52 Ancestors - Week 19

BALD    

The only bald ancestor I could find among my photos is my Great Grandfather Sam Booksh.  He was born on the 4th of July in 1853 in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.

Samuel Walker Booksh

What he is lacking on the top of his head he makes up for with his moustache. He looks fairly serious in this photo taken circa 1920 when he was about 70 years old, but my Grandpa Booksh said he had a great sense of humor. I've heard enough stories to feel like I knew him. 

His parents were Charles Booksh and  Mary Eliza Elizabeth Leonard. Sam was the eigth of  ten children. The family shows up in the 1860 U.S. Census in Iberville, Parish, Louisiana. The value of their property is $37,500.

Sam was 8 years old when the Civil War broke out. His oldest brother Charles Edouard and several cousins went off to fight. Besides the upheaval of the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Booksh family also suffeered through the Great Flood of 1867. Also in 1867 Eliza filed suit against her husband because he had "willfully and without regard expended $6,992 of her prenuptial monies." The Booksh plantation and other properties were sold and the family broke up.

By 1870 Eliza was living in Iberville Parish and her husband Charles and the children, including Samuel, were living in East Baton Rouge Parish in three adjoining houses on the property of Sam's brother Edgar ( Joseph Edgard Booksh). The census lists Charles Booksh in Dwelling 422. In Dwelling 423 are Clayborn 24, Geore W. 19, Samuel 17, Eliza 15, Frederic 12, Erae 21 [Erefile, wife of Claiiborn] and Charles 2 [Son of Claiborn and Erefile]. Unfortunately all are indexed with the surname Eli who was the House Keeper Lucien Eli, making them very difficult to find. The next dwelling is 424 and there we find Edgar Booksh 27 [Joseph Edgard] and his wife Cramea 27 [Delia] and their 3 children, James 4, Carie 2 and Anie 1. 

This was probably when Sam met Arabella Maria Tisdale who was living with her grandparents William and Bernice Pratt.  Sam gave Belle this photo in 1875.

Samuel Walker Booksh 1875

On 23 April 1878 Sam and Belle were married in St. Joseph's Church in Baton Rouge. 

By 1880 the Booksh family had reunited and the census lists Sam and Belle living with Charles Booksh, age 72, and his wife Eliza Elizabeth Booksh, age 60 in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Alsoo living with the family are four grandchildren: Elisa Mary 22, and her and her brother Charles C. 19, (children of Sam's oldest brother, Charles Edourd, as well as Mary Eliza [Maimie David] 3 and S. B. [Seth Booksh] David 4, children of Sam's sister Lizzie who died in 1878. (For a discussion of this census entry see my belletisdale.blogspot.com post of April 29, 2018.)

It wasn't long before Sam and Belle started their own family. On March 1881 their first son, Samuel Walker Booksh Jr. was born. Second son Charles Leonard was born in 1883, Wilton Tisdale (my grandfather) was born in 1886, and daughter Arabella Geuinevere was born in 1889. 

Sam was elected Registrar of Voters in East Baton Rouge Parish on 10 October 1892. Sometime before 11895 the family moved to New Orleans and Sam is listed in the 1895 City Directory at 815 St. Andrew Street, working as a Watchman at the Custom House.

In 1900 the family is listed in the City Directory at 1365 Constance St. and in 1910 at 1311 St. Mary Street and in 1920 at 1831 Bayou Road.

Sam died 3 November 1930 at age 77 and was buried in the Girod St. Cemetery in New Orleans. Belle Tisdale Booksh died 30 March 1934.