The Saucier Family - Page 12
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The children and grandchildren of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary and their descendants:
ANNE SAUCIER, the first of the five children and only daughter born to Jean Baptiste Saucier and Marie Gabrielle Saucier was born in the early Mobile Colony in 1705. Ann was baptized by Father Henry LaVente at Fort Louis in Mobile after the controversy brought up by Father LaVente of who was to be her God Father was finally resolved to his satisfaction. It is believed Anne died at Mobile in 1818 at the young age of thirteen years. The last record of her was in an 1818 baptismal record at Mobile in which she was listed as the god mother of the person being baptized. Anne Saucier was the granddaughter of Louis Saucier and Marguerite Galliard of Quebec, Canada and the great granddaughter of Charles Saucier and Charlotte Clairet of Paris, France.
HENRI (HENRY) SAUCIER was the second born child and first son of Jean Baptiste Saucier and his wife Marie Gabrielle Savary and a grandson of Louis Saucier and Marguerite Gaillard of Quebec, Canada and he was also a great grandson of Charles Saucier and Charlotte Clairet of Paris, France. Henri or Henry was born in 1706 at Colonial Mobile and died in 1762 at New Orleans. Henri, age twenty-six, married Barbe LaCroix, age twenty, at Fort Charles in Illinois on August 11, 1732. Barbe was born on November 8, 1711 in Quebec, Canada and died in New Orleans in 1778. Barbe was the daughter of Francois LaCroix of Beaupre, Canada and Barbe Montmeunier of Rouen, Normandy, France. Henri Saucer and Barbe LaCroix had ten children, Jean Baptiste, Henry Marie, Marie Barbe, Francois, Christian Savary, Philippe, Mary Madgeline, Pierre, Julien Juste, and Charles Julian Saucier.
Jean Baptiste Saucier was born in 1733 at New Orleans, he was the first son born to Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix. He was also the first grandchild of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Gabrielle's death would occur two years after his birth. On February 25, 1767, Jean Baptiste entered a contract of marriage with Marie Pelagie Tixerand, a minor, at New Orleans in the presence of their parents and friends. The Contract was signed by nine witnesses, which included her father. Pelagie also signed the document, but, it was not signed by Jean Baptiste himself as he could neither read or write as was stated in the document. Upon the signing of the marriage contract a dowry of three thousand livres was bestowed to Pelagie according to French custom by Jean Baptiste. On March 2, 1767, at the age of thirty-four years of age, he married seventeen year old Pelagie Gabrielle Tixerand at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, daughter of Gabriel Tixerand and Marie La Lorie of New Orleans; she was born on May 20, 1750 at New Orleans. Jean Baptiste died in 1810 and Pelagie died earlier, in 1805, both at New Orleans. They raised and left a large family down river from New Orleans and to the east in the state of Mississippi. In 1770, they resided on a large plantation fronting the Mississippi River about twenty miles below New Orleans where they grew tobacco and other crops. Baptismal records of Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans show ten children, Gabriel Efroy, Jean Henry, Jean Baptiste, Philippe Pierre, Julien, Marie Pelagie, Manuel Celestin, Mary Anne, Severin Descoteaux and Pierre Silroy, born to Jean Baptiste and Pelagie, but they had a total of twelve known children, including daughter Marianne Saucier born in 1873 between Manuel and Severin, as well as son Francois Saucier born in 1785 between sons Severin and Pierre. All their children were baptized at Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.
Gabriel Efroy Saucier was the first child and first son born to Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. He was born on September 22, 1768 and baptized on September 23, 1769 in New Orleans at St. Louis Cathedral. Gabriel was also the first born grandson of Henri and Barbe LaCroix Saucier. Gabriel was the first great grandson for Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. He was born on the family plantation below New Orleans fronting the Mississippi River located next to his grandmother Barbe Lacroix Saucier and his uncle's plantation. No mention of Gabriel is found after the 1770 census of New Orleans. It is believed he died around 1771 at New Orleans.
Jean Henry Saucier was the second child and son of Jean Baptiste Saucier III and Pelagie Tixerand. He was born in 1769 and was baptized on January 7, 1770 at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Jean Henry was a grandson of Henri and Barbe LaCroix Saucier. Jean Henry was also a great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. He married Felicite Elizabeth Barry on September 28, 1798. She was the daughter of Richard Barry, a native of Ireland, and Felicite Duvernay and was born on March 1, 1770 in New Orleans. Felicite Elizabeth died on September 25, 1851 at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Jean Henry died at the early age of 38 in 1808. Four children were born at New Orleans, Felicite Elizabeth, Jean, Henrietta and Marie Caroline Azelie Saucier. After Jean Henry’s death in early 1808, Felicite remarried on May 9, 1808 and moved with her new husband, Pierre Royare, and her family to Natchitoches, Louisiana shortly after their marriage. Their Children were all baptized at Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.
Felicite Elizabeth Saucier was the first born child and first daughter born to Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. She was born on September 10, 1898 at New Orleans and died on March 11, 1882 at age thirty-seven at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Felicite Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. She was also the great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. She married Andre Charmart of New Orleans at Natchitoches, Louisiana on March 16, 1815, she was sixteen years old and Andre was thirty-three years old, twice her age. He was the son of Louis Charles Charmart of Belliaud, Bas Poitou, France and Marie Catherine Bardon of New Orleans. They had eight children, Marie Emelie, Louis, Marie Felicite, Elizabeth, Henry, Hypolite, Marie Octavie, and Marie Elmire Charmart.
Jean Saucier, the second born child and only son of Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. He was born at New Orleans on June 17, 1801. His date of death is unknown. Jean was the grandson of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. He was also the great grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. No additional information in known for Jean.
Henrietta Saucier was born on June 13, 1802 at New Orleans and died on June 23, 1867 at New Orleans at age sixty-five. She was the third child and second daughter born to Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. Henrietta was the granddaughter of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. She was also the great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. Henrietta married Charles Theophile Delarue of Berranut, France on January 1, 1921 at New Orleans, she was eighteen and Charles was twenty-five. He was born in 1796 and died in New Orleans on March 29, 1886 at age ninety. He was the son of Francois Delarue of Reims, France and Aspasie Bauquet of Berranut, France. They had eight children, Louis Theophile, Hypolite, Camille, Francoise Erazie, Frank, Marie Henriette, and Erasi Delarue.
Marie Caroline Azelie Saucier was born at New Orleans on May 8, 1804 and died on January 2, 1894 at New Orleans, age eighty-nine. She was the fourth child and third daughter born to Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. Henrietta was the granddaughter of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. She was also the great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. No additional information is available for Marie.
Jean Baptiste Saucier, born August 8, 1771, the third child of Jean Baptiste Saucier III and Pelagie Tixerand was married on April 6, 1805 to Elizabeth Courdin, born on February 18, 1776 in New Orleans. Jean Baptiste was a grandson of Henri and Barbe LaCroix Saucier. He was also a great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. Elizabeth was the daughter of Pierre Courdin and Pelagie Duvernay. Jean Baptiste died on September 22, 1828 at the age of 57. His wife Elizabeth died at the age of 83 in 1859. The baptismal record for one child, daughter, Marie Louise Saucier born in 1801 was found in the records of Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, there possibly were other children born to them that were not in the church records at New Orleans. Jean Baptiste served with three of his brothers during the War of 1812 in the 3rd Regiment of the Louisiana Militia. In his records of service he is listed as Baptiste Saucier. Very little information on their family has been found by researchers.
Philippe Pierre Saucier, born June 2, 1772, the fourth son of Jean Baptiste Saucier III and Pelagie Tixerand, a grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix. He was also a great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. He married Ursule Grelot in June of 1794. Ursule, the daughter of Barthelomy Grelot and Marie Jeanne Nicaise, was born on October 25, 1772 and died at the age of 58 in 1830 at Delisle, Mississippi. Philippe Pierre was twenty-two years of age and Ursule was twenty-one years old when they married. They raised a large family on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The town of Saucier, Mississippi, twenty miles north of Gulfport, Mississippi was begun as a sawmill site by one of their grandsons, Samuel Bernard Saucier, and was officially named Saucier, Mississippi after his family in 1896. Nine known children, Marianne, Philippe, Pierre Phillip, Edouard, and Severin, Camille Philippine, Justine, Ursule Gustin and Adelia were born to Philippe Pierre Saucier and Ursule Grelot. Philippe Pierre died in 1852 at the age of 80 in Delisle, Hancock County, Mississippi. Their Children were all baptized at New Orleans’ Saint Louis Cathedral.
Marianne Saucier, born in New Orleans on February 24, 1795 was the first born and first daughter of Philippe Pierre Saucier and Ursule Grelot and granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also a great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and her 2nd great grandparents were Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary. In 1815 she married Bernard Dedeaux at New Orleans. He was born in about 1790 at New Orleans. No additional information is known on either Marianne or Bernard.
Phillipe Napoleon Saucier was born on October 11, 1796 and died in July 1869 at Shieldsboro, Hancock County, Mississippi. He was the first son and second child born to Philippe Pierre Saucier and Ursule Grelot and grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. He was also a great grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and his second great grandparents were Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary. He married Josephine Nicaise, the daughter of Joseph Nicaise and Jeannette Dufilly. She was born in 1785 and died in 1870. They were the parents of eight children, Cecile, Clara, Heloise, Ursule, Phillip Napoleon, Eupheme, Elizabeth and Josephine Saucier. Their only son Phillip Napoleon Saucier, born 15 Aug 1829, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He enlisted as a private in Company D, which later became company H, of Captain Ashbel Green's Dahlgren Guards, on September 4, 1861 at Camp Clark, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The Dahlgren Guards were mustered into the 3rd Regiment Mississippi Infantry on October 8, 1861. He was discharged from the Army on April 26, 1865. Phillippe, name listed as "Philip" Saucier in his Will dated July 2, 1869, left each of his children the sum of one dollar each. For some reason he made an exception in his bequest to his oldest daughter Cecile and left the sum of one dollar jointly between Cecile and her husband Ephraim Patton. He appointed his son Philip as executor of his estate and also appointed him as agent in behalf of his mother Josephine, to manage the property of the estate for her during her lifetime. At Josephine's death the estate was to be divided equally among the surviving siblings. The Will was filed on January 29, 1872 in the county court.
Cecile Saucier was the first born child and daughter of Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born on September 17, 1820 and died at Saucier on April 19,1853 at the age of thirty-two. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. In 1846, at age twenty-six, she married thirty-six year old Ephriam Patton in Harrison County, Mississippi. He was born on January 1, 1910 in Pennsylvania and died on November 3, 1896 at Saucier, Mississippi at the age of eighty-six. He was the son of John Patton of Pennsylvania and Charlotte Patton of England. Some records give his birth as in England instead of Pennsylvania. Cecile and Ephraim had four children before her death, William S., Cecilia, Ephraim, Jr., and Phillip Patton. Ephraim re-married shortly after Cecile’s death.
Clara Saucier was the second child and second daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in 1822 and died in 1889 at Saucier, Mississippi at the age of sixty-seven. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also a great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Clara married Charles Turin some time around 1851, the son of Honore Felix Turin of La Seyne sur Mer, France and Marguerite Grelot of Mobile, Alabama. Clara and Charles had five children, Amedee, Elizabeth, Louis, Susan Louise and Denny Turin. Clara’s grandmother Ursula Grelot was the sister of her husband Charles’ Mother Marguerite Grelot.
Heloise Louise Saucier was the third child and third daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in April of 1825 and died in 1905 at Saucier, Mississippi at the age of eighty. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, a great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Heloise married Alexandre Turin on January 10, 1850 in Harrison County, Mississippi. Heloise was twenty-four years old and Alexandre was twenty-six when they married. He was the son of Honore Felix Turin of La Seyne sur Mer, France and Marguerite Grelot of Mobile, Alabama. Heloise’s and Alexandre had ten children, Alexander Alexis, Christine, Robert Felix, Justin James, Olivia, Napoleon Nicholas, Margaret, Uranie Eran, Joseph, and Louise Turan. The children changed the spelling of their surname at sometime to Turan from Turin. Heloise’s grandmother Ursula Grelot was the sister of her husband Alexandre's Mother Marguerite Grelot.
Ursule Saucier was the fourth child and fourth daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in 1827 and died in 1910 at Saucier at the age of sixty-seven. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Ursule married Joseph Fayard, the son of Ursin Fayard and Genevieve Ryan on December 31, 1889 in Harrison County, Mississippi. She was twenty-two years old and Joseph was twenty-five years old. They had three children, Laura, Anthony, and Henry Antoine Fayard.
Phillipe Napoleon Saucier, Jr. was the fifth child and first son born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. He was born in 1822 and died in 1889 at Saucier at the age of sixty-seven. She was a grandson of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. He was also great great-grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great grandson of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Phillipe married Susannah Thomas, the daughter of John Callahan Thomas and Mary Holloway. They had six children, Oliver, Margaret Josephine, Charles R., Clarissa (Clara) Demaries, Annie Susan, and William Walter Saucier.
Eupheme Saucier was the sixth child and fifth daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born on January 19, 1832 and died on November 7, 1909, at age seventy-seven. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier of Colonial Mobile. On January 31, 1850, Eupheme married Henri Saucier in Hancock County, Mississippi at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church after receiving permission from the Church to marry. She was eighteen yeas old and Henry was twenty-six. Henry, her cousin, was the son of Sinforian (Forien) and Camille Phillipine Saucier, who themselves were cousins. Henry was born in 1824 and died on May 27, 1894, age seventy. Eupheme and Henry had ten children, Charles, Joseph, Henry Joseph, William, Victoria Mason, Joshua, Marie, Paul Horace, Mary Louise and Alphonse Saucier.
Elizabeth Saucier was the seventh child and sixth daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in September 4, 1834 and died on March 17, 1915 at the age of eighty. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier of Colonial Mobile. Elizabeth married Oliver P. Edwards on June 1, 1852 in Harrison County, Mississippi, she was seventeen years old and Oliver was twenty-one. He was the son of Willie Edwards and Elizabeth Ann Rhodes. Oliver was born on March 11, 1831 and died on November 10, 1922 at the age of eighty. Elizabeth and Oliver had five children, William W., Oliver Lewis, Margaret Josephine, Jake, and Henry Saucier.
Josephine Saucier was the eighth child and seventh daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in 1841 and died in about 1900 at the age of about fifty-nine. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier of Colonial Mobile. No additional information is known for Josephine.
Pierre Phillip Saucier was the third child and son of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand, great grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and his great great-grandparents were Jean Baptiste Saucier and Marie Gabrielle Savary; he was born on Saturday August 30, 1798 at Windy Hill plantation, overlooking the Wolf River in Delisle and died on Sunday August 23, 1874 at his home in Saucier, Mississippi. On Wednesday April 15, 1818, nineteen year old Pierre married seventeen year old Isabelle Nicaise, the daughter of Jean Baptiste "Martial" Nicaise, another pioneer of colonial Mobile, and his wife Louise Baptiste Christian Ladner at Delisle. She was born on Thursday April 21, 1808 near Mobile and died sometime after September 3, 1836 at Delisle (date her last child was born). Pierre, born and raised in Delisle, made his home there until 1848, then, after having purchased over fourteen hundred acres of prime timber land at twenty-five cents per acre, he moved with his family, including his two married sons, two married daughters and their respective families to a remote area in the northern part of the county where they settled together on land they cleared.
The community of Saucier, Mississippi, north of Gulfport, Mississippi, was settled by Pierre Phillip Saucier and his children in 1848. Pass Christian, the nearest town, was small at this time and only the beginnings of a town that in the future would be known as the "Riviera of the South".
Like all of the Saucier family in this period of time they were of the Catholic faith. Pierre Phillip Saucier was baptized in New Orleans at Saint Louis Cathedral, as many of his children and early family members were, before the first nearest Catholic Church, Our Lady of Good Hope, was established at Delisle, Mississippi in 1872. Pierre Phillip was educated in the Catholic Schools of New Orleans along with two of his brothers, Edouard and Phillipe, taking all the School's courses that were expected of a young man growing up in that era.
Pierre and his children were the first settlers of the area we now call Saucier and Wortham. Pierre Phillip Saucier lived to be almost 76 years old, a really old age for that period of time. Pierre was married three times. Pierre and his first wife Isabelle Nicaise had ten children before her early death in Delisle from a snake bite. The names of the eleven children of Pierre and Isabelle Nicaise Saucier are in order of birth, Pierre “pier”, Avaline, Narcisse, Jean Baptiste, Henri (Henry) Severin, Marie, Philippe Noel, Jean Jacques, Desire, and Samuel Bernard. An eleventh child’s name is also given in some records for Pierre and Isabelle, Jean Pierre Saucier, who was born on September 3, 1836 at Delisle; shortly before Isabelle’s death. Her death would have had to follow his birth some time after September 3rd and before the end of December 1836. Very little information on Jean Pierre has been found. We know that he existed because baptismal records are found at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans for him. We also know he had a wife and at least one child. He is not mentioned in the will of Pierre Phillip that was filed after his death in 1874. He seems to have just disappeared from all records. It was said by family members that Pierre was very upset and despondent following the death of Isabelle. Could this despondency possibly have been caused by the deaths of other family members, along with that of Isabelle, that now left him with a feeling of hopelessness and depressed?
In 1837, at the age of thirty-eight years, he married his second wife, twenty-seven year old Martha Ann Smith, who died in about 1854 or 1855. Some researchers give two children as born to this second marriage, but family historian Blanche Saucier gave only the ten from the first marriage to Isabelle. The two children born to Pierre and his second wife Martha Ann Smith were Jean Baptiste Hilarie, and Jean Jacques Saucier. It was after his marriage to Martha Ann, and before her death, that he sold his property in Delisle and started purchasing more land in and around the Saucier and Wortham area to the north of Gulfport, moving there in 1848 with his family. His third marriage on October 19, 1869, at the age of seventy-one, was to Elizabeth Moore Ramsey, who was about forty-four years of age, and a widow with five young daughters. His Pension record gives marriage date as October of 1869. Names of the five step daughters are not known at this time.
Starting around 1870, Pierre Saucier and his family members, now living to the north of Pass Christian, repeatedly made requests to the Catholic Church at New Orleans for a Priest to come to the remote northern area of the county to perform marriages, baptisms, funerals and general church services for their families and neighbors. During this time the family would often have a civil service for any marriages within the family, as would other Catholic families in the area. On numerous occasions the family did travel to New Orleans for marriages or baptisms. When a trip to New Orleans was impossible, as soon as a priest was available to them locally they repeated their marriage vows with the Priest in attendance. With their marriages now sanctioned and blessed by the Catholic Church, their children were then baptized by the Priest. Sometimes the children were well over a year old when a Priest finally came to their area to baptize them and perform marriages for their parents. Because of this, after a number of years, still unable to secure a Priest after all the requests made to the Church in New Orleans, the families started leaving the Catholic Church and embracing the Methodist Church in Mississippi. In 1873 some of Pierre Phillip’s grandchildren were the last to be baptized as Catholic, records show that the older children in the family were baptized as Catholics at Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans and their younger siblings born after 1873 were all baptized as Methodists in local churches. This has been found to be the case while researching the baptisms of my great Aunts and Uncles. Several of the Saucier men married into Methodist families and converted to their wives religion. Later several donated property and materials to build churches or actually built their own Methodist churches for their growing families, as was the case in my immediate family. Circuit ministers, who rode the area on horseback or in a buggy, held regular monthly services in those churches. A family member would conduct church services during times the Minister was unavailable to perform services at their church. Many switched from the Catholic faith to the Methodist faith, although some of the Saucier families did remain as Catholics.
Military service records show that Pierre served as a private in the War of 1812. Pierre, age sixteen years of age, enlisted as the company bugler at Shieldsboro (Bay St. Louis) on December 13, 1813 in the Company of Colonel Nixon which was part of the Regiment of Major Carver’s Militia Volunteers which served under Captain J. Villeau (or Vellio) in the 18th Regiment of the Mississippi Militia. Pierre was captured by the British and held prisoner until the war ended in 1815. He was discharged on Saturday March 18, 1815 at New Orleans. After his release from the British prison in Louisiana he returned to the family home in Delisle. In 1871 pensions were granted to those who served in the War of 1812, but it was not until 1873 that Pierre first made application for a pension for his service in the War of 1812 to the U. S. Government stating he was in the military service for 90 days. In the 15 page file containing his application for a pension, he states that he was in “service on the Gulf Shore of the Gulf of Mexico at the time the British landed to attack New Orleans and was in service until peace after the Battle of New Orleans and has received 120 acres of land for such service.” It is signed by his mark and was witnessed by A. J. Ramsey and Lyman R. Holley. The pension was approved in1873 and he was granted an $8.00 per month pension with back pay from February 14, 1871. His military service during the War of 1812 is notated on his tombstone. Several Service cards from his service with Captain Villeau's militia in 1812 are found at the end of this genealogy. In 1980, family historian Blanche Connelly Saucier made the statement that "after the War of 1812 Pierre was rewarded by the government for his service during the war with a grant of an undetermined amount of land." With the discovery of his pension application we now know he received 120 acres for his military service in the War. It is not know if this land was in the Delisle area or elsewhere as the only known records for land grants were in November of 1838 for 80 acres and in August of 1847 for 120 acres of land.
Pierre earned his living raising cattle, hogs, sheep, and growing corn and other crops, but mainly his income was derived from supplying the yellow pine timber harvested from his land to the lumber industry in nearby Wortham and Saucier. Several large lumber mills were operated for many years by family members and others companies at Saucier. Vast piles of sawdust remained at the mill site for years, still visible in the late 1950’s by passing motorists on the west side of the state highway.
In 1870, the United Stated Government sued Pierre Saucier, claiming he aided and abetted the enemy during the Civil War, probably because he was a Confederate sympathizer and had helped supply the Confederate Army, and the fact that his sons and grandsons had fought in the Confederate States Army; although later several did leave the Confederate Army to join and serve in the Union Army. In the aftermath of the lawsuit, the government took one hundred and sixty acres of his land from him in its settlement and gave it to the railroad. Shortly after that Pierre suffered a stroke. His third wife, Elizabeth Moore Ramsey, and her five daughters from her first marriage nursed and took care of him until his death four years later, in 1874
At his death in 1874 Pierre was buried in the old Saucier family cemetery (now called the Pierre Saucier Cemetery) at Saucier, Mississippi, next to his first wife Isabelle Nicaise. Pierre’s and Isabelle's graves are located inside the old iron fence area. It has been recently discovered that this fence straddles the graves of Pierre and Isabelle and encloses only the top part of their graves with the bottom part of their graves being outside of the fenced area. Pierre's grave is marked with a stone marker, placed there by a grandson many years ago, but that of Isabelle was made of wood, as was usual for that time, and was destroyed decades ago. Today Isabelle's grave still has no headstone, but hopefully it will have one in the near future. The grave of second wife Martha Smith is also located at the plot along with Pierre and Isabelle, and it too is now unmarked. No one actually knows the exact location for the grave of third wife Elizabeth Moore Ramsay. Elizabeth Moore Ramsay was possibly buried next to her first husband, and it is hoped that Martha's will be marked in the future. There is about 20 or 30 known unmarked grave sites within the family cemetery and it is unknown who is buried in those graves.
In his will Pierre left 40 acres and 30 head of cattle each to his children, Pierre, Narcise, Jean Baptiste, Henri Severin, Desiree and Samuel Bernard. But for some unknown reason, he left his children Avaline, Phillipe Noel, Jacques and Marie only the sum of “Five Dollars” each. Pierre also left his third wife, Elizabeth, a child’s share of his estate. That part of Pierre’s will was contested by one of his grandchildren, but the court in Pass Christian, Mississippi ruled in Elizabeth’s favor and awarded her a child’s part of Pierre’s estate, as Pierre had originally provided for her in his will.
One question that always puzzled Blanche Saucier, wife of Pierre's grandson, Earl Nolan Saucier, never has been answered. The Saucier's in this period of time were Catholic and in the family Cemetery is a metal frame which at one time contained a marble slab and on that frame is a Masonic symbol. She could never think of any early member of the Saucier family that would have been a member of the Masons, as all Saucier's were Catholic at that period of time. Her only reasoning was that it could have been the husband of someone married into the family or possibly from outside the family. Blanche, a former Harrison County School teacher and our family historian until her death in 1989, always wondered about that symbol.
Many of the markers in the small family cemetery were made of cypress, cut in the nearby sawmill. In those days it was pretty hard to get stones, and no stone quarry was nearby, and most people earned their living working at the saw mill and could not afford to lose a day’s work or a job, so they used the wood from the mill to carve markers. Some family graves in the cemetery were marked with large black stones taken from a local river bed, but overtime those stones have disappeared. Blanche always thought they were stolen over a period of several years. Many of the wooden markers were lost in storms or burned when fires burned the wooded area. There are just a few stone markers in the cemetery remaining from 80 burials, Pierre’s, his grandson George Saucier, two great granddaughters, Theresa and Elizabeth Saucier, son Narcise Saucier and his first wife, Delilah, and the unknown frame that once held the stone slab.
HENRI (HENRY) SAUCIER was the second born child and first son of Jean Baptiste Saucier and his wife Marie Gabrielle Savary and a grandson of Louis Saucier and Marguerite Gaillard of Quebec, Canada and he was also a great grandson of Charles Saucier and Charlotte Clairet of Paris, France. Henri or Henry was born in 1706 at Colonial Mobile and died in 1762 at New Orleans. Henri, age twenty-six, married Barbe LaCroix, age twenty, at Fort Charles in Illinois on August 11, 1732. Barbe was born on November 8, 1711 in Quebec, Canada and died in New Orleans in 1778. Barbe was the daughter of Francois LaCroix of Beaupre, Canada and Barbe Montmeunier of Rouen, Normandy, France. Henri Saucer and Barbe LaCroix had ten children, Jean Baptiste, Henry Marie, Marie Barbe, Francois, Christian Savary, Philippe, Mary Madgeline, Pierre, Julien Juste, and Charles Julian Saucier.
Jean Baptiste Saucier was born in 1733 at New Orleans, he was the first son born to Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix. He was also the first grandchild of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Gabrielle's death would occur two years after his birth. On February 25, 1767, Jean Baptiste entered a contract of marriage with Marie Pelagie Tixerand, a minor, at New Orleans in the presence of their parents and friends. The Contract was signed by nine witnesses, which included her father. Pelagie also signed the document, but, it was not signed by Jean Baptiste himself as he could neither read or write as was stated in the document. Upon the signing of the marriage contract a dowry of three thousand livres was bestowed to Pelagie according to French custom by Jean Baptiste. On March 2, 1767, at the age of thirty-four years of age, he married seventeen year old Pelagie Gabrielle Tixerand at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, daughter of Gabriel Tixerand and Marie La Lorie of New Orleans; she was born on May 20, 1750 at New Orleans. Jean Baptiste died in 1810 and Pelagie died earlier, in 1805, both at New Orleans. They raised and left a large family down river from New Orleans and to the east in the state of Mississippi. In 1770, they resided on a large plantation fronting the Mississippi River about twenty miles below New Orleans where they grew tobacco and other crops. Baptismal records of Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans show ten children, Gabriel Efroy, Jean Henry, Jean Baptiste, Philippe Pierre, Julien, Marie Pelagie, Manuel Celestin, Mary Anne, Severin Descoteaux and Pierre Silroy, born to Jean Baptiste and Pelagie, but they had a total of twelve known children, including daughter Marianne Saucier born in 1873 between Manuel and Severin, as well as son Francois Saucier born in 1785 between sons Severin and Pierre. All their children were baptized at Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.
Gabriel Efroy Saucier was the first child and first son born to Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. He was born on September 22, 1768 and baptized on September 23, 1769 in New Orleans at St. Louis Cathedral. Gabriel was also the first born grandson of Henri and Barbe LaCroix Saucier. Gabriel was the first great grandson for Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. He was born on the family plantation below New Orleans fronting the Mississippi River located next to his grandmother Barbe Lacroix Saucier and his uncle's plantation. No mention of Gabriel is found after the 1770 census of New Orleans. It is believed he died around 1771 at New Orleans.
Jean Henry Saucier was the second child and son of Jean Baptiste Saucier III and Pelagie Tixerand. He was born in 1769 and was baptized on January 7, 1770 at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Jean Henry was a grandson of Henri and Barbe LaCroix Saucier. Jean Henry was also a great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. He married Felicite Elizabeth Barry on September 28, 1798. She was the daughter of Richard Barry, a native of Ireland, and Felicite Duvernay and was born on March 1, 1770 in New Orleans. Felicite Elizabeth died on September 25, 1851 at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Jean Henry died at the early age of 38 in 1808. Four children were born at New Orleans, Felicite Elizabeth, Jean, Henrietta and Marie Caroline Azelie Saucier. After Jean Henry’s death in early 1808, Felicite remarried on May 9, 1808 and moved with her new husband, Pierre Royare, and her family to Natchitoches, Louisiana shortly after their marriage. Their Children were all baptized at Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.
Felicite Elizabeth Saucier was the first born child and first daughter born to Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. She was born on September 10, 1898 at New Orleans and died on March 11, 1882 at age thirty-seven at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Felicite Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. She was also the great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. She married Andre Charmart of New Orleans at Natchitoches, Louisiana on March 16, 1815, she was sixteen years old and Andre was thirty-three years old, twice her age. He was the son of Louis Charles Charmart of Belliaud, Bas Poitou, France and Marie Catherine Bardon of New Orleans. They had eight children, Marie Emelie, Louis, Marie Felicite, Elizabeth, Henry, Hypolite, Marie Octavie, and Marie Elmire Charmart.
Jean Saucier, the second born child and only son of Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. He was born at New Orleans on June 17, 1801. His date of death is unknown. Jean was the grandson of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. He was also the great grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. No additional information in known for Jean.
Henrietta Saucier was born on June 13, 1802 at New Orleans and died on June 23, 1867 at New Orleans at age sixty-five. She was the third child and second daughter born to Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. Henrietta was the granddaughter of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. She was also the great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. Henrietta married Charles Theophile Delarue of Berranut, France on January 1, 1921 at New Orleans, she was eighteen and Charles was twenty-five. He was born in 1796 and died in New Orleans on March 29, 1886 at age ninety. He was the son of Francois Delarue of Reims, France and Aspasie Bauquet of Berranut, France. They had eight children, Louis Theophile, Hypolite, Camille, Francoise Erazie, Frank, Marie Henriette, and Erasi Delarue.
Marie Caroline Azelie Saucier was born at New Orleans on May 8, 1804 and died on January 2, 1894 at New Orleans, age eighty-nine. She was the fourth child and third daughter born to Jean Henry Saucier and Felicite Barry. Henrietta was the granddaughter of Jean Baptist Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand of New Orleans. She was also the great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix, as well as the great great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary, early pioneers of the Louisiana Territory and one of the first families of Colonial Mobile. No additional information is available for Marie.
Jean Baptiste Saucier, born August 8, 1771, the third child of Jean Baptiste Saucier III and Pelagie Tixerand was married on April 6, 1805 to Elizabeth Courdin, born on February 18, 1776 in New Orleans. Jean Baptiste was a grandson of Henri and Barbe LaCroix Saucier. He was also a great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. Elizabeth was the daughter of Pierre Courdin and Pelagie Duvernay. Jean Baptiste died on September 22, 1828 at the age of 57. His wife Elizabeth died at the age of 83 in 1859. The baptismal record for one child, daughter, Marie Louise Saucier born in 1801 was found in the records of Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, there possibly were other children born to them that were not in the church records at New Orleans. Jean Baptiste served with three of his brothers during the War of 1812 in the 3rd Regiment of the Louisiana Militia. In his records of service he is listed as Baptiste Saucier. Very little information on their family has been found by researchers.
Philippe Pierre Saucier, born June 2, 1772, the fourth son of Jean Baptiste Saucier III and Pelagie Tixerand, a grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix. He was also a great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary of Colonial Mobile. He married Ursule Grelot in June of 1794. Ursule, the daughter of Barthelomy Grelot and Marie Jeanne Nicaise, was born on October 25, 1772 and died at the age of 58 in 1830 at Delisle, Mississippi. Philippe Pierre was twenty-two years of age and Ursule was twenty-one years old when they married. They raised a large family on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The town of Saucier, Mississippi, twenty miles north of Gulfport, Mississippi was begun as a sawmill site by one of their grandsons, Samuel Bernard Saucier, and was officially named Saucier, Mississippi after his family in 1896. Nine known children, Marianne, Philippe, Pierre Phillip, Edouard, and Severin, Camille Philippine, Justine, Ursule Gustin and Adelia were born to Philippe Pierre Saucier and Ursule Grelot. Philippe Pierre died in 1852 at the age of 80 in Delisle, Hancock County, Mississippi. Their Children were all baptized at New Orleans’ Saint Louis Cathedral.
Marianne Saucier, born in New Orleans on February 24, 1795 was the first born and first daughter of Philippe Pierre Saucier and Ursule Grelot and granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also a great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and her 2nd great grandparents were Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary. In 1815 she married Bernard Dedeaux at New Orleans. He was born in about 1790 at New Orleans. No additional information is known on either Marianne or Bernard.
Phillipe Napoleon Saucier was born on October 11, 1796 and died in July 1869 at Shieldsboro, Hancock County, Mississippi. He was the first son and second child born to Philippe Pierre Saucier and Ursule Grelot and grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. He was also a great grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and his second great grandparents were Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary. He married Josephine Nicaise, the daughter of Joseph Nicaise and Jeannette Dufilly. She was born in 1785 and died in 1870. They were the parents of eight children, Cecile, Clara, Heloise, Ursule, Phillip Napoleon, Eupheme, Elizabeth and Josephine Saucier. Their only son Phillip Napoleon Saucier, born 15 Aug 1829, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He enlisted as a private in Company D, which later became company H, of Captain Ashbel Green's Dahlgren Guards, on September 4, 1861 at Camp Clark, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The Dahlgren Guards were mustered into the 3rd Regiment Mississippi Infantry on October 8, 1861. He was discharged from the Army on April 26, 1865. Phillippe, name listed as "Philip" Saucier in his Will dated July 2, 1869, left each of his children the sum of one dollar each. For some reason he made an exception in his bequest to his oldest daughter Cecile and left the sum of one dollar jointly between Cecile and her husband Ephraim Patton. He appointed his son Philip as executor of his estate and also appointed him as agent in behalf of his mother Josephine, to manage the property of the estate for her during her lifetime. At Josephine's death the estate was to be divided equally among the surviving siblings. The Will was filed on January 29, 1872 in the county court.
Cecile Saucier was the first born child and daughter of Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born on September 17, 1820 and died at Saucier on April 19,1853 at the age of thirty-two. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. In 1846, at age twenty-six, she married thirty-six year old Ephriam Patton in Harrison County, Mississippi. He was born on January 1, 1910 in Pennsylvania and died on November 3, 1896 at Saucier, Mississippi at the age of eighty-six. He was the son of John Patton of Pennsylvania and Charlotte Patton of England. Some records give his birth as in England instead of Pennsylvania. Cecile and Ephraim had four children before her death, William S., Cecilia, Ephraim, Jr., and Phillip Patton. Ephraim re-married shortly after Cecile’s death.
Clara Saucier was the second child and second daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in 1822 and died in 1889 at Saucier, Mississippi at the age of sixty-seven. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also a great granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Clara married Charles Turin some time around 1851, the son of Honore Felix Turin of La Seyne sur Mer, France and Marguerite Grelot of Mobile, Alabama. Clara and Charles had five children, Amedee, Elizabeth, Louis, Susan Louise and Denny Turin. Clara’s grandmother Ursula Grelot was the sister of her husband Charles’ Mother Marguerite Grelot.
Heloise Louise Saucier was the third child and third daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in April of 1825 and died in 1905 at Saucier, Mississippi at the age of eighty. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, a great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Heloise married Alexandre Turin on January 10, 1850 in Harrison County, Mississippi. Heloise was twenty-four years old and Alexandre was twenty-six when they married. He was the son of Honore Felix Turin of La Seyne sur Mer, France and Marguerite Grelot of Mobile, Alabama. Heloise’s and Alexandre had ten children, Alexander Alexis, Christine, Robert Felix, Justin James, Olivia, Napoleon Nicholas, Margaret, Uranie Eran, Joseph, and Louise Turan. The children changed the spelling of their surname at sometime to Turan from Turin. Heloise’s grandmother Ursula Grelot was the sister of her husband Alexandre's Mother Marguerite Grelot.
Ursule Saucier was the fourth child and fourth daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in 1827 and died in 1910 at Saucier at the age of sixty-seven. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Ursule married Joseph Fayard, the son of Ursin Fayard and Genevieve Ryan on December 31, 1889 in Harrison County, Mississippi. She was twenty-two years old and Joseph was twenty-five years old. They had three children, Laura, Anthony, and Henry Antoine Fayard.
Phillipe Napoleon Saucier, Jr. was the fifth child and first son born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. He was born in 1822 and died in 1889 at Saucier at the age of sixty-seven. She was a grandson of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. He was also great great-grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great grandson of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier. Phillipe married Susannah Thomas, the daughter of John Callahan Thomas and Mary Holloway. They had six children, Oliver, Margaret Josephine, Charles R., Clarissa (Clara) Demaries, Annie Susan, and William Walter Saucier.
Eupheme Saucier was the sixth child and fifth daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born on January 19, 1832 and died on November 7, 1909, at age seventy-seven. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier of Colonial Mobile. On January 31, 1850, Eupheme married Henri Saucier in Hancock County, Mississippi at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church after receiving permission from the Church to marry. She was eighteen yeas old and Henry was twenty-six. Henry, her cousin, was the son of Sinforian (Forien) and Camille Phillipine Saucier, who themselves were cousins. Henry was born in 1824 and died on May 27, 1894, age seventy. Eupheme and Henry had ten children, Charles, Joseph, Henry Joseph, William, Victoria Mason, Joshua, Marie, Paul Horace, Mary Louise and Alphonse Saucier.
Elizabeth Saucier was the seventh child and sixth daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in September 4, 1834 and died on March 17, 1915 at the age of eighty. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier of Colonial Mobile. Elizabeth married Oliver P. Edwards on June 1, 1852 in Harrison County, Mississippi, she was seventeen years old and Oliver was twenty-one. He was the son of Willie Edwards and Elizabeth Ann Rhodes. Oliver was born on March 11, 1831 and died on November 10, 1922 at the age of eighty. Elizabeth and Oliver had five children, William W., Oliver Lewis, Margaret Josephine, Jake, and Henry Saucier.
Josephine Saucier was the eighth child and seventh daughter born to Phillipe Napoleon Saucier and Josephine Nicaise at Saucier, Mississippi. She was born in 1841 and died in about 1900 at the age of about fifty-nine. She was a granddaughter of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand. She was also great great-granddaughter of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and a 3rd great granddaughter of Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle Savary Saucier of Colonial Mobile. No additional information is known for Josephine.
Pierre Phillip Saucier was the third child and son of Phillipe Pierre Saucier and Ursula Grelot, grandson of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Pelagie Tixerand, great grandson of Henri Saucier and Barbe LaCroix and his great great-grandparents were Jean Baptiste Saucier and Marie Gabrielle Savary; he was born on Saturday August 30, 1798 at Windy Hill plantation, overlooking the Wolf River in Delisle and died on Sunday August 23, 1874 at his home in Saucier, Mississippi. On Wednesday April 15, 1818, nineteen year old Pierre married seventeen year old Isabelle Nicaise, the daughter of Jean Baptiste "Martial" Nicaise, another pioneer of colonial Mobile, and his wife Louise Baptiste Christian Ladner at Delisle. She was born on Thursday April 21, 1808 near Mobile and died sometime after September 3, 1836 at Delisle (date her last child was born). Pierre, born and raised in Delisle, made his home there until 1848, then, after having purchased over fourteen hundred acres of prime timber land at twenty-five cents per acre, he moved with his family, including his two married sons, two married daughters and their respective families to a remote area in the northern part of the county where they settled together on land they cleared.
The community of Saucier, Mississippi, north of Gulfport, Mississippi, was settled by Pierre Phillip Saucier and his children in 1848. Pass Christian, the nearest town, was small at this time and only the beginnings of a town that in the future would be known as the "Riviera of the South".
Like all of the Saucier family in this period of time they were of the Catholic faith. Pierre Phillip Saucier was baptized in New Orleans at Saint Louis Cathedral, as many of his children and early family members were, before the first nearest Catholic Church, Our Lady of Good Hope, was established at Delisle, Mississippi in 1872. Pierre Phillip was educated in the Catholic Schools of New Orleans along with two of his brothers, Edouard and Phillipe, taking all the School's courses that were expected of a young man growing up in that era.
Pierre and his children were the first settlers of the area we now call Saucier and Wortham. Pierre Phillip Saucier lived to be almost 76 years old, a really old age for that period of time. Pierre was married three times. Pierre and his first wife Isabelle Nicaise had ten children before her early death in Delisle from a snake bite. The names of the eleven children of Pierre and Isabelle Nicaise Saucier are in order of birth, Pierre “pier”, Avaline, Narcisse, Jean Baptiste, Henri (Henry) Severin, Marie, Philippe Noel, Jean Jacques, Desire, and Samuel Bernard. An eleventh child’s name is also given in some records for Pierre and Isabelle, Jean Pierre Saucier, who was born on September 3, 1836 at Delisle; shortly before Isabelle’s death. Her death would have had to follow his birth some time after September 3rd and before the end of December 1836. Very little information on Jean Pierre has been found. We know that he existed because baptismal records are found at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans for him. We also know he had a wife and at least one child. He is not mentioned in the will of Pierre Phillip that was filed after his death in 1874. He seems to have just disappeared from all records. It was said by family members that Pierre was very upset and despondent following the death of Isabelle. Could this despondency possibly have been caused by the deaths of other family members, along with that of Isabelle, that now left him with a feeling of hopelessness and depressed?
In 1837, at the age of thirty-eight years, he married his second wife, twenty-seven year old Martha Ann Smith, who died in about 1854 or 1855. Some researchers give two children as born to this second marriage, but family historian Blanche Saucier gave only the ten from the first marriage to Isabelle. The two children born to Pierre and his second wife Martha Ann Smith were Jean Baptiste Hilarie, and Jean Jacques Saucier. It was after his marriage to Martha Ann, and before her death, that he sold his property in Delisle and started purchasing more land in and around the Saucier and Wortham area to the north of Gulfport, moving there in 1848 with his family. His third marriage on October 19, 1869, at the age of seventy-one, was to Elizabeth Moore Ramsey, who was about forty-four years of age, and a widow with five young daughters. His Pension record gives marriage date as October of 1869. Names of the five step daughters are not known at this time.
Starting around 1870, Pierre Saucier and his family members, now living to the north of Pass Christian, repeatedly made requests to the Catholic Church at New Orleans for a Priest to come to the remote northern area of the county to perform marriages, baptisms, funerals and general church services for their families and neighbors. During this time the family would often have a civil service for any marriages within the family, as would other Catholic families in the area. On numerous occasions the family did travel to New Orleans for marriages or baptisms. When a trip to New Orleans was impossible, as soon as a priest was available to them locally they repeated their marriage vows with the Priest in attendance. With their marriages now sanctioned and blessed by the Catholic Church, their children were then baptized by the Priest. Sometimes the children were well over a year old when a Priest finally came to their area to baptize them and perform marriages for their parents. Because of this, after a number of years, still unable to secure a Priest after all the requests made to the Church in New Orleans, the families started leaving the Catholic Church and embracing the Methodist Church in Mississippi. In 1873 some of Pierre Phillip’s grandchildren were the last to be baptized as Catholic, records show that the older children in the family were baptized as Catholics at Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans and their younger siblings born after 1873 were all baptized as Methodists in local churches. This has been found to be the case while researching the baptisms of my great Aunts and Uncles. Several of the Saucier men married into Methodist families and converted to their wives religion. Later several donated property and materials to build churches or actually built their own Methodist churches for their growing families, as was the case in my immediate family. Circuit ministers, who rode the area on horseback or in a buggy, held regular monthly services in those churches. A family member would conduct church services during times the Minister was unavailable to perform services at their church. Many switched from the Catholic faith to the Methodist faith, although some of the Saucier families did remain as Catholics.
Military service records show that Pierre served as a private in the War of 1812. Pierre, age sixteen years of age, enlisted as the company bugler at Shieldsboro (Bay St. Louis) on December 13, 1813 in the Company of Colonel Nixon which was part of the Regiment of Major Carver’s Militia Volunteers which served under Captain J. Villeau (or Vellio) in the 18th Regiment of the Mississippi Militia. Pierre was captured by the British and held prisoner until the war ended in 1815. He was discharged on Saturday March 18, 1815 at New Orleans. After his release from the British prison in Louisiana he returned to the family home in Delisle. In 1871 pensions were granted to those who served in the War of 1812, but it was not until 1873 that Pierre first made application for a pension for his service in the War of 1812 to the U. S. Government stating he was in the military service for 90 days. In the 15 page file containing his application for a pension, he states that he was in “service on the Gulf Shore of the Gulf of Mexico at the time the British landed to attack New Orleans and was in service until peace after the Battle of New Orleans and has received 120 acres of land for such service.” It is signed by his mark and was witnessed by A. J. Ramsey and Lyman R. Holley. The pension was approved in1873 and he was granted an $8.00 per month pension with back pay from February 14, 1871. His military service during the War of 1812 is notated on his tombstone. Several Service cards from his service with Captain Villeau's militia in 1812 are found at the end of this genealogy. In 1980, family historian Blanche Connelly Saucier made the statement that "after the War of 1812 Pierre was rewarded by the government for his service during the war with a grant of an undetermined amount of land." With the discovery of his pension application we now know he received 120 acres for his military service in the War. It is not know if this land was in the Delisle area or elsewhere as the only known records for land grants were in November of 1838 for 80 acres and in August of 1847 for 120 acres of land.
Pierre earned his living raising cattle, hogs, sheep, and growing corn and other crops, but mainly his income was derived from supplying the yellow pine timber harvested from his land to the lumber industry in nearby Wortham and Saucier. Several large lumber mills were operated for many years by family members and others companies at Saucier. Vast piles of sawdust remained at the mill site for years, still visible in the late 1950’s by passing motorists on the west side of the state highway.
In 1870, the United Stated Government sued Pierre Saucier, claiming he aided and abetted the enemy during the Civil War, probably because he was a Confederate sympathizer and had helped supply the Confederate Army, and the fact that his sons and grandsons had fought in the Confederate States Army; although later several did leave the Confederate Army to join and serve in the Union Army. In the aftermath of the lawsuit, the government took one hundred and sixty acres of his land from him in its settlement and gave it to the railroad. Shortly after that Pierre suffered a stroke. His third wife, Elizabeth Moore Ramsey, and her five daughters from her first marriage nursed and took care of him until his death four years later, in 1874
At his death in 1874 Pierre was buried in the old Saucier family cemetery (now called the Pierre Saucier Cemetery) at Saucier, Mississippi, next to his first wife Isabelle Nicaise. Pierre’s and Isabelle's graves are located inside the old iron fence area. It has been recently discovered that this fence straddles the graves of Pierre and Isabelle and encloses only the top part of their graves with the bottom part of their graves being outside of the fenced area. Pierre's grave is marked with a stone marker, placed there by a grandson many years ago, but that of Isabelle was made of wood, as was usual for that time, and was destroyed decades ago. Today Isabelle's grave still has no headstone, but hopefully it will have one in the near future. The grave of second wife Martha Smith is also located at the plot along with Pierre and Isabelle, and it too is now unmarked. No one actually knows the exact location for the grave of third wife Elizabeth Moore Ramsay. Elizabeth Moore Ramsay was possibly buried next to her first husband, and it is hoped that Martha's will be marked in the future. There is about 20 or 30 known unmarked grave sites within the family cemetery and it is unknown who is buried in those graves.
In his will Pierre left 40 acres and 30 head of cattle each to his children, Pierre, Narcise, Jean Baptiste, Henri Severin, Desiree and Samuel Bernard. But for some unknown reason, he left his children Avaline, Phillipe Noel, Jacques and Marie only the sum of “Five Dollars” each. Pierre also left his third wife, Elizabeth, a child’s share of his estate. That part of Pierre’s will was contested by one of his grandchildren, but the court in Pass Christian, Mississippi ruled in Elizabeth’s favor and awarded her a child’s part of Pierre’s estate, as Pierre had originally provided for her in his will.
One question that always puzzled Blanche Saucier, wife of Pierre's grandson, Earl Nolan Saucier, never has been answered. The Saucier's in this period of time were Catholic and in the family Cemetery is a metal frame which at one time contained a marble slab and on that frame is a Masonic symbol. She could never think of any early member of the Saucier family that would have been a member of the Masons, as all Saucier's were Catholic at that period of time. Her only reasoning was that it could have been the husband of someone married into the family or possibly from outside the family. Blanche, a former Harrison County School teacher and our family historian until her death in 1989, always wondered about that symbol.
Many of the markers in the small family cemetery were made of cypress, cut in the nearby sawmill. In those days it was pretty hard to get stones, and no stone quarry was nearby, and most people earned their living working at the saw mill and could not afford to lose a day’s work or a job, so they used the wood from the mill to carve markers. Some family graves in the cemetery were marked with large black stones taken from a local river bed, but overtime those stones have disappeared. Blanche always thought they were stolen over a period of several years. Many of the wooden markers were lost in storms or burned when fires burned the wooded area. There are just a few stone markers in the cemetery remaining from 80 burials, Pierre’s, his grandson George Saucier, two great granddaughters, Theresa and Elizabeth Saucier, son Narcise Saucier and his first wife, Delilah, and the unknown frame that once held the stone slab.
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