APPENDICES

Acadians Who Found Refuge in Louisiana, February 1764-early 1800s

BRUN

[BROON]

ACADIA

Vincent Brun, a laborer perhaps from La Chaussée, near Blois, in the Orleanais region of the Loire valley in France, may have come to Acadia as a single man in his early 20s aboard the St.-Jehan in 1636 (though he does not appear on the ship's passenger list). After his labor contract with Razilly and d'Aulnay was up, Vincent may have returned to La Chaussée in the early 1640s and married a girl from his village, ____ Breau, whose given name has been lost to history. His wife died soon after giving birth to their child, who also died. Vincent remarried to his dead wife's sister, Renée Breau, in c1644 or 1645 and returned to Port-Royal with her in c1648. They brought with them their two daughters: Madeleine, age 3, who would become the second wife of Acadian patriarch Guillaume Trahan; and Andrée, age 2, who married Germain Thériot and Emmanuel Hébert. Two more daughters were born to Vincent and Renée in Acadia: Françoise, who married Bernard Bourg; and Marie, also called Sébastienne, who married François Gautrot, fils and Abraham Bourg, a brother of her older sister's husband.

Vincent and Renée's only son, Sébastien, born at Port-Royal in c1655, married Huguette, daughter of Antoine Bourg, at Port-Royal in c1675. Sébastien and Huguette had seven children, including four sons, all born at Port-Royal, who raised families of their own. Their two daughters married into the Pitre and Moyse dit Latreille families. Huguette died at Port-Royal sometime in the late 1680s or early 1690s. Sébastien, who never remarried, may have lived for a time at Cobeguit in the early 1700s, but he returned to Port-Royal, where he died in August 1728; he was 73 years old.

Oldest son Claude, born in c1678, married Cécile, daughter of Claude Dugas, at Port-Royal in c1709. They had 13 children, including six sons who married into the Leger, Pellerin, Lord, Bergeron, Melanson, and Michel families. Their four daughters married into the Martin, Doucet dit Laurent, Lapierre, and Melanson families. Either Claude or his namesake son was counted at Chepoudy, near the head of the Bay of Fundy, in 1754-55. His son oldest Vincent le jeune settled at Petitcoudiac. Claude died at Rivière-Ouelle, present-day Québec Province, in March 1760, in his early 80s, during Le Grand Derangement.

Abraham, born in c1680, married Anne, daughter of Étienne Pellerin, at Port-Royal in c1701. They had seven children, including two sons who married into the Caissie and Comeau families. Three of their daughters married into the Gaudet dit Varouël, Poirier, and Amireau dit Tourangeau families. Abraham died at Port-Royal in July 1713, in his early 40s. His wife remarried to Laurent Doucet in January 1722. One of Abraham's sons settled at Chignecto, and a grandson moved to Port-Lajoie, Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island.

Vincent le jeune, born in c1682, became a fisherman and died at Port-Royal in April 1708, in his mid-20s. He did not marry.

Jean-Baptiste, born in c1684, married Anne, daughter of Claude Gautrot, at Port-Royal in c1708. They had nine children, including four sons who married into the Pellerin, Lanoue, and Thibeau families. Their four daughters married into the Bourgeois, Préjean le Cadet, Orillon dit Champagne, and Thibeau families. Jean-Baptiste died at Port-Royal in June 1751, in his late 60s.

Youngest son Antoine, born in c1685, married Marie-Françoise, daughter of Pierre Comeau le jeune, at Port-Royal in c1709. They also had nine children, including three sons who married into the Dupuis, Deblois, and Gaudet families. Their four daughters married into the Lord, Dupuis, Blanchard, and Lanoue families. Some of Antoine's descendants moved to Chepoudy and Petitcoudiac in the 1750s.

By 1755, a few of the descendants of Vincent Brun had moved to Minas, Chignecto, Chepoudy, Petitcoudiac, and Île St.-Jean, but the great majority of them remained in the Annapolis River valley, where they had lived for generations.

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

Le Grand Dérangement of the 1750s scattered this large family even farther:

The first Acadians rounded up by British forces in the fall of 1755 were the ones in the Chignecto area, including Chepoudy and Petitcoudiac. Governor Lawrence was so incensed that some of the Chignecto Acadians had fought with the French in the defense of Fort Beauséjour that summer, that he ordered them deported to the southern-most colonies of Georgia and South Carolina. One Brun wife ended up in South Carolina, where she was counted as a widow in 1763. Some of the Bruns, including Claude, a grandson of Vincent Brun, managed to elude the British at Chignecto and escape north to the eastern New Brunswick shore. Claude died in his early 80s at Rivière-Ouelle on the lower St. Lawrence in March 1760, so he and some of his family made it all the way to Canada. A grandson of Claude's brother Abraham married at Restigouche, at the head of the Baie des Chaleurs, in January 1760.

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British forces rounded up the Acadians in the Annapolis River valley in the fall of 1755 and deported them to Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and North Carolina. The ship headed for North Carolina, the Pembroke, never made it to that colony. The Acadians seized the vessel, took it to Baie Ste.-Marie and then crossed the Bay of Fundy to the lower Rivière St.-Jean and escaped into the interior of present-day New Brunswick. Bruns may have been aboard the Pembroke. The ships bound for New England and New York, however, reached their destinations. Bruns were definitely on some of those vessels.

Some Bruns at Port-Royal escaped the British roundup and made their way north to the Rivière St.-Jean valley, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore, and even to Canada. A great-granddaughter and a great-grandson of Vincent Brun died at Québec City in November 1757 and May 1758, respectively.

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Living in territory controlled by France, the hand full of Bruns on Île St.-Jean escaped the British roundups in Nova Scotia in the fall of 1755. Their respite from British oppression was short-lived, however. After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the victorious British rounded up most of the Acadians on Île St.-Jean and deported them to France. Marie-Madeleine, daughter of Charles Brun, was among the deportees She married Pierre, son of fellow Acadian Jean Labauve of Rivière-aux-Canards, at St.-Martin des Champs, Morlaix, France, in September 1770. She died in France by October 1784, when her husband remarried at St.-Martin-de-Chantenay.

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Meanwhile, back in North America, the Bruns who found refuge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence shore did not enjoy their freedom for very long. After the fall of Québec and Montréal in 1759 and 1760, British forces attacked Restigouche, the last French stronghold in North America, in the summer of 1760. Some of the Acadians there managed to escape, but others fell into British hands and ended up as prisoners of war in Nova Scotia, especially at Halifax. About that time, Acadians who had resisted the British in present-day southeastern New Brunswick also surrendered and ended up as prisoners in Nova Scotia. One of them was Anne Brun, wife of Jean-Baptiste, son of Acadian resistance leader Alexandre Broussard dit Beausoleil.

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In the early 1760s, even before the war with Britain ended, South Carolina authorities encouraged the Acadians in their colony to emigrate to French-held St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, where the French used them as cheap labor on a new naval base at Môle St.-Nicolas on the north side of the island. Anne-Marie, daughter of Charles Brun of Pointe Beauséjour, Chignecto, married Jacques Godichon of Gonnave, Anjou, d'Angers, France, at Môle St.-Nicolas in February 1782.

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After the war with Britain finally ended, one Brun wife, Agnès, married to Paul Doucet, left Massachusetts in 1764 with an infant daughter and joined her fellow Acadians at Halifax. Most of the Bruns who left New England and New York, however, headed north to Canada to join their kinsmen already there.

Bruns settled on the upper St. Lawrence or along the Richelieu River at St.-Anne-de-la-Pérade, Bécancour, Nicolet, St.-Philippe-de-Laprairie, L'Acadie, Maskinongé, St.-Michel-d'Yamaska, Yamachiche, Verchères, Pointe-du-Lac, St.-Denis-sur-Richelieu, and at Québec City; on the lower St. Lawrence and Rivière Chaudière at St.-Marie-de-Beuce, Ste.-Famille and St.-Pierre on Île d'Orléans, Rivière-Ouelle, Cap-St.-Ignace, Rivière-du-Loup, and Kamouraska; and at Carleton on the southern Gaspé Peninsula. Bruns also lived in present-day New Brunswick on Rivière St.-Jean and at Memramcook, and in Nova Scotia on Baie Ste.-Marie.

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The Acadians being held at Halifax had a serious dilemma on their hands. The Treaty of Paris of February 1763 stipulated in its Article 14 that persons dispersed by the war had 18 months to return to their respective territories. In the case of the Acadians, however, this meant that they could return only to French soil. Where the Bruns had lived in Acadia was no longer French territory. British authorities refused to allow any of the Acadian prisoners in the region to return to their former lands as proprietors. If Acadians chose to remain in Nova Scotia, they could live only in the interior of the peninsula in small family groups and work for low wages on former Acadian lands now owned by New Englander "planters." If they stayed, they must also take the hated oath of allegiance to the new British king, George III, without reservation. They would also have to take the hated oath if they joined their cousins in the St. Lawrence valley. After all that they had suffered on the question of the oath, no self-respecting Acadian would consent to take it if it could be avoided. Some Halifax exiles, including one Brun wife, chose to relocate to Miquelon, a French-controlled island off the southern coast of Newfoundland. Others considered going to French St.-Domingue, today's Haiti, where Acadian exiles in the British colonies already had gone, or to the Illinois country, the west bank of which still belonged to France, or to French Louisiana, which was the only route possible to the Illinois country for Acadian exiles. Whatever their choice, they would not remain in old Acadia. So the Acadians at Halifax gathered up what money they could and prepared to leave their homeland.

LOUISIANA: WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

Despite the substantial size of the family in Acadia, only two Acadian Bruns--one a widow, the other a wife--found refuge in Louisiana. They both reached New Orleans in February 1765 with the Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil party from Halifax via Cap-Français, St.-Domingue, today's Haiti. After a short respite in the city, they followed the Broussards to the Attakapas District, where they helped establish La Nouvelle-Acadie on the banks of Bayou Teche:

Anne Brun, age 27, came with husband Jean-Baptiste Broussard, age 34, and two sons, ages 15, and 1. She died at Attakapas in November 1798, age 60.

Agnès Brun, age 22, widow of Paul Doucet, came with a year-old daughter. Agnès remarried to widower Olivier Thibodeaux at Attakapas in c1770 (the marriage was sanctified at the Attakapas church in September 1786), and gave him more children. She died at the home of her son Cyrille Thibodeaux at La Grand Point, St. Martin Parish, in October 1809, in her late 60s.

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

Brun/Lebrun is a fairly common name in France, so it is no wonder that many of them came to Louisiana. At least one non-Acadian Lebrun lived at New Orleans about the time the Acadian Bruns reached the colony. Others lived in Louisiana later in the colonial period:

Anne dite Nanette, daughter of Jacques Lebrun and Anne Gervais of Jarnac-sur-Charente, France, married Pierre, son of Jacques Duverge of Bordeaux, France, at New Orleans in September 1764. Pierre's father was to colonial governor Jean-Jacques-Blaise d'Abbadie.

Guillaume Lebrun of North Carolina, whose name was probably William, son of Thomas Brown, married Marie-Louise Totaint at New Orleans in April 1777. Guillaume remarried to Rosalie, daughter of French Creole André Olivot, at Pointe Coupée in July 1784.

Cécilia Lebrun, wife of Jean-Baptiste Durel, died at New Orleans in January 1785. The priest who recorded her burial did not list her parents' names.

Thomas Lebrun died at Opelousas in September 1793. He was a bachelor. The priest who recorded his burial did not give his age or his parents' names.

Juan Brun of Manchester, Chesterfield County, Virginia, whose name was probably John Brown, died at Baton Rouge in July 1794. The priest who recorded his burial said that he was 20 years old and unmarried.

Anne Lebrun, native of France and widow of ____ Joly, died at New Orleans in 1799. She was 60 years old.

Jacques, called Santiago by the Spanish-speaking priest, son of François Brun of Marseille, France, married Catherine, daughter of Jean Caminiche of New Orleans, at New Orleans in September 1800.

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More Brun/Lebruns lived in South Louisiana after Jefferson's purchase. The ones who emigrated to the former colony after 1803 were called Foreign French by native Louisianians:

Jean Baptiste Lebrun downed in Bayou Plaquemine in November 1811 and was buried near St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish.

_____ Brun, a 22-year-old saddler from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Jérôme out of Bordeaux, France, in February 1821.

Étienne, a wheelwright or blacksmith, son of Jacques Brun or Lebrun of Notre Dame de Charton, Bordeaux, France, a saddler or harness maker, died at the home of ____ St. Julien on Bayou Tortue, St. Martin Parish, in September 1821. Étienne was only 24 years old when he died. His succession record was filed at the St. Martinville courthouse in October. He may have been the Brun who reached Louisiana from Bordeaux the previous February.

Elisée Brun, an 18-year-old merchant from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Montequieu out of Bordeaux in February 1832.

Ramon Lebrun, a 26-year-old seaman from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Talina out of Bordeaux in May 1835.

Jean Brun died in Pointe Coupee Parish in December 1835. He was 55 years old. The priest who recorded Jean's burial did not list his parents' names or mention a wife.

Marius Brun, an 18-year-old clerk from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Marengo out of Le Havre, France, in May 1836.

Jacques Lebrun, a 24-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship MacLellan out of Le Havre in November 1836.

_____ Brun, a 30-year-old tailor from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship General Foy out of Bordeaux in July 1839.

Pierre Brun, a 23-year-old cooper from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Roman out of Bordeaux in January 1840.

Bernard Brun, a 41-year-old native of France, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Unicorn out of Le Havre in April 1840. With him was his wife Brigitte, age 31, and sons Bernard, age 7, and Johannes, age 1, and daughters Veronika, age 8, and Josephine, age 6.

R. Brun, a 35-year-old carpenter from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Henry out of Matagorda, Texas, in February 1841.

In January 1843, Joseph Brun witnessed a marriage at Convent, St. James Parish.

Gilbert Lebrun, a 25-year-old native of France, occupation unrecorded, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Echo out of Le Havre in March 1843.

Rémy Lebrun, a 30-year-old roofer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Vesta out of Martinique in April 1845. With him was 28-year-old mechanic Joseph Lebrun, probably his brother.

Pierre Lebrun, a 28-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Elizabeth out of Le Havre in March 1846. His destination was Mississippi. With him was son Alfred, age 7.

Mrs. Lebrun, married to Mr. Bercier, died in St. Landry Parish in August 1846. She was only 25 years old.

Jean Brun, a 24-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Viola out of Le Havre in August 1847.

Jean Joseph Lebrun of Paris, France, married Eliza Devaux or Deveraux. Their son Léon Lucien was born in Assumption Parish in December 1847. Jean Joseph died in Assumption Parish in August 1852. He was only 35 years old.

Marcellin Brun, a 44-year-old carpenter from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Titi out of Havana, Cuba, in May 1848.

Nicolas Brun, a 19-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Pie IX out of Havana in February 1849.

Jean Brun, a 17-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Brunswick out of Le Havre in August 1850.

Henriette Lebrun, a 50-year-old native of France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Caroline & Mary Clark out of Liverpool, England, in November 1850.

Anne Lebrun, a 44-year-old native of France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Leonidas out of Le Havre in May 1851.

Peter LeBrun, a 22-year-old farmer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Turell out of Le Havre in May 1852.

Marcellin Lebrun married Julie Fabre by February 1857, when their daughter Julia was baptized at the Pointe Coupee church, Pointe Coupee Parish. Marcellin died near Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, in April 1863; he was 53 years old. One wonders if he was the Marcellin Brun who arrived from Cuba in May 1848.

Émile, son of F., probably François Antoine Brun, of Assumption Parish, married Marguerite Angèle or Angelina, called Angelina, daughter of Jean Pierre Viala, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in September 1859; Angelina's mother was a Comeaux. Their son Jean Francois Émile was born in Ascension Parish in April 1866, and Jean Joseph Gaston in August 1868.

Evariste Lebrun died in Pointe Coupee Parish in December 1860. The Pointe Coupee priest who recorded the burial, and who did not bother to give any parents' names or even mention a wife, said that Evariste died at "age 50 years."

Alfred, a native of France, son of Barthélemy Brun or Lebrun and Hortense Petit, married Élisabeth, daughter of Acadian Jean Baptiste Bourg, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in January 1861. Their son Gustave Alfred was born near Labadieville, Assumption Parish, in September 1866.

Claire Émelie Lebrun of Epinol, France, wife of Pierre Nogues, died in Pointe Coupee Parish in October 1867. She was about 41 years old.

Bruno Brun of Assumption Parish, Émile's borther, married Euphémie, another daughter of Jean Pierre Viala, at the Donaldsonville church, Ascension Parish, in February 1868.

CONCLUSION

No male Acadian Bruns came to Louisiana during or after Le Grand Dérangement. Anne and Agnès Brun of Petitcoudiac and Port-Royal did come to Louisiana with the Broussard dit Beausoleil party in February 1765, so the blood of the Acadian family lives on in several lines of the Broussard and Thibodeaux families. The Bruns and Lebruns of South Louisiana, then, are descendants of French Creoles or Foreign French, not Acadians.

The family's name also is spelled Bra, Braine, Bran, Brient, Brin, Debrin.

Sources: Arsenault, Généalogie, 474-81, 884-85; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 1:83, 328, 2:51, 205, 3:44, 184; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 5(rev.), 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 61, 262, 293; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 1-A, 1-B, 2-B, 4; NOAR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7; White, DGFA-1, 270, 289-98; White, DGFA-1 English, 64-66; Taylor, D. J., "Bruns-Lebruns," p. 33.

Settlement Abbreviations
(present-day parishes that existed during the War Between the States in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):

For a chronology of Acadian Arrivals in Louisiana, 1764-early 1800s, see Appendix.

The hyperlink attached to an individual's name is connected to a list of Acadian immigrants for a particular settlement and provides a different perspective on the refugee's place in family and community.

NameArrivedSettledProfileAgnès BRUN 01Feb 1765Atkborn c1743, probably Port-Royal; married (1)Paul DOUCET; at Boston, MA, 1764; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 22, probably a widow, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; in Attakapas census, 1766, La Manque District, called Widow Ana[sic] BRUN, with 1 unnamed girl in her household; married, age 27, (2)Olivier, son of Charles THIBODEAUX & Marie-Françoise COMEAUX, & widower of Madeleine BROUSSARD, c1771, Attakapas, marriage contract legitimized in civil law, 30 Sep 1786, Attakapas; in Attakapas census, 1771, unnamed, age 28, with husband, 1 son, & 2 daughters; in Attakapas census, 1774, unnamed, with husband & 5 children; in Attakapas census, 1777, called Agnès BRIN, age 40, with husband, 4 stepsons & sons, & 2 stepdaughters; in Attakapas census, 1781, unnamed, with husband & 9 others; in Attakapas census, 1785, unnamed, with husband & 11 others; died "at her son's Cyrille THIBAUDEAU, of La Grand Point," St. Martin Parish, 24 Oct 1809, age 70[sic], a widow, buried the next dayAnne BRUN 02Feb 1765Atkborn c1738; married, age 22, Jean-Baptiste, son of Alexandre BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil & Marguerite THIBODEAUX of Petitcoudiac, c1760; on list of Acadian prisoners at Halifax, Aug 1763, unnamed, with husband & 2 unnamed children; arrived LA Feb 1765, age 27, with party from Halifax via St.-Domingue led by Joseph BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil; in Attakapas census, 1766, District of the Pointe, unnamed, probably the woman in the household of Juan Baptista BROUSSARD; in Attakapas census, 1771, unnamed, age 37[sic], with husband & 4 unnamed sons; in Attakapas census, 1774, unnamed, with husband & 3 unnamed children; in Attakapas census, 1777, called Anne BRIN, age 40, with husband, 3 sons, & 1 daughter; in Attakapas census, 1781, unnamed, with husband & 7 unnamed others; in Attakapas census, 1785, unnamed, with husband & 6 unnamed others; died [buried] Attakapas 6 Nov 1798, age 59

NOTES

01. Wall of Names, 15, calls her Agnès BRUN veuve Paul DOUCET; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:151 (SM Ct.Hse.: OA-vol.4 1/2, #60), a civil contract for her second marriage, dated 30 Sep 1786, calls her Agnès BRUN, calls her husband Olivier THIBODEAUX, & says "There being no Commandant or Notary in the Post, have previously contracted an accord of mutual interest with the dec. Fr. VALENTIN, Cure of Opelousas, now wishing to conform to (the law of Princes (the civil law) which by its authority annuals all acts of marriage and Testament performed by a Priest and Pastor), at the time of their marriage they had between them both three children with no right to inherit, now wish to make a marriage contract and Last Will and with that they (include those of the first marriage (literally 'first bed') as those of the second)," does not give any parents' names, & says the witnesses to the contract were ____ JACQUES, _____ JENNE, _____ NEUVILLE, & Alexandre Chevalier DECLOUET; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-B:140 (SM Ch.: v.4, #594), her death/burial record, calls her Agnès BRUN, "wid. of dec. Olivier THIBAUDEAU of La Grande Pointe," says she died "at her son's Cyrille THIBAUDEAU, of La Grand Pointe," that she was 70 years old at the time of her burial, that her burial was witnessed by Valéry MARTIN & Michel MARTIN [her sons-in-law], but does not give her parents' names.

Her being at Boston, MA, is based on her daughter Anne dite Nannette DOUCET's second marriage & burial records in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-B:243, which say that Anne was born in Boston & that she was 38 years old when she died in July 1802, giving her an estimated birth year of c1764. Agnès & Anne must have gone to Halifax from Boston soon after Anne's birth & hooked up with the BROUSSARD dit Beausoleil party before the BROUSSARDs left for LA via Haiti. Note that Anne BRUN, a sister or cousin, was married to a BROUSSARD, and that Michel-Laurent DOUCET & his family belonged to the party. Agnès and her infant daughter, then, would have been considered a part of the extended family.

The marriage contract of 30 Sep 1786 seems to be legitimizing in the eyes of the civil authorities the children from Agnès's and Olivier's first marriages. Why was this necessary? Were Agnès & Olivier not legitimately married to their first spouses?

Why do the baptismal records of daughters Cécile & ÉmilieTHIBODEAUX, dated 1774 & 15 Jul 1779, in Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:747, 748 (SM Ch.: Folio B-1; Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.31), call her Agnès PELLERIN & Agnès PELERIN? Was her mother a PELLERIN?

02. Wall of Names, 14, calls her Anne BRUN; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:151 (SM Ch.: v.4, #166), her death/burial record, calls her Anne BRUN m. to Jean-Baptiste BROUSSARD, "who was 'major domo' (trustee or church warden) of the Church and in the military," says she died "at age 59 yrs.," but does not give her parents' names.

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