Alex Genealogy

Alex Genealogy AlexGenealogy is built on over 17 years of personal research into my family’s deep Louisiana Creole & Cajun roots.
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What began as a passion has grown into a platform to share the unique stories, documents, and cultural history I've uncovered along the way.

06/05/2026

A year ago!!! 😂

06/05/2026

This Creole beauty here pictured is Julia Thomascine LEWIS taken circa 1896. Julia was born circa 1878 in Mallet, Louisiana to Hyacinthe LEWIS and Frances LOCK, both formerly enslaved. She died on 27 May 1962 in Beaumont, Texas. She was married to Joseph Lamar THIERRY. Joseph, a ricer, was born on 17 Sep 1884 in Mallet, Louisiana to Ohello THIERRY and Elizabeth LAVIGNE, both free people of color (having free status since before the mass proclamation of slaves in America). He died on 1 Feb 1943 in Beaumont, Texas.

Tim and Julia were part of the migration of Creoles who left Louisiana to find jobs in Texas where they worked on farms and the abundant rice fields. The family THIERRY surname now goes by TERRY, the way you’d pronounce THIERRY. Thanks cousin Kenneth SAM for sharing this lovely photo of your great grandmother.

This lovely photo of cousin Jimmie GUILLORY, Sr. and his daughter Laura GUILLORY MARTIN was shared by her. Jimmie is the...
06/05/2026

This lovely photo of cousin Jimmie GUILLORY, Sr. and his daughter Laura GUILLORY MARTIN was shared by her. Jimmie is the brother of Alida GUILLORY, whose photo was shared yesterday by her son, Lavelle Lemonier

Born on January 25, 1925, in Mallet, Louisiana, Jimmie was the son of Jean Christ GUILLORY and Valentine GUILLORY. He later married Edna FRANK, daughter of Jeff FRANK and Laura VICTORIAN, whose family traces its roots to the early settlers of Spanish Texas. Jimmie passed away on February 7, 1999.

Now that this photo has been shared, here are a few interesting connections. Jimmie and I share several common ancestors, including Donato BELLO, a native of Naples, present-day Italy, and Louis THIERRY, a free man of color whose descendants became deeply rooted throughout the Opelousas region.

As for Laura, I remain in touch with her maternal first cousin, Beverly FRANK, and Beverly's husband, Larry VICTORIAN, a wonderful couple from Oberlin whom I affectionately regard as an aunt and uncle.

Laura's maternal family is also connected to the LEMELLE family, the same lineage connected to Pope Leo XIV through his maternal ancestry. One of Laura's ancestors, MARYANN, was liberated by D.L, a white planter. Maryann's daughter, Carmelite, later became a property owner in her own right. In 1845, she entered into a contractual agreement with Charles FISHER, a white farmer, to cultivate peaches on her land.

Too often, discussions of the antebellum South focus exclusively on women of color as enslaved persons or as the companions of white men. Carmelite's story reflects another reality that existed in Louisiana. She owned land, managed her affairs, and entered into business agreements under her own name. Her brother, who had also been liberated, became a respected baker in New Orleans during the mid-nineteenth century.

Stories like these remind us that the history of Louisiana's free people of color is far more complex than many realize. Through families such as the GUILLORY, FRANK, VICTORIAN, and LEMELLE families, we can see generations of resilience, entrepreneurship, landownership, and family connections that continue to link descendants across Louisiana and Southeast Texas today, hence why if I refer to you as CUZ, I likely know about your family before they've obtained the surnames we know today, seriously! lol

Are any of you related?

I would like to give a huge shoutout to cousin Lavelle J. LEMONIER, who not long ago shared this lovely photograph of hi...
06/04/2026

I would like to give a huge shoutout to cousin Lavelle J. LEMONIER, who not long ago shared this lovely photograph of his late mother, Alida GUILLORY, wife of Joseph Preston LEMONIER.

Alida was born circa 1921 in Mallet, Louisiana, to Jean Christ GUILLORY and Valentine GUILLORY. Her genealogy traces back to some of the earliest landowning gens de couleur libres (free people of color) of Bois Mallet, one of the historic centers of Louisiana Creole culture.

I think it is amazing that earlier I shared a photograph of Lavelle's grandfather's sister, and shortly afterward he shared this beautiful image of his mother in the comments. It just goes to show how quickly I am connecting with living descendants through this work. Lavelle and I share several common ancestors, including my ancestor Martin DONATO BELLO.

As I looked Lavelle up, I discovered that he has had a remarkable career beyond preserving family history. He is an actor, writer, director, author, podcast host, and military veteran. His work has included film and television projects such as Induced, A Very Bayou Holiday, and Orange Justice, while also serving as a storyteller and creative professional in several fields.

And as many of you know, actor Ben Guillory, whom I previously featured, is also part of this same GUILLORY family. Ben is well known for portraying Grady, Shug Avery's husband, in The Color Purple.

Now isn't that something? From the early landowning Creole families of Bois Mallet to actors, directors, military veterans, historians, and professionals of today, the legacy of these families continues to unfold in remarkable ways. This is exactly why preserving our history matter.

Any ties to the GUILLORYs?

This Creole belle is Orelia GUILLORY, daughter of Alexandre Onesime GUILLORY & Carliste GUILLORY, both born free people ...
06/04/2026

This Creole belle is Orelia GUILLORY, daughter of Alexandre Onesime GUILLORY & Carliste GUILLORY, both born free people of color. Thanks Cousin Felick Vallot for sharing!!!

Her family been in Louisiana before the United States had gained its independence

Why is my family tree private on ancestry ?Because research isn’t free, even when the sources aren’t rare.Here’s what it...
06/04/2026

Why is my family tree private on ancestry ?

Because research isn’t free, even when the sources aren’t rare.

Here’s what it actually takes:

It took me 3 minutes to locate a document, 10 minutes to explain its significance to my cousin, who then drove 20 minutes to the Orleans Parish Clerk of Court and spent 30 minutes searching for related records. Each page cost me $1, and I waited hours to receive them. After that, I spent about an hour in conversation with a genealogy colleague who is well-versed in Spanish and colonial Louisiana to ensure the historical context was sound.

But that’s just the start.

It takes hours, sometimes days, weeks, months, even years to fully break down, verify, and connect the dots across multiple families, documents, languages, locations, and generations.

This isn’t just collecting names. It’s about uncovering stories, challenging myths, and restoring legacies with accuracy and respect.

My tree is private because I’ve already given so much away for free, only to later see others profit from my time, my translations, my context, and my strategy, without acknowledgment or permission.

This is more than genealogy,
It’s labor, it’s history, it’s personal.

How would you like if someone drives your car and bring it back on E?

I’ve decided to start sharing some of my journal entries and research notes so you all can get a glimpse into the kinds ...
06/04/2026

I’ve decided to start sharing some of my journal entries and research notes so you all can get a glimpse into the kinds of discoveries I’m working on.

One of the first discoveries came after I found the emancipation of a man named Joseph, who had been enslaved by the daughter of an Acadian family. My curiosity led me deeper into the records, where I learned that this woman, a femme sole (an unmarried woman acting in her own legal capacity), owned more than thirty enslaved people in the Plaquemine Brûlée area of Louisiana. What began as a simple emancipation record quickly opened the door to a much larger story.

In another case, I came across an 1826 record involving three orphan children born to a free woman of color described in the record as a “negress.” These children were indentured by two prominent white men in Opelousas to learn trades and skills. Through careful research, I was able to identify not only the children themselves, but also their father. Even more remarkable, some of the descendants of this family are followers of my genealogy page today. In fact, I had spoken with one of those descendants earlier that same day and had no idea she descended from the very family I would later identify in the record. Because my family tree contains so many interconnected St. Landry Parish families, it has become easier to recognize people, even orphan children mentioned in records that are now two centuries old.

Another fascinating discovery came from an estate sale record. There I found a formerly enslaved woman who had given birth to two sets of twins. Over the years I have encountered twins in the records, but I had never before seen a woman documented with two separate sets of twins. Once again, I was able to trace the family forward and identify living descendants, some of whom also follow my genealogy page.

These are just a few examples of the kinds of discoveries that continue to make this work exciting. For my subscribers, I’ll be sharing much more detail about these cases and the methods used to identify these individuals and connect them to present-day families.

What’s even more exciting is that these discoveries have all come within just the last few days. As I prepare presentations on the families of Prairie Laurent and Leonville, I recently uncovered an emancipation from that area that I never knew existed. Even after nearly two decades of research, records still surprise me.

I also want to give a special thank you to everyone who subscribes to my page. Your support truly means a lot. Many people see the discoveries, articles, family connections, and historical content, but what they may not see are the countless hours spent researching, traveling, digitizing records, organizing databases, and preserving history. Those subscriptions help support those efforts and allow me to continue making information available to the general public that might otherwise remain hidden in archives and courthouse records.

Every subscription is an investment in preserving our history, identifying forgotten individuals, reconnecting families, and ensuring these stories are not lost. I sincerely appreciate everyone who believes in the work and continues to support the journey.

This is why I love what I do. Every document has the potential to tell a forgotten story, connect a family to its past, or reveal a piece of history that has remained hidden for generations. And lately, the records have been full of surprises.

06/04/2026

It’s important to understand that being Creole has never been about skin tone or appearance. Too often, people try to define Creoleness by color, but that mindset erases the culture, the history, and the lived experiences that actually define us. Creole is a lineage, a legacy, and a lived identity, not a look.

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