Month: May 2024

Grandma Daisy and Her Sisters

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Ruth, Daisy (sitting), and Mabel Keys in 1894 in Louisiana.

I was determined to write a post about the Keys this week.  I looked to see if there were any photos that I haven’t posted yet, and I couldn’t find any.  I can’t let that stop me from writing about my Keys ancestors, especially since there will be a Keys Reunion in a couple of weeks.  It will be on June 15th at the Hathaway/Raymond Catholic Church Hall.  Ask me for more details if you want to attend.

So this week I will share a photo that I’ve shared before.  But I have improved the photo from the last time you saw it.  I got the original image from my Aunt Loris a few years ago.  It was just a snapshot of an old photo in a round frame.  The photo was cropped in a circle, so some of the details were missing.  

I worked on it to fill it in for a square photo.  I like the way it came out, except for the plant on the right side of the photo.  In my first edit, I cloned the bottom leaves of the plant and it went all the way to the top of the photo.  It looked like a small version of Jack and the Beanstalk.  I used it anyway, because I didn’t know what the original setup was.

Then I was looking through Edith Keys Segraves book about our Keys ancestors and I came across this same old photo.  But the version in the book has the curtains like you see in the right side of the photo I’m posting today.  So I did some blending and copying from photo to photo and came out with this better version.  I did this a few months ago and liked the results.  The original photo in that book also shows them all full length.  In other words, their feet are showing and so is the floor.  Maybe I’ll find a good copy of that photo and you’ll see this photo in yet another version!  Lucky you.

Maybe you don’t like this photo as much as I do, but I’m partial because the Keys sister in the middle is my great grandmother Daisy Keys Phenice.  She and her mother and siblings came to America from England in 1887.  They left during Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.  One of the things about this move is that it separated Daisy’s mom Martha Ann Cook Keys and her sister Henrietta Cook Keys.  It seems like they were very close.  They lost their father when they were young children and they later married two of the Keys brothers in England.  But this move to America put a big distance between the sisters.

Daisy and her sisters did not do the same thing.  They all settled in southern Louisiana.  Daisy was the oldest of the sister, having been born in 1876.  She was the third child, though.  There were two older brothers – Henry Alfred and Leonard.  They stayed in southern Louisiana as well.  Daisy lived in Hathaway, Louisiana, where she raised a family with Harry Clifton Phenice.  Ruth, who was born in 1879, married to Herbert Bryan and they raised a family in Jennings and surrounding areas.  Mabel, born in 1881, married to Abraham Miller and they lived in Kinder, Louisiana.  All five of the Keys siblings lived within 30 minutes or so from each other.  A much easier visit to make than crossing the ocean! 

Even though the subsequent generations have spread out to many states, I’m hoping to see a nice group of cousins at the upcoming Reunion.

Mee Maw and Pee Paw Together

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Erie Patureau Landry and Rob Landry circa 1954. I’m pretty sure the photo was taken at their home in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

I like this photo.   It’s one of those photos that is calming to me.  There’s something relaxed about it.  You can tell that it’s not a posed photo – neither of the subjects are looking at the camera.  Maybe they were aware of it and were trying to get ready for a posed photo.  Or maybe they were surprised by the photo.  They would have known right away that the photo was taken.  It’s a flash photo.  I don’t have a posed photo from the same day, so maybe a candid photo was the goal.  I have always liked candid photos.

I particularly like this one because it is a photo of my paternal grandparents.  We called our grandmother Mee Maw, but she was born Germaine Erie Patureau on August 6, 1895, in Crescent, Louisiana.  Pee Paw was born on the other side of the state in Westlake, Louisiana, on January 9, 1893.  He was named Robert Joseph Landry, but most people knew him as Rob, Bob, or Pappy.  They were married in 1921 in Lafayette, Louisiana, and then made their home in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

They had their first child in 1923 and their eighth (and last) in 1936.  My dad was born in 1929, and he was named after his father.  So he was Robert Joseph Landry, Jr.  He went by Bobbie, Bob, and Pluto.  His parents became grandparents in 1947 with the birth of The First.  Plenty more followed.  By the time that my sister Jodie was born in October of 1953, there were already seven other grandchildren. 

I’m thinking this photo was taken from around that time.  My grandparents look about the same age as they did when my parents brought Jodie home to Lake Charles for the first time to meet the family.  That was around the beginning of 1954.  By that time, grandchild number nine had already arrived.  And those grandchildren probably recognize a lot more from this photo than I do.  I wasn’t born until after Pee Paw’s death in 1957.  I also don’t remember this house, which I assume was their home in 1954.

If Mee Maw had lived in this house when I was a kid, I think I would have remembered that door with the two arched panels of glass.  It looks like it is an exterior door, and even the wall in the room back there looks like an exterior wall.  But it has furniture in it!  It looks like an old porch that was closed in at a later date.  We have that in the house that we are living in now.  The furniture doesn’t look familiar either – neither the rocking chair nor the chair or sofa.  I’m not familiar with the cake plate that Mee Maw is holding, but it is evident that Pee Paw was.  He’s looking a little expectantly at that covered dish.  He was probably looking forward to a tasty dessert!

But I do remember my dear sweet Mee Maw.  She was such a gentle, kind woman.  I missed out on knowing Pee Paw personally, but I did get to be around my grandmother for the first thirteen years of my life.  I have good memories of her from family get togethers through the years.  She would also come to visit with us and teach us card games and watch TV with us.  She told me a funny little lie once and she cured a sick spell I had at her sister’s funeral.  I know I shouldn’t say this, but I think I might have been her favorite!

That’s not really true.  It’s a running joke among the cousins.  I never thought I was her favorite.  I always felt loved by her.  If she had favorites, so be it.  That would not prevent her from having enough love to spread around.  As Lottie from the movie Enchanted April would say, “She had a tub of love.”

 

Betty Lou Graduated in 1951

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My mom’s birthday is coming up soon, so I’ve been thinking about her a bit more than usual.  It’s also that time of year when high school graduations occur.  In fact, tomorrow will be the 45th anniversary of my high school graduation.  Wow!  That’s a big number!  And I was calling myself an old fart when I wrote about my 40th year anniversary.  The years just keep flying by.  

Betty Lou Bucklin graduated from Hathaway High School in 1951. Go Hornets!

When I thought about what I’d write tonight, I decided it would be about my mom.  I don’t have any birthday photos of her when she was younger, but I do have her high school graduation photo.  So that’s what I decided to post today.  My mom was Betty Lou Bucklin and she was born in Hathaway, Louisiana, in 1933 to Fred and Myrtle Phenice Bucklin.  She was the second of five children.  When growing up in Hathaway, she had several cousins living nearby from both sides of her family.  

It was a small community, so when they went to school, it was the same school for twelve years.  Hathaway High School was a large brick building back then and the school mascot was the Hornet.  It wasn’t always like that.  My grandmother Myrtle Phenice Bucklin lived in Hathaway and went to several schools.  Her first two years of high school were at Hathaway School.  Then she spent a year going to Kinder and her final year at Jennings High School finished in 1925.  That must have been before they built Hathaway High School.

Hathaway High School graduating class of 1951.

And my mom did go to school for twelve years.  It changed a year or so before she graduated.  Previous years only went for eleven grades.  I’ve seen photos of previous grades and the class started out with more students.  I guess that’s the way it always is.  By the time her class made it to graduation, there were only fifteen of them left.  Like I said, it was a small community.  My mom was not the valedictorian, but she was the salutatorian.  The only reason I know that is because Grandma would tell people from time to time that Betty Lou had been the valedictorian.  And Mama would be quick to correct her by saying that she had been the salutatorian.  She didn’t want people believing something incorrect about her. 

So my mom graduated from high school 73 years ago.  And she shows up right in the middle of their high school graduation photo.  That’s because she was the most important, even if she wasn’t the valedictorian!  Of course, that’s my humble opinion.  Let me tell you who everyone is.  On the top row from left to right are James LeJeune, Lela Mae Jester, Edmond Gary, T. J. Tramel, and Lenus LeBlanc.  The middle row includes Clement Miller, LaVelle Krumnow, Betty Lou Bucklin, Lee James Clement, and Claribel Brown.  The front row consists of Doris Gotreaux, Arvis Gary, Carol Bryan, Dot Gary, and Julia Gary.

My would have been turning 91 this coming Monday.  Her classmates were of the same general age.  I think a few of them are still around.  I really don’t know.  I’ll be thinking of my mom on Monday…and most every day.

Landry + Bouquet = 100

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Bibb and Manette Bouquet with their children at their 50th wedding anniversary celebration in 1974.  Standing in the back from left to right Beth, Plukey, Pinkie, Ida Mae, George, Tessie, twins Roberta and Robert, and Mervyn.

It’s a good thing that I’ve thought about and planned on what I’m writing tonight, because I haven’t done much to prepare.  Plus I got distracted tonight with the four little kittens that we got this week, and I ended up cleaning our front brick steps with a pressure washer.  It has to look good for the garden tour on Saturday!!  And now it’s 9:00 pm and I’m just getting started.  I can’t pay attention to anything else at the present, so hold your calls!  

This is slightly different than usual, because instead of talking about my ancestors, I’m talking about relatives.  But these relatives on my dad’s side of the family are special.  In many ways.  I’ve mentioned them a few times on previous blogs.  Mainly because they are part of the big entanglement in my dad’s family tree.

The central person to this post is Marie Manette Landry.  She was my dad’s (Robert Joseph Landry, Jr.) first cousin and she was a bit older than he was.  She was born in 1904, while my dad was born in 1929.  That was mainly because her father Sebastien Landry was almost 20 years older than my grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr.  They were known as Seb (rhymes with dweeb) and Rob.  Uncle Seb married his first cousin Marie Manette Landry (yes, the same name as her daughter.)  When Manette-1904 was born, Manette-1876 died just 9 days later.  I’m pretty sure it was from complications from childbirth.

Manette and Bibb circa 1924

Uncle Seb never did remarry.  He lived with his parents for a while, so Manette was like a little sister to Rob.  When Rob was older, he married a cousin as well.  Manette-1876 had an older sister named Marie Therese.  Marie Therese married Ferdinand Patureau and they had many children, including Germaine Erie.  Rob and Erie got married in 1921.    They had the first of their eight children in 1923.  On May 9, 1924, (100 years ago today) Manette-1904 married Adnes “Bibb” Bouquet.  They had the first of their nine children in 1925.  So even though Manette was his first cousin, it was her children who were more like first cousins to my dad and his siblings.  The families have always been close.

I remember cousin Manette from when I was a young teenager.  I’m sure I saw her on several occasions through the years, but I distinctly remember going to their 50-year wedding anniversary in 1974.  It must have been in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  I remember eating snacks from the different tables and coming across an old photo of the couple when they were newly married.  It was so fascinating to me to see the photos of those young people and see how they had turned into these old relatives of my dad!  I seem to remember her having her hair in a bun and I wondered how long her hair was.  If she had let it grow all those years, it was probably REALLY long!  LOL  

I also remember when they took the photo from 1974.  I didn’t think anything of the wild patterns of their clothes.  That was the norm at the time.  I remember they looked like a big happy family, similar to my own family.  When I correspond with these family members now, sometimes they’ll ask exactly how we’re related.  Well, since Manette’s father and Rob’s father were brothers, they were first cousins.  Since Manette’s mother was the aunt to Rob’s mother, they were first cousins once removed.  There are more relationships that make it even more confusing.  It was always talked about like it was no big deal.  Most people nowadays don’t see it that way.

I remember hearing someone at a family gathering say, “Oh, yeah.  I remember when Uncle Rob married cousin Erie.”  I’m thinking that it was Manette that must have been the one speaking.  She definitely wasn’t insinuating anything bad about it, her own parents were first cousins.  She was a sweet lady and I’m glad to honor her on the 100th anniversary of her wedding.

Susan G. Stanbrough Was Known as Sue

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Susan G. Stanbrough in Jennings, Louisiana, circa 1900.

I’m talking about my great great grandmother Susan G. Stanbrough.  In this photo she looks like a rather serious woman.  I have a few other photos of her, and she looks equally serious in those as well.  Of course, when you look at old photos from that time period, that was usually the case.  But in her correspondence with family that I have found, she would sign off with a casual Sue.  So most of the times I refer to her as Grandma Sue.  In this post I’ll just call her Sue.

Sue was the mother of Addie May Hine, my great grandmother.  Sue had five sons as well.  Addie had more sons and more daughters, with a total of twelve children.  I descend from her son Fred D. Bucklin.  Fred, like Sue, had a middle initial in his name that didn’t stand for anything.  Fred was the father of Betty Lou Bucklin, my dear sweet mother.

Sue started her life in Westfield, Indiana, on October the 3rd of 1851.  Her parents were John Stanbrough and Lydia Jane Mills.  Sue was the seventh of thirteen Stanbrough children, though some of those siblings shortened their last names to Stanbro or Stambro.   Sue spent her childhood in Hamilton County, Indiana.  Her mother died early in 1873, and later that year Sue married George Henry Hine.  They were 4th cousins through their common ancestors William Vestal and Elizabeth Mercer.  Sue and George might not have been aware of that, because their common ancestors died almost a hundred years before the younger couple were born.

Sue and George had all six of their children in Indiana – some in Hamilton County and others in Boone County.  There was family in both counties.  They then decided to move south to Louisiana.  I’m not sure what the motivation was, but it was a time when the railroads came through southern Louisiana and made it more accessible.  There were different people who promoted the area as a great place for farming with mild winters. 

1900 U. S. Census of Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana.

The family moved to Jefferson Davis Parish in Louisiana in 1894.  They acquired a homestead in China, Louisiana.  In the 1900 Census, the family included George, Susan, John U. (must be Bert James by year of birth), Romanzo (“Rowe”), James, and Oliver.  But also included in the household is James Stanbrough.  That would be Sue’s brother Jim who was a year older than her.  He had moved down to Louisiana and was living with them.  Addie was not in the household, because she had gotten married and had started a family of her own.  I don’t know where 18-year-old Lonnie Hine was at the time.  Perhaps in the military?  He didn’t get married until 1903.

If I’m correct about the date of this photo, it was taken around the same time as the Census.  The family had been in the South for about six years and Sue had recently become a grandmother.  They probably took the photo in Jennings, Louisiana, because that was the nearest town that was likely to have a photo studio.  This is actually cropped from a photo of the whole family.  It’s a great family photo, but I just wanted to focus on Sue today.  

If you look at this photo long enough, you’ll start to catch a glimpse of a smile on her lips.  Go ahead.  Try it!