APPENDICES

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

CHIASSON

[CHA-sohn, SHA-sohn]

ACADIA

Guyon (or Dion or Denis) dit La Vallée, son of Pierre Chiasson, a farmer, and Marie Péroché, was born at La Rochelle, France, in c1638.  Guyon came to Acadia and settled at Port-Royal by c1666, when he married Jeanne Bernard there.  They had eight children, including four sons who created families of their own.  Three of their daughters married into the Morin, Poirier dit de France, and Breau families.  Guyon was not listed in the first Acadian census of 1671 because he had moved to Mouchecoudabouet, now Musquodoboit Harbor near present-day Halifax, soon after his marriage and was still there in late 1674.  Not long afterwards, he took his family to Canada and then returned to Acadia, this time to Chignecto, with Michel Le Neuf, sieur de la Vallière, the seigneur of Beaubassin, probably in the late 1670s.  Jeanne died at Chignecto in the early 1680s, and Guyon returned to Canada to remarry to Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Pierre Martin of Sillery, at Québec in October 1683.  They settled at Chignecto.  Marie-Madeleine gave him no more sons but four more daughters, all born at Chignecto, three of whom married into the Carret, Pothier, De La Forestrie, and Pineau families.  Guyon died probably at Chignecto by c1693, when his wife remarried there; he died in his mid-50s.  One of his daughters by his second wife moved to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, by the 1720s and was among the earliest European settlers on the island.  Another daughter by the second wife married a Canadian and settled at Rimouski on the lower St. Lawrence.  

Oldest son Gabriel dit Pierre, born probably at Port-Royal in c1667, followed his father to Mouchecoudabouet, to Canada, and to Chignecto, and was serving as a domestic in the household of Chignecto seigneur Michel Le Neuf de La Vallière in 1686.  Two years later, Gabriel married Marie, daughter of Francois Savoie, at Beaubassin.  They had 11 children, including three sons who married into the Boudrot, Pitre, Quimine, Doucet, and Poirier families.  Their five daughters married into the Quimine, Gallet, Patry, Dufaut, Daguet dit Renaud, La Croix dit Durel, and Le Prieur dit Dubois families.  Gabriel dit Pierre and his family lived for a time at Minas.  Gabriel died at Chignecto in April 1741, age 75.  Some of his children moved to the St. Lawrence valley or to Île St.-Jean as early as the 1720s.  The others remained at Chignecto.  

Sébastien, born probably at Mouchecoudabouet in c1670, also settled at Chignecto, where he married Marie, daughter of Jacques Blou, in c1693.  They had four children, including a son who married into the Arseneau family.  Two of their daughters married into the Vécot and Gaudet families.  Sébastien died at Chignecto in the early 1700s, in his early 30s.  His son and one of his daughters moved to Île St.-Jean by the early 1750s.  

Jean, who called himself a Giasson, born either at Mouchecoudabouet or in Canada in c1674, followed his parents to Chignecto.  When he came of age, he returned to the St. Lawrence valley and married Marie-Anne, daughter of Jean Le Moyne, seigneur de Ste.-Marie, at Batiscan, between Québe and Montréal, in November 1697.  They had 13 children, including five sons, two of whom married into the Trottier dit Desrivières and Hubert families. Three of their daughters married into Gamelin dit Maugras, Douarie, and Hubert dit Lacroix families.  Most of Jean's children died young or never married.  One daughter became a nun and lived to be 80.  Another daughter lived to be 60 but never married.  Jean died at Montréal in January 1719; he was only 45 years old.  

Youngest son Michel, born probably at Québec in c1676, also returned to Canada after he came of age and married Marguerite, daughter of Jean Mourier, at St.-Jean, Île d'Orléans, below Québec City, in 1706.  They had 10 children, including five sons, two of whom married into the Quemeneur dit LaFlamme and Gendron families.  Four of their daughters married into Boulet, Gaudreau, Louineau, and Moyen families.  Michel died at St.-Francois-du-Sud, now Montmagny, on the river below Québec City, in March 1759, in mid-80s.

By 1755, descendants of Guyon Chiasson dit La Vallée of La Rochelle could be found in the St. Lawrence valley, on Île St.-Jean, and at Chignecto.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this family even farther.  Acadian descendants of Guyon Chiasson dit La Vallée ended up in the St. Lawrence valley, where some of their cousins had settled decades before, in France, in present-day northeastern New Brunswick, and in Louisiana.  

The first Acadians in Nova Scotia rounded up by the British in the fall of 1755 were the ones at Chignecto.  After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, the Chignecto Acadians were caught in the middle of it.  When British and New England forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Chignecto settlers, pressured by the French, served in the fort as militia.  They, too, along with the French regulars, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16.  Governor Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour that he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost British colonies on the Atlantic seaboard.  Chiassons were among them.  Abraham, son of Gabriel dit Pierre, his wife Marie Poirier, and five children, including son Paul, were shipped to South Carolina aboard the British transport Cornwallis.  Also aboard that vessel were Anne Chiasson, her husband Charles Doucet, and their nine children.  Jean Chiasson, a bachelor, went to South Carolina aboard the sloop Endeavor.  Madeleine Chiasson, wife of Francois Cormier, also ended up in South Carolina.  

Some of their kinsmen escaped the roundup at Chignecto and fled into the wilderness of present-day southeastern New Brunswick, where they survived as best they could.  Pierre, son of Abraham Chiasson, and his new wife Osite Landry, eluded the British for a time but were eventually captured and held as prisoners of war at Fort Cumberland, formerly Beauséjour, near their old home at Chignecto.  

At least one Chiasson from South Carolina, Paul, son of Abraham, left the colony in late 1763 for Cap-Francois, Haiti, with hundreds of his fellow Acadians. 

.

When the British rounded up their cousins at Chignecto in the fall of 1755, the Chiassons of Île St.-Jean, living on an island still controlled by France, remained unmolested.  Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however.  After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the victorious British seized Île St.-Jean, rounded up the Acadians still on the island, and deported them to France.  

The crossing to France decimated this branch of the family.  Two Chiasson wives--Judith, daughter of Gabriel dit Pierre and wife of Pierre Le Prieur dit Dubois l'aîné, and her cousin Marie, daughter of Sébastien and wife of Jean-Baptiste Vécot--and their families were lost at sea when their ship, the British transport Violet, sank in a mid-Atlantic storm in December 1758, with no survivors.  Many Chiassons and their families also crossed on the five British transports that left the Gut of Canso in late November and reached St.-Malo in late January 1759.  Most of them did not survive the terrible crossing.  François Chiasson, age 60, and his son Louis, age 17, died in St.-Malo hospitals soon after the crossing; Francois's wife Anne Doucet died at sea; only son Chrysostôme, age 12, survived the ordeal.  Francois, fils, age 31, died at sea, along with daughter Marie, age 12, son Francois III, age 6, and an unnamed infant, age 4 months; only his wife Marie-Anne Haché-Gallant survived the crossing.  Jean-Baptiste, called Jean, age 30, another of Francois, père's sons, survived the crossing, but he lost his wife Louise Precieux in a St.-Malo hospital in February and son Jean, age 6, and daughter Anne, age 4, at sea.  Marie Chiasson, age 27, wife of Nicolas Bouchard, died at sea along with two of their four children.  Francoise Chiasson, age 54, her husband Guillaume Patry, and their three children all survived the crossing.  Not so Marie-Josèphe, another daughter of Gabriel dit Pierre Chiasson, who died at sea along with husband Jacques Quimine, age 60; only their 23-year-old daughter Francoise survived the crossing.  Marie-Josèphe, called Josèphe, age 24, daughter of François Chiasson, and her husband Michel Grossin survived the crossing.  She was pregnant when she left Île St.-Jean and gave birth to a son at St.-Malo in early February, soon after they reached the mother country.  The baby died three weeks after his birth, and Josèphe died at Paramé, near St.-Malo, in June 1759.  

Jean Chiasson remarried to Marguerite-Josèphe, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Dugas, at St.-Melior-des-Ondes, near St.-Malo, in June 1761.  She gave him two more sons--Jean-Baptiste, born at La Blanche, near St.-Melior-des-Ondes, in January 1763, and Joseph-Francois, born at St.-Servan, near St.-Malo, in November 1765.  Marie-Josèphe died at St.-Servan in June 1766, and Jean-Baptiste remarried to Anne-Pérrine, daughter of Frenchman Jacques Joanne of St.-Malo, at St.-Servan in January 1769.  She gave him yet another son--Pierre-Louis, born at St.-Servan in October 1769.  

Chiassons from Île St.-Jean landed at ports other than St.-Malo.  Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Guyon dit LaVallée and his second wife, married to Joseph De La Forestrie of Île St.-Jean, died at Cherbourg, Normandy, in August 1759, not long after she made the crossing from Acadia; she was 70 years old.  Madeleine Chiasson died at Cherbourg in August 1762; she was only 25 years old.  Anne, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Chiasson, was at Cherbourg in March 1767.  Basile, son of Pierre Chiasson of Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, was still a child when he was taken to Île St.-Jean in the 1750s.  He, too, ended up at Cherbourg in 1759.  He married fellow Acadian Monique Comeau at Cherbourg in c1772.  Their unnamed child died there in April 1773.  Pierre Chiasson, a butcher, died at Rochefort, near La Rochelle, in August 1763; he was 61 years old.  Catherine Chiasson, widow of Pierre Fragneau, married Frenchman Jacques Rayne of Gane, Bourbonois, a day laborer, at Rochefort in August 1764. 

In the early 1770s, Jean Chiasson from St.-Servan and Basile Chiasson from Cherbourg participated in an attempt by French authorities to settle Acadians on marginal land owned by an influential nobleman in the Poitou region.  Basile and his wife Monique had two more daughters in Poitou--Anne-Adélaïde, baptized at St.-Jean l'Evangeliste, Châtellerault, in April 1774, and Anne-Marie-Marthe, baptized at the same church in October 1775.  Jean's third wife gave him his first daughter in Poitou--Anne-Rosalie, baptized at St.-Jacques, Châtellerault, in May 1775.  The settlement failed after two frustrating years of effort.  In November and December 1775, Basile and Jean retreated with dozens of other Acadians and their families to the port city of Nantes, on the other side of Brittany from St.-Malo.  There they subsisted as best they could on government handouts.  Basile worked as sailor and a cooper; Jean-Baptiste's vocation was unrecorded.  Basile and Monique had two sons at Nantes--Louis-Basile, baptized at Ste.-Croix in December 1780, and Louis-Joseph, in September 1784, but Louis-Basile died at age 21 months in August 1782.  

During the American Revolution, in late 1778, a Chiasson family, that of Joseph, married to Anne Vigneau, came to France from the French-owned island of Miquelon off the southern coast of Newfoundland.  Their son Jean-Joseph was born at La Rochelle in February 1781, and Étienne Isidore died eight days after his birth in April 1783.  They probably returned to Miquelon in 1784 after the British returned the island to France.  

In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana.  Fed up with life in a mother country that had long neglected its Acadian children, Jean and Basile Chiasson, still at Nantes, agreed to go to the colony.  Both families originally booked passage on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, but Basile's infant son Louis-Joseph was too ill to travel when L'Amitié left Paimboeuf, the port for Nantes, in late August 1785.  Louis-Joseph died the following month, and Basile and his family sailed on La Caroline, the last of  the Seven Ships, which left Nantes in late October.  

.

Meanwhile, back in North America, some of the Chiassons of Île St.-Jean had managed to escape the British roundup of 1758.  Joseph, son of Francois Chiasson, père, fled from the island with his wife Anne Haché-Gallant and went to Restigouche at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs.  Their son Jean-Baptiste was baptized at Restigouche in February 1761, which means that they had escaped capture when the British attacked Restigouche the previous summer.  By 1772, nearly a decade after the war had ended and they were free to settle where they chose, Joseph and his family had moved down to Nipisiguit, now Bathurst, on the eastern New Brunswick shore, and then on to Miscou, an island on the southern end of the Baie des Chaleurs, later in the 1770s.  Their sons settled at Carleton and Paspébiac on the southern coast of the Gaspé Peninsula in present-day Québec Province, and at Caraquet in northeastern New Brunswick.  After the war, Chiassons who had escaped the British also settled at Rustico and Tignish on Île St.-Jean, renamed Prince Edward Island in 1798; on Île Miquelon; in Nova Scotia at Chéticamp, Grand-Étang, and Margaree, Cape Breton Island, formerly Île Royale; and on the Îles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, now part of Québec Province.  Typical of most, if not all, Acadian families, these Acadiennes of Canada lost touch with their Cadien cousins hundreds of miles away, and until the Acadian reunions of the twentieth century, they may even have forgotten the others existed. 

.

When the French and Indian War finally ended, the Chiassons being held as prisoners in Nova Scotia had a serious dilemma on their hands.  One of them was Pierre, son of Abraham Chiasson, whom the British counted with his wife and two sons at Fort Cumberland, formerly Beauséjour, in August 1763.  The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 had stipulated in its Article 14 that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories.  In the case of the Acadians, however, this meant that they could return only to French soil.  Where the Chiassons had lived in Acadia was no longer French territory.  British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors.  If Acadians chose to remain in Nova Scotia, they could live only in the interior of the peninsula in small family groups and work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New Englander "planters."  If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation.  They would also have to take the hated oath if they joined their cousins in the St. Lawrence valley.  After all that they had suffered on the question of the oath, no self-respecting Acadian would consent to take it if it could be avoided.   Some Halifax exiles, including Chiassons, chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-owned island off the southern coast of Newfoundland.  Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies already had gone, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles.  Whatever their choice, they would not remain in old Acadia. 

Pierre Chiasson may have heard through the Acadian grapevine that his parents, who had been deported from Chignecto to South Carolina in 1755, died in that British colony but that his younger brother Paul had survived the ordeal and emigrated to Haiti with hundreds of other Acadians from the British colonies in late 1763.  Former Acadian prisoners, the first of them led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil the resistance fighter, began leaving Halifax in November 1764 on chartered vessels heading for Haiti, where they would change ships for Louisiana.  Pierre joined one of the later expeditions out of Halifax and, if he knew he was there, would look for his younger brother on the tropical island before sailing on to New Orleans.  

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Chiassons were some of the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana:

Pierre Chiasson, age 36, son of Abraham and grandson of Gabriel dit Pierre of Chignecto, reached New Orleans from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, in 1765.  With him were his wife Osite Landry, age 32, son Michel, age 6, infant daughter Marie, nephew Jean-Baptiste, age 3, and brother Paul, age 19, who they had picked up at Cap-Français on their way to Louisiana.  They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river above New Orleans where 20 Acadians from Georgia had settled the year before.   Pierre and Paul remained on the river, but Jean-Baptiste, after he came of age, crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District and started a western branch of the family.  Pierre and Paul had seven sons between them, but most of their sons died young.  By the eve of the War Between the States, in fact, one line, that of Paul, had disappeared, leaving only its blood, and Pierre's line was barely hanging on in Ascension Parish.  

Descendants of Pierre CHIASSON (c1729-?)

Pierre, elder son of Abraham Chiasson and Marie Poirier, born at Chignecto in c1729, married Osite Landry in c1755.  They escaped the British round up at Chignecto later that year and fled into the wilderness of present-day southeastern New Brunswick.  They fell into the hands of British forces and were held as prisoners at Fort Cumberland, formerly Beauséjour, not far from their old homes.  British officials counted them at Fort Cumberland in August 1763.  They came to Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, in 1765.  On their way through Cap-Français, Haiti, where they changed ships, Pierre retrieved his younger brother Paul, who had been exiled to South Carolina in 1755 and went to Cap-Français in late 1763.  Pierre's daughter Marie, born perhaps aboard ship in October 1765, was baptized at New Orleans in early December, giving some idea of when the family reached the city.  They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where Pierre and Osite had more children.  Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river in 1766, 1769, and 1777.  By 1779, Pierre owned two slaves at St.-Jacques.  Pierre died at St.-Jacques before November 1794, when his wife remarried there.  Only one of his three sons married; he settled in Ascension Parish; only one of his grandsons married, but they managed to maintain the family line.  Pierre's great-grandson Adrien, in fact, held 8 slaves on his Ascension Parish farm on the eve of  the War Between the States.  

1

Oldest son Michel, born in c1759 during Le Grand Dérangement, died at St.-Jacques in September 1777.  He was only 18 years old and did not marry.  

2

Jean-Baptiste, sometimes called Baptiste, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in March 1771, married Angélique, also called Leonie Anne and Anne, daughter of fellow Acadian Marcel LeBlanc, at St.-Jacques in April 1792.  Their son Jean-Baptiste, fils was born at St.-Jacques in April 1795, Michel le jeune, also called Paul, in June 1797 but died at age 17 in September 1814, Zenon was born in June 1809 but died at age 17 in February 1827, and Louis Charles was born in c1814.  Their daughters married into the Lacoste and Poirier families.  Jean Baptiste died near Convent, St. James Parish, in March 1832; he was 63 years old.  

2a

Jean Baptiste, fils married Francoise, daughter of fellow Acadian Athanase Dugas of Ascension Parish, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in January 1817.  Their son Jean Adrien, called Adrien, was born in Ascension Parish in March 1824.  They may have had a son named Adrien Charles, born in c1834.  Jean Baptiste, fils died in Ascension Parish in October 1861; he was 66 years old.  

Jean Adrien married Marie Anaïse, daughter of Dominique Drivon, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in July 1849.  Their son Jean Ernest was born in Ascension Parish in April 1852 but died the following June, Louis Joseph Fernand, called Fernand, was born in June 1853 but died at age 10 in June 1863, Paul John Henry was born in July 1856, Charles Maurice in July 1857, Robert in March 1860 but died at age 7 in August 1867, and René Adrien, also called Victorin, was born in November 1862 but died at age 5 months the following April.  In July 1860, the federal census taker in Ascension Parish counted 8 slaves--5 males and 3 females, all black, ranging in age from 52 years to 3 months, living in 2 houses--on Adrien Chiasson's farm between James Hewitt's plantation, which held 176 slaves, and J. François, a "Negro," who owned 5 slaves, in the parish's Third Ward.  

During the War Between the States, Adrien Charles served in Company K of the 8th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Ascension Parish that fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of Robert E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers.  According to his service record, Adrien Charles died in a Confederate hospital at Culpepper, Virginia, in May 1862.  He lies buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Richmond.  

2b

Louis Charles died in Ascension Parish in April 1840.  He was only 27 years old and did not marry.  

3

Youngest son Simon-Pierre, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in May 1773, probably died young.  

Descendants of Paul CHIASSON (c1746-1820)

Paul, younger son of Abraham Chiasson and Marie Poirier, was born at Chignecto in c1746.  In the fall of 1755, when he was still a child, the British deported his family to South Carolina aboard the transport ship Edward Cornwallis.  Paul's parents died in South Carolina.  In August 1763, when he was in his late teens, the colonial officials who counted him in the colony called him an orphan.  He probably went to Cap-Francois, St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, in November 1763 with hundreds of other Acadians from South Carolina.  He came to Louisiana in 1765 with his older brother Pierre and his family, so he and Pierre must have communicated with one another via the Acadian grapevine in the early 1760s.  Most likely Paul joined Pierre's party from Halifax when it changed ships at Cap-Français and followed his older brother to New Orleans.  Paul settled with his older brother's family at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, where he was counted on the left, or east bank, in 1766 and on the right, or west, bank three years later.  In c1770, he married fellow Acadian Marie-Madeleine, called Madeleine, Blanchard probably at St.-Jacques.  Seven years later, in 1777, they were living on the "right bank ascending" at St.-Gabriel, upriver from St.-Jacques.  Their daughters married into the Babin, Charpentier, Hébert, Hernandez, Jaeleus, and LeBlanc families.  Paul died at St.-Gabriel in March 1820; he was 74 years old.  Only two of his four sons married, but neither of them had sons who lived long enough to marry, so this line of the family, except for its blood, did not survive in the Bayou State.    

1

Oldest son Paul, fils, baptized at St.-Gabriel, age unrecorded, in October 1776, died at St.-Gabriel in December 1790.  He was only 14 years old.  

2

Étienne, born at St.-Gabriel in c1784, married Marie Julie, called Julie, daughter of Anglo-American Joseph Sharp, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in August 1809.  Their son Lucien was born near St. Gabriel in December 1810.  Their daughter married into the Cobb family.  Étienne died near St. Gabriel in March 1821; he was only 37 years old.  His only son Lucien probably died young.  

3

Victorin, also called Victor, born at St.-Gabriel in March 1786, married Henriette, daughter of fellow Acadian Simon Joseph Dupuis, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in May 1809.  Their son Victor, fils was born in c1815 but died at age 14 in January 1829.  Their daughter married into the Labauve family.  Victorin remarried to Marie Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Isaac LeBlanc, at the St. Gabriel church in June 1820.  Their daughter married into the Boote family.  Victorin died near St. Gabriel in April 1824; the priest who recorded his burial said that Victorin was 30 years old when he died, but he was 38.  He had no sons by his second wife, so this line of the family, except for its blood, died with his only son in the late 1820s.  

4

Youngest son Félicien was buried at St.-Gabriel, age unrecorded, in November 1791.  

Other CHIASSONs on the River

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

Célestine Chiasson gave birth to son Augustin Collet in Ascension Parish in February 1854.  The priest who recorded the boy's baptism four months later did not bother to list the father's name or the mother's parents' names.  

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Twenty years after the first Chiassons came to Louisiana, more of them reached the colony from France in 1785.  One of the families chose to settle on upper Bayou Lafourche, creating a second center of family settlement:

Jean Chiasson, age 56, his third wife Frenchwoman Anne-Pérrine Joanne, age 40, and two of his sons by his second and third wives--Joseph-Francois, age 19, and Pierre-Louis, age 15-- crossed aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, in November.  They followed the majority of the passengers from their ship to upper Bayou Lafourche.  Jean and Anne-Pérrine had no more children in France.  Their two sons settled on the upper bayou, and some of their descendants became the early settlers of Bayou Terrebonne, a distributary of the Lafourche:  

Descendants of Joseph-François CHIASSON (1765-?)

Joseph-François, son of Jean Chiasson and his second wife Marguerite-Josèphe Dugas and half-brother of Pierre-Louis, was born at St.-Servan, France, near St.-Malo, in October 1769.  He followed his father, stepmother, and younger half-brother to Louisiana aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, in 1785.  He settled with them at Ascension on the river above New Orleans, where he married Marie, daughter of French Creole François Simoneaux of Lorraine, France, in July 1789; Marie's mother was a Corporon; her family had come to Louisiana from Maryland in 1766.  Spanish officials counted them on the left, or east, bank of the river at Ascension in 1791.  Four years later, however, they had settled on upper Bayou Lafourche.  Their daughter married into the Culere or Tulere family.  Joseph-Francois remarried to Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Amand Lejeune, at Assumption in January 1797.  Marguerite also had come to Louisiana aboard L'Amitié, so they probably had known one another for years.  Joseph and Marguerite settled near the boundary of what became Assumption and Ascension parishes.  Their daughter married into the Guidry family.  Four of their six sons married and perpetuated this line of the family in Lafourche Interior and Terrebonne parishes.  Their second son's line was especially prolific; his descendants settled in the Chackbay area of Lafourche Parish, north of present-day Thibodaux.  

1

Oldest son François-Victor, by his first wife, born at Ascension in July 1790, married Claire or Clarisse Adélaïde, daughter of fellow Acadian Benoît Comeaux, probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the 1810s; Claire had been born aboard the ship L'Amitié on it way from France to Louisiana in 1785, so she was nearly 5 years older than François.  Their son Pierre Eugène was born probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in c1815, and Jean Faustin, called Faustin, in March 1826.  Their daughters married into the Aisenne, Aupied, and Boudreaux families. 

1a

Pierre Eugène married Françoise Hortense or Hortense Françoise, daughter of French Creole Jean Lagarde, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in August 1837; Francoise's mother was a Templet.  Their son Joseph Justineau was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1840.  Their daughters married into the Aucoin and Thibodeaux families.  Pierre Eugène remarried to Felonise, daughter of fellow Acadian Benjamin Landry and widow of Valéry Boutary, at the Thibodeaux church in October 1860.  Their son Joseph Fernand, called Fernand, was born in Lafourche Parish in December 1863, and François Augustin in April 1866.  Pierre Eugène died in Lafourche Parish in October or November 1867; he was only 42 years old; a petition for his succession inventory was filed at the Thibodeaux courthouse the following month.  

1b

Faustin married Eulalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Valéry Bourgeois, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1851.  During the War Between the States, Faustin served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment of Militia, which fought at the Battle of Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in October 1862.  He was captured with most of his regiment and paroled at Thibodeaux a few weeks later.  

2

Pierre-Alexandre, by his first wife, born at Assumption in August 1793, married Marcelline or Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Thibodeaux, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in July 1815.  Their son Pierre Eugène, called Eugène, was born in Assumption Parish in November 1818, Evariste Alexis in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1824, Sylvain Théodule in May 1826, Paul Adrien, called Adrien, in February 1829, Jean Léon, called Léon in October 1831, Pierre Aurelien Georges Bedford, called George, in June 1834, Henry Octave, called Octave, in July 1837, and Joseph Aurelien died 32 hours after his birth in April 1840.  Their daughter married into the Martin family.  Pierre Alexandre died near Paincourtville, Assumption Parish, in July 1865; he was 71 years old.  

2a

Eugène married Sophie, also called Jolivette and Solidele, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Usé, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1835.  Their son Pierre Edmond, called Edmond, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1836, Théodore in July 1840, Joseph Ulysse, called Ulysse, in April 1842, Eugène Ernest, called Ernest, in February 1844 but died at age 18 months in October 1845, and Evariste Adam was born in October 1847.  In August 1860, the federal census taker in Lafourche Parish counted 5 slaves--2 males and 3 females, 2 blacks and 3 mulattoes, ranging in age from 28 to 1--on P. Eugène Chiasson's farm in the parish's First Ward.  

Edmond married Louisa, daughter of French Creole Jacques Duet, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in April 1858; Louisa's mother was a Molaison.  Their son Pierre was born in Lafourche Parish in October 1866.  During the War Between the States, Edmond served in the Lafourche Parish Regiment of Militia, which fought at the Battle of Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in October 1862.  He was captured with most of his regiment and paroled at Thibodeaux a few weeks later.  

During the War Between the States, Ulysse served in Company I of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front line unit raised in Lafourche Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Ulysse married Julie, daughter of Célestin Guyot, at the Thibodeaux church, Lafourche Parish, in September 1865.  Their son Joseph Ulysse, fils was born in Lafourche Parish in September 1865, a child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died in Lafourche Parish at age 5 months in July 1868, and Joachim Célestin was born in January 1870.  

During the War Between the States, Théodore served in Company E of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Lafourche Parish that fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama.  One source says that he died in July 1863, but was actually captured near Jackson, Mississippi, forwarded to Snyder's Bluff, and then sent to Camp Morton, Indiana, a prisoner of war compound near Indianapolis.  Meanwhile, his unit roster listed him as a deserter.  Théodore survived his ordeal at Camp Morton and married Séverine, daughter of French Creole Jacques Adam, at the Vacherie church, St. James Parish, in May 1866; the marriage also was recorded in Lafourche Parish the same month.  Their son Eugène le jeune was born in Lafourche Parish in April 1869.  

Evariste Adam married Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadian Sagelitte Hébert, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in May 1867.  

2b

Evariste Alexis married Marie Adele, called Adele, daughter of German Creole Alexis Himel, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1843.  Their son Pierre Numa, called Numa or Luma, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1845, Onesime Augustin in November 1848, and Julien Anatole in November 1864.  Their daughter married into the Rodrique family.  

Numa married Célestine, daughter of Michel Montz, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in January 1864.  

Onesime married Céleste, daughter of French Creole Jacques Adam, in a civil ceremony in Lafourche Parish in January 1869.  Their son Camille was born in Lafourche Parish in November 1870.  

2c

Sylvain Théodule married Marie Eugènie, called Eugènie, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph LeBlanc, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in June 1847.  Their son Pierre Octave, called Octave, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1848, Léo Oscar near Lockport in September 1853, Henry Isaac in March 1856, Sylvain Osémé near Raceland in July 1862, Joseph near Lockport in February 1865, Jean William in June 1867, and Joseph Félix in August 1869.  

Octave le jeune married Laiza, daughter of fellow Acadian Urbain Aucoin, at the Lockport church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1869.  Their son Joseph le jeune was born near Lockport in November 1869.  

2d

Adrien married Marie, also called Clelie, daughter of French Creole Jacques Pontiff, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in February 1850.  Their son Ernest died in Lafourche Interior Parish at age 2 months in January 1851.  Adrien remarried to Hypoline or Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Charles Richard, at the Thibodeaux church in April 1853.  Their son Adam Augustin was born in Lafourche Parish in December 1855, and Joseph Alcide in August 1857.  Adrien remarried again--his third marriage--to Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadian Edmond Thibodeaux and widow of T. Richard, at the Thibodaux church in March 1860.  Their son Albert was born in Lafourche Parish in February 1866.  

2e

Jean Léon died in Ascension Parish in October 1853.  The priest who recorded his burial said that Léon was 26 years old when he died, but he was only 22.  He did not marry.  

2f

George married Doralise, another daughter of Alexis Himel, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in July 1854.  Their son Oleus was born in Lafourche Parish in late 1855 but died at age 2 1/2 in January 1858, and Wilfrid Édouard was born in April 1861.  

2g

Octave married Marie Estelle, called Estelle, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Molaison, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1858.  Their son Pierre Édouard was born in Lafourche Parish in November 1860, Joseph Ernest in October 1864, and Joseph Arthur in December 1866.

3

Joseph-Marcellin, by his first wife, born at Assumption in December 1795, probably died young.  

4

Jean-Baptiste-Prudent, by his second wife, born at Assumption in June 1800, probably died young.  

5

Joseph Florentin Bernard, by his second wife, born at Assumption in August 1804, married Marie Pauline, called Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Guidry, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in October 1826.  Their son Jean Pierre, called Pierre, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1829, Marcellin in May 1834, Bernard in September 1836, and Joseph Justinien, called Justinien, in October 1840.  Their daughters married into the Boucher, Clément, Marcel, and Watkins families.  Joseph died in Terrebonne Parish in May 1854; the priest who recorded his burial said that Joseph was 45 years old when he died, but he was 49.  

5a

Jean Pierre married Celina, daughter of fellow Acadian Leandre Crochet, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in April 1856.  Their son Adam had been baptized at the Houma church, age unrecorded, in July 1854, Leandre Richard was born in April 1856, Jean Pierre, fils in April 1859, and Joseph Lovenci in February 1867.  ...

5b

During the War Between the States, Bernard served in Company H of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Terrebonne Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi.  He married Eliza, daughter of fellow Acadian Evariste Aucoin, at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in March 1864 while he was home waiting to be exchanged with his unit, which has been captured at Vicksburg the previous July.  Their son Élie Joseph was born in Terrebonne Parish in January 1865, Helesse Paulin in December 1866, and Evariste Audressi in October 1869.  

5c

During the War Between the States, Justinien served in Company E of the 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Lafourche Parish that fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama.  

6

Youngest son Paul François Romain, also called Hippolyte, by his second wife, born in Ascension Parish in January 1808, married fellow Acadian Marie Bathilde, called Bathilde, Bergeron in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in May 1830, and sanctified the marriage at the Houma church, Terrebonne Parish, in July 1855.  Their son Joseph Votcius was born in Terrebonne Parish in March 1850, twins Jean Baptiste and Théodule Léonard in February 1853, and Édouard Henry in July 1854.  Their daughters married into the Escassus, Henry, Klinke, Lacarr, Malbrough, Roos, and Whitney families.  

Descendants of Pierre-Louis CHIASSON (1769-c1833)

Pierre-Louis, son of Jean Chiasson and his third wife Anne-Pérrine Joanne and half-brother of Joseph-Francois, was born at St.-Servan, France, near St.-Malo, in October 1769.  He followed his parents and older half-brother to Louisiana aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, in 1785 and settled with them on upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marguerite, daughter of French Creole Jean Le Boeuf of St.-Jean-Baptiste on the German Coast, in July 1805.  Their daughters married into the Cunningham, Dugas, and Naquin families.  Pierre and Marguerite settled in what became Terrebonne Parish.  Pierre's succession inventory was filed at the Houma courthouse in July 1833; he would have been 64 years old that year.  Two of three sons married and remained in Terrebonne Parish, settling near Montegut at the edge of the coastal marshes.  

1

Oldest son Joseph André, called André, born in Assumption Parish in December 1813, married French Creole Félicité Cilda, Ernildor, or Esilda Billiot probably in Terrebonne Parish in the late 1840s or early 1850s.  Their son Andrécis was born in Terrebonne Parish in October 1855, Marcel Florentin in June 1859, Faustin Paul in January 1865, Arthur Adam near Montegut, Terrebonne Parish, in January 1868, and Joseph Alfred in June 1870. 

2

Jean Pierre Gabriel, called Gabriel and Briel, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in August 1819, married Henriette Scholastique, also called Louise, daughter of French Creole Dupré, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1840.  Their son Jean Pierre, called Pierre, was born in Terrebonne Parish in July 1849, Ferdinand Léon in July 1851, Hermogène Maximin in August 1853, and Jean Placide in October 1855.  Their daughter married into the Guidry family.  Gabriel remarried to Elise, daughter of French Creole Jean Pierre Ledet and widow of W. Belanger, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in August 1869; Elise's mother was a Roger.

Jean Pierre, by his first wife, married Marie, daughter of Marcellin Belanger, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in February 1870.  

3

Youngest son François Henry, sometimes called Henry, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in December 1821, married Marie Geneviève, also called Élisabeth, daughter of French Creole François André Dubois of Terrebonne Parish, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1844.  Their son François Martial, called Martial, was born in Terrebonne Parish in May 1845, Apollinaire Marcel in November 1848, and Édouard in October 1850.  Their daughter married into the Bourg and Malbrough families. 

Martial married Basilise Elmire, daughter of French Creole Jean Charles Dupré, at the Montegut church, Terrebonne Parish, in June 1870; Basilise's mother was a Naquin. 

Other CHIASSONs in the Lafourche/Terrebonne Valley

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

Rositte Chiasson gave birth to son Laurent Jean Baptiste in Terrebonne Parish in April 1852.  The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not list the father's name or the mother's parents' names.  

LOUISIANA:  WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

One of the Chiasson families who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 chose to go to the Opelousas District, creating a third center of family settlement: 

Descendants of Basile CHIASSON (c1749-c1808)

Basile, son of Pierre Chiasson and Catherine Bourgeois, born at Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, in c1749, went to Île St.-Jean in the early 1750s with his family and was deported with there to Cherbourg, France, in 1758-59.  He married fellow Acadian Monique Comeau probably at Cherbourg in c1772.  They sailed to Louisiana aboard La Caroline, the last of the Seven Ships from France, in 1785 and chose to settle in the Opelousas District.  Monique died soon after the family reached Louisiana, and Basile remarried to Anne-Marie, called Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Thibodeaux and widow of L'Ange Bourg, at Opelousas in July 1789; Marie was a sister of Pierre-Cyrille Thibodeaux, who married Basile's daughter Anne-Adélaïde by his first wife in June 1790.  Basile's daughters by his second wife married into the Cormier, Doucet, Dugas, Petit dit Parrain, and Richard families.  Basile's succession record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in March 1808.  Only half of his six sons married, and two of them had no sons of their own, but the fifth son, Louis, who married twice, carried on the line in what became Lafayette Parish.  

1

Oldest son Louis-Basile, by his first wife, baptized at Ste.-Croix, Nantes, in December 1780, died at age 21 months in August 1782.

2

Charles-Albert, by his first wife, born at Nantes in c1782, married Madeleine, daughter of French Creole Charles Bourassa, at Opelousas in September 1802; Madeleine's mother was a Lalande.  Their child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died "du mal de machoire (from a hurt jaw; perhaps lockjaw)" at Opelousas in December 1804.  Their daughters married into the Matte family.  Charles's succession record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in November 1848; he would have been 66 years old that year.  He and his wife had no sons, at least none who survived childhood, so this line of the family, except for its blood, died with him.  

3

Louis-Joseph, by his first wife, baptized at Ste.-Croix, Nantes, in September 1784, died at Chantenay, near Nantes, in September 1785 on the eve of the family's departure for Louisiana.

4

Pierre, by his second wife, born at Opelousas in September 1792, married Ludivine or Severine, daughter of French Creole Eustache Moreau, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in September 1819.  Their daughter married into the Lanclos family.  He and his wife seem to have had no sons, so this line of the family, except for its blood, may have died with him.  

5

Louis, by his second wife, baptized at Opelousas, age unrecorded, in October 1796, married Marie dite Doralise, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Sonnier of La Butte, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in November 1817.  Their son Louis Dupré, called Dupré and Dupréville, was born in St. Martin Parish in November 1818, Joseph in October 1819, and Pierre, also called Clerville, in Lafayette Parish in July 1823 but died at age 3 in August 1826.  Their daughter married into the Bertrand and Melançon families.  Louis remarried to Susanne, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Dugas, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1828.  Their son Théogène was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 4 months, in April 1831, Théodule was born in June 1832, a child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died at age 3 months in March 1831, another child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died 3 days after its birth in November 1835, and Aurelien, also called Chretien, was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 12 days, in November 1839.  Their daughters married into the Albarado and Richard families.  In August 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 5 slaves--4 males and 1 female, all black, ranging in age from 35 years to 3 months--on Louis Chiaisson's farm in the parish's Western District.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 6 slaves--5 males and 1 female, all mulatto except for 1 black, ages 50 to 6--on Louis Chiason's farm next to Mrs. John Bt. Chiason.  

5a

Louis Dupré, by his first wife, married Marie Josephine, called Josephine, daughter of French Creole Simon Durio of Grand Coteau, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1840; Marie's mother was a Landry.  Their son Louis Dupré, fils was born in Lafayette Parish in December 1840, and twins Simon Homere and Simonet Emard in August 1848.  Louis Dupré, père died in Lafayette Parish in November 1859; he was only 41 years old.  

Louis Dupré, fils married Émelie, daughter of Antoine Clavel, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in April 1860; Émelie's mother was an Hébert.  During the War Between the States, Louis Dupré, fils served with his uncle Théogene in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Lafayette Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

5b

Joseph, by his first wife, married Marie Odile, called Odile, daughter of French Creole Francois Begnaud, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1840; Marie's mother was a Robichaux.  Joseph died in Lafayette Parish in May 1842; he was only 22 years old.  He and his wife did not have sons, so this line of the family, except perhaps for its blood, died with him.  

5c

Théogène, by his second wife, married Azema or Azémie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Trahan, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1854.  Their son Cleopha was born in Lafayette Parish in August 1855, Jean Louis in August 1856, a child, name and age unrecorded, died in December 1859, and Joseph Selma was born in May 1864.  During the War Between the States, Théogène served with his nephew Louis Dupré, fils in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Lafayette Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi.  His son Joseph was born a month after he returned to his unit after being captured at Vicksburg the year before.  

5d

Théodule, by his second wife, married Adonatille or Donatille, daughter of fellow Acadian Olivier Guidry, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1858.  Their son Edgar was born in Lafayette Parish in January 1862, and Louis Olivier in February 1864.  

5e

Aurelien, by his second wife, married fellow Acadian Marie Aphanelie, called Fanelly, Dugas in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in April 1860.  His succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse, Lafayette Parish, in September 1864; he would have been 25 years old that year.  

6

Youngest son Basile, fils, by his second wife, born at Opelousas in c1800 and baptized there, age 4, in October 1804, died in Lafayette Parish in October 1862.  He was 62 years old and did not marry.  

~

In the late 1780s, a Chiasson who had come to Louisiana as an orphan with two uncles in 1765 moved to the Opelousas District and added substantially to that center of family settlement:    

Descendants of Jean-Baptiste CHIASSON (c1762-?)

Jean-Baptiste, son of Joseph Chiasson and Annette Sonnier of Chignecto, was born at Halifax in c1762 when his parents were being held as prisoners there.  He came to Louisiana with his paternal uncles, Pierre and Paul Chiasson, in 1765 and followed them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river.  When he came of age, Jean-Baptiste crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District, where he married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean LeBlanc, in the late 1780s.  They settled along upper Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé on the prairie west of Opelousas Post.  Their daughters married into the Cart and Dugas families.  Three of their five sons married and settled near Grand Coteau, east of Plaquemine Brûlé, or in what became Lafayette Parish.  One grandson settled near Breaux Bridge, St. Martin Parish.  Most of the Chiassons on the western prairies descend from Jean-Baptiste, his sons, and grandsons. 

1

Oldest son Jean-Baptiste, fils, called Baptiste, born at Opelousas in April 1792, married Julie, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Olivier dit Pierrot Dugas of Prairie Sorel, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1820.  Their son Gédéon, called Zédé, was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in October 1821 but died in Lafayette Parish at age 8 in September 1829, Jean Baptiste III was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1824, Paul or Hippolyte Oscar, was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 9 days, in February 1828, Pierre at age 5 months in November 1831, Narcisse at age 4 months in January 1834, Edmond le jeune at age 4 months in May 1837, Joseph le jeune at age 3 months in May 1839, and Ignace was born in December 1840 but died at age 2 1/2 in August 1843.  Their daughters married into the Michel (Anglo-American, not Acadian), Nezat, and Sonnier families.  In September 1850, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 4 slaves--1 male and 3 females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 1--on Jean Bte. Chiaisson's farm in the parish's western district.  Jean Baptiste, fils died in Lafayette Parish in April 1852; he was 60 years old; his succession record was not filed at the Vermilionville courthouse until November 1855.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted 6 slaves--1 male and 5 females, all black, ages 58 to 6--on Mrs. John Bt. Chiason's farm next to Louis Chiason; this was Jean Baptiste, fils's widow, Julie Dugas.  

1a

Jean Baptiste III, called fils, married Amelie, daughter of French Creole Narcisse Begnaud, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in April 1845.  Their son Alexandre was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 15 months, in March 1851, Paul Ambroise was born in April 1853, and Jean Baptiste IV in February 1857.  

1b

Hippolyte married Divine, daughter of French Creole Adolphe Nezat, at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1848.  Their son Pierre Aniset was born in Lafayette Parish in February 1849.  Hippolyte remarried to Sidalise Morvant probably in the 1850s, and remarried again--his third marriage--to Élisabeth, daughter of Anglo John Caruthers, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in June 1859; Élisabeth's mother was an Hébert.  In June 1860, the federal census taker in Lafayette Parish counted a single slave--a 65-year-old black male--on Hypolite Chiuson's farm.  Hippolyte's succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in March 1863; he would have been only 35 years old that year.

1c

Pierre married Fanelie, daughter of French Creole Francois Guilbert, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in September 1852.  Their son Francois was born in Lafayette Parish in October 1853 but died at age 3 in October 1856, Pierre Numa was born in September 1857, Jacques in December 1859, and Pierre, fils in March 1862. 

1d

Narcisse married Julie, daughter of Cyprien Roy, at the Breaux Bridge church, St. Martin Parish, in March 1859.  Their son Joseph Marius was born near Breaux Bridge in November 1861.  During the War Between the States, Narcisse, like his brother Joseph, was a conscript from St. Martin Parish, but Confederate records do not reveal if he served in a unit.  

1e

Edmond le jeune married Helena, daughter of Anglo William Beard, at the the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in February 1860; Helena's mother was Trahan.  

1f

Joseph le jeune married Adriske or Advise, daughter of fellow Acadian Symphorien Prejean, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in September 1861.  During the War Between the States, Joseph, like his brother Narcisse, was a conscript from St. Martin Parish, but Confederate records do not reveal if he served in a unit.  

2

Joseph, born at Opelousas in April 1796, married Marie Tarsile, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Dugas of La Butte and widow of Alexandre Leger, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1818.  Their son Joseph Drosin, called Drosin, was born in St. Martin Parish in July 1819, and Edmond le jeune was baptized at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, age 14 months, in May 1822.  Their daughter married into the Begnaud and Doucet families.  Joseph remarried to Rosalie Vizina in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in February 1826.  They settled near Grand Coteau.  Their son Valmont was born near Grand Coteau in January 1829, Valcour in March 1832, Drosin in August 1837, and Joseph Azolin in March 1846. 

2a

Drosin, by his first wife, married German Creole Madeleine Gatt in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1840, and remarried to Marie Myrza Lejeune in the 1850s.  They settled near Grand Coteau.  Their son Alexis was born in St. Landry Parish in November 1857.  Drosin's succession record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in December 1865; he would have been 46 years old that year.  

2b

Edmond le jeune, by his first wife, married Phelonise, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Boutin, in a civil ceremony in Lafayette Parish in December 1845.  Their son Théodore was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in November 1849. 

2c

Valmont, by his second wife, married Pauline, daughter of fellow Acadian Antoine Hébert, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in January 1850, and sanctified that marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1851.  Their son Valmont, fils was born near Grand Coteau in November 1850.  Valmont remarried to Célestine David.  Their son Napoléon was born near Grand Coteau in October 1861, and Joseph Adam near Church Point, then in St. Landry but now in Acadian Parish, in December 1863.  During the War Between the States, Valmont enlisted in Company K of the 10th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in St. Landry Parish that fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  Valmont's Confederate service was short, however.  Two days after he enlisted in July 1861, he was discharged "on account of physical disability."  

3

Edmond, born at Opelousas in November 1798, died at the home of Louis Lavigne at Prairie du Large, St. Landry Parish, in February 1819.  Edmond was only 21 years old and did not marry.  

4

Gérard Christopher, baptized at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, age 2, in July 1807, married Aspasie, daughter of fellow Acadian Paul Guidry, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1826.  Their son Edmond le jeune was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 16 months, in May 1826, Onésime at age 2 in March 1833, Agerin at age 6 months in September 1834, and Gérard, fils was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in September 1848.  Their daughters married into the Gatt family.  Gerard, père may have remarried to French Canadian Susanne Istre by the late 1850s. 

5

Youngest son Magloire, born at Opelousas in March 1807, probably died young.  

~

Other CHIASSONs on the Western Prairies

Area church and civil records make it difficult to link some Chiassons on the western prairies with known lines of the family there:  

Guire Chiasson married Texan Elizabeth McFadden in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1835.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not bother to give the couple's parents' names.  

Adeline Chiasson gave birth to son Jean Renaud in St. Landry Parish in February 1837.  The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not give the father's name or the mother's parents' names.  

Joseph Chiasson married French Creole Aureline Frugé, widow of Leufroi Blaise, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in November 1860.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names.  Joseph's succession record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in January 1863.  

CONCLUSION

Chiassons settled early in Acadia and were among the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana.  Pierre Chiasson and his family reached New Orleans from Halifax via St.-Domingue in 1765; evidently on their way to Louisiana, they retrieved Pierre's younger brother Paul, who had ended up in St.-Domingue.  They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river, where Pierre and his wife had more children, and where Paul created a family of his own.  Also with Pierre and Paul was nephew Jean-Baptiste Chiasson, who grew up on the river; however, after Jean-Baptiste came of age, he moved to the Opelousas District and created a western branch of the family there in the late 1780s. 

Meanwhile, a second wave of  Chiassons appeared in late 1785 on two of the Seven Ships from France.  Jean Chiasson came with his third wife, a Frenchwoman, and his two sons.  They settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, where they and their descendants created another center of family settlement.  Basile Chiasson also came to Louisiana from France in 1785, but he and his family did not settle on the upper Lafourche.  They went, instead, to the Opelousas District, the first of the family to settle there. 

By the late antebellum period, only a single Chiasson family remained on the river, in Ascension Parish.  The others lived on the western prairies or on bayous Lafourche and Terrebonne.  Although they all were related, there seems to have been little interaction between the two branches of the family, such was the barrier imposed by the Atchafalaya Basin even during the steamboat era.  

Church records reveal no non-Acadian Chiassons who came to Louisiana during the colonial period.  Nor do New Orleans port records show any Foreign-French Chiassons coming to the Bayou State during the antebellum period.  All of the Chiassons of South Louisiana, then, at least before the War Between the States, are descendants of Guyon dit Vallée of La Rochelle, Port-Royal, Mouchecoudabouet, and Chignecto. 

A few Chiassons owned slaves during the late antebellum period.  The largest slaveholder in the family was Adrien Chiasson of Ascension Parish, who held eight slaves in 1860.  Two of his cousins in Lafayette Parish and a cousin in Lafourche Parish also held a hand full of slaves each, but, like Adrien, none of them owned enough bondsmen to be considered part of the planter class.  The great majority of Chiassons owned no slaves at all, at least none who appeared on the federal slave schedules of 1850 and 1860.  

Over a dozen Chiassons served Louisiana in uniform during the War Between the States.  Several of them were captured and held by the Federals, one of them at Camp Morton, Indiana, outside of Indianapolis, but all the Chiasson prisoners of war returned to their families.  Not so lucky was Adrien Charles Chiasson, who served in Company K of 8th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a unit from Ascension Parish that fought under General Robert E. Lee.  According to his Confederate service record, Adrien Charles died in a general hospital at Culpepper, Virginia, in May 1862.  He lies buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, so one wonders if he was transferred to a hospital in the capital city and died there instead of at Culpepper.

The war took its toll on the Chiasson family fortunes back home.  Even before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in January 1863, Federal commands controlling the lower Mississippi freed the slaves on every farm and plantation their forces could reach.  Meanwhile, Union navy gunboats shelled and burned dozens of houses along the river.  Successive Federal incursions devastated the Bayou Lafourche valley early in the war, and the valley lay under the hard hand of Federal occupation for most of the conflict.  Federal armies marched three times through the Teche and upper Vermilion valleys, including the Grand Coteau area, and burned and pillaged many farms, some of them no doubt owned by Chiassons.  Thanks to these Federal invasions, emancipation came early to the area, with its resulting economic and social turmoil.  Confederate foraging parties and cutthroat Jayhawkers also plagued the area where Chiassons lived, adding to the family's misery.  ...

Today, members of the family on both sides of the Atchafalaya Basin use the spelling Chaisson almost as often as they do the original spelling Chiasson.  The family's name also is spelled Chaison, Chaseant, Cheasson, Chiassond, Chianson, Chiason, Chieason, Chieçon, Chiesson, Giason, Giasson, Schiasson, Sciasson, Siachon, Siasson, Seisson, Siesson.

Sources:  1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Lafayette Parish; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Ascension, Lafourche, & Lafayette parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 897-908, 1657, 2219-20, 2272-74, 2458-59; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 78-79; 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; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 234, 236; Milling, Exile Without End, 41-42; NOAR, vol. 2; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family Nos. 53, 57, 58, 62, 152, 156, 182; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 26; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 40-41; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 198-202; White, DGFA-1, 347-58; White, DGFA-1 English, 78-80.

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, 47, calls her Adélaïde CHAISON; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:178-79, 756-57 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.30), her marriage record, calls her Anne Adélaïde CHIASSON "of Châtellreault in Poitou, France," calls her husband Pierre-Cyrille THIBODO, gives her & his parents' names, says his parents were "of Acadia," & that the witnesses to her marriage were Charles COMAU & ____ CHIASSON; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:217 (Opel. Ch.: v.1, p.154), her death/burial record, calls her Adelayde CHIASSON, "originally from Europe in France, married to Cyrille THIBODEAU and lived in the Belle Vue area of this parish for many years," gives her father's but not her mother's name, says she was buried "at age 42 years in the parish cemetery," & that she "Died following a long illness after having received the sacraments." 

Her husband was the brother of her father's second wife. 

02.  Wall of Names, 47, calls him Basile CHAISON; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 40, says that the family sailed on L'Amitié; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:179, 745 (LSAR: Opel.: 1789), a record of his second marriage, calls him Basile CHIASSON, "wid. of Monique COMAU," calls his wife Anne-Marie THIBAUDOT, "wid. of Gang BOURG," says they married on 20 Jul 1789, gives his & her parents' names, says they were "of 'Beu Sejour' (Beauséjour), Acadie," gives no witnesses to his marriage, & notes on p. 745 that "This is not an original but only a typed copy"; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:179, 745 (LSU-E: Opel.: 1789), another record of his second marriage, calls him Basile CHIASSON, "natif de la paroisse de Beau Sejour en (native of the parish of Beauséjour in) Acadie, veuf de (widower of) Monique COMAU," calls his wife Anne-Marie THIBAUDOT, "veuve de (widow of) Lange BOURG, native de la meme paroisse (native of the same parish)," dated their marriage contract on 21 Jul 1789, gives his & her parents' names, but gives no witnesses to his marriage; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:179, 745 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.25), yet another record of his second marriage, calls him Basile CHIASSON, "widow of Monique COMOT," calls his wife Marie THIBODAUX, "widow of Angel BOURG," says they married on 21 Jul 1789," does not give parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Pierre-Cyrille THIBODO & Thomas BRIN. 

The passenger list of L'Amitié includes infant son Louis with Basile & Monique, but the family evidently missed the departure of that vessel in late Aug because they also are on the passenger list of La Caroline, which did not depart France until Oct 19.  By then, Louis, whose full name was Louis-Joseph, had died, buried on 17 Sep 1785 at St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, near Nantes.  The child's illness evidently caused the family to miss the Aug sailing & have to wait for the one in Oct.  Wall of Names includes the family on La Caroline without Louis.

His second wife was the sister of his daughter Adélaïde's husband. 

03.  Wall of Names, 47, calls him Charles CHAISON; Hebert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-B:89, 170 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A. p.109), his marriage record, calls him Charles-Albert CHIASSON, calls his wife Magdeleine BOURASSA, gives his & her parents' names, says her father was deceased at the time of the wedding, & that the witnesses to his marriage were Albert CHIASSON [the groom], Jean MOREAU, Magdeleine BOURASSAS [the bride], Cyrille THIBAUDO, & _____ CHIASSON. 

04.  Wall of Names, 14, calls him Jean-Baptiste CHIASSON neveu [of Pierre CHIASSON].

05.  Wall of Names, 41, calls him Jean CHAISON; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No. 58, shows that in the crossing to St.-Malo in 1758-59, he lost his first wife, who was age 25, in the hospital probably at St.-Malo on 4 Feb 1759, as well as both of their children at sea, son Jean, age 6, & daughter Anne, age 4; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 26.  

06.  Wall of Names, 41, calls him Joseph CHAISON; BRDR, 2:187, 675 (ASC-2, 19), the record of his first marriage, calls him Joseph CHIASSON, calls his wife Maria SIMONEAUX, gives his & her parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Luc LANDRY & Manuel ORDONEZ; BRDR, 2:187(ASM-2, 23), the record of his second marriage, calls him Josef Francisco CHIASSON, "widower of Maria SIMONAUX," calls his wife Maria Margarita LEJEUNE, gives his & her parents' names, says his parents were "Acadians" & hers were "of Acadia," & that the witnesses to his marriage were Jean LEJEUNE & Pierre CHIASSON [his half brother]. 

His wife had a son--Pierre-Félix-Ambroise--by Ambroise HÉBERT in Oct 1794, but she does not seem to have married him. 

07.  Wall of Names, 14, calls her Marie CHIASSON; NOAR, 2:56 (SLC, B5, 110), her birth/baptismal record, calls her Marie CHIASSOND, gives her parents' names, calls her mother Ausede, says they were Acadians, & that her godparents were Alexi (Alexis)-Joseph CARTLIER (CARTIER) & Marie-Marguerite CARLIER.  

What happened to her in LA?

08.  Wall of Names, 14, calls him Michel CHIASSON; BRDR, 2:188 (SJA-1, 56a), his death/burial record, calls him Michel CHIASSON, but does not give his parents' names or his age at the time of his death.  

09.  Wall of Names, 14, calls him Paul CHIASSON frère [of Pierre]; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2458, says he was born in 1746 & married Marie-Madeleine BLANCHARD in c1770; BRDR, 4:125 (SGA-8, 93), his death/burial record, calls him Paul CHIASSON, says he died at
age 74 years," but does not give his parents' names or mention a wife.  See also Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 168, 175; De Ville, St. Gabriel Census, 1777, 4.  

He was probably the Paul CHIASSON, orphan, age 18, counted in SC in Aug 1763.  His age is right.  See Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 236.  He may have gone to Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, in Nov 1763 with other Acadians from SC.  If so, he would have been one of the hand full of Acadian exiles in St.-Domingue who joined up with the Halifax exiles when they changed ships at Cap-Français in late 1764 or early 1765 and sailed on to LA.  See Appendix.  That he came to LA in 1765 is attested to by his being in the 1766 census at Cabanocé, which was taken in Apr.  

Arsenault's estimated birth year for him conforms to the Cabanocé census of 1766.  The age given for him at St.-Gabriel in 1777 is way off.  Arsenault's date for his marriage makes sense in light of the Cabanocé census of Sep 1769, which indicates that he was still a bachelor.  

10.  Wall of Names, 14, calls him Pierre CHIASSON.  

Since he came to LA with younger brother Paul in 1765, he probably picked up his brother at Cap-Francois, Haiti, on the way to LA from Halifax.  

11.  Wall of Names, 41, calls him Pierre CHAISON.

[top of page CHIASSON]

Copyright (c) 2007-11  Steven A. Cormier