Joseph Girardy dit Sanssoucy

Joseph was born to Leonard Girardin and Charlotte Jolivet in Lachine, Quebec, Canada on 1 Feb, 1682.  According to the �Dictionaire genelogique des familles du Quebec,� by Rene Jette, Joseph Girardy dit San Soussoucy was an �engage Ouest,� which was a canoe paddler for the fur traders or voyaguers who traveled to trade with the outlying posts and Indians.

Joseph was hired by Gabriel Baudreau dit Graveline to go to Mobile, Alabama on 19 Feb, 1708.  He was hired to work for Graveline for one year at the rate of 150 livres for the years work.

No further information regarding Joseph is forthcoming until we find him listed in the book, "Bayou St. John in Colonial Louisiana," by Edna B. Frieberg, where it states that Joseph Girardy was the recipient of five arpents of land on the west bank of Bayou St. John on 27 May, 1719.  His land extended back from the bayou toward today's Canal Street forty arpents.  In about 1718 or after, Joseph obtained four arpents of land that orginally belonged to Louis Juchereau de St. Deny's. Joseph's land holding were increased again in 1734 by a "donation" of eight arpents of land from Louis Turpin to his minor daughter Marie Louise.  This gave Joseph at total of 18 arpents (by 40 arpents long).  This land was considered, "a large plantation."

Prior to arriving in New Orleans, Joseph had married two women, and fathered four daughters.  His first wife was a Francoise Indienne, who is believed to be an Indian woman.  They had one daughter, Angelique.  Then Joseph married a Marie Jeanne Hery or Henry.  Marie Jeanne�s parent were Nicolas Hery or Henry and Elizabeth Houmard.  We do not yet know where Nicolas and Elizabeth or Marie Jeanne were from.

The marriages of the children of Joseph and Francoise, and Joseph and Marie Jeanne are recorded in the Sacramental books of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. 

In the Colonial America census, 1607-1789, Joseph Girady is listed as living in the county (parish) of New Orleans, LA in 1731.

Joseph died in 1758, and a long legal battle later surrounding the succession of his estate, which then belonged to his widow, Marie Jeanne Hery (Henry), who died on 8 Dec, 1770.