Terrebonne Genealogical Society

TGS Newsletter
Vol. 24 No. 1 March 2005

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

Membership, book orders and/or 
     address changes, contact: 
      Corresponding Secretary: Jess Bergeron 
      Email:  jessndot at juno.com
      Phone (985) 876–2348 
      TGS, Station 2 Box 295, Houma, LA 70360-0295 
News items or events, contact: 
     Newsletter Editor  Ed Hicks
      5306 Hwy 1, Raceland, LA 70394-2033 
      E-mail: edhicks at mobiletel.com
      Phone: (985) 532–3586 
NEXT MEETING: 
   Saturday, March 26, 2004
   North Branch Library, Gray, LA 1:00 p.m.

NOTE CHANGE IN MEETING PLACE FOR MARCH MEETING ONLY: 
NORTH BRANCH LIBRARY (SAME TIME, DIFFERENT PLACE)

   At the February meeting, we had a visit from new member Charlene MINNICK, who brought her mother, Mrs. Vernon DELATTE, who happens to be a charter member. Charlene lives in California and her mother lives in Sorrento, LA. It was the first meeting for each of them. Being delightful  ladies, they added a spark to our meeting.Thanks for the memory!
   The Ancestry Card File Project is going well, so far. The card file cabinet is in place in the Genealogy Room at the Main Branch of the Terrebonne Parish Library. It is just waiting to be filled with cards. To date, we have received contributions from twenty-six (26, count’em, 26!) members. I haven’t totaled up the number of ancestors that would be, but if the average is 8 couples, or 16 individuals, per contribution, well you can do the math. By the way, we have not limited this to members, but if you would like to make a contribution, make sure we have complete contact information on you, and please promise to keep us informed of any changes in your address, etc. Usually, for members, we hear from them every year or so, and can keep our contact information up to date. [Someone reading this may be confused by now. Please be aware that I am not talking about our members contributing cash, but something more valuable than gold: their ancestors. You can find the particulars in our February newsletter, or write me, Ed Hicks, at the address above. Actually we started talking about it in the November/December issue, check out the January issue, too, if you want to, and you can find these issues online at our home page (website) whose location is posted above. I can send you the forms by email or USPS mail.]
    If you sent in your list of ancestors, you may not have received a confirmation. I didn’t have time to acknowledge each and every contribution, but I would like to take this opportunity to tell you we appreciate your going to all that trouble. Thanks go out to: ALFORD, B.; BARRAS, S.; BERGERON, D.; BLANCHARD, L.; BOUDREAUX, B.; BROWN, B.; CAVALIER, E.; CAVALIER, M.; CHAISSON, D.; COLLEDGE, L.; DAIGLE, C.; DUPRE, L.; GRILLET, A.; HAEBERLEIN, S.; HAYDEL, J.; HICKS, E.; HICKS, G.; LEGENDRE, G.; OSTHEIMER, L.R.; SCHEXNAYDER, J.; SIDERS, M.L.; VOISIN, B.; WAGUESPACK, J.; WEBERT, J.; WESTERMAN, A.; WRIGHT, N. If you don’t find your name here and you sent me your list before this date (13 March 2005), we need to find out what happened. Please contact me as soon as you can. 
    If you have typing skills and would like some experience on a computer, using the Microsoft Access program, please let me know if we can work something out. I can teach you all you need to know about entering data. And maybe some other things about MS Access.

DEATHS: Cynthia GRAVOIS LaFONTAINE, sister of charter member Gloria G. HICKS, died on Thursday, 24 Feb. 2005 in Raceland, LA. She is survived by daughters Cynthia Anne L BAUGHMAN and husband, Johnny Ray BAUGHMAN Sr., Denise L. BARLOW and husband, Hilary “Cat” BARLOW, and Linda LaFONTAINE; one son, Dennis E. LaFONTAINE; two brothers, F.D. GRAVOIS Jr., and John Mire GRAVOIS, two sisters, Gloria G. HICKS and Maudé G. CHERAMIE; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Norman Thomas LaFONTAINE; her parents, François D. GRAVOIS Sr. and Iola Landry GRAVOIS; two brothers, James Walter GRAVOIS S.J., and Jerome J. GRAVOIS, and one sister Adèle Lucie GRAVOIS. She is remembered fondly by many as “Mémère,” the main caregiver at Mémère’s Care, a children’s daycare center that operated for several years in the Lockport/Mathews (Louisiana) area. She loved to crochet and work needlepoint, especially on plastic canvas. She was a parishioner of St. Hilary of Poitiers parish in Mathews, LA, a Laurel Valley volunteer and was a Marine Corps League Ladies Auxiliary member.
    Noble Gregoire SIMONEAUX, father of Lifetime Member Wayne SIMONEAUX died on Friday, 4 March 2005. He was a native of Assumption Parish and resident of Montegut, LA. He is survived by his wife, Lyie DUPRE SIMONEAUX of Montegut; two sons, Wayne SIMONEAUX and wife, Denise, and Dale Anthony SIMONEAUX and wife, Desiree, of Montegut; one daughter, Susie SIMONEAUX PARROTT, and husband, Jerry, of Montegut; one sister, Leanna SIMONEAUX SAGONA of Donaldsonville; and six grandchildren, Beth SIMONEAUX BOURGE and husband Mark, Alex, Andre and Sarah SIMONEAUX, and Amy and Lauren PARROTT. He was preceded in death by his parents, Alex SIMONEAUX and Ada LANDRY SIMONEAUX; two brothers, Heard SIMONEAUX and Gustave SIMONEAUX; and one sister, Selma SIMONEAUX DUGAS. He was a retired dredge captain with Louisiana Land and Exploration Co. and a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. He belonged to American Legion Post No. 272, VFW and Knights of Columbus Council No. 8932. He was a parishioner of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Montegut.

QUARTERLY COLLATING: We owe some of our members a big pat on the back and a “Thanks a million” for helping to put together the Winter Quarterly on Thursday 24 February. And it was one of our more hefty quarterlies, too. Those members are: Beverly ALFORD, Dot and Jess BERGERON, Marcie and Essie CAVALIER, Phil CHAUVIN, Ed HICKS, Don HILL, Lou OSTHEIMER, Cecilia RICHARD, Patty WHITNEY and Nancy WRIGHT. Thanks for a job well done. High Five, everyone!

FROM ONE EDITOR TO ANOTHER: Have you noticed a change in the newsletter? A change in style, maybe? Well, you are right. For the past few months Audrey B. WESTERMAN has been putting the newsletter together: gathering the news, whipping it into shape and typing it so that it looks and sounds good. And she has been doing a fantastic job. Let’s hear it for Audrey! I would like to take this opportunity to publicly offer her my most heartfelt thanks.

MARCH MEETING PLACE: In case you missed the announcement, the March meeting will be held in our old meeting room at the North Branch Library. I know this will please some of you, and perhaps it could become a regular occurrence. (I said perhaps, OK?) Anyway, we were asked to find another location because it is time for spring cleaning at the Main Branch, I’m told. In case I’m wrong, don’t tell anyone where you read it. It doesn’t look that bad to me, though. Our change of meeting place is temporary, of course.

BOOKS: You may have heard this already, but the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Department of Archives, has released Volume 21 in its series of early records of the area served by the Catholic Church’s Baton Rouge Diocese (civil parishes Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. James, Tangipahoa, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana). The new book can be picked up at the Catholic Life Center, 1800 South Acadian Thruway, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The cost is $35, plus $3.15 sales tax for East Baton Rouge purchasers and $1.40 for purchasers in other Louisiana areas. No sales tax is added for libraries or out-of-state mailings. For all others, a mailing charge of $4.00 is incurred for the first book and $1.00 is added for each additional book. The mailing address is Diocese of Baton Rouge, Dept. Of the Archives, P. O. Box 2028, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-2028. Volume 21 covers records from 1897 and 1898. 
    Our peripatetic couple, Marcie and Essie CAVALIER, have produced another book. Be sure to reserve your copy of Assumption Parish Marriages, 1890-1905. Those were good years. A lot of Maman’s and Pépère’s were married in that time. And these are civil marriages, from the courthouse, so they are not limited to a particular church. But if you want the pre-publication price you have to send in your check before May 31. Make it out for $25.00 plus the usual shipping charge of only $3.00 for the first book and $1.00 for each additional book. (Member’s discount doesn’t apply in this case.)
    The Times-Picayune recently reviewed a book of interest to all who claim to be descended from the Acadians of Nova Scotia. A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland by John Mack FARAGHER is a one-of-a-kind book, and not just for its long title. According to Ron THIBODEAUX, Staff writer for the Times-Picayune, “Many histories of the Acadians have been written, but FARAGHER’s is a work apart. More than just painstakingly researched and sweeping in its scope, ‘A Great and Noble Scheme’ marries compelling storytelling with an intricate exposition of the complexities that defined the Acadians’ peculiar and remarkable niche in colonial North America.” Wouldn’t it make a great gift for a loved one? Children or grandchildren, maybe? Or son- or daughter-in-law?
    Godfrey OLIVIER has completed a magnum opus in his Descendants of Olivier DAIGLE and he has donated it to the Terrebonne Parish Library. Look for it in the Genealogy Department of the Main Branch. It is a four-volume set, and it may not be finished with its processing ordeal. But you can still look.

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