Sussman-Laabs

About Jean-Baptiste Cassé dit St. Aubin http://staubinrealestate.com/gallery/family-history (removed)

Michigan History Stories and photos about people, places and events from Michigan's past SEP 29, 2013, 6:14 PM LIFE | PEOPLE Descendants track their French connections back to Detroit's birth "Centuries of St. Aubins St. Aubin Street east of downtown runs from the Detroit River north through Hamtramck. It was once a farm owned by the St. Aubin family. Jean Casse dit St. Aubin arrived in Detroit from Quebec in 1708 with his wife Mary Louisa Gaultier. His name was originally Jean Casse. The “dit” can be understood to mean “also known as” and St. Aubin refers to the region in France the family originates from. He and his descendants farmed or lived on the narrow strip of land at the current location of St. Aubin Street until Louis St. Aubin passed away in 1895.

The St. Aubin family is still going strong. Thomas St. Aubin, 61, lives in St. Clair Shores and has memorabilia going back hundreds of years. He jokes, “I live 17 miles from the original farm downtown. After 300 years, I’m only 17 miles away!”

The original St. Aubin farm ran from the river to Alexandrine Street, he said. “The farm was really developed by Jean Casse’s son Francois. He was well-known in Detroit. The property was four arpents wide (an arpent is 0.85 percent of an acre) and 40 arpents deep. If you couldn’t cut across somebody’s property you had a long walk around!”

Ribbon farms were used by the French throughout Quebec and the U.S. They lined both the Detroit and Windsor side of the Detroit River. The unusual shape of the farms offered some advantages. It gave each farmer waterfront property so they could fish and also travel on the water instead of hiking over marshy land. It also provided some security; houses were within shouting range of each other in case of trouble with Indians.

Over the years family members sold off the farm in pieces, beginning with a tract south of Jefferson Avenue in 1836. The auction announcement described it as “a beautiful place for a country residence. Persons looking for a spot to make a home, combining advantages of town and country, are invited to this.”

In the 1890s Thomas’s great-great-grandfather, Louis St. Aubin, described as a “retiring gentleman,” sold off most of the remaining farm. According to Thomas, the last of the property was sold in 1946 or 1947.

“If I hit the lottery,” Thomas speculated, “I would open a Moulin Rouge on Jefferson Avenue with champagne and dancing can-can girls as a tribute to French Detroit. I think people would like it.”