For the last decade I have been conducting research on my Louisiana families ties and have gone to several communities in and around St. Landry Parish, most of which I have met relatives. Most of those relatives have been living on the same lands since the colonial period, however, one of the only communities that I have not had much interaction with was Krotz Springs which is the town furthest west of St. Landry Parish bounded by the Atchafalaya River, a rock throw from Pointe Coupee Parish. Who lives there? Do I have kinfolks there? What was Krotz Springs known for?
Krotz Springs was named after an Anglo-American named Charles William KROTZ, commonly called C.W. KROTZ, a real estate agent from Ohioan. In April 1902, C.W. purchased 18,335.84 acres of land from Joel W. HALBERT who originally purchased the land in 1900 from John V. MOFFETT and Allen R. DILLON.
While drilling for oil, instead they discovered a natural spring on the lands hence Krotz Springs. Water from Krotz was distributed all over the world, some transactions are recorded at St. Landry Parish Archives which could also be discovered on Eclerksla.com.
From research experience I knew I could discover the people of any community within St. Landry by looking at those who were buried at the cemetery or looking by saving gas by utilizing the worldwide web to look at death certificates on Familysearch.org. On average, people are typically buried in places where they had some ties to that community. In search of people within the community of Krotz Springs, I searched on Familysearch.org and located a Clifton PERRY who died in Ville Platte in 1958 was buried in Krotz Springs at the First Baptist Church of Krotz Springs. Clifton was born circa 1899 in Louisiana to Joseph PERRY and Edmonia GAUTHREAUX. According to his newspaper obituary he went by the name “Nooky.” After doing more research on Clifton’s family, I discovered that Clifton’s paternal grandmother Louise NORMAND was the half-sister of my maternal 3rd great grandfather Charles NORMAND, a free man of color. Clifton’s father was the first cousin of my maternal 2nd great grandmother Maxima Elmer NORMAND making him a 2nd cousin to my great grandmother which would make any of Clifton’s progeny a 3rd cousin to my late grandfather, so forth and so on.
My ancestor Edmond was liberated by his father when he was an infant. Edmond was born to a slave of Jacques LASTRAPES named FANNY; a daughter of Wolof slave named CESAIRE. What are the odds of me searching for the people of Krotz Springs and discovering a relative? Well of course if you have been following Alex’s genealogy discoveries then this shouldn’t surprise you.
