52 Ancestors Week 14

BEGINS WITH A VOWEL

     Many of my ancestors' names begin with vowels. We have several women named Anna, Anne, and Emma,  an Arabella, and an Amelia. We even have male ancestors named Adam and Albert. But we only have one with two names that begin with a vowel, Great Grandmother Anna Amelia Hasling, usually called Amelia. 

Anna Amelia Hasling Begue and her sister Sally Hasling Cordy
operated a small hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi from 1890 to about 1893.

     Anna Amelia Hasling was born in Algiers, Louisiana in April 1861, estimating from her age at death of  33 years and 2 months in her 1894 obituary. Or maybe in 1864 estimating from her age of 6 in the 1870 census. Or 1862 estimating from her age of 18 in the 1880 census.She was the third daughter of Adam Lawrence Hasling and Caroline Sophie Carstens. 

     Grandpa Begue said that his mother had dark hair and dark eyes. He also said she was an opera singer and he remembered watching her paint her throat with burnt cork before she sang at his Grandfather Hasling's ballroom in Algiers. Grandpa was only 7 years old when his mother died. 

     Her father, Adam Lawrence Hasling, had been married first to Mary Ann Keeling, who died on 3 June 1852. He married widow Caroline Sophie Carstens on 10 October 1853. Her first husband, Carl Martin Theodore Bayer had died 1 October 1852 while she was pregnant for their third child. Caroline's sister, Henrietta, was married to Adam's brother John Henry Hasling.  

     According to the 1860 census, there were three of A. L. Hasling's children from his first marriage in the household, Lawrence, age 14, Emma, age 16, and Agnes, age 11. Caroline and A. L. Hasling also had two daughters of their own, Laura Catherine, age 5, and Sarah "Sally," age 3. The New Orleans City Directory from the 1850s to 1861 show Amelia's father was operating a coffee house and grocery in Algiers. Soon he was off to serve in Gray's Regiment dring the Civil War leaving Caroline to run the business. The 1866 city directory shows him still operating the coffee house and grocery at Villere Street in Algiers. 

     On the 1870 census Amelia's family is listed as Adam Hasling, age 50, and wife Caroline, age 40. Living with them are children Lawrence 21, Jenny 18, John [Bayer} 19, Charlie [Bayer] 17, Laura 15, Sally 8, and Amelia 6.  In 1871 the city directory lists A. L. Hasling as grocer and ship chandler on Villere Street.  In 1880 Amelia is listed as 18 years old. Her sister Sally has married Arthur Cordy, a druggist, and has a baby girl, Mary Ann, always called May. They are all living with the A. L. Hasling family in Algiers.

     We don't know how Amelia Hasling met John Blaise Begue, whose family had a grocery in Biloxi, Mississippi. We do know that her father's brother, Henry Hasling, was living in Biloxi, Harrison County, Mississippi, in 1870. Her mother's Carstens family also had a home in Bioxi and in 1888 her father and mother had a summer home there as well.

     Mama said her father told her that Amelia Hasling's Episcopal family disowned her when she married Catholic John Blaise Begue. If her Episcopal family was upset, it did not stop them from attending the wedding at the Catholic Church in Biloxi. Listed as witnesses are A. L. Hasling, J. H. Cooper, B. Begue, Francis Martin, Martin Canby and Mrs. Caroline Hasling.  A. L. Hasling also signed the Marriage Bond with John Blaise Bégué two days prior to the wedding on 4 May 1882.

     On 7 February 1883 John and Amelia's first child, Mary Ann "Mamie" Begue, was born. Daughter Caroline Emilia "Carrie" was born 25 June 1885 and son John Louis was born 7 July 1887. The 1888 and 1889 New Orleans city directories list John Begue living at 47 Villere Street in Algiers. He was listed as a cotton inspecter in 1888 and as a cotton weigher in 1889.

     John Blaise Begue died on 7 June 1889 of pulmonary tuberculosis. On his death certificate his brother, Louis Bégué, declares that “John B. Bégué, a native of Biloxi, Miss., aged 38 years, departed this life this day (7 June 1889) at No. 47 Villere St., Algiers, in this city, Cause of Death pulmonary tuberculosis, Certificate of Dr. W. E. Schuppert. Deceased was married, 7 years in the city and a laborer by occupation.” His body was sent to Biloxi for burial in the Bégué plot of the Creole Cemetery in Biloxi. According to Biloxi Cemetery Records, 1841-1937, (Microfilm Z/1589 Roll 2) there are six graves in the Bégué plot in Section C-83, but none are legible.

     Mama said that after John Blaise Begue died, Amelia and her sister Sally Hasling Cordy, also a widow, operated a small hotel in Biloxi. This is probably the property on Lots 4 and 5, Fayard Alley owned by A. L. Hasling. The property is listed in court files as purchased in 1890. Small hotels like this were popular in the winter with Northern visitors and in the summer with Orleanians who left the city for the cooler Gulf Coast.

      The 1890 New Orleans City Directory lists Annie Bégué, widow of John, residing at 44 ½ Delaronde Street in Algiers, and the 1891 directory lists her as Annie E. Bégué, widow John, at 49 Villere. Her father, A. L. Hasling is living at 66 Villere and her uncle Henry Carstens is a partner in Carstens & Vezien, grocers and ship chandlers, 64 and 66 Villere. A receipt for real estate taxes is dated 23 August 1892 to Widow John Bégué for tax of $56.63 on $2,800 of real estate. The property is listed as Lot 5 and 6 located between Siguin, Villere, Bartholomew and Delaronde Streets.

     Amelia's mother Caroline died on 7 March 1891 of stomach cancer and left everything to Amelia's father. A. L. Hasling. On 7 November 1891 the Biloxi Herald's Local Happenings mentioned that Amelia was spending several weeks in Biloxi with her father. The same issue listed "For Sale - That fine and beautiful residence on the beach. Apply to A. L. Hasling or P. J. Moontross."

     On 17 June 1894 Amelia Hasling Begue died of phthisis pulmonalis, tuberculosis. Her will named Eugene Lalmant,  widower of her half-sister Sarah Agnes Hasling, her executor and tutor of her children who were to be placed in St. Joseph Orphan Asylum.

      Amelia's father A. L. Hasling died on 12 Aug 1895. He left everything to his son-in-law, Francis Martin, husband of Mary Jane "Jenny" Hasling, resulting in several law suits. Eugene Lalmant died 21 Nov 1896. Amelia's uncle  Henry Carstens was then named tutor of the children and he died soon after on 2 April 1898.  His wife, Mary Ann Fink Carstens, was soon involved in law suits over her handling of the estate.

     Further complicating the law suits were the great Algiers fire of October 1895 and the great fire in Biloxi on 9 November 1900 which destroyed several houses owned by the Haslings and Carstens families.