Tombstone Tuesday: New Orleans edition

Tomb with surnames Dunbar, Hacker and Conseil at St. Louis Cemetery #3, New Orleans, Louisiana. The family is not related to me; I just thought the tomb and the marker in French were interesting. Digital photos taken by the author in Oct. 2009. (Transcription and translation at the bottom of the post.)

Geo. W. DUNBAR.

né à North Bridgewater, Mass.
le 26 Mai 1816.
décédé à la N[ouv]elle Orleans
le 5 Juin 1878.

George W. Dunbar
born at North Bridgewater, Massachusetts
26 May 1816.
died at New Orleans
5 June 1878.

Mme G. W. DUNBAR
née CHARLOTTE ZULMEE HACKER
décédée le 7 Mars 1910
à l'âge de 88 ans.

Madame [Mrs.] G. W. Dunbar
born Charlotte Zulmée Hacker
died 7 March 1910
at the age of 88 years.

[Note: A history of North Bridgewater, Mass., found at:
http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofnorthbr02king/historyofnorthbr02king_djvu.txt
gives George's name as "George Washington Dunbar" and marriage date as 17 June 1843. A quick Internet search lists sources that state he worked in manufacturing and his family lived on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, and that Charlotte summered with Mr. & Mrs. Conseil at their house in Biloxi, Mississippi, c. 1906. Relatives?]

WILLIAM CONSEIL
décédée [sic] le 16 Janvier 1913.

William Conseil
died 16 January 1913. ["sic" note due to feminine form for "died" -- could it be Mrs. Conseil buried here? Just a thought.]

Text/images copyright 2010 by the blog author.

SNGF: My Best Genealogy Moments of 2009

Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings posts genealogy blog "assignments" every Saturday called "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun," or SNGF. They do look like fun, so I'm going to start doing them, though they may very well appear here on Sundays or Mondays.

This week's assignment asked readers to post our "top genealogy moment" of 2009. While nothing tops marrying my 7th cousin once removed, that wasn't done for genealogical purposes, so I would say my top genealogy moment would be meeting my recently-discovered Sonnier cousins in Scott, Louisiana. The four sisters and brother I met, children of John B. & Aline (Legere) Sonnier (and my half-2nd cousins), were delightful and welcoming, as were their relatives. I felt like I'd known them for years, and we're still in touch.

(Aline (Legere) and Jean Baptiste ("John B.") Sonnier. Digital photo of portrait owned by the Sonnier family.)

And so, cousins who descend from my great-grandfather Constant Legere's first marriage (to Estelle Babineau or Babineaux, the Sonniers' great-grandmother) and his fourth and final marriage (to Marie Octavie "Tavie" McBride, my great-grandmother) are now reunited.

But I'm all about the lagniappe*, so here are two other moments:

• My 2nd cousin Janice, who shares great-grandfather Newton King Brady Pate of Ringgold, Louisiana, with me, voluntarily took photos of my McCoy ancestors' Delaware landmarks and obtained burial records for me while on a trip there. And she isn't even related to this family branch! Thank you so much, Janice--one of these days, we really have to meet in person!

* (Detail of our wedding favor bag, which contained pralines made by my Californian (via Texas) mother-in-law with pecans from my Louisianian parents' trees. Digital scan.)


• My husband and I honeymooned in New Orleans, the first time I've returned since discovering my colonial NOLA ancestry. Walking on the French Quarter land where I now know my ancestors once lived gave me a whole new perspective on the Crescent City.

(left: Muriel's Restaurant at Chartres & St. Ann in New Orleans, which occupies land first owned by my 8th-great grandfather Claude Trepagnier in the early 1720s. Digital photo.)

Wishing you & yours a New Year full of wonderful genealogical and non-genealogical moments!

In which I am awarded the "Kreativ Blogger" badge ...

No, it's not an award for "Kreativ" spelling--as a sometime editor, I must point out that the badge was "kreated" by a Norwegian, thus the non-English spelling.

It is, however, a designation from a fellow Louisiana genealogy blogger, Jennifer Trahan of Jennifer's Genealogy Blog, because she likes my blog and has recommended it to her readers. Thanks for the encouragement, Jennifer. I do appreciate it.

The Kreativ Blogger badge comes with (often-modified) "rules," including:
1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

So--things about me you may (or may not!) find interesting:

1. I am a Southwest Louisiana native who has been a Cajun "expatriate" in Southern California for 20 years now. I regularly crave boudin, gumbo and my mom's peach cobbler.

2. I am a 10th-generation Louisianian, if you count my ancestors who colonized Mobile, New Orleans, and the Illinois Country, all part of French Louisiana before America even existed.

3. My bachelor's degree is in music (flute performance); I've also studied journalism and fiction writing.

4. My parents are from two very different lands: North Louisiana and South Louisiana. :)

5. Only about 1/4 of my ancestry is French; I have more British Isles ancestry, but because I grew up in Southwest Louisiana, I feel more Cajun than anything else.

6. I tend to name pets after food or musicians: Roux, Miles, Ella.

7. Despite identifying most with my Cajun ancestry, I don't cook very much or speak Cajun French (I do speak & read a little "standard" French), nor am I Catholic (which is sort of like being a Cajun "expatriate" even within Louisiana). I definitely have a Cajun stomach though--the Tony Chachere's is on the dinner table right next to the salt & pepper.

7a. Yes, I do feel slightly like an imposter because I don't cook much Cajun (yet). :) Hope that doesn't diminish my blogger cred. (See #2.)

I'm having a hard time finding blogs that haven't received KBs recently & that may be of interest to my readers. Therefore, I will pass along the Kreativ Blogger badge to a couple of less active (but interesting) Louisiana bloggers in the hopes that they will post again in the near future, and to a newer blogger with a very Southern voice that reminds me of home:

Louisiana Lineage Legacies - Karen's blog has not been active lately, but perhaps I can persuade her to post again. She's an African-American researcher with North La. roots.

New Orleans Ancestry - Jennifer is a busy graduate student, but I'm hoping she can fit a post in here & there--selfishly, because my New Orleans ancestors are a current passion of mine.

Last2cu - Newish blogger Ruth is in Arkansas and writes about cemeteries and related topics. It's not Louisiana, but she's a neighbor and definitely Southern! Check out her wonderfully-titled post "Tell Me About the Dash."

Follow Friday: Acadian and French-Canadian Ancestral Home

Note: "Follow Friday" is a daily blogging theme used by many bloggers to spotlight other blogs or resources of interest to their readers.

In honor of "Follow Friday," I'd like to occasionally recommend resources of particular interest to those researching Louisiana ancestors. If you have Cajun roots, you will no doubt find the Acadian and French-Canadian Ancestral Home website of great interest. From Acadian census records, to the fate of your ancestors during the "Grand Dérangement," to their journeys to Louisiana, you can spend hours absorbed in the wealth of material on Lucie LeBlanc Consentino's meticulously researched site. The Ancestral Home also serves as the main site for Acadian GenWeb.

Lucie is a very well-respected educator, speaker and researcher specializing in Acadian genealogy. She writes a companion blog for the site and a personal family history blog, "Lucie's Legacy." She also serves as the helpful and congenial administrator of the Rootsweb "Acadian-French Canadian" mailing list, a great group.

Now I must caution that beginners in Cajun genealogy may find all this info a bit overwhelming. If you're still working in Rev. Hebert's "Southwest Louisiana Records" volumes, you can wait before diving headfirst into Lucie's site. But if you need a little motivation for your research, don't hesitate to take a peek. It will make you want to get going on your Cajun ancestors so you can find out how you're related to those fascinating Acadian pioneers.

If you're ready to explore where your ancestors were before they got to Louisiana, this is a must-use resource. There's a reason it's my first "Follow Friday" recommendation, after all!

Tombstone Tuesday: New Orleans edition

While on my honeymoon in October, I managed to sneak in a little genealogy (yes, I am incorrigible :) ). The New Orleans tour bus stopped for ONLY 10 minutes at St. Louis Cemetery #3. (Horrors!) So I took some photos in the limited time I had, and here are some of them. I am not related to any of these people, but thought I would document some while I was there in case it helps someone else. I will eventually contribute the info to Find a Grave or another online repository.



Some of the wall vaults [at left, above] at St. Louis #3, which opened in 1854, are in rather a state of disrepair, and signs concerning renovations have been posted by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which operates the Catholic cemetery. [Please note that I had only a few minutes in the cemetery and saw only the wall vaults nearest the entrance. I have no info on other parts of the cemetery. Tombs in the front part of the cemetery looked like they were in mostly good repair.]

From what I understand, in the past, families have owned burial plots in New Orleans cemeteries, much like owning any other piece of property. Unfortunately, the ownership info may not be communicated to other family members, younger generations move away, and the burial places may then suffer from neglect. According to an an archdiocese official quoted in this 2008 USA Today article, after 50 years of "no activity" [no burials? no correspondence from owners? no signs of upkeep?], the archdiocese may post a public notice for one year, then restore and sell a plot if no descendants of the tomb owners are found. The remains in the ceded tomb, I presume, are relocated and their location noted in cemetery records. New tombs built in New Orleans Catholic cemeteries require a one-time fee for perpetual care.


A notre fils cheri, René Bertonière, décédé le 2 Avril 1870, à l'age de 11 mois et demi./To our dear son René Bertonière, [who] died 2 April 1870, at the age of 11 1/2 months.

If you have relatives buried here in the older wall-vault section near the cemetery entrance, or suspect you do, you may want to check Find a Grave, the Sacramental Records of the Archdiocese of New Orleans volumes or other sources (see the bottom of this post for more) to see if your relatives are listed, and perhaps call the archdiocese for more info. If you wish to take over an ancestral tomb, however, fees for renovation and/or perpetual care can be rather expensive. [And I'm not sure that's even possible unless you are a legal heir of the deceased; I assume property laws as well as cemetery laws/ordinances govern this kind of thing.]

I'm not sure if the laws vary from parish to parish (Louisiana's version of counties) or city to city in Louisiana, or if there are statewide policies about control of neglected gravesites. I'd appreciate more info from readers. I do know there was controversy over the deeds to gravesites being "repossessed" in St. Martinville a few years ago, where a similar law applied.



By using software to crop the photos & adjust the saturation and contrast, I can make out a few names here and there. In the section pictured above, names and surnames include: Pierre Mallet and Marie Estelle Mallet, Gonzales, the G. Villeneuve family, George Victor Durand or Duband, Barry or Harry F. Ratwall?, Fenasci, Houlne, and Ernest Turpin.



While some marble markers are bolted to what appears to be cement or plaster-covered brick wall vaults, others are not. Either the material adhering the marble to the vault has eroded or the marker has just fallen in some cases, breaking on the ground and taking with it valuable genealogical information. The archdiocese may have the marker info in its records, but it still makes me sad to see broken markers.

Names or surnames on this wall that I can decipher from the photo above include: Louis Talazac?, Gostino Biagini, Angelina Guil_ _, Edler family, Louise Edler, the Charles Vautier family, Louis C. Vautier, Harold F. Lesslie, and Pearl Amelie Cenbrun Lesslie. Note there is a sign here regarding renovations.



Section of wall vaults with archdiocese sign. Here repose the Francisco Esteva family; Katy Schleiniger, William Schleiniger, and Mary Butsch?; and the Lalosevich family.



In multicultural New Orleans, here we have the probably French-German Auguste Kitzinger next to Italians Ginotti F. Ferruccio (born in Rome, his marker states) and a Zambella, who in turn were laid to rest next to the undoubtedly Irish John C. Murphy and possible wife Maud L. Murphy, who are neighbors to C. Booth, who perhaps has English roots.



This broken marker is for Miguel F. Cross, who died in 1919 at age 18? years, and ----el Cross, who was born in 1866? and died 6 May 1868.

For further research:
You can find more info on New Orleans burial records available at the New Orleans Public Library here, or about St. Louis Cemetery #3 and other NOLA cemetery records available through LDS (Mormon) family history centers at the LDS library catalog online. You can find many photos of St. Louis #3 and other cemeteries at the New Orleans Cemeteries website and at Wikimedia Commons. Additionally, Save Our Cemeteries is a group doing wonderful preservation work in New Orleans, including tomb restorations at St. Louis Cemetery #1 and #2, and Lafayette Cemetery #1.

Treasure Chest Thursday: My Newest Treasure

My most recent "treasure" acquisition is also a convenient excuse for blogging only sporadically until now: it's my wedding gown, which I donned October 10 to marry my longtime sweetie. (I would also consider him my latest "treasure," but I'm not sure he's ready for blog stardom. :) )


Wedding gown in ivory with champagne lace and sash; furry genealogy assistant Roux.

Genealogy hounds will no doubt be amused to hear that we are 7th cousins once removed, our common ancestor being a Stevenson born about 1700, probably in Scotland (father to James and William of N. Ireland & the Carolinas). Some online trees have the ancestor as Henry Stephenson, b. 1698 in Roxburghshire, Scotland, but I don't know if this actually has been proven, and I haven't been investigating the Stevenson trail lately.


Wedding gown, back view.

We'd been dating 10 years before I even discovered we were related. I decided to visit his mom's online tree one day, spotted a familiar surname, and before you knew it, we were "kissing cousins"! Of course, at the 7th-cousin level, there's not really much "ick" factor to worry about, as we'd have only a speck of genetic heritage in common.


Bodice detail

Still, it makes a good story, doesn't it? His parents and siblings always made me feel like part of their family; little did we know, I already was! :)


Train and sash detail.

All text and images copyright 2009 by the author.

Veterans Day and the Hall family

Originally posted in 2009; worth a repost.  To all our veterans out there, thank you for your service.

For Veterans Day, I'd like to salute my dad, his four brothers and one of his sisters for their service to our country. All five of the Hall brothers of Sulphur, Louisiana, served in the U.S. Navy. How they felt about their sister serving as an Army nurse, I'm not sure, but I'll have to pose that question at the next family gathering!

My late dad, George Hall, served as a fighter pilot in World War II in the South Pacific.


George Hall, c. 1944. Photo privately held by author.

He originally trained on dive bombers, but switched to fighters when he heard more fighter pilots were needed. He flew an F6F Hellcat from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock in 1945, and years later, was still thrilled to see and discuss planes he trained in or flew in the war. Kudos to our family friend who recorded Dad's reminiscences a couple of years ago on DVD.

(By the way, Thanksgiving gatherings are a great time to record family memories! See the StoryCorps website for ideas.)

Dad was following in his older brother Bob's footsteps by joining the Navy. Robert Lee Hall (1920-2003) was a baker and petty officer on the troop ship APA 117 Haskell during World War II, and later on the aircraft carrier USS Boxer. He helped set up bakeries on ships and on various Pacific islands, including New Caledonia, New Hebrides, and islands in the Samoas and Fijis.


Robert Lee Hall, 1940s. Photo privately held by author.

Uncle Bob told his hometown paper 50 years later, "I remember the terrible heat below deck in the ships' kitchens and also in the tropical island kitchens. And sailors. I got so tired of seeing sailors, day after day, year after year, for the six years I was in service." The monotony was no doubt alleviated when my aunt Martha Burch, as his fiancée, took a troop ship to meet Uncle Bob in the Samoas, where they married and lived for a time.

John Bunyon Hall (1923-2008) was the third Hall brother to serve in the South Pacific during WW II. He worked in the torpedo parts room aboard the sub tender USS Fulton. He was part of a gunner's crew that shot down two attacking enemy planes during the Battle of Saipan.


John Bunyan Hall, 1940s. Photo privately held & digitally edited by author.

Two other living uncles served in the Navy after World War II, and one of my aunts was an Army nurse.  To respect their privacy, I won't name them here but will just say how proud we all are of all our relatives who have served in the military! Happy Veterans Day!

Explore your family's military history.  Talk to relatives, find out more about requesting military personnel files here and check out free records available at familysearch.org, for a good start.