Grandma Celeste and the Kids

Grandma Celeste and the kids circa 1930, likely in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Here is a photo I discovered recently.  I’ve had the photo for a few years now.  I got several photos from some of my Cazes cousins when I went to visit them in Brusly in 2017.  Now I don’t have any Cazes ancestors, but some of the Cazes family lines share a lot of common ancestors.  That’s why I’m never surprised to see a Cazes individual show up as a DNA match to me at any of the testing sites.  Some of my cousins may be familiar with this connection that comes through my great great grandfather Trasimond Landry.  He is one of my ancestors who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.  There are a few books about him written by his descendants.

In the genealogy book written by Trasimond’s grandson Tommy Landry, he mentions that Llewellyn Cazes (another grandson of Trasimond) had one of the biggest collections of information about Trasimond.  The Cazes line descends from Trasimond and his first wife Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol through their son Moses Joseph “Uncle Mose” Landry.  Tommy descends from their son Thomas Belisaire or Tommy Landry, and I descend from their oldest child Marie Therese.  We’ll talk about another line of their offspring later.  

Claire Landry, Rosey Hebert Landry, Henry, Myrtle (daughter of Mose & Claire), and Mose Landry circa 1930s in Brusly, Louisiana

Uncle Mose brings in a little bit of confusion, because he married another Landry.  It wasn’t a close Landry cousin like some of the other family members connected with, but it was still a Landry marrying a Landry.  He married Claire Landry from Brusly.  She was the daughter of Justin Landry and Rosey Hebert Landry.  They are somewhat distant Landry cousins, but some of their daughters married into closer Landry lines.  The Cazes family had stories about Rosey, but they weren’t too pleasant.  It was said that she wasn’t a particularly nice person.

I know that isn’t true for all of the members of this family line, because my dear friend and coworker Marisa descends from Rosey through her daughter Justine.  Justine married John Peter Landry.  Both of John Peter’s parents were Landrys as well.  I like to tease Marisa about that.  I always say that even though my ancestors married their cousins, at least they didn’t have the same last name!  Like that makes any difference at all!  Rosey doesn’t look all that mean in the photo that she’s in.  My great grandmother Addie has some sour looks in her photos, but she was a sweet lady.  Never judge a book by its cover!  Or by their ancestors!  We’ll talk about another one of Rosey’s daughters later.

We have to talk about another Landry family because I still haven’t gotten to the main topic.  The other important Landry family is the family of Trasimond’s brother Alcide.  Of course I think it’s important since I descend from him as well.  Alcide was married to Marie Celeste Leveque, who we all know as Grandma Celeste.  I descend from them through their youngest child Robert Joseph “Rob” Landry.  Rob married Erie Patureau, the daughter of Trasimond and Belite’s daughter Marie Therese.  Rob may have married his first cousin’s daughter, but their last names were different.  One of his older brothers – Joseph Alcide or “Uncle Joe” – married a Landry.  Her name was Azema and she was a daughter of Rosey.  She was known as Aunt Zim.

So I got the photo of Grandma Celeste and the kids from descendants of Uncle Mose.  But that wasn’t how the photo was labeled.  It was labeled as “Louis, Roberta, and Unknowns.”  I don’t know for sure who Louis and Roberta are, but when I saw the photo the other day, I knew it was Grandma Celeste right away.  It looks just like her.  When I got the photo all those years ago from the Cazes family, I got a huge number of photos.  I thought I had skimmed through all of the folders on my computer.  Either I didn’t look through them all, or I didn’t recognize her the first time I saw it.

And who are Louis and Roberta?  Uncle Mose and his first wife had a son named Louis in 1904.  He later had a wife name Roberta, but I doubt that they knew each other as children.  I don’t think they’re related.  Imagine that!  I also think the photo was taken around 1930.  For some reason the photo puts me in mind of another Landry-Landry connection.  Trasimond and Belite’s youngest child Marie Manette married Alcide and Celeste’s son Sebastien.  Marie Manette and Uncle Seb had one child together, and Marie Manette died shortly after that.  Their daughter – also name Manette- was raised by Uncle Seb and Grandma Celeste.  Grandma Celeste was like her mother.  When Manette grew up and had children of her own, Grandma Celeste was very close to them.  

Manette and Bibb Bouquet had a set of twins in 1926 named Roberta and Robert.  When I showed it to some Bouquet cousins on Facebook, one of them verified that it was Roberta and Robert on the right in this photo.  She suggested checking into Uncle Louis.  Louis was another brother of Rob, Joe, and Sebastian.  He was married to Clemence Babin, a daughter of Belite by her second marriage after Trasimond died.  They had a son named Thornwell, who later had a set of twins of his own in 1928.  The twin sons were named Thornwell, Jr. and Louis.  That would fit perfectly with the ages of the two children to the left of Grandma Celeste in the first photo.  So I think this is a photo of my great grandmother Celeste Leveque Landry with two sets of twin great grandchildren.  Interestingly, her father had a twin brother.

I’m glad the Cazes family kept this old photo of an unknown woman with some kids.  Come to find out, it was their Aunt Celeste.  Or maybe it was their cousin Celeste?  Or cousin-in-law?  With these three Landry families connecting in so many ways, it’s difficult to determine all of the relationships between any two people.  It doesn’t really matter; I’ve got another photo of my great grandmother thanks to some generous cousins who were willing to share.  With the help of other cousins, I was able to figure out all of the identities of the children in the photo.  I like that.