Rose LeBlanc Dugas

My Fifth Great-Grandmother

Daughter of Pierre LeBlanc and Anna Landry 

Wife of Athanaise Dugas 

Mother of Joseph (1778), Madelaine (1780), Anne Josephe (1780), Henrriqueta (1781), Jerome Athanase (1784), Ennriette (1786), Julia Cordial (1786), Divine (1788), Rosalie (1790), and Maria Luisa (unknown)

A church record of Rose LeBlanc’s birth or baptism has not been found, probably due to the loss of church records during the deportation of Acadians from Nova Scotia and Ile Saint Jean (now Prince Edward Island). Was she born in Pisiquid (now Windsor) in Nova Scotia before her parents were deported from Grand Pré or was she born in Maryland where her parents were sent by Colonel Lawrence, the main author of the “great and noble scheme”? Rose’s parents arrived in Oxford, Maryland 8 December 1755.^[1]”Acadians in Oxford,” Acadians in Were Here (https://acadianswerehere.org/acadians-in-oxford.html : viewed 14 June 2022. Rose may have been born between 1755 and 1756 because the Ascension Parish records in Louisiana recorded her age at death as thirty-six in 1792.^[2]Diocese of Baton Rouge, Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Diocese of Baton Rouge) 2:482. Citation reads: “LEBLANC, Rosa, age 36 years & widow … Continue reading Though Rose’s life was short, she had ten children to carry on.  

In 1763, the family of Pierre LeBlanc and Anne consisted of Simon, Rose, and Ludivine.^[3]A digital image of “Recensement des habitants Neutres de Laccadie detanus a Oxford, En Maryland,” taken from Public Archives of Canada; M.G. 5, A-1, … Continue reading More than likely, they lived in poverty while in Oxford, Maryland. Rose may have had to beg for food and clothing. With the end of the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War), the Acadians were allowed to leave Maryland. Finally, they would have the freedom to choose where they would live. Having heard that some Acadians were prospering in Louisiana, they made the decision to join them. 

As a young girl, Rose boarded a ship with her parents to settle in Louisiana sometime after 1766. When they arrived, Governor Ulloa gave the Acadians food and supplies to begin their new life.^[4]Chandler, R. E. “Ulloa and the Acadians.” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, vol. 21, no. 1, Louisiana Historical Association, 1980, pp. … Continue reading By 1769, Rose’s parents were living on the Acadian Coast in Louisiana and recorded as living on the left bank of the Mississippi.^[5]Lillian C. Bourgeois, Cabanocey (Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 1998), p. 178. The household consisted of Pierre and Anne, a daughter named Anne and an orphan by the name of Marie LeBlanc. Was the ten-year-old Anne really Rose? What happened to Simon and Ludivine? They were not recorded with their parents. It is possible that they did not survive while in Maryland or during the journey to Louisiana. Was Marie LeBlanc Rose’s aunt? 

Rose’s mother had at least four more children after they arrived in Louisiana.^[6]Sindi Broussard Terrien, “Carrow-Walker Family Tree,” Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/76901568/person/46353451950/facts : viewed 14 June 2022), Anna … Continue reading Being about thirteen years of age when her new brothers and sisters were born, Rose probably played a large role in their childhood.

Living near the LeBlancs was Athanaise Dugas who Rose married 15 September 1777 at St. James in the Cabonacey area.^[7]Diocese of Baton Rouge, (1770-1803), 2:254. Before they married, Athanaise had six arpents of land (less than six acres) in Lafourche, Louisiana, as well as five cattle, four horses, ten swine and two arms.^[8]Albert Robichaux, Colonial Settlers along Bayou Lafourche 1770-1798, (Harvey, Louisiana, 1974), 2:11. He was also recorded as being a fusilier (a soldier that carried arms) in Spanish Louisiana in 1779 during the American Revolution War.^[9]Winston De Ville, The Acadian Coast in 1779 Settlers of Cabnocey and La Fourche in the Spanish Province of Louisiana During the American Revolution (Ville Platte, Louisiana, … Continue reading 

Motherhood began for Rose about one year after marriage with her son Joseph.^[10]Diocese of Baton Rouge, (1770-1803), 2:256. Her second pregnancy was a set of twins, Madelaine and Anne Josephe in 1780. She then had a child about every two years until 1790.  

Sometime around the beginning of 1791, Rose’ father died in Ascension Parish.^[11]An inventory of Pierre LeBlanc’s estate is recorded in Eileen Larré Behrman, Ascension Parish, Louisiana Civil Records 1770-1804 (Conroe, Texas, 1986), p 451-458. Then her husband died in March 1791 and was buried in Ascension Parish.^[12]Diocese of Baton Rouge, Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records Volume 2 (1770-1803) (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Diocese of Baton Rouge) 2:254. Citation reads … Continue reading What was the cause of death of Rose’s father and husband? Was it disease such as typhus or cholera or was it a farming accident? The family must have been devastated by the losses. Adding to the devastation, Rose died a year later at the age of thirty-six and was also buried in Ascension Parish 28 February 1792.^[13]Diocese of Baton Rouge, (1770-1803), 2:482. Was her short life a result of her childhood poverty, disease, stress of so many pregnancies, or was it the hard life of taming Louisiana? 

The children of Rose and Athanaise who were between thirteen and one year of age probably became the wards of Anna Landry, Rose’s mother, and Charles Dugas, Athanaise’s brother. 

Rose had one of the more difficult lives of my many mothers. She was an Acadian who never really knew L’Acadie and she probably experienced a harsh life in Oxford. I would like to believe that once she arrived in Louisiana, she had hopes and dreams that were realized and that her life was full of happiness until her last year. The next post will be about her mother, Anna Landry.