Vignettes - People

(From Along the Gulf.) “One of the most noted residents of Waveland is Mrs. Eliza J. Nicholson—better known under the nom de plume of “Pearl Rivers”—the proprietor of the New Orleans Daily Picayune, one of the most popular and powerful journals in the South.  Mrs. Nicholson’s summer home, called “Fort Nicholson,” is situated on the… (read more)

Letter of Henry de Tonti, left near the mouth of the Mississippi river for René Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, with Indians in 1685.  Source: Iberville's Journal of the Badine.   March 31, 1699.  Iberville writes in his journal that his brother (Bienville) brought him a letter for M. de La Salle, which Tonti… (read more)

Navy Department Bureau of Navigation Washington D.C. 11 December 1931 PURSER THOMAS SHIELDS, UNITED STATES NAVY, DECEASED 1804 Jan 2 Midshipman warrant 1804 Jan 20 Accepted 1804 Mar 21 Ordered from Middletown D. to Washington 1804 Apr 6 Attached to the CONGRESS 1804 Apr 10 Ordered to Baltimore under Lt. Gardner 1807 Dec Returned to… (read more)

Thomas Shields, purser of New Orleans, (my 3rd great grandfather) was born at Bohemia Manor, Delaware in 1783.  (Transcription of note regarding Thomas Shields and brothers; "Article on the original grave of Thomas Shields, Purser").  His father was Thomas Shields who was  a merchant in Delaware, left there when his sons Samuel Bayard Shields and… (read more)

June 1, 2004 Ansley, MS   Interviewer: Russell B. Guerin, Hancock County Historical Society   Though his gait has been slowed, “Poss” LaFrance’s straight, near 6-foot frame belies his 91 years. He is lean. His memory is keen, his speech is strong, and his dark complexion is a reminder of his many working hours in… (read more)

On Sunday evening, November 26, 1865, an old man was picked up on the street and taken to the first District lock-up for lodging. His clothes are ragged and dirty, his feet bare, and he presents a touching picture of want and misery, combined with feeble old age.  His long, silky white locks float about… (read more)

Foreword This diary was written in 1836 by Miss Amelia Russ, sister of  Miss Adeline Russ, who later married Dr. Mead on Mar 7, 1839.  Adeline Russ Mead was the mother of Lois Amelia Mead born December 15, 1839.  Lois A. Mead married Henry Weston on July 15, 1858 at Gainesville, Mississippi.  The W. Poitevent… (read more)

In 1703, twenty young girls, “reared in Virtue and Piety…” had been approved by Monseigneur Saint-Villier, Bishop of Quebec, as being of high moral character.  They were chosen because the lack of that quality in female immigrants had recently created substantial unrest in Martinique and Saint-Domingue. Most of the girls were between the ages of… (read more)

Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, French explorer and colonial administrator, was born in Ville Marie (Montreal), Canada, in 1680.  He was the eighth of eleven sons of the wealthy Charles le Moyne of Montreal.  He joined the French navy at age twelve and during King William’s War served at the Hudson Bay engagement… (read more)