Several Patriots hail from Louisiana, thanks to the brazen Spanish governor Bernando de Gálvez, who assembled an army, beat back the British and accidentally aided American independence along the way.
One of these Patriots was Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, who had come to Louisiana from France in the mid-1760s, eventually settling in Natchitoches Parish, where he became known as a merchant, plantation owner and father of 10 children by his slave, Marie Thérèse dite Coincoin. Metoyer was part of the company that Gálvez dispatched to Mobile, Alabama, in 1780 to fight the British, according to A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography: Ten Year Supplement 1988–1998, published by The Louisiana Historical Association. The Louisiana Society Sons of the American Revolution and the Louisiana State Society Daughters of the American Revolution honored him as a Patriot on October 7, 2011.
In 2019, the Cane River DAR Chapter, Isle Brevelle, Louisiana, was established with 28 founding members, most of them Creole descendants of Metoyer and Coincoin.
It is not that these women did not know about their lineage. After all, genealogy and history run deep in the tight-knit Isle Brevelle community situated along the Cane River. But perceptions, specifically misperceptions about all DAR does, played an outsize role in the group’s birth, recalled Chapter Regent Peggy Aycock, who suggested they form a chapter of Coincoin’s descendants.
“We were making tamales one afternoon at church and were talking about what we do in our free time,” said Mrs. Aycock, who is not Creole. “I was new to DAR myself, so I told them about the organization and all of the things we do around historic preservation, education and patriotism.”
Next, Mrs. Aycock invited Charlotte White, who was preparing for her term as Louisiana State Regent, to speak at a prospective member workshop. “As State Regent, one of my goals was to help organize chapters to honor all of the different cultural groups we have in Louisiana who contributed to the Revolution,” Mrs. White said. “I knew the Cane River community played a part, but I also knew it might be hard to get them interested.”
Skepticism wasn’t the only sentiment at the meeting; there also was excitement.
“As I listened to the presentation, everything about the DAR mission stood out to me as something that our community could benefit from,” said Nicol Delphin, Chapter Corresponding Secretary. “They spoke of historic preservation grants we could apply for, scholarships we could award to our youth, and patriotic ceremonies we could have for our servicemembers, past and present.”
It was enough for Mrs. Delphin to stand up and announce to her fellow Metoyer descendants: “I think we need this.”
From there, Mrs. Aycock and Mrs. White worked to obtain wills and death certificates, traveling to cemeteries to take pictures of headstones—whatever it took to prove lineage for as many interested Metoyer descendants as possible. “The rest is history,” Mrs. Aycock said. “This is the best group of ladies imaginable. They are so loving and easy to work with and are always up for an adventure, a challenge or both.”
There is Mrs. Delphin, of course, and Minnie Metoyer, Mrs. Delphin’s mother and Cane River Chapter Chaplain. Several members also mentioned Carolyn DunnMiller, whose professional experience in computer and internet technology consulting translates into every chapter meeting being recorded and streamed for faraway members in places including California, Ohio and New York. Bianca Alexander performs her Chapter Recording Secretary duties from New Mexico, where she is a principal at a Navajo school outside Albuquerque. Nazy LaCour is the resident baker who infuses every cake she makes with love and kindness.
And the chapter is growing. An Application was verified this spring, and two more are pending. “I want to help anyone who is a descendant of Coincoin become a member of DAR because I think it’s such a win-win,” Mrs. Aycock said. “Joining DAR is a way to celebrate your individual connection to our nation’s founding. It’s also a way to make sure DAR reflects the great diversity of the people who made it possible.”