Jacqueline Girouard

Ancestors

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Biography

Jacqueline Girouard is a descendant of an Acadian

Jacqueline Girouard participated with Gulf Coast Hurricanes during the 2019 Source-a-Thon, adding sources to 100 previously unsourced profiles.

Since joining WikiTree in November 2014 I have had something constructive to do with my time every single day, if I choose! I made all the usual mistakes and even after months of going through profiles, I still find something to change or improve. I've met so many cousins who are always so kind and sincere. I feel most comfortable working with the Louisiana Acadian profiles as that is where all my Louisiana ancestors were born and reared, me included, though I now live in Texas. I love to merge profiles and clean-up the biography sections. Seriously, I'm a nerd!

My father is descended from the pioneering Acadian couple Francois Girouard and Jeanne Aucoin. My Louisiana Girouard is Firmin, who was deported with his family but decided to join the Beausoleil Broussard party to Louisiana rather than go to New Brunswick with the rest of his family. They settled in a large area known then as the Attakapas, but which has since been divided into several parishes such as St. Martinville, Vermilion and Lafayette. On WikiTree, I've connected with a cousin living in New Brunswick who descends from one of Firmin's brothers who stayed with the family. How cool is that?

My mother descends from Acadian pioneers Jehan Theriot and Perrine Rau and also Louisiana French pioneers from France and Alsace-Lorraine on her mother's side. The French and German Louisiana pioneers, known then as Creoles which served to separate them from the Acadians, also intermarried with Acadians. These Louisiana first families settled along the German and Acadian Coasts of the Mississippi River and various bayous. Once the Acadians arrived beginning in the early 1760s they became the predominant culture in the Acadiana parishes of Louisiana.

I would like to point out that New Orleans is not representative of Acadians (Cajuns) as most people imagine. One might say (I do) that the Acadian culture (brand) has been co-opted by the tourism industry in New Orleans. The Acadians largely settled along the upper Mississippi River and the major bayous above New Orleans. Although the Acadians were originally from France, they had been well established in Acadie for nearly 150 years by the time they emigrated to Louisiana and had their own unique culture; whereas, New Orleans was settled long before that time by French, German, Spanish and Africans (both free and enslaved), as well as native-Americans (more nomadic) and many other emigrant groups which settlement continues to this day.

Sadly, during my research, I've learned of Louisiana ancestors who owned slaves. I've noted that the slave owning ancestors generally became more prosperous than those who did not own slaves. A shameful part of our history no doubt.

Happily, I've also learned of a few cousins and uncles who legally married former slave women in Louisiana even as the Civil War was raging. I've also learned of white great-grandfathers, cousins and uncles who fathered children with black women while they were married with white wives. I can only hope these women and their children were treated well and enjoyed the relationship, but, their stories haven't been told. I think it's important to acknowledge and document this history as we continue to work toward mutual trust and understanding even today.

DNA

I had only the minimum testing done but others who have tested belong to haplotype H2a2a1a, so I would too. My maternal line goes to "Unknown" Marie who married Francois Gautrot around 1635 and has been validated by Stephen A. White, University of Moncton, Mothers of Acadia Project. Marie is #76. -------, Marie (m v 1635 Francois Gautrot) H2a2a1a Founding Mothers of Acadia.

"Haplogroup H is the most common mtDNA clade in Europe. It is found in approximately 41% of native Europeans. The lineage is also common in North Africa and the Middle East. Haplogroup H is a descendant of haplogroup HV. The Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS), which until recently was the human mitochondrial sequence to which all others were compared, belongs to haplogroup H2a2a1 (human mitochondrial sequences should now be compared with the ancestral Reconstructed Sapiens Reference Sequence (RSRS)).[4] Several independent studies conclude that haplogroup H probably evolved in West Asia c. 25,000 years ago."^[1]

Reconstructed Sapiens Reference Sequence (RSRS) Results

HVR1 Mutations

A16129G, T16187C, C16189T, T16223C, G16230A, T16278C, C16311T, C16519T

HVR2 Mutations

G73A, C146T, C152T, C195T, A247G, G263A, 522.1A, 522.2C, 315.1C

revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS) Results

H CRS 315.1C

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_H_(mtDNA)