In a message dated 8/30/99 9:05:45 AM Pacific Daylight Time, barry@dakotacom.net writes: << I have info that takes the family back to the mid-1600's in Belgium, but do not have as much info on them after they settled in Illinois. If anyone has any suggestions or additional info on the family, please respond. >> Michele, a number of us who are united by our interest in the French families of St. Anne and nearby towns - including L'Erable - have a lively E-mail group. We are sort of a sub-set of the ILFORD list, with its one-third focus on Kankakee County. St. Anne, as you may know, was settled as a town (there had been some farms there) around 1850 by a group of French from Quebec. They were led by a Fr. Charles P. T. CHINIQUY, who had been asked by the Bishop of Chicago to establish the French in central Illinois (i.e., to get Roman Catholics living in the area before the English and others moved in). St. Anne was for a time entirely French-speaking and culturally French as well. Other French-speakers from Belgium, Switzerland, and elsewhere also came to settle in this town and towns nearby. I am guessing that your DUCAT family was one of those. This is a longer story than I can get into here, but what I am leading up to is this: you and anyone else with an interest in the French-speaking families of this area is MOST WELCOME to join our St. Anne interest group (E-mail right now, but maybe someday a real Rootsweb list). Just let me know and we'll sign you up. There are about 35 of us now, including some VERY accomplished researchers, and we have some great discussions and some definite successes, as well. Cheers to all! Ginny Crawford VCrawf@aol.com Carmel Valley CA USA