Winston De Ville (August 8, 1937 – March 24, 2025) was an American historian focusing on colonial

Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

/provincial

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

and history. According to scholar P. William Filby, "By far, Winston De Ville is the earliest of Louisiana's prolific genealogical writers... I can think of few genealogical authors with so many works to their names... as important to the historian as to the

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...

... isquality productivity in so few years is remarkable."

Background

De Ville was born August 8, 1937, in

Evangeline Parish, Louisiana Evangeline Parish () is a Parish (subnational entity), parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. the population was 32,350. The parish seat is Ville Platte, Louisiana, Ville Platte. History The parish was created out of lands formerly b ...

, son of Dalvis Joseph De Ville and Olevia Marie Johnson. In 1959 he was graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Louisiana College Louisiana Christian University (LC) is a private Baptist university in Pineville, Louisiana. It enrolls 1,100 to 1,200 students. It is affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). Louisiana Christian Univer ...

with majors in

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and French and minors in

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. He received his master's degree in history from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in 1965. De Ville died in

Opelousas Opelousas (; ) is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a junction here. According to the 2020 census, Opelousas has a population of 15,786, a 6 ...

, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana on March 24, 2025, at the age of 87.

Career

An author, publisher, translator and archivist, De Ville has been recognized by the state of

for his 1961 volunteer effort to create the first guide to materials at the Louisiana State Archives. In 1970, De Ville was inducted as a Fellow of the

American Society of Genealogists The American Society of Genealogists is the scholarly honorary society of the genealogical field. Founded by John Insley Coddington, Arthur Adams, and Meredith B. Colket, Jr., in December 1940, its membership is limited to 50 living fellows. ASG pu ...

, an organization limited to fifty members worldwide, selected on the basis of quantity and quality of published works.The American Society of Genealogists
/ref> De Ville appeared in the Marquis' ''Who's Who in America'' in 1998. He was a member of Mexico's Academia Mexicana de Genealogía y Heráldica. Beginning in 1976, De Ville was often called upon as a consultant in court cases involving genealogical and historical evidence. Among his clients were the State of Louisiana and the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division. In 1977, he was elected founding president of Friends of Louisiana Archives; that organization's vigorous campaign resulted in the state's first archives building. Publications include approximately 100 monographs and over 300 articles published in leading

academic journals An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the dissemination, scr ...

throughout the United States. The third edition of ''Winston De Ville: A Bibliography of Genealogical and Other Writings'' was due in 2017. Archives of De Ville's papers (dating from 1944) were begun in 1991 at

; additions are made regularly. For many years De Ville owned Polyanthos, Inc., and Provincial Press, which produced many genealogical and historical publications. In 2014, he was named a Penrose Associate of the American Philosophical Society. Winston De Ville died at Opelousas, Louisiana, on 24 March 2025.

References

External links

Provincial Press
* http://www.provincialpress.us/Catalogue3.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:De Ville, Winston 1937 births 2025 deaths Louisiana Christian University alumni People from Evangeline Parish, Louisiana Louisiana State University alumni American genealogists Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians from Louisiana 21st-century American male writers