Identifying the JEAN Family’s Roots

In May of 2015, I met with Kerri JEAN and her family, descendants of Alfred JEAN, who lived in the old Pair Orchid community of Beaumont, Texas, a place where many fleeing Louisiana Creoles migrated during the early 1920s. Kerri and I had been Facebook friends for a while before we would actually run into each other in person and decided to set up a family meeting to share and exchange information.  Through her maternal side, we discovered that we were related through the STEVENS, JOUBERTS, LAVIGNES and FONTENOTs. On her paternal side, I traced their ancestry back to Alfred JEAN, a relative their family didn’t know much about.  That would change after a courthouse trip to Opelousas on 7 Jul 2016.

Estate Sale of Julie POTIER (wife of Dr. A.O.. GUIDRY)

 This record would prove significant in identifying BECKY (Negro) 32 (1826) and her five children:  SAM 9 (1847) ALCIDE 7(1851) ARTHUR 5 (1853) and ALFRED 3 (1855) and EDGAR at 1 (1857) and their father Jean FOCRET as well as the source of the JEAN surname.

WHO WAS BECKY?

Based on the names and ages of Becky and her children, I knew they were the family I located in the 1880 census living in the same households or as neighbors not far from Dr. GUIDRY’s estate.  I discovered Alfred JEAN’s death certificate that listed his parents as Contha JEAN and Rebecka JEAN.  I then began to locate the Catholic Church and courthouse marriage records of Alfred JEAN’s siblings to see who they listed as their parents or to see who were witnesses. When his sister Modeste was married to Hypolite ROBIT at the Opelousas courthouse, Arthur JEAN, her brother, was one of the witnesses: ROBIT, Polite m. 9 Feb. 1886 Modeste JEANS (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. # 13926). Modeste’s Catholic marriage entry to Hypolite listed her parents as Bertrand JEAN and Rebecca GRANDBURRY: Modeste (Bertrand & Rebecca GRANDBURY) m. 17 May 1898 Hypolite ROUBIT (GC Ch.: Blk. Reg.: v.4, p.364). 

From Modeste’s Catholic marriage record, I gained a surname for BECKY. Since I had never run across the surname GRANDBURRY, I searched the census and Catholic records and found a John GRANBERRY who was a doctor from Pennsylvania. It is possible that BECKY was somehow connected to this gentleman, perhaps being formerly enslaved on his plantation. A. O. GUIDRY was also a medical doctor so it would make sense that may have had business dealings. 

So, at this point I identified Becky as Becca GRANDBURRY.  But who was her children’s father and where did the surname JEAN come from?

WHO IS THE FATHER?

Since records confirmed BECKY as the mother of this family of JEANs, I still had to figure out the father of her children. Here is BECKY’s daughter Clementine’s church and courthouse marriage entry: GUILBEAUX, Auguste m. 13 Jan. 1876 Clementine JONES (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. #8521) JEAN, Clementine (Jean & Rebecca) m. 27. Jan 1876 Auguste GUILBEAUX (GC Ch.:v.4,p.2940) This time the father was listed simply as JEAN. Was the father of her children JEAN JEAN? A slave with no surname? But if so, why they were listed as Mulattoes in a few census records? 

I once suspected that Becky and her children were connected to the JEAN family who lived in Lawtell, Louisiana, an area where many of the GUIDRY’s lived. However, in the 1900 census, a few of BECKY’s children indicated that their father was born in France. I then ruled out this theory because the Lawtell JEANs were descendants of freed West Africans.

A LIKELY SUSPECT

I then began to search the census records and located Dr. Guidry in the 1870 census living in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. His estate was valued at $3000 and his personal assets were valued at $1000, a large sum of money during this time. Statistics from my research show that people who had this much value during the 1870 census most likely owned slaves during the antebellum period. In this census record, I noticed a man named Jean FOCARE of France, aged about 63 (1807) who was living in Dr. GUIDRY’s household. I suspected that this had to be the father of BECKY’s children. If so, this would ultimately explain why BECKY’s sons Alcide JEAN, Alfred JEAN and Edgar JEAN all listed their father being born in France in the 1900 census. Instead of taking their father’s legitimate surname, they took his forename. But of course, I didn’t have full proof so I continued searching for answers, or at least validation. 

1860 Census Household of Dr. A.O GUIDRY and Jean FOCRET

He was in the area prior to the 1850s according to a land purchase, dated 11 Jul 1839, between him and others buying land in Grand Coteau. These facts place him at the right place and the right time to be the father of Becky’s children.

A LUCKY BREAK!

It was sheer luck that I would locate the Catholic marriage entry of BECKY’s son, Alcide, in the supplemental volume of Father HEBERT’s Catholic records that listed him as a FOCRET: FOCRET, Alcide J. (Rebecca) m. 20 Feb. 1871 Divine MAFFY (GC Ch.:v.4, p.97).  Jean’s surname being spelled FOCRET on that land sale is the same way the priest listed his natural son Alcide’s surname.  This strengthened my conclusion. In Maury’s voice, “Mr. FOCRET, you are the father!”

Confirmation of Jean FOCRET as the father of BECKY’s sons shows how some families are going by surnames that aren’t very telling of their ancestral ties. All of Jean FOCRET’s and Becky GRANDBURRY’s children used the surname JEAN. Had it not been for his son Alcide being listed as a FOCRET in his Catholic marriage, I probably would have only been drifting off a theory. This shows the difficulty in connecting people of color to their ancestors. But it also shows how persistence (and sometimes a bit of luck) can reveal records to identify a family’s actual ancestry.