An Exciting Find about Helene and Marie-Joseph Guedry - Twin Daughters of Augustin Guedry and Jeanne Hebert

by Marty Guidry

Helene Guedry, daughter of Augustin Guedry and Jeanne Hebert, was the twin sister of Marie-Josephe Guedry. Although some details of the adult life of Marie-Josephe Guedry, wife of Charles Boutin, are documented in the records, very little about the life of Helene Guedry has come to light. Recently Paul LeBlanc, a Les Guidry d'Asteur member from Gonzales, LA, located exciting new information about the probable marriage of Helene Guedry.

In a strange twist of events Helene Guedry and Marie-Josephe Guedry were born at Boston, MA on 9 January 1723 and there baptized conditionally (ondoye) by their grandfather Claude Guedry 1 2 3 4 5 .

In the early summer of 1722 the Indians of Maine waged a war against the English in New England to retaliate against the English seizing their highest chief Joseph d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin and destroying their village Nanrantsouak - even burning the church and rectory. Governor Shute of Massachusetts issued a declaration of war on 25 July 1722 - a war known by several names including The Three Years War, Rale’s War, Lovewell’s War and Governor Dummer’s Indian War. The English Governor of Acadia Richard Phillips was at Canso when Governor Shute declared war. He immediately sent troops along the East Coast of Acadia including Merligueche where he recovered English vessels and imprisoned Indians and Acadians. Among those captured by the English were four sons of Claude Guedry and Marguerite Petitpas - Claude, Philippe, Augustin and Paul. Perhaps the Acadians were imprisoned because of their strong ties to the Micmacs - both through intermarriage and through friendships. The Guedry families first were taken to New Hampshire and then to Boston where they remained in captivity until the summer or fall of 1723 3 5 . By 26 September 1726 the Guedry family had returned to Acadia. On this date Father Felix Pain baptized with church ceremonies Helene Guedry and Marie- osephe Guedry and registered their baptisms in the records at St. Charles aux Mines Catholic Church in Grand- re, Acadia. Charles Hebert and Anne Hebert sponsored little Helene while Jean Mouton and Jeanne Douaron served as Marie-Josephe’s godparents 1 2 5 .

The young twins must have been at Merliguesh (today Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) with their parents on 25 August 1726 when their uncle Jean-Baptist Guedry and cousin Jean-Baptist Guedry fils along with six Mi’kmaq Amerindians and Metis captured the schooner Tryal in Merliguesh Harbor. Their father Augustin Guedry along with their grandmother Marguerite Peptitpas attempted unsuccessfully to dissuade Jean-Baptist from taking the schooner 6 .

With ever-increasing tension between the English authorities and the Acadians over the Oath of Allegiance and other issues, many Acadian families sought refuge in the late 1740’s and very early 1750’s on Ile Royale (today Cape Breton Island) and Ile Saint-Jean (today Prince Edward Island) - both French territories. In early April, 1752 Marie-Josephe Guedry (age 28 years) and her husband Charles Boutin (age 29 years) were living at Baie des Espagnols on Ile Royale (today North Sydney, Cape Breton Island). With the young couple were their three children: Jean Charles (age 5 years), Olive (age 3 years) and Marie Francoise (age 3 months). Living with the young family was Marie-Josephe’s twin sister Eleine (Helene) Guedry, age of 29 years. Charles Boutin, the son of Jean-Joseph Boutin and Marie-Marguerite Lejeune, was a ploughman (farmer) and married Marie- osephe about 1746 7 .

Living adjacent to Marie-Josephe and Charles were Paul Boutin and his wife Eustache (Ursule) Guedry with her brother Pierre Guedry. They had two sheep and one hen and had made a clearing on which they sowed a peck of oats and a bushel of peas. Paul Boutin was the brother of Charles Boutin while Ursule Guedry and Pierre Guedry were siblings of Charles’ wife Marie-Josephe Guedry 7 .

During their stay on Ile Royale Charles and Paul Boutin with their families almost certainly visited the Fortress of Louisbourg only a short distance to the south of them. There they could receive needed supplies and religious services. A severe drought and poor soil at Baie des Espagnols and surrounding areas did not provide enough food resources in the early 1750’s; therefore, in August 1754 a group of 25 Acadians including Charles Boutin, Paul Boutin, Julien Bourneuf, Sebastien Bourneuf, Pierre Guedry, Joseph Guedry, Francois Lucas, Pierre Erio and Claude Erot with their families left Louisbourg to escape starvation and arrived at Halifax. On 24 August 1754 William Cotterell, the Governor’s Secretary in Halifax, wrote to Colonel Sutherland, Commander at Lunenburg (formerly Merligueche) stating that several of the party were closely related to Old Labrador (very likely Paul Guedry, the youngest son of Claude Guedry and Marguerite Petitpas) and were former inhabitants of Merligueche. He informed the Colonel to treat them kindly, feed them and provide land and tools to them 8 9 . Their stay at Lunenburg was short as some, if not all, of these displaced Guedry families returned to other areas of Acadie including Pisiquid and Ile Royale - some as early as mid-1755.

Interestingly, almost of all of these families are related to Augustin Guedry and Jeanne Hebert. Charles Boutin married Marie-Josephe Guedry, Paul Boutin married Ursule Guedry and Julien Bourneuf married Jeanne Guedry. Pierre Guedry and Joseph Guedry were brothers and also the siblings of Marie-Josephe Guedry, Ursule Guedry and Jeanne Guedry. Sebastien Bourneuf was the brother of Julien Bourneuf. Helene Guedry, sister to the other returning Guedrys, also appears to have made the journey from Louisbourg.

A unique document “The 1755 Victual List for Lunenburg” compiled on 29 June 1755 provides the names of the persons in each family that returned to Lunenburg 10 . In the family of Paul Boutin were his wife Ursula (Guedry) and children Cathrina, Joseph and Joseph as well as Ursula’s brother Pierre (Guedry). Charles Boutin had his wife Maria (Guedry) and his children Jean Charles, Pierre Oliver, Maria Francoise and Magdalene Perpeta. With Julien Bourneuf were his wife Jeane (Guedry), his children Francois, Jean, Sophia and Francois as well as his brother Sebastien (Bourneuf) and Leon Deran. Joseph Gendry (Guedry) was listed by himself. Francois Loucas was with his wife Helene and daughter Maria. None of these people appear on later (1756 or 1757) Victual Lists for Lunenburg indicating that they have left the Lunenburg area by early 1756.

Who was this Helene, the wife of Francois Loucas? With little doubt she is Helene Guedry, daughter of Augustin Guedry and Jeanne Hebert and sibling of Marie-Josephe Guedry, Ursule Guedry, Jeanne Guedry, Joseph Guedry and Pierre Guedry. In April 1752 she was 29, unmarried and living with the family of Charles Boutin and Marie-Jeanne Guedry, her twin sister.

During the summer of 1753 a census of Ile Royale was taken11. At Bras du Sud on Baye des Espagnols were Charles Boutin with his wife, two sons and one daughter. He had one ox, one cow, two calves, no hogs, one sow, no cleared land and 225 fathoms in garden.

Settled just below Charles were his brother Paul Boutin with his wife, one son and two daughters. He had only one sow and one arpent of cleared land with no garden. Immediately above Charles Boutin was Francois Lucas and his wife. He owned one hog and one sow and had 162 fathoms in garden.

It appears that Francois Lucas and Helene Guedry married between April 1752 and the summer of 1753. By June 1755 they had a daughter Marie. At this time little is known about the origins of Francois Lucas.

On 7 July 1763 at Snow Hill, Maryland were Francois Lucas, his wife Anne and their children Rose Lucas, Marie Lucas and Marguerite Lucas 12 13 14 15 . Could this be Francois Lucas and Helene Guedry and Helene is called by the name Anne? Francois and Helene did have a daughter Marie born about 1754. This Francois Lucas family remained in Maryland long after the exile and their descendants may still live there today. In 1773 and 1774 on the list of taxables for Westminster Hundred was Francis Lucas 16 . Westminster Hundred occupied the area of Baltimore that is today downtown Baltimore. In 1778 he was on the Spear list as taking the Oath of Fidelity. That same year he leased a lot on French Lane in Baltimore. In 1779 a Francis Lucas leased a lot on Charles Street in Baltimore from John Woodward and in 1786 he leased lot 38 from Dorseys & Chase 17 .

Margaret Lucas on 12 April 1777 submitted an account and receipt for making clothing for Captain George Cook of the state ship Defence 18 . Could this be the daughter of Francois Lucas mentioned in 1763? Amelia Lucas received a land assignment from Francis Lucas on French Street in Baltimore during 1790 18 . Also in 1790 Francis Lucas appeared on the U. S. Census with one free male over 16 and four free females in his household 18 . Page 105 of the Baltimore 1798 Tax Book indicates that Francis Lucas paid 30 pounds of taxes on his house, lot and improvements on French Alley in Baltimore 19 . He was assessed additional taxes each year from 1799-1808 20 . The Lucas family continued to live in the Baltimore area well into the 1800’s as attested by local records 21 .

On 12 January 1811 Francis Lucas died at the age of 103 years at the poor house in Baltimore 22 .

We know that Charles Boutin and Marie-Josephe Guedry died between June 1755 and 1763. On 20 June 1763 Paul Boutin, his wife Ursule and six children appeared on the list of Acadians in Pennsylvania. These six children included Paul and Ursule’s three children and three orphaned children of Charles Boutin and Marie-Josephe Guedry (Jean-Charles Boutin, Marie-Francoise Boutin and probably Pierre-Olivier Boutin) 12 23 24 25 . Between June 1763 and May 1767 Paul Boutin and his family immigrated to the Baltimore, Maryland area from Pennsylvania. Marie-Francoise Boutin, orphaned daughter of Charles Boutin and Marie-Josephe Guedry, came with them to Maryland. Her brother Jean-Charles Boutin remained in Pennsylvania. Pierre-Olivier Boutin also came to Maryland with either Paul Boutin and Ursule Guedry or his young uncle Pierre Guedry.

In May 1767 Paul Boutin’s family and 42 other Acadian families left Baltimore and sailed to New Orleans, Louisiana - arriving on 27 July 1767 - a journey of 78 days that included a 17-day stay at Guarico, Venezuela. Arriving with Paul were his wife Ursule Guedry, his daughters Margarita and Susana, his sons Joseph and Paul and an orphan Marie Boutin, daughter of Charles Boutin and Marie-Josephe Guedry 26 27 . Along with the other newly arriving families, Paul Boutin and his family initially settled along the Mississippi River at St. Gabriel, LA on farm no. 49 27 28 . By May 1777 Paul Boutin and his family moved to theOpelousas area near Grand Coteau where they remained for the rest of their lives 29 30 . It is uncertain when Marie-Francoise Boutin, daughter of Charles Boutin and Marie-Josephe Guedry, left the home of Paul Boutin and began life on her own.

Ursule Guedry’s brother Pierre immigrated from Pennsylvania to Port Tobacco, Maryland between 1763 and 1767. On 11 February 1768 Pierre Guedry and his wife Marguerite Dupuis arrived in New Orleans from Port Tobacco with their daughter Marie and an orphan Olivier Boutin, son of Charles Boutin and Marie-Josephe Guedry. They initially settled at St. Louis de Natchez on the Mississippi River 31 32 . In 1770 Pierre had left the deadly swamps of St. Louis de Natchez which claimed the lives of his wife Marguerite and two children and had resettled downstream in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. By 1770 Pierre had remarried to Clara Babin and had a new son Pierre Guedry fils. Living next to him in Ascension Parish was Olivier Boutin 33 34 .

Jean-Charles Boutin, the orphaned son of Charles Boutin and Marie-Josephe Guedry, did not go with his uncle Paul Boutin to Maryland and Louisiana. He remained in Pennsylvania. There he married first a German woman and in 1782 he remarried an American woman Pelagie 35 .

Further study in the Maryland, Pennsylvania and Louisiana records may reveal additional details about the lives of Helene Guedry and Marie-Josephe Guedry and their families.

Thanks to Paul LeBlanc for locating the critical document “The 1755 Victual List for Lunenburg” and noting the probable marriage of Helene Guedry to Francois Lucas. This permitted a study of available records - revealing new information about her life. A more thorough study of the Maryland records may reveal both certitude of her marriage to Francois Lucas and more details of her adult life.

References

  1. Pollard, Nora Lee; Diocese of Baton Rouge Church Records (Diocese of Baton Rouge-Department of Ar chives; Baton Rouge, LA, 1978, 1999), v. 1 p. 59; v. 1A p. 88.
  2. Register of St. Charles aux Mines Catholic Parish, Grand-Pre, Acadia, 1707-1748, v. 2 #42. (Located at the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge Archives in Baton Rouge, LA).
  3. d’Entremont, Rev.Clarence-Joseph; Historic du Cap-Sable de l’An Mil au Traite de Paris, 1763 (Hebert Publications; Eunice, LA, 1981), pp. 1595-1597, 1615-1616, 1622-1623, 1625.
  4. White, Stephen A.; Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles Acadiennes - Premiere Partie 1636 a 1714 en Deux Volumes (Centre d’Etudes Acadiennes - Universite de Moncton; Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada; 1999), pp. 773, Supplement p. 158.
  5. d’Entremont, Rev. Clarence-Joseph; Ibid., pp. 1139-1141, 1150-1151.
  6. The Trial of Five Persons for Piracy, Felony and Robbery: Who Were Found Guilty and Condemned, at a Court of Admiralty for the Trial of Piracies, Felonies and Robberies Committed on the High Seas, Held at the Courthouse in Boston, with His Majesty’s Province of Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, on Tuesday the Fourth Day of October, Anno Domini, 1726”, Printed by T. Fleet, for S. Gerrish, at the lower end of Cornhill, 1726. (Early American Imprint Series. First Series: No. 2818; Evans 2818). Transcript of trial of Jean-Baptist Guedry pere and Jean-Baptist Guedry fils on pages 2-19. Transcript of trial of Philippe Mius, James Mius and John Missel on pages 19-34. (See page 8.)
  7. Gaudet, Placide, Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the Year 1905 in Three Volumes. - “Journal and Census of Ile Royale, prepared by le Sieur de la Roque under the Direction of M. le Comte de Raymond, in theYear 1752, with Plan and Index”, (S. E. Dawson, Printer; Ottawa, Canada; 1906). Volume II, Appendix A, Part I, p. 47.
  8. d’Entremont, Rev. Clarence-Joseph; Ibid. pp. 1854, 1864.
  9. Roth, D. Luther, Acadie and the Acadians, (Press of L. C. Childs & Son; Utica, NY; 1891). pp. 204-205.
  10. “1755 Victual List for Lunenburg”, National Archives of Canada (Ottawa, Canada); Depot des Papiers Publics des Colonies; Etat civil et Recensements: Serie MG1, Volume 113 (Winthrop Bell’s work sheet notes) [Also available on the Internet at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ked1/1755vict.html ]
  11. “Recensement General des habitans des Ports et havres de l’Isle Royale, de la quantite de Bestiaux, Batiments, Chaloupes et Chafaux pour la peche, des terrains defriches, auquel est joins un memoire des observations qui ont etes prises de la situation des dits Ports et havres, de la qualite des terres, prairies et bois qui les avoisinent; fait en Juillet et Aoust 1753”, National Archives of Canada (Ottawa, Canada); Depot des Papiers Publics des Colonies; Etat civil et Recensements: Serie MG1, Volume 466 part 3a. (See page 559.)
  12. “List of Acadians in Pennsylvania and census returns of Acadians in Maryland 1763”, National Archives of Canada (Ottawa, Canada); Depot des Papiers Publics des Colonies; Etat civil et Recensements: Serie MG5, Volume 450, ff. 416-417, 440-446.
  13. Jehn, Janet; Acadian Exiles in the Colonies (Janet Jehn; Covington, KY; 1977), pp. 132, 151.
  14. Rieder, Milton P. Jr. & Rieder, Norma Gaudet; The Acadian Exiles in the American Colonies 1755-1768 (Milton P. Rieder Jr.& Norma Gaudet Rieder; Metairie, LA; 1977), p. 30.
  15. Wood, Gregory A.; A Guide to the Acadians in Maryland in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Gateway Press, Inc.; Baltimore, MD; 1995), p. 165.
  16. Wood, Gregory A.; Ibid., pp. 38, 215-216.
  17. Wood, Gregory A.; Ibid., pp. 199-200, 216.
  18. Wood, Gregory A.; Ibid., p. 216.
  19. Wood, Gregory A.; Ibid., p. 225.
  20. Wood, Gregory A.; Ibid., p. 231.
  21. Wood, Gregory A.; Ibid., pp. 234, 283, 311, 320, 335-336, 357, Supplement pp. 2-3, 35.
  22. Wood, Gregory A.; Ibid., pp. 57, 59, 357.
  23. Jehn, Janet; Ibid., pp. 216, 218.
  24. Rieder, Milton P. Jr. & Rieder, Norma Gaudet; Ibid., p. 5.
  25. Vincens, Simone; Les Indomptes (Hebert Publications; Rayne, LA; 1990), pp. 162, 228.
  26. Voorhies, Jacqueline K.; Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians - Census Records of the Colony, 1758- 1796 (The USL History Series, University of Southwestern Louisiana; Lafayette, LA; 1973), p. 433.
  27. Archivo General de Indias “Papeles Procedentes de Cuba ” (Seville, Spain), Legajo 114. (Microfilm available at the Center for Louisiana Studies; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Lafayette, LA).
  28. Voorhies, Jacqueline K.; Ibid., p. 429.
  29. Voorhies, Jacqueline K.; Ibid., pp. 308, 337, 357, 414.
  30. Archivo General de Indias “Papeles Procedentes de Cuba ” (Seville, Spain), Legajos 2358, 2361, 2364, 187-A-2. (Microfilm available at the Center for Louisiana Studies; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Lafayette, LA).
  31. Voorhies, Jacqueline K.; Ibid., pp. 436, 438.
  32. Archivo General de Indias “Audiencia de Santa Domingo” (Seville, Spain), Legajo 2585. (Microfilm available at the Center for Louisiana Studies; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Lafayette, LA).
  33. Voohries, Jacqueline K.; Ibid., p. 277.
  34. Archivo General de Indias “Papeles Procedentes de Cuba ” (Seville, Spain), Legajos 188-1-1. (Microfilm available at the Center for Louisiana Studies; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Lafayette, LA).
  35. Vincens, Simone; Ibid., pp. 189, 201, 232, 234.