Charles Joseph LaBuxiere and
Catherine Anne Vivarenne

Information from
John Baptiest and Shirley Labusier
of Nashville, Illinois
(John is a descendant of this couple's son Louis)

Much of their information comes from Old Cahokia, McDermott, 1949,
and Cahokia church records.

Charles Joseph LaBuxiere Obituary and Estate Auction Information from various documents April 29, 1791 - ... was buried in the cemetery of the parish [ed: Cahokia] the body of Sieur Joseph LaBuxiere, Notary in this district, deceased the proceeding day, fortified with all the Sacraments of the Church, native of Lamonge or thereabouts, aged nearly 64 years. There were many people at the solemn service chanted in the presence of the corpse before the interment. Royal Notary under the French regime, state’s attorney under Virginia, who died April 1791, aged about 62. He was born in Limoges, France. A year before his death he was commissioned notary for the District of Cahokia by Governor St. Clair in order to carry out the provision of the Northwest Ordinance which guaranteed to the French inhabitants their custom concerning the descent and conveyance of property. His own estate was one of the earliest administered under this provision. The administratrix was Mrs. Anne Catherine Labuxiere, nee Vivarennes, born 1742 (?) at Fort deChartres; died 19 Dec. 1792. It will be noted that Mrs. Labuxiere exercised the rights, often referred to in marriage contracts, of selecting articles for her share of the estate immediately after the appraisal. The papers are filed in the office of the Clerk of the Probate Court of St. Clair County, Series C, Box 381, No. 69. There are 10 pages of items listed in the auction along with information of who bought what items and how much they paid. The following is just a sampling of the contents. Anne Catherine bough the house and the land, for 1,507 livers. She also bought several other items to numerous to list. Some interesting items were; quite a bit of livestock, someone bought a pair of broken salt cellars, three dozen hens & pullets, 2 volumes of Civil Statutes, one buffalo robe, A medium sized frying-pan with a hole in it, a dozen pigs, one pad lock in bad condition, it goes on and on too much to list. Joseph Labuxiere held the first grant of land issued in St. Louis. A battle around the Revolutionary War period took place at Fort St. Louis while Joseph was there. After the battle he and several others were not pleased with the way the commander handled the battle and they moved to Kaskaskia, where he stayed for only a short time, he then moved to Cahokia where he died in 1791. There are several documents that were written and signed by Joseph at the old courthouse in Cahokia. There is a plaque containing several names as patriots displayed at the 200 -year - old church at Cahokia, Joseph is among the men listed. He was at Kaskaskia when George Rogers Clark visited. He was at Cahokia when Chief Pontiac visited. He was at Fort St. Louis when the Indian battle took place. After this battle he moved to Kaskaskia because the men left the trenches to see to the screaming women who were locked in a building inside the stockade. The men thought the women were in danger and went to see to them. As it turned out they were in no danger but had become frightened because of the sounds of battle. Joseph and many of the other men became disenchanted with the commander and moved to Kaskaskia.

Anne Catherine (Vivarenne) LaBuxiere Obituary December 20, 1792 - ... was buried in the cemetery of this parish [ed: Cahokia] the body of Anne Catherine Vivarenne, widow of Sieur Labusier [ed: this is the first time the spelling is listed as the family spells it today]. She gave marks of a good Christian at her passing. She departed this life on the proceeding day, aged 30 years, native of Fort Chartres. [ed: the number "30" must be a mistake as she was 50.]

On the Surname LaBuxiere Some of the descendants wonder if Labuxiere is the correct spelling. Alvord wrote in his Virginia series that the correct spelling is Labusciere. Could Joseph have used a quill pen? Perhaps he wrote Labus - dipped his pen in the ink well and continued with the ciere, this would look a lot like an x. This also explains the use of LaBusier in Anne Catherine’s obit. eliminating the c not changing the x to an s. This is just the family's theory, but interesting to consider.

[ The Ancestors of John Choisser ]