Saturday, April 27, 2013

Surname Saturday- Saucier

Three hundred and fourteen years ago my ancestor, Jean Baptiste Saucier made the biggest decision of his life. He signed up as a recruit for d'Iberville, in a quest to colonize the wild new Louisiana territory. He left his family behind in Canada, his father Louis Saucier, mother Marguerite Gaillard Duplessis and a brother Charles Saucier.

I have often wondered why he left. Was it the adventure? Was it that he wanted more for himself. He signed on as a passenger, a free man, not as a soldier.  Marrying one of the Pelican Girls, Gabrielle Savary. He died around 1715, leaving behind five children, four of them sons.

He owned a plot of land in the village outside of the fort in Mobile. His portion being adjacent to Graveline and St. Denis.

Gabrielle Savary arrived on  Le Pelican on August 1, 1704. She was one of many women sent by they king from France to marry the colonist in Mobile. The women chose their men and married without delay. Except for Gabrielle, she took her time choosing Jean Baptiste Saucier.
 
Bienville, the brother of d'Iberville was asked to stand as godfather to the daughter of Jean and Gabrielle Saucier. The priest LaVente refused to baptize the child if Bienville was to be godfather.

Gabrielle had married twice more after the death of Jean Saucier. First to the soldier Pierre Vifvareine who with she had a son Jean Baptiste Vifvareine. Pierre Vifvareine died shorty thereafter and she then married the soldier Jean Sansot Lagrange whom with she had daughter Jeanne Gabrielle Sansot. 

 Gabrielle later went to live in the village of New Orleans with her children. Gabrielle found life as a widow hard and asked to be able to leave to go to St. Dominigue with her children. She was refused.
 She employed herself as a midwife, and had a second hand goods business in New Orleans first flea market.

Her sons went on to make names for themselves in the colony. Henry, Jean Baptiste,  and Francois Saucier established a trade business from New Orleans to Illinois. With Francois settling in Illinois. Francois designed Fort Chartres in Kaskaskia, Illinois. He was a surveyor and mapmaker.

Henry later moved his family back to the coast and there raised a large family, whose descendants can be found up and down the coast of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama today. All you have to do is to open a local phone book to see the multiple pages that contain the name Saucier.





Celebrating 314 Years of Gulf Coast Living


Happy Birthday Gulf Coast!

314 years ago my family came to the Gulf Coast from Canada with D'Iberville. These people faced considerable hardship as they slowly turned a wilderness of swamps and bayous into a habitable place to live. Today we celebrate and remember those that came here looking for a new life, a fresh start in a wild new land called the Louisiana Colony.


List of Canadian engagés that were recruited by D'Iberville in 1697

Joseph de Robitaille
Pierre Marot
Sausie (Saucier)
Joseph Chenie
Carcy
Laplaine
Bellefon
Pierre Villaire
Francoise Faux
Berichon
Matte
Anthoine Roussin
Paul Ducheron
Maurice Crepeau
Pierre Allain
Jean Piere
Philipe de Briere
Alexis Franocis
Louise Lemoine
Jean Trepanie
Jean Francois Ayet
Forestier
Clement
Graveline
Ange Guion
Charles Carose
Nicholas Chauvin
Lamarche
Beau Soleil
Jacques Chauvin
Andre Roy
Laval
Ste Mare
Labarre
Laramee
Luca
LaFontaine
St Martin
le Garcon
Leveille
Jean Baptiste Turpin
Pierre LaFontaine
Claude Trepanie
Bonne Volonte
la Junesse
Charles Aigron
Lavigne
Antoine Duclos
Charles Francouer
Jean la Briere
Monsiuer Caumon
Lamarche
Laviolette
le Piemontois
Charles Savage
Brossard
Bellerive
la Tulipe
Poudrie
Gaulin
la Doceur
Bastien Charpantier
la Chambre
Pierre Martin
Monsieur St. Denis
Jean Gautier
Joyeuse
Gilbert d'Ardeene
Prevost
Boubonniere
Sans Chargrin
Denis Darbois
Jean Geofroy
Jeremie
Francois Hamel
Joseph la Pointe
Pierre l'Arrivee
Jacques  la Brie
Lavergne
Ignace Simon
dit Lapointe
la Boutillerie
Minet
Courville
LaLoire
Jean Aussou
Simon Lespine
Dore
Montreuil
sans Cartier
la Fortune
Matagon
Coeurbien
St Michel
Gros Jean
Bourgeois
Dupre Bombardeur
Jean Momtanboux

(Archives du Port  de Rochefort)








Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tombstone Tuesday- J.D.A. Kirkland



Headstone of John Dudley Alexander Kirkland aka "Dud" born December 7, 1824 East Feliciana, La.
Died June 17, 1903. Veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars.





Free Access to Confederate Records

For those of you researching an ancestor who fought in the Civil War there is good news. Fold3 has made their Confederate records available for free during the month of April. Check it out here at Fold3 Confederate Records.


Happy Hunting!