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The Moore-Cannette Family
Three hundred and twenty feet front, on the North side of the Bay of Biloxi, by the entire depth of the tract of land confirmed to me, the said John Baptiste Ladnier, by the Congress of the United States of America, on the west by a lot of land given by me to my daughter Arsene (widow Laforce), and on the east by a lot of land given by me to my daughter Louise, wife of Stanislaus Beaugez, together with all and singular the tenements, hereditaments and appurtenances unto the said lot belonging or in any wise appertaining, to have and to hold the above given, granted and described premises with the appurtenances unto the said Eloisa, wife of said Louis Groux, her heirs and assigns forever, absolutely, without any pecuniary consideration whatever.
(Harrison County, Deed Bk. 4, pp. 474-5.)
Eloise was born on August 6, 1821, as the following baptismal record indicates.
On July 6, 1822, I, the undersigned missionary priest, baptized Louise, daughter of Jean Baptist Ladner and Julianne LaFontaine/married in the Church/torn on August 6, 1821. The godmother is Louise Ladner. (Mobile Cathedral, BB 2, p. 184-a.)
Eloise's birth probably took place at the old Ladner homestead, which was built on the old point of land where Jean Baptiste Fountain would eventually build his home. The reason for this assumption rests on the fact that the grant was confirmed on April 25, 1812. Her birth took place nine years later.
Taking possession of a grant took place quickly, so os to satisfy governmental regulations. Unless an individual farmed or grazed or lived on a grant, so as to make use of it, the grant would revert to the government which gave it, after a specified time. It is thus token for granted here that Jean Baptiste Ladner satisfied this regulation. Old members of the Fountain family still living today, recall some rather old buildings and foundations that existed on the property when they were children. These remnants of days gone by could hove been some of the first buildings on the north side of Back Bay, that is, immediately across the Back Bay from Biloxi. In the 1819 re-confirmation of the above grant, It is noted that Jean Baptiste Ladner's western neighbor was Louts A. Caillavet, a descendant of Symphorlen Caillavet of France. The Caillavet property included the present site of the Fountain Cemetery in d'lbervllle. Jean Baptiste Ladner's son-in-law, Francois Fontaine, would eventually purchase the Caillavet grant, all of which, In 1841, would become part of Harrison County, Mississippi.
So it was, then, that Louis Groue's early years were spent on the property inherited by his mother, Eloise. He learned the fine points of the seafood industry from his father. And, no doubt, he learned how to merfce nets, fish, and grow the crops common to the area.
On May 8, 1860, th$ civil marriage between Louis Groue and Mary Parker took place. No locality is mentioned, but it was not uncommon in those days that the Justice of the Peace would perform the ceremony at the home of the bride or groom. By this time there were many households on the North side of the Back Bay, so that one can imagine the large concourse of people bearing the familiar names of Fountain, Beaugez, Bosarge, Foretich, Seymour, Boney, Ladner, Quove, Saujon, Moran, Santa Cruz, to name just a few.
The small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption had been constructed on the North side of the Back Bay in 1860 but there was no resident pastor.
This Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built at Back Bay by the religious care of Mr. Manuel Sanchez and Philippine Sanchez, his wife, was erected and opened to the Catholic worship by Father Henri Georget, pastor of the Church of the Nativity at Biloxi and of the Catholic Congregation of Back Bay, on the 16th day of August, 1860, feast of St. Hyacinth. (Book 3, Nativity Cathedral, Biloxi.)
It was not until 1871 that the blessing of the marriage between Louis and Marie took place.
In fact, most of the blessings of the marriages among the Back Bay couples, contracted in the 1860's, took place in the early 1870's.
Despite the tardiness In having their civil marriages blessed, most, if not all, of the old generation were married in the Catholic church. The exceptions are very few, and it is quite possible that, in the case of the exceptions, the priest lost the information or forgot to record the blessings; for it is even rarer that a Catholic couple did not have their children baptized.
The blessing of the civil marriage between Louis and Marie took place on May 5, 1871.
On May 5, 1871, I blessed the marriage of Louis Groux and Marie Paca.
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