Editing Jean Lafitte (section)

==Origins==

A number of details about Jean Lafitte's early life remain obscure, and often sources contradict each other.  In the ''Journal de Jean Lafitte'', the authenticity of which is contested, Lafitte claims to have been born in [[Bordeaux, France]], in 1780 to [[Sephardic]] [[Jew]]ish parents. His maternal grandmother and mother, both [[Converso]]s, fled Spain for France in 1765. His maternal grandfather had been executed by the [[Inquisition]] for "Judaizing".<ref>{{cite web | title=Ahoy, mateys! Thar be Jewish pirates! |last=Wills |first=Adam|date=September 15, 2006 | publisher=Tribe Media Corp | url=https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/13698/ | access-date=February 12, 2020}}</ref> Some sources say that his father was French and his mother's family had come from Spain.<ref>{{cite web | title=Jean Lafitte | website=Handbook of Texas Online | publisher=Texas State Historical Association | url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fla12 | access-date=September 22, 2017}}</ref>

Lafitte and his brother [[Pierre Lafitte|Pierre]] also claimed to have been born in [[Bayonne]]. Other documents of the period place his birthplace as [[St. Malo]] or [[Brest, France|Brest]].  Jack C. Ramsay, who published a 1996 biography of Lafitte, says, "this was a convenient time to be a native of France, a claim that provided protection from the enforcement of American law".<ref name=ramsay10>Ramsay (1996), p. 10.</ref> He notes that still other contemporary accounts claim that Lafitte was born in [[Orduña]], Spain, or in [[Westchester County, New York]], north of Manhattan.<ref name=ramsay10/>

===Saint-Domingue===
Some sources speculate that Lafitte was born in the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]] (known as [[Haiti]] since it gained independence in 1804).<ref name=ramsay10/><ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite magazine | title=Saving New Orleans | author=Groom, Winston | date=August 2006 | magazine=Smithsonian | url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/saving-new-orleans-125976623/}}</ref> In the late 18th century, adult children of the French planters in Saint-Domingue often resettled along the Mississippi River in ''[[La Louisiane]]'', especially in its largest city of [[New Orleans]]. Families with the surname Lafitte have been found in Louisiana documents from 1765.<ref name=ramsay12>Ramsay (1996), p. 12.</ref> According to Ramsay, Lafitte's widowed mother migrated with her two sons, the elder Pierre and Jean, from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans in the 1780s. In approximately 1784, his mother married Pedro Aubry, a New Orleans merchant, keeping Jean with her. She placed Pierre to be raised by extended family elsewhere in Louisiana.<ref name=ramsay13>Ramsay (1996), p. 13.</ref>

According to Ramsay, as a young man, Lafitte likely spent much time exploring the wetlands and bayou country south of New Orleans. In later years, he was described as having "a more accurate knowledge of every inlet from the Gulf than any other man".<ref name=ramsay13/> His elder brother Pierre became a [[privateer]]; he may have operated from Saint-Domingue, where the colonial government frequently issued [[letters of marque]] to profit from the shipping traffic of other nations.<ref name=ramsay13/> 

Lafitte likely helped his brother to sell or trade the captured merchandise. By 1805 he is believed to have been running a warehouse in New Orleans and possibly a store on [[Royal Street, New Orleans|Royal Street]].<ref name=ramsay21>Ramsay (1996), p. 21.</ref>

===France===
Biographer William C. Davis suggests a different childhood for Lafitte.  According to his 2005 book, Lafitte was born in or near [[Pauillac]], France, the son of Pierre Lafitte and his second wife, Marguerite Desteil. The couple had six children, including at least three daughters. Jean Lafitte was likely born in 1782, although he was not baptized until 1786.  Pierre Lafitte had an older son, his namesake Pierre, born from his first marriage to Marie LaGrange, who died in childbirth. The boys were given a basic Catholic education.<ref name=davis2>Davis (2005), p. 2.</ref>

Acknowledging that details of Lafitte's first twenty years are sparse, Davis speculates that Lafitte spent much time at sea as a child, probably aboard ships owned by his father, a known trader.<ref name=davis25>Davis (2005), p. 25.</ref>  Davis places Lafitte's brother Pierre in Saint-Domingue by the late 1790s and the early 19th century. Due to escalating violence from the [[Haitian Revolution]], in early 1803 Pierre boarded a refugee ship for New Orleans.<ref name=davis5and7>Davis (2005), pp. 5, 7.</ref> This was the last year that [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] failed to regain control of Saint-Domingue. He withdrew his battered troops and ended French involvement in North America, selling the US what became known as the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803: French-claimed lands west of the Mississippi River. By 1806, several "Captain Lafitte"s operated in New Orleans; Jean Lafitte was likely one of them.<ref name=davis25/>