Canary Island group meeting at Archives

• By DAMON VEACH
• Special to Magazine
• Published: Jun 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A group from the Canary Islands Heritage Society of Louisiana visited Tenerife and Gran Canaria, Canary Islands from June 2 to 12. At their next meeting on Saturday, July 12, they will be presenting a slide show and commentary about this visit to the islands. Anyone interested is invited to attend this meeting. The meeting site is the State Archives Building on Essen Lane at 1 p.m.

The Canary Islands are a group of seven islands, 2,808 square miles, constituting an autonomous region and two provinces of Spain and located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Northwest Africa, about a hundred miles west of the coast of Morocco. Tenerife, Palma, Gomera and Hierro islands are part of Santa Cruz de Tenerife province. Grand Canary, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura are part of Las Palmas province. The islands are of volcanic origin and rise to 12,162 feet in Mt. Teide, the highest point in Spain. With their warm climate and fine beaches, the Canaries are a popular tourist center and are points of interest for many descendants here in Louisiana.

Spaniards conquered the area and migrated to the islands in the 15th and 16th centuries. By the 18th century, the islands were controlled by nobles. The main industry of the islands was the production of orchil, a lichen that produces a violet dye. When the orchil crop was low, the workers practically starved to death and didn’t receive much help from the nobles. After a failed revolt in 1762, a group of 300 from the island of Gomera migrated to Louisiana.

Since the late 1600s, Spain had encouraged the Canary Islanders to move to the Caribbean colonies. After Spain acquired Louisiana in 1762, it recognized the need to populate the territory. When the Revolutionary War brought the English in conflict with the American colonies, Spain recognized the danger from possible English hostilities in Louisiana. On August 15, 1777, Spain ordered a second battalion be formed in Louisiana. It looked to the Canary Islands for 700 recruits. They tried to get married recruits so that they could defend the area and also populate it. These recruits had to be 17 to 36 years old, healthy, without vices, and more than five feet tall. Butchers, gypsies, mulattoes and executioners were not permitted to sign up. Though it wasn’t in a written agreement, these men understood that they would be staying in Louisiana permanently. Five of the seven islands sent recruits to Louisiana. The 700 recruits brought their families, bringing the total number of immigrants to 2,373.

One of the ships carrying the recruits was delayed because of the war between Spain and England, and they had to stay in Cuba where many of them died. They finally arrived in Louisiana in 1783.

The majority of the Canary Islanders were placed in settlements at Galveztown, Valenzuela, St. Bernard and Barataria. Although they suffered many hardships, many survived and eventually adapted to the low, flat topography and hot and humid weather of Louisiana. Today, their descendants are scattered throughout the state and far beyond. Many of the Hispanic surnames remain today.

In 1996, several interested individuals met in Baton Rouge to form a society that would promote and preserve the heritage of their Canarian ancestors. The group eventually became the Canary Islanders Heritage Society of Louisiana. The group was made up of descendants living in Galveztown, located at the confluence of the Amite River and Bayou Manchac and in Valenzuela, located nearby on the west side of the Mississippi River along Bayou Lafourche. Even though the society maintains interest in the history of all of the Canarian settlements in the state, they maintain a special emphasis on the history of Galveztown and Valenzuela.

Persons interested in the society are invited to join the organization. Canarian kinship is not a prerequisite. You need only have an interest in the objectives of the society in the preservation of this important segment of Louisiana history.

Rose Marie Powell is secretary of the society. For more information about the group, send mail to 18571 Red Oak Drive, Prairieville, LA 70769. The e-mail address is info@canaryislanders.org. You can learn more about the society by going to http://www.canaryislanders.org/.

Bayou Chene Reunion
The Bayou Chene Reunion will take place Sept. 20 in Morgan City at Lake End Park. Events begin at 10 a.m. Kerry Seneca is organizing this reunion, and complete information can be obtained from him at (225) 687-8813.

One individual who has inquired about this reunion is Eileen Mechana. Her husband’s grandmother was Francis M. Babers, a daughter of Samuel Babers and M. Louisiana Moore of Bayou Chene. If anyone is interested in the Babers lineage, her e-mail address is zelphaom62@cox.net.

FamilySearch additions
There are several new records that have been added to the FamilySearch Record Search test site that will interest researchers. If you go to http://pilot.familysearch.org, you will find the following: 1870, 1880 and 1900 United States census records; Germany baptisms, 1700-1900; Germany marriages 1700-1900; Mexico baptisms 1700-1900; Mexico marriages 1700-1900; Michigan births 1867-1902; Michigan deaths 1867-1897; Michigan marriages 1868-1925; West Virginia births 1853-1930; West Virginia deaths 1853-1970; and West Virginia marriages 1853-1970. You can also find England baptisms and England marriages.

The FamilySearch Record Search pilot has also just added 3.1 million records from the 1850 U.S. census for the states of Maine, New Jersey, and Ohio.