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As we meander along the storied Esplanade Avenue, bridging the serene city park with the lively French Quarter, our path leads us to the heart of the Treme. Within this historic enclave, where the echoes of Creole families resonate through the ages, lies a chapter of our ancestry.

It was here, amidst the whispers of Esplanade Ridge, that my sixth great-grandfather found solace in the arms of a free woman of color. Her presence, a beacon of comfort after the loss of his wife, illuminates the complexities of the Plaçage system that shaped New Orleans in the 1700s. This union, forged along the thoroughfare of Esplanade Avenue, hints at the intricate tapestry of our family’s lineage, woven with the threads of time and tradition.

Zacharie Cloutier, a key figure in our history, it is shocking when a man agreed to marry off his own 10-year-old daughter. It made me wonder if I should stop digging, but this is the past which is like a foreign country they do thing differently there.

But among these puzzling stories, I found something fascinating. Back in the early 1600s, Cloutier, our ancestor, worked as a simple brick maker. Little did he know that centuries later, his descendants would help rebuild New Orleans. It’s a story of connections, where the past shapes the present. The bricks made in Bonfouca, Louisiana, ended up playing a big part in rebuilding the New Orleans after the great fires..