Kudos for VMP’s Veterinary Skills

My cousin Wade posted a few old newspaper articles about our great grandfather Vincent Maximilian Patureau recently.  Those old newspaper articles are great.  In small towns they’ll talk about who is visiting who, and in some cases they’ll say how the people are related.  Those have been really helpful to me many times in the past.  The ones Wade posted were helpful in figuring out when Grampa Max relocated his family to Lafayette (April 1912).   I thought I’d post a few newspaper articles talking about his work as a veterinarian.

There are quite a few old articles about Grampa Max, both in Plaquemine and in Lafayette.  Either people were interested in what he was doing because he was an influencer in his time, or he was instrumental in getting the articles published.  Of course sometimes the two go hand in hand.  In fact the first one I have here is a letter that was send to Grampa Max from E. B. Schwing.   It looks like he gave the letter to the newspaper for publishing.  A rave review indeed.

I’m glad I found these articles, because before I found them, I questioned his abilities.  In a previous blog I pointed out that he was self-taught and hung a shingle calling himself a veterinarian.  So I enjoy seeing that he was respected and appreciated for his work in the community.  Also in those previous posts I included a photo of a horse and one of a cow.  I wonder if those animals were among the ones he saved for his clients?

I just noticed something after I placed the article titled “Card of Thanks.”  I didn’t recognize the name A. T. Bennett at all.  The Schwing name I have seen in other articles.  It seems to be a respected name in the community.  I think that maybe Mr. Bennett was African American, since he  encouraged his “colored friends” to use the services of Grampa Max.  It sounds like he treated all of his clients well.  That’s a good thing.

It also looks like Max made sure to look after his human customers as well.  A Mr. Begneaud and his son were bitten by their yard dog, which had also bit two other dogs and two cows.  When one of the cows died and another one began to show signs of sickness, Grampa Max came to the rescue with his handy bag of verterinarianish tools!  When he noticed that the dogs were showing signs of rabies, he used his most lethal tool he carried – his Colt No. 2 derringer.  Dr. Patureau strikes again!  He did carry that gun around with him on rounds for that very specific purpose.  Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!  He also made sure that Begneaud & Begneaud received the proper treatment in New Orleans.

Now I’ll say it again – Dr. Patureau strikes again!  This time it is in reference to him providing the newspaper with a letter he received showing what a wonderful diagnostician he was.  Grampa Max provided the lab in New Orleans with a sample of the infected cow’s blood and it showed the results he had suspected.  So it looks like Grampa Max knew what he was doing after all.  He deserves a bit more respect.  Maybe I should refer to him as Dr. Patureau more often.