René Trahan, fils

• Sources:
  • "The First Nominal Census (1769) of Colonial Settlers in Southwest Louisiana"; compiled by Donald Joseph Arceneaux; Provincial Press, Claitor's Publishing Division, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; www.ProvincialPress.us & www.Claitors.com.
  • "The BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil Party to the Attakapas District, 1765" - http://www.acadiansingray.com
    • On list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763Bayou Queue[sic] de Tortue, called Reynardo Richard[?!]
    • Elected co-commandant of Attakapas District, served with Jean-Baptiste Broussard, 1767-70
    • Attakapas, La Luisiana census, 1769, listed as Rëné Traans[sic], age 42
    • Took oath of allegiance to Spanish monarch 9 Dec 1769 & made his mark, called Renet TRAANS
    • Attakapas, La Luisiana census, 1771, age 42(?)[sic]
    • On Attakapas militia list, Jan 1773
    • Attakapas, La Luisiana census, 1774
    • Attakapas, La Luisiana census, 1777, listed as René Trahant, age 49
    • Attakapas, La Luisiana census, 1781
    • Attakapas, La Luisiana census, 1785
    • Succession will dated 1790, St. Martin Parish courthouse

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• Notes:
  • Arrived in current day Louisiana in Feb 1765, age 37

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René Trahan is on the Wall of Names at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana Plaque 6 Left. Listed with him is his wife Isabelle Broussard and their son Olivier. [1]

René Trahan, son of Rene and Elisabeth Darois, was born about 1732 in Acadia. He died in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana about 1790.

René, born perhaps at Petitcoudiac in c1729, married Isabelle, daughter of probably Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, either before or during Le Grand Dérangement. They escaped the British roundup at Chignecto in 1755 and followed her family into exile in present-day southeastern New Brunswick. With her family, they ended up as prisoners of war in Nova Scotia in the early 1760s; British officials counted them at Halifax in August 1763. As part of the expedition led by her father, they went to Louisiana from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue in 1764-65, and followed her family to the Attakapas District. They settled on Bayou Tortue, a tributary of the Vermilion River, and had more children, including sons. Their daughter married a Broussard cousin. René's succession record was filed at what became the St. Martinville courthouse, St. Martin Parish, in 1790; he would have been in his early 60s that year. His younger son married but had no children of his own, so this line of the family, except for its blood, did not survive in the Bayou State.

Censuses

Census: 16 AUG 1763; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada [2]

Census: 1769; Attakapas, St. Martin, LA[3]

Census: 1771; Attakapas, St. Martin, LA[4]

Census: 30 OCT 1774; Attakapas, St. Martin, LA[5]

Census: 4 MAY 1777; Attakapas, St. Martin, LA[6]

Probate

Probate: 1790; St. Martinville, St. Martin, LA[7]

Marriage

Rene Trahan and Elisabeth Broussard were married in Acadie around 1751.

Children

1. Joseph Gregoire TRAHAN b: 17 Mar 1754 in Petitcoudiac, Westmoreland, New Brunswick, Canada c: 4 Jun 1754 in Petitcoudiac, Westmoreland, New Brunswick, Canada
2. Olivier TRAHAN b: 27 Apr 1756 c: 16 Jun 1757 in New Brunswick, Canada
3. Henriette Madeleine TRAHAN b: Abt 1764 in Fausse Pointe, Pointe Coupee, LA
4. Rene TRAHAN b: 1767 in St. Martin, LA
5. TRAHAN b: Abt 1769 in St. Martin, LA
6. Louis Joseph TRAHAN b: 19 Aug 1772 in St. Martin, LA c: 25 Apr 1773 in St. Martinville, St. Martin, LA

Sources

• Source: S113 Title: Winston De Ville, comp., Southwest Louisiana Families in 1777: Census Records of Attakapas and Opelousas Posts (Ville Platte, LA: Author, 1987).
• Source: S304 Title: Donald J. Hébert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 1750-1900: compact disk #101 (Rayne, LA: Hébert Publications, 2001).
• Source: S34 Title: Winston De Ville, Attakapas Post: The Census of 1771 (Author: 1986).
• Source: S44 Title: Winston DeVille, Marriage Contracts of the Attakapas Post, 1760-1803 (St. Martinville, LA: Attakapas Historical Assoc., 1966).
• ↑ Title: The Wall of Names at the Acadian Memorial; Author: Wall of Names Committee; Jane G. Bulliard, Chair; second edition, 2015; Bodemuller The Printer, USA; Personal Copy. p. 25
• ↑ List of Acadian Prisoners at Halifax Port of America Septrionale under the Government of His Britannic Majestic. 12 August 1763
• Text: "Rene Trahan"
• ↑ Title: Attakapas Post in 1769--The First Nominal Census of Colonial Settlers in Southwest Louisiana; Author: Donald Joseph Arceneaux; Claitor's Publishing Division, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2014. Personal copy in possession of Jacqueline Girouard. p. 21
• Entry # [23] [folio] 231
• Text: Rëné Traans, 42
• His wife
• Ollivier, his son, 13
• Rëné, his son, 2
• Magdeleine, his new-born daughter
• Elizabet Broussard, 18
• Enselme Tibodeau, 20
• Marie Louise Tibodeau, 5
• There were Oxen, 2; Cows, 10; Suivant 6; Bulls and heifers, 8; Horses, 6; Suivant, 2; Pigs, 20.
• ↑ Source: #S34 p. 12.
• Text: Rene TRAHAN, age 42, with his wife, age 38, and a boy, age 4; two girls, age 7 and 2. There is also Olivier TRAHAN , age 16; Madeleine BROUSSARD, age 16 [a niece of his wife] ; Claude BROUSSARD, age 23 [brother of his wife]. They have 60 cattle, 10 (?) horses and 4 sheep, on 12 arpents of land, without title.
• ↑ Source: #S44 Also "1774 Census of Attakapas Post, ed. by Jane Guillory Bulliard & Leona Trosclair David."
• Text: Rene TRAHAN, sa femme; with 4 children, 0 slaves, 68 cattle, 13 horses or mules, and 25 hogs.
• ↑ Source: #S113 p. 13.
• Text: 72. Rene TRAHANT, Widower, 49. Garcons: Louis, 4. Filles: Henriette, 6. There were 100 cattle, 25 horses, and 26 hogs.
• ↑ Source: #S304
• Text: TRAHAN, Rene Succ. Will dated 1790. (SM Ct. Hse.: OA-8-46)