My Landrys of West Baton Rouge

I don’t normally group photos together like this.  And I wouldn’t have necessarily grouped these four photos together.  But this photo grouping is part of an announcement for a special event coming up.  On July 23 there will be a West Baton Rouge Acadian Heritage Celebration in Brusly, Louisiana, and the special family name featured this year is Landry.  So when one of the organizers asked me if they could use some of my photos, I answered in the affirmative.  Why wouldn’t I want to honor some of my own Landry ancestors for the celebration?  But they are just representing the many Landry families in Brusly from back when.

And actually, one of these is not my ancestor.  That would be the handsome guy with the bow tie.  His name was Sebastien Landry.  He was an older brother of my paternal grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Jr.  Even though Uncle Seb (That’s what my dad and his siblings called him.  It rhymes with dweeb.) was 19 years older than Rob (or Pee Paw to us grandchildren), they were very close.  Seb married his first cousin Manette Landry and they had a daughter, also named Manette.  Older Manette died shortly after giving birth, and little Manette was raised like a little sister to Rob.  The families have been close ever since that time.  When I think of my grandfather, I don’t think of him from Brusly.  That’s because he was born in Westlake, Louisiana.  So it is more appropriate for Sebastien to be in the group photo because he was born in Brusly before the family moved west.

My great grandfather (father to Rob and Seb) is the man on the left in the group photo.  He was born in Brusly in 1845.  When he was old enough, he fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.  After the war, he married Marie Celeste Leveque.  Grandma Celeste was born in Brusly in 1847 to Joseph Auguste Leveque and Marie Marguerite “Basalite” Landry Leveque.  Basalite is the woman between the two men in the photo.  She was born in 1821 to Joseph Emmanuel “Manuel” Landry and Clarice Celeste Bruneteau Landry.  Basalite and Alcide were half first cousins.  That’s because Alcide’s father Narcisse was the half-brother of Manuel Landry.  That would make Alcide and his wife Celeste half first cousins once removed.  In case you haven’t heard this before, all four of my dad’s grandparents were related to each other through the Landry family.

The last one in the photo is Marie Therese Landry.  She was my great grandmother.  She was the mother of Germaine Erie Patureau Landry.  My siblings, cousins, and I knew her as Mee Maw.  She was the best and I think I was her favorite!  Marie Therese was the older sibling of Manette Landry that I mentioned earlier.  She was married to her cousin Seb.  So Marie Therese’s daughter and sister were married to the brothers Rob and Seb respectively.  (Her half-sister Clemence Babin was married to Rob and Seb’s brother Louis Landry.)  Marie Therese was the oldest child of Trasimond Landry, the brother of Alcide Landry.

But there was another Landry cousin caught up in this family web, and I didn’t want to leave her out of this discussion.  That would be Marie Emma Landry and she was my great great grandmother.  She was born in 1829 in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, to Onezime Landry and Zerbine Dupuy.  The family moved to Brusly shortly after she was born.  I guess they wanted to be around other family members.  Onezime was the brother of Narcisse and the half-brother of Manuel.  They are the three sons of Joseph Ignatius Landry that I descend from.

Marie Emma spent her formative years in Brusly.  When she was a teenager, she met French immigrant Ferdinand Patureau.  The Patureau family had immigrated to Louisiana in 1840 and settled in the Plaquemine area.  Ferdinand was only 14 years old at the time, but that didn’t stop him from returning to France on his own without anyone in the family knowing where he was.  He even spent a bit of time in Cuba working on a sugar plantation.  He finally made it back to Louisiana in 1843 or so.  So Emma met him some time between then and their February 10, 1847, wedding.  Ferdinand was 20 years old and Emma was only 17.  Their first few children were born in Brusly, but they eventually settled in Plaquemine.  She gave birth to at least fifteen children.

So there you have it – most of my Landry family who lived in Brusly, Louisiana.  I suppose that I should mention that Trasimond’s wife Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol was the daughter of Anna Adele Landry.  Adele was the sister of  Basalite Landry Leveque.  There, now they are all covered and it’s as clear as can be.  If you are part of this family or have your own connection to a Landry family (or any Acadian family), be sure to attend the Celebration on the 23rd.  I’m planning on being there.  Maybe we can figure out how we’re related!