Gordon, thought I'd pass on an interesting little side note for your review/consideration during your research. Don't know how this plays into the information you and Jim Exnicios found, but hopefully it helps a little. According to Archdiocese of New Orleans Sacramental Records, Vol. 6, pg. 115 and 225, the marriage record for Jean Louis Exnicios and Marie Louise Pontiff reads: "EXNICIOS, Juan Luis (Juan Luis and Chatharina Exmite) m. 8 May 1798, Maria PONTIFICE (Charlos PONTIFE and Chaterina OCMANE) , May 8, 1798, wit: Degruy Verloin, Verloin, fils, Jan Charle (*) Odrit (SJBED, M1, 77)". While the parents' names are not identical to the ones in the baptismal record you found, this does provide a different spelling of parents names in the 'official' records that we can use during the research for Louis' parents. Keith -----Original Message----- From: Gordon Bonnet via Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 11:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ACADIAN] Exnicios discovery Hi y’all, Some of you might descend from the (non-Acadian) Exnicios family of SE Louisiana. The origins of the family have been sought for a long time, and a cousin may have found them. The earliest Exnicios, Louis, was a doctor, from “Oprichain,” Germany, and married Marie Louise Pontiff in 1798 in Edgard. We had decided some time ago that “Oprichain” was probably Obrigheim, a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Germany. A cousin of mine Jim Exnicios, found records in two places of a Ludwig Schnitzius, a Hessian solder who was a hired mercenary fighting for the English in the Revolutionary War. Ludwig was made a prisoner of war in 1779 and defected in 1780 to the Spanish army in New Orleans. So we have the name similarity (Schnitzius is a pretty uncommon name), and the right-place-at-the-right-time thing… … but best of all, Ludwig’s birthplace is listed as Obrigheim. I think we have a pretty good case that Exnicios was originally Schnitzius, and Ludwig and Louis were one and the same. In the baptismal record of Louis’s son, Jean Louis, the baby’s parents (i.e. Louis’s parents) are listed as “George Exnicios” and “Catherine Barbara Staaelman.” I think we should start looking for a George Schnitzius and Catherine Barbara Stallman, Stahlman, etc. — from Hesse. Hope this is useful to someone! cheers, Gordon p.s. Here are the websites where you can check out the information on Ludwig. http://www.lagis-hessen.de/en/subjects/xsearch/pageSize/50/page/2/sn/hetrina?q=YToxOntzOjM6Im9reiI7czo1OiJENjcxOSI7fQ== <http://www.lagis-hessen.de/en/subjects/xsearch/pageSize/50/page/2/sn/hetrina?q=YToxOntzOjM6Im9reiI7czo1OiJENjcxOSI7fQ==> http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~amrevhessians/wd.htm <http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~amrevhessians/wd.htm> . ------------------------------- To check our Archive http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/acadian/ ------------------------------- To subscribe to the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'subscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message. You will receive a confirmation e-mail to try & stop "machine" enrollment spam. Give it the "Name" you would like us to call you. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

There are no official spelling of our names. Until about 1880 our names were spelt phonetically like where the writer (scribe) learned to read/write. It was not necessary for our ancestors to read & write to have a full life. The scribes knew to not ask these people how to spell names. We now have some standarized spelling. Long live Spanish (& later Irish) priests I call the people who insist on one spelling "The Name Police" Don Boudreaux had collected over 260 ways to spell Boudrot!!!!! I guess I on my High Horse a second time this week. -----Original Message----- From: Josephine and Keith Gordon, thought I'd pass on an interesting little side note for your review/consideration during your research. Don't know how this plays into the information you and Jim Exnicios found, but hopefully it helps a little. According to Archdiocese of New Orleans Sacramental Records, Vol. 6, pg. 115 and 225, the marriage record for Jean Louis Exnicios and Marie Louise Pontiff reads: "EXNICIOS, Juan Luis (Juan Luis and Chatharina Exmite) m. 8 May 1798, Maria PONTIFICE (Charlos PONTIFE and Chaterina OCMANE) , May 8, 1798, wit: Degruy Verloin, Verloin, fils, Jan Charle (*) Odrit (SJBED, M1, 77)". While the parents' names are not identical to the ones in the baptismal record you found, this does provide a different spelling of parents names in the 'official' records that we can use during the research for Louis' parents. Keith

Understood, which is why I passed these on for consideration since it’s possible the same person who wrote down the information in the New Orleans Sacramental Records might also have been responsible for recording other records, such as property transfers, in the city records and used the same spelling from the Sacramental Records in the city records. Just thought Gordon et. al., if they had not seen this variation (e.g., in my limited research I’ve found four variations of both Louis and Marie Pontiff’s parents’ surnames, all of which are totally different), might be able to use/add it to their research. Hopefully they can. From: Paul L LeBlanc Sent: Friday, July 24, 2015 4:15 PM To: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected] Subject: Re: [ACADIAN] Exnicios discovery There are no official spelling of our names. Until about 1880 our names were spelt phonetically like where the writer (scribe) learned to read/write. It was not necessary for our ancestors to read & write to have a full life. The scribes knew to not ask these people how to spell names. We now have some standarized spelling. Long live Spanish (& later Irish) priests I call the people who insist on one spelling "The Name Police" Don Boudreaux had collected over 260 ways to spell Boudrot!!!!! I guess I on my High Horse a second time this week. -----Original Message----- From: Josephine and Keith Gordon, thought I'd pass on an interesting little side note for your review/consideration during your research. Don't know how this plays into the information you and Jim Exnicios found, but hopefully it helps a little. According to Archdiocese of New Orleans Sacramental Records, Vol. 6, pg. 115 and 225, the marriage record for Jean Louis Exnicios and Marie Louise Pontiff reads: "EXNICIOS, Juan Luis (Juan Luis and Chatharina Exmite) m. 8 May 1798, Maria PONTIFICE (Charlos PONTIFE and Chaterina OCMANE) , May 8, 1798, wit: Degruy Verloin, Verloin, fils, Jan Charle (*) Odrit (SJBED, M1, 77)". While the parents' names are not identical to the ones in the baptismal record you found, this does provide a different spelling of parents names in the 'official' records that we can use during the research for Louis' parents. Keith