For the longest, all I knew about the woman pictured about was her name Louisa was and that she was married to Henry THOMAS who both lived in Plaisance, Louisiana. Besides that, I knew nothing more behind that beautiful portrait, not even having any knowledge of her last name. This would all change after exploring why Cousin Andris was matching with Demetrius. Based on the knowledge of Demetrius, he was a direct descendant of the CHRETIEN family of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana through Prosper CHRETIEN, a free man of color both to Francois Dezincourt CHRETIEN, a prosperous planter, and FANNY, Francois’s enslaved Negresse.
After viewing the matches shared between Sherry THOMAS and her Uncle Andris THOMAS, I noticed that he was matching Demetrius TAURIAC awfully high. By knowing both of their trees in great detail going back to the 1700s, I couldn’t understand how they were matching at 28 cms. I understand DNA is random, however, they didn’t have any close ties to match those centimorgans. It then dawned on me that I once believed that Andris ancestor Louisa could’ve possibly been the 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 Liza was used instead of Louisa but of course, with my knowledge on nicknames given by women during this time period, I knew that Women with the name Louise or Louise commonly went by LISA for short. Lisa was also sometimes short for Elizabeth. With now building the confidence in believing this information as possibly being accurate, I searched the Catholic records for more information on Magdeleine RAYMOND. From the Catholic record, I learned that she had another child named Estelle CHENIER with Andre CHENIER who was married on 20 Jan 1885 to Aurelien NED: 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 her 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 the Catholic marriage entry, Magdeleine was now going by Fanhonnette RAYMOND.
Louisa listed with her mother Magdeleine Francois D. CHRETIEN Estate
When I typed in the CHRETIEN surname in cousin Andris DNA matches, boom! He had a whole page filled with DNA matches shared with descendants of Prosper CHRETIEN 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 it was indeed a definite common CHRETIEN ancestor 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.
Andris 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, hence RAYMOND surname [same as Louisa’s mother]. I also search 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 of 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’s 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, and Catholic Church documentation, there is much more known about the beautiful lady in the old photo I’ve had for years.