Louise Marie Madeleine Fontaine
Louise de Fontaine was born in Paris, in the parish of Saint-Roch, on 28 October 1706. Her baptism act was as follows:
Rodolphe Desdunes
Rodolphe married Mathilde Cheval and lived for some time with her mother, also named Mathilde. Before 1880, they had children Daniel (born in about 1873), Agnes (about 1873), Louise (about 1874), Coritza (born in 1876), and Wendelle (born winter 1876-1877). The Chevals may have descended from early Cheval settlers of the Tremé district, Pierre and Léandre. In 1879, Rodolphe started a relationship with Clementine Walker, born in 1860 and daughter of John and Ophelia Walker. Rodolphe and Clementine had at least four children, Mary Celine (in 1879), John Alexander (1881), Louise (1889), and Oscar Alphonse (1892). Clementine died September 23, 1893. Mary Celine later became known as Mamie Desdunes and was a blues pianist. Clementine lived near Jelly Roll Morton's godmother and Jérémie and Henriette Desdunes were neighbors of Morton's mother. From this proximity, Morton learned the song he recorded as "Mamie's Blues" or "2:19 Blues" and attributed to Mamie, singing, "Can’t give a dollar, give a lousy dime,/ I wanna feed that hungry man of mine." Other associates of Mamie included performer Bunk Johnson and promoters Hattie Rogers and Lulu White. Mamie was born March 25, 1879, married George Degay in 1898, and died of tuberculosis December 4, 1911. Oscar was also a musician and played with his nephew Clarence's (son of Daniel) band, the Joyland Revellers, after Clarence's death in 1933. Rodolphe had three other daughters, possibly by Clementine, named Edna, Lucille, and Jeanne (born about 1893).
Rodolphe attended law courses at Straight University in the early 1870s and graduated with a Bachelors of Law from Straight University in the spring of 1882. In the early 1870s, he was a member of the New Orleans Police Department. In 1874, under the command of former Confederate General and then adjutant general of the Louisiana Militia James Longstreet, Desdunes was among the injured in the Battle of Liberty Place fought between the pro-Republican city, state, and federal forces and a pro-Democratic largely ex-Confederate group called the White League. His experience stuck with him and he remained a strong supporter of the rights and honors due to the black veterans of the United States Civil War.