Imbeau -- A First Family of Arkansas

              Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
Oct 1984
IMBEAU - A FIRST FAMILY CF ARKANSAS
Page 5
IF there was an hereditary society "First Families of Arkansas",
and IF criteria for membership required proven descent from a docu-mented
resident prior to 1750, the rolls would not swell rapidly.
The reason is twofold. First, even if the standards were "broadened
to include all whose ancestors merely traveled through the Arkansas
since DeSoto's trek in 1541, the applicants would still be small in
number. There simply were numerically few explorers, adventurers,
hunters, settlers or troops on the scene before 1750. Second, the
paucity of extant records of colonial Arkansas and the widespread
distribution of even these would serve as deterrents to all except
the most dedicated and persevering of researchers.
Reader response to, "But everybody knows the Imbeaus were descen-dants
of the Quapaw Indian tribe, undisputed residents of Arkansas
during this time," is anticipated. The rebuttal is also twofold.
First, the Quapaws had not developed a written language so there are
no records to prove eligibility on this descent. The Europeans, as
they arrived on the scene, generated documents about the tribe in
general, but information about individual Indians and/or family units
is limited to non-existent. Second, not all Arkansas Imbeaus are
Quapaw descendants. However, all are Louisiana Creole descendants
whose immigrant ancestors came to the colony from France as early as
1720.
After nearly a decade of wandering up and down the Mississippi
Valley in person and by correspondence, spreading the word of interest
in any and all references to colonial Arkansas, the Imbeau break-through
came in a letter from Alice Daly Forsyth, Archivist, at that
time, of the church registers of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, (l)
Previously, Mrs, Forsyth had assisted in locating Imbeau baptismal
records of known Arkansas connection and was aware of my interest in
the surname. It was during the manuscript preparation of the volume
of Louisiana marriage contracts co-authored with Ghislaine Fleasonton,
that she wrote, "Here's one (record) may be of some help: (2)
"30 January 1758 Sieur JEAN BAPTISTE IMBEAUD, a resident
of the Illinois, and a native of this Parish of this City,
Bishopric of Quebec, minor son of deceased Aubert Imbaud
and of deceased Louise Marchand, stipulating for the minor,
Anselme Billot called la Jeunesse, entered into a marriage
contract with
CATHERINE MEUNIER, minor daughter of Martin Meunier, a res-ident
of this City, and of Louise T&lebaud, her father and
mother, a native of this Church Parish and City.
Signing on the part of Sieur JEAN BAPTISTE IMBAUD, the
named Anselme Billot, his brother, Joseph Bailly, a resi-dent
of this City, his friend.
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
Oct 1984 Page 6
And for the above named CATHERINE MEUNIER, Mr. Martin
Meunier, her father, Pierre Hardy and Francois Sanson,
her friend and a friend of her deceased parent.
This marriage to be solemnized in the Holy Roman Gatholic
Church.
Hie future groom and Sieur Bailly declare they cannot
write and have made an ordinary mark.
Signing - CATHERINE MENYER, SOGNY, LAJUENESSE, THOMASSIN.
PIERRE HARDY, CHANTALON, Notary"
All doubts were erased with her added notes "You no doubt
know how many times the girls were called by their father* s first
name ... " This was one of the many name variants to watch for in
researching French colonial records of which I had not, heretofore,
been aware. Without Mrs. Forsyth's gracious sharing of her exper-tise
gained through the years in working with these records, the Ark-ansas
Imbeau story might well still be concealed...at least from this
researcher,
"Uiat explains the two La Jeunesse households enumerated by
Commandant deCLouet at Post of Arkansas in December of 1?68I" I mut-tered
to myself. (3) The pieces and bits begin to fall into place.
The common denominator, MARIE LOUISE MARCHAND, mother of both Jean
Baptiste Imbeau and Anselme Billette, directs the search. (4)
In 1758 males in the French colony attained majority at age 25.
Based on the preceding marriage contract, Jean Baptiste Imbeau would
have been born in New Orleans after 1733« The indices to the extant
marriage records 1720 - 1733 held by the archives of the Archdiocese
of New Orleans and published in the NEW ORLEANS GENESIS (5) yielded
possibilities: L 0 U I S E HARCHAND with LAMBERT REIBAUT
MARTIN MUNIER with LOUISE TANTIBOTTE
Odds were promising that the Munier-T&ntibotte would be perti-nent.
If Louise Marchand was a "Widow Billette" at the time of the
above marriage, the corruption of the groom's name could be accepted
as Mrs. Forsyth had advised in our first letter exchange in 1973 that
some of the earliest registers in the archives had been re-copied due
to deterioration of the originals and allowances had to be made for
possible calligraphic misinterpretation by the copier in the spelling
of the names.
It was jubilee day down on the farm when Mrs. Forsyth's reply
arrived with translations of the records of these unions:
"MARRIAGE ENTRY in BAPTISMAL BOOK I (1731-1733) page 55 - Act 9
LAMBERT REIBAUT called LaJEUNESSE, Corporal in the Company
of Mr. de Pradel, native of La Coll e, St. Paul, in Provence,
Diocese of Vannes, son of Etienne Reibaut and of Francoise
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
Oct 1984 Page 7
Reigaut •"»
Married 9 February 1732
LOUISE MARCHAND, native of Derdon, Bishopric of Vannes,
widow of Pierre Billiet called LaJeunesse, who died at
Natchez, daughter of Guillaume Marchand and Nicolle
Desroche."
"MARRIAGE BOOK A - Page 200 - Act 355
MARTIN MUNIER, native of Cobre (?) of Chainau, Bishopric
of Cambray, son of Hugues Munier and of Marie Jeanne Houdau
Married 19 April 1730
LOUISE TANTIBOTE, Native of Lorient, Bishopric of Vannes,
daughter of Jean Tibotte (sic) and of Marie Frualle.
widow of Jean Louis Longueville who died at Natchez."
Here revealed are the paternal and maternal immigrant ances-tors
of the Arkansas Imbeaus. Supplementing these cited records is
the documented presence in Arkansas of "Pierre Imbeau dit LaJeunesse"
on 23 Oct 1743 and of "Louise Marchand dit LaJeunesse" on 10 July
1744 as previously noted in Grand Prairie Historical Society publi-cations.
(6) The clincher is a French colonial document dated
1 January 1756 found in the Kaskaskia Manuscript collection archiv-ed
in the old court house of Randolph county at Chester, Illinois.
English summary from microfilm held by Stuttgart Public Library:
"28 Jan 1756 - Sale of land at Sainte Genevieve by Lambert
Imbeau dit La Jeunesse, of Ste. Genevieve, and Anselme
Billet dit La Juenesse, of New Chartres, joint heirs with
Imbeau's son Jean Baptiste, of the late Marie Louise Marchand,
to Antoine Hanau of Ste Genevieve far 250 livres, the
land is part of the community property of Lambert Imbeau
and the late Marchand according to the note of Commandant
McCarty and Buchet on a petition of 5 Apr 1752. Executed
at New Chartres." (7)
It was during the era of the Company of the West (1717-1732)
that the immigrant ancestors of the Arkansas Imbeaus arrived in
North America. The "Mississippi Bubble" may have burst and John Law
may have been the greatest "con-man" of all times> nevertheless, this
was the most creative and prosperous period of the French domination
of the lower Mississippi Valley. Before the 1720-21 collapse of Law'
paper financial empire, many recruits for the colonization of Louisi-ana
had been lured by the glowing accounts of the awaiting opportu-nities.
Shipload after shipload of Europeans left French ports bound
for Louisiana 1718-1721. These immigrants were predominately French
and German, but some were English, Irish, Swiss and Bohemian. Some
came by choice, Some were forced to come. A few were prisoners,
exiles and adventurers—some even minor noblemen—but most were til-
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Oct 1984 Page 8
lers of the soil, tradesmen and soldiers.
The wilderness facing those who survived the hazardous journey
across the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico soon amalgamated
these disparate groups into one with a common problem—survival as
they faced the everyday perils of colonial life. Death and disappoint-ment
were constant companions as they struggled against the primitive-ness
of the envoirnment and fought to protect families and homes from
the native Indians. The hardy among these pioneers began the trans-formation
of the vast wilderness here in the heartland of this conti-nent
and left a legacy of a new beginning for their descendants.
These were the times and conditions here when the French forbears of
the Arkansas Imbeaus quit their native land in search of a better
life.
It could be that "REMBAULT" on the list of the "Troops" who left
la Rochelle, France on 26 January 1719, on the Marechal de Villars
commanded by M. Meschin, bound for the Louisiana colony, is the immi-grant
Imbeau. (8) Almost certainly he is the corporal "LA JEUNESSE"
in Pradel's Company on the 2 December 1731 "List of those Persons com-prising
Companies Stationed at New Orleans". (9)
Lambert Imbeau's French area of origin, La Colle, St. Paul, is
still identifiable in the Alpes Maritimes Department of present day
France. Situated only a short distance inland from one of the most
famous coastlines in the world, it is north of the French Riviera
city of Nice. Protected by the Alpes Maritimes, the countryside in
this portion of old Provence breaks out in a riot of exotic vegetation;
orange, eucalyptus, lemon, olive and pink laurel fill the air with
their perfume, while palm and cactus lend a tropical atmosphere to the
scenry. Only a short distance to the west is Grasse, the cradle of
France's perfume industry today. Immigrant Imbeau could scarcely
have been native of a region of France of greater renown today than
the sun-kissed Cote D'Azur.
When Marie Louise Marchand arrived in Louisiana has not been
established. (lO) Neither is it presently known whether she married
Billette before or after coming to the colony, Pierre was in the
Natchez area where he met his death as early as 7 April 1722 when he
attested the copy of a marriage record made by the keeper of the In-dies
company's storehouse on the concession of Mr, le Blanc at the
Yazoo, (ll) In the fall of 1721 the Inspector General of the Troops
of the Province of Louisiana wrote back to France: (l2)
" ... Ihe principal establishment of the concession of Mr.
le HLanc is among the Yazous. ,,. There are about 140
persons in this concession—clerks, working men, women
and children, including also officers and soldiers. ..."
It could be that Billette and Marie Louise were among those 140
-persons. More than likely, she and their son,Anselme, were not in
Poitou
THE PROVINCES OF FRANCE
UNDER THE OLD REGIME
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the area when "Pierre Billy, called La Jeunesse, a Gascon," was killed
in the Massacre on 28 November 1729 near the Natchez Post by neigh-boring
Indians. (13) Documentation of Marie Louise's presence in the
colony has not surfaced prior to the cited 1732 marriage to Imbeau.
(14) The location of her native "Derdon, Bishopric of Vannes", in
France has also remained an enigma. One speculation is that, in the
recopying of the marriage record, "Redon", a town in the old province
of Brittany (some 30 miles east of Vannes on the Atlantic Ocean) be-came
"Derdon".
Pre-nuptial information about the maternal immigrant ancestors of
the Arkansas Imbeaus is more precise than that for the paternal.
Martin Meunier left the port of Lorient, Prance, on the Seine bound
for Louisiana on 11 August 1720. He was recruited as a "worker, an
edge-tool maker, for the concession of Mr. le Blanc and the Marquis
Dasfeld". (l5) In December of 1721 he appears on a "List of Com-pany
Workers Who are Actually in Louisiana" as "Martin Meunier, saw-year,
performance rated passable". (l6) In 1722 he was employed at
New Orleans as a "sawyer" for an annual salary of 150 livres. (l?)
On a 15 January 1723 "List of Workers Retained in Louisiana" he is re-ported
to be one of the men "who was hired to saw lumber because the
work of their trade was no longer required". (18)
Place names "Cobre (?) and Chainau", given in the Meunier-Tfeinti-bote
marriage record, have not been located. However, there was at
that time an Archdiocese of Cambray in Prance (19), and there still
can be found on modern maps towns "Corbie" and Cambrai". Corbie is
a short distance from Amiens, the location of France's largest Gothic
cathedral with a spire soaring 370 feet in the air. Cambrai is some
35 miles northeast of Amiens, near the Belgium border. Martin may
have been a native of one of the North of France provinces—Flanders,
Artois or Picardie,
Louise Tantibote came to Louisiana as a young girl with her par-ents.
She is the only one of the parents of the Louisiana Creoles
from whom the Arkansas Imbeaus descend whose parents are now known to
have immigrated to North America. Among the workers for the Ste,
Catherine concession (located in the Natchez area) who embarked on the
Company of the Indies ship Loire at the port of Lorient in August of
1720 bound for the colony weret (20)
On the same ship was the engage "Jean Louis Longueville, nail-maker"
(21) destined far the Ste. Reine concession located on the
Mississippi River about "7 lieues" upriver from New Orleans. (22)
Possibly it was during the long and tedious voyage to Louisiana that
Louise Tantibote and Longueville first became acquainted. Sometime
Jean Tatibot
Marie Freval
Louise Tatibot
Jullienne Tatibot
Shoemaker
Washerwoman
A young girl
An infant
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Oct 1984 Page 11
between the 1720 departure from the city of her birth and the death
of "Louis Longueville - worked on the Kolly concession", during the
Natchez Massacre (23), they were married. No issue of this union has
been determined.
Admittedly, this little more than brings to center stage the
stars of this scene, "Imbeaus on the Way", in the drama that was co-lonial
Arkansas, It does give direction to hoped for additional re-search
efforts by others.
Dorothy Jones Gore
NOTES and REFERENCES;
(1) Mrs. Forsyth is now retired and currently serves as the Eiitor
of THE NEW ORLEANS GENESIS.
(2) Forsyth and Pleasonton, Louisiana Marriage Contracts (1725-1758).
Polyanthos, New Orleans (1980), p 215
(3) "Census of the Inhabitants at Arkansas Post, 2 Dec 1768", AGI,
PC, Legajo 107:58
(4) Core, Dorothy J., Abstract of the Catholic Register of Arkansas,
(1764-1858), Grand Prairie Historical Society, DeWitt (1976), p 83, Burial record of Anselme
Billette.
(5) THE NEW ORLEANS GENESIS, Genealogical Research Society of New
Orleans, Vol. V, Nos, 19 and 20
(6) Core, Dorothy J, "Arkansas Through the Looking Glass of 1743
Documents", Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN, Oct 1979, p 16-24, and Core, op. clt.,
Abstract. Appendix A, p 74
?) Kaskaskia Document 56:1:28si
8) Conrad, Glenn R., The First Families of Louisiana. Claitor's Pub-lishing
Division, Eaton Rouge (1970), Vol. 1:31
(9) Ibid., 211
(id) There was a "Guillaume Marchand from Gennes" bound for the la
Houssaye Concession who sailed from La Rochelle in May of 1718
on the Duchess de Noailles for Louisiana. He is not shown as
accompanied by a family. No connection as yet has been made
with Marie Louise.
(11) Kaskaskia Manuscript Collection, Randolph County, Chester, 111.,
Document 27:10:23:1
(12) "Early Census Tables of Louisiana", LaHSQ, Vol. 13j222
(13) Conrad, op, cit,, First Families, Vol, 11:133, l4l
(14)Marie Louise Marchand's presence in Louisiana at an earlier date
is suggested in baptismal records in the St. Louis Cathedral
Archives, New Orleans, wherein her son, Anselme Billette, named
as the maternal grandfather of two children of Charles Refeld
and Marie Magdalene Billette, is said to be "a native of this
City" (New Orleans),
(15) Conrad, op. cit., First Families, Vol. 1:107
(16) Ibid., 214
(17) Ibid., 217
(18) Ibid., 220
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Oct 1984 Page 12
(19) Olivier, Reginald L., Your Ancient Canadian Family lies, Everton
Publishers, Inc., Logan, Utah (1972), p IX
20) Conrad, op, cit., First Families. Vol. I:ll6, 117
21) Ibid., 109
22) Ibid., Vol. IIi8
23) Ibid., 133, 142
The Grand Prairie Historical
Society will honor the trlcenten-nial
of Arkansas Post and the sesqulcen-tennial
of Arkansas's statehood with the
publication of another volume of records of
the people of colonial Arkansas. Included
will be all located French and Spanish cen-sus
enumerations and militia rolls. Co-com-pilers
are members Dorothy J. Core and Morris
S. Arnold, Work has been underway for two
years and availability is projected for January 1986. Pre-publication
information will appear in the October 1985 issue,
New publications now available from Grand Prairie Historical Society member R, W. Ehonau are:
Marriages of Jefferson County, Arkansas (l872-l8?8) - contains 108
pages and continues the marriages to 1871 in Mr. Ehonau's 1980 publi-cation
i860 Census & Marriage Records of Jefferson County; and Drew
County, Arkansas, i860 Census Report - contains 117 pages printed in
the order of the original to show housing arrangement and neighbors.
Both volumes have surname index, size 8| x 11 with soft cover,
priced $15.00 postpaid. Order froms R. W. Dhonau, 4410 Lee Avenue,
Little Rock, AR 72205.
NEW MEMBERS
Louise Baltimore, Los Banos, CA
James E. Clark, Mantee, MS
M/M Nelson Eidlemon, Memphis, TN
M/M Harold Heflin, Bimond, OK
M/M Ralph Haller, Gillett, AR
John Laurens III, Charleston, SC
M/M Velibor Perlich, MI
Robert E. Sampson, San Diego, CA
DIED at age 85 on 25 October 1984 ROY PHILIP BOGY, son of Joe Pete
and Nancy Kirby Bogy, and father of Grand Prairie Historical Society member, Dorothy Bogy
Hillhouse, of Pine Bluff,