Categories: Cuisine, Economy, Free People of Color (FPOC), Genealogy, History, Identity, Language, Migrations, Slavery

On 2 November 1852, the St. Martin Parish native, Joseph Prosper “Cadet” JOURNÉE, travelled to Opelousas to marry his beloved Virginie BARNABÉ, a native of Opelousas. He was 25 and a carpenter by trade; she, a bit younger. Both were gens de couleur libres, or free people of color. Three years later, in 1855, Virginie gave birth to their only child, baptized Joseph Gustave, more commonly known, as is Louisiana Creole custom, by his middle name, Gustave. Luck was not on the young BARNABÉ-JOURNÉE family’s side, however. Virginie died not long after Gustave’s birth, and Cadet died in 1865, when Gustave was barely ten.¹Cadet and Virginie married at the St. Landry Parish Court House, marriage certificate #999. Cadet’s parents were Pierre Journée and Eugénie Provost. Virginie’s parents were François Barnabé and Eugénie Pellerin. For Cadet’s trade as a carpenter, see 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Population Schedule, Louisiana, St. Martin Parish, Attakapas, p 102, line 17. Gustave was baptized in 1857 at Église Saint-Jean-François-Régis in Arnaudville (now, St. John Francis Regis Church), erroneously recorded as “Joseph Barnaber, fils à Joseph Journey et de Eugénie Pellerin” [Joseph Barnaber, son of Joseph Journey and of Eugénie Pellerin]. In fact, Eugénie Pellerin was the grandmother, mother of Virginie Barnabé. Perhaps the priest recorded Eugénie as mother instead of as godmother. Seeing the original would clarify the transcription issues. Église Saint-François-Régis, Registre des baptêmes vol 1, p 16. Cadet died 2 December 1865 at age 38 in Opélousas. Église Saint-Landry-des-Opélousas (Opélousas, La.), Registre des sépultures vol 2, p 200.

Image 1 – Pierre JOURNÉE fils, ca. 1880. Courtesy of Inèz JOURNET of St. Martinville, La.

Pierre JOURNÉE fils* (Image 1), Cadet’s older brother, also a carpenter by trade, took Gustave in, and reared him as his own. Pierre, free-born, like the rest of his siblings, had married Léontine NEVEU, mulâtresse libre**, a native of St. Martinville on 11 May 1854, but the couple never produced their own children. Nonk* Pierre apprenticed Gustave and others as carpenters, and towards the end of the 19th century, Pierre, Gustave, and Maturin RÉGIS formed a partnership in St. Martinville. Despite his parents’ early death, Gustave did well for himself.²*In this context, “fils” means “junior,” as in a son forenamed for his father. ** Mulâtresse is a female of wheat or light copper complexion and curly hair. Libre means “free.” So, mulâtresse libre is a female who is free and has wheat or light copper complexion and curly hair. Eugénie PROVOST, mother of Pierre JOURNÉE’s first family, was born free to Jean-Baptiste PROVOST or PRÉVOST and Judithe LAPOINTE, also known as Judithe DESHÔTELS, both mulâtres libres from St. Landry Parish. Status of liberty followed that of the mother. See also the baptisms, marriages, and census enumerations of Pierre and Eugénie’s 5 children (Pierre fils, Prosper, Valsin, Louis Joseph and Virginie). Virginie JOURNÉE married 3 October 1850 Jean-Honoré DARTÈS, mulâtre libre, son of Honoré DARTÈS and of Éloïse FONTENETTE, both mulâtres libres of St. Martin Parish. St. Martin Parish Court House,  Marriages Book vol B1, #73. Valsin and Louis JOURNÉE never legally married, but formed life-long relationships with free and enslaved women, and produced large families. Gustave was neither in the household of his paternal grandparents in 1860, nor with Pierre and Léontine, but he does appear with them in 1870 and again in 1880. See 1870 U.S. Federal Census, Population Schedule, Louisiana, St. Martin Parish, St. Martinsville, p 9, lines 10-16. Oscar Halphen, the census enumerator, erroneously placed the DÉTIÈGE-DUPRÉ household in the same dwelling on the census sheet as the Neveu-Journet household, which should be separate. Sisters Mary and Élodie HILL, orphans, and relatives of the JOURNÉE and DÉTIÈGEs, lived with Léontine Neveu and Pierre JOURNÉE. Élodie first lived with Pierre and Léontine, then with Gustave’s son, Joseph Ignace JOURNET [sic] and Marie Jeanne Gladys VAVASSEUR, until her death 1 July 1940. Louisiana State Deaths vol 24, p 10450. Gladys VAVASSEUR was the executrix of Élodie HILL’s estate, and beneficiary of that estate, as well. For 1880, see the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Population Schedule, Louisiana, St. Martin Parish, St. Martinsville, Enumeration District 33, census p 64, Ancestry.com p 7, lines 38-42. See business advertisements for the Journet & Régis firm in the St. Martin Weekly Messenger (St. Martinville, La.), 31 Dec 1887 onward.

Sometime in the first week of January 1894, Gustave (Image 2) and my great-aunt Marie Élisabeth Rosa Vavasseur, travelled to New Orleans where their marriage was blessed. Six children were born to their union, my grandfather’s first cousins. And again in 1917, Ignace, Gustave’s son with Philomène Arnaud, married Rosa’s baby sister, Marie Jeanne Gladys Vavasseur. ³Prior to 1894, Gustave fathered 2 sons with Philomène Félicie LEROUX, formally married to Hippolyte ROUSSÈVE, daughter of Alphonse Félix LEROUX, a native of France, and of Catherine LOSTON, a native of St. Martinville. Those sons were: Darrell Gustave Lester Journet, born 22 December 1888 – Église Saint-Martin (St. Martinville, La.), Registre des baptêmes vol 13, p 95; and Jérôme Israël JOURNET, born 11 October 1892, ibid. vol 13, p 239. Gustave fathered another son with Marie Philomène ARNAUD, whose family he had known from Arnaudville, a daughter of Célestin ARNAUD and of Élisa ROBICHAUX. That son was Joseph Ignace JOURNET, born 31 July 1893, ibid. vol 13, p 290. Gustave and Rosa’s marriage was on 7 January 1894, New Orleans Marriages vol 7, p 294. Rosa was the daughter of Charles Jefferson VAVASSEUR and of Joséphine ROCHON. Their children were: Marie Joséphine Elva JOURNET, born 29 September 1894, ibid. vol 13, p 340; Marie Élaine Iting JOURNET, born 12 May 1896, ibid. vol 14, p 64; Joseph Jefferson JOURNET, born 16 February 1899, ibid. vol 14, p 186; Marie Antoinette JOURNET, born c. 1902; Marie Hattie JOURNET, born c. 1903; Joseph Merlin Victor JOURNET, born 18 November 1905, ibid. vol 14, p 532. Ignace and Gladys married in St. Martinville on 16 July 1917. Image 2 – Joseph Gustave JOURNET, ca. 1890. Courtesy of Inèz JOURNET of St. Martinville.

When my great-aunts Rosa and Gladys married these JOURNET men (yes, 2 sisters married a father and a son!), our family linked to many in south Louisiana with direct ties to Haiti, the second republic in the Americas, formally called Saint-Domingue under the French. Cadet and Pierre JOURNÉE were children of Eugénie PROVOST, who was a Louisiana Creole; but their father, Pierre JOURNÉE père, was a free Creole born and reared at Môle St-Nicolas, Saint-Domingue, to Nicolas JOURNÉE of France and to Isabelle BODIN, a free Saint-Domingue Creole.⁴Birthplace, parentage, and status of Pierre JOURNÉE père from his marriage to Eugénie PROVOST on 25 May 1824 at Opélousas. Witnesses were Georges SIMIEN, Onésime LÉDÉ, and Henri PRÉVOST [sic], all free Louisiana Creoles and relatives of Eugénie. Église Saint-Landry, Registre des mariages vol 1b, p 431a.

Louisiana and Haiti’s connections cannot be overstated. Saint-Domingans sought refuge in all corners of the Louisiana colony, from Missouri to New Orleans and from Opelousas and St. Martinville to Mobile, and everywhere in between, after 1792. For instance, one of my 6th great-grandfathers, Jean-René GUIHO, Sieur de Kerlégand, was born at Bouguenais, Loire-Atlantique, France on 6 March 1730. In 1764, Jean-René packed up his entire family (wife plus 5 children) and relocated to Martinique as a merchant and navy officer for the French crown. By 1785, he was firmly planted on Saint-Domingue, where he traded slaves, sold other goods, and was an officer in the dragoons under Captain Jacques DE MUN. Five more children were born to he and his wife, Marie-Louise SORBIER, during this period; half in Martinique, the other half at Jérémie in Saint-Domingue. As a royalist, when the revolution broke out in France in 1789, and subsequently led to early slave insurrections in Saint-Domingue, Jean-René hightailed it to Maryland in 1792, where he and his family were naturalized at Frederickstown that year. Charles DE HAULT de Lassus, governor of Upper-Louisiana, and his brother, Pierre DE HAULT de Lassus, Chevalier de Luzières, devised a scheme to lure Saint-Domingan refugees, who were loyalists, to the sparsely populated territory in Missouri and Illinois. He selected a large area of land southwest of Saint-Geneviève, called it Nouvèle-Bourbon, and promised to loyalists this cheap, cultivable and plentiful land for agriculture. On 15 January 1800, the governor granted to Jean-René a concession of 500 arpents of lands at Farmington, in the Saline District, with a dwelling home at Nouvèle-Bourbon. Ultimately, Jean-René and those who followed him, disapproved of the land in both quality and arpentage. Most of the residents fled to France, but Jean-René, a daughter, six slaves, and a couple of grandchildren, fled to St. Martinville, where they all died years later.⁵Commune de Bouguenais, Paroisse Saint-Pierre, 1730, BMS-3E20/5 vue 10 (Archives Online Conseil général Loire-Atlantique). Receipt of several slaves by GUIHO de Klegand to Mr. CRESP (Notaire de Jérémie, Saint-Domingue 25 Oct 1789 v 6B p 180). Mr. Jean Rene GUHIO of Kaligaut, accepts Mr. AUBERT as his debtor, allowing the debt of 54,450 lbs. To be paid March 10 (Grand-Anse, Notaire de Jérémie, Saint-Domingue v 1 p 20: 29 Sept 1787). Naturalized as US citizen 18 Sept 1792 at Fredericktown, MD. Jean-René GUIHO de Klegand [sic] claims 500 arpents of land by Matthew DUNCAN on South Fork of Saline River (Missouri State Archives C/3/7 Box 2 Folder 8). 15 Jan 1800 Land grant of 500 arpents by Charles DELASUS at Farmington, Saline District, Ste. Geneviève County with dwelling at Nouvelle Bourbon (American State Papers Public Land v6 p 778).

After the Spanish issued a mandatory eviction of all French subjects (read: Saint-Domingans who had sought refuge there from 1792 onward) from the island of Cuba in 1809, around ten thousand arrived at New Orleans dockyards overnight between 1809 and 1811. Free and enslaved, men, women and children, Saint-Domingans of all complexions and social classes, saturated New Orleans neighborhoods beyond capacity and, over night, the Crescent City became a bustling metropolis. As scholars Nathalie DESSENS, Kimberly HANGER, and Emily CLARK observe, Cubans of Saint-Domingue descent, brought theater, opera, brothels, and quadroon balls to New Orleans. The arts and other cultural expressions flourished in New Orleans, as a direct result of influxes from Cuba and Saint-Domingue, where those cultural elements had longer histories. In The American Quadroon, CLARK even tracks marital practices among free Saint-Domingans and Cubans of color in New Orleans, where she observes that free women of color from Saint-Domingue and Cuba tipped the gender ratio among that class in New Orleans. The result was significantly more free women of color than free men of color. Saint-Domingan and Cuban men, as she demonstrates, especially if wealthy, tended to marry established Louisiana Creole women, leaving refugee women of color without suitable free men of color to marry. Concubinage with white men and quadroon balls satisfied the lack of eligible free men of color for refugee women and the birth of a new sub-culture was born. New Orleans still sells itself in tourism on its fine art, architectural elements, music, and propertied, single, free women of color in elaborate tiyons*, today.⁶Nathalie Dessens, From Saint-Domingue to New Orleans: Migration and Influences (Southern Dissent) (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2010); Emily Clark, The Strange History of the American Quadroon: Free Women of Color in the Revolutionary Atlantic World (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013); Kimberly S. Hangar, Bounded Lives, Bounded Places: Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans, 1769-1803 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997).

Although, it is pretty tempting to generalize Saint-Domingue’s influence on New Orleans, with the entire colony of Louisiana. Truth be told, outside of New Orleans, Pointe-Coupée, and a couple of other Mississippi River civil parishes, there were relatively few Saint-Domingans who penetrated Lafourche, St. Martin, St. Landry, and Avoyelles Parishes. Some of those notable exceptions in the Sts. Martin and Landry Parishes include the DE LÉRY-CHÉNIERs, DUBREÜILs, JARDOINs, JOURNÉEs, MARTELs, PÉCOTs, PINTA/MÉNIALs, SIGUR/SIGUEs, and VITALs.

Nevertheless, Louisiana Creole culture and people came to share many of the same ingredients we’ve explored in the French West Indies, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Mauritius. Like Louisiana Creoles, Haitians celebrate carnival (Mardi Gras in Louisiana), cultivate sugarcane, speak a Creole language (see chart below), consume beans and rice, okra and stews, and are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Haiti, over 90% Creolophone, is the first (and only) country in the world to officialize a Creole language as a national language, create and institutionalize an orthography for the language independent of the French notational system, and to use the language in all official contexts in the country. As such, Haiti has served as a mentor for the many remaining Creolophone regions around the world, whose languages continue to be suppressed, ignored or forgotten. Hats off to them for getting it right. Nap boule!⁷Chart information on Haitian Creole pronouns and tenses from (1) http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Haitian_Creole/Basic_Vocabulary and (2) http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Haitian_Creole/Verb_Tenses .

*tiyon = scarf or headwrap