ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) — It’s amazing what a trip to the courthouse will get you, because come to find out, the Pope, Robert Francis Prevost has a family history right in St. Landry Parish that dates all the way back to 1792.
“I was informed by Mr. Jagneaux, the Clerk here, that maybe we should check and see specifically because they were tying two names that are very associated here with the parish, which was the Baquie family and the Lemelle family,” said St. Landry Parish Archivist Larry Caillier Jr.
Callier says he has researched the Pope’s family lineage to create a chart that shows exactly where his connection to the parish begins. He says the Pope’s grandmother, Louise Baquie, came from a long-established Louisiana Creole family. The further back you look, the more St. Landry parish history you find.
The Lemelle family was one of the wealthiest Creoles of color families in St. Landry Parish.
“I wanted to find out if we could go back even further than that and find some records. And interestingly enough, St. Landry Parish, at one point in time was known as Post de Opelousas.” explained Callier. “That military post shows in a census that in 1792 you had a Louis Lemelle who had married a Celeste Olympe De Grand Pre, that listed Louis Lemelle as a free man of color. That was at the Post at that point in time. So, we can actually trace the Pope’s lineage all the way back to this area, going all the way back to 1792.”
As the Pope’s lineage is traced back to the parish, Caillier says he hopes to also meet family members still in the parish to uncover even more stories.
“It’s never a one-way process,” said Caillier. “Whenever you’re doing genealogical research, generally, it takes an entire community or family of individuals to all kind of do their part because not everything was recorded in documentation. So, you end up having to use family word of mouth in hopes that you still have family members that say, oh, I remember Great-Grandma Baquie, or I remember my nanny. That was it. That information is priceless.”
