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Shieldsborough in 1854. and became mayor that year.
During the War Between the States he served, despite his advancing age, as an officer in the Confederate Quartermaster Corps.
Upon his death in 1876 he was eulogized by J.F.H. Claiborne, a leading political figure of that era in Mississippi.
For his family. Monet built a home facing the Bay of St. Louis that still stands today. As you cross the U.S. 90 bridge going west, take a left onto the beach road and it's the second house on the right. At this writing it is owned by a family named Breath.
It is said that during the Civil War the Monet family hid its silver and other valuables in the hollow of an old oak tree which stood near the house.
Another descendant of Monet's (descending from Desiree Irma Monet) was the late U.S. Rep. Hale Boggs, a Louisiana Democrat who at the time of his death was majority leader of the House. He died in the 1970s. along w ith U.S. Rep. Rudy Begich of Alaska and a pilot, when their plane crashed while Boggs was campaigning in Alaska for Begich's re-election. Neither the plane nor the bodies were ever found.
This makes us distant cousins to Boggs' children, one of whom is television newsperson Cokie Roberts. We have never met any of that family; Boggs died before we learned of the relationship.
At one time we were in possession of a pair of Monet's gold-rimmed eyeglasses and a case which bore the notation "J.C. Monet. Shieldsborough. Miss." They were stolen in 1981 when our home in Mobile was burglarized.
The search for information on Monet's wife. Louisa, took years. We knew only that she was from Baton Rouge. We had originally thought the spelling was "Martelli." but research under that name was fruitless.
Then, on a visit to Baton Rouge in 1996. we found significant information in Catholic Church birth records from Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Even now the spellings of her name and those of her antecedents are in doubt. Louisiana was ruled alternately by the French and Spanish; French priests would spell a name one way and Spanish priests another.
Though we still haven't found the record of the Monet-Martely marriage, common sense, the Baton Rouge birthplace and the French connection make us almost certain that this Louisa Martely and Monet's wife are one and the same. We know Monet's wife was Catholic, and church records of this decade show no other name even close.
Maria Louisa Victoria Martely was also of French heritage, bom in Baton Rouge March 2. 1798. according to church records. (Other family records report the date as 1803). Her father was Josef Honore Martely. a native of Marseilles. France. Her mother was Maria Louisa Victoria Chancerelle Martely. born about 1775 in Cap Francais. St. Domingue. in the Caribbean.
Josef Honore Martely's parents were Josef Martely and Theresa Honore Martely. both natives of Marseilles.
Maria Louisa Victoria Chancerelle Martely's parents were Louis Chancerelle and Maria Catarine Deronville Chancerelle. also natives of Marseilles.
The spellings above appear to be French. Various records also spell Martely as Martilly; Josef as Jose; Honore as Honorio. Chancerelle as Chancenel and Chanerelle; Deronville as Delongevelle and Derombil.
The records note that Maria Chancerelle was a "Creole of Santo Domingo (St.