The Marsh That Remembers: A Journey of Finding My People at Yakni Chitto Through Genealogy, History, and the Living Heart of Louisiana

The Marsh That Remembers: A Journey of Finding My People at Yakni Chitto by Dave Ellis Forét It begins with a dream — a rusted fence, a forgotten schoolyard, and the faint sound of a woman singing in French. It ends where the river meets the sea, in a place called Yakni Chitto — "the Big Earth." Between those two worlds unfolds the remarkable true story of a man searching for the people and the place that shaped his bloodline. Born and raised in San Diego, Dave grows up feeling like an outsider — different from his brothers, distant from the father he never knew. Only when his brother calls with a message that will change everything — "I found your dad. He's in Louisiana." — does the journey begin. What follows is both memoir and revelation: a pilgrimage through family history, the Cajun and Native roots of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band, and the resilience of a people written out of official history but never erased from the land itself. Through ancestral memory, archival truth, and personal healing, Dave discovers that identity isn't granted by paperwork or permission — it's born of endurance, language, and love. Set against the backdrop of south Louisiana's vanishing marshlands and told in prose that moves like water, The Marsh That Remembers is a story of faith, inheritance, and homecoming. It honors the voices of those who lived by the tides and refused to disappear — and it asks what it means, even now, to be remembered by the land that raised us. For readers of Jeannette Walls, Joy Harjo, and James Lee Burke, this book is both an elegy and a love letter — to the marsh, to Louisiana, and to every soul still searching for where they belong. Approximate Length: 40,900 words (about 160 pages)