52 Ancestors Week 7

Sarah Ann Gonzales Begue c1910 with son Robert
This is the earliest photo we have of Grandma Begue.

     The theme for Week 7 is Outcast, but I couldn't think of anyone who fit that category so I decided to go with #7 on my Ancestor Chart, my maternal grandmother Sarah Ann Gonzales Begue.

     Sarah Gonzales was born 26 December 1888, the first daughter of John Henry Gonzales and Anna Hathaway. She was delivered by Dr. Lowe. She entered her name as Sarah Anna Gonzales in the Begue Bible but is referred to as Sarah Ann on her birth registration and as Sara Ann in her baptismal record and by her nickname "Sadie" on some other documents. She was baptized Sara Ann Gonzales at Holy Name of Mary Church in Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana. Sponsors were her uncle George Giles and her Grandmother Anna Farnan Gonzales. My mother said she had blue eyes and black hair. 

     In 1890 her father, John Gonzales, is listed in the New Orleans City Directory at 176 1/2 Eliza Street, Fifth District, which is Algiers, and in 1891 at 180 1/2 Eliza Street in Algiers. Mrs. Ann Gonzales is listed at the same address. That would be John Henry Gonzales's mother, Anne Farnan Gonzales, who was born in Ireland.

     My Mama said, "Mama went to the blind man's school in Algiers." That was undoubtedly the blind educator William Wallace Lampton, who operated a private elementary school in Algiers. (This is Algiers, Richard E. Dixon, 1971, p. 72) Algiers is the part of New Orleans on the West Bank of the Mississippi River.

     In the 1900 U.S. Census the John H. Gonzales family is listed in the Algiers section of New Orleans at 716 Newton Street near Vallette Street.  John H. is 44 years old and a day laborer. Wife Annie is 36, son Joseph M. is 17, a day laborer, son James P. is 13, daughter Sarah A. is 11 and John's mother Ann, a widow, is 73. The Gonzales family is at the bottom of the page and is scribbled over by the census taker in making his calculations. Therefore it did not appear on any census indexes and required a page by page search of the microfilm roll for Algiers. This was long before the census images were online.

     My Mama said, "Mama and her best friend used to work at the shrimp factory up near the McDonoghville line. They would walk home on the levee. On their way home, they were followed by a man who acted strange." Mama lowered her voice and covered her mouth. "He exposed himself! One day when he approached them, Mama's friend said, 'Don't worry. He won't bother us anymore.' She reached up and took the hatpin out of the back of her hat and stuck him with it...down there..."

How Grandma Met Grandpa

     I was lucky that I interviewed and recorded my mother about all the old family stories. Here's what she told me when I asked her how Grandma met Grandpa John Louis Begue.

     "Mama's father sent her to the store to get him some tobacco and papers. Men rolled their own cigarettes then. Daddy and his friend Robert Crombie were at the store to buy tobacco, too, and that was how they met. When they got married on November 20, 1907, Robert was their best man, and they named their first child after him."    

     Robert John Begue was born 29 November 1908. He was baptized at Holy Name of Mary Church on 24 December 1908. Sponsors were Robert Crombie and Sarah's cousin Annie M. Giles. In the 1910 U.S. Census they are living at 936 Vallette Street in Algiers next door to Grandma's mother Anna, now a widow, Uncle Joe and Uncle Jim and Grandma Anne. Father John Henry Gonzales died on 6 February 1907 at age 51. Grandma Anne Farnan Gonzales died 28 November 1910 at age 83.

     Grandma and Grandpa Begue's family continued to grow. In 1910 daughter Florence Amelia was born, followed in 1912 by my mother Vera Mary. Son John Louis Begue Jr. was next in 1914 and then a third daughter Leotha Mildred Begue in 1917. Sons  Sidney James in 1922; Travis Adolph in 1924 and Charles Martin in 1927 brought the total to nine children.

     Grandpa John Louis Begue Sr. died 10 October 1951 at age 64 and Grandma Sara Begue died 22 June 1965 at age 76.  Needless to say I have many more stories about the family but they will have to wait for another week.