Grampa Max in Beaumont
This is the second photo of Grampa Max that I’ve shared from this particular visit to Beaumont. I shared that photo in a blog post from over eight years ago. Eight years! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been writing these weekly posts for that long. Do you remember that first photo that I shared from that visit? The name of the blog post was “Patureau Brothers” and it was a photo of Grampa Max with his older brother Leobon. The woman that you see was also in that first photo. When I first shared that photo, I thought it might have been taken in Lafayette. I’m pretty sure now that the photo was taken in Beaumont, Texas.
My great grandfather’s given name was Vincent Maximilian Patureau, but everyone knew him as Max. He was born in 1865 in Matamoras, Mexico. His parents were Ferdinand Pierre Patureau and Marie Emma Landry. Ferdinand was born in France and he came to Louisiana with his parents and siblings in 1840. Emma was a Cajun from Brusly, Louisiana. The Landry family had settled in Louisiana in 1767 after being Exiled from Acadie in 1755.
Max grew up in Plaquemine, Louisiana, and when he was of marrying age, he got married to a Landry of his own. His wife – my great grandmother – was Marie Therese Landry. Her father Trasimond Landry was the first cousin of Max’s mom Emma. Max and Marie Therese had fifteen children together, including my grandmother Germaine Erie Patureau. She, too, married another Landry. My grandfather was Robert Joseph Landry. He was the son of Alcide Landry, the brother of Trasimond. Erie and Rob and had eight children, and one of them was my dad who was known as Bob Landry. As I often like to say, he married outside of the family. There’s not a single Cajun to be found in Betty Lou Bucklin’s family tree!
Like I said before, this is a photo of my Grampa Max. He’s actually my great grandfather and he died long before I was born. The woman in the photo is Gertrude Brammer Patureau. She was married to Max’s nephew Arthur Mitchell Patureau. Arthur was the son of Max’s brother Louis Leobon Patureau and he lived in Beaumont. When I posted the first photo all those years ago, I didn’t realize the strong connection that the Patureau family had with Beaumont. Arthur and Gertrude were both from Plaquemine, but they were living in Beaumont by the time of the birth of their first child Albert Leobon in 1912. They lived there for the rest of their lives.
But they weren’t the only members of the Patureau family living there. Max and Louis’s youngest sister Marie Victorine “Aunt Bebe” Patureau Cropper moved to Beaumont with her family in 1903 and stayed. Aunt Bebe was the Patureau family historian of that generation. She started an amazing collection of photos, letters, and other memorabilia relating to the family. That collection is now in the Tyrrell Historical Library in Beaumont. She also had the amazing bed that the Patureau family brought to the US from France. I now have that bed. I like to do my French lessons while I lie in that bed. This often leads to me having a “Pat” nap.
But back then it was in Beaumont. I know that Grampa Max visited Beaumont from time to time. It’s likely that he would have stayed at his sister’s house. They probably shared meals there as well. And in my family, there is a tradition after big family meals. And that tradition is taking naps. I’m sure Grampa Max knew the history of that old Patureau bed and would have wanted to use that for his own “Pat” naps. Right? And I’m sure that Aunt Bebe would have been willing to let that happen. She got to keep the bed in her house after all.
It’s what I would do. That’s right! Any of you Patureau relatives out there that want to come visit are welcome. Maybe we could share a meal. And then maybe, just maybe, you too can have a “Pat” nap!