Nicolas Prevost Jr. (abt. 1749 - 1816)

Born about 1749 in Fort de Chartres, Randolph, Illinois Territory, Nouvelle-France

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Jeanne Prevost — married 7 Apr 1785 in St Martinville, St Martin Parish, Louisiana

Descendants

Died 12 Sep 1816 at about age 67 in Bayou Teche, St Mary Parish, Louisiana, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Louisiana Families Project WikiTree [send private message]

Nicolas Prevost Jr. lived in Louisiana. Join: Louisiana Families Project Discuss: louisiana

Biography

Nicolas Prevost was born 1749 in Illinois, and died 11 September 1816 in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana.^[1]

He married Marie Jean Prevost on 7 April 1785 in Point Coupee, Louisiana, (daughter of Pierre Joseph Collet Prevost and Jeanette Marie Jeanne DAUBLIN. ^[2]She was born 28 JAN 1768 in Point Coupee, Louisiana, and died 12 JUN 1849 in Jeanerette, Louisiana.^[3]

Census: 30 Oct 1774 Attakapas, St. Martin, LA ^[4]

Census: 4 May 1777 Attakapas, St. Martin, LA ^[5]

Probate: 16 Sep 1816 Franklin, St. Mary, LA ^[6][7]

The Provost Family

The ancestor of the Provost family living in the Teche Country of Southwest Louisiana was Nicholas Provost of Illinois. He was the son of Nicholas Provost of Paris, France and Marie Francoise Quebedeaux of Illinois and was born about 1743.

lLLINOIS COUNTRY APPROXIMATELY IN THE YEAR 1752

THE" ILLINOIS COUNTRY or simply THE ILLINOIS, was the term commonly applied in the 17th and 18th centuries to the region which eventually became the state of the same name. As originally used by the French explorers, the term designated the country occupied by the Illinois Indians. When white settlements took root along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, the reference was to the area of which these were nuclei. Not until the 19th century was the area definitely delimited.

This is taken from the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN HISTORY Vol. III, editor in Chief James Thuslow Adams.

There is a record of a sister, Felicite, born I Feb. 1772 (St. Martinville). According to Perrin's "Southwest Louisiana - Biographical and Historical" p. 127, Nicholas emigrated to Louisiana in 1780 by way of Santo Domingo where he married Marie Jeanne Prevost. In St. Martinville, La. there is the record of a Catholic marriage between Nicholas Provost and Marie Jeanne Prevost of Pointe Coupee Parish the daughter of Joseph Prevost and Jeanette Dublin on 1 April 1785. Most probably there were two marriages. Perrin states that there were ten children of this union. I find birth records of nine and later records of only eight. One or two children probably died in infancy.

Their Issue:

1. i Marie· Louise b. 18 July 1778
2. ii. Marie Juliana (Julie) b. 3 July 1788
3. iii. Godefroy bap. 4 July 1794 age 7 yrs.
4. iv. Ursin bap. 12 April 1795 age 15 mo.
5. v. Celeste Eleonore hap. 12 Mar. 1797
6. vi. Hortense b. 15 May before 1798
7. vii. Lucie (Lucille) b. 21 June 1797
8. viii. Leufroy b. July 1798
9. ix. Nicholas Philemon b. Nov. 1802
10. x. Maximilien PREVOST b: 21 Aug 1807 in , St. Martin, LA c: 25 Jul 1809 in St. Martinville, St. Martin, LA

Nicholas Provost was one of the first landowners in this area. He was also a large landowner. He owned approximately 3000 acres of land in what was then St. Mary Parish and is now Iberia Parish. His succession was filed in St. Mary Parish in 1823. The land in the succession was described as follows: "two certain tracts of land situated upon the Teche upon the West side of the same in the Parish of St. Mary the one containing 77 and 44/100 arpents in front and the other containing 8 arpents in front with depth of 40 arpents, being the same depth as the first named tract contains • • • and in the estimation and partition we have only taken into consideration the cultivated land and not regarded the marais (swamp) which is worth nothing and that we have found in the whole two tracts only 1788 acres of land worth anything and after taking out the number of 270 superficial acres for the said widow there remained to be divided between the said eight heirs 1518 75/100 acres of superficial land which gave to each 189 84/100 of an acre, and which we have divided in lots as aforesaid, after estimating each superficial acre at $5 per acre so as to enable us to equalize the lots in money." This property that was divided was taken from the tract of land containing 77 and 44/100 arpents in front with a depth of 40 arpents and was situated between land of Eugene Borel on the East and land of heirs of Jean Louis Hebert on the West.

The land owned by Nicholas Provost could be described generally in the present day's landmarks as the land from the St. Mary Parish line on the East to the Experimental Farm on the West, from the Teche to the 40 Arpent Road (better known in Jeanerette as the Grand Marais Road). In addition there was a section on the East side of the Teche extending from the Sl Mary Parish line on the East to a point across the Teche from Bourg St. lying between the Teche and a line approximately halfway from the Teche to Grand Lake. The entire town of Jeanerette lies within the property once owned by Nicholas Provost with a lot of extra land to spare. At one time there was a possibility of calling the town, “Provostville”.

His Cattle Brand

"On September 12th, 1816 was buried Nicolas Provost living on Bayou Teche and native of Illinois, died the day before at the age of 67 years old." St. Martinville No. 1075 Book 1787-1830.

An inventory of Nicholas Provost's Estate on Sept. 24, 1816 evaluated his property at $101,249.65, of which there were 75 slaves.

The estate was probated on 11 April 1823 and lists the following heirs: (Original Estates Book 1No. 95 St. Mary)

1. i. Godefroy
2. ii. Ursin, Pere
3. iii. Celeste Eleonore, Wife of Nicholas Loisel.
4. iv. Hortense, Wife of Hilaire Borel
5. v. Lucille, Wife of Andre Gaffreau
6. vi. Leufroy
7. vii. Nicholas Philemon
8. viii. Nicholas, Eleonide, Hubert, Jules, Belthazar, Caliste, and Octave Pellerin, children of deceased Julie, wife of Hubert Pellerin.

National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) Announces New Spanish Patriot submitted by Susan E. Finley1

In the September/October 2022 issue of the Daughters of the American Revolution Newsletter, NSDAR proudly announced Nicolas PREVOST dit Collet as a new Patriot.^[8]

Nicolas PREVOST dit Collet was born circa 1749 in Canada. He died on 11 Sept. 1816 in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana.

Nicolas married Marie Jeanne PREVOST on 1 Apr. 1785 in Louisiana. Marie Jeanne was born 28 Jan. 1768 at Pointe Coupee and died in St. Martin Parish after 21 Aug. 1807.

Sources

1. ↑ Selected Annotated Abstracts of Marriage Book I, 1811-1829 (St. Mary, Louisiana, Heirship Series); Compiler: Mary Sanders; 1973; vol. I of series, p. 37.
2. ↑ Southwest Louisiana Records, 1750-1900: compact disk #101 Donald J. Hébert; Publication: Rayne, LA: Hébert Publications, 2001;

   Text: PREVOST, Nicolas (maj. son of dec. Nicolas & Marie Francoise QUEBEDO, des Illinois) m. 1 April 1785 Marie PREVOST (min. daughter of Joseph & Jeanette DAUBLIN of Pointe Coupee) Wits: DECUIR, DECOUX, PREVOST, MARAIN. Fr. GEFFROTIN (SM Ch.: v.3, #55)

   PREVOST, Marie (min. daughter of Joseph & Jeanette DAUBLIN, of P.C.) m. 1 April 1785 Nicolas PREVOST (maj. son of dec. Nicolas & Marie Francoise QUEBEDO, de Illinois) Wits: DECUIR, DECOUX, PREVOST, MARAIN. Fr. GEFFROTIN (SM Ch.: v.3, #55)

3. ↑ Title: Selected Annotated Abstracts of Marriage Book I, 1811-1829 (St. Mary, Louisiana, Heirship Series); Compiler: Mary Sanders; Publication: 1973; vol. I of series. Personal Copy. p. 166

   Text: "On September 12th, 1816, was buried Nicolas Provost living on Bayou Teche and native of Illinois, died the day before at the age of 67 years old." (St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church Death Register), cited in Brown, p. 4.

4. ↑ Title: Marriage Contracts of the Attakapas Post, 1760-1803; Author: Winston DeVille; Publication: St. Martinville, LA: Attakapas Historical Assoc., 1966; Includes "1774 Census of Attakapas" by Jane Guillory Bulliard & Leona Trosclair David.

   Text: Nicolas PREVOT sa femme; with 9 children, 0 slaves, 80 cattle, 12 horses or mules, and 15 hogs.

5. ↑ Title: Southwest Louisiana Families in 1777: Census Records of Attakapas and Opelousas Posts; Author: Winston De Ville; Publication: Claitor's Publishing; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Reprinted June 2010; Author copyright 1987; Note: (Source: Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, at the General Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain; legajo 2358, folios 258 -300); p. 10

   Text: 44. Francois [sic] QUEBEQUOT [sic QUEBEDEAU], Widow PREVOT, 50.

   Garcons: Nicolas, 25; Louis, 15; Henry, 9.

   Filles: Jeanne, 18; Julie, 12; Therese, 7; Felicitee, 5. Slaves: 1.

   There were 30 cattle, 12 horses, and 3 hogs.

6. ↑ Title: Selected Annotated Abstracts of Marriage Book I, 1811-1829 (St. Mary, Louisiana, Heirship Series); Compiler: Mary Sanders; Publication: 1973; vol. I of series. Personal Copy. p.36; Text: Estate #95. Note: contains a list of heirs.

   Text: Estate #95.

7. ↑ Title: Selected Annotated Abstracts of Marriage Book II, 1811-1829 (St. Mary, Louisiana, Heirship Series); Compiler: Mary Sanders; Publication: 1973; vol. II of series. Personal Copy.p. 48; Text: Reference to Estate #95, d. Nicolas Provost. Note: marriage of daughter Hortense Prevost, widow of Hilaire Borel 10 July 1826. & Phillip Vigneau
8. ↑ De Ville, Mississippi Valley Mélange, Vol. 2, pp. 54-55. Service Description: Galvez, Attakapas Militia. Residence: Attakapas Post, District: Louisiana State: Spanish America.