Almost at Their Best

I suppose this is a strange title for this really beautiful photo of my great grandparents.  But there is a reason for it.  Eight years ago I posted their wedding photo from 1888.  In the accompanying newspaper article, it talked about the bride and groom looking at their best.  So that post was titled “At Their Best.”  Since those people knew them personally, I’ll take their word for it that they were at their best.

But this photo shows them off pretty good, too.  Wouldn’t you agree with that?  I was so excited to find this photo in a group of photos that my Duffy cousins were showing to a few of us other cousins after a family funeral.  I’m certain that the photos come from my paternal grandmother Germaine Erie Patureau Landry.  The couple in the photo are her parents Vincent Maximilian “Max” Patureau and Marie Therese Landry.  We knew our grandmother as Mee Maw, and she was the mother of my dad Bob Landry.  Daddy’s sister was Wana Landry Duffy and she was the one who had these photos after Mee Maw died in 1973.  They were sitting up in Box 301 in her attic for many years waiting to be discovered.

So we were exploring the contents of Box 301.  When I first saw the photo, I was thinking it was another copy of their wedding photo.  But then I realized that they were not wearing the same thing as from that other photo.  The photo was taken at the same studio with the same background, so I’m thinking it was taken the same day.  I’ve seen more than one copy of the one of them in their wedding attire, but this is the first time I’ve seen this version.  They were married on October 10, 1888, in Brusly, Louisiana, so I’m thinking this was taken a short time previous to that.

Max was 23 years old at the time.  He had been born in Matamoras, Mexico, but grew up in Plaquemine, Louisiana.  When he was growing up, his French immigrant father Ferdinand had a sawmill.  Max was just 11 years old when Ferdinand died as a result of an accident at that sawmill.  He helped his mother Emma Landry Patureau and older brother Leobon out with the sawmill as he got older.  According to one newspaper article, he cut his leg while shaving barrel hoops in 1885.  He set up a business of selling and delivering groceries in 1887.  So he was known as an enterprising young man in 1888.

Therese, meanwhile, turned 20 years old just a month before their wedding.  She had been born in Brusly, Louisiana, which is where she grew up.  Her father was Trasimond Landry.  He had been a Veteran of the Civil War from the south.  He worked as a farmer and was also a clerk of court.  He died when Therese was only 10 years old.  Her mother, Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol Landry remarried shortly afterward to Magloire Babin.  Therese went to school at St. Joseph’s Academy, which was in downtown Baton Rouge at the time.  She was a devout Catholic and sang in the church choir.

Custom has it that the wedding takes place in the bride’s hometown.  That’s what happened with Max and Therese.  They were married at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Brusly.  I’m sure there were lots of family members that showed up for the exchange of nuptials.  Since Max’s mom was Landry, he was related to Therese.  They were second cousins, in fact.  So some family members might have had a hard time deciding what side of the church to sit on! 

Even though both of their father’s died when they were young, both of their mothers were probably in attendance at the wedding.  Emma Landry Patureau would likely be there for her son.  Belite Bujol Landry Babin was surely there to see her daughter as the bride and her younger daughter Kate Landry as a bridesmaid. Besides being with her husband Mack Babin, she probably was sitting with her mother who was still alive at the time. Her mother was yet another Landry family member – Anna Adele Landry Bujol.  Adele was living with Belite and her family during the 1880 Census, so she would have been close to her granddaughter Therese.

I’m so glad we have this other image of the young couple from the time of their marriage.  I’d be tempted to say that they look to be at their best.  And I might be right!