The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: ESP
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
De Ville, Louisiana Soldiers in the American Rev., 1991, pg 20
Churchill, The Galvez Expedition: 1779-1783, Register of Infantry Regiment of Louisiana, Roster, Vol. 17, No. 66, March 1978, pg 140
Churchill, BERNARDO de GALVEZ SERVICES TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 04 May 1925, pg 113
Spouse: (1) Anne Francois Alexandre Vielle; (2) Marie Marthe Hubert Bellaire Children: Jean Baptiste Damartin; Jeanne Louise; Jean Baptiste Louis; Nicholas Hubert;
Louis Gerard Pellerin (or Gerard Louis, usually called Louis) was born to Gerard Pellerin and Francois Ruellan. He was baptized in New Orleans on 2 January 1730.
On 29 April 1756, Louis Gerard married Francoise Alexandre Veille in St. Charles Parish (b. aft 1738 in St. Charles Parish). They had one daughter, Marie Francoise (b. 22 Jan 1757, bpt. 13 Feb 1757). Francoise Alexandre died soon after giving birth, or during delivery.
Louis Gerard married Marie-Marthe Hubert Belaire (b. bef 14 Sep 1732 in St. Charles Parish) (whose father was a captain of the French Army) on 21 July 1759 in St. Martins Parish. We know that they had the following eight children who survived childhood: Louis-Jacques-Gerard (b. 1760), Bartheleny-Louis (b. 1762), Nicolas-Louis (b. 1764), Louise-Charlotte (b. 1766), Francoise-Marie-Mathe-Louise (b. 1769), Louis Chatillon (b. 1771), Jean-Baptiste-Louis (b. 1772), and Louise-Josephe (b. 1776).
Louis Gerard chose a military career. He was commissioned on 6 October 1752, as an "enseigne en second" in the French Army for the Louisiana garrison. During his career, he served as an emissary for Governor Louis Billouart de Kerlérec to the French Minister of Marine and Colonies. During this mission, he was detained at the French colony of Saint-Domingue by a British naval blockade of the French Antilles until the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris, which resulted in France ceding control of Louisiana to Spain, while giving control to Britain of lands east of the Mississippi. Upon his return to Spanish controlled New Orleans, Louis Gerard resigned from the French Army.
The new Spanish government appointed him as the first military commandant of the trading posts at Attakapas and Opelousas, which had been established in 1720. He received a concession of 126 acres by 63 arpents at the Opelousas Post, which became the formation for the town of Opelousas today. The end of the Seven Years War caused the immigration of settlers from the posts in Alabama, the Illinois territory, as well as the relocation of the Acadians, who had been imprisoned by the British in Novia Scotia, to the Opelousas area.
During his command, he acquired a 2,700 acre royal land grant along Bayou Bellaire in the Gradenigo Island vicinity, near the Opelousas Indian villages. He was able to establish a trade monopoly with the aboriginal inhabitants, but also instituted despotic rule at the posts, which resulted in the alienation of the Acadians, other French settlers, and the Catholic clergy. Petitions to the Spanish government resulted in his removal from command in 1767. He retired from active service and concentrated on managing his properties. Yet, because of the continued tensions with the British, he was placed on the reserve rolls for the regular garrison. Because of his military experience, he continued being paid, but at half pay.
When Spain declared war on Britain, in support of the American Colonies, the Spanish governor, Bernardo de Galvez, called up the colony's militia, including the garrison reserves. No records indicate that Louis-Gerard accompanied Galvez on his campaigns. Because of the importance of New Orleans to the control of the Mississippi, he remained in New Orleans to assist the militia in protecting the city from the British.
At the age of 56 years, Louis Gerard died in April 1785. He was initially buried in the St. Peter Street Cemetery in New Orleans. With the closure of this cemetery and the establishment of the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in 1789, his remains were re-interned in the new cemetery. His wife, Marie-Marthe, lived to the age of 83 years, passing away on 20 September 1815 in St. Martinville. She was buried in the cemetery of St. Martin-de-Tours in St. Martinville.
(See: American State Papers, Public Land Series (1837); Winston Deville, "Opelousas: The History of the French and Spanish Military Post in America, 1716-1803" (1973); Carl A. Brasseaux, “Frontier Tyranny: The Case of Louis Pellerin, 1764-1767,” McNeese Review (1980); Opelousas Post Colonial Records, 1764-1805, Saint Landry Parish Clerk of Courts Archives, Opelousas, La.)
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.