Yes, Melanie Gaudin was the second wife of Jean Baptiste deGruy. His first wife, Elizabeth (Isavel) Montault died November 20, 1811. Celine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Degruy List Admin" <degruylist@earthlink.net> To: <DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 4:47 AM Subject: Help with Jean Baptiste wife/wives > Thank you, Shelley. > Here's a great opportunity for Degruy-L to help straighten out records.... > I'm going to give you everything I have on Juan Bautista and Melanie > Gaudin.... I'm hoping everyone can tell me if this information is > accurate or not. Perhaps others can add info I don't have below and we > can take this opportunity to round out all we know about these folks. > Renee > > > I had Jean Baptiste DeGruy [son of Jean Baptiste De Gruy and Marie > Therese Aufrere] as being married to Melania Gaudin [m Dec. 21, 1818,] > I had three children for them, although there may have been more: > Melania Augustina, Juan Augusto and Julia Elodie. > > Under Melania Gaudin [the children's mother] I have these notes: > > Juan Butista [Antonio and Maria Theresa Offrer], native and resident of > this city, widower of Isavel Montault, m. Melania Gaudin, Dec. 21, 1818, > w. Juan Viler and Augusto Bourdes [SLC, M6, 225] > > [IS THIS RIGHT?] From New Orleans, Louisiana Death Records Index, > 1804-1949 > Name: Melanie Godin Degruy > Age: 72 yrs [birth 1781] > Death Date: 13 Feb 1853 > Color: W > Page: 505 > Volume: 13 > [note that my question Is This Right? indicates that this info needs to > be checked] > This is my question to Degruy-L.... Is this information correct? Did > Juan Baptiste marry Melania Gaudin after Elizabeth de Montault de > Mobnberaut? Help!] > > > Also, Under Jean Baptiste I have these notes: > Sacramental Records: "Jean Baptiste Valentin [Antoine Valentine, officer > of the naval troops in this colony, and Marie Therese Aufrere], b. March > 16, 1751, bn. March 8, 1751, s. Jean Baptiste Claude Bobe, Sieur > Descloseaux, royal councilor, naval pay commissioner at Mobile, and > Francoise Aufrere Pery [marginal note: died, Feb 28, 1838] [SLC, B2, > 212]"ANOSR VOL 2 1751-1771 > > ------"Degruys-Verloin [see Verloin Degruis] > Juan Butista [Antonio and Maria Theresa Offrer], native and resident of > this city, widower of Isavel Montault, m. Melania Gaudin, Dec. 21, 1818, > w. Juan Viler and Augusto Bourdes [SLC, M6, 225] > > From Mary Curry Pittman > 30 DeGruy, Jean Baptiste S 01/05/1839 1st > 04025623934861 54 2 02/28/1838 -- yes -- > B-000005 > Documents in French are in focus, sharp. English ones not so great. > Long docket.widow, Melonie Godin or Gaudin > minor children, Melanie Augustine 16, Jean Baptiste 13, Julie Elodie 12 > relatives; Pierre Verloin DeGruy, Joseph Volent Labarre, Boutte & Troudeau > See docket for James Devine at 000126 to 000129 mark at top of film. > > Louisiana, Jefferson Parish, Judicial District Court, Probate dockets. > 1825-1845 > Prepared by Rita Curry-Pittman, January 2004 > Dckt is Docket; Plaintiff is the deceased; the Defendant or Petitioner > filed the succession > JDC is Judicial District Court; LDS # is Latter Day Saints roll number. > JPL is Jefferson Parish Library one or two digit roll number; D. O. D. > is Date of Death. > Page refers to a printout provided by the court as an index. Copies are > available at J P East Bank Regional Library. > T = Type of docket, S = Succession, C = Civil suit, M = Misc., > I = Interdiction (to claim insane or unfit), E = Emancipation of a youth > or of a slave > The Cities of Lafayette, Carrollton & Jefferson, Faubourgs & part of > McDonoghville (Algiers) are now in New Orleans.Freetown was part of > McDonoghville. Part of McDonoghville and all of Mechanickham are now > part of Gretna.The "Town of Brooklyn" is now part of Gretna but there > were other west bank areas called Brooklyn without "town" mentioned. > END of roll B-000862 > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > Subject: > > RE: DeGruy ancestry found in France! > > From: > > "Shelley Dedman" <shelley@cei.net> > > Date: > > Fri, 3 Sep 2004 09:30:43 -0500 > > To: > > DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com > > > > To: > > DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com > > > > > >Hello - > > > >This is an answer to Ann's question about any info concerning the Aufrere > >family. > > > >I have found this passage in the book "A History of the Bouligny Family and > >Allied Families" by Fontaine Martin. It is in a chapter discussing the > >family of Elizabeth Virginie d'Hauterive. > > > > "Elizabeth de Montault de Monberaut, D'Hauterive's widow, became the wife > >on May 4, 1779, at St. Martin de Tours Church, at the Attakapas Post, of > >Jean Baptiste De Gruy, son of the senior Jean Baptiste De Gruy and his wife, > >Marie Therese Aufrere. They had one daughter, Marie Josephe, who died at > >age 11..." > > > >It goes on to say . . . "From his parents, (Jean Baptiste De Gruy and Marie > >Aufrere inherited) he inherited the property on the German Coast (now St. > >Charles Parish), where he was actively involved over the years in the > >purchase and sale of property and other transactions." > > > >Shelley > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 >

Dear List: I am so sorry for the way my last post reads. It was perfectly aligned when I hit the send. I will re-type it with only the names and dates and leave off the Judge's name to see if the alignment will remain where you can understand it. Carolyn

Below is a partial listing of records from the St. Charles Parish, LA Clerk of Court records with the index name of Verloin Degruy (or variations on) Year Party Consenting Party in Favor of Act Judge 1777 Antoine Blanc Verloin Degruy Sale Bellisle 1780 Joseph Degruys Emancipa- Same tion 1777 W. De Gruys Joseph Dussuau Release Same 1784 Veilouin Degruys F. Farase Sale/slave Masicot 1789 J. B. Degruys Pierre Faucher Same Same 1791 Same E. Delhomme Same Same 1792 Same Nicholas Verbois Mortgage Same 1792 Joseph Degruys J. Mericult Sale/slave Same 1783 V. Degruys ------ Act Same 1793 Rene St. Germain J B Degruys Sale Same 1804 Barnabe Verloin Degurys Sale St. Amand 1800 Verlouin Degruys St. Pe Donation Same 1805 Same Manuel Andry Sale Same 1800 Peidro St. Pe Verloin Degruys Sale Same 1797 Verloin Degruys Andre Durocher Obligation Same 1796 Verloin Degruys Bourgeois Same Same 1781 Michel Labranche D. Degruys Sale Bellisle 1787 Joseph Degruy Francois Ferasco Sale/slave Masicot 1791 Pierre St. Pe Hortense Degruys Marriage Contract Masicot The above are all in French and, due to handwriting and reproduction on a copier, may be difficult to read. The word "same" indicates the name for that space is the same as the preceeding name in the column. When I was getting this info. I was not careful to note whether Degruys was one word or two or whether the D and G were both capital letters. This list is from the earliest records at the Courthouse. I think I remember seeing St. Pe on the new Degruy site as a surname. If any of these records would be of particular interest to a lister, please post a message and I can go to the Clerk's office and make a copy and send it snail mail. Or if you would like anything else from St. Charles Parish, please post it here and I will try to help you. Carolyn

Dear Degruy-L Out of La Researchers, We should keep in mind that there are people who are willing to do look ups for out of town folks in the New Orleans/ Baton Rouge area. We wouldn't want to take advantage of their generosity.... but we should keep in mind that we can always post a request and hope that someone can help us the next time they go to the NO Public Library ... or courthouse... or Louisiana Archives. It might take some time, but we might receive the information sooner than the next time we were able to visit the area ourselves. Of course, as always, we need to be as specific as we can ... For basic vital records, try to give as much as possible Name, Date of birth (marriage/death), the Volume and Page No. (from the index at NOVA). And for successions and other records.... full names, court, date, notary and any other relevant information will speed the process for those "genealogy angels" who do us these kindnesses. Renee

Hi, I ordered three records from La Archives which I had hoped would help me with collateral information.... They didn't. So .... is anyone interested in: Death Records of: Joseph Camille Degruy + 24 June 1883 age 59 1 mo 16 days at No 212 Erato Street widower and cotton weigher by occupation cause of death: Phthisis Pulmonalis [TB] Joseph Onezime Degruy + 21 January 1882 age 42 in the parish of Jefferson Right Bank La Cause of death Carcinoma of stomach Lucien Florestan De Gruy + 72 yrs 4 mos 3 days +15 May 1894 at 207? Berlin? St. Deceased was a widower - a cotton weigher Cause of death Apoplexy Birth place of parents L [?] Renee

Here are some places in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, department Aube, which you might want to research for their connections to the family of the DeGruy immigrant ancestor. These places are mostly ENE of Troyes, France; I found them all on Mapquest and there are lots of references on Google. Magny-Fouchard >>>>> The seigneury there seems to have been first in the possession of a Villenueve about 1425, then passed to his son-in-law, a deVerloing (whose exact origin I don't know yet) whose deVerloing descendants held it for 100 years or so. It then passed to a LePerry whose mother was a deVerloing. A daughter, Jeanne LePerry (granddaughter and namesake of Jeanne de Verloing), married Claude de Gruy in 1639. That seems to be where the duFouchard part of the name comes from, and perhaps the Verloin. Petit-Mesnil >>>>> This is a tiny place near the village of Chaumesnil just to the north of Magny-Fouchard. That Claude de Gruy, ecuyer, who married Jeanne LePerry in 1639 was the seigneur du Petit-Mesnil, so it seems that's the duMesnil part of the name. Bossancourt >>>>> This village is also to the north of Magny-Fouchard and not far from Chaumesnil. The mother of Claude de Gruy was Edmonde de Baussancourt and one of Claude de Gruy's daughters married a de Baussancourt cousin. Vitrey-le-Francois >>>>> This commune, further to the north and actually now in the department of Marne, has, I believe, a church called Notre Dame, where there are registered three sacramental acts for persons named deGruy, one marriage and two deaths. Langres >>>>> More to the south, actually in Haut Marne, now a small town, it was once the diocesan see for the whole area, so it will be mentioned in sacramental acts for the region. I do not know if the records for that diocese have survived or can be accessed anywhere but the Vatican. (Does anyone have a priest in the family? <g>) For instance, that deGruy who was listed at the Hotel des Invalides in 1713 was Jean deGruy du Mesnil Fouchard of the dioceze of Langres. I do not yet know the exact identify of that Jean deGruy, but I think Claude deGruy and Jeanne LePerry had a son named Jean. I do think we are getting closer to solving the puzzle, and any bits you can pick up about the geographical places might be useful. Please post anything you find to this thread. Ann

Ah, I see that the link did not go through. Just look for it in Google; it is not hard to find. Ann

> Click here: Généalogie Famille de Carné Here is an easy enough to read website from France which details the beginnings of the Verloin family in medieval France. This is a free page and who knows how long something like this will stay up there on the web, so if it were my ancestry, I would copy the relevant parts now and save the notes. One day, sooner or later, we will connect Antoine Valentine Verloin deGruy to this information. Mr. J.F. Arnou, the gentleman in France whose list I am monitoring, is tracking all of this in his private database, and you may see references to him among the sources. Let me know if you have questions. Ann

Hi, I've abstracted many references to De Gruy and Verloin from the Louisiana Abstract Quarterly. There are about 17 pages involved. We are not allowed to put attachments on our messages to Degruy-l. So....if you want me to email you with a pdf attachment of these records, let me know and I'll do this, as I have time, offlist. When you read them, know that I just cut and pasted. The spellings are just as they appear in the Quarterly. Also frequently it's hard to tell where one record entry ends and another begins, so there is a lot of extraneous information. You can join the Louisiana Historical Society yourself if you want to access this on your own. Let me know and I can give you the information. But it does involve an annual fee. However, then you can search online. Renee

If this message posts, I will follow with a partial list of transactions from the Clerk of Court's records in St. Charles Parish in the name of Verloin Degruys. Carolyn Tregre

Have no idea why all those links for glover appeared in that lat posting. Just ignore. They were not intentional .... just an email glitch. >

Hey Guys.... Check this out.... http://www.bustanobys.com/ Want to fire your imagination about what a family web page could be? [Not if I did it, you understand!] I actually emailed <mailto:mia.glover@iprecision.com>R. mia L. Glover and asked her about her site. She evidentially runs a company and one of her graphic designers produced the web site for her. Wish I could figure out what program that graphic designer used. Anyway I thought you'd enjoy seeing the site. I think it's fairly easy to negotiate. I got a kick out of their "Family Store." Can you imagine having a family so large you could actually have a store!!! R. <mailto:mia.glover@iprecision.com>R. Mia L. Glover <mailto:mia.glover@iprecision.com>. Mia L. Glover <mailto:mia.glover@iprecision.com>

Thank you, Shelley. Here's a great opportunity for Degruy-L to help straighten out records.... I'm going to give you everything I have on Juan Bautista and Melanie Gaudin.... I'm hoping everyone can tell me if this information is accurate or not. Perhaps others can add info I don't have below and we can take this opportunity to round out all we know about these folks. Renee I had Jean Baptiste DeGruy [son of Jean Baptiste De Gruy and Marie Therese Aufrere] as being married to Melania Gaudin [m Dec. 21, 1818,] I had three children for them, although there may have been more: Melania Augustina, Juan Augusto and Julia Elodie. Under Melania Gaudin [the children's mother] I have these notes: Juan Butista [Antonio and Maria Theresa Offrer], native and resident of this city, widower of Isavel Montault, m. Melania Gaudin, Dec. 21, 1818, w. Juan Viler and Augusto Bourdes [SLC, M6, 225] [IS THIS RIGHT?] From New Orleans, Louisiana Death Records Index, 1804-1949 Name: Melanie Godin Degruy Age: 72 yrs [birth 1781] Death Date: 13 Feb 1853 Color: W Page: 505 Volume: 13 [note that my question Is This Right? indicates that this info needs to be checked] This is my question to Degruy-L.... Is this information correct? Did Juan Baptiste marry Melania Gaudin after Elizabeth de Montault de Mobnberaut? Help!] Also, Under Jean Baptiste I have these notes: Sacramental Records: "Jean Baptiste Valentin [Antoine Valentine, officer of the naval troops in this colony, and Marie Therese Aufrere], b. March 16, 1751, bn. March 8, 1751, s. Jean Baptiste Claude Bobe, Sieur Descloseaux, royal councilor, naval pay commissioner at Mobile, and Francoise Aufrere Pery [marginal note: died, Feb 28, 1838] [SLC, B2, 212]"ANOSR VOL 2 1751-1771 ------"Degruys-Verloin [see Verloin Degruis] Juan Butista [Antonio and Maria Theresa Offrer], native and resident of this city, widower of Isavel Montault, m. Melania Gaudin, Dec. 21, 1818, w. Juan Viler and Augusto Bourdes [SLC, M6, 225] From Mary Curry Pittman 30 DeGruy, Jean Baptiste S 01/05/1839 1st 04025623934861 54 2 02/28/1838 -- yes -- B-000005 Documents in French are in focus, sharp. English ones not so great. Long docket.widow, Melonie Godin or Gaudin minor children, Melanie Augustine 16, Jean Baptiste 13, Julie Elodie 12 relatives; Pierre Verloin DeGruy, Joseph Volent Labarre, Boutte & Troudeau See docket for James Devine at 000126 to 000129 mark at top of film. Louisiana, Jefferson Parish, Judicial District Court, Probate dockets. 1825-1845 Prepared by Rita Curry-Pittman, January 2004 Dckt is Docket; Plaintiff is the deceased; the Defendant or Petitioner filed the succession JDC is Judicial District Court; LDS # is Latter Day Saints roll number. JPL is Jefferson Parish Library one or two digit roll number; D. O. D. is Date of Death. Page refers to a printout provided by the court as an index. Copies are available at J P East Bank Regional Library. T = Type of docket, S = Succession, C = Civil suit, M = Misc., I = Interdiction (to claim insane or unfit), E = Emancipation of a youth or of a slave The Cities of Lafayette, Carrollton & Jefferson, Faubourgs & part of McDonoghville (Algiers) are now in New Orleans.Freetown was part of McDonoghville. Part of McDonoghville and all of Mechanickham are now part of Gretna.The "Town of Brooklyn" is now part of Gretna but there were other west bank areas called Brooklyn without "town" mentioned. END of roll B-000862 > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: > RE: DeGruy ancestry found in France! > From: > "Shelley Dedman" <shelley@cei.net> > Date: > Fri, 3 Sep 2004 09:30:43 -0500 > To: > DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com > > To: > DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com > > >Hello - > >This is an answer to Ann's question about any info concerning the Aufrere >family. > >I have found this passage in the book "A History of the Bouligny Family and >Allied Families" by Fontaine Martin. It is in a chapter discussing the >family of Elizabeth Virginie d'Hauterive. > > "Elizabeth de Montault de Monberaut, D'Hauterive's widow, became the wife >on May 4, 1779, at St. Martin de Tours Church, at the Attakapas Post, of >Jean Baptiste De Gruy, son of the senior Jean Baptiste De Gruy and his wife, >Marie Therese Aufrere. They had one daughter, Marie Josephe, who died at >age 11..." > >It goes on to say . . . "From his parents, (Jean Baptiste De Gruy and Marie >Aufrere inherited) he inherited the property on the German Coast (now St. >Charles Parish), where he was actively involved over the years in the >purchase and sale of property and other transactions." > >Shelley > > > > > >

Send it on, Carolyn! It posted..... and thank you! Renee c.tregre@att.net wrote: >If this message posts, I will follow with a partial list of transactions from the Clerk of Court's records in St. Charles Parish in the name of Verloin Degruys. > >Carolyn Tregre > > > >

Hi... I thought I'd share a very helpful email I received from Rita Curry-Pittman about my missing succession query. Others might benefit.... Renee in St. Louis Renee, There is always the possibility that the succession was pulled as some sort of proof of prior possession of property in a later succession. It may have been left inside that later succession but there is no telling you which one. You can begin by looking into each succession for his children and then for his grandchildren. If it still exists, you may find it or a reference to it there. When Union troops took over New Orleans during the Civil War many documents were confiscated including succession dockets. A number of dockets I came across reported the removal by the Union forces. One said they were re-applying to the court to settle a succession because the Union had taken the original which had been filed earlier that same year. Another docket said proof of heirship of property could not be proved by succession records because the Union had removed the succession papers of the parent. They had to rely on sworn oath given in the court......... There is also the possibility that a succession was switched to another court as when creditors file suit against the succession and it goes to a different civil court that handles such suits. In which case it would have been given a new number relevant to that second court. Rita

Hello - This is an answer to Ann's question about any info concerning the Aufrere family. I have found this passage in the book "A History of the Bouligny Family and Allied Families" by Fontaine Martin. It is in a chapter discussing the family of Elizabeth Virginie d'Hauterive. "Elizabeth de Montault de Monberaut, D'Hauterive's widow, became the wife on May 4, 1779, at St. Martin de Tours Church, at the Attakapas Post, of Jean Baptiste De Gruy, son of the senior Jean Baptiste De Gruy and his wife, Marie Therese Aufrere. They had one daughter, Marie Josephe, who died at age 11..." It goes on to say . . . "From his parents, (Jean Baptiste De Gruy and Marie Aufrere inherited) he inherited the property on the German Coast (now St. Charles Parish), where he was actively involved over the years in the purchase and sale of property and other transactions." Shelley -----Original Message----- From: VoorhiesAnn@aol.com [mailto:VoorhiesAnn@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 7:42 PM To: DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: DeGruy ancestry found in France! In a message dated 9/2/2004 1:54:00 PM Central Daylight Time, VoorhiesAnn@aol.com writes: > The research has been done and it is on the web at > Geneanet, but for some reason I can't access the data on M. Jean Arnou's > family tree. Hold onto the wine and cheese for a while! <g> Unfortunately the news is not as good as I had hoped for. J.F. Arnou is a Verloin researcher who has compiled a database on the descendants of the Counts of Verloin, I believe, though I have not yet seen the database, as it is in a password protected site. I found him through Geneanet. He has answered my email and I have been admitted to his mailing list which I will continue to monitor. From what I can read (my French dictionary is packed away at the moment, awaiting my move!) I gather that he recognizes our Antoine Valentine Verloin deGruy as a member of the family from Champagne, but has not been able to tie that Champagne branch conclusively to his main branches of Verloin who are Picards. He does appear to be interested in the problem as he answered my email very promptly and graciously, and I feel sure that this contact will bear fruit in the future. It appears to be the very best lead we have. I will concentrate on finding out more about this Jean deGruy du Mesnil Fouchard of the dioceze of Langres who was admitted to the Hotel des Invalides in 1713. A friend in Paris has agreed to look into it for me. If anyone on the list is a paying member of Geneanet or willing to become a paying member, please contact me about obtaining the three documents (1 marriage and 2 deaths) for members of the deGruy family in Vitry-le-Francois, Notre Dame, Marne, Champagne, France. Or if anyone already has those documents, please let me know. I may become a paying member myself if I find enough there about Aufrere to justify the expense. I will report back to the list as soon as I get any further info about Verloin or deGruy in France, and please email me or post to the list if you have info or if you have ideas about getting info in France. Ann ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237

In a message dated 9/2/2004 1:54:00 PM Central Daylight Time, VoorhiesAnn@aol.com writes: > The research has been done and it is on the web at > Geneanet, but for some reason I can't access the data on M. Jean Arnou's > family tree. Hold onto the wine and cheese for a while! <g> Unfortunately the news is not as good as I had hoped for. J.F. Arnou is a Verloin researcher who has compiled a database on the descendants of the Counts of Verloin, I believe, though I have not yet seen the database, as it is in a password protected site. I found him through Geneanet. He has answered my email and I have been admitted to his mailing list which I will continue to monitor. From what I can read (my French dictionary is packed away at the moment, awaiting my move!) I gather that he recognizes our Antoine Valentine Verloin deGruy as a member of the family from Champagne, but has not been able to tie that Champagne branch conclusively to his main branches of Verloin who are Picards. He does appear to be interested in the problem as he answered my email very promptly and graciously, and I feel sure that this contact will bear fruit in the future. It appears to be the very best lead we have. I will concentrate on finding out more about this Jean deGruy du Mesnil Fouchard of the dioceze of Langres who was admitted to the Hotel des Invalides in 1713. A friend in Paris has agreed to look into it for me. If anyone on the list is a paying member of Geneanet or willing to become a paying member, please contact me about obtaining the three documents (1 marriage and 2 deaths) for members of the deGruy family in Vitry-le-Francois, Notre Dame, Marne, Champagne, France. Or if anyone already has those documents, please let me know. I may become a paying member myself if I find enough there about Aufrere to justify the expense. I will report back to the list as soon as I get any further info about Verloin or deGruy in France, and please email me or post to the list if you have info or if you have ideas about getting info in France. Ann

Well, that was quick! <g> The research has been done and it is on the web at Geneanet, but for some reason I can't access the data on M. Jean Arnou's family tree. There is a note which says last update 9/2/04 and that's today, so maybe it is down because he is working on it. I hope. I sent him an email and maybe we will hear from him in a day or two. He will probably be very happy to trade for Celine's URL. This family was from the Marne and Haut-Marne subregion of Champagne, maybe they were Counts de Verloin, and there even seem to be some original documents available on the web for a small price. There is a marriage and two deaths recorded in the 17th century in Vitry-le-Francois, Notre Dame, Marne, Champagne, France. There was a person named Jean deGruy du Mesnil Fouchard, dioceze de Langres, who was admitted to the Hotel des Invalides in 1713 (either 2 June or 6 Feb); possibly a grandfather or uncle to our Antoine VV deGruy. Have any of you found any of this stuff already, or am I reinventing the wheel here? This makes me even more determined to track down the ancestry of Antoine Aufrere! This deGruy family seems even more illustrious than the duSuau family, so I have to say, that Aufrere girl sure married well! Renee had some information about all the land owned by the Verloin deGruy children (duSuau's stepchildren) in Louisiana and I am wondering if those children got some money from the family in France. Does anybody have any old family stories about that? I wonder if any of these colonials ever went back to France to school or to visit. (I know about people in my Fagot and Olivier families who did that.) Folks, we now have to organize a wine and cheese party in Langres! <g> I haven't been to France in years. It would be fun. Ann

In a message dated 9/1/2004 12:19:27 AM Central Daylight Time, VoorhiesAnn@aol.com writes: > Just wanted to be sure nobody missed the cousin's wedding announcement in > the > Picayune. > > Click here: DeGruy/Morton > Well, that tells me something. Obviously the click through address won't work on the list. If anyone wants the wedding announcement for Michael DeGruy, email me and I will send it through personal email, or you can find it on Google. Which reminds me to congratulate Renee-- the Degruy-L list made it to Google in style. You have done a great job putting this thing together! Ann

Hello - In actuality, some of the de Gruy line married members of a noble Spanish family - Fazende - which makes some of us part Spanish. I found references to the Aufrere family connected with the de Gruy family in one of my reference books. It speaks specifically of New Orleans and Louisiana history and focuses on a specific Spanish family, the Bouligny family. At least one de Gruy married a Bouligny girl. I will look it up in the book and get that part back to you all. In the meantime, the book is "A History of the Bouligny Family and Allied Families," by Fontaine Martin, published by the Center for Louisiana Studies/ University of Southwestern Louisiana. Another book that is filled with interesting information is "The French Thorn" by Robert S. Waddle. It covers a specific era of 1682-1762. The first book I listed is filled with info about land ownership. It seems the de Gruy family held a great deal of plantation land, but rarely alone. Often it was owned in partnership with other families, such as the Boulignys and the Fazendes, into whose families they married, sealing, as it were, the land contracts. That way one had the additional resources to maintain & develop the land, but it really never leaves the family entirely. One more good reference book is "A Guide to Louisiana History" by Cummins & Jeansonne. It gives a wonderful glossary of dates and events that help in determining which generation one might be reading about. As far as pronunciations of our name - I do think the different language backgrounds of the recorders of documents had something to do with the variety of spellings. For instance, Fazende is Spanish, therefore the name would end with a long a sound - a Marie Alix Fazende is my great great grandmother and I've noticed our family pronounces the name in a very French manner, saying the hard d, but not pronouncing the e - as in Fazend(e). Much to my cousin David Perrin's, and my mother's consternation, I pronounce it the Spanish way. The importance of the Fazende family connection is not only in the direct line for some of us, but also in the land the families owned and in that Fazende became very important in the early New Orleans government. The key name to research here would be Jacques Fazende. I've focused so much on the de Gruy line that I haven't done much with either the Fazende nor the Foucher lines. Also, I must correct something I wrote earlier. I mentioned that the Foucher brothers came to Louisiana with their cousin d'Iberville. Remember, I'm doing this from memory right now as I can't seem to access my files. Anyway - they came to Louisiana with d'Iberville's brother Bienville.(Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville)in the very end of the 17th century, or the very beginning of the 18th (1701-1718). As it was their sister, Felicite (Felicie) Foucher de Circe who married the senior Francois Verloin de Gruy, I have been trying to get the dates of actual events and that has been extremely difficult, if not impossible. I'm having trouble getting the dates to jive. These are the holes in my research that I'm hoping you all will be able to help with. And I am so impressed that there is a de Gruy in Alaska. I personally had not heard of one, but I'm surprised at the number of de Gruy family living outside the immediate South. Shelley -----Original Message----- From: VoorhiesAnn@aol.com [mailto:VoorhiesAnn@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 12:14 AM To: DEGRUY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: Degruy names and spellings > Hello, Celine! > > I'm not sure how these lists thread, so I hope this gets connected to your > post. > > neil.johnson@acsalaska.net writes: > > >> I used to think the spelling Degruise was due to the fact the the >> recorder >> of a particular document was Spanish, but that's just a hunch. >> > > I did a search for DeGruy names in Louisiana and about ten other states and > I was surprised to find that after DeGruy (or deGruy) the second most popular > spelling by far is DeGruise. I had thought it would be DeGruys or DeGruis > because I have seen that so often in the old St. Charles records. I had > always assumed that DeGruise was an anglosized version of the pronunciation of > deGruys which I thought was the original French spelling. As you know, in > French the final s would not be pronounced, so that deGruy or deGruys or deGruis > would all be pronounced the same, and people were very careless about > spelling. Any English speaker coming along, however, would see that name written > and pronounce it duh-greeze (br-r-r-r-r! shudder! <g>) and then write that > pronunciation as DeGruise. Is that how the DeGruise folks pronounce it in New > Orleans? > > Of course, I just made those assumptions off the top of my head without any > research whatsoever because deGruys is not one of my family names (except as > the first husband of my Aufrere ancestress). Now you have caused me to think > about this! I would have to look at all the original handwritten records, > knowing the native language of the writer, and tally the spellings of the name > in order to evaluate your Spanish theory. > > If we had some people from New Orleans on this list, we could ask them to > check to be sure that such a linguistic analysis of the name in Louisiana does > not already exist. Sounds like a great master's dissertation to me and it > may just be waiting, leatherbound, in the modern languages section of the > Tulane library! I will put that on my library list for my next trip to the city. > > Ann > > P.S. Do you know an Oscar DeGruy in Anchorage? > > ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237