Welcome to the ancestry of Donald Joseph La Coste, and Ellsworth John La Coste. Lets take a trip through the portals of Old New York, and New Jersey, with some early side trips in Massachusetts along the way. I started my quest of finding my ancestors in 1978 when I was in College in Oneonta, New York. I was browsing through a collection of muster rolls of Civil War soldiers from New York in the College Library when I came across a listing of those who served who carried the surname of La Coste, and I was hooked as of then. I always remembered as a child listening to my father, and my grandparents talking about their ancestors, and seeing the La Coste name in this index of Civil War soldiers rekindled my desire to find out more. When I finally arrived back home in New York City in 1979 I started my quest in the New York Public Library, in the Local History and Genealogy Room on the third floor. At first I was overwhelmed by the amount of books available in this room, and the Librarians, especially Frank Bradley, were a great help in getting books, and films for me to look at. Frank Bradley, a well known Genealogist suggested I read Timothy Field Beards new book on Genealogy (see Bibliograpy) for it would assist me in getting started. Twenty Three years later I am indebted to Frank for his suggestion, for Mr. Beards work did help me get started. At first I assumed too much, and I travelled many roads which led me to dead-ends. I learned from my mistakes, especially trying to hurry the process, and assume connections when I did not have enough proof. Inexperience led to better reasoning powers, and I became a better detective in the process of proving connections. I still get lost in the dead-ends, but I no longer assume that I am right. The first four years of my research was primarily carried out in the New York Public Library, and then in 1982 I paid my first visit to the Family History Library located in Lincoln center in NYC.. The Mormon staff in this Library were very helpful, and I used their facility until 1983. In 1983 I used the Family History Library in Scarsdale, New York, and I continued to use this facility until 1993, the staff being very valuable in my research efforts. From 1985-1988 I took a short vacation from my research, but in 1988 I came back to this task with a vengeance, and I have not stopped yet. In 1988 I published my first book "The La Coste Family History in Europe, Canada, and the United States", being about 590 pages, and I sent copies to the Mormon Family History Library, the New York Public Library, the Lee County, Florida Public Library, and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Library. In 1990 I paid my first visit to the National Archives in Washington D.C.. I did extensive research in this Archive, and also used the Library of Congress Genealogy Room collections, and the DAR Library collections. I also in 1990 went to Quebec and used the Genealogy collection in their Library system as well. In 1991 I joined the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and from 1991-1993 I made many visits to their Library, and made great progress in my searches. I have donated many books, and professional articles to this Library, and Joy Rich, and Harry Macy who are working for this great Society, have been of great help to this author in his quest. In 1994 the author moved to Fort Myers, Florida, and since then until 2001 this year I have used the services of the Lee County, Sarasota, and Collier County Libraries, the Family History Center in Fort Myers, and Naples, Florida, and the Inter-Library loan department in Lee County. I have devoted many thousands of hours to this book, and continue to find new information, and correct old mistakes. Since 1998 I have used the Internet to a great extent, using many of the major sites such as Ancestry. Com, Genealogy.Com, The Mormon Family History Search site, and Gen.Forum, amongst many other sites as well. I have rented census films from Heritage Quest, and have downloaded Family Tree Maker, version 5, for the purpose of collecting, and organizing my information. I have released partially at this date part of my Pedigree information to World Family Tree, CD 54 and 58 have versions of this. I have also, with the assistance of Mrs. Lewis at the Family History Center in Fort Myers, downloaded most of this information to eventually be included in the Mormon IGI and Ancestral file records. In 1990 I published my second book dealing with some of the families found in this updaated version. In 1992 I published my third book, copies of both being placed in the New York Genealogical, and Biographical Society Library. I have sent, and received over 500 E-Mails since 1998, and have updated my files because of good distant cousins like Jean ann Lupinetti, Anne Giddings, Janet Ashcroft, Olin Bell, Ray Brady, Barbara Ann Lamont, Eugene Mc'namara, Maureen O'Connor, Russell La Coste, and many others. I have conducted over 40 interviews over the last 23 years, and have researched with other cousins such as Richard Crawford of Peekskill, New York, Jean Ann Lupinetti, Marguerite La Coste of Montreal, Professor Jean Lacoste of Montreal, Nancy Cole, Richard Foster, Deborah Cross, and many other relatives over the years, and their help has been very meaningful. Like most historians I have tried to be a truthful as possible, however, because of the paucity of old records, especially during the 1600's, and the 1700's this task has been slow, and circumstantial at best. Knowing the importance of documenting my history I have as best as I could indicated where I took the information from. No doubt because of the size of this file, I may have missed some source material, but I have collected, and saved many thousands of Microfilm, and Microfiche order forms from the FHL., and kept index cards for many thousands of books, and journal articles that I have searched over the years. In the early years I overlooked some sources, and did not write down the page number or volume number. However, as I matured in my quest I did do this. I have included in this work a Bibliography of source material used. I have footnoted where these books, films, etc., were used, so that the reader will note that next to a persons name you may find a list of source materials used. Also wherever possible I have indicated in the text notes such sources as deemed necessary such as birth records, marriage records, church records, and death records. I have also indicated in most cases the land deed numbers, ship passenger list numbers, the probate records, and town, and court records. I have also indicated when I used someone else's research wherever possible, such as family histories published, and as found in other works, including E-Mail notations. While not perfect I have tried to cover as many bases as possible so that the reader may feel assured that I have done as good a job as possible in putting together this massive work. In the case of exact death dates, most of this information, especially current individuals, was sought out by using the Vital Records of the area, and the Social Security Death Indexes. In the case of exact birth dates which show a church location, it should be kept in mind by the reader that this is a baptism record, not the exact birth date. In some cases I have obtained copies, and original Bible records, and have notated such as a source document. I have written over 8 Cemeteries and they have sent me copies of the interments of relatives, and I have notated such. I have procured copies of Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War Records, and have indicated such in the texts of this book. While many chapters in this work were original research by this author, it should be noted that in some of the chapters others who have come before me have already done a masterful job, and I have notated such in the source material. I have been very careful in accepting all the information found in some of these family histories, and where I have found incorrect information, or wrong dates, connections, etc., I have notated such, and either corrected the inconsistencies or indicated such in my text notes. Where I have a "Ca. date" I have notated such, for lack of hard evidence which would give me an exact date of either birth or baptism. I have assumed based on the ages of the children an approximate date when no other clues are found, but I leave the door open to correction in these cases, for I have not had the time to pursue everyone of the 8000 or so persons listed in this work. In some cases I have corrected previous mistakes by many authors, especially in the case of the Stephens family of Rockland county, and their connection with the Van Voorhees. I have on occasion done extensive research in English, French, Dutch, Belgian, Danish, Scottish, German, and Irish records, mostly through the LDS church, but I have travelled to Europe often, and have searched records there as well. If, as a researcher, and author I have not been able to come to a conclusion of a family connection, even after exhaustive research, then I have notated such in the text for that person, listing what research I have done, and some conclusions as to what I may deem as a possible connection, without proof at that time. In some cases I have come up against hard walls, especially as concerns some of the women in the family tree, some of whom I have a first name only, and a few no name at all. It does seem that some of my ancestors left little or no record of their existence. As a researcher I have been careful, and mindful as to not to jump to conclusions especially in regards to making connections to famous people, for the sake of self-aggrandizement. I have discarded two faulty, and not provable connections to distant Royal families because of lack of proof. I will state in the text for such persons that some historians have made such assertions without siting sources. I have tried to keep this history free from controversy, and ridicule, and have tried to protect the privacy of all, especially those alive today. Again while errors may appear, I have tried in an honest and forthright fashion to be as accurate as possible. I always welcome criticism wherein it leads to future corrections of my work. As a researcher I am continuing my research in regards to certain female lines in the history as shown below. Especially so in the case of Elizabeth, the wife of Cornelius Lewis, of the first unknown wife of Thomas Brady, of the unknown wife of Samuel Lewis, the unknown wife of Micajah Lewis, the name of Mr. Savage, the father of Catherine Savage, and his wife Elizabeth Hermance, and Mary Anna Russell, the wife of William La Tourette. These lines are still being researched, and at a future date an addendum to this vast work will be published. The locations of birth, death, and Marriage are indicated where known, especially as taken from church, and vital records, and old family Bibles. However, in some cases the exact date is not known via primary documentation, so I have assumed dates based on their parents ages, brothers, sisters, children, and the wives if known. When little information is available, but I believe a certain location has been indicated, then I will list the state, or Country only. In other cases I may know a town, and Country, but no other firm data. In some older instances no known birth date is known, and I have left this information blank, and in current situations, especially with collateral lines I have researched the information. Hopefully others at a future date will be able to fill in this information. As a researcher I have paid professional historians and Genealogist to gather information for me. Such persons as Jean Prince in Quebec, the Cultural Centres in Cavan, Westmeath, Waterford, Galway, Cork, Antrim, Donegal, and county Clare Ireland, and Genealogy Libraries such as the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, the Dutchess county Historical Society, the Staten Island Historical Society, the Orange county New York Genealogical Society, the New York State Library in Albany, New York, the National Archives, Lineages Incorporated, the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Warwickshire Historical Society, and German repositories have helped this author.
