APPENDICES

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

LÉGER

[LAY-jhay]

ACADIA

Francois Léger, born in France in c1631, was recorded at Chignecto in 1686, age 55, as a domestic servant in the household of Beaubassin seigneur, Michel Le Neuf de La Vallière.  There is no evidence that Francois raised a family.

~

Jean de La Grange, son of merchant Élie Léger and Jeanne de Phélis, was born at Abjat, Limoges, France, in June 1663.  He served as a surgeon, a merchant, a corsaire, and as capitaine de flût du roi entretenu at the port of Rochefort.  He married Louise, daughter of Pierre Fauvel, at Québec in November 1691.  He and Louise had five children, all daughters born at Québec between February 1694 and April 1702.  At the end of 1703, during Queen Anne's War, Jean de La Grange led an expedition against the English in Newfoundland.  In February 1708, he remarried to Marie Desreaux, widow of Jean Berthelot, at Québec.  There is no record of his having more children with his second wife.  None of the Légers of Acadia descend from this French aristocrat.

~

The progenitor of the Léger family in Acadia was another soldier, this one of a more humble rank.  Jacques Léger dit La Rosette, a drummer in the sieur de Villeu's company, detachment of Marine, stationed at Fort Nashwaak (now Fredericton, New Brunswick) on Rivière St.-Jean, was born probably in France in c1668.  Around 1693, after his discharge from the King's service, Jacques married Madeleine, daughter of Guillaume Trahan, at Port-Royal and took land on the south side of Rivière au Dauphin, today's Annapolis River, above Port-Royal.  Jacques and Madeleine had 11 children, including four sons, all born at Port-Royal.  Four of their daughters married into the Michel, Robichaud dit Cadet, Bertrand, and Doucet families.  

Oldest son Jacques, fils, born in c1695, married Anne, daughter of Francois Amireau, at Port-Royal in January 1717.  They moved to Chepoudy and  then to Petitcoudiac in present-day southeastern New Brunswick.  Jacques, fils died probably at Petitcoudiac in the early 1750s.

A son, whose name is lost to history, died at Port-Royal in c1703.  

Jean, born in January 1709, married Marie-Marguerite, daughter of Abraham Comeau, at Port-Royal in May 1730.  They settled at Chepoudy.  In the early 1750s they moved to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island.

Youngest son Francois, born in October 1714, married Madeleine, another daughter of Abraham Comeau, at Port-Royal in May 1739.  They remained at Port-Royal.  

In 1755, descendants of Jacques Léger dit La Rosette could be found at Port-Royal, which the British called Annapolis Royal, at Chepoudy and Petitcoudiac, and on Île St.-Jean.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this family even farther: ...

After the French and Indian War finally ended, the Acadians being held at Halifax had a serious dilemma on their hands.  The Treaty of Paris of the previous February 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 Canada.  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-controlled 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 Légers gathered up what money they could and prepared to leave their homeland.  

LOUISIANA:  WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

Légers were early settlers in Acadia and among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana.  Marie Savoie, widow of Paul Léger, came from Halifax via St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, in the spring of 1765, with son Joseph and daughter Scholastique, age 18.  They followed Marie's brother Pierre Savoie to the Opelousas District, west of the Atchafalaya Basin, and were among the first Acadians to settle in that area.  Scholastique married Joseph Jeansonne and died at Bois de Malet, St. Landry Parish, in January 1817, age 60.  

Joseph LEGER (?-)

Joseph, son of Paul Léger and Marie Savoie, followed his widowed mother and a sister to Louisiana from Halifax in 1765 and on to the Opelousas District.  He may have appeared on an Opelousas militia list as a fusilier in 1789.  One wonders if he was the Joseph Leger who married Marie Buena and settled at St.-Jacques on the river.  

~

After he came of age, a young Léger left his older sisters and moved from St.-Jacques on the river to the Opelousas District:

Descendants of Paul LEGER (c1758-1818)

Paul, son of Francois Léger and Madeleine Comeau of Port-Royal, was born in New York colony in c1758 during Le Grand Dérangement.  In the early 1760s, after the French and Indian War had ended, his family may have been among the New York Acadians who emigrated to St.-Domingue, today's Haiti.  Only 7 years old and an orphan, he followed his two older sisters to Louisiana in 1765.  They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river.  Spanish officials counted him on the left, or east, bank of the river at St.-Jacques in 1777; he was an engagé, or hired worker, with the family of fellow Acadian Paul Martin.  He moved to the Opelousas District in the late 1770s or 1780s and was counted in the Grand Coteau area of the district in 1788.  He married Marie-Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Potier, at nearby Atakapas in July 1789, in his early 30s.  Marie-Constance had come to Louisiana from France in 1785.  They settled near Grand Coteau.  Their daughters married into the Akerson, Bordelon, LaFleur, Prejean, Ritter, Steel or Stut, and Wyble families.  Paul died "at his home at Gran[sic] Coteau, at age 59 years" in March 1818; his estate record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse that month, and a succession record in September 1822.  Only one of his three sons married, settled near Grand Coteau, and had many sons of his own.  

1

Oldest son Paul, fils died probably at Atakapas 7 days after his birth in November 1797.  The infant's body was re-interred at Opelousas in November 1801.  

2

Alexandre, born at Atakapas in January 1799, died "at his home at Gran Coteau" in October 1818.  He was only 18 1/2 years old and did not marry.  The priest who recorded his burial noted that Alexandre "was unable to receive the sacraments, not being in a state or condition to receive them because of his serious illness."  Sister Apolline Constance had died in late August, age 17, and the priest had noted that she, too, also could not receive the sacrament "having so little time once she got ill--perdu la parole (she lost her speech)."  One wonders if they died of yellow fever, then a common scourge in South Louisiana.  

3

Youngest son Hippolyte-Paul, born at Atakapas in January 1803, married Marcellite, 17-year-old daughter of fellow Acadian Pierre Lebert, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in November 1821.  Their son Paulin was born near Grand Coteau in December 1826, Paul le jeune in November 1828, Alexandre le jeune in October 1830, Hippolyte, fils in June 1832, Pierre in June 1835, and Constant in October 1837.  ...

During the War Between the States, Constant served in Company E of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, a front-line unit raised in Lafayette Parish that served gallantly at Vicksburg, Mississippi. ...

~

Three Léger brothers--Michel, age 23, Louis, age 19, and Jean, age 15--came to Louisiana from France with their mother, Angélique Pinet, widow of Michel Léger, aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships of 1785.  Most of the passengers from Le Bon Papa chose to settle St.-Gabriel de Manchac south of Baton Rouge, but Angélique and her sons chose the Opelousas District, where Angélique remarried to French Canadian Michel Blanchet at Opelousas in April 1787.  Her three Léger sons married fellow Acadians and put down deep roots in the rolling prairies of Opelousas and Atakapas: 

Descendants of Michel LEGER (c1762-c1817)

Michel, fils, eldest son of Michel Léger and Angélique Pinet of Port-Royal, was born at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in c1762 during Le Grand Dérangement.  He followed his family to France, where Spanish officials counted them at Nantes in September 1784; his father had died by then.  His widowed mother and younger brothers sailed to Louisiana aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, in 1785, but Michel was not aboard.  He stowed away on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, and joined his family in New Orleans after he reached the city in November.  He followed them to the Opelousas District, where he married Marguerite-Louise, daughter of fellow Acadian Paul Boutin, in June 1787.  They settled on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brulée, west of Grand Coteau.  In the late 1790s or early 1800s, Michel moved his family south to Anse La Butte in the Atakapas District, present-day St. Martin Parish, before moving to Grand Prairie in St. Landry Parish.  They also lived at L'Abatte.  Their daughters married into the Breaux, Eades, and Miller families.  Michel's estate record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse in August 1817; he would have been age 55 that year.  

1

Oldest son Michel III, baptized at Opelousas, age unrecorded, in July 1789, died at age 8 1/2 in February 1798.  

2

A child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died at Plaquemine Brulée in 1791.  

3

Alexandre, born at Opelousas in February 1792, married Marie Augustine, daughter of fellow Acadian Augustin Dugas of La Butte, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1814, the same day, in fact, that his younger brother Julien married.  They settled on the upper Vermilion before moving to the Mermentau River valley.  Their son Alexandre, fils was born on the Vermilion in December 1815, and Charles Édouard, also called Neuville, on the Mermentau in November 1816.  Alexandre, père died probably on the Mermentau  in July 1816; he was only 24 years old. ...

Alexandre, fils married Marie Adélaïde, daughter of French Creole Francois Lormand, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1833.  Their son Alexandre III was born in Lafayette Parish in June 1834, another Alexandre III was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 6 months, in August 1836, and Demosthène at age 4 months in June 1838.  ...

4

Julien, born at Opelousas in July 1794, married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Duhon of the upper Vermilion, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1814, the same day, in fact, that his older brother Alexandre married.  They also settled on the upper Vermilion.  Their son Julien, files was born on the Vermilion in February 1815, Cyprien in April 1819, a son, name unrecorded, died 8 days after his birth in September 1825, and Joseph was born in March 1830.  Their daughters married into the Cormier and Simon families.  ...

4a

Julien, fils married Marie Phelonise, daughter of fellow Acadian Michel Trahan, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in December 1833.  Their son Julien III was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 5 days, in September 1834, Théogène at age 2 months in May 1837, and Michel le jeune was born in April 1840.  ...

4b

Cyprien married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Hébert, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in November 1837.  Their son Cyprien, fils was baptized at the Vermilionville church, age 25 months, in March 1839.  ...

5

A second Michel III married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Firmin Duhon of the upper Vermilion and widow of Yves Goplet, "at the residence of Olidon Broussard," St. Martin Parish, in October 1818.  Their son Michel IV was born in St. Martin Parish in November 1819, and Onésime in September 1821.  ...

Michel IV married Marguerite, daughter of fellow Acadian Maximilien LeBlanc, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in January 1840. ...

6

Augustin, born at Atakapas in January 1796, married Marie Emeranthe, called Emeranthe, 20-year-old daughter of French Creole Jean Meche, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1821; Emeranthe's mother was a Savoie.  Their son Augustin, fils was born near Grand Coteau in July 1825, Treville in July 1827, Zephirin in April 1832, and Placide le jeune in May 1838.  ...

7

Henry, born at Atakapas in July 1801, may have died young.

8

Youngest son Placide, born at Atakapas in December 1805, married Marie Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of German Creole Joseph Matte, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in January 1834; Azélie's mother was a Bellard.  Their son Numa was baptized at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, age 2 months, in April 1835, Alcide was born in St. Landry Parish in March 1836, and Placide, fils near Grand Coteau in October 1840.  ...

Descendants of Louis LEGER (c1765-)

Louis, second son of Michel Léger and Angélique Pinet of Port-Royal, was born on Cape Breton Island or on Île St.-Pierre or Île Miquelon in c1765.  He followed his family to France, where Spanish officials counted them at Nantes in September 1784; his father had died by then.  He followed his widowed mother and a younger brother to Louisiana aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, in 1785.  After older brother Michel joined them in New Orleans, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District, where Louis married Anne, daughter of fellow Acadian Joseph Doucet of Atakapas, in January 1792.  They settled near his older brother Michel on upper Bayou Plaquemine Brulée.  Their daughters married into the Daigle, Grabot, LeBoeuf, Matte, and Richard families.  ...

1

Their oldest son, name unrecorded, died at Opelousas a few days after his birth in April 1788.  

2

Louis, fils, born at Opelousas in November 1792, died in St. Landry Parish in January 1813.  He was only 20 years old and did not marry.  

3

Jean-Narcisse, baptized at Opelousas, age unrecorded, in November 1794, may have married Modest Prejean.  Their son Diogène was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in July 1822.  ...

4

Michel le jeune, baptized at Opelousas, age unrecorded, in August 1798, married Céleste, also called Pouponne, daughter of German Creole Joseph Matte, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1821; Céleste's mother was a Bellard.  Their son Michel, fils was born in St. Landry Parish in July 1826, Jérôme in September 1827, Célestin in June 1829, Joseph in September 1833, and Jean Geran near Grand Coteau in January 1840.  Their daughter married into the Richard family.  ...

5

Joseph, baptized at Opelousas, age unrecorded, in November 1800, died at age 9 in January 1809.

6

Hilaire, born at Opelousas in January 1802, married Émilie, called Melite, daughter of Pierre Pariseau, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in June 1821; Melite's mother was a Bellard.  Their son Louis was born in St. Landry Parish in November 1825, and Zephirin in April 1830.  ...

7

A child, perhaps a son, name unrecorded, died, age unrecorded, at Opelousas in December 1806.  

8

Youngest son Julien le jeune, born in St. Landry Parish in June 1812, married Aureline, daughter of fellow Acadian Francois Richard, père, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1830.  Their son Julien, fils was born near Grand Coteau in October 1838.  ...

Descendants of Jean LEGER (c1770-)

Jean, third and youngest son of Michel Léger and Angélique Pinet of Port-Royal, was born at Cherbourg, France, in c1770.  He followed his widowed mother and a younger brother to Louisiana aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships, in 1785.  After older brother Michel joined them in New Orleans, they crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Opelousas District, where Jean married Marie, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Savoie, in August 1796.  Their daughters married into the Bourque, Fontenot, Morin, Teller, and Wood families.  ...

1

Oldest son Jean-Valéry, called Valéry and Jean, fils, born at Atakapas in April 1807, married Louise, daughter of French Creole Étienne Billardin, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in November 1827.  Their son Francois was born near Grand Coteau in March 1834, and Jean Émile, called Émile, in December 1838 died at age 3 months the following March.  ...

2

Dosithé, born in St. Landry Parish in June 1809, married Marie Marcellite, called Marcellite, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Semere, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1838.  ...

3

Joachim, born in St. Landry Parish in April 1816, married Marie Elisa, called Elisa, 21-year-old daughter of Anglo-Creole Narcisse Andrus, originally Andrews, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in January 1838; Elisa's mother was a Prejean.  Their twin sons Jean Gustave and Joseph Gustave were born near Grand Coteau in September 1838.  ...

4

Youngest son, name unrecorded, died at "la Prairie du Grand Coteau," St. Landry Parish, age unrecorded, in October 1819 and was re-interred at the Grand Coteau church cemetery the following December.  

Other LEGERs on the Western Prairies

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

Francois Leger married Louise Leger.  Their son Francois, fils died near Grand Coteau, age 2, in January 1837.  

Francois, son of Jean Leger and Julie David, married Marcellite Broussard, and remarried to Carmelite, daughter of Acadian Louis LeBlanc, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in July 1837.  Who was Jean Leger, and was he kin to the Acadian Legers in the area?

Apolline, or Pauline, Leger married James, also called Jean, Prewitt, and remarried to Isaac Kennison, widower of Marguerite Savoie, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1839.  Which Apolline was she--daughter of Paul, or daughter of Michel?  

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Other Légers came to Louisiana in 1765, but they did not settle on the western prairies, at least not for a while:  

Jean, 43-year-old son of Jacques Léger and Anne Amireau of Chepoudy and Petitcoudiac, and his wife Marie-Madeleine Saulnier, age unrecorded, came to the colony from Halifax via St.-Domingue without any children.  They settled at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques on the river above New Orleans where 20 Acadian from Georgia had settled the year before.  Marie-Madeleine died by April 1774, when Jean remarried to Cécile, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean-Baptiste Poirier and widow of Olivier Landry, at St.-Jacques.  Jean and Cécile had no children, so this line of the family did not survive in the Bayou State.  Nevertheless, Jean and his second wife enjoyed a measure of material success after they came to the Spanish colony; in 1779, they owned two slaves on their habitant along the river.  

Isabelle Léger came from Halifax via St.-Domingue with husband Joseph Forest, age 19, and no children.  They, too, settled at Cabanocé, where Isabelle died by June 1775, when her husband remarried at St.-Jacques

Three children of Francois Léger and Madeleine Comeau of Port-Royal--Marie, age 21, Scholastique, age 19, and Paul, only 7--also settled at Cabanocé.  They may have come directly from Haiti with Acadians from Halifax who came through Cap-Français on their way to New Orleans.  Marie married Pierre, son of fellow Acadian Jacques Michel and widower of Marguerite Poirier, at Cabanocé in March 1766.  Marie died near Convent, St. James Parish, in May 1826, in her early 80s.  Scholastique married Saturnin Bruno, probably an Italian, at Cabanocé in April 1768 and died at nearby Ascension in the late 1780s.  Brother Paul did not remain on the river.  In the late 1770s or early 1780s, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin and settled in the Opelousas District, where he helped create a western branch of the family.  

Other LEGERs on the River

Area church records make it difficult to link one Leger on the river with known Acadian lines of the family:

Joseph Leger married Marie Buena.  Their son Ambroise-André was born at St.-Jacques in November 1792.  Was he Joseph, son of Paul Leger and Marie Savoie, who settled in the Opelousas District in the mid-1760s?  

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

A Léger from Germany settled at New Orleans in the late 1720s or early 1730s, decades before the first of his Acadian namesakes reached the colony in the 1760s.  He moved to the Lower German Coast in the late 1730s or early 1740s.  Other Germans, surname Lecher, sometimes spelled Leger, settled on the Upper German Coast in the late colonial period:

Thomas, son of George-André Leger and Marie-Gertrude ____, native of Heidelberg, Germany, married Marie-Anne Paquinne or Sclauterbeken by September 1731, when a daughter was baptized at New Orleans.  Their son Thomas, fils, born probably at New Orleans in c1739, died at St.-Charles des Allemands, on the Lower German Coast, age 5, in July 1746.  Their daughter married into the Hingle and Rastier families.  Thomas remarried to Marguerite, daughter of French Creole Jean-Adam Matherne of New Orleans, at St.-Charles des Allemands in January 1743.  

~

During the antebellum period, Legers emigrated from France to Louisiana, where they would have been called Foreign French.  Most of them remained at New Orleans, but one of them lived on the western prairies:

André Leger, a native of the Haute Loire region of France, died in Lafayette Parish in November 1831.  He was 66 years old.  The priest who recorded André's burial did not mention a wife.  André's succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse the following February.  

CONCLUSION

Legers settled early in Acadia, and they were among the earliest Acadians to seek refuge in Louisiana.  A widow, a childless couple, a wife, and three Leger siblings--two sisters and a brother--came to the colony from Halifax via St.-Domingue in 1765.  The widow followed her in-laws to the Opelousas District, but the others settled at Cabanocé on the river.  The childless couple remained childless.  The two sisters married and remained on the river.  In the early 1780s, after their brother came of age, he crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to the Atakapas District and started a western branch of the family.  Later in the decade, more Legers--three brothers following their widowed mother--came to the colony from France.  They followed her to the Opelousas District, married, and started large families of their own.  No Leger lines arose on the river or in the Bayou Lafourche valley, only on the western prairies.  They settled at Grand Coteau, Carencro, along Bayou Plaquemine Bruleé, on Bayou Teche, Bayou Vermilion, and the Mermentau River in present-day St. Landry, St. Martin, Lafayette, Acadia, and Evangeline parishes. 

Germans named Lecher, their names sometimes spelled Leger by their French Creole neighbors, came to the colony as early as the 1720s and settled on the German Coast above New Orleans.  During the antebellum period, Legers emigrated to Louisiana from France, and one of them settled on the western prairies near his Acadian namesakes.  The great majority of Legers in South Louisiana, however, are not Germans or Foreign French but descendants of Jacques Léger dit La Rosette, the French drummer who served in Acadia. ...

The family's name also is spelled Lege, Legee, Legere, Legers.  

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 660-62, 1564-65, 2244-45, 2546-47; BRDR, vols. 2, 4; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 295-96; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3; Historical Atlas of Canada, 1: plate 29; NOAR, vols. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7; White, DGFA-1, 1041-44; White, DGFA-1 English, 221-22.  

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, 16, calls her Isabelle LÉGER.

02.  Wall of Names, 22, calls him Jean LÉGER; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2546-47, calls him Jean-Baptiste LEGER, says he was born in 1719 at Chepoudy, says his parents were Jacques [LEGER] & Anne AMIRAULT of Port-Royal, that he married Madeleine SAUNIER in c1739 but gives no place of marriage, gives her parents' names, says he remarried to Anne AMIRAULT in c1750 but gives no place of marriage nor her parents' names, that he remarried again--his third marriage--to Cécile POIRIER, widow of Olivier LANDRY, at St.-Jacques on 26 Apr 1774, but does not give her parents' names, & lists his children as, from his first marriage, Isabelle, born in 1739, & Madeleine in 1741 but gives no birthplaces; BRDR, 2:491, 598 (SJA-1, 45a), the record of his second marriage, calls him Jacques LEGER, "name given as Jean in margin, widower of Anne MIREAU," calls his wife Coecille POIREE, "widow of Olivier LANDRY," does not give his or her parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Jean POIREE & Joseph LANDRY.  See also De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 19.  

Only Arsenault calls him Jean-Baptiste.  In other records he is simply Jean.  When he says that Anne AMIRAULT was Jean's second wife, Arsenault is following the record of Jean's marriage to Cécile POIRIER, cited above, in which the St.-Jacques priest erroneously calls him "widower of Anne MIREAU.".  Jean's mother was Anne AMIREAU, so the priest must have misunderstood what Jean had told him.  Where Arsenault gets the marriage year of c1750 for Jean and Anne's imaginary marriage is anyone's guess.  The AMIREAUs were an early family in Acadia, but there is no evidence that any of them made it to LA.  None are found in the South LA church records of this period, including Anne.  

Who was the daughter-in-law Widow FAUREST [FOREST], age 56, in his household in 1777?  It cannot be Isabelle LÉGER because her husband, Joseph FOREST, "widower of Isabelle LÉGER," had remarried at St.-Jacques on 6 Jun 1775.  See BRDR, 2:293.  And isn't it unusual for ones daughter-in-law to be a year older than oneself? Was this Cécile's kinswoman?  Cécile was younger than Jean.  

03.  Wall of Names, 28 (pl. 6R), calls him Jean [LÉGER], & lists him with his widowed mother & 1 brother; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 9-8, calls him Jean, son [Agélique PINEL veuve LÉGER's] fils, marin, age 15, on the embarkation list, Juan LÉGERE, su [Angela PINEL viuda LÉGERE's] hijo, on the debarkation list, & Jean LÉGER, her [Angélique PINET widow LÉGER's] son, sailor, age 15, on the complete listing, & says he was in the 23rd Family aboard Le Bon Papa with his widowed mother & 1 brother; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:512, 701 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.123), his marriage record, calls him Jean LÉGER, gives his & his wife's parents' names, says his parents were from La Rochelle, France, & that the witnesses to his marriage were Silvain SONNIER, Michel LÉGER [his brother[, Cyrille THIBEAUDO, & Michel BLANCHETE [his stepfather].

His birth at Cherbourg is from the baptismal record of a son, dated 21 Jun 1807, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-B:461-62 (SM Ch.: v.6-A, p.24; SM Ch.: Folio E, p.62).  His birth at La Rochelle is from the baptismal records of a daughter & a son, dated 17 Apr 1814 & 10 Apr 1816, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:612, 613 (Opel. Ch.: v.2, p.26; Opel. Ch.: v.2, p.80).  

04.  Wall of Names, 22, calls him Joseph LÉGER.  

05.  Wall of Names, 28 (pl. 6R), calls him Louis [LÉGER], & lists him with his widowed mother & 1 brother; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 9-8, calls him Louis, son [Agélique PINEL veuve LÉGER's] fils, marin, age 19, on the embarkation list, Luìs LÉGERE, su [Angela PINEL viuda LÉGERE's] hijo, on the debarkation list, & Louis LÉGER, her [Angélique PINET widow LÉGER's] son, sailor, age 19, on the complete listing, & says he was in the 23rd Family aboard Le Bon Papa with his widowed mother & 1 brother; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:257, 513 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.37), his marriage record, calls him Louis LÉGER of Isle Royal, Acadia, gives his & his wife's parent's names, calls his father Jacques Michel LÉGER, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Jean DOUCET, ____ MONDON, & Michel BLANCHET [his stepfather].

The baptismal records of 2 daughters, dated 5 Sep 1816 & 2 Jul 1818, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:614, 615 (Opel. Ch.: v.2, p.87; Opel. Ch.: v.2, p.137), says he was born on either Île Miquelon or Île St.-Pierre, which was not Cape Breton Island.  If he was born in c1765, the mostly likely place would have been Île St.-Pierre or Île Miquelon, not Cape Breton Island.  

06.  Wall of Names, 22, calls her Marie LÉGER; NOAR, 2:182, 205 (SLC, B[sic?]5, 190), her marriage record, calls her Marie LEGER, native of Port Royal in Acadia, gives her & her husband's parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were ____ JOURDAIN, Amand PREJEAN, & Nicole LEGER; BRDR, 4:368 (SMI-4, 67), her death/burial record, calls her Marie LEGER, age about 85 yrs., wid. of Pierre MICHEL, but does not give her parents' names.

For her possible sojourn in Haiti, see the footnote for her brother's profile, below.

Who was Nicole LEGER, a witness to her marriage?  

07.  Wall of Names, 42, calls him Miguel LEGERE, & lists him singly with the ship's immigrés; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:514 (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.4), his marriage record, calls him Michel LEGER, single, of Louisbourg, says his wife was single, "from here," gives his & her parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Pierre TIBODO, Joseph BOUTIN, Jean SAVOIS, & John COLEMAN; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:513 (LSAR: Opel.: 1787-zeroxed copy only), another marriage record, calls him Michel LEGER of Louisbourg, Acadie, gives his & his wife's parents' names, but gives no witnesses to his marriage; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:615 (LSAR: Opel.: 1817), his estate record, calls him Michel LEGER, but does not give his parents' names or mention a wife.  

His link to Michel LÉGER & Angélique PINET is provided by his marriage records, cited above, & the baptismal records of some of his children in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:511 (SM Ch.: v.5, #88), 1-B:460 (SM Ch.: v.6, #1163), & 1-B:461 (SM Ch.: v.6, #1161), which give his birthplace as Louisbourg. 

His wife was called Marguerite-Louise BOUTIN of Manchac, which was St.-Gabriel on the Mississippi.  

For evidence of their residing in the Plaquemine Brulée area, see the burial record of one of their children, dated __ 1791, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:512 (Opel. Ch.: v.1, p.15), which calls him "Michel LÉGER--'de Plecaminos' (from Plaquemine--presumably present-day Church Point)."  

08.  Wall of Names, 22, calls him Paul LÉGER; Arsenault, Genealogie, 2547, says he was born in 1763; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:514, 634 (SM Ch.: v.4, #32), his marriage record, calls him Paul LEGER, gives his & his wife's parents' names, says his parents were "native 'de la neuva Lioneque (from New York), and presently inhabitants of the Opelousas parish," that his wife's parents were "of Havre de Grace," & that the witnesses to his marriage were Jean-Baptiste DOIRON, Olivier GUÉDRY, Jean MOUTON dit Le Jeune, & Joseph MODENA; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:514, 634 (SM Ct.Hse.: OA-v.7, #48), another marriage records, call him Paul LEGER, "native of 'Nouvelle Yoir' (New York), province of New England, gives his parents' names, says he was a major son & that his father was deceased at the time of the marriage, that his wife was "native of Havre de Grace, Province of Normandie, give his wife's mother's but not her father's name, says she was a major daughter, that her mother was deceased at the time of the wedding, & that the witnesses to his marriage were Philippe WISSE, Paul ROQUIGNY, Charles POTIER, Francois BEGNEAU, & Armand DUCREST; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:616 (Opel. Ch.: v.1, p.167), his death/burial record, calls him Paul LEGER, spouse of Costance (Constance) POTHIE (POTIER), says he "died ... at his home at Gran Coteau, at age 59 years," that he was buried next day "in the parish cemetery," but does not give his parents' names; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:616 (LSAR: Opel.: 1818), his estate record, calls him Paul LEGER, widr. Marie Constance POTIER, but does not give his parents' names; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-B:610 (Opel.Ct.Hse.: Succ. #288), his succession record, calls him Paul LEGER m. Marie Constance POTIER, lists his children as Marie m. David ACKSON, Anastasie m. Christopher STUT, Manette m. Orient PREJEAN, dec. Magdeleine m. Antoine RITTER, Eugenie, Hypollite, Julienne, dec. Alexandre, dec. Lucy, Scholstie, but does not give his parents' names.  See also De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 15. 

For confirmation of his NY birth, see his marriage records, cited above, & the baptismal records of 2 of his children, dated 25 Apr 1799 & 29 Jun 1813, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:511 (SM Ch.: v.5, #143), 2-A:616 (Opel.Ch.: v.1-B, p.586).  His first marriage record seems to be saying that his father was native of NY.  

His arrival in LA in 1765 is predicated on his being listed with his 2 sisters in Wall of Names, 22, as though all 3 of them reached LA at the same time.  His sister Marie was married at New Orleans in Mar 1766.  The Acadians who reached LA in 1766 did not arrive from MD until September.  So why is he not in the Cabanocé censuses of 1766 & 1769 with his older sisters?  Where was he then?  Since he was so young & an orphan, with whom did he live?  Moreover, how did exiles from NY end up in LA in 1765 with exiles from Halifax?  Brasseaux, Scattered to the Wind, 23, gives a clue when he says that in 1763 most of the NY Acadians migrated to St.-Domingue, present-day Haiti, "where they shared the fate of their ill-starred confreres from Pennsylvania...."  So the LÉGER siblings may have gone to Haiti with other NY Acadians, become dissatisfied with the conditions in that hard colony, & joined one of the Halifax parties when it came through Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, in late 1764 or 1765 on its way to New Orleans. 

09.  Wall of Names, 22, calls her Scholatique LÉGER.  For use of her nickname Collet, see her marriage record in Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 171; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 425.  A clue to her husband's nationality, though not much of one, is the notation in the record of his marriage to his second wife which says that his parents were Saturnino BRUNO & Margarita SUENI of St. Moranbery, wherever that is.  Is the name Italian--BRUNO--or French--BRUNEAU?  See BRDR, 2:166 (SJA-2, 13).  In the record of his marriage to Scholastique in Bourgeois he is called Saturin BRINOIS with the notation BRUNO; in the same record in Voorhies, J. he is called Saturnin BRUNO.  The name is not Acadian.  In the marriage record of one of his sons, he is called Pierre-Saturin or Saturnin.  See BRDR, 2:166, 3:178.

For her possible sojourn in Haiti, see the footnote for her brother's profile, above.  

10.  Wall of Names, 22, calls her Scholatique LÉGER; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 2-A:613 (Opel. Ch.: v.1, p.157), her death/burial record, calls her Escolastique (Scholastique) LEGER, originally from Acadie, widow of Joseph JANSONE, gives her parents' names, says they were from Acadie, says "she died following illness at the home of Pierre CARRIERE at le Bois de Malet and received all the sacraments," & that she was buried "at age about 60 years in the parish cemetery."

I have found no marriage record for her & Joseph JEANSONNE, only the reference in her burial record.  The Joseph listed here is the only logical choice between 2 candidates, one born in c1748, 9 years older than she was, the other in Jun 1784, 27 years younger than she was.  The older Joseph JEANSONNE was still a 29-year-old bachelor in 1777, but in 1785 there were 7 "free individuals" in his household.  Was Scholastique the unnamed woman with him in the Opelousas census of 1788, Bellevue District, & 1 of the 2 unnamed white females with him in the Opelousas census of 1796, Bellevue District?  See De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1777, 25; De Ville, Southwest LA Families, 1785, 28; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 323, 355.

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