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Gc 976.3 0368 1192577
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02305 2241
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AMERICANA GERMANICA NEW SERIES
MONOGRAPHS DEVOTED TO THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE Literary, Linguistic and Other Cultural Relations OF Germany and America
EDITOR MARION DEXTER LEARNED University of Pennsylvania
AMERICANA GERMANICA
NEW SERIES
I. Translations of German Poetry in American Magazines 1741-1810. By Edward Ziegler Davis, Ph. D. 5 p.1. 229 pp. Price . . $1.65
2. The Harmony Society. A Chapter in German American Culture History. By John Archibald Bole, Ph. D. 3 p.1. 176 pp. 30 Illustrations. Price . $1.50
3. Friedrich Schiller in America. A Contribu- tion to the Literature of the Poet's Centenary, 1905. By Ellwood Comly Parry, Ph. D. I p.1. 116 pp. Price . $1.25
4. The Influence of Salomon Gessner Upon English Literature. By Bertha Reed. I p.1. 118 pp. Price $1.25
5. The German Settlement Society of Philadel- phia and its Colony, Hermann, Missouri. By William G. Bek. Pp. xi, 182. Price $1.50
6. Philipp Waldeck's Diary of the American Revolution. With Introduction and Pho- tographic Reproductions. By M. D. Learned. 168 pp. Price $1.50
7. Schwenkfelder Hymnology and the Sources of the First Schwenkfelder Hymn-Book Printed in America. With Photographic Reproductions. By Allen Anders Seipt, Ph. D. 112 pp. Price $2.00
8. The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and the Creoles of German Descent. By J. Hanno Deiler. 135 pp. Price $1.25
AMERICANA GERMANICA
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GERMAN COAST OF LOUISIANA
THE CREOLES OF GERMAN DESCENT AND
By J. HANNO DEILER, Professor Emeritus of German in the Tulane University of Louisiana, New Orleans, La.
AMERICANA GERMANICA PRESS PHILADELPHIA
1909
COPYRIGHTED BY J. H. DEILER 1909
-
CONTENTS 1192577
The Discovery of the Mississippi.
I
The First German on the Lower Mississippi. 3
The First French Settlement on the Gulf Coast. 6
A Grave Error 8
The Western Company and the Compagnie des Indes-John Law IO
A German Description of Louisiana in the Year 1720. II
Ten Thousand Germans on the Way to Louisiana I4
How Many of These Reached Louisiana.
15
French Colonists
17
Arrival of the First Immigration en Masse.
18
A Misstatement.
19
How the Immigrants Were Received and Provided For-A Terrible State of Affairs
21
Germans in Pascagoula.
25 27
Pest Ships.
Charlotte von Braunschweig-Wolfenbuettel. 3I
John Law, a Bankrupt and a Fugitive
36
The Germans Leave Law's Concession.
37
The Family of D'Arensbourg
38
The German Coast. 46
The First Villages on the German Coast.
50
Karl Friedrich D'Arensbourg and the Founders of the Second German Village on the German Coast. 52
Hardships and Difficulties Encountered. 56
Troubles With the Indians. 59
Better Times 62 Churches of the Germans 62 66
The Census of 1721.
Koly.
70
Continuation of the Census of 1721-Remarks and Observations 73
Names of German Habitants-Official Census of 1724. 77
Map of the Principal Forts and Trading Posts 78
Additional German Names of This Period Not in the Census 96 The Zweig-Labranche Family 100
Additional German Names. I02
A Census Without a Date. 103
Reinforcements for the Germans-Manchac. 105
The Germans from Maryland. 107
The Kleinpeter Family 108 The Ory Family 109
Page
Southern Book + 125
Contents
Page The Creoles of German Descent-Definition of the Word "Creole" III What is the Probable Number of the Creoles of German Descent II6
The German Language Among the Creoles of Louisiana. II8
The Fate of the German Family Names Among the Creoles. I19 German Names in the Spanish Marriage Register of St. John the Baptist .. I26 Conclusion. I27 Official Acknowledgment of the Worth and Value of the German Pioneers of Louisiana-Laussat's Letter. 129 Appendix-The German Waldeck Regiment and the Sixtieth or "Royal American Regiment on Foot" in the War of 1779 to 1781. ... . I3I
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GERMAN COAST OF LOUISIANA
AND
THE CREOLES OF GERMAN DESCENT.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
The first German upon the lower Mississippi was one of the last companions of the French explorer, La Salle. As the found- ing of the first settlement of Germans on the lower Mississippi also took place at a very early period in the history of Louisi- ana, we will first cast a glance into the history of the discovery of the Mississippi and the taking possession of the northern gulf coast by the French.
With the second voyage of Columbus (1493) and the dis- covery of Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, Dominica, Jamaica, and Guadeloupe, Spain had become the mistress of the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty years later Ponce de Leon came to Florida, and in 1519 Cortez began the conquest of the Aztec empire of Mexico. In the same year another Spaniard, by the name of Piñeda, sailed from Jamaica to circumnavigate Florida, which at that time was still thought to be an island; and as he always sailed along the northern gulf coast, he finally reached Mexico. For a long time it was believed that Piñeda on this voyage had discovered the Mississippi and called it "Rio del Espiritu Santo"; but Hamilton, in his "Colonial Mobile," maintains that the river discovered by Piñeda was not the Mississippi, but the Mobile River, and that Piñeda passed the mouth of the Mississippi with-
2
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
out noticing it, it being hidden by sand banks, drift wood, and bushes.
In 1528 an expedition to Florida led by Panfilo de Nar- vaez failed, but, in April, 1536, four of its members, among whom was Gabeza de Vaca, reached Mexico by land after many years of wandering. These men must have crossed the Missis- sippi on their way to Mexico, and from their voyage and that of Piñeda date the claims of Spain for the ownership of the whole northern gulf coast from Florida to Mexico.
Induced by de Vaca's glowing descriptions of the country, De Soto, in 1539, began his adventurous expedition from Florida into the interior. About the 30th degree of latitude, he discovered the Mississippi (April, 1541) and found his grave in it; where- upon Moscoso, with the remnants of the expedition, floated down the Mississippi and reached the Spanish possessions on the gulf coast. This discovery was without any practical results, how- ever, as no second attempt to reach the mouth of the Mississippi was made for the next 140 years.
Meanwhile the French had set foot on Canada (Port Royal, later called Annapolis, 1605; Quebec, 1608) and discovered the upper Mississippi. Many years, however, passed before La Salle, coming from Canada, followed the great river southward in its whole length, reached its mouth, and there, on the 9th of April, it "Louisiana," in honor of the king of France, Louis XIV. Then 1682, took possession of the Mississippi valley for France, calling he returned by the same way to Canada, and thence went to France to report on his discoveries and submit his plan to estab- lish communication between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico by means of the Mississippi, and to secure the Indian trade of these vast regions by a chain of forts.
La Salle's propositions found favor with the king of France, and on the 24th of July, 1684, he sailed from La Rochelle for the Gulf of Mexico, intending thence to enter the Mississippi and to found on its banks a French establishment. He brought with him a flotilla of four vessels (Le Joli, L'Aimable, La Belle and a small ketch) under the direct command of Beaujeu. On this
3
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
voyage a stop was made in the port of Petit Gouave in San Domingo, where La Salle was quite sick. San Domingo was then and had been for many years the headquarters of the buc- caneers, whose calling was at that time considered a quite legiti- mate business, the riches of the Spanish silver ships and the many obstructions to commerce in Central and South America having, so to speak, provoked the other nations to smuggling and piracy. Merchants and many other highly respectable people of Europe furnished and sent out privateers, and rejoiced at their golden harvests. French, English and Dutch adventurers soon congre- gated in San Domingo, and these were joined by many Germans who had grown up in the wild times of the Thirty Years' War, and could not find their way back to peaceful occupations. In this company La Salle's men gave themselves up to riotous living, in consequence of which many fell victims to disease, and La Salle was compelled to enlist new men.
THE FIRST GERMAN ON THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI.
Among the new men engaged in San Domingo by La Salle was a German, a buccaneer, an artillerist, who was known only by the name of "Hans;" i. e., Johannes, John. The French wrote his name "Hiens," but Hennepin, a Dutch contemporary, calls him "Hans," and all agree that he was a German.
The record of La Salle's attempt to find the mouth of the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico reveals a series of quarrels between the commanders, of misfortunes, errors and malice.
One of the four ships of his flotilla laden with thirty tons of ammunition and utensils and tools for his new colony, was cap- tured by the Spaniards near San Domingo, because Beaujeu refused to follow the course recommended by La Salle.
The mouth of the Mississippi was not found by this expedi- tion, principally because La Salle, on coming down from Canada and discovering it, in 1682, had committed the almost incon-
4
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
ceivable mistake of ascertaining only the latitude of the mouth of the river, but not its longitude.
The expedition landed in Matagorda Bay, in Texas (Febru- ary, 1685), where the frigate L'Aimable, on attempting to enter a river, was stranded. Joutel, an eyewitness, says :
"Circumstances reported by the ship's crew and those who saw the management were infallible tokens and proofs that the mischief had been done designedly, which was one of the blackest and most detestable actions man could be guilty of." (Joutel's Journal, Stiles, page 83.)
Then Beaujeu abandoned La Salle, left with La Joli for France, and took the crew of L'Aimable with him, thus violating his agreement with La Salle, and leaving the latter behind with the La Belle with eight cannon and not a single cannon ball. Finally, La Belle ran aground and was also lost.
La Salle then built a fort in Texas (Fort St. Louis) for the protection of his people, and from there made several attempts to find the "fatal river," as he called the Mississippi.
On one of these expeditions, which brought them up to the Coenis Indians, Hans, the German buccaneer, almost lost his life. They were crossing a river, when Hans, "a German from Wittenburg" (so Father Anastasius, a priest accompanying the expedition, calls him) got stuck so fast in the mud "that he could scarcely get out." La Salle named the river "Hans River," and in the accompanying map, printed in 1720, the name may be found inscribed in the French spelling "Rivière Hiens."
On the 7th of January, 1687, the last expedition from the Texas fort was begun. This was to be a desperate attempt to march with a picked crew of seventeen men from Texas over- land to Canada to get succor, and on the way there to find the "fatal river." Among the selected seventeen was Hans, the German buccaneer, a proof that La Salle thought well of him. Twenty persons, among whom were seven women, were left behind in the Texas fort, where they eventually perished.
For several months this brave little band of seventeen men, marching again toward the territory of the Coenis Indians, cut
5
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
their way through the wilderness, until they came to the southern branch of the Trinity River, where, owing to the tyranny of their leader, a conspiracy was formed among a portion of the men, and on the 18th of March, 1687, La Salle was killed by Duhaut, a Frenchman, who wanted to succeed him in the com- mand of the expedition.
In this plan Duhaut, of whom all seem to have been afraid, was openly defied by Hans, the German buccaneer, and Father Anastasius, an eye witness, reports as follows :
"Those who most regretted the murder of their commander and leader had sided with Hiens, who, seizing his opportunity, two days after sought to punish crime by crime. In our presence he shot the murderer of La Salle through the heart with a pistol. He died on the spot, unshriven, unable even to utter the names of Jesus and Mary. Hiens also wished to kill L'Archevêque and thus com- pletely avenge the death of La Salle, but Joutel conciliated him."
When the little band approached the French post on the Arkansas River, where, Hans thought, punishment was awaiting him for the murder of Duhaut, the German buccaneer resolved to join the Coenis Indians, whom he had helped to fight a hostile tribe; but, before leaving his companions, he demanded from them a Latin certificate to the effect that he was innocent of La Salle's death. This he received.
Only a few of La Salle's last companions reached Canada. Two of them, Father Anastasius and Joutel, published accounts of La Salle's last voyage, which have been followed in this nar- rative.
6
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
MAP OF LOUISIANA.
By J. Fried. Gleditschen's Son, Leipsic, 1720.
279
275 Septentrio. 200
285
200
Nation de Chiez
LOUISIANA
A
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am
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.
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50
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GOLFO DE
DE NOUVELLE
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ESPAGNE
Lagtalene.
265
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PARTIE
Rivier
THE FIRST FRENCH SETTLEMENT ON THE GULF COAST.
Ten years passed before steps were again taken to found a French settlement on the northern gulf coast. In 1698, Iber- ville, a Canadian, sailed with four ships from the French port of Brest for the Gulf of Mexico. He found that in the mean- time the Spaniards had taken possession of Pensacola Bay, for
Lac Sup
rieur
Vapen
2 Padoue:
Bien
de pleurs
Quisepting
O.V
. Ouija
7
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
which reason he sailed further west, discovered Mobile Bay on the last of January, 1699, and, leaving his big ships in the harbor of Ship Island, went with two barges in search of the mouth of the Mississippi, which he entered on the second day of March. After ascending the river as far as the village of the Oumas, opposite the mouth of Red River, he sent his barges back to the mouth of the Mississippi, while he with two canoes entered Bayou Manchac, discovered Lakes Maurepas and Pont- chartrain, and reached Ship Island by this route in advance of his barges.
Despairing of getting his big ships over the bar of the Mis- sissippi, he resolved to make a settlement on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico; and on the 8th of April, 1699, active work was begun at the present site of the town of Ocean Springs, Missis- sippi, on "Fort Maurepas," the first French establishment in Louisiana.
The main settlement, however, was "Fort Louis de la Louisiane," founded in 1702, "sixteen leagues from Massacre (Dauphine) Island, at the second bluff" on the Mobile River.
"Sixteen leagues from Massacre Island at the second bluff is at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff. Near there Creoles still fondly point out the site of 'Vieux Fort,' and there French maps, as early as 1744, place a 'vieux fort, detruit.' A well under a hickory tree still marks the spot, and bullets, canister, crockery, large-headed spike, and a brass ornament were picked up by the present writer near the river edge of the level bluff as late as the summer of 1897. There, then, on a wooded spot, twenty feet above the river, hardly deserving the name of bluff, save above ordinary high water, was Fort de la Louisiane, commanding the wide, turbid river. It was not one of the many Forts St. Louis. Like Louisiana, it was named from Louis XIV., rather than for the sainted Louis IX." (Hamil- ton, "Colonial Mobile," page 38.)
In 1709 a great rise in the river occurred, which overflowed both the fort and the little town that had sprung up around it. A change of base was then decided upon, and "Fort de la Louis- iane" was built on the site of the present city of Mobile. In 1710 the old fort was abandoned.
8
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
Here, at the old and at the new Fort de la Louisiane, or rather on Dauphine Island, at the entrance of the harbor of Mobile, where the large vessels from Europe discharged their passengers and cargoes, around the Bay of Biloxi and on Ship Island (Isle aux Vaisseaux) in the Gulf of Mexico, the life of the colony of Louisiana centered for the next twenty years. Here the principal events took place, and here also landed the first Germans.
On the accompanying map "Vieux Biloxi" means the old "Fort Maurepas," now Ocean Springs. Opposite is "Le Biloxi," the present Biloxi, Mississippi, or "New Biloxi," at first also called "Fort Louis."
3
11 loles
Biloxi
Le Biloxk
1
Bare
Baie des
3
5
272
21
5
3
3
3
Ronde
de Pacagoulas
ple aux Huitres
35
3%
4
4
3
2
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3
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2
3
3
4
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5,5
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5
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5
4
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4 6
7
4
3
8
4
8
8
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8
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9
10
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4
de la Mobille
4
1.aux Vaisseaux
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2
3
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3
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de la Mobille
5
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1
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8
1
A GRAVE ERROR.
In the beginning of the colony the French committed the grave error of not giving any attention to agriculture. Two years after the founding of Mobile, in 1704, the civilian part of the population of Louisiana consisted of only twenty-three families, with ten children, who lived along the shore in huts with palmetto or straw roofs, fishing and hunting. It is true that they also had little gardens around their huts, but for pro- visions they relied on the vessels from France. They pre- tended that nothing could be grown on the sandy soil of the
I. Dauphine
3
2
4
4
9
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
gulf coast, and they complained not only of the soil, but of the water also. Says Dupratz (1,268) :
"The soil and the water of Mobile are not only barren as regards the propagation of plants and fishes; the nature of the water and of the soil contributes also to the prevention of the in- crease of the animals; even the women have experienced this. I have it from Madam Hubert, the wife of the 'Commissionaire Ordonnateur,' that at the time when the French were at that post there were seven or eight sterile women who all became mothers from the time when they established themselves with their hus- bands on the banks of the Mississippi, whence the capital had been transferred."
The water and the soil of the gulf coast have not changed, and there is no complaint as to the birth rate now; considerable truck farming is done in the neighborhood of Mobile and on the back bay of Biloxi, and the Indians in the territory com- plained of always raised corn, beans, and many other things.
The truth is that the first colonists did not want to work, and the governors of that period complained bitterly of that fact. The people expected to find gold, silver, and pearls as the Spaniards had done in Mexico.1 They also traded with Canadian "coureurs de bois," hunters who came down the Mis- sissippi, killing buffaloes, and selling hides and beaver skins. The French also expected to do a great deal of business with the Spaniards in Mexico.
Since the expected mineral treasures of the gulf coast, how- ever, have not been discovered even to-day-since the Spaniards, who claimd the whole northern gulf coast for themselves, were unwilling to trade with the French-since the trade with the Indians and with the Canadian hunters was too insignificant,- since France, whose treasury had been emptied by Louis XIV, could not do much for the colony-and, to make the worst come to the worst, since yellow fever was introduced from San Domingo in 1701 2 and again in 1704,8 the little colony of
1 The name "Pearl River", which now forms the boundary line between the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, is attributed to the fact that some inferior pearls were said to have been found in that river.
" Sauvole, the first governor, died of fever in that year.
& The Chevalier Tonti died in Mobile of yellow fever in 1704.
IO
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
Louisiana was for many years in a precarious condition and at times on the very verge of ruin.
Thus the colony continued until, in 1712, Crozat, a French merchant, took in hand its management as a commercial venture. He received the trade monopoly for fifteen years, but after the first five years he found himself compelled to ask the regent of France to rescind his contract, which request was granted.
THE "WESTERN COMPANY" AND THE "COMPAGNIE DES INDES" --- JOHN LAW.
Then came, in 1717, the "Western Company," called after 1719, "La Compagnie des Indes," the leading spirit of which was the notorious Scotch financier, John Law. This company received the trade monopoly for twenty-five years. It was granted the right to issue an unlimited number of shares of stock, and the privilege not only of giving away land on con- ditions, but also of selling it outright. For these and other considerations the company obligated itself to bring into the colony during the life of its franchise at least 6000 white people and 3000 negroes.
The shares of the company were "guaranteed" by its assets. These were: first, the supposedly inexhaustible mineral treas- ures of Louisiana; secondly, the fabulous wealth of its soil, which was at that time not known at all, as "nothing could be grown on the sandy soil of the gulf coast," the only part then inhabited; and, thirdly, the immense revenues to be derived from the trade monopoly. In order to develop all these sources of wealth to their fullest capacity, agriculture was now also to be introduced on a grand scale. For this purpose large tracts of land, concessions, were now given to such rich men in France as would obligate themselves to bring the necessary number of people from Europe to till the soil.
One of the largest concessioners was John Law, the presi- dent of the company, who caused two concessions to be given to himself. The larger one was on the lower Arkansas River,
II
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
on which he obligated himself to settle many people, for whose protection against the Indians he promised to keep a company of dragoons. His second concession was seven lieues below New Orleans, on the Mississippi River, below English Turn, and ad- joining one of the concessions to the minister of war, Le Blanc, whose principal possessions were on the Yazoo River.
As a shrewd business man, which he no doubt was, John Law knew that, to make his venture a success, he needed not only capital but also people able and willing to toil for him; and, as he knew from the reports of the former governors how little adapted to agriculture the former French colonists had proven themselves, he resolved to engage for his own conces- sions Germans from the country on both sides of the river Rhine, and from Switzerland.
A great agitation was now begun, partly to induce rich people to take shares in the general enterprise and buy land for their own account, and partly to entice poor people to become engagés (hired field hands for the company or for the different concessioners). After a while, land was also to be given to the poor engagés to enable them also to get rich.
A GERMAN DESCRIPTION OF LOUISIANA IN THE YEAR 1720.
About this time, pamphlets in several languages were printed, containing extracts from letters of people who had already set- tled in Louisiana, and giving glowing descriptions of the country. Such a pamphlet, in German, which, perhaps, came to Louisiana with one of the German pioneer families, was found by the author some twenty-five years ago in a little book shop in Ex- change Alley, New Orleans, and at his suggestion it was bought for the Fisk Library, where it can be seen. It was printed by J. Friedrich Gleditschen's seel. Sohn, Leipsic, 1720, and bears the title :
12
The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana
Ausführliche hiftorifche und Beographifche
Beforeibung
Des an Dem groffen Fluffe MISSISSIPI in Nord America gelegenen herzlichen Landes LOUISIANA; In welches die neu aufgerichtete frangofifche groffe Indianifche Compagnie Colonien zu fchicten angefangen ; Borben zugleich einige Reflexionen uber die meit hinaus- febende Deffeins gedachter Compagnie,
Des Darüber entftandenen Actien - handels
eröffnet werden. Andere Auflage. Mit neuen Benlagen und Anmerkungen vermebyret.
Leipzig bey S. Fried. Bleditfchens feel. Sohn, 1 720.
After stating that "through the adventurer 'Christophum Columbum' many of those Europeans had been led to leave 'Europam' for 'Americam,' especially for those then still un- discovered countries," the author describes the boundaries of Louisiana as follows :
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