This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

CHRISTIAN LADNER, Mississippi Gulf Coast:	BIRTH,	DEATH,	MARRIAGE,	etc.
For years many people, to include Brother Jerome Lepre, Nap Cassibry, myself (Jerry Heitzmann), Randall Ladnier, and many others, attempted to find where Christian Ladner was born. Based on the ship register when he landed on Ship Island in 1719, he was from "Pitersene." On the baptism record of his first son, Jean B. Ladner, Christian says he was from the "Canton of Grissons, Suisse (Switzerland)." We have searched all over Switzerland, and neighboring countries, for a city, canton, etc. called Pitersene and found nothing, or any place close to that spelling. Perhaps Pitersene was a small village or community during the 1600s that no longer exists. We did find a Canton (county) in eastern Switzerland called "Grisons." Grisons is the French spelling of the Canton of "Graubuenden," which is the German spelling of the same Canton.
The first record of our Christian Ladner in America was in 1719 when he arrived on Ship Island off the Harrison County, MS coast. He was on board the Flute (ship) La Marie that departed from La Rochelle, France on May 27,1719. This ship was carrying a group of men convicted of various crimes and banished to the "Colonies" to work and help protect the early settlers. One person on board was "Christian Ladner," age 20, auburn hair, 5' 8" (U.S. measure), and from "Pitersene." As mentioned earlier, no one has ever located this place. This original record is found in Paris, France, at the "Archives Nationales, Colonies, Series F5, B37." A copy of this record is also housed at the Mobile, Alabama Public Library. A companion record is found in the book "The First Families of Louisiana," by Glen R. Conrad,
1970,	pages 50 - 53. In this record, he cites people on board the "Marie" leaving La Rochelle, France on May 27,1719 for the Louisiana Territory, on behalf of the West Indies Company. On board were employees, concessionaries, deserters, tobacco smugglers, etc. One of the tobacco smugglers listed was our "Christian Ladner, from Switzerland." OK, so he was not "Mr. Perfect," but he did make it to America and is the ancestor of thousands of descendants today.
The next record of our Christian Ladner is on the baptism record of his first son, Jean Baptiste Lander on September 12,1724 (no date of birth listed). This record can be found at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Mobile, AL, Marriage & Baptism Book 1, page 51. This record names his wife as Marie Barbe Brunei, a native of "Europe," and that Christian was from Grisons, Switzerland, as stated earlier. Keep in mind that just because this child was baptized in Mobile, his parents did not necessarily live there. They could have traveled from some outlying community to Mobile to have their son baptized as was often done, or a missionary priest could have traveled to their community to baptize, marry, etc. the locals, and returned to Mobile to record the various ceremonies he performed in the Church registers.
Then, in March 1725, a census was taken of the settlers from New Orleans to lands east of Mobile. One of the settlers listed was "Christian" (no last name given), residing at "Pascagoula," with 1 adult female, and 2 "Enfants." This no doubt our Christian Ladner, his wife, and their first two children - Jean
B.	and Mathurin. Their 3rd child, Nicolas, was not yet born in 1725. This record was found at the Louisiana State Library (Old U.S. Mint), New Orleans, LA, in a book "The Louisiana Recensements (1706 -1741), page 165.
Based on the above citations, we can conclude our Christian Ladner was born in 1699 in Pitersene, Canton of Grisons, Switzerland.