Denise,

Thank you. You mentioned the resources of Afrigeneas. Can you please guide me thru these? Now, let’s see what I can tell you that will help.

I searched for Charles Maran and his family within the Rev. Donald J. Hebert’s (Southwest Louisiana Records) Vols. of books, vol.1 thru vol. 41. The only mention of Charles Maran was within Vol. 5 of Hebert’s books. I found Charles Maran’s succession record which can be located in the Opelousas Court House under the number of #1827, dated April 05, 1854.

I have not search Rev. Donald J. Hebert’s (South Louisiana Records). Those are records of people
that lived in and around New Orleans. Juliette Maran did bring her sister-in-law to New Orleans for
nothing. She might have lived in New Orleans.

I have access to Gwendolyn Midlo Hall’s Afro-Louisiana History-online, so I searched for every slave
that Marie Jeanne Lemelle had. This is what I found on a woman named Eve:

Eve

Gender: female
Race: black
Birthplace: British Mainland Creole
Age (when this record was documented): 14.0

Selling Information
Name of the Seller: Thophilis Collins
Name of the Buyer: Marie Jeanne Lemille
Grouping: sold or inventoried as an individual
Selling Currency: D
Selling Value: 1000
Selling Value: 1000
Document: Information of the document that these records were retrieved.
Document Location: St. Landry (Opelousas Post). [Calcasieu 1840, Cameron 1870, Acadia 1886, Evangeline 1908, Allen 1910, Jefferson Davis 1912, beaureguard 1912]
Document Date: 1818-01-24
Document Number (from the document): 2071
Notary Name: Notarial Acts Reel 3
Coder (person that encoded this record: Philip McLeod

If I have guessed right, and the information on this woman is the right Eve, then I can go to the next
phrase of this research.
This is a list of Marie Jeanne Lemelle’s sons, with information, designed to show you who could have
been alive during a document date of 1818-01-24:

Francois Narcisse Lemelle, Sr.
Born: August 08, 1785 (Opelousas Ch. V. 1-A, P. 53, S/W, V. 1, P. 376 & 590)
Succession: April 1839 (Opelousas Ct. Hse. #909; S/W, V. 3, P. 425)

Hildebert Lemelle
Born: Unknown
Married: July 27, 1802 (Opelousas Ch. V. 1, P. 150; S/W, V. 3, Pg. 684 & 688)
Succession: September 1810 (Opelousas Ct. Hse. #22; S/W, V. 1, P. 376)

Louis Lemelle, Sr.
Born: Unknown
Married: October 17, 1798 (Opelousas Ch. V. 1, P. 81; V. 2-BR, P. 17; S/W, V. 3, P. 686 & 688 &
33, . 224 & 182)
Died: Prior to his son, Charles Lemelle, Sr.'s marriage 31 May, 1836

Francois Donato Lemelle, Sr.
Born: Unknown
Married: March 01, 1802 (Opelousas Ch. V. 1, P. 141; S/W, V. 3, P. 688 & 685; V. 33, P. 224)
Succession: December 29, 1854 (Opelousas Ct. Hse. #1885; S/W, V. 5, P. 364)

All of them are listed as being Quarteron Libre, so, it could have been Francois Narcisse Lemelle, Sr.
or Francois Donato Lemelle, Sr. with Louis Lemelle, Sr. being a suspect. One of them had to have
been know as being lighter than the others. I don’t know how we can trace that, except, by getting the
succession records of all of her sons and look for information.

You can acquire Marie Jeanne Lemells’s Succession Record:
Oct. 1834 (Opelousas Court House Succ: #682, S/W, V. 3, P. 425)

You can acquire Catiche Lemelle’s Succession Record, but, I have no record of when she died or what the succession number would have been.

I have access to all of the Census Records located at the Denver’s Federal Building. I can search thru all of them to find Charles Maran and everything about him. Maybe I can find his wife and kids. The Denver Federal Building is a 60 mile plus trip from my home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The trip is not a problem, but it’s winter now and (snow & ice) plus (Arceneaux) do not add up to me being alive the next day. (smile)

John