The Bicentennial of the Battle of the “Dirty Shirts” and the “Red Coats”

  Down in south Louisiana, Andrew Jackson is a big deal. Nearly everything there is named after him — Jackson Square in the New Orleans French Quarter sports a large equestrian statue of its namesake, Fort Jackson once guarded the mouth of the Mississippi River, Jackson Barracks houses the headquarters of the Louisiana National Guard,…

Bonfires on the Bayou – An Acadian Reunion

Rosalie shifted her weight on the stiff, barge seat next to her sister Nathalie as they floated slowly up the bayou.  The two grey-haired ladies were looking around each bend with anticipation as the boat made its way up Bayou Teche.  The sun had set on this beautiful fall evening and the live oaks and…

St. David’s Church – Standing Guard

The old white sentinel stands resolutely over the many silent headstones that surround its 241-year-old wooden frame.  It has witnessed years of war interspersed with years of peace and both have shaped its colorful history in Cheraw, South Carolina. Having been commissioned in 1768 and built in 1770, St. David’s Church saw the tumult and…

The Find

I have had innumerable “oh wow” discoveries in my genealogical explorations over the years.  Many of those moments resulted in some pretty incredible stories. But not many of them resulted in the “Oh wow, you’ve got to be kidding me!” moment like I had recently. I was gathering items for a story I was writing…

Fugitive, Fighter, and Founder – Frederick Stump (Part 2)

Frederick Stump was on the run.  Tagged as an “Indian killer” and a fugitive in Pennsylvania, he eventually made his way down through the colonies to Georgia.  There he settled with his family in the back-country on the Savannah River north of Augusta, once again building a home, a grist and saw mill and establishing a…

Terre Blanche à la Terre Rouge (White Earth to Red Earth)

Newlyweds Marguerite and Pierre Le Houx loaded their personal belongings on board the boat docked in La Nouvelle-Orleans (New Orleans). Yesterday, the 12th of March 1725, they were married in the little wooden church, on the site of where St. Louis Cathedral would one day stand. But today 29-year-old Pierre would be taking his new…