APPENDICES

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

DAREMBOURG

[DAH-rim-borgh]

ACADIA

Pierre Darembourg, born probably in France in c1692, married Marie, daughter of Louis Mazerolle of Port-Royal, and settled St.-Pierre-du-Nord on Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, where Pierre died in May 1742.  They had at least four children--Marie-Josèphe, Jean-Baptiste, born in c1724, Geneviève in c1730, Anne in March 1734, another Jean-Baptiste in October 1736, and Jacques in October 1739, all born at Pierre-du-Nord.  Marie-Josèphe married Jacques Langlois at St.-Pierre-du-Nord in April 1744. 

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A family with a similar surname settled at Plaisance, Newfoundland, before Le Grand Dérangement.  Jean Rambourg, whose surname also was spelled Darambourg, married Marie-Anne Pichot of Plaisance, probably at Plaisance in c1732.  They had a number of sons--Félix, born in c1733 probably at Plaisance, Jean-Noël in c1735, Jean-Pierre in c1736, François in c1738, Martin in c1740, and Jérôme at Louisbourg, Île Royale, now Cape Breton Island, in c1742.  Jean died by 1747, when Marie-Anne remarried to Nicolas Hecquart, a sailor from Serance, Diocese of Coutance, France, probably at Louisbourg.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

Living on an island controlled by France, the Darembourgs and Rambourgs of Île St.-Jean and Île Royale escaped the British roundup in Nova Scotia during the autumn of 1755.  Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however.  After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the victorious British rounded up the majority of the Acadians on the two Maritime islands and deported them to France. 

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The British deported Jean-Noël and François Rambourg aboard the transport Queen of Spain, which reached St.-Malo in November 1758.  Jean-Noël married Marie, daughter of Frenchman François Mazurier, at St.-Servan, near St.-Malo, in October 1761.  They had at least three children at St.-Servan:  Marie-Jeanne, born in September 1762, Jean-François-Étienne in February 1764, and Jeanne-Françoise in April 1765.  Jean-Noël died at St.-Servan in May 1768; he was only 33 years old.  Meanwhile, in October 1760, François joined the crew of the French corsair, Le Favory, and was captured by the British.  He was not released until 1763, at the end of the Seven Year's War.  After his release, he returned to St.-Malo and married Jeanne, daughter of Claude Laisne of St.-Servan, at St.-Servan in October 1765.  They had at least three children at St.-Servan:  François-Noël-Guillaume, born in December 1766, Françoise-Renée, born in November 1767, and Guillaume-Michel, born in July 1772.

Jean-Noël and François's brothers Jean-Pierre and Jérôme Rambourg also ended up in France.  Jean-Pierre died in the hospital at St.-Malo in November 1758, soon after he reached the mother country; he was only 24 years old.  Jérôme, along with his mother, who was a widow again, and half-sister Élisabeth Hecquart, survived the rigors of the crossing from Île Royale, but, like them, he did not remain in France.  In April 1764, he, his mother, and sister sailed aboard the ship Le Fort for the French colony of Cayenne with other Acadians who had been exiled to France.  In March 1765, in a count of the Acadians at Sinnamary, Cayenne, the census taker noted that Marianne Pichot de Plaisance was 65 years old and had the fievre.  She probably did not live much longer.  Jérôme married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Grossin of Île St.-Jean, at St.-Sauveur de Cayenne in August 1765.  Their fate, and that of half-sister Élisabeth, is anyone's guess. 

One wonders what happened to brothers Félix and Martin.   No member of Jean Rambourg's family emigrated to Louisiana. 

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Pierre Darembourg's family ended up at Cherbourg in Normandy, where son Jean-Baptiste married Madeleine, daughter of fellow Acadian Antoine Henry of Grand-Pré, in May 1759.  Jean-Baptiste worked as a navigator, sailor, and day laborer.  He and Madeleine had at least four children in France--Jean-Baptiste, fils born in c1761, Marie-Madeleine in c1762, Jean-Pierre in c1765, and Marie-Jeanne in c1768.  Jean-Pierre died at Cherbourg in August 1771; he was only six years old.  Soon after their his death, Jean-Baptiste and Madeleine joined the hundreds of Acadians who ventured to the Poitou region of France to settle on a nobleman's land.  After two miserable years of failure, Jean-Baptiste and his family, with most of the other Acadians, abandoned the Poitou settlement and retreated to the port city of Nantes, where they endured as best they could the indignities of life in the mother country.  In February 1781, son Jean-Baptiste, fils died at age 20 in Chantenay, now part of Nantes.  At about that time, older daughter Marie-Madeleine married Jean-Pierre, son of François Lirette of Nantes, probably at Nantes.  

One wonders what was the fate of Jean-Baptiste's siblings during Le Grand Dérangement.  Was the Jacques Duborg of Île St.-Jean, age 21, counted at Sinnamary, Cayenne, South America, in March 1765 the brother of Jean-Baptiste et al.?

In the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France the chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana.  Jean-Baptiste Darembourg, his wife, and two of his daughters took up the offer.  

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

In September 1785, Jean-Baptiste Darembourg, now 61, his wife Madeleine Henry, age 45, and daughter Marie-Jeanne, age 18, reached New Orleans aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships from France.  After a brief respite in the city, they followed the majority of the passengers from their ship to upper Bayou Lafourche.  Marie-Jeanne married Joseph, fils, son of fellow Acadian Joseph Hébert, at Lafourche in April 1786.  Joseph also had come to Louisiana aboard Le St.-Rémi.  

Jean-Baptiste and Madeleine's older daughter, Marie-Madeleine Darembourg, age 23, and two of her daughters, Marie-Jeanne Lirette, age 2, and Rose-Adélaïde Lirette, still an infant, also sailed to Louisiana aboard Le St.-Rémi, but Marie-Madeleine's husband, Jean-Pierre Lirette, did not accompany them.  He came to the colony on a later ship, and they also settled on the upper bayou.  

CONCLUSION

When Jean-Baptiste Darembourg and Madeleine Henry emigrated to Louisiana in 1785, they were too old to have any more children.  Their only two sons, Jean-Baptiste, fils and Jean-Pierre, lay buried in France.  Except for its blood, then, the Acadian branch of the Darembourg family did not survive in the Bayou State.  

The family's name also is spelled Darmabourg, De Rambourg, Durambourg, Duranbourg, Duran Bourque, Durand-Bourg, du Rembour, Durambourg, Durembourg, Durenbourg, Lambourg, Lambourge, Rambourg.  This humble Acadian family should not be confused with another family in Louisiana whose name was similar.  The aristocratic D'Arensbourg family from Sweden lived on Louisiana's German Coast; the progenitor of the family, in fact, commanded the German districts from the 1720s to the late 1760s, decades before the Acadian Darembourgs reached the colony. 

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 2083; BRDR, vol. 2; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 98, 586, 593-95; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 67; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 684-87; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 107, 370; White, DGFA-1, 468.

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, 35 (pl. 9L), calls him Jean-Baptiste DURAMBOURG, & lists him with his wife & a daughter; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2083, profile for his father in the Île St.-Jean section, calls him Jean-Baptiste DAREMBOURG, says he was born in 1736 but gives no birthplace, that his father was born in 1692 but gives no birthplace nor his father's parents'  names, that his father died in 1742 but gives no place of death, that his mother was daughter of Louis [MAZEROLLE] & Geneviève LAFORÊT of Port-Royal but gives no date of marriage to his father, & that his siblings were sister Geneviève, born in 1730, sister Anne, born in 1734, & brother Jacques, born in 1739; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 98, 193, his marriage record, calls him Jean DU RAMBOURG, "laborer of Île St.-Jean and transferred to France," calls his wife Magdeleine HENRY, "originally from St.-Charles in Acadia and transferred to France," gives his & her parents' names, calls his mother Marie SAINT-LOUIS, says all parents were deceased at the time of the wedding, but gives no witnesses to the marriage; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 67, Family No. 124, calls him Jean-Baptiste DURAMBOURG, says he was born in c1724 but gives no birthplace, does not give his or his wife's parents' names, says that he was a navigator & seaman, that he married in c1759 but gives no place of marriage, includes the death/burial record of son Jean-Baptiste, died age 20 & buried 19 Feb 1781, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & 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, 46-47, calls him Jean-Bte DURAMBOURG, journalier, age 50, on the embarkation list, & Jean-Baptiste DARAMBOURG, day laborer, age 50, on the complete listing, says he was in the 17th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with his wife & a daughter, &, calling him Jean-Baptiste DURAMBOURG, says he married in c1759 but gives no place of marriage.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 32, 65, 104, 164.

02.  Wall of Names, 35 (pl. 9L), calls her Marie-Jeanne [DURAMBOURG], & lists her with her parents & no siblings; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 67, Family No. 124, calls her Marie-Madeleine & Madeleine [DURAMBOURG], gives her parents' names, & details her 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, 46-47, calls her Marie-Jeanne, sa [Jean-Bte DURAMBOURG's] fille, age 18, on the embarkation list, & Marie-Jeanne DURAMBOURG, his [Jean-Baptiste DURAMBOURG's] dgtr., age 18, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 17th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her parents & no siblings; BRDR, 2:363, 613 (ASC-2, 1), her marriage record, calls her Marie-Jeanne DE RAMBOURG "of Acadia," does not give her or her husband's parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Mathurin COMMO & Joseph HÉBERT.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 47, 53, 130, 179.  

Her future husband also crossed from France aboard Le St.-Rémi.  

03.  Not in Wall of Names.  Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 67, Family No. 124, calls her Marie-Madeleine [DURAMBOURG], says that she was the daughter of Jean-Baptiste DURAMBOURG & Madeleine HENRY, & details her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 495, shows that she & her husband were at Nantes in Sep 1784 on a list of Acadians who wanted to go to LA; Winzerling, Acadian Odyssey, 193, note 117, says that she was the wife of "the absent" Juan LIRRET, who was not on the passenger lists of any of the 7 ships, & that she & 2 of their daughters, Marie-Jeanne & Rose-Adélaïde, came to LA with her aboard Le St.-Rémi.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1777-98, 32, 65, 104, 121, 164. 

Winzerling also says that she was the sister of Jean-Baptiste DAREMBOURG, but Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, cited above, says she was his daughter.  

There is no question that both she & her husband made it to LA because they, along with their children, were counted in an number of censuses at Ascension & in the upper Lafourche valley from 1788 to 1798.  Where did son Constant LIRETTE come from in 1798?  He is listed in none of the other LA censuses that enumerate this family.  

Her husband's birthplace & parents' names can be found in the birth/baptismal records of several of their children in BRDR, 2:504 (ASM-1, 111 & 190).  Several of the baptismal records say she was "of Cherbourg."  One baptismal record, that of daughter Maria Angela LIRET, dated 17 Jul 1798, says Jean-Pierre LIRETTE's parents were from Acadia.  His mother may have been, but there is no LIRETTE family in either Arsenault or White, so I am calling it French Creole in LA.  He most likely was a Frenchman who married an Acadian and followed her to LA.  

Why is such a thoroughly documented Acadian not in Wall of Names?  

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Copyright (c) 2007-11  Steven A. Cormier