History of the French in Baltimore

The history of the French in Baltimore dates to the 18th century. The earliest wave of French immigration began in the mid-18th century, as many Acadian refugees from Canada's Maritime Provinces. The Acadians were expelled from Canada by the British, who were victorious in the French and Indian War, and in the Seven Years War in Europe. They took over French territory in North America east of the Mississippi River.

Later waves of French settlement in Baltimore from the 1790s to the early 19th century brought

In 1920, 626 foreign-born White people in Baltimore spoke the French language.^[1]

As of the

In 2013, an estimated 5,383 French-Americans resided in Baltimore city, 0.9% of the population. An additional 1,007 people, 0.2% of the population, identified as being of French-Canadian descent.[5]

As of September 2014, immigrants from France were the forty-fifth largest foreign-born population in Baltimore. French (including Patois and Cajun) was the fourth most commonly spoken language after English. French Creole was the thirtieth most spoken language other than English.^[6]

History

Arrival of Acadian refugees

The French and Indian War was the North American theater of the Seven Years' War in Europe, lasting from 1754 to 1763. There was intense fighting between the troops of British America and the French inhabitants of Acadia, a colony of New France located in what are now the Canadian Maritime provinces and the U.S. state of Maine. In 1755 the British expelled the French-speaking Acadians; approximately 11,500 were exiled in total.

Most of the surviving exiled Acadians traveled to

During the

The Sulpician Fathers founded St. Mary's Seminary and University and St. Mary's Seminary Chapel. They also founded Catholic institutions elsewhere in Maryland, such as Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was American-born, owned a home on the grounds of St. Mary's Seminary.

She later moved to Emmitsburg and established the

Settlement by Franco-Haitian refugees

During the time of the French Revolution, there was a related slave revolt on the French colony of Saint-Domingue, on Hispaniola in the Caribbean. Enslaved people gained independence, naming their republic as Haiti.

Many French-speaking Black Catholic and white French Catholic refugees from San Domingo left for Baltimore. In total, 1,500 Franco-Haitians fled the island.^[11] The refugee population from Saint-Domingue was multiracial, including white Creoles and their enslaved African workers, as well as many free people of color. Some of the latter were also slaveowners.^[12]

Along with the

During the violent Haitian Revolution, the city of Baltimore passed an ordinance declaring that all enslaved persons imported by slaveholders from the West Indies, including Haiti, were "dangerous to the peace and welfare of the city". They ordered slaveowners to banish such enslaved people.^[14]

French Town

In the 1750s, the French Acadian refugees from Nova Scotia established a community along South Charles Street near Lombard Street that was known as "French Town".^[15] By the 1830s the Acadian presence in Baltimore had appeared to decline with assimilation or relocation; French Town also disappeared as an ethnic community.^[7]

The area that was formerly known as Frenchtown is now designated as the

A line of the Bonaparte family has lived in Baltimore. Napoleon's brother Jérôme traveled to Baltimore to meet a man he had befriended in the French Navy. There he met his future wife, Elizabeth Patterson, also known as Betsy. They were married by the archbishop of Baltimore in the Baltimore Cathedral on Christmas Eve of 1803. Napoleon had the marriage annulled and Jérôme was forced to return to France. Betsy Bonaparte continued to live in Baltimore with their son, also named Jérôme.^[17]

His son

• Julie Bowen, an actress.
• John J. Chanche, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi, serving from 1841 to 1852.
• Cipriano Ferrandini, an immigrant from Corsica and long-time barber/hairdresser at Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore.
• Maximilian Godefroy, an architect and civil engineer.
• Sidney Lanier, a musician, poet and author.
• Michael Levadoux, a French Sulpician immigrant who was among the founders of St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore.
• Ambrose Maréchal, a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
• Alphonse Magnien, the superior at St. Mary's Seminary and University from 1878 to 1902.
• Jean Baptiste Ricord, a physician and naturalist.
• Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
• Frank Zappa, a musician, bandleader, songwriter, composer, recording engineer, record producer, and film director.

See also

• Ethnic groups in Baltimore
• History of Baltimore

Further reading

• Wood, Gregory A. "The French Presence in Maryland, 1524-1800", Gateway Press, 1978.
• Sullivan, Kathryn. Maryland and France, 1774-1789, 1936.

External links

• Acadians in Baltimore
• Acadians in Exile
• Alliance Française de Baltimore
• Baltimore French School
• Maryland - 913 Acadians
• Patterson-Bonaparte Collection - PP70
• Percentage of French Canadians in Baltimore, MD by Zip Code
• Percentage of French in Baltimore, MD by Zip Code
• Seton Hill Neighborhood Association
• The French in Maryland: A Talk Given to the Baltimore County Genealogical Society February 1996 by Robert Barnes

References