Welcome
to Jen's Assumption Parish Louisiana Web Page.
This is a rather informal conglomeration & presentation of some of the information I have gathered in the past few years I've spent researching Acadian genealogy. This was a side interest that I developed while researching what became the basis on my master's thesis on Married Women's Wills in Amite County, Mississippi when I was a history graduate student at Rice University. After spending a great deal of time working with genealogical materials as a user, during the next two years as I finished another master's degree--this one in Library & Information Science--I discovered the importance of putting together and packaging information in a manner that is easy to use. This webpage is my attempt to share with other researchers the information I discovered as an amateur genealogist, historian, and information professional.
Almost all of my paternal grandmother's family
came from the twin villages of Paincourtville and Plattenville straddled
on either side of the Bayou Lafourche in Assumption Parish, Louisiana.
For generations, her family worshipped at Assumption Parish Church in Plattenville
then, after its founding in 1839, St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Paincourtville
(see photograph at bottom of page). I was able to trace 200 years
of her family's history using church records now housed at the Catholic
Family Center in Baton Rouge. Over the past fifteen years,
the Diocese of Baton Rouge has been compiling and publishing the contents
of the parish registers thus allowing people, such as myself, who cannot
travel frequently to Baton Rouge, the opportunity to investigate this wealth
of information. The Clayton Genealogical Library, a specialized branch
of the Houston Public Library, has all of the volumes of this undertaking
for displaced Acadians in Texas.
I've
researched my grandmother's ancestors back to Acadia and France using church
and civil records from Canada, Louisiana, and the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Most recently I've been augmenting my original research with information found over the Internet.
My database at Rootsweb World Connect Project is currently under revision.
You can still access the old (1998) Family Tree Maker database by clicking on either "Surname Index" or "Personal Name Index" below.
Webpages
I've put together that you may find helpful in the research of Assumption
Parish & surrounding area:
History
and Genealogy of Acadians in the Lafourche Basin of Louisiana
Families of Ascension,
Assumption, Iberville, Lafourche, and St. James Parishes
History and Genealogy of the Acadians with mini-bios & genealogical tables of the original Acadian settlers
Tips for Genealogical Research on Assumption Parish, French Louisiana, Acadia, Canada, and France
An
Annotated Bibliography of Print Resources for Acadian Genealogical
Research
Featured
here are family trees in outline format for several Assumption/Ascension/Lafourche
area Acadian families. Note: these are individuals from whom I directly descend. In many cases they only document the siblings of my ancestors, but not nieces or nephews. These charts are merely guides and are not meant to contain the names of everyone who migrated to Acadia or Louisiana.
Louisiana, Acadia, & French Family Names researched. Click on name below to get an outline family tree. Note: these are individuals from whom I directly descend. In many cases they only document the siblings of my ancestors, but not nieces or nephews. These charts are merely guides and are not meant to contain the names of everyone who migrated to Acadia or Louisiana.
ACADIAN ANCESTORS
AUCOIN, BABIN, BENOIS/BENOIT, BERNARD, BLANCHARD , BOUDROT/BOUDREAUX, BOURG, BOURGEOIS, BREAUX, BRUN, COMEAU/COMEAUX, DAIGLE , DOUCET, DUGAS , DUPUIS, FORET, GAUDET, GAUDIN/GODIN, GAUTROT, GIROUARD/GIROR, GRANGER, HEBERT, LANDRY, LEBLANC, MARTIN, MELANCON, MIUS, THIBODEAUX, THERRIOT/TERIOT, TRAHAN
NON-ACADIAN QUEBECOIS
BADEAU, BAYARD, CHALIFOU, JOLIVET, L'HEREAUX/LEHEREAUX, MARROY/MARROI/MARROIS/MARROIST, VALADE
My
own roots in Assumption Parish:
Clebert
and Regina were born in Assumption Parish and were both baptized and
later married (1902) at St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Paincourtville
(pictured below). Clebert's parents were Adeota Marrois and Laurenza Blanchard.
Regina's parents, Charles Theogene Daigle and Marie-Noemi Leblanc,
died when she was a toddler; she grew up in the household of her
paternal aunt, Olivia Daigle, who was married to Pierre Adolphe Blanchard,
Laurenza Blanchard's brother. Clebert met Regina through his uncle
and her aunt and despite the fact they were third cousins, they obtained
permission to marry. All of these people were descendents of the
French men and women who pioneered Acadia; theirs is a rich heritage shared
by many South Louisianians.
Regina died in 1920 leaving Clebert with six surviving children
to raise. His sister, Cordelia, known affectionately as "Tante Diehl"
kept house for him until his death in 1953. Here's a photo from the
late 1940s of Clebert and his sister Diehl. This photograph is how
my dad, his siblings, and their cousins remember their beloved Grandaddy.
Clebert & Regina's middle daughter, Annie Therese Marroy, was my
father's mother; she was the last surviving child until her death February 13, 2000 at the age of 93. She was married
to my grandfather John Clark Payne from 1929 until his death in 1987. She's pictured here with her daughter, my dad's
sister Billie Joy Payne Dougherty at Russell's and my wedding in July 1998.
The
MARROY / MARROIS Family in Louisiana
Photograph
of St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Paincourtville, Louisiana.
This building dates to the turn of this century, but the parish was founded
in the 1840s as an offshoot from Assumption Parish Church in Plattenville,
Louisiana. The red brick building is rather large--the nave
could probably seat 300+ people--incredible considering Paincourtville
is rather small. Its size is testimony to the number of people who
came to this church from the surrounding countryside. Some
of the outstanding features of this beautiful church are a carved marble
baptizmal font, painstakingly handpainted ceilings & walls, and the
stained glass windows. The priest who was responsible for the creation
of the parish is memorialized in one window; several sacraments,
Our Lady, and St. Joseph are depicted in others. Most remarkable,
however, is that all of the human figures in this window look like Acadians--indeed,
I could almost recognize my grandmother's family in the colorful images.
This is a church that reflected and celebrated the lives of its creators
and parishoners.
Online
Genealogy Tutorial gives basic information on genealogical research
useful for the beginner & the seasoned internet explorer
Online
Resources for Assumption Parish, Louisiana, & Acadian Genealogy can by found at:
JEN'S GENEALOGY PAGE LINKS
JEN'S BLOG: THE INFORMATICIAN EXTRAORDINAIRE
JEN'S BLOG: MISS ELODIE'S DIARY
JEN'S ALL ABOUT AMITE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI WEB PAGE
JEN'S AMITE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI GENEALOGY WEB PAGE
JEN'S ASSUMPTION PARISH LOUISIANA WEB PAGE
BAYOU LAFOURCHE AREA HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
JENNIFER PAYNE'S HISTORY HOME PAGE
SOUTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI &
EASTERN LOUISIANA WEB RING
Jennifer
Payne
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