Annie LeBlanc
LeBlanc in 2019, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Julianna Grace LeBlanc
Place of Birth: Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Date of Birth: December 5, 2004
Ethnicity:
*father – Cajun French, small amount of Spanish
*mother – Italian, German, English, Scottish, remote Cherokee Native American
Annie LeBlanc is an American Internet personality, actress, singer, and gymnast. She often works with her sister Hayley. She is also known as Jules LeBlanc.
Annie’s father, Billy, who is from Louisiana, has Cajun French, and some Spanish, ancestry. Her mother, Katie, who is from Oklahoma, is of one quarter Italian, as well as German, English, and Scottish, descent; also, one of Annie’s maternal seventh great-grandmothers, Millie A. Thompson, was of three quarters Cherokee Native American descent. She was raised partly in Severna Park, Maryland, and then Los Angeles, California.
Annie’s paternal grandfather was Billy Joseph LeBlanc (the son of Lloyd Pierre LeBlanc and Justilia Juliana “Ann” Martinez). Justilia was the daughter of Louisa Martinez and Orania Granier.
Annie’s paternal grandmother was named Yvette Berthelot.
Annie’s maternal grandfather was Michael Francis Bearer (the son of Louis Conrad Bearer and Priscilla Ray Boyd). Louis was the son of Anthony Isadore Bearer and Marie Frances T. Angert. Priscilla was the daughter of Ellis Hempstead Boyd and Ivie Priscilla Lee.
Annie’s maternal grandmother was Pamela Marie DeLise (the daughter of Peter DeLise and Audrey Fern Yother). Peter was the son of Italian parents, Peter DeLise and Josephine Martucci, who had roots in Campania and Molise. Audrey was the daughter of Thelmer John Yother and Iriene Martin.
Sources: Obituary of Annie’s paternal grandfather, Billy Joseph LeBlanc – https://www.findagrave.com
Obituary of Annie’s maternal great-grandfather, Louis Conrad Bearer – https://www.findagrave.com
Obituary of Annie’s maternal great-grandmother, Audrey Fern (Yother) DeLise – https://www.findagrave.com
Peter DeLise and Josephine Martucci had roots in Campania and Molise; https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LB39-4C4
My prodding wasn’t meant to be an attack and shouldn’t have been taken personally. I prod only ever to make people think and make sure these pages are as accurate as they can be. And it also seems that people do these pages differently. I’m used to seeing locations added when someone ancestors are mentioned, it all.
I don’t think her father is Cajun, not all French-descended people from Louisiana are. He is more likely descended from French settlers. The Cajuns lived relatively isolated from the rest of the country until very recently (early 1900’s) and are considered a separate group from the descendants of settlers.
Do we know when and where the Leblancs settled? Because absent that, there isn’t any way to know. It’s completely possible it’s Cajun French ancestry.
Based on where they lived, I’d say it’s less likely they’re Cajuns the further away from the Cajun heartland you go. I doubt Cajuns moved around a lot before the 1900’s.
There’s a familysearch-genealogy of Louisa Martinez and Orania Granier, and if it’s correct, they were clearly not Cajuns. I haven’t found Lloyd and Yvette on censuses, so for them I just can’t tell (but East Feliciana Parish, where her grandfather Billy lived, isn’t even part of Acadiana).
I was only asking because none of the locations are given in the profile, so I was curious in the evidence you found.
Sounds like the Spanish relatives could be Creoles. The Spanish left quite a mark in New Orleans and areas in that part of the state often intermarrying with the French and English etc down near those parts.
That said – and it may not be relevant to any of her lines – but the Acadians weren’t an entirely closed culture. All kinds of people have married in and their children considered Cajuns. So sometimes, you can’t even tell by a surname.
Anyway, long story short, I agree with you. If we can’t confirm a Cajun connection, a celebrity shouldn’t be listed as such. At the same time, I don’t want anyone to close off avenues of research basing a decision entirely on a surname either without knowing a location. For instance, while I’d agree that it’s highly likely the Spanish surnames come from Acadiana, it’s also not impossible.
I don’t always add every exact birth place to profiles. But in the sources you’ll find obituaries of her ancestors, they mention some locations.
If the people I think are Louisa’s parents really are, then Annie doesn’t have any Creole ancestry from that line, with Creole meaning someone with partial African ancestry from the Louisiana Creole culture. I know the word was also used about Louisiana-born people of French descent to distinguish them from French people from France. If that’s what you meant, then yes, that’s likely her background.
I didn’t imply that the Cajun culture was closed to outsiders, only that the Cajuns didn’t really leave their heartland generally. The outside influence usually came to them and assimilated in their culture.
Also, I haven’t based anything on only a surname. If I only had the names, I would’ve probably assumed her father was a Cajun too.
Yvette Berthelot may have been from France