Marie Emmee Blanchard Ordonot

My Fourth Great-Grandmother

Daughter of Joachim-Jacques Blanchard and Marie-Madeleine Templet 

Wife of Etienne Ordonot (Ordonneaux)

Mother of twins Marie Aimee and Marie Azema, Jean Guillome, Sylvanie, Adele, Eugene, Marie Louise, Alfred, and Abreaun 

Like Julie Marie Hebert Delaune, Marie Emmee Blanchard was in the first generation of her family to be born in Louisiana. Her parents, the children of expelled Acadians, were born in France.^[1]Joachim-Jacques Blanchard’s baptismal record can be viewed at https://archives-en-ligne.ille-et-vilaine.fr/thot_internet/FrmSommaireFrame.asp > archives-en-ligne > Registres paroissiaux et état … Continue reading Her mother and her family arrived in Louisiana July 1785 on the La Bon Papa whereas her father and his family arrived a month later on the Amitie.^[2]Tim Hebert, “Passenger List for La Ville La Bon Papa,” Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History (https://www.acadian-cajun.com/ship1.htm : viewed 12 February 2022) and “Passenger List … Continue reading

Under Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, the Louisiana territory was purchased from France in 1803. Article Three of the treaty between the United States and France gave the Louisiana inhabitants immediate U.S citizenship.^[3]“The Louisiana Purchase,” National Archives and Records Administration, February 1996 (https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/louistxt.html : viewed 11 February 2022). Two years later, Joachim-Jacques Blanchard and Marie Magdelaine Templet’s daughter Marie Emmee was born 28 April 1805.^[4]Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records 1804-1819, 3:108 (Diocese of Baton Rouge: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1982) In those days, there were few priests and they traveled from community to community. So, Marie Emmee was not baptized until 2 July 1805 at Assumption Church. Her father’s sister, Maria Blanchard and her uncle, Andrés Templet (represented by Antonio Ladee) served as her godparents. She was the fifth of at least nine children. 

Questions I want to ask Marie Emmee: What stories did your parents tell you of their life in France?  Did they talk about the crossing from France to Louisiana in 1785? Did they like Louisiana more than the Saint-Malo area? Did your grandparents tell you stories of l’Acadie? Were tales of the Acadian deportation told to you? Did you know that your great-grandparents died at sea? Did you know your ancestors were of the first Europeans to develop l’Acadie?   

The United States 1810 Census cites Joachim Blanchard living in Assumption Parish, Louisiana.^[5]1810 U.S. census, Assumption Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, p.27, Joachim Blanchard household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M252, roll 30; … Continue reading Not until the 1850 census are names other than the head of household listed; the number of people in specific age groups were counted. Marie Emmee would have been about five years old. It’s possible that Marie Emmee’s grandfather Belonie Blanchard and grandmother Madelaine Forest lived with them as there is one male over 45 and one female over the age of 45 and Belonie Blanchard is not listed separately as a head of household.

One interesting note is that Marie Anne Part, another fourth great-grandmother of mine, lived near Marie Emmee’s family and was recorded on the same page of the 1810 Census as Joachim Blanchard’s family. Marie Anne Part is the great-grandmother of Louise Boudreaux who married Marie Emmee’s grandson, Cyprien Carrow.^[6]Southwest Louisiana Records Church and Civil Records, (Rev. Donald J. Hebert: Cecilia, Louisiana, 1978) 13:57.

Louisiana officially became a state in 1812.  There is no evidence that Marie Emmee’s brothers participated in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. During most of Marie Emmee’s lifetime it was a good time to be in one of the richest states in the union.  The rich fertile lands and sufficient rain made farming a very lucrative business. 

Marie Emmee’s mother died before 1820 as there is not a female over forty-five accounted for in the 1820 census. Further, in Marie Emmee’s marriage record of 1825, it cites her mother as deceased. It is likely that her mother died during an epidemic before she reached the age of fifty-nine years.  

Marie Emmee Blanchard would have been about fifteen in 1820.^[7]1820 U.S. census, Assumption Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, p.26-27, Joachim Blanchard household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M33, … Continue reading The family seemed to be living in the same place as they had in 1810 as there are several Aucoin families living nearby in 1810 and 1820. When the enumerator for the census visited, he went from house to house in a certain order, first one side of a road or a river in one direction, and then crossing the road or river and going in the opposite direction. At that time, addresses were not documented in the census. 

When Marie Emmee Blanchard (recorded as Anne) married Etienne Ordonot 20 December 1825 in Plattenville, Louisiana, both of her parents were recorded as deceased. Their recorded witness was Antoine Bonnamour.^[8]Diocese of Baton Rouge (1820-1829), 4:58, 431. Did Marie Emmee marry in the same church as that of her parents? Who is Antoine Bonnamour? Why isn’t one of her brothers a witness? It is interesting to note that Marie Emmee married someone from France and not an Acadian. Had her parents met Etienne in France or prior to their deaths? Who made the decision to allow her to marry?

Etienne Ordonot and Marie Emmee Blanchard were not found in the 1830 and 1840 census records.^[9]No results were found in the 1840 U.S. census records in Assumption, Louisiana, for an Etienne Ordonneau using the following search terms: * Ord*, * Ard, Etienne Ord*, Etienne O*, Etienne … Continue reading It is also possible that Etienne’s name was recorded as Etienne Arsonaux in the 1830 Census for Assumption parish with a son under the age of five, and two daughters under the age of five. The head of this household is between thirty and forty and the oldest female is between twenty and thirty.  That is the correct age timeframes for both Etienne and Marie Emmee. There is also one female slave between the ages of twenty-four and thirty-six. To add weight to this proposal, Marie Emmee’s brothers August and Florentin Blanchard are listed on the same page.^[10]1830 U.S. census, Assumption Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, p. 104, Etienne Arsonaux household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M19, … Continue reading

On the other hand, they may have lived with Marie Emmee’s brother Jean Charles Blanchard in 1830. In his household in Assumption Parish, there is one male between twenty and twenty-nine (which could be Etienne) and one male between forty and forty-nine (Jean Charles) and there are two females between thirty and thirty-nine, one of which could be Marie Emmee but she would probably be twenty-five and not thirty.^[11]1830 U.S. census, Assumption Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, p. 109, Jean Charles Blanchard household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M19, … Continue reading  Another interesting fact is that many Aucoins are living nearby as in years past.  

We do know Marie Emmee’s family lived near Thibodaux since five of her children’s births were recorded at St. Joseph’s Church in Thibodaux between 1830 and 1839. Children born in Thibodaux were Sylvanie 4 Oct 1830; Adeline, 6 May 1834, Eugene 21 Dec 1836; Marie Louise 27 Jan 1839 and Alfred, 29 Dec. 1839.^[12]South Louisiana Records: Church and Civil Records of Lafourche-Terrebonne Parishes, (Rev. Donald J. Hebert: Cecilia, Louisiana) 1:417.

Daughter Marie Azema married her first cousin, Victor Simon Blanchard, son of Marie Emmee’s brother Augustin. They married 14 September 1846 in Thibodaux.^[13]South Louisiana Records, 2:287. A year later, Marie Aimee (Mary) married Rosemond Forest 14 June 1847.^[14]South Louisiana Records, 2:287.

In the 1850 census, Marie Emmee’s husband was listed as a fifty-one-year-old farmer who could read and write.  The value of his real estate property in Terrebonne was $900.  Marie Emmee’s name was recorded as Marie and she was forty-two.   Their oldest son, Jean, was twenty-one and could not read or write.  He and brother Etienne, nineteen, are laborers.  Adele was seventeen years old.  Other children in the household were Marie, Eugene, and Alfred.  Their oldest daughter Marie and her husband Rosemond Forest lived nearby with their two toddlers.^[15]1850 U.S. census, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, p. 339, Etienne Ordonneau household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M432, … Continue reading

Two years later, their daughter Adele married John Carrow 26 January 1852 in Houma, Louisiana.^[16]South Louisiana Records, 3:124.

In 1860, the enumerator recorded Marie Emmee’s first name as Mary and her surname as Ardeneau. She and Etienne continued to live near their daughter Marie Aimee Forest with her five children in Ward 4 of Terrebonne, near Houma. Etienne is recorded as being sixty-four years old and Mary was fifty-eight.  Five of their children are living with them: newlyweds, Sylvanie and Malvina married within the past year according to the census; and Eugene, Alfred, and Mary Louise.  Etienne is listed as a farmer with real estate valued at $4700 and personal estate of $400.  Etienne and Alfred can read and write, but the others cannot.^[17]1860 U.S. census, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, 4th Ward, p. 104, Etienne Ardoneau household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication … Continue reading

In Marie Emmee’s last years, Louisiana was one of the Confederate States to secede from the Union on 23 January 1861. In 1862 Union forces occupied New Orleans and much of the surrounding areas for the duration of the war. It is possible that a son, a grandson, or her younger brothers may have participated in the Civil War.  Was her family affected in 1862 by the Union Army when 400 soldiers entered Houma and arrested residents in retaliation to the ambush and killing of four Union soldiers?^[18]“Houma, Louisiana,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houma,_Louisiana, viewed 20 May 2018. Did they suffer greatly from the occupation? The War Between the States officially ended 9 May 1865.

Marie Emmee Blanchard died 5 June 1866 at age 62 years in Houma^[19]Southwest Louisiana Records, 19:84. ending my Blanchard family line. Marie Emmee was of the first generation of my Blanchard family who were born in Louisiana. Both of her parents were born in France while her grandparents were born in Acadia, present day Nova Scotia (for those who may not have read previous stories). Her parents died by the time she was 20 years old.  It is probable that she knew her grandparents and maybe even lived with them as a child. Did she live near enough to her daughter, Adele for any length of time after Adele married John Carrow. Did she visit and meet any of the grandchildren born before she died? Did she approve of this man for her daughter? Did she think her daughter was a good mother? 

Marie-Madeleine Templet’s story will be told next week. An Acadian born in France, she came to Louisiana at the age of eighteen years.