Sarpy

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 4 Apr 2004, Anthony Grant wrote:
> In Michif,  according to the works of Peter Bakker,  'John' is [baecis],
> which involves the ae ligature and a hacek over the c.  This  is because
> the 'default' John that French boys were named Jean after, was John the
> Baptist.

When you combine that with Michael's [batcIs], and consider the problems
with final consonants in Dhegiha and Ioway-Otoe, Bac^c^i = "(Jean)
Baptiste" seems fairly plausible.  I have just discovered, however, that I
have been barking up the wrong name.  It had been bothering me, explaining
why Peter G. Sarpy should be called "(Jean) Baptiste," although there are
definitely Jean Baptistes enough in his family.  So, I decided to look to
see what I could find out about the Sarpy family and its genealogy.

It appears that the folks in question are all descendents of one Charles
Sarpy, born in Fumel in Gascony.  He had children Jean Baptiste, Sylvestre
Delor(d), Pierre dit Lestang, Gregoire Beral(d), JB (de)Lille, Pierre St.
Marc, Susanne Madelaine, Therese Madelaine, Helene Madelaine, and Marie
Madelaine.  He and his wife seem to have liked certain names, even
allowing for Catholic principles in naming.  It's possible that JB, who
died in 1799, may have predeceased JB (de)Lille, though that seems
unlikely, and it's also possible that some of the sons are doublets of the
same person - i.e., only one JB and one Pierre.

Charles's fourth son, Gregoire Berald Sarpy (1764-1824) followed his older
brothers to Louisiana and St. Louis and married Marie-Pelagie Labbadie
there in 1797.  He had at least two sons, JB Sarpy (1799-) and Peter
Abadie Sarpy (1804 or 1805-1865).  It was the latter - Peter A., not Peter
G. as Dorsey reports - who came to operate the trading post a Bellevue and
was one of the founders of Decatur (south of Macy).  (I suppose it's
possible that PA was Pierre Gregoire Abadie Sarpy, but I've only seen
Peter G. from Dorsey.)

In fact, in 1823 PA began working at the American Fur Company's operation
in Bellevue for Jean Cabanne (father in law of PA's brother JB).  In 1832
Sarpy seized the keelboat of a competitor at Cabanne's orders.  I don't
know the details, but fur traders were mostly great believers in owning
the market and excluding competitors unles they were the one's being
excluded.  He and Cabanne were ordered out of Indian Territory for a year
in the aftermath.  After enterprises in Iowa and what is now Colorado - I
htink I've been to the site - PA returned to Bellevue and in 1840 moved
into the trading post formerly occupied by Lucien Fontenelle.

Incidentally, there are still Sarpys around in various places in the US.
The Delord-Sarpy family seems to have been a prominent creole family in
Louisiana.

Anyway, I have noticed that Pierre Abadie a/k/a Peter A.'s middle name
Abadie (which resembles his mother's maiden name L[']abbadie and is
probably derived from it) is at least as likely a source of Bac^c^i as
Jean Baptiste.  It may actually be more plausible, given that we have OP
Badi'ze for Baptiste elsewhere and given that Abadie is the form that
actually goes with Peter's known nomenclature.  There is certainly a
pattern of the Sarpy men using their middle names or nicknames, e.g.,
(Sylvestre) Delor(d), (Pierre) dit Lestang, (Gregoire) Beral(d),
(JB)(de)Lille, and so perhaps (Pierre) Abadie or even 'Badie.