Louisiana Colonial Document Project Underway

French and Spanish Documents
in
Storage boxes

Among the cultural and historical treasures in the custody of the Louisiana State Museum are some 70,000 handwritten records of the proceedings of colonial Louisiana’s French Superior Council (1714-1769) and Spanish Judiciary (1769-1803). Totaling almost a quarter million pages, the records have provided generations of historians, students, sociologists and genealogists with a rich source of data on New Orleans’s earliest days.

Here is a story of one Spanish Colonial  Louisiana document that also provided for a wonderful mystery on PBS program the History Detectives segment titled: click here:Galvez Papers 

In a race against time to save the antique documents, which in many instances are darkening, decaying and being eaten away by the acidic inks used in their creation, the Museum is re-housing the manuscripts and has committed itself to a multi-year, half-million dollar digitization and online publication project.

The project’s ultimate result will be a searchable online database of document scans and extant finding aids, freely accessible to anyone in the world with a web-enabled device. By making a tremendous body of source material readily available to researchers the world over, the project will offer up a fuller, more complete picture of daily life in colonial Louisiana, expand our knowledge of Louisiana history and culture exponentially, and provide new insight into our origins.

Because completion of the project is still several years away, the Museum is partnering with the LOUISiana Digital Library to publish some of the already-scanned documents online beginning in January 2012.

Known as LOUIS, and freely accessible at http://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/, the LOUISiana Digital Library is a collection of digital resources—photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, music, oral histories, etc.—from dozens of Louisiana archives, libraries, museums and other repositories. 

Completion of the colonial documents digitization and online publication project will require sustained effort and several hundred thousand dollars in funding over the next few years. The Louisiana Museum Foundation (LMF), the Museum’s major non-profit donor support group, is soliciting supporters and seeking grants to complete the project and to provide for management of the new digital resources to be created.

The French Superior Council and Spanish Judiciary records tell thousands of individual stories which, taken together, document the daily life of Louisiana’s first permanent European and African inhabitants, and of their relations with allied and enemy Native tribes. They are a treasure-trove of information and their publication on LOUIS will put critical source materials dealing with Louisiana’s history and culture at the fingertips of researchers and genealogists and will build support for the larger effort.

For more information about this project or to sign up as a transcription/translation volunteer, contact the Louisiana State Museum’s Director of Collections, Greg Lambousy, at glambousy@crt.la.gov or 504-599-1946. To make a donation to the project, contact Anne Atkinson at the Louisiana Museum Foundation, aatkinson@thelmf.org or 504-558-0493.  You invited to view the Galvez Papers here: http://video.pbs.org/video/1575582583/?starttime=1176060    

My Earliest Known French and Canadian Ancestors

Paternal  Side                                       Maternal  Side

                                                                                                                                                 Gen.

Jean-de Celle Duclos and Collet Lagnot    Pierre LeMoyne  and Judith DUCHESNE                  9th

                          native                                                              natives 

                      Noria, France                      St Jacques, Dieppe Rouen,Normandie, France

                              |                                                                           |

                    (Progenitors                                                           (Progenitors

    Duclos/Poisson family in Canada)                    Messier dit St Michel/LeMoyner family in Canada) 

    Gabriel de Celle Duclos married                                  Michel Messier dit St Michel Married  

                 Barbe Poisson                                                   Ann LeMoyne                               8th                        
                    Nov 19, 1652.                                                        25 Feb 1658

                               |                                                                          |
     Gabriel Lambert Duclos      married            Anne Messier de St Michel                      7th                                         

                                                        Aug 26, 1687

                                                                  |

                                 Alexander Duclos  married  Elizabeth Philippe                              6th

                                                                      21 Nov 1735

Alexander Duclos and his wife Elizabeth Philippe’s see here: 1735 marriage contract was the oldest marriage document I'd recently discovered. The names of their parents listed in that record also provided me another generation of family members that I would be able to use in following back through on both the paternal (Duclos side ) and paternal (Messier de St Michel side).  And once again, I have made an interesting discovery.

  

There appears to be some previously documented special history attached to the Duclos and Messier de St Michel family lines that I hope to learn more about. However, finding my way back to my 8th Generation great Grandparents have led me to understand how these two families first started here in North American, New France (Quebec Canada region) in the Mid-17th century.  

It appears to have started through family ties and contracted marriages to two women who were discovered as being  members of the Les Fillles a marier.   In my previous blog posting, you can read more about these ladies under the tiled: Les Filles à marier 1634 à 1663 

Below are two women in my ancestral line, my 8th generation great grandmothers whose names were Ann LeMoine or LeMOYNE and Barbe POISSON.   A short bio about their lives and the men they married are also proved.

Maternal  Side:

Anne LeMOINE ( LeMOYNE) from Dieppe, Normandy arrived in Canada in 1657.  She perhaps arrived with her sister, Jeanne.  Her brothers Jacques and Charles Lemoyne appear to have been already in Montréal.  All children of an innkeeper, Pierre Lemoine, in Dieppe, Anne was the youngest of this group of children, being 19 when she arrived in Canada.

Her uncle, Adrien Duchesne (her mother's brother), had been a surgeon in Ville-Marie (Montréal) from the years 1631 to 1648, so Montréal was her destination.  First mention of her in Montreal is 12-29-1657 where she is a witness to her sister's marriage contract.
In February 1658, she married Michel Messier, a fur  trader. 

He seems to have come to New France with Chomedey de Maisonneuv’s contingent, which arrived at Ville-Marie in the middle of November 1653.  Various relatives were already in Montréal.  Although Messiers's name does not appear on the muster-roll of contract workers, he must have crossed the ocean with them, for on the 10th of December, 1653 he signed as a witness to the promise of marriage between his cousin, Catherine Thierry and Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil et de Châteauguay, Anne Lemoine's older brother.

In the autumn of 1654, three years before Anne Lemoine's arrival in Montréal, a young Michel Messier was captured by the Iroquois; he was set free the following summer and taken to Ville-Marie by a Mohawk captain named La Grande Armée, in a prisoner exchange of sorts.

Subsequently, Messier became interested in land clearing, and on 11-4-1657, when he was 19, he bought from Charles LeMoyne, his soon-to-be brother-in-law, for 900 livres, a 30-acre piece of land called la provençale. On 2-18-1658 before the notary Bénigne Basset and in the presence of the notables of the town, he signed his marriage contract with Anne LeMoyne.

In 1661, after a short respite, the Iroquois raids on Ville-Marie started up again.  On March 24th, Michel Messier was again captured with a few settlers.  He now was the father of a two-year old daughter, and Anne LeMoyne was pregnant.    On June 22nd, eleven days after his second daughter was born, some Iroquois who had come to Montreal stated that Messier had been burned by the Onondagas and that they did not know whether he was still alive.  Life in Montréal was never simple.

But at the end of 1663, he was back again with his family after having made his escape.  In August of 1665, Anne LeMoyne had a third daughter.  In November of the same year, the Sulpicians signed over to him a 30-acre piece of land above the one that he already owned.  The 1667 census shows him as having 7 head of cattle and 30 acres under cultivation.  On 5-14-1668, Messier and his brother-in-law Jacques LeMoyne de Sainte-Marie received conjointly the fief of Cap-de-la-Trinité, which they divided between them on 8-1-1676.  Messier's portion was called Cap-Saint-Michel.

Above information taken from website Biography Canada, www.biographi.ca

Both Anne Lemoine and Michel Messier died in 1725 in Varennes... both were 87 years old.

Paternal  Side:  

Barbe Poisson was born about 1631 and died on January 7, 1711 in Montreal.  She married Leonard Lucault on October 12, 1648 and they had a daughter Marie born on July 01, 1650.  She grew up to marry Rene Cuillerier and gave birth to sixteen children.  Marie died on December 22, 1727 in Montreal.

Leonard Lucault died of injuries sustained in a raid by the Iroquois, on June 20, 1651; and Barbe then married Gabriel Celles on November 19, 1652.  Gabriel was born in 1626 at Nonant, Caen, Calvados, France; the son of Jean Celles and Colette Pagnot.  He arrived in the colony as a judge.

Barbe made a name for herself when in 1661, her husband was out working in the fields and the Iroquois launched another attack.  All those around watched the advancing Iroquois in terror, when Barbe sprang into action, grabbing an armload of guns and running with them to the men in trouble.  She reportedly said,  "I lost one husband to the Iroquois. I will not lose another".  According to Dollier de Casson's Histoire de Montreal:  "During an attack by 160 Indians in February 1661, only Le Moyne (De Loungeville) had a weapon with which to defend himself. Just as he was about to be captured he was saved by Mme. Celles Duclos, who brought him an armful of weapons."

Barbe and Gabriel had ten children before his death on November 15, 1671.    Return to click here: Finding Ancestral Proof on Paper and in Stone .

Les Filles à marier 1634 à 1663

Les Filles à marier

1634 à 1663

Selon l'historien Jacques Lacourcière « De 1634 à 1663, plus de 200 filles célibataires viennent s'établir en Nouvelle-France. Prises en charge par les communautés religieuses, elles portent le nom de filles à marier.  En 1654, c'est la reine Anne d'Autriche, mère de Louis XIV, qui s'occupe de l'envoi d'une dizaine de filles à la colonie sous la conduite de religieuses.  Ces filles se distinguent des filles du roi parce que le voyage et leur établissement au sein de la colonie n'est pas financé par le roi de France».

Between 1634 and 1663, 262 filles à marier or “marriageable girls” emigrated to New France representing one quarter of all the single girls arriving in New France through 1673. They were recruited and chaperoned by religious groups or individuals who had to assure and account for their good conduct. In general, they were poor, although there were some members of the petty nobility among their ranks.

As opposed to the Filles du Roi who emigrated between 1663 and 1673, the filles à marier came alone or in small groups. They were not recruited by the state and did not receive a dowry from the King. They were promised nothing but the possibility of a better life. If they survived the perils of the crossing, they lived with the daily threat of death at the hands of the Iroquois. If they survived the Iroquois, they had to deal with the hard life of subsistence farming, harsh winters spent in a log cabin that they may have helped build, epidemics of smallpox and “fever” and difficult and often dangerous childbirth.

Crossing the Atlantic was a dangerous undertaking in the 1600s, and it is estimated that 10% of all passengers en route to New France died during the crossing. Sickness and disease were the main factors contributing to deaths at sea. Passengers were forced to share the hull with livestock that was either being shipped to the colony or served as meals during the crossing. While the passengers may have been permitted on deck during good weather and calm seas, storms forced their confinement to the hull where they were shut in not only with the livestock, but also with the odor of latrine buckets, seasickness and the smoky lanterns used for lighting. The climate and close quarters fostered the rapid spread of diseases such as scurvy, fever and dysentery. Under such conditions, very little could be done for those who were suffering. The method for dealing with the dead was to sew them up in their blankets and throw them overboard during the night.

The filles à marier chose to emigrate under perilous conditions to a wilderness colony because the advantages offered by the colony were great enough to make them forget the dangers of the crossing and rude character of colonial life. In France, the girls would have had little or no choice in their marriages because arranged marriages were the norm for the artisan and working classes as well as for the elite. Parental consent was required for men under the age of 30 and women under the age of 25. Young girls were placed in convent schools or pensions only to await a marriage in which they had no choice or to become a nun. In New France, these women could choose whom they wanted to marry and had the freedom to change their minds before the marriage took place.

Most of the filles à marier belonged to the rural class and were the daughters of peasants and farmers. A small number were from urban families, the daughters of craftsmen, day laborers and servants, while an even smaller number were the daughters of businessmen, civil servants, military men and the petty nobility. Their average age was 22, and more than one-third had lost at least one parent. About 20% were related to someone who was already a colonist. Most were married within a year of their arrival in New France. While waiting to find a husband, many of the girls lodged with religious communities –either the Ursulines in Québec City or the Filles de la Congrégation Notre-Dame in Montréal– although about 100 filles à marier lodged with individuals.

Peter J. Gagné has defined the qualifications to be considered a fille à marier as follows:

Must have arrived before September 1663

Must have come over at marriageable age (12 thru 45)

Must have married or signed a marriage contract at least once in New France or have signed an 

                enlistment contract

Must not have been accompanied by both parents

Must not have been accompanied by or joining a husband

[Source: Before the King's Daughters: The Filles à Marier, 1634-1662 by Peter J. Gagné. Pawtucket, RI: Quinton Publications, 2002. pp 13-38]

Two of my female ancestors (8th Generation Great Grandmothers -  Ann Le Moyne and Barbara POISSON were discovered to be Les Filles à Marier .

Louisiana Patriot of the American Revolution- Pierre Frederick d'Arensbourg, Sr.

On March 15, 2012, Pierre Frederick d'arensbourg, Sr. was approved and is now recognized by the National Society Sons of the American as a Louisiana Patriot.  He becomes my family's 3rd direct lineal Louisiana ancestor (5th generation Great Grandfather) documented as such and will be forever remembered for his service and contribution during the war of independence with England.   

The Mystery of the Meaning of the Word "NOBLE" Discovered on Ancestor's Military Document

Pierre Frederick d'Arensbourg Jr.
My 4th Generation Great Grandfather's
Officer's Military Record

Every now and then as you do family history research, you may come upon a mystery that needs a little more focused attention for determining its meaning. I recently discovered one particular mystery while working on gathering documentation to have two more of my Louisiana ancestors recognized as Louisiana Patriots during the American Revolution with England. These two ancestors, my 4th and 5th generation great grandfathers, were both named Pierre Frederick d'Arensbourg  Sr. and Jr.  

Having to compile records to prove my lineal descent from each of these men was a challenge I was happy to take on. I had previously done so with another one of my other ancestors who was discovered living in New Orleans during this most interesting time period. Finding records that proved helpful in determining whether   these two men actually served was somewhat easy since both were military officers. One was listed as a French Army officer in several documents I found, and the other, his son was discovered to have had a Spanish military record established which I found in the Archivo General de Simangas (the Spanish Archives). What was also interesting in discovering this particular record was one word listed on his document “NOBLE”. Needless to say, I wondered what this meant and set out to trace the origin of such a title, now carried by a member of the 3rd generation from that of the Progenitor of the family and his Grandfather - Karl Frederick d' Arensbourg.  

There was another word listed on this record "de Carabinero" that needed a little more investigation into its meaning. Could this word also lead to a few answers that might help explain the title Noble? In a book titled   Honor and Fidelity: The Louisiana Infantry Regiment and the Louisiana Militia Companies, 1766-1821 by Jack Holmes he stated: 

By 1779, Bernardo de Galvez had created the snob-appeal unit know as the Distinguished Company of Carabineer Militia of New Orleans. Finding that the wealthy Creoles declined serving next to their own shoemakers and barbers, and refusing to follow Unzaga's policy of exempting them from service, he decided to organize a company of cavalry composed of the most prominent men in the capital and environs with Galvez himself as its Captain and Commandant so that they might enlist with greater good will. They were at first armed only with cavalry sabers, but Galvez wanted them supplied at government cost with carbines and pistols. In additional, he requested a shipment of saddles, bridles and other cavalry equipment. The first group of forty-nine men had brought their own uniforms and supplied their own mounts. Their uniforms were striking, consist of a fles colored jacket: white waistcoat, breeches, lining, collar and lapels: golden thread button -- holes: and gilt button.  By 1792, this outfit consisted of two companies of forty men each none of whom earned a salary except during military campaigns or emergency duty.

Granted, this additional information explained a little more about the rank or position as a Carabineer and also helped me to understand that such men with this title or position came from wealthy or important Creole families. However, the title of "Noble" was still yet to be solved. Then, I found another reference to the progenitor of the Darensbourg Family -- Karl Frederick Darensbourg. According to a book written by Albert J. Robichaux, Jr., titled German Coast Families, European Origins and Settlement in Colonial Louisiana:

1753, d'Arensbourg was ordered to settle German families from Alsace -- Lorraine on the German Coast. In recognition of this long and meritorious service in Louisiana, Louis XV, King of France ordered Governor KELEREC, the then Governor of Louisiana on August 1, 1759 to bestow upon D'ARENSBOURG the Cross of St Louis . As late as October 31, 1765 the crosses with their ribbons had not arrived in Louisiana. By March 28, 1766, the decoration has still not been bestowed upon d'Arensbourg.   

Could this have anything to do with Pierre Frederick d'Arensbourg Jr.'s use of the title of "Noble" mentioned on his military record? New questions now appear to have popped up. What happened to Charles Frederick d'Arensbourg's decoration -- Royal Military Order of St Louis? Did he eventually received it and would I be able to locate any documentation that prove he was indeed eligible to receive such?  The search continues.

Seven Generations of my Family lineage documented On Display At the National Archives in Atlanta

Continuing my ancestral journey on display at the
National Archives in Atlanta. 

    I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the Black Family History Symposium sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration in Atlanta, Ga.  The theme of this year's event was "Continuing the Journey of Generations."

   My participation in this event included a display of seven generations of my ancestry, covering some 275 years. The research on display goes as far back my fourth-generation great-grandparents -- a former slave woman named Agnes, who gained her freedom on December 16, 1779, and her French consort, an American Revolutionary War Patriot, Mathieu Devaux dit Platilla. The display shows the various documents that helped make me eligible for induction into the National Society Sons of the American Revolution.

  Also on hand throughout the day were several family history and genealogical organizations, including representatives of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) Metro-Atlanta Chapter.

  I was honored to have received an Award of Excellence in Leadership and Service from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here are a few pictures from the event.

My sisters, Jane Bronner (L) and

 Cynthia Henderson (R) joined me at

 the National Archives in Atlanta.

Photographed by

Jena P. Jones
the funnyfarm photographic services

www.f2photos.com

Jane Bronner (back) and Cynthia Henderson (forward),
review our family's lineage displayed in cases.

Documents and pictures of my induction into the
National Society Sons of the American Revolution
on display.

Civil Rights photographer
  Dr. Doris Derby
reviews my family photos in the display case.

 A look from above of what
 Dr. Doris Derby and others are viewing

Author and member of AAHGS Metro Atlanta Chapter,
 Melvin Collier, reviews
my family documents on display.

A view from above of what
Melvin is viewing

My sister Jane Bronner (left) explains
family links to a few onlookers.  

Anita Henderson sees some familiar faces in
my family history display case.

Representative Mrs Leslie Watkins of the DAR
and Mr Bruce Maney of the SAR 

These Boy Scouts were here today to earn their
Genealogy merit badge
Michael Henderson and Bruce Maney
Button Gwinnett Chapter, Georgia Society SAR 

Michael Henderson and Charles Williams,
Founder and CEO
 Save the Family Institute, Inc

Members of the Afro-American Historical and
Genealogy Society AAHGS - Metro Atlanta
 assist attendees with information about the organization

Virgil and Debra Fancher, Cynthia Henderson
Mrs. Ruth Saunders and Jane Bronner

Full House Captured by Photographer
Jena P. Jones
the funnyfarm photographic services
www.f2photos.com

"Your Ancestors are Looking For You"
was the theme of my keynote address.

 presented with an
Award of Excellence in Leadership and Service
by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

         Be sure to visit my Facebook page: GOT PROOF!  There you'll be kept posted on my new memoir due out early spring 2013

North Carolina Man finds Slave-Turned-Patriot Ancestor

Mr.Earl Ijames,Curator North Carolina
Museum of History, Chaz Moore - descendant of
Slave Patriot Toby Gilmore
and Michael Henderson - President
 Button Gwinnet Chapter Georgia Society SAR

A descendant of a chieftain’s son kidnapped from Africa and sold into slavery in Massachusetts more than 250 years ago  became the first black member inducted into a North Carolina chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution this weekend.

Chaz Moore, 30, is a descendant of Toby Gilmore, the son of a chieftain in coastal West Africa who was kidnapped at 16 and sold into slavery in Massachusetts. He gained his freedom after fighting for American independence against the British.

Moore, a native of Worcester, Mass., only recently learned he had an ancestor who had joined the Colonists’ side during the Revolutionary War.

“Growing up, I wasn’t even certain that African-Americans even fought in the Revolutionary War,” Moore said. “It’s not something that’s talked about. Then to say, ‘Well, yeah, they did, and you’re a direct descendant of one’ was unbelievable, humbling. I had to redefine patriotism for myself.”

Moore has been a Raleigh firefighter for about five years. On Saturday, he’ll become the first black inducted into the North Carolina chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution in a ceremony at the state Museum of History, according to The Associated Press.

The involvement of blacks on the American side during the Revolution is an often overlooked fact. Many blacks, both enslaved and free, sought to join with the Colonists, believing that it would either lead to their freedom or expand their civil rights, according to Philip Foner’s work, Blacks in the America Revolution.

American states had to meet quotas of troops for the Continental Army, and New England regiments recruited black slaves by promising freedom to those who served.

During the course of the war, it is believed about 20 percent of the northern army was black, while at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, Baron Closen, a German officer in a French regiment, estimated that the American army was made up of about one-quarter black troops.

Moore’s knowledge of roots came through a cousin whose research into the family tree took her to the Old Colony Historical Society in Taunton, Mass.

The family history took another turn in 2010 with the discovery that a relative named Maud May Sullivan, born in 1881, had been raised not by her mother, but by a stepmother, according to The Associated Press.

Her biological mother, Almira Sullivan, had died in 1883, and she was a descendant of Toby Gilmore, slave and patriot, the wire service added.

So standing there that day in the museum was another Gilmore descendant. And no one was more surprised to learn this than Andrew Boisvert, museum archivist and library manager, who had studied Gilmore for nine years.

Because descendants had moved and last names had changed through marriage, Gilmore’s line was thought to have ended in 1921 when a descendant named Caroline J. Gilmore, who had married one of Gilmore’s grandsons, died. Gilmore’s story is well-known in the area and still taught to children, Boisvert said.

“This is a guy who was born free, raised as a slave and then became a free man afterwards,” Boisvert said.

Gilmore, born Shibodee Turry Wurry, was about 16 when he was kidnapped by slave traders in 1757. The slave ship changed course from Virginia to Rhode Island because of a storm, and the traders sold some slaves to pay for repairs.

Capt. John Gilmore of Raynham, Mass., bought Wurry and renamed him Toby Gilmore.

Some historians estimate that about 5,000 blacks fought against the British, although the number could be much higher.

Records show Gilmore joined the war three times, although he gained his freedom with his first eight-day enlistment, Boisvert said. He became a successful farmer, built two homes (one of which still stands), fathered eight children and lived to the age of 70, according to The Associated Press.

In 2006, when Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. learned he was the descendant of a Revolutionary War veteran, the executive director of Sons of the American Revolution estimated about 30 of the group’s 27,000 members were black.

The society doesn’t ask for race on its application so no one is really certain how many members are black, said Don Shaw, SAR’s current executive director.