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“The Issue of Women in French Colonial Louisiana “
By Jennifer Dyer
January 2009
While colonization of the eastern part of the United States by the
British often involved families coming together to settle and farm, the
story of the Southern region being colonized by the French was quite
different. In Biloxi, Mobile and what would become New Orleans
there began a French military presence long before efforts were made
for permanent settlements. After all, the French crown was still
trying to decide what Louisiana had to offer. Providing female
companionship was not considered a necessity. As the years passed
between 1699 and 1704 Coureurs de bois, indentured servants and
soldiers began to cohabitate in the area and share a lifestyle of
relative lawlessness. Feminine companionship surely was a
necessity to them and the lax lifestyle that they were said to
lead. Around the year 1700, census records indicate that there
were no European women in Biloxi. It was only a matter of time
before the lack of women would become an issue. This issue grew
as men like LaSalle and others began to see benefits to more permanent
settlement in the region and more men moved or were forced into
Southern Louisiana.
There were women in the
area, they just weren’t European women. So, the men solved the
problem themselves. Thus began the practice of “metissage”
or Indian concubinage. It was frowned upon by officials and lazy
priests, but it was done. The majority of the time an Indian
woman was taken as a “servant” which was acceptable in the eyes of
officialdom. Unfortunately we don’t have any idea as to the
prevalence of the practice because it was not recognized officially and
any men practicing it would not want it to come to light anyway.
As time went on and it became more obvious, officials decided that it
was hindering the settlement of the colony and did their best to
discourage Frenchmen from mingling with Indian women. They felt
that the Indian female would not convert to European ways and settle
down and farm and thereby discourage any man involved with her to do
the same. Steps were taken to provide men with suitable
wives. In the beginning it proved unpopular and unsuccessful.
The first attempt was made by sending girls from orphanages and
convents aboard the ship the Pelican to Fort Louis de Louisiane.
This first effort was made even more difficult by an outbreak of yellow
fever that claimed the lives of several of the girls and reduced the
final number of girls to arrive to 23 out of 30. Iberville had
asked for 100. Eventually more of this type of “virtuous” female
were sent to marry the men and was neither a disaster nor a sweeping
success. It did get things started and created optimism and
morale among the men settling in the area. These “shipments of
women” were attempted several more times and the girls involved came to
be known as the “filles de casquette” for the boxes that they brought
with them to hold their belongings. We do know that comments and
concerns about Indian women in letters written by officials and priests
began to become less and less frequent as these European women began to
come into the colony. We assume by this that they considered the
problem to be solved at this point.
By the year
1719 John Law was ensconced the settlement of Louisiana and New Orleans
was growing into a settlement. Small groups of women had been
coming over either with their husbands or with the Ursuline Nuns.
Even as late as 1728 “casket girls” were still being sent to the colony
and this was probably around the time the nickname began to catch on.
When Law began his campaign the forced immigration of French women and
some men began to ramp up. These were not typically “virtuous”
women. These women were taken from places such as Salpetriere, a
French Correctional facility. They were not violent criminals,
but were considered unacceptable in French society and were the perfect
candidates for settlement in the far off new world. Many people
whose families have been in Louisiana since the French colonial period
would like to believe that they are descendants of the “casket
girl”. While that is possible, it is not likely. The number
of those girls was small when compared with the amount of women sent
over from French prisons and detention centers.
During this period the first slaves were being brought into the
colony. There was an attempt to separate the Africans by housing
them across the river from the city of New Orleans, but that eventually
failed. What ensued was a population of European and African
women who were forced into conditions that led them to find ways to
survive. This included finding men to support them in whatever
way necessary. French census takers took pains to separate the
colors in a region where color was nebulous. We see evidence in
the archeological findings mentioned in the previous article
“Building the Devil’s Empire in Review” as well as in the Creole
populations mixtures of cuisine, culture and religion. Men of the
burgeoning oligarchy of New Orleans in the mid 18th century had
mistresses and wives who were European, Indian, African or mixes of
them all. The racial line could be drawn on paper but not in the
lives of the people.
By the time the
Spanish took control of the region the blend of races and skin colors
as well as cultures had already taken hold and created a population
that was unique unto itself. “Free women of color” as well
as the “mulatto” children of land owners could own and inherit property
just as easily as their European counterparts.
The majority of women who made these journeys either alone or with
their husbands were taking tremendous risks with their lives and their
futures. There were no promises of safety or prosperity.
Some, as was the case with slaves, had no choice in the matter at
all. Through perseverance and determination over the decades the
women of Southern Louisiana eventually became a group of essential
matriarchs. Though to others their origins may have been unseemly
or misunderstood, when they finally came together and helped build the
families of Southern Louisiana they emerged strong and proud.
Sources:
Colonial Mobile by Peter Joseph Hamilton..
Old Mobile: Fort Louis de Louisiane 1702-1711 by Jay Higginbotham.
Sex, Love, Race : Crossing Boundaries in North American History by Martha E Hodes.
Building the Devil’s Empire by Shannon Lee Dawdy
Historyofcreolesinlouisiana.com
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