The Vidrine Family in LA celebrates the 275^th anniversary of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines’ departure from France and arrival of LA in 2018. It’s a time to remember and reflect on the details (that we’re able to know) of his departure from France and arrival in LA as well as the 275 years of history of his descendants and the family he established in LA.

During the Fall months, we remembered the Anticipation and Excitement of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines and his family in France as he prepared to cross the ocean for the new world. Now that 2018 has arrived, we recall January 1, 2018 – the anniversary of the date he departed France – and May 8, 2018 – the anniversary of the date that the Royal Ship, the Charente, docked on the shores of La Balize near New Orleans.

I recently returned from a trip to France where I was able to remember the journey 275 years ago. 7 days after the 275th anniversary (January 1) of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines’ departure from France for LA, I was grateful to gather with the de Védrines family from Monflaquin (about 16 miles from Ste. Livrade) at the home of Charles Henri  de Védrines and his wife Christine in Bordeaux. We visited and shared a delicious meal together, which included drinking the wine from the Chateau Doisy-Védrines (the first time ever, I’m aware of, that the wine was ever drunk by a member of our Védrines family (which the Chateau once belonged to) along with the Védrines family from Monflaquin (which are surely our distant relatives).

The next morning, I woke up in the oldest house which still belongs to the Védrines family in the area (which dates back to the XVI century), thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Philippe de Védrines.

We then drove though the beautiful hills from Monflaqin to Ste. Livrade, the ancestral home place of our Vidrine Family in LA, where Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines and his family lived for at least five generations previously. We had a great visit with Patrick Garcia, historian of Ste. Livrade. We then walked around Ste. Livrade for some time, visiting the church and then the tower. Of course I prayed for our ancestors who were born, baptized, married, worked, and died and were buried in Ste. Livrade.

We then went to the Chateau Doisy-Védrines inherited by Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines’ father, Jean Baptiste de Védrines. It was so great to return there and to Preignac and Barsac near it, which were also important communities for our Védrines family.

Finally, I visited Rochefort, where Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines boarded the royal ship, the Charente, as an Officer of the French Marines with Governor Vaudreuil to set sail for LA and never return to France. What an extraordinary grace to be able to trace – in a sense – the steps of Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines in honor of the 275th anniversary of his departure from France and arrival in LA, where he would establish a branch of the Védrines (Vidrine) family, which continues to grow!