Chance and willpower E-Book

Henri Cestia

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 279

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

In Chance and willpower, Henri Cestia takes you on a journey that will take you from seventeenth to the twentieth century, in Bigorre, Bearn, Uruguay, Louisiana, Argentina and Guadeloupe. By following the common thread of the genealogiy of the surname Cestia, the autor will introduce you to people who are more ofthen poor than rich, who are neither princes nor kings, but men and women whose ordinary lives are made up of chance and will. This book is not a novel. It's all true. The archival documents are available on the author's website. Thus, through life stories, in a micro-history approach, Henri Cestia makes us encounter History.

Leseprobe

Is remercie:

My parents who initiated the genealogical research of the Cestia branch of our family,

My wife who for more than 15 years has been bringing her opinion and remarks to my work,

Lionel Dupont who passed on to me the history of my family in Uruguay,

My Luciani cousins who opened their shoebox full of memories to me,

Raymonde Aubian, and pays tribute to him. A tireless volunteer at the departmental archives of Tarbes, she always kindly sent me the requested records of acts,

The many genealogists met on the web: Jean Paul Abadie, Georges Ano, Simone Arrizabalaga, Christian Auguin, Jean Borderes, Sandrine Braun, Laetizia Castellani, Michèle Cazaux, Thierry Cenac, Burton Cestia, Christine Cestia, Michel Cestia, Martine Dagnino, Dominique Delluc, Paulette Faivre, Pierre Frustier, Bernard Herrou, Jean Yves Herve, Roland Larre, Jeannette Legendre, Ana Malbos, Myriam Managau, Alain Medina, Jean Marc Nougues, Jean-François Quarre, Nadine Sahoune, Christine Saintupery, Michel Sauvée, Roberte Thomaset, with whom we have shared our genealogies since 1999.

My passion for genealogy is not motivated by the compulsive establishment of lists of ancestors, but is expressed in a micro-history approach [1], a way of encountering History through the life stories of ordinary people with sometimes fascinating destinies who have all made History.

The surname Cestia is rare; few people today bear this surname, which aroused my curiosity to know its origin, especially since some hypotheses proposed by linguists are hardly rewarding, ... simple-minded, stupid [2].

Satisfying this double curiosity, one concerning micro-history, the other concerning the surname Cestia, I try, quite simply, by following the common thread of the transmission of a surname, to tell stories, to tell the story of lives, families and terroirs, to give life to people that History has not retained... and perhaps, in the end, to better understand History.

With this book, I do not wish to drape myself in the past glory of some of my ancestors, but neither do I wish to put up with the faults of others. My only guide is to bear witness to their lives.

Genealogical research is sometimes similar to a police investigation. From an event found, sometimes by chance, for example the presence of a person on a boarding list, we look for other elements related to the information found. To do this, it is necessary to explore different available archives to find additional data and thus discover the events of the person's life. But success is not 100% assured. Thus, my research on 604 people listed between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries could not be satisfactorily completed for 73 people, i.e. 12%.

This book is not a novel. He relates proven facts. However, some filiations, particularly in the seventeenth century, are only very likely. The information provided without the "proofs" by friendly genealogists has been verified.

The first edition, the draft of this one, told the story of the Cestia in reverse, that is, in the way genealogists do their research, that is, starting with their parents, then their grandparents and so on going back in time. I was criticized for this deliberate choice on my part. Indeed, it detracted from the clarity of the story. The second criticism was the absence of an index of the people cited, an index so dear to genealogists!

In the present edition I have put the story right, I mean that the story is chronological. An index of the names cited can be found at the end of the book. Genealogists will find on my website for all the people mentioned in the index all the genealogical sources, various acts, proofs of filiation and other information.

Finally, to enhance the reading of the book, I drew on the family's photo albums. http://www.genea-cestia.fr/

1 Influenced by Edward Palmer Thompson, microhistory suggests that historians abandon the study of masses or classes to focus on individuals. By following the thread of an individual's particular destiny, we shed light on the characteristics of the world around him. Italian micro-historians advocate a reduction in scale, in order to examine the phenomena under a magnifying glass (Wikipedia).

2 The Dauzat dictionary of surnames establishes a link between Cestia and the term crestian, which means "Christian" in Occitan. In the feminine, crestiana. All its forms have the general meaning blessed by God, simple-minded. Linguists also teach us that the word Christian gave rise to the word moron...

Summary

1. Origin and history of the surname Cestia

2. From 1600 to 1700

3. From 1700 to 1750

4. Lescurry from 1639 to 1891

5. From 1750 to 1800 working to survive

6. Slavery in France in the nineteenth century

7. Migrating to escape poverty

8. From 1800 to 1850, getting out of poverty

9. Conscription in France from 1789 to 1998

10. from 1850 to 1900

11. The Cestia in France in the twentieth century

12. from 1900 to 1946 Felix Cestia

13. 1914-1918 Emile and Jules Cestia

14. 1914-1918 Juan-Carlos Dupont

15. The Cestia in France from 1900 to 1946

16. The Cestia in the United States of America from 1900 to 1946

17. Conclusion

18. Alphabetical index of individuals cited

1. Origin and history of the surname Cestia

The search for the origin of a surname is a complex subject. Genealogy allows us to know the ancient form of the surname. Linguists provide interpretations that I propose to compare with the contributions of the genealogy of the Cestia and the toponymic study.

According to linguists

The Etymological Dictionary of Gascon Surnames by Michel Grosclaude 2003, indicates for the surname Cestia: "Rare surname. In Pyrénées-Atlantiques: 5 outbreaks in Oloron, Nay, Moumour and Pau. Obscure: Perhaps from the Latin man's name Sextianus? Or contraction of Sebastian? − Sestia. Spelling restored: Sestian Sestiaa. »

The linguist Albert Dauzat [3] proposes another hypothesis. According to him, this surname would have its origin in the populations of cagots present in the south-west of France in the Middle Ages. Cagots were people belonging to certain disadvantaged social groups grouped in isolates in the high valleys of the central and western Pyrenees that were difficult to access. The cagots were victims of various discriminations, in the church in particular a stoup was reserved for them. Thus, according to him, the names of Chrétien and Chrestien attributed to these populations give Chrestia and in Béarnais Crestiaa.

The term Crestian means "Christian" in Occitan. In the feminine, Crestiana. All these forms have the general meaning of being blessed by God, simple-minded. In the Valais, Chrétien gave the surname Crétin, a surname that is still very common today, especially in France in the departments of Jura and Doubs, but also gave the word of the French language crétin.

According to genealogy

Genealogy tells us that all the current bearers of the surname Cestia have Guilhem Sestian as their ancestor , Arnauld Sestian , Bernard Sestian , Guilhaume Sestian or Pierre Jean Sestian -, owners of land and houses in Lescurry. Thus, Sestian is the old form of the current surname Cestia. These five Sestians, who can be assumed to belong to the same family, were, around 1600, well-established owners in the village of Lescurry. Between them, they own 10% of the land and real estate in the village. It therefore seems likely that they have been present in this village of Lescurry for at least a few generations.

The hypothesis put forward by the linguist Albert Dauzat mentioned above does not stand up to the analysis of the facts, because there are between the mountains and Lescurry, where the surname appears before 1600, many other villages or Sestians could have taken root, which is not the case. Indeed, many systematic records of parish registers are available for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On a database [4] of 35,000 records concerning 300 communes in the Hautes-Pyrénées department [5], there are no Sestian or other variants elsewhere than in the villages near Lescurry. The trail of the Pyrenean mountains being ruled out, linguists direct us to a Latin name, which is in line with the toponymic approach.

Indeed, the proximity of Lescurry to the lands of Sestias leads us to consider the hypothesis that our distant ancestors of Lescurry originated from the hamlet of Cestias. The migration of one or more inhabitants of the hamlet of Cestias to Lescurry could have occurred in the fifteenth or early sixteenth century.

These migrants from Cestias were then referred to by a patronymic name that designated their village of origin, Sestias, Sestianum in the form that designates the origin. Which gives in Gascon Sestian. Indeed, in Latin, the last syllable never bears the tonic accent, so disappears when you switch from Latin to Occitan. Also, words that end in Latin with -anum, end in Occitan with -an. [6]. Thus was probably born the surname Sestian, whose current form is Cestia or Cestiaa.

The distant ancestors of the Cestia were not always called Cestia. Indeed, it was the appearance of the family record book around 1877 that made it possible in France to transmit family names without alteration from one generation to the next. Until then, parish or republican civil status was established on the basis of verbal declarations, which therefore led to variations, sometimes significant, in the way surnames were written, especially in periods when few people knew how to write their name.

The graph below represents the census (number of bearers of the name in ordinate) of the different forms of the surname Cestia, a census established on the basis of the cards compiled during my research. We observe the replacement of the initial letter S by the letter C, except in the regional form Sestiaa in Nay, and then the gradual disappearance of the ending in "an".

Without it being a certainty, these figures tell us that these surnames will, sooner or later, join the long list of surnames that have disappeared, especially in France.

According to toponymy

The hamlet of Cestias is distant from Lescurry by a walking route of about 19 kilometres, which represents about 4h30mn of walking.

The Gallo-Roman and medieval history of this hamlet provide us with interesting information. Concerning Sestias, Charles Brun points out the presence, at the beginning of the century [7], of "a castle at the highest point of the place, 50 metres to the west of the farm. The road to Miélan passes right in the middle of the castle site. We can still see some traces of the ditches which allow us to see that the castle formed a quadrilateral of about 30 to 40 meters on each side."

Gallo-Roman period

According to Stéphane Abadie [8], "The district of Sestias, now Cestias, is located in the western part of the municipal territory. This toponym comes from the Gallo-Latin surname Sestianus (Sestius), identified by some authors with the location of a villa of Sulpicius Severus in Late Antiquity, and where Saint Justin was buried9. However, no Gallo-Roman finds have confirmed this hypothesis. »

Cestius is a Roman surname. Sextus is a Roman given name. In Roman times, Cestius is mentioned by Cicero in his discourse on Flaceus and in his letter to Atticus. The third Cestius, also mentioned by Cicero, was Gaiius Cestius praetor (magistrate) in 44 B.C. From this time, there remains in Rome, at the end of there via Cestia, the mausoleum of the magistrate Gaius Cestius who died in 12 BC. This monument is a pyramid covered with marble. "Tomb worthy of a pharaoh" according to the expression of the Michelin Guide of Rome (1988 edition). After Caesar's death, we find a Lucius Cestius praetor whose name appears on an Aureus. On this coin, the bust evokes Africa, and Rome – Cestia Pyramid alludes to the role that Lucius Cestius must have played in this country.

At the beginning of our Cestius era coming from Rome, arrived and settled in the south of Gaul near Trie-sur-Baïse. This historical fact is not proven. However, this is a probable hypothesis put forward by the historian Stéphane Abadie in his monograph of the canton of Baïse. It would be necessary to excavate the grounds of the hamlet of Cestias to find out more, and to confirm that it is indeed this Roman surname that gave its name to the current hamlet of Cestias. Until proven otherwise, we will therefore reject this hypothesis.

Medieval period

The old seigniorial castle of Sestias is in the southern part of the current hamlet of Cestias, 1 km north of Lapeyre and 2.2 km from the bastide town of Trie. It is a platform-type fortress resulting from a development by "recutting" the pre-existing relief in order to increase the surface area of the summit platform.

In the Middle Ages, the territory of Sestias was independent. There are several mentions of the lords of Sestias in the cartulary of Berdoues [10] :

There is mention of one by Guillaume Sestias at the beginning of the thirteenth century. In 1202 the first mention of the Lordship of Sestias (Sestiano family) appears on the Cartulary of Berdoues (act n° 324)

In 1323, Condorine de Sestias married Géraud d'Esparros. These two names are found in the paréage of Trie.

In 1331, they sold the land of Sestias to

"the powerful Centulle, Count of Astarac"

for 1,220 livres tournois.

In 1489, finally, Jean d'Astarac gives in fief to the inhabitants of Trie, the territories of Trie and Maroncères.

The lordship of Sestias belongs to the county of Astarac. The county of Astarac is located in the north-east of the county of Bigorre. In the Middle Ages, relations between the different counties were often conflictual. The counties of Bigorre and Astarac are no exception.

On 25 March 1331, Centule IV bought from Condorine de Sestias and to her husband Geraud of Esparos the land of Sestias for 1,220 livres tournois. Located in the current department of Hautes-Pyrénées, this lordship is located in the centre of a set of lands belonging to the Count of Astarac by the tributes [11] of 23 October 1374 and 3 May 1392. [12]

Condorine from Sestias was lord of Sestias, then Countess of Sestias after her marriage in 1323. The sale of the lands of Sestias in 1331 gave the lordship to Centule IV d'Astarrac who governed the county of Astarac under the tutelage of his mother of Cécile Comminges . In 1489 Jean d'Astarrac is the lord of Sestias.

In the Middle Ages, it was lords and counts who ruled the region. The lords of Sestias built a castle on the highest point of their land, 30 metres wide and 40 metres long. Behind the thick walls of their castle, they had a solid shelter that allowed them to wage war against their neighbours. Condorine from Sestias who was only Lord of Sestias like her father, when she married the young Count of Astarac whose county was located north of Bigorre, became, by her marriage, Countess of Sestias.

16th and 17th centuries

It was in the sixteenth century that the surname Sestian appeared in the village of Lescurry. Probably because the inhabitants of the lands of Sestias decided to settle a little further south. Sestias gives in Gascon Sestian.

In the first half of the seventeenth century, Lescurry had about 40 houses, 5 of which were houses belonging to the Sestian. The Sestian families then owned about 10% of the houses and land in the village. Some have done well. They are tax collectors. But the others are peasants.

Peasant life was hard in the seventeenth century. In 1694, a terrible famine hit the village hard. Pierre Jean Sestian decided to leave his native village and settle in Nay in the Béarn where the textile trades were developing a lot. Thus Pierre Jean from a family of farmers in Lescurry became a hosiery-maker.

XVIIIth century

In the eighteenth century, the Sestian of Nay were more and more numerous. They were often workers in the nascent textile industry of Nay, which took over from the crafts of the previous period. The surname changes to Cestian, Sestia, Cestia or Sestiaa.

During this time, in 1713 and 1747, Lescurry experienced two terrible years. Other Sestians then left the village of Lescurry to join the Sestian of Nay, while a few others settled on the occasion of a marriage in the neighboring villages of Beccas, Louit, Collongues or Dours in the hope of finding a less thankless land. Villages where they often find a member of their family who is already settled there. The possibility of family solidarity, no doubt a means of coping with the adversity of the century, seems to be a determining factor in the choice of the village of destination.

In the eighteenth century in Lescurry, as everywhere in France among the peasants, life continued to be harsh, despite the slight improvement in living conditions observed from 1725 onwards. The proportion of an age group that exceeds 10 years is only 60%, and only 50% reaches the age of 25. Famines, famines, epidemics transform life into a fight against death. You have to feed yourself to survive. To feed oneself one must work hard, but the climatic conditions must also be favourable. Conditions that are sometimes impossible to meet.

During the second half of the eighteenth century, more and more of the Cestia de Lescurry left their village to settle in villages located north and south of Lescurry and east of a Tarbes-Maubourguet line.

In the eighteenth century, most of the population could not read, write or even sign their name. However, in 1768, Arnauld Cestian (1716-1788) is a tax collector. On the eve of the Jean Cestia Revolution is a member of the municipal body and as such a signatory of the list of grievances of the village of Lescurry which asks for less tax and more freedoms "which will always be the soul of all commerce" it reads.

But being a notable of your village does not only have advantages. In 1790, it was decided to make the accounts of the tax collection between 1761 and 1789. It follows that the son of the late Guillaume Cestia had to repay 18 livres tournois, the equivalent of 15 days' wages.

In Nay, the great family of the Cestia has grown even larger. They continue to work in the textile industry but also in the wood industry. Employees of the factories, they lived from day to day, on a meagre salary, legally free but economically dependent. This dependency organized by the kingdom kept them in Nay. No other choice is possible for them.

XIXth century

The nineteenth century is one of extraordinary vitality. The "industrial revolution" of the nineteenth century shifted from a predominantly agrarian and artisanal society to a commercial and industrial society. The bearers of the surname Cestia are not immune to this transformation of society. Between 1800 and 1875, nearly 30% of them abandoned the trades of the land in favour of the professions of craftsman, shopkeeper and employee. The Cestia family is present in many villages in the Hautes-Pyrénées and in Nay where they are workers but also craftsmen or shopkeepers.

These changes in jobs are often the consequence of migration. People leave their village to find a better life elsewhere, in the towns and villages of Bigorre to the south of the Gers. But also for the more adventurous to more distant destinations such as Argentina, Uruguay, Louisiana, and the islands of Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico.

The Americas

Jean Alphé Cestia (1834-1860)), originally from Vic-en-Bigorre, migrated to Louisiana at a very young age where he joined a Cestia de Vic. He settled in Abbeville and founded a family that is at the origin of the current presence in Louisiana of the surname Cestia.

Other Cestia, also from Vic, also migrated to Louisiana to work as merchants. Thus, in the nineteenth century in Louisiana, a community of Cestia from Vic-en-Bigorre was formed, well established in trade.

Argentina is also a destination that attracts the Cestia, de Vic, de Dours, Pujo and Lacassagne.

My great-grandfather, Honoré Cestia , decided to go to Uruguay where he became a trader. Around 1900, having become a widower, he returned to the country with his three children. The eldest my grandfather, Felix, is Uruguayan while his two brothers, Emile and Jules, have dual nationality. A detail? No, the rest proves that it is not.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Uruguay was a popular destination for many French people who found in this country an economic dynamism favourable to rapid success in business.

My great-grandfather's brother, Auguste-Sylvain Cestia who did not want to spend 5 years of his life as a soldier, and possibly go to war, he left for Argentina. Like him, many Cestia are thus declared insubordinate by the military authorities. Auguste-Sylvain died in Buenos Aires in 1897, at the age of 33.

La Guadeloupe

The islands of Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico are also a destination chosen by those who finally aspire to a better life, in order to turn the page on the eighteenth century made of suffering and misfortune. The practice of slavery, which was legal in Guadeloupe until 1848, did not stop them. From 1800 to 1848, this "servile" workforce, according to the term used in population censuses, was the only one available to exploit the dwellings, the name given to the agro-industrial complexes for sugar production. Human rights took a long time to penetrate nineteenth-century society, first with the prohibition of the slave trade, which consisted of going to look for blacks in Africa, then in 1848 with the abolition of the slave trade.

Bertrand Cestia (1805-1876), the son of the butcher of Vic, was the first Cestia to migrate to Guadeloupe where he quickly became successful in the trade. His job as a merchant was to transport the sugar produced to Bordeaux, and to bring clothing, food and agricultural tools from Bordeaux. On the spot, he is also a businessman whose opinion is sought. Three years before his return, in 1833, he bought the estate of St Aunis located in the communes of Vic and Pujo, and a little later became a notable mayor of his commune and a member of the academic society of the Hautes-Pyrénées.

Around 1830 Pierre Cestia and Philippe Cestia de Louit migrated to Guadeloupe, which was experiencing an economic crisis at the time. The revolt of the blacks in the neighboring island of Saint-Domingue led to the independence of part of the island, and the creation of the state of Haiti in 1804. In Guadeloupe, at the same time, the bloody repression of the black uprising discouraged any revolt. The temporary drop in sugar production in Haiti, followed by the resumption of production, caused overproduction in Guadeloupe which, combined with the shortage of slaves, led to serious economic difficulties.

It is in this difficult economic context that Pierre Cestia and Philippe Cestia de Louit arrive in Guadeloupe at Port Louis. There they meet the Fabares de Louit family, an allied family. Fabares Martial is the brother of Jeanne Fabares of Louit, the aunt of the Cestia brothers. In Guadeloupe, Martial Fabares married the heiress of the Dadon estate. It's a big house. Pierre and Philippe Cestia are therefore not arriving without local support.

As soon as he arrived, Pierre Cestia is in business with Cestia Bertrand about a 160-hectare house in the commune of Sainte Rose. But this agreement, sealed before a notary, only lasted a few months. The termination of the agreement allows Pierre Cestia to be compensated for an amount of 5,406 francs, a sum that represents more than 10% of the initial purchase price of the house.

As for Philippe, he was first a shopkeeper and then a landowner, which allowed him to redress the financial situation of his wife Marie-Anne-Zeline Dumornay-Matignon after his marriage born in Guadeloupe, daughter of a settler and widow without children.

In 1843, an earthquake almost completely destroyed Pointe-à-Pitre, located 30 km south of Port-Louis. An ordeal that adds to the difficulties already present on the island. It was then that another Philippe Cestia , my grandfather, Bernard says in his family, joins his two brothers in Guadeloupe. The three brothers were quickly home managers. Philippe is also the manager of a very large 280-hectare house belonging to an owner who has returned to Gironde.

At the time of the abolition, in 1848, Philippe owned 23 slaves for which he was compensated by the state, which allowed him to repay a debt contracted with Despalanques de Vic, a former associate of Bertrand Cestia .

With the abolition of slavery, Guadeloupe's years of economic prosperity came to an end. Many decide to return but the three Cestia brothers decide to stay.

In 1855, Philippe died in Port-Louis without descendants, aged 46. He leaves a widowed wife for the second time. Philippe, known as Bernard, did not stay on the island very long. After his brother's death, he returned home after having previously received the colonial indemnity for the few slaves he had invested in to work on his brother's dwelling. In November 1856 in Louit, Philippe Cestia, known as Bernard, who now called himself an annuitant, married Magdelaine Dortignac who is 19 years old. He is 41 years old... Elected mayor of Louit in 1865, re-elected in 1870, he remained mayor until his death in 1874.

In 1860, a Cestia from Vic, François, migrated at a very young age before the military census of 20-year-old men, a census to which he did not appear. He was therefore declared insubordinate. But a little later he could be exempted from military service because of a disability. In Guadeloupe, he married Marie Cécile Eugénie Aquart-Pieton daughter of Eugène Pieton, sugar industrialist. Before his marriage to Modestine Aquart, Eugène Pieton had an affair with a slave woman who bore him three children whom he recognized in 1833. The mother and her children as well as the grandmother, who was obviously also a slave, were then freed.

Puerto Rico

On the neighboring island of Puerto Rico, there are the first cousins of the Cestia de Louit brothers. They are Pierre Cestia and Catherine Cestia , the children of Martial Cestia and Jeanne Fabares . Pierre is a doctor. They settled in Mayaguez, at the western end of the island. Shortly after his arrival, Pierre met his first cousin in Guadeloupe during a financial transaction involving a large sum of money. At that time, the financing of economic activity was mainly done by family or friends and not by banks as is the case today. In 1843, Catherine Cestia married Angelo Toussaint Giorgi from Farinole in Corsica. It was there that she retired after her time in Puerto Rico.

Thus, in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Cestia formed a family and business clan on the islands, an essential condition for success.

The twentieth century

The world wars were two terrible trials for this period which were also an opportunity for global solidarity to defend Europe against the Germans. Cestia from Louisiana participated in this surge of solidarity and came to defend France in the two world wars. During the first conflict, they fought alongside Jules Cestia and Emile Cestia that they do not know, without knowing, no doubt, that they are defending the land of their ancestors. This is also the fight of Juan-Carlos Dupont who came from Montevideo at a very young age to defend France "His second homeland" in his own words. He was just 17 years old, and the military authorities in Tarbes did not agree to enlist him. He had to wait for his parents to sign an authorization, which they eventually did. He can then fight. He becomes a man, he says. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

Two of the three brothers who returned from Uruguay with their father Honoré Cestia are mobilized. Jules Cestia will return from the war with decorations, Emile Cestia he died for France. He leaves a widow and a daughter. Felix Cestia who is Uruguayan is not mobilized. France wins the war, but widespread misfortune makes many losers.

And then 30 years later, it's war again. My grandfather, Felix Cestia , who had become a diplomat, was driven out of France by the Germans. His wife remains alone in Marseille. His son, who voluntarily became French, fought in the war and returned with medals that attested to his courage. His uncle André Cestia , son of Honoré and his second wife Anna, was mobilized. He died for France in Vienne-le-Château on 11 June 1940.

3 Albert Dauzat, "Etymological Dictionary of Family Names and First Names of France", 1973, Larousse.

4http://jme.webhop.net/relhp65/index.php

5 Statistically, the 300 municipalities observed are a representative sample of the 343 municipalities in the department. Statisticians agree that a sample size of 300, which represents 88% of the population studied, is representative of the population studied with a margin of error close to 2%.

6 Footnote by Michel Grosclaude − Toponymy on the website of the Hautes-Pyrénées departmental archives.

7 Quoted by Stéphane Abadie, Brun, ibidem, pp. XXX-XXXII and 46. Nothing remains of this site, it seems.

8 Stéphane Abadie, "Master's degree in history. Monograph of the canton of Trie-sur-Baïse".

9 Jean Francez, BSR 1973, Sextiacum/ Sestias in Trie-sur-Baïse; Alcide Curie Seimbres, Recherches sur les lieux habités par Sulpice Sévère, 1875

10 J. Cazauran, "Le cartulaire de Berdoues", act 324, p.221 of 1202: Guillelmus Sestianum, sacerdos; idem, act 562 p.386 of 1221: Willelmus de Sistian, clericus.

11 In the Middle Ages, vassal homage was the ceremony during which a free man, the vassal, placed himself under the protection of another, more powerful free man, the overlord.

12 Nicolas Guinaudeau, "Seigniorial Fortifications and Gascon Aristocratic Residences between the Tenth and the Sixteenth Century", Thesis Medieval History 2012.

2. From 1600 to 1700

Before 1650, the surname Cestia is present only in Lescurry. In fact, it is rather the surname Sestian, which is the oldest form of the surname Cestia.

Jeanne Sestian

Jeanne Sestian is the last encounter on my genealogical journey that goes back in time from 1946 to 1600. We would like to know more, unfortunately it is here that our time machine runs out of fuel, I mean out of archival documents to feed the machine. But dear reader, this is where the story of the Cestia begins for you.

Jeanne Sestian dit Peyrou would have been born in 1586, if we are to believe her death certificate of December 9, 1676 which indicates the age of 90 years. A very surprising age at a time when very few people know their age. As proof of this, I have the statistics below that I have established on the basis of the ages declared at the time of Lescurry's deaths between 1660 and 1800. We see that from the age of 40 onwards, deaths occur mainly at 45, 50, 55 years of age, etc. These round numbers show that people have a very approximate knowledge of their age. So Jeanne Sestian was probably born towards the very end of the sixteenth century.

Pierre Sestian

Let's get on our bike one last time to go back in time to meet Pierre Sestian. His wife is Anne Marie Lespiau with whom he had 3 children between 1636 and 1648. The eldest is Jean Sestian Coutillou owner. Then came Bertrande (1642-1707) who married Jean Casaux with whom she had 4 children between 1671 and 1681. Then comes Gabrielle who marries Jean Costabadie with whom she had 10 children between 1671 and 1684.

The Sestian owners

According to the terrier of Lescurry established in 1677, there are about 40 houses, of which, according to the terms used in this document, are "kept and possessed" by the Sestian. The agricultural land, woods or wasteland of the inhabitants of the village of Lescurry is estimated at a total of about 1,000 newspapers, i.e. in current unit 350 ha, including 31 ha for the 5 Sestian owners. This inventory of the land owned by the inhabitants of the village does not describe that of the Lord of the village, Philippe de Podenas and his wife Louyse Montbartsier. By difference, the surface area of the seigniorial estate can be estimated at about 150 ha.

The Sestian landowners in the second half of the seventeenth century were:

Arnaud Sestian (1635-1681) known as Berne which owns about 4 ha of land. He has, with his wife Jeanne Abadie, 3 children between 1658 and 1663 including Bernard whose descendants settled in Nay.

Jean Sestian Coutillou (1636-1726) who is the son of Pierre Sestian. He owns about 7 ha of land. Between 1652 and 1680, he and his wife Marguerite Laforgue, 8 children, 6 of whom reached adulthood and 5 of whom bore him offspring.

Guilhem Sestian (1638–1713) which owns about 6 ha of land. Between 1660 and 1690, he had 3 children with his wife Bernarde, 2 of whom gave him descendants

Sestian Guilhaume (1642-1726) known as Bernis or Bicata which owns about 6 ha of land. In 1672 and 1677, he had a relationship with Jeanne Darric, 2 children including Pierre Jean Sestian who gave him a large number of descendants in Nay.