MONDAY'S MOTHERS - Augustine Melanie Laperle Degruy Fortier (1822-1872)

Augustine Melanie Laperle Degruy Fortier
(1822-1872)

[NOTE: I made a correction to daughter Alice's date of death - she was just three when she died.]

Laperle Degruy Fortier is my 3x-great-grandmother. She was the mother of eleven children, the grandmother of twenty-three, with dozens of great-grandchildren, like myself, that were descended from her. This is her story.

Augustine Melanie Laperle Degruy was born on January 17, 1822, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her parents were Jean Baptiste Valentin DuFouchard Degruy (1751-1838) and Melanie Gaudin (1786-1853), both natives of New Orleans. Laperle, as she was called, was the third of six (or seven) children. She was baptized at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans at the age of 2; her older sister Felicite (1818-1832), just six years old, was her sister's godmother.

On Saturday, May 9, 1840, Laperle, age 18, married 27-year-old Jacques Omer Fortier (1813-1867) in New Orleans. Omer's father Jacques Omer Fortier (1792-1823), called Jacques, had died when Omer was just 10 years old, leaving his widow and three young children. Omer's mother Charlotte Adele Chauvin deLery (1796-1834) died just over 10 years later.

Omer's grandfather had once owned a sugar plantation in Jefferson Parish, along the Mississippi River, just outside New Orleans, as had his great-grandfather. When this grandfather, Jacques Omer Fortier (1759-1820), died his widow Aimee Marie Victoire Felicite Durel (1768-1843) became the owner of Pasture Plantation. The plantation was eventually sold to Minor Kenner and burned to the ground in 1870.

Omer was a clerk in New Orleans and the family lived at 256 Bourbon Street (now 1120 Bourbon Street). Laperle and Omer's first child was born just thirteen months after their wedding -  the first of eleven:

• Adele Augustine Philomene Fortier - born June 1841; she died August 17, 1841, at the age of two months.
• Ida Fortier - born September 13, 1842; she died January 29, 1848, at the age of 5 years old.
• Alice Fortier - born April 6, 1844; she died just before her big sister Ida, on January 26, 1848, at just 3 years old.
• Odalie Fortier - born August 31, 1846; she died at the age of 2 years on January 2, 1849.
• Adele Augustine Philomene Fortier - born January 2, 1849; she died at age 37 on February 16, 1886, leaving a husband and two young daughters.
• Omer Auguste Fortier - born June 30, 1855; he died at age 41 on April 13, 1897, leaving a widow and four children.
• Felicite Odalie Fortier - born August 31, 1857; she died November 14, 1920, at the age of 63. Odalie is my great-great-grandmother. She had been widowed, and was survived by four adult children.
• Gaston James Fortier - born September 1860; he died on June 3, 1917, at the age of 56. He was survived by his widow and four adult children.
• Lucian M. Fortier - born September 1861; he died at the age of 23 on October 21, 1884.
• Luciana Fortier - born September 1861, Lucian's twin; she died on July 19, 1942, at the age of 81, leaving three adult children.
• Jeanette Fortier - born May 1868; she died July 7, 1941, at the age of seventy-three, survived by one adult son.

Laperle had eleven pregnancies go full term - that's over 400 weeks being pregnant! She had her first baby when she was nineteen, and her last when she was forty-six. Four of her little girls died by the age of 5.

When her husband died on December 19, 1867, after 27 years of marriage, Laperle was four months pregnant. She had at home six children, soon to be seven, ages 6 to 17. How she managed to raise seven children at a time when women generally didn't work outside the home, and if they did their pay would be very low. There was no day care, no government assistance. Both of her in-laws were dead, as were both of her own parents. How she managed is unknown.

Omer Fortier Family Tomb
St. Louis Cemetery #1
New Orleans, Louisiana

What is known is that she lived less than five years after her husband's death, dying on November 1, 1872, in New Orleans. She was just 50 years old. She was buried in the family plot in St. Louis Cemetery #1.

[Translation of Obituary - "Died, yesterday morning, at 2 o'clock, at the age of 51 years, Mrs. Widow OMER FORTIER, born Laperle Degruy. Her friends and those of her brother, A. O. Degruy, and Fortier families, are respectfully requested to attend without further invitation, her funeral which will begin this morning at 10 am sharp. Her body is (? perhaps available for viewing) at Amour and Union Streets."  From page 1, column 6]


Notice of Death - Laperle Dugruy Fortier
New Orleans Bee, November 2, 1872

MONDAY'S MOTHER - Louisa Elizabeth Waetcher Horst (1838-1933)

Louisa Waetcher Horst
ca. 1900

Louisa Elizabeth Waetcher was born September 14, 1838, in Schildesche, Bielefeld, Westfalan, Prussia, a town that was formed in the year 939. [Schildesche is now a part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany]. Her parents were Johann Frederich Waetcher (1807-1883) and Anna Catherina Illsibien Horenberg (1813-UNK). Louisa had a twin sister, Hanne Friederieke. They are two of the ten siblings that immigrated with their father and step-mother, Hanne Friederiecke Luise Hartman, to the United States, arriving on November 9, 1852, in the Port of New Orleans. Louisa was just 14 years old. [NOTE: Louisa's step-mother gave birth while on the ship.]

The Waetcher family settled in Massac County, Illinois. On October 19, 1856, Louisa married Charles Horst (1836-1900), an immigrant from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. She just turned 18; Charles was 21. Charles was the youngest brother of Martin Horst (1830-1878), my 3x-great-grandfather. Charles, who changed his name from Carl after arriving in America, had arrived with his father and siblings and step-mother in August 1846 when he was just 11.

Charles and Louisa Horst are my 4x-great-aunt and uncle.

Charles and Louisa set up their home in Metropolis in Massac County. Charles was working in 1860 as a Cabinet Maker. After the Civil War was over he wrote his brother Martin, now living in Mobile, Alabama, to ask for a loan to help him purchase a mill in Metropolis. Martin wasn't able to help him at this time but by 1870 Charles listed his occupation as a "Flour Miller" according to the U.S. Census. He remained a miller throughout his lifetime.

Charles and Louisa had their first of twelve children in early 1856. [NOTE: This date is before the known date of their marriage but this may be an error in the transcription of the old records.] Over the next 26 years Louisa would give birth to eight more daughters and two sons; the name and sex of their twelfth child is not known. Their children were:

• Kunigunde Elizabeth Horst (female), called Gundy, was born in March 1856. She married Frederick William Rieke (1854-1922) in 1880. Together they had five children: Gertrude Augusta (1881-1970); twins Bertha Wilhelmina (1883-1953) and Maude L. (1883-1963); Charles Grover (1885-1969); and Romona (1890-1986).
• Bell Horst (female) was born in 1858. She died before 1880.
• Tell Horst (male) was born January 28, 1861. He died before 1880.
• Eleanora Horst was born 1866. She died before 1880.
• Fannie Caroline Horst, born March 1869. She married George Mehaffey (1864-1957) in 1901. Fannie died during childbirth, giving birth to twins Francis Carl Mehaffey (1908-2003) and George James Mehaffey (1908-1994). [NOTE: older sister Gundy helped care for the infants boys for a time immediately after their birth.]
• Twin Nellie Horst was born in 1871. She died before 1880.
• Twin Nettie Horst was born in 1871. She died before 1895.
• Lillie Dale Horst was born January 1, 1875. She married Morton Burnette Card (1878-1950) in 1914. They had one daughter, Flora Louise Card (1914-1996). Lillie died January 20, 1972.

  

  Cassie Horst
  ca. 1900

• Twin Callie Emma Horst was born August 16, 1877. Callie never married; she died March 11, 1964.
• Twin Cassie Anna Horst married Elwin Arba Magill (1874-1947) in 1902. They had two children Calina Magill (1903-1989) and Elwin Arba Magill, Jr. (1914-2001). Cassie died June 10, 1956. 
• Walter Earnest Horst was born July 12, 1882. In 1910 he married Anna J. Murray (1880-1953). Walter died November 1, 1959. They had no children.

Callie Horst
ca. 1900

Louisa's twin sister, Rieke, as she was called, also had twelve children with her husband William Frederick Rixie (1836-1888).

In 1895, Charles and Louisa left Illinois with their surviving children and moved to Pomona, in Los Angeles County, California. Charles died in 1900. Louisa lived with her unmarried children in Pomona, supported by their various incomes. One by one they married and moved away. All but daughter Callie. Callie worked as a Bookkeeper at a Laundry in town. Their last residence was at 678 Gordon Street in Pomona, which Louisa owned.

from Los Angeles Times
May 6, 1933; page A-6

On May 5, 1933, Louisa died in her home. She was 94 years old. She is buried at Pomona Cemetery.

In her 94 years Louisa had lived quite a lifetime.  Born in Prussia, she lost her mother as a young girl. She traveled to America at the age of 14, in steerage class. Speaking only German she settled with her family in the town of Metropolis, Illinois. She married at the age of eighteen and bore twelve children over twenty-six years. She was the wife of a flour mill owner. She buried four young children while living in Illinois. At the age of 56 she packed up her home and her family and traveled across country by train to California before the turn of the century. She left behind her home of forty-three years, her friends, and her family - including her twin sister.

In California she lost her husband of forty-four years and saw at least four of her children marry, leave home and have children of their own. She buried four more of her children before she herself died. She was survived by four children, ten grandchildren and at least thirteen great-grandchildren. What kind of mother was she? I don't know for sure, but there's no doubt that she was a hardworking mother, a supportive wife and a woman devoted to the well-being of her family.

TWINS MUST RUN IN THE FAMILY: Louisa was born a twin (1838). She gave birth to two sets of twins, in 1871 and 1877. Her oldest daughter gave birth to one set of twins in 1883, and another daughter died giving birth to her own set of twins in 1908. In a time when there were no fertility specialists, this is quite a legacy.

MONDAY'S MOTHER - Odalie Felicite Fortier Horst (1857-1920)

Odalie Felicite Fortier Horst
taken in Cincinnati, Ohio

One hundred and fifty-five years ago this Friday  my great-grandmother Odalie Fortier Horst was born. The day was Monday, August 31, 1857, when Odalie Felicite Fortier was born to Jacques Omer Fortier (1813-1867) and Augustine Melanie Laperle Degruy (1822-1872) in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was my great-great-grandparents' seventh child - they would go on to have twelve children in total. Her parents had three daughters who had died before Odalie was born, including their fourth child, named Odalie, too. [See "Friday's Forgotten - Odalie Fortier"] The first Odalie daughter had been born on August 31, 1846, and had died at the age of 2 on the same day that the next Fortier daughter was born - Adele Augustine Philomene, born January 2, 1849.  It was customary at that time for the same name to be given to a child if another earlier child with the name had died. In fact sister Adele was given the same name as Laperle and Omer's first child - Adele Augustine Philomene, born June 1841 and died August 17, 1841.

Laperle and her family lived in their home at 256 Bourbon Street. [NOTE: The house is still there but the numbering system within the city has changed. The house appears to be 1120 Bourbon Street.] According to the 1860 U.S. Census, Omer worked as a Clerk; his real estate holdings were worth $4000, and his personal worth was $1000. This was at the start of the war - no doubt by the time the war was over he and his family were facing much harder times. In December 1867, Omer died; he was 54. Laperle, just 45, was left with six children under the age of 18, and expecting their last. Less than five years later, Laperle, too, was dead. She was just 50 at the time of her death, having given birth to twelve children, buried four of them, as well as her husband, then raised 8 more alone in post-war New Orleans. She and her husband are buried in the family tomb at St. Louis Cemetery #1.

Odalie, along with her siblings Omer Auguste (1855-1897), Gaston James (1860-1917), twins Lucian (1861-1884) and Lucianna (1861-1942) and Jeanette (1866-1941) went to live with their mother's sister Julia Elodie Degruy Mendoza (1828-1914) in Mobile, Alabama. Odalie's only living older sister Adele had married before their mother's death and remained in New Orleans.

While living in Mobile, Odalie met Charles Frederick Horst (1856-1912), son of former Mobile Mayor and successful businessman Martin Horst (1830-1878) and Apollonia Weinschenk (1829-1908), both German immigrants.They were married on January 10, 1879, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mobile.

By the time they had married Charles' father had already died and he was helping to run his father's many businesses, along with his younger brothers. He and his new wife moved in with his mother and siblings at his parents' house on Conti Street that Martin had built after the Civil War. While they were living here Odalie gave birth to the couple's first child - Charles Frederick, born November 15, 1880. The couple's second child was also born in Mobile - Edward Martin, born May 5, 1882.It was at some point after this that the family packed up their bags and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, for Charles' health, including breathing difficulties.

Horst Children
(standing) Charles, Edward; (seated) Omer, Pearl

Years earlier, Charles' father Martin had settled in Cincinnati along with his father and siblings, after arriving in America in 1846. Martin had left Ohio soon after his father and step-mother had died from cholera in 1852 and resettled in Mobile. Martin's older sister Anna Elizabeth Horst Ginter (1827-1877) had remained in Cincinnati with her husband and five children, running a grocery store. So when Charles and Odalie arrived with their two small sons, they moved in with Elizabeth's widowed husband John Ginter (1818-1906) and their children. Charles worked as a saloon keeper in the city - a job he had had much practice doing at his father's establishment growing up.

On November 19, 1884, Odalie gave birth to a daughter, Pearl Alphonsine, my great-grandmother. A third son, Omer Leo, soon joined the family, born May 5, 1887. Odalie must have really been resilient - first losing both her parents and having to leave her home and relocate to a new city to live with her aunt. Then after getting married, living with her German mother-in-law and a house full of her husband's younger siblings, and later adding two of her own to the mix. Then she followed him to Cincinnati, where his relatives lived, moving in with her German brother-in-law and his children, plus her two - and adding two more babies to the home. And when it was time for Charles to leave Cincinnati for their new home in Birmingham, Odalie and their four young children followed him again.



Charles & Odalie Horst, with daughter Dolly
Birmingham, Alabama

Here in Birmingham, Charles joined his younger brother Edward Horst (1858-1901), already relocated, at his establishment in the new city - The Palace Royale Saloon. Here, the two managed the successful bar, while Odalie settled in to her home across from Powell Elementary (the house no longer exists). On February 24, 1890, Odalie gave birth to the couple's youngest - Odalie Marie, called Dolly. Odalie was 43.

They had settled happily in Birmingham - Odalie raising their five children and Charles managing a successful bar. They were also active in their church, St. Paul Catholic Church (later Cathedral) in town. In 1901, Charles' brother and partner Edward had a stroke while at work and died the following day. Charles was now the sole proprietor of the Palace Royale Saloon. On August 30, 1912 [100 years ago this Thursday!], after being ill for a while with liver problems, Charles died. He was just 55 at the time of his death. By this time, two of their children - Charles and Pearl - had married and had children of their own.

Sometime in 1915-1916, second son Edward came down with Tuberculosis. There was no known cure, and many people - but not all - died. It was also highly contagious so those with the illness were kept away from everyone, often times sent far away to "better climate" where it was thought that the dry air was better for the sufferer's lungs. Edward was sent to St. Joseph's Sanatorium in Asheville, North Carolina, run by the Sisters of Mercy for TB patients. Unfortunately Edward did not recover. He died at the age of 34, on November 2, 1916. His brother Charles went to North Carolina to bring him home to be buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, next to his father.

from Birmingham Age-Herald, p.2
November 15, 1920

Gravestone at Elmswood Cemetery
Birmingham, Alabama

On November 14, 1920, Odalie died at the age of 63. The cause of death was listed as Arteriosclerosis - "hardening of the arteries". She was buried next to her husband. Odalie was survived by her four children and fifteen (eventual) grandchildren. She and her husband would one day be able to count forty-six great-grandchildren, at least 76 great-great-grandchildren, and many more great-great-great-grandchildren.

MONDAY'S MOTHERS - Marietta Elizabeth Lloyd Johnson Hartin (1838-1909)

Marietta Elizabeth Lloyd Johnson Hartin is not directly related to me, except by marriage, as the mother-in-law of my great-great-great-uncle. But she is a relative worth noting and this is her story.

Marietta Elizabeth Lloyd Johnson Hartin
In Mourning Attire - ca. 1890

Marietta Elizabeth Lloyd was born on November 4, 1838, in Georgia. Her parents are unknown. In 1860 she married Jack Johnson (UNK) and on January 1, 1862, she gave birth to the couple's only child, a daughter - Mary Elizabeth Johnson. Jack died at some point in the 1870's, leaving Marietta and her young daughter alone.

On October 2, 1879, Marietta married John Sulden Hartin (1844-1904) in Butler County, Alabama. John Hartin was a veteran of the Civil War, having survived being shot twice in battle. He had been married in 1865 to Amanda Elizabeth Hayes (1846-1874) and they had two children: Wiley Suldon Hartin (1867-1911) and Martha Susan Hartin (1873-1954). He was widowed less than ten years after he was first married, left to raise an 8-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter. So when he married Marietta their family now included her daughter Mary, 17, his son Wiley, 12, and his daughter Martha "Mattie", 6.

Young Mary was soon also married. On July 1, 1885, in Rome, Georgia, she married Charles Andrew McCaffrey. Davis, as he was often called (in honor of Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederacy), was born on May 2, 1865, in Selma, Alabama, the 6th of thirteen children. His father, Thomas Joseph McCaffrey (1832-1896), had moved south at the start of the Civil War to work at Tannehill and Brierfield Ironworks. His mother, Charlotte Elizabeth McCluskey (1838-1917) had moved from their home in Baltimore during the war to join her husband. Charles was born in Selma, one month after Union troops had attacked Confederate defenders at Selma; completely outnumbered, Selma fell to the over 12,000 Union troops, and the Ironworks that supplied cannon and ammunition to the south was destroyed. Thomas and Charlotte McCaffrey are my great-great-great-grandparents; Davis is the younger brother of my great-great-grandmother Elizabeth "Lizzie" McCaffrey Flemming (1858-1922).

Charles and Mary had the first of three sons (six months after they were wed). On January 18, 1886, John Thomas was born. Fifteen months later, on April 28, 1887, the family welcomed Charles Louis, called "Carl". Their last child, Karl Albert, was born two years later, on July 22, 1889. Their family was now complete. But their happiness was short lived.

Early in 1890, Mary contracted Typhoid Fever. Typhoid fever is acquired after eating or drinking something that has been contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Obviously where there is poor hygene or poor sanitation the bacteria will thrive. Typhoid fever was very common across America at this time (there are currently 21.5 million people affected worldwide each year  - 400 people in the U.S. acquire it each year, 75% after visiting a foreign country). Symptoms of the illness include a high fever of 103-104 degrees, diarrhea, headache, stomach pain and sometimes delirium.
Antibiotics can be used today to treat the illness but in 1890 no such drug existed.

Mary died on January 14, 1890, at the age of 28. She was buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Rome, Georgia where the family lived. Charles was widowed at 34 years old, left to raise his three little boys - John, four days short of his 4th birthday; Charles, 2-and-a-half; and Karl, 6-months-old. Her only child having died, Mary's mother went into mourning, as was the custom of the time.

Mourning Clothes
Mourning attire was an outward sign of the loss and grief over the death of a loved one - usually a spouse or a child. The mourning period was usually a year and one day from the death, and what you were allowed to wear was quite specific.. Mourning dress for women was always black, plain, with black buttons and was made of a dull cloth, usually crape. A simple veil would also be worn that covered the face. After the first year was completed "half-mourning" would take place. At this time the person could alter her clothes to be less simple - often adding black lace or dark jewelry. The veil could now be worn off the face or a black hat or headpiece would be worn. Half-mourning was usually 9 months. At the end of this time dresses would slowly begin to add colors. Some women may have chosen to wear their mourning clothes for the remainder of their lives, to honor their dead loved one.

Marietta and her husband took her three grandsons into be raised. She was fifty-two years old, her husband was fifty-six. They set up their home in Birmingham, close to where many of the boys' father's sisters lived with their families. In early January 1904, Marietta lost her second husband. Five short years later, on Christmas day 1909, Marietta died at the age of seventy-one. By this time her grandsons were grown - John was 24, Charles was 22, and Karl was 20.

Charles McCaffrey had moved to Mobile, Alabama, and in February 1895, Charles was married to Minnie Lee Miller (1867-1927), and together they had two more children: Clifford (1899-1900) and Charlotte Teresa "Lottie" (1901-1955). Charles died in January 1917, at the age of fifty-one.

MONDAY'S MOTHER - Charlotte Elizabeth McCluskey McCaffrey (1838-1917)

Charlotte Elizabeth McCluskey, my great-great-great-grandmother, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 15, 1838. Her parents, , were  She was the oldest daughter, and second child born to Patrick McCluskey (1810-1855) and his wife Mary (1805-UNK), my 4x-great-grandparents. Patrick and Mary had immigrated from Ireland.

At the age of 16 Charlotte married Thomas Joseph McCaffrey (1832-1896) on August 15, 1853, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Philadelphia. Thomas was living in Baltimore, Maryland, working as a pattern maker in an ironworks factory serving the United States Navy. He was born in Boston, Massachussetts, the middle child of five born to Thomas McCaffrey (1799-1890) and Susan (1793-1869), immigrants from County Tyrone, Ireland.

Charlotte and Thomas were living in Washington, DC at the time of the 1860 U.S. Census. Abraham Lincoln was elected President that same year. But Thomas was a Southern sympathizer and moved to Alabama in 1861, the year Lincoln took office, to make cannon for the Confederacy. Charlotte was left in Baltimore with their three children: Thomas Joseph, born May 14, 1854; Susan, called "Susie", born March 3, 1856; Elizabeth Agnes, called "Lizzie", my great-great-grandmother, born December 23, 1858. Their daughter Mary Frances, born March 13, 1860, had died before she was 8 months old, on November 10, 1860.

While Thomas was in Alabama, first at Brierfield Ironworks in Shelby County, and later at the Selma Ordnance and Naval Foundry in Selma, Charlotte not only cared for Thomas, age 6, Susie, 5, and Lizzie, 2, alone in Baltimore, but she was also expecting baby number five.  She went to Philadelphia, possibly to stay with her widowed mother at this difficult time in her life, when tragedy struck. On May 28, 1861, daughter Susie, just five years old, came down with Scarlet Fever and died at the home of her grandmother. Six months later John Beauregard was born, November 10, 1861, exactly one year to the day after the death of daughter Mary Frances.  Charlotte returned to Baltimore with Thomas, Lizzie and baby John when once again the family suffered a devastating loss. John Beauregard died on June 23, 1863, at just 18 months old.

Battle of Baltimore
April 19, 1861
from Harper's Weekly (May 4, 1861)

[Another possible reason the Charlotte was in Philadelphia in May of 1861 is because of the "Battle of Baltimore"which occured on April 19, 1861. This was the site of the first bloodshed of the Civil War. Maryland was a border state, and a slave-holding state, which did not secede from the Union, but had a great number of southern supporters, including the Mayor and other public officials. President Lincoln had ordered Union troops to protect the nation's capitol from possible take-over by the confederates. On this day, Union troops had disembarked from the train in Baltimore and had to march through the city to board another train across town to take them to their final destination. A mob of successionists and southern sympathizers began throwing rocks and bricks at the train and the soldiers and blocked their route. Fearing for their safety several Union troops fired into the civilian mob and chaos ensued. After the city police force gained control, four Union troops and twelve civilians were killed. Small skirmishes continued in the month ahead but eventually tempers cooled. It makes sense that Charlotte took her family away from the violence and to the safety of her mother's home in Pennsylvania.]

Charlotte, along with other southern sympathizers were forced to leave Baltimore after this. Eventually she and her two surviving children travelled to Selma, Alabama, where Charlotte gave birth to their sixth child. Charles Andrew. "Davis" as he was called (after Confederate President Jefferson Davis) was born on May 2, 1865. Once again the timing of this must be understood with regard to what was happening in the Civil War. Union General James Wilson was moving through Alabama, under orders to destroy all Confederate property at Tuscaloosa. This was at the end of the War. Selma was the location of one of the South's main military manufacturing centers, producing tons of supplies and munitions and turning out Confederate warships. Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was leading the defense of the city. But with the Union's 9,000 soldiers versus the Confederate's 2,000 men, many of whom were not veterans but militia consisting of old men and young boys, the city fell to the Union. Charlotte's husband Thomas was among this militia. The Battle of Selma took place on April 2, 1865, one month prior to the birth of Davis McCaffrey. The battle lasted through most of the day but by nightfall all that was left to do was to round up the confederate prisoners who had not jumped into the Alabama River or escaped through the woods. Thomas McCaffrey was among those who were captured at Selma and briefly held prisoner.

Ruins of Confederate States Naval Foundry at Selma

The Union forces looted the city of Selma that night, setting fire to many of the businesses and homes. They spent the next week or two destroying the arsenal and naval foundry, before heading on to Montgomery. On April 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army. Prisoners-of-war were released at this time. On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln was assasssinated. Eighteen days later Charlotte had her baby.

Charlotte would give birth to seven more children, for a total of thirteen: Joseph William "Joe", born January 28, 1867; James Michael, called "Jim", born February 13, 1871;  Margaret Loretta, called "Maggie", born December 18, 1872; Charlotte Teresa, called "Lottie", born April 5, 1875; William George, "Will", born May 31, 1877; Agnes Gertrude, born September 26, 1875; and Marie, born June 17, 1882, and dying the following day. Charlotte was 44 at the time of Marie's birth.

Charlotte and Thomas and their growing family had moved to Rome, Georgia, by 1872. The last five of their children were born here. Charlotte lost her husband on May 21, 1896. Their oldest son Thomas had died in 1872; son Jim had died the year before his father, at the age of twenty-four. In 1897, son Will died at only 19 years old.

Grave of Charlotte McCluskey McCaffrey
Myrtle Hill Cemetery
Rome, Georgia

By the 1910 U.S. Census, Charlotte had moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where daughters Lizzie, Lottie and Agnes lived with their families. Charlotte was living with Agnes when she died on June 12, 1917, at the age of seventy-nine. The cause of her death was listed as Mitral Insufficency. Bronchial Pneumonia was listed as a contributing factor. She was buried next to her husband and children at Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Rome, Georgia.

Charlotte had buried her husband of 43 years, eight of her 13 children, eleven of her grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She was survived by five children, thirty grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

Notice of Death
Rome Tribune
(click to enlarge)

[NOTE: Charlotte's daughter Lizzie married Charles Clinton "Charlie" Flemming (1854-1932). They lived in Birmingham. They had eleven children, eight living to adulthood, including their oldest, my great-grandfather, Harry Clinton Flemming (1878-1955). Harry married Pearl Alphonsine Horst (1884-1961) and together they had eight children, including my grandmother Susan Elizabeth Flemming (1909-1999).]

MONDAY'S MOTHER - Barbara Frisse Brunett (1822-1893)

Barbara Frisse Brunett
(1822-1893)

St. Jacques Catholic Church
Seingbouse, Moselle, Lorraine, France

Barbara Frisse was born on May 13, 1822, in Seingbouse, France. She was the oldest of nine children born to parents Joseph Frisse (1796-1864) and Marguerite Lang (1802-1868). She was baptized on the day of her birth at St. Jacques Catholic Church in Seingbouse; her godparents/sponsors were her paternal uncle Jean Frisse (1792-1876) and maternal aunt Barbara Lang (1806-UNK). The Church was built in 1730. It is the same church her parents, my 4x great grandparents, were married in on May 15, 1821. Both sets of her grandparents (my 5x great-grandparents) were also married here - Jean Frisse (1756-1838) and Anna Marie Weisse (1763-1826) on May 22, 1782, and Pierre Lang (1760-1831) and Christine Bour (1763-1833) on May 10, 1801.

Seingbouse is a village in the department of Moselle, in the region of Lorraine, in northeast France. The name means "the wood cleared by slash and burn". Lorraine is the only region in France to be bordered by three foreign countries - Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Seingbouse covers 3.11 square miles and has a current population of a little over 1900 people. During the time that the Fries family lived in Seingbouse, between 1655 and 1846, the people spoke a German dialect called Platt. This was because of the area's close proximity to Germany.

There are at least six different spellings of the family name - Fries, Friesse, Frisse, Frise, Fris, and Frisz. In 1655 the spelling was FRIES; in 1750 the name was spelled FRISSE. The changing of the spelling from German to French was a gallacizing of the name (to make French). The German pronunciation of FRIES and the French pronunciation of FRISSE is the name - it is pronounced FREASE as in GREASE. In 1868, at the time of their mother''s death, the seven Fries boys were using several different spellings of their last name. While at her funeral the boys got together and voted on one common spelling, and FRISZ was chosen. At first everyone pronounced it FREEZE; now it is commonly pronounced FRISS - except by the descendants of Christopher in Vincennes, Indiana, who still pronounce it FREEZE.

In May of 1846 Barbara joined her parents and seven of her eight younger siblings - Jacques (Jacob), 18; George, 16; Jean (John), 12; Michel, 9; Anne, 8; Pierre (Peter), 6; Joseph, 2 - as they packed up their belongings and boarded the James N. Cooper at LeHavre, France and set sail for America. Brother Christopher, Henry, two years younger than Barbara, remained temporarily in France where he served in the French Navy (he arrived in America in 1851). After a 62-day journey they arrived safely in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 20, 1846. They then took a riverboat up the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois, then up the Ohio River to Madison, Indiana. From here they travelled approximately 30 miles north to St. Ann Village, Jennings County, Indiana, where friends from the old country had previously settled. They soon bought land and settled down on their farm.

St. Anne's Catholic Church
Jennings County, Indiana

Traveling also on the J.N. Cooper was Jean Michel Baptiste Brunett, age 28, who married Barbara on August 11, 1846 at St. Anne Catholic Church. They were married just 23 days after arriving in the United States. Jean Michel was also born in Seingbouse, France. His parents, Ludovici (Louis) Brunett (1800-UNK) and Catherina Schmidt (1800-1881), were residents of Moselle, France.

Barbara and Jean Michel had ten children - Mary, born June 7, 1847; Anna, born April 23, 1849; John, born November 3, 1850; Barbara F., born April 15, 1852; Margaret, born 1854; Peter, born August 7, 1857; Magdalen, born 1858; Catherine, born 1859; John George, born March 30, 1861; and Virginia "Jennie", born April 14, 1863. Their daughter Barbara is my great-great-grandmother.

Barbara and her family were some of the original members of St. Anne's Catholic Church. As her husband farmed their land, she cared for her home and children - ten in 16 years! Unfortunately their last child Jennie was born three weeks after the death of her father Jean Michel - he died at the age of 45 on March 24, 1863. Their son John had died at the age of three in 1853, so Barbara was left to raise their nine surviving children, including a newborn and four others under the age of 6.

There was no life insurance or health insurance for farmers in that day. Barbara had no daycare or preschools for her to use so that she could make money. One must assume that she went to her parents and her brothers' and sisters' families for help and support. Her father Joseph died a year after her husband, in October 1864 at the age of 68; her mother died at the age of 66, in 1868. They are all buried at St. Anne's Cemetery near North Vernon, Indiana.

Barbara lived to be 71-years-old. She died on August 22, 1893. She had given birth to ten children; she was eventually to have forty-three grandchildren and literally hundreds of great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. There are at least eleven "Barbara"s who have received their names, passed down from this first-in-the-family Barbara in America.


[HOW'S IT RELATIVE? Barbara F. Brunett married Phillip Huber (1847-1901) and they had seven children including daughter Mary "Mayme" (1873-1913), who later married John Martin O'Donnell (1865-1937). MaymeJohn Huber O'Donnell (1905-1964) - my maternal grandfather.]

MONDAY'S MOTHERS - Bridget Kennedy O'Donnell, 1838-1893

Bridget Kennedy was born July 25, 1838, in County Tipperary, Ireland. Her parents were James Kennedy (1818-UNK) and Mary Maguire (UNK-1893) - they are my 3x-great-grandparents. Bridget's father had died in Ireland before the family- including her mother, seven siblings and she - came to America. On June 27, 1856 Bridget married Patrick O'Donnell (1823-1911), also an immigrant from Ireland. He was 33, she was 18. They are my great-great-grandparents.

Bridget and Patrick O'Donnell settled in the town of Jericho, Henry County, Kentucky. He worked initially for the railroad that was being laid in the area, eventually working his way up to Supervisor. Not long after their wedding they started their family. They would have seven children, six daughters and one son:

• Margaret, who was called "Maggie", was born June 12, 1858;
• Mary Ann, called "Mollie", was born December 8, 1859;
• Alice L. was born April 2, 1860;
• Frances, called "Fannie", was born about 1863;
• Josephine Rose, called "Josie", was born January 11, 1864;
• John Martin, my great-grandfather, was called "Martin", born November 7, 1865; and
• Ella Agnes was born December 7, 1869.

On February 18, 1893, Bridget died at the age of 54 years. The cause of death - heart failure. She was survived by her husband Pat, their seven children, ages 13-24, six grandchildren and three more due within months of her death. She was buried at the St. Louis Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. Her large tombstone was no doubt a testament of the love her family had for her.

Bridget and Pat were Irish Catholics and had continued practicing their faith after they came to America. The only Catholic church in Henry County wasn't built until the 1880's; before that time Masses were celebrated in the homes of Catholic families. The O'Donnell family may have attended Mass in nearby Louisville, which had its first church built in 1811.  At Bridget's funeral Father Walsh, the parish priest, read this poem he had written in Bridget's honor:

Seven Sorrowing Children Piously Cherish Her Memory

Graves of Bridget and Josie O'Donnell
(Patrick O'Donnell's grave unmarked)
St. Louis Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky

"Today I stand by mother's grave and weep -
But ah! She speaks not from the silent tomb
As oft she lulled my childish grief to sleep,
And as I weep I feel the mystic gloom
that shrouds my life, since death one year ago
Laid his chill hand upon her tender heart,
And hushed the music of her voice so low,
Is but a veil that keeps our souls apart.

I kneel at mother's grave, and memories come
Of all her countless acts of patient care,
Her tireless love, which filled our humble home
With joy and peace; in mingled ha'o fair
The light around her, gifted with a voice
Echoed sweet music from each gentle say,
To charm the heart to virtue's path by choice.
Is memory all that's left of this? Ah, nay!
My mother's gentle spirit is not dead;
Beyond the grave a higher life than this
Awaits us, thence her loving soul has fled,
To live eternally a life of bliss.
And while I plod life's pathway here below,
Unbroken bonds still bind us soul to soul,
The fondest hope my heart can ever know
Writes mother's name and mine on heaven's scroll.

However, dearly linked is heart to heart,

As through life's devious windings here we tread,
Like ocean sands, in time we drift apart,
And other ties are briefly formed instead.
And yet we look beyond the passing years,
For a reunion with the loved ones gone;
Fond memories mingle without blinding tears,
While every pulse throbs with an undertone
That speaks of changless immortality,
As if those lying still beneath the sod
Whispered to us from their eternity,
'Meet us again and dwell with us in God.'

          - Father Walsh

             1893       

MONDAY'S MOTHERS - Annie Taylor Boulo (1891-1918)

Annie Randall Taylor was born on January 15, 1891, in Mobile, Alabama. She was the middle child of 9 born to Hiram Columbus Taylor (1857-1943) and Mary J. Dillon (1863-1945). On June 1, 1914, Annie married my 1st cousin 3x removed, Paul Augustus Boulo.

Paul Boulo, born July 15, 1889, was the oldest of four children born to my 2nd great-grand Aunt (3rd great-aunt) Luciana "Lucy" Fortier (1861-1942) and Paul Augustus Boulo (1842-1909). [Lucy was the younger sister of my 2nd great-Grandmother Odalie Fortier Horst (1857-1920).] Paul's father was a Civil War veteran, wounded in the Battle of Shiloh (Tennessee). He came back to Mobile after he was wounded, married Lucy Fortier and started a ship chandlery business in the port city.

Annie and Paul started their family right away, having their first child nine and a half months after they were married. Paul Augustus Boulo, Jr. was born on April 15, 1915. By 1918, they were again expecting. This time they were having twins - whether they knew it during her pregnancy isn't known. But no doubt they were excitedly looking forward to the arrival of their new addition, along with 3 year-old Paul. But it wasn't meant to be.

About October 14, 1918, Annie came down with Influenza. This was less than 3 weeks since the first case was reported in Alabama. The Spanish flu, as it was known, was sweeping across the globe, on its second wave of the year - a much deadlier wave than the first. Unlike typical influenza which effects the old, the young, and those with weak immune systems, the Spanish flu struck young, healthy individuals. Ninety-nine percent of pandemic deaths occurred in people under 65 years old; more than half of the deaths were in people 20 to 40 years old. Also unlike typical flu which strikes during the winter, summer and autumn were the primary months of the Spanish flu. Spread initially by soldiers in camp during WWI, more U.S. soldiers died from influenza than from the enemy.

Estimates of deaths in the U.S. from Spanish flu run between 500,000 and 650,000. Between 20 and 40 million people worldwide died from this incredibly virulent form of influenza - a strain of the H1N1 virus. Other estimations put the death toll as 100 million. One-fifth of the world's population were infected. More people died in one year of the influenza pandemic than in the 4 years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague of 1347-1351. [NOTE: The 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic was also a strain of the H1N1 virus with many similarities. My middle son and I contracted the Swine Flu in June 2009 - one of 61 million estimated people worldwide who were infected. Of those over 14,000 died.]

Those that caught the virus suffered greatly."Within hours of feeling the first symptoms of extreme fatigue, fever, and headache, victims would start turning blue. Sometimes the blue color became so pronounced that it was difficult to determine a patient's original skin color. The patients would cough with such force that some even tore their abdominal muscles. Foamy blood exited from their mouths and noses. A few bled from their ears. Some vomited; others became incontinent." [from History1900s.about.com] Deaths most often occurred from pneumonia; bacterial pneumonia effected those with slower-progressing flu.

That is exactly what happened to young Annie Boulo, only 27 at the time she became ill. Two days after first contracting the flu she came down with "Broncho-Pneumonia (Septic)". While suffering the painful effects of the virus, Annie went in to premature labor sometime after 6 a.m. on the 18th. She delivered two boys, who soon died. On the death certificate of one son, it was written the baby lived less than 2 hours. Still fighting to live, Annie survived the births and deaths of her much anticipated babies. Unfortunately the next day Annie, too, died at the home she shared with her husband and 3-year-old son - 853 Dauphin Street. October 1918 was the deadliest month in U.S. history - during the month there were 195,000 fatalities from the flu. Annie was one of 11,000 Alabamians to die during the global pandemic.

Annie was buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile in her parents' plot. It is said she was buried with each of her babies placed in her arms. Paul Boulo remarried in 1919 to Lois Hudson (1899-1981) and had three more children. He served as Vice Consul to the Netherlands, was a foreign freight broker and forwarding agent, and owner of Cottage Hill Nursery in Mobile. He died on January 12, 1953. Annie's only child, Paul, Jr., married Beryl Josephine Morgan (1920-1968); they had no children. He died October 8, 1973.

For more reading on the 1918 Influenza Pandemic check out:

•  http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
• http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/natural-disasters/4219884