Monday, June 13, 2011

Finding Documents and Tracing Aunt Lucille Metoyer Roots back to Cane River

Lucille Marie METOYER- PHILLIPS
1934-1995
It will be 16 years since my aunt Lucile Metoyer Phillips passed away on October 1995.   Hardly,  a moment has pass since then that I have not thought why didn't I  ask her about her family's origins and what brought their family out to California.  

As a family  historian, I appreciate capturing the memories of those, especially our elders while they are alive and in full control of their memories.  I believe, she could have provided me  some first hand insight into the Metoyer family's history.  And as I mentioned in a previous blog posting, I first found out that my mother had two other brothers,  that after serving time in the military decided to settle their families out on the west coast in California (Los Angeles and Compton).  Still today many questions remain about their family life outside Louisiana and what they remembered about  growing up back home in Louisiana.
Having traced my mother side of our family back to both the French and Spanish colonial periods in Louisiana  history, I have now a greater sense of belonging to a place, a people and a rich ancestral history which I  embrace fully.   Each surname in our family that is connected via a marriage also offers  some  research possibilities and histories that are as equally interesting as those from my main bloodlines.  One such surname is that of the METOYER family of Cane River,  see their story in a previous blog posting.  The Progenitor of the Metoyer family was Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer.  Again, You can also see in a previous blog his very interesting bio too.  
What I hope now to do is trace my aunt Lucille Marie Metoyer Phillips ancestry through her father Eusebio E. Metoyer which is the next generation that should offer some interesting insights.   I know even less about his life other than what my mother has told me and from a few pictures I have seen of the family while living in New Orleans.  This search will be done through the use of various records that I hope to discover and prove a direct lineal relationship to one of Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer ten children.   I believe as I look back on a few preliminarily documents, I have found  there is a good chance Lucille Marie Metoyer  Phillips could be the 3rd generation great granddaughter of Pierre Metoyer seen in red in his Father Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer Bio.
What is also interesting is the various migration patterns discovered in each family generation that  starts in  Natchitoches, La,  with (Pierre Metoyer), New Orleans, (with his son- Auguste Dorestan Metoyer),  Mexico (with his son-TBD), back to New Orleans (with his son- TBD), then to Wisconsin (with his son-TBD), back  to New Orleans (with his Son -Eusebio E. METOYER ) then  eventually  California  (with his Daughter- Lucille Marie METOYER).   This was all seen in the various documents that I have uncovered so far.   I should know more once,  I obtain  a few other  original documents ordered from the Louisiana State Archives.

Note :TBD (To Be Determined)

2 comments:

  1. Good luck on researching your new branch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Kristin, It's turning into an interesting journey, one that I hope to complete in a few months. One of the more interesting challenges is finding documents that will help tell the story of this particular branch that was once thought to be lost. Understanding the various naming patterns through in each generation is offering me some interesting insight on this particular branch too.

    ReplyDelete