The Iron Coffin

 A grave was being dug in 1963 when shovels hit iron.  Those digging were bewildered to find it was a coffin.  No burials were thought to be in that part of the cemetery.  It was buried only about 4 feet deep and oriented off axis. 

Shaped not unlike an Egyptian sarcophagus, the unusual cast iron coffin was tight at the feet and wide at the shoulders-- form-fitting so-to-speak.  A window at the head provided a view of the surprisingly well preserved deceased and his finely appointed clothing.  The construction of the coffin and the clothing seen within led to the assumption that the burial dated from the 1850's.  There was no marker or any other kind of identifying element.  None of the family-owned cemetery's board knew who this gentleman was or that anybody had been buried in that spot.   A mystery!   The iron coffin was exhumed and relocated a short distance away to allow for more burials. Eventually, it became largely forgotten.

Newspaper articles pick up the story when in the 1980's the mysterious iron coffin was dug up again.  This time it was sent to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. for examination.  A Smithsonian forensic anthropologist had just happened to be in the area studying other graves and was contacted about the curious iron coffin.  Of the 400 graves he had been studying, none had contained an iron coffin.  This was unusual.

I had heard this story a few years ago and was mildly interested as it pertained to a cemetery with which I was becoming familiar in my genealogy work.  The Young Cemetery in Zachary, Louisiana houses many, many cousins and a few ancestors.  I'm a descendant of the Young family that founded it.  The cemetery is still active, is well kept and receives burials, as I understand, only from descendants of Judith and James Young, my 4th great grandparents.  I've made a couple brief visits to the cemetery in the past three or four years.

I was reminded of the iron coffin last week by double cousin, Ann Harang Haney.  I got a message from her on Ancestry.  She and I share the ancestors, Moses Guest on our mothers' sides and David Young on our fathers' sides.  David, a third great grandfather, is buried in the Young Cemetery.  She forwarded a news article about the iron coffin.  

The 1988 article mentioned that a study of the contents was conducted in D.C. the previous summer by the anthropology laboratory at the Smithsonian. The family was interested in finding the identity of the body.  To date, there were a few guesses, but no real breakthroughs.  Removal of the rusty lid revealed that there had been a considerable amount of damage to the contents since the 1963 disinterment.   The coffin had rusted through in a couple places.  Much had deteriorated.

Even so, the coffin and it's contents were still able to reveal some facts.  The deceased was male, who died in the late 1850's to the early 1860's.  He was in his 50's.  His clothing, including a black wool frock coat and trousers and distinctive black silk bow tie, were likely tailor made and popular from 1857 to 1865.  The coffin was unusual and no doubt expensive. He was wealthy.  The bones showed evidence of gout and arthritis.  The teeth were well worn.  There were 4 gold fillings.  All this info and still no identity could be determined.

It was the mention of gout that got me thinking.  I know someone who died down there who complained of gout.  My third great grandfather, Eugène Amédée Sherburne.  He died around that time.  As a matter of fact, he fits this case in many respects!  I had not found a marker for him the couple times I visited the cemetery.  His second wife is there, Patience Young Sherburne.  I took a photo of her gravestone.  The story from Virginia Lobdell Jennings' book, "The Plains and the People," stated E.A. Sherburne had been buried on his plantation "Fontania" on the river and at some point was moved to Young Cemetery when erosion threatened the original burial site.   

E.A. Sherburne died in 1860 at 57 years old.  He was a wealthy planter.  I have one photo of him and he's wearing a black bow tie.  His obituary in the local Baton Rouge Paper of Nov 17, 1860 reads, "The deceased had long been afflicted with that torturing malady the gout, frequently complicated with that other scarcely less torturing malady, rheumatism." 

Is it possible the mystery man in the iron coffin for all these years was my third great grandfather?  It seems plausible that a hasty reburial may be cause for the odd location and lack of marker at Young Cemetery.  I did a newspaper search for "iron coffins" in Louisiana.  The only other article I found mentioning iron coffins in the area was a May 10, 1958 article in the Alexandria Daily Town Talk titled, "Cenla Historical Society Tours Ante-bellum Homes."  The article mentions iron coffins at Live Oaks Plantation in Rosedale, Louisiana built by Charles H. Dickinson Jr..  "Located on the grounds is an old red brick church and a very old tomb containing odd shaped cast-iron coffins with windows provided for viewing the deceased."  I knew this place!  Charles Dickinson was a business partner of Eugène Amédée Sherburne. They were in the sugar business together until Dickinson's death in 1846, when his wife took over.  Sherburne continued the business relationship until his own death in 1860.  

There were too many coincidences not to dig further.  (No pun intended).  Wondering if there are more recent reports with more information or photos, I found the forensic anthropologist from the Smithsonian at their website online.  He is Douglas Owsley.  He still works there 34 years later!  I sent a short email to the address on his profile page but have not heard back from him.   Then, I called Alex McKowen, a distant cousin down in Zachary, and he gave me the name and number of a Young Cemetery board member.  Melinda Mills White (likely also a cousin) is currently Treasurer.  I talked to her on the phone and briefly explained that I was looking for a third great grandfather and was she familiar with the iron coffin?  "Absolutely," she said. She was present when it was exhumed that second time.  I told her my suspicions and she said she would run it by a couple people and get back to me.  

She called me back the next day.  "According to our plot map, your 3x grandfather is buried next to his second wife.  There is a  grave stone.  It is small and only has the letters E. A. S. on it."  I had missed that stone on my visits!  I guess I was looking for a larger, more prominent stone.  Melinda offered to send a photo of it when convenient.

So, it would appear, the iron coffin man remains a mystery.  He is not Eugène Amédée Sherburne as I had surmised.  All that excitement for nothing.  Eugène is accounted for-- next to Patience Young Sherburne.  I look forward to seeing the photo of his marker.

On the bright side, I now know where E.A. Sherburne is buried.  Find-a-Grave has him erroneously located in Washington Parish.  Maybe I'll send them an update.

A Grave Marker for Sgt. Samuel Sentell

Samuel Sentell's signature from his Pension Application.

Traffic in Atlanta on any given Wednesday afternoon is, by Mississippi standards, terrifying.  That's what I confirmed this past Wednesday as I travelled to Greenville, South Carolina for a wedding.  Adding another layer of difficulty to our driving experience in Atlanta, I  planned to briefly visit Arlington Memorial Park and Cemetery in Sandy Springs, Georgia.  Arlington is located just north of the 11 o'clock position on Atlanta's Perimeter road, I-285.  It was no small feat, but Karen and I eventually pulled into the cemetery unscathed.

I hoped to confirm if there was a grave marker placed for Nancy and Samuel Sentell.  Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure I would find them buried at Arlington.  Nearly all indications online were pointing to the adjacent cemetery at Sandy Springs Methodist Church.  

Who were Nancy and Samuel Sentell?  They were a young  couple at the close of the Revolutionary War.  Sgt. Samuel Sentell was just back from his last tour of duty when they married in 1782.  A Baptist minister, Thomas Harvey, performed the ceremony in Halifax County, North Carolina.  Nancy was a daughter of Halifax County, but Samuel was a son of Brunswick County, Virginia.  

The family was of modest means- a trait that carried down to Samuel, the subject of this post and my 4th great grandfather.  Samuel's great grandfather was a Huguenot refugee, also named Samuel, who settled in Virginia around 1700.  Later in life, the elder Samuel hung up his farming implements and is recorded in vestry records as having served as custodian of the Old Blandford Church which is still standing in Petersburg, Virginia.  See the Church wiki page here.  By the time of the younger Samuel's birth, the family had migrated another 60 miles south along the Fall Line Road.  Then, by the outbreak of the War, Samuel enlisted out of Halifax County North Carolina. 

Samuel and Nancy have a fantastic Revolutionary War Pension record.  In it, Samuel detailed 4 tours of duty with North Carolina troops.  He served from 1777 off and on until his discharge in April of 1782.  In one tour he marched from Halifax County, North Carolina to Philadelphia and then to West Point, New York where he helped in the construction of fortifications until weather set in at which time they marched back to Philadelphia and wintered there.  On another tour, during the Battle of Eutaw Springs, he suffered a severe wound to his left breast which he states, "rendered me incapable of further duty for some time."  Samuel served with the rank of Sergeant for much of his service.  

After Samuel's death in 1844, Nancy, at age 83, applied for a pension due her in light of Samuel's service.  In that document, Nancy included the names and birthdates of all 10 of her children.  She also named her father.  Nancy lived considerably longer than Samuel filing her will in 1860.  She filed in DeKalb County, Georgia after having lived there for 23 years.  In it, at age 98, she left her whole estate (likely meager) "both real and personal forever and in fee simple with all the rights members and appurtenances to the same..." to Leonidas F Heflin.  He is also named executor.  Leonidas Franklin Heflin was married to one of Nancy's granddaughters, Henrietta Cardin.  Nancy lived with them after Samuel's death.  After Nancy's death and the death of Henrietta, Leonidas married another of Nancy's granddaughters, Frances Reynolds.

So where are Nancy and Samuel buried today?  Earlier sleuthing by distant Sentell cousin, Ann Crichton, helped me uncover the details.  A few years ago, I found that Ann had posted a story and photos on Ancestry.com describing the exhumation and reinternment of Nancy and Samuel Sentell.  Ann had spoken with some Atlanta area DAR ladies who were interested in marking Samuel's grave site as he was a Revolutionary War Patriot.  It was disappointing that a Revolutionary Patriot had never had a proper headstone.  I'm interested in having him memorialized as well and it is the primary reason for chasing down this story.  One day, I would love to see SAR and DAR patriot grave markers by his headstone.  But first, we need a headstone!

The DAR ladies told Ann about the original grave site;  that it was located at Sentell Baptist Church on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.  Five graves had been exhumed in 2003 and reinterned at Sandy Springs Methodist Church Cemetery due to some paving/ roadwork needs at the Sentell Baptist Church.

Rita Cheek, a Sentell descendant, prepares the reinternment in 2003.  
Photo posted at Ancestry by Ann Crichton

Prior to 2003, the cemetery had sat idle for decades.  There is no way of knowing for sure, but we can assume the Sentell family cemetery's earliest burial was Samuel himself in 1844. This was a small family plot on a typical family farm.  Samuel's 49 year old son, Britton Sentell was buried there 2 years later.  Nancy passed away about 1860.  She was likely buried next to Samuel.  The original stones in the small cemetery did not provide any information at all about those interred.  They were described in a 1931 interview as "rough uninscribed field stones" by J. Franklin Burdett, a 90 year old citizen of the area. As many as 11 burials eventually filled the small cemetery; most of these being unknown family members.

Some time later saw the addition of an adjacent Church building.  Sentell Baptist Church was presumably named for family members who donated the land and were members of the congregation.  The cemetery predated the Church.

The photo above, sent to Ann Crichton, shows Rita Cheek in 2003 preparing a small coffin for reburial.  Ann sent me a copy of an email from Marlene Wall to Sam P. Sentelle that relates the following...

Sam,

This is a picture of Rita Cheek getting the coffin ready to put the remains of the 5 bodies in this small casket.  She had gone in with the grave diggers and lay on her stomach and unearthed the remains as they showed her what was left.  It was not very much, but she wanted to do it herself.  The five were put into this small coffin and the coroner, lawyer, Rita, myself and the grave diggers went to the cemetery and they buried it in the left bottom corner of her parents grave plot.  The entire thing took from 9 in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon.  What an experience!

Marlene

How I wish I had been there for the exhumation.  It is said that Samuel carried a musket ball in his left breast from Eutaw Springs.  I would have made an concerted effort to find that piece of lead.  It probably wouldn't  be right to keep something like that, but I would have certainly made a wax impression.

Another photo Ann turned up shows the front of the now demolished church...

That small coffin containing a few remnants of bone from 5 burials from the cemetery at Sentell Baptist Church was reburied at the plot of Warren J. & Margaret W. McDonald (Rita's parents) at the Sandy Springs UMC Methodist Church cemetery next door to Arlington.

Ann Crichton posted this photo of the unmarked location where the small coffin is located today...

Ann Crichton's photo of the Methodist cemetery grave location

Believing Nancy and Samuel were buried at Sandy Springs UMC, I called the Church office and eventually got the number of Carlton Smith, chair of the cemetery committee.  We talked by phone in July of 2020.  Though attending the Methodist Church now, he had been a member of Sentell Baptist Church in his youth.  He knew the family but was not knowledgeable of the particulars of the reburial of Samuel and Nancy.  He contacted Helen Sentell Gilliland who he knew had been involved in the reinternment and sale of the Church property.  He gave me her number, but I have been unsuccessful in all attempts to contact her.

Mr. Smith seemed unaware of the 2003 reburial.  He informed me that he was told Samuel and Nancy were not buried at the Methodist Church, but they were located next door at Arlington Memorial Park and Cemetery.  He relayed how Sentell Baptist Church had closed it's doors.  The building survived as a daycare for a time but even that fell through and as of 2015 the building was gone.  

Mr. Smith described that sometime around 2015 the city (Sandy Springs) began a right of way and street widening project and offered to pay for the exhumation, reburial and a new marker for all the graves in the Sentell cemetery.  The city bought a lot at Arlington Memorial Park and Cemetery for the Sentell burials.  This didn't jive with the story of the reburial I found online.  For one, they were off by 12 years.

So, it turns out, there were two exhumations and reburials.  Five of the graves were reinterred in 2003 at the Methodist Church and the remainder were exhumed and reinterred in 2015 at Arlington.  I don't know how either party could have known conclusively which Sentell's they were exhuming.  We can't know for sure who is at either cemetery.  

It was clear there was no marker at the Methodist Church, but no one could verify if grave markers were ever provided by the city at Arlington Memorial Park and Cemetery.  This is what I wanted to confirm as I visited Arlington.

The Arlington Cemetery office was on the left as we entered the property.  I went in and met Felicia Kelley who very helpfully provided some more bits of info after disappearing into a back room of the office to dig through some files.  She indicated the Sentell plot would be found in Monument Section 1-1 on the easternmost edge of the cemetery property.

Nancy and Samuel are in Monument Section 1-1

More specifically, they were located in the southern half of Plot 18 of Block 7.  I snapped a photo of the plot map...

Ms. Kelley pointing to the Sentell grave locations.

Ms. Kelley said her file showed a marker had been designed but she could not verify if it was installed.  I'd have to go out in the cemetery and try to find it.

I drove to the section and got out where I thought I'd be close to Plot 18, Block 7.  I searched the surrounding markers for "Sentell" but found none.   There were not many markers back in that area.  It was becoming apparent that no marker existed for my Sentell family.  Pinpointing plot 18 was not easy.  There are occasional little round concrete unit markers flush with the turf that denote plot corners.  Most of these have become buried or don't exist but I found one or two that helped me  get close enough that I could confirm there was no Sentell marker.  

Corner Marker two plots west of the Sentell plot

Block 7, Plot 18 is almost on the tree line.  The area denoted by the plots in green on the plot map above is heavily wooded.  I spooked a healthy looking doe as I searched the area.  A little while later one spooked me as I poked my head into the bushes to confirm no markers were behind the tree line.

Turns out this location is within 400 feet of the spot where the little casket is buried at the Sandy Springs Methodist Church cemetery.

The Sentell Marker should be near the tree line behind the "Fry's" marker here.

I went back to the office and relayed to Ms. Kelley that no marker existed for Nancy and Samuel Sentell.  Sentell's had been buried at Arlington for 6 years with no marker at all.  She told me a coworker who was around back then would likely have more info but she was out that day.  Ms. Kelley would follow up with the coworker and get back with me.

After continuing my trip to Greenville, witnessing a successful wedding, taking a subsequent side trip to Hendersonville, NC, admiring the views at Jump Off Rock and returning all the way to Jackson, Mississippi, I emailed Ms. Kelley.  She replied with the following...

Hi John,

I did speak to Kelly and she gave me this information to pass along to you.

The City of Sandy Springs has already paid for the monument, and it has already been designed. The monument just needs to be approved by the City Manager.

The last number we had to reach them is (770) 730-5600. The City Manager that was in charge has since changed.

Perhaps a gentle nudge from a descendent of Sgt. Samuel Sentell will be just what the City of Sandy Springs needs to approve the monument so we can submit it for production.

I hope this was helpful.

It was helpful. I called immediately and spoke with Caroline in the Sandy Springs City Manager's office.  I recounted everything I knew to date regarding the missing grave marker of Nancy and Samuel Sentell.  She took my information and promised to get back with me.  That was Monday, July 12, 2021.

I found out in a subsequent call to Ms. Kelley that the design for the grave marker was sent over to the City of Sandy Springs for approval on September 26, 2016.  Ms. Kelley sent me the proof for the memorial stone that was sent to the city...

On July 30, 2021, I called Caroline with Sandy Springs again and gave her the date info and asked if it would be helpful if I emailed the proof file.  We exchanged emails and I sent the items over with an offer to help in any way possible.

On August 26, 2021, I sent a follow-up email to Caroline and received an automated email reply that she no longer works for the City of Sandy Springs.  The email instructed that I contact Samantha Dulac for assistance.  Samantha is the new Assistant to the City Manager.  I sent an email to Ms. Dulac and asked about the status of our approval after a brief explanation of where we were to date.

After lunch that day, I received the following from Ms Dulac...

Hello Mr. McBride,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I apologize for the delay; Caroline no longer works for the City.  Deputy City Manager Dave Wells has signed the document, and Director of Public Works Marty Martin provided the signed document to Arlington today. I will attach the signed copy here as well.

Thank you very much and have a great rest of your day!

I later confirmed with Felicia, at Arlington Cemetery, that they had received the signed document and the stone was indeed now in production.  It will be several months, but there will finally be a stone for Nancy and Samuel and family.

The city and the cemetery apparently know nothing of the previous reinternment of 2003.  According to them, 11 graves were reinterred at Arlington and they include Samuel, Nancy, Britain and 8 other unknown Sentell family members.  

I had a thought to have the small coffin reburied at Arlington or get the verbiage changed on the headstone design to better reflect the questionable nature of the actual occupants of the new lot, but this would be costly and time consuming.  We would have to go through probate to verify who had authority to move the small coffin.  It took six years to get the headstone in production.  Changing the verbiage now could delay it who knows how long.  

In the end, I'm ok with getting a Sentell headstone that may not be entirely accurate.  I think it's close enough.  Samuel, Nancy and Britain deserve a headstone even though it may describe remains some 400 feet away. We will never know which Sentell's are in the little coffin and which are buried at Arlington Memorial Park and Cemetery.  But in a few month's time they will all have a respectable monument and it was a long time coming!

November 2022 Update:  The delivery and installation of the Sentell family headstone at Arlington has been confirmed!  Thanks so much to cousin, James Sentell. for running down a photo of the new headstone and updating the Find-A-Grave memorial page for Samuel.  You can see the photo and James' handiwork at "Find A Grave" here...  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73916403/samuel-sentell

Jonas Carle

There's a man buried in a now defunct cemetery just north of Baton Rouge who was involved in cattle rustling, rampant looting and general skirmishing while ostensibly gathering military intelligence in and around New York City during the American Revolutionary War.  He served as a Lieutenant in a brigade famous for being especially adept at guerrilla warfare.  They roamed the countryside of New York wreaking havoc.  But we can't attribute his actions to American patriotic fervor.  This man was fighting for King and Country.  His service was in a British provincial unit.  He was a New York born Loyalist.  He is 5th great grandfather, Jonas Carle.

Jonas was born in 1761 in Dutchess County, New York.  The family referred to the area as the Fishkill mountains. The town of Fishkill is still there, but the mountains around there are generally known as the Hudson Highlands today.  Jonas was born and lived within those mountains somewhere near the town of Fishkill.

Jonas began his military service about 50 miles downriver, at Morrisania, New York.  He signed on with Colonel James DeLancey- known derisively by Patriot neighbors as the "Outlaw of the Bronx."  Jonas later wrote in a land petition that he served under DeLancey from 1777 "until the peace" (about 5 years service).   The brigade was known as DeLancey's Cowboys.  This is partly because many of the unit consisted of mounted dragoons but mainly because they spent a lot of time rounding up cattle for the victualing of the British army stationed in  New York City.  Cattle from Patriot farmers were outright stolen, while Loyalist farmers received what compensation was available. You can see what the cowboys of Jonas' unit probably looked like HERE.

Jonas' claims indicate he served as one of DeLancey's lieutenants.  Not much is known about his specific actions during the war but we know the brigade  generally remained in and around Westchester County which is where most of them were born.  The following is taken from James DeLancey's resignation letter and gives a good overview of what they were up to...

The Memorial of James DeLANCEY of West Chester County Esquire.

Most humbly showeth,

That your Memorialist has, from the very Commencement of the present Controversy between Great Britain & America, evinced the most zealous & unequivocal Attachment to his Sovereign & the British Constitution, & since the Year 1777, has commanded the Militia & loyal Refugees in the County to which he belongs- a Corps consisting of five hundred Men, who, as well as your Memorialist, have served without either Pay or Cloathing.

That by Means of their Service, the Enemy has been constantly kept at such a Distance from King’s-Bridge, as to render that Post perfectly secure, & to keep up a Communication with the Country People for the Supply of the Magazines & Markets at New York.

That the Enemy have been repelled in every Attempt to destroy the People under your Memorialist’s Command, & that in the many Engagements which he has had with them your Memorialist has been so fortunate as to capture a Number of Prisoners sufficient not only for the Exchange of his own Men, but also for the Release of above five hundred British Prisoners.

That your Memorialist has in the Course of his Services, repeatedly received the Thanks of the Commander in Chief & of those General Officers under whom he has had the Honor to serve.

That he has always endeavoured to maintain the strictest & most exemplary Discipline in his Corps, & has gone in that Respect much beyond what has ever been practised in other Bodies constituted in a similar manner.

That your Memorialist has at all Times exerted the most anxious & unwearied Attention to preserve the Property of the Inhabitants in the Country & afford them every Protection, by which means he is well convinced that he has acquired & maintained the firm & general Attachment at least of such of them as were loyally disposed-...

At the close of the war, like many Loyalists, Jonas sought refuge in Canada.  From New York City, it would appear he and his father traveled by boat to St. John, Nova Scotia (now New Brunswick) and remained there a couple years.  By that time he was about 24 years old. 

It's possible Jonas had married.  An article by Dr. Esther Clark Wright appearing in a New Brunswick newspaper sometime in the 1970's was titled "Pioneer Families of New Brunswick."  The article relates the following...

Among the Loyalists who came to New Brunswick in 1783 were three men of the name Carle, Jonas, Robert and Thomas...   ...Jonas and Robert may have been brothers of Thomas, but there is no record of their relationship.  

Jonas received a grant of Lot 827 in Parrtown, on Bulkeley Street, and also of lot 12 on the east side of the Long Reach.  Jonas Carle seems to have become involved in transactions connected with Lot 12; while the St. John River was still part of Sunbury County, Nova Scotia, he bound himself to Gershom Fairchild for £250 to convey Lot 12 to the latter; in May, 1785 he and his wife, Amey, conveyed half of Lot 12 to John and Jacob "Britney" for £18, 15s; in August, 1785, Amey Carle asked for Provisions stating that she had been two years here, that her husband has "Been gone from her near six months past and she was left destitute of Friends."  There is no further light on the fate of Jonas and Amey Carle.

This was the first I had heard of a possible first wife of Jonas Carle.  I also found it curious that there was no mention of James Carle, Jonas' father, in the article.  There were some 15,000 loyalists that evacuated the fledgling USA for New Brunswick between 1783 and 1785.  It is conceivable there were a couple "Jonas Carle's" among the Loyalist settlers.

The timeline is important here.  Amey's petition implies that she came to New Brunswick around August of 1783 and that her husband Jonas left New Brunswick in March or April of 1785 (been gone six months past).  Begs the question, how did Jonas bargain over Lot 12 in May of 1785 when he was "gone" two months prior?

But the land petitions of his father, James, seem to corroborate the newspaper article's claim about Jonas having a wife named Amey.  The following petition mentions the lots described in the article and the transactions with the Fairchild family...

RS108 Land Petitions James Carle 1785

To His Excellency Thomas Carleton Esquire Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Province of New Brunswick

yea yea yea

The Petition of James Carle

Humbly Showeth

That your Excellency's Petitioner having had a tract of land assigned him lying on the little Kennebecasis No. 56 it being at a great distance from water Carriage and having a large family made an exchange with his son Jonas Carle, for farm No. 33 on the Great Kennebecasis which farm is said to be within the limits of Sir Andrew Snape Hammond's grant, and which farm your petitioner's son Jonas Carle obtained from Alexander Fairchild by giving said Fairchild a farm which he drew on long ____ ____ ___ with Thirty Dollars for the same-

That your petitioner is in possession of the farm No.33 on the great Kennebecasis and  has built thereon and cleared ___ ____ ____ tract of land.  Your petitioner therefore humbly requests that your Excellency would be pleased to make a grant to your petitioner for said farm No.33, if it should be given up by Sir Andrew S. Hammond for the benefit of the ____, as your petitioner is the first Occupant and put all his little substance in building and _____ the land, on said farm, and as in Duty Bound petitioner will Ever Pray.

James Carol (signature)

City of St. John 1st June 1785

This petition spells out the father son relationship between James and Jonas. I have not found a land record that names both Jonas and Amey.  The sale mentioned in the article to John and Jacob Britney would be a good one to find.

We know Jonas did leave Nova Scotia after a couple years.  I suspect he chased Gershom Fairchild back into New York when he realized Gershom had swindled him.  When he made the return trip to his old home in New York, he found his old neighbors less than charitable.  He was promptly arrested and thrown in prison. This may explain why Amey was left destitute.  Jonas couldn't get back to her.  The ordeal is described in another of the land petitions he wrote after later (again) fleeing to Canada.  In Jonas' words...

I was taken up by the people in the State of New York and put into a dungeon and there close confined for nine months & afterwards stripped of every thing, being glad to escape with life to this place, owing to being thus plundered, being so reduced in circumstances, your Petitioner has been obliged to remain here.

"This place" was Upper Canada.  The Niagara region of Ontario.  I find it strange that there is no mention of his family or wife in Nova Scotia in the documents that are associated with his time in Upper Canada.  Why did he  go to Upper Canada instead of going back to Nova Scotia where his wife was waiting?  He says he was reduced in circumstances.  I think the charitable answer is he couldn't afford to get back to Nova Scotia.  Otherwise it sounds like he abandoned his first family.  It's possible Amey had passed away while Jonas was in jail.  I've found no other evidence for Amey and have no way of knowing for sure what happened to her.

With officer status Jonas qualified for a fair amount of property.  Now in Upper Canada, he filed again for land grants.  The land petitions give us the best evidence for his life and actions during and after the war.  The following petition confirms his officer status...

An image of one of Jonas' petitions for a land grant.

The text of the petition reads as follows...

To His Excellency John Graves Simcoe Esq.  Lieut. Governor of the Province of Upper Canada Commanding His Majestys Forces therin    In Council    The Petition of Jonas Carle Humbly Showeth    That your Petitioner is desirous of settling the lands allowed to him by His Majesty for his services as an officer in Col DeLancy's late Provincial Corps--  Therefore Prays that he may have two hundred acres-  and your Petitioner as in duty bound will ever Pray- Jonas Carl    

Newark 18 Oct 1794   

Granted__

The document indicates it originated in Newark.  This was the prior name of the town of Niagara On The Lake, Ontario.

Jonas settled near 20 Mile Creek in an area known as Caistor on the Niagara Peninsula, Upper Canada Province.  This settlement is about 28 miles west of Niagara Falls.  By 1788 (the actual date, I am not sure), he had married another American-born Loyalist, Rachel Johnson, whose father, Jeremiah, also served the crown in his majesty's loyalist forces.  Unfortunately, Jeremiah Johnson (a 6th great grandfather) did not survive the war.  A Heir and Devisee Report stated that he was "...killed by the Americans in the late war."  Jeremiah had married in the Dutch Reformed Church of New York to Phoebe Brown.  Rachel was their first child, born in 1766.

Rachel had several siblings. One younger brother named Henry married Dolly Merritt.  The Merritt family, before the war, were neighbors of Jonas Carle in the Fishkill mountains of Dutchess County, New York.  They would have likely known of Jonas' first wife, Amey.  This was a large family, some of whom, like Jonas, had served under DeLancey but most had served under John Butler in "Butler's Rangers."  After the war, the Merritt's settled near Jonas on 20 Mile Creek but in spite of Jonas being an early settler in the area and likely because they outnumbered him, the settlement became known as Merritt Settlement.  Rachel's mother, the widow Phoebe Brown Johnson, followed her daughter to the Merritt settlement and eventually married John Wrong of Barbados.  Phoebe's grave can be found at the Merritt Settlement Cemetery near Smithville at Grimsby Township, Lincoln County, Ontario.

One of the Merritt's left a diary of sorts that mentions Jonas Carle.  Special thanks to Gail Woodruff of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada for relaying this info to me.  The diary's author was a grandson of Henry Johnson and Dolly Merritt Johnson.  It quotes his mother, Eunice Johnson Sharp,  

Mother says her grandfather, Joseph Merritt, came from Fish Kill Mtns., NY, settled at 20 Mile Creek (later Merritt’s Settlement) because Uncle Jonas Carl (Carol) was settled in Caistor nearby.  Carrol had an illegitimate son living down about where Port Robinson is now.  Mother thinks his name was “Archie”.  Mother says Carrol was a fine looking man.

It's possible, Archie was born before Jonas' marriage to Rachel.  I have not found any evidence for Archie as of yet and do not know when he was born.  Illegitimate son aside, Jonas and Rachel had at least seven known children. They include Sarah, Eliza Ann, Phoebe, John, Judith, Eunice and Henry.  All of these children were born in Upper Canada Province on the Niagara Peninsula.

Jonas was successful with his land petitions.  He was awarded at least 2 grants.  One was located along the Niagara River about 8 miles upstream (south) of the falls.  I'm a little doubtful he ever lived there as the Merritt family identified his home as the old Josiah Nelson Farm.  It seems most of Jonas' activity was around the area of Caistor.

Another local diary records that Jonas was part owner of a sawmill on 20 Mile Creek. He had half ownership of the sawmill.  The agreement with his partner required Jonas to build the saw mill 42' x 26' with two saws, 2 water wheels, 2 carriages and a log way 25 feet long for 80 pounds New York currency, 1 barrel of 208 lbs pork and 3 cwt. flour.  Jonas was to haul all lumber, furnish all boards, planks, blacksmith's work and do all the digging.  The mill was to be completed by November 7, 1793.  With this we learn that Jonas' trade was likely builder/ craftsman.

1798 is the date of the last Canadian document we have for Jonas Carle but his youngest child, Henry, claims in his 1850 and 1860 US federal census listings that he was born in Canada in 1799.  So it follows that some time after 1799 Jonas left Canada as all subsequent documents show him south of the border.

In 1805, Jonas, Rachel and their children show up in the Louisiana Territory.  Jonas removed his family from their Canadian home, ventured down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers via flatboat and bought at least 3 properties in the newly acquired lands of the Louisiana Purchase.  He acquired 640 acres right on the north bank of the Missouri River about 5 miles east of what is Jefferson City, Missouri today.  The property is in Township 44 North, Range 10 West from the 5th principal meridian. 

As a point of reference, in May of 1805, when Jonas owned this property, Lewis and Clark and the Crew of Discovery passed right by in their keelboat and canoes working their way up the Missouri River on the first leg of their famous expedition to the Pacific and back. They would have certainly laid eyes on Jonas’ land adjacent the river and, who knows, maybe even Jonas himself. However, it is my suspicion that Jonas’ purchase of this particular property was purely speculative and he may not have spent much time there if at all. 

The other  two properties he is credited with in the upper Louisiana Territory were found on Lake St. Marie in the New Madrid district.  I have been unable to verify their exact location. That lake disappeared as a result of the massive earthquake of 1811.  The surveys for the properties indicate they were about 13 and 22 miles north of New Madrid, respectively and about 1,000 arpents in total.  I imagine this is where the family was living- if not in the settlement of New Madrid itself. 

Jonas' name appears among the signatures listed in an 1805 document known as the "Gov. Wilkinson Memorial."  This listing was taken from people living in and around St. Louis, St. Genevieve, New Madrid, St. Charles, St. Ferdinand and Cape Girardeau. This memorial Jonas signed was actually a collection of letters signed by residents in support of Governor James Wilkinson who in 1803 had been appointed Governor of the Louisiana Territory above the 33rd parallel.  Wilkinson had been amassing a fair amount of bad press.   In hindsight we know that bad press was not undeserved.  Meriwether Lewis would eventually replace Wilkinson as Governor when President Jefferson could no longer ignore the possible acts of treason that tarred Wilkinson and his government.

By February of 1810, The Carle family had moved again.  Jonas is found in the Spanish West Florida Records where one document indicates he purchased two parcels of land in the town of Baton Rouge.  Jonas bought lots 6 and 7 of block 19 from Barthelemy Beauregard for five hundred pesos.  Beauregard was administering the estate of his father, Elias Beauregard who had passed away the previous year.  

Elias is well known for having developed the grand Baroque urban plan designed to be the heart of the fledgling city of Baton Rouge.  Born in Louisiana of French origin, Elias rose to some prominence in the Spanish militia.  For a time he was Commandant of the fort at Walnut Hills, where Vicksburg is today.  His brother, Michael, was the grandfather of General P.G.T. Beauregard who is known for having served the Confederate States during the Civil War.  

Elias had the elaborate urban development designed by French born Architect, Arsene LaCarriere LaTour, in 1799.  LaTour would soon most notably become the architect of Andrew Jackson's defenses at the Battle of New Orleans. 

"Beauregard Town," though not fully implemented as originally drawn, is the second oldest neighborhood in Baton Rouge-- after Spanish Town.  Now, it's an historic district found on the National Historic Register. Most of the street names there today still reflect those of  LaTour's original plan.

This image shows about a quarter of the original plan drawn by LaTour.  I have highlighted various properties owned by Jonas Carle.

Jonas' various properties in "Beauregard Town," Baton Rouge ca. 1810-18

The lots on blocks 34 and 23 were sold to Jonas' son-in-law, Isaac Townsend in 1818 for six hundred dollars.

In 1811, another land sale document shows Jonas agreeing to build a house as payment for additional property.  This document is interesting to me because of the descriptive instructions for the construction of the home...

...The present sale and conveyance is made for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and for the further consideration of the materials and workmanship of one house to be furnished and performed by the said Jonas Carl at the time & place & of the form and description following that is to say the house to be thirty six feet long, eighteen feet wide and of one story ten feet in height with a gallery back twelve feet wide the whole length of the house, and a convenient room on each end of the said gallery, the joist of both floors to be nine inches in width, the house to be weather-boarded on all sides with cypress plank of a proper thickness, and covered with cypress shingles eighteen inches long- the flooring plank, not to exceed eight inches in width.

The frame and all wooden materials to be furnished by said Carl, and to be sound and of good quality;  the openings to be not less than sixteen that is to say five windows of twenty four lights each, four of eighteen lights each, and seven doors the said openings to be made, by said Carl and also the sashes window shutters and doors - the whole work of said house to be done in a plain workmanlike manner, and completed on or before the fifteenth day of September next after the date hereof, and on such lot in the town of Baton Rouge as the said Edith & Richard or their agent or attorney may designate.  The said Carl not to be delayed for the foundation or any of the iron materials to be furnished by the said Edith and Richard.

The description sounds a lot like the typical planter's cabin going up all over the south at that time.  There are a number of examples still around.  The following photograph is one in Baton Rouge and it is about the same size as described, though the gallery, as is typical, appears on the "front" instead of the back...

I'm curious about the phrase, "one story ten feet."  I assume that means there is a first floor and then an upper floor extending another 10 feet.  The description goes on to say "the joists of both floors to be 9 inches in width."   It seems fairly evident that the house Jonas was contracted to build was two stories.  This document makes it appear that Jonas continued to make a living through construction in the Baton Rouge area not unlike his work on the Niagara peninsula.

As a side note, it is interesting that all of the documents referring to Jonas in Canada, include an "e" at the end of "Carle."  Sometimes the early documents spell it Carol or Carroll.  When he moves south and especially  after 1800 or so, the "e" is dropped.  It is also evident none of his children utilized the "e."

The aforementioned children of Jonas and Rachel Carl all made the trip to Baton Rouge.  The connection from Jonas to myself is as follows...  Jonas and Rachel's daughter,  Phoebe married Isaac Townsend in 1813.  Their daughter, Eliza Ann Townsend married David Young.  Their daughter, Patience Elizabeth Young married Charles Brashear Sherburne.  Their daughter, Eliza Ann Sherburne married Nathaniel William Sentell and they became the parents of my paternal grandmother, Annie Lou Sentell.  

The United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada (UELAC) offers a certificate for those that can prove lineage from one of the original Loyalist settlers.  I am working on that certificate for Jonas.  Somewhat similar to the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), the UELAC consists of chapters.  These chapters are scattered all over Canada.  I chose to join the Colonel John Butler (Niagara) Branch because that's the area where Jonas' grant lands were situated and where he started his family.  As already mentioned, Jonas had friends and in-laws who were members of Butler's Rangers.  

Also like SAR, there is an application process.  At SAR, I had the work of my mom to piggyback on.  Here, I'm starting from scratch.  As far as I can tell, no one has ever attempted a UELAC certificate for Jonas Carle.  That plus the unbroken line of female ancestors between my father and my Loyalist 5th great grandfather has made proving the lineal descent from him very difficult. Female ancestors, require proof of their birth parents, but also their change of name (marriage).  I'm told by the extremely helpful, Wendy Broda (Col. Butler branch genealogist), each application must survive the scrutiny of the Dominion Genealogists who examine the facts and every bit of evidence presented while holding fast to a rigid set of genealogical guidelines.  This makes the process difficult but, I hope, ultimately rewarding. 

The most difficult part, in my case, has been finding documentation for the early generations.  I need to prove Phoebe Carl was Jonas' daughter. Phoebe was most likely born in Upper Canada (Niagara region of Ontario today) in 1796.  Only the church was keeping records at that time in Upper Canada.  I enlisted a librarian at Niagara on the Lake Public Library to access a microfiche of the records of St. Marks Anglican Church.  St. Mark's is a beautiful old church situated in the town of Niagara on the Lake.  By 1792, the Minister of St. Mark's began recording baptisms, marriages, and burials.  I understand he would have been the only record keeper for most of Upper Canada when Phoebe was born.  I was hopeful to find a record of Phoebe's baptism. 

Among the inscriptions found in Rev. Robert Addison's records is the burial notice of Rebecca Haines Johnson Field.  Rebecca is my 7th great grandmother and grandmother to Jonas' wife, Rachel Johnson Carl.  Rebecca was buried in St. Mark's Cemetery at Niagara on the Lake in 1798, two years after Phoebe's birth.  It was Rebecca's son, Jeremiah Johnson, who was noted as "killed by the Americans" during the Revolution.  Rebecca's first husband was Jeremiah Johnson Sr.  He passed and Rebecca then married another Loyalist named George Field. George, being one of Butler’s Rangers, moved to the Niagara District post war to claim grant land. George and Rebecca are buried in the picturesque cemetery at St. Mark's.  I understand there is no surviving grave marker for them.  All the same, any future visit to Niagara will now include a visit to the graveyard at St. Mark's.

Unfortunately, none of the Carle family were found in Rev. Addison's records.  By 1805, the Carle family had moved south, so it looks like I will have to rely on whatever records I can find in Missouri and Louisiana.

Not long after the move to the Baton Rouge area, war broke out again between England and the United States. I wonder what was Jonas' mindset during the war of 1812?  Was he still loyal to the crown?  Had he settled in Spanish West Florida like many other Loyalists to avoid confrontation with Patriots only to find it quickly overrun by American immigrants?  He would have been very aware of the actions occurring in nearby New Orleans during the early days of 1815.  His new son-in-law fought for the Louisiana Militia under Andrew Jackson.  Was that a problem or just part of his new life in the United States?  Not sure I'll ever know.

The 1820 US census places Jonas and family still in the Parish of East Baton Rouge.  This is the last document I have for Jonas.  He passed away in 1829.  Several researchers at Ancestry.com show that Jonas is buried at Netterville Cemetery in Zachary, Louisiana but so far, I have found no documentation for that. 

Rachel, lived another 13 years.  She is listed among the Charter members of the first Protestant Church in Baton Rouge.  Virginia Lobdell Jennings in her book, "The Plains and the People" writes, 

On May 27, 1827, the first Protestant church in the town of Baton Rouge was organized with fifteen members. Mrs. Rachel Carle, Mr. Albert G. Penny, Mrs. Elizabeth Stannard and Mrs. Elizabeth Lilley from Buhler's Plains were among the charter members.

 This was First Presbyterian Church, Baton Rouge.  The Church would eventually spin off a satellite "Plains Presbyterian Church" where many of Rachel's descendants would attend (including her daughter Phoebe).

UPDATE:  On a recent trip through the Plains, I found Jonas' gravestone.  It is located in a wood behind the Annison House in Zachary.  The Annision house was reportedly built in 1811-- the oldest structure in Zachary.  I wonder if Jonas may have built it?  I found his headstone somewhat by accident.  I was told the woods contained the "fallen over" grave stone of Gen. Isaac Townsend, Jonas' son-in-law.  The woods provided zero evidence of a grave yard. The whole area was absolutely inundated with wickedly thorny underbrush. Finally, the smallest corner of a stone appeared up through the leaves. Brushing away the debris, I read the initials J C.  It didn’t occur to me that it was a foot stone until additional probing around the area revealed the obvious headstone.  I found Jonas.  There were other pieces of markers nearby some with bits of text but none were discernible.  I never found Isaac.  

The headstone reads, "Sacred to the Memory of Mr. Jonas Carl.  Died May 1829 Aged 68.  Amen"  It was under about 5" of leaves and 2" of dirt.  The foot stone that originally caught my eye reads, "JC. S-Johns. Ps-Amen."  There is also a graphic on the footstone that looks like a caterpillar.  Very curious.  I can only speculate as to what these things mean (other than Jonas' obvious initials).

The month of Jonas' death is really the only new information I gleaned from the discovery of these stones.  The years of his birth and death are corroborated but were already public knowledge.  I have a suspicion that "S-Johns"  written on the foot stone may actually be "St. Johns" and could possibly refer to St. John, New Brunswick as a birthplace.  If so, it could be an attempt to disguise the fact that he was a New York born Tory during the war.  Jonas did spend a couple years in St. John while starting a new life after the Revolution.  Someone living in the Baton Rouge area in the 1820's who was a Canadian by birth may be more palatable to his neighbors than an American-born Tory.  ...but that's entirely my own speculation.

Headstone

Detail

Footstone

The Annison House was written up in a couple news outlets in 2010 when it was opened for the public after a round of renovation.  A July 23, 2010 story from WAFB Baton Rouge said the following about the structure:

The Annison Plantation home in Zachary has stood on this 1799 Spanish land grant for 199 years. Benjamin Hook, second owner of the property, built the home in 1811. It went through a succession of families until E.D. Annison bought it in 1891. That family lived here until Ethel Annison donated the home to the city in 2002. Since then the Zachary Historic Village has been restoring it.

The article mentions Benjamin Hook as the builder of the house and second owner of the property.  His name appears on the original land plat for the property that contains the house and the cemetery where Jonas is buried.  It seems likely that Jonas was the original owner of the property--  especially since he is buried there and Benjamin Hook was his son-in-law.  

Benjamin Hook's 1822 will names Eunice Carl Hook as his beloved wife and total beneficiary along with any unborn child.  Eunice was a daughter of Jonas and Rachel, born in Upper Canada.  After Eunice's subsequent marriage to Joseph Young and the issue of additional heirs, the settlement of Hook's estate went to the Louisiana Supreme Court where it was finally settled many years later.  Eunice outlived Young as well and married thirdly, George P. Lilley.  She had children by all three husbands and her grave can be found in the Young Family Cemetery at the Plains.

A quick glance underneath the Annison house on my recent visit, revealed mostly modern milled lumber and flooring, but closer inspection showed that some older heavy primary structural members remain.  Those solid members have a hand-hewn finish and are of the size you would expect of an antebellum structure.  This house may indeed date from 1811.  I read that the intent of the Zachary Historic District is to eventually remove the non-original dormer from the front of the house.  I would love to see that happen as well as the reintroduction of a wood shake roof.  I find it likely that Jonas built this house either for himself or for his son-in-law, Benjamin Hook.

The search continues for proof of Jonas' daughters and grand daughters and great-grand daughters births and marriages.  I hope to one day achieve that certificate to commemorate his Loyalist service during the Revolution.

The Sherburnes of Baton Rouge

Samuel and Rose Sherburne left France and arrived in Baton Rouge with their children some time around 1816.  The United State's war with England was just over and the celebrations were likely still reverberating out from the plains of Chalmette where the victory at New Orleans still hung very fresh.  The Baton Rouge district, where the family landed, had only been out from under Spanish hands a short five years.  The town of Baton Rouge would not become the capital of Louisiana for another 30 years and just up the river, Mississippi was still a territory.  Samuel's idea for settling in the area after many years of diplomatic service overseas was, no doubt, to commence the genteel planter's life in an environment that would be receptive of his French wife and French speaking children.  It was a curious choice though, as he was no experienced planter.

Originally from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Samuel's American lineage extends back to his great great grandfather, Henry Sherburne, who arrived in the new world in 1631.  The Sherburne family is recognized as one of the pioneer families of Portsmouth.  The men of the family preceding Samuel on this side of the pond include Judges, Governors, Commissioners, Selectmen, Magistrates and Ship Captains.  More ancient Sherburne's include influential landowner's back in England.  The well established family purports to trace a direct lineage to Charlemagne.

The Sherburne family legacy is still evidenced around Portsmouth.  Samuel's great grandfather's house, The John Sherburne house, still stands today and can be visited at the Strawbery Banke Museum.  It's an impressive structure-- especially for having been built in 1695!

https://www.strawberybanke.org/houses/sherburne.cfm

Samuel was born in 1770 and schooled in New England through the 1780's.   He was a bit too young to serve during the American Revolutionary War, though he was certainly an eyewitness.  We know his father served in the New Hampshire Light Horse Volunteers and signed the Portsmouth Association Test.  The Sherburne's were Patriots.

By the time Samuel was 22 (in 1792) he acquired the position of American Consul at the important inland port city of Nantes, France.  The French Revolution was in its third year and ongoing. After four years as consul in France, Samuel married a local-- the young Ursule Rose Dubois de Corbières.  I wrote a bit about Rose and her French background here.  The two were married the third of August, 1796 at Saint-Servan-sur-Mer, Ille-et Vilaine, Bretagne, France.  She was from a well-to-do family. Her father, by then deceased, had been a wealthy ship builder and public official in St. Malo.  Her eldest brother was also a ship builder and arguably more successful than the father.

Benjamin Dubois, the brother, made a significant fortune building and outfitting war ships for King Louis XVI during the American Revolution.  Some of his ships saw action off the US east coast.  The ships Benjamin built were not large "ships of the line."  They were smaller privateer ships commonly known as Corsairs.  St. Malo is famous for having been home to a major hub of Corsair activity.  Corsair captains would hold a "lettre de marque" which was license from the King to seize merchant vessels of enemy nations and carry them and their cargo back for profit to be split between the crown, the shipowner and the captain and crew.  The majority of Benjamin's wealth came from prizes taken on the open seas by the Privateers that manned his ships.

When the French Revolution rolled around, Benjamin was perceived as a bit too close to the monarchy. Benjamin was dealt the wrath of the "general committee of security."  He was arrested and held in Parisian jails throughout 1793 and '94.  Two men arrested alongside him lost their heads, but Benjamin was spared, eventually cleared and released.  Benjamin was back home in St. Malo in time to likely attend the wedding of his little sister, Rose and the American, Samuel Sherburne.

Benjamin's home, coincidentally, is also still around and apparently worth a visit...

http://www.domaine-du-montmarin.com/

Ursule Rose Dubois de Corbières was the youngest of her siblings and her brother Benjamin was the oldest.  The gap was great enough that Benjamin's daughter married about the same time as Rose.  Rose's niece married Antoine René Thévenard a sea captain in Napoleon's French navy.  Within a year of their marriage, Thévenard commanded the French 74-gun "Aquilon" at the famous battle of the Nile. He is credited with performing a risky unorthodox tactic involving the spring on his anchor cable to quickly bring about his broadside against the bow of Admiral Horatio Nelson's flagship, HMS Vanguard. The damage wreaked on the Vanguard was intense resulting in over 100 casualties, including Nelson who suffered a gruesome open wound to his forehead.  The severity of the bleeding induced Nelson to fire off a letter to his wife for fear the wound was mortal.  It was not, and he soon returned to the battle.

The Aquilon was captured and Thévenard would not survive the day, making Rose's niece a very young widow.

By 1814, the young Sherburne family, residing in Nantes, consisted of  Rose, her American husband and 8 children between the ages of 4 and 17.  The records show the first five were born in Lorient, France.  Lorient, Nantes, St. Malo and St. Servan are all in the region of France on the northwest coast called Brittany by English speakers and Bretagne by the French.  Lorient was the home of Rose's sister, Elizabeth, who five years previous  had also married an American Consul.  Elizabeth and Rose were very close.  Birth records imply that Rose's first five children were born in Elizabeth's home with Elizabeth's children serving as witnesses for their cousins' births.  Both families eventually moved to America.  Elizabeth and her family moved to Washington DC about the same time, Rose and Samuel moved to Baton Rouge.

The move to Louisiana must have been a significant turn of events for the Sherburne children.  They were accustomed to a certain amount of refinement in France that would be lacking on the banks of the Mississippi River in 1816.  Samuel settled on a plantation about 18 miles upriver of Baton Rouge.  The lots there were generally long and skinny radiating out from the river affording each landowner water access and plenty of land inland for planting.  It was a characteristic of the geography of the Mississippi river in the lower deltas that the highest ground in the area was found right up against the river.  Over centuries the river's meandering and annual flooding tendencies caused sediment to be deposited most concentrated nearest the river bank in effect creating natural levees.  This high ground is where the planters located their homes.  They would generally orient the homes facing the river as that was considered the primary public view and where most traffic occurred.  This was the case with the Sherburne plantation home.  On September 7th of 1819, the Baton Rouge paper published a harrowing story regarding Samuel and Rose's home.  I found a typewritten copy of it at the website of the Louisiana Digital Library here.  The text of the story is as follows:

Louisiana Gazette,

9-7-1819 P-2 C-1

Baton Rouge, September 4

We have been informed that a distressing circumstance occurred a few days since on the plantation of Mr. Sherburne, late American Consul in France, now a resident of the Parish of West Baton Rouge, about eighteen miles above this place.  It is reported, that whilst that gentleman and family were setting in the house, the bank suddenly gave way and the house was precipitated into the river, and it was with the greatest difficulty the family escaped from the jeopardy to which they were exposed - no lives, however, we are happy to learn, have been lost.

One of the children of that gentleman was thrown into a chasm of the ground from which he was happily rescued by means of a rope let down to him, when the cavity was immediately filled by other ground falling in;  another young man also one of the family, was taken into a boat from a piece of ground in which he stood in the middle of the water.  All the furniture is said to be lost.

There is no way to know for sure which of the boys were cast into the chasm or stranded in the river, but surely, the experience was harrowing for all of them.  Homeless in a matter of seconds.  I can imagine whatever personal treasures they brought from France were lost that day.  

The family took refuge in Baton Rouge but hardly a month later Samuel passed away.  He was 49 years old.  It is tempting to speculate that his death was the result of some lingering injury sustained in the recent catastrophe.  Newspapers, as far away as the Northeast, recorded his death occurring on October 6, 1819 near Baton Rouge but none gave cause.  The Sherburne family of Baton Rouge had lost their patriarch.  Rose, now 50 years old and mother to 8 (5 who were likely still at home), was faced with some decisions.

Rose promptly advertised the opening of Madame Sherburne's Academy for Young Ladies in Baton Rouge where students were taught the three "R's" as well as English, French, Geography and "all kinds of Needlework."   But this was not to last long as Rose passed away in 1824.  Her burial date, June 9, 1824, is registered in the Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Records, though no location is given for the burial.

Two of Rose's sons had predeceased her but the remaining children ultimately stayed in Louisiana, married and raised families of their own.  The following is a condensed version of what I have found to date regarding the 8 interesting children of Samuel and Rose Sherburne:

1.  Samuel Aaron Sherburne (1797-1821)  Samuel, the oldest child, was likely named "Samuel" for his father and "Aaron" for his uncle, Aaron Vail, the American Consul who married Rose's sister, Elizabeth.  As mentioned, it is evident he was born in Aaron Vail's home in Lorient.  Sadly, Samuel Aaron's life ended too soon.  An announcement of his death appears in the July 7, 1821 edition of "The Evening Post," of New York.  He died on the 4th of July, 1821 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Samuel Aaron was 24.  He doesn't appear to have married.  I believe he was likely at school or in the early stages of an occupation related to trade and commerce and died of sickness.  That's just conjecture on my part.  Baltimore was a significant port at that time and was only 40 miles or so from Washington DC where his Vail cousins were living.  The Vail's were a civic minded family.  At least one cousin worked for the State Department.  Another was serving in the US Navy while a third was just finishing up West Point.

Samuel Aaron's burial location is not known.

2.  Felix Benjamin Sherburne (1798-1857)  We have Felix's birth record.  He was born to Samuel and Rose on October 2, 1798 in Lorient, France.  He probably went to the east coast for school like his brother and cousins did before him.  I imagine that is why I can't find him in the census records with his mother and siblings.  He is listed among the baptisms enumerated in the St. Francis Catholic Church records 1817-1840 in Natchitoches, Louisiana.  He is also found in the 1850 Louisiana census record from Natchitoches Parish showing him as F. B. Sherbourne.  This is highly likely him at 52 years of age.  It was a slave schedule indicating he had (2) 40 year old slaves.  Felix was a lawyer and notary practicing in Natchitoches Parish.  One evidence of this is a case abstract from the year 1851 out of said Parish...

Felix B. Sherburne and John B. Smith, attorneys at law, seek to recover $5,000 in legal services rendered to Melite Auty, wife of Auguste Metoyer and a free woman of color. Sherburne and Smith contend that, throughout 1843 and 1844, they provided Mrs. Metoyer with legal services in an ongoing suit between her and one Baptiste Adlé. They defended her interest before both the District and Supreme Courts and won the fight on her behalf. Not only did she recover her property but she was also awarded damages for its unlawful seizure and detention. Sherburne and Smith affirm that their professional efforts in this case are well worth the sum of $5,000 charged to Mrs. Metoyer. They therefore pray for an order directing Mrs. Metoyer, assisted by her husband, to stand in judgment and pay the debt.

I found a more interesting reference for him in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly Vol. 17,  No. 1.  The passage describes a notable duel fought between General Francois Gaiennie and General Pierre A. Bossier (namesake of the Parish of Bossier). The two gentlemen lived along Cane River not far from Natchitoches.  They were bitter political rivals whose feud boiled over in September of 1839.  F. B. Sherburne is listed as a second to General Gaiennie, a Whig, who was killed in the duel with the Democrat, Bossier.  

A "Second" was chosen by each primary duelist from among his closest friends.  The second's job was to ensure that all aspects of the duel were carried out fairly.  He assured the weapons of both parties were equally prepared and serviceable.  

It is recorded this duel was fought with rifles. Gaiennie fired first and missed.  Bossier then fired instantly killing Gaiennie.  The passage further reads...  "Before leaving home Gen. Gaiennie promised his wife that if he survived, a messenger would bring her the news riding a white horse, but if he did not survive, a black horse would bear the messenger, that, watching across the level stretch of the Cane River country, she might thus know the news ere it was announced by voice."

I show a death date of 1857 for Felix but that date came from someone else and was not sourced.  I can only really say he died some time after 1850.

3.  Achilles René Sherburne (1800-1836) Achilles, the third son, is enumerated in the 1820 census in his mother's household in Baton Rouge.  That census shows Rose D Sherburne as head of house.  Samuel Sr had passed away the previous year.  Just numbers indicate the rest of those living there-- 8 people total including one slave.  Achilles' column reads "white males 16-25 years."  His two older brothers were already out of the home.

There is an 1826 marriage record for Achilles found in the Louisiana Compiled Marriage Index.  It was a Catholic wedding at St Joseph Catholic Church in Baton Rouge.  His bride was the widow, Gertrude Vahamonde Duralde.  She was ten years older than Achilles and she had six children by her first husband who passed in 1817.  We find Achilles' new family enumerated in the 1830 census living in West Baton Rouge Parish.  The census shows 4 people in his household and 30 slaves. Achilles had married into a planter family.  Newspapers of the day record him acting as Clerk of Court for the Parish District Court by 1833.

On November 6, 1835 Achilles took oath and gave bond in West Baton Rouge as curator of the estate of his cousin, the late Capt. Thomas Jefferson Vail of the Army of the United States.  Jefferson was another son of Aaron Vail and Rose's sister, Elizabeth Dubois Vail.  An 1821 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, Jefferson served for a time at New Orleans under Base Commander and future President Zachary Taylor. There he would have had the opportunity to frequently call on his aunt and cousins in nearby Baton Rouge. In 1833 he was assigned to the remote Fort Snelling, Minnesota.  Interestingly, Dr. John Emerson, a fellow officer at the Fort, was owner of the slave Dred Scott.  Scott and his wife, Harriet,  lived at the fort with Emerson. It's quite likely Jefferson was familiar with the Scotts whose later court battles would make such an impression on the political climate leading to the Civil War.  Of course Jefferson Vail would miss all that.  By late 1835, Jefferson was back in Louisiana where he died of illness.  Achilles curated his estate and died himself the following year at 36 years of age.  I believe he left no children of his own.

4.  Eugène Amédée Sherburne (1802-1860)  Eugène is my own connection to the Sherburne family.  He is a 3rd great grandfather-- a maternal great-grandfather to my father's mother, Annie Lou Sentell McBride.  She was very proud of her Sherburne family.  I'm sure she never heard the story of his house falling in the river when he was 18 years old, or I would have heard it from her years ago.  Of course he died 43 years before her birth.  It's understandable that story would get lost. Eugène is almost always referred to as E A Sherburne in documents from the period.  He is the best documented of his siblings among available Louisiana records.  I have found a string of accomplishments--  Sheriff of Iberville Parish, distinguished planter and businessman, Vice President of the State Whig Party, school board member, election commissioner, and founder in his Church.

Eugène was born in Lorient on the 19th of November, 1802.  His birth record names his parents and lists witnesses including a couple Vail cousins.  At 14 he came with his family to Louisiana.  He is listed among those residing in his mother, Rose's household in Baton Rouge in 1820.  I can't find him in the 1830 census.  He was 28 at the time.  A couple years later he married a young lady from Port Gibson, Mississippi.  I have not turned up a marriage record for their union, but later court records show the relationship.  The bride was 17 year old Margaret Newton Lindsay, a Protestant whose father had been a Parish Judge in Louisiana across the river from Walnut Hills (Vicksburg) before taking residence in Indian lands near the Choctaw Agency in what is now central Mississippi.  Margaret was born at the Agency.  

Margaret and Eugène settled on farmland in Iberville Parish.  By 1848 they had 4 boys and one girl. Eugène raised sugar cane and was in partnership with a number of large sugar producers in the area.  One of Eugène's partners was Charles Henry Dickinson Jr. who had a large plantation near Rosedale, Louisiana.  The home called Live Oaks is still there and can be seen while driving along Bayou Grosse Tete.  Charles' father, Charles Henry Dickinson Sr. was killed in a duel with Andrew Jackson but not before he lodged a ball in Jackson’s chest an inch from his heart.  Jackson carried Dickinson’s lead and the painful complications it caused for the rest of his life.  Charles Jr was 2 months old at the time of his father’s death.

The 1850 census shows the E A Sherburne family and the family of a Presbyterian Pastor living on the Iberville Parish property.  J E C Doremus, the Pastor, was likely tutoring the Sherburne Children.  The youngest Sherburne child was named Edward Doremus Sherburne at his birth in 1848, so there must have been a meaningful relationship between the two families.  JEC Doremus pastored at First Presbyterian Church at Baton Rouge among other places.

Margaret died in July of 1852 and the family relocated to a plot of prime land on the Mississippi River just south of Port Hudson in East Baton Rouge Parish.  This property was called "Fontania."  Eugène married a second time to Miss Patience Young.  They had no children.

Eugène appears to be the only Sherburne to have left the Catholic Church although it is unclear if his father was ever really Catholic.  A sister of Eugène's second wife (and coincidentally my 3rd great grandmother) wrote a history of the Plains Presbyterian Church.  That church is located at Buhler's Plains, Louisiana near Zachary.  She mentions EA Sherburne and two of his children being converted in 1855.  They were members of the Church for the rest of their lives.  One child, a daughter, married a Presbyterian missionary to China.  I wrote about their story HERE.  There is a cemetery near the Plains church where a number of Eugène's descendants and extended family are buried.

Eugène died in 1860.  His obituary states he was "a most estimable man and citizen, esteemed and respected by all."  It is believed he was originally buried at his Plantation, Fontania, next to the river.  His first wife, Margaret, died when they were still in Iberville Parish, so it is possible he buried her there and was buried there himself later on.  The Fontainia property is now mostly covered up by a Georgia Pacific Paper Mill.

The property where Eugène may have been buried looks like this today-- in the red lines...

The northeast corner contains about a quarter of the National Cemetery at Port Hudson. The east half is mostly paper mill and the west boundary is the old Mississippi River bank location.  I suspect the house would have been in the wooded area near the river on the west.  If there were burials on the site they were likely in the wooded area on the west side where the high ground and house would have been although there is a curious square of wooded area between the parking lots toward the east that may have remained wooded for a reason.

Virginia Lobdell Jennings wrote in "The Plains and the People" that she believed Eugène's grave was moved from the Port Hudson property to the Young Cemetery near the Plains Church because of encroaching erosion but there is no source for this info and I have found no marker for him at the Young Cemetery.  The official plot map and burial ledger for Young Cemetery is in the possession of Mr. John Troth of Zachary.  I met with him in October of 2022 and looked at the documents.  They confirm that Margaret and Eugène Amedee are interred unmarked next to his first wife, Patience Young Sherburne (1800-1870), inside a cast iron fence in section EC B.

5.  Elizabeth Charlotte Sherburne (1804-1884) Eliza was born in Lorient on May 19th of 1804.  She was named for her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Charlotte LeMortellec.  Like those of her brothers, her early French records are dated using the French Republican calendar.  Her birthday is listed as "29 florial in the year XII."  That makes her about 12 years old when she and her family relocated to Louisiana.

Nine years later, she married another French born resident of West Baton Rouge Parish, Paul Choppin.  She had lost both parents in the intervening years, her mother-- the prior year (1824).  Paul was likely from the Burgandy region of France as described in a biographical book published in 1917,  (Vol. 3, Makers of Amercia: Biographies of Leading Men...).  He was 6 years her senior.  His Choppin family was what we would today say are quintessentially "Creole".  They were urbane, sophisticated, French speaking and had been in Louisiana at least as early as 1803 when we find an older brother married in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.  The name Choppin is pronounced the same way you hear the composer, Frédéric Chopin's name pronounced.  As  Frédéric was born in Poland in 1810 and his name only had one "p," It seems unlikely there was a recent family connection.  Subsequent generations of Paul and Eliza's family, interestingly, eventually dropped the extra "p" in the spelling of their name.

There is a US Citizenship Affidavit dated March 28 of 1815 in which a 17 year old Paul Choppin claims US citizenship at the port of New Orleans.  These affidavits were carried by US seamen in the early 1800's in an attempt to avoid being pressed into his majesty's service by the Royal Navy.  I suspect Paul anticipated some business travel between France and Louisiana and wanted to avoid the apparent risk.

One account of Paul Choppin states that he and a brother were pioneer sugar planters and are credited with the production of the first white loaf sugar in the State.  Paul was certainly a planter.  The 1830 census shows 34 slaves on his property.

The 1830, 1840 and 1850 US Census records show Paul and Eliza and family living in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.  The 1850 Census shows all three of their sons living at home.  The oldest is listed as a 21 year old physician.  Samuel Paul Choppin MD (1828-1880) is a colorful figure in the history of Louisiana.

The eldest son of Elizabeth Sherburne and Paul Choppin, Samuel made a name in the medical profession.  He studied medicine in Louisiana and did some graduate work in France and Italy.  Back home in New Orleans, he became resident Surgeon at Charity Hospital.  He taught anatomy at the New Orleans School of Medicine.  He edited the local medical journal and became well known throughout the State as President of the Board of Health.  When the civil war rolled around, he was Staff Surgeon under General P.G.T. Beauregard.  One of his obituaries claims that "his career in the army was marked by capacity of the highest order and elicited eulogiums from Lee, Beauregard and other leaders of the Confederacy..."

But what he will probably most be remembered for is an impromptu duel that occurred in front of Charity Hospital on August 28, 1859.  An altercation with a fellow physician escalated to the point of garnering newspaper headlines.  The affray involved derringers, six shooters and Bowie knives!  I found the story not only in New Orleans papers but also Vicksburg, Nashville, and Charleston. The story even surfaced in the London Observer.  An exhaustive article on the incident can be read in the New Orleans Crescent here...

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24992852/the-new-orleans-crescent/?xid=637&_ga=2.224978138.1525615779.1588595091-1409360912.1587759655

I had an email exchange with a distant cousin recently who descends from Samuel Paul Choppin's daughter, Rosa Eliza Choppin.  Rosa was Elizabeth Charlotte Sherburne's grand daughter. I learned that Rosa took the family back into the diplomatic world of her great grandparents.  Rosa married Miguel Covarrubias (1860-1924).  He was the Mexican envoy or Charges d'Affaires in London off and on from May of 1907 to April 1921.  They had 3 daughters who were well known in the social circles of Washington DC of the 1920's and 30's.  One daughter married the Brazilian ambassador to the United States.  Another married the Charges d'Affaires of the Romanian Legation to the United States and another became a Baroness when she married the English Baron Henry Roland Casimir D'Erlanger.  Elizabeth and Paul Choppin's descendants bumped elbows with the muckety mucks!

Elizabeth Charlotte Sherburne Choppin died on February 22, 1884 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  She was 79 years old and outlived her husband and two of her three sons.  The remaining son died that same year.  She outlived all of her siblings by nearly 20 years.  She spent her last years living with the family of a niece in New Orleans.

6.  Henri Claude Sherburne (1805-1859)  Henri is one of the Sherburnes that I have already covered to some degree.  I wrote about his dramatic death in a post here.  Henry is the first of the Sherburne children not born in Lorient.  His birth record is found in Nantes, France.  Actually, the last three Sherburne children were born in Nantes.  Nantes is the French port city where Henri's father served as American Consul.  Henri was only 10 when the  family arrived in Louisiana.  At 26, he married Mary Adine Guesnon.  Mary was active in the Catholic Church at Baton Rouge.  She and Henry's two sisters are found to be committee members of the Ladies Charity Society associated with St. Joseph, the Catholic Church in Baton Rouge.  In 1842 they organized a fair to help raise funds for the repair of the Catholic cemetery there.  This led me to speculate that Rose and Samuel may be buried in one of the early Catholic cemeteries in Baton Rouge.

Henri and Mary had no natural children but adopted a young girl in 1852.  Anna, who was 7 at the time of Henry's death, lived 35 years, married twice and left 6 children.  One of Anna's children, a daughter also named Anna, lived until 1975.

Henry practiced law in Baton Rouge. He traveled the river frequently between there and New Orleans.  On February 27, 1859 he became one of 70 or so who perished in the dramatic Steamboat "Princess" explosion.  Unfortunately, he was standing too near the boilers on that tragic day.  The story was all over the papers.  One account suggests that Henry certainly must have died instantly and mercifully was spared the terrible lingering burns that others endured.

In October of 1859, Mary advertised an estate sale in which 80 acres of land in East Baton Rouge Parish acquired by Henry W Sherburne and also the Library of the deceased consisting of "valuable Law and other books" were offered for public sale.  Mary died 6 years after the Princess disaster.

7.  Charles Guillaume Sherburne (1807-1823)  Charles' birth record shows him born in 1807 at Nantes, France.  The next record I can find for him is his burial listed in the Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records.  He was buried on July 27th 1823. That would make him 16 years old.  He died a year before his mother.  It could be they both were buried in the old Spanish Catholic cemetery in Baton Rouge.  In 1825, the year after Rose's burial, St Joseph Catholic Church of Baton Rouge bought property to house a new cemetery.  Signage at the 1825 cemetery indicates the burials from the old Spanish cemetery (The Cemetery of Our Lady of Sorrows) including "some of Baton Rouge's first settlers" were disinterred and moved to the new property.  However, the Diocese record does not specify burial locations for Charles and his mother, Rose.  Also, there is no Diocese record for Samuel Sherburne's 1819 burial.  He may not have been a practicing Catholic and therefore not buried in the Catholic cemetery.  Samuel's baptism in New Hampshire was not in the Catholic Church.  If he was not buried in the Catholic cemetery, it is possible Rose and Charles were not buried there either.  If Samuel, Rose and Charles were buried at the Old Spanish Catholic Cemetery and their remains moved to St. Joseph in 1825, their graves may not be marked.  As of today, there is no indication they have marked graves at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery.

8.  Henrietta Rose Sherburne (1808-1865) Henrietta was the youngest of Rose and Samuel Sherburne's children.  She would have been 5 or 6 years old when they made the move to the United States. Henrietta married Claude Antoine Choppin, a brother of her sister's husband, Paul.  Claude was 18 years her senior.  They had one daughter.  The 1850 census locates this family in the heart of the city of Baton Rouge.  Claude Antoine or "Anthony" is listed with an occupation of baker.  Their neighbors include clerks, tailors, and grocers.

Claude and Henrietta's daughter, Cecelia, was born in 1838-- a Louisiana native. At 27 years old Cecelia married Maximilian Augustus Dauphin.  Dauphin was the same age as Cecelia but came to New Orleans from Strasbourg, Alsace, France when he was 16 years old.  He had completed classical studies in France and attempted to make a living through painting and sculpture but eventually ended up at the New Orleans School of  Medicine where he came under the influence and lifelong friendship of Dr. Samuel Paul Choppin, Cecelia's 1st cousin.  Maximilian practiced medicine for a while but made his fortune as the head of the Louisiana Lottery Company.

Later in life, Max had an elaborate family tomb constructed at the Cemetery in Metarie.  He arranged to have the remains of his Choppin friends and family re-interred in this tomb.  Dr. Samuel Paul Choppin's remains, and those of his wife were moved there.  When Max's wife, Cecelia, passed she was placed there as well.  Max remarried and passed away a few short years later.  The second wife and now widow, Cecile Rose LaBranche Dauphin, then became involved in a dispute with the Choppin descendants  over the inheritance.  Ultimately, the case went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court after LaBranche filed an injunction to have the Choppin family remains removed from the Dauphin Tomb.  She lost.  The Choppin's are still in the tomb.

Henrietta Rose Sherburne and her sister Elizabeth were the only Sherburne children to see the Civil War.  Henrietta passed away only months after Appomattox.  Elizabeth lived another 20 years.  Henrietta's husband Claude Antoine died in 1853 and was one of the Choppin's re-interred in Dauphin's tomb.  Henrietta is likely in there too, but I have yet to find that record for her burial.