Of all of the families of Acadia, I have been most entertained by the LeBlanc family. Perhaps because there is just so much specific information about them.
Daniel LeBlanc Our Cajun/Acadian LeBlanc line was started by Daniel LeBlanc who was born in Martaize, France in 1626. He arrived at Port Royal, Acadie in 1648 aboard the French ship La Verve. The La Verve was a ship chartered by Emmanuel Le Borgne. It was bringing recruits to live in the colonies as well as supplies for the colonies. In 1650 Daniel married the widow Francoise Gaudet who was the daughter of Jean Gaudet and Francoise-Marie Daussy. She had a daughter from her first marriage named Marie. Daniel took Marie in as his own child. Daniel and Francoise had several children, six boys and one girl. The girl, was also named Francoise. She was born in 1653 and married Martin Blanchard in 1670. The six boys were: Jacques, who was born in 1651 and married Catherine Hebert in 1673; Estienne, who was born in 1656 and became a sailor and left Acadia; Rene, born in 1657, who married Anne Bourgeois in 1679; Andre, who was born in 1659 and married Marie Dugas in 1683; Anthoine, born in 1662, who married Marie Bougeois in 1681; Pierre, born in 1664, who married Marie Therriot in 1684 and Magdelaine Bourg in 1694. Marie Mercier, Francoise's daughter from her first marriage, married Anthoine Babin in 1661. Three of their children left the immediate area. Andre and Anthoine moved to Grand Pre and Rene moved to Beaubassin. Several of Rene's sons and grandsons were among the Acadian resistance fighters to the deportation in southeastern New Brunswick. Eventually most were captured or surrendered. One of his sons, Pierre-Victor, managed to escape and eventually settled his family at La Batture (present day Shediac, New Brunswick). The Great Expulsion When the Great Expulsion (Le Grand Dérangement) happened in the 1750’s this huge family was scattered in all directions. Since most of the LeBlanc’s lived in the Minas settlements, dozens of them fell into the hands of the British in the fall of 1755 and ended up on ships bound for Maryland, Virginia, and other English colonies down the Atlantic seaboard. What Happened After the Expulsion? The large family was scattered abroad. Some were sent to Louisiana. LeBlanc’s were among the first families of Acadia and some of the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. The first descendants of Daniel LeBlanc to immigrate to the colony reached New Orleans in February 1765 with the party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil. After a brief stay in the city, during which one of them exchanged his Canadian card money for Louisiana funds, they followed the Broussards to the Atakapas District, where they helped created La Nouvelle-Acadie on the banks of Bayou Teche. All of the LeBlanc's in Louisiana are direct descendants of Daniel LeBlanc and Francoise Gaudet. The rest of the sons and grandsons eventually made their way to Louisiana. These included his son, Etienne, who married Elisabeth Boudreau in 1742; and Etienne's sons, Simon-Joseph, who married Catherine Thibodeau, and later, in about 1766, married Marguerite Guilbeau; Etienne and Mathurin. Rene's sons, Mathurin and Rene, who was born in about 1750 and married Marguerite Trahan in about 1776, also made their way to Louisiana. Simon-Joseph arrived in the Attakapas country during 1765 with his first wife, Catherine Thibodeau, and his son, Cosme, who married Elisabeth Broussard in 1781. His uncle, Rene, settled on Bayou Tortue, west of Attakapas Post. Catherine Thibodeau Leblanc died shortly after her arrival in Louisiana, and following his second marriage to Marguerite Guilbeau, Simon-Joseph acquired land along Bayou Carencro. His son, Cosme, obtained land at Fausse Pointe and moved there with his wife and family. Four of Simon-Joseph's sons from his second marriage stayed in the northern part of the Attakapas country following their marriages. Frederic, who married Louise Thibodeau in 1794, became a cattleman and farmer on the Prairie Carencro. Some of his children eventually moved to the Grand Coteau and Breaux Bridge areas. Simon-Joseph's sons, Agricole, who married Celeste Savoie in 1793, Sylvestre, who married Perosine Duhon in 1806, and Francois, who married Marguerite Dugas in 1812, also settled near or on the Prairie Carencro. One of Simon-Joseph's sons, Pierre, who married Hortense Broussard in 1802, lived on Bayou Vermilion near present-day Lafayette. Some of his children eventually moved south to near New Iberia and Abbeville. Another early Leblanc arrival to Louisiana was Joseph Leblanc, who married Elisabeth Gaudet in 1742, who arrived with his second cousin, the Simon-Joseph Leblanc referred to above and his nephew, Marcel, who married Marie-Josephe Breau in 1760. They settled on the Acadian Coast in St. James and Ascension parishes. By 1767, they were joined by Marcel's parents, Jacques Leblanc and Catherine-Joseph Forest (Foret). At least five other Leblanc families came with Jacques from Maryland, where they had been deported by the British. Desire Leblanc, his wife, Marie-Madeleine Landry, and at least three of his sons, Isaac, who married Marie Melancon in 1768, Benjamin, who married Rosalie Babin in 1790, and Gregoire, who was born in 1769 and married Marie-anne Barbe Babin in 1787, were among these five families. All produced a large number of descendants that greatly increased the number of Leblanc families in Ascension Parish during the late 1700s and early 1800s. However, many of the Leblanc families sold their farms on the Acadian Coast during the early 1800s and moved on into the northern stretch of Bayou Lafourche between Donaldsonville and Napoleonville. Other descendants of the original Acadian Coast Leblanc family members moved further west on into the Attakapas prairies during the early 1800s. One of these was the cousin of Rene Leblanc who had originally settled on Bayou Tortue. His name was Joseph Leblanc, who married Marguerite Duhon in 1784, and Marguerite Bernard in 1801. He moved to Fausse Pointe with second wife. Most of his descendants eventually moved to northeastern Vermilion Parish. Another migrant to the Attakapas from the Acadian coast was Simon dit Gros Leblanc, who was born in 1762 and married Anne-Marie Hebert. He and his family settled on Bayou Vermilion. At the time of the deportation, the Leblanc family was one of the largest Acadian families, constituting about one-tenth of the total Acadian population. For a list of LeBlanc family member and places they were exiled to, visit: http://acadian-home.org/leblanc-exiles.html This is a great resource to find where your branch of the LeBlanc family ended up. Passenger Ship coming to Louisiana that had LeBlanc’s on board: Another group of Leblanc families arrived with the Acadian arrivals from Nantes, France, in 1785. Spain paid for 7 ships to transport Acadians to settle in Louisiana. For Spain, it meant settlers to buffer the zone between Spanish land and the British land. For the Acadians, it meant a chance to join their fellow Acadians and to regain some of what they lost during the Exile. One of these families was headed by Moise Leblanc and his wife, Angelique de la Forestiere. They settled along Bayou Lafourche with two young Leblanc bachelors. One of these was Claude Leblanc, who married Catherine Comeau in 1794. His two sons, Simon-Pierre and Joseph-Rosemond, moved south to Thibodaux. Joseph-Rosemond's sons in turn moved further south, as far as Montegut in Terrebonne Parish. The other son of Moise and Angelique, Jean-Martin Leblanc, married Marie-Celeste Pitre in 1805 and moved to the Thibodaux area. Some of his sons also moved south to settle near Houma and Chacahoula. They were joined in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes by the offspring of some of the earlier arrivals who had settled on the Acadian Coast. The ships that held members of the LeBlanc family were, La Bon Papa, Le Bergere, Le Beaumont, and Le St. Remi. These were family members who had been exiled from Acadia or were living in France and wanted to reunite with family members who had settled in Louisiana. The meaning of the name LeBlanc is one with light hair or complexion. LeBlanc Family Crest: See picture above. I found several family crests for this family. I posted the one that seemed to be the appropriate one.
LeBlanc Family Motto: Sans Tache – Without a Stain
Population of LeBlanc’s in the world today: It is now estimated that there are somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 descendants scattered over all the continents of the globe, the biggest concentration being in Canada (in the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec) and the United States of America (in Louisiana and the states of New England). Famous People with the last name LeBlanc: Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, American journalist Alfred LeBlanc (1869–1921), French aviator André LeBlanc (1921–1998), Haitian comic artist André LeBlanc, fictional jewelry thief in DC Comics Christian LeBlanc (born 1958), American actor Diana Fowler LeBlanc (born 1940), widow of Romeo LeBlanc Dominic LeBlanc (born 1967), Canadian politician Drew LeBlanc (born 1989), American ice hockey player Dudley J. LeBlanc (1894–1971), Louisiana state senator and the developer of Hadacol Fred S. LeBlanc, Louisiana attorney general and mayor of Baton Rouge Guy LeBlanc (born 1960), Canadian keyboardist, member of rock bands Nathan Mahl and Camel Isidore LeBlanc (born 1836), Acadian politician, ship owner and merchant Jerry Luke LeBlanc (born 1956), American politician and educational administrator Karina LeBlanc (born 1980), Canadian soccer player Lisa LeBlanc (born 1990), Canadian singer-songwriter Lucie Leblanc (born 1962), Canadian politician Matt LeBlanc (born 1967), American actor Maurice Leblanc (1857–1923) French engineer and industrialist Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941), French novelist Jean-Marie Leblanc (born 1944), French cyclist and director of the Tour de France Karina LeBlanc (born 1980), Canadian soccer goalkeeper Neil LeBlanc (born 1956), Canadian politician Nicolas Leblanc (1742–1806), French chemist and surgeon Paul LeBlanc, make-up artist who won an Oscar for Amadeus Paul Le Blanc (born 1947), American historian Rita Benson LeBlanc, Vice Chairman of the Board of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League Roméo LeBlanc (1927–2009), Canadian Governor General Sam A. LeBlanc, III (born 1938), Louisiana politician and lawyer Samuel A. LeBlanc, I (1886–1955), Louisiana politician and judge Steven A. LeBlanc, archaeologist, author Wade LeBlanc, (born 1984), American baseball pitcher Leblanc (musical instrument manufacturer), an American musical instrument manufacturer Leblanc (Automobile manufacturer), a Swiss manufacturer of high-performance cars. The Leblanc process is an obsolete chemical procedure for manufacturing soda ash Leblanc, a fictional character from the video game Final Fantasy X-2 Resources used: http://www.nola.com/ancestors/archive/1998/061498.html http://acadian-cajun.com http://www.acadian-home.org/leblanc-exiles.html http://www.acadian-cajun.com/7ships.htm http://www.acadian-home.org/leblanc-family-history.html http://surnames.meaning-of-names.com/genealogy/leblanc/ http://names.mooseroots.com/l/767/Leblanc http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/louisiana/heritage/acadians/acadians_videos.htm
4 Comments
Farnell LaFleur
9/19/2015 03:28:55 pm
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verna breaux
9/19/2015 03:42:16 pm
Vincent spelled in french!
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Cynthia
9/19/2015 03:57:17 pm
It is spelled the same way as in English.
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Ralph LeBlanc
9/24/2016 01:13:53 pm
Nice blog. I am a LeBlanc from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. There are still hundreds of LeBlanc families in my area where we have french schools and a french university. New Brunswick is the only ( legal ) bilingual province in Canada.
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