Tina Knowles
LOS ANGELES – FEB 21: Knowles arrives for the Essence Celebrates Black Women in Hollywood on February 21, 2019 in Beverly Hills, CA, photo by DFree/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Celestine Ann Beyoncé
Place of Birth: Galveston, Texas, United States
Date of Birth: January 4, 1954
Ethnicity: Louisiana Creole, including African, French, Acadian/French-Canadian, as well as distant Irish, Breton, and Belgian Walloon, remote Penobscot First Nations
Tina Knowles is an American fashion designer, businessperson, and philanthropist. She is the mother of singers, songwriters, and actresses Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, with her former husband, Mathew C. Knowles, a salesman and manager. Her granddaughter is singer and dancer Blue Ivy Carter.
She is the daughter of Agnès/Agnèz (DeRouen/Deréon) and Lumis/Lumas Albert Beyincé/Buyincé. A picture of Tina’s parents can be seen here. Her father was born in Delcambre, Vermilion, Louisiana, and was a longshoreman. Her mother was born in Louisiana, and was a prominent seamstress.
Tina is the youngest of seven children. Her parents were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles, with roots in New Iberia; their ancestry was mostly African and French, including French ancestors who lived in Canada. Tina is a great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Acadian leader Joseph Broussard, who led French-speaking Catholics from Nova Scotia, Canada to Louisiana in 1765. He was among the first 200 Acadians to arrive in Louisiana that year. She is a descendant of French military officer Jean-Vincent d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin (born c. 1652 in Escout, France), and of his wife, Marie Mathilde Pidianske/Penobscot (born c. 1658), who was the daughter of Madockawando Abenaki, a chief of the Penobscot (Panawahpskek) people. Through Marie Mathilde, Tina is of 1/512th Indigenous descent. She also has Irish, Breton, and Belgian Flemish roots, the latter including her ancestor Albert de Cuir, from Hainaut Province, Wallonia. Her family roots are from Boutte, Louisiana. Through her Broussard line, she is a second cousin, once removed, of gospel singer and graphic artist Karen Showell.
Tina was raised Catholic. She married Mathew Knowles in 1980. He quit his job to manage girl group Destiny’s Child, of which Beyoncé was a member. Tina later filed for divorce and started dating actor Richard Lawson, to whom she was married until 2023. Through her marriage to Richard, Tina became a stepmother to his daughter, actress Bianca Lawson. Her daughter’s name, Beyoncé, is a tribute to her maiden name Beyincé, which was spelled Beyoncé due to a clerical error on her birth certificate.
Tina’s paternal grandfather was named Alexandre/Alexon Beyincé/Buyincé. Alexandre was born in Louisiana.
Tina’s paternal grandmother was named Mary Olevia. Mary was born in Louisiana.
Tina’s maternal grandfather was named Eugène-Gustave DeRouen/Deréon/Derezen (who likely was the son of Eloi Jacques DeRouen). Eugène-Gustave was born in Louisiana. A picture of Eugène-Gustave can be seen here.
Tina’s maternal grandmother was Odelia/Odilia Broussard (the daughter of Éloi/Éloy-René Rosemond Broussard and Celestine Joséphine Lessee/Lesse/Lesser/Lacy/Lacey/Lessassier). Odelia was born in Louisiana. Éloi was white, of French descent. Joséphine was black/mixed-race black, and the daughter of a slave mother. Éloi and Joséphine had many children together, and possibly married. Éloi was the son of Rosemond Broussard and Joséphine-Adelania Broussard.
Knowles with then-husband Mathew Knowles in 2007, photo by bigstock.com
Sources: Biography of Tina Knowles – https://www.nytimes.com
Article about Tina’s elder sisters – https://www.essence.com
Genealogy of Tina Knowles – http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Tina Knowles (through her daughter Beyoncé) – https://famouskin.com
Family histories of Tina Knowles (through her daughter Beyoncé) – https://www.hollywoodancestry.com
https://www.dailymail.co.uk
https://jack.canalplus.com
Family history of Tina Knowles (through her daughter Beyoncé), by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak – http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Tina’s mother on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Article about Tina’s maternal great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Broussard – http://www.biographi.ca
I personally doubt this woman has more African than European ancestry, though available records do not help us.
Include Belgian Walloon per
Belgians also made the crossing to find their happiness on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, including a certain Albert de Cuir, originally from Hainaut Province, Wallonia. According to genealogist Marie Cappart, this man, who emigrated to Louisiana from Belgium in the 1720s to create a colony, is a descendant of… Beyoncé. “ Albert de Cuir is the seventh generation ancestor of Beyoncé ,” explains Marie Cappart to SoirMag. He left Hainaut to create a colony in Louisiana at Point-Coupée. He has thousands of descendants, but among his descendants is the famous songstress. »
RTBF even found a person with a family link to the singer, one of her cousins. His name is Willy Decuir, he is a former mayor of Froidchapelle and he is 73 years old.
https://jack.canalplus.com/articles/lire/une-historienne-a-trouve-que-beyonce-avait-des-origines-belges
Looks like her surname is listed incorrectly at the beginning of the profile; it should read “Beyincé.” Though the description afterwards gets it correct.
Her Texas birth record says Beyonce.