Just a few minutes ago I got off the phone Mr. ANDREPONT, my former principal at Pietzch-MacArthur Elementary School here in Beaumont, Texas. As I was gathering material for a new article on families who obtained freedom before the Civil War, I went searching on Facebook and saw a picture of Mr. ANDREPONT with his wife, one of my Donato relatives, and daughter. This sparked my curiosity about whether he was kin to the ANDREPONT’s from Plaisance and sure enough my search showed that he was.
His daughter then put me in touch with him and he was able to substantiate some of my finds. His grandfather, Joseph ANDREPONT, was the son of Hypolite ANDREPONT, fils, the grandson of the plantation owner who owned Joseph’s mother, Marguerite. Marguerite was the child of Carmelite, a Negro woman born about 1828. I thought Hypolite and Marguerite had just Joseph but he told me they had a daughter married to a LOUIS. I did a record search and found this marriage entry: LOUIS, Adam m. 18 Jan. 1888 Martha ANDREPONT (Crowley Ct. Hse.: Mar. #83). I then found her death certificate that gave her paternity, just as Mr. ANDREPONT said.
It feels as if it was yesterday when Mr. ANDREPONT called me on the megaphone to speak to me about calling another student a name I shouldn’t have been saying. What an immature lad I was! Over the years I’ve grown and matured. I’ve been putting in a lot of time doing a comprehensive study of SW Louisiana families that allowed me to give Mr. ANDREPONT answers to many of his questions about his family.
As we conversed, he revealed that his mother was a CEASAR. She’s the daughter of Harris CEASAR and Esther FRANK. This makes us share 10 common ancestors.
In addition, the fact that his wife is my Donato relative means that his children and I share even more common ancestors! Wow!!!
Below is a picture of his maternal ancestors, Cyprien CESAIRE and his wife Pelagie VICTORIAN, and a document listing his paternal great grandmother, Marguerite, on the plantation of her children’s grandfather.
