Booksh - Tisdale Marriage
On 23
April 1878 Arabella Maria Tisdale and Samuel Walker Booksh were
married in St. Joseph's Church in Baton Rouge. My great aunt said
when Belle told her grandmother she was engaged to Sam Booksh,
Grandma Pratt said, “You're marrying a damned Hessian!” We don't
think Sam's grandfather, Carl Friedrich Böcksch, was a Hessian, but
the family story is that he was a German soldier, born in Baden about
1775.
The
Tisdale family was very proud of their connection to Benjamin
Franklin, but the story of their Mayflower ancestor, John Howland,
had been forgotten. Similarly the Booksh family was proud of their
ancestor Honoré Leonard, who fought in the Battle of New Orleans,
but had forgotten the story of his grandmother, Anne Coudray Leonard,
who was one of the survivors of the 1729 Natchez Massacre. Both
families extended far back into the English and French colonial
periods.
In 1880
the census lists Belle and Sam living with his parents, Charles
Booksh, age 72, and his wife Eliza Elizabeth Booksh, age 60, in the
9th Ward of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Also
living with the family are four grandchildren: Elisa Mary, age 22,
and her 19 year old brother, Charles C. Booksh, children of Sam's
oldest brother, Charles Edouard; as well as Mary Eliza Booksh, age 3;
and S. B. David, age 4.
A Family History Mystery
Several
people have erroneously assumed that this Mary Eliza was the daughter
of Sam and Belle and she is listed as part of their family in several
on line trees. The family bible and church records prove they only
had four children, Samuel Walker Jr., Charles Leonard, Wilton
Tisdale, and Arabella Guinevere. We have puzzled over who this Mary
Eliza was for years, but it was only recently that the mystery was
solved.
By
making a list of every Mary Eliza and Eliza Mary connected to the
family it was clear that the Mary Eliza listed in the 1880 census was
Mary Eliza “Maimie” David. The census taker had omitted her surname. She and Seth Booksh David were the
children of Sam's sister, Eliza Elizabeth “Lizzie” Booksh and her
husband, Joseph Johnson David (pronounced DahVEED).
 |
| Seth Booksh David |
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
 |
| Mary Eliza "Maimie" David |
Lizzie
Booksh was born 11 April 1855 and married Joseph David on 11 May
1875. Son Seth Booksh David was born 19 February 1876 and Belle and Sam were his godparents. Daughter
Mary Eliza David was born 30 June 1877. Lizzie died 31 March 1878 and
is buried in the David plot in Magnolia cemetery. Joseph David had
remarried by the time of the 1880 census and is listed in the 4th
Ward of West Baton Rouge Parish with his new wife, Amelia, age 21.
Much of
the research on the Booksh line was the work of Henk Wackwitz,
husband of Winnie Booksh, my grandfather's cousin. I corresponded
with Henk for several years, exchanging family information by snail
mail, until his death in October 2002. At the Grand Reunion of the
Charles Booksh Descendents in 2006 I became the caretaker of the
Samuel W. Booksh Branch copy of his compiled family history. Henk was
a meticulous researcher and we all owe him a debt of gratitude. I
will be glad to share information with other descendants.
