Life History

Notes

• Feb 16, 1797 was baptized SUZANNA b. 14 May 1796 of the legitimate marriage of LOUIS PERTUY and MAGDELEAINE VANOIS [Benoit] of this parish,
  god-father Albert Bardoutt "Sergent du regiment de la louzianna" [Sergeant of the Louisiana Regiment]
  god-mother HENRIETTE VAESE, grandmother of the child who signs with us
  /S/ ALBERTO BERDU
  TENESH RICE
  JANIN curé [priest] (p 40)
  --  Original records translated and transcribed by Dorothy Jones Core, University of Arkansas Libraries, http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/ref/collection/CAPA/id/695
  
  Arkansas Marriages to 1850
  Susan Pertuis
  Spouse Name Stephen Vasseur
  Marriage 5 Sep 1815 Arkansas County
  
  The records are kept in today's Arkansas County.  In 1812, at the accession of the State of Louisiana, the balance of the Louisiana Territory of the United States was designated as the Missouri Territory.  "December 13, 1813, the County of Arkansas, Missouri Territory, was formed, and the county seat was fixed at Arkansas Post."
  --  "Arkansas Territory," Arkansas Genealogy, http://www.arkansasgenealogy.com/history/arkansas_territory.htm
  
  "Louisiana (Spanish: Luisiana, French: La Louisiane) was the name of an administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1802 that represented territory west of the Mississippi River basin, plus New Orleans. Spain acquired the territory from France, who had named it La Louisiane in honor of their king Louis XIV in 1682.  Spain was largely a benign absentee landlord administering it from Havana, Cuba and contracting out governing to people from many nationalities as long as they swore allegiance to Spain. During the American War of Independence, the Spanish funneled their supplies to the American revolutionists through New Orleans and the vast Louisiana territory beyond."
  --  Louisiana (New Spain), Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_(New_Spain)
  
  France under Napoleon recovered the whole of Louisiana, which had been lost to Spain in the Seven Years' War, and then sold the whole thing to the United States in 1803.  US administration was implemented in stages, usually indicated by changes in name, as regions were defined and organized.  Thus at Arkansas Post (or the surrounding region), Susan was born in New Madrid District of Louisiana, in New Spain.  She was married in Arkansas County of the Missouri Territory, of which Arkansas Post was the county seat.  By 1819 they lived in the Arkansas County of the Arkansas Territory.
  
  Background information is provided by a Vasseur genealogist on this couple's family.
  
  ------------------
  Louise Jardelat 1633, died Unknown; married Etienne Le Vasseur 16 April 1798 in Post of the Arkansas, La.Terr.1634; born in Quebec1635; died Unknown.
  
  In the Jardelat sources the children of Pierre Jardelat and Marie Languedoc include a Marie Louise, baptized in 1772, and a Louise or Louisa Jardelat. I had thought that they were one person, but in Doc. 091, at Louisa Jardelat's marriage to Etienne Le Vasseur, Marie Louise, Pierre, Alexis, and Joseph Jardelas were assisting in the ceremony, and Marie Louise Gardela and Louise Gardela Le Vasseur both signed as witnesses.
  
  In Doc. 091, on p.44, there is a baptismal record for Natole Vasseur, born 16 July 1818, child of Etienne Vasseur and Suzanne Pertui. Natole Vasseur is the Godfather and Delphine Vasseur is the Godmother. Baptism was 30 May 1820. Is this the same Etienne Le Vasseur and did his first wife, Louise, die? On 1 June 1820, Rene Victor Vasseur was baptized (born 28 June 1809) child of Etienne Vasseur and Louise Jardela. The Godfather was Etienne Vasseur and the Godmother was Delphine Vasseur. On p. 51, there are baptisms of two more children of Etienne and Suzanne Pertuis on 23 Jan. 1830: Stanislas Vasseur, born 9 March 1826 and Caroline Vasseur born 30 Nov. 1827.
  
  In Doc. 095, Arkansas Colonials, in the 1798 Census for the Arkansas Post, Estevan (Etienne) Le Vasseur and his wife Luisa [Jardelat] Le Vasseur have two young sons, Estevan, and Anathole (but no Atanase). It is possible that the son Estevan was later the Etienne that married Suzanne Pertui (Pertuis) and that their child Natole was born in 1818---Etienne would have been around 20 at Natole's birth. He could have been born before they married in 1798, as their son Atanase was born in 1796. Need to do more research on this.
  --  Ancestors of Anne Elizabeth Healy, http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/f/i/e/Anne-E-Field/GENE12-0023.html
  ------------------
  
  It is not clear when/if they had a resident priest in Arkansas Post.  We know in the case of Susan's parents, they were married in a community marriage before witnesses, then some years later their marriage was confirmed and recorded by Father Janin, who records Susan's baptism above at the time of her parents' marriage.  Births that are dated before the marriages in this Catholic community may be accounted for by this situation.
  
  References and records are spotty, and there are records for some individuals and marriages that I have not been able to place within the family units documented.  And vice versa, there are some individuals for some we have references and an idea where they fit and cannot find records to confirm.  There are also some names we cannot connect to this known family line.  Much information gleaned form references in various historical documents or later histories are disconnected from any narrative that reveals their relationships.
  
  Suzanne Pertuis
  Birth 14 May 1796, Death [Unknown]
  Parents:
  Luis Pertuis
  Susana Magdeline Vanois
  Marriage 1818 to Etienne Victoire Le Vasseur II b 1792
  Son of Etienne Victoire Le Vasseur & Francisca De Loeil d 1789
  Grandson of Stanislas Le Vasseur & Francisca De Loeil d 1789
  Children:
  Benjamin Le Vasseur
  Anatole (Natole) Le Vasseur 1818 -
  Stanilas Le Vasseur 1826 -
  Caroline Le Vasseur 1827 -
  --  Scroggins, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/38489608/person/19243313438?ssrc=&ml_rpos=1&ftm=1

Sources

• 1. University of Arkansas Libraries
• 2. Arkansas Marriages to 1850
• 3. Ancestry Trees