As a direct descendant of Jack
Conrad, Grant Conrad and Marcelin Weldon, this book, The Thibodaux Massacre by
John DeSantis gives us new found information about family members Pre-Civil
War. As African Americans, it is so difficult to locate information on our
ancestors who were enslaved, but this book has brought our family together in
ways you can’t image.
We have taken the information from
this book, sometimes difficult to swallow and celebrated our ancestors' strength
and endurance. We have planned Family events around the information from this
book and we are forever grateful to John for making this historical event a
true part of history.
My uncle, Sylvester Jackson is a
quiet warrior who encourages me to continue to make our family members know
about our ancestors. He is particularly concerned about the work the committee
is doing on locating the remains of Grant Conrad and Marcelin Weldon. At his age,
he wants to find the remains of our ancestors and put them to rest with a marker
in the family cemetery. That is most important to him. Once he realized that
they maybe in a hollow ground, he wants the ground to be scared and at least
try to find their remains.
Our family has grown closer together
since the book was published; in fact when John told me the story, emails went
out immediately to family members not only in Thibodaux and New Orleans, but
Houston, Texas, San Antonio, St. Louis, Dayton Ohio, Long Beach, California,
New York, New York and Paris, France where my daughter and her family lives. So,
this book by John DeSantis is a family treasure and it should be a treasure for
the citizens of Thibodaux as well. Because this book is not just about a
tragedy, but a means to right a wrong and to bring people closer together.
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