In 1720, 88 young French women ages 12 to 30 volunteered to
travel to the Louisiana colony to become brides for the soldiers, sailors and
settlers in Biloxi. In August, they left the Salpetriere General Hospital in
Paris on board the ship La Baleine and arrived in what is now the Mississippi
Gulf Coast in January 1721. The women were labeled “casket girls” because of
the small wooden chests they carried containing clothes for their voyage. In
the year of their arrival, 60 of the women were married in Biloxi.
Historian and genealogist Randall Ladnier has researched
these pioneering women and written their history in a new book, “The Brides of La Baleine.” From these marriages are many of today’s families living in Louisiana
and along the Gulf Coast.
“The great majority of descendants from these girls possess
surnames found mostly in South Louisiana,” Ladnier wrote me by email. “For
example, Pierre Prudhomme married one of the brides and, although the couple
only had four children, his tree of descendants now contains more than 700
different surnames. I think it would be difficult to come up with a South
Louisiana surname which is not included in my book.”
In addition to information about the women raised at the
Salpetriere General Hospital, which Ladnier calls “a combination of a convent
and a concentration camp,” he details their backgrounds, their journey and
their offsprings, including a handy genealogical index in the back.
Ladnier and I met when he was passing through Lafayette and
he is passionate about both his book and the subject matter, insisting that
these women who helped populate the Louisiana colony are grossly overlooked and
misrepresented. He hopes proceeds from the book, plus grants and donations,
will help start either a museum or a monument in their honor.
History lovers and genealogists alike may enjoy this book.
Learn more at Ladnier’s website, www.labaleinebrides.org.
To purchase the book for $25 or download the PDF for $15, visit http://www.labaleinebrides.org/shop/
Pinckley Prizes
Louise Penny and Trudy Nan Boyce are the
recipients of the 2017 Pinckley
Prizes for Crime Fiction, sponsored by the Women’s National Book
Association of New Orleans. The prizes honoring two women writers will be
presented Sept. 8 at The Academy of the Sacred Heart/Nims Fine Arts Center,
4301 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans. The ticketed event is open to the public.
Winners receive both $2,500 and a trip to New Orleans to accept their prize. The
Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction was created in 2012 to honor the memory
of Diana
Pinckley, a crime fiction columnist for The New Orleans
Times-Picayune and her passion for mysteries.
Mystery festival
Five local authors or criminal activity experts will make
presentations at the third annual Jefferson Parish Library Mystery
Readers/Writers Literary Festival on Saturday at the East Bank Regional
Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave. in Metairie. The keynote speaker will be New
York Times bestselling author Erica Spindler, who will open the event at 9:30
a.m. Spindler’s novel “Bone Cold” won the Daphne du Maurier Award for
excellence and she received a Kiss of Death Award for her novels “Forbidden
Fruit” and “Dead Run.” Spindler is a three-time RITA Award finalist
and Publishers Weekly awarded the audio version of her novel “Shocking
Pink” a Listen Up Award, naming it one of the best audio mystery books of
1998. The event geared toward readers and writers of mysteries is free and open
to the public, no registration necessary.
Other presentations include:
10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m.,
“The Wheels of Justice” with Sal Perricone, a member of law enforcement for
nearly 40 years and author of the Crescent Criminality series.
Noon to 1:15 p.m.,
“High Speed Car Chases” with Jeff Blue, a former police officer and now an
attorney, who will discuss the reality of police pursuits based on his personal
experiences.
2 p.m.-3:15 p.m.,
“Hard Roll, A Paramedic’s Perspective of Life and Death in New Orleans” with
Jon McCarty, an emergency medic and co-creator of the New Orleans EMS Field
Training Officer program.
3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.,
“Master Class for Authors – Pacing for the Thriller or Mystery” with Bill
Loehfelm, author of the critically acclaimed Devil series about New
Orleans Police Department rookie Maureen Coughlin. He is also the author of the
stand-alone novels, “Fresh Kills” and “Bloodroot,” set in
his hometown of Staten Island.
The JPL Mystery Writers/Readers Festival is supported by the
New Orleans chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southern Louisiana Chapter of
the Romance Writers of America. For more information, contact Chris Smith, manager
of Adult Programming for the library, at (504) 889-8143 or write wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.
Cheré Coen is the author
of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette,
Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country.” She writes Louisiana romances under
the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
