November 17, 1906 letter from The Kid

An eight page letter written in pencil to Belle Tisdale Booksh from her son Wilton is in places hard to read so I will post just the first and last pages along with the transcription of the full letter. Wilton is at Belair Sugar Mill working in the lab during grinding season.  He may have been in an apprenticeship position as he refers to his teacher.

11 Nov 1906 letter WTB to AMB Page 1

11 Nov 1906 letter WTB to AMB Page 8

TRRANSCRIPTION
 

[Page 1]                                                                                                    Belair 11/17/1906

[Imprint LIBERTY]

Dear home: –

Well I have a little time to write a little note so here goes: - I dont see why that pastel should be hidden away among a lot of your antiques, I didn't send it for that, If I'd known that was the way you would treat it, Isbelle would have received it. Samie I had a nice long letter from the “queen” a couple of days ago, the first letter I've had from her since before I went to Chatt. Tell her that I'm not going to wait as long to write to her as she took to write to me.

Well Papa how are you, I guess its pretty near time for you and Old Man Poor [drawing of bird's head] to take that hunt, When are you

[Page 2]     going and how long are you to stay. Tell all the folk up there “howdy” for me, and kiss as many of them as will let you (do that for me too) here is a little poem for Georgie, in this letter. We used to tease her with those lines last year. Now write to me. Rooney: I know you're worked to death Poor Dear Sister, but I'd be delighted to have a few lines from you (tho I have no time for fishing) I was sorry not to see your name among the winners, but it could not be helped, now study hard, and from the present way things are going I may be able to eat turkey with you this year. Mama: the wind is blowing so hard that the river is almost running up stream, it has waves in it at least

[Page 3]     3 feet high. This wind has been coming from the south since yesterday morning, it fairly roars, and hisses and the river sounds like when you stir the water around in a big tub, Just now there is not a cloud around, tho the 1^st part of the day was cloudy. I have taken some pictures with the teacher's Kodak, and am going to take some more. The girl who sent me that rose sent another, tho it has not been delivered.

Dont worry about how hard I work for I dont work so hard considering that I am holding 2 Jobs. Ive invented a system by which I can always go to bed before ten at night, with all my work right up to date. That is as follows: up at 5:30, make daily Report, and find what sugar has been made during

[Page 4]     the night, and what molasses, then go to Breakfast (about 8 am oclock, or a little before; back to work at about 9 am and analyse all the syrup and molasses made since my departure at 9 ½ or 10 pm night before, figure up all these, take hold of the Book keeping, part of my job, and bring it up to date. By then it is 11 or 12 oclock. If the later, I go to dinner and come back about 1 PM, analyse every thing up to that time and Book keep some more, fool around some, eat some cane go down and talk to Chas. Then come back and do whatever analysing I can before supper then after supper I very seldom have any thing but a few figures and some work on my Books, then Im off for Bed, this wont get to you till Monday so Ill rest a while now and start on some cane,

[Page 5]     for I have some time. I have some responsibility too. I manage the Juice tanks and their men, and the sugar and its dryers so, Im kept going just about enough.

Monday Nov 19, 1906.

Well, the mill stopped yesterday evening at 4 ½ P.M, I finished my register work today at 12 PM, and started on my Inventory and finished it in 4 hours, that's going some. Now I'm at liberty to write these few last lines to this letter. That girl sent me some more flowers, and the teacher got J a [heap?], and wanted me to throw them a way but I didnt. (She Loves me)

The wind has eased up just a little, It has been blowing hard since Friday Morning, by the time you answer this,

Page 6]     we will have a freeze on.    I see by the paper that the Club is to send Samie along with others to Shreveport. Well that will be a trip wont it? Charles and I are both well tho Charles has a sort of hard Boil on his under Jaw. Did I tell you about the Band? Well Mr. Gros leads the Belair Band in the house. You ought to have heard the noise, there are nine pieces to it, all brass except the two drums. Well every n-----r in that Band tried to Blow his horn to pieces. I wont get the salary I was expecting, (d-m it) nor any thing else near it. Ill get $65 (I wont write what I think about it) You ask if we are comfortable? Well aside from that d-m little salary, we're alright. Plenty of clothes

[Page 7]      and I gave Charles back his Rubber Coat, and my rubber Boots, for when it rains he'll be out in it. I took his overcoat and ordered a pair of Boots thru the co. You ought to see them cost $12.00 Retail. The co. got them for $8.00 cost price, so that's what I got 'em for. They are fine, reach right up to my knees and keep we warm. They are worth every cent at $12, so I'm $4 ahead on the deal. Ill stop a while now as I have a strike of sugar coming down and I want to give the dryers a good start before supper.

Well I guess I'd better close this, for here it is Tuesday and I have not sent it “yet,” I enclose one of the pictures, the others were no good, I send you the film, this

[Page 8]     is me weighing a sample, and that dim figure on the other side of the scale is William, my negro boy, that little bottle by me is filled with sulphuric other [drawing of a bottle] next to it is the Lead [drawing of a bar – page torn - also?] a little way from that is water 2 [drawing of bottle] two tubes in it, #1 to blow thru and #2 for the water to come out. Back of the whole thing is my desk. That white co[rd] [page torn] on my leg is my watch fob. And the thing I'm sitting on is a chair with a piece of white cloth on the seat of it. Well By Bye          

Have the picture printed, it will cost about 3 cents or a nickle                                                                                                                                                                                  Kid

P.S. Two of the dogs are still here, the other alas! is in Mobile (dead)

Wilton Tisdale Booksh in sugar chemists lab at Belair Sugar Mill, 1906  
[The interesting thing about this photo is that when I read the description 
I recognized it as one of the photos I had seen in Grandpa Booksh's photo album.]

]

January 06, 1906 Letter from Tunsberg, Norway

    A mysterious document among Belle Tisdale's papers is a four page letter from Tunsberg, Norway. The place and date on line 1 are the only things I can decifer. I understand from Wikipedia that Tunsberg is located in Vestfold County, not far south of Oslo, in the traditional district of Jarlslberg. It was established in the 9th century and is considered to be the oldest town in Norway.

    Tunsberg Tønsberg (pronounced [ˈtœ̂nsbær(ɡ)]  is the site of the Oseberg Mound, a Viking era burial mound, where the famous longship that is now in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo was found. Originally excavated in 1904 the mound is the largest and richest example of craftsmanship from the Viking Age. Also found in the mound were the Oseberg carriage, five intricately carved bed-posts, four sledges, beds, chests, weaving frames, household utensils and much more. In 1992 the burial was dated to 834 AD. It is speculated that it was Queen Alvhild, the first wife of King Gudred, who was buried there in about 834 AD.

        Anybody out there know enough Norwegian to translate this letter?

Pages 4 and 1

 

Pages 2 and 3

The Wikipedia page for Tunsberg has this photo of the town from 1908.

Charles Hiram Tisdale

   Belle's youngest brother, Charles Hiram Tisdale,  was born 30 May 1874 in New Orleans. He was always known as Harry. Grandpa and Great Aunt Noo always called him Uncle Harry. I always called him The Beautiful Uncle Harry.

Charles Hiram "Harry" Tisdale
1874-1913

   A lot of the clippings tucked into the Booksh Bible refer to him. The earliest clipping was from the  June 11, 1889 Baton Rouge Daily Advocate saying that School Superintendent Tunard awarded "the gold medal offered by Dr. J. W. Dupree to the scholar most proficient in physiology...to Master Harry Tisdale."

  The Aug. 15, 1894 New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that the Police Jury "...selected Harry Tisdale beneficiary cadet at the State University and A. and M. College. Young Tisdale is a bright youth, who has given evidence of fine intellectual qualities. It is thought that he will reflect credit upon the parish."

   The next clipping mentioning Harry is from the New Orleans Times Democrat announcing the marriage of Harry Tisdale and Miss Lucy Vaughan on January 3, 1906:

  "Special to The Times-Democrat. - Brusly Landing, Jan.3 - Harry Tisdale and Miss Lucy Vaughan two popular young people were married here yesterday morning. The ceremony took place at St. John the Baptist Church, Rev. Father Buquet officiating. Immediately after the ceremony they left for Tuscaloosa, Ala., their home."

Harry and Lucy's marriage license was among Belle's papers. We thought that was odd until we realized that Lucy had died on  just a little over a year after they were married.

TRANSCRIPTION

From photocopy of newspaper clipping in the West Baton Rouge Sugar Planter

MRS. LUCY VAUGHAN TISDALE

The parish at large, and particularly the Brusly community, was shocked beyond measure to learn of the sudden death of Mrs. Lucy Vaughan Tisdale, third daughter of Mrs. Henry Vaughan, of Brusly and wife of Harry Tisdale. Mrs. Tisdale died suddenly at Chattanooga, Tenn., on Friday last. The announcrment of the dreadful news was totally unexpected. Mrs. Tisdale was married only a little over a year ago. Shortly after leaving home she was in delicate health for some months, but she quite recovered her health and appeared to be thriving in the Tennessee climate. Mr. Tisdale, her husband, was employed by the Government in some engineering work at Chattanooga.

Prior to her marriage, as Miss Lucy Vaughan, the teacher of the Levert school for several terms, she was known and loved and honored as are few teachers. And when she left to cast her lot with that of her chosen husband, patrons and pupils alike mourned her departure and felt that “Miss Lucy” could not be replaced. And this is the strongest tribute that can be paid in her memory, for to be so deeply loved and honored by the children shows the possession of the finest and truest attributes of character.

Mrs. Tisdale's remains were brought home, reaching Brusly Sunday, and at the funeral held on Monday morning a large concourse of friends from different parts of the parish followed the bereaved mother and sisters, and to the grief-stricken husband, the Planter extends its deepest, most heartfelt sympathy.

1904-1905 Arithmetic Classes

There were three clues for this post. The first was a Home Institute Night School Certificate of Merit for Arithmetic dated 06 June 1904 awarded to W. T. Booksh. He would have been 18 years old. 

The second clue was a newspaper clipping headlined MEDALS AND AWARDS:  

              

Wilton Booksh's name is on line 4 of the Arithmatic paragraph.

The third clue was a collection of undated pages with what appears to be arithmatic homework.

By searching on the Genealogy Bank website I was able to find the whole newspaper article "Sophie Wright's Free Night School Holds Its Annual Commencement at Greenwall Theatre" on page 12 of the June 2, 1905 Times-Picayune paper. It was a very long article. The MEDALS AND AWARDS portion that Belle Tisdale clipped was about three-aquarters of the way through it.

1903 Telegram from Kate McCaughey

 

"Ma died this evening. Kate B. McCaughey"

On September 14, 1903 Belle's mother, Eliza Tisdale received a telegram from her niece, Kate McCaughey, telling the family that Kate's mother had died. 

Frances Ann Augusta Pratt McCaughey Anthoine was Eliza's sister  and Belle's Aunt France. She was 77 years old, born 19 September 1825 in Scott County, Kentucky. She was 11 years older than Eliza. In 1846  not long after the Pratt family had moved from Arkansas to Louisiana she married  William McCaughey. She had two children, Emilius Valerius and Catherine Bernice "Kate." It is presumed that Emilius died young as he is never mentioned again. William died 28 Maarch 1850 when Kate was six months old.  His obituary read:   "1850 Mar 26 William H. McCaughey, #412, Baton Rouge, Husband of Frances Ann Augusta Pratt"

About five years later Frances married  Henri Anthoine, emigre from Trieste, Italy to Nw Orleans in 1855. He is listed as a clerk in several New Orleans City Directories.  They are listed in the 1880 Census at 249 Treme St. He is 46 years old and a Book Keeper, born in Italy. Francis, his wife, is 48, born in Kentucky.  His step-daughter Kate McCaughey, age 36, widowed, born in Louisiana, father born in Virginia, Mother born in Kentucky. Henri is listed in the City Directory in 1897 as Secretary of the Italy-American Homestead Association at 521 Royal St. Frances is listed in the 1903 New Orleans Death Index as a widow. Frances and her daughter Kate are buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

ANTHOINE - On Monday, Sept. 14, 1903 at 3:45 p.m, Mrs. F. A. Anthoine, aged seventy-seven years. 

McCAUGHEY - On Tuesday, September 8, 1917, at 8 p.m. KATE B.McCAUGHEY, age 68 years, a native of Louisiana and a resident of this city many years. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the funeral this (Wednesday) afternoon at 3:20 o'clock from the Fink Asylum, 3045 Cadiz Street.

 . 

1903 A FUNERAL AND A WEDDING

 

Photocopies of clippings 1903

     Clippings among Belle Tisdale's papers tell the story of  a drowning, a funeral and a wedding at Magee's Farm in Kushla, Alabama, former home of Belle Tisdale's aunt, Mary Tisdale (1810-1882) and her husband, Jacob Magee (1811-1883). 

The Tisdale family has another connection to the Magee Farm in addition to Aunt Mary Tisdale Magee. In 1898 the property was bought by Alfred Henry Sturdevant and his wife Harriet Morse of Illinois. They had six children, among them daughter Helen Morse Sturtevant who was 21 years old at the time. At a dance in Mobile Helen met a young man named Marion Eugene Tisdale, Belle's brother. They eventually became engaged to be married. It was Helen's younger brother,  Bradford Sturtevant, whose drowning and funeral are reported in the first two clippings. Helen and Marion's wedding five days later is the subject of the third clipping.

          TRANSCRIPTIONS:

DROWNED NEAR KUSHLA

SAD ENDING OF YOUNG BRADFORD STURTEVANT

Sunday afternoon Bradford Sturtevant, a young man, was drowned while bathing in Chickasabogue creek near Kushla. The waters of the creek were high and the current swift. It is supposed that he got out of his depth and was unable to swim out. The body was rrecovered some hours after. The Sturtevant family have been living in Kushla five years. Bradford Sturtevant was of both moral and social worth, a right manly fellow, and courteous to all. His parents are much afflicted by their loss.          M. D. B.

Oak Grove, August 10, 1903

                         Necrological.

FUNERAL OF BRADFORD STURTEVANT

The funeral of Bradford Sturtevant, who was drowned while bathing in Chicasabogue creek on Sunday morning, took place from the residence of his parents at Kushla Monday morning at 11 o'clock. Dr. D. A. Planck conducted the services, which were largely attended. The interment was in the family burial ground at Kushla, where the new made grave was covered with handsome floral designs. The pallbearers were B. C. Davis, Jr., W. M. Davis, H. L. Davis, M. L. Davis, Jr., Chas. A. Sturtevant, J. M. Sturtevant.

WEDDING AT KUSHLA

Saturday, August 15, at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Sturtevant, of Kushla, Ala., Mr. Marion Eugene Tisdale and Miss Helen Morse Sturtevant were married by Rev. D. A. Planck of Mobile. Owing to recent bereavement, the ceremony which was hastened by the ill health of the groom, was witnessed only by the immediate family.     Mr. and Mrs. Tisdale left Saturday evening over the Southern for the mountains of North Carolina.

 

    Marion Eugene Tisdale, Jr. wrote, “After the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom along with Alfred Henry and Harriet Sturtevant and the groom's mother Eliza Pratt Tisdale went out to the family cemetery where the bride placed the flowers she had carried on the newly made grave of her brother Bradford, near the grave of Benjamin Franklin Tisdale, Eliza's late husband...” “...Marion Eugene Tisdale evidently had an early stage brain cancer and was destined to live less than 11 years after the wedding...”

For more information about the house see my blog post of March 30, 2018. A Visit to the Magee Farm

Magee-Tisdale Cemetery, Kushla, Alabama          Photo by Vera Zimmerman 2010

Death of Nathan Tisdale (1831-1901)

Nathan Tisdale (1831-1901)

Among the newspaper clippings tucked into the Tisdale Booksh family bible was the obituary of Belle's first cousin, Nathan Tisdale. Nathan was the son of her father's oldest brother, Joseph Wade Tisdale and his wife, Mary Amelia Wilson. I wrote about Nathan back in April 2015, but since it has been so long ago I will repeat it.

When my mther was making copies of the clippings she noticed something that caught her eye. One of Nathan's daughters was Mrs. Joseph Daniels. She had been one of Mama's teachers in elementary school. Mama said, "When it came time to study the War Between the States, Mrs. Daniels would say, 'Put away your ooks and I'll read you about the real war.' Then she would read us old letters from people in her family that fought in the war."

1901 Nathan Tisdale Obituary,Sunday, July 28, 1901, Tmes-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) page 3.

TRANSCRIPTION:

ALGIERS AFFAIRS

Death of a Man of Many Honorable Years

Nathan Tisdale, another from the now decimated ranks of Confederate veterans left this terrestrial sphere last Wednesday to join his comrades who have gone before. It was at the home of his son Julian in Rochelle, La., that he breathed his last [July 24, 1901], after a protracted illness, extending over several years. His body was brought to the city last Thursday evening, when it was met at Gretna by Hon. Walter Guion, representing the Army of Tennessee camp, and conveyed to Metairie cemetery, where it was consigned to the handsome and well filled tomb of that organization, in compliance to a long time request of deceased. The remains were accompanied from Rochelle by the members of the family there, in addition to the many relatives from the city.

Deceased was over 70 years old, and had lived an honorable and useful life and while in health made good earnings which were devoted to the use of his family.

Nathan Tisdale was born in Marengo county, Ala., Jan. 8, 1831. He returned to Mobile with the family in his early years, and remained there until 14 years of age, thence to New Orleans, where he resided for two years with his mother and five brothers. He attended the Washington Public School, then taught by a man named Lincoln. He then removed to Covington, where he lived until 1855, when he came to Algiers, where he entered the Orleans dry dock, owned by Peter Marcy and Dick Salter, to learn the ship carpenter's trade. In the following year he was wont to work as a journeyman at full wages on the Louisiana dock No. 1, owned by John Hughes and R. Vallette, and worked there until the war broke out, when he volunteered his services as above stated. When the federal gunboats were coming up the river to capture New Orleans the Algiers Guards would not remain to be captured, but left the city. Nathan Tisdale then prompted by patriotic impulses, sought to reach his brothers, Richard and Joseph, who were in the Army of Virginia, and while en route there was detailed to work for the Confederate government at Charleston, S. C. For several weeks he was at death's door in the hospital at Magnolia, Miss., with typhoid pneumonia. He was at the siege of Mobile, when General E. R. S. Canby attacked it with 70,000 men, when the Confederate forces were only 7,000 men strong. He received a terrible wound there, while in a rifle pit,the ball cutting away the right eyeball, breaking his nose, passing through the left jaw bone and lodging in his left shoulder. He remained in the hospital a long time before he recovered, and ever since has been a suffer[er] from the wound. He was paroled with General Dick Taylor's command at Meridian. He was not able to do hard work for two years afterwatds, and he often spoke in the highest terms of his old comrade and friend, Captain Mark A. Morse, for getting him his first job after the war as carpenter on the steamship Mary Morgan, then in the Texas trade. He only held the position five months, when he resigned on account of his wife's ill-health. He worked as carpenter on the steamships Harlan, Gussie, Hughes, Morgan City and Algiers, all of the Morgan Line. On the latter ship he did his best work. He was on the Gussie, when she was supposed to be lost at sea; on the Harlan, when she was burned at Bluefields?, and while on the steamship Algiers, in Mobile harbor, fell down an open hatchway, a distance of 18 feet, and lay unconscious for a long time from the effects of the fall. He had two ribs broken from another fall, and had a cancer cut from his lip. So it can be seen that his life was fraught with hardship and misfortunes, which were only alleviated by the devotion of his beloved wife and devoted children.

A few months since his daughter, Eva Tisdale, was buried just as she had blossomed into beautiful womanhood, and that shock hastened the death of this good old man. The surviving widow [Catherine Lamontis now at her daughter's home in Algiers, and the loss of her husband has prostrated her, coming so soon in the wake of the death of her daughter.

The other surviving members of the family are the children: Mrs. Joseph W. Daniels, wife of the superintendent of station A postoffice; Walter L Tisdale, Urania, La., Mrs. B. F. Pendavis, Tullis, La., Julian Tisdale, Rochelle, La., and Edgar Tisdale, who is employed on the steamship Algiers, of the Morgan Line. [probably New Orleans newspaper]   

Elizabeth Shemwell Murray Obituary, 1901

 

One of the many obituaries found among Belle Tisdale's papers.
This one was found on page 4 of the Sunday, May 26, 1901 Times-Picayune newspaper.

Transcription:

MURRAY - On Saturday, May 25, 1901, ELIZABETH SHEMWELL, widow of the late T. F. Murray, aged sixty-two yeears.   Funeral will take place from St. Stephen's Church This Evening at 3:30 o'clock..  Interment private.

Elizabeth Shemwell Murray was buried in Lafayette Cemetery Number 1, New Orleans, Louisiana, according to the Loisiana State Museum Historical Center Cemetery Records. She was born in 1838 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Martha Sinnot and Harrison Higgs Shemwell. She married Thomas Murray (1807-1878) in 1836. They had four chilldren, Elizabeth, Allen James, Frank H. and Mary Alice. (Family Search website)

This was all I was able to find out about her. In Aunt Lee's photo album there is a cabinet photo of a man identified on the back as "Uncle Allen Shemwell." On the Family Search website he is listed as Allen James Shemwell, born in 1840 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  On January 30, 1883, around the time when this photo was made, he married Louise H. Wood (1847-1925).  He died 12 January 1892 and was buried in Lafayette Cemetery Number 1.  His parents were Harrison Higgs Shemwell and Martha Sinnot.  So it appears he was Elizabeth's brother. We still don't know how they were connected to the Tisdale family.

Allen James Shemwell 1840-1892

Letter from Marion Tisdale to Lee Tisdale 1901

Marion Eugene Tisdale (1871-1914) Cabinet Card c1900

  Marion Eugene Tisdale wrote this letter to his sister, Lee Tisdale, on March 22, 1901. Marion was the seventh child of Benjamin and Eliza Tisdale. He was born March 21, 1871 when  Lee was five years old.  

  He is listed on the 1900 U.S. Census as living at 403 Spring Hill Avenue in Mobile, Alabama. He was 28 years old, single, living with his older brother Robert Rafael Tisdale and Robert's wife Mary, Maria Theresa Maus (1869-1906), and their two year old son Robert Jr. 

   On August 15, 1903 Marion married Helen Sturtevant. She was the daughter of Alfred Henry Sturdevant and Harriet Morse of Illinois. In 1898 they bought  a house in Whistler, Alabama, just north of Mobile that belonged to the Magee family. The two-story Gulf Coast Cottage was built in 1848 for Jacob Magee (1811-1883) and his wife Mary Eliza Tisdale (1810-1882), older sister of Benjamin Franklin Tisdale. Their daughter Helen met a young man named Marion Eugene Tisdale at a dance in Mobile and brought him home to meet her family. As the wagon pulled up  the road to her house he exclaimed, "This is my Aunt's house!"   

 In 1910 Marion is listed at 43 Old Shell Road in Mobile, Alabama  with wife Helen and daughters Hope and Margaret and son Bradford. In 1913 they had another son, Harry Lee. 

   Marion's grandson, also named Marion Tisdale, wrote in 2004:

 "Marion (1) apparently had an  early stage brain cancer..." His right eye was surgically removed in an attempt to cure his cancer. "My father, Marion Eugne Tisdale (2) was christened Harry Lee at the time of his birth. Just four and one half months later his father died on Jan 5, 1914 and his name was changed to Marion Eugene shortly thereafter. Since his father died bfore his name was changed he was not a junior." (From a manuscript titled "Some Memories of The Magee Farmhouse" published online but since removed.)

   

1901 03 22 Marion Tisdale to Lee Tisdale, Typed letter in the Belle Tisdale collection, on United States Engineer Office stationery.  Transcribed by Vera Booksh Zimmerman 3 Jun 2013 from copy.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Page 1

United States Engineer Office,

No. 150 St. Francis Street [crossed out]

188 Government Street [typed in]

Mobile, Alabama, March 22, 1901.

Dear Lee:

Your nice little handkerchief case arrived at home yesterday, in good condition, and it was mighty nice of you to think of your old Mobile brother's birthday. The painting is real pretty and well done, but I did not know that was one of your talents. When I received your letter yesterday morning, saying you were sending me something by express, and that you painted it yourself, didn't know what was coming. Like the way it is trimmed up, with yellow, as I am partial to that color for such ornaments. Will fill it with handkerchiefs and let them take in some of that sachet, which is very sweet. After taking out my package, we started to throw the box and stuff away, but in pulling the cotton and paper out, they discovered Robert Jr's little glass. Put it at his place this morning for breakfast, telling who sent it to him, and he was much pleased with it and requested that his new glass be filled with cold milk.

Well, I am now wearing glasses, and the sight in my right eye is growing more dim and obscure instead of improving. The doctor has examined my eye and says he can find nothing apparently the matter beyond a slightly engorged condition of the blood vessels of the retina. Has given me some medicine in the shape of pills to take inwardly, and has placed glasses on me to do the external work, but no improvement has yet resulted. In the meantime

2.

my eye does not pain me. One thing pecul;iar about the business, and the doctor pronounces it an error of refraction, that is, an error in the way objects asre conveyed to my sight, or the reflector in the back of my eye----when I look at any objecvt with the affected eye, for instance a printed word, I can see the words all around it much better than the one looked at. Don't know what will be the final result of it all.

You said not one word about moving, though I specially inquired about this, and you said you would have to move by the 15^th. Will send this letter too the old address, as I suppose it will be delivered even if you have secured another dwelling place.

Wrote Willie a long letter yesterday, sending hm one of my photographs, one of those I had taken in New Orleans February 22, 1900. Suppose he will fall in a help [heap] when he receives them, but surprises are in order and I suppose he will stand the shock.

Sorry to hear of May's illness, but it will be pleasant for her to spend a short time at Covington. Think I could enjoy anything of the kind at any time and any place, even at Bay St. John. Don't want to stay in any one place and vegetate and go to seed; going anywhere is better than always remaining in one place, seeing the same objects and people every day. Don't know where I will spend my vacation this summer, but I want to go North again if possible. The people I met last summer are counting on me, and say I must report at Buffalo for the next meeting of the National Shorthand Reporter's meeting.

The latest Mobile & Ohio R. R. news indicate that Cousin Frank, Jake and Steve will retain their positions. Hope this may prove correct, as Cousin Polly has been on the ragged edge ever since this railroad changed hands, fearing it meant a scattering of the family....A traveler of the Mormon faith, a missionary, called at the house today and left some literature pertaining to their faith, &c. Where is Edgar Tisdale living with his new wife, and when did you see or hear of Maud? Have you heard how Eva is?

With much affection to all, I am,

your brother, MARION.

To read more about the Magee Farm see my post of 10 Mar 2018 A Visit to the Magee Farm

 

Booksh or Tisdale Family

 

Who are these people?

Who are these people? The only one I can identify is Samuel Walker Booksh, the man in the first row with the handlebar mustache, fourth from the left.

Judging from the women's clothes and hats and the two military uniforms the gathering occurred about 1900. It could be Booksh family members in New Orleans or Grosse Tete, Louisiana or Tisdale family members in New Orleans, Louisiana, or Mobile, Alabama.  I sort of lean to Booksh as I remember they had big family reunions in Grosse Tete, Iberville Parish, Louisiana. I attended two Booksh reunions. One in the late 1970's was in Grosse Tete. We took Grandpa Wilton Tisdale Booksh Sr. with us. 

The really big reunion was in 2004 in Lafayette. This was in honor of Great Great Grandpa Charles Booksh (1808-1886). Grandpa's Cousin Winnnie Booksh Wackwitz didstributed copies of the genealogy completed by her husband, Henk Wackwitz. She made one copy for each of Charles's six sons who had living descendants. I was granted custody of the copy for Samuel Walker Booksh (1852-1930). It's a truly wonderful and well-researched genealogy and I will be happy to share information with any other descendants out there.

The large photo is 8" x 14" and was pasted to a dark cardboard backing. When I copied the photo it was part of the Belle Tisdale Booksh collection in the possession of my aunt Emma Frances Booksh Sarradet in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is now probably in the possession of her son Steve Sarradet, Jr.

Great Grandpa Samuel Walker Booksh would have been about 47 years old in 1900. His wife Belle Tisdale Booksh, maybe the woman to his right, would have been about 45 years old. Next to her may be oldest son Sam Jr., about 19. Sons Leonard and Wilton and daughter Belle do not seem to be in the photo.

I have shown the photo to many members of the Booksh and Tisdale extended families but no one had ever seen a copy of the photo or knew which family it was. Does anyone out there recognize it?

1900 Letter from Wilton to his Mama

In July 1900 young Wilton Booksh boarded the Texas & Pacific Railroad in New Orleans to visit his Booksh relatives in Grosse Tete, Louisiana. On July 16 he wrote his mother this letter:

Letter in pencil from Wilton Tisdale Booksh to his mother Belle Tisdale Booksh with child's railroad ticket #646 Texas & Pacific Railway, written July 16,1900, and envelope stamped New Orleans July 15, 1900.

Transcription:

                                                                                                Bookshville La

                                                                                                July 16 1900

Dear Mama,

        I arrived here safe and sound, uncle Fred met me and I took dinner at uncle Freds house and then went down to uncle Georges and told them all helo and now I am at uncle Cabe's. Many says thanks for buying his autoharp. On the way up the conducter didnt take my ticket and you will find it in this letter. Tell Frank and all the rest of the boys that

[Page 2] I am going on a fish fry Friday and come back the next day. I caught three perc h today with my little line and a turtle bit the hook off. Manny told me to tell you that he has learned two peaces. This evening Manny and I are going away down the creek fishing. As I came up the Morgan and the T and P had a race and the frunt of her engine came about twenty five yds. from our back platform of the sleeper. Cousin Carrie says pleas send a patent

[Page 3] over that keeps people from working.

                                                                                            byby

                                                                                            from Wilton

P.S. Send some stamps. The freight agent punched two holes in my ticket when I checked my valise.

The people listed in Wilton's letter are:

    Uncle Fred - Frederick Scott Booksh (1858-1914), brother of Wilton's father

    Uncle George - George Washington Booksh (1851-1928), brother of Wilton's father

    Uncle Cabe /Clabe - Thomas Claiborne Booksh (1846-1902), brother of Wilton's father

    Cousin Manny - George Emanuel Booksh (1887-1967), son of Claiborrne Booksh

    Cousin Carrie - Carrie Belle Booksh (1873-1949), daughter of Claiborne Booksh

In the 1900 U.S. Census there are five Booksh families listed in the Grosse Tete area:

Charles Edouard (1838-1911) – Living with second wife Presidia Meyer in Belle Place, Iberia Parish. They were married 30 Oct 1888 in New Orleans. He had eight children with his first wife Mary Adelaide Crain.

Joseph Edgard (1842-1913) – Living with wife Zepharine Daigre and three daughters in Grosse Tete. He had seven children with his first wife, Elizabeth Adelaide Crain.

Thomas Claiborne (1846-1908) – Living with wife Erefile Joffrion and five of their seven children in Grosse Tete.

George Washington (1851-1928) – Living with wife Francis Effie Brooks and nine of their children in Grosse Tete.

Frederick Scott Booksh (1858-1914) – Living with wife Mary Emma Wallace and her daughter Kinta Duffel in Grosse Tete..

It's no wonder Wilton referred to the village as Bookshville.

The St. Mary Street House

 

Belle Tisdale Booksh and her mother Eliza Pratt Tisdale
at the St. Mary Street House in New Orleans
 

The front porch of the house where Sam and Belle and their family lived at 1311 St. Mary Street was the place where many family photos were taken. I was surprised to find  by searching Google Maps that the house is still standing and looks much the same.

They are first listed as living there in the 1907 Voter Registration list and then on the 1910 US Census: New Orleans, Ward 10, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. The family is listed as Samuel W., age 57, Belle M. 55, Samuel W. Jr. 29, Charles L. [Leonard], 27, Wilton T. [my grandfather] 24, and Vera B. [also known as Belle] 19.

Olivia Lee Tisdale, Arabella Vera Booksh,
Belle Tisdale Booksh and Eliza Pratt Tisdale c1910

The family is also listed at that address in the Marriage document of son Sam Jr. to Thelma Regina Ventress 28 October 1912

Sam Booksh Jr. and wife Thelma Ventress with Leonard and Vera c1912

Samuel Walker Booksh Sr. c1915

By the 1920 census the family had moved to 1831 Bayou Road. The family had increased to include Sam Sr., Belle, Vera and her husband John Posey Ventress (brother of Sam Jr.'s wife Thelma), Charles Leonard and his wife Armelle, and Aunt Lee.Tisdale.

Olivia South Carolina Tisdale

Olivia South Carolina Tisdale c1890

Olivia (pronounced  O LEE vee ah) was always known to me as Aunt Lee.  Her niece, my Great Aunt Vera  Booksh Ventress, told me lots of stories about her. She was born 8 February 1864, the seventh child of Eliza Helen and Benjamin Franklin Tisdale. She never married and was an independent woman supporting herself as a nurse.

She had a busy social life and I found lots of newspaper clippings that mentioned her. One is a column called "Woman's World and Work" in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on June 5, 1895. It says:

"Everyone who attended the recent great festival for the benefit of the House of the Good Shepherd will remembrer the ladies' riding race, which was one of the exciting features of this memorable event. The young ladies who risked their lives in their noble efforts to aid an institution sheltering their less fortunate sisters were Misses Lee Tisdale and Adele Kemp. They are daring equestriennes, and graceful ones as well, and their riding excited unbounded enthusiasm. The committee on sports in charge of this programme, in order to testify their appreciation and that of many friends for the services rendered the cause by Misses Tisdale and Kemp, presented them a few days ago with beautiful souvenirs, and an accompanying letter of thanks, which they will preserve among their precious mementoes."

During the next few years the newspapers were full of stories of  the war in Cuba. In 1895 Cuban Nationalists had begun a revolution against Spanish rule. In January 1898 the United States Navy sent the battleship USS Maine to Havana to protect U. S. citizens. The Maine was sunk by a mine explosion in the harbor on February 15. The United States Congress passed a joint resolution acknowledging Cuban independence and authorized president William  McKinley to use military measures to end fighting in Cuba. Spain rejected the U.S. ultimatum and severed diplomatic relations. A naval blockade of Cuba was implemented and a call went out for 125,000 military volunteers. Spain declared war on the U.S. and Congress voted to go to war against Spain on April 25, 1898.

It wasn't just soldiers that were off to Cuba. Aunt Lee was a nurse and she went to Cuba with the American Red Cross. A barely legible newspaper clipping among the papers in Belle's trunk says:

"Miss Lee Tisdale, one of the young lady friends of the Louisiana Field Battery who participated in the sewing circle the other day when the ladies went to the barracks and sewed for all three batteries, has gone to Santiago as a nurse. She is a very popular young lady, and well known in the city. She was the winner of one of the [prizes?] at the [festival?] for the benefit of the House of Good Shepherd several years ago."

It wasn't a very long war but it had big consequences. A cease-fire was signed on August 12, 1898 amd the war officially ended four months later when the Treaty of Paris was signed on December 10, 1898. Besides guaranteeing the independence of Cuba, the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the U.S. and to agree to sell the Philippines to the U.S. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899 by a margin of one vote.

When Aunt Lee returned to New Orleans she continued her life a nurse. I ended up with her red velvet photo album full of photos of family and friends, identified for me by my Great Aunt Vera. I have already used several of them in this blog. On page one of the album is a photo of a soldier that Aunt Lee met during her time in Cuba.

Aunt Lee's Photo Album
Cabinet Card Photos of Ira Roberts and Leonard Sisman

On the back of his photo Leonard Sisman wrote this message:

    Like a plank of driftwood 

tossed o'er the watery main

another plank encounters, 

meets touches and parts again &

so on drifting ever o'er life's 

tempestuous sea,

we meet [...?.. & ..?..] 

parting eternally

                Very Truly Yours

                Leonard Sisman

                    _____2 US Vol Inf.

                                          Cuba

                                1899

THE PANIC OF 1893

The Panic of 1893 was a severe financial crisis and economic depression marked by bank failures, busines closures and hgh unemployment. Begining in February 1893, the effects continued to be felt in every sector of the economy until 1897. It was the most serious economic depresion in the United States until the Great Depression in the 1930s.

What effects this depression had on the Samuel Walker Booksh family are unknown but it was in early 1893 that the family moved from the Baton Rouge area to New Orleans. Great Grandpa Sam had been elected Registrar of Voters of East Baton Rouge Parish in October 1892. His term was to run until September 1894. (Baton Rouge Newsletter:East Baton Rouge Parish Elected Officials, Vol. IV No. 1 (Jan 1984), La. Genealogical & Historical Society).  

His mother-in-law, Eliza Pratt Tisdale, wrote on November 5, 1893 that she was moving to live with Sam and Belle on St. Andrew Street in New Orleans. Did The Panic of 1893 cause them to move from East Baton Rouge Parish to New Orleans? 

 The family at the time consisted of Sam and Belle and their four children:

    Samuel Walker Booksh Jr., born 4 March 1881, age 12

    Charles Leonard Booksh, born 3 January 1883, age 10

    Wilton Tisdale Booksh, born 7 February 1886, age 7

    Arabella Guinevere Booksh, born 13 August 1889 age 4    

  (The entry in the Booksh Family Bible has a note by her name saying “She will be our last.”)

Samuel Walker Booksh c 1910

Arabella Guinevere c1895
known as Belle and Vera

In a newspaper article in the Times-Picayune on  3 September 1930 Sam's picture appeared with an article titled "U.S. Watchman at Custonhouse Quits on Pension."

     "After 27 years of continuous service as a watchman for the United States customhouse, Samuel W. Booksh, 77 years old, has retired. In honor of his long service, a score of friends and employees of the customhouse assembled in the marble hall of the institution at noon Tuesday and presented him with a basket of flowers and a check...."

     "A native of Louisiana, Mr. Booksh was appointed to federal service in 1893 during President            Cleveland's administration..."

The 1894 New Orleans City Directory has Samuel W. Booksh working as a watchman at the Custom House and residing at 147 St. Andrew Street. (Soard's New Orleans City Directory, Vol. 31, p.173)  The 1895, 1897, and 1898 directories show their address as 815 St. Andrew. This doesn't necessarily mean they moved. It could have been a renumbering of the streets. In the 1899 City Directory the family is listed at 1365 Constance Street.  

The 1900 Census shows them living in the same house as as Eliza Tisdale at 1365 Constance Street.  By 1910, according to the Census, Sam and Belle were living at 1311 St. Mary Street. By 1920 they are listed at 1831 Bayou Road. This was the same house he was  living in when he died  3 November 1930.

For a complete biography of Samuel Walker Booksh see blogpost of July 2, 2019.