For the longest time, all I knew about the woman pictured above was that her name was Louisa, that she was married to Henry THOMAS, and that they both lived in Plaisance, Louisiana. Besides that, I knew nothing more behind that beautiful portrait, not even her last name. This would all change after exploring why my Cousin Andris THOMAS was matching with Demetrius TAURIAC. After viewing the DNA matches shared between Sherry THOMAS and her uncle Andris THOMAS, I noticed that he was matching Demetrius TAURIAC awfully high. I knew that Demetrius was a direct descendant of the CHRETIEN family of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana through Prosper CHRETIEN, a free man of color born to Francois Dezincourt CHRETIEN, a prosperous planter, and FANNY, Francois’s enslaved Negresse.
But I couldn’t understand how they were matching at 28 centimorgans (cM) based on my detailed knowledge of their trees going back to the 1700s. I understand that DNA inheritance is random, however, I wasn’t aware of any close ties between Andris and Demetrius to confirm this relatively high number of shared centimorgans. A match of 28 cMs could indicate relationships as close as fourth cousins. It then dawned on me that I once believed that Andris’s ancestor, Louisa, could possibly have been the Elisa (Liza) CHRETIEN who was married to Henry THOMAS as shown in this Catholic marriage entry: CHRETIEN, Elisa (Joseph & Magdeleine RAYMOND) m. 5 Jan. 1870 Henry THOMAS (Opel. Ch.: v. E, #91). The only discrepancy was “Elisa” was used instead of Louisa. But of course, with my knowledge of nicknames given to women during this time period, I knew that women with the name Louise or Louisa commonly went by “Elisa” or “Liza”. Elisa and Liza were also sometimes short for Elizabeth.
SEARCHING FOR LOUISA’S MOTHER
Now more confident in believing that Louisa was Elisa, I searched the Catholic records for more information on Magdeleine RAYMOND, Elisa’s mother as identified in her marriage record. From the Catholic records, I learned that Magdeleine had another child named Estelle CHENIER with Andre CHENIER. Estelle was married on 20 Jan 1885 to Aurelien NED as shown in this Catholic marriage entry: NED, Aurelien (Daniel & Melisaire MICHEL) m. 20 Jan. 1885 Estelle CHENIER (Andre & Madeleine RAYMOND) (SM Ch.: v. 11, p. 33). After retrieving that information, I then searched for any information on Madeleine and Andre CHENIER and located their marriage entry: RAYMOND, Fanhonnette (Francois & Maria) m. 25 Oct. 1866 Andre CHENIER (Opel. Ch.: v. 2, p. 352). As shown in this Catholic marriage entry, Magdeleine was now going by Fanhonnette RAYMOND.
Louisa listed with her mother Magdeleine – Francois D. CHRETIEN Estate
DNA MATCHES LEAD TO MORE RECORD SEARCHES
When I typed in the CHRETIEN surname in Cousin Andris’s DNA matches, boom! He had a whole page filled with DNA matches shared with descendants of Prosper CHRETIEN (Demetrius’s direct ancestor) as well as other legitimate White descendants of Francois Dezinacourt CHRETIEN. This would definitely confirm kinship among Andris and the known descendants of the CHRETIEN family. It was highly likely that there was indeed a definite common CHRETIEN ancestor that Andris and Demetrius shared. I then turned to the records and located the estate inventory of Francois Dasincourt CHRETIEN, who had a very large plantation. To my surprise, in that inventory I located this: Estate Inventory of Francois D. CHRETIEN, FANCHON (Mulatto) 23 (1836) with her two children LOUISON 4 (1855) and ZENON 3 (1856). They were sold to Zelina and Oscar HALPHEN for $3300. This seemed more than co-incidence based on the other records I reviewed. My conclusion was that Fanchon was the same woman also known as Magdeleine; LOUISON was “LOUISA”!
Andris’s highest CHRETIEN DNA match was with user CHRETIEN61. According to his tree, he is a descendant of an Antoine CHRETIEN. I then searched for more information on Antoine. I located him as early as the 1870 census listed as a Mulatto aged about 11 years living in the household of Paul fils and Pelagie who I was able to identify as Paul LACOUR and Pelagie RAYMOND. I took note of the RAYMOND surname [same as Louisa’s mother]. I also searched the Catholic marriages for an Antoine CHRETIEN and found this one: CHRETIEN, Antoine (Antoinette) m. 21 Jan. 1880 Marie JEAN BAPTISTE (SM Ch.: v. 10, p. 390). I also located Antoine and his mother in the same estate sale as Louisa and her mother listed as 108. TOINETTE (Negresse) 19 (1840) with her son 4 months at $100 her son then identified as ANTOINE sold to Augustin RICHARD for $2025. After locating Antoine on the same estate, it is also highly likely that he is the son of Joseph F. CHRETIEN as well.
Andris THOMAS DNA matches with CHRETIEN’s
1870 census Household of Paul LACOUR and Pelagie RAYMOND
After obtaining all this information with the help of DNA, courthouse records, and Catholic Church documentation, there is much more known about the beautiful lady in the old photo I’ve had for years.
