APPENDICES

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

NEVEU

[nuh-VOH]

ACADIA

Pierre, fils, son of Pierre Neveu and Jeanne Tarando of St.-Pierre-de-Sales, Bordeaux, France, born in c1730, came to Louisbourg on Île Royale, today's Cape Breton Island, by November 1753, when he married Catherine, daughter of Jean Vinette of Rochefort, France, at the French fortress.  They had at least one child, Catherine, born at Louisbourg in 1754.  However, no member of this family made it to Louisiana.

~

According to Acadian genealogist Bona Arsenault, Laurent, son of Jean Neveu and Catherine Cayer of Santon, La Rochelle, France, a widower, emigrated to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, in the early 1700s.  In November 1721, Laurent married Jeanne, daughter of Pierre Robin of St.-Jean, La Rochelle, at Port-Lajoie.  Laurent and Jeanne settled at Havre de Tracadie on the north shore of the island.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the victorious British rounded up most of the Acadians on the Maritime islands and deported them to France.  Evidently descendants of Laurent Neveu of Île St.-Jean were among these hapless Acadians.

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Vincent, fils, son of Vincent Neveu and Marie Bernard, born probably in France in c1765 and perhaps a descendant of Laurent Neveu and Jeanne Robin of Port-Lajoie, Île St.-Jean, was the only member of this family to emigrate to Louisiana.  He crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in November 1785. 

Soon after his arrival, Vincent, fils married Cécile, daughter of Acadian Étienne Hébert, at New Orleans; she also had crossed on L'Amitié.  Vincent and Cécile followed the majority of the passengers from their ship to upper Bayou Lafourche, where Spanish officials counted them in 1788 and 1791.  In both censuses, the couple had no children.  According to Ascension area church records, no Neveu children were born between 1791, when Cécile Hébert was still in her early 20s, and 1819, when she would have been in her early 50s, so Vincent and Cécile may have been that rare Acadian couple who had no children.  

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

The first Neveu, or Neveux, appeared in Louisiana nearly 60 years before Vincent Neveu came to the colony from France: 

Marguerite-Catherine, daughter of Jaques Neveux and Michel Chauvin of Montréal and widow of Étienne Roy, married first cousin Jaques, son of Ignace, Hubert Belaire, at New Orleans in April 1728.  Marguerite-Catherine's mother and Jacque's mother were Chauvin sisters.  

~

No Neveu, or anyone with a similar name, appears in New Orleans church records during the late colonial period.  Not until the 1810s does anyone with a similar name appear in South Louisiana church records--in St. Landry Parish.  A few years later, a Foreign-French Neveu family, probably no relation to the family in St. Landry, appeared at La Grande Pointe on upper Bayou Teche in St. Martin Parish.  Other families, perhaps related to the Foreign-French family, appear in St. Martin Parish by the 1850s.  Afro Creole Neveus, known at the time as free persons of color, appear in St. Martin Parish church records as early as the 1830s:

Joseph Nevaut married Aspasie Donase.  Their son Barthélémy was born in St. Landry Parish in September 1818.  

Auguste Joseph Neveu married Acadian Rose Félicie, called Félicie,  ... probably in St. Martin Parish by the early 1850s.  Their son Joseph was born in St. Martin Parish in March 1857, and Albert in July 1859. 

Jean Jacques Neveu, a free man of color, married Lise ____ in either St. Martin or Lafayette parish.  Their daughter married into the Prade family in Lafayette Parish in November 1857.

Floride Jean Baptiste, also called Joseph Floride, Neveu, husband of Julie Clotilde Penin, died in St. Martin Parish in October 1857; he was only 36 years old.  His succession record was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in January 1858.  

~

Two vigorous lines of the family, one Foreign French, the other Afro Creole, settled in St. Martin and Lafayette parishes during the antebellum period:

Descendants of Jean-Jacques NEVEU, fils (?-1830s)

Jean-Jacques, fils, son of Jean-Jacques Neveu and Catherine Duleurtre or Duleurtec of Rouen, France, married Marguerite Rosalie or Rosalind Sophie, daughter of Louis François Lafort, and settled at La Grande Pointe, also called La Pointe, on upper Bayou Teche in St. Martin Parish, before moving to Vermilionville in Lafayette Parish.   Their daughters married into the Bailey and Guegnon families.  Jean-Jacques, fils's succession record was filed at the Vermilionville courthouse in May 1837; it gives no hint of his age.  Not unusual for Foreign Frenchmen who settled in Lafayette Parish, Jean-Jacques's sons married Acadians.  

1

Older son Christophe, born probably at La Pointe in July 1820, married Émelie Azelima, called Azelima, daughter of Acadian Moïse Hébert, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1841.  Their son Théophile was born in Lafayette Parish in April 1842 but died 4 days after his birth, Jean Jacques le jeune was born in January 1848, Sidne in July 1850, and Arthur in February 1859. 

2

Younger son Alphonse, born probably at Vermilionville in November 1824, was not baptized until the early 1840s.  He married Joséphine, daughter of Acadian Joseph Léon Bernard, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in September 1851.  Their son Joseph Edgar was born in Lafayette Parish in March 1853, Émile in August 1855, Lucius in July 1857, and a child, name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died 2 months after its birth in December 1859. 

Descendants of Charles NEVEU (?-1850s)

Charles Neveu, homme de couleur libre, or free man of color, married Pamela Charlotte, called Charlotte, Isidore, a free woman of color.  They settled in St. Martin Parish. Their daughters married into the Rochon and Tournay families.  Charles, père died before February 1857, when he was recorded as deceased in a son's marriage record.  

1

Oldest son Charles, fils married free woman of color Sylvanie, daughter of Silesie Mistrick and widow of Joseph Aubry, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1857.  

2

Guilmare, born in St. Martin Parish in November 1836, may have been Charles, fils.

3

Isidore Jean, called Jean, born in St. Martin Parish in August 1840, married free woman of color Clara, daughter of Jean Baptiste Prade, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1857.  Their son Jean Baptiste was born in St. Martin Parish in April 1859. 

4

Youngest son Paul was born in St. Martin Parish in June 1842.  

CONCLUSION

Vincent Neveu, a native of France, came to Louisiana in 1785 with hundreds of other Acadians from the mother country.  He married a fellow passenger and took his bride to upper Bayou Lafourche.  They evidently had no children, so the Acadian branch of this family, if indeed Vincent was Acadian, did not take root in the Bayou State.  

Non-Acadian Neveuxs, Nevauts, and Neveus also lived in Louisiana.  The first of them, a Canadienne from Montréal, appeared in the late 1720s, when she married a first cousin at New Orleans.  Not until the antebellum period do other members of the family appear in South Louisiana--west of the Atchafalaya Basin.  The most vigorous line, one that settled on upper Bayou Teche in St. Martin Parish before moving to Vermilionville in nearby Lafayette Parish, came from Rouen and probably was not related to Vincent Neveu of France.  Other non-Acadian Neveus lived in St. Landry and St. Martin parishes.  Afro-Creole Neveus--free persons of color--also lived in St. Martin Parish during the antebellum period.  The Neveus of South Louisiana today, then, are descendants of Foreign French or Afro Creoles, not Acadians.  

No Neveus served Louisiana in uniform during the War Between the States.  At least, no one with that surname appears in Confederate service records. ...

The family's name also is spelled Nepveau, Nepveux, Nevaut, Neveau, Neveux.  

Sources:  Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 62-63, 84-85; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; NOAR, vols. 1, 4; Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 33, 165; Wall of Names, 42.  

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, 42, calls him Vincent NEVEU, & lists him singly with the ship's immigrés; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 84-85, calls him Vicente NEVEU/Vincent NEVEU, says he was among the "Names with no reference on the Embarkation list [of L'Amitié]," & lists the implements the Spanish gave him after he reached LA; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 62-63, under Lista parcial de vientitres casamientos acadianos arregalados par Navarro, 20 novembre 1785 [Partial List of 23 marriages Navarro arranged on 20 November 1785], B. Marriages celebrated 2 Dec 1785, calls him Vincente/Vincent NEVEU, immigrant, says his wife was in the 20th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi[sic], &, calling him Vicente NEVEAU of Ludaine in Tarhe(??)[sic], details his marriage, calls his wife Cécilia HEVERT of Normandy, France, gives his & her parents' names, & says his mother's surname was BÉNARD; NOAR, 4:161, 223 (SLC, M5, 42), his marriage record, calls him Vicente NEVEAU, native of [Ludaine?] in [Tarhe?], calls his wife Cécilia HEVERT, native of Normandy in France, gives his & her parents' names, says his mother's surname was BENARD, & that the witnesses to his marriage were Vicente LLORCA & Josef MARTINEZ.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 33, 165.

Where is Ludaine, Tarhe?  In France?  Does his status as "immigrant" aboard L'Amitié mean that he was not an Acadian?  I have not been able to link him directly to the family of either Pierre NEVEU of Île Royale or Laurent NEVEU of Île St.-Jean, so he may not have been Acadian.  He may have been a local French boy who fell in love with an Acadian girl & followed her to LA.  Until I find solid evidence to the contrary, however, I will defer to the folks at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville & call him an Acadian here.  

His wife sailed on L'Amitié, not Le St.-Rémi.  

[top of page NEVEU]

Copyright (c) 2007-11  Steven A. Cormier