Jean Baptiste Berard, who came to the Attakapas area or St. Martinville area circa 1760 and built a home in the town of St. Martinville, presently known as the Castillo Hotel, and Jean Baptiste Berard was married to Ann Broussard, who was a Acadian ancestry and they were the parents of several children, one of whom, Christine Berard was the wife of Agricole Fuselier de la Clair and a son, Achille Berard, was the husband of Hortense Boutte, and Jean Baptiste Berard owned a large plantation, which comprises a portion of the present day town of St. Martinville, where the St. Martin Parish Courthouse is presently located and the Southern end of the town of St. Martinville, the part of the town that you past as you enter the town of St. Martinville from New Iberia. In the early 1770's when violence was begin waged between the CAttle barons of the Attakapas area, who let their large herds of cattle roam around the praries of Attakapas unattended and many cattle became wild due to this practice. Following the exile and resettlement of the Acadians in the Attakapas area, many of the Cattle barons absorbed many of the herds of cattle that were domesticated and belonged to the newly arrived Acadians. Of course, there was a public outcry which led to the then Louisiana Governor Alexanderjo O'Reily requiring the construction of fences, the restriction of movement of the herds of cattle, and the periodic slaughtering of wild cattle. The wealthy Flammand brothers, who also had the surname of Grevemberg, and were owners of many of the wild cattle roaming the praries of Attakapas, convinced the postponement of slaughering of the stray cattle, this was the root cause where the Acaidans were led by Jean Baptiste Berard and Claude Boutt, who was also a Frenchman, to slaughter a significant number of the wild livestock and as a result of this action, the Flammand brothers whose surname was Grevemberg demanded that the Commandment Alexander DeClouet of the Post of Attakapas place the ringleaders in jal. This action led Jean Baptiste Berard to be interrogated in the death of Jospeh Broussard on August 19, 1774

Prior to coming to St. Martinville, Louisiana or the ATtakapas area, Jean Baptiste Berard was a merchant in St. Louis.
It is very possible that Jean Baptiste Berard, who was a native of the Dauphine area of France and came to Louisiana was a relative or a close friend of Edouard Andre Masse' who was also a native of the Dauphine area and it is rumored that Masse' gave Jean Baptiste Berard his plantation lands in St. Martinville from lands that Edouard Andre Masse' had received in a French land grant.