APPENDICES

Acadians Who Found Refuge in Louisiana, February 1764-early 1800s

BENOIT

[BEN-wah]

ACADIA

Martin Benoit or Benoist dit Labrière, born probably at Rochefort, France, in c1643, may have come to Acadia aboard L'Oranger in 1671.  The following year he married Marie Chaussegros at Port-Royal.  Martin dit Labrière and his family were first counted at Port-Royal in 1678, when they already had four children, two daughters and two sons--the oldest, a daughter, born soon after their marriage.  In c1708, Martin took his family to Pigiguit in the Minas Basin.  He and Marie eventually had 10 children, including five sons, all born at Port-Royal, who produced families of their own.  Four of Labrière and Marie's daughters married into the Forest, Trahan, LePrince, Lejeune, and Thibodeau families.  He died at Port-Royal, date and age unrecorded.  

Oldest son Pierre, called Pierre l'aîné, born in c1675, married Marie, daughter of Michel Forest and Marie Hébert, at Port-Royal in c1695.  They had five children, including two sons who married into the Lejeune and Gaudet families.  One of Pierre l'aîné's daughters married into the Hamet family.  His younger son Pierre, fils settled at Ste.-Famille, Pigiguit, before moving on to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, in c1749, probably to escape British rule.  He moved again to Baie-des-Espangnols on Île Royale, today's Cape Breton Island, in the early 1750s.  Pierre l'aîné's older son, Martin le jeune, remained at Pigiguit.  

Clément, born in c1677, married Anne, daughter of Antoine Babin and Marie Mercier and widow of Abraham Doiron, probably at Port-Royal in c1705 and settled at Pigiguit.  They had seven children, including two sons who married into the Comeau family.  Two of Clément and Anne's daughters married into the Labauve and Rivet families.  Clément died probably at Pigiguit after June 1748.  

Jean, born in c1681, married first to Marie-Anne, daughter of Antoine Breau and Marguerite Babin, probably at Port-Royal in c1704, and then to Marie, daughter of François Amireau dit Tourangeau and Marie Pitre and widow of Joseph Mius d'Azy of Cap-Sable, at Port-Royal in May 1731.  Jean moved on to Cobeguit.  He and his first wife had 14 children, including four sons who married into the Thériot, Comeau, Part, Thibodeau, and Girouard families.  Eight of Jean and Marie-Anne's daughters married into the Dugas, Marcadet, LeBlanc, Thériot, Hébert, Bourg, and Henry families.  Jean had no children by his second wife.  In late 1751, Jean took his family from Cobeguit to Île Royale and settled at Pointe-à-la-Jeunesse, today's Grand Narrows, before moving on to Baie-de-Mordienne on the island's Atlantic coast.  

Pierre, called Pierre le jeune, born in c1683, married Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of Guillaume LeJuge and Marie Mercier, at Port-Royal in c1703.  They had 12 children, including six sons who married into the Trahan, Viger, Gautrot, Vincent, Lejeune, and Thériot families.  Pierre le jeune and Élisabeth's six daughters married into the Lejeune dit Briard, Doiron, LeBlanc, Guédry dit Labrador dit Labine, and Hébert families.  Pierre le jeune's sons outdid their cousins in escaping British rule.  One moved his family to Grande-Ascension on Île St.-Jean in c1750.  Another moved to Île Royale in the early 1750s, where he built a windmill at Petit-Bras d'Or on an island in Rivière-aux-Habitants.  Another of Pierre le jeune's sons settled on Rivière du Moulin-à-Scie and at Port-Lajoie on Île St.-Jean.  Two other sons took their families to L'Anse-aux-Matelot on Île St.-Jean in the early 1750s.  Another son moved to Louisbourg on Île Royale in c1751.  None of Pierre le jeune's sons remained at Pigiguit.  

Youngest son, Claude, born in c1686, married Jeanne, daughter of Etienne Hébert, fils and Jeanne Comeau, at Grand-Pré in January 1711.  They settled on Rivière-des-Habitants and Rivière-aux-Canards at Minas and had 12 children, including six sons who married into the LeBlanc, Girouard, Bourgeois, Savoie, Babin, Daigle, and Thibodeau families.  Claude and Jeanne's six daughter married into the Melanson, Landry, Vincent, LeBlanc, and Hébert dit Manuel families.  

[For more of this family in pre- and post-disperal Acadia and Canada, see Book Three]

Thus, in only three generations, descendants of Martin Benoit dit Labrière had established roots in nearly a dozen settlements in greater Acadia: at Annapolis Royal; in the Minas Basin at Rivière-aux-Canards, Pigiguit, and Cobeguit; at Memramcook in the trois rivières area; and on Île St.-Jean and Île Royale in the French Maritimes. 

~

Other Benoit families lived in greater Acadia, but none of their descendants emigrated to Louisiana:

Pierre, son of master apothecary François Benoit and Marie-Anne Tibierge, was born at St.-Médard-de-Verteuil, Poitiers, France, in c1695.  He came to Acadian as a young soldier and married Anne, daughter of François Levron, at Port-Royal in c1713.  They had two daughters and no sons.  Pierre became an officer, which was unusual for the son of an apothecary.  In May 1723, he was a second ensign.  By 1730, he was serving as an ensign of foot.  In April 1738, he was promoted to lieutenant.  In April 1750, he became a captain.  A decade later, in February 1760, he became a Chevalier de St.-Louis, one of the most prestigious awards in the French army, so his service must have been exceptional.  While Pierre was serving in the French fortress at Louisbourg on Île Royale, Anne died in January 1733.  He remarried to Marie-Anne, daughter of Thomas Jacau de Fiedmont and Anne Melanson, in January 1734.  Marie-Anne gave him six more children, including two sons.  The family resided at Port Lajoie, Île St.-Jean, in 1738, was back at Louisbourg in 1739, and lived at Port-Toulouse, Île Royale, in the early 1740s.  Pierre's oldest daughter married into the Dupleix dit Sylvain family at Louisbourg in the early 1750s.  His other children may not have married, so, except for its blood, this Acadian line of the Benoit family may not have survived.  Pierre died at Tonnay-Charente, France, in August 1763; he was 68 years old.  

~

Pierre, son of François Benoit and Marie-Anne Tibierge of Verteuil, St.-Medard, Poitier, France, widower of Mae-Anne Levron, married Anne, daughter of Thomas Jacaud of Port-Dauphin, Québec, at Louisbourg in January 1734.  Their daughter Geneviève married Silvain, son of Claude Dupleix, at Louisbourg in February 1753. 

~

Martin, son of master surgeon Étienne Benoit and Jeanne Peyrelongue of Barsac, Guyenne, France, became a capitaine de navire marchand, or ship's captain, and married Jeanne, daughter of Antoine Perre of Louisbourg, at Louisbourg in December 1734. 

~

In 1752, Jean Benoist, age 42, native of La Rochelle, was a fisherman at Lorembec on Île Royale. 

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

[For the family's travails during the Great Upheaval, see Book Six]

LOUISIANA:  WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

Descendants of Martin dit Labrière Benoit came early to Louisiana.  The first of them to reach the colony were residents of Pigiguit whom the British had deported to Maryland in the autumn of 1755.  They reached New Orleans in February 1768 with the large extended family led by the Breau brothers of Pigiguit.  The previous contingents of Maryland exiles who had reached Louisiana in 1766 and 1767 had gone first to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, now St. James Parish (the original Acadian community on the river above New Orleans) and to St.-Gabriel d'Iberville, also called Manchac, not far above Cabanocé--both settlements known collectively as the Acadian Coast.  Spanish Governor Ulloa insisted that the Breau party--which numbered nearly 150 individuals in 29 families--go to the new Spanish outpost, San Luìs de Natchez, far upriver from the other Acadian settlements.  The Breau brothers refused and went into hiding to avoid deportation at the hands of the angry governor.  The members of the Breau party reluctantly moved to the new settlement.  This dispute was one reason why Acadians joined the French Creoles in a revolt against Ulloa in October 1768.  The next year, after he suppressed the rebellion, Ulloa's successor, General Alejandro O'Reilly, allowed the Natchez Acadians to leave Fort San Luìs and move to other settlements closer to their relatives:  

Marie Benoit, age 30, followed husband Jean-Charles Breau of Minas, age 35, and four of their children to Natchez.  After they were allowed to leave, they moved down to St.-Gabriel on the Acadian Coast, where Jean-Charles's kin also settled. 

Étienne Benoit came as an 18-year-old orphan with the Breau clan.  After the Spanish authorities gave the Natchez Acadians permission to leave the settlement, Étienne moved to St.-Jacques on the Acadian Coast, where he married a Breau.  Soon after his marriage, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where he created a family of his own.  

Descendants of Étienne BENOIT (c1751-1787; Martin dit Labrière, Jean)

Étienne, son of Claude Benoit and Anne Comeau, born probably at Pigiguit in c1751, came to Louisiana from Maryland as a teenaged orphan.  After leaving Fort San Luìs de Natchez, he married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Breau and Claire Trahan of l'Assomption, Pigiguit, at St.-Jacques in January 1771.  Madeleine also had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1768 and had lived at Natchez.  After their wedding, they lived for a time at St.-Gabriel de Manchac and Ascension, upriver from St.-Jacques.  Later in the 1770s, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled at Carencro, at the northern edge of the Attakapas District.  Their daughters married into the Huval family and perhaps into the Cormier family as well.  They had seven sons, but only the younger ones perpetuated this line of the family.  Étienne died at Carencro in December 1787, age 36.  His widow became the third wife of Michel Cormier of Opelousas in February 1789, but a year and a half later she was a widow again.  

1

Oldest son Joseph-Simon, called Simon, born on the river in c1771, married Élisabeth or Isabelle-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadian Alexandre Aucoin and Isabelle Duon of Belle-Île-en-Mer, France, at Attakapas in January 1793.  Simon died in Lafayette Parish in August 1834, age 64; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following January.  He and his wife may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children.  

2

Bénoni, born on the river in the early 1770s, died at St.-Gabriel in September 1779, age unrecorded.  

3

Étienne, fils, born at Ascension on the river in June 1773, probably died young.  

4

Charles, baptized at the St.-Jacques church in April 1777, age unrecorded, also may have died young.  

5

François-Xavier, called Xavier, born at Ascension in March 1779, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Michel Trahan and his Creole wife Marguerite Faustin of the lower Vermilion valley, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1807.  Their son Michel was born at Carencro in August 1808, François Rosémond died 8 days after his birth in July 1816, and François Octave, called Octave, was born in November 1820 but died in August 1826 (the priest who recorded his burial said that Octave was 10 1/2 years old when he died, but he was 5 1/2).  Their daughters married into the Granger, Hébert, and Lagrange families.  Xavier's succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in July 1823; he would have been age 44 that year.  

Michel, living in the Calcasieu area at the time, married Elise, Lise, or Elodie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Granger and Pélagie Broussard of Calcasieu, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in February 1829.  Their son Michel, fils was born at Calcasieu and baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 10 months, in November 1834, Jean Baptiste was baptized at age 6 months in May 1837, Julien le jeune was born in February 1842, and Jacques in July 1850.  In December 1850, the federal census taker in Calcasieu Parish counted a single slave--a 30-year-old female mulatto--on Michel Benoit's farm. 

Michel, fils married Marie Cléonise, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Babineaux and Cléonise Dugas, probably in Calcasieu Parish in February 1854.  During the War of 1861-65, Michel, fils served in Company A of Daly's/Ragdale's Battalion Texas Cavalry, a unit that recruited heavily in Calcasieu Parish later in the war. 

Jean Baptiste married Marie Onesia, daughter of fellow Acadians Lucien Cormier and Célestine Babineaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1858.  Their son Clément Dupré was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1859.  

Julien "of Calcasieu" married Marie Emeline or Emelina, daughter of fellow Acadians Laisan Broussard and Mélasie Richard, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1861.  They settled probably at Carencro.  Their son Jean Théophile was born in October 1863, and Cleopha in March 1866 but died at age 1 in August 1867.  During the War of 1861-65, Julien served in Company K of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Reserve Corps, a local unit raised in Lafayette Parish that fought against prairie Jayhawkers during the final months of the war.  

6

Éloi, baptized at St.-Jacques in June 1781, age unrecorded, married Marie-Eugénie, called Eugénie, daughter of fellows Acadian François Louvière and Marie-Louise Thibodeau, at Attakapas in May 1801.  Their son François le jeune was born at Fausse Point on the Teche in August 1802, and Éloi dit Désiré, also called Éloi, fils, in January 1820.  Their daughters married into the Bonin and Melançon families.  Éloi, père remarried to Christine, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Labauve and Françoise Broussard and widow of Agricole Landry, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1821.  Their child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died in August 1822, and another child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died 12 days after its birth in October 1823.  Éloi, père died in Lafayette Parish in October 1846; the priest who recorded his burial said that Éloi was age 70 when he died, but he was 65; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following month.  In August 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 5 slaves--1 male and 4 females, all black, ranging in age from 30 to 5--on the Widow Éloi Benoit's farm in the parish's western district.  In July 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 9 slaves--1 male and 8 females, 2 blacks and 7 mulattoes, ranging in age from 57 to 2, the 6-year-old female mulatto "deaf & dumb," living in 2 houses--on the Widow Éloi Benoit's farm.  

6a

François le jeune, by his father's first wife, married French Creole Anne Cléonise, called Cléonise, Montet probably in Lafayette Parish in the late 1820s.  Their son Valsin was born in Lafayette Parish in April 1830, Éloi le jeune was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 7 days, in January 1835 but died 3 days later, Jean Baptiste was born in February 1836, Désiré in July 1841, and Abraham or Abram in January 1847.  Their daughter married into the Comeaux family.  In July 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted a single slave--a 20-year-old black male--on François Benoit's farm next to Valsin Benoit.  

Valsin married Adélaïde Idea, called Idea, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Evariste Broussard and Scholastique Girouard, at the St. Martinville church in April 1851.  They settled probably near Youngsville.  Their son Numa was born in June 1856, Joseph Albert, called Albert, in March 1859 but died at age 1 in June 1860, Gustave was born in January 1866, and Filias, also called Filia, in March 1870 but died 9 days after his birth.  Their daughter married into the Domingue family.  In July 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted a single slave--an 18-year-old black female--on Valsin Benoit's farm next to François Benoit

Désiré married Émelia, called Melia, daughter of fellow Acadians Édouard Isidore Broussard and Aspasie Broussard, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in September 1861.  They settled probably at Carencro.  Their son Éloi le jeune was born in August 1862, and William in November 1863.  During the War of 1861-65, Désiré served in Company E of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes, which fought in Louisiana. 

Abram married cousin Idea or Edia, daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Benoit and Marie Zéolide Babineaux, at the Vermilionville church in April 1870. 

6b

Éloi dit Désiré, by his father's first wife, married Clémentine, daughter of fellow Acadians Éloi Landry and Julien Trahan, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1840, and remarried to Celima, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Chevalier Thibodeaux and Marguerite Thibodeaux,, at the Vermilionville church in January 1843.  Their daughters married into the Broussard and Comeaux families.  Did Éloi dit Désiré father any sons? 

7

Youngest son Augustin, born at Carencro in April 1786, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Dominique Babineaux and Marguerite Blandine Thibodeaux, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1809.  Their son Edmond or Emond was born at Carencro in September 1809.  Augustin remarried to Anastasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Babineaux and Félicité Cormier and his dead wife's first cousin, at the St. Martinville church in August 1815.  Their son Julien was born at Carencro in February 1817, Émilien in July 1818, Rosémond in July 1823, Hippolyte was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 2 months, in May 1826 but died at age 9 in August 1835, Arvillien was born in October 1827 but died at age 14 in September 1842, Simon died age 3 weeks in December 1829, Augustin, fils was born in January 1831, Emérant Lessaint in August 1832 but died at age 10 in September 1842, and Aurelien was born in March 1834 but died at age 5 months the following August.  Their daughters married into the Arceneaux, Babineaux, and Comeaux families.  In August 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 10 slaves--6 males and 4 females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 1--on Augustin Benoit's farm in the parish's western district.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 11 slaves--7 males and 4 females, all black except for 1 mulatto, ranging in age from 50 to 3, living in 2 houses--on Augustin Benoit's farm next to Rosémond Benoit.  Augustin died probably at Carencro in August 1868; the Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or even mention a wife, said that Augustin died "at age 84 yrs.," but he was 82; his succession was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse two weeks after his death. 

7a

Edmond, by his father's first wife, married cousin Marie Eugénie, called Eugénie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph dit Joson Babineaux and Céleste Comeaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in October 1828.  Their son Edmond, fils was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2 months, in February 1840 but died at age 2 1/2 in August 1842, and Augustin was born in August 1848.  Their daughters married into the Breaux and Prejean families.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 15 slaves--8 males and 7 females, 9 blacks and 6 mulattoes, ages 40 years to 6 months, living in 3 houses--on Edmond Benoit's farm.  

Augustin married cousin Marie Azelia or Azelida, daughter of fellow Acadians Gérard Babineaux and Eugènie Bourg, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1867.  Their son Théophile Joseph was born in Lafayette Parish in January 1869. 

7b

Émilien, by his father's second wife, married cousin Elisa, daughter of fellow Acadians Arvillien LeBlanc and Julienne Babineaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1839.  Émilien's succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in September 1855, age 26.  Did he father any sons? 

7c

Julien, by his father's second wife, married cousin Marie Zéolide, called Joline, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Dominique Babineaux, fils and Marguerite Melançon, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1843, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1844.  Their son Onésime was born in St. Landry Parish in November 1845, and a child, name and age unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in Lafayette Parish in September 1851.  Their daughters married into the Benoit and Leger families.  

7d

Rosémond, by his father's second wife, married Anastasie Eremise, called Eremise, daughter of fellow Acadian François Savoy III and his French-Canadian wife Louise Emeranthe Morin, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1849, and remarried to Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Simon Eugène Breaux and Eugènie Sonnier, at the Vermilionville church in May 1853.  They settled probably near Carencro.  Their son Simon was born in October 1854 but died at age 15 1/2 in May 1870, Éloi was born in September 1859 but died at age 1 1/2 in February 1861, Félix was born in May 1864, Augustin le jeune in March 1866, and a child, name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died at birth in June 1868.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 2 slaves--a 24-year-old black male and an 11-year-old black female--on Rosémond Benoit's farm next to Augustin Benoit.   

~

In January 1769, two Benoit families left Port Tobacco, Maryland, aboard the ill-starred English schooner Britannia:

Pierre-Olivier Benoit, called Olivier, age 40, sailed with second wife Marie-Geneviève Brasseur, age 45, whom he had married in Maryland in c1765, and three children by his first wife--Jean-Charles, age 10, Marie-Rose, age 8, and Madeleine, age 6. 

Also aboard were three of Olivier's nieces, daughters of his brother Jean-Baptiste--Marie-Rose, age 22, Marie-Anne, age 15, and Marguerite Benoit, age 9--who traveled with their mother, stepfather, and three step-siblings. 

No group of Acadians who came to Louisiana suffered as much as these folks to get to the promised land.  The Britannia (sometimes spelled Britania) left Port Tobacco, Maryland, for New Orleans on 5 January 1769 with seven Acadian families aboard.  Also on the ship were eight Catholic German families who, for reasons of their own, no longer wanted to live in a British colony.  The crew of the Britannia sighted the coast of Louisiana on February 21, but the captain of the ship, either through bad luck or incompetence, missed the mouth of the Mississippi because of heavy fog.  Strong winds drove the ship westward, and a few days later the Britannia ran onto the Texas coast at Espiritu Santo Bay.  The crew went ashore and located a Spanish officer, who suspected them of being spies or smugglers.  Instead of giving them food and fresh water, he arrested them and ordered his men to escort everyone on the ship to the interior post of La Bahía.  The passengers and crew of the Britannia remained at La Bahía for six long months, waiting for the Spanish authorities to decide their fate.  While at La Bahía, they were forced to work as semi-slaves around the presidio and on nearby ranches.  Finally, in early September, a Spanish officer arrived at the presidio with instructions for the commandant there to send the captives overland to Natchitoches in central Louisiana. They could not return to the abandoned Britannia because the coastal Indians had stripped the vessel so thoroughly it was no longer seaworthy.  On September 11, the Acadians joined the other passengers and the English crew on the 420-mile trek to Natchitoches, which they did not reach until late October.  Louisiana Governor O'Reilly, meanwhile, had decided that the Acadian families in the group would settle at Natchitoches because of their familiarity with the growing of rye and wheat.  Natchitoches settlers welcomed the newcomers and supplied them with food, tools, and animals.  The German families were told that they could continue on to New Orleans via the Red and Mississippi rivers, pick up supplies, and then settle at St.-Gabriel d'Iberville on the Mississippi.  The Germans accompanied the English crew to New Orleans and arrived there on November 9.  Most of the Acadians, meanwhile, refused to remain at Natchitoches, which was too far away from their compatriots to the south.  They, too, left the Red River valley and, after Spanish authorities relented, joined their relatives in the established Acadian communities at St.-Gabriel and Opelousas.  

After their harrying adventure in Spanish Texas, the Benoits lived at St.-Gabriel for a while and then crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the western prairies:  

Olivier and Marie-Geneviève had no more children in Louisiana.  Olivier died at Opelousas in December 1787; he was 58 years old.  His daughter Marie-Rose married twice, first to Marin, son of fellow Acadian Amand Prejean, probably at Attakapas in the late 1770s, and to Daniel, son of Anglo American Jonathan Boone of North Carolina and Kentucky, at Attakapas in July 1800.  Olivier's daughter Madeleine married three times, first to Amand, son of French Canadian Dol Martin, at Attakapas in September 1787, then to André-Guillaume, son of Bernard Favron of St.-Malo, France, at Opelousas in October 1789, and finally to fellow Acadian Augustin-Rémi, called Rémi, son of probably Pierre Boudreau of Pigiguit and widower of Judith-Philippe Martin, in St. Landry Parish in July 1815.  Son Jean-Charles followed his parents to the Opelousas District, where he married.

Two of Olivier's three Benoit nieces also married and settled on the western prairies.  Marie-Rose, called Rose or Rosalie, married twice, first to Romain, son of French Creole Pierre Delafosse of Natchitoches, at Natchitoches Post in December 1769.  They moved to the Opelousas District.  Marie-Rose remarried to Joseph, son of Spanish Creole Charles Campos, at Opelousas in January 1796.  She died at Opelousas in April 1801, in her early 50s.  Marguerite married Louis, son of fellow Acadian Urbain Broussard of Pigiguit probably at Opelousas in c1775.  Marie-Anne may have remained at Natchitoches and settled there.  

Descendants of Jean-Charles BENOIT (c1759-1813; Martin dit Labrière, Pierre l'aîné, Pierre, fils)

Jean-Charles, called Charles, only son of Pierre-Olivier Benoit of Ste.-Famille, Pigiguit, and his first wife Susanne Boudreaux, was born in Maryland in c1759.  He came to Louisiana in 1769 aboard the ill-fated Britannia.  After his adventure in Texas and the long trek to Natchitoches, he followed his father, stepmother, and sisters to the western prairies, where he married Anne, called Nanette, daughter of fellow Acadian François Savoie of St.-Jacques and Attakapas, at Attakapas in September 1785.  They settled at first in the Opelousas District.  In the early 1800s, they moved to Le Petite-Anse, now Avery Island, at the southern edge of the Attakapas District near New Iberia, and then to Grand Bois, also in the old Attakapas District.  Their daughters married into the Stouts family.  Jean Charles died at Grand Bois in January 1813; the priest who recorded his burial said that Jean-Charles was age about 50 when he died; he was closer to his mid-50s.  His sons created some of the most prolific lines of the family. 

1

Their oldest son, name unrecorded, died at Opelousas at age 1 month in October 1786.  

2

Jean-Baptiste, baptized at Opelousas in October 1789, age unrecorded, married Hélène, daughter of French Canadian Louis Roger dit Brisbois and his Acadian wife Marie Landry of Carencro, at the home of Sylvère Mouton of Carencro in March 1812; Hélène's mother was a Landry.  They moved southwest to Bayou Queue de Tortue on the prairie west of the Vermilion valley.  Their son Jean Baptiste, fils was born in March 1822.  They also had a son named Théodule.  Their daughter married into the Jagneau family.  Jean Baptiste, père died probably at Carencro in July 1858; the Grand Coteau priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Jean Baptiste died "at age 75 yrs.," so this probably was him.   

2a

Jean Baptiste, fils may have married Anglo American Rosalie Strickland, widow of Anare Meche, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1840, and remarried to Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Lebert and his Anglo-Creole wife Émelie Hayes, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in October 1842.  Their son Adolphe died probably at Carencro at age 2 months in October 1843, Jean was born in December 1849 but died at age 3 1/2 in March 1853, Charles was born in October 1852, Joseph Doustan in July 1855, and Jules in April 1860.  Their daughters married into the Boudreaux and Bourgeois families.  

2b

Théodule married French Creole Emma, sometimes called Anne, daughter of Foreign Frenchman Antoine Forestier and his Acadian wife Anne Marguerite Blanchard, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1854.  Their son Joseph Homere had been born probably at Carencro in March 1848, Jean Baptiste Honoré in December 1849, Antoine Aurelien in November 1857, and Henri Auvignac in September 1862.  Their daughters married into the Bourque and Richard families. 

3

Joseph, baptized at Opelousas, age unrecorded, in June 1791, married Marcelline or Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Bourque and Marguerite Richard of Prairie Basse near Grand Coteau, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1816.  Their son Joseph Durelle, called Joseph, fils, was born at Carencro in March 1820, Agricole was baptized at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, age 10 months, in December 1822, Neuville was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 3 months, in October 1828, Jean Rosiclair, called Rosiclair, was born in January 1831, Aurelien in August 1833, and François Fedorin, called Fedorin, was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1, in August 1837.  Their daughter Clementine married into the Clément, Royer, and Thibodeaux families.  Joseph, père's succession was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1862; he would have been in his early 70s that year.  

3a

Joseph, fils married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Julien Babineaux and Christine Prejean, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in May 1840, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1846.  They settled probably near Carencro.  Their son Jean was born in January 1846.  Joseph, fils may have died at Carencro in June 1848, age 28.  

3b

Agricole married Julie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Babineaux and his Creole wife Hortense Perry, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in June 1841, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1847.  Their son Fillio died probably at Carencro at age 3 months in February 1843, Émilien was born in November 1845, Jean De Theate in January 1849, François Fedorin or Fridolin in January 1851, Pierre Philias was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 2, in October 1854, Omer was born in May 1866, and Dema near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in June 1869. 

3c

Jean Rosiclair married fellow Acadian Émilie Thibodeaux probably in St. Landry Parish in the late 1850s.  Their son Joseph le jeune was born in St. Landry Parish in July 1857.  Rosiclair's succession was filed at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in 1866; he would have been age 35 that year. 

3d

François Fedorin married Belzire, daughter of fellow Acadians Marcellin Thibodeaux and Louise Broussard and widow of Joseph Istre, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in August 1857.  They settled near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish.  Their son Edval François was born in September 1862.  

3e

Aurelien married fellow Acadian Zelmire Broussard probably near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in the late 1850s, and remarried to Marie, daughter of fellow Acadians Béloni Broussard and Joséphine Landry, at the Church Point church, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in May 1866, unless Marie and Zelmire were the same person and the Church Point wedding was a validation of a civil union. 

4

Denis-Olivier, called Olivier, born at Opelousas in October 1793, married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Richard and Pélagie Babin of L'Anse, St. Martin Parish, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in January 1816.  Their son Gustave was born at La Pointe, on the upper Teche near present-day Breaux Bridge, in March 1816 but died at L'île des Cypres, or Cypress Island, today's Lake Martin, at age 4 in October 1820, François Azolin was born in St. Martin Parish in April 1826, and Joseph near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in October 1829.  Their daughters married into the Trahan and Weekly families.  Did any of Olivier's sons marry? 

5

François-Eufroi, born probably at Petite-Anse in September 1801, married fellow Acadian Aspasie Guidry probably in St. Martin Parish in the early 1820s.  They settled near Carencro.  Their son Jean was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 17 months, in August 1826, Placide at age 11 months in December 1828, Joseph was born in July 1829, Alcide was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 1, in May 1837, François Oscar, called Oscar, was born in July 1838, and Cyprien in December 1843.  Their daughter married into the Breaux family.  

5a

Placide married cousin Euphémie Guidry probably in St. Landry Parish in the early 1850s.  Their son Albert was baptized at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, age 1, in October 1856, and Zéphirin was born in July 1860.  During the War of 1861-65, Placide served in Company K of the 3rd (Harrison's) Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in St. Landry Parish, which fought in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi.  

5b

During the War of 1861-65, Cyprien served in Company K of the Chalmette Regiment Louisiana Volunteer State Troops Militia Infantry, which fought in Louisiana during the early part of the war.  Cyprien married Azélie, daughter of fellow Acadians Dosité Blanchard and Marie Azélie Dupuis, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in November 1865.  They settled near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish.  Their son Jean Baptiste was born in January 1869. 

5c

François Oscar married Marie Cléorine, called Cléorine, daughter of fellow Acadian Rosémond Richard and Anastasie Poirier and widow of Firmin Breaux, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in March 1866, and sanctified the marriage at the Church Point church, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, in January 1867.  They settled near Church Point, where a daughter was born two years before their civil marriage.  

6

Youngest son Charles-Cyprien, sometimes called Cyprien, born probably at Petite-Anse in August 1803, married Claire or Clarisse, daughter of fellow Acadians Augustin Guidry and Scholastique Robichaux, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1830.  Their son Valsin was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 months, in May 1831, Laissaint at age 13 months in June 1835, and Jean Dupré was born in August 1847.  Their daughter married into the Teal family.  

Valsin married Eloise or Loise, daughter of fellow Acadian Antoine Boudreaux, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1850.  They settled near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish.  Their son Gerasin was born in June 1851, Cyprien le jeune in October 1852, Laissaint le jeune in December 1855, Valsin, fils in August 1860, and Aladin Joseph in November 1862 but died at age 5 1/2 in July 1868. 

Gerasin married Marie Elida, daughter of French Creole Syphorien Meche, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in November 1870. 

~

Two orphaned sisters, daughters of Alexis Benoit and Hélène Comeau, came to Louisiana by the mid-1770s probably from St.-Domingue, today's Haiti.  The sisters likely were born in Massachusetts, where their parents were exiled in 1755, and followed other Acadians to St.-Domingue in the early 1760s, from whence they came to Louisiana:

Élisabeth Benoit, remained on the river, where she married at Ascension on the Acadian Coast.

Anne Benoit left the river and moved to the Attakapas District, where she married Amand, son of fellow Acadian Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil and widower of Hélène Landry, in May 1775.  Anne died in St. Martin Parish in September 1830, in her early 70s.  

~

Two Acadian Benoits who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 settled on upper Bayou Lafourche before crossing the Atchafalaya Basin during the 1790s.  One of them failed to establish a family line on the prairies, but the other, who had married a young widow soon after he reached the colony, settled in the Opelousas District and created a family line of his own:

Descendants of Nicolas-Jean-Sébastien BENOIT (1760-?; Martin dit Labrière, Jean, Claude)

Nicolas-Jean-Sébastien, called Sébastien, son of Augustin Benoit and Françoise Thériot, was born at St.-Servan, France, near St.-Malo, in November 1760.  When he was three years old, he followed his parents to the Falkland Islands and lived in that forbidding place for five years.  His family was back in France by 1768, and Sébastien came of age there.  He evidently followed his family to either Île St.-Pierre or Île Miquelon, off the southern coast of Newfoundland, in the 1770s.  The British likely deported his family to La Rochelle, France, in 1778 during the American Revolution.  It is not clear which, if any, of the Seven Ships he took to Louisiana in 1785; he appears on neither the embarkation nor debarkation rolls of any of the expeditions, so he may have gone to Louisiana after 1785.  He first appears in Louisiana records in August 1789, when he married Jeanne, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean De La Forestrie and Marie-Madeleine Bonnière and widow of Joseph Hébert, at Lafourche.  Jeanne had come to Louisiana with her husband and five young children aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, in September 1785.  Her husband died at Lafourche by January 1788, when she was listed in the census there as a widow.  She probably gave Sébastien no children.  Jeanne died on upper Bayou Lafourche by December 1795, when Sébastien was listed as a widower in the Valenzuéla census.  Soon after her death, Sébastien crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District.  His uncle Étienne Benoit, who had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1768, had settled at Carencro, near the southern edge of the Opelousas District, in the late 1770s, so this probably was Sébastien's motivation to go to the western prairies.  Sébastien remarried to Hippolythe, also called Pauline, daughter of Barthélemy Lebleu and Marie-Josèphe Lamirande of Calcasieu, probably at Opelousas in August 1800.  He and his new wife settled near her family at the extreme western end of the Opelousas District along the Calcasieu River near present-day Lake Charles.  Their daughters married into the Courvello or Courvelle, Lacase, Servant, and Soileau families.   

Augustin or Auguste le jeune, by his father's second wife, born probably on the Calcasieu in the first decade of the 1800s, married Marie Tarsile, called Tarsile, daughter of fellow Acadians André Préjean and Marie Bernard, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1828.  Their son André, born probably at Calcasieu, was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 6 months, in April 1830, and Lucien at age 16 days in November 1831 but died 2 days later.  Auguste remarried to Marie Eusèide or Zèide, daughter of fellow Acadian François Guidry and his Creole wife Célestine Dartes and widow of François Gerbron, at the Vermilionville church in March 1834.  Their son Auguste, fils was born near Carencro in October 1835, Sébastien le jeune was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 9 1/2 months, in January 1839, François was born in May 1842, Alfred in Vermilion Parish in June 1849, Étienne in January 1854, and Éloi in August 1861.  Their daughter married into the Cormier family.  In November 1850, the federal census taker in Vermilion Parish counted a single slave--a 45-year-old black female--on Augustin Benoit's farm in Ward 6 of the parish's Western District.  

Auguste, fils, by his father's second wife, married fellow Acadian Émelie or Amelia Broussard probably in Vermilion Parish in the early 1850s.  Their son Antoine was born in Vermilion Parish in August 1853, Sébastien le jeune in April 1855, and Joseph in November 1860.  

André, by his father's first wife, married French Creole Marthe, also called Emma, Mallet probably in Vermilion Parish in the early 1850s.  Their son Alcide was born in Vermilion Parish in April 1854, Albert in March 1859, and Alcée in February 1870.  

François, by his father's second wife, married Adèle Mallet at the Abbeville church, Vermilion Parish, in August 1859.  Their son Antoine Cleopha was born in Vermilion Parish in May 1860, Numa in February 1862, and Jules in November 1866. 

Alfred, by father's second wife, likely married cousin Ozelia Benoit.  Their son Auguste was born near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in December 1869. 

Donatien BENOIT (c1777-1797; Martin dit Labrière, Pierre le jeune, Claude)

Donatien, eldest son of Grégoire Benoit and Marie-Rose Carret, born probably at Nantes, France, in c1777, came to Louisiana with his parents and siblings aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, and followed them to upper Bayou Lafourche.  When he came of age, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where he died in August 1797.  He was only 20 years old and probably did not marry. 

~

Other BENOITs on the Western Prairies

Area church and civil records make it difficult to link many Benoits in the western parishes with known Acadian lines of the family there:

____ Benoit, "an Acadian or Canadian," "hired or engaged" by Mr. Despaux, died "at his home" in the Opelousas District in February 1797.  The priest who recorded the Acadian/Canadian's burial did not give his first name or his parents' names.  

Hortense Benoit's son François Villeneuve, born probably in St. Martin Parish in c1832, was baptized at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, at age 8 in May 1840.  The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not give the father's name or the mother's parents' names.  Marie Louise, daughter of Hortense Amand[sic] Benoit, married Hippolyte, son of Jean Pierre Martinet, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1869.  One wonders who was Marie Louise's father. 

Octave Benoit married Adèle Racca in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in January 1844.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couples' parents' names.  One wonders if he was the third and youngest son of François Xavier Benoit, who, according to church records, was called Francois Octave and Octave and was born in November 1820 but died at age "10 1/2," actually 5 1/2, in August 1826.  A daughter of Octave and Adèle was born near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in October 1868, two dozen years after their marriage. 

François Théodore, son of Charlotte Benoit, married Estelle, daughter of Narcisse Rochon, in a civil ceremony in St. Martin Parish in June 1846.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the groom's father's name. 

Michel Benoit married Adelina Benoit, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Narcisse was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in February 1848. 

____ Benoit, married to _____ Babineaux, died in Lafayette Parish in June 1848, age 28.  The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give the decedent or his wife's given names, only their surnames, and said that ____ Benoit died "age 28-30 yrs."

Scholastique Benoit, wife of Théon Broussard, died in Lafayette Parish in February 1849, age unrecorded.  Who were Scholastique's parents? 

Marie Benoit died near Grand Coteau "at age 3 days," date unrecorded.  The priest who recorded the newborn's burial did not give any parents' names, much less her death date. 

Carmélite Benoit married Thomas Stout, place and date unrecorded.  Their daughter married into the Guidry family in 1850. 

Louise Benoit died in St. Martin Parish in August 1851, age 70.  The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names or mention a husband. 

Louise Joséphine Godard Benoit died in St. Martin Parish in October 1855, age 48.  The St. Martinville priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names or mention a husband. 

Jean, son of Jean Baptiste Benoit and Hélène Royer, married Azélie, daughter of Léandre Landry, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1865.  Was Jean Baptiste Acadian? 

Victor Benoit married Adelphine or Delphine Savoie, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Victor Adam was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in August 1861, Joseph in February 1863, and Félix in June 1867.  

Jules Benoit married French Creole Emma Legros, place and date unrecorded.  Daughter Émelina was born near Grand Coteau in February 1864.

A succession for Jules Benoit, married to ____ Lege, probably Leger, was filed at the Abbeville courthouse, Vermilion Parish, in 1866. 

Jean Benoit married Ophelia Blanchard, perhaps a fellow Acadian, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in July 1865.  They settled near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish.  Their son Jean, fils was born in June 1866, and Hilaire in February 1869. 

A succession for Emmanuel Benoit was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in April 1866. 

Ulysse Benoit married Acadian Élodie Jeansonne, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Félix was born near Ville Platte, then in St. Landry but now in Evangeline Parish, in March 1867. 

Joséphine, daughter of Charles Benoit and Joséphine Scott, married Joseph, son of French Creole Joseph Landreneau or Landrieau, at the Arnaudville church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1868. 

Joseph Benoit married Marie Delphine ____, place and date unrecorded, and settled near Iota, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, by the late 1860s. 

Joseph Benoit married Méranthe ____, place and date unrecorded, and settled near New Iberia, Iberia Parish, by the late 1860s. 

Sosthène Benoit married Valentine ____, place and date unrecorded, and settled near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, by the late 1860s. 

Jean Baptiste Benoit married Amelia Marcolli, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Jean Sully was born in Lafayette Parish in March 1869. 

Lick Benoit married Euzaie Scipion at the New Iberia church, Iberia Parish, in December 1869.  The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names. 

Alsée, son of Ozia Benoit, was born near Eunice, St. Landry Parish, in May 1870.  Was Ozia the boy's mother or father? 

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Also with the Breau party from Maryland in 1768 was Marie Benoit, age 31, husband Jean-Charles Breau, age 34, and their four children, ages 13 to 2.  The Spanish governor forced them to live far up the river at San Luìs de Natchez, but they were allowed to leave in 1769.  Marie and Jean-Charles moved from Natchez to St.-Gabriel, where Spanish officials counted them on the "right bank ascending" in 1777, and then to St.-Jacques, a bit farther down the river, where Marie died a widow in November 1795.  The priest who recorded her burial claimed that Marie was age 74 when she died, but she was in her late 50s. 

Élisabeth, daughter of Alexis Breau of Pigiguit, born probably in Maryland, was counted with sister Anne at Port Tobacco in the summer of 1763.  It is not clear which of the larger Maryland expeditions--1766, 1767, or 1768--took orphans Élisabeth and Anne Benoit to Louisiana.  Anne moved to the Attakapas District by the 1770s, but Élisabeth remained on the river, where she married Jean-Baptiste, son of fellow Acadian Antoine Dupuis, at Ascension in February 1775.  In 1777, Spanish officials counted Jean-Baptiste and Élisabeth at St.-Gabriel, upriver from Ascension on the Acadian Coast, along the "left bank ascending."  

None of the Benoits who came to Louisiana from Maryland via Texas in 1769 settled on the river. 

~

The largest contingent of Acadian Benoits who emigrated to Louisiana came from France aboard five of the Seven Ships of 1785.  Some of them settled on the river above New Orleans at Manchac, Baton Rouge, and St.-Jacques, and one of them settled below New Orleans:

Daniel Benoit, age 36, crossed on Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in July.  With him were his wife Henriette Legendre, age 34, and daughter Henriette-Renée, age 7.  They went to Manchac, south of Baton Rouge.  Henriette died there in the late 1790s, and Daniel remarried to a much younger woman soon after Henriette's death.  

.

Anne Benoit, age 55, widow of Pierre and Jean-Baptiste Hébert, crossed on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in August.  With her was 13-year-old son Jean-Charles Hébert, who had been born at Belle-Île-en-Mer, France.  They followed the majority of the passengers from their ship to the Baton Rouge area.  Anne did not remarry.

.

Anne-Marie Haché, age 36, wife of Jean-Charles Benoit, crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in November.  With her were four Benoit children--Jean-Marie, age 14, Paul-Frédéric, age 9, François-René, age 7, and Sophie-Renée, age 2. Husband Jean-Charles Benoit, a sailor, age 39, crossed on La Caroline, the last of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in December.  Perhaps because of his profession, he chose to take his family to English Turn, on the river below New Orleans, near where a hand full of other Acadian families settled.  

Marie-Marthe Benoit, age 49, also crossed on La Caroline, with second husband Nicolas-Gabriel Albert, a Frenchman, age 45, and their 12-year-old son, Nicolas-Gabriel, fils.  They were among the hand full of Acadians who chose to settle at St.-Jacques on the Acadian Coast, where Acadians had first settled over two decades before.  

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Two of the Benoit family heads who crossed from France--first cousins--remained on the river, one below New Orleans, the other at Baton Rouge:  

Descendants of Jean-Charles BENOIT (c1746-?; Martin dit Labrière, Pierre le jeune)

Jean-Charles, son of Charles Benoit and Marie-Madeleine Thériot, born probably at Pigiguit in c1746, married Anne-Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Haché and Anne Olivier, at St.-Servan, near St.-Malo, France, in January 1770.  Marie-Anne and their four children crossed to Louisiana aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, and Jean-Charles followed on La Caroline, the last of the Seven Ships.  They chose to settle with a hand full of other Acadians at English Turn, near the Isleño community of San Bernardo in present-day St. Bernard Parish below New Orleans.  Jean-Charles was a sailor by profession, so his living near the port city, away from the majority of his Acadian brethren, may have been dictated by his employment. 

1

Oldest son Jean-Marie was born at St.-Servan, France, in November 1770.  

2

Paul-Frédéric was born at Châtellerault, Poitou, France, in October 1775.

3

Youngest son François-René, born at Nantes, France, in c1778, married Luisa, daughter of Francisco Cobos and Francisca Demourel of Pensacola, Florida, at New Orleans in June 1803.

Descendants of Daniel BENOIT (c1748-1825; Martin dit Labrière, Pierre le jeune)

Daniel, younger son of Claude Benoit and Élisabeth Thériot, born probably at L'Assomption, Pigiguit, in c1748, married Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadians Francois Legendre and Marguerite Labauve, at St.-Servan, France, near St.-Malo, in February 1768.  They crossed to Louisiana with their daughter aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, and followed the majority of the passengers of their ship to the Manchac Coast, between Baton Rouge and St.-Gabriel, on the river above New Orleans.  Daniel and Henriette had no more children in Louisiana.  Their daughter married into the Labauve family.  Henriette died at Baton Rouge in February 1798, age 46.  Daniel remarried to Madeleine-Ursule, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexandre Doiron and Ursule Hébert, probably at Baton Rouge in c1799.  Madeleine, who was 17 years younger than Daniel, was a native of Pleslin, near St.-Malo, France, and also had come to Louisiana aboard Le Bon Papa.  Their daughter married into the Hébert family.  Daniel died at the home of one of his daughters in St. Martin Parish in December 1825; the priest who recorded his burial said that Daniel was age 84 when he died, but he was closer to 77.  None of his three sons seems to have married, so this line of the family, except for its blood, probably did not survive in the Bayou State.  

1

An infant, perhaps their oldest son, died at age 1 month at Baton Rouge in August 1800.  

2

Joseph, born at Baton Rouge in June 1802, may have died young.

3

Youngest son Célestin, born at Baton Rouge in April 1804, also may have died young.  

~

Other BENOITs on the River

Area church and civil records make it difficult to link at least one Benoit on the river with known Acadian lines of the family there:

Susanne Benoit gave birth to daughter Marie Martine in Ascension Parish in October 1866.  The Donaldsonville priest who recorded the girl's baptism the following December did not give the father's name or the mother's parents' names.  Susanne's son Prospère was born in Ascension Parish in December 1869.  Again, the Donaldsonville priest who recorded the baptism did not give the boy's father's name or the mother's parents' names.  Was Susanne Acadian? 

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Most of the Benoits who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche: 

Grégoire Benoit, age 40, crossed on Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in September.  With him were wife Marie-Rose Carret, age 31, five children--Jean-Marie, age 12, Marie-Rose, age 10, Donatien, age 8, Françoise-Félicité, age 3, and Rémond-Grégoire, age 2--and his unmarried sister-in-law Thérèse Carret, age 29.  Marie-Rose was pregnant when she made the crossing; daughter Martina, or Martine, named after Louisiana intendant Martin Navarro, who treated the Acadians with great respect, was born at Balize or New Orleans soon after the family reached the colony. 

Françoise Benoit, age 40, crossed on Le St.-Rémi with husband Honoré Carret, age 56, their grown son Pierre Carret, age 24, Francoise's 72-year-old mother Marie-Madeleine Thériot, widow of Charles Benoit, and cousin Victoire-Marie Benoit, age 14.  Victoire-Marie married Charles, son of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Bergeron and widow of Marie Foret, at Assumption in January 1794, and remarried to Pierre, son of fellow Acadian Pierre Lambert, in Assumption Parish in December 1815; Victoire died in Terrebonne Parish in May 1816; she was only 43 years old.  

Marie Benoit, age 48, Françoise's older sister, crossed on Le St.-Rémi with second husband Joseph Hébert, age 50, a stepson, a stepdaughter, and a daughter, ages 24, 22, and 15, and 8-year-old niece Sophie Benoit.  Marie died at St.-Gabriel, just upriver from Ascension, in June 1806; the priest who recorded her burial said that she was 80 years old when she died, but she was "only" 70.  Sophie married Francisco Antonio, son of Grégorio Turreyra of Havana, Cuba, at Assumption in October 1804 and died by February 1813, when her husband remarried in Assumption Parish.  

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Pélagie Benoit, age 44, widow of Yves Crochet, crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in November.  With her were five of her Crochet children, ages 25 to 18.  Pélagie never remarried.  She died in Lafourche Interior Parish in August 1824; the priest who recorded her burial said that she was 85 years old when she died, but she was "only" 83.  

Grégoire's younger sister Marguerite Benoit, age 32, widow of Joseph Precieux, crossed on L'Amitié alone.  She remarried to Claude-Bernard, son of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Dugas, at Lafourche in February 1786, not long after she reached the colony.  Marguerite died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1837, also in her early 80s. 

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François-Jean-Baptiste Benoit, age 20 in 1785, a native of St.-Servan, France, does not appear on any of the passenger lists of the Seven Ships from France, but he probably came to the colony with his cousins.  He first appears in Louisiana records in September 1789, when he married a fellow Acadian at Lafourche.   

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Two of the Benoits from France--first cousins, one old enough to be the other's father--created another center of family settlement that eventually stretched as far down bayou as the Terrebonne country: 

Descendants of Grégoire BENOIT (c1744-1829; Martin dit Labrière, Pierre le jeune)

Grégoire, elder son of Claude Benoit and Élisabeth Thériot, born probably at L'Assomption, Pigiguit, in c1744, married Marie-Rose, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Carret and Rose Trahan, at St.-Servan, France, near St.-Malo, in February 1770.  They crossed to Louisiana with six children and his sister-in-law aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships, and followed the majority of the passengers from their ship to upper Bayou Lafourche.  They had more children in Louisiana.  Their daughters married into the Boudreaux and Tauzin families.  Grégoire died in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1829; the priest who recorded his burial said that Grégoire was age 88 when he died.  He was 85.  Only three of his seven sons married, but his second son's line, especially, was a vigorous one.  

1

Oldest son Joseph-François, born probably at St.-Servan, France, in October 1771, died at St.-Servan, age 1, in September 1773. 

2

Jean-Marie, born at St.-Servan, France, in September 1773, married Marie-Élisabeth or Isabelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Étienne Darois and Madeleine Trahan, at Assumption in November 1799.  Their son Donatien-Marie or Jean-Donatien, called Donatien, le jeune, was born at Assumption in November 1801, Alexis-Célestin in October 1803, Jean Baptiste in June 1807, Célestin Séverin in February 1818, and Eugène Evariste, called Evariste, in July 1822.  They also had a son named Adrien.  Their daughters married into the Boudreaux, Clément, and Navarre families.  Jean Marie died in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1844, age 70; his succession sale was recorded at the Thibodeaux courthouse in March 1846. 

2a

Alexis Célestin married Marie Adélaïde, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Hilaire Clément, père and Geneviève Sophie Boudreaux, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in June 1824.  Their son Dufroi Félix, called Félix, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1827, Charles Amédée Cleopha, called Amédée, in November 1829, Clairville Sylvain Alexis, called Sylvain, in December 1831, Ursin Octave, called Octave, in May 1836, Arsène Ulysse, called Ulysse, in August 1838, Pierre Paulin, called Paulin, in February 1843, and Joseph Alfred in March 1846.  Their daughters married into the Bergeron and Tabor families.  In August 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted 3 slaves--all female, all mulattoes, ages 21, 3 and 3 months--on Alexis Benoit's farm in the parish's Ward 1.  Alexis Célestin died in Lafourche Parish in September 1869, age 65.  

Félix married Malvina, daughter of Nicolas Sevin and his Acadian wife Marie Hébert, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1848.  Their son Hexis Félix was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1849, Jean Joseph in June 1851, Joseph died at age 2 months in June 1853, Joachim Sylvain was born in June 1857, and Étienne in December 1864.  

Amédée married Evelina or Melina, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Evariste Louvière and Nicolette dite Colette LeBlanc, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1856.  Their son Pierre Nicolas was born in Lafourche Parish in July 1857, Paulin Ernest in April 1861, Joseph in December 1862, and Joseph Volzi in June 1866.  

Octave married Odile, daughter of Onesime Pontiff and Ozelia Morvant, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1858.  Their son Jean Treville was born in Lafourche Parish in February 1860, Émile Andreci in March 1862, Jules Alexis was born in September 1865 but died at age 4 in August 1869, and Joseph Taylor was born in May 1868.  During the War of 1861-65, Octave served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment of Militia; he fought in the Battle of Labadieville, in nearby Assumption Parish, in late October 1862, fell into Federal hands, was paroled and returned home.  

Sylvain married Leontine, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Basile Naquin and his Creole wife Théotice Ayo, at the Chacahoula church, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1859.  During the War of 1861-65, Sylvain served in the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in South Louisiana, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  Sylvain died in Terrebonne Parish in June 1868, age 36.

During the War of 1861-65, Ulysse served in Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana.  Ulysse married cousin Adele or Odile, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Naquin and Adele Noël Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1867.  Their son Charly Joseph was born in Lafourche Parish in November 1867.  

During the War of 1861-65, Paulin also served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment of Militia, was captured at Labadieville, paroled, and returned home.  Paulin died in Lafourche Parish in February 1869, age 26, and did not marry.  

2b

Donatien le jeune married Andrese Carmélite, daughter of Spanish Creoles Francois Domingue and , at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1825.  They may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children.  In August 1850, the federal census taker in Lafourche Interior Parish counted 5 slaves--3 males and 2 females, 3 blacks and 2 mulattoes, ranging in age from 35 to 1--on Donatien Benoit's farm along Bayou Lafourche.  In August 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted 10 slaves--4 males and 6 females, 4 blacks and 6 mulattoes, ranging in age from 44 to 1--on J. Donatien Benoit's farm in the parish's Ward 2.  Donatien, at age 61, remarried to Mélissaire, daughter of fellow Acadians Charles Dantin and Claire Guillot, at the Thibodaux church in April 1863.  He may have had no sons by either of his wives.  

2c

Jean Baptiste married Rosalie Marie or Marie Rosalie, called Rosalie, daughter of Spanish Creole Jean Marie Navarre and his Acadian wife Anne Jeanne Boudreaux, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1835.  Their son Evariste Arsène was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1837, Jean Hilaire in November 1838, Joseph Demetruis in February 1843, Jean Joseph in August 1849, and Arsène Paulin in March 1852.  They also had a son named Osémé.  Their daughters married into the Benoit and Hébert families.  

Evariste Arsène married Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Vincent Hébert and Tarzille Clément, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in April 1864.  

During the War of 1861-65, Osémé served in Company G of the 30th Regiment/Battalion Louisiana Infantry, raised in St. John the Baptist Parish but included recruits from other parishes; Osémé was captured at Nashville, Tennessee, in December 1864 and held prisoner at Camp Chase, Ohio, in the final months of the war.  Back from the war, Osémé married Clara, daughter of Eugène Morvant and Delphine Adam, at the Thibodaux church in August 1866.  Their son Joseph Valcour was born in Lafourche Parish in February 1870.  

2d

Célestin Séverin married first cousin Émelie or Melite, daughter of fellow Acadian François Sébastien dit Bastien Benoit, his paternal uncle, and his Creole wife Marie Éloise Morvant, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1846.  Their son Joseph Dorville, called Dorville, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1849, Justin Honoré in January 1854, and Joseph Olivain in October 1861.  

Dorville married Dozilia, daughter of Léon Tauzin and Eugènie Miguez, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in April 1869.  Their son Anry, probably Henry, Joseph was born near Vacherie, St. James Parish, in January 1870. 

2e

Evariste married Marie Melite, called Melite, daughter of Bernard Morvant and his Acadidan wife Marie Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1848.  Their son Joseph Théophile was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in August 1851, and Émile in May 1853.  Their daughter married into the Trosclair family at Vacherie, St. James Parish, though the marriage was recorded also in Lafourche Parish.  

3

Donatien, born probably at Nantes, France, in c1777, moved to the Opelousas District in 1797 and died there that August.  He was 20 years old and probably did not marry.  

4

Rémond-Grégoire, born at St.-Martin de Chantenay, France, in July 1783, probably died young.  He may not even have survived the crossing from France.  

5

Pierre-Marie, born at Ascension in May 1788, married Eugènie, daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph Marie Boudreaux and Marie Élisabeth Darois, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in May 1817.  Their son Pierre Grégoire, called Grégoire le jeune, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1820, Jean Pierre died 2 days after his birth in December 1823, and Joseph Émilien was born in July 1833.  Their daughters married into the Panvil and Tabor families.  Pierre Marie died in Lafourche Parish in February 1854, age 65.  

5a

Grégoire le jeune married Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadians Martin Thibodeaux and Constance Hébert, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1852.  Their son Joseph was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1852, and Pierre Émile, called Émile, in October 1855.  Grégoire le jeune died in 1859, age 39. 

5b

Joseph Émilien married Marie or Mary Radivine, daughter of German Creole Gaspard Toups and his Acadian wife Marie Adele Thibodeaux, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in February 1862.  Their son Pierre was born in Lafourche Parish in December 1862, Severe Gaspard in May 1864, Joseph Sylvère in December 1866, and Arthur Oleus in October 1868. 

6

Jean-Marie le jeune, born at Assumption in February 1792, may have died young.  

7

Youngest son François-Sébastien, called Bastien, born at Assumption in May 1794, married Marie Éloise or Héloise, 22-year-old daughter of Joseph Morvant and Marie Éloise Bernard, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1822.  Their son Joseph Marcellus was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1827, Jean Baptiste, called Baptiste, in June 1838, and Evariste in July 1843.  Their daughters married into the Adam, Benoit, Caillouet, Guidry, and Morvant families.  Bastien died in Lafourche Parish in June 1868; the priest who recorded his burial said that Bastien was age 71 when he died, but he was 74. 

7a

Joseph married Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Vincent Hébert and Tarzille Clément, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1851.  Their son Joseph Anatole was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1852, and Jean Joachim in September 1855.  

7b

Baptiste married cousin Mathilde, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Benoit and his Creole wife Rosalie Navarre, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in August 1861.  Their son Jean Émile Bonnefaith was born in Lafourche Parish in February 1862, Vilfrid in October 1863, Joseph in May 1866, and Joseph Clément in St. James Parish in October 1867.  

Descendants of François-Jean-Baptiste BENOIT (1765-1831; Martin dit Labrière, Pierre le jeune)

François-Jean-Baptiste, also called Jean-François, son of Augustin Benoit and his second wife Marie-Madeleine Gautrot, born at St.-Servan, France, near St.-Malo, in October 1765, came to Louisiana probably in 1785 as a young bachelor and married Marie-Modeste, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Pinet dit Pinel and widow of Jean-Charles Achée, at Lafourche September 1789.  They settled on the upper bayou.  Their daughters married into the Augeron, Bedford, Bourque, Brosseart, Elsworth, Lamir, and Pierron families.  François died in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1831; the priest who recorded his burial called him Joseph François and said that he was age 86 when he died, but he was 66.  His sons and grandsons settled in what became Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes. 

1

Older son Joseph-Marie, born at Ascension in June 1790, married Justine Angélique, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Thibodeaux and Marie Dugas, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in August 1815.  Their son Carville Jacques, called Jacques, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1825, and Joseph Claiborne or Claiborne Joseph, called Claiborne J.,  in December 1829.  Their daughters married into the Kling, Marcel, and Welsh families, and perhaps into the Danion family as well.  

1a

Jacques married Marie Emelia or Emelia Marie, 15-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Ursin Aucoin and his Anglo-American wife Rosalie Comstock, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1850.  Their son Amand was born in Terrebonne Parish in April 1852, Maximilien Carville in November 1857, Amédée in February 1860, and Jean Marie Octave Laurent near Montegut in April 1865.  

1b

During the War of 1861-65, Claiborne J. served in Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. 

2

Younger son Charles, baptized at Assumption, age unrecorded, in November 1796, married Marie Farelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Jacques Thibodeaux and Adélaïde Vincent, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in June 1814.  Their son Augustin was born in Assumption Parish in March 1816, Eugène in December 1817, and Ursin Victorin, in February 1820.  Charles remarried to Marie Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Guidry and Marguerite Bergeron of Bayou Terrebonne, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1825.  Their son Jean Baptiste was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1827 but died at age 1 1/2 in October 1829.  Charles died in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1832, in his mid-30s.  

2a

Eugène, by father's first wife, married fellow Acadian Marie Ludovine, called Ludivine, Thibodeaux probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the late 1830s or early 1840s.  Their son Charles Elesiphore was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1844, Joseph Augustin in March 1851, and Adam in Terrebonne Parish in January 1856.  

Charles married cousin Nathalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Thibodeaux and Tarsile Gautreaux, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1864.  Their son Charles Augustin was born near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in May 1869. 

Daughter Louisiana, at age 17, gave birth to son Jean Baptiste Prosper Benoit near Montegut in June 1870; the priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not give the father's name.  

2b

Ursin Victorin, by father's first wife, married fellow Acadian Marie Cléonise Trahan probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the early 1840s.  

Other BENOITs in the Lafourche/Terrebonne Valley

Area church and civil records make it difficult to link at least one Benoit in the Bayou Lafourche/Bayou Terrebonne valley to known Acadian lines of the family there:

Jean Filia, son of Locate Benoit, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1841.  Was "Locate" a he or a she?  

Augustine, daughter of Baptiste Benoit, died in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1851.  The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial did not give Augustine's mother's name or her age at the time of her death. 

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

Benoit or Benoist is a common surname in France and French Canada, so it should not be surprising that a number of non-Acadian families bearing the name settled in the colony, especially at New Orleans:  

A Benoit commanded Fort Toulouse, at the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, then a part of French Louisiana, in the early 1730s, while Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, was governor of the colony.  Benoit did not remain long at Fort Toulouse.  In late 1733, he was sacked for becoming involved with an English trader and replaced by a "Sieur Develle." 

Élisabeth Benoit, widow Rochon, died in New Orleans in May 1772, age 18.  The priest who recorded her burial did not list her parents' names or reveal where she had been born.  

Charles Benoit of Québec, a former notary at Pointe Coupée, died at New Orleans in December 1772, age 60.  The priest who recorded his burial said nothing of a wife and children.  

A Benoit, first name unrecorded, native of the Duchy of Luxembourg and a master tailor/clothier, died at New Orleans in November 1774, age 45.  The priest who recorded his burial said nothing of a wife and children.  

Nicolas-Jean Benoit married Laine Montanary, place and date unrecorded.  Their daughter Marguerite was born at New Orleans in August 1774.  

Thérèse Benoit, "native of the German Coast," widow of Louis Hardy, married Jacques, son of Jean Moquien of Montréal, at New Orleans in January 1781.  She died at New Orleans in June 1789, age 40.  The priests who recorded her marriage and her burial did not give her parents' names.  

Martha Benoi married Manuel Toledano at New Orleans in November 1787.  The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the bride's or the groom's parents' names.  

A Benoit married a Frederique at New Orleans in December 1788 or January 1789.  The priest who recorded the marriage must have been in a hurry to do something else.  

Nicolas, son of Madeleine Benoit and grandson of Jean Hardy Benoit and Thérèse Benoit, was born at New Orleans in May 1791.  The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not reveal the father's name.  

Andrés, son of Andrés Benois and Augustina Lanschevins of New Orleans and native of the city, married Céleste, daughter of Jean-Pierre Buras, at New Orleans in October 1800.  

.

One French Creole family was, as its surname implies, of aristocratic origin.  The family lived in New Orleans during the middle and late colonial period before moving to the western prairies, where they became one of the most socially prominent families in the Attakapas District:  

Descendants of Jean-Baptiste BENOIST de SAINTE-CLAIRE (c1693-?)

Jean-Baptiste Benoist or Benoît de Ste.-Claire, a French-Canadian officer in the French army, became a chevalier of the prestigious Military Order of St.-Louis.  He came to Louisiana in 1717 in his mid-20s as an ensign of troupes de la marine and was promoted to lieutanant in 1732.  Still a lieutenant, he served as commander of Fort Toulouse on the upper Alabama River from 1733-34 and was not a favorite of Governor Bienville.  He nevertheless was promoted to captain in 1737, while Bienville was still governor of Louisiana.  In June 1740, Bienville noted that the 47-year-old captain "serves well enough," was "a bit indolent," and was "de mince figure"--very thin.  Jean-Baptiste was serving as commandant of the Illinois post when he married Marie-Louise or Rouise, daughter of Major Antoine Bienvenu, at Kaskaskia in January 1750.  He moved his family to New Orleans in the 1750s.  By the early 1780s, his family, perhaps without him, moved to the Attakapas District, where, because of Benoît de Sainte-Claire's aristocratic background and military rank, the family enjoyed social prominence.  But the chevalier's sons produced few heirs, at least compared to their Acadian namesakes in the district.  

1

Oldest son Jean-Baptiste-Charles, born either in Illinois or at New Orleans in the early 1750s, married Marie-Louise-Hyacinthe, called Louise, daughter of Attakapas commandant Alexandre-François-Joseph Chevalier DeClouet of Picardie, France, at Opelousas in February 1792; the marriage also was recorded at Attakapas in May 1793.  Their son Jean-François, called François, was baptized at Attakapas, age unrecorded, in 1794.  Their daughter married into the Nee family.  Jean-Baptiste-Charles served as lieutenant of militia on the lower Mississippi and died of dropsy at Attakapas in November 1796; the priest who recorded the burial said that Jean-Baptiste was age 50 when he died, but he probably was in his mid- to late 40s.  

François married first cousin Marie Françoise Arthémise, called Arthémise, daughter of Alexandre Joseph DeClouet, fils, his maternal uncle, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1816.  Their son Jean Baptiste was born at La Pointe on the upper Teche, near present-day Breaux Bridge, in November 1820, and François Louis was born in August 1824 but died at age 10 months in June 1825.  François and Arthémise's daughter married a DeClouet cousin.  François died in St. Martin Parish in May 1832, age 38; his succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse later that month.  

Jean Baptiste married Marie Henriette LeBreton probably in St. Martin Parish in the 1840s.  Daughter Marie Henriette de St. Clair was born in St. Martin Parish in September 1852.  In October 1850, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted dozens of slaves on the Benoit St. Clair plantation.  The following month, the same census taker counted 5 slaves--3 males and 2 females, all black, ranging in age from 30 to 1--on Céleste Benoit's farm.  The same census taker counted 2 slaves--a 20-year-old black male and a 17-year-old black female--on Charlotte Benoit's farm.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in St. Martin Parish counted a single slave--a 15-year-old black female--on Lalot Benoit's farm.  In October 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 34 slaves--17 males and 17 females, 27 blacks and 7 mulattoes, ranging in age from 55 years to 8 months--on the St. Clair De Benoit plantation.  

2

Benjamin, born probably at New Orleans in c1771, died at Attakapas "of some accident of lightning or thunderbolt," which also killed his mother, in June 1788.  He was age 17 when he died.  

3

Youngest son Clair, born at New Orleans in February 1774, married Charlotte-Caroline, called Caroline, another daughter of the Chevalier Alexandre DeClouet, at Attakapas in September 1801.  Clair died in St. Martin Parish in May 1833; the St. Martinville priest who recorded his burial said that Clair was age 62 when he died, but he was 59; his succession, dated 28 January 1832, was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse two weeks after he died.  

~

During the antebellum period, non-Acadian Benoits could be found not only at New Orleans but also in the river and prairie parishes, where Acadian Benoits had settled.  Benoits, called Foreign French by native Louisianians, emigrated to New Orleans from France and the Caribbean Basin; most of them remained in the city:

Marie Louise and Meretine Benoit, ages 23 and 3, from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Salem out of Le Havre, France, in May 1835.  

Louisa Elisa, daughter of Élisée Bennoit and Aurora Fonteneau, married Joseph, son of Thomas Key, at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in May 1836.  

David Benoit, a 44-year-old carpenter from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Luisiana out of Tampico, Mexico, in November 1836.  

Aloys Benoist, a 19-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Republican out of Le Havre in October 1838.  

Émile Benoit, a 30-year-old merchant from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Salem out of Le Havre in November 1838.  

A Mr. Benois, a 45-year-old gardener from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Creole out of St.-Pierre, Martinique, in July 1841.  

_____ Benoit, a 25-year-old professor from France, and his wife, age 24, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Tippicanoe out of Le Havre in June 1843.  One wonders what he was a professor of at such an age.  

David Benoit, age 35, and Joseph Benoit, age 26, both farmers from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Mozart out of Le Havre in August 1840.  They probably were brothers.  

J. C. Benoit, age not given, Mme. Benoit, age 31, Servente Benoit, age 18, Ernestine Benoit, age 16, Jules Benoit, age 3, and Emelie Benoit, age 3 months, all from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship South Carolina out of an unnamed port in October 1843.  

Alfred, son of Jean-Baptiste Benoit and Anne-Véronique Chamit or Chanut of Melun, Department of Seine-et-Marne, France, married Annette Eugènie, daughter of Joshua Veazey, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in September 1845.  

T. Benoit, a 36-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Vesta out of Le Havre in November 1846.  

Charles Benoit, an 18-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Moselle out of Le Havre in July 1848.  

Jean-Joseph Benoit, a 27-year-old farmer from France, and Augustine Benoit, age 22, probably his wife, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Oregon in April 1849.  

Charles Benoit, a 23-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Callender out of Le Havre in April 1850.  

In July 1850, the federal census taker in Orleans Parish counted 3 slaves--all female, all black, ages 25, 23, and 9--in Thos. E. Benoit's household in the First Ward of the parish's First Municipality.

Jean Benoit, a 43-year-old clerk, and Annette Benoit, a 40-year-old clerk, also from France and probably his wife, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Caroline & Mary Clark out of Liverpool, England, in November 1850.  

______ Benoit, a 46-year-old native of France, occupation unrecorded, Anton Bernard, age 8, Élisabeth Benoit, age 10, another Élisabeth Benoit, age 5, Jacob Benoit, age 5, and Louise Benoit, age 5, perhaps his children, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Belle Anaise out of Le Havre in May 1852.  

George Benoit, a 29-year-old native of France, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Rouennais out of Le Havre in January 1852.  

In October 1853, 18-year-old Hippolyte, son of Jean Baptise Benoist and Marie Bringole of Louisville, Kentucky, died of "cholera morbus" at the home of Mr. Louis Berlier, "a local merchant" living near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, who had adopted Hippolyte "7 or 8 years ago, when he was orphaned."  Evidently Hippolyte did not marry.  

.

A family of Foreign-French Benoits who favored Acadian brides settled on Bayou Lafourche in the 1830s:  

Descendants of Victor- or Victorin-Simon BENOIT (c1810?-1853)

Victor- or Victorin-Simon, 21-year-old son of Jean Baptiste Benoit and Jeanne or Susanne Marcourt of Bordeaux, France, married Césaire Julienne, 18-year-old daughter of Acadian Jean Charles Broussard and his Creole wife Anne Stieven, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1829.  Victor died near Raceland, Lafourche Parish, in September 1853; the priest who recorded his burial said that Victor was age 34 when he died, but he had to be older than that; perhaps the priest, or the transcriber, meant 43; Victor's succession, calling him Victor L. and listing his remaining children--Victorine, Louis Victorin, and Émile--was filed at the Thibodaux courthouse in April 1854.  Only one of his four sons married, but he, too, may have died young and ended this line of the family.  

1

Oldest son Césaire Victorin, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1830, probably died young.  

2

Louis Victorin, called Victorin, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1833, married Hermance, daughter of Acadian Pierre Thibodeaux and his Creole wife Emérante Chauvin, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in June 1855.  Their son Jean Victorin was born near Raceland, Lafourche Parish, in December 1860.  Victorin died in Lafourche Parish in January 1866, age 32. 

3

Théodule died in Lafourche Interior Parish only 8 days after his birth in February 1838.

4

Youngest son Joseph Émile, called Émile, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in June 1839, died in Lafourche Parish in June 1862, age 23, and did not marry.  

.

Some non-Acadian Benoits on the western prairies were free persons of color or slaves who retained the names of their French-Creole or Acadian owners or whose progenitor was named Benoît, a given name:  

Pierre Benoit, described as a homme de couleur libre, or a free man of color, son of Pierre Benoit and Annette à Dubulet, died in St. Martin Parish at age 17 in March 1837.  

Marie Benoit, a "mulatto libre," was born to Célestie, slave of Céleste Benoit, in St. Martin Parish in July 1839.  

Pierre Benoit, a free man of color, died in St. Martin Parish at age 46 in March 1844.  His succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse that month.  

Édouard Benoit, a free man of color, son of Charlotte DeClouet, married Elvina, daughter of Alexandre Lemelle or Lemesle, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1854.  Their son Édouard, fils was born in St. Martin Parish in November 1854, and Jean Baptiste in December 1865.  Édouard, père's succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in July 1866. 

Charlotte Benoit, a free woman of color, daughter of Palmire Rivière, married Isidore Olivier, a free man of color, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in October 1854. 

Julie Benoit's daughter Marie Eusèïde, "c.l.," or couleur libre, was baptized at the St. Martinville church, age unrecorded, in November 1862.  Julie's daughter Joséphine Emetide, also a "c.l.," or couleur libre, was baptized at the St. Martinville church, age unrecorded, in October 1864.  The priest or priests who recorded the baptisms did not name the father or fathers of the girls. 

Baptiste Benoit, a free man of color, married Marguerite LeBlanc, a free woman of color, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in November 1865.  

Céleste Benoit, a free woman of color, died in St. Martin Parish, age 75, in December 1865.  The priest who recorded the burial did not give any parents' names nor mention a husband.  Her succession was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse five days after her burial, again with no mention of a husband. 

Paul Élie, son of Élie Benoit, free man of color, and Zai ____, free woman of color, died near New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in April 1867, age 20.  Did he marry?

Cécile Benoit, a freed woman, married Thom Simon, a freedman, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in April 1869.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names. 

Marie Louise Benoit, mulatresse, daughter of Hortance Jeanneau, a former slave, married Paul Hyppolite, son of Jean Pierre Martinet and Scholatique Desjardins of Hamme-Mille, Belgium, at the St. Martinville church in December 1869.  The marriage legitimized eight children. 

CONCLUSION

Benoits were among the early settlers of Acadia, but they came to Louisiana a bit later than other Acadian families.  The first of them, all from Pigiguit, arrived from Port Tobacco, Maryland, in 1768 with the large extended family led by the Breau brothers of Pigiguit.  Spanish Governor Ulloa forced them to settle far upriver at Fort San Luis de Natchez, but after Ulloa's ouster in a colonial uprising later that year, his successor allowed the Breau clan to move downriver to the Acadian Coast.  The Benoits from Natchez went to St.-Gabriel and Ascension, but one of them, Étienne, after he married, moved on to the Attakapas District west of the Atchafalaya Basin, where he created a western branch of the family.  In 1769, another Benoit family came to Louisiana from Port Tobacco, Maryland, aboard the ill-fated British vessel Britannia.  After harrowing adventures in Texas and a long overland trek to Natchitoches, Pierre-Olivier Benoit took his family to St.-Gabriel on the river and then to the Opelousas District west of the Atchafalaya, where his son Jean-Charles established a large family.  More Acadian Benoits came from France in 1785.  One of them, Sébastien, settled on upper Bayou Lafourche but, like his cousins from Maryland, he moved to the prairies, in this case to the western edge of the Calcasieu country near present-day Lake Charles.  Meanwhile, his other cousins from France settled on the river below New Orleans or at Manchac south of Baton Rouge.  Most of the Benoits from France, however, settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, creating a third center of family settlement.  

In Louisiana, then, the Benoits exhibited the same settlement pattern their ancestors had followed in Acadie--they did not cluster in a single settlement but scattered all over the region.  The family that settled near Baton Rouge in the late 1780s disappears from local church records by the early 1800s, but by then their Benoit cousins could be found on the fringes of South Louisiana from the river below New Orleans, along the shore of Vermilion Bay, and in the Calcasieu River valley near the border of Spanish Texas.  They were especially numerous along the banks of Bayou Lafourche as far down as the Terrebonne country, on the prairie at Carencro north of present-day Lafayette, on upper Bayou Teche near present-day Breaux Bridge, and on the prairies of what became Vermilion Parish. 

Benoit is a common surname in France and French Canada, so non-Acadian members of the family also lived in South Louisiana during the colonial period, most of them at New Orleans.  The most significant non-Acadian family was that of Jean-Baptiste Benoist or Benoît de Sainte-Claire, a French-Canadian officer in the King's army who became a chevalier of the prestigious Order of St.-Louis.  As a lieutenant, he served as commander of Fort Toulouse on the Alabama River from 1733-34 and was a captain serving in Illinois during the late 1740s when he married the daughter of a superior officer.  He moved his family to New Orleans in the 1750s.  By the early 1780s, they had moved on to the Attakapas District, where they became socially prominent members of that community.  Few, if any, of them married Acadians.  During the antebellum period, quite a few Foreign-French Benoits came to New Orleans, and most remained there.  One Foreign-Frenchman, Victor- or Victorin-Simon Benoit of Bordeaux, settled on upper Bayou Lafourche in the 1820s.  He married an Acadian, and his only married son took an Acadian bride.  A number of Benoits who were free persons of color established families on the western prairies during the antebellum period.  But these non-Acadian Benoits, including the Benoist de Sainte-Claires, never came close in numbers to their Acadian namesakes who lived nearby. ...

The family's name also is spelled Bennoit, Benois, Benoist, Benua, Venua.  [See Book Ten for the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats"]

Sources:  1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Calcasieu, Lafayette, Lafourche Interior, St. Martin, & Vermilion parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Lafayette, Lafourche, & St. Martin parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 427, 1101-04, 1330-35, 1470, 2185, 2415-18; "Benoits of Bay St. George," AGE, May 2008, 42-44; Brasseaux, Founding of New Acadia, 105; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 1:42, 2:27, 3:23-24; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 8, 10, 11; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:35, 48-50, 56, 112-13, 118, 121; De Ville, Mississippi Valley Mélange, 2:14, source of quotation; Michel J. Foret, "War or Peace? Louisiana, the Choctaws, and the Chickasaws, 1733-1735," 299, 300, in Conrad, ed., The French Experience in LA; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 25-27, 153, 313, 378, 383, 436; 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, 8, 9; Hodson, Acadian Diaspora, 138-40; NOAR, vols. 3, 4, 5, 7; <islandregister.com/1752.html>; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 15-16, 57, 65, 67, 109, 119, 152, 175, 177-78, 217-18, 267-68, 274, 279-80, 289, 291; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, Family Nos. 31, 32, 42; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Supply.htm>, Family Nos. 19, 22, 30; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Tamerlan.htm>, Family Nos. 2, 9, 10; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family Nos. 70, 120; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 7-9; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 10-11; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 47-55; Gregory A. Waselkov, Introduction to Thomas, D. H., Fort Toulouse, xxxii; White, DGFA-1, 105-19; White, DGFA-1 English, 20-26; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 24-25, 150-51; Wood, Acadians in Maryland, 29, 36, 84-85.

Settlement Abbreviations 
(present-day civil parishes that existed in 1861 are in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):

Asc

Ascension

Lf

Lafourche (Lafourche, Terrebonne)

PCP

Pointe Coupée

Asp

Assumption

Natc

Natchitoches (Natchitoches)

SB San Bernardo (St. Bernard)

Atk

Attakapas (St. Martin, St. Mary, Lafayette, Vermilion)

Natz

San Luìs de Natchez (Concordia)

StG

St.-Gabriel d'Iberville (Iberville)

BdE

Bayou des Écores (East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana)

NO

New Orleans (Orleans)

StJ

St.-Jacques de Cabanocé (St. James)

BR

Baton Rouge (East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge)

Op

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 BENOIT 01 176? Atk born c1759, perhaps MA; daughter of Alexis BENOIT & Hélène COMEAUX; sister of Élisabeth; went to St.-Domingue before going to LA?; married, age 16, Amand dit Beausoleil, son of Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil & Agnès THIBODEAUX, & widower of Hélène LANDRY, 24 May 1775, Attakapas, now St. Martinville; in Attakapas census, 1777, called Anne BENOIS, age 18, with husband & 1 stepson; in Attakapas census, 1781, unnamed, with husband & 4 others; in Attakapas census, 1785, unnamed, with husband & 8 others; died at her home at Fausse Pointe, St. Martin Parish, 18 Sep 1830, "about age 67[sic] years", buried next day "in the parish cemetery"; succession dated 10 Nov 1830, St. Martinville courthouse
Anne BENOIT 02 Aug 1785 BR born c1730; daughter of Pierre BENOIT & Élisabeth LEJUGE; at Anse-à-Pinnet, Île St.-Jean, Aug 1752, called Anne BENOIST, age 22, with mother, stepfather, & 6 stepsiblings; married, age 23, Pierre, son of Jean HÉBERT & Madeleine DOIRON, c1753, probably Île St.-Jean; deported to St.-Malo, France, 1758-59, age 28; at St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France, 1762, age 34; married, age 40, (2)Jean-Baptiste, son of Jean HÉBERT & Marguerite TRAHAN, & widower of Anne LEBLANC, 6 Feb 1770, St.-Servan, France; received permission to leave St.-Malo & reside at La Rochelle, France, 30 Aug 1770; at Locmaria, Belle-Île-en-Mer, France, Jan 1772; at Rochefort, France, 1772, age 42; at Cenan, Poitou, France, 1773-early 1780s; on list of Acadians at Paimboeuf, France, Sep 1784, called Anne BENOIT, widow HÉBERT, with 1 unnamed son [recently remarried Jean-Pierre HÉBERT]; sailed to LA on Le Beaumont, age 48[sic], widow, head of family; on list of Acadians at Fort Bute, Manchac, 1788, called Ana BENUA (widow), with 1 other person in her family [son Jean-Charles HÉBERT], 1 1/2 barrels corn, 1/4 qt. rice
Daniel BENOIT 03 Jul 1785 StG, BR, Atk born c1748, probably l'Assomption, Pigiguit; son of Claude BENOIT & Élisabeth/Isabelle THÉRIOT; brother of Grégoire, Marguerite, Pélagie; at Anse-au-Matelot, Île St.-Jean, Aug 1752, age 4; deported from Île St.-Jean probably to St.-Malo, France, 1758-59, age 10; day laborer; married, age 19, (1)Henriette, daughter of François LEGENDRE & Marguerite LABAUVE, 9 Feb 1768, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, with wife & 1 daughter; sailed to LA on Le Bon Papa, age 36, head of family; on list of Acadians at Fort Bute, Manchac, 1788, called Daniel BENUA, with 3 unnamed persons in his family, 3 barrels corn, 1/4 qt. rice; married, age 51, (2)Madeleine-Ursule, daughter of Alexandre DOIRON & Ursule HÉBERT, c1799, Baton Rouge; died "at his daughter's home," St. Martin Parish, 15 Dec 1825, "at age about 84 years[sic]," buried next day "in the parish cemetery"
Donatien BENOIT 04 Sep 1785 Asp, Op born c1777, probably Nantes, France; son of Grégoire BENOIT & Marie-Rose CARRET; brother of Françoise-Félicité, Jean-Marie, Marie-Rose, Martina, & Rémond-Grégoire; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & siblings; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 8; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, called Danencien, age 10, with parents & siblings; in Valenzuéla census, 1791, left bank, called Dannancien, age 12[sic], with parents & siblings; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Donaciano, age 16[sic], with siblings next to parents; in Valenzuela census, 1797, age 17[sic], with siblings next to parents; moved to Opelousas District; never married; died [buried] Opelousas 24 Aug 1797, age 20
Élisabeth BENOIT 05 176? Asc, StG, BR? born Boston, MA; daughter of Alexis BENOIT & Hélène COMEAUX; sister of Anne; went to St.-Domingue before going to LA?; married Jean-Baptiste, son of Antoine DUPUIS & Marguerite BOUDREAUX, 7 Feb 1775, Ascension, now Donaldsonville; in St.-Gabriel census, 1777, left bank ascending, unnamed, with husband, 1 son, & 1 orphan boy; died by Dec 1816, when her husband remarried at Baton Rouge
Étienne BENOIT 06 Feb 1768 Natz, StG, StJ, Atk born c1751, probably Pigiguit; son of Claude BENOIT & Anne COMEAUX; exiled to MD 1755, age 4; in report on Acadians who settled at St.-Luìs de Natchez, 1768, called Esteban VENUA, orphan, age 18, with family of Juan Carlos BRO; moved to St.-Gabriel; married, age 21, Madeleine, daughter of Charles BREAUX & Claire TRAHAN of l'Assomption, Pigiguit, 20 Jan 1771, St.-Jacques; moved to Attakapas District; died [buried] Attakapas 8 Dec 1787, age 36
*François-Jean-Baptiste BENOIT 14 1785? Asp born 7 Oct 1765, baptized next day, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; son of Augustin BENOIT & his second wife Marie-Madeleine GAUTREAUX; brother of Sophie & Victoire-Marie; at St.-Servan 1765-72; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775; arrived LA probably 1785, age 20; married, age 24, Marie-Modeste of Le Havre, France, daughter of Charles PINET dit PINEL & Anne-Marie DUREL, & widow of Jean-Charles ACHÉE, 13 Sep 1789, Ascension, now Donaldsonville; in Valenzuela census, 1791, right bank, called François, age 25, with wife Marie age 26, son Jean-Baptiste age 1, [step]daughter Martine [ACHÉE] age 6, 0 slaves, 4 arpents, 0 qts. rice, 60 qts. corn, 0 horned cattle, 0 horses, 8 swine; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Francisco, age 34, with wife Maria age 30, sons Agustin age 6, Josef age 4, & [step]daughter Magdelena [probably Martine ACHÉE] age 10, also [wife's former brother-in-law] Frederico AHHE [ACHÉE] age 30, & [engagé?] Guillermo ARSEMENT age 22; in Valenzuela census, 1797, called François, age 35, with wife Marie age 31, sons Martin [probably stepdaughter Martine ACHÉE!] age 11, Joseph age 5, & daughter Barbe age 3, 0 slaves; in Valenzuela census, 1798, called François, age 31, with wife Marie age 32, sons Joseph age 6, Charles age 4, [step]daughter Martines [ACHÉE] age 11, daughters Babet age 5, & Judit age 2, 6/25 arpents, 0 slaves
François-René BENOIT 07 Nov 1785 SB born c1778, Nantes, France; son of Jean-Charles BENOIT & Anne-Marie ACHÉE; brother of Jean-Marie, Paul-Frédéric, & Sophie-Renée; on list of Acadians at Nantes, France, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & siblings; sailed to LA on L'Amitié, age 7; settled near English Turn, below New Orleans; married, age 25, Luisa of Pensacola, daughter of Francisco COBOS & Francisca DEMOUREL, 15 Jun 1803, New Orleans
Françoise BENOIT 08 Sep 1785 Asp born c1741; daughter of Charles BENOIT & Marie-Madeleine THÉRIOT; sister of Jean-Charles & Marie; at Anse-au-Matelot, Île St.-Jean, Aug 1752, age 11; deported from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo, France, aboard Tamerlane 25 Nov 1758, arrived St.-Malo 16 Jan 1759, called Françoise BENOIST, age 18; married, age 20, Honoré son of Ignace CARRET & Cécile HENRY, 6 Mar 1759, St.-Servan, France; on list of Acadians at Nantes, France, Sep 1784, with husband & 1 unnamed son; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 40[sic]; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, age 42[sic], with husband, & niece Victoire BENOIT; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, age 44[sic], with husband & no children; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Francisca, age 50[sic], with husband & no children; in Valenzuela census, 1797, age 51[sic], with husband & no children; in Valenzuela census, 1798, age 50[sic], with husband & no children
Françoise-Félicité BENOIT 09 Sep 1785 Asp, Lf born c1782, probably St.-Martin de Chantenay, France; daughter of Grégoire BENOIT & Marie-Rose CARRET; sister of Donatien, Jean-Marie, Marie-Rose, Martina, & Rémond-Grégoire; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & siblings; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 5[sic]; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, age 5, with parents & siblings; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, age 8, with parents & siblings; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Francisca, age 14, with siblings next to parents; in Valenzuela census, 1797, age 15, with siblings next to parents; in Valenzuela census, 1798, age 18[sic], with parents & siblings; married, age 29, Jean-Baptiste, fils, son of Jean-Baptiste TAUZIN & Jeanne-Marie LANBEAUX of Bayonne, France, 6 May 1811, Assumption, now Plattenville; died Lafourche Parish 29 Oct 1852, age 71 #
Grégoire BENOIT 10 Sep 1785 Asp, Lf born c1744, probably l'Assomption, Pigiguit; son of Claude BENOIT & Élisabeth/Isabelle THÉRIOT; brother of Daniel, Marguerite, & Pélagie; at Anse-au-Matelot, Île St.-Jean, Aug 1752, age 8; deported from Île St.-Jean probably to St.-Malo, France, 1758-59, age 14; day laborer; married, age 25, Marie-Rose, daughter of Jean CARRET & Rose TRAHAN, 13 Feb 1770, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, with wife, 3 unnamed sons, 2 unnamed daughters, & 1 unnamed orphan, probably sister-in-law Thérèse CARRET; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 40, head of family; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, age 42[sic], with wife Marie-Rose age 34, sons Jean-Marie age 11, Danencien age 9, daughters Marie-Rose age 10, Françoise age 5, 6 arpents, 40 qts. corn, 6 swine; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, age 42[sic], with wife Marie-Rose age 36, sons Jean-Marie age 15, Dannancien age 12, Pierre age 2, daughters Marie-Rose age 13, Françoise age 8, 0 slaves, 9 arpents, 0 qts. rice, 100 qts. corn, 6 horned cattle, 0 horses, 20 swine; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Isidoro[sic], age 50, with wife Maria Rosa age 38, & no children; in Valenzuela census, 1797, age 51[sic], with wife Marie & no children, 0 slaves, next to son Jean-Marie & other children; in Valenzuela census, 1798, age 55, with wife Marie age 45, sons Pierre age 10, Bastien age 4, daughters Marie age 20, & Françoise age 18, 6/40 arpents, 0 slaves; died Lafourche Parish 21 Jan 1829, age 88[sic]; succession dated 18 Jan 1809, Interior Parish courthouse
Henriette-Renée BENOIT 11 Jul 1785 BR, Atk baptized 12 Jun 1778, St.-Martin de Chantenay, France; called Renée; daughter of Daniel BENOIT & his first wife Henriette LEGENDRE; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents; sailed to LA on Le Bon Papa, age 7; on list of Acadians at Fort Bute, Manchac,, 1788, unnamed, with parents & no one else; married, age 15, (1)Pierre, son of Antoine LABAUVE & Anne VINCENT, 17 Feb 1793, Baton Rouge; married (2)Antoine, fils, son of Antoine MALLET & Catherine BORDELON, early 1800s, probably Baton Rouge; moved to Attakapas District & settled at Grand Bois, Fausse Pointe, St. Martin Parish
Jean-Charles BENOIT 12 Oct 1769 Natc, StG, Op, Atk born c1759, probably MD; called Charles; son of Pierre-Olivier BENOIT & his first wife Susanne BOUDREAUX; brother of Madeleine & Marie-Rose; in report on Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Jean BENOIST, with parents & sisters; departed Port Tobacco, MD, 5 Jan 1769, aboard English schooner Britannia with father, stepmother, & siblings; lost in the Gulf of Mexico & held by Spanish at La Bahia, TX; arrived Natchitoches Post, LA, 24 Oct 1769, overland from TX, age 15[sic]; settled below Bayou Plaquemine, St.-Gabriel District, with other Acadian exiles from the Britannia, Apr 1770; in St.-Gabriel census, 1777, right bank ascending, unnamed, age 18, with parents & sisters; moved to Opelousas District; in Opelousas census, 1785, unnamed, with father, stepmother, & others; married, age 26, Anne of St.-Jacques, called Nanette, daughter of François SAVOY & his third wife Anne THIBODEAUX, 7 Sep 1785, Attakapas, now St. Martinville; in Opelousas census, 1788, Plaquemines Brûlé, called Jn. Cho., with 1 unnamed male, 1 unnamed woman [wife Anne], 0 slaves, 15 cattle, 5 horses, 2 arpents; in Opelousas census, 1796, Grand Coteau District, called Jean, with unnamed wife [Anne/Nanette], 3 unnamed white males, 1 unnamed white female, & 0 slaves, next to future brother-in-law Augustin BOUDREAU; moved to Attakapas District, settled at La Petite-Anse, now Avery Island, Iberia Parish, & Grand Bois; died Grand Bois, St. Martin Parish, 17 Jan 1813, "at age about 50[sic] years," buried next day "in the parish cemetery"
Jean-Charles BENOIT 13 Dec 1785 SB born c1746, probably Pigiguit; called Charles; son of Charles BENOIT & Marie-Madeleine THÉRIOT; brother of Françoise & Marie; at Anse-au-Matelot, Île St.-Jean, Aug 1752, age 6; deported from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo, France, aboard Tamerlane 25 Nov 1758, arrived St.-Malo 16 Jan 1759, called Jean BENOIST, age 11[sic]; sailor; married, age 24, Anne-Marie, daughter of Jean-Baptiste ACHÉE & Anne OLIVIER, 9 Jan 1770, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; in Third Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Dec 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, called Charles BENOIST, with wife, 3 sons, & 1 daughter; sailed to LA on La Caroline, age 36[sic], listed singly (his wife & children had sailed to LA on L'Amitié); settled near English Turn, below New Orleans
Jean-Marie BENOIT 15 Sep 1785 Asp born & baptized 18 Sep 1773, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; son of Grégoire BENOIT & Marie-Rose CARRET; brother of Donatien, Françoise-Félicité, Marie-Rose, Martina, & Rémond-Grégoire; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & siblings; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 10[sic]; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, age 11[sic], with parents & siblings; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, age 15[sic], with parents & siblings; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Juan Maria & Juan, age 22, with siblings, next to parents; in Valenzuela census, 1797, called Jean-Marie & Jean, ages 22 & 23, with "his wife" Marie BENOIT age 19 [probably his sister Marie-Rose], no children, brothers Jean age 22, Donatien age 17, Pierre age 8, Valentin age 4, sisters Marie-Rose [probably a double-listing] age 19, & Françoise age 15, 0 slaves, next to their father; in Valenzuela census, 1798, called Jean-Marie, age 24, listed singly, with 3/60 arpents, 0 slaves; married, age 25, Marie-Élisabeth/Isabelle, called Élisabeth, of Nantes, France, daughter of Étienne DAROIS & Madeleine TRAHAN, & widow of Joseph-Marie BOUDREAUX, 4 Nov 1799, Assumption, now Plattenville; died Lafourche Interior Parish 27 Jul 1844, age 70; succession "sale of effects" filed at the Lafourche Interior Parish courthouse, 16 Mar 1846
Jean-Marie BENOIT 16 Nov 1785 SB born & baptized 11 Nov 1770, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; son of Jean-Charles BENOIT & Anne-Marie ACHÉE; brother of François-René, Paul-Frédéric, & Sophie-Renée; at St.-Servan, 1770-72; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; in Third Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Dec 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & siblings; sailed to LA on L'Amitié, age 14; settled near English Turn, below New Orleans
Madeleine BENOIT 17 Oct 1769 Natc, StG, Op born c1763, probably MD; daughter of Olivier BENOIT & his first wife Susanne BOUDREAUX; sister of Jean-Charles & Marie-Rose; in report on Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Margueritte BENOIST, with parents & siblings; departed Port Tobacco, MD, 5 Jan 1769, aboard English schooner Britannia with father, stepmother, & siblings; lost in the Gulf of Mexico & held by Spanish at La Bahia, TX; arrived Natchitoches Post, LA, 24 Oct 1769, overland from TX, age 6; settled below Bayou Plaquemine, St.-Gabriel District, with other Acadian exiles from the Britannia, Apr 1770; in St.-Gabriel census, 1777, right bank ascending, unnamed, age 8[sic], with parents & siblings; moved to Opelousas District; in Opelousas census, 1785, unnamed, with father, stepmother, & others; married, age 24, (1)Amand, son of Dol MARTIN & Madeleine CYR of Canada, 6 Sep 1787, Attakapas, now St. Martinville; married, age 26, (2)André or Andrew, son of Bernard FAVRON & Pérrine MOIRLOS of St.-Malo, France, 1 Oct 1789, Opelousas; in Opelousas census, 1796, Bellevue District, unnamed, with husband Andrés FABRON, 4 others whites, & 0 slaves; married, age 52, (3)Augustin-Rémi, son of probably Pierre BOUDREAUX & Anne HÉBERT of Pigiguit, & widow of Judith MARTIN, 25 Jul 1815, Opelousas
Marguerite BENOIT 18 Oct 1769 Natc, StG, Op born c1760, probably Port Tobacco, MD; daughter of Jean-Baptiste BENOIT & Anne TRAHAN; sister of Marie-Anne & Marie-Rose; stepdaughter of Louis LATIER; in report of Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Margueritte BENOIST, with mother, stepfather, 2 sisters, & a stepbrother; departed Port Tobacco 5 Jan 1769, aboard English schooner Britannia with mother, stepfather, & siblings; lost in the Gulf of Mexico & held by Spanish at Goliad, TX; arrived Natchitoches Post, LA, 24 Oct 1769, overland from TX, age 9; settled below Bayou Plaquemine, St.-Gabriel District, with other Acadian exiles from the Britannia, Apr 1770; moved to Opelousas District; married, age 15, Louis, son of Urbain BROUSSARD & Catherine ___ of Pigiguit, c1775, probably Opelousas; in Opelousas census, 1777, called Marguerite BENOIS, age 18, with husband & 2 sons; in Opelousas census, 1785, unnamed, with husband & 6 others; in Opelousas census, 1796, Grand Prairie District, unnamed, with husband & 10 others
Marguerite BENOIT 19 Nov 1785 Asp, Lf born Jun 1752, Île St.-Jean; daughter of Claude BENOIT & Élisabeth/Isabelle THÉRIOT; sister of Daniel, Grégoire, & Pélagie; at Anse-au-Matelot, Île St.-Jean, Aug 1752, called Margueritte, age 2 months; deported from Île St.-Jean probably to St.-Malo, France, 1758-59, age 6; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; married, age 23, (1)Joseph, son of Joseph PRÉCIEUX & Anne HACHÉ-GALLANT [ACHÉE], 7 Feb 1775, St.-Jacques, Châtellerault, Poitou, France; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775, with family of sister Pélagie; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, called Marguerite BENOIT, widow PRÉCIEUX, listed singly; sailed to LA on L'Amitié, age 32, widow, listed singly; married, age 34, (2)Claude-Bernard, son of Jean-Baptiste DUGAS & Marguerite-Josèphe DOIRON, 14 Feb 1786, Ascension, now Donaldsonville; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, called Margueritte, age 36, with husband & no children; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, called Margrithe, age 40, with husband, no children, & probably her mother-in-law; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Margarita, age 43, with husband & no children; in Valenzuela census, 1797, called Margueritte, age 44, with husband & no children; died Lafourche Interior Parish 8 Sep 1837, age 90[sic]
Marie BENOIT 20 Feb 1768 Natz, StG, StJ born c1737, probably Minas; married Jean-Charles, son of Pierre BREAUX & Marguerite GAUTREAUX, probably Minas; exiled to MD 1755, age 18; in report of Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Marie BRAUX, with husband, a son, a daughter, & an orphan; in report on Acadians who settled at St.-Luìs de Natchez, 1768, called Maria, age 30, with husband, 2 sons, 2 daughters, & 2 orphans; moved to St.-Gabriel; in St.-Gabriel census, 1777, right bank ascending, unnamed, age 40, with husband, 2 daughters, & 1 son; died [buried] St.-Jacques 15 Nov 1795, age 64[sic], a widow
Marie BENOIT 21 Sep 1785 Asp, StG born c1736, probably Pigiguit; daughter of Charles BENOIT & Marie-Madeleine THÉRIOT; sister of Françoise & Jean-Charles; at Anse-au-Matelot, Île St.-Jean, Aug 1752, age 16; married, age 21, (1)René, fils, son of René RASSICOT & Marie HACHÉ, Oct 1757, Île St.-Jean; deported from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo, France, aboard Tamerlane 25 Nov 1758, arrived St.-Malo 16 Jan 1759, called Marie BENOIST, age 22; at Châteauneuf, France, 1761; at St.-Servan-sir-Mer, France, 1761-72; married, age 29, (2)Joseph, son of Jacques HÉBERT & Marguerite LANDRY, & widower of Marguerite RICHARD, 7 Jan 1766, St.-Servan; on list of Acadians at Nantes, France, Sep 1784, with husband, 1 unnamed stepson, & 2 unnamed daughters [one of them a stepdaughter]; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 48; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, age 50, with husband & niece Sophie BENOIT; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, age 50[sic], with husband & no children; died [buried] St. Gabriel 9 Jun 1806, age 80[sic]
Marie-Anne BENOIT 22 Oct 1769 Natc, StG, Op born c1754, probably Pigiguit; daughter of Jean-Baptiste BENOIT & Anne TRAHAN; sister of Marguerite & Marie-Rose, stepdaughter of Louis LATIER; exiled to MD 1755, age 1; in report on Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Anne BENOIST, with mother, stepfather, 2 sisters, & a step-brother; departed Port Tobacco, MD, 5 Jan 1769 aboard English schooner Britannia with mother, stepfather, & siblings; lost in the Gulf of Mexico & held by Spanish at Goliad, TX; arrived Natchitoches Post, LA, 24 Oct 1769, overland from TX, age 15; settled below Bayou Plaquemine, St.-Gabriel District, with other Acadian exiles from the Britannia, Apr 1770; moved to the Opelousas District; married Michel, son of Jacques or Jacob JANIS & Marie-Anne BAGET of New Orleans and Opelousas, mid-1770s, Opelousas
Marie-Marthe BENOIT 23 Dec 1785 StJ born c1736, Cobeguit; married (1)Jean CLÉMENT; moved to Louisbourg; deported probably from Louisbourg to Rochefort, France, 1758-59; married, age 25, (2)Nicolas-Gabriel ALBERT of Île d'Oléron, France, & Louisbourg, Île Royale, widower of Marie GARSEAU of Chignecto, 12 Jan 1761, St.-Louis, Rochefort; in Poitou, France, 1770s; on list of Acadians at Nantes, France, Sep 1784, called Marie, with husband Nicolas ALBERT & 1 unnamed son; sailed to LA on La Caroline, age 40[sic]; on report of Acadians at St.-Jacques, 1788, unnamed, with husband Nicolas ALBERT, 1 other unnamed person [son Nicolas-Gabriel ALBERT, fils], & 4 1/2 barrels corn
Marie-Rose BENOIT 24 Oct 1769 Natc, StG, Op born c1756, Port Tobacco, MD; called Rose or Rosalie; daughter of Jean-Baptiste BENOIT & Anne TRAHAN; sister of Marguerite & Marie-Anne, stepdaughter of Louis LATIER; in report of Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Rose BENOIST, orphan, with mother, stepfather, 2 sisters, & a stepbrother; departed Port Tobacco, MD, 5 Jan 1769, aboard English schooner Britannia with mother, stepfather, & siblings; lost in the Gulf of Mexico & held by Spanish at La Bahia, TX; arrived Natchitoches Post, LA, 24 Oct 1769, overland from TX, age 13; married, age 14, (1)Romain, son of Pierre DE LA FOSSE & Jeanne GILLEMENNE of Rouen, France, & Natchitoches Post, 26 Dec 1769, probably Natchitoches; settled below Bayou Plaquemine, St.-Gabriel District, with other Acadian exiles from the Britannia, Apr 1770; moved to Opelousas District; in Opelousas census, 1777, called Rose BENOIS, age 30[sic, probably 20], with husband Romain DE LA FOSSE age 40 who was head of family number 26, son Romain [DE LA FOSSE, fils] age 3, daughters Rosalie [DE LA FOSSE] age 6, & Hélène [DE LA FOSSE] age 1, 0 slaves, 2 cattle, 0 horses, 6 hogs, 0 sheep; married, age 42, (2)Joseph of "Estrecho," son of Charles CAMPOS & Charlotte NANTAIR, 31 Jan 1796, Opelousas; died [buried] Opelousas 3 Apr 1801, age unrecorded, probably 45
Marie-Rose BENOIT 25 Oct 1769 Natc, StG, Atk born c1761, probably Port Tobacco, MD; daughter of Olivier BENOIT & his first wife Susanne BOUDREAUX; sister of Jean-Charles & Madeleine; in report on Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Marie BENOIST, with parents & siblings; departed Port Tobacco, MD, 5 Jan 1769, aboard English schooner Britannia with father, stepmother, & siblings; lost in the Gulf of Mexico & held by Spanish at Goliad, TX; arrived Natchitoches Post, LA, 24 Oct 1769, overland from TX, age 8; moved to St.-Gabriel; settled below Bayou Plaquemine, St.-Gabriel District, with other Acadian exiles from the Britannia, Apr 1770; in St.-Gabriel census, 1777, right bank ascending, unnamed, age 12[sic], with parents & siblings; moved to Attakapas District; married (1)Marin, son of Amand PRÉJEAN & his first wife Madeleine MARTIN, late 1770s, probably Attakapas; in Attakapas census, 1781, unnamed, with husband & no one else; in Attakapas census, 1785, unnamed, with husband & 2 others; married, age 39, (2)Daniel, Anglican from NC, son of Jonathan BOONE of NC & Marie CARTER of PA but residents of KY, 27 Jul or 12 Aug 1800, Attakapas
Marie-Rose BENOIT 26 Sep 1785 Asp, Lf baptized 3 May 1775, St.-Jean-l'Evangeliste, Châtellerault, France; daughter of Grégoire BENOIT & Marie-Rose CARRET; sister of Donatien, Françoise-Félicité, Jean-Marie, Martina, & Rémond-Grégoire; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & siblings; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 9; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, age 10, with parents & siblings; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, age 13[sic], with parents & siblings; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Maria Rosa, age 18, with siblings next to parents; in Valenzuela census, 1797, age 19[sic], with siblings next to parents; in Valenzuela census, 1798, called Marie, age 20[sic], with parents & siblings; married, age 27, Jean-Baptiste of St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France, son of Victor BOUDREAUX & his first wife Catherine-Josèphe HÉBERT, & widower of Marie-Françoise LEBLANC, 25 Apr 1803, Assumption, now Plattenville; died Lafourche Interior Parish 29 Sep 1847, age 72; family meeting held 12 Dec 1855, Lafourche Interior Parish
*Martina/Martine BENOIT 27 Sep 1785 Asp? born 16 Sep 1785, La Balize or New Orleans, 6 days after her family reached LA; baptized 18 Oct 1785, New Orleans; daughter of Grégoire BENOIT & Marie-Rose CARRET; sister of Donatien, Françoise-Félicité, Jean-Marie, Marie-Rose, & Rémond-Grégoire; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, in utero; not in Valenzuela censuses of 1788 & 1791 with the rest of her family, so she probably died young
*Mathurin BENOIT 28 17?? StG born c1757; in St.-Gabriel census, 1777, right bank ascending, called Maturin BENOIS, age 20, a bachelor, with 4 cattle, [0 horses?] 6 hogs, 14 fowl, 6 arpents, surrounded by Acadians
*Nicolas-Jean-Sébastien BENOIT 33 1785? Asp, Atk, Op born 23 Nov 1760, baptized next day, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; called Sébastien; son of Augustin BENOIT & Françoise THÉRIOT; nephew of Étienne; at St.-Servan 1760-63; to Falkland Islands aboard L'Aigle 1763; in Falkland Islands 1763-68; returned to St.-Malo 23 Apr 1768; at St.-Servan 1768-72; on Île St.-Pierre or Île Miquelon, 1770s; probably deported to La Rochelle, France, in 1778; arrived LA probably 1785, age 24; married, age 28, (1)Jeanne, daughter of Jean DE LA FORESTRIE & Marie-Madeleine BONNIÈRE, & widow of Joseph HÉBERT, 16 Aug 1789, Ascension, now Donaldsonville; in Valenzuela census, 1791, right bank, called Sébastien BENOIT, age 30, with wife, stepsons Joseph [HÉBERT] age 18; Louis [HÉBERT] age 12, Charles [HÉBERT] age 17, stepdaughters Marie [HÉBERT] age 14, & Nanette [HÉBERT] age 5, 0 slaves, 6 arpents, 100 qts. corn, 2 horned cattled, 1 horse, 12 swine; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Sébastian BENOIT, age  74[sic, probably meant 34], listed singly, so probably a widower; moved to Attakapas District & then to Opelousas District, late 1790s, settled on Calcasieu River near present-day Lake Charles; married, age 39, (2)Hippolythe, daughter of Barthélémy LEBLEU & Marie-Josèphe LAMIRANDE of Calcasieu River, 20 Aug 1800, Opelousas
Paul-Frédéric BENOIT 30 Nov 1785 SB baptized 7 Oct 1775, St.-Jean-l'Evangeliste, Châtellerault, France; son of Jean-Charles BENOIT & Anne-Marie ACHÉE; brother of François-René, Jean-Marie, & Sophie-Renée; in Third Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Dec 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & siblings; sailed to LA on L'Amitié, age 9; settled near English Turn, below New Orleans
Pélagie BENOIT 31 Nov 1785 Asp, Lf born c1741, probably l'Assomption, Pigiguit; daughter perhaps of Claude BENOIT & Élisabeth/Isabelle THÉRIOT; sister of Daniel, Grégoire, & Marguerite?; at Pointe-Prime, Île St.-Jean, called Pélagie BENOIST, orphan, age 11, in the household of Paul DOIRON & Marguerite BENOIT; moved to Île Royale; married, age 17, Yves, son of Guillaume  CROCHET & Julienne DURAND of Mégrit, Brittany, France, 6 Feb 1758, Louisbourg; deported from Île Royale probably to Rochefort, France, 1758-59, age 17; arrived St.-Malo, France, from Rochefort 1 Oct 1759, age 18; at Mégrit, France, 1759-61; at St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France, 1762-64; at Mégrit 1765-67; at St.-Servan-sur-Mer 1767-68; at Mégrit 1769-72; in Poitou, France, 1773-75, a widow; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775; on list of Acadians at Nantes, Sep 1784, called Pélagie BENOIT, widow CROCHET, with 4 unnamed sons & 2 unnamed daughters; sailed to LA on L'Amitié, age 44, widow, head of family, received from Spanish on arrival 1 each of hatchet, 2 of axe, shovel, hoe, & knife; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, called Pélagie BENOIT widow CROCHET, age 48[sic], with sons Yves CROCHET age 19, & Julien [CROCHET] age 17, 0 slaves, 6 arpents, 25 qts. corn, 2 swine, between sons-in-law Léonore LAGARDE & Joseph ADAM; in Valenzuela census, 1791, left bank, called Pélagie BENOIT widow CROCHET, age 48[sic], with son Julien [CROCHET] age 20, 0 slaves, 6 arpents, 0 qts. rice, 12 qts. corn, 2 horned cattle, 0 horses, 4 swine, next to widowed daughter Françoise; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Pélagia, age 60[sic], with son Julian CROCHET age 24, next to son-in-law Josef ADAN; in Valenzuéla census, 1797, called Pélagie BENOIT, Widow, age 61[sic], with son Julien CROCHET age 25, & 0 slaves; in Valenzuela census, 1798, age 62, with son Julian CROCHET age 25, & "single" Mathurin AUCOIN age 25, 6/40 arpents listed with son Julian, 0 slaves; died Lafourche Interior Parish 7 Aug 1824, age 85[sic], buried same day; succession inventory dated 16 Apr 1825, Lafourche Interior Parish courthouse
Pierre-Olivier BENOIT 29 Oct 1769 Natc, StG, Op born c1729, probably Ste.-Famille, Pigiguit; called Olivier; son of probably Pierre BENOIT & Anne-Marie GAUDET; exiled to MD 1755, age 26; married, age 27, (1)Susanne BOUDREAUX, c1756, probably MD; in report on Acadians at Port Tobacco, MD, Jul 1763, called Olivier BENOIST, with wife Susanne, son Jean, & daughters Margueritte & Marie; married, age 36, (2)Marie-Geneviève, daughter of Mathieu BRASSEAUX dit La Citardy & Jeanne CÉLESTIN dit BELLEMÈRE, c1765, probably MD; departed MD 5 Jan 1769 aboard English schooner Britannia with wife & children; lost in the Gulf of Mexico & held by Spanish at La Bahia, TX; arrived Natchitoches Post, LA, 24 Oct 1769, overland from TX, age 40; settled below Bayou Plaquemine, St.-Gabriel District, with other Acadian exiles from the Britannia, Apr 1770; in St.-Gabriel census, 1777, right bank ascending, called Aulivier BENOIS, age 40(?)[sic, probably 48], with unnamed wife [Marie] age 35, 1 unnamed son [Jean-Charles] age 18, 2 unnamed daughters ages 12 [Marie-Rose] & 8 [Madeleine], 22(?)[sic] cattle, [0 horses?] 10 hogs, 14 fowl, 6 arpents; moved to Opelousas District; in Opelousas census, 1785, called Ol, with 5 unnamed free individuals, 0 slaves; died Opelousas 12 Dec 1787, age 58, buried next day; succession dated 8 Dec 1787, Opelousas courthouse; depicted in Dafford Mural, Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville
Rémond-Grégoire BENOIT 32 Sep 1785 Asp baptized 25 Jul 1783, St.-Martin de Chantenay, France; son of Grégoire BENOIT & Marie-Rose CARRET; brother of Donatien, Françoise-Félicité, Jean-Marie, Martina, & Marie-Rose; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, an infant; not in the Valenzuela censuses of 1788 & 1791 with the rest of his family, so he probably died young
Sophie BENOIT 34 Sep 1785 Asp born c1780, Nantes, France; daughter of Augustin BENOIT & his second wife Marie-Madeleine GAUTREAUX; sister of François-Jean-Baptiste & Victoire-Marie; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 8[sic], called "niece," traveled with family of Joseph HÉBERT & Marie BENOIT; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, age 8, with family of Joseph HÉBERT & Marie BENOIT; married, age 24, Francisco Antonio of San Vicente, Havana, Cuba, son of Gregorio TURREYRA & Theresa SILVA, 29 Oct 1804, Assumption, now Plattenville; died probably Assumption Parish by Feb 1813, when her husband remarried at Assumption
Sophie-Renée BENOIT 35 Nov 1785 SB born c1783, probably Nantes, France; daughter of Jean-Charles BENOIT & Anne-Marie ACHÉE; sister of François-René, Jean-Marie, & Paul-Frédéric; on list of Acadians at Nantes, France, Sep 1784, unnamed, with parents & brothers; sailed to LA on L'Amitié, age 2; settled near English Turn, below New Orleans
Victoire-Marie BENOIT 36 Sep 1785 Asp, Lf born 11 Nov 1772, baptized next day, St.-Servan-sur-Mer, France; daughter of Augustin BENOIT & his second wife Marie-Madeleine GAUTREAUX; sister of François-Jean-Baptiste & Sophie; in Poitou, France, 1773-75; in Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes, France, Nov 1775; sailed to LA on Le St.-Rémi, age 14, traveled with family of Honoré CARRET & first cousin Francoise BENOIT; in Valenzuela census, 1788, left bank, called Victoire BENOIT, his [Honoré CARET's] niece[sic], age 14[sic], with family of Honoré CARET; married, age 23, (1)Charles, son of Jean-Baptiste BERGERON & Catherine CAISSIE dit ROGER of Rivière St.-Jean, & widow of Marie FORET, 7 Jan 1794, Assumption, now Plattenville; in Valenzuela census, 1795, called Victoria, age 23, with husband, 4 stepsons, 1 stepdaughter, & 1 daughter; in Valenzuela census, 1797, age 24, with husband, 4 stepsons, 1 stepdaughter, & 1 daughter; in Valenzuela census, 1798, age 25[sic], with husband, 3 stepsons, 1 son, 2 stepdaughters, & 2 daughters; married, age 44, (2)Pierre of St. James, son of Pierre LAMBERT & Marie-Josèphe CÉLESTIN dit BELLEMÈRE, 10 Dec 1815, Assumption; died Terrebonne Parish 31 May 1816, age 43; succession dated 22 Jun 1816, Terrebonne Parish courthouse

NOTES

01.  Wall of Names, 11, calls her Anne BENOIT; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2415, 2416, calls her Anne BENOIT, gives her parents' names, & says she was born in c1755 but gives no birthplace; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:46, 120 (SM Ct.Hse.: OA-Vol.1, #25), her marriage record, calls her Anne BENOIT, native of Acadie, parish of St. Jean [St.-Jean-Baptiste, Port-Royal?], calls her husband a "native of Acadie of the parish of St. Jean," gives her & his parents' names & his first wife's name, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Michel MAU, Jacques FOSTAIN, Jean-Baptiste LABAUVE, Olivier TRAHAN, Pierre BROUSSARD, & Joseph LANDRY; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-C:45 (SM Ch.: v.4, #2082), her death/burial record, calls her Anne BENOIT, "spouse of Amand BROUSSARD, died ... at age about 67 yrs. at her home at la fausse pointe, buried ... in the parish cemetery," but does not give her parents' names; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-C:45 (SM Ct.Hse.: Succ. #656), her succession, calls her Anne [BENOIT] m. Amand BROUSSARD.  See also De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 12.  

Alexis BENOIT & Hélène COMEAU, married in c1749, were exiled to MA, where they were counted at Newton in 1757 & again in 1763.  See White, DGFA-1, 114.  It stands to reason, then, that their daughters were born in that colony.  MA as a possible birth place is taken from the baptismal record of one of her sister Élisabeth's children, which says that Élisabeth was born in Boston.  There is the possibility, then, that Anne & her sister were among the Acadians who went from New England to St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, in the early 1760s before moving on to LA later in the decade, but this is only a guess.  In point of fact, this scenario is similar to the experience of Élisabeth's husband Jean-Baptiste DUPUIS & his family during Le Grand Dérangement.  See Appendix.  Could Élisabeth & Jean-Baptiste have known one another in St.-Domingue?  When did Anne & Élisabeth reach LA?  Did they arrive together, as the listing in Wall of Names suggests?  

The age given in her burial record provides an estimated birth year of c1763, which means she would have married Amand BROUSSARD at age 13!  So the 1777 census age is followed here.  However, it gives an estimated birth year of c1759, & she could not have been born at Port-Royal at that time, 4 years into Le Grand Dérangement.  I would argue that the reference to her being born in the Parish of St. Jean in Acadia is a copying error, that it was meant only for Amand, not Anne.  Besides, 16 is a more believable age for her marriage than 13.  

Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 152, shows an Anne BENOIST at Port Tobacco, MD, in Jul 1763 with sister Natalis.  See also Wood, Acadians in Maryland, 84.  Few, if any, Acadians at Port-Royal were sent to MD, however.  Most of the MD refugees came from Minas.  Wood speculates, however, that this may have been the Anne BENOIT who married Amand BROUSSARD.  Natalis, or Nathalie, is not the same name as Élisabeth, so the Anne BENOIT in MD is probably another Anne BENOIT, not the wife of Amand BROUSSARD. 

Why did her sister remain on the river & Anne go to the western prairies?  Because of who they married?  See below for evidence that her sister Élisabeth & her family visited Anne & her family at Fausse Pointe in the fall of 1784 & that the sisters remained close.

02.  Wall of Names, 33 (pl. 8L), calls her Anne BENOIT veuve HEBERT, & lists her with a son; White, DGFA-1, 108; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 475-76, Family No. 531;  Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 459-60, Family No. 515; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 32-33, calls her Anne BENOIT, veuve HÉBERT, age 48, on the embarkation list, Ana VENOI, viuda ÉBERT, on the debarkation list, & Anne BENOIT, widow HÉBERT, age 48, on the complete listing, says that she was in the 12th Family on the embarkation list & the 14th Family on the debarkation of Le Beaumont with a son, details her second marriage, including her husband's name & her & his parents' names, but gives no place of marriage, & says that son Jean-Charles HÉBERT was born 6 Jan 1772 but gives no birthplace.  See De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:123. 

Her son Jean-Pierre from first husband Pierre HÉBERT crossed with his second wife Anne-Dorothée DOIRON on Le Beaumont, the third of the 7 Ships.  He had gone to Poitou with his mother, her second husband, and a half-brother in 1773; married at Cenan; buried his bride there 9 months later; & followed his mother & stepbrother to Nantes.  See Jean-Pierre's profile on the HÉBERT family page. 

03.  Wall of Names, 28 (pl. 6R), calls him Daniel BENOIT, & lists him with his wife & daughter; Robichaux, Acadians in Chatellerault, 8, Family No. 14; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 20; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 8-9, calls him Daniel BENOIT, journalier, age 36, on the embarkation list, Daniel BÉNOIT, on the debarkation list, & Daniel BENOIT, day laborer, age 36, on the complete listing, says that he was in the 26th Family aboard Le Bon Papa with his wife & daughter, & details his marriage, including the names of his & his wife's parents, says they were married in 1768 but gives no place of marriage; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 25; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-B:58 (SM Ch.: v.4, #1741), his death/burial record, calls him Daniel BENOIT, "native of Acadie, married in his last wedding to Magdelaine DOIRON," says he "died at his daughter's home Rene BENOIT wife of Antoine MALLET at age about 84 years," that he was "buried ... in the parish cemetery," but does not give his parents' names.  See also De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:113. 

His being born probably at Pigiguit is based on the fact that his family did not migrate to Île St.-Jean until 1750.  See De La Roque. 

I have not found the record of his second marriage.  Further evidence of his second marriage is in the baptismal record of Joseph BENOIT, dated 27 May 1803, in BRDR, 2:71 (SJO-1, 204), which lists the boy's parents as Daniel [BENOIT] & Magdalena DUARON (DOIRON), the paternal grandparents as Lodio [Claude] BENOIT & Madalena TERRIO of Acadia, & the maternal grandparents as Alexandro DOIRON & Ursula EBERRE (HÉBERT) of Acadia.  Their child, name & gender unrecorded, died a month after its birth at Baton Rouge in August 1800.  This helps pinpoint the date of their marriage.  See BRDR, 2:71 (SJO-4, 19).  So Daniel's male line in LA comes thru his second wife, not thru his first one.  

He died in his late 70s, not his early 80s.  Was he a widower again?

04.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 10L), calls him Donnatien [BENOIT], & places him & his family on suplement a la liste des Acadiens embarques dans le navire Le St. Remy pour la Nouvelle Orleans [additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le St.-Rémi bound for New Orleans]; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 21, calls him Donatien [BENOIST], & details his family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 60-61, calls him Donnatien, son [Grégoire BENOIT's] fils, age 8, on the embarkation list, & Donatien BENOIT, his [Grégoire BENOIT's] son, age 8, on the complete listing, & says he was in the 1st Family on Supplément à la liste des Acadiens embarqués dans le navire Le Saint-Rémi pour la nouvelle-orleans [Additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le Saint-Rémi bound for New Orleans] with his parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:47 (Opel.Ch.: v.1, p.33), his death/burial record, calls him Donatien BENOIT, single, but does not give his parents' names. 

05.  Wall of Names, 11, calls her Élisabeth BENOIT & lists her over sister Anne as though she, Élisabeth, were the elder sister; BRDR, 2:71, 269 (ASC-1, 129), her marriage record, calls her Élizabeth BENOA (BENOIT), calls her husband Jean-Baptiste DUPUY, "res. at St.-Gabriel at Manchac," gives her & his parents' names, says all parents were Acadians, & that the witnesses to her marriage were Charles MELANÇON, Augustin BRUSARD, & François HÉBERT.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 152.  

Alexis BENOIT & Hélène COMEAU, married in c1749, were exiled to MA, where they were counted at Newton in 1757 and again in 1763.  See White, DGFA-1, 114.  It stands to reason, then, that their daughters were born in that colony.  The baptismal record of daughter Marie-Adeline DUPUIS, dated 4 Sep 1799, in BRDR, 2:271 (SGA-11, 96, #475), calls the mother Ysabel BENUA of Boston.  If Élisabeth was born in MA, there is the possibility that she & her sister Anne came to LA from St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, where Acadian exiles from New England had gone in the early 1760s.  Interestingly, this is almost the exact scenario for Élisabeth's husband Jean-Baptiste DUPUIS & his family during Le Grand Dérangement--exile to NY & then to CN, off to St.-Domingue in the early 1760s, & on to LA later in the decade.  See appendix.  Could Élisabeth & Jean-Baptiste have known one another in St.-Domingue?  When did she & her sister reach LA?  Did they arrive together, as the listing in Wall of Names suggests? 

Why did she remain on the river & her sister go to the western prairies?  No matter, the sisters seem to have remained close.  There is evidence that Élisabeth & her family visited Anne & her family at Fausse Pointe in the autumn of 1784.  The baptismal record of Élisabeth's son Jean-Baptiste DUPUIS, fils, dated 17 Oct 1784, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:290 (SM Ch.: v.3, #16), provides a light on this visit.  The boy was born in Jun 1783, probably at St.-Gabriel, where his family lived, but was baptized at Atakapas a year & a half later.  All of the other children of Jean-Baptiste DUPUIS, père & Élisabeth BENOIT, both before & after Jean-Baptiste, fils, were born & baptized at St.-Gabriel.  A trip across the Atchafalaya Basin at that time was an arduous affair, especially if one had to return to the river.  Such a visit would have lasted weeks & gives an idea of how devoted these sisters may have been to one another.  

06.  Wall of Names, 11 (pl. 1R), calls him Étienne BENOIT, & lists him singly; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2415, his father's profile in the LA section, calls him Étienne [BENOÎT], says he was born in c1751 but gives no birthplace, that he was his parents' only child, & calls his mother Anne CORMIER; Arsenault, 2416, calls him Étienne BENOIT, says he was born in 1751 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names but calls his mother Anne CORMIER, says he was married at Baton Rouge on 5 Feb 1771, gives his wife's parents' names, & says his children were Joseph, born in c1772, Étienne in 1773, Marie-Angele in 1775, Charles in 1777, Marie-Henriette in c1776, Eloi in c1778, Francois-Xavier in c1780, & Augustin in 1786, but gives no birthplaces; BRDR, 2:71, 150 (SJA-1, 13), his marriage record, calls him Étienne BENOIT, says he was married 20 Jan 1771, gives his & his wife's parents' names, calls his parents Glaude [BENOIT] & Anne COMAU, which is COMEAUX, not CORMIER, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Jean BRAU, Jean COMAU, Olivier BABAIN, & Pierre BRAU, all of whom made their marks; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:47 (BRDA: S.J.: v.1771), a copy of his marriage record, calls him Étienne BENOIT, gives his parents' names, calls his mother Anne CORMIER, & says he was married 5 Jan 1771 but gives no place of marriage, though the reference to "SJ" means it occurred in St. James; Hébert, D., 1-A:47 (SM Ch.: v.4, #5), his death/burial record, calls him Étienne BENOIT of Canada, says he was 36 years old when he died, & gives his wife's name but not his parents' names; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 24, calls him Étienne BENOIT, & says that he was the nephew of Jean-Baptiste & Olivier BENOIT.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 436.

Contrary to what Arsenault asserts on 2415, he was not his parents' only child.  His older brother Augustin's oldest son Sébastien emigrated to LA from France in 1785.  See Books t=Three & Five. 

With 3 marriage dates to choose from, I will go with the actual marriage record at St.-Jacques, dated 20 Jan 1771, cited above.  I am assuming the other marriage dates are errors in transcription.  

His widow married Michel CORMIER, one of my paternal ancestors, in Feb 1789.

07.  Wall of Names, 40, calls him François-Renné BENOIT; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 74-75; NOAR, 7:23, 66 (SLC, M5, 151), his marriage record, calls him Francisco Renée BENOIT, "native of Nantes in the French Republic, resident of this province since boyhood, presently resident of English Turn," calls his wife Luisa COBOS, "native of Pensacola," gives his & her parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Rafael PERDOMO, Pedro Nolasco SOLIS, Fernando MORENO, & Humberto DEMORUEL.  See also West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 151.

08.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Françoise BENOIT, & lists her with her husband, a son, her mother, & a cousin; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Tamerlan.htm, Family No. 9, shows that in the crossing to St.-Malo in 1758-59, all of her family survived, even her 70-year-old paternal great-grandmother, Isabelle BABIN, except for her brother Pierre, age not given, who died at sea; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 186-87, Family No. 227, calls her Françoise BENOIST, says she was born in c1741 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, details her marriage, including her husband's parents' names, says he was born in c1729 but gives no birthplace, includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of son Pierre-Marin CARRET, born & baptized 17 Jul 1761, St.-Servan, godson of Pierre HENRY & Marie BENOIST, & son Jean-Marie CARRET, born 19 Feb 1765 & baptized 20 Feb 1765, St.-Servan, godson of Jean LAROQUE & Marie CARRET, died age 2 1/2 years on 7 Nov 1767, buried next day, St.-Servan, & says her family resided at Châteauneuf in 1759 & St.-Servan from 1760-72; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 54-55, calls her Françoise BENOIT, sa [Honnoré CARET's] feme, age 40, on the embarkation list, Francoise BENOIT, his [Honoré CARRET's] wife], age 40, on the complete listing, says she was in the 47th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her husband, son, mother, & a cousin, details her marriage, including her & her husband's parents' names, says they were married in 1759 but gives no marriage place, that son Pierre [CARRET] was born in 1761 but gives no birthplace, that Victoire BENOIT, who accompanied the family, was daughter of Augustin BENOIT & Madeleine GAUTROT, was born 11 Nov 1772 but gives no birthplace, & that Victoire's father was brother of Charles BENOIT, husband of Madeleine THÉRIOT.    See also De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:113; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 46, 53, 80, 131, 178.

Her estimated birth year is from De La Roque & Robichaux.  The latter uses the age given on the passenger list of Tamerlane, which conforms to the 1752 census.  Why do the Lafourche valley censuses consistently over-estimate her age? 

09.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 10L), calls her Françoise [BENOIT], & lists her with her parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt, with the notation:  suplement a la liste des Acadiens embarques dans le navire Le St. Remy pour la Nouvelle Orleans [additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le St.-Rémi bound for New Orleans]; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 21, calls her Françoise [BENOIST], & details her family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 60-61, calls her Francoise, sa [Grégoire BENOIT's] fille, age 5, on the embarkation list, & Francoise BENOIT, his [Grégoire BENOIT's] daughter, age 5, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 1st Family on Supplément à la liste des Acadiens embarqués dans le navire Le Saint-Rémi pour la nouvelle-orleans [Additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le Saint-Rémi bound for New Orleans] with her parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt; BRDR, 3:81, 807 (ASM-2, 173), her marriage record, calls her Francisca Félicitas BENOIT of Nantes, France, calls her husband Juan Bautista TOZEIN of Bayonne, France, gives her & his parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Miguel PEDEAU & Carlos Maria BOUDRAUX; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 3:46 (Thib.Ch.: v.1, #860), her burial record, calls her Françoise BENOIT "m. Baptiste TOZAIN," but gives no parents' names.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 46, 53, 80, 178.  

Her estimated birth year is taken not from the passenger list of Le St.-Remi but from an average of the ages given in the Ascension censuses of 1788 & 1791 & the Lafourche valley censuses of 1795 & 1797, as well as her burial record..  

She was one of the last of the Acadian immigrants to LA to join our ancestors. 

10.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 10L), calls him Grégoire BENOIT, & lists him with his wife, 5 children, & a sister-in-law, with the notation:  suplement a la liste des Acadiens embarques dans le navire Le St. Remy pour la Nouvelle Orleans [additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le St.-Rémi bound for New Orleans]; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 8-9, Family No. 15, calls him Grégoire BENOIST, says he was born in c1744 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, details his marriage, including his wife's parents' names, says she was born in c1750 but gives no birthplace, includes the birth/baptismal record of daughter Marie-Rose, baptized 3 May 1775, St.-Jean-L'Evangeliste, Châtellerault, goddaughter of Grégoire-Olivier TRAHAN & Pélagie BENOIST, widow of Yves CROCHET, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement in the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 21, calls him Grégoire BENOIST, says he was born in 1744 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, details his marriage, including his wife's parents' names, says she was born in 1748 but gives no birthplace, includes the birth/baptismal record of son Rémond-Grégoire, baptized 25 Jul 1783, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, but gives no godparents' names, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s & its voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 60-61, calls him Grégoire BENOIT, journalier, age 40, on the embarkation list, & Grégoire BENOIT, day laborer, age 40, on the complete listing, says he was in the 1st Family on Supplément à la liste des Acadiens embarqués dans le navire Le Saint-Rémi pour la nouvelle-orleans [Additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le Saint-Rémi bound for New Orleans] with his wife, 5 children, & a sister-in-law, details his marriage, including his & his wife's parents' names, says they were married in 1770 but gives no place of marriage, that daughter Marie-Rose was baptized in 1775 but gives no place of baptism, son Rémond-Grégoire was baptized in 1783 but gives no place of baptism, & son Jean-Marie was born in 1773 but gives no birhtplace; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:49 (Thib.Ch.: v. 1, p. 44), his death/burial record, calls him Grégoire BENOIT, says he was 88 when he died, & does not give his parents' names or the name of his wife; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:49 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ. #4), his succession record, calls him Grégoire BENOIT, & must have been written long before his death.  See also De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:113; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 46, 53, 79, 131, 178.  

Was his first or middle name Isidore?  If not, why did the census taker at Assumption call him this in 1795?

11.  Wall of Names, 28 (pl. 6R), calls her Henriette [BENOIT], & lists her with her parents; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 20, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Henriette-Reiné BENOIST & Henriette [BENOIST]; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 8-9, calls her Henrriette, sa [Daniel BENOIT's] fille, age 7, on the embarkation list, Henriqueta, sa [Daniel BÉNOIT's] hija, on the debarkation list, & Henriette BENOIT, his [Daniel BENOIT's] daughter, age 7, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 26th Family aboard Le Bon Papa with her parents; BRDR, 2:72, 402 (SJO-3, 2), the record of her first marriage, calls her Reine BENOIT, calls her husband Pedro LA BOVE, gives her & his parents' names, says his parents were "of St. James Parish," but gives no witnesses to the marriage.

Her mother was a LABAUVE, & her first husband was a LABAUVE, so she & first husband Pierre had to be cousins.  Their marriage record says nothing about their receiving a dispensation from the Church in order to marry, however, so they must not have been close cousins.  Notice how young she was when she married.

Evidence of her second marriage can be found in a number of places.  Her father's burial record, dated 15 Dec 1825, says that he "died at his daughter's home Rene[sic] BENOIT wife of Antoine MALLET," in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-B:58 (SM Ch.: v.4, #1741).  I have not found the marriage record, which probably took place at Baton Rouge.  The baptismal record of son Antoine  MALLET III, dated 7 May 1813, in BRDR, 3:596 (SJO-6, 164), calls the boy's grandparents Antonio [MALLET] & Catarina BORDELON, & Daniel [BENOIT] & Madalena DUARON [actually Renée's stepmother].  The baptismal record of son Célestin Ulysse MALLET, dated 11 May 1818, in ibid., 2-A:643 (SM Ch.: v.7, #336), calls the boy's grandparents Antoine MALLET & Catherine BORDELOT, & Anathaniel BENOIST & Henriette LEGENDRE.  The burial record of daughter Zelie MALLET, dated 14 Aug 1821, says that she died "at age about 15 yrs. at her parent's home.  Her parents are listed as Antoine [MALLET], "inhabitant of le grand bois at La fausse pointe, & Reine BENOIST."  See ibid., 2-B:638 (SM Ch.: v.4, #1463).  This means that Renée & Antoine married no later than c1806, Zelie's estimated birth year. 

12.  Wall of Names, 11, calls him Charles BENOIT; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2416, says that his mother was Olivier's first wife, Suzanne BOUDREAUX, & that he was born in 1756 but gives no birthplace; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:55 (SM Ch.: v.4, #805), his death/burial record, calls him Jean Charles BENOIT, "inhabitant at Grand Bois," says he died "at his residence at age about 50 years," but does not give his parents' names or mention a wife.  See also De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 5.  

The St.-Gabriel census of 1777 says he was 18, which would give him an estimated birth year of c1759, closer to the age found in his burial record than in the Spanish report of 1769. 

13.  Wall of Names, 40, 47, calls him Jean-Charles BENOIT & Jean-Charles BENOIST, & places him with his family on L'Amitié as well as alone on La Caroline; Robichaux, Acadians in Chatellerault, 9, Family No. 16, calls him Jean-Charles BENOIST, & says he was born in c1746.  See also De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:112; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 74-75; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 503; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 151.  

Robichaux also provides the names of his parents as well as his wedding date.

14.  Not in Wall of Names.  Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 47-49, Family No. 60, his birth/baptismal record, calls him François-Jean-Baptiste BENOIST, gives his parents' names, says his godparents were Françoise LEGENDRE & Anne SAPIN, & says his family resided at St.-Servan from 1763-72; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 7-8, Family No. 13, calls him François [BENOIT], gives his parents' names, & details his family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 10-11, Family No. 19, calls him François [BENOIT], gives his parents' names, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; BRDR, 2:71 (ASC-2, 23), his marriage record, calls him Francisco BENOIT, gives his but not his wife's parents' names, gives his wife's first husband's name, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Juan Baptiste TRAHAN & Grégoire LEBLANC; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 25, says "Although not recorded in the 1785 passenger lists, another Acadian refugee from France, Jean-Francois BENOIT of St.-Malo, was in Louisiana at least by 1789, when he married Marie-Modeste PINELLE of LeHavre; two years later the two had settled along the Lafourche, where they contributed to the growth of the BENOIT families in that area."  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1779-98, 52, 78, 129, 163.

Why is an Acadian immigrant who is so well documented not on the Acadian Memorial's Wall of Names?

15.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 10L), calls him Jean-Marie [BENOIT], & lists him with his parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt, with the notation:  suplement a la liste des Acadiens embarques dans le navire Le St. Remy pour la Nouvelle Orleans [additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le St.-Rémi bound for New Orleans]; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 52-53, Family No. 65, his birth/baptismal record, calls him Jean-Marie BENOIST, gives his parents' names, & says his godparents were Jean-Baptiste LEJEUNE & Francoise BENOIST; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 9, Family No. 15, calls him Jean-Marie [BENOIST], & details his family's participation in the Poitou in the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 21, calls him Jean-Marie [BENOIST], & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as its voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 60-61, calls him Jean-Marie, son [Grégoire BENOIT's] fils, age 10, on the embarkation list, & Jean-Marie BENOIT, his [Grégoire BENOIT's] son, age 10, on the complete listing, says he was in the 1st Family on Supplément à la liste des Acadiens embarqués dans le navire Le Saint-Rémi pour la nouvelle-orleans [Additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le Saint-Rémi bound for New Orleans] with his parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt, & that he was born in 1773 but gives no birthplace; BRDDR, 2:72, 223 (ASM-2, 45), the record of his second marriage, calls him Juan Maria BENOIT of St.-Malo, France, calls his wife Ysabel DAROIS of Nantes in Britany, France, gives his & his her parents' names, says his parents were "of Acadia," & that the witnesses to his marriage were Pierre HÉBERT & Francois AUCOIN; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 2:35 (Thib.Ch.: v.1, p.129), his death/burial record, calls him Jean Marie [BENOIT], calls his wife Élisabeth DAROIS, & says he died "at age 70 yrs."; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 2:35 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ.: Year 1846), his "sale of effects," calls him Jean Marie BENOIT, does not list his wife, but does list his children & his daughters' spouses--Alexis, Donatien, Jean Baptiste, Célestin, Evariste, Adrien, Carmélite & her husband James Charles NAVARRE, Elmire & her husband Firmin BOUDRAUX, Séverine & her husband Ursin CLEMENT, & Célestin again.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 46, 53, 80, 120, 178.

Who was "his wife," Marie BENOIT, found only in the Lafourche valley census of 1797?  Why is there no marriage record for this union?  Why is she not mentioned in the record of his marriage to Marie-Élisabeth DAROIS?  I suspect that the "Marie BENOIT, his wife," in the 1797 census is a double-listing for his sister Marie-Rose, & that Jean-Marie was married only once, to Marie-Élisabeth DAROIS.

Who was the Juan BENOIT, age 22, listed by a Spanish official as belonging to Jean-Marie's family in 1795?  Or was this a double-listing for Jean-Marie himself, whom the Spanish official said was 19 that year?  In the Lafourche valley census of 1797, the Spanish official includes in his family, again, "Jean, his brother," age 22.  Who was this brother?  Or was this another double listing for Jean-Marie?  

16.  Wall of Names, 40, calls him Jean-Marie BENOIT; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 54, Family No. 67, his birth/baptismal record, calls him Jean-Marie BENOIST, gives his parents' names, says his godparents were Pierre-Paul HACHÉ & Marie BENOIST, & that his family resided at St.-Servan from 1760-72; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 9, Family No. 16; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 74-75.

17.  Wall of Names, 11, calls her Madeleine BENOIT; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2416, says that she & her sisters, along with their brother Jean-Charles, were from Olivier's first wife, Susanne BOUDREAUX; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:48, the record of her first marriage; Hébert, D., 1-A:49, the record of her second marriage.  See also De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 5.  

Arsenault says that Madeleine was born in 1758 & that she was older than sister Marie-Rose, who was born in 1760, but the Spanish record of 1769 says that Marie-Rose was the older sister, which is followed here.  The St.-Gabriel census of 1777 places their respective ages at 12 & 8 & gives no names, so this record does not reveal who was the older sister.  Marie-Rose's marriage records, which unfortunately do not give the date of her first marriage, are in Hebert, D., 1-A:49-50.  Arsenault, p. 2571, says that Marie-Rose married her first husband, Marin, c1775, but the censuses of 1777 say otherwise.

Notice that the mother of Madeleine's first husband, Amand MARTIN, was a CYR, which is an old Acadian family.  Is this a clue that was a descendant of Acadian MARTINs who took refuge on the St. Lawrence during Le Grand Dérangement?  I need a MARTIN family historian to help me here. 

18.  Wall of Names, 21, calls her Marguerite BENOIT belle fille [stepdaughter] with family of Louis LATIER.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 152; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 27. 

The baptismal record of son Joseph BROUSSARD, dated 27 Oct 1796, in Hébert, Southwest LA Records, 1-A:136 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.166), calls the boy's maternal grandparents Jean BENOIT & Marianne TRAHAN. 

19.  Wall of Names, 40 (pl. 10L), calls her Marguerite BENOIT veuve PRECIEUX, & lists her singly; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 86, Family No. 169, calls her Marguerite BENOIST, says she was born in c1752 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, calls her first husband Joseph PRECIEUX, says he was born in c1739 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, details her marriage to Joseph, says that she was in the Second Convoy from Châtellerault to Nantes in Nov 1775 not with her husband but with her sister Pélagie's family but calls her the wife, not the widow, of Joseph PRECIEUX; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 70-71, calls her Marguerite BENOIT, veuve PRECIEUSE, age 32, on the embarkation list, does not include her on the debarkation list, calls her Marguerite BENOIT, widow PRÉCIEUX, age 32, on the complete listing, says she was in the 26th "Family" aboard L'Amitié with no one else, &, calling her Marguerite BENOIST, details her first marriage, including her & her first husband's parents' names, & says she married Joseph in 1775 but gives no exact date or place of marriage; BRDR, 2:72, 83 (ASC-1, 165), the record of her second marriage, calls her Marguarita BENOIT, widow of Claude DUGAST[sic], calls her husband Claude BERNARD[sic], "an Acadian," does not give her or his parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were ____ LAGARDE & Jean-Baptiste LEBLANC; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:50 (Thib.Ch.: v. 1, #789), her death/burial record, calls her Marguerite BENOIT m. Claude Bernard DUGAS, says she died "at age 90 yrs.," but does not give her parents' names.  See also De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:113; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1777-98, 46, 179; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 509.  

Her second marriage record, cited above, is confusing.  The Ascension priest obviously confused the groom's middle name with his surname & seems to have had no idea who her first husband had been, though he got it right when he called her a widow.  She is the only Marguerite BENOIT in Wall of Names to fit this marriage, so this should be her.  According to Wall of Names & my own research, there was no Claude BERNARD in that place at that time, & the editors of the BRDR did not catch the priest's mistake.  Her husband, then, was Claude-Bernard DUGAS, who, incidentally, was 6 years younger than she was & a native of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.  Note that they crossed singly on the same ship. 

It was unusual for an Acadian couple to have no children, but her age at the time of the marriage--33--and the fact that she had no children by her first husband could help explain it. 

20.  Wall of Names, 13, calls her Marie BENOIT; BRDR, 2:72 (SJA-4, 4a), her first death/burial record, calls her Maria BENOIT, "(first name obtained from other records), age 74 years, widow of the late Juan Carlos BRAUX," but does not give her parents' names; BRDR, 6:54 (SJA-4, 4a), her second death/burial record, calls her Madama BENOIT, "widow of decd. Juan Carlos BRAUX, 64 yrs. old," but does not give her parents' names; BRDR, 2:2a (SJA-4, 4a), correction of her burial record, calls her "Madama BENDOIT, age 64, widow of decd. Juan Carlos BRAUX"; BRDR, 6:54 (SJA-4, 4a), the third rendition of her death/burial record, calls her "Madama BENOIT, "widow of decd. Juan Carlos BRAUX," says she was "64 yrs. old," but does not give her parents' names.  See also De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 6; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 152; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 436. 

The estimated birth year used here is based on the Spanish report of 1768 & the St.-Gabriel census of 1777, which are consistent, certainly not her burial records, which, even in its more conservative estimate, seem to exaggerate her age.  

21.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Marie BENOIT, & lists her with her second husband, 1 daughter, 2 stepchildren, & a niece; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1332, 1334, the Pisiguit section, gives her birth year & details her marriage, including her first husband's parents' names; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Tamerlan.htm>, Family No. 2, shows that in the crossing to St.-Malo in 1758-59, she & her first husband survived the crossing & took no children with them; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 688-89, Family No. 802, calls her Marie BENOIST, says she was born in c1736 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names, details her first marriage, including her first husband's parents' names, says he was born & baptized 14 Oct 1733, St.-Pierre-du-Nord, Île St.-Jean, godson of René DAGUET & Suzanne BERLOUIN, details their deportation to St.-Malo in 1758-59, says they resided at Chateauneuf from 1759-60, that "on April 20, 1760, René RASSICOT embarked on the Corsair, L'Hercules and was taken prisoner by the English," that he never returned to St.-Malo from England, that in 1764 "his wife is listed as being a widow," that "after her husband's departure in 1760 and before her [re-]marriage, she resided at Chateauneuf in 1761 & at St.-Servan from 1761-66, & gives her second husband's name; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 4463-64, Family No. 519, calls her Marie BENOIST, says she was born in c1736 but gives no birthplace, gives her parents' names & her first husband's name, details her second marriage, including her second husband's parents' names, includes  the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of daughter Sophie-Marie [HÉBERT], born & baptized 20 Apr 1769, St.-Servan, goddaughter of Jacques TRAMZELLE-DUBAIL & Francoise BENOIST, daughter Marie [HÉBERT], born 6 Nov 1771, no birthplace given, died age 1 11 Dec 1772 & buried 13 Dec 1772, St.-Servan, & unnamed daughter [HÉBERT], born 2 Nov 1773, St.-Servan, died next day & buried St.-Servan, & says her second family resided at St.-Servan from 1763-72; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 52-53, calls her Marie BENOIT, sa [Joseph HÉBERT's] feme, age 48, on the embarkation list, & Marie BENOIT, his [Joseph HÉBERT's] wife, age 48, on the complete listing, says she was in the 45th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her second husband, 1 daughter, 2 stepchildren, & a niece, details her second marriage, including her & her husband's parents' names, & says daughter Sophie [HÉBERT] was born in 1769 but gives no birthplace; BRDR, 3:81 (SGA-8, 40), her burial record, calls her Marie BENOIT, age 80 yrs., wid. HEBERT, but does not give her parents' names.  See also De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives, 2A:112. 

22.  Wall of Names, 21, calls her Marie-Anne BENOIT belle fille [stepdaughter] with family of Louis LATIER.  Arsenault, Généalogie, 2416, the LA section, details her marriage except for its date.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 152.

For evidence of her marriage to Michel JANIS, see Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:429-32.  The earliest baptismal record for her children was dated 20 May 1777 at the Opelousas church.  See Hébert, D., 1-A:431-32 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.2).  They likely were married in the mid-1770s, when she would have been in her early 20s.  The marriage record of Michel's brother Joseph at Pointe Coupée, dated 11 May 1772, in BRDR, 2:389 (PCP-4, 87), calls his parents Jacques [JANIS] & Marie Anne BAQUET of New Orleans, so Michel may have been born in the city.  His family name also is spelled JANNI, JANICE, JANISE. 

23.  Wall of Names, 47, calls her Marie-Marthe BENOIT; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 27, 153, the record of her second marriage, at St.-Louis, Rochefort, calls her Marie-Marthe BENOIST "de Louisbourg et de la paroisse de Cobequite en Acadie, veuve de Jean CLEMENT," calls her husband Nicolas GERBERT "d'issle Roialle, Louisbourg, ici pour deux ans [here (Rochefort) for 10 years], veuf de Marie GARSANT, but does not give their parents' names or any witnesses to her marriage; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 1-2, Family No. 1, calls her Marie-Marthe BENOIST, says that husband Nicolas-Gabriel ALBERT, père was born in c1726, & that Nicolas-Gabriel, fils was baptized at St. Jean L'Evangeliste, Châtellerault, 23 Jun 1774.  

Who were her parents?  Did she marry her first husband on Île St.-Jean, where the VINCENT dit CLÉMENTs lived before Le Grand Dérangement

I will follow LA records & call her second husband an ALBERT, not a GERBERT; the Rochefort priest may have used his middle name, Gabriel, as his surname.  Île d'Oléron is an island off the coast of France near Rochefort.  The marriage record seems to be saying that Nicolas-Gabriel lived for a time at Louisbourg in greater Acadia & then returned to his hometown of Rochefort in the early 1750s.  Robichaux, cited above, documents the birth, baptism, marriage, & burials of 6 other children of Nicolas-Gabriel, père & Marie-Marthe, 4 girls, & 2 boys, all born in France.  Only Nicolas-Gabriel, fils came with them to LA.  The ones who survived childhood remained in France. 

Does Nicolas-Gabriel ALBERT, père's living at Louisbourg, part of greater Acadia, make him an Acadian, too?  It may sound like splitting hairs, but, although the criterion here for "Acadian-ness" is living in greater Acadia before or during Le Grand Dérangement and being exiled from the colony, he left Louisbourg in c1751, years before Le Grand Dérangement began in 1755, & returned to his native Rochefort.  In other words, he was not an Acadian exile.  I will call him a Frenchman here, not an Acadian, & his descendants in LA, thru his son Nicolas-Gabriel, fils, will be called French Creoles.

24.  Wall of Names, 21, calls her Marie-Rose BENOIT belle fille [stepdaughter] with family of Louis LATIER; Hébert, Southwest LA Records, 1-A:50, 159 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.62), the record of her second marriage, calls her Roselia BENOIT, "widow of Roman DE LA FOSSE," calls her husband Joseph CAMPOS "of Estrecho," calls her parents Jean BENOIT & Mariane TRAHAN, says she was "native of Portabar," & that the witnesses to her marriage were Deni LIBERGE, Francisco LARRAMENDI, & Michel AUDIBERT; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-B:43 (Opel. Ch.: v.1, p.51), her burial record, calls her Marie-Rose BENOIT, but does not give her parents' names, mention a husband, or give her age at the time of her death.  See also Arceneaux, D. J., Attakapas Post in 1769, 41-42; DeVille, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 19; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 152; Kinniard, "The Revolutionary Period, 1765-81," 141.

One source says she married, at age 14, Romain DE LA FOSSE at Natchitoches on December 26, 1769, & that Romain's parents were Pierre DE LA FOSSE and Jeanne GILLEMENNE.  The Opelousas census of 1777 says she was 30 that year, which gives her an estimated birth year of c1747, so her age when she married Romain would have been a more believable 22/23.  However, the record of her second marriage says she was a native "of Portabar, which probably was Port Tobacco, MD, where her parents were held after the fall of 1755.  If so, she would have been born after 1755, not in c1747.  Kinniard says she was age 13 in 1769, which gives her a birth year of c1756, a year after her parents landed in MD, her tender age at the time of her first marriage is probably accurate. 

Where is "Estrecho," mentioned in the record of her second marriage, cited above?  Is it Gibraltar in Spain?  Is it a neighborhood in Madrid?

25.  Wall of Names, 11, calls her Marie-Rose BENOIT.  Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 9:429, 430 (NI Ch.: OA Folio #5), a copy of the record of her second marriage, calls her Marie-Rose BENOIT, "wid. of Marin PREJEAN," calls her husband Daniel BOON, "born in N.C. an Anglican," gives her & his parents' names, calls his father Johnston, says her father was deceased at the time of the wedding, but gives no witnesses to the marriage. 

See also note 17 above.

I know, the question much be asked:  Was her second husband kin to the Daniel BOONE of NC? 

26.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 10L), calls her Marie-Rose [BENOIT], & lists her with her parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt, with the notation:  suplement a la liste des Acadiens embarques dans le navire Le St. Remy pour la Nouvelle Orleans [additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le St.-Rémi bound for New Orleans]; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 8-9, Family No. 15, her baptismal record, calls her Marie-Rose BENOIST, gives her parents' names, says she was the goddaughter of Grégoire-Olivier TRAHAN & Pélagie BENOIST, widow of Yves CROCHET, & details her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 21, calls her Marie-Rose [BENOIST], & details her family's participation in the Leigne-les-bois settlement in Poitou in the early 1770s as well as its voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 60-61, calls her Marie-Rose, sa [Grégoire BENOIT's] fille, age 9, on the embarkation list, & Marie-Rose BENOIT, his [Grégoire BENOIT's] daughter, age 9, on the complete listing, says she was in the 1st Family on Supplément à la liste des Acadiens embarqués dans le navire Le Saint-Rémi pour la nouvelle-orleans [Additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le Saint-Rémi bound for New Orleans] with her parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt, & that she was baptized in 1775 but gives no place of baptism; BRDR, 2:72, 114 (ASM-2, 84), her marriage record, calls her Marie Rosa BENOIT of Chatelrau, says her husband was native of St.-Servan, France, gives her parents' names but not his parents' names, calls his first wife Francoise LEBLANC, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Francoise LELOREC & Ambroise HÉBERT; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 2:36 (Thib.Ch.: v.1, #416), her death/burial record, calls her Marie Rose BENOIT m. Jean B. BOUDRAUX, & says she was "age 72 yrs." when she died, but does not give her parents' names; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 2:36 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ. #68), record of her "family meeting," calls her Marie Rose BENOIT m. Jean Baptiste BOUDREAUX, lists her children as Amédé & Eliza, but does not give her parents' names. 

27.  Not in Wall of Names because of the circumstance of her birth.  NOAR, 4:24 (SLC, F2, 20), her birth/baptismal record, calls her Martina BENOIT, gives her parents' names, calls her mother Maria Rosa CA[*], which means the surname is obscured, & says she was the goddaughter of Gilberto LEONARD & Maria [*]UTIN.  

She was one of the newborn Acadians whose honorary godfather was Martin NAVARRO, Spanish intendant of LA whom the Acadians adored, hence her name.  See notation in Appendix.  She died either at New Orleans soon after her baptism or soon after her parents went to upper Bayou Lafourche. 

28.  Not in Wall of Names.  See De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 5.  

Was he a French Creole BENOIT?  I will consider him an Acadian until the records tell me otherwise.

29.  Wall of Names, 11, calls him Olivier BENOIT; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2415-16, the LA section, calls him Pierre-Olivier BENOÎT, says he was born in c1735, that he was probablement son of Pierre [BENOÎT] & Anne-Marie GAUDET of Pigiguit, that he married Suzanne BOUDREAUX in c1756 but gives no place of marriage, that he probably remarried to Marie, daughter of Mathieu [BRASSEAU] & Anne BELLEMÈRE but gives no date or place of marriage, lists his children by his first marriage as Jean-Charles, born in c1756, Madeleine in c1758, & Marie-Rose in c1760, says he died at Opelousas on 13 Sep 1787, & that his widow remarried to Claude AUCOIN on 20 Nov 1788 but gives no place of marriage; White, DGFA-1, 269, listing for his second wife's family, calls him Pierre-Olivier BENOIT vf Susanne BOUDROT, does not give his parents' names, & says he married Marie-Geneviève BRASSEUR in c1765 but gives no place of marriage; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 24, calls him Charles-Olivier BENOIT; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:50 (Opel. Ch.: v.1, p.4), his death/burial record, calls him Olivier BENOIT, but does not give his parents' names or mention a wife; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:50 (LSAR: Opel.: 1787), his succession record, calls him Olivier BENOIT widr. of Marie BRASSEUX, but does not give his parents' names.  See also De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 5.  

Arsenault says he was born in 1735, but the St.-Gabriel census of 1777 says otherwise.  Arsenault, p. 2416, says he died at Opelousas 13 Sep 1787, but his burial record, cited above, says 12 Dec 1787. 

The brochure that accompanies the Robert Dafford Mural, Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville, calls him Olivier BENOIT & says that he arrived in LA in 1770.  It also says:  "After the [English] captain refused to steer toward New Orleans, he [BENOIT] and other passengers aboard The Britain landed in Texas and became the first 'Texas Cajuns.'"  For another, much more complete, version of the Britannia story, see Appendix.

30.  Wall of Names, 40, calls him Paul-Frédéric BENOIT; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 9, his birth/baptismal record; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 74-75.

31.  Wall of Names, 39 (pl. 10L), calls her Pélagie BENOIT veuve Yves CROCHET, & lists her with 5 children; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1829, the Louisbourg section, calls her Pélagie BENOIST, says her parents were Claude [BENOIST] & Élizabeth TERRIOT, says she married on 6 Feb 1758, calls her husband Yves CROCHET, says he was born in c1735, that he was son of Guillaume [CROCHET] & Julienne DURAND "de la paroisse de Megrit, diocése de Saint-Malo," but gives no children; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 222-23, Family No. 276, calls her Pélagie BENOIST, says she was born in c1741 but gives no birthplace, says her parents were Claude BENOIST & Élizabeth TÉRRIOT [but a notation in my copy of this work made by Stanley LeBlanc says that her parents were Abraham (BENOIST) & Angélique VINCENT per 1752 census], details her marriage, gives her husband's parents' names, says he was born 1 Sep 1732 & baptized next day at Mégrit, godson of Jean LEBRETON & Catherine DECOUR, that he died 23 Nov 1773 at Quesny & was buried next day at Mégrit, says she died & was buried 7 Aug 1824 at Thibodaux, includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of son Jean-Guillaume CROCHET, born 9 Sep 1760, Quesny, baptized same day, Mégrit, godson of Jean-Noël VERGURET & Jeanne, daughter of François CROCHET, son François-Louis CROCHET, born 14 Dec 1761, Quesny, baptized 15 Dec 1761, Mégrit, godson of Francois DESCHAMPS & Anne BENOIST, son Jean-Joseph or Yves-Joseph CROCHET, born & baptized 25 Mar 1763, St.-Servan, godson of Daniel BENOIST & Julienne RAUX, died age 11 days old 4 Apr 1763, buried next day St.-Servan, daughter Françoise-Pélagie CROCHET, born & baptized 20 May 1764, St.-Servan, goddaughter of Grégoire BENOIST & Françoise MICHEL, daughter Marguerite-Perinne CROCHET, born 23 May 1766, Quesny, baptized same day, Mégrit, goddaughter of Pierre CERTAIN & Marguerite BENOIST, son Yves-Jean CROCHET, born 3 Dec 1767, Quesny, baptized same day, Megrit, godson of Jean CROCHET & Jeanne DAULY, son Julien CROCHET, born 4 Mar 1770, Quesny, baptized next day, Megrit, godson of Julien CROCHET & Marguerite RAUX, & daughter Pélagie CROCHET, born 7 Feb 1772, Quesny, baptized next day, Mégrit, goddaughter of François CROCHET & Jeanne CROCHET, says she & her husband "arrived at St.-Malo from Rochefort on October 1, 1759, & that the family resided at Mégrit from 1759-61, St.-Servan from 1762-64, Mégrit from 1765-67, St.-Servan from 1767-68, & Mégrit from 1769-72; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 27-28, Family No. 57, calls her Pélagie BENOIST, says she was born in c1741 but gives no birthplace, says her parents were Claude BENOIST & Élizabeth TÉRRIOT, details her marriage, gives her husband's parents' names, says he was born 1 Sep 1732 & baptized next day, Mégrit, godson of Jean LEBRETON & Catherine DECOUR, that he died 23 Nov 1773, Quesny, & was buried next day, Mégrit, says she died & was buried 7 Aug 1824, Thibodaux, includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of daughter Pélagie CROCHET, born 7 Feb 1772, Quesny, baptized next day, Mégrit, goddaughter of François CROCHET & Jeanne CROCHET, died age 2 & buried 30 May 1774, St.-Jacques, Châtellerault, & son Jean-Marin CROCHET, born & baptized 2 May 1774, St.-Jacques, Châtellerault, godson of Jean CROCHET, student (probably his older brother) & Marie-Rose CARRET, wife of Grégoire BENOIST (his maternal aunt & uncle), & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 70-71, calls her Pélagie BENOIT, veuve d'Yves CROCHET, age 44, on the embarkation list, Pélagia BENOIT, on the debarkation list, & Pélagie BENOIT, widow of Yves CROCHET, age 44, on the complete listing, says she was in the 19th Family aboard L'Amitié with 5 children, &, calling her Pélagie BENOIST, details her marriage, including her husband's parents' names, says her parents were Claude [BENOIST] & Élizabeth THERIOT, that Pélagie & Yves were married in 1758 but gives no place of marriage, & lists the implements the Spanish gave her after she reached LA; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:51 (Thib.Ch.: v. 1, p. 16), her burial record, calls her Pélagie BENOIT, says she died 7 Aug 1824 "at age 85 yrs.," but does not give her parents' names or mention a husband; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:51 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ.: 1825), her succession, calls her Pélagie BENOIT m. d.Ives CROCHET, says she died 7 May 1824, & dates her inventory 16 Apr 1825.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 507.

Though Pélagie was not a common name among the Acadians before 1758, there is mystery behind the identity of this one.  De La Roque "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:113, has Labranche, age 11, a daughter, living with Claude BENOIST & Elizabeth TERRIAUD at Anse-au-Matelot, Île St.-Jean, but De La Roque does not give the couple a daughter named Pélagie.  Bona Arsenault evidently transformed Labranche into Pélagie when naming her parents in the Louisbourg section, & Albert J. Robichaux & Fr. Donald Hébert, usually careful scholars, followed Arsenault's lead.  Sadly, none of the primary sources in LA give Pélagie BENOIT's parents'  names.  The plot thickens when one notes that De La Roque, 2A:121, counted an orphaned niece, Pelagie BENOIST, age 11, with Paul DOUARON & Marguerite BENOIST at Pointe-Prime, Île St.-Jean, not far from Anse-au-Matelot.  See also Arsenault, Cobequid section, 1483.  Marguerite was an older sister of Claude BENOIT, but why would De La Roque have called the Pélagie living with Marguerite & husband Paul an orphan if the girl's parents were still alive & living not far away?  The same holds true for Abraham BENOIT & Angélique VINCENT (Marie-Josèphe LEJEUNE was Abraham's second wife).  Abraham was Marguerite and Claude's older brother.  He and wife Angélique also were still very much alive & living at Anse-au-Matelot in Aug 1752.  De La Roque, 2A:113, sure enough, counted with them a daughter named Pélagie, age 10.  See also Arsenault, Pisiguit section, 1332.  Note, however, that Abraham, his second wife Marie-Josèphe LEJEUNE, & their children perished aboard the transport Duke William on the crossing to St.-Malo in mid-Dec 1758.  One suspects that Abraham's daughter Pélagie, who would have been only age 16 at the time, was among the lost.  See White, DGFA-1, 108; White, DGFA-1 English, 21.  Note, too, that Paul DOIRON & Marguerite BENOIT also perished aboard the Duke William, so Pélagie the orphan would have died with them had she not moved on.  See White, DGFA-1, 520; White, DGFA-1 English, 111.  It seems more likely that a teenage orphan, not a teenage daughter, would have moved to a different island at such a tender age & married a Frenchman 11 years her senior.  One may even speculate that Pélagie was not an Acadian BENOIT after all but rather an island BENOIST, daughter, perhaps, of Pierre BENOIST, no kin to the BENOITs of peninsula Acadia, & his second wife Marie-Anne JACAU DE FIEDMONT, whose mother was a MELANSON.  Pierre remarried to Marie-Anne at Louisbourg in Jan 1734, but, alas, White, DGFA-1, 118-19, does not give the couple a daughter named Pélagie. 

Perhaps the strongest circumstantial evidence that Pélagie's parents were Claude & Élisabeth can be found in Robichaux, Acadians in Châllerault, 86, Family No. 169, that of Joseph PRECIEUX & his wife Marguerite, daughter of Clause BENOIST & Elizabeth TERRIOT, which says that "Marguerite BENOIST, wife of Joseph PRECIEUX is listed with the family of Pelagie BENOIST, widow of Yves CROCHET in the Second Convoy leaving Châtellerault for Nantes on November 25, 1775."  Marguerite had married Joseph on 7 Feb 1775 in St.-Jacques Parish, Châtellerault.  Joseph, son of Joseph PRECIEUX of La Rochelle & Anne HACHÉ of Chignecto/Île St.-Jean, was born in c1739 probably on Île St.-Jean, was counted with his family at Rivière-du-Nord-Est in the upper interior of the island in Aug 1752, & was deported with them to St.-Malo about the transport Tamerlane in late 1758.  See Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 680-81, Family No. 793.  Joseph, fils & Marguerite met either in the St.-Malo area or in Poitou.  She was a widow at Nantes by Sep 1784 & sailed to LA the following year aboard L'Amitié, the same ship on which Pélagie crossed with her 5 children.  Also crossing on that vessel was Marguerite's, & likely Pélagie's, brother Grégoire, son of Claude & Élisabeth, with his large family. 

Arsenault does not say when Pélagie's husband came to greater Acadia and what he did for a living at Louisbourg.  My guess is that he was a soldier or sailor.  Note that the couple were deported first to the naval port of Rochefort in late 1758 before moving on to St.-Malo in October 1759.  This may hint that Yves was a member of the troupes de la marine, the gray-coated French naval soldiers who served in the French colonies, headquarted at Rochefort.  See Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 223; Books Two, Four, Five, Six, Seven, & Eight.  Pélagie BENOIT, whatever her true identity, is the matriarch of the Acadian CROCHETs of LA. 

Evidently son Jean-Marin CROCHET, born in Poitou in May 1774, died before she & her other children left for LA in Aug 1785.  He probably was one of her 4 unnamed sons counted at Nantes in Sep 1784, but he does not appear on the passenger list of L'Amitié or any of the other 7 ships.  He would have been only 11 years old in 1785, too young to choose for himself to remain in France.

32.  Wall of Names, 38 (pl. 10L), calls him Raymond [BENOIT], & lists him with his parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt, with the notation:  suplement a la liste des Acadiens embarques dans le navire Le St. Remy pour la Nouvelle Orleans [additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le St.-Rémi bound for New Orleans]; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 11, Family No. 21, his birth/baptismal record, calls him Rémond-Grégoire BENOIST, gives his parents' but not his godparents' names, & details the family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 60-61, calls him Raymond, à la mamelle, on the embarkation list, & Raymond BENOIT, a nursling, on the complete listing, says he was in the 1st Family on Supplément à la liste des Acadiens embarqués dans le navire Le Saint-Rémi pour la nouvelle-orleans [Additional list of Acadians embarked on the ship Le Saint-Rémi bound for New Orleans] with his parents, siblings, & a maternal aunt, &, calling him Rémond-Grégoire, that he was baptized in 1783 but gives no place of baptism.  

Did he even survive the crossing to LA?  Unfortunately, the debarkation list for Le St.-Rémi did not survive.  I will retain him on this list until I find evidence that he did not reach the colony. 

33.  Not in Wall of Names.  Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 49-50, Family No. 61, his birth/baptismal record, calls him Nicolas-Jean-Sebastien BENOIST, gives his parents' names, says his godparents were Nicolas-Sébastien GILLOT & Jeanne-Françoise BEAUVAIS, this his family resided at St.-Servan in 1763, the same year "the entire family embarked on L'Aigle for the Falkland Islands," goes on to say that "They returned to St. Malo on April 23, 1768," & that they resided at St.-Servan between 1768-72; BRDR, 2:72, 293 (ASC-2, 21), the record of his first marriage, calls him Sébastian BENOIST, calls his wife Juana DE LA FORET, gives his & her parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Pierre LANDRY, François LANDRY, & Théodore BOURQUE; Hébert, Southwest LA Records, 1-A:50, 506 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.90), the record of his second marriage, calls him Sébastien BENOIT, widower of Carcachou [Calcasieu] River, calls his wife Hipolite LEBLEU, gives hers but not his parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Charles ÉBERE, Joseph CANPOS, & ____ PHAVRON; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 25.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 53, 161.

He is, as far as I know, the only Acadian immigrant in LA who had lived in the Falkland Islands, called  îles Malouines by the French.  

Again, why is an Acadian immigrant who is so well documented not on the Acadian Memorial's Wall of Names?  Because he does not appear on any of the Seven Ships' passenger rolls?  French & LA records, both church & civil, provide ample evidence of his status as an Acadian.   

34.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Sophie BENOIT niece [of Joseph HÉBERT & his wife Marie BENOIT], & lists her with her aunt & uncle & 3 cousins; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 52-53, calls her Sophie BENOIT, nièce au dit [Joseph HÉBERT & Marie BENOIT], age 8, on the embarkation list, & Sophie BENOIT, niece to the above [Joseph HÉBERT & Marie BENOIT], age 8, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 46th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her aunt & uncle & 3 cousins; BRDR, 3:82, 844 (ASM-2, 98), her marriage record, calls her Sophia BENOIT of Nantes, France, says her husband was from San Vicente de Labana in Santiago, Galicia, Spain, includes her & his parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Cayetano CAZES & Ambroise HÉBERT.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 47.

Her estimated birth year is taken from the Valenzuéla census of 1788, not from the passenger list of Le St.-Rémi.  

Sophie's father died at Nantes, age 55, in Sep 1783.  See Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 10-11, Family No. 19, which does not reveal the fate of her mother.  Notice that Sophie's older sister Victoire-Marie traveled with another aunt & uncle also aboard Le St.-Rémi, in fact the next family down on the passenger list of that vessel.  Interestingly, Marie BENOIT's parents were not the same as Augustin BENOIT's.  See Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 47-49, Family No. 60, which also does not reveal the fate of Marie-Madeleine GAUTREAUX.  Did she die at Nantes between 1777, when son Jean-Marie-Augustin BENOIT was born, & 1785, or did she remarry after Augustin's death in 1783 & refused to go LA?  If she had remarried, she probably would not have allowed her minor children to go to LA without her.  Jean-Marie-Augustin lived for only a week.  Did he take his mother with him?  If so, Sophie's estimated birth year of c1780 would be off a few years.  See Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 10, Family No. 19.  

The baptismal record of Sophie's son Francisco Eusebio Cayetano TURREYRA, dated 14 Aug 1805, Assumption, in BRDR, 3:844-45 (ASM-6, 85), says that her husband was from San Vicente, Havana, Cuba, diocese of Santiago, Galacia, Spain, so he was a Cuban.

According to the Baton Rouge diocesan church records, she had only the 1 son by her husband, so she probably died giving birth to another child.  

35.  Wall of Names, 40, calls her Sophie-Rennée BENOIT; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 74-75.

36.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Victoire BENOIT niece [of Madeleine THÉRIOT], & lists her with her aunt & 3 cousins; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 54-55, calls her Victorie BENOIT, nièce au dit [Madeleine THÉRIOT, veuve BENOIT], age 14, on the embarkation list, & Victoire BENOIT, niece to the above [Madelaine THÉRIOT, widow BENOIT], age 14, on the complete listings, says she was in the 47th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her aunt & 3 cousins, gives her parents' names, says she was born 11 Nov 1772 but gives no birthplace, & that her father was brother to Charles BENOIST, spouse of Madeleine THÉRIOT; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 10-11, Family No. 19, says that her father was born in c1727 but gives no birthplace, gives her father's parents' names, says that he died at age 55 years & was buried 8 Sep 1783 at St.-Similien, Nantes, says her mother was her father's second wife, that she was born in c1741 but gives no birthplace, gives her mother's parents' names, &, calling her Victoire-Marie [BENOIST], details her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; BRDR, 2:72, 73 (ASM-2, 5), the record of her first marriage, calls her Victoria BENOIT, gives her & her husband's parents' names & the name of her husband's first wife, says her parents were from St.-Malo & his parents were from "the river St. John," & that the witnesses to her marriage were Ambroise HÉBERT & Joseph CASSAGNIOL; BRDR, 3:82, 475 (ASM-2, 244), the record of her second marriage, calls her Victoria BENOIT, wid. of Charles BERGERON, gives her & her husband's parents' names, says he was from St. James Parish, that his father was deceased at the time of the wedding, & that the witnesses to her marriage were Francisco TUREYRA [her sister's husband] & Pascal LAMBERT; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:51 (Houma Ct.Hse.: Succ. #6), her succession, calls her Victoire BENOIT d. 31 May 1816, m.(1)Charles BERGERON, m.(2) Pierre LAMBERT, but does not give her parents' names.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 46.  

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