Too Young to be Grampa

“Who is that dashing young man?” you may be asking yourself.  That’s what I would be asking if I didn’t have the information available to me.  I’ve posted several photos of him in the past, but none of them were this far into the past.

This photo was taken around 1888.  I estimate it to be from that year because that was the year he got married.  He looks about the same age as he does in his wedding photo, maybe even a little younger.  He was 23 when he got married.  Does he look that age to you, too?

But men don’t necessarily take photos of themselves when they became engaged.  Could it be a high school graduation photo?  That would make it closer to 1883, assuming he graduated when he was 18.  Assuming he actually did graduate from high school.  I don’t have all the details of his life.

Have you figured out who he was?  I posted a photo of his wife Marie Therese Landry two months ago.  He’s the only ancestor that I call “Grampa.”  Not Grandpa or Pee Paw.  He was born in Mexico, though he is not of Mexican descent.  His ancestry is not from Spain, but from France.  He lived in Plaquemine and he was the only grandfather my dad knew.

Yes, it is our very own Vincent Maximilian Patureau, later to be known as Grampa Max.  But he was just a young man in this photo.  This is one of the great photos that come from the collection of my dad’s cousin Sis. (She is one of the Marie Therese womenfolk in the family – Marie Therese Schafer Vicknair to be exact!) So great when family members are willing to share their treasures with us.  Though some people in the Patureau family have been known to be a bit stingy with their photos.  I won’t name names, but I’m sure that none of you reading this are like that!

But this photo is before Sis was in anyone’s imagination.  It was also before the birth of her mother, who was also named Marie Therese.  This was when young Max’s only thought of a Marie Therese was the young woman he was planning on marrying.  So when he popped the question to her all those years ago, how could she say no to this dashing young man?