Van | Family History

The Swimming Pool

May 19, 2016 Van 5 comments

I love this old photo. Don’t you just love those old swimsuits? It’s another old photo that makes you sit back and wonder what is going on. It’s definitely not one of those staid, studio portraits that you might typically find from that era. I’d like to know more about this photo. Mainly I want to know who everyone is. If you can help with that, let me know.

I’ll start by writing about what I do know. The first time I saw this photo was two days ago. Joseph messaged it to me after he had ‘rediscovered’ it on his computer. He and his mom have been collecting old Bucklin family photos for a while now. Since the photo also includes some Phenice family, he agreed to let me post it with questions to pool our knowledge. It’s a swimming pool.

I know that the girl on the far right is my grandmother Myrtle Phenice. I was estimating that the photo was taken around 1928 or 1929, which is before her 1930 wedding to Fred Bucklin. There seems to be three distinct groups in this photo, yet she stands alone. Looking back at the others. Slightly amused…or grinning to bear it.

The first group on the left are the Bystanders. Most of them are looking at the camera, wondering what to do. “Are we taking a picture or are we goofing around?” They seem a bit unsure. I am more than a bit unsure. I’m clueless. I have no idea who any of these people are. I’m not even sure if the person in the striped swimsuit is a boy or a girl. Which bathroom would you direct them to?

I think of the next group as the Bucklin Brothers Brawlers. It looks like they’re fighting over a girl. If one of them is Fred, I can see why Myrtle is not very amused. Fred has an identical twin, so one of them could be Clarence (b. 1907). And Herbert has a similar look and he is close to the same age as the twins (b. 1906). And who is the girl?

I’ll call the next group the Phenice Fraternity Frolickers. Myrtle had four brothers: Sylvan (b. 1901), Henry (b. 1909), Orville (b. 1911), and Warren (b. 1916). Can you tell which one is which and which one is not present?

So many questions. Is the Bystander boy standing by the Bucklin Brawlers a Bucklin or a Phenice? Is Myrtle happy or sad? Where’s Waldo? Was Waldo a Bucklin or a Phenice? Where was this taken? My guess on that would be on the Ouiska Chitto. It’s only about 10 miles from the China/Hathaway area that they all lived in and it has beaches and wooded areas like that still.

So if you have a few answers (or suggestion or questions), join in on the swimming pool. The water’s fine.

Check out Part 2

Veterinarian at your Service

May 11, 2016 Van 2 comments

Vincent Maximilian Patureau was a veterinarian in Lafayette, Louisiana, circa 1914.

My great grandfather Vincent Maximilian Patureau (father of our beloved Mee Maw) had an interesting life. He is usually referred to as “Grampa Max” so I’m going to call him Max.

Max was born in Bagdad, Mexico during the Civil War in 1865 to Ferdinand Pierre and Marie Emma Landry Patureau. The family was in Mexico to get away from the turmoil of the Civil War. There were also some Patureau relatives who lived in the Metamoras, Mexico/Brownsville, Texas area. They were the family of Ferdinand’s sister Victorine Patureau Laulom. Bagdad was a small town that grew suddenly during the Civil War due to its port that helped with cotton trade.

Ferdinand’s family returned to Louisiana and made their home in Plaquemine, Louisiana, shortly after Max was born and the Civil War was over. Bagdad declined after that and was then destroyed by a hurricane in 1889. It was never rebuilt and the port was abandoned.

Max grew up in Iberville Parish where his father worked in the sawmill/lumber industry. Ferdinand eventually had his own sawmill and Max began to work in that industry as well. When Max was 11, his father died as a result of an accident at the sawmill. He might have been one of the children to witness the accident that led to his father’s death.

In 1888 at age of 23 he married Marie Therese Landry, who was his 2nd cousin through the Landry line (His father married a Landry and his daughter did, too. Three generations of Patureau/Landry marriage). Their first child was born 10 months later. Several others followed, though some did not make it past infancy. In 1904 he became co-owner of a store, in 1906 he was a witness to a lynching, and in 1909 his wife died. The store closed in 1913 and the family moved to Lafayette.

When in Lafayette Max began practicing the art of veterinary science. From what I’ve heard, he was self-taught. From the photo I posted of the shingle he hung when setting up practice, being self taught did not stop him from putting Dr. in front of his name. From what I’ve noticed lately, everything is a lot more regulated now than it was back then.

The picture is of Max drinking a beverage from a nice cup while standing next to an old car. It was with a group of photos from his veterinary practice. Maybe it was part of an advertising campaign. I think it was meant to be humorous. An old horse doctor who goes out to farms to fix up the animals dressed up all fancy and drinking properly from a nice cup. I like it. What do you think?

Circa 1915 – The shingle that my great grandfather Vincent Maximilian Patureau hung in front of his practice in Lafayette.

Mother’s Day Through the Years

May 4, 2016 Van Leave a comment

I found an assortment of information a few months ago and decided to group it together for a post for the week of Mother’s Day. The first item is an article from 31 years ago about a Mother’s Day 50 years earlier. So the Throwback is a Throwback. It’s a very interesting article, especially for me and my family. It mentions several family members from both sides of my mom’s family and even quotes them about family and motherhood.

The first family member mentioned is Mrs. H. C. Phenice, known to my family as Daisy Henrietta Martha Keys Phenice. I’ve posted a few photos of her in this series, most recently was at the beginning of last month. In 1935, she was the second oldest mother present. She was 59 years old at the time.

Mrs. Ruth (Bucklin) Bruchhaus is also mentioned as the youngest mother present. She was Fred Bucklin’s (my mom’s dad) sister and she had a young son Harley (father of Uvonne) who was born Feb. 5, 1933, just a few months before mom. Most notable to me is that in Ruth’s later years she preserved many old photos and labeled them for all of us to enjoy.

My favorite part of the article is the quote by my great grandmother Addie Mae Hine Bucklin (mother of Fred). She was the mother of twelve children, so I enjoyed reading that she spoke of the love and tenderness of a mother as she gazes upon her newborn baby as it lies in her arms planning its little life.

An interesting talk was given by Joseph Connors’ grandfather Herbert Bucklin (brother of Fred). It was questioning whether ‘modern’ mothers meet the needs of the family. I guess every generation compares themselves to the ones that came before. That was followed by a talk by Frieda (Rampmier) Bucklin (Fred’s sister-in-law) and Dora Koll (married Herbert Bucklin 2 years later). Then my grandmother Myrtle Sylvia Phenice Bucklin (wife of Fred) and her brother-in-law Roy Bucklin talked about how young people can show appreciation to their mothers.

The program concluded with my grandmother reading a poem she had written about Mother’s Day (I wish I had that!) and then the youth closed out the event with a song. So interesting to read an article with so many relatives mentioned from long ago. The older generation there were the last of the pioneers who settled that area in the late 1800s. I just realized that my two great grandmothers mentioned were both born in 1876. Daisy was five months older than Addie, so she was able to score the lovely bouquet of sweet pea intermingled with lace fern.

The photo of the group is from 1948. It has many of the same people that are mentioned in the article. Both are about the Adult Sunday School class of Raymond Methodist Church in Raymond, Louisiana.

The last photo is of my dear sweet Mama from around the same time as the other photo.

1947 - Betty Lou Bucklin2 Heal Betty Lou Bucklin

Happy Mother’s Day!

Hathaway Horse Sense

April 27, 2016 Van Leave a comment

A Little Bit of Horse Sense Goes a Long Way

I have recently been going through the book that Edith Keys Segraves put together and published in 1980. It is called “Cook-Keys Family: Two Centuries in England and America.” In it she lists the ancestors of Henry Keys and Martha Cook, my great great grandparents. I’m sure you know all about them because I have mentioned them before and recently posted a photo of their three daughters – Daisy, Mabel and Ruth. (See Dec. 13, 2015 post by clicking on thumbnail.) Those three daughters are the root of the discovery I recently was able to confirm.

In the book Cousin Edith not only lists the ancestors, but also spent a good bit of time and energy in finding and naming as many descendants as she could find. At that time it would have meant a lot of telephone calls (with real phones connected to the wall!) and letters (remember those? You would sit down and write on paper with a pen!) And she didn’t stop with just the descendants of Henry and Martha, she went back two generations further – namely to William Horsnell who was born in 1770. I posted a photo of Uncle Will Horsnell (son of William) a while back. (See Feb. 24, 2016 post by clicking on thumbnail.) He’s the uncle that moved from Iowa to Louisiana and Martha Cook Keys followed him there. He’s the first person buried at China cemetery.

But before Martha moved to Louisiana, some of her Horsnell and Cook relatives followed Unce Will and his brothers to Iowa in the 1850s. Cousin Edith tracked most of this information and listed their descendants at the end of her book. And me being the devoted (or deranged – you can choose your adjective!) genealogist that I am, I have been entering all of these people into my own family tree. Then I take it a bit further and try to bring it up to date. Using birth and death notices on Ancestry is the first thing I do. Then I look up obituaries online or on FindAGrave.com. Some of them will list all of the family members, which is really helpful. Once I get to people born in the 50s, I take to Facebook and see who I can find.

There is a lot of information that people share on Facebook. Has anyone noticed that? It can be helpful with my research. I even copy photos of relatives and add them to my tree. It’s interesting to see how some family lines kind of die out, while others spread like wildfire. In my quest, I came across some Hunters with a Horsnell mother. From time to time I’ll send a note to someone if it looks like they are interested in genealogy, but most of the time I find as much as I can then move on. That’s what I did with the Hunters.

But then on a genetic genealogy site a few days later, someone with the same last name as one of the Hunter sisters posted a note about being on a DNA site GEDmatch.com, which is where I do a lot of my research. So I went to the site and searched the name in Mama and aunt Loris’s match list. The guy’s name didn’t show up in their list, but a Cheryl Benham did come up. And the name sounded familiar from the Hunter sisters. So I looked her up, and sure enough Cheryl Hunter married a Benham. Could it be our Horsnell cousin Cheryl? She had matching DNA to aunt Loris and a smaller amount with Mama.

1770 William Horsnell Connection - 3

So I sent her a note, and she replied quickly. Yes, her mother was a Hornsell. Even though she matched mom and Loris, I still wanted to get more verification. She was a member of 23andMe where many Keys relatives have tested, so I invited her to share with me. She quickly agreed and yesterday I compared her with the other Keys cousins and “Eureka!” she matched Kay Bryan and Myra Miller (who are 2nd cousins to each other and 4th cousins with Cheryl) on the exact same spot.

Definitely some Horsnell DNA that has been passed down through the generations. (In case you were wondering about the title, this is what I was refering to. Mama always said that she had “Hathaway horse sense.” Come to find out, she inherited it!)

So that book by Edith Keys Segraves is a treasure. I wish I could thank her. I’m sure she would be excited to see the verification of the research with the matching DNA. Maybe even more excited than all of you are! But to see DNA from each of the Keys sisters – Daisy being represented by mom and Loris, Mabel being represented by Myra Miller, and Ruth being represented by Kay Bryan – that was passed down from even further back and being able to identify it is remarkable. Thanks again, Cousin Edith.

Sisters: Part 2

April 20, 2016 Van Leave a comment

1935 - Unknown, Germaine, Wana, Frances, Bobbie

Unknown girl, Germaine, Wana, Frances, and Bobbie Landry circa 1935

I thought I’d continue the theme of sisters/siblings for another week. This is a photo of my dad with three of his sisters. I don’t know who the girl on the left is (any info on who that might be would be appreciated), but next to her is Germaine, Wana, Frances, and Bob Landry. When you come from family lines with lots of kids, there are sisters and aunts everywhere! This time the focus is on my dad’s side of the family. He, like my mom, had four girls in his family. There were also four boys as well. And this was in the middle of the Great Depression!

A. J. and Marie Landry circa 1925

But they didn’t seem to lack the important things. They had their brothers and sisters in Lake Charles. They had some cousins in Plaquemine that they liked to visit. My dad talks about how he liked to sleep on the porch at their house. I guess sometimes “important things” don’t include beds! When I think of him sleeping on the porch as a kid, I picture him at the age he is in this first photo. Such a cute group of kids.

I wouldn’t want to leave Aunt Marie out of the discussion. She’s the oldest of my father’s siblings. This photo is from 1925 when the family only consisted of my grandparents and their first two children. This is A. J. and Marie Landry. I love this old photo. I just wish the chicken’s beak was in the photo. That would be perfect!

Kinda like this!

A good editor can capture the attention of a chicken after 90 years and make it look at the camera!

Landry

Sisters

April 13, 2016 Van 4 comments

1948-Loris, Sylvia, Betty, and Alma Bucklin

Loris, Sylvia, Betty Lou, and Alma Bucklin circa 1948

I’ve been thinking about posting this one for a while. Since this week started with siblings day and my sister Jamie just reminded me about it being time for my weekly project, I thought I’d have the theme be sisters.

This is my mom and her sisters around 1948 in Hathaway, Louisiana. That’s Loris, Sylvia, Betty Lou, and Alma posing for the photo. Nobody is smiling big, nobody is frowning, yet they all seem to be paying attention to the photographer. For some reason it captures my attention and makes me wonder what is going on.

For some reason I think it was a hot summer day that was coming to a close. They have agreed to taking the photo and were waiting for the photographer to get ready to take the photo. And the photographer captured them waiting. Smiling, yet not smiling. Posed, yet not posed. Ready to get this over with and get ready for bed.
——-
For my sisters – Jodie, Karen, and Jamie.
For my dad’s (Bob) sisters – Marie, Wana, Germaine, and Frances.

Bucklin

The Bujol Connection

April 6, 2016 Van One comment

Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol Landry Babin circa 1915

My paternal grandmother’s maternal grandmother was born Marie Amelie Bujol in 1843 in Brusly, Louisiana. Her parents were Joseph Hubert “Amedee” Bujol (b. 1815) and Anna Adele Landry (b. 1817). At some point she started going by the nickname Belite (rhymes with petite). In 1867 she was married to Confederate Civil War hero Trasimond Landry, who was her mother’s half first cousin.

Trasimond and Belite had five children together in their first nine years of marriage. I descend from their first born child Marie Therese. Trasimond died of yellow fever in 1879. Belite then married Magloire Babin in 1880 and they had three daughters together. The first daughter was born in 1880 (according to 1880 Census) and must not have lived very long.

They lived in Plaquemine and then moved to Lafayette some time before 1910. She lived close to her daughter Clemence and her family. A few years later her deceased daughter Marie Therese Landry Patureau’s family moved nearby as well. Family seemed important to her. She looks like a hard, no nonsense woman. Some of that could be that she experienced the death of both of her husbands and also went through the deaths of six of her eight children. So let’s give Belite a nod of respect. I think she earned it.

Dec. 2020 Update – adjusted the number of children that she had with Magloire Babin.

Bujol
Landry

A Pitcher from the Past

March 23, 2016 Van Leave a comment

1915-03 - Robert Joseph Landry Sr. Baseball team

March 1915 – tryouts for the Texas League Beaumont Oilers.

It’s a picture pun. This photo is from 101 years ago. My grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. was a baseball player in his younger days. I’ve always heard that he was a semi-pro player. This photo (according to the information on the back of it) was taken at the tryouts for Beaumont in the Texas League in March 1915.

When I was working on this photo, I mistakenly picked out the wrong person to be my grandfather. (I wasn’t around back then, you see. And evidently I can’t read names very well, either) When I got to the guy I thought was my grandfather, I cleared up scratches and such, but I didn’t get any visions of cousins like I usually do when working on photos of my grandparents. The only way I knew I had the wrong guy is that when I started working on the right guy, I had visions of Uncle Hubert, Uncle AJ, Douglas Winn, Mark Reeves, Kenny Landry, Al Landry, Rob Landry, Dennis Landry, Bob Landry, Gregory Raley, Micha Duffy.

BTW the right guy is the one standing on the far right. From the little research that I did, the name of the semi-professional team was the Beaumont Oilers. The team rosters for 1914 and 1915 showed many of the same names from this photo.

1915-03 - Robert Joseph Landry Sr. Baseball team back IDs

Back of the photo showing names of players in the photo; 1914 and 1915 rosters for Beaumont Oilers

Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. in March of 1915

In case anybody is still unsure of which one was my grandfather, here is a crop of the photo above. You can see more details in it.

Landry

McGrath and Mooney: My Irish Roots

March 17, 2016 Van 2 comments

Mary Ann McGrath Bucklin sometime in the 1880s

This is my great great grandmother Mary Ann McGrath Bucklin and even though she was born in England, she was all Irish. I knew about her ever since I was young. I didn’t have much information on her and assumed that she was Irish. But she was supposedly born in England. So I searched for her parents’ names. I found her father’s name on the marriage registration when she married James A. Bucklin in 1854. I wanted more.

I wanted the name of my great great great grandmother and Mary Ann wasn’t talking! But her DNA was. My mom had a strong DNA match at 23andMe named Matt G. and the only common surname that we had with him was McGrath. Normally that wouldn’t be enough to go with since McGrath is a common Irish name, but since there was so much common DNA, I pursued it a bit more vigorously.

I sent him her birthdate and birthplace, but the thing that revealed the connection was when I told him that she had settled in Palmer, Massachusetts. That was where his McGrath Irish roots were from also! And the best thing about it was that his grandfather and great grandmother had gathered information about the family and written it all down for the rest of the family. (For someone who does genealogical research, this is a very exciting thing to hear.)

So I prodded him to find that written information and see if he could find the clear connection. And sure enough he finally found the name of a certain Mary Ann who had married a James Bucklin in Massachusetts in 1854. Mary Ann and James later moved to Louisiana and over time they lost touch with the rest of the family back in New England.

And here’s the best part. (Wait, didn’t I already say something else was the best thing? Oh, well.) I told you earlier that I wanted the name of Mary Ann’s mother. She was the last unknown great great great grandparent of mine. And they had her name! And the name of all of Mary Ann’s siblings -Arthur, Margaret, James, Catherine, John, and Daniel. They had lived in Roscommon, Ireland and the last sibling was born in Ireland in 1838. So the family moved to Massachusetts some time between 1838 and 1854.

And everyone knows what happened in Ireland during that time, right? The Great Irish Potato Famine. I’ve heard about it all of my life, but never thought that it had any direct effect on my family. Boy was I wrong! Mary Ann’s parents found a way to move themselves and their seven children to the United States at a time when over 1 million people starved to death in Ireland. They were among the million people who left to find a better life.

So this St. Patrick’s Day I’m going to celebrate my Irish roots. And I’ll be glad to tell everyone that I am the great great great grandson of Maria Ettadosia Mooney McGrath!

Part of a journal by Mary McGrath Bucklin’s son Louis Charles Bucklin in 1893. He refers to himself as an Irishman. (see green print)

Erie Patureau

March 9, 2016 Van 3 comments

Previously I have posted about my paternal grandmother, who we all called Mee Maw. Everybody still fights over who was her favorite and it’s a good kind of fight. And even though I posted a photo of her as a young girl a while back, I still think of her a matronly woman who loved to travel and visit with her children and grandchildren. But lately I’ve been getting to know her as just Erie Patureau. A girl who grew up in Plaquemine with six sisters and two brothers. The family ran a shop and there was lots of family around.

Things changed when her mother died in 1909 when Erie was just a teenager. The shop was closed, she graduated from Crescent Graded School around 1911, and the family moved to Lafayette in 1912. I’m not sure of all of the dates of those events, but I found a little clue in an article about her graduating class from SLI from March of 1915. It states that “The following January (1912) after all danger of finals was over Erie showed up. Modest and retiring, she was hard to make friends with, but we were determined and now she’s ours.”

So now I too feel like I have gotten to know her a bit and she is mine. But I’m willing to share her with the rest of the family.

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