HOUMA, La. — As survival stories go, the Voisins have a gem: It goes back more than 200 years ago when the first members of their family to set foot on Louisiana soil weathered a monster storm in spectacular fashion, clinging to their porch while others were washed away.
It was the first test for the Voisins in Louisiana.
It would not be their last.
Over two centuries, there'd be more travails for the family. One generation, then another, slogged through mosquito-thick marshes and navigated around alligator-infested swamps as they fished, trapped, harvested and, in recent decades, processed oysters on the Gulf Coast. They thrived when times were good, struggled when they were not, understanding that's part of the bargain when your livelihood revolves around the water.
But 250 years or so after the first settlers in the family arrived from Libourne, France, the Voisins are still here.
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