Ulysse Gabriel Pierrottie
(1884 - 1969)
His 33 years of work, took him into 10 states, traveling over 200,000 miles. He sold most of his property, even a 40-acre tract of land in Allen parish, to finance his project. In October 1963, he had a claim of $47,167.64 (equal to $333,831.28 in 2008 dollars) filed before the Gretna district court, seeking this sum, as payment for his efforts of 33 years to the estate of Francois Zenon Boutte.
Ulysse (1884-1969) is the son of Constantino “August Constant” Pierotti and Stephanie Martel. He married Aminthe Fruge in 1907. They had five children, Olivia (married Tanies LaFleur), Gladys (married Herbert Soileau, Sr.), Pearl (married George Richard), Ruby and Frances (married Warren J. Strohmeyer).
Ulysse was a farmer and later a deputy Sheriff with Ville Platte Sheriff Charles Pucheu.
According to Pierrottie, Francois Zenon Boutte died about 1869, long after the deaths of his wife and child, leaving no natural heirs, and all of his fortune gone. His life and death were completely forgotten until 1930, when the Standard Oil Co., of Texas came into Louisiana to explore and develop the piece of land called Lafitte Island (now called Barataria Island) on the southern tip of the Louisiana boot.
While engineers and surveyors were going over the island, abstracting each and every strip of territory, they came across a forgotten strip of land some five acres wide and six miles long, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, and left by him to his heirs after his death. The story goes back into the years here, when Pierrottie told of how the land came into ownership by Francois Zenon Boutte and his uncle, Jean Baptiste Boutte. This island was once given to the famous pirate, Jean LaFitte by a grant of General Andrew Jackson, in payment for his services in the battle of New Orleans.
Jean LaFitte later sold the island to a man named "Villa" and this same Villa sold the land to Pierre Lavigne. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase it was owned by Pierre Lavigne, whose heirs sold it in 1915 to the brothers Hilaire and Jean Baptiste Boutte (uncles of Francois Zenon Boutte).
Pierrottie pointed out that Hilaire then sold his undivided half of the island to Joseph Triscoue and Triscoue sold his half to Francois Zenon Boutte in 1819, but the notary making the sale made a mistake and the sale read that Triscoue sold the entire island to Zenon Boutte. This necessitated a new document to read that Zenon Boutte had purchased only half of the island, the other half belonging to Jean Baptiste Boutte. To make it more clear, the two Bouttes then decided that they would divide the island in two equal parts, with Jean Baptiste Boutte taking the northern half of the island and Francois Zenon Boutte taking the southern half.
It is at this point, following the discovery of a forgotten strip of land located in the southern half of the island, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte that Pierrottie comes into the story. After digging back into old records and birth records, history books and deeds some 33 years later, Pierrottie completed his work - the finding of close to 3,000 heirs and descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte, Heirs and descendants of eight generations, of brothers and sisters, of Zenon Boutte - Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte, Antoine Hilliare Boutte, Modeste Boutte, Louis Hilliare Boutte, Juan Leon Boutte, and Celestine Boutte.
Pierrottie's grandmother, Louise Mathilde Boutte, was a daughter of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Pierrottie's work came about by a request of heirs of Francois Zenon Boutte, who thought then that the estate could never be settled and nor could all the heirs be located.
In 1963, Pierrottie stated that this 500-acre tract, more or less, will never be sold by the heirs, and today is worth millions of dollars, and will, as years go by, bear more fruits, and will create more hardship, as heirs die and other heirs are added on, which could reach 5,000 heirs by 1975.
In his years of research, Pierrottie said, his work was greatly hampered because of all old documents and records being recorded in French. This necessitated an interpreter and added expenses. He also had to establish the fact that because of the known birth of a son by a second marriage, his son may have had heirs who would then be heirs of the Francois Zenon Boutte estate. This claim had been filed by the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, he stated. After seven years of research of old records of the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, it was officially established that his only son had died at the age of seven, Pierrottie said.
Ulysee won the court case and assets were distributed. However, as a descendent of this family, am I owed some of these royalties?
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The above is based primarily on "One Fellow's Evangeline" by Elvin Reed and printed in The Daily World, Opelousas, LA on October 6, 1963
Ulysse (1884-1969) is the son of Constantino “August Constant” Pierotti and Stephanie Martel. He married Aminthe Fruge in 1907. They had five children, Olivia (married Tanies LaFleur), Gladys (married Herbert Soileau, Sr.), Pearl (married George Richard), Ruby and Frances (married Warren J. Strohmeyer).
Ulysse was a farmer and later a deputy Sheriff with Ville Platte Sheriff Charles Pucheu.
According to Pierrottie, Francois Zenon Boutte died about 1869, long after the deaths of his wife and child, leaving no natural heirs, and all of his fortune gone. His life and death were completely forgotten until 1930, when the Standard Oil Co., of Texas came into Louisiana to explore and develop the piece of land called Lafitte Island (now called Barataria Island) on the southern tip of the Louisiana boot.
While engineers and surveyors were going over the island, abstracting each and every strip of territory, they came across a forgotten strip of land some five acres wide and six miles long, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, and left by him to his heirs after his death. The story goes back into the years here, when Pierrottie told of how the land came into ownership by Francois Zenon Boutte and his uncle, Jean Baptiste Boutte. This island was once given to the famous pirate, Jean LaFitte by a grant of General Andrew Jackson, in payment for his services in the battle of New Orleans.
Jean LaFitte later sold the island to a man named "Villa" and this same Villa sold the land to Pierre Lavigne. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase it was owned by Pierre Lavigne, whose heirs sold it in 1915 to the brothers Hilaire and Jean Baptiste Boutte (uncles of Francois Zenon Boutte).
Pierrottie pointed out that Hilaire then sold his undivided half of the island to Joseph Triscoue and Triscoue sold his half to Francois Zenon Boutte in 1819, but the notary making the sale made a mistake and the sale read that Triscoue sold the entire island to Zenon Boutte. This necessitated a new document to read that Zenon Boutte had purchased only half of the island, the other half belonging to Jean Baptiste Boutte. To make it more clear, the two Bouttes then decided that they would divide the island in two equal parts, with Jean Baptiste Boutte taking the northern half of the island and Francois Zenon Boutte taking the southern half.
It is at this point, following the discovery of a forgotten strip of land located in the southern half of the island, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte that Pierrottie comes into the story. After digging back into old records and birth records, history books and deeds some 33 years later, Pierrottie completed his work - the finding of close to 3,000 heirs and descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte, Heirs and descendants of eight generations, of brothers and sisters, of Zenon Boutte - Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte, Antoine Hilliare Boutte, Modeste Boutte, Louis Hilliare Boutte, Juan Leon Boutte, and Celestine Boutte.
Pierrottie's grandmother, Louise Mathilde Boutte, was a daughter of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Pierrottie's work came about by a request of heirs of Francois Zenon Boutte, who thought then that the estate could never be settled and nor could all the heirs be located.
In 1963, Pierrottie stated that this 500-acre tract, more or less, will never be sold by the heirs, and today is worth millions of dollars, and will, as years go by, bear more fruits, and will create more hardship, as heirs die and other heirs are added on, which could reach 5,000 heirs by 1975.
In his years of research, Pierrottie said, his work was greatly hampered because of all old documents and records being recorded in French. This necessitated an interpreter and added expenses. He also had to establish the fact that because of the known birth of a son by a second marriage, his son may have had heirs who would then be heirs of the Francois Zenon Boutte estate. This claim had been filed by the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, he stated. After seven years of research of old records of the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, it was officially established that his only son had died at the age of seven, Pierrottie said.
Ulysee won the court case and assets were distributed. However, as a descendent of this family, am I owed some of these royalties?
-------------------------------------------------------------
The above is based primarily on "One Fellow's Evangeline" by Elvin Reed and printed in The Daily World, Opelousas, LA on October 6, 1963
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