ELUSIVE LEGENDS: This is a presentation of many of the legends which have come to light. It clears the air about some, but very likely opens others to further speculation. THANKS to the many who have helped to make this work possible.
Vince Sylvest, 1967
Baton Rouge, La.

Many legends have sprung from the dark to further shroud the mystery concerning these two SYLVEST men. Both of them were of a ruddy complexion and yet avowed to have come from Portugal. Each of them spent about three years aboard a whaling ship in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The common language, regardless of their own homespun dialects, was a strong binder between two lonely young men far away from their native land. Some folks have said that they were related. This was never confirmed. Some have said that they were of no relation but from the same community. This was never authenticated.

Francis Sylvest arrived in this country first, being a little older, and went to New Orleans when he was told that there was another fellow who spoke his language. Emanuel Sylvest was the fellow he went to meet. He was probably as happy to find someone who could talk his language as Francis was. This meeting is the beginning of legends which fascinate, yet still baffle.

They lived together for possibly as much as ten years after they first met. Francis could have been married at this time; we cannot be sure. They proved to be congenial fellows and remained close friends throughout their lives.

Francis was an extra strong man. He stood six feet tall with arms possibly a slight bit longer than the average six-footer. His great strength has been assigned to Emanuel too. This was done by people who did not know that there were two of these Sylvest men.

Emanuel was barely five feet tall and never weighed over 125 pounds at any time during his life. He was not a midget, just a small man. Being small wasnt all against him. He could usually tame the wildest stallion with his cunning voice alone. This trait was the envy of many of his friends who handled horses more as a livelihood. His most famous horse was named Dexter.

The story of Emanel being able to load a 500 pound bale of ginned cotton alone has been told. This could hardly be true. Some tracing has been made of these stories back to people who only knew of one of the men. Emanuel was a very small man and married to a rather large woman. To the children of Lenora and Nehemiah, this was a little problem. Francis and Martha were tagged Big Grandpa and Little Grandma while Emanuel and Nancy were tagged as Little Grandpa and Big Grandma.

One legend which could possibly lend some credence to the mysteries was told soon after the last of these men had passed away. Calvin Sylvest, a son of Emanuel, was sitting on the front porch of his home one day when he saw a rather tall man in the saddle come riding up. He wore a beard which extended a good eight inches below his chin.

Before he got down from his horse he spoke, I am inquiring about some Sylvests who live in this section of Louisiana?

Calvin Sylvest said, Get down and come in so we can talk, we are Sylvests.

The stranger got down from his horse and Ollie Sylvest, Calvins son, took the horse and hitched him. The man was taller out of the saddle than he was in it. He came in and took the cowhide bottom rocking chair offered to him.

My name is McIntosh. Jim McIntosh, the man said.

And I am Calvin Sylvest, Calvin said.

I am inquiring about two Sylvest men who are supposed to live in this part of Louisiana. One of them is Emanuel Sylvest and the other is Francis Sylvest. They are getting along in years if they are still living at this time, the stranger said.

Calvin dropped his chin a little as he spoke, Emanuel Sylvest was my father and he passed away a couple of years ago.

Emanuel was born May 16, 1821 and died Nov. 7, 1901.

What do you know about Francis? Did you ever hear of him?

Yes, I was acquainted with him. He lived ten miles West of us, but he passed away before the year 1900.

Francis Sylvest was born July 5, 1808 and died October 11, 1896. One of my sisters married one of the sons of Francis and they live about a mile down the swamp road from here, Calvin said.

Jim McIntosh said, I was acquainted with both of them as mere boys. I am a little older than either of them which means that I am nearing the century mark. God has been good to me and I wanted to see if He had been as good to both of them.

Evidently, He has. Both of them have raised families and as far as I know, most of them are doing well. Calvin said.

We lived together on an Island owned jointly by Ireland and Portugal and we lived on the Irish end of that Island. The Island was named something like kreton, Craton or the like I dont suppose Id know if I saw it in writing. And, Francis and Emanuel had the same name, but they were not related. I am sure of that much. Jim McIntosh added.

Calvin said, That is a wonderful story. It is a pity that neither of them is here to talk with you.

Yes, but I was afraid of this, Jim McIntosh said.

Mr. Jim McIntosh refused to spend the night and as so many other legends go, Calvin Sylvest never saw him again.

Some objects of Portugal extraction do exist which are in the possession of Murphy John Sylvest, a grandson of Francis. A scarf is the main item which is embroidered with a poem or verse in Portugese.

Several reports of letters having come from Portugal to each of these men have been handed down, but no proof has been shown. Who could have read these letters? Who could have answered these letters if indeed they did come?

The reports which came regarding each man while aboard ship are similar. We find ourselves wondering how similar? Francis was huge and strong and did deck-hand work. Emanuel was small and of slight stature and he worked in the Galley. He was a cook. Neither of them knew exactly how to spell their last name. Is this a mere coincidence? We have talked to people who knew these men separately and found the name Silvez, Sylves, and Silvestre to be similar. Even early Federal Census records do not show exactly the same spelling.

[December 14, 1967: Dateline Rome (AP) in the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Discovery of a draft manuscript of a history by the Peruvian 16th Century writer Garcilaso de La Vega, known as El Inca, on the Spanish settlement of Florida was announced Tuesday. Some experts called the find sensational.

A Peruvian scholar, Prof. Miguel Maticorena, said the document was found in a private collection in Seville, Spain. He said the manuscript contains material from one of the early settlers, Gonzalo Silvestre.

Maticorena said the document was a rough draft of Garcilaso De La Vegas work, La Florida, first published in Lisbon in 1605.

Garcilaso was the son of a Spanish conquistador and an Inca princess. He died in Spain in 1616.(copied)]



Emanuel Sylvest often spoke of the seafood dishes he learned to prepare for the ships crew. Nothing similar was ever available for him to demonstrate with in Louisiana. Our folks could only use their imaginations in following the stories he told of life aboard ship and his galley duties.

Francis expounded upon the huge sizes of the cuts of whale meat he hauled into the ships sea-door. The carcass was towed behind the ship until the cutting crew were able to cut the mammal down to size. Very often several whales would be tied in tandem to be worked up as progress could be made.

One of the men was sent aloft to ride in what sailors called the crows nest to watch for whales. As they come to surface to breathe and blow water they can be seen for a mile or more. While hoisted high above the waves and trying to dodge the cold South wind he lost hold of his overcoat. The great value of the coat made him advance the idea of retrieving it. He climbed down and asked the Captains permission. It was granted and he dived into the water and was soon holding on to his precious coat. When he was able to turn himself again, the ship was most out of sight beyond the waves. He treaded water until a skiff came to rescue him from the water.

Come on aboard you little water dog you, the Captain said, as he climbed to the deck. I wouldnt take a pretty for a water dog like you.

Later he said that the Captain confided that he never expected to see him again. The Captain also said that he had thought it may be good riddance anyway. However, from that time on and as long as he was aboard ship when the need came for a man to hit the water for any reason he was called on. He became known as The little Water Dog. In the end it game him a distinct advantage in so many instances because of most those aboard could not swim.

With very equal favor this story about the coat has been ascribed to both Sylvest men. It could very easily have happened to each of them. It was a fond bedtime story for many years and has served humanity well.

Each Sylvest man became the father of eight children. Francis has six boys and two girls with one boy dying without rearing a family. Emanuel had five girls and three boys and all of them produced families. Francis was a religious man and active in the work of Sharon Baptist Church which disbanded about the time of his death or soon after. Emanuel lived mainly the the Fisher Methodist Church community. Fisher Church is said to have been organized in 1849 and many possibilities point to the fact that he could have been of assistance in that organization. One of his son-in-laws Andrew Jefferson Welch led the singing there for several years.

Each of these men left behind in their native land an older sister and a widowed mother. Francis had many complex ideas in his head in later years concerning his desertion of his widowed mother. Emanuel was not so affected. The younger son of Francis, John Levi left home while but a teenager and he never heard from him again. This seemed to exert sever pressure on his memory concerning his mother. Emanuel seemed to have happy recollections concerning his childhood, however, he could not remember may details. Francis seemed to have mastered his adopted language better than Emanuel. He was often able to make trips to Amite to tend to any and all of his business with success and pleasure.

Emanuel seemed to have difficulty with his adopted tongue. His loving wife Nancey Warner Kennedy was seldom out of ear sound when he needed her to make some points clear to him or the person with whom he was dealing. Nancy never took undue advantage of her husbanc.

It has been said that Francis tried his luck as a salesman at some time during his early life. This has not been authenticated but if he did think of the confidence which he mustered. This could well be a reason for his being able so well to meet the public as his success indicates.

Emanuel was a believer in God. He would not eat his food before offering thanks to God for the blessings of life which were his to enjoy. He had a soft voice and seldom spoke loudly enough in prayer that one word was understandable. His prayer atonements were faster than he usually talked and thus with much less attentive to his dialect problem. He was a fast walker and on Sunday morning would wait for Nancy to walk with him to church and then walk right off and leave her arriving five to ten minutes before she did. She was heavy on her feet and he had a slight build. He would not go without his huge family Bible tucked under his arm. He loved the book of life as he was so often heard to call it. He seemed to feel that his carrying it meant something to God for which he would someday gain a reward. He was very shrewd in his dealings, but implicitly honest to the very smallest detail.

Francis was just as deeply religious and opposite is some ways. He was never known to have prayed in a whisper. He seemed to feel that God could only hear when those close around could. Foul language had no place around him. He was quick to notice shady bits of business deals and watched for the most obvious way to embarrass the offender. However, in these matters, he was extremely honest and went to great lengths to show or prove his honesty. Through his great strength he was never known to have taken advantage of his fellow man. He simply lived above underhanded methods of human conduct. He would take a drink of whiskey when he wanted to but was never known to have been drunk.

So much legend has come to life from Portuguese connections that it seems other nationalities would leave us Sylvests alone. With the simple addition of Er or Re the name could be Greek, French and possibly Italian and German. I personally met a man who was born in Athens, Greece whose name was Sylvester. He claimed kin to me and I did to him to make the fellow happy. He told me that there were many Sylvester people in and around Athens, Greece. Southwest Louisiana has thousands of French men whose names are spelled with an er added. We find absolutely no common grounds to converse with them on.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, in the Royal or Kings Library there are records of Sylvest people who spell their name exactly the same as ours whose history dates back prior to 1600. I have corresponded with several individuals there and invite you to do the same. Address your mail to the Kings Library, Copenhagen, Denmark. Just ask that your letter be transferred to some Sylvest who will answer soon. You will be pleased at the response.

This last bit of information is not LEGEND. It is added just to establish the fact. Some of these Sylvest people have migrated to Canada and then into these United States and one couple became American citizens in California. A Ruth Sylvest from Denmark received her citizenship papers in Austin, Texas.

I do not think there is the slightest possibility that there could be any connection.