A lot of people don’t know the importance of a family historian until they are seeking knowledge of the family. Our job is very important since we obligate our time in preserving the family history, a task that isn’t as easy as it seems when we present the information we’ve found. I’m going to share something with you all to see why it’ s important to at least know something about your family.
This is the death certificate of Fred FRILOT, Sr., who was a Louisiana Creole born in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. He later moved to Houston, Texas where he died. When he died his son Fred, Jr., the informant, didn’t even know his grandparents’ names! WOW! I can only imagine how many of Fred, Sr.’s descendants who may live around Houston who are clueless of their family ties, ties that connect them to prominent free people of color who were free since the 1700s.
Fred FRILOT was born on 27 Apr 1889 to Etienne FRILOT and Elmina OLIVIER, both gens de couleur libres (free people of color). In the census Frederick listed that his mother was born in Mexico. His mother was indeed born in Mexico and there is an interesting story how that happened. Her family as well as many free people of color of South Louisiana fled to Mexico during the Civil War to escape persecution from the racial and political ugliness of the War. In this short article I attached the death certificate, a picture of Fred’s mother Elmina, his sister Mary and his family tree going back to the 1700s.
