APPENDICES

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

OLIVIER

[oh-LIV-ee-ay]

ACADIA

Pierre Olivier, a tailor, born in c1692 in the Parish of St.-Mederic, Paris, came to Acadia by 1718, the year he married Francoise, daughter of Jacques Bonnevie, at Port-Royal.  They had eight children, including three sons, all born at Port-Royal, who created families of their own:

Oldest son Paul, born in c1727, settled first at Chignecto and then at Pigiguit before moving on to Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, where he married Marguerite, daughter of Francois Poirier, in September 1749.

Jean-Baptiste, born in c1728, also settled at Chignecto before moving on to Île St.-Jean.  He married twice, first to Susanne Pitre in c1749 and then to Marie, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Haché dit Gallant, at St.-Servan, France, in January 1767 during Le Grand Dérangement.

Youngest son Joseph, born in c1730, moved to Chignecto, where he married Marguerite, daughter of Paul Martin dit Barnabé, in c1752.  They remained at Chignecto.  

In 1755, descendants of Pierre Olivier the tailor could be found at Chignecto and on Île St.-Jean.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

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

The Acadians at Chignecto were the first to endure the great disruption of their way of life.  In the early 1750s, the fanatical French priest Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre and his Mi'kmaq Indians burned a number of Acadian settlements at Chignecto, forcing the settlers to move from the British-controlled area south of the Missaguash River to the Aulac area north of Fort Beauséjour, still controlled by the French.  The Oliviers may have been among the refugees.  After yet another war erupted between Britain and France in 1754, the Chignecto Acadians were caught in the middle of it.  When British and New England forces attacked Fort Beauséjour in June 1755, Chignecto settlers, pressured by the French, served in the fort as militia.  They, too, along with the French regulars, became prisoners of war when the fort surrendered on June 16.  Governor Lawrence was so incensed to find so-called French Neutrals fighting with French regulars at Beauséjour that he ordered his officers to deport the Chignecto Acadians to the southernmost British colonies on the Atlantic seaboard.  

In the fall of 1755, the British deported Joseph Olivier and his wife Marguerite Martin dit Barnabé to South Carolina.  In August 1763, soon after the French and Indian had ended, colonial officials placed Joseph and his family on a list of Acadians "who desire to withdraw from under the standard of their king ...."  Joseph was able to sign the list, indicating that he was literate.  Soon afterwards, he and his family, along with hundreds of other Acadians, emigrated to St.-Domingue, present-day Haiti, where the French were building a naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the north shore of the island and where they promised a new start for the Acadian exiles who had been languishing in the British colonies.

~

Living in territory controlled by France, Joseph's older brothers Paul and Jean-Baptiste, still on Île St.-Jean, escaped the British roundup of 1755, but their respite from British oppression was short-lived.  After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the victorious British rounded up most of the Acadians on Île St.-Jean and transported them to France.

Among the Acadians exiled from Île St.-Jean was older sister Anne, born at Port-Royal in c1721, who had married Jean-Baptiste Haché-Gallant, her brother Jean-Baptiste's wife Marie's brother.  Jean-Baptiste Haché died in France.  Anne did not remarry.  She remained in France for a quarter of a century, suffering along with hundreds of other Acadians the indignities of life in the mother country.  She and her family survived, like so many other Acadians, on government subsidies.  When the Spanish offered the Acadians in France a chance at a better life in faraway Louisiana, hundreds of them, including Anne Olivier, agreed to take it.  

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

An Acadian Olivier may have come fairly early to Louisiana.  Joseph Olivier, his wife Marguerite Martin dit Barnabé, and their young son, Jean-Baptiste, reached the colony by July 1767, when Spanish officials recorded them at New Orleans. 

Descendants of Joseph OLIVIER (c1730-?)

Joseph, son of perhaps Pierre Olivier and Françoise Bonnevie, born at Port-Royal in c1730, moved to Chignecto, where he married Marguerite, daughter of Paul Martin dit Barnabé, in c1752.  They remained at Chignecto.  The British deported them to South Carolina in 1755.  Colonial officials counted them there in August 1763.  Soon afterwards, they likely emigrated to St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, with other Acadian exiles and came to Louisiana from Haiti by July 1767, when Spanish officials counted them at New Orleans.  Unlike the great majority of Acadian immigrants, Joseph and his family remained at New Orleans, but the family line probably did not survive in the Bayou State. 

1

Older son Jean-Baptiste, born at Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, in the mid- or late 1760s, married Marie-Madeleine-Adélaïde, daughter of French Creole Pierre Mioton of Vienne, France, at New Orleans in June 1785.  A daughter was born at New Orleans in August 1782, several years before their marriage. Their son Joseph le jeune was born at New Orleans in June 1787, and Guillaume or Étienne in August 1791 but died at age 1 in September 1792.  Two of their children, Guillaume/Étienne and Eulalie, died in New Orleans nine days apart in September 1792!   Their daughters married into the Boswell, Perrilliat, and Turpin families.  Jean Baptiste died "suddenly" at New Orleans in August 1808; the priest who recorded his burial said that Jean Baptiste died at age 46, but he probably was in his early 40s.  His line of the family, except for its blood, probably died with him. 

2

Younger son Marc, born at New Orleans in February 1768, probably died young.  

~

After her even longer ordeal in France, Joseph's older sister Anne Olivier came to Louisiana with a daughter of her dead husband's niece aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in November 1785.  She and her husband's grand-niece, Madeleine-Apolline Achée, settled south of the city in the largely-Isleño community of San Bernardo, now St. Bernard Parish.    

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

Olivier is a fairly common name in France, both as a surname and a masculine given name, and the name also can be found in other European countries.  Non-Acadian Oliviers, English and Spanish as well as French, came to Louisiana as early as the 1740s and settled at New Orleans, Pointe Coupée, and on the German and Acadian coasts on the river above New Orleans:

Michel Olivier married Anne-Toussaine Robert by the mid-1740s and settled at New Orleans.  

Michel Olivier dit Masson married Anne Robert and settled at Pointe Coupée by 1750, when a daughter was born there.  Their Joseph-Michel was born at Pointe Coupée in February 1752 but died at age 3 in May 1755, and Jean-Baptiste was born in April 1762.  Their daughters married into the Bonaventure and Daniel families.  

Jean Olivier, a soldier, died at Pointe Coupée in August 1764.  The priest who recorded Jean's burial did not give his parents' names or his age at the time of his death.

Jean, son of Thomas Olivier and Susanne Hoops of London, England, married French Creole Marie-Thérèse Drouillan of New Orleans, widow of Pierre Sebin, at at Pointe Coupée in June 1769.  

Antoine Olivier of Marseilles, France, a merchant, died at New Orleans in March 1773.  He was 50 years old.  

The unnamed child of a merchant named Olivier died at New Orleans in March 1773.  

The unnamed son of a tavern keeper named Olivier died at New Orleans in April 1773.  

Baptiste Olivier died at Pointe Coupée in November 1777.  The priest who recorded Baptiste's burial did not bother to give his parents' names or his age at the time of his death.  

Marie Olivier died at New Orleans in January 1786.  She was 70 years old.  

Pélagie, daughter of Francois Olivier and Anne-Marie Olivier, married Jean-Baptiste, son of François Campo, at New Orleans in September 1786.  

Madame Olivier died at New Orleans in October 1786.  She was only 30 years old.  

Nicolas Olivier died at New Orleans in March 1788.  He was only 6 years old.  The priest who recorded the boy's burial did not bother to give his parents' names.

Jayme Olivier du Bois married Marie-Madeleine Michel.  Their son André was baptized at New Orleans, age 5 months, in December 1790.  

Marguerite Olivier died at New Orleans in October 1797.  She was 50 years old.  

Augustin, son of Marie Olivier, was baptized at New Orleans, age 19 days, in December 1797.  The priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not give the father's name.  

François, son of Étienne Olivier and Marguerite Glaize of Bastide de Jourdan, Provence, France, married Félicité, daughter of Leandre Delor-Treget of Illinois, at New Orleans in February 1800.  Their son Jean-François was born at New Orleans in December 1800.  

Pedro, son of Santiago Olivier and Maria Curais of Spain, married Madeleine, daughter of German Creole Sébastien Loupe of St.-Charles des Allemans and widow of François Larrieux, at St.-Jacques on the Acadian Coast in June 1801.  Their son Noël was born at St.-Jacques in December 1802.  

Clamas Olivier died at New Orleans in March 1802.  She was only 40 years old.

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One of the most prolific Olivier families in Louisiana was that of a high colonial official whose full surname hints that he was of the French aristocracy.  During the late colonial period, his oldest son settled on Bayou Teche and created a prominent family there:

Descendants of Pierre-François OLIVIER du Closel de Vexin (c1708-1776)

Pierre-François, sometimes called François-Pierre, Olivier de Closel de Vexin, born in Maine, Lorraine, France, in c1708, married Marie-Josèphe, called Josèphe, Duplessis Gatinot of Trois-Rivières, Canada.  Under the French regime in Louisiana, he served as royal councilor and chief surveyor and inspector of the colonial roads.  He and his wife had settled at New Orleans by 1750, when a daughter was born there.  Pierre-François remained a colonial official after the Spanish took control of the colony.  His titles during the Spanish regime were regidor and alcade mayor.  His daughters married into the De Reggio, Dreux, Fagot de la Garsinier, and Lalande d'Alcour families.  Pierre-François died at New Orleans in April 1776; he was 68 years old.  His oldest son and a grandson from his second son settled on Bayou Teche.  

1

Oldest son Charles-Honoré-Hughes or Hughes-Charles-Honoré, called Charles-Honoré and Honoré, born at New Orleans in June 1751, married Marie-Madeleine Marigny de Mandeville in the 1770s.  Charles-Honoré served as permanent regidor of the city.  His son Charles, fils was born at New Orleans in November 1778, and Pierre in April 1782.  Charles-Honoré moved his family at the end of the Spanish regime.  His daughter married into the DeBlanc family.  Charles Honoré died "on the east side of Bayou Teych (Teche) at his home below New Iberia" in St. Mary Parish in April 1815; the priest who recorded his burial said that Charles Honoré was 65 years old when he died, but he was 63.  

1a

Charles, fils, by his first wife, married Céleste-Mathilde, daughter of Louis-Charles Chevalier DeBlanc of Natchitoches, at Attakapas in April 1798.  Céleste's brother married Charles's sister Adélaïde two years later.  Charles, fils served as major des milices, or major of the militia, at Attakapas and settled near his father on lower Bayou Teche in what became St. Mary Parish.  Charles's son Pierre-Louis or Pierre-Charles was born at Attakapas in January 1802 but died at age 11 in September 1812, and Joseph de Vexin was born in July 1806.  Their daughters married into the Delahoussaye, Ducros, and Pellerin (French Creole, not Acadian) families.  In 1819, one of Charles, fils's daughters married a son of Governor Jacques Villere.  Charles, fils remarried to Anne Willelmina, called Mina, daughter of French Creole Jean Baptiste Perrault probably in St. Martin Parish in the 1810s.  Their son Barthélémy Eugène was born in St. Mary Parish in April 1822, Alexandre de Vixen in March 1827, Louis Oscar de Vixen in March 1831, Adolphe Pierre de Vexin in October 1833, and Alexandre Albert or Albert Alexandre near New Iberia in December 1840.  They also had sons named Charles A. or Charles N. and Jules.  Their daughter married into the Reggio family.  ...

Charles A. or N., by his second wife, married Félicia, daughter of French Creole Hippolyte Chretien, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in October 1836; the marriage had been recorded in St. Mary Parish the month before.  They settled near Grand Coteau.  ...

1b

Pierre, by his first wife, married Marie-Jeanne-Aspasie, daughter of French Creole Alexandre Bienvenu de Vince, at New Orleans in March 1802.  They followed his father to the Attakapas District.  Their son Charles du Closel was born at Attakapas in March 1803, Pierre Alexandre Derneville du Closel in June 1806, and a son, name unrecorded, died at his parents' home in St. Martin Parish, age 9 days, in May 1808.  Their daughters married into the Bienvenu de Vince, Delahoussaye, and Fontenette families.  Pierre remarried to Marie Josèphe, called Josette, daughter of French Creole Joseph Latiolais of Bayou Teche, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in April 1812.  Their son Joseph du Closel was born at his parents' home at "le quartier de l'église (near the area around the church)" at St. Martinville in February 1814, Charles St. Maurice du Closel at his parents'  home at La Pointe on upper Bayou Teche in January 1816, Alcide du Closel died at his parents' home on the Teche, age 14 months, in August 1818, Paul du Closel was born in May 1819, and Paul Sydney, called Sydney, du Closel, born in c1820, died "at his grandmother's house at l'ance des Charpentiers," St. Martin Parish, age 4 1/2, in July 1824.  Josette's succession record was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in February 1820, so she may have died giving birth to Sydney.  Pierre and Josette's home near La Pointe on Bayou Teche was probably the original version of today's Maison Olivier in Longfellow-Evangeline State Park, north of St. Martinville, which his son Charles du Closel, by his first wife, inherited perhaps in the 1820s.   

Charles du Closel, by his first wife, married Marie Emeranthe, called Emeranthe, another daughter of Joseph Latiolais and his stepmother's sister, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1821.  Their plantation home north of St. Martinville on the west side of Bayou Teche, inherited from his father, is today's Maison Olivier in the Longfellow-Evangeline State Park.  The park's historian describes the maison as "an excellent example of a simple and distinctive architectural form called a Raised Creole Cottage, which shows a mixture of Creole, Caribbean, and French influences.  The ground floor walls, 14 inches thick, are made of bricks from the clays of the adjacent Bayou Teche.  The upper floor walls consist of a mud and moss mixture called 'bousillage' which is placed between cypress uprights."  (Despite what the park historian claims, the original house probably was built not by Charles but by his father Pierre; Charles would have been only 12 years old in c1815, when the original part of the house was supposed to have been constructed; the structural improvements to the house in the 1840s would have been the work of Charles du Closel, now in his middle age.)  Charles and Emeranthe's son, name unrecorded, died at the family home on Bayou Teche in October 1822, Louis Joseph du Closel was born there in December 1823 but died at his grandfather's home in St. Martinville, age 2, in March 1826, Charles Ovignac was born probably at Maison Olivier in August 1825, Pierre du Closel in July 1827 but died at age 8 in March 1835, Charles Derneville du Closel was born in March 1830, and François du Closel in August 1832 but died at age 15 months in October 1833.  ...

Pierre Alexandre Derneville du Closel, by his first wife, died "at his father's home" at La Pointe, St. Martin Parish, in September 1825.  Pierre was only 19 years old and did not marry.  

Joseph du Closel, by his second wife, married Louise Charlotte, daughter of Joseph Jacques Pose Eyssalenne, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in April 1836.  Their son Joseph Charles Eyssalenne was born in St. Martin Parish in June 1837.  Joseph du Closel died in St. Martin Parish in October 1837; he was only 23 years old; his succession record was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse the following December.  

Charles St. Maurice du Closel, by his second wife, married Charlotte Aminthe, daughter of French Creole Jean Baptiste Berard, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in November 1839. ...

2

Charles-Frédéric, born at New Orleans in September 1752, married Marie-Françoise La Mollere de D'Orville, at New Orleans in February 1777.  Their son Charles-Frédéric, fils was born at New Orleans in April 1778, and Joseph-Marie-François in March 1786.  His younger son settled on the western prairies.  

Joseph Marie François followed his uncle and cousins to the Bayou Teche valley, where he married Marguerite Celima, daughter of French Creole Louis Judice, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in June 1811. ...

3

Pierre-Louis, born at New Orleans in October 1753, may have married L____ De Reggio at New Orleans in October 1789. 

4

Youngest son Nicolas-Joseph-Godefroi or Joseph-Nicolas, born at New Orleans in May 1757, married Eulalie, daughter of Jacques Toutant Beauregard, regidor of the city, at New Orleans in December 1782.  Their son Charles was born at New Orleans in December 1782, and Vincent-Godefroi in June 1786 but died at age 3 in September 1789.  Nicolas-Godefroi served as a lieutenant in the Louisiana Regiment.  He remarried to Marianne, daughter of French Creole Jean Bienvenu of Bordeaux, France, probably at New Orleans in the early 1790s.  Their son Jean-Baptiste was born at New Orleans in June 1795, Joseph in September 1797, and Godeficot died "as a result of inoculation," age 6 months, in April 1802. 

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A Creole Olivier settled on the Upper German Coast in the late colonial period.  One of his sons settled on upper Bayou Lafourche and created a substantial progeny.  Some of his descendants married Acadians:

Descendants of François OLIVIER (c1737-1787)

François Olivier married Catherine Michel.  They were living at  St.-Jean-Baptiste on the Upper German Coast in the early 1770s.  Their daughter married into the Perieu family.  Francois died at New Orleans in January 1787; he was 50 years old.  One of his sons moved from the German Coast to upper Bayou Lafourche at the end of the colonial period.

1

Jean-Adam, a twin, was baptized at New Orleans, age unrecorded, in January 1775 and may have died young.  

2

François, fils, born in c1775, married Marianne, daughter of German Creole Pierre Keler, at St.-Jean-Baptiste in May 1799.  Francois, fils died at St.-Jean-Baptiste in August 1803; he was only 28 years old.  

3

Jean-François married Dorothée, daughter of French Creole Jean-Baptiste Lagrange, at St.-Jean-Baptiste in February 1797.  Their son Jean was born at St.-Jean-Baptiste in November 1798, François le jeune in September 1800, Pierre-Zéphirin, called Zéphirin, at Assumption on upper Bayou Lafourche in December 1802, Augustin Eugène in Assumption Parish in August 1814 but died in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 14, in August 1828, and Hubert was born in Assumption Parish February 1819.  Their daughters married into the Boudreaux, Clement (French Creole, not Acadian), and Delaune families.  ...

3a

Jean married Acadian Madeleine Melançon probably in Lafourche Interior Parish in the late 1810s.  Their son Adam Eugène was born in Lafourche Interior Parish September 1820. ...

3b

François le jeune married Pauline, daughter of Acadian Joseph Pierre Bourg, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1822.  Their son François Zéphirin, perhaps called Zéphirin, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1823.  Their daughter married into the Thibodeaux family.  François le jeune died in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1828; he was only 28 years old.  

François Zéphirin, called Zéphirin by the recording clerk, may have married Acadian Alida Bergeron in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in September 1847.  If so, their son Zéphirin Treirl Ureyul was born probably on Bayou Black in July 1848.  ...

3c

Zéphirin married Marie Delphine, called Delphine, daughter of German Creole surgeon Jean Louis Exnicios of St. John the Baptist Parish, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in November 1824.  Their son Zéphirin Sylvanie was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1825, Jean Sylvanie in August 1827, Jean Louis, called Louis, in May 1831, Jean Pierre in February 1834, Joseph Clovis in March 1835, Valéry in May 1837, Pierre Clairville Ozémé in January 1844, Arthur in January 1847, and Trasimond Gustave in December 1847.  Their daughter married into the Daigle and Pontiff families.  ...

Zéphirin Sylvanie, by his first wife, married Séraphine, daughter of fellow French Creole Jean Lagrange, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in September 1844, several months after a daughter was born; Séraphine's mother was an Hébert.  Zéphirin Sylvanie remarried to Adèle, daughter of Acadian Charles Romain Boudreaux, at the Thibodaux church in August 1848.  ...

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A French-Creole Olivier created a family on the Opelousas prairies during the late colonial period.  His grandsons settled near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish.  Some of them married Acadians:

Descendants of Maurice OLIVIER (?-)

Maurice Olivier married Catherine, daughter of French Creole Pierre Lejeune, probably at Opelousas by the late 1770s.  Their daughters married into the Frugé, Hayes, and Langlois families.  

Joseph, baptized at Opelousas, age 6 months, in September 1781, had at least three "natural children" with Madeleine Mayer.  Their son Alexis was baptized at Opelousas, age 1, in July 1804, Joseph, fils at age 2 years, and André at age 6 months in February 1808.  Joseph married Anne Marguerite, daughter of Acadian Joseph Hébert, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in October 1809.  Their daughter married into the Lagrange family.  ...

Alexis, by his first "wife," married Marie Arsène, called Arsène, daughter of French Creole Laurine Lagrange, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in December 1823.  Their son Alexis, fils was born near Grand Coteau in December 1835...

Joseph, fils, by his first "wife," married Émelite, called Melite, daughter of Acadian Paul Boutin, at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in November 1824.  Their son Joseph III was born near Grand Coteau in March 1830, Valéry in April 1832, and Émile in January 1836.  ...

André, by his first "wife," married Anastasie, another daughter of Paul Boutin, in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in June 1829, and sanctified the marriage at the Grand Coteau church, St. Landry Parish, in August 1829.  Their son Alexis le jeune was born near Grand Coteau in September 1831.  ...

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Other Oliviers on the western prairies may have been descendants of Maurice and his wife Catherine Lejeune: 

Théodore Olivier, husband of Marie Sonnier, died in Lafayette Parish in January 1823.  The Vermilionville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not bother to give any parents' names, did not say how old Théodore was at the time of his death.  Was Théodore a son of Maurice's son Joseph?  

Joseph Olivier married Marie Aurore Janise.  Their son Hilaire was born in St. Landry Parish in July 1832, Joseph, fils in February 1836, and Léon in August 1838.  Was Joseph a son of Joseph Olivier by his wife Anne Marguerite Hébert? 

Marie Christine Olivier married French Canadian Jean Baptiste Lantier and settled near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, by the late 1830s.  Their daughter Azélie, called Azèle, was born near Grand Coteau in August 1841; she is the author's paternal great-grandmother.  Was Marie Christine another daughter of Joseph Olivier?

~

During the antebellum period, Oliviers, who would have been called Foreign French by native Louisianians, emigrated from France to the Bayou State.  Like their French Creole namesakes, most of the Foreign French remained at New Orleans, but some of them settled in East Baton Rouge, St. James, Ascension, St. Martin, Lafayette, and St. Landry parishes.  Non-Acadian Oliviers who lived on lower Bayou Teche during the antebellum period were not French Creoles or Foreign French but free persons of color whose surname may have come from an ancestor's given name or whose ancestor may have been owned, and freed, by an Olivier:  

Félicité Aspasie Olivier, quarteroone libre, or free quadroon, minor daughter Adélaïde Du Breuil, mulatresse libre, or free mulatto, of New Iberia, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, married Philippe Frillot, quateron libre, son Rosette Boutte, mulatresse libre of Côte-aux-Puces, or the Flea Coast, near New Iberia, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in November 1809.  

Charles Olivier, a free man of color, married Adélaïde Du Breuil, a free woman of color.  Their daughter married into the Boutte family.  Their son Zenon married Marie Modeste, called Modeste, Frillot, a free woman of color.  Zenon's son Charles, described by the recording priest as a quarteron libre, was born in St. Martin Parish in May 1815, Joseph in February 1828, and a son, name unrecorded, died at age 2 in March 1834.  Adélaïde also may have had children by other men.  Her natural daughter Amelia married into the Delile family, free persons of color from New Orleans.  Adélaïde's probably natural son by ____ Olivier de Vixen, perhaps a member of the French Creole family of St. Mary Parish, married Marie Philippe, daughter of Philippe Reyeau, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in January 1837; the marriage also was recorded in St. Mary Parish, where the couple probably lived.  

Charles Olivier, a free man of color, married Madeleine Lacoste, a free woman of color.  Their daughters married into the Casimen Menial and Frillot families.  Their son Jean Baptiste, called Baptiste, married Marie Louise dite Fanchonne, natural daughter of Pierre Boutte, free man of color, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in December 1822; the marriage also was recorded in St. Mary Parish, where the couple probably lived.  Their son Désiré was born probably in St. Mary Parish in October 1835.  Madeleine also may have had sons by other men.  Her natural son Pierre, a free man of color, married Marie Thérèse Frillot, natural daughter of Claude Frillot and Rosette Boutte, free mulattoes, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in February 1818.  Their son Pierre, called a quarteron libre by the St. Martinville priest who recorded his baptism, was born probably in St. Mary Parish in December 1822, Isidore in November 1824, Joseph in July 1826, another Joseph in June 1828, Paul in March 1835, and Édouard in June 1837.  Their daughter married into the Boutte family.  Madeleine's natural son Casimir, a free man of color, married Carmezile, daughter François Frillot, free man of color, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in January 1828.  Their son Louis was born probably in St. Mary Parish in January 1829, and Isidore Valcour in December 1830.  Madeleine's natural son Honoré, a free man of color, married Françoise Azélie, called Azélie, daughter of Claude Frillot, a free man of color, at the St. Martinville church, St. Martin Parish, in August 1828; the marriage also was recorded in St. Mary Parish, where the couple probably lived.  Their son Joseph was born probably in St. Mary Parish in September 1836.  

Pierre, son of James Olivier and Antonia Balla, born perhaps in c1768, married Madeleine Loupe.  They had a son named Noël, born in St. James Parish.  Pierre remarried to Antoine, daughter of Antoine Millan or Miliano, at the Donaldson church, Ascension Parish, in January 1817.  Their son Emmanuel Sylvestre was born in Assumption Parish in January 1821 but died in Ascension Parish, age 4, in January 1825.  Their daughter married into the Bayetta famly.  Noël, by Pierre's first wife, married Louise, or Eloise, natural daughter of Modeste Duplechin, also called Daigle, at the Opelousas church, St. Landry Parish, in April 1830.  Their son Noël, fils was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1831, Onésime in St. Landry Parish in October 1834, Laurent or Flaurent in February 1837, and Zéphirin in April 1839.   Pierre may have died in Ascension Parish in January 1846; the Donaldsonville priest who recorded the burial, and who did not bother to give any parents' names or even mention a wife, said that Pierre died at "age 78 years." 

François Olivier married Marie Dinos.  They settled near Baton Rouge by the early 1820s.  

Edmond Olivier married Mélanie Bertrand.  Their son Edmond Saintville was born in St. Martin Parish in November 1836. 

François Olivier, free man of color, married Marie Bijeau probably in St. Martin Parish by the late 1830s.

Bienvenu Victor or Victor Bienvenu Olivier married Pauline Angelina Reynaud.  Their son Victor William was born near Baton Rouge in September 1838.  

Pierre Olivier's "Last Will listing his heirs" was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in November 1840.  One wonders which Pierre Olivier he was.  

Antoine, son of Lange Olivier and Hélène Marie, married Scolastie, daughter of Acadian Joseph Firmin Guidry, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in August 1845.  Were Lange and Antoine kin to the other Oliviers on Bayou Lafourche?

CONCLUSION

Oliviers settled late in Acadia, but one of them may have come fairly early to Louisiana.  Joseph Olivier brought his family to the colony in the late 1760s probably from St.-Domingue, today's Haiti.  Unlike the great majority of his fellow Acadians, if indeed he was an Acadian, Joseph settled at New Orleans, where, except for its blood, his family line died out in its third generation.  Only by settling among other Acadians on the river, along the Lafourche, or on the prairies west of the Atchafalaya Basin could Joseph's descendants have maintained their Acadian identity beyond the second generation even if the family line had survived.  Moreover, Joseph's only married son, Jean-Baptiste, took as his spouse a French Creole from the city, farther distancing his children from their father's native culture. 

Two decades after Joseph Olivier reached the colony, Anne Olivier, perhaps Joseph's older sister and now a widow, her daughter, and a grand-niece, came to the colony aboard one of the Seven Ships from France in 1785.  Perhaps because her brother had settled at New Orleans, Anne Olivier settled in the largely-Isleño community of San Bernardo in present-day St. Bernard Parish, south of the city, not in a predominantly Acadian community west of New Orleans.  

The Oliviers of South Louisiana, then, are descended not from Acadians who spurned their own culture, but largely from French immigrants who came to the colony as early as the 1740s.  However, one colonial-era Olivier was an Englishman, another a Spaniard.  Many of the French Oliviers remained at New Orleans, but others settled on the German Coast, at Pointe Coupée, at Opelousas, and in predominantly-Acadian communities such as the Bayou Lafourche valley, where they inevitably married Acadians.  During the antebellum period, French-Creole and Foreign-French Oliviers settled not only in New Orleans but also in East Baton Rouge, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Lafourche Interior, St. Mary, St. Martin, Lafayette, and St. Landry parishes.  

The most noteworthy Olivier family sprang from a French nobleman turned colonial official who settled at New Orleans by 1750.  His oldest son, Charles-Honoré, who had held high office at New Orleans during the Spanish regime, moved to the Bayou Teche valley about the time the Americans purchased the colony and created a prominent family there; one of Charles-Honoré's granddaughters, for instance, married a son of Louisiana Governor Jacques Villeré in 1819.  One line of the family settled in St. Mary Parish, the other in St. Martin.  The Maison Olivier in today's Longfellow-Evangeline State Park, north of St. Martinville, was the plantation house of one of Charles-Honoré's grandsons.  These South Louisiana aristocrats, with only two exceptions, did not deign to marry Acadians; they found spouses in other prominent Creole families living along the Teche.  The exceptions were the two Oliviers who married into the Mouton family.  

On the other end of the socio-economic spectrum, African-Creole Oliviers, free persons of color, also lived in the Bayou Teche valley during the antebellum period.  They may have had a common ancestor with the given name Olivier, or their ancestors may have been owned, and freed, by French-Creole Oliviers.  ...

The family's name also is spelled Levier, Olibier, Olivares, Olivena, Olivie, Oliviers, Oliviert.

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 703, 1029; BRDR, vols. 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, 2-B, 2-C, 3; Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 234; NOAR, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11; <stateparks.com/longfellowevangeline.html>; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 426.  

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, 40, calls her Anne OLIVIER veuve HACHÉ; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 74-75.  

02.  Wall of Names, 22, calls him Jean-Baptiste [OLIVIER], & lists him with his widowed mother; NOAR, 4:212, 229 (SLC, M5, 39), his marriage record, calls him Jean-Baptiste OLIVIER, "native of Cabo Frances," says his wife was "native of this parish," gives his & his wife's parents' names, says his father was "native of Marseilles" & his mother "native of Cabo Frances (Cap Français)," that her father was "native of Lyon in France" & her mother "native of La Rochelle," & that the witnesses to his marriage were Geronimo RO(G/Y)O & Eusebio RODRIGUEZ ARFIAN.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 234; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 426.  

His burial record gives him an estimated birth year of c1762, which poses problems for the records.  Is Arsenault wrong about his & his parents' birthplaces, or is his marriage record merely saying that this family lived at Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, before coming to LA?  The SC Acadians did not leave for St.-Domingue, now Haiti, until late 1763 or early 1764, so if Jean-Baptiste was born in Haiti in c1762 why had he been counted with his parents in SC in Aug 1763? 

The baptismal records of son Guillaume, dated 7 Mar 1792, & daughter Émilie-Marie, dated 12 Mar 1794, & the burial records of son Étienne, dated 15 Sep 1792, & daughter Eulalie, dated 24 Sep 1792, in NOAR, 5:288-89 (SLC, B11, 187; SLC, B11, 305; SLC, F2, 52; SLC, F2, 55), call him Juan Bautista [OLIVIER], "native of Guarico."  This could only be Guárico, present-day Caricol, Haiti, because the only other Guárico is an inland province in present-day Venezuela!  Guárico also is an old Indian name for Cap-Français.  The baptismal record of daughter Arsène, dated 13 May 1800, in NOAR, 7:241 (SLC, B14, 121), confirms this by calling him Juan Bautista [OLIVIER], "native of Cap Français (Santo Domingo)," an echo of his marriage record, cited above.  

The vessel taken by Acadians from MD to New Orleans in Apr-Jul 1767 spent 17 days at a place called Guárico.  So, did his family come to LA in 1767 from MD via Haiti, or did the family, already in Haiti, join the Acadian exiles from MD on their way to New Orleans?  

03.  Not in Wall of Names.  Arsenault, Généalogie, 703, the Port-Royal section, calls him Joseph OLIVIER, says he was born in 1730, gives his parents' names, & says he settled at Beaubassin with brothers Paul & Jean-Baptiste; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1029, the Beaubassin section, calls him Joseph OLIVIER, says he was born in 1730, gives his parents' names, & says he married Marguerite MARTIN dit Barnabé in c1752, gives her parents' names, but lists no children.  See also Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, 234; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 426.  

There is some mystery about Joseph's origins.  The marriage record of son Jean-Baptiste, dated 9 Jun 1785, in NOAR, 4:229 (SLC, M5, 39), says that the groom's parents were "Joseph [OLIVIER], native of Marseilles, and Margarita MARTIN, native of Cabo Frances (Cap Français)," which was Haiti.  The baptismal record of grandson Guillaume OLIVIER, dated 7 Mar 1792, in NOAR, 5:289 (SLC, B11, 187), says that the boy's paternal grandparents were "Josef OLIVIE and Margarita OLIVIE natives of Provence in France."  The baptismal record of granddaughter Émelie-Marie, dated 12 Mar 1794, in NOAR, 5:288-89 (SLC, B11, 305), is even more confusing when it calls the girl's paternal grandparents "Jose OLIVIER, native of Marseilles, and Margarita OLIVIER, native of Acadia."  This brings into question Joseph's Acadian origins.  Was he not the son of Pierre OLIVIER of Paris & Port-Royal, Acadia, as Arsenault insists, but another Joseph OLIVIER who emigrated from the south of France to SC & married an Acadian exile there before Aug 1763?  Perhaps Stephen A. White's DGFA-2 will gives us the answer.

If Joseph & his family were among the SC Acadians who emigrated to Haiti in Nov 1763, then they were among the relatively few Acadians from the island who moved on to LA.  See Milling, Exile Without End, 27, & appendix.  They could have hooked up with one of the several parties of Acadians going from Halifax to LA via Cap-Français, Haiti, in 1765, or the Acadian exiles from MD who stopped at Cap-Français for 17 days in the summer of 1767, or they could have gone from Haiti to New Orleans on their own.  Would coming to LA on their own hook explain why Joseph & his family remained in New Orleans & did not settle with other Acadian families upriver or in the prairie region beyond the Atchafalaya?  One wonders why they did not hook up with either of the MARTIN clans at St.-Jacques or at Attakapas, all of whom were kin to Joseph's wife Marguerite.  

Wall of Names, 22, states that Marguerite MARTIN was a widow when she reached LA, but the Spanish report of Jul 1767 does not say that Joseph was dead, &, even more compelling, birth records in NOAR, 2:217, show that he was very much alive in 1768 & 1771, when son Marc & daughter Rosalie were born & baptized at New Orleans.  Nor does his son Jean-Baptiste's marriage record in Jun 1785 indicate that Joseph was deceased even then.  See NOAR, 4:229 (SLC, M5, 39).  

If Joseph OLIVIER was still alive when he reached LA, & if he was an Acadian, then his name belongs on the Wall of Names at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville.

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