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BILr- DESCRIBED - 190^ FRENCH SPOKEN
DELAUNEY & DESPORTES HISTORY DESCRIBED WITH NAPOLEON
racts About the Gulf Coast - The Book of Harrison County, Mississippi -GULFPORT, BILOXI, PASS CHRISTIAN and Other of its Thriving Cities"
W. A. Cox & E. F. Martin Publishers, Gulfport, Miss. -	1905
Mississippi Archives
r>. 61 -
Biloxi is said to be a word meaning "Broken Pot" in the Indian tongu but the name, as apnlied to the settlement originally, appears to have be derived from the tribe of Indians that lived just across the bay.
Biloxi has grown wonderfully in the last few years. It has come to be a thriving, bustling modern little city. It has a complete system of electric railway, several handsome and modern brick blocks and a cosmopolitan population.
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The main busines of Biloxi is of course the oyster and fish industr
The French influence here still persists; old French homes remain and the people, many of them, show a Gallic derivation. Almost everyone —even to the children, speaks good French as well as English. In fact some of the French families now living in Biloxi are descendants of the old and noble families of France.
An old French gentleman died only a short time ago (c. 1902) who lived just across the Back Bay of Biloxi. He spent his last years gardening and raising chickens. In his youn^ days he followed the sea like his neighbors, shrimping, fishing and oystering, and his grand-child never knew until after his death that he was the grandson of Admiral Saugon vho sank Spanish ships and spiked guns and ran down pirates all along our coast from the old forts to Pointe aux Chenes.
The Tibliers, vho are yet living in the neighborhood, recovered some of these Spanish puns and	cannon shot; the latter are now	in	the
possession* of some of the	Fontaine family.
"Jules Saugon, erandson of the illustrious Admiral of the same name, married a Delauney; this Delauney vas allied to the Desportes. There are many Desportes in Biloxi and their ancestor, Felix Desportes, vas a member of the Council of State during the Consulate and the First Emnire. The Duchess d'Abrantes (vife of Marshal Junot) mentions his name among the closest advors of Napoleon. He had his appointments at the Tuillerie and there undoubtedly met	the Delauney whose descendants,	as	veil	as	hiss
own, live along the gulf	coast in close relationship." This	Delauney,	b}
the way, was the son of the last Governor of La Bastille.
The following anecdote related by the Duchess d'Abrantes, In the third volume of her Memoirs, may explain the connection of the tvo families.