Etienne Burel

See Toulmin article (attached)

Etienne Burel was born in 1656 in St. Severin, Paris, Isle de France, the son of Pierre Burel and Jeanne Vanier. He became a pastry cook, and emigrated to Cap St. Ignace in Canada, where he married Marguerite Roussel (widow of Mathurin Ducheron dit Deslauriers) in 1682. He returned to Paris with his family about the turn of the century, but seized the chance for a free passage to Louisiana after learning of St. Vallier’s search for colonists.

Etienne and his family sailed aboard the famous French ship Pelican, which carried the well-known 23 single "Pelican girls" to marry single men in Old Mobile. Etienne brought his wife Marguerite Roussel, their three daughters Jeanne, Genevieve and Marguerite and son Louis to the New World, where they were among the first 85 European settlers of French Louisiana. They anchored off Isle de la Massacre (now Dauphin Island) on 24 July 1704. Etienne and his family settled in Old Mobile, where he opened what was almost certainly the first tavern in the tiny town, and sold wine, brandy and pastries.

Burel is listed in the 1 August 1706 Census of Mobile, with a “wife and child.” According to Higginbotham, Burel was at this time the first and “only grandfather in Mobile.” In 1708 Etienne Burel was a witness in the first major trial in Louisiana/Alabama history, the trial of the Governor, Sieur de Bienville. Here Burel testified under oath that Bienville’s administration was sound and that the Governor should not be imprisoned for fraud and abuse of powers. He stated that Bienville, far from stealing the King’s wine, often gave sick colonists wine from his own supply. Burel averred that he “was well satisfied with Bienville’s administration, and he prayed God that he would never live under any other.” It is surprising that Burel testified in this way, since Bienville had previously fined Burel and closed his tavern in the center of town for six months, for stealing from the King’s warehouse! Burel had been found guilty by Bienville and La Salle of purchasing 150 livres of stolen goods from a soldier, but eventually Pastor de la Vente persuaded La Salle of Burel’s innocence, and got his stiff fine of 300 livres waived.