Online Source: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GUICE/1998-06/0899148606

Extracted from Our Island Heritage: A Book of Biographical Sketches, Vol. 3, by Sophie C.Haley and Mickie F. Smith (1978).

History of the Guice Family

Christopher Guise (pronounced “We-see” until the name was Americanized) arrifved in America in or around 1769 with his wife, several children, a brother, Claude, and a sister, Susan. The family, French or German in origin, was from Strausbourg, Alsace, and was among the Hugunots who fled to America to escape persecution. Christopher and his family, along with Susan, settled in Philadelphia, came under the auspices of William Penn and lived a quiet life. Claude moved into New Jersey and homesteaded there.

In 1768 the British gained control of the Mississippi Valley and gave land grants to British soldiers as payment for their services. Some of the soldiers were not interested in acquiring land and quickly put the land up for sale. Christopher Guice applied for a British land grant in 1770, asking for a piece of property which measured 706 acres. He visited the Mississippi Valley and fulfilled the requirements necessary for gaining the grant. He left one of his fifteen children, Michael, there to protect it and traveled back to Philadelphia to get his family.

In the meantime, the Revolutionary War began. Two of christopher's sons, Jonathan and Christopher, Jr., fought for the American forces in the struggle for independence, as did Christopher Guice, Sr. This, coupled with the torturous journey and the recurring illness among family members, made christopher and his people decide to “camp” at a settlement called fort Nashboro, North Carolina(now Nashville, Tenn). While there, in 1782, Indians attacked the fort. It took courage and endurance to survive the battle, and to show appreciation to the men who helped “to hold and d efent the country,” land in the area was deeded to them. Consequently, Jonathan Guise is listed as a founder of Nashville, Tennessee and Christopher Guise, Sr., never returned to the Natchez acreage which had finally been deeded to him by King George III.

It was in 1791, probably after the deaths of Christopher and his wife, Margaret Plowhead Guise, before the Guise family arrived in the Mississippi Valley they now owned. Many of the sons of the late Christopher acquired land in the area, including Christopher Guice, Jr.

Christopher Guice, Jr., was said by his nieghbors to have been a peaceful and hardworking man. He and his family, owning no slaves, worked their farm which consisted of 360 acres around Morgan's Fork. This could not have been easy as Christopher was crippled, perhaps in the Revolutionary War, and had more daughters than sons.

Of his seven children, it is Levi to whom we must turn our attention. Levi Guice must have been prosperous as he owned vast properties in Ouachita, Catahoula, and Franklin parishes. A large portion of his estate was signed over to Elmore Guice, one of his sons, while Elmore was still a minor. Another son, Fielden John, served as a private in Company K of the 1st Louisiana Calvary during the Civil War. He was killed in action in 1863.

Elmore married Mary Ann Woods and set up housekeeping near Guice Lake in the Turkey and Deer Creek area. Not as prolific as thew rest of his family, Elmore had only two sons, Charles Ira, and Christopher Columbus. According to family legend, Elmore, Mary Ann, and Charles Ira died of yellow fever in Natchez within a few days of each other. The orphan, Christopher Columbus Guice, was given to his mother's sister, Martha Tiller, to raise. He and the rest of the fmaily affectionately called her “Grandma Tiller”.

Christopher, the heir and legal representative of his father, came into more property on the death of his aunt. In 1895 he married Elizabeth McCarty. They made a home about three miles west of Sicily Island, La, on what is now known as the Guice Road for their thirteen children: Christopher Columbus, Jr., Charlie, Enos, Monroe, Erastus, Ira, John Fielding, Grover, Henry, Mary, Alice, and Katherine.

Christopher Columbus, Jr., died at age thirteen and was buried on what is now Polk Hill. From his other offspring have come the Guices which help to populate Sicily Island.

Among those remaining on the Island are Friley Guice, Lester Guice, and Mariel Guice Wells, all children of John Fielding Guice. Most of their families also remain here. The Ira Guice descendents on the Island are Augustine (Mrs. Edgar Garrison) and her daughters, Sharon (Mrs. Casey Weeks), and Donna (Mrs.Steve Thornhill). Descendants of Enos Guice are Mrs. Eunice Guice Stephens and two sons of Lillie Guice Martin, Clarence Martin and David Lee Martin.

The name christopher has been especially popular in the Guice family from the beginning. The child who is perhaps the youngest living Christopher Guice lives in Sicily Island today. He is Christopher Todd Guice, son of Larry Keith Guice, g randson of John Friley Guice, great-grandson of John Fielding Guice and great-great grandson of Christopher Columbus Guice.

Truly, Sicily Island has been and will be the home of the Guice family for generations.