hi, I am trying to locate the succession of ANDRE MASSE, one of the first white men to venture into the southwest attakapas/opelousas region of Louisiana in 1740's. The earliest he shows up in the records is on a 1747 cattle branding record. Before he died or when he died, he freed ALL of his slaves and gave them land and livestock. He lived in what later became the saint martin parish region of louisiana. I believe he died sometime in the 1790's. In the southwest louisiana records,there are records of MASSE slaves and free blacks with that name, one the free MASSE's ( BABET) married my g-g-g-g grandfather, Louis Sam, free, in 1836 even though they already had five children at the time( Angelique, Jean-Pierre, Adolphe, Don Louis, and Casimer). Any info will help.