Védrines’ Book of Chronicles

Many families today in Evangeline Parish pass down stories of dans temps, or as people say in English in the past. These stories often reflect the family’s heritage and where the first settlers came from in the old world and where they began their new lives in Louisiana.
For one local pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Crowley and Ville Platte native, these stories provided some of the basis for a new book called La Famille de Vidrine at 275 Years.
Father Jason Vidrine, along with two Vidrine family contributors, chronicled the Vidrine family history from Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines’ departure of Sainte-Livrade in the southwest of France to Euzebe Vidrine’s hanging on the Courthouse grounds in Ville Platte.
As Father Vidrine explained, “Last year the Vidrine family celebrated 275 years since the progenitor Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrine arrived in 1743.” He added, “The book is basically a collection of chapters about the history of the Vidrine family in Louisiana during those 275 years.”
Research for the book took about 15 years, and the idea came after Father Vidrine read a book on the Vidrine family by Jackie Vidrine while he was in high school.
“I was then able to live in Rome for theology and go to France several times to visit the places Jackie wrote about,” Father Vidrine said. “Then, from that time, I did all I could to gather up information.”
He continued, “As a priest, I have access to sacramental records, so I’ve gone through the sacramental records of every place I’ve been including Sacred Heart of Ville Platte. And, I collected as much info as I could in the civil records to follow up on what Jackie had in her book.”
For Father Vidrine, doing the research for the book gave him an opportunity to learn things about the family he did not already know such as the Native American influence.
“I had not realized the extent of the Native American heritage of the family,” he explained. “When Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrine was serving in the French Marines in Kaskaskia, Ill., he married Elizabeth de Moncharvaux. She had a French paternal line, but her mother’s line was from the Kaskaskia Indians. All of the Vidrines descend from them, so all of the Vidrines have that Native American heritage.”
Father Vidrine’s book also chronicles the family’s contributions to the Catholic faith here in Evangeline Parish.
“The first thing Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrine does in his Last Will and Testament is very beautifully giving thanks to God for His grace of living and dying in the Catholic faith under the protection of St. Peter. Then, from there, in my branch at least, the faith was passed down 275 years all the way to me.”
“Throughout Evangeline Parish,” he continued, “the Vidrine family contributed to the Church. One of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrine’ great-grandsons who served in the Civil War donated the land in Grand Prairie for the church. Also, the land for the Belaire Cove Chapel was given by one of the Vidrine family members. The founder of the Town of Ville Platte, Marcelin Garand, was married to the granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrine, Hyacinth Vidrine. When she died, part of her estate went for Sacred Heart Church where the school is. They contributed in humble ways for the build up of the Church in Acadiana.”
The book is available for purchase online on the Vidrine family website or and on Amazon. Copies of the book will be available at the Vidrine Family Reunion held at the Ville Platte Civic Center on Saturday, September 28.
As Father Vidrine concluded, writing the book is rewarding “in a sense that many through the years have had questions about the history. Many people hear different things growing up from their family. But, to be able to put actual facts to what is hearsay and to continue the tremendous work Jackie Vidrine did in her research and bring it forward for the next generation has been great.”