Maurice Godin, cavalier de
Givet, in the province of Namur, present-day Belgium, married Huguette Pampelune
of the principality of Sedan, France, in c1560. Their son Vorle, who worked as a teinturier,
or dyer, at Châtillon-sur-Seine in Burgundy, married Brigitte Gouzier
of Bar-sur-Seine, Champagne, in c1595. Vorle's son Claude, who became a
carpenter at Châtillon-sur-Seine, married Marie Bardin of Savolles, Champagne,
before July 1624, when daughter Jeanne was baptized at St.-Vorle de
Châtillon-sur-Seine.
Claude's son Pierre, born at Châtillon-sur-Seine in May
1630, emigrated to New France in his early 20s. Like his father,
Pierre dit Châtillon was a master carpenter. He was hired at
La Flèche, in the Loire valley, in late May 1653, reached Québec that
September, and
married Jeanne, daughter of Louis Rousselière and Isabelle
Parisé of Moëze, diocese of Saintes, at Montréal in October
1654. Between 1655 and 1672, Jeanne gave Pierre nine children, four
sons and five daughters, in Canada. Pierre and Jeanne left Montréal
in 1664, lived at Charlesbourg near Québec, where they were counted in 1666, then at Québec,
and returned to Montréal in the early 1670s. Between 1676 and June
1677, they moved to Chignecto in Acadia probably at the behest of Michel
Le Neuf, sieur de La Vallière,
the seigneur of Beaubassin,"to continue the construction work
already under way." Pierre and his family lived
with Roger Caissie at Chignecto while Pierre plied his trade.
The family also owned land in the Port-Royal valley. Pierre
died probably at Chignecto in the mid-1680s, in his mid-50s; he signed a deposition in the prosecution of Jean Campagna for witchcraft
at Beaubassin in 1685, but only Jeanne, called "widow of Godin,"
and three of their children, appear in the Acadian census of 1686.
Pierre and Jeanne's
daughters married into the Magdelaine dit La Douceur, Fortin
dit LaGrandeur, Nepveu, Henry, and Martin families. Nearly
all of these daughters settled in Canada. The one exception was
youngest daughter Anne dit Châtillon, born at Montréal in January
1672, who married Pierre, son of Pierre Martin and his Mi'kmaq wife
Anne Ouestnorouest dit Petitous, probably at Port-Royal in c1686. During the early 1700s,
Pierre and Anne moved to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island,
probably to escape British authority in Nova Scotia. Anne died at
St.-Pierre-du-Nord on the island in February 1742, age 70. Three
of Pierre's sons also created their own families.
Pierre dit Châtillon's
oldest son Laurent dit Châtillon dit Beauséjour,
born at Montréal in August 1655, married first to Anne, daughter of
François Guérin and Anne Blanchard, probably at Chignecto in
c1677. Between 1678 and 1707, Anne gave Laurent 13 children, seven
sons and six daughters. They settled for a while
at Pointe-de-Beauséjour, Chignecto, the
future site of French Fort Beauséjour, and at Port-Royal, where he was counted with wife Anne in 1686
and worked as a miller. They returned to Canada in the early 1710s,
perhaps after the recession of peninsula Acadia to the British in 1713. They lived below Québec at St.-Pierre-du-Sud, St.-François-du-Sud, now Montmagny,
and above Québec at St.-Antoine-de-Tilly, where wife Anne died in January 1718.
Laurent then returned Montréal. His and Anne's daughters married into the Marchand (Marcheguay)
dit Poitiers, Mercier dit Caudebec, Carrière
dit Carcassone, Gareau dit Lagarde, Rainville, Berthelet
dit Le Savoyard, and Quévillon families. Three of
Laurent's sons married into the Pellerin dit Caudebec, Roy, and Verdon
families. Laurent remarried to Marie-Anne, daughter of Mathieu Brunet
dit Lestang and Marie Blanchard and widow of Antoine Pilon, at Pointe-Claire
near Montréal in June 1719. They had no children.
Laurent died at Rivière-des-Prairies, Canada, in May 1737 in his
mid-80s. All of his married sons and most of his married
daughters settled in the St. Lawrence valley. One of his daughters,
Marie dit Châtillon, wife of Louis Marchand dit
Poitiers, married at Port-Royal in November 1705 but moved to Port-Toulouse,
Île-Royale, now Cape Breton Island, where she died in the 1730s.
Pierre dit Châtillon's
third son Pierre dit Châtillon dit
Desrochers, born at Québec in March 1667, married Marie-Jeanne, daughter of
Jacques Cochon and Barbe-Delphine Le Tardif, at Château-Richer, Québec, in
July 1689. Between 1689 and 1705, Marie-Jeanne gave Pierre three
children, two
daughters and a son, Jean-Baptiste, who died at St.-Antoine-de-Tilly, Québec, in
February 1723, age 18, before he could create a family of his
own. Their daughters married into the Genest dit Labarre
and Croteau families. Pierre dit Châtillon dit
Desrochers died at St.-Antoine-de-Tilly in April
1739, age 72. Though Pierre dit Châtillon dit
Desrochers lived in greater Acadia as a child, none of his daughters settled
there. They both remained at St.-Antoine-de-Tilly.
Pierre dit Châtillon's
fourth and youngest son Jean, born at
Montréal in October 1669, may not have survived childhood.
~
The only branch of the Godin family
in New France affected
by the Acadian Grand Dérangement was that of Pierre dit
Châtillon's second son, Gabriel dit
Châtillon. And members from only Gabriel's line of the family emigrated to Louisiana.
Gabriel dit Châtillon, later sieur de
Bellefontaine, born at Montréal in July 1661,
married Andrée-Angélique, daughter of Robert Jasne, Jeanne, or Joannes
and Françoise-Madeleine Savard, at Québec in July 1690. Gabriel lived at Charlesbourg when he
was young and was counted at Port-Royal in the late 1680s. After his
marriage, however, he and his wife settled on lower Rivière St.-Jean in
present-day New Brunswick, where French authorities had granted Gabriel a seigneurie.
Between 1691 and the late 1710s, Andrée-Angélique gave Gabriel a dozen children,
eight sons and four daughters, on Rivière St.-Jean. Gabriel died on
the river before August 1730, in his late 60s. His daughters
married into the Saindon, Dugas,
and Part families. All eight of his sons also created their own
families.
Oldest son Louis dit Bellefontaine, born
in c1693, married a woman in c1736 whose name has been lost to history. Louis died at
St.-François-du-Lac, Québec, in February 1749,
age 57.
Joseph dit Bellefontaine dit Beauséjour, born
in c1695, married Marie-Anne, daughter of Barthélémy Bergeron
dit d'Amboise and Geneviève Serreau de Saint-Aubin,
on Rivière St.-Jean in c1726. This was the beginning of an important
connection between the Godin and Bergeron families.
Joseph served as a major of the local militia during King George's War in
the late 1740s. He died at
Cherbourg, France, in December 1776, age 81.
Jacques-Philippe dit Bellefeuille, born
in c1697, married Anne-Marie, another daughter of Barthélémy Bergeron
dit d'Amboise and and Geneviève Serreau de Saint-Aubin, probably on Rivière St.-Jean in c1730.
Jacques-Philippe died at Gentilly, Québec, in February 1763, in his mid-60s.
Pierre-Joseph dit Châtillon dit Préville,
born in the late 1690s or early 1700s, married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of
delegate, judge, and notary Alexandre Bourg dit Bellehumeur
and Marguerite Melanson, at Grand-Pré in August 1730.
Pierre-Joseph died probably at Minas before
January 1745.
Jean-Baptiste dit Lincour, born
probably in the early 1700s, married Anastasie, another daughter of Alexandre Bourg
dit Bellehumeur and Marguerite Melanson,
in c1729, probably at Minas. Jean-Baptiste died during exile perhaps at
Halifax, where British authorities counted his wife and four children in
August 1763 and called her a widow.
Charles dit Bellefontaine dit Boisjoli, born
in c1708, married Marie, daughter of Charles Melanson,
fils and Anne Bourg, at Annapolis Royal in August 1735. British authorities counted him and his family
also in the
prison at Halifax in August 1763.
René dit Jean-René dit Valcour, born
in the late 1700s or early 1710s, married first to Françoise Dugas
in c1734, and then to Françoise, daughter of Barthélémy Bergeron
dit d'Amboise, fils and Marguerite Dugas, probably on Rivière St.-Jean in c1743.
Youngest son Bonaventure dit
Bellefontaine, born in c1715, married first, in c1739, to a woman whose name has been
lost to history, and remarried to Marguerite, another daughter of
Barthélémy Bergeron dit d'Amboise, fils and
Marguerite Dugas, probably on Rivière
St.-Jean in c1740.
[For more of this family in
pre- and post-disperal Acadia and Canada, see
Book Three]
In 1755, descendants of Gabriel dit
Châtillon Godin, sieur de Bellefontaine, could be found in Canada,
but most of them were still living on Rivière St.-Jean.
LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT
[For the family's travails
during the Great Upheaval, see
Book Six]
LOUISIANA: WESTERN
SETTLEMENTS
Godins settled early in
Acadia, and they were among the earliest Acadians to find refuge in
Louisiana. The first of them--a male and two females, all cousins--reached New Orleans in February 1765 with the Broussard dit Beausoleil party
from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue. They followed the Broussards
across the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where they helped create La Nouvelle-Acadie
on the banks of Bayou Teche:
Marie-Charlotte, age unrecorded,
daughter of Gabriel Godin dit Châtillon, came to Louisiana
with husband Jean Dugas, age 53, and six children,
ages 25 to 6.
Anselme-Joseph Godin dit
Bellefontaine, age unrecorded, came to Louisiana without a
wife or children.
Marie-Madeleine, age 27, daughter
of René dit Jean-René Godin dit Valcour, came to
Louisiana with husband Ambroise Martin dit Barnabé, age
31, and a daughter, age 4. Marie-Madeleine was pregnant
when she left Halifax in late 1764. Daughter Élisabeth Martin dit
Barnabé was born either aboard one of the ships her family took to New
Orleans or soon after they reached the colony.
Tragedy soon struck members of the
family. In mid-July, only a few weeks after she had reached the Teche
valley, Marie-Charlotte Godin was one of the first to die in an epidemic that killed dozens of her fellow Teche Valley Acadians
that summer and fall. In early
September, not quite six months after he settled at Attakapas, Anselme-Joseph Godin suffered the same
fate.
Marie-Madeleine
Godin enjoyed a happier fate. She survived the epidemic and,
with her husband and daughters, escaped to Cabanocé on the river that
fall. Spanish authorities were still counting them at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques
in March 1779.
Acadian Godins probably did
not return to the western prairies, at least not during the late colonial
and antebellum periods.
LOUISIANA: RIVER
SETTLEMENTS
Most of the Acadian Godins
who reached Louisiana from Halifax
in 1765 did not follow the Broussards to
Bayou Teche. These Godins probably were
members of an extended family led by Jean-Baptiste Bergeron dit
d'Amboise of Rivière St.-Jean, brother-in-law of one of the Godin
family heads. Others may have come with Surgeon Philippe St.-Julien de
Lachaussée, widower of Françoise Godin dit Lincour. They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river above New
Orleans
where 20 Acadians from Georgia had settled the year before:
Bonaventure Godin dit
Bellefontaine, age 50, came with second wife Marguerite Bergeron dit
d'Amboise, age 42, and four children--Théotiste, age 16, Marie, age 14,
Bonaventure, fils, age 12, and Michel, age 9. They had no more
children in Louisiana. Théotiste married Gilles, son of fellow
Acadian Joseph LeBlanc, at St.-Jacques in February 1781 and died two
years later, age 34, probably from the rigors of childbirth. Marie
married late, to first cousin Mathurin, son of Jean-Baptiste Bergeron
dit D'Ambroise, probably at St.-Jacques in the 1780s. Bonaventure, père's two sons created
families of their own at St.-Jacques.
Marie-Anne, called Anne, Bergeron,
age 36, widow of Alexandre Godin dit Lincour, came with four children--Marie-Anne, age 14, Victor, age
13, Pierre-Paul, called Paul, age 9, and Marie-Louise or -Françoise, age 6.
Daughter Marie-Anne married three times, first to Antoine, son of French Creole
Jacques Dupré dit Terrebonne, at nearby Ascension in 1770,
then to Jean, son of French Creole Pierre Villeneuve of Gasony,
France, at New Orleans in February 1783, and finally to Joseph, son of
fellow Acadian Amand Melançon, at St.-Jacques in February
1790. She died at Ascension in August 1791, age 39. Victor may not have married. Pierre-Paul created a family
of his own and settled at New Orleans. Marie-Louise, called Marie-Francoise
by the priest who recorded her burial, died in New Orleans in
January 1773 in her late teens.
Joseph Godin dit Lincour, age 25,
Anne Bergeron's brother-in-law, came with
younger brother Charles dit Lincour, age 15. They brought
no wives or children with them but married at St.-Jacques. Joseph
remained on the river, but Charles moved on to upper Bayou Lafourche.
Barthélemy Godin dit
Bellefontaine, age 30, came with his wife Marie-Claire Martin,
age 31. Their children were born at St.-Jacques.
Barthélemy's younger brothers
Jacques dit Bellefontaine, age 25, and Jean-Baptiste dit
Bellefontaine, age 19, came to Louisiana without wives or children.
Jacques may not have married, but Jean-Baptiste married twice.
Théotiste dite Sally Thibodeau, age
25, widow of Bonaventure Godin le jeune, came with daughter
Marie-Anne-Barbe Godin, age 4. Théotiste remarried to fellow
Acadian Firmin Landry, a widower, probably at St.-Jacques c1769, and they settled in the Attakapas District, west of the Atchafalaya
Basin, where Marie-Anne-Barbe married twice, first to René, son of fellow
Acadian Firmin Broussard and widower of Madeleine Landry, in
January 1779, and then to Noble, son of Irish American John Wilkins, in
October 1800. Marie-Anne-Barbe died at Attakapas in May 1801, age 40.
Marie-Josèphe Godin dit Lincour,
age 21, sister of Charles and Joseph dit Lincour, came with husband Pierre Arceneau, age 30, and two sons, age 3 and 1. She
remarried to Basile, son of fellow Acadian Joseph Prejean of
Chepoudy, probably at Cabanocé in c1768 and followed him to the Attakapas
District, where she died in St. Martin Parish in September 1815, in her
early 70s.
Jean Godin dit Bellefontaine, age
18, came
to Louisiana without a wife or children and probably never married.
Most of the Acadian Godins
who created families in South Louisiana settled on the Acadian Coast, which
included St.-Jacques and Ascension. Two of them settled at New
Orleans. One of them moved all the way down into the Terrebonne
country by the 1820s:
Descendants of Barthélémy
GODIN/GAUDIN dit Bellefontaine (c1735-1771; Gabriel
dit Châtillon)
Barthélémy dit
Bellefontaine, second son of Joseph Godin dit Bellefontaine dit
Beauséjour and Marie-Anne Bergeron dit d'Amboise, born
probably at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, Rivière St.-Jean, in c1735, married Marie-Claire,
daughter of Jean-Baptiste Martin dit Barnabé and Marie
Brun of Port-Royal, in
c1760 and came to Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue with her and his
brothers in 1765. He and Marie-Claire settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques,
where their children were born. Barthélémy died at St.-Jacques in July 1771,
age 36. His family line probably did not survive.
1
Older son Louis, born probably at St.-Jacques in
c1767, married
Marie-Anne, called Anne, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Louvière
and Élisabeth Melanson
of Rivière St.-Jean, at St.-Jacques in March 1791. Their daughters
married into the Blouin, Grabert, and Hébert families.
Did Louis father any sons?
2
Younger son Barthélémy,
fils, born probably at St.-Jacques in c1769, likely died young.
Jacques GODIN/GAUDIN dit
Bellefontaine (c1740-?; Gabriel dit Châtillon)
Jacques dit Bellefontaine,
third son of Joseph Godin dit Bellefontaine dit Beauséjour
and Marie-Anne Bergeron dit d'Amboise, born probably at
Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, Rivière St.-Jean, in c1740, came to Louisiana from Halifax via
St.-Domingue with his
brothers in 1765 and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques.
Spanish officials counted him at Cabahannacer in 1766
and 1769. He likely was the Jacques Bellefontaine about whom Cabahannocer commandant Louis Judice
complained to Spanish Governor Ulloa in April 1768. Judice
had ordered
Jacques and three other Acadians to seize the families of fellow Acadians Honoré
and Alexis Breau of Pigiguit, recently arrived from Maryland,
who had defied the governor's orders to settle at an upriver fort. Instead of escorting the
Breaus to New Orleans so the governor could
send them out of the colony, Jacques and his companions warned them about the governor's plans, and the
families fled. Jacques evidently never married.
Descendants of Jean-Baptiste
GODIN/GAUDIN dit Bellefontaine (c1746-1811?; Gabriel
dit Châtillon)
Jean-Baptiste dit
Bellefontaine, fifth son of Joseph Godin dit Bellefontaine dit
Beauséjour and Marie-Anne Bergeron dit d'Amboise, born
probably at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas, Rivière St.-Jean, in c1746, came to Louisiana
from Halifax via St.-Domingue with his brothers in 1765 and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where he
married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadian Alexander Melançon, in
c1768. Their daughters married into the Charpiot and LeBlanc
families. Jean-Baptiste remarried to Élisabeth or Isabelle Fontenot, widow of David Marx, at St.-Jacques in July
1778. One of their daughters was baptized at New Orleans in March
1787, so the family may have been living there in the late 1780s.
Jean-Baptiste may have died in St. James Parish in April 1811; the priests
who recorded his burial in two separate Convent church records noted that he
was either age 40 or 80 when he died, but he would have been 65.
1
Oldest son Jean-Baptiste,
fils, by his
father's first wife, born probably at
St.-Jacques in the early 1770s, married Marie-Madeleine, daughter of fellow
Acadians Pierre Forest and Marie Landry, at St.-Jacques in May 1791. Their son Jean
Raphael, called Raphael, was born at St.-Jacques in November 1797, Gabriel in
February 1800, Eugène in January 1802, and Simon in September
1806. Their daughters
married into the Bergeron, D'Eperon, Dessarper, and Gautreaux families.
1a
Raphaël married Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Hébert
and Marguerite Poirier, at the Convent
church, St. James Parish, in April 1826. Their son Désiré was
born in St. James Parish in c1829 but died at age 2 in October 1831, Joseph
Elphége was born in May 1832 but died at age 2 in February 1835, Simon
le jeune was born in December 1837, Constant in December 1842 but
died at age 2 in December 1844, and Joseph Eugène was born in January
1845 but died at age 9 months the following October. Their daughters married into the Breaux,
Part, and Rouillet families. In September1850,
the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 8 slaves--4 males and 4
females, all black, ranging in age from 70 to 5--on Raphael Gaudin's
farm in the parish's eastern district. Raphael died in St.
James Parish in September 1855; he was 58 years old. In June 1860, the census taker in St. James Parish
counted 4 slaves--1 male and 3 females, ranging in age from 40 to 9--on the
Widow Raphael Gaudin's farm in the parish's Left Bank District 4.
Simon le
jeune married Hélène Justina, called Justina, daughter of fellow
Acadian François Bourgeois and his Creole wife Marie Rose Antoinette
Huguet, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in November 1855. Their son Simon,
fils was born in St. James Parish in October 1858 but died at age 3 in
August 1861, Joseph Adam was born in February 1864 but died at age 6
months the following August, and Jean Oreste was born near Convent in
June 1869. During the War of 1861-65, Simon
served as a sergeant in Company A of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. James Parish,
which fought in
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
1b
Simon died in St. James Parish
in March 1821. The priest who recorded the burial said that Simon was
age 40 when he died, but,
unless it was a different Simon Gaudin, he was age 15.
1c
Eugène died in St. James Parish
in October 1835. The priest who recorded the burial said that Eugène was
age 30 when he died, but he was 33. Did he marry?
1d
Gabriel married Azelie,
daughter of Eugène Senette and Charlotte Barbet and widow of Jean Berez, at the
Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in November 1836. Their
daughter married into the Carraine family.
2
Théotique, a twin, by his
first wife, baptized at St.-Jacques in July 1774, age unrecorded, probably did not
survive childhood.
3
Youngest son Lucas, called Luc,
by his father's second wife, born probably at St.-Jacques in
c1784, married Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Marin Landry
and Pélagie Landry, at St.-Jacques in April 1802. Their son Paul Vasseur, called Vasseur, was born in St.
James Parish in November 1809, Amédée in October 1811, and Jean
Baptiste in February 1823.
Their daughters married into the Blanchard, Blouin, Gourdain, LeBlanc
(French Canadian, not Acadian), and Melançon
families. Luc died in St. James Parish in March 1830, age 46.
Paul Vasseur married Rosalie Delphine,
daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Richard and Rosalie Michel, at the St. James church,
St. James Parish, in April 1831. Their son Paul Vasseur, fils was born in St. James
Parish in July 1835. Paul Vasseur, père died in St. James
Parish in February 1837, age 26.
Descendants of Joseph GODIN/GAUDIN
dit Lincour (c1740-c1771; Gabriel dit Châtillon)
Joseph, elder son of Jean-Baptiste
Godin dit Lincour and Anastasie Bourg, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1740, came to Louisiana
from Halifax via St.-Domingue in 1765 with his younger brother Charles and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where he
married fellow Acadian Marie Forest in April 1766. They had no
children. Joseph remarried to Geneviève, daughter of fellow Acadian Alexandre Landry,
probably at Cabanocé in c1768. Joseph died at St.-Jacques or
nearby Ascension in c1771, age 31. He and Geneviève
had only one son, but that son had many sons of his own who perpetuated this
line of the family. No branch of the Godin/Gaudin
family, in fact, was so prolific. Many of them married
cousins.
Édouard dit Lincour,
by his father's second wife, born probably at St.-Jacques in c1768,
because of the early death of his father was raised by his uncle Charles dit
Lincour,
whose only son died young. Edouard married Marie-Madeleine, sometimes
called Madeleine, daughter
of fellow Acadian Simon Landry and Anne-Marguerite Babin
and widow of Baptiste Landry, at
Ascension, on the river above St.-Jacques, in June 1796. Their son Alexis
Séraphin, called Séraphin, erroneously called Geneviève by
the priest who recorded his baptism, was born at Ascension in July 1797, François
de Sales in January 1801, Casimir in
March 1803, Valery Didier in May 1807, and Leufroi Paulin,
called Paulin, in
June 1812. Their daughters married into the Henry, Lavergne,
and Richard families. When Édouard's uncle Charles moved to
Terrebonne Parish in the 1820s, Édouard and his family remained in Ascension
Parish. Édouard dit
Lincour died in Ascension Parish in March 1840, age 72.
Séraphin married Marie Clémence or
Clémentine, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Rosalie
LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in April 1817. Their
son Cyril was born in Ascension Parish in March 1818, Alexis
in November 1820, Sylvanie in July 1825, Pierre Octave in
June 1827 but died at age 5 months the following November, Joseph Émile
was born in September 1830 but died at age 1 in October 1831, Édouard
Adrien was born in October 1832, and Augustin in May 1837.
Their daughters married into the Garcia and LeBlanc
families. Séraphin died in Ascension Parish in August 1852, age 55.
Cyril married Marie Amelina,
called Amelina, yet
another daughter of fellow Acadians Amand Gautreaux le jeune
and his second wife Marie
Melançon, at the Donaldsonville church,
Ascension Parish, in
January 1837. Their son Richard Osémé was baptized at the
Donaldsonville church, age 4 months, in May 1838 but died at age 6 in
August 1844, Eusèbe Théodule, called Théodule, was born in August 1839, Louis Numa,
called Numa, in August 1841, Cyril,
fils, perhaps also called Cyrille Amand, in October 1842, Joseph Gustave in September 1844 but died at
age 9 months in June 1845, a newborn infant, perhaps a son, name unrecorded,
died in October 1845, and Léon or Léonce was born in January
1847 but died the following April. Cyril died in Ascension Parish in October 1847,
age 29.
Théodule
married Marie Aurela, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Lanoux and
his Creole wife Célestine Anger, at the
Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1860.
Numa married Adèle, daughter of Firmin Desnoyer
and his Acadian wife Uranie LeBlanc, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in October 1860.
Their son Louis Numa, fils was born in Ascension Parish in January
1861, and Félix Amand in May 1864. During the War of 1861-65, Numa
served as a sergeant in Company E of the 29th Regiment Louisiana
Infantry, raised in Ascension Parish which fought
at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was wounded during the final
days of the Siege of Vicksburg, spent time in a federal hospital in
St. Louis, Missouri, and took the oath of allegiance to the U.S.
government in late July 1863. In the eyes of his fellow
Confederates, he was now a traitor. Numa died in Ascension
Parish in December 1868; the Donaldsonville priest who recorded the
burial, and who did not give any parents' names or
mention a wife, said that Numa died at "age 27 years."
Considering his wound, one wonders if his death was war-related.
Cyril, fils, called
Cyrille Amand by the recording priest, may have married Utulma,
perhaps another daughter of Firmin Desnoyer and Uranie
LeBlanc, at the
Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1870.
Édouard Adrien died in Ascension Parish in July
1852, age 20, and probably did not marry.
Augustin died in Ascension Parish in September
1861, age 24, and probably did not marry.
François de Sales married first cousin Marie Delphine,
called Delphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Simon Landry and
Marguerite Landry, at the Donaldsonville church,
Ascension Parish, in
January 1822; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of
consanguinity in order to marry. Their son François, fils died
in Ascension Parish in April 1823 a day after his birth, Onésime
Wilfred was born in April 1827 but died at age 2 in February 1829, Joseph
Lucien was born January 1831, Jean Casimir in March 1836, Ambroise
in April 1838, Hilaire in January 1842, and Simon Valentin in
February 1845. They also had a son named Tiburse. Their daughter married into the Guidry
family.
Tiburse
married Cléonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Evariste LeBlanc and
Madeleine Bourg, at the
Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1860. Their son Tiburse, fils
was born in Ascension Parish in April 1861, Joseph Lucien in June
1862, Evariste in October 1865, and Louis Eveque near
Gonzales in August 1869. During the War of 1861-65, Tiburse served in Company D of the 14th
Regiment Confederate States Cavalry, which fought in Mississippi
and Alabama.
Casimir married Françoise
Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of
fellow Acadians Amand Gautreaux le jeune and his first
wife Françoise Arthémise Landry, at the Donaldsonville church,
Ascension Parish, in May
1827. Their daughters married into the Bourgeois and Rizan
families. Casimir died in Ascension
Parish in July 1833, age 30. Did he father any sons?
Valéry Didier married cousin Marie Delphine, daughter of
fellow Acadians Jean Landry and Josèphe Blanchard, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1829; they had to secure a
dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry.
Their son, name unrecorded, died in Ascension Parish in December 1829
"several months" after his birth, and Vincent Albert,
called Albert, born in January 1831, died the following October.
Valery died in Ascension Parish in June 1833, age 26. His family line probably died with him.
Paulin married Marie Célesie,
called Célesie, another daughter of Amand Gautreaux le jeune
and his second wife Marie Melançon, at the Donaldsonville church,
Ascension Parish, in
February 1834. Their son Cyril Paulin was born in Ascension
Parish in September 1838, François Vileor, called Vileor, in July 1840, Louis
in August 1842, Antoine Léonard, called Léonard, in January
1848 but died at age 4 in July 1852, Étienne Omer, called Omer,
was born in
December 1850 but died at age 13 in April 1863, and José Guetin René, called René,
was born in
October 1852 but died at age 10 in July 1862. Their daughters married into the Bertrand
(French Creole or Foreign French, not Acadian) and Rizan
families.
Cyril Paulin married Rosella or Rosellain, daughter of
fellow Acadians Lessin LeBlanc and Corrine Lanoux, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in December 1859. Their son Joseph
Albert was born near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in February
1867.
Louis married Josephine, daughter of
Antoine Gomez and Constance Hernandez, at the
Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in April 1864. Their son Joseph Ernest,
called Ernest,
was born near Gonzales in August 1866 but died at age 3 in September 1869,
and Joseph was born in February 1869.
During the War of 1861-65, Vileor
served in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville Parish,
which fought in Tennessee,
Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Vileor married cousin Eugénie, daughter of
fellow Acadian Valentin Gautreaux and his Creole wife Héloise
Marchand, at the
Gonzales church, Ascension Parish, in December 1865; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of
consanguinity in order to marry. They settled near Gonzales. Vileor died at Allemania
Plantation, Iberville Parish, in April 1920, age 79.
Jean GODIN/GAUDIN dit
Bellefontaine (c1747-?; Gabriel dit Châtillon)
Jean dit Bellefontaine, son
of René dit Jean-René Godin dit Valcour and his
second wife Françoise Bergeron dit d'Ambroise, born
probably at Ste.-Anne-du-Pays-Bas in c1747, evidently
escaped the British roundup on Rivière St.-Jean in 1758-59 and followed his
older half-sister Marie-Madeleine, wife of Ambroise Martin
dit Barnabé, to the Gulf of St.
Lawrence shore. By the early 1760s, he either had been captured by, or
surrendered to, British forces and was held in a prisoner-of-war compound in
Nova Scotia. He followed his sister and their family to Louisiana in 1765, but he did not follow them to Bayou Teche. He settled,
instead, at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where his sister and her family joined him
later in the year. Spanish authorities counted Jean still at Cabanocé in 1766, with a single
slave in his household. He was still there, on the east bank of the river,
in 1777, living with his sister. He evidently never married.
Descendants of Bonaventure
GODIN/GAUDIN dit Bellefontaine, fils (c1753-1818;
Gabriel dit Châtillon)
Bonaventure, fils, elder
son of Bonaventure Godin dit Bellefontaine, père and
his second wife Marguerite Bergeron dit d'Amboise and brother
of Michel, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1753, came to
Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue in 1765 with his parents and siblings and followed them to
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques. He married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians
Athanase Broussard Anne Bourgeois of Attakapas, probably in the mid-1780s.
One of their
daughters was baptized at New Orleans in February 1802, so the family was
living in the city then. Their daughters married into the Arceneaux,
Bourgeois, Dugas, and LeBlanc families.
Bonventure died in St. James Parish in October 1818; the Convent priest who
recorded the burial said that
Bonaventure was age 70 when he died, but he was 65.
1
Oldest son Bonaventure III, born
at St.-Jacques in
January 1787, married Renée, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Paul Arceneaux
and his Creole wife Élisabeth Fontenot, at the St. James
church in August 1806. A son, name unrecorded, died in St.
James Parish at age 6
months in April 1809, and Joachim was born in St. James Parish in
December 1812. Bonaventure III died in St. James Parish in
August 1814, age 27.
Joachim married Célestine,
daughter of Charleville Blouin and his Acadian wife Rosalie
Part, at the Convent church, St. James
Parish, in June 1834. Their son
Charles was born near Convent in November 1839. In September
1850, the federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 10 slaves--4
males and 6 females, all black, ranging in age from 36 to 2--on Joachim Gaudin's
farm in the parish's eastern district. In June 1860, the federal
census taker in St. James Parish counted 7 slaves--2 males and 5 females, 1
black and 6 mulattoes, ranging in age from 40 to 3, some of them fugitives,
living in 3 houses--on Célestine Gaudin's farm in the parish's Left Bank
District 2; this was probably Joachim's widow, Célestine Blouin.
Charles married German Creole Alphonsine Oubre probably in St. James Parish in the early 1860s. Their
son Charles Adrien was born near Convent in September 1869.
2
Rosémond, born at
St.-Jacques in November
1788, died at age 22 in January 1811. He probably did not marry.
3
Michel-Bernard, born at
St.-Jacques in
April 1794, married Scholastique, called Colastie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Hébert
and Marguerite Poirier, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in September 1816. Their son Joseph
Michel was born in St. James Parish in June 1817, Jean Baptiste
Félix, called Félix, in May 1823 but died at age 2 in July
1825, Eugène was born in November 1824, Victor in March 1828, Joseph
Flagille, called Flagille, in January
1831, and Michel Léon, called Léon, in July 1840. Their daughters married
into the Arceneaux, Babin, Lafor, Lanoux, Legendre,
Louviere, Melançon, and Rouilett families. In September 1850, the federal census taker in St. James
Parish counted 3 slaves--all males and all black, ages 40, 35, and 25--on
Michel Gaudin's farm in the parish's eastern district. Michel Bernard died in
St. James Parish in August 1867, age 73.
3a
Eugène married
Adèle Estival, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Estival Bourgeois and
his Creole wife Véronique Keller, at the Convent
church, St. James Parish, in April 1845. Their son Michel Alfred was born in
Ascension Parish in July 1852, Fulgence in January 1859, and Arthur
in April 1863. Their daughters married into the Melançon
family, two of them to the same fellow. Eugène died near Convent in October 1869; the priest who
recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or
mention a wife, said that Eugène died at "age ca. 43 years"; he was 44.
3b
Flagille married fellow Acadian Ernestine Boudreaux at the Donaldsonville church,
Ascension Parish, in April 1856, and remarried to
first cousin Elmire, daughter of fellow Acadians Trasimond Braud
and Phelonise Gaudin, at the Convent church,
St. James Parish, in
December 1866; they had to secure a dispensation for second and third degrees of
consanguinity in order to marry. Flagille
and Elmire's child, name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died near Convent at
age 18 months in April 1869.
3c
During the War of 1861-65, Léon
served in Company D of the 14th Regiment Confederate States Cavalry, which
fought in Mississippi and Alabama. Léon married Osile or Ozile, daughter of
fellow Acadians Marcellin Boudreaux and Sylvanie Gautreaux, at the Convent church, St. James
Parish, in February 1865. They lived near the boundary between St.
James and Ascension parishes. Their son Hilaire Ludger
was born in January 1866, Michel Flagille in November 1867, and
Joseph Reynaud in February 1868.
4
Youngest son Valentin, born
at St.-Jacques in c1797 and
baptized at the St.-Jacques church, age 9, in April 1806, married Anne
Séraphine, called Séraphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Grégoire Dugas
and , at the
Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in December 1816. Their
son Valentin Godefroi, called Godefroi, was born near Convent, St. James Parish, in
March 1826, Charles Émile in March 1828, Joseph Florian,
called Florian, in April 1832 but died at age 3 in
March 1835, and Georges Aristide, called Aristide, was baptized at the Convent church,
St. James Parish, age 10 months, in January 1837. Their daughters
married into the Caillouet, Gaudet, Guidry, Oubre, and Usé
families. In September1850, the federal census
taker in St. James Parish counted 16 slaves--8 male and 8 females, all
black, ranging in age from 52 to 6--on Valentin Gaudin's farm in the
parish's eastern district. In June 1860, the federal census taker in
St. James Parish
counted 17 slaves--9 males and 8 females, 7 blacks and 10 mulattoes, ranging
in age from 60 to 2, in 4 houses--on Valentin Gaudin's farm in the
parish's Left Bank District 2. Valentin died in St. James Parish in November 1863,
age 67. One wonders if his death was war-related.
4a
Godefroi married Josephine, daughter of
fellow Acadian Célestin Bourgeois and his Creole wife Gertrude
Philippe, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in October 1847, and remarried to Victorine, daughter
of Joseph Caillouet and his Acadian wife Céleste Thibodeaux
and widow of V. Falgout, at the Convent
church in February 1851. Their son Lucien Valentin was born in
St. James Parish in January 1860. In June 1860, the
federal census taker in St. James Parish counted 6 slaves--5 males and 1
female, all mulattoes, living in 2 houses--on Godfroy Gaudin's farm
in the parish's Left Bank District 2.
4b
Georges Aristide married Rosa or Rosalie
Françoise, daughter of Foreign Frenchman François Courfbert or
Courflert De La Neuville and his Acadian wife his Acadian wife Zelamie
Theriot, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in November 1859. Their son George Thomas was
born near Convent in December 1867, and Louis Aristide in January
1870.
Descendants of Michel GODIN/GAUDIN
dit Bellefontaine (c1756-1798; Gabriel dit
Châtillon)
Michel, younger son of Bonaventure
Godin dit Bellefontaine, père and his second wife
Marguerite Bergeron dit d'Amboise,
born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1753, came to Louisiana from Halifax via
St.-Domingue in 1765
with his parents and siblings. He followed them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques,
where he married Françoise, daughter of Louis Barbe and Charlotte
Falgout, at
St.-Jacques in October 1787. In the 1790s, the family moved to New Orleans, where
Michel died in October 1798; the priest who recorded his burial called him
Pedro, or Pierre, a native of Acadia and resident of the Acadian Coast, which
included St.-Jacques; the priest also said that "Pedro" was age 40
when he died, but he was 42. One of Michel's daughters was
baptized at New Orleans at age 15 months in January 1799, and another
daughter, age 12, was buried there in September of that year, so his widow
probably remained in the city. Their daughters married into the Badie
and Dugas
families. Michel's sons settled in Ascension Parish and became major
planters along the river.
1
Older son Jean-Baptiste, born
at St.-Jacques in July
1790, married Rosalie Athanaise, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Dugas
and Rose LeBlanc, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, just upriver from St. James, in
October 1809. Their son Jean Baptiste, fils was born in
Ascension Parish in August 1810, Michel Adélard in February 1818, Jérôme
Sylvère
or Silvany, called Silvany, in August
1824, Joseph or Jean Michel Léon, called Michel
Léon
or Léon, in August 1830, and Laurent Édouard, also called
Édouard
E., in August 1833. Their daughters married
into the Babin, Bujole, Denoux, Hébert, and Landry families.
In
September 1850, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 51
slaves--37 males and 14 females, ranging in age from to 70 to 4--on one of
Mrs. J. B. Gaudin's plantations, and 25 more slaves--13 males and 12
females, ranging in age from 60 to infancy--on a second plantation of hers
in the parish, so Jean Baptiste, père had died by then.
1a
Jean Baptiste, fils
died in Ascension Parish in September 1828, age 18, and
probably did not marry.
1b
Silvany married cousin Marguerite Emma Lisa or
Lise Marguerite Emma, called Elise and Lise, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph
Nicolas Dugas and Clarisse Landry, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1846; they had to secure a
dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry.
Their son Joseph Collin was born in Ascension Parish in April
1854, and Evalthur Crescent in June 1868. Their daughter married an Hébert first cousin. In June
1860, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 7
slaves--3 males and 4 females, all black, ranging in age from 40 to 4--on
Silvani Gaudin's farm in the parish's First Ward.
1c
Léon married cousin Amelina, daughter of
Jean Denoux and his Acadian wife Justine Babin, at the
Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1852;
they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in
order to marry. Their son Antoine Michel, called Michel,
was born in Ascension
Parish in June 1856 but died at age 9 in September 1866, and Bernard
was born in August 1858. In June 1860, the
federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 3 slaves--a 21-year-old
female and 2 males, age 2 and 5, all black, living in 1 house--on Léon Gaudin's
farm in the parish's First Ward.
1d
Laurent Edward married Anaïs, daughter of
fellow Acadians Treville Melançon and Judith Hébert, at the St. Gabriel
church, Iberville Parish, in November 1856. Their son Joseph Édoude
was born in Ascension Parish in September 1857, Thomas in December
1858 but died at age 10 months in October 1859, Ovide Éloi was
born in August 1861, Lorence Oscar, called Oscar, in January
1863 but died at age 1 in January 1864, Jean Baptiste was born in
July 1864, and Louis Christian or Cristin in March 1867 but
died at age 2 in August 1869.
2
Younger son Édouard, born
at St.-Jacques in May 1792,
married Marie Élise, called Lise, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Michel Gaudet
and Victoire Bergeron, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in January 1820. Their son Michel
was born in Ascension Parish in January 1823, and Jean Baptiste Elphége,
called Elphége, in January 1825. They also had a son named Édouard,
fils.
Their daughters married into the Dugas, Ilsley, and Mollere
families. Édouard, père remarried to Arthémise, daughter of
fellow Acadians Paul Hébert and
Théotiste Landry and widow of Pierre Lalande, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension
Parish, in February 1837. In August 1850, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 54
slaves--25 males and 29 females, ranging in age from 70 to infancy--on
Édouard Gaudin, Sr.'s plantation next to Elphage Gaudin.
In 1860, the federal census
taker in Ascension Parish counted 88 slaves--51 males and 37 females, all
black, ranging in age from 50 to 7, living in 24 houses--on Edward Gaudin's
plantation in the parish's Fourth Ward.
Édouard, fils married Adèle, daughter
of Baptiste Mollere and Adèle Hatkinson, at the Donaldsonville church,
Ascension Parish, in January 1844;
Adele's brother was the husband of one of Édouard, fils's sisters.
In August 1850, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 8 slaves--3 males and 5 females, ranging in age from 40 to
2--on E. Gaudan, Jr.'s farm. Edouard, fils remarried to Cécilia, daughter of
fellow Acadians Amand LeBlanc and Delphine Landry, at the Donaldsonville church in July 1856.
In August 1850, the federal census
taker in Ascension Parish counted
3 slaves--all females, ages 50, 30, and 10--on Elphage Gaudin's farm
next to Édouard Gaudin, Sr. Elphége married Frances or
Francisca Isley. Their son Benjamin
died in Ascension Parish a day after his birth in June 1867, and Michel
Edward was born in April 1870.
Victor GODIN/GAUDIN (c1753-?;
Gabriel dit Châtillon, Jean-Baptiste dit
Lincour?)
Victor, elder son of Alexandre Godin
dit Lincour and Marie-Anne Bergeron,
born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1753, came to Louisiana from Halifax via
St.-Domingue in 1765 with
his widowed mother and siblings and followed them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques.
Victor probably did not marry.
Descendants of Pierre-Paul
GODIN/GAUDIN (c1757-?; Gabriel dit Châtillon,
Jean-Baptiste dit Lincour?)
Pierre-Paul, called
Paul, younger son of Alexandre Godin dit Lincour and Marie-Anne Bergeron, born in c1757 during Le Grand Dérangement, came to
Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue in 1765 with his widowed mother and siblings.
He followed them to
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where he married Félicité, daughter of French
Creole Jacques Lepine of St.-Charles des Allemands on the German
Coast. They settled at New Orleans.
Guillaume was born at New
Orleans in October 1795.
~
A Godin wife came with her
family from Maryland in 1766 and settled among her cousins at
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, at least for a while:
Susanne Godin, age 29,
came with husband Vincent Landry,
age 39, and their infant son, Charles-Caliste Landry. They
had more children in the colony and moved from St.-Jacques to the upper
Bayou Lafourche valley by the mid-1790s.
Other GAUDINs on the River
Area church and civil records make
it difficult to link some Acadian Coast Gaudins with known Acadian
lines of the family there:
Ursin Gaudin died in St.
James Parish in November 1832. The priest who recorded the burial, and
who did not record any parent's names or mention a wife, said that
Ursin was age 30 when he died.
Maximilien Gaudin died near
Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1834. The priest who recorded the burial, and who
did not record any parents' names or even mention a wife, said
that Maximilien was age 30 when he died.
Orter Gaudin
died in Ascension Parish in January 1844. The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the
burial, and who did not give any parents' names, said that Orter was age 20 when he died. Did he marry?
Raphaël Gaudin married
German Creole Félicie Oubre, place and date unrecorded. Daughter
Marie Justine was born near Convent in May 1862.
Julia Gaudin
died near Convent, age 2, in November 1866. The priest who recorded
the burial did not give the girl's parents' names.
Louisa Gaudin
died near Convent, age unrecorded, in January 1868. The priest who
recorded the burial, true to form, did not give her parents' names or
mention a husband.
Victor Gaudin died near
Convent in May 1869. The priest who recorded the
burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife,
said that Victor died at "age 35 years." Did he marry?
LOUISIANA: LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS
A Gaudin family from the
Acadian Coast moved to Terrebonne Parish during the early antebellum period, but the
line did not survive:
Descendants of Charles GODIN/GAUDIN
dit LINCOUR (c1751-c1828; Gabriel dit Châtillon)
Charles, younger son of Jean-Baptiste
Godin dit Lincour and Anastasie Bourg and brother of
Joseph, born on Rivière St.-Jean in c1751, came to Louisiana
in 1765 with his older brother Joseph and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where he
married fellow Acadian Marie-Josèphe Babin in 1769 or 1770.
He served as a third
sous-caporaux in Verret's Company of the Acadian Coast
Militia in 1779 during Spain's war with Britain. One of their daughters was baptized at New Orleans in October 1786, so the
family may have been living there in the mid-1780s. They were living
near Ascension, on the river above St.-Jacques, later in the decade.
Their daughters married into the Babin, Dupré, Landry,
LeBlanc, and Watkins families. Charles and Marie-Josèphe left the river
in the early 1800s and settled in Terrebonne Parish, where his succession
inventory was filed at the Houma courthouse in October 1828; Charles
would have been in his late 70s. He and his wife had many
daughters but only one son, who died young, so this line of
the family, except for its blood, did not survive. Charles raised his
older brother Joseph's only son, Édouard, after Joseph died in his early
30s, but Édouard remained on the river. The husband of Charles's daughter Fideli, Caleb B. Watkins,
served as the first sheriff of Terrebonne Parish in the 1820s.
Paul, born at Ascension in
March 1789, died at age 5 1/2 in September 1794.
~
Other GAUDINs in the
Lafourche Valley
Gaudins who may have been
related to the Godin/Gaudins on the river settled in the
Lafourche/Terrebonne valley during the late antebellum period:
Constance Gaudin
died in Terrebonne Parish in February 1849. The Houma priest who
recorded the burial said she died "at age 82 yrs." Was she
Constance, daughter of Jean-Baptiste dit Bellefontaine
Gaudin, fils, wife of fellow Acadian Joseph
Bergeron? If so, she would have been "only" age 57 at the
time of her death.
NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in
LOUISIANA
Non-Acadian Gaudin/Godins
lived in South Louisiana as early as the 1720s. One,
St.-Jacques Godin, may have been a Canadian cousin
of the Gaudin/Godins of the Acadian Coast:
Michel Gaudin,
"surnamed La Forge" (Gaudin was a dit), was
serving as a captain of marine in the company of D'Artaguette at New Orleans when he
died in the city at age 26 in February 1726.
Louis, son of Pierre Godin,
master tailor, and Gilberte Ronau of Valet, Nantes, France, married
Jeanne-Élisabeth, daughter of master roofer Mathieu Combe of La
Rochelle, France, at New Orleans in November 1728.
Michel, son of François Godin
and Marie Toulouse of St.-François Parish, Montréal, married
Madeleine Delorier, widow of Acadian Joseph Comeaux, at
St.-Jacques in January 1775. Michel may have been a cousin of
the Acadian Godins of St.-Jacques. His son Michel, fils
was baptized at St.-Jacques in May 1779. His daughters married into the
Bourgeois (Acadian) and Cousseau or Cussot
families. One wonders if François, son of Joseph Gaudin,
of Assumption Parish was descended from Michel.
David Gaudin married Anne Buch
probably at Pointe Coupée in the 1780s or 1790s. Their daughter
Marie-Anne was baptized at the Pointe Coupée church in April 1793.
~
During the antebellum period,
French-Creole and Foreign-French Gaudins and Godins lived at
New Orleans or close to the city as well as in communities where Acadians
settled:
Pierre Gaudin's succession
was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in January
1835. The parish clerk who recorded the succession did not mention a wife.
Ernest Godin married
Acadian Marguerite Lejeune, widow of ____ Lebleu,
in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1839. The
parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents'
names.
Joseph Gaudin married Émelie Frugé,
place and date unrecorded.
Daughter Anastasie was born near Grand Coteau, St.
Landry Parish, in April 1842. Was he kin to the Acadian
Godin/Gaudins on the river?
In November 1842, the first
convent for a new order of nuns, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy
Family, "a religious order for Negro women," opened on St. Bernard Street in
New Orleans. One of the New Orleans women who supported the creation
of the new order was Miss Juliet Gaudin, "a native of Cuba, but a
resident of the city from girlhood." One wonders if she was
descended from Acadians who had left French St.-Domingue in the 1790s, took
refuge in Cuba, and came to New Orleans in 1809. .
Diego, or Jacques, Gaudin married Marie Brown,
place and date unrecorded. Their son Joseph François Arthur was born in
Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1845.
In August 1850, the federal census
taker in Orleans Parish counted a
single slave--a 48-year-old black female--in Pélagie Goden's
household in the 5th Ward of the 1st Municipality.
In October 1850, the federal
census taker in St. Landry Parish counted a single slave--a 35-year-old
black female--on Ph. Godin's farm.
François, son of Joseph
Gaudin and Antoinette Hissot or
Tissol, married Joséphine, daughter of Acadians Auguste Bourg and Marcellite Bourg, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1858. Their
children, born on the upper Lafourche, included daughter
Victorine in June 1859; son Augustin Félix in August 1861; Jules
Joseph near Attakapas Canal, Assumption Parish, in December 1866; and
daughter Joséphine died at age 5 weeks in December 1868. The
1860 federal census for Assumption Parish, taken in June, lists a François
Gaudin, age 31, native of France, as a storekeeper at
Attakapas Canal. In the same household was Léon Medal,
also a native of France, who had served as a witness at François's wedding
in June 1858. The census taker called François's wife Angélina,
probably Joséphine, a native of Louisiana. With them was daughter
Victorine, age 1. François remarried to Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadians Acadian Valéry LeBlanc and
Hortense Landry and widow of
Joseph Garot, at the Plattenville church in May 1867.
In June1860, the federal census
taker in Jefferson Parish counted 2 slaves--both female and both black, age 26 and
2--in Chas. Gaudin's household in Jefferson City. The same
census taker counted 2 more slaves--both male, age 20 and 10, both black--in
J. Gaudin's household next door.
In 1860, the federal census taker
in St. Landry Parish counted 95 slaves--60 males and 35 females, 91 blacks
and 4 mulattoes, ranging in age from 90 to 1, living in 30 houses--on Édoird
Gaudin's plantation.
Alcée Gaudin married
Spanish Creole Roselia Segura, place and date unrecorded, and settled near New Iberia on lower
Bayou Teche by the mid-1860s.
CONCLUSION
Descendants of Gabriel dit Châtillon
Godin of Rivière St.-Jean were among the earliest Acadians who found
refuge in Louisiana. The first of them arrived in February 1765 with
the Broussard
dit Beausoleil party from Halifax. They followed the Broussards to the
Attakapas District, where they hoped to create La Nouvelle-Acadie on
the banks of Bayou Teche. Then tragedy struck. Two of them died
in an epidemic that devastated the Teche community that summer and
fall. The lone survivor in the family retreated to
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river, where more of her kinsmen from Halifax
had settled that year. The family did not
return to the western prairies but remained on the river in what became St.
James and Ascension parishes. Only one line of the family settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, and it died out early, so the great
majority, if not all, of the Acadian Godins remained on the river.
Non-Acadian Godin/Gaudins came to the colony as early as the
1720s. One of them, from St.-Francois Parish, Montréal, may have been
a Canadian cousin of the Acadian Godins at St.-Jacques; he, too,
settled there. Most of the non-Acadian Godin/Gaudins
remained at New Orleans, though a few moved out to the prairies of
present-day St. Landry and Lafayette parishes. These French Creoles,
in fact, were the only Godin/Gaudins who settled west of the
Atchafalaya Basin. In the early 1800s, Foreign-French Godins
emigrated to Louisiana but probably remained at New Orleans.
Judging by the number of slaves
they owned, some of the Acadian Godin/Gaudins participated fully in the
South's antebellum plantation economy. Two owned enough slaves to
qualify as planters, and one came close. Valentin Gaudin of St.
James Parish held 16 slaves in 1850 and 17 in 1860. Two of his
cousins, in fact, qualified as great planters. In 1850, Jean-Baptiste Gaudin
of St. James Parish held 51 slaves on one plantation and 25 on
another. Michel Gaudin owned 54 slaves in St. James Parish in
1850 and 88 a decade later. But most of their cousins owned few or no
slaves on their small holdings in St. James and Ascension parishes.
One of their non-Acadian namesakes on the western prairie, Edoird Gaudin,
worked 95 slaves on his plantation in St. Landry Parish on the eve of the
War of 1861-65.
Over a dozen Gaudins served
Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65, and at least one of
them died in Confederate service. Émile
Gaudin of St. James Parish enlisted in Company A of the 18th
Regiment Louisiana Infantry as soon
as the unit was organized. Émile was
mortally wounded at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862. He
fell into enemy hands on the battlefield, and they sent him to a general
hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, where he died the following June.
The war took a heavy toll on the Gaudins'
economic status. 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. This
no doubt included the Gaudin holdings in St. James and Ascension
parishes. Union gunboats shelled and burned
dozens of plantation and farm houses along the river. ...
In Louisiana, the Acadian family's name evolved from Godin to
Gaudin. During the late colonial period, some family members used their ancestors' dit
names Bellefontaine and Lincour as their surnames. The family's name also is spelled
Gaudain, Gaudens, Gaudon, Godain, Gode, Godein, Goden, Godon. Some church
records confuse this family with their fellow Acadians, the Gaudets. [See
Book
Ten for the
Acadian family's Louisiana "begats"]
Sources: 1850 U.S. Federal Census,
Slave Schedules, Ascension, Orleans, St. James, & St. Landry parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules,
Ascension, Jefferson, St. James, & St. Landry parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 579,
1632-43, 2494-96; Baudier, The Catholic Church in LA, 397;
Brasseaux, ed., Quest for the Promised Land,
129n172; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 149;
NOAR, vols. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1,
2, 3;
Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 3, 4, 8; Robichaux, Acadians
in St.-Malo, 363, 623-24, 1011; White, DGFA-1, 740-50; White, DGFA-1
English, 153-54, source of quote about Pierre dit Châtillon;
Stephen A. White, "Acadians
on the St. John River 1755-1760," <acadian-home.org>.