52 Ancestors Week 13

LIGHT A CANDLE

My Votive Candle Collection

     This week's theme made me think of my Grandma Begue. She always lit a candle at church to pray for someone in the family. Also when she was angry with someone she would say, "I'm going to light a black candle on her." I never saw her light a black candle, but I know she was very superstitious.  I collect votive candles and thought maybe a black candle had something to do with Voodoo, which was common in New Orleans, but when I looked up the meaning of burning a black candle I found it was not to cast a Voodoo spell on someone but for protection from negative energy or to break hexes or curses.

     I wrote a lot about Grandma Begue for Week 7, so I decided to write about her parents this week. I think some of her superstitions came from her mother, Anna Hathaway Gonzales. Her last name is listed in many different ways, Hattaway, Hardaway, Hartway, and even Hartwig. She was known to all of the family as Little Grandma. She died in 1943 when I was almost 3 years old so I barely remember her but my Mama had lots of stories about her. 

      Anna Hattaway and her twin Hannah were born in Algiers, Louisiana, on 3 January 1860, daughters of Peter Hardaway/Hartway/Hartwig from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Bernardina Harmeyer of Alfhausen, Hanover, Germany. Little Grandma said she was born with a veil, meaning that the amniotic sack covered her head. This was said to have given her the power to communicate with the dead.

      Little Grandma said that she was the sickly twin and had to be carried around on a pillow because she was so frail. She survived but her twin died. Anna  is listed on the 1860 census as 5/12 years old with her parents Peter and Dianah Hatherway. In the 1860 Mortality Schedule Dianah [Hannah] Hatherway is listed as dying in February at age 1 month of inflammation of the lungs after being ill for seven days. She was Peter and Dina's sixth and last child. (One of the strange coincidences of genealogy is that I named my daughter Dina before I knew that Bernardina's nickname was Dina.)

        Little Grandma's father died sometime between 1862 and 1870 leaving her mother to raise five daughters and one son. Peter had been a ships carpenter and worked on the riverfront in Algiers which later became part of New Orleans. During the Civil War and the blockade of the port he may have gone off aboard ship. Little Grandma only knew that he went away and never came back. He is listed with his family on the US census in 1860 but not in 1870. Bernardina died 8 October 1883. 

         Little Grandma married John Henry Gonzales (1856-1907) on 15 April 1880. He was also born in Algiers and worked on the riverfront and as a fireman. His father, John Gonzales (~1820-1884), was born in Northern Spain and his mother, Anne Farnan (1827-1910), was born in Ireland. Anna and John Henry Gonzales had seven children, only three of whom survived to adulthood: Joseph Manuel (1882-1938), James Peter (1886-1957) and Sarah Ann (1888-1965). 

      On the 1900 census, the John H. Gonzales family is listed in the Algiers section of New Orleans at 716 Newton Street near Valette. John H. is 44 and a day laborer, wife Annie is 36, son Joseph M. age 17, is a day laborer, son James P. is 13, daughter Sarah A. is 11, and John's mother, Ann, a 73 year old widow is living with them. John Henry Gonzales died 6 February 1907 of chronic nephritis at age 51.

     In 1910 Little Grandma, Uncle Joe, and Uncle Jim, and Great Great Grandmother Anne Farnan Gonzales are living at 936 Valette Street in Algiers with daughter Sarah Ann Gonzales and her husband John Begue and their first child, Robert, who is 1 year old.

     Little Grandma died at age 83 on 6 July 1943 of arteriosclerotic heart disease. Her obituary says that she was survived by nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren. I'll have to light a candle for her.

James Peter Gonzales, Anna Hathaway Gonzales, and Joseph Manuel Gonzales 1932

  

52 Ancestors Week 7

Sarah Ann Gonzales Begue c1910 with son Robert
This is the earliest photo we have of Grandma Begue.

     The theme for Week 7 is Outcast, but I couldn't think of anyone who fit that category so I decided to go with #7 on my Ancestor Chart, my maternal grandmother Sarah Ann Gonzales Begue.

     Sarah Gonzales was born 26 December 1888, the first daughter of John Henry Gonzales and Anna Hathaway. She was delivered by Dr. Lowe. She entered her name as Sarah Anna Gonzales in the Begue Bible but is referred to as Sarah Ann on her birth registration and as Sara Ann in her baptismal record and by her nickname "Sadie" on some other documents. She was baptized Sara Ann Gonzales at Holy Name of Mary Church in Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana. Sponsors were her uncle George Giles and her Grandmother Anna Farnan Gonzales. My mother said she had blue eyes and black hair. 

     In 1890 her father, John Gonzales, is listed in the New Orleans City Directory at 176 1/2 Eliza Street, Fifth District, which is Algiers, and in 1891 at 180 1/2 Eliza Street in Algiers. Mrs. Ann Gonzales is listed at the same address. That would be John Henry Gonzales's mother, Anne Farnan Gonzales, who was born in Ireland.

     My Mama said, "Mama went to the blind man's school in Algiers." That was undoubtedly the blind educator William Wallace Lampton, who operated a private elementary school in Algiers. (This is Algiers, Richard E. Dixon, 1971, p. 72) Algiers is the part of New Orleans on the West Bank of the Mississippi River.

     In the 1900 U.S. Census the John H. Gonzales family is listed in the Algiers section of New Orleans at 716 Newton Street near Vallette Street.  John H. is 44 years old and a day laborer. Wife Annie is 36, son Joseph M. is 17, a day laborer, son James P. is 13, daughter Sarah A. is 11 and John's mother Ann, a widow, is 73. The Gonzales family is at the bottom of the page and is scribbled over by the census taker in making his calculations. Therefore it did not appear on any census indexes and required a page by page search of the microfilm roll for Algiers. This was long before the census images were online.

     My Mama said, "Mama and her best friend used to work at the shrimp factory up near the McDonoghville line. They would walk home on the levee. On their way home, they were followed by a man who acted strange." Mama lowered her voice and covered her mouth. "He exposed himself! One day when he approached them, Mama's friend said, 'Don't worry. He won't bother us anymore.' She reached up and took the hatpin out of the back of her hat and stuck him with it...down there..."

How Grandma Met Grandpa

     I was lucky that I interviewed and recorded my mother about all the old family stories. Here's what she told me when I asked her how Grandma met Grandpa John Louis Begue.

     "Mama's father sent her to the store to get him some tobacco and papers. Men rolled their own cigarettes then. Daddy and his friend Robert Crombie were at the store to buy tobacco, too, and that was how they met. When they got married on November 20, 1907, Robert was their best man, and they named their first child after him."    

     Robert John Begue was born 29 November 1908. He was baptized at Holy Name of Mary Church on 24 December 1908. Sponsors were Robert Crombie and Sarah's cousin Annie M. Giles. In the 1910 U.S. Census they are living at 936 Vallette Street in Algiers next door to Grandma's mother Anna, now a widow, Uncle Joe and Uncle Jim and Grandma Anne. Father John Henry Gonzales died on 6 February 1907 at age 51. Grandma Anne Farnan Gonzales died 28 November 1910 at age 83.

     Grandma and Grandpa Begue's family continued to grow. In 1910 daughter Florence Amelia was born, followed in 1912 by my mother Vera Mary. Son John Louis Begue Jr. was next in 1914 and then a third daughter Leotha Mildred Begue in 1917. Sons  Sidney James in 1922; Travis Adolph in 1924 and Charles Martin in 1927 brought the total to nine children.

     Grandpa John Louis Begue Sr. died 10 October 1951 at age 64 and Grandma Sara Begue died 22 June 1965 at age 76.  Needless to say I have many more stories about the family but they will have to wait for another week.

80 Years Ago

 

Little Grandma Anna Hattaway Gonzales with
Vera Armelle Booksh and John Frederick Hertz
October 1940

   On this day 80 years ago I was born. Three days later my cousin Johnny was born. This is the oldest photo of us that we have. Our Great Grandmother, always called Little Grandma, was 80 years old when this picture was taken in her backyard in October 1940. I am the one with the ruffled bonnet. 

   Anna Hattaway and her twin Hannah were born in Algiers, Louisiana, on January 3, 1860, daughters of Peter Hardaway/Hartway/Hartwig from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Bernardina Harmeyer of Alfhausen, Hanover, Germany. Little Grandma said that she was the sickly twin and had to be carried around on a pillow because she was so frail. But she survived and her twin died. She was Peter and Dina's sixth and last child. (One of the strange coincidences of genealogy is that I named my daughter Dina before I knew that Bernardina's nickname was Dina.)

   Little Grandma's father died sometime between 1862 and 1870 leaving her mother to raise five daughters and one son. Peter had been a ships carpenter and worked on the riverfront in Algiers which later became part of New Orleans. During the Civil War and the blockade of the port he may have gone off aboard ship. Little Grandma only knew that he went away and never came back. He is listed with his family on the US census in 1860 but not in 1870. Bernardina died 8 October 1883. 

   Little Grandma married John Henry Gonzales (1856-1907) on 15 April 1880. He was also born in Algiers and worked on the riverfront and as a fireman. His father, John Gonzales (~1820-1884), was born in Northern Spain and his mother, Anne Farnan (1827-1910), was born in Ireland.

   Anna and John Henry Gonzales had seven children, only three of which survived childhood: Joseph Manuel (1882-1938), James Peter (1886-1957) and Sarah Ann(1888-1965), my Grandma.

Anna Hattaway Gonzaales with her two sons,
James Peter Gonzales and Joseph Manuel Gonzales, circa 1930

   Little Grandma died 7 July 1943 at age 83. I barely remember her except from old photos, but my Mama passed on many stories of things she said. Mama said that Little Grandma never cursed. The closest she came to cursing was to say "He's as full of piss and vinegar as the barber's cat." or "He can go to Guinea." She also used to say "You never know what's cooking in someone else's pot." That is very similar to a Spanish saying "The only one who knows what's cooking is the spoon that stirs the pot." I wonder if that came down from her Spanish father-in-law.

   The last photo of Little Grandma we have is this one with Cousin Johnny and I circa 1841.

Anna Hattaway Gonzales with
John Frederick Hertz and Vera Armelle Booksh, 1941