Karen Theriot Reader

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kath...@aol.com

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Jan 29, 2020, 12:39:50 AM1/29/20
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Karen Theriot Reader

Roll Call


I was born Karen Theriot in Los Angeles in 1942, and became interested in my family history from talking with my maternal grandmother, who lived to be 105 years old. However, I began researching my Acadian and Cajun roots around 1995, when I got a genealogy computer program. I wish my paternal grandfather, who was born in New Iberia, Louisiana and lived to be 98, had been as talkative as my grandmother. He spoke French as a child, and 5 of his 8 great-grandparents were descended from Acadians, but he moved to California in his 20s, and died in Santa Cruz County, where I live now.


I began a one-name study for the THERIOT family, and wanted to concentrate on the Louisiana lines. I am descended from most of the earliest founders of Acadia, and with the help of Stephen A. White’s Dictionnaire généalogique des familles Acadiennes (DGFA-1), I traced my earliest Acadians, including back to Jehan Terriau (from the 1671 census), born around 1601. Then there were the spouses and children to add, and also trace back to Acadia, if possible.


I have ancestors who came in the early 1765 migrations of Acadians to Louisiana. One of these was in the Attakapas Militia and qualified me for the D.A.R. Others were first exiled to Maryland before coming to Louisiana. Some families were sent to France, where they lived until the 1785 ships allowed them to emigrate to Louisiana.


That 25-year search has become a massive database, which I used to have on RootsWeb’s WorldConnect. But DO NOT look there any more, since Ancestry’s acquisition has ruined it. I have uploaded my latest file to the free GeneaNet.org, and you will find it under the database name “katheriot.” A link to my grandfather is found at


https://gw.geneanet.org/katheriot_w?lang=en&p=joseph+elric+fred+j.&n=theriot&oc=0&type=tree


Or go to my home page there at https://gw.geneanet.org/katheriot_w?lang=en


In the top right there is a “Search box.” You can enter a Last name & First name for free (with advanced searching for a small subscription).


Or click on the “View all names.” At the top of that page is an alphabet, which will filter your search. There are several other options for searching. Try them all. I am still learning my way around. Since there are over 142,000 individuals listed in my database, you are bound to find some name of interest.


While I am always interested in correcting mistakes, please put any other questions first to one of our new lists, and let others contribute ideas.


Since 1999 I have attended several of the Congrès Mondial Acadien (World Acadian Congress), held every five years. In 2009 I went to the CMA in New Brunswick, and spent several days at the University of Moncton’s Centre d'études acadiennes Anselme-Chiasson (https://www.umoncton.ca/umcm-ceaac/). I met Stephen White and photographed hundreds of the pages from his next edition of the Dictionnaire. I concentrated on my own families, and Louisiana lines with the same surnames. I have since compared his findings with my own Louisiana reference books and have been able to collaborate on adding some small bits to that massive work. You will find citations to his DGFA-2 draft version in my Geneanet.org database.


In 2003 I tested my mitochondrial (mother’s line) DNA, and eventually learned that my non-Acadian brick wall around 1800 matches others who have proven back to a KIRKLAND name. My woman lived next door to a family with that name on the 1810 census in South Carolina. Still more searching to do there.


I also started a mitochondrial DNA project at Family Tree DNA for Acadian women who may have been native American (or not). I got my 2nd cousin in Louisiana to test, who with me traced back on paper to Jeanne AUCOIN, one of the founding mothers of Acadia. I called the project “Acadia—Métis Mothers.” Unfortunately many have joined the group who are not at all Acadian, or who have only done the autosomal test, which only shows relationships accurately back 4-5 generations. But if your maternal-only line goes through Louisiana, and stretches back on paper to early Acadia, please join the project, and I would be happy to help with your family tree.


At AncestryDNA.com I did an autosomal DNA test, and find that I have a lot of 3rd-5th cousins who never show up as close relations on paper. This is because Acadians intermarried for so many generations that endogamy has concentrated the genetic variations.


Also in 2003 I got my brother to submit his DNA for a TERRIOT surname group project which I started at Family Tree DNA. We have proven the DNA markers for old Jehan. I belong to the Association des familles Thériault d’Amérique, Inc., and contribute to the Louisiana section of their large family database. They are bilingual at http://www.associationtheriault.org/index.php/en


I work on probably too many other genealogical projects, one of the latest being my husband’s Luxembourg roots. He, our three children, and all four grandchildren have become dual citizens thanks to the research. I am back to the beginning of church and civil records for his grandfather’s ancestry.


I could go on…


Karen Theriot Reader



R. Martin Guidry

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Jan 29, 2020, 9:43:11 PM1/29/20
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Superb summary, Karen.  I enjoyed it very much.

Marty Guidry

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