To smooth those rough edges, young women were brought from France to marry the colonists. The women, largely penniless and recruited from orphanages and convents, had few prospects in France and readily agreed to sail to the strange lands of Mobile and Dauphin Island in hopes of becoming colonists' wives.
In its earliest days, before Mobile was part of Alabama, it was a struggling French colony in need of settlers. The men far outnumbered the women, leading not only to a decrease in probability of new progeny but also to the problem of men with little to keep them occupied.
The girls were given several nicknames – Pelican Girls after the ship that transported them, Le Pelican; or Cassette or Casket Girls for the boxes, called casquettes, used to carry their belongings to a new world. They weren't prostitutes or convicts, as many forced colonists had been in the past. In fact, the girls – ages 14 to 19 – were chosen because they were virgins. They were not assigned husbands but, rather, were courted and allowed to choose among the men.
Historian Jo Myrtle Kennedy wrote on DauphinIslandHistory.org: "In July 1704 a supply ship arrived, and soon after that, the ship Pelican arrived. Besides desperately needed cargo, the passenger list created much excitement. In order to discourage the Frenchmen from chasing through the woods in pursuit of Indian mistresses, King Louis XIV had sent 23 women in the care of a priest who was instructed to marry them to Frenchmen as quickly as possible."
The arrival of the Casket Girls
Although the French women arrived first in Mobile, in 1704, they also were sent to Biloxi, Miss., in 1719, and New Orleans in 1728. Their arrival in Mobile was at the request of the colony's founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. His brother, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, an early explorer of the region for France, had also requested "a better selection of immigrants" for the colonies, Kennedy wrote.
Bienville made the request directly to King Louis XIV. According to TheSaucierFamily.weebly.com, the king responded in a letter stating: "His majesty sends by that ship 20 girls to be married to the Canadians and others who have begun habitations at Mobile in order that this colony can firmly establish itself. Each of these girls was raised in virtue and piety and know how to work, which will render them useful in the colony by showing the Indian girls what they can do, for this there being no point in sending other than of virtue known and without reproach."
Louis XIV placed the Catholic church in charge of selection of the girls. They were chosen by the Bishop of Quebec, Jean-Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier. They were accompanied on the ship Le Pelican by Father Henry La Vente, as well as three other priests and four nuns from the Sisters of Charity.
Sadly, some of the girls, as well as soldiers and crew onboard Le Pelican, died from yellow fever that was brought aboard during a stop in Cuba.
The survivors arrived in Mobile on Aug. 1, 1704, to the prospect of husbands but also of hard work, scarce supplies and hostile natives.
"Marriages were performed on a daily basis during the month of August 1704 by Father LaVente and his assistant Father Davion," according to TheSaucierFamily.weebly.com.
One of the most well-known Casket, or Pelican, Girls and one of the last to marry in Mobile was Marie Gabrielle Savary (1683-1735). She held out to choose the best mate and, after turning 20, finally gave her hand to Jean-Baptiste Saucier, considered one of the best catches among the colonists. Saucier, a Quebec native, had been recruited by Iberville to come to the colonies and settled in Mobile in 1702.
After her first husband's death in 1716, Marie Gabrielle remarried and was widowed twice more and would eventually move to New Orleans, where she died. She was reportedly was initially buried in a riverside cemetery "Later, as the city grew and expanded, these early settlers of New Orleans buried in that cemetery were disinterred and their remains then transferred to Saint Louis Cathedral and re-buried under the floors of the Cathedral along with the priests and other church officials. The city eventually was built over what had been the early cemetery," according to TheSaucierFamily.weebly.com. Those graves are unmarked.
