Pvt. Paul M. Morel

Paul Morel is said to have come from Haiti, but is shown to be born in Louisiana in the census records.

"Mother's Catholic ancestors arrived in New Orleans in the late eighteenth century from Haiti, in the first wave of refugees from the 1791 Haitian Revolution. One of them, my great-great-grandfather Paul E. Morel, nicknamed "Deauville," fought in the American Civil War, initially for the Confederacy in 1862 as part of a volunteer group of blacks. Later that year, General Benjamin Butler persuaded the group to switch sides and fight for the Union. They were known as the Native Guards. According to family history, every Sunday Grandpa Morel dressed in his Union uniform and shouldered his gun. He received a government pension until he died in 1915." (Shirley Verett's autobiography)

1. United States Census, 1880; Name: Paul Morel; Event Type: Census; Event Date: 1880; Event Place: New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, United States; Gender: Male; Age: 40; Marital Status: Married; Race: Black; Race: B; Occupation: Bricklayer; Relationship to Head of Household: Self; Relationship to Head of Household: Self; Birth Year (Estimated): 1840; Birthplace: Louisiana, United States; Father's Birthplace: Louisiana, United States; Mother's Birthplace: Louisiana, United States; Sheet Letter: A; ; Sheet Number: 582; Person Number: 0; Volume: 1.
2. United States Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War, 1890; Name: Paul Morel; Event Type: Census; Event Date: 1890; Event Place: , Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
3. United States Census, 1900; Name: Paul Morel; Event Type: Census; Event Year: 1900; Event Place: 4th Precinct New Orleans city Ward 7, Orleans, Louisiana, United States; Gender: Male; Age: 61; Marital Status: Married; Race: Black; Race: B; Relationship to Head of Household: Head; Relationship to Head of Household: Head; Years Married: 31; Birth Date: Mar 1839; Birthplace: Louisiana; Marriage Year (Estimated): 1869; Father's Birthplace: Louisiana; Mother's Birthplace: Louisiana.
4. New Orleans, Louisiana, Death Records Index, 1804-1949; Name: Paul M. Morel; Gender: M (Male); Age: 76; Birth Year: abt 1839; Death Date: 25 Oct 1915.