I am the direct lineal descendant of Indigenous women enslaved in Louisiana, including Marie-Jeanne Elisabeth “Lisette” de l’Isle (Nanatsoho/Nasoni/Caddo or Lipan/Canneci), and her daughter, Marie-Louise.
My great-grandmother, Marie-Louise, was emancipated after the death of her enslaver and presumed-father, Sieur Dauphine. Dozens of her Afro-Creole descendants were born free, also descended from Angelique (Hasinai/Caddo).
My ancestors married into and were enslaved by the St. Denis family. Jeanne de la Grande Terre (Chitimacha) was my great-aunt’s mother-in-law. Afro-Creole relatives include the Dumont, Davion, Gagné, Bertrand, and Derbanne lines.
This means that my ancestors were enslaved alongside the young Marie Thérèse Coincoin in the St. Denis and De Soto family homes, all of them kin and founding families of the Cane River Creoles.
While these ancestors were bought and sold at St. Jean-Baptiste des Natchitoches and Los Adaes or Nacogdoches, unnamed others (Apache) can be traced to New Orleans and Opelousas at the Attakapas through their enslavers and their families.
Leila K. Blackbird 