 |
| St. Mary Parish Verdun Genealogy Research |
We never know where our family history origins will take us until we start researching our family history. For Clara Robertson and her family, their roots run deep in St. Mary and Assumption Parishes, Louisiana. St. Mary parish was found in 181l and Assumption parish was found in 1807. The adjacent parishes are; Iberia Parish (north) St. Martin Parish (east) Assumption Parish (southeast) and Terrebonne Parish (south). Assumption parish was settled in the middle 18th century by French and Spanish settlers.
Clara contacted me several weeks ago and asked me to help her research family history in St. Mary and Assumption Parishes. This was the first time I researched in both parishes. Most of my research has been in St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Orleans, and East Feliciana Parishes, Louisiana. For the Harrell family, my genealogy research led me to Amite County, Mississippi, and Darlington, South Carolina. My first stop was the clerk office and the local library. Assumption Parish Clerk of Court office is located in Napoleonville, LA., The staff there were friendly and helpful. It's always good when you can locate the family records that you are searching for after driving two and a half hours to get there, you know I didn't want to come back empty handed.
The first books I want to look was the oldest vendor and vendee records because the records that I
 |
| Singleton Family Historians Claretha Hughes Day Clara Robertson conducting genealogy research |
was searching for was in the 1800s. I'm searching the Verdun's family sometimes spelled Verdine, Verdun, Verdan, Verden, and Verdin. The person I am researching is Malinda Verdun. Her mother was Mercelite Verdun and both women were free women of color. She lived in the 14th Ward ( Bayou Boeuf) according to the 1860 census. On this census she is listed as white and on the same census, her mother is listed as an eighty-year-old mulatto woman. Mercelite Verdine owned 135 acres of land in St. Mary Parish.
Listed in the 1860 household are the following people;
Alexandre Verdine Male, 25., Wm Knight Male, 25., John Knight, M., 16, Auguste Barras M, 23., Theophile Tolmer, M, 22., Roselia Knight, F, 22., John Wesley, 1., Malinda Verdine, 50., Richard Verdine, 19., Lavina Verdine, 13., Rebecca Verdine., 10, Hyppolite Verdine. 7., William Verdine, 4., Elisabeth Verdine, 3., Mary Verdine., Marcelite Verdine, F., 80 and Felonise Verdine, 6.
It was good to see a family researching their family history. Clara's mother, aunt, and double first cousin traveled together. Her mother has been researching family history for many years. Whenever I see families like Clara Robertson and Leonard Smith lll working together collectively to research, record and document their family history is rewarding to me. It lets me know that some families do want to know about their own family history.
