BOOK ELEVEN:  The Non-Acadian "Cajun" Families of South Louisiana

 

INTRODUCTION

BOOK ONE:        French Acadia

BOOK TWO:        British Nova Scotia

BOOK THREE:     Families, Migration, and the Acadian "Begats"

BOOK FOUR:      The French Maritimes

BOOK FIVE:        The Great Upheaval

BOOK SIX:          The Acadian Immigrants of Louisiana

BOOK SEVEN:     French Louisiana

BOOK EIGHT:      A New Acadia

BOOK NINE:        The Bayou State

BOOK TEN:          The Louisiana Acadian "Begats"

BOOK TWELVE:  Acadians in Gray

 

The Non-Acadian "Cajuns" of South Louisiana

Soon after Acadian exiles reached Louisiana they wasted little time taking wives and husbands from among the non-Acadian families living in the colony.  The earliest recorded marriage in Louisiana between an Acadian and a non-Acadian--what sociologists call exogamy--occurred on 17 January 1766, only two years after the first Acadian exiles reached the colony.  At New Orleans, Rosalie dite Rose, daughter of Charles Thibodeau and Brigitte Breau and widow of Claude Richard, married Jacques LaChaussée, fils from Côte-de-Beaupré just below Québec City.  A native of Pointe-de-Beauséjour, Chignecto, Rose had come to the colony from Halifax via French St.-Domingue a few months earlier.  The couple settled in the established Acadian community of Cabahannocer on the river above New Orleans.  Rose died soon after the marriage, perhaps from the rigors of childbirth, and Jacques remarried to Acadian Marie-Marthe LeBlanc at Cabahannocer in early February 1768.01 

In the decades that followed, non-Acadians who married Louisiana Acadians included not only French Canadians, but also French, Italian, Swiss, German, Spanish, and Anglo-American immigrants, as well as créoles of those nationalities.  A few of the progenitors of these non-Acadian families had come to Louisiana with Acadian spouses from Maryland in the late 1760s and from France in 1785.  Some had come to the colony before the Acadians arrived, while others came after and chose to live in Acadian-majority communities.  Members of many of these polyglot families eagerly married their Acadian neighbors, contributing to the creation of an exotic new culture--the "Cajuns" of South Louisiana: 

Adam

Aillet

Albert

Alexandre/Alexandrie

Allemand

Andrus

Angelle

Arnaud

Aubert

Augeron/Ogeron

Authement

Autin

Ayo

Badeaux

Barbier

Barras

Barrios

Manuel Miguel, son of José Barrios and Ana Cabrera, was born at Teguise on the island of Lanzerote, at the eastern end of the Canary Islands chain, in April 1753 and baptized five days after his birth at Our Lady of Guadalupe of the Royal Villa of Teguise.  In 1775, still unmarried, Manuel Miguel enlisted in the Spanish army on Lanzerote.  He was, according to two of his descendants, "unlettered" but nonetheless "scion of the noble and ancient family of the Cabreras of Spain, of the Portuguese Barrios who ancestral castle was on the boundary of Portugal and Galicia, and of Maciot de Berthancourt, second King of the Canary Islands."  Manuel evidently spent the first years of his service in the Third Company of the Third Battalion, Infantry Regiment of Spain, in the Canaries.  He was not part of the emigration of his fellow Isleños to Spanish Louisiana in 1778-79.  A filiacion, or certificate of legitimacy, filed in the islands in c1778, described him as age 25, standing five feet, one inch tall, with "black hair, grey, brown, cloudy or hazel or dark eyes," and "brunet or olive complexioned."  The filiation also noted that he had joined the Spanish army as a substitute in late April 1775, which evidently got him in hot water with the local authorities.  Nevertheless, by June 1783, when he received orders to report to Governor-General Bernardo de Gálvez at New Orleans, Manuel had risen to the rank of corporal.  He evidently reported to his new unit--the Second Company of the First Battalion of the Fixed Regiment of Louisiana--by October 1783, two years after Gálvez's successful Gulf Coast Campaign against the British.  Now age 30, secure in his profession, and enjoying the life of a soldier in peacetime, Corporal Barrios, with permission from his superiors, was ready to establish a family of his own in the Mississippi valley colony.

On 25 September 1786, at Ascension, today's Donaldsonville, on the river above New Orleans, 33-year-old Manuel Barrios "of Spain," married Antonia, called Antoinette, 16-year-old of Tomas Antonio Rodriguez Mora and Petrona Pabla Chavez "of Spain,"  Antonio actually was a fellow Isleño who came to Louisiana with her family in 1779.  José Sanches, perhaps a fellow soldier, perhaps a kinsman of the bride, witnessed the wedding, performed by Father Pedro de Zamora, who had come to La Parroquia de la Ascension de Nuestro Senor Jesu Christo de La Fourche de Los Tchitimacha only the year before.  The couple settled at nearby Valenzuéla, an Isleño settlement on upper Bayou Lafourche that Gálvez had founded seven years earlier.  In January 1788, the commandant at Valenzuéla, Nicolas Verret, fils, counted Manuelle Barilos, "corporal," age 39, and his 18-year-old wife Antoinette, no surname given, on the left, or east, bank of Bayou Lafourche.  The couple owned a horse and five pigs.  The census said nothing of the size of their holdings fronting the Lafourche.  A month or so later, Antonia gave the corporal a son, Manuel Antonio, baptized at Ascension by Father de Zamora, no age given, in late March 1788.  In January 1789, Commandant Verret found the couple still on the left bank of the Lafourche.  Manuel Barrios, his surname spelled correctly this time, was, according to the commandant, age 40 (he was actually 35) and still a corporal.  Antoinette, as the Frenchman called her again, was age 19.  Oddly, Verret said nothing about their son Manuel, who would have been nearly a year old, nor did he detail the size of the family's bayou-side holding or the number of animals they owned.  Manuel was promoted to second corporal of his company in April 1789.  A daughter, Petra Sebastiana, was born in October 1790 and baptized at Ascension by Father José de Arazena the first of November.  In January 1791, Commandant Verret again found the couple on the left bank of the Lafourche.  The commandant listed Manuel as age 36 (he was 37) and Antonia, as he now called her, age 24 (she was 21), and said nothing about Manuel's rank, so one wonders if the little corporal had retired by then.  This time, the commandant counted the couple's children:  Manuel, age 2, and Petra, age 1.  Again, Verret did not give the size of the couple's bayou-side holding, but he did note that they owned three head of cattle, a horse, and, amazinlgy, four slaves.  Son José Antonio Rogerio was born in late March 1793 and baptized by Father de Arazena at Ascension in early April.  Another son, Bartolome Julian, also called Valtolome or Baltolome, was born in February 1796 and baptized at Ascension four days after his birth.  The family again appears in a Valenzuéla District census in April 1797.  This rather cursory count, again made by Commandant Nicolas Verret, fils, did not specify on which side of the Lafourche any of the families lived nor the size of their holdings or the animals they owned, only the names of the family members and how many slaves they may have held.  Manuel, still no longer called a corporal, was listed as age 38 (he was 44), wife Josepha, obviously a misidentification, age 30 (Antonia was 27), son Manuelle, as he was called, age 9, Joseph, age 3, Bartolome, age 2 (actually 1), and daughter Petronilda, as the commandant called her, age 1 (she was 7!).  The commandant counted no slaves with the couple.  The family continued to grow.  Daughter Maria Manuela, perhaps also called Marguerite, was born in December 1798 and baptized at Ascension in January.  Another daughter, Anna Maria, the couple's final child, was born in March 1807 and baptized soon after at La Parroquia de la Assumption de Nuestra Senora de La Fourche de los Chetimachas de Valenzuéla, the Church of the Assumption, at present-day Plattenville, Assumption Parish.  The family now consisted of six children, three sons and three daughters, born on upper Bayou Lafourche between 1788 and 1807.  Two of the daughters and all three of the sons created families of their own in Bayou Lafourche valley.  A daughter and two sons married Acadians.

Meanwhile, in December 1801, Manuel purchased from neighbor Jean Dugas, an Acadian, a farm of six arpents, 25 toises frontage and "one hundred and twenty five superficial arpents" deep "about 4 leagues from the Mississippi River on the left bank toward Bayou Lafourche," above present-day Plattenville, down bayou from the old Valenzuéla village at present-day Belle Rose. The house on Manuel's six-arpent farm was "20 feet long by 14 feet wide," and the property contained "a storehouse of 20 feet by 12 feet, and about one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred posts used for fences," all for "one thousand pesos in Mexican silver money, that is, two hundred pesos down, 400 with interest at 10%" due the following January, "and the remaining 400 in January 1803 with interest also at 10%."  One of Manuel's neighbors was Pierre Gautreaux, another Acadian.  In December 1801, only a week after he purchased the six-arpent farm from Jean Dugas, Manuel sold to Antonio Pereira for 500 pesos "a place on the left bank of Bayou Lafourche," perhaps his original homestead, of three-arpents frontage, which he purchased from Antonio Dias in 1796.  On this lot was "a house 25 feet in length by 11 feet in width, with two galleries, made of posts in the ground, one old storehouse with two galleries 20 feet in length by 11 in width, one old cabin 10 feet wide, and about one thousand two hundred feet of fences and barricades."  In May 1804, Manuel sold to Claudio Francisco Girod part of the land he had purchased from Jean Dugas less than three years earlier. 

The little corporal died at Assumption in early December 1807.  The priest who recorded the burial said that Manuel died at age 50.  He was 54.  Widow Antonia wasted no time remarrying.  Her second husband was Jean Pierre Avilles of Asturias on the northern coast of Spain, who she married in October 1808, in her late 30s.  A witness to the remarriage was Vicente Rodriguez Mora, her uncle, who also had come to Louisiana in 1779.  Antonia gave her new husband at least one son, Gabriel de Jesus, at Assumption in December 1809.   

The first hint of the Barrios family lines's endurance came in August 1807, when Manuel and Antonia's oldest son Manuel Antonio, called Antoine by the presiding priest, probably Father Francisco Notario, married, at age 29, Maria Dolores, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Isleños Juan Placentia, later Plaisance, and Maria Francesca Borges, at Assumption in August 1807, four months before his father died.  Maria Dolores was a native of Valenzuéla whose parents, like his mother, had come to the colony from the Canary Islands in 1779.  Interestingly, the three witnesses to his marriage were all Acadian:  neighbors Jean-Baptiste Foret, Jean-Charles Theriot, and Paul Aucoin.  Their children, born on the upper bayou, included Angela Maria, called Angélique, in February 1809 and baptized in October 1810; Manuel Ramone in March 1810 and baptized in October on the same day as his sister; José Guillermo in January 1812 and baptized in April; and Margarita Carmen, called Marguerite Carmelite, in March 1815 and baptized in May--four children, two daughters and two sons, between 1809 and 1815.  Daughters Angélique and Marguerite Carmelite married into the Bourgeois, Durand, Cantrelle, and Richau, Richaux or Richou families.  Both of Manuel Antonio's sons married, one of them twice, and one to an Acadian.  Older son Manuel Rosémond, as he was called, married, at age 24, married first cousin Rosalie Marcelline, 17-year-old daughter of Joseph Barrios and Rosalie Foret, his uncle and aunt, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1834.  She evidently gave him no children.  Manuel, called Emanuel Parralias by the recording priest, at age 36, remarried to Pamela, daughter of Jacques Matherne and Marie Remelie Sevin, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1846, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1848.  Their children, born on the lower bayou, included Adam in September 1848; Marcelline Prosperine near Longueville, today's Lockport, in June 1850; Jérôme Cléophas in September 1851; Marie perhaps in the early 1850s; Floro Evelina in November 1857; Marie Angela near Raceland in January 1861; Joséphine Adela in December 1862; Aglae Cléophine near Lockport in June 1865; Augustine Uzeline in August 1868.  Daughter Marie married into the Vinet family by 1870.  Manuel Antonio's younger son Joseph Guillaume, as he was called, married, at age 26, Geneviève Olymphe, 15 (the recording priest said 18)-year-old daughter of Acadians Olivier Guidry and Henriette Bergeron, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in August 1838, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church in March 1841--a continuation of the family's "Cajunization."  Their children, born on the lower bayou, included Joseph Octave, called Octave, in April 1840; Gustave perhaps in the early 1840s; Joséphine perhaps in the early 1840s; Louisiane Mirthée, called Mirthée, in November 1845; Henriette Geneviève in May 1848; Clémence Cécile near Raceland in November 1851; Françoise Argentine in March 1855; Manuel Olivier in August 1857; Pierre Alphonse in July 1861; Augustin Edgard in September 1864.  Daughters Mirthée, Joséphine, and Henriette married into the Dugas, Allemand, and Wilton families by 1870.  Two of Joseph Guillaume's sons married by 1870.  Oldest son Octave, at age 26, married Louise Marguerite Renaud in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in July 1866.  Joseph Guillaume's second son Gustave married, at age 25, Marie Amélie, 22-year-old daughter of Acadian François Régis Bergeron and his Creole wife Elisa Grabert, at the Thibodaux Church in November 1865.  Their children, born near Lockport, included Marie Emétantia in December 1866; Joséphine Valérie in October 1868 but died at age 1 1/2 in May 1870; Cécilia Elvinia born in June 1870.

Meanwhile, Manuel and Antonia's oldest daughter Petra, at age 17, married Francisco, son of Paulo Navarre or Navarro of the La Mancha region of Spain, and Maria Acosta of Aguimes, Grand Canaria Island, at Assumption in January 1808.  Petra gave Francisco at least six children, three daughters and three sons, half of whom died young, in the first decade of their marriage. 

Manuel and Antonia's second son José, at age 22, married Rosalie, 13-year-old daughter of Acadians Jean Baptiste Foret and Sophie Bourgeois, at Assumption in February 1816.  Rosalie, a native of Ascension, would turn 14 in late April.  Her parents also were natives of Louisiana.  Her paternal grandfather Joseph Forest, a native of Ste.-Famille, Pigiguit, had come to the colony with his first wife, Isabelle Leger, from Halifax in 1765 and settled at Cabahannocer on the river, where Rosalie's father Jean Baptiste was born.  Rosalie's maternal grandfather, Michel Bourgeois, a native of Chignecto, came to Louisiana as a young bachelor with the Broussards from Halifax in February 1765, followed them to Bayou Teche, retreated to Cabahannocer that fall to escape the Teche valley epidemic, which began that summer, and married a Landry at Cabahannocer, where her mother Sophie was born.  They, too, moved on to upper Bayou Lafourche.  Here was the beginning of the Barrios family's intimate acquaintance with the emerging "Cajun" culture.  José and Rosalie's many children, born on the upper bayou, included Rosalie Marcelline in December 1816; Marie Clarisse in August 1818; Joseph Barthalemi, also called Joseph Bertholde, in December 1819; Remond or Raymond in December 1821; Paul in March 1825; Marguerite Zeline or Zelide in January 1826; Antoinette Melicer in January 1828; Marie Louise, called Louise and Laure, in August 1830; Evelina or Eveline Lefonsine in November 1832; Firmin in March 1835; Valmond Ulisse in August 1837; Alphonse Guillaume in January 1840; Antenor or Athenor Théophile in July 1845--13 children, six daughters and seven sons, between 1816 and 1845.  Daughters Rosalie Marcelline, Marie Clarisse, Marguerite Zelide, Eveline, and Louise married a Barrios first cousin and into the Lie, Richau or Richaux, Charpentier, and Bourgeois families.  Six of Joseph's sons married by 1870, most to Acadians, three of them to Arceneaux sisters.  Oldest son Joseph Bertholde, at age 30, married Marie Urceline, called Urseline, 18-year-old daughter of Acadian Constant Boudreaux and his Creole wife Hélène Picou, at the Thibodaux church in August 1850.  Did they have any children?  Joseph's second son Raymond, at age 24, married Séraphine, 22-year-old daughter of Acadians Nicolas Arceneaux and Carmelite Breaux, at the Thibodaux church in March 1846.  Their children, born on the bayou, included Marie Zelina or Celina in July 1848; Victor Alidor in March 1850; Joachim near Lockport in October 1857; Alphonse near Raceland in October 1859; Marie in February 1861; Marguerite in January 1863.  Daughter Celina married into the LeBlanc family by 1870.  Joseph's third son Paul, at age 22, married Melisaire, another daughter of Nicolas Arceneaux and Carmelite Breaux, at the Thibodaux church in November 1847.  Their children, born on the lower bayou, included Marcelline in the late 1840s or early 1850s; Paul Arsène near Raceland in December 1853 but died at age 6 months the following June; Louis Abdon born near Lockport in July 1855; Carmelite Sesaye in February 1858; Joseph Onésippe in November 1859; Michel near Raceland in September 1861; Adam Gallien near Lockport in December 1863; Joseph Wilton in August 1865; Rosalie Felisia in September 1867.  Daughter Marcelline married into the Loupes or Loups family by 1870.  Joseph's fourth son Firmin, at age 21, married 22-year-old Émilie Hortense, yet another daughter of Nicolas Arseneaux and Carmelite Breaux, at the Raceland church, Lafourche Parish, in April 1856.  Their children, born on the lower bayou, included Marie Joséphine near Lockport in March 1857; and Marie Stephanie near Raceland in August 1858.  Firmin remarried to Adophine Lerille, probably a sister of his younger brother Alphonse's wife, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in 1863.  Their children, born near Lockport, included Palmore Octave in July 1864; Marie Agnès in November 1865; Louis Ernest in May 1869; Pierre Octave in October 1867; Camille died, age unrecorded, in December 1870.  Joseph's sixth son Alphonse married Louise, daughter of Jean Lerille and his Acadian wife Marguerite Célestine Poirier and widow of Acadian Alexis Delaune, at the Lockport church, Lafourche Parish, in September 1863.  Their children, born near Lockport, included Casimir Clebert in March 1865; Marie Lucie in December 1866.  Joseph's seventh and youngest son Anthenor, at age 19, married Lorenza, daughter of Léonce Price and his Acadian wife Marie Doralise Martin, at the Lockport church in February 1865.  Their son Felicien Adam was born near Lockport in September 1866.  Anthenor died near Lockport in September 1867, age 22.

Manuel and Antonia's second daughter Maria Manuela, called Marguerite by the recording priest, married, at age 22, Jean Baptiste, fils, called Jean, 22-year-old son of Acadians Jean Baptiste Foret and Sophie Bourgeois and older brother of her older brother Joseph's wife Rosalie, at the Thibodauxville church in July 1820.  ...  

Manuel and Antonia's third and youngest son Bartholome, at age 39, married Marie Rose, 28-year-old daughter of Acadian François Doucet and his Creole wife Marie Angelbert and widow of Acadian Jean Baptiste Lejeune, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in March 1835.  Their children, born on the Lafourche, included Marguerite Antoinette, called Antoinette, in January 1836; Jean Baptiste Prospere in June 1837; Charles François in January 1839; and Barthélemy, fils probably in the early 1840s--four children, a daughter and three sons, between 1836 and the early 1840s.  Bartholome, called Bertholde by the recording priest, died near Lockport in October 1870, age 74.  Daughter Antoinette married into the Theriot family.  Two of his sons also married by 1870.  Second son Charles, at age 24, married Marie Odilia, called Odilia, 15-year-old daughter of Acadian Joseph Babin and his Creole wife Félonise Céleste Leboeuf of Terrebonne Parish, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1863.  Their daughter Joséphine Céleste Odilia was born near Lockport in July 1866.  Bartholome's third son Barthélemy, fils married Carmelite, daughter of Gabriel Ubaldo Rodrigue or Rodriguez and Françoise Martinez, at the Lockport church in December 1866.  Their son Prospere Thomas was born near Lockport in November 1867.05

Baudoin

Baye

Beard

Begnaud

Belanger

Belaire

Bellard

Berard

Berthelot

Bienvenu

Blanchet

Blanco

Blouin

Bodin

Bonin

Bonvillain

Borel

Borne

Boudeloche

Boudery/Boutary

Boulee/Boulet

Boyer

Brown

Bruce/Bruze

Bulliard

Caillouet

Campos

Cancienne

Pietro, son of Giorgio Cancieni and Margherita Catharina Yearne of Venice, Italy, married, in his early 30s, Jean-Marguerite, called Marguerite, 21-year-old daughter Acadian Joseph Landry and his second wife Jeanne-Madeleine-Marie Varangue, a Frenchwoman from Cherbourg, at Ascension in February 1786.  One wonders if this was Pietro's first marriage.  Marguerite, a native of Cherbourg, had come to Louisiana from France in September 1785 aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, with three younger siblings; they were orphans.  Pietro and Marguerite settled on upper Bayou Lafourche in what became Assumption and Lafourche parishes.  Pietro's name evolved into Pierre Cancienne in francophone Louisiana.  ...06

Cantrelle

Capdeville

Carmouche

Carrière

Caruthers/Credeur

William Caruthers of Carolina, born in c1740, moved to New Jersey while still a young man and married Elizabeth, daughter of ____ Bickham and Elizabeth Hamton, at Deptford Township, Gloucester County, in June 1761.  Elizabeth was a native of New Jersey, and her mother evidently was a widow at the time of Elizabeth's marriage to William.  The couple's oldest son James married Elizabeth Saunders at Deptford in May 1785.  William and Elizabeth also had sons named Thomas, born probably at Deptford in c1764; and David in c1766.  They also had three daughters:  Sarah born in c1773 probably at Deptford; Mary; and Marguerite.  Sometime in the early 1790s, William, Elizabeth, their younger sons Thomas and David and youngest daughter Marguerite emigrated to Spanish Louisiana.  One suspects they were among the two dozen or so Anglo Americans lured to the Spanish province by Henri-Marie Peyroux de la Coudronière, who was at Philadelphia in 1792 recruiting settlers for Louisiana's Governor Francisco Luis Hector, Baron de Carondelet.  Despite their Protestant religion, William and his family ventured to the Spanish colony and settled at Carencro in the Attakapas District, surrounded by Acadian and Creole Catholics.  When William took his family to Louisiana, older daughters Sarah and Mary remained in New Jersey, where they married Richard Apes and Peter Sutter, respectively.  William's oldest son James and his wife Elizabeth, meanwhile, resettled in New York state, where their son James Samuel, called Samuel, was born in c1792; and James, Jr., in October 1796.  They also had a daughter named Sally or Sarah, born in New Jersey; and another son, William. 

William, the family's progenitor, died at his home at Carencro in April 1808, age 68.  By then, his sons Thomas and David and daughter Marguerite had established their own families in the Carencro area. 

Third and youngest son David, age about 27, was the first to marry, to Élisabeth- or Isabelle-Eulalie, 25-year-old daughter of Acadians Joseph Dugas and his first wife Anastasie Henry and widow of Joseph Prejean, probably at Carencro in October 1793.  Isabelle, a native of St.-Suliac, near St.-Malo, France, came to Louisiana with her father, stepmother, and eight siblings aboard La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, in August 1785.  She was among the hand full of passengers from her ship to move from upper Bayou Lafourche to the western prairies, where she married her first husband at Attakapas in June 1786, when she was age 20.  She gave him at least one son and a daughter before his death.  David would have had to convert to Catholicism to marry the young widow.  Their children, born near Carencro, included Louise in the early 1790s; Julien in December 1796; David Onésime, called Onésime, in June 1799; Marie Arthémise in November 1801; John Marcellin, called Marcellin, in March 1804 but died at age 2 in March 1806; Jean Arvillien, called Arvillien, born in October 1806; and Louis in January 1809.  Wife Isabelle Dugas died at Carencro in September 1810, age 42.  David, now in his late 40s, remarried to Marguerite Lise, daughter of Acadians Jean Savoie and Marguerite Boutin and widow of Charles Peck, probably at Carencro in November 1813.  Their children, born there, included Marie Silvanie in October 1814; Marguerite Louisa in May 1818; an unnamed son died at birth in March 1821; Amelanie born in February 1824; and Marie Mélaïde, called Mélaïde, posthumously in July 1826, nine months after her father's death--a dozen children, six daughters and six sons, by two wives, between the early 1790s and 1826.  David died at two o'clock in the morning on 31 October 1825 probably at Carencro, age 59 or 60.  His successions were filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1826 and August 1827.  Three of his daughters, by both wives, and four of his sons, all by his first wife, created their own families in the Carencro area, which included the southeast corner of St. Landry Parish around Grand Coteau.  Most of them married Acadians. 

Daughters Louise, Marie Arthémise, and Mélaïde, by both wives, married into the Bernard, Neurat, and Caruthers families.  Oldest son Julien, by first wife Isabelle Dugas, married, at age 22, Céleste, daughter of Acadians Sylvestre Mouton and Susanne Comeaux, probably at Carencro in October 1818.  Their children, born near Carencro, included Marguerite Arthémise in c1817; Marie Arthémise in September 1819; and Julien, fils in December 1820--three children, two daughters and a son, between 1817 and 1820.  Julien remarried to Marguerite Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of Acadians Jean Bernard and Marguerite Broussard and widow of Alexandre Guilbeau, at Grand Coteau in March 1845.  She evidently gave him no more children.  Julien died near Grand Coteau in December 1853, age 57.  Daughters Marguerite Arthémise and Marie Arthémise, by first wife Céleste Mouton, married into the Richard and Neurat families.  Only son Julien, Jr., by first wife Céleste Mouton, married cousin Eliza or Elisa, daughter of Acadians Alexandre Babineaux and Marie Cléonise Dugas, at Grand Coteau in July 1843.  Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Émelie in the early 1840s; Aurelien in December 1845; Emelina in January 1849 but died at age 1 in September 1850; and Thelesmar in August 1851.  Julien, Jr. remarried to Adélaïde, daughter of Anglo American James Bruce or Brousse and his Acadian wife Marie Richard, at Grand Coteau in June 1854.  Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Julien III in February 1856; Louis in October 1857 but died at age 1 in November 1858; and Marie Josette born in December 1858 but died at age 1 in December 1859--seven children, four sons and three daughters, by two wives, between 1845 and 1858.  Julien, Jr. died near Grand Coteau in November 1859, age 38.  His succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse within a week of his burial.  Daughter Marie Émelie, by first wife Elisa Babineaux, married a Dugas cousin.  None of Julien, Jr.'s sons married by 1870.  On the same day in October 1818 and probably at the same place as son Julien, David's second son Onésime, by first wife Isabelle Dugas, married, at age 19, Marguerite Emérente, daughter of Acadians Frédéric Mouton and Anastasie Cormier.  Brother Julien's wife Céleste and Onésime's wife Marguerite Emérente were first cousins.  Marguerite Emérente evidently gave Onésime no children, at least none who made it into local church records.  Onésime remarried to Marie Sidalise, daughter of Acadians Dominique Prejean and Marie Savoie, at Grand Coteau in January 1827.  Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Louis Damonville in October 1827 but died at age 6 in August 1834; Marie born in April 1829 but died at age 1 in April 1830; Pierre Neuville born in May 1831; Onésime Dupréville in February 1833 but may have died at age 7 in September 1840; Charles Wilson born in September 1835; Marie Lezime or Lezima in October 1836 but died at age 6 in August 1843; Marie Célestine or Céleste born in March 1841 but may have died at age 3 in August 1844; and Marie Coralie born in July 1843--eight children, four sons and four daughters, all by his second wife, between 1827 and 1843.  Daughter Marie Coralie, by second wife Marie Sidalise Prejean, married into the Broussard family.  None of Onesime's sons married by 1870.  David's fourth son Jean Arvillien, by first wife Isabelle Dugas, married, at age 21, Marie Louise, daughter of Acadians Jean Thibodeaux and Marie Louise Broussard, at Grand Coteau in October 1827.  Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Aurelia in November 1828; Jean Aurelien in November 1830; Euclide in January 1833; David le jeune in April 1835; and Onésime le jeune in c1837 and baptized at age 2 in September 1839--five children, a daughter and four sons, between 1828 and 1837.  None of Jean Arvillien's children married by 1870.  David's fifth son Louis, by first wife Isabelle Dugas, married, at age 40, Elisa, daughter of Acadian Augustin Boudreaux and his German-Creole wife Françoise Ritter and widow of Jean Achille Prejean, at Grand Coteau in December 1849.  Considering his age at the time of the wedding, one wonders if this was a remarriage for Louis as well.  His and Elisa's children, born near Grand Coteau, included Louis D. in c1852 but died at age 6 in January 1858; and Aselie born in June 1855.  Louis died near Grand Coteau in May 1856, age 47.  His remaining daughter did not marry by 1870. 

By the late antebellum period, David Caruthers's sons were doing well on their farms, vacharies, and plantations in Lafayette and St. Landry parishes.  In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted seven slaves--five males and two females, all black, ranging in age from 10 to 1--on Julien, Jr.'s farm in the parish's Western District.  In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted four slaves--two males and two females, all black, ranging in age from 40 to 25--on Onésime's farm in the parish.  The same census taker counted 10 slaves--five males and five females, all of them black, ranging in age from 35 to 2--on Louis's farm next to older brother Onésime.  The same census taker counted 20 slaves--10 males and 10 females, 13 blacks and seven mulattoes, ranging in age from 70 to 2--on Julien, Sr.'s plantation next to younger brother Louis's farm.  Sometime in 1860, the federal census taker in St. Landry Parish counted seven slaves--two males and five females, all black, ranging in age from 44 to 3--on Onésime's farm in the parish.  The same federal census taker counted 15 slaves--11 males and four females, six blacks and nine mulattoes, ranging in age from 50 to 2--on Margaret A Caruthers's farm in the parish.  This likely was Julien, Sr.'s second wife and widow, Marguerite Azélie Bernard.  The same federal census taker counted two slaves--a 16-year-old black males and an 11-year-old black female--in Mélaïde Caruthers's household next to Margaret A.  This could have been Julien, Sr.'s youngest half-sister, who likely was a widow as well. 

William and Elizabeth's second son Thomas, at age 40, was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith in June 1804 on the eve of his marriage to Rosalie Clara, daughter of French Canadian Jean-Baptiste Jeannot and his Acadian wife Marguerite Hébert, probably at Carencro.  Their children, born probably near Carencro, included Joseph in November 1805; Marie Clémence, called Clémence, in September 1807; and Hypolite in February 1822--three children, two sons and a daughter, between 1805 and 1822.  Thomas, a widower, died in Lafayette Parish in November 1822.  The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial said that Thomas was age 50 when he died.  He likely was closer to 58.  Daughter Clémence married into the Gilchrist family.   Thomas's older son Joseph died in Lafayette Parish in November 1827, age 22, probably still a bachelor.   If his younger son Hypolite married, he did not do so by 1870. 

William and Elizabeth's youngest daughter Marguerite married Jean, son of Acadians Augustin Boudreaux and Judith Martin of Opelousas, probably at Carencro in September 1806. 

During the 1810s and early 1820s, William and Elizabeth's oldest son James and oldest daughter Sarah joined their siblings on the prairies of South Louisiana, adding substantially to the number of Carutherss on the prairies. 

James's line was as prolific as his brother David's.  His succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in October 1830; one wonders if it was post-mortem.  Daughter Sally married into the Jenkins family.  James, Sr.'s son Samuel married Victoire, daughter of French Canadian Augustin Royer and his Acadian wife Victoire Cormier of nearby La Prairie Basse, at Carencro in February 1816, the first indication that this line of the family had moved from the northeastern United States to South Louisiana.  Samuel and Victoire's children, born probably near Carencro, included Samuel, Jr. in March 1817; Victorin in July 1818; Guillaume dit William in March 1820; Onésime in January 1823; an unnamed child died 13 days after his or her birth in December 1824; Marie Caroline, called Caroline, baptized at age 2 months in July 1826; Sosthène born in June 1828; Uranie in 1830 and baptized at age 12 months in July 1831 on the eve of her death; Edmond born in August 1832; Césaire in 1835 and baptized at Vermilionville at age 1 in April 1836; and another unnamed child died 2 days after his or her birth in January 1837--11 children, at least seven sons and two daughters, between 1817 and 1837.  Samuel, Sr. died in Lafayette Parish in June 1855.  The priest who recorded the burial said that Samuel died "at age over 60 yrs."  He probably was closer to 63.  His succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in July.  Daughter Caroline married into the Halloway and Trahan families.  One wonders if her first husband was a brother of her brother Victorin's wife.  Caroline's son Cyprien was born near Grand Coteau in February 1853; the priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not record the father's name.  Evidently Samuel's oldest son Samuel, Jr., called Samuel John by the recording priest, married Julienne Clément, probably a French Creole, in St. Landry Parish, date unrecorded.  Their children, born on the prairies, included Samuel Césaire near Mermentau in December 1837; Marie Zelienne in January 1845; Marguerite Euremie in March 1847; Jean Neuville in January 1849; Elodie in July 1851; and Anatalie near Church Point in February 1853--six children, two sons and four daughters, between 1837 and 1853.  Oldest son Samuel Césaire evidently married Acadian Marie Julie, called Julie, Comeaux in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1856.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage called the groom simply Samuel but did not give the bride's or the groom's parents' names.  Their children, born on the prairies, included Joseph Olivier near Grand Coteau in November 1856; and Marie Odelia near Church Point in January 1858.  Samuel, Sr.'s second son Victorin married Elizabeth, daughter of Anglo Americans Isaac Halloway and Adelaide Baird, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in July 1837.  Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Eliza baptized at Vermilionville at age 2 months in February 1840; Marie Azélie, called Azélie, born in December 1841; Joseph Haynes in January 1845; Marie Victoria in July 1847; and Elvina in February 1850--five children, four daughters and a son, between 1840 and 1850.  Victorin died near Grand Coteau in September 1850, age 32.  A succession for Samuel Caruthers, husband of Isabelle Alloway, which would have been Victorin, was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in June 1855.  Daughters Marie Azélie and Eliza married into the Breaux family.   Victorin's only son did not marry by 1870.  Samuel, Sr.'s third son William married Marie Irénée, daughter of  French Creole Louis Clément and his German-Creole wife Marianne Stelly, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in July 1841.  Their children, born on the prairies, included Lucien in May 1842; Marie Marianne in March 1844; Ursin in June 1846; Israel in February 1849; William, Jr. in January 1851; Athanase near Church Point in March 1853; and Joseph Lessin in February 1855.  William remarried to Célima, daughter of Acadian Hippolyte Thibodeaux and his German-Creole wife Arsène Brandt, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in December 1856.  Their son Joseph was born near Grand Coteau in April 1858--eight children, six sons and a daughter, by two wives, between 1842 and 1858.  None of William's children married by 1870.  Samuel, Sr.'s fourth son Onésime married Oliva, daughter of Isleño Creole Balthazar Placentia or Plaisance and his Acadian wife Henriette Breaux, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1845, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church in February 1851.  Their children, born on the prairies, included Ignace in December 1845; Horace in September 1847; Azelina in February 1850; Aurelien in January 1852; Joseph Arvilien in November 1854; Marie Anaïs in September 1857; and Henriette Adelaïde in January 1860--seven children, four sons and three daughters, between 1845 and 1860.  None of their children married by 1870.  Samuel, Sr.'s fifth son Sosthène married Marie Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of Acadians Gerard Babineaux and Eugénie Bourque, at Grand Coteau in February 1851.  Their children, born near Grand Coteau, included Marie Amelida in June 1855, Marie Eugénie in September 1856, Marie Victoire in May 1858, and Célestine in May 1860--four children, all daughters, between 1855 and 1860.  None of his daughters married by 1870.  Samuel, Sr.'s seventh son Césaire married Célestine, daughter, perhaps, of Acadian Anselme Doucet and his second wife Adélaïde Venable, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1859.  Their son Césaire, Jr. was born near Church Point in November 1860.  James, Jr. was baptized a Roman Catholic in November 1816 at age 22.  He married Marcelline, also called Carmelite and Émilie, daughter of French Creole Charles LeBlanc of New Orleans and Attakapas and his Spanish-Creole wife Marie Quintero, at Grand Coteau in July 1819.  Their daughter Céleste was born near Grand Coteau in August 1820.  James, Jr. remarried to German Creole Émilie Hoffpauir a few years later.  Their daughter Arvenie was baptized at Vermilionville, age unrecorded, in April 1826.  Daughter Céleste, by first wife Marcelline LeBlanc, married into the Melançon and Trahan families.  James, Jr. had no sons, so only the blood of his family line endured.  James, Sr.'s son William evidently married French Creole Marie Jeanne Carrière in the 1810s and fathered a son named Célestin William.  William remarried to fellow Anglo American Margaret Rosana Hamilton, widow of ____ Carpenter of Vincennes County, Indiana, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in March 1824.  She evidently gave him no more children.  A succession for William Caruthers was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in September 1833; one wonders if this was James, Sr.'s son William and if it was a post-mortem document.  Only son Celestin William, by first wife Marie Jeanne Carrière, married Léocadie, daughter of French Creoles François Ozenne and Chalinette DeBlanc, at St. Martinville in December 1839.  One wonders if they had any children. 

William and Elizabeth's oldest daughter Sarah's "natural son" John was baptized at Grand Coteau in February 1827 at age 9, so she, too, had joined the family on the western prairies.  John, called Jean by the recording priest, married Céleste, daughter of Acadians Jean Bourg and Marguerite Richard, at Vermilionville in May 1836.  Céleste died probably at Carencro in April 1839, age 31.  They evidently had no children.  John, again called Jean by the recording priest, remarried to Adélaïde, daughter of Acadian Charles Hébert and his French-Creole wife Pélagie Dumesnil, at Vermilionville in February 1840.  Their children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Élisabeth in February 1841; Céleste in July 1843 but died at age 4 in August 1847; Louis born in May 1842; and Jean Joseph in April 1849.  John seems to have remarried again--this would have been his third marriage--to Acadian Euphémie Chiasson in c1855 or 1856, his second wife having died in January 1854 at age 47.  John and Euphémie's children, born in Lafayette Parish, included Ignace in January 1857; Edgar in February 1858; Eucharis in May 1859 but died at age 1 in June 1860; and an unnamed son died at birth in December 1860--eight children, two daughters and six sons, by two wives, between 1841 and 1860.  Daughter Élisabeth, by second wife Adélaïde Hébert, married into the Chiasson family.  None of John's remaining sons married by 1870.  In late June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted four slaves--one male and three females, two blacks & two mulattoes, ranging in age from 21 years to 11 months--on John's farm in the parish. 

Not everyone who carried the name Caruthers during the antebellum period were descendants of William and Elizabeth of New Jersey.  Margaret L. Caruthers, parents' names unrecorded, married fellow Anglo American Alexander Nelson, whose parents' names also were unrecorded, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1835.  On the same day in August 1835, Mary M. Caruthers, parents unrecorded, married Lewis Cyphers in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish.  One suspects that Margaret L. and Mary M. were sisters  Were they descendants of William of Carolina, or did they spring from a different line of the family?  Charles William Caruthers,  described by the recording priest as a couleur libre, or free black, died near St. Martinville in October 1855, age 56. 

During the antebellum period, members of the family began calling themselves Credeur, a gallicizied version of Caruthers.  Southwest Louisiana phone books reveal that the gallized version of the family's name is more common today than the Anglo version.04

Cedotal

Castille

Champagne

Charpentier

Chatagnier

Chauvin

Cheramie

Darce

Darden

Dartes/Dartez

Daunis/Danos

Dejean

Delatte

Delhomme

Derouen

Desmaret/Demarest

Desormeaux

Dias/Dies

Domingue/Domingues

Doré

Ducharme

Duet/Duhé

Dufrene

Duplantis

Dupré

Durio

Exnicios

Fabre/Favre

Falgout

Faulk

Folse

Fontenot

Frederick

Fremin

Freoux/Friou

Frugé

Gary

Gaspard

Gatt

Gaubert

Gautier/Gauthier

Gisclard

Gomez

Gonsoulin

Grabert

Green

Grégoire

Gros

Guilbert

Guillory

Hamilton

Haydel

Hayes

Henderson

Hernandez

Himel/Hymel

Huval

Istre

Janise

Johnson

Joly

Joubert

Judice

Juneau/Junot

Kern

Lirette

Labie/Labit

Lacase

Lacombe

Lagarde

Lagrange

Laine

Lambremont

Lanclos

Lançon

Langlinais

Langlois

Lapointe

Lasseigne

Latiolais

LeBoeuf

Lecompte

Ledée/Ledet

Ledoux

Leleux

Lemaire

Leonard

Lessard

Levert

Lopez

Lyons

Maillard

Malbrough

Mallet

Manuel

Marcantel

Marcel

Marchand

Marks

Maronge

Marrionneaux

Mars

Martinez

Matherne

Matte

Maurin/Morin

Mayer

Meaux

McGee

Meche

Ménard

Migott

Miguez

Miller

Missonnier

Mollere

Monté/Montet

Moore

Moreau

Morvant

Navarre

Nezat

Nunez

Oubre

Parent

Patin

Pelletier/Peltier

Penisson

Percle

Picard

Pichoff

Picou

Placentia/Plaisance

Poché/Porche

Pontiff

Prevost/Provost

Primeaux

Reaux

Rils

Ritter

Rodrigue

Rodrigues/Rodriguez

Rome

Romero

Roth

Rousseau

Roussel

Royer

Sanchez

Schexnayder

Seguin

Segura

Sellers

Sevin

Simon

Simoneaux

Smith

St. Cyr/Cire

St. Pierre

Stelly

Stephen

Stutes

Suarez

Teller/Taylor

Terrebonne

Thomas

Tircuit

Touchet

Toups

Triche

Trosclair

Truxillo

Tuillier/Tullier

Vaughan

Vallot

Vasseur

Verret

Viator

Vigé

Villaneuva/Villeneuve

Waguespack

Watkins

Webre

Williams

Wiltz

Wood/Woods

.

Among the families of South Louisiana who intermarried with the Acadians were those who bore "Acadian" surnames but whose progenitors were not Acadian.  It was, in fact, the rare Acadian family in South Louisiana who could not acknowledge a Canadian, Creole, or Anglo-American namesake living in the region.  The exceptions were the Arcement, Aucoin, Brasseaux/Brasset, Chiasson, Clouâtre, Doiron, Guidry, Longuépée, Mazerolle, Robichaux, Theriot, Usé, and Villejoin families, for whom this researcher has found no non-Acadian namesakes, other than Afro Creoles, in South Louisiana before 1870.  In some instances, the non-Acadian branch of the family was more prolific than the Acadian one.  Many of the non-Acadians spelled their surnames differently, and some were not even French: 

Acher/Achet/Haché

Allain

Ancelet

Arcenot

Babin

Babino

Barrios

Benoit/Benoist

Bergeron

An especially prolific French family settled at Pointe Coupée two decades before the Acadian Bergerons reached Louisiana.  During the late colonial and early antebellum periods, some of these French-Creole Bergerons left the river and moved to the old Attakapas and Opelousas districts.  Few, if any, Acadian Bergerons settled west of the Atchafalaya Basin during the antebellum period, so most of the Bergerons on the southwest prairies sprang from this large Creole family.  They settled mostly in St. Landry Parish, a predominantly-Creole area.  Typically, only a hand full of them married Acadians. ...02

Bernard

Bertaud/Berteau

Bigeau/Bigeot/Bijeon/Pujo

Blanchard

Boudreau

Bourg

Bourgeois/LeBourgeois

Boutin/Bouton

Braud/Brou

Brossard/Broussard

Clément

Comeaux

Cormier

Crouchette/Crouchet/Crochet

D'Aigle/Daigle

Dantin/Danton

David

DeLaunay/DeLonay/Delonne

DeRoche/Deroche/Derochet/Durocher

Doucet

Dubois

Dugas

Duhon/Dehon

Dupuis/Dupuy

Foré/Forée/Forêt/LaForet/LaForest

Gaudet/Godet

Gaudin/Godin

Gautrand/Gautraud/Gautreau/Gautherot

Giroir

Gusman/Guzman

Granger

Gravois

Guilbau/Guilbeau/Guillebot

Guillot/Guio/Guiot/Guého/Guyot

Harbour

Hébert dit Milan

Henry/Henri/Henrique

Jeanseaume/Johnson

Labauve

Lachaussée

Lalande/Lalondel/Laland/Lauland

Lambert/Lamberti

Landry

Laneau/Lanoue

Leber/Lebert

LeBlanc de Villeneuve

Lebron

Legendre

Leger/Legere

Lejeune

Loubière/Louvière/d'Amour

Martin/Martín

Melançon

Michel

Mire/Lemirre

Moïse

Monlezun

Mouton

Naquin

Orillon

Parr

Pinet

Pitre

Poiré/Poirier/Porée

Poitier/Portier/Pothier/Potier

Préjean

Prince/Leprince

Richard

Rivet

Roger

Roy

Saunié/Saunier

Savoy

Semere

Talbot

Temple/Templé

Tibodo

Trahan/Trahon

Vincent

 

INTRODUCTION

BOOK ONE:        French Acadia

BOOK TWO:        British Nova Scotia

BOOK THREE:     Families, Migration, and the Acadian "Begats"

BOOK FOUR:      The French Maritimes

BOOK FIVE:         The Great Upheaval

BOOK SIX:          The Acadian Immigrants of Louisiana

BOOK SEVEN:     French Louisiana

BOOK EIGHT:      A New Acadia

BOOK NINE:        The Bayou State

BOOK TEN:          The Louisiana Acadian "Begats"

BOOK TWELVE:   Acadians in Gray

 

SOURCE NOTES - BOOK ELEVEN

01.  See NOAR, 2:159, 261 (SLC, M2, 21); Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 425; Books Three, Eight, & Ten; Thibodeaux family page; Appendix

For details on the créoles of South LA, see Istre, Creoles of South LA; Book Seven. 

02.  See BRDR, 2:2a; Bergeron family page. 

04.  See 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Lafayette & St. Landry parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Lafayette & St. Landry parishes; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6; Book Eight; Caruthers family sketch. 

William is described as "of North Carolina" in son Thomas's baptismal record, dated 17 Jun 1804, in D. Hébert, 1A:170 (SM Ch.: v.6, #111).  Daughter Sara's baptismal record, dated 24 Apr 1811, in D. Hébert, 1A:169-70 (SM Ch.: v.6, #1169), says William is "from South Carolina," hence the generic description of his native province.  A transcript of William & Elizabeth's marriage contract, dated 22 Jun 1761, at Deptford, NJ, is in D. Hébert, 1A:64, 170. 

05.  Quotations from Barrios & Barrios, From One Little Soldier, unpaginated.  See also BRDR, vols. 2, 3; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 38, 69, 168; Robichaux, LA Census & Militia Lists, 1770-89, 135; Villère, Canary Island Migration; Book Ten; Cathy Barrios Cornibe, descendant. 

Although Barrioss were part of the 1778-79 emigration from the Canaries to LA via Cuiba, Manuel the corporal was not among them.  He came to LA several years later & evidently was the only Barrios to create a lasting family line in the colony.  See Barrios & Barrios; Villère, 17, 19, 23. 

06.  See BRDR, 2:172 (ASC-1, 165; ASC-4, 9; ASC-5, 11, 48, 65; ASM-1, 17, 46, 136, 199; ASM-3, 40); Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 60-61.

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Copyright (c) 2016-22  Steven A. Cormier