Marguerite LeBlanc Braud Templet

My Sixth Great-Grandmother 

Daughter of Jacques LeBlanc and Cecile Dupuis  

Wife of Charles Braud, first husband and André Templet, second husband 

Mother of Dominique and Jeanne-Francoise Braud (first husband) and, Elizabeth,  Jean, Charles Casimir, Jacques Olivier, Marie Magdelaine, Pierre Dominique, Servan Francois, Hyacinthe, Francois Joseph, Olivier Mathurin, Andre-Joseph, and Francois-Marie (second husband) 

Ma chère, you ask about my history. Mon Dieu, that is one grand tale. It has been too many years since I left l’Acadie, the place I was born. So much has happened during my lifetime. There have been happy times and some incredibly sad times. My name is Marguerite Cecile LeBlanc. I was named after my mère, Cecile Dupuis. She had ten children and I was the youngest. 

To start, I think I was born in the year 1736. I say that because when we were living in Saint-Malo in France, I remember telling someone I was thirty-six years old. André Templet, my sweetheart, and husband was forty-six years old then. At that time, André was a laborer, and I would sew, spin, and cut. We had ten children at that time. Marguerite, the eldest, was André’s daughter from his first wife, Marie Devaux.^[1]Albert J. Robichaux, Jr., The Acadian Exiles in Chatellerault 1773-1785 (Eunice, Louisiana: Hebert Publications, 1983). She died crossing the Atlantic Ocean when we were exiled. The other nine, I gave birth to. All in all, I gave birth to fourteen bébés. 

What’s that chère? How did I have so many children? Well, it’s easy. First you go to bed with your husband. Then several weeks later you wake up sick and you know you’re going to have a bébé. You feel sick for a month or so. C’est la vie! About eight months later the back pains arrive and then the bébé pops out. Easy as pie. 

I too had another spouse before I married André. Charles Braud was my first husband. What I am about to tell you really pains me. Charles and I had a child, Dominique, who died at sea when we were expelled from Île Saint-Jean by the British. The ship we were on was overcrowded, cold, dark, and full of death. So many died. It was pitiful watching him fade away and it brings tears to my eyes when I think of that terrible day. André was on a different ship and lost not only his wife, but also three children during the crossing. But God had other plans for us. 

Charles and I arrived in Saint-Malo 1 November 1758, with our niece, Marguerite Braud.^[2]Tim Hebert, Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History (Internet, Viewed 12 Nov 2017), viewed 7 Jul 2019. https://froux.pagesperso-orange.fr/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm). I was pregnant during the crossing and gave birth to my little girl, Jeanne-Francoise two weeks after we landed in Saint-Malo.^[3]Digital image, Saint-Servan, France, unspecified volume, Baptêmes/Mariages, 0 NUM 35313 152, 1758, Jeanne-Francoise Braud, image 52 of 59, Archives Départementales d’Ille-et-Vilaine … Continue reading My sweet little angel Jeanne-Francoise died at three days old.^[4]Digital image, Saint-Servan, France, unspecified volume, Sépultures, 10 NUM 35313 733, 1758, Jeanne-Francoise Braud, image 30 of 38, Archives Départementales d’Ille-et-Vilaine … Continue reading  She was buried at Saint-Servan. And then Charles died a few weeks later and was also buried in Saint-Servan.^[5]Digital image, Saint-Servan, France, unspecified volume, Sépultures, 10 NUM 35313 733, 1758, Charles Bro_, image 33 of 38, Archives Départementales d’Ille-et-Vilaine … Continue reading May God bless them all and keep them together with Him in Heaven. 

Oh, it’s coming back to me. As a child, my family lived in Les Mines (now Minas Basin in Nova Scotia). My baptism in the Catholic faith took place the day I was born, 22 July 1736.^[6]Una F. Daigre, Archivist, Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records Acadian Records, 1707-1748 Volume 1a (Revised) (Baton Rouge, LA, Diocese of Baton Rouge, 1999), p. 141.  My parents moved us to Île Saint-Jean in 1748 from Les Mines.^[7]“Tour of Inspection Undertaken by Le Sieur De La Roque,” Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the Year 1905, 2 (1906) p. 98; digital … Continue reading Père was promised three years of assistance from the French government if we would move there with our livestock.^[8]Tim Hebert, “Ile St. Jean,” Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History (https://www.acadian-cajun.com/stjean.htm : viewed 26 February 2022). That is where I met and married Charles. When I look back, I was so young, but I felt so old being married with a child and one on the way. The English soldiers were always harassing us. We just did not think they would actually make us leave.  

My brother Casimir and his wife were also on the ship with us when we left Île Saint-Jean on the Le Duc Guillaume.^[9]Albert J. Robichaux, The Acadian Exiles in Saint-Malo (Eunice, Louisiana: Hebert Publications), p. 164.  Do not confuse this ship with the ill-fated Duke William where over 300 Acadians drowned when that ship sank during the expulsion. My père, Jacques LeBlanc, was also on the Le Duc Guillaume and he died at sea.^[10]Robichaux, The Acadian Exiles in Saint-Malo.  So many from the family died at sea. The crossing was such a terrible time. I don’t remember much; I try not to think about those times.  

How did I meet André Templet? I really don’t remember. Suddenly he was there. He had his six-year-old daughter Marguerite to take care of and I suddenly had no one to take care of. At the time, we lived in Saint-Servan. We were married 10 September 1759. My brother Casimir LeBlanc was a witness; Felix Bro, my cousin; Pierre Forest; and Gregoire Daigle (Casimir’s brother-in-law) were also witnesses as well as others attending the wedding. Finally, something to celebrate. Neither I nor André knew how to sign our names.^[11]Digital Image, Saint-Servan, France, unspecified volume, Baptêmes/Mariages, 1759 10 NUM 35313 153,  Andre Templé veuf de Marie Devaux, images 34-35 of 52, Department Archives of … Continue reading There had never been a need in l’Acadie to read or write.  

We had some tribulations in Saint-Servan. André was in the hospital several times between 1762 and 1763.^[12]Rieder, Milton P, The Acadians in France, 1762-1776; Rolls of the Acadians living in France distributed by towns for the years 1762 to 1776 (Metaire, Louisiana, 1967) p. 4; digital … Continue reading My memory keeps me from remembering why he was in the hospital. I just remember it felt like a long time. I was caring for André’s daughter, Marguerite who was ten years old, and our little ones, Elizabeth and Jean.^[13]Robichaux, The Acadian Exiles in Saint-Malo p. 554. My brother Casimir and his family left Saint-Malo and moved to England in 1767.^[14]Robichaux, The Acadian Exiles in Saint-Malo p. 554. I was so sad to see them leave.  

Mais oui! I remember now. In September of 1772, the French government went around to where all the Acadians lived and recorded our names, ages, and occupations. Like me, André’s twenty-year-old daughter Marguerite could spin, sew, and cut. At that time André was a laborer. That’s when I was thirty-six. We had our sons Jean, Charles Casimir, Jacques Olivier, Dominique Pierre, Servan Francois, (we named him after the town we were living in), Hyacinthe, Francois Joseph, and daughters Elizabeth, and Marie Magdelaine (someone recorded her name as Marie Anne).^[15]Milton P. Rieder, “Role of the Truly Acadian Families – September 15, 1772,” The Acadians in France, 1762-1776; Rolls of the Acadians living in France distributed by towns for the … Continue reading Olivier Mathurin was born 23 June 1773. It is amazing that in fourteen years, I went from losing two children and a husband to becoming a wife again with nine children and one stepdaughter. Mère was living with my brother Jean-Jacques. She was seventy-five years old at that time.^[16]Milton P. Rieder, “Role of the Truly Acadian Families – September 15, 1772,” The Acadians in France, 1762-1776; Rolls of the Acadians living in France distributed by towns for the … Continue reading

Finding work for André was hard. We left Saint-Malo around 1773 to go to the Poitou region about 200 miles away. Many Acadian families went to farm the land there.  We ended up in the Archigny area near Châtellerault. But it was not to be. The soil was not good and nothing would grow. Nor were the people of the area happy that we were receiving six sols per day from the French government while they were getting nothing. 

The new plan was to go to Nantes. Our family joined the Fourth Convoy leaving Châtellerault for Nantes in March of 1776. It took about a week before we arrived. We had waited for the weather to clear. Benoni Blanchard’s family went as well. Hmm. I wonder if that’s when my daughter, Marie Magdelaine, fell in love with Joachim-Jacques Blanchard. Anyway, we left by boat. My poor little Hyacinthe died and was buried at St. Jacques near Nantes 27 May 1776. He was only five years old. Too young. 

We then lived in the Chantenay area and went to Saint-Martin Catholic Church. Chantenay  was a small shipping neighborhood near Nantes. The Delaunes, Boudrots, Broussards and Landrys also lived nearby and attended Saint-Martin. Our children and grandchildren would later marry into each other’s families in Louisiana. André could work as a seaman there as well as our sons, Jean, Charles, Jacques and Servan. Andre-Joseph was born in 1777 in Chantenay and François-Marie was born in 1780. Alas, Mère died in February at age eighty-five and Pierre Dominque died a few months after François-Marie was born.^[17]Digital images, Saint-Martin, Chantenay, France, unspecified volume, BMS – 3E250/8, Cecile Dupuis, image 15 of 76 and Pierre Domonique Templé, image 51 of 76, … Continue reading Pierre Dominque was about twelve years old. 

We heard stories about how some Acadians were living in Louisiana and doing well. Olivier Theriot was telling anyone who would listen to him about Louisiana. André must have liked what he heard. He and Jean-Jacques had been petitioning the King of France to let us go to Louisiana for years, but there were always reasons not to let us go. Finally, when Spain offered to pay for our passage to Louisiana, the King allowed us to go. 

When I was forty-eight and André fifty-nine, we departed France on 10 May 1785. We had been in France twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven years since we left our birthplace in l’Acadie.  For the second time we crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Ma chère, I can tell you I was scared. At least this time we went as free people, not prisoners on the ship. But it was still a hard crossing. We were onboard Le Bon Papa for 80 days.^[18]Albert J. Robichaux, The Acadian Exiles in Nantes (Rayne, Louisiana: Hebert Publications). Our arrival in New Orleans, Louisiana was 29 July 1785. I think I have a many times great-grandson born on that day (that would be Bob Terrien). Our children Jean, Charles, Jacques, Servan, Olivier, André, Elizabeth and Marie-Madeleine came with us. Marguerite, my stepdaughter had married Joseph Braud and they had sailed to Louisiana on L’Amitie a month later. They arrived in November.^[19]Tim Hebert, “Passenger List for L’Amitie,” Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History (http://www.acadian-cajun.com/ship5.htm : viewed 26 February 2022).

You ask what did we bring with us? Hope! Courage! Perseverance! Determination! We couldn’t bring much else. The King of Spain was paying our way and we were to have the things we would need when we arrived. Life in Spanish Louisiana had to be better. Was I sad to leave France? Comme ci, comme ca.  

We celebrated a wedding a few months after arriving in Louisiana. Our son Jean married Maria Doiron in October. The Doiron family had been on the Le Bon Papa with us. Alas, our son Olivier died at St. Gabriel, Louisiana, in November.^[20]Diocese of Baton Rouge (1770-1803), 2:686. “Templet, Olivier, age 14 years (Andres & Margarita LeBlanc) bur. 3 Nov. 1785 (SGA-8, 2,#4).” His services were at the Church of St. Gabriel. The church was built of cypress and still stands today. Can you believe it, the original bell is still used 250 years later? My dear husband, André, died two years later and was buried 12 November 1787 at the age of fifty-nine at St. Gabriel.^[21]Diocese of Baton Rouge (1770-1803), 2:685. “Templet, Andres, widower of Margarita LeBlanc, natives of Nantes, France, bur. 12 Nov. 1787 (SGA-8, 7, #30).”

Life was difficult in those early years in Louisiana. It shortened the life of many who came with us. We had to learn what to plant during each season and how to hunt and fish in a new land as well as deal with those pesky moustiques, or as you call them mosquitos! A frequent sickness some called marsh fever was awfully hard on us. I think it’s now called malaria. I am glad it is not a problem for you now.  

Though I lost many of my loved ones, my remaining sons and daughters married into other Acadian families, and I got to see so many of my grandchildren. Ça c’est bon. 

In 1795, my son Andre and I lived in Valenzuela near Lafourche with my daughter Elizabeth and her husband Jean Brousard. I was fifty-nine. We were still there in 1797 but no longer living with Elizabeth but lived nearby.^[22]Albert J. Robichaux, Colonial Settlers Along Bayou Lafourche (Cecilia, Louisiana: Hebert Publications, 1980).

My son, Servan, married and I lived next to him in 1810 in Assumption Parish.^[23]1810 U.S. census, Assumption, Louisiana, population schedule, p. 31, Ve. LeBlanc; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M252, roll … Continue reading Marie Magdelaine and her husband Joachim Blanchard live nearby.^[24]1810 U.S. census, Assumption Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, p.27, Joachim Blanchard household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M252, … Continue reading

How old am I today? Aren’t you the sassy one? Asking me something like that. Let me see. If today is 28 May 1815, then I am about seventy-nine years old.^[25]Diocese of Baton Rouge (1804-1819), 3:545. Marguerite LeBlanc died 30 May 1815 in Plattenville, Louisiana. I have a few days left in me, and then I want to be buried next to my André. Our gravesites are somewhere in Plattenville, Louisiana.