Josephine Eva Boudreaux, daughter of Numa Williamson Boudreaux, was my  great-grandmother. Her father was Numa Williamson Boudreaux, and he could trace his roots through Louisiana and Acadia, back to Michel Boudrot and Michelle Aucoin of France and Acadia.

Michel Boudrot was present for a baptism on September 21 1639 in the role of the first syndic of Port Royal. He was probably in Acadia prior to that, coming before 1732. In the first Acadian census of 1671, he was listed as a laboror, age 71, with his wife, Michelle Aucouin, age 53. He had the title of lieutenant-general of the jurisdiction of Port Royal. He and Michelle Aucoin had eleven children born between 1642 and 1666.

Excellent web sites that present the history of l'Acadie and have information on Michel Boudrot are: l'Acadie Heritage Before 1755 and   Michel Boudrot (in French). You can also do an Internet search for Boudreaux genealogy, which will bring up various Boudreaux genealogical databases. A particularly good one, with some history, is Boudreaux of South Louisiana  by Kevin R. Boudreaux.

My branch of the family comes from Zachary Boudrot, great-grandson of Michel Boudrot. Zachary and his family suffered terribly during the deportation of the Acadians by the British in 1755, losing most of his family on the long sea voyage to Europe. Zachary's family, after living in France and seeing two more generations born there, came to Louisiana in 1785 with the great expedition of Acadians who quit France for South Louisiana at the invitation of the Spanish government.

Zachary's grandson, Joseph Marie Boudreaux, and his wife, Anne Marie Dugas, lived in Labadieville, in Assumption Parish. Their son, Charles Maxille Boudreaux, married to Marie Phelonaise Vais, moved to Terrebonne Parish.

Numa Boudreaux was a private in the 26th Louisiana Infantry during the War Between the States, and he was at the siege of Vicksburg, where he was wounded and taken prisoner. After months of seige by the Union forces, Vicksburg surrendered July 4, 1863, the day after Pickett's tragic charge and the defeat of the Confederate army at Gettysburg. These two battles marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Numa, taken prisoner, was paroled at Napoleonville after he signed an oath of allegiance promising never to take up arms against the United States again. The war lasted for two more long years, but Numa had done his part. He went home to Terrebonne Parish, where he married after the war, at Houma on January 25, 1866, to Zeolide Blanchard, daughter of Sylvere Blanchard and Marie Celesie LeBlanc.

According to family members, Numa was quite a colorful character and he lived to a ripe old age. He never forgot that he was a soldier for the Confederacy, and supposedly kept some of his wartime regalia and dressed in it for special occasions, such as parades. He also had a book of names, and he personally named many of his grandchildren and great-granchildren, choosing names like Euphemie and Felida. Each Sunday, he would take a small portion of his government pension and buy peppermint candies, which he would dispense to the little children outside of church after Mass.

Among copies of primary documents concerning Numa Boudreaux in the possession of this researcher are his application for his Confederate Pension, which gives many details of his family and his service to Louisiana, and it told of him suffering a crippling injury to his hand at Vicksburg. In the packet of papers from his file, there was a hand-written letter from him.  He wrote the letter after the 1915 hurricane which devastated South Louisiana, and he asked if it were possible for the State to give him a small increase in his pension, since he lost his garden and his cows, from which he derived his livelihood. Writing in flowing French,  he signed it "Un Vieux Soldat, Numa Boudreaux" (an old soldier, Numa Boudreaux).

Numa Boudreaux's daughter, Josephine Eva Boudreaux (Eva) married to Louis Althee Champagne (Alte), and they were the parents of my grandmother, Lillianne Eloise Champagne.

My descent through Numa from Michel Boudrot and Michele Aucoin is as follows:

1. Michel Boudrot (1601 - c. 1694)and Michele Aucoin
2. Charles Boudrot (1649 - 1727) and Rene Bourque
3. Jean Baptiste Boudrot (1683 - c. 1742) and Cecile Corporon
4. Zacharie Boudrot (1711 - ) and Marguerite Daigle
5. Paul Dominique Boudrot (1761-1832) and Marie Olive Landry
6. Joseph Marie Boudreaux (1785 - ) and Anne Marie Dugas
7. Charles Maxille Boudreaux (1814 - 1876) and Marie Phelonaise Vaise
8. Numa Williamson Boudreaux (1840 - 1934) and Zeolide Blanchard
9. Josephine Eva Boudreaux (1866 - 1931) and Louis Althee Champagne
10. Lillianne Eloise Champagne (1891 - 1981) and Joseph Marcellin Falgout
11. Berthille Marie Falgout (1914 - 1982) and Lee Peter Lottinger
12. Barbara Ann Lottinger (1937 - )