I
have been conducting genealogical research since high school. Like many genealogists, I occasionally come across oddities which pique my interest. One of those oddities has been the origins of some Creole given names popular in past generations. I wrote about a possible origin of two such names (Mélissaire and Mélius) two months ago.1To read more about Mélissaire, sometimes spelled Mélisœur, and Mélius, occasionally spelled Mélice and Mélisse, click here. Today I would like to share another.About 15 years ago, I began research for a family reunion. I discovered a lady named Marguerite Orté Zaïre de la Houssaye whose name kept surfacing in connection to my family. She was born about 1753 in French colonial New Orleans to Sorlingues and Thérèse, all nègre slaves of the colonial treasurer-general, the Sieur Loquet de la Pommeraye. She served as godmother to my 3rd great-grandfather’s older brother, Jean-François Rochon, mulâtre libre, born 12 June 1811 in St. Martinville and baptized 18 August 1811 at St. Martin Church. Jean-François’s paternal uncle Baptiste Navarre-Rochon, mulâtre libre, lived in an area of St. Martin Parish known as Faubourg Zaïre, located on the east bank of Bayou Têche between St. Martinville and Fausse-Pointe. Faubourg Zaïre was named for this same Zaïre de la Houssaye. She was also Jean-François’s aunt’s (Henriette-Zaïre William) namesake. I eventually learned that she was so close to my ancestors because she was my 5th great-grandmother’s (Charlotte de la Houssaye, négresse libre) older sister. I hypothesized that Zaïre was so named possibly due to her family’s origins in Africa from the nation of Zaïre, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I tested that hypothesis and concluded that Zaïre de la Houssaye had no link to that nation in Africa. 2On 6 February 1758, in New Orleans, Paul-Augustin de la Houssaye purchased a slave family from the estate of the Sieur Loquet de la Pommeraye, recently deceased, the formar Treasurer-General of the French colony of Louisiana. The consisted of Sorlingue or Sorlingues, Térèse [Thérèse] – his wife, and their 4 children: Nicolas, Louis, Pierre and Zaïre. Payment: 7,500 piastres. Source: Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, “Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy,” database, estate, no. 03-F-132-070-1758. Jean-François Rochon was a son of Jean Narcisse Boisdoré-Rochon and Charlotte Crane, both parents native of New Orleans, all mulâtres libres and residents of the Attakapas District in the vicinity of St. Martinville. Église Saint-Martin [St. Martin Catholic Church] (St. Martinville, La.), baptêmes, vol. 6, no. 1206. Baptiste Rochon, né Juan Bautista Navarro, also known as Baptiste Navarre, mulato libre, was born to Bautista Navarro and Charlotte Rochon, both mulatos libres, on 4 January 1788 in New Orleans: Église Saint-Louis-de-la-Nouvelle-Orléans [St. Louis Catholic Cathedral-Basilica] (New Orleans, La.), baptêmes de couleur libres et esclaves, vol. 12, no. 55. He died 15 February 1826 in Faubourg Zaïre, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana: St. Martin Church, sépultures, vol. 4, no. 1750. Jean Rochon, né Juan Bautista Navarro, also known as Jean Navarre, mulato libre, was born to Bautista Navarro and Charlotte Rochon, both mulatos libres, on 27 December 1799 in New Orleans: St. Louis Cathedral-Basilica, baptêmes de couleur libres et esclaves, vol. 15, no. 219. Jean married 8 August 1820 Henriette-Zaïre William, quarteronne libre of St. Martinville, daughter of William Caruthers, a white American merchant residing in St. Martin Parish, and Modeste Laporte, more commonly known as Modeste de la Houssaye, mulâtresse libre native of St. Martin Parish: St. Martin Church, mariages, vol. 6, no. 213. Zaïre and Charlotte de la Houssaye were siblings, born to Sorlingues and Thérèse. We find the family in the Attakapas Military Post whose administrative seat was St. Martinville, in the 1777 census of that district, where the names, ages, and physical description of slaves were given as: Sorlingue (69, nègre), Thérèse (50, négresse), Colas [Nicolas] (23, nègre), Zaïre (27, négresse) with 1 son Isidore (5, nègre). Louis, Pierre and Charlotte are not present among the 22 slaves enumerated on Paul-Augustin de la Houssaye’s Bayou Têche plantation. Paul-Augustin died testate in the Attakapas District on 22 [—-] 1777: St. Martin Church, sépultures, vol. 1, p. 57. Among the slaves related to this family inventoried as property belonging to the community of the decedent and to his widow (Magdeleine Victoire Pettit de Livillier) were: (1) Une nègre nommé Sorlingue, prèsqu’aveugle, agé d’environs soixante et dix ans. Et une négresse nommée Thérèse, agée d’environs cinquante ans; mariée avec le dit Sorlingue en face d’église. Estimés cent soixante piastres – 160 piastres: p. 19. Translation: “A dark brown skinned man named Sorlingue, nearly blind, aged around 70 years, and a dark brown skinned named Thérèse, around 50 years old, married to the said Sorlingue before the [Roman Catholic] church. Both estimated at 160 piastres*.” *The piastre was the most widely used currency in French and Spanish colonial Louisiana, generally used by all Francophones and Creolophones. There were others, however, such as the livres (pound), gourde mexicaine (Spanish silver coins), and peso during the Spanish period. Usage of, or reference to, the piastre continued well into the 19th century and until this day, Francophones and Creolophones in Louisiana refer to the national currency as the piastre rather than the “dollar.” (2) Une négresse nommée Zaïre, agée d’environs vingt quatre ans; Valer, son fils, agé d’environs huit ans; Isidor, idem, agé de six ans; estimé le tout ensemble cinq cents cinquante piastres”: p. 19. Translation: “A dark brown skinned woman named Zaïre, around 24 years old, her sons Valer, age 8, and Isidor, age 6, all estimated at 550 piastres. For whatever reason, Valer (Valère), does not appear on the 1777 census. (3) Une négresse nommée Charlotte agée d’environs treize ans estimée deux cents quarante – 240″: p. 19. Translation: “A dark brown skinned girl named Charlotte, age around 13 years, estimated at 240 piastres. For whatever reason, like Valère, Charlotte does not appear on the 1777 census. Inventory of Paul-Augustin Le Pelletier de la Houssaye, 14 September 1777, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Conveyance Book S, no. 4 and 5, pp. 13-26. Clerk of Court’s Office, St. Martinville, Louisiana. Henriette-Zaïre William’s mother, Modeste Laporte, also known as Modeste de la Houssaye, mulâtresse libre, was born a slave of Paul-Augustin’s son, Jean Louis Augustin de la Houssaye, more commonly known as Louis Le Pelletier Le Chevalier de la Houssaye who died in 1814: Louis de la Houssaye, tutor of Théogène de la Houssaye and Théodule de la Houssaye; Jean Darby, tutor of Thérence de la Houssaye, Balthazard de la Houssaye, Gustave de la Houssaye; and Jacob Harry, husband of Émérite de la Houssaye, declared their intention to free a mulatto slave named Modeste (30 years old) and her two children: Édouard (4 years old) and Clémentine (2) – Louis Le Pelletier Le Chevalier de la Houssaye died 15 September 1814 in St. Martinville: St. Martin Church, sépultures, vol. 4, no. 915. Manumission of Modeste, Édouard, and Clémentine, 26 July 1814, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Estates Book [no.], no. 86; Glenn R. Conrad, Land Records of the Attakapas District: Part 2, Attakapas-St. Martin Estates, 1804-1818 (Lafayette, La.: University of Southwest Louisiana, 1993), 158; Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, “Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy,” database, freed slaves, lines 3567-69. Modeste Laporte purchased Henriette-Zaïre and another daughter, Marie-Louise Joséphine, from Louis Le Pelletier Le Chevalier de la Houssaye’s sons 3 months later: 14 Oct 1814. Balthazard and Gustave de la Houssaye sold to Modeste de la Houssaye, femme de couleur libre, two slaves: Zaïre (10 years old) and Joséphine (7 years old). Price: $800 – Sale of Zaïre and Joséphine to Modeste de la Houssaye, 26 July 1814, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Original Acts Book 28, no. 194; Glenn R. Conrad, Land Records of the Attakapas District: Part 2, Attakapas-St. Martin Estates, 1804-1818 (Lafayette, La.: University of Southwest Louisiana, 1993), 169.
In 2003, I conducted research on the Bourda family, friends of our family, and came across a Zaïre in their line. This Zaïre, whose full name was Zaïre Lorins, born in 1864 in St. Martin Parish to Hyppolite Lorins and Elizabeth Gordon, was not connected to our Zaïre de la Houssaye. Not knowing anyone in my more recent family by the name, I then assumed that it was a name that was once popular among Creoles in Louisiana. I then turned to other Catholic parochial records and censuses to test that assumption’s probability. I not only discovered many Creole women named Zaïre, born in the 18th and 19th centuries, but also a derivative of the name spelled Euseïde or Euzeïde. The latter spelling was much more common among Louisiana Creole Francophones and the former among Creolophones. I speak French, and pronounced Zaïre as we customarily do for the African nation–[zah eer]. But one day at the Lafayette office of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL/Agence des affaires francophones), I was chatting with Gayle Bourda, who is a great-granddaughter of Zaïre Lorins and her husband Polycarpe Bourda. And we began discussing genealogy. Gayle knew about her great-grandmother Zaïre Lorins, and called her [ee zah ee]. I later met other people who had Zaïres and Euseïdes in their trees, who also pronounced the name [ee zah ee] or [ee zah eed]. I could not help to find it odd that Creoles of no African origins, either in part or in whole, would name their daughters after an African nation. 3Zaïre Lorins was born in 1864 to Hyppolite Lorins II and Elizabeth Gordon, both born mulâtres esclaves in St. Martin Parish. She married 30 March 1880 Joseph Polycarpe Bourda, native of St. Martin Parish, son of Charles Bourda and Anne “Manette” Ben-Lasky: St. Martin Church, mariages, vol. 10, p. 403. To see the popular use of the name Zaïre or Euseïde/Euzeïde in Louisiana, see Donald Hébert, “Southwest Louisiana Records,” database on CD-Rom; Hall, “Afro-Louisiana,” database; US census, 1850-1940, all south Louisiana civil parishes.
This week, while working on Kouri-Vini translations for the books of the bible, evangelists, and so on, I had to turn to the French names of these terms and people as a starting place for a translation into KV, since French remains KV’s principal lexifier. I arrived at the book of Isaiah, and stumbled, because I could not think of the French way to say Isaiah to save my life. It’s not a name in French one commonly hears or sees, so I needed to verify. I discovered that the name is Isaïe in French, pronounced [ee zah ee yuh] or [ee zah yuh]. I paused for a minute when I saw that. “Ee zah ee yuh,” “ee zah ee,” I kept saying to myself. It took me no more than 10 seconds to link it to Zaïre/Euseïde. “But Isaïe is a masculine name,” I told myself. “Yes, that is true,” I said, “but it could be unisex, or, like many Francophone names, it may have a female derivative. See if there is one for Isaïe.” I then searched for a feminine version of Isaïe, and there it was! Isaïs [ee zah ee]. I could not believe it. Same pronunciation as Zaïre/Euseïde. “Bingo!,” I yelled with excitement.
Zaïre/Euseïde is a biblical name, the Louisiana Creole version of Isaiah. Ahhh! It means “salvation of the Lord” in Hebrew, the name for the prophet Isaiah. This all makes perfect sense – Louisiana Creoles are mostly Christians, the vast majority of whom were overwhelmingly Roman Catholics in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Everything adds up, because priests familiar with KV’s “I” (pronounced [ee]) often spelled it with “eu” in French. It’s because the French “eu” (pronounced [uh]) became an I ([ee]) and an É ([ay]) in KV. So French names like Eugène and words like peux (present conjugation of the verb “pouvoir” (to be able to)) became Ijènn ([ee zhann]) and pé ([pay]) in KV.
Here’s one of many moments when I have realized that had I not spoken French and Kouri-Vini, I would be a fish out of water in an overwhelmingly English-speaking country, unable to process names and words in our transformed Creole-American culture. Many assimilated communities retain vestiges of the community’s historic languages, but most community members will no longer speak the languages. If I do not know the historic languages of the Louisiana Creole community, how could I possibly conduct any meaningful research on the community? For much of our history, records for our community were in ecclesiastical and legal French or Spanish. I wouldn’t really be able to do an effective job conducting genealogical research, because I would make erroneous assumptions about names, linking them to the wrong people or to no one at all, and I certainly would not know what the names meant or what the diminutives of the names would be. More significantly for this discovery, it was the combined knowledge of KV and French that enabled me to demystify Zaïre/Euseïde’s etymology. All the more reason for people to learn KV and Louisiana French.
– Christophe Landry
References
| 1. | ↑ | To read more about Mélissaire, sometimes spelled Mélisœur, and Mélius, occasionally spelled Mélice and Mélisse, click here. |
| 2. | ↑ | On 6 February 1758, in New Orleans, Paul-Augustin de la Houssaye purchased a slave family from the estate of the Sieur Loquet de la Pommeraye, recently deceased, the formar Treasurer-General of the French colony of Louisiana. The consisted of Sorlingue or Sorlingues, Térèse [Thérèse] – his wife, and their 4 children: Nicolas, Louis, Pierre and Zaïre. Payment: 7,500 piastres. Source: Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, “Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy,” database, estate, no. 03-F-132-070-1758. Jean-François Rochon was a son of Jean Narcisse Boisdoré-Rochon and Charlotte Crane, both parents native of New Orleans, all mulâtres libres and residents of the Attakapas District in the vicinity of St. Martinville. Église Saint-Martin [St. Martin Catholic Church] (St. Martinville, La.), baptêmes, vol. 6, no. 1206. Baptiste Rochon, né Juan Bautista Navarro, also known as Baptiste Navarre, mulato libre, was born to Bautista Navarro and Charlotte Rochon, both mulatos libres, on 4 January 1788 in New Orleans: Église Saint-Louis-de-la-Nouvelle-Orléans [St. Louis Catholic Cathedral-Basilica] (New Orleans, La.), baptêmes de couleur libres et esclaves, vol. 12, no. 55. He died 15 February 1826 in Faubourg Zaïre, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana: St. Martin Church, sépultures, vol. 4, no. 1750. Jean Rochon, né Juan Bautista Navarro, also known as Jean Navarre, mulato libre, was born to Bautista Navarro and Charlotte Rochon, both mulatos libres, on 27 December 1799 in New Orleans: St. Louis Cathedral-Basilica, baptêmes de couleur libres et esclaves, vol. 15, no. 219. Jean married 8 August 1820 Henriette-Zaïre William, quarteronne libre of St. Martinville, daughter of William Caruthers, a white American merchant residing in St. Martin Parish, and Modeste Laporte, more commonly known as Modeste de la Houssaye, mulâtresse libre native of St. Martin Parish: St. Martin Church, mariages, vol. 6, no. 213. Zaïre and Charlotte de la Houssaye were siblings, born to Sorlingues and Thérèse. We find the family in the Attakapas Military Post whose administrative seat was St. Martinville, in the 1777 census of that district, where the names, ages, and physical description of slaves were given as: Sorlingue (69, nègre), Thérèse (50, négresse), Colas [Nicolas] (23, nègre), Zaïre (27, négresse) with 1 son Isidore (5, nègre). Louis, Pierre and Charlotte are not present among the 22 slaves enumerated on Paul-Augustin de la Houssaye’s Bayou Têche plantation. Paul-Augustin died testate in the Attakapas District on 22 [—-] 1777: St. Martin Church, sépultures, vol. 1, p. 57. Among the slaves related to this family inventoried as property belonging to the community of the decedent and to his widow (Magdeleine Victoire Pettit de Livillier) were: (1) Une nègre nommé Sorlingue, prèsqu’aveugle, agé d’environs soixante et dix ans. Et une négresse nommée Thérèse, agée d’environs cinquante ans; mariée avec le dit Sorlingue en face d’église. Estimés cent soixante piastres – 160 piastres: p. 19. Translation: “A dark brown skinned man named Sorlingue, nearly blind, aged around 70 years, and a dark brown skinned named Thérèse, around 50 years old, married to the said Sorlingue before the [Roman Catholic] church. Both estimated at 160 piastres*.” *The piastre was the most widely used currency in French and Spanish colonial Louisiana, generally used by all Francophones and Creolophones. There were others, however, such as the livres (pound), gourde mexicaine (Spanish silver coins), and peso during the Spanish period. Usage of, or reference to, the piastre continued well into the 19th century and until this day, Francophones and Creolophones in Louisiana refer to the national currency as the piastre rather than the “dollar.” (2) Une négresse nommée Zaïre, agée d’environs vingt quatre ans; Valer, son fils, agé d’environs huit ans; Isidor, idem, agé de six ans; estimé le tout ensemble cinq cents cinquante piastres”: p. 19. Translation: “A dark brown skinned woman named Zaïre, around 24 years old, her sons Valer, age 8, and Isidor, age 6, all estimated at 550 piastres. For whatever reason, Valer (Valère), does not appear on the 1777 census. (3) Une négresse nommée Charlotte agée d’environs treize ans estimée deux cents quarante – 240″: p. 19. Translation: “A dark brown skinned girl named Charlotte, age around 13 years, estimated at 240 piastres. For whatever reason, like Valère, Charlotte does not appear on the 1777 census. Inventory of Paul-Augustin Le Pelletier de la Houssaye, 14 September 1777, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Conveyance Book S, no. 4 and 5, pp. 13-26. Clerk of Court’s Office, St. Martinville, Louisiana. Henriette-Zaïre William’s mother, Modeste Laporte, also known as Modeste de la Houssaye, mulâtresse libre, was born a slave of Paul-Augustin’s son, Jean Louis Augustin de la Houssaye, more commonly known as Louis Le Pelletier Le Chevalier de la Houssaye who died in 1814: Louis de la Houssaye, tutor of Théogène de la Houssaye and Théodule de la Houssaye; Jean Darby, tutor of Thérence de la Houssaye, Balthazard de la Houssaye, Gustave de la Houssaye; and Jacob Harry, husband of Émérite de la Houssaye, declared their intention to free a mulatto slave named Modeste (30 years old) and her two children: Édouard (4 years old) and Clémentine (2) – Louis Le Pelletier Le Chevalier de la Houssaye died 15 September 1814 in St. Martinville: St. Martin Church, sépultures, vol. 4, no. 915. Manumission of Modeste, Édouard, and Clémentine, 26 July 1814, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Estates Book [no.], no. 86; Glenn R. Conrad, Land Records of the Attakapas District: Part 2, Attakapas-St. Martin Estates, 1804-1818 (Lafayette, La.: University of Southwest Louisiana, 1993), 158; Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, “Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy,” database, freed slaves, lines 3567-69. Modeste Laporte purchased Henriette-Zaïre and another daughter, Marie-Louise Joséphine, from Louis Le Pelletier Le Chevalier de la Houssaye’s sons 3 months later: 14 Oct 1814. Balthazard and Gustave de la Houssaye sold to Modeste de la Houssaye, femme de couleur libre, two slaves: Zaïre (10 years old) and Joséphine (7 years old). Price: $800 – Sale of Zaïre and Joséphine to Modeste de la Houssaye, 26 July 1814, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Original Acts Book 28, no. 194; Glenn R. Conrad, Land Records of the Attakapas District: Part 2, Attakapas-St. Martin Estates, 1804-1818 (Lafayette, La.: University of Southwest Louisiana, 1993), 169. |
| 3. | ↑ | Zaïre Lorins was born in 1864 to Hyppolite Lorins II and Elizabeth Gordon, both born mulâtres esclaves in St. Martin Parish. She married 30 March 1880 Joseph Polycarpe Bourda, native of St. Martin Parish, son of Charles Bourda and Anne “Manette” Ben-Lasky: St. Martin Church, mariages, vol. 10, p. 403. To see the popular use of the name Zaïre or Euseïde/Euzeïde in Louisiana, see Donald Hébert, “Southwest Louisiana Records,” database on CD-Rom; Hall, “Afro-Louisiana,” database; US census, 1850-1940, all south Louisiana civil parishes. |