Hi, I'm a new member, just joined. I'm from Louisiana, mostly Cajun, and have Islenos in my ancestry. They begin with Jean Joseph Aleman, born 1818 in Valenzuela. I'm very involved in genealogy and would like to know more.
1. I just discovered this, and would like to know more about the Canary Islanders. First, just how is Islenos pronounced?
2. Wade Falcon provides a link to what would be a very useful map of the Donaldsonville/Valenzuela area from about 1804-1810. He provides a link to it from both his web site and this forum. Unfortunately the link is not good. Since I am trying to place my ancestors on their specific grants along Bayou Lafourche, this map would be very helpful. Is it still available somewhere?
3. Has someone worked out charting of the Islenos along Bayou Lafourche? I have copies of the earlier six volumes of the Baton Rouge Diocese Records and am working through Jean Joseph's lineage, but as usual there are many unanswered questions.
Thanks for any assistance getting me started. Dave Dalton Oilville, Virginia
Yeah, i've been moving my website files around. You can access the link to the Lafourche map here: http://www.wadefalcon.com/ColonialSpanishFamiliesOfLouisiana/
You can access more of the map in the December 1988 edition of the Louisiana Genealogical Register which can be found in many libraries as well as the archive center.
I found the map a few days after I asked the question. Just before I found your map, I happened upon the following site for historic Louisiana survey plats: http://1webfn.doa.la.gov/slodocs/SLO/home.asp . There you will find literally thousands of historic plats, claims, certificates, and the like. Since then I have been using these plats in combination with the (mostly taken in order) censuses in Albert Robichaux's Colonial Settlers along Bayou Lafourche 1770-1798 to locate the property of my ancestors, the Acadians who arrived in 1785 and settled just south of the Valenzuela district in what is now the Plattenville and downstream area.
The map you pointed me to turns out to be a variation of some of these maps and is actually based upon surveys taken in 1828-1830. As far as I can tell, 1828 is the first date that this land was actually surveyed with an historical record remaining.
For a look at the section that was held by the Falcon family, download document ID 521.01518_1 from the above site. This is Township 11 S, Range 14 E, west of the Mississippi River, and there are several historic survey plats of that T/S available, so you might find another that displays better. You will find Christoval Falcon on Section 54 on that series, and you can go from there to get additional information. Christoval Falcon's title to that property was confirmed in the American State Papers as certificate 357 on page 289 when Louisiana became a state in 1812. He is also listed in the 1788 and 1791 censuses of Bayou Lafourche.
To use the site, you will have to make sure that the correct Java is running on your computer. Best way if the menu doesn't display is to go to Sun's web site and download and install the latest Java (which I had to do). Additionally, you will have to install a small application to view the online plats and other information. Then you can save these documents as jpegs.
Hey thanks for the link. I'll check it out. In the meantime, I'm real interested in the dates of that map and how you were able to determine the date. As you can see, the Acadians settled on the other side of the Miss R as well.
As far as Islenos, i originally had it wrong and was corrected by more informed members. The pronunciation is:
iz-LAHN-yos.
Is as in "izz" len as in "lawn" or "lahn" since the ñ produces the "nya" sound, ños as in "nyos"
The survey dates are all written on the plats. In some cases you can download a copy of the original survey plat; in many cases you can get versions based on the original that were updated into the 1890s. Check it out--there is a lot of information out there. To get the plat or plats you want you pretty much have to look at each. Don't just look at the "historic" plats, as the others in some case have the same info on them but are more readable.
Hi Dave. I have traced my lineage back to the Allemans from the Canary Island also. Was very surprised to find I had any Spanish blood at all as no one ever mentioned the connection. I trace back to Juan Vives the founder of Valenzuela and his land grant. His grandson married Elizabeth Carlota (Isabel) Alleman and she was I think from Plattenville, LA Her grandfather was Juan Alleman (immigrated from Canary Islands) and his son was Pedro (Pierre) Alleman was 2 at the time of immigration. I just assumed when they first arrived they would have resided in Valenzuela. If you have any other info I would appreciate it. Sharon
I don't have a lot on the Allemans or the Isleños generally, as these ancestors come into the family history at the great-great-grandparent level. Specifically, My great-grandfather Joseph Arthur Simoneaux's mother was Marie Adeliska Alleman, daughter of Jean Joseph Alleman (Joseph had a French Acadian mother), son of Antoine Joseph del Rasario Aleman and another Isleños Andrea Carmelita Acosta, and so on up the tree with Placencia, Corbo, Ramirez, Garcia, Pro, Romero, Morale, Mirabel, Zurita, and Gonzalez (actually, I'm more connected than I remembered!). I am mostly Acadian/Cajun on my mother's side, and the Acadians immigrants of 1785 settled just below Valenzuela downstream on Bayou Lafourche from the Isleños, and the two cultures eventually merged on Bayou Lafourche. The Isleños history is fascinating. I would recommend Gilbert C. Din The Canary Islanders of Louisiana, LSU 1988, still available online everywhere new and used, for the most complete account of these people, and mostly the Baton Rouge Diocese Sacramental Records for tracing the ancestry.
I haven't published my family history online yet, so I have no easily extractable information to give you. If you don't have access to the Baton Rouge Diocese records (copies at all local libraries if you live in south LA), send me a private message with your email ID (I'm not sure how to do that on this forum) and I'll generate some ancestor reports with details.
BTW, I notice on your profile that you would like to visit the lands of your ancestors. My wife and I spend a couple of weeks in Nova Scotia last summer and visited some of the countryside where my ancestors lived, actually walking on a piece of property that my eleventh great-grandfather François Gauterot owned at Port Royal almost 400 years ago! It doesn't get any better than that. Before you go, learn as much as you can about them to make the trip most fulfilling!
