The importance of finding sources!!!

I love how my research skills have improved over the years of my research. I’m experienced enough to now project to which progenitor these mysterious people come from before finding the actual documented proof. Unlike some researchers who much rather sit and wait FOR OTHERS TO LOOK FOR ANSWERS, I actually VISIT THE Courthouses to obtain information to verify my research claims. Being guided by research extraordinaire Christophe Landry​ has definitely benefited the way I go about my research. There was a time that I thought Mr. Landry was doubted the information I sent to him on things I found since he asked for the source behind this information. He used to get on my nerves when he asked how I knew this and that. Instead of arguing with him about the things I found he taught me to have documentation on what I found so that my claims could be validated. You all have no idea how big this project is and how beneficial it will be for the preservation of history of St. St Landry Parish.

I’ll give you an example of why it’s important to actually get sourced information rather than only going by the research of others. For the longest I once assumed that my maternal 4th great grandfather Theophile LACHAPELLE was the son of Henriette GRADENIGO. Seeing that many users on ancestry.com had this information made it COMFORTABLE for me to go ALONG with it as well. Without question is this was correct or not I went with it. I also saw the Theophile’s wife was the Julie BIROTTE parents were Francois BIROTTE and Louise GUILLORY. Having this unsourced information led me to believe that I was a GRADENIGO descendant of Bonaparte GRADENIGO and a Guillory descendant of Gregoire GUILLORY and his Negresse MARGUERITE. Oh boy was I a proud research to descend from two of the affluent families of St. Landry Parish but of course that would all change once I started researching at the Courthouse.

After looking through this succession; LACHAPELLE, Henriette Succ. dated 13 Dec. 1882 (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Succ. # 4387) I noticed that my ancestor Theophile LACHAPELLE or his family was not listed as an heir of Henriette. During a Courthouse research I also was able to locate the slave record in which Henriette’s children father, Pierre Hubert LANGLOIS dit LACHAPELLE purchased her and her children without listing Theophile. This led me to believe that Theophile wasn’t Henriette’s child. I looked for the marriage of Theophile to his wife Julie but couldn’t see it from the microfilmed copy they had available on the computer so I asked for the original copy. That’s when I discovered that mothers of both Theophile and his wife. Theophile’s mother was Josephine TESSON, mulatresse libre de St. LOUIS and Julie’s mother was Eloise MEUILLON, mulatresse libre. The fact that Julie’s father Francois BIROTTE fathered children with two women both named LOUISE made it confusing. Who would have known that this tiny bit of information written in French would make such a huge difference in my ancestry?
Now imagine if I had not gone to the courthouse to conduct research. I would have still been claiming information that obviously isn’t true. .