Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1878-08-06
Tllirfy-TEirce Children.

Think Of father climbing out q btd y!
daylight and calling to each of thirty or mo::
children TO set up, and thcn assigning 'a'r7
their several duties for the day >;n2i! ina?
was Antoine Louis Discompt A;bado. y 't;'
his father and two brothers this soMicwhat re-
maIkablc son of Gaul onigrated from France
and settled in Detroit in 1850
Nineteen years thereafter he nlstriet \"
gelquc Campaue and The two went to house
keeping over the river. st that tine eli tlli
land where Windsor now stands was oHnca ~
tho Ottawa Indians, and the famed pootiac vs
Pondiack, as tho French spelled il, was th"lf
chief Pontiac, however, With consent OF ~
nation, was rapidly deciding away all the ia;.in
along the river to the French Settlers and Y@TH
many of these deeds arc now in pnsscssloN G.
Mr.. G. L. Labade, of the firm Of L:5i'!!c y
Parent, of Windsor
The collection Of deeds nov he'll ny Mr. "a
badic is quite interesting, two or three VI hr:;.
bcing sigped by Pontiac himself. Ooc O! tlio''-
deeds is made to Mr. Labadle' grandfather
Antoine L. d., and rc1us, as all q them 90 -
81, Pondiack, chief Of the Ottawa Natlo",
with the consent Of all the nation, il ti:c pr.
cnco of George Croghan, esq Suponntcnt'"
of Iudan Affairs, in consideration OF the go2
will bear to Antoine" &c. The deed is d.c
1869, aDd is signed "PondIack-La ma1Yuc.
His mark consists OF sort OF hieToglyFhlc thai
resembles Q moro than anytEng elsa, Will
two parallel aud one perpendicular line draws
across it.
The deeds arc all On paper which has grown
yellow and musty with age. Nest & them arr
10 French, and some arc no larger than man i
hand, and yet contain the signatures ol eight
or nine chiefs. These signatures Or totcm9
consist Of rude representations OF Crows, bears.
deer, foxes, ducks, fish, &c. They arc aiI IN
confederation Of the good will We bear, an':
according to the amount Of good will CHIEF
bore to Frenchman was the measurement OF
his river 'front.' for the far seeing redskins woHlA
give man only so many feet or acres rl river
front, but he might extend the grant ~ Tar
back into the forest as he chose.
Among the deeds is one granting to As
sumption Church the land which it now holds,
''throo acres ia width and forty acres ~
Icueth" There are two deeds cf the land urnr
which Hiram Walkers distierles nos stand;
one is from Pontiac to Lieut.. Abbott oi his
Msicsty's Artillery, the other from the i'''H!ail
ant to Grande Pore Labadc.
But TO return to the father OF The thirty tnrr"
childrcn. Antoine JIabadic lived harpy "''h
his vile for five years, when she dicd. i!SVih:;
bornc him seven children durog that itn'.
lie had traded extensively with the lA:!la;',
and had treated them with such uniform hi""
ness and consideration that upon the Lta!h ~
his wife they cntreatcd him to marry 3 ::''.',"''
from out their tribe. This he dis, c!'c'*lrc
the daughter Of Sautcusc chief, as 'h@r"c7'"S
of the Catholic church at Sandwich lave II;
Seventeen children his dusky bride pretcnI'd
him, and then her spirit fled to 'ha "aH"S
huntiug grounds.
Aboriginal and Norman bo0d nlnsi'rg :"
the veins of tho seventeen descendants q th''
last union helped to build up hardy aHt E";':
cr industrious community, aus still l''h;'''''
faltcrod not lie was welded to Miss Char'',t'"
Barthe, aud the fruits OF this unlGr w"f' "'nr
children, the oldest son being the father "i
Grccoirc l.. Labadic, Of this city, and q 'ai..
Charles j.. Labadc. Of the firm OF l.:""1h'
Parent, Windsor. Tho latter still hH;' = l'"'
ton Of the old homestead ia WalkcrV'i'@.
Old citizens say that it was not IN 'lnco'n'''''n
thing for tho old French settler" TO ra'ao ii'H.
lies Of IS and 90 chi!drcn. An Old r'Si'i"oi
saws that Van Avery, who lived on nc rr5,,n
site Of tho water workers, was the father "a 20
children, all by ono wite.-Dctroh f'r' l''$'.