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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.

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

​Books
​Pierotti - Pierrottie - Pierrotti Family & Photos
​Dominique Martel Southwest Louisiana Family

Constantino Pierotti Video

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

​

​Annie Mae, born November 5, 1918, is the granddaughter of Eugene Miller and Josephine Angeline Sturlese. Her mother, Azena is the 5th child of thirteen born to Eugene and Angeline. Annie Mae’s family achieved notoriety in several ways.
 
Annie Mae's grandfather was a very successful cattleman in Cameron Parish. Born in 1857, Eugene continued the work of his father Pierre V. Miller, A Civil War Veteran. In “Eugene Miller Early King of Cattle” by Nola Mae Ross, 1989, it stated “…Eugene Miller…became the pioneer patriarch of the cattle industry on the big ridge. "Eugene Miller is a ranchman with great herds of cattle, and he devotes most of his time to riding a horse, " reported one early newspaper. Starting out with a small heard of wild marsh cattle, Miller built a cattle empire which he operates with four of his sons and five sons-in-law.”

  
My parents [Annie Mae's parents], Ozena Miller and Charles Richard, lived with my grandparents, so I remember them very well. My grandfather's life was tied up with his cattle. He had thousands of them." "I remember the cattle drives when they took cattle to summer pasture or to market. Most of the cattlemen along Grand Chenier would meet at our home and leave from there for Mulberry Ridge and Chenier Oau Tigre." "I helped my mother make the syrup cookies that they always carried in their saddlebags. Sometimes the men were gone for a month."
 
“Another granddaughter, Corrine (Mrs. Steve Canik) of Grand Chenier, whose parents were Louise Portier and Arceneaux Miller, remembers living near her grandparents. "The old homestead, which we visited often, was a large house with four big bedrooms upstairs and four more downstairs. There was a huge dining room and kitchen, plus the usual outhouses in back." Her father, Arceneaux, was a cattlemen, as were several other sons of Eugene - Severin, Prevat and Leazima [M. Miller comment: Leazima is a daughter who married Alcie Theriot] - and also sons-in-law Pete Broussard, Charles Richard, Sosthene Broussard, David Doland and Steven Carter. Two of Eugene's sons were Dr. Martin O. Miller, who practiced in New Orleans, and Dr. Laurent O. Miller, who practiced medicine in Grand Chenier from 1911 until his death in 1949.”

“Dr. Miller also told of the first pair of shoes he got when he was six. "They were quickly discarded as they were stiff and uncomfortable, with uppers and a row of buttons down the side." His daughter, Annie Laura Miller of Baton Rouge, recalls their Sunday dinners, with most of the uncles and aunts and cousins gathering at Eugene Miller's home. "We thought we were rich when grandpa got us a ball and bat so we could play baseball." Another of his daughters, Marilyn Miller, lives in New Orleans. “
 
“There is one living child of Eugene Miller - Melicia (Mrs. Sosthene Broussard), who is 93 years old and lives on Pecan Island near her son, Harris Broussard, and daughter, Florence (Mrs. Steven Broussard). She recalls attending the little Miller school and then later going to Mt. Carmel Catholic School in Abbeville, before coming home and marrying Sosthene Broussard of Creole.”
​
“Dr. Barbara Doland Coatney of McNeese, the daughter of Estelle Miller and David Y. Doland and granddaughter of Eugene and Angeline Miller, has collected a great deal of history on the family. She estimates the descendants run into the hundreds in this area alone.”
 
“The Miller family made a great impact upon the cattle raising business in Grand Chenier, beginning at a time when cattle were wild, long-horned and skinny marsh animals, and building it into a profitable industry. Eugene Miller, pioneer cattleman, had a long list of descendants who have branched out into many different professions and who are still contributing much to the improvement of the world around them.”

​Martin Richard, Sr., Annie Mae’s oldest brother, said of his oldest brother Henry “Harry” Richard: “Regarding my brother, Harry, receiving the Purple Heart.  As I recall during the battle at St Lo [it served as a strategic crossroads in July 1944. American bombardments caused heavy damage and the city was 95% destroyed. With the high number of casualties, the martyr city was called “The Capital of Ruins”], Harry was in a jeep that ran over a land mine and was injured. He was very lucky because the other passengers in the jeep were critically injured or killed. Harry was chosen as the exemplary soldier in his division or company and was sent home for two weeks vacation during the Battle of the Bulge.  Lucky again.  The group I was in along with everything the 8th Air Force could muster flew at 10,000 feet to more accurately blast a path through the German Front Lines at St  Lo allowing American troops to break through.  Normally we flew at 25 to 30.000 feet.  So he was on the ground at  St Lo and I was in the air.”
 
Martin Richard was a highly decorated veteran as well. The following was written by Cyndi Sellers in the Cameron Parish Pilot in July 2009”
 
“Martin Richard, a resident of Metairie, formerly of Grand Chenier, was among 38 American veterans receiving high tribute in France as part of this year's D-Day commemorations. He was one of three Louisiana World War II veterans chosen to receive France's highest decoration, the Legion of Honor.

The veterans enjoyed an all expense paid trip, courtesy of the French government, had their own personal military escort, and were treated royally.

On June 6, the veterans participated in ceremonies commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day, also attended by President Obama, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and Prince Charles of England. The ceremonies took place at the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer.

, 
On June 22, the Louisiana House of Representatives and Senate honored the three veterans with concurrent resolutions, and afterward they were guests of Gov. Bobby Jindal in his office. The resolution recognized Richard for participating in 9 firing missions in France and 26 firing missions Germany while serving in the Army. In August of 1944 he was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire over France and was captured. He spent nine months as a prisoner of war in Grostyskow, Poland.

Richard has been honored with numerous awards for outstanding bravery and valor during the war, including the Prisoner of War medal and Distinguished Flying Cross.

He is a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and has served as commander of the South Louisiana Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War.

The resolution closes with the words: ‘Therefore, be it resolved that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Martin Richard of Metairie upon his receipt of the French Legion of Honor medal for his military service on D-Day during World War II, does hereby record for posterity the outstanding achievements and remarkable courage of this heroic gentleman, does hereby extend heartfelt and enduring appreciation for the tremendous honor that he brings to his family, friends, and community, the state of Louisiana, and the United States of America, and does hereby recognize that the experiences and achievements of this extraordinary veteran will never be forgotten and will forever remain a source of great inspiration and pride on the minds and hearts of all who know, admire and love him.’ "
_______________________________________
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Coatney, 90, of Lake Charles, died Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, in Tomball, Texas, after a brief illness.

Dr. Coatney was a native of Grand Chenier, where she received her primary and secondary education. In 1947, she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture from Southwestern Louisiana Institute. Following her graduation, she took her first position as County Extension Agent out of Cameron.

She furthered her education, receiving a second Bachelor of Science Degree from McNeese State University in 1962 from the Department of Animal Science, then a MS in education from Northwestern State University in 1970, followed by a Master of Education from the same university in 1972. She then attained her
Doctor of Philosophy from Texas Women’s University in 1974. She retired after 24 and a half years as Head of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at McNeese State University and in 2003 was honored by the university with Professor Emeritus of Family and Consumer Sciences at McNeese State University.

She was a member of many professional and social organizations including Delta Kappa Gamma, Phi Kappa Phi, Louisiana Retired Teachers Association, Calcasieu-Cameron Retired Teachers Association and McNeese State University Alumni Association. She was also a charter member of the Louisiana Seafood Board.

She is survived by one daughter, Sandy Coatney Eldred and husband Frank of Spring, Texas; two sons, David Paul Coatney and wife Cheryl of Spring, Texas, and Richard Coatney and wife Nancy of Lafayette; seven grandchildren; two great grandchildren; two brothers, Bill Doland of Grand Chenier, and Bobby Doland of Houston, Texas.

Preceding her in death were her parents, David Yandell Doland Sr. and Estelle Miller Doland; one brother; one sister; and her husband, Gene Coatney.

A Mass of Christian Burial was observed Saturday, Sept. 16, at Our Lady of Good Counsel with Father Alan Trouille serving as celebrant. Interment followed services at McCall Cemetery in Grand Chenier.

DR. COATNEY IS NAMED TO POST
     Dr. Barbara Doland Coatney, a native of Cameron Parish and the holder of five college degrees in the field of home economics and education, has been named to head the Department of Home Economics at McNeese.
     Prior to joining the McNeese faculty, she was a teacher of home economics at Alexandria Junior High School and an instructor in the Northwestern State University continuing education program.
     Born in Grand Chenier, Dr. Coatney earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics at USL and a second bachelor’s degree at McNeese. She also holds the master of science in home economics education and master of science education in media education granted by NSU and the doctor of
philosophy in the field of home economics from Texas Women’s University, Denton, Tex. [​Cameron Parish Pilot, March 26, 2009 (reprinted from the March 25, 1976 edition)]

Purchase Pierre V. Miller family book.

​The Montreal region was the western outpost of New France when our first Canadien Ancestor, Louis LeDoux, arrived in the 1660s. Louis was also called Louis Ladouceur and Louis Doux and was born in Le Mans in the ancient regime province of Maine in France. Several sources give the year of his birth as 1628; others give it as 1639. He was baptized in the church of Notre Dame de la Coutoure. While the name suggests a sartorial [tailoring of clothes] history, the couture is really a deformation of culture (as in agriculture) and refers to a time when the church and its abbey were not well within city limits but out in the country surrounded by farms.
 
LeMans has a Romanesque cathedral, St-Julien, that stands high above the city and near it is the Old Town whose narrow streets twist down to the Sarthe River. The city dates to the times of the Romans and there are broad stone steps that cut through the Roman walls and lead from the lower to the upper town. These steps are bordered by three and four story buildings for whom the stairs served the function of a city street, front doors opening up to a landing.
 
His parents, Louis LeDoux (born about 1590 and Marie Provost (born about 1600) had married in 1625 in Le Mans. Here in this town whose medieval characteristics are still evident in the twenty-first century, perhaps Louis LeDoux, fils, played, running up the winding stairs between the lower and the upper towns chasing his friends and causing mischief or perhaps it was they who chased him. Eventually the playing came to an end and the young Mancelle (as the inhabitants of Le Mans are called) grew up to be a man who was a maker of stained glass windows for churches. In fact, it is believed that he made several stained glass windows for Notre Dame de la Courture, but since none of them are signed it is impossible to identify which ones.
 
Like many young men in France at the time, working men without much of a future in the mother country, it is believed that Louis went to the New World with the military where he served perhaps as a soldier in the famed regiment de Carrignan. In 1663, New France had gone from being a proprietary colony of the One Hundred Associates to being a Royal Colony, administered directly by the crown. Among the colonists, there was some hope as a result of this change of administrative structure that the colony would at last receive the attention it deserved and experience growth.
 
We do not know when Louis came to Canada. On the 20th of May 1668, the bishop of Quebec, the famed Monseigneur Laval, came to Fort St-Louis (at the present day city of Chambly) to preach to the soldier and to administer the sacrament of confirmation. A document was drawn up of the men who were confirmed and the name of Louis Doux is on the 16th line of 66. At the time, the famed Carrignan-Sallieres Regiment had been disbanded for at least a year – so Louis was either a former Carrignan soldier who had stayed on or a new recruit at the fort.
 
Fort St-Louis was strategically located on the Richelieu River, the major waterway between Lake Champlain, the British colonies and their treacherous Iroquois allies to the South and, to the North, the Saint Lawrence River and the French settlements. It is not known how long Louis served at Fort St-Louis but we do know that, like many French soldiers, he chose to remain in New France after his service was over. We do not have any record of his whereabouts until 1671.
 
On February 2, 1671, however, Louis bought 20 arpents of land located on Cote St-Francois. This first attempt at farming apparently did not suit him, or he was not good at it, because he sold his land on December 9, 1671, just ten months after acquiring it. He is next listed in Trois-Rivieres in the 1674 census. That year, on May 1, he served as godfather to Adrien Senecal, son of the colonist of the same name, and of Jeanne Lecomte. The godmother who stood with Louis LeDoux was Marie-Antoinette Chouart dit Desgrosseillers, the 13-year-old daughter of the famous explorer Medard Chouart dit Desgrosseillers.
 
Louis soon went on to Quebec City where, on June 14, 1674, he signed an agreement to serve as a carpenter and navigator to Jacques Cachelievre and Guullaume Boissel. They were to pay him 18 livres a month in salary and to feed, house and support him “humanely as is fitting.”
 
Surprisingly, that same summer, Louis obtained a concession of 2 arpents by 30, in the seigneurie of Varennes – which is at the Montreal end of the Saint Lawrence. That the seigneur, Rene Gauthier, had likely been LeDoux’s commanding officer at Fort St-Louis explains perhaps why Louis chose to situate himself in the Montreal region.
 
He does not seem to have prospered since the next year, on October 25, 1675, before a royal notary in Montreal, Louis promised to furnish wheat in payment for a debt he had accumulated.
 
Louis spent the 1670s as a single man. This is most unusual in New France where men were taxed for not being married. On February 18, 1679, however, he entered into a marriage contract with Marie-Nicole Valiquet. Born on December 20, 1662, Marie was the daughter of Jean Valiquet and Renee Loppe witnesses to the marriage contract were his friend Adrien Senecal (for whose son Louis was godfather). Witnesses on Marie’s side included Mathurin Langevin her father’s cousin.
 
On March 20, 1679, Father Gilles Perot married the two in Montreal at the church of Notre Dame. At the time of the wedding contract, the notary had written of Louis that he was “banished from the Seighneurie of Cap de Varennes.” We do not know anything of this banishment. We do know that Louis and Marie’s first child, Mathurin, (named after Marthurin Langevin) was born in Varennes on April 9, 1680, so the banishment did not last long. Unfortunaltely, Mathurin died six day later, on the fifteenth of April. The following year, the census of 1681 notes that the family had 6 arpents under cultivation but had no cattle. In 1681, too, a second LeDoux son was born but, on January 19, he too died. A Third son, Louis was born in 1682 but died in 1684. A fourth son Jacques, was to be born in 1683 and live to adulthood. He was followed by Nicolas in 1684.
 
In 1686, our ancestor Louis-Gabriel [the progenitor of many Louisiana LeDoux’s]  was born in Varennes and baptized in Boucherville on April 12. (This indicates that Varennes did not yet have its own church but went to the nearby seigneurie of Boucherville for church functions. It was only in 1698 that a LeDoux child was to be baptized in Varennes.)
 
In 1689, the Iroquois launched a fierce offensive on the French, an offensive that centered around the town of Lachine.
 
After the 1689 Iroquois massacre of Lachine, to protect themselves from marauding Indians, the citizens of Varennes decided to build a fort and construct a road leading to it. Land which the Louis LeDoux had settled on was chosen on which to build a redoubt. On June 12, 1690, Louis LeDoux settled on a contract with the people of Varennes. They would pay him for the damages which would be incurred for the time that the road to the fort would last and for the time a part of the farm would be occupied. From that time on, Louis LeDoux’s land was known by the name “Le petit fort.”
 
            Louis LeDoux died on October 3, 1708.
 
            Of Marie and Louis’ children, Christorphe LeDoux (born December 21, 1701) became a coureur des bois between 1723 and 1726. He died on January 5, 1728 – one wonders if his early death could have been attributed to the rigors of his life in the woods. Another son, Jean Baptiste, made a trading voyage to the West in 1715.
 
Marie Valiquet married Isaac Brien about 1713. It is not known when she died.
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The LeDoux Family of Louisiana is being written. If you have LeDoux family history, now is the time to send me your family information; [email protected]

Beverly is the daughter of Lindsey Veillon (1903-1983) and Gladys Miller (1910-1992) and the granddaughter of Gus Miller (1884-1944) and Anata Vidrine (1889-1949). Lindsey Veillon was a Chevrolet dealer in Ville Platte. Gladys Miller was described in the Clarion News in 1929 as "a young lady of charming personality and popular among the younger set. She is a graduate of the Industrial Institute of Lafayette and is a member of the faculty of the Vidrine High School." Gladys is the daughter of the late Gus Miller who constructed the lake which bears his name and covers several thousand acres of land. The lake, which is an engineering feat, is filled with sac-a-lait and other fish. 
------------------------------Obituary---------------------
​VILLE PLATTE - Funeral services for Beverly Veillon Burnham, 87, Will be held at 10AM Saturday, August 12, 2017 at our Lady Queen of all Saints Catholic Church, with burial to follow in the Sacred Heart Cemetery. Father Mitch Guidry will officiate.
Mrs. Burnham a resident of Ville Platte passed away Sunday, August 6, 2017 at Heritage Manor nursing home.Beverly was a life-long teacher having taught in both Calcasieu and Evangeline Parish Schools. She retired from Evangeline Parish after being instrumental in setting up and teaching in the local Reading Lab. Reading was an avid passion and love of hers. Her lawn and flower gardens were well known in the area for their plushness, color, and beauty. Complete strangers would stop by requesting a clipping or a bulb. Of course,the inevitable questions on ‘how to’ would follow. Bev was an incredible cook who was able to make a hot dog jambalaya taste like a gourmet treat! But, her biggest passion was the love she had for the six children she raised as a single parent. The pinnacle came when she threw herself a graduation party after her youngest graduated from LSU. She had achieved her lifelong education goal of having all six of her ‘chicks’ earn a university degree. She was as kind as she was generous as her many friends would attest to. All those who knew her loved and respected her. A life that was well lived as an inspiration and mentor. Her sage wisdom and loving guidance will be missed. Beverly was the consummate host and a true Southern Belle.
She will be missed by her son James B. Shipp and wife Brenda of Ville Platte; daughters Martha S. Miller and husband Keith of Ville Platte, Paula S. DeShetler and husband Scott of Colorado, Juliana S. Darbonne and husband Randy of Texas, Rosemary S. Benoit and husband Ben of Lafayette, stepdaughter Annette Aucoin; brother Michael Veillon of Ville Platte; sister Barbara Friedman of Bunkie; 15 grandchildren Daniel Shipp, Hope Shipp Fontenot, Kevin Shipp, Heather Shipp Dupre, James Miller, Jeremy Miller, Zachary DeShetler, Katherine DeShetler, Anne DeShetler, Justin Lafleur, Dr. Elizabeth L. Pritchett, Lia Soileau, Amy Murphy, Sarah Mowery, Tyler Stephens II, 7 step grandchildren; 31 great grandchildren, five step great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents Lindsey and Gladys Miller Veillon, husband Gerald Burnham Sr., daughter Susan Lafleur, stepson Gerald Burnham Jr., brother Charles Veillon, grandchild Christopher Shipp, step grandchild John Burnham.
Visitation will be held Friday, August 11, 2017 from 5 PM to 8 PM, with a rosary being recited at 6:30, and will resume again Saturday, August 12, 2017 from 8 AM until the time of services.
The guestbook can be signed online at www.lavillefuneralhome.net
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Evangeline Parish library or the Sacred Heart Foundation.

Printed in a local newspaper and written by Bernice Ardoin, Lifestyles Editor; printed in May 1997
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Being a Mom:  The most important job Beverly Burnham ever had
The most important job Beverly Burnham has had in her entire life is being a mother.

Beverly will tell anyone that her family is the center of her life.

"I felt that being a mother was the most important job in the world. Mothers mold their children and have so much influence on what they become," Beverly says with a big smile on her face.

"My mother always told me it was so hard to be a good mother. After I had my children, I realized that was so true," she adds. "Ville Platte is a good place to raise a family," the retired school teacher continues. "People helped me so much. I believe that it takes a village to raise a child." "We have a close family," she said. When one is injured, they all hurt."

Beverly loves family get-togethers. "We do that often," she grinned with excitement. "My family is so supportive." 

The Ville Platte native is the former Beverly Veillon. She left her hometown at the age of 16 to attend college in Natchitoches and finished her studies at Grand Coteau. With her degree in elementary education, Beverly went to work in Calcasieu Parish and later taught in Pine Prairie, at James Stephens and Ville Platte Lower. "I loved working in the reading lab." she smiled as she reminisced back to those teaching days. "It was beautiful teaching in there," she adds.

At the age of 20, Beverly married Blake Shipp and the couple had six children: Jim Shipp, who resides in Ville Platte; Martha Miller of Slidell; Paula DeShetler of Denver, Colorado; Susan LaFleur of Ville Platte; Julie Darbonne of Kingwood, Texas; and Rosemary Benoit of Lafayette.

She has 16 grandchildren and eight step-grandchildren. Next month, Beverly will become a great-grandmother.
In 1965, after Beverly and Blake were divorced, she moved back to Ville Platte with her children. "We were living in Maplewood, near Lake Charles," she explains. "I was teaching there."

Ten years later, in 1975, Beverly married Gerald Burnham. He had two children: Junior Burnham and Annette Aucoin. "We had to add a big room onto the house, so there would be enough room for everyone," Beverly grins. "I have no regrets about having a big family," she emphasizes. "I'd do it again tomorrow if I had the chance."

Beverly's second husband passed away five years ago. "The only description I can give you is that he was a true gentleman. I just can't say enough about him." "I was blessed to have him." "There's so many rewards in being a mother," Beverly admits. "It's just wonderful."

Since her retirement from the school system, Beverly says she has two loves loves. "My kids are older now and I have plenty of time to do all the things I always wanted to do. But, I'll never enjoy anything more than being their mother," she says seriously.

President Woodrow Wilson, with Congress' approval declared war on Germany on April 2, 1917. For all who served the United States of America in uniform as well as those not in uniform, we honor and salute the service men in this article and the many men and women not mentioned in this article. Without their sacrifices, we could not enjoy the many freedoms we enjoy. 

The known descendants and family of the Jacob Miller and Anne M. Theigen who served in that war are listed below:
​
WW I Veterans (1914 to 1918 [U.S. Entry on April 2, 1917])
Doucet, Cloublia (Hathaway). US Army. Husband of Ellia Lavergne, daughter of William Lavergne and Froisine Miller, the 2nd great granddaughter of Frederic Miller and Victoria Mayer.

Guillory, Issac (Lake Charles). US Army. Husband of Hazel Fuselier and son of Theophile Guillory and Feodora Miller.  He is the 3rd great grandson of Jean Miller and Marie M Boutin.

McCall, Henry Albert (Grand Chenier), US Army.  He is the son of William Robert McCall and Catherine Norwood. He married Mary Gladys Miller, the daughter of Alcide Miller and Emma Nunez.  Alcide Miller is the grandson of Michel Miller and Hiacinthe Lejeune.

Miller, Adam. (Acadia Parish) U. S. Army Pvt. Infantry. He is the son of Aurelien Miller and Zelphie Gotte and the 2nd great grandson of Frederic Miller and Victoria Mayer.

Miller, Benjamin. (Eunice), U.S. Army. Headstone reads "Louisiana Pvt 1cl Evac Hosp 29". He served in WWI and died May 24, 1941. He is the son of Dulva Miller and Marie Ise Fruge and the 2nd great grandson of Jean  Miller  and Marie F Mayer.

Miller, Cleophas Mark. U.S. Navy, Chief Water Tender. He is the son of Emile Miller & Leonie Lafleur and the great grandson of  Jean Miller and M. Magdelaine Boutin.

Miller, Eraste (Eunice). U.S. Army. PFC Co M 103 Infantry. He is the son of Jean Baptiste Miller and Marguerite Courville and the great grandson of Jean Miller and M. Magdelaine Boutin.

Miller, Felix. (Port Arthur, TX). US Army. Texas PVT 1 Casual CO. He is son of Joseph Miller and Louisa Romain and the 2nd great grandson of Jean Miller and Marie Francoise Mayer.

Miller, Minos D., Sr. (Jennings). Major. US Army.  He is the son of Pierre Valcour Miller, Jr. and Beatrice Sturlese and the grandson of Civil War Veteran Pierre Valcour and Emelia Broussard.  

Miller, Rovelia  (Bayou des Cannes near Pine Point and Mamou, LA), US Army. He is the son of  Jean Pierre Miller and Caroline Guillory and the grandson of Antoine Miller and Augustine Fuselier. He died from the flu pandemic.

Miller, Sevenia (Grand Chenier), US Army. Pvt in 165 Inf 42 Div.  He is the son of Civil War Veteran Damon Miller and Onasia Miller. Damon is the grandson of Jean Miller and Marie Magdelaine Boutin.
​​
Miller, Sydney Dominic. Beaumont, TX).  He is son of Joseph Miller and Louisa Romain and the 2nd great grandson of Jean Miller and Marie Francoise Mayer. Brother of Felix Miller, above.
​

Mathew Hertzog Chopin. Private, US Army. Lisa Finley McCauley's grandfather.

Ubaldo Pierotti. Served in the Italian Army.
------------------Family Books-------------------------
Jacob Miller Family books, Vol I, II, and III
Jacob Miller Family photo books, Vol I, II, and III
Pierrottie, Pierrotti, Pierotti Family
​Pierrottie, Pierrotti, Pierotti Photos

​As a physician and surgeon, Doctor Miller [above photo in 1924] has lived in and worked for the welfare of the community around Lake Arthur nearly thirty years.  He has achieved a well deserved success in his profession, and also as one of the leaders in the politics and public affairs generally in Jefferson Davis Parish.
    He was born at Grand Chenier, in Cameron Parish, February 3, 1873.  His father, Pierre V. Miller, a native of St. Landry Parish, was a farmer and stockman, and served with a regiment from Vermilion Parish in the Confederate army.  He was a member of the police jury, and well known among the democratic leaders throughout Southwestern Louisiana. He was living retired at Lake Arthur when he died in 1914 at the age of eighty-five.  Pierre Miller married Emilia Broussard, a native of Vermilion Parish. [Murphy Miller comment. He died in 1933 at the age of 60+ years]
    Valerian Albert Miller attended public schools in his native parish, was also a student in the Montgomery Bell Academy, Nashville, Tennessee, and took his medical course in Vanderbilt University at Nashville, where he graduated in 1895.  From 1895 to 1897 he practiced at Humphrey, Arkansas, and since the latter year his home has been at Lake Arthur.  He served as president of the Calcasieu Parish Medical Society, and was one of the organizers of the Jefferson Davis Parish Medical Society. and during the recent World war he was medical examiner on the Jefferson Davis Selection Draft and Exemption Board and chairman of the Red Cross drives.  He has served as coroner of the latter parish since 1918, and has been a member of the parish school board since the parish was created in 1913, having previously served on the Calcasieu Parish Board. Doctor Miller is one of the owners of the Lake Arthur Pharmacy. His recreation mostly is looking after his farm, and he is one of the rice farmers of this locality.  Doctor Miller served as the first mayor of Lake Arthur, and was the first president of the local Chamber of Commerce.  He is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and belongs to Live Oak Lodge No. 346, F. and A. M., the Royal Arch Chapter, Council, the Knights Templar Commandery, the Scottish Rites Consistory and Mystic Shrine.  He is a member of the Jefferson Davis Parish democratic committee, and has been a councillor of the Seventh District Louisiana State Medical Society and in 1911 was chosen a delegate by the state society to the American Medical Association.
    Doctor Miller married at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1895, Miss Annie May Parks, who died in 1897.  She left one son, Lee, who while a student at the University of Kentucky enlisted in the navy during the World War, and is now employed in the Woolworth Department Store at Boston, Massachusetts.  Doctor Miller's second wife was Emma Blocker, of Lake Arthur, daughter of the late Rev. R. M. Blocker, a Methodist minister.  By this marriage there arc three children: Lura, who graduated A. B. from the Louisiana State University, the wife of J. E. Bullerworth, of Baton Rouge; Albert C., a student in civil and petrol engineering at the Louisiana State University; and Melba Lou, a student in high school.
    Scanned and edited for republication by Mike Miller, using the following source:  A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 257-258, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925. 

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More information on this family is included in the 2017 Pierre Valcour Miller Family book. More details on this book at www.FamilyAtLouisiana.com.

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Jacob, George and William Miller families were early settlers in southwest Louisiana. Jacob Miller, and wife Anne Marie Thaison, claimed to be “Roman Catholic and Apostolic, and native of Germany.” George Miller, and wife Catherine Ritter, probably born in Maryland, was from London and reared at Hanover, Germany. William or Guilliam Miller, and wife Anne Kevin or Caven of Ireland, was born in Scotland.
 
Both Jacob and George Miller lived near Grand Coteau after the 1750’s. William did not live in LA but, his wife and family did. William died in Pensacola, FL in 1771 and his wife died in St. Martin, LA. Two of the three known daughters, both Marguerite and Elizabeth Genevieve Miller, married and lived in St. Martin and St. Landry parishes, respectively. Marguerite married Pierre Guidry in 1781 and they had 12 children. Elizabeth married Robert Burleigh, Jr. before 1781 and they had seven children.
 
Some of the William Miller descendants married into Jacob and George Miller families. Pierre Richard, a William Miller descendant, married Eva Colligan in 1865. Eva was a descendant of both Jacob and George Miller families. Therefore, their six children are descendants from the three Miller southwest Louisiana families.
 
Many in southwest Louisiana may know of, or their parents know of, some names from the Jacob Miller family. The Chataignier Miller families included Antoine Miller and Augustine Manuel’s descendants, Antoine Salomon (sons Camille, Faustin and Salomon), Emile (sons J. Bte. “Gus” and Cleophas) Martel (sons Aliday, Martel, Jr., and Gilbert Lee) Homer (son Mayo Homer, daughter Felonise & husband Onest Sonnier), and Jean Pierre (son Octave and his son Malcolm Lionel).
 
Farther south and west in Cameron parish, Antoine’s brother and Civil War Veteran, Pierre Valcour Miller settled. From that family, the well known cattleman Eugene Miller whose son Laurent was a veterinarian and son Martin O. Miller a well know New Orleans physician and was Governor Earl Long’s personal physician. Pierre V. Miller’s son P.V. Miller, Jr.’s son Minos Drosin Miller, Sr. was an attorney who practiced in Lake Charles and Vinton. He was politically well connected. Minos’ son M.D. Miller, Jr. was a WW II pilot, shot down on a mission, presumed dead, and buried at sea. After the U.S. victory, he was freed from a Japanese prisoner of war camp. He practiced law, followed by his election as Judge of the 31st Judicial District Court of Louisiana (Jennings).
 
With so many Miller descendants, it can become overwhelming when evaluating ones family history. You may ask if "So and So" is your relative? The answer requires hours of research. Examples include Miller families in Evangeline parish. The Bonnes Nouvelles recently published “Jack Miller's Food Products Celebrates 75 Years” (June 2016) and “Zick Miller Family - Two Hands to the Plow” (September 2003). The Ville Platte Gazette listed J. Bte. Gus Miller as the Police Jury President (July 1976) and the Daily World (April 1987) printed, “Memories of Miller’s Lake revived”. Roderick Luke Miller’s obituary in the Daily World, January 2005) recounted Cleophas’ son, Rod, and his success as a family man, an attorney, and the first Republican elected to the House of Representatives from Lafayette Parish. Not all of your questions will be answered about the Miller stories published, but let us explore some of the family details mentioned about those families.
 
Dosite “Zick” Miller married Olivia Faul (also Fall) in 1901. One of the 12 children is Jacque Dosite “Jack” Miller who married Joyce Chapman in 1937. Dosite (Do za’ ta) is a descendant of George Miller, Sr. (London) and Catherine Ritter (Germany) both born in the mid 1750s. Olivia’s 2nd great grandparents are John Faul and M. Therese Miller married in 1802. M. Therese Miller is the daughter of Jacob Miller and Anne M. Thaison. Thus, all of Zick and Olivia’s descendants are George and Jacob Miller descendants. That makes “Gus” Miller, the successful Miller Lake advocate, and Jack Miller, of Jacks’ BBQ, 3rd cousins twice removed.
 
Additionally, Olivia Faul is related to Jacob Miller family via her 3rd great grandmother, Marie Barbe Miller, daughter of Jacob. Marie Barbe Frozard, daughter of M. Barbe Miller and wife of Toussaint Quebedeau, is the father of Marie Catherine Quebodeau who married Jean George Fall, great grandfather of Olivia.
 
Dosite “Zick” Miller is 1st cousin three times removed with Marie Magdelaine Boutin, wife of Jean Miller, son of Jacob. This relationship is via his great grandmother Sophie Andrus who married George Miller, Jr. Sophie is the granddaughter of Marguerite M. Boutin, daughter of Paul Boutin, Jr. and the father of Marie Magdelaine Boutin. Gus Miller’s great grandparents are Jean Miller and M. Magdelaine Boutin. Accordingly, Antoine Miller is 2nd cousin twice removed with Dosite “Zick” Miller.
 
Zick and Olivia’s grandson, Alexandre “Alex” Miller married Audrey Castile in 1964. As previously established, Alex is a descendent of both George and Jacob Miller. Audrey’s grandfather Onezime Castille married Laura Guidry, daughter of Moise Guidry and Marie Julia Miller. Julia is the great granddaughter of Charles Miller, Sr. and Anastasie Andrus. Charles is the son of George Miller, Sr. and Catherine Ritter. Thus Audrey Castille is the 5th great granddaughter of George Miller, Sr. and Catherine Ritter. Audrey’s husband is the 4th great grandson of George Miller, Sr. and Catherine Ritter.
 
Audrey Castille is also a descendant of the Jacob Miller via her maternal grandparents, Moise Savoy and Eliza Leger. Eliza’s grandparents are Honore Meche and Josephine Meche, the daughter of David Meche and Marie Rose Frozard. Marie R. Frozard is the daughter of Joseph Frozard and Marie Barbie Miller, the daughter of Jacob Miller and Anna M. Thaison. Accordingly, Audrey Castille is the 5th great granddaughter of Jacob Miller and Anna M. Thaison.

In summary it appears that some family trees have few branches. Regardless of the where one was born, cousins did marry cousins. Many, like my parents, were simply unaware of the family relationships. The automobile did not play a significant role in separating one major family from another until the 20th century. Moreover, cousins who did marry are separated by several generations. Living in an agrarian society until the early 1900s, families with different names were neighbors and in those early years, few traveled away from home. Whether you are Louisiana born or not, if your last name and your spouse’s last name is the same as an early settler, you probably married a distant cousin.