Louis Gaudet
In 1760, Louis Gaudet and his family were living at
Petit Rochelle, Restigouche. They are listed as prisoners of Fort Cumberland
in 1763. In 1766, they were at Miquelon (St-Pierre et Miquelon).
They are listed in the 1767 census of Miquelon. They were exiled to France
in November of 1767 and disembarked at La Rochelle, France, on 9 November
1767.
In 1785, Spain paid for 7 ships to transport Acadians to settle in
Louisiana. For Spain, it meant settlers to buffer the zone between Spanish
and British territory. For the Acadians, it meant a chance to join their
fellow Acadians and to regain some of what they lost during the Exile.
In 1785, Louis Gaudet arrived in Louisiana on the "Caroline," with his wife
and children: François-Louis, aged 12; Madeleine, aged 28; and Marguerite
20.
The "Caroline" was a 200 ton ship under the command of Captain Nicolas
Baudin. It left France on October 19, 1785 and made the crossing in 64 days.
After the 28 families (80 people) were disembarked in Louisiana, then the
ship took on a load of wood and headed back to Nantes, France.
Louis Gaudet and his wife, Marie Hébert, ages 61 and
58, were listed on the 1789 census of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, owning 12
arpents of land on the left bank of the river, 150 quarts of corn, 2 head of
cattle, 2 horses, and 20 hogs.
Section 55, land granted to Louis Gaudet, was bound on the northwest by that
of François-Louis Gaudet, Sr., his son, and was bounded on the southwest by
that of Bellony Babin, in front by Bayou Lafourche, and in the rear by
section 90, belonging to his son, the above François-Louis. Louis opened the
succession of his wife, Marie Hébert, on 1 August 1801, after her death. For
appraisal of the property, two appraisers were appointed by the Spanish
Commandant, Thomas de Villenueva Barroso. By this time, Louis had bought two
more parcels of land, sections 53 and 54, from Girod and Jean-Baptiste
Bourgeois. The appraisers were Julien Blanchard and Joseph Breaux. Louis
kept the property, while all the movables were sold to settle with his
children. All his children were present except Marie (1755-1816), who was
then in Nantes, France. The total amount of the succession amounted to 3,613
pesos and 5 reales, which was held by Louis Gaudet until his death in 1803.
His succession written in Spanish, contains mention of slaves from the
Congo. One "was a wild woman when bought, a thief but a good worker." There
was a pirogue 37 feet long with rudder. His home was 25 X 16 feet. with a
porch on three sides, built on wooden blocks, a kitchen built on posts in
the ground 20 square feet, a store house of the same size, with two negro
cabins and 3000 fence posts. The same year he died, he had built a sugar
mill on Dove Martinez's property for grinding his sugar cane. The last run
was made in 1908
Information on this family was compiled from a variety of sources and submitted by Jana Webre |