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

Letter to Belle from her Papa

B. F. Tisdale
Carte de Visite c.1860

On his 45th birthday, March 19, 1868, Benjamin F. Tisdale sat at his desk in New Orleans and penned a letter to his daughter, Arabella Maria. He addressed the letter to her "Care of Wm. Pratt Esqr., Baton Rouge."

The first page of that letter forms the background of this blog. Belle and her sister Mary were staying with their grandparents, William and Bernice Pratt at their plantation, Oakland Place, about five miles east of the city of Baton Rouge. The situation in New Orleans was still very chaotic with business at a standstill and goods and money scarce.

The original letter is on a page of thin legal size paper, 8 1/2" x 14", in my possession. There is an embossed imprint in the upper left corner of the page that looks like a large building with the letters O & H. Although there is no year written on the letter or on the postmark we know it was written in 1868 because of the mention of the baby Robbie "beginning to talk." Robert Rafael Tisdale was born on 24 October 1866 so he would have been almost 18 months old in March 1868. Belle's sister, Lee (Olivia South Carolina Tisdale), was born 8 February 1864 and would have been four years old. Mother Eliza would have been busy preparing for her steamship trip up the Mississippi to Baton Rouge.

The transcription is exactly as written.

New Orleans March 19th

My Dear Daughter

I received Your very Welcome letter Yesterday and Was Satisfied to Know that all Were Well and that You had not forgotten Your Father. I have to apologize to You for having remained So long Silent. I have been busy and in Some trouble, but that is No excuse for Neglecting to answer Your letter to Me. If We have not the love of our Children to Comfort us as We grow old life loses half its Autumnal Charms, and the Winter of Age Comes upon us Cold indeed. I love My Children as Well as I Was loved by My Parents and in their Smiles and affection for me I find Much Consolation for the troubles that have borne Me down for Years past. Children do Not Know the Sorrows and the Anxieties their Parents have, and Should always try to be as Kind and obedient to them as they Can. I am Sorry you did Not Write to Me as You usually do, and tell Me all the News of the place You did Not Mention Franky Nor Willie.Why? Dont You love them any More? Or, Was it that You Were Angry With Me and Would Not gratify Me even So far? Very Well. Perhaps, You will Know Some day What it is to have trouble and then in the Midst of Your trouble to lose the love of those You love the best. God does Not prosper the Child that Ceases to love and honor its Father and its Mother. Many Cases are in the Bible, as Well as in profane history, illustrating the punishment inflicted upon Children for not honoring their Father and their Mother. You have always until Now Seemed to love Me. Well, I have done Nothing to forfeit Your love, and if I have lost

[page 2]

it I suppose I must bear the loss as best I May. If I Were rich I Could Console myself With the pleasures Money Would buy - but now I am poor indeed if With My fortune I lose the affection of my Children.

Your Mother goes up on Saturday and Will arrive Sunday Morning. Before You Get this however You Will get my Dispatch of today announcing her departure Next Saturday.

Robbie and Lee are Well. Rob is the Sweetest little fellow ever You Saw. He is beginning to talk, and understands everything You Say to him. Lee is Well and as mischievous as ever.

I will Not tell You any of My plans When Your Mother is gone. She Will tell You What We going to try to do this Fall With the help of God. Tell aunt Margaret I Send her a pipe by Eliza.

Give My love to Frankie & Willie and Kiss them for Me. This is My birthday and on it Now, in this letter I say to You My Dear Daughter God bless You and So good bye.

Your affectionate

Father

Benj F Tisdale

P. S. I will try and Send You Something When they start, 

for You and the other Children. The Moneys so scarce it Cant be Much.