Arkansas Through the Looking Glass of 1743 Documents

              Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page 16
A R K A N S A S Introduction
Through Way back when first infected with the virus
THE LOOKING GLASS curiosity about the residents of Arkansas
prior to the Louisiana purchase, a 1794 burial
of record in the Myra Vaughan copy of the Arkansas
1743 DOCUMENTS Catholic Register (l) piqued the imagination...
/
Could Antoine Lepine be a remanent of the mystery shrouded Law Colony,
continuing to almost the dawn of American Arkansas...or...even more
tantalizing, a carryover from de Tonti's 1686 complement? It was the
only instance noted in which "Ancient Post of Arkansas" was used in
the records entered in the register.
Now, several years (and many thousands of words examined about
both French and Spanish Colonial America) later, it can be stated
that Antoine Lepine was not from the 1686 first Arkansas settlement.
Although the link to or disassociation of this LEPINE family with
the Law Colony is not yet completely resolved, this "Ancient Post
of Arkansas" can be documented.
Among the documents of French Colonial Louisiana held by the
Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans, are two dated October 1743 of
Arkansas Post origin...a petition by a resident widow to the Post
Commandant and a subsequent inventory of community property at the
husband's death, Previously, the earliest located inventory of the
holdings of an Arkansas family had been that of Pierre LeFevre
dated 8 February 1810. (3)
In addition to the sociological, economical, commercial and
legal glimpses of Arkansas in the 1740's revealed (and more exciting
to this researcher), named are fifteen possible 'players'in the Ark-ansas
drama to be worked into the 'script'.
Acknowledgments
Translations of these enlightening documents being shared here
with BULLETIN readers is possible only through the generosity of
many which is gratefully acknowledged»
.....Louisiana State Museum, for permission to publish.
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page 16
- ... Ghislaine Pleasonton, former Associate Curator, and. Susan Leman,
Archives Assistant, of the Museum's Louisiana Historical Center, who
located the desired documents for photostating and provided inter-pretative
assistance.
...All the staff members of the Jackson Square Library who have
been so helpful to this novice through the years.
...Mrs. Nicole Vable Hatfield, Conway, Ark., GPH Society's long
standing friend and benefactor, for translation of the inventory.
...Anton Pregaldin, Clayton, Mo., fellow history buff, for prompt
response to plea for translation of the petition not acquired until
after Nicole had departed for the summer in France.
In the annals of the history of western civilization, the decade
of the l740's was dominated by one of the series of almost endless
wars waged by the colonizers of North America from the Jamestown
settlement to the Declaration of Independence. Europe's feudal order
of the Middle Ages disintegrated amid fierce resistance to change,
resulting in great intellectual, moral, religious, military, econo-mic,
physical and political turmoil in the Old World...and great
waves of migration to the New World.
The War of Jenkin's Ear between England and France, begun in
1739f widened into the War of the Austrian Succession, part of the
Anglo-French colonial and dynastic rivalry frequently referred to as
the Second hundred years' war. Among others, this war involved Eng-land,
France, Spain, Austria and Prussia. The signing of the Treaty
of Aix-la-Chapelle, the official end of this struggle, did not resolve
the colonial issues. Rather, it was actually only a truce to regroup
for the next conflict...the Seven Years' War...in America known as the
French and Indian War.
In American history the War of the Austrian Succession is known
as King George's War, and the fighting on this continent was between
1744 and 1748. Here the Immediate cause was dispute over the bound-ary
of Acadia (Nova Scotia of today) and northern New England, and
the struggle over the Ohio Valley. On the frontiers of America the
fighting was characterized by bloody attacks and retaliations between
alignments of the waring powers, their colonists and their respective
Indian allies.
With this general orientation as to the status and moods of the
Western World in the 1740's, let's zero in on the Arkansas of 1743....
Archeological and historical investigations through the years
confirm that the "Post of Arkansas" occupied a succession of sites
between the mouth of the Arkansas River and the present location
from 1686 to 1804. Building on earlier writings and conclusions (4),
in 1956 historian Ray H. Mattison began historical investigations
for the National Park Service which established the national signi-figance
of Arkansas Post as a great crossroads of history (5) and
contributed to the establishment of the Arkansas Post National Memorial.
(6)
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page 16
The "Ancient Post of Arkansas" of Antoine Lepine's youth Is re-vealed
to also be the setting for the early scenes in the continuing
drama of the Arkansas depicted in these 174 documents. Of this Ark-ansas
Post No. 2, Mattison writes..."Contemporary evidence is...very
conclusive as to the location of the Arkansas Post constructed in
1732...about 10 to 15 miles above the mouth of the Arkansas and on
the north side of that stream...It appears to have been abandoned in
the early 1750's.(7) Faye calls it the "only French post that...
ever stood below the Arkansas forks" and writes that Commandant
DeMoncharvaux* s (8) headquarters (our 174 focal point) was precar-iously
situated below the flood level and that the commandant found
it necessary to enclose the area of his fort, occupying three quarters
of an acre, with a parapet levee. (9)
Contemporary writings shed additional light on 1743 Arkansas.
The Post Commandant, Ensign St. Therese de Langloiserie, wrote of
the buildings in 1734:
..."They consist of a wooden house on sleepers thirty-two
feet long by eighteen feet wide, roofed with bark,
consisting of three rooms on the ground floor, one of
which has a fireplace, the floors and ceilings of cyprus,
a powder magazine built of woods on sleepers ten feet
long and eight feet wide, a prison built of posts driven
into the ground, roofed with bark, ten feet long by
eight feet wide, and a building which serves as a bar-racks,
also of posts driven into the ground forty feet
long by sixteen feet wide, roofed with bark." (10)
A visiting Jesuit Priest wrote in 1738:
..."The fort is small; a larger one (is) not needed for
the twelve men who are there commanded by an officer. A
few Frenchmen attracted by the hope of trade with the In-dians
are settled nearby.
"The ssionary is a Jesuit (Father Avond). The
lodging of the Father is a makeshift hut| the walls are
made of split log, the roof of Cyprus bark, and the
chimney of mud, mixed with dry grass which is the straw
of the country. I have lived elsewhere in such dwellings,
but nowhere did I have so much fresh air. The house is
full of cracks from top to bottom..." (ll)
In the late 1720*s the Indian tribes in the lower Mississippi
Valley banded together in an effort to foil the take-over of their
homelands by the European powers with colonial aspirations. In
1729-30 the Natchez tribe annihilated the French at Fort Rosalie
(in the vicinity of present-day Natchez, Miss.), but the Choctaws
turned on the Natchez so that by 1731 only remanents of the tribe
remained. Unable to overcome traditional enemlties and sustain the
cooperative military offensive that might have expelled the whites,
the tribes in the 1730's aligned themselves variously with the
l*rench and English.. .principal alliances being the Choctaw with the
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page 16
French and the Chickasaw and Natchez remanents with the English. ,
Arkansas Post No. 2 was at the crossroads of this phase of the Anglo-
French colonial rivalry...the Chickasaw Wars of the 1730*s. (12)
Menaced from above, below and in front by the Chickasaw and
their Indian allies, whose homeland and principal range was across
the Mississippi River to the east, and from the rear by the west-ward
roaming Osage, indiscriminately hostile to all encroachers, red
or white, the Arkansas Post position would have been untenable except
for the continuing loyalty of the Quapaw. Even though the Chickasaw
uprisings had been put down by the all-out offensives of the late
1730's, it was an uneasy peace for the Arkansas French of 17^3- The
Chickasaw continued their alliances with the Engliah (and their raids
against the French)j the Choctaw wavered In loyalty now between the
French and the English) the Osage were as fierce and unrelenting as
ever. Luckily, the ^uapaw did not waver, but tragically, their num-ber
was decimated by the diseases of the white men they befriended.
On the seventh day of May in thi3 Arkansas of 1743, Faye re-lates,
"Guillaume...a trader... accompanied by his wife, by an engage
Carignan and by six other engages...was paddling up the Mississippi
when, not far below the Arkansas raouth, a band of Chickasaw fell
upon the party. One Frenchman met death straightwayj the other men
were taken prisoners, but Guillaume's wife escaped on the Mississippi
right bank. The Chickasaw carried Guillaume and the surviving engages
to the left bank, where Guillaume also escaped..." (13)
The stage Is set for the petition of the resident widow to the
Arkansas Post commandant in October of 1743- For increased reader
understanding and appreciation of this document...It is written on
an oversize sheet of paper, approximately twelve inches long by
fifteen inches wide. It appears to be the original Instrument penned
in Arkansas. Most was still legible in the photostats translator
Pregaldin worked from as Ms. Leman thoughtfully provided "two copies,
a light and a dark, as we find this method helpful in reading faded
documents. The dark copy is useful for reading the faded areas on
either side while the light copy can be used to read the darker sec-tion
in the middle."
Although Mr. Pregaldin could decipher most of the words, he
comments, "I find this document difficult to translate, especially
the first part, I think it is written in an attempted "legalese"
style which sounds almost as awkward in French as it does in my
translation." As a present day attorney-at-law and student of French
Colonial legal proceedings, he helpfully adds, "By custom (of the
times) and as normally provided in marriage contracts, the surviving
spouse got to use the jointly owned property until death or remarri-age.
Upon the occurence of one of these events, it was necessary to
settle up with the sons, sons-in-law and unmarried daughters. In this
case, it appears Madame Leplne wanted to settle with one of her sons-in-
law ahead of schedule because he had suffered some disaster in
the Indian trade. The commandant agreed to her generous request."
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page 16
A reproduction, of the petition heading reduced more than one-half
"TO MONSIEUR DEMONCHARVAUX, LIEUTENANT OF INFANTRY, COMMANDANT OF THE
KING AT THE FORT OF ARKANSAS
"Begs very humbly ANNE CATHERINE CHENALENNE, widow of late
LEPINE, and would have the honor to represent to you that in conse-quence
of the accident which happened to the one called GUILLAUME
BIENVENUE, her son-in-law, and his wife, who have lost all their
property, she would like to make inventory of what she posseses, in
order to give legally the part that would come to him when it shall
please the Lord to reunite them (her and her late husband), without
prejudice to her other children living with the said supplicant.
"Ibis (having been) considered, Monsieur, may it please you to
transport yourself to the residence of the supplicant with witnesses
named by you to see, appraise and evaluate the little property which
remains in the hands of the aforesaid WIDOW CHENALENNE, Widow Lepine,
since the death of the late Sieur JEAN FRANCOIS LEPINE, her husband,
In order to give the portion due her poor children, at least to
those who have run so much risk among the savages. For this, count-ing
on your good and natural heart to do justice in this,
"Virtue in place and stead
"For Madame Widow Lepine."
Commandant DeMoncharvaux's answer to the Widow Lepine's petition
follows...
"In view of the representation made to me by Madame WIDOW LEPINE,
the inventory will be proceeded to next Saturday, October 26, of the
real and personal property derived from the marital community between
the late JEAN FRANCOIS LEPINE and Dame CATHERINE CHENALENNE (and)
their lawful heirs, to whose profit....(illegible)... with us, to wit,
Sieurs LOUIS GISCARD dit BENOIST and CHARLES GROSSILON in the name
of the said Widow on one hand, and Sieurs JEAN LAFLEUR with PIERRE
IMBAU dlt LAJEUNESSE for the living minor children, to evaluate every-thing,
to the interest of the latter, without partiality.
"At the Arkansas, 23rd October 17^3.
/S/ TISSERAN DEMONCHARVAUX"
Accordingly, the following Saturday, Commandant DeMoncharvaux
and the appointed appraisers gathered at the Lepine residence les3
than a hundred yards from Mattison's Arkansas Post No. 2 to list and
value the community property of the late Jean Francois Lepine and his
surviving spouse. What has survived of the resulting inventory is
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page
not the instrument penned in Arkansas in 1743 but a copy made the
following January by a Notary whose signature the translator could
not decipher and which the writer has not yet identified. The loss
of the original sadly denies the opportunity to compare the names of
the participants as written in the document with actual signatures
(many times most revealing to researchers) or to learn of other Ark-ansas
residents who may have been present as witnesses and "willing"
to sign. Appended to the inventory copy is a copy of a receipt for
300 livres paid on a debt to Sieur ANTOINE COLLERET "since above men-tioned
inventory" attested by Commandant DeMoncharvaux...apparently
a debt of the Lepine community to be deducted before distribution to
widow and heirs.
Mrs. Hatfield worked with five legal size pages of photostats,
all acoeptably legible except the appended receipt noted above. She
comments, "This is a fascinating document. I felt some of the words
I could not decipher might suddenly become clear, but there is not
much context...spelling, handwriting, even vocabulary, changed so
that it is almost like decoding hieroglyphics." As a personal aside,
she notes that October 26 is her Mother's and her daughter Mathilda's
birth date.
Ms. Leman contributes for reader understanding concerning the
monetary units used, "Colonial currency in the document is in livres
and sols. At that time 20 sols made up one livre." Since this 1979
typewriter does not have the symbols used in the document, 1. will
be used for livres and e.for sols in this translation.
Reproduction of inventory opening that correlates with petition heading
(reduced one-third)
"This, the twenty-sixth of October seventeen hundred forty-three,
in our presence, JEAN FRANCOIS TISSERAN ECUYER SIEUR DEMONCHARVAUX,
Commandant of the King at the Fort of Arkansas, there took place upon
request of MADAME CHENALENE, Widow LEPINE, an inventory of posses-sions
left and coming from their matrimonial union, to be subsequently
appraised for the benefit of the widow and her living children born
of this marriage, in the presence of Sieurs LOUIS GISCARD dlt BENOIST
and CHARLES GR0SILLI0N in the name of the above mentioned widow on
one hand, and Sieurs JEAN LAFLEUR dit EMMANUELLE with PIERRE IMBAU
dlt LAJUENESSE on behalf of the minor children,
TO WITi
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page 16
"An old house, with all the small buildings fit to
shelter the cattle, consisting of three small
buildings, all located between forty and forty-five
toises (Notei old measure equivalent to two
yards) from the fort, plus twelve horned animals
some large, some small, fourteen hogs, large and
small, plus three black slaves, this is, two men
and one woman, with an old crippled Indian woman,
thi3 all valued at , . 6000 1.
PLUS, In the hands of Monsieur FLAMAND, according
to the letter dated 23 Aug 1743, for tallow sent
to him, amounting to the sum of 4000 1.
PLUS, a receipt presently given by MADAME L'PINE
for 1740 pounds of tallow at 6 s./pound, amount-ing
to the sum of 822 1,
PLUS, a note by B0NNEF0ND dated 23 March 1743,
amounting to the sum of 130 1.
One same, from BARON dated 18 March 1743, amount-ing
to tiie sum of . 46 1. 10 s.
Another one, from MIGN0N, dated 18 March 1743,
amounting to the sum
PLUS, a note of FRANCOEUR dated 18 March 1743,
in the amount of 200 1.
One same, from BAUDOIN dated 18 March 1743,
amounting to the sum of 140 1.
A bill in arrears due 29 Sept 1743 from Monsieur
FLAMAND, in the amount of 1532 1.
1600 pounds of tobacco coming from the 1743 crop
amounting to 1600 1.
Four old metal caldrons, valued at 40 1.
Nine plates and two small dishes and three spoons
of old pewter, valued at 18 1. 25 s., amounting to 22 1. 10 s.
One dozen old steel forks, valued at 11.10s.
Two frying pans, one large and one small, of tin,
I estimated the amount of 9 1*
Two drip-pans, I value at 5 1«
14630 1. 10 s.
"After reading in a loud and clear voice, we declared the in-ventory
good and valid according to declaration made to us by said
Widow and witnessesj concerning her as well as the orphans, in case
It should happen that some item that she learns of was not declared
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page 16
on the inventory, the widow will bring it back (and have appraised).
"The undersigned gentlemen and witnesses also declare they are
not aware that any article was omitted, and that they have appraised
sincerely, and valued for everyone's benefit according to their know-ledge
of each item in keeping with its value In Arkansas this day and
year, in the presence of LOUIS GISCARD dit BENOIST and CHARLES
GROSILLION dit TOURANGEAU (Note by translator: Indicates from Touraine,
a province in France, capital, Tours.), JEAN LAFLEUR dit EMMANUELLE,
PIERRE IMBAU dit LAJEUN1SSE, the latter mentioned declared he could
not write and was called, according to ordinances, to put his regu-lar
mark in our presence and that of witnesses here mentioned and
others who are willing to be present to vouch for the widow and or-phans.
"Compared with the original the 24th of January 17^4."
It is not revealed when or how Jean Francois Lepine met his
demise. HOW could have been disease, drowning, Indian or wild ani-mal
attack, even foul play, but odds are that WHEN was not too many
months before October 1743. Women were a premium in the Mississippi
Valley in the early eighteenth century with widowhood usually a short
term state. Madame Lepine, possessing slaves, cattle, buildings,
cleared land and business interests, most certainly would have at-tracted
suitors like honey trees drew the Arkansas black bears.
Sieur Lepine is reflected not only as a pioneer farmer of pre-sent
day Arkansas County land, producing cattle and tobacco, but an
entrepreneur of export and import. The "four old metal caldrons" may
have served in rendering the "tallow" from the abundant wild game of
the Arkansas (possibly that of the black bear much in demand) for
export. The notes listed were probably given for supplies and trade
goods he imported for sale to hunters and trappers making the Arkan-sas
Post headquarters for expeditions 'up' the various watercourses
to the Arkansas interior.
The absence of any household furniture...beds, tables, chests,
etc...is conspicuous. Before concluding Arkansas households of the
day, even those of the owners of three black slaves, contained none,
it would be necessary to know the terms of the couple's marriage con-tract.
Furniture and household linens could have been brought to the
marriage by the bride and exempt from this enumeration of the marital
community. On the other hand, being forced for the safety and protec-tion
of their persons and goods, and by the trade opportunities af-forded,
to establish their residence in the shadow of a fort pre-cariously
situated below the flood level, the Lepines may have deem-ed
furniture and household amenities an unwarranted burden as well
as an unsound Investment.
These are some reflections in the "looking glass" of these 1743
documents. Many more sire there. Try your hand at visualizing what it
was like In Arkansas two hundred and thirty-six years ago. It's ex-citing,
mind expanding and funI Dorothy Jones Core
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
October 1979
Page
REFERENCES!
(1) R. P. Baker, '"Hie Myra McAlmont Vaughan Collection", Bicentennial
Project Grand Prairie Historical Society, ABSTRACT of CATHOLIC REGISTER of ARKANSAS (l?64-
1858), DeVitt Publishing Co., DeWitt, Ark. (1976), p 3
(2) Abstract of record...On 11 May 1794 ANTOINE LEPINE, native of
the Ancient Post of Arkansas, who died yesterday aged about
sixty years, was buried in the presence of Jean Baptiste
DuChassin, Antoine Beauvals, Serano and others...
(3) Dorothy Jones Core, "First Bankruptcy in Arkansas County Records",
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN, Vol l6, No. 3 A 4, p 8-13
(4) Stanley Faye devoted many years to historical investigations of
Arkansas Post and published his findings and conclusions in
Louisiana Historical Quarterly t "The Arkansas Post of Louisi-ana:
French Dominion", Vol. 26, p 633-721, and "Arkansas Post
of Louisianai Spanish Domination", Vol. 27, p 629-716.
(5) "It (Arkansas Post) is one of the great crossroads, where at
certain moments during the past four centuries the exemplars
of the most powerful representative forces of modern history
have passed through, leaving the Imprint of their personalities,
their purposes, and their contributions to humanity," Lily
Peter, "Salute to Arkansas Post", The Delta Review, Vol. 6,
No. 2 (Mar. 1969), p 84
(6) Ray H. Mattison, REPORT ON THE HISTORICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF
ARKANSAS POST, ARKANSAS, National Park Service, Omaha, Nebr.,
(1957)
(7) Ibid., p 84
(8) The name of the Arkansas Post Commandant in 1743 appears variously
in published sources. Hie writer has chosen to use in this
article the signature configuration and spelling found in the
title documents.
(9) Faye, op. cit., LAHQ, Vol 26(68l
(10) Mattison, op. cit., p 22
(11) Ibid.
(12) Other casualties of the Chickasaw Wars with Arkansas Post ties
carrying over to American era were Etlenne Langlols, maternal
grandfather of Marie Messager, and Louis Rene Petit de Coulanges,
maternal grandfather of Charles Melchoir (Don Carlos) de
Vlllemont.
(13) Faye, op. cit., La HQ, Vol 26:677, 678
Resumes of LEPINE and IMBAU planned for 1980 BULLETINS.
Other names shown in these documents to be associated with early Ark-ansas
are under investigation.
THANK YOU, Anton Pregaldin, for this added information on the Arkan-sas
DESRUISSEAUXS..."I recently realized that two 'DeRusseau* baptisms
at Ste. Genevieve on 3 Sept 1809 were actually daughters of J. Bte.
Desruisseaux and Marie Louise Bogy (called Bougie in the register).
Ihe children were ODILE b. Mar 19, 1808, and CLEMENCE b. June 3, 1809."