Cousins posting family stuff
Louis Charles Bucklin kept a box of his 1913 records so we have an interesting look into that year. That is where we found his rice warehouse receipts that I posted last week. He received a copy of this letter about the threat of Asiatic Rice to American Rice Farmers.
Since it is harvest time, I though this would be a good post even though the farmers in the family are probably too busy for Facebook right now. These are warehouse receipt tickets handwritten in pencil for Louis Bucklin’s farm from the July 1913 Rice Harvest. Apparently they were growing Japan Rice.
This is a letter from Joseph Bucklin to his brother Louis Charles Bucklin who was away at business/military school in Ada, Ohio. Soon after this letter, their sister Jennie Bucklin Taylor died, sometime after June 13, 1893. Jennie had not been well since at least early in April.
Louis was unusually emotional in his June 5th journal entry, stopping mid sentence, “A fellow a thousand miles from home and all he loves. feels although he may have”. He didn’t write in his journal again for five months. His daughter Edna Bucklin told us that Louis was very upset when Jennie died. He never went back to school.
You can click the images to read the letter or scroll down to see it transcribed.
Lake Arthur Sa. May 15, ‘93.
L. C. Bucklin Esq.
Ada Ohio
Dear Brother: Mother wanted me to write to you again for she dislikes to write so much, she has been here with Jennie 2 weeks watin [waiting] on her and is all tired and worn out. Jennie has been very sick and is no better at this writing, she has sinking spells nearly every day, twice mother thought she was dieing. Ben has gone up to Jennings today for the Dr. to see if he cannot change her medacine. We will keep you posted every few days as to how she is getting along.
Ed. and Clarence came down from the farm yesterday and say everything is looking nice on the farm the rice on the maria is about ready to flood and is looking fine. The corn the boys had to plant over again and is now about knee high.
Ed told me that there would be lots of peaches if nothing happens. They have been using new irish potatoes. Ed. has been having the chills and fever lately. I suppose every body up where you are, are healthy and look fine, was thinking yesterday that it would be so nice for you to be up there just at your age you can realize and enjoy everything more now than at any other age your military exercises must be nice and healthful. Mother says there are two of your last letters in the office at China which she has not read, she told me to direct your next letter to her at this place as she will get it quicker than at the other place.
Ben. and I have gotten along finely with our work will be done with our plowing this week if nothing happens and our rice we have sown is all up nicely some of it nearly ready to flood then comes the work unless we get our levees done and can catch rain.
There is not much news to write to you. Chas. Shoesmith is going north about the 1st of June and of course will take in the worlds fair.
Mr. Gardener and Fannie starts about the same time wont Charly have some highly entertaining [??] abroad if Fannie should go along when he does my wouldn’t the journey be short though.
Ed tells me that Mrs. Blessington died week ago Thurs. That one of her daug-hters got here the night before she died. Mrs. Tuppers sister and her daughter have come. Tuppers will soon reveal the advantages of this country to them. Well my store of news is about exhausted so will close. Write to mother at this place. from bro Joe
Van Landry’s post this week is about Addie Hine and Louis Bucklin with a photo of them when she was 29. Ray Bucklin said she was really good with kids. She had lots of experience. They had 11 children that survived to adulthood, a total of 19 grand kids. I am not going to try counting the great grand kids. Here she is with some great grandkids. Charles and Kurt Bruchhaus? She lived at Ruth Bucklin and William Charles “Budda” Bruchhaus’ house in her later years.
Addie and Lou Bucklin in 1905
This is a photo of my mom’s paternal grandparents in 1905. They were married in 1898 and by the time this photo was taken, they already had five children. But before I finish counting off their children, let me tell you a little bit about the two of them.
Addie May Hine was born in Noblesville, Indiana, on Sept. 23, 1876. She was the oldest of six children born to George Hine and Susan Stanbrough. She had five younger brothers and the youngest was only eight years younger than she was. From the earliest photos of the family, it looks like they lived in a frontier area with a rough wood home. The family moved to Louisiana in 1894 and settled in the Hathaway area of Jefferson Davis Parish.
Louis Charles Bucklin was born in Masonville, Iowa, on April 11, 1873. He was the youngest child of James Bucklin and his second wife Mary Ann McGrath. James was from a family line with a long history in Massachusetts, while Mary Ann was an Irish immigrant. Louis had five older siblings – a half-sister and half-brother by his father and his first wife Rhoda Marie Gove, plus two brothers and a sister by his parents. In the 1880 census they were living in Coffin Grove, Iowa, which was a very small community in rural Iowa. Four years later the family moved to the Jennings, Louisiana, area and acquired homestead property in the Hathaway area. Louis was too young to stake a claim, but his father, brother and sister were able to.
Louis kept a journal starting in January of 1893 when he went off to school. He returned home at the death of his sister Jennie in June of 1893. From that point on his journal was mostly about farming and such. Except when he occasionally mentions a certain “Miss Hine” or “Addie” who came to help his mother with chores around the house. I suppose she was worth mentioning because he ended up marrying her in 1898, which brings us back to the top of the story.
Soon after this photo was taken, the three most important Bucklin offspring were sprung! In 1906 there came Herbert, who is the grandfather of our Joseph. Then in 1907 there was a double dose of goodness – the identical twins Fred and Clarence. Fred is my grandfather and Clarence is the father of Carla. There were a few more after that, but they’re hardly worth mentioning. I really shouldn’t joke about that because the next one, Edna, is the reason we have so many wonderful photos from way back when. She collected and protected many photos, though this one was kept by Ruth. Joseph and Louise visited and scanned numerous photos from both of them.
All in all, Addie and Lou had a nice even dozen children. Now I’m feeling a little obligated to name them all, so here goes: Leo, Mary, Ralph, Paul, Carl, Herbert, Clarence, Fred, Edna, Robert, Ruth, and Roy. That’s a lot of names to come up with. From the look of the photo, they seem like somewhat happy people – salt of the earth. I’d like to say that they lived long and happy lives, but sadly Lou died at the age of fifty-four. Addie went on the live into her eighties and died less than a month after I was born. I don’t have any personal memories of either Addie or Lou, but I do feel like I get to know them a little from the photos and stories that they left behind. And now, hopefully, you do too.
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Update for July 9, 2026 – Added a few slight bits of information for a reissue of this post on Facebook after ten years. I’m changing all of the older posts to change the spelling of Addie’s middle name to be consistently May.
Betty Lou Bucklin and Kara Lee Sowder at Christmastime 1938 in Fayetteville, Arkansas
This is one of my mom’s favorite photos of herself. It was taken in 1938, which was during the Great Depression. The thing that made it special according to my mom was that it was a photo of her holding a “real doll.” The thing that makes it special to me is that she was always satisfied with what she had.
Because she didn’t have a “real doll,” but her cousin had two and let her take a photo with one of them. And that was pretty special for little Betty Lou Bucklin! As you can see, she was quite happy taking her photo with that little doll. And with her cousin, of course!
But she’s not really a cousin. My mom’s mom’s sister was Grace Phenice and she was married to Ray Sowder who was from Arkansas. The girl’s name is Kara Lee and she is the daughter of Ray’s brother Hugh who was a professional photographer. Kara Lee and Betty Lou created a lasting memory on that long ago visit in 1938. (At least for my mom. She could remember Kara Lee’s name even when she had memory troubles. I found Kara Lee on Facebook and she had the same photo, but she stated, “I don’t remember who the little girl is.”)
Elvira Crixell and her cousin Isabel Crixell circa 1904
I can’t remember when I first saw that photo of my mom with the doll, but I can remember when I first saw the next photo of Girls With Dolls. It was a couple of weeks ago when I was researching the Patureau side of the family. Some distant cousins on that line have been living deep in southern Texas for several generations. The French Patureaus there have mixed more with the Mexican population as compared to our family which has more Cajun heritage. And the photo of the the two girls with their dolls from circa 1904 definitely caught my eye. The girl on the right was Isabel Crixell, my third cousin once removed. She was born in 1900 and lived to be over 100 years old. The girl on the left is only identified as “a Kowalski little girl.” I’m positive that she is Isabel’s first cousin Elvira Crixell who was born in 1901. She later married a Kowalski.
But in this photo, they are just little girls posing with their dolls. They don’t look quite as happy as my mom was with her real doll, but they do look happier than one particular little girl in the next photo. This time, instead of going thirty years in the more distant past, we’re coming forward thirty years from that first photo.
Landry cousins at Christmas time in 1966
No posting of Girls With Their Dolls in my family could be complete without this next photo. This is from Christmas of 1966 at my Mee Maw’s house. Tim was showing off a car, I was showing off my new sniper rifle, and the girls were showing off their new dolls. Karen looked very satisfied with the doll she was holding. Lauren and her doll both seem to have gotten something in their eyes. Jeanne is happy that she and her doll made it into the photo. Tricia (with the glasses) and Shirley (with the hair) have graduated to holding real children. Tricia has Colleen, while Shirley has Mona. Rob is happy to be the center of attention.
And then there’s poor little Jamie. She wanted a doll of her own to hold. She had her own doll, but she didn’t get to hold it for the photo. Maybe she wanted Karen to have a special moment with a borrowed ‘real doll’ like our mom had? Maybe she didn’t realize that she’d feel lonely without holding her doll when everyone else was holding theirs? Or maybe something else happened. Either way – that was long ago and all is forgiven.
Kathy Jester Mack posted these photos from the Raymond Methodist Church from the early 1950s a few days ago on Facebook. She scanned them from Thelma Brown Jester’s photo collection. People, especially Genevieve Compton Nash were able to name a bunch of them, but it was hard to follow with so many people. So I added numbers and got mom to help fill in a few more blanks. We still need lots of help filling in the blanks.
Reverend Krumnow in front of the congregation.
A second picture taken the same day in front of the church where people used to gather after the service to visit friends and relatives.
And a view of the old Parsonage, Fellowship Hall, and old Church.
I read on the Hathaway Blog that one of Reverend Krumnow’s hobbies was photography. I wonder what kind of photos he took. There must be lots of the congregation in his family albums. Since Rev. Krumnow was a photographer, he may have planned this shot. I wonder if they cleared out the center behind him hoping everyone would be in the shot. They did miss a few though. My grandpa, Herbert Bucklin is only visible in the outdoor shot.
1949 – Harry Clifton Phenice and granddaughter Betty Lou Bucklin
I found this photo recently hiding among some more recent photos. It looks a little familiar, but the details of it are really charming. It looks like Grandpa Phenice may have been out working in the yard. He’s barefoot and it looks like he took his cap off for the photo. (Betty Lou says, “Come on Grandpa, come take a picture with me without your cap on. I’ll bring you a nice dessert after dinner tonight.” He responds, “Well, alright.”)
The year is 1949 and the place is Hathaway, Louisiana. (It is also called China.) Mom was a sophomore or junior in high school and Grandpa Phenice was a 75 year old man. From what I’ve been told he was a very strong man even late in his life. In fact it wasn’t long after this photo was taken that his strength was his undoing.
Some kind of work was being done on a well and a heavy pump needed to be moved. Instead of getting others to help or letting younger backs take care of it for him, he decided to move it himself. He succeeded in moving it, yet the strain from the activity led to him having a stroke which left him bedridden for the rest of his life.
So this is one of the last glimpses into the life that he might have considered normal. Going about his daily business and taking a break to spend a little time with his granddaughter. The simple joys.
Cats were important on a farm to keep away rodents. Does anyone remember the names of Grandma Addie Hine Bucklin’s cats? Photos with pets aren’t very common long ago but this cat seems to really hang around her. Mom doesn’t ever remember her with cats. Possibly when she got older they got to be a danger to her to have around since cats love rubbing your legs. Did she still have them up at the Bruchhaus house?
The writing under the photo of the house says it was built in 1888. The Hathaway Blog says the Bucklins arrived in April 1884. But we know when they arrived they lived closer to Jennings. They finalized the homestead papers on October 11, 1890 but they apparently started the process in 1884. What I have always heard is the house was there before they moved out there, but I am not sure that is true now. Does anyone know more about who built the house? Was there another family there before the Bucklins who gave up on their homestead attempt? We found in James Bucklin and Mary McGrath’s succession papers mentions McFarlains original plat. I don’t know yet where that land is that it is talking about.
