APPENDICES

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

POIRIER

[PWAH-ree-ay]

ACADIA

Jean Poirier came to Acadia from France in 1641 aboard St.-Francois with his wife, Jeanne, daughter of Antoine Chebrat of La Chaussée, near Blois, in the Orleanais region of the Loire valley.  Jean came to work in the fisheries established by Nicolas Denys.  Jean died in c1654 probably at Port-Royal after fathering a son and a daughter.  Jeanne remarried to Antoine Gougeon the year Jean died.  She died sometime in the late 1670s, probably at Port-Royal, in her early 50s.

Jean and Jeanne's son Michel, born at Port-Royal in c1650, took up farming and married Marie, daughter of Michel Boudrot, in c1673 at Port-Royal.  In the late 1670s or early 1680s, Michel and his family moved from Port-Royal to Chignecto.  They had 11 children, including nine sons, seven of whom married and created families of their own:

Oldest son Michel, fils, born at Port-Royal in c1674, married Madeleine, daughter of Germain Bourgeois, in c1698 probably at Chignecto.  They had 13 children, including seven sons who married into the Arceneaux, Brun, Savoie, Gaudet, Bourg, Cyr, Nuirat, and Belliveau families.

Pierre, born in c1680 at Port-Royal or Chignecto, married Agnès, daughter of Thomas Cormier, a pioneer of the Chignecto settlement, in c1705 at Chignecto.  They had 10 children, including nine sons who married into the Nuirat, Michel dit La Ruine, LeBlanc, Foret, Girouard, Dugas, Breaux, Hébert, Arceneaux, Doiron, and Carret families.  Pierre died at Chignecto in July 1744 in his mid-60s.

Jean-Baptiste, born at Chignecto in April 1682, married Marie, another daughter of Thomas Cormier, in c1706 at Chignecto.  They had nine children, including three sons who married into the Doiron, Gaudet, and Richard families.  Jean-Baptiste died probably at Chignecto in late 1748, age 66.

Louis, born at Chignecto in January 1784, married Cécile, daughter of Jean-Aubin Mignot dit Aubin and widow of Pierre Gaudet, in c1708 probably at Chignecto.  They had seven children, including two sons who married into the Arceneaux, Chiasson, and Vigneau families.  Louis died probably at Chignecto in late 1747, age 63.

Francois, born in c1691 at Chignecto, married Marie, daughter of Michel Haché dit Gallant, at Chignecto in November 1715.  Francois died at Chignecto in early 1728; he was only 37 years old.  

Jacques, born probably at Chignecto in c1693, married Anne, daughter of Francois Cormier, at Chignecto in January 1716.  Jacqued died probably at Chignecto c1728, only in his mid-30s.

Youngest son Joseph, born probably at Chignecto in c1695, married Anne, daughter of René Bernard, at Chignecto in October 1719.  Joseph died in early 1762, during Le Grand Dérangement, in his late 60s.  

Jean Poirier's nephew, Michel dit de France, born in France in c1667, reached Acadia by c1692, when he married Marie, daughter of Guyon Chiasson.  They also settled at Chignecto amongst Michel dit France's many cousins.  Michel dit de France and Marie had 12 children, including five sons, all born at Chignecto, who married and created families of their own:

Oldest son Michel, fils, born in c1693, married Jeanne, daughter of Charles Bourgeois, at Chignecto in February 1718.  Michel, fils died during Le Grand Dérangment at Pointe-aux-Trembles, Québec, in January 1758, age 65.  

Francois, born in c1698, married Marguerite, daughter of Louis Doucet, in c1726 probably at Chignecto.  Francois died probably at Chignecto in the early 1750s, in his mid-50s.

Joseph married Jeanne, daughter of Abraham Arceneaux, in c1730 probably at Chignecto.  He, too, died probably at Chignecto in the early 1750s.

Pierre, born in c1710, married Louise, daughter of Michel Caissie, at Chignecto in October 1733.  He died during Le Grand Dérangement at Très-Ste.-Trinité, Cherbourg, France, in October 1760, age 50.

Youngest son René, born in October 1718, married Anne, daughter of Denis Gaudet, at Chignecto in November 1740.  He also died in France during Le Grand Dérangment, at St.-Nicolas, Nantes, in March 1766, age 48.

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

Like most old Acadian families, Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family to the winds.  ...

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Poiriers were among the first Acadians to settle in Louisiana.  Jean-Baptiste, son of Jean-Baptiste Poirier and Marie Cormier of Menoudie, Chignecto, his wife Marie-Madeleine Richard, their two young sons, Jean-Baptiste and Joseph, and three related families, reached New Orleans in February 1764--the first recorded group of Acadians to settle in present-day Louisiana.   Nine years before, in the fall of 1755, Jean and Madeleine had been among the Chignecto Acadians whom the British had transported to faraway Georgia.  After the Seven Years War ended in 1763, Jean and Madeleine left Georgia and moved to Charleston, South Carolina, along with three related families, the Cormiers, the Landrys, and the Richards.  They soon returned to Georgia and made their way to Louisiana via Mobile, seeking a refuge in territory not controlled by the hated British.  When they finally reached the lower Mississippi Valley, that part of Louisiana was officially a Spanish colony, but French officials still occupied the colonial seat at New Orleans.  Not expecting the wayward Acadians--four families of 20 individuals, including five young children--French officials helped them as best they could then sent them to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, now St. James Parish, on the Mississippi River above New Orleans.  Another member of the Cormier-Landry-Poirier-Richard party was Jean's cousin, Cécile, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Poirier and Marie Cormier of Chignecto and wife of Olivier Landry. ...

A year later, Joseph, son of Michel Poirier, and his young wife Marie-Anne Bourgeois reached Louisiana.  They were not a part of the Broussard dit Beausoleil party but came in another expedition that took the same route, via St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, arriving later in 1765.  French officials sent Joseph and Marie-Anne with dozens of other Acadian families to the established Acadian community of Cabanocé, where Joseph was doubtlessly welcomed by his Poirier cousins.  ...

Later that year, Michel Poirier fled from the Bayou Teche valley to escape a mysterious epidemic that killed dozens of his fellow Acadians.  He joined his kinsmen at Cabanocé and married Marie, daughter of Cabanocé pioneer Jean-Baptiste Cormier, at Cabanocé in March 1766. ...

Sometime in the 1770s, Pierre, son of Abraham Poirier, came to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques.  In January 1777, a Spanish census taker counted him at St.-Jacques with the family of Jean-Baptiste Léger, husband of Pierre's cousin Cécile Poirier.  Pierre did not remain on the river, however, but crossed the Atchafalaya Basin in the late 1770s or 1780s and settled in the Atakapas District.  

LOUISIANA:  WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

In February 1765, a large contingent of Acadians led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil reached Louisiana from Halifax via St.-Domingue.  The French officials in New Orleans sent the Broussard party to the Atakapas District, the vast prairie region west of the Atchafalaya Basin.  That spring, summer, and fall, dozens of the Atakapas Acadians died in an epidemic that devastated their settlement on Bayou Teche.  One of the victims of the epidemic was an infant named Jean-Chrysostôme Poirier, parents unknown, who died at the beginning of July.  He was buried probably at what the Acadians called au dernier camp d'en bas, or the camp lower down, at Fausse Pointe, near present-day Loreauville.  Late that fall, to escape the epidemic, a number of Atakapas Acadians fled the Teche valley and moved to Cabanocé on the river.  Among them was Michel Poirier, a single man in his late 20s, birthplace and parents unknown.  

Poiriers did not reappear in the Atakapas District until the late 1780s, when Pierre Poirier of St.-Jacques married Scholastique, daughter of Louis-Charles Babineaux, at present-day St. Martinville, in September 1787.  This union created a western branch of the family that put down deeps roots in the Atakapas country. ...

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 729, 1031-51, 1663, 2250-52, 2283-84, 2568-69; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Supply.htm>, Family No. 29; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No. 142; White, DGFA-1, 1327-38; White, DGFA-1 English, 282-84. 

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, 20, calls her Cécile POIRIER.  See also Arsenault, Généalogie, 1032, 1037.

02.  Wall of Names, 23 (pl. 5R), calls him Jean POIRIER, & lists him with his wife & 3 children [one of whom, daughter Marie, was born in LA, so she should not have been listed with them]; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2568, calls him Jean POIRIER, says he was born in 1737, calls his parents Jean POIRIER & Marguerite CORMIER of Menoudy, near Beaubassin, says he married Madeleine RICHARD on 22 Jan 1760 in Mobile, calls her parents Jean RICHARD & Catherine CORMIER of Nappan, near Beaubassin, & says he children were Jean, born in 1760, Francoise in 1765, Marie in 1767, Marguerite in 1771, & Michel in 1774, but gives no birthplaces, & that he resided sur la rive est du Mississipi[sic], at St.-Jacques in 1777; White, DGFA-1, 1336, calls him Jean-Baptiste POIRIER, says he was born at Menoudie 20 Feb 1733 & baptized at Beaubassin 24 May 1733, godson of Pierre HÉBERT & Jacques & Madeleine POIRIER, calls his parents Jean-Baptiste POIRIER & Marie CORMIER, says he married Marie-Madeleine RICHARD, daughter of Jean-Baptiste [RICHARD] & Catherine CORMIER, c1759 but gives no place of marriage, says the marriage was "réhab," which means reconfirmed, at Mobile 22 Jan 1764, that there was "disp -- cons" granted for the marriage, says he was in GA in 1763, at Cabahannocer in 1777, age 40, & died "(succession Cabannocer)" 23 Jan 1785; <thecajuns.com/acadians.htm>, "Arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana," says he & his wife married in 22 Jan 1764.  

Since 2 of their sons, Jean-Baptiste & Joseph, were born in c1760 & c1762, Jean-Baptiste & Marie-Madeleine's 22 Jan 1764 "wedding" at Moblie was the blessing of a marriage already recognized by their family & the Acadian community since c1759.  They were married in Georgia, which was a Protestant colony that had no Catholic priests.  Mobile was the first Catholic community they reached during Le Grand Dérangement.  

03.  Wall of Names, 23, calls him Jean-Baptiste POIRIER.  

04.  Wall of Names, 24, calls him Jean-Chrysostôme POIRIER, & lists him singly.  Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:630, 633, his death/burial records, call him Jean-Chrisogone POIRIER in one record & Jean-Charles POTIER in another.  Each record lists his age but gives no clue as to who his parents were or who were his guardians or how he died.  One wishes that the good Fr. FRANCOIS had added more details about the brief life of this infant.

05.  Wall of Names, 23, calls him Joseph POIRIER.  

06.  Wall of Names, 24, calls him Joseph POIRIER, & lists him with Anne BOURGEOIS as if they were married when they reached LA.  The Cabanoce census of 1766 agrees.  See Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 214.  

07.  Not in Wall of Names.  Her marriage record in BRDR, 2:269, 599 (SJA-1, 44a), calls her Marie POIREÉ, says "bn. [birth] not given," that her parents were Abraham POIREÉ & Maria Josèphe BOURG, gives the name of her husband's parents, but lists no witnesses to their marriage.  Her birth year is calculated from the age given in the St.-Jacques census of 1777, not the Cabanocé census of 1769.  The Marie POIRIER who is listed in Wall of Names, 23, daughter of Jean POIRIER & Madeleine RICHARD, was born c1767 to parents who reached LA in Feb 1764 & thus should not be on this list.  See De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 10, 20.

08.  Wall of Names, 24, calls him Michel POIRIER, & lists him singly.  Arsenault, Généalogie, 1035, in his Beaubassin section, says that Michel POIRIER, born 1710, son of Pierre POIRIER & Agnès CORMIER of Beaubassin, husband of Marie-Madeleine LEBLANC, whom he married 3 Oct 1735 at Grand-Pré, deporte en Caroline, il s'est establi en Louisiane.  Arsenault does not include a Michel among the children of Michel & Marie-Madeleine.  In the LA section of his Généalogie, p. 2568, however, Arsenault lists only 1 Michel POIRIER, born in 1738, not 1710, & says that he was probablement son of Michel POIRIER & Marie-Madeleine LEBLANC.  Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 365, lists a Michel POIRIER "of Beauséjour in Acadia," son of Michel POIRIER (deceased) & Marie LEBLANC, who married Victoire JOURDAIN at Mole St.-Nicolas, St.-Domingue 11 Feb 1783, six years after the Michel POIRIER in LA had died at St.-Jacques.  So the LA Michel POIRIER was the son of some other couple, not Michel POIRIER & Marie-Madeleine LEBLANC.

As usual, Wall of Names does not say when Michel POIRIER reached LA.  <thecajuns.com/acad1764.htm>, "Acadians who arrived in New Orleans in 1764," places him with the family of Jean POIRIER, relationship not stated.  But if he arrived in LA in Feb 1764, why is he on a list of Acadians from the BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil party who exchanged British Canadian card money in New Orleans in Apr 1765?  See <thecajuns.com/cardmoney.htm>.  He most likely reached LA in Feb 1765 with the Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil party from Halifax via St.-Domingue & settled at Cabanocé instead of in the Atakapas because his POIRIER kinsmen were already at Cabanocé, or he may have gone to the Atakapas in Apr 1765 with the BROUSSARD party but fled the Teche valley that fall to escape an epidemic and joined his relatives at Cabanocé, where they had resided for over a year.  

09.  Wall of Names, 24, calls him Pierre POIRIER, & lists him singly.  

There is some mystery surrounding this fellow, & I will attempt to sort it out with the limited sources at my disposal.  Arsenault, Généalogie, 1035, 1663, says that Abraham POIRIER was son of Michel POIRIER & Madeleine BOURGEOIS of Beaubassin, that Agnès BELLIVEAU was daughter of Charles BELLIVEAU & Marie MELANÇON of Port-Royal, & the widow of Honoré LANOUX, & that Abraham & Agnès were married 7 Jan 1760 at Restigouche.  Unfortunately, Arsenault lists no children for this couple, so Pierre's relationship to them must come from other sources.  Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:30, 630 (SM Ch.: v.4, #6), Pierre's marriage record, calls him Pierre POIRIER, verifies that his parents were Abraham POIRIER & deceased Ana BENIBO [BELLIVEAU].  If Pierre was born c1764, as indicated by the age given to him in the St.-Jacques census of 1777, he most likely was born at Fort Cumberland, Fort Edward, Halifax, or some other prison compound in Nova Scotia where the British held the Acadians they had rounded up at Restigouche in 1760.  See De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 20.  Arsenault, p. 2569, lists Pierre POIRIER twice, the first time with a birth year of 1764 but no parents given, & mentions his appearance in the 1777 census at St.-Jacques demeurait chez la veuve Joseph FOREST, the second time with a birth year of 1765, parents Abraham POIRIER & Anne BELLIVEAUX, his marriage to Scholastique BABINEAUX, & the names & birth years of their children.  By creating 2 separate biographies for Pierre POIRIER in LA, Arsenault evidently does not associate the Pierre POIRIER at St.-Jacques with the one who lived in the Atakapas District.

That the 2 Pierre POIRIERs in Arsenault's LA section were the same fellow & that he moved from St.-Jacques to the Atakapas District I have no doubt.  There were precious few Pierre POIRIERs in LA in 1787.  There was Pierre, son of Joseph POIRIER of St.-Jacques, who would have been 20 in 1787, a prime age for leaving home to marry, but the marriage record of Pierre POIRIER & Scholastique BABINEAUX at Atakapas is clear that the groom's father was Abraham, not Joseph.  And there was Pierre, son of Jean POIRIER of St.-Jacques, who was only 6 in 1787 & died at age 14 at St.-Jacques in Nov 1795.  See De Ville, p. 16; BRDR, 2:600.  That Pierre, son of Abraham, remained in the Atakapas District & did not return to St.-Jacques can be seen in the birth/baptismal records of several of his children in Hébert, D., 1-A:630, including baptisms at Atakapas Post in Jun 1791, Aug 1794, & Oct 1798.  

None of the sources I have found for this fellow reveals the year when he reached LA, hence the ??.  I cannot find him in the Cabanoce censuses of 1766 or 1769, only the St.-Jacques census of 1777.  See Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth Century Louisianians, 114-19; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 161-70, 173-79.  Remember the logic of Acadian arrivals (see Introduction).  If Pierre had been born in Halifax, he would have come to LA in 1765.  The Acadians who came to the colony in 1766 & settled at St.-Jacques came from MD, not Halifax.  Wall of Names, by listing him singly, implies that he was grown, or nearly grown, when he came to LA, but this assumption could be misleading.  His appearance in the 1777 census at St.-Jacques eliminates the possibility that he came to LA with the 7 Ships immigrants of 1785.  He is not on any of the lists of Acadians who came to LA in 1767, 1768, or 1769, all from MD.  Acadian emigration to LA essentially ceased after 1769, until the huge influx of exiles from France in 1785.  So when did he arrive?  If I had to venture a guess, I would follow the clue of his parents' marriage in Restigouche & the likelihood that they ended up as prisoners in Halifax.  This would lead me to the conclusion that Pierre came to the colony in 1765, probably with relatives or friends of his parents who had fled confinement in Halifax.  He would have been an orphan & a very young child if the age given to him in 1777 is correct.  So how did he miss being counted at Cabanoce in 1766 & again in 1769?  Were the Spanish census takers there that flaky?  These are questions I cannot answer.

How was he kin to the POIRIERs at St.-Jacques, Jean, Michel, & Joseph?  Cécile POIRIER, wife of Jean-Baptiste LÉGER, with whom Pierre was living in 1777, was the first cousin of his father & thus his second cousin.  See Arsenault, p. 1032.  Cécile came to LA in Feb 1764 with her first husband, Olivier LANDRY, the year Pierre POIRIER supposedly was born.  She remarried to Jean-Baptiste LÉGER at St.-Jacques in 1774, when little cousin Pierre would have turned 10.  When did the couple take in the orphaned Pierre?  Had he lived with cousin Cécile before she remarried?  

I need a POIRIER family historian to help me here.

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