Terrebonne Genealogical Society

TGS Newsletter
Vol. 21 No. 2 Apr. 2002

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

Newsletter Editor Ed Hicks, 5306 Hwy.. 1, Raceland, LA 70394-2033

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, April 27, 2002
North Branch Library, Gray, LA 1:00 p.m.

     Our April meeting took place on Holy Saturday, so we had a lot of Easter-type goodies for our refreshments. Yummy! The tradition in our family is that Lent is over by noon on Holy Saturday, so those of us who had given up sweets were happy, I’m sure. I don’t know whether that tradition is justified by the Church, so please don’t take this on any kind of authority. I’m just giving our tradition, OK?
     Before the break we had the installation of the “new” officers by Gloria Gravois Hicks. It was actually a rerun of the ceremony two years ago. Gloria read out the same quotations and handed us a “certificate” that said “DITTO and Thank You” on it. And we all had a lot of fun.
     Book sales are going briskly. You still have a chance to get in on the pre-publication offer on the 1870 Census of Lafourche Parish because we set the deadline at April 30, 2002. The books are actually published, so you can look at it before you buy. In the publishing field this is very unusual. The pre-publication offer is usually made to see how many people are willing to buy “sight unseen.”
 
 DEATHS
     Our member, Albert Robichaux Jr., lost his brother and the community lost a fine person and a leader. Alfred J. “Al” Robichaux, former mayor of Lockport and former member of the North Lafourche Levee Board, died April 8, 2002. In addition to Albert Robichaux Jr, he is survived by his wife, Antoinette Bruno Robichaux; his stepmother, Antoinette Perez Robichaux; one daughter, Sharon Guidry; one half-sister, Maryann Ronquillo; and one grandchild. He was preceded in death by his parents, Albert Robichaux Sr., and Louise Cheramie Robichaux; and one brother, Carvan Robichaux.
     New member, and our Terrebonne Parish Library Liaison, Diana Coupel, lost her mother-in-law, Ruby “Gramma” Hebert Coupel, on Wednesday, April 10, 2002. She is survived by two sons, Edward Coupel Jr. and his wife, Dora, and Jimmy Coupel and his wife, Diana; three daughters and sons-in-law: Rose Mary and Stanley Stelly, Virgie Lee and Alton Dugas, and Barbara and Thomas Gros; one sister, Libby H. Landry; four brothers, Wilbert Hebert Sr., Wilton Hebert Sr., Alton Hebert Sr., and Nolan Hebert Sr; 14 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Edward Coupel Sr.; one daughter, Lula Mae C. Landry; one infant daughter; and her parents, Robert Sr. and Alcide A. Hebert.
 
MEMBERSHIP
     If you are a new member, you need to be aware of certain facts about your membership. Quoting from Article I of the By-laws of our society: Section 1. “Membership is effective for the current year when dues are received and application for membership is presented...” Section 2. “Members shall receive the quarterlies for the year of their membership.”
     In plain English, it’s not like subscribing to a magazine, where you start receiving your issues as soon as you have paid for your subscription. If you joined for the year 2001, you received the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter issues of our quarterly, no matter at what time of the year you joined.
     We just mailed out our Winter quarterly, issue No. 4 of Volume 20. That means we have completed our twentieth year of existence. Remember? We had a birthday party and all. That was in January. Our year ends with the February meeting. Confusing? Yes, I know. It took me a while to get used to that fact that our membership year goes to February.
     If you joined in 2002, you haven’t received any of the quarterlies because we haven’t published any. The Spring quarterly of Volume 21 is reportedly “put to bed” so no new material is being accepted at this time for publication in that issue.
     If you have any queries (free to new members) you can submit them to the P.O. Box address given above for publication in Issue No. 2 (Summer). While we are on the subject, don’t be afraid to submit queries. I have been blessed with some of the most thrilling leads and information as a result of a query I placed in a genealogical publication. Ask me about it, I’ll be glad to relate all the details, but just not here.
     When you do send in a query, be sure and put all the facts you know.  Name, spouse, parents, children, location facts (at least parish) and dates (time period, for a minimum). Of course, you would limit your queries to one or two at the most. (For practical reasons. Each query may result in numerous responses.) And make sure the interest is confined to this area (parishes of Terrebonne, Assumption and Lafourche).
 
TRANSLATIONS
     If you ever need translation help, it is available. Type in the following URL exactly....... <http://itranslator.mendez.com/MSOffice/MSOffice10Eng_us-EntryPage.htm>.....(You should leave out the “<” and “>.”) They can translate English to German, Italian, Portuguese,  French and Spanish. Also French to English, Italian, and German. Also German to English and French. But instead of my typing all the possibilities, why not go to the site and try it out. The first 750 words are free.
 
PRE-OWNED COMPUTER
     If you have or know of someone who has a computer that is not being used because of an upgrade, or something like that, the society is interested. The purpose is to provide our hard-working corresponding secretary another means of correspondence. We are hoping to help him be more efficient by providing him with email. We would like to have a Pentium II (or better) machine that has Windows 95 (or later) operating system. Do I hear you saying that your own personal computer is not that up-to-date? Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Right? One local Internet Service Provider promises email-only access for a very reasonable monthly cost which our secretary may be able to afford. (The society is not footing that bill.) Please let us know by email or snail mail. Addresses above.
 
20-YEAR INDEX
     For those of you who have been waiting breathlessly for the new CD to come out, you are about to be able to take a breath. The Trial Run is out, and we will be shipping in a couple of weeks. Price has been set by the Board at $15.00 plus shipping. We are accepting orders. Send requests via snail mail, please.
     We estimate that there are over 200,000 references to individuals, including individuals with no surnames (for instance nuns, slaves and indians). In addition, we have included a full 20-year subject index of all of the articles (over 500) that have appeared in our first 79 quarterlies. Tell your friends. They make good wedding and graduation gifts. (Joke.)

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