USA > Louisiana > The settlement of the German coast of Louisiana and the Creoles of German descent > Part 8
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1731 : Husband; wife ; three children. Six arpents cleared.
24. Balthasar Marx, of Wullenberg, Palatinate (one Wollenberg near Wimpfen), Catholic; 27 years old. Nailsmith. His wife, 22 years old. "His wife had a miscarriage last year on account of working at the pounding trough ('pilon'). He went to New Orleans to get some salt and had to give a barrel of shelled rice for three pounds. His affairs excellently arranged. Good worker." One and a half arpents cleared. Three years on the place.
1731: Husband, wife, two children. One engagé. One negro; three cows.
1775: Jean Simon Marx, son of Balthasar and Marianne Aglae Marx, married Cath. Troxler, daughter of Nik. T. and Cath. Matern (St. James parish).
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25 Bernard Wich, of Tainlach, in Wurtemberg. Lutheran; 46 years old. His wife. Three children, a boy and two girls, from 13 years down to two months. Two arpents cleared. A pig.
1731: Two children. One engagé. One negro.
26. Johann Rommel (now Rome), of Kinhart, Palatinate. Catho- lic; 24 years of age. Tailor. His wife. One and a half ar- pents cleared. Three years on the place. A pig.
1728: Jean Rommel baptized.
1731: Three children. Two cows.
27. Catharine Weller (ine), 49 years old, from Heilbronn, Wur- temberg, widow of August Paul, a Lutheran, a tailor. "Expects a child. Alone and poor. Has no provisions and needs some assistance. Six verges cleared."
28. Anna Kuhn, widow of Johann Adam Zweig (Labranche). Her husband was a Catholic, and died in Biloxi. Daughter of twelve years. One and a half arpents cleared. "Has no provisions and no seed for the next year. Needs some assistance."
1729: Daughter Anna Margarethe Zweig married Pierre Bridel, a soldier, and a native of Bretagne. According to the marriage entry the bride was born in Bollweiler, Alsace.
29. Magdalena Fromberger, 50 years old. Catholic; widow of George Meyer from Ingitippil (?), Suevia, Germany. "Her son, Nik. Mayer, is crippled but industrious in the cooper trade. He also makes galoches which are a great help when shoes are scarce. An orphan girl, 20 years old. One and a half arpents cleared. Three years on the place. A pig.
1731 : Nik. Meyer. His wife and a child. One engagé. Two negroes ; two cows.
30. Margarethe Reynard (Reinhard?), from Bauerbach, Baden. Catholic; 46 years old. Separated from Johann Leuck (?), who lives on the Mississippi. Daughter from first marriage, aged seven years. Seven verges cleared. Three years on the place.
31. Catherine Hencke, of Horenburg, Brandenburg, widow of Christian Grabert, a Catholic, who died in Biloxi, aged 50 years. A daughter, 14 years old. Both sick. She needs some assistance and is very willing to work. Two arpents cleared.
32. Christian Grabert, Grabert, of Brandenburg. Catholic; 23 years old. His wife. An orphan child, 13 years old. Two arpents cleared. Three years on the place. One pig.
1726: Christian Grabert, his wife, mother-in-law, sister-in- law, and sister. Six arpents cleared.
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1731: Husband, wife, three children. Two cows.
Descendants of the Grabert family still live in Ascension parish, La.
33. Andreas Necker, of Dettenhausen, Wurtemberg. Lutheran ; 36 years old. Miller. His wife. Two arpents cleared. One year on the place. Two pigs.
34. Jacob Oberle, of Zabern, Alsace. Catholic; 35 years old. Two arpents cleared. One year on the place.
The four arpents occupied by Necker and Oberle were situated between the two old villages and had served as a cemetery ; but when the German people moved to the river front this cemetery was abandoned, where- upon Necker and Oberle took possession of it "a year ago". D'Arensbourg, however, whose land was con- tiguous to the cemetery, also claimed it on the ground that these four arpents had been cleared by the com- munity.
("FIRST") OLD GERMAN VILLAGE.
One mile and a half from the Mississippi and adjoining the "second" village.
35. Andreas Schenck, from Saxony; Lutheran; 35 years old. Far- mer, prévôt of a village. His wife and a child of two years. Land at discretion. Always serves with the troops as a mu- sician.
1727 : Andreas Schenck, wife and two children.
36. Marcus Thiel, of Bergwies, Silesia. Lutheran; 43 years old. Shoemaker. His wife. Land at discretion. Always sick.
37. Moritz Kobler, of Berne, Switzerland. Calvinist; 64. years old. Butcher. Served for thirty years in France in Swiss regi- ments. His wife. Land at discretion. Wants to return to France.
1729: Kobler's widow, Emerentia Lottermann, of Berne, married in this year Jacob Weisskraemer, from Ba- varia, whose wife as well as his parents, Abraham and Magdalena W., had died at Fort Balize at the mouth of the Mississippi. In 1745 Jacob Weisskraemer mar- ried in Pointe Coupée Margarethe Françoice Sara, the widow of one Jolier.
38. Karl Friedrich D'Arensbourg, "captain reformé", aged 31 years. An orphan boy from 10 to 12 years old. A cow and a calf from the company. A bull belonging to him. Two pigs. Twelve arpents. Not much cleared from lack of force.
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The census here informs us that the village just mentioned (the first old German village) had been founded by twenty-one German families, that some had died and others had moved to the river front, having been drowned out by the great hurricane three years previous. Schenck, Thiel and Kobler seem to have come over from the second village. This is the reason why these three had "land at their discretion," there being, as the census remarks, at least 100 arpents of beautifully cleared land in the neighborhood of this village, cleared, no doubt, by the twenty-one German families, the founders of the first village. But now, the census continues, these three men also want to leave and move to the other village (the second one), nearer to those abandoned lands, which they would now like to take up. This, the census man thinks, would be right as far as those lands are concerned which were abandoned more than a year ago, because the parties who left had in the meantime been able to clear enough new land to support their families and to con- tinue farming. The fourteen families remaining in the second village, nearer the river, were all doing well, except the widows, and did not think of moving.
Having completed the two villages in the rear, the com- piler of the census now evidently begins again at the river front, going down.
39. Andreas Traeger (now Tregre), of Donauwoerth, Bavaria. Ca- tholic; 37 years old; hunter. His wife with a child at her breast, Three arpents cleared. Two years on the place. "A good worker. Well lodged. His yard, 90 x 90, staked off with palisades. Well cleared. Birds have caused a great deal of damage." One cow from the company. One pig.
1726: Four arpents cleared.
1731 : Husband, wife, three children. Two negroes; three COWS.
Andreas Traeger was the progenitor of all the Tregre families in Louisiana.
40. Jacob Lueck, of Weissenburg. Forty-five years old. Separated from his wife, who lives in the village (See No. 30). "Left his place to go to Natchez, but is back now. Lazy, and a very bad man."
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4I. Andreas Hofmann, from the marquisate of Ansbach, Bavaria. Catholic; 27 years old. His wife. A daughter aged seven years. One and a half arpents cleared. A pig.
1726: Four arpents cleared.
1731 : Husband, wife and four children.
4. Mathias Friedrich, of Weilersheim, Alsace. (There were two Friedrich families in the colony then.) (See No. 2.) Catholic; 29 years old. His wife with a child at the breast. An orphan girl, aged 15 years. One and a half arpents cleared. "Good worker." A cow from the company. A calf and three pigs.
1726: Husband, wife, and three children. Six arpents cleared.
1731 : Four cows.
43. Bernhard Reusch, from the Palatinate. Catholic; 52 years of age. Tailor. His wife. A son of fifteen and a daughter of eleven years. One and a half arpents cleared. Two years on the place. Water caused much damage. Two pigs. 1726: Four arpents cleared.
44. Paul Klomp (Klump?), of Bauerbach, near Karlsruhe, Baden. Catholic ; 30 years old. His wife. A son three and a half years old. An orphan boy of 12 years. One and a half arpents cleared. Three years on the place. Ground overflowed. Has been sick.
1724: Four arpents cleared.
45. The Chapel with house and kitchen. Garden. Cemetery of about one and a half arpents. It was at the completion of this new cemetery that the cemetery between the two old villages was abandoned.
46. Adam Schmitz, a widower of Isnen, Suevia, Germany. Lu- theran ; 44 years old. Shoemaker. A daughter of nine years. Two years on the place. Eight verges cleared. "Works at his trade, making galoshes."
47. Johann Rodler, of Rastadt, Baden. Catholic; 35 years old. Locksmith. Works at his trade. His wife. Two years on the place. Eight verges cleared. Deaf. 1726: Four arpents cleared.
48. Anton Distelzweig, of Selz, Alsace. Catholic; 29 years old. His wife. One child, one and a half years old. "Good worker." Three arpents or 32 verges cleared.
49. William Pictot, 50 years old, from Bretagne.
50. Friedrich Merkel, from Wurtemberg. Catholic; 30 years old. His wife Marianne Kohleisen. Sixteen verges cleared. Two years on the place. "Good worker." Two pigs.
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1726: Four arpents cleared. In the same year Friedrich Merkel married Anna Barbara Friedrich, daughter of Conrad F. and Ursula Frey. (See No. 2). Merkel's name occurs for the last time in the census of 1727. Anna Barbara Friedrich, his widow, then married Nik. Wichner. (See No. 2).
51. Peter Muench, of Oberheim, in the Palatinate. Catholic; 40 years old. His wife. A son, one year old. Two arpents cleared. Two years on the place. Works at his trade.
1726: Four arpents cleared.
52. Andreas Struempfl, of Ottersheim, near Fort Kehl, Baden. Catholic; 23 years old. His wife. Two daughters. Two ar- pents cleared. Two years on the place. A cow and a calf; two pigs.
1728: 'Anna Barbara Struempfl baptized. Another daughter by the name of Agnes married, about 1748, Johannes Ettler, of Colmar, Alsace. 1731: Three children. Two cows.
53. Johann Adam Riehl, of Hatzweiler, Basle, Switzerland. Catho- lic; 45 years old. Carpenter. His wife. Daughter of five months. One and a half arpents cleared. Two years on the place.
54. Jacques Poché, 45 years old, native of Omer, in Artois.
55. Joseph Wagensbach (now Waguespack), of Schwobsheim, Upper Alsace. Catholic; 23 years old. His wife. One and a half arpents cleared. Two years on the place.
1726: One child. Six arpents cleared. 1731: Three children. Two negroes; two cows.
Joseph Wagensbach was the progenitor of all the Wagues- pack families in Louisiana.
56. Sibylla Heil, widow of Wiedel, 37 years old, of Elchingen, Suevia, Germany. Catholic. Two years on the place. One and a half arpents cleared. "A good worker."
57. Johann Adam Edelmeier, of Reiheim, Palatinate. Calvinist ; . 50 years old. Cooper. Two boys, 10 and 14 years of age. A daughter, Maria Barbara, married Lionnois, a sailor from Lyons. Three arpents cleared. Two pigs. "A very good worker, who deserves attention."
1726: Six arpents cleared. 1728: Marie Christine Edelmeier baptized. 1731 : Five children. One negro; two cows.
58. Philipp Zahn, of Grosshoeflein, Hungary. Catholic; 25 years of age. His wife. Three arpents cleared. Two years on the place. A pig.
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1726: One child. Four arpents cleared.
1727: As widower of Margarethe Wiethen (ine) Philipp Zahn married in this year Marie Schlotterbecker of Wurtemberg, widow of Jacob Stalle and sister of the wife of Thomas Lesch.
The census at this time mentions the land forming the pas- sage of three arpents' width, leading from the river front to the concession of M. de Meure. According to a map of 1731, this place was about two miles above Hahnville.
59. Johann Jacob Foltz (now "Folse"), of Ramstein, Palatinate. Catholic ; 26 years old. Shoemaker. His wife. A child of one year. Four arpents cleared. Two years on the place. One pig. This year made only seven barrels of rice on account of . inundation. Was sick the whole summer.
1731 : Two children. Two cows.
60. Bernhard Anton, of Schweigen, in Wurtemberg. Lutheran ; 30 years old. His wife. A boy, 10 years old. About four arpents cleared. Two pigs. Two years on the place. Made this year 20 barrels of rice, and would have also made 60 bar- rels of corn, if there had been no inundation. "Good worker." 1731 : Three children. One engagé. Six cows.
After enumerating these families, the census of 1724 continues :
"All these German families enumerated in the present census raise large quantities of beans and mallows, and do much gardening, which adds to their provisions and enables them to fatten their animals, of which they raise many. They also work to build levees in front of their places.
"If all these small farmers were in the neighborhood of New Orleans they could raise vegetables and poultry. They could make their living well and add to the ornament of the town, as their small frontage on the river brings their houses with the gardens behind them so close together that they look like villages. But this agree- able condition unfortunately does not exist in New Orleans, owing to the greed for land of those who demanded large concessions, not with the intention of cultivating them, but only of reselling them.
"If these German families, the survivors of a great number who have been here, are not assisted by negroes, they will gradually perish; for what can a man and his wife accomplish on a piece of land, when, instead of resting themselves and taking their meals after their hard work, they must go to the pounding trough (pilon) to prepare their food, a very toilsome work, the consequences of which are dangerous for men and women. Many receive injuries,
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and many women get seriously hurt. When one of the two falls sick, it is absolutely necessary that the other should do all the work alone, and thus both perish, examples of which are not rare.
"The ground is so hard in the lower part of the colony that one must always have the hoe ready, and the weeds come out so strong and so quickly, that it seems after a short while as if no work had been done at all. The land is covered with dead trees and stumps, and these people have no draught animals (as this census shows there was not a single horse on the German Coast, and of the 56 families only six had cows), they cannot use the plow, but must always work with the pickaxe and the hoe.
"This together with the hard work on the pilon, causes these poor people to perish, who are good workers and willing, and who do not desire anything more than to remain in a country where they are free from burdensome taxation and from the rule of the master of their land-a lot quite different from that of the peasants in Germany.
"They would consider themselves very happy to get one or two negroes, according to the land they have, and we would soon find them to be good overseers. The only thing to be done would be to visit them once or twice a year, to see what use they are making of them, and to take the negroes away from the lazy ones and give them to the industrious. But this would hardly be necessary, as these people are by nature industrious and more contented than the French.
"They could also feed their negroes very well on account of the great quantities of vegetables they raise. They could also sell a great deal to the large planters, and these, assured of a regular supply, could give more attention to the raising of indigo, the cut- ting of timber, and to other things suitable for exportation to France and Cape Frances (San Domingo). I am persuaded that a great timber trade could be established with the West Indian Islands, where timber is getting scarcer and is dear."
LEFT BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Continuation of the Census of 1724.
The land immediately above New Orleans and on the same side of the Mississippi, beginning beyond the moat of the upper town limit (now foot of Bienville street), and extending up to the center of the great bend of the river at Southport, beyond Carrollton, belonged to M. Bienville-in all, 2131/2 arpents river front.
This is, no doubt, the land which the census enumerator, a French official, quoted above, had in view when he said, "If
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these German farmers were in the neighborhood of New Orleans * * And when he speaks of "the greed of those who demanded large concessions," he evidently referred also to Gov- ernor Bienville.
The lower portion of Bienville's land-from Bienville street to somewhere about Felicity road, 581/2 arpents' front-Bienville reserved for his own habitation. Of this tract he sold a part to the Jesuit fathers. From Felicity road up to Southport he placed, as has been stated, twelve German and a few French families, most of whom received their titles on and after the first of January, 1723. But by the time the census of 1724 was taken, a number of these had left. The fact that the Ger- mans had already once before lost their all by a great hurricane and inundation, and the failure of Bienville to build a levee, al- though he had guaranteed one to them in their titles, and the consequent inundations they were subjected to even in the first year, together with the exacting conditions of rental to be ful- filled-all these were causes to compel these people to sell out their contracts as quickly as they could. Some had already left during the first year, and Jacob Huber, the last German to remain on Bienville's land, stayed only from 1723 to 1727.
Partly from census reports, and partly from chains of titles of Bienville's hands, the author has been able to ascertain the names of most of the German storm victims who settled on Bien- ville's lands :
Peter Bayer, from Wankenloch, near Durlach, Baden, who had taken six arpents of Bienville's land above New Orleans.
Caspar Hegli, a Swiss, from near Lucerne. "Six arpents. Catholic; 35 years old. His wife. A' daughter. Two orphan boys. A cow, a heifer, a young bull, and three pigs. Two years on the place. Used two and a half barrels of seed rice and did not make more than three barrels on account of inundation. Has a very fine garden enclosed by palisades. He has made a good levee and is a good worker. He deserves a negro." (Census of 1724.)
Jacob Huber, with six arpents. "Native of Suevia, Germany. Catholic; 45 years old. His wife, son of 16 years. One en- gagé. One cow, one heifer, a pig. Made no crop on account of inundation. Good worker." (Census of 1724.)
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Jacob Huber's son Christoph married Marie Josephine St. Ives. Descendants write the name now "Oubre", "Ouvre", "Hoover".
'Andreas Krestmann, or Christmann, from Augsburg, with his two sons, 10 and 12 years old. Six arpents. "Wheelwright. His wife. Two orphan girls, eight and fifteen years old. Two years on the place. A cow, a heifer, a calf and three pigs. He is industrious and is at work fencing in his cleared land. He made a good levee and paid in advance the workmen who made it for him at a cost of 100 pistoles. Deserves a negro."
These four men occupied a portion of Bienville's land from the present First street of New Orleans to Napoleon avenue. Further up, beginning about the upper line of Audubon Park, were :
Simon Kuhn, of Weissenburg, Ansbach, Bavaria. "His wife, daugh- ter, son-in-law, Daniel Hopf, 20 years of age of Cassen, dio- cese of Spire. Orphan boy, 12 years old. Cow, calf, three pigs. One year on the land. Had to change his engagements twice, having been forced to give up his cabin on account of water. Good worker." (Census of 1724.) An elder daugh- ter of Simon Kuhn, Anna Kuhn, was the widow of Johann Adam Zweig (Labranche), who had died in Biloxi. She had a daughter of the age of 12 years. The orphan boy, 12 years old, was, no doubt a relative, and very likely that Jean La- branche who, in 1737, married Susanna Marchand and became the progenitor of all the Labranche families in Louisiana. Daniel Hopf (French spelling "Yopf" and "Poff") married, in 1727, Anna Maria Werich, of Lampaitz, German Lorraine. A daughter of this second marriage, Renée "Poff", married, 1752, in Pointe Coupée, Pierre Baron.
Thomas Lesch (now "Leche" and "Laiche"), with three arpents. "His wife. One engagé." (Census of 1726.) Thomas Lesch married, in 1725, in the cathedral of New Orleans, Anna Scho- derbecker of Wurtemberg. Only daughters were born from this marriage :
Margarethe Lesch married one Peter Engel, a carpenter, whose name occurs also in the spelling "Aingle", "Ingle", "Hingle", and "Engle". There were three sons, Simon, Sylvestre and Santjago Hingle, who mar- ried into the Bura family in Plaquemines parish (Bu- ra's Settlement). The "Hingle" family is quite numerous there.
Regina Lesch, another daughter of Thomas Lesch, mar- ried one Christian Philippson.
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Joseph Strantz, with three arpents.
One Mueller, with six arpents.
Johann Weber, the progenitor of the "Webre" families in Louisiana, with six arpents near the upper limits of Bienville's lands. now Carrollton. He was born near Fort Kehl, Baden, and was then 24 years old. (Census of 1724.) His wife was Marie Stadler, who came to Louisiana with her parents, Ulrich and Maria Stadler, on one of the four pest ships. "Mother-in-law, an orphan girl, aged 16 years. Cow, heifer, bull, four pigs. One year on the place."
The conditions under which these lands were given to the German storm victims by Bienville, were: From six to eight livres annual ground rent for each arpent and, every year, two capons and two days' work "in the form of corvée" for each arpent. Jacob Huber paid eight livres ground rent. Bienville subjected even the Jesuit fathers, who, on the first of May, 1728, bought five arpents from him, to conditions similar to these, in- cluding even that of corvée. This is true, also, of the Canadians who held lands from him on the Algiers side of the river.
The people of Bienville's lands must also repay the ad- vances made to them by Bienville. These consisted usually of provisions for one year, a cow in calf, two hogs, four chickens with a cock, and the necessary utensils and agricultural imple- ments. Utensils, provisions and implements must be paid for at the end of the first two years. The cow must be returned within three years, and of all the cattle raised in excess of the first twelve head Bienville was to receive one half. For the two hogs furnished he demanded a fat hog every second year, and for the four chickens and the cock six fat hens or capons were demanded every year.
In the census of 1726 these Germans were called "Vas- seaux allemands." Indeed, they were "vassals." (See Volume "Concessions.")
In the Chapitoulas district above Carrollton began the great concessions of Deubreuil, Chauvin de Lèry, Chauvin de Beaulieu, Chauvin de la Frénière, St. Rayne, all large concerns worked by negro labor.
Continuing our trip up the river, on the left side, we find
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in 1724 the habitations and concessions of Dartigniere & Benac, Henry Pellerin, Cousin, Vaquir, Dire (Dire leaved in Cannes Brûlées), d'Artagnan, Chautreau de Beaumont, Pujeau & Ka- vasse, Meran & Ferandou, Bouette, Chaval, Chesneau, Dauny, and Pierre Brou.
The habitations of Chesneau and Dauny were later, after 1727, acquired by Caspas Dubs (Toups) and Ambros Heidel (Haydel), who, in 1724, were yet neighbors on the other side of the river on the German Coast.
Continuing our trip up the river, we find in 1724 the habi- tations of Pommier, Picollier, Sainton, Dizier, Dejean, and Pel- loin. Then we meet again Germans :
Peter Schmidt, from the Palatinate. Catholic; 34 years old. His wife, his brother-in-law, aged 17 years. Three arpents cleared, which he had bought for 400 livres.
Bartholomaeus Yens (?), of Cologne. Catholic; 25 years old. A brewer. His wife, with a child at the breast. Three arpents cleared.
Then we pass the habitations of St. Pierre, St. Julien, Go- bert, Reux, Caution, Guichard, Piquéry, Petit de Livilliers, Du- cros, Lanthéaume. Then comes :
Joseph Ritter, of Durlach, Baden, 52 years old, a carpenter. His wife, a son of 20 years, two orphan girls of 14 and 19 years. About three years on the place. Three pigs. Works at his trade. "Is a good worker and deserves some negroes."
Then we come to the Baillifs, Claude Baillif from Picardy, and
Joseph Bailliff, of Dieux, in German Lorraine, aged 22 years. His wife. Eight arpents cleared, which he had bought for 250 livres. His widow married later Michael Zehringer, of whom we shall hear soon.
Nik. Schmitz, of Frankfurt. Catholic; 40 years of age. His wife. A daughter of 18 and one of six years. Eight arpents, which he had bought for 800 livres. "Made a good levee and is a good worker."
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