Enes Baccigalopi is shown holding the brand that belonged to his father. It was lost in the Hurricane of 1918 and was found in 2012.
Below: Baccigalopi Coat of Arms
Below: Baccigalopi Coat of Arms
Family has Italian heritage
(article printed in the Cameron Parish Pilot on August 9, 2012 and written by Nola Mae Ross)
In 1831, a baby boy named Bartholomie Baccigalopi was born to a poverty burdened family in Genoa, Italy. They
were much too poor to support Bartholomie, so at age 12 they approved his actions, when he decided to stowaway on an Italian boat. However he was discovered, beaten, and returned to land. But eventually Bartholomie managed to stay hidden, as a stowaway on another Italian boat heading for America.
This time Bartholomie Baccigalopi crossed the vast ocean and made it to America where his boat landed on the
shore of the Gulf of Mexico. He jumped overboard at the west end of Lake Arthur. As he walked along the
Louisiana shore he came across Mrs. Vileor (Clonise Richard) Theriot, who was there washing clothes. She
took him home with her and thereafter the Theriots raised him as their own son. He was a great help to Vileor, who raised cattle and planted and harvested crops to feed his cattle.
FIRST PIONEERS
According to Mrs. Harold “Butsy” Carter, a historian of Cameron Parish; Vileor Theriot discovered his “Utopia” in Chenier Perdue, where he saw unlimited land and water where he could graze his herds of cattle.
So in the spring of 1847, he tore down his house in Palm-A- Royal, near Lake Arthur, loaded up all the lumber and
material from that house onto a raft and floated the loaded raft down Grand Lake, to the Mermentau, and then on to the small bayou called “Cattail Bayou”, which led him to Chenier Perdue.
With the help of family he rebuilt his house, which stood through at least three major hurricanes. It was partiallyconquered by Hurricane Rita in 2005, and finished off by Hurricane Ike in 2008, thus destroying an old landmark in Chenier Perdue.
Thus the young Italian, Bartholomie Baccigalopi, came to live in the midst of a predominantly Acadian population
in Cameron Parish.
Most of these Acadians had been exiled from Nova Scotia in a tragic confrontation with the British, and after years of horrific living conditions as they traveled along the East Coast, until they found a welcome in Louisiana, and made their way westward across Louisiana to Chenier Perdue in Cameron Parish.
The spelling of the name Baccigalopi has been changed from Baccigalopi. “Baccia” means basin, and “Calupus”
means a flat bottom boat, indicating that the bearer of this surname was working or living where flat boats were
moored near Genoa, Italy.
FAMILY EXPANDS
In about 1857, Bartholomie Baccigalopi married Emma Scholastie Richard, who was Jean Vileor’s half-sister. Like other pioneers of this region they lived off the land by raising cattle, trapping, and farming. Bartholomie originally homesteaded land where Sidney Savoie later lived. Then he eventually bought several hundred acres of land which
legend says he paid a very high price for, at 25 cents per acre.
Emma and Bartholomie Baccigalopi had 10 children. Through the years their children married into area families like the Broussards, Faulks, Trahans, Babineauxs, Conners, Theriots, Savoies, Guilbeaus, and Mudds.
The first child, Joseph, died at an early age. Next came Clarisse Julie, Scolastigie, Bartholomie, Jr., Victoria, Albert, Arthur, Leontine, Larnice, and August Baccigalopi. From their families came many prominent children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren, who have settled from their parents first homestead in Chenier Perdue, Little Chenier,
Grand Chenier, Oak Grove, Cameron, Johnson Bayou, Holly Beach and eastward toward Texas.
Among some of the well known descendants of the Baccigalopi family are John Faulk, who played the bass guitar for the Hackberry Ramblers, a group that played world-wide and won several Grammy Awards; Sammie Faulk, a fishing guide; Dudley Faulk, known world-wide for his duck callers; Terry Faulk, a law enforcement officer; and
Kaleb Trahan, who plays the accordion for the Lacassine Playboys.
Also there is Joey Babineaux, a law enforcement officer; Jimmy and Keith Trahan, hunting guides; Ray Conner, Police
Juror; Myles Hebert, works for the Police Jury; Tanya and Todd Broussard, owners of Broussard Taxidermy; Larry Broussard retired from the sheriff department; Emma and Elie Savoie, whose son, Kent Savoie, is a District Court Judge; and his brother, Joseph Savoie, president of ULL in Lafayette; Cathy Guilbeau, owner of an office supply store that was destroyed by Hurricane Rita; Robert Mudd and his son, Lance, owners of M&C Oilfield; Chad Mudd, an attorney; Chris Savoie with the sheriff department; and Bernie Comeaux who with her husband have a welding
company.
PIONEER LIVING
When the first Baccigalopis settled in Chenier Perdue in about 1848, living conditions were very different than from present day. According to historian Butsy Carter, who says, “Geologists say that the Little Chenier ridge ‘popped
up’ about 2,500 years ago, followed by Chenier Perdue’s surfacing 2300 years ago.
There is proof that Attakapas Indians had settled on the east end of Little Chenier and legend says they were wiped out, with the exception of one man, from a smallpox epidemic brought up the Gulf of Mexico to the Chenier’s by Jean Laffite’s pirates in boats.
The Mermentau River is supposed to have been named for an Attakapas chief, called “Nementau.” The Vileor Theriots, and Bartholomie Baccigalopi, supplied beef for the army during the Civil War years, and then following
the war, during the Period of Reconstruction.
Chenier Perdue flourished, even though it was the smallest of the Cheniers, being only four miles long. Most
traffic such as people, freight, supplies, flowed through this small Chenier with access to the Mermentau River.
Most of the houses built by this pioneer were built from rough lumber and bousssilage (made from moss, and
mud) and had only one room, dirt floors, with a fireplace on the west wall. There were only dirt trails, and transportation was provided by a horse or oxen.
Conditions improved by the time the last of the 10 Baccigalopi children were born. The family now had homemade mills for grinding corn meal, flour and sugar cane crops provided their syrup. They grew large gardens of any vegetables they could get. Since water traffic had become more frequent between Chenier Perdue and Lake Arthur, later Galveston, so they could have salt, coffee and other supplies brought in by boat.
The last five children of the original family were Albert, Arthur, Leontine, Larnice and August. It was said that Leontine and Victoria would write to their relatives in Italy, but they had to wait for Father Bischof to come by to translate the replies they got, because they couldn’t read Italian.
These last Baccigalopi children married into other area families such as the Duhons, Richards, Landrys, Boudreauxs, Millers, Vincents, Sturleses, LeBoeufs, Benoits, Littles, and Eaglesons.
Some of their descendants who are known by the modern generation include Scott Baccigalopi, a helicopter pilot
who was in Iran and had the privilege of flying for President Bush, Vice-president Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice.
Also there was Sybil Clark whose husband Dr. Cecil Clark was proclaimed a hero for his outstanding work after Hurricane Audrey. There are Willard “Yank” Savoie and his sons, who are well known in the heavy equipment field. Thaunia Hardey and her husband operate GG’s; John and Mary Canik operate stores; and Gail and Danny Shay have a shrimp boat; while Rufus “Nu-Nu” Baccigalopi, Mitchell and Brett are part of the band “Jerry & the Teardrops.”
HAPPY ENDING
Although Bartholomie died before the Aug. 6, Hurricane of 1918, his children lost everything. They had to cling to trees to survive. August Baccigalopi lost all of his possessions, including his cattle brand.
Many years later in 2012, his nephew Robert Broussard, was discing the property and found the cattle brand that August had lost in 1918. August’s son, Enos Baccigalopi, happily recognized his father’s cattle brand when Robert showed it to him.
were much too poor to support Bartholomie, so at age 12 they approved his actions, when he decided to stowaway on an Italian boat. However he was discovered, beaten, and returned to land. But eventually Bartholomie managed to stay hidden, as a stowaway on another Italian boat heading for America.
This time Bartholomie Baccigalopi crossed the vast ocean and made it to America where his boat landed on the
shore of the Gulf of Mexico. He jumped overboard at the west end of Lake Arthur. As he walked along the
Louisiana shore he came across Mrs. Vileor (Clonise Richard) Theriot, who was there washing clothes. She
took him home with her and thereafter the Theriots raised him as their own son. He was a great help to Vileor, who raised cattle and planted and harvested crops to feed his cattle.
FIRST PIONEERS
According to Mrs. Harold “Butsy” Carter, a historian of Cameron Parish; Vileor Theriot discovered his “Utopia” in Chenier Perdue, where he saw unlimited land and water where he could graze his herds of cattle.
So in the spring of 1847, he tore down his house in Palm-A- Royal, near Lake Arthur, loaded up all the lumber and
material from that house onto a raft and floated the loaded raft down Grand Lake, to the Mermentau, and then on to the small bayou called “Cattail Bayou”, which led him to Chenier Perdue.
With the help of family he rebuilt his house, which stood through at least three major hurricanes. It was partiallyconquered by Hurricane Rita in 2005, and finished off by Hurricane Ike in 2008, thus destroying an old landmark in Chenier Perdue.
Thus the young Italian, Bartholomie Baccigalopi, came to live in the midst of a predominantly Acadian population
in Cameron Parish.
Most of these Acadians had been exiled from Nova Scotia in a tragic confrontation with the British, and after years of horrific living conditions as they traveled along the East Coast, until they found a welcome in Louisiana, and made their way westward across Louisiana to Chenier Perdue in Cameron Parish.
The spelling of the name Baccigalopi has been changed from Baccigalopi. “Baccia” means basin, and “Calupus”
means a flat bottom boat, indicating that the bearer of this surname was working or living where flat boats were
moored near Genoa, Italy.
FAMILY EXPANDS
In about 1857, Bartholomie Baccigalopi married Emma Scholastie Richard, who was Jean Vileor’s half-sister. Like other pioneers of this region they lived off the land by raising cattle, trapping, and farming. Bartholomie originally homesteaded land where Sidney Savoie later lived. Then he eventually bought several hundred acres of land which
legend says he paid a very high price for, at 25 cents per acre.
Emma and Bartholomie Baccigalopi had 10 children. Through the years their children married into area families like the Broussards, Faulks, Trahans, Babineauxs, Conners, Theriots, Savoies, Guilbeaus, and Mudds.
The first child, Joseph, died at an early age. Next came Clarisse Julie, Scolastigie, Bartholomie, Jr., Victoria, Albert, Arthur, Leontine, Larnice, and August Baccigalopi. From their families came many prominent children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren, who have settled from their parents first homestead in Chenier Perdue, Little Chenier,
Grand Chenier, Oak Grove, Cameron, Johnson Bayou, Holly Beach and eastward toward Texas.
Among some of the well known descendants of the Baccigalopi family are John Faulk, who played the bass guitar for the Hackberry Ramblers, a group that played world-wide and won several Grammy Awards; Sammie Faulk, a fishing guide; Dudley Faulk, known world-wide for his duck callers; Terry Faulk, a law enforcement officer; and
Kaleb Trahan, who plays the accordion for the Lacassine Playboys.
Also there is Joey Babineaux, a law enforcement officer; Jimmy and Keith Trahan, hunting guides; Ray Conner, Police
Juror; Myles Hebert, works for the Police Jury; Tanya and Todd Broussard, owners of Broussard Taxidermy; Larry Broussard retired from the sheriff department; Emma and Elie Savoie, whose son, Kent Savoie, is a District Court Judge; and his brother, Joseph Savoie, president of ULL in Lafayette; Cathy Guilbeau, owner of an office supply store that was destroyed by Hurricane Rita; Robert Mudd and his son, Lance, owners of M&C Oilfield; Chad Mudd, an attorney; Chris Savoie with the sheriff department; and Bernie Comeaux who with her husband have a welding
company.
PIONEER LIVING
When the first Baccigalopis settled in Chenier Perdue in about 1848, living conditions were very different than from present day. According to historian Butsy Carter, who says, “Geologists say that the Little Chenier ridge ‘popped
up’ about 2,500 years ago, followed by Chenier Perdue’s surfacing 2300 years ago.
There is proof that Attakapas Indians had settled on the east end of Little Chenier and legend says they were wiped out, with the exception of one man, from a smallpox epidemic brought up the Gulf of Mexico to the Chenier’s by Jean Laffite’s pirates in boats.
The Mermentau River is supposed to have been named for an Attakapas chief, called “Nementau.” The Vileor Theriots, and Bartholomie Baccigalopi, supplied beef for the army during the Civil War years, and then following
the war, during the Period of Reconstruction.
Chenier Perdue flourished, even though it was the smallest of the Cheniers, being only four miles long. Most
traffic such as people, freight, supplies, flowed through this small Chenier with access to the Mermentau River.
Most of the houses built by this pioneer were built from rough lumber and bousssilage (made from moss, and
mud) and had only one room, dirt floors, with a fireplace on the west wall. There were only dirt trails, and transportation was provided by a horse or oxen.
Conditions improved by the time the last of the 10 Baccigalopi children were born. The family now had homemade mills for grinding corn meal, flour and sugar cane crops provided their syrup. They grew large gardens of any vegetables they could get. Since water traffic had become more frequent between Chenier Perdue and Lake Arthur, later Galveston, so they could have salt, coffee and other supplies brought in by boat.
The last five children of the original family were Albert, Arthur, Leontine, Larnice and August. It was said that Leontine and Victoria would write to their relatives in Italy, but they had to wait for Father Bischof to come by to translate the replies they got, because they couldn’t read Italian.
These last Baccigalopi children married into other area families such as the Duhons, Richards, Landrys, Boudreauxs, Millers, Vincents, Sturleses, LeBoeufs, Benoits, Littles, and Eaglesons.
Some of their descendants who are known by the modern generation include Scott Baccigalopi, a helicopter pilot
who was in Iran and had the privilege of flying for President Bush, Vice-president Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice.
Also there was Sybil Clark whose husband Dr. Cecil Clark was proclaimed a hero for his outstanding work after Hurricane Audrey. There are Willard “Yank” Savoie and his sons, who are well known in the heavy equipment field. Thaunia Hardey and her husband operate GG’s; John and Mary Canik operate stores; and Gail and Danny Shay have a shrimp boat; while Rufus “Nu-Nu” Baccigalopi, Mitchell and Brett are part of the band “Jerry & the Teardrops.”
HAPPY ENDING
Although Bartholomie died before the Aug. 6, Hurricane of 1918, his children lost everything. They had to cling to trees to survive. August Baccigalopi lost all of his possessions, including his cattle brand.
Many years later in 2012, his nephew Robert Broussard, was discing the property and found the cattle brand that August had lost in 1918. August’s son, Enos Baccigalopi, happily recognized his father’s cattle brand when Robert showed it to him.