2010 Family Heritage Tour, Part 3

[Part 3 of 3 in a series. Part 1 here and  part 2 here. --Amy]

Yesterday was the final day in the tour of my mother's "ancestral homeland" (aka Louisiana). In the morning after checking out of the hotel, we drove out to Iota:

The town may have a big heart, but there's zero cell phone reception of which to speak. What Iota does have is a lot of rice fields:

We paid a visit to the St. Joseph church and cemetery. I've read a couple books and records that say the church was built on land my ancestors used to own. There was a big house here once upon a time.

At the cemetery, which is part of the church grounds, I showed my mom the grave site of her great grandmother, Eliza "Lizzie" Eldridge Thibodeaux Matte. At the back of this photo is also the marker of Eliza's daughter Malina Thibodeaux, who is the great-aunt of my mom.

In another section of the same cemetery, there is a marker for Josephine DeGreve Bourgaux, who is my mom's great-great grandmother from Belgium. The stone also shares the names of two of Josephine's grandchildren. Upon seeing this marker, my mom realized that her own grandmother Josephine was named for this woman:

After that, we drove around Iota, which took about 2 minutes. Then we took the slow road home.

My mom doesn't *do the genealogy* like I do, but I think she really enjoyed this trip. She had heard stories of Acadia Parish from her parents, but had never been there. Now she has pictures, memories and new cousins.  And the food...we can't forget the food!