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GRAHAM A. LEECH AND JANE WILLIAMSON WOULD LIKE TO THANK IAN DE MINVIELLE DEVAUX FOR HIS RESEARCH AND BOOK “A ST LUCIAN FAMILY” (1990).
De Minvielle and Minvielle names were (according to Dauzat) a locality name in the Landes and Lower Pyrenees. There are fiefdoms of this name in the ancient country of Béarn.
There were two families of this name in the Windward Islands. The first, established in Martinique around the beginning of the 18th century, seems to have passed from Grenada to Granada from where his descendants transported to St. Lucia; the last of the name died there in 1781. The second family, born of a master cooper in Bayonne, but claiming a more distinguished ancient origin, emigrated around 1783 to St. Lucia, where it has remained to this day.
WE DO NOT KNOW IF THERE WAS ANY KINSHIP BETWEEN THESE TWO FAMILIES.
A kind search carried out at our request by Mrs Michèle Bonafos, of the Pyrenees-Atlantic Genealogical Centre, which examined the archives of this department and in particular those of Bayonne, today allow us to trace the parentage of the family that lived in St. Lucia to a certain Pierre Minvielle, who was probably born around 1620 or 1630 and who lived in Escos, one of the parishes of Lower Navarre, between Pau and Bayonne, on the edge of Béarn. It seems that at that time the members of this family were "labourers"; this term referred to wealthy peasants, who owned ploughing oxen.
A branch of the family settled in Bayonne. There they traded in wine: Béarn's wine for export was shipped to Bayonne. The Bayonne Coopers' Corporation, to which several members of the Minvielle family belonged in the 18th century, was one of the main bodies of the bourgeoisie of this city. Note that we sometimes find the preposition "de" placed in front of the name Minvielle.
This preposition was often attached in Béarn to the surnames, and especially those who, like Minvielle, were the origin of the place names. This custom disappeared in the 18th century in the commoner families, because there was a tendency to consider the use of this preposition as an indication of social superiority.
The addition of the preposition to their name by the Minvielle of St. Lucia in the 19th century can therefore be considered a reprise of the old name of the family.