​In the May 2020 blog (article), I stated that work on this book had begun. This blog is to let you know that the work continues. Publication may happen in 2020.
The Bergeron Louisiana families appear to be from two family lines and a family link that would tie the two together has not yet been made. There is still a chance a link of the two will be found and the book will report on one family.
The two Bergeron families currently are Nicholas Bergeron (Bef 1713- ?) and his wife Jeanne Vigere (? – 1762) and Joseph Bergeron (1520-1605) and his wife Marie Albina Pellerin (1518-1542).
George Guillaume Bergeron (1713-1762) is the child of Nicholas Bergeron and Jeanne Vigere. He married Agnes Landotor La Renaudiere in Natchitoches, LA.  This family settled in Pointe Coupee Parish. One of the descendants of this family was Valery Bergeron. He built the Delphine Plantation in the 1700 near Baton Rough.
Joseph Bergeron and Marie Albina Pellerin were from France. Some of the fifth-generation family descendants settled in Canada while a few from the sixth generation made it to Louisiana.
There is still many hours of research and data entry left to do.  If you have an interest in this publication, persons currently in the book with birth and death information, can be review in the incomplete Index.

​NOTE: To search on the Page use CTRL+F, then type in the name.

By Vera LaFleur and Ethel Chachere (The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette, LA, September 23, 1956). Some small changes were made to the original article.

Were the legendary Lafitte brothers and their partner in piracy, Dominique You, really Bouttes?

This is the opinion of J. Herman Guillory, attorney for the heirs of Francois Zenon Boutte, who yesterday was at the courtroom of the Lafayette City Hall, interviewing Boutte’s heirs and distributing oil and gas lease checks.

Jean Lafitte and his brother Pierre commanded a band of pirates that operated in the Gulf of Mexico over 100 years ago. They had a hideout on Barataria Island in Jefferson Parish where they lay low when indignant American and foreign shippers got too close for comfort.
​
Now, there is a question as to the real identity of the Lafitte’s and their Number One pirate, Dominique You. Perhaps they were not a trio of Frenchmen who came to Louisiana by way of the West Indies. There’s a strong chance that they were really a trio comprised of Sourthwest Louisiana Acadians named Francois Zenon Routtee and two of his brothers, hundreds of whose heirs live in the French-speaking parishes of the Evangeline area. 

Guillory said he had come to believe in the course of his research that the Lafitte brothers and Dominique You were in reality the Boutte brothers. The Boutte heirs are now dividing the profits of what may be the largest distribution of mineral lease payments in the history of the oil industry. The heirs, numbering 3,287 at the last count, represent eight generations.

Checks were being given yesterday to members of the Lafayette, St. Martin, and Iberia branches of the family tree, including such names as Judice, Vincent and Pellerin.
​
Some 400 checks were given out yesterday, and eventually Guillory, a Ville Platte attorney, expects to distribute approximately 800 more in this area. Most of the heirs have been found in the parishes of Lafayette, St. Martin, Iberia, St. Landry, Evangeline, Jefferson, Lafourche, and Calcasieu, but some heirs have been discovered as far away as Canada and Australia. 

About 100 heirs and representatives of others crowded the courtroom at 8 o’clock yesterday morning, when the distribution began. 

Presiding over the thick sheaf of legal forms referred to as the family tree was Miss Edith Steckler, St. Martinville. Miss Steckler has been working with Ulysses Pierrcttie of Mamou. himself an heir, and the man who has spearheaded the search for heirs for about 20 years. (Pierrottie is a great-great-great-great-great grand nephew of Zenon.) As each heir was called forward, there was a general stirring and looking about. The heirs passed through the crew of clerks and lawyers sitting inside the courtroom railing.

​First step toward getting a check was the identification of the heirs. Most of them had been previously notified of yesterday’s distribution and were ready with certificates of birth or baptism. Some also held powers of attorney for other members of their families 

2c to $400
After the identification was made, the heir had to execute the lease. In some cases this required several signatures and addresses Finally the heirs reached the final step in the process, and were handed their checks. Guillory said that checks distributed in the Lafayette area yesterday ranged from two cents to about $400. Pierrottie, Miss Steckler, Mrs. Dan Robichaux, Guillorys daughter, and Mrs. Fred E. Builliard, were among those assisting with the distribution. Guillory himself has been hospitalized for a heart condition and was accompanied to yesterday’s gathering by a nurse. The attorney left shortly after the proceedings began.
 
8 Generations
Many have worked on the staggering job of tracing and contacting the over 3,000 heirs of the Boutte estate, but the man who has been heir hunting for the most extensive length of time is Pierrottie who has been working on the case for some 20 years. The search has taken Pierrottie in every court house and every Catholic church in Louisiana, painstakingly looking through old records and files in an attempt to trace the various branches of the family tree through the eight generations.
 
Pierrottie, who is himself an heir, received help in his 20-year search from his first cousin, John W. Roy of Opelousas. Roy assisted in contacting and tracing the heirs after they were discovered and securing their signatures on the leases.

At one time during the twenty-year search, Pierrottie’s funds became completely depleted and his only recourse was to mortgage his personal property. Seeking the advice of a Ville Platte judge, he explained the facts of the case to him Do you play poker? the judge wanted to know. When Pierrottie looked quizzically at him the judge continued, “You have what could be likened to a straight flush, so you can hardly lose.”  Pierrottie took the advice of the judge and mortgaged his property. That was in 1945, he said. Later had to sell half of it to redeem the other half. He will only be completely reimbursed when the case is officially cleared up. Pierrottie has retained Guillory to continue work on the legal ramifications of the case. Besides Guillory, other attorneys who have represented the heirs are A. H. Reed, Corwin B. Reed, Floyd J. Reed, Jack Voyles, Nilas J. Young, Dale, Richardson & Dale, and E. Leland Richardson.

Complicated History
Pierrottie was the coordinator of the activities yesterday, calling forth the heirs in turn, assisting with the execution of the leases, and periodically switching from English to French as he explained the complicated history of the Boutte family and their island property.

He told the assembled heirs about his years of research and explained that the present lease bonus checks are small. After the land is fully developed, he said, many of the heirs will receive substantial monthly royalties as long as the oil and gas are produced.

​He pointed out that the entire tract is still not under lease. About half of it is still undeveloped.  “But we’ve got a good foundation,” he said Now we can really roll up our sleeves and get to work. If you are patient, and give me your co - operation, the day will come when we will all have our rightful share.
Heirs present yesterday represented a cross - section of the population. There were teachers, farmers, housewives, attorneys, carpenters.

Typical Hassle
Typical of the legal hassles and missing links involved in the search for heirs is one which came up in the courtroom this morning. Cyrus Provost, Lafayette, is an heir through one Doralice Judice, a niece of Zenon Boutte. Doralice was married to a de la Houssaye, and had one daughter. She later married Ludfroy Provost and had a daughter by him, Cyrus Provosts great - grandmother, Celestine. But the records of this second marriage have been lost, and Cyrus and his family have been assembling the proof of their claim. Their claim will necessitate a re-division of one share of the royalties, and will thus mean another delay in the whole case.

Returning to the background of the island property, Guillory explained that according to historians, Zenon Boutte was a member of the band of pirates led by Jean Lafitte and in fact owned half of Barataria Island, where the pirates had their hideout.

Guillory says he has come to believe that the Lafitte brothers and Dominique You were in reality three of the Boutte brothers. As Guillory explained it, historians in the past have surmised that the Lafitte brothers came over to Louisiana from France by way of the West Indies. How could these men, strangers to that territory, suddenly know all the intricate and multitudinous turns and twists of the Louisiana bayous?

It is Guillory’s presumption that they were the native Bouttes, an idea that he would like to discuss more thoroughly with contemporary historians. When Boutte. sold his half of the 2,000 - acre island near the Gulf of Mexico in Jefferson Parish, a tract of some 800 acres remained in his possession. Zenon died childless in 1863, leaving his seven brothers and sisters as his sole heirs.

Spanish Grant
He was forgotten until 1932, when it was discovered that Barataria Island was rich in oil and gas deposits. Research disclosed that the entire island had been owned by Nonc Zenon [Uncle Zenon], as the family called him, and his uncle, Jean Baptiste Boutte. (The two had been granted the island by the king of Spain.) The research also revealed that when Zenon sold his half of the island, there remained unsold and in his name a strip lying across the island from Bayou Barataria to Bayou Perrot 5 arpents wide by 6 miles long.

At first, the oil operators believed that Zenon’s uncle and former co-owner, Jean Baptiste Boutte, was his closest relative. His descendants, numbering some 265, took possession of the strip. But further investigation revealed that Zenon had left brothers and sisters, whose descendants would have inherited instead of those of the uncle, Jean Baptiste.

When oil operators became interested in the forgotten strip of land, an extensive research of heirship was undertaken. It was established that Zenon had actually left seven brothers and sisters at his death. Since Zenon died a widower, the descendants of these brothers and sisters inherited to the exclusion of the more remote collateral relatives, the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, who had taken possession of the strip.

Guillory, the attorney retained by Pierrottie several years ago to continue the “heir - hunt,” explained that in 1938 about 1,200 descendants of Zenon’s brothers and sisters filed a suit in Jefferson parish against the descendants of Jean Baptiste Boutte in the form of an action to try title to the disputed tract.
After a court struggle of 19 years and three trips to the Supreme Court, the case was resolved with the recognition of the heirs of Zenon Boutte as the rightful owners of the land. In the meantime, Guillory continued, some 800 of the original 1200 who had filed the suit died, leaving large families scattered in many states of the Union and several foreign countries. The problem then was to find the present heirs and their correct names and addresses so that a valid oil and gas lease could be executed and the lands developed.

3,000 Name
“After months of inquiry, a family tree consisting of over 3,000 names representing eight generations was finally constructed containing the correct names and addresses of the present living heirs. And it was to these heirs in the Lafayette, St. Martinville, and New Iberia areas that Guillory made distribution of oil bonus and trapping lease funds yesterday in the city hall, securing their signatures to an oil and gas lease for the California Company, which is presently developing Barataria Island. Distribution began on July 25, upon completion of the family tree, and to date the signatures of approximately 60 per cent of the interests in the oil and gas rights to the land have been secured. Heirs hold portions ranging from .000002 (1-500,000) to 0417 (1-24), the latter being the result of a double - cousin marriage with both sides being heirs. The majority of the checks presently being distributed is small, but it is expected that after the land is fully developed, they will be increased substantially. The entire royalty paid by the oil company will be received by the heirs. A one - eighth over-riding royalty will be paid the attorneys by the oil company itself. Barataria is proving to be a profitable island in more ways than one. Besides the oil production, the island is a rich trapping area, and a substantial stand of cypress timber exists there. Whether the Lafitte brothers were Bouttes or the Bouttes were Lafittes is a fine puzzle to tickle the fancies of historians of Louisiana’s colorful past, but Boutte or Lafitte, the fact remains that their descendants are today beginning to receive shares in a treasure far greater than their pirate ancestors ever imagined.

Other Pierrottie blogs
Ulysse Gabriel Pierrottie, A 33 year battle for his family's rights
Mary Pierrottie Soileau
Jane Bertrand Ortego
​Sister Cesira Pierotti
​Louis David "L.D" Verrette Obituary
Betty Lou Deshotel Hollier Obituary
Donald Joseph Pierotti Obituary

​Books
​Pierrottie / Pierrotti / Pierotti Family
​Pierrottie, Pierrotti, Pierotti Photos
Dominique Martel Southwest Louisiana Family

Constantino Pierotti Video

​Download your copy below:

With the decline in religious organizational membership, 73% in 1950 vs 52% in 2018, in the last several decades, an equal decline in the proud ownership of Godparent title may also have occurred.  If so, this lost golden nugget in the Cajun Culture, and other close religious family units across our global nation, may result in second chance hope to many needy children in our two parent work-acholic, soccer mon and football dad, busy schedules.
​
Many remember how proud they were when the newly selected Parrain and/or Nanny or Nanan of a recent newborn was announced! Or perhaps telling everyone that they, your Godparents were joining your family for Sunday dinner. If your parents had a Living Will, and most people did not, back in the 1940s, 50s and into the 1980s, your Godparents would be those chosen to care for you should your parents die unexpectedly. I wonder if we have lost these two people so very important to the family, and especially the children’s success.

Cleveland Duplechain and his wife Pauline “Do” Manuel were my Parrain and Nanan. When asked in 1943, they never envisioned the role they would play in my life. If there were better Godparents, then mine were certainly near the top of list of the substitutionary parental role of Parrain and Nanan.
Cleveland Duplechain (1912-1995) is the son of Francois Duplechain and Corise Rozas. Corise Rozas’ great grandmother is M. Victorie Miller, the granddaughter of Jacob Miller and Anne M. Thaison.  Since Jacob Miller is my 3rd great grandfather, my Godfather Cleveland Duplechain are 2nd cousins twice removed. Our common ancestry however if Solastie Rozas (1812-1874) and Adelaide Reed (1817- ?) Our relationship was not known until the 21st Century.

My parents, Murphy Miller, Sr. and Mary Lillian Naquin, married in 1938 and divorced in 1948, before I was age 5. There were probably problems long before the divorce. We moved from our Eunice rental home to my paternal grandmother’s home in Basile, LA. Her name was Evenia Sonnier Miller. We called her Me'me're' Miller.

While I do not recall visiting with my Godparents prior to living in Basile, I am sure they visited me in Duralde where I was born. My father was left with the responsibility of raising my two sisters and me after the 1948 divorce. He married several times, probably to find someone to care for his children while he earned a living as a carpenter.
​
In was in those years between 1948 and 1955 that my Godparents Cleveland and Pauline became the persons I looked to for love, warmth, and comfort that only great Godparents provide. On many Sunday afternoons they went visiting, or “visite” in Cajun. They frequently came to my Me'me're' Miller Basile home in their Studebaker truck. While the visits were relatively short, they were adequate to fulfil my need for the comfort they provided. They never left without leaving me a gift or a “Cadeau”. It was generally money, probably $0.25. A gift of this type was incredibly special and made a great impression on me. After all, I never recalled a visit from my sister’s Godparents apart from our first Cousin Lou Fontenot McCauley. Lou was my younger sister’s Godmother and we periodically saw her at her mother’s, my Aunt Myrza’s home for Sunday dinner.

Better yet were the weekend sleep overs at my Paran and Nanan’s Duralde home. One of my classmates was Nelda Duplechain, my Paran’s niece. She too lived in Duralde but the school district for Basile and Mamou schools were near where my Godparent’s lived and where Nelda’s parents lived. So I would ride the Basile school bus with Nelda to her home and my Paran came to pick me up there.
​
Life on the Duplechain Duralde, LA farm was different from my Basile surroundings. Pauline or “Do” made fresh bread every night. We ate bread with our supper. Generally, we drank fresh milk from the cow milked early that morning. We never drank from glasses and always used cups. I think of them as cornbread cups used to eat cornbread and milk. Electricity was available in rural Louisiana in the early 1950’s. Electric power resulted from President Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Program implemented in 1935. With electricity, milk moved from a gallon jar in the cistern cool water below ground to keep it cool to the electric refrigerator. When stored in the cistern, the milk jar was tied with a string at the top around the jar rim. When needed it was pulled up to serve cool after milking the cow in the morning or the previous day. With electric power and a new refrigerator, milk could be kept longer than a day.

Unlike my grandmother’s Basile home, my Godparents had indoor plumbing. That was a real treat since I was the one who had the clean the chamber pots each morning at Me’me’re Miller’s house. This choir was not necessary at my Paran and Nanan’s home.

Living on the farm was not a vacation, however. Sometimes when I arrived shortly after the bus ride from the Basile Elementary School, my Paran plowed his field with a mule and the plow pulled behind. It was a special treat for me when he allowed me to ride on mule’s back while he plowed the ground that would provide food for the table and sales at the farmer’s market. While this was fun, the next day was less fun. We worked in the fields picking cucumbers, peppers, and other vegetables for sale in the local market. I tired of that choir very quickly. I am not sure if I was much help. It seems odd today to remember how unpleasant the hard work seemed since my sisters and I were required each summer to pick cotton in the summer heat so we could afford to purchase the necessary school clothes to return to September fall semester later in the year. Our cotton-picking earned income also allowed us several seating's at the Basile movie theater, “the show” at $0.09 per ticket.

Unlike the 2020 daily lives of rapid news on events around the world, not knowing the world’s problems has self-contained tranquility. Listening to the TV, radio and the internet news feeds can be depressing where one loses hope. My Godparents visits enabled me to have hope for happier times. Paran and Nanan were cheerful, caring, and provided needed encouragement. As I look back, I realize that just a simple warm touch, a hug and caring words went a long way when the mother and father is absent from the home in a loving relationship.
​
My Godparents, Cleveland Duplechain and Pauline Manual had four children:
Herbert J. “Black” Duplechain (1932-2019) married to Madine Berzas (1933-1995)
Vernon C. Duplechain (1936-2018) married Debra Duplechain
Barbara H. Duplechain (1942) married Willius G. Reed in 1959
Andrus F. Duplechain (1949-1970). Killed in action in Viet Nam.

-----------------------Related Articles ------------------
Basile, LA
Memorial Day Tribute - Andrus F. Duplechain
​---------------- Download Your Copy Below ----------------------------------

My great grandmother is Therese Alcina Fontenot. She married Ernest Sonnier, Sr., a son of Onezime Sonnier and Lucie Fontenot.  I have Fontenot ancestors on both of my paternal great grandparents.  Let me explain. 

My father Murphy Miller, Sr.’s mother is Evenia Sonnier, daughter of Ernest Sonnier, Sr. and Therese Alcina Fontenot. Evenia Sonner, my Ma-mair or grandmother’s parent are as stated above.  Evenia married by Salomon Miller, son of Antoine Salomon Miller and Ophelia Fuselier. I wanted to find out how many Fontenot/Miller related marriages occurred in my direct paternal-maternal ancestry, i.e., my father’s mother’s family.

​

It did not take long, using the reports in my Legacy software that this is the only Fontenot/Miller related marriage on Evenia Sonnier’s mother ancestry. Looking at Therese A. Fontenot’s husband, Ernest Sonnier, Sr.’s, ancestry, I noticed that his parents are Onezime Sonnier and Lucie Fontenot.  Lucie Fontenot is the daughter of Francois Ignace Fontenot and Lucie Joseph Derouen.

There are no other Fontenot/Miller related marriages in Evenia Sonnier’s ancestry family.  It does however beg the question about the kinship or cousin relationship of my great-great grandparents, Ernest Sonnier, Sr. and Theresa A. Fontenot.  This led me to run the Legacy Relationship Report.  The results follow.

Their closest relationship is fourth cousins and they both share common ancestry who is Jean Louis Fontenot and Louise Angelique Henry, their great-great-great grandparents, or in genealogy speak, their 3rd great-grand parents.  But what does this mean and how can I better understand cousin marriages.

​The Table of Consanguinity found in Wikipedia, also known as a relationship chart, enables a better understanding of family relationships.  While this chart

shows up to third cousins, it gives you some idea on how close or distant you are from family relatives.

Well if both Ernest Sonnier, Sr. and his wife went to a family reunion where they visit their common ancestry, Jean Louis Fontenot and Louise Angelique Henry when Ernest Sonnier is 30 years old, how old would his and her 3rd great grandparents be?  Ernest, born in 1861, is 30 years old in 1891.  Jean L. Fontenot, born in 1686 would be 205 years old at this family reunion while his wife Louise A. Henry, born in 1699, would be 192 years old.
​
Marital Restrictions
According to Wikipedia, cousins are not included in the lists of prohibited relationships set out in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in Levictus 18:8-18 and 20:11-21 and in Deuteronomy.  Additionally, all marriages more distant than first-cousin marriages are allowed in Roman Catholicism.
​​
States also have prohibitions regarding who you may marry.  A Wikipedia chart below illustrates.

Laws regarding first-cousin marriage in the United States 
DARK BLUE (FL, GA, etc) - First-cousin marriage is legal
LIGHT BLUE (ME, NC) Allowed with requirements or exceptions
ROSY PINK (MN, IL, IN) Banned with exceptions
RED (LA, MS, AK, etc) Statute bans first-cousin marriage
BROWN (TX, OK, ND, SD, NV) Criminal offense
Some US states recognize marriages performed elsewhere, especially when the spouses were not residents of the state when married
​
Summary
In the 21st Century the likelihood of marrying a close cousin has been diminished with modern transportation and education and the change in how we earn a living.  Unlike the 19th and early 20th centuries when the United States was predominately an agrarian society, young adults with better educations move to where employment opportunities are located.  Thus, marrying a cousin is less likely than their parents or grandparents who grew up in the same local.

​Releated Blog: The Pierrottie and Martel Marriages
Books: Pierrottie / Pierrotti / Pierotti Family (2016)
Pierrottie, Pierrotti, Pierotti Photos (2012)    
Chachere Family of Louisiana (2013)

by Murphy Miller, March 8, 2020

​​Charles Darwin and his wife Emma were first cousins. A cousin marriage is a marriage where the partners are cousins (i.e. people with common grandparents or people who share other fairly recent ancestors). The practice was common in earlier times, and continues to be common in some societies today, though in some jurisdictions such marriages are prohibited. Worldwide, more than 10% of marriages are between first or second cousins. (1) 
​
Accordingly, it is not uncommon to find cousin marriages in Southwest Louisiana.  Moreover, the lack of mobility until the mid-20th century facilitated intermarriages as people lived in the same geographic area from birth to death when the U.S. was predominately an agrarian society.  Parents frequently made room for a child by gifting property to farm.  First cousins lived in close proximity to each other.

Many people in southwest Louisiana are familiar with the Pierrottie families that began with Constantino Pierotti (1832-1892), also known as August Constant Pierotti.  He was from Italy and emigrated to America in hopes of earning enough money to return to Italy, perhaps to bring back loved ones so they too could escape the poor economy in Northern Italy.  His plan to settle in the ante-bellum South fell apart upon his 1855 arrival and later when he was drafted into the Civil War.

​Thirteen months following the end of the American Civil War between the states, in May 1866, Constantino married Stephanie “Fanny” Martel (1848-1936).  Stephanie is the daughter of Etienne Eugene Martel and Louise Mathilde Boutte.  She is one of eleven children born to this couple.  Her younger brother, Stephane Martel (1852-1934), married Ann Elizabeth Moore in 1877.  Stephane and Ann had six children, Etienne (1885-1970) and Theogene Martel (1885-1962), twins, were the third and fourth born to the couple.

​Theogene Martel married his first cousin Rosenia Pierotti, the daughter of Constantino Pierotti and Stephanie Martel, in 1910. This marriage had three children; Blanche (1911-1991), Louis Thomas Martel (1916-1989) and Aubry Theo Martel (1924-1988).  Their common ancestry is their grandparents, Etienne Eugene Martel and Louise Mathilde Boutte.

​Theogene and Rosenia are also 3rd cousins via the Chachere/Vauchere family lines.  Their common ancestry is their great great-grandparents Louis Dominique Chachere (1760-1827) and Catherine Vauchere (1764-1825).  The charts below better illustrate this marital union relationship.

The third union of the Pierotti family line and the Martel family line marrying are Gervis Paul Martel (1912-1994) and Mary Lillian Naquin (1923-1992).  Gervis is the son of Etienne (1885-1970), twin of Theogene, and his wife Clementine Savoy (1889-1935).  My mother, Mary L. Naquin (1923-1992), is the daughter of Olan Naquin (1904-1940) and Bernice Pierrottie (1904-1977), she the granddaughter of Constantino and Stephanie Martel.

​Gervis first married Ellenor Fontenot in 1931.  She died in 1937.  Gervis married Mary L. Naquin in 1948.  Gervis “Slim” Martel was a master carpenter.  He was employed as a Installation Superintendent and travel to the job to install store fixtures in stores like Macy’s.  In 1959, when he was 47 years old, he allowed me to live in his home with him, my mother and half-siblings.  Both he, my mother and the entire Brandon, FL community made a man out of a confused teenager.  He was not perfect, but he gave me the break I needed at the right time in my life. For that kindness, I am grateful.

​

Other Pierrottie blogs
Mary Pierrottie Soileau
Jane Bertrand Ortego
​Sister Cesira Pierotti
Ulysse Gabriel Pierrottie, A 33 year battle for his family's rights
​Louis David "L.D" Verrette Obituary
Betty Lou Deshotel Hollier Obituary
Donald Joseph Pierotti Obituary

Books
​Pierrottie / Pierrotti / Pierotti Family
​Pierrottie, Pierrotti, Pierotti Photos
Dominique Martel Southwest Louisiana Family

Constantino Pierotti Video

DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY OF THIS BLOG

​EUNICE ~ Betty M. Elfert passed away on Monday, November 11, 2019, peacefully at home surrounded by family. She was born on September 20, 1929, to Ben and Eva Guillory Miller of Eunice, Louisiana.
After graduating from St. Edmund's High School, she attended S.L.I. in Lafayette where she met her future hus­band, Joseph Elfert. They were married in 1949 and together they raised 9 children and shared careers in education. Mrs. Elfert served as a lector for many years at St. Philomena Catholic Church, and regularly attended Adoration of the Holy Sacrament. She was a member of Catholic Daughters and the American Legion Auxiliary for many years. Mrs. Elfert taught at St. Edmund High School, Basile High School and ended her 40+ year career as an Associate Professor at Nicholls State University. She was a member of Phi Kappa Phi and always sought out ways to encourage excellence. She was honored by the university when she was given the title Associate Professor Emeritus. 

​She fondly recalled her teaching years and always enjoyed hearing from her former pupils who remembered her dedication to excellence. She sponsored many clubs and organizations and was known for assisting students in need throughout her career. She especially enjoyed being a Beta Club, cheerleader, and pep squad sponsor at Basile High School.
Many times her children were told, "I love your mother, she was the best teacher I ever had!" A statement they could echo, as they had her as a teacher both at home and at school. She was the most determined person most of us would ever know. She never let a challenge get the best of her and strived to overcome any adversity. She was a loving mother, sister, aunt, and friend who will be dearly missed by her family. 
She is survived by 2 siblings, 9 children, 19 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. Her children are: Dr. Dan Elfert (Stephanie), Gretchen Chaumont (Ronnie), Rachel Christ (Gerald), David Elfert, (Mary Beth), Monica Hanley (Jack), Thomas Elfert (Mark Nelson), Philip Elfert, Maria O'Neal (Deustche), and Elizabeth DeBerry (Drew). Siblings are: Dr. Ben Miller, Jr. (Katherine), and Deanna Bischoff.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Ben and Eva Guillory Miller, her in-laws, George and Hortense Richard Elfert, her husband of 67 years, Joseph D. Elfert, Sr., and siblings and in-laws: Jack and Lois Miller, Stoche and Beneva M. Langlois, Julius Bischoff, Jim Miller, Charles and Sevil Elfert, Fracis Elfert and Emile Elfert.  
…Burial was held at St. Anthony Church in Eunice, LA on Friday, November 15, 2019 at 11 a.m. Interment followed at Miller Cemetery in Eunice, LA. …  (The Basile Weekly, Basile, LA, 21 Nov 2019)

     Anna Belle Walters, 96, formerly of Lufkin, passed away peacefully at her home in Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. 
     She was born in Louisiana to Yves LaHaye and Camile Naquin LaHaye.
     Anna Belle is survived by her husband of 70 years, Earl O. Walters, daughter Joanna Root (James E.), and son Michael Walters (Sally); Grandchildren Russell Cone, Rebecca Edicola, Anne Holliday and Brian Walters; great-grandchildren Zachary Edicola, Madeline Edicola, Skyler Cone, Michelle Walters, Jacob Edicola, Zoey Cone and Emily Holliday; sister and bothers-in law, numerous beloved nieces and nephews and many special friends. 
     Earl and "Belle" made their home in Lufkin, Texas in 1966. They lived there until 2015 when they moved to Richmond, Virginia. 
     Anna Belle loved her yard and flower gardens. She hand made quilts, knitted and wove pine needle baskets. She was active with the Ladies of LaSalette Guild and the 6-0 Club at Saint Patrick Church in Lufkin where she was a member for 48 years. She was a frequent visitor at the Monastery of the Infant Jesus. 
     She and Earl traveled with the Luf-to Go Sams Travel Club and the Carriage Club. They traveled to 48 states and always found family to reconnect with along their way. Together, they were charter members of and danced with the Polka Dots. 

Riverboat  Winona
The Winona was built on the Mermentau River in Papa's yard by Mr. Waterman.  A boat builder from some south Louisiana city, I believe it was Franklin.  It took 1 year to build.  It was built parallel to the river and it was launched into the river sideways.  I saw it being launched and was frightened it made such a big splash.  I was seven when it was finished, 1917.
 
The original engines were gasoline, but in the summer of 1922, Papa took the boat to Lake Arthur at Lezay Roy's wharf and changed the engines out.  He replaced them with two, 30 horsepower, 2 cylinder, Callenburg diesel motors.  I was out of school at that time and stayed on the boat with Papa and Mama.  I slept on deck under a mosquito netting, while Papa and Mama slept in the cabin.
 
Papa first worked between New Orleans and Grand Chenier; and hauled cotton and cotton seed.  Bales on deck and seed in the hold. I went on several trips to N.O. on the Winona.  Papa took different routes.  You or John would know the routes better than me.  Sometimes it was in the Gulf to Vermilion Bay, then though bayous to Bayou Black and on to the Mississippi River near  New Orleans.  Other trips were into Bayou Plaquimine into the Mississippi near Baton Rouge.

Patrick Achee is the 3rd great grandson of Michel Miller and Hiacinthe Lejeune. The family book for the Michel Miller and Hiacinthe Lejeune Family can be purchased here.

See another article on this family here. 

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BY: NOLA MAE ROSS, American Press 01/19/1992

    Louis and Louise Sonnier's lives were torn asunder. They lived in Nova Scotia for more than eight decades close enough to sniff the salty air from the Atlantic Ocean and close enough to see the schooners that eventually took their family on a painful journey.
    The Sonnier's and their Acadian neighbors should have been used to having their homeland tossed back and forth between Britain and France. There were years of looking over their shoulders to see who was gaining on them. but they never dreamed their lives could be so torn as by what was to happen.
    ''Pledge allegiance to our queen,'' threatened the Britons, current masters of this land called Acadie (French) or Nova Scotia (English), ''or we'll put you completely off this island.'' Up until then, the threat was never enforced but that all changed on Sept. 5, 1755, when the English posted an order for all Acadian males over the age of 10 to meet at the Grand Pre Church.
    Among those gathering at the church were Marcell Sonnier, son of the patriarch Louis, as well as his grandsons Charles, Pierre and Rene Sonnier.
    The men were kept waiting and waiting for a decision. Finally, on Oct. 7, they were marched from the church to the harbor, where they were put onto different boats. Then the women and children were gathered onto ships, separating families wherever possible separating betrothed lovers, husbands from wives and mothers from screaming children on
their way to becoming ''orphans.''
    It became known as ''The Expulsion of the Acadians ''the blackest day in Acadian history. As the boats pulled away from shore, the Acadians saw their homes torched. They watched helplessly as the flames seem to reach the sky, burning like their broken hearts.
    Only the boat captains knew where they were going. History says that some went to England, some to France and some to the northeast coast of America.
    The Sonnier's and their neighbors had nothing left nothing but a strong faith in a better life and in freedom from these tyrants, plus the great strength from their Acadian heritage. Many never saw their kin again. And many, like the Sonnier's, have gaping holes in their family histories where whole generations dropped through.
    Most of these Acadians had a vision of Louisiana. They knew Louisiana to be a French province where they could be free. So hundreds of these homeless people started slowly for Louisiana. These journeys continued from 1755 to 1785. Some of the Acadians arrived in Louisiana within 10 years of the expulsion, others never arrived. But those who did reach Louisiana were shocked to find that the land now belonged to Spain. Nevertheless, they stayed, and were treated well by the Spaniards. The Sonnier's slowly moved across Louisiana, some settling in St. James Parish, some in Attakapas country on the Teche St. Martinville and others to the Opelousas Post.
    Sylvain Sonnier I, a grandson of the Nova Scotia patriarch, and his wife, Magdaliene Bourq, settled south of Opelousas at Bellvue. He also had a vacherie, or ranch, in a cove on Plaquemine Brulee, a Spanish land grant. He was also a member of the Opelousas Militia. Still other Sonnier's kept going west to the far end of Louisiana, as evidenced by a number of Sonnier's in the Vinton area.
    Sylvain Sonnier II, who first wed Humilda Como and then Judith Bello, daughter of Donato Bello, is the ancestor of nearly all the Sonnier's in Allen, Jeff Davis and Calcasieu parishes. Two of his sons Belile (Belisle), who married Eloise LaCase, and Donato (Donat) Sonnier, who married Melite Casanova moved to Imperial Calcasieu in the section that is now Allen Parish. At that time, the area was known as Prairie Soileau and included today's town of Oberlin. Today there is a Soileau community between Oberlin and Elton.
    Three cemeteries in that area have many departed Sonnier's one northeast of Oberlin named Durio, a Sonnier cemetery on land donated by Donat Sonnier in Soileau and one named Pine Chapel north of the Guy community.
    Sonnier's were mostly farmers and cattlemen in the early days. The original Louis Sonnier in Nova Scotia was also a soldier as was Sylvain I, the first Louisiana Sonnier, who served in the Opelousas Militia.
    During the Civil War, the names Sonnier, Sonier, Saulnier and Saunyer were on the Confederate Army rolls. From Allen Parish were two brothers Charles Sonnier, who was killed during the war, and William Belile, a private in Company B, 16th La. Infantry Battalion, which later became the Confederate Guard Response Battalion.
    After the war, William Belile married Clementine Mouille and raised a large family in the Prairie Soileau area. Most of his descendants continue to live in that area today. One was Lucien ''Tom'' Sonnier, whose nickname came from an Indian who followed around as a child. Tom first married Louise Castello, then Celina Guillory. He fathered 16 children.
    One of those children was Joe Sonnier, a well-known resident in Kinder. He served on the City Council for many years and operated a filling station.
    One of his daughters was Mrs. Charles (Betty) Sarver, who is president of Allen Parish Genealogy and Historical Society.
    ''During World War II he was often called upon to help those in desperate need of rationed tires and gasoline,'' she recalled. ''One  time a minister and his wife had a tire blowout on their trailer home. There were no tires to be had, not even old used ones. ''My father noted that the size of their tire looked the same as an airplane tire he had seen, discarded at the Lake Charles Air Force Base. He obtained permission to get several for that family.'' Among other descendants of Sylvain Sonnier who live, or have lived, in Kinder and Oberlin, are Ronnie, son of McKinley Sonnier, who operates the Sonnier farms; Woodrow, Delmer, Brenda Sonnier Byrd; Fred, James, Simon, Mrs. Tom (Lucille) Patrick; Mrs. Martin (Celestine) Storery; Roy and Amie Sonnier and their great-granddaughter, Kim Manuel; Ida Sonnier Rider; Pearl Sonnier Taylor; the late Jack Sonnier; and many more.
    Don Louis Sonnier, another son of Sylvain, has descendants in the Lake Charles area, including the late Sam Sonnier, Lake Charles electrical contractor for many years; Mrs. Jacques (Sally) Sonnier Hand and Perry Sonnier, both of the Bundicks community; and Johnny Sonnier of Hemphill.
    In Sulphur, Clay Sonnier was a barber, while his son Ruel was the postmaster there for many years. Another son who lives in Lake Charles is Col. James Sonnier, retired after 27 years in the air force. His sister, Ruth Sonnier Romero, lives in Kaplan.
    In Fenton was Louis Sonnier. According to his son, Verlin Sonnier of Lake Charles, ''My father drove a school bus to Fenton High School for 36 years and he also ran a small country store. Today my mother, Mrs. Leanise Fontenot Sonnier, lives near my sister, Mrs. L.L. (Vida) Whitaker, in Edna, between Kinder and Fenton. My brother, Joe Sonnier, lives in Topsy.''
    The name Sonnier has long been familiar in the music world, as Eddie Shuler, Lake Charles musician and owner of a recording studio, attests. Shuler, who once recorded Dolly Parton in her songs ''Puppy Love'' and ''Girl Left Alone,'' also worked with Jo-El Sonnier during the first six years of Sonnier's career.
    Jo-El Sonnier is now widely known for his hit songs ''No More One More  Time,'' ''Raining In My Heart,'' ''Come On Joe'' and ''Tear Stained  Letter.'' The Cajun-country singer is currently in Nashville, Tenn., recording for Capitol Records.
The late Danny James Sonnier, a Lake Charles musician known professionally as Danny James, recorded many songs with Shuler. ''He could make that guitar sing,'' Shuler recalled. Two of Danny James' more popular records were ''Boogie In The Mud,'' written by Rockin' Sidney of Lake Charles, and ''Paper In My Shoe'' by BooZoo Chavis, also of Lake Charles.
    Giles Sonnier, a nephew of Danny James, is now working as a guitarist.  He plays with a style much like his uncle's. Howard Sonnier of Lake Charles plays the guitar as well as a fiddle and French harp, and currently plays Cypress Creek Bank. He has also cut a record and written several songs.
    In Church Point there's Johnny Sonnier, who is rapidly climbing to the big time with his recordings of ''The Devil Went To New Iberia'' and ''Chere Alice.'' In 1934, Lennis Sonnier joined the famous Hackberry Ramblers. He wrote
the original ''Jolie Blonde,'' which became one of the group's most requested songs.
    Lennis is still interested in music, despite a stroke that made it hard for him to play the guitar. He's now hunting for a fiddle, which he thinks will be easier to handle. He has seven sons, stepsons and close relatives who are musicians
mostly drummers.
    The art world has also profited from the Sonnier family. In Scott, Floyd Sonnier operates his Beau Cajun Art Studio. The 58-year-old artist works in pen and ink to preserve his Acadian heritage through authentic sketches of Cajun life.
    ''I can't remember ever not being an artist,'' he said. ''My parents would say I started drawing when I was 3.''I remember well in school in Church Point. I was the only artist in my class. In fact, I was the only artist in the school. Every Christmas I was called on to go around the classrooms and draw Christmas scenes on the blackboards.''
    Floyd's goal of preserving Acadian history through has led to considerable research and to becoming an adviser for the television documentary ''Halfway Home,'' which chronicled the Acadian Expulsion. ''It was when working on this that I suddenly realized that although I knew my own Cajun background, none of my school books mentioned the Acadians, much less the Expulsion and the flight from Acadie, and we certainly did not have to read the poem 'Evangeline,''' Sonnier said.
He had acquired his knowledge of the Acadians from family stories handed down from generation to generation for nearly 250 years. Although the Acadian Expulsion was long ago and today's Sonnier's did not live through that dark beginning and the tortuous trail of tears to a better life, they still cherish the strength and spirit of their forebears as well as the surprising number of Acadian customs still present in their daily lives.

​     Terry James Clément passed away July 5th in his residence. Terry was born May 5th, 1934 the 6th of 9 children for Laurent and Ada Clément. A Mass of Christian Burial for Terry James Clement, 85 of Evangeline, LA will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Evangeline, LA on Monday, July 8, 2019 at 11:30 AM with Father Paul LaFleur officiating. Burial will follow St. Joseph Cemetery. A gathering of family and friends will be held Matthews & Son Funeral Home in Jennings, LA on Monday, July 8, 2019 from 9:00 AM with a Rosary recited at 10:00 AM and continuing until his Christian Mass at 11:30 AM.
     Terry fell in love with French Music at a very early age and in 1949 formed his first band, Terry Clément and his Rhythmic Five with brother Purvis and brother-in-law Ronnie Goodreau. He would go on to form the Tune Tones and finally; when younger brother Grant was old enough to join, he formed The Clément Brothers band. 
In 1952 Terry and Purvis were riding in a pickup truck to a show in Holly Beach when they decided they were going to make a record, the two of them played around with some catchy tunes and lyrics and the following week "Diggy Liggy Lo" was recorded in Crowley. They continued to play music around the country and in 1993 they were inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame and presented the "Prix De Pionnier" award in 2002 by the Cajun French Music Association.
     Terry received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from LSU in 1957 and was an avid LSU fan. You could often spot him on a Saturday Night at LSU stadium proudly wearing his custom-made Tiger "Fur" sport coat cheering on his "Little" Tigers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[Rainy Day People, the song by Terry Clement]
​----------------------------------------------------------------------

​Terry retired from the United States Department of Agriculture in 1989 after 32 years of service as a Soil Conservationist, often traveling to foreign countries to assist in developing their agricultural programs. He was recognized by the USDA for his outstanding performance above and beyond his assigned duties with a Meritorious Service Award in 1977.
     Terry was an avid horticulturist and enjoyed tending to his garden and many fruit trees. He also spent many hours in his wood shop creating a variety of wooden toys and furniture for friends and family.
      Left to cherish his memories are: son Jules Clay (Sharon); daughters Anissa (Larry), Lisa Mullett (Matt) and Angela LeJeune (Kyle); brother Grant (Diane) and sister Carita Goodreau (Ronnie); grandchildren Bradley, Abby, Jack, Madison, and Bennet; plus, a multitude of nieces and nephews. 
     Terry is preceded in death by his parents Laurent and Ada; sisters Audrey, Melba, Thelma (Tilly), and Cecile; brothers Hubert Sr., and Purvis.

Terry James Clement's great great grandmother is Eudalie Miller, b. 1835, who married Ursin Doucet, 1831-1862. Eudalie Miller is a descendant of Frederic Miller and all the family history, except for recent updates, is included in the Frederic Miller Louisiana Family book.

In honor of the  men who paid the ultimate price for our freedom, and those who served to make it a successful undertaking to free the oppressed, I salute these men from the greatest generation who placed freedom for all above their freedom. 

While there are many military service personnel that I am unaware of, these are the ones that I know of from my research of Southwest Louisiana families.

Doxey, James Andrew "Sonny Boy". (Grand Chenier). He was killed in action during the Normandy invasion. He is the son of James U. Doxey and Matilda Sturlese and the grandson of Lucien Sturlese and Phelonia Miller. Phelonia is the grand daughter of Michel Miller and Hiacinthe Lejeune.
Buried: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43726758/james-a_-doxey
 
Ricard, Henry. T Sgt. US Army. Killed in action while serving as Flight Engr. on a B-24. He was shot down on June 18, 1944 while delivering supplies to the French underground. He is buried in Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial, Saint-James, Normandy, France. He is first cousin to Malcolm L Miller. Henry is his mother's nephew.  Malcolm's mother is Bertha Ricard. She married Octave Miller, son of Jean Pierre Miller and Caroline Guillory.
Buried: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56350698

​Gianelloni, Vivian Joseph. (Baton Rouge). U.S. Army. Major. He served with the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion and was the commanding officer of the security company for Gen. Omar Bradley's 12th Army Group headquarters from its organization in Normandy until VE Day. He married Jeanette Catherine Singleton, the daughter of John C. Singleton and Mary Elizabeth Miller, the 2nd great granddaughter of Frederic Miller and Victoria Mayer.
​Buried: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20636327

The surname Bergeron has wide distribution and a complex history in southern Louisiana. People of that name arrived early in the French colony; a Jean Baptiste Bergeron from Illinois (originally from Canada) was living with his family in New Orleans in 1725. Sometime before 1740 Guillaume Bergeron dit St. Onge, a soldier in the French marine, was stationed at Natchitoches but later settled in Pointe Coupee. In the 1760s several Bergeron families came to Louisiana from Acadia, settling in St. James Parish. Little is known of the early new Orleans Bergeron, but most of the households of that name in the state today probably can trace ancestry either from the Bergerons of Pointe Coupee or from those of St. James Parish.
 
Guillaume Bergeron dit St. Onge was one of the pioneer settlers and probably the main progenitor of the Bergeron families of Pointe Coupee. While stationed in Natchitoches he married in 1740 Agnes Renaugiere of Kaskaski Post, Illinois. The couple migrated to Pointe Coupee before the birth of their first child in 1744, and by the late 1740, Guillaume had become an established planter on False River. His wife bore him five sons: Georges married in 1801 to Gertrude Patin, Pierre married in 1771 [to] Marguerite Moreau, Louis married in 1770 [to] Angelique Bizette, Joseph Married in 1772 [to] Marie Louise Bizette, and Etienne married in 1781 [to] Francois Olinde, all of whom during the last quarter of the eighteenth century reared large families in the False River section of Pointe Coupee.
 
Possibly discouraged by lack of opportunity in the parish, during the 1810s and 1820s several of Guillaume’s grandsons and great-grandsons began to move into the Opelousas and Attakapas areas. For example, sometime before 1819 grandson Pierre, Jr., and his family settled along the Teche and by the 1850s most of his descendants were living near Vermilionville (present Lafayette). Again, grandson Joseph, Jr., settled near Opelousas, and after or possibly before the Civil War his descendants were congregated around Church Point, southwest of Opelousas, and near Arnaudville on Bayou Teche. Today some 60 Bergeron households are still in Pointe Coupee; in recent times many may have moved into Baton Rouge.
 
Most of the Bergeron families of Louisiana stem from the Acadians who settled in St. James Parish, Many of whose descendants migrated from there to Bayou Lafourche and into Terrebonne Parish, where 28 percent of the state’s total now reside. (300 households in Houma alone). At least five Bergeron families were among the first Acadians to arrive in Louisiana, probably in 1765. Three brothers, Jean Baptiste, Charles and Germain, son of Barthlemy dit d’Ambroise of Port Royal, Acadia, were settled in St. James by 1766. Another Bergeron Acadian household, headed by Catherine Caissey, widow of Jean Baptiste who died in the Attakapas in 1765, was also living in St. James at that time with two sons, Jean Baptist, Jr., and Jean Charles, and two daughters. Of the three brothers belonging to the Barthelemy branch, Germain had moved to the Lafourche by 1789, but Jean Baptiste, Charles, and most of their descendants remained in St. James; however, before 1820 a son of Charles, Jean Theodore, had moved to the Lafourche near Thibodeauxville. Of the Jean Baptiste-Catherine Caissey branch, the two sons, Jean Baptiste, Jr., and Jean Charles, had migrated to the Lafourche by 1795. In the early 1800s sons and grandsons of all the Bergeron migrants to the Lafourche began to move down bayou below Thibodeauxville; some were among the earliest French settlers along the upper Bayou Terrebonne. The area around Houma became a center of Bergeron families and after the Civil War some members began to move down the Terrebonne toward Montegut, down the Petite Callow toward Chain, and northward up the Chacahoula Bayou, settling mainly as small farmers. Others eventually made their way along Bayou Black into the lower Tech.
 
[A] number [of] the Bergerons begin [began] to move into Southwest Louisiana, near Lake Charles, Louisiana and Eastern Texas during the oil boom of the 30s, especially the young men seeking better jobs. Some moved on to Alexandria and Shreveport. But most of the Bergerons have remained in the Lafayette, New Orleans and Thibodaux area. During WWII, a number of the Bergeron who served in the military remained in California as well as in the Carolinas. Bergeron is a well known name in all the principal cities of France.
 
Reference Manual:  “An Atlas of Louisiana Surnames of French and Spanish Origin.” By Robert C. West. A Geoscience Publications, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
 
 
(1)  Cliff Fuselier (Mr. & Mrs.), (April 2003). The Bergeron Family, La Voix des Prairies Vol. 24 No. 93.

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The Bergeron Family of Louisiana book is being compiled and should be published in 2019. If you have family information to share, please email me at MurphyMillerJr@gmail.com or 352-214-3564.

​ Wood County Reporter, June 30, 1898. Published in the Dallas News (TX)  

 An Element of Citizenship That Has Never Become Amalgamated

The creole of Louisiana has been a favorite subject of the story writer, and has been so often and so charmingly described by Cable, Grace King and that queen of southern dialect writers. Ruth McEnery Stuart, that of them nothing remains to be told. But a large element of the French population of the state are not creoles, but Acadians, or as they call themselves and are generally called, “Cajuns.” Their expulsion from Acadia forms one of the most pathetic tragedies in the history of the settlement of our native land, and is of additional interest since it furnishes our Immortal Longfellow with the inspiration for his touching poem, “Evangeline.”
 
After the treaty of Paris, by which the French abandoned forever all controlling influence in the new world, these unfortunate refugees were by the French government assisted to Louisiana and assigned lands to the west of New Orleans, where their descendants live to this day, and where in the midst of an age of progress they remain distinctly medieval in thought, manners and customs.
 
Their dwellings are for the most part built of a kind of clay mixed with moss, and are not unlike the concrete and adobe houses of western Texas. Their furniture is just about what their ancestors considered necessary for their Acadian farmhouse over 100 years ago. The little treadle spinning wheel occupies a conspicuous place in the domestic economy, and whatever artistic taste they may have finds vent in the numerous cheap-colored prints of the Virgin which adorn the walls of even the poorest.
 
Of books there are none, except possibly a French prayer book, which none of the family is able to read, and which they could not understand anyway, as their dialect differs in so many respects from the modern French.
 
They are in a certain sense religious, but their religion consists in the observance of the forms and festivals, especially festivals, of the Catholic church, some of which are very pretty, but also very suggestive of the middle ages. With them, celebration of mass in the morning is usually followed by a ball at night, an amusement of which they a passionately fond, and in which the old, middle-aged, the youth and children take part with equal zest.
 
They are extremely hospitable, and in their dwelling it is said the coffee pot is never allowed to grow cold, and every chance guest is served with a cup of this beverage, boiling hot, and very bitter, which he must not refuse on penalty of giving lasting offense to his host. This inveterate coffee drinking seems to be productive of no ill effect physically, but I have sometimes wondered if it might not in part account for the low order of intellect, which prevails.
 
They are a pleasure-loving people, and work only enough to secure the necessaries of life, and as they all – men, women and children – go barefoot except on state occasions, and corn bread and tasso (dried beef) form the staple articles of food, a very little work enables a man to provide for a moderately large family.
 
Their aversion to regular employment might be ascribed toa probable strain of Indian blood that flows in their veins, and for the same reason they mingle with the superstitions of the French peasant, some which come by inheritance from their Indian ancestors.
 
The creoles, many of whom boast of the bluest of the blue blood, have always treated their plebian fellow countrymen with a good-natured contempt (which the Cajuns bitterly resent) and have so far done nothing for their social and mental advancement.
 
Politically, these people are a problem. They take very little personal interest in elections, and are usually voted by the parish priest.
 
One important factor in the making of the children of ignorant foreigners into good citizens is our public school system, and with the Cajuns this has failed so far, partly from prejudice against brain labor of any kind, which is innate, and partly from an antipathy to receiving instruction from a heretic, which is inculcated with their religion. And as their poverty in most cases precludes their attending the Catholic schools, where the creoles educate their children, they remain after nearly a century of American citizenship no better educated in republican institutions than the immigrant of yesterday. 
​​