Tombstone Tuesday: William & Elizabeth (Faress) Cotter, Ringgold, La.

 W. H. [William Hadden] Cotter headstone, Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, La.  Photo courtesy of Maxine Morgan.

William Hadden Cotter and Elizabeth Ann Faress Cotter (a.k.a. Queen Ann Elizabeth Fariss or Farris) are my great-great-grandparents.  William was from Louisville, Jefferson County, Georgia, and "Lizzie" was from Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.  They both died near Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  You can see their portraits here or read more about my Cotter line here.  

Elizabeth Ann Faress Cotter headstone, Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, La.  Photo courtesy of Maxine Morgan.

I connected with Maxine Morgan (no relation to my husband's family that I know of) via Ancestry.com, where we discovered her husband and I have Cotters in common.  Maxine, who has contributed quite a few Bienville Parish records to interment.net and USGenWeb, among other sites, graciously sent me these photos and gave me permission to post them here.  Thanks, Maxine!

Text copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan; photos copyright 2011 by Maxine Morgan, all rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: Arthur & Catherine Estelle (Legere) Hernandez

Arthur and Catherine Estelle (Legere) Hernandez headstones, St. Peter Catholic Church Cemetery, Carencro, Lafayette Parish, La., November 19, 2007, digital photo by Liz Hall Morgan.

Catherine Estelle (or Estelle Catherine) Legere or Légère ("Estelle Catharine" in Southwest Louisiana Records and Estelle in census records, but "Catherine" according to her death certificate and her great-granddaughter) was my great-aunt, the daughter of my great-grandfather Constant Legere ("Leger" in some records) and his first wife (of four), Estelle Babineau(x).  She was born 12 Dec. 1867, probably in Lafayette Parish, La.  Extracted death certificate info says she was born in Carencro (in Lafayette Parish), and her birth was recorded in Grand Coteau, at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (then the nearest Catholic church to the family, in St. Landry Parish).  I think the Ossun community near Carencro, where her parents lived, is a safe bet for her birthplace, but that's just my opinion.

At age 15, she married Jean Euclide Brasseaux on 27 Dec. 1882 in St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in Carencro, but he died not long after their marriage (anyone have a date?) and they had no children that I know of.   I recall noticing Brasseaux graves in a section near (catecorner from?) the Hernandezes, but I did not check for him on that visit.

Catherine married Arthur Hernandez on 2 Dec. 1884 in the same church.  Arthur was the son of Sebastian Hernandez (of Canary Islands descent) and Euphrosine Sonnier (a Cajun).  He was born 15 Jan. 1865, in Lafayette, La., according to extracted death certificate info, where his birth is recorded in St. John Catholic Church (now Cathedral) records.  Arthur and Catherine farmed in Lafayette Parish and also reared 10 children there.  My dad remembered some of his Hernandez cousins, who were a generation older than he and his siblings.

Catherine died 4 Oct. 1930 in Carencro, and Arthur died 4 Feb. 1949 in Rayne, in Acadia Parish.  Their children included a teacher and a doctor.  More on my Hernandez cousins in a future post.

My sources include Southwest Louisiana Records by Rev. Donald Hebert; U.S. Census records and La. Death Index at Ancestry.com; and La. Deaths at www.familysearch.org.  Questions/corrections/additions welcome at hallroots [at] sbcglobal [dot] net.

Text/photo copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

2010 through the rearview & a blogiversary

Tiramisu's the traditional 1st (wedding) anniversary dessert, right?  Divina Cucina, Montrose, CA, 2010.

Happy New Year & Happy Blogiversary to me!

Thought I'd check back in after taking time off during the holidays.  It's my second blogiversary, though I only have blogged with any regularity for the last year.  I'm still here, still doing genealogy, still mentally composing blog posts while driving (making the title apropos), washing dishes (often while listening to a genealogy podcast), or doing other non-genealogical pursuits.  But since my brain doesn't have Wi-Fi, I thought it might help if I got back to the keyboard.  So here are some memorable moments from the past year, (mostly) genealogically speaking:

• Receiving the inaugural Rose Blogger award from a researcher I admire, Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, in January, was a big highlight of my entire year, and wonderful encouragement for a fledgling blogger.  Other blogger-to-blogger awards were fun boosts & appreciated reminders that I am actually read and even occasionally pondered.  Cool!

Dad & me, college graduation, Sulphur, LA, 1989

• My dad's death later that month was certainly the most difficult part of the year, but honoring his life, military service and joie de vivre through my blog has been therapeutic.  I've been mostly private about expressing grief, but I'm proud to be his daughter and I hope that shows in what I have shared about him.  A quiet "thank you" to fellow geneabloggers who wrote about their own losses this year; in sharing your grief, you reminded me I wasn't alone.

• I met a "new" (to me) cousin, who found me due to a blog post about Pie Day in Scott, Louisiana. Andre lives not far from me here in Southern California.  We had a lovely brunch on the beach and have become fast Facebook friends.  I keep threatening to hook her on genealogy, and I need to follow up on that soon with a library visit.  We're 2nd cousins twice removed through the Légère family, which sounds distant, but we're not terribly far apart in age (OK, I'm older), know some of the same relatives and have similar food cravings, being fellow "Cajun expatriates" out here on the Left Coast.
 

"New" cousin Andre Arceneaux & me, Hermosa Beach, CA, 2010, wondering if the curly gene is Cajun...

 • I "met" a few other cousins this year, "met" being in quotes because I haven't yet met them in person.  My term for this is "e-mail cousins." :)  They include more cousins (Guidry, Trahan, Blanchard and others) through the Legeres (I "collect" & enjoy corresponding with descendants of my great-grandpa Constant Legere and other Louisiana Legeres; e-mail me at hallroots [at] sbcglobal [dot] net if that's you), a McBride cousin, and a few Pate cousins.  It's always fun to trade info and/or get acquainted by e-mail or through Facebook w/"new" cousins.  Or to reconnect with cousins you do know.  All you lurkers out there, I don't bite.  (Well, if you're going after the last boudin link, I can't make any promises.)  It was also nice to meet "e-mail cousin" Janice in person this year, my 2nd cousin through the Pate family, with whom I'd collaborated so much I felt I already knew her.

• I published slavery-related records, to warm thanks from bloggers searching for their enslaved ancestors, and to the sound of crickets from anyone not so thrilled that I actually admitted in print that some of my ancestors were slaveholders.  Really, though, if most of your ancestors were white Southerners in the U.S., you probably have at least one slaveholder in your tree.  (And Northern ancestors weren't immune.)  It can be awkward to write about, but by sharing research I've helped at least one person connect the dots to find the likely slaveholders of her ancestors (and therefore resources for finding records of those ancestors), so I think it's worth it.  If you don't feel comfortable writing about that particular skeleton in the family closet, consider contributing the info anonymously via the sites Afrigeneas or A Friend of Friends.

• By ordering a copy of Dad's official military personnel file, I uncovered some real gems, including his handwritten application letter to the Naval Aviation cadet program, high school transcript, a photo of him at age 21 (left), and info on his life for several years after World War II.  I've neglected posting this series lately; I'm being too much of a perfectionist about posting concurrent info or photos from his military career with it, I suppose.  I have info from a few sources and the timeline is a little fuzzy to me.  I've been wanting to clarify it by transcribing the DVD of Dad telling stories of his service, but I wasn't ready to watch footage of him for a while.  I'll probably get back to it soon.

• I attended one day of the SCGS Jamboree, the annual conference held by the Southern California Genealogical Society, and had so much fun I hope I can attend the entire weekend this year.  I enjoyed seminars, exhibits, and especially the people I met, including Elyse Doerflinger, Becky Wiseman, Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Thomas MacEntee, Amy Coffin, George Morgan, Drew Smith, Joan Miller, and several others.  I also took home some goodies I'm still exploring and want to write about.

With Becky Wiseman and Elyse Doerflinger at the 2010 SCGS Jamboree

 • Lagniappe:  Contributing vintage family photos for a cousin's cookbook memoir, which I'll blog about soon ... finally making Mom's peach cobbler from scratch (which came out pretty darn great, for someone who is more of a food assembler than a cook) ... visiting the original Forest Lawn for the first time in years ... celebrating our first wedding anniversary ... having fun on the Morgan siblings' (& impromptu Hall reunion) family vacation to DisneyWorld (until the E.R. detour, but thankfully my hubby is fine now) ... and getting cool genealogy Christmas gifts which I'll write about soon.  Hmm... that means I have several things already to write about (besides the backlog in my head and the ones begun in Blogger).  Better get crackin'.

Thank you all for reading and especially for commenting, "liking," and e-mailing!  Wishing us all a wonderful 2011 with piles of rubble where our brick walls used to be--
Liz

Photos/text copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Saturday Outing: Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA

(In which I am a silly newbie at Forest Lawn but have a good time anyway... )

I was feeling a bit blah today but it was beautiful out (81, woo hoo!), so I tell my hubby I'm going over to Forest Lawn Memorial-Park to look for third-ish cousins I recently discovered are buried there and to enjoy the nice day.  Hubby laughs and replies, "You know, not everyone thinks of a cemetery as a great place to cheer up!"  My reply: "Genealogists do!"

While some cemeteries can certainly be dreary, it's rather great to drive not far from your citified concrete, asphalt and stucco neighborhood and enjoy a serene, pastoral setting.  Here's proof (click to enlarge the photos):

 

 Liberty section, looking more or less NW (top) and S (bottom).

The silly newbie part?  Well, I've lived in Southern California for 21 years, but have rarely visited a cemetery (I have few relatives buried here).  Most of my cemetery research has been done in smallish, easily navigable church cemeteries in Louisiana.  I visited Forest Lawn as a tourist on a family trip once when I was young, so I knew it was big, but WOW, I had forgotten exactly how big!  

Even the map (a PDF is available in search results from the online Interment Locator) didn't get it into my head how big one section could be.  Little Miss Independent just figured: I can follow a map!  Well, yes, I can, but can I find the plots once I find the correct section?  Um, no.  The Liberty section, an older one, is especially large.  I really should have driven right back down the hill/junior mountain to get more specific directions to find the plots of the cousins I'm seeking (Scott and Tullis family members).  But no biggie, I was in the mood to explore, I don't live far from here, and it's not like the cousins are going anywhere! (I did notice the so-unobtrusive-as-to-be-nearly-invisible numbered directional markers and got more info on the way out.  I will definitely get a map of this section itself next visit.)

Ankle brace, anyone? My car's on the far left, if you want to compare the hill's steep grade to the level road.

My cousins are buried on a very steep hill.  Thanks, guys!  I'm not frail or anything, but I have been known to trip over my own two feet when looking at headstones (or a book, or up at architecture) instead of where I'm walking.  Down was harder than up, actually (pine straw can be slippery).  So I made a mental note to take my cell phone next time; thoughts of indelicately crawling up the hill with a twisted ankle, using mini American flags à la rock-climbing pickaxes came to mind.  

Speaking of flags, there were some visible in this section from Veterans' Day. 

We're everywhere!  (Cajuns and/or Acadians, that is.)  Couldn't resist taking a photo--I'm always surprised to see an Acadian name in California.  I don't directly descend from Babineaus, but my great-grandpa Constant Légère married a Babineau/x (Estelle, his first of four wives) in Louisiana.  I'm guessing Albert G. Babineau was Acadian, because most Cajun Babineauxs seem to spell it with an 'x.'  Will have to check Ancestry.com to see if I can find out his story.  His wife, presumably, Marie A. Babineau, is buried next to him.

Some markers I just find touching.  Having recently celebrated my first wedding anniversary with my husband, I thought this remembrance of Edwin Henry Grobe was particularly lovely: "Devoted companion through forty years of marriage, he lives in memory ... his love and kindness a constant and continuing inspiration, as they were each day of the many wonderful years we shared."

And oh, to be remembered for the ages as your husband's "best girl."  So sweet.  Will have to add these to Find a Grave, I think.

The western-facing slopes get beautiful golden light in the late afternoon.  Not a bad place to rest eternally, nor spend an hour on a lovely day, n'est-ce pas?

Surname Saturday: Surnames tab up on my blog!

Hey folks, if you have Louisiana ancestors, including French, Acadian, Cajun, Quebeçois, German, Irish, English, Scots-Irish or Scottish, in New Orleans, Northwest Louisiana or Southwest Louisiana, just a quick Surname Saturday note to say: Check my new Surnames tab at the top of my blog!  Not all my lines are listed, by any means, but some of my more recent branches are, and some that I hope to be blogging about in the future (such as my NOLA colonials and my dash of German ancestry).

I have more Surname Saturdays in the works, but meanwhile, I'm trying to clean up and sync my citations and notes from among my private Ancestry tree, my Reunion database, and many computer notes and paper files, so that when I do post Surname Saturdays, I can either do it with footnotes, or have reports ready to go for inquiring cousins.

Here's a quick name list.  Dates, places and links to blog posts (if any) are included on my blog's Surnames tab. Bogard, Bopff, Boftz, or Bossie?, Burell, Burelle, Burnaman, Burnam, Burnham, Boernemann?, Carriere, Cotter, Davis, Desbordes, Debordes, Farris, Faress, Fariss, Hadden, Hall, Harrell, Hollier, Kilpatrick, Langlois, Lebert, Leger, Legere, McBride, McCoy, Pate, Potier, Poiter, Pothier, Sanmerine, Saumerine, Smith, Stemmann, Stemmans, Stemann, Stephenson, Stevenson, Thommelin, Tommelin, Thomelin, Tomelin, Trahan, Trepagnier, Trepanier, Trepagny, Werich.

Your name isn't here?  If it's in NW or SW Louisiana, especially if it's in Claiborne, Webster, Bienville or Lafayette Parishes, check my blog labels or tags list on the right-hand column of my blog just in case I've mentioned your people in passing.  Or if you think we might have a connection, drop me a line at hallroots **at** sbcglobal **dot** net to compare notes.

Mystery Monday: Mystery photo, La. Legere or Leger family

This is a copy of a photo owned by P.J. Blanchard, my 3rd cousin once removed.  It was originally owned by his grandparents, Hypolite and Oza or Ozea (Landry) Blanchard, of Cameron Parish, Louisiana, and is captioned on the back "Alciae Legere, Cameron 18 miles east Grand Chanere [sic] Rd." ["Alciae" is hard to read but it's the closest spelling P.J. could determine.]

There is a Grand Chenier Rd. in Cameron Parish, and there is a Leger or Legere family in Cameron Parish in the 1920 census with a daughter Elza ("Elzea" in Southwest Louisiana Records) who was born in 1901 in or near Kaplan to Alcée Legere (possibly spelled Leger) and Ida Landry Legere.  Elza married Alva ("Alvy" or "Cap") Miller and lived in the community of Grand Chenier, in Cameron Parish.  She is related to both P.J. and I through the Legere family, but neither of us knew of her before P.J. was given this box of photos.  P.J. does remember that his father occasionally visited cousins in the Cameron area, though.

The photo mounting with what looks like a cardstock backing resembles one I have from North La. c. 1905. If it's from the same time period, the woman would probably be a generation older than Elza, perhaps her mother Ida Landry Legere or an aunt?  Is there an "Alicia" relative perhaps?  Or another "Elzea" or "Alcea" relative?  Or could it be from c. 1920 and be Elza?  Perhaps Ida Landry Legere is related to Oza Landry Blanchard, P.J.'s grandmother.  I'm still investigating this angle along with the Legeres in Cameron Parish.

Meanwhile, P.J. and I would like to know if anyone out there can help us identify the woman.  And while I'm asking, P.J. would also love to find a photo of his great-grandmother, Eve Legere Blanchard, wife of Romain Blanchard, of Kaplan, LA.  She was born in 1862 in St. Landry Parish to Hypolite "Paul" & Mary (Addison) Legere and died in Kaplan (Vermilion Parish) in 1920.  E-mail me at hallroots **at** sbcglobal **dot** net if you can help with either request.  Thanks!

Another blog update

Just a note to mention I tweaked my new Surnames page (linked at the top of the blog) by adding a few families who represent the spot of German heritage in my blog's title, and changing some links for a few surnames to be a bit more user-friendly.  By the way, I'm a complete novice at German research, so that could make for eine kleine blog fodder.  (I only know those words because of Mozart, from my flöte playing and musik study.  Je ne spreche pas der Deutsch ... or something like that.)

To my Resources page (also linked up top), I added a link to some La. historical newspapers online (under my "most frequently-used" Internet resources at the top of the page) and a few links for African-American online research.

Hope you find these pages useful.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.  Thanks!