USA > Louisiana > Orleans Parish > New Orleans > Creole families of New Orleans > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
*De Bow's Review, afterwards the Southern Quarterly Review.
-
1
- --
---
365
FORSTALL
published in the United States by act of Con- gress.
Never has such a brilliant group of workers in the historical field ever been gathered in the fold of the society, and never, it is to be feared, can there ever be such a group gathered in the future. It was Forstall who caused to be made the first and, in fact, the only analytical index of the whole of the public documents relative to Louisiana deposited in the archives of the "departement de la Marine et col- onies" and "Bibliothèque du Roi," at Paris. An amazing piece of work as we see it to-day, accom- plished in full perfection of form and detail! The index was published in the proceedings of the society by J. B. French in his Historical Collections, and were afterwards reprinted in De Bow's Review (Vols. I and II). In addition, Forstall contributed many interesting articles on agricultural and commercial subjects to the Review.
By his marriage with "the beautiful Clara Durel," to give her her proper local title, he had four sons and five daughters: Eugène, married to Lize Can- trelle; Victoria, to de Lavillebeuvre; Henri, to Mathilde Plauché; Ernest, to Mathilde Taney; Oscar, to a Demoiselle St. Maurice Berault. Desirée, the eldest daughter, became Madame Charles Roman; Eugénie, Madame Valerien Chopin; Héléna, Madame Adolphe Shreiber; Leda, Madame Charles Olivier; Anna, Mrs. Arthur Polk.
The old home on St. Louis Street was built for a large family with its numerous attendants: a princely establishment, it was called, in the language of visit- ing strangers who traveled to the Creole city to enjoy its foreign aspect and pleasures. The simple,
366
OLD FAMILIES OF NEW ORLEANS
plain exterior was the ideal of the architect of the time, an ideal that enjoined the contrast of a severe external appearance with great interior luxury: an ideal that no one better than Edmond Forstall knew how to flatter, with his great library of hand- some books, his bronzes and pictures. No article, no piece of furniture that was not fine and of per- fect taste, could pass his portal.
He weathered, like a well-built hip, the storm of the Civil War, and by an honest seamanship that has never been questioned brought his large fortune through intact. Four sons volunteered for active service. Eugène was compelled by illness to resign from it; he died during the war. Henry also was forced to resign on account of ill health; he died on the day of the Battle of Shiloh. Ernest, more fortunate, fought during the four years and was twice wounded. Oscar fought during the duration of the war.
NOTE .- Taken from the published record of the Forstall family, written by Charles Patton Dimitry.
From the marriage of Jean Felix Forstall (fourth son of Edouard Pierre Charles and Héloise de Jan) were born: Arthur, Paul William Suzanne (Mrs. Duplantier), Angèle (Mrs. Emile Duplantier), and Mrs. Octave Forstall.
Delzire Forstall (Mrs. Z. B. Canonge) left: Rosa (Mrs. George Binder), residing in France, and Cora.
Eliza Forstall (Mrs. Delphine Villeré) left two children: Edouard, who married Marie Bouligny, and Placide Villeré, who married Miss Cantrelle.
Felix Edmond Forstall married Marie Adélaide Josephine de Morant, daughter of Charles de Morant and Catherine Amelot. Their children were: Coralie (Mrs. Gustave Durel), Helmina (Mrs. Anatole Villeré).
Felix Martin Forstall married Marie Celeste d'Aunoy, daughter
!
367
FORSTALL
of Charles Favre d'Aunoy and Catherine Macarty. Their children were: Charles Edouard, who married Mademoiselle de Poincy, daughter of Rossignol de Poincy. Their only son, Charles Oscar Eugéne Forstall, resides in Paris.
The wife of Comte Seminiatelli, of Italy, belongs to the de Poincy branch of the Forstall family; her mother was Madame Edouard Le Beau.
Anatole Forstall, his cousins, William Forstall (son of Felix,) and Placide (son of Octave), Victor Ernest and Adolphe Forstall resided till their death in New Orleans.
Eugène Forstall, the son of Charles Edouard, lived in France, where he was in the employ of the French Government.
Theobald was the son of Alfred Forstall, a graduate of Yale. He inherited the intelligence and executive qualities of his family and was noted for his administrative ability. After occupying the position of Superintendent of the New Orleans Gas Company for several years, he was offered the same position in Chicago and accepted it, He died there in 1901, leaving several children.
CHAPTER XXVII
MACARTY
T HE good old Creole name of Macarty has become only a memory in New Orleans. The male mem- bers of the family are extinct, but the female members. have carried the Macarty traits and qualities into the other old families until there is hardly one that! does not bear a representative in their genealogical! record.
The family (originally Macarthey-Mactaig) was a noted one among the great Irish families, who? preferred exile to the religious and political tyranny of their English conquerors. In the seventeenth, century Bartholomew Macarty, of the Albemarle" Regiment, sought refuge in France, where he gained? promotion in the navy and died a Chevalier of St. Louis and Major-General of Division in the depart -- ment of Rochefort. His two sons, Jean Jacques' and Barthelmy, came to Louisiana in 1730, the" former as commander of a marine detachment, the: latter as a lieutenant in the same command under:' him.
Jean Jacques married Dame Françoise de Tré -- pagnier, and his two sons returned to France, where! they took service in the royal army: the one in the marine, the other in the Mousquetaires or household! troops of the King. The latter married in New Orleans Jeanne Chauvin, and at her death passed! again into the service of France and became aide to;
368
--
-
.
369
MACARTY
Count d'Estaing on board the "Fendant." He died in New Orleans in 1793. Both brothers were made Chevaliers of St. Louis.
Barthelmy de Macarty (as he was called) cast his life in New Orleans, where he married Dame Françoise Hélène Pellerin, who bore him eight chil- dren. From a lieutenant he rose to a captaincy in 1732, and four years later filled the responsible posi- tion of Aide Major of the city.
The Natchez massacre of 1727 had put an end to the old easy-going days; the Company of the West under the threat of the impending destruction of the prosperity of the colony by an Indian war, hastily remitted their charter to the royal govern- ment, and Louisiana returned to the wardship of the King. Governor Périer was at once recalled and Bienville put in power again, as the only man avail- able to cope with so serious a situation. He imme- diately set out to punish the Natchez and their allies, the Chickasaws and Choctaws, using what military force the colony furnished, and calling on the home government for reinforcements. Macarty accompanied him on his first futile effort to bring the Natchez tribe to submission and later took part in the fatal expedition against the Chickasaws in their village in upper Alabama, which resulted in the bloody defeat of the French and the final and lasting disgrace of Bienville in the eyes of the French Government and his recall from Louisiana.
He included Macarty in the list of officers serving under him: "Chevalier de Macarty came into colony in 1752, Aide Major of New Orleans. Con- duct good. Understands detail and discipline Attached to the service and doing well."
370
OLD FAMILIES OF NEW ORLEANS
Vaudreuil succeeded to Bienville. He also led an army against the Chickasaws and was no more successful than his predecessor had been. War having been relighted in Europe between the English and French, the colonies of the rivals sprang also to arms in America. Traveling along the Mississippi became a perilous adventure and life in the river settlements most insecure.
Vaudreuil was made Governor of Canada and Kerlerec sent to Louisiana to replace him. Macarty was put on duty as commander of Fort Chartres on the Mississippi, above the Ohio, the chief seat of the French influence among the Indians. Here he remained until the final triumph of the English. The historian, Villiers du Terrage, quotes a spirited letter from him to Kerlerec in which he gives the account of the capture of Fort Niagara by the English. Du Terrage praises his clear and accurate judgment and exclaims sadly: "It is a pity for France that this brave and efficient officer was not given more opportunity for displaying his capacity."
Macarty's presage of defeat was confirmed during the summer following, when the news came of the surrender by France of all her American possessions, except the Orleans territory, to the English. Macarty returned to the one French post remaining, and died in New Orleans about the time the news came of its transfer to the Spanish. He left four sons and four
daughters. They were not the only bearers of the name in Louisiana. The Chevalier Jean Jacques de Macarty, his elder brother, who had married Dame Françoise de Trépagnier, left two sons and three daughters, all born in New Orleans. Only one son, however, Augustin Guillaume of the
1 i
-
-
-
Elwoodwa
Empire Work Table of St. Domingo Mahogany and Brass.
.
1
1
-
a
إسعبد الجيد باسم
1
373
MACARTY
Mousquetaires du Roi, who married Jeanne Chau- vin, left descendants.
The sons of the Chevalier Barthelmy Macarty, who married Françoise Hélène Pellerin, were as follows: Jean Baptiste François, who married Hélène Charlotte Fazende (daughter of Réné Gabriel Fazende and Charlotte Dreux, daughter of Mathurin Druex). Barthelmy Louis, the second son, married the Widow Lecomte; his daughter was the beauti- ful Delphine Macarty, who married Don Ramon Lopez y Angullo and became the mother of the no less beautiful Marie Françoise de Borja de Lopez y Angullo ("Borquite"), who married Placide Forstall and became the mother of twelve children from whom descend the great New Orleans families of Forstall and Rathbone.
Augustin Macarty, the son of Augustin Guillaume and Jeanne Chauvin, became, under the American Domination, Mayor of New Orleans for several terms. Gayarre has left a description of him that obtrudes itself whenever his name is mentioned
"Macarty is of an ancient and high-toned family. He has served several times as Mayor of the city and is uncompromisingly conservative in all his views and feelings-the embodiment of the old régime. It was he who, in his official capacity as reporter, and backed by public opinion, caused the first cargo of ice brought to New Orleans to be thrown into the river as a measure of public safety, because cold drinks in summer would affect throats and lungs and would make the whole population consumptive."
His first cousin, Jean Baptiste Macarty, always a supporter of the American Domination, became colonel of a regiment of militia and a member of the Legislative Council, and served under Claiborne as Secretary of State. He died in 1808 and was buried
374
OLD FAMILIES OF NEW ORLEANS
with military honors, "an excellent citizen and faith- ful officer," writes Governor Claiborne to the com- mander of the war vessel in port, asking that minute guns be fired by the vessels of war in port during the funeral ceremony.
It was not the men of the family, however, but the ladies who, as we may say, irradiate the pages of the chronicles of New Orleans; the daughters of the Chevalier Barthelmy Macarty and Françoise Hélène Pellerin. They were: Françoise Brigitte, Marie, Catherine, Adélaide, Céleste Eléonore, Louis Eléo- nore, and Marie Marthe.
Françoise Brigitte was the Madame Nicolas d'Aunoy whom the Baron de Pontalba celebrates as the most charming of all the charming aunts of his wife. She lived in the city in a large house facing the river and was the center of life and gayety of the family. Marie Catherine Adélaide became Madame la Comtesse Fabre de la Jonchère, whose plantation opposite the city was the stage for innu- merable gay social functions in the time of Governor Carondelet.
Jeanne Françoise, according to the Cathedral register, was married to "Messire Jean Baptiste Césaire le Breton, son of Messire Césaire le Breton, écuyer et Seigneur de Boussou, Charmeau et autres lieux, conseiller de la cour Souvereigne de Paris, and of Dame Marguerite Chauvin de Lafrénière." (It may be recalled here that the first husband of Marguerite de Lafrénière was Noyan de Bienville, executed by the Spaniards). The daughter of Césaire le Breton and Françoise de Macarty became the wife of Baron Delfau de Pontalba.
But the most brilliant marriage of the family was
-
Jefferson Street, Back of Pontalba Buildings.
C
PAYMPODNI
İ
1
1
-- - --
377
MACARTY
that of Céleste Eléonore Elizabeth with Governor Miro, the successor of Galvez. She it was, more than her worthy husband, who reconciled Louisian- ians to the Spanish Government. She was young, beautiful and all Irish by her quick wit. Passion- ately fond of theatricals, she played the principal rôles herself in the little dramas given in her hôtel to which she invited all the élite of the population, and she was indefatigable in her bright stratagems to while away the dull cares that oppressed the minds and made heavy the hours of the Spanish officials. New Orleans had never been so gay as under her husband's or rather her administration with the opera, theatre, balls, card parties and pleasure jaunts to the suburb of Bayou St. Jean or across the river to the plantation of her aunt, Madame Jonchère. She knew as a good society woman how to turn it all to such good account that New Orleans began to be known all over the American continent as the city upon it most worth living in by pleasure seekers. The great conflagration that had apparently wrought only ruin and desolation during her husband's administra- tion proved a blessing in disguise, as the small, homely French buildings were soon replaced by stately edifices of Spanish architecture; the Cabildo, the market, the Cathedral, the large courtyard houses with their cool alleys, great stairways and spacious living rooms, their decorative knockers and grill work enclosing their galleries. When Miro obtained at last his permission to retire to Spain, he left Louisiana not only reconciled to Spain, but even endeared to it and beautified by its domination.
Madame Miro accompanied her husband to
378
OLD FAMILIES OF NEW ORLEANS
Spain in 1791, and when he died she was so broken- hearted that her niece, Madame de Pontalba, has- tened to her and remained with her until de Pontalba could join them, when they journeyed to France. Madame Miro did not separate again from the Pontalbas but accompanied them to France and passed the rest of her life with them at Mont l'Eveque, near Senlis. A sister, Françoise, also joined her and remained with her until death, which came to her in her eighty-eighth year. Madame Miro survived Françoise but a few years. Both are buried in the parochial church of Senlis.
Which of the Macarty sisters it was who gave the rebuke to O'Reilly we do not know. Gayarré relates it, not mentioning her name, but we can identify her by the fact of her living on a plantation up the river, as the same lady whom he describes as a friend of his grandmother. He says that O'Reilly's carriage, escorted by a few dragoons, was frequently seen driving at a rapid pace up the coast, where he used in his moments of leisure to visit a family residing a few miles from town, in which he found himself in an atmosphere reminding him of the best European society. One day when according to his habit he had provoked a keen encounter of wits with the lady of the manor, being stung by a sharp repartee, his hasty temper betrayed him and he for- got himself so far as to say, with a tone of command, "Madame, do you forget who I am?" "No, sir," answered the lady with a low bow, "but I have associated with those who were higher than you are, and who took care never to forget what was due to others; hence they never found it necessary to put any one in mind of what they were." Nettled,
-
-
i
-------
379
MACARTY
O'Reilly departed instantly but returned the next day with a good-humored smile and apology.
Speaking of his grandmother's friend, Gayarré introduces her thus:
"The plantation above the de Borés', which extended over Audubon Park, belonged to Pierre Foucher (de Boré's son-in-law) ; the next place belonged to the unfortunate Lafrénière. It was at that time the property of Mademoiselle Macarty, who was Madame de Boré's intimate friend as well as neighbor, and who, like her, had been educated at St. Cyr."
It was one of the great pleasures of Gayarre's friends to hear Mademoiselle Macarty described by the historian, then in his nineties, and see one of her visits to his grandmother, three quarters of a cen- tury before, acted. Her carriage, a curiosity unique in the colony, was called a chaise; it was like a modern coupé but smaller, with sides and front of glass. There was no coachman; a postillion rode one of the spirited horses, a little black rascal of a postillion who always rode so fast and so wildly that his tiny cape stood straight out behind like wings. When in a cloud of dust the vehicle turned into the Pecan Avenue the little darkies stationed there to look out would shriek in loud excitement to get the announce- ment to the great gates ahead of the horses: "Mam- selle Macarty a pé vini." And there would be a rush inside to throw open the gates in time. With his cape flying more wildly than ever, his elbows beating the air more furiously, the postillion would gallop his horses in a sweeping circle through the great courtyard and bring them panting to a brilliant finale before the carriage step. M. de Boré would be standing there ready with his lowest bow to open the carriage door and hand the fair one out and lead
380
OLD FAMILIES OF NEW ORLEANS
her at arm's length with a stately minuet step up the broad brick stairs and through the hall to the door of the salon, where they would face each other and he would again bow and she would drop a curtsy into the very hem of her gown-her Louis XIV gown-for from head to foot she always dressed in an exact copy of the costume of Madame de Mainte- non; that is, with the exception of her arms, which were in Mademoiselle Macarty's youth so extremely beautiful that she never overcame the habit, even in extreme cold weather and old age, of exhibiting them bare to the shoulder. The mystery of why with her great wealth and great beauty she had never married remained a vivid one- even when old age had effaced everything except the fame of her radiant beauty .*
Gayarré, who always looked at the history of Louisiana with romantic eyes, looked also at the romance of Louisiana with historical eyes. We are not surprised, therefore, to find in the pages of an old number of Harper's Magazine a little story in which he gives an authentic account of the Macartys in the early years of the last century. f
"Mademoiselle Macarty lived near the de la Chaise plantation, once well known on account of its brickyard, but now divided into streets and lots that have become a part of New Orleans. She was in affluent circumstances, possessed houses in the city and owned a number of slaves. She had a beautiful and productive garden of which she was very proud, superb orange trees and a well cultivated orchard, and acquired considerable reputation for the skill with which she manufactured all sorts of condiments, sweetmeats and other delicacies. In this she was assisted by a dame de compagnie.
* "New Orleans: the Place and the People." Grace King.
+ Barthelmy Macarty's Revenge." Harper's Magazine, 1887.
381
MACARTY
"Mademoiselle Macarty left all her fortune to her nephew, Augustin Macarty, who subsequently became Mayor of New Orleans and died childless. She had another and more distant relative called Barthelmy de Macarty. . . His son, Barthelmy, had been thoroughly educated and gave promise of a brilliant career. When still very young he had been selected by Governor Claiborne for his Secretary of State. Handsome, possessed of those clean- cut features which characterize the patrician of long descent, rich and distinguished in every way, the youthful secretary was a cynosure of society.
The two brothers, Augustin and Barthelmy, are mentioned prominently in the reports of the Battle of New Orleans, and in the measures taken to pre- pare the city against the English. Augustin was appointed on the Committee for Public Defense and was among the citizens who subscribed ten thousand dollars toward securing it. The Macarty plantation shares with the Chalmette and the de la Ronde places the honor of furnishing the field for the glorious battle. Jackson established his head- quarters in the Macarty house, a handsome house built in the new, at that time, château style with galleries extending all around it, supported on brick pillars. The trees and foliage of the garden screened it from the road, and it was from the gallery of the old mansion, whose garden lay just within the American line of entrenchment, that he on the after- noon of January 7th, 1815, observed the movements in the British camp, two miles down the river, and came to the conclusion that they were preparing to attack him. About one o'clock that night an aide, sent to make a report to the General, found him sleeping on a sofa in one of the front rooms; his staff were stretched out on the floor about him. Having heard the report, he looked at his watch and
382
OLD FAMILIES OF NEW ORLEANS
exclaimed: "Gentlemen, we have slept enough. Arise. The enemy will soon be upon us." All immediately left the house for the camp. They had hardly done so when a cannon ball, fired from the British lines, crashed into the room where they had been sleeping.
A last memorable scene connected with the old house must not be omitted. On the morning of the 19th, and when the armistice had drawn to its end the exchange of prisoners had been effected and speculation was rife as to what the British Army would do further; a rumor circulated through the American camp that it had retreated. Officers and men collected in groups to survey the enemy's camp, and much discussion arose as to whether the army had really gone or was only lying in wait to entice the Americans from their entrenchments. General Jackson and his staff, stationed in the win- dow of Macarty's house, gazed at the camp through powerful telescopes. It presented the same appear- ance as usual; flags were flying, sentinels posted. The General was not satisfied that they had gone. His aides thought as he did. At last the French General, Humbert, standing near, was called upon for his opinion. Napoleon's veteran took one look through the telescope and immediately exclaimed: "They are gone." When asked for his reason he pointed to a crow flying near one of the sentinels which showed that they were stuffed dummies. The British had stolen away during the night.
A pretty public square in the old part of the city, called Macarty Square now, commemorates the upper lines of the Macarty plantation. In it has been erected a handsome memorial arch to the heroes of the late war.
!
-
-
-
--
CHAPTER XXVIII
DE BUYS
T THERE is a tradition that this good old typical Creole family was among the early French settlers of the colony, and that its head was present with Bienville at the laying out of the city of New Orleans. !
The first de Buys known in the records of New Orleans, Gaspard Melchior Balthazar, the son of Pedro de Buys and Micaela Lion (in the Spanish of the Cathedral records), was born in Dunkirk in 1789. His forebears were seafaring folk who had sailed their ships under letters of marque from Louis XIV and fought as privateersmen in the wars against England. Gaspard, so the story goes, was captain of a man-of- war under the Count de Grasse during the war for American Independence but, having caught the yellow fever in the West Indies, he resigned from the navy and came to New Orleans, then in the peaceful days of the Spanish Domination. Here he shortly afterward married Eulalie de Jean or de Jan, daughter of Antoine de Jan of Bordeaux and Angele Monzey de Montjean, a native of New Orleans.
The mother of Angele de Montjean, according to the family record kindly furnished by Mrs. Lucien de Buys of New Orleans, was saved from the Natchez massacre by her nurse, a young Indian girl, who bravely tramped her way through forests and Indians and brought the infant in safety to New Orleans.
383
384
OLD FAMILIES OF NEW ORLEANS
She grew up in the city and married Claude de Jan about 1750. He had been established in business in New Orleans for some years. They had six children: Eulalie, Antoinette, Marie Françoise, Man- ette, Jean Baptiste and Claude.
Madame Montjean lived, says the record, to be over one hundred years old, and was visited in her home at Santiago, Cuba, by one of her great-grand- daughters of New Orleans. The de Jan children married in New Orleans and ramified in France and in England, where many of their descendants still live.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.