EVOLUTION OF THE PATRONYMIC ROGER(S)

Some of the descendants of Roger Caissy were victims of the deportations that began in  1755. The two male descendants that survived the wretched conditions of the deportations and reached Louisiana were Jean Caissy dit Roger, son of  Alexis and Marie-Joseph LeBlanc and Joseph Caissy dit Roger son of Michel Caissy and Rosalie Comeau . The patronymic “Roger” came from the given name of Roger Caissy. Descendants of both of these men continued the name “Roger” and eventually “s” was added to the end of the name of some descendants to form the patronymic “Rogers.”  It appears that the “s” was  added as a result of (1) usage by the individual or more probably (2) assumptions about  the spelling of the name by the recorders of the various vital records. In the case of some of the descendants of Jean Caissy dit Roger (who by the year 1770 had dropped the “Caissy dit” and used the name Jean Roger) the “s” began to appear at the end of the name toward the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.

  CATHERINE AND JOSEPH CAISSY IN LOUISIANA

Catherine Caissy, the daughter of Michel and his first wife Catherine Poirier, married  Jean-Baptiste Bergeron, probably the son of Augustin and Marie Rose Melancon.  They had 4 children: Magdelaine, Ositte, Jean Baptiste and  Charles. Jean Bergeron is on the list of prisoners at Halifax in 1763 with his wife and four children. Since some of the Halifax prisoners made it to Louisiana and we find Jean-Baptiste and Catherine in Louisiana in 1766, the Jean Bergeron in the list of prisoners must be Jean-Baptiste and his wife Catherine. They have a fifth child in Louisiana, Marie Anne, in the summer of 1765 who died at age 2 months. The census of 1766, St. James to Donaldsonville shows Catherine is widowed from Jean Baptiste Bergeron and living with Mathurin Landry and her half brother Joseph Caissy.

Joseph Caissy, born in 1744,  is the son of Michel and his second wife Rosalie Comeau. In 1763, Joseph was still a minor. Majority was 25 at that time. It is quite conceivable that he was then under the care of his half sister, Catherine, and her husband Jean-Baptiste Bergeron. And, since it is safe to assume that Jean Baptiste Bergeron came to Louisiana from Halifax, it follows that Joseph must have accompanied them on that voyage. Joseph arrived in Louisiana under the name of Joseph Quessy dit Roger. He is the first cousin of Jean Caissy dit Roger.  The census of Cabahonocey in 1766, St. James to Donaldsonville, shows Joseph Quessy dit Roger, 21 is living with his half sister Catherine Caissy [he is listed as her brother]. They occupy lot number 52 on the west bank of the Mississippi. Joseph’s wife-to-be, Anastasie, widow Robichaux (Anastasie had married Amable Robichaux on 1 June 1758)  lives with her 3 children by Robichaux on the lot next to Joseph's. In the 1769 census Joseph is listed as "Joseph Roget called Query" age 23 and is living by himself on the right bank of the Mississippi in the Donaldsonville area. Widow Anastasie is still living nearby with her children by Robichaux. Joseph marries Anastasie on 2 November 1769. 

In 1770 he and Anastasie are listed in the census:   Joseph Roger 22; Anastazie Dugas, his wife 32; Henry Robichaux,  his stepson 8, Jean Baptiste Robichaux, his stepson 7; Louis Robichaux,  his stepson 3. Note: There was a fourth child, a daughter of Anastasie and Amable Robichaux, who would have been 5 years old .  She does not appear in any further records and probably died.

In 1770 Joseph was  listed in the militia of the Acadian Coast as Joseph Roger, 23, (born in) Acadia, bachelor.

In the 1777 census of Ascension of Lafourche des Chetimachas, Joseph has 20 arpents of land and keeps goats. He and his family are listed in the census:  Joseph Roger  28; Anastazie Dugas, his wife 38; Joseph Roger, his son 5; Francois Roger, 5; Marie Roger, his daughter 7; Henrie Robichaux, 16, his stepson; Jean Baptiste Robichaux, 15; Louis Robichaux, 9.

JEAN CAISSY DIT ROGER IN LOUISIANA

Alexis, his wife and children including Jean may have been on the ship Edward Cornwallis which was used to transport Acadians into exile. On 17 November 1755, the ship arrived in Charles Town, South Carolina from Beaubassin carrying 208 deportees and in the company of 3 other transports . At this time, Jean is just a child of 1 to 3 years old depending on his actual birth year. In the list of deportees is an "Alexander See Casie" along with 1 wife and 6 children.  The rationale for believing that this is Alexis, father of Jean, is that the writer probably heard "Alex See Casie" and thought that Alex was short for Alexander. Further, there were no Alexander Caissie’s known to be living in Acadia at that time. Therefore, the assumption is that the spelling is a corruption of the name Alexis Caissy.

But, how did Jean get to Louisiana? It remains a mystery, but there is at least one theory if the above assumption that Alexis and his family were on the Cornwallis is correct: If able to do so, the Acadians were allowed to go elsewhere. Some made their way to Louisiana. A party left in May 1756. The route required approximately 2 months to travel from South Carolina to Louisiana. This could explain how Jean might have gotten to Louisiana. The fate of Alexis is not known.

Needless to say, no records of Jean Roger for the period 1755 to 1770 have been found. In July 1770 Jean Roger appears in the militia list of what is now St. James Parish. He is about 18 years of age in 1770 and is listed as a soldier (enlisted man) serving under Don (Captain) Nicolas Verret. He is later listed in one of the companies for the area around New Orleans in 1779. In 1779, Don Bernardo de Galvez, as Colonel of the Spanish regiment in New Orleans, was Commander-in-Chief of all the Spanish forces in Louisiana. Under the orders of Galvez the militia fought against the British during our revolutionary war. Those men are considered Revolutionary War patriots. Thus, Jean's descendants are eligible for membership in the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution. (1)

Jean married Rosalie Richard on 11 November 1780. In the marriage record, Jean is listed as the son of deceased  Alexis Roger  and  of  Marie LeBlanc, native of the Parish of Ste-Anne in Acadia, Diocese of Quebec; and Rosalie Richard,  daughter  of  Jean Richard,  resident  of  this  place [St. James on the Mississippi], and of deceased Catherine Cormier,  native of the Parish of Ste-Anne,  same  diocese. The marriage record accompanies the succession records for Rosalie Richard found in the St. James Colonial Records.   They had only one child, who was named Rosalie. Rosalie, the daughter, was 7 months old in January  of 1782,  so  she was born in June of 1781 based on the date in the St. James Parish Colonial records. Rosalie Richard, Jean’s wife, died  on  27  July  1781.

In about 1784, Jean married again, this time to Victoria (Victoire) Prejean daughter of Joseph and Marguerite Lacroix. No record of the marriage has been found. They lived along the Lafourche River and are found in several censuses.

The Spanish took these censuses of the populace along the Lafourche river from 1770 to 1798. Jean and his family were counted in the census of 1795 [note the Spanish influence on the spelling of some of the names]:

Juan ROGER  30, Victoria PRECHANT  30, Juan 11, Agustin 8, Rosalia 14 [child by first wife], Celeste 6, Clementa 1, Ana PRECHANT  23  [Victoria's sister Anne]

And again in the census of 1797:

Jean ROGER  31, Victoire PREJEANT, his wife 31, Jean Baptiste, his son 12, Auguste,
9, Rosalie, his daughter 15, Celeste, 7, Clemence, 2

And again in the census of 1798:

 Jean ROGER  45, Victoire, his wife 40, Jean Baptiste, his son 13, Auguste, 8, Maximilien, his son 1, Rosalie, his daughter 14, Celeste, 7, Clemence, 4

NOTES:

(1) Source: Galvez and Other Louisiana Patriots, by Leroy E. Willie, historian General Philemon Thomas Chapter Sons of the American Revolution, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

THE OTHER JOSEPH CAISSIE

There was another Caissie aboard the Cornwallis when it arrived in South Carolina. He was listed as Joseph Kasey with 1 wife and 5 children  This could refer to Joseph, son of Pierre and Therese Mirande. Joseph had one child by his first wife and 3 by his second wife, Marie Gaudet. In 1763, when deportees in South Carolina asked to return to French territory, Joseph and his wife Marie Gaudet are not on the list, but we find Francoise Quecy, 12 years old, orphan living in the home of Simon LeBlanc and Marie Arseneau. She does not appear to have been related to the family of Simon LeBlanc. Now Joseph and Marie Gaudet had a daughter Francoise born in 1751 and  therefore 12 years old in 1763. No other orphans on have been found on those lists who could have been children of Joseph and Marie. In 1760 many of the deportees died during a smallpox epidemic. These details lead to the belief that Joseph and Marie Gaudet were deported to South Carolina, that they died there, and that only one daughter survived. The fate of Francoise afterwards is unknown.

Reference: The Caissie and the Deportation" by Vincent Caissie

Copyright 1999 by Allen John Rogers