Jean Baptiste Brasillier was the godson of Jean Baptiste Baudrau dit Graveline...named in Graveline's 1750 Will as recipient of his entire estate. Graveline died in January 1762. Jean Baptiste Brasillier was still alive in February 1763 (LHQ) living at Bayou St. John.

Can someone locate the baptism record of Jean Baptiste Brasillier? Who are his parents? Does anyone know if the property of Graveline was deeded to Jean Baptiste Brasillier after Graveline's death in 1762?

Please contact me direct at: mart2542@aol.com
Thanks.

Jean Baptiste \Brazillier\ dit Tourangeau, born before 1702, died 1775, was the son of Louis \Brazillier\ dit Tourangeau Sr. and Jeanne Charlotte Tremant of Pascagoula.

Jean Baptiste married Marie Pelagie \Lorreins\ dit Tarascon on August 17, 1748. I don't believe they had any issue.

After Jean Baptiste died, Marie Prlagie Lorriens married Andres Jung, on January 15, 1779 in New Orleans. If there are any children from her second marriage, I do not know of them.

Thank you for this information, Jerry. Jean Baptiste Baudreau dit Graveline executed a Last Will and Testament dated 1750 in which he named Brazillier (his god-son) as his heir, thereby disinheriting his only son, Jean Baptiste Baudreau II. Baudreau II died in 1757 and, as far as I know, that 1750 Will was still in place when Graveline died in 1762. I'm trying to determine if Brazillier did indeed inherit Graveline's estate at his death in 1762. You say that Brazillier did not die until 1775. Do you know if Brazillier did indeed inherit?

Hi Barbara,
I do not know about the will of Jean Baptiste Baudreau Sr., written in 1750, but I do have an interesting record of a petition filed by Jean Gregoire Volant on September 20, 1747. Jean Baptiste Baudreau Sr. was the husband of Marthe Lavergne, aunt of Marthe Chauvin, who was married to Jean Gregoirie Volant on January 30, 1736 in Mobile. Volant was born in 1707 in Province of Savoy, Switzerland, and was commissioned a commandant of the fourth company of the Swiss Regiment of Karrer in 1747. He was later (1754) awarded the coveted cross of St. Louis, becoming a Knight of the Royal and Military Order of St Louis. In 1748, he moved from Mobile to New Orleans and became a planter, living on a six arpent plantation.

The petition goes as such:
1747, September 20 - A Petition was filed with Mr. Le Normant, Commissioner of the Marine and Ordonnateur and First Judge in the Superior Council, by Sieur Jean Gregoir Volant, acting in the name of his wife, Marthe LaVergne, and Jacques Chauvin [Jr., son of Marie Anne LaVergne and Jacques Chauvin Sr.], as nephew of Marthe LaVergne, wife of Sr. [Jean Baptiste] Baudreau Graveline [Sr.], and her presumptive heirs, who brought dowry and acquired considerable community property with her husband [Baudreau]; requests sale of all that is left, that sales previously made be declared null and void, and that said Baudreau Graveline, who is almost senile, be not allowed to have fortune dissipated by his son from a clandestine marriage, and whom he has legitimated.
This son could not act in previous sales, being civilly non-existing. Prayer that said Baudreau be sent here to avoid entire loss.
signed: Volant; Chauvin; Garic "avocat."

Notice that Volant declares in the petition that Baudreau Sr. was "almost senile" on September 20, 1747. I wonder what his ailment was and what condition he was in in 1750 when his will was made out? This petition appears to have reached Baudreau on October 25, 1747, when a notice of citation was served on Sr. Beaudreau, inhabitant of the Pascagoulas, at the domicile of the Procureur General, by Sheriff Lenormand. (LHQ, Vol ? p.980).

On January 12, 1748, a notice of citation was served on Srs. Volant and Chauvin at their domicile, and on Sr. Beaudreau, called Graveline, "in the prison of this city," to furnish defence to the petition of Sieurs Vollant and Chauvin. signed: Lenormand (document badly stained).

My records show that Baudreau Sr. was married twice: To "Suzanne" in 1710 (she died in 1713); Then to the above-mentioned Marthe LaVergne sometime before September 20, 1747. In addition, Baudreau Sr. had two children by "Oqui the Indian." They were Magdalaine \Baudreau\ dit Graveline, born abt 1710 in Mobile, and Jean Baptiste \Baudreau\ dit Graveline Jr., born about 1715. It is this Baudreau I assume you refer to as cut out of any inheritance.

Magdalaine Baudreau, Jean Baptiste Jr.'s sister, married Pierre Joseph Paquet Jr. on May 26, 1726 in Mobile, when she was about 16 years old. I have four children for the marriage of Magdelaine Baudreau and Pierre Joseph Paquet. I also have another husband for Magdalaine Baudreau, Alexander St Martin Chenet, but I do not have a date or any children from him.

Jean Baptiste Baudreau Jr. was a notable character in history. He had an illicit affair with Henriette Huet, but I do not know if he had any children by her. The petition by Volant seems to suggest possible children. On March 1, 1734, he married Marie Catherine Vinsonneau "of La Rochelle, France." I have four children by this marriage. Baudreau was described as a "Creole of Dauphine Island" when he married Catherine.

Whatever Jean Baptiste Baudreau did to warrant a violent death, I do not know. On June 7, 1757, he was executed in New Orleans. He was "broken on the wheel," a method whereby the victum had his limbs, ribs, and other bones broken while they were alive, and then placed on the wheel to die. Later, they were beheaded and their bodies cut into four parts, with each part being attached to an arm or leg. Based on Governor Kerlerec's written account, we know this was the horrible death suffered by Jean baptiste Baudrau at New Orleans on June 7th, 1757 (JEAN BAPTISTE AND HENRIETTE, by Randall Ladnier 1995).

In 1781, a Spanish land grant at Horn Island was made to the widow Catarina Boudreau of Pascagoula. In 1998 a lawsuit worth tens of millions of dollars by her heirs is pending. I have her death occuring in 1778. Among Jean Baptiste Baudreau Jr. and Catherine Vinsonneau's descendents were Ladners, Hingles (Bangs), Lewis, Rabys, Bosarges, and Baudreaus.

These are my ancestors also. My grandmother was Margaret Azelie JUNG.

RobertGordon
rcgordon@cox.net

Re: Jean Baptiste dit Graveline Baudreau II: What he did to warrant such a tortuous death at the wheel. Jean Baptiste Baudreau II was the illegitimate half-breed son of Native American Indian Suzanne. His father married Suzanne well after-the-fact in an attempt to legitimize him. The son couldn't be blamed for the circumstances of his birth, however, after he married (at age 17) 19 year old Marie Catherine Viconneau, three children quickly followed, about a year apart. There was almost 5years before their 4th child was born. What he was dong in between was having an illicit liaison with Marie Henriette Huet, by whom he had two illegitimate children:
1. Julie Baptiste Huet b. Dec 1743 m. Jacques Milon on 21 Dec 1761 - 8 children
2. Pierre Baptiste Huet b. Mar 1745 d. 14 Jan 1836 m. Marguerite "Jacob" Hamon in 1778 - 8 children.

He infuriated French authorities, who imprisoned him on kidnapping charges after he ran off to Havana with Marie Henriette.

Apparently, the French authorities kept up their vendetta against Bandreau, charging him for various crimes, illegal salvaging, mutiny by the soldiers at the prison and killing the the commandant. Goveror Kerlerec had him court martialed and he was sentenced to death.