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

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?COWAND FAMILY
Compiled by : Helene	Cowand Price
In 1768, when the French and	Indian war came to an end and
peace was made between France and	England, France	gave up all her
territory, part of which was given to Spain. Spain afterwards qave it secretly back to France -	thus for a time	the little
village of "Chou-cou-pou-lou" was	governed by the	Spanish.
About that time, to encourage immigration, the government gave grants of land to whomsoever would cultivate the ground and make their home here in the district of Bay. St. Louis.
Many men of French and Spanish extraction availed themselves of the Government's offer and became the owners of extensive tracts of 1 and.
After Spain had returned France her territory it was necessary for all these Spanish grants to be confirmed by the French Government
In the early part of the year 1794 the Baron de Carondelet, then governor of these provinces, had the Spanish grant of one Louis Alexis Lassassier made good by the French Government, which he repres en ted.
Later in the same year, 1794, upon a return trip from France, this Louis Alexis Lassassier suffered shipwreck and lost his papers, among them his grant to lands at Choucoupoulou Point in the District of Bay St. Louis.
In the year 1798 Louis Alexis Lassassier applied to Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Brigadier of the Royal Army and Governor General of those provinces, and at the request of his excellency the Baron de Carondelet, General Manuel Gayoso de Lemos directed his secretary, Don Andrew Lopez Armesto, to search for a record of the Lassassier Claim. Copies were found and Louis Alexis Lassassier again gained possession of his lands, and later, in 1823, a grant was made to his widow, Melite Lassassier. (Book A, pp.298-303, Hancock County Land Deed Records)
In the early 1800's Jesse Cowand migrated from Virginia to New Orleans. When the War of 1812 came along he participated in the Battle of New Orleans as a Corporal in Captain Thomas Beal's Company of Orleans Riflemen. On the night of the 23rd of December, 1814, General Jackson surprised the British forces when they marched up from the swamp and encamped on the river bank under cover of their fleet. Facing them on the extreme right were Lafitte' command and the Orleans Riflemen. Captain Beale's Company of Orleans Riflemen during this night attack was overwhelmed by a superior force of British regulars and a large number taken prisoners Among those captured and confined aboard the fleet was Jesse Cowand. Following the war he operated a cooperage business in the French