Author Archives: millsmma1

Lafayette in America June 23, 2025 As we approach the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, a strange, seldom-used word is becoming part of our discourse. “Semiquincentennial” is a mouthful to say, but it is already appearing in the press in an era more used to bicentennials. I stated in an earlierContinue reading

[With the collaboration of Sherry Northington]  July 2, 2024 Over the years, I have been blessed by contributions and communications from a number of Acadian descendants.  It is such a pleasure to “talk shop” and share experiences with individuals in Louisiana, Texas, and here in the Chesapeake region.  Family and regional research has no particularContinue reading “The Deschamps in the Chesapeake and Louisiana”

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 mentionContinue reading “The Saga of the Paul F. de Gournay Family in Baltimore”

February 10, 2024 Ann Guthrow Renaudet Daub(e)court Groc (Revised) The Gauterots (or Guthrows) stand out among Acadian exiles who remained in Maryland.  Joseph Mosley’s marriage records are very limited, but exiles Joseph and Ann Tibodot were married in Newtown, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, by the Rev. Joseph Mosley on 9 February 1766; Laurence, to Françoise BabinContinue reading “Ann Guthrow Renaudet Daub(e)court Groc”

October 10, 2023  We all enjoy the really big events that fall under the categories of jubilees, centennials, and bicentennials.  Our expectations are high beforehand as nations, cities and towns, and organizations plan on pulling out all the bells and whistles and appeal to our deepest emotions. Here in America in 1976, everyone put onContinue reading “The Baltimore Oriole and Yorktown Celebrations of October 1881”

July 28, 2023 Today is known in North America as the Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval.  It has already been twenty years since my friend Warren Perrin, of Lafayette and Erath, Louisiana, was successful in having Queen Elizabeth II acknowledge and apologize for orders issued on July 28, 1755 that set off manyContinue reading “Thoughts on the Grand Dérangement”

July 23, 2023 Sixte Chameau (Chamaux) of Bordeaux was listed on the 1763 census of Annapolis Acadians sent to the Duc de Nivernois in London.  Noted at the end with Baudit Gonsault and his wife, Joseph and Marguerite (Guthrow) Paillottet, and François Nicolas, Chameau remained in Maryland because of his ties to the water andContinue reading “The Chameau Family of Maryland”

May 3, 2023 (with additions on July 26, 2023) In reading the chapter on the Landry Family in Volume 1 of Becoming the Frenchified State of Maryland, all should agree that Eliza M. C. Landry was a unique and energetic woman in nineteenth-century Baltimore. She is covered extensively on pages 349-86. Eliza was quite loyalContinue reading “The Politics of War”

May 2, 2023 (with additions on July 16, 2023) Some forty-six years after his death in Baltimore in 1839 at the age of 82+, Dr. John J. Giraud was back in the news in the 6 August 1885 edition of the Sun. It appears that his will was being contested in France, and it wasContinue reading “Dr. Giraud”

April 30, 2023 Last week at a book festival I had a long conversation with an Ellicott City physician about Francophones in the medical field who set up practices in Baltimore in the nineteenth century. The Chatard dynasty and James J. Giraud were just a few to be considered. In the summer of 1857, aContinue reading “Baltimore’s Historic Attraction to French Doctors”