While records exist for the early Assumption Parish settlers, the best information begins in the 1770s and 1780s. It was during those decades that the Acadian exiles emigrated to Louisiana. These are the forebears of today's "Cajuns." They were Roman Catholic Frenchmen who had settled what is now Nova Scotia in Canada beginning in the 1630s. Just like in the English colonies, in Acadia, the French government recruited farmers, skilled laborers, soldiers, and other workers to colonize the Canadian wilderness. Many of the names often associated with southern Louisiana such as LeBlanc, Blanchard, Melancon, Hebert belonged to these pioneering Acadian families. During the 18th century, Canada was traded back and forth between France and England several times as part of the decades of warfare waged between the two countries. Finally in the 1750s, England took permanent possession of Canada and told the Acadian settlers, who had by then been in Canada for over 120 years, that they either had to swear allegiance to the British crown or else leave the colony. Most Acadians chose to leave and were shipped into exile on several ships. The French king didn't offer them much in return for their loyalty so most of the families remained in exile in various places around the world including Virginia, Massachusetts, England, France, and South America for some twenty years. Longfellow's poem "Evangeline" recounts the tragic separation of families and loved ones onto the ships that sailed on rough oceans. Many Acadians died on those voyages and then they had to endure several decades of near poverty while in exile. Then in the 1770s, many of these far-flung families began migrating to the then French colony of Louisiana.
The 15+ volume compilation
of church records from what is now the Diocese of Baton Rouge is by far
the most useful genealogical resource for people researching Acadian ancestors
in Assumption Parish. The Diocese of Baton Rouge was only recently created
in 1961 when it became the fourth diocese carved from the Archdiocese of
New Orleans after the Diocese of New Orleans (1793), Alexandria-Shreveport
(Natchitoches) (1853), and the Diocese of Lafayette (1918). At one
time, in the 18th-19th century, South Louisiana was part of the Diocese
of Havana, Cuba. I'm not sure when Louisiana's Roman Catholic Church formed
the diocese strictly within the US borders, but when the Diocese of Baton
Rouge was founded, the bishop wanted to centralize and begin to publish
a compilation of all the church records. These documents record the
much of the regions rich colonial history for the first church in the area,
St. Francis Catholic Church of Pointe Coupee was founded in 1728.
Other early church parishes include St. James (in the county/parish of
the same name) in 1770, Ascension of Donaldsonville in 1772, St.
Gabriel in 1779, St. Bernard at Galveztown in 1779, Assumption in
Plattenville in 1793, St. Joseph in Baton Rouge in 1793, New Feliciana
in 1798, St. Michael in Convent in 1812 Within
the modern-day Diocese of Baton Rouge are twelve civil parishes or counties:
Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville,
Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. James, Tangipahoa, West Baton
Rouge, and West Feliciana.
Nothing in the civil record can compare to these lists of Baton Rouge diocesan documents because the church records not only give the full dates of births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths, but they almost always list the names of an individuals' parents--including the mother's maiden name. Church records also have a remakable consistency in terms of the spelling of names (this is likely the rsult of careful editing). Before education became widespread, people often spelled their names as best they could and often in a strictly phonetic manner. Our Assumption Parish ancestors probably had minimal educations and were also Francophones in a region whose government was run first by Spanish speaking priests and officials and later by English speaking leaders. Given names often switched between French and Spanish speaking versions: Pierre and Pedro, Joseph and Joaquin, Charles and Charles. Isabelle, Isabela, Elisabeth, and Elizabeth were used interchangably even without shifts in language as were Josephe, Josefa, and Josephine. Many women were baptized some combination of Maria or Marie with another name and then when they married or died, might use simply "Marie," "Marie-Josephine," "Josephine," or even one of their other baptismal names such as Marie-Josephine "Claire." This, coupled with the fact that several daughters in a family may be named "Marie-something" caused some problems initially. Genealogical researchers may find the best results if they work backward (from a person's death, marriage, then birth) to prevent too much confusion. As to changes in surnames, you will see that sometimes every generation these spellings changed (note Marroy). Because almost every record I used to create this genealogy was written by a third (usually official) party, that priest or census taker's lack of understanding of local vernacular combined with the fact that often our ancestors could not read or write, causes many interesting name variations. Boudreaux was often spelled Boudrot, Gaudet appears as Godin, and Bourg as Bourque. Other changes had to do with the evolution of Canadian and Louisiana French. The name "Foret" was originally "Forest" and "Forestas." The "^" over the letter "e" - indicated that some 300 years ago, the letter "s" appeared after the "e" and the ê is a "shorthand" indication of that change. By the way, Foret was not a French name, the originaly Forêt was from Flanders (now Belgium) and had Dutch parentage. "Marroy" proved to be a particularly sticky name. Marois from the turn of this century "Anglicized" the name to Marroy. Previous generations used "Marrois," "Maroist," even one hideous misspelling as "Barias"--this by a Spanish priest in the 1780s. Through the Nineteenth century and even into the Twentieth, the often English-only speaking census takers mangled the French given names as well. In some instances, such as Eloise-Monique Landry Marrois, variations found included Ella, Elodie, Eloisha, Heloise, Eloie, Elise, Lise, Lize, and Helen. Sarrasin was spelled as Larroqen, Adeota was Odeotat or Adeola, even Clebert was listed as Khleber, Claibert, or Cleaburn.
Anyone wanting to research
an Acadian family in Assumption using the civil record should be warned:
there are many mispelling and misinterpretations of both given and surnames.
Soundex indices are useful, but be aware that many French names have letters
on the end that are not pronounced; this can have far-reaching results
when using Soundex tools.
Abbreviations used by the Diocese of Baton Rouge include:
ASC - Ascension of Donaldsonville est. 1772
ASM - Assumption of Plattenville est. 1793
PCP - St. Frances of Pointe Coupee est. 1728
SGA - St. Gabriel est 1773
SJA - St. James est 1770
SJO - St. Joseph of Baton Rouge est. 1793
SMI - St. Michael est 1809
SEZ - St. Elizabeth of Paincourtville, est. 1839
Volume I: 1707-1769 (includes parish records brought to Louisiana
from St. Charles Aux Mines, Acadia)
Volume II: 1770-1803
Volume III: 1804-1819
1820-1829
1830-1839
1840-1847
1848-1852
1853-1857
1858-1862
1863-1867
1868-1871
1872-1873
1874-1876
Certificates & photocopies of birth, marriage, and death records can be obtained through:
Department of Archives
Diocese of Baton Rouge
1800 South Acadian Thruway
P.O. Box 2028
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Annotated
Bibliography of Print Resources for Acadian Genealogy
Includes descriptions of books containing both religious & civil
records useful in the history & genealogy of Louisiana and Acadia.
Acadian History and Genealogy
A brief history of the early Acadian settlers and their descendents.
More online resources for Assumption Parish, Louisiana & Acadian Genealogy can by found at:
JEN'S GENEALOGY PAGE LINKS
JEN'S ALL ABOUT AMITE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI WEB PAGE
JEN'S AMITE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI GENEALOGY WEB PAGE
JEN'S ASSUMPTION PARISH LOUISIANA WEB PAGE
BAYOU LAFOURCHE AREA HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
JENNIFER PAYNE'S HISTORY HOME PAGE
SOUTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI &
EASTERN LOUISIANA WEB RING
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