Mobile County, Alabama
Love's Legacy - The Record of Mobile Marriages
Love's Legacy - The Record of Mobile Marriages
Recorded in French, Transcribed with Annotated Abstracts in English, 1724 - 1786
Transcibed and Edited BY Jacqueline Olivier Vidrine - Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana
Submitted by J. Lepoma
PREFACE
Many researchers dread the thought of using original source material because of its illegibility, inaccessability, and—for colonialLouisiana—use of eighteenth-century French. With this in mind and with the hope of assisting historians, genealogists, and geneticists, I have produced the following transcription and interpretation of one group of early sacramental records. Catholic church documents provide detailed information on immigrants to Louisiana and their subsequent lives in the colony. These records are indispensable for accurate familial and community studies, the foundations of meaningful historical syntheses.
An obvious starting point for an investigation into lower French Louisiana is the oldest existing church parish, established in 1703, at Mobile, Alabama. Fortunately, many of the early church records have survived; unfortunately, the cumbersome requirements for using the unindexed, deteriorating originals or their inadequate microfilm copies have limited their utilization.
I first used the archives at the Chancery Office of the Diocese of Mobile in 1968, exIracting information for a Tulane University Medical School genetic study. Later, I began compiling lists and abstracts to help the Mobile staff respond to genealogical and historical queries. Then the diocesan chancellor, a historian, convinced me that full transcriptions were needed and would be a true contribution to colonial history.
The result is this book, an alternative to irreplaceable records whose continuing deterioration cannot be halted. I gave priority to the earliest extant marriages because they include the largest number of non-recurring adult names and the greatest amount of detailed information. Thus, for the first part of the bound volume referred to as Marriage Book I (Mob. rnb I), all entries for the periods of French (1726-1763) and British (1763-1780) rule, and some that follow from the Spanish period, four being written in French (1786), are fully transcribed. To preserve all of the extant French-language nuptials in that repository, twelve marriages (1724-1726) found in Baptism Book I (Mob. bb I) and one marriage (1734) kept in a separate folder are made part of this publication.
It is no longer possible, however, to work with original documents so far from my home. I hope someone nearer to them will complete the task with the same fascination I enjoyed. Satisfaction comes from my conviction that augmenting knowledge about our early settlers helps to establish a more accurate base for colonial history.
The research was exhilarating for me; only the organization for publication was tedious. I made that effort in gratitude to historical researchers past and present, whose shared knowledge has excited my curiosity and enriched my life.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The interest and assistance of many people make this book possible. Foremost among these are my husband and our children. The hours needed to produce this book were made pleasant by their encouragement and loving cooperation.
Special acknowledgment is due to the historian-priest Oscar Lipscomb, who suggested the transcription and opened all doors; and now, as His Excellency, the archbishop ofMobile, he permits its publication.
Eida Swift Rehm, archivist for the Mobile archdiocese, provided faithful cooperation many years. It is she who completed the baptismal abstracts I had begun and her typescript of them has been my most valuable source.
Callie Pitre Avera, native and resident of Evangeline Parish, generously contributed her professional talent and weeks of her time to put my handwritten pages into a form suiltable for presentation to the publisher.
Elaine Miller Richardson, originally from Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, now a resident of Corpus Christi, Texas, gave her knowledge of French and many hours of time as my past several trips to proofread my manuscript against the originals in church vaults.
The laborious efforts of those whose published works preceded this one provided etial information and background knowledge. Their names appear in the bibliography.
The gracious responses of many researchers answered questions and produced free interpretations. This writer is particularly indebted to Jack D. L. Holmes, Louisiana Collection, Birmingham, Alabama; Elizabeth Shown Mills, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Jack B., New Orleans; Albert Tate, Jr., Vile Platte and New Orleans; Alice Daly Forsyth, film archivist of St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans) and present editor of New Orleans Gene A Pregaldin, St. Louis, Missouri; Walter J. Saucier, University of North Carolina in Winston DeVille, Mobile; Jay Higginbotham, Mobile; Gloria Smith Moran, Pain Mississippi; Reinhart Kondert, University of Southwestern Louisiana; Fr. Rtht Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana; Margaret Kimball Brown, Prairie de Roch, I. Chapput, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum; Ruth Orte Berthekd, SL Parish; Earleen Zeringue, New Orleans; Bro. Jerome LePré, Mobile and New OrIeans. My personal thanks are given to all the staff of the Center for Louisiana contagious, joyous attitude toward work. The technical assistance of Carl for guidance and that of Glenn Conrad, were pleasant necessities.
But in spite of all the help I received, the statements are those of my alone am responsible for the inevitable errors.
INTRODUCTION
When acquired by theUnited States, Louisiana’s first colonial capital was more than 100 years old, Fort Louis de la Louisiane, on the Mobile River, having been established in 1702. The site of Fort Louis proved unsatisfactory, however, prompting the move a few miles downstream to the place now called Mobile, Alabama. Both village and fort were rebuilt before the end of 1711, and growth continued as Mobile developed into the major settlement of the colony.
Mobile ’s emergence as a population center generated attendant development in the hinterland. In 1717 soldiers were sent northward to establish the Poste des Alibamons near the junction of the Coosa and Talapoosa Rivers, to assure French possession of the Mobile River and to ensure the alliance of the Indians in the area. Fort Toulouse at the Poste des Alibamons, subordinate to Mobile , added to the importance of that older settlement.
The next year, the site that became New Orleans was recommended for settlement. Soon more and more colonists selected homesteads along the Mississippi. This migration, as well as the closure of the Dauphin Island port from storm damage, prompted the proprietary regime to move the colony’s headquarters to New Biloxi by September, 1721. Even before the transfer was complete, word arrived from France that New Orleans had been designated the province’s administrative capital. By 1723, New Orleans was the official residence of Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the commandant-general, and the major executive and military offices were functioning there.
As the colonial capital, New Orleans enjoyed rapid population growth and soon overshadowed Louisiana’s more established communities. For example, in 1706, before New Orleans existed, Mobile had eighty-five non-military French and Canadian inhabitants. The dramatic growth of New Orleans is best reflected in the early census reports, their notorious inaccuracy notwithstanding. There were in 1721 about 350 people of European origin of descent in Mobile, but already 680 in the New Orleans area. Some of those New Orleanians had moved to the new capital from the old one. Indeed, just as Canada had provided experienced settlers for Mobile, Mobile contributed to Natchitoches, to Natchez, and now to embryonic New Orleans. Mobile’s population dwindled despite the many boatloads of colonists sent from France between 1718 and 1719. The census of 1721 counted about 350 people. Less than 300 were counted in 1726 even though over 80 French infant baptisms were recorded during the interval. The 96 households enumerated in 1726 fell to 90 by 1728; meanwhile, New Orleans had grown to 600 family units. It was inevitable that the fertile fields along the Mississippi, the colony’s major waterway, would have more appeal than Mobile. Perhaps, too, there was a mounting desire among civilians to emigrate as the military significance of Mobile and the Alibamons post increased. The presence of the English and their Indian allies to the northeast and of the Spanish at Pensacola made the Mobile fort, now called Condd, of primary importance. The ever-hostile Chickasaw to the northwest became increasingly troublesome early in the 1 730s, leading to the establishment of a new post on the Tombigbee River, near the friendlier Choctaw. The fortification, built in 1735 as a depot for Bienville’s Chickasaw campaign, became Fort Tombecbd, another satellite of Fort Condé de La Mobile.
Orthography of the period, to individual and regional differences, to a poor quill, or to the deterioration of ink or paper. The use of the shape for “i’ and either shape for the numeral “1” is easily seen. Except when used as a numeral each was transcribed as the letter it most resembles. The old “ “ has been replaced by the “s” it represents. The shape of “u” was often written for “v”. Only when it was certain that “v” was meant was it so transcribed. The double “r” often looks like “w” or “ss”. The “r” was written as in modern script and also like a closed “v”.
Such idiosyncrasies helped identify the scribe on the unsigned entries encountered. For instance, Father Claude, Capuchin cure until 1726, often used the closed “v” shape for both “e” and “r”, making his “Les” look like “Lers”. He wrote “pierre ” in such a way that it could be mistaken for “fevrier,” and “Jeanne” for “Tranmt”. Even when his unusual script is chandto type, Father Claude’s erratic capitalization and distinctive spelling can be distinguished from that of the other Mobile priests. The “Capucin Missionaire apostolique Curé de La Môbille, N Jean Franois, used the capital “M” also for “Messe”; when he used accents they were carefully placed. He spelled sai’oire “Scavoir” and “ai” as “ay” but used the more modem “prone” and “notre”. The Spanish priest Eon wrote French well, yet the transcript of an unsigned entry displays his characteristic use of the accent grave for the accent aigu.
Such patterns of accenting, capitalization, and aberrant spelling are discernible because each series of entries was written by the officiating priest. His records mirror his background as well as the circumstances of the moment. They were affected by his origins, his life and experience, his health, his capacity to be understood and to understand the speech of other people. The variations and errors are most pronounced in the recording of prer nais, without doubt due largely to the limitations of those in the wedding party in education, memory, and oral communication. The accents of those from other countries, or even from other French provinces, certainly influenced the scribe’s phonetic renditions.
Hesitations, corrections, and inconsistencies made the names of people and places more difficult to decipher, and determining the orthography of personal and geographical names was sometimes impossible because they often appear only once. An additional handicap imposed by two eighteenth-century naming practices common to Louisiana and Canada: First names were frequently bestowed upon several members of the same family even with same generation; sobriquets, or dit names were often used as surnames. These cuskimmfy the problem of identifying certain individuals mentioned in, or signing, the signatures present special obstacles. With a record, each scribe’s characteristic penmanship allows even peculiar calligraphy to be understood with study, but such is not the case with signatures of other individuals. Like names and places, they are not often repeated. Some written too awkwardly or individualistically; and some are too damaged to be read or exhibit progression from youth to adulthood; still others appear to be change from illiteracy to competent penmanship. A few witnesses used old Germanic script. Even an adult used variant spellings or different forms; in some cases, the spelling was different and members of the same family were not consistent. Most distressing of the discovery that certain signatures had been subsequently altered. An unknown destroyed their integrity by additions of the particle “de” or titles. Consequentially, on the authenticity of several other signatures. It was not usual for uthi particle de when signing his title unless the name was wntten in full, when it had become part of anyone’s surname. Only much closer study of the order both baptismal and nuptial, would allow judgment of those. The signatures he scribed as they are currently seen; the obvious alterations are noted on the altrz?.
The archaic forms of French found in the documents are minor hurdles. Scholars will .tIy recognize the ancient verb endings, and they will not concern the novice. However, the words in the church records may confuse the non-French-speaking reader since they are Jt led in all modern dictionaries, such words as le prosne for prone, Ia coste for cote, siné for soussigné, scavoir for savoir, septante for soixante-dix, endoyer for ondoyer.
The ability to recognize such variant spellings is particularly crucial when ecclesiastical are involved. Not only can multiple terms apply to a single sacrament, but varying orthology can describe the particular circumstance under which a ceremony was administered. For example, inhumer refers to burial, but enterrement refers to the funeral ceremony and burial. Ondoyer (endoyer) refers to the act of baptism, usually in emergency, by priest or layman (often the midwife), while baptiser is the ceremonial administration of the sacrament of baptism. Private baptisms were often followed by the full ceremony—sometimes years later—at which time the sacrament was recorded. When a sacrament was recorded on a frii1le—volante (an unbound page) and later entered into the register, it was usually recopied, but not always identified as a second copy. Frequently these records break the chronological sequence.
Further complicating the picture are imprecise French terms for familial relationships. Sometimes words become particularly confusing when translators apply circumscribed modern definitions without the necessary genealogical research. Such words as bellemère and beaucan mean either step-parents or in-laws. Similarly, beaufrere and bellesoeur, brother-in-law and sister-in-law respectively, were also used for stepbrother and stepsister. Père and fib, commonly translated as “senior” and “junior”, do not indicate that these individuals shared the same given name. L’aisne (L’atne) identifies the elder of two men, usually closely related, but not necessarily brothers, nor necessarily bearing the same prénom. As the idiom of l’aThe, lejeune means the younger. However, it was also a dit name and, as in the? of one Mobile bride, Lejeune was a surname, too. Finally, the significance of dit names is to be emphasized. The dii’ should not be confused with the definitions of “called” or “alias”. The Mobile records show clearly that a dit name was often used instead of the surname, and it sometimes became accepted as the surname of descendants. The dits obviously had more importance than more modern nicknames.
The abstracts retain some of the French terms having multiple meanings. When the trades are translated, a simple contemporary meaning was utilized so the transcribed French word would be studied. In French, as in all living languages, the meaning of certain words have evolved. To illustrate, habitant (also written habitan) can mean an inhabitant or resident, but colonial Louisiana and Canada, it indicated a settler, usually a landowner-farmer. Even in first half of the twentieth century in Louisiana it referred to farmers and was used to indicate a man or family who lived on, and farmed, someone else’s land on a share-crop basis, (maistre) translates as master. In France, its use before a surname was a title of honor,
— ex teachers and judges. In the Mobile marriages, it was used before a trade to denote one considered skilled in that trade. Some trades cannot be precisely differentiated. An iiebusier can refer to one who served with that early portable firearm, the arquebus, or soldier in charge of small arms, or to an armorer, one who makes, repairs, or sells arms. Ai1ew can be a tailor of clothing or a stonecutter, but in Mobile, he was more apt to be a grower of trees.
It is clear that the definition of a word is contingent upon its context and the type of use in which it appears. Its use was also influenced by the time and place in which a document?
The archaic forms of French found in the documents are minor hurdles. Scholars will instantly recognize the ancient verb endings, and they will not concern the novice. However, certain words in the church records may confuse the non-French-speaking reader since they are not listed in all modern dictionaries, such words as le prosne for prone, la coste for cote, soubsigné for soussigné, scavoir for savoir, septante for soixante-dix, endoyer for ondoyer.
The ability to recognize such variant spellings is particularly crucial when ecclesiastical terms are involved. Not only can multiple terms apply to a single sacrament, but varying terminology can describe the particular circumstance under which a ceremony was administered. For example, inhumer refers to burial, but enterrement refers to the funeral ceremony and burial. Ondoyer (endoyer) refers to the act of baptism, usually in emergency, by priest or layman (often the midwife), while baptiser is the ceremonial administration of the sacrament of baptism. Private baptisms were often followed by the full ceremony—sometimes years later—at which time the sacrament was recorded. When a sacrament was recorded on a feuille-volante (an unbound page) and later entered into the register, it was usually recopied exactly, but not always identified as a second copy. Frequently these records break the chonological sequence.
Further complicating the picture are imprecise French terms for familial relationships. These words become particularly confusing when translators apply circumscribed modern definitions without the necessary genealogical research. Such words as bellemère and beaupère can mean either step-parents or in-laws. Similarly, beaufrere and bellesoeur, brother-in- law and sister-in-law respectively, were also used for stepbrother and stepsister. Père and fils, commonly translated as “senior" and “junior”, do not indicate that these individuals shared the same given name. L’aisne (L’aThe) identifies the elder of two men, usually closely related, but not necessarily brothers, nor necessarily bearing the same prénom. As the antonym of l’atne, lejeune means the younger. However, it was also a dit name and, as in the case of one Mobile bride, Lejeune was a surname, too. Finally, the significance of dit names must be emphasized. The dit should not be confused with the definitions of “called” or “alias”. The Mobile records show clearly that a dit name was often used instead of the surname, and it sometimes became accepted as the surname of descendants. The dits obviously had more importance than more modern nicknames.
The abstracts retain some of the French terms having multiple meanings. When the trades were translated, a simple contemporary meaning was utilized so the transcribed French word should be studied. In French, as in all living languages, the meaning of certain words have evolved. To illustrate, habitant (also written habitan) can mean an inhabitant or resident, but in colonial Louisiana and Canada, it indicated a settler, usually a landowner-farmer. Even in the first half of the twentieth century in Louisiana it referred to farmers and was used to indicate a man or family who lived on, and farmed, someone else’s land on a share-crop basis. Maitre (maistre) translates as master. In France, its use before a surname was a title of honor, as for teachers and judges. In the Mobile marriages, it was used before a trade to denote a person considered skilled in that trade. Some trades cannot be precisely differentiated. An arquebusier can refer to one who served with that early portable firearm, the arquebus, or to the soldier in charge of small arms, or to an armorer, one who makes, repairs, or sells arms. A tailleur can be a tailor of clothing or a stonecutter, but in Mobile, he was more apt to be a cutter or hewer of trees.
It is clear that the definition of a word is contingent upon its context and the type of record in which it appears. Its use was also influenced by the time and place in which a document was written. For some terms, full understanding of their use in the Mobile archives will require further analysis. Such is the case with the terms relating to legitimacy. A survey of the marriages and some baptisms suggests that “illegitimate” was used for children of an adulterous union, and “natural” for those of an unmarried couple. Both “legitimate” and “natural and legitimate were reserved for the offspring of a legal (i. e. sanctified) union, a life-loig commitment. Such church-blessed marriages sometimes recorded the children born before the ceremony. In several instances, pastoral discretion seems to account for the choice of, or absence of, a qualifying term in referring to children named in certain baptism and marriage entries. Also needing further study is the terminology used for the colony’s Indian population. Sauvage, which means “savage” in modem France, is still spoken by descendants of early French settlers to mean untamed, uncultivated or wild. Yet it was the usual term employed by the colonial scribes for the American Indian. Broader research is needed to see if their use of Indien and Indienne was limited to those sauvages who had become christianized or acculturated to French ways.
Similar conflict is created by “definitions” gratuitously given to the word “Creole.” Its meaning is precise as used in the nuptial records transcribed for this volume. For historians, its “historical exactitude” must be considered beyond its linguistic implications, and in the Mobile marriage records “Creole” designated persons born in a colony of European or Canadian parents or grandparents. But its use in that era has been seen elsewhere to mean “locally born” in reference to Caucasians and Negroes (but never Indians) or to describe a native-grown produce.
Linguistic imprecision increased the research needed to understand the originals and to identify the principals named in them. The development of the abstracts and their attendant annotations was a natural consequence of both preliminary and concomitant study and led to their presentation as lagniappe, something extra. Despite its simple appearance, this represents the most complex labor. The refining and updating of the handwritten abstracts w tedious. I have attempted to provide correct data regarding each name, date, and staten1at, but errors will undoubtedly occur.
Until there is a firm base of good source books with indices, true comparison its impossible. The completion of such projects will finally permit us to ? the Louisiana stage, and to understand that each individual life is “part of the d? long before birth, that goes on long after death.” Hopefully this book will be a substitution for that perception.
Baptism Records from 1704 to 1778
Some Marriage Records from p. 50 to 61 & 1724-1726 Death
[Editor’s note: This end sheet was titled in English by two different people, probably when the volume was bound. Currently referred to as Baptism Book I (abbreviated as bb I) it consists of several registers bound together, the extant baptismal records for 1704 to 1778. Interspersed among them are a few marriage and death records. Because those nuptial entries represent the only surviving ones earlier than those contained in Marriage Book I (abbreviated as mb I), they are included in this study.
The words within parentheses on the transcript have been added from a handwritten copy covering 1704 to June 1726. Unfortunately, for some of the entries only the first part of each record was transcribed completely. This undated manuscript was done by Father McGowan, a chaplain at Providence Infirmary.]
Mob. bb I:50a-1
May 1,1724
No banns mentioned.
Offivier Philippe, native of St. Ma—— in Flanders, Diocese of Cambrai.
1 Louise Marguerite Housso, widow of Dominique Belzaguy, native of —haly,
2 Diocese of Tours in Touraine.
The witnesses who signed were: (Valentin) Devin, engineer; Marguerite Le Sueur, Canadian- born daughter of Pierre Charles Le Sueur and Marguerite Messier; Paquier, not identified; (Louis Auguste) de la Loëre Flaucour, principal clerk and judge of Mobile (Mob. mb 1,3, 5); and (Louis Alexandre?) Durand.
1. Philippe’s place of birth could be Saint Maur, Saint Marc, Saint Mane, or perhaps Sainte Marie. Cambrai is in the department of Nord. There is a town named Marq in that department.
2. Louise Marguerite’s birthplace looks like echalyc.Cholet, 131 km. from Tours, is a possibility. It is in the Maine-et-Loire department; Tours is in Indre-et-Loke.
Devile (G CC, 20) has Marguerite Housseau or Toulouse, native of Chantilly. This is north of Paris, near Senlis, in the department of Somme. Higginbotham (Old Mobile , 182) also calls it Chantilly. This may result from the confusion of Louise Marguerite Poirier (daughter of Lucien Poirier and Marguerite Toulouse of Chantily) with Louise Marguerite Housso, wife of Belzaguy.
Mob. bb 1:50-2
May 1, 1724
Louis Assaly to Marie Thérèse Bret
L’an mu Sept cent 24 Le premier du mois de May Je SouSSigné f. claude prstre carucin hissionaire apostoliouc et curé de La Mobile certifie avoir donné Le benediction nuptiale et recu Le Mutuel consentement avec Les ceremonies prescrites par La Ste. eglise au Sieur Louis assaly natif de Niord parois(se) St. André et Marie therese bret veuve de michel —oret natif de la rochelle paroisse notre dame en presence des temoins qui ont Signe avec moy.
f. claude prestre cap.
X Marie Miss. apost. et curé
LBourbon thereses louis bret de La mobile
X huche Dela—a———
Mob. bb 1:50-2
May 1, 1724
No banns mentioned.
Louis Assaly (Assailly dit Tranchemontagne) , native of Niort, parish of St. André.
Marie Thérèse2 Bret, native of La Rochelle, parish of Notre Dame, widow of Michel Toret or Soret.
Witnesses signing were: (Louis) Bourbon; (Antoine) Maiie; (Louis Bret?); (Marc Antoine) Huche; (Delasaly or Delasalle?); (Elie AB? Elieass? Clauss? CHeass?).
1. The name appears in other Louisiana archives as Sallier, Assayes, Layeux, Mayeux and Soyer, as well as Tranchemontagne. Their son Louis was baptized as Sallier in 1730. Mob. bb 1:93.
2. The names thereses louis bretr, all apparently written by the same person, may be all the bride’s or may have been written by her father or brother, both named Louis.
Mob. bb I:52a-1
January 12, 1725
Two banns.
Thomas Asselin (dit Fleury), native of Fleury in lower Normandy, Diocese of Coutances.
Marie Françoise Lani or Leny of the parish of (Luben?), Diocese of— — — —es.1
Witnesses signing were: (Marc Antoine) Huché;2 (Nicolas?) Meunier (dit Versailles?); (Noel) de Prouond, husband of Louise Walter.3
1. Perhaps the bride was from Leuven (Louvain), Belgium; in France, Lusson (department of Gard) and Lubbon (department of Landes) are two of many possibilities.
2. Huché (sometimes transcribed as Duché), an interpreter, was the husband of Mariette or Marueitte (or Mauricette) Keruegnan (Kemegnau, Quevergon, etc.) by 1715. About 1731 he married Marie Therese Colon. Mob. bb 1:20,26, 93;mb 1:10.
3. Noel de Prouond or Provond, native of dion in France, son of Jean Prouond and Claudine Amar or Amac, married at Old Biloxi, February 10, 1721, Louise Vollery (Valade?, Gauldre?, Walte?, Waltre?). St.LNO mb. A, no- 24; Mob. bb 1:43, 68,90,103. See also Mob. mb 1:19.
Mob. bb 1:52-4
(January 13? ,) 1725
No banns mentioned.
Antoine Marie, 2 native of Paris, parish of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet.
(Juliette or Julienne) Guilaume, native of Hennebont, Diocese of Vannes.3
Witnesses signing: Grosliers (soldier? and son?); (Louis? or Nicolas Godfroy?) Barbin.
1. The date has been variously transcribed as January 3 and 13, 1725 (Deville, G C C,
49; McGowan copy). Perhaps the date should be February 3 instead. The Marie-Guilaume marriage follows a record clearly dated January 8, 1725.
2. Antoine Marie’s signature may be accented. He married again in 1735 (Mob. mb 1:13).
3. Hennebont, department of Morbihan
Mob. bb I:53a-4
May 28, 1724
No banns mentioned.
(Jean) Fontaile,1 soldier in de Mandevile’s Company.2
(Marie Lernir), widow of deceased (Jean Baptiste Valade dit) Drapeau (le Noir).3
Witnesses signing were: (Louis) Bourbon (dit Ossement or D’Osseman); André (Roberte) Guil(lette), wife of Louis Bourbon.
1. His name was spelled when his widow remarried in 1736 (Mob. mb
1:15), but he signed clearly. One
2. Francois Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville.
3. Valade, his wife, and two children were living at the <(Village of the Fourches>in 1721. Maduell, Census, 26. One of those children was Marie Catherine, Valade’s (Vallade’s) daughter by his earlier marriage to Marie Pascot or Pascault. Catherine, born in 1716 (Mob. bb 1:2 1), married twice: in 1734 toRoy and in 1744 to Conrad —aidek. Mob. mb L9, 33. Jean Baptiste Valade had died two years before Fontaile’s marriage to his widow. Mob. bb 1:43. After Fontaille’s death, she married Loisel. Mob. mb 1:15
Mob. bb I:54a-1
August 28, 1724
No banns mentioned.
Etienne Dubourdieu, Sieur de Hullet.
1 Jeanne Kerouret, 2 widow of (Jacques) Le Compte,3 shipbuilder.
Witnesses signing were: (Valentin) Devin; Ollivier (Philippe); Louise Marguerite Housso, wife of Olivier (Philippe); (Jean) Fontaile;Navarre (possibly the surgeon major noted at Mobile in 1726, or perhaps the Navarre killed at Natchez, November 1729); (Vincent Jolin or Dourlin dit) Dubreuil; Marie Louise Boutin (probably the daughter of Louise Margarite Housso); Lauranson, wife of Baulieu.4
1. As godfather in 1732, his signature is E Dubourdieu Deheullet (Mob. bb 1:95).
2. The bride signed differently at other times.
3. In June, 1721, Jacques Le Compte, caulker, and his wife were living at Mobile. Maduell, Census, 23. Their marriage had taken place by 1715. Here Jacques Le Compte was identified as a carpenter in the king’s service. Mob. bb 1:18.
4. Jean Lorenson dit Beaulieu usually signed Lorenson. This was apparently written by Jeanne Marguerite Eugere or Heuger, his wife.
Mob. bb I:54b-1
September 18, 1724
(Three usual banns announced?)
Jean Baptiste Hervieux,1 native of Quebec.
Marie Praux,2 widow of (Vincent Alexandre dit) Chenet.3
Witnesses signing were: (Jean) Bon,4 stepfather of the bride as husband of her mother, Anne Perrot; (Marguerite Praux), the widow Colon dit La Violette; Robert Talon, brother-in- law of the bride as husband of Jeanne Praux; Arriaud, perhaps François.
1. Later, this groom signed the 1726 marriage of his stepdaughter, Anne Alexandre Chenet, as . A Canadian gunsmith of that name was at Biloxi in 1699 (Maduell, Census, 1,4).
2. This bride, whose name was sometimes written as Anne and as Anne Marie, is easily confused with her sister, Marie Anne Praux. The only truly legible letter on the original is Father Claude’s strange .< BR>
3. The Alexandre and Chenet names were used interchangeably as surnames.
4. Jean Bon, master arquebusier of La Rochelle, had married Anne Perrot at least fifteen
years before. He was listed as a marshal in New Orleans in 1722, an employee of the Company
of the Indies. His funeral record, dated March 7, 1736, is at Mobile. Mob. bb I:8a, March 12,
1709;Conrad, First Families, I, 217;DeVille, G CC, 23.
Mob. bb I:56b-21
April 4, 1725
No banns mentioned.
Claude Pinsedd (dit Boulonnois), sergeant of the troops.2
Marguerite Praux, widow of (Jean Colon dit) La Violette.3
Witnesses signing were: (Jean) Bon, her stepfather, and Robert Talon, her brother-in-law;4 one hardly visible.
1. Although the priest’s signature cannot be clearly seen, the entry was definitely written by the Capucin, Claude.
2. Pinsedé’s dit name reflects his origin: Boulogne-sur-Mer on the coastline of the depart. ment of Pas-de-Calais. He obviously could not write his name. His son, signing as godfather in December, 1739, wrote Claude Pincedé. Mob. bb 1:63. His granddaughter signed in 1772. N. 0. Notarial Archives. Almonaster y Rojas Acts, Feb. 21, 1772. Claude ePincedetx. died in 1738. Mob. fb 1:55,
3. Higginbotham (Old Mobile ) has several interesting mentions of Praux, Colon, and Bon. Variations of her signatures are examples of inconsistency. See the Index under Praux, Colon, and Boulonnois.
4. Robert Tallon (also Talon), identified as a master menuisier, had married her sister Jeanne before 1720. Mob. bb I:25bis. In 1728 he was called a master ebeniste and a church warden of the Mobile parish. Mob. bb 1:84. Robert Talon was buried August 8, 1746. Deville, GCC,60.
Mob. bb I:57b-3
May11, 1725
Three banns published.
(Jean) Guilaume Burat,1 native of Soleure, Diocese of Basle.
Magdelaine Rouge or Rouger, daughter of Mathieu Rouge, native of La Rochelle.2
Witnesses signing were: (Etienne) Teyssier, (Mathieu) Rouge or Rouger, and the cross of Pierre Gardon (or Guedon?).
1. Although within this document the groom’s name looks like Lurat, it was found in other sources as Burat. Jean Guillaume Burat, a Swiss corporal in Latour’s company and later in de Lusser’s company (Mob. bb 1:76, 9Obis), died March 6, 1736 (DeVile, G CC, 24).
2. Magdelaine’s next marriage was in 1737 to Antoine Negrier (Mob. mb I:19a).
Mob. bb I:58a-3
September 18, 1725
Dispensed with publication of banns.
Etienne Teyssier, a sergeant in La Tour’s1 company.
Magdeleine René (de Mandeville),2 natural daughter of (François Philippe) de Mandeville, captain in the colony.
3 Witnesses signing were: Jean Chris (Jean Chrisostome, a friar who had arrived with Father Claude, is most probable); Monsieur (Pi——----ot?) made a large cross.
1. Lieutenant, then captain, Vitrac de La Tour, husband of Bienville’s cousin Marie LeSueur, was commanding at Fort Toulouse des Alibamons from its beginning until 1720. That year, in poor health, he returned to the Mobile fort. In 1723, he was still there, serving with Francois Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville under Jadart de Bauchamp, the major.commandant of Fort Condé. Mob. bb 1:24, Oct. 3, 1717; C 13a, 5:117; Giraud,Histofre, III, 310, 365, 366;IV, 420.
2. The bride’s mother was an Indian slave of Captain de Mandeville. Giraud, Histoire, IV,431,432n;Mob.bb 1:86.
3. Ensign at Mobile in 1707, he married in France a niece of the missionary Le Maire. Giraud, Histoire, III, 147, 147n. Although a special entry in 1722 declares that the family name was Philippe, his full name is given elsewhere as Francois de Hautmesnil de Marigny de Mandeville. Mob. bb 1:42.2; Giraud,Histoire, vols. III and IV.
Mob. bb I:60a-1
January 17, 1726
No banns mentioned.
Pierre Berten dit L
Angelique Reue or Reve, native of Paris.2
Witnesses signing were: (Louis) Bourbon;3 (Jacques) Branud or Branut (dit La France, who married Marie Clere LeClere); Joseph (Contant?), if so, husband of Jeanne (Megne? Vergne? Dupuy? ); (Louis? ) Jourdain, a soldier.
1. One Pierre Bertin was aboard Le Marechal de Villars on January 26, 1719, traveling to Louisiana. Conrad, First Families, I, 32.
2. Angelique Reve, whose husband, Nicolas Miradot, had died in September 1725, is presumably the bride. Mob. bb 1:61. She may have married again, to Theodore Robin dit Lanoix and then, in 1738, to Julien Gautier. Forsyth and Pleasonton, La. Mg. Contracts, 71.
3. Louis Bourbon witnessed a Gautier-Reve marriage contract passed at New Orleans in
1738. Forsyth and Pleasonton,La. Mg. Contracts, 71.
Mob. bb I:61a-1
February 8, 1726
Dispensed with two banns.
Louis Fontenot,2 sergeant in La Tour’s company, son of Joachim Fontenot and Jeanne Prido, native of Poitiers, parish of St. Germain.3
Louise Henry, widow of L—b—g—e,4 daughter of Mathurin Henry and Louise de Perigo or Prigo, native of Port Louis, parish of Blavet.5
Witnesses signing were: (Vincent John or Dourhin dit) Dubreüil, sindic, Ohlivier (Philippe), François Alleuin or Allevin.
1. Although a space at the end of line one could have once had (
2. Perhaps the soldier who died at Alibamons, October 29, 1755. Daniel H. Thomas, <(Fort Toulouse: The French Outpost at the Alibamons on the Coosa,>> Alabama Historical Quarterly, XXII (1960), 221n.
3. References to the family were found in Montierneuf Parish nearby. Photocopies were a gift to this writer from Mrs. Milton P. Rieder and her husband, now deceased, of New Orleans. See Jacqueline 0. Vidrine and Elaine Guillory Pucheu, Louisiana GenealogicalRegister, XXII (December, 1975); XXIII (March, 1976).
4. The name appears to be > or >. One Louison Henry of Port Louis lost her husband, Thomas Le Beghues, at Chapitoulas, August 2, 1721. Photograph of the original extract of deaths at the Ste. Reine Concession, in Henry C. Bezou,Metafrie: A Tongue of Land to Pasture (Gretna, La., 1973). The similar names are tantalizing, but no further leads have been uncovered.
5. Blavet was given the name Port Louis during the reign of Louis XIII. Bretagne, Michelin Green Guide Series (Paris, 1965).
Mob. bb 1:61-2
May 29, 1731
Death certificate.
Nicolas Miradot, deceased husband of Angelique Re— — (Reve? Reue?),1 died September 15, 1725, and was buried in the parish cemetery, according to testimony of witnesses Etienne Teyssier, sergeant; Maurice Durand ;2 Barthelemy (Justin de) Lamare ;3 and Felix Lurat.4
Two witnesses signed: (Etienne) Teyssier, (Maurice) Durand.
1. She seems to have been the Angelique Reffe who was one of the girls sent, by order of the king, on La Mutine in 1719. The ship arrived at the end of February 1720. She was listed as Madame Angelique Reffe on the 1721 census of Mobile. Giraud, Histoire, III: 343, 343n; Maduell, Census, 24. The Miradot-Reve children were baptized in 1723 and 1725. Mob. bb 1:48, 58.
2. He married the widow of Jean Belzaguy in 1740. Mob. mb 1:40.
3. Barthelemy Justin de la Mare signed several records between 1721 and 1736. At his death on July 26, 1738, he was a lieutenant in the Mobile militia and a grocer. Mob. fb 1:56.
4. His daughter married in 1734. Mob. mb 1:9.
Mob. bb I:1O2
March 1, 1734
One bann published, dispensed with two.
Jean Baptiste Baudrau, Creole of Dauphine Island, son of Jean Baptiste Baudreau dit Grave- line, militia captain and habitant of the Pascagoula post, and of Susanne.
Marie Catherine Vinconneau of La Rochelle, daughter of Louis Vinconneau (deceased), a master tailor of wearing apparel, and of Catherine Doussin, who is now married to Joseph Simon dit la Pointe, habitant of Pascagoula.
2 Witnesses signing were: Jean Baptiste Baudrau, father of the groom; (Charles) Egron (dit La Motte); (C)ristian (possibly Christian Ladner); (Francois) Riieux, spouse of Marie Renée Alexandre dit Chenet; N(icolas) Bodin (dit Miragouin); Pierre Millon (son-in-law of Joseph Simon); (Nicolas?) Rouss(au?), resident of Dauphine Island in the 1730s who later moved to Louisiana’s German Coast.
Father Mathias, Capuchin priest and apostolic missionary, was functioning as curé at Fort Condé of Mobile and of Pascagoula, its dependency.
1. The Mobile diocesan archivist recently notified this writer that this folio is currently maintained in a separate folder. In addition, some doubt now exists about its original location.
2. The wedding tookplace in the home of Joseph Simon dit La Pointe at Pascagoula.
31 Marriage records from about 1730 to 1830
Earlier Marriages found Mixed in Baptism Book of 1704
[Note: The end papers are titled in English, the first line in ink and the second in pencil.]
Mob. mb I:la
February 8, 1732
The present register [containing] . . . recto and verso was numbered and [initialled first and] last, by us commissioner [of the Marine] . . . second councior of the Superior Council and first judge of the department of Mobile to register therein what is done in this parish; done [at Fort] Condé of Mobile the eighth of February one thousand [seven] hundred thirty-two, approved the eighth.1
De Cremont2
Book of Marriages3
1. The above is a full translation of the remaining part of the page, with words in brackets supplied by the editor.
2. The signature is that of Charles François de Cremont, commissioner of the Marine and judge atFort Condé. He signed, on the same date, the title page of a funeral register that is now erroneously bound in Marriage Book I as folio 36. De Cremont left Louisiana in 1735 but returned in 1737. He died in Louisiana that year. Menier, Inventa ire, 268, 291, 294.
3. The title is a later addition by a different hand.
Mob. mb I:2a1
February 13, 1726
Three banns published.2
Jean Carmouche dit Lorrain,3 son of Jean Carmouche and Anne Galois.
Anne Alexandre dii’ Chenet, native of this country, daughter of Vincent Alexancire dit Chenet and Marie Praux.
Witnesses named: Jean Bon, grandfather of the bride (actually her step-grandfather); Robert Talon; Etienne Fievre; Jean Baptiste de Bubul— dit Marquis de (Pire?).4
Witnesses signing: I. Bon, husband of the bride’s grandmother, Anne Perrot; (Jean Baptiste de Bubul— dit) Lemarquis Depire; (Vincent John dii’) Dubreuil; Robert Talon, her uncle as husband of Jeanne Praux; Jan (Jean) Baptiste Hervieux, husband of the bride’s mother; E(tienne) Fievre, husband of Marie Anne Grise.
1. The verso of folio 2 is blank.
2. The phrase apres les roys , used to indicate the date of the banns, refers to the Epiphany, the Feast of the Kings, January 6.
3. He was baptized in 1690 at Eghise St. Laurent, Pont-à-Mousson. Jack Belsom to the writer, January 10, 1971; Research of Mrs. Hudson Carmouche of Houston, Texas. Jean Carmouche, serrurier, was listed as 28 years old in 1720 on board the Gironde. He was employed as a worker for the Chaumont concession. LHML, Passages, 156; Conrad, First Families of Louisiana , 92.
4. This witness’s name was Bubuli or Bubulé.
Mob. mb I:3a-1—3b1
April 6, 1726
Appearing before us f. Mathias, Capuchin priest, apostolic missionary, acting as curé at Mobile, and Mr. De La Loire Flaucour, principal clerk and judge of the said place, Joseph Barbau dit Boisdoré Native of Quebec, master tailleur presently living at New Orleans, and [he] swore before us and in the presence of Claude Parant, resident of Mobile; of Louis Assaffly dit Tranchemontagne; and of Catherine Christophe, spouse of the said Parant; that he has not been married, and [that] he is entirely free, as is required for the marriage he wants to make with a girl of this place, Mobile, and that, since he cannot give the sufficient proofs of the single state, in which he must be to be able to contract the marriage, because of the voyages that he has made in different countries, so he has engaged us to write up this act for our protection, in faith thereof we have signed the day and year abovementioned with the witnesses herein named above.
Witnesses named: Claude Parant, resident of Mobile; Louis Assailly dit Tranchemontagne; Catherine Christophe, spouse of Sieur Parant.
Witnesses signing: Joseph Barbo dit Boisdoré; Mathias de Sedan, Capuchin priest, apostolic missionary, curé (of Mobile); Cath(erine) Christophe (formerly widow of Pierre Boyer, then wife of Claude Parant); cross of Louis Assailly (dit Tranchemontagne), who married Marie Thérèse Bret in 1724 (Mob bb 1:50); cross of Claude Parant; (Louis Auguste) de La Loëre Flaucour.2
1. The verso of folio 2 and the top half of folio 3 (old number 36) are blank. Parts of this record are very faded.
2. La Loëre Flaucour, an official at Mobile, 1724-1726. He was sent to Balize in 1727.
Conrad, First Families, I, 230. In 1730, he was at New Orleans. S. L. NO. mb A no. 378.
Appointed as clerk for Illinois September 15, 1733 (AC, B 57:616), he served until his death
in 1746. Pease and Jenison, Illinois on Eve, 48n; Kaskaskia, 1737:5:18, 12:18; 1738:8:24,
9:24; 1743:7:27, etc. Caldwell gives his death date as 1747. Caldwell, French in the Mississippi
Valley , 46. It is true that Joseph Buchet was not notified that he would replace La Loëre until
1748. Maurepas to Buchet, December 11, 1747, AN, Col. B 5 8:32, transcribed in Pease and
Jenison, illinois on Eve, 47-48.
Mob. mb P3b-1—4a1
April 8, 1726
One bann published.
Joseph Barbo (Barbeau) dit Boisdoré, master tailleur, now living in New Orleans, son of Jean Baptiste Barbeau dit Boisdoré and of Marie de Noyon.2
Marie Louise Bret, daughter of Louis Bret, master tailleur, and of Elizabeth Roy of St. Sauveur Parish in La Rochelle.
Witnesses named: Estienne Du Bordieu, Louis Bourbon, Jean Baptiste Fontaine (possibly Jean Fontaffle), and Barthelemy de la Mar.
Witnesses signing: E(tienne) Dubourdieu, spouse of Jeanne Kerourette; (Louis) Bourbon (dit Osseman); Fontai—— (faded. Visible letters look like the 1724 Fontaille signatures, Mob. mb 1:53-54); Marie Bret, one of the sisters of the bride; (Barthelemy Justin de) Lamare, spouse of Claude Françoise de Vodestar; Jeanne Kerrouret, who signed equerroureta on her 1736 marriage certificate; André Guillette, wife of Louis Bourbon.
1. The record is faded and stained.
2. The groom’s parents were Francois Jean Barbeau dit Boisdoré and Marie de Noyan in Drouin, DNCF, I, 47; Jean Barbot dit Boisdoré and Marie de Noyon in Tanguay, DGCG, I, 25; and Jean Barbeau and Marie De Noyon (dit Boisdoré) in ibid., II, 111 Marie De Noyon’s father was De Noyon or Desnoyers in ibid., I, 382.
Mob. mb I:4a-11
June 6, 1726
Two banns published, dispensed with one.
Louis Pagot or Pago, soldier in Latour’s company, son of Louis Pagot and Marie Billon, of St. Jean du Monts,2 bishopric of Lucon.
Marie Meutrot (or Mentrot), widow of Gabriel Mendet (Merdet? Suerdet? Rundes?),3 daughter of Pierre (Meutrot?) and of Jeanne (Phildier?), of Montargi, bishopric of Sens.4
Witnesses signing: (Barthelemy Justin de) Lamare; Jean Brudel, probably the godfather recorded by the priest as dean Brideb in 1726 (Mob. mb 1:4); (Jean?) Bigorne; Claude Vivier, wife of Pierre Le Roy (Roy) (Mob. mb 1:5).
1. The top of the record is waterstained and somewhat faded.
2. St. Jean du Monts is in the department of Vendée.
3. One man bearing a similar name was Gabriel Mentote, whose marriage contract, dated January 15, 1734 at Saint-Philippe (Illinois), mentions a Mobile girl. The bride-to-be was Marie Turpin, natural daughter of Jean Baptiste Turpin and Marie Jeanne of Mobile. Belting, Kaskaskia under the French Regime, 111.
4. The bride may be from Montargis (department of Loiret, in the province of Bourgogne ), about fifty kilometers from Sens.
Mob. mb I:4b-1
June 6, 1726
Baptism.
Claudette Agathe, female Negro child belonging to Monsieur ——d—r, aide major of Fort Condé at Mobile.
2 Godfather: Jean Bridel.
Godmother: Claudette Vivier.3
l.This record has been crossed out but is still legible, although it is waterstained and very pale.
2. Although the visible letters would fit the name Jadart, he was called major of Mobile in
1725. Menier,Inventaire, 141. Yet, his promotions were to captain in 1732 and to major in
1733. Jean Jadart died in 1754 as lieutenant of the king and commandant at Mobile. DeVille,
G CC, 43. On marriages 1735-1748, his signature is De Bauchamps>. Mob. mb 1:11, 14, 20,
23, 24, 29,39. Most secondary sources use Beauchamps.
3. The godmother signed on the Pagot-Meutrot marriage the same day. She died one month later. DeVille, G C C, 46.
Mob.mb I:4b-2
June 6, [1726] 1
Three banns published.
Pierre Lorandini, soldier in Marchand’s Company, widower2 of Françoise Coilet or Colet, son of Pierre Lorandini and of Marguerite Zabal of Florence, Italy.
Marie Anne Fourchet, widow of Jean (La Case) dit’La Douceur, soldier in Marchand’s company, daughter of Pierre Fourchet and of Jeanne Brestune (Brusturie? Priestune?)3 of Epernay, Archbishopric of Reims.
Witnesses named: Jacques Branut dit La France,4 sergeant in Marchand’s company; Etienne Tessier (Teyssier), sergeant in Latour’s company.
Witnesses signing: (Jacques) Branut (dit La France), husband of Marie Clere LeClere. (If Etienne Teyssier signed, it has faded to invisibility.)
1. The year 1726 is used in brackets because 1720 was an error of omission by the priest. Neither the bride nor the groom were widowed in 1720. Lacase’s daughter, Marie Jeanne, was born in March 1726; Lorandini’s child, born in 1725, was a daughter of his first marriage.
2. The priest erroneously used feminine forms (>; >) in referring to the groom.
3. The Lorandini groom’s mother was recorded as Anne Marie Criolet in 1735 (Mob. mb
1:10), and as Marie Françoise Coquerelle on a ship list (Conrad, First Families, 1, 52).
4. The signature of Jacques Branut appears to end with a but could as well be a ((t)). See also Deville, G CC, 24.
Mob. mb I:5a-2—5b
December 2, 1726
One bann published, dispensed with two.
François Parant, master tailleur of Montreal, son of Joseph Parant, master tailleur, and of Magdeleine Maret, natives of Quebec.
Marie Anne ArlG,1 widow of the late Jean Favre, daughter of the late Jean Arlü, master builder, and of Marguerite (Sautrais?)2 of La Rochelle.
Witnesses named: Monsieur de La Loire (Loëre) Flaucour, principal bookkeeper at Mobile; Estienne Fievre, master carpenter, habitant; Estienne Dubordieu, habitant; Noel Prouond or Provond; Pierre Votier (Vautier).
Witnesses signing: (Louis Auguste) de La Loëre Flaucour; E(tienne) Dubourdieu; (Etienne)
Fievre, husband of Marie Anne Grise; (Pierre) Vautier, surgeon, spouse of Francoise Pacot;
(Noel) de Prouond or Provond, spouse of Louise Waltre (Valde); (Jeanne Kerrouret) La
Dubordieu, wife of Etienne Dubourdieu.
1. One researcher found Claude Parent (sic), born circa 1677, son of Pierre Parent and Jeanne Badault and so an uncle of the groom. Jay Higginbotham to the writer, April 14, 1983.
2. The cross identified as Marie Anne Favre’s is presumably the bride’s
3. The surname of the bride’s mother is difficult to read. The first letter could be eS, eL>>, or >; the last letter may be em> or er> rather than es>.
Mob. mb I:5b-1—6a
December 3, 1726
Dispensation of three banns; season of Advent.
Francois Compagnot, soldier in Marchand’s Company, of Paris, son of Olivier Compagnot, bourgeois of Paris, and of Marguerite G—i—lmar (Guilmar? Grilinar?)1 of Paris, of the parish of Saint Louis en l’lle, lie Saint-Louis in central Paris.
Jeanne Lafon, widow of Jacques Finot, baker, daughter of Andre Lafon of lie d’Oleron and of Jeanne Renier of lie d’Oieron, bishopric of Saintes (department of Charente-Maritime).
Witnesses named: Claude Pinsdé dit Boulounois, sergeant in Marchand’s company; Pierre Dominique Baillard, soldier in Marchand’s company; Pierre Domal or Domail, settler, beaufrère2 (stepbrother or brother-in-law) of the bride; Nicolas Aubrien, corporal in La Tour’s company.
Witnesses signing: (Pierre Dominique) Baart; cross of Pierre Domail, brother-in-law of the bride; cross of Claude Pinsdë, spouse of Marguerite Praux; cross of Nicoias Aubrien (Aubrun?), who owned New Orleans property in 1731 (Maduell, Census, 139).
1. Under the bride’s cross is a name scratched out, perhaps the groom’s mother’s written by mistake: Marguerite gu— — —r>>.
2. To identify Pierre Domai (Domail), the word frere was written, then beau written over it, followed by frere. His wife, Jeanne Lafond, was apparently a sister, or at least a half-sister, of the bride Jeanne Lafond. A stepdaughter, Catherine Paux, was probably the child with Pierre and his wife on the 1726 Mobile census (Maduell, Census, 63. See also Mob. mb 1:22). Both Domaiie and his wife died in 1747 (DeVille, G C C, 34).
Mob. mb I:6a-11
August 26, 1726
One bann announced; dispensed with two.
Pierre Paquet, son of the late Pierre Paquet and of Marthe Boular or Coular, habitant at Fort Condé de la Mobile.
Magdelaine (Baudrau): natural daughter of Jean Baptiste Baudreau dit Graveline, habitant of the Pascagoula River settlement, a dependency of this parish, and of an Witnesses signing: Etienne Fievre, master carpenter, husband of Marie Anne Grise; Jean Bigorne, whose initial J> is written as part of the RB>; the cross of René Sabourdin, then husband of Marie Clotilde Faucot or Foucault, married Anne L’Ange in 1732 (Mob. mb 1:7); the cross of Michel Paquet, possibly the groom’s brother, or an error of the priest in identifying the groom’s mark.
1. This record is crossed out but is still legible. The verso of folio 6 is blank.
2. The word Indienne (an Indian woman) seems to have been used in contrast to sauvagesse as a distinction of social class or to identify Christian Indians.
Mob. mb I:7a-11
February 25, 1732
Three banns announced.
René Sabourdin or Sabourin,2 widower of Clothilde Faucot (Foucot? Foucault?), son of René
Sabourdin ofNiort in Poitou, parish of St. André, and of Catherine Delzai (Delsai?).
.nne L’Ange, of Troyes in Champagne, parish of St. Jean, widow of Francois Hupe (a former
sailor), deceased,3 daughter of Antoine L’Ange,master shoemaker, and of Marie of Troyes.
No witnesses are named. The only signature is that of the priest.
1. The handwriting is small; the record is stained and disintegrating.
2. In May, 1718, Sabourdin, a soldier, was aboard La Victoire, bound for Louisiana (Con. rad,First Families, I, 19). He married Foucault in 1721 (St. LNO, mbA, no. 33).
3. The Hupe-L’Ange daughter, born at Bioxi, married in 1740 (Mob. mb I:28a).
Mob. mb I:7a-2
April 16, 1732
Dispensed with two banns.
Pierre Guigon, soldier of the Alibamons detachment, son of Louis Guigon, merchant, and of Marie Doucet of Frisbourb en Briscot.1
Marie Paguot, daughter of Louis Paguot, soldier of the Alibamons district, and of Jeanne Gualois of La Rochelle.
Witnesses named: Marchand, captain; De La Lande, keeper of the storehouse; Durant, Lorains.
Witnesses signing: (Francois) Marchand (de Courcelles), captain; (Charles) de Lalande, scribe for the king and keeper of the Mobile storehouse in 1746; Jean Carmouche dit Lorain, locksmith; the cross of Duranté.
1. The groom’s hometown was, apparently, Freibourg.en-Brisgau, Germany, the old capital of the Baden region.
Mob. mb I:7a-3
April 16, 1732
One bann published, dispensed with two.
Jean Girard, soldier of the Alibamons detachment, son of Louis Girard, merchant, and of Claude Rabot, native of Réme1 in Brittany.
Marie Daniau, daughter of Philippe Daniau, mason, and of Anne Thibauld of La Rochelle, St. Jean Parish.-
Witnesses named: Marchand, captain; de I.aLande, keeper of the storehouse; Duranté; Lorain.
Witnesses signing: (Francois) Marchand de Courcelles; Charles Marie de Lalande ;2 Jean Car. mouche dit Lorain; the cross of Duranté.3
1. Rëme must be Rennes, the prefecture of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany.
2. In 1735, he was guardian of the royal storehouse in New Orleans. That year he contracted to marry Charlotte Duval, widow of François Demouy (LHML, SCR, May 4, May 5, 1735).
3. This writer has been unable to identify Duranté.
Mob. mb I:7b-1
April 27, 1732
No banns mentioned.
Jean and Jeanne Vieve (Genevieve), Negro slaves belonging to Diron1 in the presence of Pouppar (dit Lafleur),2 econome3 of said Dkon’s habitation.
Witnesses signing: (Joseph?) Poupar (dit Lafleur).
1. Diron, mentioned as the owner of the Negro couple, is apparently Bernard, identified in other documents as a chevalier de Saint Louis, lieutenant of the king in Louisiana, commandant of Fort Condé. Mob. mb 1:11, 12, 14, 19, 24. On a 1738 document dartaguiette> is added after his signature
2. If Joseph, the spouse of Marie Roy, he died at Fort Toulouse, March 12, 1739. DeVile, G CC, 55.
3. The word econome means a steward, housekeeper, or manager of another person’s property. Since the reference is to Diron’s habitation, Pouppar must have been manager-overseer of the land and its production.
Mob. mb I:7b-2
November 18, 1732
Three banns published.
Jean Baptiste Alexandre, Creole of this colony, son of the late Jean Alexandre, master wood worker of Dieppe in Normandy, and of Marie Marguerite DuFresne (also DuFrêne) of Paris, parish of St. Germain L’Auxerois, habitante.
Françoise Hyppolitte Bodin, Creole of this colony, daughter of Nicolas Bodin dit Miragouin, of Tours in Tourraine (department of Indre-et-Loire), and of Françoise Pailly (also Paillé, Paihié) of Lorient, bishopric of Vannes (department of Morbihan).
Witnesses named: Baudin and Françoise Pailhié, the girl’s parents; Widow Dufresne, mother of the groom; Marie Marguerite Alexandre, sister of the groom; Sieur Dubordieu; Louis Populus, ecuyer, seigneur de St. Protais.
Witnesses signing: N(icolas) Bodin,’ the bride’s father; cross of Françoise Paillié, mother of the bride; Marie Marguerite Alexandre, sister of the groom; cross of Marguerite Dufresne, mother of the groom; (Etienne) Dubordieu, spouse of Jeanne Kerrourete; (Louis) Populus de St. Protés, who would marry Jeanne Kerrourete in 1758.
1. The other signature n: bdina, marked through, was rewritten, obviously because of the error. De Miraguine is written in a different hand, written through the flourish below Bodin, in a lighter, less flowing stroke. It is not Mathias’ penmanship, nor Bodin’s.
Mob. mb I:8a-1
February 16, 1733
Three banns announced.
Jean Baptiste Louis Braquet de Seben, native of Stenay, parish of St. Gregoire, archbishopric
of Treves, son of Sieur Claude Braquet de Seben and of Dame Marie Jeanne de Jossillot of
(Mousson?), archbishopric of Reims.1
Marie Praux of St. Jean d’Angely (department of Charente.Maritime) in Saintonge, bishopric
of Saintes, widow of Jean Baptiste Hervieux, daughter of Jean Praux and of Anne Perotte.
Witnesses named, all habitans: Louis Deflandre, Olivier Philippe, Francois Alum, Maurice
Durand.
Witnesses signing: Ollivier (Philippe), (Louis) Deflancire, (Francois) Alleuin, (Maurice) Durand,
cross of Anne (Alexandre dit) Chenet, wife of Jean (Carmouche dit) Lorrain.
1. One town named Stenay is near Verdun, in the department of Meuse; it would be part of the archdiocese of Reims. Trèves (Treir) is on the Moselle River, in Germany. Although Reims is in the French department of Marne, Braquet’s parents could have been from Musson, Belgium, just over the border from the French department of Meuse, but Mouzon, near Stenay, is more probable.
Mob. mb L.8a-2—8b
November 26, 1733
One bann announced.
Jean de Laplace dit Montford of St. Lo, sergeant of Lusser’s Company,1 son of Nicolas de Laplace, bourgeois of St. Ló, and of deceased Marie (des Sts. Gyrs?),2 parish of La Manne (Maune?), bishopric of Bayeux.3
Marie Clere Le Clere of Gisors in Normandy, widow of Jacques Branut dii’ La France, deceased, 4 daughter of Adrien Clere, deceased, merchant of Pontoise in Picardy, and of Marie Braye of Rouen.
Witnesses signing were: (Etienne) Fievre, La Bouloune (Marguerite Colon, wife of Claude Pinsedé dii’ Boulonnois); (Thomas) Asselinne; Ollivier (Philippe); cross of Jean Herauld (Heraut), master woodworker, spouse of Marie Real; cross of Claude Pinsdée (père. His son, Claude, was born in 1726.).
1. Joseph Christophe Lusser died in 1736. MPA, I, 66n, 306, 319. At his widow’s marriage in 1744,
Laplace was called a sergeant in Le Sueur’s company. Mob. mb 1:31.
2. The groom’s mother’s maiden name may have been Des Sts. Gyrs, or that phrase may refer to the place of origin. There is a St. Cyr-sur-Morin in Seine-et-Marne, and a place called St. Geours-de-Maremne in the diocese of Bayonne.
3. St. LO is in the department of Manche; Bayeux is in the neighboring department of Calvados. Gisors is in the Eure department, and Rouen is in the Seine-Maritime,just above the Eure. All are part of Normandy. Pontoise is in the department of Seine-et-Oise.
4. Surely Jacques Branud or Branut dit La France is the sergeant in Marchand’s company, who signed Brannu— on the Lorandini-Fourchet marriage certificate. Mob. bb 1:60. Branud, a native of St. Denis Parish in France, was buried July 20, 1733. DeVile, G CC, 24.
Mob. mb L9a-1
January 5, 1734
One bann published; dispensed with two banns.
Francois Guillaume Melisan, surgeon, widower of Marie Anne de Rouseve,1 son of Joseph Hiacinthe Melisan, cloth merchant, and of Clere Gamier of Toulon in Provence, department of Var.
Magdeleine Boer, widow of François D’Eslande (Deslandes),2 daughter of Pierre Boer, master baker, and Marie Guilot of Notre Dame parish in La Rochelle, department of Seine- Maritime.
Witnesses named: Olivier (Philippe); (Etienne) Dubordieu; Francois Alum (Alleuin), (Pierre) Verneuil, AIim.
Witnesses signing: (Pierre) Verneuil, husband of Marie Anne Gufflet; (Etienne) Dubordieu, husband of Jeanne Kerrourete; (François) Alleuin, married in 1734 (Mob. mb 1:10); Ollivier (Philippe); (Jean) Baptiste (Allein) Rouceve (perhaps the brother of Melisan’s deceased wife, referred to as A1lin>). He was the son of Pierre Allein Rouçeve. The and > signatures of 1734 and 1737 seem to be Pierre’s.
1. Melisan’s deceased wife was apparently an Allein dit Rouçeve and sister of the witness Baptiste Rouceve.
2. François Deslandes was buried July 13, 1733. DeVifie, G CC, 33.
Mob. mb I:9a-2—9b
May 25, 1734
Three banns published.
Jean Philippe Roy, Creole of Mobile, son of Jean Baptiste Roy, deceased, master cannoneer of Rochefort and of Renée Gilbert of Tours.1
Catherine Vallade, Creole of Mobile, daughter of Jean Baptiste Vallade (dit Drapeau), a Poiteyin, 2 and Marie Pascault of Pleimer.3
Witnesses signing were: (G, Cj, or J) Duchesne (probably Guilaume Duchesne, who died in 1741 at Mobile) ;4 (Pierre) Verneuil; (Marc Antoine) Huché; (Charles) de La Lande; Marguerite Praux dit La Boulounes, wife of Claude Pinsedé —aron (Baron, Caron or Barois?);5 Louis Urbain Berthelot; (Jean Baptiste) Valade (probably a half-brother of the bride); Louis Brete, probably the son (but perhaps the daughter Louise) of Louis Bret, brother of Marie Louise; (Jean Richard) de Ia Houssaye,6 (ecuier, Sleur de Pontvilain, infantry ensign, twice godfather in the fall of 1 736).
1. Tour must be Tours, department of Indre-et-Loire.
2. Poitevin refers to a person from Poitiers or the Poitou region.
3. Pleimer is probably Phmeur, near Vannes in Brittany.
4. DeVille,GCC, 35.
5. The baron or 1735, since he made only a cross on his own record. Mob. mb 1:11.
6. Preceding Le chev> may have been added by someone else, although a faded document in Pointe Coupée shows —hev delahoussaye> as his signature. BRDA, PtC,
11,9.
Mob. mb 19b-1
June 30, 1734
Three banns announced.
Jacques Roy, Creole of the old fort,1 master cannoneer, son of Jean Baptiste Roy, master cannoneer of Rochefort, and of Renée Gilbert of Tours.
Catherine Lurat,2 daughter of Felix Lurat, master cooper (barrel or cask maker) Gab—at3 and of the late Marie Thérèse Corneille of La Rochelle.
Witnesses signing: Felix Lurat, who died in 1738; (Etienne) Fievre, who lived until 1760; Marie Joseph Rochon, perhaps the one born April 6, 1722 (Mob. bb 1:43); (Francois) Alleuin, who married November 11, 1734 (Mob. mb 1:10); (Louis) Deflandres, who lived until 1748 (Deville, G C C, 30); Marie Lecler, the 1733 bride of de Laplace dit Monfort (Mob. mb 1:9); (Marie?) Pascal;4 Belle Saquy, the same one who signed Bellezaguy the following October (Mob. mb 1:10).
1. Above the groom’s name and occupation is inserted This could be Bioxi, but more likely it refers to the earlier location of the Mobile fort.
2. The words following the bride’s name are lined through, and is written over them. The phrase
3. The word looks like Gabfat. Its meaning is not known; perhaps Calfat was meant.
4. Perhaps the daughter of Jean Pascal and Elizabeth Real. Forsyth and Pleasonton, La. Mg. Contracts, 82. M:pascal cannot be Marie Pascault of Pleimer who was deceased by the time of her Valade daughter’s marriage one month earlier. This one was probably the future bride (1739) of Francois Goudeau, brother of the 1734 groom Michel Goudeau. Mob. mb 1:10.