Louis-Charles, son of Nicolas Talbot
and Marguerite Aubry of St.-Georges-de-Bar-le-Duc, Lorraine, born in
the parish of St.-Benoist, Paris, in c1714, came to greater Acadia probably
in the 1730s. He married Marie-Françoise, called Françoise, daughter
of François Douville and Marie Rogé, at St.-Pierre-du-Nord,
the church for Havre-St.-Pierre, Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, in November 1739.
In 1746, Louis-Charles and his family were at Québec, but they
returned to Île St.-Jean. In August 1752, they were
living at Nigeagant near Havre-St.-Pierre, on the north shore of the
island, next to Françoise's
parents. The census taker called Louis-Charles a fisherman and noted
that he had been "in the country twenty years." The official addressed him as le sieur,
so Louis-Charles evidently was a prominent member of the
French middle class, literate and respected.
(The Douvilles also were
members of that class and were even wealthier and more influential
than the Talbots. François Douville owned at
least three parcels of land in the Havre-St.-Pierre area and was, in fact,
one of the first European settlers on the island, having come to the
harbor in 1720 with the company of the Comte de St.-Pierre.)
Louis-Charles and Marie had eight children,
all born on Île
St.-Jean: Marie-Henriette in September 1740, Charles-Louis in May
1743, Joseph in c1745, Jean-François in c1748, François in May 1752, Charles
in January 1754, a second Marie-Henriette in March 1756, and
Marie-Louise in October 1758.
[See also
Book Four]
LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT
[For the family's travails
during the Great Upheaval, see
Book
Six]
LOUISIANA: LAFOURCHE
VALLEY SETTLEMENTS
The date of Louis André Talbot's
arrival in Louisiana is unknown. In Louisiana, he did not call himself
Louis André Lafitte, his father's surname, but went by the name
Louis André Talbot. This may have been a smart move on his
part. In the 1810s, when Louis André probably reached Louisiana, his
fellow Bordelaise, the Laffite
brothers of Barataria, were seen by a sizable part of the populace as pirates and smugglers; Jean Laffite, especially, was persona
non grata, still a sworn enemy of Louisiana Governor William C. C. Claiborne
even after the smugglers helped General Andrew Jackson defeat a
British army at
Chalmette in January 1815, so it may have been a good idea
for the young immigrant to assume his mother's surname.
Most likely, though, Louis André may have been born "a natural child, called a Talbot from
birth, and never used his father's name. No
matter, he left New Orleans probably not long after he reached the city and
moved to upper Bayou Lafourche, where his life began in
earnest.
Descendants of Louis-André
[LAFITTE] TALBOT (c1791-c1867; Louis-Charles)
Louis André Talbot first
appears in Louisiana records in November 1816, when he married Rosalie,
daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Marin dit Pieree Dugas
and Françoise Arcement, at the Plattenville church,
Assumption Parish. Louis André and Rosalie remained in Assumption
Parish. Despite the huge size of their family, they adopted
Antoinette, daughter of Pepe Pepin, in the early 1840s; sadly, the little
girl died at age 2 in July 1842. Their biological daughters married into the Blanchard,
Landry, and Naquin families. Louis André and Rosalie
had at least 10 sons, eight of whom created families of their own, and three
of whom married sisters. In July 1850, the federal census taker in
Assumption Parish counted 2 slaves--a 19-year-old black male and an
8-year-old black female--on Louis A. Talbot's farm in the parish's
Second Congressional District. Louis André died in Assumption Parish
in the late 1860s, in his late 70s. Most of his sons served the Southern
Confederacy during the War of 1861-65, two of them at the cost of
their lives. After the war, one of his sons moved to the western prairies and established a western branch of the family.
1
Oldest son Louis Basile,
called Basile, born in Assumption Parish in March 1819, married Marie
Josèphe or Joséphine, called Joséphine, daughter of fellow
Acadian Jean Baptiste Henry and his Creole wife Julienne
Percle, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche
Interior Parish, in November 1838. Their son Adolphe Basile,
called Basile, fils, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July
1845, and Louis Adolphe, called Adolphe, in Assumption Parish
in December 1846. Basile and Joséphine's daughters married into the Barbier, Boudreaux, and Melançon
families. Basile remarried to fellow Acadian Marie Blanchard
in c1847. Their son, name unrecorded, died in Assumption Parish at age
2 1/2 months in January 1852, Lusignan Ferdinand was born in February
1853, Cyprien Camille near Attakapas Canal, Assumption Parish, on the
east side of Lake Verret, in December 1857, Clebert Narcisse in October 1865,
and Louis Alcée near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in May
1869. Basile and Marie's
daughter married into the Boudreaux family in Lafayette Parish. During the War
of 1861-65, despite his age, Basile,
père
served in the 1st Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, also
known as the St. Mary Cannoneers, raised in St. Mary Parish, which fought
in Louisiana. He was captured on Bayou Teche in April 1863, held
briefly by the Federals, was paroled and exchanged. After the war, he
moved his family to the prairies, establishing a western branch of
the family. His sons by his first wife, however, remained on upper
Bayou Lafourche.
1a
Adolphe Basile, by his
father's first wife, died near
Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in November 1869. The priest who
recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names
or mention a wife, said that Adolphe died at "age 25 years"; he would have been age 24. Did he marry?
1b
Louis Adolphe, by his father's first
wife, married Aimée, daughter of Maximin Ayo and his Acadian wife
Azélie Naquin of Lafourche Parish,
at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1870. ...
2
Louis Joseph, also called Louis,
fils, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1822, married Dauphine,
another daughter of Jean Baptiste Henry and Julienne Percle, at the Thibodaux church in August 1842. Their son Louis Oscar
was born near Labadieville in August 1850, Clovis
Amédée le jeune, a twin, in February 1853 but died at age 11 in
February 1864, Théophile Ernest, called Ernest, was born in
July 1855 but died at age 16 months in November 1856, Jean Baptiste
Anatole was born in September 1857, Joseph Osémé in May 1860, and twins Camille Beauregard
and Émile Davis in January 1864. Louis, fils's daughter married into
the Fremin family.
3
Théophile, born in
Assumption Parish in December 1823, died at age 15 months in March
1825.
4
Clovis Amédée, born in
Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1825, married Azélie Séraphine, yet
another daughter of Jean Baptiste Henry, at the Thibodaux church in May 1845. The son Louis Adolphe
died 5 days after his birth in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1846, Jean
Baptiste le jeune was born near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in
November 1849, and Clovis Aurestile was born in October 1851.
Clovis remarried to Rosalie Césaire, daughter of Augustin Lagrange
and Rosalie Maillet, at the Thibodaux church in April 1853. Their son Émile Adam
was born near Labadieville in October 1854, Jules Justilien in
December 1856, and Louis Wilfred near Attakapas Canal in July 1860.
During the War of 1861-65, Clovis,
despite his age and the size of his family, was conscripted into Company B
of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery, a unit composed of many
conscripts from Assumption Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi; his
younger brother Jules also served in the company; like Jules, Clovis died at Vicksburg in early 1863,
age 37.
5
Jean Théophile, called Théophile
dit Lolo and Théo, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1826, married
fellow Acadian Marie Zéolide, called Zéolide, Boudreaux in c1850.
They settled near Attakapas Canal, Assumption Parish. Their son Claiborne Théophile
was born in
October 1853, Valmond Adam in January 1855, Pierre Anatole in November 1857, Mertile
Léandre in February 1860, and Étienne Cléopha in August 1866.
During the War of 1861-65, Théo
served in Company G of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Rapides
Parish, which fought in Louisiana. He survived the war and returned to
his family at Attakapas Canal.
6
Jules André, born in
Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1833, married Célestine, daughter of
fellow Acadians Urbain Bourg and Marie Bourg, at the Attakapas Canal church in October 1858. During the War of 1861-65, Jules,
called Julius in Confederate records, served in Company B of the 1st
Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery, a unit composed of many
conscripts from Assumption Parish that fought at Vicksburg,
Mississippi; his older brother Clovis also was in the company. Like
his older brother, Jules died in City
Hospital, Vicksburg, in January 1863, probably of disease, age 20. His daughter married into the Falterman family.
Except for its blood, this family line died at Vicksburg.
7
Étienne Valmond,
called Valmond, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in April 1835,
married Clara or Clarice, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Gaudet
and his Creole wife Marie Bernard, at
the Thibodaux church in January 1856. Their son Joseph
Henri was born in Lafourche Parish in July 1860, and John William
in January 1863. During the War of 1861-65, Valmond
served in King's Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, also known as the St.
Martin Rangers, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Louisiana. Valmond enlisted in the
battery in St. Mary Parish in early September 1862, age 27, four months before his
younger son John Williams was born. What Valmond was doing on lower
Bayou Teche in the late summer of 1862 is anyone's guess; perhaps he was a
conscript who had been sent there from the Bayou Lafourche area to join a
front-line unit. He appears only on the company roll for January and
February 1864; the orderly sergeant marked him "present."
8
Louis, fils died at birth
in Assumption Parish in August 1837.
9
Louis Ernest, called Ernest,
was born in Assumption Parish in April 1841. During the War of 1861-65, Ernest served in the Assumption Parish
Regiment Militia. He fought in the Battle of Labadieville, in Assumption
Parish, in October 1862, fell into Federal hands, was paroled, and sent
home. Afterwards, with brother Émile, Ernest
enlisted in Company H of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in
Assumption Parish, which fought in Louisiana. Ernest
married Elmire, daughter of Hubert Barbier and his Acadian wife
Rosalie Melançon, at the
Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in December 1865. Their daughter Mary Cordelia had been born
near Pattersonville, St. Mary Parish, the previous August. Ernest remarried to fellow Acadian
Élodie Philomène Breaux at the Attakapas Canal church, Assumption Parish, in
October 1872.
10
Youngest son Louis Émile,
called Émile, was born in Assumption Parish in August 1843.
During the War of 1861-65, Émile
served with older brother Ernest in Company H of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana
Cavalry. Like his older brother, Émile survived the war and returned
to his family. He married Cécilia, daughter of French Creole Louis
Dominique Richard,
and his Acadian wife Marie Thibodeaux, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1867. Their son Alphonse Albert was
born near Labadieville in July 1869; ...
NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in
LOUISIANA
Non-Acadian families and
individuals with a similar surname, probably Anglo Americans, also settled
in South Louisiana:
William, son of Benjamin Talbert
of Madison County, Kentucky, married fellow Anglo-American Abigail Fletcher
of East Baton Rouge Parish in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in
October 1820.
Cyrus Talbot died by July
1840, when his succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St.
Mary Parish.
Richard C. Talbot married
Louisa, daughter of Isaac Trowbridge, at the Franklin Episcopal
church, St. Mary Parish, in September 1846. The minister who recorded
the marriage did not give the groom's parents' names or the bride's mother's
name. In January 1851, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish
counted 4 slaves--a male and 3 females, all black except for 1 mulatto,
ranging in age from 40 to 2--on R. Talbot's farm near Franklin. This
probably was Robert C.
William E. B., son of Mathew Talbot
and Elizabeth Hews, was a resident of St. Jean the Baptist Parish
when he married Marie Clémentine, called Clémentine, daughter of French
Creole Ludger Matherne, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in
October 1855. During the War of 1861-65, an E.
B. Talbot served in Company D of the 27th Regiment Louisiana
Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi; this was probably William E. B.
In July 1850, the federal census
taker in Iberville Parish counted 5 slaves--2 males and 3 females, all
black, ranging in age from 32 to 1--on A. Talbot's farm.
Augustus or Augustin Talbot married Marie Lavinia, calle Lavinia, Robertson,
who was baptized a Roman Catholic as an adult at the Plaquemine church,
Iberville Parish, in November 1858. Their daughter Kate married Louis,
fils, son of Louis Desobry, père, at the Plaquemine
church in December 1859. In July 1860, the federal census taker in
Iberville Parish counted 3 slaves--all males, all black, ages 26, 18, 11,
living in a single house--on A. Talbot's farm at Plaquemine.
During the War of 1861-65, Augustin
served in companies A and I of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry,
raised in Iberville and Pointe Coupee parishes, which fought in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
In July 1850, the federal census
taker in Orleans Parish counted 7 slaves--3 males and 4 females, all black,
ranging in age from 50 to 20--on A. Talbot's farm in the First Ward
of the parish's First Municipality.
In August 1850, the federal census
taker in Orleans Parish counted 50 slaves held by "Negro trader"
W. F. Talbot in the First Ward of the parish's Third Municipality.
Mary Livinia Talbot,
"a convert to the Catholic Faith," wife of ____ Talbot,
was baptized "conditionally" by a Plaquemine priest probably there in
November 1858.
In June 1860, the federal census
taker in Orleans Parish counted 2 slaves--a 30-year-old black males and a
15-year-old black female--in Allen Talbot's household in New Orleans
Third Ward.
Myra Talbot,
wife of George Talbot, was baptized "as an adult" at the
Franklin church, St. Mary Parish, in April 1868. The priest who
recorded the baptism did not give her parents' names.
Richard Talbot married
Ophelia Washington, place and date unrecorded. Their son Louis was born near
Arnaudville, St. Landry Parish, in March 1870.
.
Other Anglo-American Talbots
served in Louisiana units during the War of 1861-65:
B. E. Talbot served in
Company I of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in
Iberville Parish, which fought in Louisiana.
Edward Talbot also served
in Company I of the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry.
George T. Talbot served in
Company B of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment Louisiana Infantry, which fought in Louisiana. Was
he the George Talbot who married Myra Talbot at the Episcopal
church in Franklin, St. Mary Parish, in the late 1860s?
James Talbot served as a
gunner in the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, was attached
to the Confederate navy, captured at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, in late
December 1862, and ended up at the prisoner-of-war compound at Camp Douglas,
Chicago, Illinois, where he was released after taking the oath of allegiance
to the United States government.
Martin Talbot served in
Company A of the 11th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised
in Orleans Parish, which fought in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and
Mississippi.
Wallace P. Talbot, a
26-year-old unmarried clerk living in New Orleans when the war began, served
as a first sergeant and second lieutenant in Company E of the 7th Regiment
Louisiana Infantry, raised in Orleans Parish, which fought in Virginia,
Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana
Tigers. Lieutenant Talbot
was killed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July 1863.
William A. Talbot served in
Kean's Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, also known as Company A of the
12th Battalion Louisiana Heavy Artillery, raised in
Orleans Parish, which fought in Virginia, Louisiana, and
Alabama.
CONCLUSION
No Acadian family that came to
Louisiana has a more interesting story than this one. There is no question
that the family's progenitor, Louis André Talbot of Assumption Parish, was of Acadian descent
in both his paternal and maternal lines. His father's family had lived on
either Île St.-Pierre or Île Miquelon, French-controlled islands off the
southern coast of Newfoundland; his mother's family was from Île St.-Jean,
today's Prince Edward Island.
Louis André Talbot did not
come to Louisiana with any of the extended Acadian families in the 1760s.
And although his mother's family was deported from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo,
France, in 1758-59, he did not come to Louisiana on any of the Seven Ships
of 1785. He was born probably at Bordeaux in c1791, six years
after the Seven Ships sailed; his father was a Lafitte, but he
assumed his mother's family name. Louis André came to Louisiana
probably in the early 1810s, before another war between Britain and the United States made trans-Atlantic travel
more difficult than usual. He did not remain at New Orleans but chose upper Bayou Lafourche as his new home, settling in Assumption Parish, where he and his wife, an Acadian
Dugas, raised a large family, including 10 sons. His
oldest son Basile settled on the western prairies either on the eve of or
soon after the War of 1861-65, establishing a western branch of the
family. Louis André's other sons remained on upper Bayou Lafourche.
There were
non-Acadian Talbots, probably Anglo Americans, who settled in South
Louisiana, but none of them were as prolific as Louis André and his
sons.
Judging by the number of slaves
they owned during the late antebellum period, the Acadian Talbots
participated only peripherally in the South's plantation economy. In
1850, Louis André held only two slaves on his Assumption Parish farm.
A decade later he held none, or at least none who appeared on
the federal slave schedule of 1860.
The War of 1861-65 took a
terrible toll on the family. Early in the war, successive Federal incursions devastated
the Bayou Lafourche valley, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were
driven off. But the personal loss to the family was even greater.
Six of Louis André's sons and a grandson served Louisiana in uniform during the
war. Two of his
sons, Clovis
and Jules,
the older one middle-aged, married, and the father of several children, the
younger one also married, the father of two daughters, and still in his
teens, were conscripted into the same unit in the summer of 1862 and died a
few months later at Vicksburg, Mississippi, within days of one another.
The other three sons and the grandson survived the war. Evidently the
family's ardor for the Southern cause was not diminished by its loss.
Two of Louis André's grandsons, twins born in January 1864, were named
Camille Beauregard and Émile Davis. Louis André died in Assumption
Parish in the late 1760s, in his late 70s. ...
The Acadian family's name also is spelled Dalbot, Tabbat, Talbat, Talbautte, Talbert, Talbeut,
Talboth, Talbotte, Talbout, Talebot,
Tallebot, Terbonne, Thalbot, Tolbot. [See
Book
Ten for the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats"]
Sources: 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave
Schedules, Assumption, Iberville, Orleans, & St. Mary parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave
Schedules, Iberville & Orleans parishes; Arsenault,
Généalogie, 2141; Booth, LA Confed. Soldiers, 3(2):763; BRDR,
vols. 3, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Davis, W. C., The Pirates Lafitte,
1-2, 492-95n1, passim; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection,"
Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:141; Hébert, D., Acadians in
Exile, 67-68, 411, 583-97; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols.
1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 2-B, 3, 7, 8, 9; <islandregister.com/1752.html>;
<mwtalbotandassoc.design.officelive.com/Talbot.aspx>
[no longer accessible; may he rest in peace]; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>,
Family No. 171; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 729-31; Mike Talbot,
descendant.