APPENDICES

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

DE LA MAZIÈRE

[dee-lah-mah-ZAIR]

ACADIA

Jean-Baptiste dit Ladouceur, son of François Massier or Mazière and Marguerite Lemoine of Véraise, bishopric of Saintes, near Rochefort, France, born in c1710, was a soldier in the troupes de la marine when he came to Acadia.  He married Marie, daughter of François Poirier and Marie Haché dit Gallant of Chignecto, at Port-La-Joye, Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, in February 1737 probably after he retired from the King's service.  Jean-Baptiste and Marie Poirier had at least six children, all born on the island:  Louis in c1737, Félicité in c1740, Marguerite in c1741; Jean in c1742; Marie-Louise in c1744; and Jean-François, called François, in c1746. 

In August 1752, a French official counted François Mazierre, as he was called, then age 6, living with the family of Pierre Duval and Marie-Madeleine Haché dit Gallant on the south bank of Rivière-du-Nord-Est in the interior of Île St.-Jean.  Marie-Madeleine was young François's maternal great aunt. 

[See also Book Four] 

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

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

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Jean-François, called François, De La Mazière, age 37, wife Véronique Renaud, age 37, and their three surviving children--Jean-Baptiste, age 8, Louise-Céleste, age 6, and Rose-Jeanne, age 4--sailed to Louisiana aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which left Paimboeuf, the port for Nantes, in late August 1785 and reached New Orleans in early November.  During the crossing, another daughter was born to them in early October; they named her Martina, or Martine, after Louisiana's Spanish intendant, Martin Navarro, who treated the newly-arrived Acadians with sensitivity and respect. 

Jean-François and his family followed the majority of the passengers from their ship to upper Bayou Lafourche.  Martine may have died at Lafourche, or she may have died earlier, in New Orleans.  In any case, she was not counted with the family at Lafourche in January 1788.  Another daughter, Scholastique-Esther, was born to Jean-François and Véronique probably at Lafourche in c1791.  Jean-François's son and three of his daughters survived childhood and found mates of their own on the upper bayou.  First to marry was daughter Louise-Céleste, who married Louis, son of Jean Augeron of Les Sables-d'Olonne, France, at Assumption in January 1800; Louis's mother was a Levron and may have been Acadian.  Next, son Jean-Baptiste married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Robichaux and widow of Jean-François Rassicot, at Assumption in February 1800.  Younger daughter Rose Jeanne married Antoine, son of French Creole Antoine Ledet of St. John the Baptist Parish, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1811, and died in Lafourche Parish in May 1865, in her early 80s--one of the last of the Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join our ancestors.  Scholastique Esther married French Creole Pierre Lagarde and died in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1839, in her late 40s; one of her daughters married a son of former Louisiana governor Henry Schuyler Thibodaux. 

Jean-François's daughters had children, but his son Jean Baptiste did not.  Jean Baptiste died in Lafourche Interior Parish in c1813; he was in his mid-30s.  His father Jean-François died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1828; the Thibodauxville priest who recorded the burial said that Jean François died "at age 85 yrs."  

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

In June 1833, François Mazier was buried in Ascension Parish, age 75.  If the Ascension priest recorded his age accurately, François would have been born in c1758.  The priest failed to record his parents' names, his birthplace, or mention a wife, so we can only guess who this fellow was, where in France he had been born, or even if he was French.  He most likely was not Acadian because his age precludes his being another son of Jean-François De La Mazière of Île St.-Jean.

CONCLUSION

Although Jean-François De La Mazière and Véronique Renaud had more children after they reached Louisiana in 1785, none of them were sons.  Their only son, who came with them from France, married in Louisiana, but he and his wife seem to have been that rare Acadian couple who produced no children.  The son died in the early 1810s, years before the father passed.  This line of the family, then, except for its blood, did not survive in the Bayou State. 

In Louisiana, the family's name evolved from De La Mazière into simply Mazière.  The family's name also is spelled Dela, De La Macière, De Lamacière, De La Massière, Dlamazière, D'Lamazières, Dlamazièrre, Lamacière, Macière, Massière, Mazaire.  This humble Acadian family should not be confused with the prominent de Mezières family, so important in the history of Natchitoches and northwestern Louisiana.  [See also Book Ten]

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 2130; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 5(rev.); De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:93; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 322; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 4; <islandregister.com/1752.html>; NOAR, vol. 4; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, Family No. 20; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 32-33; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 52-53; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 613; White, DGFA-1, 792. 

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, 39 (pl. 10L), calls him Jean-Baptiste [DE LA MASIÈRE], & lists him with his parents & 2 sisters; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 52-53, Family No. 99, his birth/baptismal record, calls him Jean-Baptiste DE LA MAZIÈRE, gives his parents' but not his godparents' names, & details the family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in 1785, 66-67, calls him Jean-Bte, son [Jean-Francois DE LA MASIÈRE's] fils, age 8, on the embarkation list, does not include him on the debarkation list, calls him Jean-Baptiste DE LA MAZIÈRE, his [Jean-Francoise DE LA MAZIÈRE's] son, age 8, on the complete listing, & says he was in the 9th Family aboard L'Amitié with his parents & 2 sisters; BRDR, 2:532, 638 (ASM-2, 49), his marriage record, calls him Juan Bautista MAZIÈRE, gives his parents' names, calls his wife Marie ROBICHEAUX, does not gives her parents' names but gives her first husband's name, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Juan Francisco DE LA MACIÈRE (his father) & Ambroise HÉBERT; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:390 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ.: Year 1813), his succession inventory dated 23 Oct 1813, calls him Jean-Baptiste MAZIÈRE m. Marie ROBICHO, but does not gives his parents' names.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 33, 52, 77, 128, 165; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 509.

If he & his wife had children, I have found no birth/baptismal records for them, & no children are listed in his succession record, cited above.

One of his father's succession record inventories, dated 23 Jun 1828, in Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:177 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ.: year 1828), says that Jean Baptiste was "presumed dead."  This was nearly 15 years after Jean-Baptiste's succession record inventory was filed at the Lafourche Interior Parish courthouse.  So how did Jean-Baptiste die?  Did he travel somewhere & never returned?  Strange.

02.  Wall of Names, 39 (pl. 10L), calls him Jean-François DE LA MASIÈRE, & lists him with his wife & 3 children; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, Family No. 20, lists a François MARICRE, nephew of Pierre DUVAL, traveling with Jacques HACHÉ, nephew of Marie HACHÉ, both of whom were in the hospital probably at St.-Malo 3 Nov 1758; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 613, "Family" No. 707, calls him François MAZIÈRE, says he was born in c1746 but gives no birthplace, does not give his parents' names, says he "disembarked at St.-Malo on November 1, 1758 from the ship, Le Duc Guillaume, that he resided at St.-Malo from 1758-60, & that "On July 1, 1760 [he] was given permission to go reside at Cherbourg," & that "No additional information has been found after this date"; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 32-33, Family No. 65, calls him Jean-François DE LA MAZIÈRE, says he was born in c1749 but gives no birthplace, does not give his parents' names, says he was a navigator & blacksmith, says he married Véronique RENAUD in c1768 but gives no place of marriage nor her parents' names, says she was born in c1749 but gives no birthplace, includes the birth/baptismal record of daughter Marguerite, baptized 20 Jul 1775, La Chapelle-Roux, goddaughter of René LE TUILLIER (her maternal uncle by marriage) & Collette RENAUD (her maternal aunt), &, mentioning son Jean-Francois, details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 52-53, Family No. 99, calls him Jean-Francois DE LA MAZIÈRE, says he was born in c1749 but gives no birthplace, does not give his parents' names, says he was a navigator & blacksmith, says he married Véronique RENAUD in c1768, "probably at Cherbourg," includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of son Jean-Baptiste, baptized 15 Apr 1777, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, daughter Louise-Cécile, baptized 22 Nov 1778, Marguerite, died age 5 & buried 4 Oct 1780, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, daughter Rose-Jeanne, baptized 23 Nov 1781, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & daughter Marie, baptized 18 Jan 1783, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, died 6 June 1783, probably Chantenay, &, mentioning son Jean-François, details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as its voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in 1785, 66-67, calls him Jean-Francois DE LA MASIÈRE, charpentier, age 37, on the embarkation list, Juan Francisco DE LA MASSIÈRE, on the debarkation list, & Jean-Francois DE LA MAZIÈRE, carpenter, age 37, on the complete lising, says he was in the 9th Family aboard L'Amitié with his wife & 3 children, lists the implements the Spanish gave him after he reached LA, &, calling him Jean-François DE LA MAZIÈRE, details his marriage, says they married in c1768 but gives no marriage place, does not give his or his wife's parents' names, & says daughter Rose-Jeanne was baptized in 1781 but gives no place of baptism; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:176 (Thib.Ch.: v.1, p.39), his death/burial record, calls him Jean François DE LACHASIÈRE, says he died "at age 85 yrs.," but does not give his parents' names or mention a wife; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:177 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ.: year 1828), his succession record, inventory dated 23 Jan 1828, calls him Jean Francois DE LA MAZIÈRE m. Véronique RENAUD, does not give his parents' names, says son Jean Baptiste was "presumed dead," daughter Louise Cécile married Louis OGERON, daughter Rose Jeanne married Antoine LEDAY, & daughter Scholastique Esther married Pierre DE LAGARDE; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:177 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ.: year 1828), also his succession record, inventory dated 23 Feb 1828, calls him Jean Francois DE LA MAZIÈRE m. Véronique RENAUD, but does not give his parents' names.  See also De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:93, source of quotation; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 33, 52, 77, 128, 165; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 509; White, DGFA-1, 791, 1328.

I am convinced that the Francois MAZIÈRE/MARICRE who came to St.-Malo in Nov 1758 aboard the English transport Duke William & went to Cherbourg in Jul 1760 was the same fellow as Jean-François DE LA MAZIÈRE who married Véronique RENAUD in c1768 "probably in Cherbourg."  The Duke William was one of the ships that deported Acadians from the Maritime islands after the fall of Louisbourg in Jul 1758.  Some sources say that the Duke William exploded & sank at sea & that most of the passengers aboard perished, but <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, & Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, cited above, show that the ship did make it to port & that a number of Acadians aboard survived the terrible crossing.  

03.  Wall of Names, 39 (pl. 10L), calls her Louise-Céleste [DE LA MASIÈRE], & lists her with her parents & 2 siblings; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 52-53, Family No. 99, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Louise-Cécile DE LA MAZIÈRE, gives her parents' but not her godparents' names, & details the family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in 1785, 66-67, calls her Louise-Céleste, sa [Jean-Francois DE LA MASIERE's] fille, age 6, on the embarkation list, does not include her on the debarkation list, calls her Louise-Céleste DE LA MAZIERE, his [Jean-Francois DE LA MAZIERE's] daughter, age 6, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 9th Family aboard L'Amitié with her parents & 2 siblings; BRDR, 2:40, 532 (ASM-2, 47), her marriage record, calls her Luisa Cécilia MAZIERE, gives her & her husband's parents' names & her husband's first wife's name, says her parents were from "Island of St. John," & that his parents were from "Sable d'olonge," & that the witnesses to her marriage were Santiago VERRET & Pierre CHIASSON.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 33, 52, 77, 128, 165; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth- Century Louisianians, 509.

04.  Wall of Names, 39 (pl. 10L), calls her Rose-Jeanne [DE LA MASIÈRE], & lists her with her parents & 2 siblings; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 52-53, Family No. 99, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Rose-Jeanne DE LA MAZIÈRE, gives her parents' but not her godparents' names, & details the family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in 1785, 66-67, calls her Rose-Jeanne, sa [Jean-Francois DE LA MASIÈRE's] fille, age 4, on the embarkation list, does not include her on the debarkation list, calls her Rose-Jeanne DE LA MAZIÈRE, his [Jean-Francois DE LA MAZIÈRE's] daughter, age 4, on the complete listing, says she was in the 9th Family aboard L'Amitié with her parents & 2 siblings, & that she was baptized in 1781 but gives no place of baptism; BRDR, 3:563-64, 617 (ASM-2, 171), calls her Rosa Juana DE LA MACIERE of Chantenet, Nantes, France, calls her husband Antonio LEDÉE (LEDET) of St. John the Baptist Parish, gives her & his parents' names, says his mother was deceased at the time of the marriage, & that the witnesses to her marriage were Joson HÉBERT & Juan Bautista DE MACIÈRE (her brother); Hébert, D., South LA Records, 4:439 (Thib.Ch.: v.2, p.136, #17), her death/burial record, calls her Rose MAZIÈRE m. Antoine LEDET, but does not give her parents' names.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 33, 52, 77, 128, 165; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 509. 

She was one of the last of the Acadian immigrants in LA to join our ancestors. 

05.  Not in Wall of Names because of the circumstance of her birth.  NOAR, 4:82 (SLC, B9, 394), her birth/baptismal record, calls her Martina DE LAMACIÈRE, gives her parents' names, says she was "b[aptized]. previously," details her birth, & says her godparents' were Martin NAVARRO, intendant, "absent," Gilberto LEONARD, & Anne Magdalena AMOND.  

Evidently she did not survive childhood or even infancy.  She is not in the Ascension census of Jan 1788 with the rest of her family, when she would have been only 2 1/2 years old.  She may not even have made it to Ascension with them.  As her name and baptismal record reveals, she was one of the Acadian newborns whose honorary godfather was Martin NAVARRO, Spanish intendant of LA, whom the Acadians revered.  

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