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Acadian
clans close local Congrès '99
By PATRICK THOMAS, Houma Courier,
8/8/99
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Two sisters from the Canadian province New Brunswick,
Carmelle Duguay (left) and Therese Albert, look over
their family tree Saturday with Jim Pellegrin of Kenner
during Saturday's Robichaux Family Reunion at the
Montegut Recreation Center.
Photo by BRYAN TUCK/THE COURIER. |
MONTEGUT - If the success of Congrès Mondial Acadien en Louisiane
1999 were measured by Saturday's Cajun family reunions, then the
10-day event has been a big hit.
There were two reunions in Terrebonne Parish Saturday: the Robichaux
family in Montegut and the Guidry and Petitpas clan in Houma. Both saw
turnout in the hundreds.
"We're expecting 500 people," said organizer Ray Robichaux, who
was already hoarse in the morning from his labors. "It's a good
turnout, definitely."
Ray Robichaux, Mildred Robichaux Pellegrin and others had
transformed the Montegut Recreation Center into their family
headquarters for the day.
In one side of the room was a Cajun museum with lots of old tools
and implements - saws, a branding iron, paddles, Louisiana auto
license plates from the 1920s, a pair of white rubber boots labeled
"Cajun Reeboks" and so forth. In another room was a little
makeshift theater that showed engaging videos about Cajun history.
In the main hall, scores of Robichaux descendants greeted one
another.
"It starts with Louis Robichaux in France," explained Debby
Robichaux Verret of Houma, who went to Nova Scotia and found
Robichaux family members there - although, actually, the Canadian
branch usually spells it Robichaud.
Jim Pellegrin Jr. - grandson of a Robichaux - was at his computer in
a side room, showing how to find oneself on the family tree. Louis
Robichaux arrived in Nova Scotia in 1632. "Everybody's linked to
him," Pellegrin said.
A print-out of his computer data on Robichaux descendants and the
people who married into the family is 500 pages long with some
18,000 entries. Twenty people asked him for copies before lunch.
Among those from Canada were Carmelle Duquay Robichaud from
Memramcook, New Brunswick and Therese Albert from Caraquet,
New Brunswick. They were trading hugs with Rosalie Crochet and
Lucy Mahan, sisters from Montegut.
"They are so friendly," said Robichaud of her new Cajun
acquaintances.
"They are very welcoming," said Albert, who had been to
Terrebonne Parish before.
Crochet has traveled to the Canadian maritime provinces on a trip
with 13 other couples in 10 motor homes. They stayed two weeks,
and she is planning to attend the next event, the 2004 Congrès
Mondial Acadien in Nova Scotia. "I'm going to start saving my
money now," she said.
Meanwhile, in the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, an even larger
gathering was under way - perhaps as many as 900 members of the
Guidry and Petitpas clan.
"They're coming from everywhere," said organizer Dan Guidry, an
administrative assistant in marine operations at Lumcon in
Cocodrie. He began working on this event in late 1996.
Claude Guedry and Marguerite Petitpas, Nova Scotians of the late
1600s, were the family founders. "They were the ones who started
every Guidry in North America," Dan Guidry said. The name has
also evolved into Geddry, Jeddry, Guildry dit LaBine and LaBean.
Daryl LaBine, of St. Catharines, Ontario, near Niagra Falls, has
compiled the family tree into an index of about 35,000 people. By
lunch time, he had taken 20 orders for the two-volume, 1,350-page
doorstop, which he is selling for $100. "There were roughly 20,000
descendants," he said.
A distant cousin, Mark Labine (with a small B and a different
pronunciation) has also written a book, "La Verdure De Mirligueche:
The Story of the Guidry dit Labine Family in North America."
" 'La Verdure' was Claude's nickname," explained Labine,
apparently meaning "woodsman." Mirligueche is the place where
Claude Guedry settled.
The daylong reunion at the Civic Center was preceded by a Mass at
St. Francis de Sales Cathedral.
There has been a Guidry in the congregation there for 151 years,
said Richard Guidry, who organized the gathering.
"It went extremely well. We were overwhelmed," he said, estimating
that at least 250 people attended Mass.
Pierrette Guidry of Montreal said the rosary in French. "That used to
be quite common around here when I was a child," Richard Guidry
said.
"My husband's a Guidry. His family is from Lafayette," Pierrette
Guidry said.
"I've met a good many people," Richard Guidry said. "I saw a cousin
of mine I hadn't seen in 40 years."
Asked if the clan had ever had such a reunion before, he replied,
"Not that I know of. This is the first time the whole Guidry family has
gotten together since they were deported."
Congrès events continue throughout the area today. At the
Montegut Recreation Center, the Montegut Lions Club and the
Pointe-aux-Chenes Knights of Columbus will be serving a $5-a-plate
chicken dinner beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Entertainment is scheduled for the afternoon with performances
from three local bands, a Nova Scotia dance team and a
presentation from two United Houma Nation dance groups.
In addition, a Mass in French is scheduled for 9 a.m. today at
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Montegut.
Patrick Thomas is a staff writer at The Courier. He can be reached
at 850-1150
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