Jean,
also called Jean-Jacques, son of Antoine Mouton, maître d'hôtel de M. de Grignan
(probably the
French aristocrat François de Castellane-Ornado-Adhémar de
Monteil, Comte de Grignan, of Provence and Marseille)
and
Jeanne Merlasse or
Merlarse of Marsalle or Marsal, bishopric of d'Albi, Languedoc, was born at Marseille in c1689,
perhaps at the comte's château.
According to Bona
Arsenault, Jean arrived at
Port-Royal in c1703, when he would have been only age 14, and married Marie, 16-year-old daughter of Alexandre Girouard
dit de Ru and Marie Le Borgne de Bélisle, in January
1711. The marriage was a fortuitous one. Marie was a granddaughter of Alexandre Le
Borgne de Bélisle, former French governor of Acadia and seigneur of
Port-Royal and also a descendant of former governor Charles de
Saint-Étienne de La Tour. Jean and Marie moved to Grand-Pré in c1712,
where he earned his living as a surgeon, and then to Chignecto in c1725, where he also worked as a surgeon and where he and his family remained. Sieur
Jean, as he was addressed, and Marie had 10 children, seven
sons and three daughters. The surgeon
and wife Marie died at Chignecto before Le Grand Dérangement. Two of their daughters
married into the Hébert and Richard families. Five of their
sons also created families of their own.
Oldest son Jean, fils,
born at Grand-Pré in November 1712, married Marguerite, daughter of Louis Poirier
and Cécile Mignot, at Chignecto in January 1734.
Jacques,
born probably at Minas, married Marguerite, daughter of Pierre Caissie
and Marie-Thérèse Mirande, at Chignecto in November 1734.
Charles, born
probably at Minas in c1721,
married Anne, daughter of Pierre Comeau and Susanne Bézier, probably at Chignecto in
c1755.
Justinien,
born at Grand-Pré in May 1721, died young.
Pierre, born at Chignecto in December 1730,
survived childhood but did not marry. He may, in fact, have died in
the fighting at Restigouche in 1760.
Salvator, born
at Chignecto in c1733, married Anne, daughter
of Jean Bastarache and Angélique Richard, at
Annapolis Royal in January 1752 but settled at
Chignecto with the rest of the clan.
Youngest
son
Louis, born at Chignecto in c1737, married
Marie-Modeste, another daughter of Jean Bastarache and Angélique
Richard, at Restigouche in c1760 during exile.
[For more of this family in
pre- and post-dispersal Acadia and Canada, see
Book Three]
In
1755, Sr. Jean Mouton's children and grandchildren could be found at Chignecto,
Minas, Annapolis Royal, and on Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward
Island.
~
One
other Mouton family lived in Acadia, that of Jean Mouton dit
Fleury, an artilleryman born at St.-Michel-de-Carcassonne in the south of France in 1735, and probably no kin to
Sr. Jean Mouton of Marseille and Chignecto.
This younger Jean also was son of an Antoine Mouton, but
his mother was Catherine Boucher.
LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT
[For the family's travails
during the Great Upheaval, see
Book
Six]
LOUISIANA:
RIVER SETTLEMENTS
The
Chignecto Moutons were some of the earliest Acadians to seek refuge
in Louisiana, but they were not among the first. They came to the colony in 1765 and
settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river above New Orleans where 20
Acadians had settled the year before. Mouton family
legend insists they were among the first Acadians to settle in the
colony (see, for
instance, the brochure that accompanies the Robert Dafford Mural at the Acadian
Memorial in St. Martinville, which says the Moutons "Arrived with a group of twenty believed to
be the earliest refugees from Acadia in Louisiana...."), but no creditable
source places the Moutons
with the party from Georgia who reached the colony via
Mobile in February
1764. The Moutons most likely arrived sometime in the autumn of
1765 with one of the parties from Halifax. They were not even members of
the earliest group of Acadians who reached Louisiana that year--the Broussard
dit Beausoleil party, which reached New Orleans in February and went to Bayou
Teche two
months later.
Nearly a dozen
Moutons stepped off the ship at New Orleans in 1765:
Salvator
Mouton,
age 32, came with wife Anne Bastarche, age 34, and two sons--Marin, age
12; and Jean le jeune, age 11. When they reached New Orleans, Anne
may have been pregnant. A New Orleans church record hints that she gave birth to daughter Marie-Geneviève in
mid-September of that year, but the girl may have been born en route to the
colony. Marie-Geneviève was baptized at New Orleans on December 2, giving an
idea of when the family actually reached the colony. Anne died perhaps in childbirth
probably at Cabanocé soon after they settled there, and Salvator remarried to
Anne, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Forest, probably a widow, at New
Orleans
in c1768. Salvator died at hopital de la Nouvelle-Orleans
in April 1773, age 40; his burial was recorded by the
priest at St.-Jacques. Sons Marin and Jean le
jeune remained at St.-Jacques, where Marin
married in January 1777. Later that year, they followed their older cousin Jean dit
Neveu to the Attakapas District, where Jean le jeune and Marie-Geneviève
also created families of their own and where Marin remarried.
Louis
Mouton,
age 28, Salvator's younger brother, came to New Orleans with wife Marie-Modeste Bastarache,
age 32, and infant daughter Anne-Charlotte, who also was baptized in the city on December 2. They had more children in Louisiana and
remained on the river.
Jean
dit Neveu
Mouton,
age 25, Salvator and Louis's nephew, came with wife Élisabeth, or Isabelle, Bastarche, age 18, and
no children. However, when they reached New Orleans, Élisabeth was pregnant. She gave birth to daughter Marguerite-Françoise in late
November, but the girl was not baptized until Christmas Day. Jean dit
Neveu and Élisabeth had more children at
Cabanocé/St.-Jacques. In the 1770s, Jean and his family accompanied his younger cousins Marin
and Jean le jeune to the Attakapas District.
Descendants
of Louis MOUTON (c1737-?)
Louis,
seventh and youngest son of Sr. Jean Mouton and Marie Girouard,
born probably at Chignecto in c1737, escaped the British roundup at Chignecto in
1755 and followed his older brothers to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore. He married Marie-Modeste, daughter
of fellow Acadians Jean Bastarache and Angélique Richard
and younger sister of brother
Salvator's wife Anne, in the late 1750s during exile.
They surrendered to the British at Restigouche in October 1760 and were imprisoned with
older brother Salvator and his family at Fort Edward, formerly Pigiguit, for the
rest of the war. From
Halifax, Louis and his wife and their
infant daughter followed Salvator and his family and a nephew to Louisiana in 1765
and settled with them at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on
the river, where they had more children. Spanish officials counted them on
the left, or east, bank of the river at St.-Jacques in 1777. When Louis's
three nephews, including Salvator's two sons, left for the Attakapas District in
c1777, Louis and Marie-Modeste remained on the river. Their daughters
married into the Theriot and Blanchard families. Louis and his wife had no sons
who created families of their own,
so this family line, except for its blood, probably did not survive in the Bayou
State.
David, born probably at
St.-Jacques in c1770, likely died young.
~
Sometime between
1766 and 1768, Salvador and Louis's older brother Charles Mouton, his wife
Anne Comeau, their son
Georges, and Anne's daughter by her first marriage, reached New Orleans from Martinique in the Caribbean Basin, where
French officials had counted them at Champflore in January 1766. They joined their Mouton kin
on the Acadian Coast. Like younger brother Louis, Charles remained on the
river. He and Anne had no more children in Louisiana. Chares died a
widower at St.-Jacques in November 1798, age 87. Son Georges
married at St.-Jacques but had no sons of his own:
Descendants
of Georges MOUTON (c1756-?;
Jean)
Georges,
son of Charles Mouton and Anne Comeau of Chignecto, born
in c1756 during exile, followed his family to Champflore, Martinique, in the Caribbean Basin, where French officials counted
them in January 1766. They moved on to Louisiana between 1766 and 1768 and
joined their Mouton kin at St.-Jacques on the river, where Georges
married Rosalie-Victoire, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Gaudet and
his first wife Marguerite Bourgeois, in January 1781. Their daughter married into the Oubre
family. Georges and his wife had no sons, at least none who appear in
local church records.
LOUISIANA:
WESTERN SETTLEMENTS
Compared to many other Acadian
families, the Moutons came "late" to the western prairies. In c1777,
Jean dit
Neveu Mouton and his younger cousins Marin, Jean, and Marie-Geneviève Mouton, crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled
in the Attakapas District. This western
branch of the family soon eclipsed that of their cousins back
on the river:
Marie-Geneviève married Jean, son of
fellow Acadian Joseph Guilbeau, at Attakapas in July 1783. She died at Attakapas in August 1784,
age 18.
Descendants of Jean dit
Neveu MOUTON (c1740-1802;
Jean)
Jean
dit Neveu, or Nephew, son of Jacques Mouton and Marguerite Caissie,
born probably at Chignecto in c1740, followed his family to South Carolina aboard the British ship Cornwallis,
which reached Charleston in October 1755 and evidently was one of the
Acadians who returned to greater Acadia via boat the following spring..
He followed his paternal uncles Pierre, Salvator, Louis to the Gulf of St.
Lawrence shore and then to Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs.
After the fall of Restigouche in the autumn of 1760, Jean remained with his
uncles' families while they were held as prisoners of war at Fort Edward,
Pigiguit, in Nova Scotia.
Jean married Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of Jean Bastarache and
Angélique Richard, younger sister of the
wives of his uncles Salvator and Louis, probably at Fort Edward
in the early 1760s. He likely was the Jean Mouton who
was counted at Fort Edward in July and August 1762 with a family of three. After the war, they followed his
uncles Salvator and Louis from Halifax to Louisiana in
1765. A daughter, Marguerite-Françoise, was born at New Orleans in
November either en route to Louisiana or soon after they reached the colony. They followed his uncles
to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river, where Spanish officials counted them
in April 1766. After his uncle Salvator died in 1773, Jean dit Neveu
and Salvator's sons, Marin and Jean le jeune, crossed the Atchafalaya
Basin and settled in the Attakapas District, where Spanish authorities
counted them in May 1777. By then, Neveu owned three slaves and five
head of cattle. Élisabeth died at Attakapas in April
1798, in her early 50s. Jean dit Neveu did not remarry. Like his cousins,
Jean dit Neveu also claimed land as
far west as the Mermentau River valley, but he and most of his descendants,
like those of his cousins, remained in the old Attakapas District. Jean dit
Neveu died at Attakapas in August 1802; the priest who recorded the burial said
that Jean was age 58 when he died; he probably was closer to 62.
All three of his sons created families of their own and settled in what became Lafayette Parish,
but only two of their lines survived. That of his oldest son Frédéric, who
married a Cormier, was
especially vigorous.
1
Oldest son Jean-Frédéric, called Frédéric, born probably at Cabanocé
in c1769, married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste
Cormier, fils, and his first wife Marguerite Bourg, at Attakapas in June 1788. They settled on Bayou
Vermilion and at Carencro. Their son Jean Sylvestre, called
Sylvestre le jeune, was born in May 1791, Jean-Éloi,
called Éloi,
was baptized at Attakapas, age 2 1/2, in May 1795, Jean-Augustin,
called Augustin, was born in December 1796, Jean Florent in
February 1799,
Cyprien in March 1810, and Jean Ursin, called Ursin, in December 1811. Their daughters married into the
Arceneaux,
Caruthers,
Comeaux,
De La Corne,
Girard,
McBride, and Ware families. Frédéric died "at his
home" on the Vermilion in March 1815, age 46; his succession
was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in July.
1a
Sylvestre le jeune
married Marie Euphrosine, called
Euphrosine, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase Breaux and
Marie Catherine Arceneaux of Carencro,
at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1813.
They settled at Carencro. Their son Frédéric Demosthènes,
called Demosthenes, was
born in November 1814, Jean Rosémond, called Rosémond, in February 1816, a son,
name unrecorded, died the day after his birth in June 1818, Tiburce
Placide or Placide Tiburce was born in April 1820, Eugène Lucien in April 1822 but
died at age 7 months the following December, Jude François or
François Jules, called Jules, was born
in January 1824, Jean Livodé, Livodet, or Livaudais, called Livaudais, in May 1826, Joseph in c1831 but
died at age 3 in October 1834, and Joseph Babilas was baptized at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 3 months, in April 1833.
Sylvestre le jeune died probably at Carencro in January 1849; the
Grand Coteau priest who recorded his burial said that Silvestre died "at age
60 yrs."; he was 57.
Rosémond married cousin
Marie Estelle, called Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Comeaux
and Céleste Breaux, in a civil
ceremony in Lafayette Parish in March 1841. Their son Pierre Auguste was born in
Lafayette Parish in December 1851. Their daughters married into the
Prejean and Sonnier families.
Jules married Azélie or
Adeline,
daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babineaux and Marie
Cléonide Dugas, at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1843. Their son
Joseph Jules or
Jude, called
Jules or
Jude, was born in Lafayette Parish in May 1844. Jules
died in Lafayette Parish in April 1849, age 25; his
succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in June.
During the War of 1861-65, only son Jules, fils, called
Jule in Confederate records, served as a private in Company A of
the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, the "Lafayette Prairies Boys,"
which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He married
Anonciade or Armontiade, daughter of fellow Acadians Placide
Broussard and Aurelia Broussard, at the Vermilionville church in
January 1866.
Placide married cousin Marie
Rosalie Azelle
or Azélie, another daughter of Julien Comeaux and Céleste
Breaux, at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in October 1845. They
settled near Carencro. Their child, name unrecorded, perhaps a son,
died at age 1 month between March and May 1847, son Joseph Alcide
was born in October 1852, Kleber in April 1854, and a child, name
unrecorded, died at birth in September 1859. During
the War of 1861-65,
Placide evidently served in Company K of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana
Reserve Corps, raised in Lafayette Parish late in the war to fight local
Jayhawkers. He survived the war.
Demosthenes died in Lafayette
Parish in November 1854, age 40. He probably did not marry.
Jean Livaudais, at age 39, married
Marceline or Marcellite, daughter of Pierre Hernandez and Marie
Domingue, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1865. Their son Pierre
Hippolyte was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1867.
1b
Augustin married Marie Françoise,
called Françoise, daughter of Pierre Baudoin and
Marguerite Lemaire of St.
Charles Parish and Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December
1814. They settled on the Vermilion. Their son Toussaint
was born in November 1816, Éloi le jeune in March 1817[sic], Onésime
le jeune in June 1822, another Onésime le jeune in March 1823,
and a son, name unrecorded, died 4 hours after his birth in September 1828.
Their daughter married into the Chargeois family.
Éloi le jeune married
Marie, daughter of Noël Gisclard and Charlotte Frederick of St. James
Parish, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in October 1838.
Their son Gustave was born in Lafayette Parish in February 1843.
They also had a son named Étienne. Their daughters married
into the Herpin and Richard families.
Étienne married Remisia, Remizia,
or Lemisia, daughter of fellow Acadians Joachim Broussard and
Carmélite Comeaux, at the
Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1865. Their
son Alcée Éloi or Éloi Alcée was born in Lafayette Parish in September
1866 but died at age 3 in December 1869.
Gustave married Eulalie,
another daughter of Joachim Broussard and Carmélite
Comeaux and widow of Rosémond
Langlinais, at the Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in
February 1866. Their son Albert was born in Lafayette
Parish in September 1869.
Onésime le jeune
married cousin Anathasie or Nathalie Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dugas
and Marie Marthe Mouton, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1841. Their son Pierre Alse,
perhaps Alcée,
was born in Lafayette Parish in January 1842 but died the following
August, Honoré Césaire was born in November 1843, Édouard
in June 1847, Philippe Albert in August 1854, and Maurice
in December 1857. They also had a son named Jean, John A., or
John O. Their daughter married into the Gladu
family.
Jean/John O. married Alvina,
daughter of fellow Acadian Onésime Boudreaux and his Creole
wife Joséphine Castille, at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1867. Their
son Jean Franklin was born in Lafayette Parish in June 1868.
1c
Cyprien married cousin Elise or
Eliza,
daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Dugas and Marie Marthe
Mouton, at the Vermilionville
church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1833.
Their daughters married into the Arceneaux, Bonneau, Dugas, and
Richard families. Cyprien's successions were filed at the St. Martinville and
Vermilionville courthouses in March 1846; he would have been age 36 that year.
Did he father any sons?
1d
Éloi, in his early 40s, married Carmelite, daughter
of Jean Domingue and
Bastina Enand of Lafourche Interior Parish, at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1834. Their son
Michel or
Mitchel Éloi was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1 month, in
October 1835 but died at age 6 1/2 in April 1842, Étienne Raphaël or
Gabriel was born in August 1839,
Jean in November 1841, Jean Dermas or Darmas, called
Darmas, in November 1843, a child,
name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died at age 3 in June 1848, and Joseph
was born in March 1851 but died at age 11 in April 1862.
Their daughters married into the Albarado and Gilbert
families. Éloi died in Lafayette Parish in September 1851; the
Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Éloi died "at age 60 yrs."; he was 56; his
succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September
1854.
Étienne Raphaël/Gabriel married Marie,
daughter of fellow Acadians Terence Breaux and Louise
Dugas, at the Vermilionville
church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1858, and remarried to Eliska,
daughter of fellow Acadian Rosémond LeBlanc and his Creole wife
Virginie Langlinais, at the Youngsville
church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1866.
Darmas died in Lafayette
Parish in March 1865. The Vermilionville priest who recorded his
burial said that Darmas died "at age 19 yrs."; he was 22. He
probably did not marry. Was his death war-related?
Jean married cousin Victoire
or Victorine, daughter of Joseph Hernandez and Marie
Carmélite Domingue, at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1867. Their son Jean Sidney
was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1870.
1e
Ursin married Sébastienne
dite Bastienne, another daughter of Jean Domingue and
Bastina Enand of Lafourche Interior
Parish, in a civil ceremony in
Lafayette Parish in May 1838. Their son Jean Frédéric le jeune, called
Frédéric, was born
in St. Martin Parish in October 1840, François in December 1842,
Alexandre in February 1845 but died at age 5 in May 1850, Raymond
was born in January 1847 but died at age 2 1/2 in September 1849, and a
child, name and age unrecorded, died in August 1851.
Their daughter married into the Hernandez family.
Frédéric le jeune died in Lafayette
Parish in June 1858, age 17 1/2, before he could marry.
A François Mouton, age
21, died near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in August 1862. The
priest who recorded the burial did not give François's
parents' names, but this likely was Ursin's son. Did François
marry? Was his death war-related?
2
Nicolas-Joseph, called Joseph, born probably at Cabanocé in c1770,
married fellow Acadian Marie-Josèphe Doucet at Attakapas in January 1788.
Their daughter Émilie attended the Grand Coteau academy from April 1826, when
she was 10, until July 1829. Joseph does not seem to have fathered any
sons, at least none who appear in local church records.
3
Youngest son Sylvestre,
born probably at Cabanocé in c1771, married Susanne, or
Suzette, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Comeaux and Anastasie
Savoie, at Attakapas in
October 1791 They settled at Carencro. Their son Sylvestre,
fils
was born in December 1795, and Jean-Eugène, called Eugène, in August 1801.
Their daughters married into the Caruthers and Prejean families.
Sylvestre, père died at his home at Carencro in December 1814, age 43; his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse,
St. Martin Parish, the
following May.
3a
Sylvestre, fils died "at
the home of Aurien[Aurelien] Breaux on Bayou Vermillion[sic]" in July 1817,
age 21, and probably did not marry. His succession was
filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in August.
3b
Eugène married Cidalise
Eugénie, called Eugénie, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Savoie
and
his Acadian wife Madeleine Stelly of
Opelousas, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1821.
Their son Sylvestre le jeune was born near Grand Coteau in August
1825, Joseph in January 1828, Césaire in April 1835, Félix in November 1843, and Omer
or Homere in
December 1846. Their daughters married into the Kidder,
Richard, and Robin
families.
Joseph married Azélie Marie
or Marie Azélie,
daughter of Louis Taylor or Teller and his Acadian wife
Mélite Leger, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in November 1853. Their son Joseph, fils was
born near Grand Coteau in June 1860 but died at age 3 1/2 in December
1863, and Louis was born in February 1869. Their daughter married into the Landry family.
Félix married Clara, daughter
of Jean Baptiste Kidder and Emélite Stelly, at the Arnaudville church, St. Landry
Parish, in May 1866. They remained near Arnaudville.
Homère married Marie Louise
or Louisa, daughter of Don Louis Stelly and Célanie Morin, at the
Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in December 1870.
Descendants
of Marin dit Capuchon MOUTON (c1753-1836;
Jean)
Marin,
elder son of Salvator Mouton and his first wife Anne Bastarache,
born at Chignecto in c1753, followed his parents and infant brother
to Restigouche on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, where his father and uncle
fell into British hands in the autumn of 1760. Marin and brother Jean le
jeune remained with their mother while the British held their father as a
prisoner of war at Fort Edward, formerly Pigiguit, in Nova Scotia. After
the war with Britain finally ended, they probably joined their fellow Acadian
exiles at Halifax, from where they sailed to Louisiana in 1765. They reached New Orleans later in the year and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river.
Their mother died at Cabanocé in c1767, and their father promptly remarried
there in 1768. Five years later, in April 1773, their father died at New
Orleans. Marin married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Lambert
and Catherine Lacroix
of Mobile, at St.-Jacques in January 1777.
In c1777, Marin and younger brother Jean le jeune followed their older cousin
Jean dit Neveu to the Attakapas District, where they made their
fortunes. Jean settled at Carencro, at the northern edge of the district,
but Marin settled at the southern end of the district along the lower Vermilion
River, south of present-day Abbeville at what became known as Mouton Cove, and at Fausse Pointe on Bayou Teche. His daughters married into the Baudoin, Boudreaux,
Hébert, and Luquet families. In February 1815, at age 62, Marin dit Capuchon remarried to
Marguerite, daughter of André Bernard and Marguerite Edelmeyer of St.-Jacques and
widow of Jean Roy and Josime LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville
church, St. Martin Parish; she was
living at Fausse Pointe. According to family tradition, Marin was called Capuchon for the hat
he wore. Along with brother Jean, who their neighbors called
Chapeau, Marin acquired much land along the upper and lower Vermilion during the
early antebellum period. Marin died at Mouton's Cove in September 1836,
when he was in his early 80s; his succession was filed
at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, the month of his death. His three sons created families of their own
and settled in present-day southern Lafayette and northeastern Vermilion
parishes; however, his middle son's family line probably did not survive. One historian
notes that Marin's descendants remained
in the Youngsville and Abbeville areas well into the 1800s. Some of
them migrated westward into Acadia and Calcasieu parishes by the late 1880s
and even into southeast Texas in the early twentieth century, but most of
them remained in Lafayette,
St. Martin, and Vermilion parishes.
1
Oldest
son Marin, fils, by his father's first wife, born at Attakapas in October1781, married Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Théodore
Broussard and Henriette Trahan, at Attakapas in June 1800. Their son Sylvestre le
jeune was born at Attakapas in c1801. Marin, fils, in his early
50s, remarried to Césaire,
daughter of Pierre Baudoin and Margaret Delamain and widow of Jean Trahan,
in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in November 1832. Marin, fils's
succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette
Parish, in July 1857; he would have been age 76 that year.
Sylvestre le jeune, by his
father's first wife, married
Adélaïde, 14-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste
dit Mano Cormier and Pauline Martin, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish,
in May 1821. Their son Sylvestre Alcide was born in Lafayette
Parish in December 1832 but died at age 1 in November 1833. They also
had a son named Marin le jeune. Their
daughters married into the Merriman and Morton families.
Marin le jeune married
Marie Zulma, called Zulma, daughter of fellow Acadians Onésime Landry
and Carmélite Landry, at the
Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in June 1866. Their son
Horace was born near Abbeville in November 1868.
2
Salvator-Marin, by his
father's first wife, born
at Attakapas in
November 1784, married Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Comeaux
and Perpétué Broussard, at Attakapas in February 1804, and remarried to Susanne, daughter of fellow
Acadians Jean Charles Boudreaux and Dorothée Comeaux of Bayou Vermilion, at the St. Martinville
church, St. Martin Parish, in August
1807. They settled on Bayou Vermilion. Their son Aurelien was
born in St. Martin Parish in October 1808. Called a "res. Attakapas" by the priest who recorded
his burial, Salvator died in St. James Parish in October 1811, age 26; his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in
August 1813.
Aurelien married Carmélite,
daughter of Olivier Blanchet and Ursule Faustin, at the Vermilionville
church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1828. Aurelien died in Lafayette
Parish in August 1830; the priest who recorded his burial said that Aurelien
was age 23 when he died, he was 21; his succession was
filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in June 1833. He evidently fathered no
sons.
3
Youngest son Joseph-Onésime, called Onésime, from his father's first wife, born
at Attakapas in December 1798,
married Aspasie, also called Tarsile, daughter of fellow Acadians Athanase
Hébert and Félicité Breaux of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish,
in October 1815. They settled on the lower Vermilion. Their son
Onésime, fils, perhaps also called Lesime, was born in November 1821, Placide in September 1826,
Bélisaire in January 1827, and Athanase in May 1837. They
also had a son named Arvillien. Their daughters married into the
Boudreaux and Dartes families.
3a
Arvillien married cousin
Scholastique Cidalise, called Scolastie, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin
Boudreaux and Scholastique Hébert, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in June
1836. They settled near
Youngsville. Their son
Placide le jeune was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2
months, in March 1838, Augustin was born in March 1844, and twins
Onésime le jeune and Théodore in January 1855. They may
have had a son named Ursin Augustin. Their daughter
married an Hébert cousin.
Augustin married Esilda,
daughter of fellow Acadian Ozémé Vincent and his Creole wife
Aspasie Farque, at the Youngsville
church, Lafayette Parish, in October 1865, and remarried to double
cousin Arminie or
Herminie,
daughter of fellow Acadians Eusèbe Lessin Hébert and Carmélite
Hébert, at the
Youngsville church in February 1868. Their son André Neuville
was born near Youngsville in November 1869.
Ursin Augustin married cousin
Félicia, daughter of fellow Acadians Euclide Bourg and Cidalise
Boudreaux, at the
Youngsville church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1870.
3b
Onésime, fils may have
married French Creole Clarisse or Laclaire Lapointe and settled near Abbeville,
Vermilion Parish, by the mid-1840s. Their son Placide le jeune
was born in January 1849, Salvator in December 1850,
Théodore in February 1853, Lessaint in December 1854, and
Homère in November 1856.
Salvator married cousin Marie,
daughter of fellow Acadians Euclide Hébert and Armeline
Boudreaux, at the Youngsville
church, Lafayette Parish, in October 1870.
3c
Placide may have married
Amelia or Azilia Meaux and settled near Abbeville, Vermilion
Parish, by the early 1850s. Their son Félix was born in March
1858, and Oseah in June 1863. Placide may have remarried to
fellow Acadian Julie or Julia
Bourg. Their son Placide Numa was born near Abbeville in December 1867.
3d
Athanase married Clara, daughter
of fellow Acadians Drosin Boudreaux and Adélaïde Duhon, at the Abbeville church,
Vermilion Parish, in July 1854. Their son Omer was born near
Abbeville in June 1855, and Ploucide, perhaps Placide, in December 1858.
3e
Bélisaire married fellow Acadian
Lezima LeBlanc and settled near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, by the
late 1850s. Their son Eraste was born in April 1856.
Descendants
of Jean dit Chapeau MOUTON (c1754-1834;
Jean)
Jean,
younger son of Salvator Mouton and his first wife Anne Bastarache,
was born at Chignecto in c1754. Still an infant, he was taken to Restigouche on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, where his father and uncle
fell into British hands in the autumn of 1760. Jean le jeune and
his older brother Marin remained with their mother while the British held their father as
a prisoner of war at Fort Edward, formerly Pigiguit, in Nova
Scotia. After the war with Britain ended, they probably joined their
fellow Acadian exiles at Halifax, from where they sailed to Louisiana in 1765. They reached New Orleans later in the year and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river. Their
mother died at Cabanocé in c1767, and their father promptly remarried there in
1768. Five years later, in April 1773, their father died at New Orleans.
In c1777, now in his late teens, Jean followed brother Marin, now married, and
older cousin Jean dit Neveu to the Attakapas District. It
was Jean, called Chapeau for the kind of hat he wore, who
established the Moutons as one of the most influential Acadian
families in Louisiana. In June 1783, at age 29, at Attakapas, he married Marie-Marthe, called Marthe, daughter of New Orleans retired surgeon Antoine
Borda, a native of Châteaudun, France, and his Acadian wife Marguerite Martin
dit Barnabé, who, like Jean, was a native of Chignecto. Jean
dit Chapeau and Marthe settled at Carencro. The success of
this branch of the Mouton family may be attributed not only to Jean's
ambition in acquiring land and accumulating a fortune, but also to the
well-educated Marthe, "who introduced her children to the French
intellectual tradition, a trait retained by most of their
descendants." Jean and brother
Marin purchased much of their land from the remnants of the
Atakapas tribe, including an 1802 purchase of 4,251 acres near Bayou Cypress
Point on the west side of the lower Vermilion River from one of the last
Atakapas chiefs. However, after Louisiana became a part
of the United States, federal officials refused to certify some of the Mouton land claims. No matter,
Jean dit Chapeau became a cattleman and later a prominent sugar
planter in present-day Lafayette Parish. As early as 1812, he owned 28
slaves on his Carencro plantation. He claimed tracts of land as far
west as the Mermentau River, where he probably herded cattle. He
helped establish the village of Vermilionville, now the city of Lafayette, in 1824. He died in Lafayette Parish,
a widower, in November 1834, age 80. He was buried in the cemetery behind
the church in Vermilionville on land he had donated to the parish; the church is now the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, named
in honor of Jean Mouton's patron saint. His
daughters married into the Bernard, Dugas, Guidry, Malchaux, and Potier
families. Eight of
his
11 sons married, and all but one of their lines endured. Most of Jean's
sons and grandsons, especially his younger son Alexandre, did well in life,
becoming prominent cattlemen, sugar planters, or cotton growers in the old
Attakapas District. Alexandre, a Democrat, served as the first popularly-elected governor of
Louisiana, a grandson was briefly lieutenant governor, and another grandson
became a Confederate general and died heroically during the War of 1861-65. Jean's descendants became the quintessential
"genteel Acadians"; one would be hard-pressed, in fact, to find a more
distinguished family line in South Louisiana. Interestingly, many of
Jean's descendants married cousins.
1
Oldest
son Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, fils, born at Attakapas in April 1784, married cousin Marie Angélique, called
Angélique, daughter of fellow Acadians Claude Martin and Marie
Babin, at Attakapas in
June 1801. The settled at La Grand Pointe on upper Bayou Teche and at
La Butte on upper Bayou Vermilion. Their son Jean Baptiste Sosthène,
called Jean Sosthène and Sosthène Jean, was
born in April 1804, and Edmond Eugène in June 1811. Their daughter
married into the Antoine and Voorhies families. Jean,
fils, at age 50,
remarried to Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of James Andrews or Andrus
and Cécile Robertson, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry
Parish in March 1834.
Their child, name unrecorded,
died 4 days after its birth in October 1836.
Jean, fils, called "Jean of Mermentau River" by the
Vermilionville priest who recorded his
burial, died in May 1837; the priest said that Jean died
"at age 55 yrs."; he was 52.
1a
Jean Sosthène, by his father's first wife, married Marie Eugénie,
called Eugénie, daughter of Joseph Latiolais and Françoise
Nezat of La Pointe, at the St.
Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1822. Their son
Jean Joseph Sosthène, called Joseph Sosthène and Sosthène
Joseph, was born in Lafayette Parish in November 1824, Louis Alexandre Sidney,
called L. A. Sidney and Sidney, in December 1826,
Stanislas Correar in May 1832, Jacques Alcée or Alcide
in February 1834 but died at age 6 1/2 in October 1840, and Charles
Auguste was born in August 1841. Their
daughters married into the Martin, Mouton, and Olivier
(French Creole, not Acadian) families. Jean Sosthène remarried to Célestine Vavasseur at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry
Parish, in June 1846. Their son Joseph Edmond, called
Edmond, was born in
Lafayette Parish in August 1848, François Émile in February 1850, Eugène Emma in April 1852,
and Benjamin in May 1856, when his father was in his early 50s.
Jean Sosthène died in Lafayette Parish in February 1863, age 58; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse
in March.
Sidney, by
his father's first wife,
married cousin Marie Coralie, called Coralie, daughter of fellow
Acadians Joseph
Mouton and Marie Cidalise Arceneaux, his great
uncle and great aunt, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December
1847. Their son Joseph was born in St. Martin Parish in
November 1851, Joseph Léonard in July 1853, Albert
near Breaux Bridge in July 1859, Martin in Lafayette Parish
in August 1856, and Charles André in September 1861 but died the
following May. Their daughter married into the Martin
family.
Joseph Sosthène, by his
father's first
wife, married cousin Henriette Odèïde, called Odèïde, daughter of former governor Alexandre Mouton
and his first wife Célestine Zelia Rousseau, his great
uncle and great aunt, at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1852. Their
son Alexandre le jeune was born in Lafayette Parish in May 1853,
Antoine Borda in August 1855, Charles Olivier in June
1856, Frédéric in June 1858, Émile died at age 3 in
February 1863, Frank was born in April 1863, Alfred in
July 1866, and Sidney le jeune in July 1868.
Joseph Edmond, by his
father's second
wife, married Emérite, daughter of Horace Voorhies and Uranie
Guidry, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1870.
1b
Edmond Eugène, by his father's first wife, married Eulalie, daughter
of Cornelius Voorhies, père and Aimée Gradenigo of St. Landry Parish,
at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in July 1828; Edmond's sister Cidalise
married Eulalie's brother Cornelius,
fils. Edmond and Eulalie's son Félix Flavius Horace,
called Horace, was born in
Lafayette Parish in June 1829 but died at age 14 in August 1843, Adolphe Alexandre
was born in January 1831, Eugène Édouard, called Édouard, was baptized at the
Vermilionville church, age 6 months, in May 1838, William Edgar was
born in St. Martin Parish in January 1848, and Paul in April 1850 but
died at age 3 1/2 in January 1854. They also had a son named James
Edmond. Their daughters
married into the Broussard and Guidry families. Edmond
died in Lafayette Parish in November 1852, age 41.
Adolphe Alexandre married
Marie Elmire, called Elmire, daughter of Charles Durand and his
Acadian wife Amélie LeBlanc, at the St.
Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1853. Their son Charles Edmond was born in
St. Martin Parish in September 1854 but died at age 1 in December 1855.
Édouard, residing in
Lafayette Parish, married Marie Athanaise, called Athanaise, daughter of François Vavasseur
and his Acadian wife Joséphine Arceneaux, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in
November 1866. A daughter
was born in August 1869 and baptized at the Vermilionville church,
Lafayette Parish, so they did not remain on the river.
James Edmond married Héloise
or Éloise,
another daughter of Charles Durand and Amélie LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church, St.
Martin Parish, in May 1870. A daughter had been born the previous
March, so James and Héloise may have married civilly before sanctifying
the marriage at the St. Martinville church.
2
Joseph, born
at Attakapas in January 1791, married Marie Cidalise, called Cidalise, daughter of fellow Acadians
Louis Arceneaux and Marie Anne Breaux of Carencro, at the St. Martinville church, St.
Martin Parish, in January 1809. They settled at Carencro. Their
son Joseph, fils was born in July 1810 but died at age 4 1/2 in
January 1815, Louis Valsin was born in February 1812, Pierre
Léonard
in January 1815 but died at age 16 in September 1831, and Willfrid Emar
or Aymar, called Aymar,
was born in February 1830. Their daughters married into the Latiolais
and Mouton
families. Joseph died in Lafayette Parish in August 1835; the
Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 47 when he died; he
was 44; his succession record was filed at the Vermilionville
courthouse the following December.
2a
Louis Valsin married Caroline,
daughter of fellow Acadian Valéry Martin and his Creole wife Céleste
Huval, at the St. Martinville
church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1828, and remarried to Marie
Carmélite, called Carméite, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Dugas
and Constance LeBlanc of Pont Breaux, at
the St. Martinville church in November 1829. Their son Louis Joseph
or Joseph Louis
was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1831, Roché in October 1832,
Félix in August 1839, Jacques Antoine in September 1842,
Thomas in St. Martin Parish in May 1844, Valsin Alcide, called
Alcide, in
Lafayette Parish in January 1847, and Henry in May 1852. Their daughters married into the
Breaux,
Butcher,
Guidry,
Martin, and Olivier (French Creole, not Acadian) families.
Louis Valsin died died in Lafayette Parish in November 1867; the
Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Louis, père,
as he called him, died "at age 55 to 60 yrs."; he was 55; his succession, calling him Louis V. and naming his second wife, was filed at the
Vermilionville courthouse in December.
Louis Joseph, by his father's second
wife, married cousin Ophelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles
Mouton and his second wife Creole Marie Julie Latiolais,
his great uncle and great aunt, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in June
1853. Their son Joseph Félix was born in Lafayette Parish
in May 1858 but died the following September.
Roché, by his father's second
wife, married cousin Marie Émilie, called Émilie, daughter of Alexandre Latiolais
and his Acadian wife Émelia Mouton, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1858. They settled probably near
Carencro. Their son Joseph Coklin was born in December 1860
but died at age 3 1/2 in September 1864, Louis was born in March 1862,
Marie Gustave, called Gustave, perhaps a son, in February
1869 but died at age 6 months the following September, and Homere
was born in March 1870.
Alcide, by his father's second wife,
married Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Rosémond Breaux
and Geneviève Calixte Arceneaux, at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in April 1869.
Thomas, by his father's second wife,
married Anaïse, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babin and
Marie Terzille Thibodeaux, at
the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1870.
2b
Aymar married Marie Elvina or
Adelina, daughter of
fellow Acadian Pierre Treville Bernard and
Marie Euphrasie Arceneaux, at the Vermilionville church,
Lafayette Parish, in May 1851. Their son Pierre Joseph was born
in Lafayette Parish in July 1852, Alexandre died at age 4 in January
1863, and Louis Aymar was born in April 1861. During the War of
1861-65,
Aymar served in Company I of the 18th Regiment Louisiana
Infantry, raised in Orleans Parish, which, under his cousin
Colonel Alfred Mouton, fought at the Battle
of Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862. Aymar was not
with the unit then, however. He enlisted in Company I,
a private, at Camp Bisland on the lower Teche in February
1863, age 33, probably as a conscript. He was captured
at nearby Franklin on the lower Teche in April 1863 and
paroled at Port Hudson on the river in May. He also
served in Company K of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and
Yellow Jackets Battalion Louisiana Infantry, formed in late
1863 at Simmeport. He was present with the
Consolidated 18th Regiment in January and February 1864 and
may have fought with it in the Red River campaign that
spring, a witness, perhaps, of his cousin Alfred's death at
the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, near Mansfield, in April
1864. Aymar received his end-of-war parole at
Alexandria in June 1865 and returned to this family.
3
François, born
at Attakapas in November 1792, married Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre
Dugas and Annette Thibodeaux of La Butte, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in
May 1814. Their daughter Eugénie attended the Grand Coteau academy
from April 1826, when she was 11, until July 1829, and married a Bernard
whose mother was a Dugas. François "committed
suicide ... at his home" in Lafayette Parish in September 1827; the priest
who recorded his death said that François died "at age 38 years"; he was
34; the priest noted that François was buried "by the inhabitants of
this parish in the cemetery indicated by the Pastor," which probably was
away from the graves of those who had not died at their own hand.
François fathered no sons, at least none who appear in local church records, so his family line, except perhaps for its blood, probably did not survive.
4
Charles, born
at Attakapas in March 1797, married Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Dugas
and Constance LeBlanc
of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May
1817. They settled at La Butte. Their son, name unrecorded, died "at the home of Mrs. François
Bernard at La fausse pointe," age 1 month, in April 1818, and
Charles, fils was born in February 1819. Charles remarried
to Marie Julie, called Julie, daughter of Joseph Latiolais
and Marie Françoise Nezat
of La Pointe, at the St. Martinville church in October 1821. Their
child, name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in Lafayette Parish at birth in
December 1822, a son, name unrecorded, died 2 days after his birth in July
1823[sic], Charles Alexandre Homère, called Charles Homère,
Charles Homer, and Homère, was born in December 1823[sic],
Charles Césaire Orther or Arthur, was baptized at the Vermilionville church,
Lafayette Parish, age 11 1/2 months, in May 1826, Pierre Joseph Ernest
was born in January 1827 but died at age 2 1/2 in November 1829,
Charles Eraste, called Eraste, was born in June 1828, Charles
Rosémond Gesner in February 1834, Zesnaire in c1835 but died
at age 2 in August 1837, and Jean Persifont was born in November 1847. Their
daughter Marie Elena "Entered Society" at the convent at Grand Coteau,
St. Landry Parish, in September 1860, age 19. Their other daughters,
also by his second wife, married
into the Bienvenu and Mouton
families. Charles, père died in Lafayette Parish in April 1848,
age 51.
4a
Charles, fils, by his
father's first wife, died in Lafayette Parish in August 1839, age 20. He probably did not marry.
4b
Charles Homère, by his father's second
wife, was educated in local private schools, graduated from St. Charles
College, Grand Coteau, read law, was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1844,
and practiced law in Lafayette Parish. He married Henriette Célimene or Célimène Henriette, daughter of Lasty Dupré
and Marie Berard, at
the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in December 1848; Céliméne was a
granddaughter of former Louisiana governor Jacques Dupré.
Charles and Célimène's son
Charles Kossuth was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1849,
Émile Antoine in St. Landry Parish in April 1854, André or
Andrew Herron in
January 1855, Arthur Charles in October 1858, and Julien Jouberty
in August 1860. During the late antebellum period, Charles Homère
served as appointed district attorney for the parishes of Lafayette, St.
Landry, Vermilion, and Calcasieu. He served in the Louisiana state
Senate and was elected the state's fifth lieutenant governor in 1855,
serving as a Democrat. After
resigning that office after March 1858, he was elected a district judge. During the War
of 1861-65, he served as aide-de-camp to his first cousin, General
Alfred Mouton. After the war, he practiced law again, in
Lafayette and St. Martin parishes as well as in New Orleans. He was
elected district attorney for St. Martin and Iberia parishes, and, resuming
private practice, served as attorney for the Lafayette Parish police jury.
Charles Homère, in his mid-40s, remarried to Marguerite Eméranthe or Emérite, daughter of
French Creole Charles St. Maurice Olivier du Closel de Vezin
and Charlotte Amynthe Berard, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin
Parish, in July or August 1867. Their son Charles Maurice was born in St.
Martin Parish in April 1868, and Jean Homère in January 1870.
They also had sons named
Philip, Jérôme, and Frank T. Charles
Homrère died at Lafayette in March 1912, in his late 80s, and was buried in
St. John the Evangelist Cemetery behind the cathedral.
4c
Eraste, by his father's second wife,
married Louise Corinne, called Corinne, daughter of Jean Joss Louaillier
or Louiellier and Marie Carrière, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1856. Their son
Jean Jules was born in Lafayette Parish in January 1857, and
Joseph Charles in November 1866. During the War of 1861-65,
Eraste
served as captain of Company A of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, the
"Lafayette Prairie Boys," raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought at
Vicksburg, Mississippi (he was, in fact, the commander of the author's
paternal great-grandfather's company, in which Joachim Cormier and two of his brothers, all from Carencro, served
as privates). As the birth of his third son reveals, Eraste survived
the war and returned to his family.
4d
Charles Césaire Orther, by his
father's second wife,
died in Lafayette Parish in September 1855, age 30.
His succession was filed at
the Vermilionville courthouse in November. Did he marry?
5
A son, name unrecorded, died in
Attakapas 8 days after his birth in March 1799.
6
Louis
le jeune, called Don Louis and Jean Louis, born at Attakapas in August 1800, married Marie
dite Lulotte, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Baptiste dit Mano Cormier
and Pauline Martin of La Butte, at the St.
Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1817. They settled at
Grand Prairie. Their son Louis, fils, also called Don or
Jean Louis,
fils, was born posthumously in
Lafayette Parish in November 1822. Their daughters married into the
Chaix and Creighton families. Daughter Marie Arsène, called
Arsène, attended the Grand Coteau
academy from October 1828, when she was 10, until September 1830. Don
Louis died in what soon would become Lafayette Parish in September 1822, age 22.
His
successions were filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the month of his
death and at the Lafayette Parish courthouse at Vermilionville in April 1825.
Don Louis, fils
married Célestine, daughter of François Bordelon and
Clarisse Voorhies of
Avoyelles Parish, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April
1840. Their child, name and age unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in
Lafayette Parish in July 1840, and Erneste was born in October 1841.
7
Pierre-Treville, born at Attakapas in November 1802, died "at his parents' home"
at Carencro, age 6, in October 1808.
8
Alexandre,
born at Attakapas in November 1804, was educated by his mother in his early
years, but as a teenager he was sent to Georgetown College in Washington, D.C.,
a Jesuit school, where he learned to speak fluent
English. Back in his native Louisiana, in June 1822, at age 17,
Alexandre filed a succession at the St. Martinville courthouse,
naming his younger brothers Émile and Césaire as his heirs. Alexandre married
Célestine Zélie or Zelia, called Zelia, daughter of French Creoles Jean
Jacques Rousseau and Céleste Dupré of Opelousas and granddaughter of former Louisiana governor
Jacques Dupré, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in
September 1826. They settled at Grand Prairie on Bayou Vermilion, site
of the present city of Lafayette, and
at Carencro.
Their son Jean Jacques Alexandre Alfred, called Alfred,
was born at Opelousas in 1829, and Alexandre Ambroise, called
Ambroise, in Lafayette Parish in June 1832 but died at age 1 in
July 1833. Their daughters married into the Gardner and
Mouton families. Alexandre practiced law for a while,
but he also turned to planting. In the early 1830s, the voters of
Lafayette Parish elected him to the state legislature. He served as
speaker of the House of Representatives from 1831-32, when he was not yet 30.
Wife Zelia died in November 1837 while Alexandre was serving a short
term as United States Senator from 1837-38. At age 37, Alexandre remarried to Anne Emma Kitchel, called Emma, daughter of Charles K. Gardner
of New York, a former high ranking army officer and clerk of the U.S.
Treasury Department, in New York City, in January 1842. Their son
Paul Joseph Julien was born in Lafayette Parish in November 1848,
Georges or
George Clinton in September 1853, and William Rufus King in
January 1857. They also had a son named
Charles Alexandre. Their daughter married into the Guidry
family. Alexandre,
a Jacksonian Democrat, was Louisiana's first popularly-elected governor,
serving from 1843 to 1846. He became president of the state railroad
commission in the early 1850s, when he was recorded as owning 91 slaves on
his plantation outside of Vermilionville. He named his Greek-revival
mansion on Bayou Vermilion Île Copal for the trees that grew around it.
In the late 1850s, he led a vigilance committee against marauding cattle
rustlers who preyed on local cattle herds from their hideouts in the
prairies west of Vermilionville. In early 1861, he served as president
of the Louisiana secession convention, but soon afterwards, for the first
time in his distinguished political career, he was defeated in a bid for
office, this time for a seat in the Confederate Senate. He survived
the War of 1861-65, though it devastated him personally and financially, and died
at his home near Vermilionville in February 1885, age 80.
[photo]
Oldest son
Alfred, by his father's first wife, graduated from the United States Military Academy
at West Point, New York, Class of 1850, at age 21. He married cousin
Philomène Zelia, called Zelia, daughter of Jean Sosthène Mouton, his
first cousin, and his first wife Creole Marie Eugénie Latiolais,
at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1854. Their son
Jacques Dupré was born in Lafayette Parish in February 1855.
Alfred served as a brigadier general in the Louisiana militia before the War
of 1861-65.
He owned 13 slaves on his Carencro farm in 1860. In October 1861,
Alfred
was appointed colonel of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry. Nine of
the regiment's 10 companies were raised in South Louisiana, and no regiment
in the Confederate army contained as many Acadians as this one. After
being wounded at Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862 while leading his regiment
in action, Alfred was promoted to brigadier general and given a new command
that he took to South Louisiana in the autumn of 1862; his old regiment, the
18th Louisiana Infantry, and its later configuration, the Consolidated 18th
Louisiana Infantry, was part of the brigade. Alfred did not
survive the war--on 8 April 1864, during the Red River Campaign,
he was killed in action at the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, age 35.
A daughter, Cécilia, had been born back in Lafayette Parish only two weeks
before his death. He was buried in St. John the Evangelist Cemetery,
Lafayette, not far from his father and grandfather. An imposing
monument in the form of an obelisk marks the general's final resting place.
A statue of him, which serves as
Lafayette Parish's Confederate monument, stands in front of the
parish courthouse in downtown Lafayette.
[photo]
9
Antoine-Émile, called
Émile, born
at Attakapas in January 1807, married Marie Madeleine Gadrate, Gadrat, Gardrate, or Guadratte,
called Gadrate, another daughter of Jean
Jacques Rousseau and Céleste Dupré of St. Landry Parish, at the Opelousas church, St.
Landry Parish, in April 1828; Gadrate was a sister of Émile's older brother
Alexandre's first wife Zelia. Émile and Gadrate settled at what became
known as Pointe Émile Mouton in present-day Acadia Parish.
Their son Alexandre Antoine was baptized at the Vermilionville
church, Lafayette Parish, age 4 hours, in March 1829 but died 10 days later,
Joseph Antoine Alcide, called Joseph Alcide and Alcide, was born in January 1831, Onésime
Rousseau, called O. Rousseau, O. R., and Rousseau, in August 1835, Ambroise in May 1840, and Jean Jacques Alexandre le jeune in
October 1843. They also had a son named Pierre Ignace, called
P. Ignace and
Ignace. Their daughter may have married a Dupré
cousin. Antoine Émile died probably at Pointe Émile Mouton
in March 1865, age 58; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville
courthouse, Lafayette Parish, the following September. Was his death war-related?
9a
Alcide may have married
fellow Acadian Amelia Broussard in Lafayette Parish in the early
1850s, and remarried to cousin Aurelie or Aurelia, daughter of Lasty Dupré
and Honton Berard, at the Opelousas
church, St. Landry Parish, in February 1855. Their son Antoine
Alcide was born in Lafayette Parish in January 1858, Cornelius
Ambroise in October 1859 but died at age 9 in November 1868, and Joseph
was born in July 1864. Alcide died in Lafayette Parish in January
1865; the Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Alcide died "at age 36 yrs."; he was 34; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in
March. Was his death war-related?
9b
Onésime Rousseau married
Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians André Martin, fils and
Émilie Guidry, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1857.
Their son Valéry Rousseau, called V. R., was born in Lafayette Parish in July 1859
but died at age 8 (the recording priest said 10) in September 1867, Alcée
was born in April 1863, David in March 1865, and André in June 1867.
Onésime Rousseau died in Lafayette Parish in October 1867; the
Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who called him Rousseau,
did not give any parents' names, mention a wife, or give
Onésime Rousseau's age at the time of his death; he would have been 32; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse
in December. One can only imagine Clarisse Martin's heartache
during that terrible autumn of 1867.
9c
Pierre Ignace married Arsène, daughter
of fellow Acadian Valéry Martin and his Creole wife Lodoisca
Dejean, at the Vermilionville church,
Lafayette Parish, in June 1864. Their son Émile Ignace was born
in Lafayette Parish in April 1866, and Jean Jacques Rousseau in June
1868.
9d
Ambroise married Marie Lodoiska,
called Lodoiska, daughter of Adam Rhiel, Rhul, Ruth, or
Baul and Célestine Vavasseur, at the Vermilionville church,
Lafayette Parish, in August 1864. Josèphe Rhule, perhaps a son,
was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1870 (but for some reason the
Vermilionville priest who recorded the baptism gave only the mother's name).
9e
Jean Jacques married Émilie,
daughter of Joseph Beraud and Félicienne Dejean, at the Grand Coteau, St.
Landry Parish, in August 1864. They settled near Arnaudville.
Their son Joseph Beraud was born in January 1866.
10
Césaire, born in St. Martin Parish in February 1809, married first cousin Clarisse,
daughter of fellow Acadian David Guidry and his Creole wife Marie Modeste Borda,
his uncle and aunt, at the Grand Coteau church in June 1829. Clarisse was sister of Césaire's sister
Céleste's husband Joseph Guidry. Césaire and Clarisse remained near
Grand Coteau. Their son Guillaume
or William Césaire, called William,
was born in June 1831. Césaire's succession was
filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in January 1841, probably in anticipation of
his remarriage. He remarried to Félicienne,
daughter of Barthelemus Dejean and Félicité Boisdore and widow of Abraham
Andrus, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in February 1841.
Césaire died in Lafayette Parish in July 1843, age 34; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse a week after
his death.
William, by his father's first wife,
married first cousin Céleste or Marie Lesima, daughter of Charles Mouton
and his second wife Creole Marie Julie Latiolais, his uncle
and aunt, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1852. Their son
Joseph Césaire was born in Lafayette Parish in February 1853,
Charles or
Joseph Latiolais in August 1857 but died at age 4 1/2 in April 1862, and
Joachim William was born in October 1867. During the War of
1861-65,
William served first as captain of Company F of the 18th Regiment
Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette Parish, which fought in Tennessee,
Mississippi, and Louisiana; the regiment for a time was commanded by
William's first cousin, Colonel Alfred Mouton. William enlisted
in Company F in October 1861, age 30. He was
promoted to major in July 1862, when the regiment was at Tupelo,
Mississippi. He served on the staff of the 18th Infantry and then on
the staff of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jackets Battalion
Infantry, which was created at Simmesport, Louisiana, in November 1863.
(Confederate records also show him as a major on the staff of the 7th
Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, also called the 4th Louisiana Cavalry, raised in
South Louisiana in March 1864.) On 8 April 1864, the same day as the
Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, in which the 18th Consolidated Infantry
played a conspicuous role and in which his cousin Alfred, now a brigadier
general, was killed in action, William was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
He served as second in command of the Consolidated 18th Regiment, under
Colonel Joseph Collins, until the end of the war.
11
Their youngest son, name unrecorded,
died in St. Martin Parish at birth in November 1816.
Other MOUTONs on the Western
Prairies
Local church and civil records make
it difficult to link many Moutons in the western parishes with known
lines of the family there. The priest who served the Abbeville parish from
September 1856 to January 1866, Father J. A. Poyet, was especially remiss
in his recording keeping, though succeeding priests at Abbeville and those at
Vermilionville could be just as negligent. One suspects that some of the Moutons who
lived on the prairies during the immediate post-war period were Afro Creoles
once owned, and perhaps freed, by members of the family:
Treville, son of Florian Mouton
and Katherine ____, died in Lafayette Parish "at age 4 mths." in June
1842. Was this Florian the same as Jean Florent, son of Jean Frédéric
Mouton?
Lessaint or Lessin Mouton married
Clémentine Lapointe, place and date urecorded. Daughter
Marie Félisse was born near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in November 1848; Belzire in December 1851, and son Onésime in July 1855.
They also had a daughter named Azelene. Their
daughters married into the Morton, probably Mouton, and Thibeaux families.
Was Lessaint/Lessin Acadian?
Antoine Mouton married cousin
Madeleine Mouton, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Mathilde
was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in May 1851.
Marguerite Mouton's succession was filed at the Abbeville
courthouse, Vermilion Parish, in 1853. One wonders who were her
parents and if she had a husband.
Sosthène Mouton married
Elisa Prejean, place and date unrecorded.
Their daughter Marie Émetile was born in Lafayette Parish in June 1855, and
they may have had a son named Émile who died at age 3 in February
1863.
Osémé Mouton married Caroline
Bonnet, place and date unrecorded. Their son Césaire was born in Lafayette Parish in
May 1857.
Mrs. Jean Mouton died in Lafayette Parish in October
1857. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said nothing
more about her identity. One wonders which Jean Mouton
her husband may have been.
Lezima Mouton married Éloi Guidry at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in August
1859. The priest who recorded the marriage, probably Father Poyet,
did not give the couple's parents' names.
Léon Mouton married Louise
Broussard, place and date unrecorded, and settled probably in Lafayette Parish. Their daughter
married into the Landry family in 1860.
Anastasie Mouton gave birth to
son Joseph Bob in Lafayette Parish in March 1860. The
Vermilionville priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not give the father's
name nor the mother's parents' names. Was Anastasie Acadian?
Azélie Mouton married Marius Guidry at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in April
1860. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's
parents' names.
Lessin Mouton married Adélaïde Mouton,
perhaps a cousin, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in May 1860.
The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names.
Aspasie Mouton married fellow
Acadian Jean Bernard in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in October
1860. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's
parents' names.
Onésime Mouton married Lesima,
Lezima, or Lezinia Baudoin at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in April
1861. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's
parents' names. Their daughter Terzile was born near Abbeville in March
1862; son Othanase, perhaps Athanase, in March 1866, Jules in May 1867, and Euphémon
in April 1870.
Anastasie Mouton married
Olivier Hébert at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish,
in September 1861. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the
couple's parents' names.
Belzire Mouton married Jean Baptiste Hébert at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish,
in December 1861. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the
couple's parents' names.
Charles O. Mouton married
cousin Élodie Mouton, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Marie
Philomène was born in Lafayette Parish in February 1862.
Amelida, daughter of Joseph Mouton, died near Grand
Coteau, St. Landry Parish, age 5, in May 1862. The priest who
recorded the burial did not give the girl's mother's name.
Jules Mouton died near
Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in June 1862, age 2. The priest who recorded Jules's burial, probably Father J. A. Poyet, did
not give the boy's parents' names.
Gadrate Mouton married Alcée Dupré at
the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in September 1863. The
priest who recorded the marriage gave no parents' names. Was Gadrate
Antoine-Émile's daughter?
Louisa Mouton married Henri
Harrington at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in January 1866.
The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's
parents' names.
Lessin Mouton married Mélanie
____, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Céleste was born near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish,
in March 1867.
Céleste Mouton died in Lafayette Parish, age 18, in
August 1867. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial
mentioned no husband nor gave the young woman's parents' names.
Marice Mouton married Jean Baptiste
Broussard in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in August 1867. The
parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names.
Marie Ema Mouton died in Lafayette Parish, age 15 days,
in July 1868. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial,
true to form, did not give the infant's parents' names.
Valérie Mouton died in
Lafayette Parish in August 1868. The Vermilionville priest who recorded
the burial, and who did not give any parents' names, said that Valérie
died "at age 2 yrs." Will history ever know who his parents might have
been?
Amus, perhaps Amos, Mouton, fils
married Odilia Johnson in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in
January 1869. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the
couple's parents' names.
Romaine, also called Auguste, Mouton married
Mithelda, probably Mathilde, Plowden or Plowding, place and date
unrecorded. Son Francis was born near Abbeville in July 1869.
Lezeda or Lezida Mouton
married Joseph Pascal in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in
November 1869. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the
couple's parents' names.
Alcée Mouton died in Lafayette
Parish in November 1869. The Vermilionville priest who recorded the
burial, and who did not give any parents' names, said that Alcée died
"at age 10 days."
Walter, son of Jean Mouton and
Marie ____, both deceased, married Mary Colbert, Cobbett,
or Codley at the St.
Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in November 1869. The priest who
recorded the marriage did not give the bride's parents' names. Their son
Émile was born in St. Martin Parish in April 1869, and Amédée in
December 1870.
Sosthène Mouton married Eve
Philomène, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Mathilde was born near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in
Acadia Parish, in December 1869.
Valéry Mouton married Marie
Daigle, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Amanda was born near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish,
in January 1870.
Marcus, son of Jean Mouton and
Adélaïde Mouton, both deceased, married Belzire, daughter of Lessin
Mouton, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in February 1870.
Were Jean and Marcus Acadians?
Élodie Mouton's succession was filed at the
Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in March 1870. The
parish clerk who filed the succession did not give the good woman's age,
mention a husband, or provide her parents' names. Was she Françoise
Élodie, daughter of Jean Sosthène Mouton and Eugénie
Latiolais, born in the 1820s who married Creole Charles
Ovignac Olivier in October 1845?
Louis Mouton married Bernice
Trahan, place and date unrecorded. Their son Jean Baptiste was born near Youngsville,
Lafayette Parish, in April 1870.
Louisa Mouton married Buck
Long in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1870. The parish
clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names.
Célestin Mouton married
Mélanie Boudreaux at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in October
1870. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the
couple's parents' names. A daughter, Celvina, had been born near Abbeville in June
1869, so Célestin and Mélanie may have been married civilly before they
sanctified the marriage at the Abbeville church.
Frédéric Mouton married Marie
____, place and date unrecorded. Their son Euclide was born near New Iberia, Iberia
Parish, in December 1870.
Thomas Mouton married
Ebert[sic] Mouton, place and date unrecorded. Daughter Noëly was
born in St. Landry Parish in December 1870.
NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA
A Mouton family who settled
near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, during the antebellum period cannot be
linked by church records to any Acadian branch of the family:
Richard Mouton married Adèle,
also called Harietta, Pikins or Pipkine, place and date unrecorded. Their infant son,
name unrecorded, died near St. Gabriel in March 1837, and Thomas was born
in June 1838. One wonders who were Richard's parents.
.
Moutons from France, called
Foreign French by native Louisianians, came to New Orleans during the late antebellum period,
but most of them did not stay:
Jean Mouton, a 30-year-old
tailor from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Cabot out of
Bordeaux, France, in December 1848. With him were "Miss" Mouton,
age 25, perhaps his wife; and a 6-month-old child. They were heading to
Texas.
Joseph Mouton, a 27-year-old
farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Vesta out of Le
Havre, France, in November 1849.
.
Moutons who lived in South
Louisiana during the wartime and immediate post-war periods were Afro Creoles once owned, and
perhaps freed, by members of the family. Area church and civil
records do not always reveal their ethnicity, but the record keepers sometimes
provided tantalizing clues:
Clairville, son of Adam Mouton
and Victoire ____, married Clémentine, also called Lyda, daughter of
Acadian Robin LeBlanc, at the Lockport church, Lafourche Parish, in October 1864.
Their son Joseph Clairville was born near Lockport in September 1865.
How was Adam kin to the Moutons of the western prairies?
Sam, son of Marcellite Mouton,
married Célestine, daughter of Héloise George, in a civil ceremony in
Lafayette Parish in December 1867. The parish clerk who recorded the
marriage did not give the couple's fathers' names.
Gorelias Mouton, freedman,
married Amelina Comeaux, freedwoman, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette
Parish in January 1868. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not
give the couple's parents' names.
Célestine, daughter of Jean Mouton
and Agnèle ____, married Paul, son of Baube Baube and ____
Patry, at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in June 1868.
Félicité Mouton, freedwoman,
married Charles Bernard, freedman, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette
Parish in June 1869. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not
give the couple's parents' names.
Élisa, daughter of Charles Mouton
and Céleste Bouck, married Eugène, son of Manuel Manuel and
Charlotte ____, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in
November 1869.
Élisa, daughter of Jean Mouton
and Louise ____, married Joseph, son of Alexandre Alexandre and
Aimée ____, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December
1869.
CONCLUSION
Moutons settled "late" in
Acadia, but they were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana.
The first of them--two brothers and a nephew--came to New Orleans in 1765 from
Halifax via St.-Domingue. They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the
river, where kinsmen from Martinique joined them later in the decade. In
the late 1770s, the nephew and two of his younger cousins left the river and
settled on the western prairies. Their uncle and a cousin from Martinique
remained on the river, but neither of those lines survived. Despite their
relatively small numbers and their "late" arrival on the prairies,
the Moutons of Chignecto contributed significantly to the development of the old Attakapas region. Especially influential was Jean
dit Chapeau
Mouton, founder of the village of Vermilionville,
today's city of Lafayette, and his son Alexandre, who was Louisiana's first
popularly-elected governor. No
other family exemplified more fully the expression "genteel Acadians."
During the antebellum period, Moutons from all three prairie lines--that
of Jean dit Chapeau being the largest--settled in every part of Lafayette
Parish, especially at Grand Prairie and Vermilionville and at Carencro, north of
the village. A few could be found in nearby St. Martin, St. Landry, and
Vermilion parishes as well. A significant number of Moutons chose
non-Acadian spouses, and many of them married cousins.
The great majority of the Moutons
of South Louisiana are descendants of Sr. Jean of Marseille and
Chignecto, but a few of their non-Acadian namesakes lived in the region. During the antebellum period,
at least four
Moutons from France, called Foreign French by native Louisianians, came to New
Orleans from Bordeaux and Le Havre, but most of them moved on to Texas. A
Mouton family lived near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in the late 1830s
and may not have been Acadian. Moutons who lived on the prairies
during the immediate post-war period were Afro Creoles once owned, and perhaps
freed, by members of the family. ...
According
to one historian, the Moutons of Louisiana have produced not only a
governor, a U.S. Senator, and a Confederate general, but also three lieutenant
governors, several U.S. congressmen, state legislators, local mayors, and other
political and administrative leaders, as well as military officers, engineers,
physicians, and lawyers; they, in fact, take up three double-columned pages of
the Dictionary of Louisiana Biography. They have also produced at least one computer
software architect and probably more than their share of public school teachers.
...
[For the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats," see
Book
Ten]
Sources:
Arsenault, Généalogie,
702, 1026-27, 2247-48, 2306, 2560-64; Baudier, The Catholic Church in LA,
358; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 11-12;
Brasseaux, Foreign French, 2:250, 3:223; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5 (rev.), 6, 10;
Jane B. Chaillot, "MOUTON, Charles
Homere," in DLB, 588; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 335-36,
600;
Hébert, D., South LA Records, vol. 4; Hébert,
D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 25, 29; Milling,
Exile Without End, 41, 42; NOAR, vol. 2; Oubre, Vacherie, 75; Joseph G. Tregle, Jr.,
"MOUTON, Alexandre," in
DLB, 587-88; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 112-13,
182-83, quotation about Jean dit Chapeau & his wife from 113; White, DGFA-1, 811, 1238-40; White, DGFA-1
English, 263.