Author: Van

Music in the Family Part II – Patureau

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When I was young I thought I knew everything.  Understood everything.  What is it about the innocence of youth that makes people think this?  Is it innocence?  Yes, I guess it is.  Maybe a little bit of ignorance thrown in with it, though.  The older I get, the more I realize that I don’t know everything.  Not even close.  When you are young, you know your immediate family and you kinda know your place in it.  When you start looking into family history, you realize that your family is much bigger and spread out.

This is particularly true for the idea of music in my family.  When my family had the Landry Family Band in the 70s and 80s, we (maybe I should say I) thought we were so innovative and different.  People would even say that it was “special” or “extraordinary.”  We weren’t famous or anything, but we did play together every week at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles.  We’d also play for events or parties.  It was pretty special, but it wasn’t the first time that family members performed music together.

Kelly's String Band

Kelly’s String Band circa 1900 performed in the Plaquemine, Louisiana, area.

Just look at this photo from 1900.  The name of the band was Kelly’s String Band and there were some family members in it from my Patureau family line.  In the front with the funny looking trumpet (not a string) is my great great uncle Alcide Patureau (my father was Bob Landry, his mother was Erie Patureau, her father was Max Patureau, and Max & Alcides’s father was Ferdinand Patureau who was originally from France).  Alcide’s (& Max’s) brother Omer is the one in the middle with the banjo.  The guy on the right with the mandolin is Alcide and Omer’s (& Max’s) nephew Ferdinand Hebert (son of Aline Patureau Hebert).  The two guys standing up are Nick Manola and Wade Landry.  I don’t know of any relation to them.

So at least 70 years before our Shakey’s day, there were family members performing for other people’s entertainment.  And I’m sure there were probably more before that in the unknown history of the family.  This is the earliest photographic record of a band in my family.  I’d love to know what they sounded like and what kinds of music they played.

Plaquemine, Louisiana, in 1894 - Patureau family

Omer Patureau and Ferdinand Hebert

I have this other photo of two of these members who must have performed on their own with their dueling banjos.  This is Omer Patureau and Ferdinand Hebert in a photo dated 1894.  Both photos show that they were taken in Plaquemine.

As I’ve said before, people in the past did not have as readily available access to entertainment and information as we do now.  Maybe when people came from their homes and listened to them entertain, they heard things like people saying they were “special” or “extraordinary.”  And maybe they were.

As I get older and particularly with the passing of both of my parents, I do look back at those times playing music with my family and they are special to me.  And they will become more special as time goes by.  This I do know.

Feb. 17, 2022 – Update

I received a better version of the Kelly’s String Band photo.  I also figured out how I am related to Wade Landry.  In addition to that, I’ve learned more about his life.  So check out my new post to see it all – Patureau and Landry Musicians Circa 1900.

Music in the Family Part I

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I promised last week that I would post something about music.  I shared a post on Facebook this morning.  It was a video from two years ago of our Landry Family Band reprising an old Dixieland song “Jada.”  It was me, my sisters Karen and Jamie and my mom and dad playing at Villa Maria Retirement Center in Lake Charles.  We were all in town to find an assisted living home for my parents.  I didn’t realize at the time that it would be the last “performance” I would have with them.  A bittersweet video to watch.

Most people knew us as a musical family, but there have been many musicians in the family through the years on both sides of the family.  That made it difficult for me to decide where I would start this musical series.  But then that little video popped up today as a jumping off point.  So I’ll start the series by going back some years before the video I mentioned.  Some of you may be thinking of the Shakey’s days where the Landry Family Band had their heyday, but I’ve already shared that before.

Bucklin siblings in Hathaway with musical instruments

Betty Lou on baritone, Loris on trombone, and Austin with the uke in 1950 or so.

I’m taking it a little further back than that.  Shakey’s was 40 years ago and I’m going back 26 years before that when my mom Betty Lou Bucklin was a girl in high school.  This is a photo of her with her younger sister Loris and their brother Austin.  Mama played the baritone and aunt Loris played the trombone.  I’m not sure what Austin is doing with that ukelele.  He doesn’t seem to be very pleased with it.  Maybe it was out of tune or missing a string.  Maybe he didn’t think it went along with the baritone and trombone too well.  Whatever the case may be, he doesn’t seem happy in the photo.

But I’m happy that I found this photo.  I don’t ever remember seeing it when growing up.  I found the negative last year when I was going through some stuff that mom gave me.  The photo was taken around 1950, which was around the time that Mama met Daddy.  Young Betty Lou visited LSU in Baton Rouge on April 27, 1950, to compete in the State Music Festival Clinic where she earned a Superior rating on her performance on that baritone.

My mom was never good with directions.  I don’t know how many times she got lost when trying to get somewhere.  Most of the time it was a hindrance, but in this situation it proved to be beneficial.  She was at LSU and she needed help with directions.  The person she found to help was none other than a college student by the name of Bob Landry.  The other interesting thing about that meeting is that it was five years to the day prior to the birth of their second child, my brother Rob.

It was rather appropriate that their first meeting was centered around music.  My mom liked to tell that story about their encounter.  She kept the certificate she won that day and wrote a little bit about it on the back of it in 2013: “He’s been leading me around for over 60 years.”  Together til the end.

Erie Get Your Gun

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Erie’s got her gun and is ready to take on the world. This was taken around 1963 in Lafayette, Louisiana, at a picnic hosted by her cousin Wana C. Landry’s home.

I don’t know why these last few Landry/Patureau posts are featuring guns.  I have two posts named Grandfathers With Guns, so I thought I would try to give a more balanced view.  Besides, I had this great photo of Mee Maw that I’ve been wanting to post for a while.  So my desire to present a more balanced view finally motivated me enough to edit this photo in the way I wanted to.

Because you know Mee Maw, she didn’t go anywhere without her fruitcake tin and gun!  Well maybe you don’t know Mee Maw.  She was born Germaine Erie Patureau on August 6, 1895, in Crescent, Louisiana.  You could actually say that the family lived in Plaquemine.  They lived right on the corner of the Bayou Road and Patureau Lane.  That’s right!  They lived on the road that they named for themselves.

She was a child at the turn of the century (not the Millennial century, the one before that!) and it was a very rural area.  They usually had to entertain themselves with reading books, eating food, playing cards, or playing music.  (I will be posting some musical stories soon.)  But sometimes, if they were lucky, the showboat would stop in their area and put on a show for them.  There was an area not far from their home that would be used as a stage for the actors who traveled on the boat.  This sounds very charming, even though it reminds me of the musical “Show Boat.”

I have to admit that I am not particularly fond of most musicals.  Even though my family was very musical and sometimes we would break into song during a conversation, I always hated to see that in a movie.  And when I think about “Show Boat” I cringe.  But I try to look past that when I think of Mee Maw and her family enjoying the performances of the people from the showboat.  (Let’s just hope they weren’t musicals!)

So why is it that I referenced another musical (“Annie Get Your Gun”) when I named this post?  Yet something else to get past.  I guess for the same reason I named two posts “Grandpa’s Got a Gun,” I think that it has a ring to it.  So let’s get back to Erie and her love for guns.

Sorry, I don’t know if Mee Maw had a love for guns or not.  It’s not something I can ever remember talking to her about.  I’m surprised that I have a picture of her holding a gun. (She was really holding a gun in the photo.  I only edited it to make her more noticeable and to make the background less noticeable.)  We always talk about Mee Maw being so sweet, so I thought I would post this picture showing her tougher side.

Oh well, even when she’s holding a gun she looks sweet.  That’s Mee Maw.

Great Grandpa Lou

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Great grandmother and great granddaughter.

Addie Hine Bucklin with great grandchild number five Jodie Lou Landry in 1954.

This photo makes me smile.  It almost makes me laugh out loud.  The photo causes me to smirk with a soft chuckle.  It’s cute.  It’s sweet.  But it’s a little blurry.  I cleaned it up a bit, but I can’t make it clear.  There’s only so much you can do in photo editing.

I still like it quite a bit.  That’s kind of obvious since I’m using it for this week’s post.  The little girl in the photo is my oldest sister Jodie.  She was born on October 14, 1953, at Edwards Air Force Base in California.  She died on November 5, 1989 in Franklin, Texas.  Way too young.

Our mom was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry, who was the daughter of Fred Bucklin.  Fred’s mother was Addie Hine Bucklin, the other subject in this photo.  So she was the great grandmother of little Jodie in this photo.  And yet there is another person in the photo.

The other person in the photo is shown in a photo on the wall above the other two.  It’s a photo from 1905 of Addie when she was young married woman and her husband Louis Charles Bucklin, sometimes known as Lou.  In recent letters I’ve seen he was called that in 1893 by his peers.  And even though he died in 1927, he was still influencing my family much later on.

One of those influences was in 1933 when my mom was born.  There was talk of naming her Addie Lou in honor of both of Fred’s parents.  Addie was adamantly against that.  She did not want that cute little granddaughter of hers saddled with such an old fashioned name as Addie.  So mom was named Betty Lou and I have to say that the name really suited her.

Then when Jodie was born in 1953, her middle name was Lou as well.  So shortly after this photo was taken, Jodie would have started to talk a bit.  I’m not sure of the time frame.  But when she was learning what to call herself and her parents, she got a bit mixed up.  But in a good way.  She knew that she was Jodie Lou.  She knew that mom was Betty Lou.  I suppose that sometimes she was Mama Lou, because when she learned to call daddy “Pappy” she naturally ended up calling him Pappy Lou.

I’ve heard the Pappy Lou story all of my life, and I always thought it was a sweet story.  So when I found this negative and scanned it earlier this week, it reminded me of that story so much.  I don’t remember ever seeing the photo before.  And like I said at first, it’s cute.  It’s sweet.  And it’s appropriate that great grandpa Lou shows up in the photo.

Here is another photo from the same visit.

Three generations

Betty Lou Bucklin Landry, Addie Hine Bucklin, and Jodie Lou Landry in 1954.

Grampa’s Got a Gun – Pee Paw and the Big One

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There is something about that title “Grampa’s Got a Gun” that has a ring to it.  I’m not sure what it is.  Maybe it’s just the alliteration.  I like the photo as well.  I’ve posted other photos of my paternal grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. in World War I – aka Pee Paw in the Big One – and this is the first one that shows him with a gun.  It is from the A. J. Collection, which means that I got it from my uncle AJ earlier this year.

Pee Paw in World War I

My grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. is the tall one on the right in the photo. It was taken at Camp Lee in Virginia.

It’s such a good photo, too.  So clear and in focus that you can see that Pee Paw is the only one that is not wearing gloves.  Did the southern boy not know how to dress for cold weather or did he just not like wearing gloves?

It was taken at Camp Lee in Virginia which is near Petersburg, Virginia.  This was a training site for soldiers during World War I.  I’m saying that it was at Camp Lee because that is what was written on the photo.  The photo also had a date of 1919 on it.  This does not match with the 1917 date I had on other photos of Pee Paw at this camp.  One of these days I will get incontrovertible proof of when he was stationed at Camp Lee.  In the meantime let’s just say it was sometime around 1918.

And everybody knows what happened in 1918, right?  There was a worldwide influenza epidemic.  In looking for information for this post, I saw that during that epidemic 10,000 soldiers were stricken by the flu, and 700 of those died as a result.  So some of these men went to train to fight in a huge international conflict but ended up dying before they completed training because they caught a flu virus.  Known as “The Spanish Flu” and “La Grippe” this version of the flu killed more soldiers than were killed through warfare.

So Pee Paw made it through the Great War.  He did not see action, but he was faced with the greatest killer at that time.  He survived that microscopic enemy, and that gun didn’t help him a single bit.

I still like the title, though.

Dressmaking with Paints and Pixels

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My great great grandmother Martha Ann Cook was a dressmaker who studied her art in Paris, France.  She had completed a two year apprenticeship presumably in Walthamstow, England, prior to going to Paris in 1860 to study.  Her sister Henrietta was three years younger than Martha and was not put to a business because she was thought “too delicate.” Being delicate was never a term I’ve heard describing my great great grandmother.

After completing her studies in Paris, she opened up her own dressmaking business in England.  She designed and made clothes for small children and sold ribbons and dress accessories.  Her business was successful and she was able to hire other women to work in her shop, which continued even after she was married and having children.  She would also travel to Paris every year to see the latest styles. It appears that she put a lot of thought and effort into her whole business endeavor.

Which would make me think that she would have been concerned with the look of her own dresses and wardrobe choices.  And this would be particularly true when she decided to sit for a portrait.  The portrait that I’m talking about is today’s photo.  When I first saw it, I thought it might be a photo.  It was a Xerox copy of a photo that was in the book “Cook-Keys Family: Two Centuries in England and America” by Edith Keys Segraves.  I’ve posted that old version before, but I just recently obtained a much better version.

Martha Ann Cook Keys

Portrait of Martha Ann Cook Keys in England circa 1865

Edith Segraves’ daughter Carolyn let me scan the best version of the photo.  I could tell from this version that it was actually a photo of an old painting.  I decided to clean it up to get it looking as best I could.  Nothing but the best for old Martha!  One of the first things I noticed was that painting hands was not the artist’s strong point.  The fact that the painting showed two hands is telling.  The old phrase “cost you an arm and a leg” was in reference to having your portrait painted (or so I’ve heard).  Supposedly the extra limbs were quite pricey.  So to have both hands in the portrait was a sign of prosperity.

It could also be Martha’s desire to show off her dress properly.  How can you show the true design of a dress without arms and hands showing?  Whatever the case, those pricey hands didn’t quite look right.  So I changed them!  That’s right.  She’s got brand new hands after well over one hundred years.  So the pixilized hands are not authentic, but I’m sure they look closer to the real thing than what was there previously.

I also cleaned up her face a little.  There were scratches across them that had to be removed.  I was careful to make sure I didn’t change the way she looked.  Then I came to her dress.  Some of it had been damaged and it wasn’t complete because it had been a circular painting.  I cloned parts of the painting with paint parts and pixels.  It ended up looking like a dress-shaped blob on the drawing.  I knew that Martha would not approve of that.  She was all about dresses!

So I did a search online for French dresses from the 1860s and came across something that might help the photo out.  It was a black mourning dress that somewhat matched what Martha was wearing.  I used that image to give the dress a bit of shading and texture.  With some helpful input from Carolyn, I think I came up with something that Martha would approve.  French fashion with paints and pixels.

A Patureau Keepsake: Grampa’s Got a Gun

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Grampa's Got a Gun

Grampa Max’s gun

I’m not sure when I heard about this keepsake.  I’m thinking that it was last year at the high school graduation of my second cousin once removed in Plaquemine.  Now I don’t go to all of my distant cousins’ graduations, but it just happened that I was there.  I went with Chuck to his nephew’s graduation from St. John in Plaquemine and one of the Barkers were graduating as well.  To clarify who the Barkers are to me, I’ll explain.

My grandmother Erie Patureau married Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. and they became my Mee Maw and Pee Paw.  One of Erie’s sister Sylvie married John Walter “Son” Marionneaux.  So Erie and Robert’s son was my dad Bob.  His first cousin is Melwyn who is the daughter of Sylvie and Son.  Melwyn married Will Barker and they had seven children.  Mom and dad only had six children including me.  Melwyn and Will’s son Walter is my second cousin and his son Walter, Jr. is my second cousin once removed.

And it was Walter, Jr.’s graduation that I ended up attending.  I looked around during the commencement services and saw a few cousins.  Then after the service we went to the reception.  Of course, Melwyn was there as well as several other kinfolk.  Somehow we ended up talking about family history (how that happens I never know), and she mentioned that she had the pistol that belonged to Erie and Sylvie’s father, AKA Grampa Max.

I was told that when Grampa Max was a practicing veterinarian in Lafayette from 1917 to 1933, he carried this gun around with him.  He wasn’t carrying it for protection, of course.  Everybody knows that there was no crime in little Lafayette a hundred years ago.  No, he brought it with him in case one of his patients needed to be euthanized.  He did what he could for people’s pets, livestock, and farm animals, but some animals could not be saved.  Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Grampa’s Colt was made in Connecticut

So when I started to do a few of these Keepsake Series posts, the gun from Grampa Max was high on my list of things to photograph and share.  I went to Plaquemine to see Melwyn last week and we had a very pleasant visit.  She’s sharp as a tack.  She knows a lot of family history and she’s glad it is being shared.  She has this gun mounted, framed, and hanging in her house.  It’s a Colt series No. 2 derringer from somewhere around the 1870s or so.  I’m no gun expert, but that’s what my research found from the details in the second photo.

I would love to know the whole history of this gun.  I’m not sure how much more our family knows.  I was surprised to know of its existence when I first heard about it.  With the little bit that I know about it, it is a priceless family keepsake.

Grampa Max on a horse call. “Look sharp, girl, or I’ve got a surprise for you in my pocket!”

Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church

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Have you ever heard of Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church?  Not many people have.  I’m not even sure the church was ever called that except in its planning stage.  It was to be the name of the church located in Jefferson Davis Parish just south of the Hathaway/China area in 1894.  At about the same time a post office was to be located in the same area with the name of Fairview.  But since that name was already taken in another location in Louisiana, the name for the new post office was changed to Raymond.  So now we know that area as Raymond and the church that was built there was the Raymond Methodist church.

I found this out recently from a history of the church that my grandmother Myrtle Phenice Bucklin left to my cousin Mary.  Another very interesting fact that the publication contained was a bit of information about my great great grandfather George Henry Hine (my mother was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry, her parents were Myrtle and Fred Bucklin,  Fred’s mother was Addie Hine Bucklin, and Addie’s father was George.)  There is a section in the history that states, “In 1908, Rev. Dan Hayes was appointed pastor.  He and Rev. Gillman, a local preacher, held services regularly for some time.  On November 29th, Rev. George Hines, residing Elder, preached in the church.”

I had never heard anything about him preaching in church, much less being referred to as a reverend.  Of course, that was a long time ago and bits of information like that get lost along the way.  Until you find a photo or a church history that fills in a few gaps.

*****CORRECTION*****

3/9/2018 – Some old Jennings newspapers have become available online through the local library.  In the process of searching for family names, I noticed a name that came up from time to time.  There was a Methodist preacher located in Lake Charles who would go to different cities to preach.  Now here’s the important part – his name was Rev. George B. Hines.  Hines, not Hine.  It was not my great great grandfather who was the preacher.  In that church history, I noticed that the name Hines was spelled differently than any other time they named members of the Hine family.  I thought it might have been an oversight, but I think they were indeed speaking of a different family.

*****CONTINUE WITH ORIGINAL POST*****

1945 Raymond Methodist Church Fellowship Hall

1945 Raymond Methodist Church Sunday school classes

Speaking of gaps, I’m leaving a big one here as I jump forward to the time of this photo I’m sharing today.  This photo was taken around 1945 in front of the Raymond Methodist Fellowship Hall.  A photo from the same day was posted just over a year ago by Joseph.  It was a group photo also, but not as large of a group.  This photo itself was quite small, yet the details are really good.

My mom and her sisters are in it as young girls.  Their grandmother Addie is standing behind them.  Her brother Ollie Hine is sitting in a chair to the left in the photo as his wife Lenora stands behind him.  I can name a few others with the help of other old photos and postings on here.  Let’s see how many we can name!  Won’t that be fun?

1945 Methodist Church in Raymond, Louisiana

Photo of the Raymond Methodist Church circa 1945.

1893 – A Letter From a Friend

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This is a letter that my great grandfather Louis Charles Bucklin received in 1893.  It was written on Mar. 14, 1893, by his roommate from the previous semester Charles Mollett from McClure, Ohio.  I referred to this letter in another post about another letter I got, but thought that I’d post the whole thing here.

I obtained both of these letters on June 3, 2017, from my mom Betty Lou Bucklin Landry’s first cousin Julie Phenice Campbell.  She had found them in a pouch with some old letters that her father had saved.  Which is kind of strange since Julie and her dad have no familial connection with L. C. Bucklin.  They are from my mom’s mom’s side of the family while the letters have to do with her dad’s side of the family.  Thankfully, they held on to them and kept them in good condition.  Take a look.

 

 

Mar. 14, 1893 letter, page 1

Mar. 14, 1893 letter, page 2

The Landry Boys

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Since this weekend is Father’s Day, I thought I would post something about my father’s family.  Besides, it’s about time!  I’ve posted so much about the Bucklin and Keys families that I feel like I’m way overdue for a Landry post.

Landry Boys in southern Louisiana in 1939.

The Landry boys circa 1939

Besides, I really like this photo.  I wish I had it!  Like other photos that I’ve posted on here, the original is in the hands of someone else.  And as you know, blah, blah, blah…I’d like to get a good scan of it.  I really need to stop repeating myself.

Anyway, this photo was taken around 1939 and it was probably taken in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  Since this is a Father’s Day post, I’ll introduce everyone in relation to that holiday.

On the left is Alcide Joseph Landry, who we all know as Uncle A. J.  He was born on June 20, 1924, and he is the oldest son.  He is married to Margie Harrington Landry and he is the father of Reda.  She was actually Margie’s niece, I believe, but he is a father to her nonetheless.

Next in line is Robert Joseph Landry, Sr., who we know by various names – Papa, Pee Paw, Pappy, Bob, Rob, The WWI Slabster – the list goes on.  He was born on January 9, 1893.  He married Germaine Erie Patureau in 1921 (with no photos to record it that I am aware of!) who was his first cousin’s daughter.  He was the father of Marie, A. J., Hubert, Germaine, Bob, Wana, Frances, and Johnny.

Speaking of Johnny, he is the little boy in this photo.  He was born John Alfred Xavier Landry on August 2, 1936.  He was married to Sondra Lee and he is the father of Mona, Mike, and Mitch.  Plus he has the added distinction of being the godfather of yours truly.

My father is the next one in the photo.  He was born January 31, 1929, and was given the name Robert Joseph Landry, Jr.  He was called Bobbie by his siblings, then later went by the nicknames Pluto and Bob.  He was married to Betty Lou Bucklin and he was the father of Jodie, Rob, Karen, Al, Van (that’s me!), and Jamie.  This will be our first Father’s Day without him.

On the far right of the photo is Hubert Joseph Landry.  He was born on November 1, 1925, and married Mildred Sutherlin.  He was the father of Shirley, Hugh, Kenny, Dennis, and Marla.  Shirley is special.  (She’s my godmother.  I have to say that.)

So there you have it – The Landry Boys who were some of the fathers in our Landry family.  I consider myself fortunate that I had a stable family that was anchored by a loving father and mother.  Thanks, Daddy.

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