Acadian history | Family History

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 11 – The Ones That Didn’t Make it

January 7, 2021 Van One comment

It’s time to finish up my Acadian to Cajun series that I wrote throughout the year 2020. I’ve covered all of the lines of my family that came to Louisiana from Acadie. I’ve learned a lot while writing this series. Before I started doing the research, I only knew that my family lines had been deported to Maryland and France. I discovered that other family lines were deported to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Some other family members had made their way to Ile St. Jean which was under French rule until 1758. From those places, they made their way to England, France, and St. Domingue (Haiti) before arriving in Louisiana – if they survived long enough.

It’s time to talk about the ones that didn’t make it. Obviously the ones that I descend from that didn’t make it were adults who had children already. I didn’t talk about all of the family members who were affected by the Grand Derangement in the original installments. Either I didn’t know about them or I didn’t want to overly complicate the stories at the time. But they deserve a mention.

Installment 1 was about the extended families of Augustin Landry and Marie Madeleine Babin.

From Installment 1 of my Acadian to Cajun series, I’ve already talked about Pierre Landry. He was the father of Augustin Landry who brought his family to Louisiana by way of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. I talked about him in my post about Landry Grandfathers. Augustin’s wife was Marie Magdelena Babin and her mother was Marguerite Bourg. I talked about Marguerite in Installment 10. But I didn’t talk about Marguerite’s father Alexandre Bourg who was still alive at the time of the Grand Derangement.

Can you imagine your whole life turning upside down at the age of 84? That’s what happened to Alexandre. He moved to Ile St. Jean sometime in the early 1750s. He was living with his daughter Anne and her husband Joseph LeBlanc in 1752 in Port Toulouse. He somehow escaped being Exiled after the fall of Louisbourg in 1758. He had been a royal notary for many years, so he may have still had some political connections on both the French and English sides of the conflict. He was 87 years old at the time. He was 89 years old when he died in 1760 in Richiboucton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Installment 2 covered the family of Antoine Breau and Marguerite Landry. Antoine’s mother Claire Trahan is listed below him. I could find no information about the ancestors of Marguerite Landry.

In Installment 2, I talked about the Charles Breaux family who was Exiled to Port Tobacco, Maryland, in 1755. Charles died in Port Tobacco sometime around between 1763 and 1765. His wife Claire Trahan made it to Louisiana where she lived a short while. Claire’s mother was Marie Helene Pellerin and she was alive in 1755, but she was living in Ile St. Jean which was still under French rule. She died August 27, 1756, at the age of 87. She was my 7x great grandmother.

In Installment 3, I talked about the Pierre Breaux family. Pierre was the brother of Charles Breaux. Some of his family were also Exiled to Port Tobacco and Pierre died before 1763. In the meantime his son Honore had been deported to Virginia and was sent on to England and France. He eventually married Elizabeth LeBlanc. She was the daughter of Victor LeBlanc and Marie Aucoin. I talked about the tragic deaths of Marie, her parents, and two of her young children by her second husband Gregoire Maillet.

Installment 3 was about Honore Braud, Elisabeth Le Blanc, and their extended families

But I didn’t tell you anything about Victor LeBlanc’s family. I doubt that anybody noticed because I was talking about so many people. The other reason I didn’t write about it was that I wasn’t sure about his family. When I looked around for information about him, I found different parents than what I had . My dad had obtained that information from Acadian researcher Bona Arnsenault. But recently more information was discovered that showed he was from a different family. I needed time to “Let go of” his previous parents and make the changes.

His parents were Pierre ‘dit Pinou’ LeBlanc (1685-1769) and Francoise Landry (1693-1767). I descend from siblings of both of them, so there were no new lines to add to the tree. Francoise was the sister of Pierre Landry who I mentioned earlier. Pierre LeBlanc and Francoise Landry were Exiled to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. They both showed up on a 1757 Census of Acadian Exiles, as well as another one conducted in 1763. After the Seven Year War was over, many of the Acadian Exiles in Massachusetts decided to return to Canada. Around May 17, 1767, Pierre and Francoise, along with the family of their daughter Angelique (married to Germaine Dupuis, the first cousin of my ancestor Joseph Dupuis from Installment 9), boarded the schooner Abigail bound for Quebec. They arrived in Quebec on June 18. Sadly, Francoise died a few months later on October 3, 1767, in Lavaltrie, Quebec, at the age of 74. Pierre died on October 22, 1769, in Montreal at the age of 84.

Pierre Paul Hebert’s and Marguerite LeBlanc’s families were discussed in Installment 4.

In Installment 4, we talked about the Hebert family. They were Exiled to Georgetown, Maryland. If you’re keeping track, my ancestors were deported to four locations in Maryland: Upper Marlboro, Port Tobacco, Oxford, and Georgetown. They seemed comparatively the safest places to be Exiled. I could be biased since my ancestors survived being deported there. We descend from survivors of catastrophes through the ages. Just because a person is a Holocaust survivor doesn’t mean that they had an easy time of it. And it’s not like they had a choice.

I mentioned in that installment that Marguerite LeBlanc (the wife of Pierre Paul Hebert) was the daughter of Antoine LeBlanc and Marie Babin. I am a bit more sure of her parentage than back then and have found out more information about them. To make things perfectly clear, I found out that Antoine LeBlanc and Victor LeBlanc were double first cousins. That means that his father Antoine was the brother of Pierre ‘dit Pinou’ LeBlanc and his mother Anne Landry was the sister of Francoise Landry. Antoine LeBlanc (the grandfather of Marguerite) died before the Grand Derangement in 1739 in Grand Pre, Acadie. His wife Anne Landry (my ancestor) was Exiled to Massachusetts like her sister. She also died in Quebec in 1767 like her sister. Anne was 79 years old when she died. The younger Antoine LeBlanc (father of Marguerite) died in 1744 at less than 40 years of age. It is believed that his wife Marie Babin (my ancestor) was deported to Virginia, which is very unfortunate. They were sent on to England where they were treated poorly. Many of them suffered from smallpox and died. It looks like Marie was one of those that died in 1756 in that group.

Installment 5 discussed the families of Joseph Bourg and Marie Magdelene Granger.

In Installment 5, I told you about the very tragic story of Magdelene Granger, my 6x great grandmother. Her first marriage was to Alain Bujol. They had two children together in Ile St. Jean, but were later deported in 1758 at the fall of Louisbourg. She was the only survivor of her little family due to the circumstances of being Exiled. I found out that her father Joseph Granger was alive at the time of the initial deportations in 1755. I descend from his first wife Anne Richard who died in 1751. Joseph remarried shortly after that (he was 54 years old) to a Marguerite Gautrot. They had two sons before the deportations began. Joseph’s family was deported to Virginia. (cue the somber music) They were on a ship that arrived in England in June of 1756. There was no sweet reunion for Joseph and Magdelene. When she was married in 1760, Joseph is listed as deceased. She is my inspiration for perseverance!

Installments 6 and 7 were about the families of the brothers Etienne and Joseph Bugeaud. I descend from both of them.

In Installment 6, Joseph Bujol and Anne LeBlanc were sent into Exile with their family to Oxford, Maryland. I bet you were relieved to hear that they weren’t sent to Virginia! This history is so full of tragedies. Thankfully this little family fared well during their time in Exile. The family stayed intact and actually grew during their time in Maryland. This wasn’t true for their extended families. Anne’s mother Jeanne Bourgeois was Exiled to Cambridge, Massachusetts. She arrived in December 1755 and it was the last that was heard of her. Three of her children died in Liverpool, England, in 1756 and another one died in France in 1759. Jeanne was probably not aware of their deaths since those events happened across the ocean. We know that she had died before the 1763 Census at the age of about 70.

The story in Installment 7 was about Joseph Bujol’s brother Etienne and his wife Anne Forest. Anne was another of those with a tragic story. She lost her first husband during the Exile. What I didn’t mention in that installment was the fate of her parents Pierre Forest and Madelaine Babin. They were alive when the Grand Derangement began and they were deported to Weymouth, Massachusetts. He died within the first year of Exile at the age of 62. Madelaine shows up on the November 10, 1756, Census in Weymouth as a widow. There are no records of her after that time. So she probably died shortly after that before the age of 60.

Joseph and Etienne’s extended family was not Exiled during the initial deportations of 1756. They had several younger brothers and sisters who moved to Ile St. Jean with their parents Joseph Bujol and Josette Landry. They were there by the time of the Census of 1752. So while Joseph the younger and Etienne were Exiled with their families in 1755, other family members were able to stay at Ile St. Jean until 1758. It was at this point that Joseph the elder died. Either he died prior to the deportation or as a result of it. He was 59 years old. Josette and some of her children fled north with the help of a son-in-law who was part of the Acadian militia. They surrendered to the British and were held in Nova Scotia until the end of the Seven Year War. They made their way to Quebec and settled there. Josette eventually died on June 8, 1778, in Bonaventure, Quebec, at the age of 77. She did not see her sons Joseph and Etienne during the last 22 years of her life.

So that’s it. I previously covered the extended families of the ancestors I discussed in Installments 8, 9, and 10. I don’t think I’ll ever think of the Grand Derangement or even Acadie in the same way ever again. Hopefully I’ll always be aware of the difficulties my ancestors had to endure in order for me to be able to call myself a Cajun. Even though those I mentioned in this post didn’t survive the Exile to make it to Louisiana, I will still consider them honorary Cajuns! I think of it as a title of respect and they definitely deserve it.

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 8 – Hernandez/Babin

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 9 – Dupuis/Dugas

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 10 – Bourg/Babin/Landry

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 3 – Braud/LeBlanc/Gauterot/Aucoin

January 29, 2020 Van One comment

The second installment of this series was about Antoine Breaux and his close family. He was the son of Charles Breaux. This week we are looking at the family of Antoine’s first cousin Honore Breaux – my 4X great grandfather. His father Pierre was the brother of Charles and his mother was Marguerite Gautrot (More commonly seen in southern Louisiana as Gautreaux).

Honore was born in the small Village of Breau in Pisiquit, Acadie, in 1735. This is where he spent his childhood. He was the second of seven children with a good mix of four boys and three girls. Though there was a war going on between France and England during some of his childhood, it was mostly occurring in the Old World. There were some consequences to Acadie, but his home life was probably undisturbed by it. He was one of the last of the Acadians to have an undisturbed childhood in Acadie.

Honore was 20 years old when the time of the Exile began in the middle of 1755. He was likely living on his own, because he was not rounded up with his immediate family. He was deported to Virginia, while his parents were sent to Maryland with the large group of the Breaux family we talked about last time. That didn’t seem too far from Virginia, right? Maybe he would someday see his parents and siblings again.

Honore’s future wife (and my 4X great grandmother) took a different route to their eventual meeting. Elisabeth LeBlanc was born in 1743 in Beaubassin, Acadie, to Victor LeBlanc and Marie Aucoin. She had an older sister named Marie Marguerite and younger brothers named Pierre, Armand, and Olivier. Before I tell you about their odyssey, let me go back a little further with their family to show just how much an impact the Grand Derangement had on this family.

Victor LeBlanc died before the Exile (in 1750), but his wife Marie Aucoin was alive at the time. Her parents (Elisabeth’s maternal grandparents) were Rene Aucoin & Madeleine Bourg. At the time of the Exile, Rene and Madeleine were deported to Virginia, which was where their granddaughter’s future husband also was sent.

Virginia was not a very welcoming place for the Acadians. By the spring of 1756, Governor Dinwiddie was ready to rid himself of these “internal enemies.” So by May 10th over 1000 Acadians were thrown out of Virginia and sent to England aboard ships Fanny Bovey, Virginia Packet, Bobby Goodridge, and Industry. Rene Aucoin & Madeleine Bourg and Honore Breau were aboard Virginia Packet.

The ships of exiled Acadians began arriving in English ports starting on June 18th. Virginia Packet was in Bristol, England, the following day. The town was unprepared for them because they weren’t told about the departures from North America. For three days they were left at the wharves. They were then housed in old, ruined buildings. Many of the young, old, or weak died of smallpox and exhaustion. Rene (66) and Madeleine (62) were dead before September of that year. Rene’s (Aucoin) family was really hit hard. Within that same year, his sister Agnes and six of her children died from smallpox and neglect. Honore must have been a sturdy 21-year-old, because he made it through this place of disease and death. He and the other surviving Acadians were then moved to Falmouth in October, 1756. He was continually getting further away from his parents, so his chances of reuniting with them were decreasing as time went by.

Meanwhile his future wife Elisabeth LeBlanc avoided that initial round of deportations. Her mother Marie Aucoin had remarried to a man named Gregoire Maillet around 1751 and they relocated to Ile St. Jean. They had a daughter named Marguerite in 1752 and a son named Felix in 1754. Since Ile St. Jean was still under French Rule, they were not Exiled in 1755. It was still an unstable situation with conflicts going on between England and France. In the midst of all of this, Marie and Gregoire welcomed little Madeleine to their family in 1756.

Ile St. Jean did not remain under French control very long. The French stronghold at Fort Louisbourg fell to the English in July of 1758. It was decided that the French inhabitants of Ile St. Jean would be deported to France. Elisabeth and her family were treated as prisoners for a few months. She was able to stay together with her family, except for her older sister Marie Marguerite who had got married earlier that year. Her fate was now connected to her husband. The household of Gregoire Maillet and Marie Aucoin were loaded onto the Tamerlan in late 1758 with a destination of France.

The ship arrived in St. Malo, France, on January 16, 1759. There were many tragedies that occurred on these ships deporting the Acadians to France during a time when winter storms can cause troubles. Though our family were not aboard one of the ships that sank, they still encountered tragedy. During the transport, young Felix and Madeleine died and were buried in the Atlantic Ocean. Poor Marie. I don’t know if she was aware of the deaths of her parents in England, but she was with her two babies when they died on their forced journey. She was keenly aware of those deaths.

As far as the bigger picture was concerned, this was the time of the Seven Year War. I’m sure that’s not what it was called when it began in 1755. The deportation of the Acadians from their homeland continued throughout this time of war. The Treaty of Paris brought the war to an end in February of 1763. During the war Exiles in England and in other places were considered prisoners of war. They were not free to go wherever they chose, nor could they obtain employment. They were to be provided government funds to meet basic needs, but the funds were not provided in a timely manner.

So at the time of the Treaty of Paris, we find Honore still in England. We don’t know if he had heard the news of his father Pierre Breaux’s death that occurred sometime before 1763 in Port Tobacco. Honore was considered a prisoner of war, but now the war was over. He and several other Acadians were put on board the royal frigate La Dorothée and sent to France. They arrived on May 23 in St. Malo. Honore was identified as a 28-year-old single man who was plowman, laborer, and carpenter.

I’m sure you can all guess what happened next. When we last saw Elisabeth LeBlanc, she had reached St. Malo with her mother Marie. Her mother died three months after their arrival in France. Elisabeth was the oldest of the five remaining siblings, so I’m sure she grew up quickly and helped to care for her younger siblings. By the end of the war, she was 23 years old. She met Honore sometime after that, and they were married on Feb. 10, 1766. They lived in St. Servan, France, at this time. Nine months after their marriage their first child Jean Charles was born.

My connection to Olive Elisabeth Breaux and her father Honore is through my paternal line.

The most important event happened in 1769. Olive Elisabeth was born. She is my great great great grandmother. She would later marry Joseph Ignatius Landry, who you heard about in the first two installments of this series. Their third son’s name was Narcisse. His fourth (and youngest) son was Simon Alcide. Simon Alcide’s seventh (and youngest) son was Robert Joseph “Rob” Sr., who was my grandfather. My father was Robert Joseph Jr. or Bob. He was the third of four sons. My name is Van and I’m the third of three sons. There are two other paths from Olive Elisabeth to myself. I’ll post a chart for those two paths at the end of this story.

In 1771 Honore and Elisabeth had a daughter named Marie Madeleine. A year later they had a son named Pierre Paul who died 11 months later. It seemed like they were trying to make a home there. Honore and his family joined other Acadians in an attempt to develop a community on the island of Bouin in Poitou, France, in 1773. They had another son Elie in 1774. The Poitou venture was unsuccessful, so they moved on to Nantes in 1775. Their last four children were born there: Jeanne in 1776, Pierre Paul in 1779, and twins Rose Marie and Charles in 1781. All of their children were born in France.

1763 Census of French Neutrals in Port Tobacco, Maryland, includes Marguerite Breaux veuve (widow of Pierre Breaux)

I had mentioned the possibility of Honore reuniting with his parents after being torn from them during the Great Upheaval. That was not to happen. As I mentioned earlier, his father died before 1763. His mother Marguerite Gautrot Breaux had been with the Breaux group that arrived in New Orleans on Feb. 4, 1768 aboard the Ginea. They were sent to Natchez in 1768. She relocated to Ascension Parish in Louisiana and died there in 1773 at the age of 67. So her name made it to the Wall in St. Martinville, as did her son’s, but they were not reunited in Louisiana.

Marguerite Gauterot arrived in New Orleans in 1768. Her husband Pierre Breau died in Exile in Maryland.

Then in 1783 a Frenchman from Poitou developed a project to relocate the Acadians to Louisiana. Even though there wasn’t much work to be found in France and the assistance they were provided was sporadic, the Acadians didn’t know if they should trust this proposal. Other attempts at starting communities had failed and the participants had returned to France. Once the kings of France and Spain had been sold on the idea, the Acadians soon decided to go along with the idea.

On May 12, 1785, the family of Honore and Elisabeth boarded the LaBergere along with their fellow Acadians bound for Louisiana. They arrived in New Orleans on August 15 and settled in St. Gabriel near other Breaux family members who had arrived previously. I don’t know if Honore reunited with any of his siblings or not. It’s possible that two of his younger sisters made it to Louisiana, so it could have happened. It’s hard to imagine living in an unsettled situation for thirty years. That’s a whole generation. Honore started the Exile as a young man, and when the family found their new home, his oldest son was just about the same age. At least he made it. Not all of them did.

In 1787 Olive Elisabeth Breaux married Joseph Ignatius Landry in St. Gabriel. Honore and Elisabeth were there to see their daughter married. They survived long enough to see all of the children of Olive Elisabeth and Joseph Ignatius. In fact, they outlived Joseph Ignatius who died in 1806. At the time of his Joseph Ignatius’s death, court documents of August 4, 1806, show that the guardianship of his minor children was proposed to go to their grandfather Honore Breaux.

He accepted that responsibility on the same day.

The second path from Olive Elisabeth to myself goes through my Patureau line. All of the Patureau families originating in Louisiana descend from Honore Breaux.