Barthélémy Bergeron dit d'Amboise, a storekeeper-turned-soldier
from Amboise, Indre-et-Loire, France, reached Canada in c1685 and accompanied
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, the future founder of Louisiana colony, on an
expedition to Hudson's Bay during King William's War. In c1695, while
the war was still on, Barthélémy married Geneviève, daughter of Jean Serreau
de Saint-Aubin,
sieur de Passamaquoddy, and Marguerite Boileau and widow of
Jacques Petitpas. They
settled at Port-Royal. During Queen
Anne's War, the English held Barthélemy and his family as prisoners at Boston, but
they were exchanged for English prisoners in September 1706 and allowed to return to Port-Royal.
In 1707, Barthélémy was living on the south bank of Rivière-au-Dauphin, now the
Annapolis River, next to
Abraham Dugas, just below the village at Port-Royal. In the 1730s, the extended family moved to the Rivière St.-Jean valley, where they
pioneered the settlement of Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, now Fredericton, the
capital of today's New Brunswick. Barthélémy and Geneviève's six children, including three sons who created families of their own, were born either in Québec or at Port-Royal.
Their daughter married into the Roy and Godin dit
Bellefontaine dit Beauséjour and dit Bellefeuille
families.
Oldest son Barthélémy dit
d'Amboise, fils,
born at St.-François on Île d'Orleans, Québec, married Marguerite, daughter of Claude Dugas
and Marguerite Bourg, at Annapolis Royal in April 1721 and
moved with his extended family to Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas.
Michel dit
de Nantes, born at Port-Royal in c1702, married four times, his first and third
wives' names lost to history. His second wife was Marie, daughter of Abraham Dugas
and Marie-Madeleine Landry, whom he married probably at
Annapolis Royal in c1727. His fourth wife, whom he married
in c1747
probably at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, was Marie-Jeanne, daughter of Jacques Hébert and
Jeanne Gautrot and widow of Jean Arseneau.
Youngest son Augustin, born at
Port-Royal in c1710, married Marie, another daughter
of Claude Dugas and Marguerite Bourg, probably at
Annapolis Royal in c1730. He and his family also settled at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas.
[For more of this family in pre- and post-disperal Acadia and Canada, see
Book Three]
By 1755, descendants of
Barthélemy Bergeron dit
d'Amboise could be found on Rivière St.-Jean.
~
Pierre, son of Paul Bergeron and
Benoîte Chapagnon of Craponne, Haute-Loire, France, probably
not kin to Barthélemy dit
d'Amboise, was born in France in c1720 and became a merchant. He came to
British Nova Scotia by July 1742, when he married Marie-Anne, daughter of
prominent merchant Nicolas Gauthier dit Bellaire, a promient
merchant, and Marie Allain of Annapolis Royal.
According to genealogist Bona Arsenault, in 1743 and 1745, Marie-Anne gave
Pierre two children, a son and a daughter. The family settled first at
Chignecto and then moved on to Minas in c1745. Pierre died at Minas in
January 1746, age 26. Daughter Marie married a Gauthier at
Rivière-Ouelle, Québec, in c1768 while in exile. One wonders what
happened to their son Maurice. No member of this family emigrated to Louisiana.
LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT
[For the family's travails
during the Great Upheaval, see
Book
Six]
LOUISIANA: WESTERN
SETTLEMENTS
Descendants of Barthélémy Bergeron
dit d'Amboise, père were among the
earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. The first of them reached
New Orleans in February 1765 with
the Broussard dit Beausoleil party from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue,
today's Haiti.
After a brief respite in the city, they followed the Broussards to the Attakapas District, where they helped establish La
Nouvelle-Acadie along the banks of Bayou Teche. But the New Acadia
on Bayou Teche was not kind to them:
Augustin Bergeron, aged 55, youngest son of
Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père, the family's progenitor in
Acadia, came to Louisiana with his wife Marie Dugas, age
54, one of his sons, Jean-Baptiste,
age 35, Jean-Baptiste's wife Catherine
Caissie dit Roger, age 29, and their five
children--Madeleine, age 15, Osite, age 13, Jean-Baptiste, fils, age
11, Charles, age 9, and Joseph, an infant. Catherine was pregnant when
she made the voyage; daughter Marianne was born at Attakapas on the last day
of May. Augustin, Jean-Baptiste, infant son Joseph, and newborn
Marianne died in an epidemic that swept through the Teche valley settlement
during the summer and
fall of
1765. That fall, Jean-Baptiste's widow and her four surviving
children moved to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river to escape the epidemic. They
did not return to the western prairies.
Augustin's nephew Barthélémy Bergeron
III, age 25, Barthélemy III's wife Anne Arceneau, age 20, and their infant son Charles, also
came to the Teche with the Broussard party. Barthélemy III and
Charles died in the epidemic. Anne joined dozens of other Attakapas settlers who retreated to
Cabanocé to escape the sickness. She remarried to a LeBlanc at Cabanocé in 1767.
Augustin's niece Cécile Bergeron,
age 30, her husband Joseph Dugas, and four of their children, ages 14
to infancy, also came to Attakapas with the Broussard party.
Infant daughter Mathilde died at New Orleans soon after the family reached the
colony, and Joseph died in the epidemic. Cécile retreated to the river
that fall. She and her daughters did not return to the western prairies,
but her son did.
Augustin's niece Anne Bergeron,
age 24, her husband Pierre Arseneau, age 34, their year-old daughter,
and her sister-in-law, the widow Bernard, age 39, also came to Attakapas
with the Broussard party. They all survived the epidemic and
retreated to the river. Anne and her family returned to Attakapas by the
1780s. Anne died at Attakapas in March 1804; she was 63 years
old.
Augustin's niece Marie Bergeron,
age 20, came with her husband Joseph Arseneau, age 25. They
survived the epidemic and retreated to the river, where they
stayed.
Judith Bergeron, age 31, came
with husband Jean Arseneau, age 37, and their four sons, ages 18 to
3. They all survived the epidemic and retreated to the river, where they
also stayed.
In the following decades, Acadian Bergerons remained on
the river or moved down to Bayou Lafourche, but none of them returned
to the prairies, where their ancestors had suffered so terribly in
1765. When Bergeron families did
settle in what became St. Martin, St. Landry, and Lafayette parishes during the
late colonial and early antebellum
periods, they were French Creoles from Pointe Coupee or upper Bayou Lafourche,
not descendants of Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père.
~
Other BERGERONs on the
Western Prairies
Local church and civil records
make it difficult to link at least one Bergeron in the western
parishes with known Acadian lines of the family there:
Arthur Bergeron married
Louisa Buteau at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in July 1870.
The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's
parents' names. Was Arthur an Acadian Bergeron who moved from
the Bayou Lafourche/Bayou Terrebonne valley to the lower Teche after the War
of 1861-65?
LOUISIANA: RIVER SETTLEMENTS
The three other sons of Barthélémy dit
d'Amboise Bergeron, fils who came to Louisiana from Halifax in
1765 did not go to Bayou Teche with the Broussards, their uncle Augustin,
their brother Barthélemy III, and their cousins. Arriving on a later
ship, they settled,
instead, at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river above New Orleans where 20
Acadians from Georgia had settled the year before. With them were their
widowed mother and a married sister and her family:
Marguerite Dugas, age 62,
widow of Barthélémy Bergeron dit d'Amboise, fils, came
with unmarried son Germain Bergeron, age 22, who married on the river
but settled on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Marie Dugas, age 54, widow
of Augustin Bergeron, came with two teenaged relatives, sisters Anne-Marie, or Marie-Anne,
called Anne, Bergeron, age
16, and Marie Bergeron, age 15. Anne remained at
St.-Jacques and married into the Hébert and Part
families. Sister Marie also remained on the river and married into the Bourgeois
family. Anne died near Convent, St. James Parish, in June 1813, in
her early 60s.
Jean-Baptiste
Bergeron dit
d'Amboise, age 43, leader of one of the Halifax contingents that
settled at Cabanocé, came with wife Marguerite Bernard, age 35,
and four children--Jean-Baptiste dit d'Amboise, fils, age 15,
Marie-Blanche, age 13, Marin, age 10, and Mathurin, age 8. Jean-Baptiste dit
d'Amboise, père and wife Marguerite had more children in Louisiana but no more sons. They remained
on the river. Their oldest daughter married into the De St.-Germain
family.
Marguerite Bergeron,
age 42, came with husband Bonaventure Godin dit
Bellefontaine of Rivière St.-Jean, age 50, and four children, ages 16 to 9.
They all remained on the river.
Charles Bergeron,
age 37, came with wife Isabelle Arseneau, age 32, and three
children--Simon, age 12, Jean-Théodore, age 3, and Marguerite, age 2.
Charles and Isabelle had no more children in Louisiana. Charles and
Isabelle died at Cabanocé in c1766, soon after coming to the colony; their
children were taken in by relatives. After daughter Marguerite came of age, she moved to the
Attakapas District and married into the Melançon family. Only Charles's
younger son, Jean-Théodore, created a family of his own, settling first on the river
and then on upper Bayou Lafourche.
Marie-Anne Bergeron, age 36,
widow of Alexandre Godin dit Lincour, came with four children,
ages 14 to 6. They remained on the river. Marie may have
remarried to Canadian François Antaya at St.-Jacques in September
1787, in her late 50s.
Geneviève Bergeron,
age 35, widow of Jean-Baptiste D'Amours dit de Louvière,
came with six children, ages 15 to infancy. Three of her children, two
sons and a daughter, moved to the western prairies, but her other children
remained with her on the river.
.
Later in the year, in the wake of
the epidemic that struck the Acadians along the Teche, Bergerons from
the Attakapas District fled to the river:
Catherine Caissie
dit Roger, widow of Jean-Baptiste Bergeron, père,
brought her surviving children, Madeleine, Osite, Jean-Baptiste fils,
and Charles, from Attakapas to Cabanocé. Daughter Osite remained on the
river. Daughter Madeleine, who married Frenchman Étienne Renauld
at New Orleans in May 1768, except for a brief time on Bayou Lafourche,
settled at New Orleans. Both of her brothers settled along
the Lafourche.
Cécile Bergeron lost her
husband Joseph Dugas and infant daughter Mathilde in their first year
in the colony. Cécile took her three surviving daughters to the river,
where she remarried twice, first to Nicolas, son of Christophe Lahure
of Longwy, Lorraine, France, at New Orleans in March 1767, and then to Pierre,
son of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Bernard, at St.-Jacques in June
1770. Cécile died in James Parish in August 1814; the priest who
recorded her burial said that she died at age 85, but she
probably was in her late 70s.
Marie Bergeron and husband Joseph Arseneau remained on the river after they escaped the
Bayou Teche epidemic. Marie died at St.-Jacques in June 1799; she was
only 54
years old.
.
Most of the Acadian Bergerons
who settled at St.-Jacques in 1765 moved to upper Bayou Lafourche by the
1790s, but a few remained on the river:
Descendants of Jean-Baptiste
BERGERON dit d'Amboise, fils (c1750-1801;
Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père, Barthélémy dit
d'Amboise, fils)
Jean-Baptiste, fils, eldest
son of Jean-Baptiste Bergeron dit d'Amboise and Marguerite Bernard,
born at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas on Rivière St.-Jean, in c1750, came to
Louisiana in 1765 with his parents and siblings and followed them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques,
where he married Marie, daughter of fellow
Acadians Olivier Foret and Rose-Osite Gautrot, in January 1775. Marie also
had
been born in Acadia during Le Grand Dérangement and had come to
Louisiana with her widowed mother in the 1760s. They lived on the right,
or west, bank of the river near the boundary between the St.-Jacques and
Ascension districts. Their daughter married into the Breaux, Landry,
and Simoneaux
families. Jean-Baptiste, fils died at St.-Jacques in
October 1801; he was only 50 years old. Marie died at son Michel's home
in St. James Parish in October 1847; the priest who recorded her burial said
she was age 94 when she died. Only her and Jean-Baptiste, fils's
older son married. He remained in what became St. James
Parish and became a major planter there. Most of their grandsons remained in St. James Parish, but one
grandson moved upriver to Pointe Coupee,
where few Acadians settled, and lived among his
French-Creole namesakes there.
1
Older son Michel, baptized at
St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in December 1775, married Marie
or Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Landry and Françoise
Blanchard, at nearby Ascension in
September 1796. Their son Jean-Michel-Vidal was born at
St.-Jacques in August 1797 but died at Ascension at age 1 in August 1798, and
an infant son, name unrecorded, died at St.-Jacques in September 1802.
Their daughters married into the Arceneaux and Breaux
families. Michel remarried
to first cousin Marguerite Constance or Constance Marguerite, daughter of his uncle
and aunt Mathurin Bergeron and Marie Godin dit
Bellefontaine and widow of Joseph Arceneaux,
at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in August 1819. Their son Evariste
Désiré was born in St. James Parish in October 1820, Michel Bienvenu,
called Bienvenu, in July 1823, and Jean Baptiste Telesphore in December 1827.
Their daughter married into the Breaux family. Michel became a
major planter in St. James Parish. He died in St. James Parish in January 1850; he
was 74 years old. In July 1850, the federal census taker in St. James
Parish counted 56 slaves--35 males and
21 females, all black, ranging in age from 60 years to infancy--on Widow
Michel Bergeron's plantation next to Bienvenu Bergeron's and J.
B. Bergeron's farms in the parish's Eastern District; these were Constance Bergeron's
slaves.
1a
Bienvenu, by his father's second wife, married Marie
Séraphine, called
Séraphine, minor daughter of Carmelite Green, at the St. James church, St.
James Parish, in
September 1842. Their son Michel Bienvenu, fils was born in St.
James Parish in October 1844, Jean Baptiste Fulgence, called
Fulgence, in December 1845, Joseph Clément in September
1851, and Luc Félix, called Félix, in November 1854. In July of 1850, the federal census taker in St.
James Parish counted 2 slaves--a 30-year-old male and a 17-year-old female,
both black--on Bienvenu Bergeron's farm next to Widow Michel
Bergeron and J. B. Bergeron in the parish's Eastern District. In July 1860,
the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 5 slaves--2 males and 3
females, all black, ranging in age from 24 years to 10 months, living in 2
houses--on Bienvenu Bergeron's farm in the parish's Ninth Ward on the
right bank of the river.
During the War of 1861-65, Michel
Bienvenu, fils served in Gaudet's Company of the St. James
Parish Regiment Militia, and in Company E of the 18th Regiment Louisiana
Infantry, raised in St. James Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Louisiana. Michel Bienvenu, fils married
fellow Acadian Uranie Gaudet soon after the war and settled in
St. James Parish.
Fulgence married fellow
Acadian Mathilde Dugas at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension
Parish, in November 1869. Their son Joseph Louis was born
in Ascension Parish in September 1870.
1b
Jean Baptiste Telesphore, by his
father's second wife, married Marie
Laurena,
daughter of fellow Acadians Édouard Breaux and Rosalie Clouâtre, at the St. James church, St.
James Parish, in
January 1847. Their son Jean Baptiste Édouard was born in
St. James Parish in August 1867, and Charles Bienvenu in January 1870. In July 1850, the federal census taker
in St. James Parish counted a single slave--a 20-year-old black male--on J. B. Bergeron's
farm next to Widow Michel Bergeron and Bienvenu Bergeron in the
parish's Eastern District. In July 1860, the federal
census taker in St. James Parish counted only a single
slave--a 25-year-old black female--on J. B. Bergeron's farm in the
parish's Ninth Ward on the right bank of the river; this was Jean Baptiste Telesphore.
1c
Evariste Désiré, by his father's
second wife, married
Julie Aglae, daughter of François Vincent Bouis and Hélène
Croiset, at the Pointe Coupee
church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in February 1851. Their son Bouis
Albert was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in April 1852. They
were among the few Acadians who settled in that parish.
2
Younger son Jean-Pierre,
baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in February 1778, may
have died young.
Marin BERGERON (c1755-?;
Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père, Barthélémy
dit d'Amboise, fils)
Marin, second son of Jean-Baptiste
dit d'Amboise Bergeron, père and Marguerite Bernard, born at
Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, on Rivière St.-Jean, in c1755, came to Louisiana in
1765 with his parents and siblings and followed them to
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques. He was still
living with his parents at St.-Jacques in 1779. He probably did not
marry.
Descendants of Mathurin
BERGERON (c1756-1814; Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père,
Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, fils)
Mathurin, third and youngest son of of
Jean-Baptiste Bergeron dit d'Amboise, père and Marguerite Bernard
of Rivière St.-Jean, born probably at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, on Rivière
St.-Jean, in c1756, came to Louisiana in 1765 with his parents and siblings and followed
them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques. He
married first cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Bonaventure Godin dit
Bellefontaine and his second wife Marguerite Bergeron dit
d'Amboise, Mathurin's aunt, probably at St.-Jacques in the early 1780s. Marie was a native
of Rivière St.-Jean and also had come to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765. Their daughters married into the Arceneaux, Bergeron,
Bourgeois, Gourdain, and Serre
families. Mathurin died in St. James Parish in April 1814, age 58. He seems to have had only one son, but that son's line
managed to survive in St. James Parish.
Joseph, born probably at
St.-Jacques in c1783, married cousin Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean
Baptiste Gaudin, formerly Godin, and Marie Madeleine
Foret, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in August
1812. Their son Joseph, fils was born in St. James Parish in May
1813 but died at age 3 in 1817, Timothée was born in August 1814, and a second Joseph, fils was born
posthumously in December 1817. Their daughter married into the Gaudet
family. Joseph, père died in St. James Parish in September 1817,
age 34.
Joseph, fils married cousin Marie or Marine, daughter of fellow
Acadian Donat Breaux and Marie Godelive Bergeron, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in April
1839; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in
order to marry. Their
son Joseph Mathurin was born in St. James Parish in September 1840, Michel
Rémi in February 1842, a newborn child, name unrecorded,
perhaps a son, died in October 1843, and Jean Baptiste Alfred was born in September
1844.
Michel Rémi married cousin
Alice, daughter of fellow Acadians Evariste Louvière and Mathilde
LeBlanc, at the
Convent church, St. James Parish, in April 1869; they had to secure a
dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry.
Simon BERGERON (c1753-?;
Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père, Barthélémy
dit d'Amboise, fils)
Simon, elder son of Charles Bergeron
and Isabelle Arseneau, born at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, on Rivière
St.-Jean, in c1753, came to Louisiana in 1765 with his parents and siblings and
followed them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques.
He probably died young.
~
The arrival date, as well as the
fate, of an Acadian Bergeron who settled on the river is difficult to
determine:
Descendants of Joseph
BERGERON (?-?; Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père,
?)
Joseph Bergeron married
fellow Acadian Marie Boudreaux probably at Ascension. The only other
Joseph Bergeron who had come to Louisiana was the infant son of
Jean-Baptiste Bergeron and Catherine Caissie dit
Roger who died at Attakapas in October 1765, so the Joseph who settled
at Ascension was a different one. One wonders who his parents were and what happened to him.
Joseph-Valentin, born
probably at Ascension in December 1792, may have died young, taking his line
of the family with him.
~
In a reversal of the usual Acadian
settlement pattern, a Bergeron living on upper Bayou Lafourche
returned to the river during the early antebellum period and settled in Ascension Parish:
Descendants of Jean- or
Pierre-Ursin BERGERON (1796-1845; Barthélémy dit
d'Amboise, père, Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, fils,
Charles)
Jean- or Pierre-Ursin, called
Ursin, second son of Jean-Théodore Bergeron of Rivière St.-Jean and
his first wife Théotiste Foret, born at St.-Jacques in April 1796,
married Léocade, daughter of French Creole Michel Migott or Migon,
at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in July 1814; Léocade's mother was
an Hébert. Later in the decade, they followed his family to
upper Bayou Lafourche, but they did not remain there. They were living
in Ascension Parish by the late 1820s. Their daughters married into
the Sanches and Warner
families. Ursin died in Ascension Parish in November 1845, age 49.
1
Oldest son Jean Félicien, called
Félicien, born near Convent, St. James Parish, in May 1817, married Julienne, daughter of fellow Acadians Casimir
Boudreaux and Marie Landry, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in
February 1854; Félicien was 37 years old
at the time of the wedding. Their son Joseph Prosper
was born in Ascension Parish in February 1855, Joseph Lucien died
11 days after his birth in July 1856, Joseph Félicien was born in
March 1858, and Joseph Butler in November 1862. Félicien died in Ascension Parish in August 1863,
age 46.
2
Jean, born in Lafourche
Interior Parish in May 1825, married Constance, daughter of Isleños Raphaël Hernandez
and Marie Hidalgo,
at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in May 1857; Jean was 35 years old at
the time of the wedding. Their son Jean, fils was born in Ascension
Parish in July 1858. Jean, père died in Ascension Parish in November
1863, age 38.
3
Joseph Arsène, called
Arsène, born in Ascension Parish in June 1828, married Octavie, daughter of fellow Acadians Zéphirin
Melançon and Marie Farelitte Bourgeois, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1852. Their
son Pierre Léo or Théodose was born in Ascension Parish in
February 1853 but died at age 7 months the following October. Arsène
likely remarried to
fellow Acadian Marthe Élise, called Élise and Elisa, LeBlanc at the Donaldsonville church in April 1857.
Their son Joseph Samuel was born in Ascension Parish in January
1858, and Justin Olivius in September 1868. Arsène 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 Arsènes, as he called him, died at "age ca. 35 years";
Joseph Arsène would have been 41.
4
Youngest son Étienne Reul
or Riul,
born in Ascension Parish in June 1835, married Virginia or Virginie, daughter of Spanish
Creoles Antoine Gomes and Constance Hernandez, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in August
1859. Their son Ursin le jeune was born in Ascension Parish in October
1861 but died at age 1 in October 1862, Adam Constant was born in
October 1863 but died at age 3 in October 1866, Jean le jeune was born in
December 1865, François Armand in March 1868, and Joseph Léon in
June 1870.
~
Other BERGERONs on the River
Area church and civil records make
it difficult to link some Bergerons on the river with known
Acadian lines of the family there:
Ophelia Bergeron
married Toussaint Derocher at the Plaquemine church,
Iberville Parish, in December 1850. The priest who recorded the
marriage did not give any parents' names. Was Ophelia an Acadian
Bergeron or a descendant of French Creole Guillaume
dit Saintonge of Pointe Coupee?
Paul Bergeron died in St.
James Parish "at Widow Michel Bergeron about 4:00 at night" in
September 1853. The St. James priest who recorded the burial, and who
did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Paul
died at "age 71 yrs." Who were his parents? Was
he a son of Jean Baptiste dit d'Amboise, fils?
Amédée Bergeron married
Brigitte Caulfield at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in
January 1861. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the
couple's parents' names, so one wonders if Amédée was Acadian, and, if he
was, which Amédée Bergeron was he.
Dorville Bergeron
married Evelina Hébert, place and date unrecorded.
Son Pierre Dorville was born near Gonzales, Ascension Parish, in
June 1865.
Valentin Bergeron's
daughter Marie Léonie was born in St. James Parish in July 1866. The
priest who recorded the girl's baptism did not give her father's name or her
mother's parents' names.
Louise Bergeron
died in Ascension Parish, age 2, in June 1867. The Donaldsonville
priest who recorded the burial did not give her parents' names.
A unnamed daughter of Félicien
Bergeron died, "age omitted," in Ascension Parish in
October 1867. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial,
true to form, did
not give the girl's mother's name.
Jules Bergeron married
Acadian Constantine Breaux at the St. James church, St. James Parish,
in October 1870. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names. Was Jules also an Acadian?
LOUISIANA: LAFOURCHE VALLEY
SETTLEMENTS
By the late 1790s, Spanish officials
were counting Acadian Bergerons on upper Bayou Lafourche, where a
second center of family settlement emerged. These Bergerons had
come from the Lower Acadian Coast, where their
immigrant ancestors had settled in 1765. The bayou Bergerons
soon outnumbered their cousins remaining on the river:
Descendants of Germain BERGERON
(c1743-1790s; Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père)
Germain, fourth and youngest son of Barthélemy Bergeron
dit d'Amboise, fils and Marguerite Dugas, born at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas,
on Rivière St.-Jean in c1743, came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 with his widowed
mother and followed her to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river, where he married fellow Acadian Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite,
daughter of fellow Acadians Bénoni LeBlanc and Marguerite
Hébert, in May 1768. Marguerite had come to the Louisiana from
Maryland as an orphan in 1767. Germain and Marguerite lived on the left, or east, bank of the
river near the boundary between the St.-Jacques and Ascension districts before
moving to upper Bayou Lafourche.
Their daughters married into the Gautreaux and Metra families.
Germain, père died before November 1796, when his wife remarried at
Assumption. His surviving sons settled throughout the Bayou Lafourche
valley, in Assumption, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes.
1
Oldest son Jean-Louis,
born at St.-Jacques in c1772, survived childhood but did not marry.
2
Jean-Charles-Germain,
called Germain fils, born
probably at Ascension in c1786, married Marie Madeleine, daughter of
fellow Acadians Jacques Doiron and Anne Josèphe Breaux, at Assumption in April 1805. Their son
Alexis Valéry, called Valéry, was born in
Assumption Parish in March 1809, Jean Pierre, called Pierre, in June 1812,
Théodule
in c1814, Evariste Cyprien in February
1817, Justin Sixte in August 1818, Eusèbe Eusilien, called
Eusilien,
in
December 1820, Jean Baptiste in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1821,
Auguste
Magloire in March 1823, and Germain III, also called Charles
Germain, in October
1824. Their daughter married into the Gros family. Germain,
fils died in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1824, age 38; a petition for his succession inventory was filed at the
Thibodauxville courthouse the following month.
2a
Alexis Valéry married
Rosalie Basilise, daughter of fellow Acadians Martin Thibodeaux and
Anne Marguerite Dugas, at the Thibodauxville
church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1837. Their son Hubald
Hermengild, called Huberville, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1838,
Valsin
Théodose in January 1842, Joseph
Trasimond in November 1843, Evariste
Vileor near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in October 1853, and Eusilien
Justilien in September 1855 but died in Lafourche Parish at age 2 in
December 1857. They also had a son named Aminville or Erminville.
Their daughters married into the Barrilleaux, Naquin,
and Potier
families.
Huberville married Élise
Marcel in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in April
1860. Their son Huberville, fils was born in Terrebonne Parish in
April 1866.
Erminville
married Marie Passiana or Pationaire, daughter of Célestin Close and
Léodile Bourgeois, perhaps a fellow Acadian, at
the Chacahoula church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1864 while he was
serving in Company F of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Terrebonne Parish,
which fought at
Vicksburg, Mississippi.
2b
Pierre married Rosalie, also called Adèle, daughter of Joseph
Ayo and his Acadian wife Adélaïde Naquin, at the Thibodaux church,
Lafourche Interior Parish, in July 1839. Their son
Joseph was
born near Raceland in September 1854.
2c
Jean Baptiste
married Cléonise Estelle, daughter of Hyacinthe Rousseau and his
Acadian wife Rosalie Delaune, at the
Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1842. They lived near the boundary between Lafourche
Interior and Assumption parishes. Their son Jean
Baptiste Homere was born in December 1844, Pierre Franklin, called
Franklin, in November
1846, and Joseph Ernest in December 1861. Their
daughter married into the Legendre (Foreign French, not Acadian) family.
During the War of 1861-65,
Franklin
may have served in Company I of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish,
which fought at
Vicksburg, Mississippi. Franklin married Joséphine,
daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Célestin Benoit and Marie Rosalie
Clément, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in May 1868.
2d
Auguste Magloire died
in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1849, age 25, and
probably did not marry.
2e
Théodule married
Pauline Célesie, called Célesie, daughter of fellow Acadian Paul Valentin Boudreaux
and his Creole wife Catherine Berthelot, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1849. Their son
Omer Valmont was born near Labadieville,
Assumption Parish, in February 1851, Joseph Oleus in Lafourche Parish
in April 1854, Jean Baptiste in April 1856, Joseph Sylvère in
March 1858, and Victor Adolphe in February 1860.
2f
Germain III married Marie Clorene,
daughter of Valéry Exnicios and his Acadian wife Marie Marcellite
Roger, at the Labadieville church, Assumption
Parish, in February
1850. Their son Ernest Onésime was born near Labadieville in
April 1851, and Joseph Hectorne in Terrebonne Parish in August 1868.
In
August 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted a single
slave--a 41-year-old black female--on Germain Bergeron's farm in the
parish's First Ward; this was Germain III.
2g
Eusilien died of yellow fever in Lafourche Parish in
September 1853, age 32, and probably did not marry.
3
Auguste- or Augustin-Bénoni,
born at Ascension in October 1788, married Françoise Élisabeth, daughter of
fellow Acadians
Jacques Theriot and Françoise Guérin, at Ascension in July
1806. Their son Norbert was born in Assumption Parish in June
1807, Édouard in April
1812, Zenon Théodule in October 1814, Auguste, fils died 15 days after his birth in October
1816, Ferdinand Jules, called Jules, was born in November 1819,
Joseph Auguste,
called Auguste, in September 1823 but died at age 2 in October
1825, and Rosémond Janville was born in January 1826. Auguste
Bénoni died in Assumption Parish in May 1833; the Plattenville priest who
recorded the burial said
that Auguste was age 48 when he died, but he was 44.
3a
Norbert
married Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Delaune and
his German Creole wife Hyacinthe Michel, at
the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1830. Their son Fulcien
or Lucien Honoré was born in Assumption Parish in December 1832,
Laisin Augustin
in May 1839 but died at age 5 in September 1844, Omer Auguste was born
in December 1840, Dubregny Norbert or Norbert Dubregny in December 1842, Aurelien
Désiré near Paincourtville in January 1845, and Désiré Cyprien in
July 1847. Their daughters married into the Cancienne
family. In July 1850, the federal census taker in Assumption Parish
counted 4 slaves--a male and 3 females, all black, ranging in age from 40
years to 7 months--on Norbert Bergeron's farm in the parish's Second
Congressional District. Norbert died in Assumption Parish in March 1851; he was only 43
years old. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Assumption Parish
counted 5 slaves--1 male and 4 females, 2 blacks and 3 mulattoes, ranging in
age from 27 years to 3 months, living in a single house--on Widow Norbert Bergeron's
farm in Ward 6 along the bayou; these were Azélie Delaune's
slaves. At least three of Norbert's sons served the Southern
Confederacy in uniform, one of them at the cost of his life.
During the War of 1861-65,
Lucien
served as a conscript in Company B of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy
Artillery, which was composed of dozens of fellow Acadian conscripts from
Assumption Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Like many of
his fellow conscripts from Assumption, he did not survive the war.
He was reported "sick in quarters" for much of his time at Vicksburg
and died probably at City Hospital there, of disease, in May 1863.
During the War of 1861-65,
Dubregny
served in Company C of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish,
which fought at Vicksburg,
Mississippi. After being captured and paroled at Vicksburg in July 1863, Dubregny went home to await exchange. After his exchange, he was
captured at Grand Lake, Louisiana, in July 1864 and spent the rest of the war in a series
of Federal prisoner-of-war camps at Ship Island, Mississippi, Fort Columbus,
New York Harbor, and in the notorious compound at Elmira in upstate New
York. Unlike hundreds of his fellow Confederates who died in the squalor
of Elmira, Dubregny survived his prisoner-of-war ordeal and returned to his
family. He married
Zulmée or Zulma Gilbert
at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1867. Their
son Noe Renault Wuilly was born near Labadieville in October
1869.
During the War of 1861-65,
Omer Auguste likely served in Company C of the 26th Regiment
Louisiana Infantry with younger brother Dubregny; Omer also was
captured at Grand Lake and endured the same fate as his brother.
Omer married Evella, daughter of fellow Acadians Edmond Blanchard
and Marie Bathilde Talbot, at the Attakapas Canal church, Assumption Parish, in February 1868.
Their son Arthur Maurice Ernest was born in Assumption Parish
in July 1869.
Aurelien Désiré married
cousin Léontine, daughter of fellow Acadian François Delaune
and his Creole wife Azélie Colonne, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1869;
they had to secure a dispensation for an unrecorded degree of
consanguinity in order to marry.
3b
Édouard
married Anne Pélagie, called Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Boudreaux
and Ursule Olive Doiron, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September
1834. Their son Édouard Jean, called Desédouard, was born in Assumption Parish in
August 1835, Émile Joseph in April 1837, Osémé in c1840 but
died at age 8 in March 1849, Jules Schuyler was born in January 1842 but died the following September,
Olésiphore was born
in April 1845, Joseph Augustin in September 1847, Alfred in
October 1850, and a son, name and age unrecorded, died in January 1856.
Desédouard married Marcellite, daughter of Ursin
Falteman and Céleste Bergeron, perhaps a
fellow Acadian, at the
Attakapas Canal church, Assumption Parish, in September 1859. Their son Joseph
Thelor had been born near Attakapas Canal in August 1859, Victor
was born in July
1861, André Anatole in December 1865, Dutereil or Utrel
died at age 7 months in October 1867, and Oscar Valentine was born in
February 1870. During the War of 1861-65,
Desédouard
served in Company H of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Assumption Parish,
which fought in Louisiana.
During the War of 1861-65,
Émile served in Company C of the 26th
Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought at Vicksburg,
Mississippi. Émile married Oceana, daughter of fellow Acadians Trasimond
Roger and Antoinette dite Manette Comeaux,
at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1865. Their child,
name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in Assumption Parish in December
1866 a day after its birth. Émile remarried to Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadians
Faustin Amand Blanchard and Clarisse Breaux, at the Paincourtville church,
Assumption Parish, in November 1868. Their son Amand
Laurent was born near Paincourtville in September 1869 but died
2 days after his birth, and a son, name unrecorded, died in December
1870 3 days after his birth.
3c
Zénon married
Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste Barrilleaux and
Françoise Landry, at the
Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in December 1835. Their son Eugène Amédée
was born in Assumption Parish in November 1836, a newborn infant, name unrecorded,
perhaps a son, died in February 1838, Émile Théodule was
born in July 1839, Désiré Léon in July 1841, Ulysse Gustave
in November 1843, Pierre in February 1849, Eusilien Vela in
May 1851, twins Justinien Olefin and Lucien Félicien in May
1854, and Cléopha Anatole in July 1856. Their daughter
married into the Dodman family.
Eugène married Rosema, daughter of
fellow Acadians Urbain
Daigle and Doralise Boudreaux, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1859, and remarried to
Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadians Lubin Aucoin and Anne
Marie dite Nanette Doiron, at the Labadieville church
in April 1866.
During the War of 1861-65,
Ulysse
served in Company B of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery, which was
composed of dozens of fellow Acadian conscripts from Assumption
Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Ulysse surrendered
with his regiment in July 1863 but, along with many of his fellow conscripts
in the unit, refused to sign a parole. Federal
authorities sent him, via Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, to the
prisoner-of-war compound at Camp Morton, Indiana, near Indianapolis. He survived his
ordeal there and was released on taking the oath
of allegiance to the Federal government in January 1865. Ulysse married Célestine, daughter of Gédéon
Cancienne and his Acadian wife Marcellite Aucoin, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1867.
3d
Jules
married Félicienne, daughter of Francois Truxillo and Azélie
Rousseau, at the Plattenville
church, Assumption Parish, in January 1839. Their son Augustin le jeune was born in
Assumption Parish in January 1840 but died the following September, Octave
Jules was born in December 1842, Onésiphore Ulysse in December
1843, and twins Léo Augustin and Léon Lovenci in May 1851. Their
daughters married into the Ampere and Simoneaux families, both
in Assumption Parish. In the 1850s, Jules took his family to St. Mary Parish on the lower Bayou Teche--perhaps the
only Acadian Bergerons to settle west of the
Atchafalaya Basin during the antebellum period. In June 1860, the federal census
taker in St. Mary Parish counted 7 slaves--3 males and 4 females, ranging in
age from 40 to 3--on Jules Bergeron's farm in the parish's Western
District.
3e
Rosémond married
Augustine or Justine, daughter of Antoine Barras and Rosalie
Bourg, at
the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1846.
Their son Auguste le jeune was born in Assumption Parish in August
1851, a second Auguste le jeune in June 1854, and Justinien Antoine
in September 1856. Their daughter married into the Delaune
family.
4
Youngest son François-Joseph, born
probably at Ascension in October 1790, may have died young.
Descendants of Jean-Baptiste
BERGERON, fils (c1754-1820s; Barthélémy dit
d'Amboise, père, Augustin)
Jean-Baptiste, fils, called
Baptiste, eldest
son of Jean-Baptiste Bergeron and Catherine Caissie dit
Roger,
born at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, on Rivière St.-Jean, in c1754, came to
Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue in February 1765 with his parents and siblings.
They followed the Broussards to the Attakapas District but did not remain there.
After his grandfather, his father, and two of his siblings died in the Teche Valley epidemic of 1765,
Jean-Baptiste, fils retreated with his widowed mother and siblings to
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river, where he married Lise-Marie-Josèphe,
called Lise or Marie, daughter of Basile Babin and stepdaughter of
Michel
Cormier of Opelousas, in June 1778. Lise-Marie
had been born at Halifax during Le Grand Dérangement and also had come to
Louisiana via St.-Domingue in 1765. By the mid-1790s, they were living
on upper Bayou Lafourche. Their daughters married into the Foret,
Guidry, LeBlanc, Melançon, Mire, Renaud,
Richard, and Savoie families. Jean Baptiste's succession
record was filed at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior
Parish, in October 1827; he would have been in his early 70s that year. His
older son's line may have died out, but his younger sons' lines survived.
His two middle sons settled in Lafourche Parish, one grandson as far down
bayou as Raceland. Jean-Baptiste's youngest son moved even farther
south, to Terrebonne Parish, settling near Montegut in the coastal
marshes.
1
Oldest son Jean-Pierre, born
at St.-Jacques in February 1787, married Marie Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul
LeBlanc and Marie Boudreaux of Manchac, at the
Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1811. Their daughter
married into the Autin family. Jean Pierre may have remarried to French Creole Pauline
Theaux in Lafourche Interior Parish in
the late 1820s. Their son Jean Bernard Sylvain, called Sylvain,
was born probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the late 1820s. Jean Pierre died in Lafourche
Interior Parish in June 1828, age 41.
Sylvain, by his father's
second wife, married Clara
Radaville or Rodeville, daughter of German Creoles Noël Haydel and
Carmelite Haydel, at the Thibodaux
church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1855. Sylvain died in Terrebonne
Parish in April 1858, in his late 20s or early 30s; a petition for his succession inventory was filed at the
Houma courthouse the following month. Except for its blood, this
line of the family may have died with him.
2
Édouard, born at St.-Jacques
in December 1792, married Marie-Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean François Rassicot
and his second wife Marie Josèphe Robichaux, probably in
Assumption Parish in the early 1810s. Their son Joachim Drosin
was born in Assumption Parish in March 1815, François Régis or Rémi
in October 1817, Auguste or Augustin in Lafourche Interior Parish in September
1819, Evariste in February 1821 but died at age 3 in June 1824, Arsène was born in November 1824,
Édouard
Jourdain in September 1828, Marcellin in March 1833, and Eugène
in December 1835. Their daughters married into the Boutary
and Dantin families. Édouard, père remarried to Marianne, daughter of Jean Pierre
Lirette and his Acadian wife Marie Madeleine Darembourg, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1843; Marianne's mother was a
Darembourg.
In December 1850, the federal census taker in
Lafourche Interior Parish counted 6 slaves--4 males and 2 females, all black
except for 1 mulatto, ranging in age from 33 to 12--on Édouard Bergeron's
farm along Bayou Lafourche. Édouard, père died in Lafourche Parish in April 1859,
age 66; his succession inventory was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse later
that month.
2a
Joachim Drosin, by his first wife, married Florianne Estelle, called Estelle, daughter of French Creole Pierre
Lagarde, at
the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1834;
Florianne's mother was a De La Maziere. Their son Joseph
Joachim, called Joachim, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1837,
Émile
Abram in October 1842, Pierre Anatole in November 1851, Arthur Thomas in November 1853,
Édouard
Albery in June 1855, Henri Cleopha in April 1857, and Vilfrid
Edgard in December 1862. Their daughter married into the Caillouet
family. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish
counted 2 slaves--a
43-year-old black male and a 30-year-old black female--on Joachim Bergeron's
farm; this probably was Joachim Drosin.
Joseph Joachim married Marie Rosa Georgiana, called Georgina, daughter of fellow
Acadians Joseph Auguste Hébert and Rosalie Lejeune, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche
Parish, in February
1858. Their son Joseph Émile was born in Lafourche Parish in
December 1861, Joseph Augustin in February 1865 but died at age
7 months the following September, Louis Kleber was born in February
1867, and Joseph Henri in October
1869.
2b
François Régis, by his first wife, married Marie Élisabeth or
Élise, called Élise or Élisa, daughter of Paul Grabert and his Acadian
wife Marie Madeleine Gaudin of St. James Parish, at
the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1839.
Their son Édouard le jeune was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in
September 1845, François, fils, called Frank, in October 1847,
Paul in October
1853 but died at age 4 1/2 in June 1858, Pierre Paulin was born in
June 1856, and Joseph in c1858 but died at age 4 1/2 in September 1863. Their
daughters married into the Barrios, Guidroz, and Richard
families. In December 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche
Interior Parish counted 2 slaves--a
17-year-old male and an 18-year-old female, both black--on François Bergeron's
farm along the bayou; this probably was François Régis. In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish
counted 4 slaves--2 males and 2 females, all black except for 1 mulatto,
ranging in age from 45 to 1--on François Bergeron's farm in the
parish's Eighth Ward.
Frank married Céleste, daughter of
Hermogène Adam and his Acadian wife Denise Hébert, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1869.
Édouard le jeune married
Azélie Adélaïde,
daughter of Henri Hoffman and his Acadian wife Louise Aucoin, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in April 1869.
2c
Édouard Jourdain, by his first wife, died in Lafourche Interior Parish in February
1845, age 17.
2d
Auguste, by his first wife, married Émilie
Mélicère, 20-year-old daughter of
Terence Toups and Marie Caroline Bourgeois, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1845. Their son Arsène Émile, called Émile,
was born
in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1847 but died at age 16 in April 1863,
François Henry was born in
October 1848, Terence Edouard in January 1851, a child, name and age unrecorded,
perhaps a son, died in a
yellow fever epidemic in September 1853, Félix Théogène was born
in March 1854, Joseph Augustin in September 1855, and Narcisse Ozéma
in October 1862. Their
daughter married into the Lefort family. In July 1860, the
federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted 2
slaves--both female, both black, ages 26 and 12--on Auguste Bergeron's
farm in the parish's Eighth Ward not far from Mrs. Terence Toups; the census taker noted that Auguste was the
"employer," so he may not have owned the two slaves. Auguste remarried to Laurenza, daughter of fellow Acadian
François Hébert and his Creole wife Victorine Toups, at the Thibodaux church in July 1866; Auguste was 46
years old at the time of the wedding. Their son Georges Étienne was born in Lafourche
Parish in September 1868, and Charles in
February 1870.
2e
Arsène married Anne Armina or
Hermina,19-year-old
daughter of Jean Lagarde and his Acadian wife Adélaïde Templet, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior
Parish, in April 1845. Their son Joseph Arthur
was
born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1848, Jean Léon in February
1852, Charles Augustin in
June 1854 but died at age 1 in July 1855, and Paul Arsène Oscar was
born in July 1856. Arsène remarried to
Marie Éloise or Léonie, called Léonie, another daughter of Paul Grabert and
Marie Madeleine Gaudin widow of distant
cousin Joseph Laurence Bergeron, at the Thibodaux church in January
1859. Their son Paul was born in Lafourche Parish in April 1866
but died 2 months later, and twin sons Joseph and Louis were born
in December
1868 but Joseph died at age 5 months the following May. In July 1860,
the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted 4 slaves--3 males and 1 female, all mulattoes except for
1 black, ages 27 to 12--on Arcène Bergeron's farm in the parish's
Eighth Ward.
Joseph Arthur
married Marie Emma, daughter of Théophile Daunis and Marie Adele
Boutary, at the Thibodaux
church, Lafourche Parish, in January 1870. Their son Joseph Thomas was born in
Lafourche Parish in October 1870.
2f
Marcellin married Marie or Mary,
daughter of Anglo American John C. Brown and Marie Justine
Pontiff, at the Thibodaux church,
Lafourche Interior Parish, in
February 1851. Their son Perrin was born in Lafourche Interior
Parish in November 1851, Léon Marcellin in December 1859, a child,
name and age unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in November 1862, and Jean
was born near Raceland in November 1867.
2g
During the War of 1861-65,
Eugène
served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish,
which fought at Vicksburg,
Mississippi. Eugène married Philomène, daughter of Adolphe Legendre
and Célesie Ledet, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in December 1865.
3
François-Maximilien, called François M. and Maxille, born at Assumption
in August 1802, married Marie, 21-year-old daughter of Alexis Autin
and Marie Aubert
of St. John the Baptist Parish, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior
Parish in November 1824. Their daughter married into the Dufrene family.
François remarried to Marie Pauline or Pollone, 24-year-old
daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Clouâtre and Marie Élisabeth
Thibodeaux, at the Thibodauxville
church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1830. Their daughter
married into the Haydel family. François remarried again--his
third marriage--to
Joséphine, daughter of Justin Pontiff and his Acadian wife Marie
Madeleine Lejeune, in a civil ceremony in
Terrebonne Parish in December 1843.
Their son Jean Baptiste was born probably in Terrebonne Parish in March
1847, Louis Joseph in January 1856, and François, fils in May
1857, when François M. was in his early 50s. Their daughters married into
the Janchler or Jouchler and Maronge families.
François Maximilien died in Lafourche Parish in April 1858; the Thibodaux
priest who recorded the burial said that
François was age 57 when he died; he was 55.
Jean Baptiste, by his third wife, died in Lafourche Parish in February
1866, age 18, and did not marry.
4
Youngest son Drosin, born in
Assumption Parish in March 1809, married Marie Constance, called Constance, 23-year-old daughter of
fellow Acadians Tranquille François Arcement and Anne Rassicot, at the Thibodauxville
church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1832. Their son Joachim
Drosin le jeune, also called Drosin, fils, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1834,
Charles
Amédée in January 1837, and Raphaël in March 1840. Their
daughters married into the Henry, Ledet, and Navarre families.
Drosin, père remarried to Julie Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre
Pitre and Rosalie Achée, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in March 1859; Drosin, père was 50 years old
at the time of the wedding. Their son
Aristide Mames was born in Terrebonne Parish in
August 1860. Drosin, père
died near Montegut in August 1868, age 59; a
petition for administration of his estate was filed at the Houma courthouse,
Terrebonne Parish,
the following October.
4a
Drosin, fils married Mathilde, daughter of
German Creole Nicolas
Malbrough and his Acadian wife Clarisse Daigle
and widow of Valéry Berthelot, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in August 1857. Drosin, fils remarried to Elda Gerbeau
in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in December 1866. Their son Laurence
was born in Terrebonne Parish in October 1867, and perhaps another son named
Laurence
in February 1870.
4b
Raphaël married Berthilde, daughter of Joseph
Duplantis and François Charpentier, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in July 1859. Their son Joseph Valéry
was
born in Terrebonne Parish in December 1863, Joseph Raphaël near
Montegut in June 1865, and Jean Americus in
November 1869.
Descendants of Charles BERGERON
(c1756-1808; Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père,
Augustin)
Charles, second son of
Jean-Baptiste Bergeron and Catherine Caissie dit Roger
of Rivière St.-Jean, born in Acadia in c1756 during Le Grand Dérangement, came to Louisiana from
Halifax via St.-Domingue in February 1765 with his parents and siblings. They followed the Broussards to the Attakapas District but did not remain
there. After his grandfather, his father, and two of his siblings died in the Teche Valley
epidemic of 1765, Charles retreated with his widowed mother and siblings to
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques. He married Marie, daughter of
fellow Acadians Charles Forest and Marguerite Saulnier, at Ascension, on the river above
St.-Jacques, in October 1779. Marie also had been born in Acadia during
Le
Grand Dérangement and also had come to Louisiana from Halifax via
St.-Domingue in 1765. Their daughters married into the Babin, Beausergeant,
and Guidry
families. In the early 1790s, Charles moved his family to upper
Bayou Lafourche, where he remarried to Victoire-Marie, daughter of
fellow Acadians Augustin Benoit and Marie-Madeleine Gautreaux, at Assumption in January 1794.
Victoire was a native of St.-Servan, near St.-Malo, France, and had come to
Louisiana in 1785 aboard one of the Seven Ships.
They lived on the upper bayou near the boundary between what became Ascension and Assumption parishes before moving down bayou to present-day
Terrebonne Parish. Their daughters married into the Crochet, Himmel,
Rhodes,
and Thibodaux (French Canadian, not Acadian) families. Charles's succession records were filed
at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Interior Parish, in January 1808 and December 1810.
He would
have been in his early 1850s in those years. His many sons--eight out
of 10 of them created families of their
own--settled in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, some as far south as
Montegut in the coastal marshes.
1
Oldest son Pierre-Charles,
also called Charles, fils, from
his father's first wife, baptized at Ascension, age unrecorded, in January
1786, married Marie Louise, daughter of François Boudeloche and his
Acadian wife Marie Madeleine Trahan, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in November 1809. Their son Jean Pierre was
born in Assumption Parish in August 1810, Jean Baptiste Isidore in
September 1815, Narcisse in January 1817, Jean Eusèbe, called Eusèbe,
in what became Terrebonne Parish, in December 1819, and Hubert
in October 1827. They also had an older son named Florentin. Their
daughters married into the Aubert and Donohue families.
1a
Florentin married
Marie Marcelline or Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Honoré Breaux
and Marie Félicité Richard, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in June 1833.
Their son Pierre Drosin, called Drosin, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in April
1834, Jean Baptiste le jeune in April 1836, Narcisse le
jeune in April
1838, Florentin Aurestile, called Aurestile, in July 1847, and
Joseph Adam in February 1855. Their daughters married into the
Le Lorre
or Lorette and Robichaux families. Florentin
died in Terrebonne Parish in July 1857, a widower (his wife had died 11 months
earlier); a petition for the administration of
his estate was not filed at the Houma courthouse until September 1866.
During the War of 1861-65,
Drosin
served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche
Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Drosin may have married fellow Acadian Azema
Bourg
in Terrebonne Parish during or just after the war. Their son Joachim Raphaël
was born near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in September 1866.
During the War of 1861, Narcisse le jeune
served in the Terrebonne Parish
Regiment Militia. He married
Azéma, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Boudreaux and his
Creole wife Aimée Caroline Jeanne Olivier and widow of Treville
Juneau,
at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in December 1865; the marriage
was recorded also in Lafourche Parish (Azéma's first
husband had died of disease at Vicksburg in late 1862 while serving
with Company C of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery). Narcisse
and Azéma's son Jules was born in Lafourche Parish in October 1866.
1b
Jean Baptiste Isidore, living in Terrebonne Parish, married
Délaïde, Delcie, Delcide, Delside, Eleida, Eleide, Felcide, Felicise,
Felgide, Felsie, Telcide, Teleide, Telsi, Telside, or Thelside, daughter of Nicolas
Lirette and Marie Malbrough, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish,
in May 1834. Their son Jean Baptiste, fils was born in Lafourche
Interior Parish in March 1835, Pierre Eusèbe, called Eusèbe, in December 1836,
Adam
Trasimond, called Trasimond, in November 1843, Aglone in November 1846,
François
Malvine in March 1849, and Denis Julien at Bayou Cannes in October
1851. Their daughters married into the Adam, Leboeuf, Marcel,
Moore, and Savoie families. In October 1850, the federal
census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted 2 slaves--a
20-year-old female and a 3-year-old male, both black--on Jean Bte. Bergeron's
farm; this may have been Jean Baptiste Isidore.
Eusèbe married Justine
Euselia, called Euselia, daughter of Philippe Darce and Marie Émeline
Dupré of Terrebonne Parish, at the Houma church,
Terrebonne Parish, in
April 1856. Their son Lucien Ambroise was born in Terrebonne
Parish in March 1857.
Jean Baptiste, fils
married Élodie, daughter of Furcy Poché or Porche and his
Acadian wife Justine Aucoin, at the Houma
church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1857. Their
son Henri Ernest was born in Terrebonne Parish in July 1863, and Jules
Adrien in April 1869.
During the War of 1861-65,
Trasimond
served in Company F of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Terrebonne Parish,
which fought at
Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1c
Narcisse, living in Terrebonne Parish, married
Marie Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of
fellow Acadians Ambroise Dugas and Marcellite Bourgeois, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche
Interior Parish, in September 1839. Their
son Ambroise Octave, called Octave, was born probably in Terrebonne Parish in July
1840, Pierre Franklin, called Franklin, in February 1842, Narcisse Schuyler,
called Schuyler, in
February 1844, Joseph Ulysse in December 1848 but died at age 3 in October 1851, and
Evariste Narcisse
was born perhaps posthumously in February 1854. Their daughter
married into the Stevens family. Narcisse may have died in Lafourche Parish in September 1853
during a yellow fever epidemic; if so, he would have been age 36.
During the War of 1861-65,
Octave
served as a sergeant in Company H of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry,
raised in Terrebonne Parish, which fought at
Vicksburg, Mississippi. Octave married Léontine, daughter of fellow
Acadians Jean Charles Sonnier and Rosalie Breaux, at the
Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in November 1866. Their son Félix Michel was
born in Lafourche Parish in September 1867, and Charles Ave in January
1869.
During the War of 1861-65,
Schuyler
served in the same unit as older brother Octave. Schuyler married Emma, daughter of fellow Acadians
Hermogène Louvière and Meranthe Daigle, at the
Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in October 1866; the marriage also was recorded in
Terrebonne Parish. Their son Joseph Giles was born in Lafourche
Parish in September 1867, and Joseph Albert in January 1870.
During the War of 1861-65,
Franklin
may have served in Company I of the 26th Regiment Infantry, raised
in Lafourche Parish. Franklin married Marie Émée, called Émée, daughter of Théodule
Estivenne
or Stephen and his Acadian wife Mélasie Hébert, at
the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in October 1864 while still in
Confederate service.
Their son Joseph was born in Lafourche Parish in June 1868, and Oscar
died at age 1 in June 1870.
1d
Eusèbe married
Marie Modeste, called Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadian François Hébert
and his Creole wife Adélaïde Lirette, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1841. Their son François
Eusèbe, called Eusèbe, fils, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1844,
Henry Clay
in December 1845, Auguste Claiborne in February 1848, Alcide
Joseph in February 1856, and Paulin Dalpherez in June 1860.
Their daughters married into the Gerbeau and Trahan families.
In August 1850, the federal census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted a single
slave--a 5-year-old male--on Eusèbe Bergeron's farm.
During the War of 1861-65,
Eusèbe,
fils served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry,
raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at
Vicksburg, Mississippi. Eusèbe, fils married Alida or Elida, daughter of Pierre
Gerbeau and his Acadian wife Eglantine Trahan, at the
Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in August 1868.
Henry Clay married Odile, daughter of fellow Acadians Auguste
Giroir and Rosalie Comeau and widow of
Alfred Pitre, in
a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in April 1869. Their son Henry
Baptiste was born in Terrebonne Parish in May 1870.
1e
Hubert
married Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Daigle and his
Creole wife Émelie Lirette and widow
of Ulysse Gautreaux, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in January
1853.
2
Jean-Baptiste, by his
father's first wife, baptized at
Ascension, age unrecorded, in November 1788, married Rosalie,
daughter of Laurent Lancon or Lanzon and
his Acadian wife Anne Michel, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish,
in February 1809. Their son Jean
Baptiste, fils was born in Assumption Parish in March 1819, and Célestin
Vital in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1825. Their daughter
married into the Savoie family.
2a
Jean Baptiste, fils may have married fellow Acadian Marie Josèphe or Joséphine
Pitre in either
Lafourche Interior or Terrebonne Parish in the early 1840s. Their son Eugène
Félix was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1843, Ulysse
Jean Baptiste in December 1845, Adolphe
died in Assumption Parish, age 5 months, in February 1849, Frank
Benjamin was baptized at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, age 3
months, in December 1849, Léo Adoisca was born in November 1851, Élie
Désiré
in May 1856, and Joseph Aurelien in January 1859. Their daughters married into the
Bergeron
and Comeaux
families. In October 1850, the federal
census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted 2 slaves--a
20-year-old female and a 3-year-old male, both black--on Jean Bte. Bergeron's
farm; this may have been Jean Baptiste, fils. In July 1860, the
federal census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted 5 slaves--3 males and 2
females, all black, ranging in age from 28 to 2, living in a single house--on
J. B. Bergeron's farm in the parish's Fourth Ward; this may have been
Jean Baptiste, fils.
Ulysse married fellow
Acadian Joséphine
Giroir probably in Terrebonne Parish in
the 1860s. Their son Laurence was born in Terrebonne Parish in
January 1867.
2b
Célestin married Marie Adeline, called Adeline, 16-year-old daughter of Jean Pierre
Ledet and his Acadian wife Marie Josèphe Roger, in a civil ceremony in
Terrebonne Parish in October 1848, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma
church, Terrebonne Parish, in March 1855. Their son Hubin
Ellis was born in Terrebonne Parish in March 1861, and Ernest
Cepin in October 1866. Their
daughter married a Bergeron cousin.
3
An infant son, name unrecorded,
from his father's first wife, died
at Ascension in September 1790.
4
Alexandre, by his father's
first wife, born at Ascension
in August 1792, married Marie Euphrosine, called Euphrosine or Froisine, daughter of French Canadian Nicolas
Bélanger and his Creole wife Marguerite Lejeune, at
the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1817. Their son Léon
or Jean Joachim, called Joachim, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in August 1819,
Benjamin,
also called Lomere or Homer, was baptized at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, age 4,
in December 1827, Charlesville or Charles was born in February 1828, and
Claiborne
Thomas in July 1833. Their daughters married into the Babin,
Duthu,
Loewenstein,
and Robertson or Robinson families. Alexandre died before
October 1850, when the federal census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted 6
slaves--all females, all black except for 1 mulatto, ranging in age from 38 to
8--on Euphrosine Bergeron's farm; these probably were the slaves of Alexandre's widow, Euphrosine Bélanger. In May 1852, a
petition for Alexandre's succession inventory was filed at the Houma
courthouse, Terrebonne Parish. In June 1860, the federal
census taker in Terrebonne Parish counted 11 slaves--6 males and 5 females,
all mulattoes except for 1 black, ranging in age from 48 to 1, living in 2
houses--on Mrs. A. Bergeron's farm in the parish's Sixth Ward; again,
these were
Euphrosine Bélanger's slaves.
4a
Joachim married Eve Eveline, 17-year-old
daughter of Hippolyte Chataignier and his Acadian wife Émelie Léocade
Gautreaux, at the Houma church,
Terrebonne Parish, in February 1852.
Their son John Arthur was born in Terrebonne Parish in October 1856,
and Gemmy Bernard in August 1864.
4b
Charles married cousin Elfride, 20-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Léandre
Crochet and Madeleine Bergeron, at the
Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1852.
Their son Charles Léandre was born in Terrebonne Parish in September
1860.
4c
Claiborne married cousin Pauline Émilia or Émilia Pauline, daughter of Auguste
Echete and Héloise Bélanger, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in February 1857.
Their son Alexandre Ulysse was born in Terrebonne Parish in November
1857, Joseph Claiborne in October 1862, Joseph Edwin in March
1864, and Joseph Ernest in May 1867.
4d
Homer, at age 40, married cousin Émilie Ada, another daughter of Auguste
Echete and Héloise Bélanger, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1863; one wonders if
this was his first marriage. Their son Joseph
Alexis was born in Terrebonne Parish in January 1867. Homer died in Terrebonne
Parish in October 1870, in his late 40s; his succession was
filed at the Houma courthouse later in the month.
5
Pierre-Paul, by his
father's second
wife, born at Ascension in February 1795, may have died young.
6
Pierre-Paul-Rosémond,
also called Rosémond and Charles Rosémond, from his father's
second wife, born
at Ascension or Assumption in the late 1790s, married Adélaïde Eulalie, daughter of
French Creole Pierre Seville or Silvy and his Acadian wife
Cécile Boudreaux of Lafourche Parish, at the Plattenville church, Assumption
Parish, in June 1819. Their
son Pierre Paul was baptized at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche
Interior Parish, age 2, in September 1822, Charles Gédéon was
baptized at age 2 in June 1827, Augustin,
called Justin, was born in March 1831, and Jean Baptiste in March 1840.
They also had a son named Joseph. Their daughters married into the
Domingue and Guidry families. Rosémond died in Terrebonne Parish in January 1849; a petition for his
succession inventory was filed at the Houma courthouse later that month and
again in October 1854.
6a
Charles
married Julie, 15-year-old daughter of Joachim Poché or Porche
and his Acadian wife Théotiste Bourgeois, in a civil
ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in September 1847.
Their son Joseph le jeune was born in Terrebonne Parish in November 1858.
6b
Justin married Émilie, daughter of Henri
Roddy and his Acadian wife Élisabeth dite Lise
Hébert of Lafourche Parish, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in February 1854, and
sanctified the marriage at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1856. Their son Henri was born in
Terrebonne Parish in November 1854, and Jean Baptiste in May 1862.
Justin remarried to Marie Esther
or Estelle,
daughter of William Buford and his Acadian wife Marie Foret, at the Houma church in March 1864. Their son Joseph Willey was
born near Montegut in November 1866, Jean Jimmy
Washington, called Jemmy, in December 1868 but died at age 9
months in September 1869, and Adam Alidor was born in August 1870.
6c
Joseph married Eveline, Evelina, or Velina,
daughter of French Creoles Jean Sylvère Baudoin and Estelle
Bourgeois of Lafourche Parish, in a
civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in July 1857, and sanctified the marriage
at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in November 1859.
7
Guillaume, by his father's
second wife, born probably at
Assumption in the late 1790s, married Marie, daughter of French Creoles Gabriel
Arceneaux and Catherine LeBoeuf, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in June
1818. Their son Pierre Telesphore, called Telesphore,
was born in Lafourche Interior
Parish in December 1827, Jean Léon in November 1831, and Marcellin
Leandre in October 1834. Their daughter married into the Hébert
family.
Telesphore married fellow Acadian Elisa
Boudreaux in a civil ceremony in
Terrebonne Parish in September 1850. Their son Octave was
baptized at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, no age given, in September
1852, and Léon Alcide was born in April 1857.
8
Jean-Charles, called Charles and Jean Charley,
from his father's second wife, born at
Assumption in December 1799, married 16-year-old Arthémise,
another daughter of Gabriel Arceneaux and Catherine LeBoeuf, in a civil ceremony in
Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1820, and recorded the marriage in
Terrebonne Parish in June 1822. Their son Charles Ursin, called
Ursin,
was
born probably in Terrebonne Parish in June 1822, Pierre Octave, Orther,
Hortaire, Hotard, or Arthur in April
1825, Norbert in April 1829, Sylvère in November 1831, Jean
Washington or Washington Berger, called Washington, in January 1837,
Hubert in January 1838, Jean
Baptiste Crejus or Frejus, called Baptiste and sometimes Frejus,
in February 1840, Théophile in September 1844, and Aubert Osémé
in July 1849. Their daughters married into the Bonvillain and Marcel
families.
8a
Pierre Arthur married Émilie,
18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Comeaux and Marguerite
Crochet, in a civil
ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in February 1844, and sanctified the marriage at
the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in September 1849. Their son Adam
or Eubin Amédée, also called Jean Labin, was born in Terrebonne Parish in February 1849.
They also had a son named Robert. Pierre Arthur remarried to
Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadian Eléonore dit Léonor Crochet
and his Creole wife Élise Pichoff, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in August 1860, and sanctified the
marriage at the Houma church in June 1862. Their son Augustin
Alexis was born in Terrebonne Parish in August 1869.
Robert, by his father's first wife, married cousin Euselia, daughter of
fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste
Bergeron and Joséphine Pitre, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in September 1864, and sanctified the
marriage at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in March 1870. Their son Urbain was
born in Terrebonne Parish in September 1869, and Jean Baptiste
Ernest in December 1869[sic].
Adam,
by his father's first wife, married
cousin Evelina, daughter of fellow Acadian Célestin Bergeron and his
Creole wife Adeline Ledet, in a civil ceremony in
Terrebonne Parish in
November 1868.
8b
Ursin married
17-year-old Adèle, another daughter of Jean Comeaux and Marguerite
Crochet, in a civil
ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in June 1845, and sanctified the marriage at the
Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in January 1851. Their son Thomas Adam
was born at "Lau Bleu," Terrebonne Parish, in October 1848, Henri
Séraphin in December 1862, and Wily in July 1868.
Their daughter married into the Maronge family.
8c
Norbert married Eles, Helea,
Helena, Lea, Leah, or Léoi, 19-year-old daughter of Jacques Bonvillain
and his Acadian wife Émelie Crochet, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1852, on the same day and at the same place that
Norbert's sister Susanne married Leah's brother Célestin.
Norbert and Leah's son Adam was born in Terrebonne Parish in June 1854,
Ernest
Henri Clay in February 1857, and Narcisse Myrtile in September
1864.
8d
Baptiste married Émeline or
Melina, another daughter of Eléonore
Crochet and Élise Pichoff, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in February
1859, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in
May 1860. Their son Adam Baptiste was born in Terrebonne Parish
in January 1860, and Joseph Aurelien in April 1862. Baptiste
remarried to Zulmée Élisabeth Crochet in a civil ceremony in
Terrebonne Parish in February 1865.
8e
During the War of 1861-65,
Washington
served in Company H of the 26th Regiment
Louisiana Infantry, raised in Terrebonne Parish, which fought
at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Washington married Edmire or Elmire, daughter of
Adolphe
Danion and his Acadian wife Marie Benoit, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish
in December 1863 while he was home awaiting exchange, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church,
Terrebonne Parish, in January
1864. Their son Joseph Charley
was born in Terrebonne Parish in November 1864, and Eusilien André in October 1868.
8f
Théophile married fellow
Acadian Célina Pitre in a civil
ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in February 1865.
9
Pierre-Célestin, called Célestin,
from his father's second wife, born at
Assumption in February 1803, married fellow Acadian Phelonise Babin in a civil
ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in October 1824. Their son Trasimond
Claiborne or Claiborne Trasimond was born probably in Terrebonne Parish in May 1829,
Thomas
Philemon, called Philemon, in January 1833, Charles Léon, called
Léon, in May
1834, Charles Émile, called Émile, in April 1842, and Georges Célestin in
June 1845. Their daughters married
into the Bratten, Hébert, and Luke families. Célestin's mortgage with the Union Bank of Louisiana was filed at the Houma
courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in August 1838. Célestin's probate sale was held in Terrebonne Parish
in January 1846; he would have been 43 years
old that year. In November 1850, the federal census taker in
Terrebonne Parish counted 6 slaves--3 males and 3 females, all black, ranging
in age from 35 to 2--on Felonise Bergeron's farm; these
probably were Phelonise Babin's slaves.
9a
Trasimond may have married Martha
Shy in
Terrebonne Parish in the mid-1850s. Their son Paul Wilson was
baptized at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, age 10, in June 1866.
9b
Émile died in Terrebonne Parish in July 1860,
age 17.
9c
Philemon married Camillia or Cornelia, daughter of
Théogène Marcel and his Acadian wife Survillia Chiasson, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1861; Cornelia's mother
was a Chiasson. Philemon died by January 1864, when Cornelia
remarried in Terrebonne Parish; he would have been age 31 that
year. One wonders if his death was war-related.
10
Youngest son Marcellin Vital,
by his father's second wife, born in Assumption Parish in November
1809, married French Creole Julie Celie, Celisie, Cidloi, Cylois, Eulalie, Justine, Sidelie, Siglaie, or Silvie
Bonvillain of St. Mary Parish
in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in July 1833. Their son Charles
le jeune was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1839[sic],
and Joseph Franklin or Franklin Joseph, called Frank,
in March 1839.
They also had sons named Arthur, called Arti, and Marcellin
Aristide. Their daughters married
into the Antill, Bonvillain, and Munson families. Marcellin Vital died
probably in
Terrebonne Parish in November 1841; the Thibodaux priest who recorded his
burial said that Marcellin was age 34 when he died, but he was 32; he was "Buried in Cemetery in Terrebonne"; a petition for a family
meeting was filed in Marcellin's name at the Houma courthouse
in April 1853.
10a
Frank married Joséphine O, daughter of Joseph
Perigeaux and Louisa Oram, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in February 1859.
10b
Arthur married
Marie Elvina, called Elvina, daughter of fellow Acadians Martin Hébert
and Mathilde Dubois, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in March 1860. Their son Léonce Marcellin
was born in Terrebonne Parish in January 1861.
10c
Marcellin Aristide married cousin
Aurore Evelina, daughter of Aubert Bonvillain and Virginie
Watkins, at the Houma church,
Terrebonne Parish, in January
1866. Their son Rémi Hasy Lawson was born in Terrebonne Parish
in October 1866.
Descendants of Jean-Théodore
BERGERON (1762-1832; Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, père,
Barthélémy dit d'Amboise, fils)
Jean-Théodore, called Théodore, younger son of
Charles Bergeron and Isabelle Arseneau of Rivière St.-Jean,
born probably at Halifax in July 1764, came to Louisiana in 1765 with his
parents and siblings and followed them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river,
where he married Théotiste, daughter of fellow Acadians
Pierre Forest and Marie Landry, in February 1786. Théotiste was a
native of St.-Jacques. Their children were born there. Their daughter
married into the Boudreaux family. Théodore remarried to
Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Paul Bourgeois and Rosalie
LeBlanc and widow of
François Régis
Part, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in October 1815;
Théodore was 51 years old at the time of the wedding. Constance was a native of St. James.
Their daughters married into the Autin, Boudreaux, Champagne, and
Toups families. In the late 1810s, Théodore left the river and
joined his cousins on upper Bayou Lafourche. His children followed.
Théodore died in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1832; the
Thibodauxville priest who
recorded his burial said that Théodore was age 78 when he died, but he
was 70; his succession was filed at the Thibodauxville
courthouse the following December. His middle son settled near the river in Ascension Parish, but his oldest and
youngest sons remained in Lafourche. In August 1850, the
federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted 3 slaves--a
60-year-old male, a 52-year-old female, and a 13-year-old male, all black--on
Widow T. Bergeron's farm in the Cotan area of the parish; these
probably were Constance Bourgeois's slaves.
1
Oldest son Simon-Pierre or Pierre-Simon, by
his father's first wife, born
at St.-Jacques in October 1793, married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Mathurin
LeBlanc and Rosalie Theriot, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in August 1814. Their son Pierre
Désiré, called Désiré, was born in Assumption Parish in December 1818,
Joseph Laurence,
called Laurence, in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1825, Jean Adolphe,
called Adolphe, in April
1829, and Valfroi Michel or Michel Valfroi, called Valfroi,
in December 1832. Their daughters married
into the Guillot, Richard, and Robichaux families.
Simon Pierre died in Lafourche Parish
in July 1861; the Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said that Simone was
age 71 when he died, but he was 67.
1a
Désiré married Marie Uranie,
called Uranie, daughter of Paul Grabert and his Acadian wife Marie
Madeleine Gaudin, at the Thibodaux church,
Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1843.
Their son Pierre Laurence, called Laurence le jeune, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in
August 1845, and Joseph in March 1852.
Laurence le jeune died in Lafourche Parish in February
1865, age 19, and did not marry.
1b
Laurence married Marie Éloise, Léonie,
or Louise, another daughter of Paul Grabert and Marie Madeleine
Gaudin, at the Thibodaux church,
Lafourche Interior Parish, in February
1849. Their son Joseph Octave, called Octave, was born in
Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1851 but died in a yellow fever epidemic
at age 2 1/2 in October 1853, Joseph died at age 2 months in December
1853, and Evemot was baptized at the Thibodaux church, no
age given, in 1854. Laurence died
in Lafourche Parish in August 1855; the Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial said
that Laurence was age 27 when he died, but he was 29. Laurence's wife remarried to
another Acadian Bergeron.
1c
Valfroi married Philomène, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph
Gautreaux
and his Creole wife Scholastique Peltier
of Assumption Parish, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in April 1855. Their son
Joseph
Numa was born in Lafourche Parish in April 1859, Philippe Cleopha
in January 1861, Simon Alcide in August 1862, and Valéry Odille
in October 1870. In June 1860, the federal census taker
in Lafourche Parish counted a single slave--a 15-year-old black female--on
Valfroid Bergeron's farm in the parish's Seventh Ward.
1d
Adolphe died in Lafourche Parish in
December 1864. The priest who recorded his burial said that Adolphe was
age 38
when he died, but he was 35. He probably never married.
2
Jean- or Pierre-Ursin,
called Ursin, from his father's first wife, born at St.-Jacques in April
1796, married Léocade, daughter of Michel Migott or Migou and
his Acadian wife Rosalie Hébert, at the
Convent church, St. James Parish, in July 1814; Léocade's mother was an Hébert.
They followed his family to upper Bayou Lafourche in the late 1810s, but
they did not remain there. They were living in Ascension Parish by the
late 1820s.
3
Benjamin, by his father's first
wife, born at St.-Jacques in November
1799, married Marie Célesie, daughter of Louis Dué and Célesie
Richau of St. Charles and Lafourche Interior parishes, at
the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1820. Their son
Benjamin
Ulgère or Ludgère, called Ludger, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1823,
Louis
Armogène in c1826 but died at age 10 in January 1837, Adam was born
in October 1830, Pierre Émile in August 1832, Adolphe Amédée
in January 1834, and Louis Oleus in August 1842. They also had a
son named Jean Adélard, called Adélard. Their daughter married into the
Cantrelle
family.
3a
Ludger married Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis
Lejeune and Ludger married Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadian Alexis
Lejeune,
at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1845.
Their son Charles Joseph was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in
December 1847, and Louis Auguste or Louis Oleus le jeune in
November 1849 but died at age 10 months in September 1850. Ludger
remarried to Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph F. Richard, at the Thibodaux church in January 1854.
Their son Théophile was born in Lafourche Parish in January 1856.
During the War of 1861-65,
Ludger
served as fifth sergeant in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana
Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg,
Mississippi.
3b
Adélard
married Adèle, daughter of Joseph Munson and his Acadian wife Marie
Daigle, at the Thibodaux church,
Lafourche Parish, in
September 1855; Adèle's mother was a Daigle. Their son Charles
Lucien, called Lucien, was born in Lafourche Parish in November 1860.
A petition for
tutorship for his children was filed in Adélard's name at the Thibodaux courthouse,
Lafourche Parish, in July 1866.
4
Youngest son Édouard, by
his father's first wife, born at St.-Jacques in January
1803, died at age 1 in February 1804.
Other BERGERONs in the
Lafourche/Terrebonne Valley
Area church and civil records make
it difficult to link some Bergerons in the Bayou Lafourche/Bayou Terrebonne
valley to
known Acadian lines of the family there:
Aloyse Bergeron's son Charles
was baptized at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, age 3
in September 1822.
Marie Bathilde Bergeron
married Acadian Hippolyte Chiasson in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne
Parish in May 1830. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not
give the couples' parents' names.
Marcellin Bergeron
died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 10 days, in January 1853. The
Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial did not give the infant's
parents' names.
Alida Bergeron,
wife of Zéphirin Olivier, died in Terrebonne Parish in
March 1854. A petition for succession inventory in her name, listing
her husband and their five children, was filed at the Houma courthouse at
the end of the month. Wonder wonders who were her parents.
Wilfried Bergeron married
Émilie Badeaux probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the early
1850s. Daughter Marie Augustine was born near Lockport in September
1855.
Eveline or Evelina, daughter of
Adeline[sic] Bergeron and Célestine
Bergeron, married Édouard/Edward, son of Léonor Crochet
and Leisa Pichoff, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne
Parish in June 1854, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church,
Terrebonne Parish, in November 1866.
J. C. Bergeron married Cléonise
Boudreaux probably in Lafourche Parish in the mid-1850s.
Their son Léonie Justilien was born in Lafourche Parish in October
1857.
_____ Bergeron,
wife of Philogène Courtville, died in Lafourche Parish in
May 1856, age unrecorded.
Jean Baptiste Bergeron's son
Léonce
died in Ascension Parish at age 10 months in August 1858. The priest
who recorded the boy's burial did not give the mother's
name, so one wonders which Jean Baptiste this may have been.
Roséma Bergeron
died near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, age 19, in May 1860. The
priest who recorded the burial did not give her parents' names or mention
a husband.
Antoinette Bergeron's son
Frank
Joseph was born in Terrebonne Parish in April 1863, and daughter Mary
Molet in May 1865. The Houma priest/priests
who recorded the children's baptism did not give the father's
name.
Odalie Julia, daughter of
Luvinia Bergeron, was born in Terrebonne Parish in August
1863. The Houma priest who recorded the girl's baptism did not give
the father's name or the mother's parents' names.
G. Washington Bergeron
married Artémise Arceneaux in a civil ceremony in
Terrebonne Parish in December 1863. The parish clerk who recorded
the marriage gave no parents' names. Was the groom the fifth son of
Jean Charles Bergeron of Lafourche and Terrebonne
parishes?
Jean Baptiste, also called
Frejus, Bergeron
married Zulemée of Sulmée Élisabeth Crochet in a civil ceremony in
Terrebonne Parish in February 1865. The parish clerk who recorded
the marriage gave no parents' names. Was the groom the seventh son
of Jean Charles Bergeron of Lafourche and Terrebonne
parishes?
Malvenia or Malvina
Bergeron married Silvain Babin in a civil
ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in June 1865, and sanctified the marriage at
the Houma church in April 1866. Neither the parish clerk nor the
priest who recorded the marriage gave any parents' names.
Omer Bergeron died in
Lafourche Parish in February 1866. The priest who recorded the burial
did not give Omer's age at the time of his burial, mention a wife, or give any parents' names.
Uselia Bergeron's son Franklin
was born in Terrebonne Parish in January 1867. The Houma priest who
recorded the boy's baptism did not give the father's
name.
Victoria Bergeron
was baptized near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, in 1868. The priest
who recorded the baptism did not give the parents' names.
Julia Bergeron
died near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in February 1868. The priest
who recorded the burial did not give her parents' names or even her age at
the time of her death.
Scholas Bergeron died near
Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in September 1868. The priest who
recorded the burial did not give any parents' names or Scholas's age at the time of his/her death. Was Scholas short for
Scholastique or for Nicolas?
Simon Bergeron married Tarzile
_____ probably in Lafourche Parish in the 1860s. Their daughter Domithilde
married Charles, son of Anglo American Tom Barlett, at the Lockport
church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1868.
Emé Bergeron
married Émile Marcel in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne
Parish in March 1869. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did
not give the bride's parents' names.
Augustin Bergeron died in
Terrebonne Parish at age 10 in May 1870. The priest who recorded the
boy's burial did not give any parents' names.
NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA
Bergeron is a fairly common
surname in France and French Canada. A number of non-Acadian Bergerons lived in French
Louisiana as early as the 1720s, decades before their Acadian namesakes
arrived:
Jean-Baptiste, son of Léonard Bergeron
and Marguerite Beauvais, perhaps from Canada, was "resident upstream on the river"
when he married Marie Jeanne, daughter of "captain of arms at Brest"
Joseph Dauphin and Élisabeth-Perin Bourgeois, at New Orleans in
April 1725.
Grégoire Bergeron and
Gillette DeBourg had a daughter named Geneviève, born at New Orleans
in March 1731.
Madeleine Bergeron married
Étienne, son of Lazard Renauld of Arles, Provence, France, at New Orleans in
May 1768.
.
An especially prolific French
Creole family settled upriver at Pointe Coupée two decades before the Acadian
Bergerons reached Louisiana. During
the late colonial and early antebellum periods, some of these French-Creole Bergerons left the river and moved to the
old Attakapas and Opelousas districts. Few, if any, Acadian Bergerons settled west of the
Atchafalaya Basin during the antebellum period, so most of the Bergerons
on the southwest prairies sprang from this large Creole family. They
settled mostly in St. Landry Parish, a predominantly-Creole area.
Typically, only a
hand full of them married Acadians:
Descendants of Guillaume
BERGERON dit Saintonge (?-1762)
Guillaume dit
Saintonge, son of Nicolas Bergeron and Jeanne Vigere, was a
French soldier from Jennai, parish of St.-Sulpice, in the
Saintonge region of coastal France, hence his dit. Judging from his
birthplace, he probably was not kin to Barthélémy dit d'Amboise of
Indre-et-Loire or
to Pierre of Haute-Loire. Guillaume came to Louisiana "sometime before
1740" and was stationed on the Red River at Natchitoches Post.
While at Natchitoches, he married Agnès Renaudière of Kaskaskia,
Illinois. Probably after his enlistment expired, around 1744, he took
his wife to Pointe Coupée, where he became a prominent planter on False
River. Their daughters married into the Casan and Schitz
families. Their five sons also married and settled in the False River area.
Guillaume dit Saintonge died at Pointe Coupée in September 1762; the
priest who recorded the burial did not give Guillaume's age at the time of
his death. By the early 1800s, many of Guillaume's grandsons and
great-grandsons had moved from the river to the western prairies and settled
in St. Martin, St. Landry, and Lafayette parishes, creating a large western
branch of the family. At least one of them left the western prairies
in the late 1850s and settled near Raceland on lower Bayou Lafourche, where
Acadian members of the family had settled, further complicating the family's
genealogical picture in the region.
Guillaume's other descendants remained on the river at Pointe Coupee, Baton
Rouge, or Iberville. Guillaume's oldest son's line may have died out,
but the lines of his other four sons, especially his second one, flourished.
Despite being a large, prominent Creole family, a surprising number of
Guillaume dit Saintonge's descendants married Acadians:
1
Oldest son Georges-Guillaume,
baptized at Pointe Coupée, age unrecorded,
in March 1747, married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Paul Saizan of des
Allemands on the German Coast and widow of Laurent Decuir dit
Houssard, at Pointe Coupée in November 1766. Georges remarried to Gertrude, daughter of fellow French Creole
Joseph Patin, at Pointe Coupée in September 1801; Georges was in his late 50s
at the time of the wedding. Their son
Joseph
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in July 1808, when Georges was in his
mid-60s. Georges died in Pointe Coupee Parish in February 1809; the priest who
recorded the burial said that Georges was age 66 when he died. One
wonders what happened to son Joseph.
2
Pierre, born at Pointe
Coupée in November
1748, married Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of French
Creole Pierre Moreau, at Pointe Coupée in January 1771. Their
son Pierre, fils was baptized at Pointe Coupée, age
unrecorded, in August 1775, Jean-Baptiste was born in c1778, Jean-Pierre was baptized at age 3 months in May 1781, Hippolyte was born in
December 1787, and Valéry or Valérien in April 1792. They also
had two sons named Zénon. Their daughters married into the
Guidroz, Guiau, Lebeau, Olinde, Pourciau,
and Saizan families. Pierre, père died in Pointe Coupee
Parish in April 1821; the priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre was
age 75 when he died, but he was 72.
2a
Pierre, fils
married Eulalie, daughter of French Creole Jean-Baptiste Saizan,
at New Orleans in May 1796. Their son Pierre III was baptized at
Pointe Coupée, age 7 months, in March 1801, a son, name and
age unrecorded, died in November 1802, Jean Baptiste le
jeune, called Baptiste, was born in May
1805, Théotin, a twin, in January 1812, and Edmond in January
1813 but died at age 15 1/2 in July 1828. Their daughters
married into the Chautin, Cormier, Delhomme, Guidroz, and
Lanclos
families. During the early antebellum period, Pierre, fils
moved his family to Pont Fuselier in the Attakapas District,
but his younger brothers remained on the river. Pierre, fils died in St. Martin Parish
in November 1824; he was age 52; his succession was filed at the
St. Martinville courthouse the following month. In November 1850, the
federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 18 slaves--10 males and 8
females, all black except for 1 mulatto, ages 50 to 1--on Widow Pierre Bergeron's
farm; these probably were Eulalie Saizan's slaves.
Pierre III
married Charlotte Honorine or Honorine Charlotte, called Honorine, daughter of French Creole Alexandre
Delhomme
of L'Anse des Charpentiers, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish,
in January 1819. Their son Pierre IV was born in St. Landry
Parish in February 1820. Their daughters married into the Berger,
Chataignier,
Robin, and Stelly families. Pierre III remarried to
Marie Sidonise, called Sidonise, daughter of French Creole Jean Baptiste
Guidroz
and widow of François Rivet, at the St. Martinville church in June
1828. Their son Théogène was born in St. Martin Parish in March
1829 but died at his parents' home at L'Anse des Charpentiers, age 1 1/2, in
December 1830, Siméon or Simon Renaud was born in May 1831 but
died in Pointe Coupee Parish at age 9 in July 1840, Léopold
born near
Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in January 1836, Andeol in October
1839 but died at age 7 in August 1846, and Hippolyte le jeune was born in August
1841 but died at age 14 months in October 1842. Their daughter married
into the Courvelle family. In November 1850, the federal census
taker in St. Martin Parish counted 8
slaves--4 males and 4 females, all black, ages 40 to 15--on Pierre Bergeron's
farm; this probably was Pierre III, but it could have been Pierre IV. Pierre
III died probably in St. Martin Parish in November 1866; the Grand
Coteau priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Pierre
died "at age 66 yrs.," so this probably was him; his succession
was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in December.
Pierre IV, by his
father's first wife, may have married
French Creole Clara Robin in
a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1845, and sanctified the marriage
at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in February 1846, and remarried
to Joséphine, daughter
of French Canadian Georges Lalonde, at the Grand Coteau church in
February 1848; Joséphine's mother was a Boutin. Their son Joseph
Edmond, called Edmond, was born near Arnaudville, St. Landry
Parish, in June 1859 but died at age 5 (the recording priest
said 6) in October 1864. Pierre
IV died near Arnaudville in December 1869; the priest who
recorded the burial did not give any parents' names,
mention a wife, or give Pierre's age at the time of his
death; Pierre IV would have been age 49; his succession, mentioning
his second wife, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse three
days after his death. Did his family line survive?
Siméon Renaud, by his
father's second wife, married
Elisa, Éloise, Louise, or Louisa, daughter of Acadian Zéphirin Broussard, at
the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1855. Their son
Ulysses died near Vermilionville at age 1 in May 1860, Joseph Martial
was born near Arnaudville, St. Landry Parish, in January 1862,
François
D. near Vermilionville in August 1863, and Simon, fils in October
1865. In June 1860, the
federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 5 slaves--2 males and 3
female, all black except for 1 mulatto, ranging in age from 30 to 2--on
Siméon Bergeron's farm.
Léopold died near
Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in February 1863. The
priest who recorded the burial said that Leopold was
age 23 when he
died; he was 26. He probably never married.
Jean Baptiste, called
Baptiste, married Adelphine, called Delphine, another daughter Jean Baptiste
Guidroz,
at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1830. Their son
Jean
Baptiste, fils was born in St. Martin Parish in November 1832, Babilan
or Babilas near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in January 1841 but died in St. Martin
Parish at age 1 1/2 in October 1842, Joseph Protenla was born near
Grand Coteau in August 1845, Verzare or Ferjus near Breaux Bridge, St. Martin
Parish, in December 1849 but died at age 12 in May 1861, François Menelas
was born near St. Martinville in
July 1853, and Joseph Thelesmar near Arnaudville, St. Landry Parish, in
February 1856. Their daughters married into the Blanchard,
Hargroder, Kidder,
Marks,
and Richard families. In
November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 22
slaves--9 males and 13 females, all black, ranging in age from 60 to 1--on
Bapte. Bergeron's plantation. In June 1860, the federal census
taker in St. Martin Parish counted 68
slaves--36 males and 26 females, 42 blacks and 20 mulattoes, ages 73 to 1--on
J. B. Bergeron's plantation. Baptiste died near
Grand Coteau in November 1864, age 59 (the recording priest said 58); his succession,
naming his wife, was
filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, the following August.
Jean
Baptiste, fils married Azéna, daughter of Acadian Philippe Richard, at
the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1851.
Joseph Protenla married Hélène, daughter of Acadian
Théogène
Richard,
at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in June 1865.
2b
Jean-Pierre married Julie, daughter of French Creole Louis
Armand Ducrest, at Attakapas in
April 1799, but they settled at Pointe Coupée. Their son Valéry le jeune was born at Pointe Coupée in July
1800 but died at age 1 1/2 in April 1802, Hippolyte le jeune was
baptized at the Pointe Coupee church, age 6 months, in
March 1810, Seneville or Saintville was born in July 1813,
and Evariste in c1815. Their daughters
married into the Guerin, Lebeau, Major, Porche, and
Sicard
families. Jean
Pierre remarried to Céleste Picard or Ricard probably in Pointe Coupee Parish in
the 1820s or early 1830s. Their son Jean Pierre,
fils was baptized at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, age 4 months, in March
1832. Jean Pierre died in Pointe Coupee Parish
in May 1843, age 63.
Hippolyte le jeune, by his
father's first wife, married
French Creole Mathilde Lebeau in a civil ceremony in Pointe Coupee Parish in c1831,
and sanctified the marriage at the Pointe Coupee church in July 1854. They lived "at the Channell." Their son
Laurent
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in c1837 but died at age 9 in November 1846,
Cornelie
was born in c1838 but died at age 2 1/2 in July 1840, Bernard Mozart,
called Mozart, was
born in July 1840, and Hermogène in December 1843. Their daughters married into the Gremillion
and Pinsonnat families. Hippolyte
le jeune's "estate" was probated in St. Landry Parish in July
1853; he would have been age 44 that year.
During the War of
1861-65, Mozart
served in the Fausse River Guards Company Militia Infantry, a local unit
raised in Pointe Coupee Parish that did not leave the area. Mozart went on to serve in the Pointe Coupee Battalion Louisiana
Artillery in Mississippi.
During the War of
1861-65, Hermogène
served in the Fausse River Guards Company Militia Infantry with his
older brother Mozart. Hermogène married cousin Marie Almaïde
Amaïde Lebeau at the Lakeland
church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in December 1865; Hermogène's mother, also, was a
Lebeau.
Their son Laurent Albens was born near Lakeland in June 1867.
Evariste, by his father's first wife, married
French Creole Adeline Gremillion in a civil
ceremony in Pointe Coupee Parish probably in the mid-1830s. Their infant
son, a twin, name unrecorded, died at age 4 months in December 1837.
They also had a son named Evariste Oscar, called Oscar. Their daughter married into the
Lebeau family.
Evariste
died in Pointe Coupee Parish in April 1845, age 30.
Oscar married Louise
or Louisa, daughter of
Evariste Bertoniere
and Julie Chutz and widow of ____ Patin, at the Pointe Coupee church in February
1859. Their son Evariste Oscar was born near Lakeland, Pointe
Coupee Parish, February 1860 but died the following July, and Louis in
September 1861 but died at age 6 in November 1867. Oscar may have
remarried to French Creole Hélène Lejeune in the late
1860s. Their son Alfred was born near Lakeland in
February 1868.
Saintville, by his
father's first wife, married
French Creole Amélie, or Émilie Gremillion in
a civil ceremony in Pointe Coupee Parish probably in the mid-1830s. Their
son Saintville
Alber, called Albert and Alberard, was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in March
1845. Their daughter
married into the Lebeau family. Saintville, a resident of L'isle, died in Pointe Coupee Parish in
November 1849; the priest who recorded the burial said that Saintville was age 40
when he died, but he was 36.
Saintville Albert died
near Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, in November 1862, age 17, so he probably did not marry. One wonders if his death was
war-related.
Jean Pierre, fils, by his
father's second wife,
married French Creole Virginie Lejeune in Pointe Coupee Parish in the
late 1840s or the early
1850s. Their daughter married into the Major family.
2c
Jean-Baptiste married Marie
Marguerite, called Marguerite, another daughter of Louis Armand Ducrest, at Attakapas in June
1802, but they lived in Pointe Coupée. Their son Jean Baptiste,
fils was
born in Pointe Coupee in September 1804, another son named Jean was
baptized at the Pointe Coupee church, age 6 months, in March 1810,
Drosin
was born in July 1811, and Auguste in c1823 but died at age 15 in March
1838. They also had a son
named Valmont. Jean Baptiste, père died in Pointe Coupee Parish in July 1840,
age 62. His daughters married into the Lebeau
family.
Valmont married Marie Louise, daughter of
French Creole Zénon Guérin, at the
Pointe Coupee church in December 1839. Their son Louis Toussaint,
called Toussaint,
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in November 1845, Louis Meida or
Mehida in March 1848, Louis Ramma in September 1853, and Louis Evariste,
called Evariste, near Lakeland in June 1857 but died at age 5 in July
1862.
Louis Toussaint married Marie Ismenie, daughter of
French Creole Gustave Gremillion,
at the Lakeland church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in December 1865. Their son Joseph Marillae
was born near Lakeland in March 1867.
Louis Mehida married
Marie Aurelia, daughter of Oreste Lebeau, at the Lakeland
church in February 1869. Their son
Joseph Ernest was born near Lakeland in March 1870.
Jean Baptiste, fils may have married
French Creole Amelie St. Romain in
Pointe Coupee Parish in the 1840s or 1850s. Their son Jean Baptiste
III was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in December 1856, Jean Baptiste Ovide,
called Ovide, in February 1859 but died at age 1 1/2 in December 1860,
Joseph Auguste
was born in October 1861 but died at age 8 months the
following June, and Arcade died at age 2 months in December 1863. In
July 1860, the federal census taker in Pointe Coupee parish counted 11 slaves--7 males and 4 females, all black
except for 1 mulatto, ages 50 to 2--on Jean Bte. Bergeron's farm.
Jean Baptiste, fils, described by the priest who recorded the
burial as the "principal founder of Immaculate Conception Church" at
Lakeland, died there in March 1867, age 62.
2d
Zénon le jeune
married Marguerite, daughter of French Creole Joseph André, at the
Pointe Coupee church in March 1810, and likely remarried to
French Creole Marie Sicard in a civil ceremony in Pointe Coupee Parish probably in the mid-1830s. Their son Zénon,
fils, perhaps theirs, was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in January 1840, Joseph Dorville
in April 1848, Benedict died a month after his birth in February 1859,
and Joseph Louis was born in August 1861. Their daughter
married into the Gauthier family.
Zénon, fils, by his
father's second wife, married
Caroline, daughter of French Creole Dava Saizan, at the Pointe Coupee church in
January 1861. Their son Joseph Alcide was born near Lakeland in
April 1864, and François Arcade in April 1869. During the War of
1861-65,
Zenon,
fils served in the Fausse River Guards Company Louisiana Militia
Infantry, a local unit that did not leave the area, and in Company K of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Pointe Coupee Parish,
which fought in other parts of Louisiana.
2e
Hippolyte married Éloise or Héloise, another daughter of Jean Baptiste
Saizan,
at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in November 1811.
Their son Hippolyte, fils was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in December
1813 but died at age 6 in November 1819, a child, name and age
unrecorded, died in January 1820, and Jules died at age 10 months in
January 1821. Their daughter married into the Gueho family.
Hippolyte died in Pointe Coupee Parish in December 1838; the priest who
recorded the burial said that
Hippolyte was age 54 when he died, but he was 51.
2f
Valérien married Marie, daughter of French Creole Joseph
St. Cyr,
at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in December 1815. They had sons named
Valéry
or Valérien, fils, Villeneuve, and Paul. Their daughters married into
the Chutz, Hesley, Hurst, Janis, Lebeau, Mix,
Olinde, and Samson families. In July
1860, the federal census taker in Pointe Coupee Parish counted 38 slaves--24
males and 14 females, all black except for 3 mulattoes, ages 65 to 3, living
in 20 houses--on Valérien Bergeron's plantation; this probably
was Valérien, père. In July 1860, the same federal census taker
counted 5 slaves--3 males and 2 females,
all black except for 1 mulatto, ages 46 to 19--on Valérien Bergeron's
farm; this could have been Valérien, père or Valérien, fils
Valérien, père died in Pointe Coupee Parish in January 1861; the
priest who recorded the burial said that Valérien was age 70
when he died, but he was 68.
Valérien, fils married Marguerite, daughter of
Anglo American John Hesley of Charleston, South Carolina, at the Pointe
Coupee church in December 1840; one of Marguerite's brothers married one of
Valérien, fils's sisters.
Villeneuve married cousin Adeline, daughter of
fellow French Creole Alexandre St.
Cyr, at the Pointe Coupee church in December 1845; Villeneuve's mother,
also, was a St. Cyr. Their son Martin Villeneuve was born
in Pointe Coupee Parish in November 1846, Alexandre died 3 days after
his birth in August 1849, Joseph Octave, called Octave, was born
in January 1851 but died at age 18 months in August 1852, Louis
Thomas was born in December 1857, and Joseph Paul Valérien in
February 1869 but died a few weeks later.
Paul married Léonie, daughter of
French Creole Hippolyte Saizan, at
the Pointe Coupee church in February 1852. Their son
Olivier was
born in Pointe Coupee Parish in August 1855. In July 1860, the federal
census taker in Pointe Coupee Parish counted 5
slaves--2 males and 3 females, all black except for 1 mulatto, ages 40 to
4--on Paul Bergeron's farm.
2g
Zénon l'aîné married Marie Madeleine,
called Madeleine, daughter of French Creole Joseph Picard, at
the Pointe Coupee church in October 1818. Their son
Saint James died
in Pointe Coupee Parish at age 2 in November 1826. Their daughter
married into the Labauve family. Zénon l'aîné likely remarried to
French Creole Marie Sicard in a civil
ceremony in Pointe Coupee Parish in the mid-1830s. Their son Zénon,
fils, perhaps theirs, was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in January 1840, Joseph Dorville,
probably called Dorville,
in April 1848, Benedict died a month after his birth in February 1859,
and Joseph Louis was born in August 1861. Their daughter
married a Bergeron cousin.
Zénon, fils, by his
father's second wife, married
Caroline, daughter of French Creole Dava Saizan, at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe
Coupee Parish, in
January 1861. Their son Joseph Alcide was born near Lakeland in
April 1864, and François Arcade in April 1869. During the War of 1861-65,
Zenon,
fils served in the Fausse River Guards Company Louisiana Militia
Infantry, a local unit that did not leave the area, and in Company K of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry,
raised in Pointe Coupee Parish, which fought in other parts of Louisiana.
Dorville, called Douville
by the recording priest, married Hélène or Helena, daughter of Isaac
Maisonneuve, at the Lakeland church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in
February 1870; the recording priest, who did not give the
groom's parents' names, gave the bride's father's name in place of
hers. Dorville and Hélène's son Zénon Ernest was born
near Lakeland in November 1870.
3
Louis, born at Pointe
Coupée in December 1750,
married Angélique, daughter of French Creole François Bizette
of St.-Charles des Allemands on the Lower German Coast, at Pointe Coupée in November 1770. Their son
Louis,
fils was born at Pointe Coupée in July 1771 but died the following November,
Georges
le jeune was born in August 1772, a second Louis, fils was baptized at
Pointe Coupée, age unrecorded, in August 1775, Étienne le
jeune at age unrecorded in March
1779, Louis le jeune at age 3
months in May 1781 but may have died at age 3 in November 1784, and Valéry
or Valérien was born in October 1784. Louis's daughter married into
the Starbury family.
3a
Louis, fils married first cousin Modeste,
daughter of his uncle Joseph Bergeron, at Pointe Coupée in December
1794; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of relationship in
order to marry; Modeste's mother, also, was a Bizette. Their son
Joseph
le jeune was born at Pointe Coupée in December 1794, Valéry le
jeune in
March 1797, Marcellin in August 1799, and Vergus or Versure
in November
1801. Their daughter married a Bizette cousin. Louis, fils's
sons moved west to the St. Landry prairies.
Versure married cousin Judith, daughter of
Joseph Bergeron, fils and widow of Joseph Bénoni LeBlanc,
at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in October 1827.
Joseph le jeune may have married French Creole Marie, Edvise,
Edwise, or Hedwige Hulin or Olinde at the Grand Coteau church in
December 1831. Their son Jean Baptiste was born near Grand Coteau
in January 1838, Jean Lasty in December 1839, and Savilien or
Sevigné
in
November 1841. They also had sons named Étienne, also called Evariste,
and Philogène.
Their daughters married into the Desauls, Duplechin, and
Quebedeaux
families. Joseph le jeune may have died "at Bayou
Courtableau" in December 1867; the Opelousas priest who recorded the
burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Joseph died "at age 69 yrs.," but Joseph
le jeune would have been 73.
Evariste, also called
Étienne, married Pauline,
daughter of Acadian Joseph Boutin, at the Grand Coteau church in
January 1864. Their son Joseph Devis was born near
Arnaudville in July 1866, and Paul in May 1869.
During the War of 1861-65,
Savilien
served in Company K of the 29th (Thomas') Regiment Louisiana
Infantry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought at
Vicksburg, Mississippi. Called Sevigné by the recording
clerk, he married Eudalie or Ulalie,
daughter of French Canadian Georges
Lalonde
and widow of Michel Stout, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in
November 1865. They settled near Arnaudville. Their son
Joseph Sosthène was born in March 1870.
Philogène married Alida, daughter of French Creole Alexis
Olivier, at the Arnaudville church, St. Landry Parish, in
April 1869. Their son Marius was born near
Arnaudville in July 1870.
3b
Georges le jeune married Madeleine, daughter of French Creole Jacques Favre, at Pointe Coupée in November 1802.
Their son Louis Éliodore was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in December
1813.
3c
Valéry married Marie Madeleine, daughter of French Creole Jean
Prosper,
at Baton Rouge in July 1806; Marie Madeleine's mother was an Acadian Lavergne. Their son
Jean Valmont, called Valmont,
was born near Baton Rouge in April 1811 but died at age 6 months the following
September, Jean Baptiste Hilaire, called Hilaire, was born in June 1814, and
Dorville in
May 1818. Their daughters married into the Babin, Contini,
Bedate, Devrout, and Saux families. Valéry's older
surviving son remained in the Baton Rouge area, but his youngest son
joined his cousins on the St. Landry prairies. Both of his sons
and many of his grandsons took Acadian wives.
Jean Baptiste Hilaire,
called Hilaire,
married Marie Émeline, Amelina, or Apolline, also called Méline, daughter of Acadian Amand
Landry, at the Baton
Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in July 1833. Their son Armand
Théodore, called Théodore, was born near Baton Rouge in December 1835,
Joseph
Balthazar was
baptized at the Baton Rouge church, age 4 months, in March 1840, Cyprien
Isidore was born near Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish, in January 1847, Zénon Rodolphe Landry in December
1850, and Jean Baptiste Lucien in May 1854 but, called Jean Baptiste, died at
age 1 (the recording priest said 6 weeks) in May 1855. They also had a son named Joseph Demosthène.
Their daughters married into the Dupuy, Hébert,
and Landry
families. In August 1850, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge
Parish counted 13 slaves--8 males and 5 females, all black, ranging in age
from 58 to infancy--on H. Bergeron's farm; this was probably
Hilaire. Hilaire died near Brusly in November 1857, age 43 (the
recording priest said 44). His children also married Acadians.
Théodore married Marie Azelia, called Azelia, daughter of Acadian
Zéphirin Blanchard, at the Brusly church, West Baton Rouge Parish, in
April 1857. Their son Zéphirin was born near Brusly in September
1859, and Joseph Fillemore in October 1868. In July 1860, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge
Parish counted a single slave--a 19-year-old black female--on Théodore Bergeron's
farm. One wonders what happened to his father's slaves.
Joseph Demosthène married Marie Augusta
Adèle, daughter of Acadian Amédée Bujole, at the Brusly church, West
Baton Rouge Parish, in
August 1866.
Dorville married Joséphine,
daughter of Acadian Joseph Lejeune, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish,
in April 1840. Their son Alphonse was born in St. Landry Parish
in February 1840, Joseph in August 1846, Dorville, fils in
February 1849, Théophile in November 1850, and Onézime in
November 1860. Their daughters married into the Andrépont, Lejeune,
and Reed families. In November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish
counted a single slave--a 16-year-old black female--on Dorville Bergeron's
farm.
Joseph married
Félicité Aureline or Aurelia, daughter of French Canadian
Syphroi Roy, at the Eunice church, St. Landry Parish, in
January 1870.
3d
Étienne le
jeune died "at Colombo's in the wood behind Waterloo,"
Pointe Coupee Parish, in March 1849. He was age 72 and probably never
married.
4
Joseph, born at Pointe
Coupée in July 1753,
married Marie-Louise, another daughter of François Bizette, at Pointe
Coupée in January 1772. Their infant twins, names unrecorded, died at Pointe Coupée in November 1776, and son Joseph, fils was born
in December 1773. Their daughters married into the Bergeron, Godreau,
Guérin, and Olinde families. Joseph, père's
remaining son also married.
Joseph, fils married
Marie-Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of French Creole Charles Aymond,
at Pointe Coupée in January 1792. Their son Lucien was born at
Pointe Coupée in October 1793, Joseph Vital or Pascal,
called Pascal, in November 1795 but died at age 9 months in
September 1796, and Helverio, Ildevert, or Hildevert was born in January 1806. They also
had sons named Lasty and Chrysostôme. Their daughters married into the
Bergeron, Knott, LeBlanc, Neraut, Olinde,
and Stutes families. During the early antebellum period, Joseph,
fils took his family across the Atchafalaya Basin to the
old Opelousas District and joined some of his cousins there. In 1850,
the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish
counted 3 slaves--all females, all black, ages 50, 17, and 8--on Joseph Bergeron's
farm; this may have been Joseph, fils.
Lucien married
Marie Madeleine, called Madeleine, daughter of German Creole Guillaume Spargenberg of St. John the Baptist
and St. Landry parishes, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in
January 1815. Their son Lucien, fils was born in St. Landry
Parish in November 1815. Their daughters married into the Ragan
or Rogan family. Lucien, père's succession was filed at the Opelousas
courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in January 1823, years before his death. While he was living on Prairie
Grand Chevreuil, near present-day Henderson, Lucien, père remarried to Marie
Céline,
daughter of fellow French Creole Joseph Chautin and widow of Jean
Baptiste Ragan, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in
January 1826.
Lucien, fils married Eulalie, daughter
of German Creole André Marks and widow of Jean Baptiste Quebedeaux, at the
Grand Coteau church in September 1835. Their son Siméon was born
near Grand Coteau in February 1839, Julien in August 1841, Lucien
Neuville in March 1844, and Manléon near Opelousas in June 1847.
Lucien, fils remarried to Marie Madeleine,
called Madeleine, daughter of French Creole André Olivier, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in
July 1850, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church in August
1855; Marie Madeleine's mother was a Boutin. Their child,
name unrecorded, died near Grand Coteau at age 2 months in
March 1854, Joseph Adam was born in June 1857 but died at age 8 (the
recording priest said "7 yrs. & 3 mths.") in
November 1865, and Jacques Auress was born in July 1861. Lucien,
fils, at age 47,
remarried again--his third marriage--to Azélie, daughter of French
Creole Michel Foret
and widow of François Stelly, at the Grand Coteau church in January
1863. Lucien,
fils died near Arnaudville, St. Landry Parish, in
November 1870; the priest who recorded the burial, and who did
not give any parents' names or mention a wife,
said that Lucien died "at age 55 yrs.," so this was him; his
succession, naming his second wife, was filed at the
Opelousas courthouse a week after his death.
Julien, by his
father's first wife, died
near Grand Coteau in January 1862, age 20 (the recording priest said 19), and did not
marry.
Siméon, by his
father's first wife, married Élodie, daughter of Acadian Hippolyte
Cormier, at the
Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1865. Their
son Jules was born near Arnaudville in November 1868.
Lasty
married Marie Aurore, daughter of French Creole Alexandre Rois or Roy, at the
Grand Coteau church in August 1823. Their son Jean
Dupréville, called Dupréville, was born in St. Landry Parish in January
1832. Their daughter married into the Richard
family. Lasty's succession was filed at the Opelousas
courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in March 1850.
Dupréville married Adélaïde
dite Délaïde, daughter of Acadian Jean Baptiste
Blanchard,
in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1854, and sanctified the
marriage at the Church Point church, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia
Parish, in March 1856. Their son Omer was born near Church Point
in May 1858 but died at age 11 1/2 in November 1869, and Onille was
born near Raceland, Lafourche Parish, in August
1860. They were living in St. Landry Parish again in the late
1860s.
Hildevert married Julie Gentil, daughter of French
Creole Simon Étienne Legros, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry
Parish, in January
1833. Their son Hildevert, fils was born in St. Landry Parish in
December 1833. Hildevert remarried to
French Creole Célanie Guidroz at the Grand
Coteau church in September 1841; the marriage also was recorded there in
January 1864, years after the groom's passing. In 1850, the
federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted a single slave--a 4-year-old
black female--on Elderaire Bergeron's farm; this was
probably Hildevert, père. Hildevert, père's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse,
St. Landry Parish, in February 1853; he
would have been age 47 that year.
Hildevert, fils, by his
father's first wife, married
cousin Marie Adeline, called Adeline and also Advelise, Bergeron in a civil ceremony in
St. Landry Parish in August 1855, and sanctified the marriage at
the Grand Coteau church in June 1861. Their son Joseph Philosier was born
near Grand Coteau in June 1856 but, called Philosie, died at age 6 1/2 (the
recording priest said 7) in November 1852.
Chrysostôme married French Creole Marie Adeline, called Adeline, Goudeau at the
Grand Coteau church in April 1837. Their son Joseph
Philogène was
born near Grand Coteau in March 1840.
5
Youngest son Étienne, born
at Pointe Coupée in February 1758, married Françoise, daughter of French Creole Pierre
Olinde,
at St.-Gabriel, on the river below Pointe Coupée, in September 1781.
Their son Georges le jeune was baptized at Pointe Coupée,
age 3 weeks, in June 1783, Hippolyte, also called Polite, at age unrecorded in 1791, Étienne, fils was born in December
1792, Alexis in February 1795, Sosthène was baptized at age 6 months in October 1797, and Joseph le
jeune was born in December 1801. Their daughter married into the Lemay
family.
5a
Georges le jeune married cousin Marie,
daughter of Joseph Goudreau, at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee
Parish, in January 1812; Marie's mother was a French Creole Bergeron.
Their son Georges, fils had been baptized at the Pointe Coupee church,
age 1, in November 1809, Joseph le jeune was born in January 1814, and
Philonis
died at age 5 in January 1821.
Georges, fils may have married Marguerite
Bonnefois
in Pointe Coupee Parish in the 1820s or 1830s. Their daughter married
into the Leduff family.
Joseph le jeune died in
Pointe Coupee Parish in May 1838, age 24. He probably did not
marry.
5b
Hippolyte married Sidalie, daughter of François
Demouche,
at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in February 1813.
Their son Hippolyte, fils, also called Polite, was born in Pointe
Coupee Parish in April 1814, and Jules died at age 18 months in April
1824.
Polite may have married Melasie
David in Pointe Coupee
Parish in the early 1830s. They had a son named Raymond.
Raymond married Aspasie,
daughter of François Gueho, at the Pointe Coupee church in September
1850. Their son Raymond, fils was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in
August 1851, Joseph Duplessis in February 1853, François in August 1854, and
Hippolyte in June
1858. In July 1860, the federal census taker in Pointe Coupee Parish counted 8
slaves--4 males and 4 females, all black except for 1 mulatto, ranging in age
from 35 to 4, living in 2 houses--on Raymond Bergeron's
farm.
5c
Sosthène may have married cousin Élisabeth
Bergeron in
Pointe Coupee Parish in the 1820s or 1830s. Their son Sosthène,
fils was born probably in Pointe Coupee Parish in the 1830s.
Sosthène,
fils married Domithilde, daughter of Derozin Bruno and his
Acadian wife Eline Landry, at the Plaquemine
church, Iberville Parish, in May 1854.
Their son Jean Sosthène was born near Plaquemine in April 1859.
.
Area church and civil records make it difficult to
link a number
of Bergerons in Pointe Coupee Parish and on the western prairies with Guillaume dit Saintonge
and his descendants:
Louis Bergeron married Julie
Bizette
probably in Pointe Coupee Parish in the mid-1830s Their son Louis, fils
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in February 1837. Louis, père
may have been the Louis Bergeron who died in Pointe Coupee Parish in
January 1837, age 21; the priest who recorded the burial did
not give Louis's parents' names or mention a wife.
Maximilien Bergeron died in
Pointe Coupee Parish in August 1837. The priest who recorded the burial did not give Maximilien's parents' names, but he did give the man's age at the time of
his death--"about 24"--and noted that Maximilien was "leaving a
wife and one child."
François Bergeron married
Euphrosine Roy probably in Lafayette Parish in the late 1830s.
Their son François, fils was born in Lafayette Parish in August 1839,
and Omer near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in September
1853.
Joseph Bergeron died in
Pointe Coupee Parish in July 1840. The priest who recorded the burial,
and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife,
said that Joseph was age 51 when he died.
Edmond Bergeron died in
Pointe Coupee Parish in October 1842, age 21. The priest who recorded
the burial did not give his parents' names or mention
a wife.
Jean Baptiste Bergeron, neveu,
or nephew,
married Adèle Lebeau, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Marie
Angelina was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in August 1848 and married into the Holliday family. Jean Baptiste,
neveu
remarried to Ermine or Hermine Poché or Porche, widow of Joseph
Picard, at the
Pointe Coupee church in May 1857. Son Aristide
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in April 1862, and Arthur near
Lakeland in February 1864. Was he the Jean Baptiste Bergeron
who died near Lakeland in October 1869? The priest who recorded the
burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a
wife, said that Jean Baptiste died at "age 52 years."
Théodule Raga Bergeron died
in Pointe Coupee Parish in April 1843. Their priest who recorded the
burial said Théodule was age 15 or 16 when he died but did not
give his parents' names.
A. Bergeron died in St.
Landry Parish in March 1844. The priest who recorded the burial said that A. was
age 36 when he died but did not give his parents' names or
mention a wife.
Pierre Bergeron, fils married Louisa
Kidder
in a civil ceremony in St. Martin Parish in April 1846. The parish
clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names.
Paulin Bergeron married
Adeline Bizette, place and date unrecorded. Their son John, born in Pointe Coupee
Parish in c1845, was baptized at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee
Parish, in April 1847, and Joseph
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in March 1846. Paulin died at
L'Isle, Pointe Coupee Parish, in October 1850, age 25.
Jean Baptiste Bergeron
married Marie Quintana, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Julia
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in January 1850, Marie in October 1851, and
Amélie in c1854 and baptized at the Pointe Coupee church, age 3, in May 1857. Was he the Jean Baptiste Bergeron who died near
Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, in October 1869? The priest who
recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or
mention a wife, said that Jean Baptiste died at "age 52 years."
Hippolyte Bergeron married
Élodie Poché or Porche, place and date unrecorded. Son
Polixene
was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in June 1850, and daughter Elvire in
September 1852.
In November 1850, the federal census
taker in St. Landry Parish counted 5 slaves--1 male and 4 females, all black,
ranging in age from 40 to 7--on Célester or Célestine Bergeron's farm.
Joseph Bergeron
married Claire Decuir, place and date unrecorded.
Daughter Joséphine was born in Pointe Coupee Parish in September 1851, and
Lodoiska in September 1853.
Joseph Bergeron married Marie
Miller perhaps at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in the
early 1850s.
Joseph Bergeron married Marie
Pamela, called Pamela, Patin, place and date unrecorded. Their son Gustave was born in Pointe Coupee
Parish in July 1853, Olivier in March 1855, George in
December 1858 Joseph Meida was baptized at the Pointe Coupee
church, age 3 months, in February 1860, François was born in December
1862, Simon in June 1865, and Gérard in February 1869. Joseph remarried to
cousin Rosalie,
perhaps also called Adeline, daughter of Zénon Bergeron
l'aîné, at the Lakeland church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in October
1869.
Joseph Bergeron married
Claire or Clarisse Polard, place and date unrecorded. Their son Anathole was
baptized at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee Parish, age 3 months, in November
1854.
Joseph Bergeron married
cousin Eléonore Bergeron in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in
July 1855, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry
Parish, in June
1861. Their son Joseph, fils was born near Arnaudville in August
1861, Charles Albert, called Albert, in March
1864 but died at age 6 in August 1870, and Joseph Eliovide was born in January 1867.
Madeleine Begeron,
actually Bergeron, married Joseph Badeau
in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in November 1857. The
parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give any parents' names.
Charles Bergeron married
Louise David in Pointe Coupee Parish in the late 1850s. Their
son Joseph Victor was born near Lakeland in March 1865. Was
he the Charles Bergeron who died near Lakeland in May 1868? The
priest who recorded the burial, and who did give any parents'
names or mention a wife, said that Charles died at "age ca. 35 years."
Marie Élodie Bergeron
married William Knott or Nott in a civil
ceremony in St. Landry Parish in November 1860. The parish clerk who
recorded the marriage did not give any parents' names.
Joseph Bergeron died at
Waterloo, Pointe Coupee Parish, in November 1860. The priest who
recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 38 when he died but did
not give his parents' names or mention a wife.
Ferjus Bergeron
died near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, age 12, in May 1861. The
priest who recorded the burial gave no parents' names.
Louis Bergeron died near
Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, in November 1861, age 24. The priest who
recorded the burial did not give Louis's parents'
names or mention a wife.
Jean Baptiste Bergeron died
near Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, in April 1864. The priest who
recorded the burial, and who did not give his parents' names or mention a
wife, said that Jean Baptiste was age 39 when he died.
François Bergeron married
Acadian Marie Azélie Leger, place and date unrecorded. Their son Joseph Omera was
born "in Calcasieu" in August 1867 and was baptized by a priest from Church
Point.
Marie, daughter of Ylvère,
probably Sylvère, Bergeron and Célanie Guidroz, married cousin
Félix Lambert, son of French Creole Melchior Robin, at the
Arnaudville church, St. Landry Parish, in January 1868; Félix's mother was a
French-Creole Bergeron.
Julia, daughter of J. B.,
probably Jean Baptiste, Bergeron and Amélie
Lavergue, probably Lavergne, died at "age ca. 18
years" near Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, in January 1868.
Joséphine Bergeron, "at
Dorsin Bergeron's," married Achille Guérin,"at Valmont
Bergeron's," at the Lakeland church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in December
1869. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the
couple's parents' names. One wonders what the priest meant by the
notations "at Dorsin Bergeron's" and "at Valmont Bergeron's."
.
During the late colonial period, a
Bergeron from the German
Coast created a flourishing family that settled on upper Bayou Lafourche,
on the river in Iberville and East Baton Rouge parishes, and on the western
prairies. Members of this French-Creole family often intermarried with
Acadians:
Descendants of Guillaume
BERGERON (?-?)
Guillaume Bergeron married
Marie Goyette probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands on the Upper
German Coast above New Orleans. By the 1780s, they had moved upriver
to St.-Jacques and lived among the Acadians. Guillaume's
older son moved to upper Bayou Lafourche and then on to the
western prairies, settling in Lafayette Parish by the 1830s. His younger
son also moved to upper Bayou Lafourche but returned to the river and
settled in Iberville Parish. One wonders if this Guillaume was kin to the Pointe Coupée
Bergerons,
whose progenitor also was a Guillaume.
1
Older son Dominique, born probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste
des Allemands in
c1781, married Henriette, daughter of Acadian Charles Breaux, at
St.-Jacques in May 1800. Their son Charles was
born at Assumption on upper Bayou Lafourche, in March 1803, Dominique,
fils in March 1805, and Fostin Olésime at Ascension in January 1807. Their
daughters married into the Boudreaux, Falteman, Kane or
Keene, and
Martin
(French Creole, not Acadian)
families.
Dominique, père died in Assumption Parish in May 1810, age 29.
1a
Dominique, fils married Acadian Felonise Marguerite
Boudreaux
probably in Assumption Parish in the late 1820s Their son Amédée was
born in Assumption Parish in May 1829. Dominique, fils moved to
the western prairies and remarried to Célestine, daughter of Acadian Jean Charles
Doiron,
at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in January 1833. Their
son Edmond was born in Lafayette Parish in November 1833, Édouard
in August 1837, and Émile Anne[sic] was baptized at the St. Martinville
church, age unrecorded, in January 1842.
Edmond, by his father's second wife, died in St. Martin Parish in September 1853,
age 20. He probably did not marry.
Édouard married Françoise, daughter of Acadian Eugène Breaux, at
the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in October 1860. Their son
Émile
le jeune was born near Breaux Bridge in October 1862. During
the War of 1861-65,
Édouard
served in the Yellow Jackets Battalion Louisiana Infantry and in King's
Louisiana Battery, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought
in Louisiana.
1b
Charles left the Bayou Lafourche valley and settled on the
western prairies, where he married Élise or Lise, daughter of Acadian Joseph
Guidry,
at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1830. Their
child, name unrecorded, died 2 days after its birth in December 1830, their
twins, names unrecorded, died 2 days
after their birth in May 1832, son Joseph was baptized at the
Vermilionville church, age 25 days, in August 1833 but died the day of his
baptism, and Octave was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 20
days, in September 1834 but died at age 16 in December 1850.
Charles died in Ascension Parish in October 1837; the priest who
recorded the burial said that Charles was age 32 when he died, but he was 34; his
succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette
Parish, the following month. Since none of Charles's sons survived childhood, his line of the family
died with him.
2
Younger son Jean-Baptiste, called
Baptiste,
born probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands in c1782, married
Marie Madeleine Theriot at St.-Jacques or at Assumption on the upper
Lafourche in the early 1800s. Their son Hilaire was born at
Assumption in August 1804. Baptiste, at age 42, remarried to Marie or
Marguerite Pauline,
called Pauline, daughter
of Marie Lacroix, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in January 1824; Pauline's father
probably was an
Acadian Orillon. Their son Baptiste Nemorin, called Nemorin,
was born near
St. Gabriel in November 1826, and Melville died 2 months after his
birth in October 1831. Their daughters married into the Bertaud
(French Creole, not Acadian) and Lacave families. Baptiste died near St. Gabriel in October 1831,
age 49.
Nemorin, by his father's second wife, married Émilie
Menora, daughter of Jonathan Rancersraus, at the Baton Rouge church,
East Baton Rouge Parish, in November 1847, and remarried to Mary Young
probably at Baton Rouge in the early 1850s.
~
During the antebellum period, Bergerons
were still settling in the river and prairie parishes among their Acadian
and French-Creole namesakes. A hand full of Bergerons, whom
native Louisianians would have called Foreign French,
emigrated to Louisiana from France during the antebellum period:
Joseph Bergeron, born
"in Glorissant, State of Missouri," died in Ascension Parish in
December 1823, age 20, and probably did not
marry.
Antoine-Marie Bergeron, a
42-year-old French priest, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Bolivar
out of Le Havre, France, in November 1835. He was heading to St. Louis,
Missouri.
Pierre Bergeron "of
Canada" died in Lafayette Parish in September 1838, age 25. The
Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial did not
give Pierre's parents' names or mention a wife.
Claude Bergeron, a
38-year-old carpenter from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Creole out
of Bordeaux, France, in March 1839.
J. P. (Paul?) Bergeron, an
18-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Talma out of
Bordeaux in November 1848.
Pierre Bergeron, a
32-year-old farmer from France, Célestine Bergeron, age 23, probably his wife, and
Jesse(?)[sic] Bergeron, age 5, probably their son, reached New Orleans
aboard the ship Astrican
out of Le Havre in December 1851.
.
A Bergeron family, perhaps
Acadian, perhaps not, settled on the river during the early antebellum
period:
Descendants of Pierre
BERGERON (?-?)
Pierre, son of François Bergeron
and Rosalie Burke (perhaps Bourg), married Susanne, daughter of
Jean Guerride (another source says Breaux), probably at Baton
Rouge in the 1810s. If Pierre was not an Acadian or a descendant of
Guillaume dit Saintonge, what was he? He and his wife had at
least one son, who created a family of his own.
David, born near Baton Rouge in June 1813, married Marie Élisabeth
or Elisa, called Elisa, daughter of French Creole François Descoteaux
and Marguerite Parent, at the St. Gabriel
church, Iberville Parish, in October 1836. Judging by the baptismal
records of their children, they must have lived on the river near the boundary between
Iberville and Ascension parishes. Their son Jean was born in July 1837, Noël Dorville, called Dorville,
in March 1844, and son François
Dorza in August 1859. Their daughters married
into the Bourg and Lesaicherre families, and perhaps into the Landry family
as well.
During the War of 1861-65,
Dorville
served in Company E of the 29th
(Thomas') Regiment Louisiana
Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
He married
Acadian Evelina
Hébert in
Ascension Parish probably during the war. Their son Pierre Dorville
was born near Gonzales, Ascension Parish, in June 1865.
CONCLUSION
Bergerons were among the
early settlers of Acadia and some the earliest Acadians to find refuge in
Louisiana, but they were not the first of their name to settle in the
colony. The combination of French Creoles and Acadians makes
this one of the larger families of South
Louisiana with a correspondingly complex pattern of settlement.
At least 30 descendants of Acadian Barthélémy Bergeron
dit d'Amboise came to Louisiana in the mid-1860s. The first of
them--14 in number--came with the party led by Joseph Broussard
dit Beausoleil, which reached New Orleans from Halifax in February 1865. They
followed the Broussards to the Bayou Teche valley, but they did not
remain there. Nearly half of them died in an epidemic that
killed dozens of their fellow Teche valley Acadians that spring and summer. That
autumn, the family's survivors joined dozens of other Acadians in a retreat
to Cabanocé on the river, where 15, perhaps 16, of their cousins had
settled that year. The Bergerons already at Cabanocé, who also had come
to the colony from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, had been led
there by Jean-Baptiste dit d'Amboise, grandson of the family's
Acadian progenitor. A few of them, mostly the descendants
of Jean-Baptiste dit d'Amboise, remained on the river in what became
St. James Parish, some slipping upriver as far as Pointe Coupee during the
antebellum period. By the mid-1790s, however, most of
the river Bergerons had moved to Bayou Lafourche, where they settled
from Ascension on the upper bayou as far down as Raceland on lower Bayou
Lafourche and in the Terrebonne
country. The Lafourche/Terrebonne valley, then, not the Acadian Coast,
became the major center of settlement for the Acadian branch of the family.
This is only part of the picture
of the Bergeron family presence in South Louisiana, however. At least half of the Bergerons
who lived in the region, and nearly all of them on the western prairies,
were French Creoles,
not Acadians, most of them descendants of Guillaume Bergeron dit
Saintonge, a French soldier who came to the
colony in the 1730s, decades before his Acadian namesakes arrived. Guillaume dit Saintonge's
descendants either remained at their ancestral base on the river around
Pointe Coupée or spread throughout the prairie parishes west of the
Atchafalaya Basin. Another family of French Creole Bergerons,
whose progenitor was from the German Coast and whose name also was Guillaume, lived for a time along upper
Bayou Lafourche
before heading west to Lafayette and St. Martin parishes. A smaller line of
this Creole family moved north from the Lafourche to the Iberville/Baton Rouge area and lived among
the other Bergerons there.
Judging by the number of slaves they
held during the late antebellum period, some of the French Creole and
Acadian Bergerons lived well on their holdings along the river, the
southeastern bayous, and on the western prairies. Michel, son of Acadian immigrant Jean-Baptiste
Bergeron dit d'Amboise of St. James Parish, died a few months before the federal
census taker in St. James Parish counted 56 slaves on his plantation on the
east bank of the river in the summer of 1850. That year, French Creoles Baptiste Bergeron of St. Martin
Parish held 22 slaves, Widow Pierre Bergeron of St. Martin Parish held
18 slaves, and Hilaire Bergeron of Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish,
held 13 slaves, but the other members of the family whose slaves
were counted that year owned only a few bondsmen. A decade
later, more of the Bergerons owned slaves, especially the French
Creoles in Pointe Coupee Parish, but, again, most were small
holders. However, French Creoles Jean Baptiste Bergeron of St.
Martin Parish and Valérien Bergeron of Pointe Coupee Parish held 62 and 38 slaves,
respectively, in 1860. But most members of the family held no slaves at all,
at least none who appear on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860.
Dozen of Bergerons, both
Acadian and French Creole, served Louisiana in uniform during the War
of 1861-65. Most returned home to their families,
but at least four of them died in Confederate service. The first of them to die, in fact, was a Foreign Frenchman.
In March 1862,
Nemorin
Bergeron
enlisted 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 Robert E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. The Confederate recruiter
at Baton Rouge noted that Nemorin was a 25-year-old farmer,
single, and a native of France, so he was neither Acadian nor French
Creole. A few weeks after he enlisted, Nemorin joined his regiment in
Virginia and fell wounded at Front Royal in May 1862 during General
Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. The
wounded Frenchman fell into enemy hands and died two months later probably in
a Federal hospital. In April 1862,
Surville
Bergeron, probably an Acadian from Ascension Parish, enlisted in
Company E of the 29th (Thomas') Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish,
which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
But Surville did not live long enough to fight there. After serving on
extra duty as a teamster that summer, he fell ill and died in a Vicksburg
hospital in September 1862.
Mozart
Bergeron, son of French Creole Hippolyte le jeune of
Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, served in the Fausse River Guards Company
Militia Infantry early in the war and then enlisted in the Pointe Coupee
Battalion Louisiana Artillery in 1862. While serving with the battalion,
Mozart died at Grenada, Mississippi, in December 1862; he was only 22 years
old.
Lucien
Bergeron, an Acadian from Assumption Parish, was
conscripted into Confederate service in the fall of 1862 and sent to
Vicksburg, where, in late October, he was assigned to Company B of the 1st
Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery. The assignment proved to be
a death sentence. Along with dozens of other Acadian conscripts in the regiment,
Lucien fell sick that winter. He died at City Hospital, Vicksburg, in
early March 1863, on the eve of the great siege of the city. ...
The war took a
heavy toll on the Bergerons' economic status, no matter where they
settled. Even before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into
effect in January 1863, Federal commands controlling the lower Mississippi
freed the slaves on every plantation their forces could reach. Union
gunboats shelled and burned dozens of plantations houses in the lower river
parishes, including Pointe Coupee. Successive Federal
incursions in the Bayou Lafourche valley devastated that region, and
Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were not
around. On the western prairies, where many of the French Creole Bergerons
lived, Federal armies marched three times through the Teche and upper Vermilion
valleys and burned and pillaged
many farms and plantations, some of them no doubt owned by Bergerons. Thanks
to these Federal incursions, emancipation came early to the area, with its
resulting economic and social turmoil. Confederate foraging parties and
cutthroat Jayhawkers also plagued the area where Bergerons lived, adding
to the family's misery. ...
The family's name also is spelled
Bagsebon, Bargeron, Berger, Berjeron, Bersilone. [See
Book
Ten
for the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats"]
Sources: 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave
Schedules, Assumption, Lafourche Interior, St. James, St. Landry, St. Martin,
Terrebonne, & West Baton Rouge parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules,
Assumption, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. James, St. Martin, St. Mary,
Terrebonne, & West Baton Rouge parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie,
427-28, 1104, 1614-26, 2418-21; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 1:43,
2:28, 3:24; 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; Historical Atlas of Canada, 1:
plate 29; NOAR, vols. 1, 2, 6; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 26-27,
151, quotation from 26; White, DGFA-1, 122-24; White, DGFA-1
English, 26-27.