From Acadian to Cajun: Part 8 – Hernandez/Babin
Diego Hernandez and Theotiste Babin are listed under Pierre Paul Hebert and Marguerite LeBlanc. Their children born in Louisiana (Marie Marthe Hernandez and Simon Hebert) would later be married to each other.
This new installment introduces a new surname to the series while it repeats a few others. The new surname is Hernandez. While the name looks and sounds Hispanic, I’m pretty sure that it’s not. Daddy always had him listed in his book as Jacques Diego Hernandez. I’ve seen him listed with the first name of Denis or Dique and the last name of Arnandez or Arnaudese. Since he settled in Louisiana while it was under Spanish rule, his name was more consistently written as Hernandez.
The surname that I’ve written about previously belongs to Diego’s wife Judith Theotiste Babin. Theotiste was actually a first cousin of Anne Forest from the previous installment. Theotiste’s father Joseph Babin was the brother of Anne’s mother Madeleine Babin. Theotiste was also connected to the Landry family from the first installment. Her mother was Anne Marie Landry, who was the sister of Augustin Landry. In addition, Augustin’s wife Magdelena Babin was the niece of Joseph Babin.
There are other connections to families that I discussed previously in this series, but I won’t get into all of that. It is way too confusing. Acadie was an isolated area for quite a while with a large population growth, so they inevitably had many cousins marrying cousins. It has happened in many places all over the world. Speaking of Acadie, let’s go back there to the time before the Grand Derangement and introduce you to the Babin and Landry families.
In 1687 Vincent Joseph Babin married Anne Theriot in Pisiquit, Acadie. Their first child in 1689 was a boy they named Jean. Jean would later have a daughter named Magdelena who would marry Augustin Landry. Vincent and Ann would then have six daughters. One of them was Madeleine, who would later be the mother of Anne Forest. In 1713 Joseph Babin was born to Vincent and Anne.
While Joseph Babin was one of the younger children of his parents, Anne Marie was one of the older children of hers. Her parents were Pierre Landry and Marguerite Forest and they were married in 1712. They lived in Pisiquit, in the parish of La Sainte Famille. Their first child was a daughter named Marie who was born in 1714. In 1715 Anne Marie was born. Augustin was next in line and he was born in 1719. Pierre and Marguerite also had two more boys and two more girls.
So Joseph Babin and Anne Marie Landry grew up, met, and were married around 1736. Their first child Dorothee was born around 1737 or 1738. She was born before the first son Joseph born in 1739. They then had a daughter named Elizabeth in 1743. Their next daughter was either Anne or Judith Theotiste who was born in 1744. The couple would then have two more sons named Etienne and Cyprien. The last child was born in 1751, just a few years before the Great Upheaval.
On August 10, 1755, the English began rounding up the Acadians so they could be deported from their homeland. It was the beginning of a great tragedy for many of the Acadian people. The biggest positive about it is that Joseph and Anne Marie’s family were placed on board the Dolphin along with other family members of the extended Landry and Babin families. They were Exiled from the land of their birth on October 27 and they reached Upper Marlboro, Mayland, in early December of that year. This is where they were to spend the next twelve years of their life. If they survived.
Page 2 of the list of French Neutrals living in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in July of 1763.
According to the Belle Ile en Mer declaration of Anne Marie’s nephew by her older sister Marie, Anne Marie went into exile with her family. But she did not live much longer. She had passed away by the time of the Census of French Neutrals in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in July of 1763. Joseph is listed and identified by the French word veuf – which means widower. Dorothee, Pierre, and Joseph are not listed because they were adults at this point. The others listed in the household with Joseph are Elizabeth, Etienne, and Cyprien.
Theotiste is not in the household, but she is listed just below them with her husband Diego Hernandez. His name is specified as Dique Landre in this document. “Scholars” think that Dique Landre is none other than our Diego Hernandez. It seems to fit with all the other documents that I’ve seen, such as Baton Rouge Diocese records, St. Gabriel land holdings, and Iberville Parish court archives. They must have married while in Exile in Maryland. Yet I don’t know where Diego comes from. He’s listed in this Census along with Exiled Acadians. I just realized that both the given names I have for him – Diego and Jacques – are versions of the name James. So I could be looking for a James or Jacques with the last name of Hernandez, Arnaudese, or Landre/Landry. I guess I’ll just be on the lookout for a Jacko Landry!
Joseph Babin is listed with his children Elizabeth, Etienne, and Cyprien on the Wall of Acadian Exiles in Louisiana. The Wall is in St. Martinville, Louisiana.
Not much is known about their time in Maryland, as far as personal details about their lives. We just know that they weren’t really wanted there and were never really part of the community. Though a few of them did decide to stay in Maryland and they were able to become a part of the society. None of my ancestors did that. Joseph, Elizabeth, Etienne, Cyprien, Theotiste, and Diego were part of the Acadians who settled in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. They arrived in New Orleans on the ship The Virgin on July 12, 1767, and made their way to Fort St. Gabriel. There was an additional member of the family when they arrived. Theotiste gave birth to a daughter that they named Marguerite during the voyage.
Map of St. Gabriel showing the location of the Acadians who settled there in 1767.
When they arrived in Louisiana, they were given land grants by the Spanish Crown. As you can see in the photo, Theotiste and Diego were on a plot next to her father Joseph (listed as Diego Arnanz). On the other side of Joseph is his brother-in-law Augustin Landry. Two plots down from him is Joseph Dupuis. I’ll be talking about him in my next installment. Past him are Pierre Paul Hebert and Paul Gaston Hebert. We talked about them in the 4th installment.
This is an early map of St. Gabriel, so it doesn’t show all of the families that I descend from who settled there. The Antoine Breau family were Exiled in Port Tobacco, Maryland, and they had a two year diversion to Fort Natchez before they made it to St. Gabriel in 1769 or so. The Honore Braud family spent a much longer time in Exile in France, but they eventually made it to St. Gabriel in 1785. They were just in time for their eligible daughter Olive Elizabeth to get together with recently widowed Joseph Ignatius Landry, son of Augustin.
Joseph Ignatius and Olive had a son named Narcisse. Narcisse would get married to Marie Carmelite Hebert, the daughter of Marie Marthe Hernandez and Simon Hebert. They would have a son named Trasimond who would marry Belite Bujol. Belite would bring in the Bujol and Bourg lines that were discussed in previous installments. Trasimond and Belite had a daughter named Marie Therese who would marry Max Patureau. Max would bring the Dupuis line into the mix. He was a descendant of the Joseph Dupuy who was one of those early Acadians who settled in St. Gabriel next to our other ancestors.
Max and Therese had a daughter named Erie. She would marry Rob Landry. Rob Landry would not bring any other lines to the mix. Everyone that was related to Rob was related to Erie. But these two would bring about someone very special. That would be their daughter Germaine Erie Landry. She was a very sweet person and she was my aunt. She was born on April 6, 1927, and she died yesterday (July 15, 2020) at 6:40 pm. She was a good older sister to my father. She was the loving wife of Ross Winn. She was the caring mother to her three children. She was a devoted Catholic all her life. She was a dedicated nurse for many years.
She was such a good person. She will be missed.
Landry Reunion on June 11, 2016. Here I am with my aunts Frances Landry Raley and Germaine Landry Winn. Frances died in February 2020 and now Germaine has died.
For other installments of the “From Acadian to Cajun” series, click on the following links:
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 1 – Landry/Babin
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 2 – Breau/Trahan
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 3 – Braud/LeBlanc/Gauterot/Aucoin
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 4 – Hebert/Melanson
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 5 – Bourg/Granger
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 6 – Bujol/LeBlanc
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 7 – Foret/Bujol
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 9 – Dupuis/Dugas
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 10 – Bourg/Babin/Landry in a short story called “Finding Home”
From Acadian to Cajun: Part 11 – The Ones That Didn’t Make It
Really enjoyed reading this very much. Loved the way you shared family ancestry in an easy to read format. I am originally from St. Martinville.
Great article, Van! I am a Babin with Hernandez cousins, but they descend from Canary Islanders and their Hernandez name was changed from Fernandez, so no relation on that side. We’ve talked before on Wikitree. You and I are 6th cousins once removed. I’m Babin-2438 on WikiTree. Anyway, I have been looking for years for the source of this map you posted in this article and I finally found it! I’ll message you with the map info on WikiTree.