From: barneyandleslie@gmail.com
Date: September 24, 2007 10:32:19 AM CDT
To: paul@martelfamily.com
Subject: Web Site Comments

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
(barneyandleslie@gmail.com) on Monday, September 24, 2007 at 11:32:19
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Name: Leslie Ellis

City: Silsbee, Texas

Comments: I like your website...I am descended from Barthelemy Amede
Martel, of Opelousas. He was a judge there, and we believe
he had a child with a local girl, in the late 1830's. The
girl was named Clarrise Lemelle. I have a census showing the
who we think is their son, named Theophile Martel, with a
wife named Alexandrine, and children Mary and Albert, living
with my great-grandfather B.A. Martel. Does this sound like
your Martel line? I have a photo of B.A. Martel, taken around
1875. I would be glad to share it if you think it is your
ancestor.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Leslie

-------------------------------Reply to above email-------------------------------

From: Paul Martel <pmartel@mac.com>
Date: September 24, 2007 11:09:11 PM CDT
To: barneyandleslie@gmail.com
Subject: Martel Family Web Site

Hello Leslie,

First of all thanks for visiting my web site and thanks for the compliment.

The site started out as just a few pages of old family pictures that I put online for my cousin Joan Nacoste who was into genealogy.

Joan is related to me on both my mother's and my father's side of the family.

After I had been retired from teaching (North Central High School - on the web site) for about a year ,I decided to make it a real family web site adding more pics and info. It's a work in progress.

Several weeks ago, I was looking for information on the Internet when I came across ancestry.com.

The free info was very limited so I decided to take the two week trial and see what they had to offer.

So far I've found all of the people that you mentioned in your email including B.A. Martel in the 1870 Federal Census.

I was unaware though that Theophile and his family were living in his home.

I went back to my "shoebox" (where you save your documents) on ancestry.com  and took another look.

Sure enough it was one household (number 116).  B. A. Martel was a lawyer, someone was a school teacher, and Theophile was a Domestic Ser? I'm just guessing since I don't really know.

The most compelling evidence from your email was the mention of Clarisse Lemelle.

The night before I was looking up information on my Uncle Patrick when I came across the Hebert Family tree on ancestry.com, which was being worked on by my cousin Joan Nacoste.

From the long list of people that she had researched, I spotted some Martels, which eventually led me to this tree (attached pdf) which shows that Theophile Martel's father was Aniede (Amede?) Martel and Clarisse Martel was his mother.

When I received your email this morning and read it, I couldn't believe it. I believe that everything happens for a reason.

When I was a child and a young man, there was a large portrait of Judge B.A. Martel which was displayed on one of the walls in the main hall of St. Landry Parish Court House.

Also, when I was young, there was a large special publication included in the Daily World Paper. I believe that it was Called "Some History of St. Landry Parish"

Anyway, I remember that my parents and uncles were pretty excited that they had a picture and an article about Judge B.A. Martel, and I remember them saying that that was where the Martels came from.

So, it all seems to add up.

I would certainly appreciate any pictures or information that you would be willing to share with me, and I would be happy to send you what I have found on B.A. Martel.

Please let me know if you didn't get to see the attached martel.pdf file I'm sending.

Thank you,
Paul Martel