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.

 

Samuel Walker Booksh 1853-1930

Samuel Walker Booksh 1875

Happy Birthday, Great Grandpa Sam


Samuel Walker Booksh was born on the Fourth of July in 1853 in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. He was baptized in St. Gabriel Church on 16 January 1854.

In this carte de visite the photographer, A. D. Lytle, has touched up Sam's blonde hair and mustache as well as his blue eyes. We have always called it "I wish I had a penciled-in mustache."

In 1850 the Charles Booksh family (listed as Brooks) are living in Iberville Parish, Dwelling 550, Family 590. Charles is 42 years old and Eliza is 31. With them are sons [Charles] Edward 12, [Joseph] Edgar 8, [John] Adolpha 7, [Leonard] Scott 5, and [Thomas] Claiborn 2. Son Louis Frederick had died just the month before  in July 1850. This was probably the house where Sam was born.  (US Census; Year: 1850; Census Place: Iberville, Louisiana; Roll: M432_231; Page: 343A; Image: 365)


In the 1860 census the Booksh family is is still listed in Iberville Parish, Grosse Tete post office, in Dwelling 163. Charles is 52 years old and a Planter with Real Estate valued at $37,500. His wife Elizabeth is 41 years old. His oldest son [Charles] Edward, age 22 is overseer and is listed with his wife Mary 22 and daughter Eliza 2. The rest of the family is [Joseph] Edgar 18, [John] Adolphus 16, [Thomas] Claborn 14, George [Washington] 9, Samuel [Walker] 7, Eliza [Lizzie] 5, and [Frederick] Scott 2.  (US Census; Year 1860; Census Place: Iberville, Louisiana; Roll: M653_411; Page 261; Family History Library Film: 803411) 

Sam was 8 years old when the Civil War began. His oldest brother Charles Edward and several cousins went off to fight. Besides the upheaval of the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Booksh family also suffered through the Great Flood of 1867. Also in 1867 Eliza filed suit against her husband because he had "willfully and without regard expended $6,992 of her prenuptial monies." The Booksh plantation and other properties were sold and the family broke up.

By 1870 Eliza was living in Iberville Parish but husband Charles and children, including Samuel,  are listed as living in East Baton Rouge in the 12th Ward of Baton Rouge in three adjoining houses on the property of Sam's brother Edgar (Joseph Edgard Booksh). The census lists Charles Booksh in Dwelling 422. In Dwelling 423 are Clayborn 24, George W. 19, Samuel 17, Eliza 15, Frederic 12, Erae 21 [Erefile, wife of Claiborn] and Charles 2 [son of Claiborn]. Unfortunately all are indexed with the surname Eli after the House Keeper Loucien Eli, making them very difficult to find. The next dwelling is 424 and there we find Edgar Booksh 27 [Joseph Edgard] and his wife Cramea [Delia] 27 and their three children James 4, Carie 2 [Harriet], and Anie 1 [Alice].   (US Census; Year: 1870; Census Place: Baton Rouge Ward 12, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Roll: M593_512; Page: 215A; Family History Library Film: 552011)

Henk Wackwitz in his "Ancestors and Descendants of Charles Booksh" writes that Edgard described himself as a "Hotel owner" and as "Running a Boarding House." He may have been referring to this time when his Booksh family came to live with him in Baton Rouge.

In 1870 Belle and her family were living with her Grandpa and Grandma Pratt in the 3rd Ward of East Baton Rouge Parish and are listed on page 215 so this was probably when Sam and Belle met.  On 23 April 1878 Arabella Maria Tisdale and Samuel Walker Booksh were married in St. Joseph's Church in Baton Rouge.

By 1880 the Booksh family had reunited and the census lists Belle and Sam living with Charles Booksh, age 72, and his wife Eliza Elizabeth Booksh, age 60, in the 9^th 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 (Mary Eliza "Maimie" David age 3); and S. B. [Seth Booksh] David age 4, children of Sam's sister Lizzie, deceased. (For a discussion of this census see blogpost of April 29, 2018)

 It wasn't long before Sam and Belle started their own family. On 4 March 1881 their first son, Samuel Walker Booksh Jr. was born. Charles Leonard Booksh was born 3 January 1883. My Grandpa Wilton Tisdale Booksh was the third child, born 7 February 1886. Daughter Arabella Guinevere Booksh (known as Belle, Vera, Roonie and Noo) was born 13 August 1889.

Sam was elected U.S. Registrar of Voters for East Baton Rouge Parish in 1892. On February 26, 1894 he was granted Patent No. 294,189 for a Breeching Attachment for Carriage Shafts. 

In1893 the family moved to New Orleans.  In the 1900 Census the family, listed as Bevoksh in the census index, is living at 1365 Constance Street with Belle's widowed mother Eliza. In the 1907 City Directory and the 1910 census they are living at 1311 St. Mary  Street. In 1920 they are listed at 1831 Bayou Road. Sam was a Watchman at the New Orleans Custom House  between 1893 and 1930.

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 wachman for the United States customhouse, Samuel W. Booksh, 77 years old, has retired. In honor of his long service, a score of friends an 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..."

Samuel Walker Booksh Sr. died 3 November 1930. He was buried at the Girod Street Cemetery.

A Christmas Present from Sam Booksh

On December 25, 1875 Belle received a Christmas present from Samuel Walker Booksh.

Carte de Visite album c 1870

It was a little leather photo album for the small calling card sized photos known as Carte de Visite which were made from 1854 to 1905. They were most popular in the 1860s.

 This album was made by 
  A. J. Holman & Co. of Philadelphia.

On the first page Sam has written:

Miss Belle Tisdale
From her .....
Sam'l W. Booksh
Dec. 25/75

















This is the earliest mention of Sam Booksh in Belle's papers.  They must have met when she was staying with her Grandma and Grandpa Pratt in East Baton Rouge Parish. His family lived across the Mississippi River in Grosse Tete, Iberville Parish.  Perhaps he was her beaux and from his inscription it seems he wanted to be more, maybe her fiance. Was this part of a marriage proposal?  They married in April 1878, a little more than two years later.

The first carte de visite in the album is not a photo but  a reproduction of a romantic painting titled Tender Chord. 





When I first saw the album it was filled with photos. Grandpa Booksh was able to identify most of them for me. Many were of Sam's brothers, his sister and other relatives. Was this his way of bringing her into his family?

The photo of Sam in the album bears a striking resemblance to my brother. It has been enhanced by the photographer, A. D. Lytle. No doubt Sam's blonde hair and blue eyes were under exposed. In the family we have titled this one "I wish I had a penciled-in moustache."

Samuel Walker Booksh   1853-1930

The back of the photo has the inscription:

Miss Belle Tisdale

From her friend

Saml. W. Booksh

and the word "rememberence" written just

above the photographer's name.

Samuel Booksh was born on the 4th of July 1853 in Grosse Tete, Iberville Parish, Louisiana, son of Charles Booksh, 1808-1886, and Marie Eliza Elizabeth Leonard, 1819-1897. He was the eighth of ten children, nine boys and one girl. He married Arabella Maria Tisdale on 23 April 1878. They moved from Grosse Tete to New Orleans in 1893. He died 3 November 1930 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Another photo in the album is of a more casually

posed Sam with his older brother Thomas Claiborne

Booksh, 1846-1902.                                                                             

Thomas Claiborne and Samuel Walker Booksh, c1875