Hi Wayne;

I received your letter this morning. I had some trouble trying to open
the file under the AOL program. The file transfered onto the disk, but
when I opened the file from the disk the file was script that was
unreadable.

It was a solid page of capital O's with the punctuation mark for the
German umlaut above said letters.

Do you think there is any other way to open the attachment?

Is there any way that could open the file, highlight and copy all and
then paste it in a letter, admittedly a long letter (or a couple of
letters) and email it to me already in its text format instead of as an
attachment?

Rhett

Hi Wayne;

The attachments you sent to my WebTv email address fell off for some
unknown reason.

Could you retransmit the same message with attachments to my AOL mailbox
on my other computer? The letter is probably sitting in your "sent mail"
file and just needs be readdressed. Could we try this address to this
computer?

Rhettbeard@...

May be that will work. Thanks for the effort. I have noticed slight
detail differences between our descendancy tree versions which when I
have your version in front of me I shall sit down and write you a good
detailed discussion of both with each attached.

Your cousin in Austin,
Rhett

Hi Pat, (and other cousins),

I work 24 hours at the fire station and then I have 48 hours off.

I don't know Ethel Wilkinson or Katherine Cochrane. If they Rousseau
descendants, send me their email addresses and I will try to contact them.
Or better yet, email them for me and invite them to join the
"RousseauCousins". I'm on email overload right now.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau, aka "STRETCH"

Hello again Pat,

I just realized I wasn't finished answering the questions in your previous
email.

I did email Terry Wright a couple of days ago. Haven't heard back from him
yet. He and I have emailed in the past.

You asked how tall i was. I'm 5'15"

Cousin Wayne Rousseau, aka "STRETCH"

Hi Rhett,

I have attached a file containing what information I have on our common
ancestors. You should be able to open it with any good wordprocessor. It
might open with some extra formatting junk showing but you should be able
to read it ok. I include family group records of each of our common
ancestors starting with the family of Hillaire Thomas Rousseau. let me know
how it works out.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau, aka "STRETCH"

Hello Cousins,

I just got home from my 24 hours shift at the fire station. I received lots
of email from several of you. I will get replies off to you as soon as
possible. Will probably take me all morning to dig up info that some of you
have asked for. So keep checking your email.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau, aka "STRETCH"

Okay, that explains about all the time you had to spend on the computer.  I
was thinking maybe you had those long shifts at the fire department, and
then had lots of days off.  I'm sorry to know you had a broken foot, that
must've been very painful.

I haven't added my info yet - I've been busy doing domestic chores around
the house.  Our daughter, Nora brought home two kittens around a week ago,
so we're busy playing and getting acquainted with them.

Don't forget to contact Terry Wright.  Also, do you know an Ethel Wilkinson
or Katherine Cochrane?  I've emailed you Katherine's web site - she has also
been in contact with other Rousseau researchers.

Was curious - are you Protestant?  Was wondering if that was passed down
over the generations. I think the  Shores's on my side were Protestant. My
grandfather, William's 2nd marriage was done in a Methodist Church.  I was
raised Catholic - my mother's side.  My parents rarely went to Church.  I
always assumed my father was Catholic, but of what I heard, I think he just
said that to please my mother's parents.

Later Stretch (how tall are you?)
Cousin Pat
----- Original Message -----
From: <Stretch@...>
To: <RousseauCousins@egroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2000 10:19 PM
Subject: [RousseauCousins] back to work


> Hello Cousins,
>
> After being off work for 7 weeks with a broken foot, I have to return
> to the salt mines tomorrow. I've had plenty of time to mess with the
> puter while I've been on sick leave. I probably won't be back online
> till Tuesday morning. Leave me some messages to read when I return.
>
> Cousin Wayne Rousseau
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> RousseauCousins-unsubscribe@egroups.com
>
>
>

Hello Rhett,

Thanks for the email and info on your ancestors. I am also sending this
reply to the RousseauCousins list. If you have any stories or queries that
you want to share with the cousins and me, then send them to the group
list, rousseaucousins@egroups.com and we can all read them.

Based on the information you gave me here are your Rousseau ancestors, in
ascending order, as I have them in my file:

Hilliar Lafayette Rousseau, b. 26 May 1848, Bibb Co. AL. &
Elizabeth Carrie Spruce, b. 1 Feb 1843, Heard Co. GA.

Hillaire Thomas Rousseau, b. 27 Jun 1802, Wilkes Co. NC &
Lucretia Jennings, b. 12 May 1809, TN

David R, Rousseau, b. 14 Sep 1779, Wilkes, Co. NC &
Nancy Shores, b. 1772/1775

Hillaire Rousseau b. 1743, VA &
Sarah (Polly) Rogers, b. 1748, VA

David Rousseau, b. 1717, Stafford Co. VA &
Ann Harrison

Hillaire Rousseau b. 1675/1680, France &
Elizabeth Lynton b. 1695/95, Westmoreland Co, VA

According to the information you have given me and according to the best of
my calculations, you and I are 4th cousins. My GG grandfather, Calvin
Constantine Rousseau, was the brother of your GG grandfather Hilliar
Lafayette Rousseau.

I'm not from Elllis county as you said. My GG grandfather, Calvin Rousseau,
settled in Waxahachie in Ellis county sometime in the late 1800's. He has
MANY descendants in Texas. I didn't realize that others of his family also
settled in Texas. This new info has given me many more Texas Cousins.

Has anyone, by chance, compiled a family history book of the descendants of
Hilliar Lafayette Rousseau? If so, I would dearly love to have a copy of
it.

I see you are in Austin, Texas. I am in New Braunfels only 50 miles away. I
have already found some other close by cousins. It's a small world. (isn't
it Cherilyn?)

Gotta quit for now. Keep the email coming.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau

Hello Wayne;

In your GEDCOM file of Rousseau ancestors do you have the date of death,
date of marriage, military service, names and birth dates of children,
names of in-law parents, professions, jobs or careers of these people
you have listed here?

I have gone to the Meisbach site, paid my money via credit card,
downloaded the GEDCOM browser software and gotten absolutely nowhere.
My computer just will not function with a GEDCOM browser.  The page that
is displayed when I call up the browser program does not respond to any
mouse clicks on any link, word, symbol, phrase or other location
anywhere on the screen nor does the browser respond to any known MS DOS
command known by any person who has ever been to my house.  We tried
from late July to early Sept. every day but the program has failed even
though we have returned to the Meibach site and downloaded it several
times onto floppy disks and to the hard drive with no success.  This
went on daily to the collective frustration of nearly a dozen souls here
in Austin. It just has to be my computer.

The short version of this is that I do not have GEDCOM capability for
some unknown reason.

Would you please just copy out into a text letter the info you have on
these ancestors?

I have attached your letter which enumerates the lineage from Hilliar
Lafayette Rousseau back to Hillaire Rousseau of France.

Could you please send me more information on these people?

Your cousin in Austin,
Rhett

Hello Cousins,

After being off work for 7 weeks with a broken foot, I have to return
to the salt mines tomorrow. I've had plenty of time to mess with the
puter while I've been on sick leave. I probably won't be back online
till Tuesday morning. Leave me some messages to read when I return.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau

HI Linda,

Thanks for the info. I have quite a few entries along that line already. I
have lots of Crains descended from Sarah Rousseau and one "cousin"  (hello
Sherrie) currently in California, I think, descended from Nancy Buster
Rousseau.

Has anyone done a compilation of you husbands Rousseau family? If so, I
would certainly appreciate having a copy of it so I can add more cousins to
my files.

Gotta Run,

Cousin Wayne Rousseau, aka "STRETCH"

Our descendancy is:

Hillaire Wm Rousseau   VA
David/Ann (Mary) Harrison  VA
James/Lucy Rogers  VA
John A./Sallie Buster  KY
John Wesley/Martha Custis Stewart  KY
John Luther/Nancy Ella Bethel  KY, TX, AZ CA

Linda

Hi Linda,

Thanks for that 4 brothers story. I've seen it before and I wish we had
some way to validate it. Along that same line, there is a man in Arkansas,
whos name is Hilaire Rousseau (and is father is Hilaire also). I have been
in touch with him for many years. His ancestors came from Canada but he has
only been able to trace them back about 4 generations. I've been anxious to
be able to find a connection between his family and ours. Maybe he is
descended from the brother that went to Canada.

Also Linda, can you tell me your Husband's Rousseau ancestry again? I think
you may have told it to me before but my brain is degenerating in my old
age.

Keep the stories coming.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau, aka "STRETCH"

Hello Rhett,

I have oodles of information for you. do you have a family history program
that can deal with a GEDCOM file? Let me know and I'll send it along to
you. If not, I send you a text file with some of it.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau, aka "STRETCH"

My husband's family history (from his aunt and her cousin, probably in 1930
or so) says there were 4 Rousseau brothers, Huguenots (Protestants), who came
to America in about 1685, as a result of persecution and wars after the
revocation of the Treaty of Nantes by Catholic Louis XIV.  They were from the
area of Alsace-Lorraine.  Four brothers slipped out.   One went to Canada,
one to New Orleans, one to NY, and Hillaire Rousseau, who stayed in Virginia.
  (The other brothers weren't named.)  He had sons David and William, and
there's lots on the internet and genealogy sites about these people and their
descendants.  This site will be fantastic, as long as we stick with
documented facts.

I haven't heard this exact story from anyone else, and stories do tend to get
mixed up in the telling.  Rousseau is a common French name, which makes
tracing it back to France difficult, unless someone else has some family
story that clears it up.

Dear Wayne;

My sister Barbara was over here last night watching the debates with me
as much as anyone really watched them while we had a late dinner. We
then opened the web box to find your email and words cannot express the
utter delight that we felt when you peeled back two centuries and
revealed to us the five generations before my great great grandfather
H.L. Rousseau.

I have a few questions. First of all, how much vital statistics do you
have on the Rousseau descendancy? Do you have, for instance, the date of
death, date of marriage, dates of births & deaths of siblings or any
other significant recorded data such as will probation, christening,
military enlistment/discharge, letters, tombstones, church records,
newspaper accounts, or any other data that would shed light upon their
lives beyond birth date and spouse? Do not misunderstand me please, the
lineage you transmitted to us is astounding.

Once upon a time there was a man named Hillaire from France who married
a Virginia colonial woman and they had a son who they named David.

David married a Colonial girl and when his son was born he named him
Hillaire.

Hillaire married a Colonial girl and when his son was born he named him
David.

David married an American girl and when his son was born he named him
Hillaire.

Hillaire married a Frontier girl from Tennessee and when their son was
born in the new state of Alabama they named him Hilliar.

Do you know anything about the in-laws of the three Hillaires, two
Davids and Hilliar?

That is, who were the parents of Elizabeth Lynton, Ann Harrison, Nancy
Shores, Lucretia Jennings and the mother of (wife of Homer Spruce)
Elizabeth Carrie Spruce?

I see from your letter that you are from New Braunfels. I have two good
friends there. Mike and his wife Carolyn Burrows and their son Dallas.
Carolyn's family were one of the original founding families of New
Braunfels and she has a large extended family there. My other friend in
New Braunfels is Gilbert Gonzales, who is store manager of an auto parts
store thereabouts. Gilbert plays the drums in a blues band out of NB and
they have a couple of blues festivals there that he promotes. I've been
down to one of them about a year ago. I haven't been to Wurstfest in ten
years but understand that it is still a big draw. I guess tubing the
Guadalupe and Shlitterbahn have some what upstaged that and nowadays
everyone has some sort of a festival in the fall.

I guess you guys at the fire department shudder at the thought of
Wurstfest and the traffic collisions, auto fires, victim extractions and
all of that other mayhem that comes with too many people trying to hard
all at the same time on the same roads. I know that my friends generally
avoid Wurstfest because I guess they've seen it too often or feel
they've done their share of volunteer work at the various booths run by
organizations there in town. I know that I managed to get jaded about my
volunteer work at the fajita booth benefitting the Travis County
Livestock Association Rodeo at Aquafest here in Austin after about a
decade. I think I could find the exact spot where that booth was and
will be on Auditorium Shores using nothing but trees a football field
away in each direction as surveyors poles.

Anyway, this is a whole lot about NB and charity festivals and not much
about the Rousseaus. Please excuse me, I tend to ramble.

Do you know anything else about the ancestors you sent me?

Did you get my other e-mails?

Your cousin in Austin,
Rhett

-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne "Stretch" Rousseau <Stretch@...>
To: RousseauCousins@egroups.com <RousseauCousins@egroups.com>
Date: Thursday, October 05, 2000 10:41 PM
Subject: [RousseauCousins] Debbie Crosby

Hi Debbie,

Does your cousin in Ga. have email so we can e-communicate? That would be
helpful for you to speed things along with.

When did you live in New Braunfels? and where did you tell me you live now?
I already forgot.

Wayne


To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
RousseauCousins-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Hello Cousins,

I don't know if I have told you already, but one of my missions in this
genealogy project is to catalog as many descendants of Hillaire and
Elizabeth as I possibly can. So if you will send as much info to me as you
can, I would appreciate it greatly. Things to include are EXACT FULL names,
birthdate & place, death date and place and burial place, marriage dates,
exact full name of spouses, etc. As much info as you can possibly include
will help me and others find connections to the family in years to come. If
someone has already made a family history book of any of your Rousseau
connections, I would love to have a copy of it. If any of you have your
records on a family history program, then a GEDCOM file would be heavenly.

I currently have about 1600 descendants of Hillaire and Elizabeth recorded.
Amoung those are:

433 named Rousseau
104 named William
63   named Elizabeth
22  named William Rousseau
18 named Elizabeth Rousseau

So you can see how names can become confused and why dates and places are
so important.

Time for me to get some sleep. Hope to e-see you soon.

Wayne Rousseau, aka STRETCH

Hi Marilyn,

I have entered the ancestors you gave me into my database. You and I are
now officially 7th cousins, once removed. If anyone has done a family
history book on any of your Rousseau families, I would love to have it so I
can more thorough data for my database.

Wayne

Hi Sherrie,

I entered the ancestors you gave me into my database. You and I are now
officially 7th cousins. If anybody has done a family history book on any
parts of your family, I would love to have it so I can have more through
information to add to my database.

Wayne

Hello Cousins,

It would be helpful if you would include your name on the info when you
sign up for the egroup list. Makes it easier for me and others to know who
is there. If you don't want your name there, that is OK also. If you want
to go back and add your name, it can be done easily.

Hi Debbie,

Does your cousin in Ga. have email so we can e-communicate? That would be
helpful for you to speed things along with.

When did you live in New Braunfels? and where did you tell me you live now?
I already forgot.

Wayne

Sorry, don't have these names in my family line.  Linda

-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne "Stretch" Rousseau <Stretch@...>
To: RousseauCousins@egroups.com <RousseauCousins@egroups.com>
Date: Thursday, October 05, 2000 6:05 PM
Subject: [RousseauCousins] Debbie Crosby

Hi Deb,

So glad you jumped in to our cousins list with your introduction. That was
a good little story about the circus performers. I hadn't ever heard of any
Rousseaus in the circus.

I tried to find you ancestors in my file but I had a little trouble. Of
course, I don't yet have ALL the cousins listed. If you can list your KNOWN
ancestors for me in a column in chronological, ascending or descending,
order with birth dates and spouses maybe I can look a little more and see
if I can make some connection.

I did find that Travis Rousseau, b. 1776, had a son named William. However,
I don't have a birthdate for this William. He did have a brother Travis
Rousseau b. 1724, so it is possible that he is the one you are looking for.
I don't have any middle name or initial listed for him.

Since I got back in gear on this genealogy business recently, I have
noticed that we have lots of cousins here in Texas. I'm finding them all
over the state.

Maybe we can have a RousseauCousins reunion someday.

Look forward to hearing from you again,

Wayne Rousseau

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
RousseauCousins-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Hello Rhett,

Thanks for the email and info on your ancestors. I am also sending this
reply to the RousseauCousins list. If you have any stories or queries that
you want to share with the cousins and me, then send them to the group
list, rousseaucousins@egroups.com and we can all read them.

Based on the information you gave me here are your Rousseau ancestors, in
ascending order, as I have them in my file:

Hilliar Lafayette Rousseau, b. 26 May 1848, Bibb Co. AL. &
Elizabeth Carrie Spruce, b. 1 Feb 1843, Heard Co. GA.

Hillaire Thomas Rousseau, b. 27 Jun 1802, Wilkes Co. NC &
Lucretia Jennings, b. 12 May 1809, TN

David R, Rousseau, b. 14 Sep 1779, Wilkes, Co. NC &
Nancy Shores, b. 1772/1775

Hillaire Rousseau b. 1743, VA &
Sarah (Polly) Rogers, b. 1748, VA

David Rousseau, b. 1717, Stafford Co. VA &
Ann Harrison

Hillaire Rousseau b. 1675/1680, France &
Elizabeth Lynton b. 1695/95, Westmoreland Co, VA

According to the information you have given me and according to the best of
my calculations, you and I are 4th cousins. My GG grandfather, Calvin
Constantine Rousseau, was the brother of your GG grandfather Hilliar
Lafayette Rousseau.

I'm not from Elllis county as you said. My GG grandfather, Calvin Rousseau,
settled in Waxahachie in Ellis county sometime in the late 1800's. He has
MANY descendants in Texas. I didn't realize that others of his family also
settled in Texas. This new info has given me many more Texas Cousins.

Has anyone, by chance, compiled a family history book of the descendants of
Hilliar Lafayette Rousseau? If so, I would dearly love to have a copy of
it.

I see you are in Austin, Texas. I am in New Braunfels only 50 miles away. I
have already found some other close by cousins. It's a small world. (isn't
it Cherilyn?)

Gotta quit for now. Keep the email coming.

Cousin Wayne Rousseau

Hi Deb,

So glad you jumped in to our cousins list with your introduction. That was
a good little story about the circus performers. I hadn't ever heard of any
Rousseaus in the circus.

I tried to find you ancestors in my file but I had a little trouble. Of
course, I don't yet have ALL the cousins listed. If you can list your KNOWN
ancestors for me in a column in chronological, ascending or descending,
order with birth dates and spouses maybe I can look a little more and see
if I can make some connection.

I did find that Travis Rousseau, b. 1776, had a son named William. However,
I don't have a birthdate for this William. He did have a brother Travis
Rousseau b. 1724, so it is possible that he is the one you are looking for.
I don't have any middle name or initial listed for him.

Since I got back in gear on this genealogy business recently, I have
noticed that we have lots of cousins here in Texas. I'm finding them all
over the state.

Maybe we can have a RousseauCousins reunion someday.

Look forward to hearing from you again,

Wayne Rousseau

Hello Cousins:

Well, I am having fun trying to get this group thing going here. I hope all
of you will read it and post messages here. I will include here a rundown
of my Rousseau ancestors. It would be nice if each of you would do the same
in some similar format. If you do so try to keep in the left hand column
those ancestors, male or female, who are your direct connection to the
Rousseaus,

Hillaire Rousseau 	 & Elizabeth Lynton
David Rousseau 	 & Ann Harrison
Hillaire Rousseau 	 & Sarah Rogers
David Rousseau 	 & Nancy Shores
Hillaire Thomas Rousseau  & Lucretia Jennings
Calvin Constantine Rousseau  & Bethenia Dobbs
George Alexander Rousseau  & Alice Benbolt Kelly
John Elbert Rousseau 	 & Viola Lorraine
Byron Eugene Rousseau  & Geneva Hardin
me: Byron Wayne Rousseau

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Wayne Rousseau

Hi Cherilyn,

I finally have a few minutes to try to catch up on my email replying.
Concerning your searches on familysearch.org: Take what you find there with
a grain of salt because I believe that is just stuff that other people have
sent in to there. What I am looking for to tie Theodore to Hillaire is
something like a reference to a will, a census, a church directory, a
huegenot publication or something that was documented during that era.
Somebody saying that Theodore is the father of Hillaire on familysearch.org
doesn't necessarily make it so. I have firm documentation of all my
Rousseau ancestors back to Hillaire and Elizabeth but not a hint of a real
connection to Theodore. Consequently, I haven't put him in my genealogy.

Let's see what else I can tell you about myself. I'm 48. I live in NB, Have
been married 23 years to my wife, Virginia, whos is a Minnesota German. I
was born in Corpus Christi Texas. I have been in Texas all my life except
for a few short stins elsewhere. I am a firefighter an New Braunfels Fire
Dept. Have about 13.5 years in there.

I'n going to post a message on the RousseauCousins list in a few minutes
telling exactly who my rousseau connections are. I would like you and
others to do the same also if you want. I'm anxious to get this cousins
list discussion going. So feel free to post messages and inquiries there
for others to see.

You can set the options of the group list to automatically send to you all
messages on the list or you can set it to send you a daily notice of
messages posted (this is what you currently have done) or you can set it to
send you no mail at all. If you choose either of the last 2 options you can
go to the website:

http://www.egroups.com/members/RousseauCousins

and read the messages archived there.

When you have time, can you give me a rundown on who your Rousseau
ancestors are from Hillaire and & Elizabeth down to yourself?

gotta stop for now, Look for messages on the egroup. Stay in touch.

Cousin Wayne.

Hello Cousins,

This is a test message just to see if this egroup thing is working. If you
see this message, then it must be working. Feel free to start posting
messages on the list. Tell the other cousins about yourself, who your
Rousseau Connections are, where you live, how old you are, and anything
else you feel like sharing.

Wayne Rousseau