Several years ago when my husband and I were RVing in Canada, we visited Fortress Louisbourg and the Historic Acadian Village in Nova Scotia.
Fortress Louisbourg and The Historic Acadian Village
Both are fantastic places to visit especially if you have French ancestors. We stayed at a campground nearby. The camp host asked my husband if he spoke French and he said, "No, but my wife does." I said, "Oh, I just speak a little Louisiana French." She hugged me and said, "Louisiana! We love Zachary Richard!" I was familiar with singer Zachary Richard and even had one of his tapes with me.
Yesterday I found a link on Zachary Richard's Facebook page to:
"Alpha List of Seven Ships Passengers, 29 July-17 December 1785"
This in turn led me to Steven Cormier's site Acadians in Gray This is an absolutely amazing source with links to much more information.
Click on APPENDICES and then on Alpha List of Seven Ships... Of the nearly 2,900 Acadians who found refuge in Louisiana from 1754 to the 1800s, more than half of them arrived on these seven Spanish ships that sailed from Nantes, France to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1785.
If you have Acadian/Cajun ancestors from Louisiana this is a must-see source.
We have two Irish ancestors in our family tree...Anne Farnan and Anne McGuire.
Anne McGuire was born in August 1824 in Ireland, according to the 1900 U.S. census. Her first husband was Mr. Dunn. He died sometime before 1850. On 2 April 1850 she married Jean Baptiste Begue (1816-1904), who had come to Louisiana from Ste. Martin in the Haute Pyranees of southern France in 1841. They were living in Biloxi, Mississippi at the time. For many years they operated a grocery store and butcher shop there. Anne died 15 August 1901 at age 77. Their son John Blaise Begue (1851-1889) married Anna Amelia Hasling on 6 May 1882 in Biloxi and their son John Louis Begue (1887-1951) is our ancestor.
Anne Farnan was born in February 1827 in Ireland. She married John Gonzales on 5 August 1854 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was born in Northern Spain about 1820 and came to New Orleans in 1842. He died in 1884 at age 64 and Anne died 28 November 19, 1910 at age 83. Their son John Henry Gonzales married Anna Hattaway in 1880 and their daughter Sarah Anne Gonzales (1888-1955) married John Louis Begue (1887-1951), son of John Blaise Begue, in 1907. They are my maternal grandparents and our connection to Ireland.
I made a big pot of Aztec Chili day before yesterday to get us through this latest cold spell. It's 50 degrees this morning with a cold North wind. It's basically a 3 bean chili recipe with chocolate added. Here's the recipe:
1 pound chili grind beef
1 large onion, chopped
3 or so cloves of garlic, chopped
1 bottle of dark beer
1 large can chopped tomatoes and 1 can chopped green chiles (or 2 cans of Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chiles. Grandma always used Rotel.)
1 can each: red Kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, and white corn
2 tbsps Masa flour or white corn meal
Unsweetened baker's chocolate to taste, grated or chips
Shredded Mexican cheese to taste
Sprinkle meat with some of the chili powder. Brown meat, onion and garlic in small amount of olive oil in large cast iron skillet. Transfer to large pot. Deglaze skillet with beer and add to meat. Stir in the rest of the chili powder and tomatotes and green chiles and cook for about an hour or so. Add canned beans and corn and cook for another 30 minutes or so. Mix Masa flour with a little water and add to chili to thicken.
Spoon into bowls and stir in chocolate, grated squares or chips. Add Tabasco to taste. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
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| Sarah Gonzales Begue and John Louis Begue with grandchildren Vera Booksh and John Hertz 1941 |
My Grandma Sarah Ann Gonzales was born 26 December 1888 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She married John Louis Begue on 20 November 1907. They had nine children and 16 grandchildren. She was a terrific cook. She rarely used a recipe. She just knew by looking and smelling when everything was just right. One of the things she taught me to make was Pecan Pralines. (And that's pronounced PahCAWN PrahLEENS.)
PECAN PRALINES
(The amounts come from a printed recipe in a New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper clipping.)
3 cups brown sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
2 1/2 cups chopped pecans
2 tablespoons butter
1 or 2 teaspoons vanilla
Heat 2 cups of sugar with the milk over medium heat, stirring often. Add the butter and pecans and stir constantly. Cook slowly until it forms a soft ball when dropped into a cup of cold water. Take off the stove to cool for a little whiile. Then drop by large spoonfuls onto wax paper. When the pralines have cooled and hardened store in a tin to enjoy for Christmas.
If you don't have the time or patience for that recipe you can make Microwave Pralines using this recipe from a Louisiana friend:
Mix all ingredients except the pecans and microwave on high for 9 minutes. Add pecans and stir until thick. Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper.
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| Marie Eliza Elizabeth Leonard Booksh 1819-1897 |
In tracing her ancestors back I had discovered that her paternal grandparents were Louis Leonard, born 1743 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Marie Anne Dardenne, born 13 Sep 1750 in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Her maternal grandparents were John Kraus born c1730 in Baltimore, Maryland, and Ana Margarita Shafer born c1737 in Germany. Every one of them had interesting stories of their own, but it was when I got to her paternal great grandparents that it got really interesting.
Her great grandfather was Jean Baptiste Leonard who was born 17 October 1690 in Liege, Diocese of Luxemburg, Belgium. He and his wife and four children arrived in New Orleans aboard the ship Venus from L'Orient on 7 April 1721. In the 1727 census they are "Habitants in the Environs of New Orleans along the River, Right Bank Ascending." But he is listed alone with two sons. His wife, Marie Paullus, and two of their children had died.
I was doing research at the Indian River County Library in Vero Beach, looking through the Catholic Church record books, when I found the marriage record of Jean Baptiste Leonard and his second wife, Anne Coudray, Eliza Leonard's great grandmother, on 11 July 1730 in the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. The marriage record said that Anne from St. Malo in Brittainy, France, was the widow of Julien Chartier who had died in the Natchez Massacre of 1729. He was from Burgundy and had come to Louisiana to work on the concession of Mr. de Koly.
This led to more research and I learned Anne was one of the few survivors of that massacre. The women and children who survived were kept prisoners by the Natchez Indians for over two months until the French and their Choctaw allies freed them in January of 1730. They were taken to New Orleans and placed in the care of the Ursuline nuns. Several books have been written that tell the whole horrible story.
On July 11, 1730 Anne was married to widower Jean Baptiste Leonard at the St. Louis Cathedral. They went on to have three children of their own including Louis Leonard, Eliza's grandfather, born in 1743. You never know what you'll find when you dig a little deeper.
Longevity and Travel
Once again I'm going to combine two weekly hints into one post.
My Grandfather Wilton Tisdale Booksh is the subject. He was born 7 February 1886 in Grosse Tete, Louisiana, son of Samuel Walker Booksh (1853-1930) and Arabella Maria Tisdale (1855-1934). He died at age 99 on 9 June 1985 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was my longest living ancestor.
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| Wilton Tisdale Booksh Sr. with his two sons, Wilton Jr. and William, 1913 |
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| Vera Booksh with Grandpa Booksh in 1941 |
He was also my most well-traveled Grandparent. He was a sugar chemist and worked at sugar mills in Louisiana and Florida as well as in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Honduras. He definitely gave me my desire to travel.
I remember the postcards he would send me with pictures of Aztec and Mayan ruins and the stories he would tell me that made me want to learn more about those cultures. He taught me how to count in Spanish and my first Spanish sentence, Yo quiero helado - I want ice cream. Many years later I ended up studying Spanish and majoring in Anthropology and Art.
Grandpa continued to work as a sugar chemist into his 80's, in Louisiana in the fall and traveling in the spring "to the tropics" as he always said, for their sugar season. I remember visiting him at the Cedar Grove Sugar Mill.
I remember Grandpa telling me about the September 1928 Hurricane that struck when he was working at Belle Glade in Florida. He said he weathered the storm in his lab and watched people being blown past the windows. He told me about the snow storm that struck New Orleans in 1895. He had stories about his Great Grandfather Honore Leonard who fought in the Battle of New Orleans and said his mother had told him we were related to Benjamin Franklin. He said he told Louisiana Power and Light about that but they still wouldn't give him free electricity. And when I started doing genealogy I found out the story was true.
Around 1910 Grandpa built his own roll film camera and he took lots of photos. I remember sitting and looking at his old photo albums and listening to stories about all the photos he took.
I remember going to a Booksh Family Reunion in Grosse Tete with my parents and him and meeting a lot of the people he had told me about. He made my genealogy come to life for me.
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| William Booksh and Wilton Booksh Jr. with their maid in Cuba, c1917 |
One story that Grandpa and my Daddy, Wilton Jr., told me was about when rebels attacked the sugar plantation where Grandpa was working. Daddy remembered the sugar mill and the house where they were living and riding in an ox cart to escape. "The ox wouldn't go, so the driver tied a knot in his tail and jerked on it to make him go. It might have been in Honduras. They were always having revolutions in the tropics. At one place the revolutionaries came and told us to leave because they were going to burn everything down. We got out with the clothes on our backs and watched all the houses burning." I think of that story whenever I hear someone say "I'm gonna jerk a knot in your tail."
I found a newspaper article from June 4, 1923 that may have been about that experience. Titled HONDURAS REVOLT REPORTED BREWING, it said:
"The arrival today from Honduras of persons fleeing because they believe a revolution is impending again, is attracting attention in the Central American republic. On the same steamer with the family of Wilton Booksh, a sugar engineer in Honduras, who sent his wife and children here for safety, were several Hondurans reported interested in the election of a successor to President Lopez Guiterrez. Booksh advised his father here ten days ago that the country was on the brink of civil war with the factions only awaiting the command fro m their leaders, and that he would send his family to New Orleans util the trouble blew over. His wife and children debarked today..."
Another article I found later was about their earlier escape from Jobabo Plantation in Cuba in March 1917:
AMERICANS FLEE CUBA
Tell of Destruction of Much Property at Jobabo
NEW ORLEANS, March 26 - There arrived today on the Turrialba of the United Fruit Line a sorry company of refugees from the Jobabo sugar plantation, situated on the border line of Camaguey and the Oriente Provinces in Cuba. They had a story of maltreatment and devastion to tell at the hands of the rebel bands roaming through that country. The losses to the property in question are already $1,000,000 in burned cane alone, while the losses in buildings burned, houses sacked and burned, and property of Americans carried off by the bandits total at least $55,000.
The event they described occurred between Feb. 3 and March 18. They had been cut off for thirty-three days from all communication with the outside world.
The party on the Turrialba consisted of Hunting Raynor Sayre, factory superintendent of the Jobabo mill, and his wife; Joseph Steinberg, chief chemist, a Russian; Wilton Booksh, American, assistant chemist; his wife, and three little children...
Another longer article in the Times-Picayune the next day, titled REFUGEES RELATE STORY OF RAPINE, had more details:
"...Two ox carts were at last allowed them for the women and children, the men following on foot. They set out in the morning but it was night before they could make the ten miles to the nearest plantation, where they received shelter. The Americans lost all their possessions except what they stored up. Mrs. Sayers says that the nervous strain on the women was awful. As for herself, she was not afraid to die. Her husband and herself each had secreted a pistol and they were determined some of the scoundrels should suffer if they themsleves weere to be killed like dogs..."
Yesterday I posted two photos for my birthday and my mother's birthday. One was of Mama standing on her front steps taken in 1918. The other was of Mama and me taken in 1941. The Surprise! today is that I'm going to tell you what Mama remembered about that first photo.
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| Vera Mary Begue, about 1918 |
I made a lot of tape recordings of Mama talking about her memories as we looked through photo albums and through her genealogy papers. She is listed at several different addresses on the U.S. censuses. The family in 1910 was listed at the home of Mama's grandmother, Anna Hathaway Gonzales, at 936 Vallette Street in Algiers. On Mama's birth certificate in September 1912 her family is living at 617 Newton Street. In 1920 the John L. Begue family is listed at 814 Nunez Street, about three blocks away from her grandmother, Anna Hattaway Gonzales, at 936 Vallette Street. "She lived there all of my childhood that I can remember." In 1930 the family is listed at 820 Slidell Avenue.
Mama said, "I was the third child. Robert was born first. He was born in November 1908. He was named for his godfather and Daddy's best friend, Robert Crombie. Florence was born in October 1910. She was named for Mama's cousin, Florence Schaef, who was her godmother, and Anna Amelia for her two grandmothers. I wasn't named after anybody, just a name Mama liked. I had blonde hair when I was little and hazel eyes."
"When Mama told the nurse she was going to name me Vera Mary, the nurse said, 'Oh, very merry, be-gay!' A lot of people pronounce it BE-gay, but Daddy always said BAY-gue. I was a blue baby. John was also a blue baby. He was born when I was two in 1914. He was named for Daddy, John Louis Begue Jr."
One day we talked about the houses she remembered living in. Grandpa Begue was a shipfitter and a plumber. Mama said, "Daddy put indoor plumbing in half the houses in Algiers." He may have been trading plumbing work for rent.
Mama said, "The first house I remember was on Vallette Street, when I was about four years old, between Newton and Homer. That's where the picture of me and Florence standing in front of the picket fence was taken. Mama made all our clothes. She even made our underwear. She always called them step-ins and crocheted lace around the legs. Then she washed and starched and ironed them, and the crocheted lace was stiff and scratchy. You can see Mama's African violets. She could grow anything."
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| Vera and Florence Begue, about 1916 |
"Leotha was born on Belleville Street in January, 1917, on January second, one day before Little Grandma's birthday. She was named for Mama's friend, Leotha Gautreaux, and for Aunt Mamie's daughter, Mildred. Leotha Mildred Begue."
"We were living on Atlantic Avenue when the picture of me standing on the steps with the cabbage bouquet was taken. I was about four or five years old. There was some kind of benevolent association that Daddy was president of, and they were having a parade. Florence was supposed to present the bouquet to Daddy when the parade stopped at our house, but she refused. She said it was stupid, so I got to do it. The bouquet was a big head of cabbage with cigars stuck in it. I remember looking down when they were going to take the picture and thinking, 'At least they could have swept up the cigarette butts first!' "
[I used a digital broom to clean up the cigarette butts just for you, Mama.]
ADAM LORENZ HASLING 1874-1895
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| Adam Lorenz Hasling and grandaughter May Cordy c1884 |
I have decided to combine the themes for Week 37 and 38 and write about my Great Great Grandfather Adam Lorenz Hasling and his wife Caroline Carstens because their lives were a combination of both Prosperity and Adversity.
In my book "Mama Said: The Mostly True Story of the Begue Family of Louisiana and Mississippi" I wrote that we have more documentation on Great Great Grandpa Hasling than any of Mama's other ancestors. He was born in Bremen, Germany on 28 May 1819, the son of Andreas Jacob Hasling and his wife Elizabeth. He came to the United States 4 April 1840 aboard the ship Olbers from Bremen to New Orleans. We found him in a German census of men who turned 21 in 1840 where he is listed as living in Nord Amerika. Evidently he left home to avoid mandatory conscription. He was naturalized in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, on 19 February 1845.
His obituary says that "He first engaged in the powder business, and was the agent of the Duponts in this section. Shortly afterwards he became interested in the ship chandlery and grocery business, which he conducted in Algiers for a number of years....He controlled the entire business of the Swedish and Norwegian vessels that came into this port."
On 5 October 1845 he married Mary Ann Keeling, a native of Missouri. Her brother, Steamboat Captain Franklin Keeling, signed the marriage bond with Adam Hasling. Adam and Mary Ann's first child, Emma, was born in 1846. Son Lawrence Andrew was born 19 February 1848, according to the Hasling Family Bible. Sarah Agnes "Maggie" was born 19 July 1849. Louise Catherine was born on 26 December 1850 and died on 21 August 1851. Hers was the first of a series of deaths that affected the Hasling family. Adam's wife Mary Ann died on 3 June 1852 of inflammation of the uterus, a few weeks after the birth of daughter Mary Jane "Jennie" on 17 May, 1852.
A. L. Hasling and Mary Ann are listed on the 1850 U. S. Census in Algiers, just across the river from New Orleans. He is 31 years old, a coffee house keeper from Bremen with property valued aat $8000. Mary Ann is 25, born in Kentucky. Son Lawrence is two years old and daughter Sarah Agnes is one. Living with them is James Keeling, age 18, a clerk, born in Missouri. This is probably Mary Ann's younger brother.
On the next page of the 1850 census is Charles [Carl] Bayer and his wife Caroline and their two year old daughter, Caroline. Charles is 25, a coffee house keeper with $8000 of property, born in Germany. Wife Caroline is 21, also born in Germany. Living with them is clerk, Frederick Harding, born in Germany. They had two more children, sons, Johann Martin Theodore Beyer, born 10 October 1850, and Carl Martin Theodore Beyer, born 22 January 1853
Hasling's coffee house and grocery was on Patterson Street, near Bartholomew (N.O. City Directory). This was a short distance from the coffee house and grocery operated by Charles and Caroline Beyer on Patterson Street corner Chestnut (N.O. City Directories 1850-1853). For those unfamiliar with New Orleans terminology, "coffee house" was what they called a cafe or bar. Many of the groceries included a cafe.
On 1 October 1852 Carl Beyer died while Caroline was pregnant for their third child. On 10 October 1853 Adam Lawrence Hasling married widow Caroline Sophie Elizabeth Carstens Beyer. That same year Caroline's sister, Henrietta, married John Henry Hasling, Adam Lawrence's brother. Both of Caroline's sons were baptized on 6 November 1853 at St. Anna's Episcopal Church which is just a short ferry ride across the Mississippi River in New Orleans. Caroline and Carl's daughter evidently died between 1850 and 1853 as she was not baptized with her brothers. There was a yellow fever epidemic in 1853 that killed almost 1/3 of the population of the New Orleans area so she may have been one of those victims.
The blended Hasling family included Adam's children from his first marriage, Emma, Lawrence, Maggie and Jenny, as well as Caroline's two sons Johan and Carl. They added three more daughters of their own, Laura Catherine, born 20 December 1855, Sarah "Sally," born May 1858, and Anna Amelia, [my Great Grandmothe] born April 1861.
CAROLINE SOPHIE ELIZABETH CARSTENS
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| Caroline Sophie Carstens c1850 |
Caroline Carstens was born about 1826 in Westerbur, Oestfriesland, Hannove. It is estimated that she immigrated to New Orleans about 1846 because her 1891 death certificate says she was "45 years in this city." Her father, Hilrich Carstens, was a seaman, a ships captain, said Grandpa Begue. His name appears on New Orleans passenger lists in 1821, 1826, 1827, 1846 and 1849.
Caroline's first husband arrived in New Orleans on 4 January 1841 aboard the Barque Clement from Hamburg. His name is listed as Carl M. T. Beyer and his occupation is Clerk. His full name was probably Carl Martin Theodore Beyer since both sons bore those names. He was born 17 May 1814 in Luneberg, Hannover. Once in New Orleans Carl was known as Charles.
The 1855 New Orleans City Directory adds a coffee house and grocery operated by Adam's brother, John Henry Hasling at Patterson and Chestnut. This is the same business owned by Caroline and her first husband.
The large Hasling family is listed on the 1860 Census in Algiers:
A. L. Hasling, age 41, a Merchant with $75,000 of real estate, born in Bremen
Elizabeth, which was Caroline's third given name, age 39, born in Hanover
Henry Carstens, age 65, born in Hanover, probably Caroline's father, Hillrich
Their children are listed as Lawrence, age 13, Agnes, age 10, John [Beyer], age 9, Charles [Beyer], age 6, Laura, age 4, Emma, age 15, Sarah, age 2. Also living with the family is Diedrick Tableeman, age 19, a laborer from Bremen, and Geore Louchen, age 19, a clerk from Hanover.
On the 1860 Slave Schedule A. L. Hasling is listed as having five slaves living in tw slave houses., three females, ages 50, 45, and 29, and two males, one age 48 and one a 6 month old baby. He is the only one of Mama's ancestors to own slaves.
Adam's brother, John Henry Hasling drowned while on a hunting trip and the census lists his wife Henrietta as a widow with three children. Her occupation is Trading and Boarding.
According to his obituary, Adam L. "fought for the confederacy" during the Civil War and "was a member of the famous Clay Guards." Before the war New Orleans had been the second largest port in the United States. The Union occupation and blockade decimated the shipping industry in the city. When Adam returned to the city he continued running the coffee house and grocery and began rebuilding his ships chandlery business. His obituary says, "...he controlled the entire business of the Swedish and Norwegian vessels that came into this port. Mr. Hasling invested largely in real estate, and had a beautiful summer residence at Biloxi, besides a number of other properties at that resort." In 1865 A. L. Hasling is listed as a Retail Liquor Dealer and Retail Dealer on Villere near Lavergne in Algiers (U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918)
In 1870 the Hasling family consisted of Adam and Caroline, Lawrence, Jenny, John, Charlie, Laura, Sally, and Amelia. Daughter Sarah Agnes "Maggie" had marrried Eugene Lalmant in 1869.
Algiers was annexed by New Orleans on 16 March 1870 by the Louisiana State legislature amid strong opposition from both sides of the river. it became the 5th Municipal Ward of the city. This was when the area was still under martial law during the difficult Reconstruction period which didn't come to an end until Union troops were removed from the city in 1877. Even after annexation Algiers retained a separate identity.
In April 1874 A. L. Hasling made a trip back to Germany and Norway. On October 13, 1874 The New Orleans Times reported:
"We were pleased to meet unpon the streets yesterday Mr. A. L. Hasling, the well known ship chandler and grocer, whose departure on an extended European tour in April last was the signal for the shipping at our wharves to suddenly grow rainbowey with boating. During the past six months Mr. Hasling has spent most of his time rusticating among the mountains of Norway. His appearance at the residences of wealthy ship owners, many of whose vessels he has supplied for nearly a third of a century, was made occasion for a series of ovations, to which not only the proprietors, but all in any way interested in the Norwegian vessels which visit this port, flocked."
Adam Lawrence's passport application describes him at age 54 as 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a high forehead, grey eyes, a medium size nose, small mouth, round chin, grey hair, light complexion, and a round face.
In the book The Story of Algiers, 1718-1896, reprinted 1971, William Seymour writes:
"The St. Charles Hall on Patterson Street, built for A. L. Hasling, was for many years the only ball room in town, and was the scene of many a social festive and political gathering. It was also used for amateur theatrical purposes from 1874 to 1878 by the Algiers Dramatic Association." [Seymour was stage manager of the ADA.] "Many delightful plays were rendered, with one exception, that of September 14th,1874. The male members of the association contributing to a more serious drama, being enacted upon the levee at Liberty place where the monument now stands." [Seymour is referring to the Battle of Liberty Place where Carpetbag Rule was overthrown.]
The building was still there when I was a child. Mama said, "That was where Daddy's mother used to sing. And that was where Aunt Mamie and Aunt Carrie used to go to dance."
Death plagued the Hasling-Carstens family. On 9 October 1873 Caroline's son Johan/John Beyer died at age 23. The next year on 19 November 1874 her son Carl/Charles died at age 21. There is no cause of death listed in the obituaries or death certificates. In November 1879 Adam and Caroline's son-in-law Charles Arthur Cordy died. Daughter Sally and and Charles Cordy were living with the Haslings at the time and Sally was pregnant for their first child. Charles is listed on the 1880 Mortality Schedule as dying of phthisis pulmonalis, an old term for tuberculosis, on 27 November 1879. Four and a half months later, on 14 March 1880, Sally gave birth to Mary Ann "May" Cordy. She is the little girl in the photo with A. L. Hasling at the beginning of this post.
In 1875 daughter Laura Catherine married Eugene Bakeler of Biloxi, Mississippi. In the 1880 census they are living with the Haslings on Villere Street in Algiers, although the census taker lists Eugene Bakeler as Eugene Hasling. A baby Maria Hasling is listed on the next line. Sally and husband Charles Cordy are also listed as living with the Haslings along with son James, age 7 months old.
I believe that the census taker switched the names of the babies in the hosehold and that the Maria listed is Mary Ann "May" Cordy. Seven moonth old James is probably the son of Laura Hasling and Eugene Bakeler, born 25 November 1879. In a biography of Eugene Bakeler on the Biloxi Historical Society website, his first child is given as Joseph Bakeler born 1879, died 1895. He was registered in the New Orleans Birth Index with no first name given. Orleans Parish Death Index lists the death of Joseph Bakeler in 1895. The Biloxi Herald obituary on 30 March 1895 gives his name as Eugene Joseph Bakeler.
Fires in Algiers in 1876 and 1881 destroyed several Hasling properties. On 26 August 1881 a story in the Times-Picayune titled "Fire in Algiers, A Cremated Coffeehouse" reported the destruction of Hasling's building at the corner of Chestnut and Patterson Streets. It was the one Caroline and her first husband Carl Beyer had owned.
On 6 May 1882 daughter Anna Amelia Hasling married John Blaise Begue in Biloxi. Adam signed the Marriage Bond and he and Caroline attended the wedding at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Biloxi. Soon John and Amelia were living in Algiers near the Haslings.
On 11 March 1884 daughter Laura gave birth to son Arthur Francis Bakeler and a month later on 11 April 1884 she died of inflammation of the uterus. Eugene Bakeler remarried Marie Chevalley on 24 October 1888. In 1900 he was operating The Biloxi News Company on Reynoir Street in Biloxi, selling newspapers, magazines, periodicals, tobacco, cigarsb and smokers' articles. His home and store were destroyed in the fire of 9 November 1900, but he soon rebuilt. This fire also burned several Hasling properties.
In June of 1889 daughter Amelia's husband, John Blaise Begue, died of pulmonary tuberculosis leaving Amelia a widow with three young children. In 1890 she is listed in the New Orleans City Directory as Begue Annie, widow John, at 44 1/2 Delaronde Street. In 1891 she is listed at 49 Villere.
Adam Hasling set up daughters Amelia and Sally with a hotel in Biloxi. It was probably a bed-and-breakfast type operation, catering to New Orleans residents who liked to spend the hot summer months on the Gulf Coast and serving Northern guests in the winter.
On 7 March 1891 Caroline Sophie Elizabeth Carstens Hasling, who had suffered through the deaths of so many loved ones, died of carcinoma ventriculi, stomach cancer. Her will left everything to her husband. It was around this time that Adam relocated his business to the New Orleans side of the river "in the old Marigny building in the Third District." This was a short ferry ride from Algiers across the Mississippi River on the old Third District ferry.
Then on 17 June 1894 tuberculosis claimed another of the Hasling family, daughter Amelia. While the family was still wrangling over Amelia's will, Adam Lawrence Hasling died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 76 on 12 August 1895. His obituary said that "His sturdy constitution began to fail him about two months ago, and his advanced years culd not withstand the inroads of the complications of disease that thereafter assailed him until yesterday morning, when death came to the relief of the venerable sufferer.... His funeral took place from the home of his daughter Jenny, Mrs. Francis Martin, at 232 Jackson street on 13 August 1895 at 10:00. He was laid to rest in the family tomb in Odd Fellows' Rest cemetery."
Adam's will left everything to his son-n-law Francis Martin, husband of daughter Mary Jane "Jenny." A note on the transcript says "Estate consisted of over $40,000." (Wills, Harrison County, Mississippi 1853-1927, Book 2, Page 9, Mf Roll929.3762)
In October of that same year one of Hasling's properties, "a queer, curious, old fashioned two-story building, erected by A. L. Hasling, at 68 Delaronde street, long occupied by an odd lot of tenants" burned in the Great Algiers Fire of 1895. (Seymour, 1971) Then in 1897 several more of his properties were lost when the river bank along Patterson street caved in. Several of his Biloxi properties also burned in 1900.
Adam Hasling was not to rest in peace as his disinherited heirs continued to try to get part of his estate. The suit of son Lawrence Andrew Hasling, sometimes referred to as A. L. Hasling Jr., reached the Louisiana Supreme Court. After the Biloxi Fire of 1900 Lawrence sued to get part of the insurance money collected by brother-in-law Francis Martin.
On 17 June 1902 The Times Picayune published the story of Lawrence Hasling's drowning death headlined "Hasling's Death, Poor and a Cripple, But Engaged in Litigation for His Father's Fortune, and His Drowning Gives Rise to Many Theories." The article asked, "Was it accident, suicide or foul play?"
"The death of Lawrence A. Hasling and the finding of his body floating in the river at Concession, La., twelve miles below the city, is a mystery in more ways than one. There are the three theories, but no direct evidence in suppoort of either. No one knows how old man Hasling met his death. But the circumstances appear to be so peculiar, upon a hasty investigation, that some of his near relatives will probably institute an official investigation of the matter..." The article said that his suit against Francis Martin had been in the courts for three years.
None of Lawrence Hasling's family or the families of the other disinherited heirs ever got any of Adam Hasling's disputed fortune. Mary Jane "Jenny" Hasling died in 1910 and her husband, Francis Martin, died in 1911. My Grandma Begue used to say that the Hasling money was cursed. Maybe she was right.
Our Avery Branch
A few days ago I got pulled back up into the Tisdale family tree by a post on Genealogy Bank:
“New England's 'Winthrop Fleet': The Avery Family Line” (part 1 & 2) by Melissa Davenport Berry. It was 16 pages of well-documented information on the line descended from Christopher Avery II (1590-1679).
Our Tisdale line goes back to Mary Avery (c1645-1713), wife of James Ebenezer Tisdale (1644-1715). Mary was the daughter of Dr. William Avery (1621-1687) and Margaret Albright or Allright (1628-1678). Several online family trees have William Avery as the son of Christopher Avery II and Margery Abraham. The information in Melissa Berry's article proves that Christopher Avery II is not the father of William Avery.
Christopher Avery II, a weaver from Ipplepen, Devonshire, came to Massachusetts in 1630 on the Arbella, the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet, funded by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He brought with him his ten year old son, James Avery (1620-1700). Another source says Christopher and his son James came over in 1631 with the younger Winthrop. Several times in the article it is said that James was his only son.(The Averys of Groton, Homer D. L. Sweet, Syracuse, 1894)
The most convncing proof that James was the only son is an entry on the books of the county court of New London, Connectcut, November 24, 1683:
“Capt. James Avery appearing in this Court and there Declaring himself the only son & heir of his Father Mr. Christoppher Avery deceased and that there was neither son or Daughter but himself was sole heir and he desiring this court would so constitute him and give him power of administration upon the said estate of his father deceased...”
Sweet says “The earliest known Avery will from Ipplepen is that of Johann Avery, made in 1597, but there were Averys in that town before that time.” Sweet also mentions a will of “One William Avery, of Buckland...” whose 1623 transfer of land to his son John is witnessed by Hugh Sweet who had also witnessed the estate inventory of Christopher Avery I. So it is very likely that they were related.
At any rate it is clear that our 8th great granfather, William Avery, was not the son of Christopher Avery II. Looks like it's time to get back to my Genealogy Do-Over.
RANDOM - Not Our Tisdale
I've received several random Hints, Discoveries, and Record Matches this last week and every one of them was flawed.
The first one was from Ancestry for Alfred Andrew Tisdale, born 10 April 1798 in North Carolina and died 15 July 1860 in Texas. It said his father was Nathan Tisdale and his mother was Mary Polly Tisdale. I had done a lot of research on Nathan Tisdale but had no son named Alfred among Polly's 9 children. A big problem was that Alfred was born 6 years before Nathan married Polly in 1804 and 5 years before the death of his first wife Mary Bryan in 1803. There was no son Alfred among her 8 children either. She has a daughter Elizabeth born 4 March 1798 in New Bern, North Carolina, so she couldn't possibly be the mother of Alfred born 10 April 1798.
I checked Rosa Tisdale's well-researched book Meet the Tisdales. She had an Alfred Tisdale born in 1849 to Elijah and LydiaTisdale in New York and Alfred Berthier Tisdale born 1846 in Massachusetts to William Tisdale and his second cousin Sybil Tisdale. Neither of them matched this suggested person. I also checked Robert Tisdales' book The Descendants of John Tisdale 1614-1675. He had one, the same Alfred Berthier Tisdale 1845-1869 mentioned in Rosa Tisdale's book.
Family Search has an Alfred Andrew Tisdale, son of Edward Tisdale 1769-1816 and Piety Barnes 1769-1844, KFFL-9KV. Following his male line back to his immigrant ancestor I found John William Tisdale 1640-1677, son of William Teasdall, born circa 1612 in Newcastle, Northumberland, England. So that Alfred was from an entirely different Tisdale/Teasdall family. Our immigrant ancestor was John Tisdale 1614-1816, who came from Ripon,Yorkshire, England.
It's a good thing I didn't accept that Ancestry hint but who knows how many other researchers might have added him to their Nathan and Polly Tisdale family? At least one did because I found Alfred Andrew Tisdale on Find a Grave, Memorial 43508647 with Nathan and Polly listed as his parents and my Great Great Grandfather Benjamin Franklin Tisdale listed as one of his siblings. For more about him and his family see my blog: belletisdale.blogspot.com
On the 4th of July in 2019 I posted this on my Belle's Letters blog in memory of my Great Grandpa Sam Booksh. Samuel Walker Booksh was born July 4, 1853, 170 years ago today. Click the link below to read all about him.
Happy Birthday Great Grandpa Sam Booksh
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| Samuel Walker Booksh 1853-1930 |
SO MANY DESCENDANTS
Thanks to Rosa D. Tisdale who published Meet the Tisdales: Descendants of John Tisdale of Taunton Mass. 1634-1980 back in 1981 I know more about the Tisdale family than any of my other Great Grandparents' lines.
The index to Rosa's 787-page book is 71 pages long with approximately 50 names per page for a total of about 3,550 descendants in 11 generations detailed. She only followed the male descendants completely, tracking the females only through one generation, so there would be more than that number if the females had been tracked. It was through Rosa's book that I found out about the Tisdale connection to Mayflower passenger John Howland and to Benjamin Franklin.
Another book about the Tisdales was also published in 1981, this one by Robert Lee Tisdale. The Descendants of John Tisdale (1614-1675) Colonial Massachusetts has 237 pages and has a 31 page index of about 2480 names. Robert's book tells about the derivation of the name from the Tees River and the dale lands of County Durhamshire in northern England. He says that it is traditionally believed the Tisdale families of today are descended from a Welsh family that settled in County Lancashire, England. Their head, Sir John Tisdale, is believed to have been awarded the coat-of-arms as it is known today.
John Tisdale, my 8th Great Grandfather, was born 7 November 1614 in Ripon, Yorkshire, England, the son of Thomas and Ruth Tisdale. His life story is related on pages 4-13 of Rosa's book and pages 1-8 of Robert's book.
John Tisdale arrived in Plimouth Plantation about 1634. It is said he brought with him the Tisdale coat of arms which has been passed down to a member of the 10th generation in Canada by their Loyalist ancestors who fled to New Brunswick during the Revolution.
The first evidence of John in Plymouth is a Court record of a suit he brought against Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins for assault in which John was "dangerously wounded." (I discovered this while doing research with a long-time friend who was a descendant of Hopkins.)
In 1636 John was given permission to "keep house and plant for himself." In 1637 he had a grant of 10 acres at Green Harbor path. In 1642 he was admitted as a "freeman." About this time he married Sarah Walker of Dorset, England. She had come to Plymouth in the barque "Elissabeth" in 1635. She and her brother James were listed as servants of John Browne, baker, and Willliam Bracy, linen draper. John Browne was Sarah's uncle and she and her brother were in his care. Her mother, "the widow Walker," and three other sons came to the colonies a few years later and settled in Rehobeth.
John and Sarah lived first at Marshfield and then Duxbury where their sons John, James, and Joshua and daughter Elizabeth were born. Three more daughters and another son were born after the family moved to Taunton. In 1645 John was named Constable in Duxbury, a respected and responsible position. He also served as Constable of Taunton in 1655 and 1659. He was a Selectman in 1650, 1658, and 1672-1674. He was Taunton's Representative to the General Court in 1674-1675.
On 27 June 1675 Indians attacked John Tisdale's house, killing John and burning down his house and the house of James Walker, his neighbor and brother-in-law. It was one of the first acts of King Philip's War. John's wife Sarah died 10 December 1676 at age 57.
AT THE CEMETERY
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| Collins-Francis Gravestone, Metairie Cemetery New Orleans, Louisiana |
Who is Capt. Aleck McVay and what is he doing in my Grandma Booksh's grave?
Sometimes when you do cemetery research you find as many questions as answers. When I found this photo on findagrave.com I recognized the names of Emma Louise Chalfant Collins, my 2nd Great-Grandmother, and Emma Francis Booksh, my paternal Grandmother. I knew that Charles Alfred Francis and Anna Belle Collins Francis were my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother and that John McCaleb Francis was their son. But I had never heard any family mention of Captain McVay.
It didn't take long to find his obituaty at Genealogy Bank. It was on page 3 of the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Friday, March 05, 1897:
CAPTAIN ALEXANDER Mc VAY
Death of a Veteran Steamboatman and Soldier
Captain Alexander McVay, another of the old river men, made his last trip yesterday and is now receiving the reward which comes to all men when their limit has expired. Captain McVay was a man of sixty-five years, and was one of the best known men on the river from Cincinnati to New Orleans, and while his death was not a surprise to those who were intimately acquainted with him, it was nevertheless a shock for they did not think that the end was so near. He had been a victim of Bright's disease for a long time, but about two weeks ago was forced to take to his bed, from which he never arose, dying peacefully yesterday morning at 6 o'clock, at his residence, 1523 Washington avenue.
Captain McVay was born in Florida about sixty-five years ago, and began his river career when quite a young man, plying as clerk on the Mohican, Cherokee, Choctaw and Time steamboats, which at that time were running from the Tennessee river to New Orleans. In 1850 he became clerk of the Louisville and New Orleans packet Fanny Buillit, and a few months later was engaged on the New Orleans and Vicksburg and Bayou Sara trades, and has served as clerk or captain on such boats as the Robert E. Lee, Ed. Richardson, J. M. White, Thompson Dean, Natchez, Pargoud, and other great packets which are no longer seen on the river. His last service was as clerk of the Bayou Sara packet Saint John, on which he served as clerk up to a few weeks ago. He was a man who exercised great care in his work, and ranked as one of the best and most popular on the river.
He also saw some war service, enlisting in the Army of the Tennessee and serving under General Joe Johnston.
He was married to Miss Belle Chalfant, a niece of John Chalfant New, the famous Indianapolis editor, who was consul general to London under the Harrison administration. Mrs. McVay's immediate family resided in Point Coupee parish. She survives her devoted husband.
The funeral took place yesterday afternon at 4 o'clock, the services being conducted in St. Paul's church, of which he was a devout member. The flags of all the steamboats in port were at half mast ysterday in honor to his memory.
The pallbearers were: Captains J. R. Woods, Frank Beck, M. N. Wood, P. J. O'Reilly, J. C. Libano and John H. Hanes.
*******
Captain McVay's wife, Isabella "Belle" Chalfant, was my 2nd Great Grand Aunt, sister of my 2nd Great Grandmother, Emma Louise Chalfant Collins. Belle was born about 1844 in Amite County, Mississippi, daughter of Nathaniel Chalfant and Drucilla Caroline Burrows. The family later moved to China Grove Plantation in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana. She and Alex McVay were married 27 April 1866 in Warren County, Mississippi. After Alex died Belle remarried Harry M. Isaacson on 17 July 1901 in New Orleans. She died 1 March 1922 in New Orleans at age 78.
The John Chalfant New mentioned in the obituary was the husband of her father's sister, Maria Chalfant.
BRICK WALL
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| Palmer-Tisdale House, New Bern, North Carolina |
There are many Brick Walls in my family tree research. This one is more of a Brick Maze. My 4th Great Grandfather, William Tisdale, has an extensive biography and is documented in at least two books. Unfortunately his wife is not documented. The only credible mention of her is this quote:
Tisdale & his wife Elizabeth are honored by the Daughters of the American Revolution for patriotic service in North Carolina: Comm of Safety; Justice of Craven County 1777; Delegate NC Provincial Congress 1775; Judge of Admiralty Port of Beaufort, 1777; Maker of the Great Seal of the State Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ ) "Record of William Tisdale." Ancestor #A129769
My main source of information for the Tisdale family is a book by Rosa D. Tisdale Meet the Tisdales; Descendants of John Tisdale of Taunton, Mass. 1634-1980 1981, Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore.
I first came across this book by accident while doing research with my mother in the Biloxi, Miss. library. We were looking for information on her Begue family when this book literally jumped off the shelf and fell open at my feet. It's 787 pages tracing the descendants of John Tisdale and Sarah Walker is a thoroughly researched work. I forever thank Rosa Tisdale for her diligent research and for having had 100 copies of the book printed and distributing them to libraries where she learned there were Tisdale descendants.
In her own words she describes the project:
I have combed the Library of Congress, the Library of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Archives in Washingtoon , D.C. for information about the Tisdales. The Eva Brook Donley Museum, The Brantford Library and the New Brunswick Museum in Canada contributed material about Joshua's United Empire Loyalist descendants and the Old Colony Historical Museum of Taunton, Massachusetts, sold me a copy of Samuel Trrescott Tisdale's manuscript "Tisdale Family Genealogy." All volumes of the New England Historical and Genealogic Register and the fourteen volumes of the Dedham Historical Register were searched as well as all published volumes of Vital Records for early Massachusetts towns. Published genealogies of many families related to the Tisdales were also consulted. Pertinent references not readily available are listed as footnotes in the text.
William Tisdale is covered on pages 184-186 of Rosa's book. She found no marriage record and says "...He was married and had three children, but at present nothing is known about his wife."
I visited New Bern, North Carolina, several years ago while my husband and I were on an RV trip up the East Coast. I had recently learned that my 3rd Great Grandfather, Nathan Tisdale, was born in New Bern and when I saw the name on the map we decided to stop and check it out. A trip to the Historical Society there led me to the book A History of New Bern and Craven County. While talking to the cashier I told her that I had found my ancestors, Nathan and William Tisdale, mentioned in the book. She said, "Oh, Yes. Both their houses are still standing and on the National Register. Nathan's house is around the corner and William's is a few blocks over there." I was completely floored. Needless to say we stayed a few days longer and explored the place thoroughly. The museum had even more information, but there was no mention of William's wife's name.
Unfortunately someone has put information on the Family Search website naming his wife as Sarah Isbell. I do not believe this is accurate, even though they list five births between 1773 and 1788 with William Tisdell and Sarah Isbell as parents. The 1772 marriage date listed and the birth dates are all after our William Tisdale had left Connecticut and moved to live with his Uncle Antipas Tisdale in New Bern, North Carolina. His three children, including my ancestor, were born before this marriage date. All of the events for Sarah Isbell are in Connecticut including her 1742 birth and 1836 death and burial, while all of the events for William Tisdale after 1767 are in New Bern and are well documented.
Here's a short list of what we know about William:
Born 1734 May 29 in Lebanon, Connecticut Colony
Baptized 1734 June 2, First Congregational Church, Lebanon, Connecticut
Education 1755 Attended Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Residence 1767 Antipas Tisdale is listed in New Bern Tax List, 2 white males [Antipas and William]; 1769 Listed with Antipas Tisdale in early NC census
Son Nathan born c1766 New Bern, NC
Two daughters born c 1768 and c1770
William was a lawyer, silversmith, watchmaker and jeweler and was involved in local affairs.
Assembly Attendance 1771 December
Committee of Correspondence, 1775 May 6
Named Justice of the Peace, Craven County, NC 1775 March
Appointed Judge, Court of Admiralty for For Beaufort, NC 1775 April
Bought Palmer-Tisdale House 1776
Accused of taking goods unlawfully, bribery and corruption 1777
Appointed to cut and engrave the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina 1778
Appointed as Coommisioner to supervise printing of bills of credit for New Bern
Suspended as Judge of Admiralty Court 1781
Resigned as Justice of the Peace for Cravel County 1784
Elected to House of Commons as Representative of New Bern 1785
List of Taxables for Craven County, Carriage, 2 white males [Wm and son Nathan] 1785
1790 Census, Craven County, NC 1 male over 16, 1 male under 16 (William and Nathan) 3 females, [wife and 2 daughters], 3 slaves
Died 1797 March 15, New Bern, NC
Buried Christ Church Cemetery, later re-interred in new family plot, Cedar Grove Cemetery
So I am still exploring this Brick Maze, looking for my elusive 4th Great Grandmother Elizabeth.
BEARDED
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| Benjamin Franklin Tisdale 1823-1876 |
B. F. Tisdale, which is how he is most often referred to, was born 19 March 1823 in New Bern, North Carolina to Nathan Tisdale and his second wife Mary "Polly" Wade. He was the last of their nine children. His family moved to Alabama in 1830. A letter from Mrs. Nancy Lee Tisdale Lawson says, "In 1830 Nathan Tisdale purchased a small plantation on the Tombigbee River in Alabama to which he travelled by caravan with a lot of other families." The deed was recorded in Marengo County Deed Book B-344 on 25 January 1832 and it appears the property was bought by his mother-in-law, Charlotte Wade, for her daughter, Mary Wade.
In 1833 the family is living in Mobile, Alabama. On 25 August 1846 B. F. married Maria M. Pike in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She died in September 1849. On July 29 1851 B. F. married Eliza Helen Pratt, also in Baton Rouge. Their first child, Mary Bernice, was born in Baton Rouge in 1853. By 1855 they were living in New Orleans where their second child, Arabella Maria, was born. B. F. is listed as an Accountant in the New Orleans City Directory, living at 26 Old Levee Street from 1855 to 1857. In 1859 they were living at 2 Bienville Street. Eight more children were born in New Orleans between 1857 and 1874: Florence Helen, born in 1857 and died in 1858, Benjamin Franklin Jr. and a deceased twin born in 1860, William Pratt Tisdale in 1861, Olivia South Carolina in 1864, Robert Rafael in 1866, Marion Eugene in 1871, and Charles Harry in 1874.
B. F.'s oldest brother, Joseph Wade Tisdale, had been living in New Orleans since 1842 and brother Nathan O. J. Tisdale had lived there since 1850.
The Civil War and occupation of New Orleans disrupted the life of the family. B. F. Tisdale's service record says he enlisted as a PRivate in Company B of the Confederate Guards Regiment, Louisiana Militia, on March 8, 1862. His brother-in-law, Marion Pratt, joined the same regiment and they were among those "transferred by Gov. Thomas O. Moore to Major General Mansfield Lovell, C.S.A., for local defense of the City of New Orleans." (Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana, NARA M320, 586957, Record Group 109, Roll 0376, familysearch.org, accessed 9/13/2014)
The story has come down in the family that B. F. Tisdale had a drinking problem which caused Eliza to take the children and move to her parents' home in Baton Rouge. Many of the letters that my great grandmother Belle Tisdale Booksh saved are from that period. In 1876 he was living in Kushla, Alabama, just north of Mobile, with his sister Mary Eliza and her husband, Jacob Magee. B. F. Tisdale died there 16 June 1876 at the home of his physician, Dr. James Grace.
For more detailed information on B. F. Tisdale see my blog Belle's Letters at belletisdale.blogspot.com
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.
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| 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.
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| Samuel Walker Booksh 1875 |
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.
DNA
This week has been full of things I Must Do and not enough time for what I Wanna Do. But I did get a start on this week's topic, DNA.
Many years ago I had my DNA tested with National Geographic's Genographic Project. I am mitochondrial haplogroup HV which is passed down from the maternal line. I had my maternal line back to my great great great grandmother Mary Elilzabeth Obermeyer, born February 1802 in Alfhausen, Hannover, now part of Germany.
Her daughter was Bernardina Harmeyer, born 30 August 1824 in Alfhausen, Hannover. She was my immigrant ancestor and came to New Orleans on the ship John Carver on 19 June 1848. Her full name turned out to be Helena Caterina Bernardina Harmeyer and in most records she is recorded as Dina. By strange coincidence I named my daughter Dina. Great great grandmother Dina married Peter Hardeway, a ships carpenter from Copenhagen, Denmark, on 16 May 1850 in Algiers, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. I wrote about her and her many surname variants back on September 20, 2020 in my verazgenealogy.blogspot.com post about her daughter and my Great Grandmother Anna Hattaway Gonzales.
While researching her and her parents for this blog post I was able to add a lot of information to her parents and grandparents.
Thanks to more German church records published on the Family Search website I now know that her father was Johan Friedrich Anton Harmeyer (also spelled Haarmeijer), born 25 Oct. 1798 and died 29 May 1872. Her mother was Maria Elisabeth Obermeyer (also spelled Obermeijer), born Feb 1802 and died 28 Dec 1835. Her paternal grandparents were Herman Heinrich Harmeyer, 1753-1820, and Maria Anna Revermann (1755-1831). I haven't found her maternal grandparents yet.
It was Maria Elisabeth Obermeyer who passed on her haplogroup HV mtDNA to Dina Harmeyer Hardeway and then to my great grandmother Anna Hardeway/Hattaway Gonzales.
SHOULD BE A MOVIE
There are dozens of stories in my family tree that should be made into movies...including the story about gunslinger Joel Collins that I posted in Week 11. Some of these stories I have already written about in my Belle's Letters blog. There are also a lot of stories from my mother's Begue family that I have written about in my book Mama's Family: The Mostly True Story of the Begue Family of Louisiana and Mississippi. There are several stories in my Witherspoon branch including a first person account by my ancestor's older brother of the boat trip that brought the entire family from Ireland to South Carolina. But for this week's theme I decided to go farther back in time, and farther out on a limb, on my Booksh branch.
Anne Coudray Leonard (1709-1776)
My Fifth Great Grandmother, Anne Coudray, was one of the survivors of the Natchez Massacre. I had found her in the traditional genealogical way of going back in time one family at a time, mostly through Catholic Church records in Louisiana. One day when I was doing research in Vero Beach, Florida, at the Indian River County library I discovered the story of her involvement in the Natchez Massacre.
As background here is the short version of a very long story taken from Wikipedia:
The Natchez Massacre was an attack by the native Natchez people on French colonists near present-day Natchez, Mississippi, on November 29, 1729. The French had lived along side the Natchez people in the Louisiana colony for more than a decade, mostly conducting peaceful trade and occasionally intermarrying. A new French colonial commandant, Sieur de Chepart, arrived and upset the delicate balance, demanding that the Natchez give up their main village for his plantation near Fort Rosalie. The Natchez planned and carried out an attack on the fort and homesteads and killed about 230 French soldiers and colonists. Some of the colonists escaped and fled to New Orleans while about 30 women were held captive in the fort. After weeks-long negotiations for the release of the remaining captives the Natchez slipped away during the night. The surviving women were brought to New Orleans and placed under the protection of the Ursuline nuns while they arranged matches with soldiers and male colonists who needed wives.
There have been many books written on the Natchez Massacre including Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand's 1827 epic Les Natchez, incorporating his earlier best-selling novellas into a longer narrative. Chateaubriand saw the Natchez Massacre as the defining moment in the history of the Louisiana colony, a position consistent with the views of other 18th-century historians, such as Le Page du Pratz and Dumont de Montigny.
In The Louisiana Historical Quarterly Vol. 1 No. 3 January 1918, p.126-127 there is a list of "those killed at the time that the massacre was begun." In the list of 183 total killed are:
"17. Chartier - Julien, from Burgundy, his wife and child, came to the concession of Mr. de Koly"
Anne Coudray was the wife of Julien Chartier. We don't know what happened to their child and assume it was one of the victims. On 11 July 1730 Anne was married to widower Jean Baptiste Leonard. According to their marriage record at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans she was a "native of Plouanne [Prouasne?] diocese of St. Malo, Brittany, France." Her parents were Francois Coudray and Gillet Gautier. She was born c1709. (Estimated from her age 67 at death in 1776.)
Her new husband Jean Baptiste Leonard was a "native of Liege, our parishioner, widower of Marie Paulus." There is a Leonard listed among the Natchez dead as #23. "Leonard - Gascon, came to the concession of Mr. Law) but we don't know if he was related. We do have many other ancestors that were among the John Law settlers in Louisiana.
There is a 7 April 1721 listing for Jean Baptiste Leonard, his wife and 4 children listed on the Venus bound for Louisiana from L'Orient [Belgium], a soldier-worker of the company. [Company of the Indies]. He is listed as a gardener in December 1721. L'Orient was the port from which the John Law German settlers departed in 1721.
Anne and Jean Baptiste had three children, Marie Francoise, Jean Baptiste, and Louis. It was Louis that is our ancestor. He married Marie Anne Dardenne in 1764 at the St. Louis Cathedral. They had 8 children including Honore Leonard (1771-1861), who fought in the Battle of New Orleans and was the oldest ancestor that the family had memories of. All of these records are in the Sacremental Records of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Jean Baptiste Leonard died 9 March 1757 at about age 66. Anne Coudray Leonard died 1 October 1776 at age 67.
SOLITUDE
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| Olivia South Carolina Tisdale 1864-1929 |
I had already decided to write about Great Aunt Olivia South Carolina Tisdale called "Aunt Lee." On the day I started writing there was a piece in the On This Day in History column that confirmed my decision.
It said: On April 11, 1898 President McKinley asked Congress for authorization to end fighting in Cuba between rebels and Spanish forces.
The continuation of that story on history.state.gov/ milestones/1866-1898 spanish-american-war adds that on April 20 Congress passed a joint resolution that acknowledged Cuban independence and authorized McKinley to use whatever military measures deemed necessary to guarantee Cuba's independence.
Spain rejected the U.S. ultimatum and severed diplomatic relations. McKinley implemented a naval blockade of Cuba on April 22 and issued a call for 125,000 military volunteers the next day. Spain declared war on the U.S. and Congress voted to go to war against Spain on April 25.
It wasn't just soldiers that were off to Cuba. Great Aunt Lee was a nurse and she went to Cuba, too, with the American Red Cross.
Olivia South Carolina Tisdale was born 8 February 1864 in New Orleans, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Tisdale and Eliza Helen Pratt. She never married and was an independent woman supporting herself as a nurse. I ended up with her red velvet photo album full of photos of family and friends. One of the photos was of a soldier she met during her time in Cuba.
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| Cabinet Card Photos of Ira Roberts and Leonard Sisman in Aunt Lee's album |
It wasn't a very long war but it had big consequences. At the behest of the Spanish Government a cease-fire was signed on August 12, 1898 amd the war officially ended four months later when the U.S. and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Besides guaranteeing the independence of Cuba, the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the U.S and agree to sell the Philippines to the U.S. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899 by a margin of one vote.
Aunt Lee returned to New Orleans and continued her life as a nurse. She often told her niece Belle, also known as Vera, about her experiences in Cuba. Her nephew and my grandfather,Wilton T. Booksh Sr., often visited Cuba where he worked on sugar plantations as a sugar chemist. He even sent back a photo postcard of the 1911 raising of the Battleship Maine which was sunk by a mine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898 and played a role in starting the war.
Aunt Lee died on 21 February 1929 in New Orleans and is buried in the family plot in the Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge.
