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Michel Luc
Michel Luc was bom March 20, 1857 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi as "Theodore Michel Guerry" (son of Jean Luc Guerry and Odile Ladner). Michel's siblings were Aurelia (married to Laurence Favre), Marie (married to Frank Casanova), Joseph Edouard (no further information), Victoire (no further information), Aylsia (no further information), Jean Oscar (married to Agnes Rhodes), Coralie (married to William McDonald), and Francis (married to Laura Baker). Michel was baptized on August 17, 1857 at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church.
Michel Luc was the third generation of his family to live in Bay St. Louis, and his story is, in part, the story of the evolution of a name passing through the generations in a new culture. Early civil records in France and early records from the Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans indicate that his grandfather, Michel Guerry (son of Guillaume Guerry and Marie Dutreuil) was bom in Bordeaux (June 2, 1797). Michel Guerry left France and he settled in Bay St. Louis, where he married Arsine Nicaise (daughter of Marital Nicaise and Louisa Ladner).
Michel and Arsine had eight children, seven daughters and one son. They named their son Jean Luc Guerry. Jean Luc Guerry, who served with Company F of the Shieldsboro (Bay St. Louis) Rifles during the Civil War, became known in the town simply as "Jean Luc," the name "Luc" appearing, even on the civil war record, as his last name. Bernadette Casanova, an 89 year-old family member writing on the issue of the evolution of the Luc/Guerry family name, wrote in 1976, " My mother-in-law, Marie Camille Luc Casanova, often spoke of her parents (Mr. and Mrs. Jean Luc Guerry) to me. First of all, she said "Luc" was not their family name. She said her father's name was Jean Luc Guerry, but everyone called him Mr. Luc ? so his children grew up with the family name of "Luc."
So it was that in the third generation of this family in Bay St. Louis, even though the family name of "Guerry" still remained in the church records, they were simply know in the town as the "Lucs." Thus, Jean Luc Guerry's son, who was baptized as "Theodore Michel Guerry," became known as "Michel Luc."
Michel Luc married Josephine Guzman (daughter of Bartholomew Guzman and Aglaide Favre) on October 11, 1880 in Bay St. Louis. They were the parents of 10 children:
Odile, Victor, Forest, Angeline, Maurice, Oscar, Victoire, Mitchell, Fredrick, and Royal.
Michel and Josephine Luc moved their family to New Orleans in 1914, where Michel owned and operated a bakery. Many of his descendants remained in the bakery business for several generations in New Orleans, the Mississippi coast, and in Louisiana.
He died on Wednesday, June 21, 1933 in New Orleans at the age of 76. A wake was held at the Schoen Funeral Home on Elysian Fields that night and his remains were returned to Bay St. Louis on Thursday, June 22, arriving on the "Mary Jane" train at noon. The body was taken to the home of his daughter, Mrs. Angeline Schneider on Washington St. and the burial was at Cedar Rest Cemetery, next to the grave of his wife, on Friday morning June 23 at 10:00 O'clock. The descendants of Michel Luc now bear the surname of "Luc" or "Luke." The last known usage of the name "Guerry" was on Michel Luc's granddaughter's 1910 baptismal record. However, most family members are still aware of their true surname.
For further information on this family, please refer to The Descendants of Guillaume Guerry, A Study of the Guerrv/Luc Guerry/Luc/Luke Family, Circa 1790 to the Present compiled by Harry Ward. This study was prepared for the family reunion in 1989, marking nearly 168 years in Bay St. Louis for this family. A copy has been placed in the Hancock County Historical Society in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.