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My Ancestors

A Louisiana Family with Deep Roots

My ancesters were some of the earliest settlers
in The French Louisiana Territory, as well as Acadians and Canary Islanders

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markforesttree.com
information about
The Ancestors of Mark Forest
Researcher and Site Designer

Ancestor Surnames

Aieman      Albares      Arsement      Bergeron      Berthelot      Bonnvillain      Breaux      Cabellero      Carbo      Cavalier      Chenevert      Comeau      Cossé      DeNis      Diaz      Domingues      Duchemin      Ducosse      Estopinon      Falcon      Foltzloger      Fontenot      Forasté      Franches      Garcia      Hidalgo      Landry      Martinez      McCloskey      Milian      NewChurch      Oubre      Pitre      Plaisance      Rausch      Rousseau      Roussell      Savoie      Schaaf      Seihan      Silva      Thomas      Tonnelier      Trosclair      Trouillet      Truxillo      Tureyra

Index of Ancestors

This Site is a mixture of Facts and Theory. The thoughts I have Expressed are my own. The Records support the facts and also lead me to my Theories.

This Site is Under Construction!

All pages are under Construction and incomplete

Navigation:
Names that are underlined are links to that person's profile page.
Most pictures on profile pages are links to a larger picture.

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The Index link will take you to my Ancestor list. Other links will help you find your way. (I Hope!) You will find these bars on every page. Click on Home to return here. Note:Some Pages are missing this bar! (working on fixing this)

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Index

Welcome

My interest in my family genealogy started after I had a massive heart attack September 5th 2017. I recieved information and a family tree and software from my dad. He had done a lot of research and the tree was massive and very overwelming. To this day I have a hard time keeping things straight in my head. I was looking online and discovered a website that had a lot of information about different family members. I joined Wikitree (free site) and started building my tree. After using this site for a while I was led to another free website that let me search for records, and download them. "Family Search." This is where most of the records included here were discovered. I started a tree on the Family Search site also. After about a year of working on both sites as well as my genealogy software, I decided to stop using Wikitree because it is a put information here that you find elsewhere type of site. On the other hand Family Search helps you find information about your ancesters. After awile I was thinking about how I could make all of this information available to my family. I decided the best thing to do was build my own site, this is the result. This not only makes it easy for family to see this information but anyone else searching for any of the SurNames listed will have a chance of finding some helpful info. Please enjoy your stay and thanks for visiting. Come again
Your Host and WebMaster
Mark Forest

Outline

French settlement of the "New World"

The French started settling America in the north. A lot of what is now Eastern Canada was once the territory of France. The French first settled in Acadie and then Quebec in the North. As they explored their lands, they made their way down the Mississippi River, and upon reaching the Gulf of Mexico, declared all the lands drained by the Mississippi River French Territory. The French wanted control of their new territory and decided they needed a presence on the Gulf of Mexico Coast.

Acadie a land in Turmoil

The first organized French settlement in Acadie was founded in 1604 on an island in Passamaquoddy Bay, on the present U.S.-Canadian border, by Pierre du Gua de Monts and Samuel de Champlain. In 1605 the colony was moved to Port Royal, Acadie, New France (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada), and that settlement became the center of Acadie’s future. Because the French claims for Acadie lands had also been claimed by England, the colony was continually contested by both nations. In 1613 Port Royal was destroyed, and its inhabitants were dispersed by an English military expedition from Virginia.

In 1621 King James I of England awarded the lands of Acadia to Sir William Alexander for the purpose of founding the colony of Nova Scotia.
In 1632 his son King Charles I ceded Acadia back to France, and, under the Company of New France, a renewed period of French colonization followed.
Acadia was under English rule from 1654 to 1670 and then reverted again to French rule and remained basically under French control for the next 40 years.

On October 16, 1710, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), Port Royal was captured by the British. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) gave Nova Scotia to Great Britain but left Cape Breton Island and Île Saint-Jean (from 1799 Prince Edward Island) with France. In 1755 many French-speaking Acadians were deported by the British because of the imminence of war with France and the question of Acadian neutrality, and the possibility of a revolt.

Ancestors in America

François Savoie (ninth great grandfather) born around 1621 in Turin, Piedmont, Savoy, Italy. is my Royal ancestor. He left Italy and migrated to France where he joined a group of Normans who left France for Acadie, New France. He arrived in Port Royal, Acadie, New France around 1643. François married Catherine Lejeune (ninth great grandmother) about 1651 in Acadie, New France. Catherine was born in Acadie around 1633. She might be my first ancestor born in America.

Around 1645 Claude "Sieur de la Fleur" Petitpas (ninth great grandfather) emigrated from France to Acadie, New France. He was the "Civil Clerk" of the Settlement of Port Royal, Acadie, New France.

Around 1707 Francois Moise Morin Chenevert (eighth great grandfather) left Niort, Deux-Sevres, Poitou-Charentes, France and settled in Trois Rivieres, Québec, New France. Francois married Marie Madeleine Lafleur (eighth great grandmother) in Quebec, the couple remained in Quebec. Francois and Marie had at least one son, Francois Chenevert (seventh great grandfather) who married Marie Josphe Poiter (seventh great grandmother) about 1747 in Quebec. Not sure if this family remained in Quebec or relocated to Louisiana by way of the Mississippi River. The Couple had at least one son.

Francois Chenevert, II (sixth great grandfather) born in Trios Rivers, St. Maurice, Quebec, New France, not sure if he emigrated with his parents or came to Spanish Louisiana on his own, but he married Marie Therese Riche (sixth great grandmother) on March 4th 1774 in Pointe Coupee, Spanish Louisiana. There is a lot of work to be done to sort out the Chenevert Line.

Two of my ancestors were sent to Mobile, French Louisiana in the early 1700's. One a Soldier and one a Blacksmith for the King. Urbain Berthelot (sixth great grandfather), the Blacksmith, arrived around 1715. Sergeant Jean Louis Fontenot (sixth great grandfather), arrived around 1720. Both of these men had families and The Berthelot's remained in the Mobile area while the Fontenot's were relocated to the frontier post of Ft. Toulouse(Poste des Alibamons) near present day Montgomery, Alabama. Some of the Fontenot Children moved to the New Orleans Area.
The Berthelot's had a son and the Fontenot's had a daughter, Jean Louis Urbain Berthelot (fifth great grandfather), and Marie Louise Fontenot (fifth great grandmother), were married about 1742 at Fort Louis, Poste Des Allemans,Louisiana, New France. Louis was a Soldier stationed at Fort Louis, the French Settlement at what is now Edgard, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. After being discharged from the Army, Louis and his family settled in the same area. Lucy, Louisiana (Lucy is now part of Edgard) where Louis and family established a Plantation.

There were a lot of Forests in Louisiana. The first to arrive, in the late 1760's, were Acadians exiled from Acadie, New France, what is now Nova Scotia, Canada, by the British. These Acadian Forest are not direct ancestors, but some of these Forests did marry some Siblings, Uncles and Aunts of some direct relations.

Theodore

My direct ancester that brought the Forest Surname to Louisiana in 1856 was Jean Marie Theodore Forasté born June 23rd 1838 in Mauleon Barousse, Department Hautes Pyrenees, France. Note the Spelling was different when Theodore was in France. The first record I have of his name being spelled "Forest" was in the Federal Census of 1860.

© Mark Forest 2018