Acadians Who Found Refuge in Louisiana, February 1764-early 1800s
[AR-seh-no]
ACADIA
Pierre Arseneau or Arsenault, a 21-year-old coastal pilot probably from Rochefort, France, came to Acadia aboard L'Oranger in 1671 and married Marguerite, daughter of Abraham Dugas, in c1675. They had two sons, both of whom created families of their own. After Marguerite died, Pierre remarried to Marie, daughter of Francois Guérin, in c1686. They had seven children, including five more sons who added substantially to the Arseneau clan. Pierre was a pioneer of the Acadian settlement at Chignecto, where all of his sons were born:
Oldest son Pierre, fils, by his first wife, born in c1676, married Marie-Anne, daughter of Jean Boudrot, probably at Chignecto in c1697. They had 10 children, including six sons who married into the Cormier, Breau, Hébert, Bourgeois, Boudrot, and Nuirat families. Their daughters married into the Daigre, Desroches, and Delaunay families. The family moved from Chignecto to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, in the early 1700s.
Abraham, born in c1678, married twice, first to Jeanne, daughter of Pierre Gaudet l'aîné, probably at Chignecto in c1701, and then to Marie-Thérèse, daughter of Emmanuel Mirande and widow of Pierre Caissie, in c1752. He fathered 18 children by his first wife, including five sons who married into the Hébert, Poirier, and Cyr families. His daughters married into the Chiasson, Poirier, Vigneau dit Maurice, Hébert dit Boudiche, Bourel, Dugas, Hébert dit Canadien, and Boudrot dit Miquetau families. They remained at Chignecto.
Charles, by his second wife, born in c1690, married Françoise, another daughter of Emmanuel Mirande, probably at Chignecto in c1712. They had 10 children, including six sons who married into the Poirier, Cyr, Gaudet, and Bugeaud families. Their daughters married into the Girouard, Poirier, Bernard, Derayer, and Vigneau dit Maurice families. According to Acadian genealogist Bona Arsenault, one of Charles's sons, Vincent, was at Port-Toulouse on Île Royale, today's Cape Breton Island, in the early 1750s.
Jacques, born in c1692, married Marie, daughter of Michel Poirier, at Chignecto in c1720. They also moved from Chignecto to Île St.-Jean in the early 1700s.
Francois, born in c1694, married Marguerite, daughter of René Bernard, at Chignecto in c1719. They remained at Chignecto.
Claude dit Ambroise, born in c1699, married Marguerite dite Magitte, daughter of Martin Richard, probably at Chignecto in c1725. They moved from Chignecto to Île St.-Jean in the early 1700s.
Youngest son Abraham dit le Petit Abraham, born in c1702 married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of Francois Savoie, probably at Chignecto in c1731. They also moved from Chignecto to Île St.-Jean in the early 1700s.
In 1755, descendants of Pierre Arseneau could be found at Chignecto or on the Maritime islands of Île Royale and Île St.-Jean, especially the latter.
LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT
The fate of an Acadian family during Le Grand Dérangement was determined largely by how long its members had lived in the colony and where they settled in greater Acadia. Generally, the older the family, the more scattered it became by 1755, and the more scattered it was then, the more scattered it would become in the decades that followed. The Arseneaus at first seem an exception to the rule. They were one of the oldest Acadian families, but they had not gone very far from their home base at Chignecto by 1755. Nonetheless, Le Grand Derangement of the 1750s scattered the family to the winds.
The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure the great disruption. In the early 1750s, the fanatical French priest Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre and his Mi'kmaq Indians burned a number of Acadian settlements at Chignecto, forcing the settlers to move from the British-controlled area south of the Missaguash River to the Aulac area north of Fort Beauséjour, still controlled by the French. Arseneaus probably were among the refugees. After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, the Chignecto Acadians were caught in the middle of it. When British and New England forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Chignecto Acadians, pressured by the French, served in the fort as militia. They, too, along with the French regulars, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16. Governor Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour that he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost British colonies on the Atlantic seaboard.
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Some of the Chignecto Arseneaus who escaped the British roundup in Nova Scotia in 1755 hurried north to Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, or on to Québec. Others escaped to Île-St. Jean, where their cousins had lived for decades. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress of Louisbourg in July 1758, the British swooped down on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale and deported most of the Acadians there to France.
Anne-Marie Arseneau (whose mother was a Cormier), wife of François Veco of Québec, was counted with her family at Rivière-du-Nord-Est on Île St.-Jean in 1752. The British deported them to France in September 1758 aboard the ill-fated transport Duke William, which suffered an explosion at sea. Four of Anne-Marie's five children died aboard ship. The crippled vessel arrived at St.-Malo on 1 November 1758; one record notes that Anne-Marie "died in the roadstead at St.-Malo," so she almost made it to the mother country; she was only 32 years old; her husband died on November 4, just three days after the ship made port; only son François Veco, fils, age 13, survived the terrible ordeal. Marie-Madeleine Arseneau of St.-Pierre-du-Nord, Île St.-Jean, widow of Jean Delaunay, was deported to Cherbourg but moved on to St.-Malo in August 1759. She lived at St.-Cast, Corseul, and again at St.-Cast, suburbs of St.-Malo, and died at St.-Cast in October 1763, in early 40s. Jean Arseneau, a day laborer, married Élisabeth, daughter of Frenchman Barthélemy Sansovoine of St.-Martin de Péré, at Notre-Dame, Rochefort, in May 1771; brothers Pierre, André, and Élie Arseneau witnessed the marriage. Basile Arseneau, a sailor from Île St.-Jean, married Anne, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Bourgeois of Notre-Dame, Île Miquelon, at St.-Jean, La Rochelle, in April 1780.
None of the Arseneaus who ended up in France emigrated to Louisiana. However, some chose to return to North America and settle on the French islands of St.-Pierre and Miquelon, off the southern coast of Newfoundland. This choice, however, for many Acadians, including Arseneaus, proved to be a troublesome one. Louise Arseneau married Joseph Dugas at Chedabouctou, Nova Scotia, in October 1762; the marriage was "reinstated" at Notre-Dame-des-Ardiliers, on Île Miquelon, in May 1766, but they did not remain there. Overcrowding led the French to send many Acadians on the island back to the mother country. Louise and Joseph crossed to France on the schooner La Creole and reached St.-Malo in November 1767, but they refused to stay. They returned to St.-Pierre and Miquelon the following March. During the American Revolution, after France joined the Americans against their old enemy, Britain, the redcoats captured St.-Pierre and Miquelon and deported the Acadians there to France. Louise and Joseph returned to St.-Malo aboard the brigantine La Jeannette in November 1778. They settled at St.-Servan, near St.-Malo, where Louise died in June 1779, age 63. Pierre Arseneau and his wife Théotiste Bourgeois of Île Miquelon were living at La Rochelle when their daughter Marie-Anne was born in St.-Jean Parish in February 1779; little Marie died two months later. Their daughter Judith, called Julie, was born in St.-Jean Parish in March 1781 and died at La Rochelle in March 1782.
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A few of the Île St.-Jean Arseneaus escaped the British roundup on the island and took refuge at Restigouche, where they joined their cousins already there. After the fall of Québec and Montréal in 1759 and 1760, the British attacked Restigouche, the last French stronghold in North America, in the summer of 1760. Some Arseneaus escaped the latest roundup and moved to Carleton and Bonaventure on the north shore of the Baie des Chaleurs or to Île Miscou at the entrance to the bay in present-day northeastern New Brunswick. After the war, Arseneaus also could be found at Québec City; on the upper St. Lawrence at Lotbinière, Bécancour, St.-Pierre-de-Sorel, St.-Jacques-de-l'Achigan, L'Assomption, and Montréal; at St.-Ours and St. Antoine-de-Chambly in the Richelieu valley; on Île d'Orléans and at Rimouski on the lower St. Lawrence; on the Îles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; at Caraquet and Grande-Digue on Shediac Bay and at Cocagne along the eastern New Brunswick shore; at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island; and at Windsor, formerly Pigiguit, in Nova Scotia. Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, they may even have forgotten the others existed.
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Not all of the Chignecto Arseneaus who had taken refuge at Restigouche escaped the British roundup there in late 1760. Some of them ended up as prisoners in Nova Scotia during the last years of the French and Indian War. When the war finally ended, the Arseneaus being held at Halifax had a serious dilemma on their hands. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article 14 that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. In the case of the Acadians, however, this meant that they could return only to French soil. Where the Arseneaus had lived in Acadia was no longer French territory. British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in Nova Scotia, they could live only in the interior of the peninsula in small family groups and work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New Englander "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the hated oath if they joined their cousins in the St. Lawrence valley. After all that they had suffered on the question of the oath, no self-respecting Acadian would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Halifax exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies already had gone, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, they would not remain in old Acadia. So the Arseneaus at Halifax gathered up what money they could and prepared to leave their homeland.
LOUISIANA: WESTERN SETTLEMENTS
Arseneaus were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. The first of them--three families led by two brothers and a cousin, as well as an Arseneau wife and her family--reached New Orleans in February 1765 with the party from Halifax via St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil. After a short respite in the city, where they exchanged the Canadian card money they had brought to the colony, they followed the Broussards to the Attakapas District, where they helped created La Nouvelle-Acadie on the banks of Bayou Teche:
Jean Arseneau, age 37, of Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, came with wife Judith Bergeron, age 31, and four sons--Jean-Charles, age 13, Joseph, age 8, Guillaume, age 5, and Paul, age 3.
Joseph Arseneau, age 25, Jean's younger brother, came with wife Marie Bergeron, age 20, and no children.
Pierre Arseneau, age 34, Jean and Joseph's cousin, came with his wife Anne Bergeron, age 24, infant daughter Marie-Catherine, called Rosalie, and his 39-year-old sister, widow of ____ Bernard. He was one of the eight signers of the Dauterive agreement of April 1765.
Anne Arseneau, age 20, Pierre's sister, came with husband Barthélemy Bergeron, age 25, and their infant son Charles.
When an epidemic struck the Teche valley Acadians that summer, Arseneaus or their family members were among the victims. Infant François Arseneau, an orphan, died in September, and Anne Arseneau's husband Barthélémy Bergeron and infant son Charles died in late October. Anne and the other Arseneaus retreated back across the Atchafalaya Basin to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river, where other Acadians from Halifax were settling in large numbers.
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Not until the late 1780s did Arceneauxs return to Bayou Teche, creating a western branch of the family that came to rival in numbers their kinsmen who remained on the river:
Descendants of Pierre ARCENEAUX (c1731-1790s)
Pierre, son of Jean Arseneau and Marie-Anne Hébert of Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, was born at Chignecto in c1731. He married Anne, daughter of Barthélemy Bergeron dit d'Amboise of Rivière St.-Jean, in c1757, during Le Grand Dérangement. They were counted as prisoners at Halifax in August 1763 and came to Louisiana with the Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil party in the 1765. With Pierre was his wife and infant daughter Marie-Catherine, called Rosalie, as well as an older, widowed sister. Pierre was one of the signers of the Dauterive agreement. He and his family followed the Broussards to the Bayou Teche valley that spring but retreated to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river that autumn to escape an epidemic that struck the Teche valley community. Pierre and Anne had more children in Louisiana, including five sons, all born at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques. Their daughters married into the Breaux, Carmouche, and Guilbeau families. Pierre did better than most Acadians at St.-Jacques; in March 1779, Spanish officials counted a dozen slaves on his farm along the river. Nevertheless, in the late 1780s, he and his family returned to the western prairies. They lived at what came to be called the Arceneaux Settlement, near Bayou Wickoff, on the prairie west of Carencro, near the boundary of the Attakapas and Opelousas districts. Pierre became a successful rancher in the area; he owned 400 head of cattle at the time of his death. His succession record was filed at what would become the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in 1793; he would have been in his early 60s that year. His many descendants settled in a number of places west of the Atchafalaya Basin--on the prairies southwest of Opelousas, on lower Bayou Teche as far down as Charenton, and especially in the Carencro-Grand Coteau area of Lafayette and St. Landry parishes.
1
Oldest son Louis, born at St.-Jacques in c1768, married Anne, daughter of fellow Acadian Athanase Breaux, at the St.-Jacques church in May 1788; Anne's brother was Louis's sister's husband. They followed his parents to the western prairies. Their son Louis Joachim, called Joachim, was born near Opelousas in March 1791, and Alexandre Toussaint, called Laissin and Toussaint, at Atakapas in December 1798. Their daughters married into the Mouton and Sonnier families. Louis died at "Beau Bassin," his home near Carencro, in March 1812; he was only 44 years old. Only one of this two sons seems to have married, and that son may have fathered no children. This line of the family, then, except for its blood, may not have survived in the Bayou State.
1a
Toussaint died in Lafayette Parish in January 1834. He was only 35 years old and probably did not marry. His succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in December 1834.
1b
Joachim married Marie Aspasie, called Aspasie, daughter of fellow Acadian François Bernard, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1811. Joachim died in Lafayette Parish in August 1834; the priest who recorded his burial said that Joachim was 37 years old when he died, but he was 43; his succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in December 1844. He and his wife may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children, so his line of the family may have died with him.
2
Pierre, fils, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in January 1773, married Clémence, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Cormier, at Opelousas in April 1792. Their son Pierre Cyprien, le jeune, called Cyprien, was born near Opelousas in November 1793. Pierre remarried to Marie-Josèphe, called Josèphe and Josette, daughter of French Creole Pierre Nezat, at Attakapas in February 1802. Their son Pierre Émile, called Émile, was born at Atakapas in November 1802, Louis Sosthène, called Sosthène, in March 1804, Pierre Joseph in February 1810, Pierre Bienvenu in December 1811, and Pierre Sosthène in April 1813. Their daughters married into the Bernard, Theriot, and Vavasseur families. One of them settled on the river. Pierre died at his home near Carencro in August 1814; he was only 41 years old.
2a
Pierre Cyprien le jeune, by his first wife, married Marie Brigitte Aglae, called Brigitte and Aglae, daughter of French Creole François Carmouche, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in April 1816. They also settled near Carencro. Their son Pierre le jeune, called Saintdoux, was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 2, in May 1832 but died at age 10 in October 1840, and François Ovignac, called Ovignac, was baptized at age 11 months in February 1835. Their daughters married into the Delhomme and Prejean families.
Ovignac married cousin Emeranthe, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Rosémond Breaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1857; Emeranthe's mother was an Arceneaux. They settled at Carencro. Their child, perhaps a son, name and gender unrecorded, died at birth in April 1859, Francois Ambroise was born in July 1860, Pierre Ovide, called Ovide, in January 1862, and Sosthène Alexandre in September 1863. During the War Between the States, Ovignac served in Company C of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit that fought gallantly in Louisiana. Ovignac died at Carencro in February 1894; he was 60 years old.
2b
Pierre Émile, by his second wife, married Marie Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Breaux, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1821. Their son Pierre Émile, fils was born near Carencro in July 1824, and Louis Joseph was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, 6 days after his birth in November 1829. Their daughter married into the Valière family. Émile died in Lafayette Parish in July 1847; he was only 44 years old; his succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in January 1848.
Pierre Émile, fils married Marie Alzina or Alzire, called Alzina, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Fabien Richard, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1849. Their son Louis Sosthène le jeune was born in St. Landry Parish in September 1851, and Pierre Émile III in March 1857.
Louis Joseph married cousin Marie Amelie, called Amelie, daughter of Émilien Arceneaux, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1852. Their son François Alexandre was born in Lafayette Parish in July 1855, Louis Adalbert in April 1858, a child, perhaps a son, died "at age a few weeks" in February 1860, Bibian Émilien was born in December 1860, and Pierre Joseph le jeune in June 1864.
2c
Louis Sosthène, by his second wife, married cousin Marie Euphanie, called Fannie, daughter of French Canadian Solastie Roy, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in November 1830; Fannie's mother, also, was a Nezat. Louis Sosthène died in Lafayette Parish in September 1839; the priest who recorded his burial said that Louis was 33 years old when he died, but he was 35; his succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in February 1840. He seems to have fathered no sons, so this line of the family died with him.
2d
Pierre Joseph, by his second wife, married Marie Josephine, called Josephine, daughter of James Blaire or Blaise, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1837; Marie's mother was a Breaux. Their daughter married into the Latiolais family. Pierre Joseph's succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in March 1852; he would have been 42 years old that year. He and his wife probably had no sons, so this line of the family, except for its blood, may have died with him.
2e
Pierre Bienvenu, by his second wife, married first cousin Marie Adéle or Azélie, daughter of his uncle François Arceneaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in June 1838. Marie Azélie died in January 1841 probably from complications of childbirth; her succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following June. Pierre Bienvenu died in Lafayette Parish in July 1855; he only 43 years old; his succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse later that month. One wonders if he and his wife had any children who survived childhood.
2f
Pierre Sosthène, by his second wife, married first cousin Geneviève Désirée, daughter of his uncle Alexandre Arceneaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1838.
3
Alexandre, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in June 1774, married Hélène, daughter of French Creole Pierre Carmouche of Pensacola and Pointe Coupée, at Ascension, just upriver from St.-Jacques, in March 1802. They settled at Beaubassin, on upper Bayou Vermilion, east of Carencro. Their son Alexandre, fils was born probably at Beaubassin in June 1803, a newborn son, name unrecorded, died in November 1806, Paulin, a twin, was born at home in October 1807, and Lazare Terssy, Belcy, or Bercy in September 1812. Their daughters married into the Arceneaux, Breaux, Carmouche, and Eastin families. Alexandre adopted Mary Arceneaux, whose son Alexandre le jeune was baptized at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, age 2 1/2, in July 1839. Meanwhile, Alexandre l'aîné died probably at Carencro in September 1833; he was 59 years old; his succession records were filed at the Opelousas and Vermilionville courthouses the following March.
3a
Paulin married Céleste Armillionne or Erminionne, daughter of French Creole André Martin, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1828; Céleste's mother was a Sonnier. Their son André Destival was baptized at the Vermilionville church at age 8 months in June 1830, Alexandre Sevigne, called Sevigne, was baptized at age 13 months in May 1832, Demas at age 6 months in October 1835, Luma at age 15 months in August 1839, Estras was born in 1840 and baptized at the Vermilionville church in December 1841, and a child, name and age unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in January 1852. Their daughter married into the Dominguez family.
Alexandre Sevigne married Marie Azéoline, called Zéoline, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Brasseaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1852. Their son Joseph Ebeard was born in Lafayette Parish in March 1856, Paul Duplessis in May 1859, Adam in June 1861, Joseph Israel in May 1863, and Jean Jacques in November 1865.
Demas married Azélie, Celia, pr Zelia, another daughter of Joseph Brasseaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in October 1855. Their son Albert was born in Lafayette Parish in August 1858.
3b
Lazare married Hortense, daughter of fellow Acadian Simon Bourgeois, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in March 1837. Their son Alexandre le jeune was born in Lafayette Parish in January 1840, and Simon Bercy in May 1841. Their daughter married into the Broussard family. Lazare, called Lazard by the recording priest, died in Lafayette Parish in September 1847; the priest said that Lazard was 30 years old when he died, but he was 35.
3c
Alexandre, fils may have married Mary Balqué in St. Landry Parish in the late 1830s. Their daughter married into the Fuselier family.
4
François, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in April 1779, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Frédéric Mouton, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in July 1813. Their son François Émilien or Émilien François, called Émilien and Milien, was born near Carencro in October 1815, and Francois, fils in September 1824. Their daughter married an Arceneaux cousin, and another may have married into the Comeaux family. Francois, père filed a succession record at the Vermilionville courthouse in October 1832 and remarried to Scholastique, daughter of fellow Acadian Firmin Breaux and widow of Cyrille Breaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in March 1834. François, père died in Lafayette Parish in May 1838; the priest who recorded his burial said that Francois was 58 years old when he died; his post-mortem succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in June and another one in April 1842.
4a
Émilien married Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Breaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1833. They settled at Carencro. Their child, perhaps a son, name and age unrecorded, died in November 1833. Their daughters married into the Arceneaux and Dupuis families. Émilien died "at Carencro" in May 1842; he was only 26 years old. He and his wife may have had no sons who survived childhood, so his line of the family, except for its blood, probably died with him.
4b
François, fils married Marie Amelia, called Amelia, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Thibodeaux, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in October 1850. Francois, fils died in Lafayette Parish in January 1860; the priest who recorded his burial said that Francois died "at age 40 yrs.," but he was only 35; his succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following September. One wonders if he and his wife had any sons. His line of the family probably died with him.
5
Youngest son Pierre Cyprien, called Cyprien, born at St.-Jacques in c1787, married Adélaïde, another daughter of Jean-Frédéric Mouton, at Atakapas in May 1805. They also settled at Beaubassin near Carencro. Their son Cyprien, fils was born at Cyprien's brother Louis's home near Carencro in July 1806, François Aurelien, called Aurelien, near Carencro in February 1808, Simon Ursin, called Ursin, in July 1811 but died at age 8 in January 1819, Joseph Joachim, called Joachim, was born in March 1813 but died at age 2 in September 1815, Agerin was born in December 1816, Jean Pierre in May 1822, and Louis Lucien in March 1826. Their daughters married into the Bin and Ynogass families. Cyprien died in Lafayette Parish in May 1832; he was only 45 years old; his succession records were filed at the Opelousas courthouse in June 1832 and the Vermilionville courthouse in April 1833.
5a
Cyprien, fils married Marie Bonne or Labonne, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Breaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in June 1829. Their child, name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in Lafayette Parish 5 days after its birth in April 1830, son Joseph Romaire was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 7 months, in September 1831, Cyprien Maismain was born in December 1832, Hippolyte Nicolas was baptized at age 4 months in April 1835, Pierre Edmond at age 1 month in December 1836, Eusèbe was born in August 1849, and Tercie was born in c1850 but died at age 7 in November 1857. Their daughters married into the Baquet, Canaudelat, Johnson, and Stemmam families. Cyprien, fils died in Lafayette Parish in January 1852; the priests who recorded his burial said that Cyprien died "at age over 40 yrs."; he was 45 years old; his estate record had been filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in May 1847.
Cyprien Maismain married Marie Azénaïde, called Azénaïde, daughter of fellow Acadian Cyprien Mouton, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1854. Their son Lucien was born in Lafayette Parish in March 1856, Stanislaus Albert near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in May 1858, Eustache Romain in Lafayette Parish in September 1860, and Dominique in November 1862. Azénaïde died a little over two weeks after Dominique was born, probably of complications from giving him birth. Cyprien remarried to fellow Acadian Marie Aphanelie, called Fanelly, Dugas, widow of Aurelien Chiasson, at the Vermilionville church in September 1864.
Hippolyte Nicolas married Azelima, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Benoit, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1854. Their son Joseph was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in January 1856, and Louis Pancrase in Lafayette Parish in May 1860.
5b
Aurelien married Anglo Creole Mary Andrews or Andrus in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in May 1835. Their son François Connas was born near Grand Coteau in December 1846, Louis Bellanger in June 1848, John Sidney near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in January 1851, Charles Hiram in October 1853, Omer in December 1855, and Moïse in March 1858. Their daughters married into the Andrus, Broussard, and Lyons families.
5c
Jean Pierre married French Creole Félicia Félicité Bucoise, Bucoit, Bucquoi, or Buquois at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in September 1842. Their son Ambroise was born near New Iberia in February 1848, Jean Pierre, fils in Lafayette Parish in June 1855, and Zitus near New Iberia in October 1857.
5d
Agerin married fellow Acadian Rose Labauve probably at New Iberia in the early 1840s. Their son Alderie Félix was born near Charenton, St. Mary Parish, in May 1847.
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Another, much younger, Pierre Arceneaux moved to the Attakapas District in the 1790s, not long after the older Pierre Arceneaux settled there, and added substantially to the number of Arceneauxs living west of the Atchafalaya Basin:
Descendants of Pierre ARCENEAUX (c1765-1799)
Pierre, fils, son of Pierre Arseneau of Chignecto and Marie-Josèphe Godin dit Lincour of Rivière St.-Jean, and brother of Eusèbe, was born either aboard ship or at New Orleans in c1765, the year his parents reached Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue, today's Haiti. His parents did not follow the Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil party to the Bayou Teche valley but settled, instead, at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river above New Orleans, where Pierre, fils's father died in the late 1760s. Pierre, fils married at St.-Jacques first to Pélagie, daughter of French Creole Jacques Bebe, in April 1786, and then to Angélique, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Bourgeois, in April 1787. Angélique had been born in Louisiana in the early 1770s. By the mid-1790s, Pierre, fils and Angélique had moved from the river to upper Bayou Lafourche, where they were still being counted in January 1798. Probably later that year they moved again, this time to the Attakapas District, where they settled near the Attakapas Post, now St. Martinville. Their daughter married into the Robichaux family. Pierre, fils died at Attakapas in January 1799; he was only 34 years old. One of his sons and a daughter remained on Bayou Lafourche, but his other sons remained on Bayou Teche, where they settled at Breaux Bridge, New Iberia, and Charenton. At least one of his grandsons moved west into Calcasieu Parish.
1
Oldest son Pierre III, by his second wife, born at St.-Jacques on the river in June 1788, married Marie Aspasie, called Aspasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Josaphat Broussard, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in July 1817. They settled at Fausse Pointe before moving to the Bayou Lafourche valley in the late 1820s Their son Pierre IV was born probably at Fausse Pointe in March 1822, a son, name unrecorded, died at age 2 months in July 1824, Joseph Rosémond was born in September 1825, and Nicolas Adrien in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1828. They returned to the Teche valley by the early 1830s. Their daughters married into the Boulet, Leleux, Robichaux, and Sellers families on Bayou Teche.
1a
Pierre IV married Oliva or Olivia, daughter of Louis Sellers, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in May 1843; Olivia's mother was a Boudreaux. Their son Pierre V was born near New Iberia in August 1847, and Valérien in c1852 but died at age 4 in October 1856.
1b
Joseph Rosémond married Marie Célesie, another daughter of Louis Sellers, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in October 1848, and remarried to Émilie, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Labauve, at the New Iberia church in September 1851. Their son Joseph was born near New Iberia in July 1852 but died at age 6 months the following February, and Eugène was born in November 1855.
2
Valentin dit Durville or Surville, born at Ascension on the river in November 1792, married Anne dite Annette, another daughter of Josaphat Broussard, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1817. They also settled at Fausse Pointe. Their son Valentin Valière, called Valière, was born at Fausse Pointe in November 1821. Their daughters married into the Amy, Blanchard, Brown, and Dartes families. Valentin died at his father-in-law's home at Fausse Pointe, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in September 1825; he was only 32 years old.
Valentin Valière married Eugènie, daughter of French Creole Joseph Patin, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in October 1852; Eugènie's mother was a Robichaux. Their son Nicolas Valière was born near Breaux Bridge, St. Martin Parish, in December 1856.
3
Alexandre, baptized at St.-Jacques, age 1, in April 1795, married Marie Marguerite, called Marguerite, yet another daughter of Josaphat Broussard of Fausse Pointe, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in July 1820. They also settled at Fausse Pointe. Their son, name unrecorded, died 8 days after his birth in May 1827, Étienne was born in St. Martin Parish in March 1828, Rosémond in September 1830, Alexandre, fils in December 1831, and Alexis Perin in July 1834. Their daughters married into the Hardy and Verret families. Alexandre died in St. Mary Parish in January 1838; the priest who recorded his burial noted in French that "trouvé mort dans le grand marais du dft. Claud." and said that Alexandre was 40 years old when he died, but he was closer to 44; his succession record was filed at the Franklin courthouse the following July. Most of his sons remained in St. Mary Parish, but one of them moved out to the Calcasieu prairie by the early 1860s.
3a
Étienne married Célestine or Ernestine, daughter of French Creole Jean Jacques Dartes, at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in February 1852. Their son Louis was born near Charenton in January 1861.
3b
Rosémond married Domitille Justine, daughter of fellow Acadian Simonet Robichaux, at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in February 1852. Their son Francois Alexandre was born near Charenton in February 1853. They moved to Calcasieu Parish later in the decade.
3c
Alexandre, fils married cousin Onesima Broussard. Their son Alexandre III, born in February 1862, was baptized by a priest from Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, but the family probably was living in Calcasieu Parish at the time. During the War Between the States, Alexandre, fils served in Company F of the Consolidated 18th Regiment and Yellow Jackets Battalion Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit created in late 1863 that fought in Louisiana and Arkansas. In April 1864, however, Alexandre, fils enlisted in the second Company A of Daly's Battalion Texas Volunteer Cavalry, a front-line unit that recruited heavily in southwestern Louisiana. According to his enrollment papers, Alexandre, fils was 35 years old (he actually was 32), stood five feet seven inches, and was a farmer living in Calcasieu Parish when he enlisted in Daly's Battalion in Calcasieu in April 1864. He evidently did not care much for the Texas cavalry. Five months after his enlistment, Alexandre, fils was arrested as a deserter in late September 1864 and was sent to the provost marshal's office in Houston (probably a jail) before being returned to his old unit, the Consolidated 18th Louisiana Infantry, then serving in southern Arkansas. The next month, however, company rolls show him back on duty with Daly's Battalion at Sabine Pass, Texas, where he died of disease in November 1864. Again, the Confederate rolls got his age wrong; the military clerk noted that he died at age 35, but he was still only 32.
4
Jean-Baptiste-Valéry, born at St.-Jacques in January 1797, probably died young.
5
Youngest son Nicolas, also called Paul, baptized at Attakapas, age 5 months, in March 1799, two months after his father died, married Marie Carmelite, called Carmelite, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Breaux, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in August 1818. They settled in Lafourche Interior Parish.
~
Other ARCENEAUXs on the Western Prairies
Area church and civil records make it difficult to link some Arceneauxs in the western parishes with known Acadian lines of the family there:
Margaret Arceneaux married Valéry, son of Acadian Joseph Bourgeois, in a civil ceremony in St. Mary Parish in April 1840. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not bother to give the couples' parents' names. One wonders if Marguerite was Acadian or French Canadian.
Pierre Merande Arceneaux died in St. Landry Parish in November 1841 "at a few months old." The Opelousas priest who recorded the boy's burial did not bother to give the parents' names.
Joseph Compere or Conipere Arceneaux had a child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, who died in Lafayette Parish, age unrecorded, in December 1847. Joseph Conipere died near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in August 1851; he was 40 years old. The priest who recorded his burial did not bother to give Joseph's parents' names or mention a wife. Who was Joseph Compere/Conipere Arceneaux?
Louis Laurent Arceneaux was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 9, in May 1863. The priest who recorded the baptism did not bother to give the boy's parents' names.
LOUISIANA: RIVER SETTLEMENTS
Arseneaus, including a family, three wives, and a young orphan, came to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 but did not follow the Broussards to the Attakapas District. They went, instead, to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river where 20 Acadians from Georgia had settled the year before. Three wives with their families and a young orphan also settled at Cabanocé:
Pierre Arseneau, age 30, also of Chignecto and a cousin of the Arseneaus who had gone to the upper Teche valley, came to the colony with wife Marie-Josèphe Godin dit Lincour, age 21, and two sons--Eusèbe, age 3, and infant Pierre, fils. They remained at Cabanocé, where Pierre, père died in the late 1760s, still in his 30s. In the 1790s, Eusèbe moved to the Bayou Lafourche valley, and Pierre, fils went to the Atakapas District to join his cousins already there.
Marguerite Arseneau, age 30, Pierre's sister, came with husband Pierre Bernard, age 34, and three children, ages 11 to 5.
Isabelle Arseneau, age 32, came with husband Charles Bergeron, age 37, and three children, ages 12 to 3.
Judith Arseneau, age 29, came with husband Charles Savoie, age 43, their 2-year-old son Jean-Baptiste Savoie, and 11-year-old orphan Basile Deroche.
Firmin Arseneau, a 12-year-old orphan, also settled at Cabanocé in 1765.
That autumn, all of the Arseneaus who had gone to the Atakapas fled to Cabanocé to escape an epidemic that killed dozens of their fellow Teche valley Acadians, including Anne Arseneau's husband and son. Anne remarried to Simon, son of fellow Acadian Désiré LeBlanc, at Cabanocé in November 1767. She and her new family remained on the river, where she died in St. James Parish in August 1811; she was 75 years old.
Descendants of Jean ARCENEAUX (c1728-1800)
Jean, elder son of Pierre Arseneau and Marguerite Hébert and brother of Joseph and Pierre, was born at Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, in c1728. He married Judith Bergeron probably at Chignecto perhaps before Le Grand Dérangement of 1755 They were counted as prisoners at Halifax in August 1763. Jean came to Louisiana with the Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil party in February1765. With him were his wife and four sons. They followed the Broussards to the Bayou Teche valley that spring but retreated to Cabanocé that autumn to escape an epidemic that devastated the Teche valley community. They remained on the river, where they had more children, including two more sons. Their daughter married into the Clouâtre and Tomlette families. Jean did fairly well at St.-Jacques; in March 1779, Spanish officials counted three slaves on his farm along the river. Jean died at St.-Jacques in January 1800; the priest who recorded his burial said that Jean was 75 years old when he died, but he was closer to 72.
1
Oldest son Jean-Charles, born probably at Chignecto in c1752, married Marie-Josèphe, 14-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Basile Babin and stepdaughter of Michel Cormier of Opelousas, at St.-Jacques in January 1777. Their son Abraham was baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in January 1782. Their daughters married into the Bernard, Melançon, Picou, and Sonnier families. Jean died in St. James Parish in April 1813, in his early 60s.
Abraham, by his first wife, married Marie Éloise, Héloise, or Louise, daughter of Joseph LeBlanc, at St.-Jacques in August 1802. Their son Jean Abraham was born in St. James Parish in November 1806. Their daughters married into the Arceneaux, Estevan, Landry, and Menier or Munier families. Abraham remarried to Marie Carmelise or Carmelite, daughter of Salvador Comil, Coneille, Conille, Connille, or Counille and widow of François Huguet, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in March 1815. Their son Abraham Amédée, called Amédée, was born in St. James Parish in October 1818, and Evariste in October 1819. Their daughters married into the Bourgeois, Cornet, and Duhon families. Abraham, père died near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1830; the priest who recorded his burial said that Abraham was 46 years old when he died, but he was closer to 48.
Evariste, by his second wife, married Marie Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadian Bernard Allain, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in February 1840. Their son Joseph Elphége was born near St. Gabriel in August 1841, and Martial in October 1842.
During the War Between the States, Joseph Elphége served in Company A of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, a front line unit raised in Iberville Parish that fought in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Joseph E. present on all of the rolls of his company from his enlistment in New Orleans in August 1861 until June 1863. He was captured along with many men in his company at Big Hill, Kentucky, in late July 1863. The Federals sent him to the Military Prison at Louisville, Kentucky, in early August, transferred him to Fort Delaware, Delaware, in February 1864, and then to Camp Chase, Ohio, in March. He was exchanged at City Point, Virginia, a year later in March 1865 and probably returned home to Iberville Parish.
Martial, called Martialis by the priest who recorded his burial, died near Gonzales, St. James Parish, in April 1864. He was only 21 years old and probably did not marry. He probably was the M. Arceneaux who, during the War Between the States, served in Company A of the 3rd Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Iberville Parish that fought in Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi. M. was captured at Corinth, Mississippi, in September 1862, was released by the Federals soon afterward, and went home on sick furlough in November. His wartime service probably contributed to his early death.
Amédée, by her second wife, died near Convent, St. James Parish, in December 1850. He was only 32 years old and probably did not marry.
2
Joseph, born in Acadia in c1756, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Dupuis and widow of Joseph Blanchard, at St.-Jacques in September 1780. Their son Joseph, fils, was born at St.-Jacques in June 1786. Their daughters married into the Aucoin, Braud, and Mire families. Joseph, père died in St. James Parish in January 1811; he was 56 years old. His only son had many sons of his own.
Joseph, fils married Marie Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadian Mathurin Bergeron, at the St.-Jacques church in June 1805. Their son Joseph Léon or Léonard Joseph, called Léon and sometimes Jacques, was born in St. James Parish in April 1806, Félix in May 1808, Vital in November 1812, and Théodule in April 1815. Their daughter married into the Blouin family. Joseph, fils died in St. James Parish in June 1818; the priest who recorded his burial said that Joseph was 35 years old when he died, but he was only 32.
Joseph Léon married cousin Marie Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Bergeron, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in November 1824. Their son Joseph Michel Léonard was born in St. James Parish in October 1825. Their daughters married into the Chevet and Simoneaux families. Joseph Léon may have died in St. James Parish in October 1847; if so, he would have been only 41 years old.
Joseph Léonard married cousin Marie, daughter of French Creole Joseph Daniel Blouin, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in 1859; Marie's mother was an Arceneaux; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry.
Félix married cousin Domitille, daughter of Abraham Arceneaux, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in October 1830. Their daughter married into the Barthélémy family. Félix died near Convent in August 1840; he was only 32 years old. His line of the family, except for its blood, may have died with him.
Vital married Marie Euphrasie, called Euphrasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Poirier, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in February 1834. Their son Michel Nicolas Vtimen was born in St. James Parish in November 1834, and Vital, fils in c1837 but died at age 12 in June 1849. They lived in New Orleans during the early 1850s.
3
Guillaume, born perhaps at Halifax in c1761, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Gaudet, at St.-Jacques in March 1786. Their son Charles-Guillaume was born at St.-Jacques in January 1787, Joseph-Louis in March 1788, Jean-Baptiste in c1796, Joseph-Zenon in March 1799, and twins Raymond and Rosémond in March 1801. Their daughters married into the Cox, Pahud, and Tassin families. Guillaume died in St. James Parish in December 1818; he was 56 years old. Did only one of his six sons create a family of his own?
Jean Baptiste married Alexandrine, daughter of French Creole Antoine Maxent, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in April 1817. Their daughter married into the Engeron family. Jean Baptiste died in Ascension Parish in September 1820; he was only 24 years old. He may have fathered no sons.
4
Pierre-Paul, called Paul and also Hippolyte, born probably at Halifax in c1762, married French Creole Élisabeth or Isabelle Fontenot, probably at St.-Jacques in the 1780s. Their son René, called Zenon, was born at St.-Jacques in January 1792, Simon in June 1794, and a son, name unrecorded, died at age 1 in January 1797. Their daughters married into the Gaudin, Mire, and Poirier families. Pierre Paul died in St. James Parish in September 1804; he was only 42 years old.
Zenon married Marie Louise, daughter of fellow Acadian Paul Melançon, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in January 1813. Their son Théogène was born in St. James Parish in January 1817 but died at age 6 in September 1823, and Zenon, fils was born in January 1819. Zenon, père died in St. James Parish in October 1819; he was only 27 years old.
Zenon, fils married cousin Euphémie, daughter of fellow Acadian Paul LeBlanc, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in January 1837; Euphémie's mother, also, was a Melançon; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of relationship in order to marry. Their daughters married into the Gravois, Matherne, and Melançon families. Zenon, fils died near Convent in April 1852; the priest who recorded his burial said that Zenon died at "age 34 years," but he was only 32. His line of the family, except for its blood, may have died with him.
5
François, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in August 1771, married Ludivine, sometimes called Luce, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean-Charles Braud, at St.-Jacques in January 1789. Their son Charles-Simon or Simon-Charles was born at St.-Jacques in February 1792, and François-Benjamin, called Benjamin, in December 1794 but died at age 5 in November 1799. François died in St. James Parish in April 1810; he was only 37 years old.
Simon Charles married Françoise or Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Dugas, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in May 1811. Their son François Faustin or Forestin was born in St. James Parish in February 1815 but died at age 3 in January 1819, Simon Léon was born in September 1816, Charles Félix, called Félix, in December 1818, and Jacques Jules, called Jules, in November 1821. Simon died in St. James Parish in October 1822; he was only 30 years old.
Charles Félix married Marie Virginie, called Virginie, daughter of Jacques Mainville, Mainvielle, or Mienvielle at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in April 1837. Their son Louis Félix, called Félix, was born near Convent in August 1842 but died at age 2 in August 1844, and François Simon was born in January 1848. Their daughter married into the Babin family.
Simon Léon died near Convent, St. James Parish, in April 1845. The priest who recorded his burial said that Simon died at "age 30 yrs.," but he was only 28. He probably did not marry.
Jacques Jules married Stephanie, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Gaudin, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in April 1847. Their son Joseph Léon was born near Convent in January 1852, François Elphége in February 1853, and Michel Oscar in February 1857.
6
Youngest son Laurent, born at St.-Jacques in August 1773, married Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Bourgeois, at St.-Jacques in January 1792. Their son Dionis was born at St.-Jacques in December 1796, Désiré in November 1804, and Evariste in April 1813. Their daughters married into the Blouin, Dicharry, Michel, Mire, Richard, and Savoie families. Laurent died in St. James Parish in February 1824; he was only 52 years old.
6a
Désiré married Marie Céleste, called Céleste, Enger or Hinger probably in St. James Parish in the early 1820s. Their daughter married into the LeBlanc family. Désiré remarried to Anne Gracieuse or Gratieuse, daughter of French Creole Jacques Dicharry, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in June 1831; Gracieuse's mother was a Dugas. Their son Laurent Désiré, called L. Désiré, was born near Convent in November 1838. Their daughters married into the Mollere and Poirier families. Désiré, père may have died near Convent in October 1841; the priest who recorded his burial said that Désiré was 30 years old when he died, but if this was him, he would have been 36.
During the War Between the States, Laurent Désiré served in the Donaldsonville Artillery, a front-line unit raised in Ascension Parish that fought Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of Robert E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers. Laurent Désiré was present with his company from his enlistment in September 1861 until early 1864, when he was reported absent without leave. He probably did not return to his battery. The Federals paroled him at Natchitoches in June 1865, so he may have joined another Confederate unit when he came home without leave. Laurent Désiré married cousin Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Theriot, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in January 1866; they had to secure a dispensation for fourth degree of consanguinity in order to marry.
6b
Evariste married Marie Belzire, called Belzire, daughter of fellow Acadian Urbin Braud, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in June 1834. Their son Evariste Désiré was born near St. Gabriel in February 1848. Evariste died near Baton Rouge in October 1853; the priest who recorded his burial said that Evariste died "at age 41 years"; he was only 40 1/2.
Descendants of Joseph ARCENEAUX (c1740-1790s)
Joseph, second son of Pierre Arseneau and Marguerite Hébert and brother of Jean and Pierre, born at Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, in c1740, married Marie, daughter of Barthélémy Bergeron dit d'Ambroise of Rivière St.-Jean, in the early 1760s during Le Grand Dérangement. They were counted as prisoners at Halifax in August 1783 and came to Louisiana with the Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil party in the 1765. They followed the Broussards to Bayou Teche that spring but retreated to Cabanocé, on the river, that autumn to escape an epidemic that struck the Teche valley community. They remained on the river, where all of their children were born. Their daughters married into the Bourgeois, LeBlanc, and Mire families. Joseph died by February 1798, when he was listed as deceased in a daughter's marriage record; he would have been in his late 50s that year.
1
Oldest son Jean-Charles, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in July 1774, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Part, at the St.-Jacques church in February 1799. Their son Édouard was born at St.-Jacques in November 1799, a son, name unrecorded, died 8 days after his birth in August 1801, Joseph-Simon, called Simon, was born in September 1802, Jean Amédée, called Amédée, in March 1806, a son, name and age unrecorded, died in April 1808, Joseph le jeune was born in December 1810, and Pierre Joachim in February 1815. Their daughter married into the LeBlanc Family. Jean Charles died in St. James Parish in January 1816; the priest who recorded his burial said that Jean was 45 years old when he died, but he was only 41. Two of his sons married sisters.
1a
Simon married Jane Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel David, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in May 1836. Their son Augustin was born near Convent in June 1843. Their daughters married into the Cantrelle and Decarraux families. Simon died near Convent in October 1861; the priest who recorded his burial said that Simon died at "age 48 years," but he was 59; he also was a widower.
1b
Amédée married Carmelite, another daughter of Michel David, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in October 1837. One wonders if they had any children who survived childhood.
1c
Édouard died near Convent, St. James Parish, in January 1846. He was 46 years old and may not have married.
2
Joseph, fils, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in August 1777, may have died young, unless he and Augustin were the same person.
3
Youngest son Auguste or Augustin, born probably at St.-Jacques in the late 1770s, married Marcelline or Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadian Bonaventure Gaudin, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in September 1810. Their son Auguste or Augustin, fils was born near Convent in November 1814, and Lucien in August 1825. Their daughter married into the Bourgeois family. Augustin died near Convent in November 1842; the priest who recorded his burial said that Augustin died at "age 65 yrs."
3a
Augustin, fils died near Convent, St. James Parish, in May 1838. He was only 23 years old and did not marry.
3b
Lucien married Célina, daughter of Francois Boze or Folse, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in June 1852. Lucien died in Ascension Parish in June 1853; he was only 27 years old. One wonders if he and his wife any children.
Descendants of Pierre ARCENEAUX (c1749-)
Pierre, youngest son of Pierre Arseneau and Marguerite Hébert of Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, and brother of Jean and Joseph, was, according to Acadian genealogist Bona Arsenault, born at Chignecto in c1749. He may have come to Louisiana from Halifax with his older brothers and a sister in 1765 and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques. He married Marie, daughter of probably Jean-Baptiste Bergeron dit d'Amboise of Rivière St.-Jean, place and date unrecorded, but it probably was at Cabanocé in the late 1760s. He does not appear in the records of the Louisiana colony until January 1777, when Spanish officials counted him on the right, or west, bank of the river at St.-Jacques with his wife, two sons--Pierre, age 7, and Joseph, age 5--and two daughters of fellow Acadian Pierre Bourgeois. Although this and other records give him and his wife at least three sons, none of them seem to have created families of their own, so this line of the family may not have survived in the Bayou State.
1
Oldest son Pierre, fils, born probably at St.-Jacques in c1770, may have died young.
2
Jean le jeune, born probably at St.-Jacques in c1772, also may have died young.
3
Youngest son Alexandre, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in April 1777, also may have died young.
Firmin ARCENEAUX (c1753-1776)
Firmin Arseneau came to Louisiana as a 12-year-old orphan in 1765. He was counted at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques in April 1766, age 13, and again in September 1769, age 15, with the family of kinsman Pierre Arceneaux. Firmin died at St.-Jacques in October 1776; he was only 23 years old. He probably did not marry.
Other ARCENEAUXs on the River
Area church and civil records make it difficult to link some Arceneauxs on the river with known Acadian lines of the family there:
Henriette Arceneaux bore a son, Pierre Admon, in St. James Parish in May 1820. The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not identity the boy's father or give the mother's parents' names.
Élie Arceneaux married Acadian Poulone Gautreaux. Their son Edmon, age unrecorded, died near Convent, St. James Parish, in March 1823.
Désiré Arceneaux married Isabelle Martin. Their son Émile was born near Convent, St. James Parish, in February 1831. Was he the Désiré Arceneaux who died near Convent at age 30 in October 1841?
Heloise Arseneaux gave birth to sons Joseph Vital and Joseph in St. James Parish in September 1832 and August 1836. The priest who recorded the boys' baptisms in February 1839 did not identify the boys' father(s) or give the mother's parents' names.
Céleste Arceneaux married Jean Martin in a "previous civil marriage" and sanctified the union at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in October 1836. The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the parents' names. Céleste was buried in Ascension Parish 4 days after her church wedding. Again, the priest who recorded her burial did not give her parents' names.
Rosalie Arceneaux, a "sister at Convent of Sacred Heart," died near Convent, St. James Parish, in November 1843. She was only 25 years old. The priest who recorded her burial did not give her parents' names.
Joseph Arceneaux, "age 45 yrs., spouse of Silvestre[sic] Bourque, died near Convent, St. James Parish, in February 1856. One wonders if Joseph was actually Josèphe.
Robert Francis, son of Alexis Arceneaux and Pleasant Arceneaux, born "at Mrs. Belizaire Arceneaux's," was baptized at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, age 2 months, in October 1859.
Felicis or Feluis Arceneaux married Élisabeth or Isabella Sanchez. Their son Josephus Vincentium, called Vincent, was born near Gonzales, St. James Parish, in January 1864 but died the following August.
Marcelli Arceneaux died near Convent, St. James Parish, in April 1864. The priest who recorded Marcelli's burial did not bother to give his/her parents' names, mention a spouse, or even give Marcelli's age at the time of his/her death.
LOUISIANA: LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS
By the mid-1790s, Arceneauxs from the Acadian Coast had moved to upper Bayou Lafourche:
Descendants of Eusèbe ARCENEAUX (c1762-1825)
Eusèbe, elder son of Pierre Arseneau of Chignecto and Marie-Josèphe Godin dit Lincour of Rivière St.-Jean, and brother of Pierre, fils, was born at Halifax in c1762, when the British were holding his parents as prisoners there. His parents came to Louisiana in 1765 but did not follow the Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil party to the Bayou Teche valley. They settled, instead, at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where Eusèbe's father died in the late 1760s. Still a teenager, Eusèbe was living with his stepfather, mother, and siblings on the right, or west, bank of the river at Ascension in 1777. Eusèbe married Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Bergeron dit d'Amboise, at St.-Jacques in August 1788. They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, where more children were born to them. Their daughters married into the Blanchard, Daigle, Gautreaux, and Theriot families. Eusèbe died in Assumption Parish in October 1825; he was 62 years old. Most of his descendants remained on upper Bayou Lafourche, but some of them settled as far down as Lockport in Lafourche Parish.
1
Oldest son Eusèbe-Alexandre, called Alexandre, born at St.-Jacques in July 1789, married Marie Aimée, daughter of fellow Acadian Suliac Blanchard, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1810. Their son Angel died at age 4 months in July 1811, Eusèbe Théodule, called Théodule, was born in April 1812, Siméon Suliac in February 1814, twins Jean Baptiste and Hubert in May 1818, and a newborn son, name unrecorded, died in March 1825. Their daughters married into the Aucoin, Hébert, and Landry families.
1a
Siméon died in Assumption Parish in July 1831. The priest who recorded his burial said that Siméon was 10 years old when he died, but he was 17.
1b
Théodule married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Grégoire Aucoin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in December 1833. Their son Cyprien Justinien was born in Assumption Parish in July 1835, a child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died at age 7 months in April 1836, and Joseph Pierre was born in March 1837. Théodule remarried to Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadian Isidore Aucoin, at the Plattenville church in January 1843; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of affinity in order to marry. Their son Maximilien Justilien was born in Assumption Parish in October 1846, Joseph died at infant in November 1848, Clairville was born in February 1849, Valsin Aristide in May 1852, and Émile Alcide Gustave, called Alcide, near Labadieville in August 1856 but died at age 5 months the following January. Their daughters married into the Aucoin and Blanchard families.
Joseph, by his first wife, married Elisa, daughter of fellow Acadian Florentin Blanchard, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in February 1861. Their son Joseph Alcide was born near Labadieville in March 1866.
1c
Hubert married Hirma or Irma, daughter of Zenon Rodrigue of St. John the Baptist Parish, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1840. Their son Numa was born in Assumption Parish in c1845 but died at age 7 in December 1852, Philippe was born in April 1846, Joseph Arsema, called Arsema, in July 1848 but died at age 1 1/2 in March 1852, Jean Baptiste Aima was born in November 1851, Rosémond was born in c1852 or 1853 but died at age 5 in January 1858, and Louis Leoma was born near Labadieville in August 1864. Their daughters married into the Aucoin, Blanchard, and Landry families.
2
Louis-Narcisse, sometimes called Narcisse, born at St.-Jacques in November 1790, died in Assumption Parish in April 1816. He was only 25 years old and probably did not marry.
3
Michel, born at Ascension, above St.-Jacques, in June 1792, probably died young.
4
Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, born at Assumption in April 1798, married Marie Mélanie, called Mélanie, daughter of fellow Acadian François Marie Gautreaux, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1818. Their son Jean Baptiste Pantaléon, called Léon, was born in Assumption Parish in July 1819, Jean Baptiste Apollinaire in February 1829 but died at age 8 1/2 in August 1837, and Marcellin or Marcellus was born in December 1831 but died at age 5 1/2 in September 1837. Their daughters married into the Blanchard and Delaune families.
Léon married Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadian Antoine Dubois, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in October 1844. Their son Guillmar Joseph Auzémé was born in Assumption Parish in August 1854, a son, name and age unrecorded, after a private baptism, died in November 1857, and Joseph Alcée was born in January 1859. Their daughters married into the Fonseca, Richard, and Roger families.
5
Valéry-Joseph, born at St.-Jacques in February 1800, married Basilise, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Aucoin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1826. Their son Joseph Drosin died 15 days after his birth in November 1826, Marcellus Eusèbe in June 1828, Alexandre le jeune in April 1834 but died at age 3 1/2 in October 1837, Octave Joseph, called Joseph, was born in February 1836 but died at age 9 1/2 in August 1845, Jules Lucien was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1844, and Olésiphore died in Assumption Parish at age 15 months in January 1848. Their daughters married into the Barrilleaux, Prudhomme, Thibodeaux, and Trahan families.
Marcellus married Angèle, daughter of French Creole Joseph Friou, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1854; Angèle's mother was a Trahan. Their son Joseph Jules was born near Pierre Part, Assumption Parish, in October 1861, and Cyprien Joseph in September 1866.
During the War Between the States, Jules served in Company F of the Lafourche Parish Regiment Militia. The Federals captured him in Lafourche Parish in early December 1862 and released him soon afterwards. Jules married cousin Julie, daughter of Rosémond Lagrange, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1866; Julie's mother, also, was an Aucoin.
6
Alexandre le jeune, also called Merville, born at Assumption in May 1803, married Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Templet, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1832. Their son Charles Honoré, called Honoré, was born in Assumption Parish in March 1833. Alexandre le jeune died in Assumption Parish in May 1833; he was only 30 years old.
Honoré married Angèle, daughter of fellow Acadian François Crochet, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1854. Their son Joseph Eugène was born in Assumption Parish in June 1855. Honoré remarried to Helena, daughter of fellow Acadian Zenon Bourgeois, at the Gonzales church, Ascension Parish, in January 1867.
7
Michel, the second son with that name, a twin, was born at Assumption in February 1805 but died at age 2 in September 1807.
8
Youngest son Pierre Lucien, called Lucien, born in Assumption Parish in October 1809, married Élise, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Theriot, at the Paincourtville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1847. Their son Jean Lucien was born in Assumption Parish in August 1849.
~
During the early antebellum period, two Arceneaux brothers, Pierre and Nicolas, moved from Bayou Teche to Bayou Lafourche. Pierre returned to the Teche valley, but Nicolas remained on the middle Lafourche, adding another line to that center of family settlement:
Descendants of Nicolas ARCENEAUX (1799-)
Nicolas, also called Paul, youngest son of Pierre Arceneaux, fils and Angélique Bourgeois, baptized at Attakapas, age 5 months, in March 1799, three months after his father died, grew up at Fausse Pointe on lower Bayou Teche, but he did not remain there. He married Marie Carmelite, called Carmelite, daughter of fellow Acadian Louis Breaux, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in August 1818. Oldest brother Pierre and his family joined Nicolas and Carmelite along the Lafourche in the 1820s but returned to Bayou Teche. Nicolas and Carmelite may have followed. If so, they did not remain there long. By the middle 1820s they had settled in Lafourche Interior Parish. Their daughters married into the Barrios and Roger families. Three of Nicolas's fives sons created families of their own and settled in the Thibodaux-Raceland area.
1
Oldest son Jean Honoré, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1826, married Marie Césaire, called Césaire, daughter of French Creole Jacques Matherne, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1852. Their son Zéphirin was born near Lockport in August 1866, and Joseph in March 1870.
2
Nicolas, fils, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1831, married Eugènie, daughter of French Creole Pierre Lasseigne, at the Raceland church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1855.
3
Leufroi died in Lafourche Interior Parish 15 days after his birth in December 1833.
4
Louis Désiré, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in April 1842, married Zéolide, 16-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Victor Melançon, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in January 1860. Their son Louis, fils was born near Raceland in January 1863.
5
Onésippe, born probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the early 1840s, married Edesie, called Desie, daughter of fellow Acadian Alexandre Giroir, at the Lockport church, Lafourche Parish, in September 1863. Their son Joachim Elphége was born near Lockport in August 1864.
~
Other ARCENEAUXs in the Lafourche/Terrebonne Valley
Area church and civil records make it difficult to link at least one Arceneaux in the Bayou LafourcheBayou Terrebonne valley with known Acadian lines of the family there:
Marie Arceneaux married Joseph Dufrene during the early antebellum period and settled on Bayou Lafourche. Was she an Acadian, and, if so, who were her parents?
Joséphine Arceneaux married Joseph Sovarez in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in February 1826. One wonders if she was an Acadian.
François Arceneaux married Acadian Marie Aucoin. Their son Pierre Aristide was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in c1837 but died at age 3 in November 1840, Joseph Augustin was born in September 1839, and Léo in February 1841.
Arthémise Arceneaux married G. Washington Bergeron in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in December 1863. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couples' parents' names.
Julienne Arceneaux gave birth to son Jean Pierre in Terrebonne Parish in February 1864. The Houma priest who recorded the boy's baptism the following October did not give the mother's parents' names or the boy's father name.
Pierre Arceneaux married Marie Josèphe Pitre in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1869. The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couples' parents' names.
NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA
A French Canadian named Arcenot came to Louisiana over a decade before his Acadian namesakes reached the colony. He married in New Orleans and settled on the Upper German Coast before moving upriver to the Acadian Coast. During the early antebellum period, some of his descendants moved to upper Bayou Lafourche, settling near their Acadian Arseneauxs there:
Descendants of Michel ARCENOT, fils (?-1798)
Michel, fils, son of Michel Arcenot, père and Marie-Madeleine La Fleure of Cap-de-Madeleine, Québec, married Marie-Anne-Arcène, daughter of Antoine-Joseph André of St.-Charles des Allemands on the Lower German Coast, at New Orleans in July 1752. Michel, fils and Marie-Anne were living at St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands on the Upper German Coast over a decade before the Acadian Arseneaus reached Louisiana in 1765. Their daughter married into the Rome family. In 1754, Michel, fils owned a small 2x40-arpent farm on the Mississippi River at Bonnet Carré Point. He and his family left the German Coast and moved upriver to the Acadian Coast probably in the late 1770s. They settled at St.-Jacques and also at Ascension. One of Michel, fils's sons moved on to Bayou Terrebonne in the early 1800s. Meanwhile, Michel, fils died at Ascension in March 1798, his age unrecorded. Most of his descendants remained in St. James Parish, but some of them settled in the Lafourche valley as far down as Terrebonne Parish. And some of them married Acadians.
1
Oldest son Michel III, born at St.-Jean-Baptiste in c1755, married Marie-Louise, called Louise, daughter of French Creole David Rome, at St.-Jacques in June 1786. Their son Alex or Alexis was born at St.-Jacques in April 1787, Louis le jeune in November 1797, and Césaire in c1801. Their daughters married into the LeBoeuf family. Michel III died in St. James Parish in January 1821; he was 66 years old.
1a
Alexis married Marie Emeranthe, called Emeranthe, daughter of French Creole Pierre Sionneau of St. John the Baptist Parish, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in February 1812. Their son Alexis, fils was born in St. James Parish in December 1814 but died at age 18 months in May 1816, Michel le jeune was born in February 1820, and Pierre Amédée, called Amédée, near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1829. Their daughters married into the Falgoust, Sionneau, Simon, and Tircuit families. Alexis died "at his home [in St. James Parish] where [he] left his wife and several children" in March 1853; the priest who recorded his burial said that Alexis died at "age 67 or 68 years"; he was a month shy of 67.
Michel le jeune married Maria Louise, daughter of French Creole Michel Simon, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in June 1846. Their son Norbert was born in St. James Parish in March 1850 but died at age 4 in March 1854, Alexis le jeune was born in December 1855, Jules near Vacherie in December 1862, and Joseph Noe in September 1867.
Pierre Amédée married Geneviève, daughter of French Creole Michel Falgoust, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in July 1850. Their son Paul Alexis was born in St. James Parish in December 1853, Amédée Horace in August 1857, Michel Agricole in August 1859, and George Adam near Vacherie in August 1864.
1b
Louis le jeune married Susanne, daughter of French Creole François LeBoeuf and widow of Jean Baptiste Cantrelle, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in January 1818; Susanne's brother was the husband of Louis le jeune's sister. Their son Louis, fils was born in St. James Parish in November [1819], Joseph Armogène or Hermogène Louis in March 1822, and Charles Justin in April 1824. They also had a son named Charles Gustave, unless he was Charles Justin. Louis le jeune remarried to Acadian Anne Rosalie Robichaux probably in St. James Parish in the mid- or late1820s. Louis le jeune died in St. James Parish in June 1831; he was only 33 years old.
Louis, fils, by his first wife, may have married Marie Azélie Judienne in St. James Parish by the late 1840s.
Joseph Hermogène Louis, by his first wife, married Louise Ernestine, daughter of French Creole Jean Sionneau, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in February 1849. Their son Adam died in St. James Parish a day after his birth in January 1850, Joseph Charles was born in March 1851, Louis Ernest in December 1852, Mathurin Auguste in November 1854, Floreant in July 1856, and Jean Baptiste in February 1862.
Charles Gustave, by his first wife, married Marie Adéle, daughter of Christophe Barbier, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in October 1866.
1c
Césaire died in St. James Parish in February 1841. He was only 40 years old and probably did not marry.
2
Louis, born probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste in c1765, married Césaire, another daughter of Pierre Sionneau, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in February 1807. Their daughters married into the Cantrelle, Scheider, and Schexnayder families. Louis died in St. James Parish in September 1814; he was only 49 years old. One wonders if he and his wife had any sons.
3
Urbain, born at St.-Jean-Baptiste in June 1774, married cousin Madeleine, daughter of French Creole Guillaume André and widow of Joachim Porche, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1811. Their daughter married into the Ratcliff family. Urbain remarried to Euphémie Arceneaux, perhaps a cousin, widow of E. L. Ratcliff. They had a son named James. Euphémie died in Terrebonne Parish in January 1841.
4
Gabriel, born probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste in the 1770s, married cousin Catherine, daughter of French Creole François LeBoeuf, at St.-Jacques in April 1796; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry. Their son Joseph was born at St.-Jacques in July 1798, Hubert Ville or Huberville in July 1808, and Norbert in October 1810. Their daughters married into the Bergeron and Bernan or Bernon families. Gabriel and Catherine moved to Bayou Lafourche probably in the 1810s.
4a
Huberville married Constance, daughter of Acadian Jean Marie Trahan, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in July 1828. Their son Hubert was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1832, Lucien Zéphirin in October 1835, Jean Baptiste in December 1836, and Wilfred in January 1846. They also had a son named Sosthène. Their daughters married into the Lagrange and Lançon families. Huberville remarried to Marie, daughter of François Bonnardot, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1866; Huberville was 57 years old at the time of the wedding.
Hubert, by his first wife, married Esther, 19-year-old daughter of Acadian Marcellin Thibodeaux, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in February 1851, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1854. Their son César Adam was born in Terrebonne Parish in January 1853, Washington Leufroi in April 1864, and John Andry near Chacahoula in December 1868.
Jean Baptiste, by his first wife, married Marie Rose, daughter of Acadian Auguste Giroir, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1858. Their son Lucian Alcide was born in Terrebonne Parish in October 1861. Jean Baptiste died by June 1864, when his wife remarried to his brother Sosthène.
Lucien, by his first wife, married Émilie Edmée, daughter of French Creole Evariste Poche or Porche, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in August 1858; Émilie's mother was a Thibodeaux. Their son Henri Mitchell was born in Terrebonne Parish in August 1862, Sydney Wilfred in July 1867, and Émile Emite in December 1869.
During the War Between the States, Sosthène served in Company H of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Terrebonne Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. According to his Confederate service record, Sosthène was "left at home on sick furlough" in the fall of 1862, so he may not have fought with his unit in Mississippi. His brother Wilfred served in another company of the same regiment. Sosthène married Marie Rose Giroir, his brother Jean-Baptiste's widow, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1864, and may have remarried to Acadian Caroline E. Guidry in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in July 1869.
During the War Between the States, despite his youth, Wilfred served as a fourth sergeant in Company K of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, also raised in Terrebonne Parish. His brother Sosthène served in another company of the same regiment. Wilfred married Celina, daughter of Acadian Charles Trahan, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in July 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in August 1867.
4b
Norbert married Esther, 23-year-old daughter of German Creole Nicolas Malbrough, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in November 1843, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1850. Their son Hubert le jeune was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1847, and Clairville in October 1853. Their daughter married into the Lesco family.
5
François, born probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste in c1771, married Marguerite, daughter of French Creole Jean or Adam Rome, at St.-Jean-Baptiste in February 1799. François died in St. James Parish in January 1816; he was only 45 years old. One wonders if he and his wife had any sons.
6
Jean-Baptiste, called Baptiste, born probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste in c1775, married Isabelle, daughter of Acadian Paul David dit St. Michel, at the St. James church, St. James Parish, in September 1811. Their son Jean Baptiste, fils had been born in St. James Parish in April 1811, was baptized at the St. James church the day his parents were married there, but died at age 14 in July 1824, and Arsène, a twin, was born in April 1821. Jean Baptiste, père died in St. James Parish in February 1826; he was only 51 years old.
7
Abraham, perhaps the youngest son, born at either St.-Jean-Baptiste or St.-Jacques in c1779, died in St. James Parish in January 1844. The priest who recorded his burial said that Abraham was "age 65" when he died and was "single," but the priest did not give Abraham's parents' names.
.
Area church records make it difficult to link other non-Acadian Arceneaus on the river with Michel Arcenot of Canada:
Jean-Marie Arseneau married Acadian Catalina, also called Nanette, Guilbeau, probably at St.-Jacques in the late 1780s or early 1790s. A son, name unrecorded, died at St.-Jacques at age 4 in May 1795, Jean-Marie, fils died at age 2 1/2 in December 1794, and Joseph died at age 16 months in November 1795. Their daughter married into the Foulcher family. Jean-Marie may have been a son of Michel Arcenot of Canada.
Pierre Arseneau married Catherine Hoffman probably at St.-Charles des Allemands on the lower German Coast. Their daughter Véronique married first to Jean-Baptiste LaChapelle and then to Gabriel, son of Joseph Circe of Montréal, at St. James in May 1806. Pierre may have been yet another son of Michel Arcenot of Canada.
Jean, son of Louis Arceno and Isabelle Piso, born probably at St.-Jean-Baptiste des Allemands on the upper German Coast in the 1760s, served as an engagé, or indentured worker, on the lower German Coast in the mid-1780s. He married Charlotte, daughter of Jacques Quenler, at St.-Jean-Baptiste in January 1786. He may have been a kinsman of Michel Arcenot.
CONCLUSION
Arseneaus settled early in Acadia and were some of the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana. The first of them came to the colony from Halifax via St.-Domingue with the Broussard dit Beausoleil party in February 1765. They followed the Broussards to Bayou Teche, but they did not remain there. When an epidemic struck the Teche valley settlements later that year, all of the Arseneaus fled to Cabanocé on the river, and most of them stayed there, creating the first center of family settlement. Not until the late colonial period did Arceneauxs return to the prairies, creating a western branch of the family that rivaled in numbers their kinsmen on the river. Meanwhile, an Arceneaux from the river moved to upper Bayou Lafourche, creating a third center of family settlement. In the 1820s, two brothers from St. Martin Parish joined their cousins along Bayou Lafourche. One of the brothers returned to Bayou Teche, but the other one remained on the Lafourche.
Though some of them moved to Île St.-Jean soon after Acadians began settling that island in the early 1700s, the Arseneaus of Acadia had tended to concentrate at Chignecto, which the progenitor of their family helped pioneer. The Arceneauxs of Louisiana, however, exhibited a very different settlement pattern than that of their Acadian forebears before Le Grand Dérangement. From the late colonial into the antebellum period, beginning at their base in what became St. James Parish, they spread out to nearly every corner of today's Acadiana--up the Mississippi as far as Baton Rouge; on Bayou Lafourche from Assumption down to Thibodaux and Lockport; on Bayou Teche from Breaux Bridge down to Charenton, and out into the prairies north and west of present-day Lafayette.
Most Arceneauxs of South Louisiana are descendants of Pierre of Rochefort and Chignecto, but a family of French Canadians with a similar-sounding surname also settled in today's Acadiana. Michel Arcenot of Cap-de-Madeleine, Canada, came to Louisiana over a decade before his Acadian namesakes arrived. He and his family settled first on the German Coast before moving upriver to the Acadian Coast, where they lived among Acadian Arceneauxs who had already settled there. One of Michel's sons moved to Bayou Lafourche, where his descendants settled near their Acadian namesakes and as far down as the Terrebonne country. Some of Michel's descendants married Acadians. ...
In Louisiana, the Acadian family's name evolved from Arseneau and Arsenault to Arceneaux. The family's name also is spelled Arcenaux, Arcenos, Arcenot, Arsenaud, Arseneau, Arseneault, Arseno, Arzenaud. Sometimes in local church and civil records, the much smaller Arcement or Arsement family of Acadia is confused with the more numerous Arceneauxs.
Sources: Arsenault, Généalogie, 393, 827-41, 1653, 2055-63, 2203-06; 2263-64; 2314-15; 2402-05; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 13-14; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; NOAR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 6; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, Family No. 40; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 4, 297, 776-77; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 17-8, 148; White, DGFA-1, 23-31; White, DGFA-1 English, 6-8.
Settlement Abbreviations
(present-day parishes that existed
during the War Between the States in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the
abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):
|
Ascension |
Lafourche (Lafourche, Terrebonne) |
Pointe Coupée |
|||
|
Assumption |
Natchitoches (Natchitoches) |
SB | San Bernardo (St. Bernard) | ||
|
Attakapas (St. Martin, St. Mary, Lafayette, Vermilion) |
San Luìs de Natchez (Concordia) |
St.-Gabriel d'Iberville (Iberville) |
|||
|
Bayou des Écores (East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana) |
New Orleans (Orleans) |
St.-Jacques de Cabanocé (St. James) |
|||
|
Baton Rouge (East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge) |
Opelousas (St. Landry, Calcasieu) |
For a chronology of Acadian Arrivals in Louisiana, 1764-early 1800s, see Appendix.
The hyperlink attached to an individual's name is connected to a list of Acadian immigrants for a particular settlement and provides a different perspective on the refugee's place in family and community.
| Name | Arrived | Settled | Profile |
| Anne ARCENEAUX 01 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1745, probably Chignecto; daughter of Jean ARCENEAUX & Marie-Anne HÉBERT; sister of Isabelle, Marguerite, & Pierre; married, age 16, (1)Barthélemy BERGERON, son of Barthélemy BERGERON dit D'Amboise & Marguerite DUGAS of Rivière St.-Jean, & brother of her brother Pierre's wife, c1762, probably Halifax; arrived LA 1765, age 19, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape the epidemic that killed her husband & infant son Charles 2 days apart; married, age 21, (2)Simon LEBLANC, son of Desiré LEBLANC & Marie-Madeleine LANDRY, 6 Nov 1767, Cabanocé; in Cabanocé census, 1769, right [west] bank, called Anne ARSENEAUX, age 25, with husband, 1 daughter, & orphan Marguerite BERGERON; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, right [west] bank, called Anne BERGERON, age 31, with husband, 2 sons, & 1 daughter; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, unnamed, with husband & 13 unnamed others; died [buried] St. James Parish 21 Aug 1811, age 75[sic] |
| Charles ARCENEAUX 02 | 17?? | StJ | born c1758; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, right [west] bank, called Charles ARSENEAUX, orphan, age 19, with family of Pierre ARCENEAUX; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, unnamed, with family of Pierre ARSENEAUX? |
| Eusèbe ARCENEAUX 03 | 1765 | StJ, Asc, Asp | born c1762, Halifax; son of Pierre ARCENEAUX & Marie-Josèphe GODIN dit Lincour; brother of Pierre, fils; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with parents; arrived LA 1765, age 3; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, called Usèbe, age 4, with parents & brother; in Cabanocé census, 1769, right [west] bank, called Usèbe ARSENEAUX, age 7, with stepfather Bazille PRÉJEAN, mother, & brother; in Ascension census, 1777, right [west] bank, called Uzèbe ARSENEAUX, age 15, with stepfather, mother, 1 full brother, & 3 half-siblings; married, age 26, Rosalie BERGERON, daughter of Jean-Baptiste BERGERON dit D'Amboise & Marguerite BERNARD of St.-Jacques, 6 Aug 1788, St.-Jacques; moved to Lafourche valley; in Valenzuéla census, 1795, called Eusèbio ARSENAUX, age 33, with wife Rosalia age 27, sons Alexandro age 7, Narciso age 6, & Miguel age 4; in Valenzuéla census, 1797, called Usèbe ARCENEAUX, age 34, with wife Rosalie age 23, sons Alexandre age 8, Narcisse age 7, & Angel age 5, 0 slaves; in Valenzuéla census, 1798, called Usèbe ARCENEAUX, age 36, with wife Rosalie age 29, sons Usèbe age 8, Louis age 7, Michel age 5, daughters Constance age 3, & Marie age 1, 6/60 arpents, 0 slaves; died [buried] Assumption 11 Oct 1825, age 62 |
| Firmin ARCENEAUX 04 | 1765 | StJ | born c1753; arrived LA 1765, age 12; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, called Firmin ARSENAUD, orphan, age 13, with family of Pierre ARCENAUX, also left [east] bank, JUDICE's Company, Cabanocé Militia, called Fermin & Firmin ARSENAUD, age 13, listed singly, with 4 arpents of land; in Cabanocé census, 1769, right [west] bank, still an orphan, age 15, with family of Pierre ARCENEAUX; probably never married; died [buried] St.-Jacques 1 Oct 1776, age 23 |
| François ARCENEAUX 05 | Feb 1765 | Atk | born c1764, probably Halifax; arrived LA Feb 1765, an infant, probably an orphan, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; died [buried] Attakapas 19 Sep 1765, age 1 |
| Guillaume ARCENEAUX 06 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1761; son of Jean ARCENEAUX & Judith BERGERON; brother of Jean-Charles, Joseph, & Pierre-Paul; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with parents & siblings; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 5, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, age 8[sic], with parents & brothers; in Cabanocé census, 1769, left [east] bank, age 8, with parents & siblings; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, left [east] bank, age 18, with parents & siblings; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, unnamed with parents & others; married, age 26, Marguerite GAUDET, daughter of Louis GAUDET & Marie HÉBERT of Nantes, France, & Ascension, 5 Mar 1786, St.-Jacques; died [buried] St. James Parish 20 Dec 1818, age 56 |
| Isabelle ARCENEAUX 07 | 1765 | StJ | born c1733; daughter of Jean ARCENEAUX & Anne-Marie HÉBERT; sister of Anne, Marguerite, & Pierre; married Charles BERGERON; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Jul 1763, unnamed, with husband & 3 children; arrived LA 1765; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, age 3[sic, actually 33], with husband 2 sons, & 1 daughter; died probably Cabanocé before Sep 1769, when her daughter Marguerite was listed in the Cabanocé census as an orphan |
| Jean ARCENEAUX 08 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1728, Chigecto; son of probably Pierre ARCENEAUX & Marguerite HÉBERT; brother of Joseph & Pierre; married Judith BERGERON; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, called Jean ARCENOS, with unnamed wife & 4 unnamed children; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 37, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; on list of Acadians who exchanged card money in New Orleans Apr 1765, called Jean ARCENEAU; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, JUDICE's Company, Cabanocé Militia, called Juan ARSENAUD, age 38, with wife Judithe age 32, sons Jean-Charles age 14, Joseph age 12, Guillaume age 8, & Paul age 4, 0 slaves, 3 arpents, 0 cattle, 0 sheep, 1 hog, 1 gun; in Cabanocé census, 1769, occupying lot number 112, left [east] bank, age 40, with wife Judique age 34, sons Jean-Charles age 16, Joseph age 12, Guillaume age 8, & daughter Anne age 7 mos.; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, left [east] bank, age 47, with wife Judic age 44, sons Joseph age 20, Guillaume age 18, Paul age 15, François age 6, Laurent age 4, & daughter Manon age 8; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, called Jean ARSENEAUX, with 8 unnamed whites, 3 slaves, 60 qts. rice, 100 qts. corn; died [buried] St.-Jacques 15 Jan 1800, age 75[sic] |
| Jean-Charles ARCENEAUX 09 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1752, probably Chignecto; called Charles; son of Jean ARCENEAUX & Judith BERGERON; brother of Guillaume, Joseph, & Pierre-Paul; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with parents & siblings; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 13, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, called Jean-Charles, age 14, with parents & brothers; in Cabanocé census, 1769, left [east] bank, called Jean-Charles, age 16, with parents & siblings; married, age 25, Marie-Josèphe BABIN, daughter of Basile BABIN & Anne SONNIER, & stepdaughter of Michel CORMIER of Opelousas, 17 Jan 1777, St.-Jacques; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, right [west] bank, called Charles ARSENEAUX, age 22, with wife Marie-Josèphe age 15[sic, actually 13!], & no children; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, called Charles ARSENEAUX, with 2 unnamed whites, 0 slaves, 6 qts. rice, 10 qts. corn; died [buried] St. James Parish 2 Apr 1813, age 61 |
| Joseph ARCENEAUX 10 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1740, Chignecto; son of probably Pierre ARCENEAUX & Marguerite HÉBERT; brother of Jean & Pierre; married Marie BERGERON, daughter of Barthélemy BERGERON dit d'Amboise & Marguerite DUGAS of Rivière St.-Jean, probably Halifax, early 1760s; on list of Acadian prisoners, Halifax, Aug 1763, called Joseph ARCENOS, with unnamed wife & no children; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 25, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; on list of Acadians who exchanged card money in New Orleans Apr 1765, called Joseph ARCENEAU; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, JUDICE's Company, Cabanocé Militia, called Joseph ARSENAUD, age 26, with wife Marie age 21, no children, 0 slaves, 4 arpents, 0 cattle, 0 sheep, 0 hogs, 1 gun; in Cabanocé census, 1769, occupying lot number 108, left [east] bank, called Joseph ARSENEAUX, age 29, with wife Marie age 25, daughters Francoise age 3, Margueritte age 7 mos., & orphaned nephew [Jean-]Théodore BERGERON age 7; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, left [east] bank, called Joseph ARSENEAUX, age 35[sic], with wife Marie age 31, son Jean-Charles age 3, daughters Francoise age 10, Marianne [Marguerite?] age 8, Collastie age 5, & orphaned nephew [Jean-]Théodore BERGERON age 14; in St-Jacques census, 1779, called Joseph ARSENEAUX, with 8 unnamed whites, 2 slaves, 6 qts. rice, 30 qts. corn; died probably St.-Jacques by Feb 1798, when he was listed as deceased in a daughter's marriage record |
| Joseph ARCENEAUX 11 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1756; son of Jean ARCENEAUX & Judith BERGERON; brother of Guillaume, Jean-Charles, & Pierre-Paul; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with parents & siblings; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 8, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, age 12[sic], with parents & brothers; in Cabanocé census, 1769, left [east] bank, age 12, with parents & siblings; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, left [east] bank, age 20, with parents & siblings; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, unnamed, with parents & others; married, age 24, Marie DUPUIS, daughter of Michel DUPUIS & Anne GAUDET, & widow of Joseph BLANCHARD, 10 Sep 1780, St.-Jacques; died [buried] St. James Parish 10 Jan 1811, age 56 |
| Judith ARCENEAUX 12 | 1765 | StJ, Asp, Asc | born c1736, probably Île St.-Jean; daughter of Claude ARCENEAUX & Marguerite RICHARD; married, age 24, Charles SAVOIE, son of Francois SAVOIE & Marie RICHARD of Port-Royal, & widower of Marie-Madeleine RICHARD, 7 Jan 1761, Restigouche; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with husband & 3 children; arrived LA 1765, age 29; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, called Judith ARSENAUD, age 30, with husband, 1 son, & orphan Basile DES ROCHES; in Cabanocé census, 1769, left [east] bank, called Judique ARSENAUX, age 32, with husband, 3 sons, & orphan Bazille DEROCHE; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, left [east] bank, called Judicq ARSENEAUX, age 40, with husband & 3 sons; in St.-Jacques, 1779, unnamed, with husband & 5 unnamed others; moved to Lafourche valley; in Valenzuéla census, 1795, called Judith ARSENAUX, age 60, with no husband so probably a widow, sons Juan Bautista [SAVOIE] age 32, Simon [SAVOIE] age 18, & daughter Isabel [SAVOIE] age 16; in Valenzuéla census, 1797, called Judit ARSENEAUX, Widow, age 61, with son Simon [SAVOIE] age 19, & daughter Isabelle [SAVOIE] age 17, 0 slaves, next to son Jean-Baptiste SAVOIE; in Valenzuéla census, 1798, called Judit ARCENAUX, Widow, age 63, with daughter Isabelle [SAVOIE] age 18, [engagé?] Jean-Baptiste USÉ age 27, & [engagé?] Louis STEVEN age 18, no arpents listed, 0 slaves; died [buried] Ascension Parish 30 Oct 1819, age 85[sic] |
| Marguerite ARCENEAUX 13 | 1765 | StJ | born c1735; daughter of Jean ARCENEAUX & Anne-Marie HÉBERT; sister of Anne, Isabelle, & Pierre; married Pierre BERNARD, son of Jean-Baptiste BERNARD & Cécile GAUDET of Chignecto; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with husband & 4 children; arrived LA 1765, age 30; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, called Marguerite ARSENAUD, age 31, with husband, 2 sons, & 1 daughter; died probably Cabanocé before Sep 1769, when her husband was listed in the Cabanocé census without a wife |
| Marie ARCENEAUX 14 | 17?? | ? | no information ... yet |
| Marie-Catherine dite Rosalie ARCENEAUX 20 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ, Atk | born c1763, probably Halifax; daughter of Pierre ARCENEAUX & Anne BERGERON; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with parents?; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 2, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, called Rosalie, age 2, with parents, maternal grandmother, maternal aunt, & an orphaned cousin; in Cabanocé census, 1769, right [west] bank, called Rozalie, age 5, with parents, sisters, & 2 orphans; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, right [west] bank, called Rosalie, age 13, with parents, siblings, & 1 orphan; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, unnamed, with parents & unnamed others; returned to Attakapas District; married Joseph-Athanase BREAUX, son of Athanase BREAUX & Marie LEBLANC of St.-Jacques, probably St. Martinville; died Lafayette Parish 10 PM, 21 Nov 1825, age 60[sic], buried "in the church parish cemetery" next day; succession record dated 29 Dec 1825, Lafayette Parish courthouse |
| Pierre ARCENEAUX 16 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ, Atk | born c1731, Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto; son of Jean ARCENEAUX & Marie-Anne HÉBERT; brother of Anne, Isabelle, & Marguerite; married, age 26, Anne BERGERON, daughter of Barthélemy BERGERON dit d'Amboise & Marguerite DUGAS of Rivière St.-Jean, & sister of his sister Anne's husband, c1757; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, called Pier ARSENOS, with unnamed wife & 1 unnamed child?; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 34, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; "he signed 'DAUTERIVE pact' in New Orleans on April 4, 1765" with 7 other leaders of the BROUSSARD party; on list of Acadians who exchanged card money in New Orleans Apr 1765, called Pierre ARCENEAU; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, JUDICE's Company, Cabanocé Militia, called Pedro ARZENAUD & Pierre ARSENAUX, age 36, with wife Anne age 26, daughter Rosalie age 2, widowed mother-in-law age 63, sister-in-law widow BERGERON age 23, sister widow BERNARD age 40, & orphaned cousin Firmin ARCENEAUX age 13; in Cabanocé census, 1769, occupying lot number 6, right [west] bank, called Pierre ARCENAUX; age 37, with wife Anne age 28, daughters Rozalie age 5, Marie-Jeanne age 3, Francoise age 10 mos., orphan Firmin ARCENAUX age 15, orphan Charles BERGERON age 11, 6 arpents, 0 slaves, 9 cattle, 3 horses, 12 pigs, 0 sheep, 1 musket; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, right [west] bank, called Pierre ARCENEAUX, Acadian resident, age 45, with wife Anne age 34, sons Louis age 7, Pierre age 5, daughters Rosalie age 13, Marie[-Jeanne] age 10, Françoise age 4, & orphan Charles ARCENEAUX age 19, 0 slaves, 4 arpents, 0 cattle, 0 sheep, 0 hogs, 1 gun; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, called Pierre ARSENEAUX, with 8 unnamed whites, 12 slaves, 30 qts. rice, 130 qts. corn; returned to Attakapas District, late 1780s, settled at ARCENEAUX Settlement near Carencro; owned 400 cattle at the time of his death; succession record dated 1793 Atakapas; depicted in Dafford Mural, Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville |
| Pierre ARCENEAUX, père 17 | 1765 | StJ | born c1735, Chignecto; son of Jean-Baptiste ARCENEAUX & Anne CYR; married, age 25, Marie-Josèphe GODIN dit Lincour, daughter of Jean-Baptiste GODIN dit Lincour and Anastasie BOURG of Rivière St.-Jean, c1760; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, called Pier ARSENOS, with unnamed wife & 1 unnamed child?; arrived LA 1765, age 30; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, JUDICE's Company, Cabanocé Militia, called Pedro ARZENAUD & Pierre ARSENAUD, age 31, with wife Marie age 22, son Usèbe age 4, & son Pierre age 1, 0 slaves, 6 arpents, 0 cattle, 0 sheep, 5 hogs, 1 gun; died Cabanocé by Sep 1769, when his wife was listed in the census there already remarried to Basile PRÉJEAN |
| Pierre ARCENEAUX, fils 18 | 1765 | StJ, Asc, Asp, Atk | born c1765, aboard ship, in St.-Domingue, or in New Orleans; son of Pierre ARCENEAUX & Marie-Josèphe GODIN dit Lincour; brother of Eusèbe; arrived LA 1765, an infant; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, age 1, with parents & brother; in Cabanocé census, 1769, right [west] bank, age 5, with mother, stepfather Basile PRÉJEAN, & brother Usèbe; in Ascension census, 1777, right [west] bank, age 13, with mother, stepfather, 1 full brother, & 3 half-siblings; married, age 21, (1)Pélagie BEBE, daughter of Jacques BEBE & Marguerite LANDRY, 6 Apr 1786, St.-Jacques; married, age 22, (2)Angélique BOURGEOIS, daughter of Michel BOURGEOIS & his second wife Anne LANDRY, 24 Apr 1787, St.-Jacques; moved to Lafourche valley; in Valenzuéla census, 1795, called Pedro ARSENAUX, age 33[sic], with wife Angéla age 26, sons Valentin age 4, Alexandro age 2, daughter Enrrieta age 6, & Josef PERON age 52[sic], next to father-in-law; in Valenzuéla census, 1797, called Pierre ARCENEAUX, age 34[sic], with wife Angélique age 27, sons Valantin age 4[months?], Alexandre age 3, & orphan Joseph PERON age 12, 0 slaves, next to father-in-law; in Valenzuéla census, 1798, called Pierre ARCENEAUX, age 35[sic], with wife Angélique age 26, sons Pierre age 8, Alexandre age 6, Pierre age 2, & daughter Henriette age 10, 40/3 arpents, 4 slaves, next to brother-in-law Jean-Baptiste FOREST; moved to Attakapas District, late 1790s, settled on the Teche near Atakapas Post, now St. Martinville; died [buried] Atakapas 5 Jan 1799, age 34 |
| *Pierre ARCENEAUX 19 | 17?? | StJ | born c1749; son of probably Pierre ARCENEAUX & Marguerite HÉBERT; brother of Jean & Joseph; married Marie BERGERON, daughter of Jean-Baptiste BERGERON dit D'Amboise & Marguerite BERNARD?; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, right [west] bank, age 28, with wife Marie age 22, sons Pierre age 7 & Joseph age 5, also 2 daughters of Pierre BOURGEOIS, Marie Anne age 3 & Louise age 2 |
| Pierre-Paul ARCENEAUX 15 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1762, probably Halifax; sometimes called Paul; son of Jean ARCENEAUX & Judith BERGERON; brother of Guillaume, Jean-Charles, & Joseph; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with parents & siblings; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 3, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, left [east] bank, age 4, with parents & brothers; not in Cabanocé census, 1769, left [east] bank, with the rest of his family; in St.-Jacques census, 1777, left [east] bank, age 15, with parents & siblings; in St.-Jacques census, 1779, unnamed, with parents & others?; married Élisabeth/Isabelle FONTENOT, 1780s, St.-Jacques; died [buried] St. James Parish 11 Sep 1804, age 40[sic] |
| ________ ARCENEAUX 21 | Feb 1765 | Atk, StJ | born c1726, probably Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto; daughter of Jean ARCENEAUX & Marie-Anne HÉBERT; sister of Pierre; married _____ BERNARD; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 39, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil, probably a widow; moved to Cabanocé fall 1765 probably to escape an epidemic; in Cabanocé census, 1766, right [west] bank, called widow BERNARD, age 40, with brother Pierre, sister-in-law Anne, niece Rosalie, brother's widowed mother-in-law, Anne's widowed sister or sister-in-law, & orphaned cousin |
NOTES
01. Wall of Names, 11, calls her Anne ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 834, 2419, 2541, calls her Anne ARCENEAUX, says she was born in 1742, & on p. 2541, says that she married Simon LEBLANC on 9 Nov 1767; BRDR, 3:23 (SJA-4, 34), her death/burial record, calls her Anne ARCENEAUX, "age about 75 yrs., nat. of Acadia, wid. of Simon LEBLANC," but does not give her parents' names. See also Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 171, 173; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 424, 443; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 12.
Her estimated birth year is taken not from Arsenault or her burial record but from the ages given in the Cabanocé/St.-Jacques censuses of 1769 & 1777. Note how much her burial record exaggerates her age at the time of her death. Using the ages given in the 2 censuses just cited, she was closer to 66 when she died.
The marriage record of daughter Henriette LEBLANC, dated 13 Jun 1796, in BRDR, 2:466 (SJA-2, 35), calls her Maria Anna ARCENAUX. Every other record calls her simply Anne.
02. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Charles ARSENEAU. His birth year is from the age given for him in the St.-Jacques census of 1777 in De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 9. See also De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 11.
03. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Eusèbe ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2402, calls him Eusèbe ARCENEAUX & says he was born in 1761 but gives no birthplace; BRDR, 2:23, 81 (SJA-2, 5), his marriage record, calls him Eusèbio ARSENO, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Narciso CARMUS & Leonor PRESAN [PREJEAN] of Lafourche [his stepsister]; BRDR, 4:15 (ASM-3, 187), his death/burial record, calls him Eusèbe ARSENEAUX, age 62 yrs., husband of Rosalie BERGERON, & gives his parents' names. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 252; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 162, 174; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 9, 56, 85, 138.
The baptismal record of son Alex, dated 18 Dec 1803, in BRDR 2:21 (ASM-6, 13), calls him Eusebio of Halifax.
04. The Cabanocé census & militia list of 1766 shows an impressive arrangement for a 13-year-old! See Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 162, 169. Were there two Firmin ARCENEAUXs at Cabanocé in 1766? I have found no other one. Wall of Names, 9, lists only a single fellow with the name Firmin ARSENEAU. Arsenault, Généalogie, 2402-05, fails to do even that. The death/burial record for Firmain ARCENEAUX in BRDR, 2:23, must be his; too bad it does not include his parent's names. Evidently he died a young bachelor.
05. Wall of Names, 9, calls him François ARSENEAU; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:18 (SM Ch.: Slave Funeral Register v.1, #21-A), one of his his death/burial records, calls him François ARCENEAUX, says he died "at age about 1 year," says his burial was recorded on 22 Sep 1765, but gives no parents' names; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:18 (SM Ch.: v.1, p.12), another of his death/burial records, calls him François ARCENEAUX, says he died "at age 1 year," but does not give his parents' names; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:5 (SM Ch.: Slave Register: 1765-1881: v.1, p.364), yet another of his death/burial records, calls him François ALLEMAND, says he & Jean DUGAST were "both buried 19 Sept. 1765 at about 1 year old," that their burial was recorded on 22 Sep 1765, but gives no parents' names.
So was his name François ALLEMAND & not François ARCENEAUX?
06. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Guillaume ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2404, calls him Guillaume ARCENEAUX & says he was born in 1758, which conforms to the Cabanocé census of 1766, but not the Cabanocé census of 1769 & the St.-Jacques census of 1777. The birth year used here is an average of the ages given in these censuses. See Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168, 177; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 11. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 16; BRDR, 2:24, 308, his marriage record, calls him Guiyon ARSENO, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Miguel GODEN & Maria Juana ARSENO; BRDR, 3:25 (SJA-4, 46), his death/burial record, calls him Guillaume ARCENEAUX, age about 56 yrs. nat. of Acadia, but does not give his parents' names nor mentions a wife.
07. Wall of Names, 11, calls her Isabelle ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 834, 2419, calls her Isabellle ARCENEAUX, gives her birth year & her parents' names, & notes her marriage to Charles BERGERON; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 163, calls her Isabelle ARSENAUD & messes up her age badly. See also Bourgeois, p. 173.
08. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Jean ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2404, calls him Jean ARCENEAUX; BRDR, 2:25 (SJA-4, 15), his death/burial record, calls him Juan ARCENEAUX, age 75 years, widower, native of Acadia, but does not give his parents' names or the name of his wife. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; <thecajuns.com/cardmoney.htm>; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168, 177; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 11; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 16.
09. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Jean-Charles ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2404, 2405, calls him Jean-Charles ARCENEAUX, says he was born in 1752 but gives no birthplace, & says he married Marie-Josèphe BABIN on 17 Jun 1777 at St.-Jacques; BRDR, 2:24, 52 (SJA-1, 38a), his marriage record, calls him Jean-Chs. ARCENEAUX, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Joseph SOGNY [SONNIER] [her uncle], Étienne MELANZON, Charles BERGERAU, & Pierre BERNARD, "all Acadians"; BRDR, 3:26 (SMI-1, 15; SMI-8, 13), his death/burial record, calls him Jean Charles ARCENEAUX, nat. Acadia, does not give his parents' names or mention a wife, & says he died or was buried in the presence of Joseph LANDRY [probably his younger brother] & Baptiste CHIASSON. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168, 177; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 7; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 12.
Wife Marie-Josèphe was only 14 years old when they married!
10. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Joseph ARSENEAU, & lists him singly; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2404, provides the names of Joseph's possible parents, agrees that Joseph married Marie BERGERON, gives her birth year, but does not give a date of marriage or her parents' names. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; <thecajuns.com/cardmoney.htm>; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168, 177; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 118; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 12; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 17.
Wall of Names, 11, lists his wife with her parents. However, the British record at Halifax in Aug 1763 is clear that Joseph ARCENOS, as he was called, had a wife then. Was there another Joseph ARCENEAUX at Halifax? Was Marie his second wife? Is this what the separate listings in Wall of Names are saying? Until I find evidence to the contrary, I will assume that this was the couple counted at Halifax in 1763 & that they were already married when they reached LA in Feb 1765.
11. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Joseph ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2404, calls him Joseph ARCENEAUX & says he was born in 1754; BRDR, 2:25, 98 (SJA-1, 50s), his marriage record, calls him Josephe ARCENEAU of Acadia, calls his wife Marie BLANCHARD, widow of Joseph BLANCHARD, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Joseph LEBLANC, Simon BODEREAU, Pierre ARCENEAU, & Jean ROSAIRE; BRDR, 3:26 (SJA-4, 33), his death/burial record, calls him Joseph ARCENEAUX, age about 56 yrs., nat. of Acadia, but does not give his parents' names or mention a wife. See also Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168, 177; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 11; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 16.
Arsenault's birth year conforms to the age given in the Cabanoce census of 1766, but the Cabanoce census of 1769 & the St.-Jacques census of 1777 disagree.
His wife's actual surname can be found in the birth/baptismal records of their children in BRDR, vol. 2.
12. Wall of Names, 25, calls her Judith ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2588, calls her Judith ARSENAULT, gives her parents' names, her marriage date & place, her husband's parents' names, & her husband's first wife's name; BRDR, 3:26 (ASC-4, 148), her death/burial record, calls her Judtih ARCENEAUX, age 85 yrs., wid. Charles SAVOIE, but does not give her parents' names. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 252; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 167, 176; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 467; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 13; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 19; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 51, 77, 123.
Note how the many census takers in her long life got her age just right. This is amazing consistency for LA colonial censuses, especially over a span of 35 years. Even the priest at Ascension who recorded her burial in 1819 missed her age by only a couple of years.
She never remarried.
13. Wall of Names, 11, calls her Marguerite ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 834, 2421, calls her Marguerite ARCENEAUX, & gives her birth year & the names of her parents. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 252; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 167, 177; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 118.
14. Wall of Names, 9, calls her Marie ARSENEAU, & lists her singly.
I have found her in no other source, unless the editors of Wall of Names think she is the Marie/Marie-Anne, daughter of Joseph ARCENEAUX & Maria BERGERON, who married Isaac LEBLANC at St.-Jacques on 16 Nov 1789. See BRDR, 2:25, 467 (SJA-2, 8). The problem is, first, Wall of Names, 9, 11, list her parents separately, as if to say they were not married when they came to LA in 1765, something with which I disagree. Second, when Joseph ARCENEAUX & Marie BERGERON were counted in the Cabanocé census of Apr 1766 as a married couple, they had no children, so one may assume that all of their children were born in LA. See Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 118. Third, when they were counted again at Cabanocé in Sep 1769, there was no daughter Marie in their household, unless 7-month-old Margueritte was Marie/Marie-Anne, as the St.-Jacques census of 1777 hints. See Bourgeois, p. 177; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 12. Even if Margueritte was Marie/Marie-Anne, she was not an Acadian immigrant to LA because she was born in c1769, after her parents had come to the colony.
So who was Marie ARSENEAU, the Acadian immigrant? I'll await Stephen White's DGFA-2 to see what he makes of this.
15. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Paul ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2404, calls him Paul ARCENEAUX, & says he was born in 1762 but give no birthplace; BRDR, 3:29 (SJA-4, 24), his death/burial record, calls him Pierre Paul ARCENEAUX, age about 40 yrs., husband of Élizabeth FONTENAU, & gives his parents' names. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 11; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 16.
Where was he in 1769? See Bourgeois, p. 177.
His marriage to Élisabeth/Isabelle is extensively recorded in the birth/baptismal & marriage records of their children in BRDR, vols. 2 & 3, as well as his burial record.
16. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Pierre ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 834, 2402, calls him Pierre ARCENEAUX, gives his birth year, his parents' names & settlement in Acadia, his wife's name, his wife's parents' names & their settlement in Acadia, the approximate year of their marriage but not the place, & cites Dr. Thomas J. ARCENEAUX of the Agriculture Dept., USL now ULL), Lafayette, for assistance in identifying the 1793 succession record in St. Martin Parish as belonging to this Pierre ARCENEAUX. Is Dr. ARCENEAUX a direct descendant of this Pierre ARCENEAUX? There is a "?" here after the reference to the British report at Halifax in Aug 1763 because there would have been 2 Pierre ARCENEAUXs at Halifax then with a wife & 1 child. See Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 252. West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 17, 148, hints that, although he signed the DAUTERIVE agreement & received land at Carencro in the Atakapas District, he did not go to the district and claim his land until the late 1780s. I contend that he went to the Atakapas with the rest of the BROUSSARD party & retreated to Cabanocé that fall to escape the epidemic that ravaged the Acadians along the Teche. West, p. 17, is the source for the number of cattle Pierre owned at the time of his death. West goes on to say that Pierre & his five sons (Louis, Cyprien, Alexandre, Pierre, fils, & Francois) "were among the leading stockmen-farmers of the Attakapas at the end of the eighteenth century," & that his sons "obtained land for cattle also in the prairies adjacent to the lower Bayou Plaquemine Brulée near present Crowley." Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:19, his succession record, calls him Pierre ARCENEAUX of La Pointe de Beausejour, de l'Acadie, names his wife, & lists his children: Louis, Pierre, Alexandre, Francois, Cyprien, Rosalie, Marie, & Francoise. See also brochure accompanying Robert Dafford Mural, Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville, which calls him Pierre ARSENEAU, says he is figure 31 in the mural, & is the source of the quote about the DAUTERIVE agreement; <thecajuns.com/cardmoney.htm>; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 162, 173; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 116, 441; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 7; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 11-12.
I must pick on Bona Arsenault again. On pp. 2402, 2403, of his Généalogie, he insists that not 1 but 3 of Pierre ARCENEAUX's children were born before 1765, when Pierre & Anne came to LA with the BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil party. Arsenault would have us believe that son Louis was born in 1761 & son Cyprien in 1762. A close look at the various censuses in which this family is found will reveal that Bona is incorrect. In 1766 at Cabanoce/St.-Jacques, only daughter Rosalie is listed as a child of this couple. At Cabanoce in 1769, Rosalie has been joined by sisters Marie-Jeanne & Francoise, but no brothers. Finally, at St.-Jacques in 1777 appear Louis, age 7, & younger brother Pierre. Cyprien does not appear in any of the censuses at Cabanoce/St.-Jacques in which the names & ages of the children are listed. His death/burial record in Hébert, D., 3:12, says that he died in Lafayette Parish 20 May 1832, age 45. This gives him a birth year of 1787, not 1762! Who knows where Arsenault got his information.
17. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Pierre ARSENEAU 2; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2402, calls him Pierre ARCENEAUX, gives his birth year, the probable name of his parents, his wife's name, including her family dit, the approximate year of their marriage, her birth year, & who she remarried when Pierre died, but does not give her parents' names. There is a ? after the reference to the British report at Halifax in Aug 1763 because there would have been 2 Pierre ARCENEAUXs at Halifax then with a wife & 1 child. See Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 252. See also Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 162, 174; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 116.
18. Wall of Names, 9, calls him Pierre ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2402, 2404, calls him Pierre ARCENEAUX, says he was born in 1765, gives his parents' names, his wife's name, her parents' names, their marriage date & place, his death date & place, who his widow remarried, when & where; BRDR, 2:27, 131, his marriage record, calls him Pedro ARSENO, calls her Angela BURSUA, gives neither of their parents' names, & says the witnesses to their marriage were Miguel GODE & Eleonor PRESAN [PREJEAN]; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:19, his death/burial record, calls him Pierre ARCENEAUX of the Mississippi, gives his parents' names, calls his wife Angelique BOURGEOIS, & says he died age 34. See also Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 162, 174; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98; 9, 50, 74, 123. If he was born in New Orleans soon after his parents' arrival, he still belongs on this list because he was in utero when his mother stepped off the ship at New Orleans. Arsenault, p. 2404, says his only child was son Nicolas, born 1799, but the Assumption & Lafourche censuses, previously cited, say otherwise. Nicolas was indeed Pierre's son, born in late 1798, not long before his father died, & baptized 17 Mar 1799 at Atakapas, 2 1/2 months after his father had passed. See Hébert, D., 1-A:19. West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 17, 148, gives the date of his removal to the Atakapas District & where he settled there.
19. Not in Wall of Names. Arsenault, Généalogie, 2404, calls him Pierre ARCENEAUX, says he was born in 1749, gives his probable parents, their home in Acadia, the name of his wife & her birth year of 1755, but not her parents' names, says that in 1777 he was at St.-Jacques on the Mississipi[sic] with the 2 young daughters of Pierre BOURGEOIS, Marie-Anne, born in 1774, & Lousie, born in 1775, and lists his children as Pierre, born in 1770, & Joseph, born in 1772, but gives no birthplaces. See also De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 7.
When did he reach LA? Which Marie BERGERON did he marry? When? Where? Was she the daughter of Jean-Baptiste BERGERON dit d'Amboise & Marguerite BERNARD who was 14 in 1766, which would give her a birth year of 1752? What happened to him in LA?
20. Wall of Names, 9, calls her Rosalie ARSENEAU; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2402, 2403, 2441, calls her Rosalie ARCENEAUX & Marie-Catherine dit Rosalie ARCENEAUX, says she was born in 1764 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, her husband's name, his parents' names, & their place of marriage but no date of marriage; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-B:21 (Laf. Ch.: v.2, p.15, #42), her death/burial record, calls her Marie Catherine ARCENEAUX, widow of dec. Joseph Athanase BRAU, but does not give her parents' names; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-B:21 (Laf.Ct.Hse.: Succ. #79), her succession record, calls her Marie Catherine ARCENEAUX wid. of Joseph Athanase BRAUX, but does not give her parents' names. See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 252; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 162, 173; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 116, 441; De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 7; De Ville, Acadian Coast, 1779, 11.
Why was she called Rosalie? Was that the third part of her given name?
I place a ? after the reference to the British report at Halifax in Aug 1763 because there would have been 2 Pierre ARCENEAUXs at Halifax then with a wife & 1 child, & Rosalie could have been that child.
Why is her marriage not in Hebert, D., Southwest LA Records?
21. Wall of Names, 9, calls her veuve BERNARD soeur [of Pierre ARSENEAU]. See also Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 162; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 116.
What was her first name? What happened to her in LA?
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