Remembering Uncle Jim

Today is Veteran's Day, originally called Armistice Day. This Veterans Day 2019 is the 100^th anniversary of Armistice Day, celebrating the cessation of fighting in World War I. Although the armistice agreement had ended fighting on November 11, 1918, The Treaty of Versailles was not signed until June 28, 1919, officially ending the war between Germany and the Allied Powers. On November 11, 1919 the first Armistice Day was celebrated in England.

Almost five million American families sent a relative to serve in the military during World War I, which was known as the Great War until World War II. My mother's Uncle Jim was one of those who served.

James Peter Gonzales (1886-1957)

James Peter Gonzales

James Peter Gonzales was born July 5, 1886, the son of John Henry Gonzales (1856-1907) and Anna Hattaway (1860-1943). (His mother's surname, as well as her father's, is spelled many different ways in various records. She was my Great Greandmother and was always called Little Grandma.) Like both of his parents he was born in Algiers, the part of New Orleans on the West Bank of the Mississippi River.

His grandfather, John Gonzales (1820-1884), was born in northern Spain and was a seaman in 1842 when he came to New Orleans. His grandmother, Anne Farnan (1827-1910) was born in Ireland.

On his mother's side his grandfather was Peter Hardeway (1810-c1865), a ships carpenter from Copenhagen, Denmark, who came to New Orleans sometime before 1850. His surname is sometimes recorded as Hartway and Hartwig. James's maternal grandmother was Bernardina Harmeyer (1829-1883) who came from Alfhausen, Hanover, Germany in 1848. So he had a diverse heritage.

The first U. S. Census James shows up in is 1900. His family is living at 716 Newton Street in Algiers, the 15^th Ward of New Orleans. His family owns the house. His father is working as a day laborer, probably on the waterfront. Algiers was the main ship building and repair center for the area. James is 13 years old and at school. He has an older brother, Joseph, age 17, and a younger sister Sarah, age 11, my grandmother. Their grandmother, Anne Gonzales, is living with the family.

In 1910 the U. S. Census tells us that James Gonzales was a carpenter in the railroad shop in Algiers, living at 936 Vallette Street with his mother, two brothers and grandmother. Living in the same house, probably the other half of a shotgun double, were his sister Sarah and her husband John Begue with their one year old son Robert.

In 1917 Uncle Jim registered for the draft not long before his 31st birthday. His draft card says he had black hair and brown eyes and was slightly deaf. He was soon inducted into the Army. When we asked Uncle Jim what he did in the war he said he took care of the mules. Grandma said he was deafened by the cannons. Mules were used to pull the cannons so both stories add up.

The 1920 census says that he and his brother Joseph and mother Annie were still living on Vallette Street and that he was working as a laborer for the levee board. Neither he nor his brother ever married. Uncle Joe died before I was born, but Uncle Jim and Little Grandma Gonzales were both still alive. After Little Grandma died in 1943 he went to live with Uncle John and Aunt Esther Begue.

BEGUE FAMILY GROUP - 1952
Esther Begue, Warren Hertz Sr., Homer Bill Hamner, Florence and Charles Hutzler Sr, Marie and Gonzales Begue,
John Begue, Carmela Hamner, David Begue, Charlie Hutzler Jr., Johnny Hertz,
In chairs - Grandma Sarah Gonzales Begue and Uncle Jim Gnzales,
Warren Hertz Jr.

My cousins and I remember Uncle Jim as a skinny old man who was almost completely deaf. When he registered for the WW II draft in 1942, his description said he was 5' 6" tall and weighed 120 pounds and had brown eyes and gray hair. So he was a skinny old man as I remembered.

He lived around the corner from us when I was little and often visited. When he left we would ask him where he was going and he would say, with a twinkle in his eye, that he was going down to the church to get some holy water. We knew that he was going to the corner bar to have a beer. One of the things I remember about him was that he always came around the day after Thanksgiving and he always said, “I came to get the piece that went over the fence last.” That meant the turkey tail, his favorite.

Uncle Jim died June 10, 1957 of bilateral bronco pneumonia due to pulmonary emphysema. He was buried on January 12 at the McDonogh Cemetery. I remember going to his wake and funeral.

There are not many people left who remember Uncle Jim. That is why I wanted to commemorate his life and service to his country in World War I. I have posted a shorter version of this narrative on the World War I Centennial page in the Stories of Service section.

https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/commemorate/family-ties/stories-of-service.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/abiyt.html