Family History

I’ve shared a few photos of my paternal grandmother Erie Patureau (Known to her grandchildren as Mee Maw) and this group of people.  The first one I shared of this little group was in 2016.  The back of that photo was really helpful because it named all of the people and also gave a general date (summer 1912).  Then in 2018 I shared a photo of Erie by herself that was taken on the same day.  It is a sweet photo of her.  It wasn’t until 2020 that I made the connection that these photos were taken around the time that she must have gotten engaged.  I posted a more formal photo from around the same time.  Those photos were from my dad and from the Tin Can Collection.  The Tin Can Collection was from my Aunt Wana’s attic.  It was the first collection from that attic.

Last year when some cousins got together after a funeral, we got to see the second collection from Aunt Wana’s attic.  Those photos were in a box labeled Box 301.  I was happy to see few more photos from the same days as the other informal photos.  I actually used one of them as the into for the Box 301 Collection.  Today I’m sharing another one.  I’m sure you are very happy to be hearing that.  I would be if I were you!  I decided to use this photo at work today, so when I got home, I did some editing on it.  It was a bit rough looking with age spots and scratches.  That’s normal when you have photos from 100 years ago.

Erie and the gang in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the summer of 1921.

I’m still not exactly sure where these photos are taken, though I am pretty sure they were taken in Lafayette, Louisiana.  That’s where she and her sister were living at the time and it looks like it could be from there.  Actually, many places in southern Louisiana look like the settings.  They could have driven around to find interesting places for photos.  There’s really no way to know.

But like I said, we know the date and the actors.  It was the summer of 1921, so I usually say it was the July of 1921.  Erie would marry Rob Landry (Robert Joseph Landry, Sr.) on November 12th of that year.  In case you aren’t aware yet, Erie is the young woman in the white dress.  The young woman on the right of her is her younger sister Zita Patureau.  They were both young schoolteachers in Lafayette at the time.  I don’t recall ever meeting her, but surely I must have.  She was alive when Mee Maw died, so she would have been at the funeral.  She would have been at get togethers for the family before then.  But I have no memory of her.

The young boy on the left in the photo is Henry Louis Landry.  He is related to both Rob and Erie.  He is Rob’s nephew and Erie’s half first cousin.  H. L. was the third son in a Landry family of three boys and three girls – like me.  He grew up in Lafayette.  The young man on the left is Clifford Clements.  I have not found any relation to him.  He must have been just a friend.  The young man between Clifford and Erie is Erie and Zita’s first cousin on the Patureau side of the family.  Joseph Earnest Cropper was born in White Castle, Louisiana, but lived in Beaumont, Texas, the rest of his life.

The gang looks like they’re doing a bit of gambling!  Clifford, Earnest, and Zita all have some cash in their hands.  Clifford and Zita look like they have each cast a die and are looking expectantly for the outcome.  The tension is palpable!  The dice have not settled and look like random spots on the photo.  I almost deleted one accidentally!  That would have ruined the whole photo.  I think this might be a bit staged.  Erie doesn’t look too concerned about any outcome.  She’s just happily smiling for the photographer as she makes sure her engagement ring can be seen.  I think she had love on her mind.

Vincent Maximilien Patureau circa 1877 in New Orleans, Louisiana

That’s right.  Vincent Maximilien Patureau was born 160 years ago today.  On March 13, 1865, Marie Emma Landry Patureau gave birth to her 12th child.  I’m sure she was hoping that he would survive longer than her last three male offspring had.  None of them had reached their 4th birthday.  When Max was a child, he had one surviving older brother and six surviving older sisters.  Max fulfilled those maternal hopes and outlived his mother for many years.

He was the son of Ferdinand Pierre Patureau, who was an immigrant from France.  The Patureau family had come from LaRoche, Chalais, in 1840 and settled in Louisiana.  Ferdinand’s mother Anne Rose Machet and his younger sister Elisa did not live long once arriving in North America.   Ferdinand and Marie Emma were married in 1847 and started their family shortly thereafter.  They settled in Plaquemine, Louisiana, in 1853 and Ferdinand’s father Pierre Ferdinand Patureau went to live with them.   Pierre died in 1860.

In 1864 Ferdinand and Emma brought their family to Bagdad, Matamoros, Mexico.  It was during the time of the Civil War, and Southern Louisiana wasn’t a particularly safe place to be.  I’m not sure if that’s the reason they moved there or not.  There are suggestions of the family moving there because of business opportunities in Mexico during the time of French control of the area.  And besides, Ferdinand’s sister Victorine Patureau Laulom had a daughter named Eliza Laulom Crixell who lived in Matamoros.  Eliza had a son named Emilio in 1865 as well.  Even though Max and Emilio were born the same year, Max was a first cousin to Emilio’s mother.  Max and Emilio might have been close like brothers if the Patureau family stayed in Mexico.  But that was not to be.  The family moved back to Plaquemine with their new baby boy at the end of 1865.

So Max spent his childhood in Plaquemine and became an enterprising young man.  He worked at his father’s sawmill.  He may have been there that day in 1877 when Ferdinand had his terrible accident.  The doctor amputated his leg in his attempt to save him, but Ferdinand died as a result of the accident.  The family had the sawmill for a few years more, but that must not have been Max’s interest.  He had odd jobs of installing lightning rods and delivering groceries.  He was described as a go getter.  

The photo I posted is from around 1887 when he was about 22 years old.  The back of the photo shows that it was taken in New Orleans, Louisiana.  I got this copy last year from Box 301.  That’s the collection that was in my Aunt Wana’s attic for many years unbeknownst to the rest of the world.  It was discovered and shared by my Duffy cousins in 2024.  I already had a version of this photo, but it wasn’t as good as this one.  This one is an original photo and sharper than what I had.  I also edited it a bit to improve it.  I think it is a really nice photo of him.  He looks slightly younger than he does in his 1888 wedding photos.  He would marry Marie Therese Landry, and they had a daughter named Erie.  Erie was my dad’s mom – my dear sweet Mee Maw.

I know that Max kept in touch with his relatives in Texas and Mexico.  I’ve posted a newspaper article from 1904 that talks about a visit that he made to that area.  There may have been more, but we just don’t have the wonderful evidence that the news article provided.  There is another hint of that from an article about his death in 1935.

This article was from the May 5, 1935, edition of the Brownsville Herald Sun.  Brownsville, Texas, is just across the border from Matamoros, Mexico.  The article refers to Grampa Max as a Matamoros native.  It also says that he had resided in Louisiana for a “number of years.”  That sounds a little off, since he only lived there a few months and then spent the rest of his life in Louisiana.  But’s it’s sweet that they wanted to claim him as one of their own.  Very sweet.

The article was obviously provided by Mrs. Henry Krausse.  They refer to him as her uncle.  That’s not exactly true either.  Henry Krausse was the husband of Otila Crixell.  Oh, no!  You don’t know who Otila Crixell is!  I thought for sure I might have posted a photo of her before.  But it doesn’t look like I did.  It’s a great old photo of her when she and two other Crixell cousins were children.  Otila was the daughter of Joseph Crixell.  I’ve mentioned him before.  He was murdered by a former Texas Ranger in 1912.  Joseph was the brother of Emilio Crixell that I mentioned earlier.  Emilio was born in the same place and the same year as Grampa Max.  That would make Otila the first cousin twice removed of Max.  But if she thought of him like a brother to her father, she might have referred to him as Uncle Max.

Crixell cousins in 1908 in south Texas.

Even though I think this photo will get all of the attention when I post this, I’m going to post it anyway.  It’s my way of thanking cousin Otila for getting that news report put into the paper in honor of Grampa Max.  Otila is the girl representing the daisy on the left.  She was the daughter of Joseph Crixell.  On top is Isabel Crixell, who portrayed a fairy.  She was the daughter of Teofilo Crixell.  Elvira Crixell is the girl on the right and she represented the lily.  She was the daughter of Louis Crixell.  Eliza Laulom Crixell must have been very proud of her young granddaughters during this 1908 presentation.  After this floral presentation, the girls performed a piece on the piano called “A Gallop of Six Hands.”  Very proud indeed.