Some Post-Revolutionary North Carolinians in Latin Louisiana: 1783
By Winston De Ville, F.A.S.G.
NCGS Journal 18, no. 1 (Feb 1992): 170.
“Contrary to popular belief, and impressions left by most scholarly published works, the colony of Louisiana was not an exclusive enclave of French and Spanish settlers…While the French and their descendants were dominant in the population throughout the eighteenth century, permanent Spanish settlers were relatively few. After French families, and excluding families of African origins, Anglo-Americans were probably the largest ethnic group on the Gulf Coast long before the American period (1803).
The American Revolution provided the first great impetus for Anglo-American migration to the Latin South. Following the Revolution, the flood-gates were virtually wide open, and families from the Atlantic states were welcomed by Spain as valued settlers. Persons newly arrived and intending to request free land in order to establish themselves in the colony were required to take and oath of allegiance to the Spanish king. Many did so with alacrity…”
The rest of the article includes a list of fifty men who led twenty-five families from North Carolina to find new homes in the Spanish Province of Louisiana in 1783. To see the list and read additional journal articles visit ncgenealogy.org/ncgs-journal/.