APPENDICES

Acadians Who Found Refuge in Louisiana, February 1764-early 1800s

DE LA FORESTRIE

[dee-lah-FAR-es-tree]

ACADIA

Marc-Antoine de La Forest, born probably at Rochefort, France, in c1668, married in c1700 a woman whose name has been lost to history.  She gave him five children, all born at Rochefort, only two of whom survived long enough to be given names.  The fate of oldest child Marc-Étienne has been lost to history.  Third child Marie-Geneviève, called Geneviève, born at Rochefort in c1709, accompanied her father to the French fishery at Plaisance, Newfoundland, where he served as commissaire-ordonnateur, or chief financial and judicial officer, in the early 1710s.  Marc-Antoine took Geneviève to Île Royale in 1714 and served as écrevain, or secretary, ordinaire de la Marine et baillif of Port-Toulouse.  In 1718, Marc-Antoine remarried to Marie-Anne, daughter of Pierre-Louis Courthiau and Catherine Chevros dit Colloque of Plaisance and Port-Dauphin.  She gave him 10 more children, three sons and seven daughters, all born probably at Port-Dauphin:  Marc-Antoine, fils, born in c1720; Marie-Anne in December 1722; Marguerite in December 1723; Pierre-Louis in March 1726; Marie-Louise in April 1728; Marie-Josèphe in March 1731; an unnamed daughter in April 1733; Jeanne in May 1734; Marie-Catherine in May 1735; and Philippe in December 1736.  Marc-Antoine, père died likely at Port-Dauphin in June 1738, age 70.  Two of his three sons married into the Lafargue, Rondeau, and Saint-Michel Dunézat families.  Only two of his many daughters married, into the Commère and Gauthier families.

In March 1752, at Port-Dauphin, a French official counted Marie-Geneviève, called Geneviève La Forest, age 43, "native of Rochefort," France, with husband Jean-Baptiste Courthiau (the official called him Le Sr. Courtian), age 50, "sub-delegate of the Admiralty of the town of Louisbourg, native of Bayonne," in the Bascque country of southwestern France.  (Though Jean-Baptiste's father, Pierre-Louis Courthiau, was from Bayonne, Jean-Baptiste was a native of Plaisance, Newfoundland, where his father, a fisherman/habitant, had served as sub-delegate for the Admiralty and where he had married Jean-Baptiste's mother, Catherine, daughter of Jean Chevros dit Collogue and Jeanne Aubert, in c1693.)  Geneviève was from her father's first wife, whose name had been lost to history.  Interestingly, her father's second wife, Marie-Anne Courthiau, was husband Jean-Baptiste's older sister.  He and Geneviève had no children in their household in 1752, only Catherine La Forest, age 17, "native of Louisbourg," "their niece" (she was, in fact, Geneviève La Forest's half-sister and so Jean-Baptiste's sister-in-law).  In April 1752, at nearby Baie-des-Espagnols, today's Sydney, Nova Scotia, the same French official counted Marie-Anne, called Anne, La Forest, age 29, "native of Plaisance" and Geneviève's half-sister, with husband Servant, or Servan, Commère, age 29, fisherman, native of Île Scaterie, off the Atlantic coast of Île Royale.  With them were four children, two sons and two daughters, ages 9, 4, 3, and 11 months. 

No member of this aristocratic family emigrated to Louisiana.

~

Joseph LaForest, born at Angers, France, in c1690, reached Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, in c1722.  In c1726, he married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Guyon Chiasson dit La Vallée and his second wife Marie-Madeleine Martin of Chignecto and widow of Jean Pothier, probably at Havre-St.-Pierre on the north shore of the island.  They had three sons, all born at on the island, but only one of them seems to have fathered sons of his own:  

Oldest son Étienne, born in c1727, probably died young.

Joseph, fils, born in June 1728 and baptized at St.-Pierre-du-Nord two months later, married Susanne, daughter of Pierre dit Cadet Robichaud and Susanne Brassaud of Cobeguit, at St.-Pierre-du-Nord, the church parish for Havre-St.-Pierre, in July 1753.  Susanne gave him a daughter, Anne, born at St.-Pierre-du-Nord in August 1754.  In  November 1756, Joseph, fils remarried to Marie-Anne, daughter of Jean-Baptiste-Abel Duvivier and Marie-Madeleine Caissie dit Roger, at St.-Pierre-du-Nord.  She gave him another daughter, Marie-Madeleine, born at Havre-St.-Pierre in December 1757.  

Youngest son Jean, born in c1732, married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Pierre Bonnière and Madeleine-Josèphe Forest of Pigiguit and Île St.-Jean, probably at St.-Pierre-du-Nord in November 1752.  Jean and Marie-Madeleine had five daughters, two of them born on Île St.-Jean, the others in France, but they had no sons.  Their daughters married into the Hébert, Benoit, Aucoin, and LeBlanc families.  Three of them--Jeanne, Marie-Rose, and Angélique--emigrated to Louisiana from France in 1785.  Jean remarried to a Frenchwoman, Michelle Herve, in France, and she gave him more children. 

In August 1752, a French official counted Marie Chiasson, age 60, widow of Joseph La Foresterie, and her sons Joseph, said to be age 22, and Jean, age 20, on the road between Havre-St.-Pierre and Havre-aux-Sauvages, on the north shore of the ilsand.  The official noted that Marie had lived on the island for 30 years.  [See also Book Four]

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

[For the family's travails during the Great Upheaval, see Book Six]

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Three De La Forestrie sisters, daughters of Jean and Marie-Madeleine Bonnière of Havre-St.-Pierre, followed their husbands to Louisiana aboard two of the Seven Ships of 1785--Angélique and her family on the third ship, Le Beaumont, which reached New Orleans in August; and Jeanne and Marie-Rosalie and their families on the fourth ship, Le St.-Rémi, which arrived in September.  All three families chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche. 

Angélique may not have survived the crossing to Louisiana. 

Jeanne's husband, Joseph Hébert, died by January 1788, when she was listed in the Valenzuela census as a widow.  She remarried to Sébastien, son of Augustin Benoit and Françoise Thériot, at Lafourche in August 1789.  She died by December 1795, when her husband was counted at Valenzuela without a wife.  

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

A French Creole family with a similar name lived in New Orleans and on Bayou Lafourche:

Jacques-Pierre-Auguste-Aubin De La Forest married Félicité Mazange.  Their son Antoine-Aubin, born in New Orleans, married Louise, daughter fellow French Creole Pierre Lazeaux of New Orleans, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1836. 

CONCLUSION

No male De La Forestrie ventured to Louisiana, so the Acadian branch of the family did not take root in the Bayou State.  Its blood did survive, however, in several lines of the Aucoin, Hébert, and LeBlanc families.

The family's name also is spelled De La Foresterie, De La Foreterie, La Folesterie, La Foretrie, La Foretterie, and should not be confused with the prominent Acadian family, the Forests or Forets.  [See also Book Ten]

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 2120-21; BRDR, vol. 2; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection" in Canadian Archives, 2A:49, source of quotations, 143; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 102, 267; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vol. 1; <islandregister.com/1752.html>;  <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No. 86; Robichaux, Acadians in Chatellerault, 57-58; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 51-52; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 259-62, 899, 901; White, DGFA-1, 425-27, 900-02.

Settlement Abbreviations 
(present-day civil parishes that existed in 1861 are in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):

For a chronology of Acadian Arrivals in Louisiana, 1764-early 1800s, see Appendix.

The hyperlink attached to an individual's name is connected to a list of Acadian immigrants for a particular settlement and provides a different perspective on the refugee's place in family and community. 

NOTES

01.  Wall of Names, 33 (pl. 8R), calls her Angélique DE LA FORESTERIE, & lists her with her husband, 2 children, & a cousin of her husband; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2121, profile for her father in the Île St.-Jean section, does not list her with sisters Jeanne, Marie-Rosalie, & Marguerite; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 260, Family No. 320, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Angélique-Madeleine-Marie DE LA FORESTRIE (twin), gives her parents' names, says her mother was her father's first wife, that her godparents were Charles (illegible) & Angélique FURET [FORET?], & that her twin was sister Reyne-Laurence, who died 10 days after her birth; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 52, Family No. 98, calls her Angélique DE LA FORESTRIE, gives her parents' names, says her mother was her father's first wife, details her birth, her family's participation in the Leigne-les-bois settlement in Poitou in the early 1770s, & her marriage; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 117, Family No. 216, calls her Angélique DE LA FORESTRIE, details her birth, gives her parents' names, says her mother was her father's first wife, details her marriage, including her husband's parents' names, his birth date, & birthplace, says she was "resident since 18 months in the Parish of Saint-Martin of Chantenay" at the time of her marriage, says her husband was a resident of Chantenay at the time of the marriage, includes the birth/baptismal records of daughter Marie-Josèphe LEBLANC, baptized 15 Jan 1782, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & son Jean-Martin LEBLANC, baptized 11 Nov 1783, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & details the family's voyage to LA in 1785;  Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 36-37, calls her Angélique DE LA FORESTERIE, sa [Moïse LEBLANC's] femme, age 24, on the embarkation list, does not include her on the debarkation list, calls her Angélique DE LA FORESTERIE, his [Moïse LEBLANC's] wife, age 24, on the complete listing, says she was in the 24th Family on the embarkation list of Le Beaumont with her husband, 2 children, & a female cousin of her husband, & details her marriage, including her & her husband's parents' names, but does not give the place of marriage.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 503.

Why are she & her family not on the debarkation list of Le Beaumont?  Her husband & 2 children, with his new wife, appear in the Ascension census of 1788.  See Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 46.  Did Angélique survive the crossing to LA?  If I find evidence that she did not, despite her inclusion in Wall of Names I will remove her from this list.  

02.  Wall of Names, 36 (pl. 9L), calls her Jeanne DE LA FORESTRIE, & lists her with her husband & 5 children; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2121, profile for her father in the Île St.-Jean section, calls her Jeanne LAFORESTRIE, gives her parents' names, says she was born in 1753 but gives no birthplace, & lists only 2 other siblings, sisters Marie-Rosalie, born in 155, & Marguerite, born in 1758, but gives no places of birth; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No. 86, shows that in the crossing to St.-Malo in 1758-59, her parents & sister Marie-Rose survived the crossing, but sister Marguerite, age 6 months, died at sea; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 260-61, Family No. 260, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Jeanne DE LA FORESTRIE, gives her parents' names, says her mother was her father's first wife, & details her arrival in France in Jan 1759 as well as her marriage; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 468-69, Family No. 522, calls her Jeanne DE LAFORESTRIE, details her birth, gives her parents' names, details her first marriage, & includes the birth/baptismal record of son Joseph-Marie HÉBERT, born & baptized 21 Jul 1773, Plouër, godson of Jean DE LAFORESTRIE [her father] & Osite HÉBERT [her husband's sister]; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 57-58, Family No. 113, called her Jeanne DE LA FORESTRIE, details her birth, gives her parents' names, details her marriage, including her husband's parents' names, includes the birth/baptismal record of son Charles HÉBERT, baptized 27 May 1775, St.-Jacques, Châtellerault, godson of Charles HÉBERT, paternal uncle, & Marie-Rosalie DE LA FORESTRIE, maternal aunt, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 92-93, Family No. 172, calls her Jeanne DE LA FORESTRIE, says she was born in 1753 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, details her marriage, including her husband's parent's names, but does not give a place of marriage, includes the birth/baptismal records of daughter Marie-Rose HÉBERT, baptized 20 Feb 1777, St.-Similien, Nantes, son Louis-Jean HÉBERT, baptized 9 Jun 1779, St.-Similien, Nantes, & daughter Anne-Marguerite HÉBERT, baptized 3 Mar 1785, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as their voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadians Families in Exile 1785, 48-49, calls her Jeanne DE LA FORESTRIE, sa [Joseph HÉBERT's] feme, age 30, on the embarkation list, & Jeanne DE LA FORESTERIE, his [Joseph HÉBERT's] wife, age 30, on the complete listing, says she was in the 28th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her husband & 5 children, details her marriage, including her & her husband's parents' names, but does not give a place of marriage, & says son Charles [HÉBERT] was born in 1775 but gives no birthplace; BRDR, 2:72, 293 (ASC-2, 21), the record of her second marriage, calls her Juana DE LA FORET, calls her husband Sébastian BENOIST, gives her & his parents' names, does not mention her first husband, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Pierre LANDRY, Françoise LANDRY, & Théodore BOURQUE.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 499; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 30, 161.  

The family just above hers on the passenger list of Le St.-Rémi is that of her younger sister Marie-Rosalie.  

The Spanish census taker at Ascension in 1791 called her Jeanne HÉBERT probably because of who her first husband had been.  

03.  Wall of Names, 36 (pl. 9L), calls her Marie-Rosalie DE LA FORESTRIE, & lists her with her husband & 2 daughters; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2121, profile for her father in the Île St.-Jean section, calls her Marie-Rosalie LA FORESTRIE, gives her parents' names, says she was born in 1755 but gives no birthplace, & lists only 2 other siblings, sisters Jeanne, born in 1753, & Marguerite, born in 1758, but gives no places of birth; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No.86, shows the fate of her family in the crossing to St. Malo in 1758-59, detailed in the footnote for her sisters Jeanne's profile, above; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 260-61, Family No. 260, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Marie-Rosalie DE LA FORESTRIE, gives her parents' names, says her mother was her father's first wife, &, calls her Marie-Rose [DE LA FORESTRIE], details her arrival in France in Jan 1759; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 51-52, Family No. 98, calls her Marie-Rosalie DE LA FORESTRIE, gives her parents' names, details her birth, her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s, & her marriage; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 7, Family No. 13, calls her Marie-Rosalie DE LA FORESTRIE, details her birth, gives her parents' names, says her mother was her father's first wife, details her marriage, including her husband's parents' names, says she was a former resident of the Parish of Saint-Similien & was resident of the Parish of Sainte-Croix at the time of her marriage, includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of daughter Marie-Françoise AUCOIN, baptized 1 Apr 1780, Ste.-Croix, Nantes, daughter Louise-Adélaïde AUCOIN, baptized 27 Sep 1781, St.-Nicolas, Nantes, died age 1 & buried 21 Sep 1782, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & daughter Rosalie AUCOIN, baptized 10 Apr 1784, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & details his family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 48-49, calls her Marie-Rosalie DE LA FORESTRIE, age 29, on the embarkation list, Marie-Rosalie DE LA FORESTRIE, age 29, on the complete listing, says she was in the 27th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her husband & 2 daughters, details her marriage, including her & her husband's parents' names, but does not include the place of marriage, & says child Rosalie [AUCOIN] was baptized in 1784 but gives no place of baptism. 

The family just below hers on the passenger list of Le St.-Rémi is that of her older sister Jeanne.

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