On 18 October 1672, Jean Talon,
intendant of New France, with the approbation of Acadian governor Hector
d'Andigné de Grandfontaine, granted a concession "of some two leagues of
river frontage" near the mouth of Rivière St.-Jean, in present-day New
Brunswick, to Jacques Potier, sieur de Saint-Denis. Unlike
other seigneurs on the lower river, Saint-Denis, as he would have been
called, seems to have been an absentee landlord.
.
Jean Pothier, also
Poitiers, born in France
in c1672, came
to Acadia in the 1690s and married Anne, daughter of Michel Poirier
and Marie Boudrot, probably at
Port-Royal in c1699. They settled at Chignecto and had three
children, two sons and a daughter, who created families of their own. Their
daughter married into the Deveau dit Dauphiné family. After Anne died, Jean remarried to
Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Guyon Chiasson and Marie-Madeleine
Martin, probably at Chignecto in
c1709. Marie-Madeleine gave him seven
more children, three sons and four daughters, who also created families of their own.
Their daughters married into the Chênet dit La Garenne,
Renaud dit Arnaud, Oudy, and Lamoureux
dit Rochefort families. Jean died in 1724 or 1725, in his
early 50s, place unrecorded, perhaps on Île St.-Jean, where a son was
baptized in July 1725, 5 1/2 months after his posthumous birth. Marie-Madeleine
promptly remarried to a LaForest on the island and was
counted with her family at Havre-à-l'Anguille on the island's east coast in
1734, a widow again. She died at
Cherbourg, France, in August 1759, age 70, during exile.
Oldest son Pierre, by first
wife Anne Poirier, born probably at Port-Royal in c1700, married Marie Doucet
probably at Chignecto. Pierre died before November 1783.
Jean-Baptiste, called Jean,
fils, from
first wife Anne Poirier, born at Port-Royal or Chignecto in
the early or late 1700s, married cousin Marie-Josèphe,
daughter of Joseph Hébert and Anne-Marie Boudrot, probably at Chignecto in c1729 and died in the early
1750s.
Louis, by second wife
Marie-Madeleine Chiasson, born probably at Chignecto
in c1710, married Cécile,
daughter of Jean-Jacques Nuirat and Marie-Jeanne Bourgeois and widow of Pierre Poirier,
at Chignecto in February 1733. Louis died perhaps at Chignecto between
1745 and 1750.
Jacques-Christophe, called Christophe,
from second wife Marie-Madeleine Chiasson, born at Chignecto in c1713, married Anne, daughter of Michel Boudrot
and Anne Landry, at St.-Pierre-du-Nord, Île St.-Jean, in February 1740.
Christophe died in the crossing from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo, France, in
December 1758, in his mid-40s.
Youngest son Charles, by second wife
Marie-Madeleine Chiasson, born
posthumously on Île St.-Jean in January 1725, married Marie-Blanche, daughter of Jean Caissie
and Cécile Hébert, at Chignecto in February 1746.
Charles also died in the crossing from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo, France, in
December 1758, in his early 30s.
[For more of this family in
pre- and post-dispersal Acadia and Canada, see
Book Three]
In 1755, descendants of Jean
Pothier could be found at Chignecto, in the trois-rivières
area west of Chignecto, on Île St.-Jean, and perhaps at Minas.
~
A noble family with a
similar-sounding name,
no kin to Jean Pothier of Chignecto and Île St.-Jean, also lived in greater
Acadia before Le Grand Dérangement. According to descendant
Louis Le Gendre: "The
original family name is ‘de Poitiers du Buisson’; this name
was modified during the course of time in the ‘New France’ period, as was
relatively frequent in these times. The parents of the future New France
settlers were Pierre-Charles de Poitiers du Buisson, a
captain with the French royal army, married to Hélène de Belleau.
After they died, their two children were entrusted to their uncle, who sent
them to New France in the early 1660s as part of emigration programs
sponsored by the Royal government; the son, Jean-Baptiste de
Poitiers du Buisson as an ‘écuyer’ (squire) in the famous
New France regiment of Carignan – Salières (de Chambly Company), and the
daughter, Marie-Charlotte, as an early ‘Filles du Roy’ in 1660, to be
educated by nuns and then to be married to New France settlers."
According to Louis Le
Gendre, "Daughter Marie-Charlotte married first Joseph Hébert,
a Québec early settler’s son, who was later killed by Indians on the Isle
d’Orléans, on the Saint Laurent river (facing Québec city); she remarried
with Simon Lefebvre with whom she had 8 children, living
in Neuville, just West of Quebec city, along the Saint Laurent river."
In October 1670, at Québec,
Jean-Baptiste, at age 24, married Élisabeth, 18-year-old daughter of
Gaspard Jossard and Marie Deschamps, of Paris.
"After being demobilized from the Carignan regiment," Le Gendre relates,
"Jean-Baptiste became a fur trader in New England (New York and Albany,
NY), while also spying and reporting on British troops movements for the
governor of New France; he retired in Montreal, QC, where he was for a
while the organist at the Montréal cathedral." He and wife Elisabeth
Jossard had seven children, four daughters and three
sons. Louis Le Gendre points out that two of the sons "went to
Acadia in different circumstances...."
Oldest
son Robert, born on Staten Island, New York, in December 1682, married
Charlotte Arnaud at Montréal in August
1707. Robert served as subdelegate to the King's commissaire
on Île St.-Jean between 1722 and 1744, "reporting
to the main royal ‘Intendant based in Louisbourg, Isle Royale, now Cape
Breton. He was in charge of economical and administrative matters on
Isle Saint-Jean (PEI), working side by side with the French officer who
was in charge of defense and police. He died on Isle Saint-Jean in
1744 and," Louis Le Gendre adds, "I understand his grave can still be
found in Port La Joye, Isle Saint-Jean. His wife had died earlier,
and his daughter Louise-Marguerite stayed in Acadia and died in
1660[1770?] in Restigouche, Acadia (QC)."
Jean-Baptiste's
second son
Guillaume, born on Staten Island, New York, in c1689, served as
lieutenant dans les
troupes in Canada and became sieur de Pommeroyd. "During his career,
Louis Le Gendre relates, "he was stationed in various parts of New
France, including in Acadia, apparently on Isle Saint-Jean,
but our records indicate that he died in 1735 in Fort Frontenac (now
Kingston, ON), after having been wounded by Indians as he was patrolling
on an assignment with his section to prevent illegal fur trading (this is
a bit ironic as he had first married ... an Illini Inidian...)" Around 1720,
probably at Kaskaskia, Illinois, Guillaume married Marie
Apeckicouata, an Indian. In August 1728, at Montréal, he
remarried to Jeanne-Philippe,
daughter of Gédéon de Catalogne and Marie-Anne Lemire. They had two children,
a son and a daughter, in 1730 and 1734, probably at Montréal and, as Louis
Le Gendre says, Guillaume died in the pays d'en haut in 1735,
soon after the birth of his daughter. Son René-Gédéon became a soldier like his father,
serving first as enseigne on Île Royale in 1749, when he was age 19,
and then as enseigne en pied there in 1750. In 1755, at
the beginning of the war against Britain, he was promoted to lieutenant and
assigned to the French stronghold at Louisbourg on Île Royale. At
age 27, he
married Marguerite, daughter of Pierre-Hector d'Ailleboust
de Saint-Vilmé and Renée Daccarette, at Port-La-Joye,
Île St.-Jean, in October 1757, and took his bride back to Louisbourg. After the British captured
Louisbourg in July 1758, they deported Lieutenant René-Gédéon
Poitier de Pommeroy
and his family, along with the other
members of the garrison, to France. René-Gédéon became a
capitaine dans les troupes at
Guyane in 1764, was awarded the Order of Saint-Louis in 1771, and
retired from the King's service at Saintes in Saintogne in 1773. He
remarried to Marie de
Grange in France in August 1766, and then to Marie-Jeanne
Daccarette,
widow of Charles Denis, also in France.
No member of this family
emigrated to Louisiana.
LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT
[For the family's travails
during the Great Upheaval, see
Book Six]
LOUISIANA: WESTERN
SETTLEMENTS
All of the Acadian Potiers
who came to Louisiana did so aboard
three of the Seven Ships from France in 1785. Most of
their fellow immigrants chose to settle on the river above New Orleans or on
upper Bayou Lafourche. A Potier
family and a Potier wife were exceptions. They chose go to the
Attakapas District, west of the Atchafalaya Basin, where their spouses'
relatives had settled:
Pierre Potier, age 45, sailed to Louisiana with second wife Agnès Broussard,
age 31, and five of their children--Charles-Victor, age 16; Marie-Constance, age 14; Anne-Apolline,
age 12; Pierre-Laurent, age 10; and François-Constant, an infant--aboard Le Beaumont,
the third of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in late
August 1785. Most of their fellow passengers went to Baton Rouge on the river, but not
this family. Interestingly, Pierre's first wife had been Anne-Marie Bernard, and that family,
too, had settled early at Attakapas. DaughterMarie Constance Potier,
wife of Paul Leger, died in St. Landry Parish in January 1844, age 74; she was perhaps a widow;
her succession was
filed at the Opelousas courthouse the following March.
Also aboard Le Beaumont was
Charlotte Potier, age 41, second husband Pierre Hébert,
age 45, two of her children, a
daughter age 11 and an infant son; and Pierre's brother Jean-Baptiste, age
40. Charlotte died at her home at Carencro, then in St. Martin but
now in Lafayette Parish, in September 1815; the priest who recorded her
burial said that she was age 65 when she died; she was closer to
72.
.
A Potier from France who
went to the western prairies created by far the largest center of family
settlement:
Descendants of Pierre POTIER
(c1740-1786; Jean)
Pierre, fils, son of Pierre
Potier and Marie Doucet, born at Tintamarre, Chignecto, in
c1740, followed his family to Île St.-Jean probably in the early 1750s.
The British deported him to France in late 1758. He ended up at Le Havre
in Normandy, where he married Anne-Marie or Marie-Anne, daughter of fellow
Acadians Pierre Bernard and Marguerite Hébert, in April 1764. During the early 1770s, they
were part of the failed Acadian settlement scheme in Poitou. In November 1775, they retreated with other Poitou Acadians to the
port city of Nantes and lived in the suburb of Chantenay, where Pierre
remarried to Agnès, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Broussard and
Ursule LeBlanc and widow of Dominique
Giroir, in
November 1783. They came to Louisiana aboard Le Beaumont, third
of the Seven Ships, in 1785 and chose to settle at Attakapas. Pierre
and Agnès had another son at Attakapas only a few months before Pierre died
in October 1786; the priest who recorded the burial said that Pierre was age 48
when he died, but he likely was a few years younger; his succession, in which he is called
Charles, was filed at what became the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin
Parish, the day
after his burial. His daughters married into the Léger and
Savoie families. Three of his four sons created families of their
own, and two of their lines survived, in St. Martin, St. Landry, and Lafayette parishes.
1
Oldest son Charles-Victor,
by his father's first wife, born at Le Havre, France, in October 1768, married
Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Louis-Armand Ducrest and Anne-Catherine
Wiltz of Pointe Coupée, at Attakapas in March 1793.
They settled at L'Anse and then at La Pointe on upper Bayou Teche near present-day Breaux Bridge. Their son Louis-Alexandre, called Alexandre,
was born in April 1797, and Charles-Armand, also called
Charles, fils, in August 1801. Their daughters married into
the Guidry, Guilbeau, and Thibodeaux families.
Charles died "in the morning at this home at la pointe" in August 1827; the
priest who recorded the burial said that Charles died "at age about 60
years"; he
was 58.
1a
Louis Alexandre married
Claire, daughter of Alexandre Barras and his Acadian wife
Madeleine Guilbeau of Bayou Teche,
at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in October 1821. They settled at La Pointe.
Their son Louis, fils was born in June 1824.
Their daughter married into the Thibodeaux family. Louis Alexandre's
first succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St.
Martin Parish, in
February 1842; he would have been age 45 that year; it was not
post-mortem. In
November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 12
slaves--8 males and 4 females, all black except for one mulatto, ranging
in age from 60 to 2--on Alexr. Potier's farm near Charles
Potier. In June 1860, the federal census taker in St.
Martin Parish counted 12 slaves, again--7 males and 5 females, 7 blacks
and 5 mulattoes, ages 42 years to 10 months, living in 3 houses--on
Alexandier Potier's farm near Widow Charles Potier.
Louis Alexandre's second succession was filed at the St.
Martinville courthouse in November 1867; he would have been age 70 that year; this probably was a post-mortem record. His family line, except for its blood,
may have died with him.
Louis, fils died in
St. Martin Parish in October 1853. The priest who recorded the
burial said that Louis died "at age 27 yrs."; he was 29.
His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse
the following August. He probably did not marry.
1b
Charles, fils married Marie
Madeleine Marcellite, called Marie Marcellite and Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadian
Anaclet Broussard and his Creole wife Madeleine Wiltz, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin
Parish, in June 1826. Their son Charles III, also called
Victor Charles, was born in St.
Martin Parish in August 1829, Joseph, called Jo, in July 1831, a son, name
unrecorded, died a day after his birth in March 1835, Sylvain
le jeune was born in December 1836 but died at age 5 1/2 in October
1842, Félix was born in March 1841, and Jacques in April 1849. Their daughters married
into the Bienvenu, Broussard, Bulliard, and Voorhies families. Charles's succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in March 1839; he would have
been age 38 that year and was still alive when the sucession was
filed. In November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin
Parish counted 10 slaves--5 males and 5 females, all black, ranging in
age from 38 to 3--on Charles Potier's farm near Alexr.
Potier. Charles died in St. Martin Parish in May 1853; the St.
Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Charles died "at
age 55 yrs."; he was 51. In June 1860, the federal
census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 5 slaves--3 males and 2
females, all black, ages 7 years to 4 months, living in 2 houses--on
Widow Charles Potier's farm near Alexandier Potier, and 12
more slaves--6 males and 6 females, all black, ages 44 to 8--on Widow
Chs. Potier's farm in another part of the parish; these were
Marcellite Broussard's slaves.
Charles III married
Marie Athenaise, called Athenaise, daughter of Hippolyte Bérard
and Clémence Barras, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin
Parish, in January 1856. Their son Benjamin was born in
St. Martin Parish in January 1862, and Hippolyte in January
1864. Despite his age, during the War of 1861-65,
Charles served in King's Battery Louisiana Artillery, originally
a part of the Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish,
which fought in
Louisiana. Charles enlisted in July 1862, when he was nearly
age 33. He survived the war and returned to his family.
Joseph married cousin
Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadian Sylvain Broussard and his
Creole wife Elisa Wiltz, at the
St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in April 1856.
Their son Joseph Adam was born in St. Martin Parish in
November 1860, and Louis in March 1867. During the War
of 1861-65, Joseph may have been the
J. Poteir who also served in King's Battery Louisiana
Artillery.
During the War of 1861-65,
Félix served in Company D of the Orleans Guard Battalion
Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought at Shiloh, Tennessee. The battalion was disbanded
in June 1862, only a couple of months after the carnage at Shiloh.
Confederate records reveal no subsequent service on Felix's part,
but there is a good chance that he served the rest of the war in the
30th Regiment/Battalion Louisiana Infantry. Félix married Osite,
daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Theriot and Arsène
Babineaux, at the St.
Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in August 1865. Their
son Joseph Willy was born in St. Martin Parish in November
1866.
2
Pierre-Laurent, by his
father's first wife, born at Cenan, Poitou, France, in August 1774, married Marie-Modeste,
daughter of fellow Acadian Jean dit Chapeau Mouton and his
Creole wife Marie-Marthe Borda, at
Attakapas in July
1800. Their son Pierre, fils was born in St. Martin Parish in
September 1811, and Louis, also called Octave, in December 1815. Their daughter
married into the Martin family. Pierre, père died in
Lafayette Parish in June 1836; the Vermilionvlle priest who recorded the burial said that
Pierre was age 64 when he died, he was 61; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following September.
2a
Pierre, fils married
Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadian Victorin Guidry and his
Creole wife Azélie Calais, at the
Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1833. Their son
Sylvain le jeune was baptized at the Vermilionville church,
Lafayette Parish, age 8 months, in August 1836, Antoine Émile,
called Émile, was born near Grand Coteau in April 1839 but
died at age 1 1/2 in September 1840, and Joseph Victorin was born
in November 1844. Their daughters married into the Castille
and Guidry
families.
During the War of 1861-65,
Sylvain le jeune served probably as a conscript in the
Consolidated Crescent Regiment Louisiana Infantry, which fought in
Louisiana. Sylvain le jeune married cousin Azélie,
daughter of fellow Acadians Edmond Guidry and Josette
Sonnier, at the
Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in July 1865. They
settled probably near Carencro. Their
son Pierre was born in June 1866 but died 3 weeks after his
birth, Adam was born in October 1867, and
Jean Berchmans in February 1869.
During the War of 1861-65, Joseph Victorin probably was the
Joseph Pothier who served in Company F of the 18th
Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafayette
Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
When the 18th Regiment became a part of the Consolidated 18th
Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana Infantry in November
1863, Joseph served in Company I of that regiment, which fought in
Louisiana. Did he survived the war and return to his family.
If he did, he did not marry by 1870.
2b
Louis married Virginie,
another daughter of Victorin Guidry and Azélie Calais, at the Grand Coteau church,
St. Landry Parish, in January 1835. Their son Louis Ernest,
called Ernest, was born near Grand Coteau in November 1835,
Joseph Delamara in January 1842, Joseph Demetrius, called
Demetrius, in August 1846, and a son, name and age
unrecorded, died in Lafayette Parish in January 1848. Their
daughters married into the Andrus, Guidry, Guilbeau,
and Smith families. In September 1850, the federal census
taker in Lafayette Parish counted 8 slaves--4 males and 4 females, all
black, ranging in age from 45 to 3--on Louis Potier's farm in the
parish's Western District. Louis died in Lafayette Parish in
November 1850; the Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Louis died "at age 30 yrs."; he was
34; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in
August 1854.
Ernest married double
cousin Aurelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Treville Guidry
and Elmire Guidry, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1858. During the War of
1861-65,
Ernest served as a second corporal and then as first sergeant in Company A
of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in
Lafayette Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He
evidently survived the war and returned to his family.
During the War of 1861-65, Joseph Delamara may have been the
Dimebras Potier who served in Company A of the 29th
(Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in
St. Landry Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. If
so, did he survive the war?
During the War of 1861-65,
Demetrius, despite his age (he was age 16 in 1862), may also served in Company A of the 26th Regiment
Louisiana Infantry, as a private. Demetrius married Marie
Anne or Mary Anne, daughter of Charles Miller and Mathilde
Burleigh, at the Grand
Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1866. Their son
Alcée was born near Grand Coteau in July 1867, and Louis
le jeune in April 1869.
3
François-Constant, by his
father's first wife, born at Chantenay near Nantes, France, in August 1785, married
Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Joseph Castille and his Acadian wife
Rose-Osite Landry and widow
of Joseph Richard, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish,
in June 1807. François died in Assumption Parish on upper Bayou
Lafourche in October 1832; the Plattenville priest who recorded the burial called him "François of
Attakapas" and said he died at "age ca. 50 yrs."; he was 47.
His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St.
Martin Parish, the
following month; according to the document, he had 19 heirs, mostly nieces and nephews. Evidently
he and his wife were that rare Acadian couple who had no children, so his
line of the family died with him. What was he doing in Assumption when
he died there? Visiting relatives? Doing business?
4
Youngest son Sylvain, by
his father's second wife, born in June 1786 and baptized at Attakapas the
following September, died in Lafayette Parish in November 1836. The
Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial called him
"Silvain of Nantes, France," and said he died "at age 53 yrs.," implying
that he came to Louisiana with his family. His parents'
ship, Le Beaumont, reached New Orleans on 19 August 1785. Do
the math ... if he was a full-term baby born in June 1786, he was conceived in Louisiana soon
after his family stepped off the ship. He evidently did not marry.
Other POTIERs on the Western
Prairies
Local church and civil records
make it difficult to link some Potiers in the western prairies with
known Acadian lines of the family there:
Charles Henri Potier married
Louise Émile Derbergue probably in St. Landry Parish in the
early 1850s. Their son Henri Joseph Edwin was born in St. Landry Parish in December 1853 but,
called Joseph Edwin,
died at age 1 1/2 in May 1855, Edwin was born in January 1858,
daughter Irène Valentine in January 1861, and son
Théodore Raoul in January 1864.
Was Charles Henri an Acadian?
"Anonyme" Potier
died in St. Martin Parish, age 11 months, in January 1858. The St.
Martinville priest who recorded the burial did not give the child's
parents' names.
In 1860, the federal census taker
in St. Landry Parish counted 3 slaves--2 males and a female, all black, ages
49, 26, and 16--on Magdeleine Potier's farm.
Alexandre Septime Potier
married Félicité Aimé, place and date unrecorded. Daughter
Marie Edvige was born near Charenton, St. Mary Parish, in January 1863.
Amestron Potier married
Élizabeth _____, place and date unrecorded. Their son Louis was baptized at the
Vermilionville church, "age about 7 mths.," in June 1871.
LOUISIANA: LAFOURCHE
VALLEY SETTLEMENTS
Some of the Potiers who
came to Louisiana from France in 1785 chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche:
Anne-Marie-Madeleine Savary,
widow of Pierre Potier, sailed aboard La Bergère,
the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in mid-August.
With her were sons Baptiste-Olivier, age 12; and Jacques-Sylvain, age 7.
Anne-Marie-Madeleine remarried at Lafourche in June 1786. Her sons
remained on the upper bayou.
.
Marie-Henriette Potier of
Île-St.-Jean, age
46, widow of Jean-Baptiste Rassicot dit Ratier and Pierre
Gaudet, came to
Louisiana aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which
reached New Orleans in early November. With her were three children
from her first marriage,
ages 20, 17, and 15. Marie-Henriette died at Lafourche in January 1787, age 48.
.
The Potiers from France
created a second center of family settlement on Bayou Lafourche, but none
of their family lines seems to
have survived there:
Descendants of
Baptiste-Olivier POTIER (1772-1830; Jean?, ?)
Baptiste-Olivier, called Olivier,
elder son of Pierre Potier and his second wife Anne-Marie-Madeleine
Savary, born at Plouër-sur-Rance, near St.-Malo, France, in February 1772,
crossed with his widowed mother and younger brother to Louisiana aboard La
Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, in 1785. He followed them
to upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Élisabeth, or Isabelle, daughter of
fellow Acadians Michel Aucoin and Élisabeth Hébert, at Assumption in April 1798.
Élisabeth had come to Louisiana aboard La Ville d'Archangel, the
sixth of the Seven Ships. Their daughter married into the
Barrilleaux family. Olivier died in Assumption Parish in August
1830, age 58. One of his daughters, Antoinette, born at
Assumption in June 1805, became Sister Clémentine Madeleine of the Sisters
of the Sacred Heart and a choir teacher; she died at Convent, St. James
Parish, on the river, in September 1836, age 31.
1
Older son Joseph-Baptiste,
born at Assumption in January 1799, married Élisabeth Tabithe,
daughter of fellow Acadians François Aucoin and Rosalie
Landry, at the Plattenville
church, Assumption Parish, in June 1820. Their son Joseph Pierre
was born in Assumption Parish in August 1821. Joseph, père
remarried to Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadians Isaac Hébert and
Marie Daigle, at the
Plattenville church in May 1825. Their son Arsène Adrien was
born in Assumption Parish in April 1830, and Clairville Guillaume in
January 1835. Their daughter married into the Monté family. Joseph, père died in Assumption Parish in July
1836, age 37.
Clairville, by his father's second
wife, died in Assumption
Parish in June 1857, age 22. He did not marry.
2
Younger son Hippolyte, born
at Assumption in April 1807, died in Assumption Parish at age 9 1/2 in
September 1816.
Jacques-Sylvain POTIER
(c1778-?; Jean?, ?)
Jacques-Sylvain, called Sylvain,
younger son of Pierre Potier and his second wife Anne-Marie-Madeleine
Savary, born in France in c1778, crossed with his widowed mother and
older brother to Louisiana aboard La Bergère, the second of the Seven
Ships, in 1785. Spanish officials counted his family on upper Bayou
Lafourche in 1788 and 1791. Sylvain was
with them in 1788 but not in 1791 or in any subsequent census in the upper
Lafourche valley, so he probably died young.
NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in
LOUISIANA
French Creoles or French Canadians
with similar-sounding surnames--Poitié, Poitier, Portié, Portier,
as well as Potier--also lived in South Louisiana during the colonial
period:
In the spring of 1708, in hopes of
creating a breadbasket for the Louisiana colony, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne,
sieur de Bienville, commander of the colony, sent five Canadians from colonial headquarters at
Mobile to the site of a portage along
Bayou St.-Jean between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.
He granted each Canadian a 4-arpent-by-36-arpent holding where Bayou
Tchoupitoulas meets Bayou St.-Jean.
One of the Canadians was Jean-Baptiste Poitié. They brought
along no wives or children, only Indian slaves.
Poitié and his companions planted two wheat crops along the bayou,
but both failed because of the intense heat and humidity. They abandoned
the site in 1710, eight years before Bienville built a new post on a bend of
the river near the headwaters of Bayou St.-Jean. He called the new
post Nouvelle-Orléans--today's New Orleans.
Nicolas, "surnamed Joly," son of
Henri Portier and Élisabeth Vautran, married Madeleine,
daughter of Pierre Ponson, at New Orleans in February 1722.
Élisabeth, also called Jeanne,
Poitier of Illinois, widow of Jacques Milliet, married French
Canadian Josèphe De La Mirande of Trois-Rivières and widower of
Marie-Louise Frederick, probably at Opelousas in December 1770; the
marriage was recorded by a Pointe Coupée priest, who noted that her new
husband was a resident of Opelousas. Jeanne died probably at Opelousas
in October 1776; the Pointe Coupée priest who recorded her burial did not
give her parents' names or her age at the time of her death.
Fernand Potier, probably a
Frenchman, served as a deputy surveyor in the Attakapas District during the
late colonial period.
François Potier, "single,
poor, from France in Europe," died near Opelousas in December 1793, age
65. One wonders when he came to the colony.
Pierre, son of Bertrand Portier
and Marie Morin of St.-André, France, died at New Orleans, a
bachelor, in March 1800, age 38, and, according to
the Spanish priest who recorded his burial, oficio gandinero.
.
A family named Portier, established on
the German Coast in the early 1740s, moved upriver to the Acadian Coast
during
the late colonial period:
Descendants of Alexandre-Bernard
PORTIER (?-?)
Parisian Alexandre Bernard, also
called Joseph Alexandre, son Alexandre Portier and Catherine
Delorme, married Catherine, daughter of Balthazar Menti, at
St.-Charles des Allemands on the Lower German Coast in February 1741.
1
Jean-Bernard or
Jean-Baptiste, born at St.-Charles des Allemands in March 1749, married
Anne-Marie or Marie-Anne, daughter of German Creole Jean-Pierre Keller, at St.-Jean-Baptiste
des Allemands on the
Upper German Coast in January 1778. Their son Jean-Baptiste,
fils was baptized at St.-Jean-Baptiste, age unrecorded, in January 1779,
Nicolas was born in December 1781, Georges in October 1783,
Jean-Pierre in March 1788, and André le jeune in September 1791. Their daughters
married into the Sichnett and Schexnayder families.
2
Simon-Alexandre, born at
St.-Charles des Allemands in February 1753, married Catherine, daughter of
German Creole Jean Schexnayder, at St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands in
January 1791. Simon died at St.-Jean-Baptiste in April 1803; the
priest who recorded the burial said that Simon was age 45 when he died; he was 50.
3
André, born at St.-Charles
des Allemands in December 1754, married Madeleine, daughter of Jacques Villard,
at St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands in October 1779. Their son
André, fils was born at St.-Jean-Baptiste in August 1780, François
in January 1782, Henry in November 1783, Alexandre le jeune
was
baptized at St.-Jacques on the Acadian Coast, age unrecorded, in March 1786, and Jean-Baptiste
in September 1793. Their daughter married into the Torel
family.
Alexandre married Adélaïde, daughter of German Creole André
Toups, at the St. Jacques church, St. James Parish, in August 1808.
Their son, name and age unrecorded, died in St. James Parish in July 1809,
and Thomas died at age 30 months in August 1813. Their daughter
married into the Bouvier family in Lafourche Interior Parish.
~
During the antebellum period,
non-Acadian Poitiers, Portiers, and Potiers settled at
New Orleans, on the river above the city, on Bayou Lafourche, and out on the
western prairies:
Jean Baptiste Poitier or
Portier died near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1832, age 50. Was he a French Creole, Foreign Frenchman, or a wayward
Acadian?
George Potier, "a
Frenchman," died near Baton Rouge in October 1843, age 28. Was he kin to Nicolas?
Nicolas Potier, "born in
Alsace, France," died near Baton Rouge in October 1843, age 30. Was he kin to George?
In July 1850, the federal census
taker in Orleans Parish counted 4 slaves--2 males and 2 females, all black,
ranging in age from 39 years to 6 months--in C. Potier's household in
the First Ward of the Third Municipality of the city of New Orleans. The same census taker counted 1 slave--a 20-year-old mulatto female--in E.
Pottier's household next to Honoré Pottier, who held 2
slaves--a 24-year-old female and an 18-year-old male, both black.
Mathieu Potier or
Portier married
Acadian Artenaise or Arthémise, also called Marie Hélène, Broussard,
place and date unrecorded. Their son Joseph was born near
Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in June 1855, and Mathieu Alphonse near
Creole, then in Calcasieu but now in Cameron Parish, in December 1859.
Mathieu, père's succession was filed at the Abbeville
courthouse in 1866.
Mr. Potier "of France" died
in St. Martin Parish in October 1855. The St. Martinville priest who
recorded the burial did not give "Mr. Potier's" parents' names,
mention a wife, or give his age at the time of his death.
.
Potié/Potier/Pottiers, whom native Louisianians would have called
Foreign French, came to New Orleans from France, Belgium, and the Caribbean
Basin during the antebellum period, but not all of them remained in the
city:
Charles Potier, a
35-year-old gunsmith from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship
Hannah & Rebecca out of Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, in July 1820. Also aboard
the ship was his 28-year-old wife whose given name was unrecorded.
Adélaïde Pottier, a
17-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship James
Corner out of Marseille, France, in May 1848.
Alexandre Potier, a
24-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship
Hannibal out of Le Havre, France, in July 1848. His destination
was Missouri.
Mathieu Potié, age, gender,
and occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Cato
out of Marseille in January 1849.
Sophie Potie, a 67-year-old
native of France, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship
Charles Hill out of Antwerp, Belgium, in November 1850.
.
The Lafourche/Terrebonne valley was a common
destination for German Coast settlers during the late colonial and early
antebellum periods. Descendants of Alexandre-Bernard Portier may
have settled in the valley during the antebellum period, or the Portiers
who settled there may have come from other families:
Marie Portier married first to Joseph
Denecharle and then to François Andras, places and dates
unrecorded. She died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1827.
The Thibodaux priest who recorded her burial did not give her parents' names or her age at the time
of her passing.
Valmant Portier died during a yellow
fever epidemic in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1853, age 10.
The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial did
not give the boy's parents' names.
Irma, daughter of Charles Portier or
Poitier and Adèle Berlin, married Octave, son of Acadians
Marcellin Breaux and Azélie Dugas, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in
October 1853.
.
Descendants of Pierre
PORTIER/POTIER (?-?)
Pierre Portier, also called
Potier,
married Marie Thérèse, called Thérèse, Leche, place and date
unrecorded, and settled on Bayou
Lafourche. Their daughter married into the Trosclair family in
Assumption Parish.
Pierre, fils married Marie
Marcellite, 25-year-old daughter of Acadians Auguste Roger and Marie
Hébert, in a civil ceremony in
Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1838, and sanctified the marriage at
the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1846. Their son Joseph was
born in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1839, and Cyrille in March
1855. They also had a son named Trasimond.
During the War of 1861-65,
Trasimond served in Company H of the 30th
Regiment/Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche
Parish, which fought in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and
Tennessee; he also served in Company G of that regiment. Trasimond married
Élizabeth, daughter of French Creole Camille Olivier and his Acadian
wife Lorena Babin, at the Houma church,
Terrebonne Parish, in April 1868.
Their son Willy Walter was born in Terrebonne Parish in January 1868.
.
Another Portier family on Bayou
Lafourche was especially prolific:
Descendants of Victorin
PORTIER (c1808-1853)
Victorin Portier, born in c1808, married
French Creole Marie Désirée
Perilloux, Periou, or Perioux in either Assumption or
Lafourche Interior Parish by the late 1830s. Victorin died during a
yellow fever epidemic in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1853, age
45; an "Oath of tutor" in his name, calling his wife Marie Désiré
Perillon and listing some of his children--Aristide, Émile, and
Olympe--was filed at the Thibodaux
courthouse the following January. He may have lost as many as five of
his children in the epidemic that killed him. Some of his sons settled in
Terrebonne Parish. Some of his descendants married Acadians.
1
Oldest son Aurestile, born in Lafourche
Interior Parish in November 1838, married Florisca or Florestine, daughter of Acadians
Valéry Prejean and Marie Josèphe LeBlanc, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in
September 1858. Their son Jean Anatole was born near
Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in July 1859, Benoît Israël in March
1861, Émile Aristide in August 1862 but died at age 1 in August 1863, and Émilien Joseph
was born in May 1869.
2
Paul Émile, called Émile, was
born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1840. During the War of
1861-65,
Émile served in Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish,
which fought in Tennessee,
Mississippi, and Louisiana. When the 18th Regiment became a part of
the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jacket Battalion Louisiana
Infantry in November 1863, Émile served in Company F of that regiment, which
fought in Louisiana. Émile married Angelina, daughter of Acadians Alexis Bergeron
and Rosalie Thibodeaux, in a civil
ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in April 1867. Their son Albert
Anatole was born near Chacahoula in July 1870.
3
Onésime Aristide was born in Lafourche Interior Parish,
in November 1841.
4
Victor or Victorin Adrien or
Aurelien, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1845, supposedly
died at age 1 1/2 months in April, but he probably was the
Victorin Portier who, during the War of 1861-65, served
in Company F of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Terrebonne Parish,
which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Victor married Evela
or Evele,
daughter of French Creole Neuville Ayo and his Acadian wife
Marcellite Prejean, at the Labadieville church,
Assumption Parish, in January 1867.
Their son Victorin Auxillade was born near Labadieville in April 1868, and
Joseph Albert in December 1869.
5
Pierre Clémile was born near
Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in September 1849.
6
Youngest son François Israël,
born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1851, died at 2 in September
1853 during the same yellow fever epidemic that killed his father and
several of his siblings.
.
During the immediate post-war
years, freedmen named
Potier and Pothier lived in St. Martin Parish:
Augustin Potier's
succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin
Parish, in December
1868. The record described him as a "freedman."
Marie, daughter of Baptiste
Vincent Pothier, deceased, and Manon ____, married Jean,
fils, son of Jean Jacques and Marianne ____, at the St.
Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1869.
CONCLUSION
Pothiers 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 Potiers in the Bayou State
today, at least none descended from Acadians. Ten of them in three families came to
Louisiana in 1785 on three of the Seven Ships. A widow took her two
young Potier sons to upper Bayou Lafourche; the older son created a
family of his own, but the younger son did not.
The Bayou Lafourche line remained a small one and may not have survived the late antebellum period. Meanwhile, a family of seven,
including three sons, chose to settle on upper Bayou Teche in the Attakapas District, where another son
was born. By the end of the antebellum period,
most, if not all, of the Acadian Potiers of South Louisiana lived
west of the Atchafalaya Basin in St. Martin, Lafayette, and St. Landry
parishes.
French Creoles or French
Canadians with similar-sounding surnames also lived in South Louisiana
during the colonial and antebellum periods. Two of these families
settled in predominantly-Acadian communities on the river and along Bayou
Lafourche.
Judging by the number of slaves
they owned during the late antebellum period, some of the Acadian Potiers on
the western prairies lived comfortably on their farms and vacheries.
Alexandre Potier held a dozen slaves on his St. Martin Parish farm in 1850. A decade later, he still owned 12. In
1850, Alexandre's younger brother Charles owned 10 slaves in St. Martin
Parish. A decade later, his widow, a Broussard, held 17 slaves
on two farms in the parish. Cousin Louis Potier owned eight
slaves in Lafayette Parish in 1850.
Nearly a dozen Acadian Potiers,
all from the western parishes, served Louisiana in uniform during the War
of 1861-65. One was a sergeant, but the others were privates.
Confederate records hint that all of them survived the war. ...
In Louisiana, the Acadian family's surname evolved from
Pothier to Potier, though some members of the family retained
the older spelling. The family's name
also is spelled Poitiers, Pottier. The Acadian Pothier/Potiers should not be confused with
the Poitiés, Poitiers, Portiés, Portiers, and other French-Creole,
French-Canadian, and Foreign-French families with similar-sounding surnames,
including Pothier and Potier! To further obscure the
family's genealogical picture, some of these non-Acadians moved into South Louisiana
communities where their Acadian
namesakes
settled, including the western prairies. [For the Acadian family's
Louisiana "begats," see
Book
Ten]
Sources: 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave
Schedules, Lafayette, Orleans, & St. Martin parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal
Census, Slave Schedules, St. Landry & St. Martin parishes; Arsenault,
Généalogie, 1054-57, 1955-56, 2082, 2135-36, 2569-70; Brasseaux, Foreign
French, 1:438, 2:273, 3:242; BRDR, vols. 2,
3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Conrad, Attakapas Domesday Book, 6; De
La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:91-92, 142-43; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 367-69;
Griffiths, From Migrant to Acadian, 109-10, source of quotation; Hébert, D.,
South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D.,
Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; NOAR, vols. 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 7; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 281; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>,
"Family" No. 26; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 84-85;
Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 146; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo,
677-79; White, DGFA-1, 1252-53, 1346-48;
White, DGFA-1 English, 285-86.