Elizabeth A. Lyons

Elizabeth married William Wade Shaw in 1842 in Louisiana. William (son of John C Shaw and Margaret Camilla Newman) was born on 6 May 1819 in Louisiana; died on 11 Feb 1892 in Bee Co, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Rebecca Camilla Shaw was born on 3 Jul 1843 in Vermillion Parish, Louisiana; died on 2 Sep 1921 in Cedar Bayou, Harris Co, Texas; was buried in Barber and Williams Cem Mont Belvieu, Barbers Hill, Texas.

Notes:

Occupation: Farmer, Plantation Owner, Sugar Chemist (Bootlegger)
Succession APR 1826 Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana (#393)
Succession 28 AUG 1829 Lafayette Court House (#164)

David married Margaret Rebecca Merriman on 14 Jul 1822. Margaret (daughter of Jean (John I) Merriman and Anne Marie Berwick) was born on 12 Jan 1804 in Louisiana; died on 10 Oct 1859 in New Iberia, Louisiana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

son of John and Nancy Ahart)
Wit: marriage of Joseph Ephrem Forman & Marie Charlotte Stout 15 Jul 1813)
--
According to historian, Mary Allice Fontenot, on the night of September 27, 1819, a band of armed men forcibly entered Lyon's home, tied up Lyon, his wife and children, and threatened to take their lives if they resisted. The men spoke English and pretended to be officers of the government. The intruders ransacked the house and carried off the linen and wearing apparel of the family. Ten slaves were taken. An investigation found that the bandits were led by George Brown, one of Jean Lafitte's men. Captain J.H. Madison, commander of a United States schooner, the Lynx, found Lafitte at Galveston, Texas. Lafitte delivered the bandits to the authorities except for Brown, the leader, who Lafitte hung from a gallows.
Source: Title: Acadia Parish Louisiana, a History prior to 1900.
Abbrev: Acadia Parish History, Vol. 1
Author: Fontenot, Mary Alice; Freeland, Paul B.
Date: 1976; Text: p. 75
--


Died:
L'Anse Robert, now known as Robert's Cove, St. Landry (now Acadia) Parish, Louisiana.

L'Anse Robert, now known as Robert's Cove, St. Landry (now Acadia) Parish, Louisiana.

John married Rachel Marie Forman on 30 Mar 1804 in Attakapas Post, St. Martinville, St.Martin Parish, Louisiana, and was divorced on 21 May 1824 in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Rachel (daughter of Joseph Ephraim Forman, Sr. and Elizabeth Brown) was born in 1787 in North Carolina; died after 1860 in Louisiana; was buried in Big Woods Cem, Edgerly, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Forman, Marie (Ephreme & Elizabeth Brown) m 30 Mar 1804 John Lyons (SM Ch v. 5 # 13)

Forman, Marie (Ephrem & Elisabeth Brown of Opel) m 30 Mar 1804 John Lyons (John & Nancy Ahart) of Opelousas) All Protestants. Wits: Antoine Dronet, David Harman, Jean Claude Perrilliat. Fr. Etienne Viel (SM Ch: v.5, #13)

Notes:

children and descendants at Rootsweb:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=samlyons&id=I4637

Married:
a Marie Charlotte married Hoffpauir by Commandant of Opel Post in 1804

Married: 30 MAR 1804 1 in St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church at Attakapas Post - now, St. Martinville, St. Martin Par., LA 1
Divorced: 21 MAY 1824 in St. Landry Par., LA
(SW Louisiana Records and St. Martinville Ch Records, V.5 #13)

Jean married Anne Marie Berwick on 10 Jun 1794 in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Anne (daughter of Thomas Berwick, (immigrant) and Eleanore Helena Brigitta Wallace (or Walles)) was born on 14 Oct 1774 in St. Martinville, St Martin Parish, Louisiana; died on 15 Jan 1832 in Louisiana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Berwick, Marie (Thomas & Hypolita Wols) m 10 Jun 1794 Jean Merriman (Ople Ch v. 1, p 50)

Notes:

Between 1813 and 1816 two of Thomas Berwick's daughters also left St. Mary Parish. In 1813 a list of persons subject to taxation in the parish included William Prather, who had married Aanes Imoqene Berwick and John Merriman, married to Mary, who was also called Polly, Berwick. But two civil suits filed in December 1816 show that by then the Prathers had moved to Opelousas, and the Merrimans had moved to St. Martin. Later the Merrimans moved to SL (St. Landry); Mary, settling on Bayou Said. John Merriman was active on several police jury committees.
https://archive.org/stream/AttakapasGazette/1986_Vol21_djvu.txt

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Protestant
• Possessions: 04 Mar 1790, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana
• Possessions: 1801, Bayou Queue de Tortue, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana
• Will: 04 Sep 1834, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana; inventory

Notes:

They were in Pensacola Florida when their son, Gabriel was born.This is stated in record of marriage of Gabriel to Nancy Burleigh. GC Chv 1p 6.
Bapt. record of their son John said that John and Anne Ahart were of Georgia.

writeup found in Ancestry:
JOHN LYONS, SR., was the first Lyons ancestor of which we have record. He was born about 1757. John?s father may have been Samuel Lyons but there is no proof of this.

According to one family legend, the Lyons came from Ireland and Scotland. According to another they came to this country from Nova Scotia about the time of the American Revolution.

It is not known when the first Lyons reached Louisiana. Some members of the family believe that the Lyons first settled in Georgia or Tennessee. However, it is certain that John Lyons, Sr. was in Louisiana prior to 1801 for in that year he purchased some 6000 acres of land in what is now Vermilion and Acadia Parishes. The land is situated on both the North and South sides of Bayou Queue de Tortue.

John Lyons, Sr. was the father of at least seven children:
1.MICHAEL LYONS, born about 1777.
2.John Lyons, Jr.
3.Gabriel Lyons
4.Elizabeth Lyons
5.Samuel Lyons
6.William Lyons
7.David Lyons

John Lyons, Sr. married Nancy or Ana, Ahart. It is thought that all of John?s children were born of this marriage; however, Michael, the eldest child, might have been by a previous marriage.

According to the Lyons? Family Bible, Nancy Ahart Lyons died on June 1, 1809, and John Lyons, Sr. died on August 23, 1835. He died at his home place on Bayou Queue de Tortue.


Possessions:
04 MAR 1790
(Juan de Lion an inhabitant of Pensacola) petitioned for a land concession 80 by 40 arpents at the mouth of Bayou Vermilion on the right bank descending and the last high land on the bayou to form a vacherie and to make oak timber for the construction of boats.
source:
4.Title: La Raconteur: Record Group P85-190 at Louisiana State Archives
Abbrev: Lyons, John La Raconteur
Date: 1995

Possessions:
land on the south side of the bayou "50 arpents front by the ordinary depth" (40 arpents) from Celestin la Tortue, Chief of the Attakapas, for $87
source: Title: Acadia Parish Louisiana, a History prior to 1900
Abbrev: Acadia Parish History, Vol. 1
Author: Fontenot, Mary Alice; Freeland, Paul B.
Date: 1976; Text: p. 12

Will:
The inventory of his estate was taken at "the plantation and last residence of the late John Lyons of said parish....situated on the Bayou Queue de Tortue, distant about fifty miles from the Courthouse of said Parish."

John married Nancy Anne Ahart about 1775. Nancy was born in 1761 in Georgia or Virginia; died on 1 Jun 1809 in Plaqueine Brulee, Acadia Parish, or St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Protestant

Notes:

A careful look at the list below will show the research on this line needs some work; the dates do not fit together very well. If you have additional info please share it!

There are 2 children John M Lyons listed and I initially thought they were probably the same person but the dates of spouses don\\\'t align.

John M Lyons is born in 1783 in GA
- He marries Marie Hayes 27 Oct 1800 in Opelousas and is listed as a Protestant
- Marie Hayes dies 17 May 1826
- yet the record shows they have a son Aborn born in 1829 (3 years after she died)
- He marries Rachael Marie Forman 30 Mar 1804, according to the notes in a Catholic church
- Rachel and he have a son David Lyons born in 1798 (5 years before the wedding)
- and their son John L Lyons III is born 5 Jul 1804 (4 months after the wedding)
- Rachel and he divorce(!) 21 May 1824
- He marries Rebecca Gilchrest 19 Jun 1826 (1 month after Marie dies and 2 years after the divorce from Rachel).

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1810, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana

Notes:

Forman, Ephrem m Elizabeth Brown (Opel Ch)


"I have this couple listed in my gen database as Joseph Ephriam Foreman, Sr., and Mary Elizabeth Brown. He was the son of Edward Foreman, Sr., and Mary Burnett. Her parents are unknown. Ephriam m. 2nd Charlotte Gaskins.

"I do not believe either Ephriam or Elizabeth was born in Opelousas. The reported birth places of their children are VA or NC, NC, and SC. It appears that Ephriam did not arrive in MS Territory until the last couple of years of the 18th century or the first couple of the 19th.

"From what little data I have on the early Foremans, it appears that they did not move to LA until the early 1780s. Before then, some of them had been in the Natchez area for an unknown time. I don't know if Ephriam ever moved to LA. Some of the Foremans stayed in MS; some who came to LA went back to MS."

/s/ L. V. Hayes
lvhayes@worldnet.net

http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.louisiana.parishes.evangeline/235.1.1/mb.ashx




Census:
Free White Males 10 to 15: 1 (1795-1800)
Joseph Ephraim 1798

Free White Males 16 to 25: 1 (1785-1794)
Asa 1795

Free White Males 45 and Over: 1 (1765)
Ephraim - abt 1766

Free White Females 10 to 15: 1 (1795-1800)

Elizabeth (1800)

Free White Females 26 to 44: 1 (1785-1794)
Charlotte (wife)

Number of Household Members Under 16: 2
Number of Household Members Over 25: 2
Number of Household Members: 5

Older children grown/gone.

Ephraim Forman Opelousas, Louisiana 2 2 5
Looks like no wife....

Also:
George Forman Opelousas, Louisiana 1 2 2 9
James Forman Opelousas, Louisiana 2 1 4

next to Francis Hofpower
also Thomas Hayes

Joseph married Elizabeth Brown about 1785. Elizabeth was born about 1765 in North Carolina; died after 1792. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Berwick, Thomas of England m Eleanor Helena Birgitta Wales of Ireland (SM Ch)
Berwick, Thomas, succ. dated 16 Jan 1792 (LSAR: Opel.: 1792)

Berwick (the town) and Berwick's Bay and Bayou Barwick are all named for Thomas Berwick. He came to the area a few years after marrying Helena Wallace in 1768. Gov. Galvez (Louisiana was a Spanish territory at the time) turned down his petition for land near Natchez. Instead, Galvez granted Berwick land in the Attakapas district and hired him as the surveyor for the district. Some sources claim that he was the first Anglo settler west of the Mississippi.

Thomas Berwick and the Berwicks were prolific (he and his wife had 10 or 11 children) in St. Mary, St. Martinville, St. Landry parishes until beginning of the 20th century.
Berwick's Bay and Bayou Teche were strategic during the Civil War and most of the Berwicks homes and land (they were sugar planters) were pretty much demolished by the fighting (land and naval.)

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/LA-LGHS/2000-04/0955155462

Thomas married Eleanore Helena Brigitta Wallace (or Walles) about 1770. Eleanore was born on 14 Aug 1748 in Dublin, Ireland; died before 17 Jun 1789 in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Berwick, Thomas, widr. of Helene Walles succ. dated 17 Jun 1789 (LSU-Archives; Opel #4)

Name:
last name recorded as Wales in SW LA books

Notes:

Thomas Berwick and his wife are identified somewhat differently in various records throughout the Opelousas and Attakapas districts. Thomas is variously identified as a native of England, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania. His wife, who is identified as Eleonore Wales,
Helene Walles, Elenore Helene Birgitta Wales, and even Elena Ouzez, is also somewhat mysterious since it is not clear where and when they married.
https://archive.org/stream/AttakapasGazette/1986_Vol21_djvu.txt