Alcide the Great

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1890 - Simon Alcide Joseph Landry

Alcide Landry circa 1890

I think I have shared a photo of all of my other greats before.  This is Simon Alcide Joseph Landry, my paternal great grandfather.  You can call him Alcide the Great if you want to, but Alcide will do.  He was born in Brusly, Louisiana, in 1845.  His father’s name was Narcisse and they lived on a plantation.  When the Civil War started, he was too young to join, but his brothers did join.  I’ve talked about one of his brothers – Trasimond – because he was my great great grandfather.  There were two other brothers that fought in the Civil War – Amedee and Belisaire.

When Alcide turned eighteen in the summer of 1863, he joined in on the fighting two months later in Alabama.  He fought in several battles there, in Atlanta, and in Nashville.  He was captured at Hollow Tree Gap in December of 1865.  He then spent time as a prisoner of war at Camp Douglas which was located in what is now Chicago, Illinois.  What I find amazing is that all of the four brothers that fought in the Civil War survived through all of those battles.

After the war he married Marie Celeste Leveque (his half first cousin once removed – his grandfather Joseph Ignatius Landry was her great grandfather).  They had ten children together, the last being Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. my grandfather. At some point in the 1880s the family moved to Westlake in Calcasieu Parish.  He and his wife are buried in Lake Charles at Orange Grove Cemetery.

An interesting note about grandfathers in this line.  Here is the Landry line going back – Van, Bob, Rob, Alcide, Narcisse, Joseph Ignatius, Augustin, Pierre, Antoine, and Rene.  My paternal grandfather Robert Joseph, Sr. died before I was born.  Daddy‘s paternal grandfather Alcide died in 1917, which is 12 years before Daddy was born.  Narcisse died before Rob was born.  Joseph Ignatius died before Alcide was born, and Augustin died before Narcisse was born.  And finally we get back to Pierre who was considerate enough to stick around for 33 years after Joseph Ignatius was born.  This is mostly a result of being in a line of latter born children.

Gunnysack Dresses

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1941-Phenice Family

Front and back of photo from circa 1941. Girls in gunnysack dresses?

Ever since I was a kid I remember my mom talking about how she and her sisters would make their dresses out of old flour sacks.  I felt so sorry for her.  I thought that it must have been really uncomfortable.  And it must have been particularly depressing to go to school like that when there had to have been other kids with store-bought clothes made out of real cloth.  How could we possibly complain about anything when she suffered through such depravity?

Then one day about two or three years ago, she was talking about those dresses made out of flour sacks again.  She was saying how she liked to be the one to ride into ‘town’ and pick out the best prints for the dresses she was thinking about making.  I was like, “What are you talking about?  Flour sacks don’t have prints on them.”  She looked at me like I was crazy.

“Why are you asking about that?” she asked, “I’ve told you about that several times.”  I went on to say that I had heard her before, but I never knew burlap bags ever had any prints on them.  Maybe something like “FLOUR – 40 LBS” or some such label.  Then she knew I was crazy.  “Burlap bags?  How do you get that from flour sacks?” she asked.

I told her that that was what I’ve always pictured when she told us this story.  And it wasn’t just me.  My sisters Karen and Jamie also thought the same thing. (They may deny it now, though!)  We all got a kick out of this misunderstanding.  They both shared an article about the topic a while back on Facebook.  It explained the whole phenomenon and talked about how in the early 40s over three and a half million women and children were wearing garments made from feedsacks.

I’m thinking that the photo I’m posting today may be showing a part of that history.  It’s from the right era.  I’m not really sure, but it looks like a possibility to me.  The dresses all look somewhat simple and each one is made from comfortable looking cloth of a single type of print.  I really didn’t notice the dresses when I first decided on using this photo for my post.  When I was editing the photo, the prints of the dresses caught my attention and reminded me of the discussion with my mom.

I picked the photo out because there is that homespun charm about it.  I’m posting the photo unedited at first and including the back of it.  There’s an oil spot on the front that shows on the back also.  I’m not sure what caused that.  But on the back of the photo a child’s handwriting has labeled everyone in the photo.  Then on the top right corner in my mom’s handwriting, it reads “taken by Betty with 1st camera.”  How sweet is that.  Little Betty Lou taking a photo of her mom’s family with her first camera.  On the far left is my grandmother Myrtle AKA Grandma.

1941-Phenice family

Front: Myrtle, Marguerite, Grace, Daisy, and Harry Phenice Back:Warren, Henry, Sylvan, and Orville

I’m also posting an edited version of the photo.  That’s what I do.  Clean it up a bit.  Remove the scratches.  Remove the dust.  Remove the charm.  Wait, did I say that?  Yes, I did.  That’s why I decided to post both versions.  I think the cleaned up version looks better, but the original has more charm.  I don’t think that’s the case most of the time, but sometimes I do wonder.  Not enough to make me stop though.

 

Entanglements

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Mee Maw and Pee Paw circa 1956

Mee Maw and Pee Paw circa 1956

I had a realization yesterday.  And it seems like something I should have noticed earlier.  It seems like I talk about it all of the time.  And I’m sure my dad must have talked about it too.  As you all know, my Mee Maw and Pee Paw were related to each other.  They were first cousins once removed.  If you don’t like removing people, Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. married his first cousin’s daughter Germaine Erie Patureau.

“So they were cousins,” you say, “what’s the big deal?”  Maybe that’s not what you’d say, but growing up in our family that seemed to have been the attitude.  People have a different attitude now.  “Cousins who kiss now are parted” is the line from my musing on the situation a few years ago.  But it’s not just that they are related – and here is the big realization – everyone that is/was related to Pee Paw is/was related to Mee Maw.

Think about that.  You have cousins from your mom’s side and from your dad’s side.  Most of the time the two sides are not related to each other.  And if you happened to be married to your 2nd cousin (heaven forbid!) you would share one of your four sets of great grandparents.  That would still leave three quarters of your ancestry different from your partner.

But in my grandparents’ case, it’s a bit more entangled than that.  Pee Paw’s father was the brother of Mee Maw’s grandfather.  So Pee Paw’s paternal grandparents were Mee Maw’s great grandparents.  That takes care of half of Pee Paw’s ancestors- they are also Mee Maw’s ancestors.  With the maternal side of Pee Paw’s family it was a generation further back.  As a tool, I’ll use the chart that my dad made of all of his ancestors in a circular pedigree chart.  Many of you will recognize it from the many times he talked about family history at reunions and get-togethers. Maybe some of you listened more closely and have already heard about this ‘realization’ that I’m trying to explain.

My dad’s genealogy chart.

If you look at the chart with its helpful color coding, you can barely see a dotted green outline on the lower left quadrant (that I shaded green).  That is the ancestry that I was just talking about – ancestors of Simon Alcide Landry.  It matches with the right side (Mee Maw’s side) starting at due east (on the right) down to southeast (shaded green to match).  Those are the ancestors of Jean Trasimond Landry (Alcide’s brother and Mee Maw’s grandfather).  These are the common ancestors that make them first cousins once removed.

Alcide was married to Marie Celeste Leveque, whose parents were Auguste Leveque and Basalite Landry.  Both Auguste and Basalite had a sister that were ancestors of Mee Maw.  Therefore Auguste’s parents and ancestors (shown in the tan color section) are also ancestors on Mee Maw’s side of the family.  You can see the peach section repeated on her side on the lower right side.  This represents the Leveque connection and they were second cousins twice removed due to this connection.  But then Basalite’s parents and ancestors (shown in the yellow sections) are also on both sides of the family.  This is another Landry connection and Mee Maw and Pee Paw were second cousins once removed due to this connection.

So, like I said earlier, all of Pee Paw’s relatives are/were relatives of Mee Maw as well.  The reverse is not true, though.  Mee Maw has a few distinct family lines that are not included on Pee Paw’s side.  Mainly the Patureau line that came from France in the 1840s.  It’s difficult to find someone related through just the Patureau line, because in our family there were three generations in a row that married into the Landry line, which is what brought us to the situation we now have.

The other distinct line leads back to another Landry.  We get our last name from Rene “the younger” Landry and he shows up several times from all of the intermarriages.  But Rene “the older” only shows up once.  His daughter didn’t believe in marrying cousins.  Imagine that!  But alas, Rene “the older” really isn’t the only connection to the Landry line he represents.  There is another member of that Landry line that we descend from – his sister Antoinette.  Somehow that is not surprising.

In the second paragraph of this post I referred to a poem that I wrote a few years ago.  I thought I’d post my whole poem here for the sake of those who had not seen it before. It explains (in a way) how I am my own third cousin once removed. I wrote this on June 24 & 25, 2005 when my obsession at the time was limerick writing.

 

Me, Myself and I

My third cousin once removed did
Take over my life and then hid.
He’s inside my head
But if he were dead,
It would kill both my ego and id.

You see that third cousin is me.
I’ve climbed around my family tree.
I must be part monkey
Or just info junkie,
I swing through the branches with glee.

Some interesting things I discover.
The lines of descent I recover
Appear more than twice.
Well, isn’t that nice.
At least I am not my own brother.

It seems that my grandfather wed
His first cousin’s daughter and bred.
For they had eight kids
And one of them did
Wed mom and you know where that led.

It must have been Cajun tradition
Or kids with a lot of volition.
Whatever the cause,
It didn’t give pause.
It happened despite admonition.

I am my own fifth cousin too.
And no I don’t live in a zoo.
But all this inbreeding
And some genes repeating,
Should lead to a head number two.

And then I’d have room for my cousins.
I know there’s at least a half dozen.
Though they are all me,
I’d set a few free,
Cause we are not kissin’ but fussin’.

We fight over who gets to drive
Who’s out first when we all arrive.
Who gets the last piece,
Who pays on the lease,
It’s worse than most husbands and wives.

I wonder how all this got started,
Cause cousins who kiss now are parted.
To stop a mutation
Or my situation
Where cousins blame me when they’ve farted.

Of course they have done much worse things,
Like knocking that boy from the swings.
They kicked my dear sister
And stole that transistor.
What mischief these cousins can bring.

But one is the absolute worst
It’s him that I mentioned at first.
I’m sure it was him
That burned down the gym.
When mom asked us why, he just cursed.

I guess he’s the strongest, cause he
Is closest relation to me.
He’s really quite tiring
And gets me perspiring.
I wish he’d get lost in my tree.

Hello, it’s ol’ third cousin here.
I’m here to bring fun and good cheer.
Ignore boring Van.
He’s spineless and bland.
With a “Boo” he just runs off in fear.

He blames me for everything bad.
But accidents happen. So sad.
If I don’t come out
And rampage about,
In a very short time I’ll go mad.

Who cares if I mock the deceased?
Or my share of work is the least?
At times I relent,
But I won’t repent.
I’ll laugh if you call me a beast.

 (Shut up. Now get back in your place.)
Forgive me for that show of face.
He looks just like me
But as you can see,
He’s lacking in wits, style, and grace.

And now I must leave you alone.
A state that I never have known.
So check out your tree,
Particularly
To reveal who’s in your skin and bones.

The Cows All Come a Runnin’ With a Moo!

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1949 - Betty Lou charming the cows with Papi

1949 – Betty Lou charming the cows with Papi

For several years now, I’ve been sharing stories of the Adventures of Jacko.  As everyone knows, they are stories about the travels of me and my wonderfully charming sock monkey Jacko.  In the travelling song that Jacko and his mentor/grandfather Papi wrote, it mentions my mom and the fact that she used to play her baritone out in the fields of Hathaway until the cows would come.

I didn’t know that she had a photo of this until quite recently.  She has talked about her serenading activity for as long as I can remember.  I don’t know why she didn’t mention this photo or show it to me.  I mentioned this to Papi and he said he couldn’t imagine why his old Buddiloo never showed me this photo.

“Of course,” he said, “back then we didn’t see photos as soon as we took them.  But I do remember seeing it once.  I titled it ‘Nature Girl.'”

“‘Nature Girl’?” I asked, “Why did you call it that?”

“Well,” he said, “it was around the same time that Nat King Cole’s song ‘Nature Boy’ was playing on the radio.  That was really exciting.  Radio was one of the rare conveniences that we had out in the country.  There certainly wasn’t any air conditioner, so when Buddiloo would practice her horn, she liked to go outside.  She played all kinds of songs, but the one that the cows liked best was ‘Nature Boy.’  And every time they showed up, they said the same thing.”

“Of course they did,” I said.  “Mama always said they would moo at her when they showed up and it made her laugh.”

“Yes, sometimes she could be a silly girl.  It’s what I love the most about her.  But those cows kept trying to tell her something and she never listened.  I, of course, listened to them attentively.  I am a cow whisperer,” he said with more than a little pride.

“So what was it that they said?” I asked. “Were they making requests for different songs?  Or maybe for a different instrument?  Like a trombone?   Surely not a clarinet?!”

“No, no, none of that,” he said with a scowl.  “I see you inherited more than a little bit of silliness from your mom.”

“Whatever,” I said, “Just tell me what the cows said.”

“Okay, but it would be better if I sang it for you.  Since ‘Nature Boy’ was the song that they were drawn to, I decided to put the message into my own words for the song,” he explained.  “I call it ‘Nature Girl,’ hence the title of the photo.  It goes like this.”

He then started singing the song with a haunting melody.  It really was quite moving.  Here are the words:

Nature Girl

There was a girl, a very sweet and charming girl.

She liked to play her baritone all alone in the fields each day.

Her monkey friend would give a grin.

When she’d start to play.

And then one morn, a magic morn she played that horn.

And all the cows they gathered round.  Stood their ground.

This they said to her:

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn

is grass tastes great, but when brown it can burn.”

After sitting a while stunned by his performance, I shook myself back to alertness and asked,”Wait, does that mean that brown grass burns in the stomach or that it can catch fire?”

“Silly boy,” he said, “what is hay?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said sheepishly.

“If there are still any doubts in your mind about the answer to your question,” he continued, “just mention the words ‘grass fire’ to a herd of cattle.  It’s the quickest way to start a stampede.  When they would say the same thing over and over to Buddiloo, there was always a look of fear in their eyes.

“Now if there are any more questions, they can wait.  Jacko and I are going to the other room to watch a movie.  You can join us if you like…as long as you bring popcorn.”  At that he was off.

So that, my friends, is the story of this week’s photo.  Straight from the monkey’s mouth.

Jennie to Louis on his trip to Ada

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Jennie Bucklin sent this letter to her youngest brother Louis Charles Bucklin after he arrived at Ohio Normal University in Ada, Ohio.

I sign my name not for its beauty but if it should never reach you I want it back
Jennie

Jennings La Jan 19th 1893

Dear Brother

We all thanked you very much for your great promptness in keeping us posted along your Route & in letting us know of all the particulars of your arrival at Ada

Mother especially appreciated your thoughtfullness in your gift book and first letter being to her after arriving at your destination she says she will never part with the wrapping you so carefully sewed up with the kneedle & thread that she knows she gave you. By the way did you need to put so much postage on it?  And tell me did you see the places that are pictured in it they are lovely.

We are glad you are well pleased in your location.  And hope you will do well.  Do not ape the strut you wrote about.  And yet do not hold yourself too cheaply.  Joe made that mistake in Dubuque.

There is enough at your back in far off Louisiana both in Family & landed property to warant you to carry your self just as you see fit and give you the respect of all.  You must remember many of those long ones have just their clothes and are depending on what their schooling may bring to them here after.  So you can easily allow the students & Faculty to see you are sure of your ground with out bragging or letting them feel that you are afraid of them.

2nd
There is that not a free lecture for nothing; but I do not believe in people making them selves cheaper than they are. Other people will try to do that for us quickly enough

Well I suppose Clarence has told you that the lat sack of the rice is down here Clarence went up with Ben Friday and brought down a load with them saturday and returned with the cattle sunday By the way if any of them are curious as to your social standing just inform them that you never travel here with out four spare to your Vehicle

Mother & Joe came down here day before yesterday Ben & Joe drove down to Lake Arthur and have not returned yet. Mother is with me me yet and will be for a few days Tom Lilt has stopped work to attend school at Andersons’ schooll house taught by a miss Avery.

The carpenters are to go up to start our house next week if nothing happens.  Three of them, they will board with our folks and Martha Williams will go up at the same time to work for Mother.  I think she will like Martha very well.

Had McFarlain sold out his store stock to Viterbo Bros before you left?  I I suppose the K. girls are enjoying their rest greatly.

The pocket book of the Morse family only sufficed to carry Geroge to school I think.  At any rate George was send to L. Charles & Chas is pitching into work like a good fellow.  Well I am scribbling off this straggling letter late at night as all are in bed long ago, and I am getting in a few lines between the babys’ squalls so you must excuse Clarence was angry at me for because I kept his letter waiting these two or three day’s so I did it tonight.  Mother would have written but was not feeling so well as to write as long a letter as she wished to so she send her dear love in this and will write later.  I heard Clarence grumble that you’d be sure to direct your answer to Mama.  So be sure you send the answer in his name.

P. S. Mother sends in this letter a Postal note for ten dollars ($10.00 I suppose you will need Arties there. Keep your self warmly clothed and comfortable any way. All send love and lots of it
from Sister
Jennie Taylor

JennietoLouis1JennietoLouis2JennietoLouis3JennietoLouis4 JennietoLouis1_env

I Was a Little Bit Thin

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1921-07- Earnest Cropper, Clifford Clements, Germaine Erie Patureau, Zita Patureau, and H. L. Landry Clean

Summer 1921

Sometimes a photo just compels me.  That’s the situation this week.  I was feeling somewhat ornery and thought I’d do a really good and confusing one about some of the tangled relations on my dad’s side of the family.  I started looking at photos and this one grabbed my attention.  Not because of any intrigue or confusion, just because it is a sweet photo of my grandmother Erie Patureau Landry.

It was taken in the summer of 1921.  “How do you know that?” you ask?  Because that’s what it says on the back of the photo in my Mee Maw’s very own handwriting.  That’s how.  And not only that, she listed everyone in the photo.  Thanks again, Mee Maw!

Standing behind her is her sister Zita Patureau.  The guy standing behind the wooden handrail is their first cousin Earnest Cropper.  (Joseph Earnest Cropper, Sr. born in 1901)  His mother was a Patureau and the sister of Erie and Zita’s father.  The other guy’s name is  Clifford Clements.  No relation that I know of, but one of their other Patureau cousins married a Clements girl who could possibly be related to him.  May be her brother?

1921-07- Earnest Cropper, Clifford Clements, Germaine Erie Patureau, Zita Patureau, and H. L. Landry Back

Writing on the back of the photo

And that leaves us with just the boy’s name not revealed yet.  She has his name listed as H. L. Landry.  I would suppose that this was Henry Louis Landry who was born in 1911.  And that brings a slightly sinister grin to my face.  :9  You see, little H. L. is not only Erie and Zita’s half first cousin, he is also their first cousin once removed.  Because Erie’s maternal grandmother Belite is also H. L.’s maternal grandmother.  Where Erie came about from the union of Belite and Trasimond Landry, H. L. comes from Belite’s 2nd union with Magloire Babin.  That explains the half first cousin part.  In addition H. L. is the (at this point my grin is becoming a scowl – this is confusing me and I have it all clearly displayed on my computer!) grandson of Alcide Joseph Landry who is the brother of Erie’s grandfather Trasimond.  So I was wrong.  He is their half first cousin and their second cousin.  (I wonder if that adds up to a three quarters first cousin?)  Now it’s perfectly clear.  I think it’s clear.  Are we clear?  Similar to what it says on the back of the photo, my confidence in the outcome is “a little bit thin” right now.

1913 Was a Tough Year

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Bills were piling up for Louis Charles Bucklin. He mortgaged 160 acres of land in March. I am not sure how much of the farm he personally owned at the time, but in total the family homesteaded 850 acres. One of those bills that wasn’t getting paid was at the Tupper Store. Thankfully W. H. Tupper continued to let the Bucklins buy on credit for months with no payment. By August 1, he owed $271 at the store and had only $99 in the bank.

Bill Letter Tupper to Louis May 1, 1913 Bill Letter Tupper to Louis Aug 1, 1913 Mortgage Louis Bucklin 1913 inside B Louis Bank Balance July 2, 1913

A Sad Story

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I’m in the mood to tell a sad story.  It’s probably because I’ve been hearing so many this week with the Great Flood of 2016 happening all around me.  Like those stories, it is a true story.  And, alas, it is sad.

I’ve wanted to tell it for a while now.  As I looked through the information about the Bucklin family, little pieces of the story would show up from time to time.  My cousin Joseph Connors posted a prequel to this story a few weeks ago. (Jennie Has Been Very Sick)  He told a part of this tragic tale, but I thought that I’d tell a little more.

Joe Bucklin in 1909 in Jennings, Louisiana. (photo edited by Van Landry)

His name was Joseph Bucklin.  He was born around 1859 in Massachusetts to James Austin Bucklin of Palmer, Massachusetts, and Mary Ann McGrath Bucklin originally of Ireland.  The family must have moved to Iowa shortly after his birth, because his younger brother Edward was born there in 1864.  Then his youngest brother Louis Charles Bucklin (my great grandfather) was born in Iowa in 1873.  They lived in Coffins Grove, Iowa.  (Cue the ominous music here.)

In 1884 the family moved to southern Louisiana where he, his father, his brother Ed, and his sister Jennie set up homesteads in the Raymond area. (Louis was not old enough to set up his own at that time.)  I’m sure it was a busy time for the family working on developing the land, roads, and bridges in that area.  But still, as things will happen, Joseph got married to Agnes “Aggie” Ausman in 1892.  She was from Canada, had spent time in Iowa at some point, but I’m not sure how they got together.  Let’s hope it was a happy courtship and marriage, because tragedies soon followed.

In 1893, Joseph wrote to Louis in Ohio to tell him about their sister Jennie being sick.  Jennie died sometime after June of 1893.  Around the same time, Joe and Aggie had a little daughter named Leola.  Things were calm for a few years with the birth of Gladys in 1896 and Harold in July 1899.  Shortly after that came more tragedies.  A month after Harold was born, Aggie died.  Then in December Leola died.  Joe must have been having a hard time, because his mother Mary Ann came to stay with him in Jennings.  But to make matters worse, she caught a severe case of the flu and died on April 10, 1900.

I told you it was a sad story.  I feel a reluctance in telling you his story and letting you get to know him a bit, because his story is so sad.  But I wanted to tell it, and that’s what I’m doing.   I’m sorry to tell you this, but there are more tragedies to come for poor Joe.  But not just yet.  As luck would have it (I’m not so sure about that Irish luck at this point!), Aggie had a younger sister of marrying age and Joe did just that.  He married Ida Ausman in November of 1900.  He certainly didn’t waste any time!

1903 - Little Flower GoneHe and Ida had a daughter named Ida May in 1903.  I’m not sure of the details here, but Joe’s wife Ida died on Sept. 5, 1903.  It could have been from disease or complications from childbirth, but it was a tragedy nonetheless.  Following that, little Ida May died a few months later.  As an article in the Jennings Daily Times states, she had never been strong and died as a result of a severe cold.  The person writing the article must have known the situation, because they talk about “the grief stricken father whose cup of sorrow seems filled to over flowing.”  I agree with that evaluation.

Joe did marry again in 1913, but he didn’t have any more children.  His daughter Gladys died in 1917 in Iowa at the age of 21 while living with her Ausman grandparents.  (There could also be a sad story written about the Ausman family, but I’ll leave that up to someone else.)  Gladys did not have any children.  Then Joe himself died a year later of the flu in the great 1918 flu pandemic while living in Florida.

There are no descendants today of Joe.  His son Harold did get married, but he died at the age of 27 without any children in 1926. He was the last of that family.  I descend from his brother Louis and I have never even attempted to count the number of descendants that he has.  He and Addie had 11 children (including my grandfather Fred) and 19 grandchildren (including my mom Betty Lou).  There were several more great grandchildren (Fred himself added 20 to that count.) and countless great great grandchildren.  The difference is drastic.

And so ends the sad story of Joe.

June 11, 2017 Update

For more information about the connections between the Ausmans and Bucklins, read the later post The Bucklin/Keys/Ausman/MacVey Connections.

Nov. 14, 2019 Update

For newly discovered details about the life of the Ausmans and Joe Bucklin, read this post The Sad History Surrounding Joe Bucklin.

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