May 10, 2018 – 275th Anniversary of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines in LA!
TODAY – MAY 10, 2018 – is the 275th anniversary of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines’ arrival in in New Orleans, LA!
He departed France on January 1, 1743 on the royal ship La Charente with the newly-appointed Governor of Louisiana, Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil. During the subsequent four-month journey across the Atlantic, the Charente stopped once at Saint-Domingue, where accounts relate that Governor Vaudreuil was given a very lavish reception (Vidrine & Vidrine, GovernorVaudreuil’s Trip to Louisiana, p. 3). The Charente arrived at La Balize, at the mouth of the Mississippi, near New Orleans where it docked on the morning of Wednesday, May 8, 1743. Traveling up the Mississippi River, Governor Vaudreuil and Sieur Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines arrived in New Orleans two days later, on May 10, 1743, 25 years after the young city was founded.
He was a lieutenant in the garrison of French Marines stationed in New Orleans at the service of Governor Vaudreuil for 8 years until he was sent to Ft. Chartres in IL in the Spring of 1751, one year before Governor Vaudreuil was recalled to France.
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Happy Anniversary to the Vidrine Family!