Categories: Descriptors, Free People of Color (FPOC), Genealogy, History, Language, Names, Slavery

Many of us who conduct genealogical research occasionally stumble upon a few odd forenames (given names). Admittedly, we know a few from personal experience, too.

Two such names, one for females, another for males, come to mind. Over a decade ago, I began research on a particular branch of the DE CLOUET family from St. Martin Parish, which had married into my own family. This branch’s head was Francisco, more commonly known in Francophone records as Francisque, a mulâtre who had been a slave of the well known civil and military commandant of the Attakapas District, Alexandre Joseph François DE CLOUET de Piettre and his wife, Marie-Louise DE FAVROT. Born about 1767, Francisco obtained his liberty at the age of 40 by the widowed Marie-Louise in 1814 in St. Martinville.¹Francisco first appears in available written record in the 1777 census of the Attakapas District, age 10, under the name Francisco, a slave of Alexandre DE CLOUET. We then find several subsequent mentions of him in 1792, 1794, and 1808, before Marie-Louise emancipated him unconditionally in 1814. See endnote XV of the 1777 census linked for details.

While a slave, he began courting a free négresse named Marie-Anne MASSE, more commonly known as Nanette MASSE. Nanette was a daughter of an unknown father and a free négresse named Lisette, sometimes called Lisette MASSE. Around 1800, Charles dit Pétion was born, known as Pétion FRANCISQUE and Pétion DE CLOUET. Three more children followed, all described as griffes, including a baby girl named Marie-Magdeleine dite Mélissaire–or the Francophone version Mélisœur–born in 1805. Mélissaire’s husband, Édouard NAVARRE-ROCHON, free mulâtre of New Orleans, was my 4th-great-grandfather’s half-brother. After Mélissaire DE CLOUET, I began seeing Mélissaire, as a given name, pop up all across Creole Louisiana in the early 19th century, but not really before. In the 20th century, the name seemed to morph into the English version: Milicent, Milicente, or Milleson. Though common, I could not, for the life of me, figure out where the name came from.²No baptism has been found for Pétion or Mélissaire just yet. Pétion married Marie-Françoise CASTILLE, free quarteronne on 12 Sept 1826 in St. Martinville, a daughter of Mallorca Islander Sebastián CASTEYO, and Marinette LÉDÉ, free griffonne from St. Martinville. Source: St. Martin Catholic Church, St. Martinville, La., Registres des mariages, vol. 7,  no. 30. While married to Marie-Françoise, Pétion fathered numerous children with Eulalie Magdeleine Caliste PAAR-POGNON, a daughter of Charles PAAR and Héleine POGNON, gens de couleur libres (free people of color). Pétion then remarried Clorène Désirée MERCIER, free quarteronne of St. Martinville, daughter of André MERCIER of France and Magdeleine BIENVENU, free mulâtresse of St. Martinville. Source: St. Martin Church, vol. 8, no. 406. Pétion’s second sibling was Marie FRANCISQUE, born about 1803, who married the free quarteron named François FONDAL, a native of New Orleans, on 12 Sept 1826 in St. Martinville. His parents were Joseph FONDAL of France and Marie-Louise JEAN-MARIE, free mulâtresse of New Orleans. Source: St. Martin Church, vol. 7, no. 29. The third sibling was Mélissaire, who married Édouard NAVARRE-ROCHON, free mulâtre of New Orleans, on 29 May 1821 in St. Martinville. His parents were Juan Bautista NAVARRO, free mulâtre of New Orleans, and Charlotte ROCHON, free mulâtresse of Mobile. Source: St. Martin Church, vol. 6, no. 245. The baby of the bunch, Félicité FRANCISQUE, married Adrien MERCIER, free quarteron of St. Martinville, on 22 Sept 1835 in St. Martinville. Adrien was a full sibling of Clorène MERCIER. Source: St. Martin Church, vol. 7, no. 447.

Another name I found odd was that of Mélius BOUTTÉ, a native of Iberia Parish, and great-grandfather of my DEROUEN cousins. In fact, Mélius was a hard one to track due to the variation in his given name. For instance, his 1893 Catholic birth/baptismal record at St. Peter Church in New Iberia refers to him as Joseph Milius BOUTTÉ, son of Pierre BOUTTÉ and Marie Ida BOLÍVAR, all native Iberians. Census enumerators, civil clerks, and subsequent priests went on to spell his name in many different variations: Mélias, Mélius, Mellius, Mellis, and Mélice. The spellings with the “u” and “a” struck me as odd given that his daughter and her children pronounce his name [may lis] and [meh lis], which corresponds to the Mellis and Mélice spellings. I even considered that the “u” was representation of their speaking Kouri-Vini rather than Louisiana French, as the French “u” is almost always an “i” in Kouri-Vini. But it would make the first “i” redundant in Mélius and Mellius. I had seen these renderings in Louisiana Creole families before, like in my cousin’s given name, spelled Darcisse ([dahr sees]) and sometimes spelled Darciusse or Darcius, and my friend’s great-grandfather’s given name, spelled Sirius but pronounced [see reez], Kouri-Vini for Cyrus. I ended up abandoning the idea of trying to figure out the origin of Mélius, too.³Mélius was born 8 Aug 1893 in Iberia Parish. Source: St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia, La., Registres des baptêmes, vol. 6, page 86. He married Marie “Maria” BOUTTÉ, in 1917, a daughter of St-Çyr BOUTTÉ fils and Gracieuse BROUSSARD. He remarried Viola KELLY in 1923, also in New Iberia.

Yesterday I was watching episode 2 of a BBC documentary on the history of Jerusalem. The narrator, Simon SEBAG MONTEFIORE, suddenly spoke of “Queen Melisende,” which he pronounced identically to the way Creoles and Cajuns say Milicent/Milicente/Milleson. My ears shot out like satellite dishes, and I immediately googled “Queen Melisende of Jerusalem.” I learned that she was the daughter of French crusader nobleman (Baudoin DE BOURCQ de Rethel, later Baudoin II of Jerusalem) and an Armenian noblewoman (Morfia DE MALATYA).  Then I made the discovery that Mélisende and Mélius both share the same origin, though that origin is contested. It’s always great to knock out 2 birds with one stone unexpectedly.