Submitted by Billy G. Lee
Jacques Luois Beaube (Beaubet), who first appears in the Norman E. Gillis list of "Early Inhabitants of the Natchez District in 1810," was born in Cherbourg, France on Oct. 31, 1749. He was the first son of Gilleaume (William) Beaubet (s/o Jacques Beaubet and Jeanne Henry) and Marie Francoise Commenchail (d/o Jacques Commenchail and Kuenira Sarjois) of Cherbourg. He came to America sometime between 1778 and 1783 as a French seaman employed to fight for the colonists during the American Revolution. He had married Marie Anne Coquet on September 4, 1773 in Cherbourg, but there is no record that she ever came to America.
From his French military records, it appears that he made several voyages to America before finally settling on the bank of Cole's Creek near the Adams-Jefferson County line in what is now Adams Co. The exact location is not known. Why he chose to settle in Jefferson Co., MS will forever remain a mystery. It is most likely that he received a land grant as payment for military service for on Sept. 1, 1829, his legal heirs were given a deed to..."Fraction Seven of Township Eight of Range two east containing Seventy Seven Acres and Seventy eight hundredths of an acre of land directed to be sold at Washington, Mississippi..." Perhaps a venturous spirit caused him to migrate to the newly opened Mississippi Territory near the turn of the century to explore the unknown. Is it possible that the area in which he settled reminded him of his French homeland where had had been a fisherman by trade before he enlisted in the French Navy in 1776?
Sometime around 1810, he took as a second wife, Susan Butcher who has been identified by Henry W. Beaube, a grandson, to be a Choctaw Indian. It has been impossible to document her nationality because Indian records were not kept at the time she was living. She appears as head of household in the Jefferson County census records from 1830 to 1850. It is strongly believed that she was either an Indian or of a mixed race, for at her death between 1854 and 1860 she was buried alone in a purchased grave site near the Jefferson-Franklin County line. She most likely was denied burial in a white cemetery due to her nationality. Her daughter, Sarah Elizabeth "Sallie" Beaube Coffey and other descendants are buried at New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Franklin County.
Louis Beaube left Jefferson Co. before Feb 23, 1829, for on this date "Susan Baube maketh oath that Louis Baube absented himself from said County about three years ago, that he previous to leaving declared his intention of returning in six months that she has not seen him since that hence she believes said Baube to be dead." Oral tradition has it that he returned to France. In 1826 he would have been 77 years of age; therefore, this ggg-grandson concludes that he died somewhere along the way unknown to anyone.
At least five children were born to this union of Jacques Louis Beaube and Susan Butcher: The daughters--Luminda Beaube Cook (Seymour), Sarah Elizabeth "Sallie" Beaube Coffey, and Susan Ann Morley; two sons--Michel Beaube who moved to Tensas Parish, LA where the name became Bobee, and James Beaube. Many descendants of Sarah Elizabeth "Sallie" and James have been identified and can be found in the family history, LEES AND RELATED FAMILIES OF SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI.