I am researching joseph bel air stevens of louisiana 1820-1918... I would like to find out who his father is

Question

I am researching my stevens/stephens male lineage. From louisiana. I have discovered as far back as joseph bel air stevens/stephens (1820-1918).. I would like to know his father. Another genealogy website suggested his father may be louis balthazar Rideau but I'm doubtful of that.

Comments

He was a former slave. His father wouldn't be recorded.

---

Who was a slave? Joseph bel air or his father?

---

Joseph born 1820 would have been a slave. That's why there are no census records for him prior to 1870.

---

Ok thanks a lot that's helped . But I will continue the search

---

Good luck.     I was only able to verify my slave ancestors because  my ggg+ gramps Wilson Lee could read and write and kept a family Bible. He escaped the Yazoo Miss plantation and joined the Union Army. He wrote about the family he knew as a child.