APPENDICES

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

CASTILLE

[kass-TEEL]

ACADIA

Sometime in the mid-1700s, Joseph Castille, born on Menorca in the Balearic Islands belong to Spain, may have moved to Acadia, probably to the Minas Basin, where he married Rose-Osite Landry probably of Minas.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

During Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s, Joseph, Marie-Osite, and one or two of their children ended up in Maryland with other Acadian refugees.  British officials counted them at Upper Marlborough in July 1763.  They now had 

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Joseph and his family settled in the new Acadian community of St.-Gabriel d'Iberville, on the river above New Orleans, with other Acadians who reached Louisiana from Maryland in 1767. ...

LOUISIANA:  WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

In 1777, Joseph and his family moved from the Mississippi valley to the Atakapas District, west of the Atchafalaya Basin, where the Castille family became a prominent member of that Acadian community. ...

    CONCLUSION

Joseph Castille can be found in the works of neither Bona Arsenault nor Stephen A. White, the major Acadians genealogies.  However, the Encyclopedia of Cajun Culture insists that Castille is an Acadian name.  Wall of Names agrees.  LSU cultural geographer Robert C. West disagrees. ...

Sources:  Encyclopedia of Cajun Culture, <cajunculture.com>; Jehn, Acadian Exile in the Colonies, 155; Wall of Names, 14; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 45. 

Settlement Abbreviations 
(present-day parishes that existed during the War Between the States in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):

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. 

NOTES

01.  Wall of Names, 14, calls him Joseph CASTILLE; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:171 (SM Ch.: v.3, #17), his death/burial record, calls him Joseph CASTILLE "of Port Mahon," wherever that is, does not give his parents' name or mention a wife, & says he was 50 years old when he was buried.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 155; Winzerling, Acadian Odyssey, 174, note 12; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 429, 432; De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 2; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 8; West, Atlas of LA Surnames, 45, 157-58n. 

His birth year is derived from the Spanish report of 1767, the earliest of the 3 civil records in which he is found.  Note the dramatic differences in ages (45 & 30!) recorded for this man only 2 months apart by Spanish census takers in Mar & May 1777.  Note also the sometimes dramatic differences of the ages of his wife & children in the Spanish censuses of 1767 & 1777.  So much for the accuracy of 18th-century census takers.  The birth/baptismal record of one of his grandsons, dated 7 Oct 1798, says he was from Spain.  See Hébert, D., 1-A:170 (SM Ch.: v.5, #84).  West, p. 45, says that he was native of one of the Balearic islands, Menorca, off the coast of Spain, that his surname "is not Acadian or even French in origin, but appears to be the Gallicized form of the Spanish patronym Castillo," & calls him Jose Castillo.  But West, p. 158, note 2, also admits that "nothing has been found on Joseph's family history in Spain or when he might have arrived in Maryland."  If the ages of 2 of his children found in the Spanish record of 1767 are accurate (14 & 12, giving birth years for them of c1753 & c1755, respectively), there is the strong possibility that instead of migrating from Spain to MD, as West implies, he may have lived in Acadia before Le Grand Dérangement, married Osite LEBLANC there, & went into exile with her & their 2 children in 1755.  If so, his surname would be Acadian, as some historians insist.  See, for example, Encyclopedia of Cajun Culture, "Surnames," at <cajunculture.com>, edited by Shane K. Bernard & his wife Kara Tobin Bernard.  

It is son Pierre's estimated birth year from the Spanish report of 1767 that provides evidence of Joseph's residence in Acadia before Le Grand Derangement, so let us hope the Spanish report is accurate, though they often were not.  If it is not, the question still remains:  Was Joseph CASTILLE an Acadian (in other words, did he live in greater Acadia before the Exile of 1755?), or did he migrate from Spain to MD, as West implies, where he met & married an Acadian woman in exile & is therefore not an Acadian?  Son Pierre's age in 1767 is a pretty thin thread on which to hang a claim for the family's status as Acadians, but, until the historical record says otherwise, I am going with it. 

Joseph's daughter Marie-Madeleine, born 27 Sep 1768, was baptized by a priest from Pointe Coupée on 22 Nov 1768, which was not unusual for St.-Gabriel residents, who did not have a church of their own until 1773.  See BRDR, 1b:32 (PCP-4, 32; PCP-3, 266).  Note again that Joseph was in 2 censuses in 1777, the one at St.-Gabriel, which was taken in early March, & the one at Atakapas, which was taken in May.  This clearly marks the time when he & his family moved from the Mississippi Valley clear across the formidable Atchafalaya Basin to the prairie region west of the Basin.  West, p. 45, says he settled at La Pointe, near present-day Breaux Bridge, but also had property near Grand Coteau in the Opelousas District.

02.  Wall of Names, 14, calls him Joseph CASTILLE.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 432; De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 2; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 8.

The Spanish report of 1767 & the censuses at St.-Gabriel & Atakapas in 1777 disagree on his age & therefore his birth year.  The earliest record is followed here.  

03.  Wall of Names, 14, calls her Marguerite CASTILLE.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 432; De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 2; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 8. 

Her ages differ slightly in the Spanish report of 1767 & the censuses at St.-Gabriel & Atakapas in 1777.  The earliest record is followed here.  Why was she not in the report on Acadians at Upper Marlborough, MD, Jul 1763, with the rest of her family?  See Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 155.

04.  Wall of Names, 14, calls her Marie-Marthe CASTILLE.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 155; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 432; De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 2; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 8. 

05.  Wall of Names, 14, calls him Pierre CASTILLE.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 432; De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 2; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 8. 

His estimated birth year is derived from the Spanish report of 1767.  Why was he not in the report on Acadians at Upper Marlborough, MD, Jul 1763, with the rest of his family?   See Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 155.  He also fails to appear in the LA censuses in which his family is found & in which individual names are given.  See De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 2; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 8.  Nor does he appear in the church records of the St.-Gabriel or Atakapas settlements.  See BRDR, vol. 2; Hebert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, indexes.  What happened to him?  Did he die in his teens soon after the Spanish report of 1767?  Wall of Names includes him with the rest of his family, so they, too, believe the boy existed. 

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