APPENDICES

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

LANOUX

[la-NOH]

ACADIA

Pierre Lanoue, "young scion of a noble Huguenot family in France," came to Acadia in c1667 as a cooper after converting to Catholicism.  He was only 19.  When he was 34 years old, he married Jeanne, 17-year-old daughter of Francois Gautrot, at Port-Royal in c1682.  They had only one child, son Pierre, fils, born at Port-Royal in c1683.  Pierre, père died at Port-Royal sometime between 1707-14 in his late 50s or early 60s.  Jeanne died at Port-Royal in October 1749, in her mid-80s.  

Meanwhile, Pierre, fils married Marie, daughter of Laurent Granger, at Port-Royal in November 1702.  Pierre, fils and Marie had nine children, including six sons, all born at Port-Royal, who created families of their own.   Only one of their three daughters married, into the Melanson family.  

Oldest son Joseph, born in October 1703, married Marguerite, daughter of Charles Belliveau, at Port-Royal in October 1725.  They had to receive a dispensation for "4-4 cons" in order to marry.  

Pierre, born in January 1706, married first to Francoise, daughter of Pierre Thibodeau l'aîné, probably at Port-Royal in c1727, and then to Anne, another daughter of Charles Belliveau, at Port-Royal in November 1737. They had to receive a dispensation for "4-4 cons" in order to marry.  

Charles, born in February 1709, married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of Charles Landry, at Grand-Pré in June 1729. 

René, born in December 1710, married Marguerite, daughter of Michel Richard, at Port-Royal in January 1732.  René died at Port-Royal in May 1751; he was only 41 years old.  

Honoré, born in December 1713, married Agnès, another daughter of Charles Belliveau, at Port-Royal in February 1745.  They had to receive a dispensation for "4-4 cons" in order to marry.  

Youngest son Michel, born in February 1717, married Marie-Judith, yet another daughter of Charles Belliveau, at Port-Royal in January 1742.  They had to receive a dispensation for "4-4 cons" in order to marry.  

In 1755, descendants of Pierre Lanoue could still be found at Port-Royal, which the British called Annapolis Royal, and at Grand-Pré.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

Le Grand Dérangement of 1755 scattered this large family to the winds: ...

Most of the Lanoues ended up in Canada. ...

When the French and Indian War finally ended, the Lanoue brothers at Halifax had a serious dilemma on their hands.  The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article 14 that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories.  In the case of the Acadians, however, this meant that they could return only to French soil.  Chignecto 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 England "planters."  If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation.  They would also have to take the hated oath if they joined their cousins in the St. Lawrence valley.  After all that they had suffered on the question of the oath, no self-respecting Acadian would consent to take it if it could be avoided.   Some Halifax exiles chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French island off the southern coast of Newfoundland.  Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies already had gone, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which, thanks to British control of Canada, was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles.  Whatever their choice, they would not remain in old Acadia.  So the Lanoue brothers gathered up what money they could and prepared to leave their beloved homeland.  

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Despite the large size of the family in Acadia, only two Lanoues emigrated to Louisiana.  Brothers Joseph, age 19, and Pierre, age 18, came to the colony in 1765 with other Acadians from Halifax via St.-Domingue, today's Haiti.  They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river above New Orleans where 20 Acadians had settled the year before.  

In 1769 at Cabanocé, Joseph, a 23-year-old bachelor, was living on lot number 133 on the left, or east, bank of the river.  There was no one else in his household.  After that, he disappears from history.  It was younger brother Pierre who established the Acadian branch of the Lanoue family in the Bayou State:

Descendants of Pierre LANOUX (c1746-1817)

Pierre, younger son of Michel Lanoue and Marie-Judith Belliveau of Port-Royal, born probably at Port-Royal in c1746, followed his family into exile in 1755 and ended up as a prisoner in Nova Scotia in the final years of the French and Indian War.  He came to Louisiana with his older brother Joseph in 1765 and settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques.  Pierre married Catherine, daughter of fellow Acadian Jacques LeBlanc of Minas, probably at St.-Jacques in c1770.  Catherine had come to the colony in 1766 from Maryland.  They owned a slave in 1779.  Their daughters married into the Landry, Laudenbach, LeBlanc (French Canadian, not Acadian) Melançon, Mire, and Triat families.  Pierre died in St. James Parish in July 1817; the priest who recorded his burial said that Pierre was 72 years old when he died.  Two of his three sons married and settled in St. James and Ascension parishes. His descendants, with the exception of a great-granddaughter, remained on the river.  Several of his granddaughters and great-granddaughters married Foreign Frenchmen.  

1

Oldest son Simon, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in March 1771, married Félicité, daughter of fellow Acadian Joachim dit Bénoni Mire, at Ascension in January 1789.  They must have lived near the boundary between St.-Jacques and Ascension.  Their son, name unrecorded, "recently born," died at St.-Jacques in October 1798, Simon, fils was born at Ascension in October 1798, Augustin in February 1801, Jordan at St.-Jacques in July 1802, Jean Dominique at Ascension in August 1805, and Romain in August 1806.  Their daughters married into the Bourgeois, Gassin, Jaume, LeBlanc, and Savoie families.  Simon, père died in Ascension Parish in June 1838; the priest who recorded his burial said that Simon was "ca. 60 yrs." old when he died, but he closer to 67.  

1a

Simon, fils married cousin Osite, daughter of fellow Acadian Sylvain LeBlanc, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in October 1819; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of consanguinity in order to marry.  Their daughter married into the Jaume family.  ...

1b

Romain married Marie Émelie, daughter of fellow Acadian Simon Savoie, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1827.  Their son Simon Bienvenu was born in St. James Parish in 1828, Tiburce near Convent, St. James Parish, in April 1832, and Romain, fils in Ascension Parish in April 1836.  ...

1c

Augustin married Célestine or Céleste, daughter of Martin Angèle or Angere, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in November 1829.  Their son Auguste was born near Convent in September 1830, Félix in Ascension Parish in January 1834, and Édouard in January 1838 but died at age 16 months in May 1839.  ...

2

Michel, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in May 1773, married Marie-Céleste, called Céleste, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Sonnier, at St.-Jacques in February 1795.  Like older brother Simon's family, they must have lived near the boundary between St.-Jacques and Ascension.  Their son Pierre-Élie, called Élie, was born at St.-Jacques in February 1796, André-Decomine in September 1803, Michel Marine at Ascension in April 1805 but died in St. James Parish, age 4, in July 1809, Jacques was baptized at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, age 27 months, in September 1809, Louis Zephirin was born in Ascension Parish in April 1809, and Jean Casimir, called Casimir, was born in St. James Parish in June 1813.  Their daughters married into the Gisclard, Hinger, and Hymel families.  ...  

2a

Élie married Marie Apollone or Polonne, called Polonne, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Louis Gautreaux, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in January 1816.  Their son Magloire was born near Convent in November 1818, Edmond in November 1820, Paul Aristide, called Aristide, in January 1823 but died at age 13 in February 1835, Zephirin Anselme was born in April 1827, and Narcisse Trasimond in Ascension Parish in April 1829.  Their daughter married into the Melançon family.  ...

2b

Jacques married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Simon Savoie, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in April 1828.  Their daughter married into the Martin family on Bayou Lafourche.  ...

2c

André Decomine married Lise, daughter of French Creole Nicolas Gisclard, at the the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in August 1829.  Their son André Zephirin was born near Convent, St. James Parish, in September 1830 but died at age 5 months the following January, André Émile was born in January 1832, and Michel in March 1834.  ...

2d

Casimir married first cousin Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Donat Landry, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in September 1831; Marie's mother was Casimir's aunt, Marthe Lanoux; they had to secure a dispensation for second degree of consanguinity in order to marry.  Their son Adam was born in Ascension Parish in June 1836 but died at age 8 months in March 1837, and Michel Douradou was born in near Convent in April 1838.  ...

3

Youngest son Élie, baptized at St.-Jacques, age unrecorded, in January 1781, died at St.-Jacques at age 14 in May 1795.  

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

South Louisiana church records reveal that no non-Acadian Lanoue families settled in the colony.  During the antebellum period, however, a Foreign-French family headed by a young French nobleman moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in the 1830s:  

Marie-Michel-Hippolyte-Louis, son of Count Joseph-Francois-Louis-Marthe de Lanoue de Vair and Hippolyte-Lessage de Laville, was born at Pontijac, near Toulouse, in the lower Pyrenees Mountains of France, in c1779.  Known as Louis de Lanoue, Count of Vere, he came to North America as a young man during the French Revolution to escape the guillotine.  He married Adélaïde, daughter of Jean Baptiste Marie Colla of Pensacola and New Orleans at either New Orleans or Baton Rouge by the early 1830s.  Their son Antoine Émile was born near Baton Rouge in July 1831, and Alexandre in May 1836.  Marie-Michel-Hippolyte-Louis died at Baton Rouge in May 1849.

CONCLUSION

Lanoues settled early in Acadia and were a large family there.  They were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana, but they remained a relatively small family in the Bayou State.  Two brothers, Joseph and Pierre Lanoue, came to Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue in 1765.  They settled at Cabanocé on the river, where only Pierre created a family of his own.  His descendants remained on the river. ...

Non-Acadian Lanoues do not appear in Louisiana church records during the colonial period.  However, a Foreign-Frenchman named de Lanoue de Vair, son of a count from the lower Pyrenees, settled near Baton Rouge in the 1830s.  Still, the great majority of the Lanoues of South Louisiana are descended from the humble Acadian Pierre and two of his sons, who settled in what became St. James and Ascension parishes.  ...

In Louisiana, the family's name evolved from Lanoue to Lanoux.  The family's name also is spelled D'Anous, Lanneau, Lannoux, Lanoir, Lanoire, Lanore, Lanou, Lanue.  This family should not be confused with French-Creole families such as the Lanoiss and Lanoixs with similar-sounding surnames.  

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 628-34, 2535; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.); Hébert, D., South LA Records, vol. 3; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vol. 1-B; Milling, Exile Without End, 30, source of quote; White, DGFA-1, 958-60; White, DGFA-1 English, 204.  

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, 21, calls him Joseph LANOUE; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2535, calls him Joseph LANOUE, says he was born in 1743, that he was probablement son of Michel [LANOUE] & Marie-Judith BELLIVEAU of Port-Royal, that he occupied lot number 133 on the east side of the Mississippi at St.-Jacques in 1769, & mentions no wife or children.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 178.  

He seems to have disappeared from the records after being counted at Cabanocé in 1769.  Did he die young?  There is no evidence in the church records of St. James & Ascension parishes that he ever married & fathered children.

02.  Wall of Names, 21, calls him Pierre LANOUE; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2535, calls him Pierre LANOUE, says he was born in 1747, that he was probablement son of Michel [LANOUE] & Marie-Judith BELLIVEAU of Port-Royal, that he married Catherine LEBLANC, born in 1752, but give no date or place of marriage, says he occupied lot number 130 on the east side of the Mississippi at St.-Jacques in 1769, & list his children as Simon, born in 1771, Michel in 1773, Marianne in 1775, & Euphrosine in 1778, but gives no birthplaces; BRDR, 3:519 (SMI-8, 30), his death/burial record, calls him Pierre LANOUE, "nat. Acadia," does not give his parents' names or mention a wife, & says he was 72 years old at the time of his death.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 249; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 178.  

His & Catherine's approximate wedding year is based on the baptismal date--Mar 1771--of oldest child Simon.  She would have been 20 years old in 1770.  

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