Pierre Fontenot (abt. 1726 - 1811)

Pierre Fontenot lived in Louisiana. Join: Louisiana Families Project Discuss: louisiana

Biography

Pierre Fontenot has French origins.

Pierre "dit Bellevue" Fontenot, son of Jean Louis dit Colin Fontenot and Louise Angelique Perigaud Henri, was born c.1727 at French Fort Toulouse, "des Alibamons"-- where the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers join the Alabama River in south central present-day Alabama.^[1] He was counted on a census in 1771 as 39 years old,^[2] and in 1777 as 50. ^[3]These documents date of birth at 1732 and 1727, respectively.

He married Marie Louise Doucet at Fort Toulouse c.1755, the date estimate based on the age of their oldest child listed on the 1771 census.

They migrated west to Louisiana, probably to avoid the British takeover of the fort, which began in 1763. In 1771 they were counted on the Spanish Louisiana census of the Opelousas Post, with five children.

Census: 1771 Opelousas, St. Landry, Louisiana^[2]

• Pierre FONTENO, 39;
• wife, 33;
• one daughter, 15;
• one son, 12;
• one son, 5;
• one daughter, 7;
• one daughter, 2.
• There were 30 cattle, 3 horses, on 6 arpents without title.

They were counted again in Opelousas in 1777 with seven children and one slave.

Census: May 1777 Opelousas, St. Landry, Louisiana ^[3]

• Household # 22:
• Pierre FONTENAUT, 50, with 34 cattle, 5 horses, 10 hogs;
• Louise DOUCET, wife, 40;
• Garcons [boys]
• Simon, 18;
• Henry, 10;
• Laurent, 4;
• Julien, 3.
• Filles [girls]
• Felicite, 14
• Francoise, 7
• Zaire, 1
• Slaves: 1 slave named Pierre 40 nègre

Children

• See here for more children. Also refer to the two censuses above this list.

1. Marie Angelique (dit Bellevue) Fontenot (c.1757) married Noël Ètienne Soileau
2. Simon (c.1759) married Marie Louise Moreau
3. Marie Felicite Fontenot (c.1763)
4. Jean Baptiste Fontenot (1764)
5. Marie Francoise (c.1770) m. (1) George Demarets. m. (2) Jean Baptiste Dupouey
6. Henri (c.1767) married Eugenie Soileau.
7. Laurent Fontenot (c.1772) married Mare Jeanne Brignac.
8. Marie Louise (1777) married Francois Brignac.
9. Isabelle (c.1780)^[4]
10. Pierre (1782) married Francoise Roy.
11. Genevieve (c.1780) m. Antoine Lambert.

Pierre died on 15 September 1811.^[5]

Research Notes

Two Fontenot brothers, Henri (b.1742) and his older brother, Pierre, (b.1726) married two sisters, Marie Louise (b. 1752) and her older sister, Louise, (b. 1726). It was not uncommon for siblings of one family to marry siblings of another. It was not uncommon for siblings to share part of a prenom. I would like to discover the elder Louise's entire prenom.

Sources

1. ↑ Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Individual Records. Preire Fontenot.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Winston De Ville, Opelousas Post: The Census of 1771 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Claitor's Publishing, 2010) p. 15
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Winston De Ville, "Southwest Louisiana Families in 1777: Census Records of Attakapas and Opelousas Posts" (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Claitor's Publishing, 2010) p. 18; Note: (Cites Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, at the General Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain; legajo 2358, folios 258 -300)
4. ↑ Hebert, SWLR CD:
   • FONTENOT, Isabelle (Pierre & Marie Louise DOUCET) bt. 14 May 1780 Spons: Jacques DESHOTEL & Marie Louise FONTENEAU. Fr. L.M. GRUMEAU (Opel. Ch.: v.1-A, p.22)
5. ↑ Hébert, SWLR CD:
   • FONTENOT, Pierre dit Bellevue bur. 15 Sept. 1811 at age 85 yrs. Fr. Louis BUHOT (Opel. Ch.: v.1, p.119)

See also:

• Reenactment at the reconstruction of Fort Toulouse
• Ancestry Family Trees: Rider/Deshotel Family

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Fontenot-747 created through the import of Rider_Deshotel Family 040809.ged on Jul 21, 2011 by Nadine Rider.
• Fontenot-919 was created by Simone Soileau through the import of Noel Soileau GEDCOM.ged on Sep 3, 2014.