Assumed Catholic

So, it’s no surprise that Louisiana is a particularly Catholic part of the United States. It’s a remnant of our French and Spanish colonial past, much like our legal system, which is still based on the Napoleonic code.

Pretty much anybody in Louisiana who was white (and many, many people who were not) can be traced via baptism, marriage, and burial records from their closest Catholic church, from the very beginning of European settlement in Louisiana. (Unless, of course, the records were destroyed by water or fire or mismanagement.) It’s easy to assume that if someone is baptized like a Catholic, marries like a Catholic, and dies like a Catholic, they must have been Catholic, right?

Eh, not really. Not when the only church around was the Catholic church; not when there was no separation of church and state, and the only way to get married or record the birth of a child was often in the church registers; not when most people likely participated in religious rites due to traditional and cultural reasons rather than out of some intense theological fervor. I think we should be very careful about maintaining a conceptual difference between “this person’s baptism was recorded in a Catholic church” and “this person was a devout Catholic”. I want to show you a particularly interesting example of Catholic records that didn’t show the full story of a family and, indeed, are actually rather misleading if your goal is to understand the family’s history.

Sometimes I note Protestant conversions to Catholicism and adult baptisms in the registers; this is usually done in preparation for a marriage between the non-Catholic and a Catholic. Mixed marriages weren’t unheard of either; sometimes they were also recorded in the Catholic books. It’s not like people could really marry anywhere else (officially). This family’s situation is not like those.

The family I’m talking about used the surname Lange. The patriarch, Joseph Lange-Vidal, was born in Bordeaux, moved to Saint-Domingue, fled the Haitian Revolution to New Orleans, and died not too long after arriving there.

Joseph, native of Bordeaux in France, resident of the island of Santo Domingo, sp. Isavel RODRIGUEZ, resident of the island of Santo Domingo, cir. 66 yr., i. Jul. 15, 1809 (SLC, F7, 59)

Joseph’s wife was named Elisabeth Rodriguez. At least six of their children accompanied them to New Orleans, where they married and had children of their own, all recorded in the St. Louis Cathedral books.

I first became aware of this Lange family while reading an article called “Jews in the Grand'Anse Colony of Saint-Domingue”. If you know a little about Sephardic naming patterns, you may already have seen where I am going with this; Vidal and Rodriguez are pretty stereotypical Sephardic surnames. Apparently, there was a small Jewish community in the Jérémie area that included the Lange family.

The Sephardic Jews in Saint-Domingue had diverse origin points, including Portugal, Bordeaux, Curaçao, and, of course, Amsterdam.

Joseph Lange interested me in particular because of this footnote that mentioned business dealings in New Orleans:

When I saw Joseph Lange’s burial record in New Orleans in 1809, I was off! In the article, Joseph’s wife is called Esther Rodriguez, not Elisabeth, but it was enough to pique my interest. Some of these Saint-Domingue Langes definitely made their way to Louisiana.

The footnote references the family’s Haitian indemnity claims. Here’s the referenced page:

Mardochée Lange’s heirs included his widow, Esther Rodrigues, and their eight children, all with quintessentially Jewish-sounding given names. Two daughters were even recorded as basically “Jewish Sarah” and “Jewish Rachel”. (As far as I can tell, Judaïque has never been a common name to give to daughters. Not sure what that’s about.)

Anywho. None of the children of Joseph Lange and “Elisabeth” Rodrigues had names that matched the ones on the indemnity list. Luckily for us, however, the spouse surnames of the married daughters are recorded, and as it turns out, the spouses line up perfectly with those of the Lange daughters in New Orleans. This is the same family. For reasons I can currently only speculate about, this entire family changed their first names when moving to New Orleans, although they were still apparently outwardly Jewish with very Jewish names in Jérémie. There’s no record anywhere of any of them converting to Catholicism; they just arrived in New Orleans and started marrying and baptizing their kids in the Catholic church, seamlessly assimilating into their new surroundings. Nothing about them in New Orleans (except, perhaps, some surname patterns, if you know how to spot them) suggests they were ever anything but Catholic.

In New Orleans, Judaïque-Rachel went by Marie Aline. She married a Latour, matching the indemnity record. Latour (or Latorre) was a native of Modena, Italy.

Maria Alina (Joseph and Isavel RODRIGUEZ), native of Jeremie on the island of Santo Domingo, resident of this city, m. Juan Bautista LATOUR, Sep. 10, 1817 (SLC, M6, 199) [marginal note: died Aug. 4, 1841]

Juan Bautista (Antonio and Brigida LAVIOLETTE), native of Modena, Italy, m. Marie Aline LANGE, Sep. 10, 1817, w. Anthony Xerez, Paul Calogne, Albert Lancelle and Bride’s Mother (SLC, M6, 199)

Judaïque-Sarah adopted the name Marie Antoinette. She married (1) Joseph Bruneau of France and (2) the Blackwell named on the indemnity record. I didn’t find a marriage record or any children baptized with the second husband, but Marie Antoinette is noted as the wife of Blackwell on a baptism she served as godmother for.

Joseph Renato Emilio (Joseph, native of Chateaubriant [dept. of Loire-Atlantique] in France, and Maria Antonia LANGE, native of Jérémie on Santo Domingo, both residents of this city), b. Aug. 10, 8, 1819, b. Sep. 10th. 20, 1817, pgp. Joseph Bruneau and Perina Maturina Letouneur, mgp. Joseph Lange and Ysabel Rodriguez, s. Renato Blanchet and Maria Rosa Lange, child’s aunt (SLC, B31, 82)

Paschal Emile (Auguste and Jeanne Louise BOS, [both] natives of Lyon in France, residents of this parish), b. Sep. 3, 1829, bn. Feb. 2, 1829, in this city, pgp. Joseph BURVANT and Marie Josephine PESCHOUX, mgp. Jean BOS and Francoise MEYREL, s. Jean Paschal ARNAUD, absent, p. Antoine GILLY, and Anne Marie BO[U/N]IS, absent, p. Marie Antoinette LANGE, sp. [o] BLACKWELL (SLC, B40, 94)

Daughter Esther became Marie Rose. She married first James Smith of England and later a man named Jean Francois Delaup, who I believe is recorded as “Lauss” in the indemnity records. Delaup’s mother was named Jeanne Victoire “Galthier”; I don’t know who that is, but best believe I’d like to know!

Maria Rosa (Joseph and Isavel RODRIGUEZ), native of Jeremie on the island of Santo Domingo, resident of this parish, m. Santiago SMITH, Jan. 1, 1816 (SLC, M6, 165)

Santiago (Henrrique and Deborok [sic] SMITH), native of England, resident of this city, m. Maria Rosa L’ANGE VIDAL, Jan. 1, 1816, w. Joseph MORALES, Pedro Joseph DUHULQUOD, William BOSWELL and Gorge BACKUS (SLC, M6, 165)

Philippe Ernest (Jean Francois, native of Santo Domingo, resident of this parish, and Marie Rose LANGE), b. Jul. 5, 1829, bn. Dec. 30, 1828, in this city, pgp. Jean Louis DELAUP and Jeanne Victoire GALTHIER, mgp. Joseph LANGE, dec., and Elizabeth RODRIGUE, s. Philippe LANAUX and Marie Antoinette LANGE (SLC, B40, 74)

Rebecca, now going by Marthe-Claire, married William Thompson, another match for the indemnity record.

Marta Clara (Jose and Isavel RODRIGUEZ), native of Santiago de Cuba, resident of this parish, m. Williams THOMPSON, May 13, 1820 (SLC, M6, 240)

Williams (Williams and Mariana Ceizetuco[V/R]), m. Martha Clara LANGE, May 13, 1820, w. Peter BOURGEOIS, James ST. MARCQ, and Christoval DE ARMS (SLC, M6, 240)

A son, calling himself Adolphe in New Orleans but likely corresponding to the oldest son Abraham on the indemnity records, was married to a woman named Francoise Amy.

Elizabeth (Adolphe, native of Santo Domingo, and Francoise AMY), b. Sep. 7, 1831, 3 yr., pgp Joseph LANGE, dec., and Elizabeth RODRIGUEZ, mgp Pierre AMY, dec., and Jeanne CLAIRY, dec., s Louis AMY and Elizabeth LANGE (SLC, B40, 284)

Louis (Adolphe, native of Santo Domingo, and Francoise AMY [@AMI]), b. Sep. 7, 1831, 6 yr., pgp Joseph LANGE, dec., and Elizabeth RODRIGUEZ, mgp Pierre AMY, dec., and Jeanne CLAIRY, dec., s Louis [o] and Marguerite AMY (SLC, B40, 284)

And, finally, Louis Cheri Lange, who would have corresponded to either Joseph or the second Abraham in the indemnity list of claimants. He married Susanne Gabrielle Aurore Santo Domingo.

In another one of those fun loops I love to find, this was not the first time I’ve worked on Louis Cheri Lange. I added him and his daughter, Florestine, over a year ago when I first started working on the Gaultiers of Cap Tiburon. Florestine was married to a descendant of that Gaultier family, Louis Auguste Coiron.

At the time I first added this family to Wikitree, I left Louis Cheri Lange unconnected to parents, because I didn’t know who he was. That became clear when I found his mother, Esther/Elisabeth Rodriguez’s death certificate. Louis Cheri reported his mother’s death, and the details on that record leave no doubt about Louis Cheri’s identity.

So that was really satisfying. I love it when I can’t figure out who someone is and then they announce themselves a year later unexpectedly. 😂

Bonus if there were any lingering doubts: on a single grandchild’s baptism, Joseph’s old name, Mardochée / Mordecai slipped in somehow.

Claire (Francois and Marie Rose LANGE, [both] natives of Santo Domingo, residents of this parish), b. Jan. 7, 1831, bn. Feb. 15, 1830, pgp. Louis DELAUP, dec., and Victoire GALTHIER, mgp. Madoche LANGE, dec., and Elizabeth RODRIGUEZ, s. Evariste MARCHAND and Marthe Claire LANGE, sp. [o] TOMPSON (SLC, B40, 214) [marginal note: died Jun. 25, 1842]

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I may have mentioned this before, but my Gautier line has a Y haplogroup that’s extremely uncommon in Louisiana, Acadie, and France.

It’s a haplogroup that is found in its highest concentrations in North Africa and the Middle East. It’s one shared by a lot of Sephardic Jews; it’s not a French line. And one of the most frequent surnames with that weird haplogroup is… Rodriguez! Ha. 😂

I may have also mentioned that Pedro Gautier of Ponce, Puerto Rico’s illegitimate daughter, Maria Juana, was a free woman of color born in Curaçao, home to a large Sephardic diaspora.

I’m just saying.

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There’s quite a big list of names in that article about the Jewish community in Grand’Anse.

Anyone look familiar? Several of these names are meaningful to me. Charles Cesar Petit de Livilliers of New Orleans married a Gaultier daughter in Saint-Domingue.

Several of the other names are familiar to me from Isleño lines; Rodrigue, Mendes, Alvares, etc. These are names that are common both in Sephardic Jews and in the Spanish world in general.

And finally, Miranda. I just learned about this dude today, Emmanuel Tavares Miranda.

A Portuguese sailor and pioneer of… Acadia? 😂 As it turns out, he is my tenth great grandfather (twice).

It’s actually a bit unusual that I descend from someone this early in Acadie only twice, on only one of my parents’ sides (and via nearly the same path). Normally 1600s Acadie ancestors are the ones that are in my tree a few dozen times. 😂 Roger “Kuessey” mentioned on Miranda’s Wikipedia page is also an ancestor of mine, and that family is also in the path from Miranda to me. Caissie wasn’t just mentioned because he was “one of the few non-French Acadians”. The families were intimately connected, and there was more to it than them just both not being French!

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I don’t have any huge point to make about the Sephardic diaspora in Acadie at the moment, but I’ll leave you with a few other interesting characters / families I’ve noticed around Acadia that made me go “hmm” as I was digging around working on this.

Jean Baptiste Rodrigue - Portuguese

Juan Rodriguez - mixed race Dutch/Portuguese, considered the first non-indigenous resident of New York City; Algonquin interpreter

Jean Guzman - Spanish

Abraham Dugas - given name & DNA suggest Sephardic origins

Pierre Morin - DNA suggests Sephardic origins

Pedro da Silva - Portuguese, first mailman in New France

Mathieu da Costa - supposedly the first free black person to arrive in Canada (although I don’t know how anyone could be certain of that and it’s likely not right); name is Spanish or Portuguese. Interpreter for indigenous tribes.

Jean Pitre - DNA suggests Sephardic origins & I find Pitres very early on in both Acadie and in the Spanish Caribbean

All interesting people worth reading about! Do you still think there were just a “few” non-French people in Acadie? I don’t. I have found all of these names just in the course of researching other people and made note of them over the course of the past week or so. All but a few I never heard of until now. All merit further investigation, and there’s surely more where they came from. 🔎