In 1699 when Pierre Lemoyne Sieur D'Iberville claimed this territory for King Louis XIV of France and began construction of Fort Maurepas in what would eventually become Ocean Springs, Mississippi - a young French-Canadian by the name of Joseph Simon de la Pointe came with him. Simon de la Pointe was the nephew of the Duchess of Chaumont who held an enormous grant of land. On that land, some years later, Joseph built a plantation. The carpentry shop still exists today and is considered to be one of the oldest standing structures in the country.
De la Pointe was a distant grandfather of mine... And so it goes... If there's an old name in Pascagoula then that old name is mine. As a matter of fact -- I've been told that one of my distant grandmothers was a Choctaw Princess. My ancestors' bones litter the coast: Ladniers, Gautiers, Michots, Laurendines, Valverdes, Clarks, Hudsons, Baptistes, Santo Domingos, and Krebses. They are buried in Mobile, in Pascagoula, in Biloxi, and - YES - in New Orleans. My great-grandmothers spoke French. I don't just cook creole - I AM Creole.
Our neighborhood stands where there once was a dairy farm. They say that the spirit of its proprietor still walks on his land in the late evening. I think he used to sit on our porch at night and rock in the big white wicker chair -- until the storm swept it away. We'll buy him a new chair. He's always welcome here. He's family -- good ol' Salisbury. We share the land just fine - because before it even belonged to Salisbury Delmas it belonged to my great, great, great grandfather - Jacob Baptiste.
My blood is in this soil - and on this soil I will stay.
(Many thanks to Mom for both the blood and the soil -- I'd have neither without you. We're sticking it out. Come heck or high... uh wait a minute.. the high water already came so all that leaves is.... Hmm. Oh well -- maybe we'll be on a picnic when it comes...)
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