APPENDICES

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

PRINCE/LEPRINCE

[PRONZ, PRINZ]

ACADIA

Jean-Jacques, called Jacques, LePrince, born in c1646, birthplace unknown but probably in France, may have been serving in the household of notary Séverin Ameau at Trois-Rivières on the upper St. Lawrence at the time of the 1666 Canadian census.  He moved to Port-Royal before 1671 and married Marguerite, daughter of Étienne Hébert and Marie Gaudet, in c1671, the year of the first Acadian census.  Acadian genealogist Stephen A. Whites says that Jacques and Marguerite were not counted in the first census because they probably "lived at a place that was far removed from the rest of the [Hébert] family."  In the late 1680s or early 1690s, Jacques and his family moved to the new Acadian settlement of Pigiguit in the Minas Basin, where he died in either 1692 or 1693, in his mid-40s.  Between 1678 and 1692, Marguerite gave Jacques six children, two daughters and four sons, including a set of twins.  Their daughters married into the Rivet, Tillard, and Hébert families.  Three of Jacques's sons also married. 

Oldest son François, born at Port-Royal in c1680, married Catherine, daughter of Martin Benoit dit Labrière and Marie Chaussegros, at Grand-Pré in May 1712.  Between 1714 and 1728, Catherine gave François seven children, four sons and three daughters.  Their daughters married into the Chauvet dit La Gerne and Doiron families.  In December 1749, at the end of King George's War, François and his youngest son Claude, with other inhabitants of Pigiguit, incurred the wrath of Nova Scotia's Governor Edward Cornwallis for taking up arms with the Indians against the British.  François died in 1751 probably on Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, where he had taken his family to get free of British authority.  François's oldest son Joseph married Marie-Osite Melanson dit Pitre before the family left Minas for Île St.-Jean.  François's second son Jean, who never married, was buried in the cemetery at St.-Paul-à-la-Grande-Anse, Île St.-Jean, in February 1751.  That same month, François's fourth and youngest son Claude married Madeleine, daughter of Louis-Mathieu Doiron and Madeleine Pitre, at Port-La-Joye on the island.  François's youngest daughter, Victoire, wife of Jean Doiron, who was brother Claude's wife's brother, also was buried at Grande-Anse, in May 1751.  François's third son Antoine le jeune, married at first to Judith Boudrot, remarried to Cécile, daughter of Pierre-Claude Arsement and Marie-Josèphe Thériot, at Port-La-Joye in November 1751.  

Antoine, Francois's twin, married Anne, daughter of Guillaume Trahan, fils and Jacqueline Benoit, at Grand-Pré the same day brother François married there in May 1712.  Between 1714 and the late 1720s or early 1730s, Antoine and Anne had 10 children, five daughters and five sons.  Their daughters married into the Aucoin, Landry, Thibodeau, LeBlanc, and Trahan families.  Antoine's sons married into the Thibodeau, Bourg, LeBlanc, Darois, and Boudrot families.  Both Antoine and Anne died at l'Assomption, Pigiguit, dates unrecorded.  Unlike older brother François and his family, Antoine's children remained in the Minas Basin.  Antoine's great-grandson Jean-Charles Prince (1804-1860) served as the first bishop of the Diocese of St.-Hyacinthe in Canada. 

Étienne, born at either Port-Royal or Pigiguit in c1688, evidently died young. 

Youngest son Jean, born probably at Pigiguit in c1692, married Jeanne, daughter of Guillaume Blanchard and Huguette Gougeon and widow of Olivier Daigre, at Annapolis Royal in January 1715.  They settled there and had five children, four of them sons who married into the Forest, LeBlanc, Richard, Bourg, and Bourgeois families.  Jean died probably at Annapolis Royal in July 1752, age 60. 

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

In 1755, descendants of Jacques LePrince could be found at Annapolis Royal, Pigiguit, and on Île St.-Jean.  In Acadia, the family's name evolved into Leprince. 

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

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

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

While their cousins settled in Canada or endured the indignities of life in the mother country, two of Jacques Le Prince's descendants emigrated to Louisiana.  In July 1767, Joseph, 11-year-old son of Olivier and grandson of Antoine Leprince of Pigiguit; and Joseph's 14-year-old sister, Marguerite, now orphans, came to New Orleans from exile in Maryland with dozens of other Acadians.  They settled in the new Acadian community of St.-Gabriel d'Iberville with the other 1767 arrivals, but they did not remain there.  In the late 1760s or early 1770s, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled in the Attakapas District.  

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

The only complete family of Acadian Leprinces who came to Louisiana was that of Tranquille, son of Antoine Leprince of Pigiguit and uncle of Joseph and Marguerite.  Tranquille, age 63, wife Susanne-Marie-Josèphe Bourg, age 57, two of their daughters--Isabelle, age 30; and Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, age 32--and Marguerite's 7-year-old daughter, Susanne-Marie Calegan, sailed to the colony aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in September 1785.  They followed most of their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche.  Tranquille Leprince and his wife brought no sons with them to Louisiana and had no sons there, so none of the Acadian Princes of South Louisiana are descended from this couple.  Tranquille died probably at Lafourche by August 1798, when his wife was called a widow in her burial records; she died in New Orleans.  

Tanquille Leprince's daughter Marguerite's husband, Irish-Frenchman Thomas Houardon Calegan, also came to Louisiana, but he crossed on a different ship, probably as a stowaway.  La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, reached New Orleans in early December 1785.  Evidently Marguerite obtained an annulment of her marriage, as Thomas remarried at Bayou des Écores, in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge, in December 1791.  Their daughter Susanne-Marie Calegan married into the Landry family   Marguerite Leprince died in Assumption Parish in January 1843; the Plattenville priest who recorded her burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a husband, said that Marguerite died at "age 80 years"; she probably was closer to 90.  

Marguerite's older sister Isabelle may have remained unmarried.  She also settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, where she died in March 1831.  The Plattenville priest who recorded her burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a husband, said Isabelle died at "age ca. 92 yrs."  

LOUISIANA: WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

Only in the Bayou Teche valley did Acadian Leprinces establish lasting lines of the family.  In the late 1760s or early 1770s, orphans Joseph and Marguerite, children of Olivier Leprince and Marguerite Boudrot of Pigiguit, moved from St.-Gabriel on the river to the Attakapas District, where they were counted with the family of Claude Martin in 1771.  In the 1770s, they married a brother and a sister--Marguerite married Jean-Louis, and Joseph married Madeleine, children of Antoine Bonin of Grenoble, France, and Marie Tellier or Thelier of Mobile, Alabama.  The Bonins were what Louisianians called Allibamonts, French settlers who had lived in present-day Alabama when it was a part of French Louisiana and who moved to the lower Mississippi valley during the early 1760s after the British gained control of French territory east of the Isle of Orleans.  The Bonins were from Mobile and among the earliest settlers of the Attakapas District; they settled at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche.  

Marguerite Leprince, wife of Jean-Louis Bonin, died at Fausse Pointe in December 1800, age 47. 

.

The only Acadian Prince family line established in South Louisiana was that of Marguerite's younger brother, Joseph: 

Descendants of Joseph LEPRINCE (1756-1793; Jean-Jacques, Antoine)

After his marriage in c1779, Joseph, son of Olivier Leprince and Marguerite Boudrot of Pigiguit and Maryland, settled with his wife Madeleine Bonin at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche.  Joseph and Madeleine had four sons, all born at Fausse Pointe.  They had no daughters.  Joseph died at Fausse Pointe in April 1793, age 37.  Madeleine remarried to Marie-François-Robson, son of Jacques Goivreaut dit Manceaux of St.-Lucie, Maine, France, at Attakapas in May 1796.  The Acadian Princes of South Louisiana are descended from three sons of Joseph Prince and Madeleine Bonin.   

1

Oldest son Antoine, born at Fausse Pointe in June 1781, married Susanne or Susette, daughter of fellow Acadians François Louvière and  Marie Louise Thibodeaux of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1807.  Their son François Dorestan, called Dorestan, was born at Fausse Pointe in November 1808, Antoine, fils in June 1820, and Pierre in June 1822.  They also had a son named Vileor, though this may have been another name for Antoine, fils or Pierre.  They may also have had a son named Derneville, born in c1825.  Their daughter married into the Broussard and Ranconnet families.  Antoine served as tutor to orphan Marie Guyale of Baton Rouge, who married Pierre, son of Pierre LeBlanc and Anastasie Louvière, in March 1815.  Antoine, père died at Fausse Pointe in April 1836, age 55.  

1a

Dorestan married cousin Eméranthe Zulma, daughter of Jean Baptiste Bonin and his Acadian wife Anastasie Broussard, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in June 1834.  Their son François Dorce or Dorcet, called Dorce, was born at Fausse Pointe in March 1843, and Joseph le jeune in April 1846.  Their daughters married into the Broussard, Dugas, and Gonsoulin families.  In November 1850, the census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a dozen slaves--11 blacks and 1 mulatto, 6 males and 6 females, ranging in age from 40 to 1--on Dorestan Prince's farm at Fausse Pointe.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 15 slaves--12 blacks, 3 mulattoes, 8 males and 7 females, ranging in age from 55 to 2--on Dorestan Prince's farm.  

During the War of 1861-65, Dorce was conscripted into King's Battery of Artillery, formerly the St. Martin Rangers, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  He survived the war, returned to his family, and married Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadians Édouard Bélisaire Broussard and Marie Emélite Broussard, at the New Iberia church, St. Martin Parish, in July 1866.  Their son Édouard was born near Loreauville, Iberia Parish, on upper Fausse Pointe, in July 1870 but died at age 1 in August 1871, Joseph Eugène was born in February 1872, Charles in August 1879, and Jean Joseph Sylvio in March 1881.  Their daughters married into the Barras, Gonsoulin, and Molbert families.  Dorce died near Loreauville in December 1890, age 47.  

Joseph le jeune married Louise or Louisa, another daughter of Édouard Bélisaire Broussard and Marie Emélite Broussard, at the New Iberia church, Iberia Parish, in April 1868.  Their son Joseph Ozaire was born near Loreauville in January 1869, Léon in November 1873, Jean Derneville, called Derneville, in January 1876 but died at age 11 months the following December, Octave le jeune was born in December 1877, François Sydney in September 1880, Joseph Dorestan, called Dorestan, in September 1882, Joseph Junius in March 1887, and Wilfrid Pierre in May 1893.  Their daughters married into the Chataignier and Oubre families.  

1b

In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted 2 slaves--a 10-year-old female and an 8-year-old male, both black--on Vilear Prince's farm at Fausse Pointe.  Vileor married Caroline Léonie, yet another daughter of Édouard Bélisaire Broussard and Marie Emélite Broussard, at the New Iberia church, Iberia Parish, in August 1872.  If he was his father's second son Antoine, fils, born probably at Fausse Pointe in June 1820, he would have been well into his middle age at the time of his wedding.  

1c

In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--a 14-year-old male mulatto--on Derneville Prince's farm at Fausse Pointe.  Derneville died in October 1855, age 30.  He probably did not marry.  

2

François, born at Fausse Pointe in January 1783, married Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Amédée Savoie and Victoire Bourgeois of Lafourche and Fausse Pointe, at Attakapas in December 1806.  Their son Francois, fils was born at Fausse Pointe in December 1808, Antoine le jeune in May 1815 but died at age 6 1/2 in December 1821, Louis, also called Camille, was born in October 1819, and a son, name unrecorded, died probably at birth in October 1834.  Their daughters married into the Auger, Broussard, Louvière, and Vaughn families.  François, père died at Fausse Pointe in February 1852; the New Iberia priest who recorded the burial said that François was age 58 when he died; he was 69.  

François, fils married Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Raphaël Broussard and Modeste LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in January 1833.  Their son Eugène was born probably in St. Mary Parish in c1852 and baptized at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, age 25, in March 1877.  Their daughters married into the Derise and Havane families.  In December 1850, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted 4 slaves--all black, 3 males and a female, ranging in age from 50 to 20--on François Prince's farm; this probably was François, fils.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted 8 slaves--5 males and 3 females, ranging in age from 70 to 5--on François Prince's farm in the parish's western district.  

Louis Camille married fellow Acadian Aurelie Granger, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Octave was born probably in St. Mary Parish in the 1850s.  During the War of 1861-65, Louis may have served in Company C of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Natchitoches Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  Louis was a resident of St. Mary Parish when he enlisted in Company C; his military record does not give the place or date of his enlistment, nor his age.  It says only that he was paroled as an end-of-war prisoner in 1865, but, again, does not say where or when.  If the Louis Prince of the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry was the son of François Prince, père of Fausse Pointe, he would have been ge 42 when the war commenced and rather long in the tooth for active military service, especially as a private in the cavalry.  

3

Joseph, fils, born at Fausse Pointe in February 1785, married Marie Clémence, called Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadians Sylvain LeBlanc and Marie Josèphe Babin, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in December 1811, but they did not settle on the river.  Their son Joseph Napoléon was born at Fausse Pointe, St. Martin Parish, in June 1817, a son, name unrecorded, died at birth in July 1819, and Agnès Norbert, called Norbert, was baptized at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, age 1 1/2, in May 1824.  Their daughter married into the Dressel family.  Joseph, fils died at Fausse Pointe in April 1842; the New Iberia priest who recorded the burial said that Joseph was age 60 when he died; he was 57.  

3a

Norbert married cousin Julie, daughter of fellow Acadian Alexandre Broussard and his Creole wife Julie Bonin, at the New Iberia church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1844.  Their son Joseph Despalière, called Despalière, was born probably at Fausse Pointe in December 1846, and Eusèbe in August 1851.  Their daughters married into the Boutté and Gonsoulin families.  In November 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--an 18-year-old black female--on Norbert Prince's farm.  

3b

Joseph Napoléon, called Aurelien by the New Iberia priest who recorded the burial, died in St. Martin Parish in July 1845, age 28.  He does not seem to have married.  

4

Youngest son Joseph-Antoine, born at Fausse Pointe in July 1786, probably did not marry and may have died at age 70 in January 1856.

~

Two Leprince half-sisters, Marie-Sophie and Judith, daughters of Antoine Leprince of Île St.-Jean and cousins of Tranquille Leprince of Pigiguit, reached Louisiana in August 1785 aboard La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships from France.  Marie-Sophie was a 43-year-old widow with a 19-year-old son, Antoine-Joseph Trahan.  Judith was age 22 and unmarried.  They did not follow most of their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche but settled, instead, in the Attakapas District, where Marie-Sophie's dead husband, Joseph Trahan, evidently had family.  Judith, also called Julie, returned to the Mississippi valley by June 1789, when she married Charles, son of fellow Acadian Alexis Braud and widower of Esther Braud, at St.-Jacques on the river below Ascension.  She died at St.-Jacques in July 1803, age 45.  Marie-Sophie remained at Attakapas but did not remarry.  She died by January 1798, when she was called deceased in her son's marriage record at Attakapas. 

~

Other PRINCEs on the Western Prairies

According to Acadian genealogist Bona Arsenault, another male Acadian Prince, a decade older than Joseph of Fausse Pointe, settled in South Louisiana:

Firmin dit Marinier LEPRINCE (c1781?-1851; Jean-Jacques? François?)

Firmin dit Marinier, according to Arsenault son of Antoine Leprince and his first wife Judith Boudrot, born at Pigiguit in c1746, also may gave come to Louisiana, settled in the Attakapas District, and died there.  If Bona Arsenault is correct, Firmin dit Marinier would have been half-brother of Marie-Sophie and full brother of Judith Leprince, who came to Louisiana from France in 1785, and cousin of Joseph Prince of Fausse Pointe.  If Firmin came to Louisiana, he likely sailed aboard one of the Seven Ships of 1785 with his sisters.  In January 1818, Marighy Prince served as godfather to Susanne, daughter of Antoine Prince and Susanne Louvière and granddaughter of Joseph Prince, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish.  Two years later, in January 1820, Marigni served as godfather to Éloi, fils, son of Éloi Benoit and Eugénie Louvière, at the St. Martinville church.  In January 1829, Marigny was a witness at the wedding of Simon Broussard and Marie, daughter of François Prince and Rosalie Savoie and granddaughter of Joseph Prince, in St. Martin Parish.  In September 1835, Joseph Antoine Marigny Prince stood as godfather to François, son of Jean Baptiste Enger and Madeleine Prince and grandson of Joseph Prince, at the St. Martinville church.  In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave-- a 47-year-old black female-- on Marigny Prince's farm at Fausse Pointe.  A Marinier Prince died in St. Martin Parish in February 1851; the St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial said that Marinier was age 70 when he died.  This would give him an estimated birth year of c1781, not c1746, as Arsenault claims for Firmin dit Marinier à Antoine Leprince.  If Joseph Antoine Marighi/Marigni/Marigny/Marinier Prince was a kinsman of Joseph of Fausse Pointe, the church records do not say how they were related.  (Joseph's oldest son Antoine, interestingly enough, was born in 1781.)  Did Firmin dit Marinier ever marry?   

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A Prince who settled on lower Bayou Teche during the late antebellum period cannot be linked by area church and civil records to known Acadian lines of the family:

Descendants of Nero or Neron PRINCE (?-?; Jean-Jacques?, Antoine?, Olivier?, Joseph?)

Nero or Neron Prince married Victoria Derisse or Derusse, place and date unrecorded.  During the War of 1861-65, Nero served in the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry.  He was captured at Franklin, St. Mary Parish, in March 1864, and was paroled and released by the Federals four months later.  He probably was a resident of St. Mary Parish, though his military record is silent on where and when he enlisted.  Was he a descendant of Joseph Prince of Fausse Pointe? 

1

Older son Ulgère was born near Patoutville, now Lydia, Iberia Parish, in July 1870. 

2

Younger son Ulysse, born near Lydia in May 1872, married Acadian Rosalie Savoie in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in February 1895.  

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

There were Leprince/Princes in South Louisiana who may have been Acadians but, because of haphazard church and civil record keeping, they cannot be linked to Joseph Prince of Fausse Pointe and his descendants.  Some of them may have been former Prince family slaves who retained the family's surname, or, just as likely, their family's progenitor bore the given name "Prince":  

Jacques Leprince was buried in Ascension Parish in August 1788.  The priest who recorded the burial did not give Jacques's parents' names, mention a wife, or give his age at the time of his death. 

A Mr. Leprince was buried at Convent, St. James Parish, in July 1840.  The priest who recorded the burial did not give Mr. LePrince's parents' names, mention a wife, or give his age at the time of his death. 

Marguerite Hébert, widow of Joson Prince, died in St. Martin Parish in February 1856.  The St. Martinville priest who recorded her burial, and who did not give any parents' names, said that she died "at age 83 yrs."  This would give her an estimated birth year of c1773.  Who was her husband?  Was he Acadian, French Creole, or Foreign French? 

Marie Eva Prince, native of St. James Parish, married Victorin Reise of Iberville Parish at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in February 1867.  Among the witnesses to Marie Eva's marriage were Louis and Alphonse Prince.  Who were her parents?

Thérèse Prince married Paul Dufay, place and date unrecorded.  Her son Joseph Dufay married Acadian Hélène Arceneaux, widow of Dupré Broussard, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in November 1867.  

Clarisse Prince, perhaps a woman of color, married Dick Richard probably in St. Landry Parish in the late 1860s.

Jean Prince married Annette Lapointe in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1869.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names. 

Auguste Prince died in Lafayette Parish in March 1870.  The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Auguste died "at age 30 yrs."  

Louis Princes married Suzanna Green "of Natchitoches" at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in October 1870.  The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names, but he did note that they were of "mixed religions." 

~

A number of other Princes who cannot be linked with Joseph Prince of Fausse Pointe served in Louisiana units during the War of 1861-65.  Most, if not all, of them were Anglo Americans:

A Prince whose first name was unrecorded enlisted in Company A of the 6th Regiment Cavalry at Shreveport in May 1862.  

Daniel Prince enlisted in Company G of 1st (Strawbridge's) Regiment Regular Infantry at New Orleans in April 1861 and became a sergeant.  

Henry Prince, a student, enlisted in Company D of 5th Regiment Infantry at New Orleans in February 1862 but deserted his unit later in the year.  

Christopher Prince enlisted in Company D of the 12th Regiment Infantry, which was raised in Winn Parish, in August 1861 and became a corporal.  

Another Henry Prince, this one a 19-year-old bookkeeper, enlisted in Company C of the 14th Regiment Infantry at New Orleans in June 1861 but deserted his unit a month later. 

Michael, also called Martin, Prince enlisted in Company B of the 22nd (Patton's 21st) Regiment Infantry at New Orleans in June 1861.  

Hamilton M. Prince enlisted in Company C of the 31st Regiment Infantry at Delhi, Carroll Parish, in April 1862.  

L. T. Prince was ordered into state service in February 1862 and served briefly in Company K of the 2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division Militia.  

CONCLUSION

LePrinces settled early in Acadia.  They came to Louisiana in two waves, the first from Maryland in 1767, the second from France in 1785.  Only two of the eight members of the family who came to the colony were males.  Joseph Leprince was just a boy, and an orphan, when he arrived from Maryland with his older sister Marguerite.  The Spanish placed them with other Maryland arrivals at St.-Gabriel d'Iberville on what was being called the Upper Acadian Coast, but they did not remain there.  In the late 1760s or early 1770s, they moved to Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche, where Marguerite married a Bonin from Alabama.  Joseph married a sister of his Bonin brother-in-law.  Most of Joseph's descendants remained at Fausse Pointe (their corner of St. Martin Parish became a part of Iberia Parish in 1868).  However, by the 1850s, one of Joseph's grandsons moved his family south to St. Mary Parish.  The other male Leprince was Joseph's uncle Tranquille, who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 with his wife and two grown daughters.  Tranquille was age 63, and his wife, a Bourg, age 57, when they reached the colony.  Needless to say, they had no more children, so the Acadian Princes of South Louisiana are descended from nephew Joseph of Fausse Pointe. 

Non-Acadian LePrinces and Princes settled in South Louisiana during the late colonial and antebellum periods, at New Orleans and in predominantly-Acadian communities, including the Acadian Coast and the old Attakapas District.  Some of them may have created families of their own, but none approached the fecundity of the Acadian Princes on Bayou Teche. 

Some of Joseph Prince's descendants fared well enough to hold slaves in the lower Bayou Teche valley during the late antebellum period.  Dorestan, one of Joseph's grandsons, held 15 slaves on his St. Martin Parish farm in the summer of 1860, and a cousin, François, held eight slaves on his farm in St. Mary Parish that year.  Other members of the family held no slaves at all, at least none who appeared on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860. 

Only two Acadian Princes seem to have served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65.  Joseph's grandson Louis may have served in a volunteer cavalry company, and great-grandson Dorce was a St. Martin Parish conscript who may not have served in an organized Confederate unit.  Their relatives who remained at home, however, did not escape the ravages of the conflict.  Federal armies marched through the Teche country three times in 1863 and 1864, and, with their neighbors, Princes endured the pillaging and plundering that accompanied these marches, as well as depredations at the hands of Confederate foragers who plagued the area when the Yankees were not around.  Emancipation followed the Federal armies, with its resulting economic and social turmoil.  ...

In Louisiana, the Acadian family's name quickly evolved from Leprince to Prince, as was the case with their cousins in Canada.  The family's name in Louisiana also is spelled Brens, Pince, Prens.  [For the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats," see Book Ten]

Sources:  1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, St. Martin & St. Mary parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, St. Martin & St. Mary parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 738-49, 870, 1423-27, 2573-74; Booth, LA Confed. Soldiers, vol. 3(2); BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 5(rev.), 6, 10, 11; Delaney, "Chronology of the Deportations"; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 150, 302, 423; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; <islandregister.com/1752.html>; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 155, 218; NOAR, vol. 6; <perso.orange.fr./froux/St_malo_arrivees/Antelope.htm>, Family No. 15; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 128; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 592; White, DGFA-1, 1077-82; White, DGFA-1 English, 232-33; Wood, Acadians in Maryland, 118-19.  

Settlement Abbreviations 
(present-day civil parishes that existed in 1861 are in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):

For a chronology of Acadian Arrivals in Louisiana, 1764-early 1800s, see Appendix.

The hyperlink attached to an individual's name is connected to a list of Acadian immigrants for a particular settlement and provides a different perspective on the refugee's place in family and community. 

NOTES

01.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 9R), calls her Isabelle [LEPRINCE], & lists her with her parents & a sister, with the notation:  ceux de Morlais arrives a Paimboeuf pour s'embarquer sur le meme navire [those from Morlaix arriving at Paimboeuf in order to embark on the same ship]; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 58-59, calls her Ysabelle, sa [Tranquille LEPRINCE's] fille, age 30, on the embarkation list, & Isabelle LEPRINCE, his [Tranquille LEPRINCE's] daughter, age 30, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 7th Family of ceux de Morlais arrivés à Paimboeuf pour s'embarquer sur le même Navire [those from Morlaix arriving at Paimboeuf in order to embark on the same ship] Le St.-Rémi with her parents & a sister; BRDR, 5(rev.):411 (ASM-3, 217), her death/burial record, calls her Isabelle LE PRINCE, says she died at "age ca. 92 yrs.," but does not give her parents' names or the name of a husband.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 35.

Her burial records seems to exaggerate her age considerably.  Her estimated birth year used here is not from the ages given in her burial record or the Valenzuéla census of Jan 1788 but from the embarkation list of Le St.-Rémi.  

Did she ever marry & have children?  

02.  Wall of Names, 22 (pl. 5L), calls him Joseph LE PRINCE, & lists him with sister Marguerite; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2574, the LA section, calls him Joseph PRINCE, says he was born in 1752 but gives no birthplace, calls his parents Antoine PRINCE & his second wife Cécile ARCEMENT, says he married Madeleine BONIN, daughter of Antoine BONIN & Marie TELLIER, in c1779 but gives no place of marriage, says his wife remarried to Francois GOIVREAULT of Luce, Maine, France, at St. Martinville, 23 May 1796, & lists his children as Antoine, born in 1781, Francois, born in 1783, Joseph, born in 1785, & Joseph-Antoine, born in 1786 but gives no birthplaces.  See also De Ville, Attakapas Post Census, 1771, 12; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 155.  

The rationale for saying that Joseph was the son of Olivier LEPRINCE & Marguerite BOUDREAUX, not Antoine LEPRINCE & Cécile ARSEMENT, is, first, there is no doubt that Joseph & Marguerite were brother & sister; second, Marguerite's parents were, according to her marriage records, Olivier LEPRINCE & Marguerite BOUDREAUX; third, Antoine LEPRINCE & Cécile ARSEMENT & their children were exiled to France, but Joseph was born probably in MD; fourth, British authorities in MD in Jul 1763 called Joseph a BOUDREAU; and fifth, Joseph & sister Marguerite came to LA not on one of the 7 Ships of 1785 from France, as did two children of Antoine, but with fellow Acadian exiles from MD in Jul 1767.  See Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 302, for French church records of Antoine & Cécile's children.   

Joseph's estimated birth year is taken not from Arsenault but from the Attakapas census of 1771.  This census reveals that the MARTINs & the BONINs were neighbors, so the PRINCE siblings married BONIN siblings who lived "next door."

Why did the British official call him Joseph a BOUDREAU & not a PRINCE at Upper Marlborough, MD, in Jul 1763?  His sister Marguerite, whom the British official listed with another FORAY family, was called PRINCE, not BOUDREAU, which was their mother's surname.  This is the clue to Joseph's presence on this listing.  

03.  Wall of Names, 30 (pl. 7L), calls her Julie [LEPRINCE] sa [Marie LEPRINCE's] soeur, & lists her with her sister & a nephew; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 18-19, calls her Julie, sa [Marie LEPRINCE, veuve TRAHAN's] soeur, age 22, on the embarkation list, does not include her on the debarkation list, calls her Julie LEPRINCE, her [Marie LEPRINCE, widow TRAHAN's] sister, age 22, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 29th Family aboard La Bergère with her sister & a nephew; BRDR, 2:143, 501 (SJA-2, 6), her marriage record, calls her Judit LE PRINCE, gives her & her husband's parents' names, says all of the parents were from Acadia, calls her mother Cécilia MANCEPIN, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Josef ARCENEAUX & Maria BRAUX; BRDR, 2:501 (SJA-4, 23), her death/burial record, calls her Julie LE PRINCE, age 45 years, widow of Charles BREAU, but does not give her parents' names.  

A Judith LEPRINCE, no parents' names given, born in c1753 "in Acadie," "arrived at St. Malo in 1772 with a passport of Rochefort, dated September 17, 1772.  She established residence in St.-Suliac."  See Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 592, "Family" No. 671.  Was this the daughter of Antoine LE PRINCE of Île St.-Jean and his second wife Cécile ARCEMENT, & the half-sister of Marie-Sophie?  The age given on the embarkation list of Le St.-Rémi for Antoine's daughter misses the estimated birth year that Robichaux gives this Judith LE PRINCE by an entire decade, but this probably was her.  

04.  Wall of Names, 22 (pl. 5L), calls her Marguerite LE PRINCE, & lists her with brother Joseph; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2573, the LA section, calls her Marguerite PRINCE, says she was born in 1750 but gives no birthplace, calls her parents Antoine PRINCE & his first wife Marie-Judith BOUDREAUX, details her marriage, including her husband's name & his parents' names, & says she died at Attakapas on 9 Dec 1800; BRDR, 2:104, 608 (PCP-2, part 2, 110; PCP-4, 71), one of her marriage records, calls her Marguerite PRINCE, calls her husband Jean-Louis BONIN "of Alabama," gives her & his parents' names, calls her parents Olivier [PRINCE] & Marguerite BOUDROT "of Acadia," & says the witnesses to her marriage were ____ BERARD, ____ MENIER, & _____ GAIGNARD; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:74, 651 (SM Ch.: v.1, p. 21; SM Ch.: Folio A-1, p. 11), also her marriage records, call her Margurerite PRINCE, "native of Acadie & residing at Attakapas", "d'Acadie," & "of Mariland," calls her husband Jean-Louis BONIN "des Alibamons" & "of Alibamon and now resides in Attakapas," gives her & his parents' names, says her parents were "of Acadia," & that the witnesses to her marriage were ____ BERARD, ____ MENIER or MERCIER, J. GAIGNARD, & _____GREVEMBER; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:652 (SM Ch.: v.4, #226), her death/burial record, calls her Marguerite PRINCE of Mariland[sic], says she was buried on 9 Dec 1800 "at age 47 yrs.," & gives her parents' names & her husband's name.  See also De Ville, Attakapas Post Census, 1771, 12; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 14; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 155; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 430.  

Arsenault's Généalogie is ignored here as a source for her parents.  Her marriage records, cited above, are followed here.  

The Spanish report of 1767 & the Attakapas censuses of 1771 & 1777 provide the ages for her estimated birth year used here.  

Her marriage was recorded at Pointe Coupée because, although the St. Martinville church dates its founding to 1765, there were times in the late 1760s & early 1770s when the Attakapas "parish" had no priest.  So the priest from Pointe Coupee, the parish closest to Attakapas (Opelousas did not have its own church until 1776), would cross the Atchafalaya Basin & administer the sacraments to the settlers along the Teche and out on the prairies until Attakapas had a resident priest of its own. 

06.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 9R), calls her Marguerite [LEPRINCE], & lists her with her parents & a sister, with the notation:  ceux de Morlais arrives a Paimboeuf pour s'embarquer sur le meme navire [those from Morlaix arriving at Paimboeuf in order to embark on the same ship]; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 63, 302, her marriage record, calls her Marie-Marguerite LEPRINCE, give her parents' names, calls her husband Thomas CALEGAN HOUARDON originaire et domicilie à St.-Houardon, Landernau, son of Jean-Thomas CALEGAN & Francoise TRAON, but gives no witnesses to her marriage; Hebert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 58-59, calls her Marguerite, sa [Tranquille LEPRINCE's] fille, age 24, on the embarkation list, & Marguerite LEPRINCE, his [Tranquille LEPRINCE's] daughter, age 24, on the complete listing, says she was in the 7th Family of ceux de Morlais arrivés à Paimboeuf pour s'embarquer sur le même Navire [those from Morlaix arriving at Paimboeuf in order to embark on the same ship] Le St.-Rémi with her parents & a sister, &, calling her Marie-Marguerite LEPRINCE, says she married Thomas Calegan HOUARDON on 18 Sep 1775 but gives no place of marriage nor his parents' names; Winzerling, Acadian Odyssey, 193, note 117, calls her Magdalena[sic] LE PRINCE, wife of Ourdon Tomas CALIGAN, & includes her in a list of names who were given temporary head-of-family status by LA Intendant Martin NAVARRO; BRDR, 6:433 (ASM-10, 35), which may be her death/burial record, calls her Marguerite LE PRINCE, "age 80 years," but does not give her parents' names or mention a husband.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1777-98, 35; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 513.  

Why did the Spanish official who counted the Acadians in France in Sep 1784 call her Magdeleine LEBLANC?  Because LEPRINCE sounds like LEBLANC?  Was her middle name Madeleine or Marguerite?  Her marriage record calls her Marie-Marguerite, followed here.  

Her age on the embarkation list of Le St.-Rémi gives an estimated birth year of c1761.  The age for Marie-Magdeleinne[sic] LEPRINCE in the Valenzuéla census of Jan 1788--35--gives an estimated birth year of c1753, which would have made Marie-Marguerite age 32 in 1785, not 24.  Which age is correct?  I am using the age given in the census for the simple reason that, if she had been born in c1761, as the passenger list implies, she would have been only 14 years old when she married her husband in 1775, which was too young even for an Acadian in exile.  

Why was her daughter, Susanne-Marie CALEGAN, not on the embarkation list of Le St.-Rémi with her mother, her aunt, & her maternal grandparents?  Winzerling, cited above, source for her existence, says that Susanne-Marie was daughter of Tranquille LE PRINCE, but, in fact (look at the Jan 1788 census at Valenzuéla), she was Marie-Marguerite's daughter & Tranquille's granddaughter, born probably at Morlaix in c1778, which would have made her age 7 in 1785.  Susanne-Marie married Joseph Nicolas, son of Acadian Mathurin LANDRY, at Ascension in January 1804, so she certainly came to LA.  See BRDR, 3:495 (ASC-2, 106). 

Winzerling also says that Marie-Marguerite was Tranquille's sister, not his daughter.  The marriage record at Morlaix in Sep 1775 establishes the fact that Marie-Marguerite was his daughter.  Tranquille did have a sister named Marguerite. 

What happened to Marie-Marguerite's husband, Thomas CALEGAN?  Why was she listed as a widow at Morlaix in Sep 1784 if the Gurdon Thomas CALIGAN who sailed from France to LA aboard La Ville d'Archangel as an immigré was her husband?  (He can be found under that name in Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 104.)  Note that she was listed without a husband in the Valenzuéla census of Jan 1788.  Where was he?  Were they legally separated?  Was he the Thomas CALEGAN who married Cécile, daughter of Victor BOUDREAUX, probably at Bayou des Écores in Dec 1791?  See BRDR, 2:110, 171 (PCP-19, 40).  The Pointe Coupée priest who recorded the Dec 1791 marriage gave the same name & the same set of parents for the fellow who married Cécile BOUDREAUX as did the priest at Morlaix, France, in Sep 1775 for the fellow who married Marie-Marguerite LE PRINCE.  If he was the same fellow, & it seems likely that he was, & Marie-Marguerite did not die until Jul 1840, their marriage probably had been annulled.

According to Breton genealogist Yann Tanguy (via email 31 Dec 2009):  " ... it is related that Thomas CALLAGHAN flew from Limerick to Brest in Britanny, after the Jacobean defeat, like ten or twelve thousand Irishmen and women, and settle[d] in Landerneau in 1692.  He became a prosperous brewer and died at the age of 50 in 1713; his descendants were still in that little town, not far from Brest, as merchants one hundred years after.  Thomas Houardon, so, is the great grandson of the first Thomas.  It’s obvious that Thomas Houardon (Houardon comes [from] the Saint Houardon parish in Landerneau w[h]ere most of Irish people were living) is the same man who married two times, first with Marguerite LEPRINCE, then with Cécile BOUDREAUX."  Mr. Tanguy adds:  "... notice that the word 'LETRENOBLE' you find in Thomas Houardon CALLEGAN's genealogy is [i]ncorrect:  the name of the mother is LE TRAON."  Mr. Tanguy says that Thomas's full name was Thomas Houardon CALEGAN, followed here.  Houardon, he says, probably is the French version of WARDON. 

07.  Wall of Names, 30 (pl. 7L), calls her Marie LEPRINCE veuve TRAHAN, & lists her with a son & a sister; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1426, the Pigiguit section, calls her Marie PRINCE, says she was born in 1745 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, calls her husband Joseph TRAHAN, sans doute the son of Alexandre TRAHAN & Marguerite LEJEUNE, & says "Elle pass à Cayenne avec son mari en 1764 mais revint à Rochefort en 1765 où son mari décéda le 11 octobre 1769"; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 302, 423 (St.-Nicolas, Boulogne-sur-Mer), her marriage record, calls her Marie LEPRINCE, says she was 20 years old at the time of her marriage, gives her parents' names, says her husband was "Canadien" & age 24 at the time of their marriage, calls his parents Joseph TRAHAN & Anne THÉRIOT, says his father was deceased at the time of the marriage, & gives no witnesses to her marriage; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 767, Family No. 902, calls her Marie LEPRINCE, says she was born in c1742 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, details her marriage, including her husband's parents' names, says he was born in c1738 but gives no birthplace, says her son Antoine-Joseph TRAHAN was born in c1766 but gives no birthplace, & that "Marie LEPRINCE, widow of Joseph TRAHAN, and Antoine-Joseph TRAHAN, her son, arrived at St.-Malo from Rochefort with a passport dated September 17, 1772"; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 18-19, calls her Marie LEPRINCE, veuve TRAHAN, age 43, on the embarkation list, Marie LEPRINCE, on the debarkation list, & Marie LEPRINCE, widow TRAHAN, age 43, on the complete listing, says she was in the 29th Family aboard La Bergère with a son & a sister, details her marriage, including her & her husband's parents' names but gives no place of marriage, & lists the implements the Spanish gave to her & her family after they reached LA.  See also De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:115.

Her middle name is from the brochure that accompanies the Robert Dafford Mural, Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville.  It also can be found in Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 98, Family No. 191, which records Marie-Sophie LEPRINCE as the godmother of Mathurin TRAHAN's daughter, Thérèse-Sophie, who was baptized at St.-Jacques, Châtellerault, Poitou, on 24 Aug 1775.  Marie-Sophie is called the girl's "paternal aunt," which means she was, or had been, married to Mathurin TRAHAN's brother, Joseph.  Her son Antoine-Joseph TRAHAN's marriage record, dated 4 Sep 1798, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:762 (SM Ch.: v.4, #159), calls her Marie-Sophie LE PRINCE, says she was "of Acadie" & that she was deceased at the time of the marriage.

How did she reached France--via VA & England, or from the Maritimes? 

08.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 9R), calls him Tranquille LE PRINCE, & lists him with his wife & 2 daughters, with the notation:  ceux de Morlais arrives à Paimboeuf pour s'embarquer sur le meme navire [those from Morlaix arriving at Paimboeuf in order to embark on the same ship]; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1424, the Pigiguit section, calls him Tranquille PRINCE, says he was born in c1722 but gives no birthplace, says he was sans doute the son of Antoine LE PRINCE & Anne TRAHAN, that he married Suzanne BOURQUE in c1745 but gives no place of marriage, does not give her parents' names, says he emigrated to LA in 1785, & that his children were Isabelle, born in 1755, & Marguerite in 1761, but gives no birthplaces; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2573, the LA section, calls him Tranquille PRINCE, says he was born in c1722 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, says they were from Pigiguit, Acadie, says he married Suzanne BOURQUE in c1745 but gives no place of marriage, does not give her parents' names, says he sailed to LA in 1785 with a wife & 2 daughters, & that his children were Isabelle, born in 1755, & Marguerite, born in 1761, but gives no birthplaces; White, DGFA-1, 1081, calls him Tranquille [LEPRINCE], gives his parents' names, says he was born in c1722 but gives no birthplace, details his marriage, calling his wife Susanne (Marie-Josèphe) BOURG, says they were married in c1749 but gives no place of marriage, details his repatriation from Liverpool, England, to France in 1763, his presence at Morlaix in 1772, his emigration to LA in 1785, & his presence in the Lafourche valley in 1788; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 58-59, calls him Tranquille LEPRINCE, charpentier age 63, on the embarkation list, & Tranquille LEPRINCE, carpenter, age 63, on the complete listing, says he was in the 7th Family of ceux de Morlais arrivés à Paimboeuf pour s'embarquer sur le même Navire [those from Morlaix arriving at Paimboeuf in order to embark on the same ship] Le St.-Rémi with his wife & 2 daughters, & details his daughter Marie-Marguerite's marriage to Thomas Calegan HOUARDON on 18 Sep 1775 but gives no place of marriage.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 35.

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