52 Ancestors - Week 8: I Can Identify

I Can Identify this little girl...

Mary Eliza "Maimie" David  (1877-1971)
Photo by A. D. Lytle Studio, Baton Rouge, La.

     The 1880 U.S. Census lists my Great Grandparents, Samuel Walker Booksh and Arabella Maria Tisdale Booksh, living with Sam's parents, Charles Booksh and Eliza Leonard Booksh, in the 9th Ward of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.

     Also living with them are four grandchildren, identified as Elisa Mary age 22, Charles C. Booksh age 19, Mary Eliza Booksh age 3, and S. B. David age 4. Elisa Mary (Mary Eliza in church records) and Charles C. (Charles Everitt in church records) were the children of Sam's oldest brother, Charles Edouard Booksh (1838-1911).

     Several people have assumed that 3 year old Mary Eliza was the daughter of Sam and Belle because the census taker omitted her surname and put a ditto mark behind her name. We know from the family bible and church records that Sam and Belle had only four children, Samuel Walker Jr., Charles Leonard, Wilton Tisdale and Arabella Guinevere. We have puzzled over who this Mary Eliza was for years, but the mystery has finally been solved.

     By making a list of every Mary Eliza and Eliza Mary connected to the family it was clear that the Mary Eliza listed in the 1880 census was Mary Eliza "Maimie" David. She and her brother Seth Booksh David were the children of Sam's sister, Eliza Elizabeth "Lizzie" Booksh and her husband, Joseph Johnson David (pronounced Dah VEED).

     Lizzie Booksh was born 11 April 1855 and married Joseph David on 11 May 1875. Their son Seth Booksh David was born 19 February 1876 and Belle and Sam were his godparents. Daughter Mary Eliza David was born 30 June 1877. Lizzie died young at age 22 on 31 March 1878 and is buried in the David plot in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge. Joseph David had remarried by the time of the 1880 census and is listed in the 4thWard of West Baton Rouge Parish with his new wife, Amelia, age 21.