The speech I planned to give Thursday, April 11, 2013, on the steps of the Dauphin Island Town Hall but the event was rained out:
Two hundred years ago today, on Sunday, April 11, 1813, a detachment of U.S. troops expelled the Spanish guard from Dauphin Island and for the first time in history, the Stars and Stripes flew over the American shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Today we take it for granted that the dominion of the United States extends unchallenged from Brownsville, Texas to Key West, Florida, but two hundred years ago there was not one American harbor on the entire Gulf and it would take what some would call an act of war on the part of the United States to open that first harbor to American commerce and all of you are now standing where it all started, a place we call today Dauphin Island, Alabama.
Every American living on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida or Texas today should thank their lucky stars for Dauphin Island because the Americanization of the Gulf of Mexico started right here.
In 1813, America was a nation at war. For the second time in our history, we decided to take on the greatest power on the face of the Earth, Great Britain, and we knew that the blue water English navy needed harbors on the Gulf and that their ally, Spain, owned these harbors and were willing to allow the Brits to use these ports to dispose of their captured prizes, repair her blockading fleet and incite insurrection among our Southern blacks and Indians so the U.S. Congress and President Madison decided to put an end to it on Mobile Bay in April of 1813 & they did just that.
On Saturday, April 10, 1813, near Grand Bay, the flotilla that made up the American invading force split into two divisions. The armed schooner ALLIGATOR carrying General Wilkinson and Commodore Shaw along with Lieutenant Roney’s gunboat, sailed out to sea by way of the Horn Island Channel off the west end of Petit Bois Island. The rest of the flotilla consisting of at least three gunboats and fourteen small transports carrying over 600 soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 3rd and 7th regiments headed toward Heron Pass.
On the night of the 10th, Captain Atkinson and a small detachment of American soldiers landed on what was then the Spanish island of Isla Delfina and captured the Spanish guard consisting of a corporal and six men along with the Mobile Ship Channel pilot.
When the sun came up on Sunday, April 11, 1813, it was Isla Delfina no more. For the first time in American history, the Stars and Stripes flew on the American shores of Dauphin Island and the Spaniards were placed on a galley scheduled to sail for Pensacola. In the meantime, the ALLIGATOR and other American gunboats cruised the mouth of the bay between here and what is now Ft. Morgan, blockading all ships and preventing them from entering or leaving Mobile Bay. They captured several ships including a Spanish transport carrying an artillery lieutenant, a detachment of troops and supplies destined for the Spanish fort in Mobile.
The armed schooner ALLIGATOR carrying General Wilkinson and Commodore Shaw eventually anchored off Dauphin Island and held a council of war to make plans for landing the invading force. This meeting must have included a representative from Colonel Bowyer who had brought an army unit down from Mt. Vernon. Boyer’s 200 men carried five bronze field cannon with them and had earlier crossed the delta on Mims’ Ferry and had marched from Fort Mims down the Tensaw River Road through Stockton. Boyer’s job was to dig his cannon emplacements on Blakeley Island across the river from Fuerte Carlota, the Spanish fort in Mobile.
As the sun sat on Dauphin Island’s first day as American territory, the American flotilla approached the north bank of Dog River and prepared for the invasion and capture of Mobile on Monday, April 12th.
We really want to thank Doug Houston, the staff, the contestants and the crowd @ WAVES for allowing us to host Tuesday night's
1st DAUPHIN ISLAND HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
TRIVIA CONTEST.
I know we had fun and it looked like everybody else enjoyed themselves while we all, including Brady the bartender, learned a little more about our wonderful island. Images pertaining to many of Dauphin Island streets' names were collected in preparation for Tuesday night's contest so now we have added those to our DAUPHIN ISLAND HISTORY BLOG's expanded annotation of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce Committee On Nomenclature's description of each Dauphin Island street name's significance to Dauphin Island's long and colorful recorded past. Please visit our blog to learn more about DAUPHIN ISLAND: AMERICA'S MOST HISTORIC GULF ISLAND.
Here's the first list of DI geographic place names: Mississippi Sound, Pass Aux Herons, Grants Pass, Pelican Pass, Pass Drury, Dauphin Island Bay, Confederate Pass, Aloe Bay, Billy Goat Hole, Lafitte Bay, Graveline Bay, Pelican Bay, Chugae Point, Heron Bayou, Heron Bayou Channel, Aloe Bay Channel, Oro Point, Point Isabel, Pelican Island/Sand Island (peninsula)
THE STREETS OF DAUPHIN ISLAND
(the following listing of Dauphin Island's streets is found in S. Blake McNeely's book, THE DEVELOPMENT OF DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALABAMA.http://www.southalabama.edu/mccallarchives/guides_to_collections/mcneely/mcneely.shtml
I have added the streets' locations in relation to the three-way-stop at LeMoyne and Bienville , a Wikipedia link for the street's namesake and a Find-A-Grave link for the namesake if it applies.)
A Committee on Nomenclature of which Mr. Stephens G. Croom
(Stephens G. Croom [Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113268370] was born in 1906. Initially, Croom was active in the utility industry, but ultimately devoted forty years of his life to building a successful career in the insurance business. As a key member of the USS Alabama Development Committee Board, Stephens played a pivotal role in bringing the South Dakota-class battleship USS Alabama to Mobile and developing the site into a major tourist attraction. Both Stephens and his wife, Velma Lassiter Croom[Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113271720 ], were politically and civically active in Mobile society. Velma served as the president of the Junior League of Mobile, Inc., from 1950 to 1951. Stephens G. Croom died in 1992.) was Chairman, carefully selected names which are significant in the long, romantic and colorful history of this Island which played a vital part in the settlement of North America and which is being developed as one of America's greatest resort, retirement and recreational areas.
The Boulevards, Avenues, Lanes and Places run east and west. Drives, Streets and Courts run north and south. All names are arranged alphabetically, beginning at the Fort Gaines Park on the East and at the Sand Dunes on the South. The names of Places and Lanes begin with the same letter as the names of the streets with which they intersect- such names are arranged alphabetically southward from Bienville Boulevard. Names selected are significant to Dauphin Island.
A house numbering system was also developed whereby lots on the Avenues, Lanes and Places are given numbers corresponding with the overall numbering on Bienville Boulevard. The lots on the Drives, Streets and Courts will be numbered in accord with the numbering system on LeMoyne Drive.
#1: ADMIRAL SEMMES AVENUE
named for Admiral Raphael Semmes, one of America's best known American naval officers, a respected citizen of Mobile who commanded the renowned Confederate ship, ALABAMA. This east-to-west street is located SE of the 3-way stop between Audubon Street on the east and Forney Johnston Drive on the west. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Semmes
Find-a-grave link for Admiral Semmes http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21356
#2: ALABAMA AVENUE
named for the sovereign State of Alabama whose Governor Gordon Persons(Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for Gordon Persons http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1911 Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7419419 )
made the decision to build the Dauphin Island Bridge providing a substantial investment in the bridge was made by property purchasers on the Island making this development possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama
This east-to-west street is located south of the 3-way stop. It begins just east of its intersection with Iberville Drive and continues west to Narvaez Street.
#3: ANNANDALE STREET
named for the ancestral home of one of those who spent years of service on behalf of Isle Dauphine.(It is the opinion of this writer that this refers to Forney Johnston. The Johnston family claims that they originated in Annandale, Scotland http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=Johnston )This north-to-south street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs between Apalache Avenue on the north and Admiral Semmes on the south.
a map of the Catholic missions to the Apalaches destroyed by the English in the present-day area around Tallahassee where stands
#4: APALACHE AVENUE named for the Apalache Indian tribe living in the neighborhood of Mobile, which sent its chief to Isle Dauphine along with twenty-three other Indian Nations to sing their calumet of peace to Monsieur de L'Epinet, Governor General of Louisiana.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_de_Lepinay ( ed. note: The Apalaches were originally from the vicinity of present-day Tallahassee but were victims of the greatest known Indian slave raid ever conducted in North America in 1704https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachee_massacre . They were enslaved by the English from Charleston and their Indian allies. Those that escaped,being converts to Roman Catholicism, sought sanctuary from the French on Mobile Bay and received refuge. The Apalachee River in the Mobile Delta takes its name from this East Florida tribe.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachee#Spanish_missions_and_18th-century_war ) This east-to-west street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs between Audubon Street on the east and Forney Johnston Drive on the west.
#5: AUDUBON STREET
named for the great artist, John James Audubon, who is said to have painted the hummingbird https://www.audubon.org/news/what-mr-audubon-thought-hummingbirds
in the famous Birds of America while visiting in Mobile.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_James_Audubon This north-to-south street is east of the 3-way stop and runs from Cavalier Circle on Colony Cove north of Bienville to Audubon Place on the south. Find-A-Grave link for Audubon http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6102721
#6 BEAUREGARD STREET
named for Pierre G.T. Beauregard, an engineer officer in the U.S. Army who as a captain was in charge of Gulf Coast defenses when Fort Gaines was built and who later became one of the ranking generals in the Confederate Army.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._T._Beauregard This north to south street is located SE of the 3-way stop. In begins on the north at Apalache Avenue and ends on the south at Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4417
named for Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, the founder of Mobile, who spent much of his time at his Dauphin Island headquarters, Dauphin Island being the port of entry from France to the New World. Bienville is said to have had extraordinary charm and real genius for diplomatic relations with the Indian Nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Le_Moyne,_Sieur_de_Bienville This main east to west street begins at Ft. Gaines, runs through the 3-way stop at LeMoyne Drive and ends at the West End Park. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10749466
#8 BILOXI AVENUE
named for the Biloxi Indians, a tribe living at the location Iberville chose on arrival from France as his first base for the exploration of the Mississippi River area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biloxi_people This east to west street is NW of the 3-way stop and begins at Major Farmar Street on the east and ends at Narvaez Street. A second small
portion of Biloxi exists just west of Narvaez. This East to West portion comes off of Octavia Street.
#9 BUCHANAN DRIVE
named for Admiral Franklin Buchanan, the first commander of the U.S. Military Academy at Annapolis, the highest ranking officer in the Confederate Navy, commander of the naval defenses of Mobile, director of the task of organizing a fleet of ironclad warships built in Selma for an attack on the Federal fleet blockading Mobile Bay.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Buchanan This north to south street is east of the 3-way stop on both sides of Bienville. It begins on the north near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=11124&page=gr
#10 CADILLAC AVENUE
named for Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, appointed by the French government to succeed Bienville as second Governor of Louisiana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_la_Mothe_Cadillac
This east to west street is located two sections north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne Drive. The eastern secton runs from Grant Street on the east to Narvaez Street on the west. West of Salt Creek Cadillac begins again on the east of Pascagoula Street and continues west to the canals south of Druhan Island. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113583180
#11 CALUMET PARK
named in honor of America's greatest Indian "pow-wows" or peace conferences which was held on Dauphin Island by twenty-four Indian tribes who met for sixty days with French Governor L'Epinet and who smoked with him the calumet of peace. This great congress of Indian Nations was of far-reaching importance throughout the entire Mississippi Valley.https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ9phjBhQyQC&pg=PR14&lpg=PR14&dq=%22dauphin+island%22++CALUMET&source=bl&ots=y6rlm4tm9L&sig=WzjOYloqyyP53XbZc_pRBJG1yUU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBGoVChMIzJe-uPKDyQIVh_M-Ch3stg5B#v=onepage&q=%22dauphin%20island%22%20%20CALUMET&f=false Calumet Park is the official name of the park that surrounds the Water Tower at the 3-way stop.
#12 CHATEAUGUE POINT (pronounced Shatto-gay)
it is here that the Bridge first touches Dauphin Island. Sieur de Chateaugue was one of the LeMoyne brothers and devoted much of his effort to the transfer of supplies from the King's Warehouse on Dauphin Island to the capital fort at Mobile. Time and new accents have reduced this geographical name on Dauphin Island to "Point Chugae" (pronounced Chu-gi) . The northern section of LeMoyne Drive ends at the present-day bridge on Point Chugae.https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Le_Moyne_de_Ch%C3%A2teauguay
Antoine Le Moyne de Châteauguay died March 21, 1747 in Rochefort, France.
#13 CHAUMONT AVENUE
named for Mme. Chaumont of France who owned a large plantation near Moss Point and who in 1720 was one of seven plantation owners who brought over more than 4,000 persons from Europe in seven ships and established them in the Louisiana province.
This street is north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne. It begins at Key Street on the east and runs west to Omega Street.(according to this link the Chaumont Plantation was located up the Pascagoula River 37 miles from its mouth and one mile south of the present-day Wade Bridge http://www.jchgs-ms.org/PDF%20files/Jackson%20County%20timeline%20from%201812.pdf ) Madame Chaumont was Marie-Catherine Barre (1673-1762) . She was married to Antoine Chaumont. http://daniel.burgot.perso.neuf.fr/html/deportation/chaumont.htm#14 CHENAULT AVENUE
an ancestral name of French significance in the development of Dauphin Island. (This writer has been told that this street was actually named for WWII hero Claire Chennault. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Lee_Chennault Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=194 ) This east to west street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at Cavalier Circle and ends on the west at Fort Conde Street.
#15 CLUBHOUSE AVENUE
named for the Fort Gaines Clubhouse which is situated midway along this roadway. http://www.dauphinislandhistory.org/photos_pcards/ft_gaines_club_expand.htm (this is no longer a Dauphin Island street name)
#16 CONDE AVENUE
named for the French military leader who was known as the Great Conde and who LaSalle and Tonty much needed support in France and help in maintaining supplies for their extensive expeditions. Louis II de Bourbon, Duc d’Enghien , Prince de Conde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis,_Grand_Cond%C3%A9 This east to west street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at Cavalier Circle and ends on the west at Fort Conde Street. He was buried in the Église at Valery, the traditional burial place of the Princes of Condé. The following link describes the tomb of THE GREAT CONDE http://www.tombes-sepultures.com/crbst_1024.html
#17 CONTI AVENUE
named for Prince de Conti, a French leader and also King of Poland, who actively supported the new Louisiana Province. He was especially loved in France because of his considerate personality and admired because of his courage and leadership.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Louis,_Prince_of_Conti This street is located NE of the 3-way stop and dead-ends only about one block west from its intersection with its intersection at the north end of Grant Street. Link to the burial place of Louis, Prince of Conti http://www.landrucimetieres.fr/spip/spip.php?article2763
#18 DELCHAMPS DRIVE
named for Oliver H. Delchamps(1900-1987), President of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce when the Gordon Persons Overseas Highway and the Dauphin Island Bridge were built. This street is NE of the 3-way stop. It is the last street intersecting with the east side of LeMoyne Drive before the bridge that takes you off the island. Mr. Delchamps and his brother founded the Delchamps Supermarket chain. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=50550074
#19 DELUNA STREET
named for Tristan de Luna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trist%C3%A1n_de_Luna_y_Arellano , commander of a group of Vera Cruz colonists who in 1559 laid out a city on Mobile Bay that would have been the first city to be established with the present limits of the United States if it had lived. This street does not exist in the present-day on Dauphin Island and its original location, if any, is unknown. DeLuna returned to the Yucatan where he served as governor until his death in 1571. Link to the discovery of a DeLuna shipwreck near Pensacola http://uwf.edu/cassh/departments/anthropology-and-archaeology/research/faculty-and-staff-projects/maritime/emanuel-point-shipwreck/
#20 DESOTO AVENUE
named for Hernando de Soto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto, Spanish governor of Cuba, the most famous of the explorers of the American South and conqueror of the Mobile Indians at Mauvilla. This east to west street is north of the 3-way stop on both sides of LeMoyne Drive. It begins at DeSoto Drive on the east and goes west past its intersection with LeVert Street. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7450123
#21 DEWBERRY STREET
named for J.M. Dewberry who was one of the pioneers in efforts to connect Dauphin Island with the mainland of Mobile County. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Apalache Avenue and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. In 1914 the Dauphin Island Improvement Co., J.M. Dewberry, President, contracted with Holabird & Roche Architects of Chicago to prepare plans for a 200 room fireproof hotel to be erected on Dauphin Island. The following link is to a PDF file from the Dauphin Island History Archive of the October 25, 1957 DAUPHIN ISLAND NEWS. On page 5 is an article about Miss Leola Dewberry, Mr. Dewberry's daughter. She talks about visiting the island in the early 1900s and her father's three attempts to build a bridge to the island. http://dauphinislandhistory.org/dinews/din10251957_8pgs.pdf
#22 EPINET STREET (pronounced Ep-i-nay)
named for L'Epinet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_de_Lepinay, successor to Cadillac as governor of Louisiana, who immediately began to repair the damage of Cadillac's governorship by making friends of the twenty-four Indian tribes which visited him at Dauphin Island. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Apalache Avenue and runs south to Admiral Semmes Avenue. After leaving Mobile Bay in 1718, L'Epinet was appointed Governor of Grenada. While visiting the Governor of the West Indies on Martinique in January of 1721, L'Epinet died.http://www.knowla.org/entry/1464/
#23 FORNEY JOHNSTON DRIVE
named for Forney Johnston http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/ark:/99166/w6641xz5 , the son of Alabama's twice governor Joseph F. Johnston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_F._Johnston , and the able and patient leader of the group which for half a century retained composite title to Dauphin Island as a requisite for its development as one of America's leading seashore recreational destinations.
This north to south street is east of the 3-way stop on both sides of Bienville Boulevard. It begins north of D'Olive Avenue and runs south to past Admiral Semmes Avenue. Find-A-Grave link for Joseph F. Johnston http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=7342162&page=gr
#24 FORT CHARLOTTE AVENUE
named for Fort Charlotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Charlotte
, the English name given in 1763 to the newly acquired Fort Conde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Conde in Mobile as an honor to Queen Charlotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Mecklenburg-Strelitz , the wife of King George III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom
of England. This east to west street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on Bienville Boulevard and curves southwest to its intersection with Hernando Street.
#25 FORT CONDE PLACE
named for Fort Conde de la Mobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Conde which was the name given to the enlarged Mobile fortress in 1720 and which at that time occupied the entire area between Royal, St. Emanuel, Church and Theatre Streets. This north to south street is NE of the 3-way street. It begins north of its intersection with Conde Avenue and goes south to Bienville Boulevard.
#26 FORT GAINES TRAIL
named for Fort Gaines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gaines_(Alabama) built on the eastern tip of Dauphin Island to protect the bay and any ships taking refuge there after President Monroe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe protested Europe's interference with affairs in the United States. Prior to the bridge being built in the early 1950s, the main road on the island was the FORT GAINES TRAIL. There is no Fort Gaines Trail on present-day Dauphin Island.
#27 FORT LOUIS COURT
named for Fort Louis de la Mobile http://fortwiki.com/Fort_Louis_de_la_Louisiane , built in 1702 at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mobile_Site on the Mobile River and established as the capital of French Louisiana. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop and runs only one block south of its intersection with Bienville Boulevard near Cadillac Square.
#28 FORT MIMS PLACE
named for Fort Mims https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mims_massacre on the Alabama River near present-day Stockton, scene of a massacre by the Creek Indians in 1813, a barbaric act that aroused the entire nation. This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#29 FORT ROSALIE PLACE
named for Fort Rosalie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rosalie , now the city of Natchez, a French fort on the Mississippi River built by Bienville in 1715 and named in honor of the wife of Pontchartrain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Ph%C3%A9lypeaux . This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#30 FORT STODDERT
named for Fort Stoddert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Stoddert built on Mobile River just above Ellicott's Stone (near Mount Vernon, Alabama) as a stronghold for the United States as this country watched the Spaniards who then held Mobile. This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#31 FORT TENSAS PLACE (pronounced Tensaw)
named for the fortifications on Tensas River which for many years was the most important navigable stream leading to Mobile Bay from the inland areas.This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#32 FORT TOMBECBE PLACE
named for Fort Tombecbe http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3080 which was built by Bienville in 1735 on the Tombigbee River.This east to west dead end street begins on the east at its intersection with Forney Johnston Drive.
#33 GENERAL ANDERSON PLACE
named for General Charles D. Anderson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_DeWitt_Anderson , commander of Fort Gaines at the time it was lost to the Federal forces in battles preliminary to the capture of Mobile near the end of the Civil War. (ed. note: Anderson was really "Colonel Anderson" in the Confederate Army) This west to east dead end street begins on its western end at its intersection with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg. cgi?page=gr&GRid=42498696
#34 GENERAL GAINES PLACE(ed. note: Of all the mistakes in this listing of Dauphin Island street names, THIS IS THE WORST! Corrections to the original text will follow.)
named for General George S. Gaines http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1476 who operated a large Trading House at St. Stephens, an important outpost in the young United States, while Mobile was still held by the Spanish during the early days on the nineteenth century. As a trader, General Gaines was one of the first business men to see the need of the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway as he in 1810 was barging supplies down the Ohio River from Pittsburg, then up the Tennessee River to Calbert's [sic-ed. note: Colbert's] Ferry from where his goods were carried overland to the Tombigbee River (history of Cotton Gin Port, Ms.http://files.usgwarchives.net/ms/monroe/history/cottongp.txt ) and then barged on downstream to St. Stephens. (ed. note: The biographical information on George S. Gaines is correct, howeveer, Gaines was never a general and he is not the namesake for Fort Gaines. That honor goes to his brother, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3063 .
This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive.
Find-A-Grave link for General E.P. Gaines http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10656863 Find-A-Grave link for his brother, George S. Gaines http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26236017
#35 GENERAL GORGAS DRIVE
named for General William Crawford Gorgas http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1048 , the only native Alabamian to be placed in the American Hall of Fame, a Mobilian who destroyed yellow fever in the Canal Zone, thereby making possible the completion of the Panama Canal. This north to south street begins on the north at its intersection with Fort Charlotte Avenue and dead ends just beyond its intersection with General Wilkinson Place. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=6843719&page=gr
#36 GENERAL LEDBETTER PLACE [sic- ed. note, should read "LEADBETTER"]
named for General Danville Ledbetter http://www.geni.com/people/Brig-General-Danville-Leadbetter-CSA/6000000012567400042 , a West Point graduate who superintended Fort Morgan repairs and the building of Fort Gaines, who was in charge of building of the Mobile Custom House (now a municipally owned building housing the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and other important organizations and institutions[ed. note:demolished in 1963 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Campbell_United_States_Courthouse#/media/File:Custom_House_in_Mobile_1894.jpg ] ), and who later became a general in the Confederate Army. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11008
#37 GENERAL PAGE PLACE
named for General R.L. Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lucian_Page , heroic commander of Fort Morgan at the time of its surrender to Federal troops during the Civil War. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://forums.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11042
#38 GENERAL WILKINSON PLACE
named for General James Wilkinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilkinson who occupied Mobile, seizing it from the Spanish during the War of 1812 because of Spain's alliance with England. This east to west dead end street begins where its west end intersects with General Gorgas Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14093089 (ed. note: The estate of General Wilkinson made a claim to having been deeded Dauphin Island during the Spanish regime but it was denied by the Private Land Claims Commission of Alabama in about 1838)
#39 GORDON PERSONS OVERSEAS HIGHWAY
named for Gordon Persons who was Governor of Alabama when the Dauphin Island Bridge was built. (Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for Gordon Persons http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1911 Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7419419 )
#40 GRANT STREET
named for John Grant who in 1839 secured permission from the Alabama legislature to dredge the "Cedar Point Channel" and operate it as a toll passage. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/KNIPPERS-CLARENCE/2006-11/1164033069 This north to south street is NE of the 3-way stop. This street begins on the north near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay at Carolyn Circle and ends on the south at its intersection with Bienville Boulevard. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=28227297
#41 HAMILTON PLACE
named for Peter Joseph Hamilton, a great student of Mobile history, author of "Colonial Mobile," one of the best known books on historic Mobile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Hamilton This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94069092
#42 HERMES PLACE (pronounced Her-mees)
named for the British warship "Hermes" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes_(1811) destroyed in an attack on Fort Bowyer (where Fort Morgan now stands) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bowyer
when a British fleet of thirty-eight warships attacked Dauphin Island and the fort after the Battle of New Orleans in the "War of 1812." There have been seven other warships in the British Navy carrying this renowned name since then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes (ed. note: Here's another place where D.I.'s "Founding Fathers" "flubbed the dub." The Hermes was not part of the large British fleet that attacked Fort Bowyer during THE SECOND BATTLE OF FORT BOWYER in February of 1815. The "Hermes" sank during the FIRST BATTLE OF FORT BOWYER in September of 1814 http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3582 ) This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end.
#43 HERNANDO STREET
named for Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer who set out to conquer and colonize Florida for Spain, but who instead won fame by the discovery of the Mississippi River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with Bienville Boulevard and ends at its intersection with Hernando Place on the south near the shore of Pelican Bay. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7450123
#44 HITCHCOCK PLACE
named for Judge Henry Hitchcock, secretary of the Alabama Territory and acting governor who did much of the work on the first Alabama constitution and was elected its first attorney general, later becoming U.S. attorney for the southern district of Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hitchcock This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49077311
#45 HOUSTON PLACE
named for General Samuel Houston, one of the greatest men in Texas history and a distinguished visitor to Mobile in the years just before the Civil War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=510
#46 HUBERT STREET (pronounced Hu-bare)
named for Marc Antoine Hubert, the commissary-general of Louisiana from 1716-1720, who lived on Dauphin Island from 1716 to 1718. https://books.google.com/books?id=0S6n0VOSXE8C&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=%22marc+antoine+hubert%22+1717&source=bl&ots=tGxi3okg2i&sig=4ACcvc92Xt2KaZ90PhmnufMb320&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwA2oVChMIvsGlxICYyQIVTHs-Ch3elQmQ#v=onepage&q=%22marc%20antoine%20hubert%22%201717&f=false This short north to south street is located NE of the 3-way stop. Its north end begins near the shore of Little Dauphin Island Bay and ends on the south at its intersection with Cadillac Avenue. Find-A-Grave link for Hubert was not found.
#47 HUITRES PLACE (pronounced Wee-tre)
named for Pointe-aux-Huitres, meaning Oyster Point because of the great abundance of oysters found there by the French, and now called Cedar Point. http://dauphinislandhistory.org/fleur/fleur9-11.pdf This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end.
#48 HUNLEY PLACE
named for Horace L. Hunley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Lawson_Hunley , the financier for "THE HUNLEY" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunley_(submarine), a submarine built in Mobile and the first one credited with sinking a warship. This short east to west dead end street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on its east end at its intersection with Hernando Street and ends on the west at its dead end. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10886
#49 IBERVILLE DRIVE
named for Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Le_Moyne_d%27Iberville , chosen by the French king https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France to carry out LaSalle's dream of establishing a French colony on the Gulf Coast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_Texas , who persuaded the French king to let him establish his colony on Mobile Bay at Isle Dauphine and on Mobile River at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mobile_Site . As French Commander for the New World, he sent his young twenty-one year old brother, Bienville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Le_Moyne,_Sieur_de_Bienville , to establish the fort at Mobile and the base at Dauphin Island. This north to south street is SE of the 3-way stop. This street begins at its intersection with Alabama Avenue and ends south of its intersection with Itasca Place near the Isle Dauphine Golf Course. Find-A-Grave link for Iberville http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=149735676 Find-A-Grave link for Bienville http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10749466
#50 INDIAN PLACE
named for the twenty-four Indian tribes which lived peacefully near Mobile and which maintained close friendship with the French in Mobile. This east to west street is SE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the east at its intersection with Hernando Street and goes west to a dead end past its intersection with Iberville Drive. Penicaut's https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpe23 commentary from page 206 of FLEUR DE LYS AND CALUMET: "These savages are named the Chaqtos, the Taouachas, the Apalaches, the Tinssas, the Mobilians, the Tomez, the Gensdes Fourches [McWilliams' footnote 13: The first seven tribes named are small tribes living near Fort Louis de la Mobile. The Naniabas, who lived at The Forks (FOURCHES) of the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers, are omitted from this list. Surely they come to sing the calumet to the new governor and share in French largess. The deduction is that Gens des Fourches were the Naniabas) the Chactas, the Pascagoulas, the Passacolas, the Capinans, the Colapissas, the Bayagoulas, the Oumas, the Tonicas, the Chaouchas, the Natchez, the Chicachas, the Nassitoches, the Yatacez, the Alabamons, the Canapouces, and others [McWilliams' footnote 14: I have twenty-two tribes listed. But I had to supply Chactas, Pascagoulas and Passacolas from Spofford, p. 372. Margry has nineteen in his list (DECOUVERTES, V, 547) Several of these tribes had come from a great distance: the Chicachas from north Mississippi and Tennessee; the Nassitoches and Yatacez from the Red River; the Canapouces(Catawba) from Carolina. But French presents no doubt paid them well for the effort.]
These calumets of peace lasted more than two months because the savages, being too badly separated one from another, could not all be there at the same time. They were all well received by M. de l'Epinet, who sent them back home with presents." Link to page 206 of FLEUR DE LYS AND CALUMET https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ9phjBhQyQC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=%22fleur+de+lys+and+calumet%22+%22fourches%22&source=bl&ots=y6rlv0sliT&sig=TVCCNZF7p5wLf2H3GVzils0ajiM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIhrbHuvKcyQIVSxo-Ch3h6Q3H#v=onepage&q=%22fleur%20de%20lys%20and%20calumet%22%20%22fourches%22&f=false
#51 INEZ PLACE
named for the book "Inez: A Tale of The Alamo," (link to the novel's text https://archive.org/details/ineztaleofalamo00evaniala link to Encyclopedia of Alabama entry http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/m-2187 ) written by Mobile's famous writer, Augusta Evans Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Jane_Evans . This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link for Augusta Evans Wilson http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=30565410
#53 INFANTA PLACE
named for the "heir apparent" to the French throne when Isle Dauphine was first settled https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis,_Grand_Dauphin. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Link to the burial place of Louis, the Grand Dauphin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St_Denis
#54 INGRAHAM PLACE
named for Joseph Holt Ingraham https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Holt_Ingraham , rector of St. John's Church in Mobile http://www.stjohnsmobile.org/history_info around the year 1800[ed. note: this date is a mistake. Ingraham came to Mobile in 1855 at age 46 to become rector of St. Johns.], and who wrote three successful religious novels. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection with Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12212059
#55 IROQUOIS PLACE
named for the Iroquois Indianshttp://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Rene_R._de_La_Salle , the French name for a once powerful Confederacy of six North American Indian Tribes that came into early conflict with the French and were a barrier to their southward advance from Canada. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive.
#56 IRVING PLACE
named for Washington Irving https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving , distinguished visitor to Mobile in the years just before the Civil War. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=531 [ed. note: Washington Irving visited Alabama in 1832 when he took the mail stage from New Orleans to Mobile, Montgomery and points east. Madame LeVert encountered Irving on another stagecoach ride between Saratoga and New York City. Their conversation resulted in Irving encouraging her to write down her ideas. Irving is quoted as saying of Madame LeVert, "But one such woman is born in the course of an empire."
This link tells the story of how young Octavia Walton (Levert) met Washington Irving. https://books.google.com/books?id=1o5BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=%22washington+irving%22+%22madame+levert%22&source=bl&ots=d28ep3sVNI&sig=uwAff3-5RfRgt7LWB-UMDuYhS4c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3mveCq4nLAhUB1CYKHYt6D1kQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22washington%20irving%22%20%22madame%20levert%22&f=false
#57 ISABELLA POINT
named for Isabella de Bobadilla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In%C3%A9s_de_Bobadilla , the wife of Hernando DeSoto, Isabella is said to have waited in vain at Dauphin Island for the return of DeSoto who was killed while on one of his extensive exploration trips through the Mississippi Valley. Isabella had been escorted to the Mobile Bay area by Captain Maldonado, the Spanish fleet commander in support of DeSoto. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=151099253 (ed. note: Isabella Point was enlarged to build Dauphin Island's JEREMIAH A. DENTON AIRPORT.)#
#58 ITASCA PLACE
named for the U.S. ship "Itasca" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Itasca_(1861) of four guns which was among the fleet of wooden ships blockading Mobile Bay in the Civil War. This east to west street is located SE of the 3-way stop. This street is located on both sides of its intersection Iberville Drive.
#59 JEFFERIES BEACH
named for A. Beverly Jefferies who was Chairman of the Mobile County Board of Revenue and Road Commissioners when plans were formulated for building the Gordon Persons Overseas Highway and the Dauphin Island Bridge. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66928804 (ed. note: At present, the original location of Jefferies Beach is unknown to this writer."Beverly Jefferies Highway" is located east of Citronelle.)
#60 KEY STREET
named for Francis Scott Key https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key , author of "The Star Spangled Banner," who was a goodwill ambassador from the United States government to Alabama when President Jackson had enraged the Alabama governor by sending Federal troops to enforce an Indian treaty(link to the story of Key's visit to Alabama http://alabamapioneers.com/francis-scott-key-close-friendship-alabama-governor-gayles-wife-daughter/#sthash.QKr5jQXs.dpbs ). Most of this north to south street is NE of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with DeSoto Avenue and ends south of Bienville Boulevard at its intersection with Alabama Avenue. Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=578
#61 LACKLAND STREET
named for Samuel Houston Lackland, one of the founders of Mobile's Azalea Trail http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310summer07/hinds/history.htmland a staunch supporter of Dauphin Island for many years. Most of this north to south street in NW of the 3-way stop. It begins on the north at its intersection with DeSoto Avenue and ends south of Bienville Boulevard at its intersection with Alabama Avenue. Find-A-Grave link >http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=105033426
named for some of the early settlers and large land owners on Dauphin Island who held their title from a Spanish land grant. http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/w/e/e/David-A-Weeks/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0286.html FROM THE PRECEDING LINK: "On December 5, 1783, a Spanish grant was recorded to Joseph Moro/Moreau. At his death he willed this to his niece, Euphrosie Lemé/ L'May. A patent from the United States to Augustin LaCoste, her son, dated May 22, 1838, covered 2264.12 acres of Dauphin Island. Later portions of this were sold to Garrow, Brown, Lyon & others."
[ The origin of all modern day legal land titles on Dauphin Island originate with a Spanish re-grant of British title to the island which was allowed by the provisions of a treaty ending THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
From Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE, page 263:
"This is the first instance in these records of re-granting what had been British property. The Versailles treaty of peace of September 3, 1783, was to allow eighteen months for British subjects to sell and leave, and the time was extended six months longer ; but this treaty was not yet concluded. While West Florida was Spanish in fact, the war continued elsewhere until that treaty recognized the independence of the United States, and at the same time confirmed East and West Florida to Spain.
The most prominent re-grant was that by Governor Grimarest of Dauphine Island to Joseph Moro, the origin, in fact, of the existing title to that historic spot. Moro's petition of July 31, 1781, is dated at New Orleans, and says that he is an inhabitant of that city. Galvez the next day directs Grimarest to investigate the matter, and if the land is vacant to put Moro into possession and return the proceedings made out 'in continuation' with the commission, — a substitute for the endorsements on original papers by officials in our practice. September 21 of the same year there was a report by Charles Parent, Orbano Demouy, Dubroea, and Louis Carriere, who had been called on for evidence.
For some reason the matter was held up over two years, until after peace was declared; for Grimarest's concession to Moro bears date December 5, 1783, after J. B. Lamy had made a settlement in the centre of the island. In 1785 we find the king maintaining there a pilot and four sailors at an expense of $696.00."]
LaCoste Court is northwest of the 3-Way stop and is a short north-to-south street on the south side of Cadillac Avenue.
Findagrave link for AUGUSTIN LACOSTE http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=lacoste&GSfn=augustin&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=144268132&df=all&
#63 LAFAYETTE PLACE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette
named for Lafayette who in 1825 on his visit to Mobile proclaimed Mobile women the fairest in America.
From a historic marker on Government Street in Mobile.
| Marker Number 28: Lafayette Visits Mobile. Location: Government Street (between Claiborne and Jackson). Text: On this site stood the home of Samuel M. Garrow, where the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained on his visit to Mobile, April 7, 1825. Lafayette, French officer, statesman, and hero of the American Revolution, visited the United States as "Guest of the Nation" in 1824-1825. Mobile gave an enthusiastic welcome to the distinguished general. |
Historic Mobile Preservation Society 1936 (replaced 1975)
|
In the days before Mobile had a mayor, Samuel H. Garrow was the last of what was called the President of Mobile, an office he served in between 1818 and 1819. Years later, he went on to serve as the fifth mayor of Mobile from 1824 to 1827 and again later from 1829 to 1831.
On April 8, 1825, the day after he was entertained by Garrow, Lafayette was accompanied by Alabama Governor Pickens by steamboat down Mobile Bay to Mobile Point, where he joined an official welcoming party from Louisiana. He boarded the original steamer Natchez (built in 1823) which took him to New Orleans to continue his tour of America.
On April 11, 1825, Lafayette arrived in Chalmette, La, which was the site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. Remaining in New Orleans for several days of festivities, he lodged in the The Cabildo, the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremonies in 1803. On April 15, 1825, Lafayette departed New Orleans on the steamer Natchez up the Mississippi River towards Baton Rouge."
Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1641
Lafayette Place is located southeast of the 3-way stop. It is a short east to west street on the east side of LaSalle Street just south of Alabama Avenue.
#64 LAFITTE PLACE (pronounced La-feet) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lafitte
named for Jean LaFitte, "The Pirate of the Gulf," whose bands joined the forces of General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lafitte
LaFitte Place is located southeast of the 3-way stop. It is a short east to west street on the east side of LaSalle Street. Findagrave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=93728676
#65 LAMOTHE PLACE (pronounced La-mott) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_la_Mothe_Cadillac
named for Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, second Governor of Louisiana Territory. LAMOTHE PLACE is located southeast of the 3-way stop. It is a short east to west street on the east side of LaSalle Street. FINDAGRAVE LINK http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113583180
#66 LASALLE STREET https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle
named for Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, explorer for France of the Mississippi River from Canada to the Gulf, and commander of the first French attempt to colonize the Gulf Coast. LASALLE STREET is located southeast of the 3-way stop. It is a north to south street running south from Alabama Avenue and dead ends at the main dune next to Isle Dauphine Golf Club. FINDAGRAVE LINK http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8676075
#67 LA VENTE STREET
named for M. Henri Roulleaux de la Vente, who came to Mobile on the French ship PELICAN and was the first pastor of the church at Fort Louis ed la Mobile.
from the link https://www.southalabama.edu/archaeology/education-meet-the-colonists.html
Henri Roulleaux de La Vente - born about 1655,
died July 9, 1717
La Vente was around fifty years old and already an experienced missionary priest when he arrived at the troubled Mobile colony in 1704. We know quite a bit about La Vente because he maintained a lively correspondence with his superiors in Paris and Québec. His early letters speak of the poor health of the colonists and the need for supplies and additional missionaries. In letters he included a detailed list of supplies needed for the parish church and for making existence in Louisiana more bearable. It seems that La Vente was an enterprising man, for many of the items he requested were intended for trade with the Indians. One letter, entitled "General Memoir of Merchandise," requests glass beads, knives, brightly colored fabric, and trade muskets, among other goods. He probably hoped to alleviate the poor financial state of the new parish through regular trade with neighboring Indians. The commandant of the colony, Bienville, saw this commerce as unbefitting the duties of a parish priest and sternly accused La Vente of selling the King's merchandise at exorbitant prices. It was these accusations that eventually led to La Vente's return to Paris in 1710.
On the frontier of the New World, religion was especially important for the colonists. The ability to properly maintain the rituals, such as baptism, marriage, and funeral rites, probably helped them feel not quite so far from home. As parish priest, La Vente was thus an important figure and regarded by the inhabitants as a leader in the small colony. Because his ideas of how the colony should run differed from Bienville's, conflict was inevitable. From the outset, Bienville was disappointed by the appointment of such an elderly priest as La Vente. He would have preferred a younger Jesuit priest who would be more diligent about learning the native languages and serving as a mediator between the French and the Indians. As evidenced by his letters, La Vente seemed more interested in securing all the comforts of a parish priest in France. He even requested that materials be sent for the construction of a billiard table.
La Vente constantly badgered Bienville about the construction of a parish church. Not until 1708 did the commandant finally begin building a church, but he left it to La Vente to supply the windows, door, and roof. Another of La Vente's primary concerns was the lack of white women for the colonists to marry. Many men purchased Indian slave women to serve as live-in housekeepers. La Vente was initially very upset by this practice, which the Church considered immoral, and he constantly wrote to his superiors requesting support for his position. However, after several years at Mobile, La Vente changed his mind. He came to understand that he himself could make right the situation by joining together the Frenchmen and their female Indian companions in marriage. He anticipated the reaction of his superiors when he wrote, in 1708, that the intermarriage of French and Indians would not "have any ill effect on the blood of the French."
Despite historical evidence that La Vente was materialistic, quarrelsome, and contemptuous, he is best remembered as the first curé of the first church of Mobile. Throughout his stay, he remained energetic, persistent in his opinions, and resolute in his quest to forge from the rough wilds a solid parish church befitting the brave colonists who sustained it.
Sources: Higginbotham, Jay. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702-1711. Mobile: Museum of the City of Mobile, 1977.
Roulleaux de la Vente, Henri. Letters from the collection of the Archives du Séminaire de Québec, Canada.
LAVENTE STREET is northwest of the 3-way stop. It is a two block long north to south street which connects Desoto Avenue with Cadillac Avenue.
LAVENTE STREET is northwest of the 3-way stop. It is a two block long north to south street which connects Desoto Avenue with Cadillac Avenue.
#68 LAVIGNE PLACE (pronounced La-veen-ye)
named for M. LaVigne Voisin, builder of a fort, a church and other public buildings on Dauphin Island with the permission of Bienville. According to McWilliams in FLEUR DE LIS AND CALUMET,quotes Penicault as writing that in 1709 Captain LaVigne Voisin of St. Malo arrived to build a primitive stockade on Dauphin Island along with the church which was destroyed by Jamaican pirates in 1710 and gave rise to Dauphin Island's legend of west street on the east side of LaSalle Street just south of Alabama Avenue.
(from page 166 of Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE: It was in 1709 that La Vigne Voisin, a captain from St.
Malo, who some years later was to try to trade with the Span-
iards, obtained permission to improve the place, and to him,
says Penicaut, was due its fort to defend the harbor and the very
beautiful church {fort helle eglise) facing the water, which
attracted people even from near Mobile. This fort seems to
have fallen into decay, or been ill located. At all events,
L'Epinay was in 1717 to build another at half a gunshot from
the sea.)
#69 LEMOYNE DRIVE
named for the five LeMoyne Brothers - Bienville, Iberville, Chateaugue, Serigny, St. Helene- who founded Mobile and served the Mobile area for many years during its early days of trial and vicissitudes; probably the most important single name in the history of Mobile and of French Louisiana when that province occupied three fifths of the North American continent.
The Wikipedia link for the father of the LeMoyne Brothers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_le_Moyne_de_Longueuil_et_de_Ch%C3%A2teauguay There are two sections of LEMOYNE DRIVE. The northern section begins at the Dauphin Island Bridge and ends at the 3-way stop. The southern section begins behind the water tower at Alabama Avenue and ends at Louisiane Avenue which runs along the main dune line. (ed. note: St. Helene did not come to Mobile or Louisiana but he had a son who had a career in Louisiana)
#70 LEVERT STREET
named for Madame Octavia Walton LeVert, the glamorous world society leader and patron of the arts; symbol of the extravagance, elegance, and refinement of Mobile in the Golden Fifties. Wikipedia link for Madame Levert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Walton_Le_Vert
A story about Madame Levert by Virginia Clay-Clopton:
"That visit to Mobile was my first flight into the beautiful world that lay beyond the horizon of my school life. In the enjoyments devised for me by my father in those few charmed days, I saw, if not clearly, at least prophetically, what of beauty and joy life might hold for me. Upon our arrival in the lovely little Bay city, my father, learning of a ball for which preparations were on foot, determined I should attend it. Guided perhaps in his choice of colour by the tints of health that lay in his little daughter's cheeks, he selected for me a gown of peach-blossom silk, which all my life I have remembered as the most beautiful of dresses, and one which transformed me heretofore confined to brown holland gowns by my prudent aunt, Mrs. Battle, as truly as Cinderella was changed into a princess.
Upon the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten Boat Club Ball, blushing and happy, eager, with delightful
anticipations, yet timorous, too, for my guardians, the Battles, had disapproved of dancing and had rigorously excluded this and other worldly pleasures from their ward's accomplishments, I was conducted by my father to the ball. In my heart lay the fear that I would be, after all, a mere looker-on, or appear awkward if I should venture to dance as did the others; but neither of these misgivings proved to have been well founded.
My father led me at once to Mme. Le Vert, then the reigning queen of every gathering at which she appeared, and in her safe hands every fear vanished. I had heard my elders speak frequently of her beauty, and somehow had imagined her tall. She was less so than I had pictured, but so winning and cordial to me, a timid child, that I at once capitulated before the charm she cast over everyone who came into conversation with her. I thought her face the sweetest I had ever seen. She had a grace and frankness which made everyone with whom she talked feel that he or she alone commanded her attention. I do not recall her making a single bon mot, but she was vivacious and smiling. Her charm, it seemed to me, lay in her lovely manners and person and her permeating intellectuality.
I remember Mme. Le Vert's appearance on that occasion distinctly, though to describe it now seems garish. To see her then was bewildering, and all her colour was harmony. She wore a gown of golden satin, and on her hair a wreath of coral flowers, which her morocco shoes matched in hue. In the dance she moved like a bird on the wing. I can see her now in her shining robe, as she swayed and glided, holding the shimmering gown aside as she floated through the "ladies' chain." The first dance of my life was a quadrille, viz-Ã -vis with this renowned beauty, who took me under her protection and encouraged me from time to time.
"Don't be afraid, my dear," she would sweetly say
"Do just as I do," and I glided after my wonderful instructress like one enchanted, with never a mishap.
Mme. Le Vert, who in years to come became internationally celebrated, was a kinswoman of Clement Claiborne Clay, and in after times, when I became his wife, I often met her, but throughout my long life I have remembered that first meeting in Mobile, and her charm and grace have remained a prized picture in my memory. It was of this exquisite belle that Washington Irving remarked: "But one such woman is born in the course of an empire."
Here's a story of Octavia Walton (LeVert) meeting Lafayette during his visit to Mobile in 1825: LaFayette's last visit to this country marked an ever
memorable date in the girlhood's calendar of Madam Le-
FINDAGRAVE LINK for Octavia Walton Levert http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14168693Here's a story of Octavia Walton (LeVert) meeting Lafayette during his visit to Mobile in 1825: LaFayette's last visit to this country marked an ever
memorable date in the girlhood's calendar of Madam Le-
Vert. The old paladin of liberty was anxious to meet the
widow of the signer, Octavia's grandmother, but she was
too feeble to undertake the journey from home and Octavia was sent in her stead. She was entrusted with a miniature of her grandfather, by whom the old soldier had been entertained on his former visit to Georgia, and to whom he was still endeared by the lingering memories
of the Revolution. But he scarcely needed the
help of the portrait to recall the features of Mr. Walton ; and he was struck with the resemblence between the little girl and the
signer. Moreover, he was delighted because she could talk to him in French.
#71 LOCKENBIE PLACE
an ancestral home in the history and development of Dauphin Island. (ed. note: this street name along with ANNANDALE appears related to the genealogy of Forney Johnston's family http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/johnston/8602/
#72 LONGFELLOW PLACE
named for Henry W. Longfellow, the famous American poet, who visited Mobile in the years just before the Civil War. (ed. note: There is no reason to believe Longfellow ever visited Mobile or any other place on the Gulf Coast even though Pascagoula claims to have a "LONGFELLOW HOUSE." This writer's opinion is that Longfellow's link to Dauphin Island comes via his being the author of the poem "Evangeline" set in Old Louisiana and through Longfellow's correspondence with Madame LeVert)
#73 LOUISIANNE AVENUE
named for the great province of Louisiana which was founded by the French with Mobile as its capital in 1702. Louisianne Avenue is an east to west street located south of the 3-way stop at the southern most end of LaSalle Street on the east and the southern most end of Mississippi Street on the west. This link is about the archaeology of Old Mobile, [ed. note: The street signs on LOUISIANNE AVENUE are misspelled.)
https://www.southalabama.edu/archaeology/old-mobile.html
#74 MAJOR FARMAR STREET
named for Major Robert Farmar who took possession of Mobile and the Alabama-Tombigbee area for the English king when the "Peace of Paris" was signed in 1763, and governed Mobile throughout most of the English administration. Major Farmar Street is northwest of the 3-way stop. It is a north turn off of Bienville Boulevard that connects to Cadillac Avenue on its north end. This is a link to an earlier post on this blog describing Major Farmar's role in DAUPHIN ISLAND'S NINTH ARMED AMPHIBIOUS INVASION http://dauphinislandhistory.blogspot.com/2015/08/monday-may-1-1769-ninth-armed.html
This is the link to the Encyclopedia of Alabama entry for MAJOR ROBERT FARMAR
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2613
This is the link for the description and location of the Major Robert Farmar Plantation Historic Marker near the Tensas River in Baldwin County. Major Farmar died in 1778 and he is believed to be buried on this property. http://www.lat34north.com/historicmarkersal/MarkerDetail.cfm?KeyID=02-02&MarkerTitle=Major%20Robert%20Farmar%20Plantation%20
(ed. note: Someone has defaced the east side of FARMAR STREET street sign at Bienville Boulevard. They have TAPED OVER THE SECOND "A" IN THE WORD "FARMAR" SO AS TO MAKE IT SPELL "FARMER." )
#75 MALDONADO PLACE
named for Francisco Maldonado, one of DeSoto's favorite young officers, who came to meet DeSoto in Mobile Bay with supplies and who escorted Lady Isabella, DeSoto's wife, but whom DeSoto failed to meet because of Indian trouble. Maldonado Place is just southwest of the 3-way stop. Maldonado Place is a south turn off of Alabama Avenue that connects to Mississippi Street on its east end.
This is a link that summarizes the attempt of Francisco Maldonado to evacuate the DeSoto Expedition from the Gulf Coast. This material states that in October of 1540, Maldonado had anchored his supply ships in the "Bay of Ochuse" which the author interprets to be present-day Pensacola Bay, however, after DeSoto received Maldonado's message, he declined to evacuate his expedition and that up until 1543, Maldonado returned to the bays of the northern Gulf of Mexico in an attempt to rescue DeSoto and his men. http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00025122/00002/5j
This link examines the confusion created when FRANCISCO MALDONADO was misidentified as "Diego Maldonado" by a famous DeSoto chronicler: The correct name of Francisco Maldonado is well documented from contemporary records of the Soto expedition and elsewhere, but later Soto chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega (1605) incorrectly reported his first name as Diego, and this erroneous name appears frequently in the secondary literature about Maldonado's visits. Garcilaso's account is famous for its exaggerations and misplaced names. http://uwf.edu/jworth/spanfla_450th.htm
#76 MARQUETTE PLACE
named for Father Jacques Marquette who along with Father Joliet discovered the source of the Mississippi River and who was a great pioneer of this entire area. Wikipedia link for Father Jacques Marquette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Marquette
Marquette Place is located just southwest of the 3-way stop. It is a short street that dead ends west of Mississippi Street.
This link says that Joliet was not a Jesuit priest but had been educated in that order.https://books.google.com/books?id=Oy4_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA692&lpg=PA692&dq=%22joliet+was+not+a+priest%22&source=bl&ots=OjLN83NMlU&sig=FsXYPs-RS5jhJKeWcksfnac18jU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiR6aSQyI7LAhXJeSYKHYLUClUQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22joliet%20was%20not%20a%20priest%22&f=false
Findagrave link for Father Marquette
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=671
#77 MAUVILLA PLACE
named for Mauvilla, a capital city of the Mobile Indians, located between the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, a hundred miles north of present day Mobile, and scene of a battle between DeSoto and the Indians. Mauvilla Place is located just southwest of the 3-way stop. It is a short street that dead ends west of Mississippi Street.
This is the wikipedia link for the word "MAUVILLA" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauvilla
The wikipedia link for "MABILA" describes the Indian village where DeSoto fought. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabila
#78 MCINTOSH PLACE
named for McIntosh Bluff on the Tombigbee River where one of the first British settlements in the Gulf Coast area was established in 1763 and which was the first county seat of Washington County.
McIntosh Place is located just southwest of the 3-way stop. It is a short street that dead ends west of Mississippi Street. This is the wikipedia link for MCINTOSH BLUFF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_Bluff
#79 MISSISSIPPI STREET
named for the Mississippi River and the area around it which attracted so many explorers from the Old World and which, therefore, was an important factor in the development of the Mobile Bay and River area. Mississippi Street is just southwest of the 3-way stop. This street turns south off of Alabama Avenue and ends near the main dune at its intersection with the west end of Louisianne Avenue. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in the Mississippi Sound goes underneath the Dauphin Island Bridge and connects the Mississippi Sound with the Mississippi River via Lake Ponchartrain and the Industrial Canal in New Orleans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Canal
This link shows how Iberville's Voyage of Discovery to Dauphin Island in 1699 was due to the island's strategic importance to France's goal of claiming the entire Mississippi River Valley as the province of Louisiana http://dauphinislandhistory.org/robertoreg/1st_invasion.htm
#80 MONBERAUT PLACE (pronounced Mun-be-ro)
named for Montaut de Monberaut, a prominent French official in the Mobile area for several years before the coming of the English, and who made many necessary treaties for the English with the Indians from his Mobile home. Monberaut Place is located just southwest of the 3-way stop. It is a short street that dead ends west of Mississippi Street. [ ed. note: "Monsier Montbereau" was the Deputy Indian Superintendent in Mobile during the British regime, circa 1765 https://books.google.com/books?id=2zglAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=%22Montaut+de+Monberaut%22&source=bl&ots=Dy5DURWAo-&sig=9vK6KuCMGFY9NlgvDEITTyhnXI0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiHlJqt4o7LAhXMPiYKHchrBlwQ6AEIOTAG#v=onepage&q=%22Montaut%20de%20Monberaut%22&f=false
(from page 185 of Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE: We learn from Monberaut, so influential among the Aliba-
mons, how well-to-do people lived at Mobile during the later
years of French rule. He had a pleasant country place, — Isle-
aux-Oies or Lisloy, — near the source of Fowl River, southwest
of Mobile. He was a widower with children, one, a boy named
after himself, growing into promising manhood. They lived
well, although with no attempt to dress in the fashions. First
and last he had twenty-six slaves, a steward or oecotiome, a good
cook, a hatterie de cuisine, and a large vacherie. Monberaut
cultivated a good garden, and was quite a sportsman ; for game
abounded, both on land and water. He also had a voiture, but
this, unlike Madame Vaudreuil's, was for water use, a boat rowed
by slaves. Monberaut did not own a town house, but is able to
tell us that living was very costly in La Mobille. A turkey cost
two piastres, a chicken half a piastre, eggs half a piastre the
dozen, a sheep five, a pot of milk one, and vegetables were so
dear that later an incoming British official insulted a retired
French captain over the price of his garden produce. Clothing
cost three quarters more in town. Houses were rented without
furniture. )
#81 NANAFALYA PLACE (pronounced Nanna-fa-ly-a)
named for the hills of Nanafalya, meaning long bluff, where there is an Indian village on the Tombigbee River. Nanafalya Place is located southwest of the 3-way stop. This is a short street that deadends east of its intersection with Natchez Street. [ed. note: The bluff is now generally spelled "Nanafalia" and is located in Choctaw County between Butler and Demopolis. Nanafalia Bluff gives its name to a lithostratigraphical term (naming of rock layers). NANAFALIA FORMATION is a layer of kaolin-rich Paleocene limestone found in a region of South Mississippi, South Alabama and South Georgia. The following link includes more information concerning NANAFALIA FORMATION LIMESTONE.http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/bcarter/histgeol/Lithostr/Lithostr.pdf
#82 NAPOLEON PLACE
named for Napoleon Bonaparte who during his control of France forced Spain to return the Louisiana territory to France, and who in 1803 sold the entire territory to the United States. Napoleon Place is located southwest of the 3-way stop. This is a short street that dead ends east of its intersection with Natchez Street. Wikipedia link for Napoleon Bonaparte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon Findagrave link for Napoleon Bonaparte http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1350 [ed. note: The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 initiated a boundary dispute around Dauphin Island which was not resolved until Andrew Jackson's army's victory at New Orleans in January of 1815. In 1810, the newly established REPUBLIC OF WEST FLORIDA extended its influence as nearby as Bayou La Batre. Soon after the U.S. conquered the Spanish at Mobile in April of 1813, the Royal Navy established control over Dauphin Island from the spring of 1814 until they finally departed in April of 1815.] Wikipedia link for the REPUBLIC OF WEST FLORIDA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_West_Florida
#83 NARBONNE PLACE (pronounced Nar-bone)
named for one of Mobile's early property owners who came while the French were here and remained as a large plantation owner during the reign of the British. Norbonne Place is located southwest of the 3-way stop. This is a short street that deadends east of its intersection with Natchez Street. (from page 138 of Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE: Eleven leagues from Mobile, and therefore near what is now called Chastang's, the Le Sueurs at one time had a plantation at a bluff on the west side of the river. It was afterwards the property of Narbonne. The description, owing to court proceedings, has survived in some detail. In 1756 the house was new, thirty feet long by twenty wide, a filled-in frame of posts, and roofed with bark. It had six windows and two doors and a clay chimney, with a gallery at one gable; there was also a lean-to (appentif) kitchen with chimney. To one side was a chicken house, and to the right of the yard (cour) a large structure sixty by thirteen feet, surrounded by posts and piling, covered with bark, used as a lodging for slaves. On the other side was a barn, twenty-five toises square. The place faced on the river fifteen arpens by two deep, and across the river there was another field (desert)ten arpens across front by two deep.)
#84 NARVAEZ STREET (pronounced Nar-veth)
named for Panfilo de Narvaez, the second European known to be in Mobile Bay, a trusted lieutenant of Velazques who took up Ponce de Leon's unfinished work in Florida. Narvaez Street is on both the north and south sides of Bienville Boulevard west of the 3-way stop and before the bridge over Salt Creek. The Wikipedia link for Panfilo de Narvaez https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1nfilo_de_Narv%C3%A1ez
#85 NATCHEZ STREET
named for a large tribe of highly civilized Indians living on the Mississippi River where the city of Natchez now stands and which was the site of Fort Rosalie, one of the most important French outposts during the administrations of Bienville, Cadillac, and L'Epinet. Natchez Street is southwest of the 3-way stop. This street turns south off of Alabama Avenue and ends is just southwest of the 3-way stop. This street turns south off of Alabama Avenue and ends near the main dune near the entrance to the Isle Dauphine Golf Course at the main dune. Wikipedia link to the Natchez Revolt of 1729 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_revolt
.
#86 NOTRE DAME PLACE
named for Notre Dame de la Mobile, one of Mobile's first churches. During the early days of French Louisiana, the activities of the Catholic Church for this entire area were directed from Quebec but in 1722 the Western Company of France who held a charter for the development of this area and who had pledged to build churches in Louisiana divided the Province into three missionary districts with the area from the Mississippi to the Perdido Rivers in the Mobile district. (from page 132 of Hamilton's COLONIAL MOBILE: "Aniand was cure until 1742, and it was during his administration the entries are made in 1741 that the church, never having been dedicated and being completely rebuilt (toute a
neuve), received the benediction the day of the nativity of the Holy Virgin. On that account he dedicated it to the Holy Virgin by special commission sent him by Reverend Father Pierre, Capuchin, then vicar -general of Monseigneur of Que- bec, who ordained that the anniversary- should be celebrated every year. From that time the church is known as Notre Dame de la Mobile. Jean Franc^ois was cure of the Apalaches, and occasionally acted for Amand, and on December 23, 1743, he succeeds Amand as cure. Occasionally we have entries by Prosper, missionary of the Apalaches, and Seraphim, who even signs as cure quite frequently in 1744, but Jean Frangois acts oftenest. In 1744 begins another register, this time of forty-four pages and for baptisms alone, of the parish of Notre Dame de la Mobile. It is numbered, and each page initialed, with many flourishes, by Bobe Descloseaux, commissary ^ and controller of the marine, exercising the function of judge at Mobile. This book was to outlast the French regime. The companion death register was issued by Descloseaux in 1754, and its forty- eight pages were to suffice even through 1803."
#87 OCTAVIA STREET
named for Octavia Walton LeVert whose home in Mobile was a gathering place of all those who had wonn fame in the field of politics, art, music and literature. Octavia Street is located northwest of the 3-way stop and is a south term off of Chaumont Avenue.Wikipedia link for Madame Levert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Walton_Le_Vert
FINDAGRAVE LINK for Octavia Walton Levert http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14168693
#88 OLIVE LANE
named for the "Vine and Olive" Colony, a colony established at the city of Demopolis by a group of exiled generals and noblemen from the court of Napoleon who planned to raise grape vines and olive trees from the young plants they brought with them.Wikipedia link for THE VINE AND OLIVE COMPANY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vine_and_Olive_Colony Olive Lane is the right turn on Orleans Drive just south of the intersection with Oleander.
#89 OLEANDER LANE
named for the beautiful flower, Oleander, that grows so abundantly in this area. Oleander Lane is a west turn off of Orleans Drive and it runs along the main dune line until is intersects with Pequeno Street. Wikipedia link for the genus Nerium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerium
#90 O'HARA LANE
named for Theodore O'Hara, editor of The Register during the absence of John Forsyth in Mexico as United States Minister, and composer of the famous poem "The Bivouac of The Dead," which is carved on the gates of the National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia. Wikipedia link for Thomas O'Hara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_O%27Hara
FINDAGRAVE link for Theodore O'Hara http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4236 O'Hara Lane connects Pequeno Street to Orleans Drive running parallel one block south of Bienville.
#91 OMEGA STREET
named in this manner as the last street among the trees on the western end of the main part of Dauphin Island. Omega Street is northwest of the 3-way stop. It is the last north turn off of Bienville Boulevard before the Salt Creek Bridge and it leads to the Jeremiah Denton Airport at Point Isabelle. Wikipedia link for OMEGA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega
#92 ORLEANS DRIVE
named for Phillipe, the Duke of Orleans, nephew of Louis XIV and Regent of France when the fort at Mobile was enlarged and named Fort Conde.
#93 OSPREY LANE
named for the sea bird that is often seen in the skies and on the beaches of Dauphin Island.
#94 PASCAGOULA STREET
named for the Pascagoula Indian tribe who were known as "bread eaters" and whose villages were on the Singing River and Pascagoula Bay where now stands the cities of Pascagoula and Moss Point, Mississippi.
#95 PELICAN STREET
named for both the great fishing bird of the Gulf area and for the ship "Pelican" which brought twenty-four carefully selected young ladies to Mobile to marry men in the colony who had no homes of their own.
#96 PENALVER STREET
named for Bishop Louis Penalver y Cardenas, the first bishop of the new diocese set up in 1795 in the provinces of Louisiana and Florida.
#97 PENICAULT STREET (Pen-e-co)
named for Penicault, a young Frenchman who roamed French Louisiana in the early days, a ship-carpenter by trade, probably the first Mobile history writer and as such a valuable informer regarding life in the new colony.
#98 PENSACOLA STREET
named for Pensacola which was established by the Spanish expedition at about the time d'Iberville first landed on Dauphin Island in 1699.
#99 PEQUENO STREET (pronounced Pe-cane-yo)
named fro on of the early Spanish settlers.
#100 PERDIDO STREET
named for Perdido Bay, the boundary between Spanish Florida and French Louisiana established in earliest colonial days.
#101 PIRATES COVE STREET
named for the pirates of LaFitte who gave valuable aid to General Andrew Jackson in his campaign in the Gulf area.
#102 PONCE DE LEON COURT
named for Ponce de Leon, the Spanish discoverer of Florida who believed that the "fountain of youth" existed in this part of the World.
#103 PONCHARTRAIN COURT
named for Monsier Ponchartrain, the French Minister of Marine, who authorized the establishment of Fort Louis de la Mobile as the capital of French Louisiana.
#104 PORTIER COURT (pronounced Porteer)
named for Reverend Michael Portier, the first Catholic Bishop in Mobile, who founded Spring Hill College in 1830.
#105 PORT ROYAL STREET
named for the Federal ship of eight guns, the "Port Royal," which was a member of the fleet that attacked Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay at the close of the Civil War.
#106 PRESIDENT JEFFERSON COURT
named for President Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and who successfully claimed that the Louisiana Purchase included the Gulf Coast from the Mississippi River eastward to the Perdido River.
#107 PUSHMATAHA COURT (pronounced Push-ma-ta-ha)
named for Pushmataha, most famous of the Choctaw chiefs, given the rank of general of the U.S. Army as a result of the services rendered by his Indians during the War of 1812.
#108 QUEBEC COURT
named for Quebec, the first permanent French colony in America, northern anchor (Mobile being the southern anchor) for the chain of settlements the French laid around the English colonies hoping to force the English off this continent.
#109 RAPHAEL SEMMES STREET
named for Admiral Raphael Semmes, a resident of Mobile who as a leader in the Confederacy was the only man in the Civil War to hold the rank of both admiral and general.
#110 RYAN COURT
named for Father Abram J. Ryan, pastor of St. Mary's Church, the leading literary figure in Mobile in the years before the Civil War, and "poet priest of the Confederacy."
#111 SAINT ANDREW COURT
named for Saint Andrew, one of the twelve apostles and patron saint of Scotland; and for the French ship, Le St. Andre which brought a cargo of food and one hundred German families to the Louisiana Province during the administration of Bienville as Governor General.
#112 SAINT DENIS COURT
named for Louis Juchereau, Sieur de St. Denis, one of the most successful traders in the Mobile colony, sent by Cadillac to trade with the Spanish colonies of the New World. As one-time commandant of Isle Dauphine, he successfully defended the Island against an attack from a Spanish expedition. On one of his missions into Spanish territory he was captured but fell in love with a Spanish girl, who he later married and moved to Mobile.
#113 SERIGNY STREET (pronounced Se-reen-ye)
named for Joseph LeMoyne, Sieur de Serigny, brother of Bienville who came to the Mobile colony in 1719 and contributed much by making accurate charts of Mobile Bay, the lower Mississippi River, and other waters along the Gulf Coast.
#114 TENNESSEE STREET
named for the "Tennessee," pride of the Confederate fleet, which single-handedly attacked the entire Federal fleet in the second conflict of the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864.
#115 TOMBIGBEE STREET
named for the great river which flows through east Mississippi and west Alabama and joins with the Alabama and joins with the Alabama River to form the Mobile River. This combined waterway is the second largest navigable water system on the North American Continent.
#116 TONTY STREET
named for General Henri de Tonty, LaSalle's deputy commander and only close friend, who joined Bienville's group after LaSalle's death at which time he earned the name of Hook Hand from the Indians who feared his wrath and who knew him by an iron hook which he wore as a substitute for a lost hand. Many think that General Tonty is buried at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff where Mobile was first built and where a giant rayon manufacturing plant is now operating.
THE STREETS OF DAUPHIN ISLAND
(the following listing of Dauphin Island's streets is found in S. Blake McNeely's book, THE DEVELOPMENT OF DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALABAMA.http://www.southalabama.edu/mccallarchives/guides_to_collections/mcneely/mcneely.shtml
I have added the streets' locations in relation to the three-way-stop at LeMoyne and Bienville , a Wikipedia link for the street's namesake and a Find-A-Grave link for the namesake if it applies.)
A Committee on Nomenclature of which Mr. Stephens G. Croom
(Stephens G. Croom [Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113268370] was born in 1906. Initially, Croom was active in the utility industry, but ultimately devoted forty years of his life to building a successful career in the insurance business. As a key member of the USS Alabama Development Committee Board, Stephens played a pivotal role in bringing the South Dakota-class battleship USS Alabama to Mobile and developing the site into a major tourist attraction. Both Stephens and his wife, Velma Lassiter Croom[Find-A-Grave link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113271720 ], were politically and civically active in Mobile society. Velma served as the president of the Junior League of Mobile, Inc., from 1950 to 1951. Stephens G. Croom died in 1992.) was Chairman, carefully selected names which are significant in the long, romantic and colorful history of this Island which played a vital part in the settlement of North America and which is being developed as one of America's greatest resort, retirement and recreational areas.
The Boulevards, Avenues, Lanes and Places run east and west. Drives, Streets and Courts run north and south. All names are arranged alphabetically, beginning at the Fort Gaines Park on the East and at the Sand Dunes on the South. The names of Places and Lanes begin with the same letter as the names of the streets with which they intersect- such names are arranged alphabetically southward from Bienville Boulevard. Names selected are significant to Dauphin Island.
A house numbering system was also developed whereby lots on the Avenues, Lanes and Places are given numbers corresponding with the overall numbering on Bienville Boulevard. The lots on the Drives, Streets and Courts will be numbered in accord with the numbering system on LeMoyne Drive.
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