Germans In
Pascagoula
In January,
1721, 300 engages came to the concession of Madame Chaumont
in Pascagoula. There were no Germans
among them, as the census of 1725 shows, but Pensacola must be
mentioned here, as there was a German colony at that place very
early, arising, perhaps, on the ruins of this concession or of some
other enterprise. The date of the founding of that German settlement
is not known; but, in 1772, the English captain Ross found there, on
the farm of "Krebs," cotton growing and a roller cotton gin, the
invention of Krebs, and, perhaps, the first successful cotton gin in
America.
In the same year (1772) we hear
of a great storm which raged most furiously "on the farm of Krebs
and among the Germans of Pascagoula."
His last will and testament,
written in New Orleans in the Spanish language in 1776, gives his
full name as "Hugo Ernestus Krebs." He was from Neumagen on the
Moselle, Germany, and left fourteen grown children, whose
descendants still own the old Krebs farm, which the author visited
in August, 1906. It is situated on a slight elevation on the border
of "Krebs' Lake," near the mouth of the Pascagoula River, and a mile and a half north
of the railroad station of Scranton (now incorporated with East
Pascagoula),
Mississippi.
The Creoles there
call the Krebs home "the old fort," and the three front rooms
forming the center of the house, the rest consisting of more recent
additions, were evidently built with a view of affording protection
against the Indians. The walls of this part of the house are
eighteen inches thick, the masonry consists of a very hard concrete
of lime, unbroken large oyster shells, and clay. The post and sills
are of heavy cypress, which, after serving at least 175 years, do
not show any signs of decay. The floor is made of concrete similar
to that of the walls, but a wooden floor has been laid upon it,
taking away about eighteen inches from the original height of the
rooms. All the wood work was hewn with the broad
axe.
In front of the house lies an old
mill stone which once upon a time served to crush the corn.
Near the house is the "Krebs Cemetery,"
with the tombs of the members of the Krebs family, of whom a great
number are buried there.
According to
the family traditions the old fort was built by "Commodore de la
Pointe," who is said to have been a brother of Madame Chaumont.
Hamilton, in his "Colonial Mobile," page 140, says that Joseph Simon
de la Pointe received, on the 12th of November, 1715, from Governor
Cadillac, a land concession on Dauphine Island for the purpose of
enabling him to raise cattle. As Dauphine Island was practically
abandoned, after the great storm of 1717, de la Pointe probably also
gave up his concession, and a map, drawn about 1732 ("Colonial
Mobile," page 86 shows "Habitation du Sieur Lapointe") on the very
spot where the Krebs homestead now stands, near the mouth of the
Pascagoula
River.
La Pointe's daughter,
Marie Simon de la Pointe, became the first wife of Hugo Ernestus
Krebs. Thus the old fort came into possession of the Krebs family,
where it still remains, the present owner and occupant being Mrs. J.
T. Johnson, nee Cecile Krebs, an amiable and highly intelligent lady
to whom the author's thanks are due. She is the great grand-daughter
of Joseph Simon Krebs, the eldest son of Hugo Ernestus Krebs and
Marie Simon de la Pointe.
Francesco
Krebs, the second son of Hugo Ernestus Krebs and Marie Simon de la
Pointe, received Round Island in the Bay of Pascagoula, containing about 110 acres
of land, as a grant from the Spanish government, on the 13th of
December, 1783, after having occupied it for many years. The family
of his wife had received permission to settle there from the French
governor Bienville, who left Louisiana in May, 1743.
[The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and the
Creoles of German ... By John Hanno Deiler
- Transcribed by Therman Kellar]
