Welcome!

Genealogy Meeting August 12, 2017 at 10:00 am

NEWS BULLETIN . . .   
Dear Friends:
Can you help me spread the news about an interesting program on Saturday, August 12? Also, Please see the attached info about our program presenter after my memo. Thanks.
I am so delighted to share this great information about Saturday's 10:00am meeting of the St Landry Genealogical & Historical Society at the Opelousas Public Library. 
Our friend, Johnny Reed of Eunice, has agreed to give us the background for the reasons Opelousas was chosen to serve for a while as the Louisiana State capital during the War Between the States. As a native & long time resident of Opelousas, I am appalled that I knew so little of the full background for this move to our historic & cherished city.
Johnny & I, over the years, have had many interesting  conversations on our area's diverse culture & history - but this specific subject never came up until recently, and I was excited to learn & now to have him share his research with us at our meeting this Saturday, August 12 at 10:00 am in the Opelousas Public Library located at 212 E Grolee St. 
Interested persons are always invited to attend our second Saturday monthly meetings - one does not have to be a member, and all are invited to bring interested kinfolk & friends to attend & participate in the question & answer sessions after the presentation. We have coffee & invite you to join us!
OUR SPEAKER IS:

REED, JOHN I.
John I. Reed, President of Compliance Services, a substance abuse testing company in Eunice, Louisiana, is a graduate of Eunice High School and the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He was named Outstanding Citizen of Eunice in 1982  by the Eunice Jaycees. He is an active member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, General J. Alfred Mouton Chapter of Opelousas. As a Civil War reenactor, Reed served with both Kings Battery of Breaux Bridge and the Pelican Artillery of Opelousas since 2005.

He has presented programs about the Louisiana Legislature and the laws they enacted while they were in session in Opelousas when the city was the Confederate capitol of Louisiana. Reed began his research on this subject in 2015, when “. . . and the capitol of Louisiana was moved to Opelousas . . . “ was the only statement about the event. Questions about the reasons for the move, the government officials who were involved, the actual relocation, the buildings used by the Governor and law-makers will be discussed by Reed. Included also will be some discussion about the laws enacted and legal goings-on while Opelousas was Louisiana’s capitol in 1862-1863.
 

Black Genealogy Conference in Lafayette, LA July 15, 2017

Announcement to our members that Saturday July 15th the 2017 Black Genealogy Conference sponsored by Le Comite' des Archives de la Louisiane will be held at UL Lafayette in the Ernest Gaines Center (3rd floor, Dupre' Library) from 9:00 to 4:00. Admission is free to members and $20 for nonmembers. This year's featured speaker is Boston genealogist Brian Sheffey (founder of Genealogy Adventures). Other speakers include:  Christophe Landry, Jari Honora, John DeSantis, Ray Brassieur, & Karran Harper Royal. Parking available: EK Long Parking Log (Zone 15).

Genealogy Meeting July 8th, 2017 at 10:00 am

The next meeting of the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society will be on July 8, 2017 at 10:00 am at the Opelousas Public Library on Grolee St.

 

Subject will be the history of St. Landry Cemetery and it's importance to the history of Southwestern Louisiana. James Douget will present the long awaited reprint of "Sous Cette Pierre Repose", the book by his wife Susan Burleigh Douget, with the records of St. Landry Church Cemetery as of 1993.

The book will be available for $55.

 

The public is as always invited. Refreshments will be served at 9:30 am with the meeting starting at 10:00 am

June 11, 2016, Meeting at the Opelousas Public Library

 

For their efforts in the book, “Acadie Then and Now: A People’s History,” Warren Perrin, Mary Broussard Perrin and Phil Comeau have been awarded the prestigious Prix France-Acadie 2015 in the "humanities " section.
Co-editors Warren and Mary Perrin will be presenting a talk about the book’s subject matter, the far-flung descendants of the displaced Acadian people all over the world, at the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical and Historical Society meeting at the Opelousas Public Library.  The meeting will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, June 11.  Members are urged to come and bring their friends and family, and the public is cordially invited.  Coffee will be served beginning at 9:30.
“Acadie Then and Now" is a comprehensive study of the Acadians around the world and includes an international collection of articles from 50 authors that chronicle the historical and contemporary realities of the Acadian and Cajun people worldwide.
In a previous interview with the Advertiser about the book, Warren Perrin said that the idea came to fruition after he, Pat Mould and Kermit Bouillion visited Lanaudiere, a region in Quebec.
Perrin “found that there were over 30,000 Acadians there and, despite my travels in 25 years of representing CODOFIL (the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana), I didn't know it existed,” he said. “We had lunch with a historian, and Vera Petley, our guide, and I decided that it was necessary to write a book to show where Acadie existed in the world today.”
After that, a group email was sent to more than 100 historians from many countries and then the outline of the book was put together.
“Phil Comeau of Montreal came here for Pat Mire's film festival, and my wife and co-editor Mary and I had dinner with him, and we asked him to come on board and help us,” said Warren Perrin, adding that Comeau “was very instrumental putting the book together,” said Perrin. “And this allowed Mary and I to do a French and English version simultaneously.”
The Prix France-Acadie is an initiative of the French association "Friendship France - Acadie," created in 1976 under the name "Friendship Acadian" and supported by the Foundation of France.
The association's mission is to develop cultural and friendly relations between Acadians and French and to strengthen the ties between Canada and the World Francophone community.

May 14, 2016 Meeting at the Opelousas Public Library

Plan to attend the presentation on the Great Women of Opelousas on Saturday, May 14, 2016 - 10AM at the meeting room upstairs at the Opelousas Public Library - 212 East Grolee Street in Opelousas. Presented by the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society. See the attached flyer and help to spread the word. Look forward to seeing you there

April 9, 2016 Meeting at the Opelousas Pubic Library

Cheryl Myers will be our program presenter at the next Genealogy Society meeting scheduled for 10:00 AM Saturday, April 9, in the meeting room of the Opelousas Library. She will be reviewing her latest publication, the history of the beautifully preserved old town of Washington, one of the many gems of our St Landry Parish. This is the third historical. Study she has researched and preserved for us to cherish, the earlier two being histories of other parish communities - Palmetto and Port Barre.
If the volumes arrive in time from the book publishers, Cheryl will have some available for sale to interested attendees.
 
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Washington, LA – A Steamboat Town is the name of the book.  It chronicles 200 years of the towns history from 1720-1920.   Beginning with the French Concessions and Spanish Land Grants, each individual’s family is carried out four generations so that the book can be used as both a historical reference and genealogical resource.  Some of the original family surnames include: Courtableau; Lemelle; Bello (Donato); Carron; Chretien; Duralde; Gradenigo; Vidrine; and Doucet.

                                During the steamboat era Washington was in its heyday and many of the steamboat captains made Washington their home.  Many Washington residents can claim their ancestry through the steamboat captains: Hinckley; Carriere; Crawford; Capps; Tesson;  Willson; Louaillier; or Webb.

                                This book gives details on all the owners and proprietors of the warehouses, stores, hotels, “coffee houses”, cooper shops, and historical homes in the town of Washington from the beginning of the town to the cut-off date of 1920.  Also, covered are the plantation homes that are outside of the corporate limits and include:  Arlington; Macland; Starvation Point, Homeplace, and Moundville Plantation.

                                Cheryl Bihm Myers has a Master’s Degree plus 30 hours in Education and is a retired school principal after thirty years with the St. Landry Parish School System.  She and her late husband, Jimmie are the parents of two children, Jeremy and Monique and they have two grandchildren, Colin and Sydney Myers.   Her parents Robert L. and Hazel Bellard Bihm inspired in her a love of history and a desire to know “when, where and how”. 

                                Washington, LA – A Steamboat Town is the third historical book that Cheryl has written.  Her love of history and genealogy and dedication to research has produced Palmetto the Early Years published in 1987 and The History of Port Barre published in 1997.

March 12, 2016 Meeting at the Opelousas Public Library

The next meeting of the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society will be on Saturday, March 12, 2016 from 10:00 am till 12:00 pm at the public Library in Opelousas, La at 212 E Grolee St, Opelousas, LA 70570.
 
Susie Guidry Perry “PETIT COUZIN” is from Lafayette, Louisiana presently living on the land inherited from her grandfather, Francois Gilman Guidry in North Lafayette. Direct descendant of Louis David Guidry of Grand Coteau from Pierre Guidry of Acadie and from Claude Guidry of Acadie and France whom all Guidrys' descend, Mrs. Perry is interested in collaborating with other Guidry descendants to establish a pictorial, and historical book on as many relatives in her program called “Lets Connect Our Guidrys'”. She has researched genealogy for 35 years and still amazed how much there is to learn. History is lost every day when it is not recorded by our generation. Pictures are misplace and unidentified to its owner, if not preserved by descendants. Mrs. Perry will share in her organizational skills, demonstrate forms and discuss her recently released “LES GUIDRY” A 300 page book on 13 generations of Guidrys, with documents, pictures, and stories of each generation as they arrived here and continued to populate the Attakapa District in Louisiana. Learn how to discover and document material for any collection.
 
Join the genealogy society as we organize your family. Bring stories, pictures and documents or any material important to you so Mrs. Perry can help you get started recording your family history.

February 13, 2016 Meeting at the Opelousas Public Library

The February meeting of the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, February 13, 2016 upstairs in the Opelousas Public Library, 212 E. Grolee St. Coffee and light refreshments will be available at 9:30 a.m.

 

Anyone interested in history and genealogy is invited to attend.Unfortunately the speaker we had planned for this meeting canceled on short notice and is unable to come. But please still bring information about the Guidry family you have, so we can compile the information as we had planned. We will show how members can use Ancestry.com library edition, Heritage Quest, Find-a-grave and other online databases thru the Opelousas-Eunice Public Library and the State Library system.

January 9, 2016 Meeting at the Opelousas Public Library

The January meeting of the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, January 9, 2016 upstairs in the Opelousas Public Library, 212 E. Grolee St. Coffee and light refreshments will be available at 9:30 a.m.. Anyone interested in history and geneaology is invited to attend.

We will be holding a workshop to have members look at the books we have about genealogy and to get suggestions about what books and other media the library could get to help the society. We also will show how members can use Ancestry.com library edition, Heritage Quest, Find-a-grave and other online services.

November 14, 2015 Meeting at the Opelousas Public Library

The November meeting of the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, November 14, 2015 upstairs in the Opelousas Public Library, 212 E. Grolee St. Coffee and light refreshments will be available at 9:30 a.m.. Anyone interested in history and genealogy is invited to attend.

 

We will be holding a workshop to get our members to discuss plans for next year and to get suggestions about what books and other media the library could get to help the society.

Please remember, there will be no meeting in the month of December.

October 10, 2015 Meeting at the Delta Theater in Opelousas

The next meeting of the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society will be held on Saturday, October 10, 2015 at 10:00 am at the Delta Grande Theatre in Opelousas (noooot at the library). Dr. Donald J. Alcendor, an Opelousas native will give a presentation about DNA Alalysis in Genealogical Research. This should be a real treat for all genealogists.

Preserving History

Let's all work together to try and preserve this very important piece of Opelousas, Louisiana history!

Opelousas was capital of Confederate Louisiana from May 1, 862 until January 23, 1863. Governor Moore resided in this building, still known as the Governor's Mansion, located at the corner of Liberty and Grolee St in Opelousas, La.