French Missouri dialect

My grandmother, who died in 2002 at age 92, remembered her grandfather spoke French. I've no idea if he was fluent or just spoke some phrases. This is very likely the dialect he spoke. I only found out about this dialect about a year ago, even though the town of Old Mines is only 20 minutes away from where I live and went to school.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2015-07-13/paw-paw-fren...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oy9WZNShBU

https://matadornetwork.com/read/missouri-french/?fbclid=IwAR1pdXGzMZxcqauriw8V0f...

I do know the valley of the Mississippi was settled on both sides by the French. Ste. Genevieve is the most French town I remember from my Missouri travels.

The French first settled in Illinois, mostly around Kaskaskia. Many moved across the river to found Ste. Genevieve when the Americans took over; Missouri was Upper Louisiana and under the control of Catholic France (and for a short while Spain). Ste. Genevieve is the oldest town in Missouri, predating St. Louis by almost 30 years. Pretty much all of my French-Canadian ancestors settled in Kaskaskia and Ste. Genevieve. Mostly if there is a French surname around today, it's gonna be some kind of relative.

https://thecatholicspirit.com/featured/father-hennepin-priest-missionary-and-exp...

Father Louis Hennepin was Catholic priest. I see there are things named after him in Missouri. In Minnesota, Minneapolis is in Hennepin County, my son has his business on East Hennepin in Minneapolis, and we have a Hennepin Stare Park. I read a book about him years ago. You might like to read about him.

>1 theretiredlibrarian: That's fascinating. To my untrained French ears, Missouri French speakers sound cajun.

Yes, it does sound Cajunish.

It does, but it is considered a different dialect. I love the name Paw Paw French! While I was aware of all the French influence--lots of place names around here are French--I never gave a thought about when the French language died out in the area. That question came when I was doing some research and some writing about my ancestors and got me thinking about when exactly did French die in the area out and English took over. With the bit of info that my great grandfather (Siegfried Josephus Caron/Carrow) spoke French got me looking around on the internet to see what I could find. Siegfried was born in 1847 and died in 1925. His grandparents were born in the 1790s in Ste. Genevieve, when it was still French territory, and likely they spoke French. Was it French French, or was it this dialect? I'm guessing it was a dialect, as the settlement had been in place for at least 50 years. The Americans took over in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase, and that's when the English speakers began settling the area. So it's seeming likely that Siegfried (AKA Seaf, Sephus, Sifroid in different documents) was bilingual. He was the first in the line to Anglicize the name from Caron/Carron to Carrow. Around here, all three versions of the surname are common. So, I can see from the articles that Paw Paw French was still prevalent in the Old Mines area (which is 15 miles away) until the 1940s. What I can't find is when the dialect died out in the nearby towns with French origins. I will keep researching.

>4 mnleona: i just re-read and saw I had old instead of ago.
Your family line goes way back in the area. Interesting research.

>7 theretiredlibrarian: "Was it French French, or was it this dialect?"

If you go back as far as the 1790s, in your example, not even a majority of people living in France spoke "French French." There were numerous dialects and patois in the métropole, too.

Francois Valle and His World: Upper Louisiana Before Lewis and Clark by Carl J. Ekberg is the source for most of the information I know on my French ancestors. Francois was my 6x grandfather on both my parents' side. (They were married for 60+ years and never knew!).