Category: Bujol

Grampa Max’s Store in Plaquemine

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Family store in Plaquemine, Louisiana, circa 1904.

I posted this photo of the family store in Plaquemine, Louisiana, seven years ago.  That was ages ago.  It was before I was doing these weekly posts about family history.  Back then I was just sharing an old photo that I liked.  I think the first time I saw the photo, it was in Tommy Landry’s book about the descendants of Trasimond Landry.

In that book it quoted “Mrs. Naomi Landry Vincent” who was identified as the granddaughter of Trasimond Landry’s widow Marie Amelie “Belite Bujol Landry Babin.  I knew she was a relative back then, but I wasn’t exactly sure how we were related.  But now I know that she was my dad’s first cousin Sis from the Landry side of the family.  Their fathers were brothers.  I’ve talked about his other cousin Sis from the Patureau side.  She is still with us, but all of Daddy’s first cousins on his father’s side have been gone for many years.

But I still was able to get some new information from Cousin Sis from the Landry side.  Daddy made a videotape in 1990 of her talking about the Landry family while viewing various photos.  It is very helpful.  I’m so glad my brother-in-law made a disc for me recently.  (Thanks, Brian!)  I also found myself thanking my dad as I watched it, because he was asking the questions that I wanted to ask.  So now I am able to identify everyone in the photo. 

I identified a few people in the photo before with the help of some writing on the back of my cousin Daphne’s original of this photo.  I also have the photo of the back of someone else’s copy.  So it took a combination of all of that to finally get everyone named.  So let the naming begin!

According to the document I found, Vincent “Max” Patureau, Magloire “Mack” Babin, and Dr. Louis Danos had three equal shares in the store.  This was before Grampa Max was a veterinarian.  He was married to Marie Therese Landry, who is not in the photo.  Her mother (Belite – by Belite’s first husband Trasimond Landry), step-father (Mack), husband (Max), half-sister (Clemence), brother-in-law (Louis Landry – also her first cousin), and children are in it.  And now that I look closer, there is an unidentified person in it.  (Lorena was listed twice by my dad and Sis!)

Labels from the back of this photo. Not sure of its origin.

In the front on the wooden “sidewalk” are Zita and Vincent Patureau.  Behind them are Clemence Babin with her hand on the horse and Louis Landry with the reins in his hands.  They would quietly be married at the residence of her parents (Belite and Mack) the following year and then set up residence in Lafayette.  Their oldest daughter would be cousin Sis (the Landry one, of course).  I’m not sure who the next girl is.  She was labeled as Lorena, but so was the girl at the end of this line sitting on the steps.

Cropped version of the photo that I found that has more details in it.

The next person is Emma, the oldest child of Max and Marie Therese.  To the right of her is younger sister Lydwin.  Beside her is their brother Romuald.  Standing behind Romuald is Grandma Belite.  (Landry cousin Sis called her Grandma Babin, which led to a lot of confusion for Patureau cousin Sis before my dad straightened it out for her one day.)  Next to Romuald is little Sylvia, the youngest of the Patureau bunch.  There was some discussion on the video about whether Sylvia is this little girl or the little girl sitting in front.

The next little girl is my favorite.  Her name was Erie.  When she grew up, I knew her as my beloved Mee Maw.  I was her favorite!  Next to little Erie is Marie Therese.  She was known as Bee and when she grew up, she was the mother of Sis and Syl.  (Patureau Sis, not Landry Sis!)  As I said previously, the girl sitting on the steps may be Lorena.

The man sitting on the steps is Mack Babin, who had 1/3 ownership of this store.  He was the second husband of my great great grandmother Belite Bujol.  The man standing behind the horse is my great grandfather Vincent Maximillian Patureau – better known as Grampa Max.  The identity of the last person came from my cousin’s photo.  He is labeled as “Old Uncle Joe.”  Based on the age of the man and the year the photo was taken, I think this must be Grampa Max’s older brother Joseph Alcide Patureau.

So there you go.  That wasn’t too bad, right?  Thanks to those that stuck with me through to the end.  You’re the best!  I hope you enjoy the photo.  I do.

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 7 – Foret/Bujol

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The Wall of Acadian Exiles in Louisiana in St. Martinville, Louisiana, includes my ancestors brothers Etienne and Joseph Bujol and their families.

It’s time again for another installment of my series about my Acadian ancestors who made their way to Louisiana.  This one is about my Foret (or Forest) line and a continuation of my Bujol line from last time.  Last time we looked at Joseph Bujol and his wife Anne LeBlanc.  They were married in Acadie, spent a dozen years in Oxford, Maryland, and made it to Louisiana in 1766.  Their little nuclear family stayed intact and continued to grow through all of that time.  I also descend from Joseph’s younger brother Etienne.  They were only a year apart.  But Etienne’s young family did not fare as well as his brother’s.

Etienne was born in 1724 in Pisiguit, Acadie.  He was the third of fourteen children.  He and his brother Joseph were both married in 1750 in Acadie.  Etienne was 26 years old and he married 20-year-old Brigitte Chenet.  According to records, they had their first child Mathurin two years later.  That’s unusual.  At that time, it was usual for a first child to be born close to a year later, more of less.   If you look at the Wall, there is a son Francois listed in the family group.  Usually the oldest child is listed first.  I don’t see any records for a Francois.  He is not in the Census records, so I don’t know who he is.

Etienne and Brigitte’s next child was named Pierre and he was born around 1755, which is the year that their lives were thrown in turmoil because of the Grand Derangement.  The family was likely deported from their homeland on the ship called “The Ranger.”  I’m not sure when young Pierre was born, so it could have been in the middle of all of this upheaval.  Either way, it must have been a difficult time for the young Bujol family.

The family was forced onto the ship on October 27, 1755, and they endured a month-long voyage on a cramped vessel full of misery.  They arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, on November 29, 1755, but this young Bujol family were sent further on to Oxford, which was in Talbot County.  Nobody really knows how long it took for these families to adjust to their new situation or overcome the trauma and loss that most of them experienced.

Those first years in Exile were definitely a struggle.  Plus the citizens in the area were not too happy with having these unwelcome foreigners to help care for.  They expressed their disdain for the situation in a letter to the Maryland Gazette in February 1757: 

“That the wretched Acadians … are become a grievance… we are not at present … capable of seconding their own fruitless endeavors to support their numerous families, as a people plundered of their effects.  They cannot find houses, clothing and other comforts… without going from house to house begging, whereby they are become a nuisance…  And it is no easy task for a Christian to withstand the unfortunate cravings of their distressed fellow citizens, those among us who especially possess the greatest degree of humanity, must, of course, be the greatest sufferers.  Their religious principles…render it unsafe to harbor them… We therefore pray that you will use your endeavors in the Assembly to have this pest removed from among us, after the example of the people of Virginia.”

I’m not sure if I agree who the greatest sufferers were, but I’m sure it was difficult for all involved.  I’m glad they didn’t send these pests (my Bujol ancestors) away like they did in Virginia.  My Aucoin ancestors were sent from Virginia and ended up in England, where they died shortly thereafter.

The family of Etienne and Brigitte Bujol (Bigeos) are the third group on the page for the July 1763 Census in Oxford, Maryland.

So Etienne and Brigitte stayed in Talbot County where they were not exactly welcome.  So you can imagine the looks that Brigitte might have gotten when she started to show that a birth was imminent in 1761.  And then she had the audacity to have twins!  Two more mouths to feed!  Yet I’m sure that Marie and Madeleine were joyously welcomed to the family.  The 1763 Census shows the family in the third family group on the page. 

This is the last record that I find for Brigitte Chenet.  She is not listed on the Wall for those that made it to Louisiana.  So when Etienne arrived in Louisiana in late 1766, he was a widower with four (or five) children.  And though I don’t descend from Brigitte, it is sad to know that her early death was key in my family line occurring.  If it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be here.  Yet I can’t celebrate it, right?

Let’s go back to Acadie to see about that Foret line I mentioned.  In 1725, a little girl was born to a couple named Pierre Forest and Madeleine Babin.  There is not a lot of information on this family, but I think little Anne was the fifth of six kids.  It’s kind of surprising that she didn’t get married until she was 28 years old.  She married Pierre Babin in 1753 in Pisiguit, Acadie.  He was only 21 years old at the time.  That was not standard practice, either.  To bring things back to normal, they had a child a year later.  His name was Joseph.

Yet we all know that their normal life wasn’t going to continue for much longer.  The Grand Derangement happened in 1755 and the Acadian people were deported to places far and wide.  It was a time of confusion for many people, which is why records are lacking for a lot of people.  So I haven’t been able to find a lot of information about Anne Forest and Pierre Babin.

Anne Forest was the widow of Pierre Babin when she arrived in Louisiana in 1767.

From what I can tell, they were taken to somewhere in Pennsylvania.  They had another son named Charles around 1760 and were in Pennsylvania until about the fall of 1764.  Then they joined other Acadians who went to the French-owned St. Domingue around present day Port au Prince, Haiti.    Pierre died and was buried on Feb. 5, 1766.  This left Anne a widow with two young children during her time in Exile.  They made their way to Louisiana with other Acadian exiles in 1767.

Anne was married later that year in New Orleans.  I’m sure you know who she married.  That’s right, it was none other than Etienne Bujol, widower of Brigitte Chenet.  They were married and set up a household in the Pointe Coupee area where Etienne’s brother Joseph was living.

On October 10, 1768, you would have found this couple and their blended family in St. Francis Church, the Catholic church in the Pointe Coupee area, witnessing the baptism of the newest member of the family – Jean Augustine Gabriel Bujol.  He was the only child that Etienne and Anne had together, and that’s who I descend from.  He is my 5X great grandfather.

He would grow up and marry Marie Josephe Bourg.  Remember her?  In installment No. 5 of this series, her family was exiled to France, which is where she was born.  She was born in France, but she was an Acadian nonetheless.  The Bourg family came to Louisiana in 1785, but in the 1789 Census of Lafourche, Marie Josephe was not present. 

That’s because on Feb. 6, 1786, Marie Josephe married Jean Augustine Gabriel Bujol.  She had only arrived in Louisiana on August 15, 1785, so their courtship couldn’t have been very long. 

It must have been love.

For other installments of the “From Acadian to Cajun” series, click on the following links:

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 1 – Landry/Babin

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 2 – Breau/Trahan

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 3 – Braud/LeBlanc/Gauterot/Aucoin

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 4 – Hebert/Melanson

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 5 – Bourg/Granger

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 6 – Bujol/LeBlanc

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 8 – Hernandez/Babin

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 9 – Dupuis/Dugas

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 10 – Bourg/Babin/Landry

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 11 – The Ones That Didn’t Make It

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 6 – Bujol/LeBlanc

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My ancestors Joseph Bujol (Bugeaud) and Anne LeBlanc were among the Acadian Exiles who made their way to Louisiana. These names are on a Memorial Wall in St. Martinville, Louisiana.

Here we are again, looking at another installment of the stories of my Acadian ancestors who were sent into Exile and eventually ended up in Louisiana.  This time we will be looking at the experience of Joseph Bujol and his wife Anne LeBlanc.  We haven’t looked at any of my ancestors with the last name of Bujol yet.  Last time we did look at a Bujol who was married to one of my ancestors, but sadly he died during the turmoil of the Exile. 

We have also looked at an ancestor with the LeBlanc last name previously.  Elizabeth LeBlanc was married to Honore Breaux, and her father Victor was Anne’s second cousin through the Acadian founder Daniel LeBlanc.  There are seven paths from Daniel down to me.  I won’t go over all of that, but I will say that I descend from Daniel’s children Rene, Andre, and Anthony.

But let’s get back to our main subjects.  Joseph Bujol was born in Pisiquit, Acadie, in 1723.  His father was also named Joseph and his mother was Josette Landry.  They lived in a place called  the Village de Abraham Landry.  Abraham Landry was the father of Josette and the grandfather of Joseph the younger.  We have definitely talked about the Landry name in previous posts.

Anne Leblanc’s baptism record

Anne LeBlanc was born February 6, 1732, in Grand Pre, Acadie.  She was the youngest of the nine recorded children of Jean LeBlanc and Jeanne Bourgeois.  They lived in St. Charles aux Mines, Acadie.  Like many young women who are married, she was married in her hometown to a somewhat older husband Joseph Bujol in 1750.  Her father had died in 1747, so she was not given away by her father as many brides are. 

Within a year of their marriage, they had their first child – a daughter that they named Marguerite.  In 1753 they had son by the name of Augustin.  Then in 1755 they had their most important child – a daughter that they named Perpetua (or Perpetue).  I think she’s special because she is my 4X great grandmother.  She was also the last of my ancestors to be born in Acadie.  It was that same year that the Grand Derangement began.

This was the time that the English forced the residents of Acadie from their homes and Exiled them to various places.  Most of their homes and churches were burned, along with many records within them.  They were sent off with not much more than the clothes on their backs.  Many of them died in the process due to shipwrecks, diseases, and malnourishment.

On October 27, 1755, Joseph and Anne, with their three children, were loaded onto the ship “The Ranger” and torn from their homeland.  On November 29th they reached the shores of Annapolis, Maryland.  They did not disembark at that point, because they ended up continuing on to Oxford, Maryland.  This is where they would spend their next 12 years of Exile.

I can’t imagine going through this Great Upheaval like they did with an infant daughter and two other young children.  The danger and uncertainty of it all must have been terrifying.  Their outcome was better than others I have written about.  Other ancestors who had recently been married and with young children didn’t fare so well.  Some of them lost their first spouse and others lost children.  (Another sober nod goes to Magdelene from my last installment.)

They weren’t spared all grief, though.  Anne LeBlanc lost four siblings in the first few years of the Exile.  After recently enduring the death of a second sister, I can’t imagine losing four in such a short time.   I don’t see that Joseph lost any siblings at this point, but his father did die in 1758.  I know many of his siblings ended up in Quebec, so he likely never saw them again. 

The 1763 Census for Oxford, Maryland, of the Acadians in Exile.

Their life continued in Oxford.  If you look at the July 1763 Census from Oxford, Maryland, the sixth household listed begins with Joseph Bigeos.  That’s our Joseph Bujol.   Anne is listed after him, as are their children Marguerite, Augustine, and Perpetue.  And there’s one more.  They had a little girl that they named Anne in 1757 while in Oxford.

That little girl Anne Bujol would later marry a little boy that is listed on this same page.  The third household listed starts with his parents Joseph and Marie Josette (Bourg) Landry and continues on to the son named Joseph.  He would be known as Joseph “dit bel Homme” Landry and he would marry Anne Bujol in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.  They would have over a dozen children and eventually die in Donaldsonville.  There is a huge monument/tomb in the Catholic Cemetery there.  Everyone always asks me if I descend from that well-known Landry.  I say, “No, but we are related.”  When I try to explain how I’m related, their eyes glaze over.  Except for the ones that really do descend from him.  I know some of them.

Joseph Bujol and Anne LeBlanc would have one more child while in Oxford.  Marie Madeline was supposedly born in 1762, yet she didn’t show up in the 1763 Census.  Perhaps the Census was negligent.  It’s been known to happen.  She was not their last child, but their stay in Oxford was coming to an end.  Like the other Acadians I have talked about, they heard about opportunities in Louisiana and decided to take their chances.  In late June of 1766, they joined over 200 other Acadian Exiles and boarded an English chartered ship that departed from Baltimore.

The ship did not head directly to Louisiana.  It reached Belize in September 1766 after making a stop in Cap Francais.  They then continued on to New Orleans.  These new arrivals had not been given permission to emigrate to the now Spanish-owned territory, yet the Spanish authorities were expecting more immigrants.  Because the Exiles “…had arrived in misery and were in great need, they were helped immediately…”  This group was sent to the Acadian Coast and given small lots of land.

In 1769 they were living in the Pointe Coupee area with their family.  The listing is as follows:   #74 Joseph BUJEUX, 46; Anne LEBLANC, wife, 36; Augustin, son, 16; Joseph, son, 3 months;  Margueritte, daughter, 18;  Perpetue, daughter, 14;  Anne, daughter, 12;  Marie, daughter, 8;  Joseph LANDRY, uncle, 65. 

I’ll leave it like that; with the family making a new home in Louisiana and welcoming a new baby boy.  You might as well go ahead and call them Cajuns.

family tree showing the path to ancestors discussed in this blog post

Follow the red Louisiana icons to find Joseph Bujol & Anne LeBlanc

For other installments of this series of blog posts, click on the following links:

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 1 – Landry/Babin

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 2 – Breau/Trahan

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 3 – Braud/LeBlanc/Gauterot/Aucoin

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 4 – Hebert/Melanson

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 5 – Bourg/Granger

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 7 – Foret/Bujol

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 8 – Hernandez/Babin

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 9 – Dupuis/Dugas

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 10 – Bourg/Babin/Landry

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 11 – The Ones That Didn’t Make It

Christmas 1923 With Grandma Amelie

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The first time I remember seeing this photo was shortly after clearing out my parents’ house in January 2016.  I was the one that took all of the old photos and genealogy information for both of my parents.  I was thinking that I was familiar with all of the old photos that they had, but I was wrong.  There were several photos that I had seen online from other relatives that I had hoped to get copies of, and I discovered that I now had those photos.

But there were several others like this one that I didn’t recall seeing anywhere else.  I found this image on a slide that was in a box of many more.  On the border of the slide, it reads “Grandma Amelie + women who spent last Christmas with her 1923.”  (As you can see in the photo I posted.)

I knew who Amelie was.  She is my great great grandmother.  My dad was Bob Landry and his mother was Erie Patureau Landry.  Her mother was Marie Therese Landry Patureau, who was the oldest daughter of Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol Landry Babin.  Boy, that is a mouth-full!  But she was known by simpler names, such as Belite, Amelie, Grandma Amelie, or Grandma Babin. 

But who were all of these women spending Grandma Belite’s last Christmas with her?  My first thought was that it was some kind of women’s retreat that she had gone to.  But really, what 80-year-old woman goes on a retreat a month before she dies?  Not that she knew she was going to die just over a month later (Jan. 28, 1924), but you can see that she seems a bit frail in this photo.  I then considered that some of the women were family members.  I didn’t really give it much more thought, because I didn’t really recognize anyone in the photo.

Van Landry with dad's first cousin Sis Vicknair.

Van Landry with dad’s first cousin Sis Vicknair.

A little over a year later in July 2017, I went to a Landry family reunion in Lake Charles.  Of course there were lots of cousins there.  One of those cousins was my dad’s first cousin Sis, who has been collecting Patureau family information for a while.  When she was sharing her book, I saw this photo again!  And she had the names of everyone in the photo!  After seeing some more of her photos and some of the ones I had, we realized we need to meet up and share.

Amazingly, we actually followed through with that!  Me and my own first cousins haven’t done the same thing, yet.  We’ve been talking about it for a few years.  Someday soon, I say, very soon.

Grandma Amelie + women Christmas 1923

Grandma Amelie + women Christmas 1923

So this is the photo that Sis shared with me.  I’ve edited it to clean it up a bit and now I can tell you who all of those women are.  I should have suspected that they were her grandchildren.  She was referred to as “Grandma Amelie” on the notation after all!   They all descended from her.

On the front row is Emma Patureau Mouton, Hazel Landry, and Wana C. Landry.  The back row is Sylvie Patureau, Naomi “Sis” Landry, Therese Wynhoven “Tez” Mouton (held by Sis), Grandma Belite, Clemence Babin Landry, Lydwin Patureau, Mona Mel Mouton (held by MTP), Marie Therese “Bee” Patureau, and Zita Patureau.

The main thing I don’t like about this photo is that my Mee Maw isn’t in it!  Neither is her sister Lorena.  Their mother Marie Therese Landry Patureau wasn’t in it because she died in 1909, but their sisters Emma, Sylvie, Lydwin, Bee, and Zita were there.  It also includes Emma’s daughters Tez and Mona Mel.  Mee Maw was expecting her first child in a few months, so maybe that’s why she didn’t attend the gathering.  Besides grandchildren and great grandchildren, one of her daughters is in the mix.  Clemence was her daughter by Belite’s marriage to Magloire Babin.  Clemence was married to Louis Joseph Peter Landry, and their daughters were Sis, Hazel, and Wana C.

I was considering explaining all of the other ways that everyone was related to one another, but it got really confusing quickly.  Best just to say that Belite looks like she had a lovely gathering for her final Christmas with her family.

Dec. 17, 2021 – Update

I’ve been looking over some videos that my dad made and noticed some bits of information about this photo.  This photo was taken at Uncle Louie and Aunt Clem’s home on South College Road in Lafayette, Louisiana.  The copy of the photo I had from Daddy was a slide photo.  I think he got that from his first cousin Naomi “Sis” Landry Vincent, the daughter of Louie and Clem.  She put together a slide show of all of her old photos and got together with Daddy to explain who everyone was in those photos.  An extremely helpful slideshow that fills in a lot of gaps that I had.  Thanks again, Daddy and Sis, as well as cousin Tez who shared some of her photos as well.

 

 

Sweet Belite & Co.

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Max Patureau family circa 1921

I saw this photo for the first time at the Landry Family reunion last year.  When I saw it, I just knew I had to have a good scan of the photo.  What I first saw was just a Xerox copy of the photo. Luckily for me, Sis was the one that had both versions of the photo.  We met up a few months later and I got the improved version that I’m sharing with you.  I did edit it a bit to remove some scratches and other age damage.

What I really like about the photo is that it shows four generations of my family.  Not all of those generations are direct ancestors of mine, but three of them are.  The three I’m talking about are my grandmother Mee Maw, her father Grampa Max, and his mother-in-law Belite.  The representative of my dad’s generation is none other than his first cousin Wynhoven Therese Mouton.  But we all know her as Tez.  (Or the UG from a previous post!)

In fact Tez is the reason for this get together.  She was born Feb. 18, 1921, in Lafayette, Louisiana, and this photo is from her baptism, which was probably shortly after.  Tez was the daughter of Emma Patureau Mouton, but that’s not who’s holding her.  Emma’s sister Zita is holding Tez.  That makes me think that Zita may have been her godmother.  Emma’s brother Vincent on the right is holding a corsage, which makes me think that he may have been the godfather.

Let me go ahead and give you the names of all of the people.  Grampa Max is sitting in the front.  His full name was Vincent Maximilian Patureau (1865-1935).  He was married to Marie Therese Landry Patureau who died in 1909 at the age of 41.  She was the first child of Belite, who can be seen sitting in the front.  She was born Marie Amelie Bujol (1843-1924) and married Trasimond Landry in 1867.  After Trasimond died in 1879, she married Magloire Babin.  Her nickname was Belite, but she was also referred to as Grandma Babin.  She was a widow again at this point, because Magloire Babin died in 1919.

Standing up in the back are the children of Max Patureau.  From left to right are Marie Therese (who would later give birth to Marie Therese Schafer – the “Sis” that provided this photo), Romuald, Erie (my dear sweet Mee Maw), Emma (mother of Tez), Zita with Tez, Sylvie, Vincent, and Lidwin.  Missing from the photo is another daughter named Lorena.  Being from a large family, I know how difficult it is to get a photo with everyone in it.  So this is a really good representation of the family at that period of time.

It’s great to have this photo of Belite with her son-in-law, her grandchildren, and one of her great grandchildren.  Actually she had around thirty grandchildren, so this was only a few of them.  I’d like to tell you how many great grandchildren that she lived to see, but my genealogy program gets confused with so many of her grandchildren marrying their cousins!  If someone wants to figure that out for me, feel free to do so and let me know.

So that’s our story for today.  A glimpse into the life of Grampa Max, his kids, and his sweet mother-in-law Belite celebrating the arrival of a new family member.

If they only knew!

The Ancient Family Plot

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Van Landry taking selfie with great great great grandfather Amedee Bujol at St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery in Brusly, Louisiana.

Most of my posts are about photos of my ancestors, which is somewhat limiting because photography hasn’t been around very long, genealogically speaking.  I don’t have any photos of my great great great grandparents.  I have photos of most of my great great grandparents.  The only set of great great grandparents that I don’t have photos of happen to also be my great great great grandparents.

The couple in question are Narcisse Landry and his wife Marie Carmelite Hebert Landry.  They were Pee Paw’s (my paternal grandfather) grandparents and Mee Maw’s (my paternal grandmother) great grandparents.  There, that makes everything clear.

Since I don’t have photos of the individual, sometimes I’ll take selfies with their headstone.  Isn’t that sweet?  Or is it morbid?  Either way, I do it.  I have one of myself with Martha Ann Cook Keys and now I have one with Amedee Bujol.

I took this photo almost two weeks ago.  It was a Sunday afternoon and I was thinking to myself, “I want to take a picture of myself with dead people!”  No, not really.  I had a few spare hours and thought I’d take a quick hop across the Mighty Mississip to check out the Brusly cemetery.  I knew that we had some ancestors buried out there and it was a nice overcast day.  Cemeteries are downright miserable in the summer.  Out in the burning heat and there are usually no trees for shade.

Graves of several family members are located in this small area of the cemetery.

But on a day like that, it is perfect for ‘digging up bones’ as my mom liked to call it.  It took me maybe 15 minutes to get from my house to the spot that I parked in that you see in this photo.  I just pulled in a little ways into the graveyard and got out of my car to start looking.

It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for.  I actually couldn’t have parked any closer.  The main person I was looking for was 1) Marie Francoise Leveque Bujol, my 4th great grandmother.  Francoise was the mother of 2)Amedee from the selfie and he was the father of Amelie ‘Belite’ Bujol who married Trasimond Landry.  They were the parents of Marie Therese Landry Patureau, who was Mee Maw’s mother that died in 1909.

I had seen photos of Francoise’s headstone, so I knew what to look for.  The marker has the writing “Veuve Sylvester Bujol” which means the widow of Sylvester Bujol.  I didn’t see his headstone, but I know that he died in 1824.  With her death given as 1875, that means she had been a widow for over 50 years when she died.

Her son Amedee’s wife Anna Adele Landry also outlived her husband.  She was known as the Veuve Bujol as well and is referred as such in the book about Trasimond Landry called “The Tirailleurs.”  Her grave is not at this cemetery.  (2020 Update – I found the death notice for Anna Adele Bujol, so now I know that she outlived her husband by almost 42 years.  It states that she was buried in this cemetery, yet I haven’t been able to find it.)

It is rumored that Trasimond is buried at this cemetery.  There is a headstone for his mother 3) Marie Carmelite Hebert Landry.  She was the wife of Narcisse Landry.  The rumor also states that Narcisse could be buried here as well.  The rumor comes from family members who have been searching for those graves.  When you look at Marie Carmelite’s grave, you can see plenty of real estate around it.  It is thought that Narcisse and Trasimond are buried on either side of her.

Marie Carmelite and Narcisse are my great great grandparents because they are the father of Simon Alcide Landry.  He moved to the western part of the state in the mid to late 1880s with his family and he was buried in Lake Charles.

And though Narcisse may not have been buried in the St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery, we know for sure that some of his brothers were.  I found two of their graves.

The most important brother that I found was Narcisse’s half brother 5) Emmanuel Landry.  The reason I claim his importance is because I also descend from Emmanuel.  He was the father of the Anna Adele that I mentioned earlier.  Not only that, he was the father of Clarissa Doralise and Marguerite ‘Baselite’ Landry, the two wives of my great great grandfather Joseph August Leveque (also buried in Lake Charles).

His wife 4) Celeste Bruneteau Landry’s headstone is at this cemetery as well.  As you can see from the photos, they are large concrete graves that are above the ground.  Sitting on top of Celeste’s grave was a broken marker for Valerien Landry.  His grave must be nearby.  He was another brother of Narcisse Landry.  I don’t descend from him.  Imagine that.

So I descend from Narcisse through two of his sons.  Then I descend from his half brother Emmanuel through two daughters.  Through these connections, I am my own double half 5th cousin once removed.  And that’s not all.  I descend through Narcisse’s brother Onezime through his daughter Marie Emma Landry, the wife of the Patureau immigrant Pierre Ferdinand.  They are the progenitors for all of the Patureaus in southern Louisiana that I know of.

J. H. Amedee Bujol died June 28, 1857, in his 42nd year. He was full of honor, esteemed, loyal, always sincere. He was always a good son, a good husband, and a good father. (roughly translated)

So the people in these graves are part of the great entanglements in my family tree.  I can’t really complain about any of that, because if any of that would have been different, I wouldn’t be here.  And neither would a lot of you reading this.

It’s always interesting to me to see the final resting place of some of my people.  Even though it is a place for the dead, I know that many of my family lived and breathed at this same location.  Mourning their loved ones who came before them.  The cycle continues.

I thought I’d put the family tree for my paternal grandmother on here since all of the graves I found are in her tree.  I also thought I’d add the numbers that are associated with the graves pictured in the second photo on this post.

Family tree showing my grandmother’s ancestors. One correction – I have since found that her maternal great grandmother Anna Adele Landry died on Mar. 13, 1899.

Marie Therese Landry Patureau

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You have to be careful when you talk about my father’s maternal grandmother.  Not that she’ll get mad at you or anything, it’s just that the name Marie Therese is very popular in our family.  Not only did my great grandmother have the name, but so did my dad’s sister (Aunt Marie), one of his first cousins (Sis – thanks again for providing this new and improved photo of your namesake!), and one of my second cousins (Therese).  And there are a few other more distant cousins with the same name too.

Marie Therese Landry circa 1888.  She was the mother of my Mee Maw.

This Marie Therese was born in 1868 to Trasimond Landry and his wife Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol Landry in Brusly, Louisiana.  She was the first child born to that union.  According to the book “The Tirailleurs”, Trasimond and Belite began courting during the Civil War.  I guess you can call it courting even though he was fighting in a war.  They saw each other on an occasional leave and then corresponded by letters.  Belite was one of four beautiful daughters of widow Bujol, and Trasimond was particularly partial to her tender charms.

Trasimond and Belite were married after the war on Nov. 30, 1867.  Ten months later came along our little Marie Therese.  Over the next eight years two sisters and two brothers joined her.  They lived on a farm at first, but then Trasimond gave up farming and became a teacher and took on some minor roles in politics.  He died when Marie Therese was only eleven years old, so I’m sure she helped her mother out with the younger children.  Belite married Magloire Babin in 1880, which led to two younger half-sisters for Marie Therese.  I don’t have much more information about the next few years.

I do know that Marie Therese married Vincent Maximilian Patureau on Oct. 10, 1888, in Brusly, but afterwards they were living in Plaquemine on Patureau Lane.  I don’t know how they met, but it was probably through the family.  They were cousins after all!  Hey, if her parents did it, why not her?  It was the custom back then.  Ten months after they were married, Marie Therese and Max welcomed their first child into the world.  They went on to have many more children – and lose a few – until our Marie Therese died on October 4, 1909, at the young age of 41.  The anniversary is just a few days off.  So think about her on her anniversary, whether your name is Marie Therese or not!

The Bujol Connection

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1915-Amelie Bujol Landry Babin

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.

The Old Family Store in Plaquemine

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Store in Plaquemine that was partly owned by Vincent Maximilian Patureau and Magloire Babin in 1904I really like this old family photo from 1904. My grandmother ‘Mee Maw’ (Germaine Erie Patureau) is a girl of 9 years old standing on the ground in a white dress next to one of the columns. Her father (Vincent Maximilian Patureau) is standing at the tail end of the horse. Her grandmother (Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol Landry Babin) is standing on the porch behind her and to the left.   Belite’s husband Magloire Babin is the man sitting on the steps

Per Thomas Landry’s book about Trasimond Landry: “According to Mrs. Naomi Landry Vincent, grandchild of Trasimond’s widow (Amelie Belite Landry) and Pierre Magloire Babin, her grandparents in 1904 bought one third interest in a lot, along with buildings and improvements thereon, on the south side of Bayou Plaquemine at Patureauville for $275. In the building located on the lot, Pierre Magloire Babin and Dr. Maximilian Patureau, one of the other owners, operated a general merchandise store until 1913.”

2016 UPDATE:

1904 Patureau Family Crescent Cropped LoResBWWhen I got a collection of photos and slides from my dad in January, I found this cropped version of the photo.  I was disappointed at first because the face of my grandmother (on the far right of this photo) was covered by the slide mount.

But since I had dealt with slides before, I knew that sometimes the edge of the cardboard covers up a bit of the slide.  So I carefully peeled away some of the cardboard along the edge and sure enough, my grandmother’s face emerged!  Not the whole face, but a good majority of it.  And the details in the slide were much better than any of the previous versions that I had of this photo.  (The top photo was replaced with a newer, more detailed version.)  Now I’m on the lookout for a full version with the same amount of detail in this crop.

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