Don Sharp recently recorded a video interview that helps wrap up the inter-connections between key figures in southeast Louisiana history. He specifically unveils the significant contributions made by Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Gilberto Guillemard, James Rumsey, Jacques-Michel Hertel de Rouville and Pierre Rigaud Cavagnial de Vaudreuil.
These five gentlemen are important to early Louisiana progress for a variety of reasons. Guillemard was architect and builder of the Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral, and the Presbytere; Rumsey invented the steam-engine propelled boat, and Rouville helped spotlight the early stirrings of the American Revolution both in Canada and the British Colonies on the east coast.
Sharp cites published works, news articles from the time, and maps of the area to weave his three part talk to show the connections between the men and expand on their importance.
Here is the video. Click on the "Play Triangle" below to view the video.
Don Sharp, local historian, is excited about the upcoming celebration of America's 250th anniversary, because he feels it will help once again show the close connections of the Lacombe area to the Canadian events and widespread disatisfaction that eventually resulted in the American Revolution.
That 250th year celebration will be held two years from now in 2026. Commissions are now being set up state-by-state to help plan local participation in the event.
Sharp believes that the story of how early Lacombe pioneers took part in the resistance to British Crown mandates placed on their friends and relatives back in Canada is an important part of American history.
His research into the Lacombe area history has convinced him that early settler Jacques-Michel Hertel de Rouville, whose wife had a large land grant plantation on Bayou Lacombe, was a major player in the key series of events when he returned to Canada to help fight the injustices being placed upon his former home.
A map of Lacombe showing Bayou Rouville
According to Sharp's research, Jacques-Michel Hertel de Rouville probably received the earliest land grant on the North Shore that we know of, and it appears to be the largest given in what is now the Lacombe area. The exact date and the description of the grant recorded by the French government are not known. It was described, in a sales document after his death, as "A tract of land lying and being on the Bayou Lacombe, alias Bayou Rouville, on the right hand, or easternmost side going up from Lake Pontchartrain, commencing by estimation about half a league from the said lake, containing fourteen square leagues fronting on the said bayou by a straight line of the distances of seven leagues with two leagues in depth, making in all the above named quantity fourteen square leagues.
However, when Britian began cracking down on the rights of citizens in the Canadian provinces, Rouville went back to Canada and helped organize resistance committees, according to Sharp's research and that of his writing partner Canadian historian Anita R. Campeau.
Rouville's actions 250 years ago prompt Sharp to conclude that those who say that Louisiana had nothing to do with the American Revolution are wrong. The settlers of the Lacombe area and across south Louisiana, those who originally came from Canada (and there were many) were undoubtedly active in Canadian resistance to British mandates and that helped bring about the American Revolution.
The present day Rouville Road in Lacombe commemorates the important role played by Jacques de Rouville in the early history of southern St. Tammany Parish, but it only hints at his key participation in the efforts to gain freedom for his friends and relatives in Canada and the northeast United States.
To hear Don Sharp provide details of Rouville's activities in Lacombe and Canada, click on the "PLAY TRIANGLE" in the above video.
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