He is the 3rd great grandson on Andre Claude Boutte, II (1719-1792) and his slave Franchon (Francois) Filnotion (1732-1799).  His grandparents are Hyacinthe Boutte and an unknown grandmother.  His parents sent him and his nine siblings to a private Catholic “Colored” school even though they both worked at low paying jobs.  Moreover, with his parent’s vision and his determination, he became a successful businessperson and an active civil rights supporter during the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
 
TO BE COMPLETED SOON.....

Donald J. Pierrotti is the great grandson of the ​Constantino "Auguste Constant" Pierotti and Stephanie "Fanny" Martel. Donald's parents Marion Pierrotti, Sr. (1916-1992)  and Ethel Lebleu (1919-2011), daughter of Julin Lebleu and Evangeline Sonnier, were married in 1936.

Donald's father Marion and twin sister Mary were born in 1916, the fifth and sixth child of Constant Pierrotti and Avie Fuselier. Their siblings are Bernice (1904-1977), Virginia (1906-1994), Lula (1910-1994) and George (1912-1990)

Note: Last names spellings in this family include Pierotti, Pierrotti and Pierrottie.
--------------------Obituary----------------
​MAMOU-Funeral Services will be held at 2:00PM at Ardoin's Funeral Home in Mamou on Saturday, January 19, 2019, for Donald J. Pierrottie, 81, who passed away on Thursday, January 17, 2019 in Mamou, LA surrounded by his loved ones.

Chaplin Jeff White will conduct all funeral services.

Burial will take place in New St. Ann's Cemetery in Mamou.

Donald J. Pierrottie was born in Mamou, LA on October 25, 1937 to his parents Marion Pierrottie, Sr. and Ethel LeBleu Pierrottie. He served as a Production Foreman in the oil field for 35 years. Donald was a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. He spent his free time with his family hunting, fishing, and camping. He enjoyed taking pictures and capturing as many special moments as he could. He also liked doing projects around the house and loved to garden. 

He leaves behind to cherish his memory his loving wife, Jane Pierrottie of Mamou, one daughter, Kimberly Pierrottie of Mamou; two sons, Kenneth Pierrottie and wife Mona of Eunice and Greg Pierrottie and wife Kim of Terral, TX; six grandchildren. Tasha Johnson and husband Travis of Vidrine, Randi Fontenot and husband Jeremy of Ville Platte, Shae Pierrottie of Vidrine, Seth Pierrottie and wife Maggie of Vidrine, Hunter Pierrottie of Terral, TX, and Kenzie Pierrottie of Mamou; seven great grandchildren, Kaitlyn Johnson, Ava Johnson, Elliana Johnson, Maddox Johnson, Gage Fontenot, Maddie Fontenot, and Rhett Pierrottie.

Donald is preceded in death by his parents, Marion Pierrottie, Sr and Ethel LeBleu Pierrottie; and son, Rusty Pierrottie.
----------------------------------------
​See also Mary Pierrottie Soleau, Sister Cesira Pierotti, Ulysse G. Pierrottie, 
Jane Bertrand Ortego, Ubaldo Pierotti, Constantino Pierotti Video

PURCHASE: Pierrottie, Pierrotti, Pierotti Family book and Photos

​Not only was Alex and his wife Audrey Castille Miller lifelong residents of the Sunset, LA area but his father, Charles D. Miller and wife Alice Bernard, as well as was his paternal grandparents Dosite “Zick” Miller and Olivia Faul. All were residents of St. Landry Parish.
 
When you follow Alex’s grandfather’s Dosite Miller’s family line, then you find that he is the descendant of George Miller, Sr., of the United Kingdom, and his wife Catherine Ritter, of Frederic, MD.  On the other hand, if you follow his grandmother Olivia Faul’s (Fall) ancestry you find that she is a descendant of Jacob Miller and Anne Marie Thaison/Theigen of Germany.  Therefore Alex is a descendant of two early Louisiana Miller settlers.
 
Alex’s great-great grandparents are John Alexandre Alexon Miller (1853-1899) and wife Alicia Leger (1856-1938).  They were 2nd cousins. Their common ancestry is Jean “Valois” Savoye and his wife Marguerite Catherine Boutin.
 
Alexandre “Alex” Miller’s obituary follows.
 
SUNSET - Funeral services will be held Wednesday, November 21, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. in Evangeline Memorial Gardens Chapel in Carencro for Alexandre "Pop" Miller, age 80, who passed away Sunday, November 18, 2018 at Lafayette General Medical Center in Lafayette.
 
Interment will be in Evangeline Memorial Gardens in Carencro. The Rev. Gary Schexnayder will officiate at the services.
 
Mr. Miller was a native and lifelong resident of Sunset. He was a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. He was a farmer for most of his life who especially enjoyed growing vegetable. A veteran of the military, Mr. Miller proudly served his country in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He was a member of the American Legion Post in Sunset.
 
Survivors include his devoted wife of over fifty-four years, Audrey Miller; two sons, Patrick Miller, Sr. and his wife, Cheryl, and Brian Miller and his wife, Sheila; two daughters, Andrea Carlson and her husband, Brent, and Melanie Morgan and her husband, Monty; one brother, Joseph Miller; twelve grandchildren, D.J. Kimble and his wife, Angelle, Devan Miller and his wife, Nancy, Alexis Morgan, Katelyn Morgan, Madison Morgan, Patrick Miller, Jr., Gretchen Carlson, Vivian Carlson, Dutch Carlson, Kristen Sylvester, Jennifer Dunbar and her husband, Jonathan, and Heather Gregory; and fourteen great grandchildren.
 
He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles Miller and the former Alice Bernard; and four sisters, Leverta Prejean, Emma Miller, Mildred Willingham and Anna Belle Miller.
 
A rosary will be prayed at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday in the funeral home.
 
The family requests that visiting hours be observed from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Tuesday and will continue from 8:00 a.m. until service time on Wednesday.
 
Pallbearers will be Patrick Miller, Sr., Brian Miller, Brent Carlson, Monty Morgan, Joseph D. Miller and Devan Miller. Honorary pallbearers will be Patrick Miller, Jr. and Dutch Carlson.
 

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Other related blogs: Three Early Louisiana Miller Settlers
Zick Miller - Two Hands On A Plow
Jack Miller's Food Products Celebrate 75 Years

She was an advocate for a woman’s right to insurance benefits following their husband’s retirement, death and divorce. The Louisiana law was a model for the federal COBRA law many benefit from today.(1)  Her name is Jeanette Catherine Singleton and she is the 3rd great granddaughter of Frederic Miller and Victoria Mayer. Frederic is the son of Jacob Miller and Anne Marie Thaison. Jeanette parents were John Christian Singleton and Mary Elizabeth Miller. (2)

Jeanette married Vivian Joseph Gianelloni, Jr., a native of San Francisco, CA.  “V.J.” as he was known, was a 1942 LSU graduate and a football player. During World War II he served with the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion and was the commanding officer of the security company for General Omar Bradley’s 12th Army Group headquarters from its organization in Normandy until VE Day. He received a Bronze Star and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his wartime service. (3)
 
Jeanette Singleton, Baton Rouge community leader, advocate for women's issues, and beloved mother, passed away on Friday, August 31, 2012. Jeanette was born in 1922 in Orange, Texas, and raised in Vinton, Louisiana. She came to Baton Rouge to attend LSU, graduating in 1942, and called Baton Rouge her home for the rest of her life.
 
Jeanette married V.J. Gianelloni, Jr., and had six children with him. Jeanette was very active in Baton Rouge community affairs. She was for many years one of the adult leaders of the Riverside 4-H Club, which was one of the leading 4-H clubs in the state. She also was for many years active with her sorority, Alpha Phi, serving as treasurer for the organization, among other roles. Jeanette was a member and president of OWL, the Older Women's League. She actively supported her husband in his service to the Capital City Kiwanis Club.
 
A breast cancer survivor, Jeanette became an advocate for insurance coverage for women who were left without insurance after their husbands retired, died, or divorced them. She lobbied in the Louisiana legislature for a state law granting insurance coverage at previous rates to such women. During that period, she was a familiar figure in the halls of the state capitol building. That Louisiana law was passed and served as a model for the COBRA law, which covers spouses in such situations on a national basis. For her role in that effort, she was selected by the Ladies' Home Journal in 1984 as one of its 50 - one from each state -- American Heroines. Ladies' Home Journal titled
 
Jeanette an "Insurance Champion" for her pioneering effort to extend insurance coverage. Jeanette also lobbied on behalf of efforts to establish respite homes for families that cared at home for handicapped individuals. In 1993 Jeanette received her Master's degree from LSU. At the time, she was 71 years old and the oldest graduate to receive a master's degree.
 
Jeanette was a talented writer, and in later years spent a lot of time writing biographical stories and items about life in rural Louisiana when she was young. An article Jeanette wrote about a trip she took to Israel was published in the Morning Advocate in 1982. She also wrote many letters and commentaries that were published in the Advocate.
 
A confirmed Christian, Jeanette and her husband V.J. Gianelloni donated the land upon which St. Jude Catholic Church was built. Later in life, she became a member of St. John's United Methodist Church. Most importantly of all, Jeanette was the devoted mother of six children. At age 11, her daughter, Marcia Lynn, called "Muffet," contracted eastern equine encephalitis, which left Muffet severely handicapped. For the next forty years, Jeanette cared for Muffet, while raising her other five children, along with helping to raise five nephews and nieces who were orphaned young. (4)
 

(1)  FindAGrave.com, Memorial # 103422110. Original source unknown.

(2)  Southwest Louisiana Records (SWLR-CD – Volume 1 (1750-1900). CD. Rev. Donald Hebert.

(3)  FindAGrave.com, Memorial # 20636327.

(4)  ​Morris, George. Date unknown. Title unknown. Baton Rouge Advocate.

(5) ​ FindAGrave.com, Memorial # 103422110. Original source unknown.

Balthazar Martel, Jr. is the son of Barthelemy Balthazar Martel (1782-1838) and Louise Emilie Pouponne Chachere (v. 1790) and the younger brother of the well-known Civil War era Judge Barthelemy Amede Martel. His full name is Barthelemy Balthazar Martel, Jr. (1)
 
Balthazar Martel, Jr. married Hermina Bouillet, daughter of Gabriel Bouillet and Marie Antionette Pecot, in 1840. (2) They had three children, Gabrielle, Barthelemy Balthazar Martel, III and Jacques Sully Martel. Hermina died in 1906. Balthazar’s second wife was Virginia Davis. They married in 1867 and had three children; Arthur Gabriel, Marie Lyndia and Joseph Edouard. (3)

​Death of Balthazar Martel (4)
 
The Creoles [or a “descendant of the original settlers in Louisiana under the French and Spanish government…”], (5), are noted the world over for the large families that they raise. The following from the "People You Know" column of the States furnishes information in this line that is remarkable. The name is familiar in this parish and the statement will be read with interest by our people.
 
There died in Franklin, La., this week a man who should not disappear from history without a tribute being paid to his memory by the newspapers of the State. This was Hon. Balthazar Martel, aged 87 years, [actually 85 years old] (6) who enjoyed the unique distinction of having within his own immediate descendants fully 850 votes. And these votes are all in Louisiana. They are in a bunch in the St. Mary, St. Landry and St. Martin section of the country, and they are all creoles."
 
Mr. Martel, who has just died at the ripe old age of four score and seven, comes from one of the most ancient and distinguished of Louisiana families, reknowned [renowned] for its eminent services in peace and in war. His brother, Judge B.A. Martel, was a hero of the Attakapas region, and served for many years as judge of the St. Landry district when that region stretched from the prairies of Opelousas to the Texas State line, which, by the way, was then Mexico.
 
The son of the old patriarch who died is Judge J. Sully Martel, one of the most prominent attorneys of St. Mary parish.
 
_______________
(1)  Southwest Louisiana Records (1750 – 1900). CD. Rev. Donald J. Hebert. Hebert Publications. P.O. Box 147, Rayne, LA 70578.
 
(2) Kim Mohler, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (Chicago, Illinois. The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1892)
 
(3) Southwest Louisiana Records (1750 – 1900)
 
(4) Le Courrier des Opelousas (newspaper), February 17, 1900
 
(5)  Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana, by Hanno Deiler, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1975, page 111.
 
(6) FindAGrave.com. Headstone states birth year 1813.
 
(7) Ancestry.com. Martel-Blackburn family. J. S. Martel, Jr.
-----------------------------------------
Purchase Martel Family book.

The subject of this sketch, the Hon. B. A. Martel, whose death was announced on the 5th inst., [abbreviation for instante mense meaning date of the current month] was born in the parish of St. Martin in this state on the 8th of March, 1819. His father Balthazar Martel, was a Creole of St. Domingo, and was one of the few gallant and brave men who escaped from that unhappy island during the revolution provoked by Toussant L'Ouverture (1), Desaline, Ringo and others. Balthazar Martel was then a young man and settled in the Attakapas, where he married Miss Emilie [Catherine Eleonor Chachere], daughter of Louis Chachere [Beaurepaire Prosper Chachere & Eugenie Alexandrine Lavergne] of St. Landry. Of this marriage there were six children. B. A. Martel being the fourth. In 1831 the family moved from St. Martinville to St. Landry, where the father of young Martel died of yellow fever in 1850. [Death year was difficult to read. Murphy Miller research supports death on January 12, 1838. Moreover, B. A. Martel was the fifth of nine children].
 
Young Amedee, although not the oldest son, took upon himself the care of his mother and three sisters; and in doing this the noble youth toiled with a perseverance and determination that outlined his future career. By various kinds of labor and skill he soon succeeded in placing his mother and sisters in a condition of comparative ease and he applied himself to the study of the civil law. For some time he was the pupil and protégé of the celebrated Gustave Schmidt of the New Orleans bar. Martel was admitted to practice in New Orleans and such was his desire to perfect himself in the knowledge of his profession that he sailed for France where he prosecuted his studies in the University of Toulouse until 1849. He then returned to his native home.
 
Being in France during the revolution of 1848, he learned much from the scenes enacted in his presence and he soon became familiar with the national character of the French people. This knowledge served him usefully on many trying occasions in after life. Having established himself at Opelousas soon after his return, he began the practice of his profession in earnest and was very successful, although he often met with unexpected opposition from some of the older members of that bar. But when these gentlemen thoroughly understood the ardor and warmth of his generous nature they regretted their former conduct toward him and even afterward became his personal friends. His industry and close application to business soon grained for him very many friends, and in 1854 he was elected to the state senate where he served with distinction until 1856. He was then elected judge of the Fifteenth judicial district, which comprised the territory of St. Landry, Lafayette, Vermillion, Calcasieu, Cameron and Acadia. Nowhere in the history of the profession is found a judge more determined to enforce the duties of his office.
 
The following proclamation will exemplify this assertion:
"The Laws of the Country must be sustained. Law-abiding Citizens of Calcasieu: I am in possession of reliable information that threats have been made and are in circulation, that the approaching term of your district court on next Monday is to be arrested by violence against your district judge on his way to Lake Charles."
 
"Now, therefore, this is to call on you to revindicate your rights and to stand by the laws and the officers whose duty it is to administer them. Let it be proclaimed at once by all the good people of your parish from your domestic roots to the sanctuary of your courthouse, that the law shall and must prevail from this time forward though the heavens fall."
 
"As to me, I know that I shall do my duty at all hazards."
"B. A. Martel,"
"Judge Fifteenth Judicial District"
"July 5 1859" [difficult to read date]
 
In the discharge of his duties he feared no man. The terror of Calcasieu and the outlaws of that epoch felt his power and were by him made to succumb and to respect the laws of Louisiana like other men. It is proverbial and it is a matter of fact, that his decisions as judge have never been disturbed by the supreme court except in two or three instances, and then only by modification. He held the judicial helm until the outbreak of the war.
 
In the strife for succession, Judge Martel took no part, except to prove by demonstrative argument the folly and danger of such a step and the terrible vicissitudes that would necessarily follow such political imprudence. Although a strong unionist he loved his native south, and especially his own Louisiana. He loved it too well to stand idly by and see the helpless wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of the brave fellows who were far, far away battling for their homes, insulted and plundered by the rabble jayhawkers of the Attakapas. He at once placed himself at the head of his company of sturdy reserves and in a very short while the country was rid of the last Jawhawker, and the homes of the helpless were no longer terrorized. Having taken up the sword he laid it aside only when the trumpet of peace declared that the struggle was over.
 
He now resumed his practice with wonderful success and won very many cases, both civil and criminal, which the entire bar considered absolutely hopeless. Remembering his earlier days and the kindness received at the hands of the New Orleans bar, especially his protector, Hon. Gustave Schmidt, Martel took under his care Pecora, who was in due time admitted to practice law. Pecora soon laid by his "cat skin" and is now famous among the detectives of New Orleans. He next took into his office a youth name Linny Hardy, who became one of the brightest lights of the profession. Hardy was, while a law partner of Judge Martel, elected secretary of state. The late judge of the Thirteenth district, Geo. W. Hudspeth, was another youth cared for by him. When Hudspeth took the bench about eight years ago, Judge Martel's last case, a few months ago, was an indictment for murder made against two brothers. They were acquitted.
 
Whilst the family resided at St. Martins young Martel had among his dearest playmates Alcibiades De Blanc (2), Edward Simon, Desaline and Mozart Bryant and Valisin Fournette, all of whom he loved tenderly all his life. Whilst very ill and up to the day of his death, he spoke in the kindest terms, with great emotion and often with tears of the many virtues of his old and tried friend, General Alcibiades De Blanc. During his last illness Judge Martel was kindly visited by Ex-Governor Nicholls. Generals Robert Perry (3), Allen Thomas (4) and all the members of the Opelousas bar, all of whom he was most happy to see. Having afterwards learned that Governor Nicholls spoke of him in connection with General Alcibiades De Blanc, he raised his hand to his brow to cover the emotion and said, "It makes me very happy to know that Governor Nicholis has been so kind as to associate m name with that of such a great and good man."
 
During the whole of Judge Martel's life he was noted for his firm adhesion to the principles of the Democratic party. Whenever he led his party he was sure of success.
 
Being a noted leader he despised anything like double-faced Democracy. Brave and fearless in politics as in manhood, he loved plain sailing, honesty of purpose being his unerring compass. His political coat was never turned, but in the hour of need was always pulled off for the honest fray. The Democracy of St. Landry can well mourn the loss of a Martel.
 
Being poor in his youth his heart warmed to those whose days began as his days did and his office, his home and his purse were ever open to them. Indeed, he lived to see many rich fruits of his generosity. To the widow and the orphan Judge Martel was ever known to render relief and fatherly protection. In all matters of charity, he was exemplary.
 
He was singularly remarkable for his love of children. His great delight was in pleasing them whenever he could. He was known to spend many dollars in taking them to all kinds of places of amusement. On Mardi Gras and at Christmas he was the idol of the little ones. This, as well as his other virtues, gained love, affection and esteem, all of which was clearly shown at his burial. His last breath bid love and devotion to all his friends and acquaintances.
 
Purchase Martel Family of Louisiana. See Lulu.com also.
------------------
Murphy Miller Comment.
Judge B. A. Martel was a Unionist, i.e. not a Confederate sympathizer, yet the people mentioned as his close friends were Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc, Allen Thomas and Judge Robert Samuel Perry, Jr. all who served in the Confederate Army.
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The following from Wikipedia.com and FindAGrave.com
(1) Toussaint L'Ouverture, Toussaint-Louverture, Toussaint Bréda, and nicknamed the "Napoléon Noir" (Black Napoleon), was the leader of the Haitian Revolution. His military genius and political acumen transformed an entire society of slaves into the independent state of Haiti.  The success of the Haitian Revolution shook the institution of slavery throughout the New World.
 
Toussaint Louverture began his military career as a leader of the 1791 slave rebellion in the French colony of Saint-Domingue; he was by then a free black man. Initially allied with the Spaniards of neighboring Santo Domingo, Toussaint switched allegiance to the French when they abolished slavery. He gradually established control over the whole island and used political and military tactics to gain dominance over his rivals. Throughout his years in power, he worked to improve the economy and security of Saint-Domingue. He restored the plantation system using paid labour, negotiated trade treaties with Britain and the United States, and maintained a large and well-disciplined army.
 
In 1801 he promulgated an autonomist constitution for the colony, with himself as governor for life. In 1802 he was forced to resign by forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to restore French authority in the former colony. He was deported to France, where he died in 1803. The Haitian Revolution continued under his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared independence in early 1804. The French had lost two-thirds of forces sent to the island in an attempt to suppress the revolution; most died of yellow fever.
 
 (2) Jean Maximilien Alcibiades Derneville DeBlanc (September 16, 1821- November 8, 1883) was a lawyer and state legislator in Louisiana. He served as a colonel for the Confederate army during the American Civil War. Afterward, he founded the Knights of the White Camellia, a white insurgent militia that operated from 1867-69 to suppress freedmen's voting, disrupt Republican Party political organizing and try to regain political control of the state government in the 1868 election. A Congressional investigation overturned 1868 election results in Louisiana.
 
But DeBlanc continued to oppose the Reconstruction effort; he was influential in commanding 600 men to oppose the disputed election of Governor William Pitt Kellogg in 1874 and try to seat the Democrats. He was briefly arrested and held by U.S. Marshals. In 1876 he was appointed by Democratic governor
 
(3) Robert Samuel Perry (Jr.) was the son of Robert Samuel Perry and Ezemily Booth. In 1870 (in St. Martinsville, LA) he married Marie Antionette "Bertha" Gary (1848 -1878). She was the daughter of Pierre Gary and Helene Briant. Her family lived in St. Martinsville, LA, so it's likely she was buried there. Robert and Bertha were the parents of three children: Bertha, Lelia (who married Eugene Martinez) and Joseph Robert.
 
Robert received the best education the schools of Louisiana afforded, and subsequently graduated from Kentucky Military Institute, at the age of 19 years. After completing his literary education, he entered the law school at the University of Louisville, where he took a course of lectures, and afterward entered a law office in Anderson, TX, where he pursued the study of law for about a year. He never practiced there, however, and returned shortly afterward to Vermilion Parish, where he remained until the Civil War broke out.
 
Robert enlisted as a private in Company C, of the Eighth Louisiana Regiment, and in August of that year was made first lieutenant. He served during the whole war in the Army of Northern Virginia. Nov. 7, 1863, he was captured at Rappahannock, and held prisoner at Johnson Island for nineteen months, where he was at the close of the war.
 
In 1866, he moved to St. Martin Parish and then to Iberia in 1871. In 1879 he was elected a member of the State Senate, and served until 1884. He introduced the first bill providing for the regulation of railroads in Louisiana. In 1888 he was elected by the Legislature Judge of the court of Appeals of the Third Circuit of Louisiana.
 
After his wife Bertha died, he remarried Camille Vedrines of New Iberia on Jan. 1, 1883. Camille died the following October. The Confederate Museum at Lee Circle in New Orleans has a daguerreotype portrait of Robert in uniform.
 
Judge Perry entered the Confederate army in 1861 as adjutant of the 8th La. Regt., and served with marked distinction throughout the war, in which the Louisiana brigade took a most active part in Virginia where they formed a part of Stonewall Jackson's "foot cavalry" under the immortal Lee, in the famous Valley campaign.
 
(4) Allen Thomas (December 14, 1830 - December 3, 1907) was a Confederate States Army brigadier general during the American Civil War (Civil War). He was born in Howard County, Maryland and became a lawyer but he moved to Louisiana in the later 1850s and became a planter and colonel in the Louisiana militia. After the war, he was a planter, Presidential elector in 1872 and 1880, professor of agriculture at Louisiana State University and coiner at the United States Mint at New Orleans, Louisiana. He moved to Florida in 1889. Between 1894 and 1897, he was United States Minister to Venezuela. He moved to Mississippi in 1907 and died there in that year. He was buried at Donaldsonville, Louisiana.

Another Martel blog.
See additional information on B.A. Martel and his children from his slave and
mixed race offspring in Chachere family.

Purchase Martel Family of Louisiana.
​Purchase Chachere Family book.

The Louisiana Pierrottie families Italian roots were revealed through the efforts of Sr. Cesire and her brother Reno. They provided contact information that allowed me to document the Pierotti ancestors to the 1400s.  Additionally they provided family contacts which led to family history on Constantino's brother's family along with invaluable pictures. 

A brief video explains more about the family history:
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCYmUk2MRIg

Purchase your book here!
Other Pierrottie blogs: Ulysse Gabriel Pierottie
...................................Balthazar Pierotti
...................................Mary Pierrottie Soileau
...................................Sister Cesire Pierotti
...................................Jane Bertrand Ortego
...................................Albert A Pierrottie

JENNINGS - Imagine rolling yourself into a ball, like an armadillo, and squeezing yourself into a space barely big enough to hold your contorted body.
Now imagine that you will be stuck inside this little claustrophobic ball for eight hours at a time, breathing oxygen through a mask to stay alive and controlling two .50-caliber machine guns, all while flying over enemy-held territory at 29,000 feet, where the outside temperature is 60 degrees below zero.
 
Retired Staff Sgt. Ben Miller, 88, of Jennings, did this 33 times as an 18-year-old ball turret gunner on an Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress in the skies over Europe during World War II.
Drafted at the age of 18 in 1943 from his home in Jennings, Miller was shipped off to Logan, Utah, as a cadet for pilot training.
 
Slated to be shipped to California to finish his pilot training, the program was cut and Miller was not able to solo and gain his pilot wings. He was transferred to gunnery school and was trained to shoot down enemy fighters with the .50-caliber machine guns that gave the Flying Fortress its name. The mounting casualties in the air war over Europe forced the Army Air Force to ship Miller to England to man the ball turret on a B-17.
 
He sailed from New York to England aboard the Queen Mary, along with actor Mickey Rooney. “I saw Mickey Rooney on the deck of the ship, but I never got to talk to him,”  Miller said.
 
The Atlantic crossing was dangerous in itself, with many soldiers never making it to England. “It took us nine days to cross because we had to zigzag to avoid the German submarines,” he said. “I was flying combat missions for the 8th Air Force just a few days after landing in England,” he said.
 
On Dec. 11, 1944, Miller flew in the bombing raid on a major railroad complex in Giessen, Germany. The railroad facility was a key strategic target because it handled the transportation of vast amounts of German army resources. The city also was the location for the subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
 
Enemy fire wasn’t the only threat to Miller’s survival. Stuffed into his tiny ball turret gun position in the belly of the B-17, Miller’s oxygen mask froze up and cut off his air supply at 29,000 feet. He had to scramble to take off his oxygen mask, disconnect his heated gloves and jacket from their electrical connections, and open the door to the turret so that he could climb back into the aircraft with his other crew members before passing out from hypoxia.
 
"I thought that was my last day on Earth, but I came through and here I am today," he said. His buddies on board were able to get an emergency oxygen tank to him.
 
Life in the ball turret on a B-17 was especially dangerous. Only small-statured men could fit into the cramped space. “I flew the first five missions without a parachute because they didn’t have a chute small enough to fit with me inside that little frozen ball,” he said with a smile.
 
Enemy fire caught up with Miller and his crew on Christmas Eve 1944. “The first time I was shot down, we were hit over Frankfurt, Germany, and ended up crash landing in Belgium.” Miller said.
 
Miller had to climb out of his ball turret before they crash landed because he would have been crushed inside the bottom of the plane.        "We had to scatter and make our way back to England on our own because the Germans were all around," Miller said.
 
The B-17 had a 10-man crew, and it was every man for himself to get out of enemy-held territory because 10 American soldiers in a group would attract the attention of the enemy.
 
Miller’s luck continued as he was approached by a young boy as he made his escape from the crash site. “I couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but I could tell he wanted me to follow him to his home,” Miller said.
 
When they arrived at the boy’s home, he showed Miller identification papers and a pistol given to him by the U.S. government that proved he was a member of the underground resistance and would help Miller get back to his base in England.
 
After spending Christmas with the boy’s family, Miller rejoined an engineering outfit that had seized a castle previously occupied by the Germans. Miller stayed with the engineers for nine days before being transported back to his base in England.
​
He immediately returned to duty and began flying more bombing missions. On Valentine’s Day 1945 while on a bombing raid to destroy the oil refinery and weapons factory at Chemnitz, Germany, he was shot down for the second time.

"We got hit real bad," he said. “The flak (air-bursting anti-aircraft artillery) blasted us. Two of our engines were hit and caught fire. One of my buddies caught a load of shrapnel in his leg and was banged up real bad. The shrapnel that tore his leg up barely missed me.
 
"We landed with two of our engines on fire." Having landed on the allied side of the lines, Miller and his crew were back in England on flight status in no time.
 
When asked what was the scariest part of the missions, Miller replied, "The flak exploding and spraying us with shrapnel. The flak was so close and rough that by the time we hit Belgium our formations were all busted up and scattered. The booming noise as the shells exploded was unbearable."
 
          With victory declared in Europe, Miller waited for his orders to ship him to the Pacific to fight the Japanese. Fortunately for him the war in the Pacific ended before he received his orders to go.
 
"Boy was I relieved when we got word of the Japanese surrender," he said.
 
Miller left England for Iceland, and then to Mississippi to await his next assignment before becoming an inactive reservist. He was later called up for the Korean War but was never deployed. He ended his military service in 1952 as a vehicle technician at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss.
 
Miller’s wife of 59 years, Martha, was just a young girl while he was serving his country. “I was only 9 years old when he was over there fighting,” she said. "All I remember about the war was working at my daddy’s gas station and pasting stamps in the stamp books."
 
Miller kept a diary of his days in combat. "I just wrote in it when I thought about it," he said. "There would be days I didn’t pay any attention to it." The diary is among other keepsakes from his service including his medals, letters from home and old black and white photographs.

------------------------------------------------NOTES------------------------------ 
Ben Miller is a descendant of Jacob Miller and Anne Marie Thaison/Theigen and Jacob’s son, Jean Miller and Marie Francoise Mayer.
 
Ben’s parents are Bernard Miller and Anna Marie Clement. He married Martha Blackledge.
 
More on these families at www.FamilyAtLouisiana.com. Books of interest may be purchased at www.lulu.com. 
​

Purchase Jean Miller Louisiana Family book, Vol I
and Vol II
​

​








Eunice, LA
It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that the family of Richard Douglas LeDoux, Sr., Lt. Col., USAF (Retired) announces his passing on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at Eunice Manor at the age of 88. A Celebration of Life will be celebrated at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, May 01, 2018 at Ardoin's Funeral Home in Eunice. 

Burial will follow in the LeDoux Cemetery with Deacon Gary Gaudin. 

Born December 17, 1929, Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois, to Staff Sergeant Francis LeDoux and Pearl T. LeDoux. Because his father was a career military man Richard grew up moving to his father's duty stations at Nicols Field, Philippine Islands; Kelly Field, San Antoinio, Texas; Post Field, Fort Sill, Oklahoma and Mitchell Field, Hempstead, Long Island, New York.

On December 12, 1941, five days short of his twelfth birthday, he left New York by train for his parent's home town of Eunice, Louisiana, where he lived for the next eleven years. He graduated from Eunice High School in 1948 and Southwestern Louisiana Institute in 1952 with a BS Degree and as a Distinguished Military Graduate with a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

He married Bertha Lee "Teadie" Manuel on February 15, 1952 and together they went to his first duty station which was Air Force Pilot Training at Kinston Air Base, North Carolina. Their first daughter Jeanne Denise, was born at Marine Corps Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, on December 10, 1952. They next went to Greenville Air Force Base, Mississippi for his second six months of pilot training and then to Gary Air Force Base, San Marcos, Texas where he completed the Air Force Helicopter Pilot School. Then he went on to Korea as a rescue pilot. While he was in Korea their second daughter, Suzanne Angelique, was born on August 02, 1954. Upon his return from Korea, he attended the Aircraft Maintenance Officer's school at Chanute AFB, Rantoul, Illinois, and graduated with a Flight Test Maintenance Officer's specialty. 

Next he and Bertha and by now their two daughters were stationed at Sewart AFB, Tennesse where he was first assigned to a Helicopter and then a C-130 squadron. While at Sewart AFB, Richard, Junior was born on April 20, 1959, shortly after his birth Richard, Sr. and his family were transferred to Japan for a three year tour. By the time Richard, Sr. had been in the Air Force for twenty years, he had served six and a half years overseas in the Far East and Southeast Asia in the countries of Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam. The last five years of his time in the Air Force was spent in Southern California overseeing flight testing and development of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program" for the Air Force.

In addition to his BS degree from SLI and a year and half in pilot training and helicopter training, while in the service he also completed a year-long Aircraft Maintenance Officer School, Squadron Officer's School, The Industrial College of The Armed Forces and while preparing for his dissertation for his Master's degree in Political Science was sent to Thailand as a helicopter instructor rendering him a thesis short of a Master's Degree.

After retiring from the Air Force, Richard, Sr. became "Jack of all Trades" giving flight instructions to fledgling flight students, aerial application ("crop dusting"), teaching at LSUE, managing the grounds and stables of quarter horse race track, repairing small tools and electrical and pneumatic equipment and advising the city administrators on disaster preparedness. However his greatest passion was for organizing and overseeing a rural water system that encompassed a one hundred and forty square mile area.

He is survived by his three children, Jeanne Gray, Suzanne Mumphrey and husband, Scott and Dik LeDoux and wife Debi; six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Bertha Lee "Teadie" Manuel LeDoux and his son-in-law, Daniel Gray.

At the request of the family, visitation will be held at Ardoin's Funeral Home in Eunice on Tuesday, May 01, 2018 from 10:00 am until time of services.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Veteran's Association, Wounded Warriors or any service organization that benefits veterans.

Military Timeline
1952 (fall): Active duty at Stallings Air Base in Kinston, NC
1953 (Dec):  Helicopter Pilot rraining, Gary AFB, San Marcos, TX
1954:  Korea, then the Artic Circle flying a helicopter in support of survey crews who were doing the locating of sites for the construction of DEW (Distant Early Warning radar sites) line locations.  Upon his return he supported the 82nd Airborne and re-supplying radio relay sites in the southeastern states.
Fort Churchill in Manitoba working on the Mid-Canadian Early Warning Radar line for three months.
Aircraft Maintenance Officer's school, Chanute AFB, Rantoul, IL (a year long course)
Sewart AFB, Smyrna, TN
Maintenance Officer for a C-130 squadron
1960:  C-130 squadron, Japan
1963:  Sewart AFB, Smyrna, TN
1965 (six months):  Instruct young Thai Air Force officers in helicopters.
Point Mugu Naval Air Station near Oxnard, California. Flight testing on the drone program, aka Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program. (18 months)
Ryan Aircraft plant, San Diego, CA.
1971:  Korea (1 yr)
1972:  England, AFB, Alexandria. Special assistant to the base commander.

In his 20 years of service, Dick served 6.5 years in the Far East and Southeast Asia and was otherwise away from home and family two-thirds of the time.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. Jacob Miller and Anne Marie Thaison/Theigen family members who gave their lives when called to serve in the United States military are listed below.
​
Viet Nam War/Viet Nam Era (1955 to 1975 with U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s)
Duplechain, Andrus (Eunice).  US Army, Killed in Viet Nam.  He is the son of Cleveland Duplechain and Pauline Manual and the 3rd great grandson of Joseph Marie Bergeaux  and Marie Victorie Miller.  She is the daughter of Jean Miller and Marie Francoise Mayer. (Andrus in photo at left while serving in Viet Nam)
 
World War II Veterans (1939 to 1945, U.S. entered in 1941)
Doxey, James Andrew "Sonny Boy". (Grand Chenier). He was killed 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.

Miller, Paul Wesley (Creole, LA). USMC, 28th Regiment, 5th Marines Division. He was killed in action at Iwo Jima on March 11, 1945. He is the son of Philbart Miller and Natalie Duhon and the 3rd great-grandson of Jean Miller & Mary Francoise Mayer.

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 St. James Military Cemetery, Normandy. He is first cousin to Malcolm L Miller. Henry is his mother's brother.  Malcolm's mother is Bertha Ricard. She married Octave Miller, son of Jean Pierre Miller and Caroline Guillory.
 
Civil War Veterans (1861 to 1865)
Bonsall, Issac, father John Thomas Bonsall, husband of Uranie Miller. Uranie Miller is the granddaughter of Michel Miller and Hiacinthe Lejeune and the great granddaughter of Jean Miller and Marie Francois Mayer. He was killed in action on April 8, 1864 at the Battle of Mansfield.
​
Miller, Joseph Ozincourt.  Port Hudson Hospital Ledger reports leg amputated. Presumed he died near Port Hudson as he never returned home.  Some believe he fought and died at Battle of Mansfield.  He is the son of Jean Miller and Mary Magdelaine Boutin. Joseph Ozincourt is the twin brother of Pierre Valcour Miller.

Andrus Duplechian Graduation, Mamou High School - 1970
​Viet Nam Wall, Washington, DC (below)

Annie Mae Sanner, 99, passed away on Saturday, March 10, 2018 in a local care facility surrounded by her family.  Annie lived most of her life in Hackberry.  She loved to play cards, LSU sports and cooking for her family and friends.  Annie enjoyed watching her grandchildren play sports.  She was a lifelong faithful member of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Hackberry.  Annie was a teacher in Cameron Parish before she became a stay at home mom.  She was a member of the Cameron Parish library board, Cameron Parish teachers association and she taught CCD for many years.  Annie was a graduate of Grand Chenier High School and LSU. 
Annie is survived by her children, Jan Griffith and husband Jimmy of Jennings, Charles Sanner and wife Kristi of Sulphur, Kirk Sanner and wife Melinda and Dwayne Sanner and wife Sharon both of Hackberry; 10 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.  She was preceded in death by her husband, Alden “Poncho” Sanner; her parents, Charles and Azena Richard; and her siblings, Harry Richard, Elma Vincent and Martin Richard. 
Services for Annie will be held on Monday, March 12, 2018 at 11 AM at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Hackberry.  Burial will follow in New Hackberry Cemetery.   The family will receive friends on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church hall in Hackberry from 4-8 PM with a rosary at 6 PM and will resume on Monday from 8 AM until the time of service. ​

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Hackberry. 

The settlers in the Baton Rouge area arrived in the midst of religious and political struggles that in some cases caused them to leave their Mother Country. Before their arrival in Louisiana, many lived in Pennsylvania and Maryland. They were amidst the European country’s power struggles for territory control and ownership. The problems in their homeland were similar to the problems they experienced in America. Many of those social and political issues continued during their adjustments to their new residence in America.
 
The most powerful countries of Western Europe, England, Spain and France, had financed the voyages of the early explores for many reasons. They would increase their “Mother Country’s” wealth by finding the gold, silver and spies. Furthermore, they wanted to expand their trading partners and they wanted to spread the Christian religion. (1)
 
In 1604, the French established a presence in the New World, Canada, that later became Acadia. “In 1713, when the Treaty of Utrecht was made, the French government sold out the Acadians by ceding Acadia to England - Acadia then became known as Nova Scotia. From 1713 to 1755, the British continued the persecution of those God-fearing compassionate people. They not only took their land, they forced them to take the oath of allegiance to England. But when they tried to make the Acadians renounce their Catholic religion and become Protestants, and to agree to bear arms against France, these proud unfortunates flatly refused.” (2)
 
The Acadians became prisoners of the King. Many were placed on ships, not always as a family, and sent to the Mother country, to the English colonies, who were primarily Protestant, where the Catholics were called “papists”. (3) Still others migrated to the New England area, Virginia and the Carolina’s and to Georgia.
 
The Seven Years War, a global war and referred to as the last ‘War of Religion’, (4) was known as the French and Indian War in North America, 1756-1763. They fought for property rights in the Ohio River valley. The French and the American Indians teamed up to keep the British from controlling that area.
 
“The Seven Years War ended with the signing of the treaties of Hubertusburg and Paris in February 1763. In the Treaty of Paris, France lost all claims to Canada and gave Louisiana to Spain, while Britain received Spanish Florida, Upper Canada, and various French holdings overseas.” (5)
 
With growing tensions between the North American colonies and Great Britain, the American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783, created greater uncertainty for new emigrants to North American. The American Continental Army assisted by the French forced the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. (6)

​The declaration of war against the British in the Baton Rouge area was in June 1779. Spain and France supported the American Colonies in that conflict.  The Spanish seized the British posts at Manchac and Pensacola, ending British control of West Florida. All of Louisiana ceded to France in 1800. Three years later France completed the Louisiana Purchase with the United States. Spain insisted on maintaining control of Baton Rouge and West Florida until 1810. (7)

Jacob Miller Louisiana Family, Vol I of III ... Jacob Miller Photos, Vol I of III
Original Highland Cemetery article ... Jacob Miller, Jr. Marital Challenges

​The people of Europe saw for themselves the same opportunities their governments wanted to capitalize on. Furthermore, the emigrants to North American wanted to practice their faith without fear of incrimination. The French and Germans that entered North American also saw an opportunity to own relatively large farms with the land grants encouraging emigrants to settle in Louisiana.
 
Maryland was a religious free state with the passage in 1649 of the Maryland Tolerance Act. It mandated religious tolerance for Trinitarian Christians. (8) Accordingly, some Acadians that left Nova Scotia settled in Maryland. Germans who entered the Port of Philadelphia joined them.

​Some of the settlers that made their way to Maryland also made their way to Louisiana prior to the 1770s. They settled above Bayou Manchac near Baton Rouge Louisiana.

In the beginning, the German families settled below Hackett’s Point on the opposite side of the river. They sought higher ground after being flooded many times. The Dutch Highlands, between Ben Hur Road and Siegen Lane, along the Highland Road, Bayou Fountain and Ward’s Creek, was what it was called. Johann George Klinepeter was the first to settle the Dutch Highlands in 1784. Emeric Adams, Henry Thomas, George Garig, and Paul Sharp accompanied him. Hill of the Fountains, where they established themselves, is the last bluff line toward the Gulf of Mexico. (9) It was called “Hill of the Fountains.” because “…springs abounded on the highland ridge just back of the flood plains of the Mississippi River in East Baton Rouge Parish.”  German and Acadian families farmed cotton and sugarcane on this land grant property approved by the Spanish government (1779-1810). (10)

​Highland Cemetery (Part I)
Established in 1813 on Geoge Garig’s plantation, the Highland Cemetery was donated to the Congregation of the Roman Catholic Church four years later. The love for the deceased are revealed with inscriptions on some tombs that read “Budded on earth to bloom in heaven.” or “He lived as lived a peaceful dove. He died as blossoms die.” (11)
 
“Today, a group of volunteers through a non-profit group called "Historic Highland Cemetery, Inc." has been given permission by its owner, the Catholic Church, to care for her. This group commissioned an archaeologist to do a systematic study of the cemetery and to use that data to restore the cemetery to the most original condition possible in order to increase its chance of selection to the US National Register of Historic Places.” (12)
 
A Highland Cemetery plaque located on one of the brick walls reads:
 
Hill of the Fountains
The Highland Ridge which borders Bayou Fountain and extends to Ward’s Creek was settled as early as 1784 by predominantly German and Acadian folk through Spanish land grants. Be it recorded here that the names of early settlers of “The Highland” were these:  Emeric Adams, Philip Anglehart, Moses & John Babin, Simon Daigre, George Garig, John Hillen, Firmin Landry, Johann George Kleinpeter & Sons, Jacob Meuller, Lewis Ory, John Ryan, Paul Sharp & Sons, and Henry Thomas.(13)
 
Information on these named individuals, their family, their history and their journey to the Baton Rouge area are discussed below.

​Emeric Adam (1730- 1801)
Emeric or Emmerich Adam was born about 1730 in Germany and died about 1801. He arrived in Louisiana in mid-August 1774 with Jean Baptiste Ory and Phillip Englehardt on their return trip after settling Nicholos Ory’s estate in Maryland. Emeric married Catherine Kleinpeter, born about 1750, in Maryland. She is the daughter of Johann George Kleinpeter and Gertrude Hitz. (14) Emmerich Adam and Catherine’s daughter Catherine Adam married Jacob Miller, Jr., son of Jacob Meuller (Miller), in 1795. (15) The Kleinpeter’s second daughter, Eve Adam married Johann Thomas, son of Henry Thomas and Barbara Ory. (16)
 
A review of one name on this plaque reveals that several people, Emeric Adam(s), Johann George Kleinpeter, Jacob Meuller or Jacob Miller, Jr. and Henry Thomas were probably close-knit families. To add to the family’s close fellowship, Jacob Meuller (Miller), Henry Thomas and Nicolas Ory, father of Barbara Ory were passengers on the British schooner, La Britiana, which sailed from Maryland enroute to Louisiana in 1769. (17)
 
Philip Anglehart (1738-1801)
Philip Anglehart or Englehardt or Inglehardt married Magdelena Ory before 1769 in Maryland.  Philip was a witness on a property transfer “Petition to Governor” for Henry Thomas property to his two sons dated 1801. (8) Magdelena Ory’s father, Nicolas Ory was a passenger on the La Bretania with Jacob Meuller (Miller) which sailed from Maryland to Louisiana in 1769. (18)
 
Phillip Englehardt (Anglehart) accompanied Jean Baptiste Ory to Maryland in 1772 to settle Nicolas Ory’s estate. When they returned to Louisiana in 1774, they were accompanied by four more families; “…Georges Petitpiere (better know[n] in Louisiana as George Kleinpeter), his wife, Gertrude, their sons, Jean, Joseph, George, and Conrad, and their daughters, Barbara, Genevieve, Susanna, and Jeanne. Also with them was their married daughter, Catherine, and her husband, Emmerich Adam. Next were Paul Sharp, his wife Catherine, and Joseph, Jacob, Nicolas, Catherine, and Elizabeth, their children. Finally, there was Sebaseien Quidre and his wife.” (19) As mentioned earlier, Emmerich Adam and Catherine Kleinpeter’s daughter Catherine Adam married Jacob Miller, Jr. in 1795; his 2nd wife. (20)
 
Simon Daigre (Daigle) (1735-1792)
Simon was among a large contingent of Daigles that arrived in New Orleans in the late 1700’s. These families settled near Fort Bute, just north of Bayou Manchac.
 
Simon-Pierre Daigle, age 50, was probably born in the 1735 in Riviere aux Canards, St. Joseph, Acadie. He is the son of Olivier Daigle and Francoise Granger.  He first married Marie Madeleine Theriot in 1758. (21) His second wife Anne Michel and seven of his children from his first marriage came to Louisiana with Simon. Anne died at Manchac in July 1786 soon after they settled there. Simon-Pierre remarried a third time to Rosalie, daughter of fellow Acadian Charles Theriot and widow of Alexandre Aucoin in 1788. Simon probably died at Manchac in October 1792 at age 57. (22)

​George Garig (1763-1825)
George Garig was a German settler from Maryland who owned an 800 arpent plantation in Highlands. He was considered to be “…a resident of well-known honesty and one of the most skillful builders of cotton gins and presses in this territory.” In 1819 he donated one arpent of land to the Catholic Church where settlers had been burying their dead. (23)
 
He noted on his marriage certificate that he left Philadelphia on June 8, 1788 and arrived in New Orleans on August 27, 1788. (24)
 
George Garig whose name may be William George Garig, was married to Marie Barbara Thomas on July 13, 1794. She is the daughter of Henry Thomas and Marie Barbara Ory. (25) Marie. Barbara Ory is the daughter of Nicolas Ory and Anna Strassbach and she is the older sister of Lewis Ory. Lewis Ory, whose name, as mentioned earlier is found on the “Hill of the Fountains” plaque. Marie Barbara Ory’s older sister Magdelena Ory married Phillip Jacob Engelhardt, also known as Philip Anglehart, whose name is also on the “Hill of the Fountains” plaque. (26), (27)

​Johann Georg Kleinpeter (Abt. 1730- 1775)
Johann Georg Kleinpeter was born about 1730 in Strassburg, Alsace, Germany. He married Gertrude Hitz (1736-1806) about 1755. (28) She is buried at the old St. Gabriel Church. (29) There were six children born to this couple. As previously mentioned, he arrived in Louisiana in 1774 with Jean Baptiste Ory and Phillip Englehardt (Anglehart).
 
Son, Johann Baptist Kleinpeter, is credited with erecting the first steam sugar mill in 1832 on the highlands. His father erected the first cotton gin about 1790. (30)
 
George Kleinpeter, son of this couple, married Marguerite Judith Ritter. Their daughter Mary Catherine Rose Kleinpeter married George Garig, Jr., son of George Garig and Marie Barbara Thomas. See George Garig mentioned earlier. More about the Kleinpeter children is discussed under Emeric Adam above. 

​Jacob Mueller (Miller) (Abt. 1736-1807)
Jacob Miller [Sr.] stated that he is “Roman Catholic and Apostolic, and native of Germany”. (31) He and his wife Anne Marie Thaison left Port Tobacco, Maryland in January 1769 on the vessel Britian or La Britiana. The ship was destined for New Orleans. Due to inclement weather, the ship went aground on the Texas shore. Held against their will by the Spaniards at Presidio Bahia near Goliad, Texas, they were permitted to leave after several weeks of captivity. They left Golaid, TX by caravan for Natchitoches, Louisiana, a 350 miles journey, arriving in October 1769. (32)
 
“The German Families, however, apparently had not planned to settle in Natchitoches, nor was it [Govenor] O’Reilly’s plan that they do so. They therefore accompanied the English crew of the schooner [La Britiana] to New Orleans.” Arriving on November 9, the Germans were given tools and money on November 16. They were informed to settle on the site of Fort St. Gabriel de Manchak [near Fort Bute]. “[Jacob] Miller, his wife, and four children apparently settled in St. John Parish and subsequently moved to Opelousas.”
 
Jacob Miller is on the “List of Foreigners in the District of Opelousas and Attakapas and in New Iberia, May 15, 1781. (33)
 
Jacob Miller sold land located in Grand Coteau, LA to Charles Smith in 1806. Some of the land owned by Jacob Miller, and sold, was later donated to build The Academy of Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau, LA. (34)
 
Given that Jacob Miller, Sr. is on the “List of Foreigners In the District of Opelousas and Attakapas and in New Iberia” dated 1781 and he was on the Militia Rolls for the Opelousas Post in 1785 and he owned land in Grand Coteau, LA, which is west of Baton Rouge about 70 miles and he died in that area in December 1807 and is buried at Saint Landry Church Cemetery, Opelousas, LA, is the name on the Hill of the Fountains plaque a tribute to him or to his son, Jacob Miller, Jr. the husband of Catherine Adam, whose father Emeric Adam is also on the plaque? 
 
A Jacob Miller who was a resident of the Highlands in Baton Rouge signed a request for smallpox vaccination in 1802 along with Paul Sharp, George Kleinpeter, Emmericus Adam, Jehan Thomas, John Rine and Mary Thomas.  Many of Jacob Miller, Jr. descendants live in the Baton Rouge area and surrounding parishes. His daughter Celestina Adelaide Miller, born in Baton Rouge, married Phillip Garig, son of George Garig and Marie Barbara Thomas and grandson of Henry Thomas and Marie Barbara Ory. In summary, there is an argument for concluding that Jacob Miller, Jr. is the man honored on the Highland Cemetery plaque. 

​Louis Ory (Abt. 1763 – 1800)
Louis is the son of Nicolas Ory and Christine Michel. The English vessel La Britiana passenger list shows a “Lois, their daughter”, age 7. (20) Based on a review of Ory family documents, it appears that it should have read “Louis,” age 7, which would agree with Louis’ approximated birth. Lois is not a family member in other references to the Nicholas Ory family. (35)
 
Louis married Margarethe Vicner in February 1791 at St. John Church, Saint John the Baptist parish, Louisiana. They had five children.
 
John / Johann Rein / Ryan / Reine (1752-1814)
Johann Reine is the son of Louis Reine and Marie Barbe Letger (correct spelling). John arrived with his parents with two other German families, Johann Schlatter, also known as Jean Chelatre and the Jacob Paille family, from Maryland in August 1773.  Louis Reine received a land grant in 1773/74 at Manchak on the west bank of the river. (36)
 
John (Jean) Reine (Ryan) married Eve (Genevieve) Kleinpetre, of Strassburg, Alsace, Germany, on June 22, 1777. Eve is the daughter of Johann Georg Kleinpeter and Gertrude Hitz. They had five children. (37)
 
Paul Sharp (Abt. 1725-1813)
Paul Sharp and his wife Catherine Ory, daugher of Nicolas Ory and Anna Strassbach, arrived in Louisiana in 1774 with Jean Baptiste Ory and Phillip Englehardt (Anglehart) returning to Louisiana after settling Nicholos Ory’s Maryland estate. See Phillip Anglehart above.
 
Henry Thomas (Abt. 1743 - 1798)
Henry Thomas, age 26, was classified as a bachelor on the British ship La Britiana. He married Nicolas Ory’s daughter, Marie Barbara Ory in 1770. Their daughter, Mary Barbara Thomas married George Garig, also named on the plaque, in 1794. More details discussed above under Geoge Garig.

​Other Names on the Plaque
Moses & John Babin
No specific information on Moses and John Babin was located. The following is a summary of the Babin family:
 
“Babins were among the early settlers of Acadia and some of the earliest Acadians to find refuge in Louisiana. Dozens of them from the Minas Basin came to the colony from Maryland in 1766, 1767, and 1768. They settled in large numbers along the river above New Orleans from Cabanocé/St.-Jacques all the way up to Natchez. In the late 1760s or early 1770s, one family from the river moved to upper Bayou Teche and created a small western branch of the family. Only a hand-full [sic] of Acadian Babins came to Louisiana from France in 1785, but they established vigorous lines among their cousins at Manchac near Baton Rouge, and a smaller line on upper Bayou Lafourche in the early 1790s. A Babin family reached the colony in 1788 on a ship from Île St.-Pierre off the southern coast of Newfoundland, but they established no new family lines. Meanwhile, during the late colonial and early antebellum periods, Babins moved from the river to Bayou Lafourche and added substantially to that center of family settlement; by the late antebellum period, some of them had settled as far down as Lockport and Montegut in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. A few Babins from the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley moved to lower Bayou Teche and the St. Landry prairies soon after the War of 1861-65. Most Babins, however, remained on the river along the old Acadian Coast, in West Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Ascension, and St. James parishes. They were especially plentiful around Gonzales, Ascension Parish, during and after the war.” (38)
 
John Hillen (1820-?)
The only John Hillen located in Louisiana was living in East Feliciana, LA in 1850. He was married to Lucinda and their son was named Benton.  (39)
 
Firmin Landry (1726 – 1801)
Firmin Landry information regarding his activities in the Baton Rouge area could not be located. There is a Firmin Landry buried in Saint Martin de Tours Churchyard, Saint Martinville, Louisiana married to Francoise Elizabeth Thibodeau in Pisiquid, Acadia. They had four children. Firmin and family were exiled from Acadia to Maryland in 1755. He married a second time to Theotise Thibodeau with whom nine children were born. (40)
 
Summary
The German families that settled near Bayou Manchac inhabited an area known as the Dutch Highlands. The families had common values and customs and sometimes traveled as a group.
 
The fifty-seven German Catholics who arrived on the schooner Britain or La Britiana from Maryland were unwilling to endure the local anti-Catholic hysteria born of the French and Indian War (1754-1763).
 
Of the fifty-seven German Catholics, Jacob Miller and Nicolas Ory families traveled together on the La Britiana that left Port Tobacco, Maryland on January 5, 1769. Henry Thomas, also named on the Hill of the Fountains plaque, was a bachelor on the ship from Maryland. They were together through their captivity by the Spanish held at La Bahia near Golaid, Texas. Along with the Arcadians on the ship, they all traveled 350 miles to Natchitoches, Louisiana arriving in October 1769. These families were together for ten months. (41)
 
Nicolas Ory’s daughters married three men mentioned on the plaque, Marie Barbe Ory to Henry Thomas, Magdelena to Phillip Jacob Anglehart, and Catherine Ory married Paul Sharp. The name of Nicolas’ son, Lewis Ory is on the plaque. Henry Thomas and Marie Barbe Ory’s daughter Marie Barbe Thomas married George Garig, also named on the plaque.
 
Johann George Kleinpeter’s daughter Catherine married Emmerich Adam, also named on the plaque. Their daughter Catherine Adam married Jacob Miller, Jr.
 
In conclusion German families …” maintained group unity by migrating in kinship groups and practicing endogamy, but adhered to other cultural norms…” (42)

Highland Cemetery - Part I

1. European Immigration to America, http://www.emmigration.info/european-immigration-to-america.htm
2. “Le Grand Derangement” by Pascal Fuselier. Printed in Bonnes Nouvelle newspaper, Ville Platte, LA. Date unknown.
3. Ibid.
4. “The Global History of the Seven Years War”, Common Place, common-place.org,
5. History.com, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-seven-years-war-begins
6. Ibid, http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history
7. Cultural Resouce Study. Report Number: CEMVN/PD-97/04. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, pg. 18.
8. Wikipedia.com. Maryland Toleration Act.
9. Cultural Resources Survey of the Bayou Fountain Channel Enlargement Area, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana by Tom Wells and Dayna Lee, October 1997. Prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District, Contract No. DACW29-07-D-0017.

10. “Highland Cemetery, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana” by Sherry Sanford. Louisiana Genealogical Register, Volume XXXIX, No. 2, June 1992.
11. “Highland Cemetery has stories to tell”. Baton Rouge Magazine. October 25, 1992.
12. Historic Highland Cemetery, http://historichighlandcemetery.org/home.html.
13. Murphy Miller, Jr. 1999 photo.
14. The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and The Creoles of German Descent, by Hanno Deiler,  (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1975), 109.
15. Southwest Louisiana Records (1750 - 1900). Rev. Donald J. Hebert. Hebert Pubications. POB 147, Rayne, LA 70578.
16. The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and The Creoles of German Descent, by Hanno Deiler,  (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1975), 109.
17. The Long Road to Louisiana: Acadian Exiles and the Britain Incident” by Carl A. Brasseaux. Gulf Coast Historical Review 1, no. 1 (Fall 1985)
18. Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1945, Volume II, Spain In The Mississippi Valley, 1765-1794, edited by Lawrence Kinnaird, Pt. 1, The Revolutionary Period, 1765-1781. Printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1949.
19. “Les Voyageurs”, Vol. III, No. 4, December 1982, pp. 85-88. By Dr. Glenn Conrad, Director of the Center for Louisiana Studies at USL.
20. The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and The Creoles of German Descent by J. Hanno Deiler. 1909.
21. WikiTree.com, www.wikitree.com/wiki/Daigre-15.1735
22. Acadians Who Found Refuge in Louisiana, February 1764 – early 1800s. WWW.AcadiansInGray.com/Appendices-ATLAL-DAIGLE.htm#DAIGLE
23. “Highland Cemetery, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana” by Sherry Sanford. Louisiana Genealogical Register, Volume XXXIX, No. 2, June 1992.
24. Wedding Certificate issued by Charles Burke, Parish Priest, Baton Rouge. Personal family notes also written on the document by George Garig.
25. Ibid.
26. The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and The Creoles of German Descent, by Hanno Deiler,  (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1975), 111.
27. Murphy Miller, Jr. 1999 photo.
28. The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and The Creoles of German Descent, by Hanno Deiler,  (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1975), 109.
29. Cultural Resources Survey of the Bayou Fountain Channel Enlargement Area, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana by Tom Wells and Dayna Lee, October 1997. Prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District, Contract No. DACW29-07-D-0017.
30. “De Bow’s Review of the Southern and Western States”, Vol. XI – New Series, Vol IV. New Orleans. 1851. 616.
31. Inquest Concerning George Stelly Who was Found Hanging from a Tree. This document written in French, was obtained from the Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans. Submitted by Mrs. Roy H. Harper of Slidell, La. Translated by Michael J. Foret.
32. “The Long Road to Louisiana: Acadian Exiles and the Britain Incident” by Carl A. Brasseaux. Gulf Coast Historical Review 1, no. 1 (Fall 1985)
33. Attakapas Gazette. Date unknown. P.139.
34. American State Papers, Documents, Public Lands, Vol. III, P. 178. U.S. Govt. Doc. Section, LSU Library.
35. Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1945, Volume II, Spain In The Mississippi Valley, 1765-1794, edited by Lawrence Kinnaird, Pt. 1, The Revolutionary Period, 1765-1781. Printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1949.
36. “Les Voyageurs”, Vol. III, No. 4, December 1982, pp. 85-88. By Dr. Glenn Conrad, Director of the Center for Louisiana Studies at USL.
37. Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records. 1770-1803. Volume 2. 1980. P. 618.
38. Acadians In Gray. http://www.acadiansingray.com/Appendices-ATLAL-BABIN.htm#BABIN
39. Ancestry.com. 1850 U.S. Federal Census.
​40. FindAGrave.com Memorial ID 116969725
41. “The Long Road to Louisiana: Acadian Exiles and the Britain Incident” by Carl A. Brasseaux. Gulf Coast Historical Review 1, no. 1 (Fall 1985)
42. ​Diversity and Accommodation; Essays on the Cultural Composition of the Virginia Frontier, edited by Michael J. Puglisi, 1997 by The university of Tennessee Press.

Jane Elden Bertrand was born August 19, 1938 to Lincoln Bertrand and Virginia Pierrottie. She was the only daughter and the last born. Her oldest brother Elvin "Bee" Bertrand died in 1992.

Her mother, Virginia, was the second of six children born to Constant Pierrotti and Avia Fuselier. Constant Pierrotti is the son of Constantino Pierotti, aka Auguste Constant, and Stephanie "Fanny" Martel. Constantino P:ierotti is the progenitor of the Southwest Louisiana Pierrottie families. 

Jane said of her mother "... I want to give much deserved credit to my MOTHER.  The one person who was always there for all of us! Her entire life was dedicated to being the best WIFE, MOTHER, GRANDMOTHER, SISTER & FRIEND!  I can honestly say my Mother was "My Best Friend" and I miss her so very much.  

She taught us the real "values" of life and she did it by "example".  She taught us "religion" and the role it would play throughout our lives.  She taught us "morals", "honest" and "love".  She taught us that the most important thing in life is FAMILY."

Her father, Lincoln, was the third of six children born to Olizia Bertrand and Marie Bercia Soileau. His family roots trace back to Pierre Giles Joseph Bertrand of France and his wife Louise Therese LeJeune. His ancestry includes, Fontenot, Aucoin, Hebert and Lamirande.

In a tribute to her Dad, she said "...My father was my idol! He was a good husband for my Mom - a good provider for his family and WONDERFUL Dad for the three of us kids...My Dad was never formally educated but he was one of my best Mathematicians I've ever known. He did figures "mentally" quicker than I can, using a calculator - He was a hard-working, proud and honest man - He was a Farmer and a Carpenter, by trade.

He spoke very little English and I taught him how to sign his name when I was about 10 years old."

She graduated from Mamou High School in 1956.  As Licensed Practical Nurse and worked for Dr. A. C. Miller, Eunice, and in the Lafayette Hospital. 

While Jane trained to become a Licensed Practical Nurse, she became a real estate professional beginning as a Real Estate Salesperson 1974 and received a Broker's license in 1978. She formed Old South Realty in 1978. She is a CRB, CRS, GRI and Broker. On the Local Board, she served on or achieved the following: Education Committee, MLS Committee/Chairman; REALTOR of the Year Committee Chairman; REALTOR of the Year Recipient, 1985; Member Honor Society since 1982; Professional Standard/Ethics Committee; Board Orientation Committee; Nominating Committee; Convention Committee; President's Committee; Make America Better Committee; Million Dollar Club Chairman, Board of Directors 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1990 and Strategic Planning Committee.
​
On the State Association level, she served on or achieved the following: State CRS President, 1982; State Director 1981-1984; Education Committee, Education Division Chairman, Marketing Committee, Professional Standards/Grievance, CRB Committee, State Strategic Planning Committee; "99"Club Member Since 1980; Executive Board, 185-1986; Nominating Committee; "REALTOR of the Year" Recipient, 1987; Strategic Planning Committee Chairman, 1990 and LA Real Estate Certified Instructor since 2001.
On a National Association level, she served on or achieved the following: GRI (Graduate Realtors Institute) Designation, 1977; CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) Designation, 1979; CRB (Certified Residential Brokerage) Designation, 1983; RS Convention/Special Events Committee; RS Membership Committee; RS Council, 1982-1985; RS Presidents Committee, 1982; Marketing Committee RNMI; CRB Designation Committee; CRB Designation Committee Chairman, 1984; "Real Estate Business" Publications Committee; Editor for "Real Estate Business", 1983-1994; Nation Director, 1984-1986 and 1986-1989; MLS Policy Committee; NAR (National Association Realtors); Nominating Committee, 1986, 1989 and Education Committee, Marketing Committee.

She was recognized for her professional achievements by her realtor peers, the Realtor Association of Acadiana. The following was printed in the Acadian Home Finder, November 21, 2010

Ortego Recipient of 2010 Lloyd G. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award
Jane Ortego, ERA Stirling Properties was recently awarded the REALTOR Association of Acadiana's Lloyd G. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Lloyd G. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award was established to honor an outstanding REALTOR who has devoted many years of service to the REALTOR profession. Lloyd worked and served unselfishly in almost every capacity with the Lafayette Board of REALTORS, the Louisiana REALTORS, and the National Association of REALTORS. During his active years, he was seldom absent from local, state or national meetings and conventions. Over the years, Mr. Smith was known, and most of all respected by hundreds of REALTORS from coast to coast. Most everyone remembers him as being a sincere southern gentleman; the same image that he portrayed with his local peers and those people outside the REALTOR profession. 

Jane Ortego has served as an active member of RAA for 30+ years. Active not only at the local level; she has been active also at the state and national levels. Jane has earned the GRI, CRS and CRB designations; and was a million dollar producer in first year of real estate. Moving from sales into management in the earlier years she continues listing and selling real estate.

Ortego's community involvement includes: Junevile and Young Adult program, the local orphanage, Lafayette Child Abuse Center and United Way.

"Growing up with a small town integrity and virtue, Jane gained an early respect for the land, county and God," said Judy Garber, fellow REALTOR who nominated Jane.

Congratulations to Jane Ortego, Lloyed G. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award recipient!
-------------------------------------Obituary------------------------
​A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Tuesday, January 2, 2018, at 12:00 pm at Fountain Memorial Funeral Home in Lafayette for Jane Elden Bertrand Ortego, 79, who passed away Saturday, December 30, 2017, at The Carpenter House of St. Joseph Hospice in Lafayette.

Visitation will be observed on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, from 8:30 am until the time of services, at Fountain Memorial Funeral Home in Lafayette.
A rosary will be recited Tuesday, January 2, 2018, at 11:00 am at Fountain Memorial Funeral Home.

Entombment will follow in Fountain Memorial Cemetery in Lafayette. Father Kenneth Domingue, Pastor of St. Leo the Great Church in Leonville, will officiate and recite the rosary.

Jane was born August 19, 1938, in Mamou and was a long-time resident of Acadiana. She was a nurse for 13 years and later became a realtor for 40 years. Jane was a parishioner of St. Edmond Roman Catholic Church in Lafayette.
Jane was active in her community and belonged to the State, Local and National Realtor Associations and was a Certified State Instructor. She was an avid traveler, loved working as a realtor and enjoyed going to casinos. Most of all, she loved spending time with her family and friends.

Jane is survived by her beloved husband of 60 years, Jimmie Ortego of Lafayette; two sons, J. Dana Ortego of Houma and Jody Keith Ortego of Lafayette; two daughter-in-laws, Debbie Ortego of Houma and Harvette Hebert Ortego of Lafayette; one brother, Herman Bertrand of Lake Charles; five grandchildren, Matthew and his wife, Kelly, Michael and his wife, Megan and Anna Catherine Ortego, all of Houma, Cody and Adam Ortego, both of Lafayette and numerous dear nieces, nephews and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Lincoln and Virginia Pierrottie Bertrand and one brother, Elvin Bertrand.

Pallbearers will be Matthew, Cody, Michael and Adam Ortego and Brian and Mike Bertrand.

The family wishes to thank Father Paul, Dr. Michael Horaist, other surgical staff along with Robbie Wadsworth, the nursing staff of the ICU, all of Lafayette General Medical Center and The Carpenter House of St. Joseph Hospice in Lafayette for the compassionate care given to Jane and her family.

A special thanks to Mona Bertrand, Judy Garber and Brunella Fischer for their support over the past month with Dad and the family. You made Mom’s life and our lives so much easier. God bless.
​
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Jane's name to The Little Flowers of Jesus Mission for the Sick and Needy, Father Paul Onuegbe, P.O. Box 365, Loreauville, LA 70552 or give to any charity of your choosing.

She authored Vidrine -Ve'drines, Volume One 1600-1750 in 1981. ISBN: 0-937-614-04-1. Acadiana Press, Lafayette, LA 70504

​Article on Veillon family.

More about Jacqueline Elma Olivier.
----------------Obituary----------
VILLE PLATTE - Funeral services for Ms. Jacqueline "Jacky" Olivier Vidrine, 88, will be held Saturday February 3, 2018 at 11AM in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ville Platte, with burial to follow in the church cemetery.
Ms. Jacky, a resident of Ville Platte, passed away Sunday January 28, 2018 at her residence. 

Jacqueline Olivier Vidrine, nee Jacqueline Elma Olivier, dit "Jacky" to her friends, was the widow of Drouet W. Vidrine (Sr.), and a noted historian and genealogist. Jacky graduated as valedictorian from Sacred Heart High School, and latter attained a bachelor's degree cum laude from SLI (USL), as a member of Kappa Delta Phi and Sigma Kappa Delta. She is the published author of five major books on genealogy and Louisiana history, as well as numerous papers and articles. Jacky has been accepted into and done on-site source research in the archives of the Opelousas Post, New Orleans, Alabama, Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Washington DC, Canada, France, and Mallorca, Spain. She collaborated on genetic research projects with Tulane and LSU. Jacky was a member of many professional societies, notable as a founding associate of the National Honor Society, elected president of the Louisiana State Historical Association, and a founding member of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL). She was also appointed by the Governor as a member of the State of Louisiana's Commission on Historical Records, and it's commission on Cultural Resources.

Born on October 28, 1929 to Jacques Joseph Olivier ("Jake") and Elma Veillon Olivier, Jacky is survived Cecile Olivier Daumueller of Freeburg IL, and six of Jacky's seven children, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Children: Drouet Warren Vidrine (Jr.) and his wife Donna, of San Clemente, CA; Jacqueline Ann Therese Vidrine ("Jinx") and her partner Peggy, of Mandeville, LA; Thomas Lucien Vidrine and his partner Charmaine, of Ambergris Caye, Belize; Nicole Marie Vidrine Kroeger and her husband Steve, of Fredricksburg, TX; Henri Jacques Vidrine and his partner Patrick (both deceased); Jean Phillipe Vidrine and his wife Shaun, of Ville Platte, LA; and Pierre Etienne Vidrine and his wife Shirlene, of Ville Platte, LA.

Grandchildren: Elizabeth "Libby" Vidrine-Storey; Drouet Warren Vidrine III; Paul Henri Vidrine; Valeska (Kroeger) Wells; Christy Angelle (Vidrine) Bauman; Nicholas Courtney Vidrine, John Travis Vidrine, Bonnie Ann (Vidrine) Isbell; Kinsey Adele Kroeger Aleski; Kyle John Kroeger; Max Eloi Vidrine; Tiffany Marie (Vidrine) Fontenot; Kirk Boone Kroeger; Bri Anna Vidrine; Michael Pierre Vidrine; and Christopher Jacques Vidrine

Great-Grandchildren: Isabel Jo St. John; Joseph Drake Seay; Acelyn Nicole Wells; Rio Thomas Vidrine-Storey; Noah Ryan Vidrine; Caedmon Andrew Wells; Katriel Rose Wells; Lyric Steven Wells; Jackson Brave Bauman (deceased); Wilder Oak Baumann; Selah Anders Baumann; Rose Marie Isbell; Ezekiel Freedom Kroeger; Evangeline Story Kroeger; Micah Justice Kroeger; Piper Marie Fontenot; Orielle Dior Aleski; Jean Travis Drouet Vidrine; Everly Brynn Vidrine; and Charlotte Anne Fontenot, Benaiah Robert Vidrine-Isbell. 

Visitation will be held Friday, February 2, 2018 from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., with a rosary being recited at 6:00 p.m., and will resume again Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 8:00 a.m.
​
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Sacred Heart Foundation or the Evangeline Parish Library. 

Highland's Cemetery is located at the LSU south exit. The plaque acknowledges Jacob Mueller as an early settler of that region. 

Emeric Adam & Catherine Kleinpeter are Catherine Adam parents. She is the 2nd wife of Jacob Miller, Jr.

Paul Sharp married Catherine Ory, daughter of Nicolas Ory and Anna Strassbach. A Nicolas Ory and wife Christine was on the La Bretana, the ship that ship wrecked off the Texas coast with Jacob Miller & family.
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Purchase books at lulu.com
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Highland Cemetery has stories to tell (published in Magazine, Baton Rouge, October 25, 1992)
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No sightings of ghosts have been reported at Historic Highland Cemetery in College Town, but should any appear they would probably speak French, Spanish or even German and tell stories of early Louisiana history that would excite the most jaded of television viewers.

For instance take Anthony Peniston. “stabbed by a porgnard [a lightweight dagger] and survived the blow but ten minutes“ in a dispute over an election. He was on 30 years old.

Or consider the romantic tale of Josephine Favrot whose sweetheart, Louis de Grand Pre was shot defending the Fort of Baton Rouge in 1810. Josephine rushed to his side in time for him to die in her arms. The poem she wrote following his death is immortalized on a plaque on the wall of the Favrot family plot.

The oldest existing cemetery in Baton Rouge located on Oxford Avenue between Amherst and East Parker, is the final resting place for many of the city’s forefathers. A walk around the small burial ground is like taking a brief course in the history of Baton Rouge, thanks to the many informative markers place by the Friends of Historic Highland Cemetery.

Established around 1815 on what was once a part of the plantation owned by George Garig. Highland Cemetery was legally donated to the congregation of the local Roman Catholic Church of Baton Rouge in 1819.

Following Garig’s death in 1825 his plantation was divided into two sections, half being purchased by Robert Penny. Although the cemetery was consecrated by the Roman Catholic Church, in 1849 Penny, a Protestant, was conveyed a 16-acre piece of the Garig Plantation, which included the cemetery. In the agreement, he requested a 30-square foot plot for himself and his family. This corner of the cemetery is known as the Protestant section.

The cemetery is maintained by the Friends of Historic Highland Cemetery, an auxiliary board of The Foundation for Historical Louisiana.

“Before the last burial, which took place in 1939, the cemetery fell into disrepair,” said Larry Firmin, president of the trustees of Historic Highland Cemetery. “Under the inspiration and leadership of Dr. and Mrs. James A. Thom, and the dedication of many volunteers, beginning in 1968/69 the cemetery was reclaimed and gradually restored to its present state.”

Firman said one of the biggest problems is maintaining the cemetery is cleaning up after vandals.

Many of the names etched on the faded headstones are names seen today on streets and businesses around Baton Rouge and southern Louisiana.

Here lie the remains of Jean Baptiste Kleinpeter, a veteran of the War of 1812 who fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, and lather became a planter and banker.

Gabriel Armand Duplantier, born in France and who served as aide-de-camp to General Lafayette, left military service, married and became owner of Magnolia Mound plantation. The Duplantier family sepulcher [burial vault] fell into ruins and was replaced by an obelisk.

The final resting place of Charles Daniel Comeaux, a veteran of the War of 1812, is noted by a marker near the Favrot plot. Comeaux was killed by a stray bullet while sleeping. He had just returned home from the Battle of Port Hudson and flung his cap on one of the posts of his four-poster bed. A bullet hit the bed post, pierced the cap, then ricocheted, hitting and killing him instantly.

Not only does a walk through the cemetery conjure up scenes from early Louisiana history but it also reminds the visitor how fragile life was in the days before modern medicine and sanitation.

Many tombs are inscribed with messages that echo the sorrow of parents who mourned the loss of their children: “Budded on earth to bloom in heaven.” Or “He lived as lived a peaceful dove. He died as blossoms die.”

During the time of George Garig and Robert Penny, Historic Highland Cemetery was larger than its present size and extended over to what is now Amherst Avenue. When College Town was being developed in 1927, the developer drew an inaccurate map of the cemetery, omitting certain measurements when he filed for a new subdivision. As a result of the inaccuracies many of the tombs were lost or built over during the construction of homes. A wrought-iron gazebo was erected in the cemetery in 1976 dedicated to the memory of the more than 200 people who were buried there, but whose graves have been lost.

Information about walking tours of Historic Highland Cemetery or about becoming a member of Friends of Historic Highland Cemetery can be obtained by calling The Foundation For Historical Louisiana in Baton Rouge at 387-2464.
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Information below provide by B. Parker in 1999  
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BURIALS IN HIGHLAND (PENNY) CEMETERY, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Because records were poorly kept by Catholic Church priests, and Protestant burials were not listed at all, the following list has been compiled from probates, funeral notices, family records and recollections, tombstone inscriptions and newspaper notices. There are still many omissions, so an unconfirmed list of possible burials follows the known ones. Researchers: Evelyn M. Thom and Barbara Strickland, September 1976.

Aubin, Aurelius Victorin, s/o Victorin, 1850-1885, no marker
Aubin, Elizabeth, w/o Victorin, 1825-1885, no marker
Aubin, Victorin, s/o Francois, 1825-1880, no marker
Aucoin, Albert Florestin, C.S.A., s/o J. Florentin, 1821-1863, no marker
Aucoin, J. Florentin, s/o Pierre Firmin, 1798-1847
Aucoin, Julia Zeolide Doiron, w/o A.F., 1831- ?, no marker
Babin, Balthazar, s/o Gregoire, 1814-1884, no marker
Babin, Martha Buckner, 1824-1884, w/o Balthazar, no marker
Brackin, “Nettie” Brunetta Stokes, w/o Albert D., 1868-1894, no marker
Buckner, George W., s/o Lewis, h/o Margaret Phillips, 1822-1855, no marker
Buckner, Susannah, d/o Margaret Buckner,   ? -1857, no marker
Comeaux, Charles Daniel, 1817-1892, no marker
Comeaux, Charles Daniel, War of 1812, 1787-1850, no marker
Daigre, Alfred Huguet, s/o Denis Daigre, Junior, 1880-1891, no marker
Daigre, Benjamin M., husb/o Pauline Daigre, 1836-1914, no marker
Daigre, Carmelite Daigre, d/o Paul, w/o Oliver Francois, 1796-1855, no marker
Daigre, Denis Oliver, s/o Oliver Francis, 1820-1875, no marker
Daigre, Denis Oliver, Jr., 1853-1917, no marker
Daigre, Genevieve Buckner, w/o Denis O., Sr., 1821- ?, no marker
Daigre, Gordon, s/o Benjamin M., ? -1912, no marker
Daigre, Josie Huguet, d/o John S. Huguet, 1860-1884, no marker
Daigre, Mary Martha, d/o Denis & Genevieve, 1855-1858, no marker
Daigre, Olivier Francois, s/o Francois, 1793-1843, no marker
Daigre, Pauline Daigre, w/o Benjamin M.,  ?-1886, no marker
Daigre, Victor Templet, s/o Denis O. Sr., 1857- ?, no marker
Davis, Elizabeth Sharp, w/o Ersin Slaughter & Wm. Davis, ?-1825, no marker
Doiron, Henrietta Malvina, d/o J. V., 1847-1887, no marker
Doiron, John Villeneuve, s/o John Remi, 1821-1879, no marker
Duke, William Ensley, infant of Wiley, 7 mo., 1921-1921, no marker
Duplantier, Armand Allard, Continental Army, War of 1812, 1753-1827, marker
Duplantier, Augustin, son/o Armand, 1806-1860, no marker
Duplantier, Constance Rochon, w/o John Joyce & Armand Duplantier, 1766-1841, marker
Duplantier, Didier, s/o Armand, 1809-1834, marker
Duplantier, Fergus, War of 1812, s/o Armand, 1783-1844, marker
Duplantier, Guy, War of 1812, s/o Armand, 1790-1835, no marker
Duplantier, Joseph, s/o Alberic, 1844-1884, no marker
Duplantier, Josephine Joyce, w/o Fergus, 1791-1859, marker
Duplantier, Matilda Brown, 2nd w/o Alberic, 1844- ?, no marker
Duplantier, Nicholas Alberic, s/o Armand, 1806-1891, no marker
Edmonston, Lillie E. Aucoin, w/o J. Walter, 1861-1893, no marker
Edmonston, Mary Zilda Aucoin, w/o Wm. Louis,  ? – 1919, no marker
Edmonston, Sam, s/o Wm. Louis & Zilda, 1872-1883, no marker
Edmonston, William Louis, Jr., husb/o Zilda, ? – 1912, no marker
Favrot, Pierre Joseph, Galvez Expedition of 1779, LA Legislature, 1749 - 1824, marker
Foreman, John C., hsb/o Nancy Garig, 1806 - 1870, marker
Foreman, John M., infant s/o Oscar H., 1862 - 1870, marker
Foreman, John M., s/o John C. & Nancy, C.S.A., 1838 - 1905, no marker
Foreman, Linda F., d/o Oscar H., 1863 - 1866, marker
Foreman, Nancy Garig, d/o George Garig, w/o John C., 1812 - ?, no marker
Foreman, Oscar Heady, Jr., 1868 - 1872, marker
Foreman, Oscar Heady, Sr., 1833 - 1905, no marker
Foreman, Therese Addie Rowley, w/o Oscar H., 1840 - 1913, no marker
Fortin, Adele Duplantier, w/o Joseph J.G. George Fortin, no dates, no marker
Garig, George, s/o Adam, h/o Mary Barbara Thomas, ? - 1825, no marker
Garig, Guilliame, s/o George, 1815 - ?, no marker
Garig, Henrique, s/o George, 1798 - ?, no marker
Garig, Juan, s/o George, 1795 - ?, no marker
Garig, Maria, d/o George, 1801 - ?, no marker
Germany, Aurelia Ann Foreman, w/o Henry James, 1833 - 1898, marker
Hodges, Aurelius B., s/o I.B.A. Hodges, 1832 - 1854, marker
Huguet, John Stephen, M.D., s/o Juan, C.S.A., 1825 - 1891, no marker
Huguet, Mary Elvira Kleinpeter, w/o John S., 1832 - 1899, no marker
Huguet, William Pike, s/o John S., 1852 - 1853, no marker
Joyce, William, s/o John, c 1790 - 1846, marker fragment
Kleinpeter, Andrew, s/o Joseph, 1801 - 1853, marker
Kleinpeter, Benjamin Franklin, s/o John Bapt. & Rose, 1845 - 1858, memorial marker
Kleinpeter, John Baptiste, s/o George, 1797 - 1861, no marker
Kleinpeter, John J., infant s/o Andrew, 1847 -1847, marker
Kleinpeter, John L., s/o Joseph, c 1797 - 1837, no marker
Kleinpeter, Mary Rose Bouillion, w/o John Baptist, 1805 - 1878, no marker
Kleinpeter, Oscar Andrew, s/o Andrew, 1844 - 1858, marker
Kleinpeter, Zachary Pinckney, s/o Andrew, 1849 - 1857, no marker
Lener, Mary, 1887 - 1888, no marker
Lopez, Anna Euphemie, d/o Joseph Onieda, 1879 - 1884, no marker
Lopez, Henri, s/o Joseph Onieda, 1875 - 1876, no marker
Lopez, Joseph Onieda, s/o Joseph Adonis, 1845 - 1896, no marker
Lundquest, William, no dates, no marker
Lundquest, John, no dates, no marker
Maurison, Mary V., 1871 - 1885, no marker
McGehee, Ann Scott, d/o Abraham & Mary C., 1831 - 1836, marker
McGehee, Mary C., 1809 - 1836, marker
Neilson, Capt. John James, s/o James, U.S.A., ? -1813 at Baton Rouge Fort, no marker (1st husband of Pauline Gras)
Neilson, James, h/o Elizabeth, f/o Capt. John, ? - 1831, no marker
Parker, Nan Pecue, d/o John Pecue, w/o Mack Parker, no dates, no marker
Pecue, (Picou, Picaud), John Baptiste Jr., h/o Odile & Victoria Aucoin, 1829 - 1905, no marker
Pecue, Odile Elizabeth Aucoin, w/o John, 1835 - 1865, no marker
Peniston, Anthony, hsb/o Euphemie Duplantier, c 1800 - 1826, marker
Peniston, Euphemie Duplantier, w/o Anthony, 1804 - 1826, marker
Penny, Matilda G., w/o Burns & Robert Penny, ? - 1846, no marker
Penny, Robert H., s/o James, ? - 1849, no marker
Phillips, Isabella Foreman, w/o Albert, no dates, no marker
Phillips, Plaisant, Jr., 1838 - 1859, no marker
Phillips, Plaisant, Sr., husb/o Elizabeth Babin, ? - 1845, no marker
Phillips, Theodore, s/o Plaisant Sr., 1845 - 1861, no marker
Piker, Fluvia, d/o John F., c 1864 - ?, no marker
Piker, John F., s/o Frederick, 1817 - 1869, partial marker
Piker, Mary C. Foreman, w/o John F., 1830  - 1903, memorial marker
Pilant, George Zitzman, s/o Wm. Jr., 1912 - ca 1920, no marker
Pilant, Sarah Clair, d/o Wm. Jr., 1909 - ca 1920, no marker
Pilant, Marie Julia LeBlanc, w/o Wm. Sr., 1837 - 1920, no marker
Pilant, William Sr., ? - 1899, no marker
Randolph, Catherine Kleinpeter, w/o John, 1786 - 1847, marker
Randolph, Ellen M. Smith, w/o George, 1834 - 1856, marker
Randolph, John, s/o John, 1818 - 1856, marker
Randolph, John, War of 1812, 1777 - 1837, marker
Riviere, Anne Marie Renee Aime Douezan, w/o Jean Baptiste Riviere, 1766 - 1849, marker
Roberts, Constance Kleinpeter, w/o Gilbert Comeaux & Stephen Roberts, d/o George Kleinpeter, ? - 1851,
.....no marker, Kleinpeter, George, ? - 1851, no marker
Smith, Jacob, 1814 - 1857, no marker
Smith, Mary Barbara Thomas, w/o Jacob, 1813 - 1872, no marker
Staring, Kathryn J. Hillman, 1st w/o George H. Staring, 1870 - 1898, memorial marker
Stokes, James, s/o William & Nettie, 1872 - 1903, marker
Stokes, Sidney, s/o William & Nettie, 1878 - 1896, marker
Stokes, William, s/o Alexander & Virginia, 1873 - 1912, C.S.A., marker
Stokes, Willie F., s/o William & Nettie, 1870 - 1896, marker
Thomas, Antoinette Caroline, d/o Jefferson P., ? - 1857, marker
Thomas, Buffington J., s/o Jefferson P., no date, marker
Thomas, Elizabeth, widow/o Benj. Parker Thomas, d/o Gen. Philemon Thomas, mother/o Jefferson P., ? - 1841,
.....no marker
Thomas, Florence, d/o Jefferson P., ? - 1857, marker
Thomas, William E., s/o Jefferson P., no dates, marker
Trousdale, Kleinpeter, Randolph, Mary Catherine, w/o Andrew Kleinpeter, 1822 - abt. 1874

Unconfirmed And Possible Burials

Aucoin, Elizabeth Verdon, w/o J. Florentin, no dates
Bills, John A., husb/o Mary Garig, ? - 1841
Bills, Mary Garig, w/o John A., c. 1812 - 1860
Comeaux, Florestine Sylvannie Tullier, w/o Chas. D. Jr., 1825 - ? 
Comeaux, Mary Carmelite Hebert, w/o Chas. D. Sr.
Daigre, Francis Paul, s/o Denis O. Daigre, Sr.,  1850 - 1892
Daigre, Jean Baptiste Bouvier, s/o Olivier, c 1810 - 1840
Daigre, Mrs. Mary C., w/o Gilbert, ? - 1879
Davis, William, War of 1812, h/o Elizabeth Sharp, ? - c.1825
Doiron, Alzie Daigle, w/o Francis G., ? - c.1910
Duplantier, Marguerite Mary Lopez, w/o Augustin, 1815 - ?
Edmonston, J. Walter, C.S.A., husb/o Lillie E. Aucoin
Fulton, Helene de Grand Pre, d/o Gov. Carlos de Grand Pre, 1782 - 1855
Fulton, Col. Samuel, husb/o Helene, ? - c.1827
Garig, Elizabeth, d/o George & Mary B., c.1809 - ?
Garig, George, s/o George & Mary B., 1807 - 1868, C.S.A.
McDonald, Mary Barbara Thomas, w/o Joshua McDonald & Geo. Garig, 1777 - 1852
Neilson, Elizabeth, widow of James Neilson who d. 1831
Neilson, William, s/o James & Elizabeth, ? - c.1833, bachelor
Parker, Mack, husb/o Nan Pecue
Pecue, Victoria Coralie Aucoin, w/o John Pecue, 1842 - 1921
Penny, Marian A., d/o Robert & Matilda, c. 1840 - 1846
Penny, Ann W., d/o Robert & Matilda, 1835 - 1850
Penny, Lucy Ann, d/o Robert & Matilda, c 1839 - c 1846
Phillips, Elizabeth Babin, w/o Plaisant, Sr.
Randolph, George, husb/o Ellen M. Smith, (m. 5-13-1852)
Randolph, John, 17?? - 1822, father of John (1777 - 1837 )
Sharp, Joseph, husb/o Pauline Gras, Widow Neilson, ? - 1820
Sheppers, Pauline Gras, widow of Neilson & Joseph Sharp, w/o Louis Sheppers who survived her and m.
.....Her sister, Olympia, 1796 - 1822
Thomas, Benjamin Parker, husb/o Elizabeth Thomas, son-in-law of General Philemon Thomas, 1782 - 1835
Thomas, Caroline E. Trager, w/o Jefferson Plummer Thomas, d/o John Trager & Julia Kleinpeter, c 1827 - c.1871
Thomas, Jefferson Plummer, grandson of General Philemon Thomas, s/o Benjamin Parker Thomas,
.....father of 4 children buried in Highland

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