I am appealing to any Jolibois researchers to help me make sense of a confusion unlike any I've run into before in my family history.
I descend from Philippe Jolibois, who married in St. James Parish, LA, on January 14, 1793 to Marie Louise Charpentier, daughter of Pierre Charpentier and Jeanne Moutard. On their marriage record, Philippe lists his parents as "Philippe Courtois (presumably "dit Jolibois") and Marie Rosa of Montreal." As Courtois is a relatively common Quebecois name, and there was a fairly large Rosa family (of Italian extraction) in early Montreal, this is plausible. (I have not been able to find either of them in Montreal records, however.) Another piece of circumstantial evidence in favor of this is that Philippe and Marie-Louise named a son Barthelemi, which was the first name of the first Rosa to come to Montreal from Genoa, Italy.
The confusing part comes in on the baptismal record of their son (my forebear), Barthelemi Jolibois, in the Diocese of New Orleans Records (1803, vol. 6, p. 156). On this record, they state that Barthelemi's grandparents (thus, Philippe's parents) were Francois Jolibois and Ursule LeGrand. No mention of Philippe Courtois and Marie Rosa! (For the record, both documents correctly name Marie-Louise Charpentier's parents as Pierre Charpentier and Jeanne Moutard.)
So, which pair of parents is correct? Neither the father's, nor the mother's, names are similar enough for this to be a simple transcription error; these are simply two separate pairs -- Philippe Courtois (presumably "dit Jolibois") and Marie Rosa, and Francois Jolibois and Ursule LeGrand.
I've thought about various explanations -- could one set be Philippe's godparents? Could he have lied on one of the documents to cover something up? But I have no evidence for any of these speculations.
I would really appreciate any help anyone could provide, even if it's just a hint, a suggestion, or a further speculation.
You can either respond to me here or by email -- my email address is posted.
Thanks....
Gordon Bonnet