Addie & Lou

Addie and Lou Bucklin in 1905

This is a photo of my mom’s paternal grandparents in 1905.  They were married in 1898 and by the time this photo was taken, they already had five children.  But before I finish counting off their children, let me tell you a little bit about the two of them.

Addie Mae Hine was born in Noblesville, Indiana, on Sept. 23, 1876.  She was the oldest of six children born to George Hine and Susan Stanbrough.  She had five younger brothers and the youngest was only eight years younger than she was.  From the earliest photos of the family, it looks like they lived in a frontier area with a rough wood home.  The family moved to Louisiana in 1894 and settled in the Hathaway area of Jefferson Davis Parish.

Louis Charles Bucklin was born in Masonville, Iowa, on April 11, 1873.  He was the youngest child of James Bucklin and his second wife Mary Ann McGrath.  He had five older siblings – a half sister and half brother by his father and his first wife plus two brothers and a sister by his parents.  In the 1880 census they were living in Coffin Grove, Iowa, which was a very small community in rural Iowa.  Four years later the family moved to the Jennings, Louisiana, area and acquired homestead property in the Hathaway area.  Louis was too young to stake a claim, but his father, brother and sister were able to.

Louis kept a journal starting in January of 1893 when he went off to school.  He returned home at the death of his sister Jennie later in 1893.  From that point on his journal was mostly about farming and such.  Except when he occasionally mentions a certain “Miss Hine” or “Addie” who comes to help his mother with chores around the house.  I suppose she was worth mentioning because he ended up marrying her in 1898, which brings us back to the top of the story.

Soon after this photo was taken, the three most important Bucklin offspring were sprung!  In 1906 there came Herbert, who is the grandfather of our Joseph.  Then in 1907 there was a double dose of goodness – the identical twins Fred and Clarence.  Fred is my grandfather and Clarence is the father of Carla.  There were a few more after that, but they’re hardly worth mentioning.  I really shouldn’t joke about that because the next one, Edna, is the reason we have so many wonderful photos from way back when.  She collected and protected many photos, though this one was kept by Ruth.  Joseph and Louise visited and scanned numerous photos from both of them.

All in all Addie and Lou had a nice even dozen children.  Now I’m feeling a little obligated to name them all, so here goes : Leo, Mary, Ralph, Paul, Carl, Herbert, Clarence, Fred, Edna, Robert, Ruth, and Roy.  That’s a lot of names to come up with.  From the look of the photo, they seem like somewhat happy people – salt of the earth.  I’d like to say that they lived long and happy lives, but sadly Lou died at the age of fifty-four.  Addie went on the live into her eighties and died less than a month after I was born.  I don’t have any personal memories of either Addie or Lou, but I do feel like I get to know them a little from the photos and stories that they left behind.  And now, hopefully, you do too.