Mardell Sibley made a blog site for the family reunion next
year. I’m glad she made it because I couldn’t
access her Facebook site. I was never on
Facebook and I never will. It’s not my
cup of tea. Her blog has information
about the families involved and what will be included at the reunion. It promises to be a good event and I definitely
plan on being there. Again, I like the
fact she chose to call it Creole rather than go along with the popular saying
of Cajun. You see this often in
Louisiana pop culture. “White” French
people call themselves Cajun and “black” or multi-racial people call themselves
Creole. But the “white” French people in
Evangeline, Avoyelles and St. Landry parishes, until fairly recently, called
themselves Creole too. And by calling
themselves Cajun implies that they have an Acadian heritage which is not
reality. Mardell’s reunion hopefully
will show our actual heritage. People
can share family histories, stories and learn of family connections. The Vidrine, Ortego, Fontenot, LaFleur and
other French families have an interesting history which many people here are unaware
of. Instead, many will say something
like, “my Fontenot family came from Nova Scotia.” I know, because until I started reading about
my family and history I was blindly saying the same exact thing.
This is from the 1967 Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce
tourism pamphlet:
by Jules R. Ashlock
"Quite erroneous is the impression held by many that
Ville Platte was settled by the Acadians driven from Nova Scotia by the
British. Actually, the earliest settlers here were directly from France or the
British Isles, or the descendants of such individuals. The Acadian, or
"Cajun" country, is located largely south of Opelousas."…
1967