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Old
French Families of
Trinidad
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de
la Bastide
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The
following was extracted from the notes of
Karl de la Bastide, dated 15 May 1951, by
another de la Bastide descendant,
Claudette Leotaud.
In
considering the history of any family,
the accuracy of the many stories,
myths, and legends, handed down from
generation to generation cannot really
be guaranteed or even vouched for,
unless there is, of course, some form
of creditable evidence to support them.
The de La Bastide family is no
exception to this general rule.
It
should be here noted that a
considerable amount of enquiry and
research into the family's background
has undoubtedly been carried out by
Compte Charles Pierre de Jacques de La
Bastide, and also by his late son and
heir, Compte Joseph Paul Raymond de
Jacques de La Bastide, and to a much
lesser extent, by myself.
While
the family's origin is lost in
antiquity, legend, supported to some
little degree by fragments of other
evidence, tends to indicate that its
first known member was a soldier, and
probably a follower, of the Emperor
Charlemagne of France. With these
Expeditionary Forces he set out for
Asia Minor to do battle with the Turks
and other infidels in what is
historically known as the Third
Crusade.
It
would seem that this soldier did
somehow distinguish himself during the
military campaigns, which resulted in
his being honoured by being knighted
when he received from the King the
Title of "Ecyuyer" Raimondus Jacobi.
The first definite and proved reference
to the family was in the year 1214,
where the French Historical records,
then written in Latin, refer to Raymond
de Jacques (Raimondus Jacobi). This
soldier and his descendants were
apparently very loyal to the Kings of
France, rendering distinguished
military serviuces and receiving in
return various honours and perquisites,
including quite a number of titles in
addition to their title of "de La
Bastide"
The
family apparently increased in power,
influence, and wealth, until the dawn
of the French Revolution, which made it
expedient, if they were to survive the
guillotine, to flee France in order to
live to fight another day.
It
would appear certain that the Compte de
Jacques de La Bastide and another
member of the family (his brother),
believed to be the Chevalier Antoine de
Jacques de La Bastide, left Marseilles
on a ship bound for the French West
Indian Colonies of Martinique and
Guadeloupe. Their ship somehow arrived
first at Trinidad, then a Spanish
possession, where the two noblemen were
inter alia most cordially received by
the Governor don José Maria de
Chacon with all honours due to their
rank. The Governor don José was
at that time very anxious to colonize
Trinidad, and, by means of varous
inducements, persuaded not only the de
La Bastides, but several other families
of French descent to settle in
Trinidad. The de La Bastide brothers
were granted two large tracts of
fertile land, one of which, situated
near Sangre Grande, was cultivated as a
cocoa and coffee estate, while the
other in Icacos was made into a coconut
plantation.
It is
interesting to note that at Chapter XIV
(Page 561) of Part II of Histoiere de
la Trinidad (1622 a 1797), by a well
know French author Pierre Gustave Louis
Borde, the name Chevalier Antoine de
Jacques de la Bastide appears among a
list of about 60 French names, many
familiar to us even now, of colonists
then living in Trinidad. This list
makes no mention of the Compte de
Jacques de La Bastide, but Borde very
frankly admitted in his history that
his list was quite
incomplete.
That
the Compte de Jacques de La Bastide did
actually settle in Trinidad subsequent
to the date of the French Revolution,
and was at that time the titular head
of the family, cannot be in any doubt.
Actually this is supported by
correspondence of Compte Charles
Pierre, and as a result of
correspondence with and his visits to
the Director of the College Heraldique
de France where is was stated with
reference to Compte Charles Pierre de
Jacques "vous en etes le seul chef
actuellement" de la
famille.
The
actual line of descent of the title to
Compte Charles Pierre de Jacques, and
then to his son and sole male heir,
Joseph Paul Raymond de Jacques, and
finally to Karl Phillippe de Jacques,
is therefore fully established by fact
and by the operation of the Salic Laws
of descent, which are and have been
always applicable to the French
Nobility, as well as the nobility of
most other European countries. Very
briefly, this means that descent must
always be traced through the eldest
male heir of a family, and never
through females, no matter how highly
placed they may be in the family
hierachy.
Several
other important points have surfaced as
a result of the investigations above
referred to, and are here stated for
general information. They
are:
- It
is quite clear from the historical
background that the family's surname
is not, and never has been either,
de La Bastide, de la Bastide, or de
Labastide. Its surname is definitely
"de Jacques", the name de La Bastide
is merely one of the family's many
titles conferred by various Kings of
France. Strictly speaking, only the
legal heir who is the holder should
use such title, which in its proper
form is de La Bastide, which
identifies him as Lord of the Manor
of La Bastide, which as most people
would know is a small town in the
upper Rhone valley.
- The
Family's arms which are described in
the Office Heraldique are as
follows:
D'Azur a deux etoiles d'or en
chef et un croissant d'argent en
pointe
There seems to be no doubt that this
description is correct, and it seem
to confirm that the arms were
conferred as a result of
participatioion of an ancestor in
the Crusades. I can find however no
justification whatever for what
apears to be an addition since the
family's arrival in the West Indies.
I refer of course to the appearance
of the two supporting Amerindians,
or are they supposed to be Arawaks,
the original inhabitants of
Trinidad, who were slaughtered by
the Spaniards. It must be noted that
there are two other known de La
Bastide arms which bear no
resemblance to the above, and belong
possibly to other branches of the
family who lived in France.
- It
seems clear from fact, customs, and
conventions, that only the actual
living Compte is strictly speaking
entitled to bear the arms which were
originally embossed upon the
breastplate of his suit of armour,
so that he could be readily
identified in battle by his
friends.
The
arms were used only as a means of
identification.
Furthermore,
Karl's notes indicate that records in the
Peerage List of Limousin apparently
can be used to trace the family's
genealogy from Bernard de Jacques de la
Bastide back to the reign of Charles VI in
1453. In addition to the arms described
above, the crest contains the Latin motto
"fais ce que doit advienne que
poura" (do your duty, come what
may).
The family
has always been prominent in Trinidadian
Civil Service and law. As a matter of
fact, the current Chief Justice of
Trinidad is a de la Bastide.
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de
Bossiere
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From
the Paria Publishing website - "This family presents
an essentially different picture from the somewhat stereotype
view of the 19th century French Creoles of Trinidad, in
that they were Protestant - not Catholic." [MORE...]
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Leotaud
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Maingot
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Pantin
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Rostant
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Seheult
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de
Verteuil
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