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

My Grandfather was a Nurseryman

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Fred D. Bucklin circa 1929 around Hathaway, Louisiana

Here is another great old photo of my grandfather Fred D. Bucklin.  I sometimes wonder whether a photo is actually a photo of him.  He had a twin brother, so it’s difficult to tell them apart.  I’m sure if you knew them well at the time you could tell them apart, but this photo was taken over 90 years ago.

But this photo of him was in my mom’s possession ever since I can remember, so I’m pretty sure it is my grandfather.  It was taken around 1929, which is around the time that he began his plant-selling profession.  He and his twin brother Clarence actually were working together at the time.  I’ve shown a picture of their price list previously, as has cousin Joseph.  They were from the early 1930s.

This newspaper ad from the February 13, 1929, edition of the Crowley Daily Signal shows that they had started at least by that point.  The Bucklin Bros. were advertising the sale of evergreens to the surrounding communities.  This seems to coordinate well with the photo of Grandpa in the truck.  If you look at the bed of the truck, you can see several balled and burlapped trees back there.

Like I said, it’s a great old photo.  I just wish I knew where the photo was taken.  The price lists that were printed back then show an address of Elton, Louisiana, but they didn’t live in Elton proper.  They lived in Hathaway.  It’s always a bit confusing to me.  They have so many names for that little area in Jefferson Davis Parish.  We always said that we went out to Hathaway to visit our grandparents, but I think they may actually have lived in China.  Or maybe it was Raymond!  We passed by the Hathaway High School and the Raymond Methodist Church on the way to their house.  If we went a little further down the road we’d be at the China Cemetery.

Whatever you want to call the place, I don’t recall seeing a body of water like you see in this main photo.   Maybe some of my cousins or some residents can help me out with this.  China?  Hathaway? Raymond?  Pine Island?

Tell me what you think.

Pee Paw at Camp Humphreys in August 1918

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I have posted a few photos of my paternal grandfather in World War I.  Some of those photos are ones I have seen as far back as I can remember.  My dad had several photos of him and his cohorts from back in the day.  The photos weren’t labeled, so I never knew exactly when they were taken.  I figured they were from some time around 1917 or 1918.

2nd Company Advance Detachment E. O. T. C., Camp Humphreys, Virginia, August 1918. My grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. is the one directly above the C. in E.O.T.C. He was 25 years old at the time.

This photo is different in many ways – it’s new to me, it’s a large panorama, it’s a large group of service members, and it has identification.  The first time I saw it was last year when I got together with a few cousins to share photos.  It is part of the Duffy Family Tin Can Collection.  My Aunt Wana was married to a Duffy and she somehow came into possession of many old photos.  She had many of them in a tin can in her attic, hence the name Tin Can Collection.  I don’t think this one was in a tin can though.  It is a large panoramic photo that has been rolled up for a long time.

The Keeper of the Collection is my cousin Tricia.  She guards it enthusiastically.  I wasn’t able to take a photo of the panoramic photo roll when we got together since it was so large.  But thankfully, Tricia let her guard down for a moment and allowed me to take it with me so I could scan it.  So we can thank Tricia (and anyone else named Duffy) for this wonderful photo.

The scan was a little tricky since the photo is so large.  I had to scan it in three sections and merge them together.  I notice a bit of ghosting, but it came out pretty good.  There are actually two images on the roll.  This one is a photo of the Company with their hats on.  The other one (which I’m saving for a later date) is one with their hats removed.  The great thing about these photos is the information written (or etched) on them.

The writing identifies the men as the  Company 2 Advance Detachment at Camp Humphreys in Virginia.  And to top it all off, it gives a date of August 1918.  On the right side at the bottom, it looks like some information about the photo for military archives.  I may have to share it on a military website I’ve seen.  Maybe someone else can find a family member from this group. 

I know I was excited to see a photo of my grandfather from a hundred years ago.   I hope you enjoy it, too.

Front and center is my grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. of Lake Charles, Louisiana

Myrtle Giving Haircut

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Myrtle Phenice Bucklin giving haircut to sister-in-law Irma Hetzel Phenice circa 1939

I’ve always liked this photo.  Mainly because it is a photo that includes my Grandma Bucklin in it.  The photo source was not a very high quality.  I think it was a scan of a Xerox of a photo.  There were lots of stripes and graininess in the photo, so I doctored it the best I could.  I like the way it looks, though I wonder what a scan of a good photo would look like.  Maybe one will come my way now that I’m putting this one out there.

Myrtle Sylvia Phenice was born Dec. 19, 1906, somewhere around Hathaway, Louisiana.  She was married to Fred Bucklin on March 12, 1930, at the Raymond Methodist Church in Raymond, Louisiana.  They had five children together, including my mom Betty Lou who was born in 1933.  You can tell from the title that my grandmother is the one giving the haircut.  But you don’t know whose hair she is cutting.  That would be Irma Hetzel Phenice.

At least I think she was a Phenice at the time.  I estimated that date on the photo.  Irma married Myrtle’s younger brother Henry in 1934.  Yes, I think the date is close enough to be sure that Irma is her sister-in-law at the time of the photo.  It seems like homemade haircuts are very common with my family.  I have photos of my other grandmother cutting a grandchild’s hair.  I also have a photo of my dad cutting his brother’s hair.  When we were young, my mom cut our hair most of the time.  I cut my own hair.  It’s a family thing.

But I think it might be a bit more popular now that the coronavirus is keeping people in their houses, and salons & barbershops aren’t open.  I’m here to tell you that you will survive a homemade cutting.  But I’m not trying to “educate” you or convince you to participate.  I just wanted to share an old photo that I like.

I hope you enjoyed it. (If you can see it through that mop of overgrown hair that you have by now!)

July 6, 2020 – Here is the photo enhanced.

Sept. 20, 2020 Addendum – Van Giving Haircut

I finally participated in the Caronavirus Pandemic Home Haircutting Extravaganza!  Cousin Mary came over with her mom Maggie and her children Aiden and Violet.  If you had seen Aiden’s hair, you would think I was talking about him when I wrote the last line of the blog post.  With a lot of coaxing from Mary, he finally decided  to trust me and my scissors.  Like I said before, I’m sure he will survive the homemade haircut!

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

Unbearable Marital Infelicity

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I found an article about one of my ancestors about three years ago and was very intrigued by it.  I knew I would write a story about it at some point, I just had to find the right time.  But it seems that there never is a right time when writing about an ancestor’s suicide.

So even though it doesn’t feel like the right time, it does feel like the time to write it.  At least that’s what I’m doing.  The ancestor I’m talking about is John Stanbrough, my great great great grandfather.  Obviously I didn’t know him, but I do think about him from time to time.  There is no photo of him that I know of, even though he did live into the time of photography.  At the time of his birth in 1820, photography was not around.  But during his 57 years of living, it had developed quite a bit.

Let me tell you about my connection to him.  I am the son of Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.  Her father was Fred Bucklin, who was the son of Addie May Hine Bucklin.  Addie was the daughter of Susan Stanbrough Hine.  Sue was the third daughter and sixth child of John Stanbrough & Lydia Mills Stanbrough.   There was an older half brother by her father’s first wife.  She also had six younger siblings.

John Stanbrough was born November 18, 1820, in Clinton County, Ohio.   He was a Quaker.  For a genealogist, that is a good thing because it means that there are lots of records for that person and their ancestors.  The Stanbrough or Stanborough family had been in the US for many generations.  They started out in New York and moved on to Tennessee.  Our line went on to Ohio and then to Indiana around 1830.  Grandma Sue brought our line down to Louisiana in 1894.

John married Lydia Hunt in 1838.  They had one son together in 1839 and then Lydia died in 1842.  Not long after that, John met another Lydia.  This one had the last name of Mills.   They were married on Sept. 20, 1843.  If you added up the children I mentioned earlier, you’d know that they had a dozen children together over about a 20 year period.

The Noblesville Ledger from March 24, 1873, in Indiana.

Then in 1873, just 10 years after the birth of their last child, Lydia died at the age of 50.  The Noblesville, Indiana, newspaper article incorrectly gives her age at death as 45.  This was the second Lydia that he had lost.   And she was an “estimable lady.”

Later that year, Sue Stanbrough married George Hine and they started a family.  Addie May was born on Sept. 23, 1876, in Noblesville, so there were some happy things going on for John at the time.  He must have gotten lonely again (even with several children in his house), because he decided to get married again in 1877.  He married the widow Margaret Hollis Embree on June 3.  She was 16 years younger and she had six children of her own. 

Obituary of John Stanbrough

I had seen a lot of this information before three years ago when I first saw the transcription of the newspaper article about John Stanbrough’s death.  I wonder if his friends and neighbors were surprised like I was to see this information about a suicide?  What would make a recently married man feel that this was the choice he should make?

The article gives a few clues.  John took an overdose of morphine.  He was able to get grains of morphia without any question from a doctor.  He was taking quinine because he suffered from ague.  This condition of recurring severe chills and fever and him taking quinine point to malaria, which is usually accompanied by pain in the bones and joints.  Chronic pain is not an easy thing to deal with.  Yet this was not cited as a possible cause for his “rash act.”

The article does talk about John leaving a message as to how to dispose of his personal effects.  They suspected that his reasons for the action were marital “infelicity” and financial problems.  They point out that he only married his wife seven months ago, that she had six children, and that they didn’t get along particularly well.  Yet she, also, was an “estimable” woman. 

I’m sure this hit Grandma Sue quite hard.  She was living in the same town at the time and her younger siblings were in the house when all of the commotion was going on.  It was a traumatic time for the Stanbrough household of 1877 Noblesville.  I’m sure it was not John’s intention to traumatize his family.  All he could probably see was the pain and problems that he was experiencing.  He likely thought that they’d be better off without him.

A thought that nobody else likely agreed with.

Bobby Landry at Landry Memorial in 1943

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Robert Joseph Landry, Jr. was the young 8th grade student in the middle of the photo (the taller one). He was known as Bobby back then. This was at Landry Memorial High School in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

One of my Leveque cousins made a Facebook post yesterday about Landry Memorial High School in Lake Charles.  It inspired me to write my blog about Landry Memorial today, because that’s where my dad and his brothers went to school back in the day.  I remember looking through my dad’s old report cards when I was a kid and wondered about the Landry name associated with the school.  I never really bothered to ask about it back then.  My main concern were the bad grades that my dad made.  He explained them to me by saying that he only studied for enough to pass the class.  That really didn’t help explain it to me.

Nov. 1943, p. 3

But later I found out the history of the school and the connection to the family.  When I was in high school, our family sang at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles.  On Friday nights I remember there being many students from St. Louis High School that would come to listen to us sing and play for them.  Or maybe they just came for the pizza.  In college I went to St. Louis to participate in various meetings and retreats.

During that time I didn’t realize that St. Louis High had once been Landry Memorial.  I probably wasn’t paying attention when my dad likely told us that he went to school there.  To me, St. Louis was just another high school in Lake Charles.  But I found out differently later on.

My dad was an 8th grade student at Landry Memorial in 1943.  In the first photo, he is the center student in the middle row.  If you read the information in the second photo (Nov. 1943, p. 3) at the bottom of the first column, they describe my dad.  “Bobby is small but is full of fight.  I am sure that he will turn out to be as good as his brother was, who played center for the Tigers in 1941.”  The brother they were talking about was my Uncle Hubert, who was a few years older than my dad.  I don’t know if their prediction turned out accurately.  All I ever heard about were his musical undertakings.

Nov. 1943, p. 1

But the first page of that old 1943 paper is interesting as well.  It talks about the death of Mrs. J. A. Landry.  She was born Wylie Eugenia Stanton in 1868.  My dad and his siblings called her “Aunt Wylie.”  She used to send her limousine to pick up my dad’s family on Sundays to bring them to church.  It left an impression.  She died on Nov. 1, 1943.

The school talked about her death because she had been instrumental in developing it.  In 1925 she purchased the old Baptist Orphanage on Seventh Street and had it remodeled to operate as a Catholic school for boys.  The school was dedicated as Landry Memorial High School on December 15, 1927, in memory of her late husband who had died in 1923.

In the school newspaper it mentions that J. A. Landry was associated with the Perkins-Miller Lumber Company.  That is true, but he did much more than that.  He was one of the main driving forces in getting modern utilities developed in Lake Charles.  He ran an ice company called J. A. Landry & Co.  Later he had the Lake Charles Ice, Light, and Water Works Company and Lake Charles Railway, Light and Waterworks Co.  He was a forward thinking entrepreneur.  I suppose that’s why his wife dedicated the school in his name.

He was born Joseph Alfred Landry, Jr. to Joseph Alfred Landry and Marie Aloysia Leveque.  He and my grandparents (Pee Paw and Mee Maw) almost have identical family trees.  There seemed to be quite a few Landry and Leveque connections back then.  They were all related to one another in various ways.  The closest connection was that Pee Paw was J. A. Landry’s half first cousin through their Leveque mothers.  

My great grandmother Celeste Leveque Landry was a half-sister to Aloysia Leveque Landry (their mothers were Landry sisters) and Aloysia’s full brother Justinian.  Justinian was the great grandfather of that Leveque cousin I mentioned at the beginning.

Like I said, he was talking about Landry Memorial High School, too.  It’s a family thing.

Birds and Bucklins

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My grandparents home in Hathaway, Louisiana, circa 1959.

I found this photo a few years ago in a group of old negatives that I got from my parents.  I don’t really remember ever seeing a print of the photo before that, so it was a nice discovery.  I’ve been planning on using it for a blog post and that time is now.

So I cleaned it up this evening and now I’m sharing it with you.  It’s a photo from around 1958-1960 at my maternal grandparents home in Hathaway, Louisiana.  My grandparents were Fred and Myrtle Phenice Bucklin.  Grandpa is not in the photo, but he left plenty of evidence of his presence.  All of those bird carvings on the wall are his handiwork.  He carved ducks for wall hangings like this and also for decoys for hunting.  I’ve posted some color photos previously that show them, but have never commented on them before.  But how could I not comment?  They are all over that wall!  I wish I had a few of them.  But pictures of them would suffice!  (That is my hint to share!)

Grandma is prominent in the photo.  That is her working on setting the table for a tasty meal that was sure to come, especially tasty if it was followed by her fabled divinity.  She was also a teacher, a singer, an artist, and an organist.  But surely you know those things already if you have been following my blog.  Say “Hi” to Myrtle!

In the front of the photo are my three oldest siblings.  From left to right are Karen, Rob, and Jodie.  They look really excited about the meal to come.  Or maybe it was something else.  In the background on the left, you can see Aunt Sylvia and her husband Ronald Pilcher standing in the doorway.  My mom was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry and Sylvia was her older sister.  They were the oldest two of five children. 

The youngest of the five was Uncle Austin, who can be seen in the center in the back with his head in the clouds.  Not really, it just looks like that because his head was surrounded by birds.  He must have liked that feeling, because later he joined the Air Force and he spent many years working with airplanes.

The last of the subjects in the photo are some of my cousins.  I’m pretty sure they’re the children of Sylvia and Ronald Pilcher.  I’m just not sure which ones they are!  There’s a little boy and a little girl.  It’s either Larry or Paul with Toni or Lynn.  There were lots of grandkids being born during this time.  I don’t see Al, or Kevin, or Brent.  And joining the group soon would be me, Rhonda, Keith, Jamie, and Glen.  Later on would be Charla, John, Dale, and Anita.  We don’t even need to mention Mary. 

There were lots of meals that came out of that kitchen during those holidays.  And there was lots of fun with cousins that followed.  This was just a glimpse into one of those times.

Bonus photo from the same day.  In the back on the left is Aunt Alma, one of my mom’s younger sisters.  Next is my Grandma Myrtle, and Aunt Sylvia.  In front is Rob, who is looking back to the ladies, and Larry, who is looking at the table.  Larry is the boy in the original photo.  Cousin Toni claims the little girl in the original photo is her.

From Acadian to Cajun: Part 5 – Bourg/Granger

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On the Wall of Names in St. Martinville, Louisiana. Included in the Acadian Exiles of Louisiana are Joseph Bourg with his wife Marie Magdelene Granger and family. Their daughter Marie Josephe Bourg was my 5X great grandmother.

So far I have talked about several families that came to Louisiana after being Exiled from Acadie in the 1750s.  I’ve mentioned the surnames Landry, Babin, Breaux, Trahan, LeBlanc, Gautreaux, Aucoin, Hebert, and Melanson.  I’m surprised at how many names there are, and there are more to go.  I’m learning a lot from doing this series.

One of the things I’m learning is all of the roundabout ways that the Acadians made it to Louisiana.  You’d think that they didn’t want to become Cajuns!  But that was not what was on their minds.  The most important thing was survival, and after that was finding family.  The family we are focusing on this time are the Bourg and Granger families.

Joseph Bourg was born in 1733 in St. Peter & St. Paul, Cobequit, Acadie.  He was the youngest child born to 55-year-old Abraham Bourg and his second wife 37-year-old Marie Theriot.  Joseph had an older sister who was 22 years older than he was.  The information about their parents is scarce.  Their deaths are given as “after 1733,” which means that the last record of their life was the birth of their son Joseph.  Joseph was one of those in the last generation of people who lived their childhood in Acadie.  He was a young adult when the Grand Derangement began in late 1755.

He was not among the first groups of Acadians deported from Acadie.  He was either living in or had escaped to Ile St. Jean, which is now known as Prince Edward Island.  Ile St. Jean was still under French rule, so it was a sanctuary for some of the Acadian people.  It was still a time of uncertainty because they knew they could be Exiled at any time.  Yet Joseph did not put his life on hold.  In 1757 he married Marguerite Josephe Dugas.  They only had a short time together in Acadie.

After the fall of Louisbourg in July 1758 to the English, it was decided that the inhabitants of Ile St. Jean were to be Exiled to France along with other Acadians.  Several transport ships were assembled in November, when the Acadians were deported from the only homeland they knew.  They traveled on one of the “Cinq Paquebots Anglais” (“Five English Ships”).  The voyage was met with terrible disasters.  A storm delayed the ships from their intended departure date.  When they finally set out to France, they were met with another storm.  It is believed that some 1300 Acadians were lost at sea during that winter voyage to France.

Joseph was not spared from the suffering.  His wife Marguerite died on the trip, as well as his sister Elizabeth, his brother Jean Pierre, and his sister Madeleine, along with her three youngest children.  A very sad trip indeed.  Yet he did survive, as did his brother Alexandre.  They arrived in St. Malo, France on January 23, 1759.

Marriage document from Jan. 16, 1719.

Meanwhile, back in Acadie on January 16, 1719,  Joseph Granger married Ann Richard.  What’s interesting about this marriage is that there are some documents that survived from that time.  Most of the records were destroyed by the British during the Grand Derangement.  But some of them were hidden away and brought into Exile in Maryland.  When those Acadians made their way to Louisiana 12 years later, the documents made it there as well.  Pretty amazing.

Birth record for Marie Magdeleine Granger and her twin sister Anne.

The other interesting thing about this couple is that they had a daughter named Marie Magdelene who I descend from.  She was born in 1731 in Grand Pre, Acadie.  She, too, grew up in Acadie.  In 1750 she was married to a man named Alain Bujold.  In 1752 Magdelene and Alain were living in Ile St. Jean with their 9-month-old son Simon.  They had a daughter in 1756 that they named Marie Louise.  Like others living in that area, they were not deported until the fall of Louisbourg in 1758.

Magdelene was not spared from suffering during the voyage of the “Cinq Paquebots Anglais.”  Little Louise Marie died during the crossing of the ocean.  Her husband Alain’s parents (Oliver Alain Bujold and Madeleine Boudrot) also died on the voyage.  Alain would die within the first month after their arrival in St. Malo in January of 1759.  Less than a month later her boy Simon would die as well.  She must have been surely and thoroughly heartbroken with all of that loss.  She was all alone in a foreign land. 

Do me a favor and read that last paragraph again. (Or read a more detailed account here.) I think Magdelene deserves it.  She was forced from her home and lost everything that was most dear to her.  It must have been devastating.  How could she find the hope and strength to carry on?  I don’t know how she did it, but I know she did.  Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.  So let’s see what she did next.

At some time during 1759 or 1760 Magdelene met (or met again) fellow Acadian Exile Joseph Bourg.  They probably knew each other because they were second cousins from their Landry grandparents.  That did not deter them from getting married on June 30, 1760, in Pleurtuit, Ile-et-Vilaine, France.

In 1761 Magdelene and Joseph had twin sons who they named Joseph and Pierre.  A year later little Marie Joseph came along.  She is my 5X great grandmother.  In 1765 they had another son and they named him Sebastian.  The family was in St. Servan for a while, then moved on to St. Coulomb.  They were following the same path as other Exiles who were trying to form a community in France.  They had two more children, Jean Baptiste in 1768 and Elizabeth Blanche in 1770.  In 1774 Joseph’s brother Alexandre died.

Like many Acadians in France during the Exile, they found themselves in Nantes in  1776.  One of their twin sons Joseph died, and Pierre was married to fellow Acadian Marguerite Dugas.  In 1785 Joseph, Magdelene, and their four youngest children boarded the ship La Bergere headed for Louisiana.  Pierre was on the same ship with his wife.  They arrived in New Orleans on August 15, 1785.  They eventually made their home along Bayou LaFourche.

The last bit of information that I have about Joseph and Magdelene comes from the 1788 census of the LaFourche District.  It shows that Joseph was  the 56-year-old head of a household that included his 54-year old wife Marie (Magdelene) Granger, his 19-year old son Jean Baptiste, and his 18-year-old daughter Elisabeth. He and his family lived on a piece of land with six arpents frontage. They also had a cow, two horses, and four hogs.

Missing in that household was 27-year-old Marie Josephe.  Once again, what happened to her is a story for another time.

Unlike other ancestors in my tree, there is only one path to Joseph Bourg and his wife Marie Magdelene Granger.  It goes through my paternal grandmother Germaine Erie Patureau, or Mee Maw as we call her.

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 6 – Bujol/LeBlanc

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

Good-bye, Karen

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Easter 1963 – The Landry family siblings in happier times. From left to right is Al, Rob, Jamie, Jodie, Karen, and Van.

I was planning on writing a post in my “From Acadian to Cajun” series that I’ve been doing this year.  But then something happened that is so much more important – last night my older sister Karen passed away.

What can you say about a sibling who has passed away?  Nothing seems to be enough.  There is such a long history together.  She was already part of the family when I came around.  It seems like she should still be here, but that’s not the way life goes sometimes.  

She was diagnosed with Multiple Systems Atrophy about three years ago after several things started going wrong.  As the name implies, various systems in a person’s body begin to atrophy.  A person slowly loses functioning in the body over time.  Time that I thought we would have more of.

What I can say about her is that she dealt with her condition admirably.  She always seemed to me to be upbeat and positive.  She was a sweet and loving person.  Saying that sounds trite, but it is true.  She was a peaceful soul.  She will be missed.

Good-bye, Karen.

 

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