Louis Juchereau De St. Denis and Some of His Descendants: Natchitoches Pr. LA
Submitted by Frances Ball Turner



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From the History of Louisiana by Chambers
Vol I, pg. 220

Jean Baptist LeMoyne, Sieur de Bienville and Louis Juchereau,  Sieur de St.
Denis are the two outstanding figures, next to Iberville, in the early
annuals of Louisiana.  Much has been written and put on record about
Bienville; comparatively little, of St. Denis.

St. Denis served the colony uninterruptedly from its beginning to the year
of his death in 1644.  During twenty-two consecutive years he exercised
executive authority with nothing but success to be credited to his
administration.

St. Denis planted the flag of France far to the west of the Mississippi
River, established the post of Natchitoches, the oldest town in the State
of Louisiana, and halted the Spanish advance from Mexico which, otherwise,
might have been Spain's dominion of New Philippnes (Texas) extended to the
Mississippi and given us as Texas cities, Gretna and Algiers as
across-the-river neighbors to New Orleans.

St. Denis ruled without interruption from the time he took his place as
commandant of the Fort St. John the Baptist and Post of Natchitoches (1722)
to the day of his death (1744), notwithstanding repeated changes in the
administration of the Louisiana colony as a whole.

St. Denis left many descendants in Louisiana of whom but meagre published
record has been made.  The dates and the order of birth of St. Denis'
children are so obscure that it is easy to fall into error about them.

It is known that St. Denis did not reach the Rio Grande Country until 1714;
that it was some time after his arrival that his marriage with Dona Manuela
de Sanchez Navarro took place.  The birth of his first child could not have
happened until the end of 1715 and more than probably in the early part of
1716.

As to which of his children was the first-born is also obscure.  Of the
five daughters of St. Denis, four were given at baptism "Marie" as a part
of their full name.  This system of nomenclature by which the daughters of
a family share among them a common name with a supplemental distinguishing
name for each is a markedly French custom.

Until authentic and dated data to the contrary are uncovered, we will
assume the genealogical succession to be as follows, as complied from the
author's original investigations of the old records at Natchitoches in
1924, and from other sources include M. Roy's "LaFamille Juchereau
Duchesny":

Louis Juchereau De St. Denis and Some of His Descendants:
Born at Beaufort near Quebec, Canada, September 17, 1676.  Died at
Natchitoches, Louisiana, June 11, 1744.  Married at the Presidio del Norte,
Mexican border, Manuela de Sanchez Navarro, granddaughter of Diego de
Ramon, Commandant of the Presidio, 1715.

Children of the Marriage:
I.  Louise Margerita Juchereau St. Denis, Born ______ at the Presidio del
Norte; Died ______ (No record of her marriage or death is to be found at
Natchitoches, but her presence there is evidenced by mention of her as
godmother of two baptisms, May 15 and May 29, 1729.  She was one of St.
Denis' two children that died before he did.)

II.  Marie Rosa Juchereau de St. Denis.  Born ______; Died April 18, 1737;
Married Jacques de la Chaise, July 6, 1733, at the St. Francis Parish
Church, Natchitoches, Rev. de la Campo of Adaes performing the ceremony.
(Jacques de la Chaise was keeper of the King's store at Natchitoches.  His
second wife was Marie Louise d'Arensbourg, daughter of Frederick
d'Arensbourg, Commander of the "German Coast" on the Mississippi, a short
distance above New Orleans.)
Children:
1.  Marie-Louise de la Chaise; Born, Natchitoches, May 21, 1734.
2.  Anne-Marie de la Chaise; Born, Natchitoches, January 27, 1736.
3.  Louis Antoine de la Chaise; Born Natchitoches, March 8, 1737.
    (Louis Antoine de la Chaise became the first Alcalde in New Orleans
when Spain took over Louisiana.)

III.  Louis Charles de St. Denis.  Born ______; Died, February 7, 1778.  It
is not among the church records that Louis St. Denis ever married, but the
courthouse records indicate that he was, the name of his wife being given
as Marie Barbier.  No children resulted from the marriage.  When he died
his property went to his wife Marie Barbier, his niece, Felicite de
Mezieres; his sister, Mme. DeSoto Bermudez, and his nephews, Antoine de la
Chaise and Louis Charles DeBlanc.

IV.  Marie des Douleurs Simone de St. Denis.  Born ______; Died ______;
Married Ceasar de Blanc de Neuveville, June 9, 1750.  (Caesar de Blanc
succeeded his father-in-law as Commandant of the Natchitoches and was
himself succeeded by Athanase de Mezieres, another son-in-law of St. Denis.
 DeBlanc's first wife was Elizabeth Gugol, whose burial is recorded at
Natchitoches as having taken place, June 27, 1749.)
Children:
1.  Louis Charles de Blanc.  Born, April 29, 1753; Married Marie Isabelle
Pomponne d'Erneville of New Orleans, 1772.  Louise Charles (Carlos) de
Blanc served as commandant of post both at Natchitoches and the Attakapas,
St. Martinsville.
2.  Jacques Maurice de Blanc; born, October 22, 1756.

V.  Marie Petronille Feliciane de St. Denis.  Born ______; Died, February
1, 1748; Married Athanase de Mezieres April 18, 1746.  (Athanase de
Mezieres served as commandant of the post of Natchitoches during the early
years of the Spanish regine.  He married as his second wife, Donna Peligia
Fazende, who died at Natchitoches, December __, 1777.  De Mezieres,
himself, died at San Antonio, Texas, in 1779, and the record of his burial
signed by Father Pedro Fuentes is in the parochial church of San Fernando
of the Royal Presidio of San Antonio de Bajar.)
Children (First Marriage)
1.  Felicite de Mezieres.
Children (Second Marriage)
1.  Louis Francois Marie de M. Baptized January 25, 1760.
2.  Antoine Marie.  Baptized, January 21, 1762.
3.  Marie Josefa Palegie de M. Baptized November 9, 1763.
4.  Marie Nicolas Zozame.  Baptized August 15, 1768.
(Besides these there were two other childern, date of baptism not known:
Marie Athanase Pelagie de M., and Marie Cesaire de M.)

VI.  Marie des Nieges de St. Denis.  Born, August 5, 1730; Died ______;
Married Manuel Antoine de Soto Bermudez, June 2, 1754.  A number of
children were born to this marriage but records of them not found
available.

VII.  Pierre Antoine de St. Denis.  Born ______.  Died, September 29, 1782
(No record of his having married appears in the Natchitoches records.  He
appears among the witnesses to the marriage contract between his sister,
Marie des Douleurs (Dolorite) and Caesar de Blanc, as Pierre Antoine,
Chevalier de St. Denis.

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Frances (Ball) Turner
Vancouver, WA