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The Montz Family of Louisiana 1721 - Present |
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by Monty Montz |
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Page 16 |
THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS:
THE ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT OF JOHN LAW'S COMPANY WAS AT MOBILE Bay, but in 1719 he moved to Fort Maurepas (Ocean
Springs), Louisiana. In 1720, seven of the aforementioned ships arrived at this company.24 Finally, came
the ''Portefaix" from France on the 4th day of June, 1721, with 330 emigrants who were mostly Germans. They
all were intended for Law's concessions. A notable gentleman aboard this ship was Karl Friedrich D'
Arsenbourg. (25)
BECAUSE JOHN LAW WAS NOT A MANAGER, HE WENT BANKRUPT. HE WAS forced to abandon his concessions along the Arkansas
River. The Germans that arrived on many ships did not have time to harvest their first crop nor to build a
decent standard of living. With the Germans having no monetary or managerial support, nor a method as yet to
subside on what existed, they decided to leave the concession and travel in masse to New Orleans to demand a
better mode of treatment. Therefore, in 1722, the Germans landed in New Orleans ( a wild and wooly town of about
one-hundred huts) and marched to Governor Bienville's headquarters.
THE GERMANS DEMANDED PASSAGE BACK TO EUROPE, BUT BIENVILLE requested that they remain either in New Orleans or
surrounding areas. Through heated conferences, the Germans were able to achieve some notable results: first,
that the Germans from the Arkansas River concession were given rich and alluvial lands on the right bank of
the Mississippi River about twenty-five miles from New Orleans, on what is now known as the "German Coast,"
comprising St. Charles and St. John Parishes, where in 1721, two German villages existed (Fig.2-2 ); secondly,
that the agent for the concession on the Arkansas River, Mr. Levens, was disposed
(Mr. Levens was second in
command for the concessions); and third, that provisions were sent to the Germans who still remained there.
THE MANY EMIGRANTS WHO SETTLED WITHIN TOWNSHIPS, VILLAGES, AND part of John Law's concessions traveled to them by ship
via Lake Borgne, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, the Amite River, Bayou Manchac, and the Mississippi River.
24 Ibid., p. 21
251bid., p. 31