The Saga of the Paul F. de Gournay Family in Baltimore

May 6, 2024 

For several months, I have been researching a de Gournay reference that was passed on to me by Francis O’Neill, reference librarian at the Maryland Center for History and Culture.  Francis often shares various tidbits of interest that pass through his hands.  In this particular instance, he was intrigued by the mention of a certain Mademoiselle Blanche de Gournay having signed a rental agreement on a dwelling at 1221 North Calvert Street, in Baltimore, for the year 1922-23.  It was her intention to create a “French Home and Chaperonage.”¹ 

The property in question was built by a successful real estate developer named Francis White.  After his death in 1904, the row house in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, near E. Biddle Street, was passed on to a son, Francis Alderson White, who later leased the home to a coal magnate before Mademoiselle’s one-year lease was agreed upon. In 1923, however, the property would be sold to R. Sanchez Boone, a distinguished wine and spirits wholesaler.  Boone died in 1954 and his widow remained in residence until her own passing in 1969. 

The reference to this short-lived French enterprise pushed me to research the origins of the de Gournay family in Baltimore.  On page 872 of the second volume of Becoming the Frenchified State of Maryland, I had listed a Paul F. de Gournay as the French consular agent in the city from approximately 1887 to 1894. Thanks to the Baltimore Sun search engine and other sources, many things then fell into place, and I found myself overwhelmed by a large number of articles that have helped me trace the arrival in Maryland of the gentleman, his spouse Annette, and daughter Blanche in the mid-1860s.  In addition, I unfortunately found a number of genealogical inconsistencies, some of which remain very confusing. 

Paul de Gournay was not just an ordinary émigré to America, but a man with ties to France, Jamaica, Cuba, New Orleans, Alabama, and the Confederacy.  There are competing sets of facts for his birth and parents. Geneanet Community Trees (ancestry.com) gives 25 August 1828 as his birth at Sainte Catherine, Guantanamo, Cuba, to parents François Victor de Gournay (1778-1838) and Jeanne Marie Pauline Hélène Lagourgue (1785-1840); the 1860 U.S. Census lists Havana as his birthplace; and a detailed 1904 obituary in the Baltimore Sun names him as the Marquis de Gournay de Marcheville, born in Brittany, France! His official Baltimore City death certificate states otherwise: birth in Cuba on 15 March 1828, to Joseph Bernard de Gournay and Marie La Fevies (difficult to read), registry B71001 – certainly not the aforementioned parents mentioned in so many other records. How to reconcile this conflict!² 

It appears that, as a child, Paul was in New Orleans as early as 1835 and naturalized on 12 April 1847.  

According to a Civil War historian and his own obituary, young Paul eventually was named to supervise the family’s Cuban sugar investments since he appears to be the only son. By 1851, he can again be placed in New Orleans after having participated in a failed revolution in Cuba led by Narciso López.   

According to encyclopedia.com, Narciso López (b. 1798) was a Venezuelan who fought against Simon Bolivar and had left South America in 1823 before de Gournay’s birth.  Narciso moved to Cuba, married well to the sister of a Spanish count, and rose in the military ranks after his marriage failed. While a general in Spain, he returned to Cuba in 1841, served as a governor of the town of Trinidad and as head of a military tribunal until he lost favor under a new military leader and retreated to business pursuits that did not bear much fruit.  In 1848, Lopez conspired with those wishing to have the United States annex Cuba.  His initial American support did not hold together, yet, after fleeing to the States, he managed to recruit several hundred Mexican War veterans and land them in Cardenas, Cuba in 1850.  The venture did not succeed and López once again sought shelter in the U.S. A year later, in 1851, a group of 400 under his command returned to the island without generating much more enthusiasm from the islanders.  This time there was no escape: López was defeated by the Spanish army and executed by strangulation on 1 September [see Philip S. Foner, A History of Cuba in Its Relations with the United States, 2 vols. (1962-63) and Robert Granville, The López Expeditions to Cuba, 1848-1851 (1915)]. 

Days after the adventurer’s execution, de Gournay wrote in French in the New Orleans Daily-Picayune (10 September 1851) about his eighteenth-month friendship with López – “a man who never had an unworthy thought, whose motives were pure and generous.” A great defender of Lopez’s actions, de Gournay described the martyrs in the cause, the “system of terror” imposed by the Spanish authorities, censorship, and arrests. He went on to write that he “was in Cuba when Gen. López arrived, and I will only say that had it been possible to join him, I would not now be in New Orleans; those who know me will not doubt my words.”  Thirty years younger than the revolutionary, de Gournay was sorely affected by the experience and his death: “Gen Lopes [sic] had favored me by his friendship and confidence.  I grieve his loss as that of a father; and I think that raising my weak voice to justify him, his friends, of the cause for which he died, is to me a duty – is rendering a homage to his memory.  Those who insult his ashes by calumnies are guilty of an act of cowardice, and I would be as guilty if I remained silent.”³ 

It appears that de Gournay may have entered into two marriage contracts in Louisiana prior to the beginning of the American Civil War. The first apparently took place on 26 September 1846, when the Rev. Abbé Duquesne blessed his union with Henriette Clémence Cougot (4^th Ward, Justice of the Peace for the Parish of Orleans, #74.) Eight years later, city/parish records showed that de Gournay married Marie Octavie Roux on 1 August 1854, before Richard Richardson, 3^rd Ward, Justice of the Peace, in the presence of the Vve (widow) Roux, Jules P. Roux, Théo[dore] Roux, Eugène Roux, Am[ilcar]. Roux, Jules Boulin, and F. O’Callaghan. Mother-in-law Eulalie’s consent was noted because her daughter was still a minor, while Colomb Davis acknowledged that Paul was older than 21.⁴ 

Several events place Paul de Gournay actively in the Louisiana political arena throughout the 1850s. In late 1855, as one of the commissioners for the 12^th District, he was involved in a mandamus case filed in the Sixth District Court, in which John M. Bell, a Democratic candidate for sheriff, came before Judge Cotton to contest 11 errant votes that were wrongfully deposited in a special box of votes designated for the election of the justice of the peace.  In addition, 13 more votes for the posts of justice of the peace and a constable also were determined to have wound up in the wrong box.  De Gournay and fellow commissioners J. M. Maureau and William Andry were then required by the court to rectify the situation.⁵ 

A few months after the election miscount, the Times-Picayune reported on 9 July 1856 that de Gournay was one of four secretaries at a meeting of Democrats assembled in Lafayette Square to ratify the national presidential ticket nomination of James Buchanan and John C. Breckenridge.  Buchanan would go on to win the presidency and be known as one of America’s least influential chief executives for his single term leading up to the Civil War. 

All along, de Gournay did not give up on his beloved Cuba.  In 1858, he established the Southern Watchword, a newspaper dedicated to the revolution there.  The first edition appeared on 15 November, but by 17 January 1859, its publication was temporarily suspended because of “unforeseen circumstances,” with de Gournay, the editor, begging “the indulgence of our friends” and promising a restart on 1 February, according to that day’s edition of the New Orleans Daily Crescent.  It would not be his last short-lived writing venture.  In fact, the Times-Picayune, where de Gournay was editor as well, announced on 20 May 1860 that an English-language weekly called The Cuban Messenger was set to be published on the Caribbean island. Subscriptions to the newspaper could be procured by mail or in person to de Gournay.  Its mission was to provide “mercantile details,” advertising, and general news relating to Cuba and other places in the West Indies.  The Messrs. Bryant & Wyman would be in charge of the paper in Havana and operate with explicit authorization of the Government of “the ever faithful Isle.”⁶ 

The 1860 U.S. Census (3 July) notes Paul de Gournay’s continued presence in New Orleans’ Ward 5 as a 32-year-old newspaper reporter, born in Havana, and living with wife Octavie (23, born in New Orleans), his mother-in-law Roux (59), an Irish servant named Anne Patrick (29), and a seamstress, Anna Patrick (35, also from New Orleans). Paul’s sister Aimée was also living nearby in the same ward with her husband Eugène Roux (Octavie’s brother) and three daughters – (Mathilde) Eulalie (9), (Victoire) Eugénie (8), and Ellen (2). The previous census for New Orleans in 1850 had shown the presence of the young Roux couple (then 25 and 22, respectively), Mme Roux, and two of Octavie’s siblings, Amilcar (21) and Octavie (14). Since that time, Eugène and Aimée were also parents of a son, James Madison Roux, who unfortunately had died as a two-year-old in 1857.⁷ 

According to the 1900 US Census, Paul’s longtime spouse in Maryland was named Annette (b. February 1833), who arrived in the States in 1857, two years after Paul’s wedding with Marie Octavie Roux!  That census also points out that Paul and Annette had been married for 40 years and had had three children during that time! Blanche (b. 1862) is the only child ever mentioned in Baltimore. So, what had happened to Octavie? Were Octavie and Annette one and the same? But let’s put this genealogical question off until later. 

Several sources speak of Paul de Gournay assuming control of the Daily-Picayune in 1861 on the eve of the Civil War. The advent of that conflict pushed him into another arena: the Frenchman quickly invested $10,000 of his family fortune in the formation of an artillery company. According to the 1861 New Orleans City directory (p. 129), de Gournay was then residing at 233 Main Street.  He formed his own group of Zouaves (Company E) and then sought to have it registered officially, with him as captain.  Zouave companies in the North and in the South were quite popular because of their colorful clothing.   

. . . the red flowing breeches of the Zouaves, the fez, the pretty jacket and the leggings  . . . have been a better bait than the bounty of five dollars offered to every man who would enlist with the regulars. . . . Such is the magic power of an elegant uniform, and of a name made glorious in the military annals of the world.⁸

That same article made mention of five such Louisiana companies – the last under the direction of the newspaper’s “gallant, esteemed and talented Creole . . . who won golden opinions as an editor, as well as a militia officer.” Upon his departure from editing duties, de Gournay’s fellow officers of the Battalion d’Artillery d’Orleans presented him a saber and encouragement to follow both stars: 

On that day [the previous Friday] the sword was mightier than the pen, and our friend laid down his pen which he can wield so gracefully.  We hope, however, that even in the midst of the bustle of camo-life he will take it up again, and impart now and then to the readers of the Picayune interesting information about the military doings in Florida.

There was some competition that prevented de Gournay from getting his way immediately, as his Orleans Independent Artillery was only assigned to Pensacola.  Disappointed with this particular deployment, he and his men did their best in setting themselves there to the task of fortifying Warrington Harbor. Finally, their company could no longer be shunned and it was sent to the more formidable Virginia theater. Along the way, de Gournay became a major and is recognized today as having also been associated with Captain Davis’s company and other battalions and artillery led by Braxton, Courtney, Cunningham, and Cutshaw, as well as his own heavy artillery battalion as he moved along to the rank of lieutenant colonel.  His grave marker in Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore, acknowledges his command of the 12^th Louisiana Heavy Artillery. 

The 12^th was eventually deployed to Port Hudson, Louisiana, with the responsibility of protecting Vicksburg, Mississippi.  The Union Army thought that its adversaries were much stronger than they were: consequently, in the spring of 1863, the North targeted the area and the meager Confederate force of 4000 was, in fact, up against 30,000 Northern troops! In spite of these terrible odds and cut off from supplies from Natchez, de Gournay and his fellow soldiers somehow held on for 61 days.  It was quite a blood bath: the Union lost 7000 soldiers, and the starving Port Hudson defenders were reduced to 2200. 

De Gournay was severely wounded in the chest at Port Hudson by a “piece of shell” (as noted in his 1904 obituary).  With the Confederate surrender on 9 July 1863, the Port Hudson garrison became prisoners of war and then were shuttled between various prisons after a first incarceration at the New Orleans Custom House Prison. Records then show that de Gournay was transferred via Governor’s Island, New York, August 1863, to Johnson’s Island, on Lake Erie, on 10 October 1863, with removal to Point Lookout, in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, in February 1864, and then to Fort Delaware in June 1864. Fort Delaware was a stronghold on Pea Patch Island, in the Delaware River, south of the town of New Castle. Within time, our lieutenant colonel was then among several hundred officers (“The Immortal Six Hundred”) ‘chosen to defend’ Charleston, South Carolina, harbor against the fire of their own army in August 1864. De Gournay was finally released from that harrowing experience involving opponents quibbling over prisoner exchange and the use of officers on both sides as human shields. His final stop was at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, in October 1864, where he was paroled on 5 December. In total, de Gournay had spent a year and a half in Union hands.⁹  

Much has been written about the deprivations at Port Hudson.  Especially recommended is Mauriel Joslyn’s essay, “Well-born Lt. Col. Paul François de Gournay was the South’s adopted ‘marquis in gray,’” from America’s Civil War (September 1995), pp. 8, 85-88. Except for her misstatements about de Gournay’s actual birthplace and the timeline of his future position as a consular official, she provides a very detailed account of the Port Hudson chapter. De Gournay himself also found opportunities to comment on that battle for many years thereafter. 

After the war was over, de Gournay took up residence in Alabama.  A notice in the 17 October 1865 edition of the Montgomery Advertiser drew attention to the Montgomery Female Academy, opened under the direction of the Rev. Samuel K. Cox in an institution then known as the Cottage Hill Academy.  And who should be a featured member on the Modern Languages staff of that school expected to be “equal to any of the first class female schools of the South”?  

Two months later, the professor was also trying his hand at writing for a younger crowd. A list of Montgomery, Alabama, newspapers and magazines shows a publication entitled Our Friend, established at Christmastime, 1865, “by Prof P. F DeGurney, as a semi-monthly paper for children.”¹⁰ De Gournay’s newest endeavor, from his office at 25 Court Street, promised “interesting extracts” and editorials comprehensible to young scholars and recommended “with pleasure to teachers and parents.” In any case, news was being disseminated in the Atlantic South in early Spring, 1866, that “Major DeGournay, of the famous DeGournay’s battalion, is editing a paper at Montgomery, Alabama.”¹¹ 

Success was still not in his grasp. It did not take long for de Gournay to cast a wider professional net to the Middle States. With a move to Baltimore, he began a new phase of his life in his late thirties.  On 8 September 1866, an advertisement in the Sun called young men aspiring to business careers to a three-evening-per-week course in French and Spanish at the school of the Rev. D. M. Rowan on North Charles and Barnet Streets.  The ex-soldier-turned-professor had garnered 14 local references and a testimonial from R. M. Lusher, the Louisiana State Superintendent of Education.  Lusher promoted his friendship with the lieutenant colonel, his favorable reputation, and his love of “Southern literary and educational enterprises.” According to the official, de Gournay was adept in three languages and would be a great credit to any institution. 

So, who were the professor’s most ardent backers? A pretty honorable group of men and one woman, Mrs. William Hamilton:  A. Sauvan (the French consul), clergymen M. Mahan, D. D. (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church) and J. N. McJilton, D.D. (Zion Episcopal Church), J. L. Weeks (sugar refiner), Charles Gola (music teacher), Catholic printer-booksellers (John Murphy, John B. Piet, and Michael J. Kelly), doctors (C. C. Cox and J. T. Mason), attorney Neilson Poe, educator Robert Daniel (Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies), and a Henry Mankin.   

Reverend Rowan’s school for boys was starting its eighth year when de Gournay arrived on the scene.  It first was known as the Trinity School for Boys and located at 38 Saratoga Street (1859, 1860). By 1865, Rowan’s endeavor was advertised as the Classical Mathematical and English School for Boys, having relocated to 52 N. Charles (1865, 1866).  The year after de Gournay’s advertisement, it was promoted as a Classical School for Young Gentlemen, then in its Ninth Annual Session and in new quarters at 20 Mulberry Street, with T. R. Anspach, D. D., assisting as co-principal. 

De Gournay was enthusiastic about his newest vocation and jumped quickly into educational discussions about the quality of textbooks on the local market. An article appearing in the 17 February 1868 edition of the Sun called for the Maryland state legislature not just to meet supply needs in the classroom, but to support texts “liberalizing and refining the mind, promoting moral purity, and entirely free from sectarianism and sectionalism.”  The article stated that the school book trade in the United States had risen to some $5.5 million dollars in 1860.  Additionally, it was pointed out that the city of Baltimore possessed the know-how and experience to lead the surge, with such publishers as John Murphy & Co. and Kelly & Piet capable of expanding their sales to “the Southern communities with which our business and social relations are so near and intimate.”  

Paul was undoubtedly receiving royalties from Kelly & Piet, which had just published “new editions of Tower’s series of school books, revised and improved by P. F. De Gournay, late of New Orleans.”  The reworked Tower’s books touched a variety of areas – spelling, reading, grammar, algebra, math works penned by Gen. F. H. Smith (superintendent and professor at Virginia Military Institute), and “approved classical books &c.”  An advertisement in the 18 February Sun offered more specifics, touting recommended booklists from St. Mary’s College (Baltimore) and VMI, short descriptions, and prices.  De Gournay’s editing was once again described as free from “isms” that were thought to have divided America.  Of course, it caused no harm to say that the readings would not tire out the reader because “they are truly the noblest specimens of literature, the productions of gifted minds, pure in thought, chaste in expression, and refined in sentiment, addressing the imagination as well as the reason.” By the way, de Gournay’s own cloth edition of “First Steps in French” was on sale for 60 cents! Two weeks later, the newspaper offered a long commentary on the state and availability of textbooks on the market, with a shout-out to the Tower’s series, books by a Professor A. Guyot, and a “Southern University Series” authored by professors from the University of Virginia. Made most clear throughout the discussion was meeting the “wants of Southern education,” i. e., release from the intellectual dominance of the Yankee Northeast! 

De Gournay’s Southern roots would remain dear to him until his death, but, above all, he was a Frenchman and deeply affected by another conflict of the decade – the Franco-Prussian War – that had totally humiliated France.  He was among fifteen influential French residents from all walks of Baltimore life who were selected to spearhead a relief effort for the mother country in the midst of devastation resulting in starvation, lack of shelter, and displacement.  Soliciting funds from local supporters of the French cause, the committee, which included Dr. Chatard and Gen. Félix Agnus (of the Baltimore American), placed an advertisement in the 5 October 1870 edition of the Sun. This “Appeal for Aid to French Sufferers” sought to address “these appalling miseries [which] require prompt and immediate relief or disease and death will do that work with terrible rapidity.”¹² 

We can easily trace the Frenchman’s presence in the city through 1872. Settling in at 274 Franklin Street, the professor would continue his teaching and return to writing that had occupied him for a short time in Louisiana and in Alabama. Directed to his former clientele in the Pelican State, the following paragraph appeared in the New Orleans Crescent on 26 November 1867: 

P. F. de Gournay, Esq., formerly connected with the Picayune, and now residing in Baltimore, is writing for the Catholic Standard, of Philadelphia, a series of reminiscences of New Orleans, which are marked with a lively interest.

For good measure, he made sure that a copy of his work was shared with the Times-Picayune and acknowledged in its 5 December 1867 edition. 

The professor was involved with fellow countrymen and expats in Baltimore’s French Benevolent Society and served on its board (Sun, 30 October 1869). The Baltimore city directories from 1870 to 1872 furthered showed that his association with Messrs. Murphy, Kelly, and Piet vaulted him to the position of editor of the influential Catholic Mirror.  The Mirror had begun publication in 1851 and officially disseminated news of the archdiocese, which had been decidedly pro-Confederate during the past war.  After hostilities ended, the newspaper called for reconciliation and healing, and in the 1870s, it would advocate for immigrants, Blacks, and Native Americans. Well-established with his newspaper post, de Gournay was now in a position to return a favor by recommending an experienced grad of the University of Paris, a Mr. A. Baudry, 349 Fayette Street, for employment as a French instructor, just as he was treated four years earlier.¹³  

De Gournay is absent from the Baltimore city directories for most of the 1870s.  Perhaps there was a return to France for some of that period.  Nevertheless, research has also uncovered that he was residing in Chicago in 1875 and 1877.  In 1875, he is listed as a French teacher housed at 800 Wabash Avenue.  Two years later, in 1877, he has moved to 1029 W. Wabash Avenue and is noted as an employee of Dearborn Seminary, a female prep school established by Zuinglius Grover in 1854.  That institution later became affiliated with the University of Chicago in 1899. 

Paul’s obituary in 1904 does not address the Chicago experience, but it does describe the Frenchman as “a very scholarly man and a gentleman of the old school, with the most exalted notion of personal honor as a distinguishing trait of the real gentleman.”  It might even be said that he was very reassured that his way of teaching was the correct one!  A 29 August 1879 article in the Sun clearly illustrates this point. A report submitted to the newspaper about the proceedings at the annual Maryland State Teachers Association Convention in Hagerstown mentioned de Gournay and a proxy, Belle Hampson, speaking for him in a morning session on the 28^th concerning the status of French instruction in Maryland.  In no way, would de Gournay be swayed by the latest in language methodology: 

Miss Belle Hampton read a report on French [in the morning session], prepared by Prof De Gournay, who was absent.   The paper condemns Dr. Sauveur’s new method of teaching this and other languages.  Prof. Sheldon, of Boston, indorsed [sic] the report and expressed a desire for its publication in full.

Denigrated at that moment was the work of Lambert Sauveur, who, during the previous two decades, had espoused a “natural method” based wholly on conversation, as opposed to the then-favored “grammar translation method.”  Sauveur’s non-traditional approach was gaining favor in certain private schools in the Northeast when de Gournay vented his disapproval of language education that only brought learners quickly into expressing simple phrases and finding quick access to communication, with grammar finding its place later in the acquisition process. The “direct method,” as such, was threatening to many, yet appeared very natural for young learners.  Sauveur had presented his methodology at a summer school for teachers established in 1877 at Amherst College, and he would go on to influence another famous émigré-linguist, Maximilian Berlitz, who became quite famous for his own schools and today’s language guides. No further references to the language battle have been found in regard to de Gournay. 

The professor rose to greater prominence in Baltimore’s civic affairs in the 1880s and 1890s.  As noted on my blog of 10 October 2023, de Gournay participated in some of planning for the city’s Oriole celebration in the fall of 1881.  In fact, he was quite often mentioned with regard to parades, politics, and centennials.  In spite of his aristocratic roots, de Gournay was a Democrat and a supporter of republics on both shores of the Atlantic and in the Caribbean.  

In November 1884, he was once again marching in the streets, this time occasioned by the victory of the national ticket of Grover Cleveland (NY) and Thomas A. Hendricks (Indiana), who was in the vice-presidential conversation since 1876.  Described in the Sun as “virtually an impromptu affair,” the Democratic triumph in 1884 drew 5000 marchers, musicians, the governor and city officials, to a mid-afternoon procession through downtown streets to City Hall, where some 10-15,000 had gathered. As with the festivities in 1881, well-dressed tradesmen and professionals grouped by divisions and rejoiced with flags, placards, bells, and firecrackers.  No trade or profession seemed to have been excluded: members of the Corn and Flour Exchange, the Stock Exchange, the Cleveland Club, dry goods and clothing merchants and manufacturers, lumbermen, grocers, oyster packers and can makers, boot and shoemakers, builders and mechanics, pharmacists, brewers and distillers, hardware merchants and iron tradesmen, hatters, folks engaged in coffee and cotton, fertilizer manufacturers, tobacco and candy merchants, news dealers and carriers, physicians, architects, artists, lawyers, and political partisans under the direction of de Gournay and others. Cleveland would serve as president in non-consecutive terms, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. Unfortunately, Hendricks lasted only a few months because of poor health that sent him to the grave in November 1885, at the age of 66.  

De Gournay was most notably identified as a teacher, while finding time to express himself in print or lecturing.  On 22 July 1880, his piece entitled “How Port Hudson Surrendered,” from the Philadelphia Weekly Times, was reprinted in the Times-Picayune. On 3 December 1886, the Morning News of Wilmington, Delaware, reported that an article that he had penned, “Creole Peculiarities,” was included in the most recent edition of the Magazine of American History. For the greater part of his life in Baltimore, the title “professor” preceded his name.  It can also be added that, for a time, he was manager of the library of the local Cercle Littéraire, which offered books in French for summer reading in 1883. With this position came the announcement that the library “has been transferred to No. 89 Bolton Street, upstairs.” That move failed to say that the new address would also be home for de Gournay until 1885 or early 1886!¹⁴ 

Nevertheless, his professional duties changed dramatically in June of 1887, when he was promoted from acting to permanent consular agent for France – a fact so noted as far away as Kansas in six different newspapers!¹⁵ It seems that one of his first challenges involved supplying the French government with 3 million kilograms of tobacco.¹⁶ On the side, de Gournay also would function as a wine exporter and even as a foreign correspondent. 

In Maryland, the centennial of the French Revolution in 1889 was commemorated in two stages.  On 5 May, approximately 35 Francophone residents of Baltimore gathered at the residence of J. B. Cary at 4 S. Gay Street to remember the États Généraux that had brought together all three estates of society at Versailles before the dramatic uprising at the Bastille.¹⁷ At this afternoon event, the consular agent delivered a speech in a hall decorated in the republican bleu, blanc et rouge, with prominent pictures of President Sadi Carnot and Léon Gambetta, lilacs, and a large R. F. (referring to the country’s official title as the République Française), thus demonstrating that there was no place for pro-monarchy whispers in Baltimore that were not yet totally extinguished in the mother country.  To quote the French representative: 

The principles of 1789 have been a blessing not only to France, but to all civilized nations. . . . The republican idea has outlived defeat and usurpation, and today the republic is deeply rooted in France and will live forever. The minister of foreign affairs, mindful that in many distant countries there are Frenchmen whose loving thoughts are turned to their native land, has instructed his agents, of every class, to gather around the flag their fellow-citizens, so that they may participate, in heart and mind, in the feeling of patriotic gratitude with which republican France celebrates today the great anniversary of the fifth of May.

At the end of three honors of tributes, drinks, and patriotic songs, it was decided that perhaps a “great picnic” would be scheduled for Bastille Day two months later.  Baltimore French residents were also encouraged to open their hands and purses to assisting needy Frenchmen coming to the city in search of employment – an appeal that would complement the good work of the local French Benevolent Association, so described in both volumes of Becoming the Frenchified State of Maryland.¹⁸ 

Bastille Day 1889 in Baltimore was more than just an outdoor affair! On the evening of 14 July, guests invited to the celebration at Reilly’s Hotel first assembled at the Cary house on S. Gay Street for a formal walk led by a color guard to the hotel banquet. Although the Sun reported that Baltimore’s native French community then numbered fewer than a hundred, some thirty celebrants were seated at two long tables in a hall decorated in a similar fashion to the previous 5 May event, this time with a Victor Hugo quote hanging behind the main podium. Republicans Carnot and Gambetta were still on their minds: the former, as respected president from 1887 until his tragic assassination by an Italian anarchist in 1894, and the latter, as one of the fathers of the Third Republic who had passed away at the early age of 44, in 1882. 

This assembly was addressed by de Gournay; Capt. Hipolite Lejeune, the only local resident wearing the prestigious cross of the Légion d’Honneur; August Lambla, an Alsatian, whose birthplace was lost to the Prussians in 1871; Eugène Gros; August Faure, secretary to President Mayer, of the influential Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; and François B. Cary.   Lejeune, Lambla, and Gros all spoke of the tragic territorial loss in eastern France and the desire for revenge. Nevertheless, de Gournay had the last word and offered, instead, a tribute to the patriotism of French women, which, he suggested, was even higher than that of men!  Perhaps, some female guests should have been invited to hear his praise! 

One participant who did stand out once again was Oliver Conklin, a Martiniquais who had spent the whole century in Baltimore and proudly proclaimed that he was 99 years old and had served with his father as a defender against the British attack on the city’s outer limits in 1814. Conklin, then described as “a swarthy bent old man” enjoyed his moment in the spotlight and “ate as heartily and talked as merrily as any guest present.”¹⁹ 

As the centennial year was closing, both female and male guests from Baltimore had the opportunity to attend Sunday mass at 10 a.m. on board the French frigate Arethuse in early November.²⁰  The special invitation was extended to the community by the vessel’s chief officer, Admiral Brown de Colstoun, with the assistance of de Gournay.  A wet morning prevented some of the invitees from attending, but those who braved the ride from Henderson’s wharf to the anchored frigate in a pelting rain were treated to much pomp, a naval band and a complement of 300 seamen and officers assembled on deck.  It appears that the rain did subside and a tour was given after mass.  Among those present were de Gournay and his daughter Blanche, a couple of wives, five additional young ladies, Prof. Bonnotte [sic], and at least eight other males from the community. Cardinal James Gibbons, head of the Baltimore archdiocese, would be making his own visit to the Arethuse the following day in acknowledgement of an official visit of ship officers to his residence the previous Friday.  

It is interesting to note that the most recent form of republicanism in France was just nineteen years old at the time and not a one-hundred-per-cent certainty to survive.  Still lurking in the shadows was General Georges Boulanger, a distinguished guest in Baltimore along with the Count Rochambeau, for the Oriole/Yorktown festivities in 1881.  At the time of that official visit, Boulanger was a military adviser and soon-to-be director in the French war office. He was popular for his stance on seeking revenge for the defeat at the hands of Prussia in 1870-71, which led to the bloodbath that claimed 20,000 Communards engaged in civil strife. The general’s profile rose steadily as he moved toward Bonapartist and monarchist leanings. In 1888, he had been expelled from the army, but, in January 1889, he was overwhelmingly elected as a député, with aspirations similar to those that brought Napoleon’s nephew to power in 1851.  Was Carnot’s job in jeopardy and a coup in store again?  Baltimore’s Frenchmen took different stances on the danger posed by Boulanger.  Was he just an ambitious, self-promoting ladies’ man who was bent on discipline and had no fear of Bismarck? When asked for his personal opinion on the matter, de Gournay said that he was surprised by the rise of boulangisme: “Most assuredly, I would not [have voted for him]. In regard his election not as dangerous, but rather as an undesirable event that bodes the republic no good.”²¹ 

Boulanger, in fact, did not survive the grand moment. By 1 April 1889, he had fled the French capital, charged with treason and conspiracy and forced into exile.  As a footnote, in September 1891, he shot himself in the head at the grave of his mistress! 

De Gournay’s life was considerably less dramatic.  He was the face of official France in Baltimore until his resignation as consular agent in 1894. In spite of what he may have thought personally, Agent de Gournay was caught in the middle of a tariff controversy in 1890 imposing a French duty on American corn, retaliation in America, and a possible boycott on French exports to the United States.²² For the greater part of the time, however, the work was pleasant and even instructive.  On one such occasion prior to the end of his tenure, he welcomed Drs. Ernest Milliau and Leon Berrier, scientists from France and Tunisia, respectively, who were advocating uniform testing of fats and oils in commerce with America. Commissioner Milliau had just delivered a lecture on the topic to the American Chemical Society in New York and had also stopped by the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.  

As viewed previously, occasional ship receptions were also a part of his duties, and the Sun has more than adequately covered two French men-of-war, such as the Bouvet and the Hussard, also docking in Baltimore waters near Canton in 1887 and 1892.²³ Moreover, decades of deep relationships also required his presence at funerals in the community: for example, as pall-bearer at a requiem mass for Mme Clotilde de Gola (1894) and honorary pall-bearer at the service for Prof. Bernhard de Courlaender (1898).²⁴ 

 
De Gournay was succeeded by Julian O. Ellinger, of Baltimore, whose post-consular affairs involved suits regarding real estate in Superior Court and in the Maryland Court of Appeals (1898 and 1900). In any case, Ellinger’s tenure was short and the next consul, Léonce Rabillon, was in the French service for more than three decades. 

Dé Gournay’s withdrawal from his office gave him more time to enjoy the lecture circuit.  According to the Sun edition of 28 September 1894, the ex-consular agent addressed a fundraiser for the Religio-Philosophical Lyceum and, in 1899, he delivered two lectures in French at the hall of the Colonial Dames at 417 N. Charles Street.  For his 4 May 1899 presentation, he extolled famous French women. While the event was described in the Sun in sexist language that does not translate well in today’s world, the professor did choose to highlight quite a variety of heroines: Clotilda (wife of Clovis), St. Geneviève (patroness of Paris who confronted Attila the Hun), Jeanne d’Arc, Marguerite de Valois, Mary Stuart, and Mesdames de Scudéry, de Sévigné, de Lafayette, de Staël, de Récamier, and Dreyfus (whose husband was undergoing quite a trial in France). The 11 May lecture for the Colonial Dames focused on “Legendary and Heraldic Animals.”25

As the 20^th century brought its own particular political challenges worldwide, de Gournay’s active life was coming to a close. Surely, he and his wife Annette were still listed in annual Blue Book registers, but more news would focus on daughter Blanche’s social and professional career.  Paul’s linguistic expertise in French and Spanish was now being advertised with regard to legal and commercial activities.  As noted, he desired to help clients navigate translation difficulties and proper legal wording for documents. The year 1903 was not without a trip to France, where Paul and Annette were seen dining at the Hotel Ritz while others celebrated Carnaval in Nice, family reunions, the theatre, art exhibitions, and socializing with the others in the “American Colony” there.²⁵ 

De Gournay continued to change residences in Baltimore – from McCulloh Street in 1902 to W. Hoffman in 1904.  Physically, he was failing, and the press anticipated an unhappy ending. In just two paragraphs, a 16 March article in the Sun describes Paul as a colonel, marquis, former estate manager, and consul who is “seriously ill at his home” at 309 W. Hoffman. Indeed, his death certificate on 26 July stated that a chronic bronchitis contributed to his demise at 11:30 a.m. that day. That report was signed by George Wilson, of the same address. One would have only hoped that Annette or Blanche would have clearly spoken to the moment or that Paul had left unambiguous notes, for some facts on that certificate just add confusion to the gentleman’s first moments on earth. 

The next day’s Sun of de Gournay’s contained a thumb-nail announcement and a long obituary in the same edition.  Initially, the public was informed that the professor’s funeral would take place from the family residence at 3:00 p.m. on the 28^th, with a private interment.  The detailed article offered a clearer picture: a funeral officiated by Rev. Thomas M. O’Donoghue at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and burial arrangements at Loudon Park Cemetery to be handled by the Maryland Line Confederate Veterans.  His obituary acknowledged his proud service to the South and membership in the Maryland Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States and the Isaac R. Trimble Camp of Confederate Veterans.  Yet, even his final resting place in a section reserved for Southern partisans (plot H-08) was not without a factual error: the marker placed at the site mistakenly shows that he had died on 23 July, in contradiction to all sources! 

While not mentioned in the Sun, the Frenchman was preceded in death by several sisters, including Marie Geneviève Alexandrine (a native of Kingston, Jamaica; widow of Simon O’Callaghan, who had died on 30 December 1830, around age 22, in the Marigny quarter of New Orleans) and Aimée (Marie Hélène Georgina Aimée), widow of Eugène Roux, who had passed away at the age of 75 from arteriosclerosis in New Orleans, 1471 Villier Street, on 19 March 1901).²⁶ 

With Paul’s death, his widow and daughter continued to be listed in the social register for many years to come.  The Sun and other sources did a fine job of documenting Blanche’s professional and societal experiences over the next couple of decades, and mother Annette would live to the age of 86 years, 10 months, and 14 days, until her death in late 1919. 

Shortly after, Annette moved back to McCulloh Street, while Blanche remained for more than two years at their previous home on West Hoffman before giving up that property and taking “rooms for the rest of the winter [of 1906] at 1418 Bolton street.”²⁷According to her death certificate (D 37601), Annette spent perhaps a decade at 811 N. Charles Street, before passing away in the care of the nuns at the Bon Secours Convent, 2000 West Baltimore Street, on 15 December 1919.²⁸ That document cites her birth in France on 1 February 1833. Nothing was known about her mother’s maiden name, although the father was perhaps surnamed Billard – not the Roux that would have linked her to New Orleans in 1860.  Her death was attributed to chronic intestinal problems and nephritis.  Two days later, she was buried in the same cemetery as her husband.²⁹ 

Blanche’s life before her father’s death was mostly limited to the society pages as a single person.  Appearing on the 1880 and 1900 U.S. censuses as living at home, it would appear that she dutifully lived a long time with her parents until Paul’s passing in her forties.  She is first noted in the Sun in 1895 as assisting at the reception table for a five o’clock tea hosted by the Misses Robinson at 1012 St. Paul Street.  Two years later, she was present at a seven-handed euchre party and luncheon at 107 West 20^th Street, given by Miss Fannie Alma Dixon in honor of Miss Lucy Howard.³⁰ 

By the first decade of the 1900s, Blanche had her own calling in education and then in business.  It is not clear whether she was a teacher before being listed as such on the 1900 US Census.³¹ Advertisements in the Sun in 1900 and in 1901 noted her employment at the Randolph-Harrison School, a prep school located at 1405 Park Avenue. Blanche taught French and Conversation et Lecture in a world that included such institutions as Girls’ Latin, Cary School for Girls, Wilford Home School for Girls, Edgeworth Boarding and Day School, the Woman’s College of Baltimore, and Notre Dame of Maryland.³²  

Blanche’s genteel life did not let up.  On a wet November afternoon in 1900, she was part of a very large guest list of 400 invited to a reception on board the French flagship Cecille.  The invitees were taken by launch from the foot of Broadway Street, on Fell’s Point,  In spite of the inclement weather, two fleet captains welcomed all with electric lighting, music, dancing, bunting, flowers, and a luncheon.  In the spring of 1901, she was mentioned in reference to two activities under the auspices of the Cercle Français: in March, as a member of the receiving party for a lecture by Gaston Deschamps, a literary critic for Paris Temps, who spoke on the “French Press in the Nineteenth Century,” and as an attendee at a Saturday evening event featuring a fencing exhibition, instrumentalists, a vocalist, and dramatic recitations sponsored by the Alliance Française and Le Cercle Français, again held at the assembly rooms of the Woman’s Literary Club. The next spring (1902), Blanche worked at the French table for an international bazaar at Lehmann’s Hall, which netted $600-700 for the for the benefit of playground and domestic training projects carried out by the United Women organization.³³ In January 1904, she was called on one more time to greet guests at a reception hosted by Josepk K. Wells and Miss Effie Elliot Johnston, 102 East Lafayette Avenue, for a Miss Wells, a debutante spending the winter in the city at the home of Mrs. Edward Lucas White. No dancing is mentioned, but a card party limited to recent debutantes and 22 young male guests followed the reception. A much more elegant reception required Blanche’s presence the following month when Charles Tiernan hosted an annual evening event at Colonial House, the home of the Maryland Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 417 N. Charles Street. This grand celebration featured an orchestra, buffet supper, and fine china, silver, a chandelier and candelabra, and crystal from the Tiernan family collection.  It was such a big deal that even Cardinal James Gibbons and other clergy were present to declare openly their ties to one of Baltimore’s most famous Catholic families!³⁴ 

Just seven weeks after her father’s passing in 1904, Blanche opened the Little French Tea Room with her younger friend, Mary Chisolm Trenholm, described five years later on her wedding as a “bright brave Confederate girl” from a South Carolina roots.  Figuring that Baltimore was in need of a good commercial coffee, desserts, and late breakfasts and hot lunches for businessmen, the unmarried women opened their “bohemian little dining room” on 12 September with a “sweet and obliging” method not determined by a set closing hour.  Frequented by bankers and distinguished clients displaced and distraught after the Great Baltimore Fire in early February 1904, the establishment was located in a house in the back of the Hotel Rennert.  It was one of a handful of small dining venues – including the Virginia Lunchroom and the Dutch Tea Room – owned by “smart set” proprietresses, whose photos accompanied the 16 October article in the Sun. After a listing on Clay Street in the 1905 city directory, lunchroom customers found their house standards -rum pumpkin pie and fruits stewed in claret – at 10 E. Lexington Street.  The lunchroom was directed by the two friends until 1906, at which time Blanche kept up the venture herself through 1908 or 1909 before her return to teaching.  After this hiatus from the classroom, she would find herself listed in 1908 in relation to a school run by the Stony Run Meeting of Friends (Quakers).³⁵ 

Certainly, it was a busy time for Blanche as she reached her mid-forties. The local news documented her continued participation with her peers: membership in the Cercle Français des Pierrots, a group begun around 1905 that enjoyed studying and presenting small French plays; attendance at a ladies’ luncheon in November 1905 at the Hamilton Terrace home of Mrs. Arnold Kummer and Miss Helen Kummer; assistance with cake and ice cream at an annual lawn party sponsored by the Board of Visitors at the Confederate Soldiers’ Home in suburban Pikesville (1906); a 15^th wedding anniversary reception for friends on N. Charles Street (1909); and activities with the French section of the Arundell Club (1910-11).³⁶ 

Her former business partner, Mary Chisholm Trenholm, wed, at the age of 33, James F. Ferguson on 28 October 1909. The groom, also from South Carolina stock, was the Argentine Republic’s consul in Baltimore.  Mary’s grandfather had practiced medicine, so it was no surprise that her sister Lila (Lillie) had served as a nurse at the University of Maryland Hospital and had married a doctor, Walton H. Hopkins, in June 1909.³⁷ Dr. Hopkins, then in Annapolis, was a graduate of the university. 

It becomes a little more difficult to document Blanche’s life in the second decade of the twentieth century.  In 1915, she is listed on the social registry as residing in New York City, yet, by early summer 1916, the Sun has announced that she was “recovering from an illness of several weeks.”  Without her mother after 1919, she was listed as a 54-year-old (most probably, 58) alien at 811 N. Charles Street on the 1920 U.S. Census and was absent from the news until her proposed French Home and Chaperonage in 1922-23, which she established as she was entering her early sixties.    

Surely, the world war in Europe still weighed heavily on her mind at that time, for, in 1923, Blanche served as a patroness for a relief concert for “the devastated France” fund. This event was sponsored by the U.S. Fidelity and Guaranty Company and took place in its clubroom at 26 South Calvert Street.³⁸ That same year, on 22 June, a Marie Paule de Gournay was listed as a patroness at a benefit for science research in France, held at the Evergreen outdoor theater. Specifically, donations were asked for the Académie des Sciences de Paris and “a general movement now in progress throughout France for the aid of science and humane investigation.”³⁹ For that special mid-afternoon event, the Sun did not fail to point out that the patronage included French ambassador Jusserand, Consul Léonce Rabillon, and Gen. Félix Agnus. Indeed, a “large contingent of society” was present to support the cause and to enjoy an excerpt from Molière’s Le Dépit Amoureux.  

Blanche would return to Park Avenue in 1926.  Two years later, the society page announced that she was spending the month of July with Mrs. Dawson Maynard at her home at 1514 Park Avenue.⁴⁰  By 1931, the Blue Book notes that she was residing at 20 E. 74^th Street, in Manhattan, but it is unknown for what duration. In November 1936, news arrived from Westchester County, New York, that Blanche had received $1000 from the estate of Georgia M. Curlett née Wadlow, of New Rochelle.  Mrs. Curlett, whose deceased spouse Allen S. was identified years earlier as a merchant in wholesale and retail tobacco, was a native of Maryland.⁴¹ Georgia had quite recently passed away on 1 November, willing large and small amounts to a number of legatees across the United States and in Finland, including the local Christian Science church in New Rochelle and the Mother Church in Boston. From probate, it is known that Blanche was then living at 205 W. Madison Street in Baltimore. 

Over the years, Blanche would come to be identified in directories as Blanche Marie Paule, B. M. P., or Marie Paule. On the 1940 U. S. Census, there is a Paule DeTournay [sic] at 716 Park Avenue, Baltimore.  While she is listed as a naturalized widow from France, with a high school education, and an age of 57, we should not necessarily take as gospel truth a dutiful census taker’s attempt at accuracy any more than in 1900.⁴² This same Paula de Gournay (widow, French origin, naturalized) jumped to age 84 on the 1950 census! Two Baltimore city directories (1940 and 1942) list her at the 716 Park Avenue address, as does the 1950 census.  Yes, it is very possible that Blanche could have still been alive in mid-century! Her mother, Annette, had certainly lived just as long.  

As a final observation, let me finish with a curious ad from the 20 March 1955 edition of the Sun, in which the Jamgotch Company, of Baltimore, announced a “Warehouseman’s Sale,” or public auction, of rugs left in storage by many negligent (or deceased) women and subject to liens. Madame Paule de Gourney’s name is attached to one of those items (labeled 1018). 

No record of Blanche’s death can be presently found, but the exploration continues, and hopefully, one day, this historian can be finally put her to rest. 

Nevertheless, it has been a fascinating experience delving into this “lost” family. 

PAUL F. DE GOURNAY in city directories, etc. 

NEW ORLEANS: 

Year	Number	Additional Information
1861	233 Main	(De Gourney, listed on p. 129)

BALTIMORE: 

Year	Address	Additional Information
1867-68	94 Pearl Street
1868-69	274 Franklin Street	Bookkeeper
1870	274 Franklin Street	Editor, Catholic Mirror
1871	274 Franklin Street	Editor, Catholic Mirror
	46 Lexington Street
1872	274 Franklin Street	Editor, Catholic Mirror
	46 Lexington Street
1873	Not listed
1874	Not listed

CHICAGO: 

Year	Address	Additional Information
1875	800 Wabash Avenue	French teacher
1876	Not listed	Not listed
1877	1029 Wabash Avenue	Dearborn Seminary

BALTIMORE: 

ANNETTE DE GOURNAY in city directories: BALTIMORE 

Year	Address	Additional Information
1889	1121 Druid Hill Avenue	co-listed with husband
1907	1025 McCulloh Street	Mrs. Annett De Gournay, C & P Telephone: St. Paul 8467
1908	1025 McCulloh Street	Mrs. Annett Gournay
1912	1027 McCulloh Street	Mrs. Annett De Gourney
1913	1010 McCulloh Street	Mrs. Annett De Gourney
1915	1012 McCulloh Street	Jeanette De Gourney
1917	1017 Madison Avenue	Mme Paul De Gournay
1918	809 Park Avenue
1918-19	800 Park Avenue	Mme Paul De Gournay
1920	811 N. Charles Street	Mme Paul De Gournay; listed but deceased
1921	811 N. Charles Street	Mme Paul De Gournay; most probably confused with Blanche

BLANCHE DE GOURNAY in city directories:

Year	Address	Additional Information
1905	309 W. Hoffman Street 23 Clay Street	Little French Coffee Room (Trenholm & de Gournay, prop.) C & P Telephone: Mt. Vernon 3452
1906	309 W. Hoffman Street 10 E. Lexington Street	– Trenholm & De Gournay – C & P Telephone: Mt. Vernon 3452
1907	10 E. Lexington Street (h) The Arundel (1320 N. Charles Street)	lunchroom; phone: St. Paul 2463
1908	10 E. Lexington Street (h) Mt. Washington	Little French Coffee Room (B. M. de Gournay, prop.) phone: St. Paul 8467
1909	1526 Park Avenue	teacher (Blanche M. De Gourney)
1912	The Beethoven (1534 Park Avenue)	(Blanch De Gourney)
1923	1221 N. Calvert Street	French Home & Chaperonage (B. M. P. de Gournay)
1926	Park Avenue & Wilson	(BMP de Gournay)
1936	2735 N. Charles St.	(Marie P. De Gournay)
1940	716 Park Avenue (furnished rooms)	(Mme Paule Degourgnay)
1942	716 Park Avenue	Paule (wid Paul?)
1950	Madison Street	1950 U. S. Census: 84 years old; running boarding house with 7 lodgers from aged 39-79

BALTIMORE CITY TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES: Mlle Paule de Gournay

Year	Address	Telephone Number
1944-45	716 Park Avenue	VErnon 8648
1948	716 Park Avenue	PLaza 3741
1950	716 Park Avenue	PLaza 3741

BLUE BOOKS (Society Visiting Lists; copies in the Maryland Center for History and Culture, Baltimore) 

Year	Address	Additional Information
1889	1121 Druid Hill Avenue	Mr. & Mrs. De Gournay, Miss Blanche De Gournay
1908	Mt. Washington	Madame Paul F. de Gournay, Mademoiselle De Gournay
1910	1534 Park Avenue	Madame Paul F. De Gournay, Mademoiselle De Gournay
1915	NY City	Mlle de Gournay
1916	no address	Mlle de Gournay
1920	811 N. Charles Street	listed under G: Madame Paul Francois de Gournay Mademoiselle Blanche Marie Paule de Gournay
1921	811 N. Charles Street	Mademoiselle Blanche Marie Paule de Gournay
1931	20 E. 74th Street, NY City	Mlle Blanche Marie Paule de Gournay

1. Sun, 21 Jul 1922. E. N. Englehart & Co: lease for only one year.  Despite being in remarkably good condition, the 18-room Victorian row house was restored in the 1970s by Mitch Cator and Al Norwood.  Only the plumbing, electrical fixtures, and kitchen needed a considerable upgrade at that time. According to an article entitled “Friendly ghost haunts Calvert-street row house,” Sun, 29 Dec 1977, “the woodwork on the first floor is still in its original state, never having been painted.  The living room is solid cherry – fireplace, mantel, shutters and baseboard.  The dining room, hallway and stairs are golden oak.” ↩︎
2. Orleans Parish death certificate #104 states that Francis de Gournay, son of Michel Isaac De Gournay and Françoise Cheveleau, was born in Marmelade, on Saint-Domingue’s north side.  He died at 8:00 pm on 10 September 1838. His widow Jeanne Marie Pauline Hélène resided at 187 Royal Street, between Toulouse and St. Pierre Sts. (Rufino Thomas Fernandez, Keeper of Records at St. Louis Cathedral/Vincent Ramos, Recorder of Births and Deaths for the Parish and City of New Orleans). She died at home, at 64 St. Anne Street, between Condi and Royal Sts., on 7 October 1840 (#625, Ramos/Fernandez). ↩︎
3. Quoted in full at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/civil-war-cubans/degournay-2.htm. ↩︎
4. In those days, a marriage license required a $1000 bond. When the relationship proved successful, the amount was excused. ↩︎
5. Times-Picayune, 8 Nov 1855. ↩︎
6. The Library of Congress mentions it in its Chronicling America endeavor, but that venerated institution has no idea how long the newspaper lasted. ↩︎
7. “Louisiana Parish Marriages, 1837-1957,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJC-96XP. The Roux marriage took place on 16 February 1849, according to “Louisiana Parish Marriages,” VEE 678, p. 115. ↩︎
8. Times-Picayune, 11 Apr 1861. ↩︎
9. Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, The Biographical Roster of the Immortal 600 (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Company, Inc., 1995. ↩︎
10. Montgomery Daily Mail, 27 Dec 1865. ↩︎
11. Richmond (Virginia) Times, 12 March 1866; the Wilmington (North Carolina) Daily Dispatch, 14 Mar 1866; and The Daily Book (Norfolk, Virginia), 14 Mar 1866. ↩︎
12. The committee appointed on 26 September: Chatard, Agnus, F. Decourt, Charles Totzauer, F. Dandelet, V. Rigueur, L. Guilhermoz, L. Leloup, S. Odend’hal, J. B. Charron, L. Rabillon, Charles Krause, A. L. Milles, A. de Katow, and de Gournay. ↩︎
13. Sun, 30 Aug 1870. ↩︎
14. Sun, 18 Jun 1883. ↩︎
15. The Pittsburg Daily Headlight, The Daily Gazette (Kansas City, KS), The Evening Tribune (Lawrence), 25 Jun 1887; the Junction City Daily Union and the Fort Scott Daily Tribune and Fort Scott Daily Monitor, 27 Jun 1887; and The Paola Times, 30 Jun 1887. ↩︎
16. Sun, 10 May 1887. See also the announcement and official recognition of his appointment by the President of the United States, “Washington Notes,” Sun, 25 Jun 1887. ↩︎
17. Among the guests: Ernest Gourdeau, Eugène Bergadieu, Louis and Jean Remillieux, Étienne Cary, Adolphe Seel, Charles and Gaspard Kopp, Louis Lefranc, Guillaume Geanty, François Jeuness [sic], A. Lambla, François Dalby, Lucien Odend’hal, François Fatzauer, Jérôme Lang, Gustave Renault, Hubert Trocillient, and William H. Perkins, Jr. (a descendant of the illustrious family). ↩︎
18.  Sun, The Buffalo Times, Evening Capital (Annapolis), Camden (NJ) Courier Post, all dated 6 May 1889. ↩︎
19. Sun, 15 Jul 1889. More on Conklin – festivities in the fall of 1889, his true age, and his death – can be found in Becoming the Frenchified State of Maryland, 1:565-67. ↩︎
20. Sun, 4 Nov 1889. ↩︎
21. Sun, 29 Jan 1889. ↩︎
22. Sun, 7 Aug 1890. ↩︎
23. Sun, 17 Nov 1887 and 5 Nov 1892.  The Hussard was on her way to Guadeloupe after visits to Montréal, Québec, Portland (Maine), Provincetown (Massachusetts), and New York. It was in the latter port that she had participated in a naval parade celebrating the 400^th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in America. The Sun also pointed out that the Hussard was “the first French war vessel that has visited this port since the L’Arethuse was here, two years ago” under the command of Admiral Brown de Colstoun, who had been promoted to the command of the naval station located at the port of Toulon, on France’s Mediterranean coast. ↩︎
24. Sun, 21 Apr 1894 and 16 Apr 1898. ↩︎
25. Sun, 22 Feb 1903. ↩︎
26. See New Orleans death certificates, pp. 87 and 578. ↩︎
27. Sun, 17 Feb 1906. ↩︎
28. Maryland State Archives, Film CR 48182, CM 1132-139. ↩︎
29. “Maryland, Baltimore, Loudon Park Cemetery Records, 1853-1986,” 17 Dec 1919, section P -108, entry/permit #63174. ↩︎
30. Sun, 8 Feb 1895 and 19 February 1897. ↩︎
31. Living on Lanvale Street, Ward 13, with her parents, five boarders (four of whom were females), and a servant. ↩︎
32. Sun, 8 Jun 1900 and 17 Sep 1901. ↩︎
33. Sun, 9 Nov 1900, 23 Mar 1901, 27 May 1901, and 30 Apr 1902. ↩︎
34. Sun, 16 Jan and 4 Feb 1904. ↩︎
35. “1908 Annual Educational Report to the monthly meeting of Friends, Park Avenue.”  Blanche was on a faculty of 25 who served 274 students (133 boys and 141 girls). The school offered classes to kindergarteners (20); primary (87), intermediate (102), and high school (65) pupils. Fourteen students were actually Quakers. It had 6 worthy graduates the previous year, who had matriculated at Swarthmore (4), the University of Pennsylvania (1), and Johns Hopkins (1). ↩︎
36. Sun, 12 Mar 1905, 14 November 1905, 1 Jun 1906, 18 Feb 1909, and 29 Dec 1911. ↩︎
37. Sun, 29 Oct 1909. On the 1910 US Census, the Fergusons resided at 875 Park Avenue, Baltimore. Lila’s engagement had been announced in the Sun on 15 Apr 1909. ↩︎
38. Sun, 21 Feb 1923. ↩︎
39. Sun, 22 Jun 1923. ↩︎
40. Sun, 15 Jul 1928. ↩︎
41. New York Times, 15 Nov 1936 (page N 10). ↩︎
42. My own grandfather, Adelard Morin, was one of several siblings.  The first two, Thomas and Philip, were born in the province of Québec, yet listed as natives of Missouri on the 1900 U.S. Census. Grandpa had the most traditional of given names, which was often misspelled in directories.  In 1908, as a 20-year-old dry goods clerk in St. Joseph, Missouri, he was even identified as “Adelaide.”  No wonder that he signed his name as A. J. and preferred to be called Dee. ↩︎