Marguerite Josephe Melanson (1718 - 1811)

Born 6 Nov 1718 in Grand-Pré, Acadie, Colony of Nova Scotia

Ancestors

Wife of Paul Hebert — married 14 May 1736 in Grand-Pré, Acadie, Colony of Nova Scotia

Descendants

Died 29 Dec 1811 at age 93 in Saint Gabriel, Louisiana, Orleans Territory, United States

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Biography

PAUL HEBERT is on the Wall of Names at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana, on Plaque 3 Right. Listed with him is his wife, Marguerite Melanson, and their children: Anne, Ignace, Marie, Jean Baptiste, Amand, Marguerite and Paul. Also listed is an orpheline, Marie Blanchard.^[1]

Marguerite Josephe Melanson was born on 6 November 1718. She was the daughter of Philippe Charles Melanson and Marie Catherine Dugas. She was baptized the same day as her birth at Saint Charles des Mines, Grand-Pré, Acadia. Her godparents were Charles Babin and Marguerite Landry.^[2]

When she was 18, she married Paul Gaston Hebert, son of Guillaume Hebert and Marie Josephe Dupuy, on 14 May 1736 at Saint Charles des Mines.^[3][4]

Their known children were:

1. Pierre Paul HEBERT (1737)
2. Joseph HEBERT (1739)
3. Charles HEBERT (1741)
4. Marie Madeleine HEBERT (1743)
5. Anne Marie HEBERT (1745)
6. Ignace HEBERT (1747)
7. Marie HEBERT (1749)
8. Jean Baptiste HEBERT (1751)
9. Amand Valery HEBERT (1753)
10. Antoine HEBERT (1756)
11. Paul HEBERT (1758)
12. Marguerite HEBERT (1760 )

On 5 September 1755, her husband Paul was imprisoned along with hundreds of other Acadian men at the St. Charles des Mines church in Grand-Pré. On a list of prisoners, he was said to live in the village des Michel (Hébert) (now Avonport, Nova Scotia) with 7 sons and 3 daughters (spouses were not included on the list), and owned 4 bullocks, 7 cows, 17 young cattle, 40 sheep, and 15 hogs. His property and livestock became forfeit to the crown, and his family was required to prepare for deportation within 30 days. ^[5][6]

On 27 October 1755, Paul, Marguerite-Josèphe and their children (Joseph, Charles, Ignace, Jean-Baptiste, Amand, Antoine, Marie-Madeleine, Anne-Marie, Marie, and an unnamed son) were deported to Maryland aboard the Ranger. ^[6] They were detained there until the end of the war in 1763. That year, the family was listed on a census in Georgetown, Maryland. ^[7][8]

Having no home to return to, when they were released at the end of the war, they decided to accept the offer of the then-Spanish government of Louisiana to homestead in their newly-acquired territory. She was listed with her family among arrivals at New Orleans, Louisiana on 27 July 1767, age 50 years.^[9] They next appeared on a census in August 1767 at St. Gabriel, in present-day Iberville Parish, Louisiana.^[10]

She died a widow on 29 December 1811, and was buried the next day in St. Gabriel, Louisiana.^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ The Wall of Names at the Acadian Memorial, Wall of Names Committee, Jane G. Bulliard, Chair, (Opelousas, LA: Bodemuller, 2015), p. 18.
2. ↑ Paroisse de St. Charles des Mines, Grand Pré, Acadie, Québec Province, Baptèmes, 1707-1748, pp. 95-96, baptism entry for Marguerite Joseph Melanson, 6 Nov 1718; digital images, Canadiana, Héritage, Genealogy collection, Library and Archives Canada, reel C-1869, "Fonds de la paroisse catholique Saint-Charles-des-Mines (Grand-Pré, N.-É.) - 1869" (images 104-105), accessed 2 Aug 2019.
3. ↑ Library and Archives Canada, Fonds de la paroisse catholique Saint-Charles-des-Mines (Grand-Pré, N.-É.) - 1869; Canadiana, Héritage, Parish registers: Nova Scotia : C-1869 (image 706), marriage entry for Paul Hébert and Marie Joseph Melançon; note the entry shows her name as Josephe Marguerite Melançon.
4. ↑ Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records ("DOBR"): The Registers of St Charles Aux Mines in Acadia 1707-1748, volume 1a, revised (Baton Rouge, La: Diocese of Baton Rouge Archives,1999), pp. 100-101, 111, & 159-160
   • Josephe Marguerite [MELANCON], age 18, daughter of Philip & Marie DUGAS, deceased, married on 14 May 1736 to Paul HEBERT, age 24, son of Guillaume, deceased & Marie Josephe DUPUY. Witness: Alexandre BOURG, notary. Recorded in (SGA-2, 199).
   • Witnesses: A. BOURG [signed, priest writes Alexandre BOURG, notary]; Jaques HÉBERT; Jean MELANSON [signed]; Joseph TERIOT [signed]; Pierre DOUCET [signed]; groom signed Paul HÉBAIRE, bride made X (SGA-2, 199).
5. ↑ Lucie Leblanc Consentino, Acadian & French-Canadian Ancestral Home, "Deportees of Grand-Pré - 1755," citing Collection of the Nova Scotia Historical Society 1870-1884 - Journal of John Winslow, volumes 1-4; "Grand-Pré, September the 15th 1755," line # 336,

   Paul heberr, village des Michel, 7 sons and 3 daughters (spouses were not included on the list), 4 bullocks, 7 cows, 17 young cattle, 40 sheep, 15 hogs

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Paul Delaney. La liste de Winslow expliquée. (Moncton, N.-B.: Éditions Perce-Neige, 2020 - Kindle Edition), p. 326
7. ↑ Gregory A. Wood, A Guide to the Acadians in Maryland in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: 1755-1899, (Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1995) p. 132.
8. ↑ Janet Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies, (Covington, KY: Author, 1977) pp. 131 & 150.

   Recensement des habitans Neutres de L'acadie détenus à Georgetown En Maryland ... Paul Hebert, Marg'te son epouse, Joseph Hebert, Magd'ne et anne Hebert, Ignace et Marie Hebert, JB'te et Amant Hebert, Antoine et Paul Hebert, Marg'te Hebert ...

   Census of Neutral Acadian Inhabitants Detained at Georgetown in Maryland... Paul Hebert, Marguerite his wife, Joseph Hebert, Madeleine and Anne Hebert, Ignace and Marie Hebert, Jean Baptiste and Amant Hebert, Antoine and Paul Hebert, Marguerite Hebert...

9. ↑ Jacqueline K. Voorhies, Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians; Census Records of the Colony 1758-1796 (Lafayette, LA: University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1973), p. 430

   Text: On "List of Acadien Families Who Came to Louisiana to be Established in the Year 1767," signed by Julian Alverez, found in the Papeles procedentes de Cuba, Legajo 114, family #4:

   Pablo HIBER, age 50;

   Margarita, 50;

   Ygnacio, son, 20;

   Jean Bte., son, 16;

   Armand, son, 14;

   Pablo, son, 3;

   Ana, daughter, 22;

   Maria, daughter, 18;

   Margarita, daughter, 7;

   Maria BLANCHARD, 13

10. ↑ R. E. Chandler, End of an Odyssey: Acadians Arrive in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, (Louisiana Historical Association, vol. XIV, no. 1: winter 1973), pp. 69-87; Note: Originals in Seville, Spain: General Archives of the Indies, Section 5, Government, Audiencia of Santo Domingo, Legajo 2585; pp. 80 & 81

    Text: Pablo HEVER (Paul HÉBERT), his wife, seven children and an orphan girl, on 8 arpents of land.

11. ↑ Stephen A. White, Dictionnaire Généalogique Des Familles Acadiennes ("DGFA") (Moncton, N.-B.: Centre D'études Acadiennes, Université De Moncton, 1999), p. 1152, citing 29/30 Dec 1811, age 97 years (sic), a widow, St-Gabriel d'Iberville Register

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Karen Theriot Reader, page for Marguerite Josephe MELANSON