Prosper Honore Girouard (1744 - 1791)

Born 1744 in Acadie, Nouvelle-France

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Dugas — married 14 Feb 1764 in Saint-Coulomb, Bretagne, France

Descendants

Died 26 Feb 1791 at about age 47 in Plattenville, Assumption, Louisiana, USA

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Biography

Prosper Giroir is on the Wall of Names at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana, Plaque 7 Right. Listed with him are his spouse Marie Dugast and six of their children: Jean Baptiste, Francois, Pierre, Marie Paul, Anne and Jeanne.^[1]

Prosper was born in Acadie c.1744 to Honore Girouard and Marie-Josephe Theriot, so he was about 11 years old when the Acadians were deported to various mostly English ports by the British. Prosper and his family were sent directly to France in the second wave of expulsions. He disembarked with his parents at Saint-Malo in Bretagne (today Ille-et-Vilaine), France on 23 January 1759 from one of the "Five Ships." ^[2]He resided with his parents in Pleslin, Bretagne (today known as Pleslin-Trigavou, Côtes-d'Armor) from 1759 until his marriage in 1764. After his marriage, he resided with his wife and growing family in Saint-Coulomb, Bretagne from 1765-1770, then in Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets, Bretagne from 1770-1772, and finally in Saint-Buc near Pleurtuit where his son Francois was born in June 1773. Saint-Malo and the nearby communities of Saint-Coulomb, Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets, and Saint-Buc are in the historical region of Bretagne that later became the French départment of Ille-et-Vilaine.

In 1764, Prosper married Marie Dugas at Saint-Coulomb in Bretagne (today Ille-et-Vilaine), France.^[3][4][5] Together they had 9 children. Six children, Maire Paule, Anne Josephe, Joseph Magloire, Jean Baptiste, Jeanne Eleonore, and François, were born in Bretagne (today Ille-et-Vilaine) around Saint-Malo. One child, Marie, was born at Leigné-les-Bois near Châtellerault, Poitou (today Vienne). The two youngest, Joseph Magloire, and Pierre, were born in Nantes, Bretagne (today Loire-Atlantique), France:

1. Marie Anne Paule GIROUARD (b. 1765 - d. 1810)
2. Anne Josephe GIROUARD (b. 1766 - d. 1831)
3. Joseph Magloire GIROUARD (b. 1768 - d.1772)
4. Jean Baptiste GIROUARD (b. 1769 - d. 1818)
5. Jeanne Eleonore GIROUARD (b. 1771 - d. 1800)
6. Francois Joseph GIROUARD (b. 1773 - d. 1836)
7. Marie GIROUARD (b. 1774 - d. 1774)
8. Joseph Magloire GIROUARD (II) (b. 1777 - d. 1783)
9. Pierre GIROUARD (b. 1778 - d. ?)

The coastal towns were overburdened with the penniless newcomers, and hundreds more arrived when England released her prisoners in 1763; there were not enough jobs to go around. The family moved with many other Acadians to a new settlement near Châtellerault about 1773. After only a few years of crop failures, the settlement failed, and most Acadians moved to Nantes. Prosper, his wife Marie and five children, Marie Paule, Anne, Jean Baptiste, Jeanne, and François were in the second convoy leaving Châtellerault for Nantes on November 15, 1775.^[6]

Once established in Nantes, Prosper and his family lived on Place Viarme on Rue des Hauts Pavés in the parish of Saint-Similien. His two youngest sons were born there but one, Joseph Magloire, died young at the age of 6 years in 1783.

Finally in 1785, the Spanish king offered passage to Louisiana for settlers willing to swear allegiance to Spain. Prosper and his family were among them.^[7]

In 1785, most of the Giroirs who came to Louisiana from France where they had been living in exile from Acadie chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche, as did Prosper.^[8]

Direct quote from Acadians in Gray website by Steven A. Cormier:

Prosper-Honoré Giroir, age 41, crossed on La Bergère, the second of the 'Seven Ships,' which reached New Orleans in August. With him was wife Marie Dugas, age 39, and six children--Marie-Paule, age 20, Anne-Josèphe, age 18, Jean-Baptiste, age 15, Jeanne-Eléonore, age 13, François, age 11, and Pierre, age 7. Prosper and Marie had no more children in Louisiana. Their daughters married into the Blanchard, Guillot, and Landry families and settled on the upper bayou. All of the Giroir family lines east of the Atchafalaya Basin spring from two of Prosper's sons, Jean-Baptiste and François, who settled on the upper bayou and raised large families. Daughter Jeanne-Eléonore died at Assumption in June 1800; she was only 28 years old. Marie Paule died in Assumption Parish in August 1810, age 45. Anne Josèphe died in Assumption Parish in March 1831; the Plattenville priest who recorded her burial said that she was 60 when she died, but she was 64.^[9]

Research Notes

Death / burial date needs a source. Prosper probably died and was buried in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, Spanish Territory. The marriage record of his son, François, to Madeleine Françoise LeBlanc on January 27, 1794, records Prosper as deceased, so we know his death was before this date. The marriage record of his daughter, Jeanne, to Charles Blanchard on February 28, 1792, does not mention that he is deceased so he may have died after that date. See Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records, 1770-1803, Volume 2, page 324. There is no burial record in Volume 2 for Prosper.

Sources

1. ↑ The Wall of Names at the Acadian Memorial, compiled by Jane G. Bulliard and the Wall of Names Committee (Opelousas, LA: Bodemuller, 2015) p. 31.
2. ↑ "Rolle des habitans de l'Isle St Jean débarqués à St Malo le 23 janvier 1759 des 5 paquebots anglois le Yarmouth, la Patience, le Mathias, la Restoration et le John et Samuel," Fonds de l'inscription maritime de Saint-Servan (France): C-4619, MG6 C2, Library and Archives Canada, Roll of the " Five English ships " (Yarmouth, Patience, Mathias, Restoration, John Samuel) disembarked at Saint-Malo on January 23, 1759 image 193, accessed Sept 2023

   GIROIRE Honoré, 45, plowman, lives in Pleslin

   TERRIOT Marie Josèphe, 39, his wife, hospitalized 27 January-15 February

   GIROIRE Hélène Judith, 17, daughter

   GIROIRE Prosper, 15, son, hospitalized 12 March-13 April

   GIROIRE Eudoxile, 12, daughter, hospitalized 27 January-15 February

   GIROIRE David, 5, son, died at sea

   GIROIRE Marie, 7, daughter, died at sea

   GIROIRE Joseph, 2 months, son, died at sea

3. ↑ Archives en ligne Ille-et-Vilaine, Registres paroissiaux et état civil, Saint-Coulomb, 1764, Baptêmes/Mariages, COMMUNE, image 3 of 23 Commune marriage record
4. ↑ Archives en ligne Ille-et-Vilaine, Registres paroissiaux et état civil, Saint-Coulomb, 1764, Baptêmes/Mariages, GREFFE, image 3 of 12 Greffe marriage record
5. ↑ Albert J. Robichaux, Jr., Acadians in Exile in Saint Malo 1758-1785 Vol. 1, Eunice, Louisiana: Hebert Publications, 1981 pp. 361-363, family #442

   Text: Prosper-Honore Giroire born about 1744, son of Honore Giroire and Marie-Josephe Terriot. Married 16 Feb 1764 to Marie Dugast, b. abt. 1747, daughter of Paul Dugast and Marie Boudrot.

6. ↑ Acadian Exiles in Chatellerault, 1773-1785, The - Albert J. Robichaux, Jr. - Hebert Publications, 1983; p. 45, family #83

   "Prosper Giroir, Marie Dugas, his wife and five children: Jean, Francois, Marie, Anne and Jeanne were in the Second Convoy leaving Châtellerault for Nantes on November 15, 1775."

7. ↑ Donald J. Hébert, Acadian Families in Exile, 1785 & Exiled Acadians, an Index (Rayne, LA: Hébert Publications, 1995) pp. 26-27.

   Text: Prosper GIROIRE, day laborer age 41, traveling with his wife Marie DUGAT and their six children as the 64th family (of 8 persons) aboard "La Bergère." [15 Aug 1785 New Orleans, Orleans, LA]

8. ↑ Louisiana census records-Bayou Lafourche.

   Text: Prospere GIROIR, 50, 6 arpents, 50 quarts of corn, 4 horned cattle, 2 horses, 10 swine, total of 7 persons; Marie DUGATS, his wife, 42; Marie, his daughter, 23; Jean, his son, 18; Jannette, id, 16; Francois, id, 14; Pierre, id, 9.

   1770-1789, German Coast, New Orleans, Below New Orleans and Lafourche. The census 1 Jan 1789 is from: Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, Legajo 202. p. 122

   Text: Prosper GIROIRE, age 51, listed with his wife Mari Giroire DUGAT, age 23 [sic], and four children age 19 to 10. They have 6 arpents of land, 50 quarts of corn, 4 head cattle, 2 horses, and 12 hogs.

9. ↑ Acadians in Gray website, by Steven A. Cormier, Appendices Girouard/Giroir, Prosper Girouard