The Saucier Family - Page 8
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THE SAUCIER FAMILY OF THE UNITED STATES
This is the story of the early members of the Saucier Family, French Canadian pioneers, who settled in the unknown wilderness of the early Louisiana Territory during the early 1700's and whose legacy continues down to the 11th generation and beyond of our family.
Our ancestors were on this Continent for seventy plus years before this nation was founded and were participants and witnesses to the actual formation and birth of a new nation.....the United States of America. Having previously lived on this Continent under the rule of the French, British, and Spanish Governments before the new nation was formed. Our family has a very rich and colorful history that stretches from France and Canada to the Gulf Coast States and beyond.
This is the story of the early members of the Saucier Family, French Canadian pioneers, who settled in the unknown wilderness of the early Louisiana Territory during the early 1700's and whose legacy continues down to the 11th generation and beyond of our family.
Our ancestors were on this Continent for seventy plus years before this nation was founded and were participants and witnesses to the actual formation and birth of a new nation.....the United States of America. Having previously lived on this Continent under the rule of the French, British, and Spanish Governments before the new nation was formed. Our family has a very rich and colorful history that stretches from France and Canada to the Gulf Coast States and beyond.
Our story and family legacy begins with Jean Baptiste Saucier, the second and youngest son of Louis Saucier and Marguerite Gaillard, of Sillery, Quebec, Canada. He was born on Tuesday December 4, 1674 and was also baptized on the same day of his birth at Notre Dame de Quebec Catholic Cathedral in Quebec City. He was baptized by Cure Henry de Bernieres, the priest of the parish of Notre Dame de Quebec. Jean Baptiste’s godfather was Jean LeChasseur, the Secretary of le Comte de Frontenac, the Governor of Canada; his Godmother was Jeanne Gaudain, the wife of Nicolas Dupont, a member of the Sovereign Council of Quebec. As we have previously known, the identities of witnesses to the marriage of Marguerite and Louis Saucier and to the baptisms of their two children reflects the professional and social acquaintances of Louis. His associates in Quebec indicates he was involved in the Quebec government in a much higher level of responsibility than a menial position within the Colonial government.
The early death of Louis meant that there were few records on the family in Canada. Any indications which Louis may have had for the education and careers of his two sons were ended by his early death, which ultimately led to the future recruitment of Jean Baptiste by d’Iberville for military service in 1697.
The last Canadian mention of Louis’ youngest son, Jean Baptiste Saucier, and his family connection in Canada is in the 1681 census of Canada. It lists both Jean Baptiste, age sixteen, and his older brother Charles, age eighteen, as living in the household of their mother and stepfather Michael LeGardeur at St. Michel, near Quebec City. Nothing is known concerning Jean Baptiste or Charles’ early lives growing up in that era or any education he or his brother might have received while living under the guardianship of their mother and stepfather in Quebec. This part of their past has long evaded researchers.
Jean Baptiste Saucier at the age of twenty-three, was recruited on Thursday July 6, 1697 from several hundred recruits to serve with Pierre Lemoyne d’Iberville in the Hudson Bay Expedition, serving from September through November of 1697. Since Jean Baptiste had not yet reached the age of consent for that era, which was age twenty-five, he would have had to have the permission of his mother, Marguerite Gaillard, to enter the military service under d'Iberville. Jean Baptiste would not reach that legal age until 1699, two years later. He took part in the land and sea victories of d’Iberville over the British and the recapture of Fort Bourbon at Plaisance, Hudson Bay. Jean Baptiste also served with d’Iberville during the Gulf Coast Expedition which established the new French Louisiana Colony, settling eventually at the Mobile colony. In several writings concerning Jean Baptiste researchers made the statement that Jean Baptiste had served as paymaster on d'Iberville's ship the Renomme. Although no records of him having served as paymaster have been found, if so, it would suggest that Jean Baptiste had received a higher level of formal education growing up in Quebec to prepare him for any future ventures. Jean Baptiste neither married, nor acquired property, title, nor entered into any commercial contracts in Canada. And no record exists of emancipation, allowing him to do such, on his own, before reaching the legal age of twenty-five in 1699. He was just lost in Canadian records for more than a quarter-millennium.
Around late 1697, following the victory at Hudson Bay, d’Iberville and his crew sailed to France where d’Iberville met with King Louis XIV and received orders to establish a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi which would lay the foundations for future colonization of the Gulf Coast. D’Iberville began his first voyage in about October of 1698, onboard the La Badine from the port of Brest, France, to what was to become the Louisiana Territory and the new French settlement of Biloxi. D’Iberville and his crew arrived in Pensacola Bay on January 27, 1699, only to find that Spaniards from Vera Cruz had arrived three months earlier. D’Iberville then sailed on to Mobile and cast anchor on January 31, 1699 at the "mouth of La Mobilla". There he found a large island and named it "Massacre Island" due to finding a number of corpses on the island. Later he would rename it "Dauphin Island". After determining that the bay was too shallow, the party sailed onward. They anchored at Ship Island and his crew sailed to the main land. At Biloxi, d’Iberville constructed “Fort Maurepas”, a crude fort of squared logs. The forts location was at present day Ocean Springs and was completed on May 1, 1699. D’Iberville, after establishing Fort Maurepas, according to some records, had briefly returned to Quebec before sailing back to Rochefort, France to confer with his superiors about the Biloxi settlement. It is assumed our ancestor Jean Baptiste Saucier had joined d’Iberville’s crew at Quebec during this time, before the Renomme sailed back to France. On this second voyage from Quebec to France, d’Iberville’s payroll for May of 1699 shows Jean Baptiste Saucier listed at 40 livers per month salary. From available records we know Jean Baptiste Saucier, a young Canadian bachelor, was among the 60 or so Canadians who returned to Fort Maurepas from France with d’Iberville in mid September of 1699. This voyage was d’Iberville’s second expedition aboard the Renomme from France to Fort Maurepas, bringing food and other supplies to the settlement. D’Iberville’s payroll for September through December of 1699 shows Jean Baptiste listed at 30 livers per month salary, his monthly salary after that date is unknown, but possibly remained the same. The Renomme anchored briefly at Cap-Francais on December 11, 1699 before sailing onward to Biloxi and the fort, arriving and anchoring at Ship Island on January 8, 1700. The crew sailed in small boats to the mainland, now present day Mississippi. This was to be Jean Baptiste Saucier’s final voyage with d’Iberville as he remained in the colony at Mobile the remainder of his life.
After settling in January of 1700 at the new settlement and fort at Biloxi, Jean Baptiste frequently led small groups of soldiers and Canadians who camped somewhere around the Bay of St. Louis, possibly near the present-day cities of Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian or the Pine Hills area of present-day coastal Mississippi. Sometimes they stayed for several months when their food supplies ran low at the settlement at Biloxi. During this period of time, they would live with the local Indian tribe and hunt for wild game as they awaited word of the return of ships with renewed supplies and food from France. This practice would continue later at Mobile's Fort Louis when the fort there ran short of supplies. The settlement at Biloxi which was first established in 1699 was moved in 1702 to a new location in Alabama, with only a few settlers remaining in the village at Biloxi. The original location of the old Mobile settlement and Fort Louis de La Louisiane was on Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff, on the upper Mobile River from 1702 until 1711, located at what is now the present-day community of Le Moyne, Alabama. It was here that d'Iberville established the capital of the French Colony, until it was relocated to present day Mobile and finally to New Orleans in 1720. It was at this first settlement that our ancestor and the patriarch of the present-day Saucier family in the United States settled and married Marie Gabrielle Savary in 1704. Jean Baptiste Saucier and his wife Gabrielle Savary were among the first twenty-three pioneer families of old Mobile. Together Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle would become an integral part of the settlement and its daily life at both the old and new locations of the colony.
As with his father Louis Saucier being the only person in Quebec and Canada with the surname of Saucier, Louis' youngest son, Jean Baptiste Saucier, would have been the only colonist in the new Louisiana Territory and at Mobile with the surname of Saucier.
The investment in the new colony by France was considerable and not yielding the returns it had expected, France began the process of reducing its expenses in the colony. In order to reduce France's expenses at Mobile, Commandant Bienville was informed by government officials in Paris that he had to release the Canadian inhabitants from the Kings payroll. However, Bienville made the decision to keep some of the men on the payroll because he felt they would not survive without the government's help, which angered La Salle who had insisted all be removed. Bienville did release many who were more self sufficient, including our ancestor Jean Baptiste Saucier. Bienville was confident that Jean Baptiste who was better established in the colony would be able to care for his family better than those whom he had kept on the King’s payroll. According to several records, Jean Baptiste and two other Canadians were released from the King’s payroll in March of 1700 while still at Fort Maurepas.
Jean Baptiste, who had been awarded a large tract of land, became a merchant in the settlement and was the first settler in the colony at old Mobile to establish a successful plantation using six Indian slaves to operate the plantation. The use of Indian slaves was common in the early colony. Jean Baptiste’s property was located on Rue De Bienvenu between Rue Chateauque and Rue Saint Denis Streets. He sold any surplus produce and goods from his plantation in the Spanish settlements of Pensacola, Havana and Vera Cruz as well to the King’s storehouse at Mobile.
Commandant Bienville looked upon the Canadian settlers at old Mobile as the “backbone of the colony”, according to Jay Higginbotham in his book “Old Mobile”.
The early death of Louis meant that there were few records on the family in Canada. Any indications which Louis may have had for the education and careers of his two sons were ended by his early death, which ultimately led to the future recruitment of Jean Baptiste by d’Iberville for military service in 1697.
The last Canadian mention of Louis’ youngest son, Jean Baptiste Saucier, and his family connection in Canada is in the 1681 census of Canada. It lists both Jean Baptiste, age sixteen, and his older brother Charles, age eighteen, as living in the household of their mother and stepfather Michael LeGardeur at St. Michel, near Quebec City. Nothing is known concerning Jean Baptiste or Charles’ early lives growing up in that era or any education he or his brother might have received while living under the guardianship of their mother and stepfather in Quebec. This part of their past has long evaded researchers.
Jean Baptiste Saucier at the age of twenty-three, was recruited on Thursday July 6, 1697 from several hundred recruits to serve with Pierre Lemoyne d’Iberville in the Hudson Bay Expedition, serving from September through November of 1697. Since Jean Baptiste had not yet reached the age of consent for that era, which was age twenty-five, he would have had to have the permission of his mother, Marguerite Gaillard, to enter the military service under d'Iberville. Jean Baptiste would not reach that legal age until 1699, two years later. He took part in the land and sea victories of d’Iberville over the British and the recapture of Fort Bourbon at Plaisance, Hudson Bay. Jean Baptiste also served with d’Iberville during the Gulf Coast Expedition which established the new French Louisiana Colony, settling eventually at the Mobile colony. In several writings concerning Jean Baptiste researchers made the statement that Jean Baptiste had served as paymaster on d'Iberville's ship the Renomme. Although no records of him having served as paymaster have been found, if so, it would suggest that Jean Baptiste had received a higher level of formal education growing up in Quebec to prepare him for any future ventures. Jean Baptiste neither married, nor acquired property, title, nor entered into any commercial contracts in Canada. And no record exists of emancipation, allowing him to do such, on his own, before reaching the legal age of twenty-five in 1699. He was just lost in Canadian records for more than a quarter-millennium.
Around late 1697, following the victory at Hudson Bay, d’Iberville and his crew sailed to France where d’Iberville met with King Louis XIV and received orders to establish a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi which would lay the foundations for future colonization of the Gulf Coast. D’Iberville began his first voyage in about October of 1698, onboard the La Badine from the port of Brest, France, to what was to become the Louisiana Territory and the new French settlement of Biloxi. D’Iberville and his crew arrived in Pensacola Bay on January 27, 1699, only to find that Spaniards from Vera Cruz had arrived three months earlier. D’Iberville then sailed on to Mobile and cast anchor on January 31, 1699 at the "mouth of La Mobilla". There he found a large island and named it "Massacre Island" due to finding a number of corpses on the island. Later he would rename it "Dauphin Island". After determining that the bay was too shallow, the party sailed onward. They anchored at Ship Island and his crew sailed to the main land. At Biloxi, d’Iberville constructed “Fort Maurepas”, a crude fort of squared logs. The forts location was at present day Ocean Springs and was completed on May 1, 1699. D’Iberville, after establishing Fort Maurepas, according to some records, had briefly returned to Quebec before sailing back to Rochefort, France to confer with his superiors about the Biloxi settlement. It is assumed our ancestor Jean Baptiste Saucier had joined d’Iberville’s crew at Quebec during this time, before the Renomme sailed back to France. On this second voyage from Quebec to France, d’Iberville’s payroll for May of 1699 shows Jean Baptiste Saucier listed at 40 livers per month salary. From available records we know Jean Baptiste Saucier, a young Canadian bachelor, was among the 60 or so Canadians who returned to Fort Maurepas from France with d’Iberville in mid September of 1699. This voyage was d’Iberville’s second expedition aboard the Renomme from France to Fort Maurepas, bringing food and other supplies to the settlement. D’Iberville’s payroll for September through December of 1699 shows Jean Baptiste listed at 30 livers per month salary, his monthly salary after that date is unknown, but possibly remained the same. The Renomme anchored briefly at Cap-Francais on December 11, 1699 before sailing onward to Biloxi and the fort, arriving and anchoring at Ship Island on January 8, 1700. The crew sailed in small boats to the mainland, now present day Mississippi. This was to be Jean Baptiste Saucier’s final voyage with d’Iberville as he remained in the colony at Mobile the remainder of his life.
After settling in January of 1700 at the new settlement and fort at Biloxi, Jean Baptiste frequently led small groups of soldiers and Canadians who camped somewhere around the Bay of St. Louis, possibly near the present-day cities of Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian or the Pine Hills area of present-day coastal Mississippi. Sometimes they stayed for several months when their food supplies ran low at the settlement at Biloxi. During this period of time, they would live with the local Indian tribe and hunt for wild game as they awaited word of the return of ships with renewed supplies and food from France. This practice would continue later at Mobile's Fort Louis when the fort there ran short of supplies. The settlement at Biloxi which was first established in 1699 was moved in 1702 to a new location in Alabama, with only a few settlers remaining in the village at Biloxi. The original location of the old Mobile settlement and Fort Louis de La Louisiane was on Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff, on the upper Mobile River from 1702 until 1711, located at what is now the present-day community of Le Moyne, Alabama. It was here that d'Iberville established the capital of the French Colony, until it was relocated to present day Mobile and finally to New Orleans in 1720. It was at this first settlement that our ancestor and the patriarch of the present-day Saucier family in the United States settled and married Marie Gabrielle Savary in 1704. Jean Baptiste Saucier and his wife Gabrielle Savary were among the first twenty-three pioneer families of old Mobile. Together Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle would become an integral part of the settlement and its daily life at both the old and new locations of the colony.
As with his father Louis Saucier being the only person in Quebec and Canada with the surname of Saucier, Louis' youngest son, Jean Baptiste Saucier, would have been the only colonist in the new Louisiana Territory and at Mobile with the surname of Saucier.
The investment in the new colony by France was considerable and not yielding the returns it had expected, France began the process of reducing its expenses in the colony. In order to reduce France's expenses at Mobile, Commandant Bienville was informed by government officials in Paris that he had to release the Canadian inhabitants from the Kings payroll. However, Bienville made the decision to keep some of the men on the payroll because he felt they would not survive without the government's help, which angered La Salle who had insisted all be removed. Bienville did release many who were more self sufficient, including our ancestor Jean Baptiste Saucier. Bienville was confident that Jean Baptiste who was better established in the colony would be able to care for his family better than those whom he had kept on the King’s payroll. According to several records, Jean Baptiste and two other Canadians were released from the King’s payroll in March of 1700 while still at Fort Maurepas.
Jean Baptiste, who had been awarded a large tract of land, became a merchant in the settlement and was the first settler in the colony at old Mobile to establish a successful plantation using six Indian slaves to operate the plantation. The use of Indian slaves was common in the early colony. Jean Baptiste’s property was located on Rue De Bienvenu between Rue Chateauque and Rue Saint Denis Streets. He sold any surplus produce and goods from his plantation in the Spanish settlements of Pensacola, Havana and Vera Cruz as well to the King’s storehouse at Mobile.
Commandant Bienville looked upon the Canadian settlers at old Mobile as the “backbone of the colony”, according to Jay Higginbotham in his book “Old Mobile”.
The baptismal Record shown above for Jean Baptiste Saucier's wife Marie Gabrielle Savary is from the St. Denis Archives, St. Marcel Church, Registers of acts of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1681 - 1690. Gabrielle was born on January 28, 1664 and was baptized
at the Church two days later on January 30, 1664 according to the church's records.
Jean Baptiste was now becoming established at Mobile and in the colony, and with the arrival at old Mobile of the Pelican Girls from France, he would soon begin a new chapter in his future, as he was now contemplating marriage. After a short courtship Jean Baptiste entered into a contract of marriage with Marie Gabrielle (Savarit) Savary, who arrived in the Louisiana colonies on the ship “La Pelican” in August, and they were married in September of 1704 at old Mobile.
Jean Baptiste’s wife Marie Gabrielle Savary, who went by her middle name, was born in Paris, France on Friday January 28, 1684, and baptized two days later at St. Denis Cathedral in Paris on Sunday January 30, 1684. Gabrielle died at age fifty-one in New Orleans on Monday October 17, 1735. She was the daughter of Rene Savary, a Paris shoemaker, who was born on January 28, 1658, and died in about 1697, and his wife Jeanne Fautier who was born in about 1662 and died in June of 1691. Gabrielle’s godfather was Olivier Descluse, an affluent merchant of Paris and her godmother was Gabrielle Auiet Martin of the parish of St. Denis. Gabrielle was about seven years old when her mother Jeanne Fautier died in Paris in early June of 1691 at the age of thirty-two. Gabrielle would only have been around thirteen years old in 1697 when her father died. Marie Gabrielle, who as the second born child, had three known siblings, Marie Charlotte Savary, the first-born child, who was born on January 27, 1682, and was buried on May 16, 1690; Henry Savary, the third born child, who was born on February 12, 1687, his death date is unknown, and the fourth child Jeanne Angelique Savary who had been born on May 18, 1691, her death date is also unknown. It is thought their mother Jeanne Fautier died several weeks after the birth of Jeanne Angelique. Her father Rene Savary remarried about eight months after Jeanne Fautiers' death. Rene married his second wife Marie LeRoux at St. Marcel Church in Paris on February 12, 1692. It is unknown if Rene and second wife Marie had any additional children during their marriage.
Nothing is known concerning Marie Gabrielle’s early life before or after the early deaths of her mother and father in Paris. It is possible that she and her surviving siblings remained with and was raised by her stepmother, another member of her father’s family or became a ward of the Church. We do know she was taught to read and write. As one of the few in the colony able to do so she later helped with the documentation of records for the Priest and the church at Mobile after arriving in the Louisiana Colony. It is believed that her brother Henry may have accompanied Gabrielle to the colonies as a crew member of the Pelican.
Gabrielle and the other prospective brides arrived at Mobile on the ship “La Pelican”, and history has mostly referred to them as "the Pelican Girls", although they were called the "Casket Girls" by some, because of the casket like box that held their belongings. With the marriage in 1704 of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary they had become part of the original founding and pioneer families of the early Louisiana Colony at Mobile and would help shape the future and growth of the new colony.
In the early 1700’s at the old Mobile Colony many newly born babies became sick and died during the winter months because the Catholic priest of the Mobile parish, Father Henry LaVente, insisted on baptizing them naked and outdoors even in the cold winter months. Bienville stopped Father LaVente from performing baptisms outdoors during the harsh winter months. Bienville’s actions started a long-lasting feud and bitter hostility between himself and Father LaVente over baptisms in the Mobile parish. Father LaVente was not forgiving nor on good terms with Bienville since their argument and was always complaining to officials in France and causing trouble for Bienville every time he could.
In 1705, Bienville, brother of d'Iberville, whom Jean Baptiste probably had known since the Hudson Bay Expedition, was invited by Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle to be the godfather of their first child and daughter Anne. After Anne’s birth took place, Father LaVente refused to baptize their daughter if Bienville was allowed to be her godfather. Father LaVente claimed, “I would do the child a severe injustice by baptizing her under the sponsorship of one who had lived such an immoral life as Bienville”. The refusal by Father LaVente to baptize Anne surely would have been very upsetting to Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle and would have caused them great distress and anger over the matter. Since Father LaVente held authority over the Church and things of this nature in the entire Colony, it caused them to change their plans of who was to be Anne's godfather in order to escape the wrath of the priest and stay in his good graces. Father LaVente's unfriendliness and opposition was more or less due to the fact that he just plainly disliked Bienville since the confrontation on baptisms. The priest's refusal to baptize Anne, with Bienville serving as her godfather was actually in retaliation for the order issued to him earlier by Bienville forbidding him to perform outdoor baptisms during the harsh cold winter months. The information from Mobile’s church records have not been found to confirm the names of who became Anne’s godparents.
Jean Baptiste’s wife Marie Gabrielle Savary, who went by her middle name, was born in Paris, France on Friday January 28, 1684, and baptized two days later at St. Denis Cathedral in Paris on Sunday January 30, 1684. Gabrielle died at age fifty-one in New Orleans on Monday October 17, 1735. She was the daughter of Rene Savary, a Paris shoemaker, who was born on January 28, 1658, and died in about 1697, and his wife Jeanne Fautier who was born in about 1662 and died in June of 1691. Gabrielle’s godfather was Olivier Descluse, an affluent merchant of Paris and her godmother was Gabrielle Auiet Martin of the parish of St. Denis. Gabrielle was about seven years old when her mother Jeanne Fautier died in Paris in early June of 1691 at the age of thirty-two. Gabrielle would only have been around thirteen years old in 1697 when her father died. Marie Gabrielle, who as the second born child, had three known siblings, Marie Charlotte Savary, the first-born child, who was born on January 27, 1682, and was buried on May 16, 1690; Henry Savary, the third born child, who was born on February 12, 1687, his death date is unknown, and the fourth child Jeanne Angelique Savary who had been born on May 18, 1691, her death date is also unknown. It is thought their mother Jeanne Fautier died several weeks after the birth of Jeanne Angelique. Her father Rene Savary remarried about eight months after Jeanne Fautiers' death. Rene married his second wife Marie LeRoux at St. Marcel Church in Paris on February 12, 1692. It is unknown if Rene and second wife Marie had any additional children during their marriage.
Nothing is known concerning Marie Gabrielle’s early life before or after the early deaths of her mother and father in Paris. It is possible that she and her surviving siblings remained with and was raised by her stepmother, another member of her father’s family or became a ward of the Church. We do know she was taught to read and write. As one of the few in the colony able to do so she later helped with the documentation of records for the Priest and the church at Mobile after arriving in the Louisiana Colony. It is believed that her brother Henry may have accompanied Gabrielle to the colonies as a crew member of the Pelican.
Gabrielle and the other prospective brides arrived at Mobile on the ship “La Pelican”, and history has mostly referred to them as "the Pelican Girls", although they were called the "Casket Girls" by some, because of the casket like box that held their belongings. With the marriage in 1704 of Jean Baptiste Saucier and Gabrielle Savary they had become part of the original founding and pioneer families of the early Louisiana Colony at Mobile and would help shape the future and growth of the new colony.
In the early 1700’s at the old Mobile Colony many newly born babies became sick and died during the winter months because the Catholic priest of the Mobile parish, Father Henry LaVente, insisted on baptizing them naked and outdoors even in the cold winter months. Bienville stopped Father LaVente from performing baptisms outdoors during the harsh winter months. Bienville’s actions started a long-lasting feud and bitter hostility between himself and Father LaVente over baptisms in the Mobile parish. Father LaVente was not forgiving nor on good terms with Bienville since their argument and was always complaining to officials in France and causing trouble for Bienville every time he could.
In 1705, Bienville, brother of d'Iberville, whom Jean Baptiste probably had known since the Hudson Bay Expedition, was invited by Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle to be the godfather of their first child and daughter Anne. After Anne’s birth took place, Father LaVente refused to baptize their daughter if Bienville was allowed to be her godfather. Father LaVente claimed, “I would do the child a severe injustice by baptizing her under the sponsorship of one who had lived such an immoral life as Bienville”. The refusal by Father LaVente to baptize Anne surely would have been very upsetting to Jean Baptiste and Gabrielle and would have caused them great distress and anger over the matter. Since Father LaVente held authority over the Church and things of this nature in the entire Colony, it caused them to change their plans of who was to be Anne's godfather in order to escape the wrath of the priest and stay in his good graces. Father LaVente's unfriendliness and opposition was more or less due to the fact that he just plainly disliked Bienville since the confrontation on baptisms. The priest's refusal to baptize Anne, with Bienville serving as her godfather was actually in retaliation for the order issued to him earlier by Bienville forbidding him to perform outdoor baptisms during the harsh cold winter months. The information from Mobile’s church records have not been found to confirm the names of who became Anne’s godparents.