Antoine Guedry - An Intriguing Acadian

by Marty Guidry

Antoine Guedry, the second child of Charles Guedry and Adelaide Madeleine Hebert, arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana from Nantes, France between 1775 and 1780. What brought Antoine to Louisiana at least five years before the vast majority of French Acadians arrived in 1785? Did he visit Louisiana as a seaman aboard a French vessel and remain when his ship left for the return voyage? What was the lure of New Orleans? Intriguing questions - however, only tidbits of his interesting life emerge from the records.

Born about 1754 on Ile Royale after his parents fled their Acadian home in August 1751 to escape English persecution, 1 Antoine Guedry and his family were deported from their home at La Pointe-a-la-Jeunese, Ile Royale (today Grand Narrows, Cape Breton Island) on the ship du Supply in early 1759. They arrived at St. Malo, France on 9 March 1759. Shortly after arriving in France, Charles Guedry settled his family at the small village of Bonnaban, France. 2

Here on 23 April 1760 Antoine's mother Adelaide Madeleine Hebert died leaving her husband Charles and her children Marie Madeleine Braud (daughter by her first husband), Antoine Guedry, Marguerite Guedry and Anne Laurence Guedry 2 .

Needing help to raise his family, Charles remarried shortly after Madeleine Hebert's death. On 13 January 1761 he wed Agnes Bourg at St. Suliac, France 2 . Shortly thereafter the family moved to LaGouesniere, France and remained there until 1763 where Charles and Agnes had a son Pierre-Jean. In 1763 Charles relocated his family to St. Servan, France. Here four sons were born: Joseph Hippolite, Jean-Pierre, Jacques-Servais and Theodore-Felix 2 . For a brief period from 1773-1775 Charles Guedry and his family resettled in Chatellerault, France where Charles joined 1500 other Acadian refugees in the agricultural experiment of Marquis Perusse des Cars. Encountering sterile soil in the Poitou region, the Acadians experienced two crop failures and quickly abandoned the experiment. On 15 November 1775 Charles and his family left Chatellerault in the Second Convoy for Nantes, France. The son Antoine, age 22, was listed as “absent” on the manifest 3 . The family resettled at Saint-Similien, Hauts Paves near Saint-Donatien at Coudray 4 . Shortly after arriving near Nantes, Theodore- Felix Guedry died on 22 January 1776 2 , 5 , 6 .

At some point during the next five years Antoine Guedry, the eldest son of the family, left France and settled in New Orleans, LA. We'll discuss his life shortly. On 11 June 1785 Charles Guedry, his daughter Anne Laurence and sons Joseph, Jean and Jacques departed France on the ship Le Beaumont and arrived in New Orleans on 19 August 1785 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 . On arriving in Louisiana, the family eventually dispersed to various settlements including East Baton Rouge Parish, Ascension Parish and Point Coupee Parish. Also, on the Le Beaumont were Pierre-Jean Guedry and Louise-Julienne Blandin, the son and new daughter-in-law of Charles Guedry 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 .

They settled in Pointe Coupee Parish.

Marie-Victoire Guedry, the eldest child of Charles Guedry, married Jean-Charles Boudrot in 1780 in Nantes. On 20 June 1785 they departed Nantes on the St. Remi with Henriette Boudrot (Marguerite Victoire's step-daughter) and their three children. They disembarked at New Orleans on 9 September 1785 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 . Jean-Charles Boudrot settled his family in Ascension Parish.

[See “Generations”, Volume 4 No. 1 for a more complete discussion of Charles Guedry and his family.] Winter 2006 Newsletter

After arriving in Louisiana in the 1770's or early 1780, Antoine Guedry married Marie-Josephe Hebert, daughter of Paul Hebert and Marguerite Meansou, on 31 July 1780 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Marie-Josephe Hebert, a native of Grand-Pre, Acadia, was the widow of Augustin Moreno, a merchant in New Orleans 16 , 17 .

On the 29th of November 1782 Antoine and Marie- Josephe had a daughter Marie Emilie Guedry, who was baptized in New Orleans on 9 March 1783 18 , 19 . A son, Antoine Eusebe Guedry, was baptized by the couple in February, 1786 20 , 21 ; however, shortly thereafter, sadness struck the family with the death of a three year old son whom they buried in New Orleans on 17 July 1787. His name remains unknown 20 , 22 .

On the 19th of August 1785 Antoine Guedry's father and five of his siblings arrived in New Orleans from France on the ship Le Beaumont. Surely Antoine went to the docks to meet his family and visited with them during their brief stay in New Orleans. It is not known what, if any, contact he had with his family after they moved to the Ascension, Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee areas. A month later on 9 September 1785 his sister Marguerite Victoire Guedry, her husband and children arrived in New Orleans on the St. Remi. Again Antoine certainly greeted them on their arrival and visited with them while they awaited transport to their new home in Ascension Parish. Despite his family coming to Louisiana and settling along the Mississippi River above New Orleans, Antoine Guedry never left New Orleans to join his family.

Again Antoine certainly greeted them on their arrival and visited with them while they awaited transport to their new home in Ascension Parish. Despite his family coming to Louisiana and settling along the Mississippi River above New Orleans, Antoine Guedry never left New Orleans to join his family. Antoine Guedry apparently was a laborer in New Orleans for on 20 June 1788 he submitted a bill to the Spanish government for repairing twenty-one bridges that had been burned during the fire of 21 March 1788 23 , 24 . Likewise, on 24 October 1788 he presented a bill for expenses and personal labor incurred in fencing the new Catholic cemetery 25 , 26 .

When, in June 1798 Joseph Dosite Babin of Iberville requested a dispensation of consanguinity to marry Marguerite Hebert, he presented several witnesses to testify that he and his fiancé were related in the third degree, that he had courted Marguerite for one year and that her parents were very poor. Antoine Guedry, one of the witnesses, testified on 9 July 1798 that Joseph Dosite Babin was unmarried, had not promised to marry anyone other than Marguerite Hebert and that no other impediment to marriage existed except that they were related in the third degree. In this document Antoine signed his name as Antoine Guedry 27 , 28 .

The 1805 New Orleans City Directory lists Antoine Guedry living at 50 Rue de Conti (Conti Street) in the Vieux Carre (French Quarter) of New Orleans 29 , 30 .

During 1804 Antoine evidently incurred debt that he refused to repay. On 14 June 1806 Louis Chauvin of New Orleans sued Antoine Guedry in the Orleans County Court for the Territory of Orleans for the sum $499 due to a debt from 5 June 1804. In the Petition to the Court Mr. Chauvin stated that he repeatedly asked Antoine Guedry to repay his indebtedness, but that Mr. Guedry refused to do so. The thirteen items of debt listed in the Petition included a cord and a half of firewood, sixty bottles of wine and wages for the work of Mr. Chauvin's four slaves. The Court requested that Antoine Guedry respond to Louis Chauvin's Petition; however, no response or decision is included in the record 31 , 32 .

On 10 October 1805 Marie Emelie Guedry, daughter of Antoine Guedry and Marie-Josephe Hebert, married Jacques Armitage in New Orleans. Jacques was the son of Jacques Armitage and Abigail Loyal of New York. He was born in New York; however, by 1805 he lived in New Orleans 33 , 34 . On his wedding day at the age of 32 and in the presence of many New Orleanians, Jacques Armitage was baptized into the Catholic faith 33 , 35 . Within a year the young couple had a son Antoine James Armitage, born in New Orleans on 6 August 1806 and baptized at St. Louis Catholic Cathedral on 24 November 1806. His godparents were Antoine Guedry, his grandfather, and Augustine Hebert 33 , 36 .

Born in Acadia, deported to France and resettled in Louisiana, Antoine Guedry died in New Orleans in April 1809 at the age of 54.

He was buried in the Catholic cemetery there on 21 April 1809 37 , 38 .

The questions remain unanswered - how did Antoine Guedry arrive in New Orleans and why did he come and stay. It seems romantic to surmise that he was a seaman on a merchant ship from the port at Nantes, France and came to New Orleans on a routine merchant trip. Here he met a beautiful young Acadian girl, fell in love and did not rejoin his crew for the return journey. We do know that he was a seaman and that he married an Acadian girl living in New Orleans; however, the records lend no other evidence of how he came or why he stayed in New Orleans. Equally interesting is why he remained in New Orleans after his family arrived in 1785. At this time he had been married only five years and had two small children. Surely he could have moved up the Mississippi River and resettled with them. Did the Spanish government prevent it or did he simply prefer to remain in New Orleans? Did he and his family visit each other in the ensuing years or were they isolated from each other? Again the record is silent. Perhaps one day documents will surface that will answer some of these questions. In the interim the life of Antoine Guedry highlights another aspect of the impact of the deportation on the lives of the Acadian people.

References

  1. Canadian Archives; Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the Year 1905 in Three Volumes - Volume II (Sessional Paper No. 18) - “Tour of Inspection Made by the Sieur de la Roque, Census, 1752” (S. E. Dawson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1906), Appendix A Part I pp. 38, 40-41.
  2. Robichaux, Albert J.; The Acadian Exiles in Saint-Malo 1758-1785 (Hebert Publications; Eunice, LA, 1981), pp. 376-378.
  3. Rieder, Milton P. Jr. and Rieder, Norma Gaudet; The Acadians in France 1762-1776, Volume I (Milton P. Rieder Jr. and Norma Gaudet Rieder; Metairie, LA, 1967), pp. 62, 104.
  4. Braud, Gerard-Marc; Les Acadiens en France - Nantes et Paimboeuf 1775-1785 Approche Genealogique (Quest Editions; Nantes, France, 1999), p. 129.
  5. Robichaux, Albert J.; The Acadian Exiles in Nantes, 1775-1785 (Albert J. Robichaux Jr.; Harvey, LA, 1978), p. 74.
  6. Braud, Gerard-Marc; op. cit., p. 130.
  7. Braud, Gerard-Marc; Les Acadiens a Nantes au 18eme Siecle Depart Pour la Louisiane (Association Regionale de l'Ouest des Amities Acadiennes; Nantes, France, 1999), p. 12.
  8. Rieder, Milton P. Jr. and Rieder, Norma Gaudet; The Crew and Passenger Registration Lists of the Seven Acadian Expeditions of 1785 (Milton P. Rieder Jr. and Norma Gaudet Rieder; Metairie, LA, 1965), p. 30.
  9. Hebert, Rev. Donald J.; Acadian Families in Exile - 1785 and (Part Two) Exiled Acadians - An Index (Hebert Publications; Rayne, LA, 1995), pp. 36-37.
  10. Winzerling, Oscar William; Acadian Ody s(sLeoyuisiana State University Press; Baton Rouge, LA, 1955), p. 202
  11. Archivo General de Indias, “Papeles Procedentes de Cuba (P.P.C.)” (Seville, Spain) Legajo 576, folios 134-135.
  12. Braud, Gerard-Marc; Les Acadiens a Nantes au 18eme Siecle Depart Pour la Louisiane (Association Regionale de l'Ouest des Amities Acadiennes; Nantes, France, 1999), p. 17.
  13. Rieder, Milton P. Jr. and Rieder, Norma Gaudet; The Crew and Passenger Registration Lists of the Seven Acadian Expeditions of 1785 (Milton P. Rieder Jr. and Norma Gaudet Rieder; Metairie, LA, 1965), p. 39.
  14. Hebert, Rev. Donald J.; Acadian Families in Exile - 1785 and (Part Two) Exiled Acadians - An Index (Hebert Publications; Rayne, LA, 1995), pp. 46-47.
  15. Archivo General de Indias, “Papeles Procedentes de Cuba (P.P.C.)” (Seville, Spain) Legajo 576, folio 141.
  16. Woods, Rev. Earl C. and Nolan, Dr. Charles E.; Sacremental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdioceses of New Orleans (Archdiocese of New Orleans; New Orleans, LA, 1987-2004), v. 3 pp. 151, 163, 218.
  17. St. Louis Catholic Cathedral, Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, Department of Historical Records (1100 Chartres Street, New Orleans, LA 70116-2596), St. Louis Marriage Book 4 (1777-1784), p. 87 and St. Louis Baptismal Book 7 (1772-1776), pp. 17, 50.
  18. Woods, Rev. Earl C. and Nolan, Dr. Charles E.; op. cit., v. 3 p. 151.
  19. St. Louis Catholic Cathedral, op. cit., St. Louis Baptismal Book 9 (1777-1786), p. 278.
  20. Woods, Rev. Earl C. and Nolan, Dr. Charles E.; op. cit., v. 4 p. 155.
  21. St. Louis Catholic Cathedral, op. cit., St. Louis Baptismal Book 9 (1777-1786), p. 397.
  22. St. Louis Catholic Cathedral, op. cit., St. Louis Funeral Book 2 (1784-1793), p. 10.
  23. Index to the Acts and Deliberations of the Cabildo, Work Projects Administration (WPA) Project No. 665-64-3-112.
  24. http://nutrias.org/~nopl/inv/digest/digest63.htm
  25. Index to the Acts and Deliberations of the Cabildo, Work Projects Administration (WPA) Project No. 665-64-3-112. (August, 1939). Book 3, Volume II, p. 67.
  26. http://archives.nd.edu/calendar/17980709.htm
  27. University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA) (Notre Dame, Indiana 46556); Archdiocese of New Orleans (La.) Collection 1576-1897 (ANO); Gift of Francis Janssens, Archbishop of New Orleans in the 1890's. Calendar (1798/07/09).
  28. http://archives.nd.edu/calendar/17980709.htm
  29. Thompson, Charles L.; New Orleans in 1805. A Directory and A Census, Together with Resolutions Authorizing Same Now Printed for the First Time from the Original Manuscript (Pelican Gallery; New Orleans, LA, 1936). (Facsimile).
  30. Vinson, Judith and Fitzpatrick, Colleen; “1805 New Orleans City Directory” Louisiana Genealogical Register (Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society; Baton Rouge, LA), Volume 54, No. 3 (September 2007), pp. 254.
  31. Orleans County Court, Territory of Orleans, Civil Suit No. 348 (1806). New Orleans Public Library, Louisiana Division/City Archives and Special Collections.
  32. http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/lapur&CISOPTR=3900&REC=8
  33. Woods, Rev. Earl C. and Nolan, Dr. Charles E.; op. cit., v. 8 pp. 9, 162.
  34. St. Marie Catholic Church, Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, Department of Historical Records (1100 Chartres Street, New Orleans, LA 70116-2596), St. Marie Marriage Book 1 (1805-1837), p. 12.
  35. St. Marie Catholic Church, ibid., St. Marie Baptismal Book 1 (1805-1838), p. 4.
  36. St. Louis Catholic Cathedral, op. cit., St. Louis Baptismal Book 20 (1806-1809), p. 37.
  37. Woods, Rev. Earl C. and Nolan, Dr. Charles E.; op. cit., v. 9 p. 170.