Pierre Lombard - Family Lore
I became interested in researching my family tree sometime in the 90’s. It’s been incredibly interesting and extremely addicting. My dad had already completed a lot of the research when I got started, and passed his findings on to me.
My dad’s family stories gave us this:- We can trace our family line back to Pierre Lombard
- His full name was Pierre Adolphus Lombard
- He was supposed to have immigrated with 2 brothers (or mother and 1 brother) from Laird, France... possibly through New York. When they reached the south, the brothers went their separate ways. Pierre stayed in Alabama, while his brother went to the Morgan City area of Louisiana.
- When his wife Catherine died in 1870, the younger children were split up and raised by other people. After a time, Pierre went to the Morgan City, LA area with his youngest son, Mack/Max, and is buried somewhere in Louisiana.
- Where did Pierre Lombard come from and when?
- Which port did he sail into and with which family members?
- What happened to him and Mack when they left Alabama?
- Pierre's son born in 1857 was named Joseph Samuel. He was my grandfather and his name has passed down through four generations
- On the matter of when Pierre came to America, I found an entry in the 1860 census for Mobile County and I think it gave an indication of how long he had been a citizen. Our family lore says that he arrived in the U.S. as a teenager with his mother and brother.
- Pierre and family reportedly first stopped at Ellis Island, but for all practical purposes entered the U.S. at New Orleans. Also, according to family lore, Pierre's mother was named Martha. When my grandfather died, we got some of his "stuff" and there was a letter a man had written to great grandfather Pierre in it. Oddly, the letter was addressed to "Pierre Lambas." Dad said that was just an alternate spelling to the French pronunciation of the family name, which omitted sounding the final consonants.
- Two family stories: One is that Grandpa (Joseph Samuel) and his brother lived with their father (Pierre) and fished for a living. Apparently in poverty, because supposedly Grandpa was barefoot in winter and left bloody footprints on an oyster bed. Also, Pierre was a harsh disciplinarian who beat the boys with a belt, even when they were teenagers (The source of the famous Lombard temper?) The other story is my mother told me that Grandpa was an unschooled illiterate when he and Grandma were married, and that Grandma taught him to read using the Bible as a textbook. It seems also that the way Grandma and Grandpa met was that her family took him in as an orphaned teenager.
The “Lambas” on the letter was interesting, but the explanation of the French pronunciation seemed logical. For a couple of years I just half heartedly worked on the research, it seemed that there was just no information about Pierre before or after he lived in Alabama. I have to point out, all of my searches were for the name “Lombard”.
For years we could not find immigration or ship records showing Pierre and his family coming to America. Neither could we find any records of Pierre and Mack after they left Alabama and went to Louisiana. We were in touch with descendants of all of Pierre and Catherine's children except Mack & Josephine. (For 2 generations of descendants, go to the family tree.)
Pierre Lombard - Some Facts
Pierre married Catherine Baptiste. Their Mobile Co., AL marriage record1 dated 29 Sep 1854 has Pierre's name as "Pierre Lborns" and was evidently filled in by Judge Rust who married the couple. Pierre signed his name as "Pedro Lombas". Catherine's brother, Adolphe, signed the marriage bond, as Catherine's father, Pierre 'Garcon' Baptiste, was deceased. Catherine was about 17 years old when she married Pierre. They lived in Heron Bay, Mobile Co., Alabama where Pierre Lombard was listed on the 1860 census records2 as a fisherman. 1860 census records also showed his birthplace as France. On the 1866 census for that district he is listed as P. Lombas with 8 family members.
1. Mobile County Marriage Records, Page: BK-13, PG-346B
2. 1860 & 1866 United States Federal Census - United
States of America, Bureau of the Census.
Census Place: Southern Division, Mobile, Alabama; Roll: M653_17; Page: 44; Image: 45.
1860 Census
image
1866 Census image
Digging Deeper - What We Found
In early 2009, Dad and I visited the records section of Probate Court in Mobile, AL. While searching for records of family members, Collette King did a search for “Lom”, leaving it open to alternate spellings. The surname Lombas came up more than once. Pierre had signed his marriage license to Catherine as “Pedro Lombas”. His oldest son, Frank, had also used the Lombas name on his marriage license.
My conclusion at the time (which turned out to be wrong) was that Pierre was illiterate, and when he said his name it was misunderstood and written as “Lombas”. I completely ignored the fact that he had signed his own name as Pedro Lombas. There was no "X" to show he had signed with a mark.
A few of months later, I was once again checking census records from Louisiana on Ancestry.com . Using just the “Lom” for the surname, I found a Mack Lombas in the Morgan City area of Louisiana. He had children with names like Frank, Joseph, etc. So I decided to dig deeper. Mack Lombas had a wife named Felicia Savoie. Finally, in Volume 8, page 320 of "South Louisiana Records" I found a marriage record for Mack and Felicia that listed his name as Marc Narcisse Lombas and named his parents as Perrique Lombas and Catherine Baptiste!!
On that page were records regarding the marriage of Marc Narcisse Lombas (Max) and Felicia Savoie, as well as the baptisms of two of their children:
South Louisiana Records volume 8 page 320.:
Lombas, Joseph Jean Ulgere (Max & Felicia Savoie) b.27 Dec 1886 (Larose ch v2 p55)
Lombas, Lucie Marie (Maxime & Felicia Savoie) b. 31 jan 1889 (Larose ch. v2 p81)
Lombas, Marc Narcisse, 21 years old (Perrique & d. Catherine Baptiste) m. 2 Feb 1886 Felicia Savoie, 18 years old. (Larose ch v1 p106)
Lombas, Max m. 28 jan 1886 Felicia Savoie (Thib Ct. Hse. Mar. v27, #24)