For years, many of us have passionately pursued the lineage of our French Creole ancestors only to meet with disappointment upon realizing that the discovery of new ancestors to add to our family tree is often few and far between. The release of “Long Journey Home: The Ancestry of the Bret, Coco, Drapeau, Goudeau, Gremillon and Tassin Families in France” provides a long-awaited addition to many Louisiana, Gulf Coast and colonial Illinois family trees by bringing forth newly discovered, never-before published and fully documented DIRECT lineages of these six families in France.
Included in the book is 175 years of the ancestry of Louisiana progenitor, Dominique Coco, in his native Italy (now France). You’ll discover the actual town in which he was baptized, the true spelling of his surname and the real names of his parents as nine generations of his ancestry is unveiled.
You’ll also uncover eight generations (also spanning about 175 years) of Louis Gremillon’s ancestry beginning with his 1714 baptism in Courcival (Sarthe). You’ll also learn about the commonality between this family and the Normand family of Igé (Orne) in France.
The book also reveals the previously unknown parents of early Mobile settlers Louis Bret (Brette) and his wife, Elizabeth Roy, and provides baptismal records of their children – several of whom were married in Mobile as well as their daughter, Perrine Bret, who settled in Pointe Coupee Parish (Louisiana) after marrying Nicolas de la Cour in 1726.
Discover new details about the lineage of Michel Charles Goudeau, 18th century surgeon to the King in the French settlements of Mobile, the Illinois territory and Louisiana, beginning with his 1713 baptism in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) and including several new generations in the line of his mother, Marie Anne Dergny. In addition to the discovery of multiple generations of the Antoine Drapeau and Joseph Tassin families, this book also contains fascinating details uncovered about the ‘occupation’ of our direct Tassin ancestor - Marie Le Roy – and how this occupation may have played a role in her death as well as the death of several of her young children.
(I'm getting a lot of questions about the contents of the book. In case you were wondering, the book is about the ANCESTORS of our progenitors rather than their descendants. In other words, the book contains the (for instance) g-g-great-grandparents (& more) of Louis Gremillion (born 1714) & Dominique Coco rather than their grandchildren & great-grandchildren. The lineages are traced backwards rather than forwards.)
This book is the result of years of tedious research through the Catholic sacramental records in France. Each chapter in the 174-page book begins with the Louisiana progenitor of one of these families and contains copies of the sacramental records used to establish lineage.
These families made a profound impact in the early settlement of French colonial Louisiana, Mobile and the Illinois country as they married into other French families. If you have ties to Avoyelles and Pointe Coupee Parishes of Louisiana, you are likely descended from one or more of these pioneers. The book will not disappoint!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cathy (Lemoine) Sturgell is a New Orleans area native now living in Tennessee. Like many Louisiana natives with ties to Avoyelles Parish – the birthplace of both of
her parents - her lineage is almost entirely French creole. She’s an avid genealogist and has worked for more than a quarter century to accurately document her
family history. Cathy is directly descended from each of the Louisiana progenitors in the book.
"Long Journey Home", can be ordered for $35 (includes shipping in the USA only) via PAYPAL, check or money order. To order via PAYPAL, click the BUY NOW button below and follow instructions:
To order via mail, please send a check or money to the following address. Please include your email address in case I have a need to contact you about your order:
Please allow up to 3-4 weeks for delivery.
NOTE: If ordering from outside the USA, please contact me via email to determine extra shipping charges.
Don't forget to LIKE us on Facebook!
A special thanks to Randy Decuir from Avoyelles Publishing Company for helping to get word out about the book release via his website and via his newspapers.
From Damon Veach's 10/1/12 review of "Long Journey Home" in Cajuns, Creoles, Pirates and Planters: "Sturgell's book is just one of the best I have ever reviewed when it comes to pictures, documents, and even maps. It is just so nice to see someone take so much time to present this family history in such a pleasant and delightful format."
You can also see the latest book review of "Long Journey Home" in the December 2012 edition of "Le Comite des Archives de la Louisiane" - the quarterly publication of the State Archives - "Le Comite".
