USA > Virginia > Some prominent Virginia families, Volume IV > Part 15
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M. Tasher, the father of the Empress Josephine, also was of this family. He married, at Martinique, Mademoiselle de Savois, who came from a respectable family of the south of France. They were married, in 1761, and Josephine was born June 23, 1763. M. Tasher joined the armies of France at an early age and was quickly promoted to a captaincy of cavalry. He was ordered to the West Indies, in 1758. When retiring from service he settled upon his estate, "La Pagerie," as all men of good families were expected to do. He was quickly promoted to a captaincy of cavalry. This rank at that time was in itself an evidence of gentle blood, as none others could be officers. Not until the brilliant innovation upon ancient customs by Napoleon were inauguarted, were officers taken from the common people.
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Professor Ernest Lagarde, LL. D., the distinguished linguist and the eloquent and learned teacher, has been connected with Mt. St. Mary's College, as professor of Modern Languages and Litera- ture, for a quarter of a century. Previous to that he was in news- paper work, in New Orleans. He married Miss Leonie Laforque, of that city, and by her has a large family.
Marie Françoise Athenaïs Dimitry married J. B. Lagarde. They had issue :
I. Ernest Lagarde, b. New Orleans, La., Sept. 4, 1836. Married (Feb. 11, 1861) Anne Angelique Leonie Laforque, b. New Orleans, Feb. 9, 1840, daughter of M. Laforque and Angelique Langlois. They had issue :
I. Mary Alice Lagarde, b. New Orleans, March 6, 1862. Married (Sept. 23, 1893) Chevalier Guiseppe Ferrati, b. Gradoli, Prov. Rome, Italy.
II. Ernest Joseph Lagarde, b. Richmond, Va., Nov. 28, 1863; he is one of the secretaries of the Panama Canal Com- mission.
III. Louis Dimitry Lagarde, b. Richmond, Va., July 5, 1865. Married (July 18, 1894) Marie Tremoulet, of New Orleans, daughter of Henry Tremoulet and Celeste Lauve, his wife. They had issue :
I. Ernest Tremoulet. b. about 1896.
II. Henry Grasselli, b. about 1898.
III. Louis D., Jr., b. about 1900.
IV. Donald Eugene, b. about 1902.
V. Alice Marie, b. about 1904.
IV. John Baptiste Lagarde. b. Randolph-Macon College, Va., Aug. 25, 1868. Married (April 9, 1902) Lilly Noble McMillan, daughter of William Alexander Mc- Millan (d. 1896), and Susan Tucker Noble, of Annis- ton, Alabama (still living). They have issue :
I. John B. Lagarde, Jr., b. Feb. 8, 1903.
II. Eugene Gaselli Lagarde, b. Aug. 5, 1905.
V. Ella Leoni Lagarde, b. July 18, 1870, near Mt. St. Marys, Frederick Co., Md., d. May 6, 1904.
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VI. Ernestine Eulalie Lagarde, b. Feb. 1, 1874, in Emmitts- burg, Md .; d. Nov. 15, 1875.
II. Marie Anaïs Denise Lagarde, b. Feb. 15, 1839. Married (Feb. 4, 1861, in New Orleans, La.) Richard Joseph Evans, of Washington, D. C.
Ernest Lagarde, Jr., the eldest son, is in trading business in New York and Mexico. He was married, but his wife is dead and they had no family.
Louis D. Lagarde is at the head of a produce commission busi- ness, in New Orleans. He is married and has a family.
John Lagarde is the manager and chief owner of a large lime mining and manufacturing plant in Alabama, and was recently ' married.
Alice Lagarde married Guiseppe Ferrati, a professor of Italian. They live in North Carolina and have a family.
Marie Françoise Athenaïs Dimitry married, third (March 29, 1850) George Alexander Buel, of Zanesville, Ohio. He was a building contractor of New Orleans, by occupation. He had. arranged to take his wife. to Zanesville to be introduced to his people, but was drowned in the Mississippi three months after his marriage and his body never recovered. They had issue :
Marie Sarah Buel, b. December 30, 1850. Married (January 16, 1872) Edward Theodore Manning, who died February 29, 1904. Mr. Manning was a very able man, prominent in political life of New Orleans and author of many business projects which brought wealth to others, if not to himself. He was a staunch friend and loving husband. He had a magnificent memory of the relative order and details of past events in the political history of the city and for that and his general ability he was retained in political office as clerk or assistant clerk of the council for many years notwithstanding party changes in the government.
The following obituary is taken from the New Orleans States. of March 23, 1897 :
A descendant of one of the oldest Creole families of the State, the venerable and universally respected Mrs. François Athenaïs Buel, died at 10 A. M. to-day, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. She was a member of the well-known family of Dimitry, and leaves a number of children and grandchildren. The lady had been in ill health for some
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time and bore her suffering with Christian fortitude, and when the end came she succumbed without showing any sign of pain. Her last hours were made peaceful by the presence at her bedside of her children, who did everything that loving hearts and willing hands could do to make their aged parent's end as painless as possible. Those of her family that survive are well known in this community. She was the mother of Prof. Ernest Lagarde, Mrs. Charles A. Fassy, Mrs. George Pandely, Mrs. Richard J. Evans, and Mrs. Edward T. Manning, to all of whom the State extends a condolenee in this hour of their great affliction. The funeral will take place from the residence of Maj. R. JJ. Evans, 928 Clariet St., at noon to-morrow, and will be private. The interment will be at Metarie Cemetery.
The following is taken from the New Orleans Picayune of Tuesday, March 23, 1897:
Another of the distinguished representatives of the old Creole families, Madam G. A. D. Buel, has passed away. The maiden name of this estimable lady was Marie Françoise Athenaïs Dimitry, and she was a native of New Orleans, being among the youngest of the children of Andrea Dimitry and Marion Celeste Dragon. Mrs. Buel was born on the 5th of February, 1813, and was baptised by Pere Antoine, of blessed memory. Among her brothers older than herself, who herself survived all her brothers and sisters, were the late Professor Alexander Dimitry and Pro- fessor Dracos Dimitry. Having reached midway in the decade of octoge- narians, she was the last of that generation of her family, which included among its members, besides the brothers named, her sisters, all now de- ceased, Mrs. Euphorine Pandely, Mrs. Augusta Dietz, Mrs. Dr. Giovanni Pieri, and Mrs. Dr. Auguste Natili, the last named of whom was the mother of Mrs. Randolph Natili.
As an infant, Mrs. Buel heard the guns of the battle of New Orleans, when her father was serving her country, as a member of the 2d Louisiana Cavaliers.
Mrs. Buel was married three times, first to Mr. Isidore Ravant Martain- ville, the children of that marriage being Olivia, surviving widow of Mr. Charles A. Fassy, and Ernestine, deceased wife of the late George Pandely.
By her second marriage she became the wife of Mr. J. B. Lagarde, who had been an officer in the army of the first Emperor Napoleon, one of the children of that marriage being Prof. Ernest Lagarde, the accomplished scholar and linguist, who for the past twenty-five years has occupied with distinction the chair of professor of literature and modern languages at Mt. St. Mary's College, Emmittsburg, Md. Another child. a daughter by this marriage, Anaïs, is wife of Maj. Richard J. Evans, of this city.
In 1850, the deceased married the late Mr. George Alexander D. Buel. and the issue of this marriage, a daughter, Marie, is the wife of Mr. Ed. T. Manning.
In the venerable years she has attained, Mrs. Buel lived to greet many great-grandchildren.
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Mrs. Buel was remarkable for great vivacity of mind, which even in old age did not desert her. She possessed a refined wit, the inheritance, per- haps, of her Athenian ancestors, and was gifted with a natural intellect of very high order, polished by reading, travel, and observation. She wrote graceful poetry and vigorous prose, although not for the printer, as her modest appreciation of her own powers would not permit her to measure her ability by the standard put to it by others. French was her favorite language, though she spoke English equally well. In her youth she had been educated chiefly by private tutors, that being the custom of the time with families in Louisiana. She possessed skill in portrait painting on ivory. In the all-important subject of religion she was zealous and in- spired with an abiding and unquestioning faith in the doctrine and teach- ing of the Roman Catholic Church. Her nature was kind: her hospitality limited only by her opportunities: her conversation cheerful, animated and instructive.
Mrs. Buel was one of those typical Southern women whose hearts were enlisted in the cause of the South during the Civil War, in which she had. as Confederate soldiers, a son, sons-in-law, and many nephews.
When General Butler. during his occupation of the city of New Orleans, issued his order calling upon all citizens, irrespective of sex, to take the oath of allegiance to the United States or declare themselves "enemies of the United States," as Butler worded it, Mrs. Buel chose the latter atti- tude as being more consistent with her Confederate sentiments, and when later the "registered enemies" were required to leave the city, to the number of some 11,000, she took her family to Richmond, where her brother, Alexander Dimitry, was then residing, connected with the Con- federate Postoffice Department, as Chief of the Finance Bureau and one of the Assistant Postmaster Generals.
Until the close of the war her home, at Richmond, was the hospitable resort of the many Creoles of Louisiana who were domiciled in Richmond and. like herself, refugees from their homes. The remnant of that band of Louisiana exiles, who knew this noble-hearted lady and her family in Richmond in those days of patriotism and privation, will hear of her death with regret. When Mrs. Buel became a voluntary exile from her native city she left behind her valuable property, including real estate, and this she found lost to her on her return.
Mrs. Buel, by her younger kinsmen especially, was regarded with peculiar interest and veneration as being the last survivor of that large family circle which had once included their own grandfather and grandmother and their own fathers and mothers.
She was truly the Louisiana lady of the old school, of whom so few now survive, and the appellation "La Marquise," which was playfully given her. was merited by her distinguished bearing and aristocratic presence, as well as by her marriage to Mr. Lagarde, whose family had borne that title in France.
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Mathilde Elizabeth Theophanie Dimitry, born November 29, 1816; died October 9, 1869. Married (April 22, 1839) Dr. Auguste Natili, of Pisa, Italy.
Dr. Auguste Natili was the son of Charles Natili and Magdalene Venturi. He was born in 1808, and died March 20. 1865. He was a native of Pisa, in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The pass- port of Dr. Auguste Natili, given by the authorities of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, is dated March 23, 1837, and states that he was then twenty-nine years old, a native of Pisa, with residence there, and is given leave to go to Paris, France. The passport is viséed in France, April 26, 1837, and in New Orleans, August 21, 1838. The last visé in France is August 24, 1837. Dr. Natili had a number of certificates from the professors of the "Faculty of Médecin" at Paris that he had attended courses of lectures there in the spring of 1837. Dr. Natili was notified, August 22, 1840. of his election as corresponding member of the National Institute for the promotion of science. A certificate of the Royal College of France, dated August 19, 1837, is to the effect that Dr. Auguste Natili had attended the medical courses during the second term of 1837. Dr. Natili's diploma as a Doctor of Medicine was given by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and is dated June 13, 1826. Il Commissario Mario Laselli states that he pursued a final course of medicine for graduation, in August, 1825, having been excused from the previous course by reason of "creditable work and dis- coveries" in science and art.
The following is a translation of the Spanish record in the archives of St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, La., of the baptism of Theophanie Dimitry and is interesting as showing the value of such records in tracing the genealogy of a family.
"Records of Baptisms at the Parochial Church of St. Louis," New Orleans, page 34 :
MATHILDE On the 16th day of October, in the year 1818, I. F. Antonio
DIMITRY
ISAVEL de Sedalla, of the order of the Caperchins, curator of the church and parish of St. Louis, in the city of New Orleans, baptized and poured the sacred balm upon a girl child who was born on the twenty-ninth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. the legitimate daughter of Don Andrea Dimitry, a native of the island of Hydra, in the Archipelago of Greece, and of Donni Marianna Dragon, a native of this city, in presence of several relatives; her paternal grandfather and grandmother being Don Andrea Nicolas Dimitry and
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Donna Euphrosine Russi; and her maternal grandfather and grandmother being Don Miguel Dragon and Donna Francesta Montplasis. Upon which child I administered the sacred ceremonies and prayers and imposed the name Mathilde Elizabeth, while the god-father and god-mother were Con- stantine and Angelico Clino Dimitry, brother and sister of the one baptized, and I explained to them the spiritual parental relation.
[Signed] FR. ANTONIO DE SEDALLA.
The marriage settlement of Dr. Auguste Natili and Miss Dimitry was dated April 22, 1839, and is between-"Mr. Auguste Natili, about 31 years, a native of Pisa, in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, in Italy, son of Charles Natili and Magdaline Venturi and
Miss Mathilde Elizabeth Theophanie Dimitry, aged nearly twenty- one, daughter of Andrea Dimitry and Marianne Dragon."
The naturalization paper of Dr. Auguste Natili, dated November 4, 1850, states that he made his intention known to become a citizen of the United States, October 31, 1848. At that time he had resided in the United States more than five years. They had issue :
I. Andrea Natili, d. young and unmarried.
II. Charles Natili, b. 1839; d. in Morgan City, La., July 13, 1905, unmarried.
III. Randolph Natili, b. Sept. 1842, called "Baron Natili," was for many years agent of the Southern Pacific Co., at Morgan City as well as its predecessor, Morgans, La. and Texas Ry. and Steamship Lines.
Of late years Randolph Natili has been special agent of various interests in various parts of Europe and America. He is a man of peculiar and wonderful popularity and his skill and trustworthi- ness in handling delicate negotiations is well recognized by those who need such services. In his registry certificate, dated September 29, 1868, he states himself to be twenty-six years old at that date. He married in his youth Miss Massie Chassaignac, sister of the celebrated and very skilful physician of New Orleans, Dr. Charles Chassaignac. They had one daughter, Alice Natili, married Joseph M. Dyer, of Morgan City, La., where they have a family. Dr. Charles Chassaignac was married to Miss Mathilde Labry, in Waukesha. on October 10, 1906, by Rev. W. G. Miller.
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Nicholas Theodore, the ninth child of Andrea and Marian Celeste (Dragon) Dimitry, b. Feby. 7, 1815; d. Feby. 6, 1836. The following extract from the New Orleans Picayune, of June 13, 1875, will give better knowledge of this remarkable man so prematurely cut off :
A GENIUS EARLY QUENCHED.
In another column we insert a poem headed, "Spes Espes," Hope without Hope. Rummaging an old trunk, a few days since, in search of a MS. of Prof. Alexander Dimitry, his worthy wife laid her hand on a bundle of papers which belonged to the profes- sor's brother, Nicholas Theodore Dimitry. They were a legacy of the past. The author died within one day of his twenty-first year. In turning over these MSS., memorials of some forty years gone by, the piece named "Spes Espes" was found. We have put the name which he left to the piece. It is the name by which he went among his fellow students of Georgetown College. We have retained the date, just as it was written by his hand, and we note the day, "The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin," to whom in spite of his fierce nature he was affectionately devoted throughout his early closed life. Hardly twenty-one years old, we are told by his relations and friends that America ne'er begot a brighter genius than was Nicholas Dimitry. His was one of the finest intellects of Georgetown College-brilliant, brave, daring, fearless in his nature, far above his intellectual powers the better feelings of his heart, which strips him of every thought of self, made him give everything he had to his friends. Among these was a room-mate, Philip Barton Key, who was nearly three years his junior and two classes below him in college. Both of the young men were wild beyond expression, but Dimitry's indomitable willfulness over- shadowed his friends' equally wild nature. Intelligent, but indo- lent, Barton Key seldom 'studied, and Dimitry would do his brain work.
In the bundle was a hymn in Latin and Archaic verse and a piece with the title "A Package of Love Letters." Dimitry had a large volume of his poems in English, Greek and Latin, which, on his death, in 1836, passed into the hands of his friend and college mate, Needler R. Jennings, Clerk of the United States District Court. The young lady referred to in his poem died of consump-
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tion, which disease had prevented their marriage. Nicholas pined away in grief in a rapid decline and died three months later.
We close this chapter with the poem :
They say thou art fair and that beauty has thrown Around thee the halo of mourning in spring; They say that thy heart hath the deep, thrilling tone That will echo for him who can waken its string.
They say that thy soul is as pure as is heaven, Whence its wings were outspread for its flight to this sphere, And they say to that soul a mind to thee's given Which wedded to soul makes thee still the more dear.
But what's it to me that kind nature has flung A garland around thee of flowers the sweetest, Since my heart by stern fate is so bitterly wrung That what is the darkest to me is the meetest ?
But what's it to me that thy heart be embalmed By the warmest of love and affection the purest, Since the storms of the spirit can never be calmed
Even though, lapped in thine, mine could rest the securest ?
But what's it to me if thy pure spirit wears The azure which mantled the skies as it left, When mine is so soiled by the drosses of years That shrinks from thy pureness, of all hope bereft ?
But what's it to me that young genius has shed Its magic on thee to make wildering thy smile, Since to me thou must be but as one of the dead, Or a passing bird seen from a desolate isle?
And yet I must love thee despite of the sorrow Which, ringing my heart, bids me hourly grieve: And yet I must love thee though each future morrow Brings doubly the darkness which shrouded the eve.
Oh, yes; I would have thee to beam o'er my soul, Like the rainbow that splendors the storm-shaken ocean; Have thy spirit to warn me from each dangerous shoal, And attune my poor heart to each nobler emotion.
"DEVIL NICK."
Feast of the Blessed Assumption. August 15, 1832.
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CHAPTER IX
EVANS FAMILY.
Under various Welsh forms the name Evans may be traced back to the uncertain records of Ancient Wales to the times where only such characters as were noted in the Cambrian legends handed down to us, can be interesting to the reader.
Elystan Glodrydd, Prince of Ferlys, founder of the 4th Royal Tribe of Wales, had several sons, one of whom was Cadygan ap Elystan, Lord of Hereford, father of Setsylt, Lord of Buelth, father of Howell, Lord of Pengualit, father of Meredith Bengach, father of Llewellyn Anderchog (golden chain) in Latin, Linolinus Torquatus, who married Efa or Eva, daughter of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powis, and they had a son, Griffith, the father of Rhys of Dolgear, Co. Brecon, who had two sons Ivan (Evan) ap Rhys and William ap Rhys.
Evans ap Rhys was afterwards anglicised into Evanson or Evans. and was the ancestor of the Evans, Guins, etc., families.
In the 16th century, two of the families settled in Ireland, John Evans, ancestor of the Lords Carbery, and living in Limerick, in 1628, and his brother, Robert Evans, ancestor of the Evans of Beymouth, Co. Dublin, and of Robinstone, Co., Westmeath.
The coat-of-arms is described :
Sable, three boars' heads, couped.
Crest-A demi-lion, rampant, regardant, holding between the paws a boar's head.
Supporters-Two lions, regardant, or, ducally crowned.
Motto-Libertas.
Rhodri Mawr (Roderick the Great) succeeded to the kingdom of Powis at the death, in 843, of his father, Mervyn Vrych, King of Powis. He also succeeded to the kingdom of North Wales by in- heritance from his mother, Eysllt, Queen of North Wales. and
.
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having married Angharad, heiress of South Wales, daughter of Mewric ap Dyfuwal, Lord of Caerdigan and sister and heiress of Gwyan ap Mewric, Lord of Caerdigan, he acquired the sovereignty of South Wales. Rodri Mawr was assassinated, A. D. 876. Rhodri Mawr married Angharad daughter of Mewric. They had issue :
I. Anarawd, King of North Wales, from whom are de- scended, fifth in descent, Griffith ap Cynan, King of North Wales, founder of the 1st Royal Tribe of Wales. This Griffith died in 1136, age 82 years. He lies buried on the south side of the great altar in the Cathedral at Bangor, having reigned 57 years. His eldest son, Owen Gwynedd Griffith, Prince of Powis, died 1219, after a distinguished and prosperous reign of 32 years. leaving, besides other children :
I. Jorwerth.
II. Doderick, Lord of Anglesey, who assumed his father's arms, which have been borne since by his descendants, the Lloyds, Morrises, Anwyls, Brynkeys, Whynns of Merioneth and Caernarvon Counties. The elder, Jorwerth ap Owen, was excluded from the throne. He was father by Margaret his wife, daughter of Madoc, Prince of Powis, of Llewellyn ap Jorwerth, surnamed the Great, Prince of North Powis. After an eventful reign, of fifty-six years, he died, in 1240, and was buried in the Abbey of Cenway, leaving a daughter, Gladys, or Gwladys, from whose marriage with Ralph, Lord Monthermer, of Wigmore (temp Henry II) was derived. Edward IV, of England.
An elder son, Griffith ap Llewellyn, was imprisoned in the Tower, in 1242. He had three sons, Owen, Llewellyn and David. Owen ap Griffith, jointly with his brother, Llwellyn, succeeded to the throne, but was deposed by the latter and died without issue Llewellyn ap Griffith was then sole sovereign of North Wales, but was attacked, with overwhelming force, by Edward I, of England. He was the last native sovereign Prince of Wales recognized by the English throne, and was slain at Builth, Valley of the Wye, December 11, 1282. He married (October 3, 1273) Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Montford, Earl of Leicester, by the Princess Eleanor, widow of William, Earl of Pembroke, and second daugh- ter of John, King of England, by his wife, who died in childbirth.
He had a daughter and heiress, born in 1280, the Princess
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Catherine, who was sent to England, by Edward I, and confined in a convent. She married Philip ap Ivon, Lord of Iscoed, County Caerdigan, and had a daughter, Eleanor, who married Thomas ap Llewellyn, last Lord of South Wales, who had two daughters :
I. Eleanor. Married Griffith Vychan, Lord of Glyndwrdwy, Merioneth, representative of the sovereign princes of Powis, and mother of Owen ap Griffith Vychan, Lord of Glyndwrdwy (the memorable "Owen of Glendower") and Tudor ap Griffith Vychan, Lord of Gwyddelwern, in Merioneth, from whom descended, by maternal line, the Hewes of Gwedas, Barons of Kymmeryn Edeirnion.
II. Margaret. Married Sir Tudor ap Grons, Knt, derived through Edynfed Vychan, Lord of Byrnffenigh, founder of the VIII Royal Tribe of North Wales and Powis.
By this alliance, Margaret was mother of a son and heir, Sir Owen Tudor, Knt., who married Catherin Valois, youngest daughter of Charles VI, of France, widow of Henry V, King of England, and by him mother of Henry VI, King of England, by whom he had issue, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who married Lady Margaret Beaufort, daughter and heir of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (and great-granddaughter of John, of Gaunt) by Catherine Swynford, d. 1546, leaving an only son, Henry VII, King of England, founder of the royal line of Tudor.
III. David ap Griffith. This prince, after the death of his brother, Llewellyn, continued the struggle for the independence of his country, but being betrayed, was captured, arraigned, by Edward I, before the English Parliament, September 30, 1283, condemned, and executed. By his wife, a daughter of the Earl of Derby, David had a daughter, who was removed by Edward I to England and confined in a convent with her cousin, Catherine, where she is supposed to have died, unmarried. David ap Griffith had also two sons :
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