Tombstone Tuesday-Leon and Lucille

Leon "Cap" Ladner 

 March 3, 1856- April 27, 1915

Lucille Nicaise Ladner

 May 2, 1858- 1934

Leon Ladner was the son of Moses Ladner and Marie Ladner, he married Lucille Nicaise June 19, 1889 in Hancock County, Ms. Lucille was the daughter of Casimir Evariste Nicaise and Mary Deloisie Cuevas. They had 10 children.

• Arno Phillip Ladner
• Albert Ladner
• Joseph Ladner
• Corelia Ladner
• Leon Ladner
• Felix "Bill" Ladner
• Flora Ladner
• Alter Ladner
• Elvenia Ladner
• Luvenia Ladner

 

Phillip Roth-KWL Chart

 A  KWL Chart is something that we use in school with students prior to reading. They are basic questions that can also be applied to genealogy. What I Know, What I Want to to Know, and What I Learned.

What I Know

Phillip Roth and Augusta Becker married in Hancock County Mississippi on January 31, 1894. They were both natives of New Orleans. This was the second marriage for Phillip who had two daughters from his first marriage.

Phillip Eugene Roth was born about 1851. His parents were Carmelite Fernand, whose father was from Spain and Raphael Roth from St. Gabriel, La. His birth date is hard to determine because he can not be found in the birth indexes, and it is listed as several different dates in the various census records. 

His father Raphael is an enigma. His name is listed in Phillips's sister Malvina's birth record as posthumous having died before her birth.  Malvina's birth is January 27, 1846. This gives me the indication that either Phillip was born before 1851 or he had a different father than Malvina. 

The last census Phillip can be found in was the 1920 census.

The 1920 census:

Here he is listed as Philo Roth age 61 with his wife Augusta and two grandchildren.

The 1910 census:

Here he is listed as Philo Roth age 54 with wife Augusta, daughter Rita, and son Edwin.

The 1900 census:

Here he is listed as Philot Roth age 49 with wife Augusta, granddaughter Henrietta Lang, daughters Eva and Rita, son Edwin, son in law Joseph Lang and daughter Josephine Lang. 

The 1880 Census:

Here he is listed as Eugene Roth are 29 with his first wife Mary, daughter Josephine, mother Carmelite and Arnold Roth.

The 1870 Census:

Here he is listed as Philogene age 19 with a Catherine Roth (Carmelite?)  Joseph, Clothilde, and Philomene.

There are two 1860 censuses with this family on two separate streets, they must have moved during the census taking.

The 1860 Census:

Here he is listed as Philogene age 8 with W. Raphael Roth, Alexander, Aglae, Malvina, Clothilde, and Armand.

The 1850 Census:

There is no listing of the name Phillip, or any of the variations of his name in the 1850 census.
Alexander's wife Amelia and son Ernest are listed on the last two rows. The rest are the same names in the previous census with the exception of M.L. Pepe and Marguerite.

New Orleans Directory:

1869

1871

What I Want To Know

I would like to find Phillip's birth record, or even a copy of his marriage or death record. Something that may tell me if his father was Raphael Roth or not. I recently found his wife Augusta's obituary, if I could only find his. I just need that little key to break through the puzzle. I would like to find out more about the life of Raphael Roth. I know who his parents and his siblings were. However, I would like to know where he is buried, how and why he died. I would love to know more about Carmelite Fernand. The 1880 census says her father was from Spain. My grandfather always said he was part of the Spanish emissary that came to Louisiana when we were sold to Spain by France. What was his name, where in Spain was he from? Did she have Phillip during her lonely widowhood, and if so who is the father?

What I Learned

Through the various census records it would indicate that Phillip was the son of Carmelite, widow of Raphel Roth. The possibility that his father was someone other than Raphael seems highly likely given the ages he appeared in each census. He is listed younger than Malvina who we know was born after her father's death as indicated in her birth certificate.

Phillip, several brothers and a sister later moved to Hancock County Mississippi and lived either on the same street as one another or close by one another. My grandfather knew them to be his cousins, Aunts and Uncles.

The name Carmelite was a popular family name being handed down among several of the Roth children, and grandchildren. As in the case of my grandfather's sister Henrietta Carmelite Ladner. 

Mainly I learned to be diligent and to continue to search. The answer is out there, I just need to find it!

Sentimental Sunday- Leona and Bert

 The House On Saucier Lane with Leona and Bertha Saucier

There were two maiden cousins who had raised my grandfather and he loved them like they were his parents. My father always considered them his grandmothers, and I guess I did too.

My grandfather's mother died shortly after giving birth to him. He was the seventh child born into the family, and his father remarried again, and they had four sons. My cousins had always said that Grandfather was left out of the picture by the new wife because she had her own babies to tend to, so he came to them.

They lived in an old two bedroom home, with big antique spring beds, a claw foot bath tub, and  a large open front porch with a swing. There was a chicken coop out back, and we would get to bring the corn down to feed the chickens. The back porch was screened in and there was always a bird cage full of finches. Leona loved those birds!

In the summer we kept the screened doors and windows open to let in a breeze, and in the winter everything was shut up tight with the furnace burning in the living room.  On summer nights we burned out an old stump and roasted hot dogs on willow branches. Then later in bed, you could hear the sounds of the night as you lay there with the windows open. Sometimes you would hear the dogs underneath the house scratching, and digging. Then there would be the bugs creaking and zipping their wings, the frogs croaking and the wild things howling from the woods. Then that old rooster would always be on time to wake you in the mornings.

Bert and I would often sit outside on the swing where she would brush my hair and braid it, while my brother would be busy with her bbgun  shooting a tin can. There was always someone visiting. The whole family lived nearby. We kids rode bikes, walked in the woods, made tree houses and forts. We scared each other to pieces with silly scary tales. These were the days that I took for granted. The slow lazy days spent with people you loved, doing things that didn't cost anything.

Surname Saturday-Dedeaux

Jean Pierre Chevalier Dedeaux

Jean Pierre Francois Marie Chevalier Dedeaux was born in Castel Sarrazin, Aquitaine France the son of Bernard Clement Dedeaux and Marianne de la Fon. He and his brother Jean Jacques Belon Dedeaux came from France to the Louisiana colony around 1780.

Jean Dedeaux known as Chevalier, married Magdeleine Saucier daughter of Phillip Saucier and Marie Louise Nicaise. They had three sons.

• Jean Joseph Dedeaux
• Jean Victor Dedeaux
• Jean Jacques Dedeaux b. 20 April 1813

Magdeleine died  between 1813 and 1818, and Chevalier married Ursule Nicaise, the first cousin of Magdeleine. Ursule was the daughter of Jean Baptiste Nicaise and Louise Baptiste Ladner. They had the following children:

• Basilice Dedeaux
• Henry Dedeaux
• Clement Dedeaux
• Appolinaire Dedeaux b. 23 July 1828
• Louis Lennis Dedeaux

The Dedeaux brothers settled in the Delisle area of Pass Christian. Chevalier Dedeaux received a Spanish land grant for the land upon which he lived and later was buried upon. He reared a large family whose descendants make up a large part of the population of South Mississippi today.

My Summer Vacation-Going To the Cemetery II

 Finally Made the Trip

Finally made it to the cemetery! We packed an ice chest full of water, thankfully! It was HOT! Thursday morning we got up and my husband says to me, "So, what are your plans for the day?" I said, "Are you kidding me?" He was lucky that the answer was yes, he was! I decided to narrow it down to two cemeteries that were quite near each other. One was the Standard Sandhill Cemetery where my husband's great grandmother was buried and the other was the Necaise Crossing Cemetery where his great grandfather and great great grandparents are buried as well as many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

We made a quick stop by the Dollar General store, to pick up some flowers. Yes, we now have a Dollar General deep in the heart of the country! We may not have much else other than a Feed Store, fields, horses and cows, but by golly we have our very own Dollar General Store!

First stop Standard Sand Hill Cemetery. My husband parked under an oak tree next to a grave site that had a bench in the shade along with a hanging wind chime. It was a very serene spot. I quickly got to work going row by row taking photos. It was quite hot out, but thankfully it was over cast and it did not feel quite so bad. This cemetery is full of sand, which I would guess is where it gets the name Sandhill. It also was the home to these rather freakishly fast lizards that zipped in and out of the graves as I was walking around giving me a fright each time. When I got to the third row, I worried a bit about having enough memory on my camera and decided to make a mental note of where I stopped to come back again another day to finish since it was a rather large cemetery, and the next one was much smaller. We put the flowers on Mama Vickie's grave, and left to go to the next one.

Necaise Crossing Cemetery was dedicated in 1882. The land was donated by John Hebrew Necaise and his wife Angeline Ladner. Nearly all those buried in this cemetery are related in some way or lived close by. Once again we were able to park underneath an old oak tree. A farmer was rolling hay in the field adjacent to the cemetery, and several young boys were riding horses down the road. I set off  and immediately saw names very familiar to me since I have added the majority of them to FAG and they are all in my family tree. My intention is to catalog this entire cemetery, and take photos of each grave.

This cemetery had not been cut in ages. As most of our family cemeteries are out here in the country, they are not maintained by the county. It is up to each family member to clean and cut their families plot. So, after much bending down and pulling weeds to be able to get a clear picture of the headstones. I was completely worn out. Not to mention my cloud cover had dissipated, and I could feel my lips sunburning in the heat. The water in my bottle was soon so hot I could not stand to drink it. Instead of lizards, this time I had crickets. Each and every headstone had a family of crickets living among them. In fact several of my photos show them just sitting there on the headstones. I took to calling it the Cricket Cemetery.

I can not believe I did not think to bring an extra memory stick, or my laptop with me. I could have dumped the photos I had already taken if I had. So, I am out of memory and I am only half done. Great! This means I will have to come back another day. Which my beloved spouse has agreed to. It seems that when I pointed out his great great grandfather born in 1856, it made him more eager to know who the others were. He was very intrigued at seeing and learning about each of the persons buried there. I could see a pride in him and he genuinely wants to complete the cemetery as much as I.

Friday Finds- A Football Game at Jeopardy

Don't Forget Your Rabbit's Foot

A lot of people in these parts believe in voodoo, or hoodoo. I come across articles about both in our local newspapers quite often. Today, I came across this article which struck me as quite funny regarding a football game and a forgotten rabbit's foot. 

Laurel Leader Call

November 4, 1930

The secret is out. Robert E . Lee
did not bring his well worn rabbit
foot to the Laurel - Brookhaven football
game Friday night. That was
the reason the Tornado could not
get going in the first half. When
one of the city officials found that Robert  

had neglected this he threatened
 to do damage to the forgetful
one. Robert broke all records fetching
the beloved charm at the half
and it was the  rubbing of this hoodoo
that brought victory. If anyone
desires to see what service that,
rabbit foot has seen please get in
touch with Robert at the High
School.

Those Places Thursday-St. Roch Market, New Orleans

St. Roch Market

The St. Roch Market opened in 1875 as an open air market place in the Faubourg St. Roch. It had greatly deteriorated by the 1930's and thanks to the WPA project the market was renovated and brought back to its former glory. Its renovation included air conditioning and modern plumbing. Along with the French Market it was one of the longest running open markets. Today, however the market is again a sad crumbling old place thanks in part to Hurricane Katrina.

This market was right near where my great grandparents lived. My mother has fond memories of going to the market with her grandmother. I grew up hearing stories of St.Roch and Music Street. 

Thankfully the historic market place is being renovated this summer. It is a $6million dollar project with funds coming from FEMA and and the Disaster Community Development Block Grant.

My Summer Vacation-Going to the Cemetery

Only another genealogist would understand the excitement bubbling up in me over a trip to several cemeteries. Pretty soon school will start back and I will be back in first grade once again and while the rest of the staff will be telling of their exciting vacations and showing pictures, I will just smile and say how exciting.  I would have been just as excited about telling of my trip too, to the cemetery. Yet, no one will want to hear about that! I could just see the look of polite interest on their faces, and the thoughts running in their heads about how strange I am.

Nearly the whole summer has passed and I have yet to get to one cemetery. I have suffered through a 12 mile trip in a canoe in 100 degree heat on our local river just to please my husband and sons. My daughter was smart and stayed home. I could not move my arms for at least three days after that. I only endured that trip with the hope that in doing so one of them would be kind enough to go with me to several cemeteries located way out in the country, so I would not have to go alone. Week after week I waited to see if there was an opportunity to go. Each time something has come up or it has rained the entire week. So, now with one week left before school begins, I made sure that they knew I was not pleased, I mean after all I went on the canoe trip from hell for them!

So, finally my husband agreed to take me today. Guess where I am? Sitting at home in front of the computer, because he was called in to work extra this week. He promised Thursday, so I am holding him to it, even if it rains.

Since I am going to several very old cemeteries, in different communities, I decided to take the opportunity today to write down all the names of those I will be looking for. This way my husband may have a copy as well and hopefully it will cut my time in half, since I know I will only have the one day to get it all in.

I am very excited about my special summer vacation trip to the cemetery! Can't wait to see what I find.

Wordless Wednesday-Irma Wiese Ladner

Lucille Irma Wiese Ladner

My grandmother Irma, born March 23, 1914 in New Orleans, La. at her first Holy Communion and Confirmation.

Tombstone Tuesday-Appolinaire Dedeaux

Appolinaire Dedeaux
July 23, 1828
May 24, 1897
Wolf River Cemetery, Ms

Appolinaire Dedeaux was the son of Jean Pierre Dedeaux and Ursule Nicaise. He married Adele Nicaise. 

Monday Madness-Swimsuits in Public

How times have changed! Since I live on the Gulf where we have miles of sandy beaches, we often see on our drive down the beach highway, ladies in barely there bikinis walking along the beach. It always makes me think about the not too distant past when ladies were arrested for showing too much skin in their bathing suits.

Some Bathing Suit Facts

• In the late 1800s, the first bathing suits appeared and consisted of padded bloomer pants made from wool or flannel, topped off with a knee-length dress, black wool stockings, shoes, and ruffled hats. The heavy fabric made it almost impossible to swim. 

• Up until the twentieth century, women who wanted to “swim” in the ocean could merely jump through the waves holding a rope attached to a buoy because their swimwear often weighed over 22 pounds. By 1915, women athletes began viewing swimming as a sport and, consequently, swimsuit fabric started to shrink.

•  Modesty laws were very strict in the early 1900s. In 1919, a woman was detained at Coney Island for wearing a bathing suit in public—under her street clothes.

• In the early 1900s, many American cities created laws that required all women in bathing suits to wear stockings.

• In 1907, when Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman wore a one-piece suit in Boston that revealed her arms and legs, she was promptly arrested for indecent exposure.

• In May 1917, the American Association of Park Superintendents published in its “Bathing Suit Regulations” that men’s suits should include a “skirt” worn outside the swimming trunks. Men could also wear flannel knee pants with a vest front.

•  In 1921, swimwear manufacturer Jantzen decided to change the term “bathing suit” to “swimming suit” to justify their more revealing swimsuits as a form of athleticism. 

Sentimental Sunday-Biscuits with MaMaw

     There are just some things that I can not ever recreate in the kitchen. One of those is my grandmother's recipe for biscuits. She did not have a written recipe, it was all hers. They were the best biscuits I have ever had in my life.

     When I was a child I would often spend the night with my maternal grandparents, Vic and Irma Ladner. I was not a child who slept away from home very often. I would have my mother tell my friends that I could not come to spend the night at their homes for whatever reason. So she could be the bad guy and I would not look like a scared baby who couldn't be away from their Mama.

     But when it came to spending the night at MaMaw's I was all for it. We would eat dinner on t.v. trays, and everyone went to bed very early to get up at the crack of dawn. I would lay awake in my cot set up next to my Aunt's bed and listen to the snoring coming from my grandparent's room. It was so loud, and the shadows on the wall frightened me. I was not used to this sleeping environment and it took many hours to drift off.

    At about 4a.m. I would hear noises coming from the kitchen and smell fresh coffee. I could hear the muted voices of my grandmother and aunt as they were working in the kitchen. Finally at about 6a.m. I could take it no longer and would creep out of my Aunt's room in search of the precious morning breakfast that I knew was waiting for me.

    Upon seeing me MaMaw would exclaim, "What are you doing up so early? You do not have to get up this early you know?" I know I would reply, but I want the biscuits!

     This then is how the morning would precede. MaMaw would get me the 70's styled coffee mug down from the cabinet, mine was red with a white rim, and pour me a cup of coffee. Yes, coffee for a child. It was more sugar and milk than coffee but it was delicious. Then she would plate me up three biscuits and place the GOOD butter on the table. Good butter is how we always referred to real butter, not margarine. I would then slice off a huge square of butter, and place on each biscuit, which would melt and make a drippy mess as you tried to eat. MaMaw would always laugh about me and the butter, because she herself loved butter, So much so she told me that she would get into trouble for sneaking into the barrel of butter at her father's grocery store as a child. Before you knew it those three biscuit were gone and I was asking for more. Once I ate a whopping twelve biscuits for breakfast, which until this day no one has ever forgotten.

     Sometimes, MaMaw would make biscuits and freeze them for me, wrapped up in tin foil, so I could have some at anytime. When I was expecting my first child this was all I wanted. They often laughed because she said my child would probably dislike bread with as much fresh made bread and biscuits as she was having to supply me with.

     Those were special times and days. Those biscuit days. I learned so much about my grandmother while she sat with me and watched me eat those biscuits.

When The Shadow Stalked Gulfport

There is a story that my Uncle loves to tell about my grandfather and the Shadow. The Shadow was a burglar who was terrorizing the Gulfport residents in the 1930's.

My grandfather was awakened by a scraping noise in the middle of the night. He quietly got up and took out the gun his father in law had given him to protect themselves from such disreputable characters like the Shadow.

My grandfather quietly went into the living room from which the sound came. He could hear someone at the window unscrewing the window screen. He stood to the side with the colt revolver cocked waiting. The noise suddenly stopped and still he stood waiting. He stood for over an hour until he was satisfied that the burglar had given up.

The next morning my grandfather went outside to investigate. He saw the screws on the screen worked out, and footprints in the dirt upon the ground. He saw that the footprints lead around to the other side of the house as well, to another window, where the Shadow possibly saw him standing there in the dark waiting for him with his gun and decided it best to leave.

 The Daily Herald 

February 24, 1936

Surname Saturday-Anderson

Anderson

     There is among this branch of the Anderson family a bit of a disagreement as to whether the progenitor of the Mississippi Anderson Clan was Joseph Anderson who they claim was married to the daughter of the famous Indian Chief Pushmataha. Of course most of the family, including myself was handed down this story from infancy. I was just always told by my grandmother that we were of Indian descent. She certainly looked like she was, she was dark of skin and had black hair until her death at age 90.

     Yet, just because a person looks like and Indian, or claims the heritage does not make one so. There are may cases in the Dawes Packets of my Anderson family making claims. Some were granted and some not. It would seem that those who actually knew their correct lineage and could back up their claim made it through. Those who really had no clue other than that they would receive monetary compensation did not. 

     Most would argue that Joseph "Jack" Anderson married Running Deer, the daughter of Pushmataha. However, the dates do not correlate this as being possible. We know that the supposed Joseph  Anderson was born around 1797. Pushmataha himself was born in 1765. Making Pushmataha a young 31 year old grandfather. This in itself  says that the legend is just that, a legend.

     One just has to do a quick Google search for Joseph Jack Anderson and Running Deer, to come across the many people claiming this descent, via message boards, family trees, etc. All ignoring the evidence given by several family researchers that this can not be so. 

     A biographical record given by Elisha Alexander "Zan" Anderson, the son of Daniel Austin "Bunk" Anderson, published in the OFFICIAL AND STATISTICAL REGISTER OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, 1917 states that his great grandfather was Daniel Austin Anderson of Perry County, Ms. He says that Daniel Austin Anderson was a Major in the War of 1812.

The legend states, "Joseph came from South Carolina to help fight in the Battle Of New Orleans. He was wounded and left with Pushmataha, near what is now Hattiesburg, Ms. He was seventeen years old at the time. He stayed on with the Indians and married Chief Pushmataha`s daughter Running Deer in an Indian ceremony. They were later married by a traveling Protestant preacher. They had several children who all looked Indian except for John." (Although in actuality it was Daniel who married a Choctaw woman.)

     Somehow, someway, like a genealogical game of telephone folks became mixed up with which ancestor was actually in the War of 1812. They also mixed up names and facts until we have the legend those are perpetuating today.

     In truth we do have Choctaw ancestry. There was a Daniel Austin Anderson who married a Choctaw woman, except her name was Michou Battiest, not Running Deer.

 The Anderson Line

Daniel Austin Anderson and Michou Battiest (aka Jenny or Jincy) beget John E. Anderson

John E. Anderson and Sarah Davis

1. Elizabeth Anderson b. 1823 Perry County, Ms
2. Sarah Ann Anderson b. 1824 Perry County, MS
3. John Anderson b. 1828 Perry County, Ms
4. James Aaron Anderson b. 1830 Perry County, Ms
5. William Hawkins Anderson b. 1833 Perry County, Ms
6. Daniel Austin Anderson b. 23 Jan 1834 Perry County, Ms
7. Elisha Ryan Anderson b. 07 Mar 1837 Perry County, Ms
8. Mary Jane Anderson b. 02 Dec 1840 Perry County, Ms

Special Thanks to Frances Farley for contributing information on the Anderson family regarding the Daniel, Joseph, and John, story! Which has made it clear to me that it was Daniel's son John E. Anderson who was the progenitor of my line and not his son Joseph.

Friday Finds-When Salt Was Money

Today I came across a news article that gives us a peek into the lives of our Gulf Coast ancestors during the Civil War. This excerpt is from an article written for the Bay St. Louis Centennial in 1958.

When Salt Was Money

Long centuries ago the Roman soldiers received a daily portion of salt as part of their pay and when after a time this was changed to money, the amount was called salarium, or salt money- the Latin term from which originated our word salary -and the term
from which we get our common expression "worth his salt."

During the War Between the States when the Federal fleet had the Gulf Coast effectively blockaded and food was very scarce, the people again discovered that salt in their day was as good as, or even better than money. All along the shoreline of Bay St. Louis the citizens boiled the Gulf water in huge kettles to secure the salt and trade it to farmers in the back country for fresh meat and vegetables. In fact salt making became almost a wartime industry. In the records of J. F. H. Claiborne, the Mississippi historian whose plantation Laurel Wood was near Bay St. Louis, there is the recountal that Governor Pettus, the wartime governor of Mississippi, had contracted for 100,000 bushels of this Gulf boiled salt at $35 a bushel for the Confederacy. Another account records that the Coast people were producing 500 bushels of salt a day and that twenty wagon loads had been shipped to General Joseph E. Johnson's army.

From the Daily Herald, July 29, 1958

This just shows to me that the people of the Coast have always been resilient and found the means to survive against odds, whether it be war, or natural disaster. 

Those Places Thursday- Revisiting the Ladner's

When Papa Francis and Maw Maw were still alive we used to go nearly every weekend to their home to visit. This was the home of my husband's paternal grandparents, Francis and Elvera Ladner. You can not see it in the photo as the right side of the house is cut off in the shot, but there was a large screened in porch on the right side of the home. Unfortunately Hurricane Katrina damaged the home considerably, and several years later the house burned down. We now only have an old barn and a storage shed to remind us of where the house was.

Papa kept rabbits out back, and grew the best and hottest peppers on the side of the house. He and I would often go out and pick some together, of course we sampled a few as well. Across the road he had a pecan orchard, and he and I would often go out walking in the fall, with the leaves crunching under our feet, picking pecans, while he told me stories of his younger days. The family would gather inside to eat. The table was always filled with food to where you didn't have a place to sit an eat. We carried a plate out to the porch and sat on the swing to eat. My husband always had everyone laughing telling tales of remember when with his family and before you knew it they would all be out in the yard playing football. Maw Maw had a purple wisteria bush that smelled so sweet in the spring when it bloomed in conjunction with the azaleas. I can still see the kids crawling underneath them to search for Easter eggs. Now of course they and the house are long gone, and we are thankful to have our memories.

I often lament that we do not think to take pictures of the homes of our loved ones. We always think to take photos of family members at Christmas, and other gatherings, but never the outside of the homes themselves. You can remember it in your minds eye, but that sometimes is just not quite the same.

I was recently overwhelmed to find a photo of his house. Although it was taken not long after Katrina and the whole right side of the house was covered in a blue tarp, (which is why I purposely cut it out of the shot) it was like stepping back in time seeing it once again.

Thanks to modern technology I was able to find this photo through Google Earth. I was going along down the road we live on looking at our home, and all the trails cut in and out of the woods in the area, when I decided to take a tour down the whole street. Low and behold around the curve just like years ago, out pops Papa Francis' house. I yelled excitedly for all to come see what I had found. My daughter showed me how to capture the frame and then how to paste it into paint and once again how to save it. So now we have a memento that we cherish of a place we all gathered to laugh, eat, love, and share memories with one another.

Wordless Wednesday-Francis Ladner

The Battle of Bougainville and Francis

My husband's paternal grandfather Francis Ladner was in World War II. He and my husband would often go rabbit hunting together. While hunting my husband would ask his Papa Francis about the War and he would always say, "Well, I didn't see much action" and that seemed all he wanted to say about it. There is an old photograph of Papa Francis in his uniform that my husband cherishes, and he often wonders what did happen to Papa during the War.

At Camp Shelby

Quite by mischance while looking for family obituaries in old newspapers I came across a story about young Francis Ladner written by the local paper, which sheds a whole new light on Papa and his life. When I showed this to my husband, his eyes glowed with pride. He said to me, "Now I want to learn more about this battle." For once my genealogy didn't seem so trivial to him, for once it gave him the same special feeling it gives me each time I find something new.

So today in honor of what would have been Papa Francis 91'st birthday I decided to see what more I could piece together about him during the War. 

Francis W.J. Ladner was born in Hancock County, Ms on July 17, 1921, to Felix Ladner and Victoria Stravapodi. On October 18, 1941 he married Elvera Cuevas. They had 6 children the eldest, was my husband's father. He died on February 15, 1993. 

Francis enlisted in the Army on December 20, 1942 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. His enlistment record shows his occupation as a farmer, married, and having completed grammar school. His enlistment entailed the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months as accorded by law.

The news article I found from the Daily Herald November 6, 1944, states that: 

With the 37th Infantry Division in the Southwest Pacific—Private First Class Francis W. J. Ladner, 23, Gulfport, Miss., has been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge for service in combat against the Japanese. Ladner earned the badge, a silver rifle on an Infantry blue field imposed on a silver wreath, for his part in helping defeat Jap assaults on Hill 129, Bougainville Island, Husband of the former Elvera Cuevas, who with their son, Cecil Dean, resides on Route 1, Gulfport, he has been overseas 18 months serving also in New Hebrides and Guadalcanal.

According to Wikipedia here is an explanation of the Combat Infantryman Badge.

The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is the U.S. Army combat service recognition decoration awarded to soldiers—enlisted men and officers (commissioned and warrant) holding colonel rank or below, who personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of either an infantry or a Special Forces unit, of brigade size or smaller, any time after 6 December 1941. The CIB and its non-combat analogue, the infantry skill-recognition Expert Infantryman Badge (EIB) were simultaneously created during World War II as primary recognition of the combat service and sacrifices of the infantrymen who would likely be wounded or killed in numbers disproportionate to those of soldiers from the Army’s other service branches

 Awarded for :Being personally present, and under hostile fire, while serving in assigned, primary infantry or special forces duty in a unit actively engaging the enemy in ground combat.

Combat Infantry Badge

Now on to the next search, the actual battle. A quick search for the Battle of Bougainville sent me to the site Historynet.com where I was able to read about the 37th Infantry Division's Battle for Hill 700.
As I continued my search I came across another old news article, this time from the Sarasota Herald, March 27, 1944.
Once again through Wikipedia, I came across more information regarding the 37th Infantry in general during WWII.
I still wanted to know more about the 129th specifically. Here at 37th Infantry Division. I was able to get a clearer picture of the part the 129th played in the battle.

The 148th Infantry landed first on Bougainville 8 Nov 43 and was followed by the 129th Infantry on 13 Nov 43 and the 145th Infantry which landed 19 Nov 43. Relieving the Marines there, the division took over the area perimeter defense, constructed roads and bridges, conducted patrols, and repulsed eight Japanese divisional attacks during March 1944. These included the 8 Mar 44 counterattack on Hill 700 which drove a salient in the lines of the 145th Infantry which wasn't reduced until 13 Mar 44 after heavy combat; the main counterattack of 11 Mar 44 toward Piva Airfield which hit the 129th Infantry; and the 23 Mar 44 general counterattack which penetrated the lines of 129th Infantry before it was defeated. The latter marked the last Japanese offensive activity in the Solomons and the division cleared the Laruma Valley during April 1944. The division remained on Bougainville until 14 Dec 44, conducting construction and combat activity up to 11 Oct 44 when it began training for operations in the Philippine Islands.

The division moved to the Philippines via Huon Gulf, New Guinea and Manus Island, and landed against slight resistance at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, 9 Jan 45. The 148th Infantry took San Carlos 10 Jan 45 and the division assembled and then advanced against strong Japanese opposition toward Clark Field and Fort Stotsenberg. The 145th and 148th Infantry reached the Culayo-Magalang line and the runways of Clark Field 26 Jan 45 and captured their objectives with the 129th Infantry on 31 Jan 45. The division then turned south toward Manila and the 148th Infantry reached it 4 Feb 45. After crossing the Pasig River the division began the house-to-house combat which slowly reduced the city, and on 23 Feb 45 the assault was begun on Intramuros after heavy artillery preparation. The 145th stormed the Quezon and Parian Gates while the 129th Infantry crossed the Pasig River in assault boats and stormed the Mint Building. The 148th Infantry cleared the Legislative Building and by 3 Mar 45 the division had secured Manila. The division then garrisoned it until 26 Mar 45 and conducted mopping up activity.
The 129th Infantry was detached to Bauang and attached to the 33rd Infantry Division 26 Mar-10 Apr 45. The 145th Infantry remained in Manila when the division moved to northwest Luzon for the offensive against Baguio and did not rejoin it until 2 Jun 45. The division commenced its drive 10 Apr 45 as the 129th and 148th Infantry attacked up Highway 9 and took Three Peaks on 11 Apr 45. Following the Battle for Hairpin Hill the 148th Infantry reached the Irisan River 17 Apr 45, but the ridges there were not cleared until 21 Apr 45 when the advance resumed. Mt. Mirador fell after heavy combat to the 129th Infantry on 26 Apr 45 and Baguio was overrun by the combined action of 334d and 37th Infantry Divisions the following day. The division was relieved by the 33rd Infantry Division and moved to San Jose 4 May 45 where it rested until 29 May 45. It then moved into the Balete Pass-Santa Fe area and attacked north on Highway 5, 31 May 45, the 129th Infantry capturing Aritao on 5 Jun 45. Bagabag fell to the 145th Infantry on 9 Jun 45, and the division pushed across the Cagayen Valley and took Cauayan 16 Jun 45 and Ilagan 19 Jun 45. Although the Luzon campaign was officially closed 30 Jun 45, the division continued to mop up and secure its area, and was collecting and processing Japanese prisoners when the war ended.

37th Infantry Badge

Now that we have a clearer picture of what Papa Francis was involved in during the war, along with some of the historical photos that I saw, I can understand why he would not wish to discuss the war with his young grandson. It seems he was not alone in that aspect as I have come across many others commenting that their grandfather's also were in the 37th Infantry and never discussed the battles. 

I came across a question on a forum from one lady whose grandfather also was in the 37th Infantry. Her question was, "How did a man born in Alabama end up with an Ohio Infantry?" I was also wondering the same thing about Francis, a boy from Mississippi. So, I continued to read everything I came across regarding the 37th Infantry until I found the answer. No surprise that I found it in Wikipedia.

The 145th Infantry was inducted into federal service as part of the 37th Division (later redesignated the 37th Infantry Division “Buckeye”) on 15 October 1940 and left Cleveland, Ohio for Camp Shelby, Mississippi. From Camp Shelby, the regiment moved to Louisiana to participate in the Louisiana Maneuvers of June, August, and September 1941 before returning to Camp Shelby. On 26 May 1942 the division left the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, arriving at Viti Levu, Fiji Islands exactly one month later on 11 June 1942. There, the entire division resumed training and fortified the islands against possible invasion.

Apparently the 145th of Ohio, along with the  129th of Illinois became attached to the 37th Infantry Division during the Bougainville Campaign.They needed these young men because they were considered excellent marksmen.

So, thanks to one little news story from 1944 we now know the story of our families war hero.

Please note that all links are fully searchable for the location to the actual referenced pages, so you may for yourself read the entire entries listed.

Monday Madness- The Sylvan's

I can't for the life of me understand why the name Sylvan was so popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. I have gnashed my teeth and pulled my hair over the many Sylvan Ladner's on the Mississippi Coast all born near and around the same time as each other. To top that off most of them are juniors, which of course means that I can not simply search for their father and perhaps find them that way.

Then you have the various spellings, such as; Silvan, Silvain, Silvian, Sylvain, Silvyn, Cylvan, Cevillian, Sylvane, Sillvan.

What were they thinking?

Of course there is the female version where Sylvan has a sister named Sylvania, Sylvia,  Silvania, Cevilla, or Sevilla.

One of my husbands great grandfather's named Sylvan Ladner, had these as his siblings. No joke.

Cevillian V. Ladner

Ceville P. Ladner

Cevelia Rose Ladner

Sylvan P. Ladner

Sylvania Ladner

Sylvia Ladner

and then I think just to mess with me, they had...

Ferdinand J. Ladner

My only hope in keeping these people straight is the birth dates and the middle initials. It is a genealogist nightmare! I may truly be driven mad by a simple name!

When Genealogy Becomes Like A Game of Telephone

Today, I decided to sit and go through a search of family trees just to see what new information may be out there, and hopefully find some new family connections as well. Instead I found a horror story of the passing around of bad information.

Remember the game of telephone we played as children? You know, when you sit in a circle and whisper something in a person's ear and then they have to repeat it to the next, and so on, until it gets to the last person. Then that person has to tell what was said out loud and then everyone laughs and giggles because it does not resemble anything near what they were told.

Well, I have encountered the same thing today except this time, it is in print online on many family trees.

What is so frustrating is that they could simply clarify this themselves with a little fact checking. Yet, somehow they just took what was there as fact and continued to pass it around. Then before you knew it it got worse and worse.

For starters, several years back my father who also does genealogy, had a public family tree. Well, someone out there copied his tree and called it, the ***** Saucier's branch of the Broome clan. FIRST OF ALL, most of the names copied, as well as the photos, had NOTHING to do with the Broome family, which is my father's side. They copied the Ladner, and Nicaise information as well, which is my mother's side. So therefore, in later years the person who did this will have grandchildren that will have a very difficult time trying to figure out why there are Nicaise names in their tree.

Secondly, they put in wrong information about the Nicaise family. For instance they had my 3rd great grandfather Edouard Nicaise as being born in Mayo, Ireland and dying in Mississippi. When in fact he was BORN and died in Mississippi. The Nicaise family is from FRANCE. They came to the Louisiana Colony in the early 1700's. There is no chance anyone after 1725 being born in Ireland. Just this little mistake has now skyrocketed and other people researching the Nicaise family name have come across this and took it as fact and used it in their trees.

Then it went from Edouard being born in Ireland, to his father Jean Baptiste Nicaise being born in St. Benoist, Paris, France and dying in Kiln, Mississippi. Yet they have Jean Baptiste Nicaise's father, Joseph Nicaise being born in Mobile, Alabama, which is accurate. So, then do they think that Joseph Nicaise was born in Alabama, and went back to France and had a son? Or are they really not paying close attention to what they are putting in their tree?

I seriously have had to make comments on 20 different trees today, to try and correct the whole Mayo, Ireland thing. I doubt they will go back and change things, but I hope perhaps if they do they may learn an important lesson in genealogical research. Always, always check the source! Never, ever, make an assumption that whomever put information on a tree is 100 percent correct. As, I have said before, genealogy is way more fun if you do the work yourself. Sure you can find hints from other trees, but never take this as fact until you find something to back it up!

Please don't contribute to the game of Genealogy Telephone!

Sentimental Sunday- Vic Ladner

There are just some days when I wake up with memories of my grandfather in my head. He will be constantly in my thoughts, like a rolling frame of memories. Today happens to one of those days.

I can remember him once talking about his father and saying, "I tell you he was IT to me. I don't think anyone ever loved their father as much as I did him." Well, PaPaw was IT to me! I often wonder if he knew how much all of his grandchildren loved and adored him. I should say idolized him. He helped raise my sister until my mother remarried my father. So, to her he was so much more to her than a grandfather. Of course being more than a grandfather and a father was a role he was used to.

William Victor Ladner, my grandfather was only 19 years old when his father was killed. He then promised he would stay home and raise his 10 siblings, the youngest three months of age. He worked hard and had to relocate the family to a nearby city in order to have a good paying job to feed them all.  He had many years of practice of being a father. His own siblings looked upon him that way. They always came to him and asked his opinion. He gave up many things a young man of 19 would rather be doing. He even gave up a young woman, named Eva whom he loved and wished to marry. He said, "I was on her porch and was intending to go in and propose. But, I felt something inside telling him that something was not right. Telling him to wait." He did. Ten years later he married my grandmother, Irma Wiese.

I see myself tagging along behind him, asking him questions. He had all the patience in the world for me. As he was building something in his carpentry shed, he would take down a child size hammer and a saw that were just for me, so that I may work right along side of him. He would then tell me about his father as we worked, and how he once worked along side him.

It seems I blinked  my eyes and the time flew by and I was a young woman with children of my own, who were now outside at the carpentry shed, using the tools I once used. Nailing little pieces of scraps together, while PaPaw made a bench for my mother, or the cherished steps to nowhere. That the children would endlessly climb over just for the fun of it.

If I close my eyes and listen, I can still hear his deep chuckling laugh....and he is here with me again, even if just as a memory...it is enough for now.

Surname Saturday- The Saucier Debate

Saucier 

      It is hard to believe a year has gone by since the great Facebook debate over how to pronounce my maiden name. We all went on for days over how to correctly pronounce this old french surname, that even a city in South Mississippi is named for. It became a very heated debate to say the least. People who did not even carry the name were the most argumentatively defensive. It seems the most popular way to say it was So-Sure and most were adamant that they were saying it that way and would not change for anyone. My father and I argued that it was our name after all, and the city was named after an ancestor, so we think we know how to pronounce it. We prefer the correct French pronunciation of So-See-Ay. We will even accept So-shah, or So-shay. When I was a kid you could always tell when a telemarketer was calling because they would ask for Mr. Sauce-e-er please. Like tomato sauce is saucier than another kind of sauce. Eww, I cringed at that. I mean this was one of the oldest names on the Coast and it was being butchered daily. The people of Louisiana have kept more in tradition with the pronunciation of French names and they always pronounce it correctly. 

     Sadly here on the Mississippi Coast we have lost sight of our traditions and our Creole heritage. Growing up in the 70's I always heard my father, who ran a local store, referred to by all respectfully as Mr. So-see-ay. Then we had an influx of military people coming in with all the bases that we have here on the Coast. They could not pronounce the local names of Dedeaux,(De-Dough) Saucier, Gautier, (Go-t-ay or Go-Shay), even our towns of Gulfport and Biloxi (Buh-lux-e) became Golf-port and, By-lox-e. That's all okay, I mean I can't say some names I am not familiar with either, but the problem lies in the fact that we were too lazy to correct them and eventually went on to say things the way they said it. That means those people of the younger generation that were so defensive during the Saucier facebook war, never heard it said the correct way, so had no idea really. Which is sad. 

      Which is why there are those of us out there trying to educate our youth on our rich and fantastic history. After all if you wear the name of Saucier, you should know that you are descended from one of the very first settlers to the Coast, in what was then known as the Louisiana Colony, and now is Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Jean Baptiste Saucier was his name and he came from Canada with D'Iberville in 1699 to the wilderness and marshes of the Coast with an uncertain future. He later married a Casket Girl named Gabrielle Savary, who came from France specifically to marry a colonist. They had a large family who populated the Coast as well as the Illinois and Missouri territories. We should be proud enough of our heritage to preserve it, which includes the French language that they strictly spoke as late as the 1900's. 

     So, try to remember, that when I ask you to kindly say my name correctly, I am not being obstinate. I just wish to hear my name said the way it was meant to be pronounced. After all you want to be called by the right name too!


by the way it's ME-shell!   :)

Friday Finds-1940 Alabama/Georgia Census

Hooray! The 1940 Alabama and Georgia Census are now fully searchable on Ancestry.com Hoping Mississippi and Louisiana will be soon!!

Today Ancestry.com sent out notifications that they have several more states completed. Those fully searchable now are; Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.
 
Found an Uncle in Georgia, he was apparently in the Georgia State Penitentiary.Wasn't expecting that! 

 Found Aunt Ruby and Uncle William in the Alabama census. I never knew what they did for a living. Uncle William was a repairman for a Billiard Hall and Aunt Ruby worked as an assistant  photographer.  Wonderful little glimpse into the lives of two people whom I dearly loved.



Monday Madness- A Woman Scorned

Today I came across a fantastic article in an an old copy of the Daily Herald from June 6, 1929.

GULFPORT POLICE COURT

Mrs. Edgar Knight of Gulfport was fined $10 in Mayor J. W. Milner's
court this morning on a charge of assault and battery on the person of Miss
Tillie Moran -in a local Ice cream place Saturday night Edgar Knight, 

husband of Mrs. Edgar Knight, had, according to the evidence given 

at the trial, taken Miss Tillie Moran in to the ice cream place and 

had purchased an ice cream cone for her. Mrs. Knight appeared upon the scene
while her husband and Miss Moran were enjoying the ice cream and seizing
Miss. Moran by the hand threw her on the floor. It appeared that
the difficulty was later continued on the outside and that several blows
were struck between the parties on both sides. His honor thought that
Mrs. Knight was guilty of  first assault and fined her. $10. 

Moral of the story....Men don't buy ice cream for other women in a small town where your wife just may happen by. 



The Genealogy/XBox War

In my home we seem to have a problem of too many wireless connections to the modem. In a household of five people all connected to some wireless device this can lead to an all out war. There have been many arguments of "ALRIGHT who is downloading something while I am trying to play my game, watch a movie, etc...."

I have for years just trudged along without worry about how slow or fast my pages were loading as long as they loaded. Despite this, lately I have cringed when my name is yelled out from the living room, "Michelle are you online???" I am just doing genealogy is always my reply, to which he yells back "Each page you load is killing me!". Well lately, when my husband decides he wants to play his Call of Duty game online, he simply pulls the plug on the rest of us. Arghh... how can I survive three hours without my precious internet? Sure I can do things offline, like transcribe things that I have been meaning to, but just haven't found the time. (Most likely because I am really too busy pinning on Pintrest, or checking Facebook, but he really doesn't need to know all that!)  But, it always seems that this unplugging of the precious wireless flow tends to come at a time when I am right in the middle of a genealogy lead that I have been working on for awhile, and my page just sits frozen until he plugs me back in.

This leads to resentment on both sides. He sees it as unfair that he can not fully enjoy his game when we are sucking his bandwith and I feel he is taking away my research time. We have actually had screaming matches over the stupid internet! There is no right or wrong solution here. We need to take turns and play nice with each other, but it just does not seem to be working out that way!!

I seriously am thinking about getting a second line just so he can play his stupid game and leave the rest of us in peace!!

Oh, the modern age!



What is Your d'Aboville Number ?

 Randall Seaver of  Genea-Musings has come up with a new genealogy mission involving the d'Aboville number system. I saw his latest Saturday night mission and thought, "No problem! I know all about the d'Aboville number system and how to use it." I did not however, factor my software program giving me a hard time! My problem lies n the fact that nearly every person in my database is related to one another due to the fact that we are all descended from the same few original colonist to the Gulf Coast area. In fact I am married to my own 5th cousin, and his parents were related as well as mine, but that is another blog. So, what happened was when I tried to do a descendant report on the Legacy 7.5 program, it kept looping me telling me there was an error due to the couple being repeated. Well, yeah that's gonna happen a lot!! So, needless to say after hitting the continue button for WELL over a hundred times to ignore all these error's, I realized that I could bypass this by asking the system to ignore duplicates. Forehead slap!! So, what should have been a quick and easy blog mission turned out to be a torturous never ending click of the keyboard.

Now on to the mission at hand, find out what the d'Aboville number was for each of my four grandparents through the paternal line back to the first of that name in the line.

• From Joseph Joachim Wiese (1835-????) 1.3.2.3.2

•  From Christian Ladner (1690-????) 1.1.2.9.5.1.2.7.1.2

• From Charles Saucier (1672-1723) 1.1.2.3.5.6.3.5.1.2.7.1.2

• From Daniel Austin Anderson (1755-????) 1.1.1.4.7.3.4.1.2

Now how I did it. I used as I said the Legacy Family Tree  Maker 7.5, and went to descendant reports. From there I chose d'Aboville in the numbering system. Then selected preview and on the easy two (Wiese and Anderson) my nine page report popped up allowing me to quickly view my d'Aboville number.




Surname Saturday- Buhr Family of Louisiana

Buhr

Another German name in my family collection of names. I suppose most folks would pronounce it as Burr, or Bo-er. My family pronounced it as Bow-er. Now, there are not many with this surname in Louisiana, and I have had zero luck in tracking anyone down who has this surname and is related.

For unknown reasons a young man left his homeland of Germany behind and came to Louisiana around 1850. His name was Phillip Buhr. He married a young German immigrant named Catharina Hartmann. They had four daughters between 1855 and 1862, with one dying at two years of age.

• Phillip joined the Union Army during the Civil War and is found listed as:

• Phillip Bohr Co:C Unit 5 La Infantry, Private

• He lived on Dauphine Street, and worked as a lamplighter. 

• He was born in Diededfeld, Pfalz, Germany, about 1829. 

My grandmother did not know much of him, saying only that he had died and her great grandmother had remarried and had more children. 

An obituary in German for Phillip Buhr was in my collection as well as one in German for the little daughter who had died. Not knowing anyone capable of reading this obituary, I turned to the Ancestry Message Boards for help. I soon received a reply asking for me to scan the image of the obit and they would translate it for me.

It came back with a grim warning that I may not like what I was about to read.

The obituary told of Phillip Buhr having died on July 4, 1864 by committing suicide. He had jumped off a bridge and drowned. 

He was only 35 years old. His children were 9, 7, and 2 years of age. What could have made a person who had so many things to live for choose to end his life this way? It was obviously something never talked about in my family. He came to America to make a new start, what went so wrong?

Secrets are the tragedies of genealogy research. 

One more mystery to solve in the tangled tree of my family. 



Kicking the Genealogy Bucket

To Kick the Bucket according to Wikipedia: To kick the bucket is an English idiom that is defined as "to die" in the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785).^[1] It is considered a euphemistic, informal, or slang term.^[2] Its origin remains unclear, though there have been several theories.

Therefore one must have a Bucket List before they kick the bucket! Making a bucket list became popular after the movie of the same name came out. Although I am sure that way before the movie many people had a list of things they wished to do before they died.

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings recently came up with a fun idea of creating a genealogical bucket list. 

After much thought about places I would love to visit, and things I feel I must do, I narrowed it down to four main things that I feel are essential to my Genealogy Bucket List.

1. Complete the family history book that I have been writing for years. In which my husband constantly complains that I will never finish because I keep saying I must add more. I must learn that genealogy will never be complete because tomorrow someone will die or be born, and I can always write a volume II. 
2. Visit every family cemetery and transcribe to my hearts desire.
3.  Visit France, most of all St. Eustace Church in Paris.
4. Copy all old photos onto disk, label and place in a binder for quick reference and quick leave taking. If Hurricane Katrina taught us anything about preserving our history this was just one of the many! 

Of course there are many, many more things regarding genealogy that I would love to get the chance to do....So, with that in mind I hope my bucket kicking will wait another day!!