lafayette Parish in the early 1850s. She evidently gave him no children. Alcide remarried to cousin Aurelie or Aurelia, daughter of Lasty Dupré and Honton Berard, at the Opelousas church in February 1855. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Octavie in June 1856; Antoine Alcide in January 1858; Cornelius Ambroise in October 1859 but died at age 9 in November 1868; Marie born in January 1861; Joseph in July 1864[sic]; and Célimène Cora in August 1864[sic]--six children, three daughters and three sons, between 1856 and 1864. Alcide died in Lafayette Parish in January 1865. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Alcide died "at age 36 yrs." He was 34. His succession, naming his second wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in March. Was his death war-related? None of his children married by 1870.
Émile's third son Onésime Rousseau, called Rousseau, married Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians André Martin, fils and Émilie Guidry, at the Vermilionville church in April 1857. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Valéry, also called Valéry Rousseau, in July 1859 but, called V. R., died at age 8 (the recording priest said 10) in September 1867; Émilie Gadrat born in July 1861; Alcée in April 1863; David in March 1865; and André in June 1867--five children, four sons and a daughter, between 1859 and 1867. Onésime Rousseau died in Lafayette Parish in October 1867. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who called him Rousseau, did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give Onésime Rousseau's age at the time of his death. He would have been age 32. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in December. One can only imagine Clarisse Martin's heartache during that terrible autumn of 1867, when she lost a son and her husband only weeks apart.
Émile's fourth son Pierre Ignace married Arsène, daughter of fellow Acadian Valéry Martin and his Creole wife Lodoisca Dejean, at the Vermilionville church in June 1864. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Émile Ignace in April 1866; Jean Jacques Rousseau in June 1868; ...
Émile's fifth son Ambroise married Marie Lodoiska, called Lodoiska, daughter of Adam Rhiel, Rhul, Ruth, or Baul and Célestine Vavasseur, at the Vermilionville church in August 1864. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Philomène Ada or Ida, unless they were twins, in July 1865; Marie Alice in July 1867; Marie Héloise in May 1869; Josèphe Rhule, perhaps a son, in October 1870 (but for some reason the Vermilionville priest who recorded the baptism gave only the mother's name); ...
Émile's sixth and youngest son Jean Jacques married Émilie, daughter of Joseph Beraud and Félicienne Dejean, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1864. They settled near Arnaudville on Bayou Fusilier near the boundary between St. Landry and St. Martin parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Beraud in January 1866; Marie Élisée in January 1867; Marie Carmen in November 1869; ...
Jean dit Chapeau's tenth son Césaire married first cousin Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians David Guidry and Marie Modeste Borda, his uncle and aunt, at the Grand Coteau church in June 1829. Clarisse was a sister of Césaire's sister Céleste's husband Joseph. Césaire and Clarisse remained near Grand Coteau. Their son Guillaume or William Césaire, called William, was born there in June 1831. Wife Clarisse's succession, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in October 1840. Césaire's first succession, not post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1841, probably in anticipation of his remarriage to Féliciènne, daughter of Barthelemus Dejean and Félicité Boisdore and widow of Abraham Andrus, at the Opelousas church in February 1841. She gave him no more children. Césaire died in Lafayette Parish in July 1843, age 34. His post-mortem succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse a week after his death. His son married.
Only son William, by first wife Clarisse Guidry, married first cousin Marie Céleste Lesima, daughter of Charles Mouton and his second wife Creole Marie Julie Latiolais, his uncle and aunt, at the Vermilionville church in May 1852. Their children, born on the prairies, included Joseph Césaire in Lafayette Parish in February 1853; Marie Clarisse in St. Landry Parish in January 1855; Charles Latiolais in Lafayette Parish in August 1857 but, called Joseph Latiolais, died at age 4 1/2 in April 1862; Henriette born in August 1864; Joachim William in October 1867; ... During the War of 1861-65, William served first as captain of Company F of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana; the 18th Regiment, for a time, was commanded by William's first cousin, Colonel Alfred Mouton. William enlisted in Company F in October 1861, when he was 30. He was promoted to major in July 1862, when the regiment was at Tupelo, Mississippi. He served on the staff of the 18th Infantry and then on the staff of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jackets Battalion Infantry, which was created at Simmesport, Louisiana, in November 1863. On 8 April 1864, the same day as the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, in which the 18th Consolidated Infantry played a conspicuous role and in which his cousin Alfred, now a brigadier general, was killed in action, William was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He served as second in command of the Consolidated 18th Regiment, under Colonel Joseph Collins, and, according to some Confederate records, as a major on the staff of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, also called the 4th Louisiana Cavalry, raised in South Louisiana in March 1864. As the birth of his youngest son attests, he survived the war and returned to his family. None of his children married by 1870.
Louis (c1737-?) Mouton
Louis, seventh and youngest son of Sr. Jean
Mouton and Marie Girouard, born at
Chignecto in c1737, escaped the British roundup there in the fall of 1755 and followed older brother Salvator to the Gulf
of St. Lawrence shore. He married Marie-Modeste, another
Jean dit Neveu (c1740-1802) à Jean Mouton
Jean dit Neveu, the Nephew, only son of Jacques Mouton and Marguerite Caissie and nephew of Salvator and Louis, born at Chignecto in c1740, followed his family to South Carolina in 1755 but evidently returned with them to greater Acadia via boat the following spring. He joined his uncles Pierre, Salvator, and Louis on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and probably was with them at Restigouche in 1760. He either surrendered to, or was captured by, British forces in the area soon after the fight there that summer and joined his uncles in the prison compound at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, for the rest of the war. Neveu married Élisabeth, or Isabelle, Bastarache, a kinswoman of his uncle's wives, in the early 1760s, probably at Fort Edward. Neveu was counted at Fort Edward in July and August 1762 with a family of three, so he may have fathered a child by then whose name has been lost to history. He and Élisabeth, now childless, followed his uncles Salvator and Louis to Louisiana via Cap-Français in 1765. Élisabeth was pregnant on the voyage. She gave birth to daughter Marguerite-Françoise at New Orleans in late November 1765. After they baptized their daughter at the St.-Louis church on Christmas Day, they settled near his uncles at Cabahannocer, where Spanish officials counted them in April 1766. Élisabeth gave Neveu more children there: Jean-Frédéric, called Frédéric, born in c1769; Nicolas-Joseph, called Joseph, in c1770; Sylvestre in c1771; and Madeleine baptized at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in April 1773 but died at age 12 in April 1785--at least five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1765 and 1773, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. Later in the decade, Neveu, along with his first cousins Marin and Jean Mouton, crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled in the Attakapas District, where Spanish authorities counted Jean dit Neveu and his family in May 1777. By then, Neveu owned three slaves and five head of cattle. Wife Élisabeth died at Attakapas in April 1798, in her early 50s. Jean dit Neveu did not remarry. Like his cousins, he also claimed land as far west as the Mermentau River valley in the Opelousas District, but he and most of his descendants, like those of his cousins, remained in Attakapas. Jean dit Neveu died there in August 1802. The priest who recorded the burial said that Jean was age 58 when he died. He probably was closer to 62. Neither of his daughters married. His three sons married and settled in what became Lafayette Parish, but only two of the lines endured. His oldest son's line was especially robust.
Oldest son Jean-Frédéric, called Frédéric, followed his family to Attakapas, where he married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Cormier, fils and his first wife Marguerite Bourg, in June 1788. They settled on Bayou Vermilion and at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Marguerite-Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, in October 1789; Jean-Sylvestre, called Sylvestre le jeune, in May 1791; Jean-Éloi, called Éloi, in c1792 and baptized, age 2 1/2, in May 1795; Marie-Madeleine born in 1794 and baptized, age 6 months, in May 1795; Jean-Augustin, called Augustin, born in December 1796; Jean-Florent in February 1799; Marguerite-Emérante in April 1801; Marie-Marcellite, called Marcellite, in March 1803; Marie, probably Marie Belzire, in May 1805; Anastasie in April 1807; Cyprien in March 1810; and Ursin, also called Jean Ursin, in December 1811--a dozen children, six daughters and six sons, between 1789 and 1811. Frédéric died "at his home" on the Vermilion in March 1815, age 46. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in July. Daughters Adélaïde, Marie Madeleine, Marguerite Emérante, Marcellite, Anastasie, and Marie Belzire married into the Arceneaux, Comeaux, Caruthers, McBride, Ware, Girard, and De La Corne families, one of them to a French doctor. Five of Frédéric's sons also married, two of them to Hispanic sisters, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Jean Sylvestre, called Sylvestre le jeune, married Marie Euphrosine, called Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Breaux and Marie Catherine Arceneaux of Carencro, at the St. Martinville church in December 1813. They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Frédéric Demosthènes in November 1814 but, called Demosthènes, died at age 40 (the recording priest said 39) in November 1854; Jean Rosémond, called Rosémond, born in February 1816; a son, name unrecorded, died the day after his birth in June 1818; Tiburce Placide or Placide Tiburce born in April 1820; Eugène Lucien in April 1822 but died at age 7 months the following December; Jude François or François Jules, called Jules, born in January 1824; Jean Livodé, Livodet, or Livaudais, called Livaudais, in May 1826; Joseph in c1831 but died at age 3 in October 1834; and Joseph Babilas baptized at Vermilionville, age 3 months, in April 1833--nine children, all sons, between 1814 and 1833. Sylvestre le jeune died probably at Carencro in January 1849. The Grand Coteau priest who recorded the burial said that Silvestre died "at age 60 yrs." He was 57. Four of his remaining sons married by 1870, two of them to sisters.
Second son Jean Rosémond, called Rosémond, married cousin Marie Estelle, called Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Comeaux and Céleste Breaux, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in March 1841. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Céleste Octavie, called Octavie, in September 1841 but died at age 2 in September 1843; Marie Euphrosine, called Euphrosine, born in July 1843; Marie Céleste in December 1847; Marie Clémence in December 1849; Pierre Auguste in December 1851; Marie near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in March 1854; and Hélène in November 1860--seven children, six daughters and a son, between 1841 and 1860. Daughter Euphrosine married into the Prejean and Sonnier families by 1870. Rosémond's son did not marry by then.
Sylvestre le jeune's fourth son Placide Tiburce married cousin Marie Rosalie Azèlle or Azélie, another daughter of Julien Comeaux and Céleste Breaux, at the Vermilionville church in October 1845. They settled near Carencro. Their children, born there, included a child, name unrecorded, died at age 1 month between March and May 1847; Rosalie Erma born in October 1848; Marie Emérida in September 1850; Joseph Alcide in October 1852; Kleber in April 1854; Euphémie in March 1857; and a child, name unrecorded, died at birth in September 1859--seven children, at least three daughters and two sons, between 1847 and 1859. During the War of 1861-65, Placide evidently served in Company K of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Reserve Corps, raised in Lafayette Parish late in the war to fight local Jayhawkers. He survived the war and returned to his family. None of his remaining children married by 1870.
Sylvestre le jeune's sixth son Jules married Azélie or Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babineaux and Marie Cléonide Dugas, at the Vermilionville church in May 1843. Their son Joseph Jules or Jude, called Jules, fils or Jude, was born in Lafayette Parish in May 1844. Jules, père died in Lafayette Parish in April 1849, age 25. His succession, calling his wife Azélie, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in June. His son married by 1870, after he finished his Confederate service.
During the War of 1861-65, only son Jules, fils, called Jule in Confederate records, served as a private in Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, commanded by a cousin, Captain Eraste Mouton, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Jules, fils survived the war, returned to his family, and married Anonciade or Armontiade, daughter of fellow Acadians Placide Broussard and Aurelia Broussard, at the Vermilionville church in January 1866. ...
Sylvestre le jeune's seventh son Jean Livaudais married, at age 39, Marceline or Marcellite, daughter of Pierre Hernandez and Marie Domingue, at the Vermilionville church in December 1865. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Pierre Hippolyte in October 1867; Marie Philomène in February 1870; ...
Frédéric's second son Jean Éloi, called Éloi, married, in his early 40s, Carmélite, daughter of Jean Domingue and Bastina Enand of Lafourche Interior Parish, at the Vermilionville church in December 1834. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Michel or Mitchel Éloi baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1 month, in October 1835 but died at age 6 1/2 in April 1842; Janette Célina, called Célina, baptized at age 1 month in July 1837; Étienne Raphaël or Gabriel born in August 1839; Jean in November 1841; Jean Dermas in November 1843 but, called Darmas, died at age 22 (the recording priest said 19) in March 1865 (was his death war-related?); a child, name unrecorded, born in c1845 but died at age 3 in June 1848; Marie Laure, called Laure, born in August 1848; and Joseph born in March 1851 but died at age 11 in April 1862--eight children, at least five sons and two daughters, between 1835 and 1851. Éloi died in Lafayette Parish in September 1851. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Éloi died "at age 60 yrs." He was 56. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September 1854. Daughters Célina and Laure married into the Albarado and Gilbert families by 1870. Two of Éloi's sons also married by then.
Second son Étienne Raphaël or Gabriel married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Terence Breaux and Louise Dugas, at the Vermilionville church in November 1858. She evidently gave him no children. Raphaël/Gabriel remarried to Eliska, daughter of fellow Acadian Rosémond LeBlanc and his Creole wife Virginie Langlinais, at the Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1866. ...
Éloi's third son Jean married cousin Victoire or Victorine, daughter of Joseph Hernandez and Marie Carmélite Domingue, at the Vermilionville church in February 1867. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Ophelia in December 1867; Jean Sidney in October 1870; ...
Frédéric's third son Jean Augustin, called Augustin, married Marie Françoise, called Françoise, daughter of Pierre Baudoin and Marguerite Lemaire of St. Charles Parish and Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in December 1814. They settled on the Vermilion. Their children, born there, included Toussaints or Toussaint in November 1816; Éloi le jeune in March 1817[sic, probably 1818]; Anastasie in January 1819; Marie in March 1820; Onésime le jeune in March 1822; another Onésime le jeune in March 1823; Adélaïde in June 1824 but died at age 17 months in November 1825; Belzire, perhaps Bélisaire, born in late 1826 and baptized at age 3 months in February 1827; and a son, name unrecorded, died four hours after his birth in September 1828--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1816 and 1828. A succession for wife Françoise, perhaps post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in March 1830. Daughter Marie married into the Chargeois family. Two of Augustin's sons also married.
Second son Éloi le jeune married Marie, daughter of Noël Gisclard and Charlotte Frederick of St. James Parish, at the Vermilionville church in October 1838. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Zénaïde or Azénaïde in June 1839; Étienne in the late 1830s or early 1840s; Anastasie in February 1841; and Gustave in February 1843--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1839 and 1843. Daughters Marie Zénaïde and Anastasie married into the Herpin and Richard families by 1870. Éloie le jeune's two sons also married by then, to sisters.
Older son Étienne married Remisia, Remizia, or Lemisia, daughter of fellow Acadians Joachim Broussard and Carmélite Comeaux, at the Youngsville church in November 1865. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Alcée Éloi in September 1866 but, called Éloi Alcée, died at age 3 in December 1869; Anaïse born in March 1868; ...
Éloi le jeune's younger son Gustave married Eulalie, another daughter of Joachim Broussard and Carmélite Comeaux, and widow of Rosémond Langlinais, at the Youngsville church in February 1866. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Carmélite in December 1866 but died at age 1 in August 1867; Alzina born in January 1868; Albert in September 1869; ...
Augustin's third or fourth son Onésime le jeune married cousin Anathasie or Nathalie Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dugas and Marie Marthe Mouton, at the Vermilionville church in February 1841. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Pierre Alse, perhaps Alcée, in January 1842 but died the following August; Honoré Césare or Césaire born in November 1843; Jean, John A., or John O. in the 1840s; Édouard in June 1847; Julie Félicianne, called Félicianne, in October 1849; Marie Marthe in March 1852; Philippe Albert in August 1854; Maurice in December 1857; Marie Louise in April 1860; Regina in September 1865; ... Daughter Félicianne married into the Gladu family by 1870. One of Onésime le jeune's sons also married by then.
Third son Jean or John O. married Alvina, daughter of fellow Acadian Onésime Boudreaux and his Creole wife Joséphine Castille, at the Vermilionville church in May 1867. Their son Jean Franklin was born in Lafayette Parish in June 1868; ...
Frédéric's fifth son Cyprien married cousin Élise or Éliza, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dugas and Marie Marthe Mouton, at the Vermilionville church in December 1833. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Azénaïde, Zénayde, or Zénaïde baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in April 1836; Marie Zoraïde, called Zoraïde, born in November 1837; and Marie Alida, called Alida, in May 1840--three children, all daughters, between 1836 and 1840. Cyprien's successions, probably post-mortem, one of them naming his wife, were filed at the St. Martinville and Vermilionville courthouses in March 1846. He would have been age 36 that year. Daughters Azénaïde, Alida, and Zoraïde married into the Arceneaux, Dugas, Bonneau, and Richard families, one of them, Alida, twice, so the blood of the family line likely endured.
Frédéric's sixth and youngest son Ursin married Sébastiènne, called Bastiènne, Bastiana, and Augustine, another daughter of Jean Domingue and Bastina Enand of Lafourche Interior Parish, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in May 1838. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Zépharine or Séverine, called Séverine, baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 15 days, in September 1838; Jean Frédéric le jeune born in St. Martin Parish in October 1840 but, called Frédéric, died at age 17 1/2 (the recording priest said 18) in June 1858; François born in December 1842 but died in Vermilion Parish, age 21, in August 1862 (was his death war-related?); Alexandre born in February 1845 but died at age 5 (the recording priest said 6) in May 1850; Raimond or Raymond born in January 1847 but, called Rhémond, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 3) in September 1849; Amélite born in September 1849; and a child, name and age unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish in August 1851--seven children, at least two daughters and four sons, between 1838 and 1851. Daughter Séverine married into the Hernandez family by 1870. None of Ursin's sons married.
Jean dit Neveu's second son Nicolas-Joseph, called Joseph, married Marie-Josèphe Doucet, perhaps a fellow Acadian, at Attakapas in January 1788. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie in July 1792; and Émilie in c1816. Daughter Émilie attended the Grand Coteau academy from April 1826, when she was age 10, until July 1829. Neither of Joseph's daughters seems to have married. Joseph does not seem to have fathered any sons, at least none who appear in local church records, so his line of the family may not have endured.
Jean dit Neveu's third and youngest son Sylvestre married Susanne dite Suzette, also called Josette, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Comeaux and Anastasie Savoie, at Attakapas in October 1791 They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Céleste in c1792 and baptized, age 2 1/2, in May 1795; Sylvestre, fils born in December 1795 but died "at the home of Aurien[Aurelien] Braud on Bayou Vermillion[sic]," age 21, in July 1817 (his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August); Marie-Aspasie, called Aspasie, born in January 1798; Jean, also called Jean-Eugène and Eugène, in August 1801; and Eugénie in June 1803 but died "at her home," age 4, in September 1807--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1792 and 1803. Sylvestre died at his home at Carencro in December 1814, age 43. His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following May and his widow Susanne's in December. Daughters Aspasie and Céleste married into the Prejean and Caruthers families. One of Sylvestre's sons also married.
Younger son Jean Eugène, called Eugène, married Cidalise Eugénie, called Eugénie, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Savoie and his German-Creole wife Madeleine Stelly of Opelousas, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1821. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, in April 1823; Sylvestre le jeune in August 1825; Joseph in January 1828; Joséphine in July 1830; Cidalise or Sydalise Eugénie in January 1833; Césaire in April 1835; a daughter, name unrecorded, died a few hours after birth in December 1837; Marie Félicia, called Félicia, born in July 1840; Félix in November 1843; and Omer or Homère in December 1846--10 children, five daughters and five sons, between 1823 and 1846. Daughters Madeleine, Cidalise/Sydalise, Joséphine, and Félicia married into the Robin, Kidder, and Richard families, two of them, Cidalise and Félicia, to Kidder brothers, by 1870. Three of Eugène's sons also married by then.
Second son Joseph married Azélie Marie or Marie Azélie, daughter of Louis Taylor or Teller and his Acadian wife Mélite Leger, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1853. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Eugénie in November 1854; Marie Émelie in March 1857; Joseph, fils in June 1860 but died at age 3 1/2 in December 1863; Eve born in April 1866; Louis in February 1869; ... Daughter Eugénie married into the Landry family by 1870.
Eugène's fourth son Félix married Clara, daughter of Jean Baptiste Kidder and Emélite Stelly, at the Arnaudville church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1866. They remained near Arnaudville. Daughter Marie Mathilda was born there in January 1868; ...
Eugène's fifth and youngest son Homère married cousin Marie Louise or Louisa, daughter of Don Louis Stelly and Célanie Morin, at the Grand Coteau church in December 1870. ...
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Two more members of the Mouton family, led by an older brother of Salvator and Louis, came to the colony in the late 1760s from the French Antilles. They also settled at Cabahannocer, but no new lasting family line came of it:
Charles (c1721-1798) Mouton
Charles, third son of Sr. Jean Mouton and Marie Girouard, born probably at Minas in c1721, married, in his mid-30s, Anne, daughter of Pierre Comeau and Susanne Bézier and widow of Sylvain Bourgeois, in c1755 probably at Chignecto. The British deported the family to South Carolina or Georgia in the fall of 1755. Anne gave Charles a son, Georges, born in c1756 perhaps in South Carolina or Georgia. They evidently were among the Acadians in the southern seaboard colonies allowed to return to greater Acadia by boat in the spring of 1756. If so, they got no farther than Long Island, New York, where colonial officials refused to allow them to go any farther and held them in the colony till the end of the war. A Charles Lamottin with wife and a child were sent to New Rochelle northeast of Manhattan in May 1756; this may have been Charles, Anne, and their infant son Georges. They evidently had another son, Abraham, born in New York, exact place and date unrecorded. After the war, Charles and his family did not follow most of their fellow exiles in New York to British Canada, but went, instead, to the French Antilles. Charles was counted at Champflores, Martinique, in January 1766 with wife Anne, a Bourgeois stepson and stepdaughter, and his two sons, the younger of whom may have died soon after the counting. Charles, Anne, and their remaining son emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in the late 1760s and settled at Cabahannocer near two of his younger brothers and a nephew. In the late 1770s, Charles and his family did not follow his nephews to the Attakapas District but remained on the river with his brother Louis. Charles died at Cabahannocer in November 1798, a widower. The priest who recorded the burial said that Charles died at "age 87 years." He may have meant 77. Charles's remaining son married, but the line did not endure.
Older son Georges followed his family to New York, Martinique, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where he married Rosalie-Victoire, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Gaudet and his first wife Marguerite Bourgeois, in January 1781. Rosalie, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, had come to the colony from Halifax in 1765 as an infant. Daughter Félicité-Madeleine, called Madeleine, was born at Cabahannocer in June 1788. Georges, called Georje Muton by the recording priest, died in St. James Parish in September 1829, in his early 70s. Wife Rosalie died there the following week, age 65. Daughter Madeleine married into the Oubre family on the river in 1804 and died near Convent, St. James Parish, age 41, in January 1822, seven years before her parents died. Georges and his wife had no sons, at least none who appear in local church records, so only the blood of his and his father's line may have endured in the Bayou State.
Jean Naquin dit L'Étoile, a master tailor, born in France in c1662, reached Acadia during the 1690s and married Marguerite, daughter of Jean Bourg and Marguerite Martin, at Port-Royal before 1698. In 1700, Jean purchased land from Étienne Pellerin at Béllaire on Rivière-au-Dauphin, today's Annapolis River, above Port-Royal. Jean died there in February 1706, in his mid-40s. Marguerite gave him five children, three sons and at least one daughter, who died three months after her birth. Two of their sons married into the Melanson and Blanchard families. They did not remain at Annapolis Royal but settled at Cobeguit at the eastern end of the Minas Basin before moving on to Île St.-Jean by 1750. In 1755, descendants of Jean Naquin dit L'Étoile could be found at Anse-à-Pinnet on the southeast shore of the island. When the British rounded up the Acadians of Nova Scotia in the fall of 1755, the Naquins, living in territory controlled by France, escaped deportation. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats seized Île St.-Jean, rounded up most of the habitants there, and deported them to France. Most of the Naquins-- L'Étoille's sons Jacques and François and their families--were among the deportees, and many of them died in the crossing.
The Naquins did their best to make a life for themselves at St.-Suliac on the east side of Rivière Rance south of St.-Malo in Brittany. Not all of them remained in the St.-Malo area. In November 1765, a Naquin and her husband went to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany, where dozens of Acadians, mostly exiles recently repatriated from England, chose to go. The Naquin and her family settled at Borbren, Locmaria, on the southeast end of the island. She died probably at Locmaria in December 1773, in her late 40s. Earlier that year, her oldest brother, a younger sister, a nephew, and their families, along with an unmarried niece, participated in an even grander settlement venture, this one in the interior of Poitou, in and around the city of Châtellerault. The niece married there in October 1774. After two and a half years of effort, the brother and sister, with their families, retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. The nephew and his family were among the minority of Acadians who remained in Poitou, where more children were born to them near Leigné-les-Bois and Archigny east and south of Châtellerault. By the early 1780s, however, the nephew, now a widower, had joined his kinsmen at Nantes. His younger sister died in St.-Nicolas Parish there in April 1784, in her late 30s. About that time, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana. All of the Naquins still in France agreed to take it. Also going were a widowed brother-in-law with two of his children by his Naquin wife, and a niece whose Naquin mother had died on Belle-Île-en-Mer. All 12 of them crossed to New Orleans on the same vessel, a testament to the closeness of this long-suffering island family.
Naquins settled fairly late in French Acadia, and they came "late" to Louisiana. In fact, if the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Mississippi valley colony, there probably would be no Naquins in the Bayou State today, at least none with Acadian ancestry. Like many families from the Maritimes region, they suffered terribly in the deportation to France. The years in France also took their toll on the family's spirit. Death continued to plague them on the voyage to New Orleans in 1785, but enough of them survived to secure a place for this family in the development of what became southeastern Louisiana. During the early antebellum period, one looks in vain for Naquins along the Mississippi River or out on the western prairies. Most of them remained along bayous Lafourche and Terrebonne, where their Acadian immigrant ancestors had settled in 1786. Others moved farther south to the edge of the Terrebonne marshes, especially around the communities of Montegut (pronounced MON-tee-gyoo) and Pointe-aux-Chênes and along Bayou Petit Caillou, where they farmed, fished, and trapped. Some of them moved west from the Lafourche valley to Chacahoula, east of Bayou Black, near the boundaries between Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Church records reveal only one non-Acadian Naquin, an Irishman, living in South Louisiana during the late colonial period, but there is no evidence that he created a family of his own there. No non-Acadian Naquin families emerge in the Bayou State during the antebellum period. Most, if not all, of the Naquins of South Louisiana, then, are descendants of master tailor Jean dit L'Étoille of haute-rivière, Port-Royal, Acadia.
During the late antebellum period, a number of Naquins owned slaves. Pierre Paul, fils of Lafourche Parish held 20 slaves on his plantation in 1850. That same year, cousin Paul Naquin held 13 slaves on his Bayou Lafourche farm. But most of their Naquin relations, especially those in slave-rich Terrebonne Parish, owned no slaves at all, at least none who appeared on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860. Most members of the family, then, participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy.
Dozens of Naquins served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. Most of them served honorably and returned to their loved ones after the Southern Confederacy fell. At least one member of the family died in Confederate service. Maximin Mertile, son of Maximin Naquin, enlisted in Company E of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, at Camp Moore, Tangipahoa Parish, in May 1861. He was a private who served as a fifer. That summer, the 4th Louisiana Infantry was sent to the Mississippi coast, where its companies were stationed at Pascagoula, Biloxi, Pass Christian, Ship Island, and Mississippi City. Maximin Mertile fell ill and died in a hospital at Mississippi City probably in September 1861, age 19. Father Charles Menard of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Thibodaux, in a letter to the archbishop of New Orleans, claimed that 2,000 people attended the young soldier's funeral on 7 October 1861.
During the war, successive Federal incursions devastated the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley. Confederate foragers also plagued the area when Federal forces were driven out. After the war, Naquins remained on their simple homesteads along the bayous and marshes of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Those who had owned slaves did the best they could in a free-labor postwar economy. After the war, a few moved west to lower Bayou Teche, especially to the New Iberia area. By the 1880s, some of them had moved as far upstream as Cecilia and Arnaudville in upper St. Martin Parish. One family of Naquins could be found near Ville Platte, in present-day Evangeline Parish, far out on the prairie west of Opelousas. And when the material economy of the twentieth century began to transform the lives of Louisiana's Cajuns, there was the lure of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and even Port Arthur, Beaumont, and Houston, Texas. But the great majority of the descendants of Ambroise and Charles Naquin remained in the Lafourche and Terrebonne region, where, especially in the cities of Thibodaux and Houma, they can be found in large numbers today.
The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Nakin, Nanquien, Naquien, Naquine and is pronounced NAH-can.24
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The 12 members of the family who came to the colony in 1785 all crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September. Three enduring family lines came of it in the Bayou Lafourche/Bayou Terrebonne valley:
Ambroise (c1725-?) à Jean dit L'Étoile Naquin
Ambroise, oldest son of Jacques Naquin and Jeanne Melanson, born probably at Cobeguit in c1725, married Élisabeth/Isabelle, daughter of Claude Bourg and Judith Guérin, in c1749 probably at Cobeguit. (Bona Arsenault insists that Ambroise was a son of François, but Albert J. Robichaux, Jr., followed here, says he was a son of Jacques.) Élisabeth gave Ambroise a daughter, Élisabeth, born in c1750. They followed his family to Île St.-Jean that year. In August 1752, a French official counted Ambroise and Élisabeth with their 2-year-old daughter near his widowed father and younger siblings at Anse-à-Pinnet on the island's southeast shore. Élisabeth gave Ambroise three more children on the island: Jean-Baptiste born in c1753; Pierre in c1755; and Marguerite in c1757. The British deported the family to St.-Malo, France, in late 1758. Pierre, age 4; and Marguerite, still an infant, died at sea. Wife Élisabeth was pregnant on the voyage and gave birth to another daughter, Madeleine-Françoise, in April 1759, but the baby died a month later. The family settled at St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo, where Élisabeth gave Ambroise five more children: Marguerite-Suline born in October 1760 but died at age 1 in December 1761; Ambroise-Françoise born in May 1763 but died at Pont Hougart near Pleudihen-sur-Rance south of St.-Suliac, age 10 1/2, in March 1774; twins Joseph-Jacques and Pierre-Paul born in January 1766; and Madeleine-Hélène in October 1768--10 children, five daughters and five sons, including a set of twins, between 1750 and 1768, in greater Acadia and France, most of whom died young. Oldest son Jean-Baptiste died at St.-Suliac in June 1766, age 13. Oldest daughter Éisabeth died there in August 1771, age 21, before she could marry. In 1774, after the death of one of his sons, Ambroise took his family to the interior of Poitou. In March 1776, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes, where their youngest daughter Madeleine-Hélène died in St.-Jacques Parish, age 7 1/2, in August 1776. Ambroise, Élisabeth, and their remaining children, twin sons, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. If Ambroise and Élisabeth survived the crossing, they followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. If not, their twin sons, age 19, would have followed relatives to the upper bayou, where they married only three months apart and created vigorous family lines. Most of the Naquins of South Louisiana, in fact, are descendants of Ambroise and Élisabeth's sons.
Fourth son Joseph-Jacques, a twin, followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Arsement and Marie Hébert, in April 1787. Marie-Josèphe, also a native of St.-Suliac, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard a later ship. They settled on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie-Josèphe baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1788; Joseph-Ambroise born in December 1790; Ambroise le jeune in November 1797; and Constance in September 1802--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1788 and 1802. Joseph Jacques died in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1837, age 71 (the recording priest said 72). His succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his children and his daughters' spouses--Joseph, Ambroise, Marie Joseph and her husband, and Constance and her husband--was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse in March. Daughters Marie Josèphe and Constance married into the Gros and Marillon, Morillion, or Morillon families. Joseph Jacques's two sons also married and created substantial family lines.
Older son Joseph Ambroise married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Basil Préjean le jeune and Rosalie de St. Julien de Lachaussée of St. James Parish, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1812. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph, fils in April 1813; Maximin Noël in December 1814; Joseph Paul, called Paul, in October 1816; Asélie Céleste in March 1817; Pierre Ursin Valère, called Ursin, in October 1818; Basile François Xavier in December 1820; Marie Donatille in November 1822; Jacques in July 1825 but died nine days later; Pauline Eulodie, perhaps also called Marie Élodie, born in August 1826; Joachim Théophile in May 1829 but died at age 7 in April 1836; Marie Edmire Zéoline born in May 1831 but died at age 2 1/2 in February 1834; Marie Rosalie, called Rosalie, born in June 1833; Adolphe Cléopha, called Cléopha, in September 1835; and Céleste Adolestine in September 1839--14 children, eight sons and six daughters, between 1813 and 1839. Joseph Ambroise, surrounded by many children, grandchildren, and even a few great-grandchildren, died in Lafourche Parish in June 1860, age 69 (the recording priest said 68). A succession inventory, naming his wife and listing some of his children and one of their spouses--Ursin, Cléophas, and Marie Donathilde and her husband--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1861. Daughters Élodie, Marie Rosalie, Marie Donatille, and Céleste Adolestine married into the Prejean, Ayo, Haydel, Rodrigue, and Badeaux families. Five of Joseph Ambroise's sons also married.
Second son Maximin Noël married Azélie Basilise, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Victor Richard and Clémence Bergeron, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in November 1836. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph Emil or Émile, called Émile, in September 1837; Victor Orestile or Osémé, called Osémé, in January 1839; Maximin Mertile, called Mertile, in November 1840; Jean Baptiste in January 1843, Pierre Valzuin or Valsin in February 1845 but, called Pierre Valsume, died at age 13 months in March 1846; Marie Odile, called Odile, born in December 1846; Mélanie Mélina or Émelina, called Émelina, in October 1848; Aurestile, a son, in c1849 but died at age 16 in September 1855; Jean Alfred, called Alfred, born in February 1850; Anatole in November 1851; Oscar Baile in May 1853; and Edgard Augustin in June 1855 but, called Augustin Edgar, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said "age 3 mths.") in October 1857--a dozen children, 10 sons and two daughters, between 1837 and 1855. A child, name and age unrecorded, perhaps theirs, died in Lafourche Parish "during [a] yellow fever epidemic" in November 1853; one wonders which child it may have been--perhaps Oscar Baile. In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted two slaves--both males, both black, ages 24 and 18--on Maximin Naquin's farm. Maximin died in Lafourche Parish in September 1855, age 40, three months after his youngest son was born. A "Petition for Inventory," calling him Maximien, naming his wife, and listing his children--Émile, Mirthel, Ozémé, Odile, Emelina, Alfred, Anathole, and Edgard--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in October 1855. Neither of Maximin's daughters married by 1870, but three of his sons did, and an unmarried son died in Confederate service.
Oldest son Joseph Émile, called Émile, married Azéma, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Maxil Boudreaux and his Creole wife Marie Phelonise Vayse, at the Labadieville church in April 1857; the marriage also was recorded in Lafourche Parish. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Clet in September 1858; Marie Léo in October 1860; Marie Alice in June 1866; Henri in February 1867; Marie Lydia in March 1868; ... In 1862, during the War of 1861-65, Émile enlisted in Company H of the 30th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, and, like two of his first cousins, deserted the regiment later in the year. As the birth dates of his younger children reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family.
Maximin's second son Osémé married cousin Amelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellus Naquin and Marie Guillot, at the Thibodaux church in September 1866. Their son Joseph Luc was born in Lafourche Parish in September 1868; ...
Maximin's third son Maximin Mertile, called Mertile, served in Company E of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. In the spring of 1861, at age 19, Mertile died of disease at Mississippi City near Biloxi only a few months after his enlistment. Father Charles Menard of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Thibodaux, in a letter to the archbishop of New Orleans, claimed that 2,000 people attended the young soldier's funeral on 7 October 1861.
Maximin's sixth son Alfred married Olinda, daughter of Marcel Falgout and his Acadian wife Céleste Roger, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1870. ...
Joseph Ambroise's third son Joseph Paul married Marie Adèle, also called Adèle Noël, 20-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Marie Boudreaux and Élise Modeste Pitre, at the Thibodauxville church in August 1833. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Malvina, called Malvina, in October 1835; Paul Arnesse or Ernest, also Ernest Paul, called Ernest, in January 1838; Maximilien Emertille, called Mertile, in July 1840; Joseph Maxcillien or Marcillien, called Marcillien, in October 1841; Joséphine Élodie Marie in July 1843; Aurelien Justilien, called Justilien, in December 1844; Joséphine in August 1845; Azéline or Azélie Émilie in October 1846; Adèle or Odile in the 1840s; twins Paulin Eusèbe and Pauline Marie in August 1851; and Adrien Paulinaire posthumously in August 1853[sic, probably 1852]--a dozen children, six daughters and six sons, between 1835 and 1852. In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted 13 slaves--10 males and three females, all black, ranging in age from 35 to 3--on Paul Naquin's farm next to younger brother Ursin. Paul, called Joseph, Jr. by the clerk who registered a "Petiton for inventory" for Joseph, Jr. at the Thibodaux courthouse in March 1852, died in December 1851, age 35. Daughters Malvina, Joséphine, Azélie, and Adèle/Odile married into the Boudreaux, Vicknair, Robichaux, Sevin, and Benoit families, one of them, Joséphine, twice, by 1870. Four of Joseph Paul's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Paul Ernest, called Ernest, married Marie Elmire, called Elmire, daughter of fellow Acadian Duval Hébert and his Creole wife Marie Louise Chauvin, at the Thibodaux church in May 1859. They settled on the lower Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Louise Ernestine in June 1860; Elma Oscar in December 1861; Malvina Evélina in December 1863; Joseph Vilfrid in March 1866; Pierre Alcide near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in September 1868; Paul Arthur in December 1870; ... During the war, in 1862, Ernest enlisted in Company H of the 30th Regiment Louisiana Infantry and, like a younger brother and a first cousin, deserted the regiment later in the year and returned to his family. By the late 1870s, Ernest had remarried to Marie-Victoire Malbrough, place and date unrecorded, and moved his family from the Terrebonne marshes to upper Bayou Teche, where they settled near Cecilia in St. Martin Parish, at the eastern edge of the southwest prairies.
During the war, Joseph Paul's second son Maximilien Emertile, called Mertile, served in Company E of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, with a first cousin who had a similar name and died early in the war. According to his Confederate service record, this Mertile, as he was called, was with his company the entire time it served, from his enlistment in May 1861 at age 19, until it surrendered in Alabama four years later, a stunning contrast to the military service of his brothers Marcillien and Ernest and first cousin Émile. Mertile, called Mirtil by the recording priest, married Evéline, daughter of Barthélémy Jolibois and his Acadian wife Matilde Bourg, at the Labadieville church in April 1866; the marriage also was recorded at the Thibodaux courthouse in Lafourche Parish. Their son Joseph Albert was born in Lafourche Parish in February 1867; ...
Joseph Paul's third son Marcillien married Lesida or Elisada, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Aucoin and Julie Levron, at the Thibodaux church in June 1862, only a few months after enlisting in Company H of the 30th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, from which, like older brother Ernest and a first cousin, he deserted later in the year. He survived the war and returned to his family. His and Lesida's children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Alida Olfida in July 1863; Adrien Augustave in August 1865; Cécilia Philomène in January 1868; Charles Eugène in February 1870; ...
Joseph Paul's fourth son Justilien married Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Honoré Thibodeaux and Pauline Guillot, at the Labadieville church in March 1869; the marriage also was recorded in Lafourche Parish, so, like older brother Mertile, they may have settled near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche parishes. ...
Joseph Ambroise's fourth son Pierre Ursin Valère, called Ursin, married Marie Adèle, called Adèle and Marie Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Paul Bourg and his Creole wife Marie Adeline Himel, at the Thibodaux church in May 1844. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Pierre Melville in February 1845; Joseph Oscar in November 1846 but died at age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 11) in September 1857; Rosalie Aimée born in October 1848; Philomène Aline in July 1852; Marie Felonise in February 1854 but, called Marie, died at age 2 months (the recording priest said 20 months) in April; Louis Philippe born in May 1856; Jean Arthur in September 1858; Julie Eliska in September 1860; Xavier James in December 1863; Marie Anaïse Céline in February 1867; Henri Edgard in October 1869; ... In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted two slaves--both females, both black, ages 34 and 4--on Ursin Naquin's farm next to older brother Joseph Paul. In September 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted five slaves--one male and four females, all mulattoes, ranging in age from 35 to 2--on Ursin Naquin's farm in the parish's 6th Ward. None of his children married by 1870.
Joseph Ambroise's fifth son Basile François Xavier married Marie Bonne, another daughter of Joseph Paul Bourg and Marie Adeline Himel, at the Thibodaux church in May 1843. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Léandre Floreville in February 1844 but died age 2 1/2 in March 1846; Marie Bonne born in November 1845; Ulalie Olam in December 1847; Philomène died a day after her birth in late December 1849; François Xavier born in January 1851; Anastasie Joséphine in July 1854; and Marguerite Alice in February 1856. Basile, at age 41, remarried to Émilie, daughter of Gabriel Dionne and Archange Pary of St.-Pierre-les-Becquets, Canada, at the Labadieville church in April 1861; the marriage was recorded also in Lafourche Parish. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Oscar Beauregard in March 1862; Marie Émelie Cordelia in April 1863; ... Basile fought in the Battle of Labadieville in October 1862 and fell into hands of the invading Federals, who paroled him and sent him home. After the war, he moved west from the Lafourche valley to lower Bayou Teche. He and his family were living near New Iberia in the early 1870s. Daughter Marie Bonne, by his first wife, married into the Lagarde family by 1870. None of Basile's sons married by then.
Joseph Ambroise's eighth and youngest son Adolphe Cléopha, called Cléopha, married Marie Louise Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Élie Landry and Anne Rosalie Boudreaux, at the Labadieville church in April 1856; the marriage was recorded also in Lafourche Parish. Their children, born in Assumption Parish, included Adolphe Dionis in Assumption Parish in January 1858; and Élise Louise in July 1859.
Joseph Jacques's younger son Ambroise le jeune married Marguerite Carmélite, called Carmélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Marie Boudreaux and Élisabeth Pitre, at the Thibodauxville church in April 1825. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Paul, called Paul, in December 1826; Élisabeth Aveline or Evéline in May 1828; Lovinci in the late 1820s; Ambroise, fils in September 1829; Jean Baptiste in July 1831 but died a month later; Emétite or Émelie Ambroisine, called Émelie, born in July 1833; Ambroise Eugène, called Eugène, in November 1835; Joseph Andresi or Audressi, in April 1837; Théophile Orestile Omère in September 1839 but, called Théophile, died at age 2 1/2 in February 1842; and Eulalie Evélina or Evéline born in 1841--10 children, seven sons and three daughters, between 1826 and 1841. Ambroise, le jeune died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1840, age 42 (the recording priest said 45). In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted a single slave--a 45-year-old black female--on Widow Ambroise Naquin's farm; this was Carmélite Boudreaux. In September 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted a single slave--a 50-year-old mulatto female--on the Widow Ambroise Naquin's farm in the parish's 6th Ward. Her and Ambroise le jeune's daughters Élisabeth Evéline, Émelie, and Eulalie Evéline married into the Prejean, Aucoin, and Juneau families. Four of Ambroise le jeune's sons also married.
Oldest son Joseph Paul, called Paul, married Émilie or Amélie, daughter of Narcisse Fremin and his Acadian wife Farlie Gautreaux, at the Thibodaux church in January 1848. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Angelina in April in 1851; Louis Zephir in August 1853 but, called Louis, died at age 11 (the recording priest said 12) in August 1864; Ernest Lucien born in July 1855; Marie Evéline in September 1857; Clet Léon in November 1859; Anida Amanda in May 1862; Louise Ernestine in September 1864; Paul, fils in June 1867; Constance Mathilde Odilia in February 1870; ... In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted five slaves--three males and three females, all black, ranging in age from 40 to 10--on Joseph Naquin's farm; this probably was Paul. In September 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted eight slaves--five males and three females, seven blacks and one mulatto, ages 36 to 1--on Joseph Naquin's farm in the parish's 6th Ward; again, this probably was Paul.
Ambroise le jeune's second son Lovinci married Anaïs Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Prejean and Marie Josèphe LeBlanc, at the Thibodaux church in September 1854. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Aurelien Toussaint in November 1855; Lovinci Théophile in October 1857; Marie Evila in March 1860; Henry Clé, perhaps Clay, in April 1862; Julien Léonie in February 1865; Nicolas Osémée in December 1867; Joseph Numa in June 1870; ...
During the war, Ambroise le jeune's fifth son Eugène served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Élie Gautreaux and Agathe Aucoin, at the Labadieville church in November 1865. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Émile Eugène in October 1866; Louis Théophile in January 1869; ...
Ambroise le jeune's sixth son Joseph Andressi or Audressi, called Andressi or Audressi, married Angèle, daughter of Valsin Vaise or Vice and Caroline Juneau of Lafourche Parish, at the Labadieville church in May 1859; the marriage also was recorded in Lafourche Parish. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Valsin in February 1860; Joséphine Marie in November 1861; Mirtil Ambroise in December 1867; Anatole Dorvillier in February 1870; ...
Ambroise's fifth and youngest son Pierre-Paul, Joseph-Jacques's twin, followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Laforuche, where he married Anne-Théotiste, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Robichaux and Anne Hébert, in July 1787, three months after his brother married there. Anne-Théotiste, like Pierre-Paul a native of St.-Suliac, also had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard Le St.-Rémi. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph-Pierre or Pierre-Joseph in April 1787[sic, probably 1789] and baptized in April 1790; Jean-François born in December 1790; Rosalie-Euphrosine in March 1792; Marie-Adélaïde in April 1794; Pierre-Paul, fils, called Paul, baptized at the Assumption church, age unrecorded, in October 1796; Constance-Ludivine or Divine in May 1798; Jean-Alexis born in October 1799; Marguerite-Françoise in May 1802; Jean Adrien, called Adrien, in August 1804; Jean Basile, called Basile, in February 1807; Silésie Marcellite or Marcelline in August 1810 but died at age 13 1/2 in April 1824; and Ambroise Arsène, called Arsène, born in July 1812--a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters, between the late 1780s and 1812. Wife Anne Théotiste died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1849, age 78 (the recording priest said 80). While Pierre Paul was still living but likely was ailing, a "family meeting," the notice for which called him Turio or Pierre Naquin, named his wife, and listed two of his daughters and one of their husbands--Constance D., and Marguerite François and her husband--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in January 1850. A "petition for [succession] inventory" in his wife's name, calling him Pierre, and listing their children--Marie and her husband, Rose and her husband, Pierre, Bazile, Constance Divine (deceased), Marguerite, Arsène, Adrien, and Pierre Joseph--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in March. Pierre Paul, père died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1851, age 84, one of the last Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors. Daughters Rosalie, Marie Adélaïde, Marguerite Françoise, and Constance Divine married into the Oncale, Ayo, Trosclair, and Boudreaux families. Five of Pierre Paul's sons also married and settled in the Bayou Lafourche valley, but not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Joseph Pierre or Pierre Joseph married Marianne or Anne Constance, called Constance, daughter of Jean Pierre Lirette and his Acadian wife Marie Madeleine Darembourg, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in October 1809. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marianne Clémence in July 1810; Eugénie Doralise in February 1812; Joseph Paul or Paul Joseph in October 1816; Drausin or Drosin in April 1818; Scholastique Adèle in April 1820; and Pauline Eudalie in January 1822--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1810 and 1822. Pierre Joseph died in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1849. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph Pierre, as he called him, died "at age 60 yrs." In September 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted two slaves--a 10-year-old mulatto female and a 13-year-old black female--on Mrs. Pierre J. Naquin's farm in the parish's 6th Ward; this was Pierre Joseph's widow, Constance Lirette. Her and Joseph Pierre's daughters Eugénie Doralise, Scholastique Adèle, Marianne Clémence, and Pauline married into the Navarre, Levron, and Landry families, including two Navarre brothers. Joseph Pierre's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured.
Older son Drosin married Amélise, Armélise, Arthémise, or Carmélise, daughter of Jean Baptiste Gros or Grosjean and Marie George, at the Thibodaux church in September 1838. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Azéma Eugénie in November 1839; Ozémé or Osémé in December 1840; Zulma Delphina in June 1842; Marguerite Aglaée, called Aglaé, in December 1843; Léony Désiré in December 1845 but, called Désiré, died at age 16 in August 1862; Marie Lodiska born in November 1847; Constance Evéline, called Evéline, in December 1849--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1839 and 1849. Drosin died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1851, age 33 (the recording priest said 32 1/2). A petition for tutorship, calling him Drausin, naming his wife, and listing his children and their ages--Azemore (Azéma), age "about 13 yrs."; Osémé, age "about 12 yrs."; Zulmar, age "about 11 yrs."; Aglaié, age "about 10 yrs."; Désiré, age "about 8 yrs."; Marie, age "about 6 yrs."; and Evéline, age "about 5 yrs."--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1853. Daughters Azéma, Aglaé, and Marie married into the Fayt, Ayo or Ayot, and Doiron families by 1870. Drosin's remaining son also married by then.
Older son Osémé married Célestine, daughter of Martin Fayt or Fait and his Acadian wife Théotice Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church in January 1861. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie in Lafourche Parish in November 1861; Marie Mathilde in Assumption Parish in March 1866; ...
Joseph Pierre's younger son Joseph Paul or Paul Joseph may have married Adèle Noël, daughter of fellow Acadians Noël Victor Boudreaux and Rosalie LeBlanc and widow of Louis Rodrigue, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1840, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church the following September. Did they have any children?
Pierre Paul's third son Pierre-Paul, fils, called Paul, married Marguerite Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians François Basile Étienne Dugas and Marie Clément, at the Plattenville church in June 1818. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Auguste Zénon or Zénon Augustin, in March 1819; Marcel, Marcellin, or Marcellus Severin in February 1821; Jean Éloi in August 1823 but, called Éloi, died at age 25 (the recording priest said 24) in May 1849; Evéline or Evelina Scholastique or Pauline born December 1826; Ulgère Devinsy in November 1830; and Elece or Elis Cléopha, called Cléopha, in February 1833--six children, five sons and a daughter, between 1819 and 1833. In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted 16 slaves--six males and 10 females, all black, ranging in age from 26 to 1--on Pierre Naquin, Jr.'s farm. The same census taker counted four more slaves--two males and two females, all black, ages 5, 4, 3 and 2--on another farm owned by Pierre Naquin, Jr. Pierre Paul, fils died in Lafourche Parish in January 1856, age 60. A "Petition for sale" in his name, naming his wife, and listing his children and some of their spouses--Marcellus (deceased) and his wife, Zénon, Evélina and her husband, Ulgère, and Cléophas--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1856. Daughter Evéline Pauline married into the Sevin family. Four of Paul's sons also married, two of them to sisters.
Oldest son Zénon Augustin married Victoire or Victoria Joséphine, daughter of Auguste Pichoff and his Acadian wife Rosalie Clémence Hébert, at the Thibodaux church in December 1840. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Zénon in November 1841; Marie Odille Elutetia in February 1843 but, called Marie Letitia, died at age 2 in April 1845; Zénon Augustin, fils born in August 1844, Jean Baptiste Lovince in November 1846 but, called Loviney Jean Baptiste, died at age 1 in November 1847; Marie Eliska or Ezilda, called Ezilda, born in July 1848; Paulin Augustin in March 1850 but, called Justin Paulin, died the following August; Zelida Victoire born in October 1851; twins Aurelie Ovile and Justilien N. in November 1853; Joseph in February 1856 but died the day after his birth; Pierre Augustin born in April 1857; and twins Laurent Augustave and Michel Octave in April 1859--13 children, nine sons and four daughters, including two sets of twins, between 1841 and 1859. During the War of 1861-65, Zénon Auguste, père or Zénon Auguste, fils, called Zénon in Confederate records, served in Company F of the Lafourche Parish Regiment of Militia. Père would have been in his early 40s and fils in his late teens when the war began. Whichever one it was, he was captured during or after the Battle of Labadieville in nearby Assumption Parish in late October 1862, paroled, and sent home. Daughter Ezilda married into the Keller family by 1870. One of Zénon Augustin, père's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Joseph Zénon married Amelina, daughter of Célestin Adam and Adèle Delatte, at the Thibodaux church in January 1867. Daughter Marie Lucia was born in Lafourche Parish January 1870; ...
Paul's second son Marcellus married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Guillot and Marie Irène Lejeune, at the Thibodaux church in July 1844. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Louis Arsène, called Arsène, in August 1845; Émelia or Amelia in May 1847; Ophelia Marie in January 1849; Joseph Paulin, called Paulin, in April 1851; and Marie Donatilde in November 1853 but, called Donatile, died at age 2 in November 1855--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1845 and 1853. Marcellus died in a yellow fever epidemic in Lafourche Parish in November 1853, age 32. A "Petition for tutorship" in his name, naming his wife, and listing his remaining children--Arsène, Amelia, Ophelia, and Paulin--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1856. Daughter Amelia married a Naquin cousin by 1870. One of Marcellus's sons also married by then.
Older son Arsène married Ophelia, daughter of Evariste Morvant and Delphine Adam, at the Thibodaux church in February 1867. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joseph Mirtille in December 1867; Joseph Arthur in July 1869; Joseph Robert in November 1870; ...
Paul's fourth son Ulgère Devinsy married Azélie, daughter of Valéry Oncale and Azélie Tregle, at the Thibodaux church in April 1858. They evidently had lived together, or married civilly, years before. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Ophelia Eulalie in February 1856, two years before her parents' church wedding; Marie Hortense Odile in January 1858, three months before her parents' church wedding; Émile Paulin Ulgère in March 1860; Philomène Lidia in May 1862; Joseph Émile in January 1865; Marie in February 1868; ... During the war, Ulgère served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment of Militia. He was captured during or after the Battle of Labadieville in late October 1862, paroled, and sent home. As the birth of his younger son attests, Ulgère survived the war.
Paul's fifth and youngest son Elis Cléopha, called Cléopha, married Marie or Mary, another daughter of Valéry Oncale and Azélie Tregle, at the Thibodaux church in July 1856. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Alvina in October 1857; Joseph Armogène in September 1859 but, called Hermogène, died at age 10 months in June 1860; Pauline born in March 1861; Marie Émelia in August 1863; Marie Mathilde in December 1865 but, called Marie, died at age 5 in November 1870; Prosper Cléophas born in September 1868; ...
Pierre-Paul, père's fifth son Jean Adrien, called Adrien, married cousin Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Dugas and Armande Naquin, at the Thibodauxville church in April 1826. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Jean in May 1828 but died within an hour of his birth; and Eulalie Clarisse born in January 1842. Daughter Eulalie married into the Guidry and Larrieux families by 1870, so the blood of this family line likely endured.
Pierre-Paul, père's sixth son Jean Basile, called Basile, married Théotiste or Théoliste Adèle, called Adèle, 17-year-old daughter of Mathurin Julien Ayo or Ayot and his Acadian wife Anne Rosalie Bourg, at the Thibodauxville church in July 1832. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary of Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Basile Alice in July 1833; Maurile Cléopha in September 1835; Maximino Skaider or Maximin Schuyler in September 1837; Joseph Télésphore in May 1840; Joséphine Léontine in May 1842; Pamela Adolestine in August 1843; Télésphore Aurestile in May 1846; Julie Émelie or Amélie, called Amélie, in February 1849; Marie Eulalie in August 1851 but, called Eulalie, died at age 13 1/2 (the recording priest said "14 mths.") in May 1865; Philomène born in July 1854; and Laurent Tayler in August 1856--11 children, seven daughters and four sons, between 1833 and 1856. Daughters Léontine, Pamela, and Amélie married into the Benoit, Richard, and Aucoin families by 1870. Three of Basile's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Maurile Cléopha, called Cléopha, married Marie Zéolide, called Zéolide and Lolie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Julien Thibodeaux and his Creole wife Marie Françoise Jolibois, at the Thibodaux church in July 1856. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Ernest Léodie in September 1857; Maria Doriska near Chacahoula in April 1860; Marie Elidia and Marie Lidia, perhaps twins, in February 1862; Marie Eulalie in April 1865; Zulma Adora in December 1869; ...
Basile's second son Maximin, at age 32, married Amelia or Melia, daughter of Eugène Toups and Joséphine Domingue, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in December 1869. ...
Basile's third son Joseph Télesphore married Evélina, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Bergeron and Rosalie Thibodeaux, at the Thibodaux church in October 1861. Their children, born near Chacahoula, included Marie Adolphina in July 1864; Joseph Mertille in November 1867; Evelina Laura in December 1870; ...
Pierre-Paul, père's seventh and youngest son Ambroise Arsène, called Arsène, married Louise Bathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis André Talbot and Rosalie Dugas, at the Thibodauxville church in May 1836. They also settled on the upper bayou near the boundary of Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Pierre Emil or Émile, called Émile, in May 1837; Elmire Mirthilde in January 1839; Jean Valéry in February 1841; Ernest Tuvilier in September 1842; Clovis Arsène in June 1844; Arthur Théophile in February 1846; Joseph in September 1848 but died a day after his birth; Edgard Alfred baptized at the Thibodaux church, age unrecorded, in May 1850; Leo Félix born in June 1852; Michel in March 1854; Luma G. in August 1856 but may have been the unnamed "child" who died at age 8 in November 1864; Joseph Davis born in October 1861; ... In August 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted three slaves--all females, all blacks, ages 29, 9, and 2--on Arsène Naquin's farm in the parish's 1st Ward. Daughter Elmire married into the Molaison family by 1870. Four of Arsène's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Émile married Marie, daughter of Jean Gonzales and Pauline Martinez of Lafourche Parish, at the Labadieville church in February 1860. Their son Arsène Zenot was born in Assumption Parish in December 1860; ...
Arsène's third son Ernest married Elvire, daughter of Pierre Lasseigne and Anne Marie Vicknair and widow of F. Pottet, at the Thibodaux church in August 1865. Their children, born in Lafourche Parish, included Jean Clet and Jean Clovis in August 1866; Marie in December 1868; ...
Arsène's fourth son Clovis Arsène married Mirtillia, daughter of Louis Folse and his Acadian wife Mathilde Bourg, at the Labadieville church in April 1870. ...
Arsène's fifth son Arthur Théophile married Félicia, daughter of Adrien Berthelot and Azélia Rousseau, at the Labadieville church in February 1870. ...
Charles (c1738-?) à Jean dit L'Étoile Naquin
Charles, third son of François Naquin and Angélique Blanchard and first cousin of Ambroise, born probably at Cobeguit in c1738, followed his family to Île St.-Jean in c1750 and was counted with them at Anse-à-Pinnet in August 1752. The British deported him with his family to St.-Malo, France, in late 1758. He settled with them at St.-Suliac, where he married Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Thomas Doiron and Anne Girouard, in November 1765. Anne gave Charles five children at St.-Suliac: Anne-Marie born in September 1766; Jeanne-Marguerite in April 1768 but died the following October; Yves or Olive, a daughter, born in September 1769; Jean-Charles in September 1771; and Joseph-Suliac in June 1773 but died 15 days after his birth. Later in the year, Charles took his family to the interior of Poitou, where, at Leigné-les-Bois and Archigny southeast of Châtellerault, Anne gave him four more children: Marguerite-Ludivine born near Leigné-les-Bois in February 1775; Renée dite Renette in February 1777; Marie in January 1779 but died near Leigné-les-Bois the following April; and Paul born near Archigny in May 1780--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1766 and 1780. As the birth of their youngest children reveal, when most of the Poitou Acadians, including first cousin Ambroise, retreated from Châtellerault to the lower Loire port of Nantes from late 1775 to early 1776, Charles and Anne remained in Poitou. By September 1784, however, Charles, now a widower, had moved on to Nantes, where a Spanish official counted him with two sons and four daughters. Charles did not remarry. He and his six remaining children followed his cousin Ambroise to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. They followed their kinsmen and their fellow passengers from New Orleans to upper Bayou Lafourche, where daughters Ives, Renée, and Anne-Marie married into the Dupré, Dugas, and Henry families. Daughter Marguerite-Ludivine did not marry and, along with her youngest brother Paul, may not have survived the crossing from France on the overcrowded St.-Rémi. One of Charles's sons married and created another vigorous line in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley.
Oldest son Jean-Charles followed his family to Poitou, Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of Jean LeBoeuf and Marie-Renée Matherne of St.-Charles des Allemands on the lower German Coast, in December 1800. This line of the Naquin family did not remain on Bayou Lafourche but moved down to Bayou Terrebonne, a distributary of the Lafourche, at the northern edge of the vast coastal marshes that stretched south to the Gulf of Mexico. Jean-Charles's father had acquired land along then-remote Bayou Terrebonne in the late 1790s, so this likely was a motivation to relocate the family there. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche and in Terrebonne Parish, included Jean-Charles, fils at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in December 1801; Jean Marie in July 1804; Rosalie in August 1806; Hippolyte in May 1808; François on Bayou Terrebonne probably in the 1810s; Marie Céleste, called Céleste, perhaps in the 1810s; and Hyacinthe probably in the 1820s--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1801 and the 1820s. Jean Charles, père died by March 1825, when he was recorded as deceased in a son's marriage record. Daughters Rosale and Céleste married into the Pitre, Bourg, and Authement families, Céleste twice. All five of Jean Charles's sons married, but not all of the lines endured. One of the lines that did endure evidently was a "colored" branch of the family.
Oldest son Jean Charles, fils married cousin Marie Émelie, called Émelie, Émelite, and Mélite, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre-Louis Chiasson and his Creole wife Marguerite LeBoeuf of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in March 1825. Their children, born on the bayou, included Jean Marie, also Jean Marie Narcisse, called Narcisse, in July 1827[sic]; Marie Céleste, called Céleste, in October 1827[sic]; Michel Leufroy or Leufroi, called Leufroi, in January 1830; Rosalie Anriette or Henriette, called Henriette, in October 1831; Drosin Charles, called Charles, in August 1833; Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, in May 1839; and Mélina probably in the early 1840s. Jean Charles, fils, at age 52, remarried to Rosalie Marianne, daughter of William Comstock and widow of Ursin Aucoin, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in February 1854. Their son Célestin Wallis was born in Terrebonne Parish in November 1854--eight children, four sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1827 and 1854. Jean Charles, fils died in Terrebonne Parish in April 1858, age 56 (the recording priest said 57). A petition for tutorship in his name, listing his children and one of their spouses--Charles, Leufroid, Céleste and her husband, Henriette, Carmélite, Joseph, and Mélina--was filed at the Houma courthouse that April. One wonders if the community of Île Jean Charles, in the marshes south of Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, was named after him or his father. Daughters Marie Carmélite, Mélina, and Henriette, by his first wife, married into the LeBoeuf, Dupré, and Levron families, two of them to Duprés and one of them, Mélina, twice, by 1870. Three of Jean Charles, fils's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Jean Marie Narcisse, by first wife Mélite Chiasson, married Marguerite Rose or Rose Marguerite, also called Rosalie, daughter of perhaps Jean Baptiste Verdin probably in Terrebonne Parish in the early 1860s. Their children, born near Montegut, included Bernard in October 1864; Antoine Clément in November 1866; Jean Victor in May 1869; ...
Jean Charles, fils's second son Leufroi, by first wife Mélite Chiasson, married Aimée Marguerite, daughter of Jules Butler and Elizabeth Callahan, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1860. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Jean Séraphin Ernest in June 1859; Ema Lise in October 1862; Eugène Adam near Montegut in February 1866; ... By the early 1880s, Leufroi had moved his family from Terrebonne Parish all the way up to the prairie near Ville Platte in St. Landry, now Evangeline, Parish.
Jean Charles, fils's third son Charles, by first wife Mélite Chiasson, during the War of 1861-65, served in Company K of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Terrebonne Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. While still a part of his regiment, Charles married cousin Adeline or Adelina, daughter of Alexis LeBoeuf and his Acadian wife Lisa Theriot, at the Houma church in February 1865. Their children, born near Montegut, included Drauzin Marcel in March 1866; Marie Julia in March 1867; Aimée Julie in May 1869; Marie Laura in May 1870; ...
Jean Charles, père's second son Jean Marie married Pauline Verdin or Verdun, perhaps an Afro Creole or free person of color, probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the late 1820s. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Marguerite in April 1829; Mérante Arthémise, called Arthémise, in June 1831; Joséphine probably in the 1830s; Marcellin Duchils in December 1833; and Joseph in February 1836--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1829 and 1836. Daughter Joséphine married into the Verret family (her husband was described by the recording priest as a free man of color) by 1870. Jean Marie's two sons also married by then.
Older son Marcellin Duchils married Marie Amélise or Armélise, daughter of Charles Dardar or Dardare and Marie Domiiltilde Billeaud, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in August 1856, and sanctified the marriage at the Montegut church in September 1865. Their children, born near Montegut, included Marcellin Désiré, fils in June 1858; Clovis Jean in February 1860; Marie Céline in July 1862; Ernest in September 1864; Joseph Adolphe in February 1868; ...
Jean Marie's younger son Joseph, called a free man of color by the courthouse clerk in Houma, married cousin Joséphine Armélise, called Armélise, daughter of Alexandre Billiot and Marguerite Félicité Verdin, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in October 1860; the parish clerk called her a free woman of color; the couple sanctified the marriage at the Montegut church in September 1865. They evidently had lived together years before their civil marriage. Their children, born near Montegut, included Julie Lorine in March 1853, when her father would have been age 17; Désiré in May 1865; Cyprien Lovincy in September 1867; Joseph, fils in January 1870; ... None of Joseph's children married by 1870.
Daughter Arthémise bore a "natural" daughter, Marie Eve, in Terrebonne Parish, in May 1861; and a "natural" son, Jean Marie Adam, there in May 1863. The Houma priest or priests who recorded the children's baptisms did not name the father or fathers. ...
Jean Charles, père's third son Hippolyte married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Martin LeBlanc and Céleste Pitre, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1826; the marriage also was recorded in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born on the Lafourche and later in Terrebonne Parish, included Joseph Hilaire in October 1827; Céleste Anriette in February 1829; Michel in January 1831; Jean Maximin or Maximin Jean in July 1834; Hyppolite or Hippolyte Félicien, called Félicien, in November 1837; Marguerite Virginie, called Virginie, in November 1840; Jean Marie Olézime or Onésime, called Onésime, in December 1842; and Clerabel M., perhaps Mélazie, called Mélazie, in October 1845. Wife Marguerite died probably in Terrebonne Parish in August or September 1847, just shy of age 40. A petition for succession inventory in her name, naming her husband, their children, and one of their spouses--Joseph, Céleste and her husband, Michel, Jean Maximin, Hypolite F., Virginie, Lesime, and Mélasie--was filed at the Houma courthouse in June 1849. Hippolyte remarried to Jeanne Adeline, called Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians François Trahan and Joséphine Thibodeaux and widow of Hubert Usé, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in June 1849, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church in May 1851. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Andrée Neuville, called Neuville, in April 1852; Félicien Hippolyte in May 1854; Mathilde Orvillia in January 1857; and Marie Julie in May 1858--a dozen children, seven sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1827 and 1858. Daughters Céleste, Virginie, and Mélazie, by his first wife, married into the Theriot, Pontiff, and Pelegrin families by 1870. Six of Hippolyte's sons also married by then. Some settled at the northern edge of the coastal marshes in Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Joseph Hilaire, by first wife Marguerite LeBlanc, married, at age 37, Héloise, daughter of Solomon Verret and Eulalie Verdin, at the Houma church in July 1864. Their children, born near Montegut, included Marie Eulalie in April 1862; Marguerite in October 1863; Emma Joséphine in November 1865; Joseph, fils in January 1868; ...
Hippolyte's second son Michel, by first wife Marguerite LeBlanc, married Émilie or Émelite dite Mélite, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Maxillière Hébert and and his second wife Louise Odile Babin, at the Houma church in September 1860. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Camillia in September 1861; Eugène F. in April 1864; François Angeno in January 1867; Hélène Odile in August 1870; ...
Hippolyte's third son Jean Maximin or Maximin Jean, by first wife Marguerite LeBlanc, married Elvire Émeline, called Émeline and Mélina, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Charles Theriot and his Creole wife Dorcaste or Porcasse Schweitzer, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in December 1853, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church in March 1857. They settled near the boundary between Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish. Their children, born there, included Maxy Alfred in January 1856; Ulysse Gerasine in April 1857; Wales Ernest in March 1859; Louis in June 1861; Joseph Martial in August 1864; Marguerite Alice in November 1866; ...
Hippolyte's fourth son Félicien, by first wife Marguerite LeBlanc, married Mathilde, daughter of Joseph LeBoeuf and Elmire Dupré, at the Montegut church in April 1865. ...
Hippolyte's fifth son Onésime, by first wife Marguerite LeBlanc, married Anastasie or Anastasia, daughter of Louis Dubois and his Acadian wife Adèle Guidry, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in December 1861; the Houma priest who recorded the marriage called the groom Honezieme. His and Anastasie's children, born near Montegut, included Marguerite Virginie in July 1862; Adam Terence in April 1864; Aubain Célestin in April 1867; Euphrasie Ophelia in June 1869; ...
Hippolyte's sixth son Neuville, by second wife Adeline Trahan, married Mélanie, daughter of Louis Soudelier or Sourdelier and his Acadian wife Élodie Foret, at the Montegut church in July 1870. ...
Jean Charles, père's fourth son François married Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Bourg and his Creole wife Rosalie Eléonore Lirette of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in April 1836. They settled near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Delphine Ursule in February 1837; Émile in the late 1830s; Joseph Marcelier in March 1839; Lise Odile in July 1841; Félcité Felonise in November 1843; Angélique or Angélite in the 1840s; Silvain or Sylvain Simon in February 1846; Édouard in December 1850 "at Lower Terrebonne"; Amédée Neuville in January 1853; Ozea Émelia in March 1855; Evelina Félicia in May 1857; Paul James in May 1859; François Ezear in March 1862; ... Daughters Lise, Delphine, and Angélique/Angélite married into the Dardeau, Dugas, Usé, and Vidrine families by 1870. One of them settled on the western prairies near Ville Platte, then in St. Landry but now in Evangeline Parish. One of François's sons also married by then and settled at the northern edge of the coastal marshes in Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Émile married Émilie, daughter of Augustin Dupré and Adeline LeBoeuf, at the Montegut church in October 1867. Daughter Marie Augustine was born near Montegut in August 1869; ...
Jean Charles, père's fifth and youngest son Hyacinthe married Adèle Ursule, another daughter of Jean Bourg and Rosalie Eléonore Lirette of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodeaux church in July 1845. Did they have any children?
Charles's third and youngest son Paul followed his family from Poitou to Nantes and Louisiana. He either died on the crossing from Nantes to New Orleans or succumbed to disease or the rigors of the crossing soon after he reached the Spanish colony. He does not appear with the rest of his family in the Valenzuela District census of January 1788, when he would have about age 7.
Charles dit Champagne, son of Julien Orillon and Anne Roger of St.-Thomas de La Flèche, Angers, France, born in c1652, probably no kin to the Orions of Plaisance, Newfoundland, arrived at Port-Royal in c1703, early in Queen Anne's War. There he served as a soldier and mason in the garrison and also as a servant in the home of Acadian governor Jacques-Francois de Bouillan. Not long after he reached the colony, Charles dit Champagne married Marie-Anne, daughter of Jean Bastarache and Huguette Vincent, at Port-Royal in January 1704. This gave him good reason to remain in the colony when the war finally ended in 1714. Charles dit Champagne died at Annapolis Royal, formerly Port-Royal, in December 1742, age 90. He and Marie-Anne had nine children, seven sons and two daughters, including a pair of twins, all born at Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal. One of their daughters married into the Hébert family. Five of their sons married into the Labauve, Richard, Doucet, Brun dit LeBrun, Dugas, and Deveau families. In 1755, descendants of Charles Orillon dit Champagne could be found at the family's home base at Annapolis Royal, at Chignecto, and perhaps on Île St.-Jean. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. In 1750, Canadian militia, assisted by Mi'kmaq warriors led by Abbé Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads in the British-controlled area east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Orillons may have been among the refugees in this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, local Acadians, pressured by the French, served in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. Two Orillon families ended up in South Carolina that fall.
Many of the Annapolis valley Acadians escaped the British roundup there in the fall of 1755. After a hard winter on the Fundy shore, they crossed the bay to Chepoudy the following spring and sought refuge on the upper Petitcoudiac or on lower Rivière St.-Jean before moving to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore or to Canada via the St.-Jean portage. One Orillon family who went to Canada settled in the Trois-Rivières area by the early 1760s. But members of the family also were among the Annapolis Acadians who did not escape the British there. They ended up on one of the three deportation transports bound for Connecticut. Another Orillon family were among the relatively few Annapolis Acadians deported to South Carolina. They reached Charles Town in mid-January 1756 and reunited with their relatives already there.
Meanwhile, two young Orillon brothers from Annapolis Royal remained in greater Acadia. The older brother sought refuge on Île St.-Jean while his parents were languishing in South Carolina. The younger brother evidently escaped the roundup at Annapolis Royal and followed an uncle to Canada.
In the spring of 1756, Governor James Glen of South Carolina urged the Acadians in his colony to return to greater Acadia by boat, money for which was eagerly raised by the colonial Council. The governor, however, refused the Acadians' demand for pilots to guide their "'ancient' vessels" up the coast. Two Orillon brothers were among the exiles who took advantage of the governor's offer. The third brother in South Carolina remained there. Though at least one of the "ancient vessels" that left South Carolina made it all the way back to the Bay of Fundy, subsequent expeditions were not so lucky. One of the expeditions from Georgia via South Carolina made it to Massachusetts, where, following the protests of Nova Scotia's Governor Lawrence, they were allowed to go no farther. The Orillon brothers and their families, on a separate expedition, got no farther than Long Island, New York, where colonial officials, also honoring Lawrence's request, sent them to Eastchester in Westchester County north of Manhattan. And there they remained for the rest of the war.
At war's end, the Orillon brothers and their families were scattered from the upper St. Lawrence at Nicolet across from Trois-Rivières to the far-flung colony of South Carolina, with families in Connecticut and New York in between. One of the brothers' presence on the upper St. Lawrence drew two of his brothers from Connecticut and New York, and perhaps a nephew from greater Acadia, to the far-northern province by the late 1760s. But the two brothers in South Carolina did not join them in the British-controlled northern province. Soon after the war ended in 1763, hundreds of Acadians in the British Atlantic colonies, including South Carolina and New York, emigrated to St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, where the French were building a new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the island. This promised a new start for Acadians who wanted to escape British rule. The exiles would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the colony's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the labor of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. In late 1763 or 1764, an Orillon family from New York and the remnants of another from South Carolina followed fellow exiles to St.-Domingue. The family from New York settled at Bombarde, today's Bombardopolis, near Môle St.-Nicolas. In the mid- and late 1760s, when fellow exiles from Halifax and Maryland came through nearby Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans, the Orillon family from New York chose not to join them. In 1765, however, two teenaged Orillon orphans from South Carolina who had followed relatives to Môle St.-Nicolas were among the few Acadian exiles who emigrated to Louisiana directly from the French Antilles.
The Orillon dit Champagne family settled fairly early in Acadia, and they were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. Only two of them, however--a teenage brother and his younger sister from Chignecto, exiled with their family to South Carolina--came to the Mississippi valley colony. Joseph and Marguerite Orillon dit Champagne settled with relatives at Cabahannocer among Acadian exiles from Halifax who had transshipped at Cap-Français on their way to Louisiana in 1765. Marguerite married a Forest from Chignecto at Cabahannocer a few years after her arrival. Brother Joseph married a fellow Acadian at nearby Ascension but settled at San Gabriel, just upriver, pioneered by Acadian exiles from Maryland in 1767. His two sons married and remained in Iberville Parish, but his younger son's line did not endure. One of Joseph's grandsons moved to the Bayou Lafourche valley in the 1850s, but the others remained on the river near where their immigrant ancestor had settled. Only during the immediate post-war period did Orillions, from Iberville Parish, establish a western branch of the family, on lower Bayou Teche.
Judging by the number of slaves they owned, some of the Orillions of Iberville Parish lived well on their farms and plantations along the river. In 1850, Rosémond Orillion owned 41 slaves on his plantation in Iberville. In 1860, Rosémond's older brother's widow held 22 slaves on her plantation there.
At least four Orillions served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, and one of them died in Confederate service. Two of Rosémond Orillion's sons, one a sergeant, the other a lieutenant, both of them married, served in Company I of the 30th Regiment/Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, that fought in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. Joseph Hortaire, the sergeant, survived the war, but his younger brother Roselius Alexandre, the lieutenant, did not. After the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson, Louisiana, surrendered in July 1863, the Federals did not parole Roselius but sent him as a prisoner of war to New Orleans, where he died of consumption in the spring of 1864, age 27. Evidently family members retrieved Roselius's body. Church records show him buried at Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, in March 1864. Joseph's and Roselius's first cousin Frederick Orillion served as a lieutenant in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville Parish, that fought in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Frederick was captured at Mill Springs, Kentucky, in May 1863 and spent most of the rest of the war as a prisoner at Camp Chase and Johnson's Island, Ohio. He survived the ordeal and returned to his family, as did cousin Joseph Orillion of Bayou Goula, who served in Company B of the 11th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, another unit raised in Iberville Parish that served throughout the Western Theatre of Operations.
Meanwhile, back on the home front, the war devastated the family's economic standing. Even before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in January 1863, Federal commands controlling the lower Mississippi freed the slaves on every farm and plantation their forces could reach. This included the Orillion holdings in Iberville Parish. Federal gunboats shelled and burned dozens of plantation houses along the river. Successive Federal incursions in the Bayou Lafourche valley devastated that region, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were driven off. ...
During exile, among members of the family sent to South Carolina, their surname evolved from Orillon to Orillion. In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Aurion and Orillan. Although the Acadian Orillon/Orillions used the dit Champagne in Acadia, they did not use it in South Louisiana, so they should not be confused with the Champagne family there, who were French Creoles, not Acadians.25
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All of the Acadian Orillions of South Louisiana come from one of the orphans who came to the colony from French St.-Domingue in 1765:
Joseph, fils (c1748-1810) à Charles dit Champagne Orillion
Joseph, fils, also called Joseph-Florien, oldest son of Joseph Orillon and Marguerite Dugas, born at Annapolis Royal in c1748, followed his family to South Carolina and relatives and a sister to French St.-Domingue, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer. He married Marie-Rose, called Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Breau and Marguerite Gautrot, at nearby Ascension in c1770. Rose, a native of Minas, had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1768 with her widowed mother in the extended family led by kinsmen Alexis and Honoré Breau. Joseph, fils and Rose settled at San Gabriel, upriver from Ascension, where Spanish officials counted them on the "left bank ascending," or west side of the river, in March 1777. Their children, born on the river, included Marie-Josèphe at Ascension in November 1772; Joseph III in February 1775; Marguerite-Élisabeth baptized at the San Gabriel church, age unrecorded, in January 1780; Nicolas-André, also called Joseph-Nicolas, called Nicolas, born in November 1781; and Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, in August 1788--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1772 and 1788. Joseph, fils died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in January 1810. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph died at "age 70." He was in his early 60s. Daughters Marie Josèphe, Marguerite Élisabeth, and Madeleine married into the Roth, Melançon, and Babin families. Joseph, fils's two sons also married and settled on the west side of the river near Plaquemine and Bayou Goula in Iberville Parish, but not all of the lines endured. All of the Acadian Orillions of South Louisiana, including those in the Bayou Lafourche valley, come from the older son, whose descendants tended to favor non-Acadian spouses.
Older son Joseph III married Marie-Clothilde, called Clothilde, daughter of Francois-Charles Marrionneaux and Marie-Jeanne Guiot, a Creole, not an Acadian, at San Gabriel in March 1794. Their children, born there, included Marie-Marcelline or -Marcellite, called Marcellite, in January 1795; Joseph IV in December 1796; Joseph-Dosithé or Dosilien, called Dosithé, in the late 1790s; Louis-Rosémond, called Rosémond and Don Louis Rosémond, in January 1800; Julie-Adeline, called Adeline, in June 1802; Marie Leraline or Sarrasine in May 1804; Marie Lolitaine in April 1806; Louis Théodore, called Théodore, in September 1808; Pierre Francois Derosier, called Derosier or Drosin, in September 1811; and Laurence Adélaïde in December 1816--10 children, five daughers and five sons, between 1795 and 1816. Daughters Marcellite, Adeline, and Marie Sarrasine married into the Blanchard, Roth, Bujole, and Dupuis families. Joseph III's five sons also married on the river.
Oldest son Joseph IV married Marie Arthémise Aubry, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Aubry Dupuis and his Creole wife Marie Clothilde Devillier, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in October 1819. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Joseph, also called Joseph Lovinsky, in October 1820; Adèle in the early 1820s; an infant, name unrecorded, died at age 7 months in August 1822; Lorenza died at age 6 months in August 1823; Joseph or Pierre Célestin, called Célestin and P. C., born in July 1824; and Marie or Jane Desirée in April 1828--six children, at least two sons and three daughters, between 1820 and 1828. Joseph IV likely was the "Joseph, Jr." who died in Iberville Parish in August 1829. If so, he would have been age 32 at the time of his passing. In some of his children's marriage records, the recording priest called him Joseph, Jr., and he fathered no more children after 1828, so it probably was him and not his father. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Iberville Parish counted 22 slaves--12 males and 10 females, 15 blacks and seven mulattoes, ages 65 to 7, living in three houses--on the Dupuy & Orillion plantation two doors down from Théodore Orillion. This probably was Joseph IV's widow, Arthémise Dupuis. The same census taker counted a single slave--a 28-year-old black female--in Arthémise Orillion's household in the town of Plaquemine. This also was Joseph IV's widow. Daughters Adèle and Jane Desirée married into the Robert, Bedunah, and Townsend families. Joseph IV's sons also married.
Older son Joseph Lovinsky married Marie Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadian Treville Breaux and his Creole wife Adélaïde Barques, at the St. Gabriel church in May 1847. Their children, born in Iberville Parish near Plaquemine, included Joseph Lovinsky, fils in January 1847; Jacques Célestin in December 1849; André Surville in October 1851; Mary Arthémise in February 1854; Joseph Thomas baptized at the Plaquemine church, age 1, in May 1857; George Samuel born in June 1860; Elmire Edilia in May 1862; John Adélard in October 1866; ... None of Joseph Lovinsky's children married by 1870.
Joseph IV's younger son Pierre Célestin, called Célestin, married Marie Adèle, called Adèle, daughter of fellow Acadian Mathurin Landry and his Creole wife Elvire Hernandez, at the Plaquemine church, Iberville Parish, in October 1853. Their children, born near Plaquemine, included twins Peter Aubry and Peter Célestin in December 1854; Alfred in November 1856; Marie Arthémise in January 1861 but, called Artémise, died at age 2 1/2 in May 1863; Joseph Célestin born in November 1862 but, called Joseph, died at age 2 (the recording priest said 4) in October 1864; .... None of Célestin's children married by 1870.
Joseph III's second son Joseph Dosithé or Dosilien, called Dosithé, married Marie Pauline, called Pauline, Lacroix, widow of Baptiste Bergeron, probably in Iberville Parish in the early 1830s; Pauline's father may have been an Orillion, so she may have been Dosithe's cousin. Their children, born in Iberville and Ascension parishes, included Jean Latour in 1834 but died at age 1 in Iberville Parish in June 1835; Marie Ozélia, called Ozélia, born in April 1840; Joseph Osilien in late 1842 and baptized at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, age 3 years, 3 months, in February 1846; and Marie Victoria or Victoire born in October 1845--four children, two sons and two daughters, between 1834 and 1845. Daughters Ozélia and Marie Victoire married into the Abadie and Richard families by 1870. Dosithé's remaining son did not marry by then, even after surviving his war service.
During the War of 1861-65, Joseph Osilien likely was the Joseph D. or J. D. Orillion of Bayou Goula, Iberville Parish, who served in Company B of the 11th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi. After his regiment was broken up because of heavy casualties, J. D. was transferred to second Company E of the 20th (Lovell) Regiment Louisiana Infantry and served in Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. He survived the war and returned to his family but did not marry by 1870.
Joseph III's third son Louis Rosémond, called Rosémond, Don Louis Rosémond, D. Rosémond, D. R., and Rosémont, married Marie Antoinette, called Antoinette, Blake, also called Black, at the St. Gabriel church in March 1826. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Marie Aglaé in November 1828; Marie Ernestine in April 1832; Joseph Hortaire or Aurtere in December 1834; Alexandre Roselius or Roselius Alexandre in May 1836; Victoire Ophelia, called Ophelia, in February 1839; and Sylvie or Marie Clothilde, called Clothilde, in May 1840--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1828 and 1840. In July 1850, the federal census taker in Iberville Parish counted 41 slaves--28 males and 13 females, all black except for two mulattoes, ranging in age from 65 to 1--on D. R. Orillon's plantation; this probably was Rosémond. Daughters Ophelia and Clothilde married into the LeBlanc and Robert families by 1870. One of them, Clothilde, moved to the Bayou Teche valley, but the others remained on the river. Both of Rosémond's sons also married. After the war, his older son followed his sister Clothilde to Bayou Teche, establishing a western branch of the family.
Older son Joseph Hotaire or Autere married Marie Delmise, called Delmise and Elmise, daughter of Anthony Lacroix and Catherine Steepleton, at the Plaquemine church in February 1856. Their children, born near Plaquemine and on the lower Teche, included Mary Eliska in November 1856 but, called Marie Eliska, died at age 3 in October 1859; Antoine Adolphe le jeune born in September 1858; Don Louis Aurtere or Hotaire near Plaquemine in October 1860; Marie Lesbia in July 1862; Louis Erwin near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in March 1866; Louise Stella in April 1868; Marie Clara in November 1870; ... During the war, Joseph Hortaire served as a sergeant in Company I of the 30th Regiment/Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. As the birth of a younger son reveals, Joseph Hortaire survived the war, returned to his family, and promptly moved them to Bayou Teche. They were still living near New Iberia in 1870. None of Joseph Hotaire's children married by 1870.
Rosémond's younger son Roselius Alexandre married cousin Mathilda, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dupuy and Serazine Orillion, at the Plaquemine church in April 1861. Their children, born near Plaquemine, included Marie Eliska (named probably after a dead cousin) in September 1862; and Roselius Alexandre, fils born posthumously in August 1864. During the war, Roselius Alexandre served as a lieutenant in the same unit as his brother Joseph Hotaire, but Roselius did not survive the war. While being held as a prisoner of war in New Orleans, he died of consumption in April 1864, five months before his son was born. Evidently family members retrieved Roselius's body. He was buried at the Plaquemine church cemetery in March 1864, age 27 (the recording priest said 28).
Joseph III's fourth son Louis Théodore, called Théodore, married Victoire, daughter of Baptiste Roland, Rolland, or Rollande and Victoria Labatut, in a civil ceremony in Iberville Parish, and sanctified the marriage at the St. Gabriel church in December 1835. Their children, born near Plaquemine, included twins François Théodore and Joseph François in March 1832, but Francois Théodore died at age 1 in June 1833; Cécile Aurelia, called Aure, born in November 1833; Antoine Adolphe in September 1835; Théodore Frédéric, called Frédéric Tobie and Frederick, in December 1836; Marguerite or Marie Emma, called Emma, in October 1841; Amelia Corinne, called Corinne, in c1844; Marie Victoire or Victoria, called Victoria, in April 1846; Gabriel Théodore, called Théodore, fils, in June 1848; Philomène Mathilde in October 1850; Mary Noémia in May 1853; and Jean Baptiste in December 1855--a dozen children, six sons and six daughters, including a set of twins, between 1832 and 1855. In July 1850, the federal census taker in Iberville Parish counted two slaves--a 25-year-old black female, and a 17-year-old black male--on T. Orillon's farm; this probably was Théodore. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Iberville Parish counted seven slaves--two males and five females, four blacks and three mulattoes, ranging in age from 55 to 3, living in a single house--on Théodore Orillion's farm. Daughters Cécile Aurelia, Amelia Corinne, Marie Emma, and Marie Victoria married into the LeBlanc, Kleinpeter, Marrionneaux, and Shanks families by 1870. One of Théodore's sons, after his Confederate service, also married by then.
During the war, Théodore's fourth son Frederick served as a sergeant and then as a lieutenant in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He was captured in Kentucky in May 1863, spent the rest of the war in prison camps, including the notorious camp for Confederate officers at Johnson's Island, Ohio, and returned to his family. At age 34, Frédéric married cousin Victoria, daughter of fellow Acadian Paulin Dupuy, fils and his Creole wife Marie Victorine Marrionneau and widow of ____ Landry, at the Plaquemine church in February 1870; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Daughter Marie Victorine was born near Plaquemine in November 1869, a few months before her parents' wedding; ...
Joseph III's fifth and youngest son Pierre Francois Derosier, called Derosier or Drosin, married fellow Acadian Zulma Bourgeois at the Plaquemine church in May 1851; this was a sanctification of a civil marriage that probably had been made in the 1840s. The priest who recorded the marriage called Drosin "Therosine." Their son Jean Joseph had been born in Iberville Parish in June 1849. They did not remain on the river. Drosin remarried to Hélène, daughter of John L. Seely and Jannette Simoneaux, at the Thibodeaux church, Lafourche Parish, in October 1855. They remained on the Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie Émelie, called Émelie, in January 1857; Albert in March 1858; Jules Léogard, called Léogard, in February 1860; and Angelina Alice, called Alice, posthumously in October 1864--five children, three sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1849 and 1864. Drosin died in Lafourche Parish in August 1864. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that "Jean," as he called him, died "at age 42 yrs." He probably meant 52, Drosin's actual age. One wonders if his death was war-related. A petition for succession inventory, calling him Drauzin and his wife Hélène Neely, and listing his surviving children and their birth dates--Émelie, Albert, Léoga, and Alice--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in August 1867. His oldest son was not listed in his father's succession in August 1867, so he may have died young. None of Drosin's children married by 1870.
Joseph, fils's younger son Nicolas André, also called Joseph Nicolas, married first cousin Marie Renée or Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Foret and Marguerite Orillion, his uncle and aunt, at St. Gabriel in October 1805; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born in Iberville Parish, included Joseph Nicolas, fils in December 1806 but died the following May; Marie Constance born in August 1808; a newborn, name unrecorded, died in March 1811; Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, born in June 1812; and Gabriel Arbonaut in October 1818 but died at age 1 in September 1819--five children, at least two sons and two daughters, between 1806 and 1818. Nicolas died in Ascension Parish in April 1832. The priest who recorded the burial said that Nicolas was age 48 when he died. He was 50. Daughters Marie Constance and Joséphine married into the Melançon and Landry families. Neither of Nicolas's sons survived childhood, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, did not endure.
Jean Ozelet or Osselet, born at La Tremblade near Rochefort, France, in c1664, emigrated to Newfoundland probably in the 1680s and became a fisher/habitant there. He married Madeleine, daughter of Louis Beaufet and Marthe Orion, at Plaisance, now Placentia, Newfoundland, in c1692. They had eight children, five daughters and three sons. Between 1694 and 1711, Jean and his family lived at Petit-Grève, Plaisance, Petit-Plaisance, and Grand-Grève, Newfoundland. They likely were among the French fishing folk on Newfoundland who were transported to the new French colony of Île Royale in October 1714. In 1715, French officials counted the family at Louisbourg on Île Royale, today's Cape Breton Island. By 1719, they were living at Petit-Dégrat on the north shore of Île Madame off the southeast coast of Île Royale and were still living there in 1726. Four of Jean and Madeleine's daughters married into the Boulanger dit Saint-Nicolas, de Lafargue, Grénard dit Bélair, and Villalon families at Newfoundland and on Île Royale. Only one of Jean's three sons married, into the Moyse family, and moved on to British Nova Scotia in the 1730s.
In 1755, the only remaining male descendant of Jean Ozelet and Madeleine Beaufet of Newfoundland and Île Royale was their grandson Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, Ozelet, age 12, living with his mother and stepfather at Cobeguit on the eastern end of the Minas Basin. When the British began rounding up the Acadians in Nova Scotia in the summer of 1755, Jean, his mother Jeanne Moyse, stepfather Benjamin Pitre, three Pitre half-siblings, and most, if not all, of the habitants at Cobeguit, between the late summer of 1755 and the spring of 1756, fled across Mer Rouge to Île St.-Jean, still controlled by the French. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats swooped down on Île St.-Jean and transported most of the habitants there to France. Jean Ozelet, now in his mid-teens, crossed with his stepfather, his mother, and three half-sisters aboard one of the five British transports that left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November 1758 and, despite a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England that sank three other vessels,, reached St.-Malo together in late January 1759. Only Jean, his stepfather, and a half-sister survived the crossing. Jean's mother died at sea along with two of his half-siblings.
In France, Jean followed his stepfather to St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo, where he came of age and became a pit sawyer. Jean married an Acadian Landry at nearby St.-Servan-sur-Mer in February 1766. She gave him five children, three sons and two daughters, there, including a set of twins, but three of them, including the twins, died young. In 1773, Jean and his family, with hundreds of other exiles languishing in the port cities, became part of the grand settlement venture in the interior of Poitou near the city of Châtellerault. Another daughter was baptized at Châtellerault in September 1774. In March 1776, after two years of effort, Jean, wife Marguerite, and their three remaining children retreated with other Poitou Acadians down the Vienne and the Loire from Châtellerault to the port of Nantes, where, again, they subsisted as best they could on government subsidies and what work they could find. They lived at Chantenay near Nantes, where another son, their seventh child and fourth son, was born in September 1780. In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France a chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana. Jean Ozelet, his wife, and their four remaining children agreed to take it.
If the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Mississippi valley colony, there probably would be no Ozelets in the Bayou State today, at least none with Acadian ancestry. From New Orleans, Jean Ozelet and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. During the antebellum period, Jean's descendants moved down bayou into Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. The family remained a small one and owned no slaves, at least none appeared in the federal slave counts of 1850 and 1860.
Meanwhile, in the 1840s, a Foreign-French family appeared in the old Attakapas District, west of the Atchafalaya Basin, with a surname similar to the Acadian Ozelets. Most, if not all, of the Ancelets of South Louisiana are descended from French immigrant Louis Ancelet, whose wife was an Acadian. They, too, owned no slaves during the antebellum period.
At least one Acadian Ozelet served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. Jules Ozelet, a great-grandson of Jean of Acadia, was age 20 and single when he enlisted in Company F of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry in Terrebonne Parish in March 1862. His regiment ended up at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the spring of 1862. Jules survived the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in December 1862 and the first Federal assaults against the Confederate left flank during the siege of Vicksburg in May 1863. But his luck ran out later that month, when a Federal artillery shell took his head off while he was serving in the trenches. He probably was buried in the Vicksburg city cemetery called Soldiers Rest with thousands of other Confederates who gave their lives defending the Southern citadel. Military records find no Foreign-French Ancelets in Confederate units. Nonetheless, the war took its toll on both families. Successive Federal incursions devastated the valleys of Bayou Lafourche and upper Bayou Vermilion, where Ozelets and Ancelets lived. Confederate foragers also plagued the region when the Federals were driven off. ...
In Louisiana, the Ozelet family's surname also was spelled Ancelet, Anselet, Auselet, Auselette, Auslet, Auzelette, Azelet, Oiselet, Oselet, Oslet, Oslette, Osselet, Ossellet, Ouselet, Ozellet. The Acadian Ozelets and Foreign-French Ancelets should not be confused with the Oustalet family of Jefferson Davis Parish, whose French progenitor did not reach New Orleans until the late nineteenth century.26
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Five Ozelets--a middle-aged couple and four of their children--crossed from France aboard La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-September 1785. All of the Acadian Ozelets of South Louisiana are descended from the family's two younger sons:
Jean-Baptiste (c1743-1798) à Jean Ozelet
Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, only son of Jean Ozelet, fils and Jeanne Moyse, born probably at Cobeguit in c1743, followed his mother, sister, stepfather Benjamin Pitre, and three Pitre half-siblings to Île St.-Jean after the summer of 1755. The British deported the family to St.-Malo, France, in late 1758. Jean settled with his stepfather and half-sister at St.-Suliac, on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo, where he worked as a pit sawyer. He married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Landry and Cécile LeBlanc, at nearby St.-Servan-sur-Mer in February 1766. Marguerite gave Jean five children there: Jean-Charles born in March 1767; twins Marie-Marguerite and Jeanne-Olive in January 1769 but died within days of their birth; Pierre-Henry born in July 1770 but died at age 2 in July 1772; and Mathurin-Joseph born in August 1772. In 1773, Jean took his family to the interior of Poitou, where daughter Marie-Charles or -Charlotte was baptized in St.-Jean l'Evangeliste Parish, Châtellerault, in September 1774. In March 1776, after two years of effort, Jean, Marguerite, and their remaining children retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. They lived at nearby Chantenay, where son Julien was born in September 1780--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1767 and 1780, most of whom died young. The couple emigrated to Spanish Louisiana with four children, three sons and a daughter, in 1785. From New Orleans, they followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. They had no more children in the colony. Jean died at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in March 1798, age 55, a widower. Daughter Marie-Charlotte married into the Gautreaux family on the bayou. Two of Jean-Baptiste's sons also married and remained on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Oldest son Jean-Charles followed his family to Poitou, Chantenay, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche and remained there with his widowed father after his mother died in the early 1790s. Jean-Charles died at Assumption in October 1803, age 36. He never married.
Jean's third son Mathurin-Joseph followed his family to Poitou, Chantenay, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married cousin Marie Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Vincent Landry and Susanne Godin, at Assumption in May 1798. Marie was a native of Louisiana whose parents had come to the colony from Maryland in 1766. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie-Félicité, called Félicité, in April 1799 but died at age 2 1/2 in January 1802; Grégoire-Mathurin born in November 1800 but died at age 1 in January 1802; Marine born in July 1802; Cécile in September 1804; Apollonie Françoise dite Pauline in August 1808; Pierre Mathurin in August 1810 but died at age 5 in August 1815; Marie Léocade born in December 1813 but died at age 2 1/2 in January 1816; and Joseph Alexandre, called Alexandre, born in April 1817--eight children, five daughters and three sons, between 1799 and 1817. Mathurin Joseph died at Assumption in May 1818, age 45. Daughters Cécile, Marine, and Pauline married into the Aucoin and Lesue families. Mathurin's remaining son also married.
Third and youngest son Joseph Alexandre, called Alexandre, married Henriette or Henrietta, daughter of fellow Acadians Fabien Thomas Guillot and Apolline Aucoin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1843. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Rosalie in October 1843 but died the following February; twins Eléonore Alexandrine, called Alexandrine, and Marie Élisabeth, called Élisabeth, born in January 1845; Joseph Justilien in August 1846; Anne Azéline baptized at age 3 months in March 1849 but, called Anna, died at age 6 in February 1855; Louis Sosthène born in August 1851 but died in October; twins Marie Félicia and Marie Ophilia born in June 1853; Marie Florencia in December 1855; and twins Marie Amélie and Marie Odalie in December 1857, but, called Marie, one of them died at age 6 months in June 1858--11 children, nine daughters and two sons, including three sets of twins, between 1843 and 1857. Alexandre died in Assumption Parish in February 1867, age 50. Daughters Élisabeth and Alexandrine married into the LeBlanc and Landry families by 1870. Alexandre's remaining son also married by then.
Older son Joseph Justilien married Angeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Firmin Landry and Telvina Hébert, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1870. ...
Jean's fourth and youngest son Julien followed his family to
New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he
married Marguerite, daughter of fellow exile from France
Lambert Billardin or Villardin and his Acadian wife Marguerite Daigre, at Assumption in October 1802. Marguerite, a native of Morlaix, had come to Louisiana
from France in 1785 aboard a later ship. Their children, born on
the upper Lafourche, included Augustin in July 1803 but died 11
days after his birth; Jean Baptiste le jeune born in June 1804;
Clarisse Marie in April 1806; Clémence in February 1808; and
Carmélite in the 1810s. Julien,
at age 36, remarried to
Anne Marie, called Marie, daughter of Domingo Esteve, Esteves, Estevez,
or Steves and Isabel Fanais,
Second son Jean Baptiste le jeune, by first wife Marguerite Billardin, married Élise, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Marie Theriot and Anne Hébert, at the Plattenville church in September 1829. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie in August 1830; Joseph Honoré died at age 7 months in October 1832; Marcellite in the 1830s; Adelina Augustina Eléonore born in December 1834; Marguerite Adelina in September 1836; Mathilde in March 1838; and Jule or Jules in February 1840--seven children, five daughters and two sons, between 1830 and 1840. Daughters Marcellite and Marguerite Adelina married into the Boudreaux and Penisson families by 1870. Jean Baptiste le jeune's remaining son died in Confederate service before he could marry, so only the blood of the line may have endured.
Second son Jules enlisted in Company F of 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Terrebonne Parish, in March 1862. He was 22 and still unmarried when he enlisted in the company in Terrebonne. He followed his unit to Vicksburg, Mississippi and died in the trenches there, his "Head shot off," in May 1863, age 23, before he could marry. He was perhaps the only member of the Ozelet family to serve in the war.
Julien's third son Raymond Pierre, by second wife Marie Esteves, married Marguerite Carmélite, called Carmélite, daughter of Marcellin Adam and his Acadian wife Marcellite Hébert, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in March 1845. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Eugénie Élisabeth in March 1846; Adrien in February 1848 but, called Jean Baptiste, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 5) in September 1853 "during [a] yellow fever epidemic"; Joachim Augustin born in October 1849; Adam in c1851 but died of yellow fever at age 19 months in September 1853; Jean Andresi born in December 1852; twins Arnet and Ernestine in August 1854, but Arnet died four days after his birth, and Ernestine died 8 days after her birth; and Paul born probably in the 1850s--eight children, including a set of twins, between 1846 and the 1850s. Raymond, called an Azelet by the recording priest, died in Lafourche Parish in April 1866, age 48. A "Petition for tutorship" for his remaining childrem--Eugénie, Joachim, and Paul--naming their mother also, was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse the following September. None of Raymond's children married by 1870.
Julien's fourth and youngest son Raphaël Alphonse, by second wife Marie Esteves, married Louise, daughter of Louis Gravaux, Gravereaux, or Gravour and his Acadian wife Anne Pitre, at the Plattenville church in December 1842. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Émeline in December 1843 but, called Émeline, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest said 8 months, perhaps meaning 18 months) in July 1845; Louise Victoire born in September 1845; and Odilia Eugénie Alilia in October 1847--three children, all daughters, between 1843 and 1847. None of Raphaël's remaining daughters married by 1870.
Pierre dit La Forest, son of Pierre Part and Catherine Piouset of Mouzens, bishopric of Tulle in southwestern France, born in c1685, was a soldier in la compagnie de Falaise, serving in the garrison at Port-Royal, when he married Jeanne, daughter of Claude Dugas and Françoise Bourgeois, in February 1707. When his term of service expired, Pierre dit La Forest worked as a blacksmith at Port-Royal. By 1713, probably to escape British authority in Nova Scotia, he had moved his family to French-controlled Louisbourg and then to Niganiche, farther up the Atlantic coast on Île Royale. He and Jeanne had six children, two daughters and four sons, most of whom created families of their own. Their daughters married into the Jobelet dit Bistoury and Benoit families. Three of their sons married into the Godin, Roy, and Melanson families. In 1755, descendants of Pierre dit La Forest Part could be found at Annapolis Royal; on Rivière St.-Jean in present-day New Brunswick; and on Île Royale, today's Cape Breton Island.
According to Bona Arsenault, Jean-Michel, called Michel, Part, born probably in France in c1693, may have been Pierre dit La Forest's younger brother. It is more likely, however, that he was from an entirely different family, named Apart. Michel married Élisabeth, daughter of Michel Hébert and Isabelle Pellerin, probably at Minas in c1720. There, between 1721 and 1727, Élisabeth gave Michel at least four children, three sons and a daughter, before moving on to Cobeguit at the eastern end of the basin in the 1730s. Élisabeth died probably at Cobeguit by 1734. Michel did not remarry. If he remained at Cobeguit in 1750 and 1751, when two of his sons and his daughter moved on to Île St.-Jean, he likely joined them after the summer of 1755, when the entire population of Cobeguit abandoned the community and, through the fall and into the spring, made their way across Mer Rouge to the French-controlled island to elude the British in Nova Scotia. Michel's daughter Brigitte, who had married into the Boudrot family at Grand-Pré in July 1747 and followed her husband to Île St.-Jean in 1751, was counted with her husband, a son, and her infirm older brother Alexis at La Traverse on the southwest shore of the island in August 1752. Only one of Michel's three sons, the oldest one, Jean-Antoine, married, into the Breau family. Like his sister Brigitte, Jean took his family to Île St.-Jean, in 1750. In August 1752, the French official counted him and his family at Anse-à-Pinnet on the southeast shore of the island. Michel, along with his oldest son and his family, evidently left the island before the roundup there in late 1758 and sought refuge in Canada. Michel died at St.-Jean, Île d'Orléans, below Québec, in September 1758, in his mid-60s. His son likely remained in Canada.
Michel Apart's daughter Brigitte and younger son Alexis were not so lucky. Living in French-controlled territory, they had escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia in 1755, but their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress of Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats descended on Île St.-Jean and deported most of the habitants there to France. Brigitte, her husband Antoine Boudrot, their son, and perhaps her brother Alexis ended up on one of the five British transports that left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November 1758 and, despite a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England that sank three other transports, reached St.-Malo together in late January 1759. The son survived the crossing but died in a St.-Malo hospital in mid-February, probably from the rigors of the crossing. From 1760 to 1772, at Trigavou on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo, Brigitte gave Antoine eight more children, five sons and eight daughters, all but one of whom survived childhood. In 1773, Brigitte and her family went to Poitou with hundreds of other exiles languishing in the port cities. In December 1775, after two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. Husband Antoine died in St.-Jacques Parish, Nantes, in April 1776, age 58, leaving Brigitte with a large family to raise. She never remarried. In the early 1780s, when the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France a chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, Brigitte Apart, her five unmarried Boudrot children, and her married Boudrot son and his wife agreed to take it.
Meanwhile, descendants of Pierre dit
La Forest Part also were scattered to the winds. Second son
Jean and his family, still living at Annapolis Royal,
escaped the British roundup there in the fall of 1755, spent
a hard winter on the Fundy shore, crossed to Chepoudy the
following spring, and, probably via the Rivière St.-Jean
Portage, sought refuge in Canada. Jean died by late
May 1758, probably in Canada. His family waited out
the war there while their relatives endured exile in greater
Acadia. By 1764, Jean's family had settled on the upper St. Lawrence at Bécancour across from
Trois-Rivières, which in a few years would become one of the largest Acadian
settlements in the far-northern province.
Jean Part's older brother Pierre, fils and younger brother Eustache, who had married Godins on Rivière St.-Jean, were still living on the lower river when the British struck in Nova Scotia. Luckily for these Parts, the British lacked the resources to attack the river Acadians after they dispersed or deported the peninsula Acadians. The brothers likely welcomed brother Jean in their river settlement after his escape from Annapolis Royal, but they did not follow him to Canada. Pierre, fils and Eustache's sisters Jeannette and Marie-Anne, still living on French-controlled Île Royale, also escaped the roundups in Nova Scotia in the fall of 1755, but, like their brothers on Rivière St.-Jean, their respite from the British was short-lived. After the fall of Louisbourg, the redcoats swooped down on the rest of Île Royale and deported the French and Acadians there to France. Marie-Anne and her family were thrown aboard the transport Duke William, which left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy in late November, bound for St.-Malo, but did not make it. The Duke William, along with another transport, foundered in a storm off the southwest coast of England in mid-December. Nearly all of the Acadians went down with the vessel, including Marie-Anne Part, her Benoit husband, and their children. One wonders what happened to sister Jeannette and her family.
After the fall of Louisbourg, the British also struck the Acadian settlements on lower Rivière St.-Jean in late 1758 and early 1759. Pierre, fils and his family eluded capture in the fall of 1758 and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence Shore. Brother Eustache and his family suffered a different fate. Like brother Pierre, fils, Eustache and his family evidently escaped the first attack on the lower St.-Jean. Unlike brother Jean, fils, Eustache and his family remained. The British struck the Acadians again, in the dead of winter, and the result was one of the darkest moments of Le Grand Dérangement. In earley March 1759, Moses Hazen's New-English rangers murdered Eustache's wife Anastasie Godin and three of their children in a raid on the settlement of St.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas (some sources says Anastasie and another Acadian woman were scalped). Eustache likely was a witness to the murder. The rangers spared at least one of his children, daughter Marie-Anne, and transported her and Eustache, along with other captives, to the prison compound on Georges Island, Halifax. The following November, Governor Charles Lawrence ordered their deportaton, along with Acadians captured at Cap-Sable, to England, but English authorities sent them on to Cherbourg, France, where they landed in mid-January 1760. After Church authorities, probably with the help of witnesses, certified his status as a widower, Eustache remarried to cousin Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Melanson and Marie-Madeleine Petitot dit Saint-Seine, in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg, in February 1761. She evidently gave him a son, Laurent, probably at Cherbourg. Eustache took his family to Poitou in 1773. Wife Anne died at Archigny south of Châtellerault in November 1774, age 58. In October 1775, Eustache and son Laurent retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the port of Nantes. Meanwhile, his daughter Marie-Anne by his murdered first wife married Jean, son of fellow Acadians Christophe Delaune and Marguerite Caissie dit Roger of Île St.-Jean, at Cherbourg in February 1773. They also went to Poitou and retreated to Nantes. In 1785, Marie-Anne and her family emigrated to Spanish Louisiana. Eustache and son Laurent, if they were still alive, remained in the mother country.
In North America,
Parts being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or retun to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the hated oath if they joined their relatives in Canada. After all that they had suffered on the question of the oath, no self-respecting Acadian would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the seaboard colonies were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their meager possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Evidently Pierre, fils and his wife Angélique died at Halifax not long after the listing there in August 1763. However, among the 600 exiles in Nova Scotia who left Halifax for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, in late 1764 and early 1765, five of them were the orphaned children of Pierre Part and Angélique Godin.
Parts (pronounced PAR) settled "late" in Acadia, but they were among the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. Five orphan siblings, including four brothers, all born on Rivière St.-Jean, came to Louisiana from Halifax via Cap-Français in 1765. They settled with relatives in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans on what became known as the Acadian Coast. Twenty years later, a Part wife, first cousins of the five orphans, and a widow named Apart, not kin, came to Louisiana from France on separate ships and settled on the river and upper Bayou Lafourche. Meanwhile, three of the four brothers on the river settled in St. James, Ascension, and Iberville parishes, all on the Acadian Coast. During the early antebellum period, some of their descendants joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche, creating a second center of Part family settlement. During the antebellum period, some of the Lafourche Parts moved down bayou as far as Raceland and Lockport in Lafourche Parish and over into Terrebonne Parish. By the 1850s, the Parts in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley rivaled in numbers their cousins on the river. The town of Pierre Part north of Lake Verret in northwestern Assumption Parish may have been named for the immigrant ancestor of these Lafourche valley Parts. No Acadian Parts lived west of the Atchafalaya Basin before the War of 1861-65.
According to local church records, no non-Acadian Aparts or Parts lived in Louisiana during the colonial period. An Anglo Creole named Parr, whose name sometimes was spelled Part, settled in the Attakapas District on the lower Vermilion River by the mid-1780s, but no family line came of it. Most, if not all, of the Parts of South Louisiana, then, are descendants of Pierre dit La Forest of Port-Royal and Île Royale. ...
At least eight Parts served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, and at least one of them died in Confederate service. Clodomir Part, a 24-year-old husband and father serving in the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, was mortally wounded at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in late June 1863. ...
In Louisiana, the families' names also are spelled Apar, Appart, Eparte, Hapart, Paré, Par, Parr, Parre, Pars.27
.
The first of the family--four brothers and a sister--came to Louisiana in 1765. Three of the brothers married, and the Acadian Parts of South Louisiana descend from these brothers and their sons, especially the third brother:
Joseph (c1738-1811) à Pierre dit La Forest Part
Joseph, eldest son of Pierre Part, fils and Angélique Godin, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1738, followed his family into exile and imprisonment. Still a bachelor in his late 20s, he led his four younger siblings to Louisiana. They settled at Cabahannocer, where Spanish officials counted him on the left, or east, bank of the river in April 1766 and September1769. Joseph died near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1811. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 80 when he died. He was closer to 73. He did not marry.
Olivier (c1746-?) à Pierre dit La Forest Part
Olivier, second son of Pierre Part, fils and Angélique Godin, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1746, followed his family into exile and imprisonment and his siblings to New Orleans and Cabahannocer. Olivier, at age 40, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Dupuis and Anne Richard and widow of Prosper-Sébastien Hébert, at nearby San Gabriel in January 1786. Marie, a native of Minas, had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1768. They settled at Cabahannocer. Their children, born there, included Joseph-Olivier in December 1787; and Louis-Olivier in October 1789. Olivier's sons settled in Ascension and Iberville parishes. Not all of the lines endured.
Older son Joseph-Olivier married Marie Angèle or Ange, called Angèle, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Breaux and Marie Perpétué Landry, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in August 1810. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and Iberville parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Asélie, called Asélie, in August 1811 but, called Azélie, died at age 21 in July 1832; Marie Domitille born in c1812 and baptized at age 5 (probably 4) in August 1816; Marie Mélanie born in January 1814 but died at age 5 1/2 in October 1819; Marie Marguerite, called Marguerite, born in August 1818; Malcolm in February 1820; a daughter, name unrecorded, in late 1820 but died at "age 1 yr. 8 mos." in June 1822; Marie Héloise or Louise born in December 1822 but died at age 3 1/2 in October 1826; Joseph Drosin born in February 1825 but died at age 17 months in June 1826; and a son, name and age unrecorded, died in Ascension Parish in September 1827--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1811 and 1825. Joseph Olivier died in Ascension Parish in May 1832, age 44. Daughter Marguerite married into the Joly family. Joseph Olivier's remaining son did not marry, but the blood of the family line may have endured.
Olivier's younger son Louis Olivier married Marie Constance, daughter of Joseph Henderson and his Acadian wife Jeanne Marie Theriot, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in April 1816. They settled on the river near the boundary between Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, in May 1817; Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, in May 1819; Marie Adèle or Adveline in August 1821 but died at age 2 1/2 in June 1824; Marie Ursule born in December 1823; Valentin Nurville or Murville, called V. M., in March 1826; Marie Azelumia or Azémia, called Azémia, in April 1827; Louis Duval in c1828 but died at age 5 1/2 or 6 in August 1833; and Louis, fils born in December 1830--eight children, five daughters and three sons, between 1817 and 1830. Louis Olivier died in Iberville Parish in May 1840, age 50. The St. Gabriel priest who recorded the burial called him Louis "a resident of Primus Oil Field." Daughters Eugénie, Mélanie, Marie Ursule, and Azémia married into the Hébert, Babin, Bercegeay, Laguier, and Decauteaux families by 1870. One of Louis Olivier's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Valentin Nurville or Murville, called V. M., married fellow Acadian Delphine Élisabeth Landry probably in Ascension Parish in the late 1840s or early 1850s. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Constanze Théodoriste in April 1853; Théodore Norbert in April 1855; Murville Louis in January 1857; and Barnabé Télismard in June 1860--four children, a daughter or three sons, between 1853 and 1860. Despite his age, during the War of 1861-65, Murville, called Marville in Confederate records, served in Company E of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. His service record falls silent after late February 1863, so one wonders if he survived the war and returned to his family. None of his children married by 1870.
Pierre III (c1749-1826) à Pierre dit La Forest Part
Pierre III, third son of Pierre Part, fils and Angélique Godin, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1749, followed his family into exile, imprisonment, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where he married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Melanson and Marguerite Broussard, in c1770. Marguerite, a native of Minas, had come to Louisiana from Maryland with her widowed mother and a sister in 1766. Her and Pierre III's children, born at Cabahannocer, included twins Marie-Madeleine and Rosalie baptized at the Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in August 1771, but Marie-Madeleine died at age 5 in June 1776; François-Régis, called Régis, baptized, age unrecorded, probably in January 1773; Pierre IV baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1774; Joseph-Guide baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1775; Marguerite baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1777; another Pierre IV baptized, age unrecorded, in April 1779; Olivier le jeune baptized, age unrecorded, in May 1780; Anastasie or Anathalie born in c1782; Étienne in c1785; Jacques in October 1789; and another Rosalie in February 1792--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, between 1771 and 1792. Pierre III died near Convent, St. James Parish, in October 1826. The priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre was age 67 when he died. He probably was 77. Daughters Marguerite, Anastasie, and Rosalie married into the Arceneaux, LeBlanc, Bourgeois, and Blouin families. Only three of Pierre III's many sons married, and one of them had no children, at least none who appear in local church records. The two older sons remained in St. James Parish. Most of the Parts in Louisiana are descended from the oldest son. The youngest son settled at nearby Ascension. During the early antebellum period, some of Pierre III's descendants joined the Acadian exodus from the river to Bayou Lafourche, creating a second center of family settlement there.
Oldest son François-Régis, called Régis, married Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Bourgeois and Rosalie LeBlanc, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in February 1794. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Célestine in April 1795 but died at age 1 1/2 in September 1796; François, fils born in April 1797 but died at age 1 1/2 in August 1798; Pierre-Paul, called Paul, born in April 1799; Julie-Émilie, perhaps also called Marie-Carmélite dite Mélite, in July 1801; Marguerite in December 1803 but died at age 8 1/2 in August 1812; Marie Virginie or Eugénie born in May 1806; François Luc, called Luc, in October 1808; Marie Cléonise, called Cléonise, in c1811; and Jean Baptiste Eugène, called Eugène, in April 1814--nine children, five daughters and four sons, between 1795 and 1814. François Régis died near Convent, St. James Parish, in December 1814, age 41. After this death, his widow and children moved to Bayou Lafourche. Daughters Marie Carmélite, Marie Eugénie, and Cléonise married into the Toups, Dantin, and Boudreaux families. Three of Régis's sons also married on the Lafourche.
Second son Pierre Paul, called Paul, married Marie Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Eusèbe Robichaux and Élisabeth Babin of Ascension, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1819. They remained on the Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Louis Pierre or Pierre Louis in August 1820; Marie Marguerite in August 1822; Jean Baptiste Adrien, called Adrien and Andressi, in November 1824; Marie Lisa in April 1826 but, called Élisa, died at age 7 1/2 in September 1833; Marie Lesida or Nesida, called Nesida, born in September 1829; Marie Lisida, perhaps also called Marie Émelia, in May 1831; François Aurelien, called F. Aurelien, in September 1833; Marie Odile or Odilia, called Odilia, in April 1836; Marie Ofelia or Azélia, called Azélia, in September 1838; Augustine in August 1841 but, called Augustin, died at age 2 in September 1843; and Marie Ernestine born in January 1844--11 children, four sons and seven daughters, between 1820 and 1844. Pierre Paul died in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1850, age 51. A petition for "Family meeting," calling him Pierre Paul, his wife Marguerite, and listing some of their minor children--François Aurelien, Marie Odilia, Marie Azélia, and Marie Ernestine--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in January 1851. Daughters Nesida, Marie Émelia, Odilia, and Azélia married into the LeBlanc, Exnicios, Hargis, and Reussoni or Rusconi families by 1870. Three of Paul's sons also married by then, one of them after his war service.
Oldest son Louis Pierre or Pierre Louis married, at age 19, Élise, 15-year-old daughter of Télesphore Toups and Marie Carmélite Baudoin, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1839. Their children, born on the Lafourche and in Terrebonne Parish, included Louis Lumbert in September 1842; Carmélite Élisa or Éliza, called Éliza, in March 1844; Onésippe in October 1845; Émelie in c1847; Augustin le jeune in March 1849; Cléophas in September 1850; Léo in April 1853; Paul Émile in October 1855 but, called Émile, may have died in Terrebonne Parish, age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 8), in August 1861; Joseph Orestille, called Orestille, in Terrebonne Parish in October 1857; Marguerite Adèlia, called Adèlia, in December 1859; and Pierre Félicien, called Félicien, in January 1862. Pierre Louis, described by the parish clerk as "Future husband of Mrs. Eugénie Lasseigne, widow of Nicolas Arseneaux," donated land to her 11 days before their marriage. At age 45, he remarried to Eugénie, daughter of Adam Lasseigne and Marie Poché and widow of Nicolas Arceneaux, at the Houma church in May 1866. Pierre Louis, called Louis, died in Terrebonne Parish in September 1866, only four months after his remarriage, age 46 (the recording priest said 45). A petition for a succession inventory and a family meeting, calling him Pierre Louis, naming his first wife, noting that she had died in November 1864, and listing their children and some of their spouses--Éliza and her husband , Émelie and her husband, Onésipe or Onézipe, Augustin, Cléophas, Léo, Orestile or Orestide, Adèlia, and Félicien--had been filed at the Houma courthouse the month before his remarriage and again in October 1866, a month after his death. His and second wife Eugénie's daughter Marie Louisiane was born posthumously in February 1867, four months after her father's passing--a dozen children, eight sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1842 and 1867. Daughters Émelie and Élisa, by his first wife, married into the Vice or Vies and Duplantis families by 1870. Two of Louis Pierre's sons also married by then.
Second son Onésippe, by first wife Élise Toups, married Amelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Molaison and Marie Bourgeois, at the Houma church in May 1866. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Malvina in March 1867; Marie Sophie in September 1869; ...
Louis Pierre third son Augustin le jeune, by first wife Élise Toups, married Alvina or Elvina, daughter of Ulter Chauvin and his Acadian wife Azelma LeBlanc, at the Houma church in December 1869. ...
Paul's second son Jean Baptiste Adrien, called Adrien and Andressi, married Marie Marceline or Marcellite, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Babin and Juliènne Melançon, at the Thibodaux church in April 1845. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Adrien David in March 1846 but, called David Adrien, died at age 8 1/2 in October 1854; Paul le jeune born in June 1848; Marcellin Froisin in February 1849; Marie Louisa, called Louisa, in February 1851; Marie Émelia in January 1852; Marie Brigitte in October 1856; Joseph Arthur in November 1858; Marie Adèle in February 1861; Marie Joséphine in March 1864; Octavie in September 1866; ... Daughter Louisa married into the Toups family by 1870. None of Adrien's sons married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, Paul's third son F. Aurelien served as a corporal in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. F. Aurelien enlisted as a private in March 1862 and was promoted to second corporal the following August. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Mary Frances, daughter of Samuel Whittaker and Elisa Dukenson, at the Thibodaux church in April 1868. Their son Paul William was born in Lafourche Parish in January 1868; ...
Regis's third son François Luc, called Luc and Régis, married Adèle, 16-year-old daughter of Marcel Falgout and Marie Louise Beauvais, at the Thibodauxville church in June 1831. They remained on Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included François Régis le jeune, called Régis, in April 1832; Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, in July 1834; Marcellin in October 1836; Louis Clodame or Clodimir, called Clodimir, in December 1838; George in December 1841; Gustave in March 1845 but, called Octave, died at age 10 in July 1855; Joseph born in November 1847 but, called simply "boy," died at age 9 in October 1858; and Augustin born in March 1850--eight children, seven sons and a daughter, between 1832 and 1850. Daughter Joséphine married into the Bourgeois and Chauvin families by 1870. Four of François Luc's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured. Three of his sons fought in the War of 1861-65, one of them at the cost of his life.
Oldest son François Régis le jeune, calle Régis, married Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Hippolyte Roger and Marie Geneviève Foret, at the Thibodaux church in September 1857. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included twins François Hermogène and François Théogène in May 1858, but François Hermogène died the following January; Marie Adèle born in April 1860; Marie Sarah in November 1861; Joséphine Aspasie near Lockport in September 1864; Marie Augusta in August 1868; ... During the war, Régis, called Régiste in his Confederate record, served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment Militia. He and most of his regiment were captured at the Battle of Labadieville in nearby Assumption Parish in late October 1862, when he was age 30. The Federals paroled him in early November, and he returned home.
François Luc's second son Marcellin married Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse Robichaux and Marcelline Foret, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in May 1858. Their children, born on the lower Lafourche, included Désiré Ernest near Raceland in March 1859; George le jeune near Lockport in June 1866; ... During the war, Marcellin served in Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He enlisted at Camp Moore, Louisiana, in October 1861, age 25, so he was not a conscript. In late 1861, he was on extra duty as a nurse at a Confederate hospital in the New Orleans area and returned to his unit early the next year. Marcellin survived the bloodbath at Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862 but was absent sick at the hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, later that spring. He returned to his unit that summer and was detailed with the provost marshal late that year. In November 1863, when the 18th Regiment Infantry became part of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry, Marcellin served in Company F of the new regiment. He was detailed as an officers' cook in the spring of 1864. As the birth of his second son attests, he survived the war and returned to his family.
François Luc's third son Clodimir married Saidonis or Sidonise, daughter of fellow Acadian Zéphirin Trahan and Carmélite Dubois, also perhaps a fellow Acadian, at the Chacahoula church, Terrebonne Parish, in October 1860. Their son Félicien was born probably in Terrebonne Parish in c1861 but died at age 4 years, 9 months, near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, in June 1866. During the war, Clodomir served in Company F of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Terrebonne Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Clodomir did not survive his service. At age 24, he was mortally wounded at Vicksburg in late June 1863, less than a week before the Confederates surrendered the Mississippi River bastion to Federal General Ulysses S. Grant. When Clodomir's only son Félicien died near Lockport in June 1866, the family line died with him.
François Luc's fourth son George married Aspasie, daughter of Holter Bouvier and his Acadian wife Delphine Theriot, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in January 1861. Daughter Magdalene Odilia was born near Raceland in December 1861. George remarried to Théothice or Théotiste Knight in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in June 1867. Their son Ernisse Alexandre was baptized at the Lockport church, age unrecorded, in June 1870; ...
Regis's fourth and youngest son Jean Baptiste Eugène, called Eugène, married Marie Adèle, called Adèle, 14-year-old daughter of Joseph Stiven and his Acadian wife Marguerite Boudreaux, at the Thibodauxville church in September 1834. They remained on Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marguerite Eugénie in July 1836 but, called Eugénie, died at age 17 1/2 (the recording priest said 15) in October 1853, perhaps from yellow fever; Étienne Elphége born in October 1837; Marie Constance Bertille in August 1839 but, called Marie Bersile, died at age 2 in September 1841; Geneviève Adèla, called Adèla, born in January 1841; Jean Baptiste Douradon or Douradou, called Douradou, in September 1842; and Constance Émelie in February 1845--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1836 and 1845. Daughter Adèla married into the Hébert family by 1870. Both of Eugène's sons served Louisiana during the War of 1861-65. If they survived their Confederate service, neither of them married by 1870.
Older son Étienne Elphége may have been the Étienne Parr who served with a first cousin in Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. At age 24, Étienne enlisted at Camp Moore, Louisiana, in October 1861, so he was not a conscript. He survived the bloodbath at Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862 but was captured on lower Bayou Teche in April 1863. The Federals sent him to New Orleans to be exchanged, and there his Confederate service record ends, so one wonders if he survived the war and returned to his family.
During the war, Eugène's younger son Douradou served in Company I of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the fall of 1862, Douradou was left at the hospital at Mississippi Springs, Mississippi, while his unit went on to Vicksburg. Douradou's Confederate service record goes no farther, so one wonders if he survived his hospital stay.
Pierre III's third son Joseph-Guide married Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Poirier and Marie-Madeleine Richard, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in May 1798. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Pierre-Jacques or Jacques-Paul in April 1799 but died near Convent, age 12, in May 1811; Rosalie- or Rosaline-Marguerite born in May 1801; Simon in January 1804 but died near Convent at age 44 (the recording priest said 42) in August 1848; Marie Cidalie or Cidelise born in April 1806; Damas Rémi or Telder in December 1808 but died at age 2 1/2 in September 1811; Evariste born in June 1817; Étienne le jeune in February 1820; and Jean Baptiste Théophile in December 1824 but, called Théophile, died near Convent, age 24 (the recording priest said 26), in May 1849--eight children, six sons and two daughters, between 1799 and 1824. Joseph died near Convent in March 1844. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph died at "age 63 yrs." He was closer to 69 or 70. Daughters Rosaline and Marie Cidelise married into the Cornu and Duhon families. Two of Joseph Guide's sons also married. They remained on the river, but not all of the lines endured.
Fourth son Evariste married Marie, daughter of Jean Grégoire and his Acadian wife Clémence Bourgeois, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in December 1841. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Zulma in January 1843 but, called Zulma, died at age 1 1/2 in July 1844; and Aristide born in January 1845. Evariste remarried to Justine, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Landry and his Creole wife Anastasie Poché, at the Convent church in October 1850. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Anastasie in May 1851; Joseph Philippe in December 1852; Joseph Justin in September 1855; Joseph Septime in October 1862 but, called Septime, died at age 1 in September 1863; Marie Idea born in August 1866; ... None of Evariste's children married by 1870.
Joseph Guide's fifth son Étienne le jeune married Marguerite Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Raphaël Gaudin and Azélie Hébert, at the Convent church in January 1852. Did they have any children? Étienne died near Convent in March 1863. The priest who recorded the burial said that Étienne died at "age 45 years." He was 43. One wonders if his death was war-related and if his line endured.
Pierre III's sixth son Étienne married Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Breaux and Marie Bourgeois, at the Donaldson church in March 1810. Étienne died near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1850, age 65. He and his wife may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children.
François (c1753-1795) à Pierre dit La Forest Part
François, fourth and youngest son of Pierre Part, fils and Angélique Godin, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1753, followed his family into exile, imprisonment, New Orleans, and Cabahannocer, where Spanish officials counted him on the left, or east, bank of the river in April 1766 and September 1769. In the latter year, he was living with the family of Joachim dit Bénoni Mire, perhaps his brother-in-law. François married Anne-Marie or Marie-Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Bergeron and Marie Dugas of Rivière St.-Jean and widow of Pierre Hébert, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in August 1775. Anne-Marie, who was four years older than François, also was a native of Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas on the lower St.-Jean and had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Marie-Madeleine baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1776; Constance baptized, age unrecorded, in March 1778; twins Jean-Louis, called Louis, and Pierre born in October 1786; and Madeleine in c1791 but died at age 6 in September 1797--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1776 and 1791. François died at Cabahannocer in February 1795, age 41. None of his daughters seems to have married. One of his sons married and remained in what became St. James Parish. His one married grandson settled near Convent there and for a time upriver in Pointe Coupee Parish.
Older son Jean-Louis, called Louis, a twin, married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Poirier and Anne Bourgeois, at St. James in February 1805. Their children, born near Convent, St. James Parish, included Marie Léonise, called Léonise, in October 1805; Marie in April 1808; Jean Louis, fils, called Louis, fils, in August 1810; Félicien in September 1812 but, called Michel, died near Convent at age 20 (the recording priest said 21) in April 1833; another Marie, perhaps Marie Félicie or Zelenie, born in August 1815; Marcellite in February 1818; Madeleine Eugénie, called Eugénie, in July 1821; and Marie Aurelin or Honorine, called Honorine, in January 1824--eight children, six daughters and two sons, between 1805 and 1824. Jean Louis died near Convent in June 1837, age 50. Daughters Léonise, Marie Félicie/Zélenie, Marcellite, Eugénie, and Honorine married into the Schexnayder, Bourgeois, Oubre, and Tircuit families, three of them to Bourgeoiss, two of them brothers. Louis's remaining son married and settled near Convent until the early 1850s, when he moved upriver to Pointe Coupee Parish, but he returned to the Convent area in the late 1860s.
Older son Jean Louis, fils, called Louis, fils, married Émelie or Amelia, daughter of François Oubre and Marie Tircuit, at the Convent church in January 1843. Their children, born in St. James and Pointe Coupee parishes, included Louis Alcée near Convent in July 1844; Joseph Clément in November 1845; Charles Elphége in October 1847; Marie Émilie, called Émelie, in November 1848; François Willis in January 1851; twins Alcide and Alfred in Pointe Coupee Parish in August 1852; Philomène Rose in August 1857; Joseph Arthur near Convent in December 1866; Marie Estelle in October 1869; ... Daughter Émelie married into the Perrilloux and Louque families by 1870. One of Louis, fils's sons also married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, oldest son Louis Alcée may have served in the Pointe Coupee Battalion Louisiana Artillery, raised in Pointe Coupee Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Tennessee. If so, he joined the battalion at Abbeville, Mississippi, probably as a conscript, in September 1862. He was still serving in the unit as late as August 1864, after which his Confederate service record falls silent. He survived the war and returned to his family. Louis Alcée married Julia, daughter of Jules Louque and Célestine Roussel, at the Convent church in December 1866. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Delphine in August 1867; Raphaël in October 1869; ...
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An Apart widow from Grand-Pré and Île St.-Jean, the only member of her family to come to Louisiana, crossed from France with five of her Boudrot children aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche.
The last of the Part family to come to Louisiana--Marie-Anne, daughter of Eustache Part and his first wife Anastasie Godin dit Bellefontaine, who, at age 8 or 9, witnessed her mother's murder by New-English rangers on Rivière St.-Jean--crossed from France with her Delaune husband and children aboard La Caroline, the last of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in late December 1785. They settled near her kinsmen at Cabahannocer before moving on to upper Bayou Lafourche in the early 1790s.
Philippe Pinet was born at Port-Royal in c1654 to a father whose first name and birthplace have been lost to history and who died soon after Philippe's birth. Philippe's mother was Anne-Marie, born in c1631; her family name also is lost to us. Acadian genealogist Bona Arsenault contends that Anne-Marie was a Métisse, perhaps because her surname is unknown. Soon after her husband's death in c1655, Anne-Marie remarried to René Rimbault, who raised Philippe with his own children by Anne-Marie. Philippe Pinet can be found in the first Acadian census of 1671 as Philippe Rimbault, but by the census of 1686 he was using his biological father's surname. In c1678, probably at Port-Royal, Philippe married Catherine, daughter of Étienne Hébert and Marie Gaudet. Soon after their marriage, Philippe and Catherine moved to Chignecto and then to the new Acadian settlement in the Minas Basin, where they raised a dozen children, six sons and six daughters, most of whom created families of their own. Philippe died by June 1714, when his widow and four of their children took a vessel from Minas to Île Royale, today's Cape Breton Island, to look at land there. Catherine then sailed on to Canada, where her oldest son had settled. Five of her and Philippe's daughters married into the Corporon, Doucet dit Lirlandois, LeBlanc dit Jasmin, Jacquemin dit Lorrain, and Simon dit Boucher families in greater Acadia. All of Philippe's sons married, into the Morin, Célestin dit Bellemère, Henry, Marchand, Testard dit Paris, and Michel families in Canada, at Minas, and on Île Royale. In 1755, descendants of Philippe Pinet still in greater Acadia could be found on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale and perhaps at Minas. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
Members of Philippe's third son Noel's family--second son Joseph, his wife Madeleine Bertrand, and their children--may have been the only members of the extended family who remained in British Nova Scotia. Joseph's daughter Marie was born at Minas in c1752, so the family likely was still there in the fall of 1755. If so, they ended up on a deportation transport bound for one of the British seaboard colonies.
Living in territory controlled by France, the many Pinets living on the Maritime islands escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia during the fall of 1755. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats descended on the islands and deported most of the habitants there to France. The crossing to St.-Malo and Cherbourg devastated the family. Charles, fils of Port-Toulouse, his wife, and their four children crossed on the transport Queen of Spain, which left Île Royale in September 1758 and reached St.-Malo during the third week of November 1758. Charles, fils, his wife, their younger son, and their daughters died at sea. Son Jean was the only survivor. He went to live with a Mlle. Delien on Rue St.-Sauveur at St.-Malo soon after his arrival and moved to the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer in 1760. He died there in February 1763, age 11 or 12. Noël's son Pierre, age 30, his wife, and their children crossed on the transport Duke William, which left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November 1758, bound for St.-Malo. In mid-December, a storm off the southwest coast of England sank Duke William and two other transports, and Pierre and his family were lost. His older sister Marie-Brigitte, called Brigitte, age 41, her second husband, their year-old daughter, and four of Brigitte's daughters from her previous marriage, crossed one of the five British transports that left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy in late November 1758 and, despite the mid-December storm, reached St.-Malo together in late January 1759. Brigitte was pregnant when the transport left Chédabouctou. She, her husband, and two of her older daughters survived the crossing, but her youngest daughter, her newborn, and her oldest daughter died at sea. Another daughter died at St.-Malo the first of March, probably from the rigors of the crossing. They settled at St.-Suliac on the east side of the river south of the Breton port, where Brigitte gave her husband a son in November 1760, but the boy died at age 11 in 1770. The family went to Poitou in 1773. The venture proved fatal for Brigitte. She died at Archigny south of Châtellerault in September 1774, age 60. Her husband promptly remarried to a fellow Acadian who was the community's midwife. When most of the Acadians abandoned the Poitou venture in 1775-76 and retreated to the lower Loire port of Nantes, he and his new family remained in Poitou.
Charles, fils's sister Angélique took an unusual route to France. In 1758, she escaped the deportation at Port-Toulouse and took refuge in greater Acadia. Two years later, she married a Léger from Chepoudy, no place recorded, but it may have been at the French stronghold of Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, which also served as a major refuge for Acadians who had fled to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. Her husband Michel evidently had not followed his parents to Île St.-Jean in the 1750s, when he would have been in his mid- or late teens, but had remained at Chepoudy and escaped the British roundup there in 1755. The couple evidently fell into British hands soon after their 1760 marriage, perhaps after the attack on Restigouche that summer by a British naval force from Louisbourg. Angélique gave her husband a son at Louisbourg in c1762. In November of that year, the British deported the family to La Rochelle, France, aboard the transport Windsor. After the war with Britain ended, Angélique and her family followed other exiles in France to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland, where she would have reunited with a cousin who also had escaped the British in 1758. Michel and Angélique's daughter Jeanne was born on Miquelon in c1767. That year, to alleviate overcrowding on Miquelon and near Île St.-Pierre, French officials, obeying a royal decree, coaxed most of the fisher/habitants to emigrate to France. Angélique and her family went, instead, to French St.-Domingue, where some of their relatives had gone. They arrived in the sugar colony in c1768, but they did not remain. By May 1769, they had returned to La Rochelle, where two sons were born in 1769 and 1770. Angélique's husband died at La Rochelle in c1770, in his early 30s. Angélique and her children moved on to Cherbourg in Normandy, and then to the lower Loire port of Nantes by November 1784.
Other island Pinets deported to France in 1758 landed at Cherbourg in Normandy. Philippe, still a bachelor, survived the crossing from Île St.-Jean but not its rigors. He died in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg, in early November 1759, in his late 20s, before he could marry. His younger brother Charles dit Pinel, his wife Anne Durel, and their three children also landed in the Norman port. One wonders if any of their children survived the crossing. Between 1760 and 1771, at Cherbourg and Le Havre across the Baie de Seine, Anne gave Charles four more children, three daughters and a son. Charles continued his work as a mariner in the mother country, yet, like his sister Brigitte and her family at St.-Suliac, he took his family to Poitou in 1773. Anne gave him another son at La Chapelle-Roux, Poitou, in January 1775--eight children, five daughters and three sons, in greater Acadia and France. Like sister Brigitte's widower, Charles dit Pinel and his family remained in Poitou when most of their fellow Acadians moved on to Nantes. By September 1784, however, Charles and his family were living among fellow exiles at Chantenay near Nantes. A daughter married into the Haché family there in November 1784. An Acadian Pinet landed in another French port in 1758. Jeanne Pinet of Île Royale, wife of René Robin, died in St.-Louis Parish, Rochefort, in August 1759, probably soon after reaching the naval port. One wonders how she was kin to Philippe, Charles, and Angélique.
When in the early 1780s the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France a chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana, most of the Pinets still languishing in the mother country--Charles dit Pinel, his wife, two of their unmarried children, their married daughter and her family, and Charles's widowed cousin Angélique and her two Léger sons--agreed to take it. Others remained.
Other Pinets on the Maritime islands, like Angélique, escaped the British roundups there, either by leaving the islands before 1758 or by eluding the redcoats and blue jackets when they descended on the islands that autumn. None of the others, however, ended up in France. Petit Charles's son Pierre and his wife, recently married, evidently left Île St.-Jean before the island's dérangement. The move to Canada proved fatal for the wife; she may have been one of the victims of the smallpox epidemic that struck the exiles in the Québec area from the summer of 1757 to the spring of 1758. Pierre remarried to a Canadian at St.-Charles de Bellechasse across from Québec in October 1758. Between 1765 and 1773, she gave him three children, two sons and a daughter, probably in Canada, but their sons did not remain there. By the late 1780s, perhaps with their parents, they had moved on to New Brunswick, created out of Nova Scotia in 1784, and settled in the fishing villages of Nepisiguit, now Bathurst, and Caraquet on the new province's northeastern shore. Pierre's older brother Charles, fils, his second wife, and their two young sons were still at Port-Toulouse in 1758, but they also escaped the British roundup. They evidently found refuge on the mainland, but their respite there would have been a short one. In the late 1750s or early 1760, they either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. The second wife gave Charles, fils another son in c1760. Soon after the war ended, to escape British rule, they followed other Nova Scotia exiles to Île Miquelon, where Charles, fils would have reunited with his cousin Angélique. Then tragedy struck Charles, fils's family hard. On 6 September 1767, Charles, fils's three sons--ages 16, 10, and 7--drowned "in the pond" on Miquelon, on the eve of the French sending away the island's habitants to relieve overcrowding. One wonders if Charles, fils and Marguerite went there or followed a relative to French St.-Domingue. One also wonders if they had more children.
Other Pinets chose to resettle in French St.-Domingue. However, unlike cousin Angélique, they chose to remain. Joseph's daughter Marie, and perhaps Joseph and his wife Madeleine Bertrand as well, did not follow most of their fellow exiles in the seaboard colonies to British-controlled Canada or Spanish Louisiana. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of St.-Domingue would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean basin and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Acadians lured to the big island would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for colony's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. If Joseph and Madeleine were still on St.-Domingue in the mid- or late 1760s, when other exiles from Halifax and Maryland came though nearby Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans, they chose not to join them. And if they were still alive then, their time on the island was short. Daughter Marie died at Môle St.-Nicolas in July 1776, age 24. The priest who recorded her burial noted that her parents were deceased and said nothing of a husband.
Pinets settled early in Acadia, but they came "late" to Louisiana. In fact, if the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Mississippi valley colony, there probably would be no members of this family in the Bayou State, at least none with Acadian ancestry. The first to arrive on one of the Seven Ships of 1785 was Angélique Pinet, widow of Michel dit Richelieu Léger, who took her two teenage sons to the Opelousas District and settled near Grand Coteau. Angélique's first cousin Charles Pinet dit Pinel came with his wife and three children, an unmarried son and daughter and a married daughter and her family, aboard a later vessel from France. Charles's only son Louis, born in France, married a fellow Acadian soon after he reached the colony and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, where he created a vigorous family line--the only one in the Bayou State. Like his father, Louis called himself a Pinel, and his descendants followed suit.
Non-Acadian Pinets, who would have been called Foreign French by native Louisianians, lived in South Louisiana during the antebellum period, not only at New Orleans, but also in predominantly-Acadian communities on the western prairies and along Bayou Lafourche. They included a large family of eight who reached New Orleans from Le Havre in May 1843, and a young mechanic who settled in Lafayette Parish during the early 1850s but died in his early 20s soon after his arrival.
When federal census takers counted slaves on the farms and plantations of South Louisiana in 1850 and 1860, no Pinets or Pinels appeared on the lists of slaveholders. Louis Pinel's descendants, then, participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation-based economy.
Confederate records show that only one member of the Acadian branch of the family served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. Usilien Pinel of Ascension Parish was age 32, married, and the father of a son when he enlisted in Company E of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry in Ascension Parish in April 1862. He followed his unit from Camp Moore in Tangipahoa Parish to Vicksburg, Mississippi, the following month. On 27 December 1862, the first day of the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs fought north of the city, Usilien was sent to a Vicksburg hospital, so one wonders if he was ill or had been wounded in battle. Sadly, his Confederate service record ends with his hospital stay, so one wonders if he survived the war and returned to his family. ...
Today, members of the family in Louisiana spell their name Pinel, Pinelle, or Pinell, especially the latter, not Pinet. The family's name there also is spelled Pineta, Pinete, Pinette, Pinirel, Pinnel, Pinnelle, Pirelle, Pynel.28
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All of the Pinet/Pinels who emigrated to Louisiana--five of them--came from France. The first to arrive--Angélique, a widow, and her two Léger sons--crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in late July 1785. They did not follow most of their fellow passengers to Manchac on the river below Baton Rouge but went, instead, to the Opelousas District, where Légers had settled. Angélquie remarried to a Canadian Blanchet at Opelousas in April 1787.
Four more members of the family--a father, his unmarried children, and his married daughter and her family--crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche. A robust line of the family came of it:
Charles dit Pinel (c1732-1780s) à Philippe Pinet
Charles dit Pinel, fifth son of Noël Pinet and Marie Henry, born at Chignecto in c1732, followed his family to Île St.-Jean in c1740. In August 1752, he was counted with his parents at Pointe de l'Est on the far east end of the island, the only one of their children still with them. He married Marie-Anne, called Anne, daughter of Charles Lacroix dit Durel and Judith Chiasson, at St.-Pierre-du-Nord, the church for Havre-St.-Pierre on the north shore of the island, in April 1753. Anne gave Charles three children on the island, all baptized at St.-Pierre-dur-Nord: Anne-Charlotte born in March 1754; Lazare in March 1756; and Françoise in May 1758. The British deported the family to France in late 1758. One wonders if any of their children--ages 4, 2, and newborn--survived the crossing to Cherbourg in Normandy, where, in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish and at Le Havre across the Baie de Seine, Anne gave Charles four more children: Jeanne-Charlotte born at Cherbourg in October 1760; Louis in October 1762; Marie-Modeste at Le Havre in c1765; and Marie-Madeleine at Cherbourg in February 1771. Charles continued his work as a mariner in the mother country. He nevertheless took his family to the interior of Poitou with hundreds of other exiles in 1773. Anne gave him another son, Martin-Charles, born at La Chapelle-Roux, southeast of Châtellerault in Poitou, in January 1775--eight children, five daughters and three sons, between 1754 and 1775, in greater Acadia and France. When, after two years of effort, most of their fellow Acadians abandoned the Poitou venture and moved from Châtellerault down the Vienne and the Loire to the port of Nantes, Charles and his family remained for a time in Poitou. By September 1784, however, they had joined their fellow exiles at Chantenay near Nantes. Second daughter Marie-Modeste married into the Haché family at Chantenay that November. The following year, Charles, Anne, and three of their children--an unmarried son, an unmarried daughter, and the married daughter and her family--emigrated to Louisiana. Oldest daughter Jeanne-Charlotte and youngest son Martin-Charles, ages 25 and 10 in 1785, if they were still living, did not accompany their family to the Spanish colony. One suspects that Martin-Charles died either in Poitou or at Chantenay, and daughter Jeanne-Charlotte may have married a Frenchman and chose to remain in the mother country. From New Orleans, Charles and his family followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where Charles died by January 1788, in his early or mid-50s, when his wife was listed as a widow in a Valenzuela District census. In Louisiana, daughter Marie-Modeste remarried into the Benoit family, and daughter Marie-Madeleine married a Trahan. Charles's remaining son married at New Orleans soon after they reached the colony andl followed his family to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he created a vigorous line.
Second son Louis followed his family to Poitou, Chantenay, and New Orleans, where he married Marie-Blanche, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Vincent dit Clément, fils and Ursule Hébert, in December 1785 soon after they reached the city on the same ship. They followed his family to upper Bayou Lafourche. Marie-Blanche also was a native of France. Like his father, Louis called himself a Pinel. His and Marie-Blanche's children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie-Louise baptized at the Ascension church, age unrecorded, in October 1796; Modeste-Aneta baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1787; Jean-Louis born in May 1789; Joseph-Maurice in May 1791; Simon in March 1795; Marie-Adélaïde, called Adélaïde and Délaïde, in October 1797; Jean-Baptiste in February 1800; and Honoré Hilaire, called Noré, in May 1805--eight children, three daughters and fives sons, between 1796 and 1805. Louis died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1820, age 57. His succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his remaining children--Simon, age 26; Jean Baptiste, age 20; Délaïde, age 22; and Noré Hilaire, age 15--was filed at the Lafourche Interior Parish courthouse in February. Daughter Adélaïde married into the Waguespack family. Three of Louis's sons also married and settled in Lafourche Interior and Ascension parishes. One of his grandsons moved down bayou to Terrebonne Parish, lived briefly on the western prairies, and returned to Terrebonne. All of the Pinel/Pinells of South Louisiana are descended from Louis and his three married sons, especially from his youngest one.
Third son Simon married Clémentine, daughter of Michel Migault or Migot and his Acadian wife Rosalie Hébert, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in September 1818. They lived in St. James Parish before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche. Their chlidren, born on the bayou, included Rosalie Eugénie in September 1819; Gesset, probably a son, in c1818 or 1819 but died at age 4 1/2 "at [the] home of grandmother, wid. Migeau," in October 1823; Marie Artémise, called Artémise, born in May 1821 but died in Ascension Parish, age 11, in January 1833; Marie Élisabeth Felonise born in June 1823; Joseph Simon, called Simon, fils, in October 1825; Joseph Jean Louis, called Louis, in January 1828 but died in Ascension Parish, age 5, in January 1833; a son, name unrecorded, died six days after his birth in July 1830; Marie Emma born in May 1834; and Joseph in November 1836--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1819 and 1836. Daughter Marie Élisabeth Felonise married into the Sarites or Sarito family by 1870. Only one of Simon's sons married by then.
Oldest son Joseph Simon, called Simon, fils, married Eugénie, daughter of Antoine Baye or Boyer and his Acadian wife Marie Carméllite Dantin, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in December 1848. Their children, born in Ascension Parish and on the Lafourche, included Louise in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1851; Constance, perhaps theirs, died in Ascension Parish, age unrecorded, in April 1852; Jean born in Ascension Parish in August 1853 but died nine days after his birth; Otalie born in January 1855; and Jule in April 1856. Joseph Simon remarried to Clémentine Monson or Manson at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in December 1857. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Adam Samuel in July 1859; Marie Eugénie in March 1861; Jean in February 1864; Marie Caliste in October 1865; Paul in February 1869 but, unnamed, may have died in September; Joseph Théophile born in November 1870; ... None of Joseph Simon's children married by 1870.
Louis's fourth son Jean Baptiste married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Olivier Dubois and Marie Madeleine Michel, at the Thibodauxville church in September 1827. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Jean B. or Jean Baptiste, fils in September 1828; Marie Aglaé or Adélaide in March 1830; Joséphine T. in May 1832 but, called Joséphine Claurine, died at age 1 1/2 in August 1833; Rose Losiane in July 1835 but died the following January; Eveline Evaristine born in March 1837; and Louise Joséphine in February 1843 but, called Marie Louise, died at age 2 1/2 in June 1845--six children, a son and five daughters, between 1828 and 1843. Daughters Marie Aglaé and Evéline married into the Skinner, Lacoste, and Smith families by 1870. Jean Baptiste's son, if he married at all, did not do so by then.
Louis's fifth and youngest son Honoré Hilaire, called Noré, married Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, daughter of of Jacques Barbier and his Acadian wife Marie Angélique Deroche of St. John the Baptist Parish on the upper German Coast, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1825, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodauxville church in March 1836. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Honoré, fils in c1827; Marie Urma in August 1828 but died the following January; Usilien Simon, called Simon, born in February 1830; M. Mathilde Célima in April 1832 but, called Mathilda Célima, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 69 but probably meant 6) in January 1838; Evaristille Helmirtie or Myrthée O. born in August 1834; and Neuville Alfonze or Alphonse in March 1837--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1827 and 1837. Wife Eugénie died in Ascension Parish in October 1839, age 35. Honoré, père died in Ascension Parish in December 1847. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Honoré was age 40 when he died. He was 42. Daughter Myrthée O. married into the Thibodeaux family by 1870. All three of Honoré's sons married and settled in Ascension, Lafourche Interior, and Terrebonne parishes.
Oldest son Honoré, fils married Marie Augustine dite Justine, 23-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Auguste Eugène Thibodeaux and Marie Mélanie Martin of Terrebonne Parish, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in May 1851, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1855. They lived briefly near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in the early 1850s but returned to Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born there, included Louis Augustin near Grand Coteau in March 1852; Ordalie Ovilia in April 1853; Honorine Jussillia in Terrebonne Parish in February 1855; Honoré III in October 1856; Guillaume in January 1859; Clémence Mélanie in November 1860; Neuville Augustave near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1865; Creville Appollinaire in October 1867; ... None of Honoré, fils's children married by 1870.
Honoré Hilaire's second son Usilien Simon, called Simon, may have married Pauline Gonzales in Ascension Parish in the early 1850s. Their children, born in Ascension Parish and on the middle Lafourche, included Amélie Medelia in Ascension Parish in August 1853; and Louis baptized at the Raceland church, Lafourche Parish, age unrecorded, in April 1858. During the War of 1861-65, Usilien served in Company E of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He enlisted at Ascension, age 32, in April 1862. The recruiting officer called him Lusinien. His Confederate service record ends the following December, so one wonders if Usilien survived the war and returned to his family.
Honoré Hilaire's third and youngest son Neuville Alphonse married Madeleine Fabre probably in Lafourche Parish in the 1860s. Their son Alles Honone, probably Honoré, was born near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, in February 1864; ...
Jean Pitre, an edge-tool maker born probably in Flanders in c1636, came to Acadia during the late 1650s. Acadian historian and genealogist Father Clarence d'Entremont speculates that Pitre may have been a Peters from England. Jean married well for a tool maker. In c1665 at Port-Royal, he married Marie, 20-year-old daughter of Isaac Pesseley and Barbe Bajolet. Marie's father, a merchant from Piney, Champagne, France, had come to Acadia aboard the St.-Jehan in 1636, which made him one of the first settlers in the colony. Moreover, Pesseley served as major of Port-Royal, and was killed in April 1645 during the civil war between Acadian governors La Tour and d'Aulnay, when Marie was a newborn. Jean and Marie settled on the south bank of haute rivière above Pré-Rond, near where Rivière-au-Dauphin, today's Annapolis River, begins to widen. Between 1666 and 1688, Marie gave Jean 11 children, five daughters and six sons. Jean died by c1690, in his early 50s, when Marie remarried to Frenchman François Robin at Port-Royal. Four of Jean's daughters married into the Amireau dit Tourangeau, Bertrand, Comeau, and Piat dit La Bonté families. Four of his sons also married, into the Comeau, Henry, Brun, Babin, and Préjean families. In 1755, descendants of Jean Pitre could be found at Annapolis Royal; Chignecto; Chepoudy in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto; Minas Proper and Cobeguit in the Minas Basin; and on Île Royale and especially Île St.-Jean, where many of them had moved from the Nova Scotia settlements in the early 1750s. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. In the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, assisted by Mi'kmaq warriors led by the Abbé Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads in the British-controlled area east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Pitres may have been among the refugees in this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto-area Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Pitres may have been among the area Acadians who were serving in the fort as militia. If so, they, too, along with the Canadians and the French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the area Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. One Pitre family ended up in South Carolina. Other members of the family still in the area evidently escaped the roundup that summer and fall and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore or moved on to Canada. At least one member of the family who escaped to Québec, an 11-year-old son of Joseph of Chepoudy, died in the smallpox epidemic that killed several hundred exiles in and around the Canadian capital from the summer of 1757 to the spring of 1758.
Pitres still at Minas in the fall of 1755 found themselves on transports bound for at least two seaboard colonies. Members of two families went to Connecticut and Virginia. The Acadians sent to the Old Dominion suffered the indignity of being turned away by the colony's authorities. After their arrival in November and December, they languished in the lower James River aboard disease-infested ships until, with winter approaching, Virginia's Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered them dispersed to Hampton, Norfolk, and Richmond, while he and the colony's political leaders pondered their fate. The following spring, the Virginians sent them on to England, where they were packed into warehouses in several English ports and where many died of smallpox.
Beginning in late summer of 1755, while the British were rounding up their cousins on the other side of the Minas Basin, Pitres still at Cobeguit followed their fellow habitants--the community's remaining population--into the surrounding hills before making their way toTatamagouche, Remsheg, and other North Shore villages. From there, during the fall, winter, and spring, they crossed Mer Rouge to the south shore of Île St.-Jean to join their many kinsmen already there.
Living in territory controlled by France,
the many Pitres living on the Maritime
islands escaped the roundups in Nova Scotia in 1755 and
1756, but their respite from British oppression was
short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at
Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of
the habitants
on the Maritime islands and deported them to France. The crossings to St.-Malo devastated the family.
They died aboard the transports Duc Guillaume
and Queen of Spain that left Île Royale in late
summer and reached St.-Malo 16 days apart in
November. Some of them perished aboard the two
deportation transports,
Duke William and Violet, that left
Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November and
sank in a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of
England, taking all of the passengers down with them.
A young Pitre died on the Tamerlane,
part of the 12-ship convoy, which survived the storm and
reached St.-Malo in mid-January 1759, and many more on one
or more of the five deportation transports in the 12-ship
convoy that survived the storm and reached St.-Malo together
in late January. Others perished on the Supply,
which barely survived the storm, put in at Bideford,
England, for repairs, and did not reach St.-Malo until the
second week of March. Island
Pitres did their
best to create a life for themselves in the suburbs and
villages of the St.-Malo area. They were especially numerous at
St.-Suliac and Pleudihen-sur-Rance on the east side of the
river south of St.-Malo, and at Pleurtuit across the river.
Four Pitre brothers from the islands landed
at Cherbourg and a Pitre wife at Le Havre
in Normandy. Soon after they reached Cherbourg, the
brothers moved on to St.-Malo and settled near their kinsmen
there. In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the
French and British governments, the Acadians in England,
including Pitres, were repatriated to
France. One family landed at St.-Malo, another at
Morlaix in northwest Brittany. The family at St.-Malo
remained there, but, in November 1765, the family at Morlaix joined other
exiles from England on recently-liberated Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern
coast of Brittany. Another
Pitre came, or, rather, returned to
France by a different route. The British had deported
him to St.-Malo in late 1758, but he did not remain.
In the early 1760s, after he came of age, he made his way
back to greater Acadia, probably on privateer duty, fell into British hands
again, and married
a fellow Acadian at Louisbourg on Île Royale. After the war, he and his
wife resettled on Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off
the southern coast of Newfoundland. In 1767, French
officials, obeying a royal decree to relieve
overcrowding on Miquelon and nearby Île St.-Pierre, ordered the fisher/habitants
there to
resettle in France. The Pitre and his family sailed to St.-Malo aboard the schooner Créole
and reached the Breton port the second week of November
1767. They settled at St.-Suliac near
his older brothers and some of his wife's kin who had not left France. In 1773,
Pitres chose to take part in an even
larger settlement venture, this one in the interior of Poitou. French authorities were tired of providing
for the Acadians languishing in the port cities. An
influentail nobleman
offered to settle them on land he owned near the city of
Châtellerault, and French authorities endorsed the scheme.
A half dozen
Pitres from the St.-Malo area took
their families to Poitou.
After two years of effort, b
The war over, Pitres still living in the seaboard colonies, like their cousins being held in Nova Scotia, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intensions. Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. Pitres nevertheless appeared on reparation lists compiled in several of the colonies in the summer of 1763, including Connecticut and South Carolina. At war's end, however, most of the Pitres still in North America were not languishing in Nova Scotia or the British seaboard colonies. They were living, instead, in Canada, where many of them had gone as early as 1756. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles. So, in a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of Jean Pitre began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. By the late 1760s, they could be found on the upper St. Lawrence at Nicolet, St.-Pierre-les-Becquets, St.-François-du-Lac, and at Châteauguay above Montréal; on the lower St. Lawrence at Île-aux-Coudres; on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore in northeastern New Brunwick at Caraquet and Nepisiguit, now Bathurst; and on St. John Island, formerly Île St.-Jean, now Prince Edward Island. One Pitre settled at Détroit in the 1770s, then a part of the British-Canadian pays d'en haut. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Pitres in the seaboard colonies emigrated to the French Antilles to avoid British rule. While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British colonies to go to St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean basin and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles who could be lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the island's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. A young Pitre wife from New England and a family of Pitres from Connecticut reached St.-Domingue by September 1764. French authorities sent them and other exiles to the interior settlement of Mirebalais in the hills northeast of Port-au-Prince to work on coffee and indigo plantations. The experience proved fatal for most of them.
Pitres being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their many cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Île Miquelon, where a Pitre from Louisbourg was about to go. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including Pitres, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, at least five were descendants of Jean Pitre the edge-tool maker.
Pitres settled early in Acadia, and they were among the earliest Acadians who found refuge in Louisiana. The first of them--a widower and his two children from Chepoudy--came to the colony in 1765 from Halifax via Cap-Français. They were among the small number of Acadians who settled in the Opelousas District, at Plaisance and Grand Prairie north of the present city. The single line begun by François Pitre of Chepoudy thrived on the Opelousas prairies. Typical of Acadians who settled deep in what became St. Landry Parish, few of François's descendants married fellow Acadians, unless they were other Pitres. During the late antebellum and early post-war periods, some of François's descendants moved from the Plaisance-Grand Prairie area westward into the prairies around Eunice and Ville Platte. Others moved southward to Church Point on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, now in Acadia Parish; to the Carencro prairie at the northern edge of Lafayette Parish; north to Washington on Bayou Courtableau in St. Landry Parish; southeast to the Breaux Bridge area of St. Martin Parish; and all the way down the Vermilion valley to the Abbeville area in Vermilion Parish. By the turn of the nineteenth century, descendants of François Pitre could be found as far west as Jennings in what was then eastern Calcasieu Parish, now Jefferson Davis Parish. Meanwhile, in the early 1840s, a cousin from Bayou Lafourche moved to St. Mary Parish on the lower Teche.
If the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadian exiles in France to resettle in their Mississippi-valley colony, the Pitre family would be a much smaller one in South Louisiana today. Over fifty Pitres crossed to the colony in 1785 aboard five of the Seven Ships from France. Interestingly, none of them joined their cousins on the Opelousas prairies. They settled, instead, on upper Bayou Lafourche and on the river north of Baton Rouge. By the early antebellum period, Pitre families, joining the Acadian exodus from the Acadian Coast to Bayou Lafourche, disappeared from the river and did not return, at least none before the War of 1861-65. Meanwhile, the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley emerged as a major center of Pitre family settlement. Most of the Pitres of Ascension and Assumption parishes moved down bayou into Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes, where they settled near Thibodaux, Raceland, Lockport, Larose, Golden Meadow, Houma, and Montegut. A family from Bayou Lafourche moved to lower Bayou Teche in the 1840s, but the great majority of their cousins remained on the southeastern bayous and at the edge of the Lafourche and Terrebonne marshes.
The great majority, if not all, of the Pitres of South Louisiana are descendants of Jean the edge-tool maker of Flanders and Port-Royal. However, a Spanish family named Pitre lived at New Orleans during the late colonial period. One wonders if they were the ancestors of the Pitres counted at New Orleans and at Barataria in Jefferson Parish, south of the city, in 1850 (the Barataria Pitres could very well have been Acadians who migrated east from the lower Lafourche valley). After the War of 1861-65, freed persons named Pitre, probably former slaves owned by members of the family, lived in St. Landry Parish. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled De Pien, Petre, Pierre, Pike, Pite, Pittre, Spitre, and Vitre. Members of the family on the western prairies favor the pronunciation PEET, but their cousins on the southeastern bayous tend to call themselves PEE-tree.29
.
The first members of the family to come to the colony--an aging widower and his unmarried daughter and a teenage son--reached New Orleans in the spring of 1765 and settled with other early arrivals on the Opelousas prairies. A significant Pitre family line came of it there:
Pierre (c1699-?) à Jean Pitre
Pierre, oldest son of Claude Pitre and his first wife Marie Comeau, born at Port-Royal in c1699, married Agathe, daughter of René Doucet and Marie Broussard, at Annapolis Royal in February 1727. They settled at Chepoudy in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto. At Chepoudy, Agathe gave Pierre five children: Marguerite born in c1727; Marie in c1734; Jean-Bapiste in c1735; Catherine-Françoise, called Françoise, in c1740; and François in c1748--three daughters and two sons between 1727 and 1748. Their older son married twice probably at Chepoudy before 1755. The family evidently escaped the British roundup in the trois-rivères area in the fall of 1755 and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. The older son moved on to Canada, where he and his family were counted in 1757, and there they remained. Meanwhile, in the late 1750s or early 1760s, Pierre and the rest of his family, still on the Gulf shore, either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. Pierre, Agathe, and four unnamed children appeared on a French repatriation list at Halifax in August 1763. Pierre, now a widower, and his two youngest children, a daughter and a son, followed the Broussards to Louisiana from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, in 1764-65. Older daughters Marguerite and Marie, who, if they were living, would have been ages 38 and 31 in 1765, did not accompany them. One wonders if they had married and chose to remain in greater Acadia, or if they had died during exile. From New Orleans, Pierre, Agathe, and their two unmarried children followed the Broussards to Bayou Teche and then resettled in the Opelousas District, where daughter Catherine-Françoise, called Françoise, married into the Joubert family. The younger son also married there and created a vigorous family line.
Older son Jean-Baptiste may have married first to a woman whose name has been lost to history, place and date unrecorded, but, if it had happened, it probaby would have been at Chepoudy, and remarried to Marie-Anne Thibodeau probably at Chepoudy in c1754, on the eve of the deportations, when he would have been not quite age 20. The young couple evidently escaped the British roundup at Chepoudy with his family but, unlike the rest of them, continued on to Canada probably via the Rivière St.-Jean portage. Marie-Anne gave Jean-Baptiste two daughters in 1755 and 1757, the younger child born in Canada. In March 1761, in his mid-or late 20s, Jean-Baptiste remarried again--perhaps his third marriage--to fellow Acadian Marie-Anne Surette, widow of Paul Doucet, at St.-Pierre-les-Becquets, today's Les-Becquets, on the upper St. Lawence below Trois-Rivières. Between 1762 and 1775, Marie-Anne gave Jean-Baptiste eight more children, three daughters and five sons--10 children, five daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1755 and 1775, in greater Acadia and Canada. They settled at Châteauguay above Montréal, far from his father and younger brother down in Louisiana. Jean-Baptiste died at Châteauguay in November 1815, age 80. Three of his daughters, all by his third (or second) wife, married into the Laberge and Julien families at Châteauguay. Four of his sons, also by his third (or second) wife, married at Châteauguay into the Couillard, Duranieau, and Leduc families.
Pierre's younger son François, while still a child, followed his parents and sisters into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment in Nova Scotia. He likely was the Fra.s Pitre counted at Fort Edward, Piguiguit, in October 1762 without a family; he would have been age 14 at the time. Soon after the counting, the British sent him to the prison compound at Halifax, where he appeared on a repatriation list with his parents and three siblings, probably sisters, in August 1763. Still in his late teens, François followed his widowed father and an older sister to New Orleans, Bayou Teche, and the Opelousas District, among the first Acadians to settle in that community. François, in early early 20s, married fellow Acadian Marie-Josèphe Thibodeau at Opelousas in the late 1760s and remained there. Marie-Josèphe's family, also from Chepoudy, had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 and likewise chose to settle at Opelousas. François and his future wife, then, may have known one another since childhood. During the 1770s and 1780s, they were living in the Plaisance subdistrict, where, in 1788, they owned three slaves, 35 horses, and 130 head of cattle on about 400 acres of prairie. Eight years later, in 1796, they were living in the Grand Louis subdistrict and owned four slaves. Their children, born at Opelousas, included Pierre in December 1769 and baptized there by a Pointe Coupée priest in April 1771; Marie-Josèphe born in February 1772; François, fils, called François-Poupon, in c1775; Anastasie in January 1777; Paul baptized at the Opelousas church, age 9 months, in May 1779 but died at age 2 in September 1780; Charles-François, called Charpes, baptized at age 4 months in July 1781; Euphrosine baptized at age 4 months in June 1784 but died at age 3 in June 1787; an unnamed child, age unrecorded, died in August 1785; Louis-François born in August 1786; Sélesie or Célesie in October 1788; and Joseph, called Joseph-Poupon and François-Joseph, baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1791--11 children, at least six sons and four daughters, between 1769 and 1791. François's first succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in December 1809. His last will and testament, naming his parents and calling him "native of Acadie," is dated December 1819 and was filed at the Opelousas courthouse. Another succession, perhaps post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse the following February. He would have been in his early 70s at the time. Daughters Marie-Josèphe and Célesie married into the Fontenot, Dupré, Ledoux, Thayer, and Pivauteau families, one of them twice, the other, Célesie, three times. Five of François's sons also married, two of them to sisters, but not all of the lines endured. Typical of Acadians who settled in what became St. Landry Parish, none of François's sons married fellow Acadians. Like their parents, few of François's grandchildren married fellow Acadians, unless they were Pitre cousins, though they did have an affinity for fellow Acadians of the Jeansonne family. During the antebellum period, some of François's descendants spread out from the original center of family settlement at Plaisance, Grand Prairie, and Opelousas to upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé in today's Acadia Parish and to Ville Platte in what is now Evangeline Parish, creating not only the first, but one of the largest Pitre family lines in South Louisiana.
Oldest son Pierre le jeune married Marie-Françoise, daughter of Allibamonts Henri Fontenot and Marie-Louise Doucet, at Opelousas in April 1790. Their children, born there, included Pierre, fils baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in May 1791; Adélaide baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1792 but died "as a child" in October 1794; and Joseph-Pierre baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1794--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1791 and 1794. Pierre, père, an "inhabitant of this Post," died at Opelousas in December 1794. The priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give Pierre's age at the time of this death, but the fact that this Pierre's wife remarried at Opelousas in October 1795 is evidence that this was him. He would have been age 25 at the time of his death. Both of his sons married, but not all of the lines endured.
Older son Pierre, fils married Céleste Symphorose, called Symphorose, daughter of Henri Charles Vigé of Montréal and Catherine Catoir, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1813. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Pierre III in November 1814; François Antoine in October 1816; Joseph Luc in November 1818; Henri in October 1820; Cyprien in September 1822; Pauline in the 1820s; Céleste in June 1827; and Sinphorose or Symphorose, also called Mary, in May 1829--eight children, five sons and three daughters, between 1814 and 1829. Pierre, fils died in St. Landry Parish in October 1842. The priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre died "at age 55 yrs." He was in his early 50s. His estate record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1846. Wife Symphorose, who evidently did not remarry, died in St. Landry Parish, age 64, in September 1855. Daughters Pauline, Céleste, and Symphorose/Mary, married into the Pitre, Meche, Frutel or Frulette, Jeansonne, and Savoy families by 1870. Two of Pierre, fils and Symphorose's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Pierre III married, at age 20, cousin Émeline, Émilie, or Méline Louis, teenage daughter of Eugène Ledoux and his Acadian wife Alesie Pitre, at the Opelousas church in December 1834. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Pierre IV, also called Nolle Pierre, in January 1837; Amelia in June 1838; Élodie Marie in September 1842; and Marie Louise in August 1844--four children, a son and three daughters, between 1837 and 1844. According to an Opelousas church record, "Madame Pierre" Pitre, perhaps Émeline Ledoux, died in St. Landry Parish in November 1868, age 45 (which would have made her age 11 at the time of her wedding, so she likely was older at the time of her passing, perhaps age 50). Daughters Amelia and Élodie married into the Chachere family by 1870. Pierre III's son also married by then.
Only son Nolle Pierre married cousin Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadian Onésime Pouponne Pitre and his Creole wife Geneviève Lamberti, at the Opelousas church in June 1860. They settled near Ville Platte. Their children, born there, included Geneviève Fedora in August 1861 but died at age 1 in September 1862; Martha born in September 1865; Lolia in February 1867; Pierre in December 1868, but, called Pierre Nole, died at age 8 days in January 1869; ...
Pierre, fils's second son François Antoine married Émelite or Mélanie, 21-year-old daughter of Pierre Joubert and Catherine Cartier, at the Opelousas church in April 1837. Their son François Damon, called Damon, was born in St. Landry Parish in April 1840 and married.
Only son François Damon, called Damon, married cousin Gadrate, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Pitre, fils and his Creole wife Adèle Joubert, at the Opelousas church in April 1857. She evidently gave him no children. Damon remarried to cousin Alicia, daughter of Auguste Ledoux and his Acadian wife Célestine Charles Pitre, at the Opelousas church in November 1859. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marie Alice in January 1861; Catherine Gadrate in June 1862 but, called Marie Gadrate, died at age 11 months in May 1863; and Mélina born in March 1864. Damon remarried again--his third marriage--to cousin Hermina, daughter of Philippe Andrépont and his Acadian wife Maline Pitre, at the Opelousas church in July 1865. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Armide in July 1866; Pierre Damon in October 1867; Louis Napoléon Dauron at Washington in October 1869; ...
Pierre, père's younger son Joseph Pierre married Marguerite, daughter of Jean Joubert and Adélaïde Ledoux, at the Opelousas church in August 1813. Their children, born at Opelousas, included Auguste baptized at "age about 3 mths." in December 1815; and Euphrosine born in April 1817. A succession for wife Marguerite, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1820. Joseph Pierre remarried to Marguerite Élisabeth, called Élise and Lise, daughter of Henri Vigé and his Acadian wife Marie Louise Breaux of Iberville Parish, at the Opelousas church in May 1820. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Alexandrine Élise in March 1821; Joseph Pierre, fils in July 1822; Marguerite Mélasie probably in the early 1820s; Téodule or Théodule in May 1825; and Marie, also called Marie Lodoisca, in October 1826--seven children, three sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1815 and 1826. Joseph Pierre's estate record, naming his widow, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1845. His succession and estate sale, also naming his second wife, were filed in March. He would have been in his early 50s that year. Daughters Marguerite Mélasie and Marie Lodoisca, by his second wife, married Pitre and Joubert cousins by 1870. One of Joseph Pierre's sons also married by then, but the line may not have endured.
Oldest son Auguste, by first wife Marguerite Joubert, married Mélanie, daughter of Jean Baptiste Brandt and Marie Anne Andrépont, at the Opelousas church in February 1840. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marguerite Méanie J. in the early 1840s; and Marie Adilie or Adeline, called Adeline, in August 1843. Auguste died "at Quartier Plaisance," St. Landry Parish, in March 1859. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial said that Auguste J., as he called him, died "at age 35 yrs." He was 44 and probably a widower. His succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in April. Daughters Marguerite Mélanie J. and Adeline married into the Belaire, Fontenot, and Pitre families, so the blood of this family line may have endured.
François's second son François, fils, called François-Poupon, married Eugénie, daughter of Louis Guillory and Marie-Jeanne Fontenot, at Opelousas in November 1795. They settled on Grand Prairie northwest of the present city. Their children, born there, included Marie-Louise, called Louise, baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in October 1796; Thérèse died, "a child," age unrecorded, in October 1797; Marie baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1798; Louise dite Aloyse, Éloise, or Héloise baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1799; Marguerite born in December [1800]; Céleste baptized, age 1 month, in April 1802; François III, also called François Joseph, Joseph François and François Poupon, fils, baptized, age 5 months, in July 1804; Joseph le jeune, also called Joseph Poupon and Joseph François, baptized, age 1 month, in November 1805; Onésime Pouponne baptized, age 2 months, in November 1807; Eugénie baptized, age 2 months, in January 1810; Azélie, also called Ange Angèle and Angèle, baptized, age 4 months, in September 1811; Émilie born August 1813; Jean Baptiste in April 1815 but died at age 15 months in July 1816; and Léandre, also called Léandre Pouponne, born in February 1817--14 children, nine daughters and five sons, between 1796 and 1817. François Poupon, père died at his home on Grand Prairie in October 1817, age 42. His successions were filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January and December 1818 and February 1820. Daughters Marie Louise, Marie, Aloyse/Héloise, Marguerite, Céleste, Eugénie, Émilie, and Ange Angèle married into the Lafleur, Rougeau, Fontenot, Vidrine, McDaniel, Broussard, Tate, Guillory, Brignac, and Miller families, three of them twice, two of them to Fontenot brothers. Four of François, fils's sons also married.
Oldest son François Poupon, fils married Sophie Françoise, also called Azélie and Azèle, daughter of François Joubert and Sophie Doucet, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, at the Opelousas church in December 1825. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included François IV, also called François Poupon III, in June 1827; Sosthène in 1828 and baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in January 1829 but died at age 3 in April 1831; Élodie, also called Élodie Pierre and Pouponne, born in December 1829; Joseph Onil, probably O'Neil, in April 1832; Azélie in January 1834; Ermina or Hermina in November 1835; Alida in August 1837; Eugénie Aglaé, called Aglaé, in November 1840; Emma in 1842 and baptized, age 10 months, in May 1843; and Octave Poupon born in December 1844 but died "at Prairie Ronde," age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 15), in October 1859--10 children, four sons and six daughters, between 1827 and 1844. Daughters Élodie Poupon/Pierre, Ermina, Aglaé, and Emma married into the Ledoux, Fontenot, Pitre, Prudhomme, and Johnson families, one of them, Élodie, twice, by 1870. One of François Poupon, fils's sons also married by then.
Oldest son François Poupon III married double cousin Azéline or Azélie Charles or Charly, also called Éliza, daughter of Charles Pitre, fils and his Creole wife Adèle Joubert, at the Opelousas church in January 1850. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included François V in October 1850; Estelle P. Hermina in March 1852; Arthur F., probably François, in August 1853; Jean Baptiste Armant in November 1857; Octave in December 1859; Jules in October 1861; Edmonia in March 1864; Lucien in November 1866; Charles Edgar in April 1869; ... Daughter Estelle married into the Lafleur family by 1870. None of François Poupon III's sons married by then.
François, fils's second son Joseph Poupon, also called Joseph François, married, at age 24, Joséphine, 15-year-old daughter of Godefroi Soileau and Marie Josèphe Fontenot, at the Opelousas church in January 1829. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Joseph, also called Dalicourt Joseph or Joseph Dalicourt, in October 1829; Hypolite in August 1831; Onésime, also called Onésime Joseph and Lézime, in February 1832; Zéolide in December 1835; Valentine in November 1836; Léonil in August 1839; Ernestine in late 1842 and baptized, age 5 months, in March 1843; François le jeune born in August 1844; and Lucius Poupon in April 1846--nine children, seven sons and two daughters, between 1829 and 1846. Joseph Poupon's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in January 1849. He would have been age 44 that year. Remaining daughter Zéolide married into the Fontenot family by 1870. Two of Joseph's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Dalicourt Joseph or Joseph Dalicourt married cousin Hermina or Ermina, daughter of François Pitre III and his Creole wife Sophie Joubert, at the Opelousas church in February 1853. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Ernest G. in March 1854; Joseph Armant in November 1857; Joannes Madison in February 1859; and François Oscar in June 1862. They were living at Prairie Ronde, northwest of Opelousas, in the mid-1860s. Wife Hermina's succession, evidently post-mortem, calling her husband Dalicour J. Pitre, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1866. Dalicourt remarried to Azéma Bertrand, probably French Creole, not Acadian, place and date unrecorded, but it probably was in St. Landry Parish. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Cléotilde J. died "at Prairie Ronde," age unrecorded, in July 1866; Joseph Artemon born in July 1867; ... None of Dalicourt's children married by 1870.
Joseph Pouponne's third son Onésime Joseph married, at age 21, Geneviève, teenaged daughter of Louis L. Fontenot and Marie Françoise Ortil, at the Opelousas church in September 1853. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Octavie near Ville Platte in August 1854 but died near Ville Platte, age 5 1/2, in March 1860; Émelie born in c1856; Louis in December 1857; Lotitia, also called Eletitia, in April 1860; Marie Françoise in June 1863; Joséphine Emma in July 1865; Geneviève Berthe in February 1870; ... Daughters Émelie and Marie Françoise married into the Tate family after 1870. Onésime Joseph's remaining son did not marry by then.
François, fils's third son Onésime Poupon married Geneviève, 21-year-old daughter of Antoine Lamberti and Geneviève Fontenot and widow of Charles Valmond Gradenigo, at the Opelousas church in October 1836. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Alida in January 1838; Octavie in October 1839; Gervais Poupon in June 1841; Estelle in March 1843; and Onésime Poupon, fils in July 1845 (a succession for him was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1867 when he was age 22). A succession for wife Geneviève, calling her a Lambert and naming her husband, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in June 1847. Onésime Poupon, père, at age 42, remarried to Adèle, daughter of Zénon Bordelon and Céleste Brignac, at the Opelousas church in July 1849. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Élisa or Éliza P., probably Pouponne, in March 1851; Irma P., probably Pouponne, in April 1852; Eumea in c1853; and Auguste probably in the early 1850s--nine children, six daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1838 and the early 1850s. Onésime Poupon, père's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in May 1868. He would have been age 61 that year. Daughters Alida, Octavie, Estelle, Élisa, Irma, and Eumea by both wives, married into the Lambert or Lamberti, Lacombe, Pitre, Fontenot, and Brignac families, two of them, Élisa and Eumea, to Fontenots, by 1870. Only one of Onésime Poupon's sons married by then.
Third and youngest son Auguste, by second wife Adèle Bordelon, married Marguerite, daughter of Katty Boons, perhaps Boone, at the Opelousas church in May 1869. ...
François, fils's fifth and youngest son Léandre Poupon married Sarah Johnson, an Anglo Creole, not a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1852. Their children, born near Ville Platte, included Edmond in March 1855; Joseph Léandre in February 1857; and Léandre, fils in January 1859--three children, all sons, between 1855 and 1859. Léandre, père died at Ville Platte in March 1860, age 43. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in September 1861. None of his sons married by 1870.
François, père's fourth son Charles François dit Charpes married Catherine, daughter of Henri Charles Vigé and Catherine Catoir, at the Opelousas church in July 1805. They settled at Pointe Noire on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé near Church Point, present-day Acadia Parish. Their children, born there, included Charles, fils baptized at the Opelousas church, age 3 weeks, in March 1807; Louis Charles, also called Charles, baptized at age 4 weeks in November 1808; twins Cidalise and a son, name unrecorded, born in June 1811, but the son died at age 14 months in July 1812; François le jeune born in June 1813 but died at age 20 months in February 1815; Louise dite Lise baptized at age 5 weeks in December 1815; Céleste or Célestine born in April 1818; Phelonise in May 1820; Valentine in February 1824; and Yrma or Irma in September 1825. A succession for wife Catherine, probably post-mortem, calling him Charles Sr., was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1835. Charpes, at age 57, remarried to Sidalise Derossier or Derozier in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1838. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Léon, also called Léon Charles, in November 1838; Carmelien Charles, who the baptizing priest at the Opelouas church called Carmelia, in January 1840; Napoléon in August 1841 but, called Aurelien, died at age 3 in September 1844; and Pierre born in February 1844--14 children, nine sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1807 and 1844. Charpes's succession, naming his second wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1846. He would have been age 65 that year. Daughters Lise, Céleste/Célestine, and Irma, by his first wife, married into the Roy, Ledoux, Jeansonne, and McDaniel families, two of them twice. Five of Charpes's sons also married by 1870, and one of them died in Confederate service. Not all of the lines endured.
Oldest son Charles, fils, by first wife Catherine Vigé, married Adèle or Adélaïde Joséphine or Delphine, also called Adelphine, daughter of Jean Joubert and Adélaïde Ledoux, at the Opelousas church in July 1828. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Adélaïde Félicia, called Félicia, in May 1830; Azélie in May 1832; Onésime, also called Onésime Charles and Charles Onésime in July 1834; Ermina in August 1837; François le jeune in June 1840; Quadrate or Gadrate, a daughter, in April 1842; Françoise Adelphine in April 1845; Oliva in August 1847; Élisa or Éliza Charles in March 1850; Adèle C. in May 1852; Charles III in November 1854 but died "at Prairie Rond," age 10 1/2 (the recording priest said 11), in June 1865; and Charlotte born in November 1858 but died "at age 7 days at Plaquemine," probably upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé--a dozen children, nine daughters and three sons, between 1830 and 1858. Charles, fils died in St. Landry Parish in November 1866, age 59. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse that month. Daughters Félicia, Azélie, Ermina, Gadrate, Oliva, Élisa/Éliza, and Adèle married into the Pitre, Andrépont, Dupré, Durio, and Lafleur families, three of them, Félicia, Azélie, and Gadrate, to Pitre cousins, by 1870. One of Charles, fils's sons also married by then, but the line did not endure.
Oldest son Onésime Charles or Charles Onésime married Amélie or Améline, daughter of François Dupré and his Acadian wife Anastasie Richard, at the Opelousas church in October 1856. Their daughter Virginie was born in St. Landry Parish in November 1858 but, called Marie Virginie, may have died in St. Landry Parish, age 9 (the recording priest said 7), in November 1867. Charles Onésime, as he was called by the recording priest, remarried to Sidonie or Sydonie, daughter of André Prudhomme and Virginie Gabrel, at the Opelousas church in February 1865. Daughter Amelia was born in St. Landry Parish in January 1866. Onésime Charles died "in Plaquemine" in December 1867, age 33. His succession, calling him Onésime P. and naming his second wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse later that month. His line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.
Charpes's second son Louis Charles, also called Charles, from first wife Catherine Vigé, married Phelonise, daughter of François Joubert and Sophie Doucet, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1829. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Azéline, also called Azélie, in April 1831; Louise Charles, also called Cléonise Louise, in c1832; and Célanie Louise in March 1838--three children, all daughters, between 1831 and 1838. A succession for wife Felonise, as she was called, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in May 1845. Petil, probably Petit, Louis Charles, as the recording priest called him, died in St. Landry Parish in October 1847. The priest said that Louis Charles died "at age 35 yrs." He was 39. His succession, naming his wife, had been filed at the Opelousas courthouse in September. Daughters Azéline, Cléonise, and Célanie marred into the Jeansonne, Demarest, Manuel, Cormier, Beaugard, and Lejeune families, two of them twice, one of them, Azéline, three times, by 1870. Louis Charles's family line, except for its blood, evidently died with him.
Charpes's sixth son Léon Charles, by second wife Sidalise Derossier, living at Bois Mallet, married Alsina or Alzina, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Jeansonne and his Creole wife Marie Guillory, at the Opelousas church in November 1859. Their son Léon Augustin was born in St. Landry Parish in January 1861. During the War of 1861-65, Léon Charles served in Company C of the 6th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, that fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. Léon enlisted in St. Landry Parish in March 1862, age 23. His Confederate record states that he was employed as an overseer before his enlistment. He joined his company in Virginia that spring and was captured at Front Royal in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia in May. He was exchanged at Aikens Landing, Virginia, in early August and rejoined his company, from which he was absent sick at an undisclosed hospital probably in Virginia from September to December 1862. He rejoined his company in January 1863, having missed the battles of Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg, but he did not miss his company's next battle. He was killed in action at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in May 1863, during the Chancellorsville campaign, probably in the defense of Marye's Heights. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse the following November.
Charpes's seventh son Carmelien Charles, by second wife Sidalise Derossier, married Eugénie, daughter of Romain De La Fosse and Antoinette Savant, at the Opelousas church in January 1861. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Robert Carmilien Charles in October 1861; twins Benet and Benjamin in August 1866; Blos near Washington in February 1870; ...
Charpes's ninth and youngest son Pierre, by second wife Sidalise Derossier, married Céline or Célina, daughter of fellow Acadian Édouard Landry and his Creole wife Azéline Marie Lavergne, at the Opelousas church in December 1865. ...
François, père's fifth son Louis François married Angèle or Angélique, daughter of Amable Bertrand, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and his Acadian wife Anastasie Aucoin, at the Opelousas church in November 1809. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Louis, fils in August 1810; Louis Onésime or Onésime Louis baptized at age 1 month in December 1812; Napoléon, also called Napoléon Louis, born in January 1815; Joachim, also called Joachim Louis, in June 1817; Solastie or Lasty Louis in September 1819; and François, also called François Louis, in September 1824. Louis François, at age 46, remarried to Madeleine, daughter of Mattieu Bruné or Brunet and Henriette Baker of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Opelousas church in February 1833. Their daughter Léocadie, also called Eléocadie and Élida, was born in St. Landry Parish in December 1833--seven children, six sons and a daughter, by two wives, between 1810 and 1833. Louis François's succession, calling him Louis and listing his unmarried children by both wives--Lastie, François, and Léocadie--was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in April 1838. He would have been age 52 that year. A "partial listing of inventory," also calling him Louis, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in June 1839. Daughter Léocadie/Eléocadie married into the Vigé and Normand families. All of Louis's sons married, four of them to Pitre cousins, none of them sisters.
Oldest son Louis, fils, by first wife Angélique Bertrand, married Marie Adèle, called Adèle and also Marie Anne, daughter of Henri Vigé and his Acadian wife Marie Louise Breaux, at the Opelousas church in January 1829. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Louis Salomon, called Salomon, in November 1829; Alexandre Onésime in March 1832; and Delphine or Delsine, unless they were twins, in December 1838--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1829 and 1838. None of Louis, fils's children seem to have married by 1870.
Louis François's second son Louis Onésime or Onésime Louis, by first wife Angélique Bertrand, married Azélie, 21-year-old daughter of Pierre Joubert and Catherine Cortier, at the Opelousas church in December 1837. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Elvina in January 1844; Louis Onézime or Onésime, fils in March 1845; Estelle in November 1846; Hermina in February 1848; Emma in November 1849; Onésime L., probably Louis, fils in June 1851; and Mathilde in c1852. Onésime Louis remarried to Emérite, daughter of François Dupré and his Acadian wife Anastasie Richard, at the Opelousas church in April 1856. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Octave in January 1857; Omer in July 1858 but, called Homère O., died at age 17 months in December 1859; Marie Onesia born in April 1860 but, called Onesis, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in October 1865; Joseph Damon le jeune born in November 1861 but, called Damon, died "at quartier Plaisance," age 3 1/2, in April 1865; Théogène born in November 1863; Lucius in December 1866; ... Daughters Estelle and Mathilde/Mathilda, by his first wife, married into the Durio and Fontenot families by 1870. One of Onésime Louis's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Louis Onésime, fils, by first wife Azélie Joubert, married Alida, also called Oliva, daughter of Edmond Dupré and Angélique Belaire, at the Opelousas church in December 1860. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Onesia Marie in June 1868 but, called Marie Onesia, died "at age 1 yrs. & 21 days" in June 1869; Arthur born in June 1870; ...
Louis François's third son Napoléon, by first wife Angélique Bertrand, married, at age 23, first cousin Louise Joséphine Françoise, 16-year-old daughter of Joseph Pitre and his Creole wife Sophie Fontenot, his uncle and aunt, at the Opelousas church in February 1838. Their daughter Scolastie was born in St. Landry Parish in December 1838. Napoléon, in his 40s, may have remarried to Marie Françoise Courtois in the late 1850s, place unrecorded. Their son Hippolyte was born in St. Landry Parish in July 1862; ... Napoléon's daughter did not marry by 1870, if she married at all.
Louis François's fourth son Joachim Louis, by first wife Angélique Bertrand, married cousin Marguerite Mélasie Pierre, called Mélasie, daughter of Joseph Pierre Pitre and his second wife Creole Lise Vigé, at the Opelousas church in June 1838. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Joachim Auguste in May 1839; Louis le jeune, also called Louis Joachim, in November 1840, Onésime le jeune baptized at age 1 month in May 1843, Angèle born in August 1845; Léonie Louis, a daughter, in August 1847; François Villeneuve, called François J. and Villeneuve, baptized at the Opelousas church, age unrecorded, in July 1849; Marie Emma, called Emma, born in December 1850; Pauline dite Apoline in c1851; Lastenie, a daughter, in February 1854; and Octave in August 1855--10 children, five sons and five daughters, between 1839 and 1855. Joachim Louis, called Joacin by the recording priest, died "at Plaisance," St. Landry Parish, in September 1864. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial said that "Joacin" died "at age 49 years." He was 47. Hs succession, calling him Joachim L. and naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July 1866. Was Joachim Louis's death war-related? Daughters Emma and Apoline married into the Perrodin and Belford or Belfour families by 1870. Three of Joachim Louis's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Louis Joachim married cousin Adeline, daughter of Auguste Pitre and his Creole wife Mélanie Brandt, at the Opelousas church in January 1860. Louis Joachim died in St. Landry Parish in January 1861. The Opelousas priest who recorded the burial said that Louis Joachim died "at age 23 yrs." He was 20. His succession, in which the parish clerk noted that there was "Very little information," was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February. His family line probably died with him. His widow Adeline remarried in February 1862.
Joachim Louis's third son Onésime le jeune married Alcina Vigé at the Opelousas church in August or September 1865. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Alice in February 1867; Alucia in October 1869; ...
Joachim Louis's fourth son François J., also called Villeneuve, married Dorsina, daughter of Dorsin Lacasse and his Acadian wife Marie Jeansonne, at the Opelousas church in October 1866. ...
Louis François's fifth son Lasty Louis, by first wife Angélique Bertrand, married cousin Apolline dite Pauline, daughter of Pierre Pitre, fils and his Creole wife Symphorose Vigé, at the Opelousas church in June 1840. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Lasty Louis, fils in c1842 but died at age 16 in April 1858; Octavie baptized at age 3 1/2 months in May 1843; and Lasty, the second with the name, in the 1840s--three children, two sons and a daughter, in the 1840s. Lasty, père died "of lightening" in St. Landry Parish in May 1849. The priest who recorded the burial said that Lastie Louis, as he called him, died "at age 28 yrs." He was 29. His succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in June. One of his sons married by 1870.
Oldest or second son Lasty, fils married Azéline, daughter of Michel Bihm and Azéline Lavergne and widow of Sylvestre Thibodeaux, at the Opelousas church in October 1865. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Lasty Léon in March 1867 but, called Léone Lastie, died "in Plaquemine," probably upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé, age 2 1/2 , in July 1869; Napoléon le jeune died at age 7 weeks in November 1869; ...
Louis François's sixth and youngest son François Louis, by first wife Angélique Bertrand, married cousin Félicia Charles, daughter of Charles Pitre, fils and his Creole wife Adelphine Joubert, at the Opelousas church in November 1846. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Marie Corine, called Corine, in July 1849; Alicia F., perhaps Françoise, in October 1851; Sosthène L., probably Louis, in September 1853; Batilda in January 1860; St. Paul in February 1863; and Gabrielle in January 1867. Wife Félicia died at Washington, St. Landry Parish, in March 1868, age 38. Her succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse the following October. François Louis remarried to Mathilde Carantin, widow of Joseph Lacombe, at the Washington church in January 1869. ... Daughters Corine and Alicia, by his first wife, married into the Boudreaux and Lafleur families by 1870. None of François Louis's sons married by then.
François, père's sixth and youngest son Joseph, called Joseph Poupon and François Joseph, married Sophie, another daughter of Henri Fontenot and Marie Louise Doucet, at the Opelousas church in February 1811. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Françoise dite Fanny in August 1812; Cyprien in September 1814; Sélisse or Silesie in July 1816; Émilie, Émeline, or Méline in February 1819; Sophie in September 1823; Louise, also called Louise F., in August 1821; Joséphine in June 1825 but died at age 4 1/2 (the recording priest said 7) in October 1829; Joseph Damon born in December 1826; Zélima in August 1829; Letitia in October 1831; and Étiennette in May 1839--11 children, nine daughters and two sons, between 1812 and 1839. Joseph died in St. Landry Parish in September 1849, age 58 (the recording priest said 59). His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse that month. Wife Sophie died soon after, in 1850, and her succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July 1851. Daughters Françoise dite Fanny, Émeline, Silesie, Louise, Zélima, and Letitia married into the Holley, Gaspard, Andrépont, Bay, Pitre, Sebastien, and Ortego families, one of them, Fanny, twice, by 1870. Neither of Joseph's sons, if they married, did so by then.
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Two more members of the family--a young wife and a year-old female orphan--reached New Orleans from Halifax via Cap-Français later in 1765 and settled at Cabahannocer, an established Acadian community on the river above New Orleans. No new Pitre family line came of it, but the orphan, Françoise Pitre, a native of the prison compound at Halifax, married four times on the western prairies, twice to Trahans and twice to Frenchmen, and lived into her late 70s.
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Not until 20 years later did more members of the family reach the colony. In 1785, 53 Pitres crossed aboard five of the Seven Ships from France and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche and on the river above Baton Rouge. Many new Pitre family lines came of it.
The first of the exiles from France--an extended family headed by a widower, and three wives,15 Pitres in all--crossed on La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-August 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where the widower's two sons created a new center of Pitre family settlement:
Amand (c1724-?) à Jean Pitre
Second son Tranquille followed his family to Île St.-Jean, St.-Malo, St.-Suliac, Poitou, and Nantes. He married Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Aucoin and Jeanne-Anne Thériot of Grand-Pré, in St.-Jacques Parish, Nantes, in August 1779. Their children, born there, included Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, in St.-Jacques Parish in June 1781; and Joseph-Vincent in St.-Nicolas Parish in April 1783. Tranquille, his wife, and their sons followed his family to Spanish Louisiana. Élisabeth was pregnant when their ship left Paimboeuf, the lower port of Nantes. Daughter Martina, or Martine, named after the Spanish intendente who sponsored her and other Acadian newborns at their baptisms in New Orleans, was born aboard ship. From New Orleans, they followed his family to upper Bayou Lafourche, where Élisabeth gave him another son, Constant-Étienne, born in November 1788--four children, three sons and a daughter, between 1781 and 1788, in France and Louisiana. Tranquille died at Assumption on the upper Lafourche in June 1801, age 54. Daughter Martine married into the Fournier family. One of Tranquille's sons also married, but the line endured for only two more generations.
Oldest son Jean Baptiste, called Jean, followed his family to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche. He married Marie Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Marin Boudreaux and Pélagie Barrilleaux of Nantes, at Ascension in January 1804. Marie Anne, also a native of Nantes, had come to Louisiana in 1785 aboard a later vessel. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Mélanie in January 1805; Jean Baptiste, fils in February 1806; Louis Éloi or Tranquille le jeune in August 1807 but died at age 7 in October 1814; Mathurin Adélard born in January 1809; Éloi in February 1810 but died at age 1 year and 1 day in February 1811; Hortense born in August[sic] 1810; Élise, also called Ulise, in July 1812 but died at age 18 months in February 1814; Louis Élie born in October 1814; Marie Euphrosine in March 1817 but died at age 7 1/2 in August 1824; a son, name unrecorded, died at age 23 days in August 1819; Constance in the late 1810s or early 1820s, and Victor Noël born in December 1820--a dozen children, five daughters and seven sons, between 1805 and 1820. Jean Baptiste died in Assumption Parish in July 1845. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial said that Jean Baptiste died at "age 67 years." He was 64. Daughters Mélanie and Constance married into the Rivette and Chauffe or Choffe families. Only one of his many sons married, but the line may not have endured.
Oldest son Jean-Baptiste, fils married Martine or Mathilde, also called Baptille, daughter of Bertrand Mars and his Acadian wife Geneviève Doiron, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in November 1841. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Adolphine, also called Marie Adolphine, in December 1842; Marie Philomène Hélène in June 1844; and Léontine Augustine, called Augustine, in February 1848--three children, all daughters, between 1842 and 1848. Daughters Marie Adolphine, Marie, and Augustine married into the Achée, Berthelot, and Bourg families by 1870. Jean Baptiste, fils evidently fathered no sons, but the blood of his family line may have endured.
Tranquille's second son Joseph-Vincent followed his family to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche. He died at Assumption in December 1807. The priest who recorded his burial said that Joseph died at "age 22 yrs." He was 24. He did not marry.
Amand's third son Ambroise followed his family to Île St.-Jean, St.-Malo, and St.-Suliac and married Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Dugas and his first wife Anne-Marie Boudrot, at Pleurtuit across the river from St.-Suliac in April 1774. They followed his family to Poitou. Élisabeth gave him a son, Paul-Ambroise, born at Leigné-les-Bois east of Châtellerault in July 1775. They followed his family to Nantes, where Éisabeth gave him more children: Élisabeth born at nearby Chantenay in December 1776; Marie-Françoise in February 1779; Jean-Louis in March 1783 but died at Nantes in April; and Jean-Marie born in April 1784. Ambroise, his wife, and their three remaining children followed his family to Spanish Louisiana. Another daughter, Céleste, was born aboard ship and baptized at Ascension on the river, age unrecorded, in December--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1775 and 1785, in France and Louisiana. From New Orleans, Ambroise and Élisabeth followed his widowed father and siblings to upper Bayou Lafourche, where they had no more children. Ambroise died on the bayou by February 1789, probably in his late 30s, when his wife remarried at Lafourche. Daughters Élisabeth and Céleste married into the LeBlanc family. Both of Ambroise's remaining sons also married.
Oldest son Paul-Ambroise followed his family to Nantes, New Orleans, and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Bénoni Blanchard and Madeleine Forest, at Assumption in September 1800. Céleste, a native of Nantes, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 on a later vessel. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Basilisse-Élisabeth or Élisabeth-Basilisse in June 1801; Valéry in September 1802; Anne in c1804; Marie Josèphe or Josèphine, called Josèphe or Joséphine, in November 1807; and Marie in c1808 but died at age 16 in December 1824--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1810 and 1808. Paul Ambroise died in Assumption Parish in November 1837, age 63. Daughters Basilisse, Anne, and Joséphine/Joséphe married into the Hoppe, Gravereaux, Foret, and Giraud families, one of them twice. Paul Ambroise's son also married.
Only son Valéry married cousin Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Bourg and Félicité Landry, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in November 1825; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of ___ in order to marry. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Alphonse Pierre in February 1827; Angelina Marie in December 1827; Marguerite Rose in March 1831; Faustin Marie in September 1833; Valéry, fils in April 1834; and Jean Baptiste Ursin in October 1836--six children, four sons and two daughters, between 1827 and 1836. Daughters Marguerite Rose and Angelina married into the Hébert and Filse or Fish families by 1870. None of Valéry's sons married by then.
Ambroise's third and youngest son Jean-Marie dit Campo followed his family to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Rose-Adélaïde, daughter of Frenchman Jean Pierre Lirette of Nantes and his Acadian wife Marie-Madeleine Darembourg, at Assumption in October 1805. Rose-Adélaïde, a native of Nantes, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard a later vessel. She and Campo settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary of what became Ascension and Assumption parishes before moving to Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born there, included Paul Ambroise le jeune, also called Hippolyte, in October 1806; Simon in May 1808 but died the following September; Angèle died, age unrecorded, in April 1810; Joseph born in June 1811 but died at age 10 1/2 in January 1822; Célia Elmira, also called Azélie Edmire, born in May 1813; Evariste Jean in December 1815 but died at age 1 1/2 in May 1817; Lucien Siméon born in January 1818; Marie Angéline or Angelina in March 1820; and Marie Joséphine in June 1823--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1806 and 1823. Jean Marie's succession inventory, calling him Jean Marie "also known as Campo," naming his wife, and listing some of his "heirs"--Azélie Edmire (deceased since April 1842) and her husband, Marie Engelina and her husband, and Marie Joséphine and her husband--was filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in September 1842. He would have been age 58 that year. Daughters Azélie, Marie Angelina, and Marie Joséphine married into the Dupré, Babin, and Bergeron families. Campo's remaining sons also married. They settled in Lafourche Interior Parish, but the younger son and two grandsons by the older son moved down bayou to Terrebonne Parish.
Oldest son Paul Ambroise le jeune, also called Hippolyte, married Rosalie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Naquin and his Creole wife Marie Madeleine LeBoeuf, at the Thibodauxville church in October 1824. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Zéphirin Hyppolite or Hippolyte in July 1825; Marie Arnelite or Armelise, called Armelise, in December 1826; Céleste Fidelise in May 1828; Marie Roseline, called Roseline, in March 1830; Tarzile or Tersille Anglina in March 1832; Marcus Lucien, called Lucien, in September 1834; Joseph Camelien in March 1842; Casimir Firmin in September 1843; and Théodule Pierre baptized at the Thibodaux church, age 3 months, in March 1846--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1825 and 1846. Daughters Armelise, Roseline, Céleste, and Tersille married into the Filse, LeBoeuf, Clouâtre, and Dupré families by 1870. Four of Paul Ambroise's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Zéphirin married Basilise Adeline, also called Rosalie, daughter of Jérôme Dupré and his Acadian wife Victoire Aucoin, at the Thibodaux church in February 1854. They settled in Terrebonne Parish. Their children, born there, included Rosalie Uselia in January 1855; Lurvillia Victorine in October 1858; Théodule Théophile in March 1860; Frank Adam in August 1861; Louis Laurent near Montegut at the northern edge of the coastal marshes in August 1867; Marie Élize in January 1870; ... None of Zéphirin's children married by 1870.
Paul Ambroise's second son Marcellus Lucien married Marie Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Guidry and Marie Marcelline Thibodeaux, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1855. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Rose Berthile in September 1857; Frank in April 1861; Marie Eve near Montegut in November 1866; Jean Marcel in January 1869; Véronique Alice in March 1870; ...
Paul Ambroise's fourth son Casimir married Marcelline, daughter of Urbain Picou, fils and his Acadian wife Rosalie Guidry, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in January 1870. ...
Paul Ambroise's fifth and youngest son Théodule Pierre married Émelia, another daughter of Jean Baptiste Guidry and Marie Marcelline Thibodeaux, at the Houma church in May 1864. Their children, born near Montegut, included Marie Camilla in August 1865; Pierre in December 1867; ...
Campo's fifth and youngest son Lucien Siméon was living in Terrebonne Parish when he married Marie Joséphine Hélène, called Hélène, Helena, or Eléanor, daughter of fellow Acadians François Babin and Marcellite Clouâtre of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in May 1836; Hélène was the sister of Lucien's sister Marie Angelina's husband, who were married at the same place and on the same day as Lucien and Hélène. Their children, born in Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes, included Jean Siméon, called Siméon, in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1837; Alfred in August 1839; Joseph Michel in March 1842; Marie Célima in October 1844; Adeline Rosalie or Roseline, called Roseline, in Terrebonne Parish in August 1847; Marie Rosine in March 1850; Jean in October 1852; Lucien Siméon Georges in December 1855; François Séraphin in January 1859; Frank in April 1861; ... Daughter Rosaline married into the Lester family by 1870. Three of Lucien Siméon's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Siméon married Élisa, Éliza, or Lisa, daughter of Charles Neal, Neel, Nield, or Nil and his Acadian wife Julie Crochet, at the Houma church in August 1861. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Adam William in March 1864; and Marie Louisiane in October 1862. Siméon remarried to Marie Louise, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Broussard and his Creole wife Marie Louise Buquet, at the Houma church in October 1866. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Marie Augustine in August 1867; Joseph Albert in October 1870; ...
Lucien Siméon's second son Alfred married Odilia, daughter of fellow Acadians Auguste Giroir and Rosalie Comeaux, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in July 1867, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church in September 1868. Daughter Marie Alfreda was born in Terrebonne Parish in August 1870; ...
Lucien Siméon's third son Joseph Michel married Émilie dite Mélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Justin Hébert and Azélie Bergeron, at the Houma church in January 1864. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Amanda Arcelie in October 1864; Marie Arselie in April 1867; Joseph Alidor in November 1869; ...
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A dozen more Pitres--two families, one led by a widower, and two wives--came to the colony aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September 1785. They, too, settled on the upper Lafourche, where another lasting family line emerged:
Pierre-Olivier (c1736-?) à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
Third and youngest son Pierre André followed his family to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche. He married Angélique, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Bourgeois and Anne Osite Landry and widow of Pierre Arceneaux and François Louvière, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in April 1809. Angélique was a native of Louisiana whose parents had come to the colony from Halifax with the Broussards in February 1765. Pierre-André and Angélique settled on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Azélie dite Zélie in August 1810; and Émile in c1815. A succession inventory, calling him Pierre Olivier, naming his wife, and listing his two children, was filed at the Lafourche Interior Parish courthouse at Thibodauxville in August 1817; and he appears in a succession, also erroneously calling him Pierre Olivier and including the details of his 1809 marriage, filed at the same courthouse in 1837. In the 1840s, Pierre André may have followed his son to the western prairies and died in St. Landry Parish in November 1844, age 60. Daughter Azélie married an Hébert cousin on the Lafourche. Pierre André's son also married.
Only son Émile married Marie Roseline, also called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Maurice Blanchard and his Creole wife Marie Madeleine Fontenot, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1840. Soon after their marriage, they moved to lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Romain near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in March 1841; Clémille in the 1840s; Pierre Cléopha near Charenton, St. Mary Parish, in September 1845; Joseph in September 1848; and Paul Ulisse or Ulysse, called Ulysee, in November 1850--five children, all sons, between 1841 and 1850. Two of Émile's sons married on the lower Teche by 1870.
Second son Clémille married Joséphine, daughter of Joseph Dazincourt Lange and Marie Estelle Besnard, at the Charenton church in September 1869. ...
Émile's fifth and youngest son Ulysse married Florella, daughter of Augustin, called Justin, Cedotal and his Acadian wife Pamela Crochet, at the Charenton church in November 1870. ...
Anselme (c1739-?) à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
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Ten more Pitres--three families headed by widows--came to the colony aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They also settled on the upper Lafourche, where two more family lines emerged:
Louis-Constant (c1775-?) à Claude-Jean à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
Louis-Constant, called Constant, second son of Olivier Pitre and Marie Moyse of Île Royale and Île Miquelon, born in St.-Roman Parish, Diocese of Poitiers, Poitou, France, in c1775, followed his family to Chantenay near Nantes and his widowed mother and older sisters to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Guidry and Marie-Josèphe Lebert, at Assumption in August 1797. Marie-Rose, a native of Nantes, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard an earlier ship. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary of what became Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Joseph-Constant in October 1799; Marie Mélanie in January 1804; Louis David, also called David Constant, in September 1805; Pierre Martial, called Martial, in October 1813; and Marie Adèle in September 1817--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1799 and 1817. Daughter Marie Mélanie married into the Incalade family. Two of Constant's sons also married and settled in Lafourche Parish.
Second son Louis David, also called David Constant, married Marie Aimée, Émelie, or Émeline, daughter of Zénon Cheramie and Delphine Terrebonne of La Chenière, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in August 1840. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Martial Adam in September 1837; Marie Célima, called Célima, in May 1840; Alexis Richard in July 1842; Justine Euranie, also called Augustine, in April 1844; Delphine Philomène in May 1846; Marcellite Mélanie or Emélanie, called Emélanie, in May 1848; Louis Alidor near Lockport on the lower Lafourche in April 1851; François William Constant baptized at the Raceland church, age unrecorded, in October 1854; and Marie Rose born in August 1855--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1837 and 1855. Daughters Célima, Augustine, Delphine Philomène, and Emélanie married into the Gisclard and Bruce or Bruze families, three of them, Célima, Augustine, and Emélaine, to Gisclards, two of them brothers, by 1870. Two of Louis David's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Martial Adam married Rosalie, 17-year-old daughter of Louis Duet and Carmélite Folse, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in April 1858. Their children, born near Lockport, included Jean Eugène in May 1863[sic]; Louisa in November 1863[sic]; ...
Louis David's second son Alexis Richard married Romela Élisabeth, also called Marie and Amélie, another daughter of Louis Duet and Carmelite Folse, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in April 1861, and sanctified the marriage at the Lockport church in September 1864. Their children, born near Lockport, included Eve Levina in May 1864; Alexis Joseph in January 1867; ...
Constants's third and youngest son Pierre Martial, called Martial, married cousin Adeline Phanie, Fanny, or Fannie, also called Stephanie and Aimée, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Guillot and Isabelle Pitre, at the Thibodauxville church in August 1832. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary of Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Aglaé in January 1834; Rose Mirtée in May 1835; Augustin dit Justin in November 1836; Louis Wilfred, called Wilfred, in December 1838; Jean Marius in August 1842; Virginie Marcellina or Marcelline, called Marcelline, in December 1843; David Hippolyte in February 1846; Joseph Boniface in June 1850; and Marie Véronique in September 1852--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1834 and 1852. Daughter Marcelline married into the Lefort family by 1870. Two of Martial's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Augustin dit Justin married Virginie Lefort probably in Lafourche Parish in the late 1850s or early 1860s. Their children, born near Lockport, included Matergina in April 1864; Virginie Augusta in July 1866; ...
Martial's second son Louis Wilfred, called Wilfred, married Joséphine Geneviève, called Geneviève, Kiff probably in Lafourche Parish in the 1860s. Their children, born in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, included Joseph Beauregard near Lockport in February 1865; Théogène Martial Adam near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1867; Marie Estelina near Lockport in February 1869; ...
Étienne (c1778-?) à Claude-Jean à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
Étienne, fourth son of Benjamin Pitre by his second wife Marguerite Boudrot, born at Nantes, France, in June 1778, followed his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche. If he survived the crossing from France in 1785, when he was only in his early teens, he did not marry.
Jean (1780-?) à Claude-Jean à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
Jean, fifth son of Benjamin Pitre by his second wife Marguerite Boudrot, born at St.-Pierre de Rezé, Nantes, France, in October 1780, followed his widowed mother and siblings to New Orleans and upper Bayou Lafourche. He married Marie Renée, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Bourg and his French wife Catherine Viaud, at Ascension in September 1808. Marie Renée was a native of Louisiana whose parents had come to Louisiana on one of the Seven Ships in 1785. She and Jean settled on the upper Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Jean-Florentin, called Florentin, in March 1811; and Rosalie Léonore in August 1813. Daughter Rosalie married into the Arcement family. Jean's son also married, settled in Lafourche Parish, and had many sons of his own. One of Jean's grandsons may have moved to the river after the War of 1861-65.
Only son Jean Florentin, called Florentin, married Marie Modeste Azélie, called Azélie, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Thibodeaux and Marthe Achée, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1832. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Florentin Marcel in January 1834 but, called Marselle, may have died in September 1845, age 10 (the recording priest said 13); Marcellite Élise born in October 1838; and Jean Aurelien in February 1839 but, called Aurelien, died at age 9 1/2 in July 1848. Florentin remarried to Susanne, daughter of Drausin Toups and Judith Mayer, at the Thibodaux church in August 1840. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Élie in August 1841; Joseph Aiser or Aupère in March 1843; Louis Jean Olésime in April 1845; Pierre William in June 1848 but, called William, died at age 19 (the recording priest said 20) in October 1867; and Charles Lucien born in July 1853--eight children, seven sons and a daughter, by two wives, between 1834 and 1853. Florentin's daughter did not marry by 1870, but two of his sons did.
Third son Élie, by second wife Susanne Toups, married, according to descendant Lee Roy J. Pitre, Jr., ____ Jambon probably in Lafourche Parish in the late 1850s. Did they have any children? Élie remarried to Mathilde Cornelia White of Houma at Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in September 1873. Élie was a farmer and died in Terrebonne Parish in September 1898, age 57.
Florentin's fourth son Joseph Aiser or Aupère, by second wife Susanne Toups, married Marie Célanie, called Célanie, daughter of Jacques Adam and Célanie Navarre, at the Vacherie church, St. James Parish, in May 1866; the marriage also was registered in Lafourche Parish, so Joseph remained on Bayou Lafourche. Daughter Marie Louisiane Eugénie was born near Lockport in May 1869; ...
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Fifteen more Pitres--two families, three wives, and a daughter with her widowed mother--came to the colony aboard La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans from St.-Malo in early December 1785. All but one of them followed their fellow passengers to the new Acadian settlement of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge, but not all of them remained. One family joined their cousins on upper Bayou Lafourche. No new Pitre family lines came of it:
Charles (c1729-?) à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
Charles, third son of Joseph Pitre and Isabelle Boudrot, born probably at Cobeguit in c1729, followed his family to Île St.-Jean in c1750, where he married Anne, daughter of Jean Henry and Marie Hébert, in February 1752. The following August, a French official counted the still-childless couple at Rivière-de-l'Ouest on the southern end of the island near his family. Anne was pregnant at the time of the counting. She gave Charles three children on the island: Anne-Blanche born in c1753; Marin in c1755; and Pierre in c1757. The British deported the family to St.-Malo, France, in late 1758. All of their children died at sea. The once-again childless couple settled at Pleurtuit on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo, where Anne gave Charles six more children: Jean-Charles born at nearby St.-Antoine in May 1760 but died at age 2 1/2 in October 1762; another Jean-Charles born at nearby La Moisiais in July 1763; Joseph-Pierre in October 1765; Anne-Geneviève in March 1768 but died at age 7 in May 1775; Marguerite-Josèphe born in October 1770; and Élisabeth-Modeste in December 1773--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1753 and 1773, in greater Acadia and France. Charles did not take his family to Poitou in 1773, nor did they join other exiles at Nantes later in the decade. They remained in the St.-Malo area. Charles, Anne, and three of their children, a son and two daughters, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana directly from St.-Malo in 1785. Son Jean-Charles, the second with the name, who would have been age 22 that year, if he was still living, did not accompany his family to the Spanish colony. From New Orleans, Charles and his family followed their fellow passengers to Bayou des Écores. Younger daughter Élisabeth-Modeste married into the Boudrot family on upper Bayou Lafourche. Charles's remaining son may not have married, but the blood of the family line may have endured in the Bayou State.
Fifth and youngest son Joseph-Pierre followed his family to New Orleans and Bayou des Écores and evidently remained there. He does not seem to have married.
Jean-Baptiste (c1730-1790s) à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, third son of Claude-Jean Pitre and Marguerite Doiron, born at Cobeguit in c1730, followed his family to Île St.-Jean in 1755 or 1756 and married fellow Acadian Félicité Daigre on the island in c1757. Félicité gave him a son, Jean-Baptiste, fils, born there in c1758. Later that year, the British deported the family to St.-Malo, France, aboard the transport Le Duc Guillaume, which suffered a mishap at sea before it limped into the Breton port the first of November. Jean-Baptiste and Félicité survived the crossing, but their infant son did not. In early December 1758, a month after they reached St.-Malo, French authorities sent them on to the naval port of Rochefort, but they returned to St.-Malo the following year and settled at Pleudihen-sur-Rance on the east side of the river south of St.-Malo. At nearby Mordreuc on Rivière Rance, Félicité gave Jean-Baptiste 15 more children: Marguerite born in December 1759 but died at age 3 1/2 in May 1763; Jean born in January 1761 but died the following April; Jean-Marie born in February 1762; Charlotte-Marie in March 1763; Joseph in August 1764; Pierre in October 1765; Augustin-François in November 1766 but died the following January; Jacques-François born in November 1767; Françoise-Madeleine in May 1769; Félicité in July 1770; Marguerite-Marie in November 1771; Marie-Perrine in January 1773 but died the following September; Prudente-Jeanne born in March 1774; Augustin in February 1775; and Charles-Paul in Novembe 1776--16 children, seven daughters and nine sons, between 1758 and 1776, in greater Acadia and France. Jean-Baptiste did not take his family to Poitou in 1773, nor did they join their fellow exiles at Nantes later in the decade. In 1785, Jean-Baptiste, Félicité, and six of their childern, four daughters and two sons, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana directly from St.-Malo. Five of their children--Jean-Marie, Joseph, Prudente-Jeanne, Augustin, and Charles-Paul--who, if they were still living, would have been ages 23 to 9 in 1785, did not accompany their family to the Spanish colony. The oldest sons, in fact, married at Pleudihen-sur-Rance in January 1786, five months after their parents and siblings left for Louisiana. One wonders what happened to the other children and why did the two sons, one of whom married a fellow Acadian, choose to remain in the mother country. From New Orleans, Jean-Baptiste and his family followed their fellow passengers to Bayou des Écores. Daughters Charlotte-Marie, Félicité, and Marguerite-Marie married there into the Courtois, Farine, and Morange families. Jean-Baptiste's younger son also married there, but his line may not have endured. Jean-Baptiste and Félicité evidently moved on to upper Bayou Lafourche in the late 1780s or early 1790s. Jean-Baptiste died there by December 1795, in his early 60s, when Félicité was listed in a Valenzuela District census as a widow. The family line, except perhaps for its blood, did not endure in the Bayou State.
Third son Jean-Marie did not follow his family to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. He married Rose-Perrine, 25-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Bourg and Marie Aucoin, also a native of Pleudihen-sur-Rance, there in January 1786, five months after his parents and siblings left for New Orleans.
Jean, père's fourth son Joseph did not follow his family to Spanish Louisiana in 1785. He married Anne, daughter of Jean Portier and Françoise Quemar of Pleudihen, there in January 1786, on the same day and at the same place his older brother Jean-Marie married.
Jean, père's fifth son Pierre followed his family to New Orleans and Bayou des Écores and evidently remained there. He does not seem to have married.
Jean, père's seventh son Jacques-François followed his family to New Orleans and Bayou des Écores, where he married Jeanne-Tarsile, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Thibodeaux and Madeleine Henry, in January 1788. Their children, born in New Feliciana, included Jean-Charles in November 1788; and Madeleine-Françoise baptized by a Pointe Coupée priest, age unrecorded, in May 1792. After the Acadians abandoned Bayou des Écores in the early 1790s, one wonders where Jacques-François and his family resettled. Few Acadian families remained in New Feliciana. Were they among the few who did? Their son evidently did not marry.
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One more member of the family, a young bachelor with two of his Hébert half-siblings, crossed to the Spanish colony aboard La Caroline, the last of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans during the third week of December 1785. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, and a vigorous family line came of it:
Martin-Bénoni (1767-1851) à Claude-Jean à Jean, fils à Jean Pitre
Martin-Bénoni, son of Paul-Hippolyte, called Paul, Pitre and Marguerite-Louise Valet or Vallet of Cobequit and Île St.-Jean, born at St.-Suliac near St.-Malo, France, in May 1767, followed his mother and stepfather Charles Hébert to Poitou and Nantes. Still in his teens, he came to Spanish Louisiana with two younger Hébert half-siblings. Martin-Bénoni married Jeanne, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Dantin and his first wife Jeanne Gemier, a Frenchwoman, at New Orleans in January 1786, soon after they reached the colony. Jeanne, a native of St.-André-des-Eaux on far upper Rivière Rance south of the fortified city of Dinan, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard an earlier vessel and may have known Martin-Bénoni in France. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Marie-Madeleine in October 1789; Julie-Félicité or Félicité-Julie in October 1792; Joseph-Eléanor baptized at the Assumption church on the upper Lafourche, age unrecorded, in December 1796; Jean-Pierre-Louis in January 1798; Louis-Auguste, called Auguste, in August 1799; Louis-Achille in May 1801; Mathurin in June 1802; François Basile in June 1804; Paul, also called Hippolyte, in January 1809; and Arthémise in c1810 but died at age 13 in May 1823--10 children, three daughters and seven sons, between 1789 and 1810. Martin Bénoni's succession voluntary sale was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in March 1828, nearly three years after the death of his wife. He did not remarry. He died in Lafourche Parish in November 1851, a widower. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Martin, as he called him, died "at age 88 yrs." He was 84 and one of the last of the Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join his ancestors. Daughter Félicité Julie married fellow Acadian Louis Jean Hébert in November 1812 and gave birth to perhaps a "natural" daughter, Virginie Rosalie Clémentine, (the recording priest gave no father's name) in December 1820. All seven of Martin Bénoni's sons married and settled in Lafourche Interior Parish, but one of the lines did not endure. One of Martin Bénoni's sons and some of his grandsons moved down bayou into Terrebonne Parish, but most of them remained on the upper, middle, and lower Lafourche. Most of the Pitres of southeastern Louisiana are descendants of Martin-Bénoni and six of his sons.
Oldest son Joseph Eléanor married Ursule Delphine or Delphine Ursule, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Molaison and Marie Gautreaux of Lafourche, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1818. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Delphine in September 1818; Émilisère Élisa, also called Élisabeth Mélissaire, in March 1820; Eléonise or Léonice Aima or Irma in January 1822; Marie Mélasie in February 1824; Marie Joséphine in November 1825; Marie Euphémie, called Euphémie, in November 1827; Joseph, fils, perhaps also called Joseph Livaudais or Livodé, in January 1829; Marie, perhaps also called Marie Victoire or Veturie, in February 1832; Antoine Ferdinand, called Ferdinand, in December 1834; and Marguerite Odilia or Adèlia in March 1836--10 children, eight daughters and two sons, between 1818 and 1836. Joseph died in Lafourche Parish in July 1854. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial, and who called his wife Ursule Molaire, said that Joseph died "at age 63 yrs." He probably was in his late 50s. Petition for a "Family meeting," calling him Joseph, his wife Delphine Molaison, and listing only some of their children and one of their spouses--Ferdinand, Adèlia, and Mélicère and her husband--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in January 1855. Daughters Mélissaire, Léonice Irma, Marie Mélasie, Marie Euphémie, Marie Victoire, and Marie Joséphine married into the Gaubert, Barras, Lefort, Breaux, Ledet, and Price families, including two Lefort brothers. Joseph Eléanor's two sons also married.
Older son Joseph, fils, perhaps also called Joseph Livaudais or Livodé, married Marie Juliènne, called Juliènne, Lefort probably in Lafourche Parish in the late 1840s or early 1850s. Their children, born on the lower bayou, included Joseph Alexis in Lafourche Parish in June 1852, Joséphine Ada in February 1854; Augustine Adriènne near Raceland in December 1856; Léonise Anasthasie in March 1858; Marie Éliza near Lockport in November 1863; Julien Léonce in June 1866; Marie Estellina in January 1869; ... None of Joseph, fils's children married by 1870.
Joseph Eléanor's younger son Antoine Ferdinand, called Ferdinand, married Marie Euselide, Enezille, Enesilda, Enesie, Enesia, Eneside, Enesile, Enezilde, or Onezille, daughter of fellow Acadian Gilbert Melançon and his Creole wife Eméranthe Champagne, at the Thibodaux church in August 1855. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Mildred Mary in April 1857; Marie Louisiane near Raceland in June 1858; Joseph Legnes in March 1860; Pierre Ferdinand in September 1862; another Joseph near Raceland in September 1863; Paul Ignace in February 1867; Valérie Euphémie in April 1868; Marie Léonise in April 1870; ...
Martin Bénoni's second son Jean Pierre Louis married cousin Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Alexis Achée and Anne Dantin, at the Plattenville church in May 1819. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Joachin Rosémond in March 1820 but, called Rosémond Joachim, died at age 5 in February 1825; Julie Arthémise born in July 1825; Marie Pauline, called Pauline, in July 1827; Carmélite in September 1829; Rophin, also Jean Ruffin Pierre Baptiste, called Ruffin, in May 1832; and Marcellin in September 1834--six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1820 and 1834. Jean Pierre died in Lafourche Parish in February 1855. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jean Pierre died "at age 65 yrs." He was 57. Daughters Marie Pauline and Julie Arthémise married into the Boutary, Molaison, and Bergeron families by 1870. One of Jean Pierre Louis's sons also married by then.
Second son Jean Ruffin Pierre Baptiste, called Ruffin, married Céleste, Célesie, or Céline Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Amand Lejeune and Clémence LeBlanc, at the Thibodaux church in April 1851. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Mathilde in January 1852[sic]; Adam Onésipe in May 1852[sic]; Joseph in February 1855 but died at age 11 months in January 1856; Victoria born in June 1856 but died at age 2 1/2 in August 1858; Joseph Lésime born in February 1858; John Simpre in June 1860; Malvina Georgina in July 1864; ... None of Ruffin's children married by 1870.
Martin Bénoni's third son Louis Auguste, called Auguste, married Marie Clothilde, called Clothilde, daughter of Alexis Lefort and Marie Fenlos or Ferlau, at the Thibodauxville church in June 1826. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie, probably Marie Anaïse, in August 1827; Marie Artémise in September 1829; Eugène in October 1832; Louise in April 1835; Elvire in April 1842; and André Gratien, called Gratien, in December 1847--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1827 and 1847. Louis Auguste, called Louis by the recording priest at Houma, who did not give any parents' names and called his wife Cléotine, without a family name, died in Terrebonne Parish in September 1854, age 55 (the recording priest said 50). Daughter Marie Anaïse married into the Duet family by 1870. One of Louis Auguste's sons also married by then.
Younger son André Gratien, called Gratien, married fellow Acadian Marguerite Landry probably in Lafourche Parish in the 1860s. Their son Louis Raphaël was born near Lockport in March 1870; ...
Martin Bénoni's fourth son Louis Achille married Marie Clothilde, called Clothilde and Madeleine, 26-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Clouâtre and Marie Élisabeth Thibodeaux of Iberville Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in September 1828. Daughter Marie Jeanne Elmire, called Elmire, was born on the Lafourche in May 1830. Louis died in Terrebonne Parish in September 1854. The Houma priest who recorded the burial said that Louis died "at age 50 yrs." He was 53. Daughter Elmire married into the Lapelle and Buron families, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Martin Bénoni's fifth son Mathurin married Félicité Esther, called Esther, 15-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Aubin Bénoni Thibodaux and Eugénie Hébert of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in July 1831; Esther was a granddaughter of former Louisiana governor Henry Schuyler Thibodaux of Terrebonne. Her and Mathurin's children, born on the Lafourche, included Eugénie or Virginie Élodie in September 1833; Jeanne Ofelia or Ophelia, called Ophelia, in May 1835; Elmire Joséphine in March 1838; twins Laura Faustin and Luma Faustin in January 1839, but Luma, as he was called, died at age 19 (the recording priest said 18) in February 1858; Martin Léandre Douradoux, called Léandre D. and Douradoux, born in April 1841; Henry Johnson, called Johnson, in April 1844; Scott in the 1840s; Banon in March 1851 but died in April; and Mathurin, fils born in September 1852--10 children, four daughters and six sons, between 1833 and 1852. Mathurin died in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1852. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial and called his wife Esther said that Mathurin died "at age 53 yrs." He was 50. A "Petition for tutorship" of his children, naming he and his wife and listing his children--Eugénie Élodie, Ophelia, Elmire, Donadou, Johnson, Scott, and Numa (Luma)--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in March 1853. Daughters Jeanne Ophelia and Virginie Élodie married into the LeBlanc and Polk families by 1870. Two of Mathurin's sons also married by then.
Second son Martin Léandre Douradoux, called Léandre D. and Douradoux, married Adèle or Odile, daughter of Valéry Vicknair and his Acadian wife Adèle Thibodeaux, at the Thibodaux church in January 1868. Their son Valéry Henri was born near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in October 1868; ...
Mathurin's third son Henry Johnson, called Johnson, married Léa, daughter of Hippolyte Boutary and Élisa Dejean, at the Thibodaux church in June 1868. Their son Joseph was born in Lafourche Parish in September 1869; ...
Martin Bénoni's sixth son François Basile married Scholastique dite Scolastie, daughter of Antoine Boutary and his Acadian wife Marie Hébert, at the Thibodauxville church in August 1830. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Estère in August 1831; Henri François in February 1833; Louis Prospère or Prosper in August 1838; Marie Aurelia in October 1840; Auguste Étienne in December 1841; Eugène in April 1843; twins Julien Hippolyte and Silvain Homère in September 1845, but Julien Hippolyte died at age 19 in March 1866; Leufroy Servillia born in May 1849; and Victorin in March 1853--10 children, two daughters and eight sons, including a set of twins, between 1831 and 1853. Daughters Marie Estère and Marie Aurelia married into the Hébert and Ballard families by 1870. Five of François Basile's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Henri François married Célesie, also called Rose, daughter of Jean Adolphe Legendre, a Creole, not a fellow Acadian, and Célesie Ledet, at the Thibodaux church in April 1856. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marie Rosa in February 1857; Marie Roselia in November 1859; Joseph Adolphe in September 1863; Alphonse Henri in August 1870; ...
François Basile's second son Louis Prosper married cousin Marie, daughter of Pierre Lirette and his Acadian wife Céleste Hébert, at the Thibodaux church in October 1858. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Louis Philippe in December 1860; Auguste Joseph in August 1864; Julien Adam in August 1868; ...
François Basile's third son Auguste Étienne married Sarah, daughter of Marcellin Sevin and his Acadian wife Marguerite Carmélite LeBlanc, at the Thibodaux church in June 1867. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Élie in April 1868; Joseph Athington in December 1869; ...
François Basile's fourth son Eugène married Aimée, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Molaison and his second wife Marie Breaux, at the Thibodaux church in November 1868. Daughter Marie Bertilde was born in Lafourche Parish in September 1869; ...
François Basile's sixth son Sylvain Homère, a twin, married Marie, daughter of Louis Célestin Lirette and his Acadian wife Alice Dantin, at the Thibodaux church in June 1870. ...
Martin Bénoni's seventh and youngest son Hippolyte, also called Paul, married 21-year-old Marie Virginie, called Virginie, another daughter Joseph Clouâtre and Marie Élisabeth Thibodeaux of Iberville Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in February 1831. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Louis Adrien in January 1832 but, called Adrien, died in Terrebonne Parish, age 22 (the recording priest said 21), in August 1854; Lucien Marcellus born in September 1834; Jeanne Rose or Rosa, called Rosa, in September 1836; Marie Pamela in May 1837; Jean Baptiste Amédéo or Amédée, called Amédée and Amadéo, in February 1839; Firez, perhaps also called Harrison, in January 1841; Joseph Estilien or Justilien, called Justilien and also Julien, in June 1843; and Séraphin in c1847--eight children, six sons and two daughters, between 1832 and 1847. Hippolyte died in Terrebonne Parish in March 1867. The Houma priest who recorded the burial said that Hippolyte died "at age 50 yrs." He was 58. Daughter Jeanne Rosa married into the Guérin family by 1870. Two of Hippolyte's sons also married by then.
Second son Jean Baptiste Amédée, called Amédée, Amadéo, and Madéo, married Mary or Marie Anne, daughter of Peter Welsh or Walsh and his Acadian wife Delphine or Dauphine Benoit, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in May 1859, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church in April 1862. Their children, born in Terrebonne Parish, included Virginie Delphine in January 1861; Marie Jane in January 1863; Justine Priscilla in February 1868; ...
Hippolyte's fourth and youngest son Joseph Estilien or Justilien, called Justilien and also Julien, married Amelia, Amélie, or Émelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Justin Hébert and Azélie Bergeron, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in January 1869, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church in January 1870. Daughter Rosa Justilia was born in Terrebonne Parish in November 1869; ...
Jean Poirier came to Acadia in 1641 aboard the St.-François with his wife Jeanne, daughter of Antoine Chebrat and Françoise Chaumoret of La Chaussée near Loudun south of the middle Loire in north central France, to work in the fisheries established by Nicolas Denys. Jean died in c1654 after fathering a son and a daughter. Since that was the year the New-English Puritans sezied the colony, one wonders if Jean's death was related to that incident. His daughter married into the Caissie family, and his son Michel married a Boudrot, who gave him 11 children, nine sons and two daughters. One of Michel's daughters married into the Pothier family. Seven of his sons married into the Bourgeois, Cormier, Mignot dit Aubin, Haché dit Gallant, and Bernard families. Jean's nephew Michel dit de France came to Acadia in c1692, married into the Chiasson family, and fathered a dozen children, eight sons and four daughters. His daughters married into the Doucet, Caissie, Buote or Buhot, and Comeau families. Five of his sons married into the Bourgeois, Doucet, Arseneau, Caissie, and Gaudet families. In 1755, descendants of Jean Poirier and his nephew Michel dit de France could be found at Annapolis Royal, formerly Port-Royal; Minas; in the French Maritimes; and especially at Chignecto. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. In the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, along with Mi'kmaq warriors led by Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, burned Acadian homesteads east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Poiriers were among the refugees in this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, the Chignecto Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Poiriers were among the area Acadians serving in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the Canadians and the French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. Poirier families ended up on transports bound for South Carolina and Georgia. In the spring of 1756, one of the young Poiriers took advantage of an opportunity to return to greater Acadia by boat but, along with other deportees in the expedition, got no farther than Long Island, New York. Other Poiriers remained in South Carolina and Georgia. Most of the many Poiriers at Chignecto, however, escaped the British roundup there and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore or moved on to Canada.
Poiriers at Annapolis Royal in the fall of 1755 also escaped the British roundup there, spent a hard winter on the Fundy shore, crossed the bay to Chepoudy the following spring, and sought refuge on the upper Petitcoudianc or lower Rivière St.-Jean before moving on to the Gulf shore or to Canada. One of them died in 1756 on the trek to Canada. His widow died at Québec in December 1757, victim, perhaps, of the smallpox epidemic that killed hundreds of her fellow Acadians in the area between the summer of 1757 and the spring of 1758. Poiriers from Annapolis Royal remained in Canada with their many cousins from Chignecto. Some of their kinsmen in Nova Scotia, however, did not escape the roundups there. The British deported two Poirier families from Minas to Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Living in territory controlled by France, Poiriers still on the Maritime islands escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia in 1755 and 1756, but their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on the islands. A few Poiriers escaped the British, crossed Mer Rouge, and sought refuge on the Gulf shore, while others were deported to France. Members of both Poirier family lines crossed to St.-Malo on one or more of the five deportation transports that left Chédabouctou Bay in a 12-ship convoy in late November, survived a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England that sank three other transports, and reached St.-Malo together in late January 1759. Poiriers also crossed on the transport Supply, which left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy but, because of damage suffered in the storm, had to put in at Bideford, England, for repairs and did not reach St.-Malo until early March. A number of family members, especially children, died at sea or in local hospitals soon after they reached the Breton port. Island Poiriers settled at St.-Énogat, todays's Dinard, across the harbor from St.-Malo, and in the suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer south of St.-Malo. Poiriers and their families also landed at Cherbourg in Normandy in 1758. In late 1765, members of a family at St.-Malo were among the relatively few island refugees who followed recently-arrived Acadian exiles from England to recently-liberated Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany. They settled at Kersau near Locmaria on the north shore of the island, and there they remained. A young Poirier from Cherbourg moved on to Nantes in southwest Brittany by 1772, when he married a local woman there.
Poiriers from both branches of the family came to France by a different route, but none of them remained. Some of the Chignecto families who had escaped the roundup in 1755 took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and at Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs. By the early 1760s, most of them either had surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. After 1763, Poiriers being held in Nova Scotia, seeking to avoid British rule, chose to resettle on Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. French officials counted them on the island in 1767. Obeying a royal decree to relieve overcrowding on Miquelon and nearby Île St.-Pierre, the French transported the Poiriers and other fisher/habitants to France later that year, but, like the majority of their fellow islanders, they returned to Miquelon in 1768. Ten years later, during the American Revolution, the British captured the Newfoundland islands and deported the Acadians there to France, Poiriers among them. In 1784, after the war had ended and the British retroceded the islands to France, most of the Poiriers returned to Miquelon a second time. A Poirier who had gone to Miquelon from Nova Scotia by 1765, perhaps sensitive to the overcrowded conditions there, moved his family to Nantes, France, in December 1765, among the first Acadian exiles to settle in the lower Loire port. After the head of the family died there in March 1766, his widow took her children back to Île Miquelon. A son, recently married, was transported with his bride to France in 1767 and followed the same pattern of return and deportation from 1768 to 1778. Back on Miquelon in 1784, he chose not to stay. He took his family, instead, to the îles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and there they remained.
Back in France, none of the Poiriers at Cherbourg or on Belle-Île-en-Mer participated in the major settlement venture in the interior of Poitou in the early 1770s. And none of the Poiriers still in France joined their fellow exiles from Poitou at Nantes in the mid- or late 1770s or early 1780s.
In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians still in France a chance for a better life in faraway Louisiana. None of the Poiriers recently arrived from Île Miquelon agreed to take it. However, the majority of the Acadian exiles still in France--nearly 1,600--did move on to the Spanish colony, but none of the Poiriers on Belle-Île-en-Mer or in any of the French ports were among them. One Poirier from Miquelon returned to France on the eve of the French Revolution. Two of his nephews also returned there. They settled at Ingouville and Graville near Le Havre in coastal Normandy and married local girls. One worked as a sailor and a ship's carpenter at Le Havre like his uncle, and both nephews created large families in and around the Norman port.
In North America, the Acadians who had escaped the British in the late 1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore were soon caught up in the lingering war between the imperial rivals. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France. In late June 1760, a British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche, now a major Acadian refuge. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the militia and the Indians to resist a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, another British naval force, this one from Québec, returned to Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On 24 October 1760, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers counted 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche, at least six Poirier families among them. The British held them and other exiles surrendered or captured in the region in prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. In August 1763, Poiriers appeared on a repatriation list at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Fort Beauséjour, near their old homes at Chigneco; and in the prison barracks at Halifax.
The war over, Poiriers still in the British seaboard colonies, like their cousins being held in Nova Scotia, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intentions. Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. Members of the family nevertheless appeared on reparation lists compiled in several of the colonies in the summer of 1763. A large family was still living in Connecticut. Another family was still in Pennsylvania that June; and a Poirier and his family were still in New York, unless they had moved on to South Carolina. A Poirier family with two orphans appeared on a repatriation list at Baltimore, Maryland, in July 1763. Given that so many had been deported from Chignecto, Poiriers were especially numerous in the southern colonies. In August 1763, according to repatriation lists compiled in South Carolina, at least a dozen Poirier families were still in that colony. Poiriers also were listsed in Georgia that summer.
At war's end, most of the Poiriers still in North America were living not in Nova Scotia or the British seaboard colonies but in Canada, where many of them had gone as early as 1756. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles. So, in a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of Jean Poirier and his nephew Michel dit de France began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. By the late 1760s, they could be found on the upper St. Lawrence at Bécancour, L'Assomption, Lotbinière, Nicolet, Pointe-du-Lac, Rivière-du-Loups now Louiseville, St.-Grégoire, and Sorel; at Beauce on upper Rivière Chaudière; on the lower St. Lawrence at St.-Charles de Bellechasse, St.-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Cap-St.-Ignace, Montmagny, Rivière-Ouelle, Rimouski, and on the north shore across from Rimouski. In Gaspésie on the north shore of the Baie des Chaleurs, they lived at Bonaventure, Carleton, and Cascapédia now New Richmond. In present-day northeastern New Brunwick, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, they could be found at Caraquet and Grande-Digue; on St. John Island, formerly Île St.-Jean, now Prince Edward Island; and in the îles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In Nova Scotia, they settled at Windsor, formerly Pigiguit, and at Arichat on Île Madame off the coast of today's Cape Breton Island. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Many of the Poiriers in the seaboard colonies emigrated not to Canada, where the British ruled, but to the French Antilles, where they did not. While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged Acadians in the British colonies to resettle in St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean basin and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles who could be lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the island's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. Many Poiriers took up the offer. French officials sent them not only to Môle St.-Nicolas, but also to Mirebalais in the island's interior near Port-au-Prince to work on coffee and indigo plantations. Their life events, especially burials, soon became part of local church records. Perhaps surprisingly, considering how many loved ones they buried in their first months in the colony, when fellow exiles from Halifax and Maryland, including Poiriers, came through Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans from late 1764 through 1768, none of the Poiriers still in St.-Domingue chose to join them. They evidently had found a place for themselves in the colony's slave-based plantation economy. At least one Chignecto Poirier ended up on the French island of Martinique.
Meanwhile, at war's end, a Poirier still living in one of the seaboard colonies consulted with three other related families on where they should resettle. The four family heads and their wives all were closely kin to one another: Olivier Landry's wife was Cécile Poirier, sister of Jean Poirier, whose wife, Marie-Madeleine Richard, through her Cormier mother, was a first cousin of Jean-Baptiste Cormier, whose wife Madeleine Richard was a sister of Jean-Baptiste Richard, married to Marie-Catherine Cormier. Moreover, Olivier Landry was a kinsman on his mother's side to Joseph De Goutin de Ville, native of Port-Royal, now a retired army officer and merchant living in New Orleans. Sometime in early 1763, perhaps after hearing from cousin Joseph de Ville about the qualities of the Gulf Coast region, Olivier Landry, Jean-Baptiste Cormier, Jean Poirier, Jean-Baptiste Richard, their wives, and children--21 exiles in all--left New York, where they likely had been held since the spring of 1756, and headed back to the southern seaboard colonies, to which they had been deported from Chignecto in the fall of 1755. In South Carolina late that August, colonial officials counted three of the families--the Cormiers, Poiriers, and Richards--at Charles Town, while the Landrys were counted at Port Royal down the coast, closer to Savannah than to Charles Town. Later that year, perhaps after securing more funds, the families moved on to Savannah, Georgia, from where, in late December 1763, they took the Savannah Packet to Mobile in eastern Lousiaina, which they likely thought was still a French possession. It was not. They arrived in the Gulf Coast citadel just as the caretaker governor of French Louisiana, Jean-Jacques-Blaise d'Abbadie, was transferring jurisdiction of eastern Louisiana to a British force from Cuba. Lingering at Mobile in late January, the exiles "rehabilitated" one of their marriages, that of Jean-Baptiste Poirier to Madeleine Richard, before moving on to New Orleans, which they reached in February 1764--the first documented Acadian exiles to settle in Louisiana.
Poiriers being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their many cousins in Canada or other parts of greater Acadia. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles, including Poiriers, chose to relocate to Île Miquelon. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including many Poiriers, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, at least five were descendants of Jean Poirier the fisherman.
Meanwhile, a Poirier family still in Maryland endured life among Englishmen who, despite their colony's Catholic roots, did not care much for the French "papists" thrust upon them. When word reached the Acadians in the Chesapeake colony that the Spanish would welcome them in Louisiana, most of the Maryland Acadians pooled their meager resources to charter ships that would take them to New Orleans. From June 1766 to January 1769, nearly 600 of them left Baltimore and Port Tobacco for Spanish Louisiana. The Poiriers, probably still living at Baltimore, were not among them.
Poiriers were among the first families of Acadia, and they were among the very first Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. A young husband with a wife and two infant sons arrived from Georgia via Mobile in February 1764 and, that April, settled with three other related families at Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans--among the first Acadian exiles to settle in Louisiana. Four more Poiriers, including a wife, her unmarried brother, and a female orphan and her infant half-brother, came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français in 1765. The single one followed the Broussards to Bayou Teche, and the married one, along with the female orphan, settled near their Poirier cousins at Cabahannocer on the river. Later in the year, however, the single cousin abandoned the Bayou Teche valley and joined his kinsmen at Cabahannocer. A decade later, he re-crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled on upper Bayou Teche. This western branch of the family, however, remained small compared to that of their cousins on the river. A Poirier cousin from Haiti came to Louisiana probably in 1809 with thousands of other refugees from that strife-torn island who had sought refuge in Spanish Cuba. He settled near his cousins in St. James Parish, formerly Cabahannocer, but created no new family line. Later in the antebellum period, Poiriers from St. James Parish moved upriver to Ascension and East Baton Rouge parishes, widening the family's substantial presence along the old Acadian Coast. Meanwhile, three brothers from St. James Parish joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche, but no family line seems to have remained there. By the War of 1861-65, only two centers of Poirier family settlement remained, on the river and out on the prairies.
French-Creole Poirés, Porées, and Porrés lived in New Orleans during the colonial period, but they never equaled in numbers the Acadian Poiriers of South Louisiana. A Poiret family from French Illinois settled in the Opelousas District during the late colonial period. During the late antebellum period, Poiriers lived in Natchitoches Parish and Poriers at Shreveport and in Bossier and Caddo parishes, but none were descendants of Jean the fisherman or his nephew from Acadia.
Judging by the number of slaves they owned during the late antebellum period, some Poiriers lived comfortably on their farms and plantations along the river. One of them, Michel Poirier, fils, held 21 slaves on his St. James Parish plantation in 1860. The federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860 reveal no slaves held by members of the family in the western parishes or along upper Bayou Lafourche.
Over a dozen Poiriers served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. All of them seem to have survived their Confederate service. ...
In Louisiana, the Acadian family's name also is spelled Pauriee, Poirez, Poirie, Poiriez, Poirrer, Poirrier, Porie, Porrie.30
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The first members of the family to come to the colony--a young father, his two sons, and his married sister, four Poiriers in all--were among the very first documented Acadian exiles to settle in Louisiana. A robust Poirier family line came of it on the river:
Jean-Baptiste, fils (1733-1785) à Michel à Jean Poirier
Jean's fourth son Michel married cousin Marie-Madeleine, called Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Landry and Anne Cormier, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in September 1798. Marie was a granddaughter of Olivier Landry, who, with Michel's father, was among the first Acadian exiles to venture to Louisiana. Michel and Marie's children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included a son, name unrecorded, in July 1799 but died 10 days after his birth; Michel, fils born in August 1800; Joseph-Valéry, called Valéry, in September 1802; Maximilien in August 1805 but died at age 18 in August 1823; Napoléon, also called Léon, born in February 1807; Benjamine, a son, in July 1809; Marie Adélaïde or Adèle, called Adélaïde, in January 1812; Marie Euphrosine or Euphrasie, called Euphrasie, in March 1814; Marie Eugénie in July 1816; Jean Baptiste in May 1820 but died in St. James Parish, age 21, in March 1842; and Marie Justine, called Justine, in September 1822--11 children, seven sons and four daughters, between 1799 and 1822. Michel died in St. James Parish in October 1827, age 54, and was buried in St. James church cemetery, where his raised tomb and its impressive stone have been preserved. Wife Marie did not remarry. She died at St. James in April 1836, age 57, and her restored tombstone lies next to Michel's. Daughters Adélaïde, Euphrasie, and Justine married into the Webre, Arceneaux, and Lubislavich dit Nicolle families. Four of Michel's sons also married. Most of them remained in St. James Parish, but one of them moved upriver to East Baton Rouge Parish.
Second son Michel, fils married, at age 49, first cousin Marie Joséphine, called Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Landry and his Creole wife Anastasie Poché, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in February 1850; they had to secure a dispensation for second and third degrees of consanguinity in order to marry. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Joséphine in December 1851; Marie Eugénie in May 1853; Marie Adèle in November 1856; Michel III in May 1859; and Justin in August 1861--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1851 and 1861. In August 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 14 slaves--eight males and six females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 2--on Michel Poirier's farm next to Benjamin Poirier in the parish's eastern district; this probably was Michel, fils. In July 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 21 slaves--14 males and seven females, 13 blacks and eight mulattoes, ages 64 years to 6 months, living in seven houses--on Michel Poirier's plantation in the parish's Right Bank District 6. None of his children married by 1870.
Michel, père's third son Joseph Valéry, called Valéry, married Marie Domitille, called Domitille, daughter of Benjamin Folcher or Folger and Archange Durand, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in February 1829. They moved upriver to the Baton Rouge area by the early 1850s. Their children, born on the river, included Michel le jeune in April 1831; Marie Ida in January 1832; Jean Baptiste Elphége in 1833 or 1834 and baptized at the Convent church, age 13 1/2 months, in June 1835; Joseph Benjamin, called Benjamin le jeune, born in March 1836; Marie Archange in July 1839 but, called Archange, died at age 5 (the recording priest said 6 1/2) in August 1844; Joseph Valéry, fils born in October 1840; Marie Adèlle in June 1842 but, called Adèle, died at age 2 (the recording priest said "age 4 or 5 years") in August 1844; Marie Octavie born in February 1844 but, called Octavie, died in September; Ignace born in February 1846 but, called Théophile Ignace, died "at his parents home," age 13 months, in March 1847; Joseph Oscar born in August 1847 but died near Baton Rouge, age 2, in October 1849; Joseph Ulysse born in St. James Parish in March 1849; and Joseph Camille near Baton Rouge in March 1851--a dozen children, eight sons and four daughters, between 1831 and 1851. In August 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted three slaves--two males and a female, all black, ages 40, 38, and 13--on Valéry Poirier's farm next to Napoléon Poirier in the parish's eastern district. In June 1860, the federal census taker in East Baton Rouge Parish counted 11 slaves--five males and six females, all blacks except for three mulattoes, ages 48 years to 8 months, living in two houses--on J. V. Poirrier's farm; this probably was Joseph Valéry. Daughter Marie Ida married into the Begary family by 1870. Three of Joseph Valéry's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Michel le jeune married Isabelle, daughter of Perico Sanchez and Marie Oncale, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in April 1854. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Maria Isabella Lorenza in January 1855 but, called Marie Isabella, died at age 3 in March 1858; Marie Paula born in February 1857; Jean Michel in December 1858 but died in January 1859; Perique Michel born in January 1860; Camille Charles in December 1864 but died at age 11 months in November 1865; Joseph Evariste born in October 1866; ... In June 1860, the federal census taker in East Baton Rouge Parish counted two slaves--a 40-year-old black female, and a 3-year-old mulatto male--in Michael Poirrier's household in the City of Baton Rouge. During the War of 1861-65, Michel le jeune served in Company B of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in East Baton Rouge Parish, which fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. Michel le jeune enlisted in the company in June 1861 at Camp Moore, Louisiana, age 30, and followed his unit to Virginia, where he was seriously wounded on Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg, Virginia, in May 1863 during the Chancellorsville campaign. After a short stay in an unrecorded Virginia hospital, he was sent home on a medical furlough. One record insists that he "died on his way to Louisiana," but the births of two of his sons prove that he survived his wound as well as the war and returned to his family. One wonders what was the nature of his wound.
Valéry's second son Jean Baptiste Elphége married Susan Lively probably at Baton Rouge by the mid-1850s. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included John Berry in December 1856; and Ellen Virginia in November 1858. During the War of 1861-65, Jean Baptiste Elphége may have been the J. B. Poirer who served in Company H of the Chalmette Regiment Volunteer State Troops Militia Infantry, which fought in Louisiana early in the war. If so, he was paroled at Meridian, Mississippi, in May 1865, so he must have served in a volunteer infantry unit as well. Perhaps he was the J. E. Porrier who served in Company A of the 9th Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in East Baton Rouge Parish, which fought in Louisiana during the middle of the war.
Valéry's third son Benjamin le jeune married Anatalie dite Natalie, another daughter of Perico Sanchez and Marie Oncale, at the Baton Rouge church in August 1857. Their children, born near Baton Rouge, included Louis Joseph Benjamin in July 1858; Andrew Robert in January 1860; Alexis Pliny in November 1861; Ernest Charles in December 1863; Eugène in June 1866; Marie Aida in May 1868; ...
Michel, père's fifth son Napoléon, also called Léon, married cousin Marie Eulalie Céleste or Célestine, called Céleste, daughter of André Green and his Acadian wife Madeleine Landry, at the Convent church in July 1836; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of relationship in order to marry. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Léonard in c1835 but died "between [ages] 9 and 10 at his parent's home" in St. James Parish in September 1844; André born near Convent in April 1837 but died at age 17 (the recording priest said 16) in August 1854; Anne Léontine born in December 1838; Marie Eulalie in November 1840; Michel Léonard near St. James in July 1842; Jules in June 1844; Marie Lénore in November 1845; Michel Alfred in July 1847; Marie Élisabeth in February 1849; Marie in September 1851; and Charles in January 1854--11 children, six sons and five daughters, between 1835 and 1854. In August 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted seven slaves--five males and two females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 45 to 8--on Napoléon Poirier's farm next to Valéry Poirier in the parish's eastern district. None of Napoléon's children seems to have married by 1870.
Michel, père's sixth son Benjamin married Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Rosémond Breaux and Émilie Bergeron, at the Convent church in May 1834. Their daughter Marie Ophilda or Olphida was born in St. James Parish in June 1835. Benjamin remarried to Élisabeth, daughter of fellow Acadians Donat Breaux and Madeleine Bourgeois, at the Convent church in September 1839; they had to secure a dispensation for ___ degree of relationship in order to marry. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Marianne Élise in July 1840; Marie Julia Eugénia in April 1842; Désiré Benjamin in September 1843; Marie Amelia Louise in August 1845; Michel Octave in April 1847; Marie Octavie in January 1849; Marie Euphémie in May 1851; Marianne Lise in July 1853; Joseph Eugène in October 1855; and Marie Élizabeth in June 1857--11 children, eight daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1835 and 1857. In August 1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted six slaves--four males and two females, all black, ranging in age from 36 years to 5 months--on Benjamin Poirier's farm between Michel Poirier and Eugénie Poirier in the parish's eastern district. In July 1860, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted eight slaves--five males and three females, all black except for one mulatto, ages 45 years to 11 months, living in three houses--on Benj. Poirier's farm next to Eugénie Poirier in the parish's Right Bank District 6. Daughter Marie Olphida, by his first wife, married a Breaux cousin by 1870. Neither of Benjamin's sons married by then.
During the War of 1861-65, Benjamin's oldest son Désiré Benjamin, by second wife Élisabeth Breaux, probably was the D. Porrier who served in Gaudet's Company of the St. James Parish Regiment Militia, so he may not have served far from home. Though in his early 20s when the war ended, he did not marry by 1870.
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Two more Poiriers--a young bachelor and an orphaned infant--came to Louisiana from Halifax via Cap-Français, French St.-Domingue, in February 1765. They followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche in April. Jean-Chrysostôme Poirier, also called a Potier, was only a year old when he died on the Teche in July 1765, one of the first victims of a mysterious epidemic that struck the Teche valley Acadians that summer and fall. The young bachelor survived the epidemic but did not remain on the Teche. He retreated to Cabahannocer on the river with other Teche-valley Acadians that fall and remained there. Another vigorous family line came of it:
Michel (c1738-1776) à ? à Jean Poirier
Michel Poirier, born probably at Chignecto in c1738, escaped the British roundup there in the fall of 1755, and followed his family into exile on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment in Nova Scotia. He reached Louisiana with the Broussards from Halifax via Cap-Français in February 1765. In late April, he appears on a list of new arrivals who intended to exchange their Canadian card money, drafts, and letters of exchange for French currency. He followed the Broussards to lower Bayou Teche in April but did not remain. After returning to the river that fall, probably to escape an epidemic, he married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Cormier, père and Marie-Madeleine Richard of Chignecto, at Cabahannocer in March 1766. Marie, also a native of Chignecto, came to Louisiana with her family in 1764, among the first of the Acadian exiles to reach the colony. In April 1766 and September 1769, Spanish authorities counted Michel, Marie, and their family on the left, or east, bank of the river at Cabahannocer. Their children, born there, included Pierre in c1766 but died near Convent, St. James Parish, age 55, in November 1822; Joseph born in c1769; Marguerite baptized at the Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in December 1771; Rosalie baptized, age unrecorded, in October 1773; and Michel, fils perhaps born posthumously and baptized, age unrecorded, in November 1777 but may have died near Convent, age 38 (the recording priest said "age 45") in March 1815--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1766 and 1777. Michel died at Cabahannocer in October 1776, age 38. Daughters Marguerite and Rosalie married into the Hébert, Dugas, and Arbour families. Only one of Michel's sons married, but his line was robust.
Second son Joseph married Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Bernard and Cécile Bergeron, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in May 1792. Their children, born there, included Joseph, fils in April 1793; Adélaïde in c1795 but died at age 2 in February 1798; Marie-Susanne born in February 1796; Benjamin in July 1797 but died at age 15 months in August 1798; Simon born in c1798; Célestin in March 1799; Valéry in April 1800; Adolphe, "recently born," died in August 1801; Michel-Evariste born in August 1802; Marie-Mélite, called Mélite, in September 1803; another Adolphe in April 1806; Edmond in June 1808 but died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 22 (the recording priest said 21), in March 1831; Eulesime born in August 1809 but, called Delphine, died in Ascension Parish, age 24 (the recording priest said 25), in June 1834; a daughter, name unrecorded, died seven days after her birth in December 1810; Onésime born in c1811 but died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 20, in March 1831; and Delphine born in April 1812--16 children, 10 sons and six daughters, between 1793 and 1812. Joseph, père died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1828. The Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial called him Joseph "of St. James Parish," noted erroneously that Joseph's father also was named Joseph but gave no mother's or a wife's name, and said that Joseph was age 49 when he died. He was 59. Daughter Mélite married into the Migott family. Five of Joseph's sons also married, but not all of the lines endured. Two remained on the river in St. James and Ascension parishes, and three settled with their father on the upper Lafourche, but no family line endured on the bayou.
Oldest son Joseph, fils married Renée or Reine, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Paul dite Hippolyte Arceneaux and his Creole wife Élisabeth Fontenot and widow of Bonaventure Gaudin, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in June 1816. Their children, born near Convent, included Marie Françoise dite Fany in July 1817; Carmélite in July 1819; Michel le jeune in August 1821; Paul Vasseur in June 1824 but, called Vasseur, died in Ascension Parish, age 37 (the recording priest said 30), in December 1861 (was his death war-related?); Olesim born in June 1826 but, called Onésime, died near Convent, age 18, in April 1845; Leions, also called Michel Lauzin and Lauzin, baptized at the Convent church, "age about 4 mos.," in September 1829; Joseph born in August 1830; Evariste in January 1833; and Léon or Léonce in the 1830s--nine children, two daughters and seven sons, between 1817 and the 1830s. Joseph, fils died near Convent in October 1847. The priest who recorded the burial, and who did no give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died at "age 50 years." He would have been 54. Daughters Carmélite and Fany married into the Dicharry and LeBoeuf families by 1870. Only two of Joseph, fils's remaining sons married by then.
Fourth son Michel Lauzin, called Lauzin, married cousin Apolline Célestine or Célestine Pauline, daughter of Jacques Dicharry and his Acadian wife Clémence Dugas, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in September 1844; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry. They settled on the river near the boundary between Ascension and St. James parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Émilie in April 1846; and Michel Émile in November 1848. Lauzin remarried to cousin Adeline or Marie Gracieuse, called Gracieuse, daughter of fellow Acadian Désiré Arceneaux and his Creole wife Gratieuse Dicharry, at the Donaldsonville church in September 1851. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Marie Louise Eugénie in September 1852 but, called M. Eugénie, died five days after her birth; Marie Virginie born in January 1856 but died in February; Marie Virginie, the second with the name, born in January 1857; Joseph Camille in December 1859; and Léo Désiré in May 1862--seven children, four daughters and three sons, by two wives, between 1846 and 1862. Lauzin died in Ascension Parish in July 1867. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that "Lauzain" died at "age 46 years." He was 38. None of his children married by 1870.
Joseph, fils's seventh and youngest son Léon married Marie Philomène, called Philomène, daughter of Jean Baptiste Scionneaux or Sioneaux and Marie Mathilde Arcenot, a Creole, not an Acadian, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in September 1856. Their children, born in St. James Parish, included Marie Léontine baptized, age unrecorded, in December 1857; Joseph Félix born in July 1859; Marie Amélie baptized, age unrecorded, in August 1861; Jean Baptiste born in June 1864; Albert in April 1867; ... During the War of 1861-65, Léon served in Company E of the St. James Parish Regiment Militia. As the births of his younger sons attest, he spent time at home, survived the war, and remained with his family.
Joseph, père's third son Simon married cousin Caroline, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Mire and Henriette Bernard, at the Convent church in December 1820. They settled on the river near Convent and in Ascension Parish before moving to upper Bayou Lafourche. Their children, born there, included Pierre Evariste near Convent in December 1821 but died in Ascension Parish at age 8 months in August 1822; Marie Abdelline or Adeline, called Adeline, born in August 1824; a son, name unrecorded, died in Lafourche Interior Parish at age 4 months in April 1826; Marie Eulalie born in August 1827; Éloi in 1830 but died in Lafourche Interior Parish at age 11 months in August 1831; Adam born in June 1833 but died in Ascension Parish, age 12, in January 1846; and Frasile Élodie born in March 1836 but, called Élodie, died at age 7 1/2 in September 1843--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1821 and 1836. Simon died in Ascension Parish in October 1837, age 39. Daughter Adeline married into the Babin family by 1870. None of Simon's sons survived childhood, so, except perhaps for its blood, this line of the family did not endure.
Joseph, père's fourth son Célestin married Clémence Véronique, called Véronique, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Guillot and Isabelle Pitre, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1823 and remained on the Lafourche. Their daughter Marguerite Célestine was born there in January 1824. Célestin died in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1825, age 26 (the recording priest said 25). Daughter Marguerite Célestine married into the Le Ril family. Célestin and his wife evidently had no sons, so, except perhaps for its blood, this line of the family died with him.
Joseph, père's fifth son Valéry married Caroline, also called Petronille, minor daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Chiasson and Anne LeBlanc, at the Convent church in February 1819. Their children, born near Convent, included Marcellin in April 1820 but died at age 13 in June 1833; Joseph born in January 1823 but died at age 4 in March 1827; Célestine born in October 1825 but died at age 1 in September 1826; Achille born in May 1828 but died at age 24 in September 1852; Adélaïde Clémentine born in June 1830; Marie Elmire in October 1833; and Jean Baptiste Osémé, called Osémé, in June 1835. Valéry remarried to fellow Acadian Eugénie Gravois probably in the late 1830s. Their children, born in Ascension Parish, included Désiré in December 1841 but died at age 11 1/2 (the recording priest said 12) in October 1853; and Aristide born in September 1843--nine children, six sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1820 and 1843. Valéry remarried again--his third marriage--to Charlotte, daughter of Louis Grégoire and Geneviève Philipeau and widow of Élie Pannevel, at the Donaldsonville church in April 1846. She evidently gave him no more children. Valéry died in Ascension Parish in October 1849. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said that Valéry died at "age 52 years." He was 49. None of Valéry's remaining daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons may have.
During the War of 1861-65, Valéry's fourth son Osémé, by first wife Caroline Chiasson, served in Company E of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. James Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. One wonders if he survived the war and returned to his family. He did not marry by 1870.
During the war, Valéry's sixth and youngest son Aristide, by second wife Eugénie Gravois, served in Company E of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He survived the war, returned to his family, and may have married Dilia Seutoon soon after the war. Daughter Cécilia was near Gonzales, Ascension Parish, in November 1867; ...
Joseph, père's eighth son, a second Adolphe, married Marie Rosalie, called Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Bourgeois and Esther Gautreaux, at the Donaldsonville church in December 1834. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Ascension and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Michel Adolphe in July 1836; Pierre Victorin in April 1839; Délaïde, also Adélaïde, Olivia in November 1841; Joseph Derado in February 1845; Marie Uranie in October 1847; twins Joseph Camille and Marie Camilla in August 1850, but Joseph Camille died only a month after his birth; a child, name and age unrecorded, died in August 1852; Marie Rose born in August 1854; and Armand Pierre in March 1858--10 children, at least five sons and four daughters, including a set of twins, between 1836 and 1858. Adolphe died in Ascension Parish in April 1867. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial said Adolphe died at "age 66 years" He was 61. Daughter Adélaïde Olivia married into the Louvière family by 1870. One of Adolphe's sons also married by then and remained in Ascension Parish.
Oldest son Michel Adolphe married Amélina Jeanne or Jane Dearman probably in Ascension Parish in the late 1850s. Their children, born near Gonzales, included Rosalie Mathilda in May 1861; William McDonald in April 1866; Joseph Edward in March 1868; ... During the war, Adolphe M., as he was called in Confederate records, served in Company E of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. As the birth dates of his sons reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family.
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Three more Poiriers--a young husband and a teenage orphan traveling with her infant half-brother--came to the colony later in 1765 from Halifax via Cap-Français. They, too, settled at Cabahannocer on the river. Another Poirier family line came of it, not on the river but on upper Bayou Teche.
Joseph (c1740-1811) à Pierre à Michel à Jean Poirier
Joseph, oldest son of Michel Poirier and Marie-Madeleine LeBlanc, born probably at Chignecto in c1740, escaped the British roundup there in the fall of 1755 and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. He may have been counted with his family at Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs in October 1760. He married fellow Acadian Marie-Anne, called Anne, Bourgeois, place and date unrecorded, but it may have been at Restigouche. In the early 1760s, they either surrendered to, or were captured by, British forces in the area and held in a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. They came to Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue in 1765 without children and settled near his cousins at Cabahannocer. Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river there in January 1777. Two years later, they owned a slave. Their children, born at Cabahannocer, included Marie-Madeleine baptized at the Cabahannocer church, age unrecorded, in May 1772; Marie-Henriette baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1774 but died at age 2 in September 1776; Jean baptized, age unrecorded, in June 1776; Anne baptized, age unrecorded, in September 1780; and Anastasie born in November 1785--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1772 and 1785. Joseph died near Convent, St. James Parish, in January 1811. The priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 68 when he died. He was closer to 71. Daughters Marguerite and Anastasie married into the Gaudet and Part families. Joseph's son does not seem to have survived childhood, so, except perhaps for its blood, this family line may have died with Joseph.
Pierre (c1764-?) à Michel, fils, à Michel à Jean Poirier
Only son Julien married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians François Theriot and Geneviève Dupuis of L'Ance, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in June 1819. They settled at Grande Pointe. Their children, born there, included Marguerite, also called Elmire, in March 1820; Marie Belzire in March 1822; Pierre Julien in March 1825; Charles Désiré in June 1828; François Rosiclair, called Rosiclair, in November 1830 but died at age 32 (the recording priest said 30) in February 1863 (was his death war-related?); Célestine Anays or Anaïs born in October 1833; Jules Julien in December 1836; Azélie or Aurelia in the late 1840s or early 1840s; and Joseph in September 1843--nine children, four daughters and five sons, between 1820 and 1843. Julien, père died in St. Martin Parish in August 1847, age 53 (the recording priest said 55). Daughters Marguerite Elmire, Marie Belzire, Célestine Anaïs, and Azélie/Aurelia married into the Blanchard, Leleux, Bourque, Viator, Delahoussaye, and Theriot families by 1870. Two of Julien's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Charles Désiré married fellow Acadian Azéna Broussard probably in St. Martin Parish by the early 1850s. Daughter Joséphine was born in St. Martin Parish in April 1853. Charles died in St. Martin Parish in April 1854, age 25 (the recording priest said 26). His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse a day after his death. Widow Azéna remarried to a Foreign-French Clément in Lafayette Parish in October 1859. Her and Charles Désiré's daughter did not marry by 1870.
Julien's fourth son Jules Julien married cousin Marie Amélie, called Amélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Émile Melançon and Victoire Theriot, at the St. Martinville church in April 1861. Their children, born on the Teche, included Anatole in February 1862; Alfred died at age 1 month in March 1863; Marie Félicie born in November 1864; Léopold near New Iberia, Iberia Parish, in September 1869; ...
During the War of 1861-65, Julien's fifth and youngest son Joseph served probably as a conscript in Company A of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. James and St. Martin parishes, which fought in Louisiana. He was reported sick in early 1864. Did he survive the war and return to his family? If he did, he did not marry by 1870.
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The last Acadian Poirier to come to the colony--Jean-Baptiste, born at Môle St.-Nicolas, French St.-Domingue, in c1769, now a middle-aged widower--reached New Orleans probably in 1809 with other Haitian refugees from Havana, Cuba, and joined his cousins in St. James Parish, where he promptly died. No new family line came of it. One wonders which of the many Jean-Baptiste Poiriers in Haiti he might have been.
Jean Pothier, born in France in c1672, came to Acadia in the 1690s and married Anne, daughter of Michel Poirier and Marie Boudrot, probably at Port-Royal in c1699. They settled at Chignecto. Anne gave Jean three children there, two sons and a daughter. Their daughter married into the Deveau dit Dauphiné family. Their sons married into the Doucet and Hébert families. Jean remarried to Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Guyon Chiasson and Marie-Madeleine Martin, probably at Chignecto in c1709. Marie-Madeleine gave Jean seven more children, three sons and four daughters, all of whom created families of their own. Their daughters married into the Chênet dit La Garenne, Renaud dit Arnaud, Oudy, and Lamoureux dit Rochefort families. Their sons married into the Nuirat, Boudrot, and Caissie dit Roger families. Jean died in 1724 or 1725, in his early 50s, place unrecorded, perhaps on Île St.-Jean, where a son was baptized in July 1725, 5 1/2 months after his posthumous birth. Marie-Madeleine promptly remarried to a LaForest on Île St.-Jean and was counted at Havre-à-l'Anguille on the island's east coast in 1734, a widow again. In 1755, Jean's descendants could be found at Chignecto, in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, on Île St.-Jean, and perhaps at Minas. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure a disruption of their lives. In the spring and summer of 1750, in response to the British building a fort at Beaubassin village, Canadian militia, assisted by Abbé Le Loutre and his Mi'kmaq warriors, burned Acadian homesteads east of Rivière Missaguash, forcing the habitants there to move to the French-controlled area west of the river. Pothiers may have been among the refugees affected by this petit dérangement. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto-area Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Pothiers may have been among the local Acadians who were serving in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the Canadians and the French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. Amazingly, considering how many of them there were at Chignecto and in the nearby trois-rivières settlements, no Pothiers were deported to South Carolina or Georgia. They escaped, instead, to the settlements on the upper Petitcoudiac or lower Rivière St.-Jean, from which they ventured up to Canada or to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore.
A young Poitier whose connection to Jean Pothier of Chignecto has not been determined evidently was living at Minas in 1755. That fall, the British deported 22-year-old Pierre Poitier, as he spelled his name, and hundreds of other Minas Acadians to Virginia, where they suffered the indignity of being turned away by the colony's authorities. After their arrival in November and December, the exiles languished in the lower James River aboard disease-infested ships until, with winter approaching, Virginia's Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered them dispersed to Hampton, Norfolk, and Richmond, while he and the colony's political leaders pondered their fate. The following spring, the Virginians sent the Acadians on to England, where they were packed into warehouses in several English ports and where many died of smallpox. Pierre married fellow Acadian Marie Comeau in one of the English ports in c1757. She gave him three children, two sons and a daughter, there.
Living in territory controlled by France, the many Pothiers still on Île St.-Jean escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia in 1755 and 1756, but their respite from British oppression was short-lived. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on the island. A few Pothiers escaped the British, crossed Mer Rouge, and sought refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, but most were deported to France. The crossing proved fatal for most members of the family. Three families, two brothers and a sister, were packed aboard the deportation transport Violet, which left Chédabouctou Bay in late November as part of a 12-ship convoy, bound for St.-Malo. In mid-December, off the southwest coast of England, a storm struck the convoy, and three of the transports, including the Violet, were lost. No one--not even the vessel's captain and crew--survived the ship's sinking. Miraculously, a teenage daughter of one of the family heads that perished aboard the Violet escaped the fate of her loved ones by crossing on a different vessel. Charlotte Pothier somehow became separated from her family and was placed aboard one of the five tranpors that left Chédabouctou Bay in the 12-ship convoy, survived the mid-December storm, and reached St.-Malo together in late January 1759. She settled probably in the St.-Malo suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer. In January 1770, at St.-Servan, now in her late 20s, she married into the Patry family. Pierre Pothier, fils, a first cousin of the teenaged survivor, landed not at St.-Malo but at Le Havre in Normandy; he was age 18. He worked as a sailor in the Norman port and married an Acadian Bernard there in April 1764. Between 1764 and 1773, in Notre-Dame Parish, Le Havre, she gave him at least three children, a son and two daughters. Another first cousin, Marie-Henriette Pothier, who was married to a Rassicot, landed at Cherbourg, Normandy, across the Baie de Seine from Le Havre. She and her husband did not remain there. In June 1771, they and their five children, all born at Cherbourg, arrived at St.-Malo aboard La Jeanne-Marguerite and settled at Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo. The husband died at Ville de Port St.-Hubert near Plouër soon after their arrival, age 40. In September, the young widow took her family back to Cherbourg aboard the schooner Fortune. Another member of the family landed at Cherbourg, but her fate was much different. She died in Très-Ste.-Trinité Parish, Cherbourg in December 1759, age 23, less than a year after her arrival.
In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England, including Poitiers, were repatriated to France. In May, Pierre Poitier, his wife, and three children crossed to St.-Malo aboard La Dorothée and settled at Plouër-sur-Rance. They did not follow many of their fellow exiles from England to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany in late 1765. Pierre's wife gave him three more sons at Plouër. She died at Hotel-Dieu, St.-Malo, in January 1770, age 33, and Pierre, at age 38, remarried to a Savary from Minas at Pleudihen-sur-Rance across the river from Plouër in May 1771, but they returned to Plouër. She gave him three more children there--nine children, seven sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1758 and 1778, in England and France. As the birth of their younger sons reveal, Pierre and his family were not among the hundreds of other Acadian exiles in France who ventured to the interior of Poitou in 1773.
That year, perhaps a majority of the Acadians still in France chose to take part in
the Poitou venture.
French authorities were tired of providing for the
exiles languishing in the port cities. An
influential nobleman offered to settle them on land he owned
near the city of Châtellerault, and French authorities endorsed the scheme.
Pierre Poitier and his family remained
at Plouër, but the Pothier cousins
there and at
St.-Servan-sur-Mer and Le Havre followed hundreds of
their fellow exiles to Poitou in 1773 and 1774. Pierre Pothier,
fils's wife gave him another son there.
I
All of the Acadian Pothier/Poitiers who emigrated to Louisiana--10 of them--came from France on three of the Seven Ships of 1785. The first of them--a widow and two young Poitier sons--crossed on La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-August. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where a small family line came of it, but the line does not seem to have endured beyond the third generation:
Baptiste-Olivier (1772-1830) à ? à Jean Potier?
Baptiste-Olivier, called Olivier, sixth son of Pierre Poitier from his second wife Anne-Marie-Madeleine Savary, born at Plouër-sur-Rance on the west side of the river south of St.-Malo, France, in February 1772, followed his widowed mother to Nantes, on the other side of Brittany, in the early 1780s, crossed with her and a younger brother to Spanish Louisiana in 1785, and followed them to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Aucoin and Élisabeth Hébert, in April 1798. Élisabeth, a native of St.-Énogat, now Dinard, across the harbor from St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France in 1785 aboard a later vessel. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph-Baptiste, called Joseph, in January 1799; Hortense-Cléonise in May 1800 but died at age 33 in May 1833; Rosaline born in May 1801; Cléonise in May 1802; Ulyssa in November 1803; Clémentine Madeleine, also called Antoinette, in June 1805; Hippolyte in April 1807 but died at age 9 1/2 in September 1816; Marie Doralise born in December 1808 but died at age 1 1/2 in November 1810; Basilides, a daughter, born in May 1810; and Marie in December 1812 but died at age 30 (the recording priest said 31) in October 1843--10 children, two sons and eight daughters, between 1799 and 1812. Olivier died in Assumption Parish in August 1830, age 58 (the recording priest said 9, perhaps meaning 59). Daughter Cléonise married into the Barrilleaux family. Daughter Clémentine Madeleine, Sister of the Sacred Heart, a choir teacher, called Antoinette by the recording priest, died at Convent, St. James Parish, on the river, in September 1836, age 31. Like sister Cléonise, Olivier's remaining son also married.
Older son Joseph-Baptiste, called Joseph, married cousin Élisabeth Tabithe, daughter of fellow Acadians François Aucoin and Rosalie Landry, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1820. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Joseph Pierre in August 1821; and Élisabeth Irène in March 1823 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1824. Joseph Baptiste remarried to Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Isaac Hébert and Marie Daigle, at the Plattenville church in May 1825. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Marie Colette in March 1826; Antoinette Virginie in January 1828; Arsène Adrien in April 1830; Basilisse Mélanie in June 1832; and Clairville Guillaume in January 1835 but, called Clairville, died at age 22 in June 1857--seven children, three sons and four daughters, by two wives, between 1821 and 1835. Joseph, père died in Assumption Parish in July 1836, age 37. Daughter Marie, by his second wife, married into the Monté family by 1870. Neither of Joseph Baptiste's remaining sons married by then, so the family line, except perhaps for its blood, may not have endured.
Jacques-Sylvain (c1778-?) à ? à Jean Potier?
Jacques-Sylvain, called Sylvain, seventh and youngest son of Pierre Poitier from his second wife Anne-Marie-Madeleine Savary, born near St.-Malo, France, in c1778, followed his widowed mother to Nantes in the early 1780s, crossed with her and an older brother to Spanish Louisiana, and followed them to upper Bayou Lafourche. Spanish officials counted his family on the upper bayou in January 1788 and January 1791. Sylvain was with them in 1788 but not in 1791 or in any subsequent census in the upper Lafourche valley, so he probably died young.
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Seven more members of the family--a wife with her family; and her first cousin, his second wife, and his five children--crossed on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the third week of August 1785. They did not follow their fellow passenges to Manchac below Baton Rouge or join their cousins on upper Bayou Lafourche. They went, instead, to the Attakapas District, where many of their spouses' kin had settled. A robust family line came of it on the western prairies:
Pierre, fils (c1740-1786) à Jean Potier
Pierre, fils, second son of Pierre Pothier and Marie Doucet, born at Tintamarre, Chignecto, in c1740, followed his family to Île St.-Jean after 1755, when he was in his mid-teens. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the British deported him, if not his family, to France later in the year. He evidently landed at Le Havre in Normandy, where he worked as a sailor and married Anne-Marie, 20-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Bernard and Marguerite Hébert, in April 1764. Anne-Marie gave Pierre, fils at least three children at Le Havre: Charles-Victor born in October 1768; Marie-Constance in c1771; and Anne-Apolline, also called Apolline-Luce, in c1773. Pierre, fils took his family to the interior of Poitou in 1773. Anne-Marie gave him another son, Pierre-Laurent, born in St.-Hilary Parish, Cenan, Poitou, in August 1774. In November 1775, after two years of effort, Pierre, fils, Anne-Marie, and their four children retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the lower Loire port of Nantes. They settled at nearby Chantenay, where wife Ann-Marie died in the late 1770s or early 1780s. At age 43, Pierre, fils remarried to Agnès, 30-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Broussard and Ursule LeBlanc and widow of Dominique Giroir, at St.-Martin de Chantenay church in November 1783. Agnès, a native of Ste.-Famille, Pigiguit, also had followed her family to Île St.-Jean, landed at Cherbourg in Normandy in 1758, went to Poitou, and married her first husband there. She gave Pierre, fils another son, François-Constant, born at Chantenay in August 1784. Pierre, fils, Agnès, and his five children, three sons and two daughters, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785 and chose to settle near Agnès's kin at Attakapas, where she gave Pierre, fils another son, Sylvain, born in June 1786--six children, four sons and two daughters, by two wives, between 1768 and 1786, in France and Louisiana. Pierre, fils died at Attakapas in October 1786, in his early 40s, not long after they settled there and soon after his youngest child was born. His succession was filed at Attakapas the day after his death. Daughters Marie-Constance and Apolline-Luce, by his first wife, married into the Léger and Savoie families on the prairies. Three of Pierre, fils's sons also married there, but one of the lines died out early. Most of the Acadian Potiers of South Louisiana are descended from the two sons whose lines endured.
Oldest son Charles-Victor, by first wife Anne-Marie Bernard, followed his family to Poitou, Chantenay, New Orleans, and Attakapas, where he married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Louis-Armand Ducrest and Anne-Catherine Wiltz of Pointe Coupée, in March 1793. They settled at L'Anse and then at La Pointe on upper Bayou Teche near present-day Breaux Bridge. Their children, born on the upper Teche, included Julie-Euphrosine or -Euphrasie in 1794 and baptized at the Attakapas church, age 7 months, 24 days, in April 1795; Lucie born in October 1795; Louis-Alexandre, called Alexandre, in April 1797; Madeleine in January 1799; Charles-Armand, also called Charles, fils, in August 1801; a daughter, name unrecorded, in c1802 but died at age 7 at her parents' home in September 1809; Bonne, a daughter, born in June 1803 but not baptized until September 1809, and then at home; Clémence, also called Sylvanie, born in March 1805; Henriette in October 1807; and Louise dite Louison in May 1810--10 children, eight daughters and two sons, between 1794 and 1810. Charles died "in the morning at this home at la pointe" in August 1827. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Charles died "at age about 60 years." He was 58. Daughters Julie Euphrasie, Lucie, Madeleine, Clémence/Sylvanie, Henriette, and Louise married into the Guidry, Thibodeaux, and Guilbeau families, four of them to Guidrys. Both of Charles Victor's sons also married, but only one of the lines endured.
Older son Louis Alexandre, called Alexandre, married Claire, daughter of Alexandre Barras and his Acadian wife Madeleine Guilbeau of Bayou Teche, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in October 1821. They settled at La Pointe. Their children, born there, included Madeleine in July 1822 but died at age 9 1/2 in October 1831; Louis, fils born in June 1824 but died at age 29 (the recording priest said 27) in October 1853 (his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in August 1854); and Clara born in November 1826--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1822 and 1826. Louis Alexandre's first succession, naming his wife and remaining children, Louis and Clara, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in February 1842. He would have been age 45 that year; the succession was not post-mortem. In November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 12 slaves--eight males and four females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 60 to 2--on Alexr. Potier's farm near Charles Potier. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 12 slaves again--seven males and five females, seven blacks and five mulattoes, ages 42 years to 10 months, living in three houses--on Alexandier Potier's farm near Widow Charles Potier. Louis Alexandre's second succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in November 1867. He would have been age 70 that year, so this probably was a post-mortem record. Daughter Clara married into the Thibodeaux family, so the blood of the family line may have endured.
Charles Victor's younger son Charles Armand, also called Charles, fils, married Marie Madeleine Marcellite, called Marie Marcellite and Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadian Anaclet Broussard and his Creole wife Madeleine Wiltz, at the St. Martinville church in June 1826. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Céleste in August 1827; Charles III, also called Victor Charles, in August 1829; Joseph dit Jo in July 1831; Élise in July 1833; a son, name unrecorded, died a day after his birth in March 1835; Sylvain le jeune born in December 1836 but died at age 5 1/2 in October 1842; Félicie born in May 1839 but, called Hélène, may have died at age 8 1/2 in October 1847; twins Félicia and Félix born in March 1841, but Félicia died at age 5 1/2 in July 1846; Modeste born in February 1844; Louison, a daughter, in February 1847; and Jacques in April 1849--a dozen children, six daughters and six sons, including a set of twins, between 1827 and 1849. Charles's succession, not post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in March 1839. He would have been age 38 that year. In November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 10 slaves--five males and five females, all black, ranging in age from 38 to 3--on Charles Potier's farm near Alexr. Potier. Charles died in St. Martin Parish in May 1853. The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Charles died "at age 55 yrs." He was 51. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted five slaves--three males and two females, all black, ages 7 years to 4 months, living in two houses--on Widow Charles Potier's farm near Alexandier Potier, and 12 more slaves--six males and six females, all black, ages 44 to 8--on Widow Chs. Potier's farm in another part of the parish; these also were Marcellite Broussard's slaves. Daughters Céleste, Élise, Modeste, and Louison married into the Bulliard, Bienvenu, Voorhies, and Broussard families by 1870. Three of Charles, fils's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Charles III married, at age 26, Marie Athenaise, called Athenaise, 22-year-old daughter of Hippolyte Bérard and Clémence or Clémentine Barras, at the St. Martinville church in January 1856. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Clémence in January 1859; Benjamin in January 1862; Hippolyte in January 1864; Cécile in April 1867; Philomène Corine in October 1869; ... Despite his age (he turned 32 in 1861), during the War of 1861-65, Charles served in King's Battery Louisiana Artillery, originally a part of the Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Louisiana. Charles enlisted in July 1862, a month shy of age 33. His Confederate record then falls silent. As the birth of his younger daughters reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family, perhaps before the war had ended.
Charles, fils's second son Joseph married cousin Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadian Sylvain Broussard and his Creole wife Élisa Wiltz, at the St. Martinville church in April 1856. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Cécilia in May 1857 but died at age 1 1/2 in July 1858; Élisa born in September 1859 but died the following January; Joseph Adam born in November 1860; Louis in March 1867; Léonie in November 1870; ... During the war, Joseph may have been the J. Poteir who also served in King's Battery Louisiana Artillery. As the birth dates of his younger children reveal, he also survived the war and returned to this family.
During the war, Charles, fils's fifth son Félix served in Company D of the Orleans Guard Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought at Shiloh, Tennessee. The battalion was disbanded in June 1862, only a couple of months after the carnage at Shiloh. Confederate records reveal no subsequent service on Felix's part, but there is a good chance that he served the rest of the war in the 30th Regiment/Battalion Louisiana Infantry. If so, he survived the war and returned to his family. Félix married to Marie Osite, called Osite, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Theriot, fils and Arsène Babineaux, at the St. Martinville church in August 1865. Their children, born in St. Martin Parish, included Joseph Willy in November 1866; Marie Arsène in December 1869; ...
Pierre's second son Pierre-Laurent, by first wife Anne-Marie Bernard, followed his family to Chantenay, New Orleans, and Attakapas, where he married Marie-Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean dit Chapeau Mouton and his Creole wife Marie-Marthe Borda, in July 1800. Their children, born in what became Lafayette Parish, included Formose Marie Juliènne baptized by an Opelousas priest, age 4 months, in December 1806 but died at age 2 1/2 in May 1809; Adélaïde born in January 1809; Pierre, fils in September 1811; and Louis, also called Octave, in December 1815--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1806 and 1815. Pierre Laurent, called Pierre "of Nantes, France" (he actually was born in Poitou), died in Lafayette Parish in June 1836. The Vermilionvlle priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre was age 64 when he died. He was 61. His succession, naming his wife and living heirs--Adélaïde and her husband, Pierre, fils, and Louis--was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following September. Daughter Adélaïde married into the Martin family. Both of Pierre's sons also married.
Older son Pierre, fils married Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadian Victorin Guidry and his Creole wife Azélie Calais, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1833. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Eulalie baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1 1/2 months, in July 1834; Sylvain le jeune baptized at age 8 months in August 1836; Adélaïde Marie born in May 1837; Antoine Émile in April 1839 but, called Émile, died at age 1 1/2 (the recording priest, who called the boy's father Jean, said 2) in September 1840; Marie Azélie born in September 1842 but died at age 11 months in September 1843; Joseph Victorin born in November 1844; and Marie Formosa in c1847--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1834 and 1847. Wife Victorine evidently died by September 1850, when she did not appear in the federal census for the western district of Lafayette Parish with her family. Daughters Eulalie, Adélaïde, and Marie Formosa married into the Castille and Guidry families, two of them, Eulalie and Louison, to Castille brothers, by 1870. One of Pierre, fils's sons also married by then, after finishing his Confederate service.
During the war, oldest son Sylvain le jeune served probably as a conscript in the Consolidated Crescent Regiment Louisiana Infantry, which fought in Louisiana. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married cousin Marie Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Edmond Guidry and Josette Sonnier and widow of Ursin LeBlanc, fils, at the Vermilionville church in July 1865. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Pierre in June 1866 but died 3 weeks after his birth; twins Adam and Eve born in October 1867; Jean Berchmans in February 1869; Victorine in August 1870; ...
During the war, Pierre, fils's third and youngest son Joseph Victorin probably was the Joseph Pothier who served in Company F of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. When the 18th Regiment became a part of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry in November 1863, Joseph served in Company I of that regiment, which fought in Louisiana. He survived the war and returned to his family, but he did not marry by 1870.
Pierre Laurent's younger son Louis, also called Octave, married Virginie, another daughter of Victorin Guidry and Azélie Calais, at the Grand Coteau church in January 1835. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Louis Ernest, called Ernest, in November 1835; Marie Constance, called Constance, in July 1837; Clara in the 1830s; Félicie in December 1840 but, called Féliciane, died at age 2 1/2 (the recording priest said 4) in July 1843; Joseph Delamara born in January 1842; Marie Philomène, called Philomène, in August 1843; Joseph Demetrius, called Demetrius, in August 1846; a son, name and age unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish in January 1848; and Marie Angelina born in August 1849 but, called Angelina, died at age 14 1/2 (the recording priest said 13) in December 1863--nine children, four sons and five daughters, between 1835 and 1849. In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted eight slaves--four males and four females, all black, ranging in age from 45 to 3--on Louis Potier's farm in the parish's western district. Louis died in Lafayette Parish in November 1850. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said Louis died "at age 30 yrs." He was 34. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in August 1854. Daughters Clara, Constance, and Philomène married into the Guilbeau, Guidry, Smith, and Andrus families, one of them, Constance, twice, by 1870. Two of Louis's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Ernest married double cousin Aurelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Treville Guidry and Elmire Guidry, at the Grand Coteau church in April 1858. During the war, Ernest served as a corporal and then a sergeant in Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Ernest survived the war and returned to his family. Did he and his wife have any children? He died near Grand Coteau in March 1888, in his early 50s, and was buried in St. Charles Catholic Cemetery, Grand Coteau.
During the war, Louis's second son Joseph Delamara may have been the Dimebras Potier who served in Company A of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He also survived the war and returned to his family but did not marry by 1870.
During the war, Louis's third son Demetrius, despite his age (he was only 16 in 1862), also served in Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, as a private. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Marie Anne or Mary Anne, daughter of Charles Miller and Mathilde Burleigh, at the Grand Coteau church in May 1866. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Alcé in July 1867; Louis le jeune in April 1869; Marie Alice in April 1870; ...
Pierre's third son François Constant, by second wife Agnès Broussard, followed his family to New Orleans and Attakapas. He married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Joseph Castille and his Acadian wife Rose Osite Landry and widow of Joseph Richard, at the St. Martinville church in June 1807. François died in Assumption Parish on upper Bayou Lafourche in October 1832. The Plattenville priest who recorded the burial called him "François of Attakapas" and said he died at "age ca. 50 yrs." He was 47. His succession, naming his widow and 19 heirs, mostly siblings, nieces, and nephews, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following month. Evidently he and his wife were that rare Acadian couple who had no children, so his line of the family died with him. What was he doing in Assumption when he died there? Visiting relatives? Doing business?
Pierre's fourth and youngest son Sylvain, by second wife Agnès Broussard, unlike his older siblings, was born in Louisiana. His parents' ship reached New Orleans from Paimboeuf, the lower port of Nantes, on 19 August 1785. If Sylvain was a full-term baby when he was born on 3 June 1786, he would have been conceived at New Orleans or Attakapas a few weeks after his family stepped off the ship. Sylvain died in Lafayette Parish in November 1836. The priest who recorded the burial called him Silvain "of Nantes, France," and said he died at age 53. He was 49. The recording priest did not mention a wife or children, so Sylvain evidently did not marry.
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The last Pothier to come to the colony--a widow and three of her Rassicot children from her first husband--crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November 1785. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, but no new family line came of it.
Jean Préjean dit Le Breton, born in Brittany, France, in c1651, came to Acadia soon after the first census of 1671. In c1683, in his early 30s, he married Andrée, daughter of François Savoie and Catherine Lejeune, at Port-Royal. In July 1700, Jean and Andrée purchased land there from Jacques Levron, most likely to enhance their holdings. Andrée gave Jean a dozen children at Port-Royal, eight sons and four daughters, all of whom married. Jean died at Annapolis Royal, formerly Port-Royal, in June 1733, in his early 80s. His daughters married into the Thibodeau, Pitre dit Nordest, Boudrot, Doucet, and Mius d'Azy families. His eight sons married into the Doucet, Gaudet, Vrignaud, Comeau, Broussard, and Brun families. Jean and Andrée's descendants settled not only at Annapolis Royal, but also at Chepoudy in the trois-rivières area west of Chignecto, and at Port-Toulouse on Île Royale. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
By the early 1750s, the trois-rivières area long had been the heart of Acadian resistance to British control of Nova Scotia. Here also lived several bands of the Mi'kmaq nation who did the bidding of Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre, the radical French priest who had become the leader of the resistance. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, Chignecto-area Acadians, including members of this family, were caught in the middle of it. When British and New-English forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Préjeans may have been among the area Acadians serving in the fort as militia. If so, they, too, along with Canadian militia and the French troupes de la marine, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto-area Acadians to the southernmost seaboard colonies. The British sent no Préjean from Chepoudy to Georgia, South Carolina, or Pennsylvania, where they deported Acadians in the area that fall, so most, if not all, of the members of the family escaped the British roundup in the trois-rivières. The Préjeans at Chepoudy--mostly sons of Le Breton's fourth son Joseph--took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and, later, at Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs.
Many of the Préjeans still at Annapolis Royal were not as lucky as their cousins up the bay. Members of several families, including Jean dit Le Breton's oldest son Pierre l'aîné, then in his mid-60s, some of brother Jean-Baptiste's children, and one of his brother Joseph's sons, ended up on a transport, perhaps the Helena, bound for Massachusetts. Colonial officials counted Pierre l'aîné, called Peter, age 78 and "infirm," a daughter and a son, at Bradford in July 1760, while a nephew and niece were being held at Lyn. One of the Annapolis Royal families that did escape the roundup evidently spent a hard winter on the Fundy shore, crossed the bay to Chepoudy the following spring, and sought refuge in Canada probably via the Rivière St.-Jean portage.
Two of Jean dit Le Breton's younger sons, Nicolas and Honoré, still living in territory controlled by France, remained unmolested at Port-Toulouse during the roundups in Nova Scotia. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants in the French Maritimes and deported them to France. The crossing to St.-Malo devastated the family. Both brothers and their families crossed on the deportation transport Queen of Spain, which left Île Royale in September and reached the Breton port in mid-November. Of the 108 passengers aboard the small tranport, 58, or over half, died in the crossing or from its rigors, including most members of the two Préjean families. Nicolas crossed with his second wife Anne, a married daughter from his first wife and her husband, three other children by his first wife, two children from his second wife, and two of Anne's younger brothers. Anne, her younger son, and Louis and Jeanne by Nicolas's first wife, died at sea. A son by his first wife died in a local hospital soon after they reached the Breton port. Things fared even worse for brother Honoré and his family. He, his wife, and nine of their children also crossed on Queen of Spain. Honoré, Marie, and all nine of their children died at sea!
Nicolas and his remaining children, including his married daughter and her husband, and his youngest son, settled in the St.-Malo suburb of St.-Servan-sur-Mer. The daughter, still childless, died in a local hospital soon after their arrival. In January 1760, Nicolas remarried again--his third marriage--to an Acadian widow. She gave him no more children. He worked as a carpenter and pilot in the mother country and died at Laudivisiau, western Brittany, in March 1765, age 60, one of the few Acadian exiles to go there. One wonders what happened to his surviving son. If he was still living in 1785, when he would have been age 31, he did not follow his fellow Acadians to Louisiana. In fact, no Acadian Préjean who had been deported to or made his/her way to France ventured to the Spanish colony.
In North America, the Acadians who had escaped the British in the late 1750s and took refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore were inevitably caught up in the lingering war between the imperial rivals. After the fall of Québec in September 1759, the British gathered their forces to attack the remaining French strongholds in New France, including Restigouche, now a major Acadian refuge. In late June 1760, a British naval force from Louisbourg attacked Restigouche. After a spirited fight in which Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq warriors played an important role, the French commander blew up his larger vessels and retreated up Rivière Restigouche, leaving the militia and the Indians to resist a British landing. Unable to capture the garrison or lay waste to the area, the British commander ordered his ships to return to their base at Louisbourg. In October, after the fall of Montréal, another British naval force, this one from Québec, returned to Restigouche to accept the garrison's, and the Acadians', surrender. On 24 October 1760, on the eve of formal surrender, French officers counted 1,003 Acadians still at Restigouche, Préjeans among them: Amand, Joseph's oldest son, who served as a lieutenant in the Acadian militia at Restigouche, was counted with his family of six. The British sent them and hundreds of other exiles captured in the region to prison compounds in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. British authorities counted Amand and his family of six; brother Joseph, fils and his family of three, and brother Charles, at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, in the summer and fall of 1762. Youngest brother Basile may have been with them. Charles married to a fellow Acadian soon after the counting. Joseph, fils, his wife, and a daughter appeared on a repatriation list at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Fort Beauséjour, Chignecto, near their old homesteads, in August 1763.
Préjeans still in Massachusetts, like their cousins being held in Nova Scotia, also, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intentions. Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. Members of the family nevertheless appeared on French repatriation lists compiled in the Bay Colony in the summer of 1763. In June 1766, a Préjean bachelor and his older sister appeared on a list of "the French Who Wish to Go to Canada," where cousins from Annapols Royal had gone a decade earlier. Later in 1766, the brother and sister followed other exiles from New England to the new Acadian community of St.-Jacques de l'Achigan in the interior northeast of Montréal, where the brother married a fellow Acadian soon after their arrival. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles such as themselves. So, in a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of Jean Préjean dit Le Breton began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. By the late 1760s, they could be found not only at St.-Jacques de l'Achigan, but also at Québec City. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
Other Préjeans in the seaboard colonies emigrated not to Canada, where the British ruled, but to the French Antilles, where they did not. While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British colonies to go to St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean basin and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles who could be lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the island's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. At least one family of Préjeans took up the offer and headed to St.-Domingue in 1763 or 1764. French officials sent them not to Môle St.-Nicolas but to Mirebalais in the island's interior near Port-au-Prince to work on coffee and indigo plantations. The experience proved fatal for some of them, including two brothers. When fellow exiles from Halifax and Maryland, including Préjeans, came through Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans from late 1764 through 1768, none of the Préjeans still in St.-Domingue chose to join them. They evidently had found a place for themselves in the colony's slave-based plantation economy. The dead Préjeans' sister Rosalie, a young widow, remarried, at age 27, to a Pecot from Nantes at Mirebalais in January 1768. She and her family remained in St.-Domingue until the Haitian slave revolt of the 1790s drove them to Spanish Cuba. By 1805, she, her husband, and four of their children moved on to New Orleans, now a part of the United States, and settled near her cousins on the western prairies. She died on lower Bayou Teche in February 1813, in her early 70s.
Préjeans being held in Nova Scotia at war's end faced a hard dilemma. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article IV that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. However, British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in, or return to, Nova Scotia, they could live only in small family groups in previously unsettled areas or work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New-English "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the oath if they joined their cousins in Canada. After all they had suffered on the question of the oath, few self-respecting Acadians would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Nova Scotia exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled fishery island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies, including Préjeans, were going, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, many refused to remain under British rule. So they gathered up their money and their few possessions and prepared to leave their homeland. Of the 600 exiles who left Halifax in late 1764 and early 1765 bound for Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, 15 were descendants of Jean Préjean dit Le Breton.
Préjeans settled early in Acadia, and they were among the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. In 1765, four brothers and their families from Chepoudy came to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français and settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans. In the mid-1770s, two of the brothers crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, creating a western branch of the family. In c1805, a Prejean wife came to Louisiana with her family and hundreds of other refugees from Haiti via Cuba and settled on lower Bayou Teche not far from her cousins. During the early antebellum period, two Prejean brothers from St. James Parish, sons of one of the 1765 arrivals, joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche and created a third center of family settlement there. By the middle antebellum period, Prejeans had disappeared from the river. One of the lines on the prairies also died out during that period, and a single line remained on Bayou Lafourche, but it was a prolific one.
Most, if not all, of the Prejeans of South Louisiana spring from these two surviving families--that of Amand and his sons in the western parishes, and of Basile le jeune on Bayou Lafourche. The western Prejeans were especially numerous in the Carencro area of northern Lafayette Parish, but they also settled at nearby Grand Coteau as well as in the Plaisance area north of Opelousas in St. Landry Parish; on upper Bayou Teche in St. Martin Parish; and near Abbeville in Vermilion Parish. According to one authority, Prejeans did not move farther out into the southwestern prairies or on to East Texas until the early twentieth century. Meanwhile, their cousins on Bayou Lafourche settled near present-day Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish, but some of them lived up bayou in Assumption Parish, down bayou near Larose, and near Houma and Chacahoula in Terrebonne Parish.
Church records reveal that a Prejean family, who were not Acadians, lived at New Orleans during the early colonial period. No non-Acadian Prejeans appear in South Louisiana church records during the rest of the colonial period, nor in the antebellum period that followed. All of the Prejeans of South Louisiana, then, are descendants of Jean dit Le Breton of Port-Royal.
Judging by the number of slaves they owned during the late antebellum period, a few members of the family lived comfortably on their prairie and bayou-side farms. The largest family slaveholder was Ursin T. Prejean, who held 11 slaves on his St. Landry Parish farm in 1860. A decade earlier, Valéry Prejean's widow owned 10 slaves on her farm in Lafourche Interior Parish. Gérard Prejean owned eight slaves in St. Landry Parish in 1850 and 1860, but other slaveholders in the family held only a few bondsmen apiece, or none at all, during the late antebellum period.
Dozens of Prejeans served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, many of them in units that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Confederate records hint that all but one of them returned home from the war. ...
In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Bregean, Prechant, Pregant, Pregean, Pregeant, Pregen, Pregent, Pregon, Prejan, Prejant, Prejen, Prejent, Prenaul, Prephant, Presan, Present, Pressan.32
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All but one of the Acadian Préjeans who came to Louisiana reached New Orleans from Halifax via Cap-Français in 1765. They included a wife who came with the Broussards, four brothers and their families, and two other wives, 15 Préjeans in all. The wife who arrived in late February with the Broussards followed them to lower Bayou Teche. The others settled at Cabahannocer on the river. Two of the brothers remained on the river, but the other two moved on to the western prairies. Meanwhile, two of the sons of one of the brothers who stayed on the river moved down into the Bayou Lafourche valley. As a result of all the moving here and there, two lasting centers of Préjean family settlement emerged on the prairies and Bayou Lafourche:
Amand (c1726-1787) à Jean dit Le Breton Préjean
Amand, oldest son of Joseph Préjean and Marie-Louise Comeau, born probably at Chepoudy in c1726, married Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of René Martin dit Barnabé and Marguerite Michel, at Annapolis Royal in July 1749 and, according to Bona Arsenault, settled at Chepoudy. Madeleine gave Amand three children there: Marin born in c1750; Anastasie in c1751; and Marie-Anne in c1752. They escaped the British roundup in the trois-rivières area in the fall of 1755 and found refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. They were at Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs in December 1759, when a son, Joseph le jeune, was born there, and in May 1760, when the son was baptized. Amand served as a lieutenant in the Acadian militia. He and his family of six appear on a list of 1,003 surrendered Acadians at Restigouche, dated 24 October 1760. The British sent them to a prison compound in Nova Scotia for the rest of the war. British authorities counted Amand and his family of six at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, in October 1762. He, Madeleine, their four children, along with three of his younger brothers, followed fellow exiles from Nova Scotia to Louisiana in 1764-65. Madeleine was pregnant on the voyage. Son André-Joseph was born aboard ship in October 1765 and baptized at the New Orleans church during the first week of December. From the city, they followed other exiles from Halifax to the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer, where Spanish officials counted them on the right, or west, bank of the river in April 1766 and September 1769. In August 1770, they were living farther up the west bank of the river at nearby Ascension, close to the boundary of the San Gabriel District. Madeleine gave Amand more children on the river, including Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, born in c1768; Louis baptized at the Ascension church, age unrecorded, in January 1771; and Félicité born in December 1772. Amand remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Germain Thériot and Marguerite Boudrot of Minas and widow of Paul Melançon, probably at Ascension in c1773. Marie, a native of Maryland, had come to the Louisiana from the Chesapeake colony with her first husband in 1766. She gave Amand more children in the colony, including Dominique born at Ascension in October 1774; Hélène, also called Ellen, in June 1776; and Isidore baptized at the Attakapas church, age 15 months, in January 1780--11 children, six sons and five daughters, by two wives, between 1750 and 1778, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. In c1776, Amand "solicited" for a grant of land from the Spanish at the northern edge of the Attakapas District. "In 1778 Amand received from the Spanish ... some 425 acres fronting on Bayou Vermilion" at a place the Acadians called Beaubassin east of Carencro. Amand died at Beaubassin "in the presence of Joseph Landry and Jean Jeansonne, sons in law [Jeansonne was]," in December 1787. The priest who recorded the burial said that Amand was age 66 when he died. Daughters Anastasie, Marie-Anne, Madeleine, Félicité, and Hélène, by both wives, married into the Jeansonne, Brasseaux, Melançon, Neraut, and Hébert families on the prairies. Four of Amand's sons also married there, but not all of the lines endured. Many of Amand's descendants remained in the Carencro-Grand Coteau area for generations. Others settled at Plaisance north of Opelousas, on upper Bayou Teche in St. Martin Parish, and near Abbeville in Vermilion Parish. Most, if not all, of the Prejeans of southwest Louisiana are descendants of Amand and three of his sons.
Oldest son Marin, by first wife Madeleine Martin, followed his family into exile and imprisonment and to New Orleans, Cabahannocer, and Attakapas, where he married Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre-Olivier Benoit and his first wife Susanne Boudrot, in the late 1770s. Marie-Rose, a native of Port Tobacco, Maryland, had come to Louisiana with her parents via coastal Texas n 1769. Their children, born on the prairies, included a child, named unrecorded, in April 1781 but died the day after birth; Marie, also called Marie-Solange and Marie-Solance, born in October 1782; Hortense in November 1784 but died at 9 months in October 1785; Joseph le jeune born in April 1786; Marie-Modeste in February 1788; Marie-Christine in the late 1780s or early 1790s; Marguerite baptized at the Attakapas church, age 6 months, in June 1795; and Marie-Aloyse-, Éloise, or -Louise born in February 1797--eight children, at least six daughters and a son, between 1781 and 1797. Marin died at Attakapas in January 1798. The priest who recorded the burial said that Marin died "at age 50 yrs." He may have been a year or so younger. His first succession was filed at what became the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in 1799 and another one at the St. Martinville courthouse in May 1814. His widow remarried to Daniel Boone of Kentucky and Attakapas (not the famous one). According to one authority, in 1812, Marin (probably his descendants) "claimed two tracts of 2 x 40 arpents along the Vermilion located in R5E, T8S," "situated just east of Carencro and about five miles north of present Lafayette""--which was the community of Beaubassin. Daughters Marie Solange, Marie Modeste, Marie Christine, Marie Louise, and Marguerite married into the Derouen, Savoie, Babineaux, and Andrews or Andrus families, two of them to Babineaux brothers. Marin's only son also married, but the line may not have endured.
Only son Joseph le jeune married Aspasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvestre Mouton and Susanne dite Susette Comeaux, at the St. Martinville church in May 1813. They settled near Carencro. Their children, born there, included, Marie Urasie in September 1814; a son, name unrecorded, died at age 3 weeks in November 1816; Joseph, also called Joseph Dupré and Dupré, born in November 1824; and Uranie in September 1830--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1814 and 1830. In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted three slaves--a 35-year-old black male, a 30-year-old black female, and a 19-year-old black female--on Joseph Prejean's farm in the parish's western district; this probably was Joseph le jeune. He died probably at Carencro in January 1857. The Grand Coteau priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph died "at age 74 yrs." He was 70. His succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, the following April. Daughter Marie Urasie married into the Roger family. Joseph le jeune's remaining son also married, but the line may not have endured.
Second son Joseph Dupré, called Dupré, married Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Dominique Babineaux, fils and Marguerite Melançon, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1848. Their son Alexandre was born near Grand Coteau in February 1850 but died at age 3 1/2 months the following June. Joseph Dupré remarried to Céleste Essida or Zulima, called Zulima, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babineaux and Marie Cléonise Dugas, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1851, and sanctified the marriage at the Vermilionville church in March 1852; according to the federal census of 1850, they were living with his parents in the western district of Lafayette Parish in September of that year. She may not have given him anymore children, so this line of the family may not have endured.
Amand's second son Joseph le jeune, by first wife Madeleine Martin, followed his family into imprisonment and to New Orleans, Cabahannocer, and Attakapas, where he married Élisabeth- or Isabelle-Eulalie, called Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Dugas and Anastasie Henry, in June 1786. Isabelle, a native of St.-Suliac near St.-Malo, had come to Louisiana from France the year before their marriage. They settled on the Vermilion and at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Édouard in June 1789; and Adélaïde probably in the early 1790s. Joseph le jeune died by October 1793, when his wife remarried at Carencro. Daughter Adélaïde married into the Broussard family. Joseph le jeune's son created a vigorous line.
Only son Édouard married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Olidon Broussard and Anne Bernard of Bayou Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church in February 1813. They settled near Carencro before moving south to Vermilion Parish. Their children, born on the prairies, included Marie Urasie in January 1814; Édouard Ursin, also called Ursin and Édouard, fils, in May 1815; Émilien in March 1817; Anne Azélie dite Zélie in November 1818; Isabelle Armesille or Armezelle in November 1820 but died at age 11 1/2 in September 1832; Marguerite Déolide or Zéoline born in December 1822; Céleste in October 1824 but died at age 2 in October 1826; Mélanie, Mélagie, or Mélazie baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 12 days, in late January 1827 but died two days after her baptism; Joseph Dupré born in September 1830 but, called Dupré Joseph, died in Lafayette Parish, age 21 (the recording priest said 20), in January 1852; André Valérien, called Valérien, born in October 1832; twins Elezima and Onésime in November 1835, but Elezima died at age 14 months in January 1837; and Olidon born in September 1837--13 children, seven daughters and six sons, between 1814 and 1837. A succession for wife Marie, naming her husband, probably post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in February 1852. In 1860, the federal census taker in Vermilion Parish counted two slaves--a 52-year-old black male, and a 17-year-old black male, living in one house--on Edward Preshon's farm in the parish's western district. Édouard may have died in Vermilion Parish in August 1861; the Abbeville priest who recorded the burial did not give Édouard's age at the time of his passing, nor did he mention a wife. If this was him, Édouard would have been age 72. His oldest daughter may have been the Marie Urasie Prejean who, at age 19, gave birth to "natural" son Pierre in Lafayette Parish. The Vermilionville priest who baptized the boy at age 2 1/2 months in November 1833 and recorded his burial the following day gave only the mother's name. Marie Urasie evidently did not marry. Sisters Anne Azélise and Marie Zéoline did marry, into the Baden and Broussard families. Four of Édouard's sons also married.
Oldest son Édouard Ursin, called Ursin, married cousin Marie Sidalise, called Sidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians Aurien Prejean and Anne Leger, at the Grand Coteau church in February 1839. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Armazie or Amasie, a daughter, in December 1839 but died at age 3 in November 1842; Marie Émilia or Amelia born in June 1841; Joseph Aurelien in April 1843 but died at age 11 in June 1854; Édouard Sevin, also called Édouard, fils, born in August 1845; and Dom, Don, or Jean Louis in January 1848. Wife Marie Sidalise died near Grand Coteau in January 1848, in her mid-20s, perhaps from complications of giving birth to son Don Louis. Her succession, calling her Marie Sydalise and naming her husband, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in April 1849. Édouard Ursin remarried to Eurasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Antoine Boudreaux and Marie Émilie Savoie and widow of Daniel Boone, at the Grand Coteau church in August 1849. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Honoré in May 1850 but died "at age 20 yrs. [probably months]" in Lafayette Parish in February 1852; Émile born in October 1854; and Jean O'Neal in December 1855--eight children, two daughters and six sons, by two wives, between 1839 and 1855. Daughter Marie Amelia, by his first wife, married into the Bourque family. Two of Édouard Ursin's sons also married by 1870.
Second son Édouard Sevin, by first wife Sidalise Prejean, married Julie or Julia Eleuzie or Elensia Julie, daughter of fellow Acadians Don Louis Richard and Célestine Richard, at the Opelousas church in September 1868. Their son Jean Emare was born in St. Landry Parish in September 1869; ...
Édouard Ursin's third son Don Louis, by first wife Sidalise Prejean, married Marie Anne Delzine, daughter of fellow Acadian François Arvillien Hébert and his Creole wife Pélagie Dartes, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in February 1868. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Félicia in June 1869; Aurelien in June 1870; ...
Édouard's second son Émilien married Anastasie Mélanie or Mélasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Landry and Adélaïde Girouard, at the Vermilionville church in January 1838. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Émilien, fils baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 40 days, in May 1839; a child, name unrecorded, died at age 3 weeks in August 1841; Anastasie in July 1843[sic]; Joseph born in February 1844; Alcides or Alcide Simon in April 1847; Émile Adenis, probably Adonis, in January 1848; Séverin in February 1850; and Silvestre Densard perhaps posthumously in December 1851--eight children, at least six sons and a daughter, between 1839 and 1851. Émilien's succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in October 1851. He would have been age 34 that year. Daughter Anastasie married a Girouard cousin by 1870. Two of Émilien's sons also married by then, one of them after his Confederate service.
Oldest son Émilien, fils married Ursule Primeaux, also called Trahan, at the Abbeville church in February 1862. Their son Joseph was born near Abbeville in June 1867; ...
During the War of 1861-65, Émilien's third son Alcide served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Alcide married cousin Célima, daughter of Washington Campbell and his Acadain wife Céleste Prejean, at the Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1868. Daughter Idea was born near Youngsville in June 1870; ...
Édouards's fourth son André Valérien, called Valérien, married fellow Acadian and cousin Odile or Odite Broussard in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in October 1851. Their children, born on the prairies, included Éloi in December 1853; Carolie in August 1855; and Rémi near Abbeville in September 1857. André Valérien remarried to Olympe, daughter of fellow Acadian Narcisse Thibodeaux and his Creole wife Euranie Callier, at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1865. Their children, born on the Teche and the prairies, included Marie Uranie near Breaux Bridge in February 1867; Marie in February 1869; Félix near Abbeville in November 1870; ... None of Valérien's children married by 1870.
Édouard's sixth and youngest son Olidon married Marie Delphine, called Delphine, Frederick at the Abbeville church in January 1860. Their children, born near Abbeville, included Onésime in November 1860; Marie Élodie in April 1862; Azéna baptized at the Abbeville church, age 3 months, in March 1866; Alida born in March 1868; Odile in April 1870; ...
Amand's third son André-Joseph, by first wife Madeleine Martin, followed his family to New Orleans, Cabahannocer, and Attakapas, where he married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Bernard and Marie dite Manon Guilbeau, in January 1793. Marie was a native of Attakapas whose parents had come to the colony with the Broussards from Halifax in 1765. They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Alexandre baptized at the Attakapas church, age 5 months, in June 1795 but died at age 3 1/2 in June 1798; Marie-Aspasie born in July 1796 but died at age 2 in June 1798; André-Maximilien, called Maximilien, Maxilien, and Maxille, born in November 1797; Marie-Azélie, Zéline, or Zeila in November 1799; Jean-Lessin or -Lesaints in June 1801; Célestine or Céleste in April 1803 but died at age 7 1/2 in September 1810; Marie Tarsille or Terzille born in December 1805; Marie Clémence, also called Marie Marguerite Clémence, in August 1807; Leufroi, also called Syphorien and Cyprien, in July 1809; and Louis Gustave in July 1812--10 children, five sons and five daughters, between 1795 and 1812. André died at Carencro in August 1813, age 48. His successions, calling his wife Marie, were filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in February 1819 and December 1820, and at what became the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in December 1820. Daughters Marie Zéline, Marie Terzille, and Marie Marguerite Clémence married into the Richard, Benoit, and Peck families. Four of André's remaining sons also married.
Second son André Maximilien, also called Maximilien, Maxilien, and Maxille, married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Athanase Breaux and Rosalie Arceneaux, probably at Carencro in the late 1810s. Their children, born there, included Marie Josèphe or Joséphine, called Joséphine, in April 1820; André in c1820 or 1821 but died at age 6 in August 1826; Joseph Séverin born in November 1821; Pierre André in February 1823; Marie Fajesa or Faiesa baptized at age 7 1/2 months in December 1825 but died at age 1 (the recording priest said 3) in May 1826; Valéry Joseph born in March 1827; Valérien in December 1828; Valsain or Valsin in April 1831; Valmond or Valmont in January 1833; Valcourt in October 1834 but died in Lafayette Parish, age 18 (the recording priest said 19), in February 1853; Marguerite Valléry or Valérie born in March 1836; and Marcelle Villeré, probably a son, baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 3 months, in April 1838 but, called Villerest, died at age 15 (the recording priest said 16) in January 1853--a dozen children, three daughters and nine sons, between 1820 and 1838. André Maximilien died by 1860. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted eight slaves--six males and two females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 35 to 1, living in one house--on Mrs. André Prejean's farm between Valéry Prejean and Louis G. Prejean; these likely were Joséphine Breaux's slaves. At age 18, daughter Joséphine was betrothed to a fellow Acadian but the wedding "didn't occur" for the simple reason that the intended groom, Julien Boudreaux of Opelousas, died two days after the wedding date, age 23. Joséphine married, instead, a Broussard two years later. Daughters Joséphine and Marguerite Valérie married into the Broussard, Richard,and Arceneaux families, one of them, Marguerite, twice, by 1870. Four of André Maximilien's remaining sons also married, by then, three of them to sisters.
Third son Valéry Joseph married Marie Zéopha or Cléopha, called Zéopha, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Arceneaux and his Creole wife Aglaé Carmouche, at the Vermilionville church in February 1848. Their children, born on the prairies, included Adélaïde, perhaps theirs, near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in December 1848 but, called Marie Adélaïde, died at age 15 months in March 1850; Marie Brigette born in late 1849 but died at "age a few months" in February 1850; Ignace born in July 1851; Eraste in November 1852; a child, name unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish, age 5 days, in March 1854; Oculi born in c1855 but died at age 7 in June 1862; Joseph born in June 1856; Alcée Maurice in September 1858 but, called Alcée, died at age 1 1/2 in July 1859; a child, name unrecorded, died at birth in Lafayette Parish in February 1860; and Eve born in January 1861--10 children, at least three daughters and five sons, between 1848 and 1861. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted a single slave--a 16-year-old black female--on Valéry Prejean's farm next to Mrs. André Prejean; this probably was Valéry Joseph. "Mrs. Valérie Prejean," that is, wife Zéopha, died in Lafayette Parish, age unrecorded, in August 1867. Valéry, at age 42, remarried to first cousin Evélina, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Lessin Prejean and his first wife Céleste Thiboudeaux, his uncle and aunt, and widow of Eusèbe Comeaux, at the Vermilionville church in November 1869. None of Valéry Joseph's remaining children married by 1870.
André Maximilien's fourth Valérien married Céleste, daughter of Alexandre Begnaud and Élisa Constantin, at the Vermilionville church in December 1856. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Pierre Arthur in November 1857; Adelma in June 1859; Marie in May 1861; Joséphine in February 1863; Anna in June 1866; Joseph in March 1868; Théophile in December 1869; ... During the War of 1861-65, Valérien served probably as a conscript in Company D of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Mary Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana, and in Company D of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Infantry, which fought in Louisiana. As the birth dates of his younger children reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family.
André Maximilien's fifth son Valsin married Mathilde, another daughter of Alexandre Begnaud and Élisa Constantin, at the Vermilionville church in July 1858. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Alexandre in October 1857; Edmond in December 1858; Marie in May 1860; Élisa in October 1861; and Vallérie in March 1864 but, called Villeret, died at age 1 in July 1865--five children, three sons and two daughters, between 1857 and 1864. During the war, Valsin served probably as a conscript in Company K of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry, which fought in Louisiana. Two of his brothers served in Company D of the same regiment. Valsin's succession, calling his wife Mathilda Beguenaud, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in November 1865. He would have been age 34 that year. If this was a post-mortem succession, was his death war-related?
André Maximilien's sixth son Valmont married Marie Azélie, called Azélie, yet another daughter of Alexandre Begnaud and Élisa Constantin, at the Vermilionville church in January 1861. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Israël in January 1862; Philomène in February 1866 but died the following December; Alexandre born in January 1869; ... During the war, Valmont served probably as a conscript, with older brothers Valérien and Valsin, in Company D of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry. As the birth dates of his younger children reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family.
André Joseph's third son Jean Lessin, called Lessin, married Marie Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Thibodeaux and Louise Cormier, at the Grand Coteau church in September 1821. They settled probably near Carencro. Their children, born there, included Marie in September 1822; Marguerite in April 1824 but died at age 11 1/2 in September 1835; and Jean, fils born in August 1826 but died at age 3 in October 1829. Meanwhile, a succession for wife Céleste, probably post-mortem, naming her husband, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in January 1829. Jean Lessin remarried to Juliènne, daughter of fellow Acadians Baptiste Richard and Isabelle Cormier, at the Vermilionville church in September 1833. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Jérôme baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1 month, in October 1834; Charles Despanet, called Despanet, born in December 1836; Evélina baptized at age 2 months in February 1839; another Evélina born in September 1840 but, called Émilie, died at age 13 1/2 (the recording priest said 14) in July 1854; Adolphe in January 1842; Joseph in November 1842 but died the following January; Honoré born in March 1844; Émilie in December 1845; Edrrine in October 1847; Marie Onesia in October 1849 but, called Onesia, died at age 14 (the recording priest said 13) in November 1863; Célina in November 1853; and twins Louis Neuville and Pierre Dupré in April 1858--16 children, eight daughters and eight sons, by two wives, including a set of twins, between 1822 and 1858. In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted two slaves--a 50-year-old black female, and a 30-year-old black male--on Jean Prejean's farm in the parish's western district; this probably was Jean Lessin. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted a single slave--a 45-year-old black male--on Lessin Prejean's farm. Daughters Célina, and Evélina, by both wives, married into the Roger, Comeaux, and Prejean families, one of them, Evélina, twice, by 1870. Three of Jean Lessin's sons also married by then, but not all of the lines endured.
Second son Jérôme, by second wife Juliènne Richard, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Calixte LeBlanc and Marguerite Bernard, at the Vermilionville church in February 1858. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Elmire in December 1859 but, called Elmire, died at age 4 in November 1863; Marie Eve born in November 1866 but, called Eva, died at age 1 1/2 in June 1868; Jean Despaner, probably Despanet, born in February 1869; ... During the war, Jérôme, despite his age (he would have been in his late 20s and early 30s), served as a private in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. As the birth dates of his younger children show, he survived the war and returned to his family.
Jean Lessin's third son Charles Despanet, by second wife Juliènne Richard, married Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Rosémond Mouton and Estelle Comeaux, at the Vermilionville church in January 1860. Charles Despanet died in Lafayette Parish in March 1863. The priest who recorded the burial said that Despanet died "at age 28 yrs." He was 26. His succession, calling his Charles Despany and saying he died in 1864, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in January 1866. One wonders if his death was war-related. His family line died with him.
Jean Lessin's sixth son Honoré, by second wife Juliènne Richard, married Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadians Onésime Babineaux and Juliènne Benoit, at the Vermilionville church in May 1865. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Agricole in March 1866; Paul Oscar in December 1867; Émilien Orphie in July 1869; Émiliènne in December 1870; ...
André Joseph's fourth son Leufroi, also called Syphorien and Cyprien, married Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Hippolyte Breaux and Adélaïde Dugas, at the Vermilionville church in July 1828. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Elmire Lorisca, also called Odoisea, Adriska, and Advise, in 1829 and baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 6 1/2 months, in January 1830; Clara baptized at age 7 months in September 1831 but died at age 3 in September 1834; Edgard baptized at age 6 months in October 1834 but died two days after his baptism; Émile born in October 1835; Louis Sosthène, called Sosthène, in November 1837; André in September 1841; and Marie Adolisse or Adonise, called Adonise, in September 1845. A succession for wife Marie, calling her Eugénie and her husband Syphroin, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in March 1852. Syphorien, at age 46, remarried to Marie Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Dosité Blanchard and Azélie Dupuis, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1855. Their son Pierre Clerfait was born in Lafayette Parish in July 1858--eight children, three daughters and five sons, by two wives, between 1829 and 1858. Syphorien died by February 1862, when he was listed as deceased in a son's marriage record. He would have been in his late 40s or early 50s then. Daughters Adriska and Adonise, by his first wife, married into the Comeaux, Chiasson, and Begnaud families, one of them, Adriska, twice by 1870. Three of Leufroi's sons also married by then.
Second son Émile, by first wife Eugénie Breaux, married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Séverin Hébert and Marcellite Babineaux, at the Vermilionville church in February 1856. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Joseph Alcée in February 1858; Séverin in February 1860; Aristide in December 1861 but died at age 4 1/2 in January 1866; Marie Céline born in March 1866[sic]; Andrea born in 1866 but died at age 1 in August 1867; Alzina born in August 1868 but died at age 6 months in February 1869; Joseph born in December 1869; ...
Syphorien's third son Sosthène, by first wife Eugénie Breaux, married Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Calixte LeBlanc and Marguerite Bernard, at the Vermilionville church in October 1858. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Honorate in November 1859 but, called Honora, died the following January; a child, name unrecorded, died near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, at age 2 months in December 1860; Eve born in December 1861; Elphége in January 1865; a daughter, name unrecorded, died at age 15 days in May 1867; Edval born in March 1868 but died at age 2 1/2 in July 1870; ... During the war, Sosthène served with younger brother André in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Sosthène enlisted in March 1862 and served as a regimental teamster until he, along with his regiment, surrendered at Vicksburg in July 1863. As the birth dates of his younger sons reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family.
Syphorien's fourth son André, by first wife Eugénie Breaux, married Marie Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadians Gérard Babineaux and Eugénie Bourg, at the Vermilionville church in February 1862. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Justine Andrea in September 1866; Charles Adam in November 1867; Pierre Gérard in December 1869; ... During the war, André served with older brother Sosthène in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry. He enlisted at Vermilionville soon after his marriage. As the birth dates of his children reveal, he also survived the war.
André Joseph's fifth and youngest son Louis Gustave, called Gustave, married cousin Juliènne, also called Julie and Marie Sulima or Zulima, daughter of fellow Acadian François Bernard and his second wife Creole Juliènne Carmouche, at the Vermilionville church in February 1836. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Evariste Agerin in March 1839; Julie Hélène in March 1840 but, called Hélène, died at age 10 in April 1850; Marie Louise Anne born in August 1843; a child, name unrecorded, died at birth in June 1845; a son, name unrecorded, died at age 3 weeks in September 1846; and Louis Honoré born in December 1847--six children, at least three sons and two daughters, between 1839 and 1847. A succession for wife Juliènne, calling her Zuline and probably post-mortem, was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in January 1850. In August 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted two slaves--a 15-year-old black female, and a 5-year-old black female--on Louis G. Prejean's farm in the parish's western district. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted four slaves--all female, two black and two mulatto, ages 23 to 1, living in one house--on Louis G. Prejean's farm next to Mrs. André Prejean. Louis Gustave's surviving daughter did not marry by 1870, but two of his sons did. One of the lines may not have endured.
During the war, oldest son Evariste Agerin, called Evariste in Confederate records, may have served in Company A of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. If this was him, he was discharged from his unit, perhaps for medical reasons, in December 1862, before the Vicksburg siege, and, according to Confederate records, served in no other unit. Did he marry?
Louis Gustave's third and youngest son Louis Honoré married Corinne, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Adolphe Guidry and Clémentine Guilbeau, at the Grand Coteau church in April 1870. ...
Amand's fifth son Dominique, by second wife Marie Theriot, followed his family to Attakapas, where he married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians François-Joseph Savoie and his fourth wife Marie-Jeanne Martin dit Barnabé, in October 1793. Marie was a native of Louisiana; her father, a native of Chepoudy, had come to the colony from Halifax in 1765. She and Dominique settled near Grand Coteau in what became St. Landry Parish. Their children, born there, included Louise, also called Marie Louise and Marie Lise, in 1794 and baptized, age 8 months, in July 1795; Maximilien, also called Maxilien, born in January 1797; Marie-Juliènne, perhaps also called Marie-Azéline and Marie-Zélime, in December 1798; Aurien, called Aurelien, Drosin, Orien, Orient, and Prient in January 1801; Marie-Céleste or -Célestine in June 1803; Gérard or Gérand in c1805 and baptized at the Opelousas church, age 15 months, in December 1806; Marie Silesie, perhaps also called Marie Sidalie, born in April 1807; Marie Adélaïde, called Adélaïde, in April 1809; Jean Achilles, called Achille, in July 1811; Marguerite Urasie in October 1813; and Marie Euphrosine in October 1814--11 children, seven daughters and four sons, between 1794 and 1814. Wife Marie's succession, probably post-mortem, calling her a Prejean and naming her husband, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1844. Dominique did not remarry. He died near Grand Coteau in February 1846. The priest who recorded the burial said that Dominique died "at age 74 yrs." He was 71. His successions, one of them naming his wife, were filed at the Opelousas courthouse in April 1848 and September 1849. Daughters Marie Louise, Marie Zélime, Marie Célestine, Marie Sidalie, Marie Adélaïde, and Marie Euphrasine married into the Meche, Lavergne, Stelly, Caruthers or Credeur, Broussard, and Melançon families. Dominique's four sons also married, two of them to sisters.
Oldest son Maximilien, also called Maxilien, married Marie Tarsille, called Tarsille, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Breaux and Henriette Blanchard of St. James Parish and La Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in July 1816. Their daughter Éliza was born near Grand Coteau in c1817. A succession for wife Marie Tarzille, as she was called, likely post-mortem, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in July 1821. Maximilien remarried to Marie Phelonise, called Phelonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Thibodeaux and Marie Louise Cormier, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1822. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie, also called Azélie Marie, in December 1823; Joseph Laurent in c1824; Paul Dupréville in August 1827; Céleste in late 1829 and baptized at age 2 months in January 1830 but died at age 5 1/2 in August 1835; Ursin Téonide, Téonille, or Théomille, called Ursin T., born in November 1831; and Clairville in November 1833--seven children, three daughters and four sons, by both wives, between 1817 and 1833. Maximilien died near Grand Coteau in January 1834, age 37 (the recording priest said 38). His successions, naming his widow, were filed at the Opelousas and Vermilionville courthouses in March 1836, so he evidently owned property in both civil parishes. In October 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 13 slaves--five males and eight females, all black, ranging in age from 29 years to 2 months--on Widow Maximilien Prejean's farm in the parish's western district; these were Phelonise Thibodeaux's slaves. Daughters Éliza and Azélie Marie, by both wives, married into the Savoie and Bourgeois families. Maximilien's four sons also married.
Oldest son Joseph Laurent, by second wife Phelonise Thibodeaux, married Euphrasie dite Phrasie, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Cyprien Arceneaux and his Creole wife Aglaé Carmouche, at the Vermilionville church in December 1843. Their children, born on the prairie, included Pierre Cyprien in September 1848; Philonise in March 1850; Mary Fanelly in June 1852; Herminia in March 1854; François Maurice in October 1855; Joseph Saleme in March 1858; Victoria in March 1862; Bezilida in January 1870; ... In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted two slaves--a 15-year-old black female, and a 4-year-old black male--on Jh. L. Prejean's farm next to François Arceneaux; this probably was Joseph Laurent. None of Joseph Laurent's children married by 1870.
Maximilien's second son Paul Dupréville, by second wife Phelonise Thibodeaux, married Marie Evéline, called Evéline, daughter of Jean Baptiste Neraut and Marie Arthémise Credeur, at the Vermilionville church in January 1850. Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Marie Coraïde, called Coraïde, in December 1850; Marie Alida in January 1853; Marie Corine in August 1854 but, called Corine, died at age 5 1/2 (the recording priest said 6) in March 1860; Stanislas Désiré born in May 1856; Marie Mathilde in February 1858 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1859; Onésime born in October 1860 but died at age 1 in October 1861; Blanche Eve born in August 1862; Marie Alicia in December 1864; Marie Alzina in May 1868; ... During the war, Paul D., as he was called in Confederate records, served probably as a conscript in Company E of the Miles' Legion Louisiana Infantry, which fought in Louisiana and Mississippi. Paul D. was in his mid-30s when his Confederate service began. He was captured with his command at Port Hudson, Louisiana, in July 1863, paroled and exchanged, and then served in Company D of the 15th Battalion Louisiana Sharpshooters, which fought in Louisiana. He was paroled as an end-of-war prisoner at Washington, St. Landry Parish, in June 1865 and returned to his family. He was buried in St. Peter Catholic Cemetery in Carencro. Daughter Coraïde married into the Jenkins family by 1870. Paul's remaining son did not marry by then.
Maximilien's third Ursin T., by second wife Phelonise Thibodeaux, married Adenisa, Alenisa, or Denise, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Leger and his Creole wife Eméranthe Meche and widow of François Miller, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1854. They settled at Carencro. Their children, born there, included Ursin, fils in September 1855; François in December 1856 but died at age 1 in November 1857; Marie Zulime born in September 1858; Joseph Lesin in January 1860 but, called Lessin, died at age 4 1/2 in August 1864; Marie Leseine born in April 1861; Philomène in June 1863; Paul Lucius in February 1866; Lorenzo in March 1869; ... In 1860, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted 11 slaves--five males and six females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging in age from 48 years to 6 months, living in one house--on Ursin T. Prejean's farm next to Zifirin Leger. During the war, Ursin T., along with younger brother Clairville, served in the Grivot Rangers Independent Company Louisiana Cavalry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought in Louisiana. Ursin T. enlisted for the war in August 1862 at age 31 but was discharged for physical disability soon afterwards. None of his children married by 1870.
Maximilien's fourth and youngest son Clairville, by second wife Phelonise Thibodeaux, married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Onésime Richard and his second wife Anglo Creole Marguerite Arthémise Caruthers, at the Grand Coteau church in February 1855. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Adolphe in December 1855; Adolphe Delphine dite Adolphina in September 1857; a child, name and age unrecorded, died near Grand Coteau in August 1860; Cléophas born in August 1861; Marie Andréa in September 1863; Marie Ernestine in July 1866; Marie Angela in late 1868 and baptized at the Grand Coteau church, age 2 months, in January 1869; ... In 1860, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted two slaves--a 19-year-old black female, and a 2-month-old black female, living in one house--on Clerville Prejean's farm. During the war, Clairville served with older brother Ursin T. in the Grivot Rangers Independent Company Louisiana Cavalry. None of his children married by 1870.
Dominique's second son Aurien, called Aurelien, Drosin, Orien, Orient, and Prient, married Marie Anne, called Anne and Annette, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Leger and Constance Potier, at the Grand Coteau church in April 1820. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Armasie in January 1821 but died at age 4 1/2 in September 1825; Marie Isalie or Sidalise born in November 1822; Orient or Aurien, fils in October 1824; Marie Amilia in May 1827 but, called Émilia, died at age 23 (the recording priest said 24) in April 1850; Dominique le jeune born in January 1830; Marie Céleste in December 1831 but, called Céleste, died the following October; and Paul born in July 1833--seven children, four daughters and three sons, between 1821 and 1833. Aurien, père died near Grand Coteau in November 1835, age 34. Wife Anne evidently did not remarry. Daughter Marie Sidalise married a Prejean cousin. Aurien's three sons also married.
Oldest son Aurien, fils, called Aurelien by the priest and the parish clerk who recorded his marriage, married fellow Acadian Marie Eugénie Benoit at the Grand Coteau church in December 1848. Did they have any children?
Aurien, père's second son Dominique le jeune married cousin Emérite, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Leger and his Creole wife Eméranthe Meche, at the Grand Coteau church in July 1850. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Adolphe in September 1851; Théomille, a son, in May 1854; Placide in January 1857; Marie Merida in March 1860; Marie Alida in July 1862; a child, name unrecorded, died at age 1 month in November 1864; Marie Ethilda born in March 1868; Alcide in July 1869; ... During the war, Dominique le jeune served probably as a conscript in Company D of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Mary Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana, and in Company E of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Infantry, which fought in Louisiana. As the birth dates of his younger children reveal, he survived the war and returned to his family. None of his children married by 1870.
Aurien, père's third and youngest son Paul married cousin Marie Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadian Joachim Leger and his Creole wife Éliza Andrus, at the Grand Coteau church in February 1858. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Élodie in November 1858; Marie Edvina in February 1861; Aurelien in February 1866; Joseph in July 1869; ...
Dominique's third son Gérard or Gérand, while residing at Opelousas, married Scholastique dite Colastie, another daughter of Paul Leger and Constance Potier, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1827. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Gérand, fils in December 1829 but died at age 1 1/2 in September 1831; Gerasin or Gerasime born in June 1831; and Marie Constance, called Constance, in December 1851--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1829 and 1851. In November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted eight slaves--two males and six females, four blacks and four mulattoes, ranging in age from 30 to 2--on Gérard Prejean's farm. In 1860, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted eight slaves again--two males and six females, three blacks and five mulattoes, ages 40 to 1, living in two houses--on Gérard Prejean's farm next to Marguerite Prejean. Gérard died near Grand Coteau in June 1869, age 63. His succession, calling his wife Scholastie Legere, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in July. Daughter Constance married into the Bourgeois family. Gérard's surviving son also married.
Second son Gerasin or Gerasime married Emérite, daughter of Villeneuve Joubert and Louise Ledoux, at the Opelousas church in April 1852. Their children, born in St. Landry Parish, included Onezia in July 1853; Sidonia in May 1855; Christoval in December 1856; Scholastique in July 1858 but, called Colastie, died in St. Landry Parish at age 1 1/2 in October 1859; and Gerasime, fils in October 1862, two months after his father began his Confederate service--five children, three daughters and two sons, between 1853 and 1862. Gerasin, called Gerazime in Confederate records, served in Company K of the 3rd (Harrison's) Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, also called Todd's Prairie Rangers, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought in Louisiana and southern Arkansas. Gerasime died "in Alexandria, La.," in December 1864, probably of disease, age 33. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1865. None of his children married by 1870.
Dominique's fourth and youngest son Jean Achille, called Achille, married Marie Élise, Élisa, or Éliza, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Boudreaux and his Creole wife Françoise Ritter, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in April 1830, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church in April 1831. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Stainville, also called Louis Stainville, in June 1832; Evariste in January 1834; Augustin or Auguste in October 1835; Joseph Dupréville in April 1838; Marie Louise in April 1841; Jean Dominique in March 1843 but, called Dominique, died at age 15 (the recording priest said 16) in March 1858; and Jean Achille, fils born in c1844 but died at age 4 in December 1848--seven children, six sons and a daughter, between 1832 and 1844. Jean Achille, père's succession, naming his wife and noting that she "married Lewis D. Caruthers," was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in February 1849. He would have been age 38 that year. One wonders when he died. Daughter Marie Louise married into the Castille family by 1870. Three of Achille's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Louis Stainville married Marie Anaïs, called Anaïs, daughter of Alexandre Stelly and Célestine Delhomme, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1851. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Célestine, called Célestine, in June 1853; and Marie in February 1856 but evidently died by September 1860, when she was not listed with her family in the federal census of that year. During the War of 1861-65, Stainville, called Stenville in Confederate records, served in Company K of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He enlisted in the company in April 1862 in St. Landry Parish, age 29; was present with his unit through late February 1863; and was captured and paroled at Vicksburg in July. His service record then falls silent. One suspects that he was sent home with the rest of his regiment and may have not bothered to return to his unit after it was exchanged. Neither of his daughters married by 1870.
Jean Achille's second son Evariste married cousin Marie Onesia, called Onesia, daughter of fellow Acadians Raphaël Richard and Marie Adélaïde Boudreaux, at the Grand Coteau church in November 1850. She evidently gave him no children. Evariste evidently remarried to fellow Acadian Philomène Foret later in the decade. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Alexia, called Alexia, in August 1859; a child, name unrecorded, died at birth in June 1863; Marie Evarise born in May 1866 but, called Marie, died the following October; ... In 1860, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted two slaves--a 35-year-old black female, and a 10-year-old black female--on Evariste Prejean's farm. One wonders if this was Evariste à Jean Achille. During the war, Evariste may have served in Company A of the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. If this was him, he was discharged from his unit, perhaps for medical reasons, in December 1862, before the Vicksburg siege.
Jean Achille's third son Augustin married Marie Eusèïde, called Eusèïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Onésime Cormier and Céleste Dupuis, at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in June 1859; the marriage also was recorded in St. Landry Parish. Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Céleste in March 1860; Marie Corine in November 1861; Joseph Dupréville in April 1864; Hélène in September 1866; Jean D. in January 1869 but died the following August; Jean born in August 1870; ... During the war, Augustin served in Company D of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Lafayette and St. Landry parishes, which fought against local Jayhawkers. As the birth dates of his younger children attest, he survived the war and returned to his family.
Joseph, fils (c1731-1770s) à Jean dit Le Breton Préjean
Joseph, fils, second son of Joseph Préjean and Marie-Louise Comeau, Amand's younger brother, born probably at Chepoudy in c1731 or 1732, followed members of his family to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, where, according to Bona Arsenault, he married Marguerite, daughter of Charles Lacroix dit Durel and Judith Chiasson of Île St.-Jean, in c1758. (Arsenault says Joseph, fils married 16-year-old Marguerite Borel in c1758, place unrecorded; he probably meant Durel.) Marguerite gave Joseph, fils a daughter, Victoire, born in c1760 or 1761, probably at Restigouche at head of the Baie des Chaleurs. Like his brothers' families, they also ended up in a prison compound in Nova Scotia during the early 1760s. British authorities counted Joseph, fils and his family of three at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, in October 1762, and they appeared on a repatriation list at Fort Cumberland, formerly French Fort Beauséjour, Chignecto, in August 1763. They followed his three brothers from Halifax to Louisiana in 1765. Margueirte was pregnant on the voyage. Son Jean Baptiste was born at New Orleans in late August 1765 and baptized there the first of December. From the city, they followed his brothers to Cabahannocer, where Spanish authorities counted them on the right, or west, bank of the river in April 1766 and September 1769. Marguerite gave Joseph, fils more children there, including Pélagie probably in the late 1760s; Basile le jeune born in c1768; and Anne, also called Marianne, baptized, age unrecorded, in January 1771--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1760 and the the late 1760s or early 1770s, in greater Acadia and Louisiana. Joseph, fils died at Cabahannocer or nearby Ascension by June 1772, when his wife remarried to twice-widowed and fellow Acadian Joseph Bourg at Cabahannocer. Marguerite and Joseph, fils's daughters Victoire and Marianne married into the Roger and Robichaux families. Joseph, fils's two sons also married and settled not on the river but on upper Bayou Lafourche, creating a third center of family settlement. The older son's line did not endure. The younger son's line was especially robust.
Older son Jean-Baptiste married Marie Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Gravois and Louise-Françoise Saint-Julien de Lachaussée, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in April 1803. They then joined the Acadian exodus from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche. In July 1818, he probably was the Jean Baptiste Prejean who Lafourche Interior Parish authorities designated as "tutor" for his 19-year-old married nephew, Eugène Prejean, who had married at 16 1/2. Jean Baptiste died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1840, age 74. His succession public sale, naming his wife and listing his "children" (actually, his heirs)--Victoire, his older sister, and her Roger husband; Basile, his younger brother; Marie Anne, his sister, and her Robichaux husband; Pélagie Bourg, a half sister, and her Causin husband; and Céleste Bourg, another half sister, and her Verret husband--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, the following November. Jean Baptiste and his wife evidently were that rare Acadian couple who had no children of their own, at least none who appear in local church records or who were still alive at the time of Jean Baptiste's death.
Joseph, fils's younger son Basile le jeune married Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Philippe de Saint-Julien de Lachaussée, a surgeon, and his third wife Rose Bourgeois, at the St.-Jacques de Cabahannocer church in May 1792. In the 1810s, they also moved from St. James Parish to upper Bayou Lafourche, creating a third center of Prejean family settlement. Their children, born at Cabahannocer/St. James, included Valéry, also called Jean-Valéry, in April 1793; Célestine, perhaps also Céleste, in March 1795; another Célestine, perhaps Céleste-Azélie or Azélie-Céleste, in January 1797; Eugène in February 1799; Louis-Saintville, called Saintville, in May 1802; Pierre Arsène, called Arsène, in February 1804; Charles Ursin, called Ursin, in c1805 or 1806 and baptized at the St. James church, age 2, in January 1808; Constance Rosalie born in April 1810; and Clémence Rosalie or Rosaline in c1814--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1793 and 1814. Basile le jeune's succession inventory, calling his wife Rosalie Lachosse, was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in June 1818. He would have been in his late 40s that year. In July 1818, his older brother Jean Baptiste, who had no children of his own, was named "curator" of Basile le jeune's minor children. Daughters Céleste, Céleste Azélie or Azélie Céleste, Constance, and Clémence Rosalie married into the Naquin, Hébert, Boyer, and Bernard families. All five of Basile le jeune's sons married, and four of them created family lines that endured. Most of Basile le jeune's descendants remained in Lafourche Interior Parish, but some of them settled up bayou in Assumption Parish, and others settled briefly in Terrebonne Parish near Houma and Chacahoula.
Oldest son Valéry married Marie Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre LeBlanc and Anne Boudreaux, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1812. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Basile le jeune, also called Valsin, in May 1813; Marcellite Émilie in July 1815; Gelase or Gerasin Arsène, called Arsène, in June 1818; Valéry, fils in January 1820; Louis in February 1822 but died at age 3 1/2 in December 1825; Caroline Constance born in February 1824; Ludin or Lubin, also called Aubin, in August 1826; Armogène or Hermogène Victor, called Victor, in August 1832; Marie Anaïse, called Anaïse, in March 1833; Théophile, perhaps also called Jean, in c1834; Marie Florisca, called Florisca, in May 1835; Marie Florestine in June 1839 but died at age 5 1/2 in October 1844; and Marie born in c1840 but died at age 1 1/2 in May 1841--13 children, seven sons and six daughters, between 1813 and 1840. Valéry died in Lafourche Interior Parish in April 1849. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Valéry died "at age 58 yrs." He was 56. In December 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted 10 slaves--two males and eight females, all black, ranging in age from 30 to 2--on Widow Valéry Prejent's farm along Bayou Lafourche; these were Marie Josèphe LeBlanc's slaves. Daughters Marcellite, Marie Anaïse, Caroline, and Florisca married into the Ayo, Naquin, and Portier families, including two Ayo brothers, by 1870. Five of Valéry's remaining sons also married. Two of the sons lived briefly in Terrebonne Parish, but the others remained in Lafourche Interior Parish.
Oldest son Basile or Valsin married Élisabeth Evéline, called Evéline, daughter of fellow Acadians Ambroise Naquin le jeune and Carmélite Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church in January 1845. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Odilia or Odile, called Odile, in February 1848; Bazile Léon, called Léon, in January 1846; Julie Eliska in September 1850 but, called Julie, died at age 1 1/2 in December 1851; Marie Élise born in October 1852 but, called Élise, died "during [a] yellow fever epidemic" in Lafourche Parish, age 10 months, in September 1853; Zulma Eve born in August 1854; Valsin Pierre in September 1856; Paul Léonie in July 1861; Eugénie Louise in February 1864; and Philomène Cécile in September 1869--nine children, six daughters and three sons, between 1848 and 1869. Basile died in Lafourche Parish in November 1869. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Bazile, as he called him, died "at age 55 yrs." Valisn/Basile le jeune would have been age 56. Daughter Odile married into the Lesage family by 1870. One of Basile's sons also married by then.
Oldest son Léon married Ovilia, daughter of fellow Acadian Paulin Barrilleaux and his Creole wife Pauline Friou, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1867; the marriage was recorded also in Lafourche Parish. Their son Joseph Léonce Oville was born near Labadieville in August 1868; ...
Valéry's second son Gerasin Arsène, called Arsène, married first cousin Pauline Élodie, called Élodie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Naquin and Céleste Prejean, his uncle and aunt, at the Thibodaux church in June 1845. They also settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche parishes. Their children, born there, included Pauline Amélie in July 1846; Jean Jerasime or Gerasin in May 1848; Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, in February 1850; and Gustave Aubin in March 1852--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1846 and 1852. Gerasin, called Arsène by the Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial and gave no parents' names or mention a wife, died in Lafourche Interior Parish "during [a] yellow epidemic" in September 1853, age 35. "Letters of tutorship" for his children, calling him Jerasime Arsène, naming his wife, and listing his children--Amelia, Jerasime, Eulalie, and Octave (Gustave)--were filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in March 1856. Neither of Arsène's daughters married by 1870, but one of his sons did.
Older son Jean Gerasin, also called Jerasime and Zerasime, married Marie or Mary V., daughter of Charles Pontiff and his Acadian wife Marie Richard, at the Thibodaux church in February 1869. ...
Valéry's fifth son Lubin or Aubin married Pauline Joséphine, daughter of Mathurin Ayo and his Acadian wife Rosalie Anne Bourg, at the Thibodaux church in February 1846. They also settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Célina in November 1846 but, called Célina, died at age 1 in December 1847; Paul Justilien born in May 1848; Eve Philomène in November 1848[sic, actually 1849] but, called Philomène Eve, died at age 1 month in December; Marie born in April 1851; and Bazile Claiborne in November 1853. Aubin remarried to Amélie, daughter of Jean Baptiste Kerne and Céleste Vicknair, at the Thibodaux church in August 1860. They settled near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche parishes. Their children, born there, included Jean Baptiste Vincent in July 1861; Marie Joséphine in August 1862; Marie Julie in October 1863; Émelie Cécilia in December 1864; Émile Aubain in September 1868; ... None of Lubin's children married by 1870.
Valéry's sixth son Victor married Clara, daughter of Cyprien Keller and Delphine Trosclair, at the Thibodaux church in February 1858. They lived near the boundary between Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Joseph died, age unrecorded, in January 1859; Joseph Davis born in June 1861; Eve Sidonie in August 1863; Victor Eusèbe in August 1866; Valérir Alice in September 1869; ... During the War of 1861-65, Victor served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment Militia. He was captured at the Battle of Labadieville in October 1862, paroled at Thibodaux a month later, and returned to his family.
Valéry's seventh and youngest son Théophile married Armance, Hermence, or Élisabeth, daughter of Éloi Levert and his Acadian wife Scholastie Robichaux, at the Thibodaux church in April 1856. They also lived near the boundary between Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Sidonia in September 1858; Marie Oceana in May 1861 but, called Oceana, died the following October; Éloi Hector, called Hector, born in January 1863; and Joseph Émile, called Émile, near Chacahoula in January 1865--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1858 and 1865. Théophile died in Lafourche Parish in March 1866, age 33. A petition for his succession inventory, naming his wife and listing his sons, Hector and Émile, and their birth dates, was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in January 1870.
Basile le jeune's second son Eugène married, at age 16 1/2, Émilie dite Mélite, 16 1/2-year-old daughter of Jean Louis Exnicios and Marie Louise Pontiff of St. John the Baptist Parish, at the Plattenville church in January 1816. Two and a half years after his marriage, in July 1818, soon after the death of his father, parish authorities in Lafourche Interior designated Jean Baptiste Prejean, Eugène's paternal uncle, as "curator" for the 19-year-old husband and father, perhaps because Eugène and his wife had not reached their "majority." Eugène and Mélite settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche Interior parishes. Their children, born there, included Azélie in October 1816; Eugène Louis in April 1818; Basile le jeune in July 1822[sic]; Céleste in December 1822[sic]; Éloi Neuville, called Neuville, in August 1824; Marie Lodie or Élodie, called Élodie, in August 1827; Marie in late 1829 but died at age 9 months in August 1830; Marie Audile or Odile, called Odile, born in June 1832; Delphine Zéolide in October 1834; Rosalie Armelise in December 1837; and Édouard in October 1839--11 children, seven children and four sons, between 1816 and 1839. Eugène died in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1841. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Eugène died "at age 32 yrs." He was 42. Daughters Azélie, Élodie, Odile, Rosalie, and Delphine married into the Hébert, Trosclair, Fremin, and Usé families, two of them, Élodie and Delphine, to the same Trosclair, by 1870. Three of Eugène's sons also married by then. Most of them settled up bayou in Assumption Parish.
Oldest son Eugène Louis married Marie, daughter of Michael Kelly and Joséphine Waise, at the Thibodaux church in July 1850. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Assumption and Lafourche parishes. Their children, born there, included a son, name unrecorded, died near Labadieville a day after his birth in August 1852; Émelie born in June 1854; Elfida Joséphine in January 1860; Louise Eve in October 1866; Adam Silvère in September 1868; ... None of Eugène Louis's children married by 1870. By the 1880s, he and his family had settled near Larose on lower Bayou Lafourche.
Eugène's third son Éloi Neuville, called Neuville, married fellow Acadian Élise Boudreaux probably in Assumption Parish in the late 1840s. Their children, born on the upper Lafourche, included Lisa Elmire in December 1850 near Labadieville; Émile in February 1852; Joseph Alfred in December 1853; Marie Philomène in January 1857; Roséma Élisa in September 1866; ... None of Neuville's children married by 1870.
During the war, Eugène's fourth son Édouard served in Company C of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Édouard married Marguerite, daughter fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Boudreaux and Marie Boudreaux, at the Labadieville church in April 1864. Their children, born near Labadieville, included Marie Malvina in December 1865; Émilie Lenda in March 1868; Sylvany in May 1870; ...
Basile le jeune's third son Louis Saintville, called Saintville, at age 16 (the record says 17) in July 1818, soon after the death of his father, was assigned a "curator," his paternal uncle Jean Baptiste Prejean, by authorities in Lafourche Interior Parish. At age 23, Saintville married Marie Élisabeth, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Richard and Élisabeth Melançon of Convent, St. James Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in April 1825. Saintville died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1844. The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that "Cinville," as he called him, died "at age 44." He was 42. Did he and his wife have any children? If not, his line of the family died with him.
Basile le jeune's fourth son Pierre Arsène, called Arsène, at age 14 1/2 in July 1818, soon after the death of his father, was assigned a "curator," his paternal uncle Jean Baptiste Prejean, by authorities in Lafourche Interior Parish. Pierre Arsène, at age 20, married Marie Carmélite, called Carmélite, 20-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Eustache Carret and Marie Adélaïde Boudreaux, at the Thibodauxville church in May 1824. Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Pierre Eugère or Ulgère, called Ulgère, in February 1826; Rosalie, perhaps also called Zulma or Zulema, in April 1828; Marie Rosalie, called Rosa, in March 1830 but died at age 1 1/2 in January 1832; Clémance Carmélite born in May 1832; Joseph Télésphor or Télésphore, called Télésphore, in August 1834; Marie Miolitte, perhaps called Mathilde, in December 1836; Clotinne Aima, perhaps also called Irma, in June 1839; Marie Émée, called Émée and Émelie, in May 1842; and Élisabeth in November 1844--nine children, two sons and seven daughters, between 1826 and 1844. Pierre Arsène died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1852, age 48 (the recording priest said 49). A "Decree for family meeting," calling him Pierre Arcène, his wife Carmélite Corret or Carrette, and listing his children--Ulgère, Zulma, Émilie, Télésphore, Mathilde, Irma, Émée, and Oceanna--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse the following May. Daughters Zulma, Mathilde, and Émelie married into the Kerne, Robichaux, and Boudreaux families by 1870. One of Arsène's sons also married by then.
Older son Ulgère married Carmélite Aurelie, called Aurelie, 18-year-old daughter of Jean Baptiste Kerne and Marie Céleste Vicknair, at the Thibodaux church in June 1846; Carmélite's brother Cyprien was the husband of Ulgère's sister Zulma. Ulgère and Aurelie settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Edmire in June 1847; Elphége Ludgère in December 1849; Joséphine in March 1851; Joseph Octave in May 1852; Cordillia Amilia in December 1853; Sylvère Jean in April 1855; Jumilia in March 1857; Philippe Abel in April 1859; Élisabeth in June 1861; Arthur Augustin in May 1868; ... None of Ulgère's children married by 1870.
Basile le jeune's fifth and youngest son Charles Ursin, called Ursin, married Marie, also called Eurasie, daughter of Joseph Levert and his Acadian wife Anne Comeaux of St. James Parish, at the Thibodauxville church in March 1829. They settled on the upper Lafourche near the boundary between Lafourche Interior and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Rosalie Ursanie, called Marie Ursanie and Ursanie, in January 1830; Jean Baptiste Elfége in August 1831 but died at age 1 in October 1832; Urbin Auguste, called Auguste, born in November 1833; Rosalie Camela in March 1836 but, called Émilia, died at age 5 in May 1841; Marie Aimée born in March 1838 but, called Marie Émée, died at age 11 in April 1849; Constance Aurelia or Aurélie born in September 1840 but died at age 8 1/2 in April 1849; Marie Eulalie, called Eulalie, born in September 1842; and Alexandre Éloi Léo in February 1845 but, called Léa, probably Léo, died at age 13 1/2 (the recording priest said 12) in September 1858--eight children, five daughters and three sons, between 1830 and 1845. In September 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted two slaves--a 33-year-old mulatto female, and a 7-year-old mulatto male--on Ursin Prejean's farm in the parish's Sixth Ward. Daughters Marie Ursanie and Eulalie married Boudreaux brothers by 1870. One of Ursin's sons also married by then.
Second son Auguste married Ursinie or Ursuline, daughter of fellow Acadians Rosémond Boudreaux and Carmélite Landry, at the Thibodaux church in September 1856. They settled on the upper bayou near the boundary between Lafourche and Assumption parishes. Their children, born there, included Marie Ursinie in September 1857 but, called Ursenie, died at age 11 1/2 in February 1869; Juliette Alice born in January 1860; Augusta in March 1862 but, called Augustave, died at age 1 1/2 in November 1863; Arthur Clairfait born in February 1864; Alphonse Gustave in August 1866; Thérèse Philomène in October 1868; ...
Charles (c1735-1805) à Jean dit Le Breton Préjean
Charles, third son of Joseph Préjean and Marie-Louise Comeau, brother of Amand and Joseph, fils, born probably at Chepoudy in c1735, followed his family to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, where he was counted with them in October 1762. Charles married Marguerite Richard perhaps at Fort Edward soon after the counting. In 1765, they followed his three brothers from Halifax to Louisiana. Marguerite was pregnant on the voyage. Son Charles-Amand was born at New Orleans in late November 1765 and baptized there two days later. They were still in the city in early February 1766, when their marriage was "rehabilitated" and blessed by a St.-Louis Parish priest. From the city, Charles and his family followed his brothers to Cabahannocer, where Spanish authorities counted them on the right, or west, bank of the river in April 1766 and September 1769. In August 1770 and April 1777, they were living on the west bank of the river at nearby Ascension. In the late 1770s, Charles and Marguerite followed his oldest brother Amand to the Attakapas District, where Spanish authorities counted them in April 1781. They settled at Côte Gelée east of Bayou Teche and south of where older brother Amand had settled. Marguerite gave Charles more children in the colony, including Marie born probably on the river in c1766 but died in Lafayette Parish, "at age about 58 ... of 'la maladie de l'arme' (the sickness of tears or sorrow)," in April 1824; Amable born in c1768 or 1769 but died at Attakapas, age 18, in December 1787; Simon-Pierre born in December 1773 but died in Lafayette Parish, age 58 (the recording priest said 55), in September 1832; Madeleine born in October 1775; Rosalie on the river or the prairies in c1780; Célestin at Attakapas in September 1782; Anastasie in November 1784; and Telence, perhaps Terence, in c1787 but, called Telense, died in Lafayette Parish, age 60, in January 1847--nine children, five sons and four daughters, between 1765 and 1787. Charles died at Côte Gelée in November 1805. The Attakapas priest who recorded the burial said that Charles was age 72 when he died. He may have been closer to 70. Daughters Madeleine, Rosalie, and Anastasie married into the Sauluise or Solle, Eaten, Comeaux, and Taylor families on the prairies, one of them twice. One of Charles's also sons married, but his line did not endure.
Fourth son Célestin married Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Landry and Marie Melançon of Côte Gelée, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in August 1809. They settled at Côte Gelée. Their children, born there, included Marie Mélanie in May 1810; Marie Uranie, called Uranie and Euranie, in August 1812; Euphémie in January 1815; and Marie Céleste, called Céleste, in August 1817--four children, all daughters, between 1810 and 1817. Célestin died in Lafayette Parish in September 1847. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Célestin died "at age 74 yrs." He was 65. Daughters Marie Mélanie, Euphémie, Uranie, and Céleste, married into the Melançon, Duhon, Landry, and Campbell families. Célestin evidently fathered no sons, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.
Basile (c1744-1823) à Jean dit Le Breton Préjean
Basile, also called Pierre, sixth and youngest son of Joseph Préjean and Marie-Louise Comeau, brother of Amand et al., born probably at Chepoudy in c1744, followed his family to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore and into imprisonment at Fort Edward, Pigiguit, with an older brother. He followed his three brothers from Halifax to Louisiana in 1765 and settled with them at Cabahannocer, where he was counted on the right, or west, bank of the river in April 1766. He married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean-Baptiste Godin dit Lincour and Anastasie Bourg and widow of Pierre Arseneau, at Cabahannocer in c1768. Marie-Josèphe, a native of St.-Anne-du-Pay-Bas on lower Rivière St.-Jean, also came to the colony from Halifax, with her first husband, in 1765. She and Basile settled first at Cabahannocer, where Spanish authorities counted them on the west bank of the river in September 1769, and then on the same bank farther up at Ascension, where Basile was jailed for three days as punishment for assault against a Creole neighbor in February 1774. Spanish officials counted them still on the right, or west, bank of the river at Ascension in April 1777, next to his older brother Charles. When older brothers Amand and Charles left for the southwest prairies soon after, Basile and his family remained on the river. His and Marie-Josèphe's children, born there, included Louise in c1770; Eléonore baptized at the Ascension church, age unrecorded, in October 1770; Louis born in January 1773; Antoine-Célestin or Célestin-Antoine in September 1777; Émilienne or Émilie baptized, age unrecorded, in February 1780; and Constance born in the 1780s or 1790s--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1770 and 1780. Basile died in Ascension Parish in January 1823. The priest who recorded the burial said that Basile was age 90 when he died. He probably was closer to 80. Daughters Éléonore, Émilie, and Constance married into the Thibodeaux, Himel, and Rinton families, and one of them joined her kin on the western prairies. One of Basile's sons married, but his line did not endure. This line of the family, then, except perhaps for its blood, did not take root in the Bayou State.
Younger son Antoine-Célestin or Célestin-Antoine married cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marguerite Gaudin, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in April 1812. Célestin Antoine died in St. James Parish in September 1822. The priest who recorded the burial said that Célestin was age 40 when he died. He was 45. He and wife may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children, so his line of the family died with him.
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The last Acadian Préjean to come to Louisiana--an elderly wife, her French-born husband, and four children--reached New Orleans from Haiti via Cuba in the early 1800s and joined her cousins on the western prairies. She died "at the home of Joseph Sorel on lower Bayou Thyche (Teche)" in February 1813, age 72, and was buried "in the parish cemetery."
Jean-Jacques, called Jacques, LePrince, born in c1646, probably in France, may have been serving in the household of notary Séverin Ameau at Trois-Rivières at the time of the Canadian census of 1666. He moved to Port-Royal and married Marguerite, daughter of Étienne Hébert and Marie Gaudet, in c1671, the year of the first Acadian census. Acadian genealogist Stephen A. Whites says Jacques and Marguerite were not counted in the first census because they probably "lived at a place that was far removed from the rest of the [Hébert] family." In the late 1680s or early 1690s, Jacques and his family moved to the new Acadian settlement of Pigiguit in the Minas Basin, where he died in either 1692 or 1693, in his mid-40s. Between 1678 and 1692, Marguerite gave Jacques six children, two daughters and four sons, including a set of twins. Their daughters married into the Rivet, Tillard, and Hébert families. Three of their sons also married, into the Benoit, Trahan, and Blanchard families. In 1755, descendants of Jacques LePrince could be found at Annapolis Royal, formerly Port-Royal; Pigiguit; and on Île St.-Jean. Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther.
In the fall of 1755, British and New-English soldiers herded members of the family remaining at Pigiguit onto transports bound for Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The Acadians sent to Virginia, including several Leprince families, endured a fate even worse than other Acadians deported from the Minas settlements. The colony's governor, Robert Dinwiddie, refused to allow the hundreds of Acadians sent to him to remain in the colony. Exiles died on the filthy, crowded ships anchored in Hampton Roads while Virginia authorities pondered their fate. As winter approached, the governor ordered Acadians from one vessel to be moved up to Richmond, two of the vessels unloaded at Hampton, and two more at Norfolk. The following spring, the governor, his council, and the colony's Burgesses made their decision ... the "papists" must go! In May, the first shipment of Acadians left for England, and in two weeks all of the rest of them had gone. Their ordeal only worsened in the English ports, where they were herded into warhouses and where many of them died of smallpox. The Leprinces were held at Liverpool, where one of the family heads died a few years later.
Members of the family at Annapolis Royal, along with most of the Acadians there, escaped the British roundup in the fall of 1755. After a hard winter on the Fundy shore, they crossed the bay to Chepoudy the following spring and took refuge on the upper Petitcoudiac or on lower Rivière St.-Jean, from which some of them moved on to Canada via the St.-Jean portage. A Leprince died probably in Canada in 1756, among the first Acadian refugees to go there. His widow and their children settled with other exiles at Bécancour on the upper St. Lawrence across from Trois-Rivières, completing the circle, one might say, of the family's time in North America. Another Annapolis Royal Leprince married at Ste.-Croix-de-Lotbinière on the uppper St. Lawrence between Québec and Trois-Rivières in October 1761. Other members of the family settled near their cousins at Bécancour.
When the British rounded up the Acadians in Nova Scotia in the fall of 1755, Leprinces on Île St.-Jean, living in territory controlled by France, escaped the fate of their kinsmen at Pigiguit and Annapolis Royal. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the redcoats rounded up most of the habitants on Île St.-Jean and deported them to France. The crossing to St.-Malo destroyed at least one Leprince family from Pointe-Prime: they all perished aboard the transport Duke William, which left Chédabouctou Bay in late November in a 12-ship convoy, but, along with another transport, sank in a mid-December storm off the southwest coast of England.
Most of the island Leprinces landed at the northern fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in Picardie before moving on to other French ports, including Rochefort and La Rochelle on the Bay of Biscay, and St.-Malo in Brittany. In the spring of 1763, after prolonged negotiations between the French and British governments, the Acadians in England were repatriated to France. Several Leprince families from England landed at Morlaix in northwest Brittany and remained there. None followed their fellow exiles from England to recently-liberated Belle-Île-en-Mer off the southern coast of Brittany. In 1764, two Leprince sisters and their families went with other Acadians to a new French colony of Guiane on the northeastern coast of South America, but they returned to Rochefort in 1765. In 1773, a Leprince couple, still at Rochefort, became part of the major settlement venture near the city of Châtellerault in the interior of Poitou. After two years of effort, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians from Châtellerault down the Vienne and the Loire to the port of Nantes. A son was born at nearby Chantenay in January 1777 but died there a year and a half later. In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana. A Leprince still at Morlaix, his wife, two daughters, one of them married, a seven-year-old granddaughter, and three nieces, one of them a widow, likely aware that two of their Leprince kinsmen had settled in Louisiana 18 years earlier, agreed to go to the Spanish colony. They were compelled to travel from Morlaix, where they had lived for 22 years, and catch one of the transports headed for Louisiana at Paimboeuf, the lower port of Nantes. Most of the Acadian Leprinces still in France, however, chose to remain. The decision proved fatal for at least one of them. On 1 July 1794, during the Reign of Terror, a younger sister of the Leprince who went to Louisiana, now the widow of Sylvain LeBlanc of Pigiguit, along with her daughter Anastasie, a nun, were guillotined by Revolutionaries at Brest in western Brittany for having sheltered a priest. One wonders if her brother, then living on upper Bayou Lafourche, ever learned of his sister's fate.
In North America at war's end, Acadians being held in the seaboard colonies, theoretically, were free to go, but not until the British discerned their intentions. Even then, colonial authorities discouraged repatriation. Members of the family nevertheless appeared on French repatriation lists compiled in several colonies, including Pennsylvania, where a Leprince, his wife, and their nine children were still living in June 1763. Soon after the counting, they left Pennsylvania and moved north, first to Boston in 1764 and then to Connecticut, where the family head remarried in c1764. In 1767, he and his family followed other exiles in New England to Bécancour on the upper St. Lawrence, where Leprince cousins from Annapolis Royal had lived for years. Though now also a British possession, the far-northern province was populated largely by fellow French Catholics, many of them Acadian exiles. So, in a colony nearly as old as Acadia, descendants of Jacques LePrince of Trois-Rivières, Port-Royal, and Pigiguit began the slow, inexorable process of becoming Canadiennes. From the late 1760s, members of the family, some of them now calling themselves Prince, could be found on the upper St. Lawrence not only at Bécancour, but also at Nicolet, St.-Grégoire, Trois-Rivières, Yamachiche, Lotbinière, and St.-Jacques de l'Achigan north of Montréal; and in the lower Richelieu valley at L'Acadie east of Montréal. An Acadian Prince married at La Baie on the Saguenay River north of Québec City in 1812. Later in the 1800s, Princes moved away from the upper St. Lawrence into the southern interior of Québec Province, where they settled at St.-Calixte-de-Somerset now Plessisville, and at St.-Hyacinthe on RivièreYamaska. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and, until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, may even have forgotten the others existed.
After the war, at least one Leprince in the seaboard colonies emigrated not to Canada, where the British ruled, but to the French Antilles, where they did not. While the end-of-war treaty was being negotiated, French officials encouraged exiles in the British colonies to resettle in St.-Dominique. Although driven from North America by the Seven Years' War, the French were determined to hang on to what was left of their shrinking colonial empire. A new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the northwest end of the big island would protect the approaches to their remaining possessions in the Caribbean basin and assist in the "war of revenge" to come. Exiles lured to St.-Domingue would prove a ready source of labor not only for the naval contractors, but also for the island's wealthy planters, who hoped to supplement the work of their slaves. To sweeten the deal, the French promised the Acadians land of their own in the sugar colony. A Leprince from l'Assomption, Pigiguit, who had been exiled to Pennsylvania, married a Mr. Favreau, matelassier, or mattress stuffer, probably in St.-Domingue and died at La Trou, today's Trou-de-Nord, southeast of Cap-Français, now Cap-Haitien, in June 1785, age unrecorded.
Acadians still in Maryland at war's end endured life among Englishmen who, despite their colony's Catholic roots, did not care much for the French "papists" thrust upon them. By July 1763, the Leprince and his wife who had been sent there were dead, but their daughter and son were, according to a repatriation list, living with relatives at Upper Marlborough in the colony's interior. When word reached the Acadians in Maryland that the Spanish would welcome them in Louisiana, the Leprince siblings prepared to join their kinsmen for the voyage to New Orleans. They arrived in the city in July 1767, ages 14 and 11--the first descendants of Jacques LePrince to settle in Louisiana.
Leprinces settled early in Acadia, and some came early to Louisiana. They came in two waves, the first from Maryland in 1767, the second from France in 1785. Only two of the eight members of the family who came to the colony were males. Joseph Leprince was just a boy, and an orphan, when he arrived from Maryland with his older sister Marguerite. Spanish authorities placed them with other Maryland arrivals that year in the new Acadian settlement of San Gabriel on the river above New Orleans on what was being called the upper Acadian Coast, but they did not remain. In the late 1760s or early 1770s, the siblings moved to Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche, where Marguerite married a Bonin from Alabama. Joseph married a sister of his brother-in-law. Most of Joseph's descendants remained at Fausse Pointe (their corner of St. Martin Parish became a part of Iberia Parish in 1868). However, by the 1850s, one of Joseph's grandsons moved his family down bayou to St. Mary Parish. The other male Leprince was Joseph's uncle Tranquille, who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 with his wife and two grown daughters. Tranquille was age 63, and his wife, a Bourg, age 57, when they reached the colony. Needless to say, they had no more children there, so the Acadian Princes of South Louisiana are descended from nephew Joseph of Fausse Pointe.
Non-Acadian LePrinces and Princes settled at New Orleans and in predominantly-Acadian communities outside the city, including the Acadian Coast and the old Attakapas District, during the late colonial and antebellum periods. Some of them may have created families of their own, but none approached the fecundity of the Acadian Princes on Bayou Teche.
Some of Joseph Prince's descendants fared well enough to hold slaves in the lower Teche valley during the late antebellum period. Dorestan, one of Joseph's grandsons, held 15 slaves on his St. Martin Parish farm in the summer of 1860, and a cousin, François, held eight bondsmen on his farm in St. Mary Parish that year. Other members of the family held no slaves at all, at least none who appeared on the federal slave schedules of the late antebellum period.
Records show that only two Acadian Princes served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65. Joseph's grandson Louis may have served in a volunteer cavalry company, and great-grandson Dorce was a St. Martin Parish conscript who may not have served in an organized Confederate unit. Their relatives who remained at home, however, did not escape the ravages of the conflict. Federal armies marched through the Teche country three times in 1863 and 1864, and, with their neighbors, Princes endured the pillaging and plundering that accompanied these marches, as well as depredations at the hands of Confederate foragers who plagued the area when the Yankees were not around. Emancipation followed the Federal armies, with its resulting economic and social turmoil. ...
In Louisiana, the Acadian family's name quickly evolved from Leprince to Prince, as was the case with their cousins in Canada. The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Brens, Pince, Prens.33
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The first of the family--a sister and a brother--reached the colony from Maryland in July 1767, lived for a time on the river, and moved on the western prairies. A vigorous family line came of it there:
Joseph (c1756-1793) à Antoine à Jacques LePrince/Prince
Joseph, son of Olivier Leprince and Marguerite Boudrot of l'Assomption, Pigiguit, born in Maryland in c1756, was living with his older sister Marguerite at Upper Marlborough, Maryland, in July 1763, and, while still very young, followed her to Spanish Louisiana in 1767. They were sent with other Maryland exiles to San Gabriel on the river above New Orleans, but they did not remain there. Joseph, in his early 20s, married Madeleine, daughter of Allibamonts Antoine Bonin dit Dauphine and Marie Tellier of Mobile and sister of his sister Marguerite's husband Jean-Louis, at Attakapas in c1779. They settled near her family at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche. Their children, born there, included Antoine in June 1781; François in January 1783; Joseph, fils in February 1785; and Joseph-Antoine in July 1786 but may have died at age 70 in January 1856--four children, all sons, between 1781 and 1786. Joseph, père died at Fausse Pointe in April 1793, age 37. Widow Madeleine remarried to Frenchman Marie-François-Robson Goivreaut dit Manceaux of St.-Lucie, Maine, at Attakapas in May 1796. The Acadian Princes of South Louisiana descend from three of her and Joseph's sons.
Oldest son Antoine married Susanne dite Susette, daughter of fellow Acadians François Louvière and Marie Louise Thibodeaux of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1807. Their children, born at Fausse Pointe, included François, called François Dorestan and Dorestan, in November 1808; Madeleine in December 1810; Susanne, also called Susanne Amelia and Amelia, in January 1818; Antoine, fils in June 1820; Pierre in June 1822; Derneville in c1825; and Vileor born perhaps in the 1830s--seven children, five sons and two daughters, between 1808 and the 1830s. Antoine, père served as tutor to orphan Marie Guyale of Baton Rouge, who married Pierre, son of Pierre LeBlanc and Anastasie Louvière, in March 1815. Antoine, père died at Fausse Pointe in April 1836, age 55. His succession, naming his wife, was not filed at the St. Martinville courthouse until November 1841. Daughter Susanne Amelia married into the Broussard and Ranconnet families by 1870. At least two of Antoine's sons also married, one of them after 1870.
Oldest son François Dorestan, called Dorestan, married cousin Eméranthe or Eméroude Zulma, daughter of Jean Baptiste Bonin and his Acadian wife Anastasie Broussard, at the St. Martinville church in June 1834. Their children, born at Fausse Pointe, included Emérande, also called Emérande Odile, in April 1835; Marie Anastasie, called Anastasie, in March 1837; Clémence, perhaps also called Eusèïde, in November 1840; François Dorcet or Dorce, called Dorce, in March 1843; Joseph le jeune in April 1846; and Philomène died at age 8 months in October 1847--six children, four daughters and two sons, between 1835 and 1847. In November 1850, the census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a dozen slaves--11 blacks and one mulatto, six males and six females, ranging in age from 40 to 1--on Dorestan Prince's farm at Fausse Pointe. A succession for wife Eméranthe, naming her husband, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in May 1851. Dorestan did not remarry. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 15 slaves--12 blacks and three mulattoes, eight males and seven females, ages 55 to 2--on Dorestan Prince's farm. Daughters Eméraude Odille, Anastasie, and Eusèïse married into the Gonsoulin, Dugas, and Broussard families by 1870. Dorestan's two sons also married by then, to sisters, one of them after he completed his Confederate service.
During the War of 1861-65, older son Dorce was conscripted into King's Battery of Artillery, formerly the St. Martin Rangers, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Louisiana. He survived the war, returned to his family, and married cousin Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadians Édouard Bélisaire Broussard and Marie Emélite Broussard, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in July 1866. Their children, born at Fausse Pointe, included Marie Rosa in October 1868; Édouard near Loreauville, Iberia Parish, on upper Fausse Pointe, in July 1870 but died at age 1 in August 1871; Joseph Eugène born in February 1872; Charles in August 1879; Jean Joseph Sylvio in March 1881. Dorce died near Loreauville in December 1890, age 47. Dorce's daughters married into the Barras, Gonsoulin, and Molbert families after 1870.
Dorestan's younger son Joseph le jeune married cousin Louise or Louisa, another daughter of Édouard Bélisaire Broussard and Marie Emélite Broussard, at the New Iberia church in April 1868. Their children, born near Loreauville, included Joseph Ozaire in January 1869; Eusèïde in July 1870; Léon in November 1873; Jean Derneville, called Derneville, in January 1876 but died at age 11 months the following December; Octave le jeune born in December 1877; François Sydney in September 1880; Joseph Dorestan, called Dorestan, in September 1882; Joseph Junius in March 1887; Wilfrid Pierre in May 1893. Joseph's daughters married into the Chataignier and Oubre families after 1870.
In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--a 14-year-old male mulatto--on Antoine's fourth son Derneville Prince's farm at Fausse Pointe. He died in October 1855, age 30. He evidently did not marry.
In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted two slaves--a 10-year-old female and an 8-year-old male, both black--on Antoine's fifth and youngest son Vilear Prince's farm at Fausse Pointe. Vileor, perhaps in his late 30s, married Caroline Léonie, yet another daughter of Édouard Bélisaire Broussard and Marie Emélite Broussard, at the New Iberia church in August 1872.
Joseph's second son François married Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Amédée Savoie and Victoire Bourgeois of Lafourche and Fausse Pointe, at Attakapas in December 1806. Their children, born at Fausse Pointe, included Francois, fils in December 1808; Madeleine in the late 1800s; Marie in September 1812; Antoine le jeune in May 1815 but died at age 6 1/2 in December 1821; Susanne born in June 1817; Louis, also called Camille, in October 1819; Eléonore in the early 1820s; Louise in January 1822 but died at age 2 1/2 in July 1824; twins Rosalie or Asélie and Isabelle born in May 1824, but Rosalie, called Asélie, died at age 14 months in July 1825; Victoire Césalie or Sidalise born in June 1826; and a son, name unrecorded, died at birth in October 1834--a dozen children, four sons and eight daughters, including a set of twins, between 1808 and 1834. François died at Fausse Pointe in February 1852. The New Iberia priest who recorded the burial said that François was age 58 when he died. He was 69. Daughters Madeleine, Susanne, Eléonore, and Victoire Sidalise married into the Auger, Broussard, Vaughn, and Louvière families by 1870. François's remaining sons also married by then.
Oldest son Francois, fils married Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Raphaël Broussard and Modeste LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church in January 1833. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Rosalie Phanelia in February 1835; Marie Ophelia in c1849 and baptized at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, age 28, in February 1877; and Eugène born probably in St. Mary Parish in c1852 and baptized at the Charenton church, age 25, in March 1877--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1835 and 1852. In December 1850, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted four slaves--all black, three males and a female, ranging in age from 50 to 20--on François Prince's farm; this probably was François, fils. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted eight slaves--five males and three females, ages 70 to 5--on François Prince's farm in the parish's western district. François, fils's daughters married into the Derise and Havane families after 1870. François, fils's son evidently also married after that date.
François, père's third son Louis, also called Camille, married fellow Acadian Aurelie Granger, place and date unrecorded. Their children, born on the lower Teche, included Marie in 1851 and baptized at the New Iberia church, age 9 months, in August 1852; and Octave born probably in St. Mary Parish in the 1850s. During the war, Louis may have served in Company C of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Natchitoches Parish, which fought in Louisiana. Louis was a resident of St. Mary Parish when he enlisted in Company C. His military record does not give the place or date of his enlistment, nor his age. It says only that he was paroled at the end of the war, but, again, does not say where or when. If the Louis Prince of the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry was the son of François Prince, père of Fausse Pointe, he would have been age 42 when the war commenced, which made him rather long in the tooth for active military service, especially as a private in the cavalry. His children did not marry by 1870.
Joseph's third son Joseph, fils married Marie Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marie Josèphe Babin, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish on the river, in December 1811 but settled on the Teche. Their children, born at Fausse Pointe, included Clémentine in October 1812 but died at age 23 (the recording priest said 20) in May 1836; Joséphine born in April 1815; Joseph Napoléon in June 1817 but, called Aurelien, died at age 28 in July 1845; a son, name unrecorded, died at birth in July 1819; and Agnès Norbert, called Norbert, born in c1822 and baptized, age 1 1/2, in May 1824--five children, two daughters and three sons, between 1812 and 1822. Joseph, fils died at Fausse Pointe in April 1842. The New Iberia priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 60 when he died. He was 57. His succession, naming his wife, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in June. Daughter Joséphine married into the Dressel family by 1870. One of Joseph, fils's sons also married by then.
Third and youngest son Agnès Norbert, called Norbert, married cousin Julie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Broussard and his Creole wife Julie Bonin, at the New Iberia church in December 1844. Their children, born at Fausse Pointe, included Joseph Despalière, called Despalière, in December 1846; Rosalie in September 1848; Marie in September 1849; Eusèbe in August 1851; Eléonore in August 1855; and Clémence in April 1858--six children, two sons and four daughters, between 1846 and 1858. In November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--an 18-year-old black female--on Norbert Prince's farm. Daughter Marie married into the Boutté family by 1870. Neither of Norbert's sons married by then.
.
Most members of the Leprince family who came to Spanish Louisiana did so 18 years after their cousins from Maryland went there. Five of them crossed on two of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. The first of them--two sisters, one married, the other still single--crossed together on La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-August 1785. They did not follow most of their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche but settled, instead, in the Attakapas District near their cousins already there.
Three more members of the family--an elderly husband, his wife, and their two grown daughters, one married, the other still single--followed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans during the second week of September. They followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, but no new line of the Leprince family came of it:
Tranquille (c1722-1780s or 1790s) à Jacques LePrince/Prince
Tranquille, second son of Antoine Leprince and Anne Trahan, born probably at l'Assomption, Pigiguit, in c1722, married Susanne-Marie-Josèphe Bourg in c1749 probably at l'Assomption. Susanne-Marie gave Tranquille two daughters there: Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, born in c1752; and Isabelle in c1755. The British deported the family to Virginia in the fall of 1755 and sent them on to England the following spring. They were held at Liverpool, repatriated to France in the spring of 1763, and landed at Morlaix in northwest Brittany, where older daughter Marguerite married into the Calegan family in September 1775. The family, including Marguerite and her husband, emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1785 and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche. Tranquille died there by August 1798, in his 60s or 70s, when his wife was called a widow in her burial record. Younger daughter Isabelle lived into her late 70s but never married. Older daughter Marguerite evidently died in Assumption Parish in January 1843. The Plattenville priest who recorded her burial, and who gave no parents' names nor mentioned a husband, said that Marguerite died at age 80. She would have been closer to 90. Tranquille and Susanne-Marie evidently had no sons, at least none who survived childhood, so only the blood of this family line may have endured in the Bayou State.
BOOK ONE: French Acadia
BOOK TWO: British Nova Scotia
BOOK THREE: Families, Migration, and the Acadian "Begats"
BOOK FOUR: The French Maritimes
BOOK FIVE: The Great Upheaval
BOOK SIX: The Acadian Immigrants of Louisiana
BOOK SEVEN: French Louisiana
BOOK EIGHT: A New Acadia
BOOK NINE:
SOURCE NOTES - BOOK TEN-3
01. See AGE, May 2005, 10; Arsenault, Généalogie, 607-09, 2517-19; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; White, DGFA-1, 416, 620-21, 873-75; White, DGFA-1 English, 130, 185; Books One, Three, Five, Six, & Eight; Jeansonne family page; Glen Saucier, family historian.
02. See 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Calcasieu, St. James, & West Baton Rouge parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Calcasieu, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. James, St. Mary, & West Baton Rouge parishes, & Jackson County, Texas; Arsenault, Généalogie, 610, 1007-08, 1195-98, 1660, 2519-20; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Dixon, "Who Owned Last Island?," 431; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 262; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; <islandregister.com/1752.html>; Menn, Large Slaveholders of LA, 1860, 240, 244-45; NOAR, vols. 5, 6, 7; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, Family Nos. 33, 34; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Families No. 72, 181; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 775; White, DGFA-1, 884-90; White, DGFA-1 English, 188-89; Books One, Three, Four, Five, Six, & Eight; Labauve family page.
03. See 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Lafayette Parish; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Lafayette Parish; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1660, 2119, 2520; Brasseaux, ed. Quest for the Promised Land, 54; BRDR, vols. 1b, 2, 3; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vol. 1; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; NOAR, vol. 2; Books Three, Five, Six, & Eight; Lachaussée family page.
04. See 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Assumption, Lafayette, Orleans, Pointe Coupee, & St. Landry parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Ascension, Lafayette, Orleans, Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, & St. Martin parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 611-12; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 1:312; Brasseaux, Foucault and the Rebellion of 1768, 26, 58n3, 77; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Hébert, Acadians in Exile, 269 ; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 2, 3; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vol. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, CD; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249, 253; NOAR, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, "Family" No. 58; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 61; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 101-02; White, DGFA-1, 907-08; White, DGFA-1 English, 192-93; Books One, Three, Four, Five, Six, & Eight; Lalande family page.
05. See Arsenault, Généalogie, 1008, 2028, 2520-21; BRDR, vols. 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Bunnell, French & Native North American Marriages, 66; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:25; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 234; Milling, Exile Without End, 21, 41, 43, 44; NOAR, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, Family No. 49; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Reine_d_Espagne.htm>, Family No. 16; White, DGFA-1, 909-11; White, DGFA-1 English, 193; Books One, Three, Four, Five, Six, & Eight; Lambert family page.
06. See
Arsenault, Généalogie, 448,
612-26, 1009-10, 1198-1215, 1401-11, 1562, 1606-07, 1660, 2241, 2280-81,
2355-56, 2521-35; Eric Beerman, "Victory on
the Mississippi, 1779," transl. & ed. by Gilbert C. Din, in Din, ed., The
Spanish Presence in LA, 199; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 1:316, 2:202; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 1b, 2,
3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Jane B. Chaillot, "Landry, Joseph," in DLB, 480;
Jane B. Chaillot, "Landry, [Jean] Trasimond," in DLB, 481-82;
De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives
1905, 2A:35, 83-84, 97-98,
07. See Arsenault, Généalogie, 628-34, 2535; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 3, 4; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 176, 204, 234-35, 249; White, DGFA-1, 958-60; White, DGFA-1 English, 204; Books One, Three, Five, Six, & Eight; Lanoux family page.
08. See Arsenault, Généalogie, 646-47; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 9; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 281; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vol. 1; Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family Nos. 8, 36; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 66; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 110-11; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 345, 549-52; White, DGFA-1, 981-82; Books Three, Five, & Eight; Lebert family page.
09. See
Arsenault, Généalogie, 647-58, 1216-60, 1411-14,
1564, 1661, 1904, 2243-44, 2282, 2304, 2357-62, 2536-46;
BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5 (rev.), 8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives
1905, 2A:
10. See
11. See Arsenault,
Généalogie, 660-62, 1564-65, 2244-45, 2546-47;
BRDR, vols. 2, 4, 10; De La Roque, "Tour of
Inspection," Canadian Archives
1905, 2A:159-60;
"Fort Cumberland, 24 Aug 1763"; "Fort Edward, 1761-62"; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile,
156, 295-96;
12.
See Arsenault,
Généalogie, 662-64, 1415-19, 1504-05, 2245, 2547-50; Brasseaux,
Founding of New Acadia, 104; Brasseaux, "'Grand Texas,'"
274; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7,
8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque, "Tour
of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:27, 46, 46, 50-52, 112,
117-18, 160-61;
13. See Arsenault, Généalogie, 665-68, 1565-66;
BRDR, vols.
1a(rev.), 2, 3;
14. See Arsenault, Généalogie, 1505-06; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Supply.htm>, Family Nos. 16, 17, 25; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Tamerlan.htm>, Family No. 7; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 559-560, 599-604; White, DGFA-1, 1098-99; White, DGFA-1 English, 236; Books One, Three, Five, Six, & Eight; Longuépée family page.
15. See See 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, St. James, St. Martin, & St. Mary parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, St. James, St. Landry, St. Martin, & St. Mary parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1626-32, 2469-70; BRDR, vols. 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 251; White, DFGA-1, 453-66; White, DGFA-1 English, 100-01; Books One, Two, Three, Five, Six, & Eight; Louvière/Damour family page.
16. See Arsenault,
Généalogie, 673-85, 1013, 2370,
2550-53;
BRDR, vols.
1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque,
"Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:155;
17. See Arsenault, Généalogie,
686, 1261-62;
BRDR, vols.
1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives
1905,
2A:89;
18. See Arsenault, Généalogie, 686-95, 1262-72, 1662,
2246, 2371-73, 2553-57; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3,
4, 5 (rev.), 8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives
1905,
2A:83, 114, 123-26;
The fullness of these family lines compared to other families in this study is due largely to Michael B. Melanson's 1041-page Melanson-Melançon: The Genealogy of an Acadian and Cajun Family--a model of family history/genealogy. The treatment of this family, in fact, is intended to be the standard for all the other family "begats" in Book Ten. Note that the current 1870 cut-off date is pretty much ignored here, a hint that the author hopes to extend the lines of all Acadian/Cajun families in Book Ten to 1900 ... if time, & breath, allow. See the Introduction to the "Synthesis."
19. See
20. See
28. See Arsenault, Généaologie, 769-70, 1273-76, 2249; Booth, LA Confed. Soldiers, 3(2):149; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 2:270, 3:240; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:15-16, 128-29; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 355-56; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 2-A, 5; NOAR, vols. 4, 6; <islandregister.com/1752.html>; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Reine_d_Espagne.htm>; Family No. 11; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No. 153; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 82; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 654-55; White, DGFA-1, 1310-17; White, DGFA-1 English, 279-80; Books One, Three, Four, Five, Six, & Eight; Pinet/Pinel family page.
29. See Arsenault, Généalogie,
726-29, 1276-78, 1507-10, 1566-68, 1663, 2250, 2566-68;
BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.),
2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque, "Tour of
Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:80-82,
85, 114, 121, 124;
30. See
1850 U.S. Federal Census,
Slave Schedules, St. James Parish; 1860
U.S. Federal Census, St. James & East Baton Rouge parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 729, 1031-51, 1663,
2250-52, 2283-84, 2568-69; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2,
3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; <thecajuns.com/cardmoney.htm>; De La Roque, "Tour of
Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:21-22,
96, 105, 154, 157;
31. See
1850 U.S. Federal Census,
Slave Schedules, Lafayette, Orleans, & St. Martin parishes; 1860
U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, St. Landry & St. Martin
parishes; Arsenault,
Généalogie, 1054-57, 2569-70; BRDR,
vols. 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque,
"Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:91-92, 142-43;
"Fort Cumberland, 24 Aug 1763"; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 367-69; Hébert, D.,
South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4;
32. See
See
1850 U.S. Federal Census,
Slave Schedules, Lafayette, Lafourche Interior, & St. Landry parishes; 1860
U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Lafayette, Lafourche, St. Landry,
& Vermilion
parishes; Arsenault,
Généalogie, 733-36, 1568-69, 1663, 2570-73; BRDR, vols.
1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; De La Roque, "Tour of
Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:19, 22;
33. See
1850 U.S. Federal Census,
Slave Schedules, St. Martin & St. Mary parishes; 1860
U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, St. Martin
& St. Mary parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 738-49, 1423-27, 2573-74;