Terrebonne Genealogical Society

TGS Newsletter
Vol. 20 No. 3 May 2001

Visit our home page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~laterreb/tgs.htm

E-mail: edhicks@mobiletel.com                 Phone: (504) 532-3586

Membership and/or address changes:
Please send by mail to TGS, Station 2 Box 295, Houma, LA 70360-0295



NEXT MEETING Saturday, May 26, 2001
North Branch Library, Gray, LA 1:00 p.m.

     There was a nice crowd to witness the presentation by Marilyn Berger, Earleen Bernard and Gloria G. Hicks of two books to the society for later donation to the Terrebonne Parish Library’s Genealogy Section. One book, Descendants of Pierre (dit LeMire) Mire, was the product of many years of research and organization by Earleen and Marilyn. Gloria included her collection of a part of the family to round out the database. Old Pierre’s descendants are found in all corners of Louisiana, and the book should receive a lot of attention by researchers. It is well documented with reliable sources. (Only one copy was produced. It is not for sale.) The second book (donated by Earleen Bernard) was Civil Birth & Death Registers of the City of Baton Rouge - 1874-1918, published by the Baton Rouge Genealogical Society.
     Fans of Grand Champion Chef Dorothy M. Bergeron made a special request. They petitioned to have Dorothy’s prize-winning recipe published here. They were especially vocal when they heard that the local newspaper made an unauthorized substitution for one of the ingredients! So, if you copied the newspaper version, be of good cheer. Here is a copy  with correct ingredients. It is in three parts; I hope I don’t lose you on the way.

LEMON PIE CAKE
   1 - 18.25 oz. lemon cake mix
   1 - 3.4 oz. pkg. lemon instant pudding & pie filling mix
   4 - eggs
   1 - cup water
   _ - cup oil
     Preheat oven to 325º. Grease two 10-inch flan (or Tiara) pans. (These pans make a raised rim around the outside when the cake is turned out.) Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Divide equally into both pans. Bake at 325º for about 19 minutes or until they spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pans for 5 minutes. Invert onto separate serving plates. Cool completely. Makes 2 cakes.
 
LEMON PIE FILLING
   1 ½ - cups sugar
   6 - tablespoons corn starch
   dash of salt
   1 ½ - cups water
   ½ - cup lemon juice
   2 ½ - tablespoons margarine or butter
   1 ½ - teaspoons lemon flavoring
   Yellow food coloring (Few drops for color)
     In saucepan, stir sugar, corn starch and salt together, then add water. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Turn off burner and add lemon juice, butter, lemon flavoring and food coloring. Stir until blended. Cool, then divide into two portions for the top of each cooled cake.
 
TOPPING
   8 oz. - cream cheese (lite)
   1 ½ - cups powdered sugar
   1 - teaspoon vanilla extract
   16 - oz. non-dairy whipped topping (lite)
     Whip cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over tops of cakes. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
     Makes 2 cakes, 16 slices in each cake. You may want to  freeze one for later. Thaw in refrigerator overnight.
Thanks to Dorothy M. Bergeron, 130 Everette Dr., Houma, LA 70364-2558, phone 985-876-2348.

NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
     Where are the members who said they were interested in a second printing of First Landowners and 1810 Annotated Census of Lafourche Interior Parish, LA (Lafourche and Terrebonne) by Mrs. Audrey B. Westerman, © 1995, T.G.S.? Send in a check with your order, please. The price is $40.00 for the soft cover, plus postage of $3.00. The book contains maps showing properties held by all the first settlers of this region. Don’t miss out.
 
DEATH
     We are sorry to have to report the death of member Jerry Gros, of Thibodaux, who died 17 April 2001. He is survived by his wife, Joyce Clement Gros; two sons, Gary and Jay Gros; two daughters, Janice Seamon and Darlene Villagrana; one sister, Helen Acosta; 14 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Whitney and Lillian Navarre Gros, and two brothers, Whitney Gros Jr. and Richard Guillot.
 
COLLATING THE QUARTERLY
     When you are sitting down leisurely reading your Terrebonne Life Lines, Volume 20, Issue No. 1, don’t forget that someone had to work to bring it to you. Besides the contributors who did the research and composed the articles, and the publisher/printer, all of whom are named in the quarterly, itself, there are a few more members who deserve our heartfelt thanks, but are not mentioned in the quarterly, itself. These sixteen people met on Friday, 27 April 2001 to compile (collate) the pages of the quarterly and staple them together with the covers for your convenience. The following members were involved: Beverly Alford, James Avet, Jess Bergeron, Brice Bernard, Rita H. Bernard, Essie Cavalier, Marcie L. Cavalier, Phil Chauvin, Ed Henry, Lou Ostheimer, Rodney Pontiff, Cecile L. Richard, Dot N. Smith, Marilyn E. Sonnier, and Nancy L. Wright. What’s more, they managed to accomplish the task in what has to be record time -- seventy-five minutes.
 
COMPUTER CORNER
     We received this message from Nancy L. Wright the other day. “This is an animated site showing how theUnited States has grown over the years.  Thought you might be interested in looking at it.”
<http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/us.gif> It’s fun, try it.
     Did you know that many public libraries (Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, for sure) have subscribed to Ancestry.com? Yes, the “pay” portion. It is available only at the library location, however. So, if you are at a library doing research and you think Ancestry.com might be able to help, ask a helpful librarian to show you how to access it. It’s easy, and they have a bunch of good information. Lots of census records and indexes -- I heard they were attempting a “reconstruction” of the lost 1890 census -- through other sources. Go ahead. It’s not going to cost you anything but time.
     Speaking of time, I spent a couple of good hours trying to help a member look for a site. He had been to it once, already, but couldn’t get back to it. It contains data from the Index of Names from Superior Council Records of the Government in Louisiana 1717-1763 as abstracted in Vols. I to XXVI, Louisiana Historical Quarterly 1917-1943 by Brother Marion McCarley, S.C., Brother Martin High School, 4401 Elysian Fields Ave. New Orleans, LA 70122. The site must be no longer online, or I would have found it, right? Using the right search engine and the right keywords, it should be possible, right? Well, if you can find it, let me know.
 
HOUMA HISTORY
     Nancy Wright, our hard-working treasurer, is trying to help the Houma City Court find pictures of Chs. A. Celestin, possibly the second City Judge of Houma, LA, who died November 1918. Also, pictures of his son, Dr. Charles Amedee Celestin, who may have filled his father’s unexpired term, and who died March 1956. Nancy is looking for portrait type pictures that can be enlarged to approximately 8 x 10 suitable for framing and hanging in the City Court Building. The pictures will be returned to the owner. The City Court will arrange to have the pictures reproduced.
 
OUR PERAMBULATING MEMBERS
     We received correspondence this month telling about the trip Rodney and Margie Camardelle took to Italy. They were looking for records and were fortunate enough to encounter a very helpful public servant. The gentleman escorted them to the Civil Records Office which was several blocks away from the Information Center where they started. He even arranged entrance for them and acted as their interpreter.
     They soon found out that the records for the  1760-1770 years were unobtainable because Naples was under French rule at the time. [Raise your hand if you knew that before I told you. That’s what I thought.] Another thing I learned from the letter is that “Camardelle” is not a French surname, but was originally “Camardella” -- sounds more Italian, doesn’t it? Maybe it was really originally a French soldier named Camardelle who came to Naples in the 1760's and stayed. The Italians then changed it to Camardella, and then... O.K., O.K., I’ll stop. Just wanted to thank Margie for that inspiring letter. She said “Our experience was wonderful. We loved Naples and hope to return.”
 
INVENTORY CLEARANCE SALE
     That’s right, folks, we are slashing the prices on items numbers 31, 34, and 35 on our 2001 Book List. If you don’t have the list handy, no. 31 is Houma Newspaper Deaths - Some Missing Years which is going on sale for $12.00 for the hard cover and $8.00 for the soft cover. That’s 33_ % off of the hard cover price, and 38.5 % on the soft cover. What a deal!
     Our Book of Charts, Volume 2 is going for $20.00 for the hard cover, $15.00 for the soft. And Cemeteries of Houma, Louisiana will be selling for $18.00 for the hard cover, and $14.00 for the soft cover. I really think you should consider getting one or more of these deals, especially if you have our Houma Newspaper Deaths. You need its companion book, Houma Newspaper Deaths - Some Missing Years right?
     This is a limited time offer. The sale will be over at the close of the business day, 31 August 2001.
 
DNA AND GENEALOGY
     The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has announced the details of the New England Summer Conference, to be held in Farmington, CT on 13-14 July 2001. DNA and the family tree come together in a series of special lectures at NEHGS’s Summer Conference. Keynote speaker Oxford University’s Dr. Bryan Sykes, will open the weekend. In addition, Dr. Bart Saxbe, CG, FASG, will conduct presentations on the interpretation of death certificates and Dr. Thomas Roderick will lecture on “Mitochondrial DNA and Genealogy.” Some other topics will be “New English Origins and Family Clusters” “Land Platting Made Simple” “Applying Computer Technology to Your Family Photos” and many more. For more information or to register, please call 1-883-286-3447 or 617-536-5740 or email <education@nehgs.org>

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