56 A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI 2000 to 2010, Vancleave saw a 19.9 percent growth in population. Today, there are approximately 6,000 people in the community and the median household income is $50,734. The town of Gautier in Jackson County had beginnings in 1800. James White arrived in the area and settled, so prior to the arrival of Fernando U. Gautier, the community was called White’s Point. The city established economic footing in the lumber business. Fernando Upton Gautier, founder of F. Gautier & Sons Lumber Company, arrived on the West Pascagoula River in 1867. He and his family were from New Orleans. He lived first on the Tchoutacabouffa River in Biloxi, after leaving New Orleans, where he met and married Theresa Fayard. After the Civil War, he loaded his family and all of their possessions on a barge and first poled down the Tchoutacabouffa and then sailed over to the Pascagoula River. Once he arrived there, he constructed a West Indies–style home with deep galleries on all four sides on the bank of the river. Sitting on 900 feet of river frontage, the site at one time also had a sawmill on its property. The riverfront location made transporting the harvested timber to other ports an easier effort. Today the home is still in use, and the site has more than 100 live oak trees, with two of them approaching 200 years old. Another home in Gautier significant to the history of the area is Twelve Oaks. Originally, Helen Moro, a free woman of color, owned the property in 1817 because she had received a Spanish land grant. She sold the holding to John M. McRae in March 1825. The McRae family opened a vacation resort called the McRae Hotel and kept it until 1850. Two years later when Edward Kingston Boyd owned the hotel, it burned. Later, Henry Gautier purchased the land and built his waterfront home, Twelve Oaks, in 1896. Henry was the son of Fernando Gautier, who lived a short distance from him on the West Pascagoula River. The father and son operated F. Gautier & Sons Sawmill for more than twenty-five years. This historic home still stands. Today, Gautier is a community of 18,544 citizens. Its population increased by 58.8 percent from 2000, more than likely as a result of Hurricane Katrina and increased manufacturing. The populace is 85 percent urban and 11 percent rural, with a median family income of $40,228. Employment reports indicate that 34 percent of the people engage in manufacturing jobs, particularly in metal and PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MARITIME AND SEAFOOD MUSEUM AND EDMOND BOUDREAUX DEER ISLAND HERMIT French immigrant Jean Guilhot and his family moved to Deer Island in the 1920s where he started a small oyster business. The sudden death of his wife and a hurricane that destroyed his home left him alone on the island. Instead of moving to the mainland or rebuilding his home, Guilhot lived in a small shack and became known as the Deer Island Hermit. He was a peaceful man with many friends, despite his reclusive lifestyle. Guilhot had a deal with a local tour operator, as well. The man brought Guilhot groceries and in exchange, the hermit was featured on the boat tours.