APPENDICES

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

NOËL

[no-EL, NO-ul]

ACADIA

Pierre Noël, born in Acadia in c1725, lived at Grand-Pré in the Minas Basin.  One wonders who his parents may have been and when the first of his family came to the colony. 

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

In the late summer of 1755, Pierre Noël, along with dozens of his fellow Acadians, was rounded up by British and New English forces under Colonel John Winslow and held in the church at Grand-Pré.  Colonel Winslow's list calls him Pierre Noails and says that Pierre had a daughter, so he must have been married, or perhaps he was a 30-year-old widower by then; Winslow's list does not name or even count the settlers' wives.  The list also reveals that Pierre owned no "bullocks," no "cowes," and no hogs, only five sheep. 

Pierre, perhaps with his daughter, ended up on a British transport bound for Virginia and from there was deported to England in 1756.  He remarried to Marie-Madeleine Barbe, perhaps a fellow Acadian, soon after he reached England.  Two children were born to them in one of the coastal prison compounds where the Acadians were kept:  Marie-Madeleine in c1757, and Jean-Baptiste in May 1759. 

In May 1763, Pierre, Marie-Madeleine, and their two children were repatriated from England to St.-Malo, France, aboard the ship L'Ambition.  They settled at St.-Servan, near St.-Malo, where two more daughters were born to them:  Marie-Marguerite in February 1764, and Pérrine-Rosalie posthumously in March 1766.  Pierre died at St.-Servan in late August 1765, "at age about 40 years."  Daughter Pérrine-Rosalie died at St.-Servan in May 1766, only seven weeks after her birth. 

In the early 1770s, Marie-Madeleine, still unmarried, took her three surviving children to Poitou as part of the settlement scheme there.  In late 1775, after the venture failed, they, along with dozens of their fellow Acadians, retreated to the port city of Nantes, where they lived on government hand outs and on what work they could find.  Marie-Madeleine died at St.-Martin de Chantenay, then a suburb of Nantes, in February 1779; she was only 41 years old.  Her orphaned children were age 22, 20, and 15 at the time of her death. 

Interestingly, the first of the daughters to marry was not the older Marie-Madeleine but Marguerite.  She married Frenchman Guillaume-Jean Roquemont of St.-Vivien, Rouen, probably at Chantenay in c1784.  Marguerite was 20 years old when she married; her husband was 56!  Guillaume-Jean died either later that year or in 1785.  They probably had no children.  

Meanwhile, in the early 1780s, the Spanish government offered the Acadians in France a chance for a new life in faraway Louisiana.  Unhappy with life in a mother country that treated them so poorly, the Noël sisters agreed to take it. 

Brother Jean-Baptiste, however, chose to remain in France.  "A mariner by profession," he married Luce, daughter perhaps of fellow Acadian Joseph Granger, probably at Nantes.  Luce had been born at Cherbourg in March 1768, so she was nine years younger than Jean-Baptiste.   Their son Pierre was born at Nantes in April 1789, and a second Pierre in October 1790.  In 1794, Jean-Baptiste, his wife, and two sons appeared on a list of Acadians and Canadians at Nantes who, according to "the law of 25 February 1791," were entitled to a subsidy from the Revolutionary government.  One hopes they survived the French Revolution with their heads intact. 

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Only two members of the Acadian branch of the Noël family emigrated to Louisiana, from France in 1785:

Marie-Madeleine Noël, age 28, and younger sister Marie-Marguerite, called Marguerite, age 21, a young widow, crossed on La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in August.  They followed the majority of their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche, where Marguerite remarried to fellow Acadian Charles Aucoin, in January 1786.  Charles also had come from France aboard La Bergère.  Spanish officials counted them on the upper bayou in January 1788.  They had no children; Marguerite's older sister Marie was the only other member of their household.  By January 1791, however, Marguerite had given Charles a daughter.  She gave him more children before he died at Ascension in January 1805, in his late 50s, leaving Marguerite a widow again.  She did not remarry.  She died in Assumption Parish in April 1840; the Plattenville priest who recorded her burial said that she died "at age 70 a widow," but she was 76. 

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Marie-Madeleine Noël did not remain with her younger sister and brother-in-law on upper Bayou Lafourche.  In April 1788, when she was 31 years old, she married fellow Acadian Blaise Rivet, who had come to Louisiana from Maryland as a young bachelor in 1768.  Although Blaise was 41 at the time of their wedding, this also was his first marriage.  Blaise died at St.-Gabriel in September 1797, age 50, but not before Marie gave him two sons and at least two daughters.  Marie remarried to Frenchman Jean Baptiste Lagarde of Languedoc at St. Gabriel in July 1805.  She died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in March 1838, age 81. 

One of Marie's sons by her first husband settled on upper Bayou Lafourche, but her other son, also by her first husband, remained on the river. 

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

 A Noël family, probably non-Acadian, emerged on the Acadian Coast during the late colonial period, and a Noël who perhaps was a Spanish soldier lived in New Orleans during the 1790s:

Baptiste Noël married Acadian Madeleine Dugas probably at St.-Jacques on the river.  Their son François was born at St.-Jacques in December 1785.  One wonders what happened to them. 

Rafael, son of Juan Noel and Maria Pain, "native of island of Leon," died at New Orleans in November 1793.  Rafael was only 20 years old and probably did not marry. 

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During the antebellum period, Noëls, who native Louisianians would have called Foreign French, came to New Orleans from France and the Caribbean Basin:

Alonge Noël, a 25-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Criterion out of Le Havre, France, in August 1836. 

____ Noël, a 36-year-old seaman from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Hercules out of Marseille, France, in February 1838. 

____ Noël, a 17-year-old merchant from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Moro Castle out of Bordeaux, France, in June 1838. 

Claude Noël, a 39-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Rubicon out of Le Havre in September 1841.  Also aboard the vessel were Jean P. Noël, age 37, also a French farmer and perhaps Claude's brother, and children Claude Noël, age 11, Albin Noël, age 9, and Eulalie Noël, age 1. 

Joseph Noël, a 32-year-old Frenchman, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Panurge out of an unrecorded port in February 1842. 

Elisa Noël, a 38-year-old Frenchwoman, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Nashville out of Le Havre in November 1844. 

E. Noël, a 39-year-old Frenchwoman, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Andelle out of Le Havre in December 1845. 

A. Noël, a 32-year-old Frenchman, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Salvadora out of Havana, Cuba, in March 1848. 

H. Noël, a 43-year-old merchant from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Vesta out of Le Havre in November 1848. 

Louis Noëll, a 24-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Vesta out of Le Havre in early November 1849. 

Sylvain Noël, a 42-year-old merchant from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Ferrière out of Le Havre in late November 1849. 

Jn. Baptiste Noël, a 32-year-old Frenchman, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Belle Assise out of Le Havre in December 1851.  Aboard the same ship was Marie Noël, age 32, probably his wife; her occupation also was unrecorded.  

Pauline Noël, a 17-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Eastern Queen out of Le Havre in October 1852. 

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Other Noëls, some of them probably Foreign French, appeared on the old Acadian Coast, on the western prairies, and on upper Bayou Lafourche, where many Acadians settled; and on the Amite River near French Settlement and in Pointe Coupee Parish, where Acadians were few.  Some of the non-Acadian Noëls of the antebellum and post-war periods who settled in South Louisiana likely were Afro Creoles who had been owned, and perhaps freed, by members of the family, or, more likely, whose surname came from an ancestor's given name, "Noël"; area church and civil records do not always reveal their ethnicity, but the record keepers often provided tantalizing clues:

Marc Noël died probably in Iberville Parish in June 1824.  The St. Gabriel priest who recorded the burial, and who did not bother to give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Marc died at "age 22."  Was he a young Foreign Frenchman?  Was he kin to Jules Noël of Iberville Parish. 

Jean F. Noël married French Creole Marie Denise Morvant and settled on Bayou Lafourche.  Their son Jean Escailes was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in September 1827, Jean, fils in August 1828, and Evariste Jean in March 1832. 

Guillaume Étienne, also called Jacques, Noël married Acadian Phelonise Marguerite Boudreaux and settled on upper Bayou Lafourche by the early 1830s.  Their son Thomas Pierre, a twin, was born near Plattenville, Assumption Parish, in October 1835. 

Catherine, daughter of François Noël and Barbe Hardy, married Lucien, son of French or German Creole Vincent Bertrand, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in May 1834; Lucien's mother was a Gravois. 

François Michel "of L'ile Desirade," son of Jean Noël and Marguerite ____, married Louise Augusta, daughter of Protestant American Joseph Hodge "of Marigot" at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in April 1837. 

Thérèse Noël married George Fall at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1842.  Neither the St. Landry Parish clerk nor the priest who recorded the marriage gave the couple's parents' names. 

D. H., son of William Noelle and Anna Catherine Voetker, married Anna, daughter of Charles Phienemau, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1845. 

Doce or Dorse Noël married French Creole Marie Duverzine Neraut or Nerault at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in July 1846.  Again, neither the St. Landry Parish clerk nor the priest who recorded the marriage gave the couple's parents' names.  Their son François Adam was born near Grand Coteau in July 1852, and Louis near Arnaudville in December 1862. 

Françoise Noël married François Hubert at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in July 1854.  The priest who recorded the marriage, typically, did not bother to give the couple's parents' names. 

Émilien Noël married Angelica Beille.  Their son Jean was born near French Settlement, Livingston Parish, in December 1847. 

Suzette Noël "of Mr. Gaillard," evidently a slave, was baptized at the Raceland church, Lafourche Parish, age 1 1/2 months, in February 1858. 

Noël Noël married Marie Louise Teal.  Their son Charles was born in St. Landry Parish in May 1859. 

Jean Dik, son of Caroline Noël, was born in Ascension Parish in December 1865.

Charley Noël married Marie Frosine ____ and settled near Bayou Pointe aux Loupes, now Iota, then in St. Landry but now in Acadia Parish, by the late 1860s. 

Alida Noël married William Johnson in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in September 1867.  The parish clerk who recorded the marriage did not give the couple's parents' names. 

John Noël married Augustine Charpentier.  Their son William was born near Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, in March 1868. 

Dominique Jacques Noël married Félicie Adam at the Donalsonville church, Ascension Parish, in May 1868.  The priest who recorded the marriage did not bother to give the couple's parents' names. 

Jean Baptiste Noël married Adélaïde ____ civilly probably in Pointe Coupee Parish.  Their son Eugène was baptized "at Alexis Lebeau's" near Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, age 2 months, in October 1868. 

Charles, fils, son of Charles Noël and Victorine ____, married Euphrasie, called Frozine, daughter of Picken Picken and Minty ____, at the Arnaudville church, St. Landry Parish, in January 1869. 

Julie, daughter of Mathilde Noël, married Jean Pierre, fils, son of Jean Pierre Jean Louis and Joséphine ____, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in May 1869. 

Noël ____ married Françoise ____.  Their son Louis Cesar was born in St. James Parish in August 1869. 

Élie Noël married Melite Ben or Bell.  Their son Louis was baptized at the Washington church, St. Landry Parish, age unrecorded, in October 1869.  They were living near Ville Platte, then in St. Landry but now in Evangeline Parish, in 1871. 

Caroline Noël married Firmin Derosin at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee Parish, in February 1870.  Judging from the marriage record, in which the priest did not bother to give the couple's parents' names, Caroline and Firmin may had been married civilly for years. 

Zaïre, daughter of Noël Noël and Thérèse ____, married Alcindor, son of Rose Provost, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in May 1870.  The priest who recorded the marriage did not give the groom's father's name. 

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Noël families who settled in Iberville and St. Landry parishes created family lines of their own, but the one on the river may not have survived: 

Descendants of Joseph NOËL (c1810-1848)

Joseph, 23-year-old son of François Noël and Isabelle Frilde, married Julie, 23-year-old daughter of German Creole Michel George Stelly, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in September 1837.  Joseph died near Grand Coteau in December 1848; he was only 38 years old; his succession record was filed at the Opelousas courthouse, St. Landry Parish, in December 1850. 

1

Older son Joseph Martial, called Martial, born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in January 1841, married Philomène, daughter of German Creole Balthazar Marks, at the Grand Coteau church in August 1865; Philomène's mother was a Foret.  Their son Jules was born near Grand Coteau in June 1866, and Jean Berkmons Numa, called Numa, in December 1868 but died at age 2 in November 1870. 

2

Younger son François, born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in March 1843, married Marie Alicia or Elisia, another daughter of Balthazar Marks, in July 1867. 

Descendants of Jules NOËL (?-)

Jules Noël, native of Bordeaux, France, married "a Miss D'Auterive," widow of Nicolas Toffier.  Jules, père died near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, in May 1835; the priest who recorded the burial did not bother to give any parents' names or even Jules's age at the time of his death.  Was Jules, père kin to Marc Noël of St. Gabriel? 

Théodure Jules, called Jules, fils, born posthumously in September 1835, married Clarissa Rosa, called Rosa, daughter of Acadian Joseph Ribert Hébert, at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, in November 1856.  They settled near Plaquemine on the west side of the river.  Their infant, name unrecorded, perhaps a son, died in June 1859; wife Rosa died giving birth to this infant, and mother and child were buried together. 

CONCLUSION

Noëls settled "late" in Acadia, and, compared to most other Acadian families, they came "late" to Louisiana.  Two sisters, one a spinster, the other a young widow, came to the colony from France in 1785 aboard La Bergère, the second of the Seven Ships.  Their brother Jean-Baptiste, a sailor, married to a fellow Acadian, remained in France.  Both sisters married in Louisiana, the younger one in 1786, the older one in 1788 and again in 1805.  And both of them lived to ripe old ages. 

However, since the sisters were the only members of their family who came to Louisiana, no Acadian Noël family lines emerged in the Bayou State.  The blood of the family survived, however, in branches of the Rivet, Aucoin, and other Acadian families, and in some non-Acadian families as well.   

Noël is a fairly common surname in France, so it is no surprise that during the late colonial and antebellum periods non-Acadian members of the family also lived in Louisiana.  Most of them probably were Foreign Frenchmen who came to the Bayou State after Jefferson's Purchase.  Some of them were Afro Creoles whose surname came from an ancestor's given name, "Noël."  ...

Sources:  AGE, May 2004, p. 116, a printed copy of Colonel Winslow's Grand-Pré list; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 1:405, 2:256-57, 3:228; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 12-13; NOAR, vol. 5; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 3; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-B, 2-C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; Robichaux, Acadian in Châtellerault, 5, 163; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 9, 138, 151; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 640-41. 

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):

Asc	Ascension	Lf	Lafourche (Lafourche, Terrebonne)	PCP	Pointe Coupée
Asp	Assumption	Natc	Natchitoches (Natchitoches)	SB	San Bernardo (St. Bernard)
Atk	Attakapas (St. Martin, St. Mary, Lafayette, Vermilion)	Natz	San Luìs de Natchez (Concordia)	StG	St.-Gabriel d'Iberville (Iberville)
BdE	Bayou des Écores (East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana)	NO	New Orleans (Orleans)	StJ	St.-Jacques de Cabanocé (St. James)
BR	Baton Rouge (East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge)	Op	Opelousas (St. Landry, Calcasieu)

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, 29 (pl. 7L), calls her Marie [NOËL], soeur [of Marguerite NOËL, veuve ROQUEMONT], & lists her with her younger sister;  Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 640-41, Family No. 741, calls her Marie-Madeleine NOËL, gives her parents' names, says she was born in England in c1757, that she, her parents, & brother Jean-Baptiste "disembarked at St.-Malo from England on May 22, 1763 from the ship, L'Ambition," & that her family resided at St.-Servan from 1766-72; Robichaux, Acadian in Nantes, 138, Family No. 252, calls her Marie-Madeleine [NOËL], gives her parents' names, & details her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadian in Nantes, 151, Family No. 273, calls her Marie NOËL, & details her & her sister's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile, 1785, 12-13, calls her Marie NOËL, sa soeur [of Marguerite NOËL, veuve ROQUEMONT], age 28, on the embarkation list, calls her Marie NOËL, her [Marguerite NOËL, widow ROQUEMONT's] sister, age 28, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 5th Family aboard La Bergère with her younger sister; BRDR, 2:565, 634 (SGA-14, 11), her marriage record, calls her Magdalena NOËL, calls her husband Blas RIVET, gives her & his parents' names, says her parents were "of England" & his "of Acadia," & says the witnesses to her marriage were Charle AUCOIN [her sister's husband] & Siril RIVET [his brother]; BRDR, 3:471, 663 (SGA-14, 55), the record of her second marriage, calls her Marie Madeline NOËL, wid. Blaise RIVET, calls her husband Jean Baptiste LAGARD, "nat. Languedoc Province in France," gives her & his parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Aubry DUPUY, M. LAMBREMONT, & Vital RIVET [her older son]; BRDR, 5(rev.):467 (SGA-8, 234), her death/burial record, calls her Marie NOËL, "bn. Nantes, France, wife of Blaise RIVET," but does not give her parents' names.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 22. 

Like her younger sister, Marie also favored older men.  Her first husband was 41 & she was 31 at the time of the marriage.  She, too, became a widow when her husband died at St.-Gabriel in Sep 1797. 

When did she move from the upper Lafourche to St.-Gabriel?  Where did she meet her husband Blaise, who spent most of this time in LA at St.-Gabriel? 

Why does her burial record mention her first husband & not her second one?  She was 81 years old when she died.  Was she a widow again? 

02.  Wall of Names, 29 (pl. 7L), calls her Marguerite NOËL veuve ROQUEMONT, & lists her with her older sister; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 640-41, Family No. 741, calls her Marie-Marguerite NOËL, her birth/baptismal record, gives her parents' names, says her godparents were Mathurin COCHERET & Mathurinne LANGUILLE, & says her family resided at St.-Servan from 1766-72; Robichaux, Acadian in Nantes, 138, Family No. 252, calls her Marie-Madeleine [NOËL], gives her parents' names, & details her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadian in Nantes, 151, Family No. 273, calls her Marie-Marguerite NOËL, says she was born in c1764, gives her parents' names, says she married Guillaume-Jean ROQUEMONT, "born about 1728 in the Parish of Saint-Vivien, diocese of Rouen," in c1784 but gives no place of marriage, says that her husband died "at age of 56 years" & was buried on 11 Nov 1784 at St.-Similien, Nantes, & details her & her sister's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile, 1785, 12-13, calls her Marguerite NOËL, veuve ROQUEMONT, age 21, on the embarkation list, calls her Marguerite NOËL, widow ROQUEMONT, age 21, on the complete listing, says she was in the 5th Family aboard La Bergère with her older sister, & lists the implements the Spanish gave to her & her sister after they reached LA; BRDR, 2:33, 565 (ASC-1, 162 & 163), the record of her second marriage, calls her Margarita NOËL, calls her husband Charles OQUAN (AUCOIN), does not give any parents' names or her first husband's name, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Olivier AUCOIN [his brother], Giuion MAZEROL, & Paul BELILE; BRDR, 6:496 (ASM-10, 13), her death/burial record, calls her Marguerite NOËL, "age 70 years a widow," but does not give her parents' names or her husband's name.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 22, 66, 106, 115, 154.

She certainly preferred to marry older men.  Her first husband was 56 & she was only 20 when they married, so he was old enough to be her father.  He was, in fact, only 3 years younger than her father.  Her husband must have died on the eve of her going to LA.  They probably had no children.  Her second husband was 39 & she was 22 when they married.  She gave him children, but none of their sons created families of their own; their daughters, however, married into the DAIGLE, HÉBERT, LANDRY, & LE BLANC families.  She became a widow again in Jan 1805, when her husband Charles died at Ascension in his late 50s. 

Her burial record hints that she did not marry a third time.  She was 76 years old when she died. 

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