Read about someone you've likely never heard of but many in the know believe he was more important in landing men on the moon than even Werner Von Braun. Here's the story from people that know.
Born on an island in the swamps of southern Louisiana in 1922. Learn about the incredible cajun connection to the Apollo Space program. WWII vet in the Burma-Ledo road theater. NACA 1946. 1st Chief of Propulsion, Power and Energy Division at NASA, 1963-1980.
I hope you enjoy the following content. This is a work in progress, so updates will follow
The Rocket Scientist. Those who know.
The following is the recommendation for induction of this man as a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. It will follow with a complete biography. I hope you enjoy. #rocketscientist #NASA #NACA #Apollo #spacex #elonmusk #Blueorigin #Wallops #hesentyoutospacesendhim #solidfuel
Joseph Guy Thibodaux (Tibby)
When Guy came to the Manned Spacecraft Center he was well known for his expertise in solid rockets. He perhaps made a greater contribution to that industry than any other single individual. It all started when there was a need to test models at altitudes and speeds that could not be achieved in wind tunnels. Solid rockets were ideal for that purpose as they could be designed to put a specific model at the right altitude and correct velocity very cheaply. This activity lead to the development of the spherical rocket motor with mass fractions of around 94%. These Star motors which were conceived by Thibodaux and perfected by Thiokol have placed most of our satellites in orbit and most are still in use today some 40 years later.
His other contributions have not been recognized to the same extent but are perhaps more noteworthy. Had it not been for Guy's management expertise it would not have been possible to place a man on the moon in the 60's. We would not have met Kennedy's challenge of May 25th 1961. The lunar module ascent engine was in trouble a year and a half before the scheduled landing. Guy recompeted the contract and steered the winning contractor to develop and qualify a successful engine in time to make a landing before the decade was out. This is just one example of his many accomplishments during Apollo. The division that Guy was in charge of had the most critical subsystems that required more than any on Apollo. Three major Propulsion Systems, three Reaction Control systems, Fuel Cells, Cryogenic Storage (including liquid helium), Batteries and Pyrotechnics used throughout the system. Pyrotechnics for example: we had to change the thinking of the entire industry on fail operational-fail safe. At that time the DoD process was to design for fail safe.
As Guy explained to me one time, if a rifle failed to fire, you just pulled the lever and ejected it in the hopes that the next one would fire but under no circumstances did you want it to go off before you pulled the trigger, but on Apollo if a pyrotechnic device failed to go off when it was supposed to the crew was just as dead as if it went off prematurely.
I worked for Guy for over 16 years and learned most of my management expertise from Guy. The things I learned from Guy served me well for the rest of my career. I took over the division when Guy retired and later became Director of Engineering. I owe all of that to Guy's management. expertise. He was what I consider a true public servant. The interest of the government or project always came first. It seemed he had no ambitions for himself, only for those that worked for him. He was not only the best manager that I worked for, but also had the best understanding of the physical sciences and chemistry of anyone I ever worked for. It seemed he had an intuition about what was right or what would or could work. He had this uncanny way of dropping thoughts or hints to get a person to think about doing it the right way without directing himself. He could sit down with a contractor and get them to do what was needed without having to go through the time consuming paperwork. Guy was the kind off person that did not like to take credit for something good himself. He would always work it around so that one of his employees got the credit, yet when something went wrong, as it sometimes does, he was the one that took responsibility for it.
After 38 years I can think of no one individual that made a greater contribution to the success of Apollo than Guy Thibodaux. His contributions to space started long before Apollo and continued long after Apollo.
Below is some additional information about Guy's career and remarks from other colleagues who knew very well what Guy's role was ih the history of the US space program. Quoted passages are from letters and other documents which can be supplied to the committee.
Guy was hired on August 1, 1946 and assigned to the Auxiliary Flight Research Station later reorganized to become the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division which used small solid propellant rockets to launch Aerodynamic Research Models for the study of transonic and supersonic flight problems. His initial assignment was to look into the use of liquid propellant rockets. He immediately decided that liquid propellant rockets could not perform the tasks as well as solid propellant rockets and dedicated himself to launching and boosting techniques and advanced solid rocket designs to maximize their effectiveness for reaching ever higher velocities eventually approaching reentry speeds.
Guy was there at the very beginning--even before NASA--and helped to significantly lead the way. He was one of the original architects of NASA. His work in rocketry and novel launching and boosting techniques earned him the title as the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) propulsion expert. His work revolutionized the solid propellant rocket and missile industry. His work is known and recognized by all the senior officials at NASA and America's leading rocket and space companies.
In one oral history, Chris Kraft, Flight engineer at Langley, stated:
Kraft: Interestingly, I was born and raised next to Langley Field, Virginia, which is where the NACA started in 1915 and where all of us came from--Paul Purser, Max Faget and Guy Thibodaux--we called worked for the NACA; the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. I graduated from Virginia Tech as an aeronautical engineer, then went to work at Langley and ended up at the NACA on or about the 15th or 18th of January, 1945.
That's where Mr. Thibodaux became a rocket expert. He didn't know a god damned thing about rockets when he graduated from LSU, but Gilruth made him an expert in solid rockets. Max Faget also came to work at NACA at about that time, for Gilruth in the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division (PARD). That's where Thibodaux became a rocket expert...so when we got in to the Space Program all the rest of these guys were the "brains" in orbital mechanics like John Mayer or Ted Skopinski or in instrumentation like Howard Kyle or in rockets and systems design like Max Faget and Guy Thibodaux.
In an interview, Bob Gilruth remarked:
Gilruth: The day I picked up Guy Thibodaux was the day I picked up Max Faget. They Both came out of LSU. I never had a luckier day in my life than when I picked up those two guys. He was really interested in solid rockets. It was his business. He was the rocket man at PARD and that was part of our life's blood.
Yes, Thibodaux was a very big help in getting us the kind of rockets we needed at PARD. He was an expert. He became an expert in those rockets.
Another colleague, C. C. Johnson, Chief of the Spacecraft Design Division at J.S.C. remarked:
Johnson: There were a bunch of bright guy's like Max: if I read off their names it would be a NASA's Who's who. Guy Thibodaux for example-he wound up as head of propulsion at the Jonson Space Center, but I don't think he knew more about propulsion when he started than you or I do. He just learned. He was bright as hell.
In the beginning, Guy was the only Chemical Engineer at N.A.C.A., an aeronautics agency of about 3,500 people full of other engineering types. There was not another Chemical Engineer in that agency until Guy hired one. Guy did not know rocket science, but he was one of the few qualified to pursue it when charged with the task. Guy and Max Faget had been college roommates and agreed that after the war they would go look for a job together. Guy was not looking to be in space exploration, but when the nation looked for someone who could do that, there he was. And he more than answered the call. This country should be grateful for him and his colleagues.
Guy became an expert in rocket propulsion through his own innate abilities because the field did not exist in the form of formal education. He was a self taught prodigy through collective effort and collaboration with other equally talented people.
Max Faget, Director of Engineering at J.S.C. believed that the work Guy was doing at Wallops Island, Virginia. was a key factor in why President Eisenhower chose to transform the N.A.C.A. into the foundation for N.A.S.A. rather than create an entire new space agency from scratch. Guy was the Chief of Rocket Propulsion at Langley at the time the President was looking to the Soviets startling venture into space. Guy supervised the development of solid rocket fuel engines, with over 3,000 experimental launches launches at Wallops Island. Faget wrote on the occasion of Guy's retirement:
Faget: Congratulations and best wishes on your retirement from Federal service. As one who is most familiar with your career in the Army (WWII) the NACA and the NASA, it is clear you did your part in an excellent manner and often at a level that was significant to the course of major events. Through your management and practical knowledge, NACA was provided with an almost ideal stable of solid rocket propellants at a minimum cost. The result was that at Wallops Island, NACA carried out a variety of aerodynamic research from transonic speeds up to M=15. The recognition of the NACA as a practicing agency in the field of rocketry was a key factor in the voice of President Eisenhower and Congress to use the NACA institution for the foundation of NASA. Subsequently, your expertise in propulsion systems was employed on the development of the Scout launch vehicle and in the propulsion and power systems for each of our Nation's manned spacecraft.
As the Chief of Rocket Propulsion, Guy is the primary person behind the N.A.C.A.'s recognition "as a practicing agency in the field of rocketry." But for Guy, the history of N.A.S.A. as an agency would be a different story. Guy oversaw the development of solid rocket engines that are the forerunner of every space vehicle this nation has ever flown. As a result, he still holds patents on these engines. He needed a larger rocket engine than they could build at Wallops Island so he personally approached Thiokol about building a larger version.
T.M. "Red" Davis, Manager of Thiokol, wrote upon Guy's retirement: "The Elkton Division of Thiokol owes you a great deal for being instrumental in our getting started in spherical rocket motor work twenty two years ago. We recognize and congratulate you on your pioneering work to achieve highly reliable, high mass fraction solid propulsion unit without which the United States Space Program could not have advanced to the point it is today."
In a 1980 letter from E.G. Dorsey, Jr., Director of the Space Booster Program at Thiokol". "I particularly want to call attention to your pioneering efforts in the multi-stage solid rocket boosters used for model experiments at Langley. This work proved that solid rocket motors were reliable propulsion devices which were flexible enough to be readily adaptable to many uses. Your work required imagination and skill and you developed these qualities to an outstanding degree."
"Your subsequent work at Johnson has continued your important contributions to nations's space activities. I know from personal observation that he has been important in developing the basic concepts for the Space Shuttle system and it's continuing development."
Max Faget came to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston in 1962 as the Director of Engineering. He had been in charge of one project (Mercury) but now would be in charge of three projects at the same time (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo). Faget cited propulsion as biggest challenge in Apollo in Oral Space Histories.
Interviewer: What was the biggest challenge to Apollo?
Max Faget: "The biggest challenge to Apollo, I really think was propulsion. When astronauts are in Earth orbit, they can come down so easy because all they have to do is slow down a little but, and they're going to come back into the atmosphere, and once a vehicle has come back into the atmosphere, and once a vehicle has been through an entry aerodynamically and you know it's controllable, you don't worry about it burning up. But when you're on the moon, you are in a gravity sink. Your propulsion system has got to work. It really has to work. You can't wish your way out of that sink (laughter). You know, being in lunar orbit's one thing. You've got to come uo with something like 2,000 or 3,000 feet a second to get out. On the surface you've got to come up with a lot more than that to get out, and, of course, you've got to get up and make the precision of the rendezvous."
Guy says the reason Floyd Thompson of Langley was asked to release him to Coe to JSC in January, 1964 was to take care of all the propulsion systems. Max Faget considered propulsion to be biggest challenge they faced in Apollo. He turned to Guy for a solution.
Guy began his experiments with solid rockets by adapting ordinance left over from WWII weaponry, such as propellants for bazookas and artillery rockets being used to launch model rockets at Wallops Island to Evaluate payload and velocity.
Harold Richey, past President and CEO of the Thiokol Chemical Corporation wrote: "On the occasion of your retirement, it is most gratifying to have the opportunity to congratulate on your illustrious and productive career. It has been a very great and privilege and pleasure to have been associated with you throughout years of progress in the uses of space technology for production of new knowledge for the benefit of mankind. It seems I have known and cherished your friendship forever--in fact, I can reme mber when you were one of the two or three people in the world who realized that solid-prop ellant rockets could be useful for space exploration."
There could be no future as we know it In space without solid rocket fuel. Studying ways to design the highest performing solid propellant rockets, he came on the idea of using spherical cases which had the least weight for the volume which they contained. This required very unique three dimensional charge designs which were ignited on all surfaces of the propellant simultaneously. Guy's peers acknowledge his role in that.
H. L. Thackwell (who was V. P. of Grand Central Rocket Company, later bought and turned into Lockheed Propulsion Co.) wrote to the Director of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics Dr. Hugh Dryden, in a letter dated 9 May 1958: "I have been very much impressed with the work on advanced type solid propellant rocket motors which has been done by Mr. Guy Thibodaux of your Langley Field Laboratories. I believe that this work represents decided technical breakthrough in the present state-of-the-art. In view of Mr. Thibodaux's achievements and interest in this field, I was wondering if it is possible to have him named as a member of your N.A.C.A. subcommittee on Rocket Engines..."
Guy had first conceived of a solid-fuel, multi-stage rocket achieving orbit in 1955, two years before the Soviets launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957. He designed a four stage vehicle and did the calculations on what size rockets would be needed. When Sputnik challenged the U.S. to develop a space program and N.A.S.A. was created, Guy's concept for an orbital vehicle was proposed by adapting three military rocket engines that had already been working one and developing a new fourth engine to complete the task of creating the Scout. The very design he had worked up in 1955.
Three missile systems figured in Guy's plans for Scout:
A. The Algol-for the U.S. Navy-became stage one of Scout.
B. The Castor-for Thiokol and Hermes-became stage two.
C. The Altair-for Vanguard missiles became stage four Scout.
Guy's idea was to use these three existing rocket motor designs for three of Scout's stages, and then the required third stage (the Antares) would be designed just for this purpose if he could get the nod from Abe Silverstein.
Silverstein was the leader of the group that organized N.A.S.A. using the N.A.C.A. personnel as its cadre. He was the first Associate Administrator of both Unmanned and Manned Space Flight, and a past Director of the Lewis Research Center. Guy had to go to Washington to convince Silverstein that they could build the Scout and come back with a budget and marching orders. In an interview, Silverstein recalls the occasion:
Silverstein: For example there was a guy, do you know Thibodaux?
Mauer: Yes, I've met Thibodaux and talked with him, Yes.
Silverstein: Well, in the early days, in '58, before October, the group we'd set up at Langley under Gilruth included Thibodaux and Faget, you know Faget, I'm sure.
"Yes, well Thibodaux and Faget kind of were the sponsors of the Scout rocket, which was a solid rocket, you know, and they came to me and said, "Look, we can build that rocket, get it built and fire it for handling small objects into space, small weights into space, for a million dollars a shot."
"I said, we're not going to have many of those little baby ones, but were really not prepared to fire out of Wallops yet with Scouts. He said, 'Oh, yes we are, we're all set up to do it, and we're all set up to handle the building of the Scout.'
Well, I didn't want to do it, but I agreed, because I didn't like to stand in the road of their ability to move ahead. I recognized this is a place where I have to give a little. And it turned out to be useful. The Scout rocket is still-the (LTV) have built it and provided it to Wallops people, and it's been used right along. I don't know how many hav been fired, but there must have been a hundred of them fired..
Mauer: What was it about it? What made you recognize that this was an area in which you had to give a little?
Silverstein: "I don't know. In the first place, Thibodaux was pretty forceful. I thought that maybe they had something. It was a little different. I wasn't thinking along that line at the time, I was thinking along something entirely different."
The Scout, originally conceived and designed by Guy, has flown more missions than other unmanned vehicle in the U.S. space inventory. (118 launches, including 94 orbital missions, consisting of 27 navigational and 67 scientific satellites, and launched payloads for Europe, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and the United Kingdom.) (The Shuttle launches have recently exceed that number.)
The Star rocket motor is a Thiokol built derivative of Guy's invention of a spherical rocket engine, and the Star had a very laudable contribution to the U.S. Space program. Among the Star's accomplishments:
Gemini Spacecraft de-orbit.
The first orbit insertion around the moon.
The first unmanned lunar landing.
Orbit insertion around the planet Venus.
Insertion of exploration rovers in Mars Orbit.
Final Stage of the Japanese Kappa Launch Vehicle.
Guy is also the person who went directly to Silverstein to convince him to provide funding for the large solid rocket booster research program, which so many future advances in space depended upon.
A1980 letter from Tom Davidson, Vice President of the Government System's Group of Thiokol's Utah Division, on the occasion of Guy's retirement, demonstrates that Guy was devising launch vehicles and solid fuel rocket boosters before N.A.S.A. was even created:
"The first time we met, I was with the Air Force and you were with NACA, and we talked about what would eventually become the Scout. That was twenty-three years ago! I also remember well the wise counsel and constructive criticism you gave Preston Craig, Jack Roberts and me while we were putting on the "Solid Booster Roadshow" in the 1960's to the tune of"When the Solids Come Marching in."
"As we alll recognize, "Big Solids" have now marched in: this must be personally very satisfying to you who for many years were a voice in the wilderness. Tibby, I'll always remember you as a proponent of solid propulsion. The many contributions you've made and the achievements of your thirty-seven year career are ones that you should rightfully be proud of. You'll be missed but long remembered by the solid propulsion community for all you've done."
Preston Craig, Technical Director of Thiokol's Space Booster Division, on the occasion of testing one of these large rocket motors (a 156 inch, 3-million pound thrust solid fuel motor) sent Guy a note in 1965:
"I am sure you heard by now that this test was quite successful and, I feel, represents a step forward in the development of large solids. Since you have exerted such personal effort for this success, I am sure your disappointment equals mine that you could not attend".
Guy's major contributions were not just in a solid propellant orbital launch vehicle, the pioneering Scout, and other rocket engines. At Langley, he was also simultaneously the Director of High Temperature Materials. He not only is a pioneer in rocket engines and materials, but In cryogenics and batteries and more. Guy has said that the Shuttle was a far greater challenge because of the need for lifetime requirements, reusability and flexibility. "Apollo only had to land on the moon and Shuttle had to do many different types of missions," he explained.
Ed Cortwright, N.A.S.A. Associate Director, President of the A.I.A.A. and President of Lockheed, California Corporation, this year wrote in support of Guy's nomination as a Fellow of the American Institute Aeronautics and Astronautics, an honor which was subsequnetly bestowed upon Guy in 2007:
"I hereby submit the reference form for the nomination of Mr. Guy Thibodaux to the grade of fellow. It does not begin to begin to convey the background and contributions of the rather unique person, Guy Thibodaux, or "Tibby" as we know him.
Tibby was a part of the small task force of the NACA engineers assembled from the NACA Centers by Hugh Dryden, Abe Silverstein and Bob Gilruth to organize the newly created NASA and plan it's programs. I was one of them.
Tibby chose not to remain in Washington, but to return to Langley where he could remain a "hands on" engineer. There and later at the Johnson Space Center, Tibby was a spark plug of innovation and became recognized in the propulsion field, notably in solid propulsion.
I have just read thru a long volume of materials outlining his career. It is beyond my remaining abilities to properly summarize this information. Suffice it to say that Mr.Thibodaux personifies the type of man that made NASA work. I wish we had more like him today.
It would be very to honor Tibby by electing him Fellow.
Sincerely,
Ed Cortwright."
Guy's nomination was supported by four of the past presidents of the AIAA, Jim Beggs, NASA Administrator; John Swihart, Corporate Vice President of the Boeing Company; Sam Iacobellis, Senior Vice President of the Rockwell Corporation; plus Dr. Joseph P. Allen, Shuttle Astronaut and President of Space Systems, Inc., and President and CEO of the Veridian Corporation and Dr. Ken Cox, Chief of JSC's Guidance, Navigation and Control Division.
In emails between John Swihart and Ken Cox regarding Guy's nomination to N.I.A.A. Fellow:
From: Kenneth Cox
To: John Swihart
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Subject: AIAA Nomination-Guy Thibodaux
John:
A week and a half ago, I travelled to Nassau Bay in the NASA JSC area and interviewed Guy Thibodaux for over three hours to support his nomination for AIAA Fellow. Even though I had worked together with Tibby for over 40 years, I was still amazed and impressed with his NACA work, together with the initial and early work with NASA. I am sending you a package by mail to officially support this nomination.
Ken Cox
From: John M Swihart
To: Kenneth Cox
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006
Subject: AIAA nomination-Guy Thibodaux
Ken, I've been to Japan for a week and got your package and email just now.
How Guy has been overlooked all these years is a real mystery to me. I worked with him several times at Langley, and can only try to make him be #1 on the Fellows acceptance list. Thanks for all your help. I've registered his application on the AIAA website and will be following it up soon.
Best wishes,
John M. Swihart
Sam Iacobellis served as Executive Vice President and Deputy Chairman of major programs at Rockwell International, and served as president of Rockwell's North American Aviation Operations. He wrote of Guy:
"Guy Thibodaux made many individual contributions during his long career with NACA and NASA. With regards to his team efforts, Guy was a key member to the last minute, high priority Lunar ascent backup injector development program. It was this injector that was on Apollo and subsequent landings.
Guy and the contractor personnel (Rocketdyne) team worked together with a 'seamless interface which I (and many others at Rocketdyne at the time) credit as the key to the success of the program.'
He was one of the major contributors to the success of the Apollo Program. His style of management, which combined leadership with technical knowledge and personal courage to demand and produce the correct and safe solutions, serves as a legacy to those who worked with him or under him."
In a note in 1980 fro TRW engineers who developed the lunar descent engine Guy was cited as the key N.A.S.A. responsible for their success:
"Your retirement from NASA seems to signal the close of the pioneering phase of man's flight into space. We hope the future years are rewarding for you, and that you recall, as we do, our close associations during the exciting 60's with pleasure and fondness. As the key NASA official responsible for the descent engine development, we're sure that your view of the 'last ten miles' was the same as ours.
Best wishes, (12 signatures)."
Guy is also remembered for solving a crucial problem of the lunar landing. Guy believed the ascent engine would not work as designed.
George M. Low, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the time touches on the ascent engine in a another note:
"I will always remember the time you and I flew back from Buffalo to Houston and you told me the Lunar Module ascent engine, as then configured would not be satisfactory. I believed you, and much to the consternation of our friends in Washington, we proceeded to recompete and procure another engine with less than two years time before the scheduled landing on the moon. Of course, you were right and we made the right decision. I have told this story many times recently because it is a symbol of how things were then, and how tied-up-in-knots this great country has become since then. What we need most is people who have the courage to state their convictions and who are willing to take the necessary risks, much as you did in the ascent engine decision."
And another comment in a 1968 letter from George M. Low, then manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program:
"The success of the Apollo 7 flight was in large measure due to the contributions of many people in your division."
There is another acknowledgement in this letter in 1980 from Scott Simpkinson, Manager for Flight Safety at NASA:
"You and your people have made so many things really happen in the business of propulsion that put the United States out in front. I take my hat off to you Guy, not just because of all these accomplishments, but because of the man that you are. Honest, intelligent, forthright, kind, understanding and hard working are a few of the adjectives that could be used to describe Guy Thibodaux."
And there is this blurb from the Apollo 12 air-to-ground transcription that acknowledged the debt owed to Guy Thibodaux:
Conrad: "What's your preliminary look at the midcourse show?
Ground: "Stand by a second, Pete. While there ginning up the answer, got some nice warm words for you on the SPS burn. Evaluation shows that your ISP is within one tenth of a second, and your thrust is within 20 pounds on that engine so you got a real hummer there."
Conrad: "Very good. I guess we can thank Mr. Thibodaux for that one."
Ground: "Roger".
Roger that! For I also believe that we need to thank Mr. Thibodaux for that and a good deal more.
The nation is reflecting on Sputnik 1, which occurred 50 years ago in October, and which lead this nation to plunge into the "space race". I wonder if we would have been as responsive and effective in our early efforts if Guy Thibodaux had not been on watch at that time. When I think of the proverbial "rocket scientist" I think of Guy Thibodaux. He is one of this nation's pre-eminent and significant rocket scientists.
Guy has been cited by his many co-workers who praise his expertise, his achievements, his management style, and him as a role model.
Respectfully submitted by:
Henry O. Pohl
Recent events in this story include that we may be able to get some of his ashes sent on a ride to space. With the assistance of a well connected uncle, Joe Allen (who unfortunately lost his wife, Bonnie, after battling a long illness), and any other former colleagues and administrators. #elonmusk #spacex #NASA #NACA #spacepioneer
I hope to continue to follow up on this thread with a complete biography. There are many stories waiting to be told.
Beginning the biography:
The first Thibodaux in the New World that I'm aware of that I'm related to was named Pierre Thibodaux. He was born in 1631 and moved to Acadia when he was about 19 years old. He settled on the northeast side of the Bay of Fundy and married a local woman. References differ on who his parents were, where in France he was born, who his wife was and how many children they had.
He established a small community working as a miller and small farmer. Some references indicate that they may have had as many as ten children. As the family grew, they started a new settlement on the southwest side of the Bay of Fundy. The family, apparently spent years going between the two settlements with several different families at each location. Lumber, milling farming, ranching are what all the families did to survive in the diverse forests of elm, hemlock, maple, pine and a variety of other trees and plants, while trapping, hunting and fishing to supplement their diets. It's even reported that they cooperated significantly with the local Native American tribes.
Pierre died in 1704. The next few decades were somewhat tumultuous due to the conflict between the British and the French. Not a great deal is known about the Thibodaux's from this time period other than that there were several more generations. By the mid 1750's, the Acadians had, for the most part, been exiled by the British. Some went deep into the woods and remain as the French part of modern-day Canada, some went to the northeast Atlantic coast, and some went down the Mississippi or from the coast of Maine to New Orleans or southern Louisiana.
Jospeh Guy Thibodaux was born on March 20th, 1897 in LaFourche Crossing, Louisiana. He married Leone Marie Falterman on January 17th 1922. #Louisiana #Thibodauxhistory
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