February, 2016 | Family History

Way, Way Back

February 24, 2016 Van Leave a comment

1875 - William Horsnell and Rebecca in Iowa Rev. This is a photo from around 1875 of William Horsnell and his wife Rebecca in Delaware County, Iowa. He is the reason many of my relatives are here today, though most of us do not descend from him. For those of my generation, he is our great great great great uncle. But he was just Uncle William to my great great grandmother Martha Ann Cook Keys. Her mother Ruth was a Horsnell and the sister to this William Horsnell.

In 1886 William at age 79 moved to a new pioneer state of Louisiana with his new wife. He must have liked it here and wrote back to his family in England, because otherwise Martha would not have known about it. But heard about it she did, and decided to follow through with plans to move her family to the United States even though her husband had recently died. So she sold off most of their possessions and moved to a new country with five young children in tow.

They had intended to move on to Beaumont, but when they stopped to visit Uncle William in China, Louisiana, they liked what they saw and decided to stay. And the rest, they say, is history.

The End of an Era

February 18, 2016 Van Leave a comment

The Yellow House on Lucy Street

The Landry Family moved to 758 Lucy Street over 50 years ago and soon it will no longer be part of the family. Our parents moved to an assisted living apartment in Lake Charles a few months ago. In the meantime, someone decided they just had to have that house on 758 Lucy Street. They had taken a walk through it before it was cleaned out and they declared the house to be a “happy space.”

My parents agreed to go ahead and sell the house. So we all got together and cleaned it up, cleared it out, and said our good byes. So many years of Christmases, New Years, Easters, Halloweens, and Thanksgivings with us kids, then grandkids, and now with the great grandkids. So many good memories there.

Here is a photo of the family soon after we moved in. When my parents were looking for a house, they were unsure of which house they wanted. The children, however, were not. We all wanted the yellow house on Lucy Street. We eventually covered over the yellow with siding, but in this photo you can still see the appealing yellow color. It was also before we concreted the driveway. Just like it was when we first moved in.

In order from left to right: Al Landry, Jamie Landry, Betty Lou Bucklin Landry, Van Landry, Jodie Landry, Karen Landry, and Rob Landry

Patureau Brothers

February 10, 2016 Van 2 comments

This is a photo of my great grandfather Vincent Maximilian Patureau. (He is one on the left in the photo.) It was probably taken around 1925 in Lafayette, LA where he had a veterinarian practice. The other man in the photo was his older brother Louis Leobon Patureau. (Great grandfather of Elmo Leobon Patureau, Jr. Great great grandfather of Byron J. Patureau and his sister Dana.) The woman is Gertrude Brammer Patureau who was married to Louis Leobon’s son Arthur. Vincent Maximilian was the father of my grandmother Germaine Erie Landry, aka Mee Maw.

It is the clearest photo that I have of my great grandfather. Here is a crop of the photo that just shows him. I know that some cousins on the Patureau side of the family have a wedding photo of him. I need to get together with them and get a good scan of that one too.

________________________________________________________

July 2, 2016 Update

I now have reason to believe that the photo was taken in Beaumont, Texas, at the home of Gertrude Brammer Patureau. And I also found that wedding photo of Vincent Maximilian Patureau and his wife Marie Therese Landry. Actually my cousin Tricia found it at her house when she was cleaning up early last month. What an exciting find! She also found another old Patureau family photo that I had been hoping to find.

Patureau

Grandpa Bucklin

February 4, 2016 Van Leave a comment

Fred D. Bucklin in 1950

Last week I had a post about my paternal grandfather, so I thought I’d post something about my maternal grandfather, known by us as “Grandpa”. His name was Fred D. Bucklin and he was born Oct. 2, 1907. An interesting thing about him is that he had an identical twin brother named Clarence and they were both nurserymen. The sad part about it was that I never met his brother even though he lived just down the road from my grandfather and they both lived until I was in my mid 20s.

They were estranged, so their families were estranged. I remember hearing about Clarence’s daughter Carla Bucklin, but I never met her. She actually is a couple of years younger than me, so she would have fit in and got along with all of my cousins. Not that her life was one of deprivation because she didn’t know us, but you can never have too many cousins! Right?

Those cousins are Larry Pilcher, Toni Chavez, Paul Pilcher, Lynn Broussard, Kevin Pilcher, Jodie Landry, Rob Landry, Karen Landry Fontenot, Al Landry, Van Landry (me), Jamie Landry Perry, Rhonda Effron Brown, Charla Quaranta, Brent Woolley, Keith Woolley, Glen Woolley, John Bucklin, Dale Bucklin, Anita Bucklin, and Mary Long.

Father of Sylvia Bucklin Pilcher, Betty Lou Bucklin Landry, Alma Bucklin Waldorf, Loris Woolley, and Austin Bucklin.

Update Dec. 20, 2020 – replaced photo with enhanced version

Bucklin