Ulysses Gabriel Pierrottie and his bride Aminthe Fruge on their wedding day on 02/21/1907
(Photo contributed by Frances Pierrottie and provided by Murphy Miller)
-------------------
One Fellow's Evangeline by Elvin Reed
(printed in The Daily World, Opelousas, LA, Sunday, October 6, 1963)
Heirs to the Pirate's Island
MAMOU - "Every man is his own ancestor, and every man is his heir. He devises his own future, and he inherits his own past."
A series of hearings has been going on now, in the Gretna district court, Jefferson Parish, for the, past month, and will continue throughout the month of October -- on the distribution of mineral lease funds to nearly 3,000 claimants, who are heirs to the brothers and sisters of Francois Zenon Boutte.
These hearings were brought about directly because of the action of one man who traveled many thousands many thousands of miles, perhaps equal to ten trips around the world, and realized his goal - that of finding the true heirs of the famous Francois Zenon Boutte estate.
This man is Ulysse Pierrottie, who lives at 1016 Hackberry Ave. at Mamou.
According to Pierrottie, this is how our story goes, Francois Zenon Boutte died about 1869, long after the deaths of his wife and child, leaving no natural heirs, and all of his fortune gone. His life and death were completely forgotten until in 1930, when the Standard Oil Co., of Texas came into Louisiana to explore and develop the piece of land called Lafitte Island (now called Barataria Island) on the southern tip of the Louisiana boot.
While engineers and surveyors were going over the island, abstracting each and every strip of territory, they came across a forgotten strip of land some five acres wide and six miles long, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, and left by him to his heirs after his death. The story goes back into the years here, when Pierrottie told of how the land came into ownership by Francois Zenon Boutte and his uncle, Jean Baptiste Boutte. This island was once given to the famous pirate, Jean LaFitte by a grant of General Andrew Jackson, in payment for his services in the battle of New Orleans.
Jean LaFitte later sold the island to a man named "Villa" and this same Villa sold the land to Pierre Lavigne. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase it was owned by Pierre Lavigne, whose heirs sold it in 1915 to the brothers Hilaire and Jean Baptiste Boutte (uncles of Francois Zenon Boutte).
Pierrottie pointed out that Hilaire then sold his undivided half of the island to Joseph Triscoue and Triscoue sold his half to Francois Zenon Boutte in 1819, but the notary making the sale made a mistake and the sale read that Triscoue sold the entire island to Zenon Boutte. This necessitated a new document to read that Zenon Boutte had purchased only half of the island, the other half belonging to Jean Baptiste Boutte. To make it more clear, the two Bouttes then decided that they would divide the island in two equal parts, with Jean Baptiste Boutte taking the northern half of the island and Francois Zenon Boutte taking the southern half.
It is at this point, following the discovery of a forgotten strip of land located in the southern half of the island, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, that Pierrottie comes into the story. After digging back into old records and birth records, history books and deeds some 33 years later, Pierrottie completed his work - the finding of close to 3,000 heirs and descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte, Heirs and descendants of eight generations, of brothers and sisters, of Zenon Boutte - Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte, Antoine Hilliare Boutte, Modeste Boutte, Louis Hilliare Boutte, Juan Leon Boutte, and Celestine Boutte.
Pierrottie's grandmother was a daughter of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Pierrottie's work came about by a request of heirs of Francois Zenon Boutte, who thought then that the estate could never be settled and nor could all the heirs be located.
His 33 years of work, took him into 10 states, traveling over 200,000 miles, and after half of a lifetime most of his holidays are now gone, as he had to sell most of his property, even a 40-acre tract of land in Allen parish, to finance his project. At present, he has a claim of $47,167.64 (equal to $333,831.28 in 2008 dollars) filed before the Gretna district court, seeking this sum, as payment for his efforts of 33 years to the estate of Francois Zenon Boutte.
Royalties, bonuses and other lease funds not total $106,150, as of their date of tabulation in 1950, and were earned from a California company lease of about 253 acres out of the 500 acre tract on this same forgotten strip of land belonging to Francois Zenon Boutte. Pierrottie states, however, that there is a much bigger sum in escrow, which will go to the 3000 heirs of the estate.
The land had been granted officially to the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, the uncle according to Pierrottie, who filed suit to recover the land, stating that the land was in the southern part of the island according to the court. The largest share would go to a descendent of this rejoined branch of the family, and would total .041666 of the mineral funds. The smallest share would go to the descendant with a .0009920 record, he stated.
Pierrottie stated that this 500-acre tract, more or less, will never be sold by the heirs, and today is worth millions of dollars, and will, as years go by, bear more fruits, and will create more hardship, as heirs die and other heirs are added on, which could reach 5,000 heirs by 1975.
In his years of research, Pierrottie said, his work was greatly hampered because of all old documents and records being recorded in French. This necessitated an interpreter and added expenses. He also had to establish the fact that because of the known birth of a son by a second marriage, his son may have had heirs who would then be heirs of the Francois Zenon Boutte estate. This claim had been filed by the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, he stated. After seven years of research of old records of the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, it was officially established that his only son had died at the age of seven, Pierrottie said.
There are upward of 300 descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte in the Mamou area, Pierrottie said, and from an official list of heirs of the Boutte estate, from the descendents of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Here are some of the names of heirs in the immediate Mamou area: Oliver E. Guillory, .0001417; Allen Guillory, .001417; Paul Ethen Bacon; 0002480; Leroy Guillory, .0001417; Fulton Bacon, .0002480; Greta Bacon Fontenot, .0002480; Daisy Bacon, .0009921; Carrol Pierrottie, .0001653; Zelomer Boutte Landreneau, .0046296; Opelia Boutte Ledoux, .0046296; Charles Boutte, same number; Mary Wessie Tate Marcantel, .0034722; Elize Tate Gourney, same number; Edwina Tate, same number; Theogene Tate, same number; Willie Pierrottie, .000662; Mathilda Pierrottie, same number; Felix Pierrottie, same number; Albert Pierrottie, .000662; Georginia Pierrottie Berzas, same number; Lilia Marie Pierrottie Biessenberger; Mabel Pierrottie Soileau, Ulysses Pierrottie, .0003968; Grace Pierrottie, Audrey ___ Pierrottie Manuel; Aubre T. Martel, Blanche Martel Fuselier; Louis Martel; Jule E. Martel; Lilly Mae Yvonne Bacon Russell, Adella Bacon, Amida Bacon Fontenot, Constant Pierrottie, Enora Pierrottie and many, many others from the other six branches, according to Pierrottie.
The separate claims filed against the mineral funds in escrow, in the sum of $47,168.64 (restated in 2007 dollars, this is about $320,000) by Pierrottie, may be decided within the coming months it was learned, before the rights of all the claimants to the funds. Hearings have already been heard of Modesta and Louis Hilliare Boutte, the joined branch; and also the descendants of Antoine Hilliare Boutte (the Pierrottie branch) and the descendant of Juan Leon Boutte. Hearings will also be heard on Oct. 23 for descendants of Celestine Boutte; and on Oct. 24, on the descendants of Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte - all because of the determination and fortitude of one man. We inherit nothing truly, but what our actions make us worthy of.
------------------------
John LaHaye and Ulyses Pierotti built the ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD DEPOT in Mamou and Reddell. (in an article about John LaHaye By Robert Gahn - Mamou High School principal)
----------------
See: "United States Census, 1930," Ulysse Pierrotti"
(Photo contributed by Frances Pierrottie and provided by Murphy Miller)
-------------------
One Fellow's Evangeline by Elvin Reed
(printed in The Daily World, Opelousas, LA, Sunday, October 6, 1963)
Heirs to the Pirate's Island
MAMOU - "Every man is his own ancestor, and every man is his heir. He devises his own future, and he inherits his own past."
A series of hearings has been going on now, in the Gretna district court, Jefferson Parish, for the, past month, and will continue throughout the month of October -- on the distribution of mineral lease funds to nearly 3,000 claimants, who are heirs to the brothers and sisters of Francois Zenon Boutte.
These hearings were brought about directly because of the action of one man who traveled many thousands many thousands of miles, perhaps equal to ten trips around the world, and realized his goal - that of finding the true heirs of the famous Francois Zenon Boutte estate.
This man is Ulysse Pierrottie, who lives at 1016 Hackberry Ave. at Mamou.
According to Pierrottie, this is how our story goes, Francois Zenon Boutte died about 1869, long after the deaths of his wife and child, leaving no natural heirs, and all of his fortune gone. His life and death were completely forgotten until in 1930, when the Standard Oil Co., of Texas came into Louisiana to explore and develop the piece of land called Lafitte Island (now called Barataria Island) on the southern tip of the Louisiana boot.
While engineers and surveyors were going over the island, abstracting each and every strip of territory, they came across a forgotten strip of land some five acres wide and six miles long, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, and left by him to his heirs after his death. The story goes back into the years here, when Pierrottie told of how the land came into ownership by Francois Zenon Boutte and his uncle, Jean Baptiste Boutte. This island was once given to the famous pirate, Jean LaFitte by a grant of General Andrew Jackson, in payment for his services in the battle of New Orleans.
Jean LaFitte later sold the island to a man named "Villa" and this same Villa sold the land to Pierre Lavigne. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase it was owned by Pierre Lavigne, whose heirs sold it in 1915 to the brothers Hilaire and Jean Baptiste Boutte (uncles of Francois Zenon Boutte).
Pierrottie pointed out that Hilaire then sold his undivided half of the island to Joseph Triscoue and Triscoue sold his half to Francois Zenon Boutte in 1819, but the notary making the sale made a mistake and the sale read that Triscoue sold the entire island to Zenon Boutte. This necessitated a new document to read that Zenon Boutte had purchased only half of the island, the other half belonging to Jean Baptiste Boutte. To make it more clear, the two Bouttes then decided that they would divide the island in two equal parts, with Jean Baptiste Boutte taking the northern half of the island and Francois Zenon Boutte taking the southern half.
It is at this point, following the discovery of a forgotten strip of land located in the southern half of the island, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, that Pierrottie comes into the story. After digging back into old records and birth records, history books and deeds some 33 years later, Pierrottie completed his work - the finding of close to 3,000 heirs and descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte, Heirs and descendants of eight generations, of brothers and sisters, of Zenon Boutte - Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte, Antoine Hilliare Boutte, Modeste Boutte, Louis Hilliare Boutte, Juan Leon Boutte, and Celestine Boutte.
Pierrottie's grandmother was a daughter of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Pierrottie's work came about by a request of heirs of Francois Zenon Boutte, who thought then that the estate could never be settled and nor could all the heirs be located.
His 33 years of work, took him into 10 states, traveling over 200,000 miles, and after half of a lifetime most of his holidays are now gone, as he had to sell most of his property, even a 40-acre tract of land in Allen parish, to finance his project. At present, he has a claim of $47,167.64 (equal to $333,831.28 in 2008 dollars) filed before the Gretna district court, seeking this sum, as payment for his efforts of 33 years to the estate of Francois Zenon Boutte.
Royalties, bonuses and other lease funds not total $106,150, as of their date of tabulation in 1950, and were earned from a California company lease of about 253 acres out of the 500 acre tract on this same forgotten strip of land belonging to Francois Zenon Boutte. Pierrottie states, however, that there is a much bigger sum in escrow, which will go to the 3000 heirs of the estate.
The land had been granted officially to the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, the uncle according to Pierrottie, who filed suit to recover the land, stating that the land was in the southern part of the island according to the court. The largest share would go to a descendent of this rejoined branch of the family, and would total .041666 of the mineral funds. The smallest share would go to the descendant with a .0009920 record, he stated.
Pierrottie stated that this 500-acre tract, more or less, will never be sold by the heirs, and today is worth millions of dollars, and will, as years go by, bear more fruits, and will create more hardship, as heirs die and other heirs are added on, which could reach 5,000 heirs by 1975.
In his years of research, Pierrottie said, his work was greatly hampered because of all old documents and records being recorded in French. This necessitated an interpreter and added expenses. He also had to establish the fact that because of the known birth of a son by a second marriage, his son may have had heirs who would then be heirs of the Francois Zenon Boutte estate. This claim had been filed by the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, he stated. After seven years of research of old records of the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, it was officially established that his only son had died at the age of seven, Pierrottie said.
There are upward of 300 descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte in the Mamou area, Pierrottie said, and from an official list of heirs of the Boutte estate, from the descendents of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Here are some of the names of heirs in the immediate Mamou area: Oliver E. Guillory, .0001417; Allen Guillory, .001417; Paul Ethen Bacon; 0002480; Leroy Guillory, .0001417; Fulton Bacon, .0002480; Greta Bacon Fontenot, .0002480; Daisy Bacon, .0009921; Carrol Pierrottie, .0001653; Zelomer Boutte Landreneau, .0046296; Opelia Boutte Ledoux, .0046296; Charles Boutte, same number; Mary Wessie Tate Marcantel, .0034722; Elize Tate Gourney, same number; Edwina Tate, same number; Theogene Tate, same number; Willie Pierrottie, .000662; Mathilda Pierrottie, same number; Felix Pierrottie, same number; Albert Pierrottie, .000662; Georginia Pierrottie Berzas, same number; Lilia Marie Pierrottie Biessenberger; Mabel Pierrottie Soileau, Ulysses Pierrottie, .0003968; Grace Pierrottie, Audrey ___ Pierrottie Manuel; Aubre T. Martel, Blanche Martel Fuselier; Louis Martel; Jule E. Martel; Lilly Mae Yvonne Bacon Russell, Adella Bacon, Amida Bacon Fontenot, Constant Pierrottie, Enora Pierrottie and many, many others from the other six branches, according to Pierrottie.
The separate claims filed against the mineral funds in escrow, in the sum of $47,168.64 (restated in 2007 dollars, this is about $320,000) by Pierrottie, may be decided within the coming months it was learned, before the rights of all the claimants to the funds. Hearings have already been heard of Modesta and Louis Hilliare Boutte, the joined branch; and also the descendants of Antoine Hilliare Boutte (the Pierrottie branch) and the descendant of Juan Leon Boutte. Hearings will also be heard on Oct. 23 for descendants of Celestine Boutte; and on Oct. 24, on the descendants of Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte - all because of the determination and fortitude of one man. We inherit nothing truly, but what our actions make us worthy of.
------------------------
John LaHaye and Ulyses Pierotti built the ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD DEPOT in Mamou and Reddell. (in an article about John LaHaye By Robert Gahn - Mamou High School principal)
----------------
See: "United States Census, 1930," Ulysse Pierrotti"
Ulysses Gabriel Pierrottie and his bride Aminthe Fruge on their wedding day on 02/21/1907
(Photo contributed by Frances Pierrottie and provided by Murphy Miller)
-------------------
One Fellow's Evangeline by Elvin Reed
(printed in The Daily World, Opelousas, LA, Sunday, October 6, 1963)
Heirs to the Pirate's Island
MAMOU - "Every man is his own ancestor, and every man is his heir. He devises his own future, and he inherits his own past."
A series of hearings has been going on now, in the Gretna district court, Jefferson Parish, for the, past month, and will continue throughout the month of October -- on the distribution of mineral lease funds to nearly 3,000 claimants, who are heirs to the brothers and sisters of Francois Zenon Boutte.
These hearings were brought about directly because of the action of one man who traveled many thousands many thousands of miles, perhaps equal to ten trips around the world, and realized his goal - that of finding the true heirs of the famous Francois Zenon Boutte estate.
This man is Ulysse Pierrottie, who lives at 1016 Hackberry Ave. at Mamou.
According to Pierrottie, this is how our story goes, Francois Zenon Boutte died about 1869, long after the deaths of his wife and child, leaving no natural heirs, and all of his fortune gone. His life and death were completely forgotten until in 1930, when the Standard Oil Co., of Texas came into Louisiana to explore and develop the piece of land called Lafitte Island (now called Barataria Island) on the southern tip of the Louisiana boot.
While engineers and surveyors were going over the island, abstracting each and every strip of territory, they came across a forgotten strip of land some five acres wide and six miles long, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, and left by him to his heirs after his death. The story goes back into the years here, when Pierrottie told of how the land came into ownership by Francois Zenon Boutte and his uncle, Jean Baptiste Boutte. This island was once given to the famous pirate, Jean LaFitte by a grant of General Andrew Jackson, in payment for his services in the battle of New Orleans.
Jean LaFitte later sold the island to a man named "Villa" and this same Villa sold the land to Pierre Lavigne. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase it was owned by Pierre Lavigne, whose heirs sold it in 1915 to the brothers Hilaire and Jean Baptiste Boutte (uncles of Francois Zenon Boutte).
Pierrottie pointed out that Hilaire then sold his undivided half of the island to Joseph Triscoue and Triscoue sold his half to Francois Zenon Boutte in 1819, but the notary making the sale made a mistake and the sale read that Triscoue sold the entire island to Zenon Boutte. This necessitated a new document to read that Zenon Boutte had purchased only half of the island, the other half belonging to Jean Baptiste Boutte. To make it more clear, the two Bouttes then decided that they would divide the island in two equal parts, with Jean Baptiste Boutte taking the northern half of the island and Francois Zenon Boutte taking the southern half.
It is at this point, following the discovery of a forgotten strip of land located in the southern half of the island, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, that Pierrottie comes into the story. After digging back into old records and birth records, history books and deeds some 33 years later, Pierrottie completed his work - the finding of close to 3,000 heirs and descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte, Heirs and descendants of eight generations, of brothers and sisters, of Zenon Boutte - Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte, Antoine Hilliare Boutte, Modeste Boutte, Louis Hilliare Boutte, Juan Leon Boutte, and Celestine Boutte.
Pierrottie's grandmother was a daughter of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Pierrottie's work came about by a request of heirs of Francois Zenon Boutte, who thought then that the estate could never be settled and nor could all the heirs be located.
His 33 years of work, took him into 10 states, traveling over 200,000 miles, and after half of a lifetime most of his holidays are now gone, as he had to sell most of his property, even a 40-acre tract of land in Allen parish, to finance his project. At present, he has a claim of $47,167.64 (equal to $333,831.28 in 2008 dollars) filed before the Gretna district court, seeking this sum, as payment for his efforts of 33 years to the estate of Francois Zenon Boutte.
Royalties, bonuses and other lease funds not total $106,150, as of their date of tabulation in 1950, and were earned from a California company lease of about 253 acres out of the 500 acre tract on this same forgotten strip of land belonging to Francois Zenon Boutte. Pierrottie states, however, that there is a much bigger sum in escrow, which will go to the 3000 heirs of the estate.
The land had been granted officially to the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, the uncle according to Pierrottie, who filed suit to recover the land, stating that the land was in the southern part of the island according to the court. The largest share would go to a descendent of this rejoined branch of the family, and would total .041666 of the mineral funds. The smallest share would go to the descendant with a .0009920 record, he stated.
Pierrottie stated that this 500-acre tract, more or less, will never be sold by the heirs, and today is worth millions of dollars, and will, as years go by, bear more fruits, and will create more hardship, as heirs die and other heirs are added on, which could reach 5,000 heirs by 1975.
In his years of research, Pierrottie said, his work was greatly hampered because of all old documents and records being recorded in French. This necessitated an interpreter and added expenses. He also had to establish the fact that because of the known birth of a son by a second marriage, his son may have had heirs who would then be heirs of the Francois Zenon Boutte estate. This claim had been filed by the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, he stated. After seven years of research of old records of the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, it was officially established that his only son had died at the age of seven, Pierrottie said.
There are upward of 300 descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte in the Mamou area, Pierrottie said, and from an official list of heirs of the Boutte estate, from the descendents of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Here are some of the names of heirs in the immediate Mamou area: Oliver E. Guillory, .0001417; Allen Guillory, .001417; Paul Ethen Bacon; 0002480; Leroy Guillory, .0001417; Fulton Bacon, .0002480; Greta Bacon Fontenot, .0002480; Daisy Bacon, .0009921; Carrol Pierrottie, .0001653; Zelomer Boutte Landreneau, .0046296; Opelia Boutte Ledoux, .0046296; Charles Boutte, same number; Mary Wessie Tate Marcantel, .0034722; Elize Tate Gourney, same number; Edwina Tate, same number; Theogene Tate, same number; Willie Pierrottie, .000662; Mathilda Pierrottie, same number; Felix Pierrottie, same number; Albert Pierrottie, .000662; Georginia Pierrottie Berzas, same number; Lilia Marie Pierrottie Biessenberger; Mabel Pierrottie Soileau, Ulysses Pierrottie, .0003968; Grace Pierrottie, Audrey ___ Pierrottie Manuel; Aubre T. Martel, Blanche Martel Fuselier; Louis Martel; Jule E. Martel; Lilly Mae Yvonne Bacon Russell, Adella Bacon, Amida Bacon Fontenot, Constant Pierrottie, Enora Pierrottie and many, many others from the other six branches, according to Pierrottie.
The separate claims filed against the mineral funds in escrow, in the sum of $47,168.64 (restated in 2007 dollars, this is about $320,000) by Pierrottie, may be decided within the coming months it was learned, before the rights of all the claimants to the funds. Hearings have already been heard of Modesta and Louis Hilliare Boutte, the joined branch; and also the descendants of Antoine Hilliare Boutte (the Pierrottie branch) and the descendant of Juan Leon Boutte. Hearings will also be heard on Oct. 23 for descendants of Celestine Boutte; and on Oct. 24, on the descendants of Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte - all because of the determination and fortitude of one man. We inherit nothing truly, but what our actions make us worthy of.
------------------------
John LaHaye and Ulyses Pierotti built the ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD DEPOT in Mamou and Reddell. (in an article about John LaHaye By Robert Gahn - Mamou High School principal)
----------------
See: "United States Census, 1930," Ulysse Pierrotti"
(Photo contributed by Frances Pierrottie and provided by Murphy Miller)
-------------------
One Fellow's Evangeline by Elvin Reed
(printed in The Daily World, Opelousas, LA, Sunday, October 6, 1963)
Heirs to the Pirate's Island
MAMOU - "Every man is his own ancestor, and every man is his heir. He devises his own future, and he inherits his own past."
A series of hearings has been going on now, in the Gretna district court, Jefferson Parish, for the, past month, and will continue throughout the month of October -- on the distribution of mineral lease funds to nearly 3,000 claimants, who are heirs to the brothers and sisters of Francois Zenon Boutte.
These hearings were brought about directly because of the action of one man who traveled many thousands many thousands of miles, perhaps equal to ten trips around the world, and realized his goal - that of finding the true heirs of the famous Francois Zenon Boutte estate.
This man is Ulysse Pierrottie, who lives at 1016 Hackberry Ave. at Mamou.
According to Pierrottie, this is how our story goes, Francois Zenon Boutte died about 1869, long after the deaths of his wife and child, leaving no natural heirs, and all of his fortune gone. His life and death were completely forgotten until in 1930, when the Standard Oil Co., of Texas came into Louisiana to explore and develop the piece of land called Lafitte Island (now called Barataria Island) on the southern tip of the Louisiana boot.
While engineers and surveyors were going over the island, abstracting each and every strip of territory, they came across a forgotten strip of land some five acres wide and six miles long, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, and left by him to his heirs after his death. The story goes back into the years here, when Pierrottie told of how the land came into ownership by Francois Zenon Boutte and his uncle, Jean Baptiste Boutte. This island was once given to the famous pirate, Jean LaFitte by a grant of General Andrew Jackson, in payment for his services in the battle of New Orleans.
Jean LaFitte later sold the island to a man named "Villa" and this same Villa sold the land to Pierre Lavigne. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase it was owned by Pierre Lavigne, whose heirs sold it in 1915 to the brothers Hilaire and Jean Baptiste Boutte (uncles of Francois Zenon Boutte).
Pierrottie pointed out that Hilaire then sold his undivided half of the island to Joseph Triscoue and Triscoue sold his half to Francois Zenon Boutte in 1819, but the notary making the sale made a mistake and the sale read that Triscoue sold the entire island to Zenon Boutte. This necessitated a new document to read that Zenon Boutte had purchased only half of the island, the other half belonging to Jean Baptiste Boutte. To make it more clear, the two Bouttes then decided that they would divide the island in two equal parts, with Jean Baptiste Boutte taking the northern half of the island and Francois Zenon Boutte taking the southern half.
It is at this point, following the discovery of a forgotten strip of land located in the southern half of the island, land which belonged to Francois Zenon Boutte, that Pierrottie comes into the story. After digging back into old records and birth records, history books and deeds some 33 years later, Pierrottie completed his work - the finding of close to 3,000 heirs and descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte, Heirs and descendants of eight generations, of brothers and sisters, of Zenon Boutte - Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte, Antoine Hilliare Boutte, Modeste Boutte, Louis Hilliare Boutte, Juan Leon Boutte, and Celestine Boutte.
Pierrottie's grandmother was a daughter of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Pierrottie's work came about by a request of heirs of Francois Zenon Boutte, who thought then that the estate could never be settled and nor could all the heirs be located.
His 33 years of work, took him into 10 states, traveling over 200,000 miles, and after half of a lifetime most of his holidays are now gone, as he had to sell most of his property, even a 40-acre tract of land in Allen parish, to finance his project. At present, he has a claim of $47,167.64 (equal to $333,831.28 in 2008 dollars) filed before the Gretna district court, seeking this sum, as payment for his efforts of 33 years to the estate of Francois Zenon Boutte.
Royalties, bonuses and other lease funds not total $106,150, as of their date of tabulation in 1950, and were earned from a California company lease of about 253 acres out of the 500 acre tract on this same forgotten strip of land belonging to Francois Zenon Boutte. Pierrottie states, however, that there is a much bigger sum in escrow, which will go to the 3000 heirs of the estate.
The land had been granted officially to the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, the uncle according to Pierrottie, who filed suit to recover the land, stating that the land was in the southern part of the island according to the court. The largest share would go to a descendent of this rejoined branch of the family, and would total .041666 of the mineral funds. The smallest share would go to the descendant with a .0009920 record, he stated.
Pierrottie stated that this 500-acre tract, more or less, will never be sold by the heirs, and today is worth millions of dollars, and will, as years go by, bear more fruits, and will create more hardship, as heirs die and other heirs are added on, which could reach 5,000 heirs by 1975.
In his years of research, Pierrottie said, his work was greatly hampered because of all old documents and records being recorded in French. This necessitated an interpreter and added expenses. He also had to establish the fact that because of the known birth of a son by a second marriage, his son may have had heirs who would then be heirs of the Francois Zenon Boutte estate. This claim had been filed by the heirs of Jean Baptiste Boutte, he stated. After seven years of research of old records of the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, it was officially established that his only son had died at the age of seven, Pierrottie said.
There are upward of 300 descendants of Francois Zenon Boutte in the Mamou area, Pierrottie said, and from an official list of heirs of the Boutte estate, from the descendents of Antoine Hilliare Boutte. Here are some of the names of heirs in the immediate Mamou area: Oliver E. Guillory, .0001417; Allen Guillory, .001417; Paul Ethen Bacon; 0002480; Leroy Guillory, .0001417; Fulton Bacon, .0002480; Greta Bacon Fontenot, .0002480; Daisy Bacon, .0009921; Carrol Pierrottie, .0001653; Zelomer Boutte Landreneau, .0046296; Opelia Boutte Ledoux, .0046296; Charles Boutte, same number; Mary Wessie Tate Marcantel, .0034722; Elize Tate Gourney, same number; Edwina Tate, same number; Theogene Tate, same number; Willie Pierrottie, .000662; Mathilda Pierrottie, same number; Felix Pierrottie, same number; Albert Pierrottie, .000662; Georginia Pierrottie Berzas, same number; Lilia Marie Pierrottie Biessenberger; Mabel Pierrottie Soileau, Ulysses Pierrottie, .0003968; Grace Pierrottie, Audrey ___ Pierrottie Manuel; Aubre T. Martel, Blanche Martel Fuselier; Louis Martel; Jule E. Martel; Lilly Mae Yvonne Bacon Russell, Adella Bacon, Amida Bacon Fontenot, Constant Pierrottie, Enora Pierrottie and many, many others from the other six branches, according to Pierrottie.
The separate claims filed against the mineral funds in escrow, in the sum of $47,168.64 (restated in 2007 dollars, this is about $320,000) by Pierrottie, may be decided within the coming months it was learned, before the rights of all the claimants to the funds. Hearings have already been heard of Modesta and Louis Hilliare Boutte, the joined branch; and also the descendants of Antoine Hilliare Boutte (the Pierrottie branch) and the descendant of Juan Leon Boutte. Hearings will also be heard on Oct. 23 for descendants of Celestine Boutte; and on Oct. 24, on the descendants of Marie Louise Hycinthe Boutte - all because of the determination and fortitude of one man. We inherit nothing truly, but what our actions make us worthy of.
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John LaHaye and Ulyses Pierotti built the ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD DEPOT in Mamou and Reddell. (in an article about John LaHaye By Robert Gahn - Mamou High School principal)
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See: "United States Census, 1930," Ulysse Pierrotti"
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