Acadian Memorial Mural
"The Arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana" by Robert Dafford, measures 12 x 30 feet. It's figures represent actual documented Acadian refugees who arrived in Louisiana from about 1764 to 1788 and who settled in different parts of the state. Some models are direct descendants of the figures they portray. This mural is twinned with one in Nantes, France, also painted by Robert Dafford, which depicts the departure of Louisiana-bound Acadians from the port of Nantes in 1785. For an image of the mural, use the link at the bottom of the page to the Acadian Memorial Mural in St. Martinville, Louisiana
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1. Rose Le Blanc, 1765, New Orleans. Louisiana’s first Acadian religious, Rose was admitted to the novitiate of the Ursuline Order in New Orleans on August 14, 1765. Sponsored by the family of Jules Joseph and Marie Eunice Lassalle Broussard. 2. Jean Baptiste Semer, 1765 Attakapas. Present in New Orleans on April 30, 1765 for the exchange of Canadian money to local tender. 3. Joseph Semer, 1785, Attakapas.Present in the church at Grand in 1755 when the proclamation was read which exiled him and his wife, Anne Landry. After thirty years, he was reunited with his son, Jean Baptiste (#2 above), in Louisiana. 4. Martin Navarro, 1785, New Orleans. Chief Administrative Officer under Spain, this Spaniard offered to serve as godfather to all Acadian babies born during the trans-Atlantic crossing of seven ships from France in 1785. 5. Olivier Terriot, 1785, Lafourche. He was a shoemaker in Nantes, France, who helped recruit more than 1500 Acadians to come to Louisiana in 1785. 6. Genevieve Robichaud, 1765, Attakapas. Arrived with parents, Marguerite Martin and Renë Robichaud. She married Armand Dugas. 7. Marie Aucoin, 1785, Lafourche. Marie married Olivier Terriot at St. Martin de Chantenay in Nantes, France, and journeyed with him to Louisiana aboard La Bergere in 1785. 8. Anselme Blanchard, 1767, Fort St Gabriel. He had become a prominent citizen when asked to supervise the settlement of immigrants from Nantes, France, who arrived in 1785. Sponsored by the family of Una Blanchard Felterman. 9. Anibroise Terriot, 1766, Cabannocé. Ambroise was an established resident when he organized a boucherie in 785 for newly arrived settlers at Manchac with beef he procured from Attakapas. |
10. Joseph Gravois & Family, 1788, Acadian Coast. One of the last Acadians to arrive in Louisiana, Joseph Gravois and seventeen relatives traveled from St. Pierre Island, arriving on December 11, 1788. 11.Claude Martin, 1765, Attakapas. He established a homestead at Pointe de Repose on Bayou Teche and was a trustee of l’Église des Attakapas. Sponsored by the family of Paul S. Martin, Sr. 12.Joseph Moulaison, 1785, Lafourche. Arrived aboard the ship L'Amitié with his mother, Marie Doucet, widow of Pierre Moulaison and settled near present-day Plattenville. Sponsored by the family of Cecile Moulaison. 13. Firmin Breau, 1766, Attakapas. Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the "Crawfish Capitol of the World", is named for the family Firmin established in that area. Sponsored by the City of Breaux Bridge. 14. Jeanne Chaillou Bourg, 1785, Lafourche. The widow of Jean Bourg, she traveled to Louisiana aboard the ship La Bergeuc with three Sons and a daughter in 1785. Sponsored by the family of Nell Bourque Hebert. 15, 16, 17. Marie, Marguerite and Elisabeth Richard, 1785, Lafourche. These sisters were deported to Virginia, imprisoned in England and sent to France before arriving in Louisiana in 1785 aboard the ship St-Remi. 18. Olivier Thibodeau, 1765, Attakapas. Exiled from his home-land by the British, his opportunity to retaliate came when he fought under General Galvez during the American War for Independence. 19. Madeleine Broussard, 1765, Attakapas. The wife of Olivier Thibodeau, she is pictured carrying their child, Marguerite Anne, baptized at L'Eglise des Attakapas on May 10, 1765 and buried the next day. Madeleine’s burial on May 17, 1765, is the first recorded burial of an Acadian exile at Attakapas. 20. Pierre Richard, 1766, Opelousas. Believed to have been a constituent of Beausoleil Broussard, he married Marguerite Dugas. Sponsored by Des Richard de Partout, Inc. |
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21.Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, 1765, Attakapas. Beausoleil, a resistance leader in post-expulsion Acadia, led a group of refugees from Nova Scotia in 1764 and arrived in February 1765. He was named Commandant and sent to settle at Attakapas where he died in September of that year. Sponsored by the family of Jean Camille Broussard. 22. Pierre Pitre, 1766, Opelousas. Listed in the Opelousas census with a boy and a girl identified as Francois and Catherine Pitre. 23. Augustin Remi Boudrot, 1768, Fort San Luis de Natchez. Age 13 and an orphan when he arrived in Louisiana, Augustin Remi was probably born the year of the exile. He established his family in the Opelousas country Sponsored by the family of Edgar and Pamela Richard Boudreau. 24. Elisabeth Thibodeau Brasseur, 1767, Fort St Gabriel. The widow of Cosme Brasseur, Elisabeth brought her five daughters and two sons from Maryland in 1767 and settled on Bayou Manchac. 25. Joseph Landry 1766, Cabannocé. Landry arrived as a refugee and in 1812 was a member of the Louisiana State Senate from the County of Acadia (now St. James and Ascension Parishes). 26. Madeleine Robichaud, 1765, Attakapas. Another daughter of Marguerite Martin and René Robichaud, she married Charles Hébert. 27. Pierre Arseneau, 1765, Cabannocé. Pierre signed the "Dauterive pact" in New Orleans on April 4, 1765. He later moved to the Attakapas country 28. Marguerite Martin, 1765, Attakapas. Thought to be the centenarian grandmother referred to by Judge Felix Voorhies in the book, Acadian Reminiscences. Sponsored by Dolores Guidry Respess. [Note: Marguerite Martin, who married Antoine Borda, was the great-great-grandmother of Felix Voorhies, son of Conrelius Voorhies, Jr. and Cidalise Mouton, who was born in 1839. She was born in Acadia about 1738 and died in Louisiana in 1823. His great-grandmother was Marie-Marthe Borda who married Jean Mouton. She was born in Louisiana about 1768 and died in 1831. His grandmother was Marie-Angelique Martin who married Jean-Baptiste Mouton. She was born in Louisiana about 1787. The book "Acadian Reminiscences" refers to both his great-grandmother and his grandmother. He said that as a young boy he sat at the knee of his grandmother or great-grandmother who was born in Acadia and had sheltered Emilie Labische, who is supposedly the "true" Evangeline. Since his great-great-grandmother died 16 years before he was born and his great-grandmother died 8 years before he was born, his grandmother, neither one could have told him the stories! |
29. Olivier Benoit, 1770, Iberville. Arrived from Maryland via an ill wind that blew his ship, La Brigitte, to Texas. His group became the first "Texas Cajuns". [Note: The ship was "The Britania" not "La Brigitte"] 30, 31, 32. Salvador and sons Jean & Marin Mouton, circa 1764, Cabannocé. Arrived with a group of twenty believed to be the earliest refugees from Acadia in Louisiana. Jean is recognized as the founder of Lafayette, Louisiana. Marin, it is said, wore a homespun hat called a capuchon, and his descendants became known as Capuchon Moutons to distinguish them from descendants of Jean Mouton, who wore a more traditional chapeau. [Note: There isn't any documentation that Salvador arrived in 1764 with the group of 20 from New York. The records indicate that he arrived in the Fall of 1765.] 33. Père Jean Francois de Civrey, 1765, Attakapas. A French priest of the Capuchin order, he christened the Attakapas post La Nouvelle-Acadie. Sponsored by Friends of the St. Martin de Tours Church Square, Inc. 34. Pierre Guidry, 1768, Fort San Luis de Natchez. Moved to Attakapas where he was known as the "patriarch of Grande Pointe", an area later named Cecilia, Louisiana. 35. Michel Trahan, 1765, Attakapas; Marie Sophie le Prince Widow Joseph Marie Trahan and Joachim Hyacinthe Trahan, 1785, Lafourche. They are among the many descendants of Guillaume Trahan, founder of the Acadian Trahan family. Sponsored by members of the Trahan Family Association. 36. Charles Dugas dit Charlit, 1766, Attakapas. Married to Marguerite Broussard. He is believed to have arrived in Louisiana with his father-in-law, Beausoleil Broussard. Sponsored by Christy Dugas Maraist. 37. Joseph Sonnier, 1766, Opelousas. Arrived in Louisiana as a young boy, which is how he is depicted on the mural. He married Marie Thibodeau. Sponsored by the Sonnier Family. 38, 39. Alexis & Honoré Breau, 1768, Fort San Luis de Natchez. Brothers who came with their families from Maryland to reunite with relatives who, after much dissension, settled at Cabannoce. 40. Amand Thibodeau, 1765, New Orleans. In St. Louis Cathedral records, he married Gertrude Bourg on 27 February 1765. Settled in Attakapas to raise cattle. Sponsored by J.P. Thibodeaux. |
"The Arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana by Robert Dafford
See Murals by Robert Dafford for other works by Mr. Dafford.