LEONARD GRAY

PHOTO: MERRILL ZERINGUE examines the fruit of her labor, “La Famille Dufresne,” which she assembled together with her mother, Adele Dufresne Zeringue. (Staff Photo by Leonard Gray) A labor of love begun by a mother and daughter has become a valuable resource of River Parishes history with “La Famille Dufresne.” The Dufresne family history was assembled by Merrill Richard Zeringue of Destrehan and her mother, Adele Dufresne Richard, of Norco, during the past six years. The privately-circulated volume traces the family’s ancestry back to Julien Bouin, who was born in 1641 in France and died in 1716 in Quebec, Canada. Curiously, the exact origin of “Dufresne” remains in question, with Zeringue adding only it was “a popular nickname for soldiers.” What is known is Bouin used “Dufresne” as a nickname, and was known as Julien Bouin dit Dufresne. Louisiana didn’t see anyone with the surname of Dufresne until the late 1740s, when Francois Dufresne II arrived in what is now St. John the Baptist Parish. He was the great-grandson of Julien Bouin. Francois Dufresne II, born 1745 and died 1799, arrived at the German Coast early in his life and married Francoise Dominique Portier in 1770 in Cote des Allemands. She was 19 and he was 25 years of age at the time of their marriage. From this couple and their eight children, along with his brother Charles, most of the Dufresne and Dufrene families in the River Parishes originated. In the 1790s, another Dufresne family arrived from Canada, Pierre Sr. and his wife, Catherine Perillard, who are the ancestors of most Dufrene families in Lafourche Parish and in the Des Allemands area. And from this point, intermarriages with the host of German and French families linked much of today’s population, including Baudoin, Hymel, Rodrigue, Matherne, Comardelle, Landry, Labat, Tregre, Cambre, Schexnayder, Perilloux, Duhe, Loupe, Borne, Waguespack, Roussel, Zeringue, Faucheux, Vicknair, Millet, Boudreaux and Webre, to name but a few. The book is also accompanied by the childhood reminincences of Adele Richard, recalling the way things used to be. “The German and French families who lived, worked and socialized in our Delta communities were very congenial, depending on each other as a community society,” she wrote in her introductory essay. Richard also explained the details on moss-gathering and preparation for use in mattresses, home remedies and the tradition of “la boucherie de cochon,” an early type of block party with a roast pig as the main attraction. Sources of information included family documents, personal recollections, internet searches and interviews. “We went to cemeteries, archives; we talked to people, who were our best sources,” Zeringue added. The archives maintained by area Catholic churches were another important research tool, she said. Among those people most helpful in the book’s compiling were Glenda Dufresne Clement of Norco, the Rev. Vincent Dufresne and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Edward A. Dufresne Jr., Zeringue said. One edition was produced which included historical family photos. Another edition omits the photos. “La Famille Dufresne” is a valuable resource for the local genealogist and is easy to use, with an index of surnames included. A few copies are still available for purchase from Zeringue. For more information, call Merrill Zeringue at 764-7730.