The Saucier Family - Page 11
In July of 2014, WGNO, a local New Orleans TV Station produced a short video segment entitled “Who Lies Where? Hundreds buried beneath St. Louis Cathedral” for its evening news. An interview with the Rector of St. Louis Cathedral was included in the video and an article was written on its website about the burials. The Cathedral allowed the news crew to see what the crypts looked like underneath the floor.
In the interview Monsignor Crosby Kern, the rector of St. Louis Cathedral, made the following comment:
“Beyond the sanctuary, scattered about beneath the pews stretching toward Jackson Square, lie the remains of many more colonial New Orleanians, clergy and lay alike. In the center of the Cathedral between the two pillars it’s estimated that there were 100 people buried before 1850 underneath the pews. “We know their names but not their locations”. “There was a big renovation in 1850 and during the renovation we lost track of who is buried at each spot”, said Monsignor Crosby Kern, the cathedral’s rector. He also states, “Beneath the Sanctuary and wings of the Cathedral are the crypts. The exact number is unknown, but this is where bishops and archbishops are buried. Prominent laypeople were also buried here centuries ago, but the remaining 7 crypts are reserved for archbishops who will one day join those who were and still are the foundation for the Cathedral. Before 1803, they were buried inside the Cathedral's predecessor building, which stood on the same site until 1850. That building was demolished to make way for the wider, deeper Church that opened a year later. The width of the old building was roughly defined by the rows of interior pillars in its successor. They are under the pews, somewhere, said Reverend Kern.
This writer and his spouse recalls seeing in the mid 1960’s a plaque that was located on a south wall in the foyer outside the sanctuary that told of the early reburials, but it is no longer located on the foyer wall. So, taking into consideration Monsignor Kern’s statements, it is assumed our family matriarch Gabrielle Savary was possibly reinterred some where between the two rows of pillars in the sanctuary of St. Louis Cathedral along with the other colonial New Orleanians that were reinterred at the Cathedral sometime between 1736 and the 1850 renovations of the church. Even so, we can only assume that Gabrielle was reinterred at the Cathedral since there is no actual documentation for her reburial, only the old family legend passed down for generations, but then there is the question of that plaque inside the church in the mid 1960s which is no longer there.
The loss of Mobile’s early marriage records also meant the loss of most data on the origins of Gabrielle’s three husbands, including Jean Baptiste Saucier, but, mainly those records on her second husband Pierre Vifvarenne, and her third and last husband, Jean Baptiste Sansot. Pierre Vifvarenne, her second husband, also a French soldier, with the rank of Sergeant, stationed at the Mobile Fort, was listed in the Illinois baptism record of a granddaughter as having been from Picardie, France. Nothing has been found on Gabrielle’s third husband, Jean Baptiste Sansot, beyond the fact that he was a French Soldier with the rank of Corporal at the Mobile Fort. Jean Baptiste Saucier, her first husband, was French Canadian, and numerous records for him are found in the Quebec archives.
With the death of their mother Gabrielle, Henri, in the French tradition as the oldest son, would now be considered the head of the family and would oversee most legal arrangements concerning his younger brothers and the family.
Henri Saucier, the oldest son of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Marie Gabrielle Savary, was about ten years old when the death of his father at Mobile, left his mother, Marie Gabriele Savary, a widow with several young children to support. The early death of his father hastened Henri’s maturing, responsibility and leadership, as he now had to help his mother in supporting the family. Henri would have helped his mother in what little farming they were able to do on their land in Mobile, doing odd jobs within the fort and helping neighbors to earn extra money, as well as hunting and fishing to help feed his siblings. A formal education was now definitely beyond his and his brothers reach. Henri and his brothers were tutored by their mother and taught to read and write, which was unusual in the colonies. None of their future wives were able to do so, but many of their children were all well educated.
With the early death of their father, Jean Baptiste, any intentions he may have had for the future of his sons was now gone. It is not know just what Henri or his brothers knew, or if Gabrielle told her sons, about their father, grandfather and family members in Quebec and in France. It's possible that Gabrielle did not know much concerning her in-laws to pass on to her sons. This writer wonders what part, if any, his Mother Gabrielle had played in the choice of the future occupation of Henri and his brothers. Did she encourage Henri and his brothers to pursue a career in trading and commerce within the territory and then helped to advance Henri, the oldest son, in that profession through her connections in the colony?
Henri who was very successful and excelled in his chosen profession in trading and commerce eventually led his two younger brothers into his profession of trading on the Gulf Coast and along the Mississippi River from Mobile and New Orleans to the settlements in Illinois and Missouri. Conditions in the colony severely limited the opportunities open for young colonials and the better jobs were filled by men designated by the French government. Henri and his brothers had overcome the odds and limited opportunities available and continued successfully in later life to earn their livings in commerce and trading along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Illinois.
On November 8, 1733, Henri, now twenty-six years of age, married twenty-one year old Barbe Lacroix at Fort de Chartres, Illinois. She was a resident of Saint Philippe, Illinois, a native of Quebec, Canada and the daughter of Francois Lacroix of Quebec, Canada and Barbe Montmeunier of Rouen, France. Shortly after the marriage of Henri and Barbe, the Louisiana province had reverted back to the French Crown from the Company of the Indies. Henri's move in 1733 from New Orleans to Illinois was in some way linked to the authority that helped reorganize commercial arrangements between Illinois and New Orleans after the territory reverted back to the French Crown. Henri and Barbe made their home just a short distance from Fort de Chartres. On February 6, 1734, Henri purchased a small particle of land from his father-in-law where he and Barbe made their home until about 1738. Henri retained this piece of property for a number of years after moving from the Illinois territory. Henri had moved his family to Mobile where three of his children were born. Two older children were born at New Orleans and several were born in Illinois. A total of ten children were born to Henri and Barbe, Jean Baptiste, Henry Marie, Marie Barbe, Francois, Christian Savary, Philippe, Mary, Pierre, Julien and Charles Saucier. Henri died in 1762 at New Orleans and Barbe at New Orleans in 1778.
Henri’s brothers, Jean Baptiste Saucier II and Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne appear in records revealing their voyages up and down the Mississippi River between New Orleans and the settlement in Illinois engaging in commerce and trading. By 1738, Jean Baptiste Saucier had replaced Henri in Illinois along with half brother Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne in conducting the family’s trading business. Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne soon married and settled at Saint Philippe, Illinois in 1740.
Henri and Barbe moved their family back to the Gulf Coast around 1740. This move from Illinois coincided with his brother Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne’s recent marriage and move from New Orleans to Illinois to assume the duties of Henri and running the family trading business and interests in Illinois. In his later years, Henri, hearing in 1757 of the deaths of his brothers Francois Saucier and Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne, promptly traveled to New Orleans and north to Illinois, a two to three month trip by boat to tend to their successions and their families needs. Sometimes the journey could take even longer due to the season and the river conditions. He would have traveled by boat on the Mississippi River in anxiety for several stressful months or longer, before finally arriving in Illinois, taking him away from his family in Mobile for nearly two years. During this time in Illinois he sold on September 17, 1758 the two and half arpents (about one and three-fourth acres) of land he owned fronting the Mississippi River along with their former home at St. Philippe for 305 livers at auction on the steps of the parish church, St. Ann's, after the days mass, to Joseph Belcour. This was the land he had purchased on February 6, 1733 from his father-in-law at the beginning of his marriage to Barbe.
Henri's three brothers had died in Illinois, Jean Baptiste Saucier in 1746, and Jean Baptiste Vifarenne in 1756 and Francois Saucier in 1757, in the same settlement Henry had previously resided. Henri’s death followed in 1762 at New Orleans, at the age of fifty-six years.
In 1766, records show Barbe, a widow with seven sons living on a plantation down river from New Orleans consisting of 22 arpents (18 1/2 acres) of land, where she and her family arrived sometime between 1762 and 1763, settling on the old plantation originally owned by her mother-in-law, Gabrielle Savary, that had been inherited by her husband Henri after his mother's death in 1735. In a later census of New Orleans, the report shows Barbe's only married son, Jean Baptiste Saucier, his wife Pelagie Tixerand and their one year old son living on a farm of 8 arpents, down river, about 30 miles, from New Orleans. On the adjutant farm the census shows Barbe Lacroix Saucier, a widow, age fifty-eight years, along with her unmarried sons Henry Marie, age about thirty-one, Francois, age about twenty-six, Christian, age about twenty-four, Phillipe, age about twenty-two, Pierre, age about fifteen, and Julian, age about thirteen, all living together on the family farm of 16 arpents next to that of Jean Baptiste. Barbe died in 1778 at age sixty-six on the family plantation below New Orleans.
The Saucier family, the surviving sons of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, and their half brother had become prosperous and prominent citizens in the Louisiana colony. It is not known what Jean Baptiste would have envisioned for his sons futures if he had lived to guide them, but with the guidance of their mother they had excelled and prospered. Gabrielle's sons had now reached the potential that she had sought for them when she made the decision in 1727 not to move her family from the colony and New Orleans to the French settlement on the island of St. Domingue in the Caribbean.
Henri Saucier, Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Saucier’s oldest son was in Illinois, north of the Yazoo River, at this time engaged in the trading business. Son Jean Baptiste was engaged in trade and commerce along the Mississippi from New Orleans to Illinois with his three brothers and worked with his brother-in-law Joseph DesRuisseaux in trading. Their youngest son, Francois Saucier was an important and respected engineer in the colony, having designed and built Fort de Chartres and other forts in the territory. Their half brother, Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne, was engaged with his brothers in trading and commerce along the Mississippi River and in Illinois.
After the deaths of Henri and Barbe Lacroix Saucier their children began to move away from the family homestead, raising families of their own as well as moving to the surrounding areas where they received land grants and established their homes.
The foundations of the Colonial Saucier family were firmly laid. Within two generations, descendants of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary would be found throughout the French Illinois country, in Missouri, at the various outposts of Opelousas, Natchitoches, New Orleans and St. Bernard in Louisiana; as well as in the settlements along the Gulf Coast to Mobile. Their future in the territory was looking good. The grandchildren of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle were moving into the surrounding areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, receiving land grants, establishing their homes and raising large families. Their personal holdings and fortunes were rapidly growing and expanding, but many changes would soon come to the Louisiana Territories where they resided and would affect the whole populace. These unforeseen changes and happenings would take a heavy toll on the family holdings and fortunes in future years.
In the interview Monsignor Crosby Kern, the rector of St. Louis Cathedral, made the following comment:
“Beyond the sanctuary, scattered about beneath the pews stretching toward Jackson Square, lie the remains of many more colonial New Orleanians, clergy and lay alike. In the center of the Cathedral between the two pillars it’s estimated that there were 100 people buried before 1850 underneath the pews. “We know their names but not their locations”. “There was a big renovation in 1850 and during the renovation we lost track of who is buried at each spot”, said Monsignor Crosby Kern, the cathedral’s rector. He also states, “Beneath the Sanctuary and wings of the Cathedral are the crypts. The exact number is unknown, but this is where bishops and archbishops are buried. Prominent laypeople were also buried here centuries ago, but the remaining 7 crypts are reserved for archbishops who will one day join those who were and still are the foundation for the Cathedral. Before 1803, they were buried inside the Cathedral's predecessor building, which stood on the same site until 1850. That building was demolished to make way for the wider, deeper Church that opened a year later. The width of the old building was roughly defined by the rows of interior pillars in its successor. They are under the pews, somewhere, said Reverend Kern.
This writer and his spouse recalls seeing in the mid 1960’s a plaque that was located on a south wall in the foyer outside the sanctuary that told of the early reburials, but it is no longer located on the foyer wall. So, taking into consideration Monsignor Kern’s statements, it is assumed our family matriarch Gabrielle Savary was possibly reinterred some where between the two rows of pillars in the sanctuary of St. Louis Cathedral along with the other colonial New Orleanians that were reinterred at the Cathedral sometime between 1736 and the 1850 renovations of the church. Even so, we can only assume that Gabrielle was reinterred at the Cathedral since there is no actual documentation for her reburial, only the old family legend passed down for generations, but then there is the question of that plaque inside the church in the mid 1960s which is no longer there.
The loss of Mobile’s early marriage records also meant the loss of most data on the origins of Gabrielle’s three husbands, including Jean Baptiste Saucier, but, mainly those records on her second husband Pierre Vifvarenne, and her third and last husband, Jean Baptiste Sansot. Pierre Vifvarenne, her second husband, also a French soldier, with the rank of Sergeant, stationed at the Mobile Fort, was listed in the Illinois baptism record of a granddaughter as having been from Picardie, France. Nothing has been found on Gabrielle’s third husband, Jean Baptiste Sansot, beyond the fact that he was a French Soldier with the rank of Corporal at the Mobile Fort. Jean Baptiste Saucier, her first husband, was French Canadian, and numerous records for him are found in the Quebec archives.
With the death of their mother Gabrielle, Henri, in the French tradition as the oldest son, would now be considered the head of the family and would oversee most legal arrangements concerning his younger brothers and the family.
Henri Saucier, the oldest son of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Marie Gabrielle Savary, was about ten years old when the death of his father at Mobile, left his mother, Marie Gabriele Savary, a widow with several young children to support. The early death of his father hastened Henri’s maturing, responsibility and leadership, as he now had to help his mother in supporting the family. Henri would have helped his mother in what little farming they were able to do on their land in Mobile, doing odd jobs within the fort and helping neighbors to earn extra money, as well as hunting and fishing to help feed his siblings. A formal education was now definitely beyond his and his brothers reach. Henri and his brothers were tutored by their mother and taught to read and write, which was unusual in the colonies. None of their future wives were able to do so, but many of their children were all well educated.
With the early death of their father, Jean Baptiste, any intentions he may have had for the future of his sons was now gone. It is not know just what Henri or his brothers knew, or if Gabrielle told her sons, about their father, grandfather and family members in Quebec and in France. It's possible that Gabrielle did not know much concerning her in-laws to pass on to her sons. This writer wonders what part, if any, his Mother Gabrielle had played in the choice of the future occupation of Henri and his brothers. Did she encourage Henri and his brothers to pursue a career in trading and commerce within the territory and then helped to advance Henri, the oldest son, in that profession through her connections in the colony?
Henri who was very successful and excelled in his chosen profession in trading and commerce eventually led his two younger brothers into his profession of trading on the Gulf Coast and along the Mississippi River from Mobile and New Orleans to the settlements in Illinois and Missouri. Conditions in the colony severely limited the opportunities open for young colonials and the better jobs were filled by men designated by the French government. Henri and his brothers had overcome the odds and limited opportunities available and continued successfully in later life to earn their livings in commerce and trading along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Illinois.
On November 8, 1733, Henri, now twenty-six years of age, married twenty-one year old Barbe Lacroix at Fort de Chartres, Illinois. She was a resident of Saint Philippe, Illinois, a native of Quebec, Canada and the daughter of Francois Lacroix of Quebec, Canada and Barbe Montmeunier of Rouen, France. Shortly after the marriage of Henri and Barbe, the Louisiana province had reverted back to the French Crown from the Company of the Indies. Henri's move in 1733 from New Orleans to Illinois was in some way linked to the authority that helped reorganize commercial arrangements between Illinois and New Orleans after the territory reverted back to the French Crown. Henri and Barbe made their home just a short distance from Fort de Chartres. On February 6, 1734, Henri purchased a small particle of land from his father-in-law where he and Barbe made their home until about 1738. Henri retained this piece of property for a number of years after moving from the Illinois territory. Henri had moved his family to Mobile where three of his children were born. Two older children were born at New Orleans and several were born in Illinois. A total of ten children were born to Henri and Barbe, Jean Baptiste, Henry Marie, Marie Barbe, Francois, Christian Savary, Philippe, Mary, Pierre, Julien and Charles Saucier. Henri died in 1762 at New Orleans and Barbe at New Orleans in 1778.
Henri’s brothers, Jean Baptiste Saucier II and Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne appear in records revealing their voyages up and down the Mississippi River between New Orleans and the settlement in Illinois engaging in commerce and trading. By 1738, Jean Baptiste Saucier had replaced Henri in Illinois along with half brother Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne in conducting the family’s trading business. Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne soon married and settled at Saint Philippe, Illinois in 1740.
Henri and Barbe moved their family back to the Gulf Coast around 1740. This move from Illinois coincided with his brother Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne’s recent marriage and move from New Orleans to Illinois to assume the duties of Henri and running the family trading business and interests in Illinois. In his later years, Henri, hearing in 1757 of the deaths of his brothers Francois Saucier and Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne, promptly traveled to New Orleans and north to Illinois, a two to three month trip by boat to tend to their successions and their families needs. Sometimes the journey could take even longer due to the season and the river conditions. He would have traveled by boat on the Mississippi River in anxiety for several stressful months or longer, before finally arriving in Illinois, taking him away from his family in Mobile for nearly two years. During this time in Illinois he sold on September 17, 1758 the two and half arpents (about one and three-fourth acres) of land he owned fronting the Mississippi River along with their former home at St. Philippe for 305 livers at auction on the steps of the parish church, St. Ann's, after the days mass, to Joseph Belcour. This was the land he had purchased on February 6, 1733 from his father-in-law at the beginning of his marriage to Barbe.
Henri's three brothers had died in Illinois, Jean Baptiste Saucier in 1746, and Jean Baptiste Vifarenne in 1756 and Francois Saucier in 1757, in the same settlement Henry had previously resided. Henri’s death followed in 1762 at New Orleans, at the age of fifty-six years.
In 1766, records show Barbe, a widow with seven sons living on a plantation down river from New Orleans consisting of 22 arpents (18 1/2 acres) of land, where she and her family arrived sometime between 1762 and 1763, settling on the old plantation originally owned by her mother-in-law, Gabrielle Savary, that had been inherited by her husband Henri after his mother's death in 1735. In a later census of New Orleans, the report shows Barbe's only married son, Jean Baptiste Saucier, his wife Pelagie Tixerand and their one year old son living on a farm of 8 arpents, down river, about 30 miles, from New Orleans. On the adjutant farm the census shows Barbe Lacroix Saucier, a widow, age fifty-eight years, along with her unmarried sons Henry Marie, age about thirty-one, Francois, age about twenty-six, Christian, age about twenty-four, Phillipe, age about twenty-two, Pierre, age about fifteen, and Julian, age about thirteen, all living together on the family farm of 16 arpents next to that of Jean Baptiste. Barbe died in 1778 at age sixty-six on the family plantation below New Orleans.
The Saucier family, the surviving sons of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, and their half brother had become prosperous and prominent citizens in the Louisiana colony. It is not known what Jean Baptiste would have envisioned for his sons futures if he had lived to guide them, but with the guidance of their mother they had excelled and prospered. Gabrielle's sons had now reached the potential that she had sought for them when she made the decision in 1727 not to move her family from the colony and New Orleans to the French settlement on the island of St. Domingue in the Caribbean.
Henri Saucier, Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Saucier’s oldest son was in Illinois, north of the Yazoo River, at this time engaged in the trading business. Son Jean Baptiste was engaged in trade and commerce along the Mississippi from New Orleans to Illinois with his three brothers and worked with his brother-in-law Joseph DesRuisseaux in trading. Their youngest son, Francois Saucier was an important and respected engineer in the colony, having designed and built Fort de Chartres and other forts in the territory. Their half brother, Jean Baptiste Vifvarenne, was engaged with his brothers in trading and commerce along the Mississippi River and in Illinois.
After the deaths of Henri and Barbe Lacroix Saucier their children began to move away from the family homestead, raising families of their own as well as moving to the surrounding areas where they received land grants and established their homes.
The foundations of the Colonial Saucier family were firmly laid. Within two generations, descendants of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary would be found throughout the French Illinois country, in Missouri, at the various outposts of Opelousas, Natchitoches, New Orleans and St. Bernard in Louisiana; as well as in the settlements along the Gulf Coast to Mobile. Their future in the territory was looking good. The grandchildren of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle were moving into the surrounding areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, receiving land grants, establishing their homes and raising large families. Their personal holdings and fortunes were rapidly growing and expanding, but many changes would soon come to the Louisiana Territories where they resided and would affect the whole populace. These unforeseen changes and happenings would take a heavy toll on the family holdings and fortunes in future years.