Family Christmas 100 Years Ago

When I was thinking about what I’d write about today, I kept being pulled toward posting our family recording of “The Carol of the Star” that I shared three years ago.  But when I sat down to write, I had to find a photo to share as well.  It wasn’t long before I saw the photos of the Christmas of 1923.  I couldn’t pass up on a 100-year anniversary story!  I’ve shared a few photos from that memorable Christmas previously, but I haven’t shared all of them.  So that settled that.

The first photo I remember seeing from the Christmas of 1923 was a slide that came from my dad’s collection.  Someone had written on the cardboard frame of the slide and it said, “Grandma Amelie + women who spent the last Christmas with her 1923.”  I figured it was my great great grandmother Amelie Bujol, who had been married to Trasimond Landry.  He was a Civil War hero from Brusly and the two of them married after the Civil War.  I think there are some letters that she wrote to him during the war.  I really need to look into that more.  I have not put forth enough effort in finding out what is out there.  Amelie, or Belite as I like to call her, and Trasimond’s first child was Marie Therese Landry and I descend from her and her husband Vincent Maximilian Patureau. One of the seven daughters of Marie Therese and Max was Germaine Erie Patureau.  She was my paternal grandmother.  She was married to Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. and their son Robert Joseph Jr. was my dad.  I knew them as Mee Maw, Pee Paw, and Daddy.

Back to the photo of Grandma Amelie + women.  When I read that label, for some reason I thought it was a photo of Grandma Belite with some women she went on a retreat with.  But really, what 80-year-old woman goes on a retreat the month before she dies?  Of course, she didn’t know she was going to die the next month, but you know what I mean.  I later found more photos of the event and identification of the people in the photos.  They are all family members on my dad’s side of the family who are closely connected to Grandma Belite.  It was taken in Lafayette, Louisiana.  Maybe if I had seen the photo of Amelie + the men, I might have realized right away that she was posing with family members.  I think I would have known Grampa Max back then.  I’m much more familiar with these faces now, aren’t you?  Surely you noticed Grampa Max on the far left of this photo!

Grandpa Max was married to Grandma Belite’s oldest daughter, but besides that, he was biologically related to her as well.  Max Patureau’s mother was Marie Emma Landry, the daughter of Elie Onesime Landry.  Belite Bujol’s mother was Anna Adele Landry, the daughter of Joseph Emmanuel Landry.  Onesime and Emmanuel were half-brothers, so that makes Max and Belite half second cousins through Joseph Ignatius Landry.  I’ve said before that they were related, but didn’t explain how.  So now you know!

Also in the photo is Vincent Patureau, who is standing between his father Max and his grandmother Belite. Behind Vincent and Belite is Anthony Joseph “Toby” Mouton.  He’s not related to Belite, but he was married to her oldest granddaughter Emma Patureau.  The other tall man in the back is Belite’s son-in-law Louis Joseph Peter Landry.  He was married to Belite’s daughter from her second husband Pierre Magloire Babin – Clemence Babin.  They were known as Uncle Louie and Aunt Clem.  Uncle Louie was one of Pee Paw’s older brothers.  The three boys on the right of the photo are the sons of Louie and Clem.  Their names are Ethelbert “Bert”, Henry Louis “H.L.”, and Thornwell Fay “Fay”.

I really like those old photos from that Christmas 100 years ago.  And even though Mee Maw was not in the photos, she cherished them and took care of them.  Otherwise we wouldn’t have them to look at now.  That’s because these are the people who made her Christmas memories special from her early years.  It’s all about family.

Merry Christmas for the new ’23.