 marsaille france marsaille france osarep tue 3232010 1533 this story commences in marseille france marseille with a population approaching one million people is the second largest city in france and the nation s chief port it was founded by greek mariners about 600 bc and called massalia massilia there is some archaeological evidence to suggest that phoenicians settled here even earlier marseille has always been france s gateway to the east since ancient times both the goods and culture of africa the middle east and asia have entered france at the marseille docks the economy of marseille is based on trade and manufacturing the city s port handles about a third of the traffic of all french seaports industries in the area process chemicals food and petroleum from many parts of the world the city s chief manufactured products include bricks candles engines medicine soap and tiles until the intensified police action of the early 1970s it was a center for the manufacture and shipping of drugs especially heroin remember the french connection with popeye doyle gene hackman marseille has many beautiful churches the hilltop church notredame de la garde the patron saint of the city s fishing fleet has a large image of the virgin mary on its tall steeple see photo this holy image can be seen far out at sea   dr andre bellande and sonia tchiftbachian bellande  madame rene e bellande  and clement bellande  of marseille   1973 image of marseille daughterinlaw and son of andre and bonnieux france    and rene e bellande 2008 image in september 1972 i was returning from an assignment with esso exploration malaysia and decided to visit the cote d azur and marseille i drove a rental car from nice to marseille an easy day drive my arrival in the large port city took place late in the afternoon a search of the local telephone directory for the name bellande surprised me as their were only a few listed one was an andre bellande le medcin medical doctor rather than telephone dr bellande i chose to take a taxi to his domicile the following morning this was a mistake as he was not there his duties that day took him into the country side making house calls i did meet his delightfully charming wife rene e and her children they were all quite surprised to meet this american cousin although i remained in marseille for only one day i was able to establish good relations for future communications one very interesting fact i did learn that day was a plausible explanation for the origin of the family name bellande jean bellande the uncle of andre related that the name was derived from two french words bel beautiful and lande an evergreen tree which is prevalent in the area around the city of bordeaux in southwest france the department or state in which bordeaux is situated is called landes for the trees heidi balje good in her detailed research of the simmonsbellande families located a frederick bellande residing in st lambert quebec canada messieur bellande was told by his family that the bellandes were jewish originating from a little town called uppsala in sweden and that they went afterward to live in bordeaux a copy of this letter is included in the appendix of this document as it is a valuable reference for clues to the relationship of the bellande families of haiti canada the united states and the french cities of marseille and bordeaux we know that our common ancestor antoine victor bellande was born september 11 1829 in marseille his parents were jean antoine joseph marie bellande 17901874 and marceline vezian of marseille ca 1880ca pre1834 his father and grandfather were naval workers probably caulkers in a local shipyard antoine left his native france as a deck hand on a vessel at the age of twentytwo years and arrived in new orleans in 1851 shortly he joined his brother in ocean springs mississippi i use brother because at this time there was a joseph h bellande also a french immigrant residing there heidi b good whose husband paul is related to joseph h bellande has done an excellent job of researching joseph and his family i will present shortly in this text her story of joseph for your general information and interest it should answer some of the questions about the other bellande family of the gulf coast region who you may recognize as a relative the true relationship between antoine and joseph bellande is not yet known we believe joseph was born in france in october 1813 church records in marseille indicate that antoine s father jean antoine joseph bellande had three wives marguerite grafassy marceline vezian and marie francoise gorge his first child with marguerite grafassy was called jacques joseph nestor 1815 or 1819 from the information currently available i conclude that joseph h bellande and antoine were half brothers joseph may have been a bastard son of jean antoine joseph whose birth was not recorded the strongest evidence for a relationship is the fact that they were both listed as heirs in the succession of jean antoine joseph bellande dated december 18 1877 in marseille as they were residing in the united states at this time and failed to appoint an attorney to represent them in marseille their inheritance was lost it appears from the legal instrument that their father left a house at no 19 st barnabe boulevard in marseille let us now enjoy the life of joseph h bellande as told by heidi b good 127 views  