Gordon, thanks! Louis and Marie Louise are my maternal 5th Great Grandparents, and up to now I've had zero success finding anything re: Louis's family. You and Jim's research gives me a different direction to look in. Thanks again! Keith Lorando -----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