CHAPTER IV "DIXIE LOUISIANA" 1820-1870, GENERATION III-IV Written by: William Richard Stringfield Submitted by: Darnell Marie Brunner Beck Copyrighted material from Mr Stringfiled's book "Le Pays des Fluers Oranges" ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Once Louisiana became firmly American, after the Battle of New Orleans, the heyday of Ante-bellum Louisiana began to take shape. Plaquemines saw several sugar plantations emerging into self-sufficient villages, dependant on the slave labor of between 50 and 200 slaves. There were at least twenty of them, almost half with over one hundred slaves in 1830. They lay on both banks down to about Myrtle Grove on the West bank, and Phoenix on the East Bank. Scattered between these lay smaller plantations, and a few small farms. The farmers seemed to dominate the Pointe a la Hache community and all areas below, those with fewer than ten slaves or none at all. Rice truck crops which could bear transport were preferred by these settlers as their cash crops, although several were already giving other incomes as their main livelihood. A few ran businesses such as groceries or taverns as early as the 1830's. The Balize was "tamed" in the late 1830's and the pilot trades were becoming respectable among those not engaged primarily in food growing or gathering. Timber became less important by this time, as the largest stands were already thinned out to only a few trees, mainly ones not strong enough to make the immense cypress beams sought to build a strong Louisiana cottage. The 1850 Census found some 863 of the 2611 free persons in Plaquemines falling within this genealogical grouping, nearly 1/3 of the area's total population. The communities which were dominated by these families particularly Pointe a la Hache, Grand Prairie, Batture du Diable (Ostrica, today), and southward on the East Bank outside of Fort St. Philip and the Balize. The latter two places were mainly English speaking persons from other states, or immigrants, many claiming to be fisherman, from both banks of the Adriatic, Italy or Dalmatia, or French- or English-speaking areas. The communities which were on the West Bank from these groupings were Jusiet Bend, Pointe Michel, Quartiers des Ronquillo, Quartiers des Burats, and below, already a few. As timber was then imported from other areas, lumber dealers and carpenters were given as special trades for a few. Immigrants began to arrive, not only from France or other areas of America, but a variety of Europeans: Spanish, Italian, Austrian(Yugoslav), Prussian, and Irish seem to be the more dominant groups before 1850, with Irish and Spanish falling early in this period, Italian and Prussian slow but steady throughout, and Austrian(Yugoslav) constantly growing as the period continued. Fishing became a new source of income. Drying and salting the shrimp and fish properly would allow them to be transported easily without major Spoilage. Oysters were still not easily marketable, as they did not transport well except in the cooler months. A few of the immigrants found that the exotic trees which people kept only for home garden consumption could be harvested in quantities which could satisfy the appetite of New Orleans, without losing spoilage. In 1854, a twice weekly packet began service, with a one day cruise-time between Balize and New Orleans. The fruit crops which were hard to keep for transport became more attractives a quicker route to a large market now existed. Oranges were the crop held the highest price at this time, so soon became the most popular orchard crop. Peaches, pears, figs, and plums were also orcharded, but in lesser amounts. Food was still harvested partly from garden plots, and mainly from the wilds. Mulberries, blackberries, and elderberries grew wild, as did the persimmon tree in the thickets that were bordering the fields. Wildfowl aplenty in the fall, and fishing varied according to season, as to what dominated the catch, brackish or freshwater species. This period had its own war, with Mexico in 1845-1848. Several young men from this area joined the army and were awarded land grants for their service. Where I have found these soldiers, I will list them. Religion finally began to recognize the area as important. A church was established in Pointe a la Hache, St. Thomas(STC), in 1834. A Protestant minister traveled the Parish as early as the middle 1840's, and had a built church at Union, near to Bohemia, and a few plantation chapels where he preached. The records of this early Episcopal/ Methodist minister are given as the Emmanuel Episcopal Church(EEC). The Catholic priest would also ride circuit, to see where some of the people who seemed as though they traveled a great way to meet him actually lived. The Balize was a common place for many Protestant marriages, but often the Episcopal minister was mistaken for a Catholic priest, so whenever he stopped on the riverbank, if the families there felt need of him, would ask him to perform a burial, christening, or marriage. The period ends with the Civil War and its initial aftermath. This area was in favor of secession, as many felt it were the only way to keep their slaves. When the War began, a few young men even volunteered for Confederate service. Only a handful appeared to join. Many were asked to donate their slaves for conscription service to work on the forts. A special property tax was passed to help raise funds. The idea that the Union forces would come up the river was expected here, but ignored in Richmond, as the Fort garrison became one of the smallest-staffed strategic locations for the Confederate defense. April 1862 was only a year after the start of the war. The Union fleet had only a week of active fighting to overtake the forts and about a day later claimed New Orleans. Life continued here about as normal, although the Union Navy became responsible for the demise of American Bay. When they overtook the Balize, they destroyed the telegraph lines which were already laid in that area. Upriver, a short ways, where Richard CUBBIT had a large home, was another telegraph station, before reaching Fort St. Philip. Just upriver lay the Quarantine station. A canal where fishing boats moored also lay adjacent to Mr. Cubbit. The troops connected this canal to the river, and deepened it and widened it so that they could better enter the river with their large boats, which were hard to maneuver up the relatively shallow passes down river. Their support vessels could sail in and out of the lower river in this route also. Hence, a new channel flowed from the river. This became Main Pass, a delta which filled in hundreds of acres of shallow bays in only a few years. This created a well protected area just below, where Pilottown was founded after the Balize was destroyed in a hurricane in 1866. Concurrent with the start of the Civil War was the settling of lands below the Forts. The local grants of Mexican War lands fell in this area, and several families moved to their new lands in the 1850's. The orange craze began in Nairn, with a vidacovich/Cognevich venture in 1838-39, but by the early 1860's was tried in Triumph. By 1870, almost all of the Buras settlements boasted of some orange groves. The 1830 census will be used wherever it applies. Then I will use the 1850 census as interpreted by Margaret MENGE to cover most of these families which remain in Plaquemines. As a family leaves Plaquemines, much of the continued information will be from family sources. The number of slaves owned will be derived from the following censuses: 1810, 1830, 1850, and 1860. Later Census citations will be given for 1870, and with Ward: for 1880 and 1900. Wards were pretty much the same from 1875 to about 1965. Pointe a la Hache was Ward 3 with the lower East Bank Ward 4. Boothville and Venice were Ward 5; Buras, Empire and Nairn were Ward lO. Homeplace was Ward 9. Pointe Michel was Ward 8. Jesuit Bend was upper ward 7. A new invention which revolutionized the ability to give families information about ancestors came during this period. The camera was perfected to an extent by 1835, and as early as 1842, New Orleans had several photographers who gave portraits for reasonable fees. Only a few of these people allowed themselves to be photographed, but I have learned that one or two of them who died about 1855 had had photographs made of themselves. By the 1870's many of the more landmark-style buildings were being photographed. By 1900, many families allowed group photographs for their young to remember. The Twentieth Century has brought so many improvements over this one-instant document of our appearance. While I am writing this book, I am trying to figure out a video to help explain the name pronounciation, and maybe a better way to show the myriads of photographs that may soon be available for us with the publishing of this volume. Cisterns for drinking water was improved with the availability of copper gutters and drainpipes. Screening was also made of copper at this time. It was ueed for porches and windows in a few homes, and also to keep debris from cluttering the cistern, if no other covering were made.