Family:Guillaume Blanchard and Huguette Poirier (1)

Early in the 1700's, the French government sent several males of the BLANCHARD surname to the colony, including workers, soldiers, and criminals, but probably few of these formed families. It remained for Acadian refugees who entered the colony during the last half of the eighteenth century to establish the Blanchard name in the southern Louisiana area.

In Acadia, before the 1755 Expulsion, the Blanchards formed a large clan of many lines. All descended from a single progenitor, Guillaume Blanchard. He was born about 1590, probably from Martaize in the region of Loudun, France. Guillaume arrived in Acadia around 1636 with his wife Huguette Poirier, his son Jean (born 1611), his brother-in-law Jehan Poirier, and his son-in-law Jerome Guerin.

Jean, son of Guillaume, was married in about 1642 to Radegonde Lambert, born around 1629 in France. Children of this union:

• Madeleine 1643
• Anne 1645
• Martin 1647
• Guillaume 1650
• Bernard 1653
• Marie 1656

Martin Blanchard, born 1647 at Port Royal, married Marguerite Guilbault in 1688. He was married earlier to a Marie Francoise Leblanc in 1671. Marguerite was the daughter of Pierre Guilbault and Catherine Terriot. Joseph Blanchard, born 1694 at Cobequid, Acadia, son of Martin and Marguerite, married Anne Ester Bourgeois.

As a result of the 1755 Expulsion, the Blanchard families were scattered to various places along the Atlantic seaboard and France, some finally reaching Louisiana. The 1766 census of Louisiana listed five Acadian families by the surname of Blanchard living along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish.

Frederick Blanchard, son of Joseph and Anne, born in 1778, married Anne Berteau in 1800. (By available information, Joseph Blanchard, born 1694, would have been 84 years old when Frederick was born in 1778!!!). Frederick moved his family around 1815 to the northern part of the Attakapas District where he and his six sons began a long line of Blanchards, especially in the Grand Coteau and Church Pointe area. Frederick died in 1823 at the age of 45.

[from: Landrydtuff Website, Dr. Don Landry & Jim Landry. Downloaded:29 Apr 2002 http://www.landrystuff.com/prejean.htm] ______________________ This parentage is questioned by Stephen WHITE of University of Moncton, who contends that these persons did not exist.

1. ↑ Noella Reid email: noella@sirius.com (also see source DC0049). DC0057 Iles de la Madeleine (Noella Reid).
2. ↑ Mary Anne Guillot. Mary Anne Guillot Family. (Name: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=kjunmama;)
   * 1610 in prob La Rochelle, France.
3. ↑ Glenn Laffy. Acadian family tree - Glenn Laffy. (Name: RootsWeb Worldconnect database: Entries: 28304 Updated: Sat Mar 16 12:25:20 2002 Downloaded: 21Mar 2002 Contact: Glenn Laffy <glaffy@netscape.net> Home Page: Glenn's Genealogyhttp://www.homestead.com/laffy/genealogy.html http://worldconnect.ge;)
   [year] * abt 1610.