52 Ancestors - Week 39 - Surprise!

    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.

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."

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.]

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.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 3: Out of Place

My Great Great Grandmother, Caroline Sophie Carstens Hasling (c1826-1891), is the ancestor who came to mind when I read the theme for this week's Ancestor.

Mamie Begue Camus Collection

My mother and my aunt started research on the Hasling family many years before I got bitten by the genealogy bug. When I continued their research I found that Caroline was most often recorded as having been born in Germany, a pretty vague place name. Other documents had her born in Hanover and Prussia. Estimating from dates given in her obituary, Caroline was born c1826 and immigrated c1846. She died 7 March 1891 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Starting with the U. S. Census records I found her in New Orleans in 1850 with her first husband, Charles Beyer, both born in Germany. They were operating a Coffee House and Grocery in Algiers, just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans.  Just a few blocks away was another Coffee House and Grocery operated by Caroline's sister Henrietta and her husband, John Henri Hasling.

Caroline's husband, Charles, whose German name was Carl Martin Theodore Bayer, had arrived in New Orleans on 4 January 1841 aboard the Barque Clement from Hamburg. A public tree on Family Search has his birth date as 17 May 1814 in Luneberg, Hannover. Once in New Orleans he was known as Charles Beyer.

Caroline and Charles were married c1847, estimating from the age of their first child, Caroline, listed as age 2 in the 1850 census. Son Johan Martin Theodore Beyer was born on 10 October 1850. Charles died on 1 October 1852 while Caroline was  pregnant with their third child, Carl Martin Theodore Beyer, Jr., who was born 22 January 1853.

On 10 October 1853 Caroline married Adam Lorenz Hasling, brother of John Henri Hasling, who was married to Henrietta Carstens, Caroline's sister. His first wife, Mary Ann Keeling, had died on 3 June 1852.  Both of Caroline's boys were baptized soon after her marriage to Hasling on 6 November 1853 at St. Anna's Episcopal Church, just a short ferry ride across the Mississippi River from their home in Algiers. Daughter Caroline had evidently died earlier. 

The large Hasling family is listed in the 1860 U.S. 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), 39, born in Hanover

   Henry Carstens, age 65, born in Hanover (Caroline's father Hillrich Heinrich Carstens)

   Children: Lawrence, age 13;  Agnes, age 10;  John (Beyer), age 9; Charles (Beyer), age 6; Laura, age 4;  Emma, age 5; Sarah, age 2 months

In 1870 the Hasling family consisted of Adam and Caroline, Lawrence, Jenny, John (Beyer), Charlie (Beyer), Laura, Sally, and Amelia (my Great Grandmother). Caroline is listed in 1870 as born in Prussia.  The census was taken just a few months before Algiers was annexed into the city of New Orleans.

In October 1873 Caroline's son John Beyer died and in November 1874 son Charles died. There was no cause of death listed. Neither of her sons married so I had never done much research on them. It wasn't until I chanced to find the delayed birth certificates of Caroline and Charles' sons that I discovered where Caroline was born. The boys' births were registered in 1858 by A. L. Hasling. He states that she was born in Westerbur, Oestfriesland, Hanover. Finally I had her place of birth!

It's important to remember that place names in the census were always entered as they existed at the time of the census. Boundaries and place names changed so even a person who never moved can show up as being in many different places.

Caroline Carstens Hasling died 7 March 1891.

Adam Lawrence Hasling died 12 August 1895.

The Hasling tomb is in the Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery in New Orleans, Loisiana.  Also mentioned are:

Louise Catherine Hasling

Hillrich H. Carstens

Charley Beyer

Johann Beyer

Laura Bakeler

Annie Amelia Begue

REVISITING MY DNA RESULTS

	I recently had occasion to revisit my DNA results and update the information I included 

in my book Mama Said: The Mostly True Story of the Begue Family of Louisiana and 

Mississippi which was published in 2012.

	My husband and I and my brother did our first tests through the National Geographic 
Genographic Project  which is no longer available. This was before the explosion of autosomal 
DNA testing. There were two tests available, mtDNA for women and Y-DNA for men. Results 
would give you insight into your distant ancestors not your recent family tree. As an 
anthropology major I found this population genetics interesting. 

mtDNA Results

	The mtDNA test looks at just two small areas of the whole mitochondrial DNA called the 

Hypervariable Region 1 and the Hypervariable Region 2. They are more likely to have changes 
although the rate of change is very slow. They show our deep ancestry measured in tens of 
thousands of years. HVR1 changes happen about every 20,180 years and HVR2 changes happen 
about every 5,138 years. This is not too helpful in filling out a family tree, but interesting to 

anthropologists who are studying human migration patterns. People who have the same changes 
are descended from the same ancient female ancestor and are in the same haplogroup.

	The HVR1 changes are the ones that Dr. Brian Sykes wrote about in his book The Seven 

Daughters of Eve. He wrote about the seven most common haplogroups in Europe known at 
that time. There are now ten mtDNA Haplogroups identified in Europe among 36 identified 
throughout the world.

	When I got my test results back I discovered that my haplogroup is HV*, which you 
could say was the maternal ancestor of both haplogroups H and V, the two most common 
haplogroups in Europe. If you follow out the last line on my mother's ancestor chart, the 
maternal line, the earliest female ancestor identified is Mary Elizabeth Obermayer, born 
about 1800 in Hanover, now part of Germany. Our mitochondrial DNA came from her. It 
was passed down to Bernardina Harmeyer who passed it down to Anna Hattaway who passed 
it down to Sarah Gonzales. Sarah Gonzales married John Louis Begue and all of her children 

and all of her female-line grandchildren will be in mtDNA Haplogroup HV*. 

	Mitochondrial results are expressed in differences from CRS,  the Cambridge Reseach 
Sequence. CRS was the first sample tested at Cambridge University and all later tests are 
described as to how they differ from this first DNA sequence to be analyzed. Our sequence 
is identical to CRS in the HVR1 region and has only one difference at marker 263G in the 
HVR2 region. Haplogroup HV* is a west Eurasian haplogroup found throughout the Near 
East, including Anatolia, the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia, and the republic of 
Georgia. It predates the beginning of farming in Europe.

	About 30,000 years ago, some members of HV* moved north across the Caucasus 
Mountains, west across Anatolia and into Europe with the Cro-Magnon people. Their arrival 
marked the appearance of the Aurignacian culture. This culture was distinguished by 
significant innovations in methods of manufacturing tools.

	Colder temperatures and a drier global climate about 20,000 years ago drove early 
Europeans south to warmer climates of the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and the Balkans where 
they waited out the 5,000 year long cold spell. Population sizes and genetic diversity were 
drastically reduced. When the ice sheets began to retreat about 15,000 years ago, HV* split
 into two main subgroups, H and V, and recolonized Europe. Today these three haplogroups 
make up almost 75% of all European lineages.

Y-DNA Results

	The Y-DNA test looks at changes or mutations made in copying DNA, called Single 
Nucleotide Polymorphisms, SNPs. These changes happen about every 500 generations. 
Y-DNA tests also look at sequences of genes along the DNA strand. They are called Short 
Tandem Repeats or STRs. As DNA is copied, changes or mutations occur in these STRs .
These changes happen about every 200 years or about every six generations. This makes 
them a little more useful in a genealogical time frame. 

	I asked my male Begue cousin to take the Genographic Project Y-DNA test. His 
Y-DNA came from his father, Gonzales Begue, who got it from his father, John Louis Begue, 
who got it from John Blaise Bégué who got it from Jean Baptiste Bégué. So it will tell us 
about the paternal line, the top line on our ancestor chart. The results show that our Bégué 
line is Haplogroup I1a.(That is Capitol Letter I not Roman Numeral I.) Members of this 

haplogroup carry the following Y chromosome markers: M168>M89>M170>M253. 

This Haplogroup is now known as I-M253.

	When geneticists identify a marker, they try to figure out when it first occurred and 
in what geographic region of the world. The first of our Bégué markers, M168, mutated 
about 50,000 years ago in northeast Africa. The man who gave rise to this marker was one 
of a group of people that migrated into the Middle East. His descendants became the only 
lineage to survive outside of Africa, making him the common ancestor of every non-African 
man living today.

	The next marker, M89, arose from a man in the M168 group about 45,000 years ago 
and is found in 90 to 95 percent of all non-Africans. This man traveled with a group that 
followed the expanding grasslands and plentiful game to the Middle East and beyond. 
Some of his descendants remained in the Middle East and others continued, some east into 
the Central Asian steppes and some north into Anatolia and the Balkans. This is where our 
Bégué ancestors split from my father's Booksh ancestors and my husband's Zimmerman 
ancestors. The Bégué ancestor with marker M89 went north to the Balkans and the 
Zimmerman and Booksh ancestor with marker M9 went east into the Central Asian steppes. 
Booksh is Haplogroup R1a (M17), which is most common in Eastern Europe and 
Zimmerman is R1b (M343), the most common Haplogroup in Western Europe.

	The third mutation at Marker M170 characterizes our haplogroup I. It  emerged 
about 20,000 years ago in southeastern Europe at the height of the Ice Age. These people 
had migrated into the Balkans and eventually spread into central Europe. The ancestor who 
gave rise to this marker, was probably born in one of the refuge areas that people occupied 
during the last of the Ice Age.

	Marker M253 emerged about 15,000 years ago as populations moved north from 
the ice free regions. As the ice melted, the group carrying this marker migrated north 
and began to repopulate northern parts of Europe including Scandinavia. They carried 
with them this unique genetic marker that defines our Haplogroup as I-M253. Today 
this marker is found in highest frequencies in Scandinavian populations in Denmark, 
Norway, Sweden, and Finland. It is found in low frequency in the rest of Europe.

	Our original Bégué ancestor may have been a Visigoth who settled in southern 
Gaul around AD418. The Visigoths established their own kingdom with its capital at 
Toulouse, not far from where our Jean Baptiste Bégué was born.  Or he may have been 
a Viking raider along the Atlantic Coast of France. He may have been one of the 
Norsemen who settled in the area of France that came to be called Normandy. He may 
have been a Breton with Viking genes who settled in Brittany. However he got there, 
eventually some of his descendants migrated into the Pyrénées Mountains of Southern 
France. For more information on our Begue Y-DNA Haplogroup see the  Wikipedia 
entry for Haplogroup I-M253. 

	We eventually transferred our results to the Family Tree DNA website and did further 

testing there. See http:www.familytreedna.com/  They do mtDNA, Y-DNA  

and autosomal testing. 

Remembering Uncle Jim

Today is Veteran's Day, originally called Armistice Day. This Veterans Day 2019 is the 100^th anniversary of Armistice Day, celebrating the cessation of fighting in World War I. Although the armistice agreement had ended fighting on November 11, 1918, The Treaty of Versailles was not signed until June 28, 1919, officially ending the war between Germany and the Allied Powers. On November 11, 1919 the first Armistice Day was celebrated in England.

Almost five million American families sent a relative to serve in the military during World War I, which was known as the Great War until World War II. My mother's Uncle Jim was one of those who served.

James Peter Gonzales (1886-1957)

James Peter Gonzales

James Peter Gonzales was born July 5, 1886, the son of John Henry Gonzales (1856-1907) and Anna Hattaway (1860-1943). (His mother's surname, as well as her father's, is spelled many different ways in various records. She was my Great Greandmother and was always called Little Grandma.) Like both of his parents he was born in Algiers, the part of New Orleans on the West Bank of the Mississippi River.

His grandfather, John Gonzales (1820-1884), was born in northern Spain and was a seaman in 1842 when he came to New Orleans. His grandmother, Anne Farnan (1827-1910) was born in Ireland.

On his mother's side his grandfather was Peter Hardeway (1810-c1865), a ships carpenter from Copenhagen, Denmark, who came to New Orleans sometime before 1850. His surname is sometimes recorded as Hartway and Hartwig. James's maternal grandmother was Bernardina Harmeyer (1829-1883) who came from Alfhausen, Hanover, Germany in 1848. So he had a diverse heritage.

The first U. S. Census James shows up in is 1900. His family is living at 716 Newton Street in Algiers, the 15^th Ward of New Orleans. His family owns the house. His father is working as a day laborer, probably on the waterfront. Algiers was the main ship building and repair center for the area. James is 13 years old and at school. He has an older brother, Joseph, age 17, and a younger sister Sarah, age 11, my grandmother. Their grandmother, Anne Gonzales, is living with the family.

In 1910 the U. S. Census tells us that James Gonzales was a carpenter in the railroad shop in Algiers, living at 936 Vallette Street with his mother, two brothers and grandmother. Living in the same house, probably the other half of a shotgun double, were his sister Sarah and her husband John Begue with their one year old son Robert.

In 1917 Uncle Jim registered for the draft not long before his 31st birthday. His draft card says he had black hair and brown eyes and was slightly deaf. He was soon inducted into the Army. When we asked Uncle Jim what he did in the war he said he took care of the mules. Grandma said he was deafened by the cannons. Mules were used to pull the cannons so both stories add up.

The 1920 census says that he and his brother Joseph and mother Annie were still living on Vallette Street and that he was working as a laborer for the levee board. Neither he nor his brother ever married. Uncle Joe died before I was born, but Uncle Jim and Little Grandma Gonzales were both still alive. After Little Grandma died in 1943 he went to live with Uncle John and Aunt Esther Begue.

BEGUE FAMILY GROUP - 1952
Esther Begue, Warren Hertz Sr., Homer Bill Hamner, Florence and Charles Hutzler Sr, Marie and Gonzales Begue,
John Begue, Carmela Hamner, David Begue, Charlie Hutzler Jr., Johnny Hertz,
In chairs - Grandma Sarah Gonzales Begue and Uncle Jim Gnzales,
Warren Hertz Jr.

My cousins and I remember Uncle Jim as a skinny old man who was almost completely deaf. When he registered for the WW II draft in 1942, his description said he was 5' 6" tall and weighed 120 pounds and had brown eyes and gray hair. So he was a skinny old man as I remembered.

He lived around the corner from us when I was little and often visited. When he left we would ask him where he was going and he would say, with a twinkle in his eye, that he was going down to the church to get some holy water. We knew that he was going to the corner bar to have a beer. One of the things I remember about him was that he always came around the day after Thanksgiving and he always said, “I came to get the piece that went over the fence last.” That meant the turkey tail, his favorite.

Uncle Jim died June 10, 1957 of bilateral bronco pneumonia due to pulmonary emphysema. He was buried on January 12 at the McDonogh Cemetery. I remember going to his wake and funeral.

There are not many people left who remember Uncle Jim. That is why I wanted to commemorate his life and service to his country in World War I. I have posted a shorter version of this narrative on the World War I Centennial page in the Stories of Service section.

https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/commemorate/family-ties/stories-of-service.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/abiyt.html

52 Ancestors Challenge

I started this blog to use for postings in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. It's a series of weekly prompts to get you to think about an ancestor and share something about them.

The prompts for January are:
     Week 1: Start
     Week 2: Favorite Photo
     Week 3: Longevity
     Week 4: Invite to Dinner
     Week 5: In the Census

So let's get started...

This story starts in April 1988 when the National Genealogical Society had their annual conference in Biloxi, Mississippi. My mother, Vera Begue Booksh, lived in Long Beach, Mississippi then and I drove up from Florida to take her to the conference.

Vera Begue Booksh stands by the second largest Live Oak in Mississippi in Long Beach.

She and my Aunt Marie had been doing genealogy for about 20 years and I offered to put their information on the computer. I never intended to get into it myself, just put their research into a genealogy program and print it out for the family.


Finally we sat down with all the family group sheets, pedigree charts, papers, and photocopies that she had accumulated. I turned on the tape recorder, and we started climbing into our family tree. I picked up one of the photocopies and asked, "Now where did you find this information?"

Mama said, "Oh, that was from the New Orleans Library. We did a lot of research there...

"OK," I said, "Do you remember what book you got this information from?"

"It was a big red book."

"I need to put down the name of the book as the source of the information."

"I don't know the name of the book!" Mama was indignant. "What? You don't believe me!"

I could see this was not going to be as easy as I had thought.  I could put all Mama's data into the computer, but I was going to have to go out onto some shaky limbs to document the sources. Soon I was hooked and I've been doing genealogy ever since.

Fast forward to 2009 when I finished the first draft of a book on the Begue family. Mama and Aunt Marie were both still alive and able to read the draft and offer corrections and additions. Other relatives also added information and at last we were ready to publish. In 2012 I got my first copies of  "Mama Said:The Mostly True Story of the Begue Family of Louisiana and Mississippi." (It's available at Amazon.com.)

As I say in my introduction, If Mama's family had a motto, it would have been, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Her family had a lot of good stories. There were stories of lost fortunes and disinheritance, stories of larcenous lawyers and disreputable relatives, stories of mysterious apparitions and ghostly happenings. They were passed down from mother to daughter like treasured pieces of needlework. I remember hearing many of these stories told and retold, as we sat on Grandma's porch on summer evenings.

But putting those stories into a book was not the end of the story. I had started in on doing more research on my father's Booksh side of the family. There was so much information that it would require more than one book. One particular ancestor called out to me. Great Grandma Belle Tisdale had left a trunk full of letters and photos of her family. I decided to start a blog as a way of organizing the transcriptions of letters and my research on the letter writers and people mentioned in the letters as well as a little history of what was happening in the Louisiana area at the time. I'm up to 1875 if you would like to take a look at belletisdale.blogspot.com

Now fast forward again to just a few days ago when I got a phone call from a man named Begue who lives here in Central Florida. His son had a genealogy project for school and he wanted to get a copy of my book. He turns out to be my third cousin once removed. So this story has come full circle to a new start for a new genealogist.