Etienne Saulnier (abt. 1702 - abt. 1765)

Born about 1702 in Les Mines, Acadie, Nouvelle-France

Husband of Jeanne Comeau — married 1729 in Acadie

Husband of Anne Darois — married 4 Jun 1740 in Beaubassin

Descendants

Died about 1765 at about age 63 in Opelousas Post, Spanish Louisiana [uncertain]

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Etienne Saulnier is an Acadian. Join: Acadians Project Discuss: ACADIA

Discussion

Note: It is said by some that Etienne was able to immigrate to Louisiana around 1765. His name hasn't been found in the booklet published by the Wall of Names Committee at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana, though the names of some members of his family do appear. Currently researching.

Biography

Etienne Saulnier was born about 1702 in Les Mines, Acadie, Nouvelle-France, son of Louis Saulnier and Louise Bastineau. ^[1] He lived with his family in 1714 in the River of Old Habitation, together with his 4 brothers and 5 sisters. His older brother Marcel was married and had two children living nearby. This family made up half of the people living in this village.^[2]

He married Jeanne Comeau around 1729 in Acadie. ^[1]

Their children were: ^[3]

1. Françoise (Sonnier) Saulnier (1730 - 1811)
2. Marguerite (Saunie) Saulnier (1732 - )
3. Sylvain Saulnier (~1738 - ~1801).

Etienne married Anne Darois on 4 Jun 1740 in Beaubassin. ^[4][1]

Their children were: ^[3]

1. Unknown SAULNIER ca 1741-
2. Anne SAULNIER ca 1741-/1766
3. Charles Jean SAULNIER ca 1743-
4. Unknown SAULNIER ca 1745-
5. Marie SAULNIER ca 1745-1841
6. Magdeleine Saulnier (~1747 - ~1800)
7. Olivier Saulnier (~1751 - >1777)
8. Joseph Saulnier (1755 - 1820).
9. Joannis SAULNIER ca 1763-

They followed Étienne's older brothers Jacques and Pierre to Petitcoudiac where they appeared on the 1752 census with 4 sons and 4 daughters and again in 1755 with 5 sons and 2 daughters. ^[5][6][7][8]

Around 1756 Étienne and his family fled to Camp d'Espérance on the Miramichi, in present-day northeastern New Brunswick, which was established at the end of the summer of 1756 to protect from famine and from the roundups of the British soldiers the approximately 1400 Acadians who were refugees there. ^[9] They suffered greatly because of diseases and lack of food at the camp.

By 1761 many of the Acadian refugees around Baie des Chaleurs were captured by British forces, or promised to surrender the following year, and were imprisoned in Halifax or Fort Edward. Étienne and Anne were rounded up and brought to Halifax. They appeared on a list of prisoners in Halifax dated 12 August 1763, with 9 children. ^[10][11][12]

The prisoners in Halifax were released after the treaty of 1763. The British authorities permitted Acadians to remain in the Colony of Nova Scotia as long as they took an oath of allegiance. However the majority of the prisoners rejected their offer and left the colony by their own means by leasing vessels since the British refused to pay their passage to other colonies. Many chose to go to French-controlled colonies like Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and Saint-Domingue (Haiti) but quickly left the dire conditions there and travelled north, most of them settling in Louisiana in the spring of 1765. ^[10]

Research Notes

• Possible Immigration: 1765 New Orleans, Orleans, LA ^[13]

• Death: BEF 25 Apr 1766 in, St. Landry, LA ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Stephen A. White, Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Acadiennes (2 vols., Moncton, New Brunswick: Centre d'Études Acadiennes , 1999), p. 1447 SAULNIER no. 1 k.

   Text: Étienne (6) was born between the 1701 census at Riv.-des-Vieux-Habts, and the 1703 census at Les Mines [Acadia], son of Louis SAULNIER & Louise BASTINEAU dit PELTIER. Étienne married 1st around 1729 to Jeanne COMEAU, daughter of Abraham & Marguerite PITRE. Married 2nd on 4 Jun 1740 (Beaubassin Register) to Anne DAROIS, daughter of Jêrome & Marie GAREAU.

2. ↑ Tim Hebert; Transcription of the 1714 Acadian Census at Port-Royal, Acadie 1714 Census Transcription. The original census can be found at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the Library and Archives Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Images 239-261.

   Louis SAUNIER and wife, 5 sons, 5 daughters.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Geneanet.org, Karen Theriot Reader's Family Tree, page for Etienne Saulnier
4. ↑ Library and Archives Canada Fonds des Archives départementales de la Charente-Maritime [La Rochelle, France] : C-1207 Registres de Beaubassin - reel_c1207 MG 6 A 2 (Image 69) http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c1207/69?r=0&s=6
5. ↑ Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home"; 2005 – Present, hosted by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino; 1752 Census The original census can be found at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the Library and Archives Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752”, Image 283.

   Etienne SAUNIER, his wife, 4 boys, 4 girls.

6. ↑ Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home"; 2005 – Present, hosted by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino;1755 Census image 8

   Estienne Saulnier, his wife, 5 boys, 2 girls

7. ↑ Stephen A. White, Recensements de Beaubassin et des Trois Rivières de Chipoudie, de Memramcook et de Petcoudiac (1686-1755). Les Cahiers de la Société historique acadienne, vol. 50, nos 2-4, juin-décembre 2019, p. 392-393
8. ↑ Charles C. Trahan, trans, Acadian Census 1671-1752 (Rayne, LA: Hébert Publications, 1994), 1752, p. 6.

   Text: At Petkoudiack: Etienne Saunier, his wife, 4 boys, 4 girls.

   [This might be: Étienne Saulnier age 50; Anne Darois age 32; Françoise age 22; Marguerite age 20; Marie-Josephe age 18; Sylvain age 15; Boy age 10? Boy age 7? Madeleine age 5; Olivier age 1.]
9. ↑ LeBlanc, R.-G. (2012). Les réfugiés acadiens au camp d’Espérance de la Miramichi en 1756-1761 : un épisode méconnu du Grand Dérangement. Acadiensis, 41(1). Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/view/19077/21083. (See appendix at the end) Also English translation by John Estano DeRoche "The Acadian Refugee Camp on the Miramichi, 1756-1761"
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} LeBlanc, Ronnie-Gilles, Les Acadiens à Halifax et dans l’île Georges, 1755–1764. Port Acadie no 22-23 (2012) : p 66-67, 76 of PDF https://doi.org/10.7202/1014976ar
11. ↑ Lucie LeBlanc Consentino. List of Acadian Prisoners at Halifax, August 12, 1763, Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home. Transcription, digital images, Roy, J.-Edmond. "12 Août 1763: Liste des françois Accadiens demeurants prisonniers a halifax port d'amérique Septentrionale Sous le gouvernement de Sa majesté Britannique" in Rapport sur les archives de France relatives à l'histoire du Canada. Ottawa: C.H. Parmelee, 1911 accessed at BANQ numérique pages 628-631/images 630-633], Image 630, accessed Dec 2022

    de tiene saunaie, his wife, 9 children, total of 11.

12. ↑ Janet Jehn, Acadian Exiles in the Colonies (Covington, KY: Author, 1977), pp. 243, 249 & 253.

    Note: Probably included two nieces, Madeleine & Marie-Anne LALANDE.

    Text: On photocopy of document titled "Liste des françois Accadiens Demeurants prisoniers a Halifax port D'ámerique Septentrianale Sous le gouvernement De La Majesté Britannique," dated 12 Aug 1763 (a List of the French Acadians who were kept prisoner at Halifax under the government of His Britannic Majesty.) First listed is Etiene SAUNAIE [sic], his wife and nine children , for a total of 11 persons.
13. ↑ Karen Theriot Reader citing an email from Roger A. Rozendal (rogroz at swbell.net) in Feb 2007: Probably came to Louisiana in May 1765 and settled in Opelousas

• Source: S-1796149246 Repository: #R-2145870850 Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=4026654&pid=647
• Repository: R-2145870850 Ancestry.com Note:
• #1. Lillian DesRoches. The Descencants of Louis Saulnier and Louise Bastinaux.

DNA Confirmation

• Paternal and Maternal relationships are both confident based on a triangulated group on GEDmatch who share a 9.7 cM segment on chromosome 16, consisting of Audrey Lee Crockett, GEDmatch kit # TB1558976, and Donna (Friebel) Storz, her 7th cousin 2x removed, GEDmatch kit # M123750, and Ronald Thibodeaux, her 6th cousin 2x removed, GEDmatch kit # CM7128676. (Donna and Ronald are 7th cousins.) Their most-recent common ancestors are Louis Pierre Saulnier and Louise Bastineau, the 8x great grandparents of Audrey Lee Crockett and 6x great grandparents of both Donna (Friebel) Storz and Ronald Thibodeaux.