Month: September 2020

Grampa Max’s Store in Plaquemine

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Family store in Plaquemine, Louisiana, circa 1904.

I posted this photo of the family store in Plaquemine, Louisiana, seven years ago.  That was ages ago.  It was before I was doing these weekly posts about family history.  Back then I was just sharing an old photo that I liked.  I think the first time I saw the photo, it was in Tommy Landry’s book about the descendants of Trasimond Landry.

In that book it quoted “Mrs. Naomi Landry Vincent” who was identified as the granddaughter of Trasimond Landry’s widow Marie Amelie “Belite Bujol Landry Babin.  I knew she was a relative back then, but I wasn’t exactly sure how we were related.  But now I know that she was my dad’s first cousin Sis from the Landry side of the family.  Their fathers were brothers.  I’ve talked about his other cousin Sis from the Patureau side.  She is still with us, but all of Daddy’s first cousins on his father’s side have been gone for many years.

But I still was able to get some new information from Cousin Sis from the Landry side.  Daddy made a videotape in 1990 of her talking about the Landry family while viewing various photos.  It is very helpful.  I’m so glad my brother-in-law made a disc for me recently.  (Thanks, Brian!)  I also found myself thanking my dad as I watched it, because he was asking the questions that I wanted to ask.  So now I am able to identify everyone in the photo. 

I identified a few people in the photo before with the help of some writing on the back of my cousin Daphne’s original of this photo.  I also have the photo of the back of someone else’s copy.  So it took a combination of all of that to finally get everyone named.  So let the naming begin!

According to the document I found, Vincent “Max” Patureau, Magloire “Mack” Babin, and Dr. Louis Danos had three equal shares in the store.  This was before Grampa Max was a veterinarian.  He was married to Marie Therese Landry, who is not in the photo.  Her mother (Belite – by Belite’s first husband Trasimond Landry), step-father (Mack), husband (Max), half-sister (Clemence), brother-in-law (Louis Landry – also her first cousin), and children are in it.  And now that I look closer, there is an unidentified person in it.  (Lorena was listed twice by my dad and Sis!)

Labels from the back of this photo. Not sure of its origin.

In the front on the wooden “sidewalk” are Zita and Vincent Patureau.  Behind them are Clemence Babin with her hand on the horse and Louis Landry with the reins in his hands.  They would quietly be married at the residence of her parents (Belite and Mack) the following year and then set up residence in Lafayette.  Their oldest daughter would be cousin Sis (the Landry one, of course).  I’m not sure who the next girl is.  She was labeled as Lorena, but so was the girl at the end of this line sitting on the steps.

Cropped version of the photo that I found that has more details in it.

The next person is Emma, the oldest child of Max and Marie Therese.  To the right of her is younger sister Lydwin.  Beside her is their brother Romuald.  Standing behind Romuald is Grandma Belite.  (Landry cousin Sis called her Grandma Babin, which led to a lot of confusion for Patureau cousin Sis before my dad straightened it out for her one day.)  Next to Romuald is little Sylvia, the youngest of the Patureau bunch.  There was some discussion on the video about whether Sylvia is this little girl or the little girl sitting in front.

The next little girl is my favorite.  Her name was Erie.  When she grew up, I knew her as my beloved Mee Maw.  I was her favorite!  Next to little Erie is Marie Therese.  She was known as Bee and when she grew up, she was the mother of Sis and Syl.  (Patureau Sis, not Landry Sis!)  As I said previously, the girl sitting on the steps may be Lorena.

The man sitting on the steps is Mack Babin, who had 1/3 ownership of this store.  He was the second husband of my great great grandmother Belite Bujol.  The man standing behind the horse is my great grandfather Vincent Maximillian Patureau – better known as Grampa Max.  The identity of the last person came from my cousin’s photo.  He is labeled as “Old Uncle Joe.”  Based on the age of the man and the year the photo was taken, I think this must be Grampa Max’s older brother Joseph Alcide Patureau.

So there you go.  That wasn’t too bad, right?  Thanks to those that stuck with me through to the end.  You’re the best!  I hope you enjoy the photo.  I do.

Mom’s Memories Page 6 AKA Flowers for Grandma

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Page 6 of my mom’s memory book.

Here is another page from the little memory book that my mom kept when she started to become more forgetful.  She wanted to make sure some of her fond memories would continue.  I thought I would help them along.

My mom’s name was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry (1933-2017) and she grew up in Hathaway, Louisiana.  This is page 6 of her book.  She is in the middle of talking about her paternal grandmother Addie May Hine Bucklin (1876-1960).  She never knew her paternal grandfather Louis Bucklin (1873-1927).  He died before she was born.

She mentions Aunt Dora on this page.  That would be Dora Koll Bucklin (1911-1998).  She was married to Herbert Bucklin (1906-1995), the brother of Betty Lou’s dad Fred (1907-1984).  Herbert and Dora were the grandparents of our Joseph Connors.  Mama always had nice things to say about Aunt Dora and Uncle Herbert.  Why wouldn’t she?  She was a little girl who appreciated someone giving her jewelry and taking her to the Eunice circus!

On page 1 of her memory book she talked about going to Grandma Bucklin’s house for big covered dish dinners where all the family brought their favorite dishes.  She said the food was so good that they were sneaking food all afternoon.  I’m sure she was talking about the old Bucklin family home that had been built in 1888. From what I can tell, it was about a mile north of the house that my mom and her family lived in.  About halfway between those two houses is where Aunt Dora (she of the beautiful wavy hair) and Uncle Herbert lived.

Hathaway circa 1937 – Alma, Betty Lou, and Sylvia Bucklin

Another thing my mom talks about is making May baskets.  She wrote in the plural “we” like I do when talking about my childhood.  I’m sure she was talking about herself and her sisters.  Her brother was younger and probably didn’t participate in this event.  The sisters would make paper flowers and put them in a basket.  One basket was for Grandma Bucklin and one for Aunt Dora.

Then they would go to their door, knock, and run away to hide.  Of course they would be peeking to see the reaction they got.  I’m sure there was a lot of giggling involved as well.  And who wouldn’t be glad to see those three little cheerful girls (later there would be four) bringing them a present?

Like she says, it usually got them invited in for milk and cookies.  The simple pleasures of childhood.

Bitsy: 50 Years Gone

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This is a post that I’ve been thinking about writing for a while.  It’s about one of my earliest memories concerning death.   Only recently have I discovered that the subject of this post – David Hotard – was a distant cousin.

I was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on the Halloween of 1960.  I was the 5th of 6 children of Bob and Betty Landry.  It was not long after my younger sister was born in 1962 that we moved to Jennings, Louisiana.  The first two years in Jennings we were renting a two story house north of the interstate.  Then we moved into town to the yellow house on Lucy Street.  It was there that we met the Hotards.

Looking at those dates now, I realize that David must have been an infant when we moved next door to them.  He was one of four sons of Mr. and Mrs. Hotard.  My older brother and I were a little older than they were and we played together a lot.  You know, playing games and riding bikes – the things that kids did growing up in the South in the 60s. 

It was a small town, so we always thought it was pretty safe.  And as I remember, David was the nicest of the brothers.  He never hit me over the head with a hammer and didn’t cut my finger with a shovel!  He also had a nickname.  We called him Bitsy.  I’m thinking that Mr. Hotard must have given him that nickname.  He did that with everyone.  I was either “Van the Bomb” or “Ban the Bomb.”  Karen was “The Lucy Street Crier.”

Things changed in September 1970.  It was the year that David started first grade.  As I remember it, he only attended three days of classes.  David decided he wanted to go bike riding.  He came by our house to see if anyone wanted to go with him.  No takers.  He found another neighbor to go with him.  They did not get far.  He was practically in front of his house when a car hit his bike and knocked Bitsy to the street.  He had a severe head injury and as a result he died shortly afterwards.  He died on September 7, 1970.

That day was very memorable, but even more so was the funeral.  It was a few days later.  I know it was a school day, because we missed half a day of school that year.  It was such a sad day.  I remember going to the graveyard and seeing Mrs. Hotard sobbing.  I remember crying along with her and it still chokes me up to think about it.  It must have been at this point that my mom talked about how parents should never have to endure the death of one of their children.  Such a terrible loss.

Earlier this year I wrote a post about my Acadian ancestors and their experiences during the Grand Derangement.  In this particular post I mentioned my Bourg ancestors.  One of the Hotard brothers sent me a note saying that they also descended from the Acadian Bourgs!  Come to find out, little Bitsy had been my 7th cousin twice removed.  His grandmother Hazel Bourg had been my 7th cousin.  She died in 1967, but I don’t recall that happening.  All my life I thought Mrs. Hotard was only Italian.  She was my 7th cousin once removed Sandy Passantino through the Cajun side of her family.  Imagine that!

I recently reread the book about my ancestor Trasimond Landry.  There is a mention of Trasimond going to a funeral of a friend when he was young.  He grew up with Arthur and his twin brother Anatole.  Arthur’s funeral was the first funeral he had attended where he cried.  When Trasimond’s mother Marie Carmelite died a few years later, Anatole was there to share the grief.

When I read that, it made me think about my experience at Bitsy’s funeral all those years ago.  And like Trasimond who had his friend at his mother’s funeral at a later time, my cousin Sandy was at my parents’ wake.  She actually led the rosary that night.  But we didn’t know we were related back then.  We were just sharing grief again over the loss of people we both cared about.

Milliron Reunion in 1885

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Daniel C. Milliron and Catherine Cribbs were my 4x great grandparents.  They were married on Feb. 5, 1824, in Hemphill Township, Westmoreland County in Pennsylvania.  They were both born in Westmoreland County, yet after they were  married they settled in Mercer County which is 100 miles away.

They had nine children together.  In 1825 they had Alexander, in 1826 they had Anne Magdaleen (my 3x great grandmother), in 1829 they had John, in 1831 they had Elias, in 1834 they had Cyrus (died as infant), in 1836 they had David, in 1838 they had Luis (died as infant), in 1840 they had Catherine (died as infant), and in 1842 they had Susannah (died at age 9).  As you can see, only 4 sons and 1 daughter grew to adulthood.

Once they grew up and got married, they and their children started spreading across the country.  Those were the times they were living in.  When Anne Magdaleen married Morris Foster on August 30, 1843, the US consisted of only 26 states.  By the time of her death in 1873, 11 more were added.  The Milliron families were setting up homes in some of these new states.

Transcription of May 21, 1885, letter from Milliron brothers to their brother John. The letter was found in an old family Bible.

This led to lots of distance between those siblings.  I discovered this when I found a transcription of a letter from May 21, 1885.  Three of the brothers were having a reunion at the home of the oldest brother Alexander in Wabaunsee County, Kansas.  When they were growing up, he was called Sander.  As he got older, he was known as Mac.  After a few days together at the reunion, they adjusted to calling him his new name.

From what I can tell, Sander (or Mac as we now call him) had last seen Eli in 1857.  Can you imagine not seeing your sibling for 28 years?  The last time Eli had seen Dave was in 1865.   Their time apart was only 20 years.  Sander had last seen Dave in 1870.  They don’t mention how long it had been since the brothers had seen John.  The letter was written to him and it sounds like he may have stayed in Pennsylvania.

One of the things not mentioned was the death of Anne Magdaleen in 1873.  They do talk about being the only four left of their immediate family.  So it’s evident that they did not go to Anne’s funeral.  She lived in Pennsylvania, so the only one that would have possibly made it would have been John.  We don’t hear from him, though.  They do express sorrow that he is not with them and invite him to visit each of them.  I wonder if Cathrine Foster Phenice (daughter of Anne Magdeleen) was invited to this reunion.  She only lived a day or so away, yet she and husband Samuel had six young children to care for.

The three brothers spent a few days reminiscing about old times.  They mention some of their adventures as young men and say that they have tempered themselves as older men.  It’s a little bittersweet.  They mention reading over all the old letters they could find.  Boy, I wish I had some of those!  At least I have this one.  It gives me a bit of a glimpse into the lives of my great great great grandmother’s family.

Harry C. Phenice is my maternal grandmother’s father.