Jacques Julien Livaudais (abt. 1696 - 1773)

Born about 12 Sep 1696 in Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France

Husband of Marie Genevieve Babin De La Source — married 3 Jan 1733 in New Orleans, Louisiana, New France

Descendants

Died 6 May 1773 at about age 76 in New Orleans, Louisiana, New Spain

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Biography

Jacques Julien Livaudais migrated from France to Louisiana.

Jacques Julian Enoul de Livaudais was born the 12th of September 1696 at Saint-Malo, Ile-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France. Saint-Malo is a port city surrounded by granite walls, once a haven for privateers (pirates approved by the king). He was the son of François Esnould De Livaudais and Marie Françoise Guillamette Le Jaloux du Verger.

He was an officer in the East India Company, a Chevalier de l'Ordre de Saint Louis or Knight in the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis. He was Chief Captain in charge of the Port of New Orleans and surrounding ports for the French.

Jacques Julian married Marie Genevieve Babin LaSource on 3 January 1733 in St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, Louisiana.^[1]

Sieur Livaudais' will, dated 29 April 1773, listed nine heirs. In her will dated 3 March 1801, Madame Livaudais stated that she had 18 children, nine of whom lived to maturity.

Their known children were:

1. Jacques François (Philippe) Enoul de Livaudais, born 1735
2. Marie Genevieve de Livaudais, born 1736
3. François Enoul de Livaudais, born 1741
4. Marie Antoinette Enoul de Livaudais, born circa 1743
5. Jeanne Françoise Enoul de Livaudais, baptized 4 October 1746
6. Jean Enoul Beaumont de Livaudais, born 1749
7. Marie Eulalie de Livaudais, born about 1752
8. Joseph Enoul Dugué de Livaudais, born 22 April 1754
9. Jean Balthazar Enoul de Livaudais, born 27 April 1757

Following are excerpts from histories of Captain Enoul de Livaudais' career:

Julien Enoul de Livaudais, Sieur des Croix, figuring prominently in the annals of the French.

In 1712 (?) Jacques Enoul de Livaudais, a naval engineer, was sent by the King of France, Louis XIV, to inspect the ports in his American provinces. Proud of this mark of esteem, Jacques Enoul set off for Canada on this special mission. Having to remain some time to examine the harbors and fortifications, he studied the conditions of the country and sent in a minute report of what he had seen. While in Canada, he became a friend and companion of the Le Moyne family, who are so well known under the names of Bienville, Iberville, de Longueuil and Sobral. The Count de Livaudais, now inspector general of the ports and harbors of the American provinces of France, proceeded to Mobile, thence to New Orleans, where he finally decided to remain. In 1733 he married Mademoiselle Genevieve Babin de la Saume, by whom he had ten children, four daughters and six sons. Louis XIV, pleased with his services, conceded enormous grants of land situated miles apart in the Province of Louisiana. Homes were built in what are now parishes of Lafourche and Orleans and the Teche region by the sons and daughters.^[2]

Creole Families of New Orleans by Grace King dedicates a chapter to the Livaudais family. Commencing on page 214 Governor Bienville writes to the Minister in France:

We have had the honor, M. Salmon (the Commissaire) and I, to write to you in favor of M. de Livaudais, sent by the King of Louisiana as pilot. He should be made Captain of the Port.^[3]

In Bienville's letter, he writes that he "particularly recommends M. de Livaudais as an officer to be retained." A marginal note says, "he is a nephew of Lavigne Voisin, a famous corsair of St. Malo."

"Following this, Livaudais was made Captain of the Port, a title that should be rendered 'Captain or Surveyor of the Ports,' for it comprehended the charge of all the ports of Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast."^[3]

It is interesting to note that the entire New Orleans "Garden District" was once one of Sieur Livaudais' properties.^[4]

There was but one highway leading above the river, and this was 'The Tchoupitoulas Road.' Along this road commencing about Delord, the upper extremity of the Faubourg Ste. Marie, and extending toward the magnificent Livaudais plantation, was a succession of beautifully located villas and agricultural establishments. All along Tchoupitoulas Street there ran a low levee planted with willow trees, and during the season of high water, when the batture then forming was thoroughly immersed, the long western keel boats and barges, as well as the unseemly flatboats, or chalands, would make fast to these trees and thence discharge their cargoes.

After the receding of the spring and summer floods, these flatboats, of enormous construction and unfit for a return voyage, would be left high and dry upon the batture front, and then be broken up for fuel and building purposes. The strong side pieces, or gunwales, were used in the suburbs as footpaths or side banquettes in lieu of our present brick-paved sidewalks. Upon these wooden trails, as it were, pedestrians had to make their way through immense vacant spaces, for there were but few buildings toward the rural precincts, leading to the Livaudais plantation, which constituted that portion of New Orleans which now forms the Fourth District.

On the way to that wealthy estate, the river front was lined with a continuous series of delightful rural residences, surrounded with orange hedges, orchards and well-tended gardens. The great Macarty crevasse, in the spring of 1816, submerged the rear portions of the numerous plantations. The Livaudais estate was one of the heaviest sufferers from this calamity. A great misfortune this, for Mr. Francois Livaudis. The planting of a crop or several hundred hogsheads only yielded twenty-eight hogsheads of sugar; and the splendid residence, commenced about that time, was never finished, affording even to these latter days the spectacle of an abandoned castle, that went afterward by the name of the 'Haunted House' (near Washington Avenue).

The value of this plantation became greatly enhanced on account of its being raised several feet by the remaining deposit, or alluvial settlement, of the Mississippi water. A company of speculators acquired by purchase a great part of this estate, which is now the beautiful Garden District, and which took its rise from this very circumstance of the overflow.^[4]

He died 6 May 1773 in New Orleans.

Sources

1. ↑ Sacramental records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Vol. 1,1718-1750, Earl C. Woods, editor (New Orleans, LA: Diocese of New Orleans, 1987 ) pp. 97-98.
   • ESNOUL DE LIVAUDAIS, Jacques [@JacqueJ (Jacques ESNOULD and Marie LE JALOUX), native of St. Malo in Brittany, port captain, m. Marie Genevieve [@Geneviefve] BABIN LA SOURCE, Jan. 3, 1733, w. DUMANOIR FAUCON, the groom's uncle, CIMARD DE BELILLES, SCIMARS DE BELLILE [@SCIMARD], METAlS DE LA TOUR, MASSY, Francoisse JALOT, Marie CARIERE, PETIT DE LlVlLLIERS, DE BONNILLE, NEVEU, VEU, Marie FAUCON (SLC, B1, 58)
2. ↑ US Genweb Archives, Louisiana; citing an extract from Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form], by Alcee Fortier, ed., volume 3 (Century Historical Assoc., 1914) pp. 754-755.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Grace King,Creole Families of New Orleans (Baton Rouge, LA: Claitor's Pub. Div, reprint, 1971) pp. 212-220
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Henry C. Castellanos, New Orleans As It Was: Episodes of Louisiana Life, copyright 1895, second edition (New Orleans: The L. Graham Co., Ltd., 1905; New Orleans: Pelican Publishing Co., 1961); p. 336-338

See also:

• Ancestry.com, Ancestry Family Trees, Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, "Rider/Deshotel Family" by nrider1961, Ancestry Profile for Jacques Julien De Livaudais.