The Marriage
Genealogy can often leave us dizzy keeping track of who is who. Beyoncé’s tree is no different. To help keep us focused here, the above image traces 5 generations of Beyoncé’s tree, beginning with Beyoncé and her mother at the bottom in green boxes. The couple in the top red boxes are the subjects of this section. They are Beyoncé’s great-great-grandparents.
According to numerous descendants, Éloi-Réné BROUSSARD married his slave, Joséphine LACY. He did not. The marriage that those descendants reference is based on a clerical error in the margin of the marriage register at Église Saint-Pierre – now known in English as St. Peter’s Catholic Church, in New Iberia.
In fact, the couple’s second son, Julien Aurélien BROUSSARD, married Rosalie LOUVIÈRE on that date. The entry – which is in ecclesiastical French – clearly states that the groom was “Eloi BROUSSARD, son of Eloi BROUSSARD and Joséphine LESSÉ,” marrying “Rosalie LOUVIÈRE, the minor daughter of Edouard LOUVIÈRE and Marie LOUVIÈRE.”
Neither the groom nor the bride knew how to write, so the priest signed their names, and they placed their “ordinary mark” (a cross) between their names. A clue to the groom’s identity lies in the priest’s signature for him. It originally had Eloi as the forename, but Julien was written over it, by the same priest.
When the marginal reference was added, the priest providing the nuptial blessings misidentified the parties as Eloi BROUSSARD [sic] and Joséphine LESSÉ [sic]. In 1996, the Rev. Guy LEMOINE, pastor at St. Peter’s, provided an addendum at the foot of the entry. There, he calls attention to the original priest’s clerical error, and he, LEMOINE, scored Joséphine LESSÉ’s name, leaving an asterisk to the right of it, and wrote “Rosalie LOUVIERE” underneath. The two different penmanships leave no doubt which priest wrote which note, and when.1Note that Éloi-Réné BROUSSARD did not refer to himself as “Eloi Rosemond BROUSSARD” or as “Eloi Rene Rosemond BROUSSARD” and he equally was not christened with Rosemond in his name. I am unsure who is the source of this, but they likely saw “Eloi R. BROUSSARD” in parochial and/or civil records, and assumed that the R was short for Rosemond. It was not.
References
| 1. | ↑ | Note that Éloi-Réné BROUSSARD did not refer to himself as “Eloi Rosemond BROUSSARD” or as “Eloi Rene Rosemond BROUSSARD” and he equally was not christened with Rosemond in his name. I am unsure who is the source of this, but they likely saw “Eloi R. BROUSSARD” in parochial and/or civil records, and assumed that the R was short for Rosemond. It was not. |
Thank you for sharing your fine work.
Thank you for all of your work
Always good to trace accurate family history informstion!
Dr. Christophe Landry’s research is excellent. Thank you very much for this blog.
It’s so hard to put into words what I’m thinking after reading this work. There is no doubt the institution of slavery was and still is a black eye on our society. But Josephine’s story tugs at the heart strings in a “love conquers all” sort of way. It’s proof that B’s ancestors were making lemonade long before she became famous! Thanks for your time and commitment in making this post!
Great read. Learned about new connections to people I’ve known for years.