Summary of a study on the origin of the contemporary Tabuteau families Etude in Haiti.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Nantes, Bordeaux and La Rochelle were the main centres of commercial maritime traffic between France and her colony of Saint-Domingue. It was from here that passengers who settled in Saint-Domingue would embark. It is from these three ports that three Tabuteau families, apparently with no connections, departed to settle in this flourishing island. These families came from three regions:

A Pierre Tabuteau, born at Angeac-Charente, from a family of river boatmen (tonneliers), embarked at Nantes bound for Léogane, with his wife and a party of children, in 1787. He set himself up as a merchant seaman, (marchand pacotilleur), at Bainet, near Jacmel. The family were all from Petits-Blancs. We can not trace them beyond October 1793.

From La Rochelle, from a family of Hugenot merchants, Louis-David Tabuteau who died at Mirebalais in l'Artibonite in 1759 had two daughters by a free-born quarter-caste, Marguerite Duchemin. Their daughter, Louise-Félicité, retained her father's name after marriage, and passed it on to her children. They are then traced at Jérémie in 1778.

The third Tabuteau family, who embarked from Bordeaux and originated from Blaye, in Aquitaine, on the Gironde. Merchants, they settled in the Nippes quarter, in the parish of l'Anse à Veau. There were two brothers and a sister, only one of which is traced here.

This was Pierre Tabuteau, who had a habitation, that is, a plantation, which is located in the district of Hauts de la Grande Rivière, near Baradères, with the name of Ravine d'Ovivet, in the parish of St Anne. Pierre Tabuteau lived with his family. Both his first and second wives were creole, quater-cast, free-born: Jeanne Piète, known as Rossignol, and then, after her death, Victoire Poitevin, with whom he was living at the time of his death.

The parish registers have only survived from 1764 and even then there are gaps! We do not know the exact dates of birth of his first three sons, who were from his first wife, Jeanne Rossignol, and who are mentionned in his will, executed and registered on 29 August 1786, but we can deduce them from reading the marriage contract of Pierre-Louis Tabuteau, one of the three brothers.

For the four children that followed, to his second wife, Victoire Poitevin, we can resort to the parish registers which are still in existence. The baptism certificates of his first two sons bear the name of their father who has signed at the bottom, legalising their paternity. The third son was born after the death of his father, thus the certificate does not bear his signature. However his death certificate bears the name of his father. He died two years later, bearing the surname of Tabuteau.

Marriages between mulattos an colonists were not authorised. Thus we have no marriage certificate which could give us useful details.

In his will, Pierre Tabuteau acknowledges the paternity of all of his children. Their mothers were free-born, thus the children had full citizenship, and legally carried the surname Tabuteau. The Tabuteau families from Haiti thus have a direct Tabuteau lineage.

One of Pierre and Jeanne's children married Sophie Denis, according to a marriage contract of 25 Septembre 1797. This is as far as we have traced this branch. So although the branch has survived, we can not make the connections after 1797.

Later we find that a Jean-Baptiste Tabuteau married a Marie-Françoise Adélaide Azor, from a well-known Haitian family. Their son, also Jean-Baptiste, married a Louise-Clotilde Mazile. From there, we have another two generations. One B.Tabuteau signed the Constitution of 1806 (see L'Histoire de Haïti by Madiou). He has probably left some biographical evidence.

Thus it remains to connect these branches of family history. We should be able to fill the gaps with the help of documents which still exist in Haiti. For the more recent gaps, we should be able to find certificates or other legal documents or memories of Tabuteau family members who once lived or still live in Jérémie.

Information to fill in these gaps can be sent to the address below.

Philippe Ed.Tabuteau
Email: [email protected]
Le Brûlis
4 Adam Street
NARARA NSW 2250
AUSTRALIA

20 April 2000