Amand Pitre
1724 Acadia – 1787 Louisiana
Amand Pitre was born c1724 in Acadia, the youngest of twelve children of Jean Denis Pitre and Francoise Babin. England was now in control of the colony, the Acadians were referred to as French neutrals, and they were pretty much left to themselves.
About 1746 Amand married Genevieve Arsement, the eldest daughter of Pierre Claude Arsement (Hertrement) & Marie Josephe Theriot. War had broken out again between the French and the English with dire results for the Acadians.
With the political situation worsening Amand, wife Genevieve and their four children sought refuge on Ile St. Jean. The 1752 census places them at Grande Anse. They are struggling as are many other Acadian refugees but they have two oxen, three cows, a calf, two pigs and three fowl. They’ve made a clearing and intend to sow three bushels of wheat. Over the next seven years four more children are added to the family.
In 1759 they are finally removed from the island. On the 9th of March 1759 Amand, Genevieve and four of their children arrived at St. Malo on the ship du Supply. Twelve-year-old Basile and the three youngest children had all died at sea during the voyage. One month later seven-year-old Anne died at St. Servan. The family of 5 now settled at St. Suliac where Marguerite Tarsille was born in 1761.
For the next 25 years Amand and his family lived in exile in France, belonging but not belonging. This was the land of their ancestors, but was no longer theirs. They spoke French but were no longer Frenchmen, they were Acadians. The French referred to them as Canadians. In 1773 daughter Victoire married another Acadian refugee. Her brothers did likewise: Ambroise at Pleurtuit in 1774, and Tranquille at Nantes in 1779.
Because of very poor conditions almost all of the Acadians moved to Nantes in 1776. Amand Pitre and his extended family left Chatellerault for Nantes on 6th of March for the week-long voyage.
Amand’s wife Genevieve died in France, Ambroise and Tranquille both had children born in France, but when the opportunity came, they left France for what was hoped to be their new Acadia in Louisiana.
On the 12th of May 1785 widower Amand, his youngest daughter Marguerite, and the families of his three married children boarded La Bergere at Paimbouef and three months later arrived at Balize at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Four days later they disembarked at New Orleans on the 19th of August 1785. They were moved to the area of Baton Rouge on 9th September 1785 by boat. Three months later Marguerite was married at St. Louis Church (now Cathedral) in New Orleans to another Acadian refugee Jean Nicholas Bertrand.
The Lafourche census taken on the first of January 1788 records the families of Tranquille, Ambroise, Victoire and Marguerite but does not list Amand. On debarkation from La Bergere Amand had been given an axe, hatchet, shovel, meat cleaver and two hoes so we know he arrived at New Orleans. But sometime between 19 August 1785 and 1 January 1788 Amand died. Did he at least know that his children had finally found a place to call home, and where dozens of their descendants still live today along that same bayou.
Continuation of tree (12th child of Jean Denis Pitre/Francoise Babin); all known surname descendants:
3 Amand Pitre b: Abt. 1724 Acadia; d: Aft. 1785 Louisiana
+Genevieve Arsement b: Abt. 1724 Pobomcoup, Cap Sable, Acadia; m: Abt. 1746 Cobequid, Acadia [Pierre Claude/Marie Josephe Theriot]; d: Abt. 1784 France
4 Basile Pitre b: Abt. 1747 Acadia; d: 1759 at sea during the crossing to France
4 Tranquille Pitre b: Abt. 1748 Cobequit, Acadia; d: 7 June 1801 Plattenville, Assumption, LA
+Elisabeth Aucoin b: Abt. 1749 Acadia; m: 17 August 1779 Nantes, France [Jean Baptiste/Jeanne (Anne) Theriot]; d: 15 February 1818 Plattenville, Assumption, LA
4 Ambroise Pitre b: Abt. 1750 Cobequit, Acadia; d: Abt. 1787 Lafourche, LA
+Elisabeth Dugas b: Abt. 1753 Acadia; m: 6 April 1774 Pleurtuit, Ille-et-Villaine, France [Paul/Anne Marie Boudrot]; d: Bet. 1810 - 1820 Plattenville, Assumption, LA
4 Anne Ludivine Pitre b: Abt. 1751 Cobequit, Acadia; d: 13 April 1759 St. Servan, Bretagne, France
4 Marie Victoire Pitre b: Abt. 1753 Ile St. Jean; d: 19 November 1809 Plattenville, Assumption, LA
+Louis Ambroise Dugas b: Abt. 1751 Cobequit, Acadia; m: 30 March 1773 St. Suliac, Bretagne, France [Ambroise/Marguerite Henry]; d: 19 March 1816 Plattenville, Assumption, LA
4 Zozime Pitre b: Abt. 1755 Grand Anse, Ile St Jean; d: 1759 at sea during the crossing to France
4 Tarsille Pitre b: Abt. 1756 Grand Anse, Ile St Jean; d: 1759 at sea during the crossing to France
4 Charles Pitre b: Abt. 1758 Grand Anse, Ile St Jean; d: Aft. 1759
4 Marguerite Tarsille Pitre b: 7 February 1761 St. Suliac, Bretagne, France; d: Aft. 1821 Lafourche, LA
+Jean Nicolas Bertrand b: Abt. 1765; m: 25 December 1785 St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, LA [Jean/Marguerite Blanchard]; d: 2 December 1805 Thibodaux, Lafourche, LA
*2nd Husband of Marguerite Tarsille Pitre:
+Joseph Ignace Hebert b: Abt. 1748 Acadia; m: 26 May 1805 Plattenville, Assumption, LA [Jean/(Marie) Madeleine Doiron]; d: 29 September 1821 Thibodaux, Lafourche, LA
Back one generation to parents of Amand Pitre
Items in RED verified from transcriptions in the following:
- Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records
- The Acadian Exiles in Chatellerault 1773-1785 (Robichaux)
- Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans
Last updated: 21 March 2008