The late 1800 descendants of the Prejean - Sonnier - LeBlanc family originated from Louisiana in the United States. Today there are over 500 family members living in Alabama, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas and as far away as Saudi Arabia. This family's history is one of survival and determination in the midst of many adversities. Members of this family were original founders of Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, the second black church in Houston, Texas and the only one to be built by a Creole community. Creole food and Zydeco music are the main staples of this family's culture. We hope you enjoy visiting this web site as you learn about the Creole culture through our family's rich history from reading The Louisiana to Houston Connection by Denise Labrie posted below.
PSL Reunion
This family hosts a reunion every two years alternating between California, Louisiana, Nevada and Texas.
The 2008 Family Reunion will be held in Beaumont Texas
July 4-6, 2008
For PSL Reunion 2008 information or to register, contact Martha Delafose at
409-899-9641
The Louisiana to Houston Connection
By Denise Labrie as told to her by Mable Prejean Guillory
I could hardly wait as I packed my travel bag for the day. I made sure I had pen and paper on hand for today was the day I would learn how my ancestors migrated from Louisiana to Houston. In the back of the bus on the way from Houston to the Coushatta casino in Louisiana, Aunt Mable unraveled the mystery for me. As she leaned back with an intent look in her eyes, she took me back in time to Route 1, Box 13 in Scott, Louisiana during the early 1900's.
"Mom (Agnes Sonnier) and Pop (Victorien Prejean) were farmers who grew cotton, corn, sugar cane and other vegatables. Their parents: Victorien and Aurelia Cormier Prejean, Frank and Alzina Breaux Sonnier lived nearby in Carencro," she began. Her gaze intensified as she continued, "They would sell what they could from the crop to help buy what they needed and also use what they grew to feed their family. To signal emergencies to the field, the family used a white cloth tied to the front porch." Sadly, she recalled the family using this signaling system on the day her baby brother, Little Nelson, who was very ill, passed away.
"Several uncles and aunts: "B and Marcelite Sellers, Arthur and Elizabeth "Ti B" Broussard, Sidney and Lena Sonnier also lived on the property along with them," she continued and proceeded to share the following family history with me. "Pop was a slave mistress descendant and spoke fluent French (not Creole French). He was taught to read and write at Palm Row School in Lafayette because his father, Victorien, was not a slave. Dr. Prejean (a Caucasian) who often attended to the family's medical needs in Scott, Louisiana was Pop's first cousin. She glanced out the bus window for a second and then went on to explain, "Mom's grandmother, Mere Day-Day, was a free slave who lived in Jennings. The family would pick cotton for her by moonlight. Mom's father, Frank, who lived in Carencro, foretold that one day there would be no telegrams, but an instrument in the house to talk with others. We would see moving pictures in the house and future generations would see and hear what was never seen or heard of before. There would be no horse or buggy and airplanes would be seen in the sky." Aunt Mable recalled that in 1916 Grandpa Frank put her on his lap and asked, "What are you going to do when your father goes to war?" and she replied, "I don't know." Fortunately, neither Pop nor Mom's brothers Foster or Frank had to serve in World War I.
"When I was a little girl, I remember carrying my lunch of cooked potatoes in a bucket to St. Paul's School in Lafayette. I also recall that Pop had a bumper crop in the spring of 1927 when the Mississippi levees broke and flooded our land," she told me. Later, I researched and found out this was the Great Mississippi River Flood that unleashed high water destroying more than five million acres of farmland and many lives. People were reported killed from Oklahoma to West Virginia when the Mississippi levees broke. In some areas the water covered regions up to 40 feet high. Approximately one million people were left devastated and homeless. Aunt Mable went on to share with me, "The Prejean family luckily evacuated before the flooding took over their land and went to stay with relatives on higher ground."
Many families went to live in Red Cross refugee camps that contained as many as 15,000 people. Many were forced to relocate to other areas. The Prejean family was so devastated by this 'manmade worst disaster' ever in our country's history, that they relocated to Beaumont where Pop found work at a refinery. "He worked there for nine months when he heard of greater opportunities in Houston and decided to move the family to the Houston area," she said as the bus crossed the bridge over Lake Charles. She continued, "In 1928, going back to what they knew best, the family sharecropped (corn and cotton) on land in Brazoria County (near Rosharon Prision). The profits from selling the crops harvest were equally shared with the landowner. The first year yielded nine bales of cotton. The second year a category 1 hurricane producing winds of 90 miles per hour blew the roof off the house and destruction struck the family once again." With fear, to this day, deep in her eyes she remembered, "The family evacuated during the fury of the storm's high winds to the Caucasian property owner, Old Man Pickman's, underground storm shelter." It took both Mable and Sarah to pull Old Man Pickman into the shelter before the storm's high winds could carry him away. After this natrual disaster, Pop found work on Jensen Drive in Houston at the meatpacking house and started to save money to buy property and build a home for his family. Pop was later laid off from work during the Great Depression that took place during 1930 to 1939. He briefly worked at the Houston Ship Channel building ships during World War II. He was dismissed when his employer learned he was a Negro.
Before we arrived at the Casino in Louisiana, Aunt Mable completed the family's migration to Houston with the following information, "In 1940, the family built a house framed out of boxcar lumber at 3311 Lelia Street in an area of Houston called "French Town". This same house built so long ago has survived the elements of time to this very day.
Why then are we able to weather the storms with a never give up, can-do attitude that we encounter in our own lives today? Why did Pop always so lovingly remind us over and over again to save our money, marry people who share the same moral attitudes that we do and strive to be a success in life? Passed on from one generation to the next is this unique spirit of survival where hard work is the dominating theme. Are we doing all that we can to live up to this legacy? Our greatest tribute to the suffering and sacrifices that our predecessors endured to bring us to where we are today is to emblazon these attributes in our mind, heart and soul. Let us not miss out on the opportunities before us today to pass this great legacy of hard work and determination on to the next generation.
This page was last updated on: April 3, 2008
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Aurelia Cormier Prejean and Victorien (Victor) Prejean
Frank Sonnier and Alzina Breaux Sonnier
Mere Day-Day (Marcelette Breaux), Alzina Breaux Sonnier's mother and Agnes Sonnier Prejean's grandmother. A "Free Slave" who lived in Jennings, Louisiana.
Prejean Descendant's Line
Jean Prejean dit Le Breton b. about 1651 Brittany, France d. 6-6-1733. First Prejean in Acadia about 1671. m. Andree Marguerite Savoie (daughter of Francois Savoie and Catherine LeJeune of Port Royal)
Joseph Christome b. 1696 m. Marie Louise Comeau (her prents are Abraham Comeau and Marguerite Pitre). Her great-grandfather is Jean de Comeau, Lord D. Chassney, Court of ? Burgundy, France and her grandfather is Pierre ?)
Amand Damon (migrated from Acadia to Louisiana in 1755. The river's floods forced the migration to Opelousas Post to farm, raise cattle & horses) m. Magedeline Martin, Marie Theriot (2nd marriage)
Andre b about 1765 at sea en route to Louisiana, migrated to Opelousas Post, owned at least 12 slaves (see list of prejean slaves at: www.prejean.ws) m. Marie Ann Bernard 1-6-1793 in St. Martinville. She was born 9-17-1774 and died in 1846
Louis Gustave b. 7-19-1812, m. Marie Zulma "Julienne" Bernard 2-15-1836, She died in 1846 shortly after Louis Honore was born. Louis Honore's son, Dr. Louis Agree Prejean is Victorien's (Pop) 1st cousin mentioned in the above story who took care of him and his family in Scott, La. Louis Gustave fathered Victor with a slave mistress
Victor m. Aurelia Cormier (who was a midwife). Victor is also the half brother to Louis Honore.
Victorien b 1881 in Carencro, d. 1972, m. Agnes Sonnier in Carencro b. 1-20-1885 in Carencro, d. 1-29-1973. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 forced their migration from Louisiana to Houston, Texas. They are also founders of Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church the second black church in Houston and the only one built by a Creole community.
Note: Flooding forced the migration of the Prejean Family to other areas on several occasions through history.
Special thanks to Kristie Hart, a Prejean descendant of Andre's brother Joseph for sharing most of this ancestry information with us.
Sonnier Descendant's Line
Frank Sonnier m. Alzina Breaux whose mother Marcelette Breaux (Mere Day-Day was a free slave from Jennings, LA
Agnes Sonnier Prejean b. 1-20-1885 in Carencro, d. 1-29-1973
LeBlanc Descendant's Line
Daniel LeBlanc b. 1626 in France. Most likely came to Acadia in 1648 on the French ship La Verve that was chartered by Emmanuel Le Borgne, sieur de Courdray. m. Francois Gaudet in 1650. She is the daughter of Jean Gaudet and Francise-Marie Baussy. Two of the first permanent settlers in Acadia.
Ol'cee (Alceste) A. Leblanc b. Rayne. m. Victoria Prejean LeBlanc 12-10-1897 in Carencro. b. 6-8-1880 in Carencro, Ol'Cee brothers and sisters: Alses, Arnold, Charles, Archille, Tema, Alzina,, Alfonsene
Plesant Edward LeBlanc b.1913, nickname "Frenchy". Brothers and sisters: Domonick, Joseph (lived in San Francisco, m. Marie, no children), Raymond (lived in San Francico, m. Mary, one son Raymond Jr.), Alicia LeBlanc Randall, Ysant LeBlanc St. Julien, Alice LeBlanc Bastite.
Mable Prejean Guillory
"In Loving Memory"
July 21, 1914 - Nov. 4, 2003
Daughter of Agnes & Victorien
Inez Prejean Calegon's personal account of what happened to her family the morning of The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
by Denise Labrie
My mother recently shared with me her personal account of this flood. "On the morning of the flood it was my older sister Nana's (Alzina) turn to make coffee," she began. "While she was making coffee Mable happened to look outside and notice water was accumulating in the distance. My father, Victorien went outside to check on the situation. He placed a stick in the ground to mark the water. Several times he re-marked the water as it moved closer and closer to our house," she continued."The water was rising quickly and before it reached our home, my father (Victorien) gathered the horses and buggy, what belongings we could carry and our family evacuated to higher ground. We initially lived with relatives nearby who were not affected by the flood." "When we returned to our home we discovered that the water had risen over 3 feet inside. Our farm animals drowned, the crops were destroyed and we lost everything. Rather than start over in Louisiana, my family relocated to Texas when we heard of the opportunities there," she said.
Parle Creole French and The Creole Diaries Scroll to the end of this page to order.
Parle Creole French and The Creole Diaries
Parle Creole French
Learn to speak or reminisce of hearing the version of Creole French spoken by Inez Prejean Calegon and her family from Southwest Louisiana. Words and phrases are vocalized (cd) in English and French and presented in print form (booklet) in English and French accompanied by a pronunciation guide.
The Creole Diaries
Inez Prejean Calegon's oral history on cd detailing her and her families experiences in Louisiana and Texas including The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, migration to Texas, life in Louisiana prior to the flood and life in Texas (Frenchtown in Houston, Our Mother of Mercy Church). Also, includes children's stories as told to her by her mother, Agnes Sonnier Prejean, slave stories, racial experiences and funny family stories.
Complete the form below to place your order for this authentic and unique version of Creole language and experiences.
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