I've been transcribing an oral history that my grandfather gave when he was 82.

If anyone can help me build a factual history on this, please email me at katiebythegate@yahoo.com. I'd like to know where I find source documents on these ancestors...land records, births, deaths, marriages, grave locations.

Alfred MONTEILH, a "hotheaded socialist from France" who had "gone the wrong way in France" and was "getting on the wrong side"...the family was "afraid he would disgrace them". They put him on a ship with just enough money to get to New Orleans. He was hired to "teach in the family" as a "professor" at one of the family plantations in Louisiana.

Alfred induced his brother, Edmonde, to come--telling him that it was nice here, and there was a great need for people to teach the children at the family plantations. I think other brothers came as well. Edmonde played the violin. Edmonde was described by my grandfather as someone respected within the family--the opposite of Alfred. Edmonde married a Carmouche girl from the plantation where he taught. Somehow, a Carmouche plantation was a MONTEILH family plantation. He had to get permission from "old man Carmouche" to marry Josephine MONTEILH.

There were many children, and all were lost to yellow fever in a three-week period—all teenagers. The only surviving son was Erneste MONTEILH, who died when he was 62. The only surviving daughter was Josephine MONTEILH.

Josephine married Narcisse Carmouche (son of another Narcisse Carmouche). Josephine died of a heart attack when she was 84 .

Narcisse's family had many children, and as in the Monteilh's most were lost to yellow fever within a three week period. All those who died were teenagers. Two? sisters survived (Grandpa remembers meeting one of them), and two brothers, Louis and August (my grandfather was named after him). Narcisse raised a set of twin girls from the family-- who were orphaned. I can't quite make out their names on the tape...sounds like their dad was William (French pronunciation of it), and the girls were...Olamphe? and Tino? Seymore? or Lena?. They were much older than my grandfather, and he adored them. He seems to remember one of them getting married when he was two.

Narcisse was part owner of a family plantation with a brother named Louis. There were 300 acres and a cotton gin. When my grandfather was a boy, there were shareholders working the land who used to be slaves. Narcisse was double-crossed and lost the plantation to "old man Gautreaux/Godchaux" (when an amount Narcisse paid to his account was marked as an additional debt instead). The family moved a few times...to the New Roads area...and ended up in Big Cane / Rosa. Narcisse died at age 76 in 1922 (was it yellow fever like their daughter, Blanche?).

Narcisse's children were:
Blanche, the oldest who died in yellow fever epidemic of 1922
Ed
George
Stella
Augustine
'Gus' August Joseph Carmouche, my grandfather, of Big Cane/Rosa, Louisiana He was born in 1892. The Carmouche's were French Catholics. Gus was the "only little Frenchman in the whole school". The daughters never married.

The Carmouche's were close to the family of Ned Hudspeth in Big Cane / Rosa. Gus was the "teacher's pet" at the one-room schoolhouse...and his teachers were the Hudspeth girls, Miss Sally and Miss Georgia. Grandpa loved "Mr. Ned", and worked in his store from when he "was in knee-pants". Grandpa managed the store when Mr. Ned was out on the plantation, and Grandpa was made the Postmaster of the little post office in the store. George and Ed worked in some capacity for the Hudspeth plantation. I think they were oversee-ers.

Gus married Sena Waits, of Big Cane/Rosa, Louisiana when he was 30...in 1920. They had my mother (and other children). The Carmouche church records are in the Catholic church. The Waits church records are in the Baptist Church.

Fact: Many family graves are at an old cemetary down a road right off the Big Cane highway. I was shown the turn-off leading there.

Fact: As a small child, one of my aunts was taken to where the family plantation used to be. She showed me where she thinks she remembers it...it was near the train tracks/four-way stop to the Big Cane turnoff, I believe.

Fact: As you turn to B. Cane and go over the tracks, a "cousin Alice (French pronunciation)" lived on the right, and so did the Carmouche grandparents. "All the old people" (grandparents) died around the same time...within one year. I wonder if it was yellow fever epidemic?

Family Story: There is a graveyard on the old family plantation grounds which, when the land was taken by the new owners and plowed, the gravestones were plowed into the nearby bayou.

Story: The Carmouche's are descended from aristocracy in France. Their name was Longchamps, and they barely escaped the French Revolution with their heads. Two Longchamps brothers came to America to escape. They took the name "Carmouche". They landed at the "Isle of Saint Rose" when they got here. They were teachers.

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I'd like to sort the facts from the fiction. I think that in researching the Monteilh's, I can unlock the Carmouche history as well. The families are intertwined.

As for the revolution story, I think it is a rolled up story combining different elements of the history into one story. I know: two MONTEILH brothers came, one was in some sort of trouble in France, and they were teachers, but I don't know what their trouble in France was. I don't know if their name was changed. I don't know why the names passed down in the story are "Longchamps" and MONTEILH. I do know the Carmouche and MONTEILH lines cross a few times. I did find references online to a female MONTEILH who was titled, a "Lady MONTEILH". Perhaps this is how the "aristocracy" part of the story got in there.

I have found references to two Carmouche plantations between New Orleans and New Roads. There are more things on my tape that lead me to believe there was family in the New Roads area....possibly a plantation. Also, one Carmouche on the tape managed to work a crooked deal where he took three family plantations--down to the silver and the mules.

I'd like to know more about my MONTEILH and Carmouche ancestors. I'd like to know where this plantation was, and more about it. I'd like to learn and document the history of the slaves from the plantation. I'd like to find where the slave graveyard is and document it for those trying to find their ancesters. I'd like to find my own family's old graves.

I hope this information helps someone who is trying to build a family history. I'm sorry if anything is offensive to anyone. I am only stating things I was told or listened to others say. I included some things that may sound offensive in quotes because those statements hint at historical events that might help researchers track down locations of family information. I am sorry if some descendants find historical accuracy offensive in some way, but I believe it's important to be factual. It's the little details that lead to getting us "unstuck" in our research.