Jean Louis Fontenot

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89624744/jean-louis-louis-fonte...

Baptism: 18 December 1686, St. Jean de Montierneuf at Poitiers, France

He was the progenitor of all Fontenot's in the country

Emigration: 1764, He was the first Fontenot to arrive in Opelousas, Louisiana, which was under Spanish rule at the time.

Military service: Bet. 1720 - 1730, "...he was assigned to Captain Mervilleux's Company at Fort Toulouse where most of his children were born."

Military service (cont'd): 1720, serving in a colonia marine detachment assigned to Fort Toulouse in the heart of Alabama Indian Country. (Located at the junctions of the Coosa and Tallapoosas Rivers.

Additional Biography per the "Evangeline Historical Society, The Fontenot Family, A Genealogical Study of The Descendants of Jean Louis Fontenot dit Colin and Louise Angelique Henry. ":

Our ancestor, Sergeant Jean-Louis Fonteneau, left home (Poitiers, France) in 1720 on the ship "Drommadaire" for assignment in the colonies. He came through Mobile, the French military headquarters and the seat of government for the Louisiana territory, and was initially assigned to Fort Conde near Mobile. In 1726 he met and married a young widow named Marie Louise Henrique in Mobile. She was about 27 years old and Jean-Louis was 40. Shortly afterward, he and Marie moved to Fort Toulouse, some 300 or so miles up river from Mobile and remained there for many years afterward; enough time to have and raise 12 children (8 boys, 4 girls). Jean-Louis died at the fort in October 1755 and Marie and the rest of the family remained there until it was surrendered to the English in 1763. Rather than submit to English rule, the family and many of their Indian friends moved west and resettled on land grants in Spanish controlled Louisiana. It is from this family that all of us descended. The spelling of our last name was probably changed to its current spelling by the Spanish census authorities when the family settled in Louisiana. Our progenitor's (Jean-Louis) remains lie in an unmarked grave at the cemetery at Fort Toulouse.

All Fontenot's in the United States are descendants of Sergeant Jean Louis Fontenot (Fonteneau). Jean Louis was one of six children born to Joachim Fonteneau and Joane Prado from the St. Germain Parish in Monturneuf, city of Poitiers, France. He was born on December 18, 1686. Jean Louis joined the French Colonial Marines as a young man and left France in 1720, at the age of 34, for assignment in the Mobile (Alabama) military district. Six years later (February 8, 1726) he married a widow from New Orleans (Marie Louise Henrique) and was assigned to the Poste aux Alabama (Fort Toulouse) shortly afterwards. Based on "roll call" records at the fort in the mid 1700s, it appears that Jean Louis was the only sergeant at the garrison of about 40 soldiers. He and Marie Louise had twelve children, 8 sons and 4 daughters, all born at the post. When these children became of age (teenagers), the boys joined the marines and married daughters of other marines and the girls married sons of other marines at the fort. Family names for the spouses were Doucet, Brignac, LaGrange, Lobell and Berthelot.

louis Dis Colon Fontenot.

Sergeant Jean-Louis Fonteneau, left home (Poitiers, France) in 1720 on the ship "Drommadaire" for assignment in the colonies. He came through Mobile, the French military headquarters and the seat of government for the Louisiana territory, and was initially assigned to Fort Conde near Mobile. In 1726 he met and married a young widow named Marie Louise Henrique in Mobile. She was about 27 years old and Jean-Louis was 40. Shortly afterward, he and Marie moved to Fort Toulouse, some 300 or so miles up river from Mobile and remained there for many years afterward; enough time to have and raise 12 children (8 boys, 4 girls). Jean-Louis died at the fort in October 1755 and Marie and the rest of the family remained there until it was surrendered to the English in 1763.

By Merrick ("Sonny") Fontenot - Please visit his website for more info.

Fort Toulouse is the ancestral home of the Fontenot family in America. It is also the ancestral home of two of my ancestors, Commandant Louis Marchant and his wife, Creek Princess Sehoy I. Sehoy and Louis are the great grandparents of William "Red Eagle" Weatherford, the famous Indian Chief.

Louis' nickname at the Fort Toulouse was "Debonair".

GEDCOM Note

Check death date.

GEDCOM Note

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. <i>Find A Grave</i>. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi. 1,60525::0

GEDCOM Source

1,60525::47499243

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. <i>Find A Grave</i>. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi. 1,60525::0

GEDCOM Source

1,60525::47499243

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc Filby, P. William, ed. <i>Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s</i>. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012. 1,7486::0

GEDCOM Source

Place: Louisiana; Year: 1726-1799; Page Number: 38 1,7486::1295423

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. <i>Find A Grave</i>. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi. 1,60525::0

GEDCOM Source

1,60525::47499243

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. <i>Find A Grave</i>. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi. 1,60525::0

GEDCOM Source

1,60525::47499243

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc Filby, P. William, ed. <i>Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s</i>. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012. 1,7486::0

GEDCOM Source

Place: Louisiana; Year: 1726-1799; Page Number: 38 1,7486::1295423

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ Switzerland, Select Baptisms, 1491-1940 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. <i>Switzerland, Baptisms, 1491-1940</i>. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. 1,60170::0

GEDCOM Source

1,60170::1305602

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ Louisiana, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1791-1890 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations Inc Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp.. <i>Louisiana Census, 1810-1890</i>. Compiled and digitized by Mr. Jackson and AIS from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes. 1,3550::0

GEDCOM Source

1,3550::9372414

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@R703549614@ Family Data Collection - Deaths Edmund West, comp. Ancestry.com Operations Inc 1,5771::0

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1,5771::912202

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@R703549614@ Family Data Collection - Individual Records Edmund West, comp. Ancestry.com Operations Inc 1,4725::0

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1,4725::885101

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ Family Data Collection - Births Edmund West, comp. Ancestry.com Operations Inc 1,5769::0

GEDCOM Source

1,5769::1570626

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ Switzerland, Select Baptisms, 1491-1940 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. <i>Switzerland, Baptisms, 1491-1940</i>. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. 1,60170::0

GEDCOM Source

1,60170::1305602

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=159754148&pi...

GEDCOM Source

@R703549614@ Gulf Coast Colonials 1,48030::0

GEDCOM Source

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FLHG-GulfColonials&h... 1,48030::168415