Bonjour Maxine,

It’s a pleasure to meet you.

It would appear our common ancestors were Claude Nicola Clerc and Rosa d’Alfon all the way back in Switzerland. Apparently Marie Stephanie Clerc, and her brother, Charles Francois Clerc, made their way to New Orleans in the decade before the Civil War. Marie Stephanie Clerc’s first husband, DeBat, was murdered in 1867, and in 1871 she married Joseph Gandolfo, a native of the city of Mahón on the island of Minorca, Spain. It appears that would have made your great grandmother, Marie Irma Clerc, and my grandfather, Fernand C. Gandolfo, first cousins. My father was Charles B. Gandolfo, the fourth of Fernand’s five sons.

I am familiar with the family book done by Philip Clerc of Lafayette, LA and even have large portions of it copied. I was not aware of another book, unless it’s possibly the same one.

I have some very unorganized family notes that I’d be very happy to share with you. You can contact me directly at gmgnola@hotmail.com.

Thanks,

Gerald (Jerry) Gandolfo
New Orleans, LA