APPENDICES

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

TALBOT

[TAL-but]

ACADIA

Louis-Charles, son of Nicolas Talbot and Marguerite Aubry of St.-Georges-de-Bar-le-Duc, Lorraine, born in the parish of St.-Benoist, Paris, in c1714, came to greater Acadia probably in the 1730s.  He married Marie-Françoise, called Françoise, daughter of François Douville and Marie Rogé, at St.-Pierre-du-Nord, the church for Havre-St.-Pierre, Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island, in November 1739.  In 1746, Louis-Charles and his family were at Québec, but they returned to Île St.-Jean.  In August 1752, they were living at Nigeagant near Havre-St.-Pierre, on the north shore of the island, next to Françoise's parents.  The census taker called Louis-Charles a fisherman and noted that he had been "in the country twenty years."  The official addressed him as le sieur, so Louis-Charles evidently was a prominent member of the French middle class, literate and respected.  (The Douvilles also were members of that class and were even wealthier and more influential than the Talbots.  François Douville owned at least three parcels of land in the Havre-St.-Pierre area and was, in fact, one of the first European settlers on the island, having come to the harbor in 1720 with the company of the Comte de St.-Pierre.

Louis-Charles and Marie had eight children, all born on Île St.-Jean:  Marie-Henriette in September 1740, Charles-Louis in May 1743, Joseph in c1745, Jean-François in c1748, François in May 1752, Charles in  January 1754, a second Marie-Henriette in March 1756, and Marie-Louise in October 1758.  

[See also Book Four]

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

[For the family's travails during the Great Upheaval, see Book Six]

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

The date of Louis André Talbot's arrival in Louisiana is unknown.  In Louisiana, he did not call himself Louis André Lafitte, his father's surname, but went by the name Louis André Talbot.  This may have been a smart move on his part.  In the 1810s, when Louis André probably reached Louisiana, his fellow Bordelaise, the Laffite brothers of Barataria, were seen by a sizable part of the populace as pirates and smugglers; Jean Laffite, especially, was persona non grata, still a sworn enemy of Louisiana Governor William C. C. Claiborne even after the smugglers helped General Andrew Jackson defeat a British army at Chalmette in January 1815, so it may have been a good idea for the young immigrant to assume his mother's surname.  Most likely, though, Louis André may have been born "a natural child, called a Talbot from birth, and never used his father's name.  No matter, he left New Orleans probably not long after he reached the city and moved to upper Bayou Lafourche, where his life began in earnest.  

Descendants of Louis-André [LAFITTE] TALBOT (c1791-c1867; Louis-Charles)

Louis André Talbot first appears in Louisiana records in November 1816, when he married Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Marin dit Pieree Dugas and Françoise Arcement, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish.  Louis André and Rosalie remained in Assumption Parish.  Despite the huge size of their family, they adopted Antoinette, daughter of Pepe Pepin, in the early 1840s; sadly, the little girl died at age 2 in July 1842.  Their biological daughters married into the Blanchard, Landry, and Naquin families.  Louis André and Rosalie had at least 10 sons, eight of whom created families of their own, and three of whom married sisters.  In July 1850, the federal census taker in Assumption Parish counted 2 slaves--a 19-year-old black male and an 8-year-old black female--on Louis A. Talbot's farm in the parish's Second Congressional District.  Louis André died in Assumption Parish in the late 1860s, in his late 70s.  Most of his sons served the Southern Confederacy during the War of 1861-65, two of them at the cost of their lives.  After the war, one of his sons moved to the western prairies and established a western branch of the family. 

1

Oldest son Louis Basile, called Basile, born in Assumption Parish in March 1819, married Marie Josèphe or Joséphine, called Joséphine, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Henry and his Creole wife Julienne Percle, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in November 1838.  Their son Adolphe Basile, called Basile, fils, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1845, and Louis Adolphe, called Adolphe, in Assumption Parish in December 1846.  Basile and Joséphine's daughters married into the Barbier, Boudreaux, and Melançon families.  Basile remarried to fellow Acadian Marie Blanchard in c1847.  Their son, name unrecorded, died in Assumption Parish at age 2 1/2 months in January 1852, Lusignan Ferdinand was born in February 1853, Cyprien Camille near Attakapas Canal, Assumption Parish, on the east side of Lake Verret, in December 1857, Clebert Narcisse in October 1865, and Louis Alcée near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in May 1869.  Basile and Marie's daughter married into the Boudreaux family in Lafayette Parish.  During the War of 1861-65, despite his age, Basile, père served in the 1st Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, also known as the St. Mary Cannoneers, raised in St. Mary Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  He was captured on Bayou Teche in April 1863, held briefly by the Federals, was paroled and exchanged.  After the war, he moved his family to the prairies, establishing a western branch of the family.  His sons by his first wife, however, remained on upper Bayou Lafourche. 

1a

Adolphe Basile, by his father's first wife, died near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in November 1869.  The priest who recorded the burial, and who did not give any parents' names or mention a wife, said that Adolphe died at "age 25 years"; he would have been age 24.  Did he marry? 

1b

Louis Adolphe, by his father's first wife, married Aimée, daughter of Maximin Ayo and his Acadian wife Azélie Naquin of Lafourche Parish, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1870.  ...

2

Louis Joseph, also called Louis, fils, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1822, married Dauphine, another daughter of Jean Baptiste Henry and Julienne Percle, at the Thibodaux church in August 1842.  Their son Louis Oscar was born near Labadieville in August 1850, Clovis Amédée le jeune, a twin, in February 1853 but died at age 11 in February 1864, Théophile Ernest, called Ernest, was born in July 1855 but died at age 16 months in November 1856, Jean Baptiste Anatole was born in September 1857, Joseph Osémé in May 1860, and twins Camille Beauregard and Émile Davis in January 1864.  Louis, fils's daughter married into the Fremin family. 

3

Théophile, born in Assumption Parish in December 1823, died at age 15 months in March 1825.  

4

Clovis Amédée, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1825, married Azélie Séraphine, yet another daughter of Jean Baptiste Henry, at the Thibodaux church in May 1845.  The son Louis Adolphe died 5 days after his birth in Lafourche Interior Parish in March 1846, Jean Baptiste le jeune was born near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in November 1849, and Clovis Aurestile was born in October 1851.  Clovis remarried to Rosalie Césaire, daughter of Augustin Lagrange and Rosalie Maillet, at the Thibodaux church in April 1853.  Their son Émile Adam was born near Labadieville in October 1854, Jules Justilien in December 1856, and Louis Wilfred near Attakapas Canal in July 1860.  During the War of 1861-65, Clovis, despite his age and the size of his family, was conscripted into Company B of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery, a unit composed of many conscripts from Assumption Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi; his younger brother Jules also served in the company; like Jules, Clovis died at Vicksburg in early 1863, age 37.    

5

Jean Théophile, called Théophile dit Lolo and Théo, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1826, married fellow Acadian Marie Zéolide, called Zéolide, Boudreaux in c1850.  They settled near Attakapas Canal, Assumption Parish.  Their son Claiborne Théophile was born in October 1853, Valmond Adam in January 1855, Pierre Anatole in November 1857, Mertile Léandre in February 1860, and Étienne Cléopha in August 1866.  During the War of 1861-65, Théo served in Company G of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Rapides Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  He survived the war and returned to his family at Attakapas Canal. 

6

Jules André, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in January 1833, married Célestine, daughter of fellow Acadians Urbain Bourg and Marie Bourg, at the Attakapas Canal church in October 1858.   During the War of 1861-65, Jules, called Julius in Confederate records, served in Company B of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery, a unit composed of many conscripts from Assumption Parish that fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi; his older brother Clovis also was in the company.  Like his older brother, Jules died in City Hospital, Vicksburg, in January 1863, probably of disease, age 20.  His daughter married into the Falterman family.  Except for its blood, this family line died at Vicksburg. 

7

Étienne Valmond, called Valmond, born in Lafourche Interior Parish in April 1835, married Clara or Clarice, daughter of fellow Acadian Jean Baptiste Gaudet and his Creole wife Marie Bernard, at the Thibodaux church in January 1856.  Their son Joseph Henri was born in Lafourche Parish in July 1860, and John William in January 1863.  During the War of 1861-65, Valmond served in King's Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, also known as the St. Martin Rangers, raised in St. Martin Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  Valmond enlisted in the battery in St. Mary Parish in early September 1862, age 27, four months before his younger son John Williams was born.  What Valmond was doing on lower Bayou Teche in the late summer of 1862 is anyone's guess; perhaps he was a conscript who had been sent there from the Bayou Lafourche area to join a front-line unit.  He appears only on the company roll for January and February 1864; the orderly sergeant marked him "present." 

8

Louis, fils died at birth in Assumption Parish in August 1837. 

9

Louis Ernest, called Ernest, was born in Assumption Parish in April 1841.  During the War of 1861-65, Ernest served in the Assumption Parish Regiment Militia.  He fought in the Battle of Labadieville, in Assumption Parish, in October 1862, fell into Federal hands, was paroled, and sent home.  Afterwards, with brother Émile, Ernest enlisted in Company H of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Assumption Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  Ernest married Elmire, daughter of Hubert Barbier and his Acadian wife Rosalie Melançon, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in December 1865.  Their daughter Mary Cordelia had been born near Pattersonville, St. Mary Parish, the previous August.  Ernest remarried to fellow Acadian Élodie Philomène Breaux at the Attakapas Canal church, Assumption Parish, in October 1872.

10

Youngest son Louis Émile, called Émile, was born in Assumption Parish in August 1843.  During the War of 1861-65, Émile served with older brother Ernest in Company H of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry.  Like his older brother, Émile survived the war and returned to his family.  He married Cécilia, daughter of French Creole Louis Dominique Richard, and his Acadian wife Marie Thibodeaux, at the Labadieville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1867.  Their son Alphonse Albert was born near Labadieville in July 1869; ... 

 NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

Non-Acadian families and individuals with a similar surname, probably Anglo Americans, also settled in South Louisiana:

William, son of Benjamin Talbert of Madison County, Kentucky, married fellow Anglo-American Abigail Fletcher of East Baton Rouge Parish in a civil ceremony in St. Landry Parish in October 1820.  

Cyrus Talbot died by July 1840, when his succession was filed at the Franklin courthouse, St. Mary Parish.  

Richard C. Talbot married Louisa, daughter of Isaac Trowbridge, at the Franklin Episcopal church, St. Mary Parish, in September 1846.  The minister who recorded the marriage did not give the groom's parents' names or the bride's mother's name.  In January 1851, the federal census taker in St. Mary Parish counted 4 slaves--a male and 3 females, all black except for 1 mulatto, ranging in age from 40 to 2--on R. Talbot's farm near Franklin.  This probably was Robert C. 

William E. B., son of Mathew Talbot and Elizabeth Hews, was a resident of St. Jean the Baptist Parish when he married Marie Clémentine, called Clémentine, daughter of French Creole Ludger Matherne, at the Convent church, St. James Parish, in October 1855.  During the War of 1861-65, an E. B. Talbot served in Company D of the 27th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi; this was probably William E. B.  

In July 1850, the federal census taker in Iberville Parish counted 5 slaves--2 males and 3 females, all black, ranging in age from 32 to 1--on A. Talbot's farm.  Augustus or Augustin Talbot married Marie Lavinia, calle Lavinia, Robertson, who was baptized a Roman Catholic as an adult at the Plaquemine church, Iberville Parish, in November 1858.  Their daughter Kate married Louis, fils, son of Louis Desobry, père, at the Plaquemine church in December 1859.  In July 1860, the federal census taker in Iberville Parish counted 3 slaves--all males, all black, ages 26, 18, 11, living in a single house--on A. Talbot's farm at Plaquemine.  During the War of 1861-65, Augustin served in companies A and I of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville and Pointe Coupee parishes, which fought in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

In July 1850, the federal census taker in Orleans Parish counted 7 slaves--3 males and 4 females, all black, ranging in age from 50 to 20--on A. Talbot's farm in the First Ward of the parish's First Municipality.  

In August 1850, the federal census taker in Orleans Parish counted 50 slaves held by "Negro trader" W. F. Talbot in the First Ward of the parish's Third Municipality.  

Mary Livinia Talbot, "a convert to the Catholic Faith," wife of ____ Talbot, was baptized "conditionally" by a Plaquemine priest probably there in November 1858. 

In June 1860, the federal census taker in Orleans Parish counted 2 slaves--a 30-year-old black males and a 15-year-old black female--in Allen Talbot's household in New Orleans Third Ward.  

Richard Talbot married Ophelia Washington, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Louis was born near Arnaudville, St. Landry Parish, in March 1870. 

.

Other Anglo-American Talbots served in Louisiana units during the War of 1861-65:

B. E. Talbot served in Company I of the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Cavalry, raised in Iberville Parish, which fought in Louisiana.  

Edward Talbot also served in Company I of the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry.

George T. Talbot served in Company B of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment Louisiana Infantry, which fought in Louisiana.  Was he the George Talbot who married Myra Talbot at the Episcopal church in Franklin, St. Mary Parish, in the late 1860s? 

James Talbot served as a gunner in the 29th (Thomas's) Regiment Louisiana Infantry, was attached to the Confederate navy, captured at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, in late December 1862, and ended up at the prisoner-of-war compound at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, where he was released after taking the oath of allegiance to the United States government.  

Martin Talbot served in Company A of the 11th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Orleans Parish, which fought in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi.  

Wallace P. Talbot, a 26-year-old unmarried clerk living in New Orleans when the war began, served as a first sergeant and second lieutenant in Company E of the 7th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Orleans Parish, which fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania--one of General R. E. Lee's Louisiana Tigers.  Lieutenant Talbot was killed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July 1863.

William A. Talbot served in Kean's Battery Louisiana Light Artillery, also known as Company A of the 12th Battalion Louisiana Heavy Artillery, raised in Orleans Parish, which fought in Virginia, Louisiana, and Alabama.  

CONCLUSION

No Acadian family that came to Louisiana has a more interesting story than this one.  There is no question that the family's progenitor, Louis André Talbot of Assumption Parish, was of Acadian descent in both his paternal and maternal lines.  His father's family had lived on either Île St.-Pierre or Île Miquelon, French-controlled islands off the southern coast of Newfoundland; his mother's family was from Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island.  

Louis André Talbot did not come to Louisiana with any of the extended Acadian families in the 1760s.  And although his mother's family was deported from Île St.-Jean to St.-Malo, France, in 1758-59, he did not come to Louisiana on any of the Seven Ships of 1785.  He was born probably at Bordeaux in c1791, six years after the Seven Ships sailed; his father was a Lafitte, but he assumed his mother's family name.  Louis André came to Louisiana probably in the early 1810s, before another war between Britain and the United States made trans-Atlantic travel more difficult than usual.  He did not remain at New Orleans but chose upper Bayou Lafourche as his new home, settling in Assumption Parish, where he and his wife, an Acadian Dugas, raised a large family, including 10 sons.   His oldest son Basile settled on the western prairies either on the eve of or soon after the War of 1861-65, establishing a western branch of the family.  Louis André's other sons remained on upper Bayou Lafourche. 

There were non-Acadian Talbots, probably Anglo Americans, who settled in South Louisiana, but none of them were as prolific as Louis André and his sons.  

Judging by the number of slaves they owned during the late antebellum period, the Acadian Talbots participated only peripherally in the South's plantation economy.  In 1850, Louis André held only two slaves on his Assumption Parish farm.  A decade later he held none, or at least none who appeared on the federal slave schedule of 1860.  

The War of 1861-65 took a terrible toll on the family.  Early in the war, successive Federal incursions devastated the Bayou Lafourche valley, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were driven off.  But the personal loss to the family was even greater.  Six of Louis André's sons and a grandson served Louisiana in uniform during the war.  Two of his sons, Clovis and Jules, the older one middle-aged, married, and the father of several children, the younger one also married, the father of two daughters, and still in his teens, were conscripted into the same unit in the summer of 1862 and died a few months later at Vicksburg, Mississippi, within days of one another.  The other three sons and the grandson survived the war.  Evidently the family's ardor for the Southern cause was not diminished by its loss.  Two of Louis André's grandsons, twins born in January 1864, were named Camille Beauregard and Émile Davis.  Louis André died in Assumption Parish in the late 1760s, in his late 70s. ...

The Acadian family's name also is spelled Dalbot, Tabbat, Talbat, Talbautte, Talbert, Talbeut, Talboth, Talbotte, Talbout, Talebot, Tallebot, Terbonne, Thalbot, Tolbot.  [See Book Ten for the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats"]

Sources:  1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Assumption, Iberville, Orleans, & St. Mary parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Iberville & Orleans parishes; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2141; Booth, LA Confed. Soldiers, 3(2):763; BRDR, vols. 3, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Davis, W. C., The Pirates Lafitte, 1-2, 492-95n1, passim; De La Roque, "Tour of Inspection," Canadian Archives 1905, 2A:141; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 67-68, 411, 583-97; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 2-B, 3, 7, 8, 9; <islandregister.com/1752.html>; <mwtalbotandassoc.design.officelive.com/Talbot.aspx> [no longer accessible; may he rest in peace]; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/5bateaux.htm>, Family No. 171; Robichaux, Acadians in St.-Malo, 729-31; Mike Talbot, descendant.

Settlement Abbreviations 
(present-day civil parishes that existed in 1861 are 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. 

Name Arrived Settled Profile
*Louis André TALBOT 01 1810s Asp born c1791, Bordeaux, France, or RI; son of André dit Guillaume LAFITTE of Îles St.-Pierre & Miquelon & Bordeaux & Marie-Louise TALBOT of Île-St.-Jean & Bordeaux; married, age 25, Rosalie, daughter of Jean Pierre Marin DUGAS & Françoise ARCEMENT, 25 Nov 1816, Plattenville; died Assumption Parish late 1860s

NOTES

01.  Not in Wall of NamesBRDR, 3:291, 806 (ASM-2, 272), his marriage record, calls him Luis TALBOT of Bordeaux, par. of St.-Luis, calls his parents Guillermo & Luisa LAFITTE, gives his wife's parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Pedro Francisco PELLETIER, Juan Pedro LAGRANGE, & Alexandro DELAUNE.  See also Arsenault, Généalogie, 2141, the LA section; <mwtalbotandassoc.design.officelive.com/Talbot.aspx> [no longer accessible].  

Louis Andrés marriage is the first time he appears in LA records.  He probably came to LA alone in the 1810. 

The late Mike Talbot, descendant, speculates that Louis-André took his mother's surname, not his father's, because in 1816 the LAFFITEs of Barataria, as they preferred to spell their name--Jean and his brother, the famous "pirates" and smuggler--had been declared outlaws again by LA governor W.C.C. CLAIBORNE, & being a LAFITTE in LA, despite having no connection to the famous smugglers, may not have been a good idea at the time for a young immigrant.  According to Davis, W. C., The Pirates Laffite, 2, the LAFITTE brothers were from Pauillac, which was "perched on the west bank of Gironde estuary exactly midway between Bordeaux and the Bay of Biscay at Pointe de Grave some thirty miles distant."  Louis-André's father, André dit Guillaume LAFITTE, like his mother, also was Acadian, born on either Île St.-Pierre or Île Miquelon in Nov 1764.  If the LAFITTEs, who were in the shipping & insurance business, were still residing on St.-Pierre & Miquelon in 1778, they would have been deported to France with the other Acadians there when the British seized the islands during the American Revolution.  André dit Guillaume probably met Louis-André's mother in Bordeaux.  Mike Talbot adds that Louis-André could have been born illegitimate, which would have been another reason to assume his mother's surname.  

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