APPENDICES

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

MOÏSE

[moh-EEZ]

ACADIA

François Moyse dit Latreille, born in c1655 perhaps at Arcasson, today's Arcachon, Guyenne, near Bordeaux, France, reached Acadia by 1681, when he was recorded as the godfather of an Indian girl at Chignecto.  He married Madeleine, daughter of Pierre Vincent and Anne Gaudet, at Port-Royal in c1685.  They moved to Passamaquoddy on Rivière Ste.-Croixe, at the border of present-day Maine and New Brunswick, where they were counted in 1693, and then to Rivière St.-Jean, present-day New Brunswick, where they were counted five years later.  François died at Annapolis Royal in January 1711, in his late 50s, so the family must have moved to the Acadian capital sometime in the early 1700s.  He and Madeleine had six children.  One of their daughters married into the Pouget dit Lapierre family.  Three of their four sons created families of their own:  

Oldest son François dit Latreille, fils, born probably at Passamaquoddy in c1689, married Marie, daughter of Sébastien Brun and Huguette Bourg, at Annapolis Royal in September 1713.  They had 10 children, including three sons who married into the Blanchard, Hébert, and Bourg families.  Their daughters married into the Blanchard, Bourg, Dugas, Guédry, LeBlanc, Ozelet, and Pitre families.  The family moved on to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, by the 1750s.  In late 1758, the British deported François, now a widower, daughter Marguerite, son François III, and François III's second wife Marie-Madeleine Hébert to St.-Malo, France.  The 70-year-old François did not survive the rigors of the crossing.  One of his grandsons by his son Joseph created the only Acadian Moyse/Moïse family line in Louisiana. 

Louis dit Latreille, born probably at Passamaquoddy in c1694, married Marie-Louise, daughter of Claude Petitpas, fils and his Mi'kmaq wife Marie-Thérèse, at Port-Toulouse, Île Royale, today's Cape Breton Island, in c1718.  Their daughter Marie was born on Île Royale in c1741 and was the member of this family line to emigrate to Louisiana.  

Pierre, baptized at Port-Royal in c1718, age unrecorded, must have been an even more avid wanderer than his older brothers.  He married Marie-Rose, daughter of Paul Daniel and _____ and widow of ____ Mercier, at Grand-Bourg, Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean, in January 1753, before Le Grand Dérangement.

Youngest son Joseph, born in c1699, died at Port-Royal in August 1714, age 15.  

[For more of this family in pre- and post-dispersal Acadia and Canada, see Book Three]

In 1755, descendants of François dit Latreille could be found on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale. 

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

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

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

All of the Acadian Moyses who came to Louisiana arrived aboard three of the Seven Ships from France that reached New Orleans in 1785.  One of them chose to settle on the river, but no Moyse family line came of it:

Anne Moyse, age 54, and second husband Claude Guédry, age 71, crossed from France with six children, ages 21 to 8, on the sixth of the Seven Ships, La Ville d'Archangel, which reached New Orleans in early December.  They followed most of their fellow passengers to the new Acadian community of Bayou des Écores in the New Feliciana District, north of Baton Rouge.  Needless to say, they had no more children in Louisiana.  Sometime in the late 1780s, they moved down to Manchac, south of Baton Rouge.  Most of their children settled in the Baton Rouge area. 

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Most of the Moyses who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche:

Marie Hébert, age 43, widow of Joseph Moyse of Île St.-Jean, crossed with two children--Joseph-Pierre, age 12; and Marie-Joséphine, age 6--aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in September.  When the Spanish counted the Acadians on upper Bayou Lafourche in January 1788, only Joseph-Pierre, now age 14, remained with his mother; Marie-Joséphine may not even have survived the crossing from France, or she died soon after her family reached the colony.  

Marie Moyse, age 44, now a widow, took three of her Pitre children to Louisiana aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early November.  They remained on the Lafourche. 

.

If there are any Acadian Moïses in South Louisiana, they are descended from one of the exiles from France:

Descendants of Joseph-Pierre MOÏSE (1773-1822; François dit Latreille, François dit Latreille, fils)

Joseph-Pierre, son of Joseph Moyse and Marie Hébert, born at St.-Suliac, near St.-Malo, France, in June 1773, was taken by his parents to Poitou soon after his birth and followed them from Châtellerault to Nantes in March 1776.  He came to Louisiana with his widowed mother and a sister aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships from France, in 1785 and followed his mother to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Anne-Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Bénoni Blanchard and his second wife Madeleine Forest, at Assumption on the upper bayou in June 1803.  Anne-Marguerie also was a native of St.-Sulac and had crossed to Louisiana on a later vessel in 1785.  Their daughters married into the Dauge, Giroir, and Parenton or Parenthon families.  Joseph-Pierre died in Assumption Parish in February 1822, age 48.  He and Anne-Marguerite had four sons, but only half of them married, and only one of their lines survived.  Whatever Acadian Moïses there may be in South Louisiana would be descendants of Joseph-Pierre and his oldest son:

1

Oldest son Joseph Marie, born at Assumption in September 1804, married Marie Eurasie, called Eurasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Comeaux and his Creole wife Clémence Simoneaux, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1834.  Their only son Osémé Joseph or Joseph Osémé, called Osémé, was born in Assumption Parish in December 1834.  Two of their daughters married into the Daigle and Heriard families.  One of their daughters, Émelie Marguerite, born in 1838, gave birth to a "natural" child in the final days of the War of 1861-65.  Interestingly, it may have been this natural-born son who perpetuated the Moyse/Moïse family in South Louisiana.  Joseph Marie died in Assumption Parish in November 1845; the priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 43 when he died; he was 41.  

Osémé married Adeline, daughter of fellow Acadian Henry Breaux and Joséphine Duhon and widow of Joseph Landry, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in October 1860.  Two years later, in September 1862, when his wife was pregnant, Osémé enlisted in Company H of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  Daughter Marie Melodia was born near Paincourtville in February 1863.  Osémé must have taken advantage of his unit's hit-and-run raids in the Bayou Lafourche valley during the summer of 1864; daughter Marie Olivia was born near Paincourtville in April 1865.  Osémé survived the war and returned to his family.  He died near Paincourtville in March 1869.  The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Ozémé, as he called him, died at "age ca. 35 years."  Actually, he was nine months shy of that age.  Did he father any sons?  Was his early death war-related? 

Joseph Albert, called Albert, son of Émelie Marguerite Moïse, was born near Pierre Part, Assumption Parish, in April 1865.  The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not name the father.  Joseph Albert married Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadian Élie Foret and his second wife Marie Léonelle, called Léonelle, Gastal, probably in the early 1890s and settled at Napoleonville.  Between 1892 and 1910, Léonelle gave Albert nine children, three sons and six daughters.  Daughter Sunole Marie, born in 1892, married Arthur Berniard.  Sunole and Arthur operated a bakery in Morgan City, St. Mary Parish. 

2

François Joseph, called Frois, born in Assumption Parish in March 1808, died there in June 1833, age 24.  He probably did not marry.  

3

Jean Baptiste Thomas, born in Assumption Parish in December 1810, married Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Eusèbe Melançon and Adélaïde LeBlanc, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in August 1830.  Their daughter married into the Charlet family.  Jean Baptiste Thomas remarried to Adélaïde Marine, called Marine, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Dupuis and Constance Landry, at the Plattenville church in October 1836.  Jean Baptiste Thomas died in Assumption Parish in April 1837, age 25.  He evidently fathered no sons, so, except for its blood, this family line probably died with him.  

4

Youngest son Benoît or Bénoni, born in Assumption Parish in late 1813, died at age 2 months in January 1814.  

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

Other Moyse/Moïses, or immigrants with similar-sounding surnames, lived in South Louisiana during late colonial, antebellum, and post-war periods.  Most were French Creole, Foreign French, or free persons of color, though one of them was Swiss, and others may have been Anglo Americans.  The Afro Creoles likely took their family name from the given name of a male ancestor named "Moïse" or "Moyse," not from a "white" family with that name:

Jean, son of Jean Moisi and ____ Lefevre, "native of Havre de Grace in Normandy in France," died at New Orleans in September 1799, age 19 and still a bachelor.  His parents were not Acadians.  

Marie Moyses, "native of this parish [New Orleans]," wife of French Creole Michel Ledoux, died "in Barataria" in April 1803, age 33.

Joseph Moye married Acadian Marie Virginie Hébert, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Juinau Neuville was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1826.  Joseph probably was Anglo American. 

Simon Moïse, a 23-year-old native of France, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Robert Parker out of Le Havre, France, in January 1841. 

Joseph Moïse, a 25-year-old peddler from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Vesta, no embarkation port given, in December 1843. 

Mathias Moïse, a 40-year-old merchant from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Millaudon out of Havana, Cuba, in January 1848. 

Philomène Moïse, a "free woman of color," married Albert Gilbert, a "free man of color," at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1855.  Philomène seems to have moved to Bayou Teche after the War of 1861-65.  Her son François was born in St. Martin Parish in June 1878; the St. Martinville priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not name the father.  

Alexander, son of Pierre Moisi and Marie Pellendine of Belzona, Switzerland, married Julie, daughter of Xavier Bruat, at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in June 1861. 

In June 1860, the federal census taker in Jefferson Parish counted 5 slaves--a male and 4 females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 18--on E. W. Moïse's farm in Jefferson City.  

Charles A. Moïse served as a first lieutenant in the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery during the War of 1861-65.  He surrendered with his unit at Meridian, Mississippi, in May 1865.  

Domingo Moïse enlisted as a private in Company K of the 13th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Orleans Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama, but his date of enlistment has been lost to history.  He was captured at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, in November 1863.  The Federals sent him, via Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, to the prisoner-of-war camp at Rock Island Barracks, Illinois.  He enlisted in the U.S. Navy probably in 1864 and was sent to the naval rendezvous at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, thus earning the sobriquet, "Galvanized Yankee."

H. Moïse was a resident of New Orleans when he enlisted in the Grosse Tete Flying Artillery, later called the 6th Battery Louisiana Artillery, raised in Iberville Parish, that served in Louisiana. 

T. S. Moïse served as a major on the general staff of the Confederate States quartermaster department.  

The succession of Wyatt Moye, husband of Mary Dancy, was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish, in October 1862.  Was Wyatt's death war-related? 

Jean Moïse, daughter of Adèle ____, was baptized at the Gonzales church, Ascension Parish, "age ca. 18 months," in March 1868. 

Rachel Moïse married James Bollin in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1868.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names. 

 Backill "at Mr. Deny's, Parish of False River," son of Jacques Moïse and Victoire ____,  married Victoria Avery, daughter of Antoine Valentin and Armentine Vincent, at the Lakeland church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in July 1869. 

Adèle, daughter of Moyse Moyse and Carmélite Charlot, married Martin Douglas, son of Rogeur Rogeur and Ane, probably Anne, Katendaus, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1869. 

CONCLUSION

Moyses settled early in Acadia, but they came "late" to Louisiana.  In fact, if the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Mississippi valley colony, there probably would be no Moïses in the Bayou State today, at least none descended from François dit Latreille.  Four Moyses came to Louisiana on three of the Seven Ships from France in 1785, but only one of them could have created a family line.  The Acadian Moïses in Louisiana today are descended from Joseph-Pierre, son of Joseph Moyse of Île St.-Jean, and Joseph-Pierre's oldest son Joseph Marie of upper Bayou Lafourche. 

Non-Acadians with similar sounding surnames appear in South Louisiana church records during the late colonial and antebellum periods.  Most were French Creoles, Foreign French, or even Anglo Americans, and one of them was Swiss, but some of them were free persons of color who may have used an ancestor's given name, "Moïse," as their surname. 

Acadian Osémé Moïse held no slaves during the late antebellum period, at least none who appear on the Federal slave registers of 1850 and 1860, so he and his family participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation economy.  During the War of 1861-65, probably motivated by the specter of Confederate conscription, Osémé enlisted in a local volunteer cavalry company.  Meanwhile, successive Federal incursions devastated the region where his young wife and infant children lived, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were driven away.  After the war, Osémé returned to his farm in Assumption Parish, where he died in March 1869, age 34.  One wonders if his early death was war-related.   ...

In Acadia, the family's surname was spelled Moyse, but it was also being spelled Moïse by 1785 during Le Grand Dérangement.  By the mid-nineteenth century in Louisiana, Moise, like the given name, had become the usual spelling for the family's surname and remains so today, though generally with an anglicized "i" instead of the French "ï."  The family's name also is spelled Moises, Moisses, Moy, Moyses.  [For the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats," see Book Ten]

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 701-02, 2131-32, 2193, 2247; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 2:245; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 329; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 3; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 2-C, 7, 8, 9; NOAR, vols. 6, 7; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family Nos. 14, 15, 21, 74, 145, 146, 147, 151; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 80; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 135-37; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 115-16, 378-80, 628-33, 671-72; White, DGFA-1, 1241-44; White, DGFA-1 English, 263-64; Elaine F. Clément of the Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville, LA, descendant.  

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, 44, calls her Anne MOYSE; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No. 14, shows that in the crossing to St.-Malo in 1758-59, her first husband, Joseph LEBLANC, age 33, died at the hospital probably in St.-Malo 18 Feb 1759, less than a month after they reached the port city, probably from the rigors of the voyage, & that their 2 children, sons Joseph, age 3, & François, age 1, died at sea.  

The terrible passage from Acadia to France in 1758-59, in which she lost her husband & 2 children, forced her to create an entirely new family with her second husband, Claude GUIDRY.

02.  Wall of Names, 36 (pl. 9L), calls him Joseph [MOYSE], & lists him with his widowed mother & a sister; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 632-33, Family No. 731, his birth/baptismal record, calls him Joseph-Pierre MOYSE, gives his parents' names, says his godparents were Charles HÉBERT & Perpétué MOYSE, & that his family resided at St.-Suliac from 1789-72; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 137, Family No. 250, calls him Joseph [MOYSE], & details his 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 Exile 1785, 46-47, calls him Joseph, son [Marie HÉBERT, veuve MOÏSE's] fils, age 12, on the embarkation list, & Joseph MOYSE, his[sic] [Marie HÉBERT, widow MOYSE's] son, age 12, on the complete listing, says he was in the 23rd Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with his mother & a sister, & that he was born in 1773 but gives no birthplace; BRDR, 2:91, 560 (ASM-2, 84, his marriage record, calls him Joseph MOYSES, calls his wife Ana BLANCHARD of St.-Suliac, Diocese of St.-Malo, gives his & her parents'  names, says his father was deceased at the time of the marriage, & that the witnesses to his marriage were Josef BOUDRAUX &, of course, Ambroise HÉBERT; BRDR, 4:417 (ASM-3, 149), his death/burial record, calls him Joseph MOÏSE, age 48 yrs., & gives his parents' names but does not mention his wife.

03.  Wall of Names, 36 (pl. 9L), calls her Marie [MOYSE], & lists her with her widowed mother & a brother; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 137, Family No. 250, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Marie-Joséphine MOYSE, gives her parents' but not her godparent's names, &, calling her Marie [MOYSE], details her family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 46, 47, calls her Marie, sa [Marie HÉBERT, veuve MOÏSE's] fille, age 6, on the embarkation list, & Marie MOYSE, his[sic] [Marie HÉBERT, widow MOYSE's] daughter, age 6, on the complete listing, says she was in the 23rd Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her mother & a brother, &, calling her Marie-Joséphine, says that she was baptized in 1779 but gives no place of baptism.

What happened to her in LA?  When did she die?  How old was she?  South LA church records are silent.  Unfortunately, the debarkation list for Le St.-Rémi did not survive, so she may not even have survived the crossing to New Orleans, or she may have died soon after reaching the colony.

04.  Wall of Names, 39 (pl. 10L), calls her Marie MOÏSE veuve Olivier PITRE, & lists her with 3 children; Arsenault, Généalogie, 702, the Port-Royal section, calls her Marie MOYSE dit Latreille, says she was born in 1745 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, calls her mother Marie PETITOT, says her husband was from Beaubassin & gives his parents' names; Arsenault, p. 2247, her father's profile in the Île Miquelon section, calls her Marie [MOÏSE], gives her parents' names, calls her mother Marie PETITOT, says her mother's parents were Denis PETITOT & Marie ROBICHAUD, details her marriage, & says she, her parents, & her husband were at Miquelon in 1767; White, DGFA-1, 1241, calls her mother Marie-Louise PETITPAS & says her mother's parents were Claude PETITPAS & Marie-Thérèse [an Amerindian]; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 671-72, Family No. 781, calls her Marie MOYSE, says she was born in c1741 on Île Royale, calls her parents Louis MOYSE & Marie PETIT, details her marriage, noting that it was "reinstated" on Miquelon 29 May 1776, says her husband was born in c1741 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of son Jean-Baptiste PITRE, born (date not given), baptized privately by Claude DUGAST on 8 Jun 1764, Cap-Breton, recorded 31 May 1766, Notre-Dame-des-Ardiliers, Miquelon, godson of Jean CORMIER & Anne DUGAST, daughter Victoire PITRE, born (date not given), baptized privately on 21 Dec 1765 at Cap-Breton, recorded 31 May 1766, Notre-Dame-des-Ardiliers, Miquelon, goddaughter of Nicolas MOYSE (probably her uncle) & Judith POJET, daughter Marie-Cécile PITRE, born & baptized 19 Dec 1767, St.-Suliac, goddaughter of Bénonie MOYSE & Cécile MOYSE, died 23 May 1771, age 2, buried 24 May 1771, St.-Suliac, daughter Francoise-Olive PITRE, born & baptized 17 Nov 1770, St.-Suliac, goddaughter of Claude GUÉDRY & Agnès PITRE, & daughter Marie-Ludivine PITRE, born & baptized 24 Sep 1772, St.-Suliac, goddaughter of Jean-Baptiste PITRE, her brother, & Marguerite TRASILLE, her aunt, died 23 Jun 1773 of smallpox, age 9 mos., buried 24 Jun 1773, St.-Suliac, & says she, her husband, son Jean & daughter Victoire "arrived at St.-Malo from St.-Pierre and Miquelon on November 13, 1767 on the Schooner, La Creole, & that the family resided at St.-Suliac from 1767 to 1772; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 143-44, Family No. 260, calls her Marie MOYSE, says she was born in c1745 but gives no birthplace, calls her parents Louis MOYSE & Marie PETIT, details her marriage, says her husband was born in 1741 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, includes the birth/baptism & death/burial records of daughter Julie-Aimée PITRE, baptized 6 Mar 1777, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, died 5 Dec 1777, probably Chantenay, daughter Marie-Martine PITRE, baptized 11 Dec 1779, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, died age 3 1/2 & buried 3 Jun 1783, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & son Jean-Baptiste PITRE, died age 21 & buried 23 Mar 1785, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & 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 Exile 1785, 66-67, calls her Marie MOÏSE, veuve Olivier PITRE, age 45, on the embarkation list, Maria MOISES, widow Olivier, on the debarkation list, & Marie MOYSE, widow Olivier PITRE, age 45, on the complete listing, says she was in the 6th Family aboard L'Amitié with 3 children, lists the implements the Spanish gave her after she reached LA, &, calling her Marie MOYSE, details her marriage, including her & her husband's parents' names, calls her mother Marie PETIT, & says they were married in 1763 but gives no place of marriage.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 34, 51, 76, 166; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 501.  

Her estimated birth year is from Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, which conforms to the passenger list of L'Amitié & the LA censuses in which she is found.  

For the plight of the Acadians of St.-Pierre & Miquelon & their migration to France in late 1767, see Brasseaux, Scattered to the Wind, 55-59.  

When & where did her husband die?  It obviously was between the time they moved from Châtellerault to Nantes in late 1775 & when the Spanish listed her & her children at Nantes in Sep 1784 without him.  He probably died at Chantenay, but when?  Her son Jean-Baptiste, counted in Sep 1784, died 5 months before she & her 3 surviving children left for LA.  

From Robichaux's study of the Acadians in France, one can see that she & her husband had at least 8 children in greater Acadia & France, but only 3 of them survived to accompany her to LA & create families of their own.  

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