Alphabet File page 212

  Was Jean Lafitte, retired from the no longer profitable privateering and now in his late fifties, who returned to  peacefully live out his final years on the Coast he loved?   The residents of his day seemed to think so and to support their story there is, also, the bayou on the property he   was  supposed to own, known as Bayou Jean et Pierre, which   was very coincidentally the names of the two famous 

 

Brothers Lafitte.

 

  Was "Lafitto" of Bay St. Louis the famous corsair?  Well,  this writer who has been researching Lafitte for nearly   fifteen years is inclined to agree with those old-timers - on the basis of logic alone.  No historian has yet been able  to prove when or  where Lafitte died.  All theories  advanced have been based on supposition or legend.  Only the  records at Bay St. Louis have turned up as "provable evidence" that Jean Lafitte may well have retired to the Coast to end his days quietly. His career as a privateer, or pirate if you prefer, was over...in fact the days of privateering were at an end.  He had led a full and dangerous life and was now in his late fifties.

 

  And  while he was never able to regain any of the fortune confiscated by the U.S. government at Grand Terre,  having been the most successful privateer of his day, he  undoubtedly had sufficient means (he was a hard-headed businessman) on which to retire.

 

  "Lafitto" of Bay St. Louis acquired sizable property   holdings, lived unostentatiously  but very comfortably, and was rather a mystery to his neighbors.

 

Yes, we incline to agree with the old-timers that Bay St.

 

Louis has a good case to lay claim to Jean Lafitte, gentleman pirate-patriot in retirement. (Ray Thompson, the Daily Herald, July 29, 1958)

 

MAN  OF  MANY  FACES  - Jean Lafitte, in on - [the  plot to bring Napoleon to New Orleans] was a fervent supporter of the emperor, a free thinker, an enemy of Spain, a utopian visionary, the last great pirate and yes, I can verify, a Jew.

 

  Lafitte resented he label of pirate. He claimed to be a privateer, with a  marque from the republic of Columbia  to  board Spanish vessels and  seize their cargo. But there's  evidence he attacked vessels of other nationalities as well and he never took prisoners.

 

  Lafitte's Jewish back-ground provides clues to his motivations, particularly his intense hatred of Spain.  It also may explain his social position in the life of New Orleans.

 

  To see this dashing pirate as pioneer urban Jewish outsider is a kick.  According to Nola Ross' mini-history, "Jean Lafitte: Louisiana Buccaneer," which draws heavily  from his diary, he was  born  in Port-Au-Prince in 1782.   His mother, Maria Zora Nadrimal, died soon after, and the  young  Jean was raised by his Jewish grandmother, Zora Nadrimal.  His grandfather, Abhorad Nadrimal, was jailed, tortured and died in prison in Spain. Ms. Ross describes him   as "an alchemist...and free-thinking  Jew."  Eventually Jean  was raised on stories of his suffering, and this created his hatred of all things Spanish.

 

  As for piracy, it ran in the family: his oldest brother, Alexandre Frederic, was a sea captain known in Louisiana   as "Dominique You."  One can visit his grave in St. Louis Cemetery, marked not by a cross but by the emblem        of a   "free mason."  Jean first went to sea under his  brother's command.

 

  We know something of how Zora raised him.  Lafitte described her as 0training him "in the habits necessary to the development of a strong personality, prepared to face the vicissitudes of life with a firm and determined will and capable of ignoring all obstacles that would retard the development of my mind." Moreover, his grandmother had   the ideals of the prophets, encouraging Jean to become a writer who would "unchain humanity and emancipate the poor from suffering and exploitation.  But, though he was an accomplished writer, Jean chose the sword over the pen and     this raises an uncomfortable point.

 

  The Spanish ships Lafitte attacked were importing slaves from Africa - a trade illegal in Louisiana under American   law.  To the planters of Louisiana, he was a hero, because   fresh slaves were in short supply.  But in ugly truth, he was a slave smuggler. Yet  Lafitte never forgot entirely  his grandmother's  ideals. After leaving Louisiana, he founded a utopian pirate's den near Galveston.  In later years, he actually became an early labor leader in St.  Louis, affiliated with the international Working Men's Association.  In 1847 he met with Marx and Engels, writing, "I heartily support the two young men.  I hope and pray that their projects may become joined in a strong doctrine to shake the foundations of the highest dynasties and leave  them to be devoured by the lower masses."

 

  He opened an escrow account in a Paris bank to aid them. There is even evidence that Lafitte tried to introduce   Marx to the young Abraham Lincoln.

 

  A Jew and a pirate, a slave smuggler and communist, a frequenter of cabarets and quadroon balls but a loyal family man, the contradictions blur and dazzle.  As for how Jewish he was, let's note that Lafitte's first wife, and the mother of his children, was Christina Lavine, from a Danish-Jewish family.

 

  Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop [in New Orleans] was a great place to hunt up Jean's ghost. There was a coal fire in the grate, and, staring into it, I could see slaves hammering iron grillwork  on a  forge.  The Sephardic pirate lies on his hammock, conferring in Ladino with his older brothers,

 

Dominique You and Pierre, the three sharing a family secret   that bound them tightly for life.  Unknown to  the rest of New Orleans, they were Jews.  (From "A Buccaneer's   Secret," By Rodger Kamenetz, Forward, June 28, 1993.)

 

Lafontaine, Asa Mrs., 125 State (Ph 48 thru 50, 55)

 

Lafontaine, Jeanette r 107 Railroad Ave (Ph 50)

 

Lafontaine, Milton r 608 Hancock (Ph 55)

 

Lafontaine, Roland, 513 Main (Ph 48-49)

 

Lafontaine, Roland Sr. r 513 Main (Ph 55)

 

La Fontaine, Roland Jr., Union (Ph 48)

 

Lafontaine, Roland Jr. r 439 Demontluzin (Ph 55)

 

Lafontaine S. Mrs., 228 Washington (Ph 48 thru 50)

 

Lafontaine, Sylvest r Lakeshore (Ph 55)

 

Lafontaine, Theodore, r Ballentine (Ph 48 thru 50)

 

Lafontaine, Woodrow, 115 State (Ph 48 thru 50) 136 State (Ph 55)

 

La Fountaine, J. Cadet, from interview with Bud Ladner 6/13/91 La Fountaine,

 

J. Cadet 1790 - 1852 m. Celeste (Favre?) Antoine 1839 - 1909 m. Fannie Favre La Fountaine Elvina LaFountaine m. Charles Gilbert Ladner Josephine

 

           Fannie

 

           Edna

 

           Cecile (Viola Cecile)

 

           Maize

 

  Coburn "Bud"

 

  Molly (dsp)

 

Lafrance, Lester, 521 Citizen (Ph 48 95))

 

Lafrance, Lillian, 321 Easterbrook (Ph 48 59)

 

  242 Carre Court, BSL (59 to 95 verbal)

 

Lagan, Mr. - "LADY LUCKETT", the pleasure sloop from Waveland, with Capt. E. Helwege, and Messrs. Preston Herndon, King, Lagan, Joseph Elliot, Thomas Barr, and Arthur Shepard aboard, arrived at Pascagoula on the 17th, inst., to take part in the regatta.  The young gentlemen are on a cruise along the coast and will visit the several islands of the Sound.-Pascagoula Magnet. (SCE 8/27/1892)

 

Lagan, Col. and wife after spending a few days at the Bay, returned to New Orleans Thursday.  (SCE/10/22/1892)